Talía's First Laugh

My beautiful Talía laughed for the first time today! We have been trying for weeks to get her to laugh and all we would get would be a grunt or cough with a smile. Leave it to my friend Anne to get her to laugh. Anne and Dana were over at the house today, so we could rehearse our trio music. As soon as Anne picked her up and started playing with her than Talí started laughing. It's contagious! You can't help but to start laughing too. Enjoy!

Chunky Monkey

Yes, that is the new nick name we have for Talía. When she was real skinny we and all the doctors and nurses called her peanut. I am just so excited she has gained weight that I thought the name was fitting and cute. We also thought it was appropriate because she is always moving around. She will scoot all over the floor on her back. It's not wonder she doesn't have any hair on the back on her head.

Well, Ceci came home from school upset that one of her good friends said we were being mean to Talí by calling her chunky monkey. I had to reassure Ceci that we weren't being mean to Talí and that we just were so excited she has some meat on her bones. When she gets older we will of course no longer call her chunky monkey. I seriously doubt Talí will remember that we called her chunky monkey at the young age of 4 months and need therapy as a result. Good grief!

Of course that comment came from eight year old kid so I can let that comment go. What I don't like is when complete strangers feel the need to tell me how to raise my child. Case in point, many years ago while at Sea World I was feeding Ceci a bottle. A women out of the blue came up to me and started lecturing me on how to properly feed Ceci because I wasn't doing it right. She than assured me that she was nurse. I guess she felt that entitled her to being completely rude. Not to mention that I fed two other perfectly healthy children with the bottle the same way and they turned out just fine. Scott said she was probably a nipple nazi trying to make me feel bad about not nursing.

I remember my dear neighbor, Michelle, coming home from the grocery store in tears. People were coming up to her and telling her that her son, Gabriel, was obese (I'm not kidding) and that she shouldn't feed him so much. He was just an infant at the time. Unbelievable!!!!

The wonder of π

My wonderful nerdy son memorized π and recited it to 101 places. He had been practicing all week. His math class had a day of π filled with eating pie and reciting π. They had a contest to see who could memorize and recite the most places. Marcus blew away the competition at 101 places. Gotta love that boy! He is blissfully happy at his accomplishment. Heaven knows I couldn't remember that many numbers and be happy doing it:)

He was also very happy that during our black belt class today that he remembered our form better. I told him it's because he gets more sleep than I do:) The truth of the matter is if he can remember 101 places for π than I shouldn't be surprised he can remember the form better.

Wierd Weather in Austin

We had snow in Austin about two weeks ago. Literally a week later, we have the AC on. Figures. The snow was fun while it lasted. This isn't Talía's first snow. It actually snowed in November while Talía was in NICU.

Talía is doing great. She went to the doctor yesterday for her 4 month visit and she now weighs 9 lbs. 10 oz. My big girl! She had a rough time with the shots this time. Usually she's fine, but her legs were sore. She cried a lot at home. Jared and Ceci were a little freaked out because they weren't used to hearing Talía cry a lot. After some Tylenol she was fine. She woke up a happy baby this morning! Usually babies at four months can start eating cereal and other pureed foods, but the doctor told me to wait since she's can't support her head for very long. She's getting stronger though. She gives everyone the prettiest smiles. She was charming all the ladies at my flute choir concert on Thursday. Scott came since he didn't teach that afternoon. The concert was at a church in downtown Austin. I'm glad Scott came because I hate having to drive and find parking downtown. I hate one way streets. The concert went well. Scott really liked the piece, The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He had never seen a bass or alto flute before. Most people haven't, so when they attend our concerts they come up after wards to see the large flutes. I played the alto flute in the flute choir at Northwestern. They are fun to play.

Black Belt Promotion

Spring Break

The kids had two weeks off for spring break. We stayed put for the most part. We did take them to Sea World last week. It was so fun. We hadn't been in two years, but decided to get season passes again. It rained the entire time we were there and it was cold and windy. The kids lasted to about 1 p.m before we decided to head home. All the rides were shut down because of the weather, but we did get to feed the dolphins. The kids loved petting the dolphins. It was fun to see the large aquarium with all the beautiful fish. It was nice to be back. We have so many memories there. We started going there when Marcus was just one. He's now eleven. It's a great place. We did get to see the Shamu show. The whales weren't cooperating, though. They had to stop the show and regroup. The ended up doing something different since they were rebelling. I've never seen them do that.

During spring break, we had some bad weather that included hail. It got pretty big. Anyway, long story short, we bought a new van that had some hail damage. There quite a few dings on the van, but I don't care. Because of the dings we could afford it:) It's a 2008 Kia Sedona (red, but not a bright, obnoxious red). It's sooo nice. I love all the extra storage. The kids are already fighting over the captain chairs. We couldn't be happier. Our older van was on it's last leg, so it was time to get it replaced. The hail worked to our advantage:)

Marcus has started mowing the lawn this year. I'm loving that:) It's nice to have someone else besides me mow the lawn. Scott would do it occasionally, but had a hard time with his allergies. He's getting so grown up. Marcus had another camp out this week. It was very cold for Texas. He was glad to come home and sleep in his own bed. Marcus is enjoying his new black belt status. He especially loves it when I have to bow to him. "Oh, the power," he says. Stinker! Marcus also had a chess tournament a couple of weeks ago. He won fourth place in his division and his rating went up since he did so well.

To keep the kids busy, they came with me to my meals on wheels route. They loved it. On our last stop, the lady insisted on giving them kisses. Jared wasn't too keen on the kiss, but gave her his cheek anyway. I was pleased with their good etiquette. They really enjoyed coming along. I took some of the scouts with me the week before so they could get some service requirements completed. They were surprised that there were apartment complexes just for "old people." Meals on Wheels is a wonderful program. I just love doing it. Our Relief Society has a team that makes deliveries on Wednesday and Thursday every week. We all just take turns.

I finally got all my tomato plants in the garden. I am hoping I will get a better crop this year. I planted roma tomatoes so I can make tomato sauce and jar can it. We'll see. Ceci and I are working on a fairy garden. I found some great Texas native flowering plants to put in it. They are real hardy and also attract butterflies. We put our fairy statue back there. We plan on getting more soon.

Austin Promotion

This past Saturday Marcus was able to get his black belt back:) Our Austin school likes to do their own promotion which I like. It's more personal that way. There were a lot of people crammed into the school. I've never seen so many people in there at one time. The school was also celebrating it's 17th anniversary so neighboring schools came also. It was a fun, but very long day.