One month, 20 months, and 52 months

 May 24, 2015 

Those are the ages of my sweet babies. 

Nainoa I thriving. He is filling out some of his clothes. Wearing size one diapers and eating like hungry happy puppies. And that is what we call him. Puppies. We only call him that because Melia calls him that. And everything else.

She is starting to say more words now. Grandma and grandpa are here and they read to her all she wants. So the point to things in the books and say then out loud and she sometimes repeats. So she says duck, apple, eat, all the animal sounds and much more. She still loves to eat. Yesterday, we were outside in the front playing basketball with Marcus and Melia was on the tricycle. I needed to go in to check on baby Nai so I told juan, "keep and eye on Tita, I don't want the mosquitos eating her alive." Then she jumped off the tricycle and started following me exclaiming "eat!" She thought I was heading back inside to get more food. Right after dinner! That girl. If someone is in the kitchen, she's in the kitchen. If the fridge or pantry opens she rushes in. 

Back to Nainoa. He has quite a lot of baby acne but I think it is clearing up a little. He is quite a handsome fella. He can now follow a moving object with his eyes and turn his head toward someone. I love it when I'm feeding him and he squirms and grunts until a little fart escapes his little body. After he eats I lay him on my chest and he stretches his little arms and curls his legs up underneath him. His mouth opens wide and he sometimes twitches. Sweet baby sleep. 

Marcus went on his first one-in-one outing with Bumpa! They went to Brazos bend and got to see alligators in the lake. He also got to pet a little baby alligator. He loved going alone with grandpa and the best part was that grandpa bought him some Oreos out of the vending machine. 

I had my first migraine this week and it was the most horrible experience. I couldn't eat or sleep and the pain was excruciating! I tried so many things to alleviate it: diffuse peppermint, ibuprofen, ice packs, hot Epsom salt bath, propped up sleeping, and more pills. Finally I called my midwife Bernadette and the nurse said to come into the clinic. Juan drove me there. I felt like throwing up all day and Juan's driving sent me over the edge. I threw up right outside the door to the birth center. 

They hooked me up to an IV and Bernadette started dumping oils on me. She put frankincense on top of my head and forehead, peppermint on my cheeks and eucalyptus on my chest. It was kind of oil overload but I started feeling tingly in my hands and feet. The toxins were leaving my body. I got cold from the IV fluids so she covered me and put rice bags all over my body. Then she started massaging my head. It felt so wonderful. Like she was extracting all of the pain. I'm so grateful for Bernadette. She is a lifesaver. She talked with us while she was working on me. She said she loved nainoas picture so much that she framed it and put it in one of her birth rooms. That was very flattering. We were happy to leave though.

One week old

I am just so crazy in love with this little man. It feels like falling in love irresponsibly. I want to spend every minute with him and kiss him all over his delicious little body. He is so beautiful! Perfect skin and sweet smelling head. His cute little frog legs curl up under him when I hold him to my chest. Last night he slept in his crib and only woke up once. I fed him and he went right back to sleep. According to everyone we are breaking every rule of infant care. He slept with 2 blankets and on his belly. Gasp! Terrible! Well, he's had a healthy birthweight and perfect apgar. He hasn't shown any signs of stress and poops and pees plenty. I guess there is a risk for sids with every baby but I guess we are risk takers when it comes to sleep. 

Marcus just adores Nainoa. He loves to hold him and looks at him with so much love. I hope they become great friends. 

Melia on the other hand is somewhat disinterested and throws a fit when she wants to take the attention away from him. Natural. She is quite the character lately. She LOVES to eat! She is such a chubby girl. Her grandmas worry about her but I'm not worried at all. She is so healthy! Eats rice and avocado and fruit most of the time. Her vocabulary is expanding rapidly. When she turned 18 months old she started calling nearly everything that moved 'puppies'. Dogs, lizards, bugs, and they don't move but stuffed animals. I have always been mommy or Maymie. Marcus, Martize. Juan, daddy. Other words she says now are shoes, juice, eyes, agua (ga-ga), and up. She understand commands and when asked/prompted will throw something in the garbage, head for the door, head for the stairs, clean up toys, prepare herself for a nap, and nearly everything. She is just going to take off with words soon. Oh, and since the Pitas got her she has learned how to say pita. At first she said 'Pia' but now she says 'pita, pita, pita!' She loves her abuelita Ana Mirian. The others day when was put down for bed by her she called out her name and stated crying. She was calling for her, begging her to come back and get her. Such a darling girl. I love her so much! She is getting into her terrible twos though...here we go. 

I should have wrote more about Marcus. He is a good little boy. He has his moments but for the most part he helps me with the younger birds, plays very imaginatively, and is nice and careful with babies. He still has an obsession with hot wheels and matchbox cars. He could play cars all day long. He loves to be spoiled by his abuelita, Pita. He is speaking more Spanish with them! It makes me so happy to hear him say, 'pita, yo quiero jugar carritos,' o 'quiero quaker!' o 'vamos a jugar!' He understands what they say to him most of the time. He is a bilingual kid! I want to live in a Spanish speaking country so that he can really learn Spanish and use it with his peers. We might move next March so we will see :)