Cynthia's 'Sprinkle' for baby Mya!

Yay...Cynthia and Brandon had their sweet baby girl this morning at 7:53am and weighed in at 7lbs.

Brody is now a Big Brother. Congratulations Hoges!!

Just before Cynthia delivered, we had a little 'sprinkle' for her (that's what you call a shower for the 2nd child- gotta love the new lingo). We met for breakfast at La Madeleine and enjoyed visiting and 'sprinkling' her with baby girl gifts. Here are some pics of our fun morning...

ruffle tights...aw!

the pink/brown swaddle blanket

Can't wait to meet their sweet little girl! How Exciting!

love is still in the air....

a little valentine love for mommy and daddy from lauren

wall of love (very bottom right hand corner is lauren's fishy)

daddy & i snuck out of work friday to join her party at school.

Funny story about Saturday night - she and daddy were giving me a valentine card and candy. I was reading her card aloud and asked her, "wow pumpkin, did you write this all by yourself? You did soo good, thank you". She looks and me and nods with this sweet grin on her face…'yeees'. Then she stopped....with a slightly concerned look on her face, " Ac-shually, I didn't mommy……daddy did it". I could not believe that she just used the word ACTUALLY in a sentence AND in the right context. I don't think I learned that word until last year. Kidding, but you know what I mean - I was cracking up.

bring on the beef...

it's time to buy our big boy a tooth brush!! here is a glimpse of his pearly 'white'.

everybody conga...

gotta love the webcams at Lauren and Dylan's school. i can peek in from time to time to see what they are up to. it breaks up the day nicely and allows me 'spend time' with them throughout the day...

lauren's favorite thing to do these days is The Conga (as mentioned in a previous entry)...well, here she is leading the group at school....too cute! (she's in front of the line wearing hot pink- not the one off to the side not following directions...ha!)

Super Bowl Sunday...and Boys Bowl!

my honey's team won the boy's bowl flag football game this year and it's the first year they are sporting a fancy trophy. believe me, they were 'lovin' the trophy...literally! i didn't post the many photos of them kissing it...it was a bit much. i guess they were really excited!
enjoy the pics from the game and after party at the Donato's. such a fun day with friends...i am bummed they only play once a year!

potty training success...

i know we started potty training a while ago, but with dylan's arrival in the world, we kind of put things on hold a bit and really did not want to force the issue. she was going every now and then in the potty, but mostly kept the pull-up on for extra precaution. and frankly, it was pretty difficult changing a hundred diapers a day with dylan and then worrying about rushing lauren to the potty every half hour to ensure there were no accidents. ha!
well, now she has gained that 'control' and the ability to tell us when she is ready to go potty. we took a bag of clothes to school on Jan. 14th fully prepared for her to have a million accidents that day. (btw - i don't exaggerate at all...can you tell?!) to my surprise, i picked her up and she was in the same outfit i took her in. this happened the next day and the next, and the next... she went wednesday, thursday, friday, and monday thru friday of the following week with only 1 accident. I am so so so proud of my little sunshine. i just wish we would have really enforced it earlier.
now we just have to keep it up with 24/7 potty breaks.....wish me luck!! she's doing great!

update on "Movin' on Up"

not gonna happen just yet. Dylan is not ready for the big kids class...not real sure what they were thinking. i was in the new class with him and these babies are all over the place. crawling, grabbing, standing, pulling. and screaming pretty loud....and my little man will barely stay on tummy time for 5 or so minutes before he starts getting restless. he got startled several times while I was with him. poor baby got so scared and cried a few times - he was freaked out!!
if he stays in there now they will trample (sp?) all over him...NO WAY! so, he's back in Infant I for the next few weeks; at least till he turns 6 1/2 months! i believe they're all like 7-10 months old. there appears to be huge gap b/w dylan and the rest...geez!
i'm working on sitting, rolling and lots of tummy time with him. gotta start coaching him to defend himself from those big kids...psh!

a little bit about Lauren...

(this is her 'i wanna look like my mommy' picture)

lauren's school asked us to fill out a questionnaire about her and her daily routines. i wanted to post it so we can look back on this stage in her life and smile about it.

1) favorite activities or special interests:
loves watching Kidsongs on dvd & barney. going to the park; swinging and sliding

2) favorite stories and songs?
Books: Brown Bear, Guess How much I love you, Going to Bed Book.
Songs: The Hound Dog & The Conga (kinda funny that she has Cuban in her blood ...and still doesn't know it. i will make sure to remind her of this when she's old enough to know)



3) favorite foods?
Spaghetti, Pizza, Dora Snacks, cheese-its, pringles, turkey sandwich meat, yogurt, string cheese, applesauce, bananas, apples, carrot, popsicles, strawberry milk & her nemo vitamins (this isn't food, but she doesn't go one day without asking for her vitamins- good girl!)



4) important people in her life?
Daddy, Mommy, "Lita", "Grandma'ma", "Papito".....(mostly grandparents....can you tell who spoils her to pieces?) Funny note - when i told her it was bedtime, she looked at me and said, "mommy, you're not my best friend....daddy is". how does she know about best friend's ....at TWO?!

5) dislikes or fears?
she's pretty easy going so this one was hard. uhm....let me see, maybe just the sound of the vacuum. she does not like at all! so... i just don't vacuum...ha! :)



6) any special teddy bears, blankets, etc...
she enjoys her special hello kitty pillow, pink blankie, and life size dora doll.



7) is there anything else that would be helpful or important for us to know about your child?
lauren is very smart, affectionate, talkative, and sweet. sometimes can be a little bossy ( but shh..no one really knows this about her yet. well, except for scott, jack, tyler and colby...remember 4th of July, she was the only girl in the group.....regulating the boys big time!)
she really enjoys her musical kid videos, watching dora, reading bed time stories, and pretending to be a ballerina. (can't wait to put her in ballet)