Dylan's New Smile

Quite the documentation for one lost tooth, but this one has been different from the others. Dylan's top right front tooth started wiggling about a week ago. I was a bit scared and sad at first knowing this was the end of him looking like a little kid, but I guess I got over it. I don't know if it was my reluctance that scared the kid or what, but he did not want this one taken out at all. He wiggled it nonstop until it was hanging sideways out of his mouth, but did not want Marcos to pull it out. He let me wiggle it because he knew I would be a little more careful.

Yesterday after school he mentioned that Courtney (Kambrie's mom) asked if she could pull his tooth when she picked him up from school. Now...when your tooth is so ghetto that other people can even tell it's loose, it's time to take action. I helped him wiggle it a few times loosening it quite a bit every time and then helped him wiggle it one more time and yanked it out. Success! He wasn't sure what he thought when it came out. There were many mixed emotions over this milestone. He was sad, scared, happy and excited about losing another tooth and having the Tooth Fairy visit yet again.

I tried to take his picture with his missing tooth and his crazy hair was driving me nuts. He wants to grow it out a little (and I kind of do too). It's hard to get haircuts every 3 weeks and I wonder what he would look like with longer, thicker hair, but I am not patient at all with hair. So...now that we're in the super awkward stage of his hair I told him he needed to let me style it until it grew out a little bit more. You have to understand this kid's intolerance for hair products (and many other things for that matter). He is super sensitive to stuff and gets annoyed with how they feel (his socks, the way a strap rubs his foot, a tag on a shirt, etc. He drives me crazy! So we haven't "done" his hair for years. But as I found myself reaching for the phone to make an appointment to cut his hair, I realized we had to find a compromise if we are really going to try to grow it out this time. So we made a chart. If he lets me do his hair every day until school gets out (hopefully enough time to get past the awkward hair stage) he can pick out a Lego Star Wars set.

This morning I spiked his hair and it was nonstop complaining. I don't know if he or I are going to make it to the goal. And is the goal really worth it anyway? It's kind of a stupid thing to be pushing for so hard. But I seriously hate how often I have to get the boys' hair done. If only I could learn to cut it myself I suppose I would be happy. We'll see. For now, this is how he looks. I'm thinking there's probably a 90% chance we will not make it to see how he looks with his hair grown out....maybe EVER!

Wiggling his tooth...the night before it "fell" out

This is how his crazy tooth started to look as it got more and more loose

Marcos threatening to pull the tooth out

The tooth after I "pulled" it

Not sure of the new gap in his mouth

Being silly - he put the tooth on his tongue to show me

Dylan took this picture of his hand holding the tooth. Pretty good picture to take with only one hand.

Feeling the gap with his tongue

Laughing about something

That's my sweet Dylan

Weird Day!

My day started out with a phone call from the neighbor saying her kids had strep so could I take the carpool. Thank goodness I was actually up...I've been a bit lazy in the mornings lately. I took the kids to school and figured since I already had Preston loaded in the car, I would swing by my SIL Amy's house to get some flour (she has a wheat grinder and I don't so I keep a bag of wheat there and stop by when I am feeling somewhat domestic). I got my flour and got to work making two double batches of bread. That's 8 big loaves people! Why you ask? Well, April kind of slipped through my fingers what with spring break and all and I still hadn't done visiting teaching. Trying to coordinate my schedule, my companion's schedule and four other ladies' schedules with only four days left in the month seemed like an impossible task (especially since we prefer to try to go without our kids) so I figured I'd bake bread and at least do a "drive by" visiting teaching moment.

In the middle of my bread breaking morning, I found out Marcos had to sit in on an interview at 1:00 (he's on the hiring committee at work) and he was going to be my babysitter at 1:30 while I went to a meeting. Crap! So I called a couple friends and found someone to watch the kids for an hour (thanks Jamie). Got that over and done with and then went home. No sooner do I walk in the door than I realize I am out of like 5 essential things so even though I wasn't planning on shopping until Wednesday, I loaded the kids up once again to head to the store. Thank goodness I did because looking at the clock and seeing it was 3:30 reminded me I had scheduled Preston's well check with the doctor at 4:00. How could I forget that? I was reviewing my calendar last night. Sheesh! I paused for a brief moment to ponder whether I had time for both and decided I could make it. I rushed through the store and then headed out to my car (they didn't have two things I needed anyway...AWESOME! Now I get to make another trip to a different store later).

Here's where my day gets weird. I walked to the van and saw a lady out there looking at my rear bumper. I didn't think much of it and when I saw her van full of kids I tried to be friendly and said hello. She ignored me and started speaking to her kids in another language (I'm thinking maybe Russian). I loaded the kids and watched her go to the front of her car, bend down and inspect the front of her car. Wait a minute. Did she hit my car? What do I say? What do I do? She looks nervous and yells at her kids again (all 5 of them) and they all hop in on or around the shopping cart and she takes off to do her shopping. What the...? I went back to my bumper and sure enough there's a nice decent-sized scratch. It took me a minute to figure out what to do. I mean, who hits a car, sees the owner come to the car and then walks away without saying a word. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. Is there really a language barrier and she doesn't know a word of English? Is she a mail order bride and afraid her husband would beat her if she hit another car? (I know, my brain takes me places it ought not). So I decided after the hitting of the pole incident in San Diego, the van was plenty broken in and I would let it go. Of course, I did note her license plate number just in case. But I drove off with a really odd feeling about people and life in general. I know there are "hit and runs" all the time, but I said hello to this lady, walked by her, and even had to attempt to suck in my belly (it doesn't work, but I always think it will) when she walked down the same side as me at the same time. And she didn't say a word to me. WEIRD!

So I sped off to the doctor's office making it just in time for Preston's appointment. Last Monday we started working on potty training (that's a whole other post, but just so you know where I'm at here). I took him to the bathroom before we went to the store and then right after we got to the doctor's office. It hadn't been quite an hour and he's been going only once an hour, but he had had a bit more to drink so he was wet. Thankfully he had on a pull-up so it wasn't a major crisis. But I was bummed because he's been doing pretty well with the pee thing (the poop is a whole other story that I will definitely be blogging about in a post in the near future). Anyway, so I sat down to wait after our bathroom break. The kids were looking at the fish tank and I decided to text Marcos to tell him Preston's pull-up was wet. He likes to be updated on such trivial things. I kid you not, the text went like this "Dang it. Preston just went pee in his pull-up." Now I'm not a super duper texter like "kids these days" but it did not take me long to text that to him. I hit send and kid you not, I hear "Mommy, mommy" in a very frightened, distant voice. What the crap? Where is my child? Dylan is at the fish tank and Preston is nowhere to be seen. But...I can hear him. I follow the sound and realize he has pushed the elevator button, hopped on and probably pushed the button to go up or down. Crap! I don't even know where the elevator takes him. I pushed the button hoping he was right there and the door would open, but the light went on so I knew he was in route somewhere. Whilst in the midst of my fear, I glanced up to see all the disapproving stares from the other moms in the waiting room. I'm sure I looked like the worst mother ever. That lady just sits there texting on her phone while her 3 year old gets on the elevator and she has no idea. Seriously people....I made 8 freaking loaves of bread this morning. I'm not THAT bad! I sent Dylan down the only stairs I could find and told him to wait by the elevator and see if Preston came out. I waited at the top in case he was still on the elevator when it came back up. Then I hear Dylan, "Hi Preston. Come here. Did you ride the elevator?" What a good big brother he is.

After my fear subsided and I avoided the angry stares for what seemed like an eternity, we finally got called back to the exam room. We waited, I read books (see I'm still a good mom, right?) and then the doctor saw Preston. We talked all things 3-year-old (stubbornness, potty training, melt downs, more social interaction...and statistics). For those who may have some doubt, the kid is in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. And he's been such a different learner than most kids. It's tough because I think when people see him, they assume he's more like 4...but he's barely 3 and been behind in a lot of things. So it can be a challenge when people think he should be way ahead of where he is developmentally (like the lady in his music class who acted SHOCKED when she found out he wasn't potty trained). Hello lady, I haven't even started trying yet. Now are you surprised! Yep, bad mom award once again. I hate people sometimes. Not really, I just say that, but I do hate how judgmental people can be. Have you not heard of compassion and understanding? May you one day have a challenge that helps you realize the world isn't completely perfect so you can relate to others a bit more. Anyway...sorry. Bitter Maria emerges and shows her ugly side. Wow!

So yeah, I'm the crazy lady who decides to make two double batches of bread, needs last minute babysitters, runs out of stuff and has to go to the store on a day other than shopping day, almost forgets a doctor's appointment, gets hit by a car and realizes it but doesn't say anything to the lady speaking Russian, LOATHES potty training, and who loses her 3 year old on the elevator while texting her husband. Yep, in case you wondered, that's me!

Prestonisms

Here are a few of the funny little things Preston has said the past few months.

• I let Preston smell one of my Scentcy candles and then asked him if it smelled good. He took a big whiff and said, "Yum, gummy bears!"
• He always says, "What else we need, Mom?" I guess I must say that a lot when I'm talking to myself.
• Preston says, "I need to go uhh" (and grunts) when he needs to go poop. He has yet to poop on the potty though.
• He started calling me "Ma-wee-a" because Anthony calls me Maria. One day he was crying saying "Ma-wee-a, Ma-wee-a, I want Mommy to hold you."
• Preston was introducing himself to the cartoons on the TV. He said, "Hi, I'm Preston. What's your name?" So polite.
• We have a neighbor named Leah who he calls Gabriela (he has cousins named both Leah and Gabriela). I love the way he calls her Gabriela though. Leah (the neighbor) has no idea what he's talking about and the way he pronounces Gabriela is so cute. Gabba-wee-e-wa.
• Dylan was climbing on a box that we were going to return. I said, "Sweetie, you need to get off that box. You know better than that. We have to return that." Preston turns to me in his tattle tale voice and says, "Hey mommy. Sha-wee-tee's getting on that thing" referring to Dylan as sweetie. So funny!
• Preston's been having a harder time during bedtime when I tuck him in. One night after I tucked him in and walked away, he hopped out of bed and walked over to Dylan's bed. He looked up at Dylan with sad puppy dog eyes and said, "I wost my mommy!" Dylan was a good big brother and attempted to comfort him.
• Preston calls the Bishop "wish-shup."
• Preston says "Deer dit is. It's over deer." He also says, "up-shtairs down-shtairs."
• Preston says "bree-to" for burrito.
• When we got home from spring break, Preston was exhausted from days and days of too little sleep. One night, I was reading to the boys and they were both sitting in between my legs. Poor Preston fell sound asleep within moments of starting the story. It was so sweet to have him out cold during a story like that. That's something that rarely happens to Preston these days.

Dylanisms

Here are some of the funny little things Dylan has said the past few months.

• We got some boxes of Froot Loops in our newspaper and Dylan has been eating them for breakfast (I didn't know this though. Marcos is the one who has been up early doing breakfast lately). We were in the bathtub getting ready for bed and he remembered there was one little box left. He said, "Mom, I'm going to have Froot Loops for breakfast tomorrow." Just as he said that, he realized we had just bought Captain Crunch. He said, "But we have Captain Crunch now too. Maybe I'll have half and half cereal." I looked at him and said, "What happened to the no sugar cereal on school days rule, bud? You need to have a healthy breakfast." He looked at me like I was the dumbest person alive and said, "It is healthy, Mom. Frrooootttt loops. They have fruit in them."
• Both boys were sitting between my legs while I was reading to them. With my expanding belly, they don't both fit on my lap very well anymore. My pajama pants had come up a bit on my legs and Dylan reached down to feel my leg. He looked up at me surprised and said, "Mom, you have spikes. Is it hair?" I said yes so he said, "Let me feel my hair" and started rubbing his arm, which has very little soft hair on it. Then he said, "Well, it's not at prickly as Papi's huh?"
• Dylan was talking about going to St. George and said, "Mom, I'm going to start looking for the Cindy." I had no idea what he was talking about so I finally said, "What?" "You know, that big red rock that says Cindy?" "Oh, the Dixie rock?" "Yeah, that's it. I'm going to look for the Dixie."
• We were talking about being in California over Easter. He said, "Yeah, we need to think about Jesus, huh?" He proceeded to tell me how we needed to think about when Jesus was born. I told him that wasn't really the part that we celebrated during Easter, even though it was good to think about Jesus' whole life, that Easter was to celebrate the resurrection. We talked about Jesus on the cross and being laid in the tomb and then the tomb being empty three days later. It was pretty cute. He was telling me a little bit about what he knew about Easter. But he's been concerned about the weather in California over spring break because it's been snowing here in Utah. After all this talk about Easter, he looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, "Mom, God will melt the snow. He will." It was such a cute, sweet little demonstration of faith on his part. Then he took his shirt to wipe away his tears and said, "That makes me kind of emotional, Mom."
• Dylan wanted to listen to the baby so he put his head to my stomach and said, "Hey little sister, what you doing in there? Mom, I can hear her. She said gurgle."
• Dylan and I were reviewing the colors of the rainbow. I told him there was red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. He told me he was going to make up his own rainbow. He said, "Pink, black, gray, gold, silver and Gobi Desert." (Gobi Desert happens to be the color we painted our walls last year - it's a tan color.)
• Dylan is obsessed with everything Star Wars. Everything he does or says is usually referring to Star Wars in one way or another.
• Dylan was laying on my lap and breathing on me and had smelly breath. I told him his breath smelled funny and said, "What did you do, eat a fish or something?" thinking he would laugh. He said, "Yep, a goldfish." I guess they'd had goldfish at school for a snack and he thought I was totally serious about saying he had eaten fish.
• We made a binder with a paper in the front cover with Dylan's name on it forMusikgarten. I thought it would make it easier for him to find his binder after class. He had me trace his hand on the paper too so it says Dylan and has his handprint on it. After I picked Dylan up from music that day, he started talking to Preston and said, "Preston, do you want me to read you a story?" Preston enthusiastically agreed with his infamous "Yeeesh Dy-wan." He proceeds to start his story. "This is called Dylan's lucky hand..." So cute. That kid has such an imagination!
• Dylan was saying that he wanted me to tie his legs together so he would be stuck on the railing.
• We were at Taco Maker getting a bean burrito for lunch when a group of cheerleaders walked in all in their outfits. He said, "How come they're all in the same costume?" A group of high school boys came in after the cheerleaders and he said, "Uh-oh. What's going to happen?"
• Dylan was kind of pulling at the front of his pants and I said, "What are you doing, bud?" He said, "I'm trying to fix my underwear. They're bothering my penis. It just kind of goes 'clusky clusky clusky.'"
• I was telling how big he's getting and that his pants were too short on him. I said, "What happened? Did your bones grow while you were sleeping?" He said, "I think there's just a magnet in there that pushes them out or something."
• Dylan was invited to go to the planetarium with the Slade's. When I told him he started jumping up and down and said, "This is the best day of my life. I am such a lucky kid!"
• Dylan came downstairs one night after I had already tucked him in several times and said, "I have an idea, Mom. I hope my idea doesn't make you very angry. My idea is to sleep in your bed tonight."
• Dylan was talking to Marcos about going snow boarding. He said, "Maybe we should just start at the top of the balls and then go down from there." He was referring to the weather balls up in Farmington Canyon that we hike to.
• When Dylan sings, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" he says "good tidings we bring to you and your kid..."
• I had a lime rickey and Dylan was talking about how good it was. He told me we needed to get the recipe. I told him it was really easy. You just mix Sprite with grape juice. He said, "But how do you make Sprite?" I told him you don't really make Sprite, you just buy it. He said, "Do you just mix water and sizzle-y stuff or something?"

27 Weeks

I was supposed to have my "targeted ultrasound" between 20 and 22 weeks. WHOOPS! My last appointment got canceled and rescheduled so many times that by the time I went in for her to tell me to make the targeted ultrasound appointment, I was already LONG overdue. I was supposed to go in last week, but when I came down with strep, I had to reschedule. Man, all these doctor appointments can get tricky to coordinate. BUT...this one was really fun. This lady is really good at what she does and was so patient and cute with us.

Here's what we learned.

• The baby looks good and healthy - she especially LOVED the heart and commented on how strong it was. Wa-hoo! Marcos decided she's going to be a runner or a soccer player with her strong, healthy heart.
• The placenta is right in the center of my abdomen (I already knew that, but it was WAY obvious this time) which is why I didn't feel the baby kick as often or as early as with the boys...and why it took longer for Marcos to be able to feel.
• She's either shy or stubborn. I'm hoping for shy...we've already done the stubborn thing a couple times. :) Trying to get a picture of her in 3D was almost impossible. Her head was right behind the placenta the ENTIRE time so the pictures were always skewed a little showing more placenta than face. Dang it!
• For whatever reason, she is REALLY LOW! To get a view of her bum (and to verify she still is a girl) the lady had the wand clear down under my hip. Let me just say it was not exactly comfortable having her try to lodge that wand between my hip bone and where the baby's bum is sitting. She actually ended up tipping the table I was lying on upside down a bit to try to force her up a little with the help of gravity. It was pretty weird trying to look at the screen when I was upside down. :)
• And...that explains why I don't exactly look like I'm 27 weeks pregnant right now. For better or worse I pretty much look like a voluptuous, plus-size woman workin' her curves! ;) Oh well. I'm already looking forward to shedding the pounds, if you can't tell. The ultrasound lady was surprised at how much room there was in the top half of the uterus. For whatever reason, she is super content to hang out at the bottom half right now. That explains the numerous trips to the bathroom already. Sheesh!
• She's adorable! We got a glimpse or two in 3D of her little face and she is precious. Hard to tell for sure when it's an ultrasound picture, but she definitely resembles the other two quite a bit, although Marcos thinks she looks JUST like me. :) My mom watched the kids at McDonald's while we were at the appointment and when we went to pick up the kids afterwards said, "So does she have long, blonde hair like her mom?" Silly grandma. Her 3D semi-profile that we saw does remind me a lot of pictures of me asleep when I was a baby though so we'll see. It definitely made me cry (shocker!) when we finally caught a glimpse of her though. It makes the whole pregnancy SO REAL! There really is a little baby girl in there all curled up and cozy in my lower abdomen who is super cute and usually has her little hand right up by her face. Awww...so sweet!

My blurry 27 week picture courtesy of my photographer, Dylan

Look at that little arm and hand. That was the clearest shot we got in 3D.

It's hard to tell, but there is her face next to her arm. It's kind of blurry and then it's scanned so it's not the best picture, but she really is cute!

Bedroom Makeover

I told you I'm nesting! Yes, another project at the Uboldi home. :) I have seriously been wanting to do this forever, but have always had projects that took precedence. In fact, I took the "before" pictures clear back in January and am just now getting around to finishing everything at the end of April. Marcos and I have the same headboard and dresser that were mine as a teenager. I guess with my old furniture, I've still felt a little child-like over the years and couldn't wait to get something more "grown up." But it really is hard for me to justify buying new stuff when the old stuff is perfectly useful still. Last year during all our home remodeling, my mom gave us a "housewarming gift" which was a cute new bedspread. I think she just likes to have an excuse to spoil me a bit here and there. Anyway, I've been waiting to finish the bedroom since then. I don't know how many of you know, but Marcos and I have an interesting relationship when it comes to projects. He absolutely hates the idea of a project I get in my head (not because it's expensive or stupid, but because he hates extra work that he considers to be unnecessary) but I am persistent and usually can't stop until a project is done. As soon as the project is finished, he can't stop talking about what a good idea it was and how much he likes it. Seriously kid! Can't you just trust me next time? It was no different with this project. He protested over and over and now can't believe how much of a difference it has made. It really does feel like our very own grown up bedroom now. Anyway, enough jibber jabber. Here are some "before" and "after" pictures.

BEFORE

AFTER

Day 10 - Leaving St George

Saturday night we enjoyed a delicious meal thanks to grandma. She seriously spoils us when we're there. I tried to stay up and watch a chick flick with her while Marcos watched Deadliest Catch in the guest room, but I'm pretty sure I only made it through half the movie. I was COMPLETELY SPENT after 10 days of travel and vacationing! We had every intention of going to church with grandma the next morning, but when we found out it was her stake conference, we decided we'd skip it. Two hours of sacrament meeting with the boys sounded like torture. I woke up with a sore throat and wondered if I was getting yet another cold. I've been fighting a sinus infection FOREVER! I seem to keep re-infecting myself with the same germs this pregnancy. Anyway, we had breakfast, packed up and let the boys play a bit before we headed home. By the time we hit Provo, I knew I was sick. I had chills and was feeling miserable. I went to the doctor Monday and sure enough it was strep throat. I had a fever of 101 for three days straight...and Tylenol every 4 hours didn't exactly keep the fever down. It took me a few days to get the laundry done and the house caught up again with such a miserable virus, but at least it didn't affect the trip. We were able to truly enjoy our vacation with very setbacks. Hurrah to spring break! Until next year, my friend! ;)

Grandma and Grandpa Flowers (or Grandma & Grandpa St. George as we like to call them)

Grandpa, Dylan and Preston

Day 9 - Park, Pizza & Pavement

Instead of leaving early in the morning on Saturday, we decided to stay until lunch so my cousin, Melanie, could drive over and we could visit with her a bit. She has three kids and is expecting her 4th in September (I think she said she was 14 weeks pregnant so we are probably 11-12 weeks apart). Her kids are Braxton (6), Gavin (4) and Emree (2). With children so close in age, we were excited for the kids to get a chance to play together. It took a minute for them to figure each other out, but by the time we were at the park, they were good buddies. It's funny how similar Dylan and Braxton can be and Preston and Gavin could be twins as far as personality goes - they are both totally mellow and content to do their own thing. I don't know if it's birth order or what, but it was really interesting to watch! The kids played at the park, we had some pizza (thanks again for everything, Gail!) and then it was time to hit the road so we wouldn't be too late getting into St. George that night. Even with a few more stops than we had hoped, it was just after 8:00 p.m. Utah time when we rolled into St. George. Not too bad at all!

Hanging out on the truck before we left for the park

Building something in the sand at the park (Dylan, Braxton and Gavin)

Day 8 - So Long San Diego

I have to admit by Friday I was absolutely exhausted. Four days in a row of go, go, go and my body was feeling it. Good thing it was time to wrap it all up. Thursday night we packed up as much as possible so that Friday could be more cleaning and very little packing. The cleaning went pretty smoothly, although the kids were kind of antsy and all over the place. It was a bit tricky trying to keep them out of the areas we'd already cleaned. But everyone was good about pitching in and it did seem to go by quickly. Once again, Murphy's Law was hard at work: right as we were getting to the very last of the kitchen and ready to mop, the stupid garbage disposal backed up on us. And after some good efforts to fix the problem, water started leaking out of the closet and from under the sink. Seriously? Could it be worse timing? Oh well. We called a plumber and Laura and Abuela stayed to work out the plumbing problem while we got the kids out of the way. We went and got gas and good at Costco. Hurrah to cheap pizza and hot dogs! :) By the time we had finished, the plumbing issue was worked out and we were on our way.

I was warned ahead of time that traffic on the way to Las Vegas is bad on a Friday afternoon, but it was ridiculous! We were moving at 5-10 miles per hour for what seemed like forever. When I thought I could take no more, I decided to ask Marcos what he thought about staying with my cousin instead. I knew we were pretty close to the exit and we'd been invited beforehand. It's still a bit awkward to call at the last minute and ask for a place to stay, but we decided it was the best idea for us. We weren't going to get to St. George until midnight and I didn't want grandma to have to wait up for us. So...we called Gail and while Brent (my dad's cousin) and Gail were at a restaurant with Marge (my Grandma Betty's sister-in-law), we found a little restaurant in town and had us some yummy Mexican food. We figured it was a safe bet with a name like Don Marcos. How could we not eat there? :)

I'm so glad we decided to stay. It was so good to see everyone. Brent and Gail were so gracious and the kids had a blast playing the Wii and discovering all the toys in the toy box at their house. I let Preston fall asleep to his movie again (a true addiction by the end of the week) and Dylan was so tired he ended up falling asleep on the reclining chair in the middle of his Wii tennis game. So cute! We had a great time catching up a bit with family and then headed to bed.

The last moments at the house in San Diego... Can you believe there are 9 kids eating at one table simultaneously? That's got to be some sort of record!

Here are a few pictures of us in Rancho Cucamonga. Notice Marcos and the boys by the Don Marcos restaurant. We couldn't pass up on a picture like that. It really was good food too! The top picture is me with my great aunt Marge, the lower left-hand corner is me with Gail (late at night with no makeup, but still) and then Brent is in the picture with Marcos and the boys. Don't you love Dylan sound asleep in the chair? It was the cutest thing ever with his Wii-mote still on his wrist.

Day 7: Part 2 - Fun in the Sun

The beach was so much fun the second time around. With the help of Uncle Dave, the kids built a really cool "hot tub." It was like a fort made out of sand. We had quite the group in there digging and building - other kids couldn't help but join the fun. The tide kept moving up so we had to move the "hot tub" and even ended up needing to move our towels and bags several times. Crazy ocean! Preston was still brave, but I was much more relaxed the second time around. I still followed him around, but I knew as long as he was in reaching distance, I could grab him if he fell. He also discovered that bringing water in the bucket up to the hot tub was fun so that helped entertain him a bit. Dylan LOVED digging in the sand and found a pretty cool piece of sea weed that caught his attention. He also helped his girl cousins, Gabi and Leah, collect sea shells. What a helpful little cousin! :)

Laura and I dug belly holes in the sand so we could lay on our bellies. I have to admit, it was really fun to be able to lay on my stomach again. I was so comfortable and practically asleep when a big wave came up a little too high and woke us up in a hurry. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted! I have to say, I'm super glad we ditched Sea World early and spent a couple good hours in the sun. We had so much fun!

Building the hot tub

The infamous pregnant belly holes...and lots of fun with the kids!

Day 7: Part 1 - Sea World (Day 2)

Thursday we all got up and headed to Sea World again. Our tickets got us in for two days so we thought we'd hit the best stuff again and then head to the beach for another afternoon in the sun. The older kids went to the big ride, Atlantis, with Amy, Marcos and Abuela and the younger kids stayed behind with Dave, Laura, Esteban and me to play in the play area and ride a couple kiddie rides. Sea World is funny. They don't let you ride the kiddie rides if you are pregnant. Poor Laura couldn't go with Milli so Dave went with Mylo and then with Milli. I just kept my mouth shut and hopped on anyway. I guess that's the one advantage to a less than obvious pregnancy.

After we played, we headed over to the sharks and sting rays (the highlights from day 1 at Sea World) and then our family stayed a bit longer to check out the dolphins (my personal favorite). We had lunch in the car so we headed out to the car, but spent a good $20 or so on snacks on the way to the car. That's how vacations are I guess. The kids can't help themselves. It was a short, fun little day at Sea World.

Day 6 - Disneyland

Disneyland was probably my favorite day...although it's hard to say for sure. I went to bed way too late preparing all the stuff for the next day and then we woke up super early and got ready for our day of fun. We made good time, even though we made a wrong turn and missed the parking area and then got turned around and ended up at California Adventure instead of Disneyland. You can tell we are true Disneyland rookies. We didn't know what we were doing! Despite the spring break crowds, we were still able to hit quite a few rides and enjoy our day at Disneyland. It was fun to see Amy, Esteban and Abuela and the kids throughout the day, but we didn't stick together the whole time.

Dylan was so brave and rode all the big rides with Marcos. I don't know if going with older cousins helped or what, but I think he's finally over his fear of big roller coasters. We'll see if it works when we go to Lagoon this year. I was super nervous at first. Our first ride was Peter Pan and Preston was throwing a fit the entire 30 minute wait in line. I didn't bother sending him on Dumbo after that. He was content to sit in the stroller with his box of Cheez-Its. I finally realized what it was. He liked the stroller and the rides, but NOT the lines. Sorry bud, none of us like that part.

Later in the day, we rode Buzz Light Year with Esteban and the kids. When we came out of the ride, I was shocked to find Preston sound asleep in the stroller. Marcos had been watching him in the shade for a bit so I traded him spots so he could watch the Jedi Training show with Dylan and the cousins while I sat with Preston. I propped the stroller up on the backpack so he would be reclined a bit more and he slept for close to 2 hours. He definitely needed a recharge that day though so I'm glad he got in a good nap.

Amy and I went on the Jungle Cruise while Marcos and Esteban were on Indiana Jones. Preston LOVED seeing all the animals. It was definitely one of his favorites. Dylan says the Matterhorn was his favorite, but loved them all. In the evening, Marcos and Dylan got in line for Splash Mountain. They were all out of fast passes for that and Space Mountain so they just stood in line. Holy cow! They were probably in line for 2 hours. It was INSANE! Luckily Winnie the Pooh was right across from it and had very little wait. It quickly became Preston's obsession. We went on that ride probably 20 times while we waited for Marcos and Dylan. Then we let them join us a time or two and finally headed toward Tomorrowland. Preston cried the whole time saying, "I want Tigger Pooh, Mommy." He was so attached to that ride by the end of the night. It was pretty cute!

We watched Captain EO and then Marcos and Dylan rode on Star Tours while Preston and I ate churros and watched the fireworks. Then we waited for Nemo and finally headed towards the gates to go home around 10:30. I talked Marcos into waiting in one more line to get our pictures taken with Mickey and we were so lucky. The guy came and stood behind us to close the line for pictures right after we got there. So we were last ones in line for pictures with Mickey. But... it was worth it. Preston was so excited to see Mickey and actually smiled for a picture. It's a miracle!

Dylan was asleep in the van within minutes while my little couch potato, Preston, attempted to stay up for a movie. We hadn't eaten a real meal for quite awhile so we found an In and Out burger and had fast food at midnight before we drove back to San Diego. We were both pretty tired and I stayed awake to help keep Marcos alert on the rode. It was rough getting home, but we made it. What a GREAT day!

Look at Preston completely out in the stroller. He was exhausted!

Even abuela needed a little nap. Kylie fell asleep and when Amy and I got off the Jungle Cruise ride, abuela was asleep next to her.

Riding Winnie the Pooh. Notice the picture of Preston with his churro and his cars light-up souvenir. Those kids got pretty spoiled this trip!

I'm so glad we stayed late. We were able to get a few more rides in and the kids were going strong. Dylan was a die-hard and Preston had a nap so we were all good to go. What a fun day at the Magic Kingdom!

Day 6: Part 2 - The Beach

After Sea World, the kids were dying to go to the beach so we ran back to the house, grabbed our stuff and headed to the beach...at 6:00 p.m. I didn't even want to get wet. The wind was blowing and the sun was starting to set, but that didn't stop the crazy kids. Preston was INSANE! He loved the water and would run in, wait for a big wave and then turn and run back as it knocked him off his feet. Marcos had to follow him around the entire time. He was fearless! Dylan was a bit more cautious, but loved everything except the salt. He kept coming back from the water and spitting onto the sand. It does take some getting used to, that's for sure. :) We could only stay about an hour, but that was perfect. The kids had a blast and then we had to strip them down, wrap them up and turn the heater on full blast to counter the hypothermia. It was so worth it though.

Day 6: Part 1 - Sea World

Tuesday was Sea World for the entire family. It took a little coordinating with that many people, but was fun to be together all day. We had a lot of fun seeing the seals and sea lions, sharks, baluga whales and walruses, feeding the sting rays, and of course taking in a few shows. We were only able to make it to the seal & sea lion show and Shamu, but both were incredible! Here are a few pictures of our day at Sea World.

The bigger kids were able to go on a ride when we saw the baluga whales, but the smaller ones couldn't so Marcos took Dylan and I took Preston. It's always fun to have some one-on-one time with the kids and my time in Antarctica with Preston was priceless!

Spending a fortune on junk food! :)

Of course we couldn't resist the family photos at the end of the day.

Notice Dylan's lazy moment - he hopped in the stroller and told Preston to sit on his lap. He kept telling Preston that Preston was his big teddy bear. Those two are such cute brothers!