My little baseball player

Ava is truly impressive with her athleticism.  She has amazing hand-eye coordination and a real aptitude for different sports. When she had just started walking, she could already kick a ball.  She has always been good at playing catch with a ball, now loves soccer, running, dance, gymnastics, yoga, and has learned how to hit a baseball!

For Christmas, the kids got a baseball machine that pops up the ball to give little ones a chance to practice hitting.  Ava learned how it worked and was a pro in no time!  She can also now hit the ball when Daddy pitches to her, and has even hit a few home runs by knocking the ball over the fence. :)

She is so proud and loves getting pointers from Daddy!

Delicious giggles

Sofia is at such a fun age!  She giggles easily, all it takes is a little interaction.  There are times where Daddy and I will just sit with her on our lap at night and make her giggle.  All we need to do is have her face one of us, look away, then look back and smile and she let's out a delicious giggle!  The more we laugh, the more she laughs...it's hard not to get her all excited at night. :)

Christina's wedding week

Wow!  What a whirlwind of a week!!!  So much fun having family in town from all over the world, including cousins I haven't seen in probably over 20 years!!!  All of Voovoo's siblings were able to come, plus Bizo, Deedee, Julie, Brian, Kathryn, Carla, Paula, and Lucia.  Tia Stela, Tio Paulo, Tia Anesia, Caco, Mano, Bia, and Raquel came too.

Vovo and Voovoo's house was full, but then again, so was ours!  Martha, her friend Anna, Raquel, Bobby, Heather, Bridgette and Aiden all stayed at our house.  To accommodate everyone, we moved into our master bedroom downstairs... but Ava, Alex, and Sofia didn't seem to mind too much! :)

My goal for the week was to keep the kids on as normal of a schedule as possible, while also trying to participate in as much as possible.  It's not easy when these little ones are only 4, 2, and 4 months old!!! Talk about juggling, multitasking, and being pulled in a million different directions!!  Even so, I was still able to watch Christina at her hair trial run appointment, get my nails done with the girls, wrap bem-casados, prepare a photo slideshow surprise for the rehearsal dinner, attend the rehearsal and dinner, get my hair done with the girls on the wedding day, watch Christina get ready, have a good time at the wedding (I even got to dance to a song amidst keeping track of my 3 little ones), and go to the after party on Sunday.  Though I was exhausted by the end of the week, it was so much fun!  And if you think I had fun, just imagine what a magical time the kids had!!!  They LOVED it all!!

Assembling the "bem-casados"

 

Beautiful girls!

My handsome prince!

 

 

Raquel with Sofia watching Christina put her wedding dress on at the hotel

Boneca!!  Couldn't have participated as much if Raquel had not helped hold Sofia so much!

Bridgette and Ava were flower girls, and were so excited!!

At this point, Alex was over it...he was too hungry for pictures, so he went to the kids room to eat pizza and relax!  Being a ring bearer was a little too much ;)

 Such beautiful flower girls!

 

Alex had no problem going to his new Uncle Ayim during the toast...that's where the spotlight was after all!

 

Sofia got to dance with Mommy and Daddy...and when I said we got to dance, I never meant that it was just me and Daddy! haha

 

 

The after party BBQ at Voovoo and Vovo's house was fantastic!! So much fun!

Even the Gaworeckis made it out...Ava and Quinn love playing together!

Sofia got in plenty of cuddles with Caco, while Alex practically fell asleep while reading with Mano.  Poor little guy was exhausted after such an eventful week!

 

Nothing like cousin time!

Bridgette, Ava, Sofia, Aiden, and Alex

 

The girls!!  25+years from now, we'll be doing the same wedding week with these little ones!

 

 

Sofia's 4 month stats

Our little girl is growing so FAST and I could hardly believe her "stats" when we went for her 4 month check-up. 

She is hitting all her milestones: developing beautifully, rolling over, trying to stand (assisted, of course), giggling, cooing, observing, trying to grasp things, eating her feet, and just growing!  This was no surprise, but where she falls on the growth chart was quite a surprise to us. I guess she has some of Grandpa's height genes in her too! :)

Weight = 14 lbs 5 oz (wow! she's doubled her weight in 4 months - coming in at the 41% percentile)
Height =  25.75 inches (84% percentile!!!!)

I cannot believe she grew over 5 inches!! That's just crazy!

 

Could Sofia be trying to crawl already? She's only 4 months!!!

Surely not! But maybe?

Sofia has mastered rolling over and now tries to go places when I place her on her tummy!  She grabs and pulls, and pushes with her legs.  Once she gets strong enough to hold her head up while doing this, she will actually be crawling!  I can't believe she is trying to move so much already. 

This little one does not stay in one place.  When I lay her down on the ground, she quickly rolls over and makes her way to a toy or something interesting to check out.  Time to baby proof again!!!!

 

Alex, of course, continues to be my sweet little guy.  He could not be sweeter or more gentle with his little sister...though sometimes he does get an irresistible urge to squeeze her cheeks!  He refrains as best he can, reaches his arms out, and pushes her cheeks together with his palms open wide.  Too cute!! Sofia doesn't mind at all; she is fascinated by her siblings, and loves any attention she gets from them.

 

Ava's first day of Pre-K

Today Ava started her first day of Pre-K.  We enrolled her in a 3 days/week program, since she goes to her other school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Ava is so eager to learn new things, that we thought she might enjoy it and it might be nice to have it as a precursor to kindergarten and going to school 5 days/week.  I also thought that Alex might benefit from having some independent time as well, where he could be more "in charge", considering Ava rarely relinquishes that role.

Ava's new school is at a church about 5 minutes from our house and has a proper Pre-K program.  They have a real curriculum, only 12 students per class, and a nice structure to the program.  The school itself is adorable, and Ava was super excited to go. 

At the "meet the teacher" day, Ava decided our way over that she was going to be shy.  She actually stated "Mommy, I think I am going to be shy today when we get there".  And sure enough, she was hiding behind my leg, holding on to me, not really wanting to interact.  I met the teacher, we checked out her classroom, and looked around. Alex and Sofia were with me, and Alex was NOT shy at all!  He knew he was not the focus or center of attention, which then gave him the liberty to explore!

On Ava's actual first day, she decided she would not be shy and felt totally prepared.  She knew what to expect and felt quite confident.  She did not even look back, we dropped her off in her classroom, and she simply said "bye Mommy!"  When I picked her up, she said "I had a GREAT day!"  I guess she likes it! :)