Irene's Blog: Happy Mother's Day

The last couple of weeks have been very busy for us. Two weeks ago Aaron had to go to Las Vegas for a work conference. He left on Sunday after dinner, but before the girls went to bed. They were fine when he left but when Natalie was trying to go to sleep and she realized that Aaron was not here and could not come she started crying and calling out for him. I felt bad especially since he was not coming home until Friday afternoon so it was going to be a long time. Every day she asked if this was the day he was coming home or tomorrow. She did not really understand the whole 5, 4, 3 days from now. Luckily to make things easier for me my friend Stacy from NC had to come to Round Rock for a training at Dell. It was great timing since she was able to stay with us and keep us company. Also having someone new at the house distracted the girls from Aaron not being home.

Stacy left on Friday and a couple of hours later Aaron got home. We all survived the week and hopefully he will not have to travel for a while, at least for not as long. The girls were so excited to see him. Especially Natalie she really missed him.

Then on Sunday my parents came to visit. They had spent some time in NYC and Connecticut visiting my brother and my sister so they planned a layover in Texas. We had a great time with them. Last time we saw them (well I saw them in Feb in PR at my grandmother's funeral) was in August when we went to visit them. Izzie had just started walking. How things change in a few months. Izzie is now running around like a crazy girl, Natalie is not as shy and talking nonstop. Last time my parents were here was in May of last year, we had just moved in and did not know Austin that well. Now we are more settled and the house more in order. Natalie and Izzie had fun showing them their rooms and all their toys. My parents left on Friday and Natalie misses them. She likes having company in the house, also she loves getting spoiled!

Since the last couple of weeks have been crazy and I have not been getting that much of a break from the kids Aaron took them out yesterday morning. He took them walking around Town Lake in downtown Austin, I got a couple of hours of peace and quiet in the house. Today for Mother's Day Natalie was very excited to celebrate with me.
In the morning we took the girls to Mansfield Dam in Lake Travis. The original plan was to try to hike/walk around the water's edge. But in the end we just looked at the beautiful view and the girls had a blast picking shells (can't really call them sea shells since we were on a lake) and throwing sand in the water. Natalie was not afraid of the water this time, I am glad that she is getting over her fear. Izzie on the other hand was insane. She walked right in. At one point we had to stop her because the water was to her belly. The best part is that I did not plan on this so of course they are in shorts and I did not have an extra set of clothes for them. Izzie had to ride home in her diaper. The girls had such a good time. Natalie kept saying she wanted to go in the water further. For being a lake the water was not that bad, it was a little chilly but not as bad as I was expecting. I miss the beaches in Puerto Rico & North Carolina but at least we have something here that the girls can enjoy.

We stayed home in the afternoon, Natalie wanted a cake (and I did too) so we got a chocolate cake and after dinner Natalie wanted to sign to me and have me blow a candle. So they sang Happy Mother's Day to me in the tune of Happy Birthday. It was so cute since Natalie was leading the way, all Izzie could say was Happy. They enjoyed the cake and are now exhausted from their long day.

Here are some pictures

Here is Natalie with my Mom