Hello everyone, it's been awhile and we're sorry. Things have picked up around here this summer but we hope to get back on track with our blog in mid July. As the new Treasurer for the Moms Club I myself am keeping pretty busy. We're also in the middle of planning for Nadia's Birthday and Sonia's baptism. We're still trying to get out to see my mom at least once to twice a week. Poor mom...she has had a tough time since the surgery. After visiting with the doctor last week they found that one of the incisions wasn't healing properly. Therefore, my dad has become the "nurse" around the house helping to change her bandages twice a day. This is very painful for my mom and so we ask for your prayers for a swift recovery. Other news this week...we may have a thumb sucker on our hands as you can see. Nadia has been cooling off in the pool with this hot weather and we had Chloe and Aunt Peggy pay a visit. Well, we're sorry we haven't kept things up to date but things should slow down after next weekend and we'll do our best to blog more frequently.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand"

Yesterday we joined some friends at a park for an hour of music, sunshine and fun. There's a free Kids Koncert series on Wednesdays. We had such a nice time that we plan on attending next week.

"To Know Her is to Love Her"

Jose had yesterday off so we decided to get out and enjoy the 70 degree weather with a visit to Forest Park. It was beautiful and absolutely refreshing. Jose made and packed panini sandwiches for us and a PB and J for Nadia. It was just a great day all together. A much needed day for the family. So here's the low-down...Nadia has begun her terrible twos... and I mean full speed ahead. She has put Jose and I through test after test the past few weeks. While we would like to think it has something to do with her cold, we're pretty sure she's trying to see how far she can push us. Most of this we believe is due to the attention that she doesn't want to share with Sonia and her desperate need for independence. Yes, I thought the search for independence began around thirteen but really this process begins at 15-18 months. So here we have this child who wants nothing more than for her mami to hold her (because mami is always holding the baby) but at the same time needs to do and choose everything for herself, it really must be frustrating and confusing for her, not to mention us. All of this is complicated by the fact that Nadia is a strong-willed, driven child and while this may help to get her ahead in life, it's a true challenge for Jose and I at this time. Anyway, by standing our ground very firmly, being consistent and spending a little extra one-on-one we feel that our little angel, full of spunk and personality has reappeared. You know while parenthood brings new challenges every day, hardships come and go, you love your children just the same and even more. As we teach/mold our girls we learn something new about ourselves in the process and this makes us better people...a stronger family.

Nadia doesn't mind showing us her muscles.

"I am the walrus coo coo ca chu..."

Ohhh, the sounds of a baby cooing...music to our ears. We're having so much fun with Sonia these days as she changes too quickly. Today she rolled to her stomach again, in her crib. She's also scooting forward on her stomach much like a worm (it looks like a miserable way to move forward). She's a very good, relaxed baby and we can appreciate that when trying to juggle two children.

Little Big Girl

Things are still getting better day by day, we're all feeling well and catching up on things around the house while Jose plays Mr. Mom. Although the recovery is slow, my mom seems to be doing better. I think now she would just like to feel well enough to get a good night's sleep. In other news, this past Saturday Nadia upgraded from a crib to a toddler bed. For whatever reason, we felt she was ready and so far we haven't had any problems with her sneaking out of bed...I'm sure it's just a matter of time. Nadia is also learning to sleep just about anywhere at Nana and Papaw's house (i.e., couch/bed) while Sonia occupies the crib. We are excited to announce that our sweet Sonia has started laughing. I heard her laugh last Friday and since I was the only witness (you know how mothers can hear what they want to hear) I decided to wait before I mentioned it. However, over the last few days Jose, Nana and Papaw have witnessed this awesome milestone. We're hoping to capture it on video. Oh, and last Saturday Sonia turned over from her back to her belly but only once and it hasn't happened again. Her little arm got caught but she's almost there, we'll see if it was just a fluke.

In the Clear

It definitely has been a rough week in the Perez household with Tatum and Nadia being sick, but I am glad to say that they both are feeling better. More importantly, Becky, aka Nana, aka Tatum's Mom, got to go home from the hospital mid last week and is recuperating nicely. Here she is hanging out with Sonia and Nadia.

In other news, we have been having some really strange weather the last couple of weeks. Here is a pic that I took Friday night from our backyard. Definitely not normal. Just very orange.

The Weekend from... Hello, how are you?

It has been a rough weekend for us all. Friday morning Tatum's mom woke up not feeling too well. A call to the doctor turned into a trip to the ER which resulted in an exploratory surgery to remove a blockage from her intestine. She is not feeling well, but is on the road to recovery and could be home as early as Tuesday. Our thoughts and prayers are with her.

Since this was so sudden, Tatum and I rushed after work on Friday to go see her at the hospital. Little did we know that severe thunderstorms and potential tornadoes were in the works. As we drove up US 31, we were suddenly surrounded by some very dark clouds and crazy wind gusts. We turned on the radio and realized that we were smack dab (really?... did I just use the words "smack " and "dab"?) in the middle of it. We stopped for a few minutes at a gas station to formulate a plan and after a while we just said "forget it" and drove up the rest of the way. It was pretty intense, Nadia was crying from the heavy rain and lightning, Sonia then joined forces with her. We finally made it unscathed... At the hospital Becky was in surgery while Mike was moved to a windowless area to wait and all the patients to the hallways.

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting Nana in the hospital and trying to keep both girls entertained. This was made a lot harder since Tatum, Nadia and Sonia were all sick with various cold/cough/fever/runny nose ailments (I guess I just have a awesome immune system). Nadia's temperature got up to 102.5 yesterday, and Tatum sounds like she could do some voiceover work for Fran Drescher.

So the weekend culminated at a Sunday night visit to the Pizza Hut buffet (I still feel ill), and a mostly quiet ride down to our house. Here's where it gets interesting. When I say mostly quiet, I am referring to about 10 minutes from our house, when Nadia woke up from her nap in the car seat. I'm guessing that she was disoriented and nauseous (you know what's coming next) because she looked right in my eye and proceeded to puke right onto the blanket that was next to her seat. So the rest of the ride involved me trying to catch rogue vomit chunks in said blanket. Ah...welcome to parenthood.

We’ll try and keep everybody up to speed with everything that happens in this next week.

Oh, by the way, it was Tatum and I’s 6th wedding anniversary yesterday. I have a feeling it will be a long time before we forget this one.