Baby-blessing #2 gender announcement!

As I'm approaching the half way mark, we wanted to share that just yesterday we were finally able to find out the gender of baby-blessing #2 who will be arriving late September 2013! Let me tell you... baby did not make things easy. Ha! Monday we went in for the third time... Yup, the previous times, baby was with legs crossed & all curled up. You know, all comfy. Can't blame the child ;) But, third time was the charm...

This morning I took Emma & big bro Troy to the park to snap some photos...

The next three photos are her being very EXCITED! haha

Drum roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 It's a G-I-R-L!! 

Yup, and we are soo excited that Emma will have a baby sister to grow up with 

& create many memories!

Can't say I was shocked when the technician told us, only because so far my pregnancy has been very similar to my last one, but we feel incredibly HAPPY & BLESSED! Can't wait to meet the newest addition to our family!!

Happy Tuesday!!

xo

New blessing announcement!

WE are soo happy to share that we have been blessed & our family

 will be growing by one coming this September!

 

Baby #2 is currently 11 weeks so we still have a ways to go.... Thankfully I didn't suffer from morning sickness with Emma & so far its been the same this time around. Only thing is fatigue, but it's part of the process ;)

Good night friends!

xo

Emma's weekly portraits: Weeks 64 - 65

 I still can't believe it... even when I say it out loud. My baby is fifteen months! And its been the best time of my life!  I thank God for allowing me to be mommy to a little person with a kind heart & full of soo much love.

Emma's weekly portrait: Week 60

I can't believe it, my baby is officially 14 months today! I feel soo blessed to be her mommy. Stumbled upon this quote & it pretty much sums up the way I feel for her

Love:

To feel with one's whole self the existence of another being. 

- Simone Weil

She's doesn't look like a baby so much does she? :( But always silly!

 For this child I prayed... ♥ [ 1 Samuel 1:27 ]

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours... Wishing everyone a merry Christmas eve! Enjoy your love ones & don't forget to tell them how much they mean to you because tomorrow is never guaranteed! xo

5 years & counting.. Happy Anniversary my love!

Ever since I began blogging about years ago, I've made it a point to blog a little thank you to my wonderful husband (you can find those here, here & here).... this year we are celebrating 5 years of marriage & it's more special than any other because we have our daughter Emma.

- - - - - - - 

Dear Edwin,

Marrying you has been the best decision I've ever had to make & if I had to do it all over I most certainly would! One of the precious gifts of our relationship is the comfort of knowing I can always be myself with you, and you will accept me for being just that. With you, I never have to laugh when I feel like crying, or be quiet when I need to talk, or stay calm when I feel like getting upset, or sound positive when I need to complain... But by far the greatest comfort is the knowledge that when I need a friend... I never have to be alone. I know that when I need to talk, you will really, really listen. You always find ways to show me I'm important to you. Your support adds so much to my life. You share in my joy as if it were you own. You feel my pain... and you cry with me. When I want to change a paret of myself, you gently encourage me in my growth without demanding, pressuring or criticizing me if I fall short of my ideals. 

Thank you for understanding me, accepting me, and loving me as I am. You've played such a special role in my life, but you will always ho.d an even more special place in my heart. I love you babe!

I love you because you gave me Emma. She's the product of our love, and the one whom we strive to be the best for. And I know I say this often, but I really am blessed that you work very hard to allow me to stay home with her... THANK YOU!

Times like these make beautiful memories... Times like these are why I love you. You mean more to me more than anyone ever will. I look forward to the future as a family.

Here's to the rest of our lives!

Loved you yesterday

Love you still

Always have

Always will

Photos courtesy of Stacee Lianna

I believe God can heal my mom

"They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord." 
Psalms 112:7

This verse replays in my mind constantly throughout my day. It's the only way I'm able to keep it together. Trusting in Him. Knowing that God has promised not to give us more than we can handle.

It is surreal. The moment they tell you those words, "you have cancer." The biopsy result of the lump my mother questioned on her breast read "carcinoma". It is definitely still very hard for me to process & maintain my normal positive attitude. I have not even been able to share this with many friends because its still soo difficult to talk about it. Mostly because I am full of diverse emotions . . . But I know my God is with us & is ever-faithful.

The past two weeks my mother has undergone many test. Wednesday we received some of the results. And one of the most important. We needed to know if the cancer had already spread. Considering the circumstance, I'm happy to say God has heard our prayer & the cancer has not spread spread yet! Praise be to Him.   

If you've been following my blog for a while now, you know exactly how I feel about my mother - she's always been the best example of a Godly woman I could only aspire to be. You can find a post dedicated to her here.

Next step is chemotherapy, radiation and a possible mastectomy. We have a long road ahead of us but I have faith that we will come out on top of this. I normally don't ask for anything on here, but can you all say a little prayer for my mom? May God do His will with her & fully restore her health. And if it's not too much to ask for, let me know that you are praying so that I can show her all the support we are getting with prayer. This will encourage her to keep fighting.

This is my beautiful mom inside & out, her name is Delia. I believe in my heart that God can heal her.

Thank you in advance for your prayers & support.

I will keep you all updated as we begin this journey...

Letter to my daughter: Nine months later

Dear Emma,

Where do I start? You growing soo fast! I can't believe nine months have already gone by & it seems like just yesterday I laid eyes on you as they put you in my arms. Let me tell you, that was the happiest day of my life. Immediately you filled my heart with love & I couldn't stop starring at you!

And here we are, nine months later & I'm still smitten. Your now crawling & cruising from the coffee table to the couch and back again. Others say you will be walking very soon. Although you had your first taste of solids at five months, now your really eating food every couple of hours. So far you've liked everything I have offered - thank you for not being a picky eater like me :) You love chicken soup & sweet potatoes! And water which makes me very happy. Another thing you LOVE to do is wave at pretty much the whole world. Everywhere we go, you wave. You give me wet kisses that I wish I could bottle up. You also get very excited when I say "Papi is home"which let me tell you, makes him forget how tired he his. Your favorite song at the moment is "On top of spaghetti" & "Two little birds". You have your own dialect that you only share with certain people here's a snippet below:

You always wake up with a smile on your face & I love it... today in particular you were standing on your crib making a sound as you pointed towards the tutu that I made you when you were just three months. So I decided to put it on you and snap a couple pictures. To celebrate all the joy you have brought to "Papi" & I these past nine months, I gifted you with your first camera. I have a feeling photography might grow on you ;)

All about silly faces! 

Had to get Troy [aka Em's bodyguard] into a picture too :)

bye, bye!

Baby girl, daddy& I love you very much. Your our BIG blessing from above! We thank God every chance we get for the gift of being your parents.

Love you more than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow - Mum

P.S. 

the ah-mazing camera was  purchased on Etsy :)

Spontaneous road trip to... Yosemite National Park

About two weeks ago, we went on a road trip up north. Four and a half hours later we arrived to our destination. One of my favorite places to visit because of the beauty & magnitude of Yosemite National Park. This was my third time visiting but this time it was extra special because I had my little girl there with me.

Although most of the falls were already dried up by this time, the parks beauty is truly inspiring. Here are some of the images I snapped :)

I need to find a spot for this one on a wall around the house :)

Safe to say, Emma enjoyed it!

Happy Tuesday internet...

P.S.
There will be a HUGE announcement in the next couple of days, so stay tuned!

Thursday Randoms

So its basically been forever since I've blogged. I know, sad face. I hate that I've put it off for soo long already, but seriously having a newborn is no joke. No, I'm not making excuses for it, but she really does take up all my time & energy. Not that I would trade her for ANYTHING :) She's my little piece of heaven. More on my baby girl Emma on a future post. Hold me to it. And don't let me off soo easy. If I slack off, ask me about it. I don't mind, really ;)


QOUTE: Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Albert Einstein

LISTENING TO: Big Jet Plane by Angus and Julia stone [on repeat]

ENJOYING: Being able to stay home with Emma who is growing too fast!

BLESSED BECAUSE: I'm married to my best friend, who I love with all my heart.

ON TO-DO LIST: Blog, blog & did I mention BLOG ;)

TODAY: Summer is here so the Beach is calling my name!

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Wishing you a blessed Thursday!

January recap

Getting back to blogging on a regular basis has not been the easiest task for me to tackle thus far this year with a newborn & all. But I'm not making any excuses, although I have to be honest, many times I've opted to nap instead of blogging. You'll have to forgive, I promise to get back on track. It's of course, on of my many new year resolutions.

The month of January, like December has been of month of learning & sleepless nights. Just yesterday, for the first time in two month I slept nine hours straight & God knows I needed it! My husband & I have always been the ones to go to bed early; just ask my close friends. And recently, yeah, that hasn't been happening. But all in all, having Emma with us is soo worth every minute of being sleep deprived and exhaustion to the point where you think you can no longer function. The happiness she brings causes my heart to over-flow with joy. Never knew it was possible to love someone soo soo much. Every mommy out there, I'm sure concurs.

Little shout-out to my hubby: Babe, thanks for being such a hard working man which allows me to stay home with our Emma. I love you!!

Everyone always says "babies grow too fast" & one does not understand that until you have your own. For this reason I decided to take at least one photograph of my growing Emma. Here is the set for January:

Week six is when she began cooing & mimicking sounds - its soo adorable!

Yup, she's my assistant :)

... and looking like daddy more each day ;)

If you've been following my blog for awhile, you know I LOVE hiking. I stopped going when I was about 7 months pregnant & I finally got the okay from the doc to start working-out six weeks after giving birth, but the baby & I had been sick. This past Saturday I stepped back on a hiking trail, with Emma & that's when I realized how much I had missed it! Here's my little hiking partner & I (photo taken on Monday with iphone)

 In other news, last week I finally got behind the camera after being on maternity leave! Here's a sneak of what will be hitting the blog soon!

Happy Wednesday loves! xo