Catch Up

Happy Birthday today to Nicole and Erin! And recently it was Leia's and Kailea's and soon it will be Robyn's. Wow, so many birthdays are in August and September!

We have been in the new place for over two weeks now, and it has been so nice. Moving in was one pleasant surprise after another. We had forgotten how big this place is, and that the non-carpet floors were tile. Also the last time we had seen the place the appliances were not here, and the hallways, lobbies, green spaces and common rooms had not been finished.

Angelina was kind enough to let me write this while she was awake, since she decided not to have a nap today. But now she is saying, "Out! Out!" So off we go to play outside!

Helping daddy
Bananas taste better here
How lucky am I to look at this gorgeous face all day?
Part of the park beside our house. There's lots of room to run around!
You are my sunshine!

We're Alive!

Happy birthday Sammi! Darn, we missed the party! But we finally have a phone connection from slow, horrible Telus, so I'll email out the new number ASAP.

We also have set up our computer and are building our new computer desk today so I should be on here sometimes now. I still haven't gotten to my emails but will do that this week. I'll post some pictures too, of course. Meanwhile, does anyone else have anything to say? Come on, talk to me!

The move went really great and we love, love love our new home.

do you have a new #?

we need to get a hold of you... may be coming out to the greek house or turtle bay pub tomorow to celebrate sammis birthday and I am trying to get a hold of people...& Shawn is back from working in India...

Happy Birthday Sam

Hope you have a great 25th birthday! PS pretend I said all this last weekend when it was your actual birthday... sorry.

I've been crazy busy all week with this move and haven't made it onto the computer to check the email or anything, so if anybody's waiting on a response from me I appologize.

Tomorrow is the big day, wish us luck with the movers and lawyers and stuff. We have already had good luck with the investment; I talked to the realtor this morning and she said that a tiny unit with a really bad view is selling now for almost as much as we paid for ours. So in just over a month our property value has already gone up. Wohoo!

I will tell one funny pregnancy story before I get back to packing: this morning I smelled a really foul stench. I said to Matt "That was the grossest fart ever! It smells like you farted last week and bottled it up to let it rot for awhile and just released it now!" Turns out I was not smelling a fart at all, but some freshly poured Cheerios, not rotten in the least. Pregnancy is so funny.

I don't think I told you about the condo yet

Exactly one week until we're in our new place, and we are so excited. It's been almost a couple of months since we have even seen it, and even then, it was only twice and we weren't sure we were going to buy it.

I remember it well though, becuase we loved it so much and we made the realtor stay late so we could see it longer. We loved it. It's all brand-new and nicely coloured and good-looking. The living room and bedrooms are carpeted with nice cooshy carpet which is perfect for babies. There is a laundry room and tons of closet space. The windows are all huge and have a nice view of the grounds and the pool and the mountains and sky. It is right beside a beautiful park and beach, and just a couple blocks from our favourite restaurant in the world (you know what I'm talking about!)

It's also a good investment. The building is still being finished and the value is expected to go up when it is. It's "resort living" becuase of the pool, hottub, gym, common areas and beach; those kinds of properties are hot. If you know Matt and I, then you know that we did our research on the real estate market, and area- and resort- specific projections before we decided to buy.

All-in-all, the place is perfect for us in pretty much every way. We are very happy now, but living in our own beloved home will be the icing on the cake.

Do the Pineapple

Things are getting pretty exciting and busy around here, with just one more weekend left before the move. It's amazing, Matt points out, how much of our lives we spend moving. It's been a number of times in the past two years, and every time it makes us busy for a few weeks. It will be nice to settle down in our own place and stay for a while.

Recently Matt came across a bum at his work, picking cigarette butts out of the ashtray outside. He started a conversation with Matt and told him that he used to be a middle-class man with a family. He got divorced and then became a bum voluntarily. He walks the same route every day collecting cans, and just from that he makes $80 a day! He owns a small barbeque and buys all his own food, and he smokes half-cigarettes out of ashtrays so he doesn't have to buy them. Matt said that the guy would be handsome if he cleaned up. The bum said he was happier now without responsibilities. Isn't that interesting?

I finally got around to taking the last pineapple picture that I've been meaning to do for a few months. Here is the growth of my little beauty as compared to a pineapple in about a year:

A few days old. What a tiny little beauty!

About six months

Look how grown up!

I used to be just this big?

A little dance called "the Pineapple"

Mama's Big Helper

Normally I wouldn't want my panties on the internet, but I just had to show you Angelina's favourite game: wear mama's clothes. She loves playing in the laundry and dressing herself in my clothes. Especially my underwear, maybe becuase it's the closest to baby-size.

Angelina has a couple other favourite games. One is to run back and forth between me and Matt (yes, by herself!) and at the last minute charge and just throw herself on top of us. Another is to play mama. She loves to feed and dress and take care of me and her teddy bear. I bought her a doll-size crib and dresser on the weekend and will get a babydoll and stroller next, so she can practise for the new baby.

The new baby will be here in about three and a half months, holy cow. I have only gained about 10 pounds, but baby is over a foot long, according to what I read, and is very strong, according to what I feel! Oh, I can't wait!

Angelina is doing very well. She sleeps in her own little bed now instead of a crib. She says almost 30 words regularly. I won't list them, becuase that's boring, but I will tell you a couple of my favourites: she says "twist!" and does a little twisty dance, and says "Einstein" when she wants to watch a baby Einstein movie. She's also the most friendly little baby of all. She loves waving and talking to babies and kids, and going over to them to offer them a toy, even really big kids.

She wore these around proudly all afternoon

So helpful with the laundry

Helping with the move. She put my shirt on by herself, not bad!

Wow, daddy's shoes are way bigger!
>

Practicing one of her favourite words (booby).

The Last Rite of Passage

We bought a minivan. I had to be talked into it, but now I'm glad I was. It's so awesome! We got an Odyssey, which is a big Honda Accord. It's smaller than other vans and has lots of really cool features.

We've graduated college, got careers, got married, had a baby and are having another, bought a home, and bought a minivan. I think we're officially grownups. Weird, weird!

With the upcoming move we have been busy packing, organizing and shopping. But we still get out to the beach and got to see Sam and Lee while they were staying at the cabin. I can't believe it's already August 7th. Summer is ending (boo) and we're moving so soon (yay)!

Matt took up jogging awhile ago and has been doing amazingly well at it, just like he does at everything. On the weekend we bought him an iPod to listen to while he jogs, and also a stereo thing to plug it into so we can listen to the music at home too. It's a pretty handy little gizmo, becuase now we can get rid of our giant stereo and our cds (Matt loaded them all into the iPod). We'll also get a thing so you can play it in the car. Oooh, we're so high-tech.

Condo Condo Bo-Bondo

Thanks guys! Just to clarify, it isn't a house, it's a condo. Some people might prefer a house house, but wow, we are more than happy with this place instead! It's still ground level, but we never have to mow the lawn or make repairs, and there's a pool and hottub and gym there that we wouldn't have with a house. We will move in one month, which feels like an eternity! Matt is already dragging us to every home store, determined to buy all new stuff for the place before we even move in. You know Matt, very on top of things.

Ang, I remember those post-wedding days. They are almost as busy as before the wedding, what with the presents, decorations and stuff to organize and the thank you cards that you can never really get on top of. With the wedding shower, wedding, baby shower and baby all in one year, writing cards was like my job. Not that I'm complaining! Nice work if you can get it, haha.

Here are some playtime pictures of the Beauteous Maximus

Here she is with little Riley, her best bud from up north. Riley is the only baby I've met who is quite similar to Angelina. They even have the same voice and it's hard to tell who said something.

They were like, "mamas, quit taking our pictures. We're not going to smile anymore, we just want to play with this cat."

What a tiny little muffin.

Angelina and Dayton sitting in a tree, c-h-e-w-i-n-g!

When we saw this in the store, Angelina was so exited because she loves ladybugs! She kept yelling, "bug! Bug!" and insisted on carrying it to the till even though the box was so heavy I had to wedge it into the stroller with her. Now it's her favourite little hangout.

Well done you guys!!!

That is so awesome that you got a house...and it sounds phenominal!! It was nice to have that quick visit with you when I came to drop off the arbor...we need to get together more often....phone us sometime... So ya, when do you get to move in???

I love the pic of Angelina the night of our wedding!! She looked so riled up... she had a lot of fun playing with Carly and vice versa...

Other than working, we are still trying to get our house back in order... we had it spotless and believe it or not, clutter free before the wedding and then the decorations and presents took over... I have been so busy with figuring out our pictures and trying desperatly to get all of our thank you cards out...by the way... I have one for you guys!!! :) (at least yours is done)...

I thought I wouldn't know what to do with my time after the wedding, but I guess I was wrong... for a while anyways. Did you take any pictures Keira??? if so, can I get your copies?? either through email, or on a CD... Thanks!

Hey Garcia Family

It was so great to see you at Ang and Bryce's wedding although our visit was not long enough. You all look great and congrats on the pregnancy as well as your new house. When do you get to move in? Angelina looks adorable in all of the pictures, so must be so much fun to play with and quite entertaining.

I am back in the Okanagan at least for another 2 years. I got accepted to UBCO for their elementary education program and will be moving to Kelowna later this summer. As for now I am staying with my parents.

Hopefully sometime soon we can all get together and catch up. I'd love to hear all your news and of course see Angelina again.

Take care,
Lindsay

Long time no speak

Heya,

WOW Keira, you have A LOT of exciting news that I did not know about!! I still check this blog about once a week and I never post because honestly I lead a boring life. Especially compared to yours!! WOW a new baby!!! :D are you guys gonna find out the sex before it's born or wait? I know you guys were torn between this last time.

I am still just working at NONA almost full time, which I LOVE btw, and hanging out with the gang, drinking margaritas and so on.

OMG Angelina seems so awesome!! She is sooo big and can do so much it astounds me!!

AND OMG you guys bought a house?!! Awesome! And it's in Winfield! I know how much you really loved it there! I'll have to come and go to the beach with you guys one day :P that's great news to hear!

We all just celebrated Hailey's first bday yesterday! It was so great! I will send you guys pictures on here soon of her and her chocolate cake! She doesn't like to get dirty that much, so she was hesitant at first, but grandma (my mom) helped her out and smeared it around, and then Hailey started to really like it! Before she started to cry a bit :P well anyway, she got TONS of great gifts (and I went WAY overboard) and it was a great time!

I hope all is well with everyone else! And I'll keep reading for news on here! PS. Keira, I'm not a fan of facebook because nothing is private anymore and that really bothers me, but a lot of others are doing it.

More!

As if yesterday wasn't already the coolest day ever becuase of the ultrasound, we also bought our first home. I didn't mention it before becuase it wasn't finalized yet.

Last week we decided to think about possibly buying. Then on Saturday we went to an open house, then back on Sunday, saw the mortgage broker on Monday, made an offer Tuesday (rejected), made a bigger offer Wednesday, signed the papers Thursday. Wow.

So now we are the proud owners of an awesome home in Winfield. Ah Winfield, we've missed you. The place is brand, brand new, and the building isn't even finished yet. It has enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, stainless steel appliances, and a bunch more spiffy nice features. The best part is that it is right beside an enormous beach and park, bigger and nicer even than Paddlewheel.

So yesterday was one smokin' awesome day.

I know I should get onto that Facebook. Even the other parents in our gang use it to organize get-togethers. I did finally go check it out and even signed up, but that's as far as I got really. It doesn't seem that great but it must be, it's so popular. Do you all use Facebook?

Two Wonderful

Yes, in case there's anyone out there who still doesn't know, I am halfway through my second pregnancy! In fact I had my ultrasound today and confirmed that I am more pregnant than I thought. My due date is now December 3rd.

Here is my baby's beautiful face, facing the camera and slightly upward. The top of the head is the left side. The short, thick white straight line is the outline of baby's nose. This looks like Matt's nose, not Angelina's and mine! Eyes are to either side of the top of the nose. The two line things below (to the right of, in this picture) baby's head are the little arms with hands tucked under the chin; this is one of the only pictures of the baby not sucking on fingers!

What a gorgeous creature. Now that I've seen it I can't wait to meet my new baby, snuggle that tiny body and kiss those sweet cheeks.

Angelina is the coolest, funnest, sweetest little buddy we could have and we love her so much it drives us crazy. I can't believe that soon we're going to have two! It's mind-blowing to think how much fun and happiness we'll have. I am so lucky!

Facebook has taken over!!!

Hey Cuz.....hope all is well....i have a semi-solution to the NO BLOGGING issue! lol.....FACEBOOK....i advise you to check it out....its a greater way of sharing pics, chattin with people from ur past and present.....however, i still check yours and meilssa's blog every so often.....cause i LOVE seeing updated pictures!

so...if u get the chance during one of Gina's naps...check it out...

www.facebook.com

Other then that, things are going good...keeping myself busy with the busy summer season of work....i've been out to the cabin a bunch this summer too...just a good way to relax.....i will be out there again on Sat (28th) staying till sunday (29th) and then again for the Aug long weekend.....hopefully i get a little more time in with Sam and Lee (still havn't met him) this time....as well i hope you and matt and gina can make it out a few times as well cause its always great to catch up!!! How's the pregnancy coming along?? have any belly pics? i saw a picture of Nicole's belly on her facebook site (see u totally have to join) and its super cute....do u know what you are having yet?

n e ways take care.....say hi to matt for me...and gina!

~Eryn~

Party 'til You Drop

Ang and Bryce got married Canada Day weekend. It was a wonderful wedding and Ang looked gorgeous. Anglina had a blast and stayed up all night playing with everybody. Here she is when we finally went home at midnight, ready for bed but still having fun!
She's talking like a maniac now, and learns a new word every day. I told her what a booby was once and now she always points to my chest and says "booby!" Ooops! The other day Angelina was eating lunch and I left the room for a minute. When I came back she was holding a cracker up to her teddy bear's mouth and saying "eat, eat!" She is so awesome.

Yay, thanks for posting Kirsten. Angelina is asleep right now but when she's up I'll call you and make a date! Fun fun!

I will check out that book as soon as I'm finished David Copperfield. It takes me awhile to read a book, I only squeeze in a few pages during Angelina's naps.

well ok. I"ll post

hmm, Well Drew and I have moved to a nice 2 bedroom place in lynn Valley. It has a nice fenced yard for Lola to play in.
Drew has changed his schooling and is now becoming a lawyer. thank god. LOL I don't want to work any longer. I'm so sick of having to get up and wipe asses.
I saw Matt and Keira when they came up and we had sushi and had a little visit. it was nice. I'm coming up to Armstrong tomorrow for a week. so anyone wanting to hook up leave me a message on my e-mail. kirstenanddrew@gmail.com
I really don't have much to say as I"m really quite a boring person.
but yeah. Keira I suggest you read a complicated kindness by marium towss. its very good and I think you would get a kick out of it.
but yes,
thats about it.
Kirsten

Somebody Else Blog!

For a few weeks I stopped blogging and people kept telling me to do it again becuase they like to read it. I didn't even know anybody was still reading this thing. How could I know, when nobody else leaves any posts?

It's summer, and I know you are doing stuff. What is it? Please tell me, it's boring being the only one who blogs.

We've been busy with weddings, playdates, and all kinds of fun stuff. I have about a month's worth of pictures, here are a few:

What a Trip!

We had such a wonderful trip to Vancouver! Angelina got to see all kinds of neat things and people. She also got to eat like royalty, as did we all: super fresh salmon and prawns, steak, and delicious authentic indian food. Matt and I also had lots of sushi, and man, is it ever good over there.

We had one really weird Griswold-type day, including a small car accident and stepping in swamp water, but even that day was really fun. In fact, it might be my favourite.

It was also really cool to see everybody. Most of our friends live in Van now so we got together with a different couple almost every day. It's so great to see what everybody's doing.

The best part, by far, was spending 24 hours a day together for 10 solid days. Angelina became even more of a little daddy's girl. On the last day, Matt went out to the car for a minute and Angelina was clawing at the door, crying and calling "dadaaaaaaa!" It was a hard adjustment for both of them when Matt had to go back to work.

Here are some pictures of the Aquarium, Angelina's favourite place.

A trippy aquarium playhouse for babies

Watching the dolphins

My little merbaby

Baby Beluga!

Wow!

Too Much Fun for One Post...

... so here is the zoo, suspension bridge and Lonsdale Quay market.

Wow, look at this thing!

Can we take him home?

The best critters of all

Treehouse buddies

What a handsome view!

My Smartypants

It's incredible how quickly Angelina is growing up. Suddenly she can say a lot of words (mama, daddy, ball, dog, baby, and more)and she understands most of what we say to her. All we have to do is show her a new skill or word a few times and she's got it down.

She even figured out all on her own how to say her name; she calls herself Nana. She says "Nana" when she's pointing to a picture of herself or something she wants, as in "give that to Nana". What a clever girl!

We're leaving tomorrow for Vancouver and scambling to get everything ready. We haven't even called anybody who lives there... but don't worry, we're there for 9 full days so there will be time to get together. We'll call ASAP! We can't wait to see everybody and to show Angelina some really cool stuff. Matt is especially looking forward to 10 whole days with his little princess... that's Angelina, not me.

The Fun Never Stops!

This baby loves to watch soccer! She also played ball with some big kids.
We were there to watch Lee's dad in a tournament

Story time

Deigan's hamming it up for the camera

Aww, the little Garcias out for a day of fun.

There's a First Time for Everything...

...and here's Angelina's first time eating sugar. Love at first bite!

Happy Birthday, Binky Bear!

Angelina's birthday was on Sunday and we had a huge barbeque dinner party. Angelina had lots of fun!

It was a nostalgic weekend for me, reliving my experiences one year ago. On Saturday morning I thought, "one year ago right now I started having contractions" Saturday night: "this is when I checked in to the hospital" and Sunday morning "this is when I gave birth to my beautiful babygirl".

What a lot has changed; one year ago Angelina was a 7-pound little thing who couldn't do anything but cry. She had no control over her little body at all and had no idea what was going on. Now she's a little girl! She's not very big but she can stand and get around on her own and communicate (even talk a little) and has such a wonderful, distinct personality. I am so proud of my little sweetheart.

And here are some pictures of the party:

We bought a castle for our little princess

Daddy's little birthday girl

"What am I supposed to do with these?"

"Daddy, my cake is on fire!"

"The party's over, but I still want to play!"