The Making of a Butterfly

So I debated. Long and hard about what Sophia should transform herself into this lovely October for Halloween (yes, very rarely do those words - lovely and October - go together in Puerto Vallarta, but surprisingly the weather has done its official switch and we are no longer sweaty, sweating, pure sweat. I digress.)

After talking with her about it daily for two weeks and realizing that she was NEVER going to decide between a princess, a ballerina, a cat and a pumpkin and knowing FULL WELL that if I didn't have the right costume on October 31st when it came time to get dressed up, she simply wouldn't put it on. She is that stubborn. (Putting anything besides panties on her is a battle.) I decided to take the bull by the horns (I don't think I've ever said that before, but this was a bull-horn situation), so I took that bull by its horns and decided she was going to be a butterfly. And then I searched for DIY costumes knowing I had only five short days to the school Halloween party!

And so the Making of a Butterfly began. Monday morning, we purchased supplies. We cut and sewed the skirt. (A Spaaahkly skirt, according to Soph.) We glued the head bonkers.


Tuesday afternoon and evening, we shaped the wings, traced and cut the wings, sewed the wings.





Wednesday night, Michelle came over. We drew out the wing design. We painted. Coat upon coat upon coat of fabric paint.




And tonight, we finish the Making of a Butterfly. Stay tuned. Friday is the school Halloween party and Sunday night is our outing with friends to the Marina Malecon for trick-or-treating!

I hope we have a very pretty butterfly in tow. (Although I have mentally prepared myself for the stripping of the wings and the tearing-off of the head bonkers. I'm hoping that at least the Spaaaahkly Skirt makes it longer than five minutes.)

A peek at past Halloween's:

Halloween 2008 (5 months)

Halloween 2009 (1 year, 5 months)

Stay tuned for Halloween 2010!!!

Five Weeks Later . . .

...and growing bigger and bigger by the day. Both Sophia and myself!


We had our fifth appointment and ultrasound today, and our baby boy is growing and looking good in utero! Due date: late February!

Still have summer photos to share, but there are hundreds so the sifting and sorting process goes on bit by bit as I have time! In the meantime, a few photos of our recent fun - park time:




home-gymnastics:


shoe-shopping:



and a few photos of the small addition we built on to Sophia's room (soon-to-be-a-shared-room)!








OH! And did I forget to mention that Sophia is completely potty-trained! At home, at school, out on the town! (Nightime diapers are still a must, but we're good to go on the rest!) This was actually quite simple with her as she quickly became obsessed with panties - so much so, in fact, that there were days when everyone and everything in her sight had panties on (including Sophia - not necessarily on the right body parts sometimes!)




Summer photo montage to come soon!

Family Day!!!

Today was family day! Sweet and simple!


And without really intending to, we also welcomed (early!) our little guy!

Last Christmas season, in a very unfortunate laundry accident, the snowman, reindeer and santa heads that bobbled so festively from our stockings came, well, undone. Emerging from the dryer were three headless stockings with a little less festive feel.

So this afternoon we found super sweet hand-knit stockings in all the right colors. And what da ya know? They were on sale. Well, not really. But they were priced really low in a way-too-expensive store so the way I calculate things, they were technically almost on sale. So we picked out four.


I suppose this Christmas the fourth stocking will be stuffed with goodies for a newborn that one very mischievous two-year-old who I know will most likely unstuff very quickly. But next year, there will be four stockings stuffed - each with a rightful owner present!

It's a . . .

I am supposing that everyone knows by now as good news spreads like wildfire, but just in case some are still in the dark, we are anticipating the arrival of a new baby near the end of February! We're super excited to be parents again and Soph is very much looking forward to having a new brother/sister/baby/girl/boy (how she finishes that sentence changes daily)! We, however, no longer have to wonder HOW to correctly complete her phrase as today we had the ultrasound which showed, first and foremost, that everything is developing wonderfully and our baby looks to be in good shape thus far! And secondly, we learned whether we'll be painting more pink or if we'll be switching to a blue hue this time!

Here's Soph lovin' up my belly this morning pre-appointment!



Oh, I almost forgot. Our new little arrival will be donning outfits such as this:


and this:


and this:


It's a BOY!
I felt the first flutters in my tummy last Saturday so now it is real, real, real! Now to boys' names . . . Jacob? Edward? Emmett? Jasper? Hmmm . . . I see a theme here*, but I am truly hoping that our child doesn't emerge a vampire or a werewolf (although, if I had to choose, I would go vampire all the way!)

*For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, pick up a copy of Twilight or the world will soon leave you behind.

Yippee - a BOY!

A Getaway Close to Home

Before we roll into fall's activities, I wanted to post some quick photos of our summer fun! First up, our family's mini-trip north of PV to Hotel Villa La Estancia - a resort waaaaay too fancy for us (but it was free), food sooo yummy I could have eaten nonstop, a pool sooo beautiful and refreshing that we pretty much spent all day every day in it! Aaaah, good memories! A few photos from our stay!

As soon as we checked in, we walked the grounds to check the place out! Soph managed to wiggle out of her shirt, plop down on the stone wall and request we take a photo of her. She was just getting revved up for the week of playing in the sunshine!


And when I say this place was fancy, I mean it. Seriously, our room was the size of our house! This was the living room, dining room and full kitchen. We had a hugggge bedroom, two bathrooms, private laundry room and full balcony as well. Hmmm... I'm thinking of just moving in permanently. Did I mention they had awesome A/C. Oh yes, in case you don't remember, it is THAT time of year again in PV. In fact, pretty soon I'll blog one of my ranting posts in which I can no longer tolerate the heat. It's coming... I feel it. But I digress. I LOVED the A/C.


Then it was just days of fun, relaxation, pooltime and sunshine!







The next-door sister hotel had a Sea Lion Performance one day in their main pool! It was super fun to watch, and then Pablo and Soph stood in line to get a fishy kiss from the big guy. Sophia was pretty nervous and wouldn't take her fingers out of her mouth (her newest nerve thing), but she came back feeling quite excited about her cheek stinking of fresh fish. Mmmm.



The hotel, besides its other fantastic restaurants, had a super lovely Steakhouse where we dared to dine one night. (Dress code required dresses so I'm sure you can imagine why it was only one night. Seriously, Soph and I in dresses for several dinners? I think not. Especially when we can dine poolside - aaah.) Nevertheless, we did eat there one night and it was FAB. The best service ever - with the waiters bringing Sophia exactly what she requested - mashed potatoes and veggies! She couldn't have been more excited when they set the plate in front of her! And our meals weren't too shabby either. (Again, note the sarcasm. Shabby is not even an option on the comment card. It ranges only from The-Best-Steak-I've-Ever-Had to The-Steak-Was-SOOOOO-Amazing-I-Almost-Died-from-the-Cholesterol-and-Went-to-Heaven.)




And because no blog post is really complete without one of these . . . our last day Selfie. Aaaah, won't be too long until there are four of us in these selfie shots! :)



We headed home on a Thursday with 24 hours to pack and get ready for our flight to WI the following day! Summertime!!!!

For Luna!

Luna, Michelle's furry friend and our sometimes-adopted-puppy, is having surgery today for hip displasia. We'll be thinking about her and kind of wondering if hobbling around on only three legs for a couple weeks will slow her down at all or if she'll be her usual spirited self despite her temporary handicap! Good luck Luna, we love you!

Summer Vacation, here we come!

Today begins our summer vacation whirlwind! (This is a GOOD kind of whirlwind, not that crappy tornado kind that ruins vacations!)

We are heading to our annual summer mini-vaca about 45 minutes north of PV! This year, we'll be staying at Villa la Estancia which looks like it will do.

(Either you know me enough to know that the comment "it will do" was purely sarcastic OR you think I am a total snob!)

We are super excited and can't wait to be lounging in the pool! Our first vacation in the area when Soph was only 4 months old was a bit more challenging as she was too little to handle the heat and humidity of summer. Last year was much more fun as she became quite the little fish in the pool, and we were also able to enjoy ourselves a bit more! This year, we're expecting full-on fun - she is super psyched for vacation, and so are we!

We'll be back on Thursday afternoon and have 24 hours to do laundry and repack, then it is off to Wisconsin on Friday for a full month of family fun beginning with a trip to the Milwaukee zoo with the Uncles and Gram and Gramps! Obviously, trying to pack for two consecutive trips (with different weather) has been a challenge! This is what our bedroom looked like yesterday! (Where in the world is Waldo . . . I mean, Sophia!)


She did a great job of playing amidst the mess while we packed!


This won't be the first summer trip to the states - I was so fortunate to visit Minneapolis in June for Raphaela's bridal shower and then last weekend for her wedding! Lots of photos to post from those events, but you'll have to wait until we're de-vacationed! Happy Summer!