July 26th, 2012: My nephew was born

After weeks of hospital bed rest, my Sister once again amazed me by birthing a beautiful child right before my eyes - without any intervention and with the strongest of all wills. Because he was born premature, he needed to stay in the NICU for many weeks following his birth. I'm happy to say that Stone Fenix is now at home happily growing and learning about his beautiful family. I just love that Jess and I are both growing such lovely little families and I love knowing that our children will grow up with cousins to laugh and play with.

Back in the swing of things: Nick's triathlon in Portland

If Nick had his way, he'd compete in triathlons every weekend. Here are some photos of his most recent tri that he competed in last month. We are all so proud of him and his dedication to his training!

Summer: more photos than I know what to do with

Let's pretend for a moment that I have free time. Let's pretend that I am a good blogger and I post photos in a timely manner and write funny little captions underneath each photo - eliciting a giggle every once in a while from whichever friend or family member decided to stop by to see what's new with our little crew... Now open your eyes. That isn't reality, my friend! Here you will see a mish-mash of random photos from this summer. We have had a lot of fun and I somehow managed to snap photos of some of it and even more amazing is that I somehow posted them on this blog! Ah-maze-ing!

 One of our favorite afternoon outings: a tea party in the back yard. 

 

 I'd be happy if I were as cute as her!

 My babywearing (and baby wrap/sling) addiction is fully evident now...

 The Hernandezes from California came to visit...

 So we naturally took them to froyo :) 

 Our family :) 

 Enjoying the view at Bellevue Park.

 Visiting the Swatzells in Spokane.

 And then visiting Aunt Vicki and Grandma Norma (below) in Spokane.

 Olive spends a lot of time doing this (being adorable).

 These two are the best of friends.

Stella's 3rd birthday party

In true Hernandez fashion, Stella actually had TWO birthday parties: one at Mike & Marlane's house in Vancouver and another the following weekend at our house. Both parties were a big hit and Stella was overjoyed with the outpouring of love (and gifts) that she received from her friends and family who came to celebrate with her!

Olive's Monthversary

By Liv

Olive Chapa is now 1 month old! We didn't do anything spectacular to celebrate the occasion because we don't want to set her expectations too high for her next milestones. We tried to downplay it and give her encouraging words like, "Good job losing your belly button stump!" And "Nice poo!". Things of that sort.

In the last month, a lot of things have happened (besides the belly button and poo). Here's some photos (and a video) of them.

Since Olive doesn't quite do much yet besides sleep, here is a funny little video of her facial expressions caught mid-dream :)

 She went on her first car ride and we camouflaged her as a pink bear in the even that we ran in to a group of pink bears.

 In general, she laughs a lot. It's almost always in her sleep, though. I always assume she's dreaming of her Dad singing Backstreet Boys.

 Though she might insist she's ignored, Stella has joined in on the baby cuddling as often as she can :) 

 Olive spends about 99% of her waking hours trying to get her hand to her mouth. Then, when it doesn't cooperate, she gets insanely angry at it.

 When Olive is upset, Stella tries to calm her with a song or a glow worm song :) 

 Getting 2 kids to nap at the same time is, in fact, rocket science. I now have a PhD.

We can all fit on the rocking chair!

 Because my day revolves around breastfeeding, cleaning up bodily functions and damage control, I have to find entertainment when I can. Here, I staged Stella next to Olive with their respective royal gear - Olive with her crown, Stella with her wand.

 We've had our fair share of visitors. Here is Seren learning how to hold a new baby. This is a great skill to have her practice because she will have her very own baby brother in a few months!

 The Gareys also stopped by and brought us some delicious home-cooked food. Rob is one of Nick's fellow MBAs from Oxford - and it just happens that he and his lovely wife also live in Seattle! Although their daughter (Quinn) doesn't appear happy in this photo, don't let her fool you. I am sure she just wanted some of the delicious Mexican food her Mama made us :)

 Sister cuddles :) 

 Olive's first bath. Stella obliged and didn't splash her... very much.

 1 month old!

Sweet girl.