In the spring, we made tentative plans with my parents to spend Christmas in the Denver area, where my brothers live. Then we found out I was pregnant with twins and decided a Christmas trip was a bit too close to my due date. My parents and I tried to make a Thanksgiving trip work, but Chris and I were unable to find tickets at an affordable price. My parents made plans to go anyways and we made plans to stay home. Then, a couple weeks before Thanksgiving, Frontier Airlines opened a new route flying directly to Denver from our hometown. Better yet, the tickets were more than affordable. So we booked tickets, told my brothers, and made plans to surprise my parents with our arrival.
It was so much fun to surprise my parents when we arrived at Casey and Amanda's house on Thanksgiving day. My dad looked so confused at first and my mom was just saying, "No!?!?! No!?!?! What are you doing here?!?!"
The next few days were a much needed break from all the activity back home. Chris, who has been working long hours, spent much needed time with his family. Katy finally opened up to her uncles, cousins, and aunts and had so much fun playing with all of them. We visited a few sights and even saw our friend Jackson. It was a perfect Thanksgiving and my second favorite Thanksgiving only to one we spent in Hondo with Mimi several years ago.
My mom didn't understand why she was setting such a big table...until we arrived!
Enjoying the deck and fire pit after over eating.
It was SOOOO windy!
At Red Rocks Amphitheater
Before the candy factory tour. Nothing but blue skies.
After the candy factory tour. The snow is coming!
We worked a puzzle after playing the newly wed game. So much fun!
This girl LOVED walking in the snow!
We visited the Air Force Academy Chapel
The goats at Casey and Amanda's house.
Dinner at Casa Bonita
The flight home from Denver was celebrated as the inaugural flight on the new Frontier route and therefore we were greeted with water sprays on the plane and balloons and treats at the gate. It was a fun way to wrap up a fun trip.
For several pesky little reasons, almost a month passed after we moved out of the house in McAllen before we were able to list it for sale. Praise God, however, that we had a contract for sale within days of listing it. Praise God again because the contract didn't fall through, and we closed a few days before Thanksgiving.
We ate one last family meal in the McAllen house a couple days before the closing and as expected, I cried as we prepared to walk out one last time. The house in McAllen was our first house together. The first place we stayed long enough to put down real roots. The house we remodeled and thereby stamped with a small part of ourselves. The house to which we brought Katy home from the hospital. The house where we hosted countless gatherings, potlucks, and parties. The house surrounded by familiar places and dear friends. I cried for the loss of all these wonderful things that the house represented.
I was so excited to finally move our furniture out of the McAllen house the week before the scheduled closing. I anticipated that finally moving the bulk of our large, tangible objects would suddenly make the new house feel like the home I had in McAllen. But of course, the house in McAllen was so much more than just tangible objects; it was all the sentimental things that made me cry when we finally said good-bye. And so the new house is currently a messy house. Some of our furniture is in pieces because it didn't fit, a lot of furniture is waiting to be moved into place, there is still nothing hanging on the bare walls, and most of the sentimental attachments that make a house a home are yet to be formed.
Our last trip to the McAllen house.
I sure loved the light fixture in the dining room. Sigh.
Over the last two years, Katy and I have taken several road trips just the two of us to visit family. In October, we took what I knew would be the last of these road trips. I had grand ideas about making it extra special by making pit stops to visit family and landmarks along the way. All of these grand ideas, however, didn't quite work out due to illnesses, bad weather, and a very unfortunate incident involving a failed luggage rack.
The actual visit with family, however, was awesome. For two nights, we stayed with my grandma, my cousin Rachel, and her daughter Isabella. It was the first time Katy and I met Isabella, and the first time my grandma had both of her granddaughters in her home at the same time. Katy and Isabella had a lot of fun playing hide and seek, holding hands, and getting to know each other.
Katy went to her first move with Isabella!
We went to church with Grandma Dorothy.
Potluck with family in the area.
During our visit, my aunts and cousins hosted a baby shower for me. It was a lovely baby shower with family, a few friends, and a whole crew of kids running around. My sister-in-law made a beautiful cake for the party, and everyone gave such generous gifts. I went home with so many helpful baby items that I had to pack several things in the luggage rack.
It was a cold, wet and windy day when we left for home. Soon after entering the freeway, I saw something blue fly down the freeway behind me. I thought this odd because I didn't recall passing anything blue in front of me. Then I saw a box of diapers fly down the freeway behind me and instantly knew the luggage rack had opened. I pulled over on the shoulder of the freeway and spent close to 20 unsuccessful minutes standing in the cold wind and rain trying to close the roof rack. At some point Katy, began crying hysterically and a box on the freeway began exploding diapers everywhere, making the scene all the more dramatic.
We finally pulled off the freeway very slowly, found an awning at a nearby business to park, and waited for my father-in-law to come help us. It was during this time I discovered why Katy, who was still crying, was so upset. One of the items we lost on the freeway was her pool floatie. The only thing that finally calmed Katy was ordering a new floatie on Amazon. Two months later, Katy still talks about how her floatie went flying out of the car onto the road.
Thankfully, the floatie and a couple boxes of diapers were the only thing we lost, other than about half a day of our time and lots of calm nerves. The boxes containing handmade blankets and a stack of giftcards were safe inside the car all along.
Katy wanted to be a butterfly for Halloween this year. I had plans to make her large, beautiful butterfly wings to wear with one of her ballet leotards. But then we went to Dollar Tree one day and found perfectly adequate wings for $1. One-dollar wings are very tempting when you are in the middle of selling a house, settling into a new home, and carrying two babies.
Katy eagerly picked a set of wings, which were actually ladybug wings. I enthusiastically showed Katy a matching ladybug skirt hanging next to the wings. Within seconds, Katy decided a lady bug costume was just as good as a butterfly. Phew! Katy isn't always so easily swayed once she's set her mind on something.
Summer is over and oh boy, was it a summer for the record book.
We kicked off the summer with a nice long vacation in Puerto Vallarta. Three weeks after our trip, we found out I'm pregnant! There's definitely something magical about Mexico for us.
Katy the day she came home from the hospital. She too was made in Mexico.
Here's a video of me telling Chris about the pregnancy via his father's day gift, which included the onesie pictured above. Folded inside the onesie were the results from my blood test confirming the pregnancy. In hindsight, a paper containing a bunch of lab numbers was not the best way to tell Chris the big news, but eventually he figured it out.
Shortly after we learned about the pregnancy, Chris became a partner at the firm where he has been working for the past couple of years. I'm super excited for Chris' new position. For the first seven years of our marriage, Chris sacrificed his career to follow me around. It feels good to prioritize his career now, watch him achieve one of his goals, and know for the first time in our marriage that we will live somewhere long term.
Two days after Chris became a partner, Chris and I went to our first sonogram. As soon as the doctor scanned across my uterus, before he uttered any words, I saw two blobs flit in and out of the screen. I immediately knew we were in for the biggest surprise yet.
That's right - those are twins!
Chris was so excited when the doctor confirmed that we have twins. I was...much more reserved. It took me a little longer to be excited about having two babies at once, which our doctor attributed to the fact that Chris doesn't have to carry and deliver them.
Within a week of learning about the twins, Chris and I decided to move to a town 45 minutes away, the town where Chris' office is located. By the end of the summer, we were closing on a new house and moving. Katy loved every single minute of the moving process. She was definitely the most enthusiastic mover I've ever seen.
One Sunday morning I left the house in order. I came home two hours later to a moving truck and a house being packed.
This girl LOVED playing in the middle of all the packing and with various packing supplies.
Katy was also VERY excited to load, unload, and ride in the moving truck.
As much as we complained about the big trees at our last home, here we are with even bigger trees.
Come visit us and I'll put the welcoming crew at the front door for you.
The only room in the house that looks somewhat "moved into." Check out the jungle in our back yard.
But let's talk about the twins. I know that's what you're dying to hear about. Telling people about the twins has been a blast. Katy spilled the beans to my mom at Target. My mom was so confused at first that it was almost comical.
Katy, it turns out, is a terrible secret keeper. She also tried to spill the beans to my grandma, my friend Rachella, and Katy's four-year-old friend Mattias. The latter was the most amusing. The conversation went something like this:
Katy: "We are going to have two babies."
Mattias, after thinking a minute: "We already have two babies in my house"
Mattias has two younger siblings, so the news of two babies was completely normal to him.
We announced the news to my brother-in-law and his family when they visited for a few days, at a restaurant appropriately named Los Cautes (Spanish for twins). When we told my brother Dennis I'm pregnant, he started asking questions about the pregnancy before I had time to add the twin detail. I answered all his questions in the plural: "they are due February 15," "we won't know the genders until they are born," and, "we haven't decided their names yet." He finally paused and asked, "Wait, are you having more than one baby?"
There have also been amusing video calls and text messages, an impromptu conference in a cramped pantry, and a group chat where someone responded with, "You shouldn't joke about something like that." Once we finally told all of our family, we had a potluck with some local friends and announced the twins as I was taking a group photo. I love Rachella's enthusiasm at the news.
It's Twins!
My sister-in-law recently sent me our first twin outfit. The tiny onesies made having twins feel like something tangible and real for the first time.
Although several big things happened this summer, most of the summer felt a little slow. My teaching duties ended in May, leaving a huge void in my time commitments. Due to pregnancy fatigue, I dropped several other commitments on my plate and spent most of the summer finding time to nap or rest. Unlike last summer, there were no trips to the museum and there were very few play dates. Katy and I made it to two library events all summer, we never made it to the local aquatic center, and I took Katy to the splash park for the first time after most of the older kids had already returned to school.
Furthermore, for most of the summer I didn't talk to anyone about the big things unfolding. We didn't reach the end of the first trimester until August, which is when we finally started telling people about the pregnancy. We decided not to tell people about the house until we announced the twins, because the twins were a factor in our decision to move. So, while all these bigs things were happening, and while I had a big void in my day-to-day routine due to a lack of commitments, I had lots of big news to just keep to myself. It made for a summer that felt as if it was dragging at times.
But now the cat is out of the bag. Chris became a partner, I'm pregnant with twins, and we moved. I didn't do much else this summer, but I think that's okay given all that's going on.
Katy bounced into the kitchen one hot afternoon in late August and exclaimed, "I want to make lemonade! I want to make lemonade! I know how!" I had several freshly picked lemons on hand, so I told her we could certainly make lemonade. But first I asked her, "Where did you learn to make lemonade?" Katy told me she learned on Daniel Tiger and proceeded to tell me how to make lemonade: squeeze some lemons, mix the lemon juice with water and sugar, and then pour the lemonade over ice.
All of this conversation took place in Spanish because this is the primary language I speak with Katy in the house. However, Katy watches Daniel Tiger in English because the Spanish episodes are very difficult to find in the United States.
Katy patiently watched me squeeze the lemons, all the while conversing with me in Spanish about how lemonade will cool you on a hot day, about the hot weather outside, and about how many lemons were left. After juicing all the lemons, I told Katy (in Spanish) that we needed to boil some water to dissolve the sugar. Katy looked at me very confused. I explained (still in Spanish) that if we combine the sugar with cold water, it won't mix well and will fall to the bottom of our pitcher. Katy paused as if she was thinking and then replied (in Spanish), "When you make lemonade in English, you don't have to do mix the sugar with hot water."
Katy's observation about how to make lemonade in English and Spanish was based on the fact that in Daniel Tiger, which she watches in English, Daniel Tiger does not dissolve his sugar in a small amount of hot water. When we made lemonade while conversing in Spanish, however, we did dissolve our sugar in hot water. Thus, her conclusion was that the recipe for lemonade was different in English and Spanish.
Everyone told me young, bilingual children will confuse their two languages, but confusion about how to complete tasks in different languages was certainly not what I expected.
