Summer 2009 Updates

Kids always grow up entirely too fast. Gigi is now 3 1/2 and a smart little girl. Claire is 2 and our little charmer, and our sweet boy Deacon is almost 6 months old and is already trying to sit up and crawl.

Is there a way to make them slow down a little so we can enjoy them just a little longer?



loves having her picture taken



begging for another cupcake



nursing her baby (she even burps baby after!)



she knows we can't resist that face



he tries to sit up by himself and ends up falling over



rocking on his hands and knees and mad because he isn't going anywhere

Backyard Swimming

We recently bought a little pool for our backyard, and the girls love playing outside in the water- really, what kid doesn't! Last week they had friends over to play and I couldn't help snapping a few pics of the cuties.

No, this isn't the pool!

Somehow they both ended up in the bucket instead of the pool...

Dancing Girls

Dance, dance Baby! These girls are so much fun!

Pflugerville Lake

One of our favorite activities this summer has been to go swimming at the Pflugerville Lake that is located 5 minutes from our home. Our friend Julie (or as Claire says, Miss Jewey) will bring her dogs and meet us for some splashing good fun. The dock that we normally go to is only 2 feet deep at its deepest, and the girls love being able to be independent, and I love being able to sit and relax and watch them play.

Oh, happiness...

Water Babies

Two of the reasons we love our new community at Blackhawk are the two really nice swimming pools. This weekend we went for the first time as a family to the pool. Gigi was in her cute pink ruffled swimsuit, Claire in her swim diaper, and Deacon looked stylish in his surfer orange board shorts. Gigi has started to learn the basics of swimming- holding her breath and going under water and floating. Claire was still a little nervous about being in that much water, and Deacon loved being in his floatie taking it all in. Family time should always be this fun...

Rollin' on the river

Little Boy is growing up so fast! He's been able to roll from his front to his back for a couple of months now, and has been trying to roll from his back to his front for the past few weeks. Yesterday he decided he was going to finally figure it out, and after a couple of practice runs, he was rolling all over the house! Hooray for new skills!

Little Belly Boy

Rolling over...

... and again

Another food lover

Recently Deacon has started joining us for family dinners. He'll sit in his Bumbo seat at the end of the table and watch us all eat delicious food. Since he seemed so interested, we thought he might be ready for rice cereal.

He liked the idea- just not the meal he was served.

so far he's not excited

maybe it will taste better if I try it myself...

nope- still yucky!

Bathing Beauties

It's amazing to see how different all three of our children are. People always say they can tell Gigi, Claire and Deacon are siblings, but we are so close to them it's sometimes hard to see it. Here are our babies all at about 4 or 5 months old wrapped up in the same hoody towel. So cute...

Gigi

Claire

Deacon

C Bear's Hula Party

I'm still not sure what possesses us parents to throw birthday parties for our kids. We invite small children over to our homes and practically beg them to make a mess with the frosting and punch. We see the birthday child feel special and loved, and the other parents are thrilled that their kids are running around like little maniacs in someone else's house. In the end, it's worth it because we all end up having a blast- even with food ground into the carpets.

This year for Claire's second birthday we had a Hawaiian themed party. The menu consisted of sweet chicken tacos, saffron rice, chips & salsa, pineapple punch and brownie cupcakes for dessert. To use the words of a certain TV food chef who drives us bonkers- YUM O! We dressed up for the occasion and had every guest take a picture under the fake palm tree wearing the big straw hat and a lei... lots of fun!

she loves the fact that it's all about her!

everybody hula!

Birthday Girl

shy

that cupcake didn't last 30 seconds!

of course, by the next morning, baby had no clothes on...

gimme the candy and no one gets hurt!

even Deacon wore a Hawaiian romper

Claire Elizabeth Garcia

On Thursday, April 16, our baby Claire turned two years old. She has grown from a sweet, happy baby to a beautiful little girl who loves to laugh and play and sing and dance. We all adore her....

April 16, 2007- just born

April 2007

August 2007- 4 months old

February 2008- 10 months old

March 2009

March 2009

Baby Dedication

We had forgotten just how difficult it is to keep up with life when one has 1 preschooler, 1 toddler and 1 newborn and 0 hours of sleep, so we have been in survival mode for 3 months. Deacon is starting to sleep through the night now, so we're beginning to come out of our sleep deprived stupor. In the three months that have passed, Gigi has become little lady (and such a little mommy!), Claire has passed from a toddler to a little girl and Deacon is a smiling, laid-back baby.

In March our church had Baby Dedications, and we were able to have our entire family stand up and dedicate Deacon. What a sweet moment... well, it would have been if Gigi hadn't decided to tee-tee in her pants in front of the congregation right before the dedications started. Ahh, the joys of parenthood.

right after the tee-tee episode (it even got all over her shoes!)

Deacon being given his first Bible

Introducing...

DEACON NELSON GARCIA

After a week of on/off contractions, they finally settled into a pattern on January 2nd- and they were really painful really fast! Since they were about 5 minutes apart right from the beginning and this was our third child, we were told to hurry to the hospital. We got there and were admitted around 4 pm, and Deacon made his appearance at 2:58 am. We were surprised at how long this labor was compared to Claire's, but it was a fairly easy labor and delivery.

Deacon weighed in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces- much larger than his two sisters. Gigi was born at 6 pounds, 5 ounces, and Claire at 6 pounds, 15 ounces. At first we thought he resembled Claire, but as he loses his newborn squishiness, he is starting to have some of Gigi's looks. Now we think he looks a little like each of his sisters. He's going to be a heartbreaker!

and for comparison:

Deacon

Gigi

Claire