Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Italian Fest, etc.

I know I have been a BAD BLOGGER lately. If I have posted, I haven't posted pictures....I know....BORING. Well, even though I have tons of things to do today, I am taking time to blog WITH tons of pictures...

Let's get started. Mother's Day weekend, we dedicated Mateo at our church. We didn't get any great pics of all 3 of us, but here is what we got.

Below is our pastor, who we LOVE!!! His preaching is just amazing. It is real-world and we just love our church. If you live in the Memphis area and are looking for a church home, please try our church. We also have a church in Collierville and as of this weekend, one in Jackson, TN too.
We go to church on Saturday night. Since so much of our family was able to come to Mateo's dedication, I rented out part of Garibaldi's so we wouldn't have to wait forever to eat after church.

Here is my mom with my niece, Mya.

Laurie, my sister, and Cyp, my brother-in-law. They were having fun and being silly.

My grandmother, Gran, and Mateo.

This picture below was taken at church. My parents and grandmother with all the girls. My grandmother is holding Mckayla's american doll. She even made some clothes for the doll. Mckalya was so excited to get more clothes for the doll....I don't know if this doll has a name, but I am pretty sure she goes everywhere with Mckalya.

Antonio, me, and Mya. She is getting so big and is just the sweetest thing. It is so much fun watching Tatum and Mya playing together these days. I can't wait for Florida in a few weeks.

Me and Antonio again.

Mya and me. I was too busy talking I guess.

Memorial Day we had a relaxed day and just hung around the house. We had a few friends over, but I didnt even get the camera out while they were here....I was too busy talking and catching up I guess.

Anyway, before everyone came, Tatum asked to hold Mateo....this has been pretty rare. She has always talked to him, given him kisses, read books to him, etc, but she hasn't asked to hold him very much. However, she has started asking to hold him more and more. We always say yes, and I will have to start taking more pics when this happens.

All was good until Mateo decided to start pulling on her ponytail. She never got mad or anything, but she just kept telling him "No sir! Don't do that!" It was pretty funny.

Here is Tatum looking out the window and asking "Where's Timmy, Jenn, Baby Luke, and Brandy??"

We grilled out, ate well, visited, and just hung out. It was a great, laid back day.

This past weekend, we went to Italian Festival. We have some friends that have a booth every year and it is fun to go hang out and catch up with old friends.

Tatum has become quiet a little poser when the camera comes out. I'm not gonna lie, I love it!! It sure beats the days of her HATING the camera. "CHEESE!!!"

Carter and Tatum playing together.

Carter is the son of our friends that have the booth. He had been such a trooper hanging out up there, skipping naps for 2 days, and staying up late. Here is the beginning of the end for him.....

Carter sat in his stroller for a bit and eventually tuckered out and took a long nap.

Antonio, Mateo, and Chuck

Cindy and Me....I think this is the first picture we have taken together....we hang out all the time, but I guess we are usually so busy talking and catching up to take pics. She is such a great friend and since she has 4 boys, she is a great go to person with all my parenting questions.

My precious boys....Antonio and Mateo.

Riley and Tatum.....Tatum started eating Riley's Cheetos.

I think this picture says it all about how Riley and Tatum felt when all the Cheetos were gone. Tatum-happy, Riley-um, not so happy.

I think this is the first picture of Jenn and I with our boys (in our arms and not in our bellies). Me, Mateo, Jenn, Luke

As the night was wrapping up, another great friend, Brandy stopped by to see us.

Mateo, me, and Brandy

Mateo, me, Brandy, and Tatum

We have had a busy May. Lots of fun times with friends and family. We are very blessed to have such great friends and family all around us.

A few more updates:

TATUM:

Tatum is 100% potty trained. She hasn't had an accident in a week! (and only 1 accident in 2 weeks). She definitely took to it much faster than I thought she would(especially the pooping in the potty). I have heard that this is the hard part that takes a while, but Tatum took to it well! While we are at home, she will just go to the potty when she needs to. She doesn't wait on us to take her. This is especially nice if I am feeding Mateo or something.

Tatum also LOVES to sing. Her favorite songs right now are "The B-I-B-L-E" and "One Way" by Hillsong Untied. I will have to get her on video singing to the Hillsong song because she is so funny. On the CD, the singer asks something like "Is anyone here believing for God"(or something like that) and she yells "YES!!!!" everytime!

Tatum loves Blues Clues right now. Mateo has a bib with a Memphis Tiger's paw print on it and everytime she sees it she says "A CLUE! A CLUE!"

Tatum has started asking for different people in the morning. She will say "I wanna see......" Sometimes we call the person so she can talk on the way to school or we will call them at night or something. Here are just some of the people she has asked to see lately....

*Aunt E.E. (Eliana-we usually call her on the way to school and Tatum will talk and sing to her the whole way which is about 10-15 minutes)

*Granddaddy

*Mya

*Timmy (she talked to him on the phone one night and told him all about pottying, asked him if HE goes to the potty, etc....I couldn't help but crack up over the conversation)

*Pawpaw

*Jenn

*Baby Luke

MATEO:

Mateo is doing great. He just turned 5 months on the 29th. He is such a happy baby. He only cries if he is hungry, sleepy, or dirty.

His teachers at school are constantly telling me how laid back he is and what a great baby he is. They tell me that even when all the babies start crying at the same time, he just sits back and looks around.

He is on a great schedule. He gets up around 6am (he is my alarm clock. I don't even set one because I know he is going to wake me up).

Here is his feeding schedule right now(this is for my memory, but it is about to change this week)

6am-bottle (about 8 ounces)

8am-food (1/2 container of Stage 1)

10am-bottle (about 8 ounces)

2pm-bottle (about 8 ounces)

4pm-food(other 1/2 of container Stage 1)

6pm-bottle(about 8 ounces)

After his 6pm feeding, he tries to stay awake, but he is usually OUT by 6:30 or 7 and will sleep til 6am. I know God blessed me with such great sleepers because He knows that I must have my sleep to function.

Mateo LOVES to watch faces and will smile at pretty much anyone who will talk to him. He loves Tatum and can't take his eyes off of her if she is in the room.

Mateo rarely cries in his carseat anymore. I love taking him and Tatum to school in the mornings. Every morning when I get to school and open the door to get Tatum out, she is ALWAYS holding his hand.

Mateo also likes the bouncer, Johnny jumper, swing, etc. He loves grabbing the toys. He also LOVES taking to the baby in the mirror.

Bathtime is one of my favorite times with Mateo now. For a while he HATED bathtime and I would try any and everything to change this(we tried the tubs you buy, the sink, his tub in the big tub, his tub on the kitchen counter, etc). However, I finally figured it out. I put him in the big tub and just fill it up with a little water. He loves to just lay there and kick and move his arms. The only hard thing about bathtime is fitting it in before he is asleep for the night since he passes out so early in the evening.

Something that has brought me some giggles lately is watching people's reaction when they ask what his name is. When I say Mateo, it is funny hearing/seeing reactions. I know not everyone is going to like his name, but we love it, so that's all that matters. And some people just go on and on about how they like his name. These people are my kind of people, the ones that like unique names.

ANTONIO:

Antonio is doing great. He is still loving his job. He is a great help with the kids. He is going to be a one - man - show this week because I have to go out of town for a few days on a business trip, but I know he will do great.

ME:

I have been back at work for 4 weeks now. Things are getting back to normal there. It is good being back, being in a routine, and bringing in an income so we can start saving again for the future.

Well, there is the updates for May. I will try to get better on blogging.