Happy 8 Year Anniversary, Babe!

I love you.

Happy Birthday, my love

And to think at your last birthday you only had one little girl and she was barely talking.

We love you bigger than a breadbox!!!

A Lesson in Drama

Friday night I came down with a stomach "thing" and felt like the world was ending. It carried over into Saturday and I spent the morning in bed and the rest of the day on the couch. As Anthony took care of the house, our meals, the girls, and sickly ol' me, I felt the need to continuously proclaim that I wasn't trying to be dramatic I just felt that bad.

Skip to Sunday....

Anthony woke up with said stomach "thing". He spent the entire day much like I had spent my day before and doused it with endless "I don't feeeel good"s and very weak-sounding "Can I have ____?"s.

Now on to this morning....

5:30 am. Ana wakes up calling for me. Unusual but she sounded ok. I grabbed her and brought her back to bed with me. 15 minutes later, that "thing" was sure to have gotten her too. She began to throw up (in our bed nonetheless) so I rushed her to the bathroom where we COMPLETELY missed the toilet. I began to prepare myself for a very sick and crabby girl. But instead? Instead, almost instantly after throwing up, she began to clap her little hands and yell "Clean up! I need to clean up! hehehehehe! Mommy cleaning! Wash my hands, Mommy!"

And this is the last I've heard of Ana's stomach "thing". I'd say Mommy and Daddy stand to learn a thing or two about dramatics from this little girl, wouldn't you? :)

*Update: Tuesday night brought us a very sick Maddie. It was very obviously the same "thing". But, just like her sister, she showed Mommy and Daddy up. In between throwing up we were graced with nothing but baby talk and giggles. We seriously need to rethink our pain threshold.

A Week of Firsts

• Maddie's first public meltdown
• Ana's first annoying favorite word - "FINE!!!!"
• First time I've been so irresponsible that I would actually let my truck run out of gas with one of my girls with me
• First time Ana put me on Time-Out and repremanded me
• First time I've had to take care of THREE cranky babies (Anthony being, quite possibly, the biggest baby of all)
• First time Maddie waved hi (whether it was on purpose or not I'm not sure but let's say it was)
• First time Ana has walked into a house of kids she didn't really know and didn't act shy for one second but instead became instant friends with them
• First time Maddie and Ana laughed together so hard I almost cried

But the biggest First of all...

• First time I have felt like SuperMom as I cleaned, cooked, changed diapers, bathed, soothed, doctored, hugged, kissed, and kept very happy my three perfect angels :)

I'm back!

Ok, it's been almost a month since I've written anything on here and so much has happened that I think it would be virtually impossible to catch up. So here are some bullets of the big events of the last 4 weeks or so:

Anthony update....

• He had the nerve to get mad at me for going shopping by myself for 4 hours when he was called off of work one day. "I feel like you take it as a free day when I get called off of work" he says. Oh yes he did. Never mind the fact that I was shopping for the girls and him and bought not a single item for myself. And since when are 4 hours considered an entire day??? Trust me, honey, if I'm out to "steal" a free day for myself I will lovingly remind you how long an entire day really is. Not to worry though. 7 looooong hours later he realized what a fool he sounded like and apologized :).

Ana update....

• Our big girl has been counting to ten (and sometimes 13) unassisted for weeks now
• She knows all of her colors and shapes
• She's talking up a storm (a continuous, seemingly endless storm at that)
• She is IN LOVE with her little sister

Maddie update.....

• She's rolling over from back to belly! Yay!!!
• She's talking that sweet, sweet baby talk
• She's laughing and smiling and breaking Mommy's heart with how fast she's growing

Ok, these were the big ones and I'm getting back on track. See, the thing is that I'm one of those horrible people that loses complete track of time when I sit down to do something. There is no "I'll do this for 45 minutes and that's it" for me. So while I was sitting here blogging the dishes were piling up and the dust was gathering on the furniture. So now, a month later, the dishes are finally done (yeah right) and I've found a moment to sit here. But that moment's up so I gotta go update the girls' website now!

Our Harley Guy

I've always been completely against motorcycles (at least when it involved someone I love) but even I have to admit he looks pretty darn good on his bike.

In the blink of an eye

That's how fast the last 5 years have gone. I close my eyes and I can still feel everything I did on my wedding day exactly 5 years ago today. Up until then it was the most wonderful, perfect day of my life. Even now, though the day each of my babies was born qualifies as one of the best, the day I married my love, in it's own rite, will be the best day of my life.

When I would think back then of how we would celebrate our 5 year anniversary I thought we'd be renewing our vows on a beach somewhere beautiful. Not for a second did I think we'd be spending it cuddled up on the couch eating pizza with our two little girls. If I had known then what I know now, this is exactly what I would have wished for.

The King of our Castle

Why do I call him this? Because he calls us his princesses....and because he is. He is the reason I get to stay home and spend this precious time with the girls. He is the reason we live in a home where we each have our own bedrooms with walk-in closets. And he is the reason we will never be without our share of shoes. He is our king.

We had a great day dedicated to showing him just how much we love him yesterday. Although at this point I'm really the only one that can really show any true appreciation, I'm pretty confident in knowing that I appreciate him more than enough for the three of us. I appreciate him and the father he is to the girls in a way only a fatherless girl can. My dad passed away a year and a half ago but I lost him well before that. At 6 years old, him and my mom divorced. At 10 I was only seeing him once in a while. At 17 he moved back to Mexico. And by 22 I would see him for the last time. I remember being 19 when it stopped affecting my life so much that he wasn't in it but it's funny how, no matter what, I never stopped wanting to be Daddy's little girl and I certainly, to this day, have not stopped thinking about him. I have never been able to get through a father-daughter dance at a wedding without tearing up and I've never been able to get through even the cheesiest "after school special"-like episodes on TV about a dad and his daughter without wondering, even for a moment, how different I may have turned out if only my dad had been around. I gave up the hope of having him in my life long before he passed away but the fantasy of it is still with me. The difference now is that I'm watching my girls live it out. Anthony is so much more to them than I had ever wished my dad could be to me. It's bittersweet to know that they will never be able to appreciate the incredible father he is the way I do because they will never know life without him. They'll never really know how incredibly lucky they are to have him as a dad. And, although they may never be able to appreciate him in the sense that I can, I know that as they grow they will quickly learn to see him for all that he is. But for now, for my girls, I will tell you what I love and appreciate so much about their dad.

1. The way he teared up the moment they were both born (he NEVER cries)
2. How hard he works for the life we have
3. He is one of the best people you will ever know. Genuine and kind-hearted beyond belief.
4. He has a smile that will make you melt
5. The way his eyes light up when he smiles
6. The way his entire face lights up at the sight of any one of us
7. The way he dances when we're the only ones in the room
8. His innate ability to put our names into any song
9. His inability to learn the right words to almost any song
10. The pancakes he makes for us every Saturday and Sunday morning (Mickey Mouse being his latest creation for Ana)
11. The dirt on his hands after a long day of work
12. His ability to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to go to work for us
13. When he calls at the end of the day to let us know "he's on his way to us"
14. How he calls everyday to see how "his girls" are doing
15. That he tells me everyday that he's missed "his girls"
16. The endless paces back and forth he's taken during Ana's, and now Maddie's, fussy times
17. The spa treatments he gives Ana when he puts her to bed - bath, massage, teeth, ears, hair, the works!
18. The way he loves their mom after all this time
19. How important he is at work because he's so darn good at his job
20. The incredible amount of respect he has and shows to his parents
21. The yummy banana milk shakes they'll come to love as much as their mom does
22. How respectful he is of people
23. How much he loves having their Aunts Dana, Kristie, and Carie around even though he always gives them such a hard time
24. How he's already making plans to turn the loft into a huge bathroom to accommodate his three girls
25. The way he always checks on Ana one last time before going to bed
26. The way he kisses Maddie goodbye every morning and says "I love you"
27. The way he's taught Ana to sing all the words she knows
28. How happy it makes him that Ana loves, loves, loves his truck
29. The little boy inside of him that runs to the window at the sound of a cool car
30. The way he's put so much of his own wants on hold for us with little complaints
31. The way that we, his girls, fill up his heart so completely that it shows in his beautiful face
32. The way that, as long as he can help it, Ana and Maddie will never, ever know what it's like to be without a dad

I could of course go on forever but I'll break here.

Happy Fathers Day to the most wonderful dad I could have ever hoped to have for my kids.