2 MORE DAYS!!!! I can't believe I only have two more days left before I'm the mother of four. I don't know if I'm ready. The last few days I've been on a cleaning spree. I've gotten all the baby clothes out, washed, folded and put them all away. The bed, the swing, and the carseat have all been cleaned and are ready. The house is looking pretty clean (cause we know Keith won't do any major cleaning while I'm in the hospital, so I had to get it ready beforehand.)

Let's see, is there anything else? Oh yeah, a name. We still don't have one. ACK!!!! I've given Keith plenty of names to choose from that I like, and he says he doesn't really like any of them. He only has about two that he kind of likes, but I don't really like those.

Just in case anyone's wondering (and so that we can have it down to remember later) here is a list of names that I like and the reasons Keith doesn't like them.

Ariana - probably my favorite, Keith says no because he has a sister named Aria and the names are too similar. But everyone calls her Edia, so it's not that big of a problem, but he says no.

Eva - again, he has a sister named Iva, so he says it's too similar.

Iliana - too much like Elena.

Celia - he doesn't really like this, but likes Cecilia. I have an aunt named Cecilia (she goes by Ceci) so I'm not sure how that's ok, and the others aren't, but oh well. I kinda like Cecilia, but it's definitely not one of my favorites right now, so I'm trying for others.

Mariela - he says this is the only one that he sort of likes. But really, he likes Marisol. There are two reasons we're not using Marisol. One - it's the name of one of his high school girlfriends that he kissed. Two - (if number one didn't matter to me...and it does) it doesn't end in an "a", so it doesn't really match with the other girls. I'm looking for a name that goes - the other three all sound alike at the end, I think it'd be weird to have something else for the fourth. Example: "Here's Amya, Elena, Téa, and Shannon." See how it doesn't fit?

Talia - he says it's too ghetto. Whatever that means. (I also like Natalia, but someone in our ward just named their baby that a month ago, and I don't want to copy them)

Sariah - (a name from the Book of Mormon, pronounced Sar-i-ah). I also like the Spanish version, which is Saríah (pronounced Sar-ee-ah, emphasis on the "ee") but he says no. Doesn't really have a reason, just no.

Aaliyah - I don't know if that's how I'd spell it, or if I'd figure out another way to spell it, but again, too ghetto.

So there's my list of names. He only has the two (Cecilia and Marisol). Since I've carried this baby for 9 months (and in this current sweltering heat it's not easy) I think I should have a little more say. But apparently I don't. I guess this baby will be coming home nameless as well (Téa didn't have a name for 2 weeks, also Keith's fault), unless we figure something out before Sunday. (I will be having her on Friday, then I plan on taking advantage of my full 48 hour stay at the hospital - free food and no chasing after the kids for two days - you better believe I'm doing that.)What else, what else....

Kara's here. She got in last night. The girls are really excited to be spending time with her. Amya is VERY excited to go scrapbooking with her. She keeps asking Kara if she knows where the scrapbook store is. She wants to make sure that they won't get lost on the way there, I guess.

I think this post has been long enough. I might come back later with some recent pics. It's just so hot in our upstairs (where the computer is) that I haven't felt like coming up here lately. Also, if you read through this whole long post, and have any name suggestions (that end in "a"), please let me know. I'm getting a little desperate.

Names

Téa can now say Elena. Well actually, she says "Nena". We just got Elena to stop saying "nena" and now that's what Téa says. Oh well, it's sweet that she's trying to say her sister's name. Amya's pretty jealous - I keep hearing her say "Téa, say ay-a. Téa, can you say Amya?" Maybe she'll be able to teach her quickly. After all, it didn't take them long to teach her to say crack. No news on the baby name front - we still can't agree on anything. And we have less than two weeks left.

read

I started this page awhile ago, and forgot to finish it. So I finally finished it tonight. Téa still carries that book around with her a lot. It's one of her favorites - Ten Little Ladybugs in spanish, a present for the girls from Aunt Kara. (Pics are from April 1.)

For credits, go to my 2Peas gallery.

spring beauty

just a page I did today. This is Téa, back in April, sitting in the field by our house. Now I need to do a page that has all the outtakes from trying to get this shot. :)

For credits, go to my 2Peas gallery.

We don't...

So we've had a virus go through our house the past weekend. Everybody has been feeling sick, except Elena. (Now I'm jinxing her) Last night, Amya threw up all over their little Dora couch. Here's what Elena had to say about it.

"Mom, I don't like that awful stuff. Clean it up!!"

"Amya, we don't throw up on the couch. It's awful. Go to the potty."

ah-choo

Just wanted to post the page I did today. Keith was so excited that he caught Elena sneezing on camera. Pics taken June 11.

For credits, go to my 2Peas gallery.

Ummmm.....

I don't have too many new things to report and therefore, can't come up with an interesting title. We've just been taking things easy the past week and haven't really done much. Elena now insists on saying her own prayers - she doesn't want any help from anyone. She says really sweet things too, like "Help us be happy" and stuff like that. Three more weeks until the baby is here. I hope the three weeks go quickly - it's so hot here and I'm getting way uncomfortable. We still have no name for her, guess we better get crackin on that.

I forgot to do a recap of our trip to Texas. We didn't do too much while we were there. Went to Benjamin's birthday party, went to Juarez, went to the funeral. We had a really good time, it was relaxing to have a little vacation. The girls had a lot of fun playing with Ariel, Soly, and Benjamin. We didnt'take very many pictures so I don't have that many to share.

Here's one of Amya jumping into the pool at Benjamin's party.



Here's Keith doing one of his crazy pool tricks. (I don't know why this is coming out so small - if you click on it, you can see it bigger, although I don't know how much bigger you want to see Keith. Maybe this is a good size after all. :P )



Here is one of us in the mercado in Juarez.



I would have taken way more pics in there, but Keith didn't want anyone to see us with the camera and then try to steal it, so we didn't take it out until we were just about to leave. We really had a great time going there. We ate lunch at a little shop inside the mercado - chile relleno burritos with avocadoes, tomatoes, and lettuce for $1.50. You can't beat that price and what's better, they were THE BEST chile relleno burritos we've ever had. Plus a huge glass of lemonade for another buck. We had so much fun talking to the people there and shopping. I got a really pretty picture to hang on my wall (maybe I can take a pic of that later) and we got matching dresses for the girls - even the new baby has one. (They're the dresses the girls have on in the Father's Day pics). All in all, it was a fun trip.