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sorry guys,

i know some of you have told me that you were not able to leave comments on my blog recently...sorry Chrissy & Jeanine!! Comment away!

-v

Swim school is out for the summer!

Irina has been enjoying swim class for the past month and we are both sad its over so soon. Here are a few pics during her last session. She has learned to hold her breath while under water, hold herself up on to the ledge (never did it w/ out me, only her instructor-explains why i looked surprised) and even floats on her back! We are going to practice kicking and blowing bubbles this summer. Craig took the day off to see her last swim class this semester, he took great pics and video too. We will be back in the fall with Jeanine & Liam. The kids will be olympic swimmers in no time!

Keller Fest

Last week Seth, Jeanine and Liam invited us to go hang out at Keller Fest with them. We walked around, listened to music, saw the mini petting zoo and enjoyed each others company. The kids get along really well, they even share clothes! At a recent playdate Liam had a bit of an accident and was forced to wear a pink outfit and diaper that Irina let him borrow. They both wear bumgenius cloth diapers and 12-18mth rompers, Liam looked so cute in pink! Anyway back to Keller Fest, along the way Craig and Seth picked up free plungers from a booth and were not ashamed to show them off. Jeanine and I both bought an Indian style wrap dress that is perfect for the summer heat, pics coming soon. The only thing missing is a photo of Me and Jeanine with the kids. We had a great time!

My birthday

this is the best birthday present i ever gave myself...she is perfect.

Holy Crap

This past Tuesday was our first mommy & me swim class, I want Irina to learn how to swim early in life since I still don't know how to swim. My good friend Jeanine and her little boy Liam have taken the class before and extended an invite. The class is in Southlake and staying true to both our "green" lifestyles Jeanine and I are carpooling to the aqua center. We had a good first class even though Irina cried when the instructor held her to swim towards me. We arrived tired and hungry at Jeanine's casa in her nifty new Honda Odyssey and after loading all of my bags and extra car seat into my car I strapped Irina in and closed the only open car door....No sooner did I hear the car door slam shut did I yell "NO!!! My keys are in the car!!!!" Jeanine had just started to close her garage door and was heading inside to put Liam down for a nap. She quickly handed me her cell phone and I immediately dialed Craig's cell phone number, no answer so I left a voice mail. I would have called his work number first but I don't have it memorized and my cell was safe in my diaper bag that was locked in my car. 5 long minutes go by and Craig calls me back, his main concern is how hot the car might get on his way to bring us the spare key. It was about 10:30am and it was cool and crisp outside and luckily I had two doors open while loading up the car, so Irina had a stiff breeze flowing through the car for a bit. Jeanine and I waited on the curb, constantly checking on Irina. She waved at me, smiled and played with a near by box for a little while then she fell asleep. Several minutes after the terrible incident happened our attention was turned to a car speeding into the street entrance a few yards down. We quickly realized it was Craig, I could not believe how he got to us so pronto! For those of you who know Craig, you know that he never, I mean NEVER ever goes even a 1 mile over the posted speed limit. He pulled up, unlocked the car while walking towards it and picked up his precious baby. She was half asleep but still wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, he held on tight and wouldn't let go. I explained everything and assured him the car never got too hot. He was upset and mentioned that when he first got into his car it was very warm and the whole ride he pictured the car car getting hotter while she was in it. He is our Hero! Thank God this happened to me...I mean not really but I'm glad it happened early in May and not the middle of August. This is not going to be a two-part blog, I am going to make sure that this NEVER (well, at least for a very, very long time) happens to me and my baby again!

Abuelos

These are my grandparents on my father's side, they live in a tiny little town in Michoacan, Mexico called La Luz which in english is "the light"; it's about 24hrs away (driving non-stop). My Abuelito's (grandparents) visit about twice a year and I love seeing them. In my culture grandparents are to be shown nothing but the highest level of respect. In fact, for those of you who speak some spanish; there is a whole set of words that are only spoken to your parents, grandparents and older aunts and uncles. It doesn't translate into english and the only example I can think of is....you would never ask your grandparent "do you want a glass of water", you should say "would you like a glass of water". Like I said, it's the closest example and the words reserved for our elders defenitley won't translate into ingles. Here is a photo of 4 generations: Jose & Lupe Garcia, Jesus Garcia (my dad), Vanessa Garcia Odom and Irina Odom. I love that my grandparents are able to see the many kids (8), grandkids (about 30) and great grandkids (about 16) they have.

Grandparents

This month of May we have several birthdays to celebrate in our family. Today we went to visit with Craig's grandmother Thelma who turned 93 this month! She is fiesty little old lady who drives herself to weekly hair appointments (never misses one) and bakes Irina cookies from scratch for special occasions. Her church threw a party to honor her as one of the Elders of the Methodist Community. There was lots of home made food and good ol' church hyms too. Irina had a blast walking around and talking to everyone.