Baby Sophia is on her way! (Nicole and Eduardo's Baby Shower)

August 29th was our pals Nicole and Eduardo's Baby Shower. They're welcoming their first child, daughter Sophia in October. Nicole looks great and is keeping VERY busy as usual teaching at KIPP Middle School AND Pottery Barn. She is always on the go...I think Sophia will get her to slow down some once she arrives. ;)

Happy Birthday Jorge!

With school back in swing, its pressing to find time with our pals. Angie is in law school, Amaris is pursuing a new degree and works 2 jobs, Nicole returned back to teaching middle school--and is due in October with Sophia, Jorge is working as a Social Worker at Ben Taub on the graveyard shift, I could go on and on. We were able to get together though for Jorge's birthday. Fortunatley (most of us) live in the same neighborhood, so its none of us were out too late. Amaris made us us a delicious home-cooked meal. Mmmm...Silly Jorge...

Happy 1st Birthday Evan!

Check out that layout of food...delicious tailgait chow! Birthday Boy Evan was pretty lucky to have such a delicious little cake just for him. Here are both the cakes together that Donna made. Delish! Asher and his great-aunt Rinda. He's 15 weeks here...and lovin' the discovery of his hands.

Visiting with friends

Our wedding photographer Danny and his wife Jessica recently welcomed their first child, Kaitlyn. We were so happy to have them over since we know when babies are so young, your outside choices are pretty limited. Here is Kaitlyn at 4 weeks and Asher at 15 weeks. Check out their dialogue:
Both: "Hmmm...let me feel this out first..."Asher: "Hi there pretty girl!" Kaitlyn: "Okay Asher, you are pretty cute!"

Rolling around at 3 months

Happy Birthday Dad!

My parents with Asher at 3 months. Brandon and 'Mina'. Hydration is still very important for me...and Asher!
Here is Brandon reeling in his fish (really our Croaker bait). Haha. A good picture of Brandon with the birthday boy. Unfortunately Brandon is playing with our live bait and KILLING them by touching the water. I'm exagerrating...some.Brandon with his pops Joel. I really need to fix this one up. Its the original photo we took as we were heading in. Linda, Dad, and Felicia.

Ahh...enjoying the next 4 days off...Asher at 3 months

This is the life...I worked Monday-Wednesday this week and I can now relax till next Monday. A 3-day full-time schedule works for me! I get to stay home with Asher and get a feel for how things used to be. Doug and I got really close to having to send him to daycare with one formula bottle (he usually goes with 3 pumped 6 oz. bottles), but Asher was NOT having any of it, so by the time I saw him at home, he was able to eat from me again. What a relief. I am just so grateful to Doug for being so encouraging...its not easy telling someone who has to already be up at 4:45AM that they should really get out of bed at 2:30AM too. Which is again why I'm really looking forward to this time at home again. Tomorrow is my dad's birthday, so we'll be going to the beachhouse for some good times fishing and relaxing this weekend.Lunch with dad at Kim Son. Mr. Asher uses 'big boy' bottles now since he can eat up to 7 oz. per feeding. He's tipping the scales at 13.5 lbs. I joke about him being a string bean and not the chunky little guy I imagined. :o)

Asher's Baptismal

Asher was baptized this past Sunday at St. Thomas More Catholic Church right near our house. Lauren and Ryan are his godparents, and were there to do the customary 'dressing of the baby' prior to the event. We invited our family to come by our house afterwards were we enjoyed each other's company.Here is a rare photo of all the Salinas men in my family...minus Nicholas. My family has very few males, so to get them all together is a feat! My grandfather had 4 daughters and one son, and wound up with 9 granddaughters, 2 grandsons, and now 2 great-grandsons.

Frank & Jacklyn's Wedding

We all went as a family to Frank and Jacklyn's wedding. Frank and I went to St. Pius X High school together, and would always randomly run into each other throughout the years. We ran into each other most recently at St. Michael's 6pm mass. That's the absolute latest mass in the city in case anyone else has trouble getting to the 11am service. The mass was in Tomball at Prince of Peace and the reception was at the Westin Galleria. Such a beautiful setup! The food was delicious, the cakes looked awesome, and it was just a nice intimate setting. Doug and I calculated we spent from 1pm-7pm doing 'wedding things', so we did wind up leaving the reception a little early. We got home and were pooped! I always joke with Doug now, "how do you think it'd be with two". He responds "we'd get a babysitter". Ha.The cakes were awesome! You can see Frank's cake in the background. A HUGE tennis ball! Frank is a very talented guitarist. I couldn't believe I was writing on one of his beauties though as a 'guest book'! What an awesome idea.