Elena's surgery

Prepping before surgery

Elena's surgery was successful. She ended up having her tonsils AND her adenoids removed also. Although she had those removed last year, the surgeon said they had grown back and were enlarged so she removed them again. This answered so many questions for me! I now understand why her sleep improved last year after the 1st surgery and then became a problem again. Elena is still in some pain and on meds for it but her recovery has been fairly smooth. She is already sleeping better and I am noticing some positive behavior changes now that she is not chronically tired. Unfortunately for me my napping days for this pregnancy are over with. Apparently Elena no longer needs a midday nap because she is finally restfully sleeping in the night like she should be.

Local hikes

We've been enjoying the outdoors here on certain early mornings that aren't unbearably hot. Here are some pics from some of our hikes.


Greenbelt hike with my Outdoorsy mom's group

Isn't this pretty? This is Hamilton pool in Dripping Springs. The water temperature was just perfect and under that waterfall I felt as though I was in some old western movie bathing in a spring.



Our hike before heading to Hamilton pool
The view of the Pedernales River at the end of the hike.

Greenbelt hike with Omar. We were heading to the same creek pictured above with Elena and planned to swim but it was completely dry. We headed to Barton Springs instead.
Canoeing Barton Springs. It didn't last. The girls did not like sitting still or the rocking motion of the canoe when they moved. We'll try again when they're older.
Swimming Barton Springs. This they enjoyed even though the water was extremely cold.

Memorial Day

Even though I am a native Texan, it's been hard to accept that summers here consist of 100 degree weather and mean you typically spend summers indoors. I loved going to parks in the summer with the girls during the afternoons in Belmont when they really needed to get out of the house but now we have to rush to beat the sun in the mornings if we want to make it to a park. What I love here and is a stark contrast to summers in Belmont and Sonoma is the ability to go swimming and it actually feel refreshing and not frigid. While both the Bay Area and New England had bodies of water all around, you could only admire them in sight really except for one month out of the year but even then the water was still really really cold. Anyway, my point is I am happy to be back here and enjoy rivers, lakes, and warm beaches and physically go in them and enjoy them.

We found this neat little park on the Blanco River nearby in San Marcos and it wasn't even crowded considering it was a holiday weekend. We met up with my sister and her family and had a great time. It's so close to us that we think we'll go again.

Pig Tails

Hello baby!

We are excited to share that we are expecting #3 at the end of December. We got to see baby today and I teared up. You would think I'd be experienced at this the 3rd time around, but Omar says I cry every time on the 1st ultrasound. It's just so amazing the miracle of life. We saw baby moving and he or she even did a flip. Here's a picture of our new family member.