Exploring

Now that Elena is in school, days off are few and far between so we try to make it point to do something special with the whole family on those days and O tries to take a day or afternoon off too. She had Good Friday off and we headed to the Nature Center. I love driving into the city and enjoy the things it has to offer for us and the kids. Even better the Nature Center is free!

March for Babies

I recently joined Stroller Strides a great class for moms that is allowing me to regain the strength I lost from my pregnancies and then some. I've never, EVER, been athletic by any means so for me this is something very difficult to do, but I am happy to be doing this now in my somewhat young age and happy to be preventing further weakness and bone loss that comes from being weak and having babies.

I along with the Stroller Strides team will be walking for March of Babies in order to raise money for more research and to support programs that help moms have full term pregnancies. Those of you who know me might remember that Elena was born 4 weeks early and spent 7 days in NICU. While Elena was never in critical condition and came home fairly quickly, the experience allowed me to gain a slight perspective on what it feels like to deliver a sick premature baby, go home without your baby, the emotional toll that takes on a new mom, the stress it causes the other members of the family, and an insight to the difficulties that come when delivering a premature newborn baby. I obviously have personal reasons to raise money for this cause, but you can contribute and help me reach my goal too. Just go to my personal page here and make a secure donation. I appreciate you taking the time to read this post and helping out a good cause. :)

If you'd like to see more on what March for Babies is and why I'm walking watch the video here .

Vegas

I joined Omar for a company business meeting in Las Vegas this past weekend. All the spouses were invited. It was nice getting to know each other and exploring the city with them. It was also nice to catch up with the ones I had already met.

The older girls stayed home with Grandma F. (Thanks Grandma F!!)and Karina came along. It sure felt like a break for Omar and I despite the presence of our little baby. Aside from us being experienced parents and knowing how difficult traveling with multiple children can be, Karina was so easy going that it felt as though we were on a vacation without kids.

We had not been to Vegas and had a wonderful time dining, walking the strip, taking in the chaos and lights and concluding with a show by Cirque de Soleil. We saw the Beatles--Love. It was stimulating to say the least but definitely worth seeing. The talent of the performers was just amazing. The show was my favorite part of our trip and then I'd have to say the Bellagio fountain and the inside of the hotel. All the hotels have their own personality and are huge as (the wives) discovered when attempting to get out of the MGM (where we stayed) our first morning there. It took us 40 minutes of going in circles to finally make it outside and onto the strip!! I'll get around to posting video of the Bellagio fountain soon along with some videos of the girls too. The upload takes forever and I'm off to have lunch with O before he heads off on another trip.


pseudo Eiffel tower
The Bellagio fountain


Lots and lots of flowers at the Bellagio, just breathtaking!
more flowers


Glass flowers on the ceiling of the Bellagio and now my wallpaper. :0)

A relaxing dinner with Karina sound asleep!
So adaptable and precious!!

The Strip at Night

At the MGM on our way out.

Egg Hunt

My Mami Latina mom's club had an egg hunt for the kiddos. The girls had a great time!

More Karina

I love photographing this age! I took the pictures below earlier this morning and felt Karina was more cooperatve. She slept 12 hours straight last night!! I had to finally wake her at 7:30am. Woo hoo!! I added the first picture because just yesterday she started grabbing toys and chewing on them. It think this skill may be a little early. At her 2 month check up the Dr. was surprised at her very strong grip. She joked that she needed to move her tools away from her on the examination table because Karina might take them with her.