Waiting out a hurricane

Hurricane Alex is going to get close but it the eye of the storm will miss us completely! Thank goodness! We are just getting "tropical storm" weather, 50 mph winds and very heavy rain. I feel very safe here at Silvia and Lews. We aren't worried about flooding or anything. Their land is much higher than all around them, probably by a good 5 feet. They are totally prepared for the worst also, so again, not worried. Plenty of food storage, water, gas and even a generator! Talk about following the church's teachings!

This is however, the worst week for a hurricane! I have rent checks to collect and 2 families moving out of Luis' houses and 2 new tenants moving in... one of which still hasn't signed the contract! I have been working frantically today! You should see me. I had to stop by one of our houses that will be rented out next week and pick up glass that someone dumped in the front yard! We got a phone call from a city official saying he was going to issue us a citation... so I worked that out and he removed the citation, but that's how the valley is... people know it's vacant so they dump their crap on your lawn or in your garbage can! I hate it! That will all change next week, but their I was in the pouring rain, in my hoodie sweatshirt b/c everything else is in storage... picking up big pieces of glass and putting it in the back of my SUV. I also ad to go pick up broken tile that our tile guy left in our yard... so annoying... I was SOAKING!(I am especially bummed b/c 2 of my friends invited me to separate Eclipse showings and parties and I have to miss both!) Why am I doing all this work, you may ask??? Because Luis is at boy scout camp in San Marcos... 5 hours away! And yes, it has been raining there too almost the whole time. He comes back on Friday night, right when the storm is supposed to be leaving. I hate being business woman and mother... it is so difficult. jackson gets so attention starved on days like this and drives me up the wall with all the whining. I know he needs me, but there are things that MUST get done! This week has reinforced how important it is for mothers to be in the home! I love my boys and can't imagine working full-time and not being with them to raise them and see them grow up.

Jackson is making major progress with speaking. He says or attempts to say pretty much every word we ask him to. He even says new words on his own, without prompting. He usually throws a fit and screams and cries when he can't reach something or is stuck or something like that. Now he says "help". I am so proud of him. Next step is to get him to combine words into phrases. We are trying easy things like "juice please" or "help please"... he even says thank you. It is so cute. The words aren't perfect... but he is doing great!

That's about it! Hope you are all doing great.

I am so proud of Luis! He has lost 10 pounds so far. He has been working out really hard and dieting for about 3 weeks... since the first home interview when we realized training might be closer than we thought!

Funny Story! Jackson was in the bath and I was sitting there with Jake in my lap. Jackson was throwing his rubber duckie up in the air and letting it splash in the water. Jake loves watching Jackson and thinks he is pretty funny. Well, Jackson threw the duck against the wall and it bounced off and hit him in the forehead. Jake started cracking up! How does he know at 5 months that that is funnier than the duck landing in the water? Jackson loved having Jake laugh so hard so he kept throwing the duck at the wall and letting it hit him! It was hilarious and Jake thought it was SO funny! I wish I got it on camera!

Here are some cute pictures of the boys!

Sickness and Injuries

Well, we have had a very eventful week! On Thursday, week before last, Jackson got sick and had a very figh fever (104.8). I was freaking out and took him to the clinic where the doctor said he had a throat infection. He got on antibiotics immediately and he was doing much better. But on Saturday, I GOT SICK! Not fun being sick with a fever and headache and muscle soreness and trying to take care of a toddler and baby! Anyways, Lew didn't think it was what Jackson had so I didn't go to the doctor. We decided it was a viral infection, not bacterial. On Wednesday this past week Jacob got sick with a fever and we were pretty sure he had what I had. Poor baby was so miserable. He is all better now and he didn't have to go to the doctor either, but we did have a horrible night with almost NO sleep.

Then last night Luis and Jackson were wrestling and Jackson fell and smacked his face on the tile and cut his lip. Now he has a swollen upper lip and he looks so sad. Then today at church he had 2 accidents and ended up barefoot in a pair of overalls that we found in the primary closet that were WAY too small. It was funny, I should have taken a picture! One of the young men opened the foyer door right into Jackson's foot and cut it open and it was all bloody. The poor thing just had a really bad day today!

Jacob at 5 months

He is so big! He loves to stand up! His eyes are half brown and half blue now. Isn't he just so cute!?

Final Haircut!

So this is the "fix" that we ended up with after my horrible haircut. I am very happy with it because I thought I was going to have to cut it even shorter, but Silvia's friend managed to save it!



Jacob fell asleep in his exersaucer! I was reading and Jackson was just playing and it was about 8pm, so I knew they were both tired. Jacob was getting fussy and I decided I would finish my chapter and then go make a bottle. Well I realized it had gotten quite and I looked up to see him sound asleep, sucking his thumb with his face smashed into the saucer! It was so cute, but sad!

Secret Service update... SURPRISE!

Well, I was shocked to get a phone call from my friend this morning. Her husband is the agent that has been helping Luis stay informed about this whole process. She frantically told me that the Secret Service has been trying to get ahold of Luis all weekend and is about to DROP his entire application because they can't get in touch! (Luis had no voicemails, by the way!) Apparently, they were pretty upset about it. So Luis immediately called in. They needed some additional references and info to complete his background check. So Luis got ready and went straight to his office to prepare the information. Almost right after he got there... Agent Rico, the agent from San Antonio that is running his background check, showed up at his office door! SURPRISE! They had told Luis to drop off the info at the local office at 2... but I guess the agent had another idea! Things turned out ok... they aren't dropping his application. In fact, they told him he will most likely be in training within the next 60 days! (If everything continues to go well!) We had a big scare... but it turned out ok. So tomorrow, agent Rico is coming by the house to meet me and he wants Silvia and Lew to be there too! I am so nervous! I think things will be ok... but he did say that of all the gov't agencies the Secret Service has the highest divorce rate... not appealing, but I think Luis and I are pretty strong, so I am not too concerned about that statistic. I'm sure it's because how often the agents are away from home.

So that's the update... exciting... I think the whole process is almost over! Wish us luck and keep us in your prayers!