Reyes Family Time: Maran is 30!

We've had a whirlwind couple of weeks here and I've finally got a few free moments to sit down and write a blog with some accompanying pictures.

This past weekend, I turned 30! I had planned to take Friday off (my birthday was Saturday) and fell asleep a bit later than normal on Thursday night. Around 10:45 pm, I heard a sound in my room and someone whispering "Hi Maran!" It was Katie! She'd flown across the country to surprise me for my birthday weekend! It was the best surprise ever; she and Mario had been planning for months behind my back for her to fly out here. She stayed for 3 (wonderful) days and we had a fantastic time, and then she sacrificed her Sunday night and took the red-eye back to Boston, in order to be at work Monday morning. True sisterly love, right there! I thought it was lucky that I had Friday off, but it turns out Mario and Katie manipulated that, knowing she'd be coming. :) We got pedicures, took Miriam to the zoo, went shopping, had a birthday party, went to a great dinner and a brunch buffet at a waterfront restaurant. It was so great to have her here - the best birthday present I could have asked for. Mario called it my "birthday weekend extravaganza" and worked hard to make it a wonderful weekend for me - he's such a sweet, special guy!

Here are some pictures of my birthday weekend. Katie took a bunch of pictures while she was here, so I'll add those to a future blog once I get them.

Miriam, bodysurfing on Mama's birthday box

Birthday scarf!

Miriam sharing Mama's birthday cake

Family photo

In other big news, as many of you have heard, we are expecting our 2nd baby later this year! Baby "Skittle", as she/he is being called, is due October 30. Miriam is starting to understand the concept of "baby" and can point to my tummy when you ask where the baby is. We are very excited...this time, same as last time, we won't be sharing names, and this time in fact, we aren't finding out the sex of the baby until the birth. I've been feeling pretty good - nauseous periods on and off throughout the day, but as I've gotten into the 2nd trimester, my fatigue has gotten a lot better and I'm feeling like I can be more productive and do more around the house.

Here are a couple pictures of me and baby Skittle - the first one I'm about 9 weeks, and the 2nd one (today) I'm 14 weeks:

9 weeks

14 weeks

And finally, a quick update on Miriam. She's still constantly on the go, as always, and her latest favorite thing is to declare that people (and things) are "napping" when she doesn't want anything to do with them (like eating any more food, cleaning up her toys, etc.) and then that they are "awake" when she wants to play or eat again. She got to go on the BIG twisty slide with Mario at the park, and after one duo ride with Mario, declared that he was "all done" and told him to "move" so she could go alone. Ha! Luckily, she can't get up to the tall slide without the help of an adult, so we can still limit how much she goes on the big slide. She's starting to graduate from her high chair, and often prefers to sit in her booster seat at the table with us. The weather has been nice here the last couple days (and is supposed to get even better as we get to the weekend!) and we've been eating outside, at Miriam's request.

When Katie was here, she was Miriam's constant companion, and Miriam especially loved that Katie would sit in the back seat and hold her hands whenever we drove places. Miriam helped Katie make coffee in the morning, shared food with her and made Katie carry her around the zoo.

Here are a couple recent pictures of Miriam: