Celebrating Mommy's Birthday

I can't believe it, but today represents my last year in my 30s. It doesn't feel much different than 38, but there is one major difference. Last year I was a mother of 2 and now I am closing out this decade as a mother of 3. My how things have changed. Today I had a great time with my family and got an overwhelming amount of well wishes from loved ones. It was all I could really ask for.

This morning I got greeted in bed with lots of hugs and kisses from the kids. Then they just hung out which was pretty nice.

"Waaaaazuuuupppp!"

Later that evening we went to a very nice dinner with Aba and Abu. Thanks everyone for making this a great day.

Vielot - Gonzalez Family Goes Bowling

So the drawback of having a summer birthday is a lot of times no one is around to help you celebrate. A benefit, however, of having a birthday that sometimes falls on labor day weekend is you kind of get a long weekend that can be dedicated to celebrating your birthday. This year my birthday falls on a Sunday which means Labor Day weekend. Today the family kicked off the celebration by going bowling. It was not the first time the kids had bowled, but it had been a while and it is the first time we did so as a family.

Mateo - all smiles- is ready to get started

Papi is showing Lucia the roll-between-your-legs technique

Lucia is also quite happy to be here

Mateo taking his first roll

Lucia taking her first roll

Family bowling 

We had a great time

We ended the day with a great meal at a local restaurant. A fun kick-off to my birthday weekend.

L &V Hang with Mommy

Now that we have three kids it always feels like we have to divide and conquer to allow them to participate in the activities they like without completely throwing off the other siblings schedules. Today was one of the "split-up" days. Mateo had a chess tournament in the city and we discovered pretty early on that those tournaments take a while,s o instead of making Lucia and Valentina suffer through them we decided to let them stay home with me, so it was to be a girls-only day.

Looks like Valentina is happy with that plan

We figured out a way to also fit Lucia in the stroller. It looks like she is the Wicked Witch of the East and Dorothy's house has just landed on her.

A special treat for Lucia - a lunch at Panera's with a giant M&M cookie for dessert. She is a happy camper.

Valentina is more mellow about the affair...maybe because she doesn't get to eat real food yet, so she doesn't get the joy experienced by huge M&M cookies.

ML&V Enjoy a Random Festival

Hoboken has a lot of activities for families going on in the summer time - movie nights, park activities, and festivals. They love their festivals - today we heard about a summer music festival or something like that happening at Pier A, so we headed out to see what was going on.

When we arrived we found bouncy houses, rock climbing wall, music, face painting and free Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Not too shabby

Mateo and Lucia enjoyed into and out of this bouncy house/slide

"We love festivals!"

Valentina Puts Papi to Sleep

Valentina is sort of settling into a sleep pattern and is starting to figure out her nights from her days although she is not yet sleeping through the night. She has also established herself as a definite morning person. She is always so happy and alert in the morning. She likes to interact with us and tries her hardest to engage...

...but sometimes we are too exhausted to engage back. "nite, nite Papi"

Valentina Meets Satya and Auntie Gina

The great thing about having a baby, other than the miracle of life and overall joy stuff, is the fact that it normally brings in visitors and loved-ones. Today, we were very happy to have some very special visitors in from Pittsburgh.

Auntie Gina, Satya (who Mommy was meeting for the first time) and Aryan (not pictured) came for a quick visit

B-school roomies (w/ kids) reunite!

ML&V Celebrate Tia Lola's Birthday

In the Gonzalez family there is always some reason to party...especially in the summer. Everyone always wants a reason to BBQ, drink and enjoy each others' company. Today our reason was to celebrate Tia Lola's birthday.

The birthday girl, Tia Lola, shares some swing time with Valentina

Later she enjoyed a birthday serenade from all of the kids - Nelsito, Melanie, Valentina, Lucia and Mateo

Brother- Sister Love

So ever since Valentina was born she has gotten a lot of attention from her siblings, but more so from her sister, but lately Mateo has shown more interest. I think that has something to do with the fact that Valentina now gives emotional feedback. Every time she sees her brother she smiles which makes him smile.

Big brother Mateo getting in some cuddle time with littler sis Valentina

Valentina Has Lunch with Mommy & Papi

So it has been a couple of weeks since Val and I have been hanging alone and we are getting into the swing of things. We have tried to establish a routine and what's nice is that sometimes Papi is part of that routine. Today he took two of his ladies to lunch.

A nice relaxing meal at Pho Nomenon

Valentina Visits OXO

Today Mommy ventured into the city to visit OXO. Everyone was excited to meet her and I was happy to finally introduce her to everyone.

Valentina was not happy that I delayed her feeding, but no worries we snuck into the pump room where I satisfied her hunger.

 We took the ferry back to Hoboken

Bye, bye New York, we will see you again soon!

M&L Welcome Back their Besties

This morning the first words out of Lucia's mouth were "Alma is back."

For the last 7 weeks, Mateo and Lucia's best friends Lucas and Alma have been away in France for the summer and they got back last night. It was a happy day.

 Lucia and Alma share a happy swing ride...

 ...While the boys had an more mild, but just as happy game of basketball

Later we headed off to a family gathering where our 3 slept very peacefully in the car

At Prima Maria's house Lucia got to hang, princess-style, with Melanie, Madeline and Valentina

Valentina's 2 Months and 16 Handles

Today was an easy breezy Saturday. It started out with a piano lesson, followed by some yummy fro-yo and ending with our 2 month photo shoot.

 One of their favorite places to go on a hot summer day...16 Handles!!

 Photo bomb! Valentina wants some Froyo

As promised almost a month ago, Baby V gets documented at month 2. 

Happy 2 Months baby girl...you are filling out nicely

Valentina Babbles

Valentina knows that in the Gonzalez household you have to speak up if you want to be noticed...

...So today she let her voice be heard

Valentina is Jersey Strong

Although Valentina was born in New York....

...this peach muscle tank and flexing bicep shows she is pure Jersey

Lucia's 5th Birthday Party

Today was the day Lucia had been waiting for - finally it was time for her Princess & Pirate birthday party. She had specified very early on what she wanted to wear so I searched until we found exactly what she envisioned.

Blue dress - check, fairy wings - check, hair out - check and gold shoes - a bonus

Papi was very happy to celebrate with his pretty fairy princess

Mateo was not happy to celebrate at a princess pad, but was tolerant as a good big brother should be

Lucia's pull-apart Frozen cake

Lucia's future throne

ARoyal Breakfast for the parents

Aba and Mini Princess V

Lucia's friends, Mason, Oscar, Tom Vivy, Amelia and cousin Melanie were all happy to help her celebrate

Lucia was a little overwhelmed

And here come the two "Real" princesses - Sleeping Beauty and Ariel to help her celebrate

The Fairy Princess Lucia is happy to sit on her throne and eat breakfast

Princesses Vivy and Amelia

3 Princesses with the cake

Princess Melanie joins her cousin 

Abu shares a moment with 3 of his grandchildren

Mateo didn't want to have any face painting, but agreed to get a mustache when Papi offered him $5

Lucia after her dress change shares the spotlight with her favorite princesses

The whole party - Olivia, Melanie, Vivy, Mateo, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Lucia Ava, Amelia, Ryan, Tom, Mason, and Oscar

And of course Baby Valentina

Lucia wanted to change into one of her birthday presents - an Elsa dress- when she saw Amelia in hers

After a tiring birthday party, we all needed to go home and rest

And unfortunately, say goodbye to Grandma. She is leaving today after spending about 8 weeks with us...thank you for everything you've done for us this summer. We loved having you here and will miss you dearly. xoxo Francoise, Eddie, Mateo, Lucia and Baby Valentina