Thanksgiving Break

David got a lovely two weeks off from school. Since my pass to Disneyland was going to expire two days into D's vacation we headed out to California right away to enjoy those days. The first day we met up with David's mom and sister Lisa and went to the California Adventure side. Liliana especially likes the Bug's Life attraction. She loves the trill of the spinning Lady bug ride (She giggles while she's on it). Afterward we ate lunch at the Story Teller Cafe (delicious!).

The next day we went with my brother Derek and his family. We were there all day and also had a great time!!!

Liliana got one on one time with Sleeping Beauty. She sang "I know you I saw you once upon a dream to her". It was so cute.

Trying to pull out the Sword in the Stone.

Mommy with Lilana about to go on It's a Small World for the second time.

With unkie Derek walking trough Monster's Inc. after the ride broke down.

With her sweet cousin Nathan.

Nathan burned out even before we got onto the Tram.

Buffet Time! My father won a raffel for a $200.00 gift card to Pala Casino. Since we do not gamble my father took us all to the Casino Buffet. It was grub! I'm sure half of the 6 pounds I gained came on this night!

Waiting for the Buffet

My parents being silly. I love them!

Thanksgiving....

We are lucky to have both our families 25 minutes apart. So for Thanksgiving we double up and get to enjoy both families and two meals (the other 3 pounds came from this night)

This is all the Meza Great Grand Kids (minus Nathan and Natalie). We were lucky to have family come from Redding, Salt Lake and even Peru!

This is us on our way to David's side of the family.

We had such a blast and are looking forward to our next visit for Christmas Vacation.

A Tribute to the Pacifier (July 15, 2009 - November 2, 2011)

After much consideration we decided it was time to say bye bye to Lili's PRECIOUS Paa Paa's. I'm not going to lie, I may or may not have cried more than she did that first day. Although She was only allowed to use them for sleeping, she would try and sneek one every chance she got. Liliana seriously was so in love with them that it was turning into a source of daily contention. It was time to say goodbye, and it was either now or much later (with a new baby coming soon). So Wednesday morning we collected all the pacifiers (pictured below) and let her suck on them to her hearts content.

Then we let her pick her favorite one to keep and put the rest in a envelope to send to her baby cousin Olivia. She personally put the package in the mail bin and knew exactly what was going on. Then when she wasn't looking I snipped the top off the one she kept. So we took the "broken" paci to Build a Bear and had Liliana pick out a pink bunny and stuffed the broken Paci inside before they closed it. She adores her new friend (Bunny Ella) and the fact that she can feel the broken Paci when she squeezes her. This whole genius idea was an accumulation of three great minds, Lisa Morris, Heather Gunnell and Kembly Fernandez.

The truth is that it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Every time she asks for a paa paa, I remind her that she's a big girl and Baby Olivia has them now. Then she won't ask again. Naps and bedtime have been a little rough, but she ends up sleeping fine. Twice we have gotten a visitor in our bed at night, but for now it's ok with me. We will have to deal with that a little later. Here is a picture of her with Bunny Ella.

Halloween

These are pics of the night we carved our pumpkins. No, Liliana was not Snow White for Halloween. This is what she would wear all day everyday if she could. We had to cut back on the princess attire because it's the only thing she wanted to wear. It got so bad that she did not want to go out (i.e. park) as it meant she had to take off her princess dress and shoes.

THESE ARE THE PICTURES OF HER ACTUAL COSTUME...

She was Scarlett from Gone With the Wind. I found the costume at a thrift store and scooped it right up for $10.00 (worth every penny) It's size 4-6, so we may be able to wear it again in a couple years. This year the only way I could get her to wear it was with the promise of a lot of candy. She absolutely hated the hat, but she humored her parents and kept it on.

Every year Midwestern puts on a campus wide Halloween activity. The kids get to go through all the offices and Trick O' Treat. What was funny is that the Dental school gave all the kids toothbrushes and toothpaste. After Trick O'Treating there are festivities in an open field and we ran into Liliana's best buddies Max and Kate.

Liliana's last session of her very first dance class.

Today was Liliana's last dance class session. We will def put her in another class. She has improved so much since the very first class. David was able to make this class and she totally hammed it up for him. I know I blogged about her dance already, but like i've said before she is so stinkin' rotten cute I can't help it!

The last 15 minutes of class they had a little party. I took the opportunity to have her take a picture with her instructor Miss Becka.

Mommy and her ballerina!



This is what they do at the beginning of every class.


This one I call Merrill stare.


Cluster of two year olds in tutus!

26 Weeks

My friend texted me yesterday morning and said she hadn't seen a pic of me preggers. So since it was Sunday (the only day I actually fully do my hair and makeup) I asked David to snap a few pics before church.

So this pregnancy has been quite different than the first. The biggest being morning sickness lasting 17 weeks, and Heartburn starting a trimester early. I'm also a lot more floja (lazy). With Liliana I would swim and exercised a lot. Although I guess I could call chasing after a two year old exercise! I've gained a total of 14 pounds with this pregnancy (so far), but I'm worried about the Holidays around the corner and my major sweet tooth that has only grown with this pregnancy. With Liliana I gained 50 pounds! I don't feel as big with this one, maybe because i'm not carrying around a small soccer ball sized Freddy this time as well (thank goodness).

Liliana was so easy to name, but this time it's been so hard coming up with a name. Both David and I are being so picky. Liliana has already named our baby Ella and is pretty adamant about it. She probably will just be "baby sister" till we have her.

Here is the proud big sister wearing the beautiful dress aunt Kristy gave her for her birthday.

Liliana's Dance Class

We signed Liliana up for a Tot dance class for 2 year olds. You can only imagine how focused a dance class is of 20+ two year olds. Liliana's first class was a disaster! I did not put her in a tutu and all she did that first day was ask me where her tutu was. I haven't made the same mistake again and each class is gradually getting better. As you can see from the videos she stays on task part of the time. She has a blast though and I of course enjoy watching her.

Big sister meets baby sister

Her arm (looks like she is flexing her muscle)

We were lucky to be able to have another Ultrasound because they missed some shots with our first one. This time I decided to take Liliana. I am so glad I did because it was a special moment we were able to share together. I know that sounds so cheesy, but it's true. Liliana was laying right next to me as we watched "baby sister" on the monitor together. The ultrasound tech was extremely accommodating for Lili. She let her listen to the heartbeat three different times and pointed stuff out to her. Liliana was so excited and would not share any of the images the Ultrasound tech gave her. She gave daddy a full report when we went to pick him up. Looks like she's shaping up to be an excellent big sister.

Presenting Liliana's big girl room and bed!

Two nights ago when I went to check on Lili she had her complete leg (pass her knee) sticking out from in between the bars of her crib. I came to the conclusion it was time to make the switch and with the new baby coming soon it was sooner or later unavoidable. Plus she tosses and turns so much I was afraid she'd break her leg or something.

Back before we moved out to Arizona I found a beautiful bedroom set at a Yard Sale for $100.00. Part of it was a twin canopy bed. I had one as a kid so I feel in love. She has been using the dresser and night stand, but the bed was at my mom's. Her last trip out she brought it minus a box spring. I found a brand new box spring on craigslist for $20.00 and picked it up yesterday. I didn't realize how expensive bedding was. After hunting through SEVERAL stores I ended up dropping $50.00 for a Disney Princess Comforter and Bed Sheets at Big Lots. Which is pretty good considering a similar set was at Macy's for $140.00.

Her first night went alright it took her hours to be able to fall and stay asleep. Not sure if it was the excitement or her body getting used to something different. She did fall right asleep for her nap this afternoon. The funny thing is that she hasn't realized she can come down by herself yet. When she wakes up she'll stay and wait for me to come and get her like usual.

Her room has been a work in progress since we moved into our rental. Here are pictures from this morning including one of my big girl sleeping in her new princess bed. Now if we could only get her potty trained!

Merrill Family Lake Trip

Ok this post is way behind. All I have left in order to "catch up" on Summer activity blogging is this Lake Trip and my 30th Birthday party.

This year in May we were finally able to make the Merrill annual lake trip to Havasu. Such a blast! I of course forgot my camera so these are the only two pics I was able to borrow from Kristy (thanks!) If I get more I will post later.

We rented a huge 4 bedroom house and shared it among 6 families! Jeff and Kristy are so nice to share their big beautiful boat with the family. Every year we are able to make it is tons of fun! We make such wonderful memories. The highlights this year were Liliana being able to play Ring around the rosies with all her cousins, and David winning at cubby bunny. The funniest part of the whole trip was rafting with my mother in law Patty. Silly me thought If I went with her, then I wouldn't end up in the water like everyone else did at the end. I was wrong!

Liliana LOVED the boat and being with all her family at the same time. Already can't wait for next year.