It's a girl!!!

We had our 18 week sonogram yesterday and are having a girl!!! We are so excited! I had convinced myself that I was having another boy (not sure if I really thought this or I just didn't want to be disappointed), but this was a great surprise! The tech said that everything looked good and we were both right on schedule! Of course I had to go to Target after work to buy something pink - just because I can now! =0)

Since it has been a month since I have posted anything, I will try to post some more pictures soon!

Me at 18 weeks.

12 Weeks Check Up

I saw Dr. Robbins last week for my 12 week check up. Everything is looking good and the baby has a strong heartbeat! I thought Doris (our nurse) said that it was 160 bpm, but Manuel thought she said 169 bpm. Either way, the baby is doing good! I go back on the 5th next month and will have my next sonogram a couple of weeks after that. That means that as long as the baby is cooperating, we should be able to find out if it's a boy or a girl before Christmas!

Manuel took this picture last Sunday which was right at 12 weeks (I am 13 weeks now). I hate the picture, but at least you get the idea about my little baby bump! It's not so big now, but seems to be getting a little bigger every day!

Flag Football

Ryan started flag football with the YMCA a couple of weeks ago. He is doing a good job and has a chance to show off his speed! =0)

Here are a couple of pics from one of his 2nd game. He is #28.

Not sure why the mad face!

Halloween

I realize I am a little behind in posting these, but better late than never, right?!?

Ryan's friend Orion and his little brother Rylan went trick-or-treating with us around our neighborhood. The boys racked up too! After nearly an hour and a half, each boy ended up with 3 bucket loads of candy. Guess it is a good thing Ryan's birthday party is this weekend so I can use some of it for goody bags!

Ryan was Ben Ten and Gabe was Jango Fet from Star Wars. Orion was a ninja and Rylan didn't dress up, but had fun being there with the big boys!

This says it all...

This clip was on one of my pregnancy updates and I had to post it.... Very fitting!

1st Sonogram Pics

Hello morning sickness....! This baby is definitely making its presence known right now! I pretty much feel sick morning, noon, and night. Certain smells make me sick, food makes me sick, basically everything makes me sick! Hopefully this will only last for a few more weeks since I am 10 weeks right now.

It has been a little bit of a rocky start. At 6 weeks, I had heavy gushes of blood and thought I was loosing the baby. We went to see Dr. Robbin's, and after a sonogram, they determined that I had a small tear in my placenta, but that the baby had a strong heartbeat. I have been back weekly since then to monitor the tear, which thankfully has been slowly healing itself and getting smaller each week. The baby continues to be growing and has a strong heartbeat (was 176 bpm at 8 weeks). Dr. Robbins said that tears are fairly common, and although they are extremely scary, most heal themselves with no further complications. The bleeding has finally stopped this week, so I am feeling much better about everything!

We finally told the boys last weekend. Ryan seems pretty excited and says that he really wants it to be a girl because he doesn't want another brother! Gabe on the other hand is less excited. He says that he doesn't want us to have another baby at all, but I am sure that he will come around. The boys keep touching my belly already waiting to feel the baby move. They also now have lots of interesting questions such as how the baby got in my tummy, and how it will get out! Looks like we will be having some interesting conversations coming in the next few months!

Here are the sonogram pictures from 6, 7, and 8 weeks. It is amazing how fast they grow!

6 Week Sonogram

7 Week Sonogram

8 Week Sonogram

Forever 29

Friday Hayley joined the "Forever 29" Club! To celebrate, we went to eat at Olive Garden - Yum! It was Hayley, Justin and Harper, Blair, David and Hayden, and me! The boys were at Parent's Night out at karate and Manuel was working, so I tagged along all by my lonesome! Both babies did so good! Believe it or not, this was the first time that I had seen Hayden. He is such a sweet baby! And of course my sweet baby Harper looked gorgeous in her tutu dress (which she kept trying to eat)!

I loved this picture so much that I had to steel it from Hayley's blog!

A new addition....

It's official... We are expecting baby #3 on May 17, 2009!!! It still seems a little surreal, but we are super excited! I am 5 weeks today, and feeling good so far! My morning sickness didn't kick in with the boys until right around 6 weeks, so I guess I better enjoy this week while it lasts! Looks like I will have to give up my stamp/scrapbook room to make way for a nursery soon!

Purple Belts

Last week the boys earned their purple belts in Taekwondo! They are quickly moving up in rank - before I know it they will be earning their black belts! Here are are few pictures and videos of their testing and awards ceremony!

Gabriel's green belt form.

Gabriel's self defense.

Ryan's green belt form.

Ryan's testing sparring.

Mr. Viggers and Gabriel.

Gabriel getting his new double purple belt!

Gabe was so enthused during the ceremony! =0)

Mr. Stetler and Ryan.

Ryan getting his new recommended purple belt!

My crazy boys!

The boys and Mr. Viggers.

Crazy faces!!!

A Giant Leap

Friday was a big day - I gave my notice at The Children's Place after 8 1/2 years! My plan is to start subbing at the local schools, which will hopefully give me the exposure I need to get hired on full time next year! My boss took it pretty well, but then we have been talking about it for a while, so she wasn't really too surprised (just surprised at how soon it was). The hunt is now on for another RA to take my place. I offered to stay on part time until we can get the position filled, so we will see how that works out. At least this way I know I will have some income coming in until the subbing picks up!

First Day of School

Monday was the first day of school, and a very exciting day in the Sanchez household! Ryan started 3rd grade this year, and my baby Gabriel started Kindergarten!!! Gabriel was super excited (can you tell by the smile on his face in all of the pictures!), and Ryan acted like it was no big deal (but I could tell that he was still excited)!

The boys got to FINALLY wear their new shoes (they have been wearing them around the house for 2 weeks now, but finally got to wear them outside)! They both had their new backpacks, new clothes, and new lunchboxes.... they were ready to go!

Here are a few pictures we took Monday morning getting ready and walking to school!

Gabe with his new Starwars backpack!

Me and my babies!

I thought this picture was cute of them walking side by side!

On their way in the door.... Gabe insists on making "peace" signs in most of his pictures now!

Pizza Pie

Friday's have become pizza and movie night for me and the boys. This is Manuel's regular night to work XTO, so I make it a point to have some fun Mommy time with the kids. We usually pick up Cici's or Pizza Hut on our way home, but this Friday we bought stuff to make our own pizza's. Ryan was able to use mainly cheddar cheese on his, just like he likes it! Gabe was excited because he was able to add tons of mushrooms to his!

Here is the before picture of the pizza's after the boys added all of their favorite toppings!

And the after... don't they look yummy!

Meet the Teacher Night

Thursday was Meet the Teacher night at the kids school. Gabe was super excited to go, and Ryan tried to act like it wasn't a big deal, but I think he was still excited!

Gabriel's teacher is Mrs. Watkins. This is her first year to have her own classroom, but she has been a long term substitute at the school for the past 2 years since it opened. I have heard great things about her, so I am sure that Gabe is in good hands!

Ryan's teacher is Mrs. Deck. She was also really nice. The way the kindergarten classes are spread out, it ended up where Ryan's classroom is just around the corner from Gabe's classroom. Yea! We will walk the boys to their classes for the first couple of day's, but it makes me feel a little better to know that Ryan can walk Gabe to class the rest of the time.

The kids are all ready for school now... They have all of their supplies (which we took with us on Thursday), and lots of new clothes. They each picked out cool backpacks and a new pair of shoes to start the year off with.

Here are just a few of the supplies we had to buy for this year!

Monday will be their first day of school... It is hard to believe that Gabriel will be in kindergarten. It was hard enough when Ryan started school, but Gabe is my baby! I can't help but get tears in my eyes when I think of how big both boys are. They are growing up so fast!

I'm Done!!!!!!!!!

I am officially done with school!!! Yesterday was my last class, and I couldn't be more excited! It has been a long 2 years taking care of my family, working full time, and going to school, but it has all been worth it! Now comes the hard part of finding a teaching job.... I have filled out several online applications with surrounding districts and went to a small job fair last weekend, but have had no luck so far. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Gabriel's Sleepover

Gabriel's "bestest" friend Aidan spent the night with us last night. Aidan went to Gabriel's old daycare, Sunshine Playhouse. The boys have not seen each other in 2 months, so they were both super excited to be able to play together again! They laughed and had a ball all night long!

ACP Training

This week has been particularly crazy and stressful. In addition to work and my summer school classes, I had my Alternative Certification Training all week. There is sooo much to do, and such little time to do it in! I keep trying to tell my self that there are only a couple of weeks left, and then I will be done!!!

The boys are doing well, and gearing up for school to start next month. Ryan picked out his new backpack, binder, and lunch box yesterday, so he is a happy camper. 3rd grade marks the first year that he has needed a binder for school, so he went all out. The binder that he picked out has pockets for this and pouches for that - it holds EVERYTHING! It is pretty cool, and he is super excited!!!

Gabriel is counting down the days until he is able to start Kindergarten (or as he calls it, the Big School)! Nearly every morning when he wakes up, he asks me if it is time for him to go to Kindergarten yet! It is hard to believe that both boys will be in school this year...!

Sunny Mexico....

This is the first chance I have had to upload some of the pictures from our vacation.... better late than never, right?!?

We had a blast! We went with our friends Jason and Melissa Tipton. Manuel and Jason grew up together, and Jason was the best man in our wedding. We don't get to see them much anymore, so it was nice to be able to spend the week with them "bonding" again! I told Melissa I didn't know who the vacation was for more.... us or Manuel and Jason!

We stayed at the Grand Riviera Princess in Riviera Maya, which is between Cancun and Playa Del Carmen. We left on Monday, June 23, and came back that Friday. They boys were able to spend the week with my grandparents and my mom. Although we missed them, it was nice to get away with out them.

We dropped the boys off Saturday in Abilene before we left. When we got to town, I got my hair cut, and them my mom talked me into getting an air brush tan (although I think she used me as a guinea pig just to see how it looked before she decided if she wanted to do it)! I was definitely tan when I got done - in fact, as Hayley put it, I looked like a Mexican version of Brittny! Every time Manuel and I looked at my face in the mirror Saturday and Sunday, we both cracked up laughing because my face was so dark. It lightened up a lot by the time we left on Monday, so I'm not sure if you can tell in the pictures, but it was pretty funny!

Our flight Monday was scheduled to leave at 9 AM. We boarded the plane at 8:30 AM, and then had to sit there for 3 hours while they tried to fix a faulty sensor switch. We were finally able to take off around 11:30 (which was when we were supposed to be landing!). We watched 2 movies on the plane waiting to get there! Once we landed, it was not long before we were in the shuttle on our way to the resort.

Our room and view were amazing! We even had a jacuzzi on our terrace overlooking the beach! We were not able to get any dinner reservations at the speciality restaurants, but were able to eat all we wanted at the buffets, which were not too bad (although the breakfast buffets were definitely my favorite)!

Melissa drew this in the sand to commemorate our trip - I thought it was a great idea (even if we weren't exactly in Cancun!)! =0)

We spent all day Tuesday on the beach. I even bought a big floppy hat to try to help keep from getting so sunburned!

Wednesday we took a Lobster Dinner Cruise. It was on a replica of the Columbus. It was nice, although the crew tried to push it too hard as a "romantic" cruise, that it was pretty cheesy! There was a guy named "Don Pepe" playing the sax to love songs and all of the ladies received flowers upon boarding. It was still fun, though! It had been overcast most of the day, so we didn't get a full sunset, but it was still pretty.

On Thursday we went into Playa Del Carmen to do a little shopping. As soon as we boarded the shuttle, it started raining. The driver kept driving and gave a little grin as he told us to get off of the bus in the rain! We decided that little rain never hurt anyone, and set out to see what we could find. In the end, we didn't end up finding much of anything, but we still had fun!

This picture cracks me up - that is Jason behind me... I have no idea what he was doing, but I thought it was pretty funny!

Melissa and I found a restaurant that looked good for lunch. We let the waiter talk us into a sampler platter that Manuel and I split, and this is what he came out with. The plate was huge! It covered nearly 1/2 of the table. Of course, we did a pretty good job of finishing it off (or at least Manuel did)! We ate pretty much everything except for the sausages.... they looked a little scary!

For those of you from DFW, you will appreciate this picture. On one of the radio stations here, one of the DJ's bought a bar in Playa - Big Al and Redneck Steve's Beer Bucket. This was a must see on our agenda for that day!

While we were shopping, Manuel and Jason had to buy themselves a Cuban cigar..... Manuel looks so deep in thought here - he smoked the entire cigar that night!

Here is the 4 of us on Friday before we headed out. We were ready to see the kids, but not quite ready to come back to the "real world"! I can't wait to see what our next vacation brings us!

Summer Pics

Here are a few pictures of the boys so far from this summer. I will download some vacation pictures tomorrow.

Gabriel's Baseball Team

Ryan's End of Season Party

Gabriel got a cowboy set for his Pre-K Graduation. He had to dress up like a cowboy everyday for a week!

Ryan's Green Belt Test - he is the little guy up front in the sparring gear!

The boys are moving on up the ranks in Karate. Ryan was able to skip his Green Belt Recommended and go straight to Green Belt Decided after his 1 week Karate Day Camp. He was super excited! At this rate, he will be a black belt by 9 or 10! WOW!

On Father's Day, Manuel and Gabriel were in a Adult / Youth fishing tournament. The tournament is a series that he takes turns taking each of the boys to, it just happened to turn out to be Gabriel's tournament that day. They didn't catch anything this time, but they still had a great time!