It has been eight weeks since Baby June Eliza arrived on the Figuera scene on April 30th.  She is such a sweet, and patient baby, a joy and a dear and we love her so.  Vera is already a stellar big sister and I am really, truly impressed with her. It has been amazing to watch her process this change and to see her show real affection to her new little sister, even as she clearly understands that June's arrival has changed our little family forever.  It's hard to believe its only been eight short weeks.  It seems like Junie's been with us forever. 
Feeling unbelievably lucky and grateful and hoping everyone is enjoying their summer as much as we are. 
Love to all,
Jesse

That's How She Rolls

   Vera this AM on the way to school.

Yum!

There has been a whole lot of cooking going on lately. Vera always has an eye on the kitchen, and whenever either Mike or I start to whip something up, she is front and center wanting to help. She asks for her stool, and her apron and pretty soon she's in it up to her elbows...literally. (Don't worry future dinner guests, we always wash hands first!!:)) Yesterday Mike helped her learn to crack eggs gently, and she was pretty impressed- turns out she didn't know her own strength. And of course, the best part of cooking is...eating! Yum. Love to all, Jesse

Growing UP!

Somehow- Vera seems to have grown a year or two in the past month. She is talking nonstop, and so completely interested in the world around her. She has pretty much stopped walking, and now runs almost 100 percent of the time. Her energy is incredible, and at night, she literally collapses into bed (a big girl bed!) needing every second of sleep to recharge for the next day. She is really enjoying her classroom at school right now. At night we talk about our plans for the next day and she wakes up raring to go- chatting excitedly about the fun she's hoping to have. This week is the Week of the Young Child, and her school is celebrating with fun themed activities every day. Here are a couple of recent photos of her, including last night when she came home after "Wacky Weird Day" with purple and blue hair. She was thrilled! Monday was Upside Down Day and she went to school with Diaper on her head, two pigtails sticking out of the leg holes. She walked into her classroom and declared, "Look! I have a diaper on my head! I'm so silly!" She finds most everything hilarious right now, and its been wonderful to hear her opinions on stuff. She definitely has some strong opinions! We are loving our big girl so much and eagerly awaiting the arrival of our baby June (Could be any day now!). Hoping everyone is having as much fun this Spring as we are. Best wishes, Jesse

Florida, sweet Florida!

We had the most wonderful family vacation up and down the coast of Florida last week. It was both completely relaxing and surprisingly full. We drove down to Miami, via the Columbia Zoo, the Historic River District of Savannah, the manatees of Blue Springs Park, and Lori and Bob's house in Englewood, Florida. Vera saw the ocean for the first time ever and she was in awe. She tried her best to gather all the seashells on the shore and throw them back in, one by one. It was all we could do to keep her from running off into the surf. She loved it! We had two and a half days in Miami, where we hit the Miami zoo, caught the Superbowl with friends, and watched Vera delight in the sure joy of playing with her cousins for hours on end. Mike and I could not believe how hard she played, and how truly happy she was the entire trip. She is such a joyful child, but to see her run and jump and climb and laugh, laugh, laugh so hard- and just love her family (our family :)) so much- it was just plain awesome. We had planned to spend several days driving back up, but Vera was so completely exhausted that we ended up driving the whole way from Miami in one long day, stopping just twice to stretch our legs. Vera slept on and off, waking only to laugh and quiz us about where Grandma Mary, Uncle Bob, Aunt Lori, the ocean, or Mia and Isa were at that particular moment. Her world has grown, and so has she. I swear, she seemed like an older kid when we returned. It was tough to return to 20 degree temperatures, nasty wind and the whole daycare/work routine on Wednesday. When I dropped Vera off at daycare for the first time in a week, we washed hands, and went to settle in to play at the table, when she looked all around the room and then looked up at me and asked, "Mama, where's Grandma?" It was a truly incredible trip. Love and gratitude to all.

PB and J and Pickles

Vera is talking so much. It is completely mind-blowing to finally hear what's going on inside her head. It has been such an amazing month of absolute two-year-old-ness. She is very into doing things herself "me do it", "no touch it mommy", "vera do it..no help...noooo.!!!". She is working very, very hard to get herself dressed and undressed with no help. It's amazing how tricky those two separate pant legs can be! She gets one foot in, pulls it all the way to the bottom and squeals "peekaboo" when her foot pops out, then repeats with the other leg. It takes quite awhile- but its worth it. She gets a little steadier every day and she's so proud to do it on her own! She's very into her daily routines, she's starting to really have favorite clothes and favorite books and favorite foods. Her latest infatuation is "PB and J" with Pickles on the side. This child can't get enough dill pickles in one day! Reminds me of Zoe:)! I cut them into long strips, just to help ration them out. She literally falls asleep some nights talking about pickles and wakes up asking "More Pickle?" Here's a sweet morning video from this past wintry weekend, when she woke up all sleepy eyed and curly headed asking for PB and J with More Pickle..."pleeease.....now!!... pleeease Mommy,
Mommy help..do it!".

Love to you all, Jesse

Vera is all about babies! She is sooo interested in what Baby June is doing right now, and what she'll do when she comes out, and what we'll need to do for her and with her. We talk alot about how we'll hold Baby June, and nurse baby June, give her a bath, take her in the stroller, and she might even like a Paci- a little Paci- not Vera's paci! Here are some shots of Vera practicing these things- she's nursing my doll from when I was little- she spied it on a top shelf of our closet, and brought her out of retirement! A very fun time for us all. Love to everybody. Stay Warm!

Jesse