Lots of Love

Erika:

Little Love Monster Tina's daughter made from the craft set my brother's family mailed out to the kids. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

So, February was a time for lots of celebrations.  The weekend before our 24 week OB visit was Valentine's Day.

I'll quickly say that at this point we're no longer going to have any more ultrasound fun time with baby unless necessary. When I asked our physician's assistant when we'd be able to see baby again, she said, "Well, I'm thinking in... June." Then we all laughed, but I also whined a little. I went from seeing baby every couple of weeks... to now not at all. Our PA let us know that really, "Less is more," and it's better that we don't have to do any more ultrasounds because it means things are moving along smoothly and normally. So, we're grateful for that.

On Valentine's Day, none of us had any plans, so we decided to do a double date with Tina and her husband. He'd heard of this great spot called Beer Belly in Korea Town and I am SO glad we went. Between the 4 of us we ordered like seven different items... all seven were cheesy and delicious. Here's just a glimpse...

These are the duck fat fries, the grilled cheese, and the mac n cheese. We also got a humongous quesadilla, wings, and another order of french fries.

And let me also say, we did this the right way. Family style. We each ordered whatever our little hearts desired and then shared everything.... Baby ate really well that night. We were all stuffed to the brim and we rolled out of Beer Belly with full bellies and a growing baby belly.

Somehow, we found room for one more stop and we went to Urth for some delicious Chai and desserts. Super cute spot and not too far from where we were. 

We sat out on the patio and talked about our pasts and about parenting and it was honestly such a great time. Not sure how we lucked out, but God has definitely blessed us through this new found friendship through food and family. :)

We tried going to the Griffith on Valentine's Day....  Don't ever do that. We almost made it though!

And finally... 2 weeks later... we finally introduced Tina to the Grandparents! Our moms had been waiting for this day, since the day I sent them our first selfie at transfer! The whole day was fantastic. 

My dad an Ricky mostly watched AFV while we all chatted and caught up.
Luis played tetherball (or "run from the tetherball") with the kids.

You can't even imagine how happy the grandmas were. Like through the roof. 
We all sat around eating taquitos and sopes (gorditas) and talked about guesses about baby's gender. Still no clue! 
...Except for Abuelita Evelia... She has no doubt in her mind.

Their human jungle gym. Always the best time.

Epic Chocoflan. It's like magic. Tina has forever changed our worlds in more ways than one.

And even though we don't see this one enough... I know she's excited to be an auntie.
We were so happy to have her there for this.

Love. Para siempre.

I also am IN LOVE with this clip from "Envy." A movie I've actually never seen, but this literally happened with the kids as soon as we announced it was "Chocoflan Time." Arlene's boyfriend saw everyone's excitement over flan and was like... hold up... you guys gotta see this....

"Baby... I am so happy all of your abuelos got to spend some time with you! They cannot contain all of their excitement! I hope you were able to hear how excited your grandmas are. I also hope you heard Papa yell out the word, "Perro!" for the first time! Poh had snuck into the house.... I also hope you heard your Abuelo say a prayer for you. We are already so aware of the huge blessing you are.

 And guess what! I even got to feel you move around a little bit!  It was the first time ever. You swirled around and did a cute little roll. I'm sure you felt all of the belly rubs and the love and all of the joy that was surrounding you that night. 

P.S. I hope you like flan." 
---excerpt from a letter to our baby