Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Life as a House: We Have a Yard!

We finally have a yard with two trees, some shrubs, and a fence now!  Here is the view from the street directly in front of the house.
And here is the view as you drive up to the house.  There is still some side yard that needs more sod.  And our new sprinkler system was running when we took this picture.

Here is the view from our back yard fence to the back of our house. 

And here is the view from the left corner of our yard!  It looks like such a big back yard!

Julian and I have dreamed of what this yard will look like in the next few years. We can already envision the patio area with a big table and umbrella where our friends and family will gather as we have Acosta cook-outs.  We can already see the little blow-up pool that will go on our back porch for a little swimmer Jilly next summer.  We envision the swing set and sand box that will be permanent fixtures in our yard where our little girl (and probably future children) will spend their days afterschool or in the summer.  There are a lot of memories to be had here...and we can't wait to make those memories with you!

We had our first walk-through last Wednesday and we do our final walk through tomorrow.  And then if everything checks out, we should close on the house on Thursday!!!  Prayers, well wishes, and crossed-fingers are always welcomed so that this little girl (who is sitting up on her own now, by the way!!!) can be playing in her new room by Thursday afternoon!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Silly Jilly: Good Morning Sunshine!

For the past week or so, this is the sunshine that Julian and I have been waking up to everyday!

Every morning, Jilly just peeks her little head over her bassinet and coos until we look over at her...and then she cracks a big smile!
Good morning Sunshine!  You light up our lives, Jillian!

P.S. In case you have not gotten a chance to check out photos from Jillian's 3 month photo shoot, check them out here at Butterfly Chaser Photography

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Adventurous Acostas and the Jet-setter Jilly

Next stop for jet-setter Jilly and the Adventurous Acostas was northern Virginia to see Julian's family.  Along with Julian's parents and sister, we were also lucky to be joined by Jilly's great-grandmothers, who flew all the way from Puerto Rico to meet our baby girl!
All eyes on Jilly...even Pookie, the dog, can't keep her eyes off Jilly!

Auntie Andy and Jillian
All the travel finally took it's toll on Jillian and she slept a lot while we were in Virginia.
Jillian asleep on her Papi Papo
We decided to get really adventurous and we all went to our nation's Capitol, Washington, D.C. We even rode the metro system to get there, so here is a picture of jet-setter Jilly on her first subway ride.
And here we are in front of the Washington Memorial.  The weather was absolutely beautiful all day, which made it pleasant for all the walking around we did.
We went to the Holocaust Museum, walked around the monument mall, and then went to the Smithsonian Natural History museum, which Julian loved!

Hey Daddy, I've seen an elephant before but not one with those big tusks!

Daddy, look how little I am compared to this T-Rex!



Adventurous Acosta clan
We had so much fun in Virginia and we are so sad that our vacation had to end!  Oh well, I guess it's back to the real world, but at least we have our new house to look forward to!!!  For now, jet-setter Jilly has been on 14 planes and 4 trips total.  I think we are ready for this baby to settle down for awhile...

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Adventures of a Jet-setter Jilly: Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Here is another adventure that jet-setter Jilly had while in El Paso.  She went to the zoo for the first time!
We tried to get to the zoo as early as we could because it was scorching hot in El Paso.  So Jilly and me joined cousin Lauren, Auntie Jenny, Uncle Joseph, and Auntie Shell for this fun adventure!

Don't they look so excited to see the Lions, and Tigers, and Bears...Oh My!

Looking at the giraffes
And here are 2 animals in their natural habitat...

One of the Tigers behind the glass
All of these adventures wore out cousin Lauren...

One of the elephants
And eventually the adventures wore out jet-setter Jilly too!
Jillian with the monkeys!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Adventures of a Jet-setter Jilly: There's a First Time for Everything

Over the past few weeks, Jilly has been jet-setting around the United States!  In early July, we traveled back to El Paso for the 3rd time because I had a work function there.  But I made a family vacation of it, too!  While we were in El Paso, Jilly had a lot of firsts...
Like the first time her hair was put into a little ponytail!  Jilly was born with a lot of hair, but I know that I am horrible at doing hair so I was hesitant to tackle this feat.  So I let my mom do the honors...
Doesn't she look soooooo cute?!

Next was Auntie Michelle's 12th birthday party.  The first party Jilly ever went to was for her cousin Lauren, but the first time she hit a pinata was at Michelle's party.

Jilly and the Mickey pinata
 Here is the birthday girl, Michelle, with her nieces and cousin Layla.  Jilly was not too happy here...
And here is Jilly's first swing at a pinata.  She even got to hit it first since she is the littlest!

And finally, here is the first time that Jilly went swimming!  She did this at Grandma and Grandpa Fonseca's house.  We had such a good time playing in the sun!

She loved playing in that inflatable, even if she kept trying to lick it.  And cousin Lauren was a pro in the water since she is taking swimming lessons...she's a little water baby!

Check back again soon for more adventures of our jet-setter Jilly!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Triplets!

***Please note: BEFORE you let your imagination get carried away after reading the title of this blog post, this post is NOT about Julian and I having triplets! Lord help us, we want Jillian to be a big sister one day, but NOT to triplets!***
When Julian and I were dating over 6 years ago, I would beg Julian to dress like me.  Yeah, I wanted to be that couple who wears matching outfits.  Any time I could get away with matching him, I would, and sometimes he wouldn't even know it.  I would just so happen to throw on the same colored shirt as him.  But never (ok, rarely) did he intentionally let me dress like him so we could be twins!
But something magically happens when a daddy has a little girl! All of a sudden, in Jillian's 5 months on this earth, Julian will sometimes ask me what the baby is wearing so that he can wear a matching polo. What?!?!?!  This same man that would not wear matching outfits with me now suddenly wants to match his baby girl's outfits?!  See Exhibit A below...
So like any smart mom and wife would do, I figure a can pull a fast one on Julian and say I want to match Jillian, too! 
And just like that, my life-long desire to dress like twins with my husband has turned into one happy little family of dressed-alike-triplets!

Dang it, now that I have revealed my secret, maybe Julian won't want to match us anymore...

Monday, July 11, 2011

Silly Jilly: Is that a hickey?!?!

The other day, I picked Jilly up from school and headed back to campus to work for the evening.  I had a retreat with my students and Julian had not gotten off work yet to be on baby duty. 
About 30 minutes into the retreat, I was holding Jilly and since she is a drooly monster/maybe teething, i could hear her slurping on my shoulder and sucking.  All the while, I was having a very important and serious conversation with my students.  I know it's hard to take me serious with a baby in my arms to begin with, but in the middle of our discussion, I hear that Jilly has stopped sucking on me and my students are trying to refrain from laughing.  Just then, I look down on my shoulder and I see a big red mark...
IS THAT A HICKEY?!
Yep, that's right folks.  My baby gave me a hickey!  She had gnawed on my fingers before or sucked on my wrist and it had never left a mark.  But this time, she had left her mark alright, and it stayed there for 5 days!!!  None of the hickey remedies I learned from my adolescence (sorry Mom and Dad) worked AT ALL on making this thing go away!
Nevermind the fact that I have been "working late" and I now have to explain this hickey to my husband! Eeeeek!

Silly Jilly! Mommy and Daddy say NO MORE HICKEYS to anyone (for at least another 15 years)!
;)

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Life as a House: Getting so Close!

The countdown is on y'all!  We got a call from our home builders in order to schedule the first walk-through and the final walk-though.  If all goes well with the builders and our mortgage company, we should close on the house on July 28th...only 3 weeks away!!!
As for the final steps, they installed the cabinets...
And painted the base boards and the first coat of paint on the walls!

They also worked on the outside of the house to level our yard...

And they put up the outline for our backyard fence!

Our yard is going to be H-U-G-E!

Then they painted the front door, too.  At first, I was skeptical about a red door, but we think it gives the front a little color Pop!
And, they have also put in the granite and the tile. Check out this picture from the master bathroom that shows a little bit of the granite and the tile on the floor!

It is getting so close to being finished!  We are getting more and more excited as each day passes.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers because this is the most nerve-racking phase as we wait for the final touches, finish packing, and get our financing to go through!  We are really hoping that everything will fall into place and that we will be in our new home before August 1st!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Goodbye Old School, Hello New School!

When Jillian turned 10 weeks old, we started her at St. Michael's Episcopal in the Little Saints School.  And for the past 10 weeks, she really loved her school, and her teachers, and all her little friends!  She loved all the toys there, and daily walks in the gym, and doing fun little art projects.
I was extremely grateful for the teachers and staff at St. Michael's, especially Miss Briana and Miss Allison, who took such good care of Jilly!  They would love on her, comfort her if she cried, feed her, and rock her to sleep!  And they tried real hard to keep her bows/headbands on and I could tell that they really grew to love my baby girl!  After all, they had watched her for half of her life!!!

But we got a call from a different daycare facility that a spot had opened up.  The new facility is closer to our jobs and to our new house so we knew it was time for her to leave St. Michael's.  Her teachers were so sad that Miss Briana actually cried!

Last Friday was Jillian's last day at that school.  She waved bye-bye to her old school (OK, I waved her hand for her).  She will miss her friends there, like Jackson and William, and all the wonderful teachers and staff at St. Michael's!  Thanks for being our school family for the past few months!

After the holiday weekend, she started at her new school on Tuesday.  She had no idea that she was going to a new school, but I had the "first day of daycare jitters" all over again!  Would her new teachers love her?  Would they care for her like her old teachers?  Would they know how to comfort her?


Julian and I took her to school together that morning and of course, I cried in the car on my way to work.

But at the end of the day, when I picked Jilly up from her new school, they said she had a good day at and that she was "cheerful" and "curious" all day long.  It will take some getting used to, but I am sure we will grow to love her new school, new teachers, and new friends just as much!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July from our Lil' Firecracker!!!

Jilly says, "I love America and I love you, too!"