Mother's Day

How fortunate I am to be celebrating my first Mother's Day with our precious son! Every day with Jairo is a gift, but he and Eric went out of their way to make Mother's Day extra special for me.

They started the day with a delicious breakfast of eggs, sausage, biscuits and fruit, which Jairo helped Eric prepare. We then went to see an IMAX movie at the Smithsonian -- a film about the Galapagos Islands, which are part of Ecuador. It was great to see the beauty and mystery of that part of Jairo's country, and the enormous screen really brought the 3-D film to life. We're looking forward to traveling to the Galapagos with Jairo when he gets just a little older.

After the movie we came home and Eric and Jairo had gifts and cards for me. Jairo had made me a beautiful card, and had selected his own gifts, which included some soap in the shape of a baby duckling, and a stuffed dog to match his own stuffed dog (both named Lily, after our neighbor's dog, who Jairo loves). Eric once again outdid himself with an incredibly thoughtful gift -- a photo book he had made of our first 100 days together with Jairo. Needless to say, I shed a few tears with the wonderful gifts from my boys.

Later we had a picnic outside, which Eric had prepared with all my favorite goodies. And Jairo topped the meal off with cupcakes he had made for me. I'm not sure which was more fun for him -- making them or eating them!






We rounded out the day by going to my parents' house for dinner, to celebrate with my mom. It was a wonderful day, and I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to be a mother to our dear son!

Baseball

As you may have gleaned, Eric is kind of a Yankees fan, so he has been very excited to introduce Jairo to the Great American Passtime. Jairo was not familiar with baseball, so we began with Wiffle Ball to teach him the fundamentals.




He picked it up pretty quickly, and seemed to really enjoy playing. He even "made it his own" as the American Idol judges would say, by insisting on carrying the bat with him all the way around the bases, and by introducing his "overhand chop" (you may recall he first introduced this move with a bowling ball back in Ecuador).










So after some good Wiffle Ball lessons, we figured he was ready for the big leagues, and we signed him up for a county baseball team.






The first few games were pretty funny, given that the team didn't have any practices before the first game, so it was somewhat of a free-for-all out on the field.










So he and the team practiced, and started learning.










And poco a poco, they've been improving. It's great to see them learning -- the more they understand what they're doing, the more they see the positive results, the more they enjoy the game. Just as it should be!

Spring days

Spring feels so good this year -- everything seems newer, fresher, brighter than before. What a great time of year to be beginning life anew with Jairo.

We've been having a wonderful time this month, enjoying being together, and introducing Jairo to lots of new experiences. Having him here with us is also a great opportunity for Eric and me to discover all the interesting things there are to do with children in this area. After having lived here for 20+ years, we're happily surprised to realize just how many things there are that we never knew about!

Here are a few of our paseos...


Frying Pan Park








Fishing with my family










Ticonderoga Farm














Miniature golf






Paddle boating on the Tidal Basin




Reston Zoo

Easter Week

This Easter was a wonderful time to celebrate with our family. We had about twenty five family members together, including my parents; my brother Ben visiting from California; aunt Deb, uncle Jay and cousin Emma; aunt Debbie and cousin Kacey visiting from Richmond; Eric's brother David, sister-in-law Patty, cousins David, Derek and Christian; Eric's sister Megan and boyfriend Eugene; Eric's brother Brian and girlfriend Ellen; Eric's Mom visiting from California; and Eric's sister Kristin, brother-in-law Frank, and cousins Kaitlyn, John and Sarah visiting from California.

It was really nice to have everyone together, and a great opportunity for Jairo to get to know his extended family. He loved playing with his cousins, and they welcomed him and helped him fit right in. It's so neat to see how kids don't need to speak the same language in order to play and have fun together.

We had an action-packed week, with different family gatherings and outings each day. Here are a few highlights...


Easter Eggs

Jairo was unfamiliar with our tradition of dying eggs and hiding Easter baskets, but he quickly fell in love with the concept, and has asked several times since then when we can do it again. The sweetest thing was when he got confused with the language and told us he was excited to find his "Easter Basketball."






Great Falls









Jairo's birthday party






Playing with cousins










Chuck E. Cheese