Fire Trucks and Fancy Hair... and Isabella, too!

We visited with our first time baby buddies when we attended the carnival at the library. Although the "carnival" was about has homemade as anything I've ever seen, the kiddos didn't care at all! Plus, there was a fire engine right outside. They had all the gear open and let the kids climb through and take a seat.
Ivy and her papa checked it all out!
Then we posed for a little family shot...


Having explored her rough and tumble side learning about the fire truck, she then got all prissied by Ms. Debby. She always asks to have her hair blown dry and curled when Ms. Debby is finished with her trim, and this time Ms. Debby went ALL out!

Today I had my sixth month appointment. I cannot believe that time is passing so quickly, but I can happily report that I'm enjoying it all! I think knowing that I missed out on a lot of this with Ivy helps me understand what a blessing it is to have the opportunity to do this again. I'm excited for Isa's arrival, and I love thinking about the way our family will come together! I'm just so grateful to be able to appreciate it this time around!

Anyway, I don't usually post ultrasound pictures... I don't think they make much sense to other people. The one from today, though, was so clear, I thought I'd share it with you!

I doubt I'll update again before our visit to Costa Rica, so please keep us in your prayers until you hear from us again! I'll try to post the week we return, the week we have our 3D ultrasound, and after that school will start so all bets are off! :) Thanks for checking in on us!

Shameful...

It is shameful that I have not updated our blog for an entire month! I just kept thinking..."Well, next week we've got this going on so I'll wait until I can include that in our blog!" While this and that did keep us busy, I have very few pictures to share which is shameful in itself... so here's a little update that should probably be full of so much more and a few pictures to illustrate our time.

Just after celebrating my 31st birthday in a very low-key but wonderful way, we enjoyed our first Twelfth Night gathering in 9 months! Twelfth Night is the evening that my "work" friends and I decided that we would try to get together socially...and for the month of June, it worked! We had a wonderful, relaxing time in the Cadwalladers' pool...

playing bumper floaties with Annie...

and ganging up on the dragon's back with Annie and Nick.

Ivy and I then enjoyed a week of being together as her school was on vacation. We went to the Y to workout in the mornings, spent time at the library, enjoyed lunch with several different folks, and had swimming lessons in the afternoons. After nap one of these days, Ivy was sitting on my lap and I was playing with her hair. I thought, "Hmmm... is it long enough to french braid?" Turns out, it was! But I didn't have a pony tail holder, and even if I had, it wouldn't have stayed long... her hair is like cornsilk.

On June 18th we went to the doctor for our anatomy ultrasound. I had both suspicions and hopes as to what gender the baby joining our family might be, and it turns out that my suspicions were right! We are having a GIRL! Her name will be Isabella Marissa and we plan to call her "Isa" (Ee-sa) as a nickname. Here I am at 20 weeks with Isa.

And, here I am at 20 weeks with Ivy. Some people thought that I was carrying Isa differently, and therefore thought a boy may be headed our way, but I think the bellies are nearly the same...neither of them are sticking out much. I'm just a little bigger all over with Ivy.Ivy is very excited that a little sister and playmate will be a part of our lives! Papa is excited, too, when he's not lamenting the fact that he'll have two Sweet 16's, two first dates, two proms (more, I tell him), two weddings... He told me that he was going to the Gun Show last weekend to buy his Father's Day present! :)

He didn't go to the Gun Show, but we did go to IKEA. Everyone was so excited to prepare a place for Isabella in our home, that we went ahead and bought Ivy's REAL big girl bed (so the crib mattress will be available) and a dresser. Ivy helped Papa put her big girl bed together...

And she slept in it the very same night. I needed more time to adjust than she did!

Later that week my friend Colleen flew in with some Texas love for the Alfaro house. I felt like it must have been the most boring vacation of her life, complete with early rising (thanks to Alex and Ivy who don't know the meaning of the word quiet), but it was just wonderful for me. I haven't spent that much time with any of my college friends since...well, college. We got away to do a few girly things, and we hung out with the family some too. It wasn't wild and crazy, but it was full of friendship and happiness.

And that, dear friends, concludes our recap of the month of June. Colleen left on the 29th, and July rolled in with a little rain this morning. Ivy and I are home together again this week, so I'll try to be better about taking pictures and updating when I can instead of waiting for the next thing coming.... In fact, the next thing coming (I think) is Costa Rica at the end of the month! Oh my, I can't wait!!