introducing. . .

Grayson Luke Mercado!!!
Born on Tuesday, June 24, 2014 at 4:25pm
7lbs, 3oz. and 19 3/4 inches

We are so happy he is here!!!!  Here are a few photos from his first few days of life:

After about two hours of active labor at the hospital, Grayson didn't want to waste anytime getting here.  After only ten minutes of pushing he came out (peeing on the doctor and Dada!!!) and joined us.  He caught on very quickly to eating and sleeping out here in the big world.  

Meanwhile, big sister was home with her Papa and calling the police on his cellphone!!!! I guess she wanted everyone to know that Grayson was here!! 

We love this sweet boy so, so much!! He is fitting right in to our little family of four.  And big sister is so sweet with him (minus a few reminders to be gentle and not give him fist bumps on his head or throw toys at him!!!). 

Here's a pic of the first time she tried to play with him and share her toys: 

What a sweet blessing it is to share life with these littles.  Looking forward to many adventures with them.  

and baby boy makes four

So our next WAY overdue update is that we're soon to be (already are--depending on how you look at it) a family of FOUR!!  Yep, our latest little bundle of joy is due to enter the world on or around June 27th.  Only 7 more weeks to go!!  His nicknames have been Itty Bitty Mercado, Little Boo Boo and now Baby Boy.  
As pregnancies go, it's been a pretty smooth one.  I craved lots of starchy carbs at first, baked potatoes, pizza, chicken sandwiches, etc, but eating went back to normal around 11 weeks.  Unless we're talking about garlic.  After a few cases of really bad heartburn for Mama, we've learned that he's not a fan of too much garlic.  Which goes well with his love for gum.  For several weeks during the second trimester, I felt like I had morning breath all. day. long!! So I was constantly chewing gum.  Thankfully I found an huge 18-pack of Orbit at Costco to help everyone out.  
He moves and kicks and gets lots of hiccups just like his older sister.  And speaking of her, we dressed her up in a big sister t-shirt to tell the news to lots of family and a few friends.  I was in Craddockville in October when I discovered I was pregnant so I quickly 2-day shipped (thank you amazon prime) a big sister t-shirt to share the news.  Gene found out earlier than that because I couldn't hold it in any longer.  Then a few (LONG) days later we put big sister in her big sister shirt.  Nana and Papa were a little slow in catching on, but Aunt Lori, Auntie Cleo and cousin Abigail win the awards for figuring it out the fastest.  
Here's his debut at nine weeks:

Fast forward a few months later and we had a little gender reveal party.  Nana and Papa were visiting in February so they both got to go to the ultrasound appointment.  Then we took   a sealed envelope to a local bakery where they made cupcakes with pink or blue frosting in the middle.  We picked up the cupcakes the next afternoon and had our mini reveal party with Aunt Leslie documenting it all.   

Lots and lots of blue frosting!!!

The happy Dad of a son!!

Baby Boy Mercado is the first boy of his generation on both the Killmon and Mercado sides of the family.  The first boy in over forty years!! 

We can't wait to see him and hold him and squeeze him (gently) and give him bunches and bunches of kisses!!

Gabriella update: eighteen months old

We're overdue for lots of life updates on this blog here.  All old news by now

 but I still must document.  First up, our Gabriella Rose is 18 months old!!  Where did the last six months go? I'll start with a flashback to six months ago when we celebrated her first birthday.  

We had three celebrations.  First, the afternoon of her birthday with just Dada, Mama and her:

Since she LOVES doggies, I made her a doggie cake.  That's about as messy as she got since she's not into being messy, but she loved it, I promise.  

Presents!! An activity table from Mama and Dada, blocks from Auntie Sue-Sue and Uncle Andy and much more!!!

Her second celebration was the following weekend with many SF friends,

 and Auntie Cleo came all the way from Maryland and made cupcakes and a little cake just for Gabriella.  Dada made menudo and lumpia, and Mama decorated.  

 She was not a fan of the crown Mama made her.  

 but she liked her #1

 and the cake too!

 and her presents!!

 Then the sugar-rush kicked in and she was spazzed.  

Her final celebration was in Craddockville with Nana, Papa, uncles, aunts and cousins.  Her cousins helped her blow out her candles. 

  

Since her birthday, she's been a busy, busy girl!!  She started walking, climbing up and down stairs, eating with a fork and spoon, doing lots and lots of talking and much more!! She now repeats just about everything we say. Yikes!!  She loves cheese and strawberries and toast and "cados" (avocados) and "muk" (milk) and smoothies.  She likes to give hugs and kisses.  She likes to bring us books and stick her tushie out to back up in our laps for stories.  She LOVES to put on her shoes over and over again, and Aunt Leslie's shoes too.

 She likes to play in the sand,

play with puzzles and shape sorters,

whip up some yummy food in the kitchen,

 and look out the window at all the trucks, buses, dogs, birds, kids walking to school, and the occasional trash truck or fire truck.  

We love you so much, little girl and the world is so much more fun and exciting seeing it through your eyes!  Happy 18 months!!

Gabriella update

Well, reality is setting in: our baby is turning into a little girl right before our very eyes!!!!!  Here's the progression from month to month, minus month one and month three that I actually did an update for:

Thankfully, the other months and milestones are recorded in a good ole fashioned baby book.  I used to love to look at my baby book as a kid.  Thanks Mom!

Yep, Gabriella, you'll have to crack open an actual book to find out about the rest of your first year of life. 

As for right now, this little one isn't wasting any time living life to the fullest.  She wakes up ready to go and keeps on going and going and going.  If she's gonna do something, she's all in.  She plays hard, sleeps well, eats like a champ, talks/sings/laughs loudly, cries/whines louder, snuggles oh so snuggly, and leaves a large trail of toys, books, cheerios, etc. behind her wherever she goes.  She is always on the go (like her Mama) and rather vocal (like her Dada).  

Our little Boopity Boo, Boo Gooks, Silly Monkey, Goola Goo, Little Love, Sweet Pea, (new names forever being added) does know and respond to her real name.  We throw it in the mix every now and then.  =) She can say Mama, more like Mum-ma or Mum (an Aussie in Gap today confirmed she sounded rather Australian) and Dada (mostly DA!!).  

We've also heard Papa, a word that ends in "pa" for Grandpa, "dih-dih" for doggie, "Ma" for Grandma, "Na" and "Ma" for Nana, and a lot of "Baaaaah" for anything else she points to.  Oh and a word for butterfly.  Really?? It's three syllables and ends in "fwy".  A friend that was over heard it and I heard it again yesterday.  She does have a butterfly above her bed in her room so maybe so.  

She loves: 

-pointing to doggies and photos of Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, Papa, and doggies.  

-cruising around the sofa, coffee table, and her crib

-being chased down the hall

-eating bananas, watermelon, pot roast, cheesy toast, avocados, scrambled eggs, blueberries, cheerios/puffs, peaches, grapes, and cantaloupe

-sneaking into Mama's wallet and pulling out all of the cards

-pulling Dada's glasses off his face

-exploring (diaper bags, piles of laundry, magazines--or paper of any kind)

-putting things in her purse

-pressing buttons

-trying to get into the refrigerator before Mama closes the door

-talking on the phone 

-playing peek-a-boo

-pots, pans, spoons, measuring cups

-sharing food (but most of the time: just kidding--she eats it herself)

-swinging at the park

-clapping 

-brushing her teeth

-silly faces

-tickles on her tummy, feet and neck

-snuggling (once her energy is out for the day)

-books (current favs: Doggies, Very Hungry Caterpillar, First Words Book, Yummy Yucky)

She dislikes: 

-getting her diaper changed (I mean her LEAST favorite thing ever!!)

-giving kisses on cue

-waiting for Mama to fix her food or get the next bite of food on the table

-sitting in her high chair for even one second after she's all done eating 

-Mama or Dada digging in her mouth for that piece of paper, fuzz, (today it was a flower petal) that she just HAD to sneak in there. 

-having car keys or other object that she is thoroughly enjoying/exploring being taken away.

-sitting/laying quiet and still on our bed with nothing to do at 6:30am when Mama and Dada are desperately just wanting to go back to sleep.  =)  

We love our little snuggly, curious, sweet, smiley, sassy, silly, ball of energy SO, SO much!!!  

Talking on the phone

Going shopping with her purse

tennis 101

Gabriella got her first tennis lesson this week, and loved it.  Bonus: She's using her left hand.  Dada was thrilled!! Lefties have the advantage in the tennis world.  New nickname: Rafaela.  

spring/summer 2013

A few highlights from the past six months or so:

Visitors. Lots. o. visitors. 20+ since Gabriella was born.  She wins the most popular award.   Some came for one visit, some came for two or three visits, some stayed one or two nights others stayed one or two months.  Sometimes we had just one person, sometimes we had thirteen persons (!!) at once.  Hotel Mercado.  Actually more like Hostel Mercado since we have 1.5 bathrooms!!! 

Jobs.  Gene continues to love his job and is celebrating two years there this month.  I got a part-time job at our church in February. Returned to my teaching job in April. Quit that job in June and increased the hours for the part-time job in July.   Phew.  It was a busy time, but got through it with lots of God's grace, a very understanding and helpful husband, and wonderful parents who took care of Gabriella during the day, cooked, cleaned, gave us date nights, etc.   Okay, we were spoiled.  Grandparents are the BEST!! 

As far as teaching goes, I hope to teach again and I'm sure the next few weeks will feel VERY strange not being in a classroom (Still getting the August nightmares though), but SO, SO happy I get to work from home and spend my days with my little sweet and sassy Gabriella girl.  It's cool to look back and see how God orchestrated everything and gave us lots of faith through the decision process.  Let's just say San Francisco is not the cheapest place to live/raise a child, but He continues to provide for us abundantly.   
  
Travels.  We took Gabriella on her first road trip and cross-country flight.  Our road trip was to celebrate my Dad's 70th birthday.  He cries tears of joy/amazement seeing God's creation so we knew he'd love Tahoe and Yosemite.  I failed to take many photos but here we are at Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe and Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite.  

For our cross-country trip we spent a few nights on the Eastern Shore, a week at the beach in the Outer Banks, NC, a few days in Gaithersburg, and finished out our 3-week trip in Jacksonville.  We found out that Gabriella is a great traveler and that she loves the beach and the pool and her Auntie Cleo.   She was introduced to lots and lots of family and friends of Mama and Dada and got to play with all five of her big-girl cousins. 

Checking out lots of new faces and all that hair coming out of Drew's shirt.  =)

Loving the beach!!  Yay!

4th of July in Florida

More photos of our time in NC.  

Buddies

Gene and me kayaking

Last four photos by Keith.   I have camera envy.  

Ok, that's all for now.  Gabriella will get her own update on here soon.  She's growing tooooooo faaast!!!!