Easter Festivities, Part Two!

Saturday night we went to the Easter Vigil Mass.  The vigil is my favorite mass of the year, it is absolutely beautiful!!  Not only do we gather for our Lord's passover, but we also welcome new members into the Church.  This year our uncle Dan, Kristin's dad, became Catholic and it was so exciting!!  The Vigil Mass is no joke.  It was nearly five hours of pure awesomeness!! There is no place we would rather be on Easter Eve . . .

Before Church

Confirmation

Helping to prepare the Altar

We decided to drive back to Dripping Springs after the mass, and we didn't get there until 3 in the morning!  We walked our sleepy selves into the house, and we were greeted with the sweetest surprise of all . . . 

TARA AND BARRY ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!! They had made this Easter basket to tell Brie, and decorated the whole house with pink and blue streamers and balloons.  They were sound asleep, but I HAD to go flip the lights on and let them know just how excited we were!!  You can read their whole beautiful story here on Tara's blog.  I am OVER THE MOON and cannot wait to meet my little niece or nephew, who we are affectionately referring to as "Pedro." Tara is due December 8th, which will make for a very fun Christmas this year!!  We spent the rest of the next day celebrating and relaxing with my family 

The Decor

She loves M.E. and Abuelito!

                         

What a blessed Easter weekend!! The beautiful homilies and masses this weekend inspired Michael and I to really use this Easter Season to grow closer to God as a family.  We are total tv junkies, so we are starting by cutting back to one tv show a week.  We have chosen American Idol since it is our favorite and the most appropriate of all the shows we have been watching.  Even though Cora is still little, we are going to start censoring what we watch now!  It is so easy to become relaxed with the type of television that you watch because it seems like these days anything goes! But when you step back and take a good look, many of the most innocent seeming shows have some pretty bad stuff going on!  I will let you know how it goes!  

We wish you all the happiest of Easters!  

Easter Festivities Part One!

This Easter was our first holiday with a little one and it was so much fun!  Even though she may not know the full significance of this glorious time, she still had a wonderful time visiting her grandparents! Here are the highlights . . .

 We started out the weekend surprising my parents on Thursday night (they didn't think we were coming until the next morning).  We got to spend some good quality time with them which was wonderful!  They helped us during bath time which is always fun because she loves it so much!

Bathing Beauty!

The next day we went out to Michael's parents house.  We were missing John and David all weekend!  David had his spring football game (he did amazing!!) and John went up to visit him.  So we were a smaller bunch than usual, but we still had good time!  We hung around during the day making Easter treats and playing  . . . 

Cupcakes by Eli

That afternoon we went to the Good Friday service at St. Josephs which was incredibly beautiful!  And Cora got to meet our good friend Father Jimmy for the first time, and he was smitten!

After the service, we did prayed the Stations of the Cross.  This is a wonderful tradition that Michael's family always does on Good Friday.  They have the stations on The Hill of the Cross behind the church. We walk the stations and pray together and it is a beautiful way to reflect on the passion of our Lord.  Here are all the kiddos with Memaw and Geda at the end . . .

After that we went over to Michael's aunts house to celebrate.  It was so good to hang out with everyone again, it seemed like it had been forever!

Cora and her Godmommy

All the Pawelek girls

The next morning we went to Panna Maria, the city where we got married, to celebrate with the other side of Michaels family.  I LOVE going to Panna Maria!  It is such a special place.  It was also Pops' (Michael's dad) birthday!

Back at the house . . .

Even though the lock out is stressful, it is SOOO amazing to have Joe and Casey around!! 

She loved her Easter basket!

Another fun bath time!

Say Cheese!!

Her first documented smile! 

Easter Bunny

Yesterday we took Cora to see the Easter Bunny.  I was oddly excited about this considering that she had no idea what was going on!  Elizabeth and I were at the mall on Saturday and when we saw the Easter Bunny it occurred to me that I have a daughter and I get to do stuff like that now.  I was immediately on the hunt for the perfect outfit!  Mission accomplished, she looked adorable!  The bunny, on the other hand, not so appealing. Slim pickins in College Station. 

she loves being outside!

Creepster Bunny

One Month

Our sweet baby girl is one month old, and what a month it has been!  I can't even image life without Cora.  Having a baby is everything we dreamed it would be and more!  She is so amazing, even when she is pooping everywhere and spitting up all over us.   We have put her through a lot already and she has been such a trooper.  We have given her the tour of Texas and she has slept right through most of it.  

At her latest doctors appointment she weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and was 23 inches long.  That puts her in the 93rd percentile for length!  She has already grown out of some newborn onesies and she can't really straighten her legs in most footy pajamas.  We have already started a bag of hand me downs for her little cousin Julia :(    I have such mixed emotions about her growing up.  It makes me so sad that she is getting big so fast, but on the other hand, she has more personality every single day which has been so fun to see.  All part of being a parent I guess!  But she has blessed our lives in more ways than I can count!  

I'll turn it over to Cora so she can let you know more about her . . .

Likes

Sleeping on my daddy's chest, its my favorite spot.

Snuggling with mommy in my rocking chair

Being held AT ALL TIMES, especially by my grandparents.

Playing with my aunts and uncles.

Stretching out my long legs.

Watching TV

My pacifier 

Sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed

Eating, eating and eating

Taking baths (except at the end when it gets really cold)

Traveling in my car seat, I do this a lot!
Going to church
Listening to music, my favorite singers are mommy and daddy


Dislikes
Sleeping in my bassinet 
Sleeping anywhere but mommy and daddy's bed, AKA my bed
Having a dirty diaper
Having my diaper changed
Tummy time
The medicine I have to take for my baby heartburn
Slamming doors and coughs, they always wake me up!

We are super excited for Cora's first Easter!  We will be traveling back home and can't wait to spend time with our families.

Katy

As I mentioned before, Michael and I are packing up and moving to College Station!  He started his new job on April 1st!  Tara and Barry were kind enough to open their house to us while we looked for houses.  So a week after we brought Cora home, we made the trip down to Katy.  We have had so much fun staying with them!  Michael has especially loved Tara's healthy and delicious cooking.  It wasn't easy to make this transition with a newborn, but Tara and Barry have helped us out so much!

Getting ready for a walk

Not too sure about Lori

She got her first bottle on her 3 week birthday

Barry the baby whisperer

We weren't able to find the perfect house in College Station, so we have decided to go ahead and move into an apartment while we continue to look.  So this Friday we will be moving yet again, to a more permanent home.  And by permanent I mean for the next 6 months.  It will be nice to have some stability, but we are sad to leave Tara and Barry's!

Bringing Home Baby

We were so happy to bring Cora home on St. Patricks day!  It was so fun to have everyone over in the first few days of having her home.  They say it takes a village to raise a child and we are finding that that is definitely true!  Everyone has been SO helpful!  From cleaning and cooking, to helping us with every puzzling aspect of our new arrival, our families have had everything covered.  I don't even want to think about how hard this would have been without them! We have been having so much fun at home with our little princess! I have a lot of pictures to share of these special moments . . .

She came home on Connor's birthday

Hanging out with Connor and Corbyn

Great Grandparents!

Great Grandparents and Grandma

She loves sleeping on Daddy

With her Godmother and cousin Jeff

Great Aunt Cindy

Her cousins Adam, Abigail and Melissa

Besties

Great Grandma

Great Grandpa

With her Godfather and Aunt Casey