This is us.

I think Maria has the shape of my eyes.  Everything else is a girly-looking form of her dad.

My dad says Maria's just a brown-eyed me.

Please pray for my Aunt Lilia.  I think it was about a year ago I told everyone that she had ovarian cancer.  Well, treatments aren't working and new tumors are popping up all over her body.  They're going to double-up on the chemo and hope for the best.

My uncle Mike, on the other hand, is looking good when his colon cancer is considered.  He's finishing up chemo treatment in the fall, but I'm told things are already getting better.

My sister-in-law, Mireya, had her thyroid removed a few weeks ago because of a mass that had taken up residence.  The results were that the tumor was malignant, so she'll be undergoing radioactive iodine treatments this summer and fall.

Please keep them and their families in your prayers.

Thank you all so much.  God bless you all.

Joseph is doing pretty well with the potty training.  If anything, he's a little TOO eager.  Anytime there is a few drops in his bladder, he's pounding on the bathroom door.  His reward is flushing the potty, which he adores doing.  Thomas needed chocolate chips.

He did have an accident all over my bed, and he seems to wait until he has a swim diaper on or a diaper for bedtime before he "makes his move," but we'll get through that soon enough.  It's going well, for sure.

We've decided not to do anything big for Maria's birthday.  The moms from our playgroup are all pretty busy this weekend, so I will probably just make a bunch of pink (of course!) cupcakes to take to our next playdate for moms and kids.  John and I talked about what we could do that she'd like, and we've got it narrowed down to either nursing her all day or going to a park that has swings (her two favorite things to do).    We'll likely take the kids to the park, weather permitting.  Is anyone else sick to death of this nearly smothering humidity?!  Or we'll take her back to see St. Katherine Drexel's shrine since Maria seemed to like it there so much.

We went to a park yesterday that has a fountain for kids to play in.  No standing water, but water spits out of spouts in the pavement.  The boys loved it.  Unfortunately, there was no shade and the sunscreen I layered on the kids didn't do much because Thomas, Maria, and I all came home with sunburns.  Joseph is magically impervious to the sun, I guess.  It makes me nervous about taking them to the park again this weekend.

Maria demands to be fed.  Again.  Fifteen minutes without nursing is too much to ask.