Kids, work, condo, Triathlon

Weskey is now 8 months old!! I can hardly believe it. He continues to be such a happy baby. He still really only cries when he is tired, hungry, or wet/dirty. We are having a bit of a tough time teething these days. Still we have no teeth, but I think he is going to be like his big brother. If I remember correctly (which I'm not sure that I can, my memory is terrible anymore), Alex didn't get a tooth until 10 months. We found this new stuff, Hylands teething gel, which seems to work well and tylenol. I never know if I will be lucky to sleep the night without disturbance, or if I will be visiting with Wes. We visited twice last night actually. I took this picture of him this morning BEFORE his shirt and face were completely covered in drool. Wes is very mobile these days, he has not mastered crawling yet. He is close though. He will get on his knees and then usually face plants into the floor which pisses him off, but boy can he roll EVERYWHERE!!! One second he is beside me and then next time I look he is across the room by the fire place. He is a lot of fun now and growing like a weed. We will go to the doctor in a month for his 9 month check up to see just how big he has grown. Alex continues with Taekwondo. Carlos and myself love it. We got more and more "Yes ma'ams and Yes sirs" every day. They constantly talk about self-control in class and listening, which are both great for Alex. He has his moments were he is wiggly and talks out in class, but overall he is doing very well. We hope to continue classes, but with both soccer and baseball this spring we will see how the schedule looks. I feel a little overwhelmend just thinking about our spring coming up, but we will make it work somehow.

Alex is working on hammer kicks above. This was taken during his testing for his yellow belt. The testing was extremely long for some of the little guys, Alex included. Class is normally 45 minutes and this lasted an hour and a half. But after the long testing....Alex got promoted to Yellow belt!!! Nevermind the weird kid in the back that would not get out of the way. Alex all smiles with his new yellow belt.

The same weekend, Marisa played in an indoor tournament at the Crockett indoor arena. I missed the first game because I was with Alex at testing, which they lost. I think they were still asleep, because they won the rest of the day and made it to the finals which they also won! Marisa had a wonderful assist!!! Watching her play, makes me really miss playing especially indoor. This month she has another indoor tournament and we will be traveling to Chattanooga for a day to play some teams there. The spring season looks busy, but atleast it will be all relatively close tournaments (Hendersonville, Murfreesboro, White House).

We keep trying to figure out who Wes looks like. When he was first born, many would say "he looks like Alex" but now I'm getting more "he resembles Marisa." I think he is staring to look more like her. Some of their facial features and they both seem to be long and skinny. So for the moment, I'm leaning more to Marisa. It is fun to see how he changes with every month really. I guess time will tell.

This weekend should be low key. The house has actually been more quiet than normal. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Alex is out of town with my mom until Tuesday. For part of his Chrismas gift, she agreed to take him to Disney World. This is his first trip there and aslo his first airplane ride. Apparently, he thought the airplane was cool for about a second and then it was boring. Yesterday was their first day there and they tackled the Magic Kingdom. Alex had a good time but really thought it would be a lot of fun to just go swimming at the hotel's pool. So with just Marisa and Wes, it has been rather quiet. Tonight Marisa is going to a slumber party, so that leaves Carlos and myself down to just one kid.

As for myself and Carlos, not anything out of the ordinary. Still at our same jobs, although I'm on the lookout for something different now. I really want to change gears from clinical and focus on health and wellness. It seems like atleast once a week I'm online looking for new jobs. I would also love to find something a little closer to home. I have also checked into liability insurance for myself and possibly just start to counsel people on the side and see what comes of that. I am excited to do something different, especially with my new degree, but also a little nervous. The condo remains for sale. I am so sick of trying to sell it and very ready for a house. It is hard for all 5 of us to find space and not feel right on top of each other in the condo. I just keep my fingers crossed! So work, kids, cramped in the condo, we both are hoping to sign up for some more sprint triathlons this spring/summer. We completed our first one last fall, and have found one in early April that might be a possibility. I had considered doing another half marathon this spring, but ultimately decided that I just did not want to do the training runs for it. I guess I'm just over the time consuming process that is required to train for a half and want to focus on doing the 3 disciplines of triathlons. I have to admit it has been hard to train though. It's too cold for me to get on the bike. I have been getting up some early in the morning and get runs/strength taining in at the Y. While I have enjoyed the snow this year, I can't wait for spring and to be able to get out and run and bike.

More Christmas photos

Wes not really opening his present, but rather just playing with the wrapping paper. He was so much fun to watch! I got Alex this super cute bear blanket. If you don't know, Alex's nickname is "Bear." Carlos started calling him this when he was a little baby and it has stuck. So when I saw this blanket, I had to get it. You can't see it but on the back there is even a bear tail!!

Wesley sitting with Gaga.

Here Wes is playing wtih several of the new toys he received on Christmas. We began sitting up right about Christmas time. Occassionally he still will just fall over, but every day he improves. i know he likes being off his back and upright so he can play with toys and see everyone. I was looking at this picture and while I know he is still a baby, he is starting to look like a little boy to me. I was saying to Carlos the other night that in about 4 months I will be planning his first birthday ALREADY!!! How time flies.

So as of today, January 13, 2011, I am now up to date with all of the pictures that I have on my camera. I know I say this and you may not even believe me and rightfully so, BUT I am going to really make a better effort to update twice a month. I should have lots of upcoming pictures soon. Marisa has an indoor soccer tournament this weekend and Alex is testing for his yellow belt in Taekwondo on Saturday. I will be registering Alex for Y soccer for the spring as well as baseball. Marisa has also decided to play softball again. So there is PLENTY of opportunities for me to take pictures, however there will be not so much down time so I will do my best to stay true to my word and to the blog.

Christmas 2010

For Christmas this year, we had my mom, Beth, David, and Michelle over Christmas morning. I had made a breakfast casserole and we had cinnamon rolls and coffee. The kids got to see all of the toys that Santa brought and we opened presents from myself and Carlos. Once that was over, we headed over to Mom's house to do part II. The kids got so much this year, as they do every year. I always look at all their loot and can't imagine where it will all go!! But really once you open the toys and get them out of their boxes and ridiculous child proofing plastic, the pile doesn't look so bad then. Alex got a new bike from Santa. He has a bike but the tires are plastic and don't really grip very well, so hopefully he can really learn to ride without training wheels this spring.

Marisa looking through her stocking. She got several of the things that she had asked for by the end of the day. Santa brought her a really cool soccer ball that has the Brentwood Soccer Club design on it and her name on it. As requested, she got Target and Itunes gift cards as well.

Another attempt of getting 3 smiles. Still not so good and it looks like Alex has Wes in a headlock. You can't see it but their names were monogrammed on their matching pajamas. My mom bought these for them and we waited until Christmas Eve to wear them and wouldn't you know it by mid-morning Wes had pooped on his and Marisa spilled hot chocolate down the leg of hers. It's actually pretty amazing that Alex is the only one that still had his on at one point.

Wes also got several fun new toys from Santa. However, I really should have just gotten him some ripped up wrapping paper and tissue paper. The kid LOVED playing with that stuff!

Overall, this Christmas was another success. I took a few extra days off to hang out with the kids. Also of note, we had a white Christmas this year (1st time since 1993). It was pretty neat to look at the window and see all the snow falling while we were inside opening presents. We all got some fun things that we wanted, we ate good food, and got to spend time with each other. I love having everyone home together during such a special time of the year. I love Christmas and can't wait until next year!

December Happenings

December flew by as usual. The holiday season always seem so busy and there are so many things I want to do and before you know it, it's over. I threw in a few pictures of things that we did in December. Carlos and I were lucky enough to get some tickets to a Titans game (Thanks Dad). Too bad, the Titans fell apart towards the end of the season, but it's always fun to go to the game. It is also nice that my Dad's tickets are club level, because at the game it was so cold and snowing!! At half time, we snuck inside to get warm and grab a drink. Alex's Christmas program this year....it was kindof a bust. I have parents that come up to me and different times throughout the year and rave about how awesome and entertaining Alex was in the year's previous program. Which I have to agree, he is hilarious!!!! It was a different story this year. Not sure what happened but he just FROZE on the stage. I was so bummed, but I guess you just never know what you are going to get at a preschool program. So with that said, I didn't get too many "action" photos from the program, but here we are afterwards. I still couldn't get the kid to smile.

Several nights in December, Marisa and Alex decided they wanted to "camp out" by the tree. I grabbed a picture early one morning of them sleeping.

I really wanted to take the kids to Opryland during the holidays to see the lights and decorations. We went on a day when Carlos was off work and my mom and sister joined us. We got there in the middle of the afternoon so it wasn't too busy, but by the time we left it was getting crowded, especially when pushing a stroller. I think everyone had a good time. We walked around for a while and then we grabbed a table in the Delta and had coffee and a snack.

This was the best picture I could get of all 3 of them. It's hard to get 3 smiles at one time I am learning.

So these were just a few of the things we were busy doing this holiday season. I will put up another post just with some Christmas pictures.

Jingle Bell Jog

December around Nashville is a time for several fun runs. In years past, Carlos and I have done the Rudolph Run downtown at night, but this year we did a new run. Through Alex's preschool, a team of runners - Step Forward Day School's Stepping Santas - was formed to run in the Jingle Bell Jog in downtown Franklin. It turned out to be not too cold so the whole family could attend. For the run, Carlos, Marisa and myself ran. My mom, Alex, and Wes came to support. Wes rode around in his stroller and looked cute! Before the race, me and the kiddos took a quick photo.

And here we all are after the race! Carlos was several minutes ahead of me and Marisa. She is doing so well with her running. We all also ran a Turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning. Marisa runs the whole time and even took off about a tenth of a mile from the finish. I mean she really took off and suprised me. I think she might have a bit more speed to her than me. I pride myself on being slow and steady =)

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Alex's 5th Birthday

So Alex turned 5 this past November. We went to Glow Galaxy for his party. The kids get to jump on inflatables, play putt putt, and dance in a giant dark room that has lots of colors that illuminate in the dark. Here the party is at the end of play all sweaty and ready to go eat cake. Alex and Marisa at the head of the table. Say CHEESE!

And finally Alex blowing out his candles.

Quick Fall Recap

It is hard to believe that fall has come and gone and we are into the New Year! With that being said, my goal for this year and this blog is to try to update at a minimum twice a month. I realize that does not sound like much but considering I averaged one update every 3 months, this will be much more. My hope is that with 2 updates a month, I will start updating even more than that, we'll see. So below is an action photo of Alex playing soccer this fall at the YMCA. He is #8 just like his big sister! Marisa's team took home some hardware from the Louisville KY tournament back in September.

Marisa's first day of 3rd grade! It is hard to believe that she is in 3rd grade. I can remember my 3rd grade days and it is strange to me that she is already this old. Her teacher, Miss Davis, is great and she is doing very well. This is the first time that she receives letter grades on her report card. Her last 9 weeks she got straight A's!!!!

Self explanatory I hope. Happy Halloween!! From my Chef, Spiderman, and puppy dog.

My 3 kiddos. We took this picture because Marisa had put the boys' hairdos in Mohawks. It is kindof hard to see in the picture but if you look close enough their hair is spiky!