Archives for November 2014

20 conventional and unconventional things I am thankful for.

General Lessons learned Life Reflections Parenting multiples Uncategorized

At first, the idea of writing 20 things I am thankful for sounded like a lot… but when I began to write them I realized the list could’ve been much much longer… Regardless, here is my list of 10 conventional and 10 unconventional things I am thankful for:

God: for guiding, protecting and keeping my family safe.
Becca: for being the best teammate ever in the game of raising kids, for being my rock, the supporter of my dreams but yet the one that brings me down to earth when I dream too much 😉
Nati, Nico, Santi and our 2 baby boys that will join us soon. For bringing so much joy into our lives, for being one of the main reasons I do a lot of what I do, for being an inspiration, for reminding me to be foolish and not take life so seriously, for being kids, and for seeing everyone for who they are, not what they look like. Among many other things.
Our family: For being the support system around us. For loving our kids unconditionally. For being there when we need you.
Our health: because we’ve been fortunate enough to have healthy children and have managed to stay healthy ourselves. I value that a lot!
Our friends: For helping us build memories. For sharing laughs. For listening. For not judging. For genuinely wanting us to be happy. The feeling is mutual.
My work family: For allowing me to do what I love while being myself 100% of the time.
Woolly Mammoth/Ultimate Community: For keeping my competitive spirit and the love for team sports alive. Woolly: for pushing me. For being one of the main reasons I exercise – for giving me a goal to work towards. For showing me, ourselves and others how working in unity towards one goal and under one mission can turn into huge accomplishments. For being the only place I can party barefoot without people making comments about my bruised or non-existent toe nails 🙂 (inside joke)
Our small business (packlessplaymore.com – shameless plug), for allowing me to live my entrepreneurial dream. For challenging me on how to grow the business, how to reach more people, how to better our service, etc.. For supporting our family financially.
YMCA Trainers: For teaching me how much fun it is to workout as a team.
Al Gore: For inventing the internet ;)… I have no idea what I’d do without it!
Facebook (although I am more of an Instagramer): For allowing me to connect with family and friends around the world. If it was not for FB I would have no idea how everyone is doing and wouldn’t be able to enjoy watching their families grow and cheer them on their accomplishments.
Taylor Swift: For reminding us that sometimes you just got to “Shake it off”
College Basketball/March Madness: For being the most exciting sport to watch and the best tournament in the World! Ok…the World Cup is better but March Madness is every year!! Go KU!
Pacifiers: You have no idea how many “oh sh*t he/she is going crazy!” have turned into peaceful and manageable situations… Yes, getting rid of them could be a pain in the a** but definitely worth it when looking back!
Disney World: For providing my kids with magical moments and ever lasting smiles. For allowing us to enjoy in awe their joy and happiness. That’s what it’s all about.
Single Malts and/or Beer: For being the best “decompressing” partner at the end of the day. No matter how rough of a day it was at work or with the kids.
Netflix: For calming my kids down any place, any time. For turning a crappy situation into a not-so-crappy. Sh*t going crazy? Whip out the phone/tablet and put on Netflix. Want them to take a nap while driving? Whip out the good’ol Netflix. Oh yeah, and for allowing me to watch shows & movies I never had the time to watch (and still don’t but at least it gives me peace of mind there is an option).
Miley Cyrus: For reminding me that raising girls is a complex thing… And for giving me perspective on what NOT to do.
Music/ukulele/Youtube: Ran out of room so last one is bundled up. Music for the good vibes. Ukulele.. because it allows me to think there is hope in the world and I may be able to play an instrument. Youtube: for posting tutorials on “how to play the ukulele”.

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Me time” is just as important. Weekend Lessons and fun.

Lessons learned Life Reflections Parenting multiples Pregnant with Twins Weekend Fun

This weekend started off rather early for me. I had to do a delivery for a client in Indian Rocks in the morning so I started my day earlier than I wanted to, but it was worth the effort – on my way to pick up the equipment I found a Colombian Bakery and although I did not have time to stop on my way there, I made sure to stop on my way back. Around 10:30am I was back home with some yummy bakery treats for everyone!

The rest of our Saturday got busy doing stuff around the house. We finally got ready and left the house for lunch with the idea to go to Target and let the kids pick what they wanted for their Christmas list for Santa… That plan got interrupted by a lady that was interested in some of the clothes we had for sale from our failed yard sale so we went and met her instead…

At that point, the kids had started to get restless; we needed to find an activity for them or else our afternoon drama would be intense! We needed a playground and we needed it quick! Energy HAD to be burnt! 🙂 Thankfully we remembered there was a playground close to our meeting point so we headed there for a good 45 minutes.. the weather was kind of crappy so we left before we had planned…

Once home, the kids continued to play as Becca and I were trying to finish up stuff around the house… in one instance and after many times of asking the same thing from the kids and frustrated by no one following directions, I snapped… raised my voice and sent everyone to their room – not gonna lie, not my brightest moment… but I felt that my frustration was building for hours!!… Rightfully so, Becca was disappointed at me, we had a small discussion about it and she went up with the kids…. I headed to the kitchen, poured me a single malt and went to my room to practice learning the ukulele…. And while playing is where I learned my lesson…

First of all, I learned I need to work on my patience with the kiddos – sometimes I forget how young they are and I expect too much of them. I honestly need to make a conscious effort about it. I am admitting my issue and going on record so this blog can hold me accountable for my improvement.

The other lesson I learned is that sometimes we need to be “selfish” and spend some “Me time”. Before you judge me, listen up. Just like spending time with the kids is a main priority, spending time as a couple and spending time with yourself is just as important. To be able to be happy and joyful around the kids at all times, one must be happy with themselves and with each other. I really enjoyed taking 1 hour to myself to play and to just “disconnect” for a little. By the time I was done, I had time to reflect on my stupid reaction, I was able to spend time doing something I like to do for myself and was able to get back to my kids and family with a “fresh” new attitude and had a great night thereafter.

So although it is very easy to get consumed by “kid time”, as adults we need to make an effort to work on our relationship with our significant others and ourselves. We need to find a little time to fulfill our happiness as individuals and as a couple. Whether it is time throughout the day or late at night once everyone is asleep, the key is to find the time and make it count. Trust me, it transcends to the relationship with our kids and our home’s harmony.

Our Sunday was a lot of fun, we spent our morning at home being lazy followed by an awesome lunch at a local place that offers my 3 favorite things when wanting to hang out: outdoor eating, live music and beer. The kids had a blast jamming to the tunes played by the band and enjoying the nice Florida sunshine and breeze.

From there we went to a playground to get some exercise and then back home to cook dinner and get ready for the night. By then, we were ALL tired.

Stop what you are doing right now!

General Life Reflections Parenting multiples Quotes Uncategorized

“Stop whatever you’re doing for a moment and ask yourself: Am I afraid of death because I won’t be able to do this anymore?” — Marcus Aurelius

I found this quote the other day and it made me think how it applies to both family life and work. When looking from above and evaluating your life, are you doing everything you love? Are you working in the area you want and doing what you love? Are you spending time with your loved ones? Are you making your time count?

I am fortunate enough to get to work on projects I love with an amazing team that allows me to be myself. No judgments. No filters.

But more importantly, I can certainly say I am afraid of death because I wouldn’t be able to spend time with my family. I would miss out on seeing my kids grow up, watching them become little people, adults, parents. I would miss out cheering them on in their accomplishments and supporting them in their struggles. Yes, I am fearful of that.

Today, especially in light of the Florida State University incidents, I spent time reflecting on my life. Although I can smile and be fearful of death, I also know that there is a lot of room for improvement, to make every moment count as if it is the last one, and to make sure that my family and friends know how much I love them and appreciate them. I love you guys.

So, thanks Marcus Aurelius. Thanks for making me stop for a moment and reflect on my life. I should do it more often.

Our Yard Sale debacle…and the rest of the weekend.

Fun with kids Parenting multiples Weekend Fun yard sale

Sigh… where to start..

I guess, first of all this whole thing went down because since we now know that our twins are boys and we have “closed the shop”, there is no need to keep hanging on to Nati’s clothes.

This led us to look for what we had…. Which led us to find 10 full containers in the attic (always fun getting up there in a hot day… NOT) with clothes ranging from Newborn to 4T. Pants, onesies, jackets, shorts, skirts, shoes, sandals, blankets, warm PJs, light PJs, matching outfits, non-matching outfits, etc, etc, etc…

After a couple of afternoons and nights sorting through all these things and “categorizing” them, we were finally ready – or so we thought. We did not realize we had that much stuff! We had 3 tables full of pants/shorts, another one with shirts and a third one with dresses.. We also had 4 containers full of onesies, pjs, matching outfits and about 50 pairs of shoes/sandals to lay next to the tables.

I know that for most people this may sound like a piece of cake… well, let me tell you, add 3 kids and a missing wife (gone for the day at a school venue prior to pulling the tables out on the driveway) and the whole thing was not that much fun…

But wait there’s more! The day before, Becca and I decided that it would be cute to have the kids sell cupcakes and water to our visitors AND that would keep them busy while I “worked the sales floor”….

So in addition to the whole tables/containers/shoes setup, we also had to setup their sales stand.

And then we waited… and waited… A couple of go-byers here and there… after a lot of sitting around waiting for customers, we realized that our neighborhood did not really cater to young families (the average age in my neighborhood is probably 70 – and that’s because a couple of young families have moved in…:) ) and most of the people that came by were older people looking for home stuff and every now and then for stuff for their grandkids.

We did get some customers and ended selling $100+ but we still have 90% of our stuff!! Now the task continues as we try to sell these things on Facebook groups and consignment stores… sigh… I hope all the time spent on this is all worth it at the end… definitely the time spent and stress associated with this yard sale was NOT! But oh well, we live, we learn…. It was our first and more than likely our last!

P.S – the neighborhood yard sale was the whole weekend.. we woke up early, got ready to make one final push… but… when I stepped out of the house, the streets were dead and no one had set up their yard sales… So, I turned back around and went on with our day.

“You may want to sit down” – The day we found out we were having a total of 5 kids!

Parenting multiples Pregnant with Twins

Those are the words Becca chose when I was staring at the Ultrasound after she had gotten back from the Dr. that afternoon. Let’s backtrack a little though…

2 weeks prior to me staring at the ultrasound, Becca mentioned she was not feeling well… Being that she had been pregnant 3 times before, I suspected she could’ve been pregnant so I bluntly asked/commented “you are not pregnant, are you!?”… to which she responded nervously… “I don’t know…”

At that point, we had not yet shut down the idea of having 4 kids, but in reality we were leaning towards “closing the shop” – the kids had been more demanding of our time, and although a lot less dependent on us, they required more direction, re-direction and parenting. They had also started extracurricular activities that demanded more time with them (gymnastics, ballet, soccer, etc).

I said, “we need to find out ASAP”– if we were having a 4^th kid, we needed to know so we could plan accordingly. The list included finances, work, home arrangements, cars, baby needs, daycare, school, drop off, pick ups, night-time schedules and the list goes on and on… So, I went to Publix that same afternoon, handed over the test to Becca and waited for the results… She wasn’t ready to find out, but I could not wait any longer… so I went to the bathroom, looked for the stick, and looked at the results… My first thoughts were “f***, we are pregnant” followed with a smile and a feeling of joy with a “f***, we are really pregnant!”. I shared the news with Becca and together we experienced mixed emotions as we waited for the news to settle… After thinking, “well, we have 3 what’s a 4^th one” and realizing we had all, if not most of the baby equipment needed, we felt blessed and began to embrace the idea. Becca confirmed the news that week and scheduled her follow up appointment for the following day.

This brings us to THE day…. Becca’s appointment was in the late afternoon. After she picked up the kiddos, we decided to meet at the Dr’s office parking lot. This was our 4^th rodeo so we did not feel the need for me to go with her to the appointment and instead I took the kids home to make them dinner while Becca went through what we thought was a “routine check up and first ultrasound”.

After leaving the Dr’s office, Becca called me but I could not answer. She followed the missed call with a text “All is good. No need to call me back”. I continued prepping dinner so it could be ready upon her arrival… And this is where we were….

As I am staring at the ultrasound, this one seemed a little bit odd to me compared to the other 3 kids’ ultrasound images. My initial thought was a concern that there was something wrong with the baby… To me, there was more “stuff” in that picture than I had previously seen… Becca noticed my confused face and when I said “there’s more stuff than usual.. I can’t really “read it”” she said…. “You may want to sit down”… As my a** fell backwards into our kitchen stool, I said “f***, are you pregnant with twins?!?!” Becca’s eyes got a little watery and as she nodded… I was in disbelief… we both were in awe not knowing how the heck we ended up being pregnant with twins!! We don’t have any history of twins on either side of the family and we were not even ready for a 4^th kid, much less a 5^th!!! We held each other, nervously laughed, Becca cried a little, and as in many situations, we were able to find comfort in each other and embraced the idea and the new babies coming into our lives.

It took us a couple of weeks to let the news sink in. Every time we talked about it we could not believe our situation and discussed all the things we needed to do to prepare for their arrival. Getting used to the idea and being able to turn the corner to embrace the new challenge and adventures took time. I think it took me longer than Becca. I am (or try to be) a planner, I like to try to make sure our family is ok at all times, therefore until I got to the point where issues like finances, schooling and house arrangements were taken care of or at least planned for, I had not allowed myself the opportunity to fully embrace the arrival of our 2 little boys. I wish I had done it earlier because at this point, the more I think about raising 5 kids and the enormous amounts of memories we are going to build, I get really excited about the future and know that God has a plan for everyone. And I really like what he planned for us. 🙂

The love and positive vibes from family and close friends as well as reading blogs from parents of twins and multiple kids made it easier for us (me) to get more and more excited about the idea. Surrounding ourselves with such great support has been a key element to helping ease the transition into our new adventure and we are very thankful for everyone in our lives. Thank you.

So, Becca was right. I needed to sit down. What she forgot to mention was to buckle up because we are about to embark on the best ride of our lives! 🙂

B rocking her pregnancy - 26 weeks in :)

Becca has been a trooper throughout her pregnancy. She makes it look easy… Maybe that’s why we keep having kids? JK.

The “Oh so fun” and “Not so fun” weekend & Coaching.

Coaching Fun with kids Movies Parenting multiples Weekend Fun

This past weekend consisted in various fun things (mostly Saturday) and a few “not so fun but need to get done” things (mostly Sunday).

Fun things: End of soccer season with Nico, went to the movies to watch “The Book of Life”, spent time with family.

Not so fun: Had to change the oil in one of the cars, grocery shopping and going through 6/10 containers full of clothes as we get ready for our Neighborhood Yard/Garage sale this coming weekend.

If I had to rank our weekend activities, I would rank Soccer as #1 and going to the movies as #2. Coaching Nico and the 3-4 year old kids was an amazing and rewarding experience that I highly recommend to all parents if they haven’t had the chance to do so. Going into the season I was not planning on coaching but on Day 1 after I voluntarily helped passing the uniforms to the kids, I was asked if I could coach and referee the 3-4 years old game. Thinking this was a one-time deal, I agreed to do it.. The following weekend, I arrived to the fields thinking there would be another coach ready to take on the task but nope, I was asked once again…. Same thing happened on weekend 3… By the 4^th weekend, I finally approached the managing staff and made it “official” 🙂 I told them that I could certainly continue to coach the kids on the weekends but it needed to be known among parents and I needed a shirt that made me the “official coach” so parents and kids knew who their coach was and did not appear to be a random dude every weekend…

The more weekends I coached the more I got to know the kids, their strengths, weaknesses, what motivated them, etc and developed a fun coach/player relationship and made it fun for everyone. By the end of the season, it was very rewarding being approached by parents thanking me for coaching their kids and saying things like “the kids love you”. That meant a lot to me and gave me one more reason to continue coaching the kiddos in the upcoming season. The main reason? The amazing time I had with Nico and seeing his proud face knowing that his dad was his “Coach”. Feb. 2015 season, here we come!

The 2^nd most fun thing we did over the weekend was watching The Book of Life. I will not go into detail as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone but I HIGHLY recommend it. The colors in the movie are amazing and the soundtrack is great too!! We took all 3 kids (we always do) and they loved it! Santi sometimes is not as interested in the movies and walks around but this time he was very intrigued by the animation and the music and sat through the entire movie! (well, he switched seats a couple of times and ate almost a full bag of popcorn too! :)). So go check it out if you have a chance – the message in the movie is great and worth every penny.

The least fun thing we did over the weekend was start preparing for our yard sale… Given that we will have 2 more boys and we’ve decided we are “Closed for Business” after they arrive, we are now ready to sell/donate all of Nati’s clothes, shoes and toys.. We have a total of 10 bins full of clothes and not to mention all the toys and stuff we’ve been putting aside as we re-arrange the kids’ bedrooms. We only had the patience to go through 6/10 containers and will be tackling the other 4 this week one at a time…. Needless to say, going through her baby stuff brought back a lot of memories of her being a baby (our first) and realizing how much she has grown (and how fast!! :(). Who would’ve thought that preparing to receive 2 new babies could be nostalgic to see the other “babies” grow so quickly? Mixed emotions for sure.

One thing is certain. It has been a pain in the butt getting ready for the yard sale and we’ll be ecstatic once it is over with! 🙂

P.S – Today is 11.11.2014. Thank you to all the men and women that have served our Country to preserve our freedom. We respect you and appreciate you. God Bless America.

Theme Parks with 3 kids? Are you crazy?!

Fun with kids Theme Parks with kids Weekend Fun

Ever since we decided to have 3 kids (and sometimes even when we had only 2), we are often asked by other parents in a sarcastic tone… “How do you do it?” – especially if we meet at a public venue like a theme park, the beach, etc.

I know most times this question is founded on the common frustrations us parents experience when things get “a little out of hand” and the thought of it coming from more than 2 kids is baffling and overwhelming 🙂 .. Trust me, we get those moments too (some days more than we’d like), and yes, some days dealing with 3 kids (or even one at times) could be overwhelming, frustrating, helpless and just like every other parent we feel like locking ourselves in a room, removing ourselves from the situation (adult “time out”), counting to 10 or 10,000 and come back when everything is back to “normal”.

Regardless of the tough times, the moments of joy, indescribable love and happiness our kids bring into our lives, by far upset those frustrating moments and make it ALL worth it. When people asked me if we were crazy when we decided to have Santi, I responded: “If I am able to replicate the joy each one of my kids brings to our lives, why wouldn’t I do it?”

A great example is the amazing time we had at Busch Gardens a couple of weeks back – two weekends in a row. Becca was able to land some free tickets that expired at the end of October so we had to use them. With Becca not being able to ride rollercoasters, our main focus for the park visit was the kids having fun. So we headed straight to Elmo’s World on Day 1 and on Day 2 we explored other sides of the park and I even got to ride Falcon’s Fury (amazing).

As with season passes, we approached our day with a laid back attitude, not rushing anything, not trying to ride all the rides or see all the shows… if we had the chance, great – if not, oh well, there’s always next time ;). The kids had an awesome time. They loved riding little rides, going over rope bridges, playing “carnival” games, watching the animals, playing in the splash park and even watching their dad drop from 300 feet on Falcon’s Fury. A total success.

Being a family of 5 – soon to be 7 – has never stopped us from enjoying any activities, au contraire, we enjoy them even more. We kind of have a “system” and an attitude that works for us and we have amazing times together.

Keep bringing on the adventures. Will they be challenging at times? No doubt. Will it be worth it at the end? You are darn right!

Our Weekend

Fun with kids Weekend Fun

We really cherish weekends — with how hectic weekdays are, we really try to maximize our time together on our weekend by trying to do fun stuff that involves all of us. Yeah, of course errands and other pre-scheduled events “get in the way” but we always try to spend as much time together as possible.

For the past couple of weekends, on Saturday mornings, I’ve been coaching Nico’s soccer team (3 & 4 years old). It did not start as something I signed up for but more as something that fell on my lap (they needed a coach on the first day and I happened to be there. :)). At first I did not know if it was something I was going to like or be good at but it grew on me and Nico loved it! Enjoying time with Nico and coaching the other little ones was a blast and now it is something I look forward to and hope to continue to coach him and Santi and all my kids if I have a chance. This is the Soccer Club we signed up for.

After soccer, we went to Indian Rocks to do some product pick ups and had lunch at P.Js Oyster Bar and Seafood — the food was good and the kids loved it. Unfortunately it was too windy to sit outside, otherwise we would’ve loved listening to the Live Music (there were like 3 people outside… felt bad for the musician).

On our way back, we had to stop at our local library to check out some books for a project for Nati. We got lucky because the library was one of the early voting places so we went ahead and voted! Nati chose to do her project on White Tigers (chosen mostly because she just got a stuffed animal at Busch Gardens). She created a habitat and next to it described their classification and 3 interesting facts about them. It was her first project ever and she did a great job at it! 🙂

Sunday started off really lazy… we continue to declutter the house and setting up the new rooms for the kids — everyone is moving around (more on a future blog). After a semi-lazy morning, we finally got out of the house and went to Home Depot to get new paint for their rooms — I did not realize paint could be THAT expensive… we ended paying $70+ on 2 gallons of paint! I am definitely in the wrong business!! I guess the painting option is cheaper than a new house or full remodeling of our current one but darn!!!

After my shocking experience at Home Depot, we head out to Chipotle for lunch (Becca’s favorite) and then to Sports Authority to get some shin guards for Nati — she started playing soccer at school and the other day her legs were all bruised up! 🙁 So I decided it was time for some protection… hehe… I wish I would’ve thought about it earlier…

After a productive weekend, we ended up relaxing on our couch catching up on some TV and enjoying Brownie Moose Tracks ice cream thanks to Nico’s suggestion — one of my few cheats over the weekend– I am really trying to be good.

WHAT WE DO:

General

Rebecca (Becca) is an Assistant Principal at a Charter Middle School in Tampa, FL. I (Andres) am a VP at an Ad Agency (www.ModusDirect.com) in Sarasota, FL. Nati is in Kindergarten, Nico is in Pre-K and Santi attends daycare at a Community Church.

As we were planning a couple of life changing events (to be announced in a later post), Becca and I decided we needed to come up with an idea for a business that could supplement our income and allow us to follow some of our dreams while still allowing us to maintain our current lifestyle – we are just like any working class family in the U.S.

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and this looked like the perfect opportunity for me to try to start something that could positively impact our family and living my entrepreneurial dream. You will later on will learn that I’ve attempted this a couple of times in the past with no major success but as many people would tell you “what matters is not how many times you fall but how many times you bounce back up” and I’ve bounced EVERY time. 🙂 I also believe that in order to succeed, you have to fail multiple times or as Thomas Edison said “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”.

As we were randomly brainstorming for ideas (and still are), it came to my attention that a former colleague of mine was selling her business – a Baby Equipment Rental business for families with kids visiting the Tampa Bay Area (www.PackLessPlayMore.com). I had already liked her business in the past and given we are very familiar with kid’s needs, it made total sense! We thought about it while traveling to Italy in early August and upon our return we pulled the trigger and purchased it! Since September 1^st, 2014, we are the happy owners of Pack Less Play More! We are still learning the ropes but loving every minute of it. So, if you are ever visiting the Tampa Bay Area (Clearwater, Sarasota, Anna Maria Island, St Pete, etc) and you are in need of cribs, strollers, pack and plays, high chairs etc, please let us know if we can help you! 🙂

ABOUT US AND OUR BLOG

General

We are a happily married couple that met in college back in 2001. We’ve been married for 11 years and when I started this blog we were parents to 3 adorable kids: Nati (almost 6), Nico (3 ½) and Santi (1 ½ ). We are also parents to our furry kid Sammy (11).

In July 2014 we found out we were pregnant again. Although the news caught us by surprise, we thought “hey, we’ve done this 3 times, what’s one more?!” 🙂 What we were not ready for were the news that Becca was carrying TWINS! Yep, TWINS! With no history of twins in either of our families we were in pure shock and realized we had a whole new ball game in our hands.

As news settled and we continue to educate ourselves more and more on all the intricacies that come with twins, our house is full of love and excitement getting ready to welcome our new babies.

Through our blog, we want to share our story. How we go about our day-to-day with our kids, how we prepare to receive our twin boys and how we manage to raise 5 kids under 6!. As many parents may relate, we have our ups and downs and we are still learning every day how to become better parents and raise good loving kids. We will share our wins, our losses, our learning and struggles as we become Happy Number 7. 🙂