Happy Number 7

THE FUN AND SOMETIMES NOT SO FUN STORIES ABOUT RAISING 5 KIDS UNDER 6!

20 conventional and unconventional things I am thankful for.

General Lessons learned Life Reflections Parenting multiples Uncategorized

Santi - Thanksgiving

 

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:

  1. God: for guiding, protecting and keeping my family safe.
  2. 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 😉
  3. 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.
  4. Our family: For being the support system around us. For loving our kids unconditionally. For being there when we need you.
  5. Our health: because we’ve been fortunate enough to have healthy children and have managed to stay healthy ourselves. I value that a lot!
  6. 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.
  7. My work family: For allowing me to do what I love while being myself 100% of the time.
  8. 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)
  9. 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.
  10. YMCA Trainers: For teaching me how much fun it is to workout as a team.
  11. Al Gore: For inventing the internet ;)… I have no idea what I’d do without it!
  12. 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.
  13. Taylor Swift: For reminding us that sometimes you just got to “Shake it off”
  14. 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!
  15. 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!
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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).
  19. Miley Cyrus: For reminding me that raising girls is a complex thing… And for giving me perspective on what NOT to do.
  20. 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!

 

 

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.

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 1st, 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. 🙂