With all the things that are constantly happening in our lives, it is easy to lose our perspective in the shuffle. At least it is in my case. There is always something going on (and I am thankful for it) whether it is family related: running from one place to another, from one class to another, or getting the kids ready for whatever the case may be (school, bed, classes, birthday parties, doctor’s appointments, you name it), or work related: jumping from one deadline to another, juggling multiple tasks, putting out fires and spending time coming up with ideas all at the same time, it seems as if our focus is always on the next task at hand or maybe on 1-2 tasks ahead to try and get “ahead of the game”.
It is easy to get lost, easy to lose focus on what matters most, easy to devote all our energy on the tasks at hand right at that moment, and easy to focus only on the accomplishment of the immediate goals. The difficulty lies in learning to take a step back, breathe and enjoy the moments for what they are worth. We spend so much time fighting and arguing with our kids to get them from point A to point B, that many times we fail to enjoy the journey — at least I know I do. And it is only during the calm after the storm, in the late nights after everyone is asleep, when I get to think about our day, or when I turn off the radio or the podcasts during my commute and evaluate our weekends, that I realize I may have missed opportunities to enjoy our kids more. I realize that I have wasted a lot of energy disciplining, redirecting, etc and not enough energy on enjoying the laughing, playing, and loving.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about each day goes by so quickly. I know every day needs to be cherished more. I think about how after the clock strikes midnight, we no longer have that day. We can’t get it back. And how because of that finality, we need to make the best of each and every day. Live the day with no regrets. Focus on making each other happy, not sad. Focus on enjoying the moment and cherishing that time together. Focus our energy on filling our minds with positive things; the negatives are a waste. Only 24 hours are given to us each day, and tomorrow is not guaranteed.
And even though I think of this often and we have conversations with our kids about it at the dinner table, I still lose my perspective, I get lost in the tasks of the day, and the checkpoints of life. This is why I need to constantly remind myself to live in the moment. Why I need to imbed this into our family values and daily practices. Why we need to make it a habit, and not just a thought that appears from time to time. we need to constantly regain perspective and refocus on what really matters.
It is worth everything.
some pictures from our weekend.
-
An ambitious 2016 full of resolutions.
I know it is already almost February and that it is starting to feel like it is too late for New Year’s resolutions… but this year I am trying a “new and improved” method from what I did last year. I am hoping not only to be continuously reminded of my resolutions, but also to find ways to actually achieve them, while holding myself accountable for my successes and my shortcomings…
I’ve always made resolutions. However, beginning last year I decided to actually write my resolutions down in a place where I could reference them at any time. I created a draft email in my Inbox at work with the list of things I wanted to accomplish in 2015. Not only was it an easy to reference list, but it also refreshed my memory and helped me become more accountable.
Although it was a great improvement compared to years prior, I did not succeed at all of my resolutions. But the idea of writing them down in a draft email allowed me to look back and evaluate my “performance” and helped me understand what things I still needed to accomplish in the new year, as well as opened up new challenges I wanted to tackle in 2016.
Needless to say, I have a very ambitious year ahead of me (on paper at least) but I am going to try my darndest to conquer it all! In fact, this year, I made a tweak to my resolutions’ list…. I also wrote down methods and ideas to accomplish them! That’s right! I have a plan! (or an idea of one ;)).
So without further ado, below please find MY resolutions for this year and my ideas on how to accomplish them… As you will see, one of the reasons this post is so late in the month is also because I’ve done some research on how I want to accomplish things. So, if anyone has similar resolutions, feel free to use my ideas or, of course, if anyone has better ideas, please do share!
My 2016 New Years Resolutions:
- Spend more time with family: Enjoy more time doing activities together, whether it is going to the beach, supporting the kids at their sporting events/activities, or visiting places like the zoo! In years past we were Disney World Annual Passholders and it was great fun! However the babies are too little and wouldn’t enjoy it yet, so we bought tickets to Lowry Park Zoo! They are running great specials – check it out here: http://www.lowryparkzoo.org/visit/tickets
- Teach my kids Spanish: In 2015 I did a better job than in the past however it was still not enough. This year I am going to schedule 1-2 days to read Spanish books, learn with Flash cards and watch kids’ movies in Spanish. These are the flash cards we got: http://amzn.to/1RSmi3H
- Connect/Re-connect with Friends: Make a conscious effort to reach out to friends randomly via text, phone, skype etc. Be more in touch.
- Meditate: I’ve been wanting to learn how to meditate for quite some time now but I get distracted very easily and my mind loves to wander. To try to learn how to do it, once a month I have scheduled meditation & lunch time with my sister! Not only do we get to bond more, but we can do it in a super cool environment while bettering ourselves. Win-win. We will be going here:http://meditationinsarasota.org/ I am also downloading the apphttps://www.headspace.com/ to help me achieve my goal. Hopefully my learnings will teach me how to be more patient at times with the kiddos and not set super high expectations of their behaviors. Here is another source of knowledge for Meditation: http://www.mindful.org/
- Wake Up Earlier: Currently I wake up between 6:30am and 7am to help out Becca with the kiddos, making breakfast, etc. I’d love to wake up earlier so I can be productive earlier and make it a habit. Here is an article with ideas on how to accomplish it: http://www.wikihow.com/Wake-Up-Early
- Complete a Spartan Trifecta: Last year one of my resolutions was to compete in an Obstacle Course Race (OCR). I chose the Spartan Race and did a sprint (5 miles) with a couple of my buddies. Needless to say, I got hooked and training for Spartan Races is my new thing. This year, my eyes and training are set on completing the “Trifecta” and will compete in the Elite level. A “Trifecta” consists of finishing a Sprint (5 miles, 20+ obstacles), a Super (8-10 miles, 24-30 obstacles) and a Beast (12-14 miles, 30-35 obstacles). Learn more here:http://www.spartan.com/en. My training comes from ideas from that website as well as the Men’s Health site and magazine on strength and conditioning.http://www.menshealth.com/fitness
- Grow my Agency (www.modusdirect.com): This will be my focus for the year. I will be networking more, attending trade shows for opportunities, doing a lot of research on prospects to have as clients in our agency – looking for not only the right products & services but also the right client – those with the right culture and that are fun to work with. I will work on educating prospects on why Direct Response is the most cost efficient way to grow both your revenue and your brand awareness and show them how awesome agency is. We are off to a great start with our first ever Super Bowl spot!!
- Grow my small business (www.packlessplaymore.com): For our small business, this year we are dabbling more with Facebook Ads and boosting our SEM and SEO. We will also do some Guerrilla marketing trying to grow our network to help us spread the word and get us in front of families with children visiting St Pete and Sarasota.
- 36,500+ push ups: This is the equivalent of 100+ push-ups per day. To keep me on track, I’ve started a Google spreadsheet where I enter number of push-ups per day. For days that I fall short, I need to make up for it on the following days.
- Listen to Podcasts: In late 2015 I really got into podcasts. This year I am going to commit at least one night a week where I listen to a podcast for 1-2 hours. Here is my list of Podcasts I listen to:
- Ted Talks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tedtalks-audio/id160904630?mt=2
- The Tim Ferris Show (author of 4 hour work week): https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tim-ferriss-show/id863897795?mt=2
- Serial (investigative stories): https://serialpodcast.org/
- This American Life: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
- Market Place Tech and Corner Office (APM podcasts): http://www.americanpublicmedia.org/programs/
- Smart Passive Income: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/
- The Top (Interviews with entrepreneurs): https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/top-entrepreneurs-in-money/id1023761733?mt=2
- Mixergy (Startup stories): https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mixergy-startup-stories-1000+/id348690336?mt=2
- Spartan Up!: http://www.spartan.com/en/media/podcast/episodes
- Read/Listen to 6 books: I am the first to admit, I am NOT a very good reader. I prefer Audio books but I hate paying so much for them… However, I am conscious I need to read more, so I am going to force myself and be held accountable for at least 6 books this year. First on my list: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
- Continue to learn Italian: I started learning Italian a few months before I played in the Ultimate World Championships in Lecco, Italy in August 2014. Once we got back I basically gave it up. I want to get back into the habit of taking lessons at least once a week and see how much I learn. My tool of choice?www.DuoLingo.com – it is free and the story behind it is awesome! Check the Ted talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/luis_von_ahn_massive_scale_online_collaboration?language=en
- Learn to Code: I am a strong believer in technology as a way to become more efficient and make human kind better. I know I won’t be changing the world with my basic coding skills, but it may open my mind and make improvements to my problem solving skills if I learn how to code. Plus I could potentially teach my kids and get them started into coding early. Why not? There are so many online resources now that teach specific skills. I think these sites/models will play a huge role in our post secondary education as more and more people migrate to these technical skills education paths that teach specific skills for a job. My tool of choice to learn how to code among other things? www.treehouse.com. It has a very affordable monthly fee that gives you access to a ton of courses depending on what you are interested in. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂
- Continue to grow and diversify investments: Late 2015, after seeing how my IRA did not grow much year after year, I decided to look for alternatives to invest some of my savings on a monthly basis. I found www.wealthfront.com which is an automated investment fund with various options and www.LendingClub.comwhere you become one of the many lenders that fund loans for applicants. To date, my results with Wealthfront have not been very good… however I know this is a marathon and not a sprint so I am going to keep an eye on it. Lending Club was fun to set up and to see how your money is divided among many loans. I started the account in January so I will not be seeing any returns any time soon but it looks VERY promising on paper. I highly recommend checking it out!
2016: Are you ready? I AM.
#Blessed
Before I forget and realize is already the end of 2016, I want to make sure I acknowledge how blessed we feel at home.
As probably most parents can attest, one of the most important things for us parents are our kids’ health and happiness. I pray to God every night prior to going to bed and thank him for keeping all our babies healthy and happy and thank him for the amazing environment and love that surrounds our kids and our family. I pray for his constant protection and ask to keep them healthy and happy throughout their lives.
I can’t emphasize enough how true “it takes a village” really is. So many times we hear from people that they don’t understand how we manage to raise 5 kids and maintain our “cool”. What lots of times people don’t realize is that we are able to maintain our cool and we are pretty chill most of the time because we are surrounded by so many amazing people in our lives. Whether it is our loving immediate family, or our awesome positive and loving friends or our friends at work, we are always surrounded by positive and chill vibes, words of support and more importantly surrounded by love to our kids.
We feel #blessed and we have God and ALL OF YOU that touch our lives in one way or another to thank you for it. I probably have not said this to all of you individually but please know that we constantly feed of the love and positive vibes you send our way. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Needless to say, we feel #blessed we are given the opportunity to raise 5 amazing kiddos that bring so much joy and livelihood to our household.
So cheers to another #blessed year to all of us. May love, health, peace and happiness be with all of us throughout this new amazing year.
Much love from our Happy Number 7.
Business Travel Lessons as a Father of 5
I don’t travel often for business, but the couple of weeks leading to Thanksgiving I had back-to-back business trips.
Traveling sometimes is hard for us because it can be a burden on Becca. Although we have an awesome nanny that is super flexible with our schedule, dealing with nighttime routines for all 5 kiddos can be difficult. Luckily I am never gone for more than 2 days at a time.
I’ve always tried to find positivity in every life situation and in the case of traveling, it is no different. Flying allows me (when I don’t crash for the entire flight) to do things that I usually can’t do while at home due to lack of time. It becomes a “me time” although surrounded by a bunch of strangers.
When I travel I get to make progress on the many books I have on my night stand that I never get a chance to finish, or read my Men’s Health magazine OR one of my new favorite things to do – listen to podcasts! (more of this later).
This past trip I scribbled down on a plane napkin some of the things I was able to enjoy while flying. Although these are things that I tend to do on every trip, I never took the time to acknowledge them or give them the importance they deserve. Here is the list of things I learned/appreciate as a father of 5 kids when traveling.
- I miss/appreciate my kids and wife more: Sometimes we take these things for granted. We get caught in the day-to-day. But not being with my kids and getting pics of them via text from my wife makes me miss them even more. The pictures always put a smile on my face and remind me how blessed I am and how awesome my life is because of them.
- Time for reflection: The above is one of the examples but the traveling “me time” allows me to think – a lot – and helps me reflect about my life, my family, my job, our future, etc.
- Time for planning: Most of the time, for me, putting things into perspective turns into planning for the future. Whether it is thinking about a plan for retirement, or how to make sure my kids are taken care of after I pass, etc. I get some sense of clarity when I am flying and am able to spend time thinking, jotting down ideas. I take a lot of notes and come back re-energized and ready to tackle new adventures.
- Think of ideas to be a better person: This is a combination of #2 and #3 incentivized by some of the things I read or listen to while traveling. For example, this past trip I read a couple of chapters from “The Project Happiness”, read “Men’s Health” and listened to the “Smart Passive Income” podcast among others. I am big on self-help. The time I get to fuel my brain with all these new ideas is awesome and fuels me to become a better dad, a better husband, a better professional and a better me.
- Educate myself: Traveling by myself allows me time to read books, magazines, articles, news, bios, etc as well as listening to cool podcasts and occasionally super interesting conversations with fellow travelers. Every time I travel I learn new things and gain new perspectives on a lot of things.
It’s easy to find the positive in every situation. You just have to look for it.
Cheers!
Napkin with my notes
They say money can’t buy happiness, but I am pretty sure we just bought some of it.
I am a dreamer. I am also a believer of chasing your dreams. I’ve chased a few of my own. Some with successful results and some not – those are the ones you learn the most from. I also believe in supporting and pushing others to follow their own dreams. In this story, someone else’s dream affected me directly and I was happy to play a role to help make it happen. 🙂
Back in 2007 when we started considering having kids, Becca had what could’ve been a very successful career in business. However, I’ve always thought that teachers were special people with special qualities and I thought Becca had all those qualities and had the potential of being an awesome teacher! (I was proven right later). At that time, she started toying with the idea of teaching in order to spend more time at home and eventually when our kids grew of age, she could be involved in their school life. We thought more about it due to the fact that Hillsborough County was in need of teachers, and the timing was just right. The easy decision would’ve been to remain in her position, move up the ladder of Corporate America, etc, etc BUT we had a bigger plan in mind. A plan that could allow Becca to eventually fulfill her dream of being a mom; a mom that could be involved with the kiddos.
That summer we (she) took the plunge. And no surprise, she was AWESOME at it. Kids loved her. Teachers loved her. Administrators loved her! A few years later she was offered an Assistant Principal position and although she hesitated taking it because she would miss the classroom and the kids, she took on the challenge and rocked that position as well. (you see the trend here? ;))
Last year, we were given the opportunity to chase her big dream for the first time. Chasing it required some sacrifices – mostly financial as our kid’s school is a small private school that is not in need of APs so she would need to teach – but we could not chase it in 2014. We had a lot going on with the babies on their way, short notice, etc… Although disappointed, we think it was the best thing. That extra year allowed us to plan ahead to make the transition in 2015. We needed to come up with ideas on how to supplement Becca’s new income so we could maintain our lifestyle. Also, the arrival of the babies meant more expenses! Food, daycare/nanny, etc. We had to plan for all of it and make sure we would be ok. It was also a good year for Becca to begin her transition of her AP role in her school (a school she loved and is so grateful for). During her pregnancy with the twins, they were so amazing to her- being very flexible with her schedule, out-of-school duties, etc. We are forever grateful to them not only for that last year, but for the entire time Becca was a part of the school.
This summer (2015) when the opportunity rose, we were ready. We had a business in place (www.PackLessPlayMore.com), we had the nanny situation for Santi, Emi and Ale taken care of, and Nati and Nico had successfully finished their first year at their new school! I am not going to lie, going into it was a bit scary. As much as you plan, you never knew how things are going to settle in, how “accurate” our financial planning was, how crazy (or not) things would be, etc.
Well…. I can now tell you with confidence that it has been AWESOME! Becca is so happy! The kids are SO happy their mom works at their school! Becca feels so fulfilled teaching again and loves that she can see our kids throughout the day, have lunch with them, be available if they need her, etc… I am kind of jealous but so happy for all of them. Yes, we are a couple of tens of thousands of dollars short compared to last year, but every penny is worth it. Being able to chase and achieve a life dream has no price – it only brings satisfaction, smiles, happiness and that, for us, is what life is about. Being happy together.
So yes, people say you can’t buy happiness, but I am pretty sure we just bought ourselves a huge chunk! Cheers to dreaming and chasing dreams!! God bless.
MONDAY MORNING QB: FATHERHOOD
If there was such thing as a QB rating for parenting performances over the weekend, I think I would have had one of my lowest QBRs yet… As with many other things, admitting it is the first step. And I admit it: I had some really sucky moments this weekend.
Sometimes I get caught up in the whole “parenting” and “disciplining” and set some stupid high expectations for my kids (if Nati read this she would tell me “ooohh you said “stupid”) and sometimes I forget how young they are! Nati is not even 7, Nico is 4 ½ and Santi is 2 ½ !! and I somehow expect them to be crazy well behaved, be quiet when I ask them to and follow directions 100% of the time. Who am I fucking kidding! If it was THAT easy, people would not complain about how hard it is to raise kids! Or how hard is to maintain your sanity when you tell your kids to stop doing something and not even 30 seconds later they are doing the exact same thing you JUST told them to stop doing!
Boom. That was my weekend. I think I could even tweet my entire weekend in less than 134 characters…
Me: Guys will you please keep your voices down? The babies are trying to sleep.
Nati/Nico/Santi: Yes/ok dad.
Me: Thanks!
30 seconds later…
Nati/Nico/Santi: screaming and running around the house chasing each other.
Me (to myself an looking at Becca): What the fuck…
Rinse and Repeat all weekend long….
So needless to say, come Sunday my patience had a very short fuse. I was quick to snap. I think in a way I thought I was trying to stop things from escalating but I don’t think it worked and my lack of patience was definitely the only thing escalating at a fast rate.
Sunday night I went to bed frustrated. A little disappointed at the kids. Monday morning rolled in and Nati and Nico were at it again in the AM. I called them out as they ran by me down the hall. They turned around and I gave them the evil eye… They got it. They knew I was mad and headed over to the table to eat their breakfast.
In most cases, I would’ve chucked that one on the “W” column… however, the sad look they had on their face when they realized Grumpy McGrumpy was at it again and interrupted their fun was not what I wanted to get in return. That moment I realized that in those moments I become the “no fun” dad and even less impressive, the “He’s mad at us, we are going to get in trouble” dad. And THAT one sucks. I don’t want to be the parent they “fear”, I want to be the rational dad that can work everything out with his kids. It was not a good feeling.
That same morning. Before any of that went down. Becca had sent me an article she read at 6am that morning while feeding the babies. Her timing couldn’t have been better. It was such a great eye opening and reminder that kids are just kids and that I need to learn to “chill” more and expect less from them. I should only expect them to be kids. Not little adults. Especially Nati.
Here is the article: http://www.scarymommy.com/the-burden-being-firstborn/
So, I admit it. My QB Rating sucked this past weekend. The good news is that I get a chance to make up for it every single day of my life and you can be sure I will give it my best shot. I will never be 100% but I will work my ass off to get as close to it as possible. I have 5 amazing reasons to do so.
God Bless.
And of course… here are some cute pics/video of the kiddos in action. 🙂
Downhill competition – Home Style from Andres Leguizamon on Vimeo.
DEAR CHILDHOOD CANCER: YOU SUCK!
Earlier this month I found myself distraught over the various stories of how cancer has taken the life of little kids, denying them of their childhood and from living life in general. As a father of 5, it was very emotional. My biggest fear as a father is to have one of my kids diagnosed with a terminal illness, or with a disease that will affect the rest of their lives. I would hate feeling helpless and not being able to do anything to prevent it or cure it, etc… I hate just the thought of it.
When I found myself in that situation, I promised I would figure out a way to get involved and raise childhood cancer awareness…. Although, after some research, the only thing I will be able to do to help the local All Children’s Hospital is to donate some time and toys for the kids in their facility, I have yet to find a method to raise awareness. So, I’ve decided that this is my method. My blog. Sharing my blog post with my Facebook friends in hopes that I can inspire others to help the cause and raise awareness and funds to fight cancer and to fight how the cancer research dollars are being allocated.
This is the story that got me holding back tears as I read through it: http://www.upworthy.com/a-grieving-phoenix-mom-received-the-tribute-of-a-lifetime-from-taylor-swift?c=reccon3 The story of Ronan. A 4 year old that lost his battle to cancer. How f..ed up is that?! A happy little boy was deprived of his childhood. His mom was deprived of his childhood. Devastating. Unfair.
His mom, in all her bravery, decided to share their story via their blog:http://rockstarronan.com/ In her blog, she shares the ups and the downs; she shares the story of how/when they find out and their fight against f..ing cancer. Reading her blog is a lesson to all of us on what things should matter in life.
Because of their blog and their open and honest story, Taylor Swift got wind of it. Being the amazing person she is, she began following it. And after learning about Ronan going to heaven after losing his battle to cancer, she wrote Ronan a song (https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ronan-single/id560227510) and asked Ronan’s mom if she could perform it live in the SU2C concert in 2012. After being granted permission, she also shared with Maya (Ronan’s mom) that her blog had inspired the song and that she would like to add Maya as a Co-Author of the song; even the profits of the song will go to help the Ronan Thompson Foundation! You can take a listen here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2OF1S3iSI That was the first and only time Taylor would perform that song live until this past August when, during her 1989 tour in Glendale, AZ (Maya and Ronan’s hometown), she invited Maya and her family to come out. With Maya’s permission, she performed Ronan live for the second time ever. Here is her emotional performance from that night! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0sFiK6XeaA
Now you can understand how vulnerable I felt that day reading and digging more into the story. I could not stop thinking about Maya and Ronan. I could not stop empathizing with her and putting myself in her shoes and feeling my heart so heavy the more I read about it. I could not stop thinking about my kids; thinking about how helpless I am. How helpless we are when it comes down to cancer prevention, treatment, etc. How f..ing scary it is and how little I’ve done to raise awareness about it. So, here is the beginning of my contribution – sharing the story. And also, my promise to my kids that I will do my best to become an advocate for Childhood Cancer awareness. It’s the least I can do. I’d love it if you join me in this battle.
If you want to help, here are 5 ways:
- Donate or volunteer to St Jude: https://shop.stjude.org/GiftCatalog/donation.do?cID=14262&pID=24671
- Donate or volunteer to All Children’s: https://www.allkids.org/foundation/get-involved/volunteer-in-the-hospital
- Donate or hold a stand from Alex’s Lemonade Stand: http://www.alexslemonade.org/
- Download Ronan: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ronan-single/id560227510
- Share this story.
God bless you Ronan and Maya. God bless every kid and every parent that is or has battled with cancer. God bless every cancer patient, cancer survivors and their families. God, please bless and protect my kids, my family and friends.
Childhood Cancer: You suck!
“I remember your bare feet down the hallway, I love you to the moon and back” – Ronan, Taylor Swift.
Childhood Cancer Facts:
- Childhood cancer research is vastly and consistently underfunded.
- Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15 in the U.S.
- One in 285 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer by the time they are 20 years old.
- Every year, an estimated 250,000+ new cases of cancer affect children under the age of 20 worldwide.
- Two-thirds of childhood cancer patients will have long lasting chronic conditions from treatment.
- Childhood cancer occurs regularly, randomly and spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class, or geographic region. In the United States, the incidence of cancer among adolescents and young adults is increasing at a greater rate than any other age group, except those over 65 years.
- Childhood cancer is not just one disease. It is made up of a dozen types and countless subtypes.
CHILHOOD CANCER AWARENESS INFOGRAPHIC
SOURCE: http://www.alexslemonade.org/childhood-cancer-facts
3 Reasons why this labor day, I am thankful for my job.
Looking back, I consider I’ve been lucky throughout my career. I’ve worked at great companies with great accounts, had great teammates and had some great leaders/mentors. However, for the past 2.5 years, the agency I work with is just perfect for my family and me. Yes, of course there are tough days and crazy busy days, but those are few and far between and the fun and awesome moments outweigh the not-so-good ones by far! To sum it up, here are 3 reasons why I am thankful for my job and why I LOVE working where I do.
- I get to be myself and do what I love
For those that know me, you know I am a pretty energetic person, in a good mood 98% of the time and probably a pain to deal with at times… At my previous agency, although I was able to be myself around my co-workers, there was this “corporate” feel to it and “playful” behaviors were frowned upon by some of the upper management team. I felt like I needed to watch what I said or did at times and did not feel I had a voice… Booooring… 🙂
At my current agency, that has never been an issue. My boss/owner of the agency embraces people’s personalities and has built an awesome team that allows everyone to be him/herself, while still working as a solid unit. In my experience, when people are free to be who they are and do not have to put up a façade, they work better, more freely, they enjoy being there and feel accepted, which in return yields efficiency and overall happiness.
Besides being able to be me, I get to do what I love- what I’ve wanted to do since I was in high school! I get to work in a fun and creative Ad Agency with awesome clients in so many different verticals! No day is the same, every client, every campaign presents a new, fun challenge and I never stop learning! I learn from my peers, from our clients, from new situations, and experiences and of course from data! 🙂 . Professionally, I could not ask for more.
- My boss is a woman and a mother.
You have no idea what a difference this makes. I think of myself as a very involved father. My family means the world to me and I want to be a part of my kids’ daily lives as much as I can; I would never forgive myself if in 20 years I look back and wish I would have been more present. Nope. I refuse to let that happen and my boss not only knows it, but also shares my same beliefs and is sooo supportive of anything family.
In this era we hear claims of work/life balance and how employees need to support women in the workplace to allow them to spend more time with their kids. Not only that, but to be OK with it and not see their time with their families as a “weakness” or a “lack of commitment” to their jobs that could prevent them from professional advancement.
Although I am a strong believer that all of the above should apply to men as well (that’s a whole other post), I don’t have to worry about ANY of it because my boss is a woman AND she is a mother. She gets it! She practices it! She is very involved in her child’s life and has a very strong family foundation. So, at previous jobs when asking for time-off to go be part of my kids’ activities, or even Dr.’s appointments, although they rarely denied my requests, you could tell they did not like it and I had to do these things with a guilty feeling about it…. And that feeling sucked! Now? She is 100% supportive and in return she knows that I will work my butt off to meet any deadlines, deliverables and expectations. It has to be a give and take where every party benefits and wins from it.
So, to my above point, it probably would be awesome if more women were in top positions in Corporate America to build better workplaces, or we can hope that the new generation of involved fathers (which I know all my friends with kids share my beliefs) start taking over the big honcho roles because we get it. We love family/work balance and a happy working environment.
- We have a team that believes in well being
As a team, we workout together at the local YMCA 2-4 times a week. We support and promote healthy eating habits, diet together, juice at the office, etc. We have a great support group that makes it so much easier to stay in shape and try to eat clean. We’ve all had days we don’t feel like going to the gym, but the team pushes us to go and once we are done with the workout we are so grateful we did it. It takes a village and we have a fun, healthy village.
For the above reasons and truthfully many others, I don’t take it for granted and I am thankful for my job! I hope everyone feels the same about theirs.
Happy Labor Day from our Happy Number 7!
Wowzers! Emi and Ale are 6 months already!
I could easily use 2 cliches right off the bat to open this post (and I will) 1. Time flies and 2. They grow up so fast! Both darn right… I am not sure if time seems to go by way faster the older I get, or if it is the combination of the older I get plus how busy we are and how many kids we have! 🙂 Regardless, I could not believe it this week I was taking our little babies to their 6 month appointment!
These two little men have been growing SO quickly and I feel as if I am not taking the time to slow down and enjoy more of what will be “our last set of firsts” with Becca. Seeing the babies grow and progress has been a blessing and an amazing experience once again, but coming to terms with the fact that each milestone they achieve will be our last of that particular milestone is bitter sweet.
At the end of the day, we can’t stop time but what we can do is to make a conscious effort to make the most out of what life presents to us. Throughout the past 6+ months, we have been blessed with very healthy babies and I pray to God that they remain as healthy and happy as they are. The addition of the twins to our family, although challenging at times, has been the most rewarding experience not only for Becca and me, but also for Nati, Nico and Santi — they have such a sincere love for the babies that melts our hearts. Trust me, I am well aware that Santi could’ve gone on strike and thrown a million and a half temper tantrums about the babies “displacing” him from the “baby” role (although only recently have we stopped referring to Santi as “the baby”) but instead he embraced them, claims them as his babies and protects them and loves them constantly! Same goes for Nico and Nati. I think the transition from party of 5 to party of 7 (gulp) was successful because Becca and I made sure we had a plan for the process and we made (and still do) a huge effort to maintain a level of “normalcy” in our kids’ lives. We continued with everyone’s extra curricular activities (ballet, gymnastics, soccer, bmx…) and never allowed the welcoming of Emi and Ale to negatively impact any of their activities. We wanted to make sure they felt loved, appreciated and valued so they wouldn’t have any negative feelings towards the babies or any feelings of a “lack of attention” or anything of that sort…
Has it been easy? Heck no! Has it gotten easier? Nope, even though we’ve gotten better, life still has its challenges. Has it been worth it!? Heck Yeah!! Best thing that has ever happened to all 7 of us. Loving every second -even though I wish they would sleep through the night by now so we can catch up on sleep.
Anywho, this all started because Emilio and Alejandro had their 6 months appointment so here are their stats:
Emilio:
Height: 25.3in
Weight: 16lbs 6oz
Alejandro:
Height: 24.8in
Weight: 16lbs 12oz
Happy Number 7
Happy babies!
Alejandro
Emilio
At the Dr. — twin style in their car seat. 🙂 Ale getting checked and Emi looking like he is making fun of him..
Twinfie at the Drs office
OUR WEEK – A BALANCING ACT
Throughout our six years of parenting, we’ve never been a family committed to a “structured routine”. We have been more a “go with the flow” type and that has worked for us. Yes, of course, there is a “loose” routine that we try to adhere to, but we are very flexible since every day brings on new challenges.
With Emi and Ale, things have been more structured, and although we still don’t follow a strict schedule, we do make sure they are doing things like eating and “sleeping” at the same time… otherwise Becca would be feeding a kid every hour on the hour… but that’s a whole other post.
Since Becca’s family left, we’ve been working on returning to our normal routines and making sure everyone is able to participate in their extracurricular activities. Nati attends modern dance, ballet and gymnastics, Nico rides BMX strider every other week (or we try to) and he started his soccer season once again and Dad plays Ultimate Frisbee with the Florida Masters team (33+ years of age).
I am not going to lie.. it has been hard for Becca to haul all 5 kids to dance and gymnastics, but luckily I’ve been able to take off early 2 days of the week so I can attend Nati’s gymnastics and coach Nico’s soccer team. In addition, we juggled this weekend so I could run errands for our business on Saturday morning, and then I headed out to Gainesville for our team’s practice/tryouts… Plus it doesn’t end with just their activities… we then rush home to prep/eat dinner, get lunches ready, do homework, put kids to bed, etc etc.
Last week, Nati was also asked to participate in her school’s Open House event. She and other kids from her kindergarten class showcased a few of the awesome things they’ve learned this year, and some of her art was even featured! She was so proud, and deservingly so.
Nati’s Art featured at the Open House
Nico and Santi helping get Emi and Ale to the Open House. 🙂
I mention the above because Becca told me Nati wanted to participate and asked me if we could make it. I said: “If it is important to her and she wants to do it, we’ll make it happen”, and so we did. And we always do. We believe it is important for everyone to be able to do what they want (within reason) and feel the support of the family (all of us).
I know it was hard on Becca this weekend when I left her with all 5 kids so I could go practice (Nico was supposed to come with me but bailed last minute because the weather was crappy… smart man). We knew it would be difficult, but Becca understands how important it is to me and it had been on our calendars for quite some time now. She was a champ and I was SO appreciative of her sacrifice so I could enjoy what I love.
Due to so many accidents on the interstate, I was re-routed through the country roads. So relaxing.
Horse farms in Ocala, FL on my way to Gainesville.
This past week was a great learning week for us. It taught us that although it will not be easy, we can still manage to fit in what everyone loves to do and do it with everyone’s support. Yes, there are sacrifices being made, but that’s what we do for the people we love. After this week we feel ready, very ready. Bring it on life.
This picture sums up the crazyness levels at home. LOL.
Strike a pose. Policemen version.
Some of our favorite pics from the week/weekend.
