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.
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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
Santi’s Terrible 2’s are kicking my ass!
I feel like I am writing this post while waving a white flag in peace/surrender. Holy shit. I can’t take this anymore and I’ve ran out of methods to deal with and tolerate it.
Hey, this is not my first rodeo, I dealt with Nati’s and Nico’s and we survived. We figured out ways to manage them and we all came out on the other end. This time is another type of beast and this one is kicking my ass.
I think part of the problem is we have been dealing with this while we’ve been dealing with babies that were not sleeping through the night and we were trying to get them there (as of now they are sleeping through the night. Yay!) so every temper tantrum Santi throws, exponentially increases the magnitude of the issue and the urgency to make him shut up! ☺
90% of the time, he is the happiest, coolest kid. But the other 10% he is like a combination of Damian/Chucky and seems to lose his sense of hearing, his sense of reasoning and everything else.
When shit hits the fan, he goes into this non-stop crying mode. It can be triggered by multiple things, but here are some of the most ridiculous ones: “I just woke up at 3am and I want fucking juice”, “I wanted to lay by dad but then Nati or Nico laid by mom so now I want to lay by mom or else!”, “Nico beat me going up the stairs, how dare he!”, “I want to get what everyone else is playing with, now.”. The list goes on. Never a “oh well, that makes sense you are upset, screaming your lungs out seems to be the best approach” type of scenario….. sigh.
The above could fall on the normal reasons why someone 2 years old decides to throw a temper tantrum. What’s not normal is the “exorcist” mode he goes into. Even if we cave into his ways to make him stop, he gets himself in such a state of mind that he does not hear it! He keeps screaming “No!! No daddy, I don’t want (enter random reason here)”, or “I want juice” even though I keep telling him he can get some.
I’ve tried timeout, tried reasoning with him, tried the whole hugging thing, tried to get him to take deep breaths (ha!), tried putting him in our walk-in closet, escalated by turning the light off for a few seconds and nothing works! I’ve tried all these things not to be mean, but to try to snap him out of that state of mind!! Trust me, if it wasn’t because I would have to clean it up afterwards (and because Becca will probably kick me out of the house) I would have tried throwing cold water at him to get him to snap out.
So far, he is winning. By a lot. Actually I think we are both losing because it sucks for everyone involved. My hope is that “this too shall pass” but I am hoping this happens sooner than later. In the meantime, I need to probably find ways to meditate, stretch, explore breathing methods, read or whatever the heck I need to do to work on MY patience so I don’t lose it while Damian is going nutso around the house. Maybe that is the positive thing out this clusterfuck. I may become a master meditator, breathing dude or awesome at venting on a blog.
Wish me luck. ☺
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.
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!
Sometimes I seriously wish I had boobs!… tonight especially!
It is 11:52pm. I am now writing this post because of the damn debacle I just went through is relatively fresh in my mind..
Yes, you read it right… sometimes I wish I had boobs because at times it seems is the only thing that would soothe the twins… and believe me when I tell you, the thought of getting boobs is not as crazy as the amount of patience and insanity required to deal with 2 crying babies at the same time and feeling helpless! So yes, I would take the temporary boobs if available. Of course they need to be fully functioning milking boobs type. I am definitely not looking for the ones that would make me look hot with a low cut shirt…;)
Anywho, back to tonight’s mayhem! Some background story first. So, the twins (6.5 months old) don’t sleep through the night yet. And before you consider sending me advice, please know that I’ve read books, articles, systems, strategies, schedules , you name it, and have even consulted our pediatrician looking for help… To my comfort (NOT) he told me some babies don’t sleep through the night until 18 months old!!! PLEASE don’t let this be me… But in the meantime I’ll do whatever we can to try to get them there. We could all use some solid back-to-back hours of sleep. I feel as if I’ve lived on interrupted sleep for the last 6+ years… oh wait! I have! (enter joke of having 5 kids in 6 years here).
So, after much research, we moved the twins upstairs to their own cribs. They slept together downstairs but just as my other 3 kids, they are horrible sleepers and cannot stay still through the night and kept waking each other up…. So with their move upstairs, we decided to feed them formula when they wake up around midnight. Formula takes longer to digest and hence they are full longer… or so we think/thought.. And of course I (Andres) would give it to them so Becca can sleep and she can get them once they wake up AGAIN around 4ish…
Instead of going to bed and having to wake up at midnight to go prep the bottles when they wake up. I’ve stayed awake so I can prep them close to midnight hoping to avoid a crazy ass fit that could potentially wake up all other 3 kids and then we are in huge trouble… So big that I don’t even want to EVER let it happen to find out…
Tonight however was different. They woke up around 11:30. I wasn’t freaking ready. And it would be ok if they would just wake up like normal people but they wake up as if someone is pinching them or if they just had a nightmare about Jason chasing them with the chainsaw and was really fu*%$&g close to catch them. That’s how they wake up! Insane.
Tonight was also unusual because since I am usually ready and prepared, I don’t let them wake up each other. Before the other wakes up and starts crying, I have the other in my arms and with a bottle in their mouth. Boom. But nope, not tonight… Tonight I had to let them cry together, freaking loud as hell, until I came back from the kitchen with their bottles. But that was just the beginning! As I raced upstairs, I came to their cribs and saw both of them screaming to the top of their lungs… I picked up Emi, shoved a bottle in his mouth and I leaned over my face so I could hold the bottle with my chin. Once I got that settled, I had to somehow feed Alejandro. So I leaned over his crib with the bottle and was able to feed him. There I was, my left arm holding Emi, my chin holding Emi’s bottle and my right arm/hand feeding Ale lying on his crib. But Emi had to take me to the “Difficulty Level B” like in the Atari 2000. He kept putting his hand on the bottle and pulling it down… all my leverage was with my chin so of course the bottle fell off his mouth and he was not having it! He screamed like crazy! My only way to stop him was to let go off Ale’s bottle, fix Emi’s bottle so he can drink and then putting the bottle back in Ale’s mouth before his screaming got out of hand…. This same thing happened 3 times! Bottle down, babies crying, me juggling babies and bottles and then figuring out a way to burp them at the same time so they could sleep.
Top top it all, why is it that every time you have your hands busy something feels itchy on your body but you can’t itch it!!! So frustrating!
So, while struggling through the feeding and dealing the best I could with my crazy overreacting yet OMG so cute babies, I thought of how much easier it would’ve been if I had boobs to feed the guys and being able to feed them 2 at a time!! It would save me a lot of headaches, probably gotten me more sleep and help me keep my sanity!
Since probably my wish will not come true, I will continue to wish the babies would sleep through the night instead of waking up screaming bloody murder!! Good night.
Sincerely,
Helpless (and boobless) in Florida.
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 Easter Weekend
By now I should probably re-name this blog “the week after blog”… given the fact that I NEVER post when I really plan to or want to… oh well, something for me to work on.
Here’s a quick snapshot and ton of photos of our Easter Weekend. Our first as a Party of 7! 🙂
FRIDAY
We had a long weekend as a family thanks to my awesome agency that closed on Good Friday. The day off allowed me to spend some great quality time with the fam plus run some pending errands like sending my car for a much needed tune up!
With time to spare after dropping off the car, we went Bicycle shopping for Nico. His birthday was coming up and although he loves riding his Strider, he has been seeing some kiddos around his age riding bikes with pedals and he had been asking for one….
After a good amount of research from Becca and a couple of phone calls, we were able to find out the bike we wanted was at a local bike shop. After checking it out, we decided to buy it.. It was more than what we originally were willing to pay for it but we ended up getting a nice solid bike he can grow into it for a couple of years and of course depending on the condition he can hand it down to Santi or Emi or Ale… God knows we have options! 🙂
Here’s Nico’s new bike! And of course now I got Nati asking for a new one for her…
After riding bikes and scooters, we went to pick up my car and headed to the Strider BMX track where they were hosting a fundraiser for a 4 year old kid who is fighting cancer! – Hearing stories like this is one of the saddest things for us. In many occasions we’ve discussed with Becca how no one is “safe”… you think that delivering healthy babies will get you to the other side but that is not true.. that is just the beginning.. Unfortunately, many things can happen down the road. Kids from all ages have been born 100% healthy and are being diagnosed with life changing diseases, conditions, etc. I certainly pray every night to God to thank him for our kids’ health and to ask him for continuous health throughout their lives. I know something like that will devastate me.
The night was a success.. I am not sure how much money they raised but there were a good amount of people and they had a 2nd event scheduled for Saturday. We met our good friends there and the kiddos once again had a great time racing on their Striders.
SATURDAY
Saturday was Party Time! We took the kids to one of our friend’s 3 year old birthday party! It was a super cool party at a reservation that involved a presentation of animals that live in their habitat. The kiddos got to see snakes, birds, spiders and some reptiles! I was crazy impressed at Nati… she held not 1 but 2 snakes!!! That’s 2 more than I am willing to hold! Nico was more like me and did not want any part of it.. Santi did not want any part of it either but the snake gave him no choice… (I would’ve freaked out and screamed… Santi simply froze and keep an eye on that thing that was crawling on him… yikes!).
From the party we went to our friend’s house. They recently bought it and did some awesome renovations to the house and it looks amazing! We had a beer, I got peed on by Emilio (or Santiago… fyi, they look alike.. ), we hung out for a bit and then headed out to run errands to prepare for our Easter Sunday with Family.
EASTER SUNDAY
Family events are always fun for us. We love entertaining and having people over whether it is friends or family. This year we had my mom and dad (who was visiting from Colombia), my sister and her kiddos and some of my sister’s friends stopped by later in the day.
Our day started off with an Easter Egg hunt around the house… The Easter Bunny came in, ate some carrots and left clues that led to other clues to find the “hidden treasure”. The kids loved it. This year was special because Nati has been reading so well so she got to read ALL the clues! Nico was in charge of cracking the egg open and Nati would read the clues. They had a great time reading and finding them. The Easter Bunny brought Nati a new swim suit (which she wore later that day at the pool), Nico a Lego Movie and Santi a Word World movie. The babies got some new toys. Everyone was happy.
For lunch we grilled out some steaks, brats and had them with salad and rice. It was yum! We purchased the meat from a local meat shop and we are definitely going back!
Our lunch was followed by pool time! The weather was amazing. The water was still not hot enough for my liking but the kids did not seem to mind. It was the first time they got in this year and had a great time. Previous to Easter Sunday we had already declared this coming Summer “The Summer of Nico”. Our goal is to have Nico swimming before the summer is over! We’ll see how it goes…
And of course, before the day was over, we did the “official” Easter egg hunt. We had prepared 40+ eggs with some candy and small toys. We hid them around our yard and had the kids find all the eggs. It is always fun to see their excitement when looking for these eggs and opening what they got. Shortly after, we wrapped it up — everyone went home to prepare for the week ahead.
It was a blessed weekend. We are thankful we got to spend it together as a family. We hope everyone had a blessed and fun weekend as well.
HAPPY EASTER 2015!
8 weeks – Babies Update
Last Monday, the babies had their 8-week check up. I know, 8 weeks already! Time seems to be flying faster than usual… probably because we are always on the go, never a quiet moment around the house these days…
The great news is that we continue to be blessed with very healthy babies. That is the most important thing and I thank God every night for protecting our kiddos and keeping them healthy. Other than a small eye infection on Alejandro’s left eye, everything else has been great.
Here are their 8-week stats:
Emilio:
Weight: 7lb 14oz.
Height: 20.8in
Head Circumference: 37.3cm.
Alejandro:
Weight: 7lb 13oz.
Height: 20.8in
Head Circumference: 37.5cm.
As you can see, they are growing very similar to each other and let me tell you, telling them apart these days is getting harder and harder… I thought that as they grew up they would start developing certain differences… Nope, not these kids! They’ve decided to make things harder by looking more alike every day!! Thankfully, we still have Ale’s big toe painted blue to make sure when in doubt… but man! we need to come up with other alternatives or new “tells”…
Another fun fact is that although they have been growing nicely, even after 8 weeks they have not yet reached our other kids’ birth weight. Nati and Santi were 8.3lbs and Nico was 9.1lbs!! I know! we make BIG babies :)… You would never know judging by Nico’s petite figure… although Santi’s robust figure would give it up ;).
Emi and Ale have become more alert, they spend more time awake and have started to recognize faces and smile :). Their favorite place is the double boppy where they chill and nap. They also love to be held and have been enjoying some tummy time.
We are 8 weeks in and we could not be any happier as a family. It seems the joy and challenges the babies have brought into our lives have gotten us closer together as our team of 7. We are certainly a blessed and Happy Number 7.
Chilling at the Doctor’s office.
Waiting to be measured.
Chilling with Santi.
It’s so cute how much they love each other.
Tummy time turned into hug time!
Our weekend
As complex as our life has gotten with the addition of two new babies to our family, our lives seem to be full of joy, great times as a family and very fun weekends.
The weather has been amazing in Florida for the past couple of weeks so we love being outside with the kids. They love it too. Our weekend started on Friday night with Nico’s BMX Strider race. The night consists of about 15 minutes of riding their striders in the big track followed by 3 heats by age. The first 2 heats “qualify” them (although everyone moves on) and the 3rd heat is the heat/motto for placement…
Happy rider. I can’t ask for anything more.
Our Saturday began with Nico’s soccer game. This is the second season I coach the U4 team and once again I am loving it! The kids are so sweet and seem to be having a lot of fun with my silly games. Their smiles and hugs are a great reward at the end of every game and every practice. Right here we are “stretching” before our game. Go Chargers!
The future of U.S Soccer.
Soccer was followed by scooters, dress up, bike riding and Dad playing tag with the kids… Well.. it was more like Dad chasing the kids and them singing “you can’t catch me!”…. They love it!
It took us a while to become “beach people”… the amount of stuff we need to take to the beach, the mess in the car and the hassle to get to the beach prevented us to get to the beach in the past but for about 2 years now, we’ve been going to the beach with friends. We try to meet every other Sunday. It is awesome. Not only do the kids absolutely love it, but it is a lot of fun for us too! It has become an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, enjoy Florida’s weather and beaches, have the kids enjoy time with their friends and us to enjoy time with ours! Is a win-win for everyone. It is the “takes a village” concept in full motion :).
This past weekend was no different. We arrived at the beach around 10:30am and did not leave until almost 4pm! Time flew! And we had some super tired kiddos that night. Mission accomplished.
P.S – we are beginning to master the art of taking 5 kids to the beach. It looks like it will be an insanely fun summer!
