The Regusci's

I've Moved

2011-12-29T22:19:00.000-08:00

Where you beginning to wonder if you would ever see a post here again?

Well here it is.

But it is the last.

I have loved my time here at The Regusci's and it with a very heavy heart that I am moving our family blog over to our new site. But it is a good move for our forever growing family. The blog encompasses all that is our family and household. Please stop on over and check it out. If you have enjoyed reading about our family here you will enjoy reading about us at our new site. www.compoundliving.com

Please come join the Regusci Family @: compoundliving.com

C.R.A.Z.Y. F.U.N.

2011-07-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

We have been the none stop Regusci Clan this past month. With daddy on vacation for the month we have been having crazy fun. (I know all you sahm's out there are totally jealous I got my husband home for a month in the middle of summer, yes dreams do come true.) Which of course means no blog post!! Sorry guys.

We have been to the water park, rode the train, played in Santa Barabara, spent a few days in Solvang, entertained family from Kanasas, took lots of adventuresome walks, and also just hung out at home laughing and being our crazy family. Oh yeah and we threw in a week of vaction bible school to boot and Serafina turned 6!! AGHH

Luckily my dad managed to cacth a bunch of our fun on film (because we all know that I forget my camrea every where we go!!)

Today I will tell about two adventures:

Our first adventures was a hike with uncle Jon:

for some reason we didnt have the older three childern?!? I can't remeber why, opps. But AJ had a great time snoozing in his stroller tunred rickashaw.

Our second adventure was/still is a visit from our Kansas family:

Which meant we had to use our big cousins to help play basketball!

and Papa Bill to build puzzels.

and aunt Vicki to play dolls!!

And there are lots more fun pictures here and here. (Thank you jamie-foster-photography.com)

The last picture I will leave with today is our first picture of all 6 cousins!! It took about 3wks to get all 6 kids in the same place and all awake at the same time but we finally did it and got a pretty cute picture:

Utter Cuteness

LOVE

Drowning in Paint

2011-07-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

Why have I not be faithfully updating my blog?

Perhaps it is because I decided that in the middle of summer with all the children home I would instead update my bedroom. Like total make over, paint, a little demolition action, and decor redo.

Brilliant idea on my part.

But the transformation has been a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

Due to the fact that I had the best people in the world helping me out.

Shout out time to my friend Janice who helped spur me forth in this huge undertaking and was there the whole way through (even when at the last minute I sprung on her that I wanted the bathroom painted too) and is still helping put the finishing touches on the room (i.e. finding the right picture frames and decor.) Also my mom who lent her hand in color choice (she has to live with it too) and also painting and moral support etc. And lastly my dear sweet Husband who is on vacation and there for helped watched all the children!! Awesomeness.

Now, with out further ado, I am going to post a few before pictures and in the process pictures. Then you will have to wait for after (because none of my after pictures turned out, I must re shoot them!!)

These white walls make up one long wall that span from my bedroom up into what is the sewing room. We choose these walls to be the accent wall.

This picture is for you to take note of the hideous TV holder mounted to the wall (yes that is a sneak peak of the color) but please focus on the hideous TV thing.

Its gone!!!

(I might have decided to take it down after we started painting, sue me.)

Again note the way ugly lights and wood on the wall.

Now you see it

Now you don't.

Seriously you don't know how happy this makes me. I have hated those lights and wood paneling thingy since the day we moved in.

Our three littlest helpers.

The reason it took 4yrs to work up the courage to paint my room.

That's high. Really High.

Here you can see a preview of the neutral color.

Removing tape (again a preview of the final accent color). I have to say the lighting in the picture makes it look much more mauve/pink then it really is.

And if for some reason you have the crazy idea that I am super women here is my son after a long day of painting note the totally tan paint on his feet and outfit. Yeah he might have gotten in the paint when I was on a ladder! Oops.

We Need Your Help

2011-06-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

Has it really been 2 weeks since I last posted, and I had been doing so well.

Even though I have been lacking in my posting, I am hoping you will help us out.

You see AJ has entered himself into a photo contest to win his Mama and Nana front row Lady A tickets. But he needs your help. From now until July 4th everyone needs to go rate him as a 10 on the contest page! (If you feel like rating other babies you must rate them as 1). All you have to do is click below on his picture or on the picture over on the side.

Traveling and Guest Blogger

2011-06-13T09:59:00.001-07:00

Goodmorning everyone out there in blog land!

Right now I am posting from Nashville but tonight I will be back home kissing my babies!

It has been an awesome trip but I am so ready to go home and see my babies. Yeah for coming home.

Instead of leaving you a long old post for you to read here I thought I would send you over to the blog a mom's view of ADHD.

Why?

Because I was their readers story last Friday.

Yes little old me had the chance to share my story on a cool blog! Totally exciting I know. So to read what I had to say click here and enjoy!

Happy Monday!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Live from Nashville

2011-06-10T16:32:00.001-07:00

We are having a blast here in Nashville.

And in order to keep with the Friday theme of cell phone pics here are a few from Nashville!

Our get us anywhere passes! Umm totally awesome do your see? Gold circle Sec B row 35. Pretty much heaven on earth!

Riverfront, sit on grass, cold drinks and awesome country stars (in this pic. we were listening to Buckey Convinton!) Doesn't get better than that.

Cooling off in the air conditioning!

The following pictures are from my awesome friends whom are watching the kiddos!

Matteo and Joanna making lunch.

Matteo at swim lessons

Serafina at her kindergarten graduation. (I know don't judge, I missed it)

And lastly AJ chilling with Janice on the swings!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

We are off...

2011-06-09T06:46:00.001-07:00

to Nashville!

Matt and Me.

No kids

(shout out to Janice and Joanna whom are home in the trenches, I mean home with my kids!)

Four days.

To many country music stars to count.

Basically country music heaven.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday Moments

2011-06-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

Oh my.. so long since my last post.

Oh well.

We have been loving life around our house.

Matt hasn't traveled much the last few weeks so we have been enjoying some great dad time.

Which has also lead to multiple moments where Matt and I have found ourselves in the kitchen cooking for some gathering or another and every time we have had the pleasure of having just one munchkin in helping us.

These few moments of cooking fun, and conversation just the two of us and one child has been priceless.

With a family our size it can be hard to get one on one time with each kid and especially hard to get both of us with just one.

But thanks to our culinary adventures these past weekends we have found those special moments.

We also have learned a lot.

Serafina has embodied the statement "all I need to know I learned on kindergarten.". Matt and I learned all about kindergarten drama on the playground and also how to do math!

Matteo on the other hand has tons of "big ideas". I think he is watching to much Sid the Science Kid. We also learned all about how food goes in our mouth and out our butts....can I just say.....hysterical. The kid loves the body book.

Sam is trying his hands at joking tell. Not quite as hysterical but he is giving it a go! It is a crack up to hear the jokes I remember telling when I was a kid and thinking they were the best! So funny. He did have a few new ones I hadn't heard!

And well AJ just clears the Tupperware cupboard! Haha

So now you know instead of blogging we have been cooking with the kids over here and enjoying every minute.

Oh and we have also been having lots of cousin time...got love new cousins!!

Crazy Weeks!

2011-05-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

We here at The Regusci's are very sorry there hasn't been a insta Friday post for a few weeks but we are happy to say we are back!

So enjoy our week (and weeks past) in photos!

What can I say our family has problems listening to signs!

Baby toes and flowers.

Umm....yes please.

We have been doing a lot of garden projects around our house. Including ripping out entire bed of bamboo and replacing it with a gorgeous genko tree. Here a friend of mine captured "the supervisors" drinking coffee and surveying the big hole. I love being on the management team!

Aj taking his first ride in the grocery car car! The mark of a true big boy!

The twins trying out their new quilts. Can you find the babies?

Animal chat!

Twin babies.

Bunk beds.

Does it get any better?

Hope you all had a great week!

Now go upload your pictures and link up.

My Designer Living Room

2011-05-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

I would kill for a Pottery Barn living room.

Since I was little I dreamed about my Pottery Barn living room.

Big overstuffed couch with the tailored covers. Decorative candles and what nots just so.

Totally awesome picture wall, of coursed cover with wonderfully artist pictures of my children, whom are perfect and don't touch said pictures!

Seriously, does it get any better than this?

But....instead.....in place

Of my dream

I have -

Distressed leather couches as to hide the multitude of milk, water, ice cream, and etc stains

A train table as my coffee table. Yes I said it...a train table.

Candles, glasses vase?! Haha!

Picture wall? You actually have to have time to get photos printed and then framed and then on the wall. Hahaha!

But...

To top it all off I also get these in the middle of my living room:

Yes who doesn't want a cow, dinosaur and giraffe in the middle of their living?

I really try desperately to keep these guys hidden but somehow they always manage to find their way back out.

Normally I have to hide them before I can sit down on the couch to relax but tonight as I went to move them they struck me.

They looked like they were talking, telling secrets.

I soaked them up as I thought about which child had pulled them out today.

Was it Matteo, missing his big kids since they were at school he turned towards his animal friends?

Was it Serafina, deep in her imaginary play and they were her princess helpers?

Was it Sam, trying hard to be the cool 9 yr old who doesn't play with baby toys, but since no one is looking maybe just maybe I will just sit on one to watch a little show, since no one is looking?

And there is AJ, who loves them. To climb over them and head plant on the other side giggling like a crazy man.

I had to leave them tonight.

I may not have my Pottery Barn living room.

But I do have a room that is lived in. A room that is loved. A room where our family is making memories to last.

And that makes me happy.

Crazy stuffed animals and all!

Hannah and William

2011-05-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

Wednesday May 18th at 10:21am and 10:25am Hannah and William entered the world!

Mama worked long and hard to get them here.

Auntie Tracy felt honored that Trevor and Jen invited her to share in the journey of labor and delivery. It was amazing. I would love to share the story but it is not mine to post.

Let me just say Jen was awesome...I am so proud of her..it was not easy and she did it.

Mom and babies are happy and doing well.

Are they not the cutest?

They have very excited cousins!

Welcome to the world little ones!!

Oh My...

2011-05-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

where have I been?

Don't get your hopes up.

No where exciting.

To be honest I have just been here, doing the daily routine.

For some reason though whenever I sat down to start a post, I just stood up and walked away.

Yes there was lots of interesting things to blog about, birthdays, emergency dental visits, Mothers Day and don't forget Easter is still up for grabs.

Oh and I have found some new exciting blogs I adore. And I want to redo my little old blog by adding some buttons of my favorite blogs, etc.

So many things.

So don't go away...I will get exciting here again soon.

Maybe this week
(unless babies decided to come)

And so this post isn't boring let me leave you picture from our weekend activity. (Which was building "cars" for drive in movie night at awana.)

Here are they are test driving their cars for the big night!

Hysterical.

Gymnastic

2011-05-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Serafina has conutied to enjoy gymnastics and this weekend she had her chance to attend her 2nd gymnastics meet. She had a blast and did a great job. ~~Everyone in her division took 1st~~, she took 1st place all around. It was a fun day!

Wrap it up.

2011-04-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

Yes it is Friday again.

Yes I still haven't blogged about Easter.
(something to look forward to next week)

Yes it was Spring break for kids.

Yes my husband was out of town all week
You don't understand I mean all week.

So....

Yes I only have a few pictures but here they go:

On Saturday we had a group of friends over! The kids had so much fun playing together. But this moment cracked me up because Matteo instead on sitting by himself!

And of course as the evening went on everyone had to pile on the bed for the movie Tangled!

Who can resist a little cowboy.

Now you should go link up too!

Garage Update

2011-04-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

Don't lie.

You have been wondering about my garage project.

I told you I would update you on Thursdays.

I just never told you what Thursdays. Or did I?

Well things are moving right along with the garage!! YEAH.

The shelving on one side has been completely emptied and then restocked with only the things we truly need. Also I made sure to store them in away that thing won't get yucky sitting in the garage (ie plastic tubs with lids).

The only thing left is to put the labels on each box. (I wanted to wait to make sure we didn't change anything up at the last minute.)

The tools have all been straightened up. Before they looked like the leaning tower of Pisa.

The other side of the garage still needs some help but after contemplating and discussing with the rest of the compound we cannot proceed without a dump run. Basically there is a huge cabinet that was left from the previous owner that needs to go along with all it's contents.. So the garage is waiting for a free Saturday with lots of boys around to help. But I am very excited about the progress that has been made.

Oh and one last picture. Remember the huge pile in the middle of the garage well...

It's gone!

Twin Baby Shower

2011-04-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe I haven't blog about this shower yet!!

A few weeks ago (almost a month) we had Jen's baby shower. And it was fabulous.

My good friend Jeannett co-host with my Mom and I. It was perfect, she was in charge of decor while Mom and I were in charge of food.

We went with a woodland theme, since we had to be sensitive to both genders (she is having a boy and a girl).

Jeannett also took the job as resident photographer so I am linking to her blog post about the shower because she has all the pretty pictures and great descriptions of the party. You must go see!! Click Here: Woodland Theme {twin!} Baby Shower

Ok and then can I brag a minute?!?

Yes I can.

Well you can also read about the shower here: Baby Lifestyles, Celebrating Baby's World.

Yes we were featured on a pretty cool lifestyle, party blog.

Thanks to Jen for letting us throw her shower, it was allot of fun and we can't wait to squish those babies!

One-Year-Ago...

2011-04-25T06:30:00.000-07:00

today.. Antonio James enter the world.

Our sweet little boy who came home from the hospital asleep:

and then never slept again (for months):

turned one-month.

He spent most of his time in the moby wrap. It was a rare occasion he sat alone without screaming.

Two-months-old....Daddy slept in another room...because he had to function at work!

Three-months-old...AJ starts to smile all the time (when you are holding him and giving him your complete attention) Still spends most of his time in the moby wrap...but Dad is back in the same room!

Four Months - getting stronger and enjoying more time on his own, because he can roll over in all directions!

Five months old....sweet as pie...loves his siblings...still loves his moby...still hates sleep!

Six-months-old...now he can army man crawl....its a whole new world!

Our boy can sit all by himself at 7 months old.

Eight months...we are finally sleeping through the night!

Nine-months-old.

Ten-Months-Old and we love to play on our own!! Yeah for mommy.

Eleven-months-old...crazy man.

One-Years-Old

In no means has AJ been my easy baby.

But as I look back at the last year, even with all the late nights, no sleep, screaming, colicky baby..

I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Because I all ready miss his littleness.

Looking at his baby pictures just makes me savory those babies days

Oh how fast the time flies.

And every minute of lost sleep, and aching back, and spit stained shirt:

is worth it.

AJ is sweet and lovable.

He is strong willed and sensitive.

He made Matteo a big brother.

He made our family stronger.

He is a gift from God and I can not wait to see what is in store for him over the next year.

Happy Birthday Little Man

We love you.

AJ's First Birthday

2011-04-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

On Monday AJ will turn one.

I have realized over the years that all I really want from a first birthday is cute pictures of the birthday boy or girl.

So I called up our favorite photographer (Jamie Foster Photography) and we headed out to a local park for a picnic and cupcakes. I made him a special quilt for birthday picnic and Jamie took tons of picture. He was happy and smiley the whole time.

In one word it was perfect.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Click here to see the rest

Cuteness.

Cuteness x 4

Standing {Joy}

Now head on over to see the rest: Click here

Week Wrap Up. {instagram Friday}

2011-04-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I noticed the pictures were lacking in Matteo and AJ. This week they are the only two featured. Guess life can't always be fair.

Any who.....now it is time for our week in cell phone pictures.

We were so excited this week because Poppop arrived. Matteo was the most excited. He and Poppop have been spending lots of time working on the railroad.

Who doesn't love a rock table runner with fresh roses from the garden.

Our weekly trip to Costco include lunch! Yummy pizza.

Matteo got to have his buddy over to play.

(which meant Mom didn't have to entertain him for a few hours, YEAH!)

The little boys earned their diplomas for swimming! Yeah..you can read more about their swim class here - baby seals and baby seals part 2.

REALLY? You live in Santa Maria.

Giddy Up Papa!

All tuckered out!

What did you do this week?
Link up

Family moments

2011-04-17T21:27:00.001-07:00

This was the first weekend in a long strand of weekends where Matt was in town, there were no parties or plans, and no one was sick.

We spent the weekend as a family.

We cleaned out cars.

We sat around and read books.

We had friends over for dinner, and topped it off with chocolate cake.

We went to Church and listen to an awesome speaker on missions.

We spent the afternoon at the pool swimming and laughing.

We did art projects and crafts.

We spent the weekend with our little family, no sickness, no plans, no one missing.

Just our family.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Instagram Friday

2011-04-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

I am so excited.

My friend Jeannette has been doing Instagram Fridays on her blog for the past few weeks and asking other blogs to link up.

I really wanted to join in the fun but atlas I do not have an iPhone therefore no instagram for me.

Tear.

But then I realized I do have an iPad. If I take a picture with my cell phone and send it to my iPad then tada....I can instagram!!!

So with no further ado...my week as seen through my cell phone camera!

On Saturday I had an opportunity to visit my favorite stroller company. Six years ago when we had our first baby we bought one of these bad boys and 6yr later it is still my favorite stroller.

Oh yes...our weekly outing, I am consider just having our paycheck deposited here, why mess with it sitting in our bank account for a few days!!

Don't you think a big fat A on your spelling deserves a photo!! We do.

Serafina learning to multi-task. This was her walking in from the car after gymnastics!! Crazy girl put your clothes in the bag.

School Friends.

On Wednesday it was track and field day at school. There is Sam pulling up second.

And Serafina pulling into the lead!

Have to add the cute kid art work. Done by Serafina. Funny enough it is Jeannette and her girlies in a flower garden.

I don't know who's crazy kid this is.

Link up, its fun!

Car Seats

2011-04-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today I would like to discuss car seats. In light of the the new AAP recommendations, I am interested in what other parents are doing in terms of car seat use.

Basically the new recommendations are:

1. Children should be rear facing until 2yr old or until the child hits the maximum weight limit for rear facing on their car seat (some seats that is as high as 35lbs).

2. Children need to be in booster until at least 8yr old and reached the height of 4'9".

I completely recognize the fact that these are recommendations not laws and you can choose to follow them or not, but at the same time they are making the recommendations because lives have been saved.

Which leads me to my questions. As a parent how do you make the right choices regarding car safety? Do you follow the recommendations with out bending a bit? Do you follow your state laws? Do you do a little of both following your gut a bit and following the recommendations a bit. And what you do for example when my 8yr old has been out of a booster for 2 years now, however has not reach the new height recommendation, do I put him back in a booster? What if you have a 6.5 yr old you took out of the booster do you now fight to put them back in? How about your 1.5 year old who has been forward facing for 6 months now, do you turn them back around?

I am telling you, parenting is not easy.

Then there are state laws which have so much variation it is really unbelievable.

For example:

In WY if you are 8 or younger you have to be in a car seat. No questions asked period.

In FL if you are under 3 you must be in a car seat and other than that their is no other specifications.

(That's a five year age difference, what are you to do if you move from FL to WY with your 6yr old? You have to put them back in a car seat?!? And if you move from WY to FL with your 5yr old? Now he is safe without a car seat because he is in FL?!?)

Then there is states like CA where they govern weather or not the child is rear facing, or in convertible seat or in a booster. They also have laws governing at what age you can ride in the front seat.

Oh and can I mention it is really hard to find these laws on-line and when you do it is almost impossible to decipher them, as to weather they are laws or suggestions. The site I linked to seemed to be the best.

Then you have the fine associated with not having your child properly restrained and again the variance is amazing. All the way from Michigan where the fine is $10 dollars to Nevada where the fine is $500 plus you will get a point on your driving record!

As a parent, especially with multiple children it seems very over whelming. If I was in WY all four of my children would still be in some form of car seat. In other states I would have to have 3 huge Britax size car seats and a booster. Then if I was in FL only AJ would have to be in a car seat?!?

Seriously as a parent it is a lot of information to process. Obviously I want to follow my state law, and I want my kids to be safe but where do I draw the line. Serafina, I know will not hit 4'9" by age 8. So do I make her sit in a booster seat until she is an early teens?!? It is so hard to imagine dropping her off in 6th grade and her climbing out of a booster seat!? And when she goes home with a friend, does she have to carry her booster seat into school with her? Really it seems weird.

With all this I would like to end with a little survey. Not for any other reason then I am just curious what really world parents are doing regarding car seat safety.

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Moment in Time

2011-04-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

The other day I was busy switching laundry, picking up, starting dinner, etc. In general ~~ignoring~~ letting the kids play by themselves. When I walked in the room to ~~make sure the baby was still alive~~ check on what was going on I found this.

Huge tent all the kids inside trying desperately to get their littlest brother to join them inside. AJ was crawling around poking his head in and out of the tent laughing hysterical at the antics of his siblings.

Those are the moments that get you from one load of laundry to the next. Those are the moments I want to remember forever.

Still here

2011-04-08T20:43:00.001-07:00

Don't worry everyone, I have not given up on updating the blog more regularly it has just been a crazy week. I promise next week we will be up and running with moments on Monday, garage updates, and a new Friday fun link up with my friends blog! And of course just the random thoughts that run through my head during the week.

So everyone have an awesome weekend. Rest up and be ready to hit the ground running on Monday.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Smell the Roses

2011-04-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Even amongst all our sickness this weekend we did manage to

stop and smell the roses.

You have to click over to my dad's site for all the cute photos!!

My children had been on antibiotics for 24hr and the really gross one (AJ) never left my tummy pack. Yes I am that mom.

Hystrical Moments

2011-04-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

I was not sure what I was going to post about today. After a long weekend with sick kiddos my brain was just not interested in coming up with anything to write. Then after laying the kids down for a nap I started looking through random pictures while "cleaning up" my files and I came across this:

Which made my heart heart so happy; I started laughing out loud remembering the night Matt attempted to make his normally awesome ribs but instead lost track of time and burnt them to a crisp.

I am talking crisp....oh I am laughing right now...look at those pictures again.
Those bones are white.
Laughing still...can't type.....
We tried picking them up and they would just crumble it was awesome...awe...some.

Oh and the best part.

Did I mention we remembered the rib when flames started shooting up from the BBQ.

Laughing..

I mean shooting..like..3 feet high.....again....laughing... total awesomeness

oh yeah and the heat from the flames did this:

The three read arrows are pointing out the cracks in the window.

Those crispy ribs where the most expensive piece of meat Matt ever cooked.

But we definitely got entertainment value out of them..

Heck this is months later and I am still laughing...

still laughing!!

Under the Weather

2011-04-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

Plans for the weekend:

Head out camping with an agricultural group Matt works with.

Spend fun family time roasting marshmallows, fishing, eating, hiking, learning about bugs and meeting new friends.

Instead:

AJ gets a fever.

Matteo gets a fever.

Tylenol does no good to stop the rising fever.

End up at the doctors.

AJ - ear infection
Matteo - sinus infection
Plans - canceled.

So Matt took Sam and headed up to the camp and I stayed behind to nurse the little ones back to health.

The best laid plans....never work in large-ish families.

Ready or not

2011-04-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

One thing I am good at: keeping others secrets.

One thing I am not good at: keeping my own secrets.

Especially from my hubby. I get way to excited and end up blabbing whatever exciting news, surprise, etc..I have planned.

Until this week. I managed to plan and execute and awesome surprise for Matt.

This morning Matt woke up and after his shower found this note sitting by his sink:

I sat in bed waiting with baited breath and excitement to see his reaction. After what seemed like forever, the bathroom door opened and Matt stood there.

"What does this mean?"

"What do you think?"

"Where going to have another little one."

"Yup."

The look on his face was total shock but I better be excited. He walked over to the bed and said "Congratulations" in his the best excited voice he could muster up, then kissed me on the check.

As he kissed me on the check I quietly whispered:

"April fools"

To which I just started cracking up and rolling around on the bed in a fit of laughter.

My husbands face is now registering relief and disbelief that I could pull off suck a prank. And wait how do you fake a prego test?!? Well I might just happen to have a sister-in-law who is all filled up with hCG right now, who was fully willing to participate in such a prank!

The best part was the way he continued to walk around the room in silence mumbling to himself, "Yeah that was a good one." I loved seeing him go from oh...my..gosh..this...is..waytosoon...how-are-we-going-to-manage... I...better...be..excited...because she loves babies...to...
complete relief!

It was pretty much awesomeness.

Did you pull off any April Fools jokes today?

Project: Organize the Gragage

2011-03-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

When we moved into this house we took three households and combined it into one household, which wasn't to bad as the house was big and we all had our own area to move into.

The hard prat was the garage. We had to take a 4 car garage, a 3 car garage and 2 car garage and fit it all into a 2 car garage.

Yeah it was not pretty.

We basically loaded up gorilla shelves and park kids bikes in the middle and had no walking room....totally looked like hoarders lived in the house...but we planned on organizing it.

Well we have moved things around a purged random things but 4 years later still no organizing has happened.

There it is in all it's glory. (this might be an all time worst!)

I could get in trouble for posting this on my blog but I figure admitting the problem is step one.

And of course what garage is not complete without a railroad crossing buck!

This week enough is enough and it is time to take on the garage. I have decide not to stress out and try to tackle it all in one day but rather devote at least 30 min a day until it done. I started Monday and am over the moon because we are beginning to see improvement. So excited!!!

Notice the five empty shelves and the three nicely organized one. The system I am using is everything comes off the shelves and then you have to earn your way back on the shelf. For instance the kids skates, they are used often and the kids love them therefore they have earned their way back. Now the big box of random papers we haven't looked in for four years well that is going to really have to prove it's self.

See that pile in the bottom right, those are the items that didn't earn my initial approval. Now the other adults in the family will be beckoned to the garage and have to look through the pile. If there is anything they want to keep they will have to write me a 3 page essay, singled spaced, 12 font, on the importance of said item and why it should have a spot in the garage!!

I am telling you the garage will be empty in no time!!

Ha ha....(I m joking people, I wont make them write a paper, just present a convincing argument!

My end goal:

1. Everything up off the floor and on shelves in an organized manner.
2. The adults bikes hung on a wall and a spot to hang the stroller when not in use.
3. Tools organized and put away.

So there you have it. My new project. Perhaps I will make Thursdays blog post project update day. Won't that be exciting! (and keep me working)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Keeping it Real

2011-03-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

Matt has been busy at work..

No I mean really busy...

His company has been doing a lot of shifting and reorganizing.

Which has meant a lot of traveling for my hubby.

Like we have seen him a whole 48hr in the last two weeks.

Which means my kids might or might not have watched an insane amount of this:

Also they might or might not have eaten an insane amount of these:

And there is a strong possibility that instead of being bathed every other day they have been bathed ever 3rd day, the baby might have gone 4 days,

I am just saying.

Just trying to keep it real here guys.

Some weeks it's pure survival.

My Moment

2011-03-28T08:44:00.001-07:00

Monday morning

Sam and Serafina off at school.

Matteo and AJ at their Noni's house with Karlee.

Me, enjoy the quite at Starbucks.

Sipping my chia tea.
Surfing the internet.
Updating my blog.

That is my moment.

A few minutes to myself to indulge before the day gets busy.

What is your moment?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Starbucks

Eleven Months

2011-03-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

My baby is eleven-months-old today.

In one month we will be celebrating his first birthday.

I know it is so cliche to say but seriously where does the time go?

Why do these precious baby days go by so fast?

Curly Girl

2011-03-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

My ~~life~~ hair has forever been changed by this book. I have always thought my hair was straight with an annoying wave. I would do everything in my power to straighten, flatten, calm fly-aways, some times scrunch to enhance the wave, etc to no avil. It seemed like every morning I would wage war against my hair and in the end my hair would win and be pulled back into a pony tail.

Then a friend of ours (thanks Julie) mentioned this book, Curly Girl The Handbook, for Matt (because he does have curly hair). Being the good wife I ordered the book off amazon and 2 days later sat down to read it so I could teach Matt how to care for his curls.

As I began to read the book I kept thinking wait that describes my hair. Yes I have that problem. Yes I have always thought that about my hair. Pretty soon I realized....

I am a curly girl.

I dont have straight hair, I have curly hair.

I have been abusing it for so many years the curls have suffered. So I did as the book said and threw away all my brushes and sulfate infested shampoos order me some DevaCurl product and.....

low and behold my curls have busted free!! (ugh..I hate ~~pictures of myself~~ self portraits but I had to show you my curls)

The hair care routine she teaches in the book is so simple compared to what I have been doing it is amazing. I have a new lease on life and I am loving.

So if you have curls, you have kids with curls, or you think you have straight hair but can never tame it, pick up a copy of this book and change your life.

You wont be sorry.

In fact you will forever want to repay me for letting you in on the secert!

(This is an honest review, Curly Girl and DevaCurl are not giving me anything for this review, I just love the product.)

Who do you lunch with?

2011-03-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

It seems like lunch is a very important meal. I have been told that most business deals are made at lunch, must have something to do with the food. I have also been told who you have lunch with can tell you the status of ones career or standing?!?

So lets lay it out here

Matt has business lunches with the his boss(es) and higher ups of company's like Sysco, Costco, Dole, (insert any produce company here.), etc.

But me little old me?

Well I get to eat lunch with with the most interesting characters:

Wild safari animals, like giraffes and zebra's.

Oh yeah and a really cute three-year-old.

Which I think proves that I have the more exciting job!!

(love ya, Matt, but safari animals are way cool)

Now I must ask the question:

Who do you have lunch with?

Baby Shower Cakes

2011-03-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs a good laugh and this post over at pregnantchicken is perfect:

Cake Wrecks-Baby Shower Edition

Seriously you must go over and look.

A Moment in Time

2011-03-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

On Friday the kids had no school, so we invited one of Serafina's friends, Trenton, over to play. At one point Sam, Serafina, and Treton, were all laughing, smiling and having a great time on the tetertoter airplane. It looked so cute and fun I had to grab a picture, the only camrea I had was my cell phone.

I get it out and start working as fast as I can to turn the stupid camera phone on.

They are still having so much.

Snap the picture.

Turn the phone around to see the picture.

And about pee my pants.

The faces on the kids are hysterical.

What are they part of the rat pack? Are they part of the cast for lost?

No smiles. No laughter.

Instead of capturing the moment I thought I was going to, I captured a completely different one!

Happy Monday.

I've been Published

2011-03-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yes you read that right. Yours truly has been published. Now don't get to excited it is not a novel (yet) or anything crazy like that but it is in black and white print!! Woohoo.

A few months ago in Parent Magazine I read amazing article about a family whose story was so similar it was scary and comforting all wrapped up in one. We are talking similar; right down to adopting their eldest child from a family member, at the same time they welcomed thier first born then went on to have more children and that was just the beginning. It was so exciting reading someone story that was our path too, I had to email Parents to thank them for the article.

Next thing you know Jennifer calls me up and tells me to open up my April 2011 copy of Parents and there it is my note published in the We Hear You section.

So if you have a subscription to Parents or you are standing at a magazine rack and happen to see a copy of Parents, pick it up, flip to page 14 and there I will be for all the world to read.

Now that I have officially been published, there is nothing stopping me. Look for my first novel early next life time!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

We hope everyone is having an awesome St. Patrick's day. What a great excuse to wear an array of green!

(gotta love Matteo's face, one to many cookies I think)

We had fun making shamrock cookies and then delivering them to all our friends, teachers and swim instructors!

We also put together a couple boxes of cookies for our favorite pediatrician and OB. With a family our size, and the possibility of growing (please one more little girl), it is a must to keep them happy!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

"Wherever you go and whatever you do,

My the luck of the Irish be there with you."

Art Festival Winners!!

2011-03-17T06:30:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to announce that we have two first place winners form the CCS Art Festival!!

Can I get a Woo Woo!!

Which means not only did my Sam and Serafina take first place but their art will be heading down to Lancaster for a regional competition! We are just so proud and excited.

What is their art you ask?

Well they dyed silks.

For Chirstmas presents this year my mom taught the kids how to dye silks. They had so much fun designing and making them that when the art festival came around they both decided to do silks.

The theme of the festival was "The Works of His Hands."

Sam decide to use his hand prints to create a sun. The colors surrounding are representing outer space and planets. He choose a planetary look because God created them with his hands!! (Got to love it) One thing he decided to do was not to wet the silk before painting which kept the dye from bleeding together (this creates more of a tie-dye look, Sam didn't want).

With out further ado Sam's Silk:

Serafina took a more girlie approach and decided she wanted to make butterflies and hearts (which you know God create with his hands also). She too wanted to use her hand prints so she figured out a way to create a butterfly by putting her hands together. Then she just drew in the hearts and extra butterflies. She liked the tie-dye look so she choose to wet her silk and mix all her colors up.

Serafina's Silk:

The kids had so much fun making their silks and now are so excited about their wins!! Of course they have a very proud Mama.

We can't wait to see how they do at regionals!!

Baby Seals Part 2

2011-03-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Remember my first post on Baby Seals?

Well, we are in the fourth week and the boys are doing fantastic.

AJ still thinks we are crazy but the skills he has learned are so valuable. I feel so much confidence having him around the water now. And did I mention he LOVES the water? He enjoys splashing around and ~~swimming~~ playing on the steps after class.

Matteo is a fish, he LOVES his lessons. He begs to go see Ms. Steffi on our days off. Pretty much a day spent in the water is heaven, a day spent outside the water not-so-much.

Without further ado...here is a cool video of the boys lessons. AJ is practicing in his clothes so he knows how to handle the water even fully dress with a spongy diaper. (I put music over it because I hated listening to my extra loud voice on the camera, you know since I was right by it.)

Lucky Duck

2011-03-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my 3 year-old comes down to me in the living room and very excitedly askes me "Mama, can I have a lucky duck for snack?"

"A what?"

"A lucky duck."

My brain at this point is going a mile a minute trying to decided what the heck a lucky duck is, "What is a lucky duck?"

Matteo now getting very impatient with the fact I have no clue what he is talking about, "OHHH, I will get it myself."

I follow him into the kitchen to find this:

"These are lucky ducks mom, can I have them all?"

Peeps

My child has decide to call Peeps (hands down the absolutely best part of the commercial side of Easter), "Lucky Ducks".

I guess if you our honored enough eat a pack for snack then you are most certainly are a lucky duck.

(small side note: he didn't get to eat all five. He had to share 2 with Mama)

Monday Moments

2011-03-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

I love to blog. I love that it is a way of capturing the little moments in life and one day my kids can look back and read all the little aspects of our life (because you know by then I might have forgotten)! However lately (as I am sure you all have noticed) I have not been quick to update. So I am going to try to come up with a few different things to make my posting more regular and exciting for me and you alike!

Monday will be my day to write about a special moment, a precious moment, a scary moment, just a moment that I want to remember and want my kids to know about some day. We are going to call it Monday Moments or maybe Magical Moment Mondays or just Moments. Do you guys what to vote on the name?! Do you have a good suggestion? Just leave me a comment.

Today is a moment I treasure dearly.

Over Christmas AJ made the move to his room he shares with big brother Matteo. With that came getting AJ to sleep through the night (which was difficult because he still wanted to nurse at all hours). It worked and now he goes to bed at 6:00pm and sleeps until 7:00am. He does wake up at around 4:30 and it is not in my heart to make him scream it out becuse by then the little guy as gone 10hr with out eating.

So..

I drag my sleepy self out of bed to the boys room where I sit on the floor (because a rocking chair or what not in a room with toddler and infant on the move is not a great idea in this house) and I nurses him.

At first I totally begrudged this time of day. I would sit on the floor and think about the sleep I was losing out on and how I might never get back to sleep again. How this room is a mess. How I couldn't wait for AJ to give up this feeding. It was like the worst part of my day.

Then about a week ago I had a change of heart.

I sat there on the floor looking at my baby and thought about how quickly he is growing and how soon he will be walking and I won't be able to hug him close. I began to pray.

The house was still and quite and I prayed of each of my babies. I treasured the quite time in thought, holding my littlest baby, comforting him.

It was magical.

Now I look forward to that moment each day.

Instead of looking forward to the day he decides not to wake up, I fear it.

I love that special moment with him and the special time to lift up my prayers for each of my kids.

That is my magical moment.

Holding my baby, in the wee hours, sitting on the floor amongs trucks, trains, and fisher-price toys, with my 3-year-old sleeping soundly in his bed, praying.

What is your magical moment?

Eczema

2011-03-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

This cute little boy has eczema.

I took him into the doctors to check on a rash that seemed to come and go and then it took a turn for the worse.

He took one look and he said its eczema.

Yeah diagnosed, not knowing much about it, I had heard the word before, I thought great give me the cream to clear it up and we will be on our way.

What there is not magic clear up cream?

Nope

Out came the laundry list:

change detergents
change soap
use lotion daily
no frangances
no dyes.
use zrytec for childern
could be a cause be a food allergy
so what has he been eating a lot of?
dairy.
take out dairy.

So I took my list home and googled eczema.

My heart broke as I looked at pictures and read. I thought no my boy doesn't have eczema he was misdiagnosed.

Read more.

He fit ever symptom, EVERY symptom. This is something we now will live with. We can do our best to avoid "triggers" and then when an out break occurs do our best to tame the evil rash.

Even thought I wanted to think it was a misdiagnoses, at the same time I was so happy to have a diagnoses. Because everything fell into the place.

For the past few months the child had literally been driving me nuts. It was just about all I could do to get through a day with him.    He would cry at the drop of dime. He would scream his hands hurt and not let me touch them. He would bump into something and dissolve into tears. He was defiant and mean. A total personality change. But he had no fever, no running nose, nothing but a silly rash that came and went and Mama didn't think a thing about.

After he was diagnosed and the rash began to disappear Matteo slowing became Matteo again. He is now back to a happy and smiley boy. He is listening well. He will hold my hand crossing the street. He gives his brother love and he very rarely dissolves into tears now.

I feel like a totally loser mom that my child was itchy and in pain and I wrote it off as the terrible 3's! Oh well I can only move forward right.

I did everything the doctor told me including taking him off milk and the rash is finally gone.

He has been off of milk for 2 weeks and now we are adding it back into his diet to see if it really was the trigger. If it was not the trigger then the detergents and the soaps were. We will see.   We did have a rash out break the first week of swimming but now we have a regime of showering immeditly after and lotioning, that seemed to solve the problem.

We are blessed that it seems to be mild case, some of the those google images are scary!   We have a whole new skin regime, including oatmeal baths, dove sensitve and cetaphil lotion. (at first Matteo was not so sure about lotioning every night, now he loves it!!)

The most interesting thing I learned is that eczema can cause excess ear drainage (like wax). Well, I always teased Matteo that he had the most waxy ears in the world. Everyday I would clean them out and then the next morning there would be another huge wax ball!! It was amazing. Now, no waxy balls, I am not kidding I haven't cleaned the kids ear in a week. Its the little things right.

I am not alone.

2011-03-01T21:03:00.000-08:00

Did you know I am not the only one with an ADHD child?

And that having an ADHD child does require a different type of parenting.

I know you are all thinking DUH but for me it really has been a revelation.

It is hard to explain. It is like I embraced the diagnosed but not; oh yeah my son has ADHD but my friends have kids with REAL conditions. Well ADHD is a real condition. I can not just send him off to school and expect him to learn. I have to monitor medication, be in constant communication with his doctor, teachers and tutors, make sure he maintains organization (that I have taught him multiple time), make sure he has a schedule he can function in (ie enough time to complete simple tasks), etc. We have to work on social acceptable behavior for when we are out and about. And just allow for a lot of energy. It can be overwhelming.

We have been doing great limping along, changing things up that don't work, expanding on ones that do but lately I have been feeling like I have been hitting my head against a wall when it comes to his homework/school work. He is a smart smart kid but can't find the motivation/focus to do the work. I feel like we have tried thousands of different tactics and then circled backed through them all again for a retry and still: brick wall my head.

Then I found them, thousands of them all in one spot.

Who?

Moms of ADHD childern

Where?

On a blog of course (why had I not looked earlier.): a mom's view of ADHD

They have been here this whole time and you know what.....I am not alone.

And you know what....I have been doing the right thing.

And you know what...they had new ideas for me to try.

I feel like I have a breath of fresh air.

I feel like my Sam went to bed happier and more satisfied with his work because his Mom found a new way to attack the school/homework issues.

I am not alone and that feels great!

If you have and ADHD child go take a look at there site, you might just find something new, or just get the feeling that you are doing the right things.

Baby Seals

2011-02-23T21:23:00.000-08:00

No...I am not talking about little (large) sea animals but rather my little boys new swim program that I am LOVING!!

The program is called Baby-Seals Swim Academy. Last summer as we played at the pool I watched a few kids go through the program. I have to admit that at first I thought they were torturing the babies but after watching and educating myself on the program I quickly became a believer. As I thought about this upcoming summer, trips to the pool, water parks, lakes and realizing often it will be just me and four mobile children there was no other option, I needed to prepare all the children to be safe around water.

So I enrolled the two little boys. What is this program you ask. Well it is basically an infant survival skills class and survival/swim class for older toddlers and children.

For AJ he is learning to roll over on to his back relax and float even when fully clothed. Basiclly increasing his chances of surviving if he falls into the water and increasing the time I have to get to him.

For Matteo he is learning to swim underwater in order to get to stairs or the side of the pool. He is learning a swim -float- swim sequence where he flips to his back to breath, relax, regain energy and then go back to swimming to get to the side. To read more about the program you can visit their website: baby-seals.

We have been doing the program for 3 days now and Matteo is LOVING it. He was a little hesitate on day 2 but today he was full of grins and giggles doing everything Mrs. Steffi asked of him. AJ is also doing awesome. He of course cries when he gets in the water but does starting to clam down and relax once in. Today he even floated multiple times by himself during the lessons! He is quite the strong lad.

I would HIGHLY recommend this program to anyone who spends a lot of time around water with young babies.

And now of course for pictures from today's lesson:

So happy with Mrs. Steffi.

He is swimming and finding the edge!

All Done!

AJ's Turn

As you can see not to happy to go in!!

But quickly calms down...

And floats...all by himself!!

AJ loves Mrs Steffi too!

One last float!

Then happy play time!

(I had a cute picture of Matteo warming up in the hot tub but I deleted it and don't want to upload it again! Sorry folks)

So if you can't get a hold of me this summer it is because we are enjoying the sun and water!!

Fabulous Fridays

2011-01-28T20:39:00.000-08:00

Great walk with a great friend!

Noni decided she needed a baby fix and took my little boys for a good part of the day!

Caught up on e-mails.

Lunch with my dad!

Balanced the check book.

Walked in the village with the kiddos.

Dinner with our little family (just Matt, me and the kids).

And an awesome note from a great friend that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Now that is a fabulous friday.

Here is to a great weekend!

Random Thoughts

2011-01-24T20:17:00.000-08:00

New years resolutions:

Get AJ to sleep in his room all night : DONE

Get Matteo and AJ sleeping in their room together: DONE

Potty Train Matteo: DONE (thanks mom!)

Blog more often: Not done

Lose my baby weight: Approaching done

There you have it.

Break Break (this is where in the middle of a conversation you decide to change subjects completely so the others know you are on a new topic, got it?)

For my birthday my Husband arranged an awesome day for me. He took a day off of work to watch all the kids so I could do as I please with no children. He also arranged for my good friend Janice to spend the day with me. We had so much fun. We started the day with a workout, and then headed up highway one to Morro Bay and Cayucos where we spent the day window shopping and looking in antique shops. It was a blast. Afterwards Matt and my parents joined us for an awesome dinner.   Honestly as far as birthday presents go it doesn't get much better then that!

Break Break

I am currently feeling a little overwhelmed.    Sam and I have gotten in a homework rut and desperately need to climb out of it. AJ, even though he is sleeping now, he still doesn't play well by himself, which means more training is need!! Aghh. And even though Matteo is potty trained we still have accidents (mainly poo yuck). And have you ever noticed that no matter how hard you try to get the laundry done ever Monday morning there is more to do!!

Break Break

I had a realization in Church this week.

In front of us (Matt and I) a family sat with their 4 boys (I am guessing ages 11ish to 5ish.) I watched them for a good part of the serviced. I was in awe at how the boys all sat there not moving, talking, squirming, whispering, or coloring, but rather sitting listening, quietly (did I mention they were BOYS).    At first it frustrated me, why cant I enjoy a service with all my Children and have them sit so nicely. What have I done wrong as a parent to have childern whom can't sit in Church or whom I choose not to have sit in Church with me.

Then I realized Tracy, not every family is created the same. My Children may not be able to sit through a Church service in perfect silence but their love for God is just as strong. They can make many situations that are boring lots of fun. And they are perfect and they are perfect for me. Because truth be told I enjoy my time in Church, not worrying about how they are behaving but instead taking in what the pastor has to say. Enjoying sitting with my Husband and worshiping with him, holding hands! Our family is the right family for me, full of energy, and challanging, but full of love.

So there are my random thoughts for a Monday.

A different kind of post for me.

But it is where I am at.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-01-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

Today is my birthday and since no one in my family blogs I realized if I wanted a nice blog about me and my birthday I would have to write it. Blah! Then I decided no I will write it from my kids perspective! Hope you enjoy my self indulgence.

Mom,

Happy 29th birthday. Dad told us to tell you that you don't look a day over 29. (we are not sure what he means by that, but he was laughing). We are so proud of you this year and all that you have accomplished.

You brought our baby brother into the world with out any complaints, well you did mumble about sleep for a few months. Even though AJ has grown over the last few months we are glad you haven't doubled your weight this year.

We enjoyed all the fun family adventures you planned for us. Including hikes and trips to the zoo. Your organizational skills have improved so much, from our closets to the adventures you plan you always think of every detail. (Well except for when you were potty training Matteo and didn't bring him spare clothes to dinner and he ended up having to wear AJ's pants that looked like biker pants on him...Dad thought that was pretty funny).

We are also so proud of the fact the you have grown to accept that you can not control every little thing. Like our annual pumpkin pictures. Look you managed to smile even though one of us was missing, one was screaming and well the rest of us just sat there and stared! Yeah for you mama!!

Lastly we would like to say that over this last year you have really started to master your cooking skills. Taking our dinners from the mac and cheese to wonderful hand crafted chicken casseroles! You should get the SHAM most improved in cooking skill!

Mostly Mom, we hope you had a great birthday, even though you had to spend an hour and half at the gym, and one of us puked on you, one of us peed on you, and one of us spilled your Starbucks. We are excited for this next year! Next year you will be the big 3-0, (Dad said that means you will be over the hill, what hill are you going over mom?)

Love you,
Sam, Serafina, Matteo, and AJ

Christmas

2011-01-11T13:24:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year. It was different but so much fun and great family time. To start the differences Matt's family was all out of town witch left only our little family and my extend family. Instead of our normal Christmas eve at Matt's grandfather we headed over to my Grandma Karen's (who moved back here this summer). She prepared a yummy yummy dinner for us a adults and according to Serafina "The best ever kid dinner." We had a great time there, she had a whole art center setup for the kids and we had fun just sitting around chatting.

Then the next morning the kids were so excited to see if Santa had come, and of course this is the one picture we got of the whole gang! Aren't they cute!!

And don't forget it was AJ's first Christmas. I think he had a great time rolling around in all the wrapping and the boxes were the biggest hit!! (Mama kind of knew that would happen so his exciting gifts were sippy cups.)

Sam was very excited about his Narnia collection. He has already worked his way through the first book and is now working on the second.

One of Matteo's favorite gift was his Angry Bird from Uncle Trevor and Aunt Jen. We are a huge Angry Bird family. Yes we are all addicted.

Then the big gift from Santa was plasma cars. (Did anyone see the awesome price at Costco!! OMG) The kids had fun racing around the driveway before the rain started later in the day.

Oh and so did the adults!!

Then we all had fun playing Wii Just Dance Kids!

All in all it was a great day just being with the family, and enjoying time together. I hope everyone's holiday was just as enjoyable. If you want to see more fun pictures check out my Dad's site: Christmas at the Compound.

I Know Something...

2011-01-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

You don't know........

Jen and Trevor are having.....

A BOY

and

A GIRL

I am so so so excited for them. One of each...in my mind it doesn't get much better than that.

Oh and everyone is doing well. Things couldn't be better. Mama and babies are happy and healthy.

They got a DVD of the ultrasound so I got to see my little neice and nephew. The are cute little things, very active. They seemed to enjoy kicking eachother in the head. It was fun seeing a twin ultrasound because you would be looking at someones face and all of a sudden a foot or feet would appear!! So awesome.

So now you know what I know.

And yes someday I will get around to posting about Christmas.

Maybe.

If your lucky!!

True Story

2010-12-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

I couldn't make this up.

Today, in between rain showers, we went for a walk in the village.

In my favorite upscale clothing store I saw a tunic style shirt I fell in love with.

It would have been perfect for my husbands company Christmas party.

And it was a decent price.

I hurried in beyond excited.

I was hoping they had one size up from the size in the window (which from reading the tag it said it was a medium).

"Excuse me do you have anymore of the tunic shirt in the window."

"No that is the last one."

I quickly think OK what the H*** I will try it on and maybe by the grace of God it will look good, if not oh well it was worth the risk.

"Oh bummer. Could I please try that one on."

Here it comes folks....hold your breath.....the SALES lady answer....

"That is a size small, and it is a junior cut, it won't fit you."

My jaw hit the floor. Did she really just say that to me.

She just stared at me.

I was hurt, and crushed, I wanted to cry. I sheepishly hung my head and mumbled

"Umm, Ok."

Turned and walked out the door.

Then I raged to my parents.

Called my husband...whom knows the store owner...and yes we will be going back to let her know about my experince.

And let me say...I was wearing a shirt with a sweatshirt with and ergo and a baby in it, how the heck did she know weather a shirt was or was not going to fit my body.

True Story.

Hustle and Bustle

2010-12-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

Oh me oh my have we been a busy clan! Since I last posted we have had our second annual pumpkin roll, 2 Christmas programs, lots of fun family and friend parties of all sorts and we even took a ride on the north pole express. We have been a busy crew. Then to top it all off I have decided that it is time to sleep train AJ, which has been a process and still is.

With my other babies I read the books followed the outline and in 24hr had perfect sleeping babies.....umm not this one. You know when you read in the books about the extremly colic ones, or the strong willed babies.....well that is the path AJ is trying to take. So this Mama of four who thought perhaps she might have all this parenting stuff down, realizes she really doesn't. For the past few days instead of cleaning the kitchen, updating my blog, or doing laundry, you can find me pacing around with my "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" book in one hand and my monitor (on silent, just watching the little green line grow to red as he wails) in the other. Constantly opening rereading the same paragraph, "Let them cry for one hour."

Really one hour? Let me check again

"Let them cry for one hour."

OK one hour. Really. Maybe I should reread that section.

"Let them cry for one hour."

Then one hour hits and to the room I go to get my upset child. There as been a few occasions where he has fallen asleep only to wake 10 minutes later. But this is only day 2. And it really is amazing how fast 1hr can go by when you are pacing and rereading parts of a book (which is an awesome book and I would recommend it to anyone, I still refer to it for all my kids, a great resource).

Hope you are all having a great holiday season. (It has been one hour now I am off to get my baby)

2010 Chirstmas Letter

2010-12-07T19:15:00.000-08:00

Our family is jumping for joy:

because the holidays are here!

Which also means Christmas cards and letters. Keeping with last years tradition, I decided to send out pictures with our blog address and then write our letter here! I didn't get feedback last year, but I enjoyed doing it this way so here we are again!

So if you are new here enjoy our Christmas letter. If you have time feel free to click around and see everything we have been doing. If you have been following, we are happy your here and hope you enjoy the mini-update.

Our Day Dreamer

Sam turned eight this year and is now in the third grade. He is making huge strides in his education. He still has a love for soccer and played one of his best seasons ever this year. He tries his best to be a great big brother, but sometimes that is tough work.

Our Spunky One

Serafina, our baby girl, turned five and started Kindergarten. Why does time fly by so fast? Most days this child has more energy then I know what to do with. She is excelling in school and gymnastics - where she was recently moved up to a new class with 6 and 8 year olds!! However, what makes my heart happy is seeing her love for God grow and her want to help others.

Our Boy

There is no other way to explain this kid. He is just all boy. He spends his day in dirt, water, or mud. He loves tools, trains, and "big" trucks. Matteo just turned three and he spends his days with A.J. and me. He is constantly on the go stopping only to sleep (never long enough for mom). He is also full of love for his family, especially big brother Sam.

A.J. and Matt

A match made in heaven. This boy only has eyes for his dad. He is a lover wanting to be with someone at all times! Matt is doing awesome at work and as a Dad. Still with the same company as COO, Matt loves his company and co-workers. Though he has been traveling a lot, he is all Dad when the weekend comes!

Oh yes and then there is me. I am still here just playing with the kids. Still quilting and baking as time allows, but for the most part you can just find my goofing around with kids. Yes, I play on the play equipment too!

Our only plans for the next year is to enjoy life to the fullest and hope that God's love will shine through our family.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
The Regusci Family

Making the Boring Exciting

2010-12-01T14:18:00.001-08:00

For those that don't know my eldest little guy is a bit on the active side, physically and verbally. He is consistently on the go. (OK he does have ADD but I like the term active better!!)

With that said one of the hardest times of the day for me is driving in the car with him. Oh my goodness. Since his body has to be still (Well at least sitting down) it seems like all his energy comes bubbling out verbally, no holds bar. There have been times I have almost wrecked the car when he has screamed out "COW...COW...COW....I see a COW!!!!!!!!!!!" (yes it needed that many explanation points. It seriously drives me nuts. Or he comes up with these stories that go on and on about racing cars on the streets or how rain is made (none of which are true but they are very interesting ideas)

However, thanks to my Mom, I know have a new outlook on my crazy car rides with a very loud boy in the backseat.

We were driving around, with my Mom, and passed a tractor. All of a sudden from the back seat seat we hear.

"TRACTOR, TRACTOR, TRACTOR....MATTEO, LOOK A TRACTOR."

I cringe.

Mom looks an me and says,

"The way you should look at is; when the other kids grow up and are sharing childhood memories they will always remember that there big brother Sam could make the most boring thing in the world exciting!"

That is such a true statement. And now I can appreciate his crazy bouts or random excitement better, I just sit back and smile, thinking he is help making the boring exciting.

(fun side note this picture was in the Santa Barbabra Zoo magazine this month!!)

4th Annual Compound Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

There is so much to be thankful for this year.

Nana is going on one year free and clear of cancer.

A.J. is healthy, happy and growing. He enjoyed his first thanksgiving:

We are surrounded by friends and family whom love and care for us.

Including Noni whom takes a couple kids for the afternoon so I can catch up on things

And Nana whom takes early risers so Mommy can sleep in.

And of course who can forget Papas who take awesome pictures of our 4th Annual Compound Thanksgiving. Check out our day by clicking here.

We had an great day and some of the yummiest foods ever! We had over 30+ people this year and everyone brought something to share. It was a true Thanksgiving dinner.

I also noted that we had 3 first Thanksgivings: A.J. and one of Matt's partners from work; she just moved up from Mexico (where they don't celebrate Thanksgiving) so it was her and her husbands very first. We were so excited to share that time with them! Thanks for coming guys!

Now we are busy getting out Christmas decorations and are looking forward to the great pumpkin roll tomorrow!

Hope you all had great Thanksgivings!

Don't forget to check out our pictures!

Our Day

2010-11-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

My friend Jeannett challenged fellow bloggers to snap pictures through out their day so that we might see the beauty that surrounds us.

I loved the idea because lately I have been forgetting to see the joy in my job, whining about laundry, cranky babies, dinner..etc.... It happens.

So I snapped away and what I found on my camera was a blurry mess and I instantly felt disheartened. Of course I cant even get a good picture, blah, blah blah... The pictures were not in focus, the color was all wrong, there was a finger over the lens, but then amongst them all I found one:

The view out my bedroom window as I was getting ready. What a beautiful work of God I get to witness every day. Fog resting in the canyon with the beginning of the sun coming up over the hills. Thank you God for your beautiful paintings.

Then more blurry mess...and....I would find another

My little boy sitting up nice and strong for the first time!

Matteo playing happily with his tricycle and two shovels.

More dark photos...more fingers over the lens...and then..

AJ and his Noni enjoying time together when on a whim we decide to go visit them for the evening.

And an impromptu pizza picnic breaks out. Family time, Family memories, God's Love.

What did I learn from trying to take pictures of my day to find the technicolor in everyday life?

That just like in life you have to look through the blurry, dark, covered up parts of life to find the golden rays shining through. You can choose to spend time focusing on the parts of life (or pictures) that didn't turn out quite right or you can find the beauty in the few that did and no one will ever see the blurry.

Laundry Fairy

2010-11-16T21:41:00.000-08:00

This evening (after a very busy last 48hr) I innocently post this on face book:

"Desperately needs a shake up from picking up and doing laundry. Having a hard time being joyful about fabric softener and toys under foot. =)"

And an hour later to my surprise a dear friend showed up with these:

Then we proceed to have a wonderful time eating them and chatting about anything and everything; that didn't have to do with laundry!!

What a great way to end the day. I feel so blessed to have wonderful friends!

Now I can start tomorrow off joyfully doing the laundry and picking up the toys, yeah!

Thanks laundry fairy!

Matteo Turns Three

2010-11-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

Three years ago sweet, wild Matteo entered our lives. We have been so blessed to have such a crazy young man in our lives. He has grown and changed so much over the last 3 years it brings tears to this happy mom.

He was a sweet little baby that just rolled with the punches.

He seemed to have a smile for everyone and a definitely love for music.

He fulfilled his roll has a little bother, worshiping his big kids.

Then just this year walked into the roll as a big brother, which he wears proudly. Often making sure the baby is happy before him. (like handing over his lovie!)

He found his passion: Trains at a young age of 1.5yrs( pictured at 2 hanging on the back of a train), and he still is a true train enthusiast.

Our Matteo may you have a great 3rd birthday!

Typical Saturday

2010-11-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Daddy made pancake breakfast.

Starbucks

Trip to Target to get a few things and fill our Operation Christmas Childern Boxes.

Stop by the bookstore.

In and Out for lunch

A trip to the ER.

Nap

Spaggatti feed at Great-Grandpa's Church.

What?

Yes a trip to the ER, you know it had been a while since we visited so we thought a swing through with the worlds largest goose egg would be nice.

When we were at In and Out, I was escorting Matteo outside because he was screaming, as I pushed the door open I didn't judge the door closing time and get Matteo through. And boom.... he got a door in the head. I bent down to kiss his head, didn't see any bump so proceed with letting him calm down. After about a minute he calmed down, we went inside and I was telling Matt about what happened, swooped his bangs out of his face...that is when I saw it....a huge....huge goose egg with a dark purple line about 2inch long straight down the center.

Now my calm collected Tracy brain said it looks bad but he is OK.

My mommy brain however was freaking out.... Mommy brain took over and we headed to the hospital.

The hospital was awesome we were triage and taken back pretty much immediately. The doctor was awesome. He looked him over and said the bump was big but normal and Matteo showed no signs of concussion or fracture. I guess it is very hard to fracture the front part of the skull. We were at the hospital a total of 45min, and no one made me feel like a nut for dragging my kid in for a bump!!

So my Tracy brain was right, and now we know when and when not to bring in our children when they bump theirs heads!

Of course a picture of the bump. What the picture doesn't display is that it is sticking out like 1/2inch!

What can I say it is all just another typical day in our lives!!

Speechless

2010-11-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

What do you get when your 8-year-old decides to hang on the soap dish during his shower?

I am speechless.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

or

Fall Family Time

or

Our Growth Group

or

Parenting in the Raw

Out of all these title choices I ultimately decide that Halloween 2010 was the best, kind of all encompassing!!

Did we have an awesome Halloween? Over all yes. Did it have it's moments? Yes. But that is what families are all about. That even amidst screaming babies, cranky two-year-old and a 5 going on 18 little girl, we still manage to find the joy and love in every (most) moments of the days.

In general I love the fall. Going to the pumpkin patch. Getting out the sweatshirts. Carving pumpkins. Warm apple cider. Yum. But Halloween, dressing up and trick-or-treating is not my bag of tea. I could do with out that part of it but my kids love it. This year I think we managed to strike a good balance.

To start with our pumpkin patch trip was priceless. We went to Nipomo Pumpkin
P atch and of course manage to pick out 2 huge pumpkins to adorn our front steps until November 30th when we get to partake in the 2nd annual pumpkin roll (stay tuned).

My favorite part of the pumpkin patch is to get a tradition pumpkin picture of all the kids, however that was a major fail this year. About 10 minutes to the trip I realized that my picture was not in the cards. Matteo was not going to cooperate. Sam is 8 therefore standing with your siblings or family, is just not cool apparently. Serafina was ready and willing to participate, and well AJ was AJ...a baby. After I let my picture go we had a great time and did manage some interesting group shots! Gotta love it. Here is AJ but my internet is being to slow to load more so hit my dads page for the rest, they are great: click here

On the day before Halloween we had our pumpkin carving day!! Wohoo! The kids all had a great time carving. We managed to get our tradition baby in pumkin shot, and we even carved what I have to assume is the worlds smallest pumpkin. Followed by an great dinner: candy corn pizza and dragon breath bread sticks! Again click here to see a pictures. (because my internet is to slow to load.)

Halloween Day - started awesome and ended awesome. There were a few bumps along the way. In the morning we headed off to church were we heard an awesome message about Reformation Sunday and 2 Timothy. Then it was home to hang out until trick-or-treating in the village, and we would end the night with our Growth Group (ahh my happy balance).

Here is a picture of the group all dressed up and ready to head to the village..

Whats that you say?

I have 4 kids.

Yes your right.

My daughter is in the house screaming because..her hair hurts, her costume is bugging her, her socks are scratchy and well pretty much her world is falling apart.

I knew this was coming and tried to prepare for it. My daughter only wears cotton dresses. I am not kidding. So a week ago I her try on her costume and wear it around the house to make sure she was happy with it. She was. On Halloween I had her get her costume on 15min before the boys so we would have time to adjust what might not be right. But even with all the extra prep, when it came time to walk out the door she flipped a lid. I told her she needed to get it together and we would talk..but she was to wrapped up.

OH MY...it was amazing. So I had to say...sooo...sad.... It looks like you wont be trick-or-treating today.

Off to her room she went and home she stayed in her room. (Nana stayed home with her and graded papers). Nothing like being in the trenches of parenting on Halloween!!

She did get to go to Growth Group after trick-or-treating which was awesome. Our growth group leader spoke a little on reformation Sunday and also all saints day with the kids. And they put together some fall themed games. It was a great way to spend Halloween and it was an awesome balance for me, in letting the kids dress up and trick -or-treat but not having the whole day center on that aspect. The kids were just as happy if not more excited about getting together with our growth group then trick-or-treating (yeah).

And of course for all the pictures of trick-or-treating in the village click here.

That wraps up Halloween 2010.

All Clear!!

2010-10-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

Just moments ago I got the call from the Neurologist that AJ's MRI came back and everything is CLEAR!

We have a healthy little boy!

What great news on his 6 month birthday!!

This picture was taken last Monday at around 5:30am as I was trying to keep a very hungry boy happy before his MRI. He was to wear pajamas with no snaps, and our only pair were these rocket ones Uncle Trevor got him when he was born!! The hat is from Auntie Candace and will give you clue into his Halloween costume.

The MRI itself went really well. The anesthesiologist was the nice guy and our 2 nurses were just as sweet. We were there for about 3hr. The MRI took about 1.5hrs.

This is him about 30min after he woke up! He looked like he totally looked drugged, and was starring off in the distance laughing. It was pretty much the funnest thing I had every seen.

We are so happy to have all this behind us now. We can for sure say he has Cognital Horners!! YEAH

Regusci Winery

2010-10-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

You wont believe it....

hold your breathe...

I finally am going to post about our family vacation this past summer...with pictures!!

I know your excited!!

So this summer we decided to head up north to the Windsor/Napa area to spend a few days tasting wine and relaxing. Our main goal was to get over to Regusci Winery. One because they are cousins of Matt's grandfather and second how cool is it to go to a place that has your name written all over it!! We went up there with my Nana, Papa, Popop Bill, Noni, Nono, Karlee & Jeremy, and Mario and Christin. While we were there we also meet up with Matt's aunt Linda and her son Cory and Noni's cousin Tamara, her daughter and a couple of her friends. We were a traveling circus.

We spent the first night on the town green of Windsor. There they had a little farmers market and a great concert in the park. The place was packed, we sat around on the grass, ate corn dogs and just enjoyed the company of all our family.

I snapped this picture note the finger in the bottom corner, but really like it!!

I took this picture one for the family shot and two for my friend Jeanette, I thought she would appreciate our strollers that I LOVE!!

The next day one group of us stayed back in Windsor and offered to let my big kids hang out with them. Which meant Matt and I got to run around Sonoma county like a young couple in love with only one little baby tasting wine and of course not missing out on Korbel, since champagne is my thing!! YUMMY.

Then the following day came our crazy adventure into Napa to visit Regusci Winery. Since we were a crazy, load, large group of 21 people, it was decided we would take our car, my parents would take there car and everyone else would pile into a huge motor home!! OMG you should have seen them driving that thing down all the curvy roads it was fantastic. We all had a great time. We ended up visiting a little train park and headed over to castle winery as well. It was a long day but it was so much fun just spending time with the family!!

This is a picture of the motor home and our car illegally parked in front of city hall, that's what you get when you are running around with a bunch of Italians.

The two Matthew Gene Regusci's

They had a great green area for the kids to play, which was awesome because we spent 2 + hours there. Here I am attempting to help Matteo play leap frog.

We quickly turned to red light green light.

The youngest vintage!

The whole gang (-minus the camera man Jamie)

What vacation would be complete without sleeping with a shark.
(our hotel gave the kids pool toys, Matteo decided to sleep with it!)

All in all it was a great trip! Everyone had a blast.

Moments

2010-10-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

One thing I have learned is that life is full of ups and downs but it is the little moments that make it so special:

Like when AJ rolls over for the first time.

Matteo announces on the morning news that "his favorite train is red." (yes he had is 15sec of fame)

Serafina jumps in the car after school and tells her baby brother "AJ did you know that God loves yous.'

Sam loses his soccer game but doesn't let it get him down because he tells you that it was the best game his team has played and they will win next time!!

And...

When your brother and sister-in-law/best-friend since high school announce they are pregnant.....

with TWINS!!!

Yes twins....holly molly!!!

There they are. I tried marking them with a blue and pink arrow because I believe there is a boy and a girl in there. But that is only speculation.

Needless to say, as the self proclaimed multiple expert (whom has no biological multiples of my own but have many dear to my heart), I am beyond excited and can not wait to squeeze them.

It is still early on, she is due June 1st. But OMG!!

My question is: Can I now say multiples run in the family?!? That would be awesome I want twins. HAHA

CONGRATS JEN AND TREVOR

oh and yes they are 100% natural.
Craziness

Baubles and Brunch

2010-10-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

In case I forgot to e-mail you, or you didn't see my event on face book, or I didn't snail mail you because I don't have your e-mail or face book.....We are having a party and would love everyone to join.

Saturday,
October 9th
10 am - noon
join us for baubles and brunch!

What better way to celebrate Fall than with food, friends, and fabulous jewelry?!

Come enjoy a fall brunch, fun with friends old and new, and shop for beautiful, affordable high fashion jewelry. Perfect for early Christmas gifts!

Check out Premier Designs jewelry’s versatility and get new ideas to bring your fall wardrobe back to life. The jewelry is awesome and at a great price. I tried uploading a couple pictures but with no luck, so you will just have to come!

RSVP to Tracy or Lynn

The party is at the compound (our house) if you don't know the address just e-mail me or leave a comment with your e-mail and I will get it to you!

Thought of the Day

2010-09-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

Society thinks it is perfectly acceptable to dress small dogs in clothing,

carry them around in tummy packs, or purses

and push them in strollers.....

YET

Look at me like I have lost my mind and seriously dove off the deep end when they find out we have 4 kids, and might not be done?!?

Please explain.

It is Hot, It is Hot, It is Very Hot

2010-09-26T12:11:00.001-07:00

I live on the Central Coast for a very important reason.

I don't do heat.

I don't mind cold.

But I don't do heat.

And on the central coast most days are a nice 65 degrees give or take a few degrees.

But not today. Today at our house we are ringing in right about 101.

Not ok.

And to make matters worse my dear husband wants to sit around in his man cave instead of accompanying me to the cool pool. Unwilling to wrangle 4 kids at the pool myself after we left church I made the command decision to leave my husband at the hot house with our eldest child and proceed to make the journey down to Santa Maria to go to Mcdonalds.

Yes McDonalds, why Santa Maria you ask?

Well they have a wonderful, indoor play land. Yes air-conditioned!

Now they are happily playing why I check email, read blogs and update my own blog, in the coolness. Life is good.

On a side note, yesterday we did enjoy the heat by playing outside with buckets, hose, and dirt. Also my husband would have gone swimming today, but I am a nice wife!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Neurologist

2010-09-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

I know I have been promising you more blog post...what can I say. I love to blog because I feel like it is a great way to chronicle our little life and someday my kids can look back and read all my lovely post and remember the little day to day things that made us smile. At the same time I love for each of my blogs to have pictures because I think it helps to tell the story and that is where the problem lies. Currently the picture aspect of my blogging has been overwhelming therefore I just can't blog, bad me. By the end of the day I am so done I can't even image going through my pictures and uploading them, I know I am weird. So today I felt like I needed to blog something and decide I would just throw in a couple pictures semi-related to my post.

Moving onward:

AJ - Dear, sweet Aj.

Has all the doctors scratching their heads. His condition is so rare that there is little research done on it and the research that has been done on it is conflicting in the course of treatment. Congenital Horners Syndrome by its self is no big deal. You seriously just have one pupil that is smaller then the other, end of story.

The big issue is what caused it.

The Congenital part means it was present from birth on and could have been caused by birth trauma, or during development. However if it wasn't caused by either of those two issues (less than 2% of congenital cases) then that leads to the scary issues such as: tumors, cancer, or cysts anywhere in the body from the brain to the butt. Which leads the doctors to question how to carry on with AJ for 2 reasons, 1. There was no known birth trauma (forceps, vacuum etc) and 2. It was not picked up on until he was 2wk. Of course that doesn't mean it wasn't present, I mean how much does a 2wk old have his eyes open so it could have been easily missed.

With that the eye doctor ran 2 relatively easy test a urine test and abdominal ultrasound. Both test came back normal. This made everyone happy, to an extent. Our eye doctor still want to chat with one more doctor (a neurologist) to make sure she was proceeding correctly. Well the neurologist though it would be a good idea for her to get a look at him because it is a nerve issue and all the conflicting data.

So today we set the big kids to school, Matteo to Noni's and headed to Templeton to visit her. She of course feel in love with AJ who performed with flying colors. He was giggling and cooing for her and laughing at everything she did to him. She said he looks wonderful and from her perspective he seems totally normal but...

she wants do an MRI to rule out everything. Ok, doesn't sound that bad until she says, "The risk of putting him under are well worth it to rule out the scary list of causes." Oh wait a minute you want to sedate my baby. Oh and there is no where in our area that can do this so we have to be sent to Santa Barbara.

"You really think we should do this?"

"Yes, if it was my child there would be no question, I would have the MRI done."

Well how do you say no to that. OK sounds good, when? The doctor answers, "No rush anytime in the next 2 weeks."

No rush?!? I though she was going to say the next couple months! HAHA I guess a rush means tomorrow in the doctor world!!

So we are going to do an MRI, that everyone believes will find nothing wrong!! I am happy that we are doing it though because then we will know once and for all that he is good and there is nothing scary going on in his little body.

There you have it. On a cuter note when I got back to Noni's to pick up Matteo, we had the opportunity to Skpe with our Auntie Karlee. She was happy to see the baby and Matteo was beyond excited to see her. He was kissing the screen and dancing for her. It was pretty cute. I am trying to convince her to meet me in Santa Barbara when I am down there for AJ MRI! When we were all done we closed up the laptop and Matteo leaned down and whispered "bye bye Karlee" Like she was inside the closed up laptop. It was to cute.

With that one last picture of Auntie Karlee and AJ. (I am sure I will get in trouble by someone for posting this picture!!)

Kindergarten & 3rd Grade

2010-08-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day of school at Coastal Christian. The kids were very excited and edger to get off to school. Everyone was up early and ready to walk out the door on time (which is not true a lot of the time!!) And as tradition has it in our family we did our first day of school pictures:

The two school goers!

The whole gang.
it is so hard to get everyone looking and smiling soo..

We took a goofball shot!

In front of the Kindergarten Class

Serafina at her desk

Sam
(kind of in the back between a boy in an blue shirt and a dad in a blue shirt)

He is lined up on the black top where every morning they do the Pledge of Allegiance, The Christian Pledge, the Bible Pledge and sing the school's song. It was pretty cool. Tomorrow the kindergarten will join them.

Can't wait to pick them up to see how their first day went!

School (or rather my on going saga)

2010-08-25T20:51:00.001-07:00

We/I have once again changed my mind on school. Yes this is the final time. Well for this year or this month! Haha

I could bore you all with my train of thoughts, why I do what I do, etc. But I will spare you all. Lets just say I had a coming to God this summer and realized the life I planned might not be that of what God has planned.

The doors opened up for us to attend Coastal Christian and I was lead to go for it. I perused it and we were accepted. I feel great about this discussion and the kids, well Serafina, is beyond excited.

There you have it in a nut shell. I am fully prepared for the onslaught of I told you so's.

Let's look at this way, you all might get more blog posts this way.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Complex

2010-08-24T11:09:00.001-07:00

Ok I am beginning to get a complex with AJ. When he was just a little newborn born baby I constantly had people asking me if he was a preemie or much younger then he acutely was. It didn't really bother me much because a lot of people don't take there 48hr old baby to starbucks so people are not use to seeing that little of a baby.

However even at two months I was still getting ask questions like:

"how old is your baby? About 3 weeks?"

"no he is 2 months"

"oh my he is little, he must have been a premie"

Really? My child is not that small. I have seen smaller.

For about a month now I haven't got the preemie question but people always guess younger then his actual age, or are shocked at how old he is, and I get "wow he is small". Until yesterday...

I am sitting at Starbucks doing a little research on horners syndrome when someone innocently asks how old my baby is, who is cooing and smiling at said stranger. I happily answer "he will be four months in 2 days."

In a shocked tone they respond with, "oh wow, was he a preemie?"

Really people he was not a preemie and if he was are you really going to ask the proud mama that question?

I don't think it helped that I had just been to the eye doc with him and they might be sending him to a neurologist. Everything looks fine, no changes. He had no tumor markers in his urine and is abdominal ultrasound showed no abnormalities of his kidneys, tummy, and all those other digestive/potty organs. However, the doc did continue her research because you don't see this condition often and the research is very conflicting on the course of action. Basically because it involves nerves and the brain she thinks it might be good to have him evaluated by a neurologist. Since his test all came back negative she is first going to talk to the neurologist and consult with her weather or not we should be seen. So we might be going to a neurologist now or we might not! Crazy. I guess it is unclear weather this condition should be monitored by an opthomoligist, neurologist or both. In my heart of hearts I feel as if all is fine but you know!

So that is an update on my AJ, no he is not a preemie.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Testing

2010-08-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick test post to see if I can use an app on my iPad to update my blog! If it works you might see a lot more post!

The iPad was our anniversary present to ourselves!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

True Parenting

2010-08-06T17:51:00.002-07:00

You think:

What would be fun for a Friday evening?
Taking everyone bike riding on the Bob Jones trail.

SO:

You load the car-
1. Put bike rack on car
2. Load 3 bikes and trail-a-bike
3. Load bike trailer
4. Load Matteo's bike seat
5. Load5 helmets

Wait for daddy to get home

Then load the people in car:
Which entitles buckling 3 of your 4 children in car seats
Snacks, diaper bag, water, etc.

Drive to the Bob Jones Trail

Unload Bikes
(Reverse previous list of load bikes)

Begin hooking up the trail-a-bike and bike trailer

Hear a weird noise in the car

AND

Your two-year-old pukes.

Yes pukes

Right there in his car seat.

All over.

SO:

You unhook the trailer and the trail-a-bike
Load all the bikes back on the rack

While:

You do your best to remove the puke from the car seat
Clean up the Two-Year-Old
(good thing you brought a new pack of wipes and those nifty trash bags for your diaper bag that are meant for dirty diapers but you use them for so many other things.)

Then:

You drive home with all the windows open
Praying your child doesn't puke again
Thinking about how you have to disassemble the britax car seat to clean it.

Knowing you would do it all over again
That is True Parenting

Anyone out there..

2010-08-05T15:44:00.001-07:00

still reading my blog?!?

I know it has been weeks since I updated my poor lonely blog but we have been busy enjoying the summer months. Our little Regusci clan has spent a long weekend in the Napa area, attended horse camp, gymnastic camp and VBS. We have also had two sets of cousin visit and spend a couple days in Santa Barbara at the zoo and a cupcake camp! Oh yeah and we managed to keep 4 children alive and happy. Needless to say it has left little time to blog.

Now we are starting to feel the summer winding down. We are sad and happy to be getting back into the routine of the school year (mainly mommy is, I love routine). I plan on spending the next few weeks of summer at the pool or hanging at home. So maybe if your lucky I will get to uploading pictures of our summer fun but if your not you will have to wait until we are back in the school year groove. Hope you all are enjoying your last few weeks of summer sun and fun.

And because no blog is right with out pictures here are two from our trip to the zoo ( we brought along our professional photographer, my dad!!!)

Five-Years-Old

2010-07-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

Five years ago at 2am in the morning I woke and realized labor was starting. A couple hours later we were in the hospital and 9 hours later at 11:19am our world was change for ever as we welcomed Serafina into our lives, our firey angel.

Then

Now

So much has happened in our world in the last five years it is hard to believe it has only be that long but yet I am amazed that my baby is 5 and starting kindergarten. She is starting to read, do math and has an unstoppable desire to learn.

My baby who I watch role over for the first time, take her first steps, say her first words...turned one...

My baby who learned to sing, dance, and enjoy life..turned two...

My baby who learned her ABC, how to count, and how to jump....turned three...

My baby who learned to color, paint, and share...turned four...

My baby who has learned to be independent, brave, strong and yet still be my little girl....turned five today..

My baby is no longer a baby.

In five years she has become a little sister and a big sister.

Both roles she carries with great pride.

She has a love for gymnastics, swimming, and horses. She wants to be a mom and teacher; just like her Nana.

She cares more for others than her self.

She is beyond strong willed and can argue better then most lawyers.

She wears her name well. Serafina: Firey Angel

We love you Angel and we are proud of you.

Happy Birthday!

Seeing the World - AJ Style

2010-07-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

Our adventures in AJ land have slowed but not stopped. One thing I hadn't mentioned in previous blogs about the young man was his eyes. About 5 days or so after we got home from the hospital I notices that his pupils were different sizes, like really different sizes. I tried to put it out of my mind and chalk it up to newborn eyes, like crossing etc. I asked the pediatrician about it a few days late (since we were making weekly visits at that point), he said we might want to have it check out by an ophthalmologist but didn't seem that concerned.

I knew deep down that it was not just a newborn thing, as much as I hoped it would be.

We made an appointment with a pediatric ophthalmologist and last week we took him in. The doctor checked him out and quickly determined that he has Congenital Horner's Syndrome. She stressed that if we are to google it we must make sure to put Congenital in the name because the syndrome can be acquired which then can mean scary thing!!

What is it you ask?

Basically the nerve that controls dilation of the eye runs from the brain down the spinal cord and back up to the eye. Since it is such a long route it is more likely to get damaged then other eye nerves. The congenital part means that this damage was caused during development or trauma at birth.

The good news?

All the syndrome means is that his one eye won't dilate as well as the other. There is a chance he will have two different colored eyes and there might be A-symmetry to his face. All things someone can definitely live with.

Do we have to do anything?

Yes and No. For his first year of life we have to take him to the ophthalmologist every 2 months to make sure that the eye does continue to dilate as much as it is now and that the brain doesn't get lazy and decided to just use the "good" eye. Then after that we will go to yearly appointments as long as there is no change.

And lastly there is a small, small chance this could have been caused by a neuroblastoma ( a tumor in a nerve). Both the pediatrician and the ophthalmologist don't believe this is the cause (for one it would or could have shown up in a prenatal ultrasound) but they feel we should test for one just in case. So we are collecting a urine sample to look for tumor markers and the pediatrician is ordering an ultrasound of the abdomen.

In other news on AJ, he had his 2 month appointment today. He weighs 10lbs 15oz and is 21inch long. This puts him just under the 10% for height and 20% for weight. The doctor was very happy with his motor control!

And lastly we have turned the baby over to his tummy to sleep and he now sleeps in 4hr blocks at night (he was doing 1.5-2hr). Wohoo!!!

All in all the boy is doing good in the big scheme his little eye thing is nothing but we are so happy we had it looked at! If all it is looks we can handle a couple extra ophthalmologist appointments!

Stay-cation

2010-06-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Why has there been a gap in posts? Not because of school, or the baby, or crazy summer schedules......No...we have been on a STAY-CATION!! What is a stay-cation, well it is a vacation were you stay home!! And has it been a blast. What might you ask prompted our stay-cation. Well Sam's Noni and Robob decided it would be fun to take him to Salt Lake for a vacation. Serafina was sad that she was not going so we told her we would have a stay-cation what none of us knew was just how much fun it would be.

It started last Thursday we played at the beach in Avila and then spent one night in a hotel out there and played in the pool all day Friday. Then on Saturday we headed out Ravin Waterpark in Paso. The kids had a blast. Here are a few pictures from the waterpark:

AJ sporting his glasses from the eye doctors (that's for another post)

My two month old in his 0-3month swimsuit, yes my child is still wearing newborn.

AJ spent most of his day napping in the shade!

On Sunday, after Church even on a stay-cation you have to go to church, we headed out to the concert in the park. We had a great time basking in the sun/fog and enjoying bluegrass music.

Serafina catching a ball!! HA

There was a bounce house!

Dancing!

Our cowboy!

Well there are the photos from our stay-cation. Hopefully Noni took pictures of there fun times in Salt Lake and I can post them later. We have video of the water park but I haven't figured out how to post them to my blog, if your really want to see it head over to Matt's facebook page he has them up there!

Cowboy's

2010-06-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

You may not know but deep down inside the Regusci Family are cowboys (cowgirls if you ask Serafina) at heart. On any given weekend you will find all 6 of us (yes AJ has boots too) tromping around in our cowboy boots and hats (Matteo calls them "cow" hats). You can often find the kids biking, scootering, and any other outdoor activity in their boots.

One of the Regusci kids favorite weekend chore is to go down the hill to tend to the goats. Down with the goats they enjoy running through the field/ tall grass on a hill, and sharpening their roping skills by trying to lasso the goats (yes we have a real lasso rope).

But what they are mostly excited about is that fact that mom recently found a horseback riding school within 5 minutes of the house. Serafina just completed her first daddy and me class and is eagerly awaiting her next one. Sam is eagerly (asking me daily when it will start) awaiting his horseback riding camp, 5 straight days of nothing but horses, which is middle of July!!

Of course my had our resident photographer head out to a couple of the class to get pictures. Of the most exciting events of her last class was that while practicing different positions of riding Serafina's horse bucked her right off. The poor thing flew to the ground and landed face first in the dirt. But like any good Cowgirl she brushed off the dirt and climbed back on, smiling the whole time. So with out further ado pictures:

This picture was taken after she was thrown from the horse

As was this one.

Trick riding

Brother loved to watch.

They made them take care of their horse!

And even took a trail ride!

After a long day of riding a cowgirl needs her rest:

End of the Year

2010-06-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

The kids end of the year programs (if you click on the little pictures it will make them big and 3 of them are small videos!

Another free scrapbooking design by Smilebox

To be coming...

2010-06-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

In the last 5 days we have had:

Three separated end-of-the-year performances.

Celebrated the last day of school

Went to a Wedding in Modesto

and

Had AJ dedicated at Church this morning.

It has been a crazy few days but oh so much fun!! I cant wait to share all the photos and stories so stay tuned. Also I still haven't blogged about horse back riding lessons, so much fun.

Did I mention Uncle Jon was up for AJ's dedication?! He was, he is back for the Summer, staying in Santa Barbra =( but at least he is closer then Dartmoth. We are all ready planning a train and zoo trip his way and I am sure he will come up for a few more weekends of fun!! YEAH

And now it is summer...Yippee.....we are off to the pool tomorrow!!

Turning the Corner

2010-06-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

Six weeks.

The magic six-weeks.

There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel.

The Two Little Boys

2010-06-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

Share a quite Saturday morning in mommies bed watching cartoons:

This picture cracked me up. Aj is all ready mimicking his brother.

Who said....

2010-06-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

adding the second baby is hard but after that it's easy?! Obviously that person never had a fourth!! HAHA

This is Antonio James:

Week One: Went to the doctors for normal check up - found out that he is tongue tied, not bad, since he is nursing fine, so we do nothing and just watch it. (Basically there is a chance it could lead to speech problems but we will wait and see. When you google search it it freaks you out could lead to teeth issue..etc, that is why they tell you not to google things)

Week Two: Went to the doctors to get him circumcised. Yes we circumcise. I am learning that AJ is not an easy baby, lets just say he is sensitive.

Week Three: Went to the doctors (do you see a pattern) for a bad rash. It is yeast. Also went to a nutritionist who has helped many a mama solve lactation problems because the kid spits up his entire meal every time he eats and eats every 1.5hr, 2hr if your lucky (yes this is at night too)

Week Four: Yup you guessed it, went to the doctors bad rash still there. Still believes it is yeast but we added neosporin to our regiment, this helps a lot. Oh and did I mention there was a thought in week one that he might be club foot (google search that one!! AGH) but we started foot exercises and the doc said he all ready looks better and ligament is not tight at all, therefore no club foot.

Week Five: Oh yes that is right, went to the doctors he has a hernia. Yes a hernia, but again it is a waiting game. The type of hernia he has is called an Umbilical Hernia, the most common hernia in infants. The treatment is to let it close itself over time. And get this...it could take up to a year!! If it isn't healed by 2 then you look into surgery.

Oh and did I mention there are 3 other kids at home?!? I almost forgot, on top of the baby who loves to visit the doctor, is still nursing every 2hrs (not throwing up as much now, we are thankful for little blessing), and is only happy if I am holding him, feeding him, or he is moby wrapped, there are 3 other children to take care of. Whom I must say are handling the new baby great. They are nothing but dolls to him. Matteo is a little more quick to cry which makes evenings difficult but they all love there brother.

What amaze me the most is the fact that I am operating on little to no sleep. I am so surprised at the fact that I haven't crashed and burned yet. In the last few weeks I have been known to clean the kitchen at 4am in the morning, fold laundry, and even make lunches, mainly because I figured if I am all ready up with a moby wrapped baby to my chest trying to clam him down might as make good use of the time. However I do have a wonderfully support family both on my side and Matt's side that help me constantly, anytime I ask. And my mom bought us that hammock thing in the picture above that has been a God send, he will sleep in there for a couple hours which rocks.

So that is where we are...if I owe you an email...forgive me...if you have face booked me....forgive me....if you have called me....forgive me....I have not had much time to return messages.

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-05-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

Just a little look into our Memorial Day weekend! Enjoy.

Scrapbook design made with Smilebox

New Do

2010-05-23T16:06:00.001-07:00

Finally - for a few weeks now I have been asked by a couple people to post pictures of her new do. I am finally getting around to it. She was sporting it in Sam's birthday pictures but I thought I would post a head on shot of her new...bangs!

This is Whitney, a very closed family friend who also is a hair stylist, and she was the one to cut the bangs! Thanks Whitney, they are fabulous.

PUJ

2010-05-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

Yes you read the title right PUJ. This is my first ever product review on my blog and no I am not being paid or getting a kick back of any type; I just think this product rocks!!

What is it you ask....

A baby bath, yes a baby bath that rocks. Heart be still, a baby bath that I actually look forward to using. I don't know about anyone else out there but I HATE big clunky baby baths that you have to use cups to fill up or bend over a tub. They are annoying. With our past baby's we have used them for maybe the first few weeks and quickly moved on to handing them to someone in the shower. But no longer we have found the PUJ Tub.

The PUJ tub is a big piece of flexible material that is soft and antibacterial that easily folds up to fit into a bathroom sink. When in the sink in creates a soft, supportive place that cradles your baby. It is so cool and AJ loves it. The material acts as a insulator and they way it cradles him makes him feel very safe and makes mommy feel safe to take her hands off him to grab what I need. It takes up no room in the bathroom and there is no filling up this huge unnecessary tub. When done you just unfold it and hang it up to dry! I would recommend this to anyone. You should go check it out: http://babybathtubs.com/

Here are a few pictures of AJ enjoying his new tub:

On there websites they have pictures of bigger babies using this tub and when you see him in it in real life you can see where it will last until he is sitting up and can use the real bath tub.

Have a great Saturday!

Eight-Years-Old

2010-05-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

On May 6th Sam turned 8yrs old! I can hardly believe how fast the last few years have sailed by. He is full of energy and loves to learn facts about our world and repeat them over and over. He has found the joy in reading and moved up to a third grade reading level. His other love is books on CD which he checks out at the libary (and mom and dad bought him a couple more for his birthday). His current favorite activity is attending Awanas at our church! We are so proud of the young (extremly active) man he is becoming.

In an effort to not let his birthday be lost amongst the hoopla a new baby brings I decided that a birthday at a bowling alley, or gymnastic (where they do all the work) would be the best bet. So I gave him a few options and he chose our local ice cream parlor Doc Bernstein!! I booked it before the baby and then on the day of simply had to show up with the camera. So easy and it was one of the best parties! They definitely know how to bring the birthday excitement. Sam had a great time and I believe he felt properly celebrated. They played games, made balloon animals, got there ice cream served out of freight cars, ate pizza and every child went home with a very cool gift bag in the shape of an ice cream cone.

Happy Birthday Sam, we love you!!

Limbo was a major highlight:

When it got to low, they just pulled each other through!

This and That

2010-05-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

I hope all the mom's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. We didn't do anything wild for the weekend but instead just hung around our house and enjoyed being our little family. On Saturday night we attempted to take all 4 kids out to dinner. We went to the kids favorite place Chili's and had a great time. For the first dining adventure out with everyone it couldn't have been better. (Don't get me wrong there were a few moments I thought why, but overall it was a great family time!) Here are a couple pictures marking the occasion.

Next: I finally was able to get and upload pictures of what my 3 oldest kids did while mommy was in labor. Trevor and Jen watched them and to my surprise took the kids to the nursery, pick out pots and plants, then returned home to paint, and plant special flowers for AJ. The pots turned out so cute and what a wonderful surprise for AJ's home coming. Here are some pictures they took to mark the occasion:

Painting:

Pouring in the dirt:

Planting the flowers:

Watering: (yes those are my cookie icing bottles!!)

The finished project:

Thank you Trevor and Jen!! And this last week I attempted to get a picture of AJ with his flowers this was the best shot:

Apparently AJ is not fond of marigolds!

This is the end of my random post, I will leave you with a cute picture of Serafina and AJ. The girl is in LOVE!! I cant keep AJ out of her arms!

First Week

2010-05-03T13:32:00.001-07:00

I have so many things to post about but no time to post them. By the time I have all 4 kids busy or asleep there is no time to sit and upload photos. Today I do have time to write a little something. In the last week since AJ was born we have not slowed down one bit. We attended a Spring Fling Auction, Serafina tried out a horseback riding class (Sam is trying it this summer), and Matt left town for Florida for a few days. All this and we have spent time learning about AJ. Here is what I have learned about our new little guy:

1. He HATES to be naked. I thought he just didn't like his diaper being changed but no, it is naked in general. On about his 4th day of life I attempt to nurse him with his legs naked, this was to try and keep him awake through the feeding. Well the little guy refused to attach and nurse until I put pants on him, then he nursed like a champ.

2. He would like me to be his personal pacifier. Those crazy other things I keep sticking in his mouth will not do.

3. If he is awake he better have something to suck: This makes his choice of pacifier an issue.

4. When he smiles in his sleep he has adorable little dimples.

5. He is a love and we wouldn't trade him for the world.

That is our mini update!

Cinnamon Toast

2010-04-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

A few days ago my friend Jeannette posted about cinnamon toast on her blog, which of course made the just gave birth/nursing mom crave it. Then yesterday my sister-in-law brought grandma's white bread from a local bakery. So...Today I had to make lunch for Serafina and Matteo (first day home alone with all the kids, Sam is at school)...so we decided to make cinnamon toast, using the Pioneer Woman's recipe.

Of course I let the kids help. Matteo mixed the cinnamon and sugar together and Serafina buttered the toast. While it was cooking Serafina and Matteo helped get the their plates ready.

Then it was time to eat...Oh my gosh...yes this is the best cinnamon toast ever. So I decide that I need to spread the word. If you are craving a little cinnamon sin, then go check out the Pioneer Woman's recipe. YUMMY and it is easy to let the kids help!

(to my seven pillar's group...yes I realize the only living food on the plate is the banana!)

Welcome Antonio James

2010-04-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Antonio James Regusci
April 25th 2010
6lbs 6oz, 19inch

Thank you to everyone for all the kind words on face book, etc. It was so much yesterday scrolling through what seemed like hunderds of kind words from our family and friends! Thank you.

We are were so happy to be home by lunch time yesterday and even more excited to sleep in our own bed last night. I forgot how nice it is to sleep with out a baby in your belly!! Now as a new mommy with her baby curled on her chest I have to share my version of AJ's birth:

Labor and Delivery couldn't have been better. (I should say after it was done, there were a few tense moments).

On Sunday we went into the the hospital and my Doc put a little cream on my cervix to help dilation along (it was 9:15). After sitting in bed for a couple hours I was released to walk around so that is what we did. Little contractions started but I was laughing through them so didn't think much of them. My water did break/ start leaking while we were walking outside. We had a great time staging a picture that circled face book. Yes those were my feet.

I ate a little lunch around 12:15pm and then Matt and I decided another walk might get things moving; we were tired of waiting around (it was now 1pm). During that little walk contractions really started to come. I had to stop walking and there was no talking, I did laugh during one when I guy walked by and said "I remember that, my wife was yelling 'baby out, baby out' at that point!"

At 1:30 we were back in the room and I thought I might die the contraction were so hard. I was bouncing on the ball, thinking I have only been in active labor for about 15min, I didn't know how I was going to handle hours of this or how I had done it in the past. I was barely making it through contractions at this point and my nurse came in, took one look at me and instantly wanted to check me.

My mind was all ready selling me on pain meds, if I am freaking out after 30 minutes of hard labor how can I do this? I was crying thinking I was letting myself down, why am i having a such a hard time?!?

Up on the bed I went at 2:00pm the nurse checked and said I am calling the doctor your 8cm!!

I had a fully turn around of attitude...8cm how could that be?! No wonder I was in so much pain I was in transition. That little piece of news made all the difference I buckled down and made it through another set of contrations, doctor showed up, pushing started and after about 15min of pushing AJ was on my chest, screaming bloody murder. Never had one scream, let alone scream bloody murder!! It was now 2:44pm basically an hour and half from what I considered labor starting and about 3 hr from the first contraction! Who would have thought. I sat there for over an hour just holding him, amazed that he was here and so fast. What a blessing from God.

Then the nurse took him and weighted our little guy: 6lbs 6oz. Over a pound lighter then our other babies! 19inch; an inch shorter then the others! How crazy.

Auntie Karlee gave him his first bath. The big kids came a visited after dinner and then we hit the hay.

The next day less they 24hr after having our little man entered the world we were heading home and have been happily recovering here since.

We feel so blessed.

Thanks again to everyone. I do have more pics to share I just after gather them from everyone's camera's. So stay tuned.

End of Week 38

2010-04-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

Here I am approaching the end of week 38! How exciting. Doctor said his estimate is that the baby will still be the 6 lb range! We will see. I spent the whole morning contracting and lost my mucus plug (I know gross, to much info) but then I took a nap and everything stopped. So I had Matt snap a picture of my belly in case we make a midnight dash to the hospital. Thought I would share it with the world. ( oh and I am pretty sure Matt will manage to keep everyone informed of any progress via face book so if you are not his friend or you have him hidden you might change that for the next few days!!)

Random Thoughts

2010-04-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

Today I considered packing my toiletry portion of my bag for the hospital (considered being the key word). I thought about needing to put in a hair band, hair clip and maybe a couple rubber bands in order to keep my hair out of my face and cute for those post birth pictures. Then I realized that for my first child I had this romantic notion that I would have beautiful glowing pictures of myself and my new infant right after birth...ha was I ever wrong. In all the pictures from the hospital I thought I looked like a fat cow and my hair was all over sticking out, they were anything but beautiful. Oh and of course you are trying to nurse for the first time so half the pictures are indecent to put in any sort of album or public forum.

Let me show you - here is hours after Serafina's births:

Ugh

Then I remember thinking that with Matteo's birth it would be different. I would pack the right hair supplies maybe even braid it when I feel that first contraction. Also I am a pro now with breastfeeding so I will keep covered. These pictures will be the beautiful pictures I have always dreamed about....was I ever wrong, in fact it might have got worst: still a fat cow, hair is even more out of wack and this time lets add the fact that I look stoned!!

Oh my gosh. What was Ithinking did I really believe things would be better?!!?

Oh and this is the only decent picture of me at Matteo's birth, the rest all have... well my chest in them:

So as I began to think about this little guy entering the world and packing all my much needed hair supplies and what not for the beautiful after birth pictures I romanticize, I had to laugh and walk out my bathroom, nothing packed. Because really I know nothing is going to help..I will still have messy hair, and look like I just ran a marathon and haven't slept in days. BUT I will have a precious little baby to hold and love and he will look adorable in every picture so who needs a picture of me anyways!!

I hope you are all really excited to see hospital pictures of AJ's birth now!!! Maybe I will dye my hair blue...then you would be looking at how out of control the style is!

p.s. This is just random thoughts, I hope I don't sound totally conceded I do thing about other important things...honest.

Easter

2010-04-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

Finally I have uploaded Easter pictures. We had a great Easter Sunday attending the early service at church where Sam and Serafina sat with us and enjoyed the Easter morning music and celebration. Afterwords we head home to find Trevor and Jen finishing up a yummy brunch and low and behold the Easter Bunny left eggs behind!!

So after hyping them on sugar, we headed over to Matt's families for Easter dinner. And low and behold the Easter bunny delivered eggs there! Needless to say the kids had plenty of fun hunting eggs all day long. All in all it was a great day celebrating Christ with family and friends!

The Kids

Totally random Easter gift - about two weeks earlier we got a flat tire on our original cozy cope car (5yrs old) and Matteo was very sad. The Easter Bunny replaced it.

Oh and did I mention my mom decided to get Kittens Easter weekend...meet Chaos and Tiger:

36 Weeks

2010-04-06T16:45:00.001-07:00

This baby is coming ready or not! Luckily between my last pregnancy post and this one I feel slightly more prepared. We have a pack of diapers and the car seat. What more do you need?!? I have yet to pack my bag for the hospital (or preregister) so if we have any sudden dashes off in the next week or just know I will be at the mercy of what others decide to throw in a bag for me!!

Today the doctor took a look at little man. A very in depth one. He wanted to make measure all his little body parts to make sure is growth was on track and that there was plenty of fluid. He said I am measure much smaller then any of my previous pregnancy, which can be normal, but he just wanted to double check. Well his measurements showed that he is growing nicely and proportionate which is awesome! He gave me an estimated weight at he is looking at around 5.5 lbs right now so his estimated birth weight is about 6.5 lbs which is smaller then my others but I am not complaining I hope the estimates are right!!

My next appointment is Thursday April 22nd and at that time he will check me, hopefully that will get labor going?!? We can hope right!! And last but not least the belly pic (don't ask me about the facial expression I am just not a photogenic person).

Also, I have not forgot about Easter I will be posting as soon as I sort through the pictures!

Homeschooling

2010-03-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

Part one: The Decision

I (we, although ultimately it had to be my decision) have decide to give homeschooling a go around. This has not been a decision I have entered into lightly, quite the opposite actually. For that reason, I wanted to post my thoughts on this decision for myself and for others.

For the past month and a half I have searched endlessly for the right schooling option (and in the past when we have made changes). This searching has included dragging my husband to multiple school open houses, endless internet searching and chatting with a great homeschooling family. At every school there were piece I loved and pieces I didn’t. I had honestly thought I found the right school with Coastal Christian. It had strong Christian values, a good feel, the school had goals it was working on and the teaching staff seemed on the ball. All the while though my heart was being tugged in a different direction . . . homeschooling.

I would constantly talk about the option of homeschooling when discussing our schooling option with everyone around me. Most people would grin and say something polite about it, but no one was truly supportive of the idea (at least in my mind). So I kept telling myself I couldn’t do it, but my mind and my heart kept coming back to it over and over again. Since Serafina was born, Matt and I have discussed home school and that we believed it would be a great option for our kids. But then life situations changed and we rolled with our ever changing situation and that landed us educating our children outside the home which included private and public education with Sam. None of which have worked out to what we expected. Every time we came to a cross road we discussed homeschooling, but I turned the other direction and went a different way. This time around I tried desperately to get Matt to make the decision on schooling; I knew his first choice was homeschooling and hoped if he made the decision I wouldn’t have to make the choice. I wanted everyone on board and everyone was not on board. Matt kept telling me I had to make the final choice. He would, of course support me 100%, but in the end I would be home day in and day out.

So I continued to fill out application after application for different schools and finally had convinced myself that Coastal Christian was the right school and would please everyone. It was decided, and I would turn in the Coastal Christian application with the non-refundable $600.00.

Then I went to Church. Our pastor was speaking on Genesis 15:6 Abram believed in the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. To be honest the first part my head was else were (most likely thinking about schools) but then the Pastor went into how we use this verse and my brain turned on. He was discussing the wrong places to find/measure your righteousness, for example you can’t find righteousness in your family or children, or your work. But then he touched momentarily on the way others measure your righteousness apart from Christ. He said we are people pleasers, and we allow others to tell us where we stand: his example was that of a treadmill that other people set for us and we are running on it trying to keep up but eventually we will fall off. I realized then that this was what I was doing. I was allowing other to determine my choices. For the last month I have been running on their treadmills and not stopping and listening to what God has planned for my family or what is in my heart. I believe He (GOD) has put homeschooling in my heart. My husband made a great point in an e-mail to me today that we must take this year as a trail and we may fail but that is fine because my righteousness is not tied to my family or homeschooling success! What a great thought, and it made me happy that our minds were on the same track that the Pastor set them on.

So the day came to turn in the application, and I couldn't. I could not lay down the non-refundable money for spots in a school I was not ready to full except, and that made me realize that I am ready to fully except homeschooling. Not a commitment forever but a commitment for a year. When I made a list of things important to me and my family they all seem to fall inline with homeschooling. Not to mention, now that I have made the commitment to take on this life changing challenge I am filled with relief and excited about the adventure ahead. I haven't given a second thought to the other choices.

Still this is pushing my comfort zones because I normally go with the crowd and I know most people in my life don’t believe I am ready to take on such a challenge or think it is the right choice. These are all people I have always relied on to help guide my decisions and this is probably the first time I will be going against their thoughts. I have to trust in God, my husband, and myself that we are making the correct decision. Over the next year we will discover if this will work or not and can re-evaluate this time next year. I may crash and burn and end up putting them all in school the following year with a big told you so from those around me but at least I can say I gave it my best and not always wonder what if.

Stay tuned for our plans on how we are going to home school: support, curriculum, etc. I am so excited to share all that I have learned and will be learning!