My Baby Daddy...

and my baby...

they make me smile!

A Plug for Our Uncle

So I'm following my Aunt Susan's lead and doing a little "advertisement" for David's Uncle Jorge's blog. Simply known as "Tio" to us. David's Grandparents, Mom, and Uncle came to America from Cuba in 1966 - his Mom was 15, his Uncle 13. Tio has also written a book chronicling their voyage from Cuba to the US. It's very interesting and makes one appreciate what freedoms we enjoy in our country. (At least for now.) ;) Tio wrote "We left everything behind: family, friends, and earthly possessions. We now had to start all over again. It was a new beginning but we were willing to give up everything for the opportunity to be able to dream again with freedom and without fear. We knew that if we were willing to work and to strive with every ounce of our strength, we could succeed again because we now had the freedom and opportunities to do so. Our destiny and our failure or success now depended on us". It would be nice if more people had that attitude!

In this post Tio tells about when he was asked to speak at a naturalization ceremony in Atlanta. He recounts his speech.

In this post he recaps the trip he made back to Cuba for the first time in 38 years. He got to take that trip with his 2 children and Father.

I enjoyed this post as it "features" David, his brother and 2 cousins. I realize not everyone will appreciate it like I do, but it is fun to look back at how styles have changed since 1973. I also only know what David looked like with hair through old pictures as he hasn't had any since I've known him. In the first pictures Tio and David BOTH had hair, now neither one of them do. Oh well...I've always heard "God only made a few perfect heads, and the rest he covered with hair". ;)

Enjoy Tio's blog...and leave him a comment if you venture over there. I know he would appreciate it. He's a really nice guy and won't bite. ;) And it's always nice to know someone took the time to read what you took the time to write!

just an update...

I've been in a "blog funk" lately so I haven't posted, but I have continued enjoying everyone else's blogs. Glad some of you keep right on posting even when others of us become slackers for a while. ;)

Lia has been back to the Pediatrician and she's "just perfect". (I could have told the Dr. that myself.) ;) Jacob continues to be completely smitten with "baby sister" - I'm very thankful for that!


David's birthday was back on the 12th of Sept. That was the day Lia was "supposed" to be born also so we though we might be having a birthday party for two in the hospital. Instead we were at home and Lia was 5 days old. I think I like that arrangement better. ;) Daddy and his two best kids!


Lia's first bath. She loves her baths. She looks like she's in some kind of trance here. ummmmmmmmmm


Out for an afternoon stroll. Jacob loves to walk every day now - and Lia just sleeps through it all.


Bob the Builder is Jacob's favorite character. I HAD to get out of the house the other day so off I went to the mall. It's much different now with 2 kids instead of just one!! But Jacob was happy playing on all the rides and I was happy to be out of the house. Lia's just happy. ;)


"Helping" Lia swing.


Great Grandma C. came to visit 2 weekends ago.


Nana took Jacob out to see Delta (their horse). Delta of course decided to "take care of business" - Jacob informed Nana "horse need clean diaper".


Is this a preview of things to come??
Jacob - "ha ha, I'm here and there's nothing you can do about it!"
Lia - "Moooom! Jacob is on MY bed!"

Lia's Life

...so far has been just perfect!

So I'm finally able to post an update and a few more pictures. These past few days have been one big blur - one appt. after the other. Today I've been able to just stay home and do nothing but love on my babies...life is so sweet. Mom is here waiting on us hand and foot and taking care of Jacob's every whim...I'm going to have my hands full when she leaves for sure! Lia is an absolutely wonderful baby. She's just as laid back and easy going as her brother was. I'm not sure how we were so fortunate to get the babies we got, but I'm SOOO thankful! Jacob is totally in love with his sister. He loves to kiss her, pat her back, rub her head - anything to give her attention. "Awe...nice baby" he says. He lets me know any time she's crying "baby cry", if she needs sleep "baby tired", or if she needs to eat "baby need go-durt (yogurt)".

Some of you may remember the Great Name Debate - Lia was the name we originally had picked out for her. It was the spelling I was struggling with. In the end, thanks to your comments/ suggestions, I decided "Lia" was the name and spelling for her. Those of you who suggested "Mia" and "Tia" helped me make up my mind. ;) (Lia is pronounced like "Leah" "Lee-a" "Leigh-ah")

Without further ado...pictures!!

The first time Jacob really got to see Lia. He saw her in the recovery room for a couple of minutes but this is the first "up close and personal" time with her. He came running into our room saying "baby, baby, baby". It was love at first sight.



"She's sooo sweet. I think I'll put my fingers in my mouth too"



Finally at home.
Jacob - "How do I hold her head still?"
Lia - "Oh, it's been a full day already."



"Hmm...let me contemplate this family I've been born into."



Momma's sweet baby doll.



After much excitement and action...all 4 C. grandchildren.



First picture of our family of four.


"I love my sister."


Sleeping Beauty


Momma and her two babies.

Introducing...

Lia Renee


Lia arrived this past Sunday afternoon at 1:28. We were shocked when she decided to come. She is full term so I shouldn't have been so suprised. Saturday night I was all prepared to go to meeting Sunday morning, complete with having a casserole in the refrigerator for potluck lunch, never dreaming I would wake up to VERY obvious signs Lia would be here that day! She weighed 6 lbs 14 ozs and was 20 inches long. She is absolutely perfect of course. ;) She has been a very good baby just like her brother. We came home from the hospital yesterday aftenoon. I'm posting this one picture so you can all marvel at such sweetness (OK OK so I'm the Mom, I can say that!) ;) and I'll get more pictures up later. Last night Brad, Lesha, and the boys came over so we tried to get pictures of all 4 C. grandkids together - needless to say it was rather interesting. One 2 year old, two 1 year olds, and a 2 day old...much action to say the least! Thanks to all of you who have already left messages.

"Painfully Honest"

So...I'm having a great "conversation" with Jacob today thinking how lucky I am to have such an awesome son. I'm also thinking about how wonderful it is to be so completely smitten by such pure innocent sweetness when he says "Mommy shirt to little, Mommy feet fat". HUMPH!! Talk about the end of warm and fuzzy thoughts!! ;)

But he's so cool I guess I'll let him slide this time.

August Randomness

It's been a while since I've posted...and nope, can't make any grand baby announcements. I'm hoping with Hurricane Gustav the barometric changes might make this little girl decide to come on along! Wouldn't that be grand!

This is what we've been up to the last few weeks:

Mom, Lesha, and I had a garage sale a few weekends ago. This was taken the evening before as we were getting things set up. The boys had a great time playing together. They all 3 love to be outside so they didn't notice the heat and humidity as us adults were melting.


Trace and Trevin took over Jacob's tractor...they thought they were pretty cool.


Much to his mother's chagrin, Trevin found a locust to play with. It provided much entertainment to him until Lesha found out.


Times are lean in the C. household. ;)



The people David works with gave him a surprise shower last week and invited Jacob and I to come up also. He works in the Radiology dept. of a local hospital so the shower was held in one of the extra equipment rooms...as you can see by the picture. Of course my camera battery died before I could get a "real" photo of the three of us...so this is the best I can do. He was scrubbed in to a surgical case when his supervisor called him out to go get lunch...he thought that was strange as you don't normally quit during a case to go eat. The when she met him in the cafeteria and told him to come with her he started wondering what was REALLY going on...then was shocked to walk into the room and see Jacob and I and the others waiting for him.



Only in a medical facility! But at least they're pink. :)



The biggest news of the last couple of weeks is Trace and Trevin got their helmets off. It's amazing how different they look without them! And now we REALLY have to know who is who as they don't have their names across their foreheads anymore!


This picture makes me say "awe". Brad and Trevin

Frustrated!!

I've been TRYING to update my blog since last night but for some reason Blogger isn't letting me upload any pictures. URGH!! One day I'll actually get this updated.

NO baby news...I'm hoping the barometric pressure changes from Gustav will cause Gertrude to go ahead and make her appearance though. ;) Could I get so lucky???

Ciao Down

Ciao Down has been updated with a few new recipes over the last couple of days. Check it out if you wish.

7 Things About Me

If you've read more than 3 other blogs you know what's going around now...7 random facts about yourself.
I have no idea really how I'm going to come up with 7 random facts...but here goes.

1. I got a brand new '93 Camaro when I was a senior in HS. I was the first one in the little town I grew up in to get the new body style of Camaro and let me tell you I thought I was some kind of cool. Now days it's a 4 door family sedan with a car seat - and the little guy sitting in the back is the cool one, not the car or the driver. ;)

2. I went 4 years to a 2 year college - not because I was just playing around wasting time & moolah. I had 2 years of pre-requisite nursing classes then decided to go into Occupational Therapy (all the same pre-requisites thank goodness)...where I spent another 2 years. Mom jokes that she finally convinced me I could NOT get a Masters degree at a Jr. College. (Yes, I did go on to a University after that.)

3. I never cease to be amazed at all the connections in the "Blog World". It's amazing to me who knows who and who's related to whom. Some blog entries make me laugh uncontrollably and some make me cry.

4. I moved one time in the first 16 years of my life, and 18 times in the next 16 years.

5. From the time I was pretty young I always thought if I ever had a son his name would be Christopher James(my Dad's name)...but then I married someone with a long last name so I had to let go of that name. Yes, I did shed a few tears over it.

6. It hurts me when someone dies and someone else makes the comment "well, he/she is in a better place now". That may be true, but I feel like it de-values the pain someone is feeling over the loss of that person. The pain is still just as real no matter where you believe the deceased is.

7. I love my life and wouldn't trade with anyone else in the world. I'm married to the right man for me and we think we have be greatest son in the world.

So there you have it...7 random things about me. I'm not tagging anyone...play if you want, don't if you don't. ;)

Game Night

We had game night at Brad and Lesha's Monday - we all had a great time. Many of us played Cranium which is a combination of Charades, using clay to mold things, drawing, and answering trivia type questions. There are some interesting pictures in the slide show of different ones trying to act out something.




At the end of the evening Lesha gave the boys a bath...with MUCH help. ;)
How many pairs of hands does it take to wash two little boys? Five apparently!

Grandma S.

David's Grandma S. passed away Thursday afternoon. It was not unexpected but it's never easy to lose someone you love. Many people loved her for different reasons, but the reason I loved her most is she helped make the man my Father-In-Law is (her son), who helped make the man my husband is.

In going through some of her things, her children found this written in her handwriting:
(I took out last names and just left last initials.)

How we met
Cloyd LeRoy S. and (Alice) Pauline K. S.

She was 19, he was 21. She lived at Staples, Mn and He lived at
Long Siding, Mn.

She was born at Blue Grass, Mn, He was born at Adams County, Illinois.

They both went to a church convention at Hector, Mn in the fall of 1939 for 4 days.
She was visiting with a girl friend who said “There is Cloyd S. getting a drink out by the barn. Lets go get a drink.”
He smiled at her, she wrinkled her nose at him. A few days after, she got a letter from him - thus it started.
They were married August 2nd, 1941.
(They just celebrated their 67th anniversary, 5 days before she passed away.)

This made me smile as I read it as we usually can only think of our Grandparents as "old", but it gave a little glimpse into their younger days. I can just see her wrinkling her nose at him. She always had such a sense of humor and an infectious laugh. It's fun to think about our Grandparents when they were young and just flirting with each other. To think that that "wrinkled nose" lead to 6 kids, 14 grand-kids, and 16 great-grand kids!


"The history of our grandparents is remembered not with rose petals but in the laughter and tears of their children and their children's children. It is into us that the lives of grandparents have gone. It is in us that their history becomes a future."

Trip home for a few days

Jacob and I spent most of the week at my parents this week as it's probably the last chance I'll get to go home before Gertrude gets here...and I needed some good spoiling by Mom and Dad you know. ;) Actually, Brad and I don't get the "royal treatment" we used to get...that's all reserved for the Grandkids now. Oh well, I thought I'd try anyway. Plus I wanted Jacob to get to go swimming in their pool as it hasn't worked out for us to do that yet this summer. You would know, though, the pool was going through some funky something so we didn't end up getting to get in it after all. :( We did get to go down to the town where my Grandmother lives and see her and more family so all was not lost. Jacob and I got to spend most of the afternoon with my cousin Lena and her 3 kids, which was great for us both. Much fun was had by all. ;) These are a few pictures from the afternoon. Wyatt and Jacob are only 3 months apart. Little Mr. Wyatt was quite the ham for the camera and Jacob was so serious for some reason.



It was wonderful to go to my parents for those few days, but it sure felt good to be back home with David. Jacob was ready to see his Dad, and I was ready to see my husband. Ain't love grand. ;)

Flash Back Friday...

OK, so it may be a bit corny to call this "Flash Back Friday", but I though it would be fun for me to look back at the pictures from this week 2 yrs ago and 1 yr ago. And you, my dear readers, have to play along. Or just go on the the next blog you're hopping to. ;) I actually remember taking these pictures.



This one from 2 years ago was my favorite for a long time. That smile just melted my heart. He always woke up from his naps so happy.



This one from last year was when he was just learning to walk. He thought he was so cool in Daddy's shoes. We spent many hours walking in circles in that apt. while he was getting used to the walking thing.

Random July update

So I'm finally getting around to getting my July pictures downloaded, uploaded, sideloaded (???) and whatever other kind of loaded you can think of to get them up on this blog. All 4.6 of you who check in on us can see what we've been up to lately. ;) It's not been a very eventful month for us. And that's OK...a HUGE event will be happening soon so I'm thankful to be able to just put my feet up and relax a bit before all that is just a distant memory. ;) That leads me to something else...why are we starting over again with this whole baby thing? Is it to late for me to back out now? (Those are really rhetorical questions...I know why, I've just been thinking in practical terms lately). I mean, Jacob is almost 2 1/2 so the not so great parts about having a new born baby in the house are over with. He doesn't get up until about 9:00 every morning, he feeds himself, he can talk to me and tell me what's wrong/ what hurts, he walks on his own so I don't have to always carry him from Point A to Point B, he doesn't spit up his food, he actually runs to the toilet if he knows he's going to get sick (he's only been sick in that way 2 times in his life and the first time wasn't even at our house!), and we know what his little personality is. I know, I know, I know, once this baby girl gets here we're going to wonder how we ever lived without her and be amazed at all we would have missed if we would have only had Jacob and not "Gertrude" also. But for now, I sure am enjoying having only one child! Here's to you Jacob...XOXOXOXOX

I did have another ultrasound this week and Gertrude is still a girl...she hasn't grown any extra parts. I was quite amazed at what you can see when you're this far along. I could actually see her eyeballs! And let me tell you...she is cute, sweet, and very smart. I could just tell by looking at her. ;)

These first few pictures were taken a few Tuesday nights ago when we went to a friends house who lives in a lake community. Everyone played beach volleyball while Lesha and I took care of the boys.

Lexie - one of Jacob's many girlfriends.


Trace: "Dude, your hair is so cool...I want hair like that"
Jacob: "Yeah man, the chicks dig it"


Trevin: "Mom, you and Trace are so silly!"

What a serious game going on...ha ha ha ha!!

I finally got ahold of my senses and let Jacob go play in the water with Jack. I mean, a boy is supposed to get all muddy when he's at the lake right? I just wasn't a very prepared Mom...I wasn't thinking when we left the house about J. playing in the lake so I had NOTHING to change him into or towels or anything. Thank goodness for great friends!

Get a look at that diaper...oh my...where is that kids mother??

Meet "Special K" the rooster. We got him not long after we were married at Fernandina Beach. For some reason I really like him...and I'm not a "rooster person". I got him down to clean him the other day and Jacob decided he needed kisses. Then I decided he would make a good "measuring stick" to capture Jacobs growth. You'll probably be seeing more pictures of Special K as Jacob gets older.

Why is it that watching Jacob and David walking through Lowes together like this makes my heart all mushy gushy?? I just love watching Jacob "helping" Dad push the buggy and carry on some kind of conversation that only he can understand. Does something funny to a Mom's heart.

"Moooom!! Can't a boy get some peace around here with OUT that camera??"

Jacob got up from his nap yesterday when he heard Brad's voice...Scooter Scooter Scooter (Brad can not be traditional, he has to have an "uncle name")...as he runs down the hallway looking for him. The whole step of getting dressed after you get up from your nap, he had no time for that, there were important people there to go see!!