The Hernandez Family Blog

Sonny Turns 3!!!

2012-02-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

Sonny had a Cars themed birthday party! He wanted a cars cake and cars jumpy house so that's what he got. Since he's only turning 3 (which feels like he should be turning 4) he doesn't have any friends yet...so it was just family. He got lots of great presents and had a great time with his sister in the jumpy house all day! :)

He got this cars book from Papa Mike and Gramma Sush along with a coloring book!

He got this cool Cars laptop from Uncle Chris!

Fun in the jumpy house!

Alexya's best friend, Sara stopped by to drop off a gift for Sonny. Sonny has a major crush on Sara and it was so cute seeing his reaction to her surprise visit!...already having crushes on his sister's friends! :)

Thank you everyone for your calls, cards and gifts! Sonny had a great birthday!! He's already planning his next one...seriously!

They are both wearing Sonny's new jammas...crazy how close in size they are!

Candice's 30th!

2012-02-11T14:16:00.000-08:00

We didn't make it to the party, but we went to the dinner which was great! We got to see everyone dressed up in their 20's attire and Sonny was a little nervous with everyone except Papa Mike. Alexya was in heaven!!!

more x-mas 2011

2012-02-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

New jammies from Papa Mike and Grama Sush! Sonny's Woody jammas are way faded now since I wash them whenever I can get them off him...then he puts them right back on!

My Chica pretending to drink her coffee and looking like a cutie pie! love. She is getting very good at her school work, spelling reading and math now. I'm just glad she's so into it because it makes it fun for me to teach her! I also started volunteering once a week at her school to do PE and it is SO much fun!

Kenobi + Gia = Love

Grandma reading bedtime stories...well, everyone reading stories to Grandma at bedtime. ;)

Riley and Alexya playing horses...ahhhh memories...

Chris, Riley, Sonny and Alexya...and Kenobi.

Look out! Jedi Santino is ready to battle.

Aunt Erica picking up the kids and running around with them...I don't know who had more fun, the kids or her.

...his 1st motorcyle.

Gabbi!!!!

Christmas Morning Madness!

Click This! to see Alexya's Christmas Song!

2011-12-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

If you click the Title of this post it will take you to my website that has the video of Alexya singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" in her Kindergarten Christmas Show!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-16T11:09:00.000-08:00

Our beautiful Christmas Kids! They wanted to try on their new holiday outfits...since we were decorating the Christmas Tree (obviously, duh! isn't that what you're supposed to do??!! ;)) LOL!

Alexya (5yrs) and Santino (one month away from 3yrs)

A handsome Santino!

Our Christmas Tree! (professionally decorated and ornaments donated by Mimi!)...actually, now that I'm looking at this picture closely...I don't think it was finished yet! I'll put up a finished pic ASAP!

Alexya's Kindergarten class and 2 other Kindergarten classes had a Christmas Song evening at her school. All the little munchkins got on stage and performed classic Christmas songs for Parents and Family. Alexya was practicing for 3 weeks (running around the Christmas tree singing her songs). I asked her the night of the show if she wanted to practice and she said, "no mom, I already know all the words." She had the cutest expression on her face as she proudly belted out all the words. I think her voice was one of the loudest actually! I'm trying to put up a video I took... hopefully I'll figure it out cause it's really cute!

Thank you for the beautiful dress Papa Mike & Grandma Sush!

Thank you for the beautiful coat Aunt Stacy & Cousin Riley!

Thank you for coming & the beautiful shoes (you can't see) Mimi & Papa!

After the show....A very proud-of-herself and beautiful Alexya! :)

Alexya Turns 5!

2011-12-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Alexya & Santino!

Alexya had a Birthday Party at our house this year (since we finally have a house big enough to have people over) and we invited girls from her Kindergarten class to come. We ended up having about 10 girls from her class come over to celebrate her turning 5, Toy Story Style! She wanted a Toy Story (Jessie) Jumpy house-which we had for the whole day! Sonny and Lexy were out jumping starting at 10am in the freezing cold....having so much fun!

We had a Toy Story (Jessie) Birthday Cake (I couldn't find one anywhere...so I just ordered a plain/simple cake from Safeway and bought the little Toy Story figures at the Disney Store and put them on top. It was sooooo good! You can see the girls eating outside on the deck (including little Zoey who was keeping up with all the big girls!--love love love her!)

love love love cake!

Present Time!!!!

Ok, so present time started out very organized with all the presents on a small table behind Alexya and all her friends sitting well-mannered on the couches watching her......

.....and then.....

present time turned into a football huddle of girls slowly, but steadily closing in on Alexya as she furiously opened presents as fast as possible! If she was too slow, the present would be opened by helpful hands, not too far away. It was insanely intense, but magically, there were no fights or crying and everyone got an individual "thank you" and hug from Alexya. :)

After all the jumping, and presents and cake, the girls returned to the jumpy house for a game of "Alexya Says" and she had them all obeying her orders before heading home.

Overall, it was crazy with all the girls and parents, but it went fast and was organized so it was alot of fun! Robert asked if we could wait a "long time" before having another party like this one. I told him sure...he has a whole year until the next one! ;)

Oh, and by the way, if you're reading this and wondering why you didn't get a Christmas Card from us this year...it's because I just can't do them this year. Even with all the fun and distractions and moving forward with life, I just can't send out a card with my family's picture on it because it feels like someone is missing.

We love and miss you Francisco and you are with us in our hearts at Christmas and always. xoxo

Happy Halloween 2011!

2011-11-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Halloween was so great this year because we finally LIVE in the neighborhood that we always go trick-or-treating in!!! We got to have fun in a totally decorated, safe, fun neighborhood and meet our new neighbors at the same time. Alexya actually found out that we live 4 houses down from a girl in her class and so of course we ended up all trick-or-treating together! We also found out that another classmate (a boy) lives across the street and one house over. It's so great that we get to live close to her new friends. :)

Alexya (Jessie), Sonny (Woody) & Kara (Cinderella)

Trick-or-Treating Cousins!

I dressed up as "Jessie's Mommy" :)

The kids fingerpainted their pumpkins. Alexya went for the rainbow/smiley face approach....Sonny went for the black all over style....does this mean anything???? You tell me. ;)

Happy with his art work!

I LOVE this picture! (can you tell they're related? LOL!)

HUGS!

2011-10-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about how lucky I am to have my kids and it inspired me to look back through pictures and find my favorite ones where they are both hugging each other. There are moments where Alexya wants to hug Sonny & he doesn't want a hug, and vice versa...but the moments when they both want to hug each other are the best for me.
So now Alexya has had a month and a half of Kindergarten and is in the swing of things. She has her best friends: Sara, Jocelynn, Malary & Teresa and looks forward to seeing them everyday, packing her lunch, doing homework and showing me what she made at school each day. She's learning how to write all the letters, capital and lowercase, and what sounds they make. She's very eager to learn, so it makes it fun. She's always asking me to quiz her on her letters and then she quizzes me! :) I've noticed Sonny starting to point out letters now too...trying to keep up with big sissy. I really loved school and so it's fun to get to do it again with Alexya.
So our daily routine is like this: wake up at 5-6am and have breakfast. I make my mocha w/my new espresso machine and coffee grinder (thanks Mom/Stephen & Robert!!! LOVE my b-day gifts every day!). We pack lunch and watch cartoons. We get ready for school and drop off Alexya at 10am then come home. I start my work, working for Aunt Candice/State Farm (Sonny is either being good and watching movies at this time, or being bad and getting time outs and having tantrums at this time...this will determine if it's a good day or bad day). Then it's "time to go pick up sissy" at 1:45. We come home and go over school work/do homework and eat lunch. Daddy's off at 3 and home usually by 4pm. Then it's play time or errand time until dinner time, bath time, bed time 8pm. .... Then it's my relax time when I get to watch all my Tivoed shows!!! Loving Vampire Diaries (except this season is bugging me so far) CSI, Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, the Mentalist, and the new show Revenge is really good! So this is our weekly routine and we really look forward to weekends!!!

This weekend is going to be not really looked forward to, however, because it's my due date of when I would have had Francisco, October 8th. Robert had a good idea of going to church (dropping off the kids first) and lighting a candle for him on his would-have-been birthday. We've been talking about what happened recently because it seemed like it all happened so fast and we just sort of pushed through it without really dealing with it together. Alot of emotions just got pushed down to deal with later...and now it's later. We talked about it and each decided to kind of remember him in a special way. I have a necklace that Theresa gave me for mother's day last year that has two charms on it- one girl w/a Topaz stone (Alexya's birthstone) and one boy w/a Garnet stone (Sonny's birthstone). I love my necklace and wear it every day because it's very special to me. So I decided to buy a charm for Francisco- a boy w/an emerald stone (his birthstone & deathstone?) Anyway, adding it to my necklace makes me feel like I have my complete family with me at all times and has made me feel really good. Everytime I get sad or miss him or think about him I just hold his little guy on my necklace. Robert had an idea to get another tatoo. He's got one on one arm that has my name and "mi vida" wrapping around a cross, and "hernandez" on his back. He wants to get one on his other arm now that has "Francisco" and some sort of angel wings or something special to remember him. I love the idea! I think it's helped us alot to talk about things and not just try to block it out. I think it's human nature to try to block out bad things that happen to you...but this bad thing was also a good thing and a family member, and so it's very confusing how to feel. I know we lost him and never got to meet him, but I also know that he's up in heaven watching over his family every day. I want to remember him and never forget him. We both love him very much and he's still one of our kids, just not here on earth.

"you gotta friend in me"

2011-09-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

"Jesse & Woody!"
We went shopping with Mimi yesterday and got Alexya her halloween costume/birthday party outfit! She wants a Jesse themed birthday party (3 months from now) and so the outfit can be for 2 events....if it lasts that long. ;) Sonny got a Woody shirt and we'll have to find him a hat and boots for halloween too.

Sonny riding his bike at Papa Mike & Sushuma's house. He's gotten really good at riding his bike (a little too confident sometimes) really fast around our deck...so we decided to bring the bikes over to ride on another deck. :) The only obsticle was trying not to run over Leroy---see below

Leroy!

I'm not sure who has more energy....Leroy or the kids....but it was fun watching them run around and playing together at full speed! :)

Kindergarten Girl!!!!

2011-09-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

My little girl is now in Kindergarten! She is so happy to finally start school and "learn how to read." She's got her new Jesse backpack and loves packing her lunch box everyday and wants to make lots of friends!

Sonny wanted to dress up for Sissy's first day of school. "Mommy, I look handsome!" he said.

Back to the Blog

2011-08-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a LONG time since I blogged and that's because we went through a pretty horrific experience of losing our baby boy. I found out on May 20th that I was having a boy and we decided to name him Francisco. Also on that day I found out that I had "low amneotic fluid level" which was a concern, but nothing to worry about "just drink lots of water and we'll reevaluate over the weekend, contact you on Monday." So I wasn't too worried and went through my weekend (announcing that it was a boy) drinking lots of water. We got a call on Sunday saying to make an appointment on Monday with a specialist. We wondered why we needed to see a specialist and at that point got really worried that something was probably wrong and they just weren't telling us. Of course then I went online and saw that having low fluid can cause all sorts of horrible conditions and got totally freaked out-called my sister who told me "not to go on the internet anymore" and wait to see the specialist. So we made an appointment for that tuesday morning and went in to see the specialist. He looked at the baby with a Super ultrasound machine and saw that the baby actually didn't have any kidneys. He explained that this is a terminal diagnosis because the baby, once born, would just die without kidneys and there's no transplants for infants. He gave us the option of continuing the pregnancy and having the baby (which could be born with many defects and then would die immediately after birth) or to have the pregnancy terminated. Since I was already at 20weeks we would have to decide ASAP. I already knew my decision, because why would I want to continue the pregnancy for 4 more months just knowing that he would die and probably suffer, not to mention possibly be deformed. So I talked with Robert and we decided then and there to terminate our little Francisco. We made the appointment for that Friday morning May 27th (which is ironic because Alexya was born on Nov 27th and Sonny on Jan 26th). I had to wait 4 hours in the operating prep room for my turn in the operating room. Finally they put me under and I woke up insanely nauseous and tired. I only remember going into the room and everyone being really nice to me through the whole thing. It took about 3 weeks to fully recover physically, but emotionally we are still dealing with the loss of our kid everyday. Everyone was very supportive in our families and honestly it was really hard to tell people what happened because it felt like we screwed up somehow and it's hard having people feel sorry for you. I think now, that we've moved into our new house it's really been the best thing for us for moving forward and getting through this stuff. It still hurts alot to think about and I pray to my baby Francisco every night and tell him I love him and miss him. I see other people's babies and I think "they better appreciate what they have." It's crazy because we have two beautiful, healthy, smart kids (one boy, one girl) so technically we are really blessed and appreciate what we have, but it's hard when you start planning a future in your head and envision your family and then it's taken away so fast. It's hard accepting it all sometimes, but I know that's it's just another part of life that's thrown at me that's changed me, again, and move forward. We were told by the doctor and surgeon to wait 2-3 months and then we can try to get pregnant again. At least we have that to look forward to and will be VERY excited when that happens. The odds of what happened happening again are like a million to one they said. They said the fact that it even happened was a million to one and is totally random. There's nothing we could have done to prevent it, it's not genetic, and there's no way to detected it sooner. The specialist did offer to let us come in early and use his Super ultrasound, just for peace of mind though, with the next baby.
So, that's the story and I just wanted to get it down on paper because it is part of my life I want to remember and not just push down and hide it somewhere. I know that this, things like this, or miscarrages happen to lots of women and are just never talked about. Whatever works for you is what you should do I think, and it works for me to write it down. I love my kids and my family so much, we are so happy in our new home and neighborhood and Alexya just started Kindergarten yesterday!! So life is always moving ahead, good & bad.

I have to put up pictures of Alexya at school soon. She's so cute with her bright red, Jesse backpack! Her teacher's name is Mrs. Motta and she started yesterday off by making friends!

Alexya with her cousin Gabriela

Alexya, Audrey, Jena and Santino. Sonny was in love with Princess Jena! Lexy and Audrey were best buddies at the wedding, running, playing and getting into trouble together!

Sonny and Lexy at Grandma & Grandpa's house, down at the creek! They have so much fun there!

Hernandez Family Madness!!

2011-05-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a LONG time since I updated this and that's because there is just so much happening in our lives right now! So, I'm going to try to keep it short and get all the updates in here.

1. We are moving to Martinez in July to live in one of Robert's parent's homes (the bigger one) and we will rent from them. Thank God for family because we definately need a bigger house and in a nicer neighborhood! :)

2. We are doing a short sale on our house since our neighborhood has gotten so ghetto, that we don't feel comfortable raising our kids here.

3. Alexya is starting Kindergarten, in Pleasant Hill at Valhalla Elementary, at the end of August. So excited for her!!!

5. We are at the end of potty training Santino, which has been a good idea, since we're still in the old house and accidents were daily. So no more diapers!!

6. I am working part time from home for Candice (State Farm) and it's really working out great!! Money to help pay our rent and gives me an escape everyday into the world of adults and professionalism. ;)

7. Robert's work split into 2 parts: one is AMR and just has the paramedics and ALS EMTs (911). and the other is a subsidary of AMR for BLS EMTs only (transfers). Basically, he's been working BLS night shifts, since they pay more $, but are very boring. Now, since the split, we decided he should stay with the AMR side and work with a medic doing ALS (911). This means a slight pay cut(since it's day pay, but a promotion), but something he's been wanting to do for a long time and should be so great for his career and keeping him happy at work. I'm excited and proud of him!

So, I think I got all the Life Updates in here....we've just been going crazy with deciding all of this stuff and trying to plan it all out and stay sane! In the end I think we will look back at 2011 and go "what the heck happened to that year" such a whirlwind of events.

Easter Love!

Trip to Truckee with Candice and Darren in the snow!! So Much FUN!!!

Sleeping Beauty on mommy's wedding dress! I knew if I kept it all these years I would find a use for it!! :)

Christmas 2010 pt2

2011-01-24T21:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2010

2011-01-24T21:01:00.000-08:00

This is the best family picture we have! Finally!!
So I thought I would put up some Xmas photos and just do a life update since it's hard to remember to update this blog nowdays.
Alexya is enjoying preschool. She's moved up to the 4-5yr old pre-K class every Tues/Thurs for 3hrs each. She's making new friends since her best friend from her old class, Sophia, is not in her new class. She has a new friend, Emma, who invited her to a birthday party this weekend at a jumpy house place and she had so much fun. I was told that my "daughter makes friends very easily." Too funny since she used to be so super shy. She's actually going to make the cut to start Kindergarten this year in the fall...which is Very Exciting! She's started a Cheerleading class on Fridays that she really likes since two of her friends are in it and gets to do a recital in March in costume. Should be really cute.
On the personality note she's a negotiator still and even crazier is that most times she has a good argument for her case and so I have to explain myself a lot and sometimes just give in because she's exhausing to argue with! She's also very independant with things and likes to help me out (when it looks like fun or when I look upset or super tired). She's crazy about Sonny and always is hugging him and telling him she loves him...and then hitting him with something and making him cry...then says she's so sorry and hugs him till he stops crying. Ya, it's crazy. The good news is that she's playing with Sonny or by herself a lot these days.

Santino is turning 2 in 2 days and is just so BIG. It blows me away when I see "normal" 2 year olds next to him. He's talking so much now...saying complete sentences and he even thinks and rephrases when you don't understand what he's saying. He's excellent at communicating. He's also super sensitive to when Robert or I get mad... in fact anyone gets mad at him. I think Alexya did that at his age too though. Also, he won't go to anyone but us, especially me/mommy...and usually the other Male figures in his life. He LOVES Uncle Chris and Uncle Danny and Grandpa and Papa Mike and Papa and even Uncle Darren and other guys that he sees often. Not too comfortable around any strangers at all/even kids! He's super smart though and can figure things out very quickly. He uses my Ipad and Robert's Iphone and will spend time learning how to do something w/o getting frusterated...which blows me away because Alexya is the opposite-easily frusterated! He's even decieded to start using the potty, randomly, so we got him some pull ups-which are WAY easier to change than diapers! No one ever told me this and since Alexya never used them I'm so excited finding this out now! I can just tell him to "go take off his diaper and get me a new one" ever time he goes pee, then he just steps into the new one...it's awesome!

So I think that's the kid update and I just wanted to get it written down because this all seems like it's going SO fast and I know I'm not going to remember most of this stuff in a couple months because they both will have changed. All I know is that I'm so glad that I get to stay home and be with them all the time and that I'm lucky enough to be able to do that. I wouldn't want to miss this for the world, even the crappy, horrible, stressfull, mommy-overload days....because the Good totally overrides the Bad and it's all memories that I will cherish when my monsters are grown up.

Thank you God for my Family! I am very blessed and happy. :)

My social butterfly!

Alexya w/Aunt Lauryn & Santino w/Uncle Danny

Familia- is the most important thing!

2010-12-15T18:32:00.000-08:00

Cousins!

Super cutie Aunt and her niece!

Aunts and Uncles to play with!

Sisters!!!

** A special prayer for Robert's Godmother & Aunt, Eleanor, who passed away a couple months ago.

**A special prayer for Robert's Grandfather who passed away last weekend.

We all love you both very much and you will always be in our hearts!**

Alexya's Birthday pt2

2010-12-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

Alexya got over her fear of Chucky just in time to get a picture with him on her Birthday! :)

Enjoying her cake!

Opening presents!! Thank you again everyone!!! :)

Showing off one of her new Dora outfits while posing in front of the Christmas Tree she decorated! (breakable on top, non-breakable on bottom)

Alexya's Birthday 4yrs old!

2010-12-15T18:17:00.000-08:00

It was a Dora/ChuckECheese birthday party for Alexya! She had her best friends and immediate family come celebrate with her and she went wild! It was actually fun and everyone had a great time playing games, eating pizza, singing w/chucky and having birthday cake!

Lexy & Sophia (her BFF at preschool)

The Dora Cake!

The party girls!

Thanksgiving 2010 pt2

2010-12-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

Alexya helped put the angel on top of the Christmas tree!

Santino- cool biker boy

Alexya-insane speed demon....
watch out Toretto!!!

One of the great things about having the truck is that Toretto can come to join the family holidays again! :)

Thanksgiving 2010 pt1

2010-12-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

Sonny & Lexy dressed up for Thanksgiving

Sonny & Kara

My beautiful niece, Gabriella, was an angel in her swing the whole day. So peaceful and loves to be held!

A Visit from Uncle Chris

2010-12-15T17:53:00.000-08:00

Sonny, Chris & Lexy "group hug" ;)

Sonny & Chris "play time"

My brother, Chris, is spending a year with the Army in Iraq. He got to come home for 2 weeks in November and we tried to spend as much time with him as possible! He's the best Godfather to Santino and an awesome uncle for Alexya! He played so many games with them and just hung out with them and had fun. They are still confused as to where the heck he went and why they can't hang out with him now....so we are counting the days till he can come home in May! :)

I got this shot early in the morning at my Dad & Sush's house in Discovery Bay. What a peaceful moment.

Happy Halloween!!

2010-11-02T00:14:00.000-07:00

Spiderman and Princess Ariel
We met up w/Papa Mike and Grandma Sushuma for some halloween festivities at the Streets of Brentwood shopping center. They got to do a little store trick-or treating and jumpy houses and playing in the fountain. It was crazy how many people/kids were there in costume and how many events they had going on all day!! It was also super HOT!

Kara & Alexya dancing in circles before trick-or-treating!

Baby Gabby even got dressed up for her 1st halloween...no trick-or-treating though...next year.

The Patient Robert, Spiderman Sonny, Alice in Wonderland Kara, Princess Ariel Alexya and Princess Mommy. We had the best time trick-or-treating this year! I think it just gets better the older your kids get because they really get into it and get so excited. We had so much fun and Alexya said the funniest comments at each house.

lady of the house: "Wow you just look adorable!"
Alexya: 'socially acceptable fake laughter,' then "yes".

another house....alexya: "Is this the only kind of candy you have? Do you have M&Ms?"

another house...lady of the house: "oh look a beautiful princess!"
alexya: "No, I am Ariel, and this is my brother Sonny. He is Spiderman. And Kara is Alice in Wonderland."

another house....alexya: "excuse me, I really like your bat!" (they had a flying bat in front of the house).

another house had a medium sized friendly dog they were petting... alexya: "Is your dog nice? He is big. My dog is the biggest dog in the world, his name is Toretto. He's at home. We live far away so he's not here."

I wish I could remember them all they were just so classic and I love how little kids can just be so honest and it's ok.
Actually we stopped at Safeway to get supplies before we went to Robert's parents house and were waiting in line at the self check out. The lady in front of us was taking awhile and Alexya is standing right behind her and says "mommy, this lady is taking forever!" I said, "Alexya, that's not nice manners, you don't say things like that." she says, "Why? she IS taking forever."
I just really have to start watching what I say in front of her, since I know I say that all the time in the Starbucks drive through! ;)

My Nieces: Gabriela & Gabriella

2010-10-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

I now have 2 nieces with the same first name (spelled differently). One on each side of the family. My brother, Caleb & Andrea had my niece Gabriela Kistner on June 1st so in these pictures she is already 4 months old and so cute. She makes the cutest serious face like she's trying to figure things out, it's really cute. I got to hold her all day on Saturday, two weeks ago, when I went to visit my parents for the weekend. I love this pic of Gabriela with Alexya...they are staring at each other and getting to know each other.

My newest niece, Gabriella Ankuda, was born on September 20th to Robert's sister, Erica & Matt. Congratulations!!! I finally got to see her last weekend and she is so small and adorable! Her face gets bright red when she cries, so I had to put a pic of it up. It was really cute seeing how much Kara loves her little sister, she was giving her constant kisses & hugs and doesn't like it at all when she cries! Gabby was awake most of the time, which is great for a newborn, and loved watching all the action of her older sister & cousins running around!

Alexya's Dora Room

2010-09-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

We redecorated Alexya's room...goodbye Princesses and hello Dora. She was having nightmares about green monsters from StarWars so she was scared to sleep in her room. Dora is her favorite so we went out and tried to get the most cost effective stuff to makeover her room, but not spend too much in case she changes her mind again. ;)

Dora sheets and comforter, Dora plush blanket to hang on the wall. Dora wall art and stickers. Since she already has a Dora suitcase, PJs, books and toys...it wasn't too bad. :) And after a week of battling... she will finally sleep in her room, usually... ;)

She wanted to keep the Ariel light switch cover she got from Izzy's party. She also has glowing planets and stars hanging from her ceiling that she helped put up.

Two monkeys in the bathtub!

Sonny's Room, New Flags & a Truck

2010-09-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

Sonny's room got a small Spiderman/Raiders makeover. He loves Spiderman so we got him a new poster and sheets. We already had the Raiders blanket and we made him the bear at build a bear a while ago (army bear w/raiders shirt for uncle Chris). Now he is sleeping in a big bed and it feels like he's such a big boy now...even though he's only going to be 20 months next week! He is talking nonstop and imitating whatever Alexya does and says. Sometimes it's really cute and sometimes there is just constant noise coming from my 2 little angels and I need some quiet time! ;)

We got an ARMY flag in honor of Chris being over in Iraq and put it up, along with an American flag, outside our house. I really like having it up because it makes me think of him every day and feel proud that he is over there. We also got a webcam from my dad/sush for my birthday and so now we can see him and talk to him all the time too! Sonny & Alexya really like being able to talk to him and see him and look forward to the calls. Sometimes Alexya gets shy but Sonny just wants to see Chris's face on the screen and he gets all happy and talkative...it's really cute.

Oh, ya and we got a new truck, which you can see in the picture below. It's a Dodge Ram 1500 and it's really huge inside and can fit 6 adults and even Toretto in the back! Robert's very excited to finally have his truck and with 0% financing...I got to keep my Acura!! So everyone is happy now! :)

Isabel's 3rd Birthday Party

2010-09-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

We went to our friends, Debbie and Ben's, daughter Isabel's birthday party yesterday. She's one of Alexya's best friends and she never gets to see her since they live in San Jose, so she was pretty excited!...and we were excited cause we got to see our friends too!

The party was held at the kids center in their gym, which is this giagantic indoor playground! It was the size of an indoor hockey rink and had a giant play structure w/slides and then other things to climb on and a basketball court and video games and even a room full of soft things for the kids to climb and jump and fall on. It was so much fun! Even Robert was running around like a kid!

Afterward we got to hang out, just us, at their house and let the kids relax and watch football.
It was a great day and I realized how much I miss my friend! It's funny how kids, and other life factors, can just take up so much of your time...that unless someone lives close to you, you rarely get time to see them. :(

So I made Alexya pose for me on the monkey and got a pic of Sonny going down the little kid slide.

Isabel's little sister, Zoey. She is Adorable!!!

Alexya with Isabel and friend. It was a princess party theme, she wore the dress for 5 minutes (it was "stopping me from climbing up the slide.")

Gabriela's Baptism

2010-09-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

My neice, Gabriela was baptized last weekend and we got stuck in traffic and missed the ceremony :(
But at least we got to hang out with everyone afterward and see how big & how cute she has gotten!
Here's my mom, Alexya and her cousin Gabriela.

Such a cutie! 3 mo old.

My grandpa holding his 6th great grandchild...and she's so comfortable she's falling asleep in his arms! So sweet!

Sonny having a great time eating all the watermelon! ;)

Visiting our Goddaughter Kara

2010-08-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

Kissing cousins! We went to visit Erica for her birthday Sunday and got a chance to see our niece/goddaughter, Kara and her brand new room (which is really cute!) Alexya gave her hugs, but Santino gave her kisses. :)

We were looking back at old pictures of these two when they were first born and when they were about 2mo old....too Crazy how time flies and how big they both have gotten! Kara is going to be a big sister in about 1 month! Erica & Matt are going to be parents of 2 kids and join the crazy club...of which we are already members...Congrats again you guys! :)

Mommy eating Sonny's foot...one of his favorite games.

Yes. He is ASLEEP! I think he's got too much Spiderman stuff or something.

Marine World

2010-08-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

On the Thomas Train Helicoptor ride.

Lexy on the swing ride.

Sonny at the reptile exhibit.

3 minutes after we got in the car to go home...

Random Pictures part 2

2010-08-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

Alexya and her barbies...all stuck on a toy...

the bad barbies in jail....(and naked)...

Mommy and Alexya (she doesn't like this picture because you "can see her mocos"(boogers in spanish).

Alexya and her small princesses going to sleep (she wanted me to take this picture).

Random Pictures part 1

2010-08-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

Fell asleep watching TV on his couch.

Alexya took this picture of GQ boy!

Family Picture after Alexya's last soccer game. (Robert decided to bend down so I look amazonly tall)

Alexya made a belt for her wand.

part 2

2010-08-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

Christopher & Alexya and the leaning tower of cups.

Riley & Alexya discussing the caterpillar Riley caught....

the caterpillar Riley caught.

Santino has a thing with trying on everyone's shoes....EVERYONE'S! ;)

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa

2010-08-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

We don't get to go visit my mom and dad very often since they live (in the middle of nowhere) so far away! But when we do get to visit, it is always a great experience/getaway that is so much fun for the kids and a great break for me.
Here is the Grandparents w/grandkids down by the creek (yes, they have their own creek).
Alexya and Sonny had a great time jumping in and out of the water and playing in the sand and....eating cheetos! ;)
My sister, Stacy and her kids, Riley and Christopher came also and so it was fun to watch all the kids playing together. Riley caught a caterpillar and Chris even caught a crayfish!

Sonny was having too much fun feeding Grandpa Cheetos!

Alexya (3yrs old) announced that, "Riley is my best friend Mom." and Riley (6yrs old) told Stacy something along the lines of..."Alexya's not so bad anymore, Mom." :) They had a great time together!

My Kids Are Growing Up!

2010-07-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

Santino learned (last night!) to sleep in a "big boy bed" and the crib is no more! He loves his new bed/mattress (we got him his fav character sheets: spiderman and spongebob) and it took 15 minutes of crying last night for him to fall asleep on the bed! That's it!! What the heck!!?? With Alexya it was like a week of battles and she still would cry herself to sleep by the door, not on the bed. I'm totally amazed and in awe at how different kids can be.

Speaking of which, Sonny has tried to tell me he's ready to potty train by going into the kitchen without a diaper and peeing. He sits on his potty chair and says "pee pee" and comes to me with a diaper full of poop and points to it and says "poop-poo" "diapy" which is crazy! I am NOT ready for potty training a 1 1/2 yr old....so he's going to have to wait a little longer until I am...sorry Sonny.

Alexya is officially enrolled in preschool and starts on Aug 3rd (aunt lauryn's birthday)!! She is so excited and happy that she's telling everyone and it's all she talks about right now "when I go to preschool..." I'm very excited that she liked the class so much and is looking forward to it. She needs it and is definately ready. Also, I can have a 2 hour break 2 times a week to give Sonny some one-on-one time. (or put him down for a nap and just go crazy with my free time!!! ) ;)

Chica kicking a goal!

Kicking it with the boys! :)

Alexya's Soccer Exp

2010-07-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

Here's Alexya in her new soccer outfit and gear (thx mimi & papa) learning all the soccer basics at her Saturday soccer class. It's every Sat from 9:45-10:15. If anyone would like to come watch her just let me know!! It's really cute cause it's a class for 3 1/2-4 year olds so they just learn the basics and have fun kicking goals and dribbling around. Alexya loves getting dressed up for it and has already made new friends....which has inspired me to try and put her in preschool before I had intended to, she's ready! :)

The Co-Op preschool I enrolled her in doesn't start until Sept, but I found a new one that's only 2 blocks from our house for the same price! It's only two days a wk for 2 hrs, but I think she needs some friends her age at this point and I don't want to make her wait another couple months. We'll see if we/she like it at the tour next week.

Alexya finished her swimming class and is getting to be a very good swimmer! She's practicing all her techniques that she learned in our hot tub daily! And any chance we get we go visit Robert's aunt or uncle (down the street) who each have swimming pools! :)

Here's Papa, Santino and Alexya walking together after her last game....all holding hands. :) I love moments like this and am so glad I got a picture of it.

Family Updates

2010-07-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

My brother, Caleb and Andrea had their baby- girl on June 1st. Gabriela Kistner! :)

We went up to visit them last month (she was a week old in these pictures) and see their new house also. She's such a cutie with so much hair. She was sleeping and so peaceful the entire time. :)

I think I'm loving this aunt thing because my sis, Erica is having another girl-due in Sept! So pretty soon I will have 3 nieces! Yay!! :)

We went to visit the Sac Zoo and hang out with Erica, Matt and Kara. It was really cute pushing all our little ones around in strollers and checking out the animals.

Also, my dad turned 60, went skydiving with my sister, Candice! and had a party at his house to celebrate!

At the same time we got a visit from my brother, Danny, who goes to college in Oregon! The kids had so much fun hanging out with Uncle Danny and he even built them a train track! :)

My brother, Chris, has been deployed to Iraq for a year to serve his country in the U.S. Army. We are so proud of him and love him so much. May God watch over him and bring him home safe to us. Santino will love to hear all the stories from his Godfather when he gets back!

Swimmy School!

2010-06-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

Alexya got her 1st swimming school class finished with a gold star! She got skipped up two levels to the "big kid class" (from guppies to starfish-skipped the minnows class) and we are so proud of our little water baby! She can float on her back and go under water...when she finishes the next class she should be able to do a 15' swim! It's so fun taking her to her classes and watching how much fun she has while the other kids are screaming! The only hard part is keeping Santino out of the water!

The munchkins in their giant princess tent watching TV, on the couch, eating snacks.

Dinner time!

It's funny how many words Santino is saying these days...other than mama/dada he says "help" "uh-oh" "oh no!" "ah-gone" "tank you" "hot dog"(the mickey mouse show has a hot dog dance at the end that he loves to dance to). He understands alot of what you say to him which is making things a lot easier on everyone...alexya included since she loves telling him what to do. ;)

Alexya has grown and matured a lot also. She has become less of a handfull and more of a helpful friend that I get to hang out with. I love spending time with with her and she loves learning new things and showing me how she does things "all by herself." I'm very proud of her and Sonny and I feel so blessed and happy to have the family that I have! :) Thank God for my kids and thank God for my husband especially. :)

Random Pics

2010-06-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

Alexya made a sculpture out of leaves over a painting of chalk on our driveway...always the artist!

Sonny eating spaghetti...

Alexya & Daddy eating spaghetti! :)

dessert! A dora popsicle!

Alexya's 1st Pony Ride!

2010-05-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

Alexya's preschool (starting in Sept) was having a fundraiser carnival which included Pony Rides! Alexya picked out the pony she wanted to ride, the one with pink hearts painted on it's butt and it's tail sprayed pink. She's so excited that she jumps on the pony and rides off without even looking back at me. I was shocked at how comfortable she was instantly....but then again it's in her blood (right grandma!?!) :) After the first ride $5.00 she gets off and asks if she can go again.....so.....OK another $5.00, but can you really put a price on that face? ;)

Alexya and her pony girls lined up for a glamour shot (she asked me to take the picture).

A visit from Aunt Erica and cousin Kara. We had so much fun playing and we even went to the park and played some more!

Alexya and Santino each wearing one of Santino's new shirts... size 3T...yeah they are a little big, but he's growing so fast I don't want to throw away my money and this way they can both wear them! :)

1st Hot Tub Swim of 2010

2010-05-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

Sonny went in once last year, in a baby boat, but this is his first time with floaties and he had so much fun! Alexya's had two previous summers with the hot tub, but she doesn't remember them! So this was new to her again. They were all in there for about 30-40 minutes and had so much fun before I had to pull them out (prune fingers & feet).

...why is it that kids love to drink the pool water???

Alexya got a new Ariel swimsuit this year (she actually has two, one is purple and at mimi's house) and a new orange Dora one as well. The perks of getting bigger each year...I'm jealous since my swimsuit (one) is falling apart.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

Santino and Alexya all dressed up for Easter.
This was such a great Easter for Alexya because she really got into the spirit of finding the eggs and the surprises inside. She also got to color eggs for the first time!

A handsome Santino...sorry ladies he's too young!

A proud Papa with his little angel, Alexya.

A proud Alexya, showing off the beautiful eggs she colored!

Easter

2010-04-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

My insanely ADORABLE niece and goddaughter, Kara Elizabeth Ankuda. All dressed up, so cute and she knows it! I almost took her home with us...but not sure if I'm ready for three kids yet. ;)

Kara and Santino. They were hugging and playing all day long. It's so great that they are the same age!!

The egg hunt at mimi and papa's house. Alexya let the little ones go first (she actually helped me load the eggs with little treats and cool stuff for them). They had fun picking them all up and putting them in the baskets and carrying the baskets around. They also had fun trying to shove the eggs in their mouths.

Easter cuties!

Candice's Tahoe Wedding!

2010-04-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Candice and Darren on a perfect wedding!

This was Alexya and Santino's first trip to the snow and it was so much fun! Not to mention that my whole entire family was there, my brother's and sisters, step brothers and sisters and all my parents!! So the kids got to play with all their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents at the same time! It was great..they were on attention overload! :)
Sonny got freaked out by all the attention and is having his fear of strangers phase...so was very clingy. But Alexya was so social and interacted with everyone and had a blast jumping from aunt to uncle to grandparent.

Daddy and Alexya, my favorite picture of the trip!! :)

This super high snow cliff that we sledded down! It was fun having everyone line up their sleds and then all race down the hill. I was scared to go down at first since it was so steep, but alexya says,"come on mom let's go" and then decided I was taking too long and jumped on with daddy to go down. She loved it and then went down with grandpa, aunt lauryn, uncle danny, and aunt stacy again and again. She was fearless and had so much fun!

I didn't want to go down the first time holding Sonny so I let aunt stacy take him down and he freaked out once they got to the bottom and he looked up and realized I was still at the top! There's no motivation to get me over my fear and down a steep hill like hearing my son screaming for me at the bottom!!

...his GQ pose!

Recent Pictures

2010-04-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

Alexya likes to invite herself to play with Santino whenever she can...he's not always thrilled at the idea...especially here where she's trying to fit on his car with him. Oh, the torture of having a big sister! ;)

Sonny loves walking around the house brushing his teeth with his vibrating Diego toothbrush. It's the funniest thing to watch, the picture doesn't really capture his nonchalaunt attitute. We got Alexya an Ariel vibrating toothbrush so she could replace the Diego one that Sonny stole from her.

He're is Santino in his Spiderman pj shirt and matching spiderman slippers. Sorry for cutting the top of Alexya's head off, but she wasn't intended to be in the picture and just jumped in at the last minute! "He wants me in the picture too mom."

Alexya opening a present from aunt Candice (wedding ariel), happily studying it.

We took her to her first preschool tour on Monday and she loved it! It was an open house from 5-7:30pm and we got there at 5pm ... and left with her screaming that she "didn't want to go because it's not over yet!" at 7:15pm. We were both surprised at how easily she ran off to play with everything without us and she made herself at home, introducing herself to the other kids and even other parents that were there. Robert had a moment of panic as we were driving there saying, "it's too far away" (it's 10 min away). He told me later it was hitting him that his little girl is growing up. So cute! :)

Crazy life with Crazy kids

2010-02-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

There's a lot going on lately....

My little sister, Candice, is getting married and so we had a bridal shower for her last weekend, I'm flying to AZ this week to visit my grandparents who live there and to attend Candice's bachelorette party, and then her wedding is on March 20th in the snow in Tahoe.
In all the excitement and madness my kids have decided to get sick, once again, for a whole week!

So...here are some pictures that I think reflect some of the madness....

Santino turns 1 year old!

2010-01-29T20:08:00.000-08:00

Alexya helped me make cupcakes for Santino's first birthday! She helped eat them too :)

Santino is now officially 1 year old! Wow, did it go by fast or what??!!
Thank you to everyone who sent cards/gifts! Alexya helped open them and I will definately save them all in his babybook for him.
(Chris, thx again for the truck...Robert & Alexya are having a hard time sharing it with Sonny though)

Sonny really enjoyed eating his first cupcake!

The Christmas Fairy! A month after christmas, she still wants to wear her dress. She also got a chance to finally ride her new bike the last couple days since the rain let up! She took her first fall already and thank God for helmets! After falling and crying for a minute she jumped out of my arms and onto the bike again because, "I still want to go biking, mom." ~that's my girl! :)

Walking Santino! :)

2010-01-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

Aunt Lauryn, Alexya, Uncle Danny and Uncle Chris

The Boys!

Santino would like to announce that since Uncle Danny and Uncle Chris were giving him such a hard time over the holidays...he decided to show them what's up and learn how to walk. ;) So now as of 2 days ago...he has decided to take more than 3-5 steps and just keeps going and is walking all over the house now. He is very excited and just wanted to let everyone know...including his uncles who kept "encouraging" him. ;) Also, a nana-nanana to his sister who learned a wk before her 1st b-day...since he learned 3 wks before his!

Aunt Lauryn, Alexya and Uncle Danny

A passed out princess! ...the holidays are over!

Holiday Family Time

2010-01-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

Kara and Alexya

Sonny and Kara

Grandma Sushuma and Alexya (trading kisses for cookies)

Sonny and Uncle Chris (taking a break)

Exciting Firsts!!

2010-01-05T16:32:00.000-08:00

Alexya's First Bike! ~ thx santa :)

First helmet, elbow and knee pads. ~thx mimi & papa!

Santino's First haircut! ~thx dada! :)

Christmas is Coming!

2009-12-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

Alexya helped me decorate the tree this year. She put on all the ornaments...except the very top ones..and she did a great job! I was suprised actually at how well she placed them...without really doubling up any or breaking any. ;) She was very proud when she was done and wanted me to take a picture of her by her tree.

Then she wanted me to take one of her by the tree and by the stockings.

Mommy and a handsome Santino on Thanksgiving at Mimi and Papa's house.

A beautiful picture of princess alexya in her new snow white dress (thanks Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Paul, Torrie and Preston for all the beautiful dresses!) She's worn it every day but one since she got it for her birthday.

Alexya Turns 3!

2009-12-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

Her birthday party was a small, but really fun day and she had so much fun just playing with her best friends, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousin! She requested a My Little Pony themed party and so I got all the decorations including pony balloons, plates, hats, napkins, etc and even a My Little Pony pinata. Aunt Candice even made her My Little Pony cupcakes! It was really cute watching them feast on the cupcakes and beat the pony pinata as hard as there little 2-3 yr old arms could swing the bat! Alexya had so much fun and got great gifts (thank you everyone) and wants to do it "again!" :)

Just finished her cupcake and decided to have a lollipop!...hasn't even wiped the frosting off her face yet...more sugar, more sugar please!

The Pinata before it was beaten apart by savage 2-3 yr old girls! (just kidding of course we/daddy had to beat it open for them!)

Cute Shots

2009-12-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

Driving Papa's Porsche!

My two snow bunnies ready for Aunt Candice's wedding in Tahoe and playing in the snow!

Dr Apts & A New Kitchen!

2009-11-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

Alexya and Santino went to the doctor together today & he's trying to catch up to her I think...

Alexya: 3ft tall and 30lbs (3 yrs) (percentile: 23% & 46%)
Santino: 2 1/2 ft tall and 22.3lbs (9 mos) (percentile: 92% & 72%)

The cutest part was when we had to wait to get their shots...and I had told Alexya if she was brave and got her shot she could have a lollipop. So, kids were going in screaming and coming out crying and Alexya kept asking if it was her turn yet...then finally it was. So Robert took her in and Sonny and I were waiting and waiting...she comes running out and screams, "Mommy, I got my shot and it didn't even hurt! Look I got a lollipop!" Everyone in the waiting room laughed and I think I was in shock! I am VERY proud of her and Sonny, since he only cryed a little bit when they stuck the needle in, but not too bad. I think it was the best doctor visit we've ever had. :)

Here they are playing with the new kitchen we bought Alexya for her birthday (gave it to her early).

A picture after I finished building it....the kitchen was only $80, but putting it together was at least $80 in labor I think! ;) Overall, I did a ton or research and even had help (thx debbie) and this one seemed to be the most reasonably priced and still good quality.

I think it's a very good investment in future play time that won't require mommy or daddy's involvement = free time = priceless! :)

Santino's 1st Halloween

2009-11-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

Dressed up as Tigger (alexya's costume from last year) and very cuddley with daddy. Sonny went trick-or-treating too...he got to ride in the stroller and watch his sister climb the steps to each house and get candy... he had a great time and even got his own glow stick!

Pictures with his sister...which he thought were funny...

Alexya, Santino and Kara (in the lion costume). The cousins all dressed up for halloween!
(Matt has a very cute one of Sonny & Kara that as soon as he sends me I will put up) :)

Alexya's Halloween

2009-11-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

She got up and painted her pumpkin....

Got dressed in her Princess Cinderella dress...

Went to Mimi and Papa's house for trick-or-treating and got tons of candy!
Even make some new friends since she loved to chat with any kids who were walking up to a door at the same time as her. She even told one little girl who was about 7yrs old, "you're a princess for halloween? I'm a princess too. I'm Cinderella. You have a glow stick? I have a glow stick too." The conversation would have kept going except the door opened and they were given candy...then it was goodbye. She got scared at a couple houses, but was very brave and didn't let that stop her from getting her candy! I think this is the perfect age to take them trick-or-treating because we actually had a lot of fun! :)

Papa, Mimi, Sonny & Lexy

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

We have a family farm right by our house...(hmmmm, never knew this until recently)....that has a pumpkin patch and does hay-rides etc. We went with our neighbors (inc Lexy's BF Jasmine) and had so much fun! We brought home 2 pumpkins to carve...Alexya wants Robert to carve "jack" in one and "sandy" in the other...(from nightmare before christmas).

Can you feel the love? ;)

October Playdate

2009-10-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

We had a pumpkin carving playdate at Catherine's house (thanks Catherine for hosting & thanks Debbie for doing the carving! haha).
Sonny loved the kitchen.

Thomas (almost 4), Alexya (almost 3) and Isabel (just turned 2) had so much fun making crazy faces (thx thomas) and eating cereal. Sonny tried to keep up with them & Thomas actually played with him for a little while. Zoey (Debbie's new baby girl) didn't come this time and Catherine is like 9 months prego and due around Lexy's birthday...so next playdate should be a lot bigger! :)

Alexya was her normal bossy self, but lucky for her, Thomas and Izzy are very mellow and put up with it.

If only photoshop could paste some smiles on these two.... Really they had fun, but this was obviously a serious moment I was interrupting.

Sonny & Kara

2009-10-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some new pics of Sonny and his cousin Kara! They are only 3 wks apart, but she is normal size while he is super size. They actually had a lot of fun playing together and sharing toys and touching each other's faces. It was really cute to see them interact and it's really nice to have them be so close in age! Erica & I did a good job coordinating our pregnancies ;).

Kara is a little energy ball (like Alexya) and loves to dance and jump around and even flip flop around on the floor while laughing. She really entertains herself and loves to keep moving....good luck to Auntie Erica & Matt when she starts to crawl.... She's got the most beautiful big blue eyes and a heart melting smile. Such a cutie! I love my niece! :)

Finally got a picture of it....TOUCHDOWN!

Daddy & Sonny (notice the Godfather shirt daddy picked out for him...since that's what he's named after) ;)
http://www.thegodfather.com/

Stealing Free Time to Update the Blog

2009-10-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I've been forgeting to take pictures lately....but I will definately put up some of Alexya and Santino in their halloween costumes. Alexya is going to be Cinderella and Sonny is going to be Tigger (alexya's costume from last year...yes he is that big already).

Anyway, some updates include Sonny is holding onto furniture and "cruising" around one handed. He tried a couple times to stand up from a sitting postion and can do it and then falls down, but I'm very proud of him since that's still really good! :) He also can now chew banana chunks and cut up sweet potatoes...he gets very excited when he can feed himself...and so do I (since then I don't have to do it). Also, I taught him to throw his arms straight up in the air when ever I say "touchdown" so he's totally ready for football season.....even though the Raiders aren't!!! :(

Alexya is a queen at negotiations and bedtime involves the following conversation: "Alexya it's time for bed." "No, mom. I watch one more show." "No, it's bed time...let's go upstairs and I'll read you two books." "OK mom, one more show and ONE book." How do you argue with that??? She always figures out a way to get what she wants. She also remembers everything! Like if I say, "if you're a good girl at the store you can have a treat after." After an hour at the store & I completely forgot about our deal as we're getting into the car.... "I a good girl at the store mom?! I get my treat now!" The list goes on and on, but you get the point.

It's really amazing how different Sonny and Lexy's personalities are...but how they just love each other. I really love how, even though she likes to beat him up sometimes, she tells me she loves him all the time and even will sing to him when he's upset and it works! He calms down the instant she starts singing! :) I can't wait to see how they are together as they get older.

Some other awesome news that I don't think I posted yet is that my sister is engaged! She is going to be getting married to Darren on March 20, 2010 and I get to be the matron of honor! :) Alexya is going to be the flower girl again & she is very excited since it's going to be in the snow. Candice is buying her wings & a silver head band so that she can be a snow angel. Lexy's cousin, Riley, is also a flower girl and so they will be snow angels together! :) (sorry if I ruined the surprise Candice, but it's such a cute idea I had to spill the beans!)

Oh, ya, and lastly, I had a birthday last month...so I'm another year older....blah. Robert's parents offered to watch the kids after a Raider themed BBQ :) thanks thoughtful husband! We ended up going back to our house and playing cards with my sister and darren and long story short... ended up drunk and dancing in my living room!! It was the most fun I've had in a long time (my dad & sush's wedding), since I got to be me (well, drunk me) and not "Mom" for a night. thx frank and theresa! :) BEST IN-LAWS EVER!!! :) :) :)

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa

2009-09-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here's Lexy swinging (her fav thing to do). (yes, it's a bandaid on her face).
We stayed for 2 1/2 days and had such a great time with Grandma & Grandpa! Alexya had fun picking black berries and playing in the creek and on the playground set. Sonny had fun being held and crawling like an animal trying to catch one of the dogs! Mommy had fun relaxing for once and having awesome meals prepared for her and not having to do any dishes! Thanks mom! :) We had such a great time since Alexya is finally old enough to enjoy alot more things on her own and I don't have to be constantly watching her and keeping her from hurting herself! It's a perfect getaway and we're going back soon! :)

Here she is looking through Grandpa's binoculars at all the birds and trees (and "tomatos in the trees").

Here's Santino trying to relax, but making a growling face!

And....finally passed out!

Oakland Zoo 2009 Pics

2009-09-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

The Elephants
One got in and actually took a bath in the water right in front of us! It was amazing!

The Tiger

The Monkey

The Giraffes

Month of August...

2009-09-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Uncle Danny came to visit us and play with his neice and nephew! I love how he just gets into playing with them and has so much fun! They totally love him and just climb all over him whenever they see him...as you can see in the picture! Alexya said the cutest thing the other night...in the middle of the night...it was seriously 3am and she had come crawling into bed with me at 1am (robert was at work) and so she wakes up at 3 am and turns to me to wake me up to tell me "mom, I love you" and then "I miss aunt danny mom." "You do?" I say half asleep. "Ya! I miss him, I love aunt danny, I love him mom." It was so cute!... even at 3am. :)

Here is a picture of the flowers Robert got me for our 8 year anniversary. They were so beautiful and they even lasted for 2 weeks, which is like some sort of record! We also got his parents to babysit so we could get all dressed up (cute clothes for once) and go out on a date!! Ya, it was great!!! :)

Robert edited this picture and put the word "cutie" in it..I have no idea how...but I thought I would throw it in as an advertisement for sunchips.

We went to the Oakland Zoo for the first time in a year...or more ...and Alexya had a blast driving the cars at the amusement portion more than anything...she loved the animals, esp. the elephants, but her favorite part was driving the car all by herself! :) (she even had 2 kids in the backseat!)

Crawlin' Machine

2009-08-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Santino's on the move now....crawling all over the house and getting into trouble. He loves playing with Alexya's trains and anything else that was always conveniently out of reach before! He gets very happy as he works his way across the floor and is trying so hard to pull himself up to a standing position...so far he can pull himself up to be on his knees. He's also ready for football season to officially begin...and he was telling me that since this will be his first football season (not in my belly) that the Raiders should have a winning season this year! :)

In this pic you can see his two bottom teeth pretty good....boy does this kid love to eat!

Here's a picture of Sonny with Scout, my friend Amy's dog. We went to visit her and her brand new son, Spencer Douglas, a couple weeks ago! Unfortunately I didn't get any good pics of Spencer (since I was holding him right up until his nap time and then he was mad ;)) ....but, I did get some good ones of Scout! :) Sonny really enjoyed getting his face licked! :)

The Wedding! Aug 1, 2009

2009-08-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

Here's the only picture I got from the wedding on my camera. Since, as you can see, Robert, Lexy, Sonny and I were all in the wedding, it was not really practical for me to have my camera with me...so thanks to Frank for taking this one! :)

The wedding was wonderful and so beautiful! The ceremony was nice (a little long, but hey it's a catholic wedding what do you want?) and the colors and everyone looked so beautiful. I obviously got choked up a few times and had to work at fighting back some tears when my dad and sush were saying their vows. It was a great feeling to be able to hear them say it though...really sunk in that it is actually official now!! Yay! :) The reception was amazing with a great band and my dad even sang a song to sushuma! Caleb and I gave speaches, which in my opinion were awesome! ;) It was great to see everyone and get to meet my new family and I love my new aunts, sush's sisters!, they are so sweet and beautiful and fun!! Love them. It was just a really great time.

The next day we got to see the video tape of the wedding (thanks darren!) and I watched it with Lexy. We were watching the couples walk down the aisle and I was saying, "who's coming next?" and she would say, "it's, it's...aunt candice and uncle chris!" then "it's, it's...aunt danny(yes she calls him aunt- I think because she feels close to him and likes girls better so he's worthy of the aunt title) and aunt lauryn!" then "it's it's aunt drea and dada!" then "it's sonny and great grandma" then "it's me!!" then "it's mommy!! Mommy here and mommy there too (since i was sitting next to her and also in the video she was very excited)! :)

Oh and it was so cute when we first got to the church and sushuma had already gotten ready and was taking pictures out on the grass...and alexya and I came outside and she saw her and says really loud, " ooooooooh su-sush-shuma you so pretty! A princess! Look mom!" it was so sweet. :)

The Bachelor/ette Party!

2009-07-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our bachelor/ette party on tuesday at the A's game! We got a suite for just the bridal party to celebrate the upcoming wedding of my dad and mom-to-be, sushuma! :) We had so much fun, the suite was so sweet! ;) and I kinda went crazy on the stuff I made everyone wear ("bride" in A's colors standing up on the veil and "groom" in A's colors on the front of the cat in the hat hat. Green and yellow lays for everyone and even some outfits for the bride and groom to be's beer bottles). It was so fun shopping for and making all this stuff and I was super excited that they wore them the whole time and didn't take them off once! :) Thx guys! :)

Here are the girls! Bride and Bridesmaids.

Here are the boys! Groom and Groomsmen minus Chris (thx Darren for filling in:)--and for cooking all the food! Yum!)

Here's everyone!

suite shots!

2009-07-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

the view from the suite!

Sush and Lauryn

Robert, Lauryn, Caleb & Andrea

Jess (me) and Lauryn ;)

FOOD!

2009-07-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

Sonny got to try his first food on Sunday, rice cereal, and yesterday he got to try applesauce too! He is very excited (smiling and giggling the whole time--yes he giggles) to be able to eat food like we do now, and after studying us doing it for 6 months, he's pretty good at it! :) His 2 front bottom teeth are in 1/2 way now and he can sit up all by himself, but no crawling yet. He can hold onto things and stand and likes to walk around in his walker or take steps while you hold onto him. He loves to roll around and get beat up by his sister (seriously, I tell her to "stop you're hurting him" and then he laughs! So she says, "but he laughing mom" ... i don't know what to say after that except "well, be careful.") He loves toys way more than Alexya did and is very interested in figuring things out. He hates being alone and will only really cry and scream if we all go in the other room without him or if he's hungry ;). He's wearing size 12-18 month clothes and we go to the doctor tomorrow so we'll see how big he is now :) ...and of course more shots :(....

Sonny and his new basketball! He loves playing with any type of ball...doesn't matter how big it is! :)

Alexya and her BFF (they do everything together), Jasmin, drinking some juice on the couch.

No she's not hurt...just having a tantrum because I wanted to take a picture of her in her cute new fairy pjs....So this is the picture I got! :) I showed it to her later and she thought it was funny...I just thought she should see what she looks like when she's throwing a fit. ;)

Can't wait to see everyone at the wedding for my dad and sushuma in 2 weeks!! Alexya & Santino are the flower girl & ring bearer (my grandma Kistner is going to carry Sonny down the aisle!) :)

My Little Man

2009-06-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

Now officially wearing size 12 months (he turns 5 months this friday). He is tall and now he is packin' on the pounds and has the chunky chunky thighs! He decided, after watching Alexya at her little gym class on friday, that he was going to walk too....so he was standing up holding onto my hands as usual when suddenly he started taking steps forward at a steady pace! I freaked out and couldn't believe it, but I guess if he has a 12 month size body, he can try to do 12 month old things right?? Crazy guy! Anyway, he's very good in his walker, speed walking around the house...one second he's by the door and the next he's in your face...that boy can move! He also can finally sit up by himself with falling flat on his face...which is great, but he would still rather stand up and hold onto the couch or your hands than sit down. Oh and he has no interest in crawling what-so-ever...like I said, he's crazy!

Brother and sister with fingers in the mouth...throwing hard looks (they get this hard look thing from their dad).

Relaxing and reading a book.

Santino's Baptism!

2009-06-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

We are proud to announce that our son is now baptised! (Uncle Chris is his Godfather and Aunt Erica is his Godmother). We had a double baptism for Santino and Kara (of whom we are the godparents!) last Sunday, June 14th. I'm just now putting up pictures because I didn't get a chance to take any during the ceremony and so I had to redress him up in his adorable outfit (thank you great-aunt Connie for making it!) and shoot some pictures of him this morning! Anyway, the ceremony was family only and so it was small and perfect! Sonny got overwhelmed in the begining when he first saw the family all gathered around him and started to cry! But, after he calmed down and before the ceremony began, he was OK from then on. He didn't cry during the actual baptism and neither did Kara! yay! :)

Sonny Swimming

2009-06-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures from Sonny's first swim (without being held).
He got really sick this week with a bad head-cold (lexy was sick last week) and was finally feeling better on Friday so he was able to join in the fun in the hot tub.

He had a lot of fun...

...but only for a few minutes....then he had to go inside and sleep
("hey mom, still recovering here! Can I get some rest please?!").

Funny Things!

2009-06-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

A Sonny, Mom & Lexy pile-up...

Toretto's dog treats stuck in the toaster (by alexya)...

A super high tower of canned cat food...

Sonny sleeping with his pink care bear & still looking tough! :)

Big News!

2009-05-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

#1. Alexya is officially potty trained! I'm so proud of her because the beginning was so so terribly hard and then she just caught on and went from pull ups to underwear in a week. I couldn't believe she decided to switch to underwear when we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Browns Valley this past weekend...she just told me she didn't want to wear the pull ups anymore. Too funny, I was nervous, but I thought why not, if she's asking why not try it. She has an occasional accident, but overall she is telling us when she has to go and is even good at doing it in public...including the A's game we went to! By the way, taking your toddler to go pee pee in a public restroom at a ball game is just....disgusting and very difficult. I'm so proud of her and she is even acting different now...way "miss independent" attitude and way less tantrums! YAY! :)

#2. Santino had his doctor visit and is now 17 lbs and 28inches! A 4 month old monster! ...because he is so long he is now outgrowing his outfits AGAIN and I just dug out all the 9 & 12 month ones! (thanks again Blanca!). He is loving his walker (thanks Debbie!) and his tummy time/working out doing push ups time.

Sonny's 2nd A's Game!

2009-05-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

Since I forgot my camera the first time we all went to an A's game this year...I'm putting up the ones I took from our 2nd game. Sonny is decked out in his A's gear and stayin' warm too. It was definately a challenge having him and Alexya at the game, but very fun too! Thanks Candice for the tix and the great idea of all of us going! ;)

Mom, Dad and Sonny

Aunt Candice & Sonny

Aunt Andrea & Sonny

New Sonny Pics!

2009-05-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

As promised...here he is in his swim trunks! He is totally used to the hot tub now and even went for a swim at mimi & papa's house with his sister. He will officially be 4 months old next week and we have a doctor apt this friday...can't wait to get updated weight and length on my monster since his 6-9 month clothes are now snug! :)

Also, we started potty training Alexya this week.....well, we are finishing day 5 today and it's getting better....day 1 was a chaotic tantrum-throwing-screaming-crying-bargining-threatening-bribing-exhausting-drama-fest! So, we have come a long way and she is doing a great job! :) However, if you have any tips, tricks, or advice for me ...please comment! :)

....speaking of exhausted....here are a couple shots of Sonny passed out...

...from rolling over and trying so so hard to crawl or move forward just a little!

...after taking a walk in our fancy new double stroller (thanks mimi!).

Oh and we finally got him a new car seat (one that he can actually FIT in comfortably!) and he loves it as you can see! There was a sweet sale at Babies R Us and it was normally $150 and with the sale and a coupon we had we got it for $83! Yay, and it will last him until he's a toddler too! :)

Kara Pictures

2009-05-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

I had to put up some of the super cute pictures of us with our adorable little niece & future goddaughter, Kara! She is getting so big now and is so cute with her insane amount of dark hair and bright blue eyes. (...of course Robert has to make a funny face for the picture, but I think he makes a weird face for every picture!)

Here's Alexya watching me/instructing me how to dip Kara's little feet in the hot tub! She loves her cousin "be-be car- uh" because "she's sooooo ca-ute!"

Look at the little munchkin! I just want to squeeze her and run off with her! ;)

Playtime and Progress

2009-05-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Alexya got a new A's monkey from her aunt candice. It came with a little baby monkey too, but lexy has claimed the big monkey as her "baby" and is taking care of it only. She decided to put it down for a nap here...and I made her climb into "bed" with it for the picture, which she thought was funny.
Alexya updates include her refering to herself as "lexy" now (I ask who's room is this and she says "lexy's room).
She can say complete sentences now which is so cool an easier to understand. She repeats words or phrases or even sounds you make; ex: I yell "toretto, stop barking!" and 'sigh' because he's not listening....she immediately yells the same thing and then 'sighs' the same way. So funny but kinda scary too cause you really have to be careful.
She wants to help with everything now...whatever you're doing, from cooking to cleaning to laundry to feeding Sonny, she wants to help... "I help mom?"
She'll also tell you exactly what happened if she gets in trouble. Like if Robert tells her to go inside because she knocked something over in the garage, she will come in crying and say, "mom, it fell and dada mad, go inside now." I also told her what "tantrums" are (they are when you cry cry cry for no reason) and so when she has one, afterward she will explain to me that, "i cry cry cry mom."
Honestly, I think we have finally hit the tantrum max and now they are coming less often. A couple of times she's caught herself starting to have one and stopped, so I think that's progress. I know they're not over yet, but seriously, it's nice to know you're on the down side of the tantrum curve...I seriously was going to lose my mind if they got any worse!

Here are some shots of Sonny in his "gym" playing and trying to roll over. He can get almost all the way over now. You can see in the bottom picture that it's just getting that shoulder up and he's got it! He loves to reach up and grab the toys because he can now and is very proud of himself! He smiles and even laughs now when you watch him... he loves attention. (for those of you wondering...yes alexya would get in the gym with him at first and showed him how to grab all the toys...then she got bored and so now it's all his).

Aunti Lauryn came over to hang out with her niece and nephew. She had fun getting a toy and jewelry makeover from Alexya and watching Sonny try to roll over.

Time to Swim!

2009-04-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

Since the weather has been so warm we decided to fill up the hot tub and go swimming! It's a great way to stay cool and ....to exhaust some of Alexya's energy! I got great shots of Robert and Alexya, but none of me and Sonny in his super cute winnie the pooh swim trunks....coming soon so don't worry.

Here's Sonny relaxing in his swing outside after his first swim. He liked the water since it was just like taking a bath...except bigger and with mom holding him and his sister splashing around him and screaming and throwing fish...even with all that, he still liked it.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Alexya had fun hunting for eggs yesterday at Mimi & Papa's house!

Sonny & Alexya...all smiles after our first attempt at this picture when he ripped a handful of her hair out and made her cry. She scolded him through tears saying, "not nice Sonny! not nice!" I think he was just getting her back for all the beatings he's been having to take... hmmm

Cousins: Baby Kara and Sonny (8wks and 11wks)

Easter morning: Alexya insisted she needed to "hold Sonny" for the picture (if you look closely, you can see her gently stroking his hair) such a nice sister... ;)

Alexya ~ The Flower Girl

2009-04-08T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here's Alexya in my brother Caleb and Andrea's wedding. These are all the pics robert could snap as she was walking down the aisle...some are a little blurry, but I just wanted to share them all. We practiced and practiced so she was well prepared and excited to do it as you can see...

...then she started walking and got nervous...so the fingers went in the mouth...

2009-04-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

...she finally made it to the front and didn't know where to go...so she just sat down with the bridesmaids! :)

Here's the only picture of me with Alexya...all dressed up at the reception.

Papa Stephen and Sonny decided to dance to the music at the table since the dance floor was way too crowded! :)

Overall the wedding was beautiful and Andrea looked like a perfect latin barbie come to life! She was beautiful and my brother looked so happy the entire time. We had so much fun and can't wait until the next wedding.... "Papa Mike's & Susu's" in just under 4 months! :)

All Smiles!

2009-04-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of shots I got of Sonny smiling! He loves his new (lexy's old) jumper and being outside.
He also loves his grandpa Stephen as you can see in the picture below! :)

It seems like he really loves to stare at people's faces and flirt with them by giving them coos and smiling...he even tried to flirt/smile his way out of getting his shots at the doctor! The lady that gives the shots was about to start when I laid Sonny on the table and he started smiling and cooing at her...she said, "stop it! now I feel really bad cause I'm about to hurt you." It was funny and he really didn't cry too much (not like his sister the drama queen does).

Also, we found out that he is only 13.5 lbs but an incredible 25 inches long!...that's why he fits the 6 month size.

Here's a picture of Sonny in his new outfit from great grandma and grandpa Kistner and laying on the beautiful blanket she made him! The Oakland Raider colored blanket goes perfectly with his Oakland A's room! :) Yay! Thank you again Great Grandma and we look forward to seeing you and everyone at Caleb & Andrea's wedding tomorrow!

Story Time

2009-03-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

Santino at 7 wks old.
He's already as big as his infant car seat...and fitting into 6-9 month onesies and some 3-6 month outfits still! Not fair because he barely even wore them, so i'm taking pictures of him everyday in a new outfit in case he outgrows it and I never see it again! Anyway I'm not sure of his exact measurements but we have a doctor apt. next week so we will find out then...please place your bets on length and poundage! :)
By the way...this is his tough guy stare that he gives to the ladies...I laid him on Alexya's bed the other day and already he was smiling and cooing to the princesses around him...ya, we're in trouble. ;)

So now are you ready for story time??? Alexya is determined to read her books to her brother even though he obviously is NOT interested. The first picture you can see by the look on his face...that he is humoring her...

...and the second picture....well....speaks for itself.

Finally, I just have to end this post with an Alexya-in-the-box!

Me and My Brother

2009-03-09T20:14:00.000-07:00

Alexya and Sonny have become very good friends. She loves to sit next to him and lay next to him whenever she gets the chance...and if we are holding him too much she will tell us to put him down next to her or let her hold him "I hold you." It's a good thing he is so big for his age though because there have been times when she's laid on him or his arm on accident. She also loves to grab his arms to "dance" with him and swing them side to side while singing to him, "I know you, I walked with you once apon a dream," her fav song from Sleeping Beauty. She's two, so she's not the most gentle sister, but Santino definately gets alot of tough love! :)

Debbie let us borrow Izzy's walker and so we put Sonny in it during one of his freak-out sessions and he loved it! It let him stand up, which he loves to do, and he was pushing his legs out and rocking back and forth loving it! Then dada and Lexy decided to get involved and push him around the room, which amazingly he loved too and would cry whenever they would stop! By the way he's 6wks old today...so huge that he is now wearing his 3-6 month clothes!

Cute Cousins!

2009-02-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Kara and Sonny (she is 1wk old and he is 4wks old). Kara weighs 7lbs vs. Sonny's 13lbs and I love these pictures because Kara is actually half the size of Sonny! (well, because she has her legs scrunched up it looks like it anyway!) ;) It's cute to see them side by side because they look so different, but they also have common features (like the same ears!~papa frank's).

Here they are sleeping & below is my favorite pic because even though she is yawning, it looks like Kara is crying and Sonny has his hand on her comforting her!

We also got a visit from our friends Blanca, Brendan and Justin last weekend. They brought us tons of toys & clothes they don't use anymore, plus Blanca made us spaghetti that was so good Alexya was requesting it for lunch & dinner the next day! You can see Lexy trying to share her dinosaur with Brendan....key word is "trying" since she was actually trying to push him off! :) Thanks again Blanca for the donations! ;)

Just Hangin' Out

2009-02-25T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Robert and our kids...one on each arm! Also a new one of Sonny, who we weighed yesterday and after subtracting a pound for his clothes...he is about 13lbs!! geeze man!

We got a visit from our friends, Amy and Doug, and gave them a preview of parenthood...since Amy is due in June with their first child...it was fun to freak them out with a newborn and Alexya being a total maniac! They were so relaxed though...so I think they will do great!

We didn't plan on matching, but how cute that we do! I love seeing her with a little baby belly!

Welcome Baby Kara!

2009-02-20T23:34:00.000-08:00

Alexya and Santino's baby cousin, Kara Elizabeth Ankuda, was born on February 15th at 12:13am! She weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 19.25in. As you can see she has tons of hair! Congratulations to Erica and Matt and we can't wait to meet her!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-13T13:01:00.000-08:00

Alexya wanted to make everyone a giant valentine's day decoration before bedtime. So here it is...hope you like it!

Can't wait to go to her first Rodeo!

We went to the doctor on Monday (2wks old) and found out that Sonny is healthy and no more jaundice and...oh ya..has gained 1.5lbs and now weighs 10.5lbs! So...obviously he is going to be a big boy...and according to our doctor "is going to have the body of a football player." I'm thinking he will probably look like uncle Caleb!
He is happy, eating, sleeping, pooping and grunting a lot...oh and farting alot and really loud ones too! Typical guy. ;)

Updates and More Visitors

2009-02-06T12:41:00.000-08:00

Here I am relaxing on the couch with my two kids...that feels so weird and so good to say! A rare, peaceful, non-demanding moment for the three of us.
It has taken some adjusting, and not to say that it's over, but Alexya is getting used to a routine that includes Sonny and doesn't just revolve around her. Of course she is 2 so we have many 2 year old tantrums and tests to go through, but overall she's been very good with sharing our attention and she really is sweet to Santino (besides pulling his hat and socks off all the time).
One funny thing she started doing is encouraging us to get things done fast...for example: if Sonny is crying and I say, "I need to change his diaper Alexya, then I can get you a snack." She will then push against my legs and say, "go mom go." Pretty much anything I tell her I have to do before I do something for her involves the push off and "go mom go" or "go dada go." She is also very excited that Sonny's cord has finally fallen off...since she was convinced that it was a piece of poopoo and now it is "ah-gone."

Lexy and Sonny's "country grandparents" drove down from Browns Valley to visit us and see their new grandson. The last time they came to visit our house was after Alexya was born and so, depending on whether or not we have any more kids, who knows if they will ever come visit again! ;) We had fun and our first restaurant experience with Sonny (who-no big surprise here-slept through it all).

Finally, here is auntie Erica holding her nephew/godson for the first time. She is about to pop herself, as you can see, and so we were excited that she could make the trip. Her due date is Feb 15th and then Lexy and Sonny get to meet their cousin Kara.

Busy Busy

2009-02-01T09:39:00.000-08:00

Sonny had a little jaundice and so we had to take him out to the park and get him some sunlight....so...we got him dressed up accordingly in his baseball outfit (added after were A's socks and A's bib).

Caleb and Andrea came by to visit their new nephew...in the picture above you can see that Sonny's super long feet let him fit into shoes already...

All the visitors are gone and so Alexya and Santino take a nap.

Proud Papas!

2009-02-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

Santino is just chillin' in his sister's hand-me-down sunglasses and waiting for all the visitors to come give him attention.

Here are 2 of his proud "Papas" who came right away to see their new grandson. Of course Alexya still gets most of the attention, which is a good thing...since she's the one who needs it the most right now.

Here's the big sister giving Sonny a big kiss!

Welcome Home Sonny!

2009-01-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of Alexya getting to meet and hold her new baby brother for the first time. She was very excited to get to hold him and didn't want to let him go...at least not without a kiss first!

Here's Mimi getting to hold her new grandson for the first time...he got very comfortable! :)

Santino is Born!

2009-01-28T21:41:00.000-08:00

Santino Robert Hernandez was born on his due date of January 26, 2009 at 1:32am at Kaiser Hospital in Antioch.
He weighed a whopping 9lbs and was 22in long. Here he is fresh and brand new!

My labor was actually insanely quick...I was totally caught off guard and didn't even realize that I was having "actual" contractions and not just random ones on Sunday...until about 9pm when we decided to go to bed and they got really painful and so I checked the time and noticed they were 10 min apart...so I waited and had a couple more then woke up robert to call his parents to come pick up Alexya and suddenly they were 5 min apart and we were like "crap we have to get to the hospital!" I went down to get in the car and then they were already coming 3 min apart! His dad got here and we took off to the hospital, which is luckily only 10 min away, and by the time I got inside to check in I was 1 min apart and I asked for an epidural and they laughed at me and said "sorry hunny, but you about to deliver your baby." I was already 6 cm and by the time they got me checked in and in the room I was at 9cm and started pushing. It took about 30 min to push him out and so he came out at 1:32am and I did it w/o the epidural which is insane to me. Something I never thought I would do in my life would be give birth and take the pain! So wow...thanks Sonny for coming so fast and thanks Robert for helping me focus through the pain! :)

Proud, exhausted and happy parents!

All cleaned up, healthy, adorable and ready to go home!
Thanks for everyone who called and/or texted good wishes! We are home and recovering and Alexya is getting to know her new brother.

The Countdown...& Announcement

2009-01-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a recent picture of me...no, not santa...with my huge belly. It's funny how I'm carrying him all in the front so it just sticks way way out and is hard to keep my balance sometimes. Also, if you had the stomach for it (figuratively speaking) I would put up pictures of my belly w/o a shirt and you could see that it looks like freddy crougar took his claws and scratched them down the front of my stomach leaving horrible ugly stretch marks! Whaaaa! :(.... Oh well, the price you pay for being the lucky one to carry the baby for 9 months.

Anyway, I'll try to stop whining...it's really all I do these days and so I was trying NOT to blog because I knew this would happen and you all would be like "shut up already you whiney chick" and stop reading it. So on the positive side of things :) big smiles :) I'm on the countdown and only have about 2 more weeks to go...if Sonny comes on time (hey what's up with you people that voted he's going to be late?? Shame shame! ). He's actually really been a sweet baby so far without putting me through all the vicious kicks and punches that I had to deal with with Alexya. His movements have been so soft and slow and if they are painful it's only because he doesn't have that much room and the poor guy needs to stretch out once in a while. He does, however, get the hiccups at least 2-5, yes 5 times a day!! Which I thought was so weird and not normal..but my doctor says it happens. I don't remember Alexya having them THAT much...she had them alot, but it was like 2-4 times a week. Oh well, he is definately different and I can't wait to see how he will be when he's on the outside!

Here are some of the pictures we took of Alexya's Christmas morning at home. She got a big dinosaur from Santa and not only can she ride on it, but as you can see she is incredibly strong and can also carry it! ;) She is just getting bigger and taller lately too and is learning a new word every day. We really have to be careful what we are saying now because she is just soaking up words like a sponge and repeating them throughout the day. It's actually really fun to try to figure out what she is saying...like a game show or something...she'll repeat a word over and over and you're like "what the heck are you saying??" and then you figure it out and get so excited like you just won the game! ...or maybe it's just like that to us since we are in lexy land.

Anyway, the last and most important thing I have to post is another exciting announcement...

So, you already know that my brother is engaged and going to be getting married in April to Andrea.
Also, my sister-in-law, Erica, is pregnant and expecting her baby girl, Kara, to be born in February.

Now, the announcement I've been waiting for and am so super excited to tell is that my dad has FINALLY proposed to his girlfriend of the past 9 years, Sushuma and they will be getting married in late July or early August this year! So we can officially now call her mom and call her sons, Chris and Daniel, our brothers (even though we've been considering them family for years...it will finally be all nice and official) :). YAY!
Tons of new family members are coming in 2009 so it IS a very very happy new year for us!

Merry Christmas 2008

2008-12-21T19:43:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from Alexya!
She got all dressed up in her new Christmas dress from Mimi. We were able to take a couple pictures of her in it before.....she attacked (and ate) the cat food and water dish and then we had to hang it out to dry. We celebrated early with my dad, my brother Caleb & Andrea (fiance), and my sisters Candice and Lauryn on Saturday. We had a great time and there was great food and music and gift opening. If I could change only one thing it would be that Santino wouldn't have beat me up the entire time. (5 more weeks and counting...).

Sorry, you can't really see the enormous bump on my stomach in this shot, but you can definately see that I'm exhausted...so that should count for something...at least Robert and Alexya look fabulous!

Alexya and Dada looking at family photos from the past.

Alexya, in new attire, opening her Holiday Barbie from auntie Candice. "ooooooooohhhhhhh pretty!"

Alexya's New Bunk Beds

2008-12-10T09:05:00.000-08:00

A Huge Thank You to everyone for the birthday gifts and donations toward Alexya's new bed! As you can see she loves it and is very excited about her new 'princess' themed room! Santino will now be inheriting her old room...which is perfect since it is 'Oakland A's' themed already. Of course, as you can see, Pooh, Dumbo and Care Bear are still very welcome in the princess room... ;)

2 Years Old!

2008-12-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from Alexya's birthday party/Sonny's baby shower. It was really fun and Lexy had a great time! It was at her favorite restarant "El Tapatio" so she was really comfortable and enjoyed the yummy yummy food and cake. Here's her birthday cake...which is a princess cake of course! Her favorite part was when everyone sang "happy birthday" to her...which of course she sang along to. So thank you to everyone that came and celebrated with us! :)

Here's Alexya putting up her princess stickers and teaching Isabel how to do it too!

Here's the cake monster! She didn't mess around with the cake....she ate the whole peice and even got some up her nose in the process!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

Here she is in her halloween costume...Tigger!

Ready for Trick o' Treating! She's going to go bouncy-bouncing up and down the street at grandma and papa's house tonight!

Here's the matching pumpkin that daddy carved for her! So now we have tigger and pooh!

The Back Up Costume...

2008-10-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is what Alexya has been wearing around the house for the past week...her back up costume, Princess Alexya. She found my lingerie drawer and picked out the one she liked the best...which is fine since none of them fit me anymore anyway..and now it's a beautiful dress! Daddy even added a towel around her shoulders as a cape to complete the royal ensemble.

Santino "Sonny" Update

2008-10-23T08:41:00.001-07:00

Since I always put up pics of Alexya and talk about her...I thought I should start getting used to the idea of sharing attention between both my daughter and son. So.....here's an update on Santino!

Unfortunately I don't have pics yet to put up, but I can tell you that he's a big boy! They had moved my original due date of Jan 26th up a week, based on his size....but then my doctor told me, "that's like saying every kid in kindergarten is this tall," so he moved it back. So that info combined with the fact that my stomach it the size of a truck already confirms it for me that he's going to be a big boy.

I'm only 6 months along and he is moving so much. Some days it's like he's trying to bust out of my belly he kicks and punches so hard! (I even get sore). Other days he's calm and I can feel him just exploring and gently pushing around (I love these days!). Also, when I lay on my back I can feel him better/stronger and even see his foot come sliding across my belly (which looks so weird to me still...like an alien trying to escape). Overall, he's very active so that's a good thing. My doc also said that usually with the second kid, they are more active for some reason...and that's good cause you wouldn't want it the other way around...

The other update with my pregnancy is that, besides being huge, I have been having contractions randomly...which freaked me out at first, but when I asked my doctor about it he had a logical explanation....drink more water. Apparently I'm dehydrated and not drinking enough water so ... bad mommy...drink more water! Also, I have to stop/cut back on picking up Alexya so much. Bending over is so hard with a huge belly and so I have to take it easy. That includes picking up all the crap on the floor around the house!(which is alot and harder to stop than it sounds).

The nice thing is that I have a husband who is working so hard to help take care of Alexya and me at the same time. He is doing a very good job of watching her while I work and when we go places so I don't have to chase her all over! He even lets me veg out and put my feet up while he takes Alexya outside to play or to the park. Honestly, he's the best and I can't imagine not having him around to help me, I'm so so so blessed.

Oh, and lastly, work related...as I'm sure most of you have heard on the news, Mervyns went bankrupt and so they are planning on closing their doors after the holidays. They are not who I work for, but they are my main account and so I'm unsure as to whether or not I will continue to have a job. I'm surprisingly calm and not stressed at all about this (well, after the initial news anyway, I ran upstairs and made a budget and felt better). We did it before and we could do it again....so whatever happens I'm ok with it. I just wanted to update you all so no one would worry.

It's sad news for them and for all the people that work at the headquarters, in the stores, and each vendor who has someone on their account, who will lose their jobs. But, it's not surprising that companies are going to fall during this economic period....and it's not like the government is going to give them a couple million dollar bailout since they aren't a bank or on wall street.

I am concentrating on the "everything happens for a reason" logic and focusing on all the positives I have in life right now....my husband, my daughter, my son coming soon, my close friends and family that all add up to make my life an extremely good one! :) Oops and you too toretto! :)

Alexya's Getting a Cousin!

2008-10-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Alexya is super excited to tell everyone that she is going to have a new cousin to play with and even better....it's going to be a GIRL! :() She is so happy because her auntie Erica is having a baby girl in February for her to play with. Now she will have a new baby boy brother and baby girl cousin to play with...lots of babies! :)

Congratulations Matt and Erica!

The End Of Summer 08

2008-09-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

Here's our water-baby enjoying a swim with Daddy in her hot tub/cold tub. This is a daily routine for these two and I'm not sure if it will continue into fall and then winter...but who knows...if the water is warm enough, I'm sure she'll be in there!

Alexya is getting very good at feeding herself now...well, I didn't say neat, but she can get it in there!

And here she is practicing blowing out the candles on mommy's birthday cake. She's getting ready for the main event two months from now...she doesn't want to disappoint anyone at her party. Hope you guys don't mind a little spit with your cake... ;)