Babies!

Today I am 17 going on 18 weeks pregnant and I felt the baby move for the first time!!!! So exciting!!! And just for fun here's a picture of me and one of my dear friends from elementary school. We are 1 week apart!

Restarting again....you know what that means!

Ok so obviously a year has passed once again since my last post. BUT with all the technology we have I am now paying from my phone as I hold my baby Zachy while he goes to sleep.

I am enjoying this for now because in a couple months I will be holding a new baby!!! Yes, we are pregnant with our third! We are due Feb.11, 2014. Of course I would love a little girl but we'll be just as excited for another little boy. We find out in the next three weeks!!!

My Lolo

This is going to be a different blog entry, not about our family and what we are up to, but more of a tribute to my Lolo.  I want to put in here some of the stuff I would have liked to say at his funeral.  There were things I wanted to say but I knew that there was no way that I would be able to do it because my emotions would take over and people would just be listening to me cry more than anything...but now it has been 2 months and although emotions are still raw for me I am glad that I can still have the chance to say what I wanted to say.

When I first heard from my mom that he had passed my first thoughts were that she was wrong...but she wasn't.  Then my my next thought was anger/regret because we had not visited him since we had gotten back from the cruise and I was planning on visiting him but he had just been released from the hospital the day before.  Then sadness and sorrow took over.  It is very had to lose a loved one...most of us have gone through it before but there is something about losing a grandparent that is different.  They were most likely your first babysitter, first person to give you candy and spoil you; they are also one of the first people to love you as much as your own parents, unconditionally.  I miss him very much still but I know that he is in a better place, especially because he is with the love of his life (other than all of us, his family, of course=)) Lola. I know he has been missing her for the past 11 years and now he gets to be with her.  Knowing this makes it that much easier to not have him here anymore.

Me, Lola, Beth and Lolo

Lolo and his grandkids at the Madrid house

 He was a very caring and loving man. He loved his family and he also loved God. He was very religious and a lot of my beliefs and introduction of Catholicism came from him and Lola.  His house was the first place I learned how to pray the rosary. He was always reminding us to pray and instilling in us how important our faith is. He was also always on us to have a good education!!!  I remember the first time I brought David to one of our family parties I could tell Lolo liked him a lot but I also remember him telling me..."but remember Katrina, school first!" =)   I am very lucky to have had the support from my own parents and all my family, like Lolo, to push me forward in life...I finished school and David was still around. By this time I know Lolo LOVED David because he would tell me and my mom!  Now it was " Katrina...when are you guys going to get married??" LOL So after getting engaged and a year later we got married right away it was "You guys should have babies now...why are you waiting?" and  "When are you going to have kids? I want to see them before I die..." And then we finally were pregnant with Luke and he was ECSTATIC!  Luke was born and he LOVED Lukey (and all his other great grandkids of course) Then 2 years later we had Zachary! He was so happy again! He loved fat boy Zach which means me bring me to my most recent memory of him.  Whenever he would see Zach he would say "I-sac Isac Isac!" and I would always correct him; "Lolo, his name is Zach, not Issac!" lol...then I didn't know if maybe he was saying "HI Zach" but it was just coming out I-sac...so we just let him be. =) I'm so happy that he got his wish and could meet our baby boys and I'm so glad they got to meet their Lolo and know him even if it was for a short time.  They will know that he loves them very much.  

Lolo and Lukey

Lolo and Zach aka "I-sac"

There are so many things that I will miss and always remember him for. I will always remember Lola and him at his Madrid house...so many wonderful memories there in San Francisco.  I think one of the main reasons I LOVE SF is because whenever we went it was to visit either Lolo and Lola or Nanay so I just automatically relate them to SF and it makes me happy.

 His love for the 49ers, his favorite cheese which we called "stinky cheese" that he would always have at his house, his house being 80 degrees no matter what the season (b/c he was always cold), his smile, him sitting in his chair and "watching" tv only to fall asleep lol and his favorite color yellow, just like me =)....but what I miss most is his hugs and laughs. I know that we will meet again but until then I will be missing these simple things. It will be hard this year knowing he won't be at our Christmas party making us get in a line to get his present from him and he won't be around to watch Niner games with anymore or see at church. Although I won't see him anymore....I will always remember his smile and his laugh and hugs and kisses.  I'm also really glad our family likes to take pictures (LOL) because now I have these to look at as well as all the memories I have  to remember him by. He lived a long and blessed life and has all of us to continue his legacy.  We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him.  I want to say so much more but can't find the words...what I mainly want to say is I am so lucky to have had him as my grandfather, I couldn't be happier and have asked for anyone better. Here are some of my favorite pictures with him.

Lolo was my date for a Father-Daughter Dance (since my dad had 3 girls he couldn't be all of our dates lol)

I got a camera for xmas and this one of the first pictures I took =)

Miggy, Lolo and David...his military boys

Dancing with Lolo at my wedding

Christmas 2010

Lolo with his Great grandkids Xmas 2010

Lolo with our family Halloween 2011

 I know he is watching down on us and I hope he knows how much he is missed and loved. I It's funny because today is Lola's Birthday (may 3rd) and I bet you they are sitting up there in heaven watching over us and having some of Lola's DELICIOUS mocha cake... Happy Birthday Lola!!! I'm glad you get to spend it with Lolo again.   I love you both and miss you very much!

"Let's Rewind" continued...Beginning of 2012

WARNING!!! PICTURE HEAVY...ESPECIALLY FEBRUARY (our cruise)

January came and went just like February and March.

JANUARY

The 2012 year started off pretty normal...we were getting ready to celebrate Lolo's 90th Birthday so we were all busy planning and getting everything ready for his big bash which was going to be a surprise.  Funny thing is the day we had reserved the hall ended up being the first playoff game for the 49ers!!!! Our whole family is HUGE die hard fans of the 49ers especially Lolo so we didn't know how we were even going to get Lolo to the party because he would want to watch the game...but we figured it out.  Everyone DVR'd the game and there was even a room next to our party room that was playing the game for those who wanted to watch.  Lolo was told that we were going to be taking family pictures so he needed to dress nicely and then after we take pictures we were going to someone's house to watch the game.

The colors were navy blue and yellow, his favorite color is yellow like me =) But we also incorporated the 49ers by  having table numbers be 49er players.

He arrived and was so surprised and sooo happy to see everyone!

Our family (minus David who was on a trip) and Lolo

The Whole Fam Bam with Lolo for his 90th birthday

 Everyone had such a great time and I really enjoyed planning this for Lolo, especially seeing how happy it made him! His favorite part he says was when all us grandkids did a special "flash mob" type of dance for him...sorry I don't have a video of that but it was his favorite part.  There was food, friend old and new, some he hadn't seen in almost 30 years, we had some singing and some dancing and I also made a slideshow for everyone to watch.  And of course we had some delicious cakes done! It was a great time. If you have a bout 18 minutes to spare you can check out his slideshow below:

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

After the party we all headed to our house to watch the 49er game that we all were trying to ignore the whole day...we ordered pizza and it was sooo much fun to watch the game together! What a perfect end to a perfect birthday party!

At our house watching the taped playoff game of the 49ers beating the Saints!

This month we as a family made a VERY big decision...we decided to bring in a wonderful addition to our growing family. We got a yellow lab/mix puppy and named her Zooey.  Here she is when she was only 8 weeks old!!!

Zooey puppy

She is sooo adorable and we love her already...She is great with the boys and Luke is loving her!

Luke and Zooey

Zachary and Zooey

FEBRUARY

At the Happiest Place on Earth!

We were looking forward to February because my cousin Jassy was going to be having her 1st baby and this was when our family would be embarking on our very first cruise.  My mom and dad are becoming pros a crusing around the world and this month they would be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. So...they decided they wanted all of us to go on a cruise together. So we all booked a 7-day Mexican Riviera Cruise on Carnival for the 1st week of February.  

BUT...first things first, since we were embarking from Long Beach we got there a day or 2 early and decided to take the boys to Disneyland!!! We had a great time as always, Luke was loving the Buzz ride and the rocket ship ride. 

After Disneyland we went back to the hotel and rested b/c we had to get to Long Beach by 12pm to check in and get on the ship.  The Fun Ship was going to stop 2 days in Cabo San Lucas and 1 day in Puerto Vallarta.  I was excited for Puerta Vallarta because we were going to be going on a Zipline Excursion and my parents were going to watch the boys.

We got to the port and met my family. I was actually surprised at how organized they were.  We unloaded the van and got started on our adventure! While our rooms were getting ready we walked around the ship to check everything out.

Everyone that came on the cruise (missing the Siruno Family =( )

Zachy wanting some of Auntie Jacquie's drink...

This was taken from Deck 10 looking down on Deck 9, The Lido deck.

 After walking around we finally were able to check in to our rooms...Here is Zachey and Lukey checking out the room.

This was Luke's favorite part of the room....THE WINDOW!

Here we are checking out the balcony of Mama, Papa and Jaime's room.

The first 2 days were "fun days at sea" so we got to explore what they had to offer on the ship. We checked out the Trivia contests they had, Camp Carnival which was a place for kids (but of course Luke didn't want to stay there...lol), we ATE a lot and just had a good time. 

Here is one of our towel animals which we would come home to after a day out and about.

The boys hanging out in the window in our room.

During the times at sea, Luke discovered the ARCADE!
Here he is playing air hockey with hid Daddy.

My baby boy is actually pretty good at this game!

Here's papa being a dork and pretending to play DDR!

 We had an early seating for dining, but it wasn't early enough for my babies b/c every night either one or both were so tired and we would have a sleeping baby at the table...LOL Here are my handsome boys during one of the Formal Nights on the ship.

My big 2 year old Lukey

My 6 month old Zachary

 The first day at Cabo we took the Tender out from the boat.  There was actually 2 cruise ships there as you can see...

 We got off at the pier and they realized we had to actually walk to the beach. We thought it would be fine so we dismissed all the vendors trying to get us to ride their Water Taxi's..after about 30 minutes in the hot sun we were regretting it...LOL.  We FINALLY got to the beach and found a cabana from a hotel on the beach that we could "rent" out for the day.  It was great b/c we had a great view of our ship and the beach. We played and hung out there for the rest of the day. The 2nd day of Cabo we just went shopping since we were there for a shorter day.

David and I and the Carnival Splendor

With our babies in Cabo San Lucas and the "big big boat" in the background

My happy boy Zachey hanging out in the shade.

Me with one of our bargains on the beach.

My big boy Lukey and his Daddy

 Our next stop was Puerta Vallarta! I was nervous and excited for this day because I couldn't wait to finally be able to go Zip lining!!! We had wanted to go on our honeymoon but our honeymoon ended up turning into a babymoon so I wasn't able to do crazy things like that...LOL I was nervous b/c I would be leaving the boys for 6-7 hours with my parents...I think it was probably harder on me than them. But my poor parents had a hard time with Zachary b/c of all the days on the boat that was the day his first tooth decided to break through so he was a little cranky to say the least. 

The excursion we took had EVERYTHING:

1.A speedboat

Our view of our boat as we took the speedboat out about 20 minutes away.

 2. We rode a 4x4

Joston, Ana and Jacqueline on the 4x4

Me, David, Jaime and James

Our group with the 4x4 we took

 3. Riding on Mules

4. Some Hiking

5. Zip lining!!!

Here I am on my first ever zip line!

6. Rappeling down a waterfall

David showing his skills

7. Free falling by a water fall

And I'm freeeeeeee....free fallin'...lol

8. falling in a COLD, natural river

9. and finally Zip Lining Racing

obviously David won this one...

Our awesome excursion group 

We had a blast!!! Check out the rest of the pictures here of everyone if you're interested.  After we got back from the trip we stopped to take a picture in front of the ship again...then we saw our BABIES!!! Zachary was soooo happy and Lukey too of course!

.

We went back on the ship and had dinner and got dressed. Then we went out one last time to some of the try out are bartering skills. We also took one last family picture before heading back on the boat.

Our family in Puerta Vallarta

That night after we got back to the ship we did some exploring and then went to bed. The next couple days were fun days at sea. We mostly did what we did in the beginning, ate, hung out ,watched shows and played trivia! We actually won the Scattegories trivia!

Me and my boys

Half of our team during the Scattegories trivia

We won!

 The last day on the ship we did some things at Camp Carnival with Lukey. He got to make a stuffed animal so he decided to make a dog and we bought him a pirate outfit. He had fun stuffing him up and dressing him up.

Luke in our room watching a movie with his new Pirate Pup!

 We really enjoyed our trip and was sad to see it end...but it was time to say good bye to our big big boat and our sea legs and get back to land.

Our bed on the last night.

We were very happy to get home because as soon as we left for the cruise Jassy had her baby girl Elena!!! She was born on Feb. 3rd and we were sooooo excited to meet her! Also we would be picking up our puppy Zooey too! The first thing we did was meet baby Elena and see how Jassy was doing...she was so small...she weighed 7lbs 3oz.

Here is HUGE Zachary next to his tiny cousin baby Elena

Elena and me!

 And of course, the newest member of our family....ZOOEY!!! Here she is her first day at home in her crate. Isn't she adorable!?

Zooey Doggie!

Along with all these fun times and new happenings this month we also had something not so fun happen.  A couple days after we got back home from our cruise my Lolo passed away. He passed away on February 16th and it was one of the saddest days of my life.  I will write more about this in a special post just for him. The rest of February and even most of March kind of went by in a blur to be honest. 

MARCH

Like I was saying, March went by quickly and we spent most of the time at home recuperating from everything that had gone on.  Zachary was growing quickly and he turned 7 months this month! He had both of his bottom teeth in and was getting in his top teeth. He LOVES to eat and started eating a litte bit of table foods. Luke is also talking sooo much now and his vocabulary is growing daily! I swear he says something new everyday that I hadn't heard him say before.  Every morning after Zachey's morning nap Luke will go in and "get him", which pretty much means he will climb into his crib and play/hangout with Zachey for a couple minutes. And Zooey is adjusting to our family very well. She is about pretty much housebroken and is learning her place in the family. She is hyper, just like and puppy/toddler would be but she is also very calm for a puppy...if that makes any sense. Either way she is a doll and we love her!

Boys hanging out 

Zachey and his 2 bottom teeth!

Zooey is getting bigger and bigger everyday!!!

 Luke also hit another big milestone this month...he watched TOP GUN for the first time. David was so excited to have him watch it....surprisingly he LOVED it!!! Well, he loved the beginning and just the flying parts...he didn't really watch the whole movie but would pay attention when the flying scenes were taking place. Now every once in a while you will hear his cute little voice singing "HIGHWAY TO THE DANGER ZONE..."  LOL I love it!

Daddy and Lukey watching TOP GUN!

 We also saw baby Elena and baby Keahi (our good friend Darelee's baby)! They are actually only 2 days apart!

Visiting Darel and Keahi

 I just love this picture of the 3 of them...they come in different sizes: small, medium and large. Love these kids!

Elena- 1.5 months, Zachary- 7.5 months, Luke- 2 years and 5 months.

Unfortunately we had more sad news this month as well...one of our best friends mom passed away of cancer.  Her mom was always so wonderful to us whenever we would visit.  They treated us like family and we got to know her really well.  We drove down to SoCal to be with her and her family during this sorrowful time. We know she is in a better place and is feeling no more pain but of course no one wanted to see her go.

While down in So Cal we took a short trip to Disneyland but we got rained out. The boys still had a great time of course =)

Our family and the one and only Mickey Mouse

Our family with Minnie Mouse

my funny boy Lukey trying to stay dry...but wanting to see out...

My loves =)

I think I'm all caught up! If you are still reading...thanks for taking the time out to check out our family's happenings! Until I write again...