Random Stuff

Well we are really bored so I thought that I would just post some random pics. Todd is busy trying to play X-box and when I say trying I really mean it. He is doing ok I guess. I should be putting laundry away but I really don't want to so instead I am doing this and it is much better.


These are some of my favorites because Elena looks like raspberry!



My cousin bought Elena this Lion when they came to visit over the Thanksgiving break. When Elena saw it she was hugging it and giving it kisses so obviously she just loved it!

This is what happens when you give a toddler a pen. It took a while for it to fade even after a couple of baths!

I have many more random pictures so I think I will do part two tomorrow.

~BLUSHING!~

I feel a little embarrased about the nice things Lynda said. But having said that, I think that all wives should be spoiled and treated like princesses. I don't make any big sacrifices or anything, they are just little things but they seem to mean a lot to Lynda so I keep doing them.

One of the things I love is when Lynda asks me what I want for a meal. Sometimes I don't really have a preference but she tries her best to make what sounds good to me. I get my way a lot. When we watch TV she often lets me pick the show except when Law and Order SVU new episodes come on. ; )

She is very patient with me. We have never had a real argument and I think it's mainly because she patiently lets me explain my point of view or whatever it takes to calm the situation down. Sometimes I have a hard time explaining things but she gives me to time think it through and put it into words that makes sense to normal people.

I love how Lynda puts the laundry away because she knows I hate it. I don't mind washing it, but the putting it up parts sucks. I love how she mops the floor (which I never do) and does the dishes most of the time. I try to do my share of work around the house....why not? We both have full-time jobs....but she ends up doing the greater part and I appreciate it.

I love how Lynda likes to snuggle on the couch when we watch TV. The caviat is that I usually end up tickling her back/neck, but I like it alot when she leans over onto my shoulder or lies down on my lap.j

Lynda does so many sweet things for me. I'm truly a blessed (and spoiled) man who is just smart enough to realize how lucky he is to have a woman like Lynda. I love you, Babe!!

Thanks for the Little Things

I would like to thank my wonderful husband for all the little things he does for me (which to me are big)! Last night I had mentioned that my car needed gas and he went out in the freezing cold to put gas in it for me. How sweet is that!? I certainly didn't want to do it last night....I didn't even want to do it yesterday in the day when I went out to grab something for lunch. Just thinking about standing out there in the cold makes me cold! I know I am spoiled, I didn't put gas in my car for about 2 whole years because Todd would always do it for me. Especially since we would ride around together everywhere.



Also, I had mentioned that I am always freezing at work and he suggested that I take the extra space heater we have, I told him it was a good idea. He went ahead and checked it out to make sure that it still worked and he also got all the yuckies out if it so that it wouldn't overheat then he put it by the door so that I wouldn't forget it today. I thought that was just the sweetest!



In the mornings he would always go in to use the bathroom first before I would get in the shower and he would turn on the space heater so that when I would go in for my shower it would start getting warm in the bathroom. I loved that! He still does it but for himself because now he showers first (in case you were wondering).



There really is a lot he does for me, like when my legs get really achy he will rub them for me. When we are just relaxing on the couch he will tickle my back or my neck....oh it is so relaxing! Sometimes I will forget something I left downstairs and he will run and get it for me even if he just barely came from downstairs. He still opens the car door, well any door really. One of my favorite things is that when we go out to get groceries he will start the car and have me get in so that I can warm up and he will put all the groceries in the car.



I could probably go on and on with so many things he does for me! Such little things that people take for granted and I can admit that I probably don't thank him enough.

Thanks babe for everything you do for me.....big or small!! I love you!!!

Again!

Once again our Elenita has ear infections! She started a cold about Friday night so I thought to myself "I'm sure she has an ear infection". I called this morning to make an appointment and we were able to get in at 10:50am. As soon as we went into the exam room Elena started crying and then when she saw the doc she really started to cry. He checked her ears (she really put up a good fight) and he said she had the beginnings of an ear infection. I knew it!

I know what you are thinking....and yes she just had one not too long ago. In fact, she had one last month and the month before and many more before that. I asked the doc if she would need to get tubes and he said that he wanted to see her in 3 weeks to do some tests.

In the meantime, we get the antibiotics and hopefully get rid of the infection fast.

Pain!

Just so everyone knows, I have had pain since about 8 weeks pregnant. What kind of pain you ask? Well I call it crotch pain and I know there is a real name for it but I don't want to look it up right now. Basically it hurts to walk or if I put all my weight on one leg especially the right one and to shift my legs while I am laying down. For some reason it doesn't hurt to go up and down stairs which is really good because I have to go up and down a lot of stairs at work and at home.

I had this same pain when I was pregnant with Elena but it didn't start until I was really getting big and right now I am barely showing and the pain is so much worse than last time. I talked to my doc about it and he thought it was really strange that it has started so early. He suggested light exercise like swimming and stretching. I would like to do the swimming and there is an indoor swimming pool at Comfort Inn but I need to find out how much they charge. The doc also said that if those things don't help that he might have to send me to physical therapy. I don't think he really understand where it hurts and it is really hard to explain.

I am really worried that it will just get worse and worse, then what? How will I do my everyday things? Maybe I will have to go to work in a wheel chair or something!

Have you Heard?

Christopher is now living with us! The poor kid has been wanting to move in with us pretty much ever since they moved to Smithfield. It will be two years in March since they moved away. We figured he would get used to life up there after a while as he made new friends but he just didn't like it at all. Later on he started taking Tae Kwon Do (sp?) classes and then we for sure thought he would just be happy with that. Nope. He had it in his head that he would some day come and live with us.

Todd had told him that we would make it happen for him when he turned 14, which is in February. He had made a comment to Shannon las week that he was moving and of course she went and asked their mom if it was true. A few minutes later she comes back to him to tell him that he is not moving and from there it was a big explosion. Basically their mom told him "pack you stuff, you are leaving next week". He certainly didn't hold back one bit because he started packing immediately.

It was hard mainly because it really wasn't much notice for the girls to accept the fact that he was moving and that they wouldn't get to see much of him and it was also hard for us because we weren't ready for him....school, a bedroom, nothing really. Well we made it happen for him and we just hope that he is happier here living with us and being with his childhood friends.

Appointment

I had my second prenatal appointment today at 5:20pm so it was very convenient. We got to hear the heart beat! It was awesome! The nurse said the HR was at 162 but we think she did the math wrong we think it was higher than that. We were happy to hear that heart beat, I was nervous about it....you just never really know what is going on. I was nervous when they were checking for Elena's hear beat too. It is something you are anxious to hear because once you hear it you feel so much better and it makes you feel like all is well.

I will have the next appointment December 18th!

Just in case!

Just in case you haven't heard.....I AM PREGNANT! I am at 9 weeks and things seem to be going well so far. I had to make an early prenatal appointment because of my thyroid disease but it seems to be doing well. I will have my next prenatal appointment on the 20th. It was sort of the same as when I got pregnant with Elena. I thought to myself "oh, this might take a while" but, nope.


The baby is due June 17 and Elena will be just two months shy of being 2 1/2 years old. I have been feeling fine but a few weeks ago I was pretty nauseous and nothing sounded good to eat but V8...maybe it is a sign that we will be having a boy. Either way I will be happy!

Daddy.....again!

We were planning to share our good news with the fam over the Thanksgiving break but we quickly learned a valuable lesson: don't tell anyone until you're ready to tell everyone! Anyway, it leaked a bit and about half of the family knows so here you go...now everyone knows! : )

We are really excited about this new little one that is coming our way. I have felt for a long time that we would have a little boy, but I'm not betting any money on it. I could be wrong and we'll need every red cent when the new little one gets here.

Life is going to get crazy. Elena could still be in diapers when the baby comes and both will go to daycare for who-knows-how-long. One day Lynda will be home with the babies and that will make things much simpler. Until then we'll enjoy our little ones and make a million happy memories!

Anniversary!

Yesterday was our 3 year anniversary! I can't believe it has been 3 years already! We went out to Macaroni Grill for dinner we had Elena with us because we didn't have a sitter. The food was delicious and Elena enjoyed coloring and eating too. Afterwards we went to do a little shopping mostly looking for a winter coat and snow pants for Elena but what we liked wasn't available in her size.....I was annoyed. We didn't get home too late but I felt like we had been running around all day! I was so exhausted!

It has been 3 great years! Todd is the greatest in all the world and I don't deserve him. I am grateful to have found such a wonderful man. I love you Todd!!!

Two Sweet Girls!

My brother and his sweet little daughter were in town a couple of weeks ago. We haven't seen them since May and Aubrianna was just 7 months old, she just turned one October 9th. When I went over to my parents to see them I saw Aubrianna and I started crying....I just hadn't seen her in such a long time and she was so big! I only got to see her in videos from cell phones but that just isn't the same as in person.

I was worried that Elena would be jealous but she recognized her from photos that we were always pointing out and she said "baby, Abianna". She immediately wanted to play with her! We would tell Elena to give Aubrianna hugs and she would, she would also give her besitos (little kisses). It was so sweet! They played well but once in a while Aubri would get mad and try and take things away....it was pretty funny.

The Monday after they came my sister calls me at work and asked if my mom had talked to me about getting pictures of the girls together. I told her that she never mentioned anything to me about it. So then we have to hurry and make plans because they were only going to be here for about at week. My sister made an appointment for Wednesday so then of course we had to go find outfits for them. We found these really cute outfits and some shoes and we were all set.....or so we thought. Tuesday I decided I should try the clothes on Elena and well the pants were too small, there was no way we were going to find another outfit on such short notice. It was a good thing that they had these other matching pants that sort of went with the tops so it was all good.

Here are the pictures!!


This one is my favorite! We were telling Elena to give Aubri hugs and this is what she did.

This one is so cute, it is like Aubri is looking at Elena and saying "what are you talking about?"Something is really funny. I think they just really like the little sofa.


In this one you can see her two bottom front teeth....so cute!You can see a tear in her eye, she was crying because her daddy was like 5 feet away.



I think she is still laughing about the little sofa.

She was startled by the flash.

In this one too.

The girl just had to get a shot of her eyelashes!

So sweet!

Sicky Girl

Once again Elena has ear infections and as usual the left one is worse than the right one. Her cold started about Tuesday and a couple of nights after that she would wake up crying during the night. She would also try to avoid going to bed at all costs probably because being busy with other things kept her mind off of the pain.

Yesterday I picked her up early from day care and made an appointment at the clinic because I just knew something was up. The doc seemed shocked about how bad the infection was. He prescribed some antibiotics and ear drops. While we were there we had them give her a flu shot. She did not like that at all! She cried all the way home, I think she was mostly mad that they put a band-aid on her ( she hates them).

Her appointment was at 6:10 and we didn't get home until about 8:00! Todd ran to Wal-mart to get her meds while I got her in her jammies and gave her some milk. Every now and again she would start to cry. I called my family to let them know what was going on and I was talking to my dad so I had him talk to her to see if she would calm down. At first she didn't want to until I told her it was Tata then she was all for it. She had the biggest smile on her face!

Before bed we gave her the meds including some Tylenol. She slept so well last night and woke up in a great mood.....so did we.

Here are some pictures!

She loves to wear my shoes!



She fell asleep with her sunglasses on!

Here she is cleaning up the floor.....what a good helper!

Tragedy

Friday I learned that one of my friends from High School lost a son on Monday. My friend Amanda called me in the morning and had asked me if I had talked to Mandy Lately. I said "not recently, why what's going on?" I could tell something was strange because she was talking in a soft quiet voice. She said "Mandy's son got hit by a car and I think he died." All I could say was "WHAT!?" She told me that her mom had found out but didn't know all the details. I was just freaked out!

I had just gotten back in touch with Mandy after so many years, the last time I saw her was when her daughter was about 18 months old and she is now 7. I got a letter from her one day, somehow she was able to find me by my married name. In the letter she told me she was living in Texas and had two other kids. I was so happy to hear from her! I replied to her letter and also sent her an E-mail to the address she gave me but I never got a response. Months past and I just wondered why she never replied then one day one of my cousins invited me to join Facebook. I didn't really know much about it but I did a search on people who went to the High School I went to and there she was. I immediately sent her a message and she finally replied. We were both really excited and we E-mailed back and forth, she was now living in New Mexico she said she didn't really like it there and that she had lived there once before. In the last message I sent her I gave her my number so that she could call me. That was September 3rd.

After Amanda called and told me about the tragedy....I just kept thinking about what she is going through. I was crying on and off at work, I just felt so horrible. I wanted to know when it happened so I did a search on the internet and I found his obituary....he was only 3 years old and he was going to be 4 this month. I cannot imagine what a nightmare it would be to lose a child, the mere thought of it brings me to tears.

I wanted to call Mandy but when I got home I realized that I didn't have her number. I tried to get a hold of my other friend so I could get the number from her but, nothing.

This morning the first thing that popped in my head was "Mandy is burying her child today." Even as I type I am trying to hold back tears....but it is not working.

I will try to get a hold of her on Monday....I don't know what to say but I do want to let her know that she has a friend to talk to and that even though I am so far away I will do my best to help her with whatever she needs.

Brenton "Monkey" Andrade
(October 28, 2004 - September 29, 2008)

Services are scheduled at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, October 4, at Trinity Temple Assembly of God for Brenton Jade Andrade of Artesia, New Mexico.

Brenton Andrade, 3, died Monday, September 29, 2008 at Artesia General Hospital Emergency Room.

Brenton was born October 28, 2004 in Roswell, N.M.

Survivors include his parents Andrew and MandyJo Andrade of the family home; sister Rakayla Andrade of Artesia; brother Dominic Andrade of Artesia.

Great Day!

It was just a normal boring Friday day at work, sitting staring at my computer not wanting to do the small tasks I had to do. Suddenly the mail delivery lady comes into my office (which never happens) and she asks me "Are you Lynda?" I said yes with a puzzled look on my face. She then hands me a long box and then I notice that on the box there is a picture of flowers. You guessed it.....I got ROSES! I was totally surprised!! They were beautiful! Why did I get roses you ask? Well according to the card that came with it "Just cuz XOXO - Todd" How sweet is that?! That made my day, in fact, it made my week.


I had to take as many angles as possible to show just how beautiful they are! I don't know how to arrange them so this is the best I could do.

Picture Day!

We had picture day on Sunday! My sister wants to get started in photography and I told her she should practice by doing our family pictures and she agreed to do it. We just did the three of us for now, we will have to do some with all of us another day. I had Elena's hair all cute but she got mad because she fell so she took it out on her cute hair so we had to just do something quick style. Also one of her eyes was irritated so you can tell in some of the pictures but overall I think they look pretty good.

This one is my favorite....I think.

Here we are trying not to laugh because Elena kept saying "nooo" every time my sister would count to three in Spanish to take the picture. We have no idea why she was doing it but it was so funny.


This is just cute!
Todd kept forgetting to take off his glasses...
This one is so cute too!
This one is one of the first ones, you can tell that we aren't really comfortable yet.
Same with this one.
I think this one is cute too.
I like Todd and Elena in this one.
Elena didn't really want to sit there too long.

She is one funny girl!
We still have to crop the pictures and all that good stuff. Then we will send some off to our families!