Where does the time go?

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted............sorry! Check out these pictures to see what we've been up to lately!

Much to our relief, we discovered the boys are Dodger fans. We put them on their favorite play mat and instead of fixating their eyes on the singing sun they watched James Loney hit a home run! True Blue fans!

"I can fly!" says a happy Nico.

Blake chillin' on the boppy. He loves to be naked and yes, he is also getting a double chin! Way to grow Blakey!

Guapo watching over the boys! Good dog!

Can they get much cuter than that??

Happy Play Time

I recently discovered that my old camera has a video function. I wish I would have realized that a long time ago! Unfortunately it does not have sound, but here you can see the boys groovin' to the tunes of Mr. Sun. It's so sad there is no sound because Blake was chattering away and Nico let out a major "Walter" (as my dad likes to call them) at the end.

The last few weeks the boys have been keeping us laughing! Blake goes from protesting not being held to telling you thank you once you pick him up. Nico is going to be our soccer player as you can see in the video, he likes to kick!

I'll have to post more later as I can barely keep my eyes open right now. Nico likes to wake mommy up around the 4:30/5:00 mark...............which isn't too long from now!

I hope you are all well!

Love, Rebeca

You know you are a mom when............

• When shopping at the grocery store you rock the cart back and forth even though there is no baby with you.
• You take the long way home to avoid red lights just to keep the babies sleeping.
• Hearing other babies crying makes you want to run the other direction.

Okay, I know there are several more, but that's what I've come up with for this week.

Life here is the same- the days all blend together and the only way I know what day it is is if I am writing a check or if Jeff has a shoot. The boys are getting big and eating ALL the time! Nico has moved into a big boy bottle. I am still pumping for them so they get about half breast milk and half formula. I also nurse from time to time.

Blake had a big trip to see Dr. Pecht last week. He has been quite fussy for a while and we were at our wit's end. He has been officially diagnosed as "colicky". Jeff has been intending to write a post dedicated to this topic as he finds it amusing. I'll leave it at that for now!

Off to enjoy my four hours of sleep (fingers crossed I get that many!)- enjoy the pictures from our Mother's Day shoot.

Nicolas Riley

Blake Taylor

Our Two Beautiful Boys

Love to all- Rebeca

Showered with Love

Mother, Mom, Mama, mommy, mum: The best title in the world. Yes, it really is the hardest job and it's underpaid, underappreciated, etc, etc........ My first Mother's Day was not too out of the ordinary. I washed bottles, did dishes, laundry, tried to appease crying babies...yada, yada. I started to get upset that this day wasn't more exciting or special. Then I took a step back and realized what a special gift I have been given- two beautiful baby boys. I have dreamed of being a mom forever and because of them, I GET to celebrate this day.

We did manage to take a nice, long walk with the dogs and Jeff made me a delicious french toast breakfast. I also got lots of Blakey and Nico smiles, cuddles and coos. We pulled off a photo shoot in the family room. From start to finish it lasted 20 minutes before we had screaming babies. Jeff is working on those pictures so these will have to do for now.............

"Can't you see I am trying to sleep?"

Usually it's Blake with his hands by his face. This time it was Nico.

"I love my ocean bouncy seat....and I love my mommy!"

Thanks Nico, I love you too!

Dad on double duty........OMG, he is multitasking!!

Can't you two cooperate for the camera?

"Mom, did you have to show off my bald head?!"

Sorry Blakey, you looked too cute sleeping away! I couldn't resist!

"I LOVE going for walks!"

Big Boy Blakey in his carseat.

The Showering of Love Continues..........

A HUGE thank you to my sister Teresa and my mom for throwing me a beautiful shower. It was so nice to officially welcome the boys to the family. Also, a big thank you to Jennifer, Margarita and Paris for contributing.........

Paris, who was the belly dancer at our wedding and my Labor and Delivery nurse, made the cakes for the shower. (yes, she is mutlitalented!)

We are looking forward to more baby celebrations in the coming months!

Hugs and Kisses to all- especially all of the moms out there. We are one tough breed!

Love, Rebeca

My First Mother's Day

Hello Family and Friends-
Things over here continue to be busy and all of a sudden my first Mother's Day is upon me. Sad but true, the only thing I really want is to get some sleep!!

I had a "first time mom" moment the other day that I thought I would share with you all. I can laugh now and I hope you all get a chuckle out of it as well.

It was time for the weekly trip to Trader Joe's so I courageously buckled up Nico in his car seat and off we went. This was the first time that I was attempting a trip to the grocery store with a baby. As I parked the car, I began to realize that I wasn't quite sure how to place the car seat in the shopping cart. Nico was being a good boy and had fallen asleep but I knew that if we didn't keep moving he would wake up. So I got him out of the car and found a cart that was close by. I set the car seat into the cart. I had seen plenty of moms shopping peacefully with their babies before so I figured the placement of the car seat would be so simple. WRONG! I couldn't figure out how to securely set the seat into the cart. As I am struggling to figure it out, I begin to feel like a complete idiot. Nico, of course, is starting to wake up. Okay, I need help, quick. I get out my cell phone and call Tami. It's 5 of 5. Call Tami at work. Voicemail. Call Tami on cell phone. Voicemail. Call Tami at home............You guessed it, voicemail. So there I am, in the middle of the parking lot, vigorously rocking Nicolas back and forth with one hand and desperately calling for help with the other hand. I look up and realize that there is a man on his cell phone right in front of me laughing and giggling. Not only that but some lady thinks it would be okay to try and pull into the spot that I was occupying with my cart and car seat. Hello. Can't you see I have a baby and I'm having issues??She apparently didn't care and was annoyed at me for getting in her way.......meanwhile there were several vacant parking spots nearby.

Anyways, I never figured out how to securely place the car seat on the cart so I abandoned it. Feeling totally humiliated, I contemplated turning around and going home. No, can't do that.........need food! So I took out the good ol' double stroller. As I walked into Trader Joe's I wondered how in the world I would fit a week's worth of groceries into a little basket and my 2 reusable bags. Miraculously, I got almost everything on the list and my biceps got a really good workout! I happened to run into a lady who had successfully placed her baby's car seat on the cart. (or so I thought) I swallowed my pride and asked her how she did it. As she answered, I could tell she had been under quite a bit of stress with this task as well! She wasn't even a first time mom! She had three little ones with her and she admitted she still couldn't figure out how to do it! Man, did I feel better after talking to that lady......Thank you, lady at Trader Joe's with three adorable boys!

On a side note, Nico loved being at the store. He sucked on his paci with his eyes open wide taking in all of the new sights and sounds. He behaved himself until we got to the checkout line, which was fairly long. He began to cry and it was quite amusing watching the lady behind me try to make silly faces at him as I ran to get some 2 Buck Chuck.

As I walked out of the store with almost all of the food I had come for I realized that I gained all of the confidence back that I had left in the parking lot!

A friend emailed me this video............I got a good laugh out of it...........I'll take all the props I can get at this point!

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=apNguXw4GN7OhCVcagpNzzUyMzk2OTQ-&referred_by=15465307-srb1Yyx&p=moveon

Hugs and more pictures to come soon-
Rebeca

Nicolas Riley

I managed to find the time to replace the batteries in my camera today.....................

Here's Nico!
AKA: Chunky Monkey, Mr. Blue Eyes, Big Boy, Baldy (although his hair has started to grow back!), Snuggle Bunny and I'm sure many more that are escaping me at this moment.

Guapo checking up on the cutie pie.

"Okay mom, here's a little smile for the camera."

"Wee, I love sitting like a big boy! Daddy says I'm really strong and my belly is really big."


How many chins can you count?

So that's our Mr. Nicolas. Oh, I should have added McDrooly. He has recently started drooling all the time- worse than Bella at dinnertime!

Not much new to report over here. Things are going okay. The boys are still waking every 3-4 hours around the clock to eat. They are quickly outgrowing their clothes!

Jeff had a wedding on Saturday and I had some wonderful "surrogate" grandmas come help. A HUGE thank you to Jennifer for not only cleaning the kitchen, but ordering me out of the house to have some "me" time. It was great and we finally have a calendar for 2009! I guess the year can begin now!

Jeff and I worked a Bridal Show on Sunday so my mom and sister came over to watch the boys. Oh, Andrew helped take care of them too! Blake was Mr. Happy with Teresa, giving her all kinds of smiles and giggles!

I hope you are all well! I can't believe it is almost May already and the boys will be 12 weeks old on Thursday. We are looking forward to the coming months as we will be introducing the boys to new friends and family members now that cold season is over and traveling is a bit easier!

Love to all,

Rebeca

Blake Taylor

As I was looking through recent pictures that I've taken around the house, I realized that they have all been of Blake! So he will get his own blog entry and Nico's will be next!

Caught cat napping!

Close up. Blake has really beautiful auburn colored hair. It is actually the same color that my hair was as a baby. My mom calls him the Irish child!

The last few mornings, Blake has decided that he loves to get changed. In fact, he loves it so much I have gotten a few giggles and lots of smiles. Of course as soon as the camera comes out, he got shy. Here he is either just beginning to smile or finishing a smile. Definitely a fleeting moment that I am determined to capture eventually.

Uh oh- feeding time!
Love, Rebeca

Feeling Better....................

Hi Everybody-
We are feeling better over here, thank goodness! Jeff and I have both managed to get 4-5 hour chunks of sleep (not at the same time :( ) and that makes a HUGE difference.

After too many crowded nights in the cradle, the boys let us know that they were ready to sleep in their own room in their big boy crib. So Jeff and I spent Sunday getting the room straightened up and then we went out and bought a video monitor. What a cool invention! Now instead of watching television, we have our own "reality show" to entertain us into the wee hours of the morning!

They have done great in their crib, which they are sharing for now. In fact Blake, who has been fussy during the day lately, took a 3 hour nap all by himself yesterday. Unfortunately, Nicolas, who normally naps easily, was having an "off" day so I wasn't able to get much done while Blake was napping.

The boys sleep in a "sleep positioner". It is supposed to keep them from rolling over and moving around too much. People ask us all the time if we think they are cognizant of one another. While I was sure that they were, I didn't have any "proof" until yesterday. When we put them down in their crib, they are completely parallel to each other. When they wake up, we find them angled in towards each other! Check out the pictures!

Sweet dreams!

Nap time from yesterday

This picture was actually taken this morning, but this is how we find them when they wake up.

(They also both woke up without their left sock.)

Hopefully they will continue to enjoy sleeping in their new bed. It feels weird not having them in the bedroom with us but we realize that they gotta grow up sometime!

Hope you are all well and thanks to the supportive messages and phone calls.

Love, Rebeca