New year, new beginnings...

2011 didn't end the way I had planned. Sure, we had a "nice" Christmas since we have a super fun and bubbly 2 1/2 year old. But it wasn't the same. We lost my Uncle Fred on December 23 to heart failure possibly from an unknown hernia that may have put toxins in his blood stream. It was sudden and it was shocking. It was so hard to see my Aunt Georgine the next day when it is supposed to be the happiest time of the year. And knowing her pain had only begun made it worse. I never thought I'd take losing my uncle so hard-but he's been around me my entire life. He was the best husband for my aunt-he was a great brother in law to my parents. It still breaks my heart.

A week later we lost Sean's grandma. We had time to know it was coming but it was fast nonetheless. She was 90 and we could all tell she "wanted to go" so to speak. So her funeral was different. There was a full life to be celebrated even though of course it's always sad to lose something so important in the family.

Oh, then the rat...yes, a rat in our home. Long story short he/she snuck in our home and took over our life. Seriously. I was 8 months pregnant and nesting and all I wanted was to be home but we luckily had a clean place to stay-Sean's parents' home in Arcadia. So that was rough waiting for it to be caught, then having to practically sterilize our entire home after.

So here we are, 2012 and even though it didn't start out as I wanted, I have hope for a better year. Pretty soon we will welcome baby Brayden into our family. I pray and claim his safe delivery and perfect health. I look forward to celebrating my sweet Matthew turning 3! (Cannot.believe.it). I look forward to the spring and all the renewal that comes with it. I am excited to have my boys and have my full family. I am also really looking forward to exercising again and getting back to dance. :)

So here I am, 35 weeks pregnant and getting more tired everyday. Oh, this is just the beginning! :)

Update!

Before I get to the many many things I have to talk about, I need to brief myself on what has been going on in the past 2 months! So since August, life has been pretty well, good-BUT I was not feeling great up until September due to my pregnancy-which is such an exciting time for me (except for that whole lack of motivation and energy part of it!) I seriously had no desire to come onto my own blog and write about the experience! I guess a part of me was scared to become attached to a pregnancy because of the fact that I have miscarried before. So it took me much longer just to get on here and really start embracing the whole experience!

So here I am 22 weeks along...and it's another BOY! If you asked me a few years ago what I thought I'd have and wanted, I would have told you that I wanted THREE boys! LOL...so I'm at number two! BUT quite honestly I did not know what this one was going to be the way I knew with Matthew. So a part of me in the beginning thought a girl, too. When I found out I was truly surprised. It took a few days to process it all in my head. Yes, I will miss out on those ridiculously big tutus and bows-you know, the kind that take up an entire head-but I do love "all things boy" too! And Matthew-he has been so sweet and excited about "little brother in mommy's tummy" that I can't help but feel excited for him to have a brother. I know that I have NO control over what relationship they will have in life, but my hope and prayer is for these two is to truly have a friend in each other. I really hope that our little guy will have a brother he can look up to overall. The type of relationship and bond that I never got to experience being an only child myself.

So to update (PS Shannon, I'm taking ideas from your current blogs on pregnancy) here is where I'm at now:

• Weight gain to date: 9lbs or so
• Cravings-normal now, beginning-lots of fruit and absolutely not a speck of meat! I think I went vegetarian for 2 months
• Maternity clothes-since about 16 weeks but more for comfort/pants mostly
• Sleep-mostly so tired I pass out, but achy in my hips from only laying on my sides only!
• Symptoms-First trimester-severe nausea. Second so far-very little nausea, gets tired more easily and back aches from time to time
• What I am looking forward to: getting the new nursery set up and doing a new theme (hey, I have to plan something!) which will be firetrucks!

Anyway, will update will ultrasound pics-our scanner is out as our nursery is being done now in the former loft. I also need to talk about my favorite time of the year-October, aka, "Funtober!" :)

Summertime!

Okay, okay, I'm WAY behind on my blog. That's because I'm not a real blogger. :) A true blogger would be on the ball! But hey, later than never right? Either way it's nice to have this to reflect back on and have an idea of what the heck was going on in my life. So far this summer has flown by! After my last post about Father's Day, we took a mini family trip to Las Vegas-for recreation and to visit Sean's dad's side of the family who have a vacation home out there. It was much more fun than last year mostly because Matthew as a 2 year old is much easier than Matthew as an 18 month old for traveling. He had a blast and was pretty easy going the whole trip....whew!!! It was nice to get away for a bit and have a change of scenery!

Next up was the 4th of July. I definitely want to remember this one! What I love about our "hometown" (which I consider both San Dimas AND La Verne) is that it is extremely family oriented and the 4th is a BIG holiday out here. They have an annual parade which features military, lots of local organizations and city council. Everyone comes out and lines up along Bonita Ave and sets up chairs, Easy-ups and even the neighborhood residents have parties on their lawns. It was so fun to have Matthew sit in his little chair the whole time and watch a full parade this year! We also came back later to watch fireworks from Bonita High School and again, Matthew was great and sat and watched all the fireworks-he even knew all the colors which just amazed me how much he has learned in the last few months!

Other than that, our summer has been continuing Gymboree classes (which he LOVES), swim classes at the Claremont Club (which he does NOT love, only sometimes he has a good day...he he) and occasionally getting together with a few of my friends who have little boys about Matthew's age and taking them on little trips to children's museums and parks. I'm just really trying to enjoy the rest of the summer and hopefully continue to get Matthew in the pool a little more...because before you know it, it's going to be FALL! (And yes, I've already been peeking online to see what new toddler Halloween costumes are out there! :) Until next time...

Here's my favorite photo from this summer so far...

Father's Day Weekend!

To the two most amazing father's I know...my dad and my husband...

I am sincerely grateful for these two men in my life. I am the woman I am today because of how loved I am-first by my father. Growing up, I was more of a "mommy's girl." But over the years, my dad and I became closer-I realize how much alike we are, I realize how much of the same heart we have. I am so proud of my dad even though it's something I don't say often. I am just so lucky he's the type to tell me how proud he is of me and how much he loves not just me, but Sean like his own son. And of course, Matthew! Matthew is extremely attached to his "Pa." :)

And Sean, to see him evolve into an incredibly affectionate and hands-on dad, I just could not be prouder to be his wife. And I know as young as Matthew is, he loves his Daddy SO much!

Here is a picture of Matthew with his "Father's Day" gift on...I love this shirt-"Daddy's Caddy." Hopefully in the near future he'll want to hit the links with his dad and play some golf. We had a great  Father's Day spending it at a friend of the family's house-the Colca's. They just happen to live right above our home in San Dimas-it could not have been a more gorgeous day-we even got some pool time, too!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day this year! I am really looking forward to some summer fun now!

Oh, how could I forget, the recital! (This is why I need to blog more!) It went really well...I think. Ok, it was all a blur once I was out on stage this year-I was a little nervous for some reason. But I loved the entire experience and I adore the group of ladies whom I dance with-most of us are moms and are close in age. Below is a picture right before performing-myself, Marisa, Jessica and Casey. Our costumes came together great and I think we rocked it!!!

Exhausted!

This is going to be short and sweet...why? Because I'm exhausted! It's been a busy week and a half since my last post...I've had three dance rehearsals last week (to some that's no biggie, right?), costume hunting for recital, Gymboree classes, Continuing Education hours to complete (for my insurance license), and a fun but busy weekend with friends and family. Sean and I had a blast seeing our friends Natalie and Brian down in Huntington Beach on Saturday evening. I'm almost embarrassed to say how long it's been since we've left our "home area" and headed out someplace fun and lively! But it was a BLAST-dinner at the Aloha grill + 2 STONG mai tais = some silly behavior from Sean! Sunday was spent doing our usual routine of cleaning up, doing laundry and going to the market. Later on we had a family graduation dinner for Sean's youngest sister Alicia-it's always great coming together with the family and seeing Matthew have fun with my sweet niece Mackenzie!

Pictures to come next week! This week, I've got THREE newborn babies to visit, MORE rehearsals and on Friday, my actual recital at Citrus College. I hope I'm ready for this...!

The Challenge...

So, I have a dance recital coming up in about two weeks...yikes! We are performing the Cell Block Tango from the play/movie "Chicago." I love it! It's very theatrical and sophisticated compared to last year's disco routine. When I first (re) watched the routine on YouTube to get costume ideas I almost fell out of my seat-they are wearing next to nothing! And of course those women have amazing dancer bodies! Hmmm...well, I'm not going to get too worked up-I think I can find a way to catch the theme but make it a little more, um...covered up. :)

In the meantime here is my two week challenge: to do sit ups. Yup, just DO THEM PERIOD! Whether it be 20, 50 or 200 (ha ha), I am going to do them at night while I watch TV. I'm not expecting any miracles but hey, you gotta start somewhere and now I've got a little motivation.

I am trying to eat well but I swear if I think about not eating this or that, it makes it just more tempting to indulge. And then I feel guilty and that gets me nowhere. So I'm going to continue to eat normally, avoid fast food and just eat sweets in much smaller amounts. (My iced coffee drinks, that's another story! I have not worked on that addiction quite yet!). So, in two weeks I'll be posting recital pics and hopefully some improvement in the ab department. :)

In completely unrelated news, here is what my silly husband did tonight...cut out his face and put it over P.Diddy in this ad...I have been cracking up all night-I'm pretty sure laughter like this counts as a workout!

A Great Weekend

Today is Memorial Day and what a beautiful-and finally warm-day it is! I always try to keep in mind all the soldiers who have served our country over the years in the name of freedom-we enjoy so many liberties and the least I can do is to honor them in memory-today and everyday.

Well, this weekend so far has just flown by! Sean and I kicked off the weekend by having a date night (and let me add, FINALLY!)-we went to the movies to see the Hangover 2. I enjoyed it and found it funny even though it's EXACTLY like the first one. On Saturday I took Matthew to his favorite store, which is called the Blue Chair, to play with his friends Rowan and Kayden. But Saturday night was MY night-I went to see one of my favorite artists of all time-PRINCE!!!

I have to elaborate here for a minute. I went to see PRINCE...!!!! He was everything I'd hope he'd be. I'm talking about walking out in a sparkly jacket, wearing his high heels and "guy-liner,"and putting on a show that was just incredible! I have to say that he is one of the first artists I really remember listening to as a child. I tried out for my dance team to his music-and even our wedding entrance song was to "Let's Go Crazy." What I loved about his concert is that he pleased the crowd and didn't skip over his hits (lots of artists seem to get sick of their biggest hits and don't play them or wait until the very end). He started out with a medley of hits-starting with "When Doves Cry." I have to say, at 52 years old he looks pretty darn good and still dances so well-his voice is still strong, too. I've been to many concerts but this will go down as one of my favorites. :)

The rest of the weekend has been more relaxing-we got to spend time with family and today we decided just to take it easy and go to Heritage Park in La Verne. And now everyone is napping in the house (notice that's when I jump on here to write! )...I could not have asked for a better weekend! :)