Labor Day Weekend Fun

For Memorial weekend we were off to San Diego for some fun with friends. We go to visit Kevin's best friend Sal and his wife Stephanie. We love to go see them. We got down there Saturday morning. Kevin, Sal, and Mary heade dto the pool while I stayed back to give Teresa her nap. About 1:30 Mary was ASKING to take a nap. I guess they were wearing her out. So, Kevin walked her back and she layed down and took a nap. So I had two kids taking a nap and I wasn't home, so I could sit and relax. It was GREAT!





We had fun just relaxing outside and hanging out. Sal made us his famous hot wings and ribs and Stephy made her crab cakes. It was great!


On Sunday we went to the Bay and hung out at the beach for a bbq. It was a fun day of just doing nothing.
Mary had a blast. There were kids things to do. She played with the playdough ALL day. She had it stuck to her shoes and then grass stuck in that. It was so nice to have something for her to do that we could just keep an eye on her and know she was all good.

It was a nice relaxing weekend.

Camando

So today I look at the schedule for the gym and see what class' are going at what time. I really want to go but I see there are a couple class' at 8 and 8:00 and 8:30. Well, I said who cares and got the kids ready and left. I get to the gym and start getting the girls ready. I get Teresa out and go to get Mary. As I get her out she tells me she has NO undies on. WHAT????!!!!! That's what I get for not supervising getting dressed. So I scramble through the diaper bag and I can't find any undies in there. OH, and she is wearing a dress. So now I have a decision to make............I am already there......I don't want to drive home.......so I tell her to be good and keep her dress down and not show off her 'who who'. We are on our way to the gym now. I drop them off. Teresa cries but I'm outa there. As I'm working out I'm waiting for them to call my name to come either because Teresa is crying or they notice Mary has no undies. I get my machine work out done and go to peak in the window to see how everyone is doing. All is well so I head up to do some cardio. I get onto the treadmill and start walking. 20 minutes later I'm still free and clear. I head down to pick them up. I come in and Teresa is not with the girl I left her with. She points to the floor and there she is, sitting on the floor happy with toys. AND her sister is there playing with her nicely. WOW! What a great picture to walk into. A successful gym day in my book. Tomorrow is my first training session. We shall see how that goes!

playing in the street

These are both kinda hard to see. It was dusk last night when we were outside. So bare with me. On Friday we had a block party with a couple of our neighbors. One family has a boy who is 5 and Mary had fun playing with him. We live at the top of a hill on a culdasac. The boys were riding their bikes down the hill over and over. Mary has never done this, as we have never let her try. Well, now she has and loves it. She gets on her little bike and goes down to our driveway, skidding her shoes, and drives in the driveway to stop. She's pretty good at it. Her shoes do not have much sole on them anymore, but she had fun.

Then she was dancing and I had to take video of that. She's such a ham when the camera is around.

Gym Addict

I have become a gym addict. I love going and getting an hour or so to myself. I leave feeling good. On Saturday I had my free training session. So far I've just been going in and doing a half hour or more of cardio and then the rowing machine. The actual machines intimidate me. So, he took me around to do some stuff. I left feeling it. I also left paying for 6 months of one training session a week. I'm focused and wanna get it done! I'm on a mission.
In order to do this I will have to make a couple sacrifices. I will stop going to weight watchers. Since I already know the plan I can follow it at home. The other thing I have to give up is my monthly house cleaner. I will start trying to get things done on my own again. It's a little tougher with two kids, but I will try it. A clean house only lasts a half a day, but a better looking and feeling body lasts longer! I want to fit back into all my clothes when we got married, pre-kids.
So........Hi Ho Hi Ho It's Off To The Gym I Go!

Relaxing weekend at the beach

This weekend Kevin and I took off in the motorhome by ourselves. We dropped the kids off at grandma and grandpa's and left to the beach for camping in Carpenteria. We have not camped by ourselves since before Mary. We got there about 12 on Saturday. The weather wasn't great but I was still able to wear shorts and a t-shirt, so it was fine. We got all set up and headed to town for lunch and the brewery. The spot we ended up getting was the farthest away from town you could get, literally. So we got our work out in when we went to town. It was good for us. Gave us an excuse to drink beer when we got there. By 2:45 the sun came out and it was nice. So we headed back to camp to go sit on the beach. awww so nice! We had a nice night going out to dinner and being silly w/out any kids.

I think this is so funny. This is Kevin in our shower in the motorhome. He is so tall he has to stick his head up in the sky light. When we bought our first trailer, that was a big priority so he could shower.

Sunday grandma and grandpa came up with the kids. We woke up to sun and great weather. We were excited for the fun day ahead. We walked to town, again, and ate breakfast. We then walked back and sat on the beach for an hour and got some sun. We then walked to town, again, and got lunch and met up with mom, dad, and the kids at the brewery. It was a beautiful day to sit outside and enjoy a beer while Mary and Teresa watched the people, doggies, and the train. Now we head back to camp to go play on the beach. Mary had so much fun, it was great. Teresa liked it too. It was her first beach experience. She even experienced eating sand. Didn't bother her at all and even kept wanting more. EEEEWW.

We ennjoyed our time alone, but missed the kids. We decided to keep Mary and they could take Teresa home. We already have a bed set up for Mary, but not Teresa yet. Mary was excited to stay and have a camp fire and roast marshmallows.

Monday we got up and it was all cloudy and icky out. Thank god we got one good day in. It makes it much easier to pack up and go home when the weather is not good. It was so nice to take the motorhome out and enjoy it by ourselves and then with Mary. Camping is awesome!

work outs at the gym

Ok, so I've taken Mary to the gym with me and left her in the day care. She loved it. I got to get a good work out in for about an hour and she was fine. Today I took Teresa while I left Mary with Aunt Linda. One of the girls took her and seemed ok, so I left. 20 minutes later they were paging me to come get her. When I got in there a different lady had her, oriental (not to be racist). Teresa is not sure of people she does not know or see often. The girl who originally took her kinda looked like me so I think she was ok then. SO, I got her and my stuff and was out of there. I did get 20 minutes on the elliptical machine so that was something. I guess I will just keep trying with her and just make sure I get the good work out done first just in case.

8 months old and WE HAVE AN ANSWER

First of all, Teresa is 8 months old already. She is now 21 pounds and 29 inches long. My little chunker.

We went to see the geneticist for Teresa's hands. We had to go all the way down to UCLA again. We have been there twice for this now. The two doctors we have seen have been great. They are very attentive and listen to you. This time when we went the doctor came in and didn't look at us crazy like he had never seen this issue before. He actually knew what it was and had a name for it. So, we FINALLY have an answer. DO NOT go and google, or look up, this.....the name of the result is Arthrogryposis. He said if we looked it up we'd be freaked out. Only the major cases are posted and he said Teresa's is pretty mild.
Basically how this happened was by two defective genes of ours that joined when she was being developed in my womb. The chances of that are very slim, but it happened. Every 1 in 4 children we were to have could have this. If we were to have more kids I would have to go to him for further testing before hand. But there are no more kinds in our future, that are planned anyway. I asked if this could effect her children. He said on ly if she married someone who had the same defective gene.
This affects both hands and feet and there are issues with her feet as well. We have not really noticed it until she has grown and things are more noticeable. Over time, with therapy, this can be fixed.
There is a book written on these sorts of cases. The doctor is going to email the author and send her pictures and explain her case. Then he will see what sort of conclusion she comes to and what action may be best. From there we will go back to the orthopedist. He will then tell us how we should go about therapy from here.
We are very happy to have an answer and that this is it. It would only get worse if we did not take any action. Of course we will take action and keep on top of it. She will continue to gro wup normal and live a normal life.