Duane, Danni and Kiddos: January 2006

New Bed

Last weekend we went out and got Trei a New Toddler bed since he has gotten soooo big and figured out how to get out of his Crib...the mattress is the same size as the "Toddler Bed" but the fall isn't as far. He figured out (As you will see from the photos) that all he needs to do is start jumping and when he gets enough height he puts his leg over or just jumps out...we caught him in the act here so I figured I'd take photos...
this was when we were taking apart his crib and I guess he wanted to do it one last time...

Getting ready for his "Great Escape"...

Climbing out...and this is why we bought a "Toddler bed"...

Trei's Birthday Trike!

We got Trei a Tike for his birthday cause everytime we went to the park and saw other kids with one he wanted to ride on it...He was sooo happy when he saw it and his favorite thing to do is push it himself as opposed to riding it. We also got him a helmet that he has to wear while riding which he refused to do at first but well yea, after he realized we wouldn't let him ride it without it he submitted to it...ha ha! Notice the removable Steering handle he is holding on to? Thats for me to push and "Override" his steering when I am pushing him around since he hasn't quite got the Pedaling down yet!

Riding his Trike.

Daddy Time

Game Time

Trei helping out!

Kevin and Duane playing Video games!

BBQ

This afternoon we went over to my brother Mikes for a BBQ, it was nice, we grilled chicken, Nina and Amy made a nice salad and there was Tortillas, guacamole, chips and salsa...It was a gorgeous afternoon so it was a perfect day for a BBQ..The kids played and we all chatted! Nice relaxing afternoon. After that we went over to My sister Claire's house which they just moved into a few days ago, the house is HUGE and Trei had a fun time running thru the house with his Cousin "Cubby". Good day, we all slept well last nite.

Exhausted

Today was a loooooooooonnngggg day to say the least, I will start by saying the last few days I have been tired but unable to sleep at nite cause I can't get comfortable, its a pregnancy thing, then I fall asleep at around 4a.m. and can sleep for hours but am unable to cause Trei gets up at around 6ish usually! Anyhooooo today Trei decided to get up at 4:45a.m. yup, wayyy to early for me, I tried putting him back to sleep but he was wide awake and eager to go downstairs and play with his Train set and toys. I Dragged myself all day, I felt like a zombie, I had a play date arranged with a girlfriend of mine at "Chuckie Cheeses" but wasn't sure if I was gonna surrive till then (11a.m.) sad I know..thankfully I did and Trei had a fun time on all the rides and playing with his friends. He is soo funny he loves putting the tokens in the slots then stays on the ride for a few seconds and jumps off before its done and goes on to the next one. I am sure Management LOVES him cause he or rather We spend money on tokens for pure entertainment...Whats funny too is that Kids catch on and start following him around and getting "free rides" cause of him. Oh well at least he enjoys himself! We headed home around 1p.m. and he crashed on the ride home, something I was wanting to do sooo badly! I got home and Duane put him in his bed and had a surprise for me, a bunch of pregnancy clothes. The Sweetheart that he is he went out while I was out and got me a bunch of clothes, he said that I say I never have the time to do it (which is right, cause shopping with a 2 year is well, er...yea, a nightmare...) so he did it for me. I was sooooo surprised and happy, I didn't know what to say except Wow and Thank you! He has good taste might I add, I liked every piece of clothing he got me which was also impressive. THANK YOU HONEY, YOU ARE THE BEST!!!! I then tried to catch some much needed and long overdo ZZZZZ'S while Duane went to the gym but Trei had a different plan and came into the room having woken up from his 1 hour nap....I have to say I was overwhelmed at that point wasn't sure if I would make it thru the day on no sleep, but we did, thank God! "What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger" right? Isn't that a famous quote? Well we are now at the end of a long day and I am SO READY to go to bed so I will sign off here and post more later.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Happy New Years to Everyone!!! Its been a few weeks since I have posted anything, I figured the long post of our family reunion followed by tons of photos of it and Trei's 2nd Birthday would keep everyone busy for awhile!!! No honestly, I just haven't had the time to go online much recently let alone have time to post anything, since we got home things have been Oh so Busy and it seems it won't be slowing down for awhile. But hey, at least it keeps us busy or as My Dad always used to say out of trouble! Lots of doctors appts for both Trei and I, my prenatals and his 2 year and a "rush to the doctor trip cause we don't know whats wrong with him trip too"..Gotta love those ones....But thankfully we are both doing well! 28 weeks pregnant for me and man I tell ya, I can NOT Wait to have the baby already...I know its what, 12 weeks till the 40 week due date but I am hoping she decides to come early for my sake, but I guess we shall see...For now one of my New Years resolutions has been to get Trei Potty Trained so we don't have two kiddos in Diapers cause Wow, thats "Muy Expensivo" to say the least. Its a big task but it has to be done at some point and I figure may as well get him started now so he is at least "day time potty-Trained" by the time the baby is due so that I am not introducing too many New things to him at once. So far this is day 3 and he is doing pretty well, just a few minutes ago he ran to Daddy and said "potty" so Duane took off at the speed of light (cause we know they can't hold it long at all) down the stairs and put him on the potty and sure enough he went right away. So maybe it is sinking in after all! (I'm crossing my fingers here). Thats about all thats going on right now, just alot of day to day stuff, Doc appts. and gearing up for Duanes trip at the end of next month, he is going abroad for 3 weeks and should be back beginning of March just in time to set things up for the baby. All that to say I think these next few months are gonna go by realllll fassssst for us and before we know it our 2nd addition will be here..EXCITING, we can't wait! I will do my best to not get too far behind on posting and photos, but bear with me for the next few weeks.

Dallas Family Reunion

December 28th thru January 5th we had a family reunion in Plano, Texas where my parents currently live. My Brother and sisters came in from different parts of the states and my sister Feli and her new Husband Marco and baby Dean flew in all they way from Albania. It was our first time to meet Marco and their baby Dean which was real nice!!! My Grandma also flew in from San Francisco. I can't remember how long ago it was since our last one but I think it was about 5 years ago, so it sure was nice to have everyone together again...We flew from San Diego to Dallas with a stop in LA and coincendentally my Brother and his family were on the same flight as us which turned out real well as Trei was happy to play with his cousins..He calmed down when he saw them and just sat and let his cousin Charlie read books to him for awhile..That of course didn't last too long and before long they were running around the airport till boarding time. Thankfully we arrived safely with My Mom and sister to greet us and they took us home to a yummy spaghetti dinner (secret family recipe)...ha ha! The next few days we all just relaxed, hung out, chatted, worked out and the boys played basket ball a few days to work off the nightly dinners from eating out every nite. On New Years Eve we had a Big New Years dinner at home with Turkeys, Stuffing, Potatoes, Salad and lots of desserts then we opened presents from my parents, Grandma and Aunt who lives in Montana (thank you Auntie Chris!!!), it was lots of fun, the kids were soooo excited and we were too ha ha!!! My Aunt knit each one of us girls a scarf in our favorite color and sent the Guys a "Montana" T-shirt which we of course had to take a picture of...The kids got a bunch of toys and my Mom gave Trei a Manger scene which is "Kid proof" if you can believe that...He was sooo excited that he was able to actually play with the pieces as the one we have at home is off limits to him. We also got a gift from my Grandma that she said my Grandfather had wanted to give us girls for awhile now but hadn't gotten around to it before he passed on. It was a very beautiful gold necklace with a heart on it, it was very touching to get a gift from him and it really meant a lot to me.
All in all it was a good reunion, we all had a lot of fun, Trei loved playing with his cousins, he would just sit and watch Casey and Derek play with their race car toys that they got at Christmas and then would play along with them. He also reunited with his best Bud Emmer!!!
We took a lot of pictures from the trip which I will post here and hope you all enjoy!!!
Oh yes I almost forgot, we celebrated Trei's 2nd birthday in Dallas too, it was a short and simple party I made a Carrot cake and decorated it with "Bob the Builder" and got Party Blowers, balloons and all and he just loved it...Last year he was a bit overwhelmed by it all so I was wondering how he would react, but he loved it, he got lots of Cars, Trains, Balls, and an remote control car too which we have to help him out with..My personal opinion is that its more of a present for Duane then Trei at this point ha ha...I saw Duanes eyes lite up when Feli and Marco gave us the gift.... ha ha...but I don't know that he will admit that...
Thanks everyone for your Christmas Cards, Gifts and Birthday Presents for Trei we do appreciate it and hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years...