Emma loves to eat

well sorta...we are still working on pureed foods, she has had carrots, sweet potatoes, zuchini squash, green beans, peas, avocados, applesauce, banana, peaches, rice cereal and oatmeal cereal. I am going to start mixing up veggies and fruits for some different flavors. Her new things at eating include cheerios, puffs, and drinking from a sippy cup. All signs that she loves texture and she is getting the eating thing down, since she doesn't try to swallow the cheerios and puffs whole. She is mashing them with her little gums, it is so cute to see her move her mouth to eat. What is even funnier is that today I sat her in the highchair. She can barely reach over the top of the tray. She can pick up the little cheerios, and puffs with her fingers, but she hasn't figured out how to get them in her mouth. I guess I am gonna have to buy a tray for the bumbo since that fits her better, and therefore she might be able to reach better.

The one with the C

Patton Elementary had their mock election today, so John David came home with a "I Voted" sticker. I asked him what his sticker was for, and it was obvious he did not understand the concept. I then asked him if he voted for Obama, and he said no. I asked him if he voted for McCain and he made the C sound, and he said "yes, the one with the C." Who knew that I had to educate a five year old in politics, he can't even read. JP made sure that John David knew how to say "Go Obama," and he taught Sammy to say "Obama #1." You can be sure that the next time we have an election all the Regalado children will know what to do.

You gotta love school

John David is really enjoying school, and it is obvious that he spends some of his time listening to his friends. His updated vocabulary now includes "hate" and "stupid", and lets not forget the new phrases "that sucks" and "what the heck."
I must admit that the biggest shocker for me was when he said "what the heck." I asked if he knew what that meant and he said no, so I told him that he shouldn't say things he doesn't know because they may not be nice things to say. JP says I overreacted, and it's no big deal, but he is still my little five year old.

Where's your ______

That is the current game I am playing with Carlos. He knows head, tongue, eyes, mouth, nose in both english and spanish. I have started animal noises too...we are working on snake, cow, and dog. I figured that since he is not speaking he can at least have some cute tricks.

Swim Class

John David and Sammy both did pretty good today. Despite their reservations, they went right into class and the pool with an okay attitude. John David did have two whinny moments, but I think he was just hungry. I think he was too nervous to snack on the way over, but tomorrow he should feel better about the routine, and he should snack. They both said they had fun at class and that they wanted to go again. We will see how tomorrow goes.

the invitation

John David came home from school really excited yesterday that there was an envelope in his folder. He waited to ask if he could open it until after dinner, so i said okay. It was an invitation to one of his classmate's birthday party. He was soo excited that it was a spiderman invitation. He was not so excited when I had to break the news that we couldn't go. You try explaining to a five year old that we were invited to another party three weeks ago, and that we already RSVP'd to that one. Both parties are at 2pm on saturday, and the one we are going to is up north and the other is south. I even told him that the one we are going to is a costume party, so he gets to wear his halloween costume. I even tried reminding him that he is not particularly fond of Chuck E Cheese, but that didn't work either. Hopefully he will just forget...but who am I kidding...he will probably remember.

Me and my friends have little feet

Sammy of course had a different reaction to the news. He was not excited either, but he didn't whine. He just told me that he and his friends have little feet and that is why they can't swim. He said that you need big feet like mommy and daddy to swim. I didn't consider myself, nor JP to be in the "big foot" category, but I guess to a four year old it is all relative.

I don't want to go to swim lessons

John David's reaction to the news that while he was asleep last night, his mommy registered him for two weeks of lessons. He was a tad whinny, of course what else would you expect from him. When I picked him up from school...he was already whining. He was asking what he was going to do. I told him that I did not know. I also had to tell him that as a kid I didn't want to go to swim lessons either, but Abuelita made me go, and that is how I learned how to swim. So I guess his whining is pay back for all the crying I did on the way to swim lessons with my mom.

Halloween Update

I was having a hard time finding some glasses for Emma that actually fit. Even the baby ones from Carter's are way too big. JP was surpised when I told him that I had actually been actively looking for this accessory...hello it is her first halloween. JP had a shopping suggestion, that I had totally overlooked. So four dollars later and after a trip to Build-a-Bear yesterday, I got Emma a little pair of tortoise shell frame glasses...they fit and she looks way too cute. I will update the pictures so y'all can see her. We are almost ready for halloween...just a few more details and we are set.

Carlos and Oreos

About a year ago I took a picture of Carlos devouring his first Oreo. Just in case you are wondering...he ate every bite, except for what was smeared on his face and hands. His brothers were eating mini-Oreos on mondays and of course he wanted some, so I gave him six. Apparently in a years time he is a more refined Oreo eater. I saw him break the cookies apart. Then he proceeded to pick all the frosting off with his fingers. He got all the white stuff into his mouth with little mess. I was surprised when after all the frosting was gone he walked away. I thought his attention ran out and he would back for his cookies, so I left them on the table, but fifteen minutes later they were still there. I had to eat the cookies so they wouldn't go to waste.

earring fiasco

I forgot to mention that I had to replace Emma's cute little circle earrings with some X's. On friday I was going to lay her down for her nap when I noticed she was missing an earring. I started crawling on the floor looking for the earring and all I could find was the back. I then took out her the new earrings and cleaned them to get them ready for when she woke up. When she woke up I took her to the bathroom to put her earrings on. I alwasy sit her on the counter while I do her hair, so that seemed like a good place for me to put her earrings on. I got the first earring on and while I was trying to get the back screwed on, the back slipped out of my fingers and into the sink drain. I got the other back and put it on. Then she had one of each earring, but my focus was now on getting the back out of my sink. I then proceeded to get all the stuff out from under my counter so I could figure out how to open the "trap" on my sink that I had been told about nine years earlier, sinc ei had never used it before. I got the back out, and then I felt obsessed to do a major cleaning on the back. I then proceeded to change the second earring and now she was matching. After picking up John David from school I found the actual earring in the saucer downstairs. I guess I will never know how an earrings falls off, but the back hangs on and falls off later. But I do know...don't change earrings near a sink.

Sunshine

After much work Carlos and Emma's room is almost complete. Today I hung the medallions above Emma's crib. It was quite a task to measure and space them for the haning while my 3 helpers were around, but it got done. I just have a couple more things to hang and I need to find a bedding set for Carlos with elephants. I am quite happy with the way everything has turned out.

The Highchair

Today we went to Dairy Queen as a family. JP and I came to the conclusion that we are definitely a large family. You can't pull up two highchairs to a table for four. So we had to sit at the corner table so we get two highchairs. Emma sat in one for the entire meal....she looked very cute in her new highchair cover and was happy just looking around, and playing with her toys. I'm sure most people come to the conclusion that we are crazy when the see us, but who cares. Despite the large number of children at our table we were still a quiet and well behaved table. It was great to see them eat their food, and then enjoy their ice cream. John David even saves his fries so he can dip them in the ice cream, and doesn't leave a drop. Sammy on the other hand is very eager to share especially with his little brother Carlos. Carlos got very excited every time Sammy got closer with a spoonful of ice cream. Our little family outing was very enjoyable, and these little moments will remain engraved in my mind and heart forever.

Fair in Kyle

On friday night we went to the fair in Kyle. We had some yummy food and the boys had fun playing. Carlos and Micael were in the stroller for awhile, Emma was in the BabyBjorn, and John David and Sammy were walking with JP. The older boys went to play on the playground, and Carlos joined them for awhile. Then JP took Emma so I could help Carlos come down the slide. Eventually Carlos noticed that no one was in the Baby Bjorn and he went as far as to stick his in the carrier. I decided to put him in, and he loved being carried around. He stayed for about ten minutes then he wanted to go play on the slide again. It felt funny to carry him in the Baby Bjorn because his legs went down to almost my knees. By the time we left the fair all three little ones were asleep for the night. John David and Sammy spent the night at their grandma's and grandpa's so they could go to the parade the next morning.

Family Time

Today JP got off work early so we could attend a conference with John David's teacher. We came home and had an early dinner, and then we took off to the park. John David was kicking the soccer ball around with his dad. Sammy wanted to play on the playground, so I stayed there with him and Carlos. They both had a good time as well. The boys also had a good time playing with the zip line with daddy. I made sure to let them know that next time we go to the park, mommy can't help them do that since I carry Emma, that is a daddy special. It was the same playground with the water dolphin, so when Carlos saw it he kept pointing to it. He didn't tug at his clothes this time. Fortunately there were no kids playing in it, as it was definitely too chilly for that activity. So now I know that next time I go to that park I will have to be ready for Carlos to play in the water.

I wanna play in the water

Carlos is definitely growing quickly, he is definitely reaching his terrific two's. On Tuesday I took the kids to the playground, and he was having a blast. Then all of a sudden he was tugging for me to take him to play with the dolphin water sprinkler. I told him no because it was kinda cool still at 10 am, plus I was not prepeared for him to play in the water. There were about 10 other kids playing and having a blast. They all appeared to be Sammy's age and size, so he would have been the only one. As I kept telling him not today, he would alternate at tugging at me or tugging at his clothes. He was trying to lift up his shirt as if to take it off, and he was trying to push down his shorts as well. The other kids had removed their clothing, so he was just trying to do what he saw them doing. Finally when I moved him to another part of the playground to remove him from the attraction, he was not very happy. I actually had to scoop him up and move him to the other playscape.

HAHAHAHAHA

That was the boys reaction when I told them that Lily was going to watch them while mommy and daddy went to a meeting with John David's teacher. As soon as I mentioned the meeting the boys knew someone would be watching them. Their first guess was Abuelita, when I said no then they asked if were going to pick up Grandma so she could watch them. I told them no and told them Lily was coming over...and they just busted out laughing.
My sister told them that they were going to watch TV the whole time she was here, John David was very excited and said "yeah." Sammy response was "we can't do that."
I'm sure the boys will have fun playing with their primos and it will definitely be a crazy house with 5 boys.

John David snores real loud

Sammy often wakes up before John David. When I ask him why he woke up..he will look at me and say that "John David snores real loud." I have never heard John David snore, so when I tell Sammy he doesn't he tells me "I can't sleep because John David is loud." I think it is funny to hear him say that.

Great Helpers

Emma is now drinking formula in a bottle during the day. So that frees up some of my time, and gives her brothers the ability to help and bond with their sister. Sammy loves to give her the bottle and does at least one bottle a day. He tells me he is a "great helper." Which he is, I must say that I am surprised that he stays still long enough to feed her the entire bottle. John David also helps with Emma's bottle. He was very excited to help last night. Carlos has even gotten into the habit of walking over and helping me hold the bottle when I feed her. I guess he wants to be part of the action. Emma is quite content with her brothers feeding her, as long as the leave the bottle in her mouth.

pretty in green

On Tuesday Emma was wearing a pink hair clip. She was in her swing and Carlos ketp looking at it. As soon as I went in to the kitchen, he took it off. When I came back in the living room he was trying to get it to stay on the top of his head...very cute. I asked him if he wanted me to put it on. He walked right over and gave it to me. I put the pink clip back in Emma's hair, and got a green one for him. He pulled it off a couple of times, but he kept coming back to me to put it on again. He eventually forget about it, and left it in his hair while he ate in his chair. With those curly locks he looked very cute with a green clip. I will put the picture in the album shortly.

eeeeese

Carlos loves to take pictures...I am sure you are asking how I know this for a fact. Well he now says "eeeese" anytime he sees me with the camera. It is quite cute. You just have to be careful to not confuse his "cheese" with his "please" because they sound very similar.

Pumpkin Patch

There was no school on Monday, so I decided to take the kids to Elgin to have some good ole fall fun. They got to decorate pumpkins, go on a hayride, and find their way through a haybale maze. Everyone had a great time, and there was minimal drama. John David wanted to bring home a big pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern, but there was no way to get all of them and a pumpkin to the car. I told him daddy would have to get one for us at the store. Now he is just asking when is daddy going to bring him his pumpkin. Click on the Oct 2008 photo link to see pictures from our outing.

John David the author

John David has definitely taking a liking to writing, and even drawing pictures. So he now writes his own stories, and draws a picture to go with the story. It is quite cute. Below you will find one of his stories as he wrote it....I will have to type in the extended version of the story when he is up to tell me the whole story.

WTTWALIONHHWAFF
ThOAMMEhOOGSNATW
AMFATNATHWHAA

Carlos got bumped to a big boy bed

With Emma taking over the crib, Carlos was moved to a twin size bed. This is the same bed John David used, and it matches all of the baby furniture so it goes great in that room. I am amazed and surprised that he has not figured out he can get up and down himself. The bed is against the wall on one side, and I have a rail on the other side. When he wakes up he just waits until I get him out, just like in the crib. The few days that he has not napped he has just played in his new bed. The first night he slept in his bed he fell asleep on the pillow. He looked really cute and grown-up at the same time. Overall this has been a great transistion, and both him and Emma will have lots of fun as they get older in their new room together.

Emma has a half birthday

So Emma is still growing...she is half a year old already. She is still tiny in size 3% for height and weight when compared to others her age, but she can do so much. She is almost sitting on her own, loves to play in the saucer and can push and roll around to get where she wants. She has the best laughs and loves to talk, she even wakes up talking. She reached other milestones with this half birthday.
She took a bath with brother Carlos for the first time. She was just fine with a toy or her paci in her mouth. She was tired, and Carlos was pushing her buttons by trying to crawl around her to get more toys in the tub.
She slept in a standard crib, with her cute bedding, for the first time. She actually slept through the night. That is not a consistent thing, but trust me it is nice the nights she sleeps through.
She is no longer sharing a room with mommy and daddy. Her new roomie is her big brother Carlos.
She also is now riding in her big girl carseat. Our baby is out of the baby carrier....she had not outgrown her seat, but she was not a huge fan of the carrier. Not to mention our carrier is about to expire...we've had it since John David. She is much happier in a roomier carseat.

This is the third time we come to this store!

That was Sammy's reaction to all our trips to Home Depot. We went three times in three days.
Trip 1
The first day we went to get the paint....and that was not very successful. I picked "Collegiate Yellow," and who knew that was going to be brighter than the bedding and probably even brighter than TinkerBell. I had my doubts as the guy put the color on the lid, but I didn't have the bedding on me, so I figured I would wait to check it at home.
Trip 2
I went to ask them to tweak the color so it would be lighter and less bright. Thanks to the help of a great lady at the paint counter we went home with "Evocative Sunlight." I was all excited and ready to paint.
Trip 3
Needed to buy more Kilz to finish coating the ceiling so the green would not show through the yellow. I used almost 3 gallons...crazy, but that TinkerBell was not going to go easily. this is the day that Sammy let me know he had kept track of how many times we had come to the Home Depot. He told me I didn't need to buy anymore yellow paint, because he had some at his house, and his friend could bring it to me.

Daddy's gone...farewell to Tinkerbell

That is what John David and Sammy say when JP goes to a conference. It was definitely different flying solo with 4 kids for 4 days...but we all survived and had some fun. It was quite obvious every morning that John David missed his daddy. Normally JP takes hime to school in the morning, and he walks him all the way inside the school. With me getting four kids out of the house at 7:15 there was no way I could also unload everyone, so I just dropped him off at the front porch of the school. Every morning he asked if daddy was going to take him inside when he came back.
Anybody who knows me knows that I pick the times that JP is away to get things done. That way he can't give me the "you are crazy look." I mean what husband would agree to paint in the middle of the week. Our weekends are always full of other things, so we just never got around to do things at home. So the project for this trip was to paint Carlos' room so it could become Carlos and Emma's room. I was very thankful to have Sharmila come over two days to help me move the project along. We started thursday around eight and it was done early saturday morning. We bid farewell to "Tinkerbell Green" and said hello to "Evocative Sunlight." I know a lot of you will miss what I commonly referred to as the "Mint Chocolate Chip without the Chip" room. However Emma and Carlos are quite happy in their new room.