Ready for Winter, Feels like Spring!

Esther's parents have been here since yesterday, we picked them up at O'Hare yesterday around 7:00 pm. Today, we all went to the mall and we had a gift certificate to The Children's Place (Thank you to John & Maria for the gift). With a portion of this certificate, we bought a winter coat and hat for Alex. It comes with a fleece liner that can be taken out and worn by itself as a spring or fall jacket. Doesn't he look so cute? I know a lot of our readers are in the midwest so you're getting the same weather, but we really don't have a need for a big coat right now, even though it is the end of December in Chicago. It was high 40's today and is supposed to be low 50's tomorrow & Monday. Someday we'll be glad that we bought this to keep him warm, but for now, we're glad we bought it just because he looks so cute.

We're Home!

Dave here. While the "front" and "back" side of our Christmas celebrations are enjoyable unlike a hurricane, we are in the eye of the celebrations. We just returned last night from Indiana and Esther's parents are coming tomorrow night until Sunday.

I will try to recap for you our time in Indiana. I want to put a lot more pictures in here, but this site is not letting me for some reason, so I'll just explain it and not show it.

We arrived in Winona Lake on Saturday the 23rd, around noon. Our family does a progressive dinner every Christmas and Saturday was the day. When we arrived at my parents, Barb Wooler came over to practice with my mother for Sunday's service at church (Barb was playing guitar and my mom was singing Mary Did You Know).
Esther suggested I sing with them.....so I began practicing as well. Also, Saturday afternoon, Alex rolled from stomach to back for the first time, this picture is the roll, in progress. YEA!

Saturday night was the progressive dinner. We had appetizers and soup at Scott & Kelli Schneider's house (Kelli is my second cousin), salad at Noel & Joan Hoke's (Noel is Kelli's dad), stuffed cornish game and green beans (Esther made the beans) at John & Maria Tucker's (Maria is my sister), and then we went to my parent's house for dessert and to open presents. I received a Selah CD and a crank flashlight from cousin Emil and Esther got pot pouri and a candle from Joan. The picture is of (L to R) my cousins Kaylin and Karla getting to know Alex.

Sunday morning I sang with my mother. Esther did not make the service because as she was getting Alex dressed, he threw up. This was not your average baby spit up, but rather a geyser of baby yuck! After the evening service, we ate chili at my parent's house with Uncle Charles, Aunt Frances, my brother Dan, sister-in-law Marna and my niece Maddy.

Christmas morning, like a 5 year old, I could not sleep, so I went down to read at 5:30. My mom is normally up at that time so we sat and talked for a while. Esther and Alex had no problem sleeping in. The rest of the morning we spent helping to get lunch ready. We had ham, duck, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, fruit salad, bread and four different kinds of pie. It was a feast for the ages. After dinner we opened presents and talked. That night, Esther and Marna beat Dan & I in the first game of euchre, but then Dan & I stormed back and took the next two games.

Tuesday morning, Esther went to drink coffee with the Pacheco women and Alex and I spent the morning hanging out at home. He cried a lot and didn't want to take a nap, it was terrific! They returned in the early afternoon and started going through a bunch of old family pictures while my Dad and I went out for a long walk. My old roommate Aaron Waggoner came over for a surprise visit after we got back from our walk. That night, my parents treated us to dinner at our favorite chinese place in Warsaw, Peking. It was fabulous. After Alex went to sleep that night, Esther and I went to visit with her Uncle Jim & Aunt Tammie.

Wednesday morning was spent at my parent's house and Esther's Cousin Tara (Jim & Tammie's daughter) came over to see Alex....and I guess the rest of us too. (Personal note: Tara, you made the cut, but the picture wouldn't upload for some reason.) At noon, we went to my friend Seth's house and had pizza with Seth, Missy, Brendan and Sam the yellow lab. After that, I dropped Esther off at her Christmas gift from my mother.....a 1-hour massage. When I picked her up, she was walking as if she were boneless. She looked extremely relaxed. Shortly after that, we left to come home to Illinois.

It was a great week in Indiana and Alex was so cute at his first Christmas!

Tomorrow we'll go pick up Esther's parents at O'Hare and celebrate all over again.

Merry Christmas

We want to wish all of our readers/friends a very merry Christmas! May you draw closer to Jesus as you celebrate his birth. We'll fill you in on all the busy holiday festivities when we get a chance. Have a wonderful time with your families!

Sleep Little Child.......SLEEP!!!!

Dave here. This is one of the first pictures I took of Alex shortly after he was born. It is one of my favorites and I've included it here because it is the best picture I know of to describe what's been happening this past week. I left for work this morning shortly after 7:00 and my son was still sleeping.

For the past week, he has slept for at least 11 hours every night. What a blessing it has been, both for him and for us. Yea for sleep!

Look what I can do!!!

If you remember, last week I wrote about Alex's check-up and Dr. Pector's concern about Alex's floppiness. If you check out the picture you can see that there is already much improvement in this area. This was the first time he sat there without face-planting into the couch. If you look at his face, you can see that he is thinking "what is my mamma doing, jumping around and laughing. What is the big deal?" As a mom, I take great pride in my ability to get excited over the smallest things!

An update on the weight gain. I think that he has not been getting enough to eat. So we are doing some things differently and are meeting with someone on Thursday to help us remedy the problem (hopefully). There is not much that is worse then to know your child is not getting enough to eat. Thanks for your prayers! I have noticed that since we have been doing things differently, Alex has come alive. He is a different kid. He is still a good kid, he just laughs alot more! It is amazing what a full tummy can do!

New Toy.....But Not For Alex!

Esther and I got each other a gift this year for Christmas, but we got it early so we could use it during the Christmas season. If you've read our previous posts, you know that I got Esther a Nikon D50 digital SLR camera last year for Christmas. You also know that I'm the one that has used it the most since we got it.

Well, this year's gift to each other is sort of turning out the same way, except that this year it's partly my gift to begin with. We got each other a Quantaray 70-300mm tele-macro lens. I don't have a clue what all that means, but I do know that with this lens, we can zoom like we've never zoomed before. It's really quite cool. Along with that, we got several filters, including one that adds the little twinkle to lights or a flame. These are pictures of me playing around the with new filter. Fun stuff! I may have found a new career path.












Photos by Dave Pacheco (I must protect my work)

Christmas Morning

Every year that Dave and I will not be at our house for Christmas morning, we will pick a Saturday before Christmas to have our Christmas morning. Yesterday was that Saturday. Alex woke us up around 7:00 (the first year, with many to follow, of Alex waking us up on Christmas morning). I enjoy these mornings of Dave and I (and now Alex) just hanging out, making breakfast, opening presents...no rush to do anything!! This year Dave and I ate waffles, bacon, eggs, coffee and grape juice. Yum!
We always have a lot of fun making breakfast together! Dave got me PJ's that fit! I got Dave a Steelers baseball hat! We decided that Alex would not get anything, but he sat right next to me in his Bumbo while I opened my Christmas gift!


Later on in the morning Dave and I went out and bought our present to each other, a telephoto lens for our camera. It is sweet! We are already having fun with it! We also bought a filter that adds twinkles to our pictures. Dave took this picture of our tree! He is becoming quite the photographer. One would almost forget that the camera was what I recieved as a Christmas gift last year from Dave!


Saturday evening we had our friends D.A, Rebekah and Kayce over for Christmas dinner. I made a turkey for the first time (Dave helped me alot). It was good!! We also made mashed potatos, sweet heat green bean casserole and stuffing. This is a picture of Kayce. She is exactly 6 months older then Alex! She gets so excited when she sees Alex. She can not wait until he can play with her!!! I can't wait to see them play together!


Dave here: Steelers 37, Carolina 3..WHOO-HOO!!!

Christmas Parties!

Today in chapel at school, I was involved in the Christmas chapel. Staff and faculty sing for the students and its really a fun time. I was part of the duo that led the entire chapel. I hope I can get a male quartet going sometime here. I miss singing with my boys back in WL. Bob, Jeff & Mike, if you're reading this, I miss our fun times together!

We went to the Wheaton Academy Christmas Party tonight. All staff and faculty along with spouses were there. It was a great time, with great food and great fellowship. We took Alex and everybody was amazed at how much hair he had and how calm he was. He was just passed around from person to person and just took it all in stride. We took our famous (not really, but it sounds good) Sweet Heat Green Beans.

Saturday, we are having our friends D.A. and Rebekah Nichols over for dinner. Esther has never made a turkey dinner before so we are going to do that. Their daughter Kayce is 10 months old. She and Alex are going to be good friends.

4 Months Old!

Yesterday Alex had is four month check up. So after dropping Dave off at work, Alex and I headed to Dr. Pector's. We were her first appointment. As I was getting him ready for his weigh in, I realized that he had a very stinky and messy diaper. So that was fun to clean up before putting him on the scale. (For those who do not know, babies are weighed naked) I always get nervous when Alex gets weighed; I have a fear of the fountain that might happen!! He weighed in at 13.3 pounds. Dr. Pector checked him out and found him in good health. Everything that should move moves, and everything that should not move does not move. So that is a good thing!! There are two things that Dr. Pector wants to keep an eye on in the next month. He only gained about a pound in the last 6 weeks. Babies should gained about an ounce a day and Alex has only gained about 16 oz in the last 45 days. Alex's trunk control is also a little delayed. He is still floppy when you pick him up. So if you think about it, say a little prayer for Alex and I as we figure out how we can eat better and sit up better. We go back to Dr. Pector on January 12th.

The picture I have posted is from this weekend. Saturday night, while we were in Indiana, we had dinner with some friends. Here is Alex with Scott and Jodi Feather's kids, Raylee and Camden, and Mo and Karla Grimm's kids, Avery and Ally

Hectic Weekend, Car Issues & Night Sleep?

Well, it was a good, but busy, weekend for Esther and I. We went to Indiana for Seth and Missy's wedding reception on Saturday. We drove back on Sunday and then back to work for Dave on Monday. However, due to the fact that the Cirrus was in the shop as of last Friday, Esther had to take me to work. I took her car today to work because I had to go downtown to drop 10,000 envelopes off at our printer so they can mail out the newest issue of the Connection (the Wheaton Academy magazine that I publish).

Anyway, I get a call from the Naperville Auto Garage (catchy name, I know), telling me I have a very loose left-side front tie rod end. If that baby goes, the car could violently swerve and I would have no control. Not good. So aside from the battery and transmission issues they fixed, we have an extra expense for the car.
(Please send all gifts to Pacheco Car Fund, c/o Dave & Esther, 1421.....) :)
I should have the car back tomorrow and then Thursday starts the Christmas party season in full force as we attend the Wheaton Academy Employee Christmas Dinner.

Now about the night sleep. I have good and bad news about last night. The good news is Alex slept for 11.5 hours straight. He slept from 8pm - 7:30am. The bad news is our cat, Mia, yacked up a hairball at around 1:30 and I couldn't get back to sleep until about 3:30. Not cool! We really need Alex and Mia to coordinate a little better!

Have a super day!

The picture is a random pic of Alex we took before his haircut at 3 months. If you've seen him since, you'll tell the difference right away. He looks more like a little boy now, instead of more and more like a little girl.

Steelers 27 - Browns 7

All is well in the Pacheco house. Steelers win and Browns lose. Guess who's writing this entry! It was a dominating performance last night by Los Hombres de Acero! Let's just review some of the stats for the game.









Score: Pittsburgh 27, Cleveland 7
Total Yards: Pittsburgh 528, Cleveland 294
Rushing: Pittsburgh 303, Cleveland 18
Rushing: Willie Parker (above) 223, Cleveland 18
T. O. P.: Pittsburgh 38:47, Cleveland 21:13
Smiles: Pittsburgh - Many, Cleveland - 2 or 3


I really feel bad for Cleveland fans. I mean, how do you cheer for that kind of performance. They don't even have colors that are nice to look at. Esther is this close (fingers almost touching) to switching over from the dark side to seeing the Black & Gold light.

First Family Dinner

Like most couples with no kids, Dave and I have gotten used to eating dinner in front of the TV. When I was pregnant, I told Dave that I want our family to eat dinner at the table. Dave agreed. Since moving into our new place, we have been really good at eating at the table. Alex is either in his swing or on the floor beside us, but tonight we all sat at the table, thanks to the new baby invention, the Bumbo seat. When babies are able to support their head weight, they can sit up in these seats. Now Alex is still a little wobbly, but as you can see by the picture he sure does try!!

Thanks for praying for Dave's car!!! When Dave got home tonight, he headed out into the cold to see if his car would start and to our surprise, it did!!! Let us hope is starts tomorrow too!

Dead Car! Red Robin! Visit from Grace!

I woke up on Sunday morning and went to start my car at 6:45am to go set up for worship team at Church. I turned the key and.......NOTHING! I stole my wife's car for the morning and told Esther she had to fend for herself to get to church. Okay, it wasn't quite that harsh, but its pretty much the way it happened. It's been another busy week at work and so I haven't had any time really to figure out what to do. I'll take some time off work on Thursday to try to get everything taken care of.

Tonight, we went to Red Robin for dinner on a spur-of-the-moment decision. Lo and behold, our faithful cat-sitter Allison greeted us with a hearty "Welcome to Red Robin." We had no idea she worked there, so it was kind of a funny moment.

Esther's friend from a missions trip to Mexico, Grace (that's her name, not the school), just came over tonight. She's in town on business and just popped in to say Hi!

We are very much looking forward to Christmas vacation and spending time with family and friends.

Christmas decorating

Every year I get excited about Christmas decorating! I love to change up my decor for Christmas and I allow myself to buy one new thing every year! In years past, I put all the decorations up on a Saturday since I work during the week and who wants to do that much work in the evening. I was all excited that this year, since I am home now durng the day, I could get my decorations up on the Monday after Thanksgiving! Monday morning came and I started decorating, then Tuesday came, and Wednesday and Thursday came and finally Friday morning I finished decorating!!!! I may pass on buying something new...who has the time???? What normally took me one afternoon to do....with a child, it took my five days!!! Keep in mind...I do not have a lot of Christmas decor. I put up the stockings, put some glass bulbs in a glass bowl, put out a few knick knacks, and put up the Christmas tree! Of course it did not help that Alex decided to make this week a feeding frenzy! Feedings that only took 20 mins before are now an hour long! Not sure if this is a growth spurt or he just loves being with his mama!

Winter Wonderland!

Dave here. We woke up this morning to the white stuff falling down. I've included some pictures of the beautiful snowfall. The Principal of my school called me at 5:30 to tell me that school was cancelled today. I sprung into action with our Instant Alert system that calls every school family in a matter of minutes, as well as the Emergency Closing Center which simultaneaously notifies every major TV network in Chicago that Wheaton Academy is closed for the day.












We had a nice relaxing morning making breakfast, giving Alex a bath and putting up some more Christmas decorations. All of the expressways here in Chicago were like parking lots, so I'm glad we could stay in the warmth and enjoy the views, Christmas music and family.

It was a great morning to wake up in December!