Let the Packing Begin!

Dave here. Well, we have less than two weeks until we close on our house and then a week later, we will move in. The week in between closing and move-in we will spend painting and tearing out some wallpaper.

We hit the box jackpot as Shelly Rose, a co-worker with me at Wheaton Academy just moved and they had a load of boxes just waiting to be used. I went to get them and even though they were all broken down, I had trouble fitting all of them into my car. Our apartment is a war zone right now. We're slowly packing all of our stuff and stacking everything we can in Alex's room.

Alex enjoys sitting on top of all of the packing paper and he finds his bathtub fun to play in even when he's not taking a bath.






Well, Esther has officially beat me in the bracket challenge. I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet on the blog. Her lead is widening as OSU (her champion) has made it to the finals.

We took a trip downtown today....more on that later.

Who knows if it is true!

Are you wondering how Sanjaya can survive this long??? Why is America voting for him? Check out this website

Great read

I just got done with a great book call anonymous by Alicia Britt Chole. It is one of those book that I should read again in a year or so. So much good insight. She writes about the temptation of Christ. The idea of the book is that you can tell a lot about a person's past from the decisions they make today. So to catch a glimpse of Jesus' "anonymous" 30 years, she looks at the decisions he made when he was tempted. Thank you Miriam for letting me borrow the book!

A Visit & A Walk!

Meet our friends Aaron and Jandie Waggoner. They stopped by our place on their way out of the country. But before they left, Aaron made my son into a little homeboy! Apparently Mia wanted in on the action. "Why are they leaving the country" you may be asking? Well, they're on their way to vacation in Scotland for 16 days. I was impressed, they had everything they needed for 16 days in one large backpack and a standard school sized backpack! I can not wait to see their pictures when they get back! Their pictures should be awesome because they have their own photography business.

The weather was so beautiful today, so we took a walk. It was just a little bit windy so Alex's hair was especially messy when we got back. He is in desparate need of the third haircut of his young life. We walked for about 2 miles and the sun felt so nice. The picture is of Alex in his stroller right after we got back from the walk. Esther thinks this picture makes Alex look fat, but I say he looks pleasantly plump.

One more month

Esther here. One more month and we will be in our new house!!! Three more weeks and we close and four more weeks until we move. We are soooo ready to get out of the apartment and into our house! I have so many decisions to make before them. What colors will the walls be??? And the big one...where will the furniture go? The other places we have lived, bedroom furniture goes in the bedroom, living room furniture in the living room and so on. But this time, I have four bedrooms, two living rooms and two eating areas in which to put furniture. The only definite place I know where to put things is the kitchen, I only have one of those!

Anyone else sweating it last night with Ohio State? I had already lost Pitt in the early game and almost lost Ohio State. It could have been a bad night for my bracket. Dave's North Carolina pick is playing tonight...can they pull it off?

The Blackhawks were Shark-bitten!

Dave here. I would normally start this type of post with a picture of an amazing light show during player introductions, or a picture of the posh digs we 'had to endure' during the hockey game, but alas, I forgot to take our camera into the arena.

I, along with 8 other guys, sat in a luxury suite at the United Center last night to watch the Chicago Blackhawks skate against the San Jose Sharks. I talked to my brother-in-law Joel, who lives in the greater San Jose area and is a huge Sharks fan, and we talked a little trash even though I knew the Blackhawks were horrible and they had at best a 2.8% chance of beating the Sharks. The score: Sharks 4 - Blackhawks 1.

Not being a huge hockey fan, I was neither disappointed or surprised by the outcome. The fellowship I had with the other guys was great. We had an amazing time sitting in the luxury suite being pampered with free Diet Coke's and Lemon Iced Tea's. It's fun to do that kind of stuff every now and then.

I also had a parking pass for the United Center. I was literally parked about 30 yards from the gate where we entered the building. That's livin' my friends.

So Joel, if you're reading this, I'm cheering for San Jose to win the whole thing this year as the Blackhawks are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.:(
How is a professional team in a huge market like Chicago, in a league with a salary cap, not able to assemble a competitive team? This continues to be a mystery.

An update on the Maddness

The first and second rounds are done, and I am ahead of Dave! A first for me! I have 103 points and Dave has 96 points. I am pretty proud of myself. Dave thinks it is funny when my competitive side come out!! We both still have our final four teams. I think this is the first time I have survived the first 2 rounds without losing at least one final four team!

Other things that are going on in our household....we are ready for Spring. At least I am. I caught a nasty cold last week! Dave had it the week before and it took him a week to get over it. So I am looking forward to a wonderful week of not feeling so great! But Alex is still the happiest kid ever, so that is good! I must get out for a walk this afternoon, maybe it will help me feel better.

It was really cute, Alex decided this weekend that when he would opened his mouth for food, he would also stick out his tongue! It made it a little hard for Dave to get the food in. I was just sitting on the couch laughing! I should have gotten a picture!! We also heard him distinctly say Dada!! This time Dave was pretty proud! First Alex cries because he wants to be picked up by Dave and then he says Dada! The next thing I know, Alex will be outside playing catch with Dave...then what will I do?

Alex also figured out how to hold his bottle. I am very happy about this. Alex likes to squirm when he drinks his bottle. Now I don't have to try to keep the bottle in his mouth while he is squirming. I do have to stay close by, sometimes he gets the bottle out of this mouth and he needs help finding it again. This picture is of Alex eating and watching the NCAA tournament. His first of many I am sure!!!

I Made Alex Sad!

Dave here. I came home from work today and Esther was holding Alex on the couch. As soon as I opened the door, he was looking at me and immediately smiled when I walked in. Those of you who are fathers know what an awesome feeling that is.

I had a bunch of stuff in my hands when I came in. I smiled and said hi to Alex. I then walked toward the couch and gave something to Esther. I had to go into the kitchen to put some things away that I had in my hands and as soon as I walked away, Alex began crying. He wanted his daddy to pick him up.

Although I felt bad that I made him sad, it was a really cool feeling. Its so fun now that he recognizes me and reacts to me when we make eye contact. What an amazing experience.

Well, as Esther posted previously, March Madness is in full swing. If Florida can avoid becoming the first #1 seed to lose to a #16 seed tonight, all of our Final 4 teams will still be intact after round one. I am running a doubles challenge up at the Academy. There are 19 teams (38 people) in it this year and I'm responsible for all of the bracket scoring. It takes a lot of time, but I love doing it. We'll keep you posted on how our picks are going throughout the tournament and where we stand in the doubles bracket challenge.

On a more serious note, pray for my friend Eric. He and I are the same age and he just got out of the hospital after being diagnosed with a DVT blood clot in his femoral artery. He had the same thing back in 2001. The doctor's say that some people are more prone to clots than others. He's on blood-thinners right now and he's waiting to hear what a long-term treatment plan might be.

March Madness

Since the first March that Dave I spent together, I have filled out an NCAA tournament bracket. I remember that first Wednesday night in March sitting in my apartment. Dave would tell me the the mascots of the school and I would pick which mascot would win. Who cared about the team's record? So here we are again, seven years later, and last night, once again, I filled out my bracket! I no longer pick by mascot or color (one year teams with blue as their school color won, Go Kentucky) for I now understand how things work and have a hard time picking a bad team just because I like their mascot. However, this is the only time of the year that I will watch basketball (not a big fan of watching smelly, sweating men running up and down the court showing off their armpits).

So to keep our blog readers entertained for the next few weeks, I thought I would post how our teams are doing.

Dave's final four teams - North Carolina to win
Florida
Kansas
North Carolina
Texas A&M

Esther's final four teams - Ohio State to win
Florida
Pitt
Georgetown
Ohio State

Alex's pick coming soon

A message from Alex

Today is my Daddy's birthdy and I want everyone to know what a cool Dad he is to me! I had Mommmy take a picture of me with my Steelers football to show him how much I love him!

Here is a Top 10 list of why he is the best Dad ever (not in any particular order)

1. He is so excited to see me when he walks in the door
2. He plays peek a boo with me
3. He cuddles with me when I drink my bottle
4. He gets food into my mouth much quicker than my Mommy
5. He always puts Baby butt cream on me when he changes my diaper so that I will not get diaper rash
6. When he carries me, I get to see so much more than with Mommy since he is taller than Mommy
7. He lets me watch sports with him on Thursday while Mommy is at work
8. He takes me to breakfast some mornings so Mommy can sleep in
9. He bundles me up in the car seat so that I will not get cold when we go for a car ride
10. He loves me, no matter what I do!

Everyone needs to wish my Daddy a Happy Birthday.

Nap time or dinner time?

This was one of those moments I was glad the camera was close by. Alex is waiting for his dinner. I am glad that he finds his high chair comfortable!

When is spring coming? The Pacheco family needs to air out the apartment. Dave I have never been sick so many times as we have this winter. Maybe it is the lack of sleep or maybe it is the apartment. Dave is sick this time. Since last Friday, he has been fighting a sore throat, runny nose, stuffed up head, chest congestion and a cough. Monday he started to feel better and the next morning he felt awful again.

I started packing this week. All of Alex's old clothes and future clothes are packed up and ready to go. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to do this for awhile. Next time, I will have more stuff to pack. As we all know, bigger place = more stuff. Not sure if that is good or bad. I have become a pro at packing and moving efficiently!! So at least I will be good at packing and moving more stuff!

Babysitting

Today is my friend Rebekah's birthday! So, Dave and I watching her Kayce (her little girl) while she went out with her husband to celebrate! Kayce is exactly 6 months older the Alex. It is fun to see her grow knowing that in 6 months my son will be doing the same thing! Right now everyone is sleeping. Alex is in his room (he fell asleep around 7pm), Kayce is in our pack n play in our room (she feel asleep around 8:30pm) and Dave is asleep on the couch (he feel asleep around 8:30pm also!) The kids must have worn him out! And Mia is napping on top of the TV (she has been trying to find a place all evening to nap that is way from the babies).

Baby Back Bend

It is amazing to see my son bend himself in such a way just to see something. You can see from these pictures that he was very interested in seeing him Mama! He has rolled from his stomach to his back a few times. Though I don't think he realizes how he does it. I still have to rescue him from his stomach when he is tired on tummy time. But as you can see, he can almost roll from his back to his stomach...almost! You can also see from these pictures how my son can move himself around a room. The toy beside him did not move, only him.


Alex found his feet tonight also. He was on the floor just talking and making a bunch of noise. I looked over at him and he was just playing with his feet. From the looks of it, he probably found them before while he was in his crib (when he was supposed to be sleeping), but this was the first time I saw him do it!

Back to work

Well, it is official. I saw my first client tonight. It was good to get back into the swing of things. I think the harder thing will be learning the ropes in the office. Dave celebrated with me by surprising me with a Root Beer and card in my car and then ice cream when I got home! Maybe we can celebrate again next week!