Say Cheese

Alex loves and camera and loves to smile for it. Our camera beeps when it is in focus. When Alex hears the beep, he turn and gives us this really cheesey smile!!! We love it!!!

7+1=Family

As you can see, there are only 7 people in this picture. So, who is this other family member. Well, it may be hard to believe but Baby Boy Robinson belongs to Joel and Lisa! Isn't that the coolest news!!! I think I am more excited then when I found out I was expecting!!!

No word on what his name but we will get to see him at the end of November. I can not wait to see Joel and Lisa as parents...how fun! They will be wonderful parents!!!

We went to Kentucky after our time in Akron to spend time as a family. We decided to spend a day at Natural Bridg State Park. My parents have talked about it alot and have made several trips there. Now I know why.....it was beautiful. But be prepared for a hike if you every go. There is no easy way up!!!

This is my son at the begining of the hike

And this is my son at the end of the hike

Where have you been?

Oh wait a minute...it is been me that has been gone!!! I know, it has been a long time since I have updated our blog. I have not figured out why I have not been doing it. It could be that there is too much going on and therefore too much to write about or my writing creativity gets depleted and I just have nothing for a post. Whatever the reason...I am back again! So let me see...where did we leave off?

Two weekends ago, Dave, Alex and I headed to Akron for a "Robinson Family Reunion," or so my Grandma Robinson thought. Little did she know, her daughters had planned a surprise 80th birthday party for her. It was a great weekend.

Dave, Alex and I stayed with my Uncle Steve and Aunt Nancy (my mom's brother). They were very gracious to us...especially since I did not call them until Thursday before we left, to see if we could stay with them! Thank you Uncle Steve and Aunt Nancy!! It was great to hang out with them and their family; Ben and Joanna! I can't forget about Josh, for it would have been fun to hang out with him also...but alas he is living in Huntington Indiana. By the way, Congrats Josh on the new job!!

Anyways, at the actually birthday part, Alex had a blast with everyone and I had fun catching up with the family. I do not get to see all my cousins often, so it is always a good time.

Here is Alex with my cousins Halie and Nikki (can you tell they are sisters!)

My cousin Jonathon (3 years old) enjoying his piece of cake. He was so focused on each bit. It was hard to get the cake on this fork then to his mouth!!

This picture was taken as Jonathon was walking to his spot to eat his cake. Apparently he was not holding his plate very straight. Note that his mom (standing in the back in the orange)is laughing. This is a picture of my grandparents and all their children and spouses.

Meet Emma, she is my cousin Marianne's daughter (I am not sure what cousin that makes her to me, I always get confused!) She is 16 months and looks just like her Dad!
Well, that concludes that update for now...more later. Alex is awake and the store is calling us!!!

Great Pics

Dave was playing with the camera the other day and these pics are the product of that. I love my boys

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for....

1. Time out of the house. My fours hours of work each week plus an evening out with friends makes for a wonderful week

2. A wonderful weekend with my husband, childless, celebrating 5 wonderful years!!!

3. All the great help that Dave's mom received last weekend with Alex. Alex had so much fun with everyone!

4. Cheesy smiles! Alex has started to give big cheesy smiles full of gums and his four teeth.

5. Alex still has two solid naps a day! I treasure those few hours!

6. Garage sales. Today I was able to get Alex some great toys for just $20

It has been five years!

Marriage bliss!!! Dave and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this weekend! Dave started planning this last year. I had no idea what he was up to until about a month ago. Being the great guy that he is...he decided to take me to Indy. We stayed in Indy our first night. He was able to get the same room we stayed in also! It was very romantic! So, on Friday we dropped Alex off at his parents house and drove down to Indy. Yes, you read that right. It was a weekend with no Alex. It was a little strange, yet very much needed. It was wonderful to just enjoy being with Dave and not have to think about feeding, naps and bedtime! We could go and do anything we wanted! It was just like life pre-kid! I would post pictures but half way to Dave's parents house, he remembered that we forgot the camera!! I told him we will have to do this in another 5 years so we can take pictures then. Thanks Dave and Dave's parents for such a wonderful weekend! Back to everyday life now!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for.....

1. Wheaton Academy! They are the reason we ended up here in Chicago. Because of them, Dave has a job he enjoys, we are a part of Crossroads Community Church, we have this great house, and ohhh the friends we have met!
2. All the rain we have received the last week. Things were looking really brown around here until the rains came.
3. Babies R US. They have everything you could need for a baby. One stop shopping!

Is it stealing?

I was out for my run this morning, and noticed a dresser and a trundle bed box springs out by the road. I will admit, I got a little excited. "Did I find a treasure that someone put out for the trash?" I stopped and opened all the drawers to see if they worked and they did! Then I walked around to see the outside condition of the dresser....and then I found it. A piece of paper, saying that if you leave items out to be donated, they will be picked up on Wednesday June 6th. I WAS SO BUMMED! It would have been stealing if I would have taken it, right???

I just checked, they are still sitting there!!! Ohhh what should it do???

I am not in this alone!

So often as a mom, I get so selfish about my own time and so consumed by what everyone thinks of me. Read Tuesday's entry on Beth's Moore's blog. It does my heart good sometimes to hear that I am not the only one who struggles!

Alexander and the Train

On Saturday, Dave and I witnessed our second class graduate from Wheaton Academy. We did get a little nervous, the ceremony was outside and the day called for thunderstorms. But, like always, it was a beautiful and sunny day! The sun was shinning throughout the ceremony and as soon as it was over, the sun hid behind clouds the rest of the day.
Don't you remember graduating from high school, so excited for what your future held; college, job, independence, future spouse, independence!

After graduation, Dave, Alex and I headed out for lunch. As we were walking out a train was coming down the tracks. Instead of just sitting in the car waiting for it to pass by, Dave decided to introduce Alex to a big train. Dave said Alex just watched, did not smile or cry, just observed the train going by.

Best Friends forever....

A good friend of mine sent me this picture of her two girls. Isn't it precious! Ohhh the memories these girls will make over their life together!!!

Thankful Thursday

I am Thankful for.....

1. My "new" living room furniture (I will blog about it later)
2. Doctors who figure out what is wrong with your child. Alex has been sick for the past two weeks. The first week, he did not have many symptoms except for not wanting to eat and being really crabby and clingy. When you are used to a laid back, content kid, it really wears you out!
3. That God has given me, yet another year of my life. For those who do not know, I turned 30 this past Friday! I think back at this past year...what a year!
4. Baby Monitors are great. I am very thankful to be able to sit here and listen to my son talk himself to sleep as I am typing this. I just smile and laugh when I hear him having fun!

Friends

As I mentioned in the previous post, Dave and I went to Akron the other weekend for a wedding. What a great time it was to see a great friend of mine get married and hang out with some college friends that I have not seen for awhile! It was once said that High School is the best time of your life. My time in college was better than High School! (of course I would say my life now is the best time of my life. I love being married with one kid!) What great people that God brought into my life and I am so glad that I can call them friends!

This is Megan and her new husband Jonathon. We met our Freshman year and were roommates our Senior year. Then since Megan and I had so much fun our Senior year, we just had to go to Mexico together and room there also! What fun!

Laura and Liz were there also! I hung out ALOT with these two my Senior year. I love that I still get to hang out with them every so often. Laura just recently moved to my neck of the woods...so I get to see her even more (hopefully)!

This is Josi, I was supposed to room with her my Junior year, but she decided to go to Nursing school in Cleveland...but I still think she is awesome! She is holding her daughter, Ruthie, who is 8 mos(?).

It always does my heart good to hang out with good friends!

Catch up

So often Dave and I take pictures to put on the blog and then we never post them. So let me take some time to post some of these pictures!

Dave and I went back to Indiana for a quick visit when Dave's mom had surgery. Dave snapped this picture of Alex, notice how he looks just like this outfit (The bull's nose ring??....maybe??).

OK, so our kid does not roll over, crawl, or walk but he can do a push up!

A few weeks ago, Dave and I were in Akron for my friend Megan's wedding. We stopped by to see another friend, Melissa, who just had a new baby! Alex was playing with her older daughter, Natalie (17 mons). Apparently Alex had a toy that she wanted to play with, so she just ploped herself on Alex's lap to get the toy. Alex just sat there and did not seem to care. I find it fun to watch Alex with other kids since he does not have a lot of interaction with other kids. All he has is me and I do not need to sit on his lap to play with his toys!

This is Kaylee (Natalie's little sister)



That is all for now...stay tuned for more!

Thankful Thursday

OK, this is not going well for me. My second Thankful Thursday and I am a day late! Better late than never, here we go....

1. Got to love disposable diapers! I know, they are filling up the landfill, but as I change my 3rd poopy diaper of the day, I am glad that I do not have to clean the diaper (just the butt that it was on!). I just wrap it up and throw it away!
2. Attached garages are wonderful. It started to rain last night on my way home from work. I just pulled into my garage and stayed nice and dry. Last time I was able to do that was when I was still living with me parents, 12 years ago!
3. Whoever has completed a Beth Moore study knows why I am thankful for her! God has used her in mighty ways in my life! I am reminded everyday that I too live in a Babylon as Daniel lived in his. The question is "how am I living for God in my Babylon?"

They are here

I had a new riding companion today on the way home from Bible Study. I was sitting at a stop light and noticed something moving at the bottom of my windshield, a cicada. I quickly rolled up all my windows...I was a little freaked out that it might fly in. I know that they are harmless...but a bug that size flying at you would make anyone scream and jump! I then got hot and rolled down my window, but did not reopen my sunroof! It stayed on my windshield the rest of the way home (about 30 min). When I got home, I jumped out of the car and ran in the house for the camera. I had to document the first Pacheco Cicada sighting! I remember when I was much younger and they were out in Ohio. All I remember is seeing their skins all over the place! The crazy thing is that the next time they are out in Chicago, Alex will be on his way to college!!! Ohhhh how the world changes in those 17 years they spend underground!
(Dave's Editorial: I wonder why Esther did not just turn the air conditioning on if she was hot and also scared of opening the windows. I'm just saying.....)

Thankful Thursdays

A friend of mine started blogging about what she was thankful for that week every Thursday and I thought that it was a great idea. So, Deanna, I hope you don't mind that I am going to follow your lead and do that same thing! Granted, I can guarantee that I will miss a few Thursdays here and there, but I will try to remain faithful! I hope you enjoy them:

1) That my friend Megan found a Godly man and got married this past weekend. The wedding was beautiful and I also was able to see some college friends of mine.
2) How great it is to have family in cities that you are visiting so you can stay at their house for free! Dave and I stayed with his Tio Eloy and Tia Patsy in Akron this past weekend (the wedding was in Akron). We also loved hanging out with them! Great conversation!
3) And of course, Our mom's! Thank you for finding us important enough to invest in our lives! And now, you are investing in our kid's life (I think I treasure that more)
(Proofreader's note: Esther wrote this entry on Thursday, but as the proofreader of the family, I, Dave did not get to it until Friday.)

Poor Guy

Well about midnight last night, a cry was heard over the baby monitor! Being that Alex sleeps through the night all the time, I sprang into action because when he does cry, you know that there is a big reason. When I reached in for him, I knew why he was crying. He was so hot (temp of 103). So we sat down in the chair to rock for a bit to calm down. Then it happened, he vomited all down the front of my shirt. Dave got called in: "Make up a bath for him!" What a night.

Around 4 in the morning, we were all back in bed. Well kind of, Alex was asleep width wise in our bed (that is were Dave finally got him asleep)with me next to him and Dave was downstairs on the couch since there was not room for him in our bed. Poor guy! Dave is such a trooper. He gave up his bed to his son and only got a few hours of sleep. We was up by 5:30 to get ready for work, and I sent him on an errand to get Pedialite for Alex before going to work (while I slept).

No worries. Except for some tired parents! All is well in the Pacheco household. Alex is good today. His fever is good and he is taking in his liquids. Now let's hope Dave nor I get what Alex had!

Spring is in the air

FYI: The picture has nothing to do with what I am going to write about. I figure what is a blog post without a picture of Alex. Right?

After living in an apartment for the last two years, I am really looking forward to planting flowers in my yard. Though the person who previously lived here did not take care of the flower beds, someone at one point in time knew what they were doing and planted some wonderful plants. There is one that I am enjoying today! They planted a lilac bush right outside the Living Room window. Since it is so nice today, I opened the windows and the smell of lilacs is filling the house!! How wonderful! Dave took the camera to work today, so I can not post any pictures today of my flowers, but maybe tomorrow!

So, last week I spent some time pulling the weeds that have been growing freely in the flower beds for the last two years. Not only did I find weeds but I found something living under the mulch. I have no confirmation of what it is but I know that it is alive, small and it moves. Here is how the story goes; I was squating down digging up dandelions when I noticed the mulch about 5 inches from me appeared to be moving. I stopped and watched just to make sure that I was not imagining it! I was not, something was displacing the mulch as it was moving around between the mulch and the ground. Talk about freaky!! I stepped back and watched it for about 5 minutes. I did not know what else to do but stand there and watch! I was thinking "should I step on it? Should I stab it with the scissors that are in my hand?" I did not do either, for I was more afraid of the noise it would make if I got it than of the animal itself! Can I get an Amen to that? I eventually saw it move under the bushes. The next day, that same thing happened. Anybody have any ideas of what it could be or what I should do about it? Help me get rid of this unwanted overnight guest living in my flower beds!!

Catch up time

I went to download pictures from my camera to the computer this morning and realized how long it has been since I have posted anything. I have some catching up to do! As you have read from Dave's post, we are in our "new" house now! We are loving the amount of space we have. My mom was a wonderful blessing this past week. She was able to stay and help me unpack. I am not sure if she was here to help me or spend time with Alex? I think it was for both!

This is a picture of Alex's first nap in the house. He fell asleep on the way to the house after we closed! He looks so comfortable! I am not going to be able to take many more picture of him sleeping in his car seat much longer. As you can see, he has almost out grown the car seat!


That first weekend after closing, Dave and I spent taking down wallpaper. I have come the conclusion that when buying a house with wallpaper, you should ask the homeowners to remove their own wallpaper before you buy the house..work it into the contract. As our realtor kept telling us..."it is all about the verbage." So we stripped, filled holes, sanded, and washed the walls. As you can see, one of my jobs was to wash the walls to remove the last of the glue...so I washed



and washed


and washed

I was so whipped after that weekend! And then I spent three days painting! But it was all worth it!


We had our first house guests this past weekend. When my dad come back to pick up mom, he brought with him Alex's Grandma and Grandpa Great! Dave I were able to sleep six adults and one baby comfortably in our house!!! Every couple had their own room! It was wonderful to have family come up and visit. Dave and I love our family and are blessed by them all the time! I love that Alex will have the wonderful experience of knowing his Great Grandparents! He will be blessed by them as I was when I was growing up!