Home Sweet Home

It all started the weekend before when Dave, Alex and I went to Indiana for our niece, Julia's Birthday and Dave's Dad's Birthday! After School on Friday, Dave come home, we ate dinner finished packing and we were on our way. Alex must of been to excited to sleep, for he us awake for the whole three hours! Mind you, we left at 7:00, which is his bed time! We had Dave's Dan's Birthday Saturday morning and Julia's Sunday afternoon. In between, we had a blast with family. Alex decided that playing with his cousins was more important then naps.


After Dave's Dad's Birthday, Alex decided not to nap. So, we all got to go watch Jack play football Saturday afternoon. Isn't he cute in his uniform?
Sunday afternoon, we packed up the car again and headed home just in time for Small group!

Alex and I spent that next week getting ready for our weekend trip to Ohio. Dave had to stay in Illinois for golf. So, Friday morning, I packed up the car and headed out yet again. My friend, Kim was getting married and I was not going to miss it! Alex spent the weekend visiting great grandparents and playing with my friend Melissa's two kids. By Monday morning, Alex and I both were ready to go home! With a short stop in South Bend to visit a friend, we completed our 11 hour trip home with much relief. I have never seen Alex get so excited to be at home and play with his toys again! The boy went down for the night like butter!!

Dinner and a nap

Alex ate a chili dog

You can see Alex's fifth and sixth teeth

Dave and Mia took a nap

I wish I had a picture of this

Eating time with Alex is getting interesting. He is developing specific tastes to certain foods and he loves to eat what we are eating. Well today at lunch, I gave him some meatballs, corn and peaches. He polished off the meatballs, when he sat there long enough he ate the peaches, and would not touch the corn. I had made myself a chicken sandwich and when I sat down to eat it...he got really excited. I cut off a few pieces for him but he kept eyeing my big sandwich. I gave him a quarter piece of my sandwich and sat there in awe of my son polishing off the sandwich, big chucks of chicken and all. He loved it! No choking or gagging. He chewed it up with 5 1/2 teeth and some powerful gums!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for.....
1. Alex is now pulling himself up to stand and every so often you might get lucky and see him slowly walk along the coach (I have seen him do it twice!)
2. Dave's heart for trying to make his family a priority, even with his very busy schedule.
3. Our sitter, Angela, who comes and watches Alex when I am at work and Dave is with the golf team. It is great to have someone who is flexiable and is great with our kid.
4. Alex signs "more" and "hungry" to me. When you have a son who does not have words....it is wonderful when he is able learn other ways to communicate without just yelling at you! Even if it is only two words.
5. The cool weather is wonderful. The other week, I stopped by Starbucks for a little treat. I got a Pumpkin Spice Latte, the taste just made me long for Fall and everything it brings with it! BRING ON THE FALL!

Time with friends

Brian and Sarah, from Indiana, came for a visit this weekend. Dave and I enjoy our time with them. Last time we hung out, out kids where maybe a month or two old. Lauren was born two weeks after Alex. I think Alex spent the first 15 minutes watching Lauren play with his toys! And Lauren was having a blast playing with Alex toys! As you can see below, they did have some fun together.

It was a great break for Dave and I to spend some time with friends hanging out, eating, playing games, laughing. Thanks for spending time with us Brian and Sarah!

Wanted: An Ark

It just keeps raining and there appears to be no end in sight. That is all I have to say about that! (I should be thankful that it is not a hurricane, right?)

Two great pictures

We took these a few weeks ago, but I just never got around to post them.

Thanks Gramma Miriam for the hat. This was Dave's hat that HE bought when he was a kid. His mom found it and brought it to us.

Yes, My son is wearing shorts!

Thankful Thursday

I should just start calling this "Thankful Thursday on Friday." Anyways....

1. We had Alexander's year wellness Dr. appointment on Thurday. He is a healthy little man! For that, I am very thankful.
2. Alexander faces forward in the car! I love being able to see his cute little face when I look back. I feel like he is in the car with me instead of in his own room in the back of the car!
3. Living so close to Target. Alex and I went shopping yesterday, and just wandered around Target. I found a few things to buy and a few things to put back! I figured I needed to keep something there others to buy!

Has it been a year???

This past Saturday, Alexander turned one year old! What a great weekend we had with family. I had just a great time watching my son having so much fun with his cousins. He enjoyed laughing at them when they did silly things! Alexander laughed so much! I do need to give a shout out to the moms in my life! They helped me so much this weekend with the food! Wow, I have never fed so many people for a weekend! If you ever need to find room in your frig for more food, call Miriam! She is amazing!

Here are some picture to enjoy !

Alexander's cake and my first time making a layered cake (4 layers to be exact!)

He was not sure about the cake. He got a few good hand fulls in

The boy has not offically eaten until he has sucked this thumb.

The only present he helped open up

Thankful Thursday

I have 15 more minutes to have this done on time!!

- I have a great house that I enjoying spending time in (which is good since I spend ALOT of time in it) God provided for us in mighty ways with this house!
- Internet, to help keep me in touch with outside world while I stay inside the great house that I live in
- My job! I enjoy getting out in the evening and building relationships with co-workers and my clients (professionaly of course)
- That I am not longer the only family member in the United States! For the past week, my parents, brother and sister in law where in Costa Rica. That left me and Dave alone in USA! I am thankful they had a good time and that they made it home (At least I am assuming Joel and Lisa made it home, I have not talked with them yet?!)

Speaking of Trader Joe's (see the following post)

I love Trader Joe's I would love to hear from the blog world what is yours (or your family's) favorite thing to buy at Trader Joe's? I would love to hear what other people love from TJ's, Then I can try them also!

Pacheco Favorites
- Roasted black bean salsa
- TJ white corn tortilla chips
- TJ flour tortillas
- TJ Jelly (any fruit)
- Orange Juice
- 1 lb block of Dark Chocolate

In case you do not know, at the bottom of every post, you can click on the work comment. You can then post a comment on our blog. You do not have to be a member of Blogger, you can post anonymously.

Thankful Thursday

I know, it is Saturday morning! But since I have missed the past few Thursday, I figured it was not a big deal!

- That I am a Mom!
- My son is able to crawl. I have just loved watching him crawl around and get into everything! He loves to open and close doors. He has recently found the kitchen cabinets. He will open and close them while I am cooking. It is a riot!
- I have a husband that thinks I am the greatest. It just makes a married work better when both people think the other the best since sliced bread!
- For two naps! There are some days that Alex will only take one nap. but that means I am just that much more thankful for the two nap days!
- My parents and brother and sister-in-law are able to go to Costa Rica together on a missions trip with my brother and sister-in-law's church. They get back on Tuesday night
- Soymilk! Alex loves it.
- Trader Joe's, they have good stuff. I love their salsa.

Not much of anything

Well, I got my wish. We were really busy during June, so I told Dave that I do not want to go anywhere in July. I just want to stay home and enjoy our house! That is what happened and boy am I bored! I am just looking for things for Alex and I to do between naps just to get out of the house! So, that being said, there is not much to bring you up to date with. This is a picture from a picnic that Alex and I went on the other day.

So how about some mundane Pacheco facts.
1. Alex is officially allergic to Milk.
2. I have been unable to fall asleep until midnight for the past two nights
3. Dave played golf yesterday
4. Dave played golf today
5. Alex ate bits of carrots tonight for dinner.
6. I changed 4 diapers today
7. During Alex's morning nap, I cleaned bathrooms
8. Alex was asleep tonight by 7:10

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Dave here. Well, our son is rolling over like there's no tomorrow. In fact, he said to me the other day, "Dad, I just love rolling over." Okay, that last sentence isn't true, but if he could talk, I'm sure that's what he would say.

Well, we've been working out now for almost two weeks and I have already lost 62 pounds. They're literally falling off. I now weigh less than Esther, it's weird. :)

We had a crazy storm on Wednesday, with horizontal rain, a lighting display was akin to Chicago's Fourth of July show and some deep rumbling thunder. I have never driven in such heavy rain before. I had the wipers going full tilt and there times when I still just could not see.

I just wanted to get something on the blog so our faithful readers didn't think we had perished.

Just for a laugh

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for....

1. Alex is finally crawling and he is so cute when he crawls. He started about two weeks ago. After practicing for a few days, he is a pro!
2. A great husband who made a wonderful dinner tonight; steak on the grill, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and biscuits.
3. I am going to have a nephew (not to exclude Dave's nephew, Jack, because he is way cool). I never thought Alex would have a cousin on my side of the family.
4. The Rain. It is so great to see green grass!

Where does the time go?

This is what I looked like a year ago. The picture is with my mom and my mom's mom at a baby shower I had last July 3rd. In a month from yesterday, my son (who was inside me a year ago) will be a YEAR OLD! Unbelieveable! Ohhh how different my life was a year ago. Alex was contained nicely and cutely in my belly and now I can not keep him out of the cat food!

He is an amazing kid and a true gift from God!

Fighting the Fat!

Dave here. Normally Esther would be writing her "Thankful Thursday" column today, but there is a minor glitch to that happening this week. You see, since Tuesday, Esther has had a bad case of "liftedweightsforthefirsttimeinalongtime-itis", more commonly known as sore muscles. I don't think she's been out of bed since Tuesday.

We joined Core Fitness on Monday night and the race to emaciate is on! Okay, we won't take it that far. As my dad is fond of saying, "I'm going to be a lean, mean, teaching machine." (You can substitute "counseling" or "communicating" for "teaching" depending on if you're talking about Esther or me.)

Anyway, I swam on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and I lifted weights this morning. Esther dove right into a class on Tuesday morning called "Pump & Flex". My wife cannot climb a stair, laugh, or even walk for that matter without her whole body just aching. I laugh only because I've been there before and I will probably be there tomorrow morning, although I probably did not lift today as hard as she did in her class on Tuesday.

Core Fitness is so inexpensive compared to other gyms that we looked at and they have exactly what we need, including a hot tub! It really is a blessing that we can join a club and not bust our budget. Although our muscles are sore, in Esther's case it goes way beyond sore, it feels great to get back into workout mode.

Britains Got Talent - A Star Is Born

If you have not seen this...it is a must watch. It gives you "goosepimples"

It was great to have the 4th in the middle of the week. Gave us a little break, and we had Dave home for a day! I just wanted to share with you how Alex spend this 4th of July morning.

He sat there and watched Dave mow the back yard. He was a little fussy inside, so I went outside with him and he just sat there and watched. Every so often he would get excited and laugh and kick. It was really cute. I was able to got some things done inside while he just watched!

Dave and I had our friends, Sarah and Wille Bosque over for Ribs that night. They have a son, Jonathon, who is about 4 months older then Alex. They had so much fun just playing with each other. Ok, they really played next to each other, but it was fun to watch thim enjoy having each other around. Jonathon loved to share things with Alex. It was great to watch Alex recieve things from Jonathon and then just laugh! How fun it is to watch little kids get so excited when they see other little kids just like them. It is like they are saying "Yeah, I am not alone in this world full of big people!"