Ferreira Family Fun

What was I thinking....

2012-02-08T14:54:00.001-08:00

What made me think a 22 month old is possible of measuring rice? Still pondering that question...

Loving this weather....

2012-02-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

It was so beautiful the other day the kids and I got out the bike and trailer and took a ride down to the water to throw some rocks. I can't believe how many nice days we've had considering it was the end of January/ beginning of February. The kids have been enjoying getting to play outside.

Walking to the school bus..... umbrellas are just that fun!

Mila loves her babies. Nathan put these all together for her. She was loving it! She was feeding them all a bottle one by one.

Mila Hiding under my nightstand. Nathan had to join in when he found her.

Mimi loves her books lately. She loves the ones I hate of course. All the books she likes are the very simple first words/picture books. Very boring to read over, and over, AND OVER!

Enjoying the great winter weather :)

Whoopie pies have been on my list of things I've wanted to try making. The kids and I finally got around to them the other weekend. If we ever make them again I wont use the kit, the frosting wasnt great. Super simple though.

Mimi with the finished product.

Nathan told me "tastes pretty good, mom, you're the bomb-diggity" lol

Nathan drew this for me the other day, love it!
oh, ignore the not so great picture quality. The memory card for my camera has been MIA for some time so i've had to rely on my phone.

Alina

2012-01-21T07:31:00.000-08:00

I've been so hesitant to write this post. It's like, by writing it down I'm acknowledging it's actually true.

When we were in Brazil, I got the sad news, that my first born niece, the little girl I spent countless hours with, the LITTLE girl who now wasn't quite as little had Leukemia {heart breaks}

When I was done with treatment I used to say to myself "at least it was me, what are the chances of anyone else in my family getting cancer." Well life didn't play as fair as i'd hoped.

I can not believe how brave and upbeat this girl has been.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chronic-myelogenous-leukemia/DS00564 This is what she's been diagnosed with, its something she's going to have to deal with forver {heart breaks a little more}

She's a tough little thing and I know things will turn out great eventually.

Alina, I just wanted to let you know I think you're incredibly brave and have an awesome attitude. Keep it up, Bird!

The daily Jumble

2012-01-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

For quite a while Alli has had a big nasty growth on her side. It got infected and broke open yesterday. So we headed to the vet today and the poor thing has been coned. She's on antibiotics for 10 days and the dr suggested prevacid and bendryl from now on to stop it from bothering her. Surgery is an option, but shes old and i just dont know if all that trauma is worth it. To surgically remove the whole thing the Dr said they have to remove about a 6 in circle around it to get it all. That's a lot of missing skin. We're gonna finish up the antibiotics and start the other course of meds and see how that goes first..... I really dont think id put her through surgery for that.

Mila got a rocking horse for christmas from Austin and Danielle and she LOVES it.

Mimi got a sticker book for christmas from Dori, and she's been hounding me a few times a day to play with it. Today the stickers ended up all over us instead of the book.

Nathan got an AirSwimmer from Dori and James for christmas, its so cool! Once Serg gave over the remote to Nathan he had a blast. Everytime it came near Mila she wanted to kiss it.

This was the day we got home from Brazil. The kids came home to their presents from santa under the tree. It wasnt as exciting as normal, we were all beat from traveling all day, but the kids loved their gifts.

Santa got Mimi a blender because she loves daddy's. And a camera, she thought it was hilarious to take pictures of Grandma.

Trying on Marlene's heels. This kid loves shoes.

Quite the brave kid! Gotta love him!

Our day to day in Brazil

2012-01-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

Five years, wow!

Then and now

This one cracks me up. Even sitting in the same places lol

Mimi's kiddie pool

Monkey in the middle

We picked up this fruit, Jaca, on our way home from Rio. Smelled like banana.

Here it is opened up. It STUNK like old beer. You eat that yellow part towards the middle, bottom of the picture.

Nathan got braver and braver in the pool. Jumping in and going under didn't even phase him.

Uno marathons

Mimi and Tia Ni

Marcus Marcello was the resident pool babysitter :)

Rio de Janeiro!!!!

2012-01-01T10:10:00.001-08:00

LOVED these tunnels

The van in front of us was Sylvio, Marlene, Fernando, Marcus Marcello, Ma, and Marcia....

and this was our van... Mila did pretty good until we hit major traffic just before hitting the city, then it was a full out melt down.

Nathan was very dissapointed that we weren't there for Carnaval. He didn't understand that it was once a year. He thought it was a constant thing going on. This was as close as we got to Carnaval, the empty stands....

Our little hotel room. It wasn't the best looking but the location couldn't be beat. We were right smack in the middle of it all. 3 blocks from the beach, subway entrance right in front of the hotel, bus stops 3 blocks away.

Gotta love the graphiti!

We headed to a beautiful botanical garden, Jardim Botanico....
Marcus Marcello graduated from a military academy while we were there, so we were lucky enough to see that and get a tour around the academy.

Loved the water fountains!

Nathan and Camila were chasing a poor little bird around and around. They ran off towards the tree where the bird escaped and Mimi took a spill in the mud.

The trees were unbelievably tall

Then we headed to Sugarloaf. The mountain is only one of several monolithic morros of granite and quartz that rise straight from the water's edge around Rio de Janeiro. A glass-paneled cable car (in popular Portuguese, bondinho - more properly called teleférico), capable of holding 65 passengers, runs along a 1400-metre route between the peaks of Pão de Açúcar and Cara de Cão every 20 minutes. The original cable car line was built in 1912 and rebuilt around 1972/1973 and in 2008. The cable car goes from the base, not the peak of the Babilônia mountain, to the Urca mountain and then to the Pão de Açúcar mountain.

To reach the summit, passengers take two cable cars. The first ascends to the shorter Morro de Açúcar, 220 meters high. The second car ascends to Pão de Açúcar.[1] The Italian-made bubble-shaped cars offer passengers 360-degree views of the surrounding city. Each car travels only three minutes from start to finish.

On the bus ride over, which was a nightmare (HOT, litterally packed to the gills,standing room only, HOT, Crazy driving, did I mention Hot? I was so motion sick after the ride, I think I was sick for a good 45 minutes after getting off.) Anyway on the bus ride over Marcia, Serg, and Sylvio made friends with the guy who sells popsicles, so we of course had to buy some when we reached our destination. This was actually my popsicle, but Mimi refused to give it back after her first taste.

The kids loved the little monkeys, or ah-ah as Mila calls them. Nathan was so excited because they looked just like the monkeys from the movie Rio.

On the cable car

More monkey pics...

Sharing the stroller wasnt Nathan's favorite thing to do.

The favela's

Funny story: a while ago Nathan and I were driving to the bank, on the way there we pass a church, and Nathan asks me "mom, why do people people go to church?" and I answer to learn "to learn about Jesus" he then says "Cheeses?! Why do people want to learn about Cheeses?!"

So that was the on going joke for Nathan while we were in Rio. He called the statue either the "statue of Brazil" or the "statue of cheeses" pretty funny.

Love this picture of Emily

Playing in the van going up to the statue.

Our last day in Rio was supposed to be spent at the beach. Everyone had fun in the sand and sun while I waited out Mila's fever of 107!!!

On the subway to Ipanema

Impanema

We had an awesome time! I was so worried about our safetey before we got there. I didnt bring my good camera, left my jewelery at home, bought Mimi a leash. But it ended up being not at all what I expected. I felt totally safe. There were policeman on practically every corner, people were very nice. I felt more scared of dying in a car crash than anything else lol. Driving in Rio was a million times worse that NYC. NYC has crazy cab driver and traffic. Rio has Crazy car drives, motorcyclists, BUSES, hardly any lines in the roads. It was crazy!

Marcus Marcello's graduation

2012-01-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

Marcus Marcello graduated from a military academy while we were there, so we were lucky enough to see that and get a tour around the academy.Nathan had fun playing on Marcus Marcello's bunk bed...

Mimi trying on his Boina...

A rainbow on a beautiful day :)

Juliana's House

2012-01-01T08:07:00.001-08:00

I think on our 2nd day in Brazil we headed to Juliana's new house in Araraquara, about 2 and a half hours from serg's moms house. We spent the night there and enjoyed their company. Nathan had fun with his little primo, its amazing how well kids can play together without speaking the same language.

Brazil 2011

2012-01-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

Where do I even start?! I've got well over 1000 pictures....

We had a blast and coming home was bittersweet. There were certainly a ton of things/people we missed back home and now there are a ton of things/people we're missing in Brazil.

I'm gonna try to upload a little at a time, i've got way tooooo many pictures. Here goes....The pool never got old for Nathan. He was getting braver and braver every day we were there.

Mila insisted on wearing the swimmies, but refused to actually put them to use.

I tried...

2011-12-11T14:09:00.001-08:00

Getting a great picture of 9 kids on a chilly day, lets just say its near impossible

Cookie Decorating

2011-12-11T13:56:00.000-08:00

I got smart this year and baked the cookies with just my kids, last time it was a floury chaos trying to make them with all the kids. This year I opted for just decorating at my house. I'll still be cleaning up sprinkles for a month, but its better that sprinkles AND flour.

Mila liked to lick all the sugar sprinkles off first
Look at those double frosting skills!

Did I mention i'll be cleaning spinkles for a month?!

Nathan made me this heart, "because, christmas is all about love"

Ferreira family festivities...

2011-12-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

Secret Santa at Dan and Emilys was a great time! Thanks for hosting!!

Nathan's secret santa, Tia Na

Bella and Lucas

Playing with Rocky

I want to remember this....

2011-12-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

Mimi can pretty much always be found with a rubber band or hair band around her wrist. She's such a girl. She loves wearing them like bracelets, but give her a real bracelet and shes really not interested. Too big, I guess...

Mimi Monster

2011-12-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

Kindergarten Pictures

2011-12-08T17:39:00.001-08:00

His class picture came out sooo much better than his regular one....

Self portraits

2011-12-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas preperations...

2011-12-08T17:19:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread house....

(note to self.... clearance gingerbread houses from the year before are NOT a great idea. The frosting was way too hard to work with.)

My silly boy

Nathan imitating a napping Daddy

Daddy's girl

Monster melt down, tree decorating

Then and Now

2011-12-08T17:12:00.000-08:00

This picture soooo reminded me of her baby days.... had to share the sweetness.

Happy Birthday Mary!

2011-11-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

We headed to the park today to celebrate Mary's 4th birthday. It was a little chilly, but Jessica came prepared with hot chocolate, it turned out to be a perfect day. Nathan and Mary are like an old married couple, LOVE each other one moment and wanna kill each other the next. Luckily it was all love today :D

Happy Birthday Mary!
-sorry for the playdough Jess.....

Power napping

Finger Painting

Halloween 2011

2011-10-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

I was a complete slacker today with pictures! I don't know what the deal was. I was busy walking Nathan up to houses in the beginning and by the end I was just enjoying he was going by himself, so I completely spaced taking pictures. Here are the few I did get.
She was impossible to get a good shot of. She kept running away and thought it was hilarious that she was making it difficult for me.

Playing at Uncle James' after. Warming up a bit before we headed home

Darn sun! LOL

Jamie, Nathan, and Mimi

Alina hung back with Nathan, gotta love her!

The group, even Chico...

Dada and Mimi :)

2011-10-22T11:01:00.001-07:00

Alma's Library Celebration

2011-10-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for the magic show

Mary jammin with the band

Balloon swords, beating Uncle Joey

Jake and his assistant Camila

assistant Alma

Mummy Oreo Pops

2011-10-22T10:43:00.001-07:00

I saw this
http://www.howdoesshe.com/halloween-cookie-suckers quite a while ago and have wanted to make them ever since. They were so easy, Nathan was able to do it all by himself. He came up with making monsters too, we'll try that next weekend.
Notice Alli patiently waiting for another cookie to fall, she got two before we were done.

I love them!

Mimi loved them too. She was the only one that get to try the finished product. Nathan wanted to save all the others for his class.

Alli ready to pounce at a moments notice....

Pumpkin Party

2011-10-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

I had a quick little Pupmkin decorating party at my house last weekend. Short and sweet and the kids all had fun.

September's poem

2011-10-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

2011-10-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

My new play pen

2011-10-10T08:03:00.001-07:00

This kept her happy enough for me to clean the whole kitchen... shocking!

Pumpkins and Popcorn

2011-10-08T14:48:00.001-07:00

I uploaded backwards, I hate when I do that! Anyway....

Friday we headed out to Johnson's Farm for some pumpkin and apple picking.... And today we went to Popcorn Park Zoo, fun weekend!

Mila playing in the car as we're leaving..

Rated R..... is it wrong that I took a video, the sound effects just made it. lol

Scary...

Nathan feeding "Nigel" from Rio...

He's been caught and kept at the Zoo, Nathan thought that was pretty funny!

Mimi enjoying her apple cider donut

Kicking apples

Picking apples

the gang

She wasn't happy until she found the dirt to play in

Of course Nathan had to join in too

Here's his pumpkin drawing

Wednesday phone/camera wipe out

2011-10-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

We had over a dozen butterflies on our butterfly bush this afternoon. Nathan was on a mission to catch one.

That little orange blur is the butterfly Nathan was patiently waiting to land on his flowers. He'd get too excited when it would get close enough and scare it away.

Mila trying to blow bubbles...

Ya gotta love Mimi's reaction to Nathan......

Shaking hands with all the new neighbors

2011-10-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

Rest in peace, Lucy

2011-09-24T06:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday was such a sad and shocking day. I would've never guessed the woman I just spent the entire afternoon with would be gone just 4 short hours later. It's utterly heart breaking.

She locked herself out of the house that morning. She told herself "make sure the door isn't lock" and promptly shut the door behind her, it's something I would do. I picked her up shortly after to take her to her Dr's appt. We laughed about her being locked out. I told her to just hang out at my house until dad got home from work. Her appt went well, she liked this new Dr, and had another appt in 3 weeks. We drove back to her house joking about how she would get back inside. I told to just hang out with the kids until dad got home from work. She said she wanted to try climbing through the window first. I tried and tried to talk her out of it. She insisted she'd just try and if she couldn't do it we'd go to Danielle's house. It took her longer to rip the screen than it did for her to climb through. She was quite proud of herself.

That afternoon She talked of being scared to get the newest heart procedure she needed done, she talked about being being scared she didn't have much time left. Looking back on that afternoon, I can't help but wonder if she had a sense something was coming. I can't understand why she was so adamant to climb through that window, it just didn't seem like her. She would've enjoyed the time with the kids.

She managed her heart condition with a smile. She always made light of just how serious things were.

She loved her crazy dogs, and cat, in fact she loved all of our crazy dogs.

She knew how to forgive.

She loved her family and all the grand kids so much. Just that day she was talking about how disappointed she was that she didn't get to take the grand kids on their yearly point pleasant trip "to make happy memories" Our children, her grandchildren, were a light in her life. You wouldn't believe our Christmases.... chaotic and wild. She always found that perfect gift and then some for all of them, she loved it. She loved spending time with them, baking, candy making, games. I can still picture her singing to the kids on her lap, pulling their little arms along to the song.

Simply put, Lucy was a good person.

Lucienne Haberjan Feeley

AGE: 51 • Manahawkin

Lucienne Haberjan-Feeley, 51, of Manahawkin, NJ passed away suddenly on Thursday, September 22, 2011. Lucy was a resilient, caring and modest woman who always put her family first. Lucienne grew up in Hoboken and attended St. Mary's HS in Jersey City before moving to the Jersey shore. Lucienne worked for FedEx for 15 years before retiring due to a heart condition. Lucy always went with the flow and enjoyed cooking, sewing and spending time with her two daughters, her fiancé, her large extended family and her many loveable pet Boxers. She had a soft spot for days at "The Farm" and spending time with family.

Lucienne is survived by her beloved fiancé, Jim; her two daughters - Elizabeth Feeley of Manahawkin and Nicole Nicosia and her husband Christopher, of Barnegat; three sisters - Michelle Tatusko and her husband Alan, of Jersey City; Elizabeth Cerbie, of Howell; and René Haberjan, of Hasbrouck Heights; as well as many stepchildren, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins. Lucienne was predeceased by her parents, Frank and Lucille Haberjan.

Visitation is from 2pm-4pm and 7pm-9pm on Sunday, 9/25 at Anderson-Campbell Funeral Home located at 703 Main St. in Toms River. A funeral mass will be held at 10 AM on Monday, 9/26 at St. William the Abbot R.C. Church at 2740 Lakewood Allenwood Road in Howell. Condolences may be made by visiting www.andersonandcampbell.com.

Published in Asbury Park Press on September 24, 2011

The last time that I talked to you
I wish I would have known.
I would have said I love you,
and kept you in the car....

2011-09-18T13:56:00.001-07:00

Kite flying bust...

2011-09-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

The other day I was in the middle of cooking dinner and got a great breeze through the open windows, stopped what I was doing and rounded up the kids to try out the cool spiderman kite Nathan got for his birthday. We walked down to the bay fast so the kite wouldn't get stuck in the trees, and from there it was pretty much a bust. I don't know if it was just TOO breezy or the kite was a dud. We could get it about a ft and a half off the ground and that's about it, lol. All it wanted to do was tangle all up and tangle up Nathan little feet. We finally gave up and decided to feed the lone duck some peanut butter chips and small little cracker crumbs I had floating around in the stroller. Mila loves birds so it was quite a hit with her. Nathan loved watching the duck dive for the peanut butter chips before they got out of reach.... I didn't get a shot of the kite fiasco, or the actual duck.... but here's what I got lol.

The duck is hiding in this shot.... but he's there

5......4......3.....2.....1

2011-09-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

Blast OFF......>Nathan got a model rocket from my cousin Jessica (thanks!) for his bday and he's been extremely excited to launch it. We didnt know everything was sold seperately so we had to wait a bit for an amazon delivery. Well we finally got out to launch it. Thank you, Marcus, for showing us the ropes..

And he's home....

2011-09-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

Nathan's First Day of KINDERGARTEN!

2011-09-06T08:01:00.001-07:00

Well, Nathan is at school as I type. Crazy!! It was a rough morning but hopefully tomorrow will be smooth sailing, especially since Sergio wont be home to help. Here's Mr. Nervous.
Still pretty happy/excited walking to the bus stop

Now he's not happy because he has to wear the apple on his shirt. That was our first hurdle.... For those of you who know Nathan well, know this was a huge deal for him lol.

Starting to cheer up a bit again

How can you leave this face NOT heartbroken?! So sad... I knew the bus would be the hardest part. I'm hoping he's over it and tomorrow we'll have no tears :(

I can't wait for 12:30 to hear all about his day!

Ana's Farewell

2011-09-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

Nathan and Camila miss you already!

Best of luck back in Brasil!

Play-doh faces :)

2011-09-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

He was very proud of these two...

Late Afternoon Beach

2011-08-22T16:17:00.001-07:00

Cute randomness

2011-08-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Nathan's the big 5!

2011-08-15T13:24:00.001-07:00

Nathan was party planner extraordinare this year. He picked his theme, color scheme, activities, EVERYTHING....

We made this banner together and he chose the paper, shapes, where to put the Angry Birds. He was Mr. Opinion. He kept telling me "My birthday, my choices"

We made these cupcake toppers and he had to have the background a triangle, and he put every hat on.

Nathan had been asking for a Jello cake for months before his bday, so I figured id give it a shot. Ohhhh, my lovely "Jello Cake" well lovely idea anyway... more pics below :(

The water balloons, 3 fun filled days of filling

He wanted a pinata, and of course there were no Angry bird options at the party store, so we made one. Nathan was Mr. Helper.

The night before his party he says "Oh no, mom, we forgot party hats! It's not a party without party hats!" So we got to work making those. He had me put to work this year! It was so exciting for me because he was so into party planning this year. I was so excited to see his face when it all came together.

The night before his party I blew up the few balloons we had at the house and filled his room. He was so excited when he woke up. They played with them for quite awhile.

Nathan wanted to decorate the entire house like this, one wall just wasn't enough for him. He was very dissappointed when I said no.

Nathan and Mila playing in his bounce house before the party

Daddy filling up the pool

Three days of filling up 300 water balloons was totally worth seeing all the kids gang up on Uncle Austin. He was SOAKED!

Awww, my poor "Jello Cake"

As its slowly collapsing Nathan says to me "mom, why'd you have to make a Jello cake" Like this crazy cake was my idea!!

In hindsight I really shouldve adjusted the gelatin to water ratio, maybe it wouldve been a castle instead of a bucket o' jello.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Nathan, happy birthday to you!

The rocket he wanted ohh so bad.

trying to get a stubborn present out of the bag, it only took about 5 kids and some adult intervention.

As we were getting the pinata out Nathan saw the party hats we forgot to get out for everyone. So I quickly made up a pinata rule, No hitting the pinata without a hat. I was perfect because everyone ended up using their hat to hold their stash when the pinata broke open.

We went in age order and only made it to Jake. Jake took one swing at it and broke it almost completely off. We let the birthday boy finish it off, he was thrilled!

Daddy and Nathan playing with his new helicopter. Dad had more fun than Nathan, I think

Our Family (:

Playing on the bounce house on his actual birthday

Loving his new bubble helicopter guns

Last night as a 4 year old

I tried to redeem myself and surprise Nathan with another Jello cake on his actual birthday.

Its not nearly as impressive as the castle would've been, but he still loved it.

Cole Bros. Circus

2011-08-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

Danielle and I took our kiddies to see the circus...

The clowns were a big hit
The balloon was a big hit with Mila

Until Nathan decided he wanted in on the action too
Nathan won obviously

2011-07-24T07:18:00.001-07:00

Let me start with, I love my dog, but boy do I want to strangle her this morning. I can leave a steak on the floor and tell her to leave it alone and she'll walk away. I leave to the bagel store for 15 minutes and her true weakness calls her name. DIRTY DIAPERS!!! Usually I cant entirely blame her because I'll leave a diaper on the floor, but this time it's all her! I was cleaning the play room last night and brought in a garbage bag to empty the garbage in there. Shortly after, I changed Mimi's diaper and tossed it in the bag. I never did get around to finishing the playroom and there the bag sat until this morning. When I got home from the bagel shop she had that 'crap I've been caught' look, I just assumed she was on the couch while we were out. But what I found was ohhh so much worse.

Mended Heart

2011-07-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

Our little guy as born with an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD). We've known about it since he was about 3 months and continued to watch it regularly hoping the hole would close up on its own. We were always told if by the time he was 4-5 yrs old, if the hole wasn't closed, it wouldn't close and he'd need medical intervention. We had two options open heart surgery, or a newer method (around 15 yrs old) to close it up. We couldn't put Nathan through the pain and trauma of open heart and easily chose catheterization. Below is a picture of what Nathan's heart looked like...

below that is a short video showing how they closed it, pretty neat!

http://goremedical.com/contentTypeDetail.jsp?action=contentDetail&N=8063%208239&contenttype=8754&R=1234723524769

We had to go to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia the day before surgery for pre-testing. I was a wreck. Nathan is doctor phobic and I knew it wasn't going to be easy. First he had an EKG which was just a little fight, then he needed a chest x-ray and that was a full blown melt down, Serg and I had to hold him down for them to get the shots, last, and what I was dreading most was the BLOOD WORK!!! if he had a complete melt down for a simple x-ray who knew how he'd handle blood work. We were sent to the lab and we kept Nathan out of the loop, he was clueless what he was walking into. I stayed in the waiting room because Nathan seems to be braver without me, and Serg was prepared to hold him down. I was waiting and waiting for the screams, and nothing. He did awesome! He didn't know what was happening and I think that helped. Sergio held his head to he couldn't look, he didn't cry until Serg let go and Nathan saw the band aid and put things together.

Here he is right after the blood draw. Notice the bent arm, he kept it in that position for quite awhile.

The hospital has this awesome "contraption" that Nathan is in awe of.... We spent a long time at this machine, just letting his little brain marvel over it all. I think he could've stayed there watching it ALL day.

Wednesday came all too soon, we needed to be at the hospital by 9:30 and of course he wasnt allowed to eat. The surgeon's first surgery was going longer than expected and 9:30 quickly became 1:30. We had such awesome, patient, loving nurses. We lucked out and got the same nurse we had for his sedated echo a couple months prior and that already made me feel little better about the whole thing.

I think he could sense something big was happening on top of being starving. He wasn't cooperative at all. It was a fight getting him to change into the hospital gown and pants. If you know Nathan you know how crazy he is about wearing only certain clothes. We finally got him in the gown but he refused to put on the pants, he stayed in his shorts until right before surgery.

They gave him some "giggle juice" to help him calm down and get loopy and a baby asprin. That was yet another fight. Sergio had to told him down and even then he spit quite a bit of it out. Here he is after the meds started to kick in a little. It only seemed to take a little of the edge off. I was worried he'd still freak out when they had to wheel him off and we had to go our seperate ways.

It kicked in literally at the perfect moment. As the nurses were carting him off he was playing peek-a-boo under the blankets, completely happy and calm. As we kissed him goodbye at the doors were weren't allowed to cross he didn't even look back.
Surgery went a lot faster than we expected, he was only in there for maybe an hour and a half- two hours?

Now came what I thought would be another difficult time. He had to lay flat for 6 hrs. Since they don't stitch he incision sights they worry they'll break open if he moves.

We lucked out and he slept for pretty much the entire time. He woke up a few hrs into it and you could tell his throat was bothering him from the tube they had used. He was annoyed and wanted a drink. He drank about half a little hospital apple juice and went back to bed until around 8:30 insisting we put his own clothes back on him, lol, so Nathan. He also became concerned about the IV in his hand, he quickly got over it once I explained it'd keep him from getting any shots :)

At that point he needed another chest x-ray, just to make sure nothing had shifted, and was working properly. He did Great, so great the x-ray tech told him, he deserved her patient of the day award. He reply to that was "Mom, I think that means you should buy me something" lol...

He was starving and ate some pizza and an entire fruit cup. He already seemed like hardly anything happened.

After the x-ray results there were concerns that the device moved and he needed another ultra sound. The results were sent over to our surgeon to check at his house (gotta love technology)

The device had moved but was still doing its job wonderfully, it just seemed to find its own little comfortable spot on Nathan's heart.
The next morning we had another Echo and everything looked great. Bandages were removed and we were sent on our way, with instructions to take it easy for a week. It's hard to tell an almost 5 year old to take it easy, just leaving the hospital he was trying to jump over certain tiles.
We're a week out now and you'd never know he just had heart surgery. Modern medicine is amazing. I can't say enough wonderful things about the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia either. We didn't meet a single person who wasn't patient and caring. I'm just so grateful this is behind us and he pulled through it so easily.

Thank you everyone who prayed for us. We love you all :)

Quick pics

2011-06-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

Quick update while Mimi's napping

Tia Na and Nate having fun...
Lol ice cream Spaniard mustache...

Liberty Science Center

2011-06-17T20:19:00.001-07:00

Fun times with Jessica, Mary, Aunt Hazel, Felicia, and Jasmin at the Liberty Science Center...

Too sunny to look at the camera, lol

Felicia
Mary

Mila's all tuckered out
the best of the worst, hard to get a decent pic of 4 kids
Playing at the rice table
Mila trying to eat the rice, surprise, surprise
who me? I didn't eat rice, I swear!

Nathan favorite part of the day, 3D Sea-Rex

Man made cloud

Potty break, lol

Father's Day a little early

2011-06-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

Serg has mentioned several times, he's always wanted a world map to hang in his office. I saw this great tutorial (http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2011/03/canvas-map-wall-decor-guest-tutorial.html) and loved her finished product, and decided to give it a whirl. Canvases were on sale at Michaels and that made it even better. I love how it turned out!

Unfortunately, when Nate and I were finishing it up today Serg got home from work. It was still drying on the kitchen table and there was just no hiding it, so he got his present early.

Now we just need to hang it :) and add the corny card to the back of one of the canvases. I had both kids put their hand prints on a piece of card stock and wrote "Hands down best dad in the world"

Dancin' Nate

2011-06-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

2011-06-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

I've been out ALL day and just realized I have 2 different flip flops on! I've officially lost it

2011-06-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

I was Searching everywhere for milas ears drops so I can put her to bed. I find them hidden in her little car, with her medicine dropper. I guess she was hoping I wouldn't find them. Out of sight out of mind? LOL. I'll have to look in her trunk first next time. Too funny

Too young for lipstick?

2011-06-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

While I was washing dishes, this little lady found Nathan's red marker, and surprisingly managed to get the lid off, and decided to tasted it-leaving her lips looking freshly lipsticked....

You know....

2011-06-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

summer's right around the corner when you spend the day at the boardwalk :)

Ferris Wheel, Nathan was soooo excited!

I love that he's old enough to snap a picture of me too.

Notice something wrong in the pic above, yeah, took me a while to realize why his pants looked funny. He dressed himself, I swear!

She loved it too

Mini-Coaster

I'm annoyed I totally up messed up the order of these log flume pictures. They crack me up. Nathan was unsure about the ride but Mary wanted to do it, so surprisingly he got on. Here they are approaching the hill.
This was after the first drop. Surprisingly liked it

First Drop, so funny!
Heres the scared face, theyre about to go up the hill the first time. I thought for sure he was gonna get off pissed or crying lol.
After the drop the second time, he got wet.

2nd time :)
Mila wanted a turn too

Bumper cars was just frustrating to watch, He just couldn't get the hang of steering, of course he was just catching on as time was up.

Boarwalk staple: Fries

Almost every board walk must have in this pic: Mila's eating pizza, Nate's got swirl ice cream, and Mary has a bucket o' fries

Perfect day, and perfect timing to leave, just started to sprinkle as we were walking back to the car

It's a beautiful day

2011-06-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hope you're out enjoying it!

Memorial Day

2011-05-30T19:20:00.001-07:00

Little BFFs :)

We all scream for ice cream! :)

2011-05-29T17:12:00.001-07:00

2011-05-29T17:10:00.001-07:00

We're home

2011-05-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

The kids, my mom, and I headed back out to Utah for about 9 days. The weather could've cooperated a bit better, it rained most the time we were there, but, all in all we had a great time.

Megan and I took our kiddies to a little farm type zoo one day. They had a great time!

Nathan is so hard to get a good picture of lately, he just wants to be silly all the time.

We got to go on a little wagon ride.
Nathan and Weston on the wagon...

As part of our ticket into the zoo, you got a pony ride. I knew Nathan wouldn't get on one, but he promised up and down he would. Of course I know him better than himself, he wouldn't go near the ponies, but Mila was more than happy to take his ticket. Here's the pony she rode...
She LOVED it, UNTIL the pony started walking that is, then she wanted off.
Weston Loved it too...
This sweet little calf wanted a little taste of Mimi's sock and she wasn't too thrilled about it. It was a such a sweet little thing, loved to be petted.

Group shot of the littles, isn't too easy to capture

Mimi loved the chicks, I was very tempted to buy one. Only $2.00, but I dont think airport security would've been thrilled with that (I've already done the pet chicken thing anyway, didn't work out too well.)

Another day, Craig, Mom, Megan, the kids, and I headed to the dinosaur museum. I think the kids were a bit too young to really enjoy it, but they had a decent time

Mila enjoying a box, lol
Mr. Mason (out of order, but i'm too lazy to move it to the farm pics)
On our last day in Utah we had planned on getting out with Craig's UTV and head into the mtns and have a BBQ, but Craig ended up getting pretty sick and we ended up just enjoying the back yard. I think we had just as much fun though

Mmmmmm... S'mores

This was pretty much our week, are they having fun or driving each other crazy??? It's hard to tell...
Thank you Megan, Dane, and Craig! As usual we had a great time!

2011-05-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

Since we've been sick Camila has been spending the whole night in our bed. To help us sleep better (more room) Serg has been sleeping on the couch.

Yesterday, Nathan, asks me "mom, why isn't daddy sleeping in your bed anymore? Where's the family love?"

So funny. It really surprised me that he even cared enough to ask about it. It amazes me how aware kids can be.

Sent from my iPhone

We're slowly making a come back

2011-05-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

Gianna, Camila, and Emme. Too bad Emme doesn't live close, these three would be bff's

CaMiMi was hit the hardest with this cold/flu thing we had.... she's been sleeping A LOT
First found lady bug, and she wanted the little thing. She let it crawl all over her, but she was trying to catch it the whole time (it did walk away alive)

Jinxed

2011-05-05T13:51:00.001-07:00

I'm sick and it's spreading like wild fire. First me, then Mila, and now Nathan has a fever.

Milas now has her first ear infection, I jinxed the poor thing. Just less than a week ago I was commenting on how Camila's never had an ear infection, and POW-she's got one.

Just hope to all be healthy by the 12th, for our family vacay to Utah! I'm so excited to be going :D

Cuddly babies are so bittersweet. It makes you feel so good that just your presence can make a kid feel better, yet, so sad that she's so miserable.

Fishing

2011-05-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

Nathan got to try out his new fishing pole today, unfortunately it wasnt too lucky. He was the only one of the boys that didnt get to reel anything in. He had a great time hanging out with his cousins though...

I love this picture!

Nathanisms....

2011-05-01T05:14:00.001-07:00

This morning Nathan sits on the couch notices a stain and says " mom, do you know what this stain is?" I answer "no" and he puts his hand on his forehead and shakes his head, and says "I hate to say this, but, it's yogurt. Sorry, mom".

He cracks me up.

Sent from my iPhone

2011-04-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Look how curly her is today! It must be this hot weather. I love it!

Easter

2011-04-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

Nathan with his Easter goodies (Grandpa, he got a fishing pole too, so you better get ready!)
Cousins :D

From Left : Alina, Austin, Jamie, Nathan, Jackie, and Gabriella (Jake and the babies are MIA)
Nathan was so disappointed we couldn't get the bounce house out for Camila's bday because it was raining, but Easter ended up being a gorgeous day for it.
Jackie

Attacking Uncle Austin

Found one!!!
The Easter bunny
Nathan helping out Alina
Gabriella
Jake and Nate counting eggs
Jamie sad because she can't find her last egg
Daddy and his little girl
Our little fam...

Mimi's 1

2011-04-25T18:40:00.001-07:00

LOL...

Can you believe this is Camila, granted a very fresh from the oven Camila, but still-WOW!

ONE ALREADY! Time flies!!!!!

She desperately wanted to help with the frosting
Happy Birthday time, it's so funny to me, how different Nathan and Camila are. Nathan ate up every second of being in the spot light on his first birthday. Cami-mi was scared and wanted to hide and wanted absolutely nothing to do with the cupcake....

Here she is refusing to taste a very yummy cupcake...

Brazilian carrot cake, Thanks Tia Na and Emily
Mimi and her present from Uncle James, Dori, and the girls.
Poor thing all tuckered out
Nathan wasn't too far behind her, he even fell asleep with pizza crust in his hand...
Thank you all so much for coming out to celebrate with us. We love and appreciate all of you.

2011-04-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

Picture overload

2011-04-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

Today I was on a mission to get some birthday shots of Camila.... Since she has extreme photographer/backdrop phobia I decided to try to take them by myself.... The first shot is from the photographer, notice how sad she is, and that was the best shot of them all.

Heres Nathan walking out to where I wanted to take the pics. I love this boy!

It ended up being chillier than I expected so she needed her jacket/leggings or she wouldve been extra miserable...

And this is basically how it went, lol
She did not want to be off the beach blanket by herself
Happy again, back on the blanket

Excited she got to play the Nathan's shovel

touching the sand for the first time on purpose
disgusted by the sand stuck on her finger
Nathan to the rescue....

This is my absolute favorite from today
Nathan's Easter Bunny sand castle
Last sunday we went to the annual Seaside Heights egg hunt. Here's Nathan and Mary enjoying our free slice of pizza we won from an egg they found...

Waiting to dig up the eggs
Here are the eggs Nathan dyed (or in Nathan language, dived) The first is a bat, too funny

His Fireman
Mila walking :)

Beach Day :)

2011-04-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

At around 2:00 this afternoon I got a text from my sis-in-law, Marcia, saying " I could be sitting at the beach right now!!" and I thought, I could be sitting at the beach right now. So we did...

She wanted that shovel so bad, but refused to leave the blanket to get it...
Nathan's butt tracks

Notice my little man's wearing underwear, no more going commando for him (thanks daddy, for finally putting your foot down)

Convincing Camila rocks weren't good to eat was a constant battle

She hated her feet in the sand
Just enjoying the sand, he even made sand angels at one point