vivienne’s first year

So…Vivienne’s second birthday is approaching and poor girl barely has any pictures on here. Raising three girls is kicking my butt and managing their activities, school, homework in addition to our daily life can get overwhelming. I know everyone is busy and I’m not the only one who is but sometimes, I can’t hear myself think! Enough with the rant. Lately, Instagram has been a way for me to keep memories documented. Going through these photos just made me realize how her first year was such a blur! And how fast it all went. Here are just a few photos. I have so many more! And I’m happy I do.

Looking back I have to share Vivienne’s personality. Vivienne is one strong willed child. I think she feels like she has to keep up with her sisters. She acts like she is way older and way bigger than she is. She is the most petite but loudest of the three girls. And when she wants something, she wants it NOW! But she definitely is a mommy’s girl and when she cuddles, she just melts into my arms and.

noelle’s 5th birthday

On February 25th we celebrated what would have been Noelle’s 5th birthday. It seemed just like yesterday she was born. Five years went by so fast. The night before her birthday we read the book Earl had made on her 1st birthday. We read her birth story to Jordy and Lauren and it really brought me back to the day she was born. The emotions on that day came flooding back. Of course, on the day of her birthday we celebrated with cupcakes.

Thank you, Daniel, Dana and Krystina for these photos and for spending the afternoon with us.

I need to mention that a few days before Noelle’s birthday, my grandfather passed away. I didn’t know him well and only met him once or twice. He lived in the Philippines. My parents have been in the Philippines for a month now and I’m happy my dad got to see his father before he passed away. My grandfather didn’t know much about Noelle. He was 89 when she was born and with his old age, we didn’t think he would even remember her. A week before he passed away, he kept asking my mom about her and told her that he “saw” her! When my mom told me that story I got goosebumps. I truly believe she helped welcome him into heaven.

Lauren

Lauren is seriously our comic relief. When any of us are in a bad mood, she cheers us up with her bright smile and goofy antics. Jordy is currently going through a sassy stage and sometimes I can’t handle her attitude. Luckily, Lauren can easily snap her out of those moments. Watching the both of them play and act silly together also snaps me out of my sassy attitude. I feel really bad for Earl. Once Vivienne gets thrown in the mix, I can’t imagine how this house can possibly get any louder.

Lauren recently started gymnastics classes and she’s totally in her element. She’s so active!

suncadia

Last year we spent mid-winter break at Suncadia and had so much fun we decided to do it again. We went with the Abenojar Family again. Jess and Earl are first cousins and hearing their stories about all of their childhood memories are so funny. I hope this next generation of kids have just as many memories as they do.

This year we decided to share a 2 bedroom condo and I’m so glad we did. All of our children like to wake up early so it was nice to get our day started by making everyone breakfast in the room. Our kids don’t like to wait. When they are hungry, it’s in everyone’s best interest to give them food immediately. Another thing that was nice, was when we were able to put the kids to bed, the adults stayed up late and I made some bad decisions. I drank way too much. Being hungover with kids who have a lot of energy is not fun at all. 🤢

Jordana

We couldn’t be more happy with how Jordy is doing at school. She loves school so much that she comes home and wants to play school! And Earl and I don’t like playing school!! She like to play teacher and likes to tell us what to do! 

All last year, she was all about playing with her Barbies and I was convinced that she would never grow out of that phase. Low and behold she currently doesn’t play with her Barbies but I am hopeful she’ll go back to them. 

The girls have a ton of toys so if anyone is reading this, please don’t buy them any more toys. My house is quickly turning into Toys R Us and in order to keep my house somewhat sane, I’ve had to throw out a lot of stuff. 

Anyway, last year during the school year we thought that we had to enroll her in all of these extra curricular activities. She was doing soccer, cross country, swim lessons, art lessons, and dance. Her schedule was consuming our lifestyle and it was overwhelming. She was tired. We all were tired. So this year we decided to cut back and it has been way more manageable. She is currently in soccer, dance and art. ​

Last year’s soccer team. Earl was one of her soccer coaches. Lucky for Jordy, Earl decided to coach again this year!

Jordy at her dance recital. Since she’s been with her dance studio for 3 years she was presented with a trophy! She thought it was the coolest thing! 

Found a picture of Jordy when she lost her first tooth. It happened when we wine on a trip to Disneyland. Maybe I’ll dedicate an entire post to Disneyland? Maybe. The tooth fairy gave her $5. She was excited, gave me the money to keep and then forgot about it. Ha! 

2018

Let’s start fresh! Let me write down some big highlights for each kid so I don’t forget. Youngest to oldest!

Vivienne is now 5 months old and is definitely not sleeping through the night yet. She still gets up 2-3 times a night and occasionally some nights will wake up every hour! I bought this thing called “The Magic Sleepsuit” which worked well for three weeks. Then, I had to transition her to a sleepsack because she kept rolling over and currently is in the sleepsuit again. I try not to stress about sleep because I know this is only temporary. Luckily, I can still function with little sleep. The house may be a mess, I may not have showered and I may have yelled a few times, but everyone else is clean, fed, and seems happy, so I consider that a win. I’ve gone back to work so Vivienne is on half breastmilk, half formula. I’m kinda mourning the fact that my nursing days are almost over. Sorry peeps, but Earl and I are not trying for that boy! We’re done!

Lauren turned 2 this month!! Lauren is our funny child! She’s the one who can do no wrong, except when she raids our pantry constantly. She’s just growing and is always hungry! It’s becoming a joke in our family and our relatives like to record her eating! It’s cute now but we don’t want to give her a complex when she’s older.

Lauren makes us smile all of the time and her and Jordy are becoming such great friends. They even share a room. It’s so cute when I hear them wake up in the morning talking to each other and playing. She is starting to speak so much. Her first words besides mommy, daddy and Jordy were “stop it!” and “everleigh” who is Jordy’s classmate and our carpool buddy. Lol!

And Jordy! Our little smarty pants of a 1st grader. She’s doing well in school. She’s reads at a 2nd grade reading level. Her teachers don’t tell us where she is in relation to the rest of her class. For all I know they all read at the same level but it’s still so crazy to me that she reads chapter books to herself and how she reads to her sisters more than I read to them! She’s not as thrilled about math though. We have to think of ways to make it more fun.

She played soccer in the fall and continues to take dance lessons. She had a few tennis lessons that she really enjoyed. I learned from last year to not over book her in after school activities. It not only seemed like too much for her but for all of us as a family. When the little girls are older, we can ramp up the activities for all of them. For my sanity, I needed to simplify our lives. And when I’m sane, my kids seem to be sane too. I’m still learning how to manage all three kids. It gets overwhelming at times but the days I let things go and realize that everything doesn’t have to be perfect are our best days.

Jordy is becoming such a little lady. Not only is her family important to her, but having great friendships are too. You can tell by the photos below.

Earl and I are having fun with raising our three little ones. Whenever one of us seems stressed or overwhelmed, we try to remind each other that right now, at this moment, are “the good old days.” Before we know it, these girls will be all grown and out of the house. We’re soaking in every minute of it. Even though our house looks like freaking Toys ‘R Us. It’s ok. We clean and tidy up as much as we can and move on.

what’s been happening

I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything in over a year. I lost the drive to  the keep this blog updated. I’m going to give this another shot because the details of what happens in my girls lives are fading from my memory. 

What’s been happening? 

• Jordy is now in first grade at Villa Academy. We haved learned from last year that the less activities she is in, the better. 
• Lauren is 1 and a half years old. She’s the comedian in our family and is so darn cute. She really gets away with everything. 
• And we have another little girl! We got pregnant when Lauren was 10 months and kept the baby’s gender a secret. Was anyone really surprised the baby was a girl? Her name is Vivienne and we are overjoyed she completes our family. For real, we’re not trying for that boy. 

I’ll try in the next week (or month) to go through what’s been going on with each of my babies. For now here’s a recent picture of us. Earl and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. It’s amazing to look back and reflect on how we have built our lives together and the family we created. 

kindergarten

It was such a crazy big deal when Jordana started kindergarten this year. It was such an adjustment and such a heart-wrenching but exciting milestone. My best friend isn’t attached to my hip anymore and my little girl is now a big girl. She has gained so much independence in such a short amount of time. 

One of the biggest challenges was adjusting to her new schedule. We chose a school that is not in our school district and the commute to and from school is very long. The school is worth it and Jordana is thriving and enjoys school. She looks forward to going everyday. It is not a battle to make her go. 

The battles we did face, I’m happy to say, we are not facing anymore. Getting up early, getting all of us dressed and eating breakfast in a timely manner were all big changes that made our mornings a complete nightmare. I’ve learned to wake up a lot earlier than I initially planned. I’ve also learned that making her lunch the night before and setting her clothes out are helpful. And, preparing something quick and easy for breakfast is key! Also, allowing Jordy to dress herself and making her accountable for that task has been life changing. We are also now at the point where she can prepare her own breakfast depending on what it is. 

In the beginning we wanted her to participate in everything such as cross country and soccer. We also have swimming lessons and we talked to her about ballet classes. Luckily, Jordy was able to decide for herself that she was too busy and said we would hold off on ballet classes! Ha! We will probably restart that in the winter when cross country and soccer are finished. 

We are so happy Jordy enjoys school. This new community we’re now a part of is exciting and the families we’ve connected with are super sweet. 

9 months

8 months

I can’t keep up. Between Jordy’s busy kindergarten and extracurricular activities, managing dishes and laundry, keeping up with an active baby and just life, blogging is the last thing I have time for. 

Lauren sprouted her two bottom teeth in her 8th month. She’s still super happy and is now sleeping through the night. There are some nights that she is fussier than usual but nothing we can’t handle. There are days where I handle the pressures of juggling 2 kids gracefully and there are some days I just am just bat-sh*t crazy!! Almost to the point that I actually think I’m psychotic! Earl, can we have another baby, please? Lol! 

I’ll spare you details but one thing I have to write down so I’ll always remember is the way Lauren cries. She purrs and sounds like a cat. One time when I was taking a barre class, she was crying and the entire studio could hear her. One of the other clients said she sounded like Chewbacca!

And how could I forget! Lauren was baptized this month! My family, aunts, uncle and cousins flew up to Seattle for it! It was so nice of them to fly from California and Chicago. I brought them to the beach house in Tahuya and they had such a great time picking and eating oysters. The weather was beautiful and I was so happy to show them how beautiful the PNW can be.