Our little fish is back in the water!

Bri is enjoying some fresh & yummy apricots. She's back in the pool and swimming everywhere by herself. She puts the floaties on just when she gets tired or for a quick warm-up. We'll see what exciting new things she'll do in the pool this summer!

10 lbs and sleeping almost through the night

Chunky Kiara weighs 10 lbs. now and, as you can see, continues to eat very well! Luckily for Mommy, as Ki keeps gaining weight Mommy is losing it! Bibi is back into her pre-pregnancy clothes and starting to train for the half-marathon in San Francisco at the end of July.

Last night she slept for almost 7 hours at 7 weeks, just like big sis Brianna. By 9 wks. old, Brianna was sleeping thorugh the night, as we hope Kiara will too. We're following the guidelines of the book "Preparation for Parenting," found at www.gfi.org. It's proven a great Bible-based resource for our two girls, especially in teaching them the value of a routine from early on. We highly recommend it!

Come sit down and enjoy our latest adventures

Please click on the TV screen to enlarge pictures. Enjoy!

Here’s the elevator story. We were staying at the Hyatt in Long Beach a couple weekends ago and were headed to the elevator to go out on Saturday evening. Brianna was ahead of us and stepped inside right ahead of us, we were trying to get the stroller and our stuff too. The elevator was older and the doors started closing, Bibi put her foot between the doors so they would open but they didn’t. Then Jeremy stepped in and tried very hard to keep the metal doors open and was barely managing to. Brianna was crying out inside and a lady from housekeeping helped us call Security. Another guy from one of the other elevators also tried to help Jeremy hold the door open and create a space big enough for Brianna to get out but to no avail. Brianna also tried to open the doors from the inside but the doors didn't respond.The assistant director of security came, a GREAT man named John. He had a book and crayons brought in for Brianna and managed to calm her down for about 30-40 minutes until firefighters came to release the door. He not only held the door open (resisting the great force of metal doors) but kept Brianna entertained by talking about Disney, princesses and a bunch of other things. Hotel maintenance came before the firefighters but were told not to intervene due to liability reasons. Finally firefighters came, released the door and helped Bri stepped out. Once she came out she cried for a while but we believe she was excited to see firefighters come and rescue her. They gave her a sticker and praised her for doing so well for so long inside the elevator by herself. The hotel arranged for Brianna to have some ice-cream of her choice and sent some goodies to our room too. Our stay ended up being free of charge. It was stressful but thank God nothing bad happened. Later on we went to eat Ethiopian food and Brianna was back to her old self, socializing with everybody and making new friends. We felt very blessed!

A brush with Greatness...

Brianna and Jeremy had the privilege of having dinner tonight with Ruben Gonzalez, thee time Olympian, motivational speaker and author. He has an amazing story of triumph.

In 1984, at the age of 21, Ruben decided he wanted to compete in the Olympics and started training to compete in the Luge at the 1988 Calgary Olympic Games. And he made it!
Then he qualified again for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and again for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games.
He is now in the process of qualifying for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancuver, Canada, and if he makes it he will be the first person in history to participate in the Winter Olympics in 4 different decades.

Here is a video of one of his motivational talks.

I followed him on stage in Memphis this past weekend and it was a privilege to share the stage with such an awesome winner. It just happened that he was talking at some local schools in Visalia this week so we were able to meet for dinner tonight.

Kiara's first Swim

Today Kiara had her first swim at 33 days old. We warmed up the jacuzzi to about 92º F to see what she thought.

And she loved it!! She floated all by herself with Daddy only holding her head for support.

Brianna loved having little sis in the pool with her. This was a totally new experience.

There will be many many years of great memories made here...

1 month old!!!

Kiara turned 1 month old this past Sabbath. Our church had a rose for her, commemorating her birth, as well as an announcement in the bulletin. Pr. Chad had Bibi stand up and show off Kiara to the congregation. It is a neat ritual our church does for all babies born to members.

Sisters for a month and going strong! Brianna is a wonderful big sis. She's doing much better about being gentle with baby Kiara and loves to hug her and give her kisses. Kiara keeps on eating well and gaining weight and has smiled a few times. Her neck is very strong and she is very alert. She's already looking around and staying awake for longer periods of time. We ARE LOVING having two girls!!!

Our adventures, birthdays, celebrations and fun times of late

April 15th!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEST DADDY IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!

Mommy treated the whole family to dinner at our fave spot in the area. We had very yummy food that J&C particularly enjoyed (all amazing veggie meat dishes). Daddy and Bri blowing the candle on a vegan piece of vanilla cake.

Big sis showering Kiara with love

Not so little anymore! Kiara is gaining weight at record speed! She was all dressed up for Daddy too.

Keeping up the celebration ...

Marina, Brianna and Mateo enjoying some yummy pasta

Ready to blow the candles yet again. Thank you, Suzana for the out-of-this-world Croatian cake. Too good!!!

Kiara is getting chunky! She's started to look at Mommy attentively for a while now ...

Our friends Matt, Roxana and the kids brought us a very delicious dinner that we all shared to celebrate Jer's birthday. We had asparagus soup, pasta with bolognese sauce, a green salad, garlic bread and Croatian cake for dessert. Best of all, of course, was the time we spent together. Great memories!

Jeremy's "HAPY" birthday celebration

Though his actual birthday is tomorrow, April 15th, Jeremy celebrated his special day with the staff today.
Balloon and colorful leis made the occasion extra special

A very yummy chocolate cake with non-dairy frosting

Char holding Kiara. This was Kiara's first visit to the office. The girls were all over her!

The old man (he'll be turning 34) with his new baby