MORE FROM JADA'S BAPTISM
Thanks to Aunt Marie who sent us these pics! Go,Jada! Thanks to Uncle Pedro-spectacular who braved the Chinatown bus to come and visit us for the weekend!

Jada has joined the Christened club!
Congratulations to little Jada Grace who was christened today! It was a great ceremony - thanks to everyone who came! (special thanks to Aunt Marie and Uncle Andy who took this picture!). Jada's godparents are Uncle Jon and Tita Mari! Jada was not very happy in the morning as we were getting her into her christening gown, and she remained pretty miserable throughout the ceremony. When it was her turn to be baptized, she tried to grab the pitcher of holy water from the priest and then tried to wriggle out of my hands as he poured water on her head. Then, to top if off, she was on the alter to receive her blessing, spun around and bonked her head on the alter! Oh, great. But, then everyone came back to our house for some yummy food, fun, and of course, Guitar Hero. Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated Jada's special day!

Jada is composing a new song....

This was just too cute. When we put Jada on the floor in the living room, she goes right for the piano, pulls herself up, and starts to play and sing! It's awesome! Maybe one of the next posts will be of Jada playing - (I'll check with my tech guy and see if he can hook that up!).

THIS TIME LAST YEAR....

Okay, so this time last year, we were finishing up our last day of chemotherapy with Joli. I can't believe it. I can't believe that she's been a year post-treatment. I'll post some pics this weekend, but it's amazing to think that "far" back. It seems like just yesterday, yet so much has changed -- Jada is here, Joli's hair is outrageously afro-licious, Mari got diagnosed/started/finished treatment, Gavie wasn't even crawling and is now standing up and peeing on his cousins (more on that later).

Jada's baptism is on Sunday, and while we don't want to eclipse Jada's special day, we'll have a little cake for Jo, too, to celebrate her 1 year post treatment! Hurrah!

Yes, yes... pictures will be forthcoming!

Girls Day Out!

While the men stayed home and played with the kiddies, the ladies finally went out for the first time to celebrate Jenny's upcoming wedding and Mari's upcoming return home to LA!

We had so much fun at Foxwoods (Jenny and Kirsten's first time there). Unfortunately, "what happens at Foxwoods stays at Foxwoods" so I can't post anything .. other than we had an awesome time!

I hear that Joli and Jada were such good girls with Jorge!

Hey, everyone. Nothing major to report. Just wanted to post these cute pictures of Jada's teeth (she has 2 on top and 2 on bottom) and a picture of Joli and her hair! Jada is a crawling fanatic - she's at that stage where she'll crawl up to you and tug on your pant leg to have you carry her. So sweet! Joli's been hilarious (see the previous posts) and just being all around silly.

Mari and Gavin are heading back home in a few weeks -- boo hoo! The good news is that she is done with treatment and doing well, but the bad news is that we'll miss everyone!

My stomach hurts from laughing....

For posterity sake, I have to write these stories:

I'm currently in the hallway, Joli is on the potty, Jorge is sitting in Joli's bed.

Joli: Mom, I have to poop.
(pooping occurs)

Joli: Mom, the poop are not going to the poopie party today. They are going to the poop store.

Liza: Jo, what are they buying at the store?

Joli: (sigh), well, poop toys of course.

(giant poop occurs)


Joli: (sigh.. of relief) Ahhhh.. that's a nice crap.

Liza: runs to get laptop to write about it in the blog. goes to sit in the hallway.

Joli: Mom, why are you in the hallway? Does my poop stink?

Liza: Yes. yes it does.

Joli: Well, if it's too stinky, you can go in my bedroom. Oh, wait. Dad is there. He farts. Maybe you'd be safer in your room.

AND..... TODAY AT 6:30AM, JADA SAID "Mama" and "Dada!!" and then she giggled!

9 months and 42 months

We missed a month of the "tigger/grover" pictures, but here is the latest one of the gals at 9 months (Jada) and 42 months (Joli).

We spend our Saturdays drenched in the pool (check out the cool new bikinis!). Jada has 4 teeth (did I write that somewhere already) and is hilarious! She is officially a crawling baby now! She likes to wreck the television set and the DVDs -- yes, payback for having the most angelic baby for 9 months! She babbles non stop, unfortunately can sit and watch tv quietly, and is eating just about everything a baby could and would eat.


Joli's hair is outrageous these days - today, she put 3 clips in her hair, and I had to feel all around her scalp just to find them! She's got herself a great solid afro puff!

As of today, we also noticed that Jada's hair is starting to curl in the back! Wow!

Today, Mari/Gavin, Jenny/Mia, Joli and I went to a "play gym". It was so fun! It was great seeing how much Joli and Mia look out for each other, and how much Gavin wants to basically run and destroy everything in site! :) AND, check out the fact that Joli kept her glasses on the whole time!! (Of course, the minute we hit the parking lot, she took them off!).


Here's Mia with her crazy static hair!


After we paid all that good money for Gavin to go to Scaliwags, he decided to play with the toy kitchen -- which he could have done for free at Lola's house....

So Fresh, I didn't Know What to Do!

I admit, sometimes when talking to our dog, Jorge and I aren't the nicest nor the most polite to poor old Gordon. Oftentimes, when he's scratching at the door or barking to go out, we say things like, "Alright already, Gordon!" or "Knock it off, Gordon!" or even some slightly more harsh phrases.....

Today. Joli and Jada were in the bathtub and Joli was calling for Jorge:

Joli: "Daddd! Oh, Daaaaad!"
Liza: "Joli, Dad is doing something right now."
Joli: "I was talking to Dad, Mom. Now, shut up already...."
Liza: "gaaaasp!!"

Yet, it was one of those moments where I wasn't sure what had just come out of her mouth... did she REALLY just tell me to "shut up already???" I went to tell Jorge and for some crazy reason, all we could do was laugh. Not in front of Joli, of course. But, we just couldn't believe our ears!

Earlier that evening, Joli said the funniest thing while she was on the potty (yes, I'm sure she's going to be absolutely horrified when she's older that I'm writing this).

Joli (on the potty): "Mom. The poop is ready."
Liza: "What???"
Joli: " I said the poop is ready."
Liza: "What's the poop ready to do?" (said with hesitation)
Joli: "Well, you see. The poop is ready to go down the butt slide, splash in the water, and join the other poops in the potty at the poopie party."
Liza: "Excuse me?"
Joli: "Yeah, and then they'll allllll go around and around and have fun on the flushing roller coaster."

Jada-da-da-da

Thanks to Tita Mari who has reminded me that I have to work every day and am missing out on the limited time that my children are little.... no, really. No guilt there....

Here are some cute pictures of Jada standing, which, yes, I am missing....
Jada is almost 9 months old, has 4 teeth (gosh!), and is waking up every hour at night whimpering as her teeth are hurting her. Poor little bugger.



also, congrats to Mari who has her LAST RADIATION TODAY!! Big up, sista!

Sorry! I forgot to add the video feed of the girls in the morning. Hopefully you can all see it!

Also, my family keeps reminding me how little I have been documenting Jada's progress and changes... I had pretty much journaled every single thing Joli had ever done in her life, and they all feel that Jada is getting the short stick!

So, Jada is in crawling mode already! She isn't quite doing the traditional crawl, yet. She sort of arches her back like a little tent and then projects herself forward! Pretty cute! She also has 4 teeth now, is eating just about everything, still is breastfed 3-4x a day, and is still quite independently playing. She does cry when she's left alone in the playroom and all her cousins are running around, though. Her favorite toy is this little yellow egg that seems to be filled with rice or something rattle-like. She loves that atiqnge32`1 (that right there was Jada grabbing my keyboard and trying to add her own blog entry!!) toy like crazy!

Today we're heading to the pool, so I'm sure we'll have more cool pictures. The girls both have little bikinis (which, is simply for functional reasons - much easier to change a diaper when a baby is wearing a bikini than a full suit!).

Can't wait for Cousin Mia to come back to the East Coast! She's been away with Jon and Jenny at Grandma Laura's wedding!

A typical morning....

In my desperate attempt to get to work on time each day, I thought I'd put a snippet of what our morning looks like (and why I'm perpetually late for work).

Once I finally get the girls in their coats (which you'll notice Joli does NOT have on because she decided she had to go to the bathroom just as I locked the house door and if I didn't let her go she said she would pee in my car), it's still a struggle to get them both into their car seats. I'm sure our neighbors get a chuckle out of us in the morning. Hey, we're better than any morning talk show!

Here's Jada's new thing -- she doesn't want to get in the car seat. Usually I can count on Jada to be smiling and giggling once she gets her pink coat on, and she usually loves the car seat. But, now, Jada is doing the "straight as a board/fight the power" move when I put her in. This morning, I let her stay "straight as a board" in the seat while I reached down to get Joli and lift her into the car(and, for some reason, she has lost her jacket since leaving the bathroom and today's temperature is all of 41 degrees...). I stood straight up and then saw Jada leaning over the car seat and facing the front of the car. Urghh....

Then, I finally got Joli into the car and she decides to ask over and over and over again for "treats" (aka chocolate).

Now, on most days, I would have lost my "cool" and gone nuts...

But, today, I joined the masses of amateur journalists and grabbed my laptop to document the wild and crazy times of our little family - all before 7:45am.

Enjoy!!

Party at MGH!
We had a great time at the MGH holiday party! Joli brought Jada and Gavin and Tita Mari along, too. All the kids got their caricatures drawn to add to Lolo's gallery of family caricatures, Gavie got a "bug" painted on his hand, and Joli had fun dancing around with Mickey Mouse and Frosty the Snowman. Thanks to everyone at MGH for a fantastic time!

Joli getting her nails professionally done! Woahh....


Gavin's "bug tattoo"

Gavie and Jada


Joli decorating cookies!

Joli having a ball dancing

We've been enjoying our little holiday vacation! We had a fun Christmas and celebrated it (at least at one point) with all the Talusan siblings - a very rare treat that hasn't occured in about 8 years or so. After Christmas, the Vega fam came up from NY. Joli and Jada had a great time, and Joli even got her hair done by Grammy! Hurray for braids! Jada has cut a full tooth now and has 2 more on the way. She and Liza got a little sick after Christmas, but snuggling in bed for a few days was certainly nothing to complain about! Lots of fun with family this week!





Ouch... here's a girl with a conflicted identity.... Yankees or Red Sox??


Miss Jada in her new Pinay Princess shirt!

Beautiful picture from Uncle Alonso (who is available for photos, if you'd like to schedule a session with him!)
Merry Christmas! Maligayang pasko! Feliz Navidad!

the joy of swimming!

The girls just got back from an hour at the pool and they had a great time! Jada LOVED swimming! In true Jada form, she paddled twice, then stuck her thumb in her mouth; then she paddled twice, then stuck her thumb in her mouth! The girls even have their own membership cards! So fun!

Here are some super cute pictures of Jada from the past few days. We just enrolled at the local gym and will be taking Joli swimming on Saturdays, so I'm sure we'll have more pictures from that adventure real soon!

On Jada news, she's now in her big girl car seat (although, it's way more convenient to put her in the infant carrier, but she's getting too big for it).

Here is Jada doing her own morning "bible study" (this was hilarious in real life!)

A LONG morning in Boston
Today we attempted "double duty" in Boston. Whew...
Jada had to be at MEEI at 6:00am, which of course meant we had to leave the house before 5:00am to get there. I went and brought Jada (who was starving by around 6:30am but couldn't have anything in her stomach) while Jorge brought Joli to meet me there a little later. Jada is still tumor free, and she was quite amazing at the hospital. She didn't even cry when they put the drops in! We were the only eyeball people there and there were about a dozen "ear tubes" kids there. It was a zoo!

Joli and Jorge then met Jada and me at the ocularists. By this time, I was already exhausted and Jada was groggy and upset from anesthesia. Hmm... so I have no idea why I thought it would be a great idea for Jorge to just go to work... I think it was my lack-of-sleep brain taking over.

Anyhoooo, Joli was pretty impressive as she wanted to remove her eye all by herself. But we ran into mega problems when it was time to put that little guy back in! She screamed and cried for a few minutes (although loudly), and finally we just had to force it back in -- not a fun nor exciting time. In the end, Joli was fine and everything was fine.

Oh what fun!
Joli loves to cook. She has a great time with her Easy Bake Oven, and misses her Grammy a ton! but, for now, Daddy the Chef will have to do!

Jada is doing great. She's onto solid food 2x a day and has had cereal, sweet potato, squash and apple sauce. She just had her 6 month visit (yes, yes...she's 7 1/2 months old...we're a bit behind) and Jada weighs 17.3 pounds and is 27 1/2 inches long. Where did these girls get their height??

Jada sits up independently and is getting ready to transition to her non-infant seat soon. Coundown to Christmas!

This was exhausting... here is our attempt at a "grandkids" Christmas photo. Jada is crying because we had to wake her up in order to take the picture.

Here's Jada on Gavin's toy! When did she get so big???

Having a fun time this weekend!

The weather has been so nice out here on the east coast! Joli and Jada love hanging out in their room at night before bed. What great sisters!

Don't you love this family picture??

Jada at 7 months old
Joli at 40 months old
Daddy and Jada.. 2 different shades of cuteness!

Yummm!! Delicious turkey!!

Happy Thanksgiving!
We had a very full thanksgiving this year (and every year!). Happy 60th birthday to Lola, too! We have so much to be thankful for -- Joli's end of treatment, our wonderful little Jada Grace's arrival, Mari's continued recovery, our family, our supportive friends, and all those who prayed and prayed and prayed for our family this year. Thank you so much!

LEAVE A MESSAGE AT THE TONE...

Yo. Jorge here.

Haven't posted in a while, I know. Liza's the blog queen these days, but I just got the most hilarious message from Joli on my phone at work. Now, mind you, Joli is pretty phone savy-- she calls me, her uncles, aunts and grandparents all the time... but she's never really had to deal with voicemail before. It's a completely foreign and ridiculous concept to her.

Listen to her message.

The frustrated voice in the background is my lovely Liza, struggling to explain voicemail to a three year old. Hilarious.

Peace! And I'm out...

Surgery Day

Joli is home after a long day at the hospital. It was really quite emotional for me, and I'm sure for her, too. The last time we were in that same pediatric surgery ward at MGH, Joli was only 2 years, 2 months old and getting her port-a-cath placed in to begin chemotherapy. I just remember being in the waiting room and thinking, "Oh my God. My child is going to begin chemotherapy." We had already "recovered" from the trauma of her enucleation, and the news of chemotherapy came as such a surprise to us. A year ago, we brought in a toddler who was terrified of standing on a scale to be weighed, was petrified of "drops" and "masks", and who didn't even want to go near any doctors.

This time around, for better of for worse, a very confident, older Joli walked down the hall, greeted each and every single nurse with "Good morning. I'm Joli. What's your name? What are you going to do to me today?" I remember vividly the nurses explaining things to Joli in child friendly terms like, "We're just going to give your arm a little hug". A year later, Joli replies with "Yes, I know. That's for my blood pressure." When the nurse put on the oxygen reader onto her toe, she said, "This is my little orange light and bandaid to place on your little finger." To which Joli confidently replies, "Yes, I know. That's so you can check my oxygen when I'm sleeping."

I remember the first day we finished chemotherapy and we were leaving the hospital. Our little 2 year old Joli grabbed her Dora rolling suitcase and insisted she walk her self all the way from her hospital bed to the parking garage (quite a walk,I might add!). This time, Joli insisted she walk herself into the operating room. The nurse wasn't really sure how to react because I think it's pretty rare she gets a 3 year old (or any kid) to walk willingly down the long hallway, past all the surgeons looking as intimidating as possible, into the surgery center, and into any operating room. But, not our Joli. At one point, as we were walking to the OR, I had to choke back tears. She was walking a few steps ahead of us, and then turned and said, "Where's my Dad? I'd like to hold his hand. " So, Daddy and Joli walked hand-in-hand to the OR. I almost felt as if she was trying to comfort us rather than the other way around. There are a few moments in life that you never really forget. I know I'll never forget that one....

Also, as every good nurse says to us whenever we bring Joli in for anything, they always say, "Don't worry. She probably won't remember any of this." They are wrong. Completely wrong. Joli can tell you every single minute detail of every single experience she has had. She remembers , better than we do , the names of almost every nurse she has ever had (or at least every conversation she has had), her different roommates from the hospital, certain quirks that each doctor has, and even the anesthetic flavoring she's had on her masks (banana last time, bubble gum this time).

Well, to make a very long and very emotional day short, Joli is now resting in bed. She has a few internal stitches in her chest, a huge bandage covering her incision, and some soreness. Her recovery shouldn't be too bad, though. All week, she's been anxious about having her Port removed, but she does understand that removing the port means no more chemo.

It's late. I'mgoing to bed to snuggle my brave, incredible, wonderful 3 year old survivor. Yet another chapter -- or milestone -- of our crazy year has been achieved.

Daddy's Girl the day before surgery

On the way to MGH!

Joli's oxygen levels were low during recovery. She wasn't a fan of me sticking this tube in her face....

After a few hours in the recovery room, Joli was feeling a little bit better. Jorge even got her to "flex her muscles" and show off her sans port chest!

* Jada says, "You mess wid my sista, you mess wid me and my entire cribbb!"

Joli's Surgery
Hey everyone! Please keep Joli in your prayers as she heads into surgery tomorrow morning. She's having her port-a-cath removed! Hurray!

While the rest of us went apple picking, I guess Jada went "bird watching". The best part about this picture is that it is entirely NOT staged!!

CANCER FREE MARI!!
Hi everyone! We just got the news at 8:30am that Mari is officially cancer free! Her pathology reports came back, and her tumor was completely dead (not re-generating) and her lymph nodes were clear! This is great news -- especially because her doctors thought she would need to do A FULL YEAR MORE of chemotherapy! This of course interfered with her "normal life" of living in California, working next semester, and being a mommy and wife. So, hurray for Mari! I know that all of the people praying for her has made this difference, and we're all very thankful for your support. While I'm personally bummed out that Mari will be returning to the "west side", I know her good health is exactly what we've all been praying for.

Mari does have radiation still to tackle over the next 2 months, so please continue to pray for her strength during this time. She is also still recovering from her major surgery, so please keep her in your prayers for that, too.

YIPEEEE!!!