It's been a while -- sorry! We've had a busy winter here in our home. Most recently, Evan turned 10 months! It's hard to believe. So, let's see, here's a list of the Adventures of Evan:

• he is standing by himself for a few seconds now, and some of us even think we saw him take a step! We're sure to have a walking boy pretty soon!
• Evan is finally eating all sorts of table food - no more jars and special food for him. He's now eating oatmeal for breakfast and just about anything we're eating for dinner. I'm also on my way to slow down breastfeeding, and will likely be done around 1 year.
• He's clearly saying "Mama" and "Dada", and we think he's saying "Kai". When he calls Joli he says "Te". Other than that, he just yells at whoever is closest!
• Evan is, for the most part, sleeping through the night, though he does wake up just to look for us around 3am.
• In our house, in order to keep him in the livingroom, we've creating this thing called "The Great Wall of China", which is basically just a couple of plastic chairs to keep Evan from going into the dining area. Yeah, that lasted about a few weeks. Now, he just climbs over them!
• Evan understands "no" and will look at you and laugh when you tell him not to touch anything.
• He's certainly the kid who looks for electrical outlets and anything dangerous....
• Evan also has an affinity for our dog food bowl. He likes to turn over the water and splash in it.
• Thankfully, our dog is a good dog. Why? Because Evan thoroughly enjoys smacking KO'D on the head.
• If you let him, Evan will "walk" around the house all day while you hold his hand. He never gets tired of this game.

Most recently, Evan had his exam under anesthesia the other day and did great. The doctor wants to see him in another 3 months and then we'll likely extend the visits to 4-6 months after that.

In Jada news, she just took her first long trip without Mommy and Daddy! Lola and Lolo took her to California to see her cousins (and Mari and JP). Unfortunately, it rained the whole time so they weren't able to go to Disney or Snoopyland, but I think the two trouble cousins (Jada and Gavs) had an awesome time just hanging out. Thanks to Lola and Lolo who treated her to a nice trip! Jada was very cute on the ride to the airport - she wanted to hold Jorge's hand the whole time. We were able to iChat with Jada every day, and she was certainly thrilled to be there!

Joli had fun with some special time with us this weekend. She slept over Mia's house one night (thanks Jen/Jon), and then got to do fun things with Mom and Dad. Early Sunday morning, Joli and I took a nice walk and then played "ice-ball" hockey. We also went out to breakfast together and just enjoyed talking. It was a great morning!

I've recently started writing at www.marathonb4mastectomy.wordpress.com. I've decided that I'm going to get my mastectomy this July and have been chronicling my preparation for it over on that site. So, feel free to check in there, too!

Jorge is transitioning to a new school in a few months, and so we're very excited about that! More to come in that news!

Evan at 10 months old! We think there is a hint of curly hair in there!

Jada and Jorge getting ready for the airplane

The Gamalinda next generation of cousins. Jada just finished her "All the Single Ladies" routine, which is why one arm is out of her shirt.

Jada and Gavin sharing a boba tea

Our 37 weeks photo in the 52 weeks series. I know... I missed a few in there.

Some quick Christmas pictures!

Christmas Rambo handing out the gifts
Uncle Paul and Aunt Kirsten made the trip up from New Haven to spend Christmas Day. Paul needs to baby holding practice, me thinks!


Lolo with his favorite gift - tools!

Jada knee deep in the big snow storm!

El Santa Claus Puerto Rico

Jada's favorite phrase: "Um, can I please explain this bad word without getting in trouble?" She'll say that before saying something like, "kids say the word 'stupid'" or whenever she needs to use a sentence with a "bad word."

Joli is now telling time! We just bought her a first watch, and we ask her what time it is every few minutes!

Evan truly is a different kid when his sisters aren't around. He gets very cryish and sad. But, the minute his sisters come home, he's a different and happy little boy. He's standing more these days on his own, and you can't take your eyes off of him when he's crawling around!

Just enjoying some time off these few weeks! I'm sure we'll have more photos later!

We had a lovely Christmas here in our house! This year (and last year, as well), we made a commitment not to over spend and over indulge this holiday. I spent much of this past year fundraising for different friends who are going through tough times right now due to cancer, and it just seems and feels socially injust to then splurge on material things like gifts. Since we've been more aware of the amount of money we spend on gifts, I can honestly say that our family really embraces the true meaning of the season. We are thankful and blessed to have our health, and that's all I really want for Christmas. It made me sad to see the amount of people (on Facebook) who wrote things like, "I have so many gifts in the house!" or "I'm up to my waist in wrapping paper!". I wonder, how many more toys can kids have? What are we teaching our children, our selves, and those who are struggling financially, about what's important.

The past few years, we've bought 1 shared toy for the girls, and then 1 individual toy for them. Even this year, the grandparents (who notoriously over spend!) were so good about buying just a few items - and, most of those items are shared toys.

The best gift I had was to be home as a family, spending time playing with kids, and just relaxing. Because there weren't lots of gifts, I didn't have to spend time cleaning up wrapping paper. That was more time we could spend together.

This past week, Jada and Joli had their holiday concert! The film is about an hour long, so here is the 6 minute condensed version. Be warned: half way through, there is a classic toddler "booger picking" moment. Unfortunately, it was done by OUR toddler..... Fortunately, we caught it on tape! :)

Joli at 65 months old with Tigger
Jada at 44 months with Grover


Evan at 9 months with Big Bird
Lolo and Lola with the grandgirls at the recital

Enjoy the Christmas recital highlights!

The Triple Baptism!

It's baptism day for 3 of the Talusan side babies! Evan, Kainoa and Norhanna all received the sacrament of baptism today in a private ceremony (ooh, that sounds so exclusive!). The babies did a great job, and it was nice to have the huge family all back together again.

The chaos in my parents' house falls into a comfortable pattern. With over 26 people in our family (including Andy and Marie's family), it's hard to imagine that this type of energy is actually a fun thing! Kids running, adults talking, babies crying, men playing cards -- it's all part of the frenzy!

Here is a beautiful picture of my parents with all the grandkids! Next year, we add one more with Paul and Kirsten's baby!


A family photo after Evan's baptism

Our Godparents: Marie, Andy and Kirsten

The "Big Kids!" - hard to believe we actually have a "big kids" group and a "babies" group

The boys in their adorable outfits! Congratulations Kainoa and Evan!

Evan is saying "Shhh! Don't tell anyone that we wore BONNETS!!"


Grrrr! This is Evan's best "angry face"!

Happy Anniversary and Winter Beginnings

It's our 9th anniversary this year! And, how did we celebrate it? Well, Jorge surprised me with 9 roses on my car seat this morning - 3 of them were pink roses to represent the 3 kiddies. Of course, I totally missed that romantic detail. What did I get Jorge? It tops all romance -- two words -- Swedish Fish. Yes, swedish fish. The chewy red candy. A 5lb bag, people. Who said romance is dead??

Jorge then went to one of our favorite restaurants and bought sushi for the whole family, and he even set a nice table for all of us. Then, Evan went into our room, Jada snuck into our bed, Jorge got swept up playing on his XBOX and I had 50 pages of work to do. Oh, romance. Happy Anniversary!

Evan during his toilet escapade!



The girls have worn these cute candy-cane pajamas as babies, and for some reason, I can only find 1/2 of the outfit. So, we went ahead and bought Evan his own.

This is his sideways pose... aw cute!


It's been a wintery few days, but we managed to get our tree. It's a MUCH smaller tree, to Joli's dismay (okay, outright anger!), but we had to for reasons named "Evan." The kids did have a great time decorating the tree, though!

I love this picture .. our dog, Ko'D made it into this one
Daddy and his big girl... with the little tree. Joli was NOT excited.


Winter has finally arrived, and Jada has been obsessed with her boots.
Joli's new boots. This girl has outgrown her clothes and shoes each season so far. And, as the oldest girl, we have to keep replacing them!


Evan is on the move. He's a super fast crawler and has managed to find his "favorite spot", underneath the dining room table.

Celebrating the baptism of the "Cousin Triplets" -- Evan, Kainoa and Norhanna tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll have lots of great photos!

Take 2..

So, about a week ago, I gave Evan a bath in his baby tub. It was warm. He had just eaten a big dinner, and he felt very relaxed. Very. Very. Very. Relaxed.

I had given Evan a rare treat during that bath time. I put a good deal of bubble bath in there and really filled up his baby tub. It was so full of bubbles that I couldn't see the bottom of the tub. Evan was finished with his bath, and I began to let his bathtub drain. The tub water looked pretty dirty. Brown, in fact. Then, it happened... I began to see chunks. Yes, chucks. Of poop.

By the time the bubbles and water had drained, I realized there was a good amount of poop in the bottom of the tub.

Oh, what to do??? I screamed (of course), then grabbed Evan and put him into the sink to finish washing him up. I dried him, dressed him and put him in his crib. I then had to tackle the pooped up bathtub(s) -- both the baby tub and the big tub. Oh, goodness.

So, fast forward to tonight....

You guessed it. #2. In more ways than one.

Big dinner. Warms tub. Tired baby. Bubble bath. But, this time I was hip to that boy's game! He began to push, and I grabbed him and flung him on the toilet. Just in time, because along with the flinging baby came a flinging poop -- thankfully into the toilet!

So, Jorge came to the rescue, grabbed Evan boy, sat on the toilet, while I attempted to regain my sanity.

Enjoy!

December 6, 2009 - Evan chillin' on the potty at 8 months old (no, he is not being potty trained!)

A great start to December!

We had a wonderful holiday at Grammy and Pop's place for Thanksgiving! Much to Grammy's dismay, it seems Evan Boy enjoyed Pops right away (sorry, Grammy!), but he certainly warmed up to Grammy before we left! The girls got to spend an extra few days in NY, and Joli got a wonderful treat at the hair salon. She has super short hair and had it blown dry while she was there. Jo kept saying she looked like a "teenager!"

Here is Week 29. I know... I know... where were all the weeks in between??? Yes, I slacked. But, hopefully I'll be more consistent during the holidays!




A-ha! I caught Joli almost getting ready to hit Jada .. and I got Jada's face to prove it! Oh, sisters...

Evan is our little biter. He likes to bite the fleshy part of your arm. If he's crawling on the ground, you have to protect your toes. Because, if you're not looking, EVAN WILL BITE YOUR TOES! Jorge had enough of the biting and figured he'd get to Evan before Evan got to him!
Miss Straight Hair! It goes nice with all the missing teeth!

Evan is starting to climb up, crawl like a speed racer, and beginning to walk. Elma held him up with a blanket under his arms and Evan was walking! 8-months, y'all! Both Joli and Jada walked after their 1-year birthday.


Future Blogger...


Happy Holidays to everyone!

Evan is 8 months old!

Yup, can you believe it? Evan is just a few days shy of 8 months old already! Let's see: he has 4 teeth, can pull himself up very quickly and stand for a second or two, is crawling all over the place, is eating just about everything that we are (pureed, of course), and was even given his first taste of cake (yes, by Lolo, naturally). His best buddy is Kainoa, except Evan likes to bite and hit Kai because Kai can't yet crawl away. Joli is his best babysitter because she can easily put him to sleep. He brightens up when he sees Jada and begins to squeal when he sees Ko'D.

Evan's trademark is his wet shirt or wet bib. He's been drooling for months now! He also likes to give very, very, very wet kisses where it feels like he's sucking your face off! And, if you're not careful, Evan will crawl up to your toes and bite them. Yes, I'm serious.






Lately, I've been giving the kids all a bath at the same time. I figured we only have a little while before it's not that appropriate anymore (haha!). But, for now, the girls love taking a bath with Evie boy!

Joli has been regularly losing teeth! In the past few months, she has lost 5 teeth (with 3 of them being within just weeks of each other). She is so brave - she even pulls them out herself! The tooth fairy has been very generous with cash and gifts, too.

Jada has been her sassy self. Her newest saying is, "Uh, yeah, that's not gonna happen." She claims that Joli taught her that saying. Her other favorite saying is, "Yeah, I already know that." We're working on her sassiness, but I have to admit that it's pretty hilarious!

The girls are getting into their "annoying each other" stage. The wake up fighting, come home from school fighting, and go to bed fighting. Urgh. Then, they have moments of love and fun, but they are interspersed with more bickering and arguing. I thought I had at least until their pre-teens to deal with this, but they have started already.

Now that we don't have television, we've been listening to music a whole lot more. Jada can tell a Stevie Wonder song within 3 notes, and they usually only need 1-2 notes to tell you that it's a Michael Jackson song. Pretty cool! They are also singing and dancing a lot more, too, which is just so adorable.

Joli is doing some very advanced math in school now. I even have some trouble figuring out how her teacher is doing some of the work, but Joli seems to like it all. Jada is learning how to write her numbers and letters, and she's starting to do more sight words in her reading assignments. She seems to like school, though she says that other kids get in trouble a lot. I'm told that she's very polite and not-sassy at school, which I find hard to believe, but they say she is one of the best behaved kids in the group. I'll take that!

Should have posted this last month .. here is Evan at SIX months (Sept 2009)



Evan at 7 months old (October 2009)



Our family for the Camp Sunshine letter (being sent to 38,000 people!)


The kids at Camp Sunshine for the Halloween weekend!

Wow! Another family photo! all dressed up and ready to party!

A beautiful picture of the kiddos!


We've been so busy that I honestly can't really remember the last time I posted! October seemed to fly by, and it's hard to believe we are already well into November.

Jorge: Great news that Gunplay is being written as a tv series! Not sure where it goes from here, but at least it's great exposure!

Liza: Been just so busy at work, getting ready to apply to an EdD program, and feel consumed by medical appointments! I've been at MGH every week for the past month!

Joli: Been loving school and has transitioned to being a leader in a younger class for the AM and then being with the older kids in the PM. This was done to help develop her leadership skills. Her new favorite singer is Michael Jackson and she loves the musical Hairspray!

Jada: Sassy, what else is there to say? She loves the song Party in the USA and anything from the show Glee. She's doing well with her homework, and school has been such a great thing for her. Jada's true talent these days is making up songs that are actually quite good!

Evan: already 7 months old... and going on 8 months in November! Egads! Has 4 teeth now, and he is eating 3 meals a day. He is still breastfed most of the day, but is having fun experimenting with food. He eats just about any pureed form of food and can hold his own bottle, too. He's solidly in 6-9 months clothing and loves to pinch and BITE!

KoD: Has no idea how good he has it. He's more like a member of the family and less like a dog. As I write this, he is curled up on the couch - something Gordon NEVER would have been allowed to do!

We went up to Camp Sunshine for the Halloween weekend and had a wonderful time. This weekend was a mixed oncology/hematology weekend, and all the families were from Brooklyn (sponsored by Jay-Z and the Barclay Nets). Kids had all different types of illnesses ranging from sickle cell to leukemia. The kids had such a blast going trick or treating and dancing at the costume party.

We're all fighting off colds this week -- no fun! But, we're looking forward to Thanksgiving and the holidays!

UPDATES

Evan is 7 months old (tomorrow!)

It's hard to believe our little baby boy is now a crawling 7-month old with teeth! He had his EUA today and did great (see video).

Joli is looking adorable with the big tooth hole in the middle of her mouth. She's enjoying school and has been on the "speech circuit" lately. She wrote a great speech for a Health Care class at Stonehill, that she delivered all by herself!

Jada is still sassy. LOVING school and is actually reading quite well (at age 3, mind you!).

Been doing much more updating on Facebook, so been a bit slacking on the Blogger site. I'll try to post up more this weekend!




Joli working on her speech - she wrote it all by herself! On the day of the lecture, she also took out her eye to show the students. What a brave girl! I'm so proud of JoJo!

Jada acting like Lola - glasses and all!

A very, very, very abbreviated version of what happens during an exam under anesthesia.