5 Years/9 Months: Catching up

Hi little one's,

So much has happened since my last post tough to know where to begin. For starters O's in kindergarten!  So proud of how you've handled the transition to new school, in new city, without your old friends.  You've also been great dealing with us living with grandma Mayela.  Thanks for all your cooperation given the circumstances.  Oh and can't forget to mention how great you've been with Salma!  You routinely sing her songs when she's sad or to help get her to go to sleep, and love playing with her, sometimes too much!  I can't believe you are growing up into a little man right before my eyes.  I remember when you were a little baby I would tell your mother that I wanted you to stay little because you were so cute, and I'd literally cry thinking about you getting bigger.  Now I cry at how amazing a young man you are.  So inquisitive and very kindhearted.  I'm sorry with me being in training the last month or so that we haven't spent much quality time together.  I hope I can always carve out enough alone time with you to get across the feeling that you are special to me, no matter how much time I spend alone with you.  I love you little man.

Salma is 9 months old!  Crazy.  Also getting bigger every day.  And talking more.  Has two bottom teeth in and top two front teeth coming in any day now.  You are getting real close to grandma Mayela.  And ever when you have reason to be cranky (have pink eye now) still are almost all smiles.  You are standing up by yourself a lot and real well.  Think you'll be walking any day now.  I love cuddling with you in bed.  You also seem to love you brother, hope you always feel that way about him.

Mommy is in grad school!  Still not sure how she did it, but managed to get into a grad program in record time, just in time to start classes this fall.  Now on pace toward getting a Masters Degree in Political Science.  I'm super proud of her for tackling this great challenge, while also dealing with living at grandma Mayela's, in new city, with me not around nearly enough to help out.  Hope she knows how much I want to support her going to grad school, and do everything she wants.  You've been working like crazy with school work, and I know she's probably the most prepared in all her classes, even given how much time she spends taking care of O, Salma, and ME!  I've been so tired with training that most nights I struggle to get the kids cleaned up and put to sleep.  Don't know how mommy takes care of you all day, does her homework, comes home, takes care of Salma, and then studies!  Crazy.  Only an amazing woman can do so much and be so selfless all the time.  Honored to call her my partner, and hope to always be there for her any way I can.

As for me.  I mentioned I'm in training.  Think I'm going to love my job.  I feel so lucky, that Mommy both supported and encouraged me to pursue being a public defender, because think indigent criminal representation was what I was born to do.  That doesn't mean I'm not worried.  Worried about the difficulty of balancing being a good father and good husband while providing the best representation I can to my clients.  And worried that I might not be good at a job I want to be the best at.  Mostly worried that because I don't make any money, I'm bringing unneeded stress to our family. If only my dream job paid more!  All this stress is second to stress of not knowing what my bar results will be in another month or so.  The job thing might be second to whether I get to keep my job!  Keep your fingers crossed for my little one's, so that you may call your father a lawyer. 

Got to finish my homework for tomorrow morning and it's pretty late so talk/type later.  Love you all.

Pa

4 years: New blog

We've moved the blog so we can add posts about the bambino/a. The new blog address is: teamferncon.blogspot.com. All the posts have been imported into the new blog so please head on over there. :)

4 years: Father's Day Weekend Extravaganza

This weekend we picked Daddy up from work and surprised him with a Father's Day Weekend Extravaganza.  You had such a hard time keeping a secret from Daddy and as soon as you got into the car you said, "Daddy, we're going to a hotel!!!!!"  Oh, little man, you held it in for as long as you could.

Daddy loves hotels and the 4-star Hyatt Regency in Denver was offering a $25/night room special to commemorate their 25 year anniversary this weekend so it was a match made in heaven.  I'm not the biggest fan of hotels, but staycations are near and dear to my heart as the Rincons were the masters of going to a local hotel for the weekend.  I wasn't really into taking photos this weekend so there's not much photographic evidence of our weekend, but it was so much fun!

We checked into the beautiful room and you cracked open Daddy's giant cookie.

It was din din time, so we put all our stuff away and headed to Greenwood Village for some food.

Here you are trying a pickle for the first time, not a fan.

There was a movie theater that had free popcorn and drinks so we went in and grabbed some popcorn

You love yourself some popcorn

Yummies

You took some photos of us

Mama!

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and went swimming in the pool.  They had a little basketball hoop in the pool as well and Daddy got some shots in.

The next morning we woke up bright and early for a 9am screening of Mr. Poppers Penguins.  We went to a theater in Aurora that also serves food so we had yummie pancakes and french toast while we watched the film.  The penguins were so good and the movie had a good message.

Afterwards you played a few video games in the lobby and then we headed to the Highlands Street Fair.

The Highlands is this neighborhood in Denver that I love.  If we lived in Denver that's where I would want to live.  On Saturday was their annual street fair.  You played in the many bouncy houses, tried out some scooters...

and had your second ever snow cone

Look at those Rice Krispie treats!

It was super hot so we headed back to the hotel to go for a swim, then we went out for din din.  On Sunday we headed to Water World because Daddies got in free for Father's Day and you got in for free because you're under 40 inches (by an inch!) so only Mommie had to pay, yay!  It was a bit cold though so we didn't stay for too long but you had fun with the rapids and wave pool.  Happy Father's Day to Daddy, we love you!

4 years: Picture Post

Lela Carmen and Papa Cesar sent MOMMIE a Jamba Juice gift card!  A $50 gift card!!  The Jambas I get are $3-4/each so you know what that means, a lot of Jamba!  I've been obsessed with Jamba Juice since 2001 when I lived in Santa Fe and there was a Jamba Juice inside of the local Whole Foods.  I would get some dinner from the salad bar and then get a Jamba Juice as a drink, no wonder I gained so much weight in my year in New Mexico.  Anyhoo, there aren't any Jamba Juice near where we lived before Colorado so when I went to New York City I would get one or I would have Daddy drive me to the one at Boston University when we were visiting the Fernandez familia.  One day we went and they were closed for break and I almost cried.  Luckily, in Boulder there are about 4 near our house so I can get my fix whenever I want.  Unfortunately/Fortunately, you've also become a Jamba fan as well and the day after I received the gift card (which I hid from you), you said, "can we get a purple Jamba Juice?!?!"  Ahhh!! 

Stealing my gift card

You wanted to try the new Berry upBeet smoothie (it has beets, broccoli, spinach, kale, etc.) you weren't a fan (no surprise) so back to the purple

You and me went to Denver the other day to try to get Daddy a gift card for a straight razor shave at the Art of Shaving, his favorite, but sadly the one in Denver doesn't have a Barber Spa...ahh!  We were at Urban Outfitters picking out some other gifts and you asked if you could get some silly bands (when will this trend end?!).  I looked at the price, they were half off, so only $1.00 so I said sure and went back to looking through the clearance racks.  Sadly, I didn't actually look at the type of silly bands they were until we finished paying and you asked me to open the package.  Oops!  You said, "Mommie, what kind of animals are these?"  Bad Mama.

Then we headed to the Little Man for some ice cream.  You had a bambino cone and then we played in the park across the street.  

4 years: What a weekend!

Hey little man,

Been a LONG LONG time since I took a minute to drop you a line or two, but here I am.  How could I not comment on such a wonderful weekend.  We wasted no time starting it, right after you and Johanna picked me up at the bus stop after work.  I won't go over everything since Mommy already detailed every event but I'll only add that I ran 7 miles Sunday morning and just as it was beautiful to see the Boulder waterfalls it was really nice to run with the flatirons in the background.  Think I'll miss Boulder when we leave next year.  In other news it's been real nice to play soccer and tag with you of late.  No pressure but it would be great if you ended up playing college soccer (scholarship?).  And I was most impressed at you doing the monkey bars all by yourself the other day.  I have to admit that while you've been doing much better sleeping on your own (thanks to our bribes) I do miss having you next to me in the bed.  And I know you are growing so quick that soon you won't want to sleep with us.  You are such a wonderful child and love the energy and curiosity you have, however challenging it is to sometimes get you to calm down when I can't keep up with you energy wise.  I really want to start working on your Spanish because I know how important it is to keep your culture, hopefully I'll step it up on this front soon.  I can't wait for us to go to the movies and to "a place to eat" (as you call restaurants) when you are older and we hang out.  Love you tons little man, hope you know that,

Pa (aka "Chester" - which you've been calling me a lot lately)