man it's good to be back!

i am fully recovered - hallelujah! since last week was spent with me in bed the majority of the time, this week has been a whole 'nutha story! i had "doctor's" appointments lined up for monday, wednesday and thursday, a never-ending list of errands to run, and a week-long neglected house that has seen better days! it's been great to get out, and i'm sure the kids would agree! after taking russell to his 2 hour "child find" appointment (for his speech progression), then running to the grocery store to order a baby shower cake (which i am so excited about!), we got home and hung out in the back yard to soak up the lovely weather we were having today. and it only gets better - tomorrow we should hit the 70's! boy, i can't wait for spring...

natalie rockin grandma's glasses

russell captivated by their new buzz lightyear bubble blower (a valentine's day gift)

here's russell "pop, pop, pop"-ping the bubbles

and natalie being a ham for the camera

says mommy to natalie: "smile for the camera!"

we took the kids to their MY GYM "free-play" tonight (which we had to miss last week no thanks to me...) and they had a blast. next week at MY GYM is bring a friend to class week -- any takers???

have you noticed?

have you noticed how many days its been since my last post? 6 days is almost unheard of! haha
i wish i could say that i've been busy with the kids or with running errands or something silly like that but the truth is, I'VE BEEN SICK. just when i thought i was getting better, a whole new symptom took over and i was back in bed. it's been one thing after the other, ever since thursday when it first hit me. i am going to start my new prescription of "stronger" antibiotics today but to be honest, i'm not even expecting THAT to do much. for the last 2 days i haven't been able to shake this nausea feeling off. it was really bad on wednesday, to the point where i was throwing up all day. now it's pretty mild but just enough to where i can't function normally. meanwhile my house has been neglected and i have a baby shower to host next saturday! i will say, however, that i've been fortunate enough to have family around who have been helping out as much as possible, with meals and babysitting the kids. speaking of the kids... they have been such troopers. during the times where i was just laying in bed, they kept themselves busy and out of trouble. natalie even turned into my little helper. i do still wish that i could show them a better time though :( please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. i just want to feel "normal" again!
and thanks to our wonderful family for all that you have already done for us!

p.s. in case you were wondering, according to my dr's appt on monday, this is just a viral/bacterial infection.

my valentine's blues

the past few days i've been battling some sort of cold or flu. it started off with terrible body aches, led to painful chest congestion with a cough and then of all days, on valentine's day, the fever hits me. it was very low but the chills were the worst part, and thankfully, it's been easy to control. russ was supposed to work today and i had this great crafty valentine's day planned out for the kids but since it rained russ stayed home, and boy did that work out great! i ended up lying in bed most of the day. the heart-shaped pancakes i had planned for breakfast got replaced with some valentine's dunkin donuts (i'm sure the kids didn't mind so much!) and the heart shaped homemade pizza for lunch got replaced with daddy's heart-shaped grilled cheese sandwiches. russ ended up preparing my heart-shaped meatloaf for dinner as i "coached" him on the side ;) i think the kids still had a fun day, especially since titi celena stopped by for a visit with some valentine's gifts! russ certainly won the award for "father/husband of the year" with all the extra work he did today--taking care of both kids all day long-- and a rainy day at that-- while tending to my needs at the same time! times like these i'm reminded about how wonderful my man is! he's my one and only valentine.

hope you all had a special valentine's day!

the kids helped me decorate these cookies on friday

at brittani's house for a valentine's playdate on thursday

ODE TO VALENTINE
(natalie's valentine to daddy)

patsy cline!

well, because i now have windows vista [on my new computer], i am unable to install the proper drivers i need for my [older modeled] camera to upload photos with the canon software. luckily, i am able to just stick my camera's memory card into the front of the computer to get all my pictures but this is a little disappointing because it creates a lot of extra steps in order to get to my pictures and organize them properly. even though my camera is only 2 years old (my how quickly technology changes!!!), i guess this leaves me no other choice but to buy a new one! (heehee, i've been nagging russell about how i wanted a new camera for the last couple of months or so...) in reality though, i'm sure it will be a while until i get a new camera, so i will just have to "deal".

enjoy these old pics from russ's birthday!

still no new pictures...

i have been quite the procrastinator this week. not only haven't i installed my camera software onto my new computer, but i haven't even been taking new pictures! now THAT'S unsual for me...

we have had a lot going on this week. natalie and russell, and russ and i , have been swapping colds back and forth, although the kids had it the worst. little russell is pretty much over his but natalie's turned into something worse and she's been feverish, congested and uncomfortable for the past couple of days. we just started the antibiotic today so hopefully things will start to get better for us here, Natalie in particular. it's so sad seeing her so miserable; any mother can relate to that i'm sure.

we found out this week that my dad's cousin, Sarita, passed away. we just saw her at my dad's retirement party and she looked great, so everything is very surreal. i pray for the family during this time of sadness and will always keep her memories alive in my heart. she was a sweet, loving person and i will miss her.

my titi nancy flew in to be with the family and stayed with us last night. it was a treat to have her company, even though it was such a short time and on such sad terms. she is one of my avid blog readers, quite possibly my biggest fan! it was so funny how we were able to talk about things that were going on, like she's been right here with us the entire time, just because she reads all of my blog entries! it made me feel good to know that this blog reaches and touches the hearts of my family and friends who do not live close by. so i'm sending a big *SHOT OUT* to my titi nancy!!!!!! this one's for you ;)

now on to someone else who means a lot to me...

my dear friend heather has a birthday on saturday and i wanted to wish her the very best birthday imaginable. they are spending the day at disney, so i'm sure it will be magical!

love you girl!

xoxo

update

last monday we [FINALLY] purchased a new computer! our old computer was a hand-me-down from celena and was considered old when she gave it to us. so needless to say, i am in heaven now! the only thing i've yet to do is download my camera program on the computer which is why i haven't posted any new pictures lately. i hope to get to that this week.

russ's birthday was great -- we thouroughly enjoyed the patsy cline show at the Alhambra on Thursday night and i'd like to go back with natalie when Annie is playing in June.

the kids are feeling better although russell can't seem to shake his nasty cough. i hear that this "cough" is going around and it seems to be lingering...

this past weekend was very low-key for us which couldn't have been any more appreciated. i hate to jinx myself but starting tonight, i'm feeling like i might possibly be coming down with something. i hope i'm wrong about that!

i hope everyone enjoyed superbowl sunday! we didn't do anything exciting. russ watched the last minutes of the game when it looked like for a second the cardinals might win... better luck next time! lol