Russell turns 4!

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last friday, january 22, russell turned 4.

it's so hard to believe that my "BABY" is already 4. i was watching some old videos of the kids last night and some of them felt like they happened just yesterday. it's crazy how quickly time passes by. i think you realize it more when you have kids and every year they keep growing -- older, bigger, smarter, etc.

little russell has always been my cuddle bug. he knows when i need comfort, and does not like to see me sad. as sweet as he can be sometimes, he is also a force to be reckoned with. he is definitely the stubborn kid of the two. wants things done his way and isn't afraid to tell you. putting up a fight until the both of us are emotionally exhausted, but i hold my ground and he spends his fair share of the week in time out...yet his apologies always melt my heart.

full of life, full of energy (i wish i had HALF the amount that he has!) and full of HEART. he definitely has mine, that's for sure :)

***

we went to the march for life in downtown jax on friday. daddy met up with us there and we had a quick lunch before heading home to pick up natalie. that night we went to eat dinner at buca di beppo, where grandpa and grandpa tagged along :) here are some pics from that night:

happy about his mini batman cake

blowing out buca's birthday candles with grandma's help:

enjoying his cake:

***

on saturday, we celebrated russell's birthday with the family. here are the pics from that day:

wearing his new batman/lego t-shirt:

with cousin Cheryl:

russell with his "woody" cake:

***

here's a video of everyone singing to him at the restaurant:

good sport

it was sad seeing him have to do this for the first few times but russell got used to it rather quickly. for 15 minutes he would sit and watch tv or a movie, usually the Charlie Brown Valentine movie that we are borrowing from the library... that's their favorite movie right now.

the doctor said to continue these treatments until his cough was gone and thankfully i think we might be able to stop now. this medicine made russell's heart race about 100 beats per second and he turned into a ball of energy, bouncing off the walls and aggressively throwing things, all the while laughing at every little thing -- or, nothing apparent. it was definitely weird, yet strangely funny to witness. but i'll be glad when it's over for good. i'm happy to have healthy kids again. let's keep it that way please!

our morning with dr. arango

yesterday morning, russell was sick -- threw up twice, had the chills and horrible congestion. as the day progressed, so did his cough. at one point i *thought* i heard wheezing while we were laying in bed together. it was so faint and i knew he was having trouble breathing from the congestion that i didn't think much of it. to be safe, i called the doctor's office and spoke to the nurse. she suggested i bring him in the next day due to the various symptoms he was having. later in the day, russell was acting completely normal (aside from the coughing and runny nose) and he slept through the whole night without any trouble. it crossed my mind to maybe just cancel the appointment, but with his birthday being in 2 days, and a trip to the circus planned for sunday, i thought: it's better to be safe than sorry! so we went to see our beloved dr. arango this morning for an 8:15 appointment. seconds into the exam, dr. arango revealed that russell's was in fact wheezing and as it turns out he has a lower respiratory infection. he said i was right to bring him in today because otherwise we could have ended up in the ER. dr. arango said russell's lungs were so tightly closed and his oxygen saturation was very low (90), which concerned him. we were told to stay at the office and received 3 back-to-back albuterol treatments with a nebulizer machine. so, in what i thought would be a short trip to doc's office to rule out my silly notion that russell had something beyond a cold, turned out to be something much more seroius. russell is now on prednisone for the next week, doing albuterol treatments every 4 hours, and also on antibiotics to treat the viral infection he has on top of the respiratory infection. boy am i thankful i stuck to my gut by taking russell to the doctor today!

let me just say that it's hard to believe he is that "sick" by the way he is acting today. and also, may i mention that it would have been nice to have been forewarned by the doc how ridiculously HYPER albuterol would make my kid! just when i thought it couldn't get any worse...HA! it's going to be a lot of fun in the upcoming days. there's a first time for everything...especially for us moms!

did you get the memo???

"christmas is OVER."


dear: celena

enjoy the change to the blog :)

love: katrina

progress

well, two months have passed since the first pictures i posted and as of Saturday night, this is our progress:

we couldn't have gotten this far without the puzzle master herself, celena

***UPDATE***

it was a lazy day today. natalie was home from school for the holiday and little russell was coughing and snotty-nosed so i cancelled his speech appointment. so basically i took advantage of being home. it was nice to just veg out with the kids and i was even able to work on the puzzle some...

at the park

just some pics of the kids at the park a couple of weeks ago. it was a very brisk day but they still had a lot of fun riding their new bikes and playing on the playground.
we look forward to many more of these family ocassions.

Un año que viene y otro que se va

A year that comes, another year that goes.

No pictures from New Years Eve (although I think my dad has some incriminating video of some of us) but we had a FAN-TA-BU-LOUS time at my mom and dad's party! From the food to the entertainment, it was a great way to bring in the new year, with our family who mean so much to us.

All of Russell's family were able to come too, and without them it just wouldn't have been a party! My dad's brand new ipod played all the right jams, with me dj-ing of course, for us to get down to! the highlight of the night was probably when susan and papa acted out (sang and danced to) a scene from West Side Story. Russ's family is half Italian and mine, of course, is Puerto Rican, so it was very fitting. I guess you had to be there to appreciate the awesomeness of the scene but believe me when I say it was PRICELESS!

For 2010 I didn't really make any official new year's resolutions... I just hope to be less wasteful -- of my time and things -- and try to be the mom that I know my kids deserve.

Cheers to a prosperous new year for all of you!

Natalie Turns 5

2 days after Christmas Natalie turned 5. We celebrated with the family at our house with cake and ice cream. Natalie was in heaven with her awesome Barbie cake! Here she is with her new doll (also named Natalie) in their matching outfits (Christmas gift from grandma and grandpa!):

gift from gma & gpa, and titi celena.

she stared at the box in silence for a good long minute.

i think she was happy :)

Natalie is such a sweet and delightful little girl. She brings such joy to our family. Yesterday her class celebrated her birthday since it was during the holiday break. Little Russell and I brought cupcakes to share with her friends and while I was there the teacher told me how Natalie had them bellied over in laughter earlier that day. She described her as the happiest kid she's ever seen! Her laughter is contagious, and her random thoughts always keeps us wanting more.

We Love You Natalie -- Happy 5th Birthday!

Thanks to our wonderful family who made it so special for her. She loves all of her presents, and of course all of YOU!

aunt susie's visit

as most of you already know, russ's sister susan and her family live in virginia so we don't get to see them often. they decided to come down and visit right after christmas and it was such a treat!

all 9 cousins together, a rarity

russell was SO shy at first, but it didn't last long!

natalie was busy chattin it up with EVERYONE!

she just LOOOOVES her aunt susie -- her cousins too -- but no one compares to aunt susie!


dylan brought his wii with him and this dance game was the BEST!


my sister in-laws micki and susan, niece nichole and mother in-law eileen - 3 generations

another cousins shot

we had so much fun while they were here. dylan stayed with us most of the time and once again, we had our "third child" back :) russ and dylan stayed up late every night playing the wii or snacking and watching tv. natalie enjoyed playing with her cousins and little russell opened up a lot with his communication/speech.

we can't wait to see them again!

merry christmas, 2009

just some highlights from christmas day...

the bikes from santa were a HUGE hit!

also from santa, the cinderella dress which was the one thing natalie asked for and legos, one of russell's favorite pasttimes.


this simple car garage from mommy and daddy was also a huge hit

natalie's dress and matching barbie dress from grandma and grandpa

that evening, we went to russ's brother's house for christmas dinner with his side of the family. the kids LOVE their cousins, so that was like the icing on the cake for them this christmas!

christmas eve

for the first time in the history of the calascione-soto family we hosted christmas eve dinner at our house! my mom [and dad] got to take a break from the cooking and cleaning this year ;)

before we could eat, we had one rather imortant thing to take care of... Christmas Eve Mass.

i was able to get the kids a part in the children's nativity mass at our church (which didn't work out for us last year), and natalie was to play an angel while russell was to sit at the altar with a group of kids while Father Bernie narrated. even though a lot of time (three rehearsals!) and stress (planning christmas eve dinner on the same night!) went into this, i'm so glad we participated. the kids were so cute up there on the altar in front of so many people!

it was recommended to take pics and video at dress rehearsal since it would be less chaotic, so here are some pictures from that day:

natalie waiting for her part to come up:

russell waiting for his part to come up.

the little girl next to him just happens to be natalie's former gymnastic teacher's granddaughter! - what a small worldthe angels on stage:

after rehearsal

***

immediately after mass we all gathered at my house for some yummy pot roast (thanks to the slow cooker!) and then it was time for our secret santa exchange. the kids (who aren't included in the secret santa) were so excited opening all of their gifts from the family. there were so many, we really could have cancelled christmas morning from "santa"! after opening some incredible gifts we broke out the karaoke game for some good laughs. we had a lot of fun that night and i am thankful to my wonderful family for everything they do!

some pics from that night: