No News is Good News...I guess!

Hello to the very few that read our blog. Nothing much to report. Just thought I'd drop in and say hello.

Our baby boy is growing so fast every day. He began walking at 13 months. He loves his new freedom and sees every opportunity to take our stuff and hide it for weeks at a time. He also goes to MyGym every week now. He loves exploring, climbing, dancing and running around, and I'm happy that he's enjoying. My chubs can also say a few words now: "momma", "daddy", "bah bah (bottle)", and I suspect he now points to himself and says, "Zeeyah, Zeeyah". He's PHENOMENAL.

Being at home is great. School is slow going, but I am determined to keep my eye on the prize and continue on with my Masters, even though it is a frustrating process to register for the pre-requisite classes I need. I don't miss working full-time yet, but I do miss the paycheck! But, money isn't everything.

Anthony and I are doing very well. We are just about done with our Ministry Formation classes (a certification requirement for Anthony's job, and a "good to have" for me for our Children's Liturgy ministry). We just attended the Religious Education Congress this past weekend. We attended lots of workshops, both together and apart, and it was really inspiring to be a part of a huge community. This was Anthony's third time attending and my first. It was a great experience and I'm glad Anthony pushed me to do it.

We are spending a lot of time working on our marriage. This is not to say our marriage was ever in trouble, but with so much we hear in the news and among our inner circle about infidelity and divorce, we decided to be proactive in keeping our marriage strong before it could become unfixable. I have to say, this is probably the best decision we've ever made. We talk a lot more about subjects we never thought we needed to ever bring up. We make time for each other (although we could stand to have a few more date nights or weekend getaways, but I'm still wimpy about leaving our baby boy for a day). We pray together and we pray with our little dude. There were also a lot of helpful tips from Congress about being in tune with each other. Since then, our marriage has developed a deeper meaning, a deeper level. I know that Anthony will work as hard as I will. That's probably the most comforting thought: that I know I am not alone in this.

Next up, Coachella! Yes, we're bringing the baby. After that, summer! Usually, I hate summer, but now that I get to spend it at home with Anthony also on vacation, I am so looking forward to it! I have lots of things planned....

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Christmas for a 1 yr old

December 2nd marked a year for Isaiah. He continues to turn our wolrd upside down and give us new meaning to life. Everyday we spend with him is a gift from God. Nothing is greater than seeing and experiencing the world from his eyes. This boy continues to amaze us and bring us laughter everyday. Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

His birthday was spent with many friends and family. I'm not sure how we all fit into the Paraiso house but we did. The rain held up for most of the day. It was cold outside but the tacos made up for that. Our party was Yo Gabba Gabba themed and Annie put in a lot of work to make the party as successful as it was. Isaiah thanks all of you for the many generous gifts you gave him.

Family and friends told us many times to enjoy the moments with Isaiah because they fly right by. They were all right. It's hard to believe Annie and I have been parents for a year now. Last Christmas we were holding a ball of goo in our arms. We took turns holding him and passing him around. He slept right through Christmas. He was wearing an oversized (because he was so small) "My first Christmas" onesie.

A year later we found ourselves following him around everywhere as he crawled and walked his way around the house. The grandparents looked exhausted. We took turns feeding ourselves and the baby. We actually looked forward to Christmas this year all because of Ziggy. He noticed the Christmas tree this year and all the ornaments hanging from it. He noticed the Christmas lights hanging on our patio. A small attempt to open gifts was made on his part. New things for Isaiah meant new things for us and this made Christmas 2009 one to remember.

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No Work Today

So my friend, Tracy, reminded me that there are still people that check our blog to see if we've updated it. We've been so busy, but I'm going to try to type a quick update while the little one takes his nap.

After 6 years, I was laid off from my job in August. It was a tough choice to make, since they offered me another position. I decided to take this opportunity to go back to school and walk a new path in my life. I hope to work towards my Dietetic License to become a dietician. It will take a while, since I have to take more chemistry and biology classes in order to be accepted as a Master's student at Cal Poly Pomona, but I am positive it will all be worth it. Aside from other people, Anthony was the one who helped me make this decision. He's all for me trying to find my calling, and I love him and appreciate him for that.

Since I'm not working and since I was only able to register for one class this semester, I am home a lot more now, and my days are spent doing what I love: taking care of our beautiful boy. It's not an easy job, but I knew that. I haven't missed any "firsts" yet, and for that, I am blessed. I'm not sure if he's talking quite yet, but he does say a few words, like, "mamamamama" and "dah dah dah" and sometimes "durkah durkah durkah". He's crawling like a maniac now, and pulling himself up along walls and coffee tables. He can even balance and stand on his own if he feels like it. He'll be walking any day now!

My time these past few weeks has been spent on studying, of course, and now planning his first birthday party! Ant and I are so excited...Yo Gabba Gabba is the theme! Pics will be posted for sure.

I guess you could say we're also trying for another little one. We're kind of serious about it and then we don't think about it. We go back and forth, but one thing is for certain: Isaiah needs a little brother or sister. He loves kids and enjoys patting them on the shoulder or trying to play with them. We would be so happy if we could have another one. The timing would be perfect, since I'm home now. We'll see!

A lot of other things have happened in our lives. Devastating news, sad news, as well as some happy news. I won't go into too many details. But with all of the drama happening around us, Anthony and I have really appreciated each other and our little family more than ever. We love what we have, even though it may not seem like much to others. We see things in a different light now. Even though we have a small house that seems to get tinier over time, at least we have shelter. Even though we're tired and busy all the time, at least we have our health and we can do fun things with each other any time we want. We are blessed and the three of us are in love with each other and that's all that matters.

I will post another blog soon, with pictures! Halloween-Ziggy was Obi Wan Kenobi. First haircut. Crawling. Birthday parties. Weekend getaways. Lots more!

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Isaiah's Exhibition @ the Getty

In Focus - The World According to Ziggy
August 7 - November 1, 2009














You too can have your own exhibition by visiting dumpr.net!

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Hot in Indio

The Valtier family celebrated Annie's birthday in Indio as part of a mini vacation with the whole family at my parent's timeshare resort. Sure it was super hot but being with the family was well worth the heat. We did this a few years back in Big Bear and had a blast. Let the fun begin...




Our adventure out to Indio started out with a bang...or should I say explosion. As Annie always does, she sat in the back with Isaiah. Having been tired from her day at work, she fell asleep. It wasn't long before the scent of poo came over me. Annie woke up and I mentioned this scent of poo. It wasn't until her tired eyes glanced over to Isaiah and there she found him with poo on his cheek, arm, pacifier, and teether. Poo had exploded out of his diaper and into his car seat. With everything packed in the back of the truck, our only option was to pull over into a rest area. There we were parked at a rest stop cleaning poo from the car seat and our baby. Never did we think we would be cleaning our naked baby in the restroom at a rest stop. To add to the mess, as Annie is putting on a new diaper, Isaiah decides to pee all over the back seat. A dozen baby wipes and Clorox wipes later, our baby and car seat were clean. It doesn't end there though. Minutes after we get back on the road Isaiah decides he's hungry. Being 20 minutes away from our destination we thought we could make it to the resort before we had to feed him. Again with everything packed in the bed of the trunk I would have had to pull over to get a bottle out of his suitcase. Already being late, Annie told me to push forward and just get to our destination. With every minute that passed, it felt as if his cry got louder and louder. Screaming, gagging, coughing, this boy was acted as if he'd never eaten in his life. What felt like 10 hours later, we finally made it and Isaiah finally had his feeding. What an adventure, what another welcoming into the world of parenthood!




As hot as it was in Indio, we sure could have used another day there. We were not ready to come home on Friday. Really our only full day there was Thursday. Spent the day at the gym, the pool (lazy river), playing card games with the fam, and eating lots of food. Isaiah really enjoyed his time with his cousins, Alexis and Emily. We were sad to leave but we hope my family continues these vacations for years to come.

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Annie's Birthday Round-up

Annie's 31st will go down in history. Great times with the Paraiso family. Birthday morning and afternoon were spent with our little family. Annie decided to stay home after Oscar and Leana scared us with ER news (They're expecting any day now). It was a good enough excuse to take the whole day off. Of course Annie didn't decide to stay home until she was on the train. Got off in Montclair. Realized the next train returning to Rancho didn't come until 3 hours later. So I packed up the boy and picked up Mommy in Montclair. Dropped her off at the Rancho station to pick up her car and Annie went to Mass (Mom and Dad had a birthday Mass for her). She came home and we enjoyed a nice birthday breakfast with McDonalds! Enjoyed Lunch in the Claremont Village at Harvard Square. Waitress fell in love with Isaiah. Isaiah killed her with his charming smile. Came home, rested and gave Mommy her gifts. Isaiah couldn't wait to give Mommy her gifts. He decided to help open them. Did spend the evening with her parents for dinner. Enjoyed some great sushi. Birthday came to an end and Annie seemed to enjoy it.





Ended her birthday week with dinner at Sevilla with the Paraiso fam. Started our evening off with two pitchers of sangria. Ordered tapas as appetizers and thoroughly enjoyed our entrees while continuing to guzzle down sangria. You know Annie's dad is having a good time when he asks us to order more sangria. "More sangria?" Good times! Mom drank more than she should have (thanks to Ate) and felt a little tipsy by the end of the night. A Great time was had by all!

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Happy Birthday Annie!

Today Annie celebrates her first birthday as a mother. At 31, Annie is as beautiful as she's always been, if not more beautiful. Motherhood has certainly brought out the best in Annie this past year. Of course she's super over-protective of Isaiah, but I guess that's a good thing right? The lack of money this year has put a damper on the many wonderful things I would love to do for Annie, but Isaiah and I have done our best to make this day special for her.

Plans for the 31st birthday include dinner tonight with just the three of us. Annie's family will celebrate with her this Friday night with delicious tapas (yum yum!)We'll finish off the birthday extravaganza with my family celebrating next week on a mini family vacation destination (details to come if we make it out).

Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife. I hope the day is as great as you want it to be. I love you, Isaiah loves you, we love you. Yay you!

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Tooth be told

After weeks of non-stop drooling but no tooth to show for it, the tooth has finally poked it's way through. Annie found it the other night while Isaiah was chomping on her finger. I was called over to put my finger in his mouth and feel for myself. Although it hurts, it's truly an awesome feeling. Our little boy keeps growing up!

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Duck watch at the park

Made a trip to the park last week and enjoyed the fresh air. Isaiah has this thing about trees. Wouldn't be surprised to see him grow up to be a botanist. Anyways, we took lunch with us, played on the blanket, took a nap, and ended with watching the ducks and turtles swim by. Fun day!

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Ziggy Phelps

Finally gave in the other day and decided to take Isaiah to the pool in our complex. I've been fighting with this for quite awhile now for a number of reasons. One being the use of the public pool and the cleanliness of it. Two being the post baby weight that I'm still carrying which prevents me from having the desired swimmers body I would like to have. So what made me give in?



Well Annie had the day off and we had planned to go to the beach. Woke up late, got lazy, and didn't feel like driving all the way to the beach by the time we did get ready. I also got tired of telling Annie "no" everytime she would ask to go to the pool.














As much as I kick and scream about Annie's crazy ideas (remember that I would stay indoors all day if I could), Annie really does have the best ideas. We had a blast! Isaiah loves his baths so why wouldn't he love the pool? He's a natural. Already knows he needs to kick in the water. Isaiah wore his swimming trunks that Aunite Rosie and Uncle Gabe bought him for Christmas. Looked adorable! Annie also had the crazy idea to run out and buy him a floating harness for him to sit in. Again, brilliant idea. The three of us had so much fun and I'm glad Annie dragged me into going with them. Looks like we'll be spending more summer days together at the pool.

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