Merry X-mas and Happy New Year!

Hi All,

It's been dreary weather-wise here in SD as it's been raining quite a bit the past couple of weeks. On Christmas day, Maddie came down with a minor fever and we ended up staying home instead of going to Rome's for the day. The week before, we had Emily's 20 week ultrasound. Instead of finding out that day, we asked the tech to put the results in an envelope and so we could open it on Christmas day.

Since Maddie wasn't feeling well, we con-called Rome and Mel and opened the envelope to find out it's a boy!! Now, we have one of each. Maddie somewhat understands that mommy has a baby inside her tummy. Emily is due the beginning of May and is doing well with the pregnancy (except for the morning sickness). Below is a 4D scan from our ultrasound appointment.


Here are more photos from Maddie's Day Care Xmas party as well as some photos of our decorations at home.



Hope everyone is well and all the best in 2009.

Maddy's 2nd Birthday

*sniff* *sniff* tears of joy, of course!

We can't believe it. Maddy is now officially two! My, the time has certainly flown. We decided to throw Maddy a big birthday party here at the house. She was so excited the morning of her birthday once she saw the big Dora bounce house arrive. She couldn't wait to get in there and start jumping. And jumping she did for most of the day! We had tons of food courtesy of Lolo and Lola of course. They just kept adding more and more food to the menu... Of course, anything for the granddaughter...

You can tell that Mike and I are rookies at this whole party thing. We had a pinata for Maddy's party. We handed Maddy a tennis racket to start whacking at the pinata. After a few whacks, Ninang Mel so kindly pointed out to us that we had bought a pinata in which you pull the strings to open it up... OOPS! So we quickly switched to Maddy pulling strings and she pulled the right one right away, so the other kids didn't get their turn! Oh well... THEN, I realized that oops again.. I forgot to give the kids bags to collect the candy... LOL ROOKIES!

At the end of the day, Maddy was exhausted and crashed... The following day, we took Maddy to UTC where they have a train and playground. She rode the train for the first time and just kept waving to Daddy and saying Hi Daddy. She looked so excited......

SF TRIP

Soon after Hawaii, we decided another vacation was in order.... The three of us went to San Jose to join Emily's college friends for a little reunion at Teresa's wedding. We were able to meet up with all the girls: Cris, Audrey, Genevieve, Joyce, and Teresa... Maddy had so much fun as she was allowed to stay up past her bedtime all weekend and it was our first time meeting with Audrey's twin boys, Nathan and Kyle. We were surprised at how well Maddy did going to bed so late (i.e. 9pm instead of 6pm). During the rehearsal, Maddy and Daddy joined Audrey and her family at the Children's Museum. Daddy said that Maddy and the boys had so much fun at their water playground... He said the ponchos were useless but that they had a blast... I'm sure they didn't care they got wet! The day of the wedding, Maddy demonstrated just how much of a party girl she's going to be. Just look at the photos, drinking from a wine glass, being the first dancer on the floor.... Oh boy, we're going to have our hands full......

Back from vacation

We're safely back from our trip to Kauai. For all those who didn't know, Mike, Maddy, and I went to Kauai for a week to celebrate our anniversary. We took Maddy to the beach for the first time and she absolutely loved it. By the end of the trip, she was getting a little too comfortable with the water. A couple of times, she wanted to venture out on her own to go get Daddy who decided to go for a swim. At the beginning, Daddy venturing out without her really stressed her out.... But by the end of the trip, she wanted to be out in the water too!

We went to the beaches, took a helicopter ride, and just did some general sightseeing of the island. If you haven't been, it is definitely a must! Very relaxing, the locals are very friendly, and there just wasn't too many tourists........

Summer update

It's been a busy month for the three of us. We finally have started on the yardwork, front and back. We're about halfway done. Of course, this last half is going to take the longest time to finish as Mike and I will be doing the labor ourselves. EEK!

Maddy's been keeping busy learning all sorts of new words and phrase over the last month including: Sit down, Git up, Eat Eat, Melmo for Elmo, Bubbles, and Ball. Hmmmm most of her phrases are commands, is that good or bad? LOL

We've started playing with the toilet training idea now as Maddy seems to understand the concept of pee pee and poo poo. She'll point to her diaper and say poo poo when she's done her business. So, we've bought her her own potty. She'll sit on the potty and read a magazine, so funny to watch. But she still hasn't actually used the potty for its purpose.....

I'm including some photos of Maddy from various occasions over the last month. There's her swim time with Keira on July 4th in our newly concreted backyard, Maddy at Keira's bday party sitting with all the big kids, and last but not least is Maddy with her ponytails.....

Working at Torrey Pines

Hi All,

It's been a great week here in San Diego as Torrey Pines Golf Course is hosting the US Open. I'm volunteering at the golf course working in the merchandise tent and it has been a crazy 2 weeks. I was there yesterday and after working in the morning, I got to watch some golf in the afternoon. It was madness trying to follow Tiger and Phil's group. After watching them for 2 holes, I decided to go home and watch it on TV. Here's a photo of me and the US Open Trophy:



Hope all is well with everyone.

Mike

The Mud Run

I ran in the Camp Pendleton Mud Run this past weekend with my cousins Eaton and Carolyn. It was the first time running it for all three of us and we we're pretty nervous at the beginning as we didn't know what to expect. Once we got started, though, it was a lot of fun.

Emily and Maddie came to cheer us on, along with some of our cousins and friends. Afterwards, we had a nice lunch at Rome's house. Here are some photos from the weekend:

It's another hot one.

We had another hot spell this weekend, with temperatures easily reaching the 90's here in Mira Mesa. We went to a birthday party for one of Emily's friends. His daughter turned 1 this weekend and they had a party for her. They had an inflatable jumper. Initially, Maddie was reluctant to go in. Of course, after watching other little kids and a little push from Daddy, she went in. Next thing we know, she's running and falling all over the place. She had so much she didn't want to get out......

Summer is almost here

Summer is right around the corner and temperature is rising. Last week, we had a 4 day span with temps in the 90's, but it has quickly come back to normal with daily temps in the 70's. To beat the heat, we decided to buy Maddie a small, inflatable pool. She definitely loves playing in it. Here are some pics from last weekend.






Hope everyone is doing great.

Love,

Mike, Emily and Maddie

Spring Cleaning

Hello all,

Spring time is here and we've decided to do some much needed spring cleaning. Emily's parents came down from OC to help us watch Maddie while we did work around the house. We rented a dumpster and cleaned out a lot of stuff from the backyard, front yard and garage. Maddie was so helpful. She would pick up stuff off the ground and mommy would help her put it in the trash can. We wore her out so much that she slept over 13 hours that night, then took a 3 hour nap at day care the next day! We should put her to work more often.

Here are some new photos of Maddie taken last week.






Her hair is now long enough to put in a pony tail! Although, it's still thin like daddy's hair. Guess you can't have everything.

Til the next time!

Happy Easter!

Hi all! Happy Easter to everyone. We spent Easter Sunday with family. We took Maddie to an Easter Egg hunt at a park close by. Maddie had a great time. She got to her first egg, picked it up and was pretty much done from there. We picked up a couple more eggs for her and turned them in for a prize. Here are some photos from the day.

Teething again.

Maddie started teething this past weekend. Her bottom "fangs" are starting to come in, which means disrupted sleep. She was up quite a bit last night, even with the Orajel. Tonight is better though, as she went down after a few minutes of fussing.

This weekend is Easter and we're taking Maddie to her first Easter Egg hunt over at Sabre Springs Park. I'll let you guys know how it goes. I'll try and post some photos as well.

Until the next time.

Mike

Maddie at Daycare

Hi all,

This past monday, Cheryl (our daycare provider), shot a video of Madelyn during her lunchtime. It's pretty hilarious. Just click on the link on the right!

Enjoy.

Mike

It's been a while, I know.

I know, it's been over a month since the first posting. Update your blog Mike! Okay, I've finally gotten around to it. So what's happened in the last month, you ask? Well, it's pretty much sucked in the Zalamea house. Maddie first had a bad bout with diaper rash, then she had a stomach virus, and she's only now getting over her bronchitis. What a month!!

Thankfully, she's getting better now. Here's an updated photo:



Hope all is well with everyone. Until the next time!

Our First Posting

Hello all! First off, Happy New Year to all! I've decided to follow in my sister's footsteps and create a blog for our family. Our hope is to keep everyone updated on what's going on with our family. I plan on updating this blog every 1-2 weeks.

Here's a quick update on Emily, Maddie and I.

Emily recently started a new job with a local biotech company here in San Diego. She's doing product/technical support. She is very busy with work, but thoroughly enjoys it.

Madelyn is now 14 1/2 months. She's in a great home daycare that's right down the street from our house. She started walking about 2 months ago, and now she's getting into just about everything. Her molars have started coming out, which is of course causing sleep problems. She still looks a lot like daddy (emily still denies this), but definitely has her mom's personality (stubborn and dramatic).

As for me, it's pretty much same old. Working in IT for a small pharma company. I try to get out and play golf when I can, but Maddie takes up most of my time on the weekends.

Here's a recent pic of Maddie.



I will try and upload more as time goes on. Hope everyone is well and we would love to hear from you.

Take Care,

Mike