Nakie Baby

Last night I was showing my Aunt Marilyn a slide show of photos that are on our computer. Peter came over to watch and as the pictures came up on the screen he would call out who or what was in the photos.

When we got to this photo from December 2007 (when Peter was 4 months old), I said, "Look Peter, Nakie Baby!":


Peter pointed to the photo and yelled, "NIPPLES!"

Another new BeVard is born!

My Cousin, Ricky Morelas's wife Roxy gave birth to their second child this past Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 6:00pm.

Baby was 7 pounds, 8 ounces, 19 inches long, and healthy. In an email from my cousin Debbie (Grandmother to new baby), I learned that her 2 year old brother, Enzo does not want anyone touching his "baby titer."

Welcome to the family Jade Moniet Morales:

Weight loss and Workout Update

I have never been a runner. As a matter of a fact, running is the one thing that always held me back from getting Presidential in the physical fitness testing in elementary, middle and high school gym class (stupid mile run that had to be under 9 minutes). Even as a cheerleader in high school I would avoid the running parts of training like the plague.

However, back then I was skinny and didn't have to work on it. Now? Not so much!

On Aaron's 1st birthday last week, I was officially 60 pounds less than I was when I went into labor with him last year. The first 20 of those pounds came off before we left the hospital (including of course, 6 pounds of Aaron!). The next 10 pounds came off without any work at all (unless you count nursing your child work). However, by the time Aaron was 6 months old I was still 170 pounds and desperate to trim down. I started a diet and work out plan, got a job at a gym and in 6 months lost 30 more pounds.

But that last 15 pounds (20 if I am being really ambitious) is seemingly impossible to get rid of! So I decided to ramp up my workouts. This started with incorporating running into my walks with the kids. I would walk a little while, then run, then walk, etc.

Keep in mind I wasn't timing my progress or keeping track of anything, but I was pushing a non-running (clunker) stroller with 50 pounds of kids inside. After a couple weeks of this I decided to take a run by myself one afternoon while Brett was watching the kids to see how long I could run without stopping. I made it 12 minutes (and honestly could have gone longer, but I needed to make dinner).

This may be shocking to some people, but that was the longest I had ever run without stopping in my entire life!!! I was pleased as punch.

So pleased I wanted to work harder and towards a goal.

That night I signed up for a sprint triathlon in October.

When I told Brett, he said that the normal response to someone running for the first time would have been signing up for a 5K or MAYBE a 10K; but normal isn't my style.

The triathlon is October 11 in Richmond, VA and will include a 400 meter pool swim, 20k bike ride and 5k run. Here is the link to the race.

As of 2 nights ago, I also have company with my training and on race day now that my oldest friend, Georgia Tahan (we have been known each other for 20 years) will be competing with me!!!

Our goal is to finish the race without dying, even if we crawl to the finish line. Which may be the only way we make it.

9.5 weeks left of training! We will keep you updated!

Something is wrong in this picture...

Peter has a new favorite place to watch TV... the dog bed!



Rusty doesn't seem pleased with this situation!

My Costco Angel

Two weeks ago, I was in the checkout line at Costco and when I went to pay I realized that I didn't have my check book.

Costco only accepts checks, debit cards, or cash, but my check card doesn't work because we had our identity stolen this year (still unresolved) and I never carry cash.

I was of course embarrassed, but told the checkout person that I would run to the ATM and get money out with my credit card and then get back in the back of the line, and rushed off to the front of the store with a baby in each hand to get money.

A few minutes later I was headed back to the check out line and the man that had been behind me in line stopped me to let me know that someone else had paid for my groceries.

Confuses I ran over to the check out person who handed me a receipt and told me that the man behind me (who told me someone else had paid for my groceries) didn't want me to have to go through too much trouble since I was juggling 2 babies and wanted to bless me with free groceries anonymously.

I was completely speechless and in awe of this stranger's amazing act of kindness, and raced back to the parking lot to thank him.

He was no where to be found, but I will always remember him as my Costco Angel.

DNA Test?

If the pictures we have of Brett and Aaron as babies looking like twins wasn't enough to prove that they are related, this might be:

Sleepy babies...

Our morning schedule is roughly the following:

9:00-9:30am - The kids get up, get dressed and eat breakfast

9:30-10:30am - Alone play time

10:30-11:30pm - family learning time (songs, stories, puzzles, and flash cards)

11:30-12:00pm - Walk

12:00-1:00pm - Pool

1:00-1:30pm - Sesame Street

1:30-2:00pm - Lunch Time

2:00-4:00pm - Nap time

However, sometimes the kids don't quite make it to nap time:

Selective Hearing

The following is a common scene in my car:


As soon as the car door opens, Rusty knows where to get in and he sits between the kids the whole ride.

He is always very good, lets Peter play with him, and sometimes curls up to sleep; but he also sometimes gets some treats.

The other day I gave Peter a box of animal crackers to occupy him after we went to the park. A minute later I heard Peter laughing and watched him stick a cookie into the dog's mouth.

"No, Peter! Do not feed Rusty your cookies!" I yelled back at him.

"Feed Rusty Cookies!" was his exclamation in response.

I think he missed a few of mommy's words in there some how.

Father's Day

Father's Day this year fell during Washington DC's Kids Restaurant Week.

Kids Restaurant Week featured many fine dining restaurants that were offering a 3 course fix-priced menu for parents and a separate kid-friendly 3 course menu for kids. The best part - the kids got to pay their age! So for my family, $1 for Aaron, and $2 for Peter!!!

We decided to go to Mie N Yu in Georgetown because we had heard good things from friends, and it was amazing!!!

The food and ambiance was great, and since it was Kid's Restaurant Week we didn't have to worry about our kids making a scene (their screams muffled but all the other babies!).

Here are some videos from the evening:







After dinner we took a walk around the Georgetown Water Front before heading home. It was a really fun night and we look forward to Kid's Restaurant week next year!

Baptisim!

Brett and I started going to church after we were married, and after 2 years of learning all about what the Bible had to say we decided that we wanted to get Baptized.

Since we were both baptized previously as children (in my case as a baby, and in Brett's case as a young child who didn't really understand what he was doing), we felt that it was important that we do this as a sign that we were choosing to live our lives through God.

Our good friends and mentors, Matt and Andy Spray preformed our ceremony at our local community pool and then celebrated at our house after.

The following is a video of many New Life Church members' baptisms that have taken place this Spring and Summer. Brett and I are the very last you will see on the video.



Anyone interested more insight as to why we made this choice, and the scripture that we read that helped us come to this decision can contact us for that information.

Many thanks to Matt and Andy for walking us through this step in our lives, and our many friends and family members who were there to support us!