We're Back!

Bermuda was friggin amazing!

We're already thinking to go back next year with Lil J.....Mom has already volunteered to go on vacations with us as our "nanny" so why not?? Free day care!

Pack the bags, get out the bathing suits and snorkel gear, let's hit the beach in Bermuda! It's only a 2 hour flight! It takes that long to get to Orchard or Jones beach on a Saturday afternoon in the summer anyway. And Bermuda beaches aren't contaminated with medical waste or raw sewage like NJ beaches. I only wish we would have dicsovered this place sooner!

I have to play catch up now b/c I didn't take my laptop on vacation this time (sorry Daniella). But many of you have already seen the pictures on shutterfly.com so I figured I'd amuse you with highlights of our trip....in story book form. What can I say? I gotta start practicing for story time with Lil J.

Be warned, bed time for me when Papa tucked me in was...unique, to say the least. I was told stories like the time a dog attacked him in the street on his way to the bodega and he then reached into the dogs mouth, grabbed its tail and pulled it inside out. Try being 10 yrs old and having that kind of imagery in your head before you go to sleep! Or of pigeons eating stray dogs or mice eating cats....or Los Cuentos De Juan Bobo. It was only in my mid to late 20's that I actually picked up the book to read it for myself and didn't recognize any of the stories in it! Papa would open the book and just make up a story! I know, it explains a lot about me but more about the kind of man my grandfather was.

Our poor kid has no idea what kind of insanity he's in for with us as parents.

And so we begin our tale, in a land far far away.....

Twas the afternoon we landed...it was rainy and cold.
But blue skys were coming, or so we were told...

Afternoon cakes over tea that we shared,
Overlooking the ocean, go swimming I would....if I so dared.

And tucked into bed, wishing Mir a goodnight
Wind gusts and hail storms knocked out our light.

A mini monsoon battered our room!

Hoping that morning, would save us from gloom.

We went exploring, in search of some fun,

Wondering when oh when, would come out the sun

Into caves of adventure, we delved into the deep

Into Mines of Moria, with Gollum a-creep...

My precious in hand, a Balrog we slayed

Sauron is dead, be not afraid

Day three, the sky gave way to the sun
To Hamilton we went, adventure has begun

Cathedrals and churches, history uncovered
We walked until tired, over lunch we recovered


The next day up early, I watched the sun rise
As I stood on the tee box, it blinded my eyes

My name is Barrington, the duck said unto me
My name is Justin, pleasure to meet thee

Dost thou know the rooster, Mr Tumnus his name
I do indeed, that chicken gots game....

To St George we were off, cannons we fired
Layed seige to a sandwich, and then we retired

To the stocks with the pirate, the croud yelled with glee
She plead for her life, and thus was forced to flee

Spoils in hand, we made off with our treasure
Back to New York, to our every dispeasure.

And so ends our tale of our mighty hero,
Mir with 'Lil J and her husband Justino

And We're Off.....Again

We leave in just over a week for BERMUDA!

Our first (and hopefully not last) getaway for 2009....people keep telling us to travel and vacation while we can but I remember going to PR for vacation as a child....pack it up and keep it moving. Logistically yes, I understand that it is a little more difficult to do anything when you have kids but since when do Mir and I do anything the easy way? We find new and creative ways to make our lives more difficult every day! I'm just saying....as long as this kid has his shots, we're good to go. Besides, mom has pretty much volunteered herself to go anywhere/anytime for the opportunity to babysit. I've learned that much thus far....don't refuse help.

Which brings me to my next point....my OCD and this child.
Mir's good friend Des was so kind as to lend us a book on baby bargains which I've been studying diligently. No, not reading....studying. I had no idea this stuff was so complex, I feel like I'm studying for the CFA......safety ratings, prices and brands of car seats, strollers, cribs, mattresses, mattress covers, bedding, baby clothes, furniture, decor, carriers, the list goes on and on. I told Mir that I'm going to build a spreadsheet with a cost benefit analysis to use as a guide we build the registry. Her idea was to just bring the book with us but why sort through a book to look for pages when you have a handy pie chart in a powerpoint presentation? Can you tell I'm in Finance?? Babies and numbers so far...."no bueno" as Iz would put it.

On the baby front, both Mir and 'Lil J are doing well. We sat on the couch last night feeling this kid kick the crap out of her....he was very active when she got home last night. It feels like light tapping coming from the inside. So friggin cool!

We have a big doctor's appointment coming up this Tuesday (week 22).....our second anatomy scan. They'll compare this one to the last one to track the baby's growth and development. I've also signed up for a parenting class offered by CS in April. I'm the first to admit that I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm willing to suck it up and be the dumb one in class. I hope it's a remedial class...although not remedial as "when a daddy and a mommy love eachother very much" (which would be cool to sit through if you know what I'm saying). I'm having horrific mental imagery having to change a doll and looking like a compete tool. C'mon guys, you know me. You know that I can't take anything serious as it is but for me to have to change a pamper on a doll, how many of you would pay to see that?? I know I would. Just teach me how to not drop the kid and I think I'll make the rest up as I go along. Maybe if they have live babies, I'd be a lot more comfortable...then again.

Ok, back to work I go...counting the minutes until Bermuda. Why Bermuda? 2 hour flight, 5 golf courses, warm weather, pink sand beaches and it's Bermuda, of course! The decision was also much easier b/c Mir has some friends in Bermuda. She had an opportunity to get to know Ivan and Pastor Gary as an accompany hostess at BT and what a great group of people, so nice. Those of you who know me well, know that we only surround ourselves with positive people and energy. So, if you're a loon, chances are we ain't that cool. But I digress...if you scroll down you'll see our trip to Barbados which was amazing....PR was overpriced for this time of year...and we've already hit pretty much every island in the carribbean, or at least Mir has. Maybe late 2009 or early 2010 we can hit St. Thomas and St. John. It'll be baby's first beach adventure, so we have to make it count. If we try for vacation in September or October, Baby J will be about 3 months...old enough to travel!

Next update, belly pics and baby's new 3D ulstrasound.....

We're having a......

Today Mir had an appointment for a full anatomy scan of Baby Reyes and the results are in! Baby Reyes is HEALTHY AND NORMAL!

Checklist:

• Heart and Heartbeat were normal
• We had all our fingers and toes
• Brain is developing normally
• Legs and arms are fully developed
• Everything else was where it was supposed to be

The scan took about 30-45 mins and we had a very nice Russian chick at the helm who flew through the scan. Bing bang boom....here's he head, let's hear the heartbeat, cross section of this, cross section of that and we're done!

We're almost at the halfway point and both Mir and baby are doing well. Now, if I can only get Mir to come home from work at a reasonable hour I'd be a lot happier. I'm thrilled to see that the baby is doing well but 12 hour days in the office cannot be healthy for either of them. And despite my pleas to slow down and start rolling off many of her responsibilities, the workdays just seem to be getting longer and longer. I'm really worried about the long term affects of work related stress and long hours will do to both of them.

Let's just say, maternity leave couldn't come soon enough!

Week 18

It's week 18 and you people are getting greedy...I can't keep updating this blog every week. I have to work! But since I'm already on...here's the latest:

How your baby's growing:
Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces (I don't do well in ounces, how much poundage is that? A soda can is 8oz, is that the same?). He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead (Mir already feels this kid bumping her). I believe the words "alien" and "invasion" were used today.

We've been taking pictures of Mir's belly every 2 weeks...and poco a poco the belly is rounding. We have a big test this Friday and we still haven't agreed as to whether we'd like to know if we're having a boy or a girl. Mir doesn't want to know and I do...I mean, I'm the person who wanted to open Christmas presents 2 days before Christmas...and gave Mir her present on Christmas eve!

On other good news....we have at least 4 friends that are between 14 and 20 weeks pregnant as of this week. I won't "out" anyone but congratulations! Expect us over with our kid and an overnight bag....a la Garcia who managed to sneak the boys PJ's into their bag one night and then gave us the "We're getting out later than we thought, can you keep the boys? I hadn't planned on being this late". Yea right! Who was she kidding?

Ok guys, no pictures this week...yea yea, I'm boring. Back to the grind and another hour or two left in the office (time right now: 5:30pm)....arg, its been an insane week only made worse by the loss of my NY Giants. Football season is over, when do pitchers and catchers report?

Week 17

It's week 17 and only 161 days to go!

According to the babycenter website:
Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

For those of you who keep asking, we have no idea whether Baby Reyes is a boy or a girl yet. We won't know until Jan 16th, and even then....we might just keep it a secret for a little while. Who knows, just keep checking back to see if we've posted the results. I just had a Maury Povich moment....."Stay tuned, after the break we'll come back and announce the results of our DNA tests"...."In the case of 1 year old baby Alize Hennessey Bently Rolex Lafonda Jenkins Reyes, you ARE the father." Ooohhhhh snap son!


Mir's been a champ...now, I only thought it was an old wives' tale but Mir is actually craving salty foods...specifically pickles. Kosher dill pickles to be exact. Hey, as long as I'm not getting kicked out of bed at 3am to go buy ramen noodles, pickles and ice cream...I'm good son. This I can handle...


I leave you with this....on the top of this page, there is an option to scroll into the next member's blog. I gotta tell you, don't bother. There are some real losers out there with too much time on their hands. Don't believe me? Check it out....enjoy pictures of people's dogs and cats...

Yay Babies!

Where to begin....I guess.....WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!

Mir is 16 weeks pregnant as of today and I'm happy to say that both Mir and Mini-us are both healthy and doing well. Thank you everyone for your well wishes. We're both very excited for the changes 2009 will bring.

Here's a brief summary of what we know so far:

• Mir is due June 16th


• We do not know gender (not for another few weeks at least so, place your bets now)


• We have a few names in mind


• Mir can have soy chai tea lattes in moderation


• Mir had little to no morning sickness in the first trimester


• Right now, baby is about the side of an avocado - 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces


• You can follow along with us on http://www.babycenter.com/

On the home front, we're just waiting on bank approval to proceed with the short sale on a home we bid on almost 3 months ago. It's been a long drawn out process of paperwork, phone calls, rate watching, waiting and more paperwork. Those of you who know me, know I don't do well with waiting and/or having patience. But, we expect to hear back from the bank by mid January and expect to close sometime in February (we pray). There are a few renovations we'd like to make to the house right away but it's move-in condition for the most part. I can finally use my stuff instead of going to visit it in storage!

In other news:

• I took the CFA on Dec 6th and undoubtedly failed. Oh well, there's always June 09


• Mir's finishing up with classes towards her MBA at LIU (go babe!)


• Work is, well....work. There's a reason ain't called "happy fun time"


• We're lucky to still have work to come to every day, friggin market is terrible


• Vacations / travel are on hold at least until we close on this house (and then resume our jet setting ways +1)

Finally, I created a blend of Mir and my baby pictures to see what our kid would look like and I can't lie....this is one friggin good looking kid.








Stay tuned for more updates soon.

Last 2 Days in Barbados

Geez, I've been getting some angry emails this week...all because I haven't posted the last two days of pictures on our blog.

I mean, c'mon people...I'm in mid 2009 budget season, month end close, CFA studying, NSHMBA event organizing hell! Cut me some slack! Here are some pictures to keep you entertained until I get you caught up on our last few days in Barbados....

Hint: I broke out the bananna boat SPF 4 to elevate the choco-ness.

Parliament Funkadelic:

Bridgtown....ie...there were bridges, I get it:

This f-er friggin bit the living crap out of my hand while I was sleeping. I hope I don't have dengue. It's the size of a small bird.

Our view for the better part of the week....as we said goodbye....farewell...

Came back to go to a game. Problem is, I married a Yankee fan....friggin crap. Our babies are going to be Mets fans or PA LA CALLE! I don't care if you're three years old, we're Mets fans or you get PA-POW.

We live in a world divided by race, culture, enthnicity, religion and NY baseball.....

The night wouldn't have been so bad, had our driver not gotten us lost.....just can't get good help these days.


Next day: US Open......bum rush style. Oh? This your seat? Oh, sorry....dang. Let's move down some more.