A Trip to the Circus

On Saturday May 10th we took AJ and Brady to the circus. It was the 1st time for both boys and quite a long time for mommy and daddy. There was a pre-show an hour before the event and we had lots of fun with close-up looks at the elephants, acrobats, clowns and other performers. AJ even got to ride one of the clown bikes that was in the show!!!

Unfortunately the time of the show was right during nap time so AJ didn't get a nap before the show. He was out on dad's lap about 20 minutes into the show but mainly missed just acrobats. He woke up in time for intermission and then was awake for the 2nd part of the show. He got to see the cool elephants which he was so excited about. He's been calling it "the elephant circus" since we told him we were taking him to the circus.

Brady slept through the entire show waking up at the finale screaming for food. We had a great time at the circus.

Click HERE to see more pictures from the show.

A Visit from Nana and Papa Bell

Nana and Papa Bell came for a visit to meet Brady on Sunday. They came bearing gifts for both kids and AJ had tons of fun with Nana and Papa. AJ kept them both entertained outside because it was a very nice day and when we were inside AJ made sure he had their full attention playing with Play Doh or reading books. He certainly wore nana out this time around!

Click HERE to see more pictures

Interesting Tidbits

Birth Date vs Actual Date

One of the nurses told me yesterday that it's very unusual for a baby to actually be born in his/her due date.  I believe she told me it was around 2%.  A quick Google search says it's no more than 4-5%.  Go Brady!  Andrew was a week late. 

 

Andrew vs Brady

AJ weighed in at 7 lbs, 8 ounces and Brady at 7 lbs, 15 ounces.  Both boys were 21" at birth, but Brady has the edge here too by being a whopping 1/8" longer!

 

Baby Boom!

Indications are that we're in the midst of another small baby boom - at least in Hollywood anyway!  I can believe that - you should have seen the nursery at the hospital!  There were 12-14 babies in there!!  I don't recall quite as many when AJ was born.  Gotta love Wikipedia - they have a chart that shows an upward tick that has been growing since about 1998.

 

Another productive day at work.  Can't wait until vacation next week!

Momma's Boys

AJ finally got to meet his little brother and he was very excited. He wanted to hold him, gave him kisses and at the end of his visit asked if he could take Baby Brady home to take him to school and show him to his teachers. He settled for a printed picture to take to school instead. I'm so excited for my boys and here is a picture that i'm sure i'll have to print in a few years when they are bickering and fighting over every little thing LOL

Click HERE to see more pictures

Announcing Brady Michael Bell

Hello everybody! I'm know Millie already got word to several of you, but here's an official announcement. Don't be surprised if Millie sends a prettier version soon!

The stats: 21 1/8 inches long and 7 lbs, 15 oz.

We arrived at Yale/New Haven Hospital at about 5:30a this morning and Brady was born at 7:45a. Mom and baby are both doing well. AJ and Brian will have to fend for themselves for a day or two. Feel free to give Millie a call or text message - and she loves visitors!

It's Gone!

After what seems like an eternity, I finally sold my 2-family house on Maple St in Bristol. The couple that bought the house plans on gutting the place and making it all new - or at least as new as a circa 1885 house can get. I had planned on doing something similar. I started by renovating the 1st floor bathroom and started the kitchen but getting married, having kids and owning a second home put an end to all that. At least I'm only supporting a single mortgage now and don't have to worry about tenants anymore! That alone was worth selling for!! Yippee! Now it's time to sit back and await Brady's arrival. Any day now...

AJ and Mommy go to Mystic Aquarium

AJ had his 3 yr physical today and I decided to keep him home from school and take him to the aquarium with our friends Ivania and Isaiah. We had lunch at Mickey D's and all the boys could talk about was all the animals they wanted to see - at that time, penguins frogs and alligators were the "biggies" they wanted to see.


AJ and Isaiah at the
Penguin Exhibit



The boys had such a good time. They had a blast throughout the aquarium and liked the sea lion show and touching sea stars and trying to touch sting rays and seeing all the other animals.



AJ holding a Sea Star (hard to
take a CLEAR pic one-handed,
holding AJ's hand in freezing
cold water at the same time) :o)


The whales were definitely a favorite with the boys and we stopped by the Whale tank three times throughout the day. Every time the whales swam by both boys would get so excited. This is one of my favorite pictures and they boys loved it when the whale did this! AJ said the whale was talking to him!





Frogs were a favorite of AJ oh and so were the tarantulas but MOMMA was NOT impressed by those and I was glad they were behind glass. I ended up buying AJ a book about belugas that we read before bedtime and a Beluga stuffed whale that he hugged to sleep - he kept talking about how the whales were his favorite today.


To see more pictures (lots more WHALE pictures) click HERE

Mom and Dad are in T R O U B L E!!!!!!

AJ has been exposed to X Games since he was 4 months old - even then, he LOVED watching the motorcycles racing. I was amazed when we took him to CA the 1st time and we went to see a practice run and I figured he would hate the noise being that little. He followed the bikes and was all wide eyed at such a young age.

here is AJ at 4 months (his 1st X Games)

Brian has been in CA this past week working another X Games MotoX event. AJ and I have been watching and AJ of course is all impressed and wants to know which one is dada. That cracked me up! Anyway - I was sitting watching X and typing and all of a sudden AJ says to me "mommy I want to ride my bike like the big boys on TV with dada".

We are in TROUBLE!!! I snapped a pic with my cell phone because he kept trying to stand on the pedals hanging on to the handle bars. Our little X gamer! ugghhhh I can already imagine many broken bones in our future. BOYS!!!

Here is our little daredevil
(excuse the t0y MESS everywhere!)

Pumpkin Patch Spring Concert

AJ's preschool held a Spring Concert today and it was really cute. His class was all dressed in yellow and beige or orange and beige to look like lions. Earlier in the week the class made lion masks to use during the concert. AJ's class sang Hakuna Matata and Just Can't Wait to be King. I had to be on stage with AJ so I wasn't able to get many pictures or video. Here is one stage pic and 2 pics from when we left the concert. I'll try to upload the minute and a half of video once I find my camera cable. AJ had a good time ROARING like a lion and he even danced a little bit but most of it was out of the video camera range.





After the concert we had lunch and naps then went to the playground to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather we had today. AJ had a blast as usual!

Sunny San Diego!!

I'm blogging this week from San Diego, CA. ESPN has sent me out to work the Moto X Championships event - a Moto X - only (dirtbikes) version of the X Games. After an uneventful flight out here, I picked up my rental car and went to my hotel. If you thought the roads on the east coast were hard to navigate, try driving out here! I've driven in LA and it hasn't been as crazy as it is here. My GPS - aka Matilda - doesn't know what to do with herself.

Of course once you're in the California area, you HAVE to visit In-N-Out. Millie is either cursing me or drooling on the floor because I mentioned it. Just don't tell her I've been twice now. And I've also been to a Cheesecake Factory too! Of course once I get home I won't be needing to eat for quite some time. If there's not a In-N-Out near you, Five Guys Burgers & Fries is a good compromise.

I had hoped to post a few more pictures, but my digital camera is too old for Windows Vista to support....so they will have to wait until I get home - or trash Vista for XP. Nothing but a few long days ahead of me now. We'll be airing on ESPN and ESPN2 this weekend (April 12 & 13).

More later!

Happy 3rd Birthday AJ!!!

THEN and NOW!


It's hard to believe AJ is 3 years old already. It seems like just yesterday he arrived....how we long for the days he never moved and slept all day. :o)

Nowadays he's full speed ahead!

His birthday celebration began at Nana Aviles' house on Sunday with Easter dinner and cupcakes. It continued on Tuesday with dinner out with Mommy and Daddy at Red Robin followed by a trip to Toys R Us. Finally, we all headed home and enjoyed AJ's Thomas the Tank Engine cake that Daddy made from scratch. Nana and Papa Bell joined us on the phone to sing Happy Birthday.

Click HERE to see pictures of the cake being put together and AJ blowing out his candles!

Happy Easter!!!

The Easter Bunny stopped by and dropped off some Easter treats for the family!! AJ got a cool little CARS bucket with Lightning McQueen Crocs, 2 m&m little buddies and a bat and ball. Daddy got some Cadbury Creme Eggs and mommy got some peeps that AJ wants to share with her. We also had a little Easter Egg hunt after lunch time and AJ had a GREAT time!!!

My two cute "bunnies" - Ralph has the "why me" look :o)

Easter Basket

Hunting for Easter Eggs


We also had Round 1 of AJ's Birthday party celebration. Mommy made cupcakes and daddy decorated them and we sang Happy Birthday to him at Nana's house after dinner - he got to open his gifts from Nana Aviles and Uncle Greg early and he loved his Thomas train set from Uncle Greg and the SpiderMan car from Nana. Thanks guys!!

AJ and Jordan about to sing - then AJ blowing out the candle too fast!!

Cupcake time!!! - AJ sporting his blue frosting mustache :)

Click HERE for more pictures

Brady's Baby Shower

Mom Aviles hosted a WONDERFUL baby shower for our soon to be new arrival. (THANKS MOM!!!) I really had a great time and we got some adorable things for baby Brady and for his room!! AJ, Brian and Papa Bell joined us towards the end of the shower and AJ even got to tell everyone the baby's name! He was very excited to share (even though he had woken up from his short car nap recently) So he told everyone that his baby brothers name is Brady Michael and he even helped mom open some presents for his baby brother!!!

Here are some pictures:
the party favors



Cute outfit with hat:


clothesline gift (so creative!!!!)
outfits, clothes, crib sheet and
baby clothes pins and I can use
the line in the tub


Pooh mobile from Nonnie Tangney
Thanks Nonnie!!!!


and BEAUTIFUL Alayna -
my friend Lauren's 5 month
little girl who was absolutely
precious!!!


Click HERE to see more pictures from the shower.

Our Last Snow???

During the past storm on March 1st (mommy is hoping it IS our last snow of the season) AJ and Daddy went out to play in the snow. Ralph played outside too. They decided it would be cool to make the Snowman Penguin using the kit that Lisa got for AJ at Christmas. I think both dad (ALL DAD) hee hee and AJ did a GREAT GREAT JOB!!!

What do you think???

Daddy decided to teach AJ how to make snow angels too and Ralph enjoyed pouncing on daddy thinking it was all a game with him. Snow angels was a bit more fun for AJ who was wearing a snow suit. Here are the boys making snow angels.

My 1st Week of Work

I didn't want to post too early in the week and jinx the remainder of my 1st week but I had a really good week at my new job. I am working at Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School (WIMS) in Hamden. It is a technology/language magnet school and all students get either a desktop k-5 for the home or a laptop (6-8) to bring to school every day. Spanish is taught at every grade level. There is also a small TV studio which the principal wants me to get involved with in the near future. They broadcast the morning announcements to all the classrooms. WIMS is an extended day/extended school year school. The school year starts mid August and end at the very end of June and the kids go to school from 8am to 3:15pm. I report by 8am but my class day starts at 8:30am and I leave at 3:30pm.

I am the 1st, 4th and 7th grade Spanish teacher. So far it has been going really well and I am really enjoying it. The 7th graders are a challenge but they're in a unique situation in that there hasn't been a steady teacher in ANY subject but one, and that teacher is now out on maternity leave so they really haven't had much consistency. Of course i'll be there for now but once i'm out on maternity they'll once again have a sub (the same girl that has been there throughout the year) and I'll be returning to work as soon as my dr. clears me to return (probably between 5-6 weeks after BabyBell2 is born) to finish out the school year.


Other than subbing, this is my 1st experience with the younger grades. They are the main reason why I went for this job - I always wanted to teach language at the elementary level. Everyone has been very friendly and welcoming at the school and I absolutely love the fact that I have my OWN classroom!!!! I am definitely looking forward to a fresh start next year where I will decorate to my hearts content and rearrange everything to the way I want it. I will do some slight redecorating for the spring season but nothing major as I'll be close to 9 months pregnant by then.


So - this is my classroom:

Front of class and computer station w/4 computers. These are mainly for the 1st and 4th graders as the 7th graders get their own laptops to bring to class. There is wireless throught the school.


There are TONS of cabinets for storage, a closet and sink area


This is the board for circle-time for the 1st graders. I'm supposed to have a rug for them too but apparently that's on back order so I'm hoping that I have it for the beginning of the next school year.


This is the back of the room and my desk area - there's a reading station with books, bulletin board and a table w/2 chairs.


I will take more pictures once I do my own decorating and rearranging but that's pretty much it for now.

Night at the Museum

NO, not the movie but AJ's and mommy's trip to ImagineNation right here in our hometown. They are normally just open during the day but they hold special events throughout the year at night. Friday night was Puppet Night and there were puppeteers walking around the museum with puppets of all sizes and they also had a few puppet shows as well as a "make your own puppet" station. AJ loved the museum. We have been to similar museums before and even though this one is on the smaller side he still enjoyed it very much.

One of his favorites was Sand Station

and here he is at Water Station

and the Bubble-ation Machine.

He was very well behaved at the puppet show and even got to go up at the end and kiss Bambino Puppet - the italian puppet that had all the kids saying words in italian and AJ was following along great!

We'll probably invest in the "family" yearly membership as there are a lot more fun nights in the upcoming months and AJ really had a blast and he wants daddy to go in the bubble machine.

Click HERE to see pictures from our fun night!