Pellegrini Page

Well I survived my first week at Microsoft. It wasn’t exactly an easy week, mainly because there is so much for me to learn, but overall I’m very happy with how things have started off. I like my team, and I really like the fact that I’m working on a big website. For comparison’s sake, all of the projects I’ve worked on over the past few years at Amazon and Scrollmotion were applications (web and mobile), so this is a bit different, but in a good way.

Although I’m going to try to keep the comparisons between Microsoft and Amazon to a minimum for now while I get up to speed, there is one observation that already seems fair to make: my new team at Microsoft is more organized than my old team (and the other teams I worked with) at Amazon. The general process my new team uses is to have a weekly meeting with the engineers (towards the end of the week) to discuss what each of them will be doing the following week. When you come in on Monday morning, all of your tasks for the week have already been assigned by a project manager in an online tool. Each task has a priority level associated with it, along with an estimate of how long the task should take to complete. Obviously new things can pop up throughout the week, but for the most part, this is what you’ll be doing this week, so you can plan accordingly. Further, time has been allocated for certain engineers to review your work and provide feedback. I love this format because its so much more organized than what I became used to at Amazon.

At Amazon my team didn’t have a project manager. My new team has three. Work wasn’t tracked very closely, and priorities were always an estimate. Plus they never allocated time for code reviews and feedback. Consequently we would regularly have ‘fire drills’ where something urgent needed to be done immediately. This led to lots of peaks and valleys in terms of your effort, and there just wasn’t a lot of foresight. Obviously I can’t speak for the entire company, but that was my experience both as a full-time employee, as well as when I was a contractor.

I love the fact that I know exactly what I’ll be doing each week, and what my priorities are. There’s no question that a lot is expected of me, and I’m planning on working considerably more hours now than I ever used to, but that’s the tradeoff I was willing to make. For example, yesterday I worked 12.5 hours in order to stay relatively caught up. This means that I put in 50 hours my first week, but that’s fine because its exactly inline with what I was expecting. Like Amazon, the bar is very high at Microsoft, but unlike Amazon, no one really talks about it; its just implied. At Amazon they constantly toot their own horn about how high their bar and standards are. At Microsoft its just a given.

Enough about work. This morning Ava and I attended our first Saturday morning soccer class. The class is held at a nice park about five minutes from our house, and its designated for very young kids like her, as well as their parent(s). Its only a 30 minute class, and its entirely focused on the fundamentals. Today we practiced dribbling the ball (aka Little Kicks) to various landmarks on the field. At the end of class each kid gets to dribble up towards the goal and give it a Big Kick to score a goal. It may be too early to tell but my initial observation is that Ava’s biggest challenge will be paying attention and staying engaged. From a physical perspective, I couldn’t believe how well she did. She seemed to have a lot of natural talent, and I don’t think I’m just saying that because I’m her Dad. As long as she’s enjoying herself I’m happy.

I accidentally made the mistake of parking the car next to the kids playground, so getting her engaged in the soccer class was a bit difficult at first. Throughout the class she kept asking me if she could go play at the park, so once we were done with soccer we headed over to play on the jungle gym and go down the slides. Soon enough most of the other kids arrived to play, so I got a chance to chat with a few of the parents. There was one little girl in Ava’s class who was all decked out in a full Adidas soccer suit, complete with shin guards and cleats. Personally I thought it was a bit overboard, but after class I chatted with her parents for a bit and found out that her name was also Ava, she’s three months older than our Ava (although much smaller), and they live fairly close to us. I remember as a kid that my parents became friends (or at least friendly) with the parents of other kids that I played sports with, so I’m sure that will be in our future soon enough. The class goes for another five weeks, then we’ll have the option to move up to a new class.

It seems like everyone has been sick around here lately. A couple weeks ago Ava had a bad stomach flu that lasted about a week. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, but she powered through it like a champ. We thought we were in the clear with her, but then this week we got a new surprise. Wednesday night around midnight I woke up to the sound of Ava screaming and crying. I went into her room to check on her and saw that she had a very high fever. Jessica came in to take her temperature but then realized that our digital thermometer was broken. I got dressed and jumped in my car to go buy a new thermometer. I went to four different drug stores but all of them were closed. Finally I was able to find a Safeway nearby that was still open, and luckily they had thermometers in stock. When I got home and took her temperature, it read 103.8. This was very concerning so we called the on-call physician at her doctor’s office and explained what was going on. He told us to give her some children’s tylenol, keep her well hydrated, and keep a close eye on her.

The next morning her fever was gone so we thought we were in the clear, but then that afternoon around 4:00 I got a text from Jessica saying her fever was back and was up to 104.6! This was pretty alarming, but she said they were already on the way to the doctor’s office. I left work about 20 minutes later with a plan of meeting them at the doctor’s office, but traffic was so bad that I was still 15 minutes away when Jessica called me at 5:15 saying the doctor had diagnosed her with an ear infection and had prescribed her liquid Zithromax. Today is her third day on antibiotics and she seems to be back to normal. We’ve still got two more days to take it, but that should be about it. Unfortunately now Elise is sick, plus Jessica and I woke up this morning with sore throats. It’s always something, but at least Enzo hasn’t come down with anything.

Jessica injured her ankle, most likely from running, and hasn’t been able to go lately. She’s been doing yoga at home instead but is hoping to get back out there once her ankle heals. I’ve still been going running regularly and am enjoying it. I’ve come to the conclusion that running is the exact opposite of drinking alcohol. With alcohol, you feel good up front, but later you feel like crap. With running, however, its the other way around. You go through the hard part up front, but then later on you feel amazing. The only issue I’m facing right now is that with me getting home from work later than what I’m used to, its not always going to be feasible for me to run in the evenings. I guess tonight is daylight savings time, so that should help me out a bit, but still, after I’ve been at work all day I’m looking forward to coming home and spending time with my family.

Consequently I’ve decided to start running early in the morning before work. Tuesday morning I got up at 5:30 and went on a 4 mile run. It was only 25 degrees outside and I didn’t have gloves on, so by the time I reached the entrance to my neighborhood my fingers and ears were numb. It took about two miles before they came back to feeling normal again. By the end of the run I was going by cars parked on the street that were completely frozen over and I was confused because to me it had warmed up considerably, but obviously that was all due to the run. As it turned out it was still only 27 degrees.

Even on the mornings that I’m not running, I’m committed to getting up at 5:30 because it gives me some quiet time to take a guitar lesson online, practice guitar, or read. The early morning is pretty much my only time to do my own thing, so I’ve come to embrace it. The flip side to that coin though is that I’m exhausted by 9:00 every night. I think its worth it though.

I know that was a long update but its been a very busy week. Oh one more thing; Jessica and I bought plane tickets to go to Austin, TX in November. We’re going the week before Ava’s birthday because Amy and Tom will be in town to watch the kids. We’re looking forward to checking out a new city, seeing some live music, eating out, etc. I told her my only requirement was that I get my picture taken with the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue. Other than that I’m wide open. I’m currently reading a biography on SRV and its turning out to be quite the story. We’ll be there for five days, four nights. Neither of us have been to Austin before, so it gives us something to look forward to. Here’s a few recent photos of the kids.

Today was a significant day for me for a variety of reasons. As the title of this post suggests, today is the 20th anniversary of my Dad passing away, but on a more positive level today was also my first day at Microsoft. Strangely enough, March 2nd was also my first day working at El Gaucho back in 1999. When you consider the fact that the only reason I got the job at El Gaucho to begin with was that I was Elmer Pellegrini’s son, it makes things even stranger. I’ve been looking forward to writing this post for a while, mainly to pay tribute to my Dad, but I’m going to save that for last. First, here’s a breakdown of my first day on the new job.

I spent the first half of the dat at NEO (New Employee Orientation). As you can probably imagine, there is a lot to go over when joining a big company like Microsoft. Although the orientation is very similar in format to the orientation I attended at Amazon two years ago, there is no question that today’s orientation was much more interactive and fun. They really went out of their way to make sure that everyone was engaged and enjoying their time, while simultaneously gathering all their much-needed information about their new role. I came away from NEO really impressed with Microsoft; the benefits they provide to their employees are world-class, and the commitment they have towards making positive change in the world wasn’t lost on me. It was definitely a good experience, and a very nice way to start my career with Microsoft. I’m sure that is exactly how they intended it.

After NEO I met my manager for lunch. During that time we got to catch up, talk about the team I’m joining, my new responsibilities, and get to know each other on a more personal level. He mentioned having kids, so I asked him how many kids he has. Usually when people ask me this question and I tell them that I have three kids they say “wow!”, and that was exactly what I said when he told me he has seven children! Seven kids is no joke, plus he mentioned that his wife is out of town right now due to a health issue with her Mother, meaning he is caring for all seven of them on his own. That’s impressive.

After lunch we headed back to our building and I was able to start setting up my desk and computers. There’s lots of software to install, accounts to create, etc. I spent about four hours working on all of this but I’m still not done. Looks like I’ll be basically done with all of my setup work tomorrow morning, meaning I should be able to start working on assignments sometime tomorrow afternoon. I also got a chance to meet all of my teammates today; everyone was really cool, and one of them is ex-Amazon, so we chatted about that for a bit. There’s another engineer starting next Monday who will be sitting right next to me, plus there are two other guys on the team that started within the past month, so we’re all basically in the same boat. I’m glad to not be the only new guy on the team, and I’m excited to get to work with such a talented group.

The best analogy I can make to my day today is that it’s just like the first day of school. You don’t know where anything is, and there are lots of unfamiliar faces. In our case, the Microsoft campus is enormous; there are over 100 buildings on the main campus alone! Because of this you need to either drive or take a shuttle in order to get across campus in a timely fashion. One of the things that stands out to me immediately regarding the difference between Microsoft buildings and Amazon buildings is the quality of the decor and furnishings. Microsoft is a high-margin business, and because of that they can afford to spend extra money on fancy artwork, beautiful furniture and lounge seating, huge cafeterias, etc. Amazon is a low-margin business and they simply can’t afford to do these types of things. Don’t get me wrong; its not like the Amazon buildings are a dump. Far from it, but they don’t go the extra mile the way Microsoft does. Luckily we are encouraged at Microsoft to bring our families to campus for things like lunch, family movie nights, etc. I can’t wait to bring Jessica and the kids there to show them around. Based on her experience with interior design I’m sure Jessica will appreciate it even more than I do.

Obviously when you start any new job there is a ‘honeymoon phase’ that lasts for a while, so it’s going to take me some time to give it a realistic comparison to Amazon. Right now everything is a bit over-the-top and impressive. I’m certainly not under the delusion that everything will be perfect at Microsoft, but I can say with confidence that I’m happy with the decision I’ve made, and I’m already proud to represent them. Plenty more updates on this coming soon. Coming home from my first night was also a nice treat because Jessica prepared a delicious Seared Ahi Tuna dinner with roasted Brussel Sprouts and Mashed Potatoes. We enjoyed dinner with some nice local wine (after all it is Washington Wine Month) and I got to tell her all about my big day.

Now I want to pay a little respect to my dear old Dad. In one respect it’s hard to believe that he’s been gone for 20 years, but when I really think about all that has happened in my life since then, it makes perfect sense. At this point I’ve lived considerably longer without him than I did with him, yet all of his little sayings and stories stick with me. One thing he always used to tell me was “Stay focused on what you’re doing. Don’t think about playing baseball when you’re in math class, and don’t think about math class when you’re playing baseball. Presence of mind and awareness are very important.” Another thing he always used to tell me, which was probably my favorite of all his sayings, was “Moderation is the key to life. Too much of anything is no good, but a little bit of poison won’t kill you.” As a kid I used to wonder why anyone would ever intentionally take poison. It wasn’t until I got a bit older that I truly understood what he meant.

One of my favorite qualities about my Dad was the way he always put other people first, even people he didn’t know. For example, we would drive to the grocery store and he would intentionally park in the back of the parking lot even though there were open spaces up front near the entrance. When I would ask him why he didn’t take the spot up front he would say “Leave that spot for some old geezer that needs it. We can walk.” Meanwhile by that point my Dad was in his 60’s and could easily be considered one of those old geezers he was referring to, but he didn’t see it that way.

Another time, my parents went out to dinner at the Metropolitan Grill to celebrate my Dad’s birthday, and my Dad wore a beautiful new tie that my Mom got him as a birthday present. While they were out they ran into some friends, and one of them said “Elmer, what a beautiful tie! I’d get married in that tie.” Well, my Dad took the tie off right there on the spot and insisted that he take it. I asked my Mom if him doing that upset her but she said no, you couldn’t be upset with him because that’s just the way he was. He was generous to a fault.

It seems like every time I meet or speak to someone who knew my Dad they always have something very nice to say, or a fun story to share, and hearing all those great stories always makes me feel really good. He truly was one of a kind, and although I don’t have any regrets about our relationship, I certainly do wish we’d had more time together. I never got the chance to spend time with him as a grown man. I’m sure there are plenty of stories he would have shared with me once I’d grown up that simply weren’t appropriate for an adolescent boy. Now that I’m all grown up and married with my own kids I would love nothing more than for him to be able to meet Jessica, Ava, Elise and Enzo. Unfortunately he was only able to meet Kallan, his first grandchild, before passing away a month later. I know he would be proud of everyone though. He always used to tell me that all he cared about was that my Mom, my sisters, and I were all happy and healthy. Nothing else mattered to him. Considering the love and compassion he showed to complete strangers, you can only imagine how he felt about his own family. He always used to tell me “Don’t do what I do. Make something of yourself and do better than I did.” I know he would be very happy with how the lives of all his children have turned out. We each have families that we love more than anything, and for my Dad, nothing was more important than family.

Enzo at 1 Month

Today our sweet little guy turns one month old. It’s a bit hard to believe that he has already been here that long, but as Ava’s first pediatrician in San Diego told us years ago, “the days will seem long but the months will fly by.” He was right about that. So far our initial observations of Enzo are that he is perfectly healthy and growing fast. He seems to spend more and more time awake every day, however the majority of his time is still spent sleeping and eating. In his case, no news is good news, and that’s pretty much where we’re at. He has had a couple checkups so far and everything looks perfect, so we’re very thankful. I can’t wait to see him smile for the first time, and I love holding him and watching him look around to examine his surroundings.

One thing I can say for sure about Enzo is that he is the loudest nighttime baby we’ve had. He grunts, snorts, and moans all night long. It’s probably fair to say that we got off easy with Ava when it came to sleeping, but Elise and Enzo have been more of a prototypical baby in that respect. Ava was sleeping through the night by the time she was a month old, and I remember feeling at that time that all the hype you hear about sleepless nights with babies was totally overblown. The reality was we just got lucky with Ava when it came to sleeping, and even today she continues to be the heaviest sleeper of the bunch.

Now that Grandma and Grandpa have been gone for a bit, the rest of us have had a chance to get into a normal groove, and things are going well. The girls have adjusted nicely to having a baby in the house. The weather is starting to get better and Spring is just around the corner, so it feels like we’re on the up and up. Ava is transitioning from her weekly art class to a weekly music class (which makes me very happy) and she seems to be enjoying it so far. Very soon she and I will also be going to a soccer class on Saturday mornings. I love the idea of exposing each of our kids to a variety of activities and seeing what sticks. The main thing for me, particularly on the weekends, is to get up early with the girls and keep them occupied so that Mom and Enzo can sleep in. There is no question that Jessica has it much harder than I do when it comes to caring for Enzo in the middle of the night, so I want to do whatever I can to take some of the load off of her.

Yesterday was my last day at Amazon. I was looking back through old posts on our website and realized that my career as a full-time employee at Amazon lasted exactly two years and two days. Certainly not as long as I expected, but as I’ve said in the past, everything about my time at Amazon happened faster than I expected, including my exit. I’ve heard many people at Amazon say that one year at Amazon is like two years anywhere else; this is because of how fast you work and how much you’re expected to get done. I personally hardly ever felt like we were under unrealistic expectations, but I also like to stay busy as often as possible. There is no question that I gained a ton of valuable experience and knowledge during my time there, and I’m very excited to apply all of it towards my new role at Microsoft.

My final day was a good one. There was no work for me to do, so I spent the day meeting with various people that I’ve become friends with during my time there to talk about why I’m switching jobs. The response I received was 100% positive and everyone agrees that I’m doing the right thing. I think the thing that felt best about my departure was that not only would my own team welcome me back anytime, but I was also told by two other teams that they would also be happy to have me should things not work out at Microsoft. It felt really great to hear that, and by no means would I ever discredit the thought of someday returning to Amazon. They are a world-class company whom I was always proud to represent, so who knows? It’s important to me never to burn a bridge, but for now I will continue to be a loyal Amazon customer, while my professional focus shifts entirely towards Microsoft. I’m really excited about this new opportunity with Microsoft and can’t wait to get started on Monday. Plenty of updates on that coming soon.

Today should be a fun day for us; we’re doing our monthly Costco trip later this morning, and having our friends Laurel, Solana, Josh, and their son Ronin over for dinner this evening. We’re doing kind of a potluck thing, but Jess and I are making tacos, so that should be fun. I’m also hoping to squeeze in a run somewhere in between. Jessica and I have both been running for the last few weeks and we’re enjoying it. I used to run at the athletic club when I lived in Las Vegas, and after a while I got to a point where I could run 10 miles without stopping, but then I tore my meniscus and gave it up. I’ve been wanting to get back into it for a while now, but decided to wait until after Enzo was born because I knew Jessica was also interested in running and I didn’t want her to feel excluded.

Although we don’t run together (because someone has to be home with the kids) we’re both enjoying it, mainly because it gives you a chance to get away and clear your mind. When I first started running, the route I was taking was only 2.25 miles. I would get home exhausted, but after a couple weeks I found myself taking a route twice as long and finishing not nearly as tired. I’ve found that running is entirely a mental battle, and that’s actually my favorite part about it. I learned from a Navy Seals book I read a while back that the mind will always give out before the body does, so I will sometimes remind myself of that when necessary. One thing I’ve learned about running is that its best to keep your mind occupied with something other than running. Never think about how far away the finish line is. You see a lot of people out running with headphones on, but I have headphones on all the time at work, so I prefer not to wear them when I run. Instead of listening to music while I run, I think about music. Specifically I think about music theory and how it pertains to the guitar fretboard. I’ve found that this works well for me because music theory is complicated and requires a fair amount of concentration. If my mind is focused on the intricacies of music theory and guitar, that means that its not focused on the run, meaning that my body gets into a comfortable pace and before I know it, the run is complete. The best part is that I’m simultaneously becoming a better musician while I exercise. It’s all about finding something that works for you.

Jessica will be doing Enzo’s first monthly photo later today, so I plan to include it on my post this Monday. Monday is a big day for me (for a variety of reasons) so I’m looking forward to writing another post that night. Happy weekend!

Yesterday morning Amy and Tom flew home to Colorado, meaning the five of us are officially on our own now. Amy had spent about a month with us, and Tom came to join her for the final week of her stay. As always, they were both extremely helpful in so many areas. Whether it’s watching the kids, helping out with projects around the house, or taking care of a meal, they always go out of their way to make things a bit easier for us; obviously we appreciate everything they do very much. It’s funny because I don’t remember being this focused on the fact that we were ‘on our own’ after Amy left when either of the girls were born. Maybe its different now because the kids officially outnumber the parents. I guess that has to play a part in it. I’m not worried or anything; we’re going to be just fine, but I have to acknowledge the fact that it really does feel a little different this time around.

Last week was a really busy week for me, mainly because in addition to working my normal schedule at Amazon, I also bartended at El Gaucho on Friday and Saturday night for their Valentine’s Weekend Cabaret shows. We did one show on Friday night and two shows on Saturday night, each of which was sold out. It had been a full year since I worked a bartending shift but it was cool; I had a lot of fun seeing my old friends. I must admit though, I’ve gotten pretty used to sitting at a desk all day, so being on your feet running around for 10-12 hours straight with no break wasn’t exactly easy. I was exhausted after each shift, but I’m glad I did it. I spent so many years in that industry that a part of it is forever engrained in me. Although I couldn’t see myself going back to it as my full-time career, I still love being able to go in every now and then. It’s a nice social outlet for me.

Tom and I spent the day on Sunday doing maintenance on Jessica’s van. There was nothing wrong with it, but it was due for service. Between the work I did on it by myself a couple weeks ago and the work Tom and I did on Sunday, we basically gave it an entire 100,000 mile tune-up. We did new rear brakes, all new spark plugs, serviced the battery, replaced the PCV valve, replaced the cabin air filter, and inspected a ton of other things. I learned a lot in the process, and it feels good to know that you’re doing good work while simultaneously saving a significant amount of money compared to having it done at a shop. I need to do some similar work on my Acura and now I know how to do all of it, so that’s pretty cool.

Monday was also an interesting day for me because I put in my notice at Amazon. Plenty of you who read this blog already know about my new job opportunity with Microsoft, but I guess now is as good of a time as any to say publicly that I am leaving Amazon to join Microsoft as a Software Engineer on the Azure Web Team, which is the team that owns Azure.com. I wasn’t unhappy with my job at Amazon at all, and I certainly wasn’t out looking for work, but a recruiter from Microsoft found me on LinkedIn and presented me with an opportunity that I felt like I had to act on. After speaking with the hiring manager I got pretty excited about the opportunity and decided to officially apply for it. The interview process was very difficult, and I honestly didn’t feel very confident about it when it was over, but to my surprise, they decided to offer me a job.

One of the most appealing things to me about this position is the fact that my title will be ‘Software Engineer 2’. As you may already know, last year I received a degree in software engineering. Getting that degree was a lot of hard work, particularly because I was working full-time while going to school, so it feels great to validate all of that effort with a corresponding new job and title. When I think about my long-term career growth, I feel better about moving forward as a software engineer than as a web developer. Another major benefit to taking this job is that Jessica won’t have to go back to work, or at least not on any type of regular basis. It’s likely that she would still work the occasional private party, just like I did last weekend, but that’s about it. This takes a lot of pressure off her and allows her to focus more on the kids, at least for now. As previously mentioned, having a third small child in the house requires a lot of adjustments, so I’m glad she doesn’t need to worry about work for now.

The act of putting in my notice at Amazon didn’t go exactly as planned. My manager was shocked (which didn’t surprise me) and he actually went out of his way to get me to change my mind. He confided in me that, although I wasn’t supposed to find out until April 1st, I have been approved for a promotion to a Web Developer 2 role. He contacted Human Resources to find out what my new salary would be in hopes that it would persuade me to stay. I wasn’t expecting all this, and it certainly felt good to know that I had earned a promotion, but in the end I felt that backing out on Microsoft would have been unethical. I asked him for an evening to consider my options, then later that night I wrote an extensive email explaining my decision. Obviously I would never want to burn a bridge, so I was happy to hear that I had his blessing and that I was leaving on good terms. There is no doubt in my mind that I’m making the right move for my family, as well as for my career. Plenty more updates coming soon on this once I get started.

Our first day without the help of Grandma and Grandpa was an interesting one. I worked from home so that I could be there for Enzo during his little procedure. We had a normal evening at home, but then Ava started getting sick in the middle of the night. She threw up five or six times throughout the night. The poor thing couldn’t even keep juice down. I went to the store in the morning and got her Pedia-sure, Pedia-lite, saltine crackers, and bananas. Unfortunately the timing of all this is poor because I’m going to a concert this evening with a friend of mine. I bought the tickets a month ago, mostly because Jessica encouraged me to do so, but then all this happens and of course I feel terrible to leave her alone for the entire day with the kids considering that Ava is not feeling well. I checked in with Jessica throughout the day and she said Ava was doing better; she was able to eat and keep everything down. I’m not sure what the problem was but I hope it was short-lived.

Now that we’re on our own I’m sure we will all get into a regular routine pretty quickly. Elise is still having sleeping problems, so it has become a nightly occurrence for her to crawl into bed with us at some point. More often than not I wake up with her wrapped up in my arms. It doesn’t bother me having her there but I’m worried that we’re encouraging bad habits which will be difficult to break.

Speaking of our bedroom, one of the projects Jessica and I worked on while Amy was in town was painting our bedroom. We spent time looking at paint swatches from Sherwin Williams and ultimately settled on a grayish-brownish color called ‘Flexible Gray.’ Well, lets just say that its much more flexible than it is gray. Once we got it on the wall it quickly became apparent that it was actually more of a cross between pink and purple than it was between gray and brown. I have to be honest by saying that I really don’t like the color, especially for my bedroom, but I can live with it. More importantly, we learned a great lesson, which was that you always need to get a sample of the paint and put a few brush strokes of it on your wall at home in order to be sure that you really like it. Later this year we plan on painting many more rooms throughout the house, so it was good to learn this lesson early on.

That’s about it for now. Here’s a few recent photos of everyone.

The girls wearing their Team Hagy shirts in support of our friend who is fighting breast cancer

Best Friends Forever

Superbowl Sunday

Baby Enzo

It’s hard to believe, but Enzo has already been home for a week. As I write this, it was exactly one week ago to the minute that he officially entered our lives. So far everything is going excellent. He had his first checkup on Friday and everything was spot on; we won’t have to go back for another checkup until next week but there is nothing to be concerned about. He is a very happy, healthy little boy.

Here’s a few observations that I forgot to share last week on my initial post about him: like his Mommy, Enzo was born on the 28th, and like his Daddy he was born on a Wednesday night. Like both of his sisters, Enzo was born on an odd-numbered year (Ava was born in 2011 and Elise was born in 2013). Like Mommy, Daddy, and Ava, Enzo was born at the end of the month, and like Mommy, Daddy, and Elise, Enzo was born on an even-numbered day. My mom took the liberty of plugging all the kids birthdays into a website and found out that Elise and Enzo are 34 days closer in age than Ava and Elise are. I’m sure no one is more acutely aware of that than Jessica.

Although it may be too early to tell, we’re starting to get the impression that Enzo will be our most laid back and easy going baby. He probably gets that from Daddy, who prides himself on such qualities. He hardly ever cries or fusses unless he is hungry, or we’re changing his diaper. Earlier this evening we gave him his first bath and even that didn’t really upset him. It was a far cry from Ava’s experience with her first bath. I’m sure our old neighbors still haven’t forgiven us for that one. Maybe he’s trying to make it up to Jessica since he was her most difficult pregnancy.

We’ve been fortunate enough to be able to visit with several family members and friends over the past week. Dana, Brad and Anna came over for a visit on Saturday, then Kristy and Madi came to meet him on Sunday morning. He slept through most of it, but he certainly never fussed about being passed around. We definitely have a lot more introductions to make, but all in due time of course. Right now it’s all about everyone adjusting to having a new person in the house. The girls are both dealing with it in their own ways, but overall they’re doing really well. It doesn’t help that we’ve all been a little under the weather this week, but all things considered we are quite pleased with the transition.

Today is my last day off work. Part of me is sad to be going back to work already, but I’m not exactly used to being home all day everyday, so getting back into my routine will be a good thing. At least I’ve only got two work days this week before the weekend. Luckily for us Grandma Amy is still here for about 10 more days. As previously mentioned, she has been extremely helpful. Anything Jessica or the kids need, she’s on it. Doesn’t matter if it’s house cleaning, fixing meals for the girls, running errands, whatever. We’re so lucky to have her, and I enjoy her company. Since Jessica is often resting with Enzo, it’s so nice to have another adult to converse with; especially someone who is so familiar with what is going on in your world.

Grandpa Tom should be out sometime in the next week for the final leg of Amy’s stay. I’m looking forward to his arrival so we can do some work on Jessica’s van and my car. A few days ago I changed the van’s oil and filter, replaced the air filter, replaced the windshield wipers, and rotated the tires. I still need to replace the PCV valve, cabin air filter, and spark plugs, but I’d like Tom’s help with that stuff. I want to do a lot of that same stuff on my Acura as well, so it will be nice to have an extra set of hands around.

Tomorrow night I’m taking Jessica out for her long-awaited sushi dinner. We’re just going to a little local place that was advertising on Groupon. We’ve both been looking forward to it for quite a while so I hope its good. Other than that we don’t have a whole lot going on. We try to make a point and get the girls out everyday for some activity, but we usually just play it by ear depending on the weather.

Plenty of updates coming soon, but for now here’s some recent pics, mostly of Enzo.

Our first walk as a family of five

Taking a nap with Dad

Up close and personal with Enzo

Enzo’s first bath

Hanging out after his bath

Well, she did it. Again. Jessica and I always make it a point to praise the girls for their toughness when they fall or somehow hurt themselves. Well by that rational I think its fair to say that Jessica deserves the utmost respect for the incredible toughness and dedication she displayed today. I can’t really put into words how proud I am of her, or how much I appreciate all the sacrifices she continues to make for our family, but that certainly won’t stop me from trying. For the third time, Jessica has brought a child into this world, and for the second time in a row, she did it completely naturally without any drugs or pain killers. Of the five years we have been married, she has spent about four of them pregnant, meaning she has dedicated not only her whole life to our family, but her body as well. To say I’m thankful for this would be an insulting understatement, but I suppose its a start.

Before I get into the details of how our day went, I’m going to backtrack a few days to tell a funny story about Jessica’s baby shower, which was held by our next-door neighbor Cara on Saturday afternoon. Since Jessica and Amy were going to be there for several hours, I decided to take the girls out for a day of fun. We started off at the park, then we went to Alderwood Mall to play, shop, and walk around. After leaving the mall we went to lunch at Taco Time, and I specifically made sure to eat at the restaurant because I knew the girls would make a mess, and I also knew that some of the ladies at the baby shower would be coming over to our house afterwards and I didn’t want the house to be a mess.

After finishing lunch the girls and I headed home, and I’ve got to admit I was feeling proud of myself. I had just taken them on a 3 hour adventure and things went so smoothly. They weren’t even dirty so I didn’t have to rush them into the bathtub when we got home. Since no one else was home when we returned, I decided to put on an episode of Thomas the Train for the girls to watch so that I could spend 5-10 minutes finishing the chapter in my new book. As the old saying goes, ‘Silence is golden’, but whomever came up with that statement must not have had young kids, because little did I know that while I sat on the couch reading my book and thinking that the girls were quietly playing behind me, they were actually making an enormous mess.

A few minutes later Jessica walks in the door with several family members and friends, and immediately yells out my name with a panicked look on her face. I say “what?” and turn around to see that in the five minutes we’d been sitting there, Ava and Elise had dumped almost all the dirt out of a potted holiday plant we’d received as a gift all throughout the kitchen. It was everywhere! All over the dining table, the window sills, the chairs, the floor, etc. They were having a grand old time playing with all this dirt, and I was completely oblivious to it, even though I was only sitting 10 feet away. An of course I had to discover it right as a dozen women come walking in. It was such a classic Dad moment that I will probably never hear the end of. Apparently Jessica had just made a disclaimer saying that although the house was clean when she left for the shower, she couldn’t guarantee anything since the girls and I were home alone. Everyone got a huge kick out of it, but I was obviously pretty embarrassed. Oh well, it made for a funny story that will probably live on forever.

Now onto more important things. I’m going to try to recount everything that went on today with an appropriate level of detail. Jessica and I went to bed last night a little after 10:00, and although we both fell asleep quickly, she ended up waking up around 11:30 due to contractions. She didn’t know it at the time, but this was the beginning of her 19 hour labor with Enzo Michael Pellegrini. She had semi-regular contractions for the next few hours, meaning she got very little sleep. I woke up at 3:30am and realized what was going on, so pretty soon I started timing her contractions. They were coming about every 10 minutes so our hopes were high that this would be the day.

Around 6:00am we went downstairs for coffee and breakfast, then a little later we decided to go for a walk. This had become a tradition for us when she is in labor so it seemed like the right thing to do. At this point Dana was on her way over to our house to watch the girls, but they (and Amy) were still asleep. What was supposed to be a short walk turned into a very long one (about 3 miles) but Jessica was feeling good and the movement made her contractions easier to deal with. By the time we returned home from our walk an hour later, Dana was waiting for us in the living room while playing with Elise.

At this point the contractions started slowing down and soon Jessica was feeling pretty bummed out. It was looking like another false alarm, and she wanted nothing more than to have this baby and be done with it. Luckily she had a regularly scheduled appointment this morning at 11:00, so even though things were starting to look a little grim, we decided to follow through with the appointment and see what the midwife had to say. Amy and Dana stayed home with the girls while I drove Jessica to her appointment. On the way there her contractions started getting more regular, so there was hope for us once again.

The birth center was very busy when we arrived, so we had to wait a bit before she could be seen. Once they checked her out they gave us the good news we were hoping to hear, which was that she was definitely in labor and today was our day. They also offered to break her water for her in order to speed things up, so Jessica gladly accepted. After that they told us to go get a bite to eat, and go for another walk. We followed their orders, but it didn’t take long after the water was broken for things to start speeding up quickly. By the time we finished lunch and walked down the block she was having contractions every 2-3 minutes, and they were getting more and more intense with each one.

At this point we called Amy and said you better get down here, so Dana was kind enough to load everyone up in the van and give her a ride. We didn’t want the girls to see Mommy in labor, so after dropping Amy off, Dana returned home with Ava and Elise for a fun day at home. Basically Jessica had labored for 12 hours before they broke her water, and then the real fun began. I’m just glad that Amy was able to be there all day with us because she was such a big help.

As many of you already know, this pregnancy has been pretty tough on Jessica, and unfortunately labor was no exception. Based on her experience with Elise, we thought we’d be delivering within about 3 hours, but that wasn’t the case. After breaking her water at 11:30am, Jessica went on a painful crusade that lasted another 7 hours before Enzo finally decided to make his appearance. Again, her toughness was remarkable. She later said that when you reach your mental breaking point its so difficult to keep going on, but she powered through it like a champ. The woman in the room next to us was screaming at the top of her lungs all day, and I’m certainly not judging her for this because I can only imagine what it feels like, but the difference between her and Jessica was like night and day. Even the midwives couldn’t believe how tough and strong she was. She doesn’t yell or scream at all; she has this incredible ability to internalize her pain and deal with it in ways that most people would be jealous of.

Long story short, Jessica powered through so many contractions before giving birth to our son Enzo at 6:19pm. Unlike her delivery with Elise, which was in water, Enzo was born in bed with Jessica on her side, with me helping the midwife by holding one of Jessica’s legs up while she commanded Jessica on when and how to push. Obviously this was a very emotional experience for all of us, but all I can say is that seeing your child come into the world is an experience that you’re extremely lucky to have, and one that you will never forget. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience this 3 times now, and for that I will always be grateful. He ended up measuring in at 20″ in length and weighing exactly 8 pounds.

Although giving birth naturally is incredibly painful, the flip side to that coin is that she was back to normal almost immediately after giving birth. Watching her transform back into her normal self in such a short amount of time was truly amazing. At that point there are so many endorphins kicking in and so much adrenaline pumping through her veins that she actually seemed quite chipper and unaffected by what had just occurred. I could tell she was relieved to have it over with, and although I was having a hard time containing my own emotions, the fact that our family was now complete and such a major chapter in our lives was coming to a close was certainly not lost on me.

Luckily for us everything with Enzo was perfect, as it was for Jessica, so we only had to stay at the birth center for two hours after he was born, which is the legal requirement. Most of that time was spent making phone calls and sending text messages to our loved ones. We were all pretty hungry so Amy and I ran across the street to a Mexican restaurant to get some takeout. I had a bit of a scare while I was sitting there waiting for our food because I overheard the hostess saying that there was an ambulance outside taking someone from the birth center. I looked up and saw what she was talking about, then just about had a heart attack as I sprinted out the door and across the street to see what was going on. When I arrived they explained that nothing was wrong with Jessica or Enzo, and that the ambulance was there for the woman and child from the room next to us. Unfortunately things hadn’t gone as smoothly for them as it had for us and they needed some extra medical attention. Obviously I wasn’t happy to hear this, but at the same time I couldn’t help but feel a major sense of relief.

I want to send out a HUGE thank you to my amazing sister Dana for all her help today. She took the day off work to care for Ava and Elise throughout this whole experience and we are so grateful. You’ll never know how much we appreciate it. I also need to give my deepest thanks to Amy for everything she continues to do for us. This is a major transition for us and I seriously don’t know if we could do it all without her. In both of their cases I know that they are very happy to be able to do everything, but that doesn’t change how much it means to Jessica and I. We’re so lucky to have such an incredible family and support system.

I’ll never forget Ava’s reaction when we arrived home with Elise a year-and-a-half ago, and the same can be said for Ava and Elise’s reactions tonight when we got home with Enzo. The look on their faces was priceless. Elise just couldn’t get over the fact that there was a baby in our house, and both of them instantly gravitated to him. There is no question that both of the girls are going to have to adjust to having a baby in the house, but I know we’ll all be able to make that adjustment in no time. Jessica said multiple times this evening that even though this was a tough pregnancy and a tough labor, it was all more than worth it in the end. Seeing all three of our kids together in the same room at the same time was really special to me, and I couldn’t help but say to myself several times over “I have three children.” Even though you have all this time to prepare for it, there is something to be said for seeing them all together in the flesh for the first time.

As one would expect, Jessica was beyond exhausted by the time we got home, so as I write this, she and Enzo are fast asleep beside me. These next few days are going to be full of adjustments for everyone in our house, which again is why having Amy here is such a big help. It dawned on me this afternoon that this would probably be the last time I’m ever in a birthing room. I wouldn’t expect either of my daughters to want me in the room when they are giving birth, which I completely understand, so it was important to me that I really soak it all up and not take anything for granted. Having a child makes for a special day that you will never forget. These are the great days of your life, and its what you live for, so I couldn’t be more thankful to have been able to experience this three times over. Our family is complete now, and tomorrow we move onto the first page of another new and exciting chapter. Not only do I have three children that I love more than life itself, but I have the best wife in the world who is not only my spouse, but also my best friend, confidant, and motivator. I don’t know what more I could ask for, but I will always be thankful.

Laboring in the tub a couple hours before Enzo’s birth

Holding my son for the first time

Grandma Amy holding Enzo for the first time

Enzo getting weighed

Ready to go home

Meeting his sisters for the first time

Elise giving Enzo a kiss

I’m actually surprised that little Enzo hasn’t arrived yet. Although Jessica’s official due date isn’t until Sunday February 1st, we’ve been prepared for him to come early due to his size and positioning. Last night at 7:20 Jessica started having contractions 12 minutes apart and we thought this was it. Pretty soon the contractions sped up to 9 minutes apart, so we decided to wait until 10:30 before we started notifying people. The contractions stayed consistent until about 9:45, but then they started slowing down, and by the time the clock struck 10:30 she was no longer having any contractions.

We were all a little bummed because we’re so ready to meet this little guy, but there’s nothing you can do but be patient. It would have been cool if he was born today because today is my parent’s anniversary, but that also would have meant that Jessica would have had to miss her baby shower, which our next-door neighbor Cara is throwing today at noon. I guess it would have made for a funny story if Enzo was born on the day of the baby shower, but Jessica would have felt bad because Cara has done so much work to set everything up.

Even before we knew her due date, Jessica has been saying throughout this pregnancy that she expects the baby to be born during the Superbowl, therefore it didn’t come as much of a surprise when we found out that the official due date is Superbowl Sunday. To make things even more interesting, the Seahawks are making their second consecutive trip to the Superbowl after making the most incredible comeback against the Green Bay Packers in the final 5 minutes of the NFC Championship Game. I’ve never seen anything like it and couldn’t believe we won.

The funny part about that whole experience was that we were in the car listening to the game on the radio when they won. The girls stayed the night with Kristy and Madi the night before so that we could attend the Amazon ‘Post Holiday Party’, and since Amy was flying into town on Sunday at 3:00, we just decided to hang out at Kristy’s house to watch the game. The game wasn’t going well at all and we all thought our season was over, but in the final 5 minutes of the game things took an incredible turn for the Hawks. As we were getting ready to leave for the airport, the Seahawks scored a touchdown, then recovered an onside kick. I couldn’t believe what was happening, or that we were leaving, but listening to the local radio broadcast in the van was actually pretty fun because unlike the national TV broadcast, these broadcasters are unabashedly pulling for the Hawks. Jessica and I were going crazy on every play while the girls were fast asleep in the back seat.

Right after picking Amy up we won the overtime coin toss, and only a few minutes later we won the game with a touchdown. People on the freeway were honking horns (myself included) and holding Seahawks gear out their windows. It was pretty amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so excited while driving, but it was pretty memorable. To be safe, I recorded the game at home, so as soon as we got back I turned it on right where we left off at Kristy’s and watched the rest, even though I already knew what was going to happen.

I should also mention that we had a great time the day of the Amazon holiday party. We made a full day of it after dropping the girls off with Kristy and Madi. First we went to the Olive Garden for soup, salad, and breadsticks, then we went to the movies and saw ‘American Sniper’ before heading to the party. The highlight of the party was seeing Weezer, whom I’ve been a fan of for 20 years but had never seen live until then. We don’t get time away like this all that often so we made the most of it and had a great time.

Although I’m fully expecting Enzo to be born on Superbowl Sunday, I’m still holding out a little hope that he will arrive before then. Only time will tell, but for Jessica’s sake I hope its sooner than later.

Today our sweet little Elise is officially a year-and-a-half old! Time has definitely flown by, but I can’t help but think about the fact that by the time Enzo arrives, Elise will be approximately 6 weeks younger than Ava was when Elise was born. I’m sure no one is more acutely aware of that than Jessica, but I still think about it too. Speaking of Enzo, as of this week Jessica is considered ‘full-term’ in her pregnancy, so he could arrive at any time and there would be nothing to worry about. The sooner the better as far as we’re concerned. Jessica had another checkup today and everything looks perfect, so we couldn’t be happier.

We’ve got an exciting weekend to look forward to. Saturday night is the annual Amazon ‘Post-Holiday Party’ at the Century Link Events Center. Last year we had a lot of fun so I’m sure this year will be the same. We’ve actually got some good music this year, thanks to the fact that Weezer will be performing. I wasn’t sure if Jessica would want to go considering the baby, but she was all for it, so we’re going. The girls are going to be spending the night with Kristy and Madi at their house, which we are extremely thankful for. Kristy says Madi is really excited about having them over, so it works out perfect.

The party doesn’t start until 8:00pm, but I think we’re going to drop the girls off around 3:00, then enjoy having some time to ourselves. The plan is to get a bite to eat, then go see a movie, then go to the party. If there is one thing we’ve learned since becoming parents its that you need to take advantage and make the most of any free time you get. Assuming Enzo doesn’t arrive that night it should be a lot of fun. I guess either way we’d be in for an exciting night.

Grandma Amy is coming back to town on Sunday afternoon, and we already have to go to the south end to pickup the girls at Kristy’s house, so we’re going to hang out there for a while and watch the Seahawks in the NFC Championship game. One more win and we’re going back to the Superbowl! Can’t wait for that. As the game is ending we will head over to SeaTac Airport to pickup Amy, then we can all head home for the evening. It’s hard to believe that we’re so close to the birth of our son, but certainly very exciting. I can’t wait to take Jessica out for a sushi dinner right after he is born. She’s been craving it lately so I’d say it is well deserved.

The girls have been doing really well lately, although bedtime has turned into a nightmare (pardon the pun). Only a couple months ago bedtime was no big deal, but things have taken a drastic turn for the worse. I don’t know exactly what to attribute it to, but its like they take on a different personality when its time to go to bed. Elise, who is normally so happy and sweet, turns into a little demon around 8:00 every night. She suddenly has all this energy and wants to run around like a crazy child. Ava generally just wants to stay up and watch one more episode of Thomas the Train, but unless she falls asleep in the middle of an episode (which is rare), she always gets upset when we turn it off. More often than not we end up having to lay down with them and stay there until they fall asleep. It’s not uncommon these days for bedtime to last 2 hours! Sometimes it takes all I’ve got just to stay up longer than they do. I’m sure its just a phase that they will outgrow, but with another baby getting ready to enter our house, it doesn’t look like anyone is going to be getting extensive amounts of rest anytime soon. The joys of parenting…

Other than bedtime things are great. Ava loves going to school on Mondays, and art class on Tuesdays. Jessica continues to keep them busy with regular outings to museums, parks, etc. Elise is talking up a storm. I remember thinking that Ava spoke a lot at that age but I honestly think Elise talks even more than Ava did. She is getting really good at communicating what she wants, which helps in terms of not getting as frustrated. The other cool thing is that the two of them play a lot more together now. Up until recently Elise was still too young to be able to play with Ava, but now they are much more able to entertain each other, which is a lot of fun to watch.

Jessica and I have been keeping busy at home this week with painting the guest bedroom. I think we’re doing the last of it tonight, so it will be good to have that done before Amy arrives. Next up we’re going to paint our master bedroom. This will be a bigger task, so it’s good that we got some practice on the guest room first. We’ve got several house-related projects planned for this spring, including new floors and painting downstairs. One realization I’ve come to since becoming a home owner is that there is always something to work on. I don’t mean that in the sense of something that always has to be fixed (although that is sometimes the case) but there is always something that you want to upgrade. I don’t mind it though because every time you do something it makes the house that much more personalized, plus its nice that you don’t have to ask permission from anyone to do what you want.

Not sure if there will be another post before Enzo arrives, but I’m sure there will be plenty once he is here. Here are a few recent photos of the girls. Won’t be a family of four much longer…

Monday morning I took my Mom and Uncle Terry to the airport, which basically signified the end of the holiday season for us. As expected, we had a great time during their visit, particularly on Sunday, which is when Mom, Jessica, the girls, and I were joined for the day with Jim, Brenda, Kristy, Terry, his daughter Kayla, and her daughter Jayla. This was the first time I had seen Kayla since she was about 2 years old, and it was our first time meeting her daughter.

Jayla is only about 8 or 9 months older than Ava, so it didn’t take long for them to hit it off. The rest of us enjoyed what I think of as the 3 F’s of the holiday season: Family, Food, and Football. The family part was great because although my Mom and Terry see each other regularly, neither of them get to see Jim, Brenda, Kristy, or my family very often. Then when you add the fact that we were visiting with Kayla and her daughter for the first time, it made it that much more special. From a food perspective, there was lots of good stuff to snack on all day, plus a nice ham dinner with garlic-asparagus, rolls, stuffing, and salad that evening. As far as the football goes, the Seahawks got the win and locked down the #1 seed in the NFC, giving them home field advantage through out the playoffs. All in all it was a great day that meant a lot to each of us.

Today is New Year’s Eve, which means you can’t help but reflect a bit on the year that is coming to a close. We’ve continued our streak of doing big things this year by buying a house, and that streak will live on into 2015 as we welcome our son Enzo into the world. This is kind of a big day for us simply because tonight will be Jessica’s last night working before Enzo is born. In her last two pregnancies, Jessica worked until a little closer to her due date, but in so many ways, this pregnancy has been different. This one been harder on her physically, and as far as I’m concerned she should have stopped working weeks ago, but based on the time of year that simply wasn’t an option. December is the busiest month of the year at El Gaucho, so she had no choice other than to suck it up and make the best of it. The good news is that January is the slowest month of the year, so there will be no reason for her to have to work again after tonight. It’s important to me that she takes a longer maternity leave this time than she did with either of the girls. I have a feeling this is going to be our biggest adjustment yet, so I want to give her plenty of time to ease into things.

Earlier this month I started going through all of our old website posts and backing them up. Although I have our web hosting account set to automatically backup all of our content, my greatest fear is that if I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, Jessica wouldn’t know how to maintain the databases and all the other technical stuff, and one day the site would just disappear. Ultimately I want this site to live on for generations, so I’m a little paranoid in making sure that it stays safe. Therefore I’m going back through every old post and copying them over into their own Google Doc in my Google Drive. If you’re not familiar with Google Docs its just a cloud-based suite of office applications that you can access from anywhere. I’m going out of my way to catalog everything very specifically, so that you could easily navigate to a specific month of a specific year and view just the posts from that time period. You can certainly do this on the website as well, but I want to be as thorough as possible.

The funny thing about looking at all these old posts is how much shorter they used to be than they are now. When I first started writing posts they were only a paragraph or two in length. Just enough to share a quick thought about what was going on in our world. Over time the format has changed, however, and now I feel like I’m cheating if I write anything less than 1,000 words. Maybe we’ve got more going on now and more to talk about. Maybe I just get on a roll and like to wax poetic about my loved ones. Probably a little bit of both. Either way I love how the site has grown over the years, and I can’t wait for the day that our kids sit down and start to take a real appreciation of it. I can’t imagine how cool it would be to sit down and read a detailed history of my parent’s lives throughout the years before I was born, and on through my childhood. Most of us will never have that opportunity, but I’m so glad that our children will.

As we close out another year I can’t believe how much the girls have grown and matured. Ava is a full on little kid now, rather than a toddler, and Elise continues to amaze me with not only her growing vocabulary, but her increased understanding of the world around her. They’re both such amazing kids, and I often tell myself I don’t know how I got so lucky; so it will be interesting to see how adding a third child to the mix affects the dynamic. I think its going to be hard on Elise at first, simply because she’s used to being the baby of the house, but she will adjust. She’s still going to be a total Daddy’s girl, and will continue to get just as much love as before. Ava is getting big enough that she might actually be helpful when it comes to caring for Enzo. Obviously we’re not going to task her with anything major, but fetching a diaper or a bottle is probably within her abilities at this point. I think Ava will be intrigued by the baby, but she’s already got so much energy and imagination that I don’t think it will phase her all that much. She continues to grow into her role of ‘big sister’ and I’m sure the arrival of her baby brother will help expedite that transition for her.

In addition to buying a house this year, this was a big year for me personally due to the fact that I finally graduated from college. I hope my kids learn from my experiences and go to school when they’re young. It’s certainly a lot harder to manage college when you’ve got a family and full-time job to balance at the same time. Part of the reason I never finished when I was younger was that I placed too much emphasis on the connection between my studies and my career. Although in the end I ended up with a degree that is directly related to my career, I don’t think that is a necessity. Therefore I always plan to stress to my kids that they don’t need to know what they want to do for a career by the time they’re entering college. That’s a lot of pressure to place on an 18 year old kid, and its not necessary. I just want them to study something they enjoy or have a passion for, and not worry too much about their career. One thing I’ve found out over the years is that careers can come and go, so they should study something the love without too much regard to its future applicability. Personally I’d love to see at least one of them study something related to the arts: music, theater, fine art, art history, English, etc.

Since finishing school I’ve had a bit more time to do things I love, which basically means I’ve been playing lots of guitar. I love having that type of creative outlet, and luckily for me, the girls have really gravitated to it. Exposing them to music at a young age is important to me, so we’ll see if it sticks. With Enzo arriving soon I can’t imagine there will be much extra free time in our world, but when you love something you can usually find a little time to fit it in.

There’s no question that 2015 will be a great year for us, so I’m eager to get on with it. Welcoming Enzo into our world will mark the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. I think there will be a certain sense of closure this time around because there is no question that our family is done growing. Although I can’t say having this large of a family was part of our initial plan, I can certainly say that we are thrilled and wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s been tough to see Jessica struggling more than expected throughout this pregnancy, but in the end it will all be worth it. I just can’t wait to see her holding that baby boy for the first time. Luckily for both of us, that moment is only a few weeks away. To all of our friends and loved ones, we wish you the happiest of new years, and look forward to spending lots of quality time with you in 2015!

Today was exactly the type of Christmas you could ever want: quality time with family, plenty of presents, lots of good food, and some very happy children. We didn’t get off to the greatest start, mainly because Ava spent at least 20 minutes throwing a fit this morning because she didn’t want to wear her pajama pants, but she eventually got over it and figured out that there were a ton of presents to open, so things quickly got better. The funny thing about opening presents this morning was that the girls would get so excited about a particular present that they wouldn’t even care about opening anything else, so we would have to take an extended break from opening presents to allow them to play with their new toy. Consequently it took half the day just to get everything opened.

We got to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa in Iowa this morning and they seemed thrilled to get to see the girls opening their presents. Ava is old enough to get it now, so this was a pretty special Christmas for her, but what made it even more special was the fact that we finally got to spend a Christmas with my Mom. We were long overdue for that so I’m very grateful to have her here with us. My cousin Kristy and her friend Edgar picked up my Mom at the airport, then came up to our house to spend the afternoon watching basketball and hanging out. In addition to opening more presents, we had a nice dinner and just enjoyed having a nice relaxing day.

The evening has been pretty laid back, but we’re getting ready to participate in our annual Christmas tradition, which is to watch ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without a little dose of Griswold. Before I go I just want to thank all of our family members for so many thoughtful gifts. The girls had a great day, and that’s the most important thing. This is the last Christmas for us as a family of four, and its hard to believe that we’re only a few weeks away from Enzo’s arrival. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll make up for my brevity in this post with plenty of photos documenting our day. Merry Christmas!

Elise showing off her new necklace in front of the tree

Ava sporting her new hat

Mommy and Elise checking out the new pink pig

Funny face from my sweet girl

Is that Elise, or an explosion of Pepto?

Ava taking a break from opening presents

Elise opening gifts from Nana and Kristy

Ava and Nana opening gifts

Elise and Kristy checking out the new wall stickers

Ava loves her new camera from Uncle Joel and Aunt Melanie

Ava wearing Nana’s glasses – as usual