Moving!

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog so I'm going to try and catch up quickly. We are adjusting well to having a new baby. Caleb has been amazing! He is a wonderful baby boy and we are thrilled to have him as part of the family. The big kids love their little brother too and are great little helpers. When Caleb is crying they will give him a "nunny" (pacifier). The kids came up with the name nunny which we think is really cute.

In addition to having Caleb (as if having a new baby isn't enouh) we thought it'd even more fun to move across the country at the same time. :) We are moving back to Wisconsin. Roberto was offered and accepted a new position with Harley that is based in the Milwaukee area. He will be starting the last week of October. We had a house-hunting trip in August, but didn't find anything... We saw a lot houses, but we just struck out. Caleb was quite the trooper as he looked at the houses with us while the big kids played with their grandfolks.

After a disapointing house-hunting trip we kept looking online and found one a couple of weeks ago. After lots of negotiations we now have an accepted offer on a house in Menomonee Falls and close Oct. 15. Roberto's new job will be based at the plant in Menomonee Falls so it will be really nice for him to work close to home.

I officially quit my job at WellSpan and did not go back to work after my maternity leave ended. With us moving soon it just didn't make sense for me to go back to work. So, I'm officially CEO of the Rivera household and now have three little bosses. Somedays I think my three little bosses are much more difficult than my one boss at work. :) But, my little bosses are a lot more fun. Although I am going to miss the great people I worked with. I was lucky to work with a very talented group of people and for a good organization.

It's definitely been an adventure trying to get our house ready to sell and find a new place in another state. We are looking forward to all of the madness ending and being able to get back to a new normal.

Moving out to PA six years ago was one of the best decisions we ever made and we are very thankful for the opportunity to do this. We met so many wonderful people and know that many of them will be life-long friends. All three of our babies were born out here so we'll definitely have to come back to visit. Because we didn't have family here we had to create our own "family" and the vast majority of our really good friends also don't have family in the area. We managed to form a network of friends who all happen to have kids around the same ages as ours. It's pretty incredible how that all worked out. We joined St. John's Lutheran Church shortly after moving here and through that church met so many wonderful people. We also were lucky to make a lot of great friends through our jobs. I don't think we'll be able to find another church like St. John's, but I'm sure going to try!

It was a scary day when we drove out here six years ago and now it's going to be a very bittersweet day when we leave. I'm excited to see our family more often and to reconnect with old friends, but I'm incredibly sad to leave the wonderful friends we've made here... 

We are now trying to make the most of our remaining weeks as Pennsylvanians.

 

It's a Boy!!

Caleb Ryder Rivera blessed our family at 3:47 p.m. on Sunday, June 16, Father's Day! He was 7 lb 4 oz and 18.75 inches.

Caleb was due on June 24, but he decided to make his appearance 8 days early. He wanted to wish Roberto a Happy Father's Day in person.

My mom was scheduled to fly out on June 19 as I was sure I was not going to have this baby any earlier. But I was very wrong. On Saturday I started having some contractions, but I was sure it was just because it was hot outside and I didn't drink enough water. So I drank a lot of water and they seemed to go away. On Sunday morning around 3 a.m. I started having contractions and timed them. Once Roberto woke up I told him today was the day so we set our plan B into motion. I called my mom and asked her if she could change her flight to today, called our friends Lisa and Jeb who offered to take the kids and then Roberto called our friend Brian and asked him if he would be willing to pick my mom up at the airport. We dropped the kids off at Lisa and Jeb's and headed to the hospital. A few hours later our handsome little boy was born. Here are a few pictures of our new addition.

 

 

New York City

My mom and I went to NYC for the day in early May to have a fun mother-daughter day. My mom has wanted to go to NYC since we moved out here and after several failed attempts we finally made it. We took the train from Princeton Junction, NJ into the city. It was a very rainy day, but we still had a lot of fun. We went and got tickets to see Wicked on Broadway. The show was amazing!

We walked around quite a bit and just enoyed a fun day hanging out in the big city. Our last stop before heading back to the train station was Bryant Park. This park is beautiful. It was very nice to be able to spend the day with my mom.

 My mom at Times Square.

 

Nana Visits

My mom had fun playing with the kids. She even ventured out with them a couple of times and took them to a birthday party for one of Brayden's school friends, to church/Sunday School, McDonalds and the grocery store. Whew!

 

Weekend Get-a-way

Roberto and I went away to Atlantic City for a long weekend in early May. It was so nice to be away and have some time to sleep in and just relax. We strolled the boardwalk, gambled a little and just hung out. It was great! Thank you mom for coming out to babysit the munchkins so we could get away before the baby is born.

 

 View of the beach from our room.

 Yummy cotton candy! My big kid loves his sugar!

Abuela Visits

Roberto's mom came out to visit for Brayden's birthday. She had fun playing with the kids and they enjoyed getting to spend some time with her too. Roberto had a work event in Hershey one night and she watched the kiddos for the night so we could both go to the overnight event. While she was in town we went to the Hershey Gardens and to a zoo in Wilmington, Deleware. It was a small zoo and a bunch of the animals were sleeping but it was still nice. Plus, there is a really nice walking/biking trail and a park near the zoo.

 

Fun with the pig at the Hershey Gardens

The tulips were one of the few flowers that were blooming at this time of the year.

 

The kids had fun with the water sprayer at the zoo.

Preggo friends

Lisa Schreiber is one of our first friends out here. Their little girl Mae is one of Aliya's best buddies. Mae and Aliya are about 7 months apart and now both of us are having our third babies within a couple of months of each other. Lisa was due in early May and her little girl was born April 25. When this photo was taken at Brayden's party, I was about 31 weeks and Lisa was 38 weeks.

 

Brayden's 3rd birthday

Brayden turned three on Saturday, April 20. We had a birthday party with his school friends at Tiny Tumblers. Brayden and his friends had a great time playing on the tumbling equipment and eating cake. He had a great day. We can't believe it's already been three years since this ball of energy joined our family. We love you Brayden!   

 

33 weeks

I guess it's about time I post a belly picture. Here I am at 33 weeks! This pregnancy is flying by. I can't believe that in less than two months we'll be meeting our new little peanut.

 

 

 

National Zoo

We went down to the National Zoo a few weeks ago and had a great time. The kids loved the pandas!

 

 

All the walking wore Brayden out and he took a nap. The little nap was enough to recharge him for the rest of the day.

Roommates

Aliya and Brayden are now roommates! We converted the guest room into their new room and tried to make it nice and cozy for them. Aliya's room is back to being the guest room and Brayden's room is going back to being a nursery. We never got around to repainting his room so that is making it pretty easy to convert it back to a nursery.    

They love their new room and being roommates. The big challenge is bedtime. They just want to play and talk. I love that they are buddies and get along so well for the most part. But, they are staying up way too late, which makes getting them up in the morings for school very difficult. We are hoping the newness wears off soon and they are able to go to bed at a more reasonable hour. We've split them up and moved Brayden back into his old room a few times. We're keeping the crib as a toddler bed in Bryaden's old room for awhile yet so we can split them up when necessary.

 

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend that started with coloring eggs on Saturday.

Then on Sunday morning, the kiddos got dressed in their church clothes and came downstairs and hunted for their Easter baskets. The Easter Bunny left them some great treats. After checking out their Easter baskets, we headed off to church. Then in the afternoon, we went back to church and had a pot luck there with some friends in the fellowship hall. The dads hid eggs in the gym and the kids had a great time looking for them. Everyone then played in the gym for awhile since it was raining outside and we couldn't get out to play. We all had a great time.

 

Aliya didn't want to wear her hat in church for the pictures so Roberto put it on. I think it's a nice look for him! 

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 Here are the kids with the Schreiber girls. We didn't make it to church in time for the annual group photo with the rest of the crew, but at least we managed to get a picture with the Schreibers.