Carving Pumpkins with the Willis Family

More Pictures from the Pupkin Patch.

A few updates...

Everything is going well in the Whiteside home. Just a few updates:
We put our house on the market when I found out I was having twins (partially hormonal, partially wanting to get closer to family). Now that I am 2.5 months from delivering, and the market is pretty slow, we decided to remove the house from the market and start nesting. We will reconsider the move later 2011.
As for the twins, they are growing and growing. FYI, as the twins grow, so does MAMA.The good thing is, we are all healthy.
We are waiting for the birth of Baby Weaver. I am so excited to have another nephew and for all the kids to grow up with one another just like I did with all my cousins. We are expecting him on Dec 1st!!!!!

I am going to post a few pictures of our Pumpkin Patch adventure as well as our night of Carving with cousins Jim, Corey and Wren.

Stay tuned for Halloween Pictures.

Random Pictures of our 18 month old

Our Beautiful Sierra.......

October............

I have been lagging on The Whiteside blog, but I can admit that I have been keeping busy. We are still on track with the twins. I am about 21 weeks now which is over half way for me. The doctor has me down for somewhere close to Jan 20th (37 weeks) for a scheduled c-section. This pregnancy has been going along great, but I have to say it is slightly different then my pregnancy with Sierra. My belly is growing more rapidly, I get out of breath quicker, but the biggest difference is my exercise regimen. With out my dad keeping me on track with my swim laps, I am pretty much doing only house work and chasing after Sierra. As much as I cant wait to have my family of 5 all at home, I am super excited to get back to myself (running, biking and swimming).
Sierra is doing awesome. She has been the little adventure lately. We spend 80% of our day outside and going to visit people and places. We went to Sea World with aunt Kate the other day, which was so much fun. She was introduced to Penguins, Seals, Shamu and the best part of all, a whole world of Elmo and Abbey. Oh yes, by the way Sierra has named her brother and sister, Abbey and Elmo. (I am hoping she is not disappointed when we really dont name them those names!)
On a sadder note, we lost our little cousin Noah to cancer this month. He was only 12, but had been battling this ugly disease for 6 years. He will always be in our heart, and please stay tuned to my 1st annual No One As Heroic 5k run/walk coming sometime next year to help raise money for the Noah fund.
So much to report, but for now I will end with upcoming events:
Cory and Bubba are due First part of December with baby boy #2
Auntie Kate and Hank are due with a surprise baby first part of Nov
Mom and Pop are preparing for 5 grandchildren in January (super excited)
and lots lots more to come...........

Hope everyone is well and I promise to keep you updated with the latest in the Whiteside Household.

The Verdict is In.....................

One BOY and One GIRL. I am so excited for my family to go from 3 to 5 in the matter of months. Both mom and the Twins are growing everyday. Mom is getting slower and slower, but the Twins heart beat is fast (normal) and Sierra is getting faster feet then ever. Now comes the hard part of picking two names for our little squirts.
I will post more later as well as pictures, but for now I wanted to get the results out. Now off to Celebrate Uncle Mikes Birthday.............

Riding with Daddy

Pictures from Arrowhead

What we've been up to.....

I cant believe another month has almost passed us by. We have had a pretty low key summer. Besides Sierra growing up so fast and taking over the house, we did manage to get away to Lake Arrowhead for a few days. We spent a few nights at the Arrowhead resort where we played in the Lake, hung out in the hotel and spent some needed time doing nothing. John did manage to get a few rides in, and because I love biking so much, I even let Sierra ride down half the mountain with daddy (whishing I was riding to).
Here are some pictures from our trip, plus some of our new toy that allows Sierra to be a mountain biker as well. (you will notice by her face, that she really dislikes her new bike seat...... not really, just the opposite, she cries when she has to get off).

As for the newest additions to the family, I will talk more about them next week, which is when we get to find out what they are.

15 months

So much has happened, yet so far behind.....

I don't even know where to start, since I am so far behind on my postings. Most of you know that John and I are expecting TWINS in February, but I was not going to blog about it to much until I get through this first trimester (so look for more on the twins soon).

For now I want to update you on our little girl who is growing up so fast. Sierra is now 15 1/2 months old. We call her Miss Independent. She loves to do things on her own. Examples: Walk up the stairs by herself, watch her reading video in the loft by herself, climb in the car and get herself into her car seat, go down the slide at the park by herself and know you get why we call her miss Independent.

She has been keeping us on our toes every minute, but every second of those minutes is awesome. She loves to sing (Old McDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Row your Boat)and dance to every song that comes on. For her cousins 3rd birthday, we all went to Disneyland and had a blast. One of her favorite parts was watching all the balloons floating around the park.

John and I are doing fine. We are just taking one day at a time knowing that in less then 8 months, our family will be growing by 2.

Here are some photos of the latest adventures.

More Pictures from Del Mar

Mom's Birthday with the Family.........

For Moms Birthday, the Family spent a great time down in Del Mar for Park time and drinks.

Wow, its already June.............

I can't believe I have not updated this blog in over a month!!!!!! As you most likely know, a one year old goes through so many changes on a daily/monthly basis. This means I have so much to say about all of Sierra's accomplishments.

This update is going to jump from here to there, but I want to make sure I fill you in with whats going on with Sierra.

First, since our little squirt has been walking since 10 months, she has shown us how she can turn that walk into a run, climb and jump. Here are some examples of what she has been doing:

Running- Sierra loves to run from us when we want to change her diaper.

Climb- She loves to climb on anything she can reach (or not). Her newest proud moment, is climbing up the slide backwards and sliding down by herself.

Jump- Since Nana has been taking Sierra to music class 2x a week for the past few months, Sierra has learned to jump like all the the kids in class.



Speaking of music class, Sierra has come a long way. At the first class she would only sit on Nana's lap and watch all the kids. Now she stands in the front of the class with Mrs Susan (the teacher) and participates in singing, dancing and signing the songs. At home we have a TV in the loft where Sierra has all her toys and videos, and this is where she insist watching her "Learn to Read" video. She has learned to turn the TV on and we push play, and indeterminately she watches the show, but as soon as a song comes on, she gives full attention, and participates. (I am not sure where she gets the intermittent attention span). I think we have a musician on our hands.



With this beautiful weather we've been having, Sierra loves to help daddy out in the garden. They have planted flowers, trees, herbs and she even helps him move dirt. John has to do the watering really quick, because the minute Sierra sees the water, that is all she wants to play in. Maybe we have a swimmer on our hands?



Sierra's vocabulary has expanded with words like: Baby, Wren (for her cousin), grandpa, NO (which I am not sure she knows why she is saying it), Kitty and Dogie. Maybe we have a speech therapist (like auntie Arezu) on our hands?



At her one year appointment, the doctor mentions that Sierra has not gained any weight since her last appointment, but she is growing taller by the day. I think its because she is on the go all the time. Between playing with cousin Brady, running around with Grandpa, running down to the park for playtime and climbing up and down the stairs, she burns more calories then me lately. I think we might have an athlete on our hands!

What ever Sierra is going to be, she will be great at it. We love every second with her. I thank god everyday for the ability to be around this Extraordinary human being. As much as Sierra is learning, I am learning things all over again. Most importantly, I have learned to slow down. It takes us twice as long to walk to the mailbox, but did you know there are ants, snails, cracks in the sidewalk and birds outside? Well I do, and Sierra makes it seem like those little creatures are AMAZING...............

I hope everyone is doing well and you to will slow down and see the small creatures.
I will post pictures soon

More Pictures..........

More Pictures from Sierra's Birthday

Sierra is now 1.........

There has been a lot going on in the Whiteside household and I will let the pictures do the talking. Just to give you a few updates:

Easter was fabulous. Not only did Sierra do an Easter egg hunt at Nana's and Grandpas, with cousin Brady, but John was able to be home on Easter Sunday after a 3 day stay in the hospital. All is fine, but he had to have a plate put onto his clavicle after breaking it during Mt Biking.

Sierra had her first birthday, which we calibrated with lots of friends and family. The Rudolphs spent the weekend with us, and Sierra was thrilled to have lots of kids at our house playing and eating cake. I was blessed to have My aunt and mom help with all the food and preparation as well as have my long time girlfriend Cindy and her family come down to celebrate.

Sierra is talking up a storm, climbing on everything she can, going to music class once a week, playing with her friend Jack once a week, and cousin Brady on Sundays. With our newest little addition (cousin Wren), Sierra is surrounded by lots of friends and love.

With John having a few weeks off, we are off on a road trip to northern Ca. First stop is Monterrey where I am competing in a Mt Bike race, and for the first time ever, John is watching. Then were off to Santa Rosa to visit family and have a little memorial for Johns Dad. On our way home, were stopping in my home town of Simi Valley to hang out with the Rudolph's and celebrate Brandy's birthday and let the little ones have more time to play.

That about wraps up the last moth or two. I will give more details when we return from our trip, but for now I will let these pictures do the talking on how much Sierra has grown up, and all the great people in her life. Thanks to everyone for her Birthday wishes.