The Twardziks

Where did that Year go?!?

2008-07-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

Summer has finally arrived here and it's hot...not compared to everywhere else in the country but for us, yes, it's hot!

Colton just turned 1 yesterday and I am in awe at how quickly that came up on us! How could my baby be a year old already??? We held a small brunch over at our house with Colton's friends and Noah was a great help blowing out the candle and opening gifts for him! He enjoyed his cupcake and liked to be sung to. All in all it was a nice party!

Noah just started at the Early Learning Center full time. During the summer they hold a summer camp for the kids that focuses mainly on science, art, the outdoors and every Friday a field trip! They will be going to the zoo, Safeco Field and a movie over the next few weeks! He loves it there and I am looking forward to him being throughly tuckered out and the end of the day! Colton has the absolute priviledge of staying at home with Nonny! Chris' mom is here all summer to watch Colton and help with Noah while Chris and I are at work! What a blessing!!! I cannot say enough how lucky we are to have her!!

Chris is no longer at Merrill Lynch. While we knew what an amazing opportunity it was to have a place at a firm like that, it was also difficult for Chris to be in such a "white collar" atmosphere. :) He was presented with another opportunity (this guys gets all the breaks!) at Microsoft! So he is selling Microsoft Premier Service to small and medium sized businesses in the southeast region of the country and he could not be happier! The casual, laid back culture at MS suits him much better and he still gets to flex his sales muscles! He is already blowing away any previous records in the dept and he is loving his job. What's even better is that Chris and I are on the same campus! I can't tell you how nice it is to IM each other, meet for 15 minutes over a coffee and have a conversation that is not interupted by "Mommy, mommy? Mommy, mommy? MOMMY!!!" It's like date night everyday! You can't ask for much more!

Chris is also still running. Like a madman. Back in the spring he WON the Mt Si 50K!! He finished in under 4 hours! At the finish he received the praise of the course record holder and they quickly became running buddies. James Kirby is a nationally recognized Ultra Marathoner and Chris has the honor of being his protege. After a few weeks of coaching Chris managed to come in 2nd place at another 50K in the area and will being running another in Yakima in a week. This is all leading up to the 50 mile race later this summer. He is hoping to qualify for the Western States 100 next year. He's given himself tremendous goals and managed to achieve them beyond imagination! The boys and I are so, so proud! Run Daddy Run!!

So I recently turned 30. I am no longer in my twenties and while I will admit I was mildly depressed about this for the last year and sadly in tears days before my birthday, Chris and my friends made it all worth it with THE MOST amazing night EVER. My day started out at 9am with 5 hours at the spa followed up with a delicious lunch alone, followed with a hair cut and then I had my make up done. I was ready for whatever night was ahead of me. I was driven downtown by Chris and then blindfolded only to be surprised by my closest friends and my parents at the W hotel! It was incredible! Bubba handed me a glass of Cristal and the night began! We had a delicious dinner and then went dancing! It was a perfect way to forget that I am now officially OLD. Sigh.

Hope everyone else is doing great and a safe and happy 4th of July to you all!!!

Back to work

2008-04-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

So I have re-entered the workforce. I am back at Microsoft in a year long contract position as an Admin. I love it here, the people I work with are great and my days are never the same. Colton and Noah are doing well with a Nanny. Noah goes to The Early Learning Center Thursdays and Fridays and is excelling there. Chris is doing great at Merrill Lynch! He passed the Series 7 in February with flying colors and is now cramming away for his Series 66! Colton got his first tooth last week and just figured out how to crawl so we're chasing after him, making sure he doesn't suck on any electrical cords or wander up or down the stairs. Noah has been very helpful in that regard! Noah has mastered the alphabet and is working on writing them now. He is still very passionate about Transformers and Spiderman (see his version of a transformer in above photo)

All in all we are doing fantastic and ready for some warm weather! Hope all is well for everyone else! :)

It's been a while...

2008-01-01T19:48:00.000-08:00

So I started this blog to keep everyone updated on our family and haven't posted since August! Oops, so I may have been busy these last 5 months!

Colton is now six months old and can sit supported, play with toys and is eating solids. He is such a HAPPY baby. He smiles at anyone who looks at him and NO ONE can get him giggling like his Daddy! Chris was able to get Noah's belly laugh going at this age too, it's a beautiful thing watching him with both the boys.

Noah is 4 now and very smart. He writes his own name perfectly and loves learning. He is at home with Colton and I full time and so I'm able to spend time going over all the pre-school work books we have and he is very responsive! He seems to learn a new letter everyday! He loves Transformers, it's fascinating to watch him transform these little toys and tell everyone their names and also whether they are an Autobot (the good guys) or a Decepticon (the bad guys). Noah is an incredible big brother. I am in awe of this sibling bond that it seems has been in place since the moment Colton and Noah laid eyes on each other. I can't wait to see it grow stronger as the boys get older.

Chris is at Merrill Lynch now studying for the multiple tests that he needs to pass in order to become a financial advisor with them. He has the honor of joining a very well established team there in Bellevue and is eager to ace these exams and get started on his new career! On New Years Eve he participated in a "Last Chance" marathon in Bellingham and placed third! I am so proud of his focus and determination not only in these races but also at work, keep up the hard work Chris!

I am at home full time with the boys. Three days a week I also nanny for my very good friend's 7 month old daughter Libby. Needless to say I have my hands full and I'm expecting these last 9 pounds to shed quickly as I'm never sitting still. We also stay very busy with our friends here in the neighborhood, I have the greatest support circle here.

I am so excited for 2008, this year is certain to bring great things!! Best wishes to you all, happy, happy New Year!!

Birthdays Galore!

2007-08-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

It seems every weekend Noah has a birthday party to attend. Last weekend was his only girl friend Ella's party. It was at the Kelsey Creek Farm and they got a great tour of the farm and made a craft project and then it was time to eat, have some cake and open presents. It was a little different for Noah to pick out a gift for a girl but he was still very specific. We saw a commercial for some new type of Barbie prior to leaving for Target but since they didn't have that Barbie Noah chose a Polly Pocket instead. It's really cute to watch the kids push and shove their way in front of the birthday kid so that they'll open their gift next. They seem to be proud and maybe even enjoy GIVING now instead of only wanting to recieve. Today we went to Target AGAIN and picked up a gift for this weekend's party. It's for Harrison and since Noah is into Knights now he picked out a Knight outfit for him. Of course he pointed out all of the knights he is expecting for his birthday but I think the fact that he was satisfied with just letting me know means we're moving in the right direction!

Colton is doing well, great in fact. He seems to be getting bigger as we've moved down a drawer to fetch some of the larger outfits and he is sleeping longer stretches at night. In fact last night he slept from 10pm-5am. That was great except that I woke up at 4am and proceeded to toss and turn trying to keep myself from running into his room to make sure he was still breathing! It's so much fun having a little one again...I'll miss this baby stage when it's gone! :-(

Chris has a "little" marathon this Sunday. It's only a 27 miler through the Snoqualmie pass. He's looking forward to it as 2 miles of the race are through a tunnel that runs underground. Hopefully he won't get attacked by bats!! LOL!

Nothing new with me, I spend my days wiping spit up from my shoulders and nursing. I love it though! :-)

Colton is 2 weeks old!

2007-07-16T16:48:00.001-07:00

Wow, that went fast!

Happy 4th!

2007-07-06T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July. Usually Chris and I take Noah to Bainbridge Island for 4th of July festivities including one of the greatest "small town" parades around however this year with the new baby we stuck close to home. My mom and step-dad came over with bags of food to BBQ and our friend Michelle joined us. Later in the evening we made our way nextdoor to Phil and Melissa's where we had more food and the boys (husbands included) set off fire works. This was the first year that Noah seemed to have fun with the noise as opposed to being frightened of it. In this photo you see Sam, Ben and Noah watching the dads light the fire works from the safe distance of Phil's truck. Notice that Noah still has a sensitivity to the noise...Also Colton is gaining weight and looking more like a baby and less like an old man everyday!

Colton David's Arrival

2007-07-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

Well Chris and I went to Northwest Hospital on Saturday evening thinking that I was going to be given a dose of medicine to help induce labor and after being monitored for 2 hours we were to be sent home with the hopes that it would bring baby in 24-48 hours. Instead they examined me and found out that I was already in labor! Things went relatively quickly after that and Colton was born the next afternoon at 1:52pm. He weighed 8lbs, 6ozs and was 20 inches long. His head was not as big as Noah's (thank God!) and his hair is lighter and there is a lot less of it! It will be interesting over the next few weeks to watch him grow!! So far he is eating well and I feel great so we are a happy bunch here at the Twardzik Household! I'll be posting new pictures very soon so please check back!

Bridle Trails Party in the Park

2007-06-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today Chris helped a client keep his pace during a 30K fun run at Bridle Trails in Kirkland. His client is training to qualify for the Boston marathon and has asked Chris to help him by running with him. Chris and Peter finished the race in 2 hours and 40 minutes and were pleased with their time! Noah and I met them after the race for a yummy pancake breakfast and also to see the various other going ons at the park! We got to watch knights joust each other (Noah was so thrilled!) and there were frisbee catching dogs and a couple of rodeo shows too! Noah got to ride a pony and got his face painted! After a such a fun morning we stopped by Costco for hopefully the last stock up before this baby arrives! When we got home I planted myself firmly on the couch because I was EXHAUSTED!

The start of our blog

2007-06-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

Well now that we have baby boy #2 coming into the world soon I thought I'd do my best at keeping as many family members up to date to our going ons!

Noah is doing well and is really big for his age, taller than most of the boys in his class. His vocabulary increases every day and he is currently really loving transformers and Spiderman. Once the baby arrives I'll be staying at home with the both of them and Noah will be going to preschool just twice a week for half days. We've met a ton of really great friends here in Snoqualmie where we moved in January and Noah and I both have a great circle of people for fun playdates!

Chris is working HARD at Renew Fitness which is in Bellevue. Some days he leaves the house a little after 5am and returns home right before 9pm. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of him this summer as his schedule becomes a little more bearable! He is doing really exciting things in his industry though and has recently become an ambassador for Lululemon which means that he'll be featured on their website as a local athelete and he gets to try out all their clothes and give feedback! He is still running in crazy races including a 50 MILE race near our house. For this some other companies have been in contact with him regarding sponsorships! He loves pushing himself and Noah and I love to watch!

I am currently finishing up a contract position at Microsoft and am waiting for this little one to join us! We decided on Colton David Twardzik for his name and have almost finished putting together the nursery! I'm really looking forward to a summer with my boys and fun times in and around our neighborhood.

Hope everyone gets a chance to look at this blog every once in awhile to see recent photos and catch up with us! Talk soon!