Look Whoo's Two!

Time is passing me by faster than I can blog about it... so since I've officially missed Beckham's 1st birthday (I will get around to blogging about it one day soon; well at least before he turns two!), I'll start my forgotten and neglected blog with the celebration of Beckham's favorite little girl, Finley! 

I got a little trigger happy and took more than 200 pictures.  Needless to say, I'm going to keep it simple so that I can actually finish a blog post and not keep it in my drafts folder.  I'm sure Finley's Mommy will have all the sweet details and more on her blog if you want to check it out. 

Finley had a little owl party and every detail matched the occasion - from owl backpacks for the chairs, cookies, table cloths, centerpieces, Finley's birthday skirt and even Beckham's shirt (from Etsy)!  It was all so very sweet. 

The kids enjoyed blowing bubbles (and some eating them) on the front porch, some dinner and cake, then swinging and running around the front lawn.  JP never wants to take a family picture, but I managed to snag this special father-son moment during all the playtime.

We tried to get a picture of the four little kids - a task nearly impossible!  This isn't necessarily the best one, but the funniest indeed.  I love how K-man is hugging on Beckham.  (It's the best place to be - between two Gators!)  Javen is enjoying his sippy cup (we had to keep everyone distracted so they would actually sit still!) and Finley's expression is priceless.  I think she's ready to get away from the boys!

We were able to get some really cute pictures of Finley and Beckham.  I think I'm going to save this for the wedding slideshow!  :)

 A couple pictures of the birthday family... soon to be four!

Finley's giving her party a thumb's up!   Meanwhile, Beckham's not shy about how exhausting a birthday party can be.  My little man got to stay up late and enjoyed every minute of it! 

On a side note, I am very proud of the fact that Beckham will wear a hat!  It didn't come easily, but I was determined.  After his birthday party (where he wouldn't wear his hat), I decided I needed to try to fix this.  So on his actual birthday, I worked with him all day to keep his hat on.  I made him wear that crazy birthday hat everywhere - around the house, to the park, to lunch at Chick-fil-A, etc.  Some lessons pay off... ha!

 Happy 2nd Birthday Finley-Bear!  We love you dearly! 

DBE - Sellin' the Sizzle

WARNING
Content is intended for adult viewing only

Straight from the tabloids - making even TMZ blush:

May the female population in the Tampa Bay area under 2 years of age be warned.

Corporate Says Viewership is Down (DBE)

What better way to fix this then post a video recapping Beckham's first summer!

Enjoy!

A Mother's Prayer

I attended a baby shower for a friend on Mother's Day weekend and received this sweet prayer.  I had to read aloud the two lines in bold... how appropriate!  I absolutely love this poem - how true it is.

Dear Lord,

It's such a hectic day

With little time to stop and pray

For life's been anything but calm

Since You called on me to be a Mom

Running errands, matching socks

Building dreams, with building blocks

Cooking, cleaning and finding socks

And other stuff that children lose

Fitting lids on bottled bugs

Wiping tears and giving hugs

A stack of last week's mail to read

So where's the quiet time I need?

Yet when I steal a minute, Lord

To ask the blessings of your grace

I see them, in my small one's face

That you have blessed me

All the while

And I stop to kiss

That precious smile.

This was my first official Mother's Day and it was such a special day!  We went to my sweet nephew's house (Luca) for brunch with Kammie and had some delicious food as always.  These Pullaros/Barolos/Ponaths know how to cook!

Kammie with the boys.  Luca is pondering something very important.  Beckham just wants to get all his fingers in his mouth.

It is impossible to get both boys (exactly two weeks apart) to look at the camera, get their hands out of their mouth and smile at the same time!  If you could only see what four parents and two grandparents were doing to get this!  Here are the boys with their Great Granddaddy.

My precious son (with the help of his thoughtful Daddy) made it the most special day!  I received a few lovely Mommy gifts - a gift card to buy B some new clothes at one of my favorite stores for him (Janie and Jack), a massage and a pass to take the little man to Playmania (like Gymboree but in The View)!  Beckham even helped me open all of my presents.

This is fun!

It tastes good too!

Daddy, please tell Mommy to stop squeezing me!

Then after Beckham went to bed, Justin prepared a delicious dinner - fish, scalloped potatoes, asparagus and leek soup and an amazing cookie cake.  He is quite the epicurean and most certainly outdid himself.  He even set a candlelight table with two dozen long stem roses.  The worst part is - I was miserably sick by the end of the night.  Not because of the food... just a cold Beckham and I were passing back and forth.  It's my fault - I just love to kiss him!  It's a small price to pay...

Rubber Ducky

On March 27th, my nephew turned one. Beckham and I flew up to Charlotte for his first birthday party. My sister, Ester, planned such a special celebration for him at a beautiful local park. And as every party hostess knows, it's not complete without a theme. Jakson loves bathtime, so this one was all about ducks!

My mom smocked a cute little duck outfit for Jakson (of which I have no pictures - because he has a bib over it when he wore it).

And, she made these monogrammed bibs for the cousins.

Jakson's grandpa made this amazing cake for the little man.

And this little one for Jakson to eat. Unfortunately, he it was too much pressure and he wanted nothing to do with it!

I've been thinking about Beckham's first birthday party ever since. Now that we're four months out, I'm going to get serious about planning it. I just need to narrow down the theme... there are just so many cute ideas out there! I'm thinking Curious Beckham (after Curious George and the Monkey he loves) or Mr. Man or even a Nautical theme because Beckham loves the water. I'll have to narrow down some of his favorite things.

In the meantime, here are some sweet pictures of Beckham at the party.

I just love this face!

Uncle Marshy entertained Beckham for a long time at the park. He knew this would keep him happy! Tia Ysa, where are you?

Such great smiles...

Eating his first ever teething biscuit and loving it!

Always a burp cloth in arms reach... Papi's learned to be prepared!

Happy Birthday, Jako! I love you! I'm so glad we got to celebrate with you! And I'm even more excited because Beckham is going to have another cousin nearby. Ester, Jason and Jakson are moving to Sarasota in mid-June! It will be so fun to have her close by. By the way, Jakson... do I have something on my face? We took lots of pictures together and he just would not look at the camera. Well, at least I like the picture of me! :)

Three Surnames

We dedicated Beckham Cruz in front of our church family (South Tampa Fellowship) on April 18th. It was such a sweet time for our family. My parents and Justin's sister (Natalie) flew in from DC for the service. Justin's parents and grandparents, our dear friends (the Codes and Nations) and our beloved church small group family were also there to celebrate with us.  (I'm very upset that I don't have pictures of everyone with him on that day.  I should have put someone in charge of that.  I'll do better next time...)

For the superficial specifics...
Beckham wore a light blue dupioni silk outfit that my mom made for him along with a bonnet that Justin would have rather done without!

I was petrified my son would spit up in front of the entire church congregation. Mama Nations came to the rescue and made this beautiful heirloom bib for him (it has a little boy embroidered on it) and a matching burp cloth. It was the perfect accessory to his sweet outfit.

For the more meaningful specifics...
Our son has three surnames - English, Spanish and Italian! Maybe he'll be trilingual. :) There is nothing special about the name Beckham, except that we really liked it. We actually didn't name him after the soccer star, but it is quite appropriate that Justin loves soccer. He's continuing to live up to his name (since he was Frank Breech in utero).

His middle name is what has significance to us. Cruz is my maiden name. Long ago we decided that if we ever had a son his middle name would be Cruz. My parents only had daughters so there's no one to carry on the family name. However, all three of us girls have used Cruz as our middle names since we married because we didn't have one.

His middle name also has deep spiritual significance to us. It means "cross of Christ" and it's our prayer that one day Beckham would "take up his cross daily and follow Him" (Luke 9:23).

Beckham: someone who lived beside a stream
Cruz: Spanish for the cross of Christ
Pullaro: from Sicilian puddara denoting a plant of the pimpernel family (I wasn't sure what that was, so I googled it. Here's a picture for you visual people like me.)

Later that day, we celebrated Beckham's dedication with a family dinner at Nick and Suzette's house. They were so sweet to host this dinner for us - as tax season ended only three days before.

Thank God for mothers - she worked tirelessly to help me get everything ready and make it a special dinner for Beckham.

The food was amazing! My dad grilled fajitas and brisket and Papaw grilled chicken and ribs.  (Once again, only have pictures of the food and not them.  Ugh!)

 

My dad (Papi) and Beckham in their matching seersucker outfits!

For the dessert table, Suzette made an amazing carrot cake and chocolate chip cookies.  We also had chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese and strawberry frosting and some homemade chocolate peanut brittle. 

My mom and I made some cake pops (from scratch) and used them as the centerpieces for the tables.  My friend Kristin came to visit the night before and I put her artistic talents to work - she hand painted five clay pots (freehand) with a cross and Beckham's monogram.  It's amazing what people can do at one o'clock in the morning!

Finley loved them!!! 

Thank you to all of you who have and will come along side Beckham in the years to come and encourage him to follow Christ and grow in a deep relationship with Him.

Up In The Air

I'm sitting here at Panera waiting for my much anticipated phone call... any minute now I will find out my future at Takeda. There are three options and I really am okay with two of them - I keep the best part time gig in the world or I lose my job and get to stay home with my little man. It's the one in the middle that has me on my knees, literally. They could dissolve my job share and offer me a full-time position. I have no idea what I will do.

I got a little emotional for the first time driving home yesterday. This job was a godsend. Without it, I would probably still be waking up at midnight and working holidays at my "dream" television job. I couldn't be more thankful for my three-and-a-half year tenure at Takeda. It has been such an amazing experience - both professionally and personally. I could go on and on about the things I did, the places I went, the people I met and the things I learned. But, no one really cares. I was exactly where God wanted me and there's no better feeling. And this hour I trust the same - His best is where I'll be.

I thought I had more pictures on my laptop to share, but these are the only two pictures I could find.

Here I am at a Diabetes Convention with two famous ACTOS characters! I got to know two wonderful Takeda reps - Shannon and Misty. We had a great time in DC!

We are with a Diabetes legend - Dr. Ralph DeFronzo. After our program, we headed to The Ritz in Sarasota for some live music. Jordan, my partner until this April (beautiful blonde on the far right), and I started just a month apart from each other. We literally learned this business together. We were the two newbies in Sarasota. When Susan told me she had hired me a partner, she said I would LOVE her! She couldn't be more right! Jordan is more than a business partner (I think I talk to her on the phone more than anyone I know!)... she is truly one of my dearest friends.

And because I wouldn't be here without her, I had to include a picture of my hiring manager and sweet friend! Susan and I are far from work here - in the Holy Land when we went back in 2007. She taught me everything I know about this business and I owe her everything for that! Thank you, Susan for giving me this incredible opportunity! I am praying for your future - God is going to do great things!

Cheers to my friends at Takeda! I'm excited we won't be "up in the air" for much longer.

Beckham = Personality (DBE)

Some of the best moments with my son are when I come home from work and get to see Beckham right before bed. For some reason, he's usually in the best of moods and just flat out hilarious.

See exhibit A:

'Cito vs. 'Cillin (DBE)

Beckham is affectionately referred to by his Daddy as the Bubbacito. This is because Raquel's family are the Kings of Spanish nicknames and they usually end in -cito... and since I think this is awesome, I had to get in on the action, and thus, The Bubbacito was born.

Sunday we learned that The Bubbacito has his first ear infection and he needs some amoxicillin - something his Dad was allergic to (mom, feel free to post some comments about what you recall).

So we are now in the process of finding out if Becks is allergic to penicillin or not... it's the 'Cito in one corner, and the 'Cillin in the other...


"Let's get it on!"

The First Pullaro Family Easter Egg Hunt

Here is a little snippet from our first Easter Egg Hunt. Beckham and Luca were loving the eggs... they just didn't care too much for the treats inside the eggs. They are so funny together, and this is just another example of how entertaining they are together.

Happy Belated Easter!

The Abscense of Updates (DBE)

On behalf of the 3 Pullaros featured in this blog, we would like to apologize for our lack of updates. Raquel and Beckham have been under the weather and it seems like we got so far behind so quickly that it's tough to get all caught up with everything going on.

But since an Update on the lack of updates, isn't really helping, I thought I would at least give you a sneak peak of things to come:

- The First Pullaro Easter Egg Hunt
- Beckham's Dedication and Party
- Standing in the Crib
- Plus a 2 Disc collection of Beckham singing hits from the 90s (just making sure you were paying attention)

All this and more, coming soon.

Dedication Week (Daddy Blogging Exclusive or DBE)

I know we have a very fun time sharing pictures and videos in this forum, but I wanted to take just a second to share what's going on in the Pullaro household this week (a slightly more serious post... leave it to dad to kill the vibe).

It's a very busy and exciting week in The View. This is the week where Raquel and I go before our church family, South Tampa Fellowship, and vow before the congregation and God to raise Beckham in a Godly home and to keep that home safe and secure for his benefit.

Becks is honestly more of a decoration in all this, and although symbolic for me the parent, I felt it was lacking something. So I began to search for a life verse for me and my son to share... okay and mom can share too. Here's what we came up with:

Ephesians 3:14-21

¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶ that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I love this for so many reasons, and I won't try to be a theologian (you're welcome) but here's the main points I see:

- The first part (vs. 14-16) is for me... this is what I am committing to pray for my son.

- I will commit to do this with hope that vs. 17-19 happens with Beckham's life.

- And as he and I journey through life together, we will be able to say vs. 20-21 with joy and hope and anticipation for Jesus to continue to show his glory to Beckham's children - the next generation.

This is the missing piece of Dedication Week. To go before our church, our family, our friends and now our son and take an oath that with every breath in me, I will live to this end.

Spring = Twitterpated (A Daddy Blogging Exclusive)

So many of you know that Beckham has a very special lady friend, Finley. And I am convinced that we are watching the makings of something special... something romantic and timeless. I know this because if Becks is like his father, he will find his true love earlier than most... in this case, the first few days of living. This love story is only beginning to unfold...

By the way, I assume this is all legal.

Six Little Peeps

Every month we take pictures of Beckham, but this month was a little different. I had to get creative for his milestone birthday - 6 months!

Paige gave me these stickers with a different number on each one (0-12). You put it on a white onesie and take a picture each month to document the baby's growth. In another post, I'll show a picture from each month so you can see just how much Beckham has changed.

With the help of some of my Facebook friends, this proved to be the most interesting photo shoot yet! Since it's so close to Easter, we bought six chocolate Easter bunnies and six Peeps to use as a photo prop. Justin and I should have known where they were headed... straight to Beckham's mouth! For a kid who's only had breastmilk and cereal, I'm sure chewing on a marshmallow is a big no-no. Oh well, I'm a first-time Mom!

Aside from his hilarious expressions, I am so impressed at how well Beckham sat up all on his own! That was definitely a first.

It's Shark Week

This is what Beckham is dealing with today as it looks like the first of many pearly whites are coming in.

Make no mistake, the cries of a little boy, the gnawing on plastic, it can only mean one thing... Shark Week in The View.

One Last Post from Daddy

The week has flown by, and my platform to wax poetic about my boy is going away... so with one last bated breath, I leave you with an ode to cousins

Happy Birthday Papi

Beckham made a special video for his Papi (Raquel's father, in case you were wondering).

The Briefest of Evenings

This is how I spent my evening with my son.

Beckham decided he was 12 and didn't nap all day. So when I came home, expecting a son filled with wonderment to engage and play with, Becks fell asleep while drinking his bottle. Not just dreary-eyed asleep for a second, but like I could have tossed him into the crib from the family room and he wouldn't wake up asleep.

I spent the bulk of my day thinking about how I wanted to spend my time with my son, what I wanted to do with him before mommy returns home and I become irrelevant... and 15 minutes into my glorious litany of activities, I find myself alone with the monitor.

Such is fatherhood...

Tuesdays Gone with the Wind

Tuesday is the day Beckham spends with GiGi. It's one of the greatest blessings to have family around for Becks to spend time with, but for some reason today was particularly difficult to say goodbye to him and go to work.

He was so happy in the car entertaining me with his noises (usually around 30 minutes or so into our trip he's ready to get out of his car seat... and since Riverview is an hour away from everything, its just the way our car experience goes). He gave Gigi besos (kisses) as soon as he saw her and was content as can be while we got his breakfast ready.

I found myself thinking about just how big and grown up he is - how much he has changed in 5 months. It was like a scene from a cheesy TV show, and I just wanted to spend the day watching the Bubbacito.

I finally got to play with him later in the evening. I am determined to make "dada" Becks' first word, so we practiced for most of the evening. He just smiles and coos but I know he's getting it. It's just good to watch him react to me in distinct ways - like he knows mommy still rules, but there are some special things just for dad! Like this picture...

Becks eating dinner last night... he looked at me half way through like "you're not Mom?!?!".

Hostile Take-Over

This week Raquel is in Chicago for work training... so the Pullaro blog will be updated by me, the Father (at the instruction of her work partner, Jordan... who better leave a comment so I know she read this).

To be honest, I was the one pushing for a blog all along. In the process of setting this up Raquel informed me that I was not allowed to contribute because she thought it was 'flakey' for dads to obsessively blog.

Well guess what - it's time for Gator Tales to get an injection of TESTOSTERONE!

Check back daily, as I will show the world how awesome Daddy-bloggin' can be.