Happy Thanksgiving!

It's already Thanksgiving! Where on earth did this year go?

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We are blessed to have our home, our jobs, our beautiful daughter Bella, and most importantly each other. I have had a hard time lately learning to balance it all. Being a Mom, a Wife, a speech therapist to special needs families, a sister, and and a daughter....oh yeah and a maid!! It really is hard to juggle it all. I often find myself having "Mom guilt" not being able to do it all. But I'm slowly learning to let some things go. So what if the dishes don't get done, or if a pile of clean laundry sits in a hamper for a few days. To put in perspective I'm thankful I have a washer to even do my laundry!

We are thankful for our supportive family, our health, and the wonderful opportunities we have had to help families staying at the Ronald McDonald House this year. We are also thankful for having the opportunity to provide a peaceful setting for grieving parents to remember their children at the Central Florida Angel of Hope.

And who do we have to thank for that??? Yes, Gabriella. I am thankful she has made me a better person, even though she is no longer with us.

So remember the little things to be thankful about this Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Bencomo Family!

July 10, 2011-Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 7 year wedding anniversary. We celebrated with a little weekend staycation at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando. It was fun, relaxing, and nice to get away.

It's amazing how much happens in 7 years. I am thankful that I continue to have Anthony by my side through the good, the bad, and the in-between! He is a wonderful husband and Dad. So fun and supportive.

We showed Bella our wedding video today for the first time. She had a lot of questions wanting to know who certain people were and why other people weren't there. She also commented that she did not like my veil! Out of the mouth of babes!

She was so surprised to see Knightro show up at our reception as well!

All I know is that our wedding day was one of the best days of my life, and I am so happy to be spending my life with Anthony. Each new day is an adventure and we have each other to get us through it. He has been my rock and stood by my side through the bad, and is there for a great laugh with the good! He has given me two beautiful daughters and I thank God everyday he put him in my path.

Happy Anniversary Anthony, I love you!

5 years old...

Today would of been Gabriella's 5th Birthday. It's really hard to believe that 5 years ago, we had our first daughter. A tiny little girl with a huge heart who has touched all of us over the years. She has made us who we are today. Anthony and I have always taken her birthday off of work so we could do something fun in honor of her. This year we decided to head to Disney. It was Bella's first official trip to the Magic Kindgom and it was a great day! The pictures speak for themselves! It was a really special day for so many reasons.

On the monorail heading back to the car, we saw a little girl with a Birthday pin on her shirt. She looked to be about 6 or 7 years old. I almost lost it when I saw her name written on it was Gabriella. That right there was a sign Gabriella was with us (She is always with us).

2010 Year in Review

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The Christmas Season has completely run away from us and left me little time to put together a Christmas card for our friends and family. So in the efforts of saving time, energy, the planet, and money, we are doing our Christmas card/letter via our blog! It's about time too that we update our blog since our last entry was August 23!

2010 has been a very exciting year for us. We started the new year with Kristen getting a new job at Florida Hospital as well as continuing her contract work with Florida Speech. Anthony continues to work at Lockheed Martin as well. Balancing work, parenting, and fun family time is tough but everyday is more rewarding than the last!

We have continued to help out the Ronald McDonald House and ended up on billboards and drop boxes at all McDonalds for their annual Share a Night campaign to help families stay close to thier sick children while in the hospital.

Our biggest accomplishment this year was bringing the Angel of Hope to the Orlando area. On December 6, 2010 we had our first annual candlelight ceremony and dedication. Approximately 100 people attended to honor and remember children who are no longer with us. We worked with an awesome team to make this happen and have Gabriella as our inspiration behind the cause.

Bella turned 2 in August and is the light of our lives. She surprises us every day and there is never a dull moment in our house. She loves talking to her grandparents on our webcam, loves Nani aka Shauna our sitter, and has taken an fond liking to our UCF Knights. Speaking of UCF Knights we had the pleasure of taking Bella to her first UCF football game which she loved. We ended up taking her to two games and is more interested in Knightro and the opposing teams mascot than the game. Although occasionally she will tune in and say "Run Run Football Player!" We are very proud of our team as we are ranked 24th in the country and our Basketball team is now 11-0 and ranked 19th. Its a great year to be a UCF KNIGHT!

We acquired Sea World Annual Passes in May and got our money's worth after having them only a month! It is Bella's favorite place to visit and Big John to Sea Lion is one of her favorite animals to visit. The polar bear is a close second as long as he's sleeping. If he's awake then she says "I'm scared!"

Santa came a little early this year and with the help of Anthony's parents to watch Bella, we were able to go on a 5 day cruise. It was our first vacation in 3 years and we enjoyed doing NOTHING and getting much needed R and R. Christmas was spent in S. Fl this year with our families. Bella had her first official Cuban Christmas Eve aka pig roast! She loved spending time with her cousins and Aunts and Uncles. Was loving life with her Abi & Abu!

On a sad note we lost our 13 year old English Bulldog Jupiter while we were away on our cruise She was very old and passed away in her sleep. We are missing her very much and adjusting to a quite house minus the snoring and slobbering of an English Bulldog.

Here are some pictures from throughout the year. We hope you all have had a Merry Christmas and have a prosperous New Year.

Love

Anthony, Kristen & Bella Bencomo

Fox 35- Share a Night- Ronald McDonald House

If you are looking to help the Ronald McDonald House Share A Night click HERE

Goooo Knights!!!

Photos courtesy of UCFAthletics.com

We took Bella to her 1st UCF FanFest. She had a great time even though it was pouring rain (thank you UCF for having the only Fieldhouse in FL) and she was abit afraid of Knightro, but enjoyed seeing the Cheerleaders and the players.

Bella's 2nd birthday

We had an awesome day at SeaWorld (pics to come soon) and the day ended with a mini cake for Bella to enjoy on her actual birthday. Shauna aka Nane brought her the mini cake for her to enjoy- which she did. She enjoyed her cake so much today that she told Kristen:"Mommy, cake delicious! Love you."

Cannot wait for tomorrow to see how she likes the birthday cake I am attempting to make for her. Should be fun.

Happy Birthday Bella!

Today Bella turns 2 years old. I know for some Friday the 13th may be unlucky, but for us it's one of our luckiest days. We have decided to take Bella to Sea World today. I think the fun part will actually be that her Grandparents will get to see her experience Sea World. She will also get to feed Big John (he's a male Sea Lion) and tomorrow is her Mickey birthday party at a Splash pad. I am sure you will see lots of pictures and videos posted on here.

Where does the time go?

Happy 2nd Birthday Bella!

The Dad's Life

I posted this on my Biggieville.com site but thought others might appreciate it as well. Enjoy! I wouldn't want any other life; The Dad's Life!

Bella at the Park

Bella Vacuuming

Bella has started to enjoy helping Mommy around the house with laundry and vacuuming. Here she is on a Saturday morning helping vacuum.

Bella making pizza

Bella has become such a little cook! She loves sitting on the counter and help us stir, prep, or in the case roll pizza dough! She is at such a fun age and we are loving every second of it!

Bella's Shout Outs!

Ronald McDonald photo shoot.

RMH Slide Show from Cassie Meitzler on Vimeo.

We did a photo shoot for Ronald McDonald House a few weeks ago. Here is a video montage of all the families. We are in the video. Enjoy.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Anthony! He is such wonderful, supportive husband who loves us unconditionally and works very hard to provide for us! Every day is full laughter, smiles, and a lot of fun! I am very happy to have him as my husband and the father of my girls! We love you Anthony! Love Kristen and Bella!

Darryl Owens article about the Angel of Hope

We had the opportunity to speak with Darryl Owens about our cause and our goal to bring the Angel of Hope. Here is a little excerpt:

"In search of an Angel for Gabriella" by Darryl Owens

Four years ago, Anthony and Kristen Bencomo learned they were expecting.

They were thrilled. Their first.

They told everyone. Debated names. Enrolled in Lamaze classes.

Kristen kept doctor appointments. Marveled at her budding baby bump. Wondered why she never felt a kick. Endured headaches. Spiking blood pressure. Nerves?

Complications. Time to deliver.

Too soon?! No choice.

Doctors performed a C-Section. Hooked the tiny thing to a ventilator. More tubes and wires than baby.

Scary.

After a dozen whirlwind days in the Florida Hospital neonatal intensive-care unit, life finally slowed to a pause.....

Click here to read the full article...

Anthony's 1st tattoo in memory of Gabi.

Check out the process:



2010 will mark the 4th birthday and anniversary for the loss of Gabi. I have wanted a tattoo in her name since she passed. After much research and thought. I decided on a tattoo that had meaning behind it and something I would want to have forever.

I came up with the idea of a pocket watch with the time 12:07 with wings and a halo. That is all I wanted. As you can see I got so much more.

I did much research looking for the right artist and luck should have it I met a guy, Michael, standing in line at the Johnny Cupcakes tour and his friend Ryan's had this awesome rooted tattoo (it is a tree and going down to the roots) and it was awesome. He told me the guy was in Orlando and he had done both of his tattoos. Through him I got introduced to Enrique Zayas at Chrome Lotus Tattoo.

Here is the rationale behind what I wanted for a tattoo:

12:07:
12:07pm was the time that Gabi was born and it was also the time I looked forward to. Every time the clock read 12:07pm it meant I had another day with Gabi. We had 12 awesome days with her. Hence the clock on the tattoo reads 12:07.

The numbers on the watch:
I looked and looked for the font of the numbers and it hit me that my dad had given me a pocketwatch that had been passed down to me on my wedding day. His pocket watch has numbers 1-12 but for the tattoo I could only do 12, 3, 6, and 9.

The G:
The G is Gabi's 1st initial.

The Wings, Halo and Pocket watch:
In my initial thoughts I had it being just a G with wings or something and I also did not want a tattoo that was just her name. So I went with the wings and halo and the watch since it has a few meanings- an angel in heaven and also that time flew bye and it wasn't enough time to be with Gabi.

The Sunshine:

The amazing part about this is that I never told Enrique that on Gabi's headstone we have: "Our Grace from God. You will always be our Sunshine." Since Kristen would always sing to Gabi- You are my Sunshine. When I saw his initial sketch, having only told him about the watch, halp and wings and saw the Sun and the Sunshine. I was blown away and asked myself how did he know.

Did it hurt? Check out the video of me and my initial reaction to it. Now I will not lie and say it was pleasant. After the outlining and his shading I was fine. It was when he started coloring that I was in some pain.

Click here to see Enrique's website.

I get to wear pants for the next 2 weeks but it will be well worth it is fully healed and the true colors come out. I know some don't like tattoos and others do. I've wanted one and glad that this was my 1st tattoo

Happy 4th birthday Gabi

Happy Birthday Gabi. You are 4 today. We miss you and you are always in our thoughts. Happy Birthday!
Figured what better person to sing her Happy Birthday then Bella, her little sister.