2007 Recap

Greetings all,

All in all, 2007 was good to the Romero Tribe.

Nicolas is will be 4 in May. He has made a lot of progress in the last 12 months. We started the Spring doing potty training, rounded the Summer out with swim and bike lessons, and finished off the year with a drum set for Christmas. His favorite songs are “Rock and Roll All Night” by Kiss, “TNT” by AC/DC and “Walk” by Pantera. He throws the “Rock Out” horns every time he scores a goal in soccer. He’s all boy and loves to pillow fight and play pranks. He is just like me, only smaller and with even less accountability. It’s AWESOME! He's talking about a KISS themed birthday party as well as making plans to be Peter Criss (the cat) for Halloween. I am so proud of him. He is currently WAY into the Red Hot Chili Peppers and I am getting him turned on to the Beatles. So we have a good time in the car on the way to school in the morning just kind of rocking out!

Marilupe has had a year filled with ups and downs. She was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in late Spring 2007 and she’s been trying medicines. We think she has the right treatment now and the disease is only very mildly affecting her so that has been great to see her get some relief. Also, she was successful in getting into a teaching program and since August has been teaching bilingual first graders. So she has been VERY busy getting used to the classroom and getting a routine going. But her hard work is paying off as indicated by one of the girls in her class who couldn’t read or write just a few short months ago and is now making enough progress that she may even be allowed to go to 2nd grade. We’re all proud of the job she is doing and her kids lover her.

I switched jobs just before 2007 started. I took a role left vacant by Mark Stewart when he left BG Group. I started doing portfolio modeling and deal valuation for selling BIG boats full of liquid natural gas around the world. I am now in corporate planning and will be doing deal valuation for everything from natural gas, liquid natural gas, and power all over the western hemisphere and Asia/Pacific. I started running and joined a local adventure racing club. Also I have been racing with my company-sponsored team. BG Group used the BG US Challenge to raise ½ million dollars for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. We got to compete against HP, Volvo, Bechtel and more at a qualifying event in the Poconos Mountains in Western Pennsylvania in October. We did a 3 day race where we placed 4th overall and 2nd in the Coed/Mixed team division. So we qualified for a trip to Nice, France to compete in a 2-day race in December where we went up against Dell, HP, Volvo, Airbus, Accenture, etc…. Both races were sub 45 degrees and we got rained on most of the race in the Pennsylvania. I did 13 races last year with the shortest two races being half marathons. I even did a run/bike/paddle that was 18 hours long! I’m feeling quite fit!

During Christmas weeks we were fortunate enough to get a visit from family. Marilupe’s mom, dad, brother, sister, and nana came up from Mexico while my mom came from Dallas. We spent the time eating too much, drinking too much and playing a LOT of Bocce.

Final news flash…we're expecting another kid. We took Nicolas to the the Monster Truck Jam and Marilupe was puking in the parking lot. I wish I could make it up, but it's true. We were given GREAT seats and it seemed like a fitting thing to do with 3-yr-old. So when Marilupe tossed 3 times before we got to the ticket gate, we kind of looked at each other like, "We need to stop at the pharmacy on the way home don't we?" The due date is late-August, so she is already showing. This past weekend I told Nico that we needed to start to think of names for the baby. His contribution to the list: Chikezie. That kid loves him some American Idol!



So that’s our story. I hope you are doing well and that you have a wonderful 2008 in the making. We are looking forward to hearing from you if we haven’t already.

Matt, Marilupe and Nicolas

Welcome!

Rockopotamus is officially up. We'll be posting here in both English and Spanish in order to keep everyone up to date with the events and happenings of the Romero Tribe. Look forward to notes detailing Nico's progress as a sentient being on Planet Earth, Marilupe's health and progress through the pregnancy and Matt's race reports. Bookmark this site and come see us every now and then.