2007 Christmas

Here's a peek at our Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Maya decided to try to get a sneak peek at the presents. She dove right in with her mouth. I thought it was funny and reached for the camera but Jayden was appalled!
After, I got Maya to fall asleep, Jayden and I made Christmas cookies. We had so much fun. We made Viennese Vanilla Cookies and they were delicious. I would say they were a blend of a sugar cookie and a butter cookie and they were filled with almonds. I rolled them out and cut them out into Christmas shapes. Then I decorated them and for the next two hours, all Jayden could say was cookie! It was like his entire vocabulary was gone, except for cookie. Here he is winking at me.

It was hard getting him to understand that we had to cook them first. He was very amused by them.

I put the kids in bed with me that night. As you can see, Jayden was knocked out, but Maya was waiting for Santa Claus to come.

On Christmas morning, Jayden rolled over and spotted Maya and the first thing he does is roll over onto her and give her hugs and kisses, which she loves.

For breakfast, I made stuffed french toast. It was yummy delicious and then Maya fell asleep so we had to wait for her to wake up before opening presents. They were very fun to watch. Jayden opened up all of his presents and even though Maya was doing very well on her own, Jayden had to help her too. Then he tried to take ownership over the gifts too. Silly goose!

All I ever saw of him was his back. He was like the Tasmanian Devil and there was wrapping paper everywhere. To him, it was like a job and he took it very seriously. When he was done opening one gift, he was back for more.

Maya loved her toys, especially this little piggy that sings a song and does a jiggle. She immediately expressed her love for it by gnawing on it.

Although you could never tell by the pictures, Jayden spent most of the day crying. He's all about having temper tantrums now and here he is after he recovered from his last fit. He got a helmet and pads for Christmas and he wore the helmet to open gifts, but he did not want the helmet to ride his new scooter.

He refused to ride the scooter and insisted on walking next to it instead so of course, he fell down about a million times. So we switched gears and pulled out his tricycle. After his next fit, he managed to have a little fun with Daddy.

Then we put Maya in the swing while Jayden was on his bike, which caused another fit. Oh well. He' just going to have to get over it. Maya wasn't phased by his screaming at all. She was having fun.To end the screaming, we decided to put the kids into the wagon. Jayden was going for the Oscar, Best Dramatic Actor. It was another fit. But Maya was having a ball. When Jayden thought Mommy and Daddy were leaving without him, he settled down and got into the wagon.

Here they are holding hands and Maya is just all smiles at Mr. Jayden.

Doesn't he look devious here?

Merry Christmas!

Trying To Keep Old Traditions Alive

It was a tradition in my family to make many wonderful and special foods and desserts for Christmas. I always fondly think back on Christmases past and miss all the festivities that I no longer participate in. I do remember opening presents on Christmas Eve, but more than that I remember it being a time of family and friends, of food and music and a time of celebration and church.

Puerto Ricans celebrate Noche Buena, which is on Christmas Eve. A huge component of it was all of the special Christmas dishes. You could expect to find pernil (roast pork shoulder), arroz con gandules, (yellow rice with pigeon peas), pastelles (some people call these tamales), arroz con dulce (coconut rice pudding) and coquito (our version of eggnog). In addition to all the food, there was music, dancing, and lots of friends and family. I also remember the parrandas (our version of caroling) with lots of singing and instrument playing. There was always the guitar, the tambourine, some sort of drum, the guiro and the maracas. In fact, some people were even offended if their home was not visited. There was a break in the party for la Misa de Gallo, or Midnight Mass, but after that the party went on until the early morning hours.

Now as an adult, I am sad that my kids won’t experience all of the culture and traditions that I got to experience and I try to keep some of it alive by doing some of the cooking that I remember. Many of the dishes have a higher level of difficulty and are labor intensive. I can remember helping my mom with tons of preparations and I wish I had paid better attention. This year, I decided to try my hand at one of the dishes I miss the most and that’s Arroz con Dulce.

It wasn’t easy. First I scoured the internet looking for recipes that somewhat resembled my mom’s version. This was not easy since my mom’s recipes are in her head. They aren’t written down and no measurements are exact. Finally I found one and I consulted my mother. Of course, it was all wrong and she began to tell me all about what I would need, how I would put it together and the techniques I would use. And of course, none of the steps were in order. Mostly, I felt overwhelmed. I took a trip to the Spanish grocery store to find the specialty items and then I attempted it.

I will spare you the details, but it took me almost 4 hours and I ended up with something that was pretty darn close to my mom’s rice pudding, expect that it was a little undercooked. Now for a little nostalgia: my mom was a self taught cook and I she worked on this recipe for years before having success. I remember one year, her batch was undercooked. She was so disappointed and distraught over it. After all, she had spent so many hours, worked with so many ingredients and this was truly a labor of love. She would make huge batches of it. It was a dish that she would bring to other’s homes as gifts. I didn’t want her to feel bad, so I told her over and over again that it was ok because I liked it a little crunchy. Looking back now, I don’t think she bought it, but I hope it made her smile. Now, I had to smile because I would be making myself feel better by reminding myself that I liked it a little crunchy.

Maya's First Ear Infection

Maya was running such a high fever yesterday. I tried to get the fever to break, but was only successful once so I decided to take her in to the doctor’s office today. It turns out she has her very first ear infection. This is the first time she’s been on antibiotics and she doesn’t like the droppers of medicine one bit. Every time I give Maya a dropper of medicine, Jayden’s waiting nearby for his share so I give him his fluoride supplement instead.

It’s so hard to see her just laying there with such a sad look on her face. She’s usually all smiles but I can’t get a smile out of her. Jayden has been trying to play with Maya and get her to laugh too but no luck. He doesn’t give up though. He keeps trying which usually ends up upsetting Maya. Oh well. I can’t fault the guy for trying. I’ve been spending extra time carrying her around and rocking her and soothing her so Mr. Jayden has been a bit jealous. This means that I have to rock him too and comfort him and assure him that Maya will get better soon. Now when Maya coughs, he coughs too. Then he comes over so I can pat his back. He cracks me up. He’s stir crazy too. He wants to go outside to play, but since the temperature had dropped, I don’t want to take Maya out that way. He doesn’t understand that of course so he just stands by the window or the sliding glass door and says “Outside mommy, outside”. Over and over and over again. We can’t wait for Maya to feel better.

Maya Turns 8 Months Old

This month got by me so fast. I was not even able to take her usual monthly picture in her crib with her white teddy, but I got one with Santa instead. I did want to take a moment to provide a quick update. She’s weighing 19 pounds and outgrew all of her 6 month clothes. She’s in her 9 month outfits, just barely. Soon, she’ll be wearing 12 months.

My little girl is so very active. She is not crawling but she drags herself everywhere and it’s so cute ‘cause she uses her big toe to push off. Jayden is really good about calling me when she makes her way over to the Christmas tree which she loves to do. She likes to grab the lights and guess what? She puts them in her mouth! She also scoots her way towards Rio. She started to pat at him and pull his whiskers and he just lay there. He took this as permission to be affectionate with her and put his big ole paw on her which of course hurt her. He got in big trouble that day so now when Maya comes over, he gets up and walks away. Good boy, Rio!

She’s also sitting for longer periods of times, but still falls over so I only sit her down in her playpen or her crib. She did have her first bump one day when I sat her next to me on the floor. Then I started to play with Jayden and forgot about her and next thing you know she had crashed into the floor. My poor baby. I was so sorry for her and for me too. Esteban is a finger pointer and he was giving me the evil eye. LOL!

She’s starting to use all the toys that Jayden no longer uses, which of course means he wants them now more than ever. She plays with the peek a boo blocks and with the activity cube. Jayden brings her all the blocks and then takes them away. He’s also started that annoying little habit of saying “Mine!” I had to nip that in the bud right away. “SHARE!!!”

Maya is a great eater. She’s eating cereal and baby food. I have also started to give her table food and finger foods. She’s adorable when she tries to grab the puffs and put them in her mouth. They land everywhere. Of course, this is an open invitation to Jayden to grab them. After all, they are fair game. I’ve given her crackers and fruit. She loves it when I put the fruit in that little sucker contraption. She eats banana, apple, orange, grapes, and pears. In fact, now Jayden wants his fruit that way too. Every once in a while, I will let him have it that way too and he’s always ever so grateful. I’ve also given Maya rice and mashed potatoes. She makes the cutest faces when she’s eating. I’m still working on her with a sippy cup, but she’s getting better at it. She has a full serving of cereal, a vegetable and a fruit and she’s still hungry. Yikes. I’m thinking of going to stage three baby food.

Maya understands a lot more now. She cries when I leave the room and when I come running back to see what happened, she smiles. Because of this, I’ve started to teach her “no”. But I can see she’s going to be a stubborn little girl and this is going to be a work in progress.

PS In case you are wondering, Jayden met Santa too, but he could care less. He was so excited that Jim, our neighbor, was there that he had no interest in Santa. Here's Jayden rubbing his eye and pouting 'cause he didn't want to take his picture with Santa and Maya. It's like I always say. Jayden wouldn't be Jayden if he wasn't refusing to do something!

Jayden Meets the Dentist!

Jayden had his first visit to the dentist. It was a very nice pediatric dentistry office and the lobby had a safari theme. There were bamboo shoots and they were decorated with animal lights. There was a very inviting play area and a TV. Jayden was up and playing in no time. I was starting to get nervous as I waited and noticed that the other moms waited in the lobby while their kids went in alone. Jayden would never go for that.

Finally it was our turn and when the hygienist saw Jayden she said it was ok for me to go too. (Thank you God.) It was a huge open space with various chairs and little TV screens were built into the ceiling so the kids could watch cartoons. I sat down and Jayden sat on my lap. He leaned backwards onto the hygienist’s lap and she did a quick cleaning. Really, they just applied a fluoride treatment, but Jayden wasn’t happy at all. He was squirming, but I’m sure they are used to it cause she was done in a flash. She gave him a bath toy and a goodie bag and went on her way.

Then the dentist came over and she was super sweet. I could tell she had a way with children. She took a look at Jayden’s mouth and did her count. All twenty teeth were present and accounted for and his teeth were in great shape. (Big sigh of relief for me.) She did warn me that I had to start flossing Jayden’s teeth. (Is she kidding?) He will have his grinders until he’s about 10-12 years old so we’ll want to protect them and by the time kids come in at ages 4-5, they usually have a mouth full of cavities. (What?) While I was there, there was a little girl getting a root canal!

Needless to say, I went running to the store to get floss picks for him and started brushing and flossing that night. He’s pretty well used to it now. He lays on my lap while I poke around. Sometimes he is stubborn and clenches his jaws, but for the most part he’ll cooperate. I can’t believe how quickly he’s growing up!

Black Friday

Esteban offered to stay home with the kids so I can go shopping for Black Friday, an event I look forward to every year. I didn’t like the idea at first because we always go together, but I knew he wasn’t really interested and I knew the kids would slow us down quite a bit so I took him up on his offer. I nursed Maya at 5:30am, got ready and left. When I got to Target, the line was around the block so I met up with Maria at McDonalds and had breakfast instead. Afterwards we headed over to Target. I got everything I wanted, including 4 new sets of sheets for our bed, Jayden’s Christmas present, and a new broom vac. Then we hit the mall. I got Esteban’s Christmas present and scored a new cutlery set, which I’ve been dying for. I also got Maya’s Christmas present and her Christmas ornament.

I came home very excited and since Esteban was home I started to cook Thanksgiving dinner. It was terrific. While I worked in the kitchen, Esteban worked on the exterior lights. Then we had our dinner. This year I went with a turkey breast, which was just a expensive as a large bird, just as much work and left very little in the leftover department. I also made arroz con gandules, which was very yummy. Esteban made a green salad and I made a sweet potato casserole. I make one every year, but this one didn’t make me as happy. Never try a new recipe on a holiday. For dessert, we had leftover pumpkin pie because the yummy pumpkin cheesecake I made two nights before stayed behind at my aunt’s house.

After dinner, we watched the Thanksgiving Day parade, which I had DVRed and put up the tree. I must say, it was the first Christmas ever that we put up the tree without arguing. I usually get upset because Esteban doesn’t want to help so this year, I put it up without bringing up the subject for fear of ruining an otherwise perfect day and what do you know! He started to help all by himself! Son of a gun! The lights had to get trashed because they were barely working as usual. This is a source of stress for me. Why can’t Christmas lights last more than a year? Anyway, we started to decorate the tree and for the first time ever I had help. Jayden was so excited. He grabbed the beads and wore them around his neck and had a ball dragging them around the house. When I got him to understand that the beads were going on the tree and staying there, we got to work on the bows. Jayden started to hand them to me one by one but when I wasn’t fastening them fast enough, he started to shove them into the tree into any gap he could find. It was so cute.

Then we got to work on the ornaments. For the second year in a row, I’ve left my glass ornaments in storage, but I guess that didn’t make the others safe. Two ornaments ended up being retired. I was ok with that, but Esteban was hysterical. Well, he was as hysterical as he gets (He's very low key.) He kept going on and on about the ornaments and Jayden breaking them and I shouldn't let him play with the ornaments etc. But there was no way I was getting mad at Jayden because I always dreamed of Christmas decorating being a family affair and it was finally happening. Jayden was helping mommy and I was on cloud nine. I’m sorry Pinocchio and Aladdin broke, but I’m ok with that because it was a perfect day!

Thanksgiving

This year was a Thanksgiving Day unlike any I’ve had in the past. Traditionally I get up early and start cooking. I pop my bird into the stove. Then I watch the Thanksgiving Day parade, while I decorate the tree. Not this year. This year, I woke up early and hit CVS for their Thanksgiving Day sale. I came home with tons of goodies, including a new digital camera that I ended up paying $35 for out of pocket. This year, Esteban had to work. Instead of trying to squeeze in a full day of cooking into a morning, I decided to skip it. Besides, Esteban would be going to work soon and he’s never really cared for the traditional thanksgiving meal items so I loaded the kids up into the car and headed to my aunt’s house in Melbourne for the day. It was a pretty large family gathering, which included three aunts, an uncle, and lots of cousins. We had a wonderful time.

Jayden is Two and a Half!

Jayden is now 2 and ½ years old. Wow, he has changed so much in the last 6 months. It’s amazing. I have all but lost a handle on all of his new words so this will be the last update I make. He’s like a sponge. He’s repeating everything he hears. He goes to bed with his electronic toys and repeats everything the toys say. He’s just now starting to use his baby leap pad and repeats the letters and numbers until he falls asleep. And he repeats things he hears on his favorite shows. He loves Curious George and Elmo. He’s still got very little interest in potty training. He adores Maya and I wonder what he’s going to do when he has to go to big boy school. We are on a waiting list for Head Start and hope a spot opens up soon. These days, Jayden is a picky eater. If it were up to him, he'd eat snacks all day. I try not to stress about it. I know he won't starve. I just try to make sure he gets all his essential vitamins and minerals, but he just makes it near impossible. Where did my good little eater go?

Some of my favorite things that Jayden does:

At night when I put Jayden down for the night, he will often call me repeatedly. I will answer the first few times, but after a while, I stop. One night, I was in my room waiting for him to fall asleep. Everything was pretty quiet and all of a sudden I hear him singing, “Mama, where are you? Mama, where are you?” I started to crack up. I got up and looked outside my door and I see him standing by his baby gate and he’s actually shrugging his shoulders as he’s singing “Where are yooooooou?” Of course, I had to go running over there to give him a hug and a kiss and then I firmly told him to go to bed!

Jayden likes to open the fridge door and stand there. Of course, I don’t like him doing that but I can’t help but laugh at him because he’ll stand there and say “Hmmm.” It’s like he’s contemplating what he’s going to have next. This always leads to a fight because lately he’s being a picky eater and I won’t allow snacks and sweets unless he’s eaten a proper meal.
Sometimes, Jayden is mean to me and it makes me sad. I put on my sad face and pretend to cry and Jayden will say, “What’s wrong mama? Don’t cry.” This is so darn cute! He climbs into my lap and tries to move my hands from my face and then I laugh and he does too.
I’m not too happy about this one. One day, I dropped Jayden off to the sitter and when I picked him up, I was no longer mommy. It’s mom now. I liked Mommy or even Mama, but no. It’s mom.

Traditionally, when Daddy and I sit down for our meals together, we give thanks to the Lord for our meal. We often hold hands and pray. I believe he prays at the sitters too because now, he’s started to fold his hands. Now if Daddy and I forget, he calls out our names and folds his hands at us. Now we pray several times throughout the meal, ‘cause he likes it so much. Amen to that!

Words
Mama, Mommy, Mom
Dada or Daddy
Ni-ni (Night-Night) or Night Time
Yes
No
Yeah!
Ok.
Bye-bye
Uh-oh
Ca-ca
Hi
Oh wow.
Oh no.
Ten-coo (thank you)
Bess-u (bless you)
Lub - u (love you)
Baby
Sowee (sorry)
Hello
Pees (please)
This
See ya
Cooz - ee (excuse me)
Car (he pronounces this as if he were from Boston.)
Home
Help (when he climbs into the crib, but can't get out)
Morning
Sit (sounds like s*it)
Eat (he commands Rio to eat)
Rio (sounds like ee-oo)
Go.
Ow.
Maya
Sleeping
Easy
Juice
Ball
Nice
Tight (when his shoes are tight)
Alright
Coming
Potty
Pee-Pee
Open
Close
Y'Welcome
Outside
Cold
Off
Look
Bus
Trucks (tucks)
Jayden (Ja-Jen)
Boo-boo
Awesome
Cheese
Crying
Up
Sun
Banana
Phone
Tree
Circle
Nose
Cute
Moon
Stars
Snacks
Hmmm.
Book
Spoon
Bird
Apple
Woof - Woof
Movie
Wait
Doggie
Hot
Bee
Move
Cool
Plane
Working

Spanish
Gracias
Si
No
Titi
Avion
Bobo
Amor
Agua
Caliente (he says tente)
Frio
Zapatos (he says papos)
Cayo
Sana
Casa
Luz
Cinco
Sucio
Aqui
Salud

Phrases
See ya soon
Bye Guys
I dunno (he actually shrugs his shoulders when he says this)
I know
Here I am or here they are or here it is.
Want more
Oh man.
Bye Home
Stop it (pop-it)
Come on.
I'm ready
Sit down mommy (when he wants me to read a book)
Where are you?
She's cute
Here you go.
Cars coming.
Daddy's coming or Mommy's coming
Don't cry
What's wrong?
It's fun
She's sleeping or Daddy's sleeping
She's crying
Got it
Night Time
All done
Move Rio (This is totally my fault)
Go outside.
Hey Guys!

An Early Thanksgiving

Esteban was on his way home from work after his shift on Saturday and no more than five minutes from home, he was in a terrible accident. I’ll spare you all the details. I can tell you that he called me around 1am and instantly I knew something was wrong. I could hear it in his voice. I wanted to go to him so badly, but it was so cold out and the kids were sleeping. I didn’t know how long it would be before the police arrived so instead I waited at home for him to call me back.

Jayden was in bed with me, because he was giving me an especially hard time at his bedtime and all I could do was hug on him and pray. I just started to give thanks to God. Thanks for saving my husband. Thanks for not leaving me alone. Thanks for not making me a widow. Thanks for not making me a single parent of two kids. Thanks for not taking my children’s father away. Thanks for sparing me from having to explain to Jayden that Daddy wasn’t coming home because he was in heaven. It’s bad enough when Jayden asks me a zillion times a day “Where’s daddy?” and I reply each time with “Daddy’s working”. He just doesn’t get it.

The officer was kind enough to bring him home since the car was un-drivable. He slowly crept in and crawled into bed. Neither of us could sleep. I knew he was wide awake. No snoring. I actually need to hear the sound of his snore to sleep. I just held on to him tight. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I was just Thankful that he had made it home safe and with minor injuries.

We made it through the night and got up to go get our personal belongings from the car which had been towed. What a sorry sight! I had to choke back tears. First and foremost, the car was a complete wreck. Totaled! It was scary to think that he had been in it at the time of impact. It was a miracle he walked out of there with just a few burns and bruises from the airbags. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t gotten more cuts since the windshield and the passenger window had busted.

Then my thoughts turned to the material. The fact of the matter is that now we are down one car and we live in an area with no public transportation. What are we going to do? Esteban doesn’t know how to drive my car. It’s a stick. Both our cars were paid off. Now, we would have to get another car and get into a car payment all over again. Esteban’s car was in such great condition. It would have lasted him another few years. And then, it’s a holiday week. I’m exhausted just tossing it all around in my head and yet there’s no sense in doing so. We’ve done all we could. We reported the incident and are waiting to hear back from the adjuster. We are sharing my car for now and I guess we’ll have to squeeze in car shopping on Black Friday!

An Abrupt Decision I Feel Good About!

I abruptly terminated my babysitter’s services. I don’t have a plan B, but I just couldn’t leave the kids there for one more day without knowing for sure what was going on. From the very beginning, we’ve felt that she just wasn’t like our previous sitter. I always tried to give her the benefit of the doubt even though I was sure Esteban didn’t care for the new arrangement at all. A couple of months ago, he just flat out told me that he wasn’t happy with the services we were receiving. Jayden would always came home with all kinds of bumps, bruises, scrapes, mosquito bites etc. And one day, Esteban was bathing him and found a bruise on his rear end. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to go back to our old sitter so badly and beg her to please take the baby, but instead, I got us on a wait list for Head Start. That was two months ago. Things weren’t getting better.

I picked up Jayden from the sitter last Wednesday and it was like everything that could have been done wrong was wrong. That night, Jayden cried for so long and then I felt so guilty about him being run ragged all day long at daycare and put him in bed with me. He was twisting and turning and crying out in sleep all night and fell out of the bed twice. He’s never once fallen off the bed like that. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Jayden hadn’t gotten his nap that day. Why? Was he over stimulated? What do they do besides play all day from morning to evening outside in the dirt? Do they sing songs, or dance or learn their colors, shapes or letters and numbers? Do they color or read books? In the 5 months that he’s been there, I’ve only received artwork twice.

And why is he always so banged up? Are the children being monitored or is it every man for him self out there? Once, Jayden was scratched pretty bad near his eye by another child. On another occasion, he had been bitten by another child. My mind was racing with different things that had happened on different occasions.

Also, Jayden was black with dirt. Now, he comes home filthy from the sitter’s every time he goes there. Sometimes he’s so filthy, I am disgusted with him and don’t even want to put him into his car seat. But on this day, he was super dirty. He had dirt in his nails that I had a very difficult time removing. Are they not washing hands often enough? Is that how they let him take his meals? He was wearing long pants, socks and sneakers and he even had dirt and debris inside his shoes, socks, and diaper. Yes, his genital area and bottom were black with dirt. Even the outside of his diaper was black. Don’t they use the wipes I drop off every day? Does she let them play outside in the nude or without shoes on? What’s going on?

Then Jayden was wearing one of Maya’s diapers. Yes, he had been squeezed into one of my infant daughter’s diapers. Meanwhile, Maya was wearing someone else’s generic diapers. Now, I have nothing against generic diapers, but if I’m paying for brand name diapers and I’m bringing them to you, I expect you to use my diapers. And the thought of him having dirt in places where the sun don’t shine just infuriates me.

So, I call her and express my discontent. I share my concerns to which she lightheartedly blows off. What do you think is going on here, she asks? I have no idea, but I’d rather ask than wonder about it. I’m not really happy with any of the answers she’s giving me and I don’t feel better about things after our conversation. She told me that Jayden had his diaper changed around 3pm and he must have gotten dirty afterwards.

This brings me to my next concern. I removed the tight ass diaper at 7pm. It had been four hours since it had been changed and it was completely dry inside. Four hours and he hadn’t urinated? This isn’t like Jayden. My mind is racing. I start to remember that every time I pick up Jayden from the sitter’s, he immediately asks me for juice. Is he getting enough to drink? Is he dehydrated? I gave him a drink and it was gone within 5 minutes and his diaper was full within 30 minutes. And if he’s not getting enough to drink, is he getting enough to eat. Jayden has become the pickiest eater lately. He only wants to eat snacks all day long. I remember that once I dropped him off during breakfast and they had the children sitting at the table with a few cheerios sprinkled on a napkin and a piece of fruit. I remember thinking is that all they are going to eat? I also remember asking the sitter what Jayden had eaten for lunch that day. She wanted to know why and then said he wasn’t being a picky eater and was eating just fine. But she didn’t answer the question did she?

And then there’s Maya. Once, I picked her up and her top was completely soiled with something that was not food. When I called the sitter, she said Maya had been drooling quite a bit and had spent some time on the floor. Well, how dirty was the floor? My floors aren’t the cleanest in the land but her clothes never look like the bottom of Jayden’s socks. She doesn’t even crawl and already she looks like that? I start to remember that I had even found dirt (black soil) inside of Maya’s ears as well as Jayden’s. Heck, I’ve even had to clean out the dirt from his nostrils.

Then there’s the issue of Maya’s eating habits. According to the sitter, Maya won’t eat. She doesn’t want to take her bottle. She attributed it to Maya being nursed at home and refusing the bottle, but when Maya is home with daddy, she takes 3-4 bottles and gulps them down. I remember I called the sitter distressed once because Maya had a pronounced indentation on her scalp. In the end, I determined she was dehydrated and you could really tell because her soft spot was really pronounced. I came home that day around 6pm and her diaper was dry. I didn’t change her diaper again until 3am and she still did not have a wet diaper. This solidified that she was dehydrated.

I started to drop off cereal to accompany her 3 bottles of milk. Once, she gave me the cereal back and said she had simply forgotten to give it to her. On her last day there, I dropped off three bottles, baby cereal and a container of baby food. When I picked up the kids, she returned all the bottles and half of the baby food. Maya didn’t want to eat today. What? All day, she had 2 ounces of cereal, one ounce of milk and maybe an ounce and a half of her carrots? I know Maya when she’s hungry. It’s not a pretty sight. How could she just not feed her?

Once, she told me that she had given Maya another binky she had laying around. Gross!

Another time she said she had given Maya some Tylenol because she was being fussy. I keep Tylenol in Maya’s bag, but she said she couldn’t find it and gave her some she had on hand. Hmmm. I don’t know who’s mouth the dropper has been in. And, I never filled out the medicine form so why is she dispensing medication without my consent?

Maya’s playpen is always full of stuff. It seemed to be used for storage more than anything else. So, where is Maya taking her naps?

The list could go on and on. There’s nothing I could put my finger on. There was no clear or consistent offense, but tons of these little isolated instances that just add up to a whole heap of concerns. I didn’t want to find myself saying, “I always thought something just wasn’t right”. I had to pay attention to my mother’s instinct. So I yanked them out.

I don’t know what I’m going to do, but we’ll figure it out. One step at a time!

Maya Turns 7 Months Old!

Maya is 7 months old today. I don’t know where the time goes. It seems like the more I try to hold on to it, the faster it slips through my fingers. Here are some of her milestones.

Maya is getting stronger and stronger by the day and growing out of her clothes quickly. She’s able to hold herself up pretty well in the sitting position with assistance, but can’t sit on her own yet. Her legs are really gaining strength and she supports her weight on them when you hold her up. She’s no where near crawling, but she gets tons of tummy time and when she’s on the bed, she pulls up on her arms and knees and lunges. Maya’s hair seems to be growing too. Most of the growth is on top, but I noticed that the little bald spot on the back of Maya’s head is starting to grow too. If I remember correctly, this is about the time when Jayden’s hair started to grow and get curly. I hope that Maya has a head full of curls too, but I’ll love her either way.

She has definitely decided that her favorite sleep position is on her tummy. Even when she nurses to sleep, she pops herself off and rolls over. Because of that, she’s burping herself so one less thing for me to do. Maya has four teeth now. None are big enough to get a picture of though. They broke through and they seem to be just kinda hanging out for now. Maya does quite a bit of babbling and her favorite most happy time is at her early morning feeding, somewhere around 5-6 am. Yes, we’re all just as happy as she is at that very moment. Here she is after she fell over from the sitting position.

Maya is eating cereal and baby food now. I can’t say that she has a favorite. She just eats it all up. She likes vegetables just as much as she likes fruits and she even liked sweet peas. We are starting to work on finger foods. She likes the puffs but she can’t manage to keep them in. They fall out of her mouth and she goes crazy trying to pick them up and stuff them back into her mouth. I have to note that Jayden always wants to eat when Maya does, even if he just ate. If she nurses, he tries to nurse. If she’s having cereal or baby food, he politely waits his turn and then puckers up and opens wide. He cracks me up!

Recent Pictures

Here's Maya eating cereal with a spoon for the very first time. It was every where and lots of fun, especially seeing Jayden's reaction. She didn't eat much, but I don't think she cared.
It's been such a long time since I've seen Jayden sleep in this position. It was just too cute. I had to snap his picture!

Jayden loves balloons and today, when I picked him up from the sitters, I surprised him with this one. He loved it so much, as you can see. He went to sleep with it. Of course, I removed it after the picture, but I like to let him think he went to sleep with his balloon!

Jayden loves the excersaucer more than Maya, I think. I love that they are eye to eye when she's in it. It' so much fun to watch their interactions together. It's so obvious that Maya enjoys all of Jayden's attention and he's crazy about her too.

Esteban did a great job of getting this picture of Maya rolling around in her crib. She barely spends time in there cause she still sleeps in our bedroom, but she enjoys hanging out in there.

Jayden loves books and we get a Disney magazine in the mail that is probably geared towards pre-teens, but he loves looking through it so I always give it to him. He actually fell asleep in this very position, flipping though the pages. Esteban found him completely knocked out and just had to snap his picture and I'm glad he did.

Here's Maya practicing her sitting. She still can't sit on her own, but she sure does look like it, doesn't she? I love this shot!

Happy Halloween!

This was Jayden’s first year trick or treating and I can honestly say it was both a trick and a treat for us. Esteban took the day off so he could be home with us in the evening and I left work early because it’s Halloween, a national holiday, right? We took the kids to the pumpkin patch at our church, but it was slim pickins, as could be expected on Halloween Day and all. We took a few pictures and left without a pumpkin because there was no way we could squeeze in pumpkin carving at this point. Jayden had fun rolling them around. Here they are posing for a shot.

We went back home and while Jayden had a quick dinner, I rolled out my dough for the Halloween sugar cookies I was going to make. The dough was not working with me and I had a rough time with it, but I got it rolled out and cut out my cookies in the shapes of pumpkins, bats, and ghosts. I baked them off and left them to cool, while I tended to Jayden.

Toy Story just so happens to be one of Jayden’s favorite movies right now. He sounds so cute when he says “Woody”. So it worked out great when I found the Woody costume. Now, Jayden would not be Jayden if he didn’t fuss about one thing or another. I go to put on his Halloween costume and he’s carrying on. He was not being a very good cowboy at all. He actually started to cry and then he wouldn’t put on his hat. Oh well, never mind. Here he is showing off his costume to the neighbor. I was begging him to put on his hat and trying to take his picture, but he ran away from me and hid behind the magnolia tree.

Around 6:30pm, we decided we better get going. I saw the neighborhood kids get started so we decided to head out as well. We get Maya and Jayden loaded up into the wagon and start our treck around the block.

We get to the first house and Jayden refuses to get out of the wagon. Then I pull the wagon up the driveway of the first house and he refuses to go to the door without Maya. Now I have to figure out a way to get the wagon all the way to the front door. We rang the bell and it was a neighbor we knew. He offers Jayden the bowl and Jayden actually tries to take the entire bowl. LOL Ok, now he gets what we are doing so I try to wheel the wagon down to the road and suggest to Esteban that they cut across the grass to the next house. No way! Jayden starts to scream, “Maya, Maya!” Oh brother! So now I’m pulling the wagon up and down each driveway. If I took him to the door, he would call Daddy! If Esteban took him, he was calling Mommy! So it was a family affair. Because he was getting so many compliments, he started to wear his cowboy hat. He couldn’t say trick or treat, but he said thank you and night-night!

It started to get dark really quick. I was almost thankful because now you could easily see who had their lights on and who wasn’t interested in trick or treaters. Now we started to skip houses, but do you think it sped up the process? No. It seemed to take an eternity to make it all the way around the block. But finally we did make it and we quickly got set up in the garage. Here's Maya in the highchair. She had a great old time on her first Halloween!

Here are brother and sister. Always together and always enjoying each other's company. Well, almost always. Two minutes after this shot, we put Jayden's hat on Maya and he almost keeled over!

We got Jayden settled with a lollipop from his bag of goodies. Maya was happy because finally she was getting fed her baby food. We put on the stereo and I sat down with a tall glass of ice water and the candy bowl close at hand. Jayden was greeting all of our guests and very interested in their costumes. We got quite a few trick or treaters. I was pretty happy since I was worried that we had missed them all while we were going around the block. Everything died down around 8:30pm so we went inside.

I quickly began to take care of Maya’s diaper and nursed her to sleep while Esteban took care of Jayden’s bed time rituals. Finally, we had our dinner around 9pm and I mentioned to Esteban that I was really happy. I always plan lots of stuff and it never works out like I imagined it would. For the first time ever, I got to do everything I wanted. We went to the pumpkin patch! I baked my cookies! We went trick or treating AND got back in time to give out candy. The only thing we didn’t do was decorate the cookies, which was fine because that leaves more fun for another night. I can’t wait for next year!

Progress, At Last...

Maya was fighting her way through the transition from nursing to starting solids. Thanks to my girlfriend Annie, I decided to try mixing her cereal with something other than breast milk. Diluted juice was the winner! I decided to try tag teaming her. The sitter and Esteban were getting her in the morning with cereal and I was getting her at night with either cereal or baby food. And finally, today it started getting easier. She had a full 2 ounces of cereal this morning and tonight, she had a good 2 ounces of carrots. Of course, there was carrot everywhere, on me, on her, on her boppy, on the comforter, and even on her socks, but I couldn’t have been happier. Awesome! By no means is she sleeping through the night yet. I would have to go cold turkey and let her cry it out for 3-4 nights, which I have NO intention of doing, or wait until she outgrows it. Sadly, this is my choice.

By the way, little Maya is not so little anymore. She’s now weighing 17 lbs and 12 ozs. She’s doing really well and just recently had her 6 month visit with the pediatrician. Besides a little eczema, all is well. She got all her vaccinations and her flu shot. Ouch!

Maya Starts Solids!

Day 1 – October 7, 2007

I have somehow forgotten how to start a baby on solids. It seems like ages since I transitioned Jayden. I finally decide to start with two ounces of milk and two tablespoons of cereal. I mixed it up and put Maya in the highchair. Jayden looks at me like I’m crazy. He actually starts to whine. How dare me put Maya in his chair. Oh well. Get over it Jayden. I’m desperately trying to spoon feed Maya who is spitting out more than she’s taking in. It’s like I’m willing her to open her mouth with my facial expressions and Jayden is saying “Open Maya!” over and over again. She’s making her special little raspberry sounds and getting cereal everywhere and Jayden is mimicking her. So of course, she continues. The spoon seemed so little and the bowl seemed so big. I felt like it might take me forever to accomplish this task. I finally finished but honestly, I sincerely doubt that she got any into her mouth. At the end, I thought to myself, “Can I just nurse her forever?” To top it all off, she woke up like clockwork at 2am to nurse so my hopes of her sleeping through the night went down the tubes.

Day 2 – October 8, 2007

Tonight, I decide to go with two ounces of milk and three tablespoons of cereal. It was much better, thicker. I can honestly say there was an improvement. She liked the consistency and was smacking her lips. I would guess that she had a good 50% of what I fed her, but then she got cranky so I stopped and finished the meal by nursing her. She fell asleep around 8pm. Then she woke up again around 9pm. What happened? I nurse her again and she falls asleep. Then she wakes up again at 11pm? What’s going on here? I wanted her to sleep through the night. I didn’t mean for her to wake up more often! I actually fell asleep nursing her and didn’t wake up until Esteban came home from work. He put her to bed and she slept all night. She didn’t wake until 5am. Wow! I forgot what it was like to sleep at night. I hope this wasn’t a one time thing.

Day 3 – October 9, 2007

Tonight, I stuck with the same measurements at the night before. This time I was going to try not to get too much of Maya’s saliva into the bowl so that the cereal doesn’t get runny. She opened her mouth for the spoon and I could hear her swallow so I was encouraged. She was laughing and carrying on and being super cute. About 5-10 minutes into the feeding, I lost her interest. And I don’t know what happened, but the mixture ended up going from thick to runny again. She was starting to get cranky and I didn’t want to push it so I decided to stop. I don’t know if she got tired or full, but at least she ate quite a bit of it. Afterwards, I had to run to bathe Jayden and she was crying, but when I came back to check on her, she was asleep. At 10pm, I nursed her and she slept until 4am. Not bad.

Day 4 – October 10, 2007

Tonight, I decided to increase the cereal to 4 tablespoons. It was super stiff, but after a few minutes, it became thinner. Maya took less in though. Maybe it was because the consistency was thicker, but I only got her to take about 25% of it. She fell asleep soon after just before 8pm. At 10pm, I nursed her to sleep, but she had a relapse. She was up at 3:30am and then again at 4:45am. Ugh! What is going on here?

Day 5 – October 11, 2007

Ok, I tried to spoon feed her again and she wasn’t interested in it at all. If probably took two bites, at most. Then, I begin to wonder if maybe she’s just not hungry enough. So, I wait. About an hour or so later, I try again. No luck. So now even though they recommend you don’t do this, I take the cereal and thin it out with 2 oz of milk. I put it in a sippie cup and I give it to her. She gnawed on the nipple for a while, drank/spilt about half of it and left the rest. Oh brother. Now she’s tired and cranky and crying in that “I just want to be nursed” tone. What could I do? I nursed her to sleep. Jayden took to the spoon so easily. I can’t understand what the problem could be. And then relapse! She woke up shortly past midnight, and again at 3:30 and then at 6:30!

Day 6 – October 12, 2007

Ok, what I really want to do is just forget all about cereal and spoons and bowls. I’m looking at Maya and dreading 7:30pm, which is when I’ve been doing her feedings. She’s starting to get cranky and before you know it, she’s hungry so I drag myself to the kitchen and decide to mix one ounce of milk with 2 tablespoons of cereal. She’s now screaming her little head off, tears and everything. I think I’m in more pain and agony than she is. I start to feed her and she actually eats the cereal. Of course, she’s sucking on the spoon as if it were a nipple and the bowl was completely empty with very little spillage. Too bad I didn’t mix more cereal. Afterwards, I nursed her but she didn’t fall asleep. I don’t know what she’s waiting for. And when she did fall asleep, it wasn’t for long cause she woke up in the middle of the night for her feeding.

Day 7 – October 13, 2007

Ok, tonight I feel more confident and mix the usual 2 ounces of milk with 4 tablespoons of cereal. No deal. She took 2 or 3 spoonfuls and stopped. Then she got cranky while I continued to try and finally she started wailing! Ugh. How could this be so hard? I finally gave up (which I didn’t want to as hard-headed as I am) and nursed her. She fell asleep instantly. Of course, she woke up when her daddy came home and I was so tired I have no idea what happened after that. Maybe she was latched on for the rest of the night. Who knows? When I woke up, there she was being all hungry, wiggling her hands and legs and trying to reach out for me with her mouth. Oh goodness!

Mommy and Me Class Four

This was the last class in the session. Honestly, I am not sure if we will return for another session next week. Jayden spent the entire class being cranky and whiney. This week’s theme was Goldilocks and the facilitator brought in three different size chairs to aid in telling the story but Jayden and two other kids started to heckle over who was going to get which chair. He did manage to stay still for the craft where we made paper puppets. But after that was over, he went back to being cranky. He kept peeking out of the window and pointing to my car and calling out words like home, Maya, there it is, car, Maya, cars coming, Maya, home, Maya, Daddy, Maya, Maya. He was driving me nuts. I loose my patience quickly under three circumstances: hungry, tired or hot. And I was hot. I actually had to speak to him in a strong tone, during the class. He didn’t want to participate and ran away from the class facilitator saying No, no! Or he would point to the door and say go. Grrr! I wanted to just leave, but we stuck it out until the end. Neither of us said a peep on the way home. That’s unusual too because Jayden usually talks for most of the ride. Maybe he was tired. I don’t know. I was just quiet in thought. I can’t go to class and enjoy our alone time when he’s so desperate to get home to daddy and Maya. I was so upset. Of course, I can’t take it personally, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

Recent Pictures

I took the kids to a safety fair. It was really great but Jayden didn't seem to enjoy himself. He was only happy about the lollipop and the balloons. He didn't seem to care about the bounce houses or the clowns.
Maya was all smiles as usual and went along for the ride. She never complains. She just goes with the flow.

Jayden on the otherhand was clearly not himself. He started to cry and I just couldn't help myself. I love his purple lips here. Evidence of the lollipop he tore up!

I got Maya a pin wheel even though she's still too young for it, but I attach it to her carseat and she's completely entertained by it. The wind was blowing and it was just twirling away. She was in a trance, just staring at it.

Here's Jayden at Mommy and Me class. This is our third week and he gets a hoot out of it.

Here's the Piano Man. This is one of those toys that isn't always accessible to Jayden. We rotate some of them so that he doesn't loose interest. This includes his TMX Elmo, leggos, musical instruments, and puzzles. He hadn't played with the piano in a while so he didn't even stop to look up for the picture.

Maya really enjoys this thing. I noticed that since she's started to use it in the last month, her legs have gotten stronger so she is putting more weight on them than before. I don't know who loves the attachments more. Jayden or Maya? Sometimes, Jayden will give her toy while she's in the excersaucer so that he can take over and play with the gadgets. He's no fool!

Maya Turns 6 Months Old

Maya is 6 months old. She’s such a special little girl. She’s content and growing. She’s got these amazing chubby cheeks, bright eyes and a beautiful smile. Her little rolls are so cute. I just want to chomp on them all day long. I believe I’m not alone on this one. I catch Jayden blowing air bubbles on her tummy all the time. She keeps us entertained making those cute little raspberry sounds. And Jayden mimics her. Now I’ve got two chatterboxes. Maya has found her toes and at any chance she gets, she’s reaching for and inserting them into her mouth. Every time Jayden catches her doing this, he yanks them out of her mouth. She also rolls both ways with ease. I spread out a blanket and put her in the middle. I place a toy at each corner and she will roll her way to each and every toy. She sure does move around for someone who is no where near crawling. Maya’s greatest accomplishment though is that she is now the proud owner of two little teeth. It was a rough time for her, but she made it like a champ. Things to look forward to next month? I’m going to start her on solids and attempt to wean her from the middle of the night feeding. I’ll keep you posted.

Couponing Depression...

I hit a couponing depression. I had a humongous wad of coupons that clearly outgrew the little holder I was using. My purse which used to be the perfect size was no longer perfect. In fact, it weighed a ton. I could never find anything in it and every time I tried, I was reminded of my coupon disorganization. I was starting to get coupons from friends and neighbors and was falling behind on my clipping because I was dreading trying to organize them and since I didn’t have the coupons ready, I was late in getting my scenarios together, late in looking at sales circulars and I even lost my desire to find deal. I hit a low.

I decided to work on a new storage system for my coupons and I can’t tell you how many hours I spent, invested, or wasted (depending on who you ask) on this project. Lots! I cut out little dividers, labeled them and then reorganized all the coupons and fit them into my metal lunch box. Then I had to go through and remove all the expired coupons since it was the end of the month (atleast a hundred). I also got completely caught up on cutting coupons from four sets of inserts, and added those into my box. Thank goodness. I had to pick up groceries and I tried out my new system. It worked great! I loved it. When I got home, I found more inserts. What’s this! The neighbor had dropped off more coupons. Ugh. I cut those out and add them into the box. Whew! I go get the mail and what’s in the mail box? Two coupon trains! These are two small groups of couponers who circulate and exchange coupons amongst each other. You get the envelope, take what you want and add more to replace the ones you’ve removed. Now, I am back at the coupons adding in the new coupons from the trains and removing those I’ll be using to fill up the envelopes. My entire weekend, which is 4 days long mind you, is completely gone and most of it to couponing! I’m so happy that it’s over and hope I don’t have to go through that again.

This month, my grocery bill only went down by 7%, but everything is overflowing and I’ve even had to move some things into the garage. The medicine cabinets, vanities, kitchen cupboards, fridge, and freezer are all stocked. I even have baby cereal, and baby food in size 1, 2 & 3 for Maya who doesn’t even eat yet. This month, I bought more diapers than usual. For one, Target was running a sale and then I found a clearance deal at Walgreens for diapers and training pants that was too good to pass up. I bought 10 packs of diapers for both Jayden and Maya for normal everyday use. Then, I bought 8 packs of training pants for Jayden and Maya (yes, Maya). I now have size 2, 2-3, 3, and 4 diapers for Maya in storage. I bought most of these at great prices and all with coupons which I’ve been trading for. Now, I won’t have to pay what the store is asking when I need them because I bought them at clearance prices before I needed them. Overall, I’m happy with this month’s deals and progress.

Jayden Gives Mommy a Big Scare!

Maya had been in her bouncer seat for a while so I spread out a blanket and lay her on it. Jayden was watching Monsters Inc. for the hundredth time and I was in the kitchen fixing dinner. I came around the corner with my plate, thinking that Jayden may want to eat from my plate since he didn’t eat very well earlier in the day. I see Jayden sitting watching TV and I realize that I don’t see Maya. I don’t see Maya because Jayden in sitting on her, as if she were a pony. I look at Maya to see if she’s moving but she’s completely still and not making any sounds. I think my eyes almost popped out of my head. I’m shouting Jayden’s name in pure awe and amazement. What was he thinking? Why are you sitting on Maya? Never, never do this again. You sit on the chair or sit on the floor. Not on Maya. Now mind you, Maya is just fine. She’s squealing and clearly enjoying her brother’s antics. (Don’t egg him on Maya!) She’s much more resilient than I think, but Jayden scared the daylights out of me. I didn’t spank him, but my eyes were like saucers and I know he must have been scared at the look on my face. When Daddy called, I told him what happened and Jayden just sat there still as could be. He would not take the phone to greet his daddy. He knew he was wrong. He said he was sorry several times and assured me he loves me. Breaks your heart, doesn’t it? I know. Me too, but he better not sit on Maya again. I mean it!

Mommy and Me Class - Week Three

Today, we had our third class. Jayden went in with the usual serious look on his face, but he warmed up very quickly. Our story today was the Three Little Pigs. After the story, the instructor had straw, wood (Popsicle sticks) and bricks for the kids to feel and explore. The kids loved the straw. It has a very different texture and a distinct smell. It was everywhere. The kids really liked the popsicle sticks too. Then it was craft time. They glued together a piggy’s face together and then colored it. It was very cute. It’s always hard to tear Jayden away from the craft table, but when the parachute came out he came running. We played with that for a while and then we built houses with blocks and practiced blowing them down. Of course, they really enjoyed knocking the blocks over. At the end of the activity, the kids helped with clean up. I’m still pleasantly surprised at how much they want to help at this age. We closed with a song and made it out just in time. A rain storm had just ended. I am really enjoying sharing this time with Jayden and I’m hoping that there’s another class we can do together after this one is over. I’m learning just as much as he is. Lots of times, I refrain from certain activities because I think to myself, he’s too little or he doesn’t get it, or it’ll just make a mess. I’m so wrong. I need to do more. He’s this little only once.

A Compilation of Funny Jayden Moments

One day, we were in the car running errands and afterwards we were deciding on what to do for lunch when Jayden announces “want more”. I knew he was hungry and reassured him that we were going home and we would have lunch there. Obviously he wasn’t comforted because he said again “Mommy, want more.” I again reassure him that we’ll eat soon. He responds with, “There it is!” There what is? What is he talking about? I look over and he’s pointing to the Golden Arches! You’ve got to be kidding me. He’s two and he already knows McDonald’s? We barely ever go there.

Jayden competes for attention with Maya in the subtlest of ways. He’s never downright mean, but always makes his point. Maya typically spits up when she’s burped. So, I get her burp cloth and wipe her with it. So Jayden has started to spit so that the drool is hanging off of the side of his lip and then he shows me his pucker very carefully so that the drool doesn’t drip so that I can wipe his face off too. What a guy.

This week, we’ve been watching the computer animated movie, Monsters Inc. Jayden will bring me the remote control for the DVD player whenever he wants to see it. There’s a scene in the movie, where the monsters are coming onto the floor reporting for duty and they kinda show them in slow motion. The other monsters (the assistants) are watching in awe and one of them says in a really goofy voice “They’re awesome!” So Jayden repeats, “Awesome”. It took me by surprise the first time and I couldn’t figure out what he was saying. Was that awesome? No, can’t be. We never say that. But I started to notice him saying it every time that scene plays (and that’s a lot), he says it. Makes me smile every time!

Mommy and Me Class, Week Two

Jayden and I had our second Mommy and Me class. Jayden seemed happy to go, but once he got there, he became very clingy and super serious. He was not smiling at anyone or anything. This week, the story was Jack and the Beanstalk. So we had story time and then we passed around containers full of beans with little treasures hidden inside. Who would have thought the kids would enjoy this so much. They were thrilled and played with the beans and looked for the toys hidden inside. It was so simple and so great. Next we had a craft. The kids painted a picture of Jack climbing the beanstalk and had the chance to glue beans onto their coloring sheets. I remembered what happened last week with the glue stick so I scrapped that idea. Jayden refused to wear the cover I brought along to protect his clothes so we proceeded with caution. It wasn’t bad at all. It was great and he got a kick out of putting his brush in and out of the colors and cleaning the brush in cups of water.

Afterwards, we played “Duck, Duck, Goose”, but the kids were all two years old and they didn’t get the concept so this didn’t work. So we moved on. We practiced up and down since Jack climbed up and down the beanstalk. We each grabbed a hold of a parachute and brought it up and down. The kids got such a kick out of this. Most ran under the parachute, but Jayden was perfectly happy helping raise and lower the parachute. Finally, he was starting to warm up to the other kids and moms. At the end, we had song and dance time and then class was over. This week was a little disorganized since there was only one instructor and she’s in training. Plus, there were some new faces since last week, but everything worked out well.

I love these classes. It’s the only place where it doesn’t matter what Jayden does. He’s never in trouble and never getting reprimanded. He can run and play and doesn’t have to hear me saying don’t do this or don’t touch that. It’s very relaxing when you just let the kids do whatever they want. I run a pretty tight ship at home so it’s great to take him to places where it’s all fair game.

This picture was taken the first week. He loves those foam building blocks. He stacked those up all by himself.

He's such a goofy boy.

Here's week two. This was after the parachute activity. He was happy from then on out.
Here he is working with his little friend, named Maya, just like his sister. They were working together to build the tower and then knock it over. Hmmm. Maya attends Mommy and Me class with her nanny. I thought this was odd, but didn't give it a second thought. Then at today's class, Maya's mommy came for a "visit". She stayed for about 10 minutes and left. Hmmm.

Fussy Girl!

Boy, oh boy! Maya sure has been fussy. Esteban told me she gave him a hard time on Thursday, but when I picked her up from the sitters, she said all was well. Hmmm. Then Saturday, it was chaos. Maya kept fussing and wanted to be held and whenever that happens, it automatically triggers Jayden’s desire to be held, coddled, played with etc. So by Saturday night, I was pulling my hair out and I did it. I reached my finger into her little mouth and aha! I felt it! A tooth. A tooth is breaking through. How exciting. Where is my little newborn baby? She’s growing up before my very eyes. Tylenol came to the rescue. In case you’re wondering, so far no biting! Very thrilled about that, although I’m sure the dreaded moment will come.

Mommy and Me

I try so hard to spend as much quality time with the kids as possible. Sometimes I have to prioritize, but that’s ok. I love being with them, but I think it’s important to spend time alone with each of them. When I run errands, I take one or the other with me but that’s not really “quality” time. I nurse Maya and when Jayden isn’t vying for attention, it’s a really special time between Maya and I. To me, it was really important to spend quality time with Jayden too. So Jayden and I started “Mommy and Me” classes.

At first, I didn’t really know what to expect, but after our first class, I was very happy. It was very structured, which is important because I feel that Jayden doesn’t get enough of structured activities. First the kids sat in a circle and listened to the story of Little Red Riding Hood. They had a puppet that they used to tell the story with and afterwards, they passed the contents of Red Riding Hood’s basket around the room for the kids to see. Jayden was very good about passing the items to the other kids. Then there was a craft activity where the kids created a Red Riding Hood puppet out of a toilet paper holder, construction paper, and a glue stick. Jayden was glue everywhere and there was no tearing that glue stick away from Jayden. Then, the kids practiced over and through since little red riding hood went “over the river and through the woods”. The kids jumped over shapes on the floor and went through tunnels. Jayden hasn’t mastered the skill of jumping yet so I grabbed him and hopped over the shapes which he enjoyed just as much. As for the tunnels, Jayden thought it would be more fun to roll balls through them, but then I rolled one in and asked him to get it and he did it! Then there was dance time. Again Jayden struggled with wanting to do his own thing and I didn’t want to force him into doing anything at all so we just went with it. Finally, we sat with our kids and sang songs and all the while I was hugging and kissing my little man. And then the class was over.

Next class, we will be painting! Should be interesting. Jayden has painted before at the sitter’s but this will be my first time with him. Can’t wait!

Anniversary Weekend

Our wedding anniversary was on Friday, but both Esteban and I were working so we decided to celebrate it over the weekend. Esteban had requested Saturday and Sunday off so we could spend some family time together. I was so excited.

On Thursday, Esteban brought me chocolate covered strawberries. Yummy. They were huge, juicy, ripe and delicious.

On Friday, when I came home with the kids, I found a card and a rose in my bedroom. It was beautiful. I do believe it was the most beautiful rose he has ever picked out for me.

Saturday was what I would consider the most perfect day. We took our time in the morning without rushing ourselves or the kids. We had breakfast, showered, dressed and left the house with no real plan. We headed to the park and let Jayden run around while daddy chased him. I sat on the swing with Maya and watched. Here are the boys at the slide.

Here I am with the kids. I love this!
Unfortunately, we heard some thunder. We decided that was a good time for the grand entrance so we dragged Jayden away and went off to the next stop.

We took Jayden for a much needed haircut. I was armed with all sorts of goodies in hopes that he would stay as still as possible. A box of gummi bears, an applesauce and a box of Chex treats later, the haircut was over. The cut turned out well. It can't be easy to cut a two year old's hair. Jayden was moving around so much and there's a few missed spots but it's all just a part of his charm. It a little shorter than I had hoped, but it’s very cute on him. Here's the side view. He refused to look at the camera because he was busy coloring.Here's the back. The picture couldn't have turned out any better. If I had asked him to show the back of his head, he would have probably smiled and said cheese. ha-ha
After the cut, Jayden was pretty cranky so we took the kids home for a nap and then we went to church. It felt really great to go together. It had been a while. We decided to try the new Spanish service and we really enjoyed it. The pastor was very funny and it was a small but close-knit group. Afterwards, we decided to try a new place in town for dinner. We went to Guso’s Italian Grill. It was fabulous. We received the best service possible. We didn’t feel bad at all with the kids. It was definitely a family restaurant without feeling rowdy. There was great service, delicious food and did I mention we really enjoyed ourselves? I was so happy with how the day turned out. It’s too bad we don’t get to spend as much time together as I’d like because we really enjoy it.