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.