"I Don't Know" or does he?

It seems like Jayden’s short list of words and expressions has exploded in such a short time. I don’t even know if I can recap the list, but it’s very exciting to be able to communicate with him. We spent some time at my girlfriend’s house the other day and there was a game of pool volleyball going on. The ball went out of bounds and into the grass and they called out to Jayden and asked him to get the ball and off he went. In order to get to the ball, he had to get past a hammock and there was no way he could do that without falling into the pool so my girlfriend told him to wait a minute and he did. Then she moved the hammock and told him to come around this way and very carefully, and he did. She turned to me and commented on how nice it was that he understood so much of what we were saying. Amen!

We continue to speak to him in Spanish and English. As recommended, I mostly speak to him in English and Esteban speaks to him mostly in Spanish. Jayden seems to understand Esteban’s basic commands just as much. Now, he is actually stopping to watch the TV during playtime so I am starting to make sure that he catches episodes of Barney or Sesame Street. He likes to repeat numbers and his favorite seems to be six. We also like to put on Diego, Dora, Handy Manny or Maya & Miguel because they use both Spanish and English just like we do at home. On the weekends, there’s not much programming on for his age so I always make sure to order Baby Einstein DVDs from Netflix. He really enjoys them. Because he usually listens to instead of watches TV while he’s playing, I play the DVDs during meal or snack time because he’s strapped to the highchair and really pays attention.

But not only is his comprehension getting much better, he’s starting to use words as opposed to the expressions he’s been using. It used to be where he would say things like oh no or oh wow. Then he started to use two word expressions like thank you and bless you. Now, he started repeating words that I usually use with Rio like eat and sit. Unfortunately, when he says sit it sounds like s*it. J When Rio goes out to do his business, Jayden chases after him calling his name, just like we do. Except instead of Rio, he says ee-oo. The other day I was talking with him and I asked him a question, never really expecting a response because mostly he just uses gibberish. And much to my surprise, he said I don’t know. I just sat there, dumbfounded. Did he really just say that? Then I heard it several other times. He was saying I don’t know and I know. He even mimics mommy and daddy when they are having a “passionate” conversation by yapping away in a raised voice until he gets our attention. Little joker!

It’s so funny how much he learns just by watching. He understands when I say help mommy that I need him to do something. He always comes running. He takes the fabric softener sheets from the laundry basket to the trash. He takes his diapers to the pail and patiently waits while I change Maya to throw her diaper out too. If Maya cries or sneezes, he knows to run for her pacifier and a blanket. He puts his sippy cups in the sink when he’s done with them and he puts my water glass on the counter next to the fridge because he knows I will go there to refill it. At night, he knows what buttons to press to start and stop his CD player. He also knows how to make the CD repeat itself. He flushes the toilet when we go and sometimes when we don’t. He even hands me the toilet paper, one square at a time. The other day, he locked the sliding glass door behind me when I went out with Rio. Luckily Daddy was home!

Sometimes, Jayden regresses, but usually he just bounces right back. I called him a few nights ago to come to me. He was about 3 feet away. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled to me. Hmmm. Other times, he wants to have milk, like the baby does. I nurse. (The answer is no.) Now, that I’m back to work and Jayden sees Esteban bottle-feeding Maya, he wants that too. A couple of times, I have found him sucking on a finger or putting Maya’s pacifier in his mouth. Mostly, I just think he’s curious. And definitely, he’s growing (in more ways than one)!

Maya is Three Months Old

Maya is three months old today. She’s weighing 12 pounds 11 ½ ounces and is 22 inches long. I’m not sure how since she measured ½ inch longer when she hit two months, but oh well. She still wakes up once in the night to nurse, but she sleeps a good 5-6 hours in a row and I’m happy with that. Maya is no longer sleeping in her first bassinet. She always seemed to sleep very little in it as if she were uncomfortable so we moved her into the play pen's bassinet. She seems happy there. She’s still living in our room and I’ll probably leave her there for now. I put her in her crib for naps sometimes, but she usually fuses so I end up moving her to her swing. Plus Jayden tries to climb in with her. And he’s a big boy at 30 pounds and can cause some serious damage if he were to fall on her accidentally so she'll be rooming with us for a while.

Maya continues to nurse and nothing makes me happier. I just went back to work and I was so worried about the transition. I worried about not having a place to express my milk, about not having enough milk to express and about Maya not wanting me anymore. It was all for naught. I am pumping in my office. I do pump almost exactly what I need and Maya still latches on with no problems at all. The days she was with the sitter, she made me nervouse because she was drinking way more milk than when I nurse her, but as soon as we were together again, she seemed content with my supply. I was so happy because I was killing myself trying to squeeze in an extra pump, and I was barely getting enough milk to make it worth it so I decided to stick with three pumping sessions a day, which is a lot more manageable than four.

Maya coos and chuckles and even squeals in delight. Esteban swears she says mama when I'm not home. She's very active. She goes nuts in her play yard and bouncer and usually tires herself out. She responds very well to mommy and daddy and her big brother too. Maya grabs on to fingers or toys and shakes them around and many times you can hear her tiny feet kicking at her toys in her bassinet. She holds herself up very well and is super alert so I give her tummy time. She's not crazy about it, but I know it's good for her. She's also starting to suck her thumb which is just too cute. To let you in on a little secret, I sucked my thumb till I was 10 years old. I am not planning on letting her go that long though.

Jayden is crazy about his sister, but is now starting to show signs of jealousy. Before he was definitely trying to dominate our time and attention, but now he gets jealous if he feels in any way threatened. The other day, Maya was crying so I went to get her from my room and was carrying her into the living room. When I got there, he had folded up her play yard and sat on top of it as if to stop me from putting her in it. If I lay down next to Maya, he will try to squeeze in between the two of us. He's also doing the same thing to Esteban when he's home with the kids. Mostly, Jayden just wants to help but every once in a while... Watch out! He’s something else.

Hair Do or Don't

If you remember, this was my first look. She colored it in chunks and blow dried it straight.

This was the color after the first wash and I went with my normal wavy look. The color was less radiant but as it was losing strength, it was turning more of a salmon color.

This is my new color. It's more of a burgundy and deep brown and I'm so much happier with it. It's more subtle and I got great reactions.

Big change? What do you think?

First Day Back

Well, I did it. I made it through my first day at work. Preparing for today was harder than actually going through the day. Yesterday, I was a maniac. I woke up, got the kids ready (practice for today) and got to my first appointment at the doctor’s office. Then, I headed to the hair salon to “fix” my new do. I got there early so I picked up lunch for Jayden and me and then I nursed Maya. Wow, I can’t believe the timing is actually going to work out. I grab Jayden and discover he is past due his diaper change. Yikes. I get him changed and head to the salon. The stylist said she was so happy when I called back. She was shocked by the color and hated it. It wasn’t what she thought it would be. That made two of us. I envisioned a reddish brown and she said that’s what she had planned originally but let one of her co-workers talk her into trying this new hair color that was going to look so awesome on me, etc. Last time she tries a new product without being thoroughly acquainted with it, according to her. Maya starts to carry on at this point. She always gets cranky right before nap. After the color was applied, I rocked Maya to sleep. Lucky for me, the salon was slow so I let Jayden out of the stroller and he ran around while I got my cool new look. Great. I’m out the door and headed home for Jayden’s nap and Maya’s feeding.

Afterwards, I get the kids back in the car and head to the nail salon. I had tried to get my nails done the day before but Jayden started to carry on, woke up Maya and before you know it, I had two screaming kids. I had to leave halfway into my appointment. I got there, got polished and just barely dried before Jayden started to carry on again so I had no chance at getting my eyebrows waxed. Oh, well. Once we were home, it was time for Maya’s feeding (again). After I got her taken care of, I fed Jayden and I got a bite myself. Then, I’m rushing to pack baby bags for Jayden and Maya, defrost milk, make bottles, organize my pumping supplies, pick out clothes for the kids, etc. I then get on the phone with the new sitter to clear up questions regarding the contract. Once we are all clear, I get Jayden off to bed and start to fill out the application. (Why did I wait till the last minute?) I finished just in time to feed Maya. By then, it was 9:30pm and I was pooped. I fell asleep.

Maya still isn’t sleeping through the night so I was up at 3:15am. I fed Maya and pumped since I was engorged and she only nursed from one side. Now, I can’t fall back asleep. I tossed and turned and finally drift off to sleep where I start to dream about my co-workers who are angry with me and write me off (in the dream). The alarm goes off and I can’t believe it. I wanted to linger in bed and I fell asleep. Luckily, Maya let out a scream and I jumped out of bed. I got in the shower, and then nursed and dressed her. I got myself ready and then I realize that Maya has pooped so I got to go back to take care of her. I run in to get Jayden taken care of. I grab the milk bottles, the ice pack and cooler and realize that I don’t have a container to store the expressed milk. Quickly, I find something and load the kids into the car. By now, Rio is attacking an old lady across the street. Grrr. I get him back inside and realize I forgot my lunch. I grab that and go. I am on my way and I’m only 20 minutes behind schedule. I’m impressed. I drop the kids off at the sitter and Jayden has a cow. I had to make a quick escape and cried the whole way to work.

After I got to work, it was a breeze. I said hello to everyone, shared pictures, read 700+ emails and that was my day. Pumping went well. I pumped three times and it went by much faster than I thought. The day flew by. Unfortunately, while I pumped three times, I found out that Maya had taken four bottles. I have back up milk in the freezer, but I hope she doesn't get used to drinking more milk since my body won't know to make more. I don't know if I can squeeze in a 4th pump and still get 4 ounces at each session. Anyway, I picked up the kids and they appeared to be well taken care of. Relief. I came home and have to admit that getting ready for tomorrow was much easier. Jayden was attention starved when I got home, even though I dedicated the first two hours to him. I got his dinner and then cleaned him up. He got his bath and played with the "Welcome Back" balloons I brought home. And right when it was time to nurse Maya, he started acting up. Needless to say, he went to bed when I was done nursing. Now I am ready for bed.

New Do! Oh no...

So I’m going back to work in a few days and I wanted to have a new look. I made an appointment for a haircut with the woman who has been styling my hair for years. I have been letting my hair grow out since last September and it’s grown quite a bit, but waiting sucks. Anyway, I went in for a trim, and when I got there I asked about possibly coloring my hair. I really trust her opinion. She suggested doing some highlights. I was really excited and went for it. Well, when they took that towel off of my head and I looked in the mirror, I almost keeled over. My highlights were red. Literally, they were red. When she said red, I assumed she meant a natural hair color with a red base. I didn’t know she meant crayola red. I immediately looked at Esteban who said he liked it. He said I just wasn’t used to it. I couldn’t be sure if Esteban was saying it looked nice because he really thought so or just to be nice. Maybe I would feel differently in the morning. Maybe the color wouldn’t look as intense after the first wash. I don’t know. I immediately went to see my girlfriend Maria. She always keeps it real. Wow! It looks nice. That was her reaction. My 7th grade English teacher once said, “Nice is the word you use when you don’t have anything nice to say.”

I definitely can’t keep this look for work. It will never work. I work where we hire business professionals and preach the professional appearance policy to all the candidates. I keep looking at it and wondering what to do next. I look at myself over and over again in the mirror and I don’t know who I am looking at. I feel like the new look makes me look like an older woman trying to look young. Maybe this look is in now, as the hairdresser said, but I feel like I’m too old to pull off this trend. Only one thing to do now. I’ve made an appointment to go back to re-do my new look. New pictures to follow…

Jayden got his haircut too. I love his new cut. This time, it came out really well. I am thrilled. Not only that, he was so well behaved and sat pretty still. He tolerated the cape and he even sat still during the buzz portion of the cut. Here’s my little prince.

The Kids . . .

Sleeping Maya...
Sleeping Jayden. He's such an angel when he's asleep.

Here's Maya smiling at Daddy's funny faces.

Pretty smiles.

Big brown eyes.

Daddy and Jayden stand triumphantly, as Jayden finally wears a baseball cap without taking it off his head.

Here he is with his tiger cap.

Jayden and Rio at our cookout.

A Day in the Sun

Esteban took an extra day off today so that we could hang out together. I was so happy because my time at home is almost up and nothing makes me happier than spending time with my family. We were going to go to Little Lake Bryan, but I remembered a local pool from one of the mommy clubs so I looked up the place and directions and we left. The recreation center wasn’t too far and it was so nice. We had a wonderful day at the pool. Finally, Jayden reacted how I thought he would. He was so excited and tried to go in straightaway. We took a detour to find a spot first and since we were there early, we had first choice. We picked a table with an umbrella for Maya and immediately changed, lotioned up and headed for the water.

This place was awesome. This pool had a great set-up for toddlers. It was a zero entry pool and was clearly marked. We spent most of the time in the one through three foot section and that’s where they had tons of water sprays and tubes for the kids. Jayden loved it. The water was cool, but comfortable and the weather was great! Esteban and I took turns with Jayden and Maya and everyone had a great time. We were there for a little over three hours. It was a half day trip, but it felt so great to go. We really needed that!

Here's Maya hanging out in her suit by the table.
Here's me and Jayden by giant mushroom water sprayer. Jayden was giving me a big wet one.

Here's Jayden and Daddy in the water. They were having such a great time.