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!