Preparations for Jayden's Birthday Party

Jayden’s birthday is coming soon. I have been super busy planning the party, making arrangements, putting together menus and researching cake designs. Golly! This is a lot of work. I don’t want things to get out of hand at the last minute so I put together a master to-do list and I’m planning and plotting when I’ll be working on things so that next Sunday, I’m not going nuts to pull it all together.

Since Jayden understands what a birthday is now, I’ve been telling him that his birthday party is coming soon and that mommy is making him a birthday cake. He’s the birthday boy. I tell him that he’s going to be three years old and that he’s a big boy now. Since he’s going to be a big boy now, I tell him that he should use the potty chair now. (I know, shameless plug.) As the day nears, he gets more and more excited. He asks about his birthday everyday. I might regret this later, but I never had birthday parties growing up and I want this to be a special part of his life.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Party City to pick up supplies and he’s been thrilled ever since. Friday, I was sorting and organizing goodies, supplies and decorations. Jayden was trying to get to his Blue’s Clues piñata so bad. I reminded him that it was for his birthday party and that it was coming soon. Today, I worked on the loot bags and he saw the handy dandy notebooks that I picked up. He wanted them so bad. I can only imagine what’s going to happen tomorrow when I fill the piñata. LOL

In preparation for his birthday party, I decided to take Jayden for a haircut. Now, I’m a pretty fussy lady. I know this. It’s hard to make me happy. For such a young boy, Jayden’s been through a heck of a lot of barbers and hair stylists. I have only once been satisfied with Jayden’s haircut so I set off to take Jayden to the one man who seemed to have a good handle on his hair. Except when I got to the barbershop, he wasn’t there. I couldn’t remember his name and the owner didn’t seem to know who I was talking about so now I have to find a new person.

I decided to take him to a place I’ve been meaning to try called Sports Clips. As you can imagine, it’s all sports themed there and it looks like a pretty cool place. So there we went. We signed in and waited our turn. Jayden ended up with the only male hair stylist in the joint. He tends to be more comfortable with men than with women so I was happy. Except, I forget to tell the guy that I don’t like it when they cut the sideburn straight across. I prefer medium sideburns. And before you know it, not only did he cut it straight across, but he must have cut it crooked because in his attempt to fix it, he cut it well above where a normal sideburn should be.

So of course, I say something. He explains that Jayden moved and he did cut it a tad bit shorter than he would have liked. I leave it alone and I notice that he’s got the clippers and he’s headed back to the other side. “What are you doing? Don’t tell me you’re going to do the same thing to the other side. One side is all screwed up. I don’t want both sides like that. I can’t believe this. It’s a week to his birthday.” This poor guy was so nervous. He got flustered and couldn’t fade Jayden’s hair and had to call one of the other hair dressers to his aid. This poor man disappeared after that. The second lady ended up giving Jayden a decent cut, but wouldn’t accept payment for it. I felt horrible. I really liked how she cut his hair and would have gone back, but I felt so bad for the guy I don’t know if I could. He didn’t want to see me and I felt ashamed. I mean, I didn’t cause a scene or call him names, but I felt so bad. I wanted to apologize and let him know that I didn’t blame him. Things happen. But I couldn’t so I asked the hair dresser to let him know I was sorry about how things turned out and left.

Weaning: Somebody Won't Let Go

After tossing it around and much deliberation, I made a decision to wean Maya. I was just so tired of her giving me a hard time at the end of the night and of her waking up 1-3 times a night. I felt that I had to wean or I would just die or be angry all the time. I discovered I had no idea how to wean. I tried to give her a bottle of milk hoping she would be nice and full before bed, but she tossed it to the side and screamed her head off. My girlfriend suggested taking away the easiest feeding first. So in an effort to wean Maya, I took away her 3:00pm feeding. This is the feeding immediately following her afternoon nap. That was a month ago. It turned out to be a long process.

Three weeks into it, she was still following me around the house like clockwork at 3:00pm crying and tugging on my pant leg. One day, it dawned on me that the opening of the nipple I was using could in no way feel like drinking from the breast because the flow was completely different. I decided to try it with a nipple that had a smaller opening and lo and behold, it did the trick. I waited for a week just to be sure, but she seemed fine with it. I intended to wait until Saturday to wean the next feeding just in case she fought it. I would have four full days to help her work through it. But on Friday, I came home from work to find her drinking a bottle at 6:30pm. This is the time I normally nurse her. Hmmm.

Esteban apologized and suggested I take the bottle from her and nurse her, but then I thought why? I was planning on weaning the 6pm feeding the next day anyway. So I let her finish the bottle and nursed her before bedtime at 9pm. That’s when it hit me. I was thinking about my reaction when I came home and found Maya perfectly content with her bottle and I was enraged. I am not ready to wean just yet. I thought I was, but I’m not. I was only desperate to wean because she was already 1 year old and still not sleeping through the night. I was at my wits end. Plus, I think Esteban is ready for me to wean. At work, I pump and I’ve had people ask, “You’re still nursing? Wow, that’s great.” But in my head I’m worried that what they’re really thinking is, “Still? Dang!” I wonder if other people are looking and wondering when I’m going to stop. I wouldn’t have felt as desperateif she could have just slept through the night.

Then all of a sudden at 13 months old, she did. It was right around the time I made a conscious decision to end all middle of the night feedings. She’s old enough, I thought. She gets plenty to eat throughout the day. She doesn’t need the feeding. She might possibly need to be comforted or feel close to me, but she can’t possibly need sustenance. When I got firm, things started to happen. At first she would wake once or twice. I would rock her, insert the paci and lay her back in bed. Now that she knows she can’t graze no more, she sleeps through the night and now that I’m getting a full nights sleep and I’m only doing three feedings a day, I’m don’t feel so hot and bothered by it.

I’m not so sure that I want to proceed with the next scheduled weaning. And not for her sake, because I feel that at this point it would probably be easier to wean, but more for my sake. I need that time with her. I love the way she latches on. I love the look on her face when she drifts off to sleep. Sometimes she dives in and with incredible precision I might add. And when she pulls herself off, she sits up, looks around with that drunken sailor look on her face before diving in for once last chug. I love the look on her face when she sees me getting ready for her. She lights up and smiles from ear to ear. Then she starts to kick both feet and waves both arms in excitement. It’s so cute and it’s such a special time. I am reminded that this is it. There won’t be any other babies or chances at breastfeeding. The time will fly by and I’ll look at my little girl and wonder where by baby went. I just want to enjoy it as much as I can for as long as I can. So, weaning is on hold, for now.

Picture Mania

Maya hangs out in the screen room. Clearly, she's got a full diaper!
I met a friend at Lake Eola Park in Downtown Orlando and Jayden was spotting the swans on the way to lunch.

Awww.

We spent a weekend at Titi's house and spent a fun day at the pool. Here's Aiden attempting to spray Jayden.

Titi and Maya

Jayden still afraid to get wet.

Maya isn't sure what to make of things.

Titi goes commando on the kids. Chooch suffers the brunt of the attack.

Titi loves on Chooch. All is well again.

We got invited to the neighbor's house and Jayden decided he was going to drive.

It was very warm out so the kids cooled of at the water table. Jayden is like the mad scientist. Maya just wants to splash around.

Very busy. Concentrating.

It was no easy feat getting a hat on Maya but she sure was darn cute in it.

I finally get a willing smile from Jayden.

Mother's Day - Me and the kids spent the evening over at the swing set.

Jayden masters the rope ladder.

Hangin' around...

Jayden wants to push Maya so bad, but he hasn't figured out how to get out of the way before getting wacked! So he attempts to push from the side. It wasn't pretty.

Finally he agrees to get on the swing.

Only for a second cause this is so much more fun.

My Birthday

It is so nice to have family so close by. Now that my sister lives here, we are spending a lot of time together. Before, special occasions would bring me much sorrow because Esteban would have to go to work and I’d be home alone with the kids. Now, I have my sister. I was very sad that Esteban and I couldn’t do something together for my birthday since he had to work, but we managed to get the kids together and go out for breakfast. And that was a great start to the day. We had a great time and then he left to work and I loaded the kids up in the car and went to my sister's. She made a wonderful lasagna dinner and a chocolate cheesecake. It was so good. It ended up getting kinda late so I spent the night there and came back the next day. It was a great day!

Here I am with my sister and Maya. Jayden of course said something about No! when I asked him to take his picture with Mommy.
This was a super delicious chocolate cheesecake with chocolate ganache icing. Beautiful presentation. Thanks sister!

Arthur Live!

My sister suggested we take the kids to see Arthur Live. They were coming to the Lakeland Center which is right smack at the halfway point between her place and mine. It worked out really well. Aiden really loved the show and had the typical ooh-aah reaction. He was very cute. And when she wasn't dropping her bottle, Maya was cooing and babbling the entire time. I was pleasantly surprised with the show’s content. It had something for all ages. I enjoyed it much better than the Blue’s Clues show, but poor Jayden sat there with a frown on. I tried to engage him by dancing in my seat, clapping and singing, but he was actually trying to hold my arms down so I wouldn’t clap. I’m no longer surprised by his reactions so I just ignored him.

The curtain went down for the intermission and Jayden looked at me and said “Where’s Blues Clues?” Is that what the problem is? He automatically thought it would be Blues Clues performing, since that was the first show we went to. Poor guy. Snacks and juice kept him entertained for the second half of the show and afterwards we hit the souvenir stand. I got him a T-Shirt and a back pack and he seemed happy with this. I’m thinking about Diego Live next. We’ll see.

Here is my boy. I'm not sure if you can see it or not, but notice how his eyebrow is furrowed.
I kept Maya on my lap with the help of the baby carrier. Diaper changes were interesting but we made it happen!

Here's my sister and her family, enjoying the show.

The Grandparents Come to Visit!

Grandpa and Grandma came for a long overdue trip. And we had such a fun time with them. It was hard to see them go. We sure did keep busy with frequent visits to my sister’s place, the birthday, the swing set and a few other things around the house, but we enjoyed their company. It was so nice to have some extra hands around the house. Maya was always in someone’s lap. Grandma helped with baths and Grandpa loved to feed Maya. Grandma came with me to one of Jayden’s birthday parties and to Maya’s 1 year well visit. My dad helped my husband with the swing set and some irrigation work that needed to be done as a result of the screen room installation. He came with me to pick out the ceiling fan and the carpet for my screen room and he installed some lighting for me in my kitchen. It was so awesome having them around.

Jayden caught on to saying grandma and grandpa and it was just so cute to watch him. He would get into trouble and call out “Grandma”. Or if she wasn’t around, he’d say “Grandpa”. Now they are gone and he asks about them all the time. Where’s Grandpa? Where’s Grandma? Grandpa’s working? Grandpa’s coming soon? One day, he took me by the hand and led me to our spare room. “Open the door.” I wondered why. Maybe he wanted to color. When I opened the door, he looked at me and says “Where’s Grandpa?” Awww. I was so sad for him. If he sees anyone in public that’s a grandparent type, he’ll actually say hi grandma or hi grandpa. Luckily most people laugh. “Look, there’s Grandma. Hi Grandma!” he yelled this morning to the lady who was out walking her dogs. It would be so nice to have them closer. Visits are so nice, but saying good bye is so hard. Luckily my sister popped in on us to see them off and hung out with me after they left.

Here's Grandma with Jayden and Maya.
Here's grandpa with the kids. He's got his hands full.

Here's Grandpa with the boys: Jayden, Sebastian and Aiden.

My Favorite Space!

We finally got our screen room! I’m so excited. I love this space. This could easily be the room that gets the most use in the house right now. I have a sitting area out there and the kids have their play space. I’ve gotten my living room back. No more toys! Now the kid’s rocking chair, my rocking chair, the play pen, their ride on toys and their toy box is neatly sitting on the porch. The kids go out there willingly so it works out really well. We can keep them out of the house but still keep an eye on them and actually clean or do things around the house.

As soon as I wake up, I make a pot of coffee and grab the kids and head for the porch. Daddy can now get some much needed sleep in the mornings because the house is quiet. Since we’re outside, there’s less TV action, which I love. I was worrying that the kids were spending too much time in front of the TV. Messes are no longer located in the middle of the living room. Everything is outside and clean up is a cinch. It works out great.

Jayden and Maya love being outdoors. And there’s so much going on out there. They hear the birds singing, or the planes flying over us. They stop to listen or see where the sounds are coming from. The neighbors walk their dogs or push their strollers. The neighborhood kids run around on their bikes or skateboards so Jayden can say hi and interact with them. They just don’t get bored out there. I spend a heck of a lot of time at the kitchen sink so it works out great because I can hear and see everything that’s happening from the window right in front of my sink. Did I mention, I love this space?

Here's the view from the curb. And yes, those are gardenias that are just now coming into bloom. They smell wonderful right about now.
Here's my sitting area. Love it! PS I bet if I wanted to take a picture of Jayden he would make a face or turn away, but because I was clearly trying to get a picture of my room, he just had to scoot into the shot!