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.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my wedding anniversary. Six years ago today, I thought I had won the lottery by finding Esteban and marrying him. I used to joke around and say that the marriage license was my receipt and I could return him whenever I wanted, but I secretly knew I would never do it. Not then and certainly not now. Esteban deals with all my mood swings. He listens to all my ranting and raving, my vents and my nasty remarks. When I tell him I'm PO'd, he says I'm always PO'd and laughs. He deals with my pickiness and although it’s impossible, he tries to do things the way I would want them done. I’m sure the number of my pet peeves is mind boggling to him. I never give him enough credit for working so hard so that I could stay home part time with the kids. Not only does he work whatever hours he can get his hands on, he does a great deal of the housework and helps with the kids. He’s a wonderful man and I’m looking forward to many more years of marriage. I thank God for giving me such a great life partner. I am a lucky woman and I did win the lottery with him!

I should by no means quit my day job, but I wrote Esteban a small poem and text him the following:

Six years ago, I became your wife,

And I can't tell you how my life

Has changed and all because of you.

That's why I'm happy. This is true!

Happy Anniversary Darling!

Maya is Five Months Old!

Maya is 5 months old. She is able to do so many things now. When she’s on her belly, she holds herself up with her arms. Maya also holds her head up nice and steady now without wobbling. She’s got to in order to keep track of all of her brother’s silly antics. She chatters and squeals quite a bit. She can roll over on her own, usually when no one is looking. She just recently started to make those cute razz sounds and turns to look or follow mommy and Jayden. She can sit while being supported but doesn’t bear very much weight on her legs.

She still enjoys spending time in her swing, but now tries to sit up in it. (The seat is in a recline position.) She also loves floor time on her play mat and reaches out for the toys on the bar, pulling the whole thing towards her. And recently, we’ve started to use her excersaucer. She likes this too and she gets quite a bit of play time with her brother since he enjoys all the attachments as well. Yesterday, I managed to find a way to get the car seat to fit into the red wagon and took both of the kids and the dog for a walk. She was just singing and chattering the whole time and Jayden was talking right along with her.

Here she is sucking her thumb. She does this at night when she goes to sleep. I think it's so cute. You can see how chubby her cheeks are. She loves it when I pretend to chew on them. She always laughs.

Here she is sitting up on her boppy. She can't stay in this position for very long, but that's ok. I'm always nearby and watching. She looks so comfy here. She was actually watching Jayden. I think that might be one of her favorite things to do.

Here she is in her excersaucer. She loves all the attachments, as you can tell. But then again, so does Jayden. In fact, Esteban said the other day he caught Jayden trapped in the excersaucer. He must have been trying to get into it and got stuck. Silly guy!

Jayden Helps!

Jayden loves to help with anything at all. He’s a whiz in the kitchen. In the morning, I make coffee and he always helps. He gets the coffee grounds for me and tries to get the filter, but I don’t let him because I could just see hundreds of filters flying all over the floor. He races to the microwave so he can open the door for me and close it too. He waits desperately because he wants to press start. He does the same thing for the dishwasher. He wants to open and close the detergent compartment and the door too. He has even figured out which button is the childproof lock. He just can’t manage to hold it for 3 seconds. Ha-ha.

When I get water from the fridge, he wants to press the lever to dispense it himself. Sometimes I don’t realize that he’s heard me at the fridge and he comes at full speed, ricochets off of the dishwasher and crashes into me and my glass in order to get there in time to dispense first! Every time I get ice from the freezer, Rio comes running as if it was a biscuit so I’ve always given him a piece. Now, Rio and Jayden almost kill themselves trying to get to me first. Of course, Jayden wants to get the piece of ice so that he can give it to Rio. Jayden even wants to get his own milk and his own juice. I let him pass me the juice bottle when I’m fixing him a sippy cup, but sometimes he passes me all the juice bottles he can find in the fridge. Ok, enough is enough.

He’s handy around the house too! Jayden is a huge fan of the vacuum and the broom. He will literally hold the vacuum or the broom while you are trying to use it, which of course makes it impossible. If you try to engage him with something else, he will leave for a minute or two and then come back and at least try to hold the cord, often unplugging the vacuum and causing further distress. Any time I enter a room, he wants to close the door for me and of course he’s a huge fan of helping turn on the lights and ceiling fans. This is very useful especially when I’m nursing and can’t move right away. He always comes through for me.

Jayden loves to help with Maya whenever possible. He wants to be available to pass me the wipes, her diaper and the powder (he must think I’m crazy). Then he waits to throw out the soiled diaper. When Maya cries, he helps by getting her pacifier, her blanket and every single teether and rattle she owns. He helps mommy too. When I come home from work, he tries to help me take my socks off and my shoes too. He follows me to the potty where he waits desperately to flush the toilet. If I let him, he’d help me wipe too! When I do laundry, he helps by putting daddy’s socks in his sock drawer. He also helps take the used dryer sheets to the trash. But since he sees mommy cleaning the floor around the high chair after Jayden’s meal, he has started to use the dryer sheets to wipe the entire floor and while he’s at it he cleans the sliding glass doors too.

Jayden wants to help open and close car doors. I’m always worried that he’s going to catch his finger in the door, but I guess he won’t learn until he actually does it. Ouch! I don’t even want to think about that. And don’t try to remove a recyclable item from the house because he wants to carry it to the recycle bin himself and toss it in. I don’t let him carry the glass. Well, not anymore since he shattered one all over the place and daddy was super upset. Oops.

He’s even helpful with Rio. Jayden will call out for Rio to come home when he’s outside doing his business. He also helps me when it’s time to feed Rio by holding Rio’s food bowl steady. And sometimes he even helps to spill Rio’s water all over the place. He also reprimands Rio and chases him around the house with his ride on toys. I even catch him “riding” Rio. I don’t think Rio considers this useful, but he never complains.

I especially love it when he helps me on Sunday mornings by walking to the end of the drive way to get the paper for me. Very cute. I’m telling you, I’ve never seen a more helpful child. Can he possibly help me anymore? Please God, no.

A Date

Recently, I reached my 15 year anniversary at work. I can’t believe I’ve been there so long. I wonder now if I’ll make it to my 20th anniversary. Anyway, my company hosts a large party for employees reaching this milestone. So I made arrangements with the baby sitter and Esteban and I actually went out alone, on a date, to the party. It was so nice to be able to just talk without being interrupted 20 times. We enjoyed a great dinner, but I felt like Cinderella. We had to leave before we could really enjoy the entertainment or get a dance in. The time went by so quickly and before you knew it, it was time to go and fetch the kids. Oh well, atleast I can look forward to doing this again at Christmas.