A Visit to Titi's House

On Saturday night, I was working on some muffins. Of course, Jayden saw me at work in the kitchen and naturally assumed I was working on cookies. I said, "No Jayden. These are muffins for Titi." Titi he asked? Yes, we're going to Titi's house. For the rest of the night, all he said was Titi's house, Titi's house. Later that night, he went to the door and pointed to it and when I asked him what he was doing, he said "Titi's house." I had to laugh.

The next day we did indeed go to visit my sister who now lives a little over an hour away. Here's Jayden and his cousin Aiden. Jayden made himself quite at home with little Aiden's toys.
Here they are sharing a sofa. I bet I know what Jayden's thinking. Yeah, thanks for sharing your chair and that block, but what I really want is that chip in your hand.

Clearly, he's overjoyed at getting the block instead of the chip.

Shame on me. I forgot Maya's bib. No sooner do I remove the bib from Maya to use on Jayden, than she spits up peas and carrots all over her pretty dress. Titi came to the rescue with this cute little onsie.

Here's the newest cousin, little Sebastian. He's almost three months old. We are so pleased to meet you and make your sweet little aquaintance. He's so precious. He just melted my heart, right then and there with his little smile. Was Maya ever that little? Cause I already know that Jayden wasn't. LOL Where does the time go? They grow so quickly.

Maya was overwhelmed in the toy room. Or maybe there were too many boys. She was doing an awful lot of crying so we moved her into the living room to hang out with Sebastian. She helped herself to the toys too!

Aiden is a little imp. I love the twinkle in his eye. He's like the perfect blend of my sister and her husband.

Oh yes, the boys spent a good part of the day fighting over the shape sorter. Jayden of course wanted the sorter AND the shapes. Aiden was content with one or the other. But could Jayden share? No. Do they ever learn to share? I wonder. Here's Jayden crying and reaching out for the one shape that Aiden was playing with. We actually had to remove the sorter.

Here's Aiden having a grand ole time with his toy shape. That's my sister in the background. Don't they look alike?

Ok, I got my stuff back now. I'm happy.

We took the boys to the neighborhood playground.

Aiden was so cute. He climbed right on top of Jayden and Jayden of course had something to say about it. Such a whiner. That's it. He's not allowed to watch Caillou anymore!

Time to go back home. Everybody hop in. Uncle Serg will bring you back.

Jayden Goes for a Visit (Without Mommy)

It used to be that Jayden would come home and say “Hi home, hi Rio, hi car!”. Now, he comes home and says “Kaylie”. That’s our next door neighbor. Nicole and I have been taking the kids for afternoon walks and Jayden really seems to enjoy them. Anyway, he looks at me and says “Kaylie?” I ask him if he wants to go over and say hi. He seems to understand me and takes a few steps and turns back to look at me. “Go on” I say. He goes a few more feet and turns back for encouragement. I urge him on and think to myself, he’s never going to make it. He’s going to ring the bell. Nicole is going to open the door and he’s going to come running back. I was so wrong.

He rings the bell, the door opens, he waves good-be and he’s gone. I call him back, but it’s no use. Nicole offered to keep him and I agreed but only if she promises to bring him right back if he gets out of line. I still couldn’t believe it. I take my sweet time unloading the car and bringing the bags in, all the while looking next door for signs of Jayden. I started to unpack and organize and still no sign of Jayden. I walk outside and take a look, but there’s no sign of him coming back home. I go back inside and nurse Maya, change her diaper and get her settled. Now, an hour has gone by. Nicole has two girls of her own, including an infant so I don’t want to overdo it on his first visit. So, I grab Maya and go get Jayden. Can you believe that this guy doesn’t want to come back home. He’s having such a good time playing with Kaylie (or should I say Kaylie’s toys) that he’s actually running away from me. I had to pick him up and carry him home. What a little bugger.

Maya and Jayden Actually Start Sharing a Room

Now that Maya is older, I am desperate for two things. One is that I want her to sleep through the night. The other is that I want her to start sleeping in her crib. I would love to see her and Jayden start sharing their room. I can’t wait to do their bedtime rituals together, especially story time.

I decided that today would be the day that I tried it. I attempted to put them both down for their naps together. First, I put Jayden in his room. Then, I nursed Maya and by the time I brought her back to the kid’s room, Jayden was already asleep. Maya was still awake though, but she played for a while. When she got tired, she started to whine a little and I ran in and gave her the paci. Then she rolled over and went to sleep. I was so excited. They both slept for a couple of hours and woke up at the exact same time.

I decided I had to try again for night-night time. I nursed Maya, but she did not fall asleep as she usually does. Instead she became more playful. I brought her to the room and put her in the crib. Jayden was so happy. I went back to my room and waited to see what would happen. I immediately heard them carrying on, laughing, and clearly having a good time. This went on for a good thirty minutes. I kept tip toeing back and forth to check on them. Maya had no idea, but Jayden of course spotted me immediately. I instantly put my finger to my mouth. Shhh. He was being pretty good about it.

Then Maya started to get cranky. I went to the room and popped the paci in her mouth and laid her down. I turned around to change Jayden’s diaper and by the time I was done, Maya was asleep. Wow, what a good feeling.

Maya is 10 Months Old!

Maya is now 10 months old. Wow, she’s really learned so many things this past month. First, she’s very mobile. Earlier in the month, she started to pull herself up on her knees. Then, in no time at all, she started to pull herself up with the help of the furniture or her toys. I’ve even seen her take steps holding on to the sofa. Now, we can no longer protect her from bumps and bruises. She likes to crawl to the table and pull herself up with the help of the chair, but then she bumps her head on the table. Ouch! Don’t worry. Mommy to the rescue. She also likes to climb into the bottom of her Excersaucer. No doubt, she’s chasing after those runaway Cheerios. Then she gets stuck, bumps her head trying to get out and cries. She also falls over a lot from the standing position, which is completely unavoidable. I run over to console her, but I think it’s too darn cute. I love her sense of adventure and her try and try again spirit.

Not only has she mastered standing, but she’s also pretty good about getting back down to the sitting position. At first, she would just stand there wondering what to do next and then she would cry. We had to lower her crib mattress from the very top to the bottom setting. She barely uses the crib, but I didn’t want to take any chances with her. I like to put her in there during the day and I didn’t want her to topple out of it. Now that she’s safe, she spends a lot more time in it and takes some of her naps there too. The other night, I got crazy and tried to put her and Jayden to sleep together, but it didn’t work. First, they were fine, but then Maya got that cranky “I’m tired” cry and Jayden kept egging her on. If she had been left alone, she would have fallen asleep, but after a while, she was screaming her head off and Jayden is going on and on. “What’s wrong, Maya? Maya!!! Stop. No crying. What’s wrong, Maya?” Boy oh boy. I had to go in there and remove Maya. Of well, I can dream of having my room back to myself, right?

And I’m proud to report that her biting days are over. I mean, she still does it every once in a while, but she’s not biting us at every available moment like last month. Other honorable mentions include her protesting. If you take a toy away from her she cries out in protest. If I leave the room, she cries out in protest. If she’s tired, hungry or got a dirty diaper, she protests. She spends a lot of time protesting about one thing or another. She doesn’t have any words yet, but I did hear her mumble da-da once when she saw daddy. She likes to play peek-a-boo and does a pretty good job defending herself against Jayden’s aggressive style of play. Now, Jayden and Maya take their baths together. She really likes bath time and Jayden loves having the company. (He had taken a break from loving bath time.) And even though she doesn’t like it, Maya listens when mommy says no. She’s much better at listening than Jayden was at that age.

Maya’s got a healthy appetite. I’ve been making her baby food, but she likes table food too. And she works really hard to pick up things with her fingers and insert them into her mouth. Jayden tries to help her but she nipped at his finger the other day so he stays away now. She looks so adorable munching on rice and loves crackers, fruit and Cheerios. I also give her apple sauce and yogurt. I make her foods with brown rice, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli and carrots. So far, so good. I love doing it for her and I feel like she eats healthier as a result of it.

Maya seems to be totally and completely spoiled by me. I don’t know how it happened or how to stop it, but its very frustrating. And if waking once at night wasn’t bad enough, now she wakes up several times throughout the night leaving me tired and exhausted. I am trying to break her of the habit of falling asleep with the breast and I’ve been letting her cry it out. Not often, but sometimes, it’s effortless. Most times, she cries for a little before settling into sleep and every now and again, it just doesn’t work. As the time goes on she screams louder and louder until she sounds like she’s got a sore throat and I have no choice but to go and get her. I’ve been considering weaning her. I hoped it would happen naturally on its own, but she seems to be totally and completely against it. I haven’t made any major decisions, but I’m still kicking this idea around.

Here she is standing. Her legs were still wobbly.

Here she is trapped under the exersaucer and terribly upset about it.

Here she is watching TV. This is how she spends most of her day. (Not counting crying, eating and sleeping. LOL)

Here she is demonstrating her newest trick, clapping.

Cut N' Paste Puzzles with Jayden and Maya

I’m a part of a local mom’s group called the Lollipop League. The group members are from West Orlando, Ocoee, Winter Garden and Clermont. I don’t go on very many play dates because most of the time they are a lot further than I am willing to travel, but I am committed to hosting a play date once every three months. My first one was at a local park and worked out perfectly. I was the queen of play dates. I planned my second one around my church’s yearly pumpkin patch and when we got there, there were no pumpkins, not even a patch. Luckily, there is a park right behind the church and we moved the play date over there. Only two families showed up, one of which decided to leave and I felt really bad about it. My queen status was gone.

So when I got my reminder email saying it was time to host another play date, I was dreading it. But it turned out there was nothing to fear. I decided to do it around one of those obscure holidays that no one celebrates or even knows about. I chose Tuesday, January 29th. It was National Puzzle Day. I was so excited. I called it Cut N’ Paste Puzzles with Maya and Jayden and the event was full by the end of the day. I kept it limited to 5 families since my home is on the smaller side. I found these really cute animal puzzles that were made up of 3 pieces. The directions were to cut out the pieces, glue them onto a sheet of paper, and color. Fun.

So with people coming over, you know what this means! I spent two full days cleaning like a maniac. I mean, I was out of control. It was like spring cleaning. My home seemed to be in disarray. I had gotten rid of all clutter when I had the house on the market. But little by little the kitchen counters were back to being covered with appliances, cereal, bowls, sippy cups, snacks, coupons etc. And my kitchen table now looked like a mini desk with my laptop, bills, newspapers, weeks of inserts and lets not mention the bags. I currently have three bags, one each for Jayden and Maya and one for when I travel with both together. Then there was my purse and the breast pump. All these bags and more seemed to now reside on my kitchen table.

Plus, with two kids I am finding it very difficult to keep up on the detail cleaning. I consider it a success if:
· I get the laundry washed and folded
· I manage to feed, clothe, diaper and bathe the kids
· I keep the sink free and clear of dishes and wipe down the kitchen counters
· I balance the checkbook once a week

It’s a miracle if:
· I fix dinner or work with a new recipe
· Vacuum or any other household chore
· Go out by myself with the kids
· Clean or organize my new piles of junk
· Or work on any item from my now very long to-do list

So, I enlist the help of my dear husband. He tackles the floors and bathroom while I dust, clean the microwave, the stove, the refrigerator and put away all my garbage. I broke a nail so I had to make a mad dash to my nail tech for a repair but then I was home and back at it. And the more I did, the more I found to do. Five minutes before my play date was due to start, I whip out the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and start cleaning all the light switches in my house. Good thing the play date didn’t start 30 minutes later or I’d have taken down all the mini blinds for a long overdue cleaning.

Anyways, three moms and four kids ended up coming over and we had a great time. The kids barely got through the exercise. They were too busy wanting to get back to the toys. Jayden was running from child to child declaring “Mine!”, snatching toys and issuing timeouts! I was so proud. (Not!) The toys from every toy basket were sprinkled all over the house and every once in a while, they would make a pit stop in the kitchen for a snack. Overall, they seemed to have a great time. I was so happy. Here are the moms helping the kids cut out their puzzle pieces.


Hannah was the only one who actually completed her puzzle and colored it. Turned out pretty well. The other kids barely got their pieces glued onto the paper before they darted off in all directions to play.

They had a ball in the kid's room. The rocking horse was a big hit and one little girl, Gabby, decided she had a tummy ache and was going to lye down. Jayden decided to do what I love most and that's the dump the entire contents of his toy basket onto the floor! Luckily, when it was all over, the moms helped me get the toys back in place.

I'm not exactly sure what Maya was thinking, but after she devoured watermelon and turned her shirt from white to pink, she decided to attach her snake plush. That's her in the background busy at work. The other kid is Logan and he was an independant player. He was half mesmerized by the TV and half intrigued by the toy truck.

Turned out pretty well, I'd say!

A Family Vacation at Amelia Island, FL

We took our very first family vacation and went on holiday to Amelia Island, FL. It was so beautiful there and we had a fantastic time with the kids. This is the front entrance of the hotel where we stayed. There are 8 flags because this was the only place in the US that was under the rule of 8 different countries. I love the curve of these trees.



This is the view from our room on the 5th floor. It was so beautiful, but don't let that bright blue sky fool you. It was freezing cold. Literally! When you travel with kids, you end up taking everything but the kitchen sink. By the time I was done packing for them, there was no room for Esteban and I. Oh well. Atleast the kids were warm, but we didn't suffer too badly.

This was the view from our balcony. I loved it! It was stunning.

Here is the sunset from our front door.

And here is the sunrise from our balcony. I could wake up to this view everyday!

On day one, it was very cold so we stayed close to the hotel. We did leave for lunch and then we took the kids to the park, but it was so cold, we only lasted about 30 minutes. In the evening, we went to Historic Fernandina Beach for dinner.

On day two, we went to Fort Clinch State Park. This fort was built in 1847 and was never completed. It was too bad that we missed the reenactments, but there was one soldier there and he was definately in character, telling us all about his duties and life in the fort. It was an awesome place and we loved that Jayden could play freely without getting into too much trouble. I love this snapshot of Esteban and the kids.

Now this day was much warmer than the day before. I believe it was 52 degrees, 10 degrees warmer than the day before but with the winds off of the beach it sure didn't feel like it. Luckily, there were tons of trees surrounding the playground and it felt really nice without the wind. This was Maya's first time in a real swing and you could tell that it took her breathe away, but once she got used to it, she was laughing and carrying on as much as Jayden did.

I think Maya looked like a little Eskimo in her winter gear. You can see from the background what a beautiful place this park was. We loved our visit there.

Here's an attempt at a family shot. Jayden and Maya are looking at each other, but I guess that's pretty typical of our everyday life. Those two are always engaging each other's interests.

I love this picture too. Jayden was crying his head off up until about 15 seconds before this shot because he didn't want to leave the swing. Poor boy!

On day three, it was much warmer so we went to the zoo. We had a lot of fun. Jayden seemed really interested in the animals whose names he knew. He loved the birds, fish, and monkeys.

Of course, I tried to get him to pose for a picture with Mommy, but that was clearly too much to ask. He's such a party pooper!

On day four, we went to Kingsley Plantation. It's the oldest plantation home still standing in Florida. The crops were cotton, indigo and sugar cane. There are 25 of the original 32 slave cabins on the property. About 100 people lived and worked here and about 60 of them did so in the slave cabins. Here's Jayden and daddy facing the Fort George River.

Here's smiling Maya, taking in the view.

Here we are laying around one of the many large oak trees on the property.

Afterwards, we went to the Jacksonville Landing and took in the views of the St. John's River. We walked around for a little bit and headed to St. Augustine where we ended our trip at my cousin's house. I can't wait for us to do this again!

Maya turns Nine Months Old!

My princess is 9 months old now. At her last check up, she was weighing 19 pounds and 4 ounces and measuring 28 inches long. And there is so much she can do. Maya has mastered the sitting position and she can now go from sitting to crawling with great ease. It's awesome because I was always so worried about her banging her head on the ceramic tile. Now, she sits for awhile and when she gets tired, she goes to crawling. Her preferred method is still the army crawl, but she does crawl on her hands and knees at times. If she sees a toy that gets her attention, she'll work really hard to get to it. She can stand if her hold her hands, but she won't pull herself up or hold on to furniture yet and believe me, I am in no rush.

She's getting much better with a sippy cup and she does really well with finger foods. In fact, we often give her table food and she really seems to enjoy it. She's definitely got a sweet tooth though so I have to be on the look out for that. And Maya babbles on and on and on. While she only makes the ma-ma sound when she's crying/whining, she has clearly started to say da-da when she sees daddy. She loves to play, especially with Jayden and she can hold her own against him. More often than not, Jayden will be the one to call for help 'cause Maya grabs him by the hair or tries to bite him. She is STILL not sleeping through the night and I really wish she would. Will I ever get a good night's sleep again?

Boy is she a pistol! I've always had a pretty good idea of what Maya's personality would be like, but now Daddy is starting to see it too and we both agree. This little girl is going to keep us on our toes. It's amazing how different a baby she is compared to Jayden at that age. He was so easy going. I only had to worry about feeding him on schedule. That's it. Well times have changed! Maya has a strong personality and if she doesn't get what she wants, look out. One of the new things she's started to do this month is screaming at the top of her lungs. I'm telling you; it's amazing she hasn't burst her voice box. If Jayden takes her toy away or Mommy walks in the opposite direction, she goes bonkers. It's hard trying to set limits, but I try to teach her that no matter how loud she cries, kicks and screams, I am no longer going to come running. Well, sometimes I give in, but it's a work in progress. She's always fussing about one thing or another and I constantly have to change her position or environment. She gets bored really fast and her naps are more like cat naps. I have zero free time with her because every time I set her down and try to do something, she starts to flail her arms and lets and cry about one thing or another.

Maya has also decided that she loves to bite and she's going to do it whenever she can. Fair warning! If you pick her up and her mouth comes anywhere near exposed skin, I can guarantee that she's going to chomp down. I've got several bruises to prove it. I am in the process of teaching her that biting is not acceptable, which is so hard. What I do is let her get close and let her teeth touch my skin and the second I feel her bearing down, I start to pat her rear end. The harder she tries to bite and the more she persists, the firmer I pat and say "No biting." So far, this is working well. A couple of pats on the tushy and she's reminded that biting is a no-no and I feel great because I can teach her without hurting her. {Sigh.} My baby is growing up.