Esteban's Birthday

For Esteban's birthday, I planned a family day. I got up early, got the kids ready and we hit the road. The weather was supposed to be pretty nasty out so I planned an indoor activity. First, we went out for breakfast. Jayden got an orange giraffe made out of a balloon and he was thrilled.
Maya is always happy as can be when she's eating. She's really enjoying herself with this piece of toast.

Esteban was pretty happy, I must say.

We spent the day at the Orlando Science Center. I must say, there was so much there for children. I mean, that's the idea. But I was really surprised at how many things there were for Jayden to entertain himself with. All day, we bumped into things that struck his fancy. This car was a part of the Norman Rockwell exibit.

Jayden loved this classroom. It was a replica of schoolrooms in the early 1900's.

I thought this was pretty creative. Jayden stopped at his easel and made his own little masterpiece. He was more interested in relocating all the crayons to his easel though.

He enjoyed this jeep and liked that he was able to shift gears.

There is an entire section devoted to kids and there was lots to do. The kids were loving this area where they could change out the tires, slip under the car, and add antifreeze to this toy car. Jayden didn't want to leave. I don't blame him.

Here he is with one of his most favorite things in the world. Avion! Planes. Helicopters. They're all the same. He is overjoyed by them.

This was a great little area and Jayden was having a heck of a time in the kitchen washing dishes at the sink and looking for the right cover to the saucepan. And Maya was just grabbing everything she could find. This was a great place for her to stretch her legs since she had been in her stroller most of the morning.

Here's Jayden and Daddy making electricity, one of the many science project type of interactive exhibits. We had a ball fooling around with electricity, gravity, energy, sound waves, and lots more.

Jayden loved the dinorsaur area and was having fun excavating in this dinosaur graveyard.

Mommy and Maya take a snack break.

I was bummed out that the observatory on the 6th floor was open, but to see anything with the telescope we would have had to wait until dark. There was no way I could keep the kids out htat late so we passed and took the kids to Lake Eola instead.

Can you tell that Maya loved this crazy tea cup?

So this was enough to make for a nice, quiet, relaxing drive home. Maya actually fell asleep with the bottle in her mouth.

On the way home, we stopped at a small car show. Esteban likes looking at them and I have to admit, I don't mind it either.

A Casual Day

Aiden's party was a couple of days before his actual birthday. On his birthday, we drove down and spent a relaxing day by the pool. Here's Maya having fun with the water. Jayden and Chooch take turns spraying water.

Chooch gives Maya a big hug.

Aiden's Birthday Party

My sweet nephew turned two and had an Elmo birthday party, which Jayden was looking forward to. He kept asking if it was Chooch's turn for a birthday party. Yes it is!

Here is the crew in their fancy glasses. They got a kick out of these.
Maya was hanging out in the play room.

Sebi loved his glasses too!

Chooch admires his cake, complete with Elmo, Dorothy and Mr. Noodle.

Happy Birthday to you! (Maya was having a much needed nap and therefore absent from the best part of the party!)

Icing on the nose...

Everyone takes a swing at the pinata!

Hurry! Fill the loot bags!

Sharing a Room. Sharing a Memory.

Someone once told me that it was against the law for a brother and sister to share a room. I don’t know if there is any truth to that, but I love having both of my babies in the same room together. Maya always goes to bed first. Then Jayden goes. He whispers so he doesn’t wake his sister. I get him his milk, his blanket and his Blue’s Clues plush. Then he asks for the night light and his music. I give him a hug and a kiss and say night-night. And just as I walk out of the door, he asks, “Daddy’s coming soon?” I always reassure him, put up the baby gate and leave. His version of whispering is pretty loud, but he’s so cute and Maya usually doesn’t stir very much.

I always go back to check on them and they look like two little angels. Maya is usually asleep on her tummy with her bum in the air and her arms and legs tucked under her. Other times she’s sleeping on top of her plushes and lovies. I wonder how she could possibly be comfortable and move the toys, but then she starts to scramble all over trying to find her comfy spot again. I lay the blanket on her. Then I take Jayden’s toys away. Lately, he goes to sleep with Blue and his handy dandy notebook. I give him a kiss and caress his cheek. I lay his blanket on him and when I turn around, Maya has already rolled all over and the covers have fallen off.

In the mornings, Maya wakes up first. She immediately starts to chatter and sing to herself. Sometimes she starts to whine. I usually go get her so she doesn’t wake her brother, but sometimes it’s too late. They are both awake, playing, and laughing. I wonder what they could both find so amusing, since neither of them is talking to each other. Sometimes when I get there, Jayden is still sleeping but Maya is trying to wake him. I see her standing up on the far side of the crib looking down at Jayden and making baby sounds. She doesn’t always hear me coming and the look on her face when she realizes that I’m there is just priceless. She has the widest smile and I could swear her eyes are shining.

I can’t wait to put them both to sleep at the same time so that we can do story time together. Right now, story time is very inconsistent and I rarely get to read to them both at the same time. Plus, they are both at different stages. Maya just listens and squeals. Jayden wants to interact with the book. He wants to turn the pages and point at the pictures on the pages and ask about their color or shape. Sometimes, the story morphs into a completely different story. The only time I get them both for story time is whenever we bathe them together, maybe once a week. I’ll be happy to have a more consistent bedtime ritual.

When I was growing up, my sisters and I all slept in the same room and I always had the fondest memories of our late night chats. I couldn’t possibly remember what we talked about but I remember getting shushed and threatened many times. I know Jayden and Maya can’t share a room forever, but my sisters and I enjoyed sharing rooms and I want the kids to have fond memories too.

Summer Fun

We are so happy our neighbor is back from vacation. We missed them after 3 weeks. Today, we took the kids on our usual afternoon walk, but it was stifling hot so we came back to the house and let them play on the swings while we got the water toys ready and then let them have at it. Here's Nicole, Kaylie and Maya.

Maya takes a turn in the wading pool, while Jayden decides he needs to put his shoes on.

Jayden and Maya play with their counting cups.

Jayden got this really cool beach ball on his birthday and he was just overjoyed with it. It can sit still in one place and spray water or you can fill it with water and let the kids roll it around while the water squirts out. It was a hit!

Kaylie and Jayden take turns jumping into the water jets and then running off. It was very cute and they all had a great time.

A New Look

A couple of months ago, I had to find a new hairdresser which was traumatic in itself, but luckily I found a wonderful lady. Not only could she cut hair, but she had a great personality to boot. At my first visit, I took a picture of Jessica Alba, whose hair I’ve been in love with as soon as I saw her in the new Revlon photo shoots. My hair was badly over processed from previous bad hair dying experiences and she said she wouldn’t be able to highlight it at the time. But she promised she would if I promised to use better hair products, condition my hair and use a reconstructor. So at that time, she gave me a good haircut and an overall color.

Well, I took myself in to the hairdresser for a touch up and she went ahead and did the highlights. It took a few hours, but the end result was worth it. . I was quite happy with the results. Here is a picture of me after my hair color experience gone bad. This was last summer. I went to my old hair dresser and told her I wanted a new look prior to returning to work after my maternity leave. I guess I got what I asked for.

Here is a picture after she attempted to fix it. Still red but not as bad and my hair took a beating for it. The chunks of hair that were highlighted were very dry and brittle.

Here's a picture of my hair after my first visit to my hairdresser. She gave it a good cut and got rid of most of the damaged hair. I wish you could see what a nice job she did, but since I live in the land of humidity, I put on this hanky to protect my hair. She had just blow dried it straight and it looked really good.

And here's my new color after today's visit. No haircut this time. I'm trying to let it grow so for now I'm happy with long layers.

I Inherited a Lydia

You probably have one too. Lydia was the cousin who sat at the dinner table for hours on end with the same mouthful and no one could ever understand why. Maybe it’s punishment for all the times I laughed at Lydia and poked fun at her along with the rest of my cousins. I think back and remember how funny I thought it was. There she was again, sitting at the table with the same spoonful of rice and beans in her mouth. Ha-ha-ha! Now, I have one and his name is Jayden. There is truth to the old saying. What goes around, comes around.

I dread all meal periods. Just about the only thing he eats at a normal pace is a snack food item. And because he doesn’t’ eat his meals, I refuse to reward him with yogurt or applesauce. I’m so tired of it. I am at the end of my rope. If he does it at breakfast or lunch, I never force it. If he wants to eat, great! If not, that’s ok. He’s going to be having it later at the next meal period (depending on the food item, of course). You should see the look on his face when he tells me he’s hungry and I whip out the waffle he refused at breakfast. But that doesn’t work at dinner time. Imagine if I presented him with a bowl of chicken and rice for breakfast the next day. (he-he) And because dinner takes so long, we can never get out to do anything afterwards so we are all punished.

When it comes to eating habits, he goes from bad to worse. Am I going to go through the same thing with Maya? She’s starting to drop the food items she doesn’t want off to the side of her highchair. Is she a Jayden in the making?