Our Road to Parenthood

Our Sweet Myla's Berry 1st Birthday

2012-01-30T15:50:00.067-07:00

Happy 1st Birthday to our Sweet Myla Faith! I can't believe how quickly her first year went by, she is an amazing girl, so spunky and sassy and she is only ONE! She loves to make us smile, she loves to give us kisses with her mouth wide open and then licks our cheeks with her tongue! She loves wrestling with her big brother, and she loves to cuddle and nap on the floor with our Yorkie Eddie. She loves Banana's, string cheese, chocolate goldfish, Popsicles, bread with Nutella and drinking water straight from a water bottle. The only two words she can say clearly are "Eddie" and "Thank You". She loves to play outside at any given hour. She is already a girly girl and insists on wearing shoes even if we are just hanging out in our living room playing. Her favorite outfit is a diaper, shoes, and Mommy's key lanyard, that she uses as a necklace. She sleeps through the night perfectly, goes down at 8:30 pm and sleeps until 8:00 am most mornings. She does not fuss when she wakes up she just chills in her crib talking to herself or sucking on her fingers. She loves to carry her baby everywhere. She loves to carry a purse and stuffs everything and anything she finds, she has recently started stealing mommy's wallet and taking the credit cards out and putting them into her purse. She can push around her shopping cart ALL DAY. She LOVES, but I mean LOVES to Shower... that is right, shower, not a bath! As soon as she sees the shower going she will try to take off whatever she is wearing, rip off her diaper and insist she shower too, if she does not get a shower she will have a fit! She is the best pouter I have ever seen and quickly learned to lay on the floor. She loves her Daddy and runs to the door as soon as she hears the doorknob turning when he comes home from work. She loves to eat dirt, and loves to play with her brother's Hot Wheels. She is such a daredevil and has absolutely NO FEAR! She is a perfect fit for our family and we are so incredibly blessed to have her to love and adore. I look forward to many more wonderful, challenging years with her as she already is testing the limits ;) We love you Myla Faith. Happy 1st Birthday, and Daddy, Brother and I can't wait to see what your second year has in store for us.

Ok, now onto her party... It took me about 3 weeks to fully plan and get everything ready, granted I did not work 24/7. I only got to do plan for it once the kids where in bed so I would say a total of 10 hours to do everything. I did however have her theme picked out since she was born, as my first birthday was Strawberry Shortcake and decided it would be cute for her's to be that as well. I didn't what it to be too focused around Strawberry Shortcake herself so I focused more on actual strawberries and a color scheme of pink, hot pink, lime green and red. I think it turned out fabulous. :) Enjoy!

The Entry Table... Her 1st Birthday Picture

Strawberry Malt Balls

Marshmallow Strawberries filled with Chocolate

Jumbo Marshmallows covered in Strawberry Chocolate and Sprinkles... The labels I made myself on Publisher. There were different ones, some had Strawberry Shortcake, some just had a big M for Myla

These are Chocolate Strawberries that took forever to make! :) Thank you so much to my AMAZING Hubby for helping me out with them. I only had one mold and could only make one at a time, and each one averaged about 15 minutes before it was done, so it was very time consuming. We made 50 of them! (You can do the math) ;)

Strawberry Gummy's on the entry coffee table

More Strawberry Malt Balls

Kisses (Good Thing Valentines day is just around the corner, finding pink and red candy was EASY)

Aren't these adorable??? And super easy to make, tissue paper, floral wire, some scissors and string or ribbon... You can find instructions on how to make them on YouTube, each one takes about 7-10 minutes to make and they simply look adorable. I was able to make 2 out of one package of tissue paper, I already had ribbon and wire, total cost 50 cents per ball!

The party favors... Red = Girls, Green = Boys

Everyone got Strawberry Bubbles, Strawberry Applesauce, and Strawberry Wafers, then the girls got an apron made by my AWESOME Momma, and the boys got a Strawberry scented bouncy ball! We got the buckets on clearance after Christmas for 4 for $1.00!

The Apron's my Momma made

I rolled them up and secured them together with a hair tie I got from the dollar store as well, 8 hair ties for a $1.00 so I only needed to by two packs

Please note... I DID NOT TAKE THIS PICTURE OF THE BUBBLES... I saved it to my computer from another blog, but these are the same bubbles each of the kids got, I just forgot to take a picture of them :)

Her one year Banner... I have been doing this since Eli was born, I use Picky Sticky to buy the Monthly Stickers, you just put them on a onsie and snap away! This is so special to me because I have been able to document their first year (and second now) by taking a monthly picture, it is amazing to see how quickly they change the first year of life! I printed each monthly picture as a 5x7 and pasted them onto paper strawberry's.

Her Table, I also bought those strawberry balloons in March of LAST YEAR! :) Yup, I saw them at our grocery store, they were using them as a display in their produce department to advertise strawberries, I spoke to the manager and they gave me four :) and all we had to do was go back almost a year later to fill them up :) BTW, those presents you see there, were only from her Nana and Tia's!!!! She is one lucky little girl that my family loves her so much!

The entrance

I wasn't going to do cupcakes since she had TWO cakes, but my aunt got these super cute strawberry and Strawberry Shortcake rings that I had to use. Topped the cupcakes with Strawberry frosting and some pearls (Had to make it girly) :)

Adorable right?

Fondant Cake #1, made by a lady that is living at a shelter my mom works with. Amazing right! The Fondant is handmade by her too! It was so special.

Her Second Fondant Cake, Made by my little Cousin, she is currently in her 1st year of college and her dream is to own her own bakery one day! I say she is well on her way to it, AMAZING as well... You can become a fan of her facebook page... Melissa's Sweet Treats

I had to get a few pictures of the birthday girl before all the guests arrived. As much as we made faces, we could not get a smile out of her. Hey she only took a 30 minute nap that entire day, I will take the no smile since she didn't even have a meltdown!

The Shirt was made by one of my good friends, the bow was made by me!

Just look at that look, that is the look we get when we know she is up to no good :)

I saw these on Pinterst... They are Strawberry's filled with Cheesecake Filling topped with smashed graham crackers! They were a BIG HIT! We made 6 cases of Strawberry's of these and they were ALL gone!

Minni Strawberry Shortcake Bites

Fresh Cut Strawberries for the Chocolate Fountain

Strawberry Marshmallow for the Fountain

Pretzels and Pound Cake

Home made Rice Crispy Balls... I went a little too happy with the food coloring though, they were suppose to be pink :)

I don't think there was a single person that only made one trip to the fountain! :)

We had Punch and Strawberry Lemonade to drink

Birthday Girl playing outside with her friends

At least she kept her headband on for 2 hours!

The Piñata! Thank you Nana for getting it!

She got a kick out of hitting it, as well as all the other kiddo's!

So sad this was the only picture I got of her with any family member :( I didn't get any with the grandparents other than my Mom

Talk about being a Princess! All the Great Aunts Adore her! He is the only girl :)

I am sooooooo please with how this picture turned out! All 4 of us our looking at the camera. WIN!

Come on Mom, let's get on these presents!

Daddy helped her open presents since I took over the camera :)

One of my friends actually found a Strawberry Shortcake 1st Birthday card!

Sassy little dress for a sassy little girl

My Friend Cheryl, who also made her the birthday shirt made her this apron, she insisted we put it on her as soon as my hubby took it out of the bag! Here she is showing off her new clothes! The girl LOVES clothes already and she is already choosing what she wants to wear!

Loving on one of the dolls already. (I am not sure who put that bow on her, or where it came from, as it was suppose to be upstairs... That was her Disney bow and I noticed it is now missing the bottle cap in the center)

Nana got her a purse with some beaded necklaces and bracelets

She insisted Daddy put them on her

Adorable Strawberry Doll, but at this point she was more interested in her bracelets! :)

We had a great time celebrating our little girl's first year with our closest family and friends. We are so blessed to have many wonderful people be a part of her life and love her so much. Thank you for being a part of such a special day for her.

Golden Wonder...

2011-09-18T21:55:00.002-07:00

I am entering a contest this week over at I Heart Faces . The theme is "A touch of sun". I was torn between two pictures. Both beautiful in my opinion but different for many reasons, but alas my boy won the debate! I just can't get over this picture. I love that the lens allows me to capture things the eye cannot see. I love that I am able to freeze moments in time. Simply by looking at a single picture I am able to remember the happenings of that day.

On this particular morning (early morning) my little man was being really fussy, we went for a drive and ended up in this empty field covered with wild sunflowers. We got off and walked around for a bit, he could care less about the flowers instead he was preoccupied with dirt and tossing it up in the air. Typical boy right? A few minutes later he slowly walked up to a patch of sunflowers... curiosity and wonder set in, he looked them up and down and finally took one in his hand to take a closer look. I am not sure what he saw in it as he stared at it for a good 30 seconds, then just smiled and went back to his dirt. Lucky for me I always have a camera on me! :)

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

My Love = MYLA

2011-09-02T22:36:00.007-07:00

Pretty darn Awesome the My Love sounds like MYLA!!! LOVE IT! But anyway I have been a really bad mommy as far as posting updates about our darling girl! Bad Mommy (slaps hand) with Eli I was so good but I have just let time slip away from me with Myla updates. In all honestly I am pooped most days by the time the kids are put to sleep and on most nights I am up late editing pictures, when I don't edit pictures I prefer to snuggle up in bed next to my hot hubby so Blogging is far back in my priorities. I need to change that because I notice that I am questioning Myla's milestones. I am still doing the 365 for both of them which is awesome for me because that is my baby journal. I document their milestones and such through pictures but I need to get better at acutally updating. Sorry Nana updates will be coming soon. (My mom seems to be the one that bugs me most about keeping the 365 up to date) Anyway I plan on going back to Myla's 1st month and updating all her milestones that way I have them on here and can easily go back to them. I have been good on writing notes on my iphone too so I can easily go back and check :) Anyway there are thousands of pics that I take and you all get to see like 1/100th of them if that so I am going to start sharing random pics too. Here are a few... no particular order just simply cuteness.

This was up in California a few weeks ago. We went up to visit our other side of the family since most of them had not met Myla yet and hadn't seen Eli since he was 5 months! It was also nice to get away from the AZ heat for a few days. It was actually cool up there and we got to wear jeans and sweaters! We took the kids to Yosemite, and into San Francisco (I will post pics of that soon too) It was a nice little mini vacay for us and the kids. This pic was at Grandma & Grandpa's house

Out Grocery shopping with Momma... I got them popcycles (They love to have one after dinner) they are actually really nice, I get the minni pops for them and they are the perfect size. Myla love's them and gets very excited now as soon as she sees me taking one out! But I just had to snag a pic of her... she looked so cute... Pigtails, stained herself red from head to toe without a care in the world. Simply enjoying her popcycle. This picture reminds me of me when I was little and a similar picture I have. I will need to pull it out and post it sometime.

This pic was also up in Cal. Took it the day of Eli's party. She was just relaxing on the grass watching the big kids hit hte piñata. But OMG can you say CUTENESS OVERLOAD! LOVE HER!

This was a couple back in June after one of our close friends birthday party. We came home to relax a bit and were headed out to another party and then to watch the US soccer game.

This was back when Myla first started solids. She went through a two week phase where she would make the funniest faces while we were feeding her. It was so cute and hard not to laugh. We think the funny faces were her way of asking for more food!

This was her first time having cantalope. She absolutely loved it can you tell by her face! :)

That is all for now. Since it is a long weekend I will post at least once more with more updates. I just figured I should post something before more time passes!

Celebrating 2 Years (Eli's Birthday Party... the Details)

2011-07-19T06:06:00.009-07:00

We celebrated Eli's 2nd Birthday this past Saturday. His birthday is not until this coming Thursday though, but so many of his little friends have birthday's coming up so we decided to have his party a week early that way his celebration didn't interfere with any of the other ones. Originally I wanted to do "Robot's" as a theme for his party however he ended up picking his own theme. We were out shopping with my mom early this year and passed by the party section, they had a sport/ball section of party supplies and Eli went crazy and started yelling "Ball" when we passed by, we even had to stop and let him awwww at them for a bit. My mom and I looked at each other and we both kinda said "Balls it is" so I started re-planning everything again :) (since I already had some of the stuff for a Robot themed party) So the theme was "Balls" but I focused around a Orange, Brown and Green color Scheme. The one good thing about having a sports/ball party is that it is pretty common and there is just so much you can find. It was pretty easy to plan overall. We celebrated with his little friends in the morning and then our family came over in the afternoon and evening to Celebrate with him as well. We had Two parties the same day :)

Last year I made the mistake of asking someone else to be the "Photographer" for the party. So I ended up with minimal pictures and most of them were were blurry. I was so upset, so this year I didn't want the same thing to happen. Since I started decorating in advance (Like a week) :) I needed all the extra time with a teething 6 month old and an almost two year old! So I took most of the pictures of the "Details" before the party. The day day of the party I had the camera on me pretty much the entire time and ended up with over 200 pictures! Very happy about that! So with that many pictures I am breaking down the party posts for two, one for "Details", then the next one will be the "Party" which I am hoping to get to tonight or tomorrow night.

One of my local mommy friends made this shirt for him as part of his gift!

The Back of the Shirt... TOO CUTE!

The Entrance coffee table.

My mom got these chocolate's for him down at a local Candy Store down in RR.

My mistake was putting out the candy the day before... Notice that the top of the Raisenette Portion is missing.... Eli discovered them and decided those would be his snack when mommy wasn't watching. The top was pretty much gone by the party. The middle is orange chocolate coated sunflower seeds

This is actually Mark's football. Eli and I were out grocery shopping a few days before Father's day. While we were by the floral department he started screaming "Ball, Ball, Ball" When I looked over I noticed they had a few arrangements for "DAD" in sport balls. They had football, baseball, golf, and tennis, So when I asked Eli which one he wanted for Dadda, he of course picked the "Po-Pall" so I we used it for his party too!

The side table displaying the "Ball" pops and of course the a picture of my little man!

I found these at the Dollar Tree a few weeks before the party, which were perfect.

We set up a few tables outside along with all the outdoor toys for the kids to play with. Outside I focused on a "Baseball" theme and put out peanuts and crackerjacks on the tables!

I found these water bottle's at Dollar Tree too! I couldn't pass it up so I snagged the ones they had and filled them up with Water for all of the Toddlers! We also filled the bags with popcorn for the older kids and parents.

Toddler Sport Drinks!

I found these basketball cutouts at Hobby Lobby about 8 months ago. They were the only ones they had and had them on clearance so I snagged them and I was planning on Eli doing something with them for his Tata... Well they ended up being perfect for the party!

The Piñata... We weren't happy with it but we ended up getting it for $14 for the size that it was, it was a good price (over 3 feet long and two feet wide) and the kids would end up breaking it anyway so we just got it.

The food was simple, Hot Dog's and Chips and Pizza. We also had Nachos as a snack.

My mom made his this cake (His Cake) that we were hoping he would dig right in but because he missed his nap time he was cranky by the time we cut the cakes so he just poked his fingers in it.

I was up until midnight the night before decorating the cakes and getting the final details ready! I think the cakes turned out AWESOME! And not to mention they were super yummy!

I found these cupcake ball picks down at a bakery supply store down where my parents live and snagged them right away! They were perfect and looked super cute!

His Table from the top! Ohh and since I baked everything and I got the the plates, cups and napkins on clearance at Target everything was super cheap!

I found these sport rugs at Target in the $1 section a few months ago. I was planning on putting one on each of the tables outside but they looked cute here. And I figure I can use them in his room now! He LOVES jumping on them and hops from ball to ball!

And the souvenirs! The little kids and toddlers got baseball bats (Dollar Tree) and inside we put some treats in there for them that Mark and I got at Wal-Mart after Easter. They had the stuff on clearance for .10 cents! We made out pretty good so I think I spent about $2.40 per child between the bat, treats, and sport bottle! The older kids got a bag of treats as well, I put in a box of crackerjacks, Red Vines, some sport pots and Hostes just put out some "Baseball" cupcakes for the summer and I snagged a box and put one of the baseball cupcakes in their bags too!

We had a great time! Well who wouldn't with 15 toddlers running around! :) Stay tuned for Part two of the celebration! :)

Balls.A Boy.My Life

2011-06-13T21:31:00.004-07:00

I have been sorting through the last 5 months of pictures in an effort to write a select few posts of my little girl. I noticed I have written very little about her. Actually very little about anything in general. In the process I ran across these pictures of my little man. I remember the day clearly... It seems so long ago but this was only two months ago. A Friday evening in early April. We had gotten home from a long day at the zoo and running errands. I remember sitting there watching my son play as I watched the time on our microwave continue to change. It was close to 6 pm and I sat there waiting for "Dadda" to come home. Eli had been talking about the "Duts" all day and I knew he wanted to share his stories with "Dadda". I was sad that we hadn't seen him much, upset that we had been planning on taking the kids to the zoo together but I ended up taking them myself. He wanted to be there for Eli's first trip however this down economy has had him working long hours for the last year. In my pity party I remember snapping the pictures because in the moment I thought that his playing was cute. Now looking back at them they open my eyes to much more than cuteness.

This right here is my life. My perfectly imperfect life. I notice my son playing over "Dadda's" flip flops as if they are suppose to be there, as if they are part of the game he has going on. I notice the pair of jeans casually laying atop of our couch. I see a dirty baby sock. I see a basketball Easter egg that Eli has been playing with daily for the last few weeks. I see his little toy car under the couch flipped upside down. I see what I think are crumbs of Lucky Charms on the floor. I see a bag of wipes. I see my son wrapped up in his own game. I see him carefree, unaware of mommy, unaware of the time I see him truly enjoying his toys and being a child. I see all this all while the sun is seeping through our open window. I see my life right here. Everyday.

It's hard to appreciate what I have when I have been focusing so much on what is missing. I have been focusing so much on missing my husband, missing us as a family, missing us as couple that I failed to notice that because of his absence he has given me this. My life. My world. The opportunity to spend every day with our children and have the opportunity to appreciate little moments like this.

Emotionally Emotional... If that makes any sense...

2011-05-29T23:30:00.002-07:00

So I have been gone for a while, mainly because I have been really busy getting my photography stuff in order and have just been flat out exhausted. I haven't stayed up and played on the computer in a while, as soon as the kids go to bed so do I. But I am just feeling very down/emotional/sad/worried/scared you name it I am feeling it right now. I feel like I just want to lay down and cry. Just cry for as long as I need to in order to feel better. But then again I don't know how long it would take for me to stop if I did. I have so much going through my head right now that I need to write it down, share it with someone and just let it out.

The hubby is gone so much with work that every once in a while it really gets to me. He has a 365 days a year contract with a local city that requires someone to work every single day of the week, most the time being him. Lately he has been home on Sunday's with only having to go into the office and let the employees in at 4:00 am and he might stick around and do some minimal work but on Sundays he tries to be home by 10:00 am at the latest. I try and keep myself and the kids busy but his absence really gets me down sometimes.

I worry about everyone and everything. When we M and I were taking our marriage classes, I remember our Reverend saying to me that I would worry myself to death if I didn't stop worrying about useless stuff.... well I still haven't found a way to make myself stop and right now I really feel it has taken a toll on me.

My little boy Eli spiked a fever on Thursday night. It came out of nowhere and he had no other symptoms to accompany it. We were at my cousins graduation when out of no where he started getting really fussy and my parents noticed he had a fever. We came home and I gave him Tylenol and he was out pretty fast so I figured the Tylenol would help bring it down and since he fell asleep so fast I never even bothered taking his temperature. My dad insisted that Eli was going to sleep in bed with him that night and normally I fight it because it gets Eli out of his routine and when my parents leave it is so hard on me trying to get him back on it but for some reason I didn't fight my dad that night. I said ok and just left Eli in bed and I went to bed. Well since that night I just keep thanking God for making me not think twice about Eli spending the night out of his crib. At around 4 in the morning we woke up to my mom banging on our door screaming to call 911 that Eli was having combulsions. I heard that and I just kinda froze, I could hear my dad screaming "Mijo" "Mijo" but it just seemed like I was dreaming it took me a few seconds to realize that something was really wrong. Mark ran out of the room and I ran to the dresser for the phone to call 911. I was on the phone with the operator for what seemed forever I don't remember what I said other than my son was having a seizure. I know I continued to repeat the address to our house over and over and over. I am not sure if I thought it would get them here faster, I don't. When I finally got off the phone Mark or my dad (not sure) had already taken Eli downstairs and he was crying. Mark was holding him but he was so disoriented and could not hold himself up. I remember Mark tried to lift his little arm and it just flung right back down. It took me a moment to realize he was soaked. My parents had put him in the tub and hosed him down with cool water to try and bring the fever down quickly. When the paramedics finally got here he was still crying but he was more alert. His fever was at 104 after the cold bath. With the fever still being that high and not having a cause as far as we could tell, they urged us to take him into the hospital. Once at the hospital they ran some blood work to make sure that his blood count was good and they did some other cultures. Everything came back negative and he was given some Motrin which quickly brought down his fever to 102 and then it continued to come down slowly. By the time we got out of the hospital Eli was feeling so much better and was smiling and giggling and back to his normal self. Like nothing had happened. They ended up telling us that he had had a seizure. Febrile Seizure to be exact. They are caused when a child spikes a fever too fast (their body temperature rises too quickly) about 5% of children get them and they usually outgrow them by the time they are 6. They are not re-occurring like they won't pop out of nowhere, but now that we know we need to make sure and give him medication right away as soon as we notice any sign of a fever to try and maintain it below 102. We have had a busy weekend, my parents were in town for a family reunion originally and I am so thankful they were here that night. I just keep going back and thinking that I would have probably put him in his crib. When he is sick I get up and check on him throughout the night but chances of me even noticing what was happening to him if I wasn't in the room with him are pretty slim. Had my dad not insisted on Eli sleeping with him I am not sure if something worse could have happened. He was so quiet and I only remember hearing him cry once he was in the shower. Apparently he was like that for about 3 minutes (No real time because both my mom & dad will say different times as everyone remembers things differently) I am terrified and I didn't even see him. My youngest sister heard my dad screaming and ran into the room as he was having the seizure. Thank God that by the time Mark and I saw him he had already stopped because I don't know how I would be had I seen him. I know how to react when something like that happens since it happened several times while I was teaching to a few kids, and back in high school when I was in sports. I know what to do and normally I don't freeze. I am pretty good about reacting right away, however it is so different when it is your child. Once I realized what was happening I was quick to react but even then I could not get my head straight to realize that I needed the shoes right in front of me for us to get out the door to get to the hospital. I am thanking God so much for my dad being here. Now that we are aware I pray that it never happens again. I know to take precautions with him and get him on meds as soon as we notice any sign of a fever. Like I said before I just want to lay down and cry. I want to hold both Eli and Myla and never let them go. I want to be able to protect them and I cringe at any thought of them ever being in any pain. A few of my friends say I am a Helicopter mom, "Chopper Mom" that I hover over them and I would agree that not that I necessarily hover over them but I am a worrier, I am constantly watching them even if we are in the same room just to make sure that Eli doesn't figure out how to take the outlet cover off, or now that Myla is sitting to make sure that she doesn't put that little speck of something on the floor in her mouth and chokes on it. I can't be a carefree mom like many of my mommy friends, I just can't and I am afraid that being so paranoid is affecting my health since I am always worried I always feel anxious. So now the new hurdle that I am trying to get over is getting Eli back in his crib. Since that happened he has been sleeping bed in between M and I. I can't bring myself to have him sleeping in his crib alone after what happened. I am not getting any sleep and I don't know how to overcome this. Like I said before these are rare seizures (only fever induced) I know there are far worse things out there that many families are dealing with and I am Thanking the Lord that our little man is ok however tonight I am asking him to please give me the strength to overcome this new fear. I am asking him to let this be the only time this happens, and to help me overcome this anxiety.

And something to make you smile... my baby boy happy as can be!

and to make your smile wider... my baby girl, not so happy! :)

Amococo!

2011-03-22T13:50:00.036-07:00

We took Eli to Amococo this past Friday... What is Amococo you ask??? Well I really don't know how to explain it other than a HUGE balloon type thing that has many little caves inside it. You walk threw it like a maze. What is so amazing about it is that it is filled with air, kinda like a bounce house and it is made out of the same material but with how it is shaped and the colors of the material, it looks like you are inside a kaleidoscope. Very interesting! But anyway If you want to check it out or read more about it you can read about it here

Anyway we took Eli. At first he didn't know what to think about it. He was walking behind Mark just checking everything out, then before we knew it he was running around on his own checking things out and even felt comfortable enough to wander off on his own! Luckily I was right behind him looking for after him but he never even got phased when he didn't see Mark or I he just kept walking and jumping!

We ran across this guy as we walked to the Mesa Art Center... Eli wasn't to sure about him!

Myla just chilling in her seat!

Waiting in line!

Myla wanted out so Daddy held her while we waited!

I am not sure who Daddy and Myla were giving the Evil eye too????

Then Eli of course got out and wanted to run around

Still waiting!

This is what it looks like from the outside

Once inside, one of the volunteers snapped a family pic!

Checking it out

Myla enjoying some of the action

She wasn't so sure about being out of Daddy's arms!

Then Eli got jealous that we were snapping pictures of sissy so he quickly went and started loving on her.

I tried snapping a pic of Daddy with the kids... this is what we got!

On his own

Getting a little more comfortable

Then a lady was so intrigued with Myla, she kept saying "Ohh look at the baby" and she came up to me and asked if I wanted her to take a family pic... Sure won't pass up on that since I am hardly ever in them!

And here are some pictures I took... These without the flash so you can see the full effect of the place! It is truly beautiful and actually kinda relaxing! If we didn't have the kids with us I could have hung out in there for a few hours just relaxing. They say it is suppose to feel like being inside the womb... Ummm I don't remember being inside the womb maybe Myla liked it! ;)

I'm a Godmommy! ;)

2011-03-20T22:36:00.015-07:00

I am officially a Godmother to an adorable little guy! My nephew Rylan! :) My sister asked if I could be Rylan's Godmother a while back and I of course was ecstatic! We went down to my parents the beginning of this month to Baptize him. It was a very nice mass with only two other kids which was very intimate and private! Rylan was so good the entire time he never cried, he was such a good baby! Mark took over Camera duty before, during and after the ceremony (Thanks Babe, I think he did a great job) while my parents took Myla and Eli for us... My dad kept Eli quiet while my poor mom attempted to keep Myla quiet! I heard her cry 3 times during the mass! Once I was able to nurse her she was ok. Anyway the mass was held at noon and we celebrated with close family and friends later on in the afternoon at my parents house. Rylan is very blessed to have so many people love him, there was probably over 60 people who were there to share the day with him! He is such a blessed little guy!

About to start getting him ready!

Kenya and I getting Ry ready. Kenya was also his Godmother!

These little suits are a lot harder to put on than they seem!

Such a good little guy!

This was probably the only time he cried

Ry and his proud Nina

His two Nina's

I held his had during the Lord's Prayer and he did not want to let go of my finger afterwards!

My sister, bro in law and Rylan with the Priest after his baptism

Parents/Godparent's

Grandparents

Tio Mark, Tia Karla and cousins E & M

Auntie Kenya and Uncle Chuy

What a difference a year will make! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T21:38:00.016-07:00

First of all I think a "Whoa Me" is in order!!! Two days of blogging a row! Someone please toss confetti up in the air! :) Ok Sarcasm aside, I am finally feeling a tad organized, I have been organizing my pics and the desktop that I realized there are tons of pictures that I never got to share because of my slacking! I am not making any promises about blogging more often because we all know how that will go, but I am going to make more of an effort to come on even if it is just sharing one picture a day.

Anyway Happy St. Patrick's Day! We really didn't do much... The hubby worked late, didn't get home till close to 7 today and I felt pretty bad from my Allergies so the kiddo's and I held down the fort all day! When Mark got home we went out for a quick dinner and to pick up some pills for me. Anyway I was looking back at all of Eli's pictures from last year (Like I said I have been cleaning out the computer) and boy what a difference a year makes!

This was our St. Patty's day card last year. Eli was only 8 months old and such a little ham! Well looking back at it, I might have gotten pregnant with Myla right around this time last year! Crazy to think that! Anyway in one year we went from this adorable 8 month old....

To this...

An almost 20 month old little stinker who is still such a ham, and an adorable baby girl who is a week shy of 3 months! Seriously who would have taught!

Ohhh, and I have to toss this one in here because he too was added into our family! 3 1/2 month old nephew/Godson Rylan! Isn't this just the most adorable picture EVER! Love him to pieces and then some!

We went to the Phoenix Children's Museum last week, Eli enjoyed making this St. Patrick's day head piece thingy! Well I helped some... I helped a lot, he just wanted to play with the hole puncher!

I tried getting pictures of him wearing it when we got home but no such luck... He was not happy!

Instead he wanted to wear it as an anklet

A few days later he found the headpiece again and started playing with it! This time he was actually putting it on himself so I quickly ran and got his St.Patty's shirt and tried to snap some pics since he seemed to be in a good mood!

Dancing to the Brady Bunch theme song that I sing to him... only with made up lyrics all about Eli! He loves it and will come up to me during the day and move his hand up and down like he is dancing. His form of telling me to sing!

Ohh and we can't forget his football! The football has to be involved in everything he does! He dances with it, takes it into the potty, and even sleeps with it!

Ohhh and at one point he said "Titi" (sissy) and he put the head piece on "Titi"

Myla doesn't look too happy she had to wear it!

Myla started showing off her St.Patty's Day spirit early in the week! She had several shirts and bibs that we went through. Eli actually had two shirts but I didn't realize one of them was a 3T so still big on him, so I just saved it for next year!

Apparently being a Ham runs in their genes! How cute is she! Little stinker!

Going out!

And this is the only pic I managed to get of them together... Not the best but at least they aren't screaming! That was our eventful, uneventful week! ;)

Hope everyone had a great St. Patty's day and that everyone stayed safe! Remember if you drink AAA is doing free pick ups within a 10 mile radius!

Myla's Birth Story Part Two

2011-03-16T20:42:00.025-07:00

Ok so I lied about being back the next day... how bout being back 3 weeks later!!!! I remember back when I started the blog I got to blog 2-3 times a week... before Eli and of course before two under two! Now a days it seems nearly impossible for me to get on and blog. My job during the day is taking care of my two stinkers and my job at night (if I can stay awake) is editing pictures well mostly just playing with them right now, I am still learning a lot and have a long way to go with my pics but anyway here I am and WARNING... Maybe a TMI post and Picture Overload!

Ok on with Myla's birth story... Okkkkk... and for those super sensitive people who don't want to hear (read) all those yucky uncomfortable details about pregnancy, I suggest you skip this post and wait for another one :) You see I am super excited and happy that I got to deliver vaginally so I tried writing everything down. I was writing down everything on my iPhone (Mark eventually had to take over the note taking) because I didn't want to forget a single thing! So just beware it might be TMI for some so you can't say I didn't warn you!

On to Myla's birth! So we arrived at the hospital at 3:36 am. They got us into triage right away, we did absolutely no waiting which was awesome. I was the only one in Triage from what I saw because who wants to be in labor on Christmas Eve ***Raises Hand*** apparently me!!! Anyway they were pretty quick with everything. As soon as they showed us to the huge luxury suite they give you aka... cramped, curtain wide open for all to peek, cubicle room they put you in, they made me change from my somewhat decent clothing (ok I honestly don't remember what I was wearing I think I grabbed a shirt that was way too small for me before we left the hose and I consider myself lucky I remembered to put on bottoms before leaving.) into those fugly embarrassing butt showing robes they give you Ughhh! I went into the bathroom to change and realized I needed to pee... well not only did I pee but I noticed there was something else floating around in there... at first I was a bit concerned and was about to call the nurse when I realized that bloody, buggery stuff floating around in there was the so called Mucus Plug (3:42 am)! That is when I think it finally hit me!!! OMG we are truly having a baby!!! You see with Eli I feel like I was robbed of a birthing experience so to be able to experience every single little thing about Myla's labor was a huge blessing for me to say the least! I was ecstatic to have been able to lose the Mucus Plug as well! I went back out and the Triage nurse did the first of many internals (at 3:45 am) I was going to get that day! She did the internal, confirmed that my water had indeed popped and that I was already 3 cm dilate! WOW!!!! I got hooked up to all the monitors, they came in and started and IV, took all my vitals and we just waited... My contractions were pretty strong and very close together so they asked if I wanted an Epidural... Ummmmm what kind of question is that!?!?! Ummm YES I want it! I am too much of a wimp to have refused it, although before getting there I thought I was tough and was convinced I was going to do it natural and drug free.... uhhh yeah whatever, that thought was pretty much out the door at the first sign of pain! Since my contractions were close they ended up wheeling me over to Labor and Delivery at 4:34 am, they got me situated there with my nurses and immediately brought in the anesthesiologist to start the Epidural. They put in the Epidural at 4:50 am... I thought it would be pretty breezy after that but the Epidural didn't work! My contractions were still pretty strong and close together so they gave me Magnesium at 5:40 am to try and calm them I guess (I don't remember)... My nurse came back in at 5:50 and did the 3rd internal since getting there! I had only dilated .5 cm so I was at 3.5 cm. Grrrrr... you would think with all the hand up the lady parts exams they do the dilating would speed along. Lucky for me I had a very petite Doctor and Nurse so I was very blessed to not feel any pain when they did their "Checks". My Doctor came in and ordered for me to get a second Epidural, so at 6:02 am I went through the whole needle down your back again, only this time it hurt a lot more than the first time :( about 20 minutes after the second was put in I started feeling pretty darn good! :) At 6:55 my doctor came in and guess what? Yup she did another hand up the lady part check and I was at 4 cm already! Woot woot... From then on I was feeling pretty good. I was still feeling the contractions only they weren't the bent over in pain type of contractions, the pain was tolerable.

Everyone kept telling me to sleep that I would need all my energy later on, but I was just tooooo excited... The hubby did fall asleep on the chair for a good hour but I was on Facebook, making phone calls, texting... just super anxious, but overall I think pretty relaxed. At 8:53 am I was already at 6 cm so progressing really well. My mom and sister showed up at about 9:30 am and I only got more excited :) Mark dozed of and on and at about 10 am he left to go to the shop! YUP that is right, my husband left while I was at about 7 cm dilated to go to the office!!!! He had something important he needed to go take care of, anyway I had another internal at 10:30 am and I was floating around 7-8 cm! My doctor was very excited I was progressing so nicely! But then I started feeling the contractions a lot, they were very painful and I just remember moaning a lot. At 11:30 I was still floating at about 8 cm but that was it. They continued to come in and check and nothing... I was starting to tense up from the pain and I guess that was slowing my progression. I would tell the nurse every time she would come in that it hurt a lot but she was blowing me off!!!! Finally when my doctor came in she noticed that I was in a lot of pain and had had no progress, she then noticed that my Epidural had been set wrong... It was too light for my height and weight so I was not getting enough drugs on it which is why I had been feeling the pain the entire time! At 1:30 pm she ordered a booster shot. I started feeling that pretty fast. Too fast, that my entire body went numb... I was even feeling it up to my neck! I started to panic because I felt like I could not breath. I remember getting some ice chips and that was my only relief from the numbness. I was able to feel the cold from the ice when I swallowed so I just wanted ice chips to keep me calm. They came back in at 1:55 and I was already dilated to 9 cm so the Epidural obviously worked this last time since I had been stagnant at 8 for a long time! At 2:28 I was finally a 10!!!! Woot Woot, They called in extra nurses and got me ready to start pushing. At 2:35 they had me start to push.... Ummm only that didn't work, I was so numb I couldn't even push!!!! I couldn't even feel myself trying! So then they stopped the epidural and waited until I started feeling a pain again! They adjusted my position at 3:00 pm and they had me start pushing again. This time I was defiantly feeling it!!!! I think I had 5 big contractions that I pushed through. Everything went by so fast once I was able to feel myself pushing! I am not going to lie, it was painful, but not unbearable. In all honesty I think the movies and TV make it seem far worse than it actually is. The hardest part of it all I think was recomposing myself after each push... I felt so out of breath, so light headed like I was going to pass out. I felt like I was bearly starting to breath when I had to start pushing again. The so called "Ring of Fire" or "Crowing" was not what I expected. I sure did feel it, it does burn but like I said, nothing like I had anticipated. I think that my migraines have been a lot more painful than the "Ring of Fire" I pushed for a total of 8 minutes! Yup that is all 8 minutes!!!! At 3:08 Myla Faith was born... With a head full of beautiful dark hair! ;) She weighed in at 7 lbs 4.7 oz and was 21 inches long! I had a very bad tear and ended up getting two hemorrhoids! Yeah not so fun! The doctor stitched me up while Myla got checked. They had to suction her out because it turns out she had actually pooped while in the belly and some had gotten in her mouth. But other than that she was pretty good! Great color, breathing well, active and crying! :) Once I delivered the placenta, got stitched up, I finally got to hold my baby girl! It was by far the most amazing experience I have ever had. I would do a natural birth vs. a C-section any day! The pain is overrated, and recovery is fast... very fast. I was in the bathroom 1 and a half after giving birth despite my tear and hemorrhoids. I think the most uncomfortable thing of the entire experience is the catheter! I loved birthing my daughter and only makes me wish I could have done so with Eli. At least I was blessed enough to have experienced both. I could not be happier right now. I have my baby boy and my baby girl! I have always said that I want four kids, and I still do! But if this is all God sends me, I am ok with it. I consider myself truly blessed. Thank you God for such an amazing pregnancy, and labor experience! I would do it all over again in a heartbeat, the end result is truly worth it!

In all my Glory... Pushing

Welcome to the world baby girl... 3:08 pm Dec. 24, 2010

Myla Faith

7 lbs 4.7 oz

21 inches long

She came out with a tad of a cone head!

Hello World

Finally got to hold her!

Looking my best! Haha

Beautiful Girl

Daddy sharing a moment with her before we got to take her home!

Merry Christmas!

What an amazing gift we received! I would love to find gifts like her under my tree every year! ;) J/K not every year! Haha

Her first Christmas!

Myla's Birth Story Part One

2011-02-22T21:40:00.008-07:00

Ok since she will be two months in a few days I figured I should quit the slacking and write her birth story! I have been good about keeping track of her little milestones on my phone but it is really hard for me to blog! Before I would blog downstairs from my laptop but Eli killed it before the holidays. He downloaded a virus and I obviously can't use it so I need to wait until both kids are in bed and do all my editing and computer stuff at night and in all honesty some days it's tough, all I want to do is crash so blogging is far back in my priorities :(

Anyway I figured I should write out little girls Birth Story before too much time passes or I lose my phone and all my notes in it! Since I LOVE to write, her birth story is going to be written in two posts! This first will be Pre-Hospital! :)

Well we went in to our regular scheduled appointment with my OB on December 23rd. I was 60% effaced and only 1 cm dilated. The doctor started talking C-Section since I was not progressing much. She even went as far as to schedule a c-section for January 3rd. I started crying right in the room because I really wanted to try for a vaginal birth. I think she felt bad for me and said they would consider inducing me once I was there at the hospital with hopes that things would progress, if they didn't then they would proceed with the C-Section. I went home crying and very disappointed. All I ever wanted was to be able to experience a natural birth and if we ever go for a third baby I knew that they would have a hard time considering a VBACC with two previous c-sections. Anyway once home I wrapped a few more gifts, played with Eli and I had a few fruit baskets I put together for a few neighbors that needed to be delivered. I put Eli in the stroller and we headed off. We walked around for about a hour and a half hoping to get things going, I finally delivered the last fruit basket to our next door neighbors (an older couple who just moved in about 4 months ago) and Mary insisted that Myla would arrive on Christmas Eve... in fact every time she had seen me prior to this she always insisted that Myla would arrive on Christmas Eve... When she said she would arrive tomorrow I politely laughed and told her it was very unlikely since I had ZERO progression at that mornings appointment. After a short chat with them and Eli getting some cookies we headed back in the house. I spoke to a few friends one of whom had been insisting I take Castor Oil... Ummmmmmm NO YUCK!!!! So I quickly refused her suggestion and called my mother in law to let her know where we stood. At this point it looked like Myla would arrive January 3rd, I mentioned the Castor Oil to her who also made the comment that she had heard it worked. Hmmmmmm OK.... I also talked to an e-friend who swears that it worked for her friends. After thinking about it I went online and researched it, side effects, taste, where to get it. I talked to my friend again and she insisted that it worked. She finally convinced me and I called Mark to stop and grab some after work.

You have to understand that by this point I was pretty uncomfortable, you see little Miss Myla decided to camp out right on my pelvic area. We didn't know she was sunny side up until delivery time which explains all my pain. It was really hard for me to walk without feeling like I was going to poop the poor thing out. As much as I wanted her out I honestly didn't believe that the Castor oil would work so at 9:30 pm that night I mixed in two tablespoons into a smoothie. I thought it would taste horrible but to my surprise it wasn't that bad. Mark and I watched TV for a bit and I was just waiting for the side effects to kick in... Everything I read said it caused Diarrhea so I patiently waited for it it.... Ummm I only went to the bathroom once and wasn't feeling anything else. We went to bed around 11:00 pm and I felt perfectly normal. I had some mild cramping but I knew that was caused my the so called "Diarrhea" well at around midnight I started feeling contractions! Again I didn't think much of it since I had been having contractions for about a month and nothing had happened so I just rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. They were a little stronger than my usual ones so I was having a hard time getting comfortable. It took me a while to realize that they were actually pretty consistent and about 5 minutes apart! Finally at 1:00 am I got up and went to pee. After getting back in bed I felt like I wet my undies so I went to the bathroom cleaned myself and changed. I didn't think much of my "Bladder Control" since it had become really normal to let a bit out when I sneezed or coughed lately. So I put on new underwear a pantyliner and went back to bed. A few minutes later I felt wet again, a little more this time so I immediately got up, changed again. I sat back on the bed and woke Mark up letting him know that I thought my water broke. He looked at me like I was crazy since there was no sign of an excess amount of water anywhere. I told him I kept leaking fluid and even as we spoke I could feel it. He looked at the spot where I was sitting and said there isn't even anything there! I looked down and he was right, it wasn't even wet... but then I remembered I was wearing a pantyliner, I immediately go up (at 1:26 am December 24) and a HUGE amount of fluid just came gushing out! It was crazy, I never knew it would be like that! It was really warm and felt very weird because I could not control it, it just kept coming! I immediately looked at Mark and said "SEEEEEE" The mood immediately changed then when I got my first Really bad contraction, I actually had to bend over from the pain. Mark started running around finishing our hospital bag since it was only partially finished. We had not been concerned about finishing it since we thought we had plenty of time :) Oops! I started telling him to get all the camera's and stuff together, Myla's bag was packed and in all reality the only thing I really needed to take in my opinion was my camera's! (Yeah I know I am horrible) We called our parents and let them know that it was time! My parents got everything ready to head up to Phoenix and we had to figure out what we were going to do with Eli. I had plenty of people offer to watch him when the time came but with it being Christmas Eve the only people I wanted was family so we called and aunt to come over and watch him. Mark finished getting everything ready and I hopped into the shower.

This whole time while Mark got everything ready I had been sitting on out computer chair making phone calls, posting on facebook and soaking through three towels! When I thought the water had stopped I decided to get a shower. At this point the contractions were pretty strong. I "labored" in the shower for probably a good 45 minutes just letting hot water fall on my back. They started getting stronger and were about 4 minutes apart so I decided it was time to get out of the shower and head to the hospital. After letting my aunt know where all of Eli's things were at, what time he wakes up, where the extra paci was at, what he liked for breakfast, juice (EVERYTHING) yes I was panicking :) I was scared to leave my baby and felt horrible that I couldn't go give him a kiss in fear of waking him up. I knew everything would be so different next time he saw us. Anyway I told her probably way more information than she needed to know and Mark and I finally headed to the hospital. On the drive there my contractions intensified I would definitely say on a scale from 1-10 they were about an 8. Mark was talking to me I guess trying to distract me but I do not remember a single word he said! I remember him telling me to open my Christmas present... he was so insistent on it and I pretty much told him to shut up that the dang Christmas present was the last thing on my mind to just drive!!!!! He seemed a little hurt so I opened it and saw it was a yoga ball! I had been asking for one to sit on so I could relieve some of the pressure Myla had been causing so he had gotten me one so I could use it to labor with at the hospital! How sweet is he!!!! Well in the excitement/pain of it all, the Yoga Ball was forgotten in the car when we got to the hospital and was never used! Booooo! We arrived at the hospital at 3:36 am!

Stay tuned for Part Two! Hopefuly coming tomorrow night! :) And for now I leave you with a few of Eli's pre sister pictures....

This is what we dealt with every day! He was upset I did not give him more cookies!

He came over to me and was whining for "Tookies"... I said "no more"

Finally decided his paci would have to do!

He loves Coffee and knows those Starbucks cups a little too well! He stole it off the kitchen table!

This is what he did after he had a caffine rush... was dancing on top of one of my ribbon boxes!

Destroying Gingerbread houses at Nana's house

Then he figured out he could eat them!

Helping Tata light a fire!

Trying to be too helpful! We grilled some oysters!

Anything Like Me

2011-01-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

For our son...

Lyrics to Brad Paisley's song "Anything Like Me"

I remember saying I don't care either way

Just as long as he or she is healthy I'm ok

Then the doctor pointed to the corner of the screen

And said "You see that thing right there well you know what that means"

And I started wondering who he was going to be

And I thought heave help us if he is anything like me

He'll probably climb a tree too tall and ride his bike to fast

End up every summer wearing something in a cast

He's gonna throw a ball and break some glass

in a window down the street

He's gonna get in trouble oh he's gonna get in fights

I'm gonna lose my temper and some sleep

It's safe to say that

I'm gonna get my payback if he's anything like me

I can see him right now knees all skinned up

With a magnifying glass trying to melt a Tonka truck

Won't he be a sight with his football helmet on

That'll be his first love til his first love comes along

He'll get his heart broke by the time he's in his teens

And heaven help him if he's anything like me

He'll probably stay out too late and drive his car too fast

Get a speeding ticket he'll pay for mowing grass

He's gonna get caught skipping class and be grounded for a week

He's gonna get in trouble we're gonna get in fights

I'm gonna lose my temper and some sleep

It's safe to say that I'm gonna get my payback if he's anything like me

He's gonna love me and hate me along the way

Years are gonna fly by I already dread the day

He's gonna hug his momma, he's gonna shake my hand

He's gonna act like he cant wait to leave

But as he drives out he'll cry his eyes out If he's anything like me

There's worse folks to be like Aw he'll be alright if he's anything like me

Eli,

When Daddy and Mommy first heard this song a few months ago we couldn't help but laugh! And we laughed hard because it described you to a T! After the song was over Mommy of course started crying while Daddy was still smirking! Now every time it comes on while we are in the car, Daddy turns up the volume and we smile! There are certain parts to the song that we already see happening! When we were picking out the the rock to put into the backyard we ended up going with Pea gravel (The smallest rocks we could find) because the first thing Daddy and I thought of when looking at the bigger rock was Can't you see this ending up through a window? It's a good thing we did go with the smaller rock because we were correct you LOVE to toss rocks at everything and anything even the neighbors cat! You are ALL boy and are constantly climbing on things, over things just because you can, you try and run too fast, faster than your little body can go right now and end up face planting the floor, you have bruises all over and already have two scars from skinning your knee and elbow! When you were a bit younger we took you into the doctor and her words to us when we were leaving were "We will see you back here in a couple of years for broken bones and stitches!... He is going to be one of those boys"!!! Yup, she actually said that to us, that she could already tell, and from what we have seen already with you, we have a feeling she was right in her words! But the part of the song that gets me every single time is this one here;

"I can see him right now knees all skinned up

With a magnifying glass trying to melt a Tonka Truck"

We have been wanting to get you a nice Tonka Truck... however all of the ones we have seen are plastic! We want a nice metal one for you because just like the song, I have a very clear picture of our future with you... Daddy and I can already see you out in the backyard, covered in dirt and just like the song says, your poor little knees all skinned up "playing" with that Tonka Truck. We sure have our work cut out with you kiddo. We know it already. We know there are many frustrations and tears to come as you already test us in every way possible! We know there will be many trial and error methods to our parenting style with you and we will eventually get it :) We have definitely lost sleep already trying to think of the "right" way to handle some of your behavior's but I guess there really isn't a right way, we will just have to work together, eventually you will get to a point where we can reason with you and you will understand. These last two weeks have definitely been the hardest on us but know that we love you Eli and we would not have you any other way because then it would just not be you! You are definitely one of a kind! And as excited as we are to see every single chapter in your life, like getting your license and such I already dread the day that you will leave. I have a very hard time listening to the end of the song because I just can't. We love you Eli and thank you for being you!

Love,

Daddy & Mommy

Start 2011 of right!

2011-01-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year 2011!!!!

Now with that said, I know I was HORRIBLE at my blogging the last half of 2010. I got a lot of complaints from some family members and some friends that apparently did religiously check our blog... I thought I was just writing for myself and my mom ;) So thank you guys and I promise to be better this year. I guess this first post will be for me... There are a few things I would like to get out there and maybe a few of you have suggestions for me :)

First of all, I want to say that we are officially a family of FOUR!!!!! Yup, we welcomed our little girl Myla Faith on Christmas Eve of all days! But I promise to write a birth story soon so I can start documenting everything again!

Eli is currently 17 months old and is having a hard time adjusting to being a big brother. He does run to Myla when she cries and doesn't try to hurt her or anything but he does get upset when I am holding her and can't hold him. I am hoping this passes soon because it is really hard on me having to watch him cry on the floor, I feel like he thinks he was replaced which breaks my heart. I try and kiss him, hug him, and just plain love on him as much as I can but he obviously knows that things are different now. But anyway a post on just Eli later too! ;)

And now on to me and why I have been MIA. In all honesty I had a harder time with Myla's pregnancy than I ever did with Eli. The last couple of months were probably the hardest, I ended up getting morning sickness in the last tri and she hung out pretty low the entire time which caused a lot of pain and discomfort for me, not to mention taking care of Eli with a Belly was not the easiest task. The kiddo does not stop for a second and is constantly getting himself into trouble! I also had a very hard time emotionally. Mark has been gone for work a lot and is working pretty much 7 days a week now (he does get an occasional weekend off a month) but he is gone more than he is ever home. He gets home on average around 6:30 -7:30 we eat, on the days he can play with Eli he does, he puts Eli to bed at 8:00 pm and then we go to bed, He gets up at 4:30 am and is gone before I ever even get up. I spent the last half of 2010 very emotional because I felt like a single mom and I am having a very hard time getting used to the idea that at least the start of 2011 doesn't look like it will be any different other than now I have a newborn and a toddler to look after. I know I sound like I am exaggerating but really he is gone all the time... Even on Christmas Eve, I was in active labor and already at 6 cm dilated and he had to leave the hospital for an hour and a half to go into the office! So all you crazy ladies/mommies that follow please pray for me... Please pray that God gives me patience, energy, and strength to get through this emotional hump I have hit. With all the crying I have been doing lately and how down I feel half the time I fear I will end up getting post-partum depression or something like that. I need to be able to feel ok for our babies and I try, I really try to stay optimistic, I try and keep my mind occupied and I try and get together with my support group but eventually it all gets to me and I end up breaking down. Eli saw me break down a few times and I could tell he was concerned so I have been very good about holding it in but I know that is not good for me either to keep it bottled up. I pray at night myself and occasionally during the day, I know I will get through these feelings I just hope it is fast. If any of you have gone through this and have any suggestions please call me, email me and let me know what you did to overcome them.

And here are a few pics of my babies... I haven't really done much editing or anything these are SOOC (Straight out of camera) pictures and what you guys will be getting for a while. I don't want to spend my time editing because then I would never update. So here is a bit of overexposure overload :) I have also finally took my camera off portrait mode and have been playing with it on manual which is why they are overexposed... I will figure it out soon enough :)

My little sleeping beauty! Her new nickname is Princess Rory (thanks to her auntie) after Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty

"Mommy what the heck is that huge black thing in my face"

And my little man!

Dancing with the Stars & Eli

2010-10-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

Ok so Eli LOVES to dance!!! As soon as he hears music he starts moving his little body it! He definitely has Latin blood in him, granted at this point I think the poor thing has taken after his daddy with his dancing moves... anyway at least he is not embarrassed at this point!

We have been watching Dancing with the Stars on Monday's then we watch the results on Tuesday's... well we noticed that it is the ONLY time that Eli watches TV even for a sec... At this point he still has no interest in TV but for some reason when he hears music on DWTS he is all over it! Then when the music stops he actually gets upset at us and starts signing "More" with his hands... He obviously doesn't understand that Mommy & Daddy can't control the music on the TV at this point!

So if you watch closely he is actually mimicking the entertainer on there... When there is a close up on the TV, you actually see the guy turning around with his arms wide open which is what Eli was doing! Then at the end notice Eli starts to sign "More" once the music has stopped! :)

Hope you enjoy our little stinker as much as we did! His daddy is convinced that we dance while he is at work... Maybe we do, maybe we don't Daddy! ;)

A letter to our Son...

2010-09-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Eli,

Daddy & Mommy are going on a vacation today. We will be going up to New York but we promise you to only be away for a week. The more we think about it we might cut it short a few days because we already miss you sooooo much! We had planned on taking you with us the entire time we had been planning the trip but up to a few days ago we decided that it would be best for you to stay with Nana & Tata. You see our little stinker, you are a very active little boy! We decided it would not be in your best intentions to take you with us and put you through a 9 hour day of airports, and airplanes, Taxi's and subway's! You need to be up and running around most of the day to burn off all that energy you have inside your little body. We also did not like the idea of exposing you to all those germs even though we prepared you as best we could and had you get your flu shot a few weeks ago. We also didn't want to and keep you confined in an airplane for such a long period of time. We knew you would not handle it well at this point. Nana and Tata made a special trip to Phoenix yesterday just to come pick you up so you could spend the week playing and getting spoiled by them! You were sooooo excited too and Mommy could not stop crying when I put you in your carseat and you were just sooooo eager to go with them! I know you are in the best of hands we could ask for and you will be very well taken care of. Too well if you ask me, I think Daddy and I might have some issues when we get back getting you back to a routine because we just know that Nana & Tata will let you sleep with them and spoil you with cookies, ice cream and toys!

Just know that if we had planned a shorter trip maybe 2 or 3 days we would have taken you with us in a heartbeat! In fact Daddy was still saying last night that we still had time to go pick you up and bring you with us! We really do want you to have been able to be a part of this and you have no idea how hard it has been on us knowing that we will go a week without seeing you! We just can't stand the thought of not being able to hold you and kiss you at any moment in the day, or have you wrap your arms around us, lift up or shirts to look at our belly button or blow raspberries on our tummies! You are such a silly little boy! We will miss absolutely EVERYTHING about you, yes this includes your dirty little diapers! Actually I think Daddy is happy he can pass that along to Tata for a week :) Yesterday was the hardest day for us Eli! Mommy has not been away from you a single day or a single night since you have been born and I am having a hard time dealing with it. We love you little guy, you are the best thing that has ever happened to us and we can't wait to get back to you! Please have fun and enjoy your little vacation as well! We will miss you every single day and every single minute of this trip! See you soon!

We LOVE YOU SO MUCH Eli Warner

Love,

Daddy & Mommy

P.S. - Please remind your Nana to document everything you do for us! I know she will do a great job taking daily pictures of you, but Mommy & Daddy really don't want to miss a single moment of your life!

24 Weeks

2010-09-17T05:58:00.001-07:00

Everything is good still! This week we went in and got my flu shot! I have been super paranoid about this flu season with the pregnancy so I wanted to get the flu shot ASAP! An old family friend was pregnant last year and ended up getting the H1N1 virus while pregnant. They had to take the baby out at 7 months. The baby was thankfully ok but she ended up in coma for a month after that because she just go so sick from it. She is doing good now but they had to teach her how to do everything again, like talk, walk ect... Sooooo I didn't want to risk anything and went in... We got E his too and I made Mark go in and get one too! So we are set! :) E needs to go back in 6 weeks to get another one.

Back to the pregnancy, overall I had a good week aside from the same complaints (back, heartburn) everything is great. I did have a few down days this week but I recouped fast :) Ohh and my bellybutton is officially the size of Texas now! Yup that is right, it's huge, shallow and just looks gross! Ohh and I have totally been wanting to go to Baskin Robins like everyday... I have been wanting their Rainbow Sherbert... don't worry we only went twice, and I got the kid's scoop! I haven't weighed myself so not sure if I put on any weight, although I feel huge! So check back up on the next week for that! :)

23 Weeks

2010-09-17T05:13:00.000-07:00

Ok so before anything, I didn't realize I am wearing the same thing for both 23 week pictures! If I would hae thought about it, I would have started doign it from the beginning because I think it would have been a lot easier to compare where I am at with each baby! ;) Anyway nothing too exciting this week, but Hello Heartburn! I think it is officially here to stay! BOOOOO! I have had it every single day this week! My back pain is also horrible, I can't stand it, if I lay on the floor, I have a hard time getting up, I have a hard time shifting positions in bed at night too, so between insomnia, peeing a billion times and hour, heartburn and the back pain, I am no longer sleeping! :( My crouton craving I had with E is also back. I have been walking around with my bag of Garlic Butter croutons! :) We had a doctor's appt. this week and everything check out good with Myla! HB was 158 bpm so around the range it has been. My BP was ok, pee was ok and we are up 4 lbs... My belly finally had some growth because the doc was able to measure it! :) I didn't get those measurements though! I am also going back in two weeks to get my Glucose tests done.

22 Weeks = Another Scare :(

2010-09-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

I had been feeling pretty well, I think I officially started showing this week! Like really showing, now when people see me they might think "Oh, she is pregnant" before they think "Oh she is fat" :) But who knows, we did go to a party where I was asked how the pregnancy was going by a friend, when and older lady came up to me and said "Ohh, you are pregnant? Congratulations, I thought you were still a little fat from your first baby!" Ahhhhhh...... Geeeez lady, thanks for an AWESOME compliment! Ha! Seriously, where do people get this, I mean even at age like 7 I knew not to make a comment like that and flat out call someone fat! But anyway, in all honesty I really didn't care too much, Mark and I were actually laughing at it because we were just in awe that someone would be so blunt! Ok, so back to the scare, I spent the week down at my parents because they had been bugging me they wanted to see Eli, I figured we could spend a few days down there, my dad was on vacation so Eli had both his Nana & Tata there with him all day which was nice! I LOVE the extra hands to help out with him when I can get them! Anyway, on Wednesday morning (around 1:00 am to be exact) I started feeling a lot of back pain! Probably the worst I have had yet, it was strong enough to the point where I had to leave the room because I was crying so hard and thought I would wake Eli up! I went and sat in my parents living room for a while hoping it would pass, I had taken Tylenol already at 11:00 pm because I also had a headache so I didn't want to take anymore. I then started feeling very sharp pains in my stomach that would reach all around to my back. I started freaking out because they were coming and going about every 5-10 minutes and lasting about 30 seconds... I also started feeling a lot of vaginal pressure. at around 3:00 am I finally decided I should call my doctor, who was concerned it might be pre-term labor! WHAT... Pre-term labor... I freaked out and didn't know what to do... I didn't want to go to the hospital down at my parents because one: I had surgery there when I got my appendix out and a year later my scare opened up agian! Yeah... not kidding! It was bleeding and all. Two: they are not equipped for ANYTHING! If something were to go wrong, they would need to fly me up to Tucson and Three: I just flat out don't trust them down there, I have heard many horror stories! So after my doctor told me I had to go to the hospital I called Mark, I was contemplating on driving up to the Valley again but it just hurt so much I didn't feel I could make the trip myself. At that point it was close to 4:00 am, I had made myself a Chamomile tea hoping to calm myself and maybe the pain. I woke my little sister up and asked her what I should do. And like Mark of course she told me I needed to go to the hospital. I then started contemplating on calling my BFF or her Hubby who are both paramedics. I knew one of them was working for sure and they could drive me up to Tucson... if something was really wrong, I would trust them to handle an emergency situation better than anyone else I know, but by that point my mom walked out of her room and insisted I go to the hospital now! After a bit of arguing she won and and pretty much dragged me to the hospital down there! She convinced me because she said we would see what they say, if it was contractions, we could check myself out and she would drive me up to Phoenix, or ask if they could have me transferred to Tucson. The idea seemed logical and at the best solution so we went... well when we got there the Parking lot was completely EMPTY! No one in the waiting room and even then they took forever to get me in, umm you would think pregnant female, with belly pain (possible contractions) yeah maybe we should get her in and figure the paperwork out later since well the stupid computers were down, then the lady couldn't figure out her password to get on... yeah... it is that ridiculous! Then to top it off, they were asking stupid questions that were not relevant like why I wasn't working... Um lady I have insurance, you've got my insurance card and license which should be all you need, are you kidding me with all these stupid questions. Non the less I was sooooo irritated, by the time they got me back in, I felt better. I was no longer having the pains, they had passed so they obviously didn't show up on the test... They told me they "thought" it might be a bladder infection and gave me a pill. So we ended up going home. I called my doctor again and she said if I felt the pain again to go back in, but if I was not having any bleeding or discharge then I was ok... Well maybe you should have told me that the first time! I think she was just concerned since I had the history with E and the preclampia/abruption. Mark ended up driving down there with my Brother in law to pick E and I up since he didn't want me driving! When we came back we went in to the OBGYN and everything seemed normal. I haven't had that pain/sensation anymore so everything is good!

21 Weeks

2010-09-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting this week, the only big issue pregnancy wise was really bad back pain... I have it pretty bad pregnant or not, ever since I fell skating it hasn't been the same. It is constantly popping and I get a really sharp pain that lingers at the small of my back and then shoots down my left leg. With being pregnant though, I have noticed it does get 10 times worse! It is to the point where I am uncomfortable sleeping now. Ohhh and speaking of sleeping, the insomnia has officially set in! Booooo!!! I get up between 2:00 am to 3:00 am and then can't fall asleep anymore! I start feeling sleepy a few hours later again, but on a given day Mark is up by 4:30-5:30 am so then I am usually awake because he is showering or making noise! :( Grrrr... and well then E is up at 5:30 sooo there goes my sleep! E usually naps for an hour at around 9:00 am so I try and sleep along with him then if I don't have to much housework to catch up on. So I have been feeling exhausted lately! I really can't wait until this phase passes! Heartburn is getting worse but aside from that baby girl still squirms like crazy!

20 Weeks = Half way there & Jello Belly

2010-09-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

First of all, I just want to say Woot Woot!!! We made it half way already! Crazy huh? Seriously where is this pregnancy going, before we know it it will be the holidays and Little Miss M will be here before we know it! It's just so hard to believe! My belly also looks like a big bowl of Jello now! Not only do we get to feel Myla kicking away like crazy we get to SEE it from the outside too! Like I have said before, everything is happening sooooo very soon this time around! My belly button is still really wide and seems to be getting shallower. I also had heartburn twice this week :( Bummer, but taking some Tums actually did the trick. Everything else is great! Mark and I actually got baby girl two outfits! In all honestly I am beginning to feel nervous now... I was so set on the baby being a boy and feeling completely prepared but now that we know it's a girl, we need to start from scratch. Well at least with the clothing and stuff. I don't plan on going and new everything... We are considering purchasing another crib set though since E will only be a year and a half by the time she arrives we don't feel comfortable taking him out of his crib so soon. We are still debating on what to do, we are in no hurry to make decisions right now, we still have hopefully at least 18+ weeks to go depending on when she decides to make her grand entrance! So we will see... I had also forgotten to mention... My little sister is having a BOY! I am so excited for E and Miss M to have a cousin to grow up with. They have two up in California but we only get to see them a few times a year so needles to say I am excited! I remember how much fun it was growing up with my cousins and causing all the trouble we did so I am glad E will have a another boy to share that with! On another note, all of E's clothing and stuff will go to my sister! :) She scored big since E received TONS of stuff. My mom's friend gave us a lot of her son's clothing that he never wore simply because he had so much and couldn't use it all before he outgrew it. The lady had 5 baby showers and received a lot so we were very blessed that all that stuff was haded down to us... We have 6 bin fulls of clothes out in the garage and that is not to mention all we have inside the house still! So baby cousin Rylan will be one well dressed little guy! Ohhh and have I mentioned how EXCITED I am to be thinking already of all the pictures I am going to take or My and Ry! My sis is due two weeks before me so at the very latest they will only be a month apart, and as close to a few days apart, maybe even the same day, but that would be asking too much and putting our parents through hell! ;) Hehe!

19 Weeks = Baby P # 2 is......

2010-09-11T13:17:00.001-07:00

A GIRL!!!!!! Myla Faith looked absolutely perfect as can be... Ten tiny toes, perfect little head, heart beat was strong and perfect! She weighs about 10 oz right now! CRAZY her HB was 156 BPM and she was kicking away like crazy! The tech actually made a comment about her being the most active little girl she had ever seen! As soon as she would move the camera to get a better angle and good shot of her arm or fist or anything, boom.... she was in a completely different position altogether! She did cooperate perfectly though when it came to getting the "Money Shot" :) There is was... Absolutely No peepee but 3 perfect little lines! :) I of course started bawling my eyes out as soon as I saw... I knew right away (I knew what I was looking for) and the tech asked then "So what was your first baby?" We both said a Boy, then she excitedly responded "Well.... it looks like you will have to be going out and buying all new stuff" You got a girl!!!! So then I cried more!

So ok Hubby.... read it now because these words are rare to hear ;) You were right... AGAIN!!! and can I just add that I am sooooooooo grateful that we didn't bet on it! :)

Everything looks good, I did gain a 1 lbs! :) And this week I noticed that my belly button is getting HUGE!!! It looks like a freak belly button! I swear I can fit a quarter in there or something.... well not really but you get the idea, maybe a nickle! ;) My legs have been extremely itchy... so bad in fact that I must scratch really bad at night because I wake up with scabs all over my legs from the scratching! I have tried Aveno lotion and everything, I am drinking plenty of water still so I was hoping that would help out with the dryness of my skin but no suck luck... I really hope this goes away soon because I am really starting to scar my legs. Everything else is going great! Still feeling good emotionally and still have energy, I do end up crashing at the end of the day but I think that has to do with running around after E all day not from pregnancy exhaustion!

18 Weeks = We LOVE our baby!!!

2010-09-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

Some exciting news this week... Mark and I were able to feel the baby kicking outside of the belly!!!! Crazy huh?? Especially with me only being 18 weeks. We didn't get to feel E kick from the outside until we were like 22 weeks or so. It's amazing to see how strong our little one is growing already! Definitely taking after older brother in the kicking department and I am absolutely loving it! We were actually in bed kinda watching TV but talking more than actual watching, I had my hand on my belly and totally felt it! I FREAKED!!! I just could not believe it at all! I told Mark and he could not believe it I said look, grabbed his hand and placed it on my belly... after about two minutes he finally said "Hobbles, I think maybe it was just you, I can't feel anything", but regardless he keped his hand there and about a minute later we just both kinda looked at each other and sure enough... KICKS!!!!! We were ecstatic!!! We still can't get over how fast this baby is growing, it seems like just yesterday we were peeing on a stick! Anyway, still nothing to report, no weight gain!! Woot woot, nice since I have been eating tons of cheese, but to make up for it, I cut back on the ice cream that I normally treat myself too! :) I did get heartburn on day this week, but not too bad, well at least not as bad as I would get it with E. My belly does seem to be growing a little extra hair but nothing like it did with Eli, I swear that with Eli, it was starting to look like a jungle and needed some major landscaping done to it! ;) Luckily Mark convinced me not to touch it and it pretty much went away after E's birth. I am hoping this one isn't as hairy but in all honestly if it turns out to be, I'm ok with it since I know it will go away. Next week is our BIG week! We go in for our Ultrasound to find out the gender! We are super excited... Mark really wants to bet on it again, I am positive it's another boy, while he is positive it's a girl... With E it was the other way around, so we made a bet if he was correct, he got to name the baby, if I was correct I would get to name the baby... Well long story short E ended up with his name because of his daddy! This time around though I am not wanting to place any bets! I already have a boy name I LOVE and my girl name I have had picked out FOREVER!!! Probably since like high school! So I really don't want to place any bets in case I do lose... Hehehe, but we will see, it is kinda fun and it makes the anticipation even greater and a little more interesting! :)

17 Weeks = Hardest Week Yet :(

2010-09-11T05:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, let me start off by saying how incredibly blessed I am to have Mark in my life, to have our handsome little boy, and to be expecting this little one now, but for some reason this week was incredibly hard on me as far as actually being able to see how truly lucky I am.... This might be a long post... Pregnancy wise everything is going fine, the baby is still nonstop in the movement department which is a good sign since in all reality that is all I have to show for as far as being pregnant. Still nothing on the weight which is good! I was a little worried about that, with this being the second pregnancy I figured I would for sure be racking up the lbs a little faster than I did with E, but it seems to be the same which is good because in all honestly I think I added a roll to my belly when E weened himself from the boob! Ohh and apparently my children just LOVE grapes! I remember when I was pregnant with E, all I ate were frozen grapes with MnM's... well this little one LOVE'S the grapes just as much (yeah still frozen) but I like out just out of the fridge too but instead of MnM's to accompany them this time around it is CHEESE!!! Yup that is right, the CHEESE is in the neighborhood and has officially kicked PICKLES out! Not that pickles aren't great, but I am just not having a panic attack anymore if they are not in our fridge. It has gotten to the point where I have to stop at the store on our way home from wherever to pick up a block of Cheese, as soon as we get into the car I break it open and just bite off a chunk right then and there! Yes crazy... I think I have been trying really hard to control it but I am probably going through three 8 oz blocks of Cheese per week all by myself, and that does not include the cheese I eat on everything else like tacos, or quesadillas, bagels ect... And did I mention how much I love Cheese with Grapes! Just pop a two grapes in my mouth and a piece of cheese and OMG... Heaven!!!!! So by the end of this week I know I will for sure be heavier :) Anyway... like I said, all is good in the baby department so moving on....

Back to the beginning of the post... I had been feeling very down lately... probably for about a little over a month now I just started feeling sad for some reason... It got to the point where I was having to remind myself how blessed I am several times throughout the day and at night... I have been crying over EVERYTHING and ANYTHING and literally cry an average of 4-5 times a day, and not just a few tears but full on can't control my sobbing type of crying. I started getting really worried that maybe I was getting depressed or something, I started looking at every possible thing that could be causing this feeling of sadness and anxiety but in all honesty I can't find anything because I truly am happy... so why can't I feel it! I noticed I started being very mean to Mark, and would snap at him for the stupidest little things that normally wouldn't bother me at all. I had less patience with E and Eddie and would literally have a meltdown if I could not find the flip flop I wanted. After about a month of this I ended up telling Mark that I thought something was up... I told him how I had been feeling, that nothing seemed to make me happy and I lost motivation for everything... it seemed like I was just going through the motions each day. We sat there together while I admitted to him and myself that I was depressed. He held me and I cried so for the next week he would come home and was EXTRA helpful with E and around the house, if he saw that I needed time he just let me be, if I cried he just held me, or held my hand, a few times I just sobbed on the floor in the shower and he would come in and just hold me. In all honestly I don't know where these feelings came from they just appeared overnight one day but I felt a little relief in knowing that he knew I wasn't myself. It got to the point where one day I almost lost it with E... It breaks my heart to even think of it now, but I am just sooooo thankful that I was aware that something was wrong with me. So E was being very fussy on Wednesday, he cried all morning and I tried every single possible thing to get him to calm down. Gave him Tylenol, held him, took him for a walk tried to put him down for naps, played with him, literally I tried everything I could think of, we finally came upstairs to change the scenery for him. I figured maybe he would get distracted and stop crying... well it only got worse, it was now 1:00 pm and he had yet to take a nap and was still screaming, I was walking around with him in my arms hoping he would calm down a bit, at that point I think my frustration just got to me and I felt the urge to spank him. (This breaks my heart just thinking that I ever thought anything like that) yes, I felt that I needed to spank him to calm him down. At that point as quickly as I had that feeling and the feelings I had been having for the last month or so all came falling down on me... I set E on the floor and let him cry and I huddled in the corner of our bedroom and just lost it... I cried so much because I instantly felt so guilty that I could ever think that and then out I just started praying. I cried and prayed for what seemed like for ever, I asked God to forgive me. I asked him to help me get over these feelings I have been having. I asked him to help me get over all the negativity. I asked him for more faith. I asked him to help me get over what I was going through. Then I cried some more... but I started feeling so different, it's like something inside me changed, my sobbing slowed down a bit and then I started thanking him. I thanked him for my amazing husband who is more than I ever imagined having in a partner. I thanked him for putting Mark in my path because he helps keep me going, he supports me in everything I decide to do, even all my crazy ideas. He may smile and say I am crazy but he does things and does them because he wants too and not for him but for me. He puts me and E before him all the time. (Well not when he is watching his show on TV) He is an amazing father to E. Then I thanked God for our son... who at that moment had also stopped crying and was just staring at me. Not smiling, not frowning, not doing anything just staring. I then realized what had been wrong this whole time... like I said I had been going through the motions like a robot for a while that I was not showing E how much I truly loved him... maybe my feelings were not showing through my actions and I truly believe babies can sense these things. So I started sobbing again, went over, picked him up and and held him, I kissed him, and just keped whispering to him how much mommy loved him and how important he was too me, how truly special and blessed he has made our lives. I think the fact that I had been crying so much in front of him lately had possibly gotten to him too, he was sleeping horribly at at night and did not want to nap during the day either. In all honestly I think he might have been scared too. When I realized all this, I felt like crying even more because I realized he had been so fussy all morning because of me... I ended up stripping us down and put us both in the shower... we were probably in there for a half hour, I just held him and he just put his little head on my shoulder holding me too... I continued thanking God for everything I could think of, Mark, Eli, Eddie, my family, his family, (our family) our friends, our house, a job that he still has in a struggling economy, our faith, food, clothes, our health, everything I could think of... and then finally for that moment I was having with my son in the shower... my crying had finally stopped and it seemed like both he and I were as calm as we had ever been. I finally turned the shower off, wrapped us up in a towel, I put a diaper on him and then we just cuddled in bed until we both ended up falling asleep. To my surprise when I woke up I felt like a completely different person. I was SMILING... because I felt like smiling, I was happy again, I called Mark just to tell him I loved him and to tell him I was Good... he knew what I was talking about because he said he loved me too then asked if I was good for "today" or if I was "good"... I just said, I'm OK! See ya when you get home! E and I then headed over to the grocery store and I actually made dinner and picked up the house a bit, not only did I have much more energy than I had had but I felt sooooo Good! Just like my "feelings" had appeared overnight, they were gone just like that! I am just so thankful that God had given me the ability to see that I was not being myself right away and that I had shared it with Mark, it made things a little easier and in the end being aware of it I think made it so I could overcome it! I think admitting it to myself was finally the turning point and restoring my faith was the main key! I truly do love my life, I God, I love my husband, I love my son, I love this new child growing inside me, I love our dog, I love our families and I love that I am able to feel like me again. The happy, stubborn, moody self that I am.

16 Weeks

2010-09-11T05:02:00.000-07:00

So nothing really special this week with the baby, there was nothing really exciting going on... Still feeling pretty great and the baby is nonstop partying it up in my belly all day! Much more active than Eli was at this point... or at least I can feel it a lot sooner than I ever did with him. Either way it's still crazy that I can feel so much so soon. Still no weight gain, no real belly I think, no morning sickness. Still loving those pickles and I am drinking TONS of water, to the point where I get up like 5 times a night to go pee... NOT good. Other than that everything is looking pretty good. I guess an uneventful pregnancy is a good thing. :)

We have a walker!!!!

2010-08-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

Ok Tata, here is a little video so you can get your Eli fix!

I will be "hopefully" posting Pregnancy Updates & Eli Updates this week, now that that life is settling down a bit! Here is just a tiny video, mostly for my parents because they haven't seen Eli walking yet and have been calling every single day for the last week for me to put a video on here... Here ya go!

Disney Trip Overdue Pics :)

2010-07-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

We went to Disneyland a month ago and I am just now getting to downloading the rest of the pictures and updating. The rest of this week will be updates from our Last month since we have TONS of pictures to share! :) I am sure Nana & Tata will be very happy to finally see some!

We stopped right after the Arizona/California border and had some breakfast! E sure enjoyed a Fruit & Yogurt Parfait from Mc'D's! He ate the entire thing himself!

Then we stopped at the Outlet Shops near Palm Springs because E needed a break, and I needed to pee really bad! We decided to shop around and see if we found any X-Mas gifts! Yes, I try to get gifts done by early November each year, especially this year, I doubt I will want to be out Christmas shopping fighting traffic and long lines with a child and a fat belly!

The ladies at Brighton fell in Love with Eli and offered him Chocolate Chip Cookies and a sucker! We figured the sucker might be less messy... We were wrong, and then had to fight him to take it away!

Then we decided it was time for lunch... Guess where we ended up??? Yup McD's again! It was right by the gas station we stopped at for gas so why not!

We finally arrived to LA after an 8 1/2 hour trip! Yes, I never realized how long a trip can take when you have a child and need to stop every hour or two! We checked into our hotel and decided to walk Downtown Disney.

After walking for a while, we stopped at one of the restaurants for Dinner! Yay no McD's! Eli and I actually had Salmon with steamed veggies while boring Daddy had Pizza!

Waiting in line to get into the park

In front of California Adventure... Poppa G. is not the best photographer, he completely chopped of the bridge!

Cool Dude

We spotted Minnie and the line only had 3 people waiting so we said "Why Not"?

Then we walked some more and saw Mator and Rusteze

Inside Disney we got to snap pictures with most of the Characters

Waiting in line for my FAVORITE ride ever! "It's a Small World" Eli LOVED it too!

This is what he did the entire ride!

LOVING IT!

In line waiting for Dumbo... Giving Poppa G a hard time!

Then we tried getting a few pictures of him in front of the Castle... he had other things in mind and decided he wanted to get to the little food cart behind us!

Enjoying his balloon after dinner!

We also made a quick stop at the beach... Eli HATED it, he is definitely and Arizona boy. He was shivering the entire time and just wanted nothing to do with it. We were there at most like 20 minutes. He didn't even let me snap some decent shots he was just not having it!

I guess it didn't help that he had sand blowing all over him! Poor little dude look at his face! And we had a heck of a time wiping it off!

14 & 15 Weeks!

2010-07-14T12:35:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I am horrible with this pregnancy (in my defense I have honestly been sooooo busy with family stuff, previous commitments, getting ready for Eli's party, photo shoots and random stuff in between) that I swear I feel like if I blink my day is gone! I have another month of this craziness and then I am hoping things calm down. Anyway I totally missed my 14 week update because I was not here and I just now realized that I am going on 16 and still have not updated! Wow... talk about craziness, almost 16 weeks! Anyway here are the weekly belly shots (thank God for my tri-pod and the self timer on the camera) Mark usually takes the pictures for me but he has been leaving the house at 4:00 am and not coming home until 6-6:30 pm for the past 3 weeks so he hasn't been around to take them for me :( I think he secretly LOVES to do it because when I am downloading the pictures onto the computer there ALWAYS seems to be a few pictures of my butt or boobs that he manages to squeeze in there ;) I LOVE MY HUBBY!

15 Weeks

We had our Monthly doctor's visit on Monday and everything checked out great! No weight gain yet WOOT, WOOT! According to the doctor my belly still has not grown, although I beg to differ. I think I am sporting a very fashionable Kangaroo pouch these days! My BP was good, on the lower range of average which is FANTASTIC! No signs of pre-clampsia which I have been terrified off since I did notice some swelling in my fingers this week (chucking it up to the awesome Phoenix heat) The baby's HB was 158 bpm which is perfect (and almost exactly the same as Eli's was) if there is any truth to the whole HB thing my prediction of another boy is right on! Although M swears it's a little girl. I am refusing to bet anything this time around since I love the names we have picked out, I wouldn't want him changing them just because he won! (Which he would do by the way and end up naming our child Racker, Gable or Quinny) not really but you get what I am getting at ;) Emotionally I was back to normal this week, I think the only thing getting at me these days is the fact that Eli will be 1 next week! EEEEKKK!!! We also got to schedule our "BIG" U/S which will be August 9 at 7:50 am so mark your calenders in case you have any secret bets of your own going on! :) Pickles are still the BEST! All in all, everything is going as expected. Healthy which is the only thing that we've been praying for.

***On another note, I have a close friend who lost her baby this past weekend. I was devastated and in tears when I heard what happened and I couldn't help but remember last month when I thought we were losing ours. I thanked God then and there for continuing to watch over this pregnancy and thanked him for Mark, for Eli, for Eddie and then I went down the list of everyone in my family. I am absolutely devastated for this family and want to ask for any extra prayers to be sent their way, and while you are at it, remember to truly Thank God for those precious ones in your life. It's so easy for us to get wrapped up in our perfect busy lives and most often forgetting the very reason why everything is so perfect.***

14 Weeks

Not too much with the pregnancy, still no weight gain, no morning sickness, no gagging this week, no fatigue or sleepiness. If it weren't for the fact that I ate pickles with cream cheese all week (yup, that is what I am eating now a days) I wouldn't even think I am pregnant. I was an emotional mess this week, I don't remember feeling this emotional with Eli, I broke down EVERY SINGLE DAY this week. If I didn't know I was pregnant I would be very concerned about being depressed or something, my breaking point was standing outside of Wal-Mart bawling my eyes out because the car that parked next to me parked right on the line and I could not get Eli in! I stood there and cried for about 5 minutes until the lady came out!

13 Weeks!!! Woot, Woot!!!!!

2010-06-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

It's official!!!! We said goodbye to first tri on Sunday and Hello second tri! It is so hard to believe that we are already a third of the way there! The hubby and I were talking this morning and it seems like this pregnancy is going by even faster than E's, which is hard to believe since E's pregnancy just flew by! Here is the 13 Week belly picture and I added E's 13 Week belly shot below to compare.

In pregnancy updates, I honestly have had no issues, I have puked a total of 5 times, I only gag about 4 times a week where as with E, it was several times a day. I have had excessive saliva that doesn't seem to be going away, I have been craving peaches and pickles. I think I have probably gone through 6 jars of pickles within the last 6 weeks. Still no weight gain which is great, although I do feel that I am starting to show sooner, I still fit into all my clothes although lets face it, Mat jeans are A LOT more comfy, especially now that I am running around an 11 month old all day! I seem to need a break/nap at around 2:00 pm which is working out great with E, we just lay together on the couch and both pass out for at least and hour, sometimes more :) I am the one that usually gets up and E occasionally sleeps for two hours while I cuddle him and watch TV. I have had very itchy legs and I remember having itchy legs with E but it was very mild, with this pregnancy I have scabbed my skin because I scratch so hard. I used AVENO lotion and took AVENO baths with E but it does not seem to be helping with this one, my back pain is also a lot worse this time and I am already having trouble sleeping :( I think I might ask the Doc to send me to therapy. They had suggested it with E but I didn't think it was that bad , this one however is so bad that if I lay flat on my back on the floor, I have a hard time sitting back up from the pain, it shoots down my legs, and sometimes I have a hard time standing up straight or walking without there being pain. Not sure what the deal it but I will have to say that this has been the worst part of this pregnancy. I have also had more headaches but I believe that they are mainly because I need to get my wisdom tooth pulled and the fact that I still get up throughout the night with E.... Yes that is right he still does NOT STTN!!! But Tylenol seems to be working fine with the headaches so that is an easy fix. I started feeling baby flutters Thursday of last week! I was in shock and couldn't believe it but I guess it is a lot more noticeable the second time around, I knew what sensation I was looking for :) I guess that is all for now, I really don't have much updating since this pregnancy seems to be pretty mellow (which I am loving) I am really enjoying it!

I have been getting a TON of questions from people so I am going to answer them here instead of answering the same questions over and over ;)

What do you want? Ummm... a healthy baby! Ok, not that this is dumb question because in reality it's not, but honestly we really don't care what we are having, I just want a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. Sure, sure everyone that knows me knows that I have always wanted to be a girl mommy. Believe me I am all about ribbons and bows, ruffle butts and dresses but after having E, I realized how much of a boy mommy I really am. I would LOVE to have another boy especially after going through all of E's newborn clothes I realize how bad I really want to use it again! So whatever God decides to bless us with, we are already excited about him/her.

Where you planning this pregnancy? Yes and no if that makes sense, we planned to officially start trying in May. I was however telling people it would be later on in the year so they would stop bugging us. We started getting the "When are you having the next one" pretty much as soon as E was born. So we weren't officially trying but we also stopped being "careful" around the time E was 6 1/2 months. So we got blessed a month early! :)

Do you have baby names picked out? YES!!! The baby names have been picked out for a while now, we have had our Girl name since before ever even getting married, and we have had a our boy name since E was born. If the baby is a girl, her name will start with an "M" and if the baby is a boy his name will start with an "E"... No we are not giving the names out just yet. We got a lot of "suggestions" after announcing Eli's name last time that we are choosing not to share just yet.

Are you having a natural birth or a C-Section? Ummm... this one is still up for debate. Since I feel I was robbed out of my natural birth with Eli, I would LOVE to have a vaginal birth this time around. We have already talked to my OBGYN and I am able to try for a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) which would be awesome, however the hospital that I delivered E at does not do VBAC's :( which I am so bumbed about, the two hospitals that do them are about 45 minutes away. I am absolutely in LOVE with our hospital, I go there pretty much ever Friday for my support group and I honestly just feel like I am at home there! Weird to feel like that at a hospital I know but It is a Catholic hospital, while I was there with E (and we were there a while) I had someone come in daily and pray with me. They have "Tea Time" every day during the week which I LOVED, I know several of the nurses there already and I know the lactation consultant. My OBGYN also does deliveries there where as if I went to one of the other hospitals, I would get an OBGYN from the same office, but not mine. Mark also does not feel comfortable with it and would prefer that we do another C-Section. Soooooo... this one is still up for debate. I guess we still have a few months to really think about it and decide on what we want. ***Crossing fingers that for some miraculous reason GM decides that they will do VBAC's in the VERY near future*** :)

How is this pregnancy in comparison to E's? EVEN BETTER! Go ahead be jealous! :) I have felt even better!

Are you scared with having two under two? Honestly I don't know how to answer that. I think I have a little fear as to how things are going to work out, and how to get a routine going with two, but hey I was scared with E as well so I am just going to take it day by day, I am not the first and only and God does not send anything your way that you can't handle :) Besides I have an AWESOME hubby who is very involved. We already have it worked out... you take one, and I take one! Haha j/k!

Are you planning on finding out the gender? Uhhhhh.... what kind of a question is that!!!! YES!!!! Anyone tha knows me knows that I can't take surprises! I want to know! M on the other hand wouldn't mind waiting but since I am the one bearing this child... WE WILL FIND OUT! :) We should have the Big ultrasound sometime in August!

What do you think you are having this time around? I honestnly really feel it's another boy! The pregnancy has been very similar to E's! They say that EVERY pregnacy is different but I really haven't felt it, there have been some minor changes but nothing major yet. We do still have 2/3rds to go though so we will see. But I do feel it's a boy, but who knows I was possitive E was a girl! Haha

And now here is our baby this week!

Your fetus is forming teeth and vocal cords... savor this, their non-functional phase. Baby is approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body. Intestines are in the process of moving from the umbilical cord to baby's tummy. (Much more convenient.)

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce. (Length: almost 3 inches, head to bottom.)

11 Month Update

2010-06-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

Wow... seriously where is time going??? Our baby is officially less than a month away from turning one! He is becoming more and more like a toddler by the day, surprising us with new things daily. He is so smart, definitely taking after his daddy in the "thinking" department! Not that mommy isn't smart, but I just don't like to over anzlize and over think everything like the hubby. Quick solutions work best for me vs. thinking up EVERY possible solution like my husband and son apparently. E is such an observer already and tries to figure out how to solve a problem. He loves paper and pencils/pens/markers/crayons and knows what they are for, immediately starts "Drawing" or more like scribbling! He stands on his own for about half a minute, and is taking about 4 steps now before he squats or lunges over for you to catch him. His third tooth just poke through, he says momma, dadda, I love you (well not really, it's more like "I ya ya" but he totally has the syllables down) He has become REALLY stubborn and does NOT want to sign anymore unless he really wants something and we will just say more! He officially weaned himself from the boob! Although I was excited about it since I thought I was going to have a hard time I was so sad to see it end :( He pretty much drinks everything from his sippy cup! Woot Woot!!!!! :) We did have to "introduce" the bottle to him when we went up to California to go to Disneyland because we figured it would be easier and I noticed that he seems to really want it to sleep at night :( Booooo... So I am hoping it won't last long if we keep up with the sippy's! Lucky for us since he was breastfed for so long, he had NO idea how to use the bottle, he knows it has milk in there for him but he tries holding it like his sippy cup and can't get anything out of it, so he brings it over to us and expects us to hold it for him!! Ha... go figure huh, we sure got a smart kid ;) What else... um it is nearly impossible to get any good pictures of him although I have plenty of his back and his hiney. He is an official stair climber, loves anything electronic, he doesn't talk on the phone but will bring the phone up to you and put it up to your ear. He loves to hide things, like mommy's keys, he puts house phones inside daddy's shoes puts cheese in his toy box. Still enjoys to snack on dog food and occasionally wash his hands in the toilet bowl! ***Note to mommy & daddy, close those doors*** He love's Go-Gurts, PB&J crackers & String Cheese, mainly because he can feed himself! It is a daily battle trying to get him to eat now since he insists on feeding himself! He will push the spoon away until you give it to him. Still LOVES water, he loves going swimming and playing in the tub. There is just tons of stuff and somehow when I am writing these updates I always forget! I have started making notes in my iPhone though so maybe next month I will remember more!

I was having a stressful day and needed some ice cream. I went out and got a tub of Peach Ice Cream, I am not sure why I have been craving peaches so much with this pregnancy but I LOVE anything peach right now! Anyway I figured since it's just me and Mark and he doesn't really eat the peach ice cream I would eat out of the tub! Yes it was that kinda day! When I went to go get a spoon for E because he really wanted mine, I came back to this!!! Yes my child took it even further than me and instead of eating "Out" of the tub he decided to eat the tub!!! ***Suggestion... when you come over to our house and are offered Peach Ice Cream, kindly say "No Thanks"*** ;)

Just a random picture!

Here are just two pictures from our Disney trip. I have not even uploaded them onto the computer, I have seriously been so busy. But we went to Disneyland almost two weeks ago. E had a great time and did not fuss at all! He was so intrigued with everything and everyone and just stared in awe! He LOVED watching the parade, he LOVED "It's a Small World" and LOVED the characters! He would bounce up in excitement when he saw one! :) It was so cute.

My favorite picture! It cracks me up! As a kid I used to watch Bobby's World, I don't remember much of the cartoon other than the little boy had a HUGE head with a tiny body! This picture reminds me of that! Doesn't it totally look like E grew a Mickey Head!

Yesterday I wanted to make a soup because the new baby was really craving it. I defrosted some meat and got out the veggies I had (I have not been grocery shopping lately because we have been gone more than we have been home) so we pretty much had NOTHING! I had one carrot, 3 potato's and half an onion, that's it! I figured I was going to have to make a quick run to the store when I realized I had veggies in my garden!!!! I quickly walked the 20 feet to my planter and picked some Cilantro, green peppers and tomato's! Just what I needed! I ran back inside so happy! Seriously how perfect is that I was able to make our dinner with the veggies we grew in our backyard! No pesticides, completely organic!!! I am thinking of buying a bin to start composting our "fruit & veggie" waste that way we can fertilize the soil to my mini garden with it!

Here they are just before they hit the pot! :)

***In baby news, I will be 13 weeks on Sunday! Woot Woot! So like Eli's pregnancy I will start doing my weekly belly pictures then along with an update!

Some News & A Scare

2010-06-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

So I think it's time Mark, Eli & I share some exciting news! We are pregnant with our second baby and due January 2, 2011. Although most of our immediate family and close friends already know, we (or I) weren't really making a big deal about it until we hit 13 weeks, or the 2nd trimester. Call me superstitions, paranoid, weird, whatever you want but somehow I have that time frame in the back of my mind that as soon as we hit that mark that everything is and will be ok, that we are set, we are good! We are one day shy of hitting 11 weeks already and every day that passes I thank God for getting me one day closer to 13 weeks. Hmmm... as if 13 weeks were really it.

Let me just say that I had an AWESOME pregnancy with Eli with only minor issues here and there, I never really had to go through morning sickness, my biggest thing was the metallic taste in my mouth that made me gag. I felt great pretty much the entire pregnancy aside from sleepiness in the first trimester and then we had the emergency C-section at the end because the little guy was not moving, and turns out I had had an abruption. All in all, I feel it went pretty smooth and feel very blessed for having such a healthy pregnancy and baby! Well with that said let me admit that with Eli I was a complete nutcase, everything made me paranoid, every little twinge I felt (Ligament Pain) I freaked and would call the doctor, you name it I was paranoid about it. With this second pregnancy I have been the complete opposite, very laid back about it and actually enjoying it, I have felt even better with this one which is hard to believe since I think I lucked out with the first. I have gotten sick 3 times altogether, I do have the metallic taste in my mouth but not as bad as I did with Eli, I hardly ever gag. I do have an excess amount of saliva that I could honestly do without but hey if that is the worst I will get, I'll take it. I do feel exhausted at the end of the day, but I think part of it has to do with running after an almost 11 month old all day. Anyway the point is, this pregnancy has been even better I can honestly say that I have truly been enjoying it. So much in fact that most nights I lie in bed just thinking if it was too good to be true. After praying each night, I thank God for giving me enough energy to chase after our little monster, enough energy to "sometimes" make my hubby dinner and "sometimes" clean the house, but then think to myself how lucky I have been. Well I think I was becoming pretty smug, almost cocky about how great I have felt. I have a friend who is also pregnant and every time she asked how I was doing after revealing that she felt so would nauseated and horrible, I would just kinda smile smugly and say I feel great. I was not trying to be mean or rub it in her face, the fact is that I do feel great most days and I am happy about it.

Now... rewind pretty much my entire life. One of my biggest fears (along with accidents) is miscarrying. Why miscarrying of all things, well because it hits so close to home, my mom miscarried a few times after having me, that she finally went onto fertility medication and six & seven years later she had my sisters. Anyway with how much I have always wanted to have children I have always feard this. I know it's a pretty dumb thing to worry about because we are NOT in control, only God knows what will really happen and I think it is pretty pointless to worry about things that are out of our reach and that we can't control. What will happen will happen no matter what we do to try and prevent it... However, yes I am still paranoid about it and I do worry.

Yesterday was one of the hardest days I had to go through as I saw one of my biggest fears right in front of me. I started bleeding... heavily with some clotting. When I realized what was happening, everything started clicking into place. I had been spotting for about a week, I had been having extreme back pain to the point where I was too uncomfortable to sleep. I started running around the house in a panic putting the dog behind the gate, looking for my wallet, my keys, my phone. I called Mark right away and told him I thought I was losing the baby that I was going to the ER, and ran out the door. I had made it about 4 minutes when I was at the first intersection and realized that I was barefoot, I had left in such a hurry that I never even realized I had no shoes on even with the hot cement outside. Since I wasn't too far away I decided to turn around and get. Anyway I cried the entire way to the hospital and once there I couldn't even speak to let them know what was wrong. They didn't even sit me, they just took me right in which was good. They did all the good stuff, blood work, BP, temp, HR and then they asked me to pee in a cup. I went ahead and just lost it when all I saw were clumps of blood. I was so positive that we were losing the baby. Well I am not going to go into everything that was going through my head, I just felt very angry and kinda numb (not sure if that is the word) but just out of it, I didn't feel like it was me, like I was just looking in on something. They wheeled me away to get an ultrasound which was very hard on me since they told us that Mark couldn't go that he had to stay in the room. I cried to so much the tech had to give me water to calm down so she could get the pictures they needed. After about 10 minutes I think she felt bad and said we are not suppose to say anything or show you anything but I understand how worried you must be but your baby is perfect! Then she turned the screen and yes, our child is perfect, I was able to see the little heart flickering away and the baby kicking and squirming around everywhere. Everything was already completely formed and you could make out every body part perfectly! So then I started crying hysterically again this time from happiness, from relief, joy. I felt so bad for feeling angry and for feeling like I had lost my faith that everything was ok. I understand that there are a million things out there that are far worse than this, but at this time in my life, at this very moment, my husband, Eli, and this baby are what is important to me. This child is already so much a part of our lives, we have already started planning for him/her. I talk to Eli every day about his new baby brother/sister and although I was not making a big deal yet, I have grown very attached to this baby already. Anyway after all those tests, the doctor came in and told us I had a Corpus Lutem Cyst in my ovary that ruptured (which is why I bled). Everything seems to be perfect with our baby. Mark is healthy, I am healthy, our families are healthy (for the most part... I think we could do without some Cholesterol for some people) :) and Eli is happy, causing trouble daily which only means he is a healthy growing boy! Now that I wrote an essay, I just want to say how Thankful I am that God has such a strong presence in our lives, I am so thankful that he has made everything ok, I am so thankful that he has given us all that we have now, and I pray that he continues to bless me with a healthy pregnancy.

For now, I introduce Baby P. Number 2

And now a few pictures of our other baby causing trouble, he loves the dishwasher and thinks it's for him to play with. As soon as he sees it open he rushes over there and is all over it, his latest is actually getting on it!

This one is for the heck of it, he does not hear the word "no" from mommy too much and when he does, this is the face I get.

And this one is just because I love it! I plan on blowing it up and putting it up in our living room!

SEA LIFE

2010-06-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty mellow weekend. Mark and I were both feeling lazy and just kinda hung around the house. We did manage to make it out to go to Church and to SEA LIFE. It's a new aquarium they opened up in the Valley. (I think this is the first in AZ) :) and I had a buy one get one free coupon that Eli got from Infant reading at our local library that Mark and I decided to go. For any local mommies planning on going... I would suggest waiting until the "excitement" of it has worn off, it was packed! Or if you go I would go during the week and in the morning. With me being camera crazy, it was a bit frustrating that I couldn't get pictures of what I wanted but people were pretty nice and actually waited if we were taking a picture. A first I noticed, usually they walk right by the middle and ruin your pic! Anyway, Eli was a bit cranky when we first go there, but we did have to wait about half an hour to get in so he was a bit restless. Once inside we found a bench and fed him and after that he was pretty happy. He was so intrigued by EVERYTHING, and kept saying "Ahh", and "Ohh" and some other stuff I can't make out yet! :) Anyway we had a great time and it was nice getting out of the house for a bit. We also took my new camera to test it out! M and I are both learning it at the same time and it was a bit challenging taking pictures of the aquarium because 1) you can't use a flash, 2) You have to get everything through glass, 3) the glass is VERY dirty with fingerprints all over, 4) They had extremely crappy lighting. I swear that each room had a different florescent neon light, they had purple, orange, yellow, aqua, teal, redish, you name it they had it, so it made for taking pictures really hard but regardless, I think we managed to get a few good ones! :) I was very happy with how some turned out! Anyway... here is our day at SEA LIFE.

Amazing Jakes, Apricots, Peppers, Tomato's & Apples!

2010-06-02T20:36:00.001-07:00

So we really didn't do much for Memorial Day weekend. Mark and I got into our first "Big" argument since being married, I am sure there are still many more to come :) (I figure every healthy relationship has to have those every once in a while) and hey we almost went 2 years without one! Sure, sure we have had bickering here and there but nothing that he or I weren't over with within an hour. This however involved our child! Yup... our first "Big" one was over our child soooo.... we are going to have to work on coming up with solutions when it comes to E and any future kids. We weren't seeing eye to eye, he thought one thing, I thought another, the truth is with how difficult Mr. E has been lately (NOT SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT, or during the day for that matter) makes for some very exhausting days & nights for us. M & I both needed a break so E and I headed down to my parents for a few days so Mark could have some time without me nagging at him to do this, or that, and no E to stress over bumping his head on the tile or eating dog food, or getting into the trash, or tantrums! E and I were down in RR through Monday morning while Mark got some stuff done around the house. The backyard, cleaning the office and laundry!!! Yes, my husband does laundry and does it better than me! He even organized E's PJ drawer and attempted on the closet. Anyway we just went out for dinner on Monday evening and it was nice just being back home, we both missed each other and well makes me want to get into arguments more often since making up is always great :) I think the weekend recap really did both of us well since I got a break too. My parents were so awesome that they insisted on taking E at night so that I could also catch up on some sleep!

Anyway, here are some pictures I completely forgot to post about... this was to our day at Amazing Jakes about 2 weeks ago.

E on the Train

Mommy & E

He was so intrigued with the little boys

He actually wen through the tunnel!

1st time on a carousel

So much fun daddy!

Then my cousin wanted to ride this thing... but no one wanted to go on it with him, so we all made Mark go on it with him!

All was good

But when he got off he was white as a ghost, then passed out for an hour on the table!

And finally these are here at our house, We have so many fruits and veggies planted and I am so excited that many of them are starting to give! We have watermelon, strawberries, grapes, green peppers, habanero's, red peppers, jalapeños, tomato's, squash, orange tree, nectarine tree, apple tree, apricot tree, avocado tree, then we are planting carrots, cucumbers, cilantro and some other stuff in one of the planters. Anyway... I grew up eating fresh fruits & veggies with my grandpa, he had everything you could think off and I have always wanted to do the same. But we don't have too much room do do all I want here in our backyard sooooo.... Well Mark bought a property down in RR a few years back while we were still dating. He figured eventually we would build a house down there to be closer to my parents. We have almost 2 acres of land down there and lately I have been thinking that it would be great to plant all this stuff down there. We aren't sure if we are still going to keep it since it seems like eventually my parents might end up in the Phoenix valley but in the meantime it would be awesome if we could do that! I am sure with how much my dad loves it as well, he would look after it for us. It's a bit late in the planting season so obviously it would have to wait until next year, I am sure my dear hubby will think I am crazy just like every other idea I have :) but hey it's worth a shot right hehe!

E playing with an apricot

They were so sweet too!

My peppers

The tomato's are also starting to grow

We probably have close to 50 apples!

Kenya's Graduation

2010-05-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

We went down to RR this past weekend for my little sisters graduation. We headed down on Thursday morning to be there for her evening graduation. We are so proud of her and Eli is so lucky to have her as his Nina! She definitely has a great future ahead of her! We LOVE you NIN!!!

We are so blessed to have been able to share the day with her and the rest of our family. Her boyfriend Andrew also graduated and his family joined us at my parents house after the graduation to celebrate! We had a great time, the only downfall was that the Graduation took a very long time! It wasn't over until 10:00 pm, so by the time we go home, we just took some pictures, I nursed Eli and then it was off to bed for him! Poor little guy was drained by that point!

E at 6:00 pm on his way to see Nina graduate!

Nin & Andrew!

Nin getting her diploma

Fireworks... I only got to take a few pictures of the fireworks before Eli freaked out and started screaming! :( Poor little guy, so I took him while the hubby took the camera

And I had to put these last two in here... this is my dear hubby's attempt to take pictures of the fireworks... I am not sure what the heck he did, I already had the camera set. He definitely switched something because when I downloaded the pictures, this is what came out!

Cake

Nugget bars

The cute Graduates!

Mommy & E

Last picture before E crashed! I am just thankful we were able to get one!

And to clear up any confusion, Kenya is Eli's Nina (Godmother).

I have always called her Nin or Ninik as nicknames though, so if you see Nina I am referring to Kenya as E's Godmother if you see Nin, I am referring to her as well my sister :) Confusion over.

Water Fun & Lost Pictures

2010-05-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of E's 1st time in the pool... it was still a bit chilly, 76 degrees and I didn't think he would get in, I dipped his feet in it first and he sat right down on the step and started splashing! I was amazed, he is definitely taking after me with the love for water! :) Anyway Nana & Tata here you go! ;) And excuse the camera-ographer, apparently it is a lot harder to shoot when you are in the pool! Ohh and all the shaking is E... he was actually kicking in the water, you can see a little of him kicking in the end! :)

He just sat right down!

Mommy & E

Loving it!!

Feet under water!

and again....

Also, while I was downloading pictures off the waterproof camera, I found these pictures on the memory card. Let's just say that I am officially crying? Where did my baby go?????

1st time on a plane, 2 1/2 months old

Random during Thanksgiving/Christmas time

Same Day

Again, around that time (around 4 1/2 months)

Not sure when... (Possibly in February)

And this one was during one of our "Snow Trips" My sister's made "Pacheco Family" snow creatures! "Daddy P", "Momma P" and "Baby P"

Random catch up's

2010-05-17T20:53:00.000-07:00

Eli has gotten really good at signing more! In fact too good, he does it for everything now whenever he wants something!

Eli, "High Five"... and this is what he does!

and then grumpiness when mommy doesn't get him out!

My parents and sisters came up for Mother's Day, they spent the weekend at our house. On Sunday we headed over to my Nana C's house. Mark and I were not feeling well and we spent most of the afternoon sleeping in one of the rooms. Eli had a blast being passed around from person to person, there were plenty of people to love him! :)

Mark got me a little gold charm. It's a little boy (for E). E got me a necklace with a charm that says mom on it! I LOVED them! Will have to take pictures of them later and post them, but I have been lacking motivation to do much lately. E's teething has not made things easier. Anyway here are two pics from Mommy's Day, I had plenty on my camera since someone took my camera while I was sleeping and documented the day! (I am not sure who it was but thanks)

Here are all the grandkids (-7) and one great grandkid (E) :) with my Nana C

My sisters, E & I with our Mom & Nana! ;)

E went to his friends B-day party, he had a blast with Cici's daddy. He was trying to read to him but E thought it was a game and closed the book over and over again, then he would crack up!

Here he is with some of his buddies!

We do infant reading at the library every Monday

As you can see, he is not great at clean up time, he does however do really well taking things OUT of the basket!

This is what happens when you get Daddy to put on a cloth for the first time!

Baby sleeps in it backwards!

Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE going to the post office???

2010-05-06T21:56:00.001-07:00

Yes, I absolutely HATE going to the post office. I guess the little dinky one we had that could only hold like 5 people, wasn't air conditioned and had very moody ladies didn't make the situation better for me! Anyway, a few months ago they opened up a very nice one, really classy they even have automatic doors for you instead of having to put your packages down, open the door, hold it with your foot, pick up the packages and then weasel your way in. Anyway, I HAD to go to the post office because we had 2 stickies placed on our door that we had a package for pick up and I have 2 packages I have needed to send out. Well, if I hated going before, I avoid it like the plague now with a 9 month old. Anyway, I was set... I had Eli's buggy, put him in there, got the packages I had to mail and walk in... There is a HUGE line, I waited in line for 45 minutes! Luckily I had packed some snacks that maintained Eli occupied in his buggy for a while. After that he started getting fussy and wanted out, luckily there was a little boy about 3 years old in front of us that was making him laugh so all was good! Well we finally get up there and I ask to borrow a sharpie so I can fill in the address on the package. I then realize I don't know it and go for my phone so I can get it off my phone.... uggghhh, no phone... I panic for a bit then remember that I left it next to the alarm at the house since I ran out of the house once I set it!!!! GRRRRRRRRR, so I realized that I can't mail the package. Ok, so I hand the sharpie back and tell the lady I don't have the address so I will have to make another trip, but then tell her that I have a pickup. She very politely asks if I have that little sticker that was placed on the door. Umm well of course I have it, apparently she really needs it so she can go get my package and well were is this sticker... At the house, on the kitchen table where I put it so I WOULDN'T forget it!!! I waited in line for 45 minutes for my child to eat Graham crackers and laugh at a 3 year old! At least I know my husband and son still love me. Sometimes I really do wonder about myself! Any who, people waiting on packages, I have given up on me ever going to the post office, I just assigned Mark to go and drop the stuff off himself, especially if he wanted his mom to have her Mother's Day gift there within the month of May! :)

Our cars are TOP priority around here!

2010-05-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

In Eli's words.....

Mommy made me take Driver's Ed for my 9 monthday! I learned how to use my blinkers, move my mirror, change gears and most importantly (according to mommy) how to honk! All the good drivers know how to honk! :)

Then I figured since I did so well in Driver's Ed, I should impress mommy by cleaning my Jeep!

Gotta keep these cars clean if you wanna impress the ladies!

Mommy figured it was time for me get my permit, so we headed to the backyard, I learned how to drive around trees instead of into them!

I got the hang of it pretty fast and thought I was pretty cool by the end. This is me posing with my "I'm a cool kid face" after getting my permit!

And finally it was time to hit the streets! Check me out I can even drive one handed!

Little on me

2010-05-04T21:12:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I had explained in a previous post somewhere down below that I have been having horrible headaches and dizzy spells lately... well for those of you that don't know I suffer from pretty sever migraines. They cause me to feel nauseous, puke, feel dizzy, I have even blacked out a few times and lost my vision temporarily (not completely but enough that it is so blurred that I wouldn't be able to see the letters on the computer screen in front of me). I have only blacked out a total of 3 times and that was years back, and the last time I remember temporarily not being able to see was about 3 years ago. I need to carry shots with me in case I do start to get a strong one, but since getting pregnant with Eli, I noticed that I hardly got any and if I did they were very mild, nothing I couldn't tolerate. When I was in high school I had to be home schooled for a year and a half because I spent more time in the hospital that I did at school. At that point we still hadn't found medicine that worked and were still trying to figure out the onset. My mom kepped a journal for a year and soon realized that I seemed to be getting them the strongest around the time I was ovulating and when I got my period so we quickly determined they were hormonal. The doctors told me that I would have to deal with them, hopefully they would go away or when I went through a big hormonal change such as a pregnancy or menopause. Well sure enough as time passed I noticed that they started getting fewer and fewer, about two a month vs. 15-20/month that I had back in high school. They were also not strong at all. Back in high school I would bite my own fingers and pull out my own hair because it hurt so bad. The best think I can somewhat equivalate them to are brain freezes, try picturing a brain freeze a little stronger than that but that doesn't go away. Anyway, I started getting headaches again a few months ago, but I noticed that for the last month and a half they have increased in frequency and have been getting stronger They seem to be pretty much gone most mornings though which is odd. :( I have not had to have a shot since Mark and I first started dating, he had to administer it, I can usually do them myself on the stomach or thigh but I like the arm the best because it doesn't hurt me as much however I can't do that one myself, I usually had my mom, dad or friend give it to me. Anyway I had really been contemplating the idea of going to the doctor for some shots in case I do need them but had been putting that on the back burner since I am still nursing E. I was going to hold out until he was a least a year and then go for the shots but it's a good thing I didn't, I think since my headaches have been so odd lately like going away if I sleep (not normal for my migraines) I figured maybe it was something different and sure enough I think I figured it out. About 2 weeks ago I got a tear in my back left gum... my wisdom tooth started to break through so I am almost 100% sure that is the cause of my headaches! :) Which I am happy about, I was really scared they were coming back, I just can't imagine trying to deal with those headaches and having a 9 month old.

And another thing, last week I started feeling really bad, I was having some abdominal pain which I thought were just cramps, however within two days they kept getting stronger and more painful. Thursday night/early morning I finally work Mark up because I was literally in a lot of pain and I stopped being able to pee at all. I thought I had a kidney stone or something so I asked him to take me into the ER, after he got up and got ready I realized maybe it was best if he stayed home with E, instead of waking him up at 1:00 am and taking him along so I told Mark I was going to drive myself. I got there and they took me in pretty much as soon as I got there which was awesome, they did some blood work, and other labs turns out I had a simple bladder infection!!!! I didn't know bladder infections hurt that much, I figured they were probably uncomfortable but surely not painful from stomach pains, but the doctor assured me it was normal so I felt like and idiot rushing myself to the ER for a UTI... anyway I am not sure how I got it since all the explanations they gave to me didn't really pertain. I drink a lot of water, I shower daily most times twice, I go to the bathroom regularly, you get the point. Anyway I was pretty surprised that's what it was but very relieved that that is really all it was. They put me on some antibiotics, the stomach pains continued for another two days but I am feeling GREAT again which is great news for everyone in our household! ;) Apparently I get moody, needy and whiny when I can't pee! Haha

But anyway, figured I should explain these things since I was getting some odd questions!

Post it Tuesday

2010-05-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

So I got this idea over at Mitzi's blog! I really like it because I can just kinda highlight what is on my mind, might adopt this idea as a weekly thing!

Be back later on tonight for updates! I NEED to go to the post office, have been needing to for weeks now. We got one of those stickies on our door yesterday saying we had something for pick up so I am positive they are our cloth diapers. E's poor little bum is begging me to go, I hate how bad he gets these diaper rashes. He pretty much blisters and bleeds. Anyway crossing fingers it's our cloths! :)

9 months + a week

2010-05-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Tad late but been busy & sick (mommy) not the baby. Anyway here are his 9 month stats.

18 lbs 6 oz putting him in the 18%
29 inches long putting him in the 80%
17.25 for head cir. putting him in the 12% (seems low but his little head is what seems to be growing at a normal pace)
Has his left, bottom tooth and the neighboring one already starting to peek through
Went on an eating strike for about 4 days and didn't want any solids or purees, but is back eating again. He is eating about 18-24 oz of solids a day
He gets a snack or two if he asks for some
Nursing about 4-5 times a day
STTN PEOPLE!!!! WOOT WOOT, we have only had 1 night in almost 3 weeks where he woke up 3 times, the rest have been pretty good. He goes to be anywhere from 8:00 pm to 8:30 and is out at least until 5:00 am, I am so excited and have been feeling a lot better as far as my headaches go! (Post on me later this week)
Is officially taking at least two half hour naps during the day, WOOT WOOT again!
Size 12 month clothes, some rompers are 18 months.
Still size 3 diapers (still waiting for our cloth to come in, I am growing very impatient, we are going on 3 weeks now but we got a confirmation today that they are here) WOOT WOOT x 3 so we should be going fresh in a few days! And we still have about 3 months left of disposies... (I am thinking I am going to save them for my sister... yes, I am going to be an aunt and E is going to have a baby cousin... more on this later too) YEAH!!!!
Crawling EVERYWHERE
Pulling up on EVERYTHING
Has discovered that cabinets have things inside them he can pull out
Is starting to let go when he stands (for about 5 seconds)
Can "High Five" on command
Can clap on command
Can Hug (or "Big Hug" aka "Abrazo Grande") on command
Can kiss (beso) on command
Can sign "More", "Milk", "Dog" and "Eat/Water" (not sure which one, he has just started doing eat or water so I still can't tell the difference and if I give him water he is happy, if I give him a snack he is happy so we are trying to work on distinguishing the two)
He knows/understands the signs (but not doing them yet) for "Kiss", "Cracker", "Apple", "banana" and "Play"
We are working on him signing obviously the above ones as well as starting on "Change Diaper", "No", "Yes", "Mommy", "Daddy", "Grandma" & "Grandpa".
And for those of you that have asked, I do speak to him in Spanish & English, everything I say, I say in both languages so as far as I can tell up to this point he does seem to understand because I will practice with him and say "perro" and he will sign "Dog" and later on I will say "Dog" and he signs "Dog" and the same for ever other word. Mark has been great too with him and when he signs at him he does say the few words he knows in Spanish like he will say "Mas" for "more".
He begs other people for food, my aunts or anyone he sees eating, as soon as he sees food, he will immediately start signing "More" (his favorite) and opening his mouth. Just today I went out for coffee and bagels with some ladies and he was begging one of them for food! They of course thought it was the cutest thing ever (who wouldn't) however once you give him something it's hard to get him to stop asking for more :)
It is a must to wear shoes now when he is in his walker otherwise you will get ran over or have your little toes stubbed!
He loves looking at himself in the mirror (I don't think he has figured our that it's him)
Still no real words other than dadda.
Thinks he is a big boy and no longer wants his car seat, he will not stay in it when we are out shopping and I have a very hard time keeping him in the shopping cart so we have pretty much just gone straight to his little push buggy, that is pretty much our stroller.
Love's his "Max" & the "Noodle"
Loves his bath time and will try and crawl away from me when I say "up, time for bed" he literally squeals like it's a game and turns his back to me, then of course I give in and let him play in the water a little while longer.

I guess that is all for now, he is doing a lot more, it's just hard to remember... I need to start writing these things down so when it comes time to update I don't forget. Anyway I have promised myself to blog every single day day for this week so I can catch up on stuff. So this is day 1 of 7!!! Let's hope I can do it! :)

Here he is over at his God mother's house asking her for and Ice cream sandwich....

"But Nina, if daddy gets one I should too"

LOVE these pictures, he was trying to get a dirty t-shirt out of the basket and I kept saying "E that's not yours" he finally knocked the basket over and I guess he thought "If I run away, maybe mommy won't know it was me"

He spilled all of his oatmeal on the floor and was eating it like that, when started cleaning him up and taking it away he started signing for "more" :) (they aren't the best pictures but I did have the camera on "Auto" because I didn't want to miss the moment by changing the settings which I am bumbed now because his little hands are blurry)

Finally crossed the line... I was dreading this day! He had been such and awesome baby and stayed in the living room, then one day he decided to cross... It has been pretty much impossible to get him on the carpet side of the line again, he will just creep right on over again! (Him pulling up like this on chairs and everything else is really making us consider holding off on reflooring our downstairs)

The day he discovered that the cabinets had many things hidden! Now I can't keep the living room clean because he will go and open all of them and pull everything out!

I guess that is all for now, I am heading up to bed, but I NEED to be back tomorrow since I AM CHALLENGING myself to blog for an entire week straight!

Had to share

2010-04-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

Ok so I was going through this last months pictures to write the way overdue 9 month update and ran across this picture! This was the day he figure out how to take off his diaper. I literally started LOL when I saw it and had to share! Only my child... what do you think babe? Taking after his daddy? ;)

You can't tell from this angle but he was actually eating a mango while watching TV... naked!

My child just scared me to death! :(

2010-04-21T13:44:00.001-07:00

Eli had his 9 month check up this morning (more on his stats later) but with his 9 month check up came some shots! Well shots went well but I know they do make him fussy so I came straight home. I decided since he had just ate and I changed his diaper he would be good to play on the floor while I started on dinner. He is within eye shot of me and I am facing him while I am cutting up all the veggies, when all of a sudden he starts screaming and then starts to gag. I run over to him trying to figure out what is wrong when I notice he is still gagging. I immediately think he has something in his mouth and I shove my finger in there to fish whatever it is out. While I am doing this I am trying to think of what it could possibly be, the floor is clean, there is absolutely nothing smaller than an Easter egg within reach of him, nothing on the floor so I think the dog brought something over and whatever it is Eli somehow got into his mouth. By this point I can't find anything and he is still gagging. I realize he has something down his throat. I turn him around and start hitting between his shoulder blades to try and lodge whatever is in there lose, after about 10 attempts there is nothing, by this point I am really panicking because he isn't gasping for breath but he is crying, gagging and I know there is definitely something in there! I put him on the floor for one last attempt before I call 911 and I see it... yup way in the back of his throat I see a green circular object stuck to the back side. The damn band aid from his shots! The child pulled it off his little thigh and decided he was going to snack on it! I seriously almost fainted and then immediately started crying once I was able to get it out.

So mommies, lesson for the day, It does not matter that the house is absolutely spotless, that you have nothing they can possibly choke on or anything smaller than the inside of a toilet paper roll, children WILL find a way, or will find something... and doctors... we pay you a decent amount of money each time we go in, stop being cheap and buying the tiny band aids that you get in bulk. They obviously don't stick on well and as my child proved it, they ARE a choking hazard!!!!

In Pictures

2010-04-20T21:49:00.000-07:00

Ok so the last month has been a bit busy for us. We have been spending a lot of our time down in RR because I was asked to do some photo shoots for some Seniors. It has been great spending so much time with my family but I am happy to be home (for a while a week or two). I was going to write a huge post but decided I will do minimal writing and just highlight the some key stuff. (These are only a few photos of what's been happening, I still have some on my laptop that need to be transferred to my desktop) but I figured there were plenty of pics here! E has his 9 month check up tomorrow so I will be updating his stats then, and some other stuff.

Besides Mark & I, there is no one in this word that loves this child as much as these two people do! Eli is so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful Tata & Nana. He is so happy when he sees them and immediately stretches his arms so they can hold him. He gives them tons of "besos" and hugs!

We spent Easter down at my parents. They usually come up here and our entire family does something together however since it was Eli's first Easter, we wanted it to be a little more intimate so we decided to do it at my parents house. Well, let's just say that with a Mexican family it was anything but intimate, we had about 30 people over! My mom's aunt came over and brought this for Eli. As you can see he was not a happy bunny!

We could not get him to smile at all

Eli also went on his first Easter Egg hunt! He loved it and by the end he understood the eggs went in his monkey! He would put them in then take them out look at me and smile!

Here he is with his buddies Will and Kaylee

Eli has also gone to several Birthday parties, here he is at Sophie's enjoying a spoon he stole from mommy that had some chocolate moose on it!

As you can tell, he loved it!

He didn't just eat moose though, we figured we should give him something healthy and gave him a slice of mango that he gummed on for about a half hour! Eli gave some to Kaylee and she loved it!

Here he is at Kaylee's first birthday! He is such the ladies man, he was the only boy there! But that's ok, he likes having 7 little ladies all to himself!

Here he is just after taking a toy from Anahi

We also took him to the Desert Botanical Garden for the first time. He wasn't too into anything other than the people and his sippy cup! He left his hat on for about half an hour and then we couldn't get it back on! Ohh well.

Here he is at infant reading! He loved the bubbles, and so did I, they are awesome, they don't pop and will stick to the ground for a long time so babies are able to play with them!

He is definitely a little bully at this point. He thinks anything he sees is his and wants it. He was not being nice to Olivia today and was taking the block she was playing with. We are going to have to work on sharing.

Today some mommies and I took the babies to a splash area at one of our local malls. He wasn't so sure about the water at first and then he loved it.

Again, I have tons more pics, and more info about what's been going on but to tell you the truth I have not been feeling well lately. For the last month and a half I have been going to bed with headaches and have been having some occasional dizzy spells which is another reason why I have been slacking on the updating. Sometimes I just want to go to bed. Not to mention that life and poor theething babies also gets in the way from a good sleep. :) But anyway, that will be for another post. :) But don't worry all is good, Mark and I are doing great, he is still working away, Eli is growing like a weed and changes daily. Eddie no longer has a buddy to play with so we are thinking of possibly going to the humane society to get him a friend since he got so attached to my sisters dog. I have been maintaining myself busy with my husband and our son and photo stuff. God is good to us, life is life... sometimes wonderful and great, sometimes not.

Before I forget

2010-04-19T22:25:00.001-07:00

And I know if I don't post I will, Eli broke a tooth! (FINALLY) We noticed he had a huge hole on Friday & on Saturday his little tooth was already visible! We were amazed at how fast it poked through, it has continued to slowly make it's way up and we can see it more and more everyday! I have tons of stuff to update on but will be doing that tomorrow since for the first day in a while I have absolutely NOTHING to do in the afternoon.

And for now I leave you with this....

He definitely takes after his daddy in the moodiness ;) Love ya babe!

Another pro to having a baby is....

2010-04-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

They help get you out of a ticket!!!! Yup, my wonderful (screaming) child got mommy out of a ticket yesterday! :) We were on our way back up from RR when I was pulled over. We were driving through what I didn't realize was a school zone, and the lady to my left had been honking at me since the previous light. I seriously thought there was something wrong with my car, maybe my tires were low or my gas cap was open. I was so focused on trying to figure out what she was trying to tell me that I didn't realize the light had turned green a while ago and now I had the car behind me honking at me too! So trying to get through the light I failed to see the signs saying "NO PASSING" 15 MPH School Zone! As soon as I reached 17 MPH I hear the dreaded sound of sirens and those ugly flashing lights in my mirror! GRRRR. I pull over and the cop has a pissed off look on his face. So here I am thinking "Great, M is just going to LOVE me even more after this... Our insurance is going to go up again & I am going to have to spend a dreaded 4 hours in driving school!" I get my license, insurance and registration out and have them ready by the time the cop pulls up to my window I just hand them over without him asking! (Hehe practice I guess) The rest kinda goes like this...

Cop - "Ma'am, do you know why I pulled you over?"

Me - "Yeah, I speed through a school zone"

Cop - "Why were you speeding Ma'am?"

Me - "I wasn't paying attention." (Sad Face)

Cop - "Why weren't you paying attention?"

Me - (This is where I start rambling on about the Lady that had been honking at me and me too focused on trying to figure out what was wrong with the car)

Cop - "Yeah, I heard the honking, she was honking at you?"

Me - "Yeah, she had been since the previous light (Eli then starts to fuss) and she kept pointing at the car"

Cop - "Hmmmph" (then he circles my car) "I don't see anything Ma'am. You have a baby in there?"

Me - "Yes"

Cop - (Looks in the car to the backseat, then he notices the dog kennel safely seat belted in to the front seat) "What do you have in there?"

Me - "My dog."

Cop - "A puppy?"

Me - "No, he is two."

Cop - "Ohh, you have one of those Dinky dogs?"

Me - (EXCUSE ME) "Ummm, No, not Dinky, just small." (E is screaming by this point)

Cop - (Pat's the car and goes to his fancy cop car) .... Two minutes later "That baby is upset Ma'am"

Me - "I know."

Cop - "I don't know how women can drive around with a crying baby, that's a big distraction."

Me - (I just stare... confused)

Cop - (Looks in at the dog again) "I have to say, I have never seen anyone seat belt their dog before (smirks)... How 'bout I let you go with a warning this time if you get that baby home and pay more attention to School Zones"

Me - (Shame face for the whole School Zone thing) "Ok."

Cop - (Hands me back all my stuff) "Have a good day"

Me - "Thanks!" (HAPPY DANCE, HAPPY DANCE, HAPPY DANCE)

So my screaming child along with my seat belted in dog helped me get out of a ticket! Woot, Woot!!!

*** And for what it's worth, I have NEVER gotten a ticket for speeding, I am NOT a speeder however sometimes I do fail to notice signs, like "No turn on red" or "No left hand turn" which are what my tickets are for, and I ALWAYS (with the exception of yesterday obviously) obey School Zone's, I don't make excuses for school zone's and I do feel really bad about not paying attention to it. ***

My Heart :)

2010-04-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

Making the Switch

2010-04-01T21:06:00.001-07:00

We are going to Cloth!!!!

I had considered cloth diapering the baby since before he was born. M on the other hand said he would NEVER change a diaper if we used cloth. Well lucky for him I have an awesome mother who had a great diaper shower for me that we had a huge stock of diapers. I am happy to say that as of right now we have yet to buy a single diaper. We did once last year when we flew up to California but not because we were out but it would just be something else we had to carry . I am happy to report that our stock is starting to run low :) we still have a good 3 months left of disposies however, this means I started contemplating cloth again and tossing the idea to M that "maybe" it's time we make the switch. :) I think we are finally on the same page. Since M looks at everything from a business perspective I had an in with the "Babe, just think of all the money we can save" I think that or my persistence finally made him cave because we have officially started shopping around. We checked some out this weekend and have been looking online as well. Not only am I super excited that M finally agreed but E's little bum will clear up some (he has his daddy's sensitive skin so he gets a lot of rashes). Plus I am hoping once I get the hang of it, I can start making my own. Just look at all the possibilities!!! How cute is E's little butt going to look with Sock Monkey's all over! I LOVE IT!!!!

Weekend Recap + 8 Month Stats!

2010-03-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

Ummmmm... I can't remember what happened this weekend. I seriously just brain farted big time!

8 month stats,

E is now snorting when he laughs (he does it on purpose because he knows that we laugh and he gets attention & then afterwards he does his "Viejito" face)
Has gone on an eating strike, for some reason he has been really bad at eating lately, he does still nurse about 8 times a day actually I guess he doesn't nurse, more like snacks. It is pretty frustrating because I am constantly worried about him being hungry. He does not want purees anymore he spits them out and only wants things he can feed himself. Steamed veggies, veggie chips, string cheese (Not sure if he should be eating this yet, but somedays you just gotta do what works) mandarin oranges, strawberries, and kiwi are pretty much the only things he is taking right now.
Still no STTN
No longer lets mommy take pictures, he sees the camera and a) starts reaching for it, b)turns his back to me (not kidding) or c) A
lmost weighs 18 lbs and is 29 1/2 inches long (Not sure what percent, we go to the doc's next month)
Still size 3 diapers
12 month clothes, although the shirts all fit him very big :( pants are good though
sleeps on his right side just like mommy (Well when he sleeps)
Still not teeth, but we "Think" they are coming soon (We have been pre-teething since Jan, however this time his poor little gums look like they are going to explode) So we are hoping soon, maybe then mommy might get a few more hours of sleep at night.
Already understands Cause & Effect, he knows that if he spins, the dolphins move (on one of his toys) he knows that if he drops a toy, the dumb adults will come running to pick it up, and as soon as they turn their back down to the floor it goes again and then comes yet another dumb adult... and the game goes on until mommy finally takes the toy away!
He knows to "Turn the page" while we are reading, after I am finished with a page, I say "Ok, turn the page" and he does! :) Sometimes he gets a little too excited though and just wants to continue turning since he gets praise when he does!
Gives the dogs kisses (Yup) I am not too happy with that, but I have not figured out a way to make him stop, when he sees the dogs near him, he opens his mouth wide open and literally just waits for a kiss... now when I have him on the floor, I try and keep the dogs outside until we are done playing.
He has gotten up on all fours!
Still not crawling, he spins on his little hiney like there is no tomorrow and he butt scoots everywhere.
Pulls up on anything now, but he has no control over his legs, as soon as he is up he wants to start bouncing from excitement and then he falls over!

Ok, back to this weekend, is it sad that I had to go back and look at pictures to remember what we did? :( (I have not been sleeping well lately, not because of E or M but me, explanation in another post) Well I honestly can't remember what we did on Friday, I think we just hung around here and relaxed, Saturday we went over to our Local Park for a Spring Festival, our Church sponsored a Salsa Contest, there were about 20 contestants, Mark and I tried every single salsa, although I thought they were all very good, I don't think my stomach agreed with me later on that day. We walked around for a few hours and then headed back home. I took care of E while M worked on the backyard some more. Sunday we just went to church and ran errands. I really liked this weeks service and will have to post about it later on this week, however the most exciting part of Church was that M and I left E at the nursery for the first time ever!!! At breakfast M was complaining how we don't get to sit through service together anymore because I was always at the baby lounge with E, although the baby lounge is set up really nice with gliders and a TV to see the service, I could hardly ever hear what was being said because of everyone else talking so after church each week I always had to ask M what it was about... Well when we got there on Sunday we noticed that the baby lounge was no longer at it's normal location so we were redirected to the new spot which was located right outside the nursery.... (hmmmm, E is sleeping in the stroller, will probably sleep for about another half hour... Why Not???) So we left him! So M and I hurried off. they have 3 big screens set up for everyone to be able to follow scriptures on, and occasionally on the bottom left hand of those screens you will often see a Red number pop up. Those Red numbers are assigned to each baby, so if something happens, the red number is just flashed, if it is your baby's number you know to quietly get up and head over to the nursery to see what is up! Well after I was finished crying over leaving him in the nursery I figured I would be able to enjoy the service... WRONG, I spent the first half of it staring at the bottom left corner just waiting for G(something) :) to pop up! I waited, and waited, and then waited some more and nothing. I finally started to relax towards the end and was able to listen to the last half (Which was great by the way) After it was over we rushed over to get E. I peeked in and to my disbelief he was in an exersaucer laughing! Yes, my child was laughing with complete strangers to him! I asked one of the helpers how he did and as soon as he heard my voice he started screaming like there was no tomorrow! (yeah, my kid has me wrapped around his finger and I realized then that he knows very well how to manipulate mommy in order to get what he wants) Ahhhh... not sure how I am going to break that habit since I really can't stand to hear him cry. But anyway, now we know that he is perfectly ok staying in the nursery and Mommy & Daddy can now enjoy the services together! :)

This was from a week ago, we were making signs for our yard sale & E helped out too!

One of his St. Patty's day outfits! My Sister in law made the onsie if you are interested.

My hubby going to town on the Salsa's! It's a good thing he married a Mexican with how much he loves it! :)

At the fair

This is Noodles, a new member of the family (bought at Petsmart people & FWIW, feels just like the Sofie)

Some days you just gotta do what works, today it was a bit of sun, a box of cheerios & watching daddy work!

Still playing catch up :)

2010-03-18T22:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this post will cover our snow trip! :) Mark and I had been wanting to go for a while but things just keped getting in the way, we were finally able to make a weekend trip up to flagstaff which turned out to be great. We had a blast & really enjoyed the time being with each other & together as a family (Yup we took our little man). The drive up took us a while because it was still snowing hard, it was extremely foggy & windy. We drove to an area designated for sledding, we obviously couldn't go snowboarding since we had E, but sledding was more than enough. Mark really wanted to take E down a small (VERY SMALL) hill, but I was too much of a paranoid mommy & put my foot down, (next year for sure) E still got the chance to sled though, (well kinda) I held him on the sled while daddy pulled us around. He didn't really seem to care either way, I think he was too interested in looking at all the people, He started becoming uncomfortable because the wind was pretty strong & snow was starting to fly in his eyes so he went back into the car with Mark while I raced down the hill with some kids. We went back to the hotel & then kinda did some sight seeing, found a really good Italian Restaurant where E made some buddies. There were two little boys at the table next too us that were doting all over E, he of course was loving the attention. After dinner we headed back to the hotel, put E to sleep and had some good cuddling :) We woke up early on Sunday morning had breakfast & started packing everything up. It had continued to snow throughout the night and the truck had about 4 inches of snow on it so it took us a good 20 minutes to clear some of it off. We made the ride back home slowly stopping in several places to get some pictures.

In other news... I have been MIA because we have been pretty busy. My sister is now living with us which means we inherited a new puppy! :) So now Eddie has a playmate which is great, she even sleeps in the room with Mark and I, she is such a cuddle bug and follows me everywhere. Kayla (my sister) is going to start beauty school in the summer and asked if she could come stay with us in the meantime, we of course said yes which has turned out to be an incredible blessing for me (an extra set of hands to help out with E) Those of you that are around us frequently know that my dear child has been anything but easy for mommy. He still does not STTN, and I continue to baby wear, I have come to realize that the ring sling and the moby wrap have been the best items purchased so far! :) He is incredibly attached to me (not sure if that is a good thing) so if he knows I am around I need to be within eye shot of him if not carrying him. I thought that this phase would have worn off by now, but nope it hasn't yet... I am very optimistic though and still cling to some little hope that he will eventually start STTN. Well having my sister around has made for me making some extra time to fit in some things I hadn't been able too since having E. I started somewhat scrapbooking again (I am still in the organizing/categorizing every single picture portion) which I didn't realize how time consuming that was going to be. I have cleaned out the entire upstairs of the house, Kayla's room was pretty much used as storage, I had all my school/craft stuff in there so I cleaned it out for her. Cleaned out E's room & closet, as many of you know, he has been blessed with having way too much clothes. So everything that he used and has outgrown is neatly organized in boxes out in the garage being stored for any future kiddo's! :) (Yup, Mark & I have been talking about future babes... so stay tuned to know when we will start trying) What he didn't wear is also put in a box to donate to a local women's shelter. We also cleaned out the Garage & had a garage sale this last weekend which went great. We held it for Saturday & Sunday and sold pretty much everything we had. There were a few things at the end of the day on Sunday so we just loaded them up into Mark's truck and took them over to Goodwill. I have also started cleaning out our Computer room. It is going to turn into my craft room! My sewing machine and Cricut have been permanently stationed on the dining room table so I think Mark finally got tired of seeing them there and suggested we turn the computer room into a craft room. So he wants to build a unit to hold all my scrapbooking & crafty nicknack's instead of me storing them in plastic boxes. (So excited for that) We have also been spending a lot of our weekends looking at different flooring. We are going to re-floor our downstairs, we considered tile but I think we are going to go with hardwood floors instead. Mark has also been working on the backyard... I got some more fruit trees this year! :) So excited, Mark surprised me with them, I came back from my parents and they were already planted! He is also putting in a small water fountain back there and eventually (most likely next year) we plan to build a Gazebo. I have also started planning E's 1st Birthday! I already made the invitations :) I got his piñata and have started on the Goody Bags... I picked a hard theme (didn't realize it at the time) so I pretty much have to make everything myself since I can't find anything. I have been playing with Fondant because I am going to make his cake (or should I say try to make his cake) I have found that the fondant is pretty easy, I think the hardest thing for me has been rolling it flat so that it's even. The ladies from my support group are sure enjoying my "trying" since I take what I make in on Fridays! And if you noticed, I am changing up the blog a bit and I started a photography blog as well. Mark and I have been looking into buying a domain for me so I can get this thing going. We have both been taking a photography class on Saturdays (it's a 5 week course) and then we are going to have some private sessions here at the house. I was given the opportunity to take photos of the RR Fire Station & the Engines & Equipment later on this summer/early fall so I want to get familiar with the camera as much as I can. I also just did my youngest sisters (Kenya's) Graduation pics, I will post those later, and will be doing at least one more graduation session down in RR with her friend. :) I am also doing a wedding in October. Yup, you read that right a Wedding! I am not good enough nor have the confidence for that, however I will be the "second" photog. and if they like my pics they will just pay for the copyrights. So I am very excited for that as well. I have continued with E's 365 but have not uploaded them, will do that tomorrow along with his 8 month Stats! I can't believe our child is 8 months already, my how time does fly when you are having fun!

Okkk... so I was ready to write another post but...

2010-03-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

My buddy just called to go to Karaoke! Let me tell you it's been a heck of a week & I sooo need to go out for an hour or so... We both have babies a month apart so we won't be more than 5 minutes away from the house. The hubbies are wonderful enough to stay with them (Mark really doesn't have an option, he wanted to go out but came down with a nasty virus & has had a fever & been puking all day) but anyway that will most likely be a post for tomorrow. For now I leave you with this...

I really had to go to the bathroom & E was content in his walker. He had a few puffs that he was munching on in there since I was making dinner, well I made sure there was absolutely NOTHING he could grab, pull, knock over. Everything was put away, baby gates were up, there was nothing that he could do to hurt himself or cause damage.

Well here ya go!!!

How baby boy, how do you manage to get the dog bowl UNDER your walker! (Notice he could care less, he is still munching away)!

I think I have officialy won the Slacker award!

2010-03-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

So I was talking to my mom yesterday and realized that I have not updated the blog in almost a whole month! This definitely deserves an award :) and I give it to myself "The Slacker Award" :) So I noticed since I started the 365 I have been neglecting the blog. I however am proud of myself for keeping up with the 365, it is honestly more work than I thought. I did pretty much take pictures of E daily but the coming on the computer and uploading & posting takes time, something I haven't had too much of lately. Well what have we been up too for the past month, ohhh a little of everything I would say I think I am going to have to break this post down into several different ones because it would be an overload if I put everything down. So I will be back several times this week (Promise) with updates on the hubby, myself and our babe... If you haven't noticed, the blog is undergoing some "remodeling" so please excuse any glitches for the next few weeks :) but anyway, we have a ton of stuff that we have been doing but I guess I should update on Eli first since I apparently missed his 7 month update.

He is doing GREAT... as can be expected, we STTN for a week and a half and he has been back to his old ways for some time now... ohh well, I still cling to a bit of hope that someday he will give me a little break, I really don't mind getting up though, with how quickly these last 7 months have gone by, I find myself pretty much running to his room whenever he cries at night to nurse, cuddle and love him. Those moments I spend with him in the early morning I know I will never get back and it's absolutely perfect feeling so connected and in love with our child I love feeling his little hand on my cheek while he nurses and then watching him slowly falls back to sleep. He wakes up extremely happy and I still enjoy taking him to our bed since Mark is gone by the time he gets up and we cuddle there for at least a good 20 minutes before we go downstairs for breakfast. He is still nursing like a champ and has gained almost 2 lbs since I started taking the Domperidone. He smiles pretty much all day and still prefers to be carried. I still like to baby wear (Moby, or ring sling) a lot. He is definitely a Mommas boy and I LOVE IT! I guess I will stop now because I can go on forever with things he has been up too, I posted a list of other updates below, but look for more posts throughout the week. We have tons of stuff to share :)

E's 7 1/2 month Updates!

Most importantly He Graduated from his Doc Band (Helmet) something we were very excited about.

He started blowing bubbles

Had his first trip to the snow

Has been eating many things (peas, carrots, green beans, yams, sweet potato, corn, butternut squash, zucchini, spinach, pear, banana, grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe, kiwi, cottage cheese, yogurt, avocado, asparagus and broccoli) He is a very good eater and so far I have not had any issues with him not liking anything. He does prefer some foods over others, but I try and mix in the ones he is not too fond of with the ones he likes. He also finally started taking the rice cereal and oatmeal, so I add some into his purees which gives it some texture which he loves. It's nice now because he is getting some more iron in him, before I was giving him a few drops of an iron vitamin a day (recommended by his pedi since I make my own baby food & he wasn't taking the rice cereal)

He drinks water from his sippy cup pretty well now, from a straw, and straight out of the cup. Now whenever he sees mommy, daddy or auntie with a cup, he wants whatever is in there and gets angry if we don't give it to him... I have had to deal with some temper tantrums already because sometimes I am drinking coffee and he wants my mug! :)

Has finally got his "pincher" down, he loves to feed himself. I have steamed some veggies for him and he loves to pick them up on his own, he snacks on yogurt puffs, veggie puffs, & little crunchies. We think he will be right handed at this point, he seemed pretty consistent with his left hand and would pick everything up with his left until about a week ago, we noticed that if he picks something up with his left, he will switch it over to his right before putting it into his mouth.

He RUNS in his walker now

Still hates being on his belly, I don't think he will ever crawl. He seems very close to it most days like he is right there but nothing. Which is fine with me at this point, I am able to still sit him down in one spot and for the most part he doesn't move too much from it, he will butt scoot to get to a toy if he wants but it's usually no more than like a five food radius. He is still ok in our living room, once he makes himself over to the kitchen then we might have to consider a baby jail :)

He also transitioned from his baby tub to big boy tub which he loves

Loves Cell phones & Keyboards

Loves his big boy stroller & going for walks to the park or at the mall

Has gone on many play dates with his buddies & is starting to interact with them smile at them, talk to them. (It is so neat to see him grow from one day to the next & amazing to see how well he recognizes some people or babies)

Loves the dogs (yes we have another one, will share that though in another post)

He is also doing this thing now where he does what I call his "Viejito face" (Old Man Face) It is so stinking cute, I will say "E do a Viejito" & he crinkles his nose and squints his eyes it's so cute!

Just some random pic's I was playing with the settings on the camera

Down in Nogales at lunch with Nana he rode a race car

Having lunch in Nogales with Nana

His famous "Viejito Face" Isn't it stinking cute!

Down in RR at Nana & Tata's house, after a bath & having my first popsicle ever my Auntie's gave it to me and needless to say mommy was NOT happy

Tata took E on a walk down in RR & then before one of his many play dates up in Phx.

And I have been raving about the awesome job my hubby did hooking up the surveillance camera to the TV in our bedroom (& other TV's in the house)... This is what I see at night, it is color during the day! Ohh & he loves to sleep like that he rolls around the entire crib!