A new year arrives...

An amazing year ends and a new one begins. With all the blessings we've received this year, it is exciting to begin a new year knowing that new and exciting things are going to happen. To welcome the new year, we decided to spend it at TIR, our church, as they were having a big celebration.

Our night began at around 9:30pm with already cranky children since bedtime is usually at 8:00pm...

 

It wasn't long after until one was yawning and the other was getting himself into trouble...

A little while later, Gabby took a nap and someone had the "bright" idea to give Julian candy...

This was Julio's face as he watched Julian on his sugar high...

Finally, Julian awaits the stroke of midnight and rings in the new year by giving his sister a kiss...

We got home and everyone was in bed in less than 5 minutes...

So thankful for all the people that I've met this year including my cupcakes, a wonderful bunch of ladies that I hold dear to my heart for all the love and support they've given me, my sister's husband and his daughter that joined the family in April, my two new nieces, Sadie and Makayla, that joined us this summer, my beautiful little girl that made her entrance on July 30th, and my first nephew that joined us right after thanksgiving! I hope 2011 is just as full of blessings.

Happy New Year!

Holidays are over! (Finally…)

Our holidays were pretty busy. Thanksgiving was especially traumatizing for me. We had to get the kids together to be at my mother’s house by noon. Getting everyone together and organized is a challenge in itself then expecting everyone else to get it together the same way I did is totally unrealistic. We got to my mom’s and helped her finish up setting the two tables. Note to self: Paper plates will now be a new tradition for next year since getting all the good china out and cleaned is annoying and tedious work that I would rather not do. We have our Thanksgiving meal and leave quickly for our drive to Julio’s parent’s house almost an hour away. We get there and have our second Thanksgiving meal. We then pack the kids up before they got too cranky from the busy day and head back home. Crazy exhausting day. The invention of a teleporting device would be nice right about now.

Christmas was exciting this year. Julian was all about not being on the naughty list and was pretty well-behaved in the days prior to Christmas (well...for the most part excluding small incidences-see picture->). He had a Christmas play at daycare and to our amazement, danced like a pro. The theme was Christmas in Latin America. Gabby's classroom dressed like little Tainos indians. My family usually celebrates on Christmas Eve so we gathered at my mother’s house and opened presents with the kids. The next day, we hosted Christmas for Julio’s family. Way easier than traveling that hour. Julian was extremely excited about his panda pillow pet and fireman costume and Gabby…well, she slept through most of it.

  We are so excited about what 2011 will have in store for us. 

Happy Holidays!

Things I never thought I’d say when I became a mom:

1.       Don’t pick your nose or your finger will get stuck.

2.       Eat all your dinner like a good guinea pig.

3.       Take that car out of your underpants.

4.       Don’t lick your sister’s face.

5.       Let me get that boogie.

6.       Good job. You got all the pee IN the potty!

7.       Did you wipe? Nope, there’s still poop.

8.       You can’t fly until you grow your wings. Get off the couch!

9.       No, there’s no milk in boy boobies.

10.   Go ask your dad.

I'm sure there will be more just give me a couple years...

Love for my babies...

I found this online. I cried....

I walk along holding your 3-year-old hand, basking in the glow of our magical relationship. Suddenly I feel a kick from within, as if to remind me that our time alone is limited. And I wonder: how could I ever love another child as I love you?

Then she is born, and I watch you. I watch the pain you feel at having to share me as you’ve never shared me before. I hear you telling me in your own way, “Please love only me”. And I hear myself telling you in mine, “I can’t”, knowing, in fact, that I never can again.

You cry. I cry with you. I almost see our new baby as an intruder on the precious relationship we once shared. A relationship we can never quite have again.

But then, barely noticing, I find myself attached to that new being, and feeling almost guilty. I’m afraid to let you see me enjoying her, as though I am betraying you. But then I notice your resentment change, first to curiosity, then to protectiveness, finally to genuine affection.

More days pass, and we are settling into a new routine. The memory of days with just the two of us is fading fast. But something else is replacing those wonderful times we shared, just we two. There are new times – only now, we are three. I watch the love between you grow, the way you look at each other, touch each other.

I watch how she adores you – as I have for so long. I see how excited you are by each of her new accomplishments. And I begin to realize that I haven’t taken something from you, I’ve given something to you. I notice that I am no longer afraid to share my love openly with both of you.

I find that my love for each of you is as different as you are, but equally strong. And my question is finally answered, to my amazement. Yes, I can love another child as much as I love you – only differently.

And although I realize that you may have to share my time, I now know you’ll never share my love. There’s enough of that for both of you – you each have your own supply.

I love you – both. And I thank you both for blessing my life.

Author Unknown

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day...

This is a few weeks late... but I observed Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day on October 15th. It was nice to remember the life I carried inside me however short that time may have been. That baby made me a mother.

My story was features on the website facesofloss.com. Read it at http://www.facesofloss.com/2010/10/stefanie-baby-jelly-bean-lost-january.html#more

Because I said so....

Remember when you were little and your mom would order you to do or not do something? When you'd ask why, the response was always, "Because I said so!" I hated that response. I swore I'd never do that. Umm, yeah, I lied...

Me (during bath time): "Julian did you put soap on?"
Julian: "No, I don't want to."
Me: "You have to."
Julian: "My friend Junior said he doesn't use soap."
Me: "Really? That's interesting. Use the soap."
Julian: "Why? Junior doesn't have to!"
Me: "Well, I don't have to smell him. I have to smell you and you have to use soap."
Julian: "But why?"
Me: "Because soap makes you clean and smell good."
Julian: "But why?"
Me: "Because that's what people have to do to get rid of  stinky germs."
Julian: "But why?"
Me: "Because germs make you sick."
Julian: "But why?"
Me: "Because getting sick is not good."
Julian: "But why?"
Me: "BECAUSE I SAID SO!!!!!"

 Rub a dub dub, two monkeys in a tub...

The Poor Tired Sun...

“Mom, why does the sun need to go to bed?” Julian asks after I put on his pajamas. “Well, the Sun doesn’t go to bed, it just goes to china because they need sunlight too,” I try to respond as simply as a three year old can understand without confusing him too much. He looks out the window for a couple minutes with a very pensive look on his face. He then said to me, “No mom, the sun went to bed because he’s tired.” Ummm, okay. He won’t get an argument from me, besides, I never win anyway…

In other news, Gabriela is talking now. Yes, having full conversations. No. Not with me. With the mobile and various stuffed animals hanging out in her crib. It’s funny to see her carrying on and pausing as if she is expecting some kind of response. Her smiles make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Not sure if it is because I know this is my last baby or that I’m a hormonal freak but I get all nostalgic and emotional every time I see my kids doing something cute or funny.

No, I don’t want any more offspring so don’t ask. I’m happily waiting for my tubal surgery on October 15^th thanking God for my two precious gifts and pleading that He doesn’t send another one during my wait. Ever typed with crossed fingers? Yeah, that’s what I’m doing… Heh.

To play or not to play...

Julio and I decided to register Julian in a toddler soccer team to 'teach' him the concept of teamwork, structure and have him do something fun. Little did I know that I would be the one learning a lesson…

On Julian’s first practice, he wanted nothing to do with the other kids. He didn’t want to talk to the coaches, do exercises, or even kick the ball. This was frustrating for me as I see all of the other children happily running up and down the field as my son sat in the middle of the field pulling on the grass. On Julian’s first game, we had zero expectations. Again, Julian did not respond to my pleas and sat on the sidelines. Halfway through the game, something came over him and he ran on the field and actually started playing. For this, he got tons of praise and even got a trip to McDonalds. The next game, he wanted to be goalie and did pretty well. While running down the field, he stopped to say, “Look everyone, there’s my baby sister!” causing all his teammates to stop and look away from where the ball was rolling. All the parents laughed as the other team scored a goal. My son also sings the Wonder Pets theme song while chasing the ball down the field at the games.

Once I stopped trying to get my son to cooperate, I noticed that I’m not the only parent with an uncooperative toddler.  One child refuses to play soccer unless she is wearing her sunglasses even if it’s a cloudy day, another child stops to look at the sky every time an airplane flies by, some kids will stop to cry because ‘they want a turn to hold the ball’ and I am constantly hearing parents yelling, “No hands!” from the sidelines.

I went into this trying to teach Julian a couple life lessons but instead I learned to live in the moment. Toddlers are all about right now. If they’re doing something that they like, they enjoy it to the fullest (or at least until they get bored). They don’t waste time and energy worrying about other stuff like following the rules of the game. They embrace the here and now, because that’s all they know. Now I will have to let him be and marvel at the beauty of a carefree child…

Julian running the opposite way... 

I think someone was supposed to call a foul on this... 

Dancing and singing on the field...

Making friends with the opponent... 

"I kick the ball where?"...

Gabriela analyzes the game...

The best goalie ever!!!

8 weeks old...

Today Gabriela will be 8 weeks old. I can't believe how fast time is flying. It seems like only yesterday I was walking into the hospital unsure and uncertain of what I was going to experience. As if I were a first time mom all over again....

On Wednesday July 28th, I started to get contractions that were very irregular. At first they were 5-6 minutes apart then 15-20 minutes apart. I went to bed and they went away around 2am. The next morning I woke up with really bad cramps and decided not to go to work. Julio was off from work. Around 1pm, I called the doctors office because the cramps weren't going away. They sent me to L&D where they told me that my cramps were actually contractions and I was almost 5cm dilated. I was started on Pitocin around 5pm to try to get my contractions regular and they were going to break my water later on when they became regular.

Around 8pm, the anesthesiologist came with my epidural. It was wonderful! I got to sleep for three hours or so. I woke up around 11:30pm because I thought I had urinated myself since I refused a catheter when I got the epidural. It wasn't urine, my water had broken on its own. At midnight I started feeling a sharp pain on my right side and the doctor told me that I was 10cm and the baby must be pinching a nerve but he didn't want me to push yet. After 20 minutes, he comes in with a boom box and said, "Okay, lets party"...lol.

When they put my legs on the stirrups, the first thing Julio said was, "whoa! that's her head!" The doctors reasoning for waiting a little longer after 10cm was so that I didn't have to push the head out for long since it was already coming down on its own. Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" starts playing when doctor tells me, "Push whenever you want, don't wait for a contraction and we don't count. Do whatever your body tells you to." So I started pushing and halfway through Black Eyed Peas, "Tonight's gonna be a good night", Gabriela was born.

They cleaned her up and gave her back to me and left me, Julio, and my mom with her for some family bonding time. Our first visitor was Mary.  Gabriela was so beautiful and alert, looking around at all of us. She looked so much like Julian. She was 7lbs 9oz and 21 inches long born on July 30, 2010 at 12:43am.

                                                 Daddy was so in Love...

Julian meeting his sister for the first time...

 

Sometimes I start thinking of everything that I've gone through in the past year and can't help but to feel elated. I have an awesome husband, two beautiful kids and all in all, my pregnancy really wasn't that bad. Very unlike Julian's pregnancy....but that's a story for another day...



The beginning...

After reading several of my friends blogs, I thought it would be nice to write down all of my adventures with my family. I love looking at my old photo albums and reminisce. This will be my way to remember my babies and everything Julio and I go through raising them. Sharing these experiences with all of you is just a plus!

So here we go.....