Enjoying life

Wordless Wednesday: Hold on tight

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

Zoo fun

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

This was my family's (from Brazil) first time at the zoo. They loved it. They kids always love going there. And it gets us away from the house for some hours! Here are many pictures!

tio Bruno and Makenna watching the elephants

Makenna and a monkey!

photo with Nosey

how photos normally go!

Tyler and Vó looking at the giraffes

photos with the hipo

Makenna's favorite part of the zoo:

they were more interested in climbing the fancy than looking at the animals

"I'm eating so I can be big like a gorilla" - please don't!

tia Yaya and Makenna looking at turtles

and I have no idea what's happening here!

Ad that's it. I hope you enjoyed it :)

Jump jump jump

2012-01-16T06:00:00.001-08:00

Makenna loves the trampoline we have in our backyard. She convinces tio Bruno and tia Yaya to jump with her. And even Tyler got in the fun!

Happy Birthday

2012-01-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

to the guy that has been bugging me since the day he was born. But I love him and always will.

My brother Bruno :)

New Years Eve

2012-01-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

We had a very different New Year's Eve this year, well, last year!

We went to an awesome birthday party on the 30th and all the drinking and party that one would normally do on NYE, happened that night. Also, we knew we were going to leave the house around 5 am on the first to go watch the Raider game in Oakland.

So, we celebrated, aka had sparkling wine and said Happy New Year at 6 pm. Why 6? Because, that was midnight in Brazil!

Makenna got to participate with apple juice in a grown up glass. She was pretty excited about it!

And take a picture with Vó

And after the kids went to bed, we had filet mignon with garlic sauce, lobster, sautted mushrooms, green beans with bacon, and scalloped potatoes, made by yours truly! Yummm!

Christmas Day

2012-01-13T18:25:00.000-08:00

Since we're in the middle of January, I promise this is my last post about Christmas until December comes around again.

So after opening presents at home we went to my mother-in-laws to open some more presents. And apparently so I could nap (I fell asleep on the floor while everybody was having fun!).

But here is an attempt at a picture of Tyler and Maci, the babies of the family.

Tyler opened his big present, a car that I don't know the name but I've been having more fun than anybody else riding it at home. I think there's a video of that somewhere. I'll try to find it so you can laugh at me!

Makenna and her massive pile of presents. How nice to be a spoiled granddaughter!

And meticulously opening her gifts (she's OCD like her mommy!)

Tio Bruno and tia Yaya (my brother and sister-in-law) got matching Raiders pajama pants.

At night, we had "formal" dinner at our house. We put this massive prime rib in the oven. And ate a whole lot of it.

And that, folks, was our Christmas.

Wordless Wednesday: A Christmas Smile

2012-01-04T06:00:00.001-08:00

Christmas Morning

2012-01-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas we had a full house. My parents and my brother and sister-in-law were here with us. This was the first Christmas in the last ten years that all of us spent together.

This was also a special Christmas because we started some new traditions with our family (Me, hubby and the kids).

We started the morning we Makenna waking everybody up at 7 to go open presents.

My brother has become a big fan of American football. So for his gift we gave him tickets to the Raiders x Chargers game in Oakland. He was very surprised and excited!

One of the new traditions with started was a big Christmas breakfast. I made chocolate chip and peanut butter M&M's pancakes, eggs, potatoes and bacon. It was fantastic!

Another tradition we started, and by far my favorite, was to celebrate Jesus' birthday. I made a cake the previous day, and after breakfast we sang happy birthday to Him. Makenna was really excited about it. For the past month she had talked about how she wanted a yellow cake and yellow balloons!

And she also got to blow the candles!

After breakfast, the kids played with their toys. Makenna was playing with her doctor set (she's been saying she wants to be a doctor when she grows up). Vó (my mom) was her patient!

While Vô (my dad) helped Tyler overcome his fear of his new toy!!

It was a great Christmas morning at home. The rest of the day was also great. I'll write about that next!

The 24th

2011-12-31T06:00:00.000-08:00

It's still Christmas on the blog since I haven't posted in some time. My family is in town from Brazil and I'm too busy having fun with them! But here we go!

I wanted Christmas Eve to start with a trip to the gym and a buttie-kicking spin class, but I slept in instead!

After I got up the baking began.

First pomegranate scones for breakfast. Yumm

Followed by sugar cookies, chocolate muffins with cream cheese filling, Red Velvet cookies with Brazillian white chocolate, and chocolate chip cookies, of course!

After the kids' nap we went to my father-in-law's and Makena got to play Santa and help grandpa distribute presents.

Tyler was more interested in watching everybody open presents than opening his own!

Makenna, on the other hand, was concentrated at the work at hand...

And she loved every gift!

Maci, one of the kids' cousin, who is a month younger than Tyler, loves to hold and to tackle him. We had to keep them apart for most of the night! Pretty funny if you ask me.

Silly family, awesome Papa (Hubby's grandfather).

At home, before going to bed, we put some carrots out for Santa's Reindeer

and some cookies for Santa (Makenna was thinking about eating them herself!)

It looks like Santa enjoyed his cookies

He left us gifts in the stockings and a baby doll Makenna had asked him for

What a great Christmas Eve it was...

Dear Santa

2011-12-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

I've had my moments this year. I was really good sometimes, and really naughty others. So it's really up to you to decide if I deserve a present this year. I'll understand if I am on your naughty list, and I'll try to be good most of the time next year. If I'm on your good list, thank you :)

So, I made a list. Now, I don't need all of these, these are just suggestions. And if I'm on your naughty list, I'll wait till March Christmas!

I'd love a ring like this one that I would be able to wear for my clinicals this year.

These awesome boots, in black, would keep my feet warm all winter long (Size 8.5).

A new home for my camera would make me so happy!

I'd love to take my cooking to new heights with a food processor!

That's what I can think of right now. I'll let you know if I think of something else. Specially more budget-friendly items!

And some more pictures

2011-12-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

I love taking pictures of my kids. And I love showing them to everybody.

Last weekend we went' to my mother-in-law's house and there are some beautiful trees next to her house.

So I took the kids to take some pictures before they ate and got all dirty!

and she's done

I need to add that I took these pictures around 4:30 pm, so it was getting dark and cold. When we were done I went to get my keys, and I didn't have my keys. Seriously how was I going to find them in the middle of all those trees?

Chad's mom walked home with the kids (it was really close to her house) and her husband came with a flashlight to help me look for it. I almost gave up twice. But then, I FOUND THEM. Crazy!

Next time the keys will stay in the car!

Wordless Wednesday: crazy hair and a smile

2011-12-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

Remember those days?

2011-12-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

Those days when being in college meant a lot a time to party?

Those days that homework took 1 or 2 hours per week to complete?

Those days when classes scheduled to be 6 hours long were actually 3 hours long?

I don't!

I've been in nursing school for two months now, in an, somewhat, advanced program. The whole thing is 22 months long. One class lasts one month, some classes two month. It's very fast paced.

First class was easy peasy!

Second class, not so much. I'm at school Monday through Thursday, from 4 to 10. And I spend my weekends doing homework writing papers, and/or studying.

Oh, and when I say the classes are from 4 to 10, I mean I am at school from 4 to 10. Sometimes earlier to get things done and printed.

Yeah. My life wasn't busy enough with a husband, two kids, two dogs, and a turtle!

But just so you know, I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

I know. I'm completely insane!

Tis the season...

2011-12-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

... to bake and grow a winter coat

... to buy flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and baking powder at Costco

... to try every cookie recipe out there

... to eat dough without any guilt

... to let children in the kitchen

... to have the entire kitchen covered in flour

But above it all, tis the season to make memories that will last a lifetime...

Oh Christmas Tree...

2011-12-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

About three years ago, when we had Makenna and moved into the house we live in now (all which happened in the same week!), we bought a fake pre-lit Christmas tree. We talked about getting a real tree, but we figured our children are too young to care about that, for now at least.

About 6 months ago all of our "stuff" was moved from the detached third car garage to one side of the main two car garage as the third car garage became something else. Every time we parked in the garage, Makenna asked to put up the Christmas tree (because she saw it everyday in the garage). I told her, day after day, since July, that after Thanksgiving we could put the tree up.

The girl has good memory because the morning after Thanksgiving she started asking to put up the tree. Now, here is the thing, I dislike decorating the Christmas tree. A LOT. I love Christmas. I love decorating the house, and having a tree up. But I hate decorating the tree. I too much of a perfectionist, and decorating a tree perfectly is an impossible task in my head!

So we waited till Saturday and had Grandpa and Gigi help Makenna decorate it while I made dinner and stayed away from it! They let Makenna do most of the decorating, which is so sweet and made a wonderful Christmas memory for Makenna. The tree? Well, when the lights are on, it looks great. When the lights are off, ornaments are clustered. So we just leave the lights on!

Thinking about Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T09:10:00.000-08:00

I took Tyler to bed around 7:30 pm. When I was done I stopped. Our hallway upstairs is open to the dining and living room.

Without looking down, I just stopped and listened.

I listened to the sound of conversations.

And the sound of laughter.

The sound of happiness.

The sound of joy.

The sound of thankfulness.

The sound of family.

The sound of LOVE.

I got down on my knees and I thanked God.

I thanked Him for my family.

For happiness.

For laughter.

For peace.

For LOVE.

This is my best Thanksgiving memory this year.

Unfortunally I did not take pictures. I was too busy cooking, talking, eating, laughing, drinking, being merry, and oh so thankful.

And after our bellies we full, we played Just Dance 2 on the Wii!

What's your best Thanksgiving memory?

Pumpkin patch

2011-11-15T20:34:00.001-08:00

I know, I know... Halloween and the Pumpkin Patches are long gone by now. But I've been to busy with school, kids, and a hubby recovering from knee surgery to have time to write, take and/or edit pictures, let alone think about things that would be interesting to write here! (I should be doing homework right now!)

Anyways, the week before Halloween we went to the pumpkin patch with the family and here are some pictures...

Tyler: "you're trusting her to hold me way up here?"

"I'll take this one"

she wanted to take this guy home!

"oooh, cool" - only in his mind since he doesn't talk

Say cheeeeese. Makenna:"cheeeeese". Tyler:"what?"

"No, I'll take this one instead"
I L-O-V-E her crazy hair!

a cracker for a smile. one of the only ones of the day!

"if you're gonna make me sit here, can I at least eat this thing?"

Makenna rode a Ferris Wheel with her Peepaw that made them go completely upside down! We ate junk food. Tyler was cranky and ended up in my mei tai. Chad was riding on his scooter because of his knee! It was quite the evening, but we had fun, or at least one of us did!!

You know you're a mom when...

2011-10-24T23:20:00.000-07:00

... you feel the need to nurture people you don't really know. To do so, you decided to make cookies, for your classmates, for the class that's starting tomorrow. Your first class of nursing school. Then you drive to Vons at 8 pm, after putting the kids to bed, to buy chocolate chips because you didn't have any at home. And when you get home and make the cookies you realize that you did have chocolate chips at home!

... you have a glass of wine before going to bed, or when you thought that the next thing you would do was going to bed. At 9:30 pm.

... you realize there's a pile of laundry that needs to be put away before you go to bed.

... you take out your sewing kit because you procrastinated fixing the holes on your daughter's princess dress, the very same dress she is going to wear tomorrow for Silly Day at preschool

... you proceed to fix the holes and remember that the dress is a little too long for her, so you also take out the ironing board and use stitch witchery to hem the bottom of said dress. While the iron is out, you go ahead and iron the whole dress because, well, the iron was out and on and hot already.

... you take a deep breath and get ready for bed, only to realize you didn't finish putting that pile of laundry away, which means you can't lay in bed without waking up the next morning with clean clothes all over the dirty (as in haven't been vacuumed in a week) floor.

... you take another deep breath, because motivation has to come from somewhere, and finish putting the clothes away.

... you feel like grabbing another glass of wine, but look at the clock and, "how in the world it's 11:15 already?"

... you sit down in front of the computer and write this blog post before hitting the bed, praying that your daughter sleeps past 5:30 am and pass out!

Big Fresno Fair

2011-10-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

I know, it ended last Saturday. I'm totally behind on blog posts!

I went with Makenna to her first preschool field trip: the Big Fresno Fair. Tyler stayed home so we were able to have some good mother-daughter time.

not sure what she was so concentrated on!

having snacks with her classmates

there are baby pigs nursing a ginormous mamma pig behind Makenna

these are Cinnamon's friends (her class bunny)

ducks. if only kids would stand still!

her favorite: the giant bubbles

girl is braver than me!

After all that fun we grabbed some fair food (corn dog for Makenna, chicken kabobs for me) and headed home for a nap. She passed out in the car, which is always a sign of a tired girl who had lots of fun!

I must be crazy, or something

2011-10-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

A while back I commented on how I hadn't posted anything here in a while because I was busy with school. I was finishing some pre-requisits to apply to the nursing program at National University. I got in, which I'm so excited about, and my classes start next Tuesday, which I'm also excited about, and won't end until August of 2013, pretty much!

here's my school schedule for the next two years of my life!

When I signed up for this, hubby and I figured he would be able to take care of the kids while I go to school, specially in the first few months, since he doesn't get crazy busy until tax season. Well, my dear husband, a week and a half ago, blew out his knee. He tore his ACL and medium meniscus (both ligaments at the knee) and he will have surgery to repair them on November 2nd (we would appreciate prayers!). So for now he's walking with the help of crutches and can't do much around the house and with the kids.

If I wasn't crazy when I decided to start nursing school with a 3 year old and a 1 year old, I am definitely crazy now!

So yeah, say a prayer for me and my family, we do and will need it!

Tyler's turn

2011-10-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

I was going through my blog showing a friend some of the pics of my kids and I realized one kid was missing! It may not seem like it by the pictures I posted lately, but I do have a son. His name is Tyler and he's almost 16 months!

Last weekend the weather was great so I took the kids to the park. I also thought that might be a good chance to take some much needed pictures of my forgotten son. And here they are:

Makenna: "let's go", Tyelr: "what's going on?"

and some sibling love

I was a good mom today!

2011-10-08T18:23:00.001-07:00

Not that I'm trying to brag or anything, but since I have a blog, I guess I can use it to brag if I feel like it, right?

It all started yesterday really. Hubby went out of town for a men's retreat. Makenna, after being in her room awake for an hour, came downstairs and said she didn't want to nap. She sat on the couch with me, started watching videos on my iPhone and passed out while laying on my lap! I woke her up close to 5 pm because I needed to go to the grocery store and it was getting too late for her to still be sleeping. So after dinner and bath, she watched a movie in bed with me. I took her to her bedroom around 9 pm (an hour past her bedtime). Around 3:30 am she came in my room. Since I was half-asleep, I just told her to lay with me and she went back to sleep.

We woke up close to 7 am. I really wanted to go to spin, but I decided against it and figure the kids could use a break from the gym. We got Tyler up and proceed to make chocolate chip buttermilk pancakes. Yeah, instead of working out, I ate chocolate chip pancakes. Go ahead and judge me, I don't care. I was making my kids and myself happy!

We had a pretty laid back morning of playing in the playroom (I was trying to organize and at a faster rate than I could organize, the kids were coming behind me destroying all my organizing like two tornados. We talked to Vô (my dad) and tio Bruno (my brother) via Skype.

After lunch I took Tyler up for his nap and figured there was no point in trying with Makenna. So she stayed downstairs with me. I put a movie on, and before I knew, both of us were asleep on the couch. It made me think of when she was a little baby and we would nap together on the couch. It was sweet.

We woke up, grabbed some drinks and snacks and headed to the park. Played for an hour and a half and came home for dinner.

Yeah, so I'm feeling like a good mom: sleeping together, pancakes, nap together, park...

What did you do with your kids today?

Here comes the rain

2011-10-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it rained. All morning. But it wasn't terribly cold. After the gym Makenna said she wanted to play outside with her rain boots. I said yes right after I grabbed my camera!

and my favorite sequence:

As you can see we lack a drain system. The dogs destroyed it! To Makenna's advantage!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Wordless Wednesday: A girl and her dog

2011-10-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin muffins

2011-10-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Some houses on our street are already decorated for fall/Halloween. On our way home from the gym yesterday Makenna said "I love pumpkin." So I wondered if I could make pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffins. And I remember I had some frozen pumpkin in the garage freezer (ignore the fact that it was 2 years old!).

All the recipes I found for pumpkin muffin required canned pumpkin puree. Although I do need to go to the grocery store this afternoon, I'd like to make the muffins while the kids are napping. So I Googled pumpkin puree recipe, and of course there were many recipes. But, I always choose Pioneer Woman if she has a recipe. So I used her recipe for Homemade Pumpkin Puree as a guide. I didn't have whole pumpkins, mine were cubed. So I defrosted them in a water bath and baked them at 350 for 25 minutes.

After they cooled down a bit I put them through a food mill. My arms hurt! It reminds me I need to write a letter to Santa asking for a food processor for Christmas!
It turned out a little stringier than I think I wanted, but I got tired of rolling that thing after about 20 minutes of it!

Another absolutely favorite food blogger of mine is Mel at Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Every time I want to cook something I ALWAYS first look at her blog for ideas. If I can't find what I'm looking for then I move on to other sites. That's where I found the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins recipe. I thought about making this deliciously-looking Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins, but I decided to go for simple since I've never baked anything with pumpkin before.

So I followed Mel's recipe, using the pumpkin puree I made and her substitute for pumpkin spice.

Now, I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkin stuff. All I can say about these muffins are YUMMM. O-M-G. They are super delicious. Specially warm straight out of the oven (Hehe)!

If you like pumpkin, you should try it :)

Costa Rica

2011-09-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

As you can tell by the previous post, hubby and I just got back from vacation. We went to Costa Rica with another couple. For a few months we were debating where we were gonna go on vacation. Out of nowhere, they suggested Costa Rica, at the all inclusive Occidental Grand Papagayo, and we thought it was a great idea. SO we booked it!

We left Fresno on the 19th in the evening, and got there the next day in the morning. My first impression was great. Wouldn't yours be too?

We checked in, checked out our rooms, got some food and did a whole lot of nothing for the rest of the afternoon. We decided not to schedule any excursions for the next day so we could relax and re-energize. We did a whole lot of this:
along with other activities offered by the hotel like kayaking, pool and beach volleyball, and this:
ok, maybe you can't tell by the picture, but it was a sushi lesson, and Chad got to make a sushi roll!
That night I came to peace with the fact that no matter what I did my hair would be a disaster, so I just embraced it!

The next day (Thursday, for those trying to keep track), we went diving with Diving Safaris. We had a great experience with that dive shop and two great dives filled with white fin sharks and eagle rays sightings. In the afternoon there was a some more tanning by the pool and pool volleyball (I napped in a lounge chair while Chad played pool volley!). That night, after dinner, hubby and I went drinking and dancing at The Disco (at the resort) with some friends we made at the resort. That was a fun-filled late night, which I payed for the next morning!

On Friday we got picked up in the morning, and proceeded to ride in a van for 4 hours (it was supposed to be 3, but there was an accident on the way), to go to Sky Trek, for amazingly awesome zip lines.

On Saturday we were supposed to go diving at Bat Island, which was an hour boat ride away. But halfway through, there was a problem with the boat (fuel was leaking), so we had to go back. So I moved to the front of the boat to work my tan (and actually my legs got a little red!)
On our way back we saw some turtles "getting busy"
and a some humpback whales (so awesome)

Since I don't have any more pictures, I'll summarize the rest of the trip: On Sunday we dove Bat Island and it was awesome. On Monday we slept in, ate, slept, ate, went to the spa, chilled, ate, and went to sleep. On Tuesday we had our last meal at the resort and it was time to head to the airport to go back home. Always a bittersweet moment...

Back to reality

2011-09-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I got back from a great vacation to Costa Rica yesterday morning. Our first goal was to make it till nap time, which we succeeded. I took Makenna to her swim lesson at 10:30, brought home In N' Out for lunch and during nap I took a very needed shower. That's the second thing I missed the most while we were away: shower with lots of water pressure!

At night hubby took Makenna to AWANA and I ironed some shirts and picked up the messy house!

Today's activities made me realize even more that vacation was over:

- Doctor's appointments in the morning (for me and Tyler);
- Started laundry;
- Completed some school papers;
- Did more laundry;
- Picked up Makenna from preschool;
- Fed the kids and myself;
- More laundry while the kids napped;
- More school paperwork while the kids napped;
- Vacuumed the house;
- Cleaned one bathroom;
- And I'm planning on making dinner followed by cleaning up the kitchen

Oh well, such is life!

Makenna is 3

2011-09-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

My little big girl turned three on Saturday. We had a small party at PLayLand (her favorite place on earth - because she won't get to go to Disneyland till she's five!). Here are a few pics:

at first she wasn't sure about everybody singing happy birthday to her

but she loved it. it's one of the things she wanted for her birthday - everybody to sing to her

I made cupcakes, as she requested

it might not look like on this picture, but she loves riding the train with her friends, daddy and Tyler

she loves the ladybugs

she opened her presents after nap time, at home

and was super excited about every gift, of course

grandpa spoiled her this birthday with a car!

She had so much fun, and that's what it was all about :)

Breakfast

2011-09-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

Makenna's choice of breakfast this morning was oatmeal. I loved the morning light hitting her back and my camera was in front of me, so I snapped some pics of her. Here they are. Unedited.

I'll add that I only got that smile at the end because she was laughing at the dogs eating the oatmeal that fell on the floor. Goofy girl!

I also add that she doesn't have pants on because she went and played outside with the dogs for a little bit right after waking up and got her pants dirty. So she took them off when she came back in for breakfast!

Wordless Wednesday: Potty trained

2011-08-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

How we have fun around here

2011-08-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I tried something that my husband says is dangerous! What do you think?

Tyler smiled through most of it and Makenna laughed the whole time. I had to remind her to go slow and to only pull her "animals" really fast!

A zoo story

2011-08-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

This little girl makes me laugh so much. She is truly funny and I absolutely love that aspect of her personality.

We went to the zoo one morning last month and she was playing around the hipo statue. Another boy, looking around her age, started playing with her. He had kid glasses. After watching them for a few minutes, I noticed he only had one eye. The place where the other eye would be was closed, just skin there. In my mind I was hoping Makenna wouldn't notice this because I never had to have a conversation with her before about people who are "different." Well, of course she noticed and asked, "where is his other eye?" I freaked out, but before I could say anything, the boy's mom said "he was born that way." And I just went along with that, hoping it would be the end of the conversation. No such luck for me! A few minutes later, Makenna was looking at him, and I could see the wheels turning in her brain and she said: "maybe he left his other eye at home!"
I wanted to dig a hole on the ground and hide. Thank God, at this moment the boy's mom started laughing (because I was laughing too) and she said, "that's very good logic; since it's not here, maybe it's at home." I was just so thankful for that woman's sense of humor and understanding attitude.

Kids will put you in those situations!

What's going on

2011-08-06T12:04:00.001-07:00

I'm taking a break from writing to write!

One of the reasons this blog has been so abandoned is because I am in school. Here's a little background: When I lived in Brazil I wanted to go to med school but my parents could no afford that, plus I wasn't quite the student I am today and would not have been able to get in. Fast-forward ten years. When Chad and I lived in Texas (Dallas area), I considered trying to get in med school again (since I can go to school here and get out of it with a huge debt in loans!). But after much consideration, I decided growing our family was a near-future plan. So I decided to go for nursing. I got into a prestigious program there, but right before starting we moved back to Cali. Soon I got pregnant, had Makenna, and when I was considering returning to school I got pregnant with Tyler. When he was six month old I started looking into nursing programs in the area. I figured it wouldn't be hard to get in since I have a 4.0 GPA and nearly all the pre-requisite classes done. So I applied at National University. I had only one class I had to take before I could apply for the nursing program. I took that in March, and applied. I've been taking classes ever since that are requirements to graduate.

All this to say that this Tuesday I am taking the TEAS test (30% of admission in the nursing program is based on this test's score) and will have to write an essay, which topic I won't know until it's time to write the essay (20% of admission is based on the essay). Something about why nursing. (The other 50% of admission is based on GPA, so I'm good there!)

So this weekend I'll be refreshing my memory in science and math. Fun huh? And practicing writing an essay I'm not too sure about what. Even more fun!

So, I'll try to come back next week, after Tuesday, with some pictures, because I know that a blog with only words is pretty boring!

On a different topic...

2011-07-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine, I've been having a lot of time to think lately. I mean, I can't do anything but sit on my bed with a computer, a book or a TV in front of me. But before I tell you one of the things I've been thinking about in all this new found free time, let me tell you something about me that you probably wouldn't know by reading this blog:

I am a believer and a lover of Jesus Christ. I may not demonstrate or express everyday how thankful I am for the sacrifice He made for me, but I sure am thankful. I mean, can you imagine if I had to sacrifice an animal every time I sinned? There wouldn't be enough animals in this town for my sins alone. I can't imagine a life where I am, in a sense, free to sin because I know that my Saviour forgives me. I'm sure I (and you too) take this for granted and abuse of his grace most of the time. It's so easy to just go along with life and not even think about it. Well, I could go on and on about my beliefs and thankfulness, but that's not where I wanted to take this post today.

So back to all my thinking time.

I just texted my husband "I want to go on a mission trip." He won't get this message till later today as he's in the pool teaching a SCUBA class, but I know him well enough to guarantee he's going to ask "where did that come from?" The strange thing is that it came from my heart.

Chad will tell you that I'm the kind of person that watches something on TV, or read a book or article, or listen to a sermon and get on fire for something, and a week or a month later the fire is extinguished. So, based on my belief in God, I can only assume that came from the Holy Spirit. (Sorry for you non-believers reading this. I sound crazy and it's just gonna get crazier!)

So once again, back to my thinking time. Here are some of the thoughts in my head: we are so privileged (I mean, I just had plastic surgery for goodness sake), and so many people are not. We've been in airplanes so many times going to places that could use our help and all we did was enjoy the beauty it had to offer us, giving nothing in return, except for dollars. But for many people, dollars is not what they are looking for. They are looking for love, for examples, for teaching. I am sitting here asking myself why on earth haven't we gotten in a plane and gone to a place that needs our help. Be digging a trench so a village can get water, building a school so children can have an education, building houses so families can have a roof over their heads, building a church so souls can be saved. Why haven't we invested in the things that really matter in the world?

It feels so wrong writing this right now. I feel hypocritical and vain. Don't get me wrong, I love my new... you know what, and I'm not giving them back! But I think that from now on I need to refocus my life and my priorities a little.

Day 2 post-op

2011-07-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

I thought the first night was bad, but the second was worse (not last night, the one before). I woke up in the middle of the night in pain. I was trying to avoid too much medication, and kind of trying to wean myself out of them, but I was obviously not ready for that. So after some drugs got in my system I fell asleep and I had the weirdest dream (or I thought it was the weirdest, until last night's). I say that I dream because it means I REALLY slept. Thank goodness.

But being a mom of two kids who wake up, at times, before the sun is up, I couldn't sleep past 6:30ish. So I browsed the internet, worked on my study book, talked to my mom and brother via Skype, and then fell asleep again! This happened about three times in the morning. Hubby brought home lunch around 1:30 and since the kids were sleeping I went downstairs to eat. I was in need of a change of scenery! I was determined to stay awake during the afternoon in hopes of a better night of sleep, and I did. Stay awake that is.

So all this was yesterday during the day. Not much pain, except for when I move my arms certain ways. What started bothering me yesterday was my incision. The left one a bit more than the right. There's a burning sensation at times. Doc says that's normal. There's no bleeding and no oozing, so it's just another thing to deal with!

I can stay I'm starting to feel better. But I definitely do not have a full range of motion on my arms. Chad has to help me with just about everything. He commented the other day how this recovery is way harder than recovering from labor and delivery. And I completely agree. It's harder for me, but it's much harder for him because he has to do so much for me and that wasn't exactly the case after giving birth. I am so thankful for a loving, caring, understanding and cooperative husband. I could not do any of this without him.

Day 1 post-op

2011-07-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

I didn't have any pain medication since 4 am. I was about to around 7 as it was getting really bad, but my appointment was at 9 and the doc told us the night before that she would give me a shot. She did, of a muscle relaxer that I can't for the life of me remember the name. She took the beautiful garment I've been wearing and praise on how good it all looks. (Again, I'm sure that's her job, but I'm choosing to believe her!). We weren't there for more than 15 minutes. The shot really helped. I explained to her that the Vicodin was keeping me drowsy, but not taking away the pain, but once I took the Valium, all I felt was pressure. She said I can continue with both.

She suggested I tried to stay awake most of the day so I could sleep tonight.I was exhausted when we got home, so I did take another Vicodin and slept for I think 2 hours straight. That felt heavenly!

My husband, which is by the way the best man in the world, brought me lunch, water, crackers and everything else I could need. I spent most of the afternoon on Facebook, Twitter, reading blogs, and also studying for my TEAS test. Oh yeah, did I mention I'm gonna have to take that test either next week or the following? Not looking forward to that!.

The best baby sitter in the world made me dinner and kept bringing my ice packs (30 minutes on, 30 minutes off). She is simply the best. Chad is teaching a scuba class tonight. But that is really no big deal. Since I'm spending all day in bed!

Now let's talk about how I feel, because that's what most people have asked me on Facebook!

If you didn't know by now, I had a breast augmentation. I read and the doc said that I would probably wake from surgery feeling like I couldn't breath, like someone was sitting in my chest. I did not feel that at all. I felt pressure, like something pushing against it, but no difficult breathing. During the day, yesterday, before Valium, I was really sore. Like I had done one million push ups or any other kind of chest exercise. Like I said, Vicodin was doing nothing for that. But about 10 minutes after taking Valium, that soreness went to bearable, to almost non-existent. Don't get me wrong, I feel this weight on my chest and I'm uncomfortable even when I'm not in pain. But I can deal with that.

Today I believe I slept in the morning due to the shot, so no muscle soreness, and the Vicodin (narcotic). During the afternoon, since I was awake, I kept trying to change how reclined I am laying in bed, but nothing is really helping. I'm not in pain per se, but a lot of discomfort. Around 7 it was passing discomfort and getting to pain again, so I took Valium. Valium doesn't make me drowsy, which is nice, but I do feel not like myself. Almost like the beginning of an alcohol buzz. So if I need to get up I go very slowly and holding on to anything on the way. It became a little harder to concentrate on the book I was studying for the TEAS test after I took Valium. So I turned back to the computer. And now that I'm done I think I'm just gonna turn on the tv!

Have I mentioned I can't shower for ONE WEEK? GROSS. So, don't come too close. I might smell!

Surgery day (yesterday)

2011-07-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

Like I said, I wasn't nervous or anxious. Until we parked in front of the surgery center. It hit me that "this is actually happening" and I started getting a little nervous. Nothing too bad. So I changed into a beautiful knee-high compression stockings, a hospital gown and a "hat". The anesthesiologist came in with a shot in my IV and not even 5 minutes later I was feeling loopy, very loopy! They wheeled me in and that's the last thing I remember before waking up.

I woke up and Chad was with me. I was feeling so incredibly groggy. He said later that I answered questions. I do not remember what they were! He said he talked to the doctor for some time. The doc said I am a light weight and needed less anesthesia than they thought I would. Also that she believes I'll be very happy with the results. Chad said on of the nurses said that it looks really good and that she's jealous! But I think that's just their job to reassure patients!

Somehow I managed to get on a wheelchair and then into the car! And then up the stairs to my bedroom and into bed. I think I fell asleep. At some point I took Vicodin, because I was in pain. Three hours later I took anther one because I was still very uncomfortable. Chad called our doc a little later and she called in a prescription for Valium. That worked, for sure. I could still feel some pressure, but virtually no pain.

I have to sleep on my back, elevated. That's the hardest part for me as I've always been a stomach sleeper. That, I think, it's what keeps me from falling deeply asleep. I think I was wide awake for a good hour last night.

Chad has been so fantastic helping me out with everything. He brings me ice (I have to ice 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off), food, water, and whatever else I ask. My hero.

Jessie has moved in with us to help with the kids. She is awesome and I love her.

Makenna has sneaked in here 3 times so far. Not once she tried to get on me, which is good. I feel a little bad for her. We just tell her that mom is really sick so she has to stay downstairs with daddy or Jessie.

This morning I feel mostly pressure. My back hurts some too, but I think it has to do with the position I'm in. I have a post-op appointment at 9. Let's see what she says...

I'm going in

2011-07-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

for surgery today. Cosmetic surgery that is. Something I obviously chose to do.

I have to be at the surgery center at 9:15 am. I am sure hoping it was 6 or 7 since I haven't had anything to eat or drink since midnight last night. I normally wake up very thirsty and somewhat hungry, and today it was no different. But I'll get over it.

I don't feel nervous or anxious or anything really. It all happened so fast that it still doesn't really seem real to me. I'm sure it will when I wake from surgery!

Maybe I'll write all about it recovery.

Signs of a good birthday party

2011-07-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

- Bypassing lines and walking right into the club;

- Private table and couches;

- Dancing on white couches shoeless;

- No tweets;

- No pictures;

- Getting hit on by a Brazilian;

- Getting hit on by a bouncer;

- Getting hit on by a waitress;

- Seeing your friend's crotch multiple times;

- Slapping a friend in the face for hurting another friend;

- Helping a friend in need in the bathroom;

- One of your friends getting kicked out for falling on table four times;

- 3 empty bottles of Belvedere;

- Walking back barefoot;

- Hamburger at 5 in the morning;

- Going to bed when the sun is out;

And the best part:

- Not being completely drunk and remembering it all!

I had an amazing birthday party :)

It's been a while. Again!

2011-07-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

I don't feel like I need to justify by absence since I don't think I have readers other than my friends who know what goes on in my life. So I'll just skip that.

It's 8:30. I'm sitting outside. The kids are sleeping inside. I do not have a monitor with me. I'm that kind of mom!

I have my laptop and a glass of white wine. My husband would probably ask if I didn't have enough to drink this week!

Some important things happened in the past couple months. My baby boy turned one. Where has time gone?

My parents came to visit us for two weeks that went by very fast. My mom was sick for 3 or 4 days right when they arrived and my dad was sick the last 3 or 4 days before they left. It was sad. But despite sickness we had a good time together.

This week, on Monday, we left for Vegas. Tuesday was my 30th birthday. I don't feel any older, but I am! Last year, around this time, I had set a goal to be in the best shape of my life by my 30th birthday. I am still not as in shape as I would like to be, but I'm wearing clothes size 6, which has never happened before in my adult life. And dare I say that the other day I tried pants size 4 by mistake and they fit!! They were just way too tight and would zip up! I laughed at myself. This lowest size ever has been achieved by an addiction: working out; more specifically, spin classes. Thanks Shonna and Andrea ;)

I have a fun post about Vegas for this weekend. You just wait! I had an incredible time there and I partied hard, in the sense that my feet still hurt from dancing for 5 hours 2 nights in a row!

Well, it's almost 9 and there's a bug in my wine. (I did not mean for that to rhyme!) So I'm going to bed.

2011-07-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

Oh my, this is one abandoned blog. I'm working on some posts. If anybody cares!

Tomorrow...

2011-05-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

... will be the last day for one week that I will wake up with a 2.5 year old on my face

... we will be heading out to a diving vacation

... hubby and I will be boarding an airplane to Bonaire

... I'll spend airport and airplane time reading a dive computer manual, and technical diving books

... start enjoying a week as a wife and a diver and not as a mom!

Today I...

2011-05-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

... slept in until 7:30 because my wonderful husband got up with Makenna at 6 in the morning (her regular wake up time)

... took the kids to the gym and in the rush of getting out of the house I apparently forgot to put Tyler's formula in the diaper bag because

... got called out of my cardio kickboxing class 15 minutes early because Tyler was cranky and there was no formula for him

... had a ridiculous happy baby on the way home from the gym

... came home and found out that I am so dumb and misunderstood a text message yesterday from my best friend, which left me feeling like the worse friend in the world

... made cookies for my friend (they are still in my house though)

... ate some cookie dough

... put Makenna in bed for her nap and got Tyler out of his

... started the dishwasher

... talked to my mom for a little bit

... printed and stuffed envelopes with invitations for my friend's baby shower and for Tyler's birthday

... did many loads of laundry (throughout the whole day)

... took Tyler up for his nap the same time Makenna woke up from hers

... vacuumed downstairs

... ate some cookie dough

... played outside with Makenna

... made baked ziti for dinner and fed the kids

... unloaded the dishwasher

... washed dishes that don't go in the dishwasher

... bathed both kids at the same time

... put Tyler to bed and sat down to write this silly blog post while Makenna watched one episode of Yo Gaba Gaba and ate apples before bed time

Where is my glass of wine?

Thursday afternoon

2011-05-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday hubby and I spent the day car shopping. By the end of the day I was looking forward to coming home and not look at another car ever again!

Makenna and Tyler had already had dinner when we got home and since the days are now longer and warmer, we went outside to play before bath and bed. The kids played with water and Chad and I sat down, enjoyed a glass of wine and watched the kids play together. What a great evening it was...

Wordless Wednesday: Laughing

2011-05-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

Playing outside

2011-04-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Makenna and I enjoyed the sun outside and I took some pictures of her.

screaming (which is only allowed outside)

trampoline hair

blowing bubbles

Glass half-full

2011-04-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

So it's been two months since the last blog post. A lot has been going on around here and I'm very busy. I'll tell you all about it on another posts. I wanted to return with a short story and an attitude adjustment lesson (for myself).

About 7 or 8 years ago Chad and I decided to take tennis lessons. I was/am terrible at it, but we thought maybe some lessons could help me. Maybe they would have helped, had I allowed them too. One day on our way home, Chad said our instructor said he thought he could not teach me anymore because I was too negative and never had anything nice or positive to say. Man, was that an eye opener for me...

Looking back I think after that I became a much more positive person. Chad now calls me somewhat of a dreamer because sometimes I try to see things in too much of a positive way. Like if I kept trying to convince him that we would win the lottery without ever playing!

Now, don't laugh at what's coming next. Today I was eating some Dove chocolate. You know, the individual ones that have a little positive messages inside the wrapping. Well, two of them really made me think (of course this happened when both kids were sleeping and that's why I was able to think). One of them was about looking at the glass as half-full. Of course I've heard/read this before. But I guess sometimes we are just in the right mood and we hear/read something that strikes us. That was it for me. I started thinking about my attitude lately, and let me tell you, it hasn't been a very good one.

I started emptying the dishwasher and think "I hate putting dishes away." And I caught myself. I decide to look at it as a glass half-full. And I thought "it's great that I get to put the dishes away by myself, without kids crying, screaming, tugging at my feet, or getting into trouble."

So there you go, that's my positive thought for the day. What's yours?

I ♥ San Francisco

2011-02-06T21:41:00.000-08:00

After the great time we had in Vegas, we invited my brother and Yaya (my sis-in-law) to stay another week if it was possible for them. Well, it was and they stayed. So we decided to go to San Francisco. When we were in Vegas we learned that they appreciate food like Chad and I do, so we thought it would be fun to go to the city and dine at our favorite Fleur de Lys.

We left Fresno Thursday, January 20th, after lunch. We arrived in San Fran around 4:45 and went straight to see the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was setting and the lighting on the bridge was absolutely fantastic. So we took some pictures.

After many pictures we checked in at the Clift Hotel, which had a purple elevator, purple hallways and a purple room (Yaya's heaven as she loves purple)! We relaxed for a bit trying to figure out where we could go after dinner for drinks and perhaps some dancing. While getting ready we spotted a perfectly round moon shining beautifully over Union Square.

We walked to Fleur de Lys, as it was only two blocks away from our hotel, and had a fantastic meal, as always. No food pictures this time though, we were just having a great time enjoying ourselves and the amazing food in front of us.

After dinner we checked out a little club and it looked really bad (older and very strange looking crowd) so we went back to the Clift as their Redwood Room (the bar by the lobby) becomes a lounge with a DJ at night. Well, the sound system wasn't good and neither were the drinks. We decided to leave when we realized that our table seemed to be the only one without an escort girl sitting at it. We checked out the other place again and it wasn't any better so we decided to just go back to our room to sleep. But first they boys went to a pizza place in the corner to get us some greasy pizza. Yes, we had greasy pizza after Fleur de Lys. There should be some sort of rule against that!

The next morning Bruno, Yaya and I went to walk around Union Square. We visited a few stores and they bought some souvenirs.
Chad met us for lunch at the Burger Bar (we love Chef Hubert Keller). We had amazing burgers of ridiculous sizes.

We then took a trolley to Pier 39 where we saw very little seals. If you have ever been there, you know this is nothing compared to how crowded those platforms normally are. I keep wondering if it means there's an earthquake coming...
Well, we walked around and visited a few stores at Pier 39 and took a cab back to Union Square. We walked around Macy's for a couple hours and left the city, which is always a bittersweet moment.

And that was our quick trip to San Fran.

Days 3 and 4 in Vegas

2011-02-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

On day 3, Thursday, we got up around 10, filled with energy, got some coffee and went to walk around and take pictures again. We went inside some hotels including the new Cosmopolitan, which was amazing inside. We also visited the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace.

We chose Mesa Grill for lunch. We started with the Rough Cut Tuna Nachos, which was amazing. Yaya had New Mexican Spiced Pork Tenderloin Sandwich, my brother had Wild Striped Bass, and Chad had Spicy Chicken with Sweet Potato Hash. They all loved their meals. I had Ancho Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon and I can say it was one of the best salmons I've ever eaten.

After lunch we walked around The Forum Shops and watched the fountain show. I bought a little something for Makenna. We started to head back to our hotel but first went through the stores at Planet Hollywood and stopped at the M&M's store. We used the rest of the afternoon to rest our feet and take a much needed nap.

At night, we headed to The Venetian for an Italian dinner B & B Ristorante. Again, we had an amazing meal, but I forgot to take pictures!

We had bought a Groupon for a party bus for Vegas. We met our party hostess and group at Stack at the Mirage, and after for drinks moved on to Jet, a nightclub also in The Mirage. After some partying over there we got in the party bus. The driver drove us around a few times so we could have some fun in the bus and dropped us off The Palms where our hostess got us in The PLayboy club and Moon. We had fun and it was a cool way to go to a few different places in one night. We do wish we could have just stayed at The Jet. Club wise, that was the best in our opinion. The trip inside the bus was also fun. I think that would be something really fun to do with a big group of friends.

Day 4 in Vegas started with this:
One day in the room, Chad was watching TV while I was getting ready for something. He saw the commercial for this breakfast place at the M. He sad the commercial looked good. So we got in a cab and 40 dollars later we were at the M! It's a new and beautiful hotel. The restaurant we went to is Hash House a go go. The food was great, but the portions were ridiculously big. We found out they have the same restaurant at the Imperial Palace, which was basically across the street from where we stayed!

After breakfast Chad played a little bit of craps (I'm yet to understand that game) and lost some money. When we were leaving the M we were able to get in the hotel shuttle so we didn't have to pay another hefty cab fair back to the strip. We dropped off by the outlets and my and Yaya had to take this picture. And I have to share!
Go ahead and laugh at me now!

We got a cab and went to the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. You know, the one that has the TV show. Hubby got a picture with Chumlee and was all excited about it. After that we went back to the New York, New York and rode the roller coaster. I had won about 10 dollars on video poker through out our stay and I lost it all on our last day. We ate a chili cheese dog and it was time to go to the airport and return to reality.

It was such a fun trip and I can't wait to go back in July for my 30th birthday!

Days one and two in Vegas

2011-01-31T16:43:00.000-08:00

I will attempt to catch up within the next few days.

January has been a busy a really fun month.

My parents left on the 10th and my brother and sis-in-law stayed an extra 2 weeks.

On the 11th we went to Las Vegas. After a quick flight and a really long check-in at the New York New York (Travelocity never sent our info to the hotel, so it took a some time to figure things out!), we got to our rooms and decided to get dressed and look for a place to party! After some pictures and some quick gambling, we ended up at Pure at Caesar's Palace. We had so much fun, left the club when they turned the lights on and kicked us out, and didn't get back to our rooms until 6 in the morning!

I got up around 10 on Wednesday morning and went walking around with my brother and sis-in-law while Chad slept in! After pizza for breakfast, coffee, and some walking around, we went back to the hotel to get Chad. We then headed to the Stratosphere to have lunch at the Top Of The World. The restaurant spins around and it does a whole revolution on 45 minutes (if I remember correctly). We all order cheeseburgers and had a beautiful view of the strip. However, we were all a little hungover from the previous night and all that spinning was not doing any of us any good. We ate our cheeseburgers, took come pictures and got out of there.

We went back to the hotel after lunch for a much needed nap.I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to do it all over again, I don't know about everybody else! We got ready and headed to the Venetian to watch The Blue Man Group. Chad had seen it before, but the rest of us hadn't. The show was so much fun. Those guys are so talented, it's incredible.

After the show we went to dinner. Chad and I are big fans of Hubert Keller. We have been to Fleur de Lys and the Burger Bar in San Francisco a few times and couldn't pass on the opportunity to taste Keller's amazing food and introduce it to my brother and sis-in-law. Needless to say it was amazing.

We thought we would want to go out again, but we were all still too tired from the previous night. So we walked around some and got a cab back to our hotel. We played poker (the machine kind) and I won about 20 bucks. We then decided to go to bed early and save our energy for the next night. It was 2 in the morning when we went to sleep!

Fun in the snow

2011-01-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to the snow for the first time this winter. My parents first time in the snow was two years ago when we took them to Yosemite. We didn't play though. Makenna was three months old and all bundled up. This time it was a different story.

I borrowed snow clothes for everybody and the plan was to play, play, play. And play, play play we did.

getting acquainted with the snow

she loved sledding

vó tried too and loved it

once she tried the snow, she didn't stop eating it!

with vô and vó

with tio Bruno and tia Yaya. it was their first time in the snow

Chad, vô, Makenna, vó and me

Tyler had his share of fun spending the day with Meemaw :)

Overdressed NYE

2011-01-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

I had one of the best New Year's Eve celebration this year. We had planned to have a party at a restaurant but after some problems with people saying "no, thank you", we cancelled it. We ended up having dinner a Trelio and then coming back home. We had a great time trying to make a drink, playing catchphrase and then Just Dance for the Wii.

We paused the count down to grab champagne glasses and pressed play to celebrate the the New Year with family and friends.

This is my family from Brazil. This is the first time in 8 years that we are all together for New Year's Eve.

It was an amazing night and we went to bed at 3:30 AM.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T16:54:00.000-08:00

Makenna and I got our first present on Christmas Eve.
His name is Saxum and he is a lap dog. We are in love with him already.

In the evening we went to my father-in-law's. I'm so glad my parents are with us this Christmas.
My darling daughter is at a "I'm not going to smile" phase.

She got a magna-doodle from grandpa and loves it.

It's Christmas morning. Don't smile or anything!

We opened our presents and saw what Santa left us in our stockings.

We then went to my mother-in-law's for breakfast and more presents in matching pajamas.

And we tried taking pictures of the cousins, but it was nearly impossible and this picture proves!

We came home for nap time and had dinner at our house at night.

It was a great Christmas :)

Baking report

2010-12-21T17:30:00.000-08:00

I started with the Martha Stewart's Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies because, I thought, one can't mess up that kind of cookie. So I made the dough, which tasted delicious by the way, scooped it in a baking sheet and put it in the fridge. That's what the recipe called for.

Then I made My Kitchen Cafe's Classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. The dough was really thick, but being the beginner baker that I am, I just went with it. I baked them for the suggested 10 minutes and they came out PERFECT. Oh my gosh. They taste amazing and they are beautiful.

An hour later I pulled the dough from the fridge and started baking. The recipe suggests 17 minutes. That would have been way too long. I baked them for 10 minutes and they came out perfect: crispy on the outside and chewey on the inside. Well, sort of inside. They are SO FLAT.

I was so disappointed on those cookies. They tasted good, but their appearance could have been so much better. I truly believe that if they were not refrigerated they would have been "fatter". Well, maybe next time.

Then I made the dough for My Kitchen Cafe's White Velvet Sugar Cookies. Oh my, that dough smelled and tastes AMAZING but it was really really soft. It went in the fridge for 2 hours and it came out hard as brick. I tried to roll it, but it was getting very soft, very fast. So I gave up on shapes, put the whole thing back in a bowl and just used a cookie spoon. They were almost melting in the oven and it looked like there was too much butter. I could not understand what was going on, so I went back to the recipe to check the amount of butter, which was correct, but realized I used only half the flour! BEGINNER BAKER. So I added some more flour to the dough that was left and then, they came out PERFECT. Oh my gosh they taste amazing and look great. I will be making this recipe again today so I can cut shapes in the dough.

I still need to make the peanut butter ones (I forgot to buy the peanut butter cups), and the chocolate thumbprint (which supposedly is only good for 3 days because of the ganache).

I'm baking tomorrow

2010-12-20T21:40:00.000-08:00

My parents are here. I'm so excited. They arrived yesterday and they are already spoiling my kids rotten! Which is great, since that's what grandparents are for.

I went to the gym this morning and left the kids with them. It seems like the kids kept them on their toes during the one hour I was gone!

Today we went to the mall (yes, we are crazy) and the grocery store. We bought so much stuff, we almost needed two cars. But this trip also included all the food for this week and Christmas dinner (if I didn't forget anything that is).

(I haven't taken my camera out yet. I'll try to remember to take some pictures tomorrow)

The plan for tomorrow is to go to spin in the morning then spend the rest of the day baking. I love baking but I can't do it on a "normal" day because I have no self-control and I know I would eat the whole ____ (whatever I bake) by myself!
Tomorrow I'll be baking cookies. Here's what I plan on making:

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie
Classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie
Chocolate Thumbprints
Pecan Bars
Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies
White Velvet Sugar Cookies(This is a maybe)

I think that's enough!

Do you go crazy baking around Christmas time?

Wordless Wednesday: cutie pie

2010-12-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

Sneak peak

2010-12-11T00:26:00.000-08:00

A sneak peak at our family photos.

We like the rain

2010-12-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while. It's tough being a mom of a toddler and an infant and finding time to keep up with a blog.

Anyways, when we were in Napa I bought matching rain jacket and shoes and a umbrella for Makenna. It's been raining lately and it's been cold so we haven't been using it as much as I thought we would. But one day we did go outside for about 15 minutes so she could wear her outfit (she was about it almost every day since I bought it) and I could take some pictures. So here you go!

That's all for today. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. I have some thing to write about breastfeeding and how we are at the end of it, but maybe another day...

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T07:00:00.001-08:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

You're welcome!

Gobble gobble

2010-11-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. I'm so excited we are hosting the festivities at our house. I'm going grocery shopping today after the gym.

We hosted last year but mostly because my mom was here from Brazil. You have to understand that my family gets so fascinated when they are here and they see something that is "just like in the movies". Because I'm a people pleaser, I wanted a very traditional Thanksgiving so it would be just like in the movies. I was going to make a turkey, but at the last minute, to ensure a good turkey, we ended up buying a turducken from Trelio. We had mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing, rolls, sweet potato casserole (from Ruth's Chris), pumpkin cheesecake (from Trelio) and I made a chocolate pecan pie. We had too much food and not enough mouths and stomachs to consume it all.

This year we are still going to a somewhat traditional approach with a few twists. Hubby and I don't like most Thanksgiving food (turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing and green bean casserole) so I'm still using the main ingredients, but in different recipes. I'm looking forward to all the cooking. But the bird is still not homemade. We are getting a turducken again, and I can't wait.

Here's what I'm making:

- Pumpkin soup (Trelio's chef recipe, I'll ask him if I can share. I hope I can come close to making it as delicious as his is)
- Scalloped potatoes with three cheese (I only use cheddar and parmesan as I don't like blue cheese)
- Green beans with bacon (this is a friend's recipe I'l have to make a post about it)
- Sweet potato casserole (instead of buying from Ruth's Chris like last year, I'm making it instead)
- Chocolate pecan pie (every Thanksgiving needs at least one pie!)
- Chocolate cheesecake (hubby makes the most amazing I-can-never-stop-eating frozen cheesecake)

And I'm asking my mother-in-law to bring homemade rolls because I'm afraid of making bread, dealing with yeast and the problem we had last year (rolls were dessert as it took forever for the dough to rise!)

That should be enough food for 9 adults and 3 kids (and 2 babies that really don't count) right?

I bought the little pumpkin but the big one was given to me as it's the "right" one to make the pumpkin soup

So what are you making for Thanksgiving?

Why use stairs?

2010-11-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

We were at the park and after going up once with help, she was going up by herself!

It looks like we have a rock climber in our hands.

Wordless Wednesday: where I want to be

2010-11-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

Napa day 3

2010-11-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

Our final day in Napa.

we started the day with a super gourmet breakfast

It was raining and cold, but that didn't stopped us. Our first winery was Nickel & Nickel. We walked into this old house and sat down in a living room decorated by a grandmother! What is particular about this winery is that they only do single vineyards wine. Meaning there are no blends. When one drinks a Chardonnay, it is only Chardonnay grapes from one vineyard. That's what we first tasted as we warmed up by the fire and waited for the rest of our party. We then went on a tour of the winery. The place was gorgeous with a farm feel to it.
After our tour we went to the tasting room and enjoyed eight Cabernet Sauvignons, all from different vineyards.

After Nickel & Nickel we headed next door to Opus One. They didn't really have a tasting. You paid for the glass of wine. So we tried 2005 and 2007 and shared glasses. After getting our wine we headed up to the terrace and enjoyed a very good and very overpriced wine with an amazing view.

We then headed to downtown St. Helena and had a really yummy cheeseburger at Taylor's Refresher (couldn't find a website for it). We walked around a little bit, went into a couple wine shops, a way-too-expensive-for-me shoe store, and a kid's store where I got Makenna some matching cute rain boots, a rain coat and umbrella (we're waiting for the rain so she can wear it and I can take pictures!)

After that we got back in the car and headed to Fresno. It was such a good weekend and it felt like it went by way too fast. I can't wait for our next adventure :)

Napa day 2

2010-11-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

Let me say that I have been working on this post since 1 pm. It's hard to get things like these done with a toddler around!

Anyways, back to the fun stuff: Napa day 2. We woke up around 8, got ready, had a ok breakfast at the restaurant at the hotel, got in our limo and headed to our first appointment:

Joseph Phelps. Upon arriving we realized this was already much different than the two wineries we went the previous day. There were a lot of people there. We walked in a room, payed for the tasting and were instructed to move to a terrace where there were stands with people pouring the wines. It was a lot less personal. The terrace was beautiful with an incredible view of some of their vineyards. Their wines were very good, but very overpriced compared to what we tasted the day before and the wines we ended up tasting the rest of the day.

After Joseph Phelps we headed to Alpha Omega. None of us had ever had their wines before so we were very curious. We got there and they were setting up the room for our tasting. Even thought this place was also pretty busy, it was a lot more personal because we were taken to a private room where Shana poured our wine. She also talked about the wine and answered our many questions.
this was the first place that had a different glass for each wine

we also did a barrel tasting
We were pleasantly surprised with Alpha Omega. Their wines were very good and very reasonably priced. Of course we all took a picture with the biggest bottle with could find!

After Alpha Omega we headed to Plumpjack. Here comes a bit of honesty. I don't love and appreciate wine as much as my husband and our friends do. By the time we got to Plumpjack I was kind of tired of hearing about the wine, the grape, the fermentation, the barrel and so on. I shopped inside the store a little bit, as they had some non wine related things and when I was done I headed outside to enjoy the great weather and beautiful scene.
The girls joined me soon and we spent some time chatting outside while the boys were purchasing wine and talking with the hostess about all things wine.

When we were done there, we headed to our last scheduled winery of the day: Paraduxx. I was so tired by now that I sort of hit a wall and felt like I wasn't there! The place was beautiful, but the wine was not. At all! Also, it was very impersonal. We payed for the tasting when we entered the place, took a table outside. Someone brought all of the wine at once with cards explaining what they were and he left. There was no one to talk to about the wine or to answer questions.
We were curious about some extravagant blending they are doing, but we were very disappointed by the service and the wine. This was a good place to hang out and take some pictures and that was about it.

We had a reservation for dinner, but it wasn't until 9. We snacked all day long but never stopped to have lunch. So when we were done at Paraduxx some of us were very hungry and not sure we would be able to wait until 9 for dinner. We had our driver take us to the hotel and he waited while we got ready for dinner. He dropped us of by Redd, the same place we had lunch the day before, and we were hoping to be able to get a table at the bar because they didn't have any tables in the dining room available. No such luck. So we walked around a little bit trying to figure out what to do. Soon the hostess came running after Chad and Erik saying she had a table for us. So we sat down and decided to go with their 5 course chef menu. They only do it if every one in the table agrees to it, which we all did, and there were 2 dishes for each course. So in reality we would get to taste 10 different meals.
For our first course I had Hamachi sashimi and Chad had Tuna tartare (so I ate half of mine and he ate half of his then we switched). For the second course I had scallops and mashed cauliflower and Chad had halibut and mussels. For our third course I had duck confit and Chad had pork belly. For our fourth course I had lamb bolognese with gnocchi and Chad had short rib with twice baked potatoes. The fifth course was dessert. I don't remember what it was, but it wasn't very good (to my poor dessert palate!). Dinner was absolutely fantastic. We had cocktails with dinner because we just felt so "wined-out" for the day.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and the Lunds and us tried to go to the hot tub. We could only stay there for about 10 minutes though because the security guard came to lock the pool area. So Vanessa and I went back to change and met the boys at the hotel bar. We sat outside smoking cigars and having a couple drinks. It was a very pleasant evening (in what we did, not in the weather! It was cold outside).

And then we went to sleep (almost my favorite part!!!)

Edited to add: totally forgot to mention that after smoking cigars and having a few drinks we ordered pizza and it was simply delicious (or we were really hungry)!

Napa day 1

2010-11-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went to Napa with the Lunds and the Stocks. It was such a great weekend and we had such a good time.
We left our house Friday morning before the sun was up. We picked up the Lunds around 7 and arrived in Napa at 11. The weather was absolutely perfect: 75 degrees, sunny, beautiful.

Our first appointment was at Keever. They are on the hills and the place is so beautiful. We started with a Sauvignon Blanc outside and moved in.
We next tasted their Cabernet Sauvignon and got a tour of where they sort and de-stem grapes and we could see the aluminum tanks where they first go in for fermentation. Then we moved on to their Syrah and got a tour of the cave where their barrels are.
We finished back inside with their Inspirado. All of their wines were so good.

We had time for lunch before our second appointment of the day, so we went to Redd.
I had prosciutto pizza, fontina, arugula and shaved parmesan
It was good, but not nearly as good as Chad's papardelle pasta with braised rabbit.

After lunch we went to Kapcsándy Family Winery. The owner, Lou, gave us a little tour of the place and then we sat around a table in a room where we tasted his wines. During the tasting we started talking and he open a few more wonderful bottles for us to try, including wines that are not available to the general public, because they are sold out even before they are bottled. The wines were absolutely incredible.

After Kapscándy we checked in at the Silverado Resort.
We stayed in a two bedroom condo with the Lunds and the Stocks were next door.
this was the view from our patio
I wish I could see that every morning upon waking up...

We relaxed for a little bit in our rooms, got ready and headed to Greystone for dinner. I ordered steak tartare, which was really good, and pork chop for my main dish that was alright. Chad felt like his meals were alright as well. But the boys ordered these two amazing wines. Well, I wouldn't know because I felt so done drinking wine for the day that I didn't even tried them. I do regret not trying them, but it's alright. They were talking about these wines for the entire weekend.
I was so tired that I felt like I was barely there during dinner. When we got back to the hotel I showered and passed out. And then came the best part for me: sleeping the entire night. It was... I don't know how to describe. But I remember waking up the next morning and thinking "hey, my dark circles are not that dark when I sleep!".

And now a bit of TMI breastfeeding related: I pumped every four hours through out the day. It was annoying but no big deal. And although I woke up at 2 and 4, I only looked at the clock and went back to sleep. So when I woke up the next morning I had double Ds!!!

Wordless Wednesday: those eyes

2010-11-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday was such a good day.

We skipped church because we had a little to much fun at friends' Halloween party Saturday night and didn't get home until 1 in the morning! So we just hung out on the couch until my friend Natalie took the kids to church and we got ready to leave.

We celebrated Halloween by going up to Westbrook Wine Farm with some friends. We love their wine so much and we love Ray and Tami (the wine making couple) even more. He took us through the vines telling the story of how he ended up in O'neils and how everything is done by hand. No machines there.

Since I still don't have my camera back, here are some iPhone pictures:

that's Ray

After that I was too busy tasting some awesome wine and hanging out with some great girl to take pictures!

Later that night, back at home, we dressed Makenna in the same outfit she wore last year (it still fits and she doesn't know any different, so don't judge me) and Tyler in a hand-me-down from his cousin.
the cutest lion out there

and my sweet ladybug

Makenna has spent the afternoon asking for candy. So I told her we were going to other people's house and ask for candy. And I asked her how she was going to ask, expecting she knew to say trick or treat. Her answer to me was "candy please." We thought that was awesome and since she's two she can get away with it.

We went to the first house and this is what happened:

I guess we forgot to mention she was supposed to stay outside the house!

We only went to six or eight houses and we were done (she wasn't, but we were!) She was completely satisfied with a pumpkin full of candy though. And she had such a great time giving out candy to the kids ringing our door bell.

And yeah, she had candy for dinner that night!

Pumpkin patch, take 2

2010-10-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

I had hoped I would have my "nice" camera back by now, but I don't. So we went to the pumpkin patch again to get pictures of the kids. We didn't go to the fancy one we went last time. They have all these cool rides and we knew we would never get out of there.
We just went to a little one close to our house thinking it would be safe! Not so much. But I did get a few pictures.

Makenna is in a very hard phase to take pictures. She doesn't want to smile to the camera. Stinker!

It seems like Tyler really wanted to try that pumpkin!

Hubby took this one while I was trying to get them set up for some pictures. Yeah, it didn't work so well!

So much for being safe with no rides!

They did have this one airplane ride that Makenna went on about 5 times!

???

Grandpa went with us

Wordless Wednesday: grocery shopping

2010-10-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

And catching some germs!

Shopping madness

2010-10-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday Chad sent me to Gilroy with my friends Natalie and Vanessa to go shopping at the Premium Outlets. I had a very generous budget and I stayed under it.

I'm so thankful for such a wonderful husband. He works so hard so we can have a very comfortable life. God could not have given me a better man.

It was raining, more like misting, the whole day which made our hairs crazy. But that did not stop us.

The girls and I had so much fun. We went to almost every store and found some really good deals. I, however, found the deal of the century: Calvin Klein skinny jeans for a penny. No, it wasn't a "spend this much money and get pants for a penny." The jeans were my only purchase. This is how it happened: I had tried 4 different skinny jeans in four different stores, all with no success. I almost didn't enter Calvin Klein and I almost didn't try them. But I thought "why not, and with my luck, these with a fat price tag will fit me." Sure enough, they were perfect. To be cliche, they fit like a glove! So I took them to the register and the guy scanned them a couple times, and 0.01 kept coming up. So he called the manager, after I attempted some sort of stupid joke like "I'll pay a penny for it if you let me!" The manager looked and said "these are the ones that were never put in inventory and were supposed to be pulled out. Give me a minute" and she went to the back. After a few minutes the cashier went after her, came back and said "well, you got them for a penny." I said, with the hugest smile my mouth could make "are you serious?" He said yeah, so I got a penny out of my wallet and paid for them. He added "they are non-refundable" and I laughed. I was so excited when I left the store I almost cried!

We left Fresno around 8, got To Gilroy around 11 and left around 6 pm, when the stores were closing!

P.S.: I stole these two picture from my friend Natalie!

Busy fun weekend

2010-10-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I enjoyed many activities this weekend without the kids.

We love our kids and we love doing things with them, but it was so nice to go out just the two of us and with our friends without having to chase one kid or nurse another.

Friday night we went to the Fresno Fair for date night. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't fantastic, it wasn't that much fun. But it was just the two of us and we loved that part of it.

We ate, ate and then ate some more. We also played some games and won a stuffed pig and a stuffed banana. We also bought a shower head!

On Saturday I took Makenna to my mother-in-law's and Jesse came over to stay with Tyler.

Hubby and I went to the Fresno State game. Great game. The dogs killed.

Sunday my awesome friend Natalie stayed in our house with Tyler. Chad and I went to San Francisco with our friends Mike and Michelle to watch the Raiders X 49ers game.

This required a bit more work. Since I'm nursing Tyler I had to take a breast pump with me. So that was fun!!!

Mike made some AMAZING burgers for tailgate.

It was cold and very wet. Thankfully it stopped raining during the game.

great seats. not so great game...

someone remind me to look at the camera next time!

P.S.: All iPhone pictures again.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Last night we took Makenna and Tyler to The Patch. We met Chad's sister and her kids and his mom and her husband there.

The kids had so much fun going on the different rides.

I took my old camera and took a few pictures.

Makenna loves her cousins. They were holding hands on this ride

I also went on this ride with her. It was bumpy, but she loved it

I tried, but she wasn't to excited about pictures!

We are hoping to get my good camera and lens back soon and going back for some pictures of Makenna and Tyler with the pumpkins.

Wordless Wednesday: Sibling love

2010-10-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

Chuck-E-Cheese

2010-10-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write another post about being a mom and feelings and all that soft heart stuff. But I didn't last night and now I don't have much time!

So let em show you some pictures I took with my phone of Makenna at Chuck-E-Cheese last Friday.

She L-O-V-E-S that place. And me, well, I'm her mother willing to give her a memorable childhood. Let's leave it at that!

She asks for that place by name on a daily basis.

Thankfully, this time, my friend Natalie went with us so I didn't have to ~~suffer~~ enjoy it alone.

And Tyler was just perfectly content sitting on his carseat the whole time.

We are going back next week with my mother-in-law and I'll try to remember to take my old camera since a little 2 year old dropped mine on the floor and now the lens attached to it won't work or come off!

Giving credit where it's due

2010-10-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

I totally forgot to talk about the awesome shirt Makenna wore on her birthday.

Shea Lieder with Stinkin Cute Designs made it for her. I absolutely love it.

Here's her Facebook page and her Etsy page.

I also plan on getting outfits for the kids for Thanksgiving and Christmas with her.

God and motherhood

2010-10-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Ever since Tyler was born. No. Ever since Makenna was born I have been struggling spiritually. I had a lot of guilt in my heart. For two different but related reasons.

The first one is that God is not my priority as He should be. There are so many days I forget He is there. I don't talk to Him. I don't think about Him. I don't talk about Him. I'm guilty because I know He should be my first priority in life. I know that if my relationship with Him is good, most likely, all the other areas in life will be good too. But I fail miserably. I'm too tired. I'm sleep deprived. I'm frustrated. When I have time for anything, I just want to do nothing or sleep. But it's rare to have much time for anything these days.

The second is doubt. I wasn't sure if I was a good mom. I wasn't sure if that's what I'm supposed to be doing or if I should go back to school and get a job outside of the home.

I hadn't share this with anybody until last night. So there was no reason for the words that came out of my husband's mouth and totally changed everything.

One day, he came down the stairs and said to me "I think God is more pleased with you teaching Makenna about how He made the moon than if you spent hours reading the Bible."

I still can't think about that without shedding tears. At that point my guilt went away. Well, not completely, but I felt so much better. I realized that I am spending time with God, even if it is through my children. I try my best to teach Makenna a little bit about God every day. In the smallest things and ways. She had been enchanted with the moon, so I told her that God made the moon so we could have light at night. And other little things like that. Things that she can understand in her mind. My hope is to plant the seeds for all the things that I want her to one day understand in her heart.

I decided to take charge of my self-doubts and truly believe in my heart that God wants me to be my children's mother and not anything else. So I am embracing that with a smile and with the best possible attitude. Even in the mornings that I don't want to get up because Tyler woke up 4 times at night to eat. Even in the moments that I just wish I could mute my life because Makenna is throwing a fit for no reason. Even the days that Tyler doesn't nap and just cries. Even the days that Makenna is testing all the limits and my patience.

God has blessed me with two perfect children. He gave the enormous responsibility of raising two little human beings. I don't take that lightly. I'm supposed to provide, teach, discipline, guide and love. I'm supposed to make them learn how to live, how to behave, how to accomplish things without doing it all for them. All while keeping up with the laundry, the dishes, the shoes, the toys, the mess...

I do believe that I have the best job in the world. I do believe that's what God wants me to be doing. I can't deny I wish I could quit some days. But I wouldn't want to do anything else. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but right here. I'm surrounded by love, by laughter, by smiles and by giggles. My children think I'm a superhero that can do anything. And I can, but only with the help of God. Only by his grace and mercy I stand where I am today. Only with his wisdom I can teach my children all they need to learn.

I want my children to have a memorable childhood. That is up to me and that's what I'm doing.

iPhone picture at the park yesterday

Wordless Wednesday: Breakfast

2010-10-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

I {heart} babywearing

2010-10-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

After I had Makenna I read about babywearing and it intrigued me. I bought a wrap at Target and after wearing her for the first time, I was hooked. Makenna wasn't a very easy baby but every time I had her in the wrap, nice and tight against my body, she was so calm and so happy.

when Makenna was 3 months old I traveled by plane and wore her most of the flights in a wrap

when she got a little older, I started using a pouch sling and wore her sitting on my hip

When she was 10 months old we traveled to Brazil, just the two of us, to visit my family. I wore her for the entire nine hours flight.

I stopped wearing her when my pregnant belly got too big to fit a sling around me.

When Tyler was born I had no doubts I was going to wear him. And probably more so than I did Makenna. So I invested on a ring sling.

I was right. I wear him all the time. For quick runs to the store or for long mornings at the park. I LOVE my ring sling. I wish I had one in every color of the rainbow to match different outfits!

he's about one month old here

Tyler doesn't like his carseat very much so wearing him solves a lot or problems. Including the one of not having to tire my arms holding him in places where strollers are not allowed.

When we were at PlayLand last month I wore him the whole time and was able to go on the rides with the kids.

here we were in line for the merry-go-around

I also feel like just holding him, specially standing up, puts him in such a vulnerable position. I never dropped any of my kids, but I can't deny I came close to a couple times. Probably times when I was trying to carry the baby and other things at the same time. When he inside my sling, he is safe. He cannot fall out. I cannot drop him. And I have my hands to carry things.

peacefully sleeping on mama (it happens almost every time I wear him)

I wrote all this and posted this pictures because a very sad thing is happening. The CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Comission) is going after all soft baby carriers (like ring slings, puch slings, mei tais, etc) because of the recent recall of the Infantino Sling Rider. This is a "bag sling" and, in my opinion, should not be in the same category as ring or pouch slings, wraps and mei tais. I believe it's called a bag sling because that's exactly what it looks like: like your baby is in a bag. One of the rules of babywearing is that you should be able to kiss your baby's head at any time. If you have ever seen anybody wearing a bag sling or pictures of the product, you can see that the person wearing that cannot kiss the baby's head without moving the bag up.

There are some very simple rules to follow when wearing a baby. Stephanie Precourt over at Adventures in Babywearing wrote about them on her post "You cannot recall my arms" (I love that title). I'm just gonna quote her:

- Your baby should be in a position similar to holding them in your arms
- You should be able to kiss the top of their head
- Your chest, back, or sling fabric should not obstruct baby's face
- Do not wear a carrier that is too tight or too loose, or not properly fastened
- Read and follow your carrier's instruction manual
- Be aware of baby's temperature; don't let them get too hot or too cold
- Do not perform any activities that you wouldn't normally do while holding your baby in your arms

Stephanie is also asking all of us babywearing mamas to unite and speak loudly. A call to action. We need to let all the moms know that wearing their baby is not only safe but so beneficial to both mom and baby.

For me, one of the best things about it, is the fact that I can be holding Tyler close to my body while having my hands free to also give Makenna all the love that she needs.

You can find more information on the Baby Carrier Industry Alliance Facebook page. They have an amazing position paper on babywearing with great information.

Horses, helicopters, trains and ladybugs: how to make a child happy

2010-10-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

After the Zoo last Saturday, we went to PlayLand.

Makenna absolutely LOVES PlayLand.

She asks for the rides by name.

Hosses

Ain

Babybug

This will probably become our Saturday tradition during the Fall: Tumble, Zoo, PlayLand, Nap.

Wagons, pennies, and hugs: we went to the zoo

2010-10-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, after Tumble, we went to the zoo. Meemaw met us there with Gabi and Camden, Makenna's favorite little people in the whole world.

We rented a wagon and Makenna kept demanding that either Gabi or Camden would sit with her. She was skipping watching the animals, which she loves, to just hang out in the wagon, which apparently she loves even more.

The kids were having a blast dropping pennies in this thing and watching them go around and around until they dropped at the bottom.

Before leaving the zoo, Makenna insisted on hugging the bench animals.

And don't forget the one on the bottom (I didn't even see that one until she went to hug it!)

We love the zoo. Makenna loves animals so much we say she will be vet when she grows up...

In case you missed it

2010-09-30T10:30:00.003-07:00

During my little temporary blog move I took some pictures of Tyler.

I love these photos.

He is my handsome little man.

I love this boy.

Wordless Wednesday: Nose

2010-09-29T10:30:00.001-07:00

Big girl

2010-09-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we had dinner with our friends and neighbors again.

Makenna asked to sit on a chair like us.

She also had a real fork.

Chad said "Mama wants you to grow up too fast"

But she's the one who's growing up too fast...

Home made from scratch

2010-09-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday night our friends and neighbors Luke and Sarah came over for dinner. I wanted brownies for dessert but didn't have a box of brownie mix nor a desire to go to the grocery store. So I Googled it with no success. Well, there were recipes. but nothing sounded too great. So I went to twitter and Facebook. Cindy suggested the recipe behind the can of cocoa powder.

I had all the ingredients minus one egg that Sarah brought over.

So I made it, and let me tell you those were the best brownies I've ever had. They were so rich and chocolaty, I was glad we were having ice cream with it to balance the richness.

And then I had it also for breakfast on Sunday, dessert on Sunday, snack on Sunday, and then they were all gone and I was sad!

Here's the recipe:

2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa
2/3 cup unsifted flower
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Using a spoon, stir eggs with sugar and vanilla; add butter. Sift Sweet Ground Chocolate with flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into egg mixture. Stir in chips. Spread onto a greased 8" or 9" square pan. Bake 20 - 30 minutes. Cut into squares.
Makes16 to 20 brownies.

But in my house it made only 9!

And I forgot to take pictures. I was too busy eating them!

We had a birthday party

2010-09-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

Makenna turned 2 on the 17th.

Around here we love parties. We specially love birthday parties.

So we had one.

Get ready for picture overload!

My 2 year old

Makenna and her cousins enjoying cake and ice cream

Hey, I'm in front of the camera. How did that happen?

She blew her candles all by herself

We had bounce houses to entertain the 25 kids that came. Yes, I said 25. Our friends like to procreate!

Hubby barbecued some yummy tritip

I'm coming back

2010-09-25T08:05:00.001-07:00

I'm coming back to this blog but with some changes. My mind is exploding with ideas. I can't wait to have time to sit down and execute them all. But now I need to get M out of bed and get her ready for Tumble and the zoo.

Even Better

2010-09-02T22:45:00.001-07:00

I am now at liegedavis.com

Wordless Wednesday - our trip to the zoo

2010-09-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, just a few words! Last Saturday we went took Makenna and Tyler to the zoo and we met my mother-in-law and our niece and nephew. After the zoo we went to PlayLand. The kids had SO MUCH FUN. My daughter is a daredevil!

A smile

2010-08-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

Because nobody deserves two negative posts in a row!

Tyler had his 2 months check up today.

He weighs 11 pounds 11 ounces
He is 23 and 3/4 inches long

The doctor said he has the head control of a 4 month old (he can push himself up when laying on his stomach).

He has a clogged tear duct. We are going to wait until he's four months old. If it hasn't cleared up by then he will be referred to a specialist to "unclog it".

He has pretty bad eczema like his sister. Actually, it think right now his is worse than hers.

He eats every 2 hours during the day and does one 4 hours stretch then two 3 hours stretch during the night. Sometimes he takes a good 4 hours nap in the afternoon, but normally I'm holding him and napping too. I'm breastfeeding and some days go better than others.

He is healthy and handsome!

This is me venting!

2010-08-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Last week was one of the worst weeks of my life.

Makenna, who always went to bed so easily, decided to throw a fit every time I took her upstairs for nap or bed time. Until Friday night she was in a crib. Normally I would just let her cry until she went to sleep, but when she was mad she could climb out of her crib. I was afraid she could fall on her head if I just left her in there. One afternoon she napped on the floor but woke up earlier than normal and just came out of her room. It was taking me anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes to get her to go sleep.

On Friday we solved the crib problem by buying her a whole new bedroom set with a big girl bed. That night it took me two hours to get her to stay in her bed and go to sleep. I left the rooms a couple times but she just came screaming after me as she can open doors. Eventually, after much rocking, laying with her, rubbing her face and so on. I still don't know how I convinced her to stay in bed but it was 10 when I left her room!

Saturday morning we went to the zoo (post coming about that) and that was the first tantrum-free morning all last week. And I'm not exaggerating when I write that! Well, she didn't really nap that day because we didn't leave the zoo till 2 pm. She slept in the car and at home Chad stayed in her bed with her for a good hour and she wasn't going to sleep. So we just let her get up.

Saturday afternoon I had the brilliant idea of putting a gate in front of her door. At night, after a few minutes of crying we watched her go climb up to her bed and go to sleep. Thanks God.

Since then she will cry for a few minutes and go to sleep!

Oh and I'm not even gonna go into how many times she threw fits. There's at least one in the morning and one in the afternoon everyday.

I think she's finally reacting to having to share me with Tyler. She loves him. She loves holding him and kissing him. But she hates having to share the attention and the love that used to be all hers. It's understandable but very difficult...

Sent from my iPhone

What we've been up to

2010-08-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I blogged. Let's just say life wit a newborn and a toddler is busy. There's not a lot of time to just sit and blog, and when there is, I'd rathe take a nap!

My mom came to visit and I'm very sad she's leaving on Wednesday. She's been so helpful with the kids, and she even started potty training Makenna!

But here are a few pictures of what we've been up to:

Lots of this

Some of this

Some of this

A few tries on this

Tyler has been doing lots of this

Makenna fell in love with this

And some sibling love

Despite being tired most of the time, I love my family and I love my life.

How it all happened

2010-07-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

Monday morning I woke up thinking to myself "that's it, I'm having this baby today!" So I looked at the weather forecast for the day: high of 109. So I thought I would get Makenna up a little early and take her for a walk because getting on the treadmill was the last thing I wanted to do.

We left the house around 8:30 and it was already 85 degrees. We went around the block once and towards the end, the last 10 minutes, I started to have some contractions. We came back home because it was way too hot outside. So I left Makenna downstairs with Chad and got on the treadmill. I was having contractions lasting about 30 seconds and about 2 minutes apart. I had to get off because I was having a "side pain," you know, that pain you feel when you walk or run!

So I got in the shower and by the time I was done things had slowed down a lot. So I grabbed Makenna and took her to Babies R Us for a few last minute things I needed and to the grocery store. I felt some contractions here and there while I was out. So we came back home, had lunch and put Makenna down for a nap. I got on the treadmill again and contractions were lasting up to 45 seconds coming every minute and a half. So I got off after 30 minutes and Chad said I should call my doctor.

I called Dr. M and she told me I could go to the hospital and they would most likely send me home after putting me on a monitor or I could come into the office and would check if I had made any progress from the previous week. I chose to go into her office. She checked me and said I was almost 3 cm dilated (better than the tight 2 from the previous week). She also "stir things up" in there a little. She told me she would say I was in labor and I could go to the hospital or go home and walk some more for a couple hours. In the car, on the way home, I started to already feel some stronger contractions. When we got home I told Chad I did not need to get on the treadmill because I was feeling them. So I put some laundry away and added some last minute things to my hospital bag and to the hospital we went.

We arrived at the hospital at 4:30. They hooked me up to monitors at the L&D triage. They also checked me and I was 4 cm dilated. I thought "hey we are making progress here." The nurse said, after a while, that my contractions were not looking very strong on the monitor. She called my doctor who said she would come over and break my water. So I got admitted and moved into a labor room.

Around 6 my doctor came in and broke my water. After that my contractions got much stronger. I couldn't talk through them anymore, I had to work really hard on breathing and relaxing my body through them. They were hurting a lot. So I asked for the epidural. I got it at 7. I felt 3 more contractions that hurt, 2 more that I only felt pressure and then, peace! No more pain.

Around 8 the nurse came in and asked me to turn on my side to see if we could get things moving (I was still at 4 cm dilated). Then an hour later she came in to start me on pitocin to make things go a little faster. She hooked me up to it and checked me. She kind of laughed a little and said "I knew this would happen." And I said "what? I'm still 4?" She said "no, 9!" So she went to call my doctor.

She arrived and I started pushing at 10:01. One contractions, counting to 10 three times and we could already see the head. Second contraction, three more times counting to 10, the head is almost out. Third contraction, started pushing and out the boy comes. It took 7 minutes. I couldn't believe. It took me almost 4 hours to get Makenna out. It was incredible!

I held him for a little bit, then the nurse took him and cleaned him up and took his measurements: 7 pounds 5 ounces (just like Makenna), 19.5 inches long.

He didn't have a name until Wednesday morning before I got discharged!

Here's a video Chad made.

Tyler Michael Davis

2010-07-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

He was born on June 28th, one week and 3 days early.

I'm working on a post with the birth story.

Baby update

2010-06-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

Everything looked fine in the ultrasound.

Now we just keep on waiting until he's ready to come out.

Patience, Liége, patience...

Pregnancy update

2010-06-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Last night Chad was backing up his iPhone because we are hoping to get new ones today. He came across a picture of me pregnant with Makenna 10 days before she was born. We were talking about how much bigger I was when I was pregnant with her. I joked "it's ok, cause I've been drinking a lot of caffeine so he'll probably be smaller than she was".

Also, I had a baby shower about a month ago and on Chad's birthday, last weekend, everybody was saying how I was still the same size! And how my sister-in-law, who's having a c-section a month after I'm due, is the same size if not bigger than me. I felt good about it then!

So today I had a doctor's appointment. She asked if I thought I was about the same size as when I was pregnant with Makenna and I said no, smaller and I told her about the picture Chad and I were looking at last night. She said she wanted me to have an ultrasound to check on his size. Sometimes the placenta stops doing its work and the baby stops growing and then he will be better off outside then inside. Plus, she said, if he stopped growing, there's no point in you waiting until you go into labor.

Now, I have to be honest. At the office, my first thought was "oh boy, she's going to induce me and I will finally have this baby". Which sounded fantastic since I'm so done being pregnant. But the more I thought about it, the worst my thoughts got. And now I have all kinds of worst case scenarios running though my head.

I'll stop now and I'll update again after I have the ultrasound. Here's a comparison picture. I took the 38 weeks one today. I do seem a tiny bigger, specially on my legs and butt!! Plus, some stretch marks decided to make an appearance!

Happy Belated Father's Day

2010-06-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

I just saw this video this morning in one of the blogs I read every day. And I love it :)

Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

37 weeks

2010-06-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well, almost. Tomorrow I'll be 37 weeks pregnant. The only thing I can think of is "can we get him out already?" I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday. The last time I asked my doctor about an induction she said something that led me to believe she would do it. Then I started to think about it and I'm not sure I want it. Yes, I'm uncomfortable, tired of not being able to sleep, sick of having to pee every 5 minutes, dealing with acid reflux, and so done being pregnant. I also can't wait to meet and hold this little guy. I'd love for my doctor to deliver him, but that's not a priority for me. I had Pitocin with Makenna, so technically I was induced with her (after my water broke and I had no contractions).

But here's the thing. When I was pregnant with Makenna, we were waiting to finalize the purchase of the house we live in now. Because of some circumstances, we were living in my mother-in-law's empty house (she had just moved into a new house). We were so anxious not because we would soon have a baby, but because we were not sure if we would have a house to bring the baby to. That house situation took so much away for us from the expectation of going into labor and having our first child. That's something we can never bring back. And even now, with this child, with a house, it's different. I'm afraid of not getting a chance to have that expectation, ever (because we're 99% sure this is our last baby). I don't think want to schedule his birthday. I don't know how I would decide on a date when I can't decide on a name (yes, the kid is still nameless).

I don't know what to do. I don't know if I should bring it up at my next appointment. I don't know if I should ask to be induced or just let things happen naturally. Hubby said he thinks I should wait and let things happen. He reminded me of how I made comments in the past ridiculing women for asking their doctors to induce them when it wasn't medically necessary. He did add that he understands he's not the one pregnant and dealing with all the stuff I'm dealing with. He is very kind and I know he will support whatever decision I make as long as our doctor agrees with!

I guess we'll see...

Tunnel

2010-06-12T10:35:00.001-07:00

I got Makenna a tunnel at Target the other day. She loved it. She kept going through it and giggling. She also asked me to go in it with her, which is physically impossible! She was also taking her blanket and books in it to just sit and read them in there. Good to know she's not claustrophobic!

Simply beautiful

2010-06-05T18:17:00.000-07:00