Let's talk babies

January 27, 2012

For the past year the husband and I have been talking babies. He wants more. So does our son. Our son says he wants 2, meaning twins I'm assuming?, a boy and a girl but he wants the boy to come out first. He even picked out names lol. So right now in my house there are 2 against one.

I can understand where our son is coming from. He's going on 6 and is the only child. He has a female cousin he hardly sees and a male cousin that lives across the country and they are both under the age of 2. He feels alone and wants siblings. I totally get it. Not to mention that he keeps getting older and it will only get harder between him and other siblings as they grow older since their age difference will be significant.

On my husband's side, he says he's ready to continue on with completing the family. We agreed on having a total of 3 children. And we wanted to have them all by age 30 leaving us with 5 years to carry and birth 2 more. His argument is that he wants a little girl and that our son is lonely. He is financially stable and has his career started which, with God's help, it should be improving with the coming years. We're confident.

As for me, I've given serious thought to the idea of getting pregnant again and every time school puts my plans on hold. Is already hard enough to juggle a home, husband, school, work, and a 5 year old let alone a newborn. However, recently I've been thinking about it more and more. If I wait until I finish school at 29 to have more kids our son will be 10 years old and I'm sure there will be other things preventing me from going on with it.

What I'm trying to say is that there is never a "right time" to have babies and you can never be too well prepare. Things happen and when they do they usually happen for the best. It also doesn't help that I work with newborn babies and I go through baby fever from time to time.

Now, this is only the first month of the year and every year I set goals or "resolutions" for the new year even before the year starts. This year for some reason I don't have any official ones. Maybe is because I cant set goals of my own anymore, I'm a married woman now :). We do know however that we want to pay some bills we have, fill up our savings a bit more, and start the house buying process by late spring/early summer. We hope it goes smooth for us and that we have our home by the end of the year but if it doesn't happen we won't be mad as long as we are in the process of it.

For the past year we've been using a natural method of birth control that doesn't require prescriptions, etc. and so far it has worked for us. Now we've decided to go for it. Yup you read right. We are going to make a baby. Holy mother I cannot believe I just wrote that!

After more thoughts on the subject and after my school frustration on this post we've decided to stop our natural method and let things happen as they should even more naturally. We are hoping to get pregnant in the spring that way we'll have 8ish months to find our home before the arrival of baby #2.

Will it work out like that? Who knows. Am I scare shit less at the outcome and worry on how it will be with 2 kids? Hell yea. Will we give it our all? You bet.

Note to self: be sure to eat up that sushi tonight and drink up those mojitos because come Monday it will only be water, gym, and prenatal vitamins. Yikes!

Happy Friday!

xo
Pamela

7 Months

January 25, 2012

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. -Simone Signoret


XO
Pamela

Is the simple things...

January 23, 2012



that matters.

Happy Monday!

xoxo
Pamela

Back to school

January 20, 2012

Tuesday of this week was the first day of classes for me. I was a bit excited to start but only because it means it'll be over soon. Really I promise. I feel like I've been in school forever.

I wasn't the perfect student in high school but I graduated with pleasant grades. And I always wanted to go to college to better myself and to make my parents proud but after getting pregnant at 18 everything got harder. I'm thankful that I was in a committed relationship and that my son's father was a good man and didn't leave me alone with a package. Not that my son is a package that's just a figure of speech.

After giving birth I decided to go back to school and work part time. I got certified as a medical secretary and I quickly landed a job at one of the biggest hospital in the area, which by the way is hard to get into for some reason.

15 months later I was set on becoming a Diagnostic Sonographer so I started the journey taking a late-start online class at a local community college on fall of '08. The following semester I took 2 classes and so on and so forth. Fall of '09 I found my true calling, to be a Registered Nurse. Lucky for me I had taken general classes that would transfer over to this degree without any issues. I just needed 5 sciences and a Math class. Perfect! And so that journey began.

2011 came along and applying to the 2 year nursing program wasn't guaranteeing me a spot for spring of 2012 due to the amount of nursing student that apply and to the fact that only 30 or less get accepted. I got ambitious and decided to transfer over to a university to obtain my BSN. Of course that meant I had more general classes to take but with my sciences out of the way it was going to be a breeze. The thing was that I wouldn't start nursing clinical until fall of 2013. Omg Seriously! And that's not even the worse part. The worse part is that I won't be graduating until 2016. Can you feel my frustration? That means it will take me 8 years to complete my BSN to work as a Nurse in a hospital or anywhere. It also means I'll have to put my life on hold until I'm 29 years old. That's not even fair. I'm so stress and unmotivated right now. Do you blame me?

Many times I've decided to go back to my first choice, sonography, but that's not my true calling. I really want to be a nurse and help patients get better and provide good care for them but will all of this be worth it? I've heard mixed feelings from every nurse I've ask. Some hate their jobs and do not recommend it while others love it so much they say go for it. So what do I do?

Well I've decided to stick it out. Is not like I hate my current job. The pay is ok. The benefits are great and the hubby's income is perfect to support us even if I had to stop working for a few years to finish my education which at this point it doesn't really make a difference because no matter what school I go to it will take 3 years to finish my degree whether I'm working or not.

Ok so this turned into a vent instead of just telling you how my first week of classes was. Sorry.

This semester I'm taking 4 classes. 2 online and 2 on campus because I plan on talking the summer off for some adventures and projects we have planned. Plus it seems that it will all work out fine for us. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and I can totally see the benefits behind this. And so what if I graduate at age 29 that's still young. There are people that don't start college until 30+ and they're ok. Of course their reasons might vary but 30 is still young in my eyes. And most importantly I am not settling, I'm going to climb till I've reached the mountain top :) plus this will be a perfect example for my younger sisters and our kids.

Anything is possible even if it takes it a little longer. Never give up on your dreams. Don't settle if you know you are capable of archiving more. And most importantly always have faith and never lose hope.

Good Night.

Pamela

Check us out!!!

January 13, 2012

We've been featured on Destination Inspiration! This is such a happy moment for us, especially me.

After 2+ years of planning our dream wedding, all the stressful days, long sleepless night working on DIY projects, meeting wonderful people, and finally seeing our hard work pay off and develop into a true dream wedding I couldn't ask for any thing else. Now to be featured to inspire other brides and grooms on their destination wedding is an honor :)

Today, Friday the 13th has proven to be a very lucky day for me and my family. So many wonderful things has happened since January 1st that for me, is hard to believe that we're still only in January. I have big hopes as the year moves forward and right now my life is right where i want it to be. Thank you lord!

Happy Friday!

Reminiscing is good for the soul

January 10, 2012

Or at least in my opinion it is.

A couple of weeks ago a friend posted a link of a list of "40 things that will makes you feel old" that was circulating the web. I meant to post it here right that same day but it didn't happen. Coming across it again on some blogs that I follow I decided to post it. After all maybe in another 10 years or so another list will be made and we can use this one to compare the changes right?

When was the last time you saw a floppy disk? I didn't get this one at first and after I did I couldn't stop laughing for not realizing it the first time around. Or when was the last time you saw a movie on VCR? My goddaughter actually has the Disney Movies Collection in tapes.

The ages of the Back Street Boys and Spice Girls. WOW... how crazy lol. I remember knowing every one of their songs. It's pretty cool to know the Ruggrats were the same age as me back then and now. I used to love that show. How about Boy Meets World? That was definitely my all time favorite show. I loved Topanga's hair and did you know that they still give episodes on ABC family? I saw it the other day as I browsed through the channels and I had to stop and watch it lol.

Ooh the days of dancing to Sisco's songs with my friends at home... hahaha priceless!

I definitively had a laugh with the things on this list. And a reality check with my age and the age of the Pepsi girl and Macaulay Culkin, Clarissa. OMG. lol.

What crossed your mind after seeing this list? What do you remember the most? The least?

Feliz Dia de los Reyes!

January 6, 2012

Today in many parts of the world different cultures celebrate what is known as "Los Reyes Mago" (The 3 Kings).

I remember being little and living in the Dominican Republic where my mother and father would have my brother and I put grass and water under our beds the night of January 5th for the 3 kings and their camels. On the morning of January 6th we would wake up to find the grass and water gone and gifts under our beds. I loved this tradition but unfortunately after relocating to the states my mother didn't keep up with it.

For several years now I've been trying to turn it into my own family tradition and every year I fail because I forget. This morning I remembered, too late to put grass under the bed of course, but I remembered and memories of my childhood came to mind.

After running some errands I went to bed. When I awoke I had the best gift I've ever received on the 3 Kings Day. A message from our fabulous wedding photographer, Julia Azcona, telling me that she had submitted our wedding to Destination Inspiration and that it was approved. We will be featured next week!

I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought that I was still deep asleep. I rubbed my eyes and noticed Steven walk in the room and come over and kiss me. When I realized I wasn't dreaming I checked the message again and shared the news with my husband.

This was awesome! The year has started off really good for me and to have received this amazing news today makes it even better. I felt like a child waking up on 3 Kings Day and finding gifts under the bed. I want for my son to have the same feeling as I did as a child myself and today so next year I will not forget to put water and grass under his bed and start off this tradition. I will also be educating him on the real meaning of the day and how the 3 Kings are involved in the birth of baby Jesus.

Did your family follow this tradition? What other traditions do you have?

Happy 3 Kings Day!

Green, Green, Green...

Purple, Purple, Purple. There's a story behind these colors.

Most days I leave work drained. Especially after working 3 days in a row all consisting of 12 hours overnight shifts. And when over 20 babies decide to be born those days and give me a work for my money, well those days I get home exhausted!

Some days however I leave work with my son in mind. Anticipating the look on his face when I tell him I'll be taking him to school. That face makes staying up a few extra hours so worth it. On my exhausted days I usually get home and prepare him for school then my friend picks him up and feeds him breakfast at her house as she gets her daughter ready and fed. I usually pick him and my friend's daughter up when school's out or his father does when he gets out of work early giving me an extra hour of sleep. I love him! Them!

As I get him ready for school we talk about what he did the night before after I left for work. We play easy, quick, fun games. We make breakfast together. And not often but on occasion he cries because he doesn't want to go to school. He buries his head on my lap and tells me that "school is boring, his teacher is boring, and his friends are boring" and that he missed me and he wants to stay home with me. On those days we talk about the importance of school. He always talks about how he wants to be a doctor so I use that on my talks to him. I ask him how does he expect to became a doctor if he doesn't go to school and learn. Our conversations can go for hours if I let him lol but at the end he always ends up in a happy mood and ready to learn in school.

So why the color title of this post do you ask?

Well. His teacher gives the students a color and marks it on their take home folder at the end of every day so that we may know how their day was. He often writes small comments as well. There are 4 colors. Red, Yellow, Green, and Purple. Red being a really bad day, misbehaving, and purple being a very good day, an overachiever. Every day after school he'll come home and tell us the color he got but only if it was a good color. If the color is red or yellow he won't say anything until we ask him. Then we go on to talk about why he got those colors and what he would of done differently to get a better color.

Several weeks ago I dropped him off at school and as he was walking through the door I noticed he had a sad face on so I yelled "Green, Green, Green!" to cheer him up not expecting for him to turn around with a lit up face and yell back "Purple, Purple,Purple!". My heart was filled with so much happiness I can't even begin to explain it. I smiled the entire way home replaying that small scenario over and over in my head and remembering the teachers' smiles that were standing outside letting the kids in. Knowing that my son won't settle for just good but to overachieve reassures me that I've been doing a pretty good job as a parent these last 5 and 1/2 years. That right there makes me a proud mommy.

Ever since then every morning that I take him to school I say green green green as he walk through the doors and he may or may not turn around but he'll say purple purple purple right back. Today was my 4th day in a row working but as I think of my 3 day weekend ahead I also look forward on taking my baby boy to school this morning.

Good Friday morning y'all!

Healthy Living

January 5, 2012

Every year or rather every month I decide that I want to get into a exercise routine. I start it off good with running in the treadmill or my favorite video of Jillian Michaels. Come day 4 I take a break which usually lasts weeks. I can't help it. I hate exercising! Well not so much that I hate it more like I dislike waking up early to do it or doing it after I get out of a 12hr work day. Some might call it lazy but I call it unmotivated.

I'm happy with my weight and body shape that's not an issue. My thing is that I want to start living a healthier lifestyle by eating healthier and exercising regularly. Having a more defined body is another plus ;). A couple of hours a week of some form of exercise is very important for your long term health.

I hear it takes about 21 days to form a habit. So if I can just make it 21 days of exercising I'm sure I'll keep at it and after seeing the changes, slowly but surely occurring, I'm positive that my motivation will increase. Don't you think?

Yesterday, on Pinterest, I saw a picture (posted below) a friend posted and I decided that today was going to be the day I started being compliant with my goals of living a healthier lifestyle. My plan is to start easy and slow. As the weeks go by I will add other types of exercise or increase times and/or reps.

Today is Day 1 of Week 1 and this is what I did.


It was a bit of a challenge with the amount of crunches and squats but I did it without giving up. Yaayyy Me! :) For the crunches I did 5 different types which concentrated on different parts of the abdomen. For the leg lifts I did 3 different types of leg lifts.

I felt beat afterwards because I haven't exercised in like 2-3 months. I plan on continuing this for 7 days straight and adding another type of workout to this routine or just increasing the running time. I'm crossing my fingers that I keep up with it and to make it a bit more enthusiastic for me I plan on blogging about my improvements and achievements for the week every week. I haven't decided on a day yet. Also I might decide to work out 6/7 days a week giving myself a freebie day to just chill and relax.

Of course that my eating habits will change as well. Not that I have bad eating habits but this year is a time of changes, good changes remember :). More on this next week. I need a plan for this side of things lol.

Ok. Here goes everything! Wish me luck :)

Welcoming 2012

January 2, 2012


The last week of 2011 was Awesome!!!

Sister-in-law was in town with the family and we just had an amazing time from eating at different restaurants to visiting different lounges at night. It was great! We haven't been out in awhile and spending this alone time together and with another mature couple was even better.

New Years Eve was went things started going downhill. First our place filled with sewage water. Eeww... so we had to change our reservations at the Hibachi Restaurant. Then DH was not happy with his outfit. We ended up arriving 45 minutes late for our reservation and when we got there the place was so overcroweded it was ridiculous! Lucky for us we want to sit at a private table not the Hibachi so we didn't wait long. Afterwards I got upset with everyone at the table because it was like they were ignoring me. I was being excluded from every conversation. I felt it coming more from SIL. For some reason every time she's around her younger brother, who's 21, they both start acting weird with me. Like if they are annoyed by my presence for whatever reason.

After dinner I didn't even feel like going out anymore. We had plans to go to Melt, a very nice lounge, and have a few drinks and a good time while we waited for the new year to arrive. I couldn't take their rudeness anymore and I got up heading to the restroom only to find everyone mad when i returned and SIL with an attitude because I had a "stank face" like she called it. Well no f'ing shit! How would you feel if you were ignored all night. Needless to say that we decided to go home instead of Melt.

When we get outside we find we have a flat tire. Seriously???!!

We try to make it to the nearest gas station but we failed. We didn't make it far at all so we pulled in to a parking lot. The guys had to change the tire 1 hour before midnight, in the dark, in the cold, and to top it off in their dressy attire lol. As I stood there watching them and freezing my ass I couldn't help but to laugh at the situation we found ourselves in just minutes before welcoming 2012. Right there in that very corner against that long wall I just laughed out loud to myself and accepted reality with a smile on my face and of course a couple pictures lol.






We then headed home and everyone went their own way.

DH and I just relaxed in our room watching a movie while waiting for our son to get home from church. He spent new years with his grandmother at church.

That's how my year ended. Totally different from what what we had planed but I just loved my attitude about it and that's how I knew 2012 was a year of changes for me. Good changes.

I hope you all had a better end of year then I did and let's all welcome 2012 with a big smile on our faces and a great attitude about any situation you might have found yourself in.


Happy 2012!!!