Adrian 9 Months

Sweet Adrian. 

As I sit here with you on my lap trying to fed I realize that its been nine months since your birth already. How big you've gotten my boy. I am so proud to have made it this far with breastfeeding. As you reach up and rub the side of my cheek. Then pinch my lips while you stare into my eyes probably wondering if this time too I will push your tiny hands down and tell you "not nice AJ" I see no better time to write your nine month post. 

My boy. You are growing into this amazing little boy. Full of energy and with your daddy's temperament. Wanting to explore everything and everyone you come in contact with. Screaming your little heart out. There's no doubt you love the sound of your voice. I am head over heels in love with you. Loving you infinity times infinity seems too short. I never thought it was possible to love more then one person this way. You and your brother mean the world to me. You two are my pride. My motivation. My reason for living. I can't ever imagine my life without neither of you in it. This love is different then the one I feel for your father. This is what a mothers love is. What it feels like. To care for you day in and day out without ever wondering when will it be over. To worry about you even after you're all grown up and with your own families. To think about you twenty four hours a day seven days a week. To wonder if you are ok when we are apart. To miss you with every single cell in my body. To love you endlessly with no ifs or buts. This is what I enjoy most about motherhood. 

We've had quite an exciting month again. You have finally started to crawl. The traditional way :) although you still like to do your army crawl. It gets you places faster I guess. You had your first trip out of the country and got to ride on an airplane for the first time. You also touched sand (and ate it) and went in the ocean. The Caribbean. More family got the chance to meet you and of course they loved you instantly. It's inevitable, what can I say. You're just that baby. I'm sure you won't remember them and they joked that next time they see you you'll probably be as big as your brother since we don't travel to visit them that often. 

You loved the ocean. I thought you would cry at the cold and salty water but it didn't cross my mind that we were in a tropical island so the water is not cold at all. You didn't like the taste of it yet you didn't let it ruin your fun. And fun did you have. Especially with the sand. My little sand eater. It would only take a blink for you to try and stuff your mouth with it. Kinda gross if you ask me but whatever.

You tried more "real" food this month too. I could have sworn you gained like 3+ pounds but when we got home your grandma and auntie said they found you skinnier. I honestly don't know if you did lose some weight but at your nine months check up you were 16 lbs 7oz and 27 inches long. Still small compare to others your age yet growing alongside the curve line since your birth. Doctor doesn't seem to be concern so I guess neither should I. 

You are such a peanut. You are still wearing 6-9 months old clothes. I mean the pants fit you small but the onesies fit you big. What's up with that? You're doing some things later then your brother did. Like crawling and teething. No teeth just yet however they will be here any day. I've noticed you have two lumps on the bottom gum, you drool like there's no tomorrow, and you are so uncomfortable. You bite anything that comes your way. My poor baby. Hopefully phase one will be over soon. 

My sweet AJ. You are such a happy and lovable baby. I'm so glad to have you as my son. I look forward to the months and years to come. To teach you and watch you grow. To see you and your brother play and even fight. But what I look forward most is to hear you first real words. To know your voice and what it'll sound like. You babble a lot and say a few common words like dadda mama nana baba papa titi (that's a hard one I think) but I'm not sure if you really know the meaning of them. Of course you know I'm mama and daddy is daddy but do you really now the connection between the words and us? Who knows I'm just glad you are so vocal.

Some other things you do is clap you hands, give high fives when said in Spanish (chocala), throw kisses and wave goodbye. You can also feed your self and have been drinking from a zippy cup since 5-6 months. You've been pulling yourself up since 7 months and now are starting to stand without support for a few seconds at a time. You move front and back on your walker. I'm sure there are many more things you can do and I don't remember right now. 

Our routine has been like out the window lately. With vacation here and working there I feel like we're never home. You've been sleeping in bed with daddy and me lately too. I think is time for a bigger bed. You still wake up once through the night but are sleeping long stretches. Normally 8 hours stretch at a time then to about 6-8a. I guess you're still living in PR schedule. You are taking 2 naps during the day anywhere between 1.5-3 hours at a time.

We are so excited to start planning your birthday. I can't believe that time is here already. Yet, at the same time I do. 

Happy 9 months baby boy. It's been a real treat having you around :) 

Love,

Mommy

52 WOBWAP: A Letter To The Newlyweds

Over the past year or so I've written posts that can go on to relate to a newlywed letter such as what this topic should be like. I encourage to look through them. So today's topic will be a short one. 

Marriage is hard. I'm sure you've heard that many times. But have you also heard that is totally worth it if done for the right reasons. What's better out there then to grow old with someone no other than your best friend. The person you confide in for everything. The person that can make a bad day go away just like that. A person that inspires you to be you. To be better. To want more. The person that even with time can still bring that butterfly feeling. 

I don't know about you but what I look forward to most in my marriage is the after. You know. After kids. After home buying. After getting to know each other. Like really getting to know each other. The after adapting. I'm assuming in the 40s. When we can look back and say "wow remember this" or "can you believe that". I look forward to seeing how much we grow in our marriage and as individuals. 

Marriage is work. You'll be a fool to believe that once you found love it will always be around. No, sorry lovey. You must work to maintain that love. So that it doesn't get bored or tired or just disappear. Because it can happen if you take it for granted. 

So the advice that I can give you from my short journey into this is to be honest with each other. To communicate. That's a big one. Communication is vital in a marriage. To never stop showing affection. Take every change you get to let your spouse know just how much you love them. How much you appreciate them. How happy you are that he chose you! Chose you battles wisely. Is it really worth it to fight about it? Will you even remember it later on? I know sometimes in our house, after an argument I can't even remember why I'm mad. Take time to cool down if the heat rises. If you don't hurtful things will be said and later you'll regret it. 

Most importantly remember you made a commitment. For better or worse. Till death do you part. Take pride in your vows and don't give up on the journey when times get rough. 

I'm by no means an expert on marriage. These are just the things that I've found works for us. And if it can help others I'm more then willing to share. 

Overall, have FUN! Make every moment count. And never ever forget how and why you are where you are today. Congratulations! 

Life Lately

So I've been slacking lately. Well, more like busy. Tired. Overwhelmed. 

After we got back from our trip I've been trying to keep up with laundry. Our washer is being funky and  is not draining our clothes completely so then when it stops everything is still soaked and I end up doing it by hand. Do you know how hard it is to wring clothes, specifically towels? What an arm workout that it. And as if that doesn't such enough our drier gave up on us thanks to my sister for over stuffing it one day. So then I wash clothes at home and dry either at my moms or MIL. Then to bring everything back home. This just makes me hate laundry day even more. 

Last weekend we had an eventful one. We had birthday parties to attend and we went apple picking and to the pumping patch.

This one had a great time picking the apples off of the tree.

While this one had a great time eating the apples with daddy that his brother picked.

 

Then we headed for Halloweekend at Dorney Park for the day where they had a petting zoo and the Lama robbed Steven hahaha.

Steven jr and I started fall decorating around the house. Now that our vacation is over I'm ready to let go of summer and welcome the Fall/Holidays

 

I had a girls night with my right hand Chica. I had all the fun and she got stuck taking care of me jejeje. Haven't done that in awhile. I couldn't stop giggling all night. And I only had 2 Cosmos. #Rookie

We're getting new furniture and appliances. Yayyy! Is been a long time waiting and a much needed upgrade. 

My little man got his bottom two teeth. Finally! More in that on his 10th month post. 

I haven't even posted his 9th month post yet. Oh dear. 

I'm loaded with tomatoes. I have so many that I don't even know what to do with them. I keep giving them away and more keep showing. What's going on? Is this suppose to happen? Oh you didn't know I started a small garden in my backyard this past Spring? I guess this just mean I'll have to blog about it then ;) 

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Remember my post with financial advice for the newly engaged? Well late last month, while we were on vacation, the article was released. Great great great information. I wish I would have found something like this when I was planning our wedding. It would of had prevented many headaches. If not for me for my brother and I'm glad all the people who participated were able to share their advice for the new generation of wedding planning. 

If you're newly engaged and planing a wedding, know someone who's planning a wedding and would benefit from these tips, simple just want to gain some information for the future I say go check it out and bookmark it. 

Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

The easiest recipe I own. Not Only that but it is healthy and in my case it helps with lactation. 

Oats is said to be a milk enhancer. And I can vouch for that. Ever since my supply issues back as early as 8 weeks postpartum I've been including quick oats in my everyday diet. Whether is your traditional oatmeal sprinkled with some brown sugar, apple muffins, cookies, or my favorite, a smoothie. 

If it'll help me achieve my goal of breastfeeding to at least a year, I'm in.

 I've seen a difference in my supply in as early as two days. Not only in quantity but quality as well. I mean you can just tell the milk is richer. It has better color and is creamier. Not as liquid as some of my expressed milk when I stop eating oats for a few days. 

I looked and looked for a recipe that would be quick, easy, and tasty. I found a few but eventually I made it my own. Because like I said, I wanted something quick, easy, and tasty. 

 

All you'll need is:

-1 Banana 

-1/2 a 12oz evaporated milk (or I use a use a 5oz can my mom gets for me)

-1/4 Quick Oats

-4-5 Ice cubes 

Combine all ingredients in a blender or bullet (I use the bullet) and mix away. 

End result is this simply yummy drink. No sugar added or extra ingredients. It taste delicious this way and you're not adding any unnecessary calories. I can whip this up in less then five minutes either for breakfast, lunch, or dessert.

52 WOBWAP: My strength & weakness in my marriage

I think we can all agree in the simple fact that not all marriages are perfect. No? 

Some are definitely better then others but we all share our fair amount of strengths and weaknesses within our marriage. Generally we have an idea of what a marriage should be like, consist of, and so forth but like I've said before marriage is a journey not a destination. Is a journey where we grow wiser, mature more, become accustomed even more to the person we decided to grow old with, and even at times show our true colors. You know, the ones we hide in the dating stage. Come on you know you have them. I sure know I do. And that's nothing to be ashame of. 

I know I am not the easiest person to deal with. I'm Hispanic, Hello ;) 

Seriously though. I have my fair share of "not so appealing qualities" that I'm sure my husband does not like, but deals with. And vice versa. Regardless of it all, I signed up for this marriage gig and promised that it was going to be a forever and ever type thing. Through the ups and the down. The happy moments and arguments. I rejoice in the fact that my marriage is not perfect. Want to know why? Because it just shows me that that although we may seem like this perfectly happy couple that has it all together, we have our moments of frustrations and I know for a fact that we are not the one ones. Is just that some people know how to paint prettier pictures then others. And that's ok too because one thing I learned even before marriage is that marital issues happening at home should stay right there. At home. Behind close doors. No one needs to know about them because they don't usually last long. 

I would say one of my biggest weaknesses would be the insecurities I gained from past relationships. But my biggest strength has got to be my Faith. I believe that everything happens for a reason and my past is only making me a wiser person and better wife. I choose to learn from my past mistakes instead of letting it dictate my future. 

I learn and grow a little bit more with each passing day. And each day I thank God for blessing me with the husband I have and our two healthy boys. I pray so that I continue to be the wife and mother that he intended me to be. I keep my mind full of positivity. Most importantly, I don't let other marriages fool me and you shouldn't either. We only show and share what we want others to know. Not a little less or a little more. And mostly always we want to show the good and happy part of our marriages. And in my opinion, that's the way it should be. We married our spouse and our spouse only not our spouse and the community. 

52 WOBWAP: Random facts about my Hubby

For some odd reason I thought this was going to be hard to come up with. Random facts? Where do I even begin. I started to jot down little things about the hubby and before I knew it I had cover 15 random facts about him. Now these may not all be random but one thing I've realized is that if I was verbally describing my hubby you would think I'm nuts because I'd probably do one heck of a bad job and create a complete opposite image of who is is/looks like. 

So who is my hubby? 

He is obsessed with the gym. He works out daily. Even on Saturdays. Even when he's sick. Obsession right?

He watches nothing but Discovery, History, Animal Planet, Travel Chanel, National Geographic, ID, A&E, and like 2 more I'm forgetting.

 He's a bit on the old fashion side. He's all about providing and for me to maintain the house up to part.

He loves loves loves peanut butter and jelly cookies. They don't last a day when I make them.

The top half of his body is covered in tattoos. Well about 75% of it. including his whole back.

 Since we've been together he has fractured or broken a bone every 2-3 years faithfully. One of those times he fractured his knees playing football hours before our first son christening.

 He was voted most flirt during senior year for the yearbook. 

He's a better cook than me. Literally. His after high school plan was to become a chef. And while in high school he worked in several restaurants in the kitchen.

His closet space is twice as big as mine. For the simple reason that he has more than twice the amount of clothes then I.

 He owns over 50 pairs of shoes. #truestory

Boy can he talk your ear off. Sometimes he just doesn't know when to stop. And he doesn't admit it. 

 He rather pay someone to fix something around the house then doing it himself. My husband is not handy at all.

He hates taking picture. I get a lecture without fail before every outing.

 He was suppose to be a twin but twin A died in womb. ( I secretary pray to be blessed with twins next time around)

He has the longest and curliest lashes I've ever seen. 

I'm sure I can keep going but this should be enough for now. 

DIY: Pregnant Skeleton/Halloween 2012

Every year for Halloween we get invited to a few parties. So we prepare early when it comes to our outfits. This Halloween however we didn't know of anyone having a party. And being that our son don't like to go out treat-or-treating and that I was pregnant we kind of brushed it off altogether.

The week of October 22 we get a Facebook invite from one of my hubby's cousin saying she's throwing a Halloween party. I was excited but that meant we had some last minute shopping to do. Usually this part is easy. Just go to the store see what you like/what's available and voila. But this year there was a bun in my oven and things were a bit tricky. I wanted to be creative so I hit the www. To my surprise there were many of creative outfits I found and most of them were DIY. I was very excited when I saw it at work and showed a few girls. They were all excited and loved it. I was worried that some people would take it the wrong way but it was just too cute not to do it. Plus it's my body and I can wear whatever I want!

After work I hit Michaels right away for supplies and got the attire needed. I went home and could barely sleep so I started to draw my design. Unfortunately, my tiredness took the best off me and I didn't get too far. The rest of the week was a busy one too so I didn't work on it again until that Friday after I got out of work. Six hours later I was beat. So I napped a bit while everything dried. Then hubby came home with our son and we rushed to the costume store for outfits for them. My son talked about wanting to be batman all month long. Yet come that moment while we were waiting in line to checkout and he's obsession for vampires got the best of him and he changed his mind. We headed for dinner and then we went home to get all dressed up.

They both loved my outfit when they saw it and honestly I could not have been more proud. I did such a great job!!! I couldn't wait to have people see me. No really I couldn't wait. So you know exactly what I did. I took a picture before heading to the first party (we ended up with another invite) and posted it on Instagram. This was my outfit.

My boys were vampires. Daddy was influenced by son.

I originally wanted us all to be skeletons but I didn't have time to finish hubby's outfit. Then we tried to spray paint over the first coat of pain and well yeah that didn't work. The clothes were too wet to be worn. I think it was due to the first cost of fabric paint and due to the shirt being a thermo which absorbed a lot of paint and took forever to dry. Hubby had no choice but to settle for a vampire cape and some face paint. Oops. Hence his last minute costume.

Here's the list of my supplies and how I did this wonderful creation.

You will need:

Fabric paint

Fabric round rush

Old clothes

Freezer paper

A template or hand draw design

Pencil scissors and/or exacto knife.

Directions:

What you basically do is draw your design on the freezer paper. 

Cut out the design and attach it to your clothes

paint on the open space. 

Let it dry.

Really, is this simple. But if you're like me you'll want detailed instructions and you can find those here.

I had the hardest time with the baby skeleton. It just wasn't coming out right so after doing the head I free handed the body. It came out pretty nice if you ask me :)

TBT: Making Memories

Earlier in August my mother and I were shopping. We ended up in my aunts house visiting and my cousin's baby was there. Having my son and niece with us I decided to take a picture of them three since they're hardly together and I couldn't help but to think about those random pictures I often come across either in my baby album or just laying around in an aunts house. Pictures like the ones below.

Many times I don't recall these days because of my age in the picture but on this picture I remember very well where it was taken. Just thinking back on what the feelings that day must have been for those taking the picture and those of us in the picture itself is overwhelming. In a happy way that is. Because the feeling that I felt talking this picture of this generation was priceless. 

I imagined my life 15, 20, 25 years from now and having my son or maybe even my niece ask me "Tia who are these kids" because you know, one can't never recognize itself in pictures this early in life. Or is it just me? Either way that's what this picture took me forward to. Then I would answer "that's you. And your cousins. In your aunts house X amounts of years ago." 

I live for these moments. The moments that mean so much yet you would never know it. The moments you think will never be remembered yet someone else have captured it in film and will last a lifetime. The moment where 3 young kids were just that. Kids. Babies even. Without a single clue of how their life will turn out. So many possibilities. So much hope. 

My dear Adrian, Nino, and Naila. This one minute of your life has now become something unforgettable for me. A moment in time which I plan to share with you when your about my age. With possibly your own kids in hands. And maybe you too that day will decide to capture a moment in time with that new generation. I love each of you more than any words could ever tell.