A dear friend tagged me over on Instagram to share with her and everyone else the things that makes me happy. As I thought about it I only came up with a handful of things but when I wrote them down the list seemed to be endless. 

This current list is of things that have made me happy lately. Hopefully I will remember to write a few of these posts over the course of the year. 

1. Weekend morning talks with my other half while the boys are asleep.

2. Being a mom. Nothing can compare.  

3. Brotherly love. Nothing makes me happier than seeing my two boys playing and laughing together. 

4. Being able to offer care to those truly in need. 

5. Curly hair. 

6. Coffee in the morning.  

7. Knee length boots. They keep me warm. 

8. Leggings under my scrubs. Best feeling ever as I walk what seems like a mile to the entrance on windy mornings. 

9. Making new friends. Better yet, smart friends that without knowing push me to thrive higher. 

10. AJs love for "coffee" (hot chocolate) and his sweet voice as he speaks more and more with each passing day. 

11. Steven letting go of his shyness to protect his little brother from other kids. 

12. Stepping out of my comfort zone and not caring what others might think. #ismylifeafterall

13.  Selfies! 

14. Napping boys. #quietness! 

15.  Documenting my life via words and pictures. I should really do it more often. 

16. My birthday month! T-15

What things make you happy? 

xoxo

Pamela

Over the year, 2014 that is, I cut off pretty much all of my hair gradually. 3 inches here, 2 inches there and so on. I did a total of 4 hair cuts and by September I was relaxed hair free. I finally had the hair I always wanted except that now my hair was extremely short and hard to style. It was growing but being that I have curly hair you couldn't tell much growth had occur. Later in the year I started to blow dry and flat iron my hair on a weekly basis and over the course of a couple of months I was suffering of heat damage. It got to be very noticeable too since it was all in the roots and bangs. I could no longer do "wash and go" and let's face it, with my schedule I have no time to style daily. And so I kept ironing which only made it worse. 

The past several weeks I've been thinking about summer and how nice it'll be to wear my hair curly. Well this heat damage will not allow me to and that has led me to embark in yet another hair journey. This time my goal is to try and fix my heat damage. At least enough to wear my hair curly over the summer. To get where I want my hair to be by summer I'm planning on doing deep conditioning regularly as well as other hair treatments such as hot oil and protein. I hope I can be strong enough not to use heat and become savvy in doing protective styles and twist/braid outs since that worked well for me last year. The problem with that is that it's very time consuming and my time is precious with school, training and two young boys (the hubby can pretty much take care of himself right?)

So stay tune and follow me on yet another journey (I've been saying that a lot haven't I?)

xoxo
Pamela

Steven, you are the sweetest kid ever. You are eight years old and look like you're 10, possibly 11. Your size says a lot about you but in reality you're just the typical eight years old. What is the typical right year old anyways? You are shy like mommy in many situations but once you become comfortable with your surroundings you are just like your daddy. We're till trying to get you to stop the habit of sucking your finger, we've tried just about everything and nada. You're due to meet with an orthodontist within the next few weeks for a year follow up and maybe this time we'll get news on whether or not you'll need braces. I pray that you don't. Because you're body is growing at a faster rate than normal it seems to be affecting certain things like your jaw and growing teeth making them have a significantly big gap between each tooth. Last year they said that they wanted to wait and follow up to see if it would resolve on its own but of course that sucking your finger is not helping.

Eating: 

You eat just about anything. You've always been this way. Thankfully you've never really been a picky eater, you'll try just about anything from mushrooms to brussels sprouts and cooked sushi. Although you're not opposed as the raw sushi if we'd let you. Meats have always been your favorite. I remember when you were between the ages of 4-6 years old, you would only eat the meat on your plate and would tell us that if we gave you more meat you'll finish the rice or whatever else you had on it. You've never been a candy/junk food eater,  you prefer rice and beans any day before sweets. There's been times at parties were you would tell the host "not to give you cake but if there more food you'll have more of that". You are something else. Currently you don't have a "favorite food", you eat just about anything and everything. If it was up to you you would drink diet coke at any chance you got that's you're only issue and I think it has to do a lot with you wanting to be just like daddy. When we eat out you try to see if you can get away with drinking it too. Sneaky boy. 

Clothing: 

We have the same size in sneakers. I know! Crazy. You are actually at size XL in shirts and 14/16 in pants. Is funny because you wouldn't think of an eight year old wearing those sizes but you're a big kid, especially in height. You're just a foot shorter than me. You've always been above average in charts. For your last physical the doctor said that your height and height match up well and have been steady over the years. Meaning that you're not "overweight" for your weight. His only concern is that as you get older you stop growing in height and not in weight so we have to make sure that you're not over eating and are staying active. He mentioned that playing the Wii system by help you stay active over the colder months and that was imbedded into your brain for life. You'll be home and will ask to play the Wii and followed by "the doctor said...".  You have a unique sense for fashion. Most times we let you wear whatever you want but you're too much into color matching. Meaning you'll wear 3 different color greens and to you that is totally fine because they are all green. Or you will wear all black, from head to toes because black is easy to match. You make us laugh but we let you, you'll be over that soon enough. I hope.

School: 

You love school. Most days that is. At your last parent teacher conference your teacher said you were a good student. You're reading level is higher than expected and you know your stuff. Your only problem is that you like to rush doing things to finish quick so that you can talk to the other students or get time in the computers which prevents you from reading directions correctly and prone you to making careless mistakes. She says that you like to impress her and are always making jokes to make her laugh. She is pleased to have you in her class because she hasn't had anyone like you in a while. When school started you asked if we could sign you up for El Sistema, which is a music program which teaches elementary school age students to play string instruments. You were interested in learning the violin but there was no space. You recently got called in by the program director and got asked if you would be interested in learning to play the viola instead. You did not hesitate to say yes and have been in the program just a little over a week. You actually have a scheduled concert for early March, I'm excited for that. You seem very excited as well to be in the program. I look forward on seeing what will happen n the coming months.

Big Brother Role: 

If there's one thing you love more than anything in this world is your baby brother. The way you care for him and help me with him when is only us three at home trying to get ready to head out makes my heart sing. You truly love your little brother and will get down to his level to play with him as well as bring him up to yours even if his controller is not plugged in. I can see you being a protective big brother which is fine with me. You do have your little jealousy episodes from time to time but that's pretty healthy in my opinion. What child doesn't get a little jealous of their siblings.

Favorites: 

You are a gamer for sure. That's a double inherited gene so I wouldn't expect anything less. If we were to let you you could use the iPad till the battery dies out, then you'll try to play your Xbox for hours on ends, while at the same time be on YouTube listening and half watching videos. You say you like sports and got to play soccer at 4y/o since then we've had you playing baseball for the past 3 years. We've come to the conclusion that you only like to be sign up for it to play with the other kids anything other then baseball. When your dad plays with or and tries to couch you you try very hard because you want him to be proud of you but deep down I feel that you don't enjoy it as much. You wanted to be signed up for football but that worries me. That's a rough sport and you're way past the flag football stage. Your body size makes you look great in the field but I fear that they'll go twice as hard at you and I'm not to going stay too calm with that. I think we should stick with the easy stuff for now, maybe until you get a little faster. We plan to sign you up for soccer this year and let's see if you like that better. For years now you've been wanting to do boys scout (which by the way you recently joined a couple of weeks ago through a school program. Baby steps, I need baby steps). I like it and think is a great way for you to learn real life skills yet at the same time I worry that something bad may happen. I'm starting to notice a pattern here. I know I should let you do these things, it'll do you good but the overly protective mother gene in me is way stronger. Let's see how we feel later this year.

Role models: 

You are in love with your father and uncle Marc. You are definetely a daddy's boy there's no doubt about that. In fact you've always been. You have a lot of his qualities and good looks ;) from what I hear from your grandparents it looks like you get your temperament from him as well. God so help me if this is only the beginning. You are so close to your uncle. He's like your best friend. Everything you do you always do it to impress him and have him be proud of you. Come the weekends you like to sleep over his house and always always give us a hundred reason why we should let you. I don't know what will be of you once he moves cross country this summer. Thank God for technology is all I can say :) Just recently you wrote him a note with four reasons why you love him, it was the sweetest thing. You know, I do get a little jealous.

You're a good kid. You have an amazing heart and mean well. I wish you had more cousins you're age but you don't. All the boys are a lot smaller and those that are around your age are girls and well yeah. You don't share the same interests. You have been one of my greatest blessings Steven as I'm sure your father feels the same way. I hope that you enjoy being my son as much as I enjoy being your mother. I pray that God allows me to raise you to be a God fearing man who holds true to his heart. I want nothing but the very best for you my son. We still have many years ahead and I sure hope I do a good job at teaching you about life. 

I love you my Pollito. We all love you. May God bless you today and always, till the end of times. 

xoxo

Mommy

Monday January 26, 2015

Steven: 28 years old 

Pamela: 27 years old

Steven Jr: 8.5 years old

Adrian: 2 years old exactly 
  

4am: hubby's alarm goes off. Knowing that there was a snow storm expected to come our way the husband calls his truck driver friends to get an update on the roads. A few of them had stayed home and the one who decided to go to work was heading back home. Hubby decides to stay in and check again a little later. 

5am: my alarm goes off. I grab my phone to check for school delays -The community college in the area is in partnership with the hospital to give the lectures for this training therefore if the school is close the training for the day gets cancelled. No delays. I wait till 530a and text a coworker who happens to be in training with me. Shortly after a message from the school gets sent "all campus closed till 12pm". Yayyy! We continue to text and agree to wait till 7a to call our director and inform her. I go back to bed. 

6am: hubby wakes up. I'm thinking he's just using the restroom but when he returns he looks out the window and says that he's going in to work. I panic. "What do you mean? I thought you were not going in? that's why I stayed in bed." He states that the roads are clear and he wants to get some kind of work done now before it gets worse. He offers to take Steven to his mother's that way I only have to worry about AJ. Fair enough. I go back to bed and add another alarm for 7am. 

6-7a: I wake up periodically to check for weather updates on the news playing on the TV. That was no fun, I should have just gotten up at 6a. 

7a: I toss and turn debating what to do. There's no training til noon. Should I take AJ to daycare? Or just sleep in? I do have actual school work to do too since I fell asleep doing it last night. I should really get up to work on that. I never get to sleep in anymore, I should take advantage now. But I really should take AJ to daycare, I'm paying either way might as well take him and if I don't take him now I'll have to do it later if the school open up. Ugh decisions decisions. I finally grab my phone and call my director to inform her of the delay. AJ is in bed with me and is waking up. "Good. This is good. If he wakes up I'll get us ready to go". He wakes up. That's that then. Up we go to shower. 

730a: we get ready and I call the daycare to check that they are in fact opened and let them know AJ will be coming. We walk downstairs and I turn on my keurig. I walk outside to clean and turn on the car. I come back in and finish making my cup of coffee. So good! I pack lunch and give AJ a breakfast bar and pour milk in his sippy cup for him to drink in the car. 

805a: we walk out the door but we don't make it out on time before the alarm goes off. I miss Steven, even though he drives me crazy in the mornings he sure is a great help. Back in I go to reset the alarm. 

810a: we're in the car and away we go. The roads are not bad at all. 

825a: we get to the daycare. AJ gets excited to be there but once we're in he holds me tight and tells me to hold him. I distract him while switching his snow boots for regular shoes and chat with his teachers about snow days etc. One of the teachers gets AJ's favorite car to try to get him to go with her. It doesn't work. She has to carry him so that I can leave. I hate to leave him crying. He's still not used to the daycare thing. He'll be ok, I'm sure. I have to repeat this several times to myself to feel better about leaving him. 

840a: I walk out to my car and debate on where to go. I talk to the hubby and we've agreed that he'll pick up the boys. I decide to drive to the library and wait for an update on school closings. 

850a- I arrive at the library despite my efforts to drive as slow as possible since it does not open until 9a. There are only a few cars in the parking lot. I wonder if they'll be open today? I sit around and wait while I browse through bloglovin'. I see Julia's DiTL and it reminds me that I have yet to do mine. And that's when I decide to do mine today. 

9:05a: cars start to pull in to the parking lot. Good. They're open. I grab my things and get out of the car. I take my first picture of the day. 

 

915a: I find a table toward the back wall. I sit and take out my books. I decide to read Julia's DiTL before doing school work and only make it till her 4pm. It's now 930a and I should really get to studying in case I have to go in to class/training at noon. 

930-1130a: I read and read some more. This is the hardest part to do at home because there's never true quietness with the boys around. In between all this I get a call back from my director saying she got my message and that if the school closes I should stay home for the day. Great! I then get a message from the school saying the campus are closed for today. Awesome! I decide to finish the chapter then go home. 

1130a: I head out. Is snowing a lot harder now. But not thick. Is more of a wet snow. I take the easiest way home, down Hamilton and a left on Front. 



 

12-2pm: I'm home. I get to cleaning. This house is a mess. As I'm about to put a load of laundry, wash dishes, I remember I have yet to eat breakfast. I look in the fridge and decide for avocado hummus on a toasted pita bread. I put the bread to toast and when I open the hummus I see that it's expired crap, I need to think fast because my bread is almost done. I see peanut butter, ok some jelly would go with with that. I make myself a PBJ pita sandwich, never had it before, it was different but eatable. I take out chicken and pour lemon juice over it. Fold three loads of laundry from the night before, sweep and mop the kitchen. Season the chicken, I've never seasoned a whole chicken before, it looks good. In the oven it goes. As I fold the third load I get a call from my mom and she needs a ride. She got back from DR on saturday and her car is no Bueno. I really don't want to go back out. Plus I'm still a bit upset at her leaving almost two months ago. I decide to go get her anyways, this too shall pass. 

2pm: I take a selfie. I haven't taken much pictures as it is. I'm about to walk out and realized I didn't put the alarm on. Back inside I go. Now I can leave. The neighbor is shoveling, looks like he's doing our side too. That's nice, he hasn't done that before. We say hello, I get in the car and drive away. 

220pm: I arrive at my mothers. It's seriously taking me twice as long to get places today. She comes outside with a few bags. When she gets in the car she starts to show me what she brought us from DR. Undies, candy, liquor. My aunt is also in the states from DR and she brought all the young boys blazers. She shows me, they're so cute!!! I love them. To bad I'm driving. I would have snapped a few pictures. We drive around running errands. 

254pm: I call the hubby to check where he's at. At the gym of course. I tell him that I can pick up AJ since I'm in that side of town. 

310pm: we arrive at the daycare and the kids are eating a snack. AJ sees me and gets so excited. He gets up from his little chair and runs to me. He hugs me and tells his friends "bye". This kid is too much. The teachers and I talk a bit about tomorrow's plans due to the weather. I also get AJ's first piece of art today, how sweet. My baby :)




 

320pm: we leave. AJ sees my mom for the first time in almost two months. He's a little confuse and doesn't really show interest in her. She carries him for a little and then I out him on his car seat. He then realizes who that is and says "that's the mama" yes baby that's mama. He gets excited and my mom gets excited. I go around the car and get in, we pull away. 

340pm: I drop off my mom and AJ and I head home. The scenery is beautiful but the roads are gross, very mushy and slippery. I have to take a pic. Although not the greatest. We sing songs as we drive home. I try to use this time to go over animals sound. I get super excited when AJ recognizes the sound of a hourse. I didn't know he knew that one! My face is priceless and AJ is looking at me like I went crazy. He then laughs. We continue to sing after his request, "sing mama, sing. 

 

4-5pm: we're home. I start to prep the rest of the dinner. Shortly after the hubby walks in with Steven. Steven is in a good mood. He was at his grandmother's all day with his uncle, I'm sure that's the reason for his good mood. He heads over to the stove and says "yes. Dinner. I didn't eat anything for dinner mom. Only for a breakfast and lunch. Is dinner done yet?". This child of mine is always hungry. He needs three meals a day and snacks in between not counting dessert. In the mean time AJ wants to play. He's been getting into the habit of pretend biting, he come up to you and pretends he's bitting you then he laughs and does it again. He finds it even more hilarious when I say "hey, what are you doing? That's not funny, it hurts." And is back and forth until one of us gets tired of it (most time that's me). It doesn't hurt obviously but when you're trying to get things done and after repeating the sane phrase over and over again well it does get tiring. So then he decides he wants to help me cook and reaches for the cooking spoon by standing on his toes. Good thing I was using the back burners. I carry him for a bit and he notices the candy bowl and asks for candy I try to distract him and when I put him down he happened to notice the candy my mom gave me and he was quick to grab one. I didn't even noticed. I took a few licks and gave it back, I guess he didn't like it?

 

I then send him to the living room while I finish cooking and within minutes I hear laughter. I don't know what's going on but AJ is just laughing like he had just witness the funniest thing ever. I also hear stomping and running. When I look over I see AJ standing while Steven is pretending to run toward the wall and bumps into it. That explains all the laughing. I wonder what it is about someone getting hurt that little kids find so amusing? I remember AJ being smaller and being upset and to distract him all Steven and anyone else had to do was pretend to get hurt and he would be all good afterward. 

I had to include a picture of King. He's always on his bed sleeping and only gets up for eating and going outside. He's the easiest dog ever to have at home, besides his health issues.

 

5pm: dinner is serve! We're having baked chicken, black means mix with rice (we call that a Moro), tostones (fried plantains), and mayo/ketchup sauce which is a sauce we make to eat with the plantains.Eating dinner att his time is very unusual. Most days we don't eat dinner till 7pm or a little later. Not that I'm complain though, is always nice to be done with dinner and cleaning the kitchen before 8pm. Most time I'm in the kitchen till 10p cleaning dinner dishes and packing lunch for the next day. Tomorrow's lunch was easy, leftovers! 

615pm: kitchen is cleaned and the hubby and Steven are watching a movie. I sit with them, very unlikely as well since most time I'm busy doing other things. I'm not too into the movie their watching. Is a scary one. I don't do scary movies, these two however. That's a different story. AJ has played a bit with the iPad and is now playing with Goofy and Mickey. He says that they are going night night and lays them next to me. The towels I folded earlier are still on the couch and he tries taking it to cover Mickey and Goofy. I catch that real fast though and give him a small blanket to use. I then remember the blazers my aunt sent the boys and I take them out to have them try it on. Steven loves them! He's so excited and says "I look fresh". AJ in the other hand wants nothing to do with his and takes it off immediately after I pull away to take a picture. He goes back to playing with the iPad. We all sit on the couch again and AJ wants his shoes off, he tries to take them off himself and can't so he goes to Steven. Steven pretends that its too hard for him and they just laugh. I love to see these two make a game out of anything, their brotherly bond is the best, I love it! AJ ends up scratching Steven on his face and Steven is not happy. AJ goes to him and says he's sorry and gives him a kiss. They never stay mad for long.

730-830pm: I decide to write some more to this post while the movie finishes. Steven then gets one of his board games to play while the hubby looks for another movie to watch. We decide on Alexander and the terrible horrible day. Steven wants to play Chinese checkers. We start it off and it gets pretty boring real fast. I think we're playing it right but there's something just not right. He picks another game, trouble trouble. I've never played that one. Hubby teaches us and we do only one round because the movie is really funny. We decide to watch the movie instead. 

9pm: it's AJs bedtime. Is actually both of the boys bedtime but with this snow storm coming we let Steven finish the movie. I take AJ up to his room and get him ready for bed. I lay him in his crib with Mickey and Elmo and he "reads to them". I turn in the projector ceiling light set for 10 minutes and walk out. He doesn't make it long and within 15 minutes he's out for the night. He's been doing this routine for a little over two weeks now. So far it's been a success. He's self soothing and sleeping through the night between 9-11 hours, is awesome! When I come down I find those two plug on the iPad and phone waiting for me.Life is way too easy for males, don't you think?

10pm: movie is done. Steven wakes me and says "daddy said to move your car". I'm so confused. Apparently I fell asleep. I can't help it I felt so tired. I asked the hubby to please move the car for me and he does, so sweet. I stay laying on the couch about another 20 minutes then head upstairs. 

11pm: lights out. 

A day in the life of my married life. We have our routine days and unexpected things do come up from time to time. My bedtime varies  day by day and my mornings are almost always hectic. We're not too strict on going by the books, we take life as it comes. Some days we go over MILs and don't get home till after 8p which throws off the entire routine but at least I don't have to cook it clean the kitchen :) 

xoxo

Pamela