Away in a Manger!

I was pretty excited for this Christmas because Lori is at the age where she is just now getting the whole concept. "Be a good girl or Santa won't bring you any Band-aids" has become a real threat that actually yelds results. (Band-aids and batteries are the only things she's asking Santa for) I've been enjoying watching all the Christmas movies through new eyes. The lights, the tree, the cookies and decorations all have a new magic about them. With all this new found excitement though, comes a responsibility. It is my responsibility, as well as Jorge's to teach Lori what the TRUE meaning of Christmas is. Most of the Christmas books are about Jesus and not Santa, so we've been reading those. However... I'm fairly confidant that our church's FABULOUS childrens program is to thank for the bulk of her knowledge.

A few weeks ago Lori was asking me if I wanted to go to a party with her. I had NO idea what she was talking about, church had been over for hours and we had just been running errands so I wasn't really thinking along those lines. (I actually first thought she was inviting me to go POTTY with her, but that's a different story, anyway...) Upon further questioning I figured out that she was inviting me to a party for Jesus' birthday being thrown by our childrens ministries at our church. Last Sunday was the party, which Lori informed me was complete with cupcakes. They were able to capture this picture for me... which I will forever be thankful for!

When Lori saw this picture she said "Hey, that's me!" and then the following conversation took place.
Me: What were you doing?
Lori: I was looking at the Angel baby
Me: The Angel baby? What was his name?
Jorge: Jesus?
Lori: Yes, Jesus.
Me: What was He doing?
Lori: He was sleeping. In the manger. Cause He doesn't have a crib anymore.
Me: Why doesn't He have a crib?
Lori: Umm... I don't know.

Out of the mouths of babes, as they say. I truly just LOVE the simplicity of her logic and thinking.

Lori and her new (Scentsy) Buddy!

I don’t know about you, but everyone once in a while I walk in to my kids’ room and I’m hit by a wall of some mystery smell that I can’t pinpoint. How can kids that are so cute, smell so bad? Well what do you do? You can’t light a candle, and I guess you COULD spray the heck out all their things with an air freshener or something but then what happens if they put one of those things in their mouths? That’s no good either. Well. Scentsy has come up with a solution. Scentsy Buddy. Scentsy Buddies are stuffed animals with a zipper pocket in the back which allows you to add a scent to it.

There are 6 buddies to choose from, “Lenny” the Lamb, “Mollie” the Monkey, “Ribbert” the frog, “Penny” the Pig, “Ollie” the Elephant and “Roarbert” the Lion. I got Lori “Ollie” the Elephant, since elephants are her favorite animal and so far, she has been loving it and so have I! I love that her room smells fresh, AND that everywhere she brings him starts to smell nice too. I was thinking of asking her to take him with us to the store, just so my car would start to smell fabulous too. (But Scentsy actually has a product for that, which I’ll probably be trying soon!)

I am usually very hesitant to get stuffed animals for my kids, cause I don’t want them to have TOO many of them, but I don’t consider Scentsy Buddies to be just any stuffed animal. It’s more than just a cuddly friend, it’s an air freshener, and depending on what scent you choose, aroma therapy (think calming lavender scent).

Right now the scent packs come in 15 AMAZINGLY vibrant scents Berry Blush, Black Raspberry Vanilla, Camu Camu, Cucumber Lime, French Lavender, Havana Cabana, Hemingway, Mochadoodle, Perfectly Pomegranate, Pima Cotton, Satin Sheets, Sunkissed Citrus, Sweet Pea & Vanilla, Vanilla Cream, and Vanilla Suede. And the best part is, they are interchangeable! So if you, or your child, want a different scent, just contact your Scentsy consultant for another one!

For more information contact Chilly. You will not be disappointed, nor will your kids!

OH, and an added bonus... the box had handles, windows and a door that pop out, turning it into a house! Lori LOVED that part!

Weep, Remember, Live

As many of you know this has been a very rough summer for me and my family. Not long after losing my cousin in Afghanistan, we lost a dear family friend to cancer. All in all, it's safe to say that I'm glad the summer is over and I'm looking forward to starting fresh this fall. It seems like every time I think I'm done crying, I'm not. I have never had to deal with death before, at least not of anyone this close, and then times it by two... wow, I'm emotionally spent.

Something that has helped me tremendously are words spoken at my cousin's graveside service. They were given as a benediction of sorts and I honestly feel like it was directly responsible for starting me off on the path of healing. (Which is proving to be a much long and tougher road that I ever expected.) I contacted the Chaplain, Chaplain (Colonel) Larry McCarty, and asked him for his exact wording, and while I still think that the three words; Weep, Remember, Live, are powerful in and of themselves, having the extra explanation in there just adds to it, and makes it even MORE memorable.

Weep — Jesus wept and so must you. Weep, grieve by leaning on your family, friends and above all your faith. 2 Corinthians 1:2-4 teaches that as we weep, the God of Comfort and Father of Mercies will hold us close. And He will give us the strength to one day help others who are going through the same storms of life.

Remember — Hold on to the precious memories. Cling to them. Never let them go. Remember the precious promises of God, promises like John 14:1-3 (see bottom of post for verse.)

Live — Live life fully. Seize the day. For life is a precious, fragile gift from God. Live your life fighting the good fight of faith and finishing strong. 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (see bottom of post for verse.)

I know it's going to be a long long road, and certain things like my guilty pleasure of Lifetime's "Army Wives" will never be the same, nor will a show like "The Big C" (a COMEDY about a women living with cancer) ever really seem funny to me.

Another part of the healing process for me was getting my first and probably only tattoo. It's to replace the prayer bracelet that I wore during his deployments, until it broke during his last one. (I know, I don't even wanna think about the "omen" that turned out to be, good thing I don't believe in those! Anyway...) It was much bigger than I originally intended but the more it heals, the more it "grows" on me. It makes me feel like there is no chance I could ever forget, it's hard to explain really, it just makes me feel like his memory will always be with me... everyday. I hope that every time I see it I will be reminded to pray for Brian's wife, brothers and mom. I know it will be harder for them than I can even imagine!

So in the words of Chaplain McCarty, I'm gonna Weep, Remember and Live (repeat)

(“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:1-3)

(For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8)

My cousin, my Hero!!

On July 19th, I lost my cousin and friend Sgt. Brian Piercy. He was fighting for our freedom over in Afghanistan.

(handsome huh?)

My dad was the one who told me, and ever since I have been filled with every sort of emotion you can think of. Sorrow, angry, numbness, denial, guilt, even hatred. Acceptance comes for a few seconds and then goes just about as fast as it came. He was a good man, he IS a good man. Its funny, I can say "was" but typing it seems odd, too permanent maybe. This first picture of just him and I makes my heart hurt. I can only look at it so long before I realize that I'll never get to hug him again. It's just weird.

Brian, his twin brother Eric and I are only 4 months apart and we have always gotten along really well. They lived a few hours away but we always got together for Christmas or Easter or family weddings as well as a few other times a year, We were always getting in to some sort of trouble... always fun for us, but trouble for our folks. As we got older we saw each other a little less until high school when our busy schedules finally matched up. It always seemed like it was only 2 of the 3 though. (Brian and Eric have a younger brother Kevin) Either Brian and Kevin or Kevin and Eric, but rarely all 3. (THOSE times were and are extra special)
One time in particular it was just Brian and Kevin and we were board and watching T.V. I think Brian was channel surfing and as we were passing a certain channel Kevin screams out "OOH!! UNCLE BUCK!!" Brian and I looked at each other and in confusion and then BUSTED UP laughing. I mean seriously, Uncle Buck?? (not saying it's not a good movie, it's just that it didn't seem to warrant THAT amount of enthusiasm.) And that was the first time we laughed so hard together it hurt! It seemed like every time we saw each other after that we laughed until it hurt. I've never laughed so hard, with someone so often in all my life. I will always have that with him, always.The other thing about that trip that stands out is that for some unknown reason, our parents sent us to the corner market for snacks, or maybe we just went on our own, I don't remember. All I know is that some how we ended up buying Dreyers Scooby Snacks ice cream as a joke which turned out to be our new FAVORITE ice cream flavor. We would talk about it all the time, as well as Uncle Buck and to this day I do not see that movie with out thinking about Brian and Kevin.
I have never had to deal with death. Most of my family members who have died, died either before I was born, before I could remember anything OR where on the older side and were "ready to go". This was not like that. He was taken from us, it was someones fault. I know that he did not suffer, and that he died doing what he loved and I do find some comfort in that. But for the most part this is still very foreign to me.
One of my favorite pictures! (Not only cause my jacket was AWESOME (purple corduroy!) but because it was all of us together!)

It was very rare that we were ALL together at the same time, like I said it was usually Kevin and one of the twins, I think that's why I love this one.

Back in 2006 Brian married Christina, and she made him happier than I'd ever seen him. They are a perfect match. Please pray for her as she grieves the loss of her best friend and sole mate. I can only imagine what she's going through.

THIS photo (sorry, there's been a lot I know) was taken 6 days before his death, he was apparently giving orders to his squad, which I think is very cool. I love looking at it cause when I do I see strength, courage, and confidence. I see a hero. Brain was my hero and even though sometimes I don't understand why or who he was fighting, I know that he was fighting for what he believed in. I miss him terribly.

6 months!

I can not believe its been 6 months since Davey was born. He has grown in so many ways, which is to be expected I suppose. I am just beyond in love with this little boy! As of July 8th he can sit up by himself with out falling over and as of yesterday, July 14th he is CRAWLING! Ok, so crawling my be a SLIGHT overstatement, however he pulls himself towards the toys that he wants, usually my phone or one of Lori's shoes, more than a toy really. It still counts in my opinion cause he sees what he wants and he gets there... usually.
He's such an interesting little kid. Jorge and I talk about how different he and Lori are all the time. For one, he's WAY bigger!! When Lori was the size he is now, she was 9, probably 10 months old! He's a MOOSE! He also laughs more than we remember Lori doing. Which is special for me since he's middle name means "Laughter". He also loves to watch T.V, unlike his sister who couldn't care less about T.V until just recently AND play with toys. Lori didn't have much interest in toys until not too long ago. I love watching the two of them "play". Most of the time it's just Lori trying to convince Davey or I that he is done playing with the fancy light-up, music playing toy by trading him for something not NEARLY as entertaining. "He aw done. Day-Dee aw done" "Uhh, yeah Lori, I don't think so." Haa ha, never a dull moment with these two. They are also similar in the sense that they are both basically good natured, happy, easy going kids.

Happy 1/2 Birthday Big Man! We love you and are so proud of you!

(photos curiosity of Aunt May-Me photography. haha )

Jesus Love me!

Lori has been "singing" for a while now, but hasn't really gotten the whole "lyrics" thing. She would sing "Jesus Loves Me" by saying "Bible, Bible" over and over again. It was cute and I enjoyed the sweetness of it. But just the other day she surprized me by singing the actual words! I was THRILLED! So thrilled that I have started trying to teach her Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" which is comin' along quite nicely. So far we have "Why? Why?" and "Looking out... across the night-time" and then "No I don wanna!" (not the lyrics... just her protest)

Here is a couple of videos I took on my phone (probably should invest in one of those flip cams huh?) of Lori singing her version of "Jesus Loves Me" with the promise of her rendition of "Human Nature" to come soon.

Just what I've always wanted!

This Mother's Day was AMAZING! It started out with Lori bringing me my travel coffee mug, with a NEW insert that she and Jorge made. It was the most wonderful thing I've ever seen! In all honesty it was. As you all know I am a pretty crafty person, and having worked at a school, I was the one who made all the crafts and gifts for kids to give there moms. In the back of my mind, I always thought I'd be the one makin' my own keepsake crafts with Lori. But Jorge did it for me. Now all she did was "color" a little part of it, but still, it was so special! He even have Davey a crayon and had him help a little too!


David's part is the purple on the right and Lori's in the red. (Jorge helped her write her name, she's not THAT advanced)

Then we went to church where I received a rose for being the mom of one of the youngest babies in the service. :)


After church we all came home for peanut butter and honey sandwiches and while eating lunch our neighbor came over and said he was going to have our backyards mowed and edged as a gift for me for mother's day!! Isn't that awesome? I thought so! :)

The rest of the day went like this, Lori took a nap while Jorge watched the Cubs game and Davey and I stepped out for a bit. When I got in my car I heard the familiar sounds of the Glee soundtrack that Jorge had slipped in to my CD player which hadn't worked in MONTHS!! He totally surprised me, which trust me, is very hard to do. We drove to the used book store, the Goodwill and Micheals, just cause I wanted to. Once we got home, we all drop to the Super Target where we met up with my sister and her family for "Frappy Hour" (1/2 priced frappacinos) and the Starbucks there. After THAT, (wow this is turning out to be a rather packed day isn't it?) we went for a walk with my sister and her family, and our good friends the Kuykendalls. Then came home, put the kids down and had pizza! It was great!

worth while moments... (working title - anyone got anything better?)

The other day I had to run errands and naturally Lori and Davey came with. I took the kids to Hobby Lobby and after about 2.5 seconds Lori was done with the cart! "Running Lori?" (yes she does mean run and yes, everything she says is with a "?" at the end) Needless to say, I wasn't about to let her run around the store, so I had to do my best to entertain her. Eventually she grew tired of me and desided to lay down. This girl is a kook and a half and makes me laugh! (ok that rhymes but it was unintentional... I promise.)

worth while moments... (working title)

Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm going to start making note of the things that my kids do that remind me why I do what I do.

After Lori's birthday party we opened gifts and she got to play with some of her new toys. Jorge had to run some errands so it was just me and the bubbas. (My sister's and my nickname for babies...) She got tons of dress up stuff, so naturally we had to open it all and try it on right away! :)


I also gave her a toy which she was given LAST year but it was kinda over her head so I put it away until this year. :) I love watching Lori play with her toys. I think it's so neat that she actually PLAYS. It's fun to see her actually DO things with her toys, like playing with her babies and copy what she sees me do with David.

After she had been playing dress up for a bit I noticed this...

and it made me smile.

worth every minute

The cheese factor of this post promises to be extremely high, so be forewarned.

Parenting is tough. It's easily the hardest thing I've ever done. (oxymoron?) But everyday I am reminded why it's worth it. Starting today I will to start making a note of those moments, and blogging them when at all possible.

Lori has been acting up for the last few months, probably the "terrible two's" even though she just turned two last week. (We always said she was advanced. :) ) She's been getting on my last nerve A LOT and has decided that bedtime should take over an HOUR! BUT like I said there are times when she says or does something that just melts my heart! This time it really didn't involve me so much, but made me feel so appreciative that God has placed her in my care (sometimes I wonder what He was thinking! Ok, most of the time I wonder what He was thinking) and that He has allowed me to get to witness the sweet moments of her growing up.Several weeks ago Lori and I were headed to Bible Study and as we were passing the play ground we heard a little voice say "Lori!". We stopped to see who had said it and saw our friends little girl Rachel standing at the top of the play structure. She immediately headed for the slide, slid down and raced over to the rod-iron fence that contains the playground. Lori said "ACHEL!",(yes Achel... it's not a typo) ran to meet her and the girls embarrassed through the fence. I took a picture on my phone! (which I actually thought didn't get saved on my phone and was super sad but then mysteriously showed up on my phone yesterday!)

(I don't know how or why it happened but I'm so glad that this picture showed up. I know I'll never forget it, but I'm just so happy I have a copy of this moment to share with everyone.)

Why is this such a sweet moment for me? I think it's because it reminded me that I, we, are so blessed by our community here in Houston. My child/children are loved so much by the people around them. Moving here was a big step for us BUT it has proven time and again to have been the right decision. And it also made me realize that Lori is growing up so fast, and that she's made her first REAL friend.

"We did it!"

In the words of Dora the Explorer, "WE DID IT! We did it, we did it -YA!" For the last month or so Lori has been sleeping on a crib mattress on the floor. Well, she was SUPPOSED to be sleeping, but for the first few weeks she would refuse to nap, and at bedtime she would either come out of her room every 5 min, OR even worse, NOT come out of her room and get in to HEAPS of trouble... and I mean HEAPS! (one night she went through 35 of my homemade diaper wipes, just cause!! THIRTY FIVE!!) So I decided that the best way to remedy this situation was to use bribery, and for the bribe... the ultimate prize in the eyes of a child! THE STICKER! I'm not sure why but stickers are like crack cocaine to children.

I made her a sticker chart, Dora themed of course, and every time she took a nap in her "big girl bed" or didn't get up too many times to play around her room at bed time she got a sticker. (The last box IS filled... Lori just put the sticker a little outside of the box... ;) )

Once she filled up the chart we were gonna go out and get her a REAL big girl bed!! Well last week, she filled up the chart, and as promised, we went out and got her a bed! It required moving around some furniture but here it is, THE big girl bed!

Lori was SO excited when we got it set up that she started crying for milk and a binky even though it was still a little early for bedtime. She did get up a few times (which is normal for Lori) but now she is fast asleep in her new bed!! I'm waiting to peak in on her, which I'm sure Jorge will frown upon, but I really want to see how cute she looks sleepin' in that big bed.

The other side of the room... where David will be sleeping... eventually. (We will have to get a new Uppercase Living sticker for the wall above the crib... I'm already workin' on it. :) )

Siblings!

So far, Lori and David seem to be getting along famously. Obviously David is a little oblivious to his surroundings, but Lori is still LOVING having him around. The older he gets the "easier" it is to get pictures of the two of them together. Here are just a few of the shots I got this weekend... just looking at them makes me happy.

On Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church, I put David in/on our bed so that I could have my hands free to pack up the diaper bags etc., well Lori saw him on our bed and climbed up to be next to him. Then she said, "snugga?" (meaning snuggle) Asking to snuggle is a new thing for Lori, but it's been happening at least once a day. In fact usually Jorge's day starts at around 6:30 to "snugga Dada? snugga?" This was the first time she'd asked to "snugga" with David and it was so flippin' cute we had to get the camera.

Later on Sunday I had to give David a bath, but Lori didn't want to be left out. I was forced to put them both in the bath... at the same time. This proved to be equally cute (at least to their overly proud mother) and therefore needed to be photographed.

Silly with Celine

A few months back there was a Celine Dion concert on T.V and (don't judge me) I watched it... again. (Yes again... don't judge, she's awesome!) Anyway, chalk it up to being loopy from lack of sleep from having a new baby, but I got a little silly when she sang "My Heart Will Go On" Lori thought is was hilarious... her squeals were just too funny, so I had to ham it up a little more so we could get it on film. It seems to work.

enjoy!

*sorry for the poor quality of video, it was filmed on a cell phone. :(

Go Texan Day!

Today was Go Texan Day. What is Go Texan Day you ask? Well, it's a day that is set aside for all Houstonians to wear their "Texas garb". That's it. According to Wikipedia it was first thought of in 1938 but wasn't put in to practice until the 1950's. Every year since 1954 Go Texan Day has been the traditional way they kick off the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It seems to be a real big deal out here... I saw a guy driving his car in a cowboy hat, two kids at target wearing "western gear" (including purple cowboy boots - awesome!) AND a group of people in a flat bed trailer being pulled around our neighborhood, similar to a hayride, but with out the hay... or the horses... or the farm... or any particular purpose what so ever. Only in Texas I suppose.

Since my kids are Houstonians born and raised, I figured we'd follow suit. Jorge says that he can't ever dress up like a cowboy cause he always ends up looking like a migrant worker... sadly, he's kinda right. But I don't think that's the case with the kids though... at least not yet.

Davey in his overalls, and his bandanna cloth diaper (not pictured :) )

and Lori in my cowboy boots.

"GO TEXAN" DAY!!

"Diaper Diaries"

I've finally done it! I said I was going to do it and I did! I am now a user of cloth diapers. Well, I AM not using them, but I'm using them on David. I only had 3 up to start cause I wanted to try it out and make sure I really wanted to use them. And I DID! On Monday I went to a store called Nurtured Family (see link on the right) and got the rest of my "stash", 12 in all. Tuesday was the first day that I used them ALL day and I really enjoyed it, as much as one can "enjoy" diapers I suppose.

I was so excited that I contacted the mom website that I am involved with and pitched an idea of a weekly blog about my adventures in cloth diapers. They LOVED the idea so today they posted my first blog post. I feel so accomplished. It's also got me thinking about doing more writing, i.e product reviews and stuff like that. Who would have thought that cloth diapers could make me want to be a writer. (I use the term loosely of course, and I don't actually know if I want to be a WRITER but I definitely want to do more writing.)

Here's the link to my first post... Diaper Diaries: a first timers adventure in cloth diapers. I'm actually finding that I have so much to say that I'm tempted to make it more than once a week. For those of you who are interested in hearing/learning more about cloth diapers, I'd love to hear your feed back as far as any questions you may have that you would want me to answer or look in to for you.

So now you can all follow me on Momslikeme.com as well as here. Isn't that special? :)

Big girl bed!

About a week ago, Lori discovered that she has the ability to climb out of her crib. We figured this out when I woke up to the sounds of Lori from her dresser opening and closing her drawers trying to get pick out an outfit. That was certainly a shock. So since then we've been making the transition to a "big girl bed", which is really just a crib mattress on the floor of her room. At first it was REALLY difficult. We'd put her in bed, say prayers, sing a song and then close the door. She would either come to the door and try to get out, or walk around the room and find something to play with. We'd hear her singing and playing or fiddling with the door, or we'd hear nothing. For some reason, maybe it's just that I know my daughter WAY too well, but hearing nothing made me feel terribly uneasy. Jorge and I will go back and forth about if we should check on her or not. Usually I'm right and those times that she's quiet are the worst.

Take last night for example, Jorge was gone leading a Bible study at church, so I put Lori to bed myself. She went down really well, she didn't try to come out of her room and when I did hear her I called to her to get in bed and then didn't hear anything for about 30-40 min. It all was really easy... too easy. So I decided to check on her before I hopped in the shower, and I'm glad I did. I found her COMPLETELY nakey, sitting on her bed, with the box of homemade wipes. She had gotten out of her jammies, some how managed to shimmy out of her diaper (that was DUCT TAPED on mind you) and was wiping herself, her bed, and her stuff animals, that's probably why she needed 34 WIPES!! 34 WIPES people! I was furious to say the least! She was nice enough to put the diaper (which was clean by the way) and roughly 28 or so of the wipes in the diaper pail, but even so, I was still so mad.

Napping in her bed was completely out of the question, up until a few days ago. But every day gets better. The other day, after much struggle I finally won, and she napped in her bed. When I went in to check on her (like I said, when it's quiet I worry, so I check on her.) this is what I found.

I guess this counts as sleeping IN her big girl bed...

And on another day...

So we don't bother with the crib anymore. Our baby is growing up! As soon as she masters the crib mattress with out getting up and getting in to trouble we're going to get her a twin bed. (Probably with some Dora sheets.) We are going to put Davey in her old crib EXCEPT for the fact that Lori can now climb IN to the crib too... so no one is safe. :)

First day with two

Monday was my first day by myself as a mother of two. It was a little daunting but we made it through, with out too many tears shed. Although I did cry when Jorge came home from work, mostly out of sheer exhaustion.

People keep asking how Lori is handling the transition. I'm not sure if she loves being a big sister as much as she loves having baby things around the house. I walked in to the hallway to find this...
One baby on the changing pad and one in the car seat. I think she's handling the transition rather well... don't you?

Lori has been acting up lately. It started a little before Davey was born and it's not horrible, but it is annoying. She has taken to running away from us when we ask her for the thing she's holding, or if she needs to come inside from our walk. I'm not TOO worried since this was bound to happen sooner or later seeing as she's almost two anyway.

She also has become very concerned with giving David anything that is his, be it his blanket, binky or anything else that she thinks he may want or need.

She'll even share her toys with him.

So, that being said, so far so good. I mean we're still in the hormonal/emotional up and down part but I think that's to be expected.

David Isaac!!

On January 12th I went in for my 39 week check up and the Dr gave me the option to be induced the following day. I told him that I didn't really want to make that choice, it made me feel like I was cheating or something. I asked him what he thought I should do and he said that I probably wasn't going to make it till next week, and that he wasn't on call that weekend so if I wanted him to deliver the baby (which I really did) then going the next day would be ideal, AND he said that the longer I wait, the bigger the baby was going to get and the bigger he got, the chances of me having some difficulties delivering go up. Jorge and I talked about it and prayed about it and decided that yeah, we wanted to go ahead and have this baby, in less than 24 hours after I walked in to the Dr. office.

I went for a super long walk afterward to clear my head and started having contractions. Those continued all the way through the night. We went to the hospital at 7:00 in the morning on Wednesday and they started the induction process. With in an hour they broke my water, and an hour after that they gave me the epidural! (Man, those things are AMAZING!)
Long story short, I started to feel like I he was comin' and asked the nurse to check and sure enough, he was RIGHT THERE. She called for the Dr who came over and when he check he said "oh wow" and went runnin' to get his things ready cause we were havin' this baby.

3 minutes and 6 pushes later David was born. Afterward, the Dr said that I would have most likely gone in to labor on my own that night if we hadn't induced, AND that if we have any other kids I may not make it to the hospital, considering how fast I tend to have kids. (Lori was only 5.5 hours and 15 min of pushing) So all in all I feel pretty good about the decision to be induced.

Here he is!!

David Isaac Hernandez
Born January 13, 2010
11:11 am
6 lbs 14 oz
19 inches.

And now the real adventure begins right?

She did it!!

I just wanted to say that today... Lori actually used the potty. Just once, but still... there was much rejoicing!! (and the giving of a "nm&nm" or M&M)

Way to go baby girl!!

in the home stretch

So I'm actually almost done. I've made it to 38 weeks (or 39 depending on which due date you look at) At this point, regardless of due date, "Numero Dos" could come any day. I've never been this pregnant before and so from here on out, it's all new! Which is exciting and frustrating all at the same time.







38 weeks
(is it just me or does my belly look SMALLER than last week?)











As anxious as I am to have this baby out and meet him face to face, (not to mention NOT have him painfully wedged under my ribs anymore...) I actually have been taking the advice EVERYONE has been giving me, and enjoying my last few days being just Lori's mommy. She is amazing. (I know, I know, I'm bragging again, but hey, it's my blog and I'll brag if I want to! ;) ) Lori has become particularly snuggly these last few days, which could be in relation to her slight fever today but I like to think that she just KNOWS that things are going to be different soon. She's just my sweet baby girl who is beyond precious and I love her very much. It actually makes me sad, that things are going to change in a matter of days or weeks.

I've been enjoying watching Lori's free and joyful spirit as she wanders around the house cooking up some sort of trouble. In this case, it' not so much trouble as it is just plain silliness.

wearing Jorge's socks...


Bag lady, eat your heart out.

Every outfit needs a good pair of shoes.


For some reason in this picture I think she looks like my sister a little bit when she was little...


Our silly little girl who makes me smile every day! What a blessing she is!

It's no secret that we think that Lori is with out a doubt the cutest and smartest kid ever!!

Her latest thing is trying to learn to use the potty. She had the potty chair that would sit on the ground, but lately she wanted to sit on the actual toilet. This required me to sit on the floor and hold her over the toilet for 10 or some minutes at a time. I obviously grew tired of this much faster than Lori did, and so we went to Babies R Us and got this fancy potty seat that sits INSIDE the toilet. Lori is extremely excited about the new seat and will now sit on it for 10-15 min at a time, several times a day. She's not too good at actually GOING in the potty, but it's a step in the right direction in my opinion.

She's also just recently just gotten in to dolls. She used to carry them around and give them hugs, but now she's actually started playing with them. It is not uncommon for us to walk in to a room and see a doll or two laying on the floor either on or under a blanket. Yesterday I caught her walking to her room carrying her Barbie. I figured she was up to something (she is my daughter after all... she always seems to have something up her sleeve) so I followed her.

I walked in to find this...

From the looks of things "Numero Dos" is going to be in good hands.