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It’s not so much that I never wanted to throw her her own party, but I just never got into the mood. It’s no excuse, I know. On my better days over the summer, I had envisioned her Halloween Extravaganza. … Continue reading
This gallery contains 7 photos.
It seems like just yesterday when we had our first child. I was rummaging through some pictures I was lucky enough to have saved since I lost all of them when my other computer crashed. We were crammed in one … Continue reading
I always seem to say this often, but that’s how it works I guess. I will finish the sentence: Before I had kids… I was big on reading books.
There- I said it! I’m slowly getting back into the love of reading. I used to read before bed time or while I would lounge around in the couch watching TV. As some of you may well know, after having kids (especially two), most of that time is gone. You can’t always lay on the couch to watch TV AND read a book. Now I never said never, but it is very rare because you would rather do something else with that time- like SLEEP or chores. Since I’ve started reading that Sleep book I’ve been talking about, I have had more sleep and caught up on it most of the time. More recently, since my parents left for the PI, we have decided to use Method #2 of that book. It’s a method used by many parents, but one that Dex and I were hesitant to try. It’s the “Let your baby cry it out until she can’t cry anymore so she can go to sleep all by herself” method. Okay. Okay. Okay. I may have made it sound worse than it actually is. If you actually read the book and all the logic behind it- it’s not too bad. They are actually not crying themselves to sleep. I was just kidding. They are just learning to understand that mommy/daddy will not come back no matter how much they cry. Through that, they just learn to put themselves to sleep. Method One worked for us, but it was just too time consuming. Sometimes it would take an hour and a half for us to put Janelle to sleep. Granted she would sleep through the night, but still, we spent so much time putting her to nap and sleep at nite. So this “meaner” method worked. We lay her on her crib and VOILA, she goes to sleep without a fight. A week ago, she cried for up to 40 minutes. Slowly, but surely, that time has decreased. Now she may cry a max of five minutes, but she basically gets the point now. Her crib means sleep time! Now if only we could use that trick for Jasmyne. Darn my luck.
Anyway, this new found freedom during nap and bedtime has given me more time to myself. The nite time is usually also my one on one time with Jasmyne, so this afternoon break is great. I’ve been addicted to going to the library since discovering its goodness over the summer. I’ve checked out more books than I can handle. I’ve bought books from Barnes that I think I wouldn’t mind reading again and again. Oh reading- how much I missed you. Okay. I’ll stop myself from being too nerdy for the public press now.
Here’s a list of my current reads:
90 Minutes in Heaven
The Time Travelers Wife
Act Like a Lady. Think Like a Man- by Steve Harvey
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
I still can’t believe that October is already here. I NEVER know where time is going, but everyday is bringing me faster into tomorrow. October means fall and coldness, which I hate. I do love the changing colors of the leaves, but that is about it. October is the birthday month of the hubby. October is also Janelle’s birthday month- which means, she is turning ONE this year. Yes ladies and gents. The party planning has been in the works and almost done. I’ve done the invites and booked the place. We knew we didn’t want it at our place this year. I wanted it at a children’s place and Dexter wanted it at a restaurant. The hubby won and the date is set.
I was watching some old videos of Jasmyne the other day. It dawned on me that we rarely take videos of the girls. I have NONE of Janelle and very few moments of Jasmyne. Those few moments we did capture of her brought back some tears. Those are memories frozen in time through that video. There were so many of those memories that we did not capture- and how I wish that we did. So starting now, I have vowed that as important as pictures are, so are videos. Those are the times that I cannot get back. Janelle is not walking yet, however, if you left her for an itty bitty minute, you will see that she made her way to the second floor of the house or that she is sitting on top of the couch. She is not talking, but she is babbling a whole lot. She can also “sing” a song copying your tone of voice. I gotta get all these cute little things she does on video.Jasmyne already started preschool and she loves every moment of it. I secretly enjoy taking her to school and picking her up. The whole process is so emotional for me, even after so many weeks. She is going to miss her first field trip next week due to our scheduled mini-cation, but it’s okay. There will be plenty more to come.
Janelle’s first birthday is a milestone for not only her, but for us as parents. It has been a tiring year, not so much because of Janelle, but because of the fact that she is the second child. I thought having one was tough- but obviously the second one made life even tougher. I feel like Dex and I battled a war and we are so very close to coming out of it alive! Many people think that just because my parents are around we got it good. I ADMIT, we have it very good in a way that we have a second set of hands most of the time. We can go to work without worrying about the babysitter. My mom is great and I appreciate it all, but people don’t know that when we are not at work, we are home with the kids. We have rarely left them with my parents to go out and party or go to the movies or go on a date. We know that is our responsibility and we’ve owned up to it. If we are not at work, we are with the kiddies. Dex and I were talking about growing old together a couple of days ago. How 5 years from now, I will be 35 (I let the cat out) and that is still pretty young. The girls will be 8 and 6. WOW! It’s amazing that we will still be young and the girls are already that old. We not only get to enjoy our youth together, but also enjoy our kids as they get older. Then I feel at ease that we made the right choice of having them when we did. We had a chance to enjoy each other before having kids and we’ll still enjoy each other after having them too. There is always a rainbow at the end of a rain- and I believe that all the more now.
Currently reading: 90 Minutes in Heaven
Looking forward to: Wisconsin Dells and Mall of America Trip
I have literally been reviewing many many strollers this past month. It was like my new addiction. I wanted to buy one stroller each for the girls and also a double stroller, which a lot of people found to be weird. They wondered why I don’t just buy a double and be done with it. Well the answer is simple. Dex and I hate the thought of having to push that big ole double stroller around. It’s hard to fit into tight spaces too. We are together most of the time when we are out with the kids. We prefer to push them separately and we can have that piece of mind that one person does not have to be “stuck” with both of them. The double stroller I want is lightweight and not bulky, but I will work into talking my hubby into wanting it because it comes with a hefty price tag. Anyway, I couldn’t believe there were so many stroller blogs out there. Plenty of reviews for every stroller you can think of. The two choices I made had 95% excellent feedback from all buyers. Here is the reviews I had posted to several blogs with similar crazy moms on the hunt, such as myself.
To all you soon to be new moms out there, be sure that the one thing you SPLURGE on when you buy baby stuff is THE stroller. Jasmyne is now turning three and it is the one thing we use 100% of the time. I should have changed her stroller long ago when it was becoming annoying to push the damn thing, but I kept thinking it would be a waste. If I would have just bought those better equipped, all wheel suspension, fully loaded and fancy expensive stroller from the start, then I wouldn’t be going through this now. I spent $200 on her first stroller. Although it is a lot of money, I could have doubled it a little and been done with it for the next 5 years of her life. I think it would have been well worth it for it’s use. So I was glad to have found the best stroller for her at this age. The Quinny Zapp in Pink. It is lightweight at 18 pounds and easy to fold. It also comes with a rain cover and travel bag with the price, which ALL other strollers would be extra. It’s cute and smaller because she just needs it to stroll in. She is more on her feet now when we are out. Almost all reviews state that you can push this thing with one hand, regardless of how heavy the baby is. I’m so happy with this choice.
For my 6 month old baby Janelle, I decided to go with a little more supportive stroller. This will be the stroller that she will be using to the very end. It came at a good price and received VERY GOOD reviews from hundreds of sources. Plus it has the patented one hand fold, which is a plus when you have two kids. It is made by Baby Jogger, but the stroller itself is not for jogging purposes, so don’t be deceived. You should see the videos on its website. It will have you sold! It comes in nice colors and extremely comfortable for the baby and the parents.
I can’t wait to get them in the mail!
The other day was Jasmyne’s first day of her On My Own class at our park district. It’s basically a prep course prior to pre-school, which she will hopefully start in the fall. She’s already enrolled and accepted for their program. It’s just a matter of her being fully potty trained at that time. Anyway, she was super excited to start “school” and mommy was secretly anticipating it too. She really is not exposed to kids intelectually. She plays with her cousin David often, but he is not really talking yet. She’s always playing at the Play Yard at Woodfield Mall, but that’s more like a gym. None of the kids Jasmyne’s age are really talking to one another. Jazzy tries to introduce herself, but other kids run away from her thinking she’s crazy. So when we got to class, it was surprising for me to see how familiar she was with it. She sat on the table next to another student. She sat there and she sat there, as if she was waiting for school to start. I’m assuming it’s from the cartoons that she watches. The teacher kept calling her Jasmyne and she would respond by correcting the teacher saying her name is Jayda. She told the girl next to her: My name is Jayda. What’s your name? It was so cute.
The parents stay for the whole time only during the first class, so it was so much fun on my end watching her interact with other kids. It will definitely teach her how to share. I noticed this right from the start. The letter of the day was F, so they had to make Fans by attatching Feathers to paper plates with glue. Lily, her new friend, took the glue that was in between them. She grabbed it from Lily and told her that was “mine”. We were told not to interfere too much, so I couldn’t really react. The teacher told her she had to share the glue, to which she did after she put some glue on her plate. After that project was done, it was basically an open class in which they could do anything they wanted. They could play Legos or play with the kitchen or color or play in the sand box. So Jayda decides to play in the kitchen with some of the other kids. When she got bored, she told the girls: Let’s go! Let’s color now! Come on. Follow me. The girls did follow her over to the desk, to which Jazz proceeded to give them each a marker. She told them to color with THOSE markers. When they put it down a minute later to use another one, Jazz told them NO! They have to color with the marker . She was handing them back the original marker she had given them, to which the girls took and used again. We were all pretty much laughing and thinking how cute it was. The other parents were asking if Jazzy was my kid, to which I had to admit to! Hahaha. The teacher had to remind Jasmyne and another boy throughout the whole session that they had to share, to which Jasmyne politely obeyed. The teacher told me it was normal and that it all gets better once socialization skills are better. I don’t know about you, but she was socializing just fine- maybe even too much. Some of the other kids were pretty shy, but once they get the hang of each other, Jazzy will start to correct herself. That is according to the teacher. We’ll see how next week goes. This Thursday she’s got Toddler Gym and Crafts. Basically a gym and crafts group, with the organized help of a teacher. Again, my main goal is for active and organized socialization with other kids who are talking. Being an “only” child in my family makes it hard to teach her how to share with other kids when there is not that much opportunity to expose her to it. I’ll keep you guys updated.
As soon as we got home, we taught her that when she is in school her name is Jasmyne. When she is at home and with family, her name is Jayda. Oh what have I done. I’ve got her all confused. She pretty much understood it though. Thank goodness Janelle is what it is- Janelle. That was my goal exactly.
I was home with the kids alone today, and they both did so well. I am so tired though. Janelle woke up at 600am and Jasmyne woke up at 630, which is unusual for her regular waking time of about 1000am. When they finally napped around noon, I got some tasks done. This included cleaning up our nastified room. I’ve been wanting to post it on here, but have not had the chance to. Jasmyne has been using the potty. Not religiously, but sure enough she has been going to pee in there at least twice a day. She was originally using the potty toilet seat, but I soon figured it wasn’t doing the trick. She’d sit on the toilet and flush and wipe, but not pee. So we actually bought her those “personal potties” that stay on the floor and that of course did it. I don’t know why, but it did. She has also not been using her pacifier now for the last four days. She goes to sleep without it. She asks for it, but soon forgets that we didn’t give it to her. Yes! Mission slowly being accomplished. Now I just have to hide it from the Grandma to make sure she’s not secretly getting it when we’re not around. This weekend, Dex and I are off. We are starting Janelle on her solids already. Can you believe that? Well if you can- I CAN’T! It’s been a breeze. So Saturday is the day- and I’m sure my little chunky monkey baby will love it! I can’t wait! The other day, I was feeling somewhat guilty. Janelle has barely been put to sleep in our arms since she was a newborn. Actually, she cannot sleep being rocked in our arms. She hates it. We “trained” her so well to sleep in her bed- alone! It’s kinda sad to think about it now. I get to hold her and play with her, but we can’t cuddle her to sleep. We leave her alone in her room and come in when she cries on the baby monitor, which is usually once a night. It’s sooooo much easier for us, but I just feel so guilty. We did the exact opposite for Jasmyne, and although it was extremely hard, we were really that much closer to her. We can’t even kick her out of our bed and bedroom. I realize that I can’t turn back the clock, but in the future, I’m sure I’ll appreciate it. I just can’t help but feel this way for now. People say I am too hard on myself and that many parents pick this route- for the obvious reason of it being much easier on the parents. I hope she doesn’t throw a fit on the airplane when we can’t lay her in her swing or crib to sleep. Yikes! So when we’re out, it’s kinda bad. She knows that night time means longer sleep and it also means her crib. She knows when she’s in her crib and therefore she knows its nighttime. So when we’re out and about and it’s past her bedtime, she has a fit- and I’m talking about tantrum attacks. Girlfriend wants her sleep and her milk when she wants it. There are no if’s', and’s or but’s about it. I hope the weatherman has it right. It’s supposed to be beautiful weather over the weekend. I can’t wait for this winter crap to be over with. I’m so over it. I hate it. Because of this fugly weather, the girls are still sick. I hate that I cannot give them any medicine. Janelle has terrible nights, which is the reason why I am so tired today. She could not sleep for the life of me last night. She couldn’t breathe through her poor nose- which is already too small to begin with. I need shoes and more clothes for our little vacation. Speaking of which, we had our taxes done last week. IT’S GREAT! Never quite had that much before, but I’ll take it. I think I deserve me new bling-bling and a purse. The hubby okay’s it, so we’ll see. I’ve been into accessories as of late. Jasmyne has got a new whole wardrobe for the summer. So much cute stuff. I just can’t seem to talk the hubby into buying her different shoes. Hello! It’s part of the steelo. Took pictures (or planned to take pictures) of the girls. Jasmyne was being bratty and absolutely refused. She was all made up with hair and matching dresses, but she wouldn’t budge. We’ll have to come back and do it again. Janelle’s came out cute, but not too much variety cause she was also getting crabby. Our photographer SUCKED! It was so stressful. Now I know why I’ve only taken them to get professional pictures but once- and that was when Jasmyne was 6 months old. A lot of poeple can’t believe that, but I’ve seriously only taken Jasmyne to get her pics once. That in and of itself was a horrible experience and we spent LOTS of money and I vowed never again. So with this experience of crying baby and a fighting toddler and trying to get the right pose in- NEVER AGAIN. Okay maybe not never, but you know what I mean. Anyway, I have run out of things to babble about- even though there are a million things rushing around in this little head of mine. Back to work tomorrow. I need to knock out. You all have a wonderful Thursday. Enjoy the weather- cuz according to the weather man, it’s gonna be good!
Janelle was finally baptized this past Sunday and it was a really touching ceremony. I had been so anxious about her getting “dipped” full body into the Holy Water Fountain that I didn’t even imagine how beautiful it could be. It was exactly that- BEAUTIFUL! The ceremony at the church and the priest that delivered the mass was perfect. I was almost in tears as she was getting baptized into the holy water, but I had to hold it back. It was as if she emerged from the water and her cry and expression on her face was like when I first met her on her birthday. It was awesome. I almost feel like I should go to church on Sundays now. Honestly, I realized that I should be exposing my children to it. I grew up going to church every Sunday, and although I am not the most religious person in the world, it was definitely something that became a part of me. Jasmyne was at the church for her fourth time, if even that. I almost felt selfish that she is not exposed to it. She didn’t even know she was at church or that she had to be quiet. She actually thought it was a play ground and she was “playing with the kids”. Thankfully, she wasn’t obnoxiously loud, but still I felt guilty. Being a parent makes you realize how selfish you can sometimes be. I can’t even spare an hour one day of the week to at least expose them into religion/church! I think that is something I want to change this year!
The reception afterward was somewhat a disappointment. Everyone was there and it was a good party, but the restaurant was a total rip off. RAM Restaurant and Brewery SUCKS!!! Small servings of everything and they tried to reduce and cheat us off of the burgers we had ordered. Good thing the hubby counted that there were 9 burgers missing from our second order of burgers! We had previously ordered a set amount of food and quickly realized we had to order almost double of what we originally ordered. People kept coming and the food kept going. Their skewers were ridiculous. It literally could have flown away if it was windy inside the restaurant. It was unbelievable. The bill was ridiculous for what was served. We had open bar, but barely anyone even drank, so the foot of the bill wasn’t even alcohol as we had expected. Everyone came who we invited. It only held 60 people, so we kept it strictly to immediate family and friends, even though we wanted to invite so many people that we worked with. Oh well. I couldn’t find a bigger place in a short amount of time. Most places were booked for baby showers and wedding showers for all the April and May festivities.
All in all, it was a good but tiring day. We started early before the mass to pick up the balloons and cake. Then it was off to the restaurant to decorate for a little bit. The kids had it even worst- but they did so good for not being able to nap or rest. I was especially proud of my little star of the day- Janelle. She was just so happy and smiling at everyone and nap free for the whole day. Check out the pictures on my Flickr Site.
Oh and speaking of holiness, I am giving up rice for Lent. This is the first time I am ever giving up rice. I hope to stand by it. I wanted to give up something I couldn’t do without- so there it is.
PS: I did tell God that I will have rice only on one day during Lent. That will be during my trip to Vegas. I hope he listened to me and understands. Otherwise, like I always say, I’m going to hell dude!
One of the most important things for Janelle right now is to have some tummy time. This will enable her to exercise her muscles so she can start holding her head up by herself. Once she gets through that, she will be able to start eating solids! I’m so excited. I think Janelle is the type of baby that will LOVE to eat. Here is her most recent picture taken this morning (really early) with my Blackberry. Good job baby! I can’t believe she is already three months old.
In other news, I can’t wait until Friday. Dex and I will finally have the day off together and have a family day. Yay!
Things have been hectic lately due to the fact that Dex and I have opposite schedules. It is rough and I haven’t been out anywhere (besides work) since the first week of the month. I also put in a four day work week this week, plus I took a CPR and ACLS course on one of my days off. I was tired! I haven’t worked four days in a week in a long while, especially not since having another baby! Next week is another four day week, then it’s back to normal. That one day makes a difference in the paycheck, but it also makes a difference in my energy. I AM SO TIRED by the end of the week! Since I don’t have that third hand around on my days off, I am strictly taking care of the kiddies. Bath time and feedings and time for games and all that jazz. I really haven’t had the time for myself. As selfish as it sounds, everyone needs that little moment, if even for an hour! I can’t wait until Friday, cuz finally Dex and I are off together. Even on our days off though, we will still be juggling tasks. Jasmyne has her 2.5 year MD appointment and we have to go to the church and restaurant to prep for Janelle’s Baptism. Dexter’s parents are also going to be arriving from the Philippines, and I finally have a dental appointment as well. After that, we have to do our shopping for all the stuff the kids are running out of and of course, some groceries. I’m feeling the busy bug already!
With all the things going on and how tired I’ve been feeling, it has been extra hard trying to accomplish another task: Potty Training. Jasmyne loves to sit in her special seat, but hasn’t pee’d in the toilet yet. She just loves to sit there and flush and waste the tissue. I still give her lots of positive feed back just for even sitting there as long as she does. I bought her training panties which she loves. I think next week, she cannot get tissue or flush the toilet unless the waterbowl turns a different color- YELLOW! No more mister nice mommy for her! I will have to make sure my mom does the same. Training kids to use the potty and sleep in their own beds takes lots of patience and TIME! Jasmyne loves her bed, but it takes her so long to fall asleep and she wants you to lay your head by the foot side. Ugh- Dex and I barely have the energy to hold our heads up sometimes. Then we give in and lay her right next to us and all three of us dose off in a heart beat! Its so easy to fail as parents cause we are looking for the easy way out right now. We’ll get better soon, hopefully. I am determined to have Jazzy-Poo potty trained before summer!
Janelle’s swing is broken, so right now, I have to manually move it for her. She uses the swing during the day, and I reserve her crib ONLY for night time use. This allows her to know when night time is and hopefully trains her to sleep longer at night. It works for the most part, cuz her bed time is 845pm and she doesn’t usually wake until about 330am. If she slept that long during the daytime nowadays, we would be in trouble! She is definitely having longer wake periods during the day- and she LOVES to laugh! We just need a new swing, cuz I cannot be stuck in this room every single day.
Here’s to another random post… and a better work week!
