Your mom goes to college!!!

Don't know what Your Momma jokes have to do with this post...I forgot what I was gonna write, because Elizabeth began crying. She's up from her nap. 

"Oh, I know!", I was gonna say that the weather forecast is like those Momma jokes. The Weather Channel sucks, or at least, has sucked these past two days.

On Monday I had to go drop Emerson at a place where he was gonna be picked up because he had to go to a course, and I needed the car to go to the library. There was no storm predicted. Suddenly, the sky got almost black, and the hospital where Libby was born, which we could normally see in front of us while driving, just disappear, and it began pouring.

Then, yesterday, a heavy storm was predicted, but Grandma wanted to go buy shoes, and we went for a walk in the morning, but it seemed like it wasn't gonna rain. 

It was supposed to start raining at 11 am, and then they changed it to 12, and then to 1 pm. So after lunch, I packed everything and I said, "Let's go to buy shoes, and we'll hit the zoo rain or not." 

By the way, during lunch Libby prayed that God would stop the rain so she could enjoy the zoo.

We had a good time at the mall. She fell asleep during the ride to the zoo, and woke up just when we got there. So she was in a very good mood to look at the animals.

Getting hungry...

"Look, Mom, fishies!!"

Grandma showing her the turkeys.

We went to the Petting Zoo, and I thought she was gonna be all over the animals, because she doesn't seem like one of those babies who would be afraid of petting them. But when we got next to the cow and Grandma was guiding her hand to touch it, the cow made a sudden movement and that scared Libby to the point that she screamed and began crying, ha ha ha!!

Poor baby!! And then I was just teasing her telling her that she is all like, "La vaca, muuuuu" with her animals book, and then when she had the opportunity to actually touch one, she cried. 

I wanted to try again with the goats, but then I thought that maybe she is not ready to touch any animal that is not Dori for now. Maybe later, when she is older, it will be her idea, and everything will be okay. 

I hope they make steaks out of you for scaring my baby.

At 5 pm, she got a little cranky, but it was because she was hungry, but as soon as I gave her her usual smoothie, she got all her batteries charged again, and was laughing. 

Getting hidrated

Mommy was starving by that point, so we tried to see the giraffes, but they went in as we were getting there. The lions were sleeping, and the elephants were inside the barn. So we decided to leave and go to Specs to have a sandwich. When we got there, Libby needed a diaper change before getting dinner.

Emergency pit stop

We had dinner, and she was all smiles, and actually, she took a leg out of the high chair. She is such a good baby, and so sweet. I love her so much.

Daddy called us asking us to pick him up, so we went for him, and we all came back. Libby got her bath, her formula, and went night, night. She woke up today at 6:30 am.

And a new day started. We are so blessed by having new days with her... We have done the same things we do everyday. We had breakfast, went for a walk, took a nap, had lunch, and she is playing now with Grandma.

She is amazing, and I can't wait to meet our new baby in 27 more weeks :)))

Apr 3, 2012. Having dinner at Specs

Grandma is here

There is no time to waste because Elizabeth is having her morning nap, and I have tons of things to write.

So, Grandma Azu got here a day later because the airline messed up and oversold tickets. Because of that we couldn't go walk with her Saturday morning. Libby, Daddy, Mommy and Dori went together, tough.

After that, she took a nap, and after lunch, we went to pick up Grandma at the airport. Then we went to Canino's; and after that, we went to Ikea to buy a plastic cover for the dining room area where Elizabeth eats. 

Daddy thought it was a good idea to cover the carpet because it has been stained with all the food Libby throws to Dori. I had already told him we should buy something like that, "But nobody listens to ME, and now we have a boyfriend in the house."

Daddy bought for her new toys for her to play with, a little house with shaped holes to put the pieces in, and some building blocks.

Playing with her new toys

Playing piano with Dad

Going after one

This girl has a lot of energy, as Grandma can tell. We are so blessed to have her as our daughter. 

All I know is that God keeps answering our prayers day after day, and He's keeping her safe.

Would you believe that she took off a little plastic piece from a door stopper and was chewing on it for at least two minutes?

Coming back

She was playing with the door stopper, and we could hear the sound of the spring going back and forth, and then she went to the bathroom, and I had to go after her, but only because I knew I had left the door open. 

When I saw her, she was drooling a lot, and I asked her what she was chewing in an alarmed voice. Daddy got there, put his finger inside her mouth, and out came the plastic thingy. How come she didn't choke?

Exploring Grandma's suitcase

God, thank you, thank you... Maybe she is teething, and wanted to chew on something. Maybe she wasn't hungry. Whatever it was, thank you, God. 

Well, that was on Saturday. Then, on Saturday night, or more like in the middle of the night, Elizabeth woke up at 2 am. 

Getting down carefully

She never stopped crying and couldn't get back to sleep. I tried to rock her, sing to her, but nothing happened. 

Daddy ended up taking her out for a car ride, and they stopped at IHOP. They had to leave because a couple was fighting and they got really loud, and nobody said nothing. 

He says she was all excited, but on the way back, she fall asleep.  

Apr 1, 2012. A dog's night at IHOP

On Sunday, we went to buy stuff at Sams, and other than that, we just rested because of the night before. 

On Monday, we went to the library to story time with Grandma. Elizabeth woke up just before it started, so she was kind of shy, but she warmed up at the very end. 

A boy was taking all the toys she was playing with away from her. I was just -hypocritically, I have to say- smiling. What do you want me to say? I wasn't happy this boy was being a douche with my girl, and that his parents or grandparents weren't around to tell him not to be an idiot with my baby, and let her play with the toys she had in the first place!!

 I just smiled and let him have them. I was telling Elizabeth, "It is kind to share toys, baby".  I was thinking at the same time, "It's just that this boy it's a selfish bastage, that doesn't know what sharing means."

But anyway, when she was down to one toy, and this boy was about to take it, I firmly took his hand and said, "Uh, Uh...we are playing with that one, thank you", and smiled (while at the same time my eyes were telling him, "Don't even dare to take it from me, because you won't have it. I don't care if I'm the grown up here, you won't have my baby's toy, asshole"). 

So he left, and I felt like Super Mom, defending my baby's toy from this 2-year-old jerk. I normally don't say bad words, and I never write them, but don't mess with my babies, because I will kill you. 

In the other hand, there was  very sweet Asian girl who was giving Libby a lot of toys to play with. She actually would put toys in front of Libby to grab. She deserves to be put up in my blog. 

Sweet girl in blue

Maracas' Baby

So that's it for now. Next post is about yesterday, Free Tuesday at the Zoo :)))

"Uh, uh... Don't mess with us or Mom will get you"

Not just one more day

Some mornigns, well... many mornings... Okay, let's say most mornings I wake up - if I was asleep- listening to Elizabeth's cry. Either because she's up and ready for the day, or because she has been awake for a long time, but playing with daddy in th bedroom. 

I have to confess that when I wander in the kitchen at 12 am, I, excitedly, always think, "Great, I still have five hours to try to sleep", but then, after many trips to the bathroom that have nothing to do with the fact that I'm pregnant (oh, yeah... I'm pregnant), I usually stumble with my nemeses in the kitchen, the clock, at three and at five in the morning. 

When I see it's 5 am, my thoughts are not as exciting as I say, "Oh, God, please help me sleep, just thirty minutes, and make Elizabeth sleep in till 6:30 or 7 am", but that almost never happens.

I don't get mad at God or anything for the fact that my daughter has her internal clock very well tuned. She's up early because she goes night, nights, at 7:30 pm, or 8 pm, tops, almost every night. And this is my life, and I love it, I do love it.

So, when I hear her coming from the bedroom - either crawling or because Daddy brings her to me- my thoughts change radically to "Well, here it goes for no sleep. Oh, God, please give me stregth for one more day with this child".

By the way, I sleep in the living room lately because Elizabeth makes noises at night and that doesn't help me. 

Most mornings I  am tired, and I want to say it's because of the pregnancy, because it wasn't as bad before. I'm tired, but I get up and start preparing her bottle, and if it's very early, sometimes I let her watch Harry The Bunny, while I prepare breakfast.

So anyway...I say all this because the other day I was at the library for Libby's first story time. It was sweet being there with her and watching her chase other people's shoes, crawl with other children, almost kind of fight over a toy, get excited and actually clap for a while with a song... but I think I was more excited than she was all in all.

Learning her ABCs, never too early

Picking a book to read

But watching her being her made me remember a sermon that I heard Andy Stanley preach once about our time on earth. He made an analogy with marbles and time. 

There's actually stuff on the internet that tells you to put in a jar as many marbles as weeks you have left before say, your daughter goes to college, and then each Monday start subtracting one at a time.

At first the marbles may seem like you had a ton of them, but little by little, there will be less and less of them. Your heart will shrink as soon as you can actually see through the jar, even if that still represents years... What would you feel when you can actually count them without getting them out??

Andy Stanley's sermon wasn't like this, it was the same thing, though. He said something about putting a marble every time you read your Bible, or every time you check Facebook, or every time you read a book, etc. The jar with the most marbles will tell you what you do with your time, and ultimately your life...

At that point in my life, when I listened to this sermon, I think I wasn't even pregnant. I don't remember, but I know my full jar would've been the facebook one, but not anymore. I still check facebook, but I bet now a days the "Chase a baby all day long" jar will be the hands down winner. That, or the "Washing Dishes" one.

Andy talked about Psalm 90, which is the oldest Psalm written, Moses wrote it. I read today, before writing this, that the are different theories on when exactly it was written. 

Some commentaries suggest it was when Moses was around eighty yearls old, forty years after he had been wandering in the desert and running away after killing an Egyptian. Other commentaries suggest it was forty years after being wandering in the desert after leaving Egypt, before he died, when he was 120 years old. 

Whatever it is, or I might say whenever he wrote it, here's what struck me today:

 Psalm 90: 4 

"For a thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by, 

or like a watch in the night"

    

I wonder if Moses at the end of his life wondered what the hell had he done with his life, leading all those bastages (like Mr. Bob says), stiff necked people (like God called them)? 

Forty years being a shepherd, and then forty years being a leader, and for what exactly? He couldn't even enter the Promised Land... it was his fault, though. 

But my point is this: the people just complained, and complained all those years. It was just a some-days-trip, and these idiots -like all of us- blew it for not following God. Moses was Moses, he did right in the eyes of God, but most of us are not Moses. 

That's the Christian walk, and that's life in general. You chase after the wrong things, and then, in the blink of an eye, yo turn back and wonder if what you did with your life was worthy ... 

I think sometimes that I have to be with Libby one more day, but it might be my last one. 

What if it is? 

"Daddy, our N is here!!"

"Victorious!!"

I'm not going to overreact like some girls on bible study thinking that everyday might be my last because that's sick, and because I have to accept that fear sometimes grips my heart. 

But after story time, I reflected that a long time for me, like, an afternoon when Libby doesn't stop in four hours, is but a tiny millisecond in God's sight. 

I will be like Him, like Jesus, when I die, the Bible says so. Do I want to be in Heaven and realize that four hours weren't actually that much time? I do need rest, I do. But my daughter needs me, and she loves me. 

That's why I don't get a shower in the mornings, I rather being with her in our pajamas and read our Bibles, or sing songs, or read books, or everything she wants to do, just doing things that matter. 

I'm not perfect, but I want her to remember how silly Mommy was all the time. 

Psalm 90: 12 

"Teach us to number our days aright

that we may gain a heart of wisdom"

If you ask God to teach you something, it's because you don't know how to. That means that not just because  the days pass, in other words your life, you get wiser. I know old people who are stupid. 

God needs to teach you to number your days, so that you may grow wise at heart. This life goes by so quickly, I've seen it with Libby. There was this boy who took a cute interest in her at the library, he was like 3 years old. He looked for her, he put his face right on her face, and she actually smiled to him several times (son of a bitch...)

I'll have a talk with the boy in red next week...

I'm not thinking that tomorrow I'm gonna die, but if I do, I want to give my very best to my daughter. That's why lately although I'm tired, I don't say it's one more day because it's not. 

It's her life I'm living. That's in our prayers for them this year. That God will help us focus on Jesus, to set our minds and hearts on things above, not on earthly things. We are molding the lives of our children. They will look up to us during their childhood years. I don't want to disappoint them. And although I will make mistakes, I don't want those mistakes to leave scars that will never be able to heal.   

Mar 26, 2012. Mommy and Libby after story time.

Yesterday we had a busy day, we went for my 12-week ultrasound. Baby looks great and I'm free from house arrrest. I can walk with Libby and leave the house for more than ten minutes. YAY!! 

She got tired at 9 am, but the appointment wasn't until 9:30. So we went to the mall in front of the hospital, and after refusing to sleep for half an hour, she finally crashed at 9:20 am.  

Having breakfast at the lobby

"No night, nights"

Who's victorious now?? 

Then we went to pick up Daddy, and since we got there ten minutes earlier, we sat on the grass, but she didn't seem to like it. She did try to eat some leaves. 

Walking on the grass

My loves :))

Finally walking. We took Sammy. 

Mar 29, 2012. My loves sleeping

I'm tired now, my eyes hurt, but I'm almost finished. Chasing a baby (a baby and a toddler in my near future), doing dishes, and blogging fill my marble jars these days.

I don't know what else to say. I thank God every night for giving me one more day with Elizabeth, and every morning at breakfast we thank Him for one more day together. 

Raikika, I love you so much. Daddy loves you so much... please, never, ever, forget that.

Besides, what's not to love in this bunny who is about to turn one??  :)))

"¿Cuántos años vas a cumplir, Elizabeth? U-N-O, U-N-O"

Busy Friday

Friday was a busy day. We didn't talk to Mr. Jeff like we usually do on Friday mornings, so we took Daddy to work and we ran some errands. 

We had to stop at Panera first, so Libby could have breakfast. She had already drunk her milk while watching Harry The Bunny at 6 am., but still needed some fruit, cheerios and yogurt. It takes forever for her to eat if you feed her since she just plays and gets distracted. We had to stop every time someone had ice because  the noise would grab her attention. 

Off with the shoes

Chubby cheeks in action

And then, the socks

We sent some pictures to Daddy from Panera, and it wasn't our intention, but he felt he didn't want to be there anymore. He was missing us, and we missed him, too. 

At Caninos we bought fruit and vegetables, and she was asleep most of the time, that's why I didn't take any pictures. But we got invited to Jennifer's birthday party. She'll turn one on April 12.

When we were leaving the market she woke up, and so Mommy decided to go to Walmart.  

Seems she would rather be watching the bunny

At Walmart we overheard a lady talking on the phone about her husband who was in the hospital with liver failure.

It broke my heart and made me be thankful for our health, and Daddy's.

All we did was turn around and offer to pray for her and her husband, and she agreed. We may never know in this life what happened to Reuben.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

When we got home I was so ready to go to bed, I felt exhausted, but Libby talked to Grandpa Carlos on Skype, and she was full of energy. Then we went outside just to feel the sun in our feet, and enjoy the weather. I almost fell asleep in the chair, and so I decided to get in :)

Skyping with Grandpa

Playing dead, or tired

She finally got to bed at 2:30 pm, I wasn't sure if she was tired or nor, but I needed to rest so badly. She was very tired, too, because she was out in 20 minutes. I was so tired that I left a huge stain of saliva on the couch, I was drooling while I was sleeping!!

Finally when Daddy got home, the house seemed like a hurricane had passed by, I hadn't had time or the energy to wash the dishes, etc. But I felt so rested. We had dinner, and we went for ice cream to Orange Leaf. 

Trying frozen yogurt

It was good :)

And that is it. It was busy, but I love my family, and wouldn't change a thing. "Oh...Oh...Hello little ones, I'm Harry The Bunny. Do you want to see a cute picture of my friend Elizabeth?? She has two new teeth!!"

 I bet my husband was reading this with the bunny's voice in his head, ha, ha ha!!

Mar 23, 2012. Elizabeth and her two new teeth

Showers of vomit

Tuesday morning wasn't a good morning for my baby. To start with, she had been with a cold, and a runny nose for two days, and she woke up at 4:30 am. She couldn't get back to sleep, and she cried, and cried, until 6 am when I picked her up from the crib. 

I think I might me the worst mom ever for not picking her up before, but I thought she was gonna go back to sleep, and when I pick her up sometimes it gets worse.

Anyway, she had the cold, plus an early morning, and she might have eaten more than usual - I don't know what happened - but when I was getting ready to take her out of the high chair, she began crying like she was in pain, and when I lifted her up, "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRFFFFFFFFFFF!!", Raikiki began to vomit all over my shoulders, back, and also all over Dori.

I took her to the bathroom and she kept on throwing up in the sink util she completely clogged it. I had to wash her, myself, and Dori. I changed her clothes and mine, and did laundry. 

I won't go over how I needed to unclog it, but I was about to vomit, too, putting my hand in her already diluted vomit and trying to pull out all my hairs, that were already mixed with all the food that falls from her when we wash her hands and face after every meal...

Super gross, Nena!!!

But after that episode, she was happy crawling like nothing had happened, although she looked very white, like a ghost. I had to call the nurse, who as usual, escalated everything to the point that she might have a stomach virus, but I didn't think so. 

Anyway I followed her instructions, and monitored Libby for the rest of the day. She didn't throw up again, nor had any fever or pain. She ate a very good lunch and dinner.  

After a much needed three-hour nap, she was ready to go. Here's evidence of her recovery:

Trying to knock the gate down

Getting under the exersaucer

On Wednesday we couldn't go to BSF since she was sick, but we took Daddy to work, and came back to have breakfast and spent the morning reading our Bibles. We are in the book of Leviticus. I'm just reading her a chapter or less at a time, because it is kind of repetitive on how they were supposed to kill the goats and doves, and all that. 

So after lunch, we took (I took) a shower and went to have a smoothie to Jamba Juice, but before leaving I  made sure I had some good shots of her coming teeth. She posed for some of them :)

"Like this, Mommy?"

This Thursday morning I almost cried...after praying and reading, we read books, and I hold her in my arms while I was sitting on the couch.

I began singing to her Follow Me, and she reclined her head over my chest, in the same position I would have her if she was breastfeeding. I kept on singing for a long time, and I was there, just rocking her, and she wouldn't move.

"Here, I'll show you my tongue"

She would just listen and smile. She snuggled with me. I thought we would never do that, unless watching a show, but we did. 

We went for a short walk a while ago, just to the office to print something, and back. But it felt good leaving the apartment. I 'm so tired of being here all day long. I want the doctor to tell me I can exercise already.  

I forgot to mention that yesterday we also went to Walmart to buy lemons, well, limes, and we went to Hobby Lobby to buy some paper for a card that we made for Brooke Gordon.

We are going to babysit for her twins, if she trusts us first, so that she can have a date with her husband. It might be good to see  how life is with more than one baby. 

So this Jamba Juice place is not new, I have seen it, but never stopped by before. Actually I didn't know they sold smoothies, but their logo seems like fruity, so I thought it was something similar, and I got online and found out they sell healthy drinks and stuff, like fruit, and vegetable smoothies.

Who in their right mind would buy a celery, cucumber and carrot smoothie?? Not me, nor my husband... I like vegetables, but not in a smoothie. Maybe in juice, but not a smoothie. 

Sharing Mommy's smoothie

Crying after Mommy stopped sharing

So Elizabeth liked our Five Fruit Frenzy, it had banana, mango, strawberry, blueberry and peach. She really liked it. It was kind of cold, but not a lot. She is still sick, but she seemed fine to have smoothie. I didn't even remember she was sick, and she enjoyed it.  

So with my new iPhone, that Daddy generously bought me, I scanned a little thingy and I'm now a Jamba Juice insider, yeah right...

They'll send me offers and coupons. I actually got another coupon, maybe we'll use it this weekend. I rather go there for a healthy snack, than to Starbucks for a frappuccino. I only went for the coffee because it was a cold drink, but a cold smoothie is better. I guess it was cold after all...

That's it for now, she has woken up from her afternoon nap, so my time writing is up. My time being Karla - and not Mommy - ends now. 

Last, but not least, I'll leave you with a cute photo...

March 21, 2012. Mommy, and Two-Teeth-Elizabeth

My escape artist

Nothing happens in weeks, but then many things happen in a day, a very busy day...

Well, to start with, I forgot to post this photo of Libby and Mommy watching Harry the Bunny. I don't think there would be any other way for her to be so peacefully snuggling in my arms, unless we were watching that show. Well, that's why I missed so much breastfeeding her at the beginning.

Snuggling :)

Watching Harry The Bunny

I thought about it this morning while I was taking a shower. I don't miss it anymore. I mean, when I think about it, some memories come to mind, and I have a little nostalgia, but usually I end up smiling, not crying, like before. 

I'm over it now, not in the way you would be over an ex boyfriend, like you hate him, or something like that, but I'm fine. I know I'm more than two breasts, and that my relationship with my daughter has been strengthened by the fact that I don't put her love for me in my milk. 

Hopefully, that makes sense to you, it does to me. Hopefully one day it will make sense to her. 

She is trying to take a nap right now, so I actually have a little time to write. Yesterday when I came back from church, I saw that Emerson had put a wooden bech all across the wall, between the living room and the dining room. Libby seemed happy to be playing in her little fenced area. Emerson said it worked fine. 

I guess this morning she got tired of it, or was actually interested in escaping, because I was reading her a book, and then she went towards the fence - that  I had put there, because I was getting tired of having to go chase her every two minutes- and she just climbed over it.

I was surprised... actually five minutes before, I had thought about how long it will be before she could climb that. Naively, I thought she would have to be as old as Allison, a girl from church who is 18 months old.

I thought Libby would give Mommy 9 more months. Yeah, right...   

HOW TO CLIMB A FENCE IN FOUR EASY STEPS

1. We move forward

2. We make contact 

4. You pick your next target

3. You climb over

The very first thing I did was to grab the camera and the handy cam. "You need to post this", I thought. You need to post how your daughter is, day after day, more able to challenge you. Well, not really, I mean, she is not challenging my authority, I don't think. 

She is just exploring. And I felt so proud of her. So proud of her perseverance, and ability to solve problems. She is just darn right smart. Thank you, God, for creating her that way. 

Anyway... here are some more pictures.

HOW TO CLIMB A FENCE IN FOUR EASY STEPS  

(In case you missed it)

1. Lean forward, and make contact

2. Secure landing. Start lifting leg

3. Climb over with one leg first

4. Make sure the other leg follows

This morning, she also figured out how to open the cabinets where I have my scrap booking stuff. I didn't take pictures of that. I probably will. I need to start putting everything she can drink in the bathroom closet.

She is  menace... but not for the next couple of hours (hopefully) since she is napping :)

Time for Mommy to rest?  I wish!!!