Curse the van!

I absolutely loath when my children fall asleep 10 minutes before we pull into our driveway. I woke them up, they ate lunch and now they don't want to go back to sleep.

Have I mentioned how much disdain I have for this?

Healing Kisses

Being a mom you wear a lot of different "hats." One of my favorites is that of healer. You know, when your child gets hurt and they come to you to kiss it and make it better. Well this is a daily ritual with Jorge. Even from the simple stub of the tow to the finger caught between the chair and the table. I get to kiss them all better.

I've kissed toes, fingers, hiney's, armpits.. you name it.. all in the name of healing.

And daddy apparently does not have the same healing powers. Only mommy is allowed to kiss it.

Also, Jorge does not understand that there are times when I am unable to kiss it right away. Such as when I am driving, in the shower, uh hmm. .on the potty, etc.

One of the funniest times I have had to kiss a boo boo was when he grabbed my curling iron..while it was on and hot. Being the son that likes to put everything in his mouth (even at almost three) you can imagine what happened. He came running to me yelling, "mommy, I get hurt. I get hurt. Kiss it please, please now." I said, "okay, how did you get hurt honey?" " I stuck hot on my mouth. It hurt. Kiss it please." and then he stuck out his tongue and wholeheartedly intended for me to pucker up.

I kissed the side of his mouth hoping to appease him but to no avail. I truly had to kiss his tongue. Then I gave him Tylenol.

No more curling irons in the mouth. So as a mom enjoy your role as healer with kisses..and be prepared for the weird opportunities that may arise. ;-)

Cats and Dogs.

Depending on if you are a "dog" or "cat" person will determine what you think about my analogy. But this is my blog so I can post any opinion I want I just have to be ready for the response. Anyway... to me, generally speaking:

Dogs are: Loyal to a fault. playsome. affectionate. want to be with you at all times. even after you have gotten on to them you are still on their good side, they don't like to be left alone

Cats are: loyal (to those they want to be loyal to. no questions asked), affectionate (to whom they deem worthy), want to be with you (if you have something they want, or they decide you're worthy), if you get on to them you need to find somewhere else to sleep, and being left alone is their first option.

Well at dinner tonight (the Terry's came over: Mom, esther, rachel and ruth) Ruth mentioned that she kept trying to pick Miguel up but he kept saying "No." He didn't want to be bothered. She noted that Jorgito was not like that when he was the same age. Then the above analogy came to mind. Jorgito is our dog. Alex (Miguel) is our cat. Truly. Even with his daddy, Alex is like a cat. Mommy is the only constant. Just because I am with him all day. I give him what he wants: sippy cup of milk and food, grapes, goldfish, etc.

Anyway.. I thought it was funny to acknowledge the differences between our two boys. God is so neat in how he creates us and gives us personality.

Speaking of.. I have a funny story of our Jorgito at Walmart today.. and it involves pee. Another post later.

Recent happenings...

Playing together at the Zoo.


So many compliments on this shirt. Walmart. Priceless.


Nana doing a fabulous job containing her grandson in front of water.


Mowing the grass with daddy.

Perspective..

Well I was all ready to vent on this post about the frustration that I am having with Jorgito and his reverting back to pooping in his pull-up, no matter how many times he gets disciplined for it. He did it twice this morning in the span of an hour. Yet he will not go on the potty as he once had. I started this process March 24th. He turns 3 on June 10th.

Anyway, my attitude toward my child was less than compassionate. That is until I hopped over to Marsha's blog where she had a link to a blog for Steven Curtis Chapman. If you don't know, his 5 year old daughter Maria was killed wednesday when the family SUV struck her in their driveway. There is a video posted on that blog that just reminded me that life is more than frustration at these little issues.

My husband came home from work two days ago telling me that one of his coworkers went to the doctor that day (Wednesday) to get checked out because he didn't feel well recently. Turns out he has cancer. Yesterday Jorge told me that the guy found out (on Thursday) that it is Stage 4, started in his colon, spread to his liver and is now in his lungs. If he is "lucky", he will have weeks.

Big Jorge just kept saying, "all day, when I would start to think I was having a bad day i would remember him. He doesn't know how long he has to live." Now that's perspective.

I am thankful that the Lord helps me remember these people who are suffering through these horrible losses. I truly want my heart to be changed to add more compassion to my daily battles and see them as joys. Knowing that I do not know what today holds.

However, if you do have any wisdom as it relates to my potty training issue, please feel free to fill me in. Although, I think it would be more helpful if you have a son who went through the same thing. I just think girls and boys are too different in this area. Girls seem to catch on a lot quicker. Im sure its a struggle to potty train them too, but I think I need a mom who has been there done that.. with boys.

Thanks all..
and please pray for the Chapman family and for Jorge's coworker.

I think this is it!

Okay.. after searching and searching I think this is IT! I still have to run it by Big Jorge, but I think he will like it. Granted, the only reason I can even look at Pottery Barn is because I still have a gift certificate from Christmas two years ago. ;-)

Whatcha' think?

it doesn't do it justice on my blog so check it out here.

UPDATE: Big Jorge liked it so I ordered it tonight! Yeah! Thanks Mom and Dad Terry for the gift cards (from 2 years ago!). Woohoo! Pink!

We're Back!

FYI, I went to Orlando for 36 hours with my sweet hubby.  We left the kids with his sister and just got back last night.  We were there for my lil' sister's (Rachel Terry) gymnastics meet.  It was the National Competition for Level 10's.  Of course that is the highest level and for those of you who don't know she is headed to the University of Alabama next year to be one of their gymnasts.

Rachel did really well but was just half a tenth a point away from placing. Not a big deal though because it was an honor to be there and showed her abilities by qualifying in the first place.  

Big Jorge and I got to go to Sea World (no thrill rides because of the growing Eva).  My hubby took some pics with his cell phone. But other than that I didn't get any.  I am really getting horrible about taking pictures.  

 

And on another note.. I had a dr's appt on Friday. I learned that Eva is measuring TWO WEEKS bigger than she is supposed to. Of course they are going to do an ultrasound on her at my next apt (in four weeks). I was freaking out. Dr. Ross was telling me not to hyperventalate and that everything would be fine.. but I assured him that I wasn't sure of my ability to push out a huge baby with no drugs. He laughed and said she would be fine. Of course SHE is... Im the one that has to push her out!

We'll see. Well the boys are napping which means I want to try to nap too! ;-)

The RIGHT STUFF!

Hangin' tough... Please don't go girl... Funky, Funky Christmas.. Didn't I blow your mind this time.. 

Any flashbacks yet?  Are you seeing visions of your 7th and 8th grade year in junior high?  Big bangs, dangerous amounts of hairspray?  Tight rolled blue jeans?  Banana hair clips? 

Well ladies.. I KNOW that I am not alone in this world especially among women my age that were ALL about the New Kids On the Block.  Not surprisingly, I proudly attended 2 concerts here in the Ham (that's Birmingham).  I have a picture (that I will have to locate) of me and my bff, Lisa Stokes at Six Flags over Georgia, with a cardboard cutout of Jordan Knight.  I had the cd's, the christmas albums, the posters..although I drew a line at bed apparel.  

All this to say that I am bummed to find out this evening that their tour does not extend to the Ham...closest city is Atlanta on October 29th.  And I would go except for the fact that I will have a two month old.  But should that really stop me?  I mean that's what breast pumps are for, right?  

Who's with me? For ol' times sake.  In case, you don't think Im serious.. check this out!

Adios!

Property Rules For Toddlers

This was in an email that was forwarded to me:

Property Rules For Toddlers:
1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
5. If it's mine, it must not ever appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I'm doing or building something, all of the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
8. If I saw it first, it's mine.
9. If you're playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
10.If it's broken, it's yours.

Funnies...

Only a two, almost three year old can say these things.. (btw, he will be three on June 10th)

Any man he sees, "Mommy, is that my daddy?"

"AW MAN, I want the candy."

"Mommy, I like grapes." Instead of "mommy, I WANT grapes." everything is "I like" for "I want"

"Mommy, I toot." still announcing to those in the stalls next to us.

"Alex go night night, Jorge go night night. Mommy go night night. Eva go night night." (explaining that its nap time for everyone).

He doesn't understand the difference between "why" and "why not" so when I tell him we are going to eat at the house he says, "why not?" or that daddy will be home later..he says, "why not?"

these are funny to me. I guess its that cute little voice and those deep brown eyes that get me everyday.

"Get Well Soon"

Gotta love Mother's Day.

-Husband buys card. Toddler son picks out balloon; Get well soon. Love it!

-Toddler son finally falls asleep for a nap..five minutes before other toddler son wakes up. But today daddy gets up with him.

-only on Mother's day would your youngest toddler (19 months) decide to stick a partial pretzel up his nose. Blood soon to follow. Both parents manhandling the toddler while desperately trying to get the pretzel out. No luck. Time will tell (so says the nurse husband).

-mommy needs a break.. daddy taking kids to home depot. ;-)

Feliz dia del madres!

Happy Mothers Day!

I hope all you mothers have a wonderful day today. Remember those mothers who have lost one of their little ones, or that can't have any little ones.

I wanted to let you guys know something that happened to me this past week. As you may remember, our oldest son "sat" on our laptop and broke our LCD screen. A repair that would cost $600 for Apple to repair. Since we don't have that kind of money just hangin' around, we opted for Plan B: buy an LCD screen off of ebay and then have someone we know take a whack at trying to replace it. Cost: around $250. I had just received the ebay screen when I decided to take our laptop in to get some other hardware problems fixed while we still had our warranty. (the warranty would be completely null after replacing the screen without a certified apple technician doing it).

When I got to the store I was told by Bobby that they would not be able to fix the other hardware issues i had because of the LCD screen. It has to be fixed first. Well you see my dilemma don't you? I just put my head down on the counter and kinda moaned. Then Bobby said, "thats why Im going to just fix that screen for you then your other problems, no charge to you." What?? I know he thought I was probably some strange woman because I put my hand on his arm and said, "now Bobby, what did you just say?" His reasoning.. "everyone needs a break." And this was a decision he could make all on his own, no manager necessary!

So in a week I will have a "brand new" computer.

Happy Mothers Day!

Hello all! My name is Rachel and I have had a very stressful week. To sum it up:

1. One sick child..nothing major just enough to make him miserable (Alex).
2. planning to go out of town for this past friday night and be back by sat afternoon. That was for one of my bff's birthday. To make that happen there were literally four different people caring for my children over a 24 hour period. Thank you Christiana, Ciro, Mom and Cecy.
3. Very little sleep this weekend.
4. Started insulin on thursday. Blood sugar still too high and feel like crud but this week should be better since they can adjust the insulin now.
5. found out our Ipod is as good as dead. The board is bad. whatever that means.


Some neat things that happened this week:
1. Realized God is slowly taking away all of our technological devices.. so we are going to be amish.
2. The boys got high praises from the caregivers.. that makes me proud.
3. really feeling Eva moving and kicking..it is still much more dainty than with the boys. Ask me again in two months.
4. Mom got really excited and bought eva's easter outfit for next year. too cute. i mean really how in the world am I having a girl? I see these clothes and just can't put my head around it.
5. I got to eat some chocolate donuts when my blood sugar dropped. Yeah I caved. sue me! other women eat pounds of sweets and junk while pregnant.. im the goodie tooshoes (because I have to be) and so a couple of little chocolate donuts isn't going to kill me (okay, im done with my justification speech).
6. Seeing God do all kinds of awesome things in relationships that I have with others. Some of it through painful means..but oh so worth it.

Anyhoo.. I hope everyone is doing well and I hope to post some much needed pictures up here soon.

Adios!