A day (or two or three) in the life of...

Last time I blogged, I looked like this: (Pic of me w/Belly before changing into hospital gown for delivery) So, it only took me about 2.5 months but I'm ready to rejoin the outside world. Time to pick me'self back up, shower, change out of yoga pants and tees, rewire my brain to actually socialize with adults and remember who I am outside of just a Mom again. So, here goes! I'm on week 2 of being back at work. So far, it's going OK but it will be a lot better once the kiddos are actually at the daycare (beginning on Jan 2nd) so that I can really really focus. In the meantime, I do what I can but I hear Dora la Exploradora in the living room during the mornings, Izzy ordering her Mima (my Mom) to 'salta' (jump) or play her Gangham Style again and again. As I type, I hear a combo of Dora on TV, my Mom singing along with Dora, Izzy squealing, Baby J sneezing and Skeeter barking outside. So, yeah, focus is not on par with what it should be. I've been s...

So, at today's OB appt, after I expressed how badly I wanted this baby to come on his own and avoid an induction, the doc asked me if I wanted her to be a bit aggressive with my internal check to shake things up. I vehemently nodded and told her to beat up the cervix if she needed to. Are you loving the  lovely details yet? So, she then advised me to walk walk walk, so I went home and dragged my Mom and Izzy out for a good walk to get some Thai food which leads me to early In the evening when I started getting erratic contractions. Just in case it was the real deal, Cowboy got us in gear w/packing our hospital bag, getting infant car seat in place and I concentrated on real priorities: laundry, cleaning kitchen, watching documentary on early 80's rap... You know, stuff. Come midnight, I went ahead and put out the bat call for Mom to come on over because this show was getting on the road. By 1 AM, she was at the house and we were out the door by 2ish. So, here I am, hooked up to...

So, I went for my 38 week appointment today and did the whole heartbeat monitoring, fundal height measuring and then the Dr. kindly fisted me to find out if I'm progressing any. So far, my cervical goods are softening and I'm dilated to 1 cm. That feels so personal to put out there since it has to do w/my bits and crannies but it has to do w/eviction of Cowboy Junior so that should un-smut it up . So, this is good news for us because with Izzy, my body did NADA in advance. No softening of cervix, no dilation. Not.a.damn.thing. And hence going in for an induction at 40 weeks because they thought she'd be this big ol baby who would anhialate my bits and crannies on her way out. Turns out she was not big. She just had a big presence in the ultrasounds. In fairness to her, I think that was just her personality coming out already. Yeah. that's it... So, for my body to actually be doing what it's supposed to be doing, is AMAZING! Even if I stay here for the next couple ...

Ok, this is more for my purposes because I SUCK at that whole baby book updating thing but want to be able to capture this stuff somewhere. Izzy's vocabulary is growing daily and though lots of the words are muffled, I get what she's usually trying to say. Words that she yells out clearly now at exactly 16 months: Mama Papa Apple - Though, every fruit is currently an apple. She yells apple all throughout the produce department. Pointing to oranges, pears, plums, peaches as well as apples. ((shrugs)) Ball Leeshee - Tia Lisey Mima (Grandma Mas) Nana - (Grandma Dana)   Bebe - She puffs her tummy out, points to it and happily says 'BEBE!', then to my belly, then to her dolls. Pretty adorable. Boo Boo - If there are any bug bites or scratches, she incessantly begins the 'boo boo' announcement and points us to the band-aids to make it better. Loro (parrot in Spanish) Pelo (hair in Spanish) Up Down Caca pee pee ciao - she waves her hand and says th...

Izzy's got 2 additional teeth that are trying to break through (another molar on her right side and her right bottom incisor) so that's a total of 3 teeth breaking through right now. ouch. Poor Nugget has actually been such a trooper throughout this w/some intermittent crankiness but nothing intense. We're trying to think of ways to make this new addition to our family exciting but not 'the worst thing in the world' for Izzy as well. We're thinking of getting her a little baby doll and a nursery set for her baby doll so that she can get in baby mode and feel like she's part of this new baby world as well.  We'll probably get this ordered and ready for her to open while we're at the hospital. I had a (nother) hugely emotional moment on Sunday as she was snuggling with me on the couch and I started crying thinking that our time with just her as our 'baby' was dwindling and she would no longer be the center of attention. It made me so sad fo...

Tomorrow marks my 36th week of pregnancy. We now have a month left before this little Nugget joins us on the outside world and I'm feeling it. My hips and back are throbbing by the end of the day and there's no real comfortable position to sleep in so the goal is just to make it 4 more weeks and see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I went for my check up today and everything is on track. I'm measuring right on track w/36 weeks, 22 lbs up from where I started (which kind of seems unreal to me considering all that I've consumed in the past 36 weeks), all test so far have come back normal and nothing exciting really to report. Now we're just tying up loose ends like finalizing daycare registration for our 2 little ones (which will begin on January 2nd, eep!), putting together list of last things needed by the time lil comes home w/us (diapers, set up bassinet, etc..) and the game plan for when I go into labor (my Mom's going to stay here w/Nugget when this show...

Been having a tough past week or so. Super emotional, so any disagreement that Cowboy and I have is super intense for me. Sadness around in the air. My hips are killing me, especially my left side. It just throbs and radiates up and down my lower back on the left side as well.  I know there are 4.5 weeks left here but I'm ready. So is Cowboy. He hates seeing me in pain and and bummed out. Poor lil Nugget is teething pretty badly to the point that she wakes up crying. It's heartbreaking to see/hear. Aside from that though, she's smiley and happy as usual and chatting up a storm. Her vocabulary is starting to grow. So far we have: Mama, Papa, up, down, apple, ball, bebe, pelo (hair in spanish), thank you, no and lots of 'uh oh'. She's really catching on w/her body parts and comprehension in general.  She now is just a little person among us who's just a little rough around the edges but so are we so... ((shrugs)). Now, when it's time for bed and you tell h...

It's been rather uneventful on this front, clearly as you can tell from my lack of attention whoring it up here in the cyber world. Regardless of what my silly ticker says up there, I'm hitting 33 weeks and just 7 more to go. Holy smokes! I took Izzy in for her 15 month check up today and it was easy peasy. She's doing awesome. She high fived the Doc when he was done w/her check up and danced to music that I played on my phone as we waited for the nurses to come in w/the evil shots. Shots are teh suckage of my soul at these appointments. I distracted her w/a book as they in for the stabs and she suddenly looked at me in terror as they stuck her and wailed, then turned fuscia from the screaming. eep! Luckily, picking her up quickly, giving her snuggles and then turning the office light on and then off (not too unlike a rave) distracted her enough to help her recoup so then we were on our way. She seems to have stalled w/her growth/weight but Doc wasn't concerned so we...

Minus the whole biting off someone's ear, I'm totally turning into Mike Tyson. Last pregnancy, I got some strange little skin tags throughout the pregnancy that eventually just fell off (It wasn't leper-like, they just disappeared at some point and I didn't realize it) and grew a completely unnecessary troll-like fuzz on my upper jawline that eventually just fell out after pregnancy as well. So, all very attractive as you can imagine. This time around, I have some discoloration happening on my face that's not too un-like Mike Tyson's face tattoo. Same spot and almost same size. It looks like someone put sunscreen on my face everywhere except for on my right temple in the form of the state of Florida and that area tanned dark. Why? I don't get it, Pregnancy Gods. Why tattoo me up? As a marker so people will know I'm knocked up (not too unlike a 'baby on board' car sign)? I mean, because the huge belly won't tip people off?  I'm also rag...

So, here we go... Rowdy has been pummeling Izzy here and there since we've been getting them together to play but it's now getting worse and I'm having a hard time separating my defensive feelings for our Sweet One from defensive feelings which kick in when I see Izzy's eyeball smushed to the back of her skull repeatedly. Yeah, not fun. We had a BBQ yesterday and some friends came over.  Of those friends Rowdy and her parents came over. Cool, right? The girls are playing and once Izzy gets over her fascination of Rowdy (we really need to get her around more little people her age) she's getting into it. Unfortunately, Rowdy is more of an independent play type or playing with adults. When she plays with little ones, she gets kinda rough around the edges apparently and Izzy's not sure what to do with that. In the couple of hours that they played, Rowdy repeatedly smushed Izzy's face, stuck her thumbs into her eye sockets, would walk over to her and push her ove...

Seriously, our little Izzy has broken out of her hellian cocoon and is the sweetest, most lovable butterfly in the world! As I told Cowboy today, I sure do appreciate the 'right now' because I'm sure she's going to shuffle back into the spawn of Satan cocoon shortly and have me sitting with my eyes bulged, veins popping and trying to keep from yelling.  Maybe she really was teething badly last week and was just working through frustration. Maybe she learned a few lessons in her testing out her and my will last week and finds that it's not as fun to play with a drooling, exasperated Mommy. Whatever it is, me likey. She's been overly affectionate, sweetly talking in her secret Russian/Pig Latin language non-stop, actually listening and obeying when we tell her something is off limits for her and more independently walking around the house as opposed to being glued to my hip and screaming when she's off my hip. I'm starting to get a little cocky again, whic...

Izzy's being ridiculously happy and sweet since yesterday afternoon. I'm suspicious of her intentions... Maybe she's on and off teething? Maybe she's got an early onset of bipolar disorder? Maybe she's just as moody as her Mom... but worse?  Maybe she's preparing for our next battle? She also found an old pacifier when I was going through all her outgrown baby clothes and stuff, walked up to me, popped it in her mouth and kept pretending to suck on it and then taking it out and laughing hard. She's pretending to be a baby? ((shrugs)) Here's hoping the weekend keeps up in this goodness.  This may be what makes me find a connection to a higher power. By the way, when She and Little Cowboy are old enough, I'd really like to recreate this picture. I asked Mom to bring them back more Cholo gear from her trip to Bolivia this summer.  I'm hoping for very brightly colored parkas, hats and skirts. Oh and I'm officially 23 weeks pregna...

Someone on the forum posted a link to this blog today and it had me in tears this morning. Laughing so hard that I choked on my 3rd bowl of cereal. Amazing! I think Izzy's secretly blogging from Medina's house during the days... Honest Toddler Blog I was going to link to an actual post in the blog but can't choose between my favorites because they're all so painfully, hilariously resonating with me. I will say that Izzy does not wake up during the night. Er, at least not to the point she demands us to come put her back to sleep. She may wake up here and there, let out a quick wail and then is back to sleep before we'd be able to walk to her room anyways. I think I've officially crossed over from 'ZOMG, my baby is the most amaaaazingly sweet, well behaved, eats anything, loves me the bestest and your baby is an unfortunate suckage on your soul' to 'hi, my name is Clussy and my toddler is making me lose my damn mind'. I feel like my eyes may...

I'll just post what I posted on the Toddlers Forum yesterday to sum up the first part of my week: Battle of wills once LO turns 1 year old? "Little One just turned a year old last month and has been the sweetest baby up until recently. Seriously, she was always happy, started signing when she was hungry or all done and wouldn't just pipe up but now something's clicked and she lets out blood curdling screams if she doesn't feel like having her diaper changed, if you offer her more milk after she's only had a couple of oz and decided she's all done, if she's done eating and wants out of her high chair, if you try to take something away from her that she got a hold of which we may usually keep out of reach (remote control, phones, etc...) but were accidentally left out. This morning was the worst. We were in her playroom, having a grand 'ol time when suddenly she wanted my hair clip so she grabbed it from the floor next to me. A few minutes late...

No shock here, since they already guessed this little one was a boy but it was confirmed at today's ultrasound.  It was nice to hear and see the confirmation though.  So a boy.... Hmm... I'm not going to lie, I'm a little afraid of how the diaper changes are going to go.  Let's face it, it's a fact that I will have pee streamed into my face. Fact.  Here's hoping little Cowboy will be as (relatively) easy as our sweet Izzy has been thus far.  If not, well, we may ship him off to Oklahoma to get QT in with his grandparents sooner than we had planned. :-) I'm ready to shop for boy clothes now. Woot!

So we're at 20.5 weeks (that .5 is big. don't you disregard half a week in this 40 week journey!!11!!) so far in my pregnancy and over half way to meeting the other little one that's squatting in my uterus. To the right is a picture of me and thanks to technology, you can see my baby. That's really me and my hiney. Yeah, it looks that nice right now... Honestly,. I'm having a pretty good pregnancy aside from the headaches that are so infrequent now and getting big, which, well, comes with the territory.  I think I'm going to miss pregnancy after we have this one because I'll know that this is it and I'll no longer go through the hormone changes that pregnancy brings and along with that is the great hair, skin, eating extra (for the baby, of course) and feeling the kicks and hiccups in me.  So, that little part of me may miss the pregnancy but the majority of me is psyched to have my body back once this adventure is over and we have our little family al...

In the last year, everything changed. Life got fuller, love took on a new meaning and our family has been evolving.  Having Isabella has taught us so much about life, ourselves and giving up control over things that are just simply not in our control.  We were forced to become less selfish, learn patience (with each other mostly as we slowly come to agree on our parenting style) and watch in awe as this little person develops her motor skills, personality and will to plow forward.  I've realized that I'm not that different from other parents that used to kind of make me sigh in impatience when their baby would do anything (ie: smile, babble, take a hilariously stinky #2, [insert inane behavior/activity of choice]) and expect you to respond in excitement as well and you'd raise your eyebrows while trying to muster up a show of genuine disbelief at how amazingly adorable their baby is.  So, yeah, I get it now. I find myself so focused on the cuteness that is exudin...

One of the women on the pregnancy forum I'm a member of lost her unborn baby at 18 weeks and it just shook the group up.  She shared this news with the forum group late last week and it's been weighing heavily on my mind each night since. It made me think of our past and the 2 losses we had early on.  With Izzy, I'd pray * every night and give thanks for one more day with this new life growing in me. After 2 losses, I knew that nothing was guaranteed and that a successful birth of a healthy baby was certainly never guaranteed, so every day was huge for me (pregnancy w/her went by very very slowly). I still feel that way this time around. Every night I give thanks for feeling him grow in me and live another day.  Because of our past and because I've been around enough loss via friends, I don't take any of this for granted.  My heart breaks for each woman who's had to experience the loss of an unborn child. It's something that you never forget.  That blaming ...

Mother's Day was great this year. It included sleeping in for me and intermittently waking up to Cowboy and Izzy giggling throughout the morning. When I finally got out of bed, the two of them were watching Spanish cartoons. It was pretty darn adorable. So, off we went to start our day. Lunch w/Mas, flower drop offs to my Aunt and her Mom, then back home to break in Izzy's new inflatable pool and our new grill. New grill = a hit. New Pool = not so much. (please see photographic evidence below).  All in all, I was so at peace and in love with life and family.  With my ups and downs, I cherish the ups. The downs blow snot bubbles... Izzy's buddy, Rowdy came over yesterday. So, her name is Elizabeth. Her in Utero name was Rowdy and now her nicknames are Lizzy and Lizard. We mostly like calling her Lizard but, um, Lizzy goes with Izzy. I mean, come on. 4 Z's in 2 names. That's some powerful stuff. Si? ' I hate that I look *this* cute in my new swimsuit but this...

Izzy is all about trying to walk and she is hella determined to succeed.  Seriously, I wish I were this determined all the time. I'd get a lot done and would not let myself stop at the first failure or two. While she keeps walking, falling and getting back up, she's speaking her new language which she really wishes we'd learn already. It's the awesomest thing. ever!!111!!

I have a horrible horrible cold. Horrible. Did I say that enough to get my point across?  It started Saturday afternoon and blossomed into what I now call Mucosa Maximus Pregnata.  That means, I'm pregnant, uncomfortable, super super mucousy (like the really icky nasty colored type), can't take any of the good meds due to said pregnancy, my back hurts, I have no voice (whereas on Saturday, Dear Mishy was saying how sexy my voice sounded and Cowboy thinking I'm much sexier now that I can't talk at all. He doesn't need to *say* it, I can see it in his eyes. ((scowl))) and all of this is just intensified by having grown bigger in this pregnancy in just the past 2 days(seriously, it happened overnight and BOOM, I'm totally sporting a baby belly as opposed to the cookie belly I was sporting before). Ok, I needed to just end that sentence because it was driving me nuts. Mucosa Maximus Pregnata is affecting my grammar poorly, as you can read.  By the end of the evening...

We're going to need better cabinet latches so that Izzy doesn't get into the ones we're trying to protect her from. We got these from Amazon and thought 'yay, we don't have to drill holes into our cabinets and problem solved. boo yeah!'. Yeah, so Izzy was cruising around the kitchen yesterday and came across the detergents cabinet under the sink and found the new child proofing latch to be a fun game for like 7 seconds, then figure out how to jiggle it loose and then held it up for me and I think she mumbled 'boo yeah'. I thanked her and closed it again. She opened it again, then handed me the latch and some dish soap. 'Um, Gracias Isabellita, pero eso no es para ti'. (thanks but that's not for you). She understands that when I say that, it's off limits so she shook her head 'no', stared at the cabinet and wandered off to another one that she has free reign over.  Apparently I should have read the reviews more closely for this ...