Please excuse my absence

It's been almost a week since I've blogged. You know, life got in the way and I'm okay with that. Sometimes you just have to disconnect and take time for what's important. Like the people above.

This evening is the first bit of normalcy we've had since last Tuesday and it figures that I feel like death. I swear it came from the germ-fest that is Chuck E. Cheese; Gabriel and I went on Wednesday to meet up with my friend and her son. By Thursday, he was feverish, booger-y, irritable and all around sick. It just so happened that on this particular day, he also had an infection, meaning a doctor's appointment. The day I was supposed to packing and running around for our trip to Walnut Creek.

Oh, did I mention the power went out on Wednesday night? Yeah, that happened too. Didn't come on until the next day. It also is worth mentioning that El Centro's nighttime weather is currently hovering around 90 degrees. The windows were flung open and we woke up covered in mosquito bites.

We proceeded to spend 18 hours in the car this weekend. Saw my sweet, amazing cousin graduate from St. Mary's. My boys were so well behaved, I thought someone might have swapped them out for obedient look-a-likes. There were Don Ramon shots in honor of the original Don Ramon's 8th birthday in heaven. Cake. Lots of car. Lots of watching the movie Up on our car dvd player. iPad playing (I am 95% sure I'm buying one this weekend. Hands down best child distracter EVER). Headaches and sickies and wanting to cry because my head was going to explode and my ears were going to pop.

St. Mary's Graduation

Today was our first day back on a routine, Gabriel went to school and that sweet little boy did not make one peep when I walked out the door. He's starting to enjoy school and that makes me so, so happy. And of course, as is his way, he taught himself how to swim. There is no pushing or prodding with that child. When he is ready, he is ready. Just like with potty training and walking and crawling and coming into this world. Here's a video of him swimming across our above ground pool, so proud of himself...

From Drop Box

Anyway, I promise I'll be back to a regular schedule this week, although we're going on yet another trip this weekend to Camarillo. At least this is for awesome reason...I GET TO SEE MY BFFF WHO IS MOVING TO NY. I'm sad. And I'm happy. But I'm sad that I didn't take more advantage of seeing her whenever we visit Adrian's family. Oh well, now I have an excuse to go to NY! Woooooooooo.

That's all for now. No more rambling. Promise.

Oh PS, somehow I got lucky enough to squeeze in some alone time. I think I got a little spoiled because I'm sick. Whatever, I'll take it. It was heaven on earth.

PSS, I'm linking up with Mrs. M. for Monday Mashup. Goodbye.

The threes

There is nothing in my three and change years of motherhood that could have prepared me for the terrible-awful threes. I think this age makes me crazier than the baby blues. More depressed than the fact that we have no friends (except for one couple that has kids my age). More exhausted than when I was waking up at all hours of the night with Jonas.

Throwing a fit because he doesn't want to  perform
 in the  Mother's Day presentation.

Somewhere between two and three, something went wrong. Or he grew up before my eyes and now all of a sudden he has a mind of his own. He decides if he's tired, not me or the clock. He throws mega-tantrums where I swear the whole house shakes with his screaming. If he's in trouble and sent to his room, he kicks and pounds at the door and then I start to have nightmares of when he's sixteen and punching through walls or something. Remember when I said he was like me? Not Adrian, the relaxed, calm guy who I'm certain I've never actually seen mad. He's never once yelled at me. I can see my teenage self punching through a wall if I was a guy. Thank God I'm not. I really hope he's not a teenage guy version of me someday.

On Mother's Day, my mom and I were sitting at her table enjoying our coffee, and explained how I thought I might be losing my already-gray hair because Gabriel was making me crazy. That he fights me and yells and kicks and hits and screams and ohgodmakeitstop. I thought she would impart on me some infinite mom-wisdom about how it all gets better and give it a few months, but no. She pointed to her grays (dyed, of course) and said that we gave her every single one of them and I had plenty more ahead of me. She also pointed out how it was clear how much we wore her out because with each subsequent child (there were four of us), the rules were more lenient and the consequences less severe.

So, without much help from my mother, it hit me on Sunday night that I need to get crafty. Sneaky sneaky. I need to trick my child into believing that he's calling the shots but really, it's all about manipulation. I have a bachelor's degree in Psychology, I don't know why it took so long for this to dawn on me. Is that awful that I'm playing mind games with my three-year old? Whatever. I got him to nap yesterday without replicating a WWF match or tears.

I'd call that a KO.

Weekend

This weekend we celebrated my fourth Mother's Day. Man, that makes me feel so old. And wise, since I've survived four Mother's Days.

Adrian took the boys and I to Seaport Village where we rode the historical carousel, dined on the water and walked from shop to shop, leisurely browsing through knick knacks and things.

Gabriel and I held a parrot and it was awesome, aside from the fact that I was a little nervous that he might have the idea that my ear was a delectable treat for him to nibble, but alas, we both came away with all our facial features intact. 

Gabriel was dying to ride on a boat. As in, we heard "I want to ride on a boat" on repeat for two hours straight. Over. and over. and over. and over.

I'm not exactly sure why I look so disheveled here. And Gabriel looks like he just smelled a dirty diaper or something. It wasn't Jonas.

We gave my mom a cute little herb garden and this photo in a nice pretty frame. She was so cute, I thought she was going to cry!



We spent Sunday at Nana's house again this year and it was great to spend time with my aunts and fellow moms. The whole weekend was nice and relaxing, but I would say the coolest part was that Gabriel learned to swim and jumped off if the diving board! It truly is amazing to see him grow - last year, he was scared to even get close to the diving board and in the pool, he clung tightly to the wall. Now he's fearless. He jumps bravely off of the side of the pool. He keeps his cool and just keeps swimming when he gets nervous. I'm so proud to be his mama.

In other news, I applied for a job and have moved into the second phase of the interview process! I'm a little nervous and hesitant because we don't necessarily need the money, so I'm not 100% sold on returning to work. However, it would be nice to get out of the house and it's for the city so the benefits would be great. It would definitely be reminiscent of my days at Children of the Night, an emotional rollercoaster, because it would be in the Child Welfare department. Who knows what will happen...I'm looking forward to at least having the choice to return to work, so we'll see. I'll keep you posted!

And since this has become a random smattering of information, I thought I would tell you that I have become the Queen of baby food-making. Yes, I have become quite adept at creating bland, tasteless wonders. Who knew? But really, I can't believe I didn't do this for Gabriel. It is so incredibly easy.

Because we're talking food here, and I'm hungry, I'm making this for dinner. Or maybe this. I'm still undecided.

This weekend we're taking a trip to San Francisco to watch my cousin graduate from St. Mary's. It will be such a fun girls weekend - just me, my mom, sister, the boys and aunt. I can't wait!

How was your weekend?

This moment, 3:25pm, Wednesday

via

I'm watching Gabriel swim in his little pool right outside the sliding glass. 

Jonas is talking to himself on his play mat right next to my chair.

The rest of the house is quiet.

I'm staring at a bag of fresh, local avocados that I want to devour right this second.

(I have made plans for this in the very near future)

All is right in my world.

Tell me about it Tuesday #8

In honor of Mother's Day, I figured we'd have a mama-themed question!

Tell me about a special memory you have with your mom and something she did that you would like to use in parenting your own child(ren).


Memory: Right around my due date with Gabriel, we were in the middle of purchasing a condo and of course, it just so happened that we closed escrow while I was in the hospital. To say that the whole process caused us some stress would be saying it lightly. Since we knew we were moving, I had packed up our entire apartment in preparation before Gabriel was born. The night I was released from the hospital we spent our last night in an apartment, and then the next night I spent in a hotel room with my mom and sister while Adrian stayed at the condo working on some final touches. As a new mom, I had no clue what I was doing and was completely flustered when Gabriel woke up at 9:30pm wanting to eat. I was engorged and couldn't get him to nurse. I was crying, he was crying and we were both completely frustrated. My mom, ever the collected one, picked up my sweet baby and told me to go take a warm shower so I could calm down. When I came back out, she had calmed both he and I down enough to where he was able to nurse and drift off to sleep again.

My mom stayed with me from the day I got out of the hospital (Thursday) until Sunday because she had to return to work. She unpacked my entire house, made sure both Adrian and I were fed, cleaned and took over with Gabriel when I needed some rest. I will never forget those first few days of Gabriel's life with her and how grateful I was to have her there. When she left on Sunday, I cried and wondered how I would get through each day without her. She reminded me that I was her daughter and that I would pick it up just as easily as she had 23 years prior.

Parenting lesson: My mom sacrificed so much time and energy making sure we were able to take advantage of every opportunity on the "mountain." We all played at least several activities like t-ball, soccer, ballet, tap dancing, karate, softball, horseback riding, in addition to carting us back and forth to Alpine for CCD multiple times a week and church, shopping trips in town, piano lessons and various other things all across the county. She always made it to our games, which was especially appreciated because my dad was rarely able to get off early - she was always there. I want my kids to know that no matter what their interests, whether they want to go to art classes or fencing, I will always support them. I'll always be watching and helping and doing whatever I need to do to be there.

Tell me about a special memory or lesson from your mama!