Current Status

Aldo

Age 27, working at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Kansas City, KS as a Floor Manager. Also currently running a Teen Bible Study series on the Holy Spirit. And those two things pretty much take up his time. I'm currently looking for a different job for him. Something 9 to 5, weekends off, still close by and maybe a pay grade up.

Myself

Age 27, working from home (still basement of my mom's house) on my laptop doing the monthly newsletter for the local library. They love me there and offered me a position. Actually they offer me my job back almost every time I go in. But this time they offered for me to bring Mila and work in back. They were serious. So I'm actually considering it. Aldo says the church leadership wants me to be the secretary (crazy right?!) but I haven't heard any official word on that.
On top of those things - what else does a stay-at-home-mom do? When I was "stay-at-home" with Luke, I wasn't really, because I taught homeschool at someone else's house. So I still had a "job". Now I have a whole lot of free time, but it's restricted. Because Mila is so spontaneous. A friend recommended I find a hobby. So as to not go insane here's what I came up with:

• Take piano lessons. 
• Plan a Eurotrip. Or s trip across all 50 states.
• Listen to the Bible all the way through.

Piano lessons were inspired by Mila's long, beautiful piano fingers. Obviously I can't take lessons until she's able to take regular naps, but it's on my bucket list anyway. I've started research on Europe go-to places by watching documentaries (it's difficult reading books with s baby at home). Eventually, and yes it will take a while, I'll get a budget together, which will be our savings goal. Very long term. At least five years away. I guess I should mention saving for a house comes first, and before that paying off debt (thank you Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University), but for now it's on pause. And so far I've completed Genesis on my Bible listening.

Luke

Age 5, attending school at Basehor Elementary, Monday through Friday. He really likes it. Especially anything to do with library and reading (He's my child for sure). I hear from teachers that he's doing really well and seems as happy as can be. Today though he got off the bus crying. This little Violet girl is a nuisance - he told me the other day that she tattles on him and lies about him all the time. And then today she scratched him on the ankle and made him bleed at recess, then hit him on the bus twice. After questioning Luke intensively, I found out that he didn't initiate anything or antagonize, actually the opposite- he asked her politely to stop and that he didn't like when she hit him - it sounded like those "I Messages" we were taught in school when I was little to help with bullies. Did I mention how I have the sweetest kid?! On another note, I'd like to put Luke in sports or something. Maybe swimming lessons again. We'll see. Unfortunately until the bills are paid, we're penny pinching so extracurricular activities are hard to find.

Mila

Wakes up anywhere from 4-6 am. Falls back asleep until somewhere between 10-Noon.. And that's when we do "Tummy Time". We were taking naps together from 3-4 pm, but as of late I've been skipping out on that. And this week she's been waking up early and fussing when we pick up Luke. All the way until 6ish. That's rough. I've also been trying to take her off of formula and going solely breastmilk (succeeded the two days in a row), but yesterday and today at this fuss time the only thing that seems to make her happy is 2oz. of Enfamil. We'll get there. And the end of the night is guess work. Some days she's asleep by 10 and others by 3 o'clock in the morning. 

Current cuteness: She smiles at me. She laughs in her sleep. She tracks me across the room. And today we played the cooing copycat game. I love when her eyebrows furrow up. There was a lot of furrowing today. 

I Did Something Good Today

... I chose to hold her instead of put her in the swing.

Moms... Dads... Hold onto your babies for five more minutes. Go in for the extra hug and blow a special kiss. Read another bedtime story. They're kids for only so long. Take every opportunity to enjoy this time you have together. You may not have another chance; it's not promised.

... Annnnnd that's how I got the "Mom of the Year" Award. Just kidding.

Getting in the Swing of Things

All things have now kind of leveled out. It's still unreal to me that we have a baby, but at least we're starting to figure things out.
Mila didn't have colic - she had a bit of gas, so we burped her better and watched how and in what position she drank from bottles. There were times when she would only drink the foamy top right after shaking a formula bottle, and I would especially burp her then. When it wasn't gas, she was just fighting a bit of sleep, so we would rock her, bounce her, wrap her, burp her, change position constantly, all to wear her out and get her through it.
Since then, she had a growth spurt, during which time she stopped drinking as much, also at which time I was on my menstrual cycle and didn't know it - both can cause a decrease in breastmilk supply. So we had a breastmilk supply scare. For two days I nursed, nursed, nursed and pumped, pumped, pumped in between. I was down to .5mL on each side. Now I'm at 2mL each (my guess because I'm hardly pumping, more trying to just nurse and not use formula). I should pump in between still to keep my supply up just in case though.
My birthday has also passed. It's crazy how time goes by. One minute you feel like you'll never mature (I'm now 20 in a 27 year old body) and the next you look around and realize you're as old as your parents and you've caught up to them because you now have the same amount of kids they have and you're music is now "oldies". Wow! As of late, mom has been out of town frequently so I've been taking care of the birds. Wake up at 6:30am, put on camo boots, open coop door, water in all buckets from the well faucet, let out the small birds in the corner who are separated at the moment and in that "transition" stage, feed them all outside (scoop laying brownish-grayish cracked-looking stuff, scoop corny pebble feed, and one scoop whole corn), feed small birds inside coop, let them all out and tie up rope, collect eggs. Today doing the chores (I'm also taking care of the dogs and a lame duck in the garage) I realized that when I was younger I didn't grow up on a "farm" per se. I vaguely remember pigs at my Grammy and Granddad's house. It was more of a "wildlife preserve" because my uncle raised cougars, peacocks, sugar gliders, etc. My other uncle had horses. My Grammy had her outside dogs and barn-full of raggedy old cats (I have no idea where they would come from) that seemed to never die. ... I'm getting away from the point I was trying to make... Anyway, today it occurred to me that  both of my kids will be able to tell their children about the farm they grew up on. All thanks to my mother who we currently reside with. It was kind of a sweet thought. For a moment I felt privileged. Not all kids grow up on farms. I'd say a lot that I know grew up urban or inner-city, and it very well seems like that's where the world is leading toward. I thought of this picture I have of Luke when he's not yet one. He's sitting on the ground, right outside the chicken fence, attempting to feed the chickens with these measily handfuls of straw. I thought maybe someday I'll have a picture of Mila doing that exact same thing. And how many parents do I know have an original picture like that...? I've been planning a photo session, well two actually; a newborn photo session and one with the whole family in denim once Mateo arrives. All the poses and backgrounds whether baby or family are same old same old - people who declare how much they're city people take pictures in front of barns and in sunflower fields. Tell me how that explains anything memorable about your life (sorry for my brief moment of "hater" sarcasm). At least the picture of Luke in front of the fence, feeding the animals, meant something. And gosh do I dislike those dumb animals.

I'm trying to remember if something big happened lately that I'm just not recalling...
Sorry, my mind is blank. Maybe someday I'll be able to actually finish one of these blog entries on the same day I start. Difficult when you have an actual subject to talk about and then your train of thought gets interrupted and you forgot where you were going with it when you finally come back.
All in all, Mila is starting to recognize faces. Of course she knows my voice. She's smiling at my face. I love it! Has her favorite sleeping spots: my armpit in bed, under my neck, or in the swing. Luke is holding her more and more and the other day Daddy almost had Luke carry her to me by himself. Luke was nervous. It was the cutest thing! I think he thought he might drop her.

Time to go! When the little one wakes up, like that everything I'm doing stops and that's the end..

Not Technically Colicky

3 Weeks

If it's not one thing, it's another, right?
So for the past week or so (at age 2-3 weeks) Mila has had a time of "fussiness" where nothing is making her happy. I go from holding her upright with her head on my shoulder (sometimes patting her on the back or butt, sometimes not), to holding her sideways (sometimes back facing the floor, sometimes not), to sitting up, to eating, to changing her, to shhh-shing her, to singing, to bouncing, standing up and dancing, and all over again. She fights sleep so hard. Now, she's awake from around 6:30 am (right before Luke gets up for school) til about 11:00-Noon. It's really hard to get her down for that midday nap. And again she's awake from 8:00-9:00 pm all the way til almost 1:00 in he morning. That part is really difficult because if I'm the one staying up with her, first I'm exhausted from having her all day, and second, everyone else in the house is asleep and peaceful... And that's super frustrating when all you want is someone to offer a few minutes of relief. And it's heaven when she finally sleeps. Another thing I've forgotten about is the back and shoulder pain. It never goes away or "lets go" fully. And it's from holding her in these positions for  hours trying to get her to fall asleep, and also from blocking her with my arm in bed, either from rolling off the side or separating her from Aldo's body. There's no rest for a mom. Just know that. If you don't have kids and you're considering it, it's something you may want to think about. And you have  no money either. Dang, kids are expensive - delivery (hospital, doctor, anesthesia, shots, birth certificate, and those cute first pictures you might want), diapers, formula, pediatrician appointments, and then later toys and school.

Other than all that, she's great! I got her to smile today as she was laying on the floor. I can't remember what it was I did though. Some kind of sound. I just repeated what she did and spanked her legs as I did it. She smiled twice. Wahoo! Still unsure if this kid is going to like me. She gives me faces where her eyebrows come together all the time. Furrowed brows. Or she just stares. With her big grayish, blueish, brownish eyes.

On another note, Luke is doing great in school. We had one mishap already where he told on himself that he got a couple of warnings (all the way down to orange on the behavior scale), but by the end of the day he was better and ended up on green. (He got in a pencil fight.)

Oh and before I forget, Mila got her first "Oops! That might leave a mark..."-Boo Boo. I asked Luke to pass me one of the puzzle books and he tossed it over to me without looking. It cornered Mila right in the forehead. My eyes opened wide in hesitation... What is she going to do?... And she started crying. Luke was immediately apologizing. He didn't mean to hurt her of course. Just wasn't paying attention.

As a Kindergartner (because I know these things change)... As answered by Luke -
Favorite Movie/TV Show: Scooby Doo
Favorite Song: Scooby Doo theme song (but really it's "You Spin Me (Right Round)")
Favorite Book: Captain Underpants (which we are currently reading)
Favorite Food: Corn Dogs
Favorite Candy: Suckers (surprised he didn't say chocolate or Mom's candy or Reese's)
Favorite Animal: Tiger
I didn't ask him this, but if I did... Favorite Toy: Legos

That's all I have for now. My days are pretty boring. It's my birthday tomorrow! But we're not doing much. Mom's out of town on a horse thing, Aldo's schedule is blacked out for Labor Day, so I'm sending Luke to spend the night at Maecy's with Juan's nephews... It's just me and Mila. Another bonus to becoming a parent - you're getting old and you're reminded of it. At least I don't have grey or white hairs. Aldo has one on his head, one in his eyebrow, and one in his chin hair. Ha! Happy 27th pretty mama! You're doing super and holding it together!