Popcorn, Bubblegum, Oh-Me-Oh-My

As you know, the school year has looked drastically different than a year ago. I was expecting hiccups here and there, especially difficulty going through Zoom and staying ahead of Luke's studies at home. However, I was NOT expecting having issues with the way they were teaching Mila! Here's how it all went down...

On Wednesdays, Mila is at home. She has two, 45-minute Zoom meetings with her classmates and teacher. I've learned that if I do it on the computer, she can't see her classmates, but it's hands-free and I can keep her in one place at the dining room table. If I do it on the iPad, we can sit anywhere and she can see her classmates at different segments throughout the meeting. I've learned that I can let her sleep in a little bit on Wednesdays, and she's not in a rush to eat breakfast, therefore, she can go to the first meeting, eat, and then go to the second. I've learned that it's difficult for her to complete more than one assignment in between the two Zoom meetings. Sometimes we will do one assignment, sometimes we will hold off until after lunch to begin working on anything. In fact, she is assigned 8 things to do a day, a lot of which are repetitive and have videos or games that go along with them. We can't do all 8 in one day. The teacher doesn't assign them until Wednesday morning (it would much easier if I knew ahead of time what they were so I could get a leg up on the videos at least), and they are due on Sunday by 5pm.

The first Zoom meeting starts with a song (completely dumb, much like the "I Love You" song of Barney... I don't know what kid would like it), and then a self-soothing, breathing technique (either S.T.A.R., which I don't know what it stands for, a drain or a balloon). Don't ask me why they do the technique when they haven't even started the class. What do they have to take a breath for when they haven't even done the work to get to the place where they need to take a moment? So, the first half of the first Zoom meeting is wasted on that. They barely cover the days of the week and the weather. Then, they move on to the English portion. Sometimes they end the meeting with a story.

The second Zoom meeting deals with math. I find that it's more productive than the first meeting. A lot of the kids though, in my opinion, should already know the concepts... but we're only at the beginning of the year.

Now, I've had my complaints here and there - 1. Don't waste my time and my kids' time on sing-a-long songs and techniques that aren't doing diddly. I'd rather the time be shortened or teach them what they need to learn. 2. Two Zoom meetings is almost too much. 3. Eight assignments is too much. These are Kindergarteners! (They do best by learning through living it.) But, if you're going to give assignments, let the parents have a choice out of the eight... it's just a thought. We're fairly committed; I think you can trust us to pick a variety of assignments and not just the "easiest" two every week. BUT, none of these complaints have made me feel like I need to pull all of my kids out of school IMMEDIATELY.

Last Wednesday started like a typical Wednesday. We had our first Zoom meeting. Mila wanted to be a drain because it's fun to rain down water. The teacher showed the kids a sight word that they didn't get to: SEE. And then, she had them go through an activity where the kids were supposed to watch for their name on the screen, and when they saw it read the sentence, which goes like this: "I am Mila. I see a turtle," and so on. (A great activity, although it took up a lot of time because the kids weren't really watching for their names, so the teacher could've just called on each one. And somebody had their sound on the whole time or were goofing off, so we couldn't hear as well. ~Another issue that gets in the way of being online.) Last, she ended with a book about a STAR that had a hard day and went to the other room and took a breath, like a star does, and felt better. So really, the whole session could've been narrowed down to 15 minutes.

I let Mila have her breakfast and then it was time for the second Zoom meeting. They had an activity on greater than or less than where she went through each student in pairs and they had to say if they had more or less, or equal to, their partner. Except that, the directions weren't very clear to parents so almost all of the students had exactly 10 items. Whoops. But, overall, not a bad session.

Then, came the hard part. I said, "Mila, let's do one activity and then you can go play. This one looks easy!" I picked out the one on the word, SEE, because it involved a simple tracing of the word, coloring in bubble letters of the word in rainbow (which Mila would LOVE), finding the word among other words (and Mila is very good at I-Spy), and last cutting and glueing the word together with the correct letters in the correct order. I didn't know it involved a long video. We did the assignment and then watched the video.

The video covered every sight word known to man I think. But we don't call them sight words. We call them "popcorn words" because they should "pop out at you on the page". And when we say each letter we should have proper mouth placement, and say it with the right loudness or softness. For example, V is loud and F is soft. And when we see a word our first strategy is to find the vowel (A, E, I, O, U) no matter where it is in the word. If it's alone, then it says it's name. But if not, you see what's next to it and if it has partner vowels like in the word BAKE or SEE. Oh, that's not all covered in this ONE video - there are pairs that go together like TH and SH. And she went on through every single strategy until I think we covered everything in the English language (which statistics show is the hardest to learn). I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. They were talking to 5-year-olds!!! I get worked up just recounting the moment... Then, she went on to say that as they're sounding the words out, there shouldn't be any pauses between letter sounds, but keep making the sound and pull it out of your mouth like bubblegum. And there were abbreviations and rhymes for everything.

What are my issues? 

1. They went through EVERY STRATEGY in one session. This should be a progression. Start off with the easiest strategy and work your way to the hardest. I felt like I was bombarded, and when I looked over at Mila, her eyes were wondering around everywhere except for at the computer screen. She became detached. It was too much! 

2. Don't require your kids to call it "popcorn words" vs. "sight words". Who cares? But more importantly, parents will know what a "sight word" is and have no idea what a "popcorn word" is. A little kid isn't going to know what the word "strategy" means either. Just saying.

3. This continues on with "bubble-gumming" a word. I get that you're trying to paint a mental picture to stretch out the word, and you can do that... but, we need time to think. A gap in the word is OK. It's not going to end the world if a child has a gap in their word as they're sounding it out. 

4. I can yell at you and the F will be loud. Mouth placement is just about moot. It works for showing the difference between M and N, where the tongue is, and if the mouth is open or closed, but not every letter needs that pointed out. 

5. Your rhymes are annoying. Limit it.

6. FINALLY, AND MOST IMPORTANT, Mila was prepared and completely ready to read before this. I set her up for success. At age 4, she knew the sounds of all of the letters. She knew that the A had multiple sounds, and the E could have different sounds, etc. She was ready to put the sounds together just by sounding it out. EVERYTHING that the teachers have taught her has set her back by ten steps. She is now QUESTIONING her reading and telling me that it's difficult to find items throughout the house that start with certain sounds, when she was doing this at home last year. She was working on ending sounds last year. And middle sounds. She's questioning herself! 

I am so livid, and hurt. I feel like we made the wrong choice. My baby was ready to read, and they did her a disservice and they're doing all of the kids a disservice. I was ready to pull her completely out of school and strictly homeschool. I was going to spend the $800 (hopefully I could find a deal somewhere) on an out-dated Biblical curriculum and teach Mila at home. Then, I thought it through a little bit. That would be difficult with Luke's requirements. I'll pull them ALL out. And just do my own thing. At our own pace. It is what it is. They'll know what they need to know. And learn about real world problems. The other option was pull her out and put her in virtual school, and anything that doesn't make sense skip entirely, except that it might interfere with Luke's virtual school (he would have to take on more responsibility; and Nayelli would interrupt. From the very beginning I've felt lied to about how the entire school scenario would go, and now it's to these horrid teaching practices.

So, I called up my dad. I said, "Dad, I need to vent. And then I need you to be that person that won't tell me what I want to hear, but what I need to hear. Can you be that person?" The conversation was a long one, but a good one. The culprit: Common Core. I was reminded that we had this conversation when Luke was learning a different kind of math a few grades ago. They had him add in a really weird way, splitting up ones with ones and tens with tens. If you think back to the good years of the 1990's, they taught a little thing called "carry the 1," which they don't do any more. It's more about mental math. While this might work for some people, it's not going to work for everyone. It's adding more steps and making a problem MORE complicated. That's what they're doing with English. For Kindergarten. They've broken everything up. And it's because of Common Core. Every child needs to know certain things, but what they need to understand is that every child is unique and learns in their own way. Rather than teaching multiple to techniques to everybody, they could narrow it down, and if there are kids that need more attention, whether slower at processing or ahead, give it to them. Let's get more specialized services! 

Who in their right mind would stand behind Common Core?

And while I'm on this rant, Luke's Reading assignments are POO. There is no order, rhyme or reason to them at all - not even Common Core. I'm doing that myself! 

And after talking with Luke, Dad and Aldo, I've settled on the fact that come second semester, I'll send Luke back to school so he can learn "how all the other kids are learning" and do the stupid Common Core assignments the right way, because he knows my way and picks up on those things easily. We've had discussions of History and I know what books he likes. He'll probably be repeating a lot because we're actually ahead. And while he's in school, I'll be able to spend the quality time with Elli that I've been wanting, take ahold on the house again, and be prepared to teach Mila (or re-teach) if I have to, and especially work with her on Wednesdays.

If this doesn't work, though, Aldo will have to consider pulling them all out and never going to public school again. :-P

SIDE NOTE: With elections fast approaching, this just makes me more involved in the voting process and knowing who the candidates are. I'm not talking presidential. Those guys are covered. It's blatant what their beliefs are and it's covered in the news and on social media all the time. I'm talking LOCAL. I'm talking school boards, county representatives, governors. I knew that local government was important, but even more since Covid. How our STATE has reacted to orders and suggestions, and even more so when the states and counties are GIVEN the final decision in areas. Man, it really makes a difference. I don't want our state or our school district to be a follower, but a leader. 

It's All History

The other day, Luke, Nayelli and I went over to Granddad's to interview him about his life. We played (or I played it) as a school thing (I still haven't told Luke the secret.... he blows secrets), when really Luke was doing it undercover to get some valuable information from Graddad for his 90th birthday. I've always wanted to ask him about his life, so I'm glad we were able to do that. Something I admire about Granddad is that he's always been an amazing storyteller, even if his stories are mostly half-truths. (Ask him about the day he met Grammy and he'll talk about strolling down the sidewalk with a red wagon, meeting this little girl who was picking her nose.) Anyway, it brought up to memory my blog. Why? Because I was wondering if one day someone will be curious enough to ask me about my life. Or will my kids want to hear about how it was when they were growing up? I love hearing stories about when I was little, stuff that I just can't remember or I was too young. Some of it would have been really helpful while I was pregnant, or nursing, or dealing with some feeling that everyone goes through. So, with that said.... I'll just continue with what we're doing now and go from there.

Luke

I've been looking for things for my kids to do lately. After Luke broke both of his feet when the church shelf fell on him, we've been taking a break from soccer. Since then, we joined 4H because it was something cheap to do and at the same time Bandit would get doggie lessons. FYI - while 4H only costs $15 a year to join, doggie lessons can get expensive after buying the right show collar and leads, training harness, treats, treat holder, brushes, poo poo bags, and extras. Now Luke has been in 4H for 2 years and going on his 3rd. Last year, we added Entomology to his projects. Good thing we did because when all the sports and meetings were cancelled due to Covid, he was still able to go outside and find bugs and participate in something. Now that we're back in school (or I should say "virtual school"), it has been abundantly clear that Luke needs something physical to do. In virtual school, they don't provide those Specials classes (art, music, physical ed.) and I'm afraid he's going to develop a gut and become absorbed in Minecraft, ARK, and other weirdos who play those games on Youtube. 

School is going ok. At first it was hard doing every subject a day, but when we switched to our version of a block schedule it worked out much better. He generally understands the math because it's all multiplication. They've added in crud like finding patterns and critiquing other peoples' math work. We just work through it and move on. I've given him real world problems... like we figured out that it would be cheaper for us to go with Disney+ and buy two movies than stick with Netflix. We also found out that if I wanted to put Mila and Luke into sports, we'd have to plan on at least $75/mo. It's the important things... There have been hidden things in there like variables and powers, but we haven't gone too far into it. He's understanding English concepts. Why are they still talking about nouns in 5th grade, though? Was 1st - 4th grade all for nothing? I don't understand. The Reading curriculum is garbage. Don't even get me started on that. I wasn't sure about Science, but it has been surprisingly fun. The entire first unit has been on the Food Web, but they've broken it down into your various animals, plants, decomposers, and next, worms. This last week we had mold growing on food in our kitchen... on purpose... in Ziplock bags. Grosssss. But curiosity got the best of us and we started researching why mold grew quickly on some things and not on others. Before this stay-at-home business, Luke didn't much care for History, but now that he's been home with Mom, he's starting to grasp it's importance and impact. We've gone through movement of people into the Americas, Native American life, and exploration. Now we're getting into colonization. Points that have stuck out to him are the Mayan calendar and people thinking the world would actually end in 2012 and how unfair/cruel taking over Native American land (which they didn't even consider to be property) was. I'm excited to get through the colonization lessons because I'm hoping he'll be able to do a colony replica project on Minecraft, something I created to help the lesson sink in. 

I really like having Luke at home. He's fun and interesting, and a lot of times parents don't get this one on one time with their kids. It's something to really appreciate and not take for granted. 

Mila

Mila is in school four days a week. She goes with her mask on. ALL day. She's a trooper. I'm starting to notice a little weirdness, but I'm glad she's meeting new friends her age (a lot of them BOYS! Oh no!). The second week of school I got an email from her teacher. The teacher said that she wasn't responding to her name and sounded a lot like asking me if Mila was hard of hearing, or had ADD or something like that. Like any parent, I was defensive and furious at first. But, I answered back politely (probably more stoic than anything)... that Mila is a creative kid and she's 5 years old and still getting the hang of school. I think it all came down to an incident in the car rider line where Mila heard another little girl called with either the same name or a similar name. I don't call her by her full name at home so I can see how this would be confusing if she's just listening for her first name. 

I'm honestly not too thrilled about how schools are handling Covid. I have this feeling that it's all political. Anyway, funny story to explain Mila's personality. She's been home on Wednesdays. She is required to attend the two 1-hour Zoom meetings on that day, otherwise she'll be marked absent. During the first meeting they sing a dumb "good morning" song and talk about feelings. Then they get into the letter sounds that they've been talking about all week. The teacher does all of these sign language moves for the letters (but I don't think it's real sign language...) and has all of these little rhymes or jingles for each letter. It's seriously annoying and almost over-stimulating. I get a headache watching the teacher. And sometimes they read a book. That's just in the first hour. And they can't eat during the meeting. And they can't raise their hand; they have to touch their nose. And they have certain signs for Yes and No. And they have to sit up with their hands in their laps. I'm like - I can barely get Mila up in the morning, I'm not turning her away from a cracker during your dumb song meeting. Mila would be more likely to do better work if they would let her have Wednesday as a relax and rest day. An all day siesta. If you think about it, there are kids that are going half days to Kindergarten, so why is there so much requirement out of the one day? And these are days that parents have to be the teacher, or find someone to oversee all the work. I can't imagine the single parents who are working and have multiple kids. On top of that, the teacher gives out like 10 assignments to complete. This week we had 4 that had to do with the letter they're learning, 2 for math, a reader that had to do with the science or history of coronavirus and our feelings about it, and the rest was specials or learning games/activities around the house. My 5-year-old can't concentrate that long. She needs breaks. She understands the letter. The highlighting the letters and circling letters and cutting them out and gluing them next to pictures that make the sound and coloring the animals realistic colors... it's too much. It isn't helping. It's putting a damper on her creativity and burning her out on the letter. We were playing one of the letter games on the computer and it asked Mila to choose the picture that starts with the M sound. Her choices were mud or pizza. She pointed to pizza, "because mud is gross". Later she had to pop M balloons. She told me to pop a balloon that wasn't just so she could see what would happen. That's curiosity! She knows what the letter is because it's drilled into them over and over again... kiddos need to explore! I was talking to Vero the other day and she was explaining how public schools are arranged to create people for the workforce. Everything in school promotes industrialism - creating docile factory workers. Why are there school bells? It's regimented. It resembles the workman's check-in and check-out time. Why is there a cafeteria line? It looks a lot like the assembly line. Why is the work standardized and focuses on literacy? Because they just wanted compliant, literate workers. I'm not saying being literate is wrong, people need to know how to read and write, but what happened to letting kids explore their interests... even at a young age? 

So, Mila is very creative. She draws princesses all the time - with big lips and poofy sleeves on their dresses and high heels and sometimes even makeup and long eyelashes. She makes me books and books and books. (Really they're a picture folded up hot dog style, but I love them.) She plays with play-doh and makes me food. She puts on "shows", which is her hopping around the living room doing karate-type moves. She does her own makeup and makes videos. Art is definitely her thing. Keep that fire going, girly! <3 

Nayelli

It's taken me a few days to write this... so now that I'm typing this portion, Nayelli is officially 2 years old. For her birthday celebration we took a day trip to the Omaha Zoo. Her favorite animals were the zebra and giraffe (both very similar to a horse). She also thought that the orangutang that licked the food off the glass was hilarious. The rest of us enjoyed the tiger that took a bath right in front of us and the sea lions that followed our fingers under water. In fact, it had such an impact on Luke that he now wants to be a zoologist when he's wanted to be a paleontologist for the longest time. Nayelli picked out the biggest stuffed zebra she could find at the gift shop and carried it around with her the rest of the day. Now it sits in her bed. We've had ice cream throughout the week, and yesterday we watched her Tia's softball game.

Nayelli is fairly independent. While I'm teaching Luke in the morning, she'll watch Elmo and other Youtube videos on the iPod, iPad, or my iPhone. I'm glad it's learning, but I just hope she doesn't get attached to these i-things. She also loves athletics - she reminds me a lot of her Grammy and Great-Grammy. She likes to do these backbends while I'm changing her diaper! And she'll play catch and run around, even though she runs a little funny (tummy first). 

She said her first complete sentence the other day, but I can't remember what it was. Her faces are too funny - so many expressions. When she gets in trouble or is acting up, first I'll ask her, "Do you need a spankin'?" and she'll usually stop. If I count to 3 and she still doesn't do what I've told her, then I'll pretend to spank and just slap my own hand, just to make a loud, frightening noise. And if that doesn't work, she'll get a little spank on the leg. She doesn't like that. Like her sister, that will hurt her feelings. But, she reacts differently. She doesn't make a peep. She'll stick her bottom lip out and the tears will come out, and you'll see her shoulders heave up and down. And we'll tell her in a serious tone, "Put away your lip." There's other times where we'll put her time out. Overall, she's a pretty good girl.

Now, I might have said that early... because ON HER BIRTHDAY she got into her sister's pink lip stick and it went all over her lips and hands, feet and pants. AND OUR CARPET! Luckily, it was all able to come out of the carpet, and she just looks like she drank some red Kool-aid. Also, both my other kids started their "Terrible Twos" early and went through it really quick. I haven't seen anything in Nayelli yet. Or have we, as parents, finally learned with the third child how to parent? :D

How Long Will I Do This?

I don't know how long I'm supposed to journal about my family life and kids for. I had this grand idea that I would have a book printed for each of my children up til their first birthday. So now I haven't printed off Mila's yet, and I just finished Nayelli's. Now that I'm done, do I continue on? Do I catch up once in a while? Dunno. Who's to say?

So..... just in case.....

For Halloween we dressed up as Wizard of Oz characters. I found this perfect rainbow dress for Mila so that she could be the Good Witch. Luke agreed that he would be the Tin Man. I made a little apron for Nayelli to make her look like Dorothy and sparkled up some socks with this red glitter glue, but it all ended up coming off as she walked. Last minute, Aldo dressed up as a Munchkin, I was the Scarecrow and Bandit was the Lion.

Happy Halloween - Oh, My!

In November we went to visit Aldo's dad in El Paso. Time was due to see Abuelito. Nayelli and Mila attached to him like a magnet. And the car ride was fun and one to remember because every major stop the kids got a fun present to unwrap.

  

Visiting Abuelito in El Paso, TX

The Alvidrez Bloodline

The Christmas Play was a hit! We did a Disney-themed musical that went through the life of Jesus. I obviously was obsessed with the two group performances that had movements. They were so powerful! One was to "He is Not One of Us" and showed how the crowds rejected Jesus before he was crucified, and the other was to "He Lives In You" and was the salvational message/lesson that the main character learned. I'll tell you this - I will NOT volunteer to make theatrical flats again.

This year for Christmas, we stayed within budget, which was pretty cool. And I think for the first time I actually have the budget saved. Luke's big present was my old iPhone. Mila really wanted the doctor Barbies and I was planning on building her a cardboard Barbie house. The house ended up getting saturated when I tried to modge-podge the wallpaper on, and so I tossed it. She was still happy with her Barbies though. Nayelli got a train to ride on. She wasn't overtaken at first, but now she's all about it. Mila and her will hide random toys in the back, and Mila will push Nayelli on it, or they'll fight over it. So good buy. Mila and Luke are also very into LEGOs. It's neat to see them work on things together. Nayelli on the other hand is at a hair-pulling stage.

Aldo got us into football sometime in the middle of last season, and he was absolutely stuck on watching every Chiefs game this season. Well, he awakened the monster. We ended up hosting a Super Bowl Party that the Chiefs WON!!!! FYI, I had no doubts. Though I may not go to downtown to see the parade, or try to have every sign or show my support on FB, I do cheer for my KC teams.

    

Reppin' Chiefs & KC Every Sunday

 

World Champions 2020!

• Aldo is still loving his job. His boss was in Thailand for the winter and it seemed like he had off for a long time, and had snow days, and could go in late, but now we're back on a schedule, getting ready for the season of roofing to take off again I suppose. And, he's mentioned a few times how he can see himself running this business with a friend/partner in the future. Hmm...
• You can read my update in the last post.
• Luke has been taking Bandit to dog training on Sundays. Bandit is going through anxiety, which I didn't know that they go through that around this age...??? So he's chewed up three leashes within the last month, and he really, really, really feels comfortable in his kennel. But last week we worked outside and Bandit did a lot better. So cross your fingers that Bandit continues to work out of this anxiety phase and do well for Master Luke. Luke also has been enjoying the Percy Jackson series this year. We started off reading the first two books together, but then he got so far ahead that I had to stop.
• Mila has enjoyed the old princess movies like Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. She's also gotten really protective over her room within the last week. I'm noticing that maybe it's best that she have alone time in her room to play without Nayelli. So much she has to share, that it's good to have her own thing at times. Mila, like I said, does well enough in homeschool and she's excited to go to Kindergarten with a playground and other kids. She loves art and play-dough. Her hair is down to her bottom, and the other day I convinced her that it's ok to cut because we won't cut it so short that it looks like a boy's.
• Nayelli is learning more and more each day. She calls Luke - "Ook". She calls Mila - "Beela". She calls Bandit - "Dit". She calls poop - "po-po", Papa - "po-po" and popcorn - "po-po". She understands so much, and right now I'm trying to get her to understand the difference between YES and NO and the head nods or shakes to match. Nayelli likes to get in the dog food because she wants to help feed Bandit, but then she also will eat his food, or fling it to him piece by piece. She likes holding onto phones or tablets or remotes, and other devices. I think she feels the power. But she also has a tendency to call unknown numbers or have important items selected and ready to delete with a click of the red button. She takes one nap a day from 2:30 to about 4:30. And recently, she likes story time at the library. It's almost too long for her, but I know that it does give her and Mila something different. She likes the theme song to Gilmore Girls and dances to it, just like Luke used to run to Big Bang Theory, and Mila used to to whatever we watched during her early years. Mila has taught her the Baby Shark song and I am not annoyed with it yet.

Til next time. Doo-doo do do.

Nayelli's First Birthday

I've been wanting to write for the longest time, but I specifically wanted to post about Nayelli's First Birthday, and then a lot of the time was spent waiting on her "professional" birthday pictures, because you can't post about the big birthday without the big birthday pictures. (I'm partly disappointed in them because I thought I would have hundreds of photos, and of people that attended... not just of her in the one position...) Anyway, the theme was "Wild One" in a round-about way. I just wanted it to be simple and everyone come to the s'mores cookout out front, and the colors to bring out her blue eyes. She looks really good in yellow, which brought me to Nayelli's yellow autumn outfit, which then brought up the sunflower decoration idea. Too many ideas... ... ...

Happy First Birthday, Nayelli Grace!

Her Rustic-Looking Cake

<3

It ended up being a pretty large turnout. Elli was so adorable, but I think she was a bit overwhelmed and didn't quite know what to do.

I have half a mind to just buy my own camera and equipment to take my own awesome pictures for future events. I love these so much! And I'm sorry there isn't more that was captured. We were a bit worried about it being cold and rainy. I had a backup plan with decorations I hung up inside as well.

Nayelli started walking a few days after her birthday! For animal crackers.

White Macaroni

9.5 Months

Well... summer is almost over. It's been busy, but I really don't have to say that. You know. It seems that if I can catch up on here once every three months, then I'm doing a good job.
Right now the kids are upstairs in my room together - Nayelli taking a nap in her crib, Mila on the iPod watching any kid video with girls dressed up, and Luke playing Minecraft on my phone. (I was just thinking earlier today... will I ever know what is "in"? Probably not. Because I don't allow the kids on certain things, and I don't download certain games, and we don't have all the money to spend... so no, we won't know what Fortnite or TikTok or anything like that is. We won't know the names of the dance moves. And... I'm not really that broken up about it either. Our kids are really well rounded and I'm proud of that.) So I'm downstairs in the quiet with Bandit resting for a second.

The latest news is -
We had a budget meeting. (I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but following the Dave Ramsey advice of a budget meeting was probably one of the best things we did as newly weds.) We talked about our income with the insurance, expenses and all the changes through the years. It was crazy to see the numbers associated with each childbirth, and each household. We were at mom's house for over 6 years and it feels like a little blip on a screen. Anyway, we decided together that Aldo wouldn't do pursue insurance any more. When we got back from camp Mila made a comment that "Daddy was always working" and I think that really hit him hard. So he stayed home on his days off, and it felt like he was home for months. We went putt putt golfing, we went swimming, we stayed home. It was amazing. <3
Yesterday he got to see Luke show Bandit in the 4H dog show. We've been working up to this since January (unknowingly). We joined 4H only to get the free dog training. Who knew it would be so hands on...? Probably my mother. Ugh. (Side note: my mom is not the most empathetic. I told her today we might not do it next year because of the huge commitment, and she proceeded to tell me how it's nothing compared to what all my Grammy was involved in, and if she can do it with 4 children then I can do it with 3......... in not so few words. JUST WOW.) Anyway, we entered Bandit in Obedience Sub-Novice, Rally Obedience 1 and Pre-Agility. I didn't think Luke or Bandit were ready for Showmanship yet. Here's a quick explanation:

• Showmanship - Usually what you see on tv. The dogs are groomed and everything is looked at... ears, teeth, hair, nails. Behavior. The owner has to show them in a way that makes the dog look really high class. And the way they walk around the ring, the owner has to know how to turn so that the dog is always where the judge can see them (human can never block the dog).
• Obedience - Both the dog and it's owner are judged on how well the owner commands and the dog's response to it. So the judge says something like "recall your dog" and the owner should know to make the dog sit, stay, walk back as far as he/she can, call the dog to front position, and either choose to make the dog turn rotate to the left or circle completely around his/her body to the right to get back to heel position. 
• Rally O - Same as Obedience, but instead of the judge telling you what to do, a sign tells you what to do. There are 17 exercises at minimum.
• Agility - This is the obstacle course. It has the "dog walk", tunnels, jumps, see-saw, and I forget what those multiple poles are that stick up and the dog has to zig zag through them really quick.

So we spent all day yesterday at the Leavenworth County Fairground for the dog show. First we watched Showmanship, then some of Rally O before it was Luke & Bandit's turn. They did really REALLY well. I thought it might be a little bit harder actually and we had been practicing all week! We knew coming into it that the longest Bandit would sit still for us was 30 seconds, so... he bombed the 1-minute sit and the 3-minute down exercises. Actually he turned upside down and got his belly rubbed for nearly 2 minutes of it. Luke won a white ribbon.

After lunch, Luke was the first to start the Rally O off. He had no one to watch how it was done... and, going into it Bandit seemed really excited to just be out of his kennel. My first thoughts were - ok, he's too excited.... another white ribbon. They did so well! On the spiral they went around the last cone twice, which the judge must have missed. After he completed a... I'll call it a "recall"... Luke lost track of the sign and had to peek at it again, then turned and asked the judge, "Did that count?" (1. You can't talk to the judge. So he was deducted a point for that. And 2. Band it was a little slow to complete the forward part of the exercise so a point was taken there.) And the other two points that were taken must have been for multiple commands. HIS SCORE WAS A 96 OUT OF 100!!! He got a purple ribbon! What's funny is, when he left the ring we went outside to let Bandit go to the restroom and I had this huge talk about how they did really well, but listed the things I noticed. And I said, "You know, if he gets a white, I'm ok with that. If Bandit gets a high score, we'll have to move him up a level and that's off leash." He seemed ok after that talk (the morning after receiving the white ribbon had been really emotional). So we watched the rest of the owners and their dogs - some wouldn't lay down at all, some went the wrong direction, some didn't pay attention to the numbering, some didn't walk between the final two cones to leave the ring! And next was just a fun costume competition. We were so focused on getting Bandit dressed up, that we weren't ready to get his purple. They called Luke's name and when he saw the ribbon, he looked at me and I looked at him. Shock and confusion. Sooo awesome. Then, in the costume contest, Luke and Bandit took 1st for Funniest. I can say that it was all Luke. It wasn't that funny compared to the little dog in the stroller, but when the judges came by Bandit hand un-banded his mask and was chewing on it. Luke quickly improvised and pretended like he caught the thief and was going to hand-cuff him. We have such a fun kid. <3

The whole day was quite an experience. I'm glad things are.... slowing down...? I say that, but we still have VBS ("Block Party") coming up the first week of August, mom's birthday day trip to Amish country this coming weekend, Mila's birthday in August, and working at County Fair with the final Agility competition.

Updates on the other two -

I've been getting things slowly together for Mila's 4th birthday. It's all things pink and going to be a tea party. She's going to have so much fun. I actually feel bad for her. Luke has Bandit and also watches Yu-Gi-Oh with Daddy. Nayelli is a baby and does baby things and gets Mommy's attention. But what does Mila get? How does she get our attention? I can't say. So... I've been really thinking about having a "school time" for her this fall. Maybe even ordering the material for the ACE pre-k that Luke went through. But I can't remember the pricing of the instructional materials. I know it was expensive. But my thoughts are, if I buy it now, I can use it for both Mila and Nayelli later. Right? But I also wonder if Mila is the type that has to learn from someone else other than her mother...

Nayelli's upper tooth on the left popped through. And then the rest of her mouth just looks inflamed. Ever since we got back from camp, she's been really clingy, so this hasn't helped. And we took her to the doctor the other day for a regular check-up - this is the age of parent separation anxiety (or whatever you want to call it). Oi. Her little personality is popping through. I can say - it's not little... just like her big brother and big sister. She loves music. Loves "Gangnam Style", "Man in the Mirror" and the theme music to Friends. She'll shake her shoulders back and forth, throw her hands up in the air, clap and also head bang. Don't ask where she learned her moves. I blame the siblings. They're usually the ones right??? 

Just some other things I wonder about -

I used to like blogging because I could get my thoughts down, and instead of writing it all out by hand, typing goes a lot quicker. It helped me get my emotions out and wrap my head around things. Let go of emotions. Nag and complain without actually having to go to those people about it. But I haven't been blogging as much, so I just got to keep stuff to myself, or unfortunately, Aldo gets to hear the brunt of it.

• I'm not so sure about the church anymore. I keep wondering about when we'll be leaving. Is that a normal thing to think about? When you are going to LEAVE the church that you are currently at? Even more, currently PASTORING at? I love the kids, and by no means want to leave them, or even the families. But I'm taken aback by the politics that have popped up. I understand that our pastor is getting older and that his family may take over the church, but I can't believe all the talk that happens behind the scenes. And should it be labelled GOSSIP? I don't know. And, since we don't have meetings between the department heads any more, most of the time I don't know what people are even talking about. And why do people ask me what's going on? I'm in back, dude! (They really don't. They more ask about how someone is doing after they lose their position. But like, did I know that?! How should I know? I'm in back!!!) I was daydreaming on the way home from church today. We've been talking about Elijah and how God provided for him. I totally believed that God put us in back for a reason. The kids. That's obvious. But I didn't think that he had more than one! Like, there's a protection that came from being in back. We're protected from all the politics in a way. Because what would have happened if we were in adult service while all of this movement was taking place? Pastor T and Miss C are no longer "associates", new worship leaders were brought in, the youth pastors were let go, the worship team was let go, we no longer have meetings, the youth were renamed and taken over again. It's like EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED. Thank goodness we've been in back. It's really been a safe place. I feel like we would have picked up some offense or offended somebody or gotten involved or been more apart of the "gossip". I feel protected and I'm really thankful for that. So I'm wondering what it's going to look like when we do end our time in the Children's area. Are we going to be asked to step down? Are we going to make that decision? Are we going to be at the same church? Are the same people we went in with going to be there? Will it be soon or in a year or in two or in five? Will we raise up someone to take over? It's just weird. 
• Dad and his life. He's been talking to me more and more, like really talking and opening up. I love that he is, but at the same time I worry for him. I don't like seeing him stressed. He is in the middle of moving to an apartment because something happened with his duplex that broke his agreement (not on his part). It tore him up that he made the decision to leave because he had to let go of years of collecting things and memories. It felt forced rather than him having that time to be ok with it. Then, he recently found out that the company he works for isn't renewing their contract with the building they are in. So to keep his job in 2020, he either has to move to Colorado, work from home (if he has that option), or take a severance package.

HOW THINGS CAN CHANGE IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE.

I'll end with a final note. One day, while grocery shopping I came across the cold Suddenly Salad meals that we used to buy. They didn't have the Tuna Helper in that aisle any more, and I was like - my kids like macaroni... Suddenly Salad is another take on it, but cold. This will be a good alternative option. So the day came when I chose to cook it. I forgot that it took a ton of mayonnaise and had this ranch-y powder to combine with it. I tasted it first, just to know what to expect and prep the kids for something "new". UGH. First bite was disgusting. So I got up my nerve and scooped out the kids' bowls and told them - if you eat all your white macaroni, you can have ice cream! THEY DID NOT LIKE THE WHITE MACARONI. They didn't fall for the ice cream bit. At one point Mila went to brush her teeth, came back and said the macaroni tasted better. That's because she still had toothpaste in her mouth. It tasted better because all she could taste was mint. So... we don't talk about the white macaroni any more. Anything that is gross will probably be compared to the white macaroni incident of 2019, which ended with me dumping more than half the pot in the garbage.

My mom says I need to continue blogging...

Little does she know I already am...

3 Months

Nayelli Grace (2 Months)

I actually haven't forgotten to write; I've just been really, really busy. From October through December we had been working on the Christmas play at church. It seems I was there at least three times a week. I was worried because it wasn't your typical Christmas play (a modern day Scrooge), and second it wasn't your typical nativity story that you would see in church (a modern day Scrooge with a spiritual twist). Furthermore, I had to do the set all by myself. And I had a newborn! And a three-year-old that can't sit still. Thank goodness Dad let me borrow his Netflix password, otherwise we would never have gotten it done.

Our Amazing Trunk or Treat (and First Family Photo)

Nayelli was a Unicorn Princess

After that we were sick for a while. About four rounds of itchy throat and runny noses, and pure exhaustion. I didn't feel much like talking about that. Actually, Nayelli had to be observed overnight at Children's Mercy because she had a temperature. Aldo had forgotten about this, but because of her young age, a slight temperature is something to worry about. It was rough. Aldo had to stay home with the kids and with Bandit. I had to stay at the hospital alone overnight. Nayelli had to sleep in a big girl bed/crib hooked up to monitors. Of course, she slept through the night proving the point that she is a "perfect baby". I slept in the rocking chair right next to her with lights on and waking up every hour to pump or for vital check, etc. I'm grateful though, because from this experience we learned that she can, indeed, sleep alone in her crib through the night. So when we got home, we swaddled her and put her in the crib. Since then she's slept through the night.

Nayelli's First Visit with Abuelito

The holidays were nuts. Absolutely nuts. Honestly, where do I come up with these ideas? And why do I open my big mouth? Why do I agree to things? For Thanksgiving, I decided that I wanted to see Dad's side of the family. We hardly ever see them for holidays. Then, Aldo's dad announced that he was moving to El Paso after Thanksgiving, so this was our last time to see him. And Aldo's mom would be going to central Mexico on vacation for Christmas. And Vero wanted to host, but not late at night. And Jerad would host, but he would have to do it later for the kids. It was all mixed up this year! Long story short, we made it to all three, but we were late to both of mine and I didn't get to do my favorite thing... play games! Never. Again. Never, ever again. Two Thanksgivings is enough. Three Thanksgivings is straight up coo-coo.  

Merry Christmas 2018! 

 The very first in our new house...

Christmas, I thought, might go better since we were hosting (Aldo's idea). I knew it was coming because Maecy hosted last year, and when we bought the house Aldo said we would host the next one. Hosting is just as bad as being the one to travel. I don't know who decided we'd be the only ones cooking... I know who. It was Aldo! IT WAS ALDO!!! Aldo told all of my family that we would cook mom's ham, buy a turkey as well and cook it, make mashed potatoes (because J and Amy might not be coming and they're easy), and I'd cook the green beans (per usual because I make his favorite). He told his family not to worry about a thing, that there would be plenty of food, just bring themselves!!! I was like, whoa now... if we're hosting two families at the SAME TIME, we're going to need more. Jerad brought a ton of soda. Granddad was supposed to bring the rolls (he brought hamburger buns). Maecy brought her pretzel salad dessert (delicious!), Mom made stuffing, and Jul came with (what he brings every year) pecan pie. Everyone came at the same time! IT WAS INSANE! Thanks to Granddad and his horrible memory, and Jerad's "5 minutes" turning into a solid hour, my side ended up at the house between 1:30-2:00. Aldo's side, running on CPT, got there immediately after. We were supposed to serve at noon. And I hadn't eaten breakfast. I was starrrrving! And you know what else??? We had two gift exchanges. And while everyone was playing games on the Cooper side, we had the Secret Santa with the Alvidrez'. And while they played the cube game and I almost burnt the second round of green beans, I also had to show the Coopers how to work the remote. Entertaining is stressful. All I wanted to do was play games!!! I had spent YEARS waiting to get to the adult table... it was like, my greatest accomplishment when I was finally able to sit down with everyone and be taken seriously at Up and Down the River... and now, I might actually strategize and win! Sheesh. Afterward, Aldo agreed that hosting both sides at the same time, even though we had enough seating probably wasn't the best idea. So now, we plan on switching years at hosting between the family. 
How did New Years come up? Aldo. Still Aldo. He told friends that he wanted to have them at our house. And invited more friends. Someone's kids invited their friends. And so on. Aldo had worked a regular shift, came home and grilled up some tacos, and hosted til past midnight. For a while there, it was a ton of music and, for me, running up and down the stairs to take care of Nayelli. Then for a while we played Texas Hold Em'. Midnight came, and since then we haven't had a spotless house. (Was it seriously ever going to be spotless? And with a dog that sheds?) Confetti was everywhere! I knew we'd have confetti to sweep up, but darn it, some kid took it upstairs and tossed it all over both of our kids' rooms and in the bathroom too! There's confetti in between the crack of the seat of our couch. There's confetti in our air vents. There's confetti in our vacuum that we emptied at least three times. And there's still confetti in our room (which was locked that night), from sticking to the bottom of our socks and shoes and being carried in there! Forever confetti. Fun night though. Since then, everybody wants to come to our house. I don't know why... we have hardly any seating. No one eats at the dining room table. Our dog goes bonkers when anyone comes over. Maybe I should stop smiling when someone throws out these bad ideas..... I'll replace it with Aldo's "grumpy cat" face.

I forgot to mention that in between the holidays, right before Christmas to be exact, Aldo decided to get a vasectomy. So there's that. I don't want to go into too much detail, but let's just say it was a bad experience for both of us. What should have been a 5-10 minute operation, ended up being 45 minutes. And the recovery was longer. And it's hard as a "nurse" when you don't know how to help the "patient" and how to empathize with what they're going through. All you know is that it was traumatic. And you know, it being the sensitive and prized area... all the more traumatic. 


Currently...

Nayelli
Gosh, because this is HER first year book that I'm working on... 
She's amazing. Absolutely amazing. I already said that she sleeps through the night. A typical day goes like this:

5:00-7:00 am • Wakes up after sleeping through the night for first feeding and goes back to bed
9:00-10:00 am • Wakes up for good, is very attentive and happy (I get most of my cleaning done)
Eating in between
12:00-2:00ish • First nap
Eating in between
Attentive, but wants attention. A good time for games, toys, and learning.
6:00-8:00ish • Second nap
Eating in between
10:00-11:00ish • Bedtime

She recognizes and loves my face. Daddy is pretty high up there too. More importantly, Bandit is interesting now. Except that I've caught him licking her hands, feet, and head while she's in the swing, so you have to keep an eye out. And on top of that, she likes to stick her hands in her mouth as fists. It's really cute. But what's not so cute is when she does it right after Bandit licks them. She also blows raspberries and will chatter at you and raise her eyebrows and smile, like she's telling you a story. Cutest thing ever! She drools a lot. Can babies cut teeth this early? Google says some babies are born with teeth, so at three months it could happen. Typically, they cut around 6 months, but a baby can start showing the symptoms as early as 3 months. If that's so, she might be slobbery in every picture from now til then. Just saying. Last, blankets now go to the mouth too. Today, I caught her examining her hands. The time when she starts examining all sorts of things with her mouth is coming. It's right around the corner.

Mila
Oh, Mila. She is a wonderful big sister. She doesn't try to "help" by taking care of the baby herself like I feared she might. Instead, she warns me when the baby is crying and I need to get out my "special leche". She'll grab you diapers and wipes if you ask repeatedly. And, she'll play with Nayelli by taking her toys, giving Nayelli a high-pitched voice and having a conversation for her, or by telling her she's "so cute" and reminding me to put bows in her hair. Everything is still "so cute". Nayelli is a "princess". Speaking of which... we had a conversation today:

Me [in control of Nayelli's hands]: Come at me, Mila. I'm gonna punch you. Come on. Come at me!
[Mila giggles]: No!
Me: Come on...
[Still giggling]: No!
Me: Hey, guess what, Mila. I'm a princess boss. 
Mila: No, you're not a boss.
Me: Yeah, Mila. I'm a princess boss. Mila's not a princess boss.
Mila: No!
Me: Yeah, I'm a princess boss. Mila's a baby!
[Mila giggles]: I'm not a baby! You baby! 

Gosh, she's so smart. And gorgeous! Both of my girls are GORGEOUS. I mean... watch out! But back to smart. I was worried because I haven't been able to work with her like I did with Luke. For a good portion of his life, Luke watched Elmo and that's how he learned everything. So I was very happy when she picked up Mickey's shapes book. And counting from "monkeys jumping on the bed". And colors from... well, I don't know where they came from. Power Rangers, maybe? I'm so proud.
Hopefully soon we'll be able to get back to the library, where she can have some big girl time and learn with kids her age. Get used to kids her age! She wants to go to "school" and calls the library her "school" and also church her "school". She'll tell me she has "homework" and then play with her toys for a while. I honestly have no idea what she's doing, but if it keeps her occupied for a little bit, then that's good. The girl is constantly talking, or singing, or moving. She's seriously a special kind.

Luke
This is the part where my mom said I should start blogging again. It comes from the fact that I enrolled Luke in 4H. He decided his first project should be with the dog. Actually I encouraged it. Dog Care & Obedience to be exact. Win-win! So we had our first class (without the dog). Class went well with three kids. The trainer is really nice and funny, seems down-to-earth and easy-going. She ended up giving out homework to work on this first week. Made sense since next class will be wild with 10-20 dogs, several of them less than a year old, meeting other dogs and other people for the first time in a new place with new smells. Some who haven't been on a leash that much. Some who haven't been in the car that much... like ours for instance. I imagine that we'll want to quit after the first week. Anyway, the homework was: to work on their name (a dog should look you in the eyes when you say their name, that way if you're out in a field and shout their name... they at least acknowledge you), work on a "stupid trick" that I can only describe as dog touches their nose to your open hand, and the basic trick of sitting. If the dog is already pretty good at sitting then you can toss them treats (which leads to staying). Well, we get home and Luke and I look at each other and say, "Hmmm... let's see what Bandit can do!"
Bandit is not a dumb dog. Close, but not the dumbest. He knows his name. Woohoo! He instantly wants to come at your hand if you put it out. Instead of a nose touch, it has turned into let me go above and beyond and lick your hand up and down for the treat. I will wrap my tongue AROUND your hand, that's how much I want a treat. :| And, for a treat... he'll sit right away. He'll also sit for praise. He likes attention. So, we're like... let's move on to the treat toss. The very first one bonks him right in the middle of the forehead! It was hilarious and sad. I've noticed that he's not very quick at sniffing things out. Apparently he's not very good at seeing things fly towards his head either. I will give it to him though, the treat is tiny like pea-size. I suggest we try a toy instead. So Luke and I do the trick with Bandit's squirrel that he just got for Christmas. He did sooo good! And Aldo taught Bandit to "drop it" so it's been turned into a really fun game! After 20 or so treats and fetches, we're done and I go upstairs. Before I know it, Luke comes up and tells me he has bad news. Bandit ripped up his squirrel. There's stuffing everywhere. Ok, no biggie. He's also ripped up my bra. My last bra. Ugh. THIS DOG! The trainer said to pay attention to how much praise vs. "no"s we tell our four-legged companions. I tied up the count real quick. (To be noted: Bandit has gone after my bras forever. Is it my smell? Is it the breastmilk? Is it the fact that it's just mine and he wants it? I don't know why he went for it, but he's on my Do Not Trust list. Cannot leave bras around, even if on the highest point of the couch or counter. He WILL find it. He WILL go for it.)

Aldo & Myself
Right now our church is doing a 21-day fast. It's been good so far. It is only Day 3...
In the midst though, we have been planning for the Children's Church ahead of schedule, which is nice (for me especially... the admin). We went on a "date" last night to go pick up a foosball table in middle of nowhere, Holton, KS. During the ride we talked about dreams that we've had on trips to go on, retirement, aspirations, work-related goals, etc. Today starts the day where I start getting the house in order and our five year plan written out, a budget in place and so on. Aldo and I are finally in agreement to do the insurance thing (not with the original company), AND in agreement that I should go back to school to become a CPA. I've looked into it several times and every time I think - Oh my gosh, I haven't done a math problem in forever and now companies and people are going to trust me to help them with their finances and taxes! I can't do percentages off the top of my head like Aldo can! I don't understand stocks! I would have to be attached to Excel and whatever other programs they have now. And, would working with numbers all day be mundane and dull? But, I am encouraged to try out a class at least. I can do it. If it doesn't work out, well, like Aldo's insurance job... it wouldn't be "the dream job"... but a means to the end. In all seriousness, I've made the dream job. I'm a mother.

New Things

38 Weeks, 5 Days

I’m sure I’ve said this before and I’m sure you’re sick of me repeating myself... “Every pregnancy is different.” There’s a lot of new things that I’ve never dealt with in giving birth to Luke or Mila. For instance... contractions. I had them, but they were so mild that I didn’t know it. It was more Braxton-Hicks type stuff where you would have a sharp pain here or a crampy feeling there. I am definitely having contractions now. To where I actually have to keep time on them. I’ve never had to do that. FYI - I got a pretty good app on my phone that’s been helping keep track - simply hit the start as you feel a contraction coming on and stop when your stomach releases (“Full Term - Contraction Counter”). A few days ago my contractions were 9 minutes apart. Then nothing the next day. Then the next evening they were 7 minutes apart. We thought for sure we would be going to the hospital then. Our parents were on standby. And they really haven’t gone below 7 minutes consistently. I notice them more when I’m sitting on the couch with my legs up; not when I’m walking around or cleaning. They come on more in the morning or evening, and after I drink an ice-cold glass of water. (Speaking of... I hope chewing on ice doesn’t mess up your teeth because I’ve been doing it thise past three months.)
So, in case you’re debating whether it’s a real contraction or one of those blasted fake ones... (and sometimes it is really hard to know the difference...) here is the best explanation I could find:

1. Braxton-Hicks are irregular. The timing is all over the place whereas true contractions will get closer together at measured intervals and will increase in strength.
2. False labor contractions will go away if you switch up your position. In my case, I could feel them really strong when lying on the couch with my feet up, whereas the Braxton-Hicks I experienced went away when I got up and sat at the island, or went to lay in bed, etc. I definitely had real contractions though, and I know because in the middle of the night I would bear down in pain for a couple of hours keeping track of time on my app. I’d also wake Aldo up from groaning in my sleep. Nothing ever stuck until morning. 
3. False labor contractions are in different areas (a right side here, a pelvic pain there, Wiley in the back); real contractions harden your entire stomach. Sometimes they start out as back labor and wrap around to the front. (I can always tell when I'm having  a real one because Nayelli likes to kick, and all of a sudden her kicks disappear  because my entire stomach hardens instead of the place where just her foot is.)

What really sucks is that early labor can last for weeks. All the signs show up - contractions, back pain, cramping, pelvic “lightning” or dull pain, discharge or mucous plug (and we already established that doctors don’t care about these), diarrhea (thank goodness I’m not experiencing  it; quite the opposite actually), nesting, baby drops, etc. - but the only things that really matter are those real contractions and the timing of them, if your water breaks, and how far you’re dilated.

I’ve never had to deal with whether or not my water broke. I had to look that up. I’ve never had to deal with a mucous plug or bloody show. And I’ve never had to deal with acid reflux. The other night I literally threw up in my mouth. Probably due to the fact that I’m forced by the diabetes nutritionist to not skip or skimp on my before-bed snacks. Wouldn’t you like the taste of cottage cheese coming back up. Yuck. (And, I can’t remember what my snack was... so it wasn’t necessarily cottage cheese.) At the same time I had these pains on both of my sides. I’ll tell you what... I’ve never Googled so much during pregnancy. The symptoms led me to a list of things like ectopic pregnancy and placental abruption. Fortunately one of the major signs of these things are massive bleeding, and I wasn’t experiencing that at all. 

The last new thing that we are now scheduled for is a caesarean. We were supposed to get a call from the hospital on how to prepare, but haven’t gotten anything yet... so based on my internet searches, here is what you should know and my thoughts on it....

Before the surgery -
How do I prepare my body? The doc said to take a shower in the morning and evening the day before. Clean the area with anti-bacterial soap. There were a lot of comments online about how nurses appreciated when the patients had their nether regions trimmed before going in. I might try this later.
Are there any restrictions on what I can do before hand? You can still lift and walk, etc. BUT you have to stop eating and drinking by midnight. Can’t even pop in a mint. (In my case, this is because my c-section is scheduled for the morning. If it were in the afternoon, I think you start the fast 10 hours before???)
Any recommendations on what I should eat as my last meal? Anything that will help/not help? No findings. I assume it’s eat what you want. Because following the procedure, you’ll still be off food and then gradually be fed light items like jello and soup until you’re back on solids. I guess I’ll just avoid spicy food so I don’t “poof” on the operating table when everything is numb.
What happens for those two hours of prepping? A lot of questioning surrounding your medical history - anesthesia, pregnancy, prior surgeries, etc. They'll put in an IV for meds and a catheter for pee, monitor you and baby for a while, and let the epidurals set in. Then it's GO time!
Who can be in the room with me? When can photos/video be taken? Only one support person. Photos and video can be taken at any time by your support person. I asked this because Miss C wants to take pictures for us and put together a "birth story", but it looks like she won't be able to come in the operating room. (And she doesn't do blood either, so it's a good idea NOT to let her in.) It's limited to one person and no switching between people in the middle of surgery because they need it as sterile as possible. Aldo won't even be able to snip the umbilical cord. The soonest anyone else can come by is in the recovery room, and the baby will be in there with us.

During surgery -
How long is the surgery? It can range anywhere from 2 to 30 minutes.
Where will the baby be? She'll be going through her measurements and initial heel stick tests, etc. off to the side in the same room as long as everything is going according to plan. When everything checks out, the hospital will push for skin-to-skin.

After surgery -
How long will I be in the recovery room? Is the recovery room the final room we'll be in? Recovery takes about 2 hours. It's the time it takes for feeling to come back in your lower body and legs. And you may experience side effects like a headache, nausea or the shakes. When those wear off, everyone will be moved to a large, final room.
How long will I spend at the hospital? Usually 3 nights. If you go in on a Thursday, you'll be released on Sunday (probably in the afternoon as doctors make their rounds at that time).

At home -
How do I care for the incision? Regular, daily showers. When you wash, save the incision for very last. Refrain from using a scrubby or wash rag; just apply soap and rinse. Gently pat dry with towel. (FYI: You'll also experience the bleeding that comes with a vaginal delivery. So you'll be wearing the mesh undies and abnormally large pads too. Change those frequently. Watch for blood measuring golf ball size or larger. Watch the incision for bleeding, smells, etc. Your biggest threat would be an infection. Applying pressure to the incision does help - such as with a pillow or wearing a belly band - that way you can sit and stand, cough, and so on as your belly goes back to normal.)
What are my restrictions? And for how long? Some people are saying you can only carry the baby or car seat, not both at the same time, and some are saying baby in the car seat. Either way, nothing more than that. (*My doc said that I can carry no more than 20lb. so MY baby in the car seat that we have is just fine and long as I'm comfortable with it.) This will last for two weeks until the follow up appointment. No driving while on medication. You can drive again when you feel comfortable enough to hit the breaks in a quick reaction situation. Yes, you may go up and down stairs. Refrain from exercise... yotta, yotta... although I don't know anyone who would want to exercise as twisting and bending will be difficult. And with that statement, obviously, no hubby time - as with any pregnancy that's restricted for the next 6 weeks. Poor fellas.

Well... I think that's it. Since C-section is happening no matter what, I'll be kicking up my feet these next days. I figure if I "go" then we'll go. And if not, then everything will go as scheduled. I'll take the next days to rest and prep around the house in small batches. In the meantime, parents are still on standby. Mom asks me just about every day how my contractions are going. Honestly, I think it will work out better now just going in on Thursday because we have a plan for the kids, how to get them to school and home, Bandit won't be left alone for hours at a time, bills and trash will be taken care of, and hopefully the house won't be a complete disaster, and we won't forget any last minute things... and I'll be sterilized... less likely to get an infection.

When All You Can Do Is Laugh...

So it's been an eventful two weeks. This is how it went down...
It started with our big camp meeting that we have every year. During the prayer, when the leaders spoke against opposition, I couldn't help but feel a little weird. This year has been different for us, especially financially. We've donated more than we have ever before, more so that even with the past years put together this year's donation was more than that figure quadrupled. On the way home, the only "opposition" I could think of was when we tried to find babysitters for the kids. So I talked about it with Aldo. He calmed my weirdness over the situation referring to the story of friends holding up Moses' arms during the battle against the Amalekites. In a way we were stepping in to hold up the arms (financial burden) during a time when our friends experienced job loss. That settled things.

Not even a day later, the opposition came. If you're one to look at it that way, I guess. We were in a meeting at the church and were just about ready to go when Luke climbed up the welcome booth for some unknown reason because he's usually not a "climber" (a booth that was on wheels to be thrown in the trash) and it fell over on top of him. Thankfully he was thrown as it fell down so that it only fell on his feet. Thankfully it bounced so that he could remove his feet and didn't get stuck underneath. Thankfully, Mila had moved closer to me seconds before to say she was ready to go home. And thankfully, Aldo made it to the meeting because he hadn't been feeling well that morning and took off work (otherwise he would have been a closer and wouldn't have been at the meeting). It took only seconds. But it felt like I stood there for 10 minutes in shock. I honestly cannot tell you what I did in between the time I saw Luke's face after the impact and getting Mila in the car. I remember the breaking of glass and initially thinking Luke was crying because he broke something that belonged to the church, not because he had hurt his feet. The face he made is forever ingrained in my head. It breaks my heart that I didn't react more quickly. Aldo, on the other hand, went into calm, yet fast, parent mode and asked the all the right questions. We made the decision to take Luke to the ER. I'm sure that Aldo was worried, he just never let it on. Mila came with us; it was already late and she was worried about Luke. She said, "Luke's crying so Mila's crying," and talking about getting Luke a band-aid.

I hate going to the ER. It seems like if you are gushing blood and guts coming out (sorry for the graphic imagery), they just take their sweet time. But I am thankful for doctors and nurses and everyone that is working hard to get you in and out. On the way there, all we could do was tell Luke to breathe through the pain. We waited for a while in the waiting room, then we went to triage, where they decide the urgency of your care. Then we went to his room and waited some more. In between all of that, I saw that Luke was tearing up and asked if he would like me to hold onto his glasses. So I was put in charge. By the time we made it to his room and Luke went to the restroom, the glasses had disappeared. No one has found them since. One minute I had them hanging on my shirt. I did not touch them. And the next minute they were gone. Aldo has no words for it either. Probably because we just picked up our new glasses two days before. And probably because that night we had found the camp flashdrive that I had "lost" in my computer bag. Pregnancy brain... it's a real thing. So while waiting, I was also mad at myself for losing Luke's brand new glasses. Let's just pile on the bills, shall we?

They took x-rays and ended up putting Luke in ace bandages on both feet and a splint on the left foot, which was tender, already bruising, and swollen. They also gave us crutches and told us we could follow up sometime in the next week with our doctor. It was about 5 o'clock in the morning when we were discharged. Aldo went to go get the car while we waited in the waiting room. Mila had fallen asleep finally after going between laps, coloring, and eating everyone's hospital snacks. A minute later I got a call - we had a flat tire. Aldo said to never pray for opposition ever again. I didn't pray for it! All I said was I felt weird!!! As Aldo was changing out the tire as the sun came up, I was in the waiting room hoping someone would turn in Luke's glasses before we left the building. :( It never happened though. We made it home at 6:00 am and were exhausted. I called in to work. It was supposed to be my first Wednesday going in early... but there was no way I'd be able to function on an hour of sleep.

On the way home, Luke said, "Mom, I'm lucky. It could've been worse. The booth could have fallen on my legs!"
Me: "Or on your body and broken your ribs!"
Luke: "Or on Mila!"
Me: "Yeah, bud"
Luke: "Mom, I think God was watching out for me."
Me: "Luke... I think he sent angels around you!!!"
He's so sweet. I am proud of the young man he is becoming...

But that's not all!

Wednesday morning we were woken by a phone call. The ER told us that they were looking over the x-rays again and were pretty sure Luke had fractured his foot, so we should get a follow up right away with a pediatric orthopedic specialist. (Note: Something of concern for Luke's age are the growth plates.) That day we went in to the specialist -- awesome, awesome doctors and nurses -- and found out that Luke's foot was broken in two places... the right foot. Seriously? Luke had been walking around on a broken foot?! It took them less than 15 minutes to put a cast on Luke's broken, right foot with a walking shoe and a boot on the other foot. The other foot was too swollen to see fractures or breaks at this point, but better to err on the side of caution. We made an appointment for a week later to get x-rays again and look at the left foot. Then, we proceeded to Walmart where we had the tire fixed.

Two Broken Bones in the Right Foot

Our Trooper (& First in Our Family to Break Something)

I must also mention, prior to all of this I had asked Luke what he wanted to do for his 8th birthday and his one request was a Skating Party. As it turns out, I never got any contact information for his best friend from school, who I really wanted to be there. And both of Luke's cousins are out of town for the entire summer. We agreed that it wasn't worth the money to have the party without the people he would want to be there, and especially because he can't skate. We made plans to take him to the Omaha Zoo with some of our best friends, who would definitely make his birthday special. After the entire foot debacle, we had to tell Luke there would be no Skating Party. He was devastated. (He didn't know about the Omaha Zoo surprise coming up that weekend.) He said, "I guess I'll have a Dinosaur Party". I found this really cool cast design that makes it look like scales and a dinosaur/dragon foot. When I showed him, I said, "Luke, do you want to be a real hybrid?" His eyes LIT up. (We tease, but not really, that the kids are hybrids because they are half Mexican and half American. They think it's cool that they have the best of both worlds. Man, how the world has changed...) So back to Walmart - I let him walk through the isles and show me what toys he liked. Indoraptor (aka Utahraptor). LEGO Pachycephalosaur set (the one that looks like it has a skullet and rams into things). Anything from Jurassic World. Which is ok since he would actually play with it. Luke and Mila have been building a Jurassic Park out of LEGO men, plastic dinosaurs, stuffed animals and babies, and just about anything else they can get their hands on. Their summer project. Daddy said he couldn't get anything that night, but maybe he would get something on Friday (hinting at a zoo-type something from our day trip).

The zoo was so much fun! The car ride was long, and a little uncomfortable. Luke didn't try to guess where we were going or question much at all - even when he saw the sign for Omaha! It wasn't until he saw the desert dome that he put two and two together. And we chose the perfect company to come with us. The kids were all excitement. So much so that we had to continually tell Luke to take it easy. Although the weather seemed like it might get unbearably hot, we chose to see everything outside early in the day. A good choice. And everything inside during the afternoon. Mila wasn't scared of the skylift at all. She said, "We're flying!" and pointed out the rhinos, the big birds (ostriches), and the lions. We did get Luke a wheelchair, but for that first part he had to walk. And he didn't care. Toward the end, he was offering ME the wheelchair. My favorite parts had to be the butterflies (that Natalie is scared of and Mila loved), the aquarium that you walk through (we saw divers go in with the sharks!), and the lied jungle (with free-flying bats that Natalie is also afraid of). We had it easssssy this year - only a single bat sleeping in the long tunnel! Luke told me today that all he can think about is the monkey that was picking his behind. I mean, he was digging! At several angles!! :P Yuck! Oh, and there was the "escape ape", the orangutan that started to unscrew his glass enclosure. While the husbands went to get the cars, the wives and the kids checked out the after-hours family festival. They had vendors everywhere. When we asked what was going on, all they said was that they come twice a year and everything is free, so go get something. We took the bubbles ("that help with asthma"), went to the photobooth, made some sensory bags, grabbed some cotton candy and free Dip N Dots too!! That's when we found out that it was for special needs kids. !!!! Good thing the husbands called for us to pack up because we would have done balloons and face painting too! Instead we went down the walk of shame. Haha! The misadventures of us!

Our Day Trip to the Omaha Zoo

(I didn't get many pictures because we were travelling with a professional photographer, who blocked all my shots... but that's alright... 

I expect to see some good ones posted.)

You would think after that, we'd go back to something "normal".

Well, it's not so much family-related, but this week has been crazy at work too. There's construction going on outside. The road in front of the library will have improvements later on, and to prepare for that they have to move the water line, which is right at the entrance of our parking lot. The first day coming in this week, no one was here to let me in. I had to chance my key code and hope that no cops showed up. The second day, there was a huge hole in the entrance and I wasn't expecting that until the following week, so I drove around thinking we might be closed if no one called me back. We had to park on the street. It was also the day of a bus trip. The hole got filled in right before that showed up. And then the guys cut into our phone and internet line. Nice. It's been a wild week at work.

So then, there's today. Today we went back to the pediatric orthopedic specialist to see how Luke's left foot is (the one in the boot). The Dr. still couldn't see any brakes or fractures on the x-rays, but was certain that something was broken because of the amount of swelling, discoloration and tenderness in certain areas. We go back in 3 weeks. For the time being, Luke has to wear his boot most of the time. The exceptions are at night he can take it off to sleep, when he takes a bath, and possibly the pool (but if he's at the pool, he's not really swimming... it will be hard for him to move around and he can't get hit either). Then, getting into the car to go home we hear a hiss coming from the vent. And then the cold air was gone. I'm hoping with all the hope that I have for my car, that it's just a valve come loose and let all the freon out. Because at this point... all we can do is laugh and keep going.

Camp is 9 days away. <sigh> And boy am I counting down...