Babies, Babies, Everywhere!

3 Months, 3 Days

Since the last time I wrote we've had our first ever professional (?) family portraits taken, babies dedicated, and another baby born. Busy. Busy.
I was given the portrait pack back when we were doing the baskets for camp. Another person won but gave me the session for newborn pics of Mila. I was saving them because I thought we would get photos from the hospital (but the photographer never came to our room...) and that Maecy could use them for Mateo because I didn't think she could afford newborn pics (I don't know about affordability but she got some pretty cute photos of Mateo). So I changed it to a family session. And the lady kindly allowed Maecy to include her family, as well as newborn pictures, and add in a big one of both families, and mom.. And then mom invited granddad. One thing leads to another. Unfortunately I didn't think of Daylight Savings and so it got darker earlier and we didn't get outdoor leafy photos. Bummer.

On Novemeber 8, 2015, Mila was dedicated at Centerpointe Community Church. Then Mateo was dedicated. The family that came were: my dad, Aldo's mom, Veronica and the boys, J and some of the kids, Jerad and the kids, Granddad and my mom. And obviously me, Aldo, Luke, Mila and Maecy and Mateo. Afterward we all went out to Applebee's and then we relaxed at home because Aldo took off the Sunday. The biggest moment of the day was when Luke prayed over Mateo. So not planned but those are the best - Aldo and I were named Mateo's prayer partners and I guess Luke assumed he was one too. He grabbed the mic, and was completely natural when he said this prayer -
"Lord I thank you for this day. And I pray at Mateo grows up like my baby grows up, I pray at he gives honor to you, and at he doesn't cry all the time. Amen." Pastor Joe said it was the best one he ever heard. Wow! Blew me away. Man we got blessed with an awesome kid!

And then on November 10th, Stacia's baby boy Jax was born. We went up to visit the next day. Boy was huge!!! And both Mila and Mateo had dark brown hair when they were born, this one has goldish, reddish - so he looks bald and red. But I'm so happy for Stacia anyway. This is her boy! I'll probably visit her sometime in the next week or so, I just don't know when.

Photo Session Selfie

  

Mila Rose Alvidrez - Baby Dedication

Baby Jax

Picture Post

Looking through the camera roll, I realized I haven't added too many photos to this book yet (and I have so many good ones!!). My kids are gorgeous; they should have their pictures taken everywhere and all the time! Here we go…

Back when I was still pregnant and we went to the rodeo to get me walking, and my feet were killing me! And they (Luke & Grammy) left me at the bleachers all by myself for the longest time…

Mila - Newborn to Now

Maecy & Mateo when we went to visit

(He looks just like her. Cute nose. Cute lips. Cute chin. Too much CUTE!!!)

Looking above… can you tell they're cousins?? I can't.

 Watching the World Series 2015

The bottom two are where we were during the parade. For memory's sake.

 And you can also see that "Snapchat" is popular right now.

 <3 ** My Favorite ** <3

Back to Civilization

I enjoyed watching the games, and wearing my comfortable blue hoodie (because you know I'm s jeans and hoodie type of girl), but I'm glad the World Series is over. Royals won. We're the 2015 champs. Yesterday more than 800,000 people wenljohght to downtown by Union Station to cheer on the team and hear their thank-you speeches. School was cancelled. Some places of business closed down too.  Not Nebraska Furniture Mart though. And I didn't quit being a mom of a five-year-old and newborn, and I didn't suddenly get bold enough to drive in Missoiri among the crowd by myself. So.... We stayed home. Aldo worked. We watched a few hours of it and did other stuff. I think Grammy would be proud that I participated and didn't go all out bonkers. I guess had sheuxgel been here she would have sat in her rocker and I would be on the floor with the kids watching the parade at her house. So all in all, I stayed true to myself.

Somehow I managed to get the bathroom clean and our room picked up some, the laundry done, floors swept and mopped, and living room clean. I don't know if I mentioned this but we've been on a cleaning schedule. So many schedules! There's Luke's school schedule, his meal options for lunch, our white board with Aldo's work schedule and all doctor appointments and church events and holidays and birthdays, my food planning schedule, and now this! (My English teacher would die if  he saw that run on sentence. I've also noticed I'm very bracket-happy tonight...) With every major change in our lives we've had to find balance with the home stuff. Less movies, who cleans what, rest on Tuesday, nope... Rest in Wednesday, wake up at this time, go to bed at this time, let the house go.
It seems crazy to have all of these schedules and things, but that's what I have to do to organize all the information and not miss a thing.

Let's get back to the kids though.
Mila's milestones:
- She has found her hands! Of course she sucks on them. It's adorable. Her left is her favorite, and I wonder if she's going to be a leftie at times. But now she reaches out her hands to grab my face. My mouth mostly. She likes when I say "mama" or "Mila". The other day she even reached for her giraffe toy with the stretchy neck.
- We moved up to size 2 in diaper. (She wore Newborns for like a week. And we never bought any more because size 1 fit just fine.) Her thick little legs have been getting red marks because the diapers were tight, so I finished off the 1's and moved her up a size. Now I have to really make sure the top is tight; I'm afraid poopie might go right up and out. And there's a lot of hang... She is certainly not a boy.
- And the sad part.... We put up the crib. It's easy enough to put her down in it while we're awake, whether before bed or for a midday nap. But when I have to get up to feed her in the middle of the night, once I bring her back to our bed to feed her... It's like once I'm down, I'm down. So half the night she still sleeps with us. And what's weird is, I'll start on my side almost off the bed... And I don't know how it happens but when I wake up, I'm in the middle pushing Aldo up against the cold wall and Mila's tucked in on the other side. Hmmm...

Happy Halloween!

This year I didn't concentrate too much on Halloween. I'm more focused on saving for Christmas. Anyway, it was the greatest news when Luke found my old spider costume with the sequins on the belly and eyes and told me that's what he wanted to be for Halloween; less money I'll have to spend on a costume. I still had to re-attach the arms though, which kept coming undone at school and everywhere else we went. Luke was excited for his school party and parade, and I wanted to be there. So Aldo, Mila and myself went to his school and watched as each class marched around the playground black top, and then afterward Aldo and Mila got off easy sitting in the classroom rocking chair while I helped out with the ring toss around the witch hats. Luke is THE cutest kindergartener (but I could be biased...). Later we went to help Vero move into her new house, but nothing was packed so we just looked at it while the kids went to a trunk-or-treat. Here's some pictures that were captured from the day:

BES Halloween Parade

Luke w/ His Kindergarten Teacher, Mrs. Eder

Spider, Sonic & Samurai

The next day was actual Halloween. Aldo had to work, mom was out of town, it was just me and the kids. (Yep. "Kids". Plural. Still a bit weird. Although at this point I know I'd wake up thinking something was wrong if there wasn't a baby in the house.) I planned on watching Ember and Luke at the Fall Festival at church so Kari could do the face paints and Mila would stay with Danny at the house. It. Was. Cold. Thank goodness I didn't have Mila out and about. I originally wanted to dress her up as a ladybug, but time got away from me. I didn't have any plans until I changed her into this zebra-patterned onesie that I had taken out of a random donation bag. I put her in it because first off it was cute. And second, the pink pants that would keep her warm matched. Then about 20 minutes before we had to leave the house I thought, you know what, I wonder if I could make her into a zebra. A simple head piece with ears attached shouldn't be too hard. I looked up some zebra costume inspiration, got out the foam and yarn, and WAH-LA! The most diva zebra I ever did see. Took me 15 minutes and boy was she adorable. After the Fall Festival we went back to Danny and Kari's. They took the kids around their neighborhood while Mila and I watched the Royals play in the World Series. When it ended, I was exhausted and Aldo had finally shown up, and so we left for home and enjoyed the extra hour from daylight savings.

My Little Zebra

Mila's First Halloween

As for Mommy and Daddy's outfits, nothing beats our "Gangnam Style" routine. This year I was planning on being a scarecrow (and I'm telling this out of order too), but the teen costume party was cancelled and we ended up "celebrating" (I put quotations there because we didn't even get candy...) at the Gutz house and watching the Royals. I was one of three who really dressed up. (Sorry babe, your "I'm a mouse" outfit didn't take enough dressing up to be counted as dressing up.) I went as a chola. If you don't know what it is look it up, because I had a hard time committing to the role as well. But hey, we celebrated. Kudos for that. 

Yuck!

Oh my goodness!
Mila just spit up in my mouth!
I went in for a kiss and ... Woosh! Full stream of milk and slobber hit my lips. I don't know how much actually went in because I said "Blah! Ack! Phatooey!" And watched as she smiled her mischievous grin with the one dimple, and then I looked around for where the rest of the milk went. No worries. Just on her pink, bumpy blanket and my shirt.

Another 2-3 more years and I'll have clean shirts again.
Never a clean house though.
<sigh>

I will say this - once you have kids, things that were once disgusting (boogers, slobber, throw up, and other bodily fluids) are not as disgusting. At least not with your own kid. You have no problem, unless your absolutely a clean person with some kind of phobia, cleaning off the crumbs of food around your kid's mouth with your fingers and then licking them afterwards. (Hey, it was Oreo. Or... Hey, it was just steak and potatoes.)

Another gross thing... I might have mentioned this before... Babies don't smell like babies. Not like vanilla or lavender anyway. Not naturally. My little girl smells like she came out of a McDonalds Happy Meal. All oniony and covered in grease. It's disturbing when you go in for a second whiff. It like reside in her neck crease. And transfers to my bed sheets. Am I still considered a lady? Or have I taken it too far and I'm now grouped with the nasty, hobbit people? Please don't judge me. I wasn't always like this.

Post Postpartum

A rightfully named post.
There are days when I have bouts of what I've been calling (in my head) "post" postpartum. Where it feels physically and mentally like the whole... of whatever the whole is... rests on my shoulders. Mila is usually crying frequently, I'm usually tender from breastfeeding and feel completely dried up and shooting milk dust, and Aldo always seems to be around (How does that work? I must be holding out until the days he's off work.) My first guess was that I was supposed to be on my period. I didn't know this, but you don't have a period when you breastfeed. But that doesn't make sense because it's been sporadic. The craziness I mean. Lack of sleep? Possibly. Is it the constant physical draining? The constant contact? Likely. The guessing games of why she's crying? Also likely, but easier as you go. Is it a growth spurt??? Is that why she's so hungry??? And I feel so empty?

See these are the things you don't see new moms going through, and I'm more than 2 months in. I'm my "normal" self again, but there are times when I'm weary of whether I'm actually done with the baby blues. <enter exasperated sigh here>
I can make it. All for baby. You're a good mom, Erryn. And you're a helpful dad, Aldo. You're a good brother, Luke. And you're loved, Mila... We just can't wait until you can finally crawl and grab your own toy that you want and can keep your attention, and maybe talk or sign to know what it is that will make you happy.
Tomorrow's a new day. Here we go!

I have to throw in another shout out to Aldo. As I'm typing this he's finished cooking, and is juggling her along with his food as she's "shouting" at him and watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 (because the first wasn't bad enough??) with Luke. What a good dad and husband. I'm so lucky.

Hater Status

Tonight has been a rough night. I have to vent without passing my grumpiness off to anyone. Thank you blog for allowing me to do so.

1. The Royals are a big deal on Facebook. It's starting to irritate me. Okay, so I'm not like a huge fan of sports, but I wouldn't mind going to a game here or there. And, right now - and I know this is untrue - it feels like they're all rubbing it in. I'm salty. I admit it, jealousy has struck. I want to go out. I want to have some fun with my kids. I want to look amazing, wear the fan-wear, go all out… I want to do it. But I can't. Because...

2. We're broke. We have zero money for fun. We have bills is what we have. And my question is this -- how do these people have 2+ kids and are still able to live on their own, get nice things, and still go out and take off work. I don't get it. Are they swimming in debt? Can you get to that point? They must have rich family members or nice connections. We don't have connections. We're starting from scratch here. One day my children will know how it is to work for their money and live off of their means and better society and the economy. <sigh>
I looked at houses online. We can't afford it. We would have to buy a foreclosure. And even then, how do you get the money to put down? We have to have help somewhere.

3. I cooked tonight. I've been doing that lately so we save money on food. That seems to be where we're spending a lot of our money. So I've been cooking so that we have leftovers instead of eating out. I think it's helping. Anyway, I've been looking up recipes to extend my knowledge base and selections, and also I've been meal planning for two weeks ahead. That way I'm only going to the store for what I need and saving on multiple trips. Tonight I made pork chops and rice. It's terrible. Absolutely terrible. I think I was supposed to do something to the rice before putting it in the oven, but even soaking it for an hour in water would have been nasty. I can't cook rice for the life of me. The pork chops were a bust too. But I added them to some macaroni. Still saving money here. At least I didn't buy the rice so it wasn't a waste. And at least I didn't put all the pork chops in the pan. So I can test out another pork chop recipe and add it or cross it off the list. I wanted to say that the other night I also made another disgusting recipe (I think Aldo was just being nice when he said he liked it) that involved noodles and meatballs. I've learned that I'm just not buying anything frozen again. And I thought I was good at baking. Turns out I'm not.

So this post is a hater status because I just needed to vent, not pass on the negativity, and not get bombarded with "be grateful".

---

And now that I've taken that time, I will turn it around to something positive and thankful.

1. I'm grateful for… my husband and kids. They're perfect. My husband is entertaining and funny. My kids take after him (Luke definitely and I'm assuming Mila will too). We can sit on the couch and have a good time. We can sit on the couch and talk and have a better time. We wrestle, we play games, we take funny pictures and make silly videos (Aldo and Luke's "Bulletproof" production). I would rather spend time with my family then go alone to a game or Worlds of Fun or something like that. My family means the world to me. Thank you God for allowing me to be a part of their lives.

2. I'm grateful for… learning life lessons early in life so I haven't made too many mistakes as a grown-up. My guess is a lot of people buy things they can't afford and that's why the U.S. is in so much debt (we're a "I want it, and I want it now" society), but my parents and grandparents taught me to get a good education and work hard at your job, etc. We didn't get any hand-offs. (Except that my mom let me have her hand-me-down Jeep, and then I had to actually pay for the replacement Mercury, and then I borrowed the van…). I'm thankful we didn't get hand-offs. It would've been so much harder to learn what being an adult is all about. Taking responsibility. If you didn't know.
I'm also grateful for… living in the basement of my mom's house. It really is benefiting all parties involved.

3. I'm grateful for… a non-picky husband who is willing to taste my cooking. Improve my cooking. And not hold it against me when I mess up. He appreciates the fact that I try. And I'm grateful that I have learned a few new things that have been a success among the failures. I can make biscuits and gravy! I've been wanting to do that for the longest time!
Oh, and I'm grateful for… those spice packets. Whether it's chili powder, stroganoff, taco seasoning, or gravy mix… without them I'd have a lot more guess work going on. But instead I have more than a couple of flavorful meals under my belt.

Hater status turned Let's Get'R Done mode.