Cruisin

Gilbert and I are going on a 3 day cruise for our 6th wedding anniversary. We leave on Friday. My parents were so kind to fly down to take care of the kids. This will be the first time I have ever left my kids. I hope that Grandma Boo and Papa Lou survive while we are gone and the kids don't give them a hard time.

On Monday we started telling Kaden that Grandma Boo and Papa Lou are coming to play with her this week. She was smart enough to figure out on her own that they were coming in an airplane. She keeps saying how excited she is!

WW Update

Last week I lost 2.2 pounds. That puts me at a total lost of 16.6 pounds. I am looking forward to when I can say I lost 20 pounds. On Friday I am leaving on a cruise for 3 days. I hope that I can have self control so that I do not gain weight this week.

Weekend in Pictures

Kaden trying to feed Teo Fruit Loops

Playing in the sprinkler.

Dancing with Daddy

We just hung around the house this weekend and played in our new backyard.

Backyard Renovation

These are the pictures at the beginning of our renovation.

This is the walkway to the part of our backyard that opens up.

This is in the open part of the backyard.


We had mulch down before which they removed to lay down the pavers.

Here are the After renovation. This section is to the left when you walk in the yard.

The new and improved walkway.

No more cement square and mulch!

The kids love being able to run around and play now.

The backyard is finally completed! It took a while but the end result was well worth it. This weekend we went out and enjoyed watching the kids play in their new backyard.

WW Update

I don't know if anyone reads this but I will continue to post to keep myself accountable. I have been sticking with Weight Watchers but I have not seen the results as fast as I wanted. I lost a good amount the first couple of weeks but then I was loosing 1 pound or 1/2 a pound a week. I was getting discouraged because I wanted to see at least 2 pounds a week coming off. Last week I missed my weigh in. This week I went and had lost 5 pounds and finally got over the 10 pound mark. I have now lost a total of 13.5 pounds. I can feel it in my clothes too. I needed this to keep me going. I still have not gotten my workouts in and hope to start that soon.

Summer is Here

This was at a princess themed birthday party.

It is hard to believe that summer is already here. We have been doing a lot recently. We have been redoing our backyard. I will post pictures of this later. It took a while due to rain and other issues but it is finally completed! We can now enjoy our yard space and grill out this summer!



Last week Gilbert was out of town and I did my first week with the kids by myself. It is pathetic to think I was a bit apprehensive about this. I don't know if its just me but having a 19.5 month old and a 29 month old is very hard to handle with only one set of hands. We survived the week but I was exhausted by the end of it. Pretty soon after Gilbert got back myself and both kids got a stomach bug. I found myself at home taking care of two sick kids while i was very sick myself. Unfortunately, Gilbert had a meeting at work and wasn't able to miss it. This was a new experience for me and I hope I don't have to go through that again.

Kaden and Teo Update

Kaden is now officialy in big girl panties. She has gone over a week with no accidents. She even slept through some naps dry. Poor Kaden had a stomach bug this weekend. Some how she knew how to throw up in the toilet and was able to tell me in enough time when she was going to be sick.

Teo is doing better. We went to see a Holistic Doctor and the homeopathic treatments are helping a lot. Right now his molars are coming in. It seems like they are taking for ever. Poor guys is cranky when the teeth are breaking the skin. So funny how each kids is different. With Kaden she never had issues with her teeth and with Teo every tooth has given him issues.

WW Update

Kaden was sick this weekend so I just went to weigh in on Saturday morning but did not stay for the maeeting. I have been sticking to the diet but did not feel like I was making progress during the week. I was surprised to hear you lost 4 pounds! I still did not get exercise in yet. I'm not sure why I'm struggling in this area. I hope to get motivated some how.

WW Update

Saturday mornings are the time I go to Weight Watchers because it is the only time it fits in my schedule. The meeting time is at 7:00am. I was woken up by work at 6:15 this morning and instead of laying back down like I wanted to I got up and got ready for WW. I lost 3 pounds! It is a start which is what I needed. I hope to have another good week. Hopefully this week I can manage to squeeze in some exercise.

Night Time "Nightmares"

Our bed time has had many ups and downs. Since the kids share a room we have found nighttime to be quite tricky.

Right now we are going through one of those hard times. We usually put Teo to bed first and 30 minutes or so later we put Kaden to bed. Kaden loves to talk to herself until she falls asleep and she is usually not quiet. Lately either Teo waits up for her to come to bed or she wakes him up. The night before last it took 2 hours for the kids to fall asleep. Part of that time they are talking to each other and the other part of the time they are usually crying. On top of these issues Teo is teething and has a double ear infection. Last night it took about an hour and I had to leave Teo screaming not crying for about 20 minutes before he finally calmed down.

I have tried everything I can think of. I give them books, I play music, nothing seems to work. Bedtime has gotten so hard that I dread that time of the day. If anyone has any suggestions I would love them.

Weight Watchers

Today I signed up for Weight Watchers. I hope to stay committed to this and work hard to get rid of the baby weight I am still carring around. If anyone has any good receipes that are WW friendly please send them my way. Also if you are looking for receiptes an old friend of mine, Brooke, has a blog with WW meal and snack ideas.

Teo

Well I have not stuck to anything I had said at the end of 2009. Here it is at the end of April 2010 and I have not blogged at all. I am not even sure if anyone reads this anymore but I am going to try again.

Instead of trying to play catch up, I am going to start where are now.

We have had a hard start to 2010 especially with Teo. Poor guy has really bad allergies and this results with ear infections. He has at least one ear infection a month in both ears even with tubes and is now on Singular. Gilbert and I have had to make some difficult decisions but his health is a priority. We are now looking for a Nanny or a in home day care that takes a small number of children. Being around a large group of kids is to hard on him. I wish I could stay home with him and it hurts as a parent that I can not do this. Please pray for us in our search and if anyone has any suggestions please send them my way.

I am also doing some research on holistic treatments. I am very new to this and feel like I need a guide or teacher to help me get started.

Some more positive news. Teo had his 18 month check up. Besides his allergies and ears he is doing great!

He weighed: 32 pounds

Height: 2' 8 3/4"

Head Circumference: 50cm

My big boy is wearing 3T shirts and 2T shorts. I can't believe how fast his is growing.

Kaden started Ballet and seems to enjoy it. She is growing like crazy to: wearing XS and S in the big kids section. She is starting to have conversations and is into playing dress up.

End of the Year

I know I have been absent from my blog, as my family so nicely reminded me. As we close the year we always look over the year and make resolutions for the next. I usually don't make resolutions as I don't keep them but this year I am going to try again.

I stumbled across another blog called the Simple Mom. On this blog there is a post called 10 Questions to Encourage Engaged Parenting in 2010. To the other moms, if you have time check this out. I found it quite interesting as a way to reflect on the year past as a parent and to make goals for the next year.

This is what prompted me to make my resolutions again. And hopefully I will stick to them this time. I have had a very stressful year and I have really spent time evaluating what changes I need to make to have a less stressful year in 2010. I will post more on this later and will also update with some wonderful Christmas pictures of the kids.

We Are Still Here

We are still here. We have been very busy and I am finding it hard to keep up with the blog. Since the last time I posted a lot has happened. Mateo had 4 sinus infections and 4 ear infections in one month, he turned one, and he had tubes put in. He is doing much better now, thank goodness. He takes 4 steps and then falls down and seems to be content with that. He is definitely moving at a different pace than Kaden but we know he will walk when he is ready.

At his one year check up Teo weighed 26 pounds 10 ounces and was 31 inches long.

Kaden is doing well. She is growing up so much. She talks no stop. She loves to watch out for her brother. She can count from 1-5 and can sing the first half of her alphabet. Her vocabulary is wonderful. When she talks she switches between English, French, and Spanish. We are very proud of her. We have officially hit the terrible twos. She is very persistent about what she wants and when she doesn't get it watch out. She loves to watch the same Barney video over and over. In the car this week we have had to listen to Pop goes the Weasel and Old MacDonald has a Farm over and over and over again.

So I dont know what happened with the pictures. But I'm not going to try and add them again.

Play time

Kaden and Teo playing together.

Kaden Update

Kaden has been very busy recently. She is taking swimming lessons on Saturdays in addition to gymnastics. She loves to jump, with a little help, into the pool and even swims up and I meet her half way. She is talking up a storm. We have worked on potty training just a little but whenever we get a free weekend we are going to do a crash course on it. She loves her brother and is always talking to him, trying to feed him, and sharing with him. At her 19 month check up, which was really done when she was 20 months, she weighed 31.1 pounds and was 33.5 inches long. Now Kaden seems to be a little girl now, time is flying by.

Mateo Update

Mateo is now 9.5 months old and doing well. At his 9 month check up he weight 21.2 pounds and was 28.5 inches long. He is still trying to walk, has 2 teeth, said his first word Papa! Mateo can go under water in the swimming pool and he loves his sister. In the mornings they talk to each other. It is so cute.

First Hair Cuts

Waiting to get his hair cut. You can see how excited Mateo was.
Kaden playing while waiting to get her hair cut.

Mateo did very well. I was impressed as was the hair dresser.

Getting his hair styled.

First Hair Cut!

Kaden in the chair watching Elmo.

Getting her hair cut. Kaden's hair was different lengths. We had her hair cut to be the same length now so it will grow nicely.

Finished!

We took the kids to Cartoon cuts to get their hair cut. They did much better than I could imagine. They both cried once but that was it. This place was just for kids. We got a certificate and locks of their hair as well.

Yard Work

My new orchid.
We added hanging baskets to the back.

I re-potted this plant.

I re-potted this plant.

I made some flower boxes.

I re-potted this plant.

Kaden raking the yard.

We have been working in the back yard recently. I have been re-potting all of my plants and have added some new ones as well.