goals for the new year

Note the word “goals” in the title and not “resolutions”. Something about the word “resolution” makes it sound like I’m about to sign my soul away. Seriously. A goal sheet is a fun project I can look forward to but a resolution sheet looks like a huuuuuge commitment that I’m just not ready for… even though the list may be the exact same.

Anyways, it’s been a while since I’ve done anything like this. In fact, I think the last time I made a list was in middle school for an assignment.

So here it is in no particular order:

-run a 5k. I call it a mini marathon, Ariel calls it cute. I keep calling this 50k and if it wasn’t for Ariel, I would have wrote 50k instead of 5k. Why 50k? 5k, 50k. They both sound like it would take forever to run.

-take photos of my kids once a week. I’ve seen some of my favorite bloggers do this but it didn’t seem right  for me to just jump in mid-year. But keeping a photographic memory of my growing children? Genius.

-more time in front of the lens. I know I’m not the only one who prefers to be behind the lens. It’s a bit of a challenge for me because I’m really, really shy and don’t know what to do when I become the subject of a photo. Seriously though, what are you supposed to do?

-learn to cook a new dish every week. This is embarrassing but Ariel cooks so much better than I do. I have a few dishes that I’m pretty darn good at (or at least I think I am) but it’s only a few dishes. Ariel once said, “oh boy, how are we going to survive if you don’t cook? We’re going to starve” and it kind of hurt my feelings. So I’m going to change that this year and demand we have a cook off at the end of this year. ;)

-finish 20 books. Now I can easily finish 20 books in less than half a year but that was before Leo. I barely have time to finish one book these days and I miss it.

-spend more time with friends. I was a little hermit the entire year of 2013. I’ve cancelled out on friends so much more than I can count and it’s kind of hard to believe that they still consider me a friend. Sorry guys! I met with two of my closest for lunch a few days ago and I had not realized how much I missed them until I saw them! It was also nice to have a few hours to myself (even though I had both kids with me) away from home.

I tried to make my list as realistic as possible and I think I succeeded in that! Now here’s to a brand new year!

Christmas at the Arellano’s

//Leo did not like the camera//

Merry late Christmas everyone! I hope your holiday was jolly. Christmas here at my house was full of joy, smiles, and lots of wrapping papers. So. Much. Wrapping papers.

Fall and winter has just whizzed on by here at the Arellano’s. I like to savor the winter holidays but it’s gone by so fast! I guess it’s what happens when you’re raising a new baby. :)

//Orlando making wrapping paper angels//

//i’ve been eyeing a Keurig since my visit to VA two summers ago & now I have one!//

//Ariel has this newer coat and the original vintage coat exactly like this. needless to say, he loves Seattle Sonics!//

//first time seeing Trina actually speechless over a gift! It’s a telescope. Ariel and I love bringing out the geek in her. :)//

//see this mess? that’s with my somebody picking up after them.//

mrs arellano, could you shout?

Trina: “my friends think you’re the coolest mom in the world.”

Me: “why?”

Trina: “because you were the first parent to stand and shout.”

It was during a winter assembly at Trina’s school. Being in Honors choir, it was a pretty big deal for her that I show up. It would have been better if Ariel and I both attended but this was my first attendance at one of Trina’s assemblies this school year.

As the grand finale, 3rd to 5th grade students spread out in groups of 11 with each group representing one of the days of the song “12 days of Christmas” (Honors choir was day one). The parents were then instructed to shout the line with the group we were sitting closest to. I was sitting right next to the group “three french hens”. Before the song began, one of Trina’s classmate tapped me on my shoulder and said,

“Mrs. Arellano? Could you shout with us?”

When the song landed on us, I got up and shouted our line the loudest I could.

“four~ calling birds.”

and once again, I was the only parent. Again, and again until the school’s music teacher stopped the song at “six geese a laying” and asked the parents once again, to follow suit like the “lady over there by ‘three french hens’”.

Everyone chuckled. The students laughed and the teachers clapped. Me? I was proud and so was Trina.

six week postpartum

I’m going to ask the most ignorant, dumbest question that doesn’t need an answer. Why do men become gynecologists? Seriously.

On to the next.

I got the green light to proceed with my regular pre-pregnancy routines! That means I can run, jump, and lift to my heart’s delight. I currently weigh 118lbs as of last night –that’s 7 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight –so I think I have a pretty good head start on this whole get-back-in-shape thing. I do feel a little flatter in the badonk area so there’s going to be a lot of squatting going on around here.

[my stepmom: “if you were born a boy, he is what you would look like.”]

Leonardo has started to sleep through the night! We have a routine going which begins around 6-8pm depending on when he wants to stir awake. If he doesn’t stir awake by around 8:30pm, I wake him up myself and bathe him. He usually falls asleep by 11pm and well wake up around 5-7am depending on when he fell asleep. I guess you can say I’ve been a happy little chap lately. A well rested mama is a happy mama afterall, no?

Breastfeeding. Oy vey. I don’t remember it being this difficult with Trina. During the first month I just fought with Leo to keep nursing even though I knew he wasn’t getting any milk because that’s what I was told to do. That made for a very frustrated baby and an incredibly sleep deprived mama because IT WAS NOT WORKING. Instead I figured out something that does work for me. I was recommended Fenugreek vitamins by a friend I grew up with long ago. I take two of those three times a day with Blessed Thistle and have been doing so for nearly the past 2 weeks. It is working but it’s a slow progress so to avoid an angry baby, I pump every 2 1/2 hours and supplement with formula for the remainder of oz he needs to be kept happy. I can pump a little over 3oz now from barely 2oz a week ago. :)

I need to go change out of my shirt because I can smell spit-up milk and it’s coming from me…

an early start

So the kids started their winter break a day early due to snow. I was supposed to finish wrapping up their gifts today… The price I must pay for procrastinating. Wonderful.

Which reminds me. My nephew walked in my room and saw his gift that has yet to be wrapped. He doesn’t know that it’s his but I panicked when I saw his face light up in joy at seeing a new toy. My response? I yelled at him, told him it wasn’t his, and told him to get out. I’m such a jerk. I can’t wait for him to open it on Christmas morning so I can see that happy face again. He has such a cute happy face.

As for Trina… I can’t waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait! It took us a while but Ariel and I picked out a perfect gift for our little geek.

 

It’s raining now and the kids are inside enjoying a cup of hot chocolate and cookies. They don’t seem too bummed out about the snow being rained away so I guess it’s safe to say they had their fill of snow for now. They did play in the snow for a few hours but they didn’t even get to slide on the snow! Shucks.

The hairy snowman is winkin’ at ya.

There’s something about snow that makes you feel so at peace. I just want to cozy up on the couch right next to the twinkling Christmas tree. Maybe throw on some soft pajamas and a pair of fluffy bunny slippers.

Has it snowed where you’re at yet?

The smallest thing.

 
My nightly routine used to be very, very simple. Have dinner, remind Trina that it’s time for her to wash up, and watch television while waiting for Trina to come downstairs to say goodnight. Now it’s wait for Leo to wake up, feed him just enough to keep him satisfied, bathe him, massage him with some lavender lotion to calm him, feed him some more, and rock him to bed and hope that he stays asleep. This all takes a good 3-4 hours of my evening but it doesn’t stop there because I have to run back downstairs to tidy up and finish remaining chores.

So when I came into the restroom ready to bathe Leo, I was surprised and delighted to see that everything has already been set up for me.

:) Thanks Trina. You’re pretty freaking awesome, you know that?

PS – the note says “For Leo”

one month postpartum

Honestly? I kind of miss being pregnant. I miss the moments that I got to share with Leo alone but I wouldn’t trade that for the moments I get to hold him in my arms now. I guess you can say I’m kind of jealous that I have to share him with everyone else now but that just sounds downright dumb, doesn’t it?

I haven’t hit postpartum depression and it’s a little surprising because I went down that road pretty hard with Trina. Maybe the support system I had then (which was nil) compared to the support system I have now (which is huge) plays a major factor. I don’t know, but I’m just grateful that I may have slipped through the web of postpartum depression this time around. /knocksonwood

I think I may have fully and completely recovered now. My 6-week appt isn’t until next week but I have a pretty good feeling that I’ll be given the green light to do whatever I wish. Like running for example. I miss running so. Much.

Leo recently hit a growth spurt which drove me a little crazy for about three days. I nurse him on demand and he demanded to be nursed pretty much every hour. I’ve been having trouble with producing milk (I breastfeed) so it was pretty difficult and frustrating for the both of us. I was recently recommended an herbal vitamin and I’m waiting for it to ship in soon. I’m crossing fingers that it’ll help because I don’t want to supplement with formula –it just wasn’t part of the plan and I hate it because of that.

Trina is a natural when it comes to being an older sister. She adores her little brother and loves to hold him. She never forgets to say hello to him in the mornings and g’nite to him in the evenings. She’s slowly learning how to do certain things like dressing him, feeding him, and changing his diapers and it’s great having an extra help around! She talks to him like they’ve known each other forever instead of those goo-goos and ga-gas and most people consider a “baby language”. She’s still concerned about me and tries to be the best help she can be so that I can take a nap (which is heavenly when I allow myself one!) or a stress-free shower. I’ve gone without washing my hair for four days straight once because I stress that Leo might be crying or would need to nurse. I’ve never done that before and Trina once called me out and said that my hair needed to be washed because you know, it smelled. /sadface I thought it still smelled like shampoo but whatever.

Cloth diapering. I don’t know why I stressed so much before because it’s super easy and actually kind of fun. I’ve been using mainly pre-folds saving the pocket diapers for Ariel to use. I’ve been slowly working on my pocket diaper stash and have fourteen of them so far! I like that I don’t have to worry about running out of diapers and/or wipes and love that Leo hasn’t had a major blowout accident yet. If you’re currently a mom or a veteran mom, you know what I’m talking about when I say “blowout accident”. We haven’t had any of those accidents yet because cloth diapers really, seriously keeps all of that in! /knocksonwoodagain

I’m probably just really attached to Leo or maybe I’m just an overly protective mom but I haven’t been able to stay away from Leo for too long. I’ve also been very iffy about having visitors over because I’m afraid that Leo might contract something. Plus we’ve had a measles outbreak recently in a nearby city from an infant who went overseas and was too young to get vaccinated for measles. I want to safely tuck Leo away in a bubble until he gets all of his vaccinations. I know that there might be ladies that are against vaccinations reading this but I vaccinate my children. If you’re against my choice , please keep it to yourself and enjoy your stay.

Happy one month Little Lion. I love you so, so much squirt. :)

P.S. Leo grunts when he poops and it’s so, so, sooooo cute!

november in photos

  

   

  

November was quite busy with a newborn and all so I don’t have many photos! Sad.

P.S. The first three photos of Leo were taken by none other than Trina.