Thursday, April 30, 2009

My Favorite One Liners

"These yellow balls feel very squishy and mushy in my mouth, and juicy too!"
Genesis Nicole, Age 4, while eating Jello-O cubes for dessert.

"Agua! Agua!" (agua is Spanish for water)
Isabella Grace, 16 Months, while splashing her toy in the toilet!!

"Mama, if your belly is a little bit big does that mean God put another baby in there?"
Tyler Jon, Age 5, I will never change in front of him again.

"Buh-Bye!"
Tyler Jon, Age 5, while zooming by a classmate in a relay race at Field Day last week.

"Mas! Mas!" (mas is Spanish for more)
Isabella Grace 12 months, Bella's way of begging for whatever it is you are eating! The girl knows 5 words, this is by far her favorite!

"Hey did you just toot Petunia?"
Genesis Nicole, Age 4, she knows boys are gross but she had no idea how that came out of her big brother! Oh and Petunia, I don't know, you will have to ask her, it's her new word.

"Mama here are your booby holders."
Ty, Age 5, and Gen, Age 4 while helping me sort laundry.

"Did I just fall?"
John Henry, Age 32, after falling off of a chair, but he actually didn't turn a year older until appx. 14 days after that.

"Wow Mama, that's a lot, but you are right behind him!"
Tyler Jon, Age 5, that was Ty's response after asking Daddy his age because it was his birthday, and then asking Mama's"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!! I HOPE YOU HAVE A "SILLY" BIRTHDAY WEEK!!!!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Bella's Baby Bullets

Isabella turned 16 months on March 29th!! Bella is truly a joy to have. She is an incredible baby girl. I am so blessed to be allowed the privilege of being her Mommy.
  • She is getting SO BIG! At her last appointment she weighed in at 23 pounds and she is 33 inches long. She is in the 97th percentile for height. At least she will not be a shorty like her Mama.
  • Bella got her first hair cut two weeks ago. She has a TON of hair as I have mentioned before, and it was all in her face. John heard me say I was getting her some bangs, so he thought he would surprise me and get it done. Well, he didn't know I meant like long bangs that i can sweep to the side, so she now has traditional school girl bangs. I hated them at first, but now they have grown a bit and i love them. Her face is so pretty now, and her eyes just pop out at you, so bright.
  • Walking is the norm now, she is a great walker!
  • We had an Easter Egg Hunt yesterday, and Bella held her own basket all through it and gathered her very own eggs too. She had a great time.
  • Unfortunately Bella got her first scraped knee on Easter as well. What a tough cookie, not one tear! I even thought it must have not been that bad, but when I went and looked, it was. I was so sad over her perfect baby skin being scraped, but she didn't seem to mind. I love her courage and hope it stays with her always.
  • Her dancing is at a whole new level now. Yeah yeah yeah, we all make our babies dance and perform circus tricks for us, but with her it is not like that. She can be concentrating on a task, music comes in anywhere in the background, and just like that she begins to sway and laugh and clap and even snap her fingers! Without John or I saying a thing. It is so cute to watch!! She loves music! This may end up being my very own Wild Child! (I secretly love that because that was what my uncle called me growing up and to this day still does...........I think its cool, even though it may be the life of me some day)
  • Isabella is such a great communicator. She doesn't have a huge vocabulary like Tyler did, that is not what I mean. I mean she talks to you and gets her point across even though I don't know one word of what she is saying. She sits with you and she makes eye contact and she is talking in her own language. For minutes at a time. I mean it is a conversation too, like she speaks and I comment back tyring to guess what the heck she is saying, and she talks right back. She motions to things while she "speaks", she raises her eyebrows, laughs, swings her head to the side, talks faster and louder when she is aggravated with us, slaps her hand on her leg, she drags you to what she is talking about to show you, I am in awe of this behavior really. You have to see it to understand what I am saying. I know all babies communicate, but she is my third, I have not seen anything like it. Really, really amazing stuff. I especially love it when she grabs me by the hand and takes me somewhere. If she wants to play with a certain toy, she holds my hand, walks me to it, points at it and then sits to play with it, then if she wants me to join her she simply taps the floor with her hand motioning me to sit. The latest is when she pulls me by the hand to the steps, then she sits on a step and motions me to sit on a step with her. Then she just "talks". We were at this for 25 minutes the other day. I sware she thinks she is really talking. What a big girl to sit there that long and just babble with me, she talks, waits for me to respond, laughs, what a trip. I cherish these moments.

  • Bella has new molars. OUCH my poor baby! But, there is a huge pay off for that FOOD!!! She loves crackers now! She enjoys having a big one to eat on her own! Her other favorites are bananas, yogurt, cereal bars, diced peaches and cheese of course. I just started her on white meat, now that she has some chompers....she likes it, but doesn't love it just yet, so she has it about once a week. She doesn't need it though, she gets the protein else where, so I am not worried. I don't give my kids any meat until they can eat real meat because although I make my own food for them it is so gross to process the meat up in the blender sometimes. A Dr. I am fond of that is quite earthy said to me with Tyler "it is the way nature intended, no teeth, no way to chew, no need for meat". I agreed. He also added "you have done so great making your own baby food, for God sakes, don't give them the meat in a jar, that is basically cat food" GROSS, and it smells terrible too! Oh yeah, when I am feeding her more than one thing, I cant just feed it to her, nope, say she is having a fruit and a veggie, if I am giving her a spoonful of the veggie, but she wants the fruit she says no, and will not open up til I give her what she wants right then! That is "if" she lets me feed her, she is into self feeding now, what a mess. She likes me to open the pantry too and she knows how to grab her cheerios and snacks from in there when she wants some!
  • Bella LOVES bath time. Problem is she never wants to come out, so prying her out of the tub kicking and screaming is never fun.
  • She is playing with her siblings more and more. She really loves them, and has a special relationship with Ty. She goes to him and pats his back and he gets on all fours on the carpet so that she can ride him, it is pretty darn cute.
  • She loves going up the stairs, over and over again. Scary!
  • Bella is enjoying going to the park and being outdoors too. A very well rounded little girl. I am lucky!

I LOVE YOU BELLA BEAR!!! Its been an action packed couple of months for you my big girl! Slow down, you are getting way too big, way too fast!!


XOXO, MOM

Friday, April 10, 2009

Where in the World is V?

Missing in action is probably what you think, but it has been the opposite, nothing but action around here I feel like I go go go!

Basically, I have a terrible cold, and the all three kiddos have had it too! I am sick and tired of all these colds running around. It is bad when the kids have it of course, my heart breaks, but when I do it is a totally different scenario. My energy is gone, so I am seriously lagging...like a triple skinny latte will not even do the trick! So in the end, I suffer and so do the kids because I am so busy tending to them I get no sleep and definitely not any better faster.

Yesterday it was a gorgeous day, and Gen is much better and really wanted to go and ride her bike. I thought that some fresh air would do them well, so off they went. I am sad I didn't get to join them though. I was going to, but the couch was calling my name. I stayed in for a couple hours and John took the two bigger kids out while I played with some blocks with Isabella and then her and I laid on the couch. I hated missing the sunshine, and hated that Bella missed out too (all three kids with things with wheels outside is simply too much so I kept her with me), but I must say the quiet and rest was nice. The nicest part was spending some one on one with Bella. She loves her Incredi-Block. All three kids have, it was Tyler's but that thing is in great condition, and they have all really enjoyed it. Through the years we have accumulated all different kinds of blocks too, with different themes and sounds, they are too cool! She was so cute handing them to me and then putting them in all of the different gadgets. We had a great time.

Tyler was awfully sick last night, he had a tummy ache all night, until about 5 am when he threw up. Dad reports that he is much better today though! I simply can't wait to see them by this time in the afternoon!

As far as family matters....hmmmmmm lets see...Mom is not well, she has severe nerve damage and has lost all function of her right arm for now after that dislocation so she will undergo some therapy and new meds to see if it helps, there are no guarantees at this point!

Mimi is getting stronger everyday, as any little accomplishment is definitely appreciated these days, but she is still not herself. She will start chemo next week. I am scared of this journey for her, especially at her age. She is already picking out wigs though. I am going to get her some pink gloves so she can literally kick Cancer's ass. Let's see how this goes. She is terrified, but will not admit it. She has always been my hero, that fact is now so much more defined.

Even though she is in her 70's losing her hair is a big deal to her..........I will probably chop mine off, shorter than a bob (Shayna, Happy Early Birthday, you will love that I am sure) and donate my long locks to Locks of Love in her honor. I have never donned short hair--I am scared, but she isn't holding me to it, lol!!! I told her that we are all in this together, so if that is an issue for her, then, here we go, she is not alone in this!! Mimi has always taken wonderful care of herself. I mean, who borrows her grandmother's clothes? Well, I did a lot of that, because her wardrobe was incredible, her nails always polished, skin so smooth and wrinkle free you can never guess her age, great jewelry, and great hair!! She is stoked though because years ago she had her eyebrows done, I don't know what it is called, but it is basically where they tattoo eyebrows on you like a model (told you she was all into beauty regimens and such and that was the "in" thing, like Botox today I suppose), they always look natural and great. So when they told her she may lose those and her eyelashes too, and she was like, we will see about that! What a cutie.

I really do suck! I just realized I missed my own blogoversary!? I am all typed out, so I do not have much to say about that, I will just say, that I am so proud to have kept up with this for the past two years! With a family and a job, I don't keep up with many hobbies, but I am so happy that I have kept up with this one. It feels good to write my feelings down. Maybe one day, my children will get something out of these. If God forbid I wasn't here for them one day, my words will remain for them to get to know me through. Morbid I know, but I have been all too aware of the fragility of life in recent months. Whatever I can leave behind for them I will consciously make an effort to do so, just in case. We write wills, get life insurance, plan funerals, we do it anyway so why not leave them a journal of sorts too. Something meaningful.

I have been accused of forgetting exactly who may read this by my husband, and have thought about making it private. I however, refuse. This is really my space, it is me, it is real and not fabricated. If you read my words and like being in the loop of the Lara clan, that is awesome, and I thank you for being a part of my journey. I love it when you guys read and join me through everything. It is crazy, yet simple, just snip its of me jotted down in a newer, high tech version of a raggedy old Hello Kitty Diary or Marbled Notebook (both of which I wrote in my younger years).

Thanks to all of my friends and readers, I appreciate the kind words and support, and if you blog too, I appreciate reading your words as well. We are not alone are we? In this community I feel like we are all in this thing called life together, the heart breaks, the triumphs, the battles and the victories. In the end...."and I think to myself.....what a wonderful world!"

Lots of Blogger Love, and HAPPY EASTER!!
V