Nah, that i’ mai tain, Vitorita. (10/13/10)

That almost sounds Chinese or something… LOL

I no see et Mami. (10/19/10)

I can only laugh…

I’m so amazed how quickly he’s picking up English. I’m so proud of him!

I came across a brilliantly funny (and honestly true) blog post today, by Daniel Evans (aka Dad Gone Mad) regarding a referral for a sleep study he needs, but which his insurance denied. He posted the series of letters exchanged by him and Mr. “[illegible signature]”, Medical Director at his “Piece Of Shit Healthcare”. That’s what he called them. 

 

I cannot tell you how HILLARIOUS the entire exchange of emails is, and how much I LAUGHED! I mean, I really LAUGHED MY ASS OFF! I even cried tears of laughter.  You cannot miss reading this!!

 

It’s TOO good not to share, so here’s the link: A New Approach To Healthcare

 

:D  :D  :D

Just got a silly fwd from my friend Nikia titled Why men aren’t allowed to take phone messages. See the image below. It made me chuckle.  Happy hump day! :)

 

So as you know I’m banned from milk and all milk products. Yes, it’s torture! Victoria seems to be allergic in some way to the milk protein. Or at least that’s the conclusion I’ve reached. You don’t even want to know what a devil child she becomes if I have any. The poor thing. Not only that, but she poops waaayyy too much and has horrible colic if I have any.

Victoria’s now 5.5 mths old, and I’ve been trying to introduce formula at her last meal of the day in hopes it’ll hold her better through the night. She’s been waking up every night famished at 4:30 am for the last week and frankly I can’t take it anymore – I need my sleep!

But… she HATES the bottle!  

I’m unsure if it’s the fake nipple or the taste of the stinky soy milk (oh my God it’s SO stinky!), or a combination of both. For sure she seems to HATE the taste of the soy milk formula from her facial expressions, gagging, and spitting it out.

I don’t blame her.

If it tastes anything like it smells I must be pretty dreadful.  Personally, I hate the taste of soy milk and I have an idea the soy based baby formula isn’t any better.

With the failed attempts at feeding her soy formula, I’ve tried introducing rice cereal (made with a few tsp of the prepared soy formula milk). Again, I was thinking it might help filling her belly for longer. But, the following sequence of pictures pretty much sums up her verdict on that as well:

All attempts have failed. I’ve struck out at every single at bat. Sigh.

What am I going to do? What is my baby going to eat when I no longer breastfeed?

Does this mean I’ll HAVE to breastfeed her until she’s 1???!!!

NO WAYYYYY!!!!

I have set the cut-off date for 6 mths! (and it’s a magical 2 weeks away… if I actually follow through with it)

Sigh… oh the worries…

As Victoria, Nico and I enjoyed this perfect Fall afternoon in the back yard, we watched the trees and shrubs changing colors and all kinds of insects flying around. A ladybug happened to land right on the siding of the house, after it flew in my hair first. Here’s the little conversation Nico and I had following the incident.

Me: “Ahh!” (I screamed as the ladybug flew into and out of my hair)

Nico: “Wa’ happen Mami?!” (he said quickly and with concern – he’s too cute)

Me: “Nothing, there was a bug in my hair, but it’s gone.”

Nico: “Mami look, a be-u bug.” (Mami look a big bug - pointing at the ladybug on the siding after he looked around for the bug that had been in my hair)

Me: “Where Nico?”

Nico: “Err theu Mami. Wakala!” (over there Mami, ‘wakala’ which means ‘yuck’ in Spanish) At this point he was getting ready to smoosh the poor ladybug with the end of his plastic bat. I didn’t let him though.

The ladybug got smart and not having a death wish it flew away before Nico could get it and without us noticing. When Nico noticed it was gone he asked me:

“Wu les it Mami?” (where is it Mami?)

Me: Gone Baby. Gone. :)

Julio was gone for a few days last week, so for those few days I didn’t drink my usual half espresso.  Can you believe I actually coach myself to throw away the other half? Daily. And I suffer having to do it. Every time. 

 

Anyway. During that same time, I noticed Victoria behaved pretty well.  She didn’t seem as needy or clingy as she’s usually been, even to the point where she enjoyed being for long periods of time in her different stations: the jumparoo, the swing, the bouncer, the highchair, the floor. I found myself having more time for other things. And who knew, I had arms!? She also didn’t have as many poopie diapers as usual. I’ve got to wonder…

 

Coincidence? Perhaps, not.

 

Today I drank some espresso again, but only a quarter of it. I had been thinking about these coincidences. Could the caffeine be doing the damage? Hmmm… So, later in the afternoon, after the caffeine had surely made its way into my milk I started noticing my little velcro baby gone bad was back. Wining, crying, clingy, super needy and oh so poopie! I must have changed 6 diapers in like 4 hours.

 

Could just a little bit of caffeine have been the root of all evil all this time?

 

So, starting tomorrow I’m totally off caffeine, once again. I’m talking not even Diet Coke. We’ll see what happens in the next few days. If Victoria doesn’t become the velcro baby gone bad again, I’ll know we found the cure to all hell.  O:)

I came across a wonderful article today about Recycled Cardboard Playhouses at Green Your Decor. 


It reminded me of an idea I’ve had for many months to build exactly that. I thought about that one day when Nico was playing with an empty cardboard box. He had undone both ends and was using it as a tunnel, having the time of his life. That’s when it dawned on me. I’d build a house out of cardboard boxes for him (I have a ton in storage in our basement from when we moved). I never got to making it happen though. Shame on me. :/

Anyway, I LOVE finding inspiration like this, unexpectedly. Must be my creative designer alter ego. ;) Lets see when I actually have some time to follow through with this project. I know it’ll be super fun making it, I’ve always loved arts and crafts projects, and I know Nico will really LOVE it. Like. A lot. In time, Victoria will too. 

I’ve officially added this project to the million others on my Projects list.
Have I ever told you I LOVE projects!? Well, I do. Always have. Ever since I can remember back to the 4th grade. The problem, now that I’m older, is that I find myself starting a bunch of them but never finishing them. The excuse: lack of time. You know, with 2 kids and such, I’m lucky I have gotten a shower daily. So far.  Also… I’ve realized I’m SO scattered in my thoughts, in recent times. I’m just all over the place in my head. Juggling a million things, doing one thing now and thinking about a million others I have to (or want to) do at the same time.

Just last night, for example, I was folding laundry that was in the dryer. Suddenly I stopped to go hang something, only to remember I needed to sort the mail and throw the junk in the recycling bin before I had to put out the recycle and garbage bins on the curb for morning pick up. Oh, that’s about the time I remembered I needed to go to the post office to check the Association’s PO Box. At 11:30 pm. Yeah weird, I know. But it was the only time I could go without having to drag two kids under 3.

Somewhere in that crazy timeframe, I realized I was all scattered in my thoughts. I found that neither of the things I had started doing had been completed. I had to finish folding the laundry, so I could put the wet stuff in the washer to dry (I forgot to mention that earlier), and then finish sorting the mail, throw the junk in the recycle bin, and place the recycle and garbage bins on the curb. Oof! I was tired just thinking about all that.

So… a special thanks to the Mommyhood, and Momnesia, for making this Mama a little crazier everyday. :) Now, where that glass of wine I need? Sigh.

I found the stick and cord for our kite outside the house by the garbage can. Nobody knows how it got there. Anyway… I brought it inside to show and tell Julio about the random occurrence, and when Nico saw it he pointed at it in surprise and said:

Tha’ ta kick, Mami.  (that’s a stick)

“…i’ broken Mami.”  (it’s broken)

 

I didn’t even know he knew the words stick and broken. :)

Here’s a couple more sentences Nico said today that came as a surprise. The best part is how silly and cute they sound as he pronounces them in his own way. I’ve spelt them out just like he pronounced them…

 

“Why da doin’ Tyson? Come on!” 

Nico said as he played around the house with Tyson.  Again, he used “Come on”. Seems to be getting pretty popular in his talking repertoire.

 

“Ewas, e at this.” 

That translated to “Edward, look at this.”  That’s what Nico told his older brother as I put his yogurt snack on his picnic table.

“Come on, move it!”

That’s what Nico shouted out when he saw the line of cars in front of us. And he repeated it several times. Again, it caught me totally by surprise. And I cracked up laughing, thinking he read my mind. I wonder where he picked that sentence up? lol ;P Hehe… Too much driving around with Mommy here, there and everywhere. It was only a matter of time.

 

Strangely, afterwards out of nowhere he started saying the same thing only adding something to the ending. And I really don’t know why he was saying it, it was only Victoria, him and I in the car…

“Come on, move it Papi! Come on!”  (Papi is Daddy in Spanish)

 

LOL!! Clearly, the kid knows Daddy’s a slow driver and Mommy drives better. ;P