M-i-c-k-e-y M-o-u-s-e!

Gabriel's first birthday is coming up so quick that it seems like everything is going to bite me in the butt if I don't get started on gettting birthday stuff ready. We are doing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as our theme this year. Funny thing is, I love Disney but had never really seen Mickey's Clubhouse until I decided on using it as a theme for his birthday party. I chose the theme waaaaaaayyyy back in November when I found a Mickey Mouse costume on clearance for Gabriel to wear this Halloween.

So I have literally been planning his party for months and months. I bought some really cute cups from the disney store to put in the goody bags and one day while strolling through the dollar section at Target I found some Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse coloring books. I plan on throwing some crayons and other stuff in there too along with some candy. For the older kids we're just doing candy in the regular plastic goody bags but for the kids I bought some blue gift bags and personalized them using stamps and good 'ol ink! And some stickers of course! So far this is what I have:

It's not much just yet but it's a start! And I like how my goody bags have a special touch! I know I could've gone the easy route and just stuck to regular store bought goody bags but for some reason I always create more work for myself.

Now, on to the invitations. I have been working on them for quite some time now but I want to add some pictures of him and am planning on printing these out and putting them on some nice cardstock with some cute embelishments. Again, more work for me but it's something I like to do!

I found a bunch of cakes that maybe if I was any good at baking, and had a decent oven, I would be able to make myself but worrying about my oven burning a cake the night before the party would just add way more stress to my already hectic life. So, I'm turning to one of my favorite bakerys and am doing something similar to this cake...Except bigger...

And these are going on the cake too!

As I said, I'm so excited about his party and although people say, "it's a waste of money, he's not going to remember his first birthday," I feel like it is not only a time for gifts and cake, It's about celebrating that we made it to a year. A year of having our beautiful boy in our lives and a year of pure joy. And All this mayhem of making his party as perfect as I can is in my nature. I would do anything for my son, even if it means spending months and months planning, making invitations, getting papercuts and fighting with some other mom over the last Mickey's Clubhouse tumblers at the Disney store.

Monterrey

On Sunday my mom, sister, Gabriel and I went down to Monterrey CA for a few days. I was so excited to take my little one to the aquarium and just to have some time off for a few days and relax by the pool and such. Well, as I had stated in earlier posts, Gabriel had an ear infection so he really couldn't be submerged in water and the pediatrician said to use ear plugs whenever he was in the water while it cleared up. Ok, so thats that. I had already prepared myself for that but was still super excited. Sunday morning we loaded up the car and prepared ourselves for the two and a half hour drive. We seriously brought everything but the kitchen sink! I swear, once you have kids that whole "traveling light" is a bunch of bull! All the time I was dreading Gabriel having a massive diaper explosion, throwing up, crying his brains out while we were stuck in traffic but we got there all in one piece. He slept pretty much the whole way and when he woke up he was content, playing with his toys and looking out the window. We did, however, have a really hard time finding the damn hotel! Seriously it took us about 45 minutes to finally get there. Then we couldn't find the entrance or the parking lot. Stupid Monterrey has so many one way streets! I HATE one way streets with a passion. After finally checking in and everything we went up to our room and ate the lunches that we had packed and unpacked all of our stuff while Gabriel inspected every inch of the hotel room. We relaxed for a little while before heading down to the pool. Man! The weather sucked though! It was so freakin cold and looked like it was going to rain! And most of what we packed were hot weather clothes so we were scared that we would be freezing for the rest of our stay. Still, we put on our swimsuits and headed down to the pool and the water was nice and warm so it wasn't all bad. Gabriel got really frustrated because he wanted to swim and stick his head under water but me, being so paranoid, didn't want him to get any water in his ears so he was only in the pool for a little bit. He did have fun though and it was so relaxing to just swim around for a bit then go in the hot tub. We went back up to the room, showered and went for a walk around the hotel area. Gabriel started to get hungry so we went back to the hotel for his food (I make his baby food and had brought some with me, still frozen in little cubes) only to realize I had no way to defrost his food! My super mommy brain (ha!) decided to use the coffee pot to warm up water and put the cubes in a hot water bath! I was very proud of myself for coming up with that one! And I realize that is something that maybe didn't need to be blogged but still, I felt like sharing. By the time we had to go to sleep we were all so tired we just passed out.

Monday we had planned to go to the aquarium so we got ready and went out for breakfast first then went on our way. We decided to walk, since it was like a mile away and didnt want to pay for parking. The walk was nice, despite the crummy weather, because we got to see things that we wouldn't have seen if we had driven. Finally we got the the aquarium, and I woke up Gabriel from his nap so he could see the fishes. He was so excited he kept screaming "agua" and laughing and reaching for the glass. He would look at the fish then look at me, then look back like he was saying "did you see that Mom? Didya?" It was adorable! The exhibits were really cool too! I loved the jellyfish exhibit and so did Gabriel. I got a ton of great pictures of the fish but all the pictures with Gabriel and I came out bad because when you'd use the flash the fish didn't show or they would look really bad and if I didnt use it you couldnt see Gabriel's facial expressions. I caught this one while he was gnawing on Sophie's face and watching the jellyfish "dance" around. Another cool exhibit was the sea horse one. I never knew that the males were the ones to get pregnant and give birth to baby seahorses! Now, there's somthing you don't see everyday!

After the aquarium we walked around for awhile then went to dinner and I had the best lobster ever! Just thinking about my dinner makes my mouth water! The restaurant had a great view of the bay and I'd love to take Chuy back there one day, I'm sure he'd love the restaurant and the food!

We headed back the the hotel and went for a swim and then hit the sack.

We drove back home on Tuesday after breakfast. The drive back was so horrible. We missed the exit to get on the highway we wanted to take and had to take some random one that was full of all these horrible curves and at such a high altitude. The good thing was Gabriel slept the whole way so the pressure of the altitude didnt bother his ears. Thankfully we got home safe and sound and while I did have a good time, my, it's good to be home!

Just Lovely...

I was hoping that today I would have a better update about Gabriel's ears but that was a no-go. Yesteday he woke up with this weird rash on his ear, and it just looked like a heat rash but I figured I'd rather be safe than sorry and would have it looked at by the pediatrician today if it wasn't gone. Yes, I'm one of those over-reactive moms that rush to the doctors when he does something that is weird or has some weird new symptom. In my defense, 85% of the time that I have taken him in for something it actually turns out to be something of importance!
Where was I? Oh yes, the wierd rash. Turns out it started spreading so I told my mom to take him into the pediatrician since I was at work. The pediatrician said he didnt know what exactly the rash was since we had not fed him anything new that could've caused an allergic reaction nor have we been using a diffrent product on his skin or his laundry. He did however check his ear and turns out he has an ear infection. His first ear infection. Quite lovely, if you ask me. He had never had an ear infection and now, the day before we are leaving on our little vacation, the darn ear gets infected! Honestly, the other day that we took him in the doctor didnt want to prescibe antibiotics just because when he took the wax the ear got really red from all his crying and he doesnt belive in antibiotics unless absolutely nessasary. So who knows how long this darn infection has been going on. Which in turn makes me feel like an awesome mother. Really, what mom doesn't notice something is wrong? Ok, I'm sure more often than not there are moms in the same boat as I am in now but I just feel like whining and beating myself with a stick for this one. Where the heck was that mommy intution that everyone talks about? Poor kid. He has always tugged at his ear when he's falling asleep or he's sleepy so how was I to know? True, he did have a fever but he had also been gnawing on his fists like crazy and chewing on just about anything he could get his hot little hands and I just figured it was related to teething. Now I know that there was an underlying cause for the "teething" symptoms.

All in all, he's doing better. He is taking his medication and he has to get ear drops three times a day in each ear, which believe me, is no easy task. I'm hoping that he starts feeling better and actually sleeps tonight, God knows I need to rest!

So I'm not going to be able to post in a few days since we'll be down Monterrey until Tuesday but when I get back I'm sure I will have tons of stories to tell! I'm excited! Wish us luck!

Busy Night and Day

Although Gabriel still does not sleep through the night he usually goes like 4-6 hour streches before waking up and eating. Well, these past few days he has been waking up more and more and refusing to go to sleep. He normally wakes and eats then is out like a light bulb and sometimes as long as you give him his pacifier he just goes straight to sleep. These last few nights have been exhausting because he just refuses to go back to sleep! He spits the paci out and whines and cries, screams even. I try to feed him and he just bites. Sometimes I will slather on some orajel and stick the paci back in and he's fine. And as soon as he comes into bed with me he rolls over and just takes up the whole bed! Seriously, I should just leave him the bed. I do admit I miss him kicking me when I was pregnant, it was cute back then, but him kicking me now because he's a crazy sleeper? Yeah, not so cute. Last night he went down around eight thirty and slept till around one thirty and then woke up and didnt want to sleep after that. He was sitting up and taking and trying to play and squeal. I tried to make him lie down and he started crying and screaming! Whatever happened to my good boy? I seriously hope it's all a phase that he's going through or that it's just because he was sick. I need my sleep! And a bigger bed. This kid takes up the whole bed and is the craziest sleeper on the face of the earth!

The good thing is he let me sleep in til eight fourty five and he woke up in a good mood. After breakfast my sister watched Gabriel while my friend Adrienne and I had a mommy day to get pedicures and lunch without the boys. It was great! A little pampering never hurts anyone! And my feet look decent now!

On Sunday we're going down to Monterrey Bay to visit the aquarium and just relax for a few days. We're staying at a very nice hotel and this is our first little "trip" with Gabriel. I've been planning like crazy and had to run around all over the place like a chicken with my head cut off to buy some things we needed. I still havent finished packing and I feel like I'm going overboard with things I'm bringing but I have never been known as someone who travels light! I would rather be safe than sorry. So on our little three day trip I'm brining a ridiculous amount of diapers and butt wipes among other things that I probably wont even need.

Much better!

Little kiddo is doing great now, he has no fever and he's back to his normal happy self. He is still tugging on his ear but the doctor said he would be still bothersome for a few days since he had to get rid of the earwax that was literally attatched to his ears. He ate very well today and I while I was eating a popsicle he cried until I gave him some! I had to take it away from him, which just pissed him off.

No other exciting news or events today, so today was a very short post but at least I'm doing a much better job at posting daily.

Today's Doctors visit

All of yesterday Gabriel was not his usual happy self which is really odd but I simply attributed it to teething. Well, around two a.m. he wakes up to eat but is crying and whining a lot. When I pick him up from his crib he feels really warm to me. The window in the room was open just a little and he wasnt dressed in hot pjs. Im thinking he has a fever. His face is really hot, so is his breath but his arms have little goose bumps. I take his temperature and he has a fever so I give him some tylenol. I feed him and he eats a little then tries to get up and crawl around the bed and starts whining. Finally he falls asleep for a little but right around three thirty he wakes up again whining and crying and he is still pretty hot. I have to get up anyway to get ready for work so I take him to the living room with me so he can cool down a little. Poor kid is tugging and tugging and his ear so I'm thinking "oh no, he has an ear infection" My mom gets up and holds him, we give him pedialyte and pop in his baby einstein lullaby time dvd and he starts falling asleep when I go to work. We called later on and made an appointment with his pediatrician for after I get off work.
When we're in the waiting room he seems happy and fine, you can tell in his eyes that he doesnt feel great but he's trying to play with the toys and laughing at the other kids and I'm thinking, "ok, this was a waste of time but I guess it wont hurt for the doctor to take a look at him". When the doctor comes in and we tell him what is going on he checks his ear out and gasps. He says there is alot of earwax in there so he asks me to lay him on the examining table and he pulls out something to clean his ear and Gabriel is in hysterics crying while fat tears are rolling down his cheeks. Finally he pulls out this HUGE and I do mean HUGE wad of earwax that looks like a shirveled up umbillical cord. The earwax was stuck in his ear and attatching itself onto the skin so there was even some blood. It was disgusting and I started to cry. I guess that's what was causing some pain in his ear. He said that when it would get wet the wax would get soft and mushy and as it dried it expanded and would hurt him. Poor kiddo loves our Pedi and after that he didnt even want to look at him! Im so glad we have him though! And Gabriel seems to be doing alot better now. Still, it was so scary. And gross.

Happy Ten Month Birthday Gabriel!

Today Gabriel is ten months old. My how time has flied. It feels like just yesterday I was holding my newborn all bundled up and I remember holding him and thiking how I couldn't even put my feelings into words. I was amazed at how this little being meant so much to me and thinking how on earth could I have ever been happy without him in my life.

He has grown and changed so much in these past months and it's scarry to think that in just two months my little baby will be a toddler! It's so unreal and quite sad! But I am happy to say that I have enjoyed ever minute of it and have documented just about everything! Seriously, if you looked at my computer you would think I have my camera surgically attatched to my wrist by the amount of pictures I have in folders.

What is this kid up to these days?

Gabriel is crawling all over the place but would much rather be cruising, holding on to the edges of the furniture and getting into things he shouldn't be getting into.

He has seven teeth so far, his two front bottom teeth, two top front teeth, the ones on either side and his right fang. And is working on more as we speak. I love his toothy grin!

He still loves to read and his favorite book is still Goodnight Moon, but he only likes when I read it to him, if anyone else tries he just closes the book and glares at them. I'm going to have to buy a new copy of Goodnight Moon soon since I'm not sure how much longer it's going to hold up, although I have it memorized so I shouldn't be in that much trouble.

He says a few words already "mama", "papa". "mas"(more in spanish), "agua" "bye" "book" "moon" (when he wants to read goodnight moon), and a few more that sound like words but aren't as well pronounced yet like "daniela" (my sisters name) but it sounds more like "daa-yeeey-ahaaaa" and will also try to mimic the sounds of animals. He knows a duck says quack and is "pato" in spanish so he says "qua" or "pato" when he sees his rubber duckie. And if I put all his bathtoys in the tub with him and ask him where the duck is picks up the duck.

Gabriel is such a silly kid, now whenever he sees the camera he makes silly faces and goofy grins! It's hillarious! And when I tell him "You're so silly!" he smiles and shakes his head no!

He loves to spend time outside in nature, especially when it comes to going to the park and swinging or just going for a walk. He loves watching the branches of the trees sway with the wind. Everyday his grandpa comes after dinner and takes him for a walk. He absolutely adores his Grandpa! As soon as he walks in the door Gabriel's face lights up and he turns around and waves bye to me. Im sure that when he starts walking he is going to go grab his hat and run to the door to wait for him!

We are still nursing and plan on doing so until at least a year. He nurses less often though which makes me kind of sad, knowing that I am no longer his main source of nourishment but I'm so happy with my decision to breastfeed and wouldn't have had it any other way. His favorite fruits are peaches, mangos and apples. He loves sweet potato and carrots and surprisingly enough spinach! We also tried spaghetti with meat sauce and he liked it...still, he's not a fan of chunky food. And only recently he started to take intrest in feeding himself. Gabriel loves yobaby yogurt, jello, cheese, crackers with cream cheese, chocolate cake! and harmony frozen yogurt...actually, he loves food, the list could seriously go on!

He loves music especially classical music, the other day he was BAWLING in the car and I popped in a Baby Einstein cd and he was as happy as a clam! He loves Baby Einstein! I dont know why he finds it so funny! You should hear him squeal in delight when he watches his videos. I love my sweet baby boy!

TWINS!

No, I'm not having twins, I just wanted to share some pictures of the hubby when he was a baby and a toddler. He and Gabriel look just like twins, it's so uncanny! Jesus was such a chunky monkey and so is Gabriel. Actually, from what his family says, he was even chubbier than Gabe!

Here he is at six months

And here he somewhere around four and six months. Little chunker!

I always wanted to get a picture of Gabriel in a similar pose so I could do a side by side comparison but I could never get him in an exact position. I did find one of Gabriel also just in a diaper and around four months old.

The next couple are just him as a toddler, eating frozen yogurt giving the camera the same look Gabriel gives me now when he gets annoyed or as I like to call it his "mom, are you serious?" look when I pull the camera out and won't stop snapping pictures.

Here he is sitting on his Grandpa's lap in Mexico when he was around three years old.

And finally, here is a picture of him all dressed up!

Decisions, decisions.

So after about nine months of thinking of where to get my future tattoo I decided on the back of my neck! I've been wanting one for a few years now but I wanted something that would not clash horribly with a wedding dress, yes, we still are having a religious ceremony and I would like to look really nice. I really want my first tattoo to not just be some stupid "because I like it" tattoo, so I am getting "vita mea, universum meum" which is "my life, my [whole] world" in latin and Gabriel's birthdate in roman numerals. I'm still considering if I should get his name as well or if that would just be overkill. I figure I can also add my future childrens birthdates later on when the time comes. Here is a rough concept of what I will get.

I'm excited. Don't know when it will get done but hopefully soon!

16 and Pregnant

So there is a show on MTV that I've been watching for a few weeks now. It's pretty self explanatory by the title, 16 and Pregnant. It's about teenagers facing the hardships of pregnancy and being a young mom. I am a young mom, but I don't feel like one. I got pregnant at 19, no, it wasn't planned. As a matter of fact, I was religiously taking birth control pills for almost three years when I got my bfp. True, I was scared to death and knew it wouldnt be easy but the girls on this show make me angry. There are some girls who act like having a baby is a joke, like these kids are a toy they can play with and dress up. All of them say "I never imagined having a baby would change my life so much"...ummm yeah, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
One of the girls tried to live her life like she would if she was still baby-less. She was trying to go on dates and have her mom watch the baby. And they all complain about being exhausted and they want their families take care of their kids while they get their sleep and go out with friends. I understand the exahustion, and I was trully blessed to many helping hands but never for one second did I forget that Gabriel is my son and I have to to be the one to take care of him, change his diapers, give him a bath or anything else.
I went off on a tangent, but what I'm trying to get at is how this show made me feel sorry for some girls while I felt like slapping some other ones. I feel like the idea of being a mom is misconstrued for being easy, teens need to realize how hard it really is to be a mom. Im not one for abortion, so Im not advocating that, what I'm trying to get at is that they should think before they have sex and be very carefull. I dont regret having my son, in fact, I would like another kiddo but I am in a stable relationship and able to provide for my children whereas these young moms have to be depending on others because some of them are not even out of high school or old enough to have a job.
It's not cheap to have a baby, while you can get alot of clothes and essentials at your baby shower, you still have to buy things later on. While breastfeeding is free, you don't see many teen moms doing it or even trying so they end up formula feeding. Even though you can recieve formula through the WIC program, you will have to end up paying out of pocket for the formula that LO drinks once the vouchers are gone for the month, and if the baby needs a special type of formula not covered by the WIC program they have to pay that too. And later on in life, you want to be able to provide for them so they can go to school and hopefully continue on to college.
I guess what I'm getting at is that kids need to not just live in the moment and hope that they can be the "lucky" ones to not get pregnant. And while these tv shows show how hard it is to have your whole life turned upside down once you get a BFP, it seems like they dont send a clear enough message to the kids. I know it is possible to have a child at a young age, even younger than me, and still be a good parent but it's not an easy road to take at all. I love being a mom, but then again I was never the type of girl to spend the weekends at parties trashed and so drunk that I could barely even walk. I was never the type of girl to sleep around with all the guys I dated, which really weren't many. I feel that my maturity level is that of a 26 year old, people even mistake me for being older than I really am. If parenting is tough on a married couple who can provide for their child and have already had many life experiences, what can be expected from teen parents? It's scary to think that kids are "growing" up so quick, that kids are having kids and not enjoying thier lives. Maybe youth is just corrupted now, but I dont remember very many pregnant girls in middle school back in my day.

Updates

I really need to get in the habit of posting more often.

Monday I went to our WIC appointment and I asked the lady if she could weigh Gabriel and he weighs 26lbs and measures 29.5inches! I knew he was big but oh my! He's huge! It seems like only yesterday he was a newborn and now he's getting into all sorts of trouble and hitting all his milestones. The picture I posted is from the fourth of July but I just had to share since I think he looks adorable!

My friend Adrienne has a 6 month old and we always get together so the kids can play and we can catch up. We went out to lunch and for frozen yogurt and took the kiddos to the park. It's great how now they actually interact with eachother because before they just use to stare at eachother with a confused look on their face. And they both love to swing together too.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, same old, same old. We did go to Benihana (a Japanese restaurant where the cooks basically cook at your table) on Wednesday and Gabriel tried some fried rice (with no egg of course) and loved it! He loved watching the chef cook at our table and seemed so into everything going on around him!