2009

2009

A new year means new goals! So here it is in writing..

Put more time into my faith. I want to not just show up every Sunday at church I want to strengthen my relationship with Christ. I so often forget that it takes daily work just like any other relationship and it is easy to drift.

Dedicate Sunday to our family meaning the four of us (no computer and no TV). I want Sundays for us to spend quality time together. I also want to spend 30 minutes Sunday nights to devote to Jackson learning about our faith. We have several books and I want him to start learning them.

Be a better wife and have more patience with my husband. Let go of resentment and have one date night at least twice a month (which means let go of my fears, bite the bullet, and hire a baby sitter). Oh and stop waiting for him to plan a date night (we may be 65 before that happens)!

I have already started, but I am going to write it here anyway. I am devoting 30 minutes of book to Jackson and Ava before afternoon naps. I used to be so good about this and then started getting more rushed. It got down to one quick book and I want this time back with the two of them. The cleaning, laundry, cooking, what ever can wait!

Get Ava on a schedule!! I was so strict on this with Jackson I have gone the TOTAL opposite extreme with Ava. I am reading the Baby Whisper since we have created a baby girl wanting someone to cuddle with while she sleeps. So far so good, I got her to sleep last night and today with out rocking, holding, or laying with her. I am not saying I will never do any of these things, but I by far do not want it to be a habit!

Take one room at a time and get rid of anything we are not using. I feel like our house is closing in on us. We can not possible store all the stuff! I am hanging on to Ava’s clothes and that is it. I am going to get rid of the baby stuff as we out grow things as well. If we do have one more it will not be for years. I will get organized again!! No more stuffing the closets and under the beds lol!

Last continue to work hard at being healthy not just for myself, but my family as well. I have been working out 5 days a week and plan to keep that up. Jackson has a physically active class at the YMCA twice a week. He will start T Ball, soccer, and do swim lessons again this year. Ava will do swim lesson as well. I plan on keeping her only on breast milk until 6 months. Then I will keep her on an organic diet until she is one. For Greg I will keep healthy meals and healthy food in the house to try encourage him to be healthy as well.


Last, but not least I plan to have an UN eventful 2009
2003 Greg and I started dating
2004 we got engaged
2005 we got married
2005 we got pregnant
2006 we had Jackson
2007 we got pregnant
2008 we had Ava
2009 we are taking a BREAK!!!

Christmas 2008

Our Christmas celebration was off with a rough start, we all caught a stomach bug! Jackson just threw up once and was fine, then Greg and I got sick the night before Christmas Eve. It affected us much differently. We had the chills, aches, throwing up, you name it. We were so sick Christmas Eve all of our plans got cancelled. We decided to post pone Santa and hit were off to bed at 8:00. We woke up in the middle of the night exactly 24 hours from when we first got sick and were 100% better. It was crazy, but we decided at 5:00 am to get up and do Santa. I made a breakfast casserole and we went to 10:45 mass. Ava was acting funny so I took her to the back to try and feed her and she threw up everywhere. She never acted like she felt bad and we went on to Greg’s parents for the day. Friday we had Christmas at my Mom’s with my family. Saturday night we met my family at Rajin Cajun in Sugar Land for dinner. My brother and sister were both in town with all of their family. It was a fun time and especially fun for Jackson to be with all his cousins! We are lucky to only be 4 hours apart so we see them often.

Christmas this year was very different for me. I am so much more aware of the true meaning of Christmas as we are trying to teach that to Jackson. He woke up and knew it was baby Jesus’ birthday and wanted to sing to him. He knows we give gifts to show our love for each other and really appreciates them at such a young age. I can only hope that over the years that will continue. He got three presents from Santa, three from us, and three new books. It was a way for us to not go over board and we picked three since that is how many Jesus got. I have to say it was so hard for me to stick to the number, but I am so glad we did (I also stuffed as much as I could in his stocking lol). All in all it was a great Christmas!

Stay at Home Mom

So I have had several comments in the last week on how I do not work and it really got me thinking. Why do they call it Stay at Home Mom? I never get to just stay at home! I was thinking about our weekly schedule and let me just break it down.

Monday we go to the YMCA so Jackson can play with his friends and I can work out, we come home I make him lunch, get him down for a nap, then I feed Ava, get her down, I eat my lunch, then I have maybe an hour to get the house picked up from the week end before Jackson gets up from his nap, he gets up and I usually do an activity with him, then I let him watch a movie while I cook diner, then I clean again, and that in the end of our day.

Tuesday I take Jackson to school, I grocery shop, I clean, I pick him up, I do an activity with him, and then I let him watch a movie while I cook diner, then I clean again, and that in the end of our day.
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Wednesday Jackson has Excer Tots at the YMCA and I work out, we come home I make him lunch, get him down for a nap, then I feed Ava, get her down, I eat my lunch, then I have maybe an hour to get the house picked up before Jackson gets up from his nap, he gets up and I usually do an activity with him, then I let him watch a movie while I make dinner, after we all eat I clean again, end of the day.

Thursday I take him to school, I work out, I run any errands for the house, do laundry, pick him up, I do an activity with him, and then I cook, clean, and that is the day.

Friday we go to the YMCA and then play dates with Jackson’s friends, we come home I make him lunch, get him down for a nap, then I feed Ava, get her down, I eat my lunch, then I have maybe an hour to get the house picked up from the week end before Jackson gets up from his nap, he gets up and I usually do an activity with him, then I let him watch a movie while I make dinner, after we all eat I clean again, end of the day.

On top of all this I nurse a baby which takes 30 minutes every 2-3 hours, I make all the meals for our family, I do all the grocery shopping, I pay all the bills, I make sure this house runs smooth. So I take personal offense when people say I don’t work. I work damn hard I am a wife, a Mother, a care giver, a day care, a cook, an accountant, a maid, you name it. There is no actual pay check because no one can afford to pay me what I deserve. I think there is a major misconception of stay at home Mom’s especially with older generations. Women used to just sit at home while kids ran around and hell no that was not hard. Times have changed and if anyone thinks what I do is easy I challenge them to a week at our house!

Tomorrow it all begins

The craziness of the holidays. Ever since I was a small kid we bounced around from place to place during the holidays. We were going from one house to the next and it was always stress. Tomorrow we are off for a 5 hour trip to Dallas, we come back Sunday, two days to get up packed, get back into our routine, Wednesday have Christmas Eve day with my Mom, sister, and brother inlaw, that night we go to Greg's family, Christmas Day we are at home and open our home to who ever wants to come over, Friday we have Christmas with my Mom's whole family, and then we can finally relax! I made the rule that we are home Christmas Day so Jackson can have Santa that morning and play with all his new toys. Next year and from then on we will not travel in December, we will go to church at our parish, we will be home for Christmas Eve, will will be home for Christmas Day, and we will will open our home to all! I am so excited for Christmas. I have been working hard with Jackson explaining what Christmas really is all about. I think it gets so out of hand with gifts so we decided 3 new books, 3 presents from Santa, and three presents from Mommy and Daddy. We decided 3 since that is how many baby Jesus got (one from each wise man). I am going to make a cake Christmas Day and we will have a birthday celebration for Jesus. I love this season more every year and especially now as Jackson gets older. Teaching him helps me keep Christ in Christmas!

Christmas Program 2008

Tuesday Jackson had his first Christmas program at school. I had prepped him before hand and told him if he did a good job singing he could get a new train. I was not expecting much since the stage was huge, there were two huge drop screens filming the kids, and a ton of people there. Jackson did not seem the least bit phased by any of that! He got on stage and while he sang very little of This Little Light of Mine, he ate his costume, roared like a lion, danced, and gave everyone a little shake of his booty. The last song was Feliz Navidad and he sang much better. Over all the program was GREAT! I could not be happier with is school. His is learning so much and learning about Jesus which makes my heart smile. I truly feel my number one job as a parent is to teach our children the word of Christ. Today on the way home he was looking at the book his teacher gave him. I heard him making up a story of his own while I was on the phone. I asked him to read the book to me when I got off. He said Mary holding baby Jesus, oh Mommy where is that Man, I said who Jackson, you know Joseph I think he is with the Donkey. Too cute!

Merry Christmas!

4 months

Ava had her 4 month well check today. She is doing great and could not be more perfect! He said we could start solids when ever we wanted, but I am going to wait. I feel no need to rush things as I am trying to cherish every baby moment with her. I still have not introduced a bottle, but will try to start working on that maybe at 6 months. Things are going so well that I am just taking it one day at a time. As most of you know I plan on at some point printing all this out and making a book for Jackson and Ava. I thought it would be fun to compare the two of them.



Jackson's 4 month Stats
16.9 lbs
26.5 inches

Ava's 4 month stats
13.4 lbs in the 50%
25.5 inches in the 75-90%

Dec 08

Dec 08

MHR Friday

So it is almost Friday so I thought I would do this. My husband rocks for bringing me flowers today. God is so good! Today I got a comment on one of my previous posts from the girl who started My Husband Rocks. It led me to read her blog. Every person should read this article. I or I should say we needed this right now!

Does your Spouse see you in Jesus?

Thanksgiving Party

So this a little late, but better than never. I knew Jackson was having a party at school, but I some how missed the sign up sheet outside the class room. I showed up in my gym clothes empty handed to drop him off that day. Everyone was bringing in stuff and I could not figure out what was going on. Well I rushed home, showered, came back for the party, and forgot my camera. The first thing Jackson said was, "were is my daddy and were is you camera". Lucky for me anotehr Mom took our picture. I felt like the worst Mom and promised myself to try and get more sleep!

Preschool 2008

Here is Jackson's first school picture. He looks so BIG!

We went for a follow up today with the ENT. A set of ear tubes usually lasts a year and his lasted a little longer. The left one was in the canal so she pulled it out. The right one is no longer working and is on its way out. If he has three ear infections before March she wants to do another set of tubes. He has already had one so we are just going to pray for no more!