STARDUST

This movie was amazing! I wasn't too excited at first when my husband grabbed it off the shelf at Hollywood Video last night, but thought it would be a great "family" movie for us to watch all together. So, we popped our popcorn and got all comfy with our blankets and had family movie time. This movie was great! I loved it, Gino loved it, most importantly Jayden LOVED it!! If you haven't seen this movie yet I highly suggest it. This definitely will be a movie that we will be buying.

Summing Up 2007

This has been an amazing year. We started our year out in Sacramento, where we've lived our entire relationship/marriage. Where our son was born. Where our family lives. Where our hearts reside. I found out I was pregnant in December 2006. So, I started 2007 out pregnant and praying and praying that all would go well. In 2006 I had been pregnant and lost our baby girl, Mya. So, we entered 2007 with high hopes that it would be a much better year than 2006 brought us.

April 7, 2007 we did the unthinkable. We packed our home up and moved to Oregon. I never thought in a million years I'd be able to free myself from the stresses of the City. I never thought I'd be able to leave my mom, my sister, my brother - my brand new nephew. But we did it. We knew that we needed to plant our roots. Jayden would be starting kindergarten and we wanted to have him go to school in a small town. We didn't want the city life for him or our unborn child. So, with tears in our eyes and a heavy weight on our hearts we left everything we knew and loved for a fresh start at life. I'm happy to say that it was the best decision we've ever made. Although we miss our families so much, we are finally a content, happy, loving family. I couldn't ask for more.

August 14, 2007 we gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Ella Marie was 6lbs 7 ounces ~ 18 1/4 in. long. Amazing. The most amazing part of this day was that Jayden was at the hospital. He had his ear to the door waiting to hear his baby sister's first cry. Moments after she was born Jayden was in the room holding his baby sister. Our family at that moment was complete. It's like a hole in our hearts was filled. Jayden was an amazing big brother from the beginning. Never an ounce of jealousy, which being that he was an only child for 6 years I was a little scared of this.

September 5, 2007 ~ 1 year since we lost our angel baby Mya. We sent her off balloons at Lithia Park and had a family picnic. It was a very sad day for us, but at the same time we realized that without Mya leaving us we wouldn't be able to have Ella and we couldn't imagine life without her.

September 11, 2007 ~ Jayden started kindergarten. I cried. I wouldn't have cried but the PTA passed out a poem that made me cry. He's been doing absolutely wonderful and he loves school!! He's writing his name, adding, can tell you what letter words start with and is working on reading!!! He's so smart and just an amazing little boy.

October 5, 2007 our world almost came to a crashing stop. Ella was hospitalized and we discovered that our healthy little baby girl wasn't so healthy. She was extremely sick and we had brought her in to her doctors the day before and was told that she just had an icky stomach virus. I knew in my heart that something else was wrong with her. Something major was wrong with her. October5, 2007 Ella's doctor called me and asked me to bring her in for a quick check right before the weekend. Thank you, Lord. Thank you thank you thank you! If he hadn't asked us to bring Ella in Ella would not be with us today. Ella's heart rate was jumping up to 280 and she had been in this state for so long that her organs were starting to shut down. A couple more hours and this baby girl would have stopped breathing. They ended up shocking her heart and thankfully it worked. But in order to repair the damage they gave her something that paralyzed her and put her on ventilators so she didn't have to work on breathing while repairing her organs. She got mediflighted to Portland and we learned that our baby girl had a heart defect called Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome. We now are aware and I can instantly tell when something is wrong with her, but we've had quite a roller coaster with this. She now is on medication that she started on 10/25/2007. This medication is a miracle. After many hospitalizations she has been symptom free ever since she started this medication. I am so thankful that she doing so well now. She will be able to have a procedure when she's older where they go into her heart w/a catheter and fix her problem. Until then we are lucky to have a medication that works.

Besides Ella's heart condition we had a miraculous and wonderful year. We've never been happier than where we are at in our lives. I am now able to stay at home with my children while I work for my Grandparents through my house. I couldn't have ever asked for anything more wonderful. It's like everything we've ever dreamed of us happened to us in 2007. I hope that 2008 brings us as much joy as 2007 has.

9/11 Poem By Jill Mahone

My cousin, Jill, wrote the best poem about 9/11 that I've ever read. She actually wrote it on 10/18/04 for her 10th grade English paper. It's a tear jerker and is just absolutely amazing. Here's a picture of my beautiful cousin Jill who is expecting a baby girl in March

We watched as people suffered and died,
as orphans and widows prayed and cried.
As the planes hit the towers the world held its breath,
as everyone saw the destruction and death.
The workers stopped working, the teachers stopped teaching,
all the alarms sounded and the preachers kept preaching.
We could all feel the pain of the people stuck up there burning,
and when another person jumped our stomachs started churning.
Everyone was on their knees praying for the souls
that were going up to heaven and had lost their dreams and goals.
We were losing all hope as the number of deaths got higher,
and our anger kept growing in our hearts like fire.
The day September 11th would now be a very important date.
The day everyone, everywhere would question their fate.
This would be the day that our courage shows bright,
for everyone around was helping with all their might.
All those people dead with not even a grave,
but the helpers still worked with the hope that another they might save.
After all the destruction was done all we could do is give,
so we waited in lines miles long to give blood so someone might live.
Now where the Twin Towers had once stood is a pile of ash,
and everyone alive will always remember the day of this terrible crash
that took the lives of so many that didn't want to die,
this day when smoke and ash filled the New York sky.
This is our country, the land of the brave and free,
this is a country that everyone should see,
with our colors Red, White and Blue,
and forever and ever we will shine through.
This is our country and it is AMERICA!

~Jillian Mahone

Strawberry Banana Bread

I have not yet made this....and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to make it today, but I caught my oven on fire a couple of weeks ago and have been scared to use it ever since. Long story - but it all ended well :) I figured I'd share it with you all so that you can make it and let me know how it is. I will be making it soon - in fact I thought about going up to my Grandma's and making it. Well, here's the recipe - let me know how you like it!!!

3 Cups of Flower
1 1/2 T Ground Cinnamon
1 T Banking Soda
1/2 T Ground Nutmeg
1/2 T salf
4 Eggas beaten
2 C sugar
1 1/2 C mashed strawberries
1 C Mashed banana
1/2 C oil
3 t shredded orange peel

In a bowl combine the flour, spices and salt. In another bowl stir together the eggs strawberries, banana sugar, oil & orange peel

Pour into 2 greased loaf pans Bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes

**Makes 2 loaves

Ella's Video

This is a video that I just came across that I thought I'd post for everyone. Personally, I feel kinda bad whenever I watch it, because it was very mean of me to scare my baby like this, but the look on her face was priceless.....after she jumped pretty bad I was done... but she has some cute cooing on here!! Enjoy ~ a lot of people have had a good laugh over this ~ poor Ella!

Being a Mom

Being a mom is such a blessing. I love looking over at my sleeping babies and thinking to myself - WOW I did that. I made them. They're mine. But at the same time it's the scariest thing ever. They're mine. They're mine to mold. They're mine to make sure that they are fed, dressed, bathed, taught, loved, taken care of. They rely on me. Without me they could fail. And that's scary. They watch your ever move and they want to be just like Mommy & Daddy when they're little. Sometimes we forget this. Therefore, we have to be careful what comes out of our mouths. We have to be careful what directions we're leading them in life. We have to be careful. I want nothing more than my children to love God, love themselves, love me, love their kids, loves their spouse and live a good life. It is my responsibility to see that they get on this path. An amazing thing to think about is that God trusted me to take care of his children. He chose me to raise them how he would want them raised. He chose me. I don't know why I never actually stopped to think so deeply about this before. It's scary, but it's almost like an exciting rush. Life doesn't make much sense until you're staring at your sleeping baby. My life makes complete and perfect sense. I am here for them. I am here to make them good people. I hope that I never fail them. I like to think that I will be here forever for them, and even though I know that I won't be able to catch them every time they fall, but I sure can try. I am so thankful for my family. I am so thankful that I have been given the opportunity to be a wife and a mother. I am so thankful that I am part of a wonderful church. I am thankful for every smile I get to see on my family's face. They melt my heart. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Our White Christmas

Yup! We had a White Christmas. Being that every single Christmas of ours together has been in Sacramento, we have yet to have a White Christmas. And Jayden has yet to have a one EVER! He did have a White Thanksgiving when he was 2 - he actually went skiing. I'll have to find the pics of that and scan them - it was cute!

Okay ~ this year our Christmas was WONDERFUL!!!! It was peaceful and I just loved every second of it...except for the fact that I have this horrible cold. Christmas Eve we started a new tradition that we're going to do every year with our children. We went and bought all the stuff to make Ice Cream Sundays!! They were delicious. So, we had the kids open 1 present, which were of course their Christmas PJ's ~ here's pics of that














So, Gino of course fell asleep early and Jayden was too excited to sleep. So, I had to stay awake until Jayden finally fell asleep so I could play Santa. Jayden finally falls asleep around midnight. And this required me to actually go and lay down w/him to get him to sleep. It also required me to try my hardest NOT to fall asleep with him. Could you imagine him waking up in the morning and running down the stairs to find that Santa did not eat his cookies or stuff his stocking or LEAVE HIM PRESENTS?!?!?! His world would have crashed at that moment. So, finally, Jayden falls asleep and I go pull out the toys. I actually had to snap Ella's toy together and put screws in as I'm cursing profanities at my husband who is snoring on the couch. Then I got in a fight w/Jayden's dinosaur. They screwed him to a post in the box. WTF!?!? I couldn't find a screwdriver that would work. After about 30 minutes of me fighting w/the box I finally got the dinosaur free. Stuffed the stockings, threw the cookies away and tossed the milk (I was not in the mood for cookies at that point) and went to bed. My child didn't wake up until 8:30am to see what Santa brought ~ Thank you, Lord. And I actually woke him up - I was anxious!! After we did our Christmas thing we got ready and headed up to my Grandparent's house to spend Christmas with my family. Here are the pictures of our day ~ there's not many, well, not as many as I would have liked, but I was so sick that pictures were the least of my worries......

Best Appetizer

Are you planning on having everyone over for Christmas? The best appetizer out there that I always make when having company over or if going to someone's house is my famous chili cheese dip.

Mix 1 can of chili - I use this one

W/1 brick of cream cheease ~ I use this one

And you put the chili in a bowl and the brick of cream cheese on top of it. Put it in the microwave for 2 minutes take it out and stir then dip w/Fritos ~ most delicious thing you'll ever eat. If you try it make sure you come and leave me a comment letting me know how you liked it.... I'm gonna have to go and make it right now, because it sounds so good and totally works for me hehe!

For other ideas that work for others visit ROCKS IN MY DRIER

My Grandparents

My Grandparents met and 1 week later they got married. They've been married for 49 years. I went up and spent some time with them today and they are some real kick in the ass people. It was my Grandma's birthday and I was sitting in her rocking chair rocking Ella and there was this little card (the size and texture of a playing card) and it had a poem on it. I don't know the entire poem, but here are a few lines in it that really stick out:

You are my lover, you are my friend, I can talk to you for hours, you make me laugh every day. Carry this card with you always and you carry my heart.

UM, Can we say Holy Romantic??? My Grandpa put that in my Grandma's b/day card. They inspire me. 49 years of pure love. They tell me it's hard, but you just gotta stick with it!

If I was to give anybody marriage advice I think it would: You're going to fall in and out of love. But when you are at a point that you don't feel like you're in love anymore, hang in there, because when you fall in love all over again it's going to be the best feeling ever! My Grandparents stuck through it all and I hope that I have a marriage like they do in 45 more years.

Please comment and tell me your best marriage advice if you have some. I love to hear what works for other couples.

Where does he come up with this stuff?

This morning I was laying in bed wishing really hard that it wasn't morning. And then I thought hmm... maybe, just maybe, Gino will take Jayden to school today. Well, while I'm laying in bed I hear Gino walk into Jayden's room and here's the conversation they had...

Gino: Where's your juice boxes?

Jayden:I don't know, Dad

Gino: Jayden you drank all of your juice boxes, what am I supposed to put in your lunch? Why didn't you leave one?

Jayden:Dad, I don't know, I'm just out of control

This child says the most shocking things sometimes!

Ella's First Foods

Technically she's not 4 months until Friday, but I figured a few days wouldn't hurt...she needs the practice and it's really helping w/the acid reflux she has. And that's awesome! Here's some cute pictures ~ the first ones were her last night. I gave her a couple licks of Cookies and Cream ice cream - I know, I know, I'm a bad mom LOL.

EASY Schedule

The EASY Schedule for your baby ~

I have done this with Jayden and Ella. I got the idea from Tracy Hogg's book The Baby Whisperer My Grandma bought me this book when I was pregnant with Jayden and tried her tactics and THEY WORKED!! Here's how the EASY Schedule works:



E stands for Eat
A stands for Activity Time
S stands for Sleep
Y stands for You Time

So, here's why this schedule works WONDERS with me. Your baby wakes up from a nap and you instantly feed him/her. You do not let them fall asleep while eating. After they finish their bottle you give them activity time. For a newborn this can be a bath, staring into the wondrous world before them. Just time for them to be awake and not be sleeping. Then when they get fussy, guess what! They're not hungry!!! You instantly know what the deal is. They're tired. So you wrap them up, rock them and put them to sleep....then you get YOU TIME (time where you can sit and hear the peace, that is if you don't have other children or the other children are in school!!) You can even schedule out what you're going to do for each You Time!!! Ella's at the age that during activity time she likes to get in her jumparoo and jump jump jump and that's my internet time. My You Time is USUALLY spent working or doing my housework.

This schedule has not failed me through 2 kids now and I love it. I always know what's next and so does Ella (she's my current baby) I'm a WAHM and it's nice to know that things are not out of control. It's easy for us and I know that I can tell someone when I will be calling them back, because according to Ella's schedule I know when she's going to be tired.

OH! And w/this schedule, Jayden never relied on a bottle to fall asleep. Therefore, when he turned 1 - I threw all of his bottles away on her b/day and we had NO ISSUES!!! Straight to the sippy cup like a big boy!

And the exciting thing today - she's sleeping right now, and when she wakes up she gets to eat baby food for the first time!!! Stay tuned for pictures!!!!

Hope this works for you like it's worked for me!! I highly suggest reading her book :)

For other ideas, visit ROCKS IN MY DRIER

Praise Baby

I've heard great things about this and if I post their logo on my blog they're going to send me a free bib and $5.00 off one of their DVDs :) If you're interested in this as well CLICK HERE But hurry, because it's only for the first 300 Bloggers!!!

North Western Floods

CLICK HERE

My goodness! My heart and prayers are with everyone that has been effected by these horrible floods...I'm speechless.

It's Love

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There's something about laying on my husband's chest and breathing in his breath taking scent. It is of course a Sean John smell ~ Unforgivable I believe it's called.... but that on him grabs my soul and twists it all up. I really love my husband. Even though we have our days, where everything that comes out of his mouth is like nails scraping dreadfully down the chalk board....yes, I can hate him as much as I love him and that's marriage. But at the end of a horrible day where we're not on the same page in any way - he'll look at me and smile and then before he walks out the door to go to work he leans down and kisses me. I breathe in his delicious scent and it all melts away. Nobody can make me as mad or happy in the way he can, and that's how I know I love him. We were made for each other - and we make beautiful babies, so that proves even more we were made for each other.

I Have a Crafty Side

I'm crafty. I love to make things. I love to cross-stitch. I have a cross-stitch that I actually started when I was 15 years old and wanted to make it for my mom. It's called Through a Mother's Eyes. It's of a bride in her wedding dress with her mom standing behind her. There's a mirror in front of them and the reflection of the bride is of a little girl. I never finished it and once a year pick it back up to work on it. My mom has always been waiting for me to finish it, but I never do. She doesn't know this yet, but something inside of me says it's not for her. Something inside of me is saying that the reason why I started this cross-stitch is so that I can work on it for 20+ years and have it perfect and be able to give it to my daughter on her wedding day. But, like I said, my mom does not know that's how I feel yet.

I'm going to try something new. My grandmother makes amazing quilts. I love them. She's going to teach me how to make quilts. I've never sewed before, so this is all going to be new and fun!! I think I'm going to pick one afternoon a week where after I pick up Jayden I will go up to my grandma's house and learn.

Once I learn how to make these quilts I think I want to make some cross-stitches and put them into a quilt...how special would that be?

Speech Therapy

I met with the Speech Therapist and his teacher at Jayden's school today. The meeting went great! We all agreed that it would be in Jayden's best interest to start meeting w/the Speech Therapist 2x/week for a total of 50 minutes/week. Our main goals to work with Jayden are:

1. To get him to structure his sentences correctly. He mixes his words up in sentences.

2. For him to finish one subject before jumping to another. Example: He'll be in the middle of a sentence and jump to a completely different subject. It's almost like his mind is going too fast.

3. To complete 1 Step Directions. Example: "Jayden walk to the orange trash can." Um, he kinda gets off task a little bit LOL.

I will update as things progress, but I think this is going to be a really great thing for him.

He Has a Girlfriend!

Jayden has his first girlfriend. Her name is Alexis and she really is cute. I went to pick up Jayden from school today and him and Alexis walked out holding hands. OMGoodness! It really was cute. But it's such an eye opener that he's growing up. So, we get in the car and I asked him, "Is she your girlfriend?" I've asked this question before in a teasing manner, and he's always said, "NO!" This time was different. Jayden replied, "Yes, Mom, and we're gonna go on a date." My heart kinda broke a little bit.

I told Gino and you'd think he'd feel all proud of his little boy, but he wasn't. I'm kinda shocked. He asked him so tell me about your girlfriend and Jayden said, "Yeah, we hold hands and I need a nice shirt for our date." Gino didn't really say much to him then told me that it bothers him. So I told Jayden that girlfriends are for teenagers and little boys aren't supposed to have a girlfriend. He actually told me, "Mom, I do have a girlfriend and we're going on a date. I'm in love! She's a Chinese girl and I'm a Chinese boy." I didn't know my son was Chinese. She actually looks Filipino maybe half.

She's a very cute girl, but this isn't supposed to happen. Little girls are supposed to have cooties. Why doesn't this little girl have cooties???? Is this normal? I don't remember having a boyfriend in Kindergarten. It's one thing to have a little girlfriend, but why's he talking about buying a nice shirt for a date? Gino used to joke with Jayden about hot chicks. Whenever there'd be a girl on the TV Gino would say, "Jayden, is that a hot chick?" Jayden even asked Gino's boss at church on Sunday, "Do you like hot chicks? My dad likes hot chicks." It was funny, we all laughed. Now Gino said he's never joking with Jayden about hot chicks ever again. I actually do find it funny that Gino is reacting the way he's reacting. Looks like Ella has no chance at ever having a boyfriend!

Well, everyone, this is history today. My son's heart belongs to another female. UGH!

It's All About the Thumb

Within the past couple of days Ella has decided that she is going to be a thumb sucker. It first started out with sucking on her hands like there was no tomorrow, but then a little thumb slipped in and she fell in love. Today she learned how to curl her fingers and just have her thumb in her mouth and I must say it is the cutest thing ever. The negative point about this is I can take away a pacifier, but how do I take away a thumb? I guess we'll deal with that when the time comes.

Church Day

We had the most wonderful time today. It was Fast Sunday where people get up an tell their testimonies of the gospel and the church and I was a little nervous, but Gino seemed to really enjoy it. There were a couple of testimonies that were pretty powerful and I think he needed to hear them. The Relief Society has a bunch of wonderful girls in it and they really made me feel welcomed. We filled out a survey today of extra activities we'd be interested in. There were so many! Things like Yoga, book clubs, scrapbooking, Gospel Study, Parenting Classes, CPR - all kinda of things I'd love to do. They all loved Ella ~ but who doesn't? Hehe. When it was all over with and we got in the car Gino told me that he really learned a lot and enjoyed it. I was hoping this is the response I'd get :) So, I'm pretty happy!! Jayden told us he learned about Jesus and got to sing songs and had lots of fun. I was nervous for nothing :)

Church Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a huge day for the Garibay household. For the first time ever, as a family we will be going to church. I never thought I'd see the day that my husband would walk through the doors of a Mormon church. It's been so many years for myself that I'm extremely nervous. This is what I want for my family. My kids deserve this and as parents it is our responsibility to introduce them to our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus. Our entire relationship Gino has never had a positive attitude on my church. It was always negative negative negative. He still is questioning every aspect about it, but the fact that he is willing to give it a try for us means more to me than words can even describe. I've wanted this ever since I was pregnant with Jayden, but never thought it would be possible. Please pray for us that tomorrow goes well and that Gino has a wonderful experience. I need him to have a wonderful experience. His kids need him to have a wonderful experience. I especially can't wait to pick up Jayden from primary tomorrow and hear about how much fun he had. His favorite thing about school is singing and he'll get to sing in primary. I know he's going to have so much fun. He knows there's a God and he knows his sister Mya is with him. Now he'll be able to make sense of it all. Do you know what my one wish is? Other than of course Ella's heart healing itself. For my family to walk into a temple and get sealed together and to get Mya sealed to us. That's my wish. It will take time, we have to take baby steps, but it will be amazing when it happens. So amazing.