Ella's First Playdate

This morning a friend of mine from church came over and we went walking with our babies. I really had a lot of fun! Afterwards we came back to my house and talked and Ella and Benjamin played together. Ella really loved him - it was absolutely adorable! Here's a couple pics of the kids playing.

Happiness Shattered in 1 Second

It amazes me how we can go through life doing our routines when something out of the middle of nowhere can shatter your happiness in literally 1 second. I feel like that happened to me tonight. I know that what I'm about to say doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but it's huge to me. My husband has worked graveyard for our entire relationship. We've known no different. I mentioned before about how he will be moving to days. I wasn't sure how I felt about this, but it's grown on me. His new schedule was going to be 4am-1pm Tues-Sat. It was the perfect schedule! Jayden gets out of school @ 12:30pm so we'd have all day together. Tonight my husband called me to tell me that he checked the schedule and he's scheduled for 3pm-midnight starting 3/10/08. I LOST IT! I was hysterical on the phone. My poor husband thought I'd be happy and I wasn't. See, he failed to look at the biggest con to this whole thing. Jayden has had his daddy all day his whole life. You can't rip that away from a child. You can't go from having your dad around all day to only seeing him 1 1/2 hours a day. Jayden gets home from school at around 1pm. Gino would have to leave the house at 2:45pm. They'd never see each other and it's not gonna work. Gino is going to have to go in there and tell them that we based our lives around this new change. Going away from graveyard was a big enough burden on us, but now they've changed what was originally planned. It's not going to work. I will not have this big of a change happen to our son. As I was talking about tonight, Jayden's already having problems this will make them SO much worse.

Please pray that something happens here. I wouldn't even mind Gino working 8am-5pm....anything but 3-midnight. That is the worse shift EVER! And I was just getting into cooking dinners and OMG I am so depressed about this.

Friday Favorites

If you are reading this then the chances are you read my blog. And if you read my blog you know that I participate in a couple of weekly carnivals that involve me giving tips to my readers and linking my readers to another blog where more tips are involved. Believe it or not, I actually spend a couple of hours reading through a lot of the tips and I learn amazing things from them! Life transforming things! So I started thinking my family, friends, readers all need to hear about the things that I have learned from others. So on Fridays I am going to be posting a thread called Friday Favorites. It will be tips that I have learned through these carnivals that I participate in. So here is the first Friday Favorites.

EYE MAKEUP REMOVER
Ingram Gang posted an awesome idea on Eye Makeup Remover: Mix equal parts of baby shampoo and water. She talks of how she used to use Clinique eye makeup remover and actually uses that container for her new cheap creation! AND it works as good! Baby shampoo is tear free - so it works great. I actually tried this and it worked!!!

BEST CHORE/ROUTINE CHART EVER
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers posted about this chart that she made that had me running to the store to buy the supplies. I wish I would've thought about this before. I suck at the whole sticker chart thingy and this is PERFECT!! CLICK HERE to go to her blog to read about it - she has pictures and everything. If you are a mom I highly suggest you check this out.

BABY WIPES
CC posted a little secret that I never would've thought of in a million years. Baby wipes can be washed and dried many times before falling apart. I would never do this after wiping up my baby after changing her diaper, but baby wipes are great for rags, napkins, and from what she says has saved her money reusing them. She talks more about it on her blog so if you're interested CLICK HERE

HOMEMADE FEBREEZE RECIPE
Stepford Wife's Guide to Home Making posted about this and this one just got me downright excited. I have come to realize that I really do not like Febreeze. I love the idea of it, but the smell has just gotten old to me. Well, this recipe that she's shared is amazing!! Here it is:
1/2-1 Cup of Fabric Softener (your choice of your favorite flavor!)
1 Cup of White Vinegar
2-3 Cups of Water (If you are using 1/2 cup of fabric softener then use 2 cups of water, if you're using 1 cup of fabric softener use 3 cups of water)

BEST PARENTING ADVICE EVER
Frazzmom posted a few tips when going out w/your children. They are worth reading so if you are a mom of a younger child please read this. CLICK HERE

I hope you enjoyed these tips and make sure you check back on Tuesday for Kitchen Tip Tuesday, Wednesday for Works For Me Wednesday & Friday for Friday Favorites!! And in between all that for a little bit of love, hate, parenting, stress, happiness basically life and me all rolled up in one.

Struggling with behavior

Every day it seems like Jayden does something wrong at school. Honestly, I get pretty darn tired of the teacher calling me or giving me that "look" after school like 'He was an absolute TYRANT today.' I'm almost at my wit's end with this boy and just don't know what to do.

Today we went to go and buy Jayden a new radio. He's been into music and I thought it would be cool for him to have his own CD player in his room. So, while buying it I got a phone call from his teacher. First thing she had to tell me was that Jayden has been poking other students with his pencil. UGH! I knew this was going on, because Jayden comes home and tells me that his friend does this to him. Then when his teacher gave them their work to do, Jayden put an X on his worksheet because he didn't want to do it. I don't know what to do! I want him to listen to his teacher, do his work, be a model example in school (who am I kidding!?!?! LMAO) but seriously, I don't want Jayden to struggle. I want to get down to what it is exactly that's causing him to struggle with following directions. This honestly scares the living crap out of me. I can't imagine how hard it's going to be when he's in Junior High or High School. I don't even want to think about how my vibrant little Ella is going to be. Being a mom is the most wonderful gift from God, but man it's hard! I know I'm good a mom, but a part of me almost is feeling like a failure since Jayden has a hard time. I know shouldn't, but I do.

I decided tonight to not let him get away with all the little stunts he pulled today. So, we bought his CD player, which he really didn't even know we were buying, but we get home and I put the box on the floor and watched him get all excited. I'm so evil! I sat him down and said, it looks really cool doesn't it? Keep in mind we bought the Pirates of the Caribbean Treasure Chest Boombox. Then I told him unfortunately since he didn't do his work at school and because he was poking other kids w/his pencil that he wasn't able to watch cartoons or listen to his new CD player. He was devastated, but I'm hoping that this gives him motivation to do good. Tomorrow if he can at least show that he's trying I will give his CD player to him, but the first day that his teacher tells me that he doesn't do his work or is fighting with other kids it's gone again and he'll have to earn it back w/good behavior. This also goes w/Cartoons, which if you know Jayden you know Cartoons is his everything.

If you're a lurker on my blog and have some advice for me PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave me a comment and give it to me.

Devious Little Minds!

I swear I don't understand how kids get to be so smart! I'm not talking book smart, I'm talking downright deceivingly smart. Jayden spends a lot of his time upstairs. The computer he's allowed to play w/is up there, his toys are up there - it's Jayden's world up there. However, there are things of mine up there as well.... of course. I walked up stairs and walk in my room to see Jayden sitting on my laundry basket filled with clean laundry. It not only irritated me that his dirty little body was sitting on top of my clean, white clothes, but that he was bending the crap out of my laundry basket. Jayden looks at me and goes, "Oh, Mom, I didn't hear your footsteps. Sorry." Greaaat! I wonder what else he does upstairs when I'm not up there for him to have to listen for my footsteps.

Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan

Last night I made dinner and I have to share it with everyone, because it was DELICIOUS! If you know me you know that I used to not cook. I was literally retarded in the kitchen and had no desire. I had a husband who cooked for me every night and didn't see the point in learning. Now that I stay at home I love cooking! I love to try new dishes and get so excited when I see the nod of approval from my husband as he savors every bite. So here's what I did last night.

Coat chicken breast in egg & breadcrumbs and bake covered for 30 minutes and uncovered for 10

For the sauce I used Classico (I'm not so good yet to make my own sauce) I mixed 1 jar of Four Cheese & 1 jar of Roasted Garlic and mixed a ton of Parmesan cheese in it. Heat that up on the stove.

Last night for the side dish I made Pasta Roni Fettuccine Alfredo noodles, but next time I will boil fettuccine noodles and make Classico's alfredo sauce.

When all is done put the Fettuccine Alfredo on your plate, then the chicken on top and then cover with the spaghetti sauce and top with Parmesan cheese. Something about mixing the 2 different sauces together just touches your taste buds in an exhilarating way.

I steamed some broccoli and dinner was a hit. We will definitely be making this again.

Friday Letters

For Works For Me Wednesday I thought I'd share something special that I do for my kids with other moms. There's so many memories with kids and not enough space in the baby books to put them. I want my kids to be able to go back and read about milestones they had, funny things they said, and even the bad stuff. I want them to be able to know how much they truly were loved so a few weeks ago I went and bought 2 journals. One for Jayden, one for Ella. I set a reoccurring reminder in my phone calendar for every Friday @ 10:00pm and every Friday I write a letter to each child in their journal. Some letters are a short I love you, and others are detailed. I only wish I thought of this when Jayden was a baby, but better late than never. In the first letter I promised that they would have a letter every Friday. When they're 18 I'll wrap the finished journals up and give them as a birthday present. It will be a lot of reading for them, but what a special gift that will be for them.

For other tips on what works for others visit Rocks In My Dryer

A Little Bit of Ella - A Little Bit of Jayden

Ella has decided to say forget crawling and has resorted to rolling to whatever location she wants to go. It takes her a few minutes, but she gets there. This sorta started last night, but went full blown today. Sadly, she also rolled into a tall candle stick thingy of mine and that fell on her head... so she has her first bump. I really have to get to baby proofing now and that sucks. She is still trying to crawl and is almost there, but she's loving this new rolling game.

We went up to my Grandma's house today to work on a quilt that I'm making and I took a couple pics of the kids. I really wanted to take more, but Ella just wasn't into it...maybe she'll be more into it on Thursday when I go back. ALSO!!! Jayden drew my cousin a picture and wrote To: (Then asked me how to spell Jill) From: Jayden all by himself!!!!! He didn't even ask me how to spell To & From ~ I couldn't be prouder of my little man.

Dinosaur Bites - Fun Recipe to do w/kids

Jayden's school made a cookbook that all the students were able to participate in. I found one that is pretty cool and am sharing it with everyone for Kitchen Tip Tuesday

1/4 Cup Dirt (Cocoa)
1/2 Cup swamp water (Milk)
2 Cups crushed bones (sugar)
1/2 Cup fat (butter or margarine)
2 Cups dead grass (Oatmeal)
1/2 Cup squashed bugs (Peanut Butter)

Combine dirt, swamp water, crushed bones and fat in medium sauce pan. Boil for 3 minutes. Add squashed bugs and dead grass. Stir until melted and mixture starts to thicken. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Stand on hind legs, eat one and ROARRRRRR!!!!!!

For other Kitchen Tips please visit Miss Tammy's Blog and I hope everyone has a fantastic Tuesday!!

Ella & Boo

Do you see the resemblance? Ella didn't eat that whole cake - she just had a couple licks ~ but if she had her way she would've had that whole cake. We went to my little cousin's 2nd birthday and I had been saying all day yesterday how Ella looked like Boo from Monster's Inc. and when we showed up to the party today that's what everyone else was saying. When Jayden was little and used to watch Monster's Inc. my sister Jessica always said that if Gino and I were to have a little girl she'd look like Boo.... well, she sure was right!!

6 Month Pictures and Stats on Miss Ella

6 Months old - Crazy!!! I know this post is a little late, she turned 6 months old on the 14th Valentine's Day :) But I'm just now getting around to recording her stats and updating on her doctor's appointment. She's 17lbs 10oz. 26 inches long. New things she's doing: She's discovered her shadow. She started this past week saying Gagagaga. She's still trying with all her might to crawl, but can't quite figure it out yet. She basically falls on her face :( Poor baby girl!!! During her 6 month doctor's appointment her Dr. was talking about how pretty soon she's going to develop separation anxiety and blah blah blah well, in the middle of him explaining this all to me she's watching his every move. Then out of the middle of nowhere she screamed her head off. Ever since that moment Ella has separation anxiety and screams every time I walk out of the room. She loves Jayden. She get so excited when he walks in the room and whenever he actually pays a little attention to her, her face lights up. She still hasn't gotten any more teeth, but she has the 2 on the bottom. And when she bites they hurt! She loves other babies and gets all excited when she sees them. Already my social little butterfly. She discovered splashing the other day in the bathtub and I'm putting a video of that on here. I know that almost every picture of her she has no clothes on, but I promise you she has plenty of clothes....she just loves to be naked w/a diaper on. With how much this girls spits up I love her to be just in a diaper too.


EDITED TO ADD: I was just reading on my blog and it looks like I already did a little update on Ella's 6 month stuff - see what having kids does to you? It sucks all the brain cells out of your head UGH - oh well, I hope you enjoy the pics and video of my little princess.

Quick Update

It sure has been a while. My friend, Jenise, came up from Sacramento to visit for a few days. It was the first time that she got to meet Miss Ella!! She helped out so much and I'm thankful for every ounce help she gave. She did lots and lots of laundry for me - my most hated thing ever.

I'm still having issues with my breathing, heart, anxiety... whatever it is that's going on with me. Yesterday I went in for an echo and the results should be in next week. They looking to see if one of the little flap things stick, which can make me feel like how I've been feeling. It's frustrating to feel this way. I don't like feeling like I can't breathe. I don't like feeling on edge.

This weekend I'm planning on taking the kids to get their pictures done. We might even do a family picture - I haven't really decided yet. Ella hasn't had professional pictures done yet and I feel absolutely HORRIBLE about it. They'll be cute and that's all that matters.

That's just a quick little update on me here.

Results are in.............

And I do not have a thyroid problem. Next step is they're going to do an echo on my heart. I don't find this step necessary, but I also know that it's not going to hurt anything so I've agreed to it. Today I've been having extreme difficulty in breathing. Tonight it's a little better than it's been all day, but I actually have to struggle to take a deep breath. If I feel this way in the morning I'll call my doctor up and ask to come in and have my oxygen level checked. I starting wondering today if this has to do w/the cold I had - maybe there's stuff in my chest that I don't realize and that's causing this. Or maybe I have asthma. You know, there has been so many random ideas going through my head on what in the world is going on. I don't have anxiety today. In fact I'm pretty relaxed. So why am I having a hard time breathing? I guess I'll have an answer eventually. Here's to hoping I feel normal tomorrow!

Jayden's First "Real" Valentine's Day

Last night Jayden sat down with his list of school mate's names and wrote out each and every single Valentine. He was so excited this morning to go to his Valentine's Day class. He even wrote "I Love You" on his girlfriend's Valentine. I bought him the movie Aladdin for Valentine's Day w/some chocolates. I couldn't wait for him to get out of school today so I could watch it with him. That is one of my FAVORITE Disney movies. I think he was a little shocked when I knew all the words to all the songs. Actually I was a little shocked that I still remembered them. Yes, I was singing. Jayden would get mad if I sang the "boy" part. I was only allowed to sing when Jasmine sang. Jayden made me the sweetest card I've ever seen. In the pictures you'll see his hand prints that are made into a heart and he wrote out the card all by himself. I'm so proud of him. He has turned into the most sweetest boy. Watching him grow into such a respectable, sweet , precious soul is so rewarding.

6 Months Old

I cannot believe that my little girl is half a year old. Where did the time go? Today for some reason (I'm assuming because she is now 6 months old) she has been trying to full blown go mobile on me. If I'm holding her she'll flip herself out of my arms. If she's sitting on my lap she'll lunge forward. Now she's even getting up on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth and trying with all her might to move forward. This has made me realize that this weekend I will be going to Target to pick up all the baby proofing things I need. So my little Valentine didn't get all dressed up cute, even though I had boughten her an adorable outfit for today. We'll have to do Valentine's Day pictures this weekend. Here is a couple pictures of her today though.

I went to the doctors

I decided shortly after posting my last post about my anxiety that I needed to call my doctor's office. So I called, made an appointment and they had me in at 1pm today. The did an EKG and I got to see that I do not have a delta wave, therefore I do not have what Ella has.... RELIEF! However, they did labs on me today to see if I might possibly have a thyroid problem. In the meantime, while I await the results of the blood tests, I was prescribed Xanax. I took one probably around 3pm and w/in 20 minutes I was feeling 100% better. It's now 11:22pm and I'm starting to feel the heaviness around my heart. This is so frustrating! I think the only solution is me going to Mexico for a week - maybe 2 weeks. I'm really anxious (surprise surprise LOL) to find out what my blood are results are going to be tomorrow.

A New Car! With some anxiety

It's almost been a week since my last entry here. We've had a busy past few days and I actually have put the computer away for a while and only came on to quickly check my email. I must say... it felt good! Thursday we bought a second car. FINALLY! We actually have been getting by with one car for a long time now, and it's nice to finally have 2. Neither of us will feel stuck if the other is gone. This decision of course had to be made since Gino is going to have to now be to work @ 4am and Jayden has to be to school by 7:50am. So, we got a 2004 Jetta w/only 26k miles on it. It's a stick and I'm in love with it. It is, however, Gino's car. That thing isn't big enough for both of the kids.... but when I'm going somewhere by myself you bet your butt I drive that thing. I LOVE STICK SHIFT CARS!

I've developed a horrible case of anxiety these past few days. Almost to the point that it's scary. I get shortness in breath to where I can't take a deep breath. My heart feels like it's pounding and I just downright feel helpless. There have been many times in my life where I'd say "I have horrible anxiety." What was I thinking?? What I used to *think* was anxiety is nothing compared to what this feels like. The first thing that ran through my mind when I first felt this was 'OMG, I have what Ella has' I seriously thought I was about to have a heart attack. We were at Target, so we went over by the pharmacy where the blood pressure checker thing is and it said that my pulse was @ 103. Not terribly high, but it is high. I don't know what my deal is, but I don't like it. I might make an appointment to see a doctor, but from my understanding there really isn't much a doctor can do for you beside prescribe medication that I in turn might become dependent on. So, today I'm thinking about maybe finding a yoga class to join and see how that works for me. I just know that I do not like feeling like this.

No More Baths

Jayden is now too "old" for baths. He's six years old and six year olds take showers. I must say I'm quite pleased with this new decision of his. Last night while Jayden was in the shower I cleaned MY bathroom - not his... MINE! It was so needed. He actually is doing a good job washing himself. Even his own hair! He uses a loofah like his daddy (yes he probably would kill me if he knew I was putting this on the world wide web) and I could watch through the clear glass door to see if he was doing a good job. It was all a success. No splashing, no water on the floor, no me bending down to help him. I like this no more baths deal. He was even singing in the shower... how cute is that? It amazes me how every day this little boy of mine is growing into his own little person. I cannot believe that he's 6. I cannot believe that he no longer wants to give his dad a kiss goodbye (boys do not kiss boys) I can't believe that my baby is not a baby.

A Quirk About Family

I have a weird quirk about me with calling someone your sister, cousin, dad, brother...whatever, basically, relative if they're really not one. For instance. My friends are never "Aunt whoever" They are simply known to my children (well my son since Ella is still very young) as whatever their name is. I cringe inside when I hear somebody refer to someone as their "cousin" if they're really not cousins. My husband has done this and no longer does, because I cannot stand it. I can't even call my in-laws mom and dad, because they are not my mom and dad. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I think even my husband is catching on to this, because the other day he was telling me how irritating it is to go to his cousin's myspace and see her label some of her "friends" as cousins. FINALLY! He understands where my crazy brain is coming from in some way.

Are you ready for my quirk to get even weirder? I have 4 sisters and 1 brother. Jessica is my sister through my mom. She is my best friend, the one I fight with, the one I call and cry to, the one I have a million inside jokes with, the one who knows every little secret of mine LITERALLY, she's my sister. Mitch is my brother through my mom. He's the one that even after screwing me over time and time again, flaking on me, doing the worst things possible like every little brother does, I still love him. He's still my baby brother. Even though they are my half, they feel like they are full siblings to me. Brittany, Alyssa & Tiona are through my dad. I didn't grow up with them. I am just now starting to be in their lives. They ARE my sisters, yet I feel odd calling them my sisters. I get that feeling that I was explaining above. Maybe it will just take time to get used to the fact that I actually do have other sisters than Jessica. At first I kinda freaked out a little bit, because none of them are Jessica and I didn't like the fact that they looked up to me as a "big sister" when in fact I didn't feel like I was their big sister at all. I am now faced with living away from the only brother and sister I ever knew and living by 2 of my dad's girls. I hope that in time I can become close to them. I have a more of a chance of having a good relationship with Alyssa, since she is 15. Tiona, however, is only 9. She's 2 1/2 years older than my son. He'll probably know her a lot better than I ever will. Brittany lives far away. I talk to her occasionally through text or myspace, and sadly, we'll probably never have a close relationship. I have such a twisted family, and I'm working on appreciating everybody in it. Close or not, I should work on having a relationship with everybody in it.... in some way or another. Right?

Quick, Tasty, Easy Chicken

It's Kitchen Tip Tuesday and I'm letting the world in on our secret, yummy chicken we make a lot.

Ingredients:

Chicken - legs, thighs, breasts, basically whatever chicken you want to eat
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt - or not if you're doing no salt I just LOVE garlic salt
Soy Sauce
Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy (I promise it's not spicy - just tasty) Seasoning
Mrs. Dash Chicken Seasoning

Here's What You Do:

Line your pan w/Olive Oil - not thick, just enough to cover the bottom.
Put your chicken in the pan - then sprinkle all of your seasonings, soy sauce and olive oil (just a little of olive oil) over the top of the chicken. Cover and cook on medium. After it's cooked on the one side, flip over and once again sprinkle all of your seasonings, soy sauce and olive oil (just a little of olive oil) over that side of the chicken. Cover and continue to cook on med-low until done.

Okay, I know I suck at explaining recipes, but I hope you get the idea here. If you have any questions just let me know in my comments and I'll reply in my comments. There's flavor in every bite!

For other Kitchen Tip's visit Tammy's Blog

Best Superbowl EVER!

Let me just start this out by saying I despise the Patriots just as much as I love the Raiders. So to see them having their butts handed to them today brought me more joy than I can even describe. Let's face it, in the end cheaters don't win. If you are a Pats fan reading this sorry LOL (Sam, yes I'm talking to you LMAO) We had such a great time today. We went up to my grandparent's house to watch the game and had so much fun! I really wanted NY to win not only so the Patriots wouldn't, but how cool is it that Eli Manning's brother won the super bowl last year and he won it this year? They sure have some proud parents. I loved how when Eli threw that last touch down they put the cameras up in the box on Peyton. Watching him jump up and down for his brother actually put tears in my eyes. Super Bowl XLII is the best Super Bowl I've watched yet. Now, let's just all pray that Raiders get their crap together and give us a good season next year.