Football and Potty Training!

Well, tonight will be the first football game watched on our TV for the season, though the season has not officially started. I am not sure I am ready for it yet. Joe becomes dedicated to watching his beloved Longhorns every Saturdays and then watches NFL Sunday and Monday, basically it takes over the house. Though I must say, I enjoy the increase of BBQ and grilling that happens during this time, but 7 months of football every weekend is not always my favorite way to spend family time. ;-) Oh well, I just try to embrace it and have fun with it, trying out new "football" recipes and inviting friends over to hang out and keep me company while Joe screams at the TV.

We are officially in potty training mode with Alex, I didnt think it was going to happen. I have been trying to get him on that potty for 6 months, but this last Monday he finally decided my bribe for a lollipop (which he doesnt get very often was good enough to get on and try it). He sat there on the little potty, happily eating the lollipop for 30 minutes and actually peed and was very surprised! I, of course, made a huge fuss over it and since then he has been pretty excited and wanting to pee in the potty. Going #2 on the potty was another story, the first 2 times was not easy but he gets a new hotwheels car when he goes #2 on the potty so he definitely has enough incentive. Today though he went on that potty without telling us he needed any help and went #2 then told us! I was very proud. Now we are just trying to figure out how to get him to tell us and stop what he is doing when he is at other people's houses, yesterday we had dinner at a friends and he wouldnt tell us and wasnt cooperating if we took him to to the potty. At home though, he is great. I figure this is only day 6 of this and he will get better with a little more time.

Next week I will 16 weeks and my aunt is an ultrasound tech so she is going to be squeezing me in and peeking at the baby to see the sex a little early. My big ultrasound is not scheduled until September 9th and she and I both are inpatient so we are going to look early. ;-)

Wanted to share with you the before and after pics of the baby bump, I am growing so fast and I cant believe how fast I started showing with this one. I still havent gained one lb. but the belly just keeps getting bigger. Crazy how that works.

Summa' time!

Wanted to drop in and say "hi" give an update on baby #2.

Got an ultrasound yesterday (at 13 weeks) for the screening of Down Syndrome. Everything with the baby looked good so far. Unfortunately, they did find that I have Placenta Previa and was put on pelvic rest, we will see if it improves at all on the next ultrasound, hopefully it will fix itself and I can avoid bed rest and other complications later down the road. After this, morning sickness, migraines, and appendicitis, I take it all back, my pregnancy with Alex was a piece of cake! ;-) 

Besides that we have been hitting up the OC fair (monthly county fair they have every year) quite a bit and I hope the weather cooperates more this week but will be heading back to the beach for some sunshine. Hope everyone is staying cool! 

Here is a little picture of our ity bity (head on the right, feet and bottom on the left)

News and an interesting start to the month!

I havent updated since we found out that we are expecting our 2nd little one! We are very excited, Alex still does not quite understand, but I think when he is able to feel the baby kick and see mommy's tummy get big that it will become more "real" to him. I am due January 28th, 2011. :)

Well, July is always one of my favorite months, its my birthday month, and also my mom's and my dad's birthdays as well. It has always been a month of good memories. So I am always looking forward to July and all the fun it brings.

This July has been a little rocky! Joe's cousin Chris and his wife Vanessa came in on the 1st, we had been looking forward to showing them California for the first time. We are blessed and live near a lot of fun places, 10 minutes from Disneyland, about 1/2 hour from Knotts Berry Farm, an hour from the San Diego Zoo and Sea World, and of course right by the beach. So I was really excited to show them everything and also have fun with Alex, he hadnt been to Disney since January, and he has grown so much since then, I knew this time would be very different and fun with him.

Unfortunately, you make plans and life laughs! On the 2nd, I became very ill, I was having a lot of stomach pain, sharp pains all over my stomach, and I was nervous it was the baby, but it didn't feel like cramps or anything like that. Soon after the pains started I was throwing up violently. I could not keep anything down, not even a sip of water. I had a fever of 101.5, since I had the fever I knew it had to be some kind of flu, I had heard of a few kids around here with the stomach flu, so I assumed that is what it was, and thought I was just going to have to ride it out. After about 18 hours of this, I was very weak and dehydrated, I was laying on the bed and knew I was going to have to throw up so I got up to go to the bathroom and I ended up passing out and waking up to Joe picking me up and me almost vomiting on him and me... it was not pleasant. That is when Joe decided he didn't care if it was just the stomach flu, it was time to go to the ER. When I got there my fever had gone down a little and the blood they took didn't show a huge increase in white blood cells, so they decided to do an ultrasound of the baby (because of the fall) and they also wanted to see if they could see my appendix. The pain in my stomach had changed to being mainly on the right side. The baby was fine on the US but they could not see the appendix, which is pretty common I guess, its hard to get a look of it on the US, most of the time they have to do a CT scan, but because I am pregnant I refused (and my OB agreed) that we would not be doing a CT, there are too many risks for the baby. They decided to admit me and watch to see if the pain increased or if the blood results changed. The next day the pain had doubled, and the blood results had increased a little, but nothing crazy.

After some discussion, the surgeon and my OB, and I decided that we would rather open me up then risk any other scan, so that is what we did. I woke up and the surgeon said it was definitely the appendix that it was "ugly" and that he was very glad we got in there and did that when we did. The recovery has been a little rough, I have been on very little pain killers and the one they give me are pretty much glorified Tylenol because of the pregnancy, it has been painful. But everyday gets better, night time is the worst part, its hard to lay down for that long. I was in the hospital for 5 days, got out on the 8th, longest I have been away from Alex. When he came to visit me at the hospital he was nervous, about the all the tubes and cords, but I had him sit on my bed and touch the tubs gently so that he knew that they wouldn't hurt him or me, he also enjoyed playing with the buttons on the bed that made it go up and down. ;-) When I got back Alex was in full tantrum mode, he has been a crazy person, I think he was confused and his schedule was completely out of whack. Slowly we are getting back to normal.

Unfortunately, I missed pretty much the whole visit with Joe's cousins, they left the 9th, so I saw them for maybe 2 whole days. Thankfully Joe and Alex were able to show them around, they went to Knotts and Disney and had fun. Anyway, my birthday was not too fun, still in pain and just sitting around recovering, but we are going to do something later when I am feeling better. ;-)

Anyway, wanted to update and show some pictures of Alex and Joe meeting Mickey at Disneyland. :)

Goofy :)


Alex for a new light up Buzz Lightyear, he was so excited.


Hanging out in Pluto's bed.


Hope everyone is having a great summer! I will update soon!

Hello!

So much has been going on that I keep trying to remind myself to get on here and post something.. I also love looking at other people blogs, family blogs, etc. Blogs have been very helpful with finding new and fun things to do with Alex and with the family. You all inspire me!

We have been doing pretty good. Stressful at times, but good. I am reminding myself how to run again, I havent ran since I was pregnant and my friend ask if I would do a 5K with her in June, she needs motivation, I needed motivation, and it really has helped me get 'back in the game'. I have been trying to run every other day, or at least 4 times a week. Sort of started interval training and working myself up, I am confident that I will be at 5K "status" for the June run and then hopefully keep working up from there.

Alex and I have been hitting the beach a lot lately, finally taking advantage of the fact that I do indeed live on the West Coast and have a nice beach to go to pretty much year round. Alex runs around chasing the birds, making sandcastles, and we have been going to one beach that has a little playground right on the sand, so he gets a lot of his toddler energy out, and I get to enjoy the view and watch him be a crazy man. ;-)

I love how other parents so often told me the stubborn "terrible twos" just get more intense at 3. Oh man, I dont know why I didnt believe them, but they were right. Alexander has my Irish stubbornness and Joe's Palacios stubbornness as well, and the combination is truly amazing. I have been learning a lot about patience I never thought I had. I grew up around girls mainly and boys are just another ball game. They are so much fun but they are packed full of energy and outbursts!

After about a year and half of trying to figure out who and what I really wanted to teach, I have finally decided! Its like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and I went with my gut, so I know that I am making the right decision, it just feels like it is. So I will be going into Special Education, it is something I have been thinking about for a while, but I think I was worried about the challenges that go along with teaching these types of students. But every teacher is challenged by something.  I am not sure quite yet if I want to look into speech therapy, but that is another interest I am thinking about. We will see. Right now I am just happy to have made it that far!

Anyway, be back with pictures, just wanted to come and update  and see how everyone else is doing. Have a great Sunday!

Beach bums.

This last week we have hitting the beach a lot. The military has to give Joe housing because we live 50+ miles from base and the base hotels are full so they gave him a hotel off base. Alex and I went down there a few times and hung out at the beach while Joe was at work, took naps in the hotel, swam in the "pool beach" (as Alex likes to call it, and then would have dinner and play around a little when Joe got off work. The military is actually going to be paying for a studio lease for Joe in Oceanside, and I cant wait to have a place close to the beach for the summer. It will be so much easier to go to the beach, since there will be a place to come to that is close for lunch/nap time.

Alex is all about sand castles and collecting rocks and putting them in his bucket. He is not fond of the water right now, its too cold so he stays away from that. ha!

One evening before dinner, when Joe got off work we went to the pier and walked and watched the surfers catching waves and sun set. Alex loves watching the surfers and laughs hysterically when they fall.

Was able to get a few pictures of our adventures. :) Enjoy. And have a wonderful week!

The sunset at the pier


more sunset


Looking at the waves crashing below


Sand fun


Collecting rocks


My boy and me :)

Cards for Cancer

There is a group that started something called "Cards for Cancer"..basically we make some homemade cards with words of support and encouragement for patients going through treatment. The first day for card drop off is April 10th, were team leaders drop off their groups cards to a local cancer treatment center. Then staff can hand out cards for a while to patients when they come in for treatment. I love the idea... something to brighten their day. Here are a few of mine that I have made.. I got my mom making some as well and Alex has been having fun helping me glue and also made one of his own, I am sure he will make some more as time goes on.

If you are interested in doing some (there is not maximum or minimum..) check out their blog: http://www.spiritjump.org/ 

This is a nationwide thing.. so you can do the same in your area.

Update

Of course again, I am updating because I have been a slacker and not been on here for awhile. Sorry about that. 

Things are pretty good. Alex is getting bigger and more independent. He is sleeping better in his big boy bed then he was in the crib. He is so good with talking, has a big vocabulary and some of the things he picks up is just too funny. Which is another thing we have to careful with, we need to watch our mouths around him! ;-) We have found a drop in daycare for a few hours that Joe and I can go on dates, he loves it, I thought he would be a little clingy since he has been with me everyday of his life, but he waves and says "bye bye Dada! bye bye Mama! I see you later!" and goes and plays with the trains and cars. :) Joe and I have been going to the gym 5 times a week in the evenings the last few weeks, and they have great child care at our gym, he likes having the hour to play with other kids and they have a huge jungle gym and lots of toys to play with, it is a good way to get his energy out before dinner and his bedtime routine. So he is doing pretty good, though he definitely is in his terrible twos, tells us "No!" when he doesnt want to do something, and has his share of time outs. The kid is very stubborn, the apple doesn't fall far from the the tree. ha! Some of his new favorites: the disney/pixar movie "Up" and the movie "The Land Before Time".. he is really into dinosaurs and also a big fan of Spiderman. :) He is all boy right now. Though he does like Tinkerbell too. Joe says its because she is a cute blond, haha!

Joe and I have been trying to schedule and make more time for just the two of us. Alex is almost 2.5 years old and we definitely deserve some more time alone now that he is more independent. So we hope to be go on more date night and see some movies (that is one thing you really miss when you have kids, Joe and I used to go to the movies at least once a week before Alex! It is months and months before we see a movie in the theater. :) So we are looking forward to more of that. It will be good for all of us, we think we will be putting Alex in daycare/or Montessori part time for half days in the fall, just to start getting used to going to school, so the more he gets used to the child care we have him in now the better. 

We will be potty training soon I think, he is recently starting to show a few signs that he is ready. Though I have tried to get him on his Thomas the Train potty and he did not want to. This is one parenthood task that I really do not look forward to!

Joe is good, he has changed units (yes, again!) but this time he has orders for 18-24 months, non-deploying, so he is safe from Afghanistan for another 2 years, which makes me very happy. He will only have a few years more to go after these orders are over. I am counting down the minutes until he is done with the military and we can move and not worry about him possibly going over seas... He has done his time, it is time for us to settle somewhere, buy a house, etc. We cant wait! Joe is also going to be getting more money this time, so we will be tackling our debt and we hope to be debt free by next year.

School-- well I am in my final class, well it should be my final class for this program. But the school looked over everything and they said one of my classes didnt transfer over, so I might have to take it again, if I can not test out of it. I have not taking the class for over 3 years, so I have a lot of studying to do, but I am hoping I can cram it in my brain, so that I dont have to take another class. I will be done with this class in April, and then I plan to start another program with a different school that I will be getting my credentials and student teaching through in the fall.

Besides that not much, cant wait for longer days and Spring. Though our weather is a lot better than most of the country, I shouldnt complain. I actually really enjoy the rain we got this year. We got a lot more than usual. We have been trying to get out as a family more on the weekends, doing fun stuff like going to the Aquarium and stuff like that. Its been fun. Alex loves all that stuff, he is definitely not a homebody. 

Anyway, I hope to update more regularly, but of course I seem to suck at that. 

I will post pictures later today. :)