How an onion saved my life

Okay, maybe it didn't save my life, but it did save my sanity.  See, Caleb has been teething for a few weeks now, so he has been waking up in the middle of the night screaming.  Which of course means, I have been up in the middle of the night.  The teeth finally break through, but of course, just our luck, he gets sick.  Well, I don't know, maybe he is still just teething, but either way, his nose has been so stuffed up.  And that means, once again, he has been waking up in the middle of the night because he can't breathe.  At this point, it's been about 2 1/2 weeks of no sleep for me...and David too, he gets up with our babies too!  Anyway, no sleep makes for a grumpy  mommy.  Just as I am getting to my breaking point, I remember a little old Chinese trick my Mama taught me when Sammie was a baby.  Onions!  That's right, when your baby is congested, you chop up some onion, put it in a sock and put it in their crib.  Yes, it is stinky, but I will take stinky over waking up 2 times a night with a crying baby any night!  We have put onions in Caleb's bed 3 nights now and he has slept aaalllllll night long...9:00 - 6:30.  I've checked on him during the night and he is breathing  fine, not stuffed up at all.  Amazing huh?  So the moral  of the story....Some times you have to forget about the doctors and medicine and go with some old Chinese remedies. 

On a side note, you can also rub the onion on your baby's head, but I think that's a little much.  Stinky crib  I can handle; I'd feel bad if I made my baby that stinky though.



Flashback Friday - Simple pleasures

I don't have much to say about this picture.  Sammie was about a year and a half and discovered a puddle for the first time.

I just love how this picture turned out.  And I love that she has her keys and brobee in her hands....she never left home without them.

It was so sweet.

How much can a toddler remember?? Seriously, I wanna know.

I know I have said it before,  but Samantha's memory completely amazes me.  I don't know much about the memory of toddlers, but it just blows my mind how much she remembers.  I think I should ask around to see how much other kids remember because I don't know if this is normal or not....and if  it is normal, it would still completely impress me that 3 year old could remember this much.  Anyway,  I have story after story about what Samantha remembers and here is one of those stories....

Sammie and I were in her room the other day "cleaning."  See, I was cleaning, but she was just throwing toys about.  Anyway, she found this ball....

She was really excited and said, "Mommy, can you find my green toy so I can show Caleb how to play."  I asked her what she was talking about and she began to explain to me that she had a green toy that she put these balls in and it lit up and played music.  I again asked what she was talking about
(I knew, I just wanted to see how much she remembered) and she said that it was a green dragon that she played with when she was a baby....

I couldn't tell you when we put this toy away, but I do know that it was long before we moved  into our house, which was over a year ago.   I want to say it was before she  turned 2 (I should just ask Sammie, she probably remembers!).  Seriously, that is more than a year and a half ago...almost half her life ago!

Obviously, we got the toy out and she did what she said she was going to do and taught Caleb how to play!

"You put it right here, Caleb"

"Good job Papa" (Yeah, she calls him Papa)

I think what amazes me most is how detailed her memories are.

So tell me, is this typical?

Hmmm....I think I should start a "Memory of the week" blog

First words

So, I am very excited  to say that Caleb has begun saying words.  He actually started a few weeks ago, but, I couldn't be positive that he actual said these words on purpose.  I don't like to give my kids credit, unless I know for sure. :)  Like Dadadadadada does not mean dad all the time; likewise mamama  does not mean mom, as much as I want it to.   


Anyway, "Dad" was Caleb's first word.   I've seen him say it every once in a while when David has been around and also when he has seen pictures, but I knew for sure when David walked outside and Caleb went up to the sliding glass door and started pounding on it and yelling "dadada!"


His second word was "More".  As is "More food."  Yeah, I pretty much figured this would be one of his first words.  He is always wanting more food.  And although it's his  second word, it is definitely his favorite! 

And word number 3, would be "ball."  Ok, it sounds more like "da," but it is definitely ball.  We were walking through Wal-mart the other day and he pointed to the balls and yelled "DA."  Naturally, I bought him the ball....how could I not??  It was a proud mommy moment.  And since then, we have heard "da" many times when he goes to get a ball.

So, yes, I am very excited that Caleb has started saying words...I am not so excited that not one of those words is "mom."  Really??   I have a feeling he is going to be just l ike his sister and "Mom" will not be in his vocabulary until 13 or 14 months.  Oh well, I suppose it will be all the more special when he finally does say it. 

Flashback Friday - Our Austin Trip

Our last official family vacation also happened to be Sammie's first airplane ride and our first trip to Austin.  We went to visit David's best friend, Josh.   

She did soooo good on the airplane.  We actually got a few compliments

We took a walk around the Capitol while Josh worked

We also took a walk here....It was right by Josh's house

We also went to see the bats under the bridge, but didn't really get a good seat

Sammie girl loved the kids! 

 Especially Gavin :)

I was so happy that David got to see his best friend.  We hadn't seen him  since our wedding.  And of course, it was great that Samantha got along so well with the kiddos.  Austin is such a nice city and a fun city!  I would looooove to go back.



Quotables from Sammie Part 3

So, Sammie is in the stage were she will say "mommy, I am going to buy you that for your birthday.  Anyway, we are watching a commercial for KABOOM and she says  "Mommy, I am going to buy you that."  I reply, "Oh, thank you baby." She replies...


"So you can clean my bathroom!"




Sammie's friends Blake and Bella were coming over and Caleb just had a diaper on.  I was trying to get him dressed, but he was all over the place and Sammie says..


"Caleb!  My friends don't want to see you naked!"





Same day as above, Sammie goes up to Blake and says...


"Blake, will you be my prince?"



Sammie came in looking really sad with a can of Sprite.  I asked her what was wrong and she said she wanted to drink the sprite.  I asked her  if she asked her Daddy and she said...


"Yes.  Daddy say no so I ask you so you will say yes."



Here's how a convo at dinner went...


David (Talking to me): Look at me... I think Caleb has your nose.
Sammie: No,  Mommy!!  You still have your nose!!



The other night, Samantha fell out of of bed and started screaming for me.  I went in there and as I was  holding her, I asked if she was ok.  Her reply...


"Noooo, I not ok!!! I FELL out of my beeeeeed!"


We were at my mom's house and my nephew was there.  I can't remember what happened but I yelled, "Benjamin Rey Bicondova!" Sammie decided to repeat me...

"Benjamin Rey Buy-a-soda!"


Again, we are at my parent's house and Sammie and  Mikayla (her cousin) are not getting along.  Ben (another cousin) tells me that Mikayla threw a shoe at Sammie.  Mikayla tells me he is lying, so I ask her what I should do  to him for lying to me.  As she is telling me that I should beat him up, Sammie is in the background yelling,

"Make him crrrryyyy Mama!!  Make him crrrrryyyy!!"

Lol, apparently, even when they are  mad at each other, they will still gang up on cousin Bennie.


And there you have it...more laughs courtesy of my Sammie girl.  :)

These are a few of his favorite things

I can not believe my little boy will be 1 in less than a month!!  That means I really have to start planning his party.  It also means that I need to take him to  get his pictures taken soon.  When Sammie turned 1, we had her take pictures with some o f her favorite things; That way we could remember what she was into at the age of 1.  I want to do this with Caleb too, so I have been thinking about what his favorite things are right now.

I guess there are some down sides to having a big sister....

I'll be heading to the store this week and buying some trucks and guns  or something.  :)

It's all about Jasmine

Samantha has been into princesses for a long time now, with no particular favorite.  Well, in the last few weeks, she has been very into Jasmine.  So into Jasmine that she has repeatedly asks to repaint her room from pink to blue, because Jasmine wears blue.  It's an every night request.  Her favorite color is now blue (which, I am great with because blue has always been my favorite).   If I don't want to fight her to brush her hair, I just tell her that I want to make her hair pretty like Jasmine.  Everything Jasmine!

Anyway, I have been looking all over for Jasmine stuff, but there's not much out there.  I finally broke down and took Sammie to the Disney store.  She was soooo excited!  Again, there really wasn't much to choose from but she did get this doll...

I thought that her Jasmine doll would make her happy, which it did, but then she thought about it and she said,  "Jasmine wants a prince to marry."  Another thing she is very into now is getting married.  She gets so excited when she sees people getting married.  It's adorable!  So, when she told me Jasmine needs a prince,  How could I say no??



I think I may have made her whole year.

Flashback Friday!

Hmmm....today I think I am going to take it back to when we got our house.  I couldn't tell you how many houses we looked at, it's all such a blur now.  But, I can tell you when we saw this house, I just had a feeling.  It didn't have everything we were looking for, but I loved it.  And when  I  saw the big  ol' yard,  I was pretty much sold. 

It was Memorial Day weekend 2010 when we moved in. I was soooo pregnant, so I wasn't too much help, although, I did most of the packing and a lot of unpacking. Thankfully, we had lots of people who helped us out.  Our friends, Steve and Debbie watched Sammie for us many times so we could pack and move.  David's dad, Uncle Dave, cousin Tim and our friend Dennis helped soooo much with the actual move.  And of course, David's mom was there to help finish up the packing and she pretty much cleaned our whole apartment to ensure that we got our deposit back. 

Our last day at our old apartment....We had to borrow a spoon from our neighbor to eat lunch. :)

Sammie was a big helper when it came to cleaning...I think she is the reason we got our deposit back. :)

My last preggo picture in our apartment

Daddy and Sammie in our new house

Our yard

It was a little bittersweet the day we moved.  I mean, the apartment was our first home; It was Sammie's only home.  We had wonderful neighbors and Sammie had so many friends.  We just had to walk outside and there was always somebody there for her to play with.  I must admit, I was a bit sad that day, but so excited for this new chapter in our life.  It's been just a little over a year now, and  we have already made so many memories in this house.  We always said that this was going to  be our first home and we would eventually buy something bigger, but for now, I am enjoying every moment and thanking God for all of it!

Flashback Friday

Since I just started this blogging thing a few months ago, I realize that I have missed a lot of our journey.  That's why I have decided to do a flashback Friday.  Now, I am hoping to do this every Friday, but let's face it, I get pretty busy with my wild babies, so chances are this will not happen every Friday, but we shall try!

So, I thought today I would go back to the  births of my little tator tots...

Samantha Mae     March 13, 2008   

     Caleb Miguel   August 16, 2010

Man, I can not believe they were ever this small.  It's so funny how many different emotions I was feeling with both of them....I was so exhausted, so scared, so overwhelmed, and yet so full of joy and so amazed and so incredibly grateful.  I love them so....

4th of July fun

Every year, David's parents have a 4th of July bbq.  It's been a tradition of theirs forever because from their front lawn, you have a perfect view of the U of R fireworks.  So, this is where we spend our 4th of July just about every year....I think we've missed one year since we've been together.  It is always a good time, but this year, I definitely had my hands full with Samantha and Caleb. I'm not normally one of those moms who dress their kids up according to the holiday, but this year, I decided  to get both  of my babies into the 4th of July spirit. (I think I may end  up being one of those moms though, I kinda liked it)

David even drew a flag to have Samantha paint.  I think she did an amazing job! And Caleb thought so too!

This was officially Caleb's last first holiday!  How sad huh?  My baby is growing way to fast!

Samantha wouldn't go outside at all  after dinner because she was afraid of the fireworks (Even though I kept telling her they wouldn't start until after dark and it was only 6:30), but she was having fun.

Here she is waiting for the firework show to start...she loved them, as long as she d idn't hear them



And we actually got a decent family picture!!

Overall, it was a good day.