We got our cards!

and as always shutterfly delivered! i love how our card looks!
It very classic but not stuffy it has a clean look to it and i love how it all just flows!

loving it!

Cooking help

I'm not sure if i mentioned it before but after i had Gabriel i was in a fog to say the least, and once i went back to "work" its been hard to pin down a routine that will work for our family. With karate lessons, CCD, gymboree and general errands being run not to mention the winter motnths ahead, well you can say that meals have gone the wayside. Our menu was becoming more and more take-out/ sandwhices than the new dishes i would find in magazines or on shows and was willing to try out.
Now that G is walking forget it kitchen and mealtime were a mess.
Unitl i met my saviours
enter Pocket full of posies, their system for mealtimes have helped me out so much that i don't need to figure out what meal to make each day. i take a couple of hours on sunday to do the shopping and plan my menu and that is it. they provide you with the recipes and the ingredients you nee. they make it way easy to plan dinner.

We'dRight now they are offering a free set of recipes,!!
Offer ends December 24 at midnight.  Enter code "FREEBIE" in the instructions box at checkout. 
so try them out, they have given our meals a makeover

kinda late 10 month post

with the holidays i completely forgot to update G's 10 month pics and of course cake!
so here you go

he tried escaping.....

showed me he was done....

and then the shoot was over

Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving...oh and speaking of:

LOVE how adorable my boys looked!

I'm sorry but WE need to respect THEM? really?!!

read the whole story here

our annual jib jab dance

shutterfly promotion

everyone who knows me, know that I am a huge a fan of DIY personal photo books. Shutterfly has been one that I reorder from all the time! in fact i have about $200 worth of books waiting to be ordered but i'm still working on our disney book!We also get our Christmas cards with them!
I love all the designs they offer and how fast they are.
Along with phot books i also order our christmas cards with them every year.
I love how we can choose whimsical or modern cards and even traditional cards and how we can incorporate more than one photo in it since its so hard to choose just one.
I noticed this year they also have cards that can double as or christmas letter. While i'm not a fan of writting christmas letters, let alone send them out, i thought this was a cute idea.

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/love-2010-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&storeNode=93476

I also really love that they offer canvas now
http://www.shutterfly.com/home-decor/canvas-wall-art

even better (well for me)
spanish cards i can send to Costa Rica and they'll actually appreciate them

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/feliz-navidad-2010-tarjetas-de-navidad-5x7-folded-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93477
·So what are you waiting for?!!!

Right now they have an amazing deal for ALL bloggers
You can get 50 free Christmas cards to send to family and friends!
http://bit.ly/sfly2010

enjoy!

Turkeys for my boys

I've been very crafty lately, don't really know why since i have no time left between D's after school activities and keeping up with G and the house and what not, not to mention feeling lousy from a double infection that is just now clearing up.
I like keeping busy but this was insane. somehow though in the midst of the chaos that is our life i managed to whip up these 2 shirts for my boys to wear at thanksgiving.

I have to say they came out pretty good I was even impressed.
i made D's on a regular sized t-shirt and G in a long sleeve onesie he had.
the total cost of the project was maybe $10 including the t-shirt and once G was asleep it took about 1 hour from start to end.
The hardest part was tracing G's hand, but the rest was easy peasey.


What I used:
White tee shirt / onesie
Heat 'n Bond    (the red package) i bough a 1 yard package
jumbo orange Rick Rack
red ribbon
fabric in red, orange, yellow, and brown (I bought fat quarters and was able to do both of the boys on one piece with some careful placing)
Liquid stitch
2 googly eyes
lighter
I hand drew the body but you can use this 

Trace your child's hands on a piece of paper and cut out them out to use as templates.
for the beak i just cut 2 triangles of yellow felt and sized accordingly (use your judgement)

the Heat 'n Bond package will explain how to use it,but basically i ironed the fat quarter and then applied the Heat 'n Bond to all the fabric.
 
Using your hand templates i traced with a pencil on the heat bond paper, then cut out the hands, the turkey's body, and beak.

Arrange the hands on the shirt how you'd like them, and iron them down one by one.
place the body down and then the rick rack to see where the lgs would go, then remove the body and glue down the legs with liquid stitch THEN Place the turkey's body back in the middle and now iron down
then place the eyes on with the liquid stitch ( you could also do this art after you do the wattle and beak)








I cut the red ribbon by eyeballing the length that would work with each turkey then used the lighter to "seal" the ends so they won't fray

Fold the ribbon to form the wattle and glue down
next place your beak and iron down
You're done !

This is what happens when daddy is in charge

I asked Michael to watch the boys for awhile so i could work on the invites for their birthday party.
I can't wait to share more details on what we are doing but it will be seuss-spectacular!!!
i finally finish them not an hour later and this is what i walked into:

I love Gabriel's face when i caught him trying to make a break for it!

and we are walking!

ok really this is a bit too fast for me!
sorry for the sideways thing i took it on my phone
but seriously how did i got from this













to this:

November 5th

5 years ago, it was a gorgeous spring like like day with 72 forecast of sunny skies, except it wasn't spring it was november and it was the day i would marry the most amazing man i had ever met.


our story is ordinary...well sort off
Boy works at bar
Girl works at restaurant
Boy and girl meet they fall in love, they date then
they break up
we stayed sort of friends and eventually 6 months later we got back together.

I still bug him that he broke my heart but his response is "well i more than made up for it!"
you sure did baby!
This coming Feb we will be together for 9 years! 9 freaking years! amazing i might add

I love that i can be myself, be goofy, weird even!

or look like crap when i don't feel like being "put together"
I love that we can be silly together

or that he doesn't care if sundays are sometimes jammy days and we do nothing but eat and watch Tv.


Our wedding was nothing short of spectacular.

 

It still amazes me that i was able to land such a great man. Not only is sexy as hell, but what makes him even hotter than McSteamy is how he was/is with D. He has always been so loving and caring and nurturing, that for once in my life(at least with the guys i dated) i felt safe and taken care of. He is quite literally my knight in armor, my est friend and of course to finish being super cliche he is my soul mate the love of my life.
So here is to another amazing 5 years times a gazillion and to our happily ever after lasting a lifetime!

9 months!

Holy crap where did the time go?
How is it that i have a 9 month old crawling/cruising/ 8 tooth baby?
its crazy how we spent 39 weeks wishing they could just fly by so we could finally hold you and now another 39 weeks have flown by and man do we wish time would just stand.
You amaze us everyday with how cheerful and happy you are and how you look at your brother...oh it melts my heart.
You are one very determined little man, when you get something in your head there is no stopping you...hmmm wonder where you get that from
You love Gymboree and climbing all those fun contraptions gets youi so excited.
You love meal time and will always reach fr anything on our plates, and you make it very clear what you like, apples and most fruits, and what you don't like, potatoes, and cereal.
although you still love nursing, and i get a joy out having that be "our" time.
I love how at night in bed you like to stick your tootsies in my legs so you can feel me there.
and watching you sleep is magical, sometimes you let out this huge smile while sleeping and i hope your dreams are always this sweet and happy.
it has been an amazing ride watching you transform from newborn to baby and to thing you will be 1 in just 3 months is insane!
We...well I since i'm incredibly OCD am already planning your party, and since it will be a joint BIG milestone party 1 for you and 10 for your brother, what else than a thing 1 thing 2 theme?!
yay
keep shinning my boy you are our sunshine

Your cake...so yummy

Love the faces you make!

look at those chunky monkey thighs!

Update and wow i suck at blogging!

Well not really, maybe just a little, but so much has happened since my last post. I was having a very hard time with that date and i think it hit me more because we knew we had to put our beloved ju-ju to sleep. Zoe was such a huge part f our lives she was our little princess and was the sweetest ferret you will ever have met. she thrived on cuddling and giving kisses she was just a doll plain and simple. Having to say goodbye to her so close to those dates was very hard. I cried alot and i think it wasn't just for her, but i cried for my babies.

People assume that once you get your take home baby then it should be ok for you to get over the other losses, let me tell you something...you don't...well at least i don't. My heart is broken and will probably never heal and then i also feel extremely guilty because i have this amazing bouncing happy boy who just want to be held all the time and loved and here i am missing what could've been, it sucks to be in that position and while i will never change how we got here since it made us stronger. it still and will always hurt.

But i digress , Zoe will be missed terribly and some of you may be thinking "but she was just another animal" to us she was another baby, our baby, and now she is gone.
I know in my heart it was better this way. She was diagnosed with insulinoma which is very common in ferrets and although she did very well on prednisone for about a month, her little body could not take any more and she was starting to show signs of internal bleeding and very labored breathing. i wanted to be selfish and keep her for as long as possible BUT i was not willing to let her suffer.

Today is Pregnancy and Infant loss awareness day...

Sitting down to write this post has been harder that i thought it would be.writting for me has always been an outlet, a way to express my emotions and just let it all out. Today though the words are not coming so easy and "getting it out" isn't a relief either. Our first pregnancy, the one we longed for so long, the one we celebrated so much and shared with our loved ones, the one that on valentine's day's was announced to us was over, that baby would have turned 2 this past Sept.
There is not one single day since that moment where i don't miss and think about our baby. We went on to get pregnant 5 more times since and lost 4 more babies.
Time has helped to ease the pain. the wound is still open though and i don't know that it will ever fully close let alone heal. My heart aches for my babies, for the "what could've been" I can't help feel like i failed my husband over and over, my family, myself. i mean come on i am a relatively healthy young woman. No 28 year old looses babies like this.
Well i did and in my heartache i also feel extremely guilty because i DO have a gorgeous perfect little boy who looks yup at me and just smiles this big toothy grin and gives me slobbery wet kisses and some women well they don't have that, and here i am feeling sorry for myself.
I feel like i'm cheating my baby out of love by grieving and when i'm sobbing while he sleeps i feel an incredible amount of guilt because he deserves to have me, all of me.
but yet my heart is broken and it hurts and there is a void that will never fill.
I wanted desperately to have him and somehow make the pain a bit more tolerable but its not the same.
please don't get wrong i adore my sons and i am eternally grateful to the good Lord for allowing me such a blessing, but my heart aches.
some days are better than others, some are just dark and i feel so alone in this even though and unfortunately i am not,its a hard thing to deal with.
to all my sisters out there who have lost their child, along with my 5 candles i am lightning tonight i will also light one for your babies and say a prayer that the void and pain is bit more tolerable.

 

I got this from a fellow bumpie's mom and it has the dates of our 2 babies, little did i know 3 more would need to be added when all was said and done.
check them out at inscriptions of the heart

moving everywhere

Babyproofing was always in the back on mind and while i didn't want my home to becaome ne big bubble i also did not want to see my little man get hurt. the kitchen has a gate and unless we are there with him G doesn't really have access to it. so mainly he stays in the living room in this big looks-like-its-made-for-the-dog thing.

we have a big plush comfy throw from restoration hardware that i got last christmas. and a whole bunch of toys for him to play with while i cook.
Most of the other times we are upstairs and there is my problem area. besides the obvious power plugs i didn't think of much else. Turns out my dresser drawers and ***EEKK** my make up table are all fair game.
SO i just got back from BRU with some of these little babies.

i hope for now it works. he is becoming so mobile and with him cruising also just makes for a whole lot of headaches to come

seriously people? get a grip

Katy perry who I love and is crazy in her styyle choices did a song for sesame street featuring elmo here is said video.




turns out some parents thought it was too racy for their children!
uhm hello the outfit is nothing short of what you would see walking down the street on a summer day. its not like she's in boyshorts and a bikini top! seriously people get a grip.
sesame street pulled the video from their site which i think is absurd. yes they are a "wholesome" show but come on katy looks cute she is not under dressed or whatever these people are saying. and as for her being too jiggly or showing too much cleavage, D sees me feeding his brother so he is used to my boobs being out, to him its just a way to feed his brother. he is not getting any "sexual" input from seeing boobs and i think its because he is so used to seeing them now that G is here that he's kind of like "ehh boobs" he is a boy and eventually he will get the whole boobs on girls thing, but i believe that if i were to make a big deal about this type of stuff then his curiosity will be peaked.
for now he is happy with satr wars and lego and this kind of thing made no impact on him whatsoever.
As for G all i can think he thinks is "FOOD"

"green" homemade cleaning solutions

I had posted before about how to be more eco-friendly with cleaners, well now that G is here i'm trying even harder to stay away from harsh chemicals. especially on the floor now that he is crawling/cruising.
We purchase a steam mop

and have loved how it works.
I try to do a deep floor clean once a month and yes i'm still using bleach in the kitchen only because our shitzu is a nevous peer or has a bladder the size of a pea. Potty training with her has not worked and regardless of how many times a day we take her out, she'll still manages to pee in the kitchen. so we gave up and got one of these.
yeah she used it once and then would just use it as bed and still pee on the floor. so we have resorted to laying down doggie pads but really those things can get expensive so newspaper has been the substitute which means i mop every day 2-3 x a day. its exhausting !
I use the sweeper

and a combo of their antibacterial stuff and vinegar. then once a mnth i use bleach to mop mop again with hot water and then one last time with the steam mop. oy!
Anyway here are some things i have been using

*Multi Surface cleaner/disinfectant

In an old spray bottle fill up about 1/4 way with vinegar, put in about 5 drops of soap, a few drops of Tea Tree Oil, and fill the rest of the way with water.

*Window Cleaner, Streak Free
Spray on wipe off with crumpled newspaper, buff to a shine
1 1/2 c. vinegar
2 c. Water
1 T. Cornstarch

*Scratch Free Scouring Powder

1 c. Borax
1 c. Baking soda
Fragrance oil of choice.
Mix.and you can put it in a canning jar and punch holes in the lid to use it like a can of comet.

If I need to get burnt on food out of a pot and that mix doesn't work I add a little salt and that scrubs anything out.

*Drain Cleaner-
I sometimes get slow drains. Draino is bad for your pipes, horrible for the septic system (and the environment if your on city sewer) and the fumes are horrible. I put some baking soda down the drain, about a cup or so, then chase it with white vinegar. Let it sit and work a few min. Then follow it up with some boiling water. Works great.




Laundry-
These are my two favorite recipes both are from the Duggars website.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax
- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)
*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - i found it in stop and shop.  Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

Powdered Laundry Detergent - Top load machine 

ilike this one better because its powdered and lasts forever.
1 soap bar (ivory works best especially for sensitive skin)
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax
1  cup oxyclean
-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)

TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: You can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars, you can use fels naphsa but its hard to find and can fade darks. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps.

for a fabric softener-  I just use plain old white Vinegar, works for CD as well

I try to hang most of my laundry to dry,  The sun is free, and does wonders for whites!

Mopping

For mopping we bought a Bissell Steam Mop. It works great and mops with no chemicals. I love it! You can just use plain vinegar in mop water as well,


There are so many good things about homemade cleaners. They are cheap, work well, great for the environment, and easier on us. I can get a gallon of Vinegar at shoprite for $2, and huge boxes of baking soda for $1.50. I only use a few drops of oils and you don't even need those. Hope this helps someone!

why i don't have mom friends

bad blogger and 8 month update

ok so i'm terrible at keeping up the last couple of weeks, but can you blame me? Gabriel has been full blown crawling/cruising EVERYWHERE, i can barely pee let alone blog or upload pics. until he is alseep and at that point i don't even know my own name. it sucks because i go through moments where i make a mental list of posts i would love to do but then it all blanks out whne i sit at the desk.
so here are 8 month pics and hopefully later today i'll get to upload some videos we have of G.