Play Dough

PLEASE EXCUSE THE PICTURE QUALITY.  

THE ONLY THING WITHIN REACH WAS MY PHONE.

The other night, Danny and I made play dough.  

He totally loved it.  So did I.

He tried drinking the remains of the flower from the cup.   

I let him stir the little empty bowl while I stirred a larger one, although he managed to reach the spoon into my bowl several times.  

Yep.  He got it everywhere including his face helped.  He also picked the color.  I held them up and he pointed to blue.

He was content to watch me stir the hot play dough from his step-stool safely out of arm's reach.

He wasn't too keen on the smell or feel when it was time to knead the warm dough, but in this cold snowy weather, it felt wonderful on my hands!

The first thing he did was try to eat it.  

He gagged (as evidenced by the red teary nose and eyes in this picture, although it's hard to tell) and he did not try eating it again.  

I helped form shapes.  He squished and experimented.  

He wasn't to sure what to do with a big blob of it but once I made forms out of it, he got more interested.  

We are definitely going to have to do this more often.  

Want the recipe for the home-made play dough?  Just click on Mi Cocina for it.  

Happy One and a Half Birthday

Only 13 days late, but here you go!

Dear Danilo,

You are one and a half!  And you are up to SO much these days!  It's hard to even get it all in one letter, but here goes. 

First of all, I adore you more and more each day.  I know.  I say that every time.  I can't help it.  It's the mommy in me.  As your personality and character blossoms, I am more and more impressed with who God is making you into.  You are determined.  Strong willed.  Confident.  Playful.  Smart.  Oh, are you so smart.  Fun.  Your giggle is like manna flowing down from heaven.  Loving.  You surprise me often by planting a big wet kiss on my cheek when I least expect it or laying your head on my shoulder with a deep sigh of satisfaction.  It's just fabulous.  Curious.  You get into everything.  Talkative.  

This month you got your first hair-cut! (Finally!)

I did it.  I think it came out pretty well, considering I hadn't ever cut hair before.  I didn't touch the top, so it's still wispy and unruly.  Just the back. 

You are doing all kinds of walking these days.  You walk more than you crawl now, since you've finally become faster at walking than crawling.  Your talk is more and more conversational these days, although I can hardly ever understand what you are saying.  

Oh, except this conversation:  

You: "No."

Me: "Yes."

You: "No."

Me: "Yes."

You: "No."  

Ok, you get the point.  It was hysterically funny.  To me at least.  For now at least.  

The other day when I said, "Dear God..." before bed, you folded your hands and started to pray before I did.  It made my heart happy.  

You LOVE to play hide and seek.  You also love to scrunch up your nose and squish your face against mine. You love to sit at the big table to eat.  You pretty much love being a part of everything we do.  Being left out is not your favorite.  You like books and you look forward to book time in your crib every morning.  (So do I.  You keep me goin' kiddo!)  You play in the bath until the bath water is either cold or gone because you drank it, whichever happens first.  

Oh, and you LOVE snow.  

This was New Year's Eve, which is, incidentally, the day after your half-birthday.

It was only 3 degrees out, so the sledding was short-lived.  We tried the park, but it turns out that our driveway was the best option of all.  

Here you are stepping in it for the first time.  

That's my Colorado kiddo!  You also love shoveling snow and sweeping indoors.  Your Papa and I are really excited about this.  I'm hoping it becomes a life-long hobby of yours.  

You cried when Papa took the shovel away.  

Oh and your Papa.  That's another one of your great loves.  Boy oh boy, do you love your Papa.  The two of you are best friends.  

And man oh man, does he love you back or what!  

(You shoveled for a long time and you were so cute.  I just kept snapping away and I couldn't stand not to post them all.)  

Anyway, after long last, we got out the sled.  Papa tested it first, just to make sure it would work right.  

It did.  

You 

were

delighted.  

Oh, what a day it was.  When you were finally down for your daily afternoon nap and your new tiny boots were drying, your giggle when you were sliding down that driveway just kept echoing in my mind.  

You make my life infinitely richer, kiddo.  Happy Half-Birthday! 

Love,

Mama

How I'm Really Doing

It has been brought to my attention that perhaps I'm not really representing myself well here on my blog this week. That is, I think I've given you all the impression that I'm struggling a bit more than I am. Not to say that being without my husband is a breeze, and of course I miss him like crazy (I'm kind of supposed to), but truly, Danny and I are doing just fine.

Oh sure, there are the daily moments when I want to pull my hair out, but that happens even when he is home. Plus, you know, I'm a girl. So, there's that whole raging hormones thing. See...

8am - Hit the snooze bar for the 27th time. Rolled over and pep-talked myself out of bed while promising myself I wouldn't stay up that late talking to Alejandro again tonight.

9am - Finished eating breakfast with Danny and making a note of the errands I wanted to run. Started the crock-pot dinner and diaper laundry. Swore to myself I'm not going one more day trying to keep Danny out of the cupboards. Added a stop at Target for child safety locks to my list.

10am - Put Danny in his crib for book time while I took a shower. Prayed through feeling totally overwhelmed and exhausted.

11am - Drove from errand number 2 to Target while enjoying the sunny day, white snow and warm car. Sang praise songs.

12pm - Met a mom in Target with a 3 year old and a 7 month old looking frazzled. Counted my blessings and offered to pamper her with a facial. Made a new friend.

1pm - Finished lunch and took Danny upstairs for a nap. Attemped to install the child safety locks without a drill. Called Alejandro in utter frustration. Called a friend who had a drill. He said he'd loan it to me.

2pm - Stripped the bed and remade it. Got computer work and business calls made. Felt better having been productive.

3pm - Friend came over with the drill. I learned how to use it and installed the child safety locks.

4pm - Headed upstairs feeling energized and with a huge sense of satisfaction to get Danny up from his nap. He had snack while I vaccumed and mopped the floors. Finished diaper laundry.

5pm - Laid on the floor of Danny's room while he climbed on me and played. Went downstairs for dinner.

6pm - Gave up on (1) trying to get Danny to eat more and (2) hoping he's not getting sick. Wiped the food and snot from his face. Put him in the bath tub.

7pm - Sat on the toilet, writing this post from my phone while Danny plays in the bath.  Drained the water, refilled the tub and got in with him.  Enjoyed a bubble bath.

8pm - Danny's in bed, I'm listening to Christmas music (yes, in January) on Pandora, and I'm about to make hot chocolate and work on Danny's 18-months-old post.

So you see? There's really no need to worry. I'm just an emotional gal with her ups and downs who likes to share them all with you. (You're welcome.) We're alright. Today was actually a phenomenally productive. And yes, I pack every day like this. It's just kind of how I roll.

Oh, and plus, next weekend Danny and I are meeting Alejandro and lots of family in Albuquerque!  So it won't be such a long time without seeing him after all.  Yay!

What I'm Learning

Today is day five without my husband.  (Don't worry... for those of you visiting for the first time, he's away for work.)  I'm learning all kinds of things!

For one, I'm learning that my husband's cologne smells phenomenal and my bathroom does not without it.

I'm learning that the house is a whole lot easier to keep picked up when we are without a grown man and a grown dog.  (We have a 75 pound black lab who's 5 years old and thinks he's 1.)

The laundry is still just as hard to remember to do.

It really is me who fills up the bathroom trash can with tissue paper.  And the shower drain with hair.

It really is him who leaves the dishes all over the sink.

Taking the trash out in the snow will wake up anyone at 11p.m., but even more so will shoveling snow any time of the morning.

The floors get dirty even without the dog and the man trudging dirt through them.

A quiet house isn't always a blessing.

One can master the art of brown rice in a crock pot given enough time by oneself.  (Here's the recipe.)

I will never be able to make meat taste like he can make it taste.  

It really is awful without him.

I love you, Honey.  Come home soon.

Meals These Days

Danny adores sitting at the "big" table with the rest of us. Er, me, since I'm the only other person at the moment.

The other night when I was at Christy's house for dinner his eyes lit up like saucers when we pulled him right up to the table with the rest of us. He was so well behaved I asked him who he was and what he'd done with my son. When the group bowed our heads to pray, he folded his tiny hands and stared at his thumbs to talk to Jesus. He spooned the majority of his food into his own mouth and when his hands were annoyingly sticky, he thrust them out for me to wipe them clean.

I was a proud Mama.

So I decided it was time to switch up the routine at home, starting with dinner last night.

Today I pulled up a stepstool to the kitchen sink for him to wash his hands. I can tell that's going to be a favorite part of the routine. It has (for the most part) been working like a dream.

...Of course - Murphy's Law - since I'm now writing about it, he just threw a massive fit. (Sigh.) Life with a toddler. Never a dull moment.

stream of consciousness

To all the single moms out there... I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU DO IT.  That's all I have to say about that.  

We've been keeping pretty busy around here.  Between work, Danny, meals and laundry, I have hardly had time to think.  Rest assured, we're keeping it pretty fun around here, though.  

I am, however, completely exhausted, so this post is gonna be pretty short and nowhere near as thought provoking or well-written as the last one.  It's day 3 of Alejandro being gone (but who's counting, right?).  I figure that right around the time he gets back I'll have figured out how to do this thing without running myself ragged.  I was optimistic about church tomorrow, but I decided to just get up in time for Danny's breakfast and see how I feel.  I need some down-time bad.  And Danny has had lotsa' lovin' from friends, but could seriously use some one-on-one time with Mama.  We also plan on visiting via Skype with Alejandro tomorrow.  That will be nice.  

Speaking of Alejandro, he sent me this picture from his phone yesterday of the sunset as he was coming over the hills into East County of San Diego.  

Stunning.  It almost made me wish I was with him.  Then I re-contemplated a 20 hour drive with an 18-month-old and 3 weeks of living from suitcases with an 18-month-old for the second time in six months and decided against it quickly.  For the 14 billionth time.  

If things continue as they are, though, there's no possible way I'm gonna cook through all of my planned meals and the time will go quickly.  

By the way, if you sent me a comment on my last post, I have read it and am just really slow to get back to you.  I'm sorry!  I'm also without my laptop for these few weeks so I can't catch up on stuff from the floor while Danny plays.

One other tid-bit of news from Costa Rica.  My Father-in-Law, Freddy is back in the hospital, but this time with GREAT news.  If you are new to this blog or just don't remember (because it's been months since I've written an update) he was battling colon cancer.  Yes, I said was.  :-)  The treatment he was on was successful and he has been cancer-free for months now.  I was hesitant to say anything because we wanted to be sure, but the doctors are confident enough now, that they are doing surgery (the reason he's back in the hospital) to remove the bag that substituted for his intestines.  Hooraaaaaaay!

And that, I think, is a perfect way to end this post.

Goodnight friends,

My First Calling

It's 3:37 a.m. and for once I'm blogging at this hour not because I've been awake all night but because I just woke up to kiss my husband goodbye and see him out the door. I was beginning to wonder if the harder part was going to be having him gone for three weeks or getting him ready to leave. Now that his side of the bed isn't warm anymore, I know.

Through friends, God has orchestrated lots of little details to be worked out perfectly for this time he'll be away for work. Yesterday we got all the groceries purchased and he packed snacks and sandwiches for the drive. My meal plan is set and the enchiladas I promised him have been made and eaten and packed as well. Our dog Toby is thrilled to be on an adventure with his favorite human - he always has been Alejandro's dog. I've planned my work schedule and my rest schedule. Laundry is done. My laptop files have been transferred to our desktop and the portable wonder just headed down the road in our Jeep. Thank the Lord for Skype. And miraculously, almost every single day of child-care I'm going to need so I can continue my business strong without Danny-and-Daddy-nights is covered. I have the most amazing friends.

As I crawled into bed tonight for an extra long snuggle with Alejandro before we prayed for an extra long time and drifted off to dream-land, it hit me smack in the gut: I'm going to MISS my husband.
Now, before you judge me for being an absolutely awful wife for that thought (especially you who actually know my sweet man), hear me out. He and I have been married for seven years. We have a toddler and two home-based businesses, a dog, a church we're involved in, friends, a home that ever needs improvement, laundry that never stops and meals that ever need to be prepared. We've got A LOT going on. We are right in the thick of the challenges that most marriages these days don't make it through. We've been married long enough to have forgotten what life without each other and all of our demanding responsibilities was like. We are extremely dependent on one another to make daily life work and when one of us is gone for a few days, we find ourselves educating each other on how to handle what we do for each other. I teach him how to use his phone as a modem. He shows me where the ice-melt, shovel, hammer and screw-driver are kept. I make sure he remembers what's going on with the budget. He lets me know which trash can to leave by the curb Sunday night. We've spend the last week working out how to do life independently of one another for a bit.
When couples find themselves in this kind of seven-year-rut, it's easy to forget date night, to take for granted warm toes in bed because there's a human heater next to you, to always hear the other person's noises in the house, and to get too used their affection. Tonight after all the childcare, meals, packing and planning was taken care of, I realized that although I'm definitely going to miss what my husband DOES around the house, I'm REALLY going to miss who he IS around the house.

I think this may be just what the Doctor (a.k.a. God) ordered. It's yucky medicine, but my friend hit the nail right on the head when she said, "I think this is going to be really good for you guys." I mentioned to my mom in an email the other day that it will do us good to miss each other like crazy for a while. I didn't really think through all that that implicated about MY part of our marriage until now.

I've taken him for granted for far too long. Twenty-four hours before he left I STARTED soaking in my husband's presence and enjoying every last bit of his attention before he left. It was a SWEET twenty-four hours. Yet, how much different would he feel in our marriage if I did that ALL the time? The thought has a knot in my throat and my stomach feeling queasy.

To whom much is given, much is expected. I am a steward of my spouse's love, and I'm afraid I have been stewarding it rather poorly. This is not about beating myself up. I've done that long enough to realize it gets me nowhere and accomplishes nothing. This is about re-discovering my calling as a wife. I am called to a few big things - my son and my business are two. However, my FIRST calling is to my husband. Oh, may I not forget that anymore.

Lord Jesus, in these next few weeks, teach me again how to be my husband's "wife of his youth." Show me how to fill his love-tank and how to maintain that once he returns. Minister to us in each other's absence and return us safely together. By the power of your Son's name I pray. Amen.

Renee

How I Do Sushi

Pretty much it's totally unhealthy and sinfully deliscious.

Yummmm.... Pictures of the group eating coming soon. :)

Renee

Let's Try This Again

**update - The comments are back up!


So apparently when one switches their entire blog template, numerous things are bound to go wrong...  I haven't changed my blog template... EVER.  Soooooo, it's a new adventure. 

I do know my commenting system went away.  I'm so sorry!  I miss all of your comments!!  I will get that back up ASAP. 

Secondly, I attempted to post these pictures of Danny during our girls' day out today... but for some reason my phone and my blog are no longer cooperating, and only half of the post made it. 

Danny helped us shop today: 

He picked out this lovely room accessory.  He tried it right in the store.  He pulled it off of the shelf, laid it down on the floor and plopped belly down on it while resting his head in his hands.  Apparently, it met with his approval, because he didn't let go of it for an hour.  After he drug it around the store floor, I figured I ought to at least buy it. 

Fortunately it's only $5.00.

Alright, now to see if I can work out some of the blog kinks while Danny takes a bath. 

Under Construction

Well, almost all of the changes to my blog have been made, but please excuse the sloppy alignment in some places and the mis-matched labels on my side-bars.  I'm not quite finished...  But since it's 2 a.m. and tomorrow I have a girls-day-out with Sarah, I'd better get some rest.

G'night!

 

Sunday

I really haven't been super busy the last several days...  Actually, I think I just have so many things to blog about that I'm sort of overwhelmed with it all...  so when that happens, I just usually throw it all into one random post and call it something completely nonsensical like "Sunday." 

How's that for a classy introduction?

Actually, although I haven't been very busy these past couple of days, I am preparing to be very busy for the entirety of January - starting Thursday, that is.  Alejandro is headed to California for three weeks to do a huge job out there.  So I get to do the single-mom thing here for the duration.  I'm a big fat wimp about it.  I'm not even gonna lie.  I mean holy hostess cakes, I have one child.  So, I know I'll survive.  But I've been doing all kinds of lining up babysitters and planning each day in half hour increments - yeah, like that's gonna go as planned - and jotting down all the crock-pot meals I can think of so that I can keep cook time to a minimum.  Yeah, like I said... I'm a wimp about it. 

I do have high hopes to get the house clean.  ...uh, right... 

But none of this was what I actually sat down to tell you.  

Aren't they just adorable?  That was at 11:45 this morning right after church - which was really good.  Danny plays hard in Sunday School, while we worship hard, so we come home pretty hungry and sleepy.  Our pastor has had me thinking all day over this question - Am I a person who welcomes the fullness of God into my life?  Hmmmmm....  It's got me thinking.

But that's not what I sat down to tell you either. 

My mom sent me these pictures of the family at Christmas this year. 

Isn't Danny's cousin Kaila just the cutest thing EVER?

Yup.

Coming soon to a blog near you (ahem, this one) is a new look, a new header and an 18-month Danilo post.  I'm excited.  Oh and I've got all kinds of recipes to post on Mi Cocina.  

Oops!  I just realized that the Mi Cocina buttons on my blog weren't  actually taking you over there, so I just fixed them.  So sorry!! 

Alright, that's enough horsin' around.  The real reason I wanted to write tonight was just to celebrate the completion of our

When I got this email in the mail...

I totally squealed like a little girl!

Congratulations everybody! You really made this happen!  Thank you from the botton of my heart for stepping in and lifting Sarah in prayer, in support on her blog and financially.  I know it makes a difference to her.  A big one!