Fast Food Addict

I'm trying, I really am.  But during the first 3 months of this pregnancy I had a serious aversion to all vegetables.  I couldn't choke them down if my life depended on it.  Now I'm back on the greens bandwagon.  I've been trying to eat salads and broccoli with dinner.  I even bought baby carrots to snack on.  Little packets of guacamole too, that counts, right?  For diner tonight I am making a soup that is essentially a dozen different veggies; peeled, boiled and pureed.  I'm even going to make chips out of kale.

Good grief, I am a sucker for Jack In The Box.  Disgusting I know.  But seems like whenever I am out and pass one I have to stop for fries, or tacos, or a smoothie, or a chorizo burrito.  You get the picture.  This all started a few months back when I was feeling rather queasy through most of the day.  My go-to food of choice was the strawberry smoothie and a medium fries from JITB.  This food pretty much got me through the day and made me feel better when I was eating it.

I don't know what this says about peanut #3.  With Noah I craved Cinna-bon and bologna early in the pregnancy (not together mind you).  Later it was roasted chicken.  With Julian I craved meatloaf, pickles, and fruit juice.  Excluding the doughy gooey frosted cinnamon roll craving, I have pretty much eaten healthy through my pregnancies.  I guess the "real fruit smoothie" isn't so bad.  But it's also made with ice cream.  I seriously have to kick this habit!

So my end point is, if you are with me and I mention JITB please smack some sense into me and don't let me do it.  Give me an apple instead.

My baby is 5

5 years ago Noah was born and Leo & I were the happiest parents we could be.  He was a cheerful baby, full of smiles and giggles.  He used to make the sweetest cooing noise and it's something I will never forget.  

In the last 5 years Noah has treated us to so much joy.  Watching him grow and develop into an enthusiastic & charismatic young boy has been wonderful.  He loves to dance and will bust a move to any fun music he hears.  He is a capturing story teller, and can weave an intricate tale.  He loves his little brother endlessly and is very caring with him.  He is a social butterfly like his daddy.  He can sit and "read" books endlessly like his mommy.  He is extremely bright and curious at the same time.

Noah, your smile brightens my day and your laugh makes my heart happy.  I love you so much and am thankful everyday that you are mine.  Happy birthday baby!

Baby Dreams

I had my first baby dream last night.  It was pretty normal considering some of my past baby dreams.  When I was pregnant with Noah I had dreams of giving birth to a puppy and a lizard.  When I was pregnant with Julian I dreamt he was born a little red-headed girl.  Go figure.

This dream was mild in comparison.  I was at the hospital and I just had the baby.  It was a boy.  Leo didn't make it in time to see the birth, and was still MIA.  I wasn't mad, I just figured he was getting Noah & Julian settled in with my parents.  I was happy that it was a boy and remember remarking to a doctor that we wouldn't have to buy anything.

Clearly I can derive nothing from my dreams as I would currently be mother to a menagerie of pets and a daughter right now.  So I will keep on wondering and thinking up names for both genders until April rolls around and I find out.

Just for show, here are baby pictures of Noah & Julian...no puppy, no lizard, no little girl.  Just healthy baby boys.

Noah

Julian

Arachnophobia

I've always been cursed (or blessed?) with highly attuned spider senses.  I frequently wake up from a deep sleep, eyes popped open directly on a spider climbing up the wall or ceiling.  Most times I can go back to sleep if I deem the spider small enough or far enough away to be no real threat.  Other times I holler for Leo, and ok once Noah, to come save me from the wretched little beastie.  But a few rare times I have had to be my own knight in shining armor and handle the situation alone.  Last night AND tonight were such nights.

Rewind to last night.  I woke up to see a black blob on the ceiling directly above my head.  I watched it for a while wondering if it was a fly (because last time I yelled for help it was a winged thing, not an eight-legged thing).  After enough time trying to see in the dark, I determined it was in fact an arachnid.  By this time it made it's way towards the door frame and away from the Code Red zone.  It didn't move for roughly 15 minutes so I drifted back to sleep.  INTERNAL ALARM!  I woke up again, but the spider was directly above my head again....heading down the wall behind my headboard.  Eeeek.  Fearing what could come next I spring into action, grab a magazine and take a swipe at the spider in an attempt to get in on the floor so I can throughly squish it.  No such luck.  The swipe is in vain and I watch the spider fall behind the headboard to the floor moments later.  Dang.  I don't see it and decide it found refuge in the dust bunnies, stray toys and whatever else lurks under my bed.  Spider - 1, Jen - 0.

Fast forward to tonight.  Leo tells the boys if they are good they can sleep with mommy in the big bed.  The three of us tuck in to watch a cartoon and are wrestling with the sheets.  For some reason unbeknownst to me I move to the side and look down to see last nights spider crawling up the mattress between me and Julian!  I fly out of bed - you'd be surprised how spry I can be when threatened within an inch of life by a bug, and start shoving Julian to the side because the unwanted bedfellow seems dead set on crawling on him and is moving towards him fast.  At the same time I am again swatting at the creepy crawler with a pillow of all things (yes I know, swatting didn't work out for me last night yet it's the only move I've got when it comes to spiders).  Noah is laughing the entire time.  Glad to see he didn't inherit my fear of these creepers. I somehow manage to grab a cd in a paper case and fling it off the bed.  It's big enough to make an audible impact when it hits the ground so at least I know where it is.  I throw the magazine from last night on top of it and commence stomping on the magazine like I'm trying to break through the floor boards.  Spider - dead, Jen - 1.

Here are my questions:
1. Where did I get this freaky talent of knowing where spiders are at all times?
2. Why are the spiders always in my room?
3. Did I miss my calling as the spider whisperer?

Until next time my horrific little monsters...I'll be watching for you.

Butter Thief

In my family there are many-a-tale about my butter thievery.  Bites taken out of sticks, fingers dragged through margarine tubs.  Gross, I know...but who am I to judge the taste buds of a child?  Especially when that child was me, or more recently my Julian.  It appears that my taste for all things butter have transcended to my very own offspring.  When I turned my back, the little sneak snatched up my tablespoon, which was indeed full of margarine and began to eat away.  What could I do at that point other than let him finish it off.  I'm sure my parents and grandparents would have let me do the same.  You can be certain I will keep my butter spoons in my apron pocket from here on out.  And now to wait and see if Julian or Noah use whole pitted black olives to cap off their finger tips then eat them (yes, another child-Jen favorite).

Help me Jesus! Help me Jewish God! Help me Allah! Help me Tom Cruise!!!

For those of you who don't immediately recognize the title of this blog it's from the all time great Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights.

So the reason I need help from all of the above mentioned deities (minus Tom Cruise) is that Julian is in some serious Terrible Two stage right now!  I mean Jekyll & Hyde worthy fits of rage, screaming, crying, kicking and hitting followed immediately by smiles, hugs, kisses and laughing.  Koo Koo.

Julian is definitely coming into his own personality and really likes to make his own decisions.  For instance, I put pajamas on him a few minutes ago and he repeatedly said "no wear dat."  Mind you he'd rather run around buck naked and he tends to have accidents in the randomest of places, so I vetoed his opinion there.  He lets us know what he wants to watch or listen to and what he doesn't.  It's "ya ya ya" or "no no no" or "uh unh" or "I don' no" or "dop it!" which is stop it.  

Despite the fits it's still fun to watch my baby love Julian become an independent little boy.  Here is a list of some things he currently does that makes my heart smile.  He loves his brother to no end.  He will sit and read books in the "library" in Noah's room for longer than I expect a 2 year old to do so.  He cleans up his toys (when asked).  He asks to brush his teeth and for his vitamins.  He's beginning to master the use of utensils and a regular cup.  He breaks out in a little dance when he hears a catchy tune.  He literally squeals with delight when we are in the car and use an on-ramp or off-ramp and he thinks it's a ride.  He will lather both me & Leo in hugs and kisses just because he feels like it.  His vocabulary is increasing at an exponential rate which I hope helps alleviate his tantrums soon.  Hopefully my vocabulary will increase soon too because I'm awfully tired of saying, "Julian stop it."

Julian in mid-meltdown

Julian 10 minutes later

Hot Tamale!

Every year the women in my family (and sometimes a fella or two) get together to make Christmas Tamales.  This tradition comes from the Perez side of the family and we have been doing it for as far back as I can remember.


We gather volunteers, set a date and make as many tamales as we can until we are tired or the ingredients run out.  But it's usually just us 4 girls: Mom, Grandma, Jamie and myself.  Over the years we have adjusted the recipe, tried different versions, different meats, and even sweet tamales.  But it seems that we have come back to the tried and true favorites: chicken in a red chili sauce, pork in a similar sauce and cheese/jalapeno.  Every time we make them they taste better, so all of our tinkering has made improvements over the years.

Since it's only a once-a-year event, so we always forget how to assemble them, but a few minutes in to the process we all remember.   We get into the groove of things; Jamie washes the corn husks, we spread masa on the rough side of the husk (an annual argument; rough or smooth side?), Grandma likes to spread the masa and pile up those corn husks for us to fill with meat, pile the made tamales in groups together, olive with pork, tie a string around the cheese ones (or was it chicken - ha!).  We gab and eat lunch.  We talk Christmas presents and what's happening on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.


Like all traditions, it's much more than just making tamales - it's bonding, it's 3 generations of women coming together to keep a family custom alive, to remember family that is no longer around to partake in the days events, to look towards future Christmases teaching another generation how to make a delicious tamale.  And to me that's the best thing about Christmas Tamales.


Let's eat!