It's Girl!!

Sofia Isabella

Born June 13, 2015 8:39 am 

Easter Memories 2015

Easter weekend didn't really go as I had planned, actually lately it feels like nothing goes how I've planned it.  Anyways it was still nice and I think the kids had a good time. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Usually we start saving eggs to dye and fill with confetti a few months before Easter but this year I was really behind. Thankfully grandma was on top of it and saved some for us.

On Friday, we went to her house to dye the eggs and fill up with confetti. Does anyone do this tradition? I'm not sure why we do but my family has done it since I was a little girl. We do hide the plastic ones with candy and money too. Jorge really doesn't care for the confetti tradition but he is wonderful and participates anyways. Love him.

                   Sunday morning, we went to church and after we got the kids snow cones.

I love Daniel's smile and seeing his cute little painted hands that made a cross. 

Then we headed to my Mom and Dad's house for a BBQ and Easter egg hunt. My parents always make such a good BBQ. 

We celebrated with the cousins with a Easter egg hunt.  

Then we came home and did some games. 

It was a nice and simple Easter! Just perfect as long as I'm with them. 

Mt. Rubidoux

Since Gabriel has became a cub scout we have been having more adventures and seeing different places we normally wouldn't. This weekend we went with Gabriel on his cub scout hike to Mt. Rubidoux. 

  

Baby #6 Update: Week 18

I'm trying to catch up here on this pregnancy journey before I forget everything. If you missed the first post you can read about it here.

In late January, I had my pregnancy check up and at the end of the month we were also scheduled to have an ultrasound. This scan would hopefully show if the hemorrhage was dissolving and the baby's gender.

However, since it had been a month of no bleeding, the doctor believed that I should be fine and have nothing to worry about. Which brought so much relief to hear that he wasn't worried and I shouldn't be either. Before I was really scared and having bad dreams of miscarrying. It has been a real struggle for me to embrace this pregnancy and enjoy it. I have been in fear of losing the baby since the beginning. 

My whole first trimester I was nauseated, vomiting and occasionally bleeding, so it has been very hard to enjoy this pregnancy. It definitely was not like any of the others, thats for sure.

Then a week later I get a call from the nurse letting me know that the scan showed I have placental lakes. Which is lakes of blood, near the placenta. Okay, now I'm a little freaked out and thinking what does that mean?  Supposedly the lakes will dissolve on their own and that I shouldn't worry. She scheduled me for another scan in a few weeks. They want to monitor them and see if they are starting to dissolve. So that's where we are at right now. Just back to waiting. But this time I'm feeling okay and not worried. I believe God will take care of me and this little one. 

Baby #6 Update: (The Beginning to Week 17)

This pregnancy has been a different kind of journey than I expected. I never experienced this with any of my other pregnancies. So I thought I'd document it here. Where to begin? I guess I should start at the beginning of this pregnancy journey. 

In October, I had a feeling I might be pregnant so I took a pregnancy test at home. The lines were real light but it was showing positive. So I did it again the next day and it was showing positive.  I couldn't believe it. At the time we weren't really trying for another one. In the spring, we talked about getting pregnant and we both agreed that we wanted to try. But then in the summer I started to develop some health scares. I wasn't feeling very well. The doctors started to do a lot of testing and telling me that it could be this or this. Which brought lots of stress on me and then I was hoping I wasn't pregnant because of all the testing and possible illness. Anyways, thats for another post. So we stopped trying. I guess we stopped trying a little to late. We found out we were expecting baby #6, so this put a temporary halt on any further testing. So far I am healthy and will continue the testing after the baby comes. 

Our new journey was about to begin with this little one. Early November, I started to bleed and thought oh no….a miscarriage. I called the doctor and they wanted to do an ultrasound to see if the pregnancy was viable. I was hoping and praying that everything was fine. We went in and they found a heartbeat. They told me to go home and rest. I did and the bleeding soon stopped. Things seem to be going smoothly,  I was feeling exhausted and wanted to sleep any chance I could…check. I was nausea and throwing up, so yeah morning sickness.....check. My first official doctor appointment wasn't until late November. We saw the doctor and he did another ultrasound to just make sure everything was fine and it seemed to be. 

             

Saturday morning, 2 days after Thanksgiving I woke up to a lot of bleeding again. I mean a lot! So much that I thought oh no this has to be a miscarriage. We called the nurse which she said, to rest and if it increased to go to the hospital. It started to decrease and was completely gone after a few days. The doctor ordered another ultrasound to check on the baby and this time they found that I had a subchorionic hemorrhage. Which could threaten a miscarriage if it continued to get bigger. The doctor gave me my instructions to take it easy, no strenuous excersise and rest as much as possible. Easier said then done when you are a mama to 5!

                                     

December 20th, was the last day of school for the kids Christmas break. I was so relieved because that week had been crazy busy with all the Christmas concerts and parties. I was stressed out and tired. Oh so ready for a break from that routine. That evening I went to the restroom and found more blood. I couldn't believe it! I was so frustrated and tired of feeling like are we having a baby are we not? I was seriously scared every time I had to use the restroom. 

                                               

On Christmas Eve I had another doctor appointment. The doctor had a hard time finding the heartbeat, which was nerve wrecking. She said that I needed to really rest and she ordered another ultrasound. 

3 days later I get a call from the nurse saying that the blood clot had grown. Oh my gosh, I was so scared and nervous. I thought I had been doing everything right. The doctor's orders were just to rest.

To be continued…..

Where to begin again

It has been so long and so much has happened in the past year. I don't know where to begin. We've been through the good, the bad, the sad, the struggles, the trials, the sickness, the joy, the mercy, and been shown grace in the last several months. God is good and is always there even in the moments when we we are in the storm. He is there. Although we can not see Him or know what His plan for us is, we need to trust in Him and REMIND ourselves His plan is ALWAYS better than ours. Things are good for now and I don't know what lies ahead but I'm going to keep my Hope in Him and trust that He will take care of us.

I'm not sure how much I will document of the this last year on the blog. I'm hoping I can document it all. So that brings me to where should I begin. I think what I'll do is start where we are now and go back little by little and update by doing a monthly post.

Here are some things I'm hoping to share here on the blog.

1. Peeks into our everyday life.
2. And updates about the shop.
3. And anything else I can think of.


So for now, I'm going to leave it at that....talk to you soon! :)

A Fresh Start!

Hello?? It has been awhile…. the end of the year is always so busy with the Christmas season. Lots of festivities, crafts, get togethers, birthdays, anniversaries and such. It is so filled and so exhausting but so worth it. But making memories are worth the chaos and craziness.

Anyhow, everyone is making their new years resolutions or goals, and to be honest I've never been good at these. So I don't. But I do want to improve in many things. Whether or not you participate in creating resolutions for yourself or not, you can not deny that the beginning of the new year feels like a great time of reflections and the time to just refresh yourself.

So I thought I'd share the things that I'd like to work on. So here is my list:

1. Quiet time with God: I really want to be intentional and have my quiet time with God. I remember a few years ago when I only had 3 kids, my devotion time was every night. Now I feel so rushed and I want to have that time again with Him whether it's in the morning or at night. So I will be working on this.

2. Health: I 'd like to take better care of myself, I mean.. I only have one body and I should really take better care of it. So for me this means to be more active and to make healthy choices.

3. Journaling/Blog: I really, REALLY need to be make time here on the blog. This is a place where I want to share the stories of our family's adventures. I can not remember everything and there are so many kids I can't keep up on making a scrapbook for each of them. So I need to make more of an effort in this area and set time for this.

4. The Shop: I love creating and designing meaningful jewelry, I love hearing peoples stories about the piece that I've created for them and what that means to them. I have dreams for the shop and I really hope that I can get them going.

5. Be consistent: Sometimes I get so distracted and forget my goals or plans. Then I wonder what happened to such and such idea. Yeah, then I'm like oh yeah I remember trying to do that.

6. Simplify & Letting Go: In all areas of my life from house chores, to saying yes to things I just don't have time for. I always try to please everyone and this just adds to my already crazy busy life. I sometimes feel like I'm going in all directions, lose focus on what is really important and become just plain exhausted.

I hope you will come & tag a long on this journey with me.

Weekend Recap: August 1-4

We made it back to our favorite place. Saturday dinner at Farrell's with oh so delicious food. 

And a fun day at Disneyland

And we saw Desiree's friend sing at Citrus Plaza. She has a great voice. 

Oh and these yummy salads, this weekend. 

Busy but fun weekend!!!

Winner!!!

Thank you to all who entered this week's GIVEAWAY!! 

The winner of the Giveaway is our wonderful Facebook Friend Cheryl Jacobo!!

Thank you to all my followers, friends, and customers!! 

Keep a look out for the next Giveaway!! 

Have a great weekend!

Showering Moms with Love!! Meet Renee

Meet Renee, she is a wonderful stay at home mom to 3 kids, all under 5 years old!! She definitely has her hands full. 

She is sharing with us some tips and traditions that we might like to use with our family. 

1. Tell me your life story. Who are you? My name is Renee, I am a mother of 3, I have a wonderful husband whom I love very much. My family loves the Lord and spend most of our days (lately) driving to and from my sons school in Riverside. When schools out we visit Disneyland or just hang out as a family.
2. How many kids do you have? I have 3 kids. Tanner is 5, Trevor is 2, and Bellarose is 1
3. What do you like to do that makes your soul happy? I like to sing in the car, drinking my coffee. I also love sleeping with all 3 of my kids in my bed. 
4. What’s something that you and your family love to do together? We play I spy in the car, watch youtube videos of songs that the kids love to sing too. We also love to have dance parties in the living room and going to Disneyland.
5. Have you started a unique family tradition?  We have some holiday traditions. For Thanksgiving we've been going to Disneyland, Christmas we put the carrot, cookie, and milk out and in the morning the kids run outside to see the carrots broken up on the lawn. New Years we play games and sleep in the same bed. Easter we plant new veggies and Skittles, The next morning the skittles grow into lollipops. 
6. You are a stay at home mom, what tips can you give another stay at home mom? My favorite saying is "Its only a Season" . If the kids are safe, fed, and happy; make sure they are safe, then escape to the room (any) and take a mommy time out. Breathe, scream if needed, then get back to work. Its only a season. 
7. What is something you want to improve in? Time management, with school, drive time, making dinner, etc. Its really hard to do anything fun during the day with my Littles. 
8. What is your favorite design from Regina Ann Designs? And why?  I really like the necklaces with my kids name on it. It makes me feel like my kids are always by my heart, no matter where they are. 

Thank you, Renee, for sharing your wonderful family with us!!

Showering Moms with Love!!- Meet Yesenia

I would like to introduce you to another wonderful Mom, Yesenia!! She is a full time mom and she will be sharing with us some great tips that you can do with your family. 

I have 2 wonderful children, Ronald Isaias my first born is 7 he will be eight in 3 weeks! Yesenia Ilaina is 3 will be 4 in August. They are fun little characters they are a lot like me, outspoken and they LOVE to dance. The things that make my soul truly happy are listening to music-it automatically relaxes me and spending time with my kids they are my EVERYTHING. My family and I love to try new things and visit different places theme parks, zoos, shows, museums etc. The one special thing that we do every week is that we have movie cuddle time on mommy and daddy's bed. We watch movies in my room and pretend we are on a boat (the bed) :) . That is our thing "movie night/cuddle time".

Tips for other working moms would be to enjoy every moment that you are with your children. Life is very short and I have chosen to dedicate the most time possible to my kids. We have fun together and make every minute count. I recommend making sure dinner time is spent together telling about eachother's day and listening is key. I do not bring work home and I do not think it is a healthy thing to do, home is family time and work is work time. If I ever bring work home (which is rare and ONLY done if I ABSOLUTLEY did not have time to do it at work) I work on it when my children are asleep so that they do not feel I am cheating them of their mommy time.

I would like to improve on my patience with my children, and by worry about "time". I often let the clock "boss me around" I feel that I am constantly rushing myself and my family because of time restrictions. I need to s-l-o-w down and do what I can when I can. The best thing about being a mom is that there is always someone (2 in my lucky case) that will/do always love me and often tell me those special phrases that make my day. Like 'mommy you are the best!" and "your a good mom", "mamita I love you so much". Feeling appreciated and loved by the children that give meaning to my existence. Being their mother is the biggest blessing I will ever get. They are the reason that I have worked so hard in my life and the reason I continue to strive and move forward, it's all for them.  I love them with all my heart, and I never knew how strong a mother's love was until I became one-there is nothing in this world like it.

My favorite design is the one you made of my neckelace :). 

Thank you so much, Yesenia for sharing your beautiful family with us!!!