I'm Back

Ok so after taking the summer off I'm back to continue with the adventures of my life.  Summer was just that summer full of long lazy days with lots of time spent in the pool and bedtime did not exist.  Mauricio has started at a new school which is a Montessori school and it was the best decision we have made. He comes home happy every day and soaked to the skin from playing so much.  Not once at his other daycare did he ever come home looking like a wet ragdoll!  I know its strange to get joy out of this but it proves that there was too much tv (Power Rangers) and not enough playtime.  Yes its Florida, yes its disgustingly hot but the kids need the playtime and the fresh air and the teachers you have shade to stand in and supervise them!  Marcela is getting to be a bigger monkey than her brother but she still doesn't know how to open the doors at the office so she still has not been banished by grandma but I'm sure it is only a matter of time.  So here are a couple of pictures from the summer.

 

We've got a new kitchen!!

I'm not sure who's more excited M&M or ME! Seriously I still have fond memories of all the time I spent playing in my play kitchen so many years ago! I think this is why I was so excited to have a girl the ability to play dolls, and tea party, and Barbies and cook and all the fun girly stuff. The beauty of the new modern era is that it is not taboo for boys to play with play kitchens now so I get to start "cooking" sooner than anticipated! I may be more dangerous finding play food and stuff for the kitchen than I am buying clothes for Marcela!!

Just some pics

Just wanted to post some recent pics of Mauricio and Marcela

Hmm what can I get into next?

Always getting into trouble this one is going to be worse than her brother!

"Continental Airlines this is Mauricio"

Yes he's giving himself a pedicure.....

Be Careful What You Wish For....

Ok so I have been on the potty training express since my son turned 2 last year. With the help of his daycare we started him on pull-ups and then just transitioned to big boy underwear right around June of 2007 figuring its summer and isn't that the best time to potty train b/c they can run around in their bathing suits/underwear all day long and who cares if they pee in the bushes?!?! Well by August I was able to declare victory in the peeing department. Finally 8 months later we are FULLY AND COMPLETLEY potty trained...Yes folks it took 8 long months to get Mauricio to poop on the potty. And believe me it wasn't for lack of trying because I tried everything in the book; stickers, reward charts, candy, bribes, toys, books, puzzles, the potty in front of the tv, bubbles, everything. I devoured potty training articles like I devour chocolate! I visited every conceivable internet site for advice and what did I find NOTHING!!! Oh sure there is plenty of advice out there for getting them to pee but nothing really on the poop side. The only piece of advice I heard and read over and over was don't push him until he's ready.

Well after enduring 4 months were my little stinker would ask for his pull-up so that he could poop and then go stand in a corner do his business, declare that he was finished and could we give him his bath I finally had enough! I took an old pull-ups box from my parents house, and filled it with the remaining pull-ups and made a big huge deal about throwing the box away and showing him the remaining stack of pull-ups. Then I made an even bigger deal on how the stack was dwindling and once the pull-ups were gone that's it they were gone. Finally we used the last pull-up or so I thought. Like an addict my son had a secret stash?!?! I found his stash which was in his overnight grandma bag and got rid of those....and waited. The whole weekend went by and nothing. Monday morning he tells me his tummy hurts and I tell him its because he hasn't gone to the bathroom and he needs to go poop. Well he sits on the toilet counts to 5 and then declares "my tummy doesn't hurt anymore, I don't have to poop." Ok buddy off to daycare for you. I pick him up from daycare and again we have a tummy ache and he sits and nothing so I tell him we need to go get medicine....We go to the nearest drugstore and I give him a Pedia-lax and one hour later after many trips to the potty, more tears than I care to remember on by him and by me and unsolicited advice...SUCCESS!! The next few days were rough because going to the bathroom was a huge ordeal. My aunt gave me the best advice and said to give him a teaspoon of mineral oil daily.

So now we are totally in control and free to use the potty....BUT NOW WE WANT COMPANY EVERYTIME WE GO!!! I went from a child who refused to sit on the toilet to one that is pooping more than a pigeon! So therefore I no longer wish for Marcela to start walking....because then I will never be able to sit down!!

Summertime is Here?!?!

Ahh Memorial Day the "official start of summer." Yeah its been over 80 degrees going on 2 months now so summer has been here for awhile but its officially summer when you register your kids for swim lessons....yeah apparantly all the swim schools in Florida think they are up north and don't offer swim lessons till late May, or else the lessons are at random times like 10:25 AM on Wednesdays, which doesn't work for me since I work and Mauricio is in pre-school at that time! Luckily for me I found not only swim lessons on the weekends, I found lessons that aren't going to cost me a fortune and I save the gas money because they are right at my community's pool...whoo hoo! So now just waiting to see if I should also enroll Marcela or if I have to wait till next year. I'm glad to get Mauricio back in swim lessons because he's developed this fear of the water that I don't know where its coming from. The kid splashes and "swims" in the tub for hours and loves to play in the kiddie pool but stick him in the big pool with the floaties and he freaks out! Marcela has developed this new hatred of sprinklers which is weird because she takes showers everyday with the same type of water sprinkling on her head and face....must be the outdoor setting b/c she hates the sprinkler on the kiddie pool. Go figure...

Look Ma a Human Doll!

Well I walked into the kids room at the office b/c Marcela was whining and this is what I saw when I walked in!

Apparantly Mauricio wants to be his little sister's personal doll! Where does that kid come up with his ideas?

Ok I'm Finally Ready....

Ok so I'm not the neatest person...but I'm not the messiest one out there. Clean Sweep and the other TV shows would never come to my house because its not THAT horribly messy....with that being said it does look like a storm went through it and I'm not talking about Hurricane M2 (my 2 kids) although I'm sure they contribute a large part towards it. So after not being able to find the TSA approved locks last night for a last minute trip my DH was taking today, (And I swore up and down I had put them away in the suitcases after our last trip) the camel's back broke. I'm sick of the clutter and the papers, and the general junk! So join me on my organizing journey and see how this adventure turns out.....On that note there is a pile of papers on my desk calling my name!