Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Sweetness of My Boy!!

Allow me a moment to brag on my sweet boy, oh I much I love him!

I love his heart, he has such a big heart!!

Last night Matt brought home a gift someone from work had given us for our baby, when Nico saw his daddy walked into the door with a present he said:
"Daddy you got a present??"

Matt responded yes and Nico wanted to know who was the owner of this gift, Matt told him it was for his sister Emilia. His sweet heart was so excited he yelled for me and said "Mommy, come see, we got a present for my sister!!"

So there I went, left my meat on the stove - about burn it of course - and I asked Nicolas if he could help us open the present since sister was in my belly, so I got down on my knees and he quickly pull my blouse and talked to my belly:
"Emilia look, you got a present today!!"

Matt and I just looked at each other feeling so blessed, what a sweet boy is he!!. I know the baby is not here yet and once she is at home everyday, all the time, his sweetness won't show as much (I'm not that blind ... ha ha ha) but right now I admire his giving heart and I pray it doesn't change as he grows older.

***************

I got my flu shot this week and I told him about it, since he got two shots in 5 days (one for his 3 year old check up and one for strep), I felt it was important to let him know everyone has to get shots every once in a while, when I picked him up from school the other day I told him. He looked at me and asked in a concern tone of voice:

"Mommy did the nurse come and give you a shot?"
Yes darling she did.

"Oh Mommy ... did it hurt???"
Well it did a little but not too bad.

"Mommy did you get a band aid??? Can I see it???
I'll show it to you when we get home.

That evening he spent time with his Nana and Poppie since I was going out to eat with friends and Dad was playing softball, so when I picked him up we talked about it again, this time he brought it up.

"Mommy, you got your shot today?"
Yes honey I did.

"Mommy, did it hurt??"
Well not so bad baby.

"Oh Mommy but it's OK, because shots are made to make you feel better!"

ahhhh ... so sweet!!!!!!!

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As I brag on his sweetness and I remember the news this morning, how a Mother who has a son burned by 5 other boys - not teens ... boys!! - I remember her words "We have to do something with our children, the violence that goes on among our kids, not only here but around the world" WOW I don't want to imagine what my sweet boy will be expose to as he grows older, I pray we as parents do everything in our power - given to us by God - to show him the right ways, to teach him right, to forgive him when he makes mistakes yet to be strong when it comes to consequences! Oh the road ahead.

For now I'll keep eating him up every time he overflows my heart with his sweetness, treasuring all these little moments we have together, praying that his sweet essence will always stay there.

Friday, October 9, 2009

The downfall of Fall

Fall is my favorite time of the year, I love the colors, I love the clear sky, I love all the pumpkins and the food and everything else BUT there is one thing I do not appreciate about Fall, all the sickness that goes around.

The season has begun at our house, of course right after my mom left, Nico started to get sick, continuing with his tradition of getting sick after abuelita leaves. (Mom has been here three times, each time this had happened). Six days after she left I get a call from Nico's sweet teacher (we absolutely love her) and she says "I hate to call you to give you this news but he is sick".

Ok so here we go, I went and got him and he was laying on his little mat, so pitiful looking while his little friends are all excited about snack time and what not. Took him home, the child was HOT, since he just got the flu nasal spray vaccine I thought it could be a little reaction to that, since I always get a cold after I get the shot, so I treated the fever for a day or I thought I could treat it with regular over the counter medicine, let's just say that as soon as the medicine stop working my boy was flying up high in fever. No need to explain what a horrible evening we had that night, I don't remember the last time I saw him so sick. Thank God for a wonderful husband who got up with me and together we put cold washcloths on his forehead and took turns laying with him in the bed (a twin bed, yes my husband squeezes himself to fit on the twin bed, and so does this prego mom but that soon will come to an end when Nico moves into his new room and there he will have a queen bed, but that's a topic for another post).

After not sleeping well at all, I told him we were going to the Doctor. We were at the Doctor's office last Friday for his check up and let me just say it didn't go too well, it started great, he was happy, talkative, collaborative, until he moved to quickly when she was checking his ear and that hurt and from that point forwards it was a total disaster, having that experience fresh in our minds I knew he wasn't going to be thrilled about going. He quickly told me he didn't want to see Dr. G again, he wanted to see Dr. M (this last one has been the Doctor that has worked with all of his sickness, respiratory problems, etc), I knew we were going to see him, so I told him not to worry we were going to see Dr. M. - I love the fact that he knows his doctors by name :0) - although that play against me when Dr. G was walking by the hall when he was being check by the nurse and he gave her the dirty look and said "I'm not here to see you today, Dr. M is going to see me, not you!" GREAT, the honesty of children, I do love it though. Wish we could keep that instead of saying the politically correct stuff as we grow, people wouldn't have their feelings hurt so many times, if we were all used to saying the truth at all times, don't you think?

So of course he had STREP THROAT, the Dr. gave me the choice to do a shot or 10 days of antibiotics, being the mean mom that I am proud to be, I chose the shot!! I knew it was going to hurt him right then but I also knew it would help him quicker than dealing with oral antibiotic for 10 days. I asked the Dr. to send me a strong nurse, he knew well and sent me two of them and between the three of us the boy got his shot, I had never cried when my son got a shot, not even when he was a newborn but since I am a sensitive hormonal pregnant woman I did cry this time. I held him after it was all over and he looked so sad, I knew he was hurting, I knew I made that choice for him, I knew it was the right now but boy I hate to see him hurt like that, so yes I cried and as he was crying he looked at me and asked "Mommy are you sad??" I told him it was sad for me to seeing hurting but he didn't need to worry, it's ok to cry when we are sad. Quickly he told me "Mommy I'm sorry I made you sad". This is what kills me, the fact that he thinks is his fault, he has such a giving heart and he's always so concern about others, which worries me about his future, peer pressure and all that fun stuff ahead. Surely I can instruct myself on how to work on that before we get to that age, right? (advice wanted on this subject)

After a four hour nap the boy was back to his normal self, happy, energetic, playful, normal!!!!!! Thank God for my wonderful pediatrician!!!

It's been a couple of days since then and guess who's getting sick now ... of course ME and my Emilia inside of me, yeap we are getting something, my throat is raspy, I have a tiny cough and yes I feel it coming. Here we go with the wonderful cycle of Fall Sickness.

I don't want to put my nose at my Family Doctor's office, since it seems that every time I'm there I'm the only person under 70 years old in his waiting room, which scares me thinking about their sickness and what I could catch while waiting, considering my Doctor is not one that gives away medicine like candy, I have to literally convince him of how much I need the antibiotic for him to write the prescription, so for now I'm going with my over the counter stuff, prayers, warm water and salt gargles, tons of germ-x and faith ... cough cough

Monday, October 5, 2009

What a nice weekend!!!!!

"Once upon a time ..." this is what you can hear at our house lately, specially this weekend, we've been enjoying making up stories, we all take turns (Matt, Nico and I), sometimes it's based on a true story and sometimes it's pure imagination.

Saturday morning we went out for breakfast, I truly believe this is our family's favorite meal, specially if we go to our favorite restaurant. While we waited for our food (we always get the same thing because we absolutely love it) we decided to pass time by sharing our stories. Nicolas felt in love with one that Matt told him the other day but he has adjusted some to his own little world and it's really funny.

The original story says
"Once upon a time there was a little boy name Matt who had a cat named Chloe, Chloe clime up on a tree and wouldn't come down, so the little boy went up the tree and save Chloe ... the end!"

Nico's version
"Once upon a time there was a boy named Matt, he had a cat name DOEY and the cat wouldn't come down, and then the monsters came (his voice gets loud at this point) and Doey was scare and then ... " the story goes on and on, including magicians, other creatures and who knows what else, eventually "Doey" gets rescued and the end comes, but his enthusiasm and different tones of voice is what I absolutely adore.
I love that he has a great imagination and that he likes to create stories, I'm sure I won't love it when he's making up stories about what happened in school or why his sister's face is cover in markers but we'll worry about that later in life. =)

Saturday was such a nice day, we spend it together from beginning to end. After breakfast we went to do a little shopping, I had the cart for myself while Nico and Matt went to look at toys, so it was relaxing and fun for all of us. We took a look at the Halloween aisle to try to figure out what our son wants to be this year, the final decision hasn't come yet, he seems to like "Thomas the train", then he said he wanted to be a "Zebra" but a good friend has a dinosaur costume I would really like to use so I don't have to buy anything :) (yes I'm cheapo like that). We'll see, while we were there Matt put on a very ugly mask to show Nicolas that people can wear mask and not be scary, we are trying to do this as he has developed this terrified fear over the cow at that chicken restaurant we all know and love! So Matt put it on, with a sweet voice talked to Nicolas and waved, Nicolas waved back and said "Ok Daddy, you can take it off now!" and then he proceed to ask for his daddy to wear another one. So we entertained ourselves for a little while. After that, we went to a Pet store to buy something for our dog and took time to look at the puppies, kitties and birds. The men of my house love cats, me? no thank you, if there was ever a toy size cat created, I could probably stand that one but that will be it. You know how they have those puddle-toy breed? I could use a tiny cat like that but not a big one, no thanks, not for my house! May be an outside cat???? ugh ... i don't even know.

After that I enjoyed a lovely nap, thanks to my sweet husband who took care of our son since he decided the tiny nap he took on the way home was good enough to help him rest and recharge his batteries. I'm afraid we are getting to a point where naps are starting to be shorter and eventually gone, I wish my child would take a nap 'til he's 10 ... hahahahahahahaha. They are my saving grace for my own nap, I'm not one of those moms who cleans or do things while the kids are asleep, nope I take my nap too, and those are pretty much sacred for me, oh my ... what a change that will be when we no longer have that time.

We finished up our day at a birthday party, a sweet boy turned 1 and this was a family fun afternoon, tons of young couples with their children got together to enjoy a gorgeous fall afternoon and evening, b'day boy's father did a marvelous job on the meet (it cooked for hours and hours), we moms enjoyed our talk together, guys play outside too, fun from beginning to end.

Mom has been gone for 4 days and yesterday Nicolas asked me "is Abuelita coming to our house today?" it was sad but yet fulfilling to know he misses her and that he has wonderful memories with her. We had another birthday party yesterday afternoon and on our way home he said "I want to go home and play with my Abuelita". I was ready to shed a tear but I didn't, took a deep breath and we called her, they talked, it was so sweet..

And this was our lovely weekend, one of those I hope to treasure in my mind for a very long time, if not I just need to read my blog and remember it again.