Beautiful noise!

Isn't this just the sweetest singing voice ever??

Things we do

 Josiah like to brush his teeth if mommy is brushing her teeth. He also thinks he can use his toothbrush to brush his hair.

Layla is really good at looking cute!

No big deal. Josiah can eat a hamburger one handed. Why is he growing up so fast??

I know I've been playing Angry Birds too much when I tell Chris to check on Layla (after I hear her whining in her sleep) and when he comes back I tell him that she was just upset she couldn't get passed one of the levels. All of this said while groggy, but totally believing it's true. I wonder if Josiah has Angry Birds dreams, because I usually play with him.

Look how cute I am after I eat pizza

Batman

Last night I fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans. Who cares that I had to lay on the bed and pull them up with pliers... they fit. That's all I care about.

Sibling Love

Like I mentioned before... Josiah loves to hold Layla. He thinks he can pick her up and hold her like we do. He gets mad when we help. And just FYI, Josiah started using a pacifier 2 weeks after Layla arrived. Before that he didn't want anything to do with pacifiers for nearly 8 months (other than bedtime). It's not so cute when he's almost 2.

Oatmeal

Josiah finds it hilarious to put things on his head. Cars, blocks, etc. He especially finds it funny to put pineapples on his head when he's eating lunch. He likes to balance them and then shake them off. Today he was eating oatmeal for breakfast and put the bowl upside down on his head. He maybe had taken one or two bites prior to this, so it was full. I was not paying attention to him at this particular moment, so I couldn't stop it. I also couldn't get mad because it was so hilarious. And besides, when I scold Josiah he laughs at me. He responds to me taking him aside and making him look me in the eyes so I can gently scold him. However, he responds to Chris's "scolding" voice.  Anyways, this picture captures how much oatmeal (with blueberries) he got in his hair. Even this gross he is adorable.

I'm losing my mind

The other day I grabbed a paper towel to put Josiah's hot dog on to heat up in the microwave. 15 seconds later it beeps. I open the microwave door and saw that I did not put the hot dog in the microwave. So I just heated up a paper towel. Awesome. These types of things have been happening a lot lately. The tiredness is making me a little loopy, which I find hilarious and so does Chris.

I will also admit to falling asleep on the couch at 10 this morning. Last night was a LONG night for me, totaling about 5 hours of sleep, which might sound like enough sleep for some people, but it was 5 hours of interrupted sleep preceded by 6 weeks of the same. Layla was asleep in her swing, but Josiah was awake. I woke up after about 10 minutes of sound sleep because my phone rang. Luckily Josiah was glued to the t.v. watching Toy Story. Oops. I will not do that again, I will not do that again.

My sweet babies

Josiah has really fallen in love with Layla. He does such a good job of taking care of her. He wants to hold her all the time, which, of course, always ends in tears because he can't hold her by himself, which he thinks he can. If she cries he is next to her immediately to calm her down and give her pacifier to her. I am very happy that he likes her so much. 

 Aunt Judi stayed with us for a week. She was such a huge help and we miss her already!

 She does this a lot of the day

 Unlike her brother, she likes tummy time

 Josiah likes to be on the floor with her during tummy time. Look how sweet they are looking each other in the eyes!

 These next 2 pics are as good as we could get of him in his Lightning McQueen Halloween costume.

Halloween night was so much fun! Josiah was scared the first house we walked up to, but once someone put chocolate in his basket he was in heaven. He turned and looked at Chris like this was the coolest thing that ever happened. From then on Josiah was happy to knock on stranger's doors. As soon as we got home he took 4 steps in the door and dumped all his candy on the floor and looked on with delight. We probably let him eat a little too much candy that night because he was up until 10pm just talking away in his crib.

In other news, Layla doesn't like it when I drink coffee... so bye bye bold roast with french vanilla creamer. I will miss you. See you again in a year.

For Momma G and Grandpa

Josiah loves the book "Thank You God for Everything". He loves it because it's his Momma G and Grandpa reading to him (well done hallmark). Every time he opens it he smiles real big and then smiles again when he hears their voices. He thinks that if he pushes the button he'll keep hearing their voices, so that's what he's doing here. I had to open and close it again and again because the first page is his favorite. He LOVES his grandparents! And look at how adorable that smile is!! He uses his whole face!

This is how Josiah eats

What Josiah did today

And here's what he did with the seeds

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Pumpkin Patch today. It was Layla's first outing (other than the doctor, but that's no fun). We had a really good time. Josiah and Chris went on a little train ride, they pet goats, and we tried to take a family picture unsuccessfully. Here are some pictures from our adventure. Note: Josiah does not like to pose for pictures and when he sees you taking a picture of him he usually frowns or makes an angry face, so these are the best ones we got.

My little 12th Man

 Yes, he did lick the horse apple. Gross.

 This is what Layla did the entire time. Notice her Aggie onesie, compliments of Aunt Elyse and Uncle Carter.

 Daddy and Josiah

 Mommy and Josiah. I am wearing maroon in support of my winning Ags!

 This pumpkin took 1st place. It weighed over 1,000 pounds.

 A pumpkin for Josiah

 Looking at a flying witch

 Yes, I am jealous of my son's eyelashes.

My babies

First, let me just say how awesome Layla is. She is such an easy baby. She still only cries when she's hungry or wants her paci, and only sometimes when she's getting her diaper changed. I am very thankful for all of this. I was so afraid she was going to be colic because so many of my friends have dealt with that recently. I'm so grateful she's not. She is very aware of what's going on around her. She has a lot of awake time with her beautiful blue eyes wide open. She is happy anywhere we put her. We try and put her in her crib before she falls asleep (per our docs orders) to let her get used to putting herself down instead of one of us rocking her to sleep. We rocked Josiah to sleep or let him fall asleep on us for the first 4 months of his life and that was a hard habit to break, so I'm glad from day one (more like five) we've done the opposite with Layla.
The girl can eat! She eats for a good 35-45 minutes just under every 3 hours. I feel like all I do is feed her. I feel sorry for Josiah sometimes because I spend so much time with Layla, but he doesn't seem to mind. He just plops down on the ground in front of us and plays with his cars while watching Cars. Only sometimes does he get his feelings hurt that I'm not paying attention to him as much as I used to. He really is adjusting well to having a sister. He wants to kiss her, tickle her, rub her head and hold her whenever he remembers she is around. It's really sweet. And when she's in her nap nanny (BEST invention ever!) and loses her paci, he looks at me, says "oh no", finds it and gently puts it back in her mouth. And when she's upstairs sleeping then wakes up crying to eat, he runs to the bottom of the stairs, says "oh no" and continues to say that until I've brought her downstairs. He is such a good big brother! I can't wait to see how else he takes care of her.

Alone...

My mom leaves to go back to Dallas today. I am very sad by this. She has been such an amazing help since she got here on the 24th. I literally don't know what I'm going to do without her. She's taken care of Josiah while I've slept and fed Layla. She's held Layla while I've played with Josiah. She's cooked us dinner every night, cleaned the house, did the laundry, distracted Josiah from being too aggressive with Layla, etc, etc, etc. I know I will figure things out when she's gone (I don't have a choice), but it's been so nice having her here.
Our support system in Nashville is very lacking. No family, few friends and even fewer friends who are willing to drive to La Vergne to hang out with us (for those of you that do, we thank you). Chris and I did everything we could the first 2 years to find community and a strong support system, but fell very short. Nothing to compares to the relationships we have in Dallas and the friends that treat us like family and the family that drops everything to come out here when we need them. We're coming to Dallas for Christmas and I can't wait to get my kids together with some of the best people I know.
I wish there were more hours in the day. I wish Chris could get home from work and spent lots of time with both babies. I am very thankful he works so hard for us all the time so I can stay home with my kids for 12 weeks, then only work 2 days a week. I can't imagine being away from these adorable babies five days a week. I don't know how he does it... or any dad does it for that matter. We love you, Chris, and don't know what we would do without you.

My beauty

One week

Our beautiful, perfect daughter is one week old today. Time really has gone by fast. I honestly feel like yesterday I was at the hospital giving birth to her. She is so darn special! A quick summary of the birthing story:

Layla was a very active baby in the womb. She probably kicked or punched me 15-20 times an hour. Most babies do about half of that. On Sunday the 18th I didn't feel her move at all for almost 4 hours. That really worried me, so I called my doctor. She said to come in to get put on the monitor to make sure everything was okay. So I went to the hospital at 1145am. Around 1pm two nurses and the doctor came running into my room which freaked me out. Layla's heart rate had significantly dropped, so they moved me and put oxygen on me. Ten minutes later my doc comes back into my room and asks "how do you feel about having a baby today?" I said good. Because her heart rate dropped so low and something else to do with my placenta, they wanted to get her out (I know, I hate that word too). Since I had eaten breakfast at 9 (yes, it was my second breakfast; my first breakfast was at 630) they couldn't induce me until 4pm. So I called Chris, told him to get Josiah to our friend's house and come on up to the hospital to labor with me.
4pm comes, I get induced... blah blah blah, I give birth to Layla at 920am on the 19th. Everything went really well. Chris was an awesome support and coach. I was very aware of everything that was going on, unlike with Josiah when I was basically in a tired stupor. We were released from Baptist on Wednesday morning. My recovery has been great. No problems this time around. I am feeling great and am looking forward to next Monday when I can finally pick Josiah up. Layla was a little jaundice so we've had to go to our doctor's office 3 times since Wednesday. We had to put her in a bili blanket for 24 hours to help reduce it and feed her more than normal to flush out all the bad stuff. She is getting better and not looking as yellow, so we don't have to go back until next Monday for her 2 week check up.
Layla is such a good baby. She cries when she's hungry or naked. Other than that she's happy. She has lots of awake time. Last night she slept great. She ate at 930 and went right to sleep. She woke up at 145am, ate and then fell right back to sleep, then woke up at 6am ate and stayed awake for about an hour. It was awesome. I'm not tired at all, which is weird because I've been tired for about 3 months.  She has been great at breast feeding too! Josiah never took to it which made me feel like a failure as a mother because EVERYONE asks you if you are breast feeding and if you say no they either ask why not or give you this look as though you are letting your child down. I hated that. Anyways, here are a few pics from the week...

Going home!

 Big brother waiting for his sister

 Getting her nap on

This is the best shot we could get with Josiah

Josiah, meet Layla!

Yes, I'm mixed

I got a pedicure today. The first one in over 2 months. I need my feet to look pretty so that all the doctors and nurses will think I put some effort into taking care of myself while pregnant. The lady that gave me my pedicure was very nice. Seeing as how I'm due in 11 days I had a hard time getting in the chair, so she gladly helped me. I was probably 6 inches taller than her and outweighed her by 70 or 80 lbs. Poor lady. Anyways, in the middle of my pedicure she looks at me and asks, "are you mixed?" I have never been asked that question before. At least not since I got married. With Reyes as a maiden name people assumed that I was mixed. Not here and not since then. I told her I was and that no one has asked me that before. She said that since she was mixed Korean and Chinese she could tell I was mixed. She said that she could just feel it. How adorable! That made my day.

2 things

1. I really hope that Layla is born with hair. Hairless babies freak me out just a little.
2. I wish I had written down some things to remember from when Josiah was a newborn. I really don't remember what babies do all day besides sleep, eat and poop. This time around I am keeping a journal for me for our next baby. But seeing as how I will have a toddler keeping me busy, I might just use a Talk Boy instead and transpose at a later date.

Guilty Pleasure

Before anyone can judge me, I would like to say first and foremost, I don't watch reality t.v. Except Biggest Loser, but I don't really count that since I mainly watch it to get workout  and diet tips... and I like watching overweight people lose weight. That being said, my one and only t.v. guilty pleasure for the past 3 years has been 90210. Not the reruns, the new ones. I know the acting is horrible and the story lines are bad, and teenagers don't really act that way, but I have enjoyed it. Until Tuesday. The season premier was SO horrible that I have thrown in the towel on that show. I actually caught myself saying that I couldn't believe I was watching this and what a waste of 45 minutes. Now I have to find another guilty pleasure show that I can record so that I have something to watch when I'm up at 1 and 4a.m. feeding Layla.

D.O.M.

This morning on my way to work I drove thru McDonalds to get a healthy snack... wait, no, it was hashbrowns. Anyways, I had my window rolled down on the way out and this dirty old man (D.O.M), probably in his late late forties or early fifties, had his window rolled down and looked me in the eyes and said, "well good morning beautiful". Normally I would have made some off the cuff remark to him and rolled my eyes, but seeing as how I'm due in less than 2 weeks and feel so unattractive and fat I was flattered and smiled at him. And then for a good 10 minutes felt really good about myself. Chris tells me all the time how beautiful I am, but hearing it from a D.O.M was nice. That's how I know I am READY to have this little girl.

My athlete

I think Josiah is just the greatest thing on earth. Obviously. If I didn't, I wouldn't be a good mother. He's good at everything he tries. He's been throwing things since he was about 10 months old. And I say things because from what I've experienced thus far, he believes everything is throwable. Several times recently he has thrown a perfect spiral to Chris. And, for the most part, the balls go wherever he is aiming. Pretty impressive for an 18 month old. If it were up to me I would want Josiah to play baseball. He can play other sports too, but I have been hoping he likes baseball. I love going to games and eating hot dogs and nachos. I can't remember a summer growing up that wasn't spent at the field. I bought Josiah a baseball toy a few months back but he hasn't been too interested in it until the other day. Here's him playing baseball with himself. Pretty good, right? My dad, Papu, will be very proud.

 

Sushi

I have been dreaming about sushi for 8 months. I could literally eat sushi 3 nights a week if given the choice and chance. Back in Dallas Chris and I would eat at Sushi Loco 2 nights a week and more if we could come up with a good excuse. In 2 weeks from tomorrow I will be able to eat sushi again. I am beyond thrilled about this. I am going to have my parents bring it to me in my hospital room. I mean, it's going to be a staple in my diet, so Layla might as well get her first taste of sushi her first days of life, right? Oh 2 weeks, come quickly.

Cloth Diapering

After much research and advice from friends who use cloth diapers, we have decided we're going to cloth diaper Layla.. and use cloth wipes as well. I'm actually very excited about this decision! We've spent roughly $1,000 on diapers and another $200 on wipes for Josiah. And we still have about $200 more to spend before he's fully potty trained. It is literally money down the drain. Money I would much rather spend on clothes or toys for him... or put toward his college fund.
Cloth diapering is not what it was when I was a baby, which is what most people my age think it is because of what their mothers told them. It has been completely revolutionized. We're going with the Bum Genius Elemental One Size Cloth Diapers. NO pre-folds necessary! For those of you who don't know what that means, it means that we won't have to put an insert in the diaper. When she needs a new one we will just put the old one in the laundry and put a new diaper on... exactly what I would do with a disposable diaper. And they have snaps instead of velcro, so they will last WAY longer. And, I've been told, that I will more than likely not have to purchase new ones for any future children we have because these will last that long. Crazy! So for $264.95 I will have all my diaper needs for our children. The cloth wipes are about $1 each, but you only need about 24 because they clean a larger surface area and can hold more than disposable wipes.
Layla will be in daycare part-time, but these cloth diapers are so easy that Gloria (our daycare lady) will happily make the switch for her. All I have to do is purchase a reusable wet bag for $16.50 so she can store the dirty diapers and give the bag to me at the end of the day to wash along with the wipes. And if you have a trash can like I have for Josiah, the trash bags cost $16 for a pack of 2 which last about one month... so again, WAY cheaper.
There you have it... Again, we are excited to cloth diaper Layla and know that it is going to be easy for everyone who has to diaper her.

Lazy Americans

I don't know who decided that the word at was too much to write. I don't understand why writing @ is easier than at. Doesn't it make MUCH MORE SENSE for @ to stand for around. I mean, there is a circle around the letter A. Lazy Americans.

35 weeks

September 27

My actual due date is October 4, but since Layla has been head down and fully effaced for 4 weeks, my doc said it's okay to induce a week early. This makes me very happy. Sept 27 would be an awesome day for her to arrive. Chris, Elyse and Naomi were all born on the 27th.  I am, however, not opposed to her arriving earlier than that. I want her to cook until I'm technically full term, 37 weeks (2.6 weeks away), because walking with a head between my legs is getting almost too hard to bear. And you're welcome for the mental image. So if she decides not to come early on her own, I will be a mommy to 2 in 33 days!!

This picture is all you're getting for a "belly shot". Standing and posing isn't my thing at 34 weeks and 105 degrees. Yes, I know I look tired. Layla sucks the life out of me. But that, I, of course, don't mind :)

Pork Chops Marsala

We haven't had pork in I can't remember how long, but when I came across this recipe, I had to make it. It was also delicious. The pork chops are hidden under the mushrooms, but I promise they are there. This recipe was relatively easy. The only part that took long was marinating the mushrooms in the Marsala wine. I thought that I could have marinated the chops overnight, but the recipe didn't call for that. And since I'm still very new to cooking, I do not want to deviate from the instructions. Along with the mushrooms are shallots. I have never had a shallot before, or at least I don't think I have, but they taste just like a sweet onion to me. But then again, my taste buds are off due to this pregnancy.

Arroz Con Pollo

This is my mom's recipe... it is so freaking delicious. I was afraid I would mess it up, but, lo and behold, it tasted almost like hers! Huge success!! I made it to serve 4 so Chris could take left overs to work. He said that the next day it tasted even better, because it was more tender (which I didn't know was possible). Happy Drooling!

My little comforter

I realize that me fake crying to son is not very nice, but he's just so sweet when he thinks I am hurt that I had to capture it on video. I know I've said it before, but he is going to be such a GREAT big brother!

Our little boy!

Nose picking

Josiah loves to make me laugh. Half of the time I laugh at things I should not, because they are bad habits that will get him in trouble in school, or with other parents. Yesterday we were driving to meet a friend for dinner. It was a 30 minute car ride, so I gave him a snack to munch on so he would be pleasant in the car (yes, I'm that mother). I have my rear view mirror angled so I can see him, and the road, don't worry mother. After he was finished with his snack he stuck his finger up his nose and made an awesome face. He's done this once or twice, but it caught me off guard, so I started laughing hysterically. So, naturally, he continued to do this the rest of the car ride. And I laughed each and every time. He started digging around more and changing nostrils. And he did this all because he knew it made me laugh. What a sweetheart! This morning, on the way to daycare, he did it again. I had to make myself not laugh because I don't want him to be the gross kid at school who shows his boogers to his friends then gets in trouble from his teacher. I'm guessing from who his parents and grandparents are, he will get in enough trouble as is.

Mexican Fiesta Salad

This was by far the BEST salad we've eaten in a long freaking time... This was really easy and not too many ingredients. I wouldn't say it was healthy, but I wouldn't say it wasn't.

Nashville Zoo

We went to the zoo for the first time today. It was really fun! We spent about 3 hours there. I was proud of myself for spending 3 hours outside, walking around at 8 months pregnant. Josiah did great too. He ran from exhibit to exhibit without too much whining. There was this awesome play area for little ones that Josiah just went crazy in. He did so many belly flops he was entertaining everyone there. It was pretty awesome. We only took 3 pictures because we are awesome parents like that...