The Great Food Battle

For the past few months, there has been a nighly battle raging in my dining room. The Great Food Battle. Diego has become the world's pickiest eater. Okay, pretty much from the time he turned 15ish months old, he started to get difficult. But in the past 6 or so months, it has just gotten worse and worse. First, he decided the only meat he would eat was chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and occasionally ground beef as long as it was in Grandma's spaghetti. Then, he decided that he no longer liked carrots. Or peas. Or corn. THEN, he decided that if anything even looked like a vegetable, he would rather rage an all out war than eat it. I continue to place these foods on his plate at dinner, in hopes that this pickiness will one day end. In the meantime, however, I play the hiding game. I hide veggies any way I can. He won't eat his chicken noodle soup because there are veggies in it? Okay, fine. I'll puree his portion so he can't see the veggies, and he'll drink it up and ask for more. He'll eat a bowl of rice for dinner and call it good? No problem, I'll give him a spinach smoothie for dessert. I have to give a big thank you thank you thank you to my friend Julie, who gave me the recipe for her spinach and fruit smoothie. I basically throw in some raw spinach, and whatever fruits I have on hand. The boys (hubby included) have never refused it. If you don't believe me that it tastes good, ask Carly who makes a similar smoothie for her girls. Lately I've started pouring the mixture into popsicle molds and making spinach pops just to switch it up. The kids love it.

Since I know dinnertime is going to be a battle, I try to get some veggies in them before then, just so I feel a little better in the evening. A few times a week, we have sweet potato pancakes, from the book Deceptively Delicious. It's basically a cup of pancake mix, half a cup of sweet potato puree, and a cup of water. (And cinnamon or pumpkin spice if you want to add it.) So quick and easy, and the kids eat them right up. I make these for dinner every once in awhile, too.

My third "hide the veggies" tactic right now is having the kids drink V8 Fusion. Supposedly it has a serving of fruit and a serving of veggies in each cup. It costs a little more than the juices I'd normally buy, but at least it gives me a little piece of mind.

My main problem is that all the ways I know of to make veggies taste good, involve the use of foods Diego is allergic to. No cheesy broccoli for him. No green bean casserole. No yummy dips for his veggies. It's so frustrating!!! I just have to keep hoping that he'll eventually get over this phase. While I hold my breath for that, I guess I'll continue to play "hide the veggies".

The End of the World as We Know It

REM anyone?

I'm pretty sure the end of the world is coming. Yesterday, when I went out to my car early in the morning, there was ice on the windshield. ICE!!!! It's Florida. We don't get ice on our windshields here. Diego even said, "Mommy what's that?" And I absentmindedly said, "It's just water, Diego," as I strapped him into his carseat. Then I got into the driver's seat, and turned on the windshield wipers. That's when I really looked at the windshield and realized the water was ice. Seeing how I live in FLORIDA, I didn't have the proper ice scraping tool to take care of the situation, so I used one of the kids' DVD cases. It worked. I bet there was ice on my windshield again this morning, but I didn't get up early enough to find out. Last night, the weather was in the 20s. That's pretty much unheard of. Today it's going to be in the 50s again. The bad news is that all my winter clothes are in a plastic bin in the garage, buried under lots of other plastic bins. I didn't get them out this year because, well, I only had to use them for like 3 days last year. So I've been wearing the same sweater and jacket day after day.

So yeah, the end is near.

President Obama

I wasn't really planning on writing anything about this, but it is a pretty big moment in history, so it's probably a good idea to record it.

This week, our new President, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. Our nation was very excited to be witnessing this moment in history, when for the first time ever, a black president is in office. Even though he wasn't my choice for president, I couldn't help but be excited. I watched the inauguration for the first time in my life. I'm not going to lie....the excitement wore off quickly. I mean, I believe that he is a good man, and I believe that he wants what's best for our country, but as I've said before, I just have different opinions on what is best for our country. I feel kind of bad for him, though, because he's walking into a very tough situation. And I feel really really bad for George W. Bush, because the media kept talking this week about how he is the worst president in our nation's history, the most hated president, etc, etc. Poor guy! I believe he ran for President because he loves this country, believed he could make a change, and wanted to mark his place in history. I feel bad for him because he had to deal with some difficult things, made lots of mistakes, and now that "place in history" is nowhere near what he had hoped for. That's gotta be hard.

Anyway, those are my feelings on this subject. I'm a little nervous about what lies ahead with a democratic president and a democratic majority in Congress, but it'll be interesting to see what comes next. Hopefully the current situation will improve and my low expectations for these next 4 years will be surpassed.

On Photography

If you know me, you know that I have a passion for photography. I'm a total beginner and have a ton of learning to do, but the more I learn and practice, the more I fall in love with it. If you know my husband, you know that he is the most supportive man ever. He is my cheerleader, my critic (always constructive), and has already surprised me several times with little accessories for my ever growing hobby, even without me mentioning that I wanted them.

Another way he supports me is by going places with me to let me practice. I could read all day long about f-stops, apertures, and ISOs, but nothing is going to teach me like practice.

So last week, we went to a little park, where he let me follow him and the kids around with a camera. After our session was over, we started walking towards the car, and I stopped at some flowers where I spotted a swarm of bees. I was like, "Do you mind if I shoot a few more?" So he took the kids to the car, and waited with them for about 5 minutes while I finished up. Did I mention he's the best?

Anyway, because I'm such an amateur, right now I'm getting about 3 good shots for every 50 or so pictures I take, lol. It's pretty bad. Hopefully practice will improve that percentage.

Without further ado, here are the 3 best shots of the day.

This one really won't look like anything special to anyone but me. But a picture of the three cutest bums I've ever seen is a keeper in my eyes.

And here are the bees:

I think the last one is so cool!

I know stay-at-home-mom-wannabe-photographers have become soooo cliché. Sometimes I let that bother me. But this weekend, after I spent an hour taking pictures of the 4 generations of women in my cousin's family (my cousin's baby, my cousin, her mom, and her grandma who was visiting from Colombia), I realized that I love love love doing this. I had soooo much fun! I probably looked retarded standing behind the camera with a giant smile plastered on my face. The experience taught me two things: 1) I still need A LOT of practice and experience before I can get to the level I want to be at, and 2) I need to forget about what the rest of the world thinks and just do what I love, for no other reason than that I love it. I think what started making me think negatively about this whole thing is the fact that several people in my life were pushing me to start charging for taking pictures. I love the people who were pushing this, and I know they had the best intentions, but the truth is, I'm nowhere near ready to charge. I'm not consistent at all, I have no experience, and my knowledge is still totally at a beginner's stage. So thinking about charging was just stressing me out. If my percentage is correct, out of the 500 (yes, really, 500) pictures I took at our little photoshoot this weekend, I bet we'll get 30 good ones. I messed up on the lighting and am going to end up with a lot of grainy shots. I'm really bummed about that! BUT, at least we got a few that I just love. Like this one:

Soooo, anyone want to let me practice with their kids or families? :)

Our little Lloyd

Hey guys! Oh! Big gulps, huh? Alright! Well....see you later!

It Puts the Lotion On

(Name that movie.)

Today has been a crazy, crazy day. There were ups, there were downs, and there were a lot of spills.

This morning, I decided three days without going anywhere was enough, and got the kids ready to go get some groceries at Wally World. They had been great all morning. They ate their pancakes with sweet potatoes hidden in them, didn't throw their food, didn't fight with each other...it was shaping up to be a great day.

When we were all ready, I told Diego to please pick up the toy mess he had made. I said, "I'm going to go to the potty. If you want to go to the store, please clean up the toys while I finish getting ready." I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and walked back out into the hallway. Seriously, two minutes, people. And this is what happened in those two minutes.

Marcelo pulled his little chair over to the diaper changing table, stood up on it, and dumped over the little box that holds some diapers, lotion, and hand sanitizer. It's not the first time he's gotten that box down. But usually, I'm right there to stop it. That's why I'm convinced this had to be premeditated. It was like, "Quick, she's gone. Move, people, move!" When I walked into the hallway, both boys were sitting there, surrounded by a mess of baby lotion and hand sanitizer. Diego had the sanitizer in his hands and was pumping away, and Celo had baby lotion all over his head!! That could only be Diego's doing. I may have yelled at this point. I scooped each of them up and put them in their rooms for time outs while I cleaned up the awful mess. Honestly, I kind of wanted to take a picture. But that would send the wrong message so I contained myself.

Diego, drama king that he is, yelled in his room, "Let me out of HERE!" I told him he couldn't come out until he learned to talk nicely. So he said, "Let me out of here please. Pretty please?" We then had a little talk and he apologized for "putting the lotion". I still needed to go to the store and didn't have time for full on baths, so I just put water in Celo's hair, wiped off their hands, and took them to the store with Celo looking like a little greaser.

After that incident and my reaction, Diego knew I meant business the rest of the day, so it was smooth sailing from there.

Until dinner.

I made soup for dinner. The boys started out great, but eventually got bored and started doing more playing than eating. They were making a mess with their soup, and as I turned to tell them to stop playing with their food, I accidentally dumped half of my own hot, soup, all over my leg, the table, and the floor. I just closed my eyes, breathed in, and stood up to clean up the mess. Diego said, "Oh no, Mommy, what happened? You made a mess?" I said, "Yes, I spilled my soup, so now I have to clean it up." His response? "It's okay, Mommy. Don't give up." I swear, he's inspired sometimes.

Back to Reality

So I guess the jam-packed holidays were a bit too much for my boys. They're off schedule, a little sleep deprived, and a lot spoiled with all their new loot. We were having so much fun with the busy holiday season, that we became a little more lenient in a lot of ways. And now it's gotten out of control. How out of control? We got called to come take Diego out of nursery twice in the past two weeks! That has never happened. Apparently, he's forgotten how to listen. He thinks, "Time for the lesson" really means, "Time to run in circles around the room". It was even suggested to me that he might be ADHD.

Soooo, he is now in boot camp. We're going to stay home this week and work on our listening skills. Okay, that's only partially true. We're also staying home this week because Diego isn't the only one who needs a break from all the hustle and bustle. I need it, too. I just want to relax, play with the boys, and get caught up on the house.

So far, this week has been pretty nice. We've played outside a ton, which I just love. I wasn't much of an outdoorsy person when I was growing up. I always preferred being inside, in the comfort of my home. Unless we were going to be "outside" at the beach, I didn't really understand the point of being outdoors in the hot hot sun. But now, I love love love being outside and breathing fresh air. It just instantly lifts my mood. The weather was perfect today, which made it even better. Seriously, our backyard is a few degrees cooler than the rest of the county. It always feels great out there because it's shaded by two big trees.

After about an hour of playing outside today, some bees showed up. And I'm afraid of bees, so I made the boys come inside. But it wasn't a big deal because Diego got a kick out of playing grocery store with me. It was hilarious to hear him counting out money and pretending I was the cashier. He cracks me up with some of the things he says.

Celo is not in such good spirits today. Last night, he had a fever of 103. Today he has had a fever on and off, but not as high. He's been miserable. He doesn't know what he wants. He wants me to hold him, then he doesn't want me to hold him, he wants to drink something, but then he throws his cup, he wants to eat, but then he just plays with his food. I don't know how to comfort him! But his puppy does. He just wants to cuddle his puppy. I think Diego is starting to get jealous of the puppy. He used to never even look at it, but now he always tries to take it away from Celo. Last night, they were playing in Celo's room, and I heard Diego toss the puppy into the crib and say, "Ha, ha, ha, ha, haaaa, you'll never get your puppy now!" With this evil laugh! He did the same thing to Marcelo (big M) the other day. He took a truck from him and said the same line, in the same "bad guy" voice. Marcelo and I almost died laughing. I have no idea where he got that.

So, it's back to reality in our house. No more Christmas decorations, no more extra sugary treats, no more skipping naps to go on day trips with family, no more rushing around. Now it's just a sick baby, a bored little boy, a tired mommy and daddy, and a very messy kitchen. :)

Happy New Year!

I love New Year's. It used to be my favorite holiday, but since having kids, it's tied for 2nd place with Halloween. You can guess my new favorite. It includes watching wide eyed boys rip apart wrapping paper.

We had our traditional New Year's this year, and for the first time in 3 years were able to enjoy it a lot more than years past. Why? Because Diego and Celo were finally able to stay up a lot longer than usual. I know, I'm a terrible mother and made them stay up way way way too late. Like.....2am. But they were having fun!! I have pictures to prove it.

We got to my aunt's house around 9pm, ate dinner around 10, and then danced and danced till midnight. Right before midnight we had our sparkling cider toast, and then were each handed a cup of 12 grapes so we could make our wishes (one grape for each month of the new year). We watched the ball drop and then made our rounds giving hugs and kisses and saying Happy New Year to everyone. Diego got a kick out that. He's still telling me Happy New Year. Then the dancing continued. I knew Diego was done when he no longer wanted to dance. I knew he was really REALLY done, when I was dancing and he looked at my mom and said, "Tata, Mommy's being crazy." Followed by, "I'm ready to go home and go to sleep in my bed." Can't get any clearer than that. Celo, on the other hand, had a really hard time right when we got there at 9. He was like, Um, can someone please explain to me why the party is just beginning when I should have been in bed half an hour ago?? But after awhile, he got a second wind and started having a good time. A little after midnight, he decided he needed to find a good place to sleep, so he kept walking into the living room, and laying down right there in the middle of the dance floor. It was funny, cute, and sad all at the same time. I still can't believe how long he lasted.

I have a lot of goals for myself for the new year. For once they're not the same goals as every year, like "exercise, read the scriptures more", etc, etc. Those are good things, of course, but besides the usual, I have some different, more specific goals for myself this year. I've written them down in my regular journal, and I'm excited about continuing to work towards those goals.
Okay, enough rambling. Picture time.

This was the best family shot we could get. One of these days we'll get a good one.

Diego dancing with Tato and Tata.

Sporting some Colombian hats with Tato and Tata

Diego's cheese face Celo usually looks just like his Daddy, but with this hat, he reminded me of my baby pictures where I'm wearing the same kind of hat. And as you can see in the picture, he didn't let go of his puppy all night.

New Year's Day

We spent New Year's Day at Marcelo's parent's house. Marcelo gave all the kids a ride on the tractor for awhile, and then Grandpa took over.
Diego and Celo tried out some new wheels:

Whew. Although we had a wonderful and memorable holiday season, I'm glad to get back to the normal routine. I even put away the Christmas decorations already. I'm usually in no rush to do that until at least January 6th (Three Kings Day). But Celo knocked down our tree and broke it, so I was like, hmmm, now seems like a good time to put everything back in the garage...or in the tree's case, give it to Goodwill.

Happy New Year!!!