Memory Lane

I figured one good way to capture some of the memories I have already missed was to go back and search the message boards. So I did, and pulled out these messages from the past.


4/26/2007 Thinking Thursday: What do you aspire to?
Our plan/goals for the future are as follows. We are currently working to get out of credit card debt. We got a huge refund this year and payed of about 70% of our debt with it, so that is going well. We will need a new used car this coming fall most likely, Luis' car is on its last legs. Luis' company is paying for him to go to school starting either this fall or in January. He will be in a 2 year program, and finish with a production engineering degree, at which point he will get an engineering position with his current employer and basically double his salary overnight. We will then be able to buy our own house (we live with my mom now). We are planning 3 (possibly 4) more children, but hopefully not until Darius is 3-4 and we are almost ready to move into our own place. Once we get there, I imagine we will not want much more. We have always just wanted a simple life with our own house and a big family. As for personal goals, I really just hope I can do the best for my kids at all times. As cheesy as it may sound, I have always wanted to be a mother, and nothing else. I feel very fortunate to have the life I have.

4/20/2007 Last night I slept with...
Last night (like every other) I fell asleep with
1. Taye, complete with accessories - a crayon, a notebook, and a stuffed Blue. (can you tell what he's into lately?) Oh, and a handmade Curious George blanket, completed just as he was getting over George and into Blue's Clues
2. Darius, complete with HIS accessories - baby Tylenol, Orajel, a pack of wipes, and his stuffed turtle
3. Luis, I won't get into his accessories
4. Three pillows, the most comfy comforter ever, and my cell phone.

1/15/2007 Just the MM facts please
1. What size clothes does MM wear? 24m/2T
2. What size shoe? 6.5-7
3. What size diaper 5
4. How many consecutive hours a night does MM sleep? 10-12
5. Does MM still take a paci? nope, never did
6. Is MM working on potty training at all? not really, he likes to sit on it, but doesn't go
7. Does MM still nurse or take a bottle? nope
8. Is MM in a big girl/boy bed? yeah, since about a year
9. How many naps a day does MM take? NONE! I don't know how he gets by with so little sleep
10. How many teeth does MM have? 16
11. Does MM still use a highchair? nope, he always used a booster, but hes out of that now too...his little brother stloe it!
12. Is MM forward or Rear Facing? Forward
13. Has MM had a haircut yet? yes, several
14. Does MM still have a lovey? not really, though he pretty much always has either his sunglasses, airplane or 'doos-doos babook' (blue's clues notebook) with him.

1/3/2007 MM say what?
Has your MM ever said something, and you have no clue where they picked it up? The first time I remember that happening with Taye was over the summer. He was eating lunch, and out of nowhere said "Sweet." For no reason. And I have no idea where it came from. We never said it, though of course we thought it was funny, and now we say it all the time.
The two new ones now are "Bye, see ya!" and now sometimes he'll do this really fake laugh and then go "oh, man!" at the end. I can't imagine where he got these from, but he cracks me up when he does it .

1/3/2007 Are you the kind of mom you thought...
you would be? I have been thinking a lot about that lately, because I really don't feel like I am as good of a mom as I thought I would be. I don't think I am a bad mother at all, just not as good as I expected. Lately I feel like I have NO patience for anything. Darius is in the middle of this frustrating phase that Taye went through too. He has been sitting for about 6 weeks now, and is totally bored by it. Now all he wants to do is stand (with my help, of course) or to be carried. Its exhausting, and I know with Taye it lasted until he had completely mastered crawling (8-ish months). So we probably have at least a couple more months of this. And its completely sapping my patience and energy. I think thats probably the thing that bothers me the most about myself. I have been babysitting since I was 11, and worked in daycare or as a nanny from age 16 on, so I knew what to expect, and I just feel like I used to have more patience. I guess its the 24-hour a day part that is a big adjustment from an 8-10 hour day. I also don't feel like I am as much fun as I used to be. We only have one car, and Luis takes it to work, so the boys and I are stuck in the house all day, which is especially hard in the winter months. I get bored, they get bored. I just ordered 2 activity books on Amazon, hoping they'll have some decent ideas.
What about you? How are you faring with this mommy gig? Are you a better or worse mother than you thought you'd be?

11/26/2006 How did you come up with MM’s name?
I had Taye picked out since I was about 16. I worked at a daycare all through High School, and one year we had a boy named Mateo, and his mom called him Taye for short. I loved it. His middle name is Salvador, which we took from the name of the city (Villa el Salvador) where Luis lived in Peru. It also means Savior in Spanish.
Darius was not my choice at all, in fact I was dead set against it pretty much my whole pregnancy, but Luis wouldn't cave on it. It was actually my uncle's favorite name, but he only had girls, and my aunt wouldn't have let him use it anyway. Luis and my uncle are really close, and Luis like the name and wanted to use it as a way to honor my uncle, I guess. Anyway, I like it now, it suits him. His middle name it Cruz ('cross' in Spanish) which Luis picked because he liked how they sound together, and he wanted him to have a Hispanic name too.

10/21/2006 Any other MM’s done with naps already?
Hi all, I was just wondering if we're the only ones in this boat. About 6-8 weeks ago Taye refused to take a bottle anymore, after which I had the hardest time getting him to fall asleep for naps. Eventually I just gave up the fight. Some days he'd get a nap if we happened to be out and he fell asleep in the car. Other days he'd fall asleep around 6-7, sometimes for a nap, sometimes for the night (and he doesn't normally go to be until 9-10ish). Anyway, now he goes straight through the day without napping at all. He will still fall asleep if we're in the car, but if we're home he doesn't, and though he may get a little grouchy sometimes, it doesn't seem to bother him otherwise. I have just finally resigned myself to the fact that he is done napping. I can't believe it, every kid I know has napped until age 3 or so, and I was so looking forward to Taye and Darius napping together at some point so I could have some down time. So anyway, it made me wonder if any other MM's are done napping, or if Taye is the only one.


7/15/2006 Taye327 update, new SN, new siggy, and....
a new baby too! Hi all, I have not been around in forever, we have had the craziest two months, and sometimes it was hard to find time just to breathe. First we found out that Luis' job was going to be going through major layoffs, though no one knew who, so he had to just assume he may lose his job and start looking for another one. He did find another job, a really great one, but its a live in position, which meant that we had to move. Luis did end up getting laid off two weeks before he started his new job, which was good in that he could help me pack, but bad financially. We moved almost exactly a month before I was due.
Around the same time that we found out Luis may get laid off, we had an u/s and were told they found an abnormality in the baby's brain. We really didn't know mush at first, and spent the last 2 months of the pregnancy having blood tests, ultrasounds, even a fetal MRI. It was extremely stressful, but with every test, the news got better and better. Its turned out to be almost nothing, meaning only that he may have some minor developmental delays at the worst. It also meant I had to have a c-section instead of the VBAC I was desperately hoping for, since they were concerned about the pressure a vaginal birth would put on his head. I was scheduled for the c-section on July 5th. The night of the 3rd, my whole extended family went to the fireworks like we do every year, and I kept joking that I should go into labor that night, so I could have the baby on the 4th. I thought that would be cool for two reasons; first because Taye was born on Easter and so then I'd have 2 holiday babies, and second because my mom's birthday is the 4th. As it happened, I woke up around 3am having contractions. By 6:30 I was sure I was in labor, called my mom to stay with Taye and we went to the hospital. Darius Cruz was born at 12:16pm weighing 8lbs. 10oz. Taye is madly in love with his brother, he kisses him constantly and always wants to hold him and sit near him. He still needs to perfect his gentle touch, but its so sweet to see the two of them together. I'm so happy with how easy the transition has been. If you'd like to see some pictures, you can see every single picture we've ever taken of Taye and Darius here:

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y275/orosco33/Taye/?sc=3

Hopefully I will be able to get back here more often. I know I don't post a lot, but I read almost everything, and I love being able to come here. Hope everyone is doing well, Taye sends hugs.

3/30/2006 What a nightmare
this week has been, and just when I thought it was getting better, a new issue popped up It all started on Saturday, which was supposed to be a fun day (Taye's first birthday party). After finishing all the prep work we could, Luis and I collapsed into bed at 1:30. Taye woke me up 3 hours later, then he fell asleep while I could not. He ended up waking up around 6am (about 2-3 hours early for him) with a fever. I gave him some Motrin which brought it down, but he was still pretty lethargic. He stayed that way most of the day, which was sad b/c he really didn't get to enjoy his party at all. Sunday morning he seemed ok, but by the afternoon he was throwing up. He didn't feel well at all the rest of the day. I went to bed thinking it was probably a 24-hour thing and he would be better in the morning. He wasn't, in fact he seemed to feel worse. He wasn't throwing up any more, but he had zero energy and was just miserable. He ended up being awake for a grand total of 5 1/2 hours the whole day (which btw was his birthday). Tuesday was supposed to be his 12 month well visit, which we kept, but it ended up being a sick visit instead. His Dr. was worried that he was dehydrated, and sent us to the ER.
We waited in the waiting room for 4 hours (!) before they called us into the room. We saw the Dr. right away after that, and she said she would send a nurse in to start the IV. 1 1/2 hours later someone came in. She couldn't find Taye's vein, so they had to call a special nurse to come start the IV. We got to the ER at 11:30am, it was 6:30 or 7 before they finally got the IV in. While she was putting it in, the nurse was asking me how long it had been since he had any fluids. I told her it had been since the morning, that he had pretty much been sleeping the whole time we were there. She started lecturing me, that I can't let him sleep like that, I have to wake him up and give him x amount of fluids every hour, etc. etc. I snapped back that we had been there for seven hours, and no one told me anything or helped us at all. I mean, I hadn't even eaten a thing since breakfast...I couldn't leave the waiting room to get anything, I had no cash for the vending machines, and no one to bring me anything. Anyway, she said she couldn't believe they didn't give me anything for him, and that we were there that long. Later, I heard her telling the other nurses, they all seemed shocked.
It was such a horrible day. He did sort of perk up after the IV, and they sent him home. I really didn't feel like he was much better yesterday, so we brought him back to his Dr. They told us what to look for in terms of him getting worse, and said other than that his body would just have to work through it. He did show some improvement by yesterday afternoon, and has been almost himself today, just a little more fussy and clingy than usual. He's also still not eating a ton, the poor guy hasn't even had his birthday cake yet, it still in the fridge!
So I should be ecstatic, but here is the new problem. There were times during the days he was sick where Taye refused to eat, drink, or nurse. As a result, my already depleted milk supply (due to pregnancy) is almost nonexistent. Since yesterday afternoon, almost every time he has tried to nurse to sleep, my milk has run out before he was asleep, and he has pitched a fit. It is breaking my heart. He nurses for a few minutes on one side, then stops and fusses so I know it is gone. I give him the other side, he nurses for a few minutes and does the same. From there, all I can do is hold him and try to get him to sleep other ways. But it is so not what he wants. He get so mad, arches his back and screams. I end up alternating between holding him and lying with him, rubbing his back. Eventually he gives in and sleeps. I wish there was something I could do to get my milk back. I never thought I'd be forced to wean him this early (or at least partly wean I guess). I checked online, and I guess there really isn't much you can do for supply during pregnancy. I know this got really long, thanks for reading. I just needed to get it off my chest, and I knew you would all understand.

12/20/2005 First appt. (finally!) U/S and due date
Hi everyone, I haven't been able to post much lately, but I have been trying to check in at least once a day. I wanted to give my little update. I had my first appointment yesterday...finally! Everything was fine, and as an added bonus, they were able to get me an ultrasound yesterday too, since I have not seen AF in over a year (don't miss her, lol) and had no idea how far along I am. Fortunately my friend was with me, as I had Taye and couldn't have brought him into the u/s alone. They determined that I am 11 weeks today, which means I am due July 11. That is about what I was thinking, but I was so excited to find out for sure. And it was so fun to see the little baby...it all feels so much more real now. So thats my story for now, I go back just after New Year's to see the Dr. I hope everyone else is doing well, I will try to get around more often. (((Hugs)))

11/23/2005 Taye’s going to be...
a BIG BROTHER!! I still can't believe it, my head is spinning. I have suspected for a couple of weeks, but didn't take a test until tonight. We have no idea when I am due as I have not had AF since before I got pg with Taye. So we will have to wait and see. We are so excited, but honestly I don't think its completely sunk in yet. I will keep you all updated.

9/15/2005 The State of the Marchmallows
Since most of our babies have had or are rapidly approaching their half-birthdays, I thought it might be fun to see just what they (and their mamas) are up to. Tell us anything and everything you would like. Feeding, sleeping, playing, growing, rockin' and rollin'...anything. And let us know how you are doing as well; how are you feeling, whats going on in your life, how are you liking being a mom (for the first time, or all over again)? I can't wait to read everyone's responses!

I will start. Taye is still EBF (only 2 more weeks!) He has tried a few things, mostly drinks as he always tries to grab them away from us. He also stares at anything we eat, and sometimes starts opening his mouth and moving his tongue so I think he is ready for food! Though he is still thriving on breastmilk. His last appointment was at 4 months, so I don't have any recent official stats, but by my measurement he is about 29 inches, and I would guess between 21-22lbs. We are still co-sleeping full time, we took one side off his crib and attached it to our bed to give us all a little more breathing room. He had been sleeping about 8 hours at a time until a couple of weeks ago. He suddenly started waking every three hours, then every 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Then on Monday, his first tooth popped through on the bottom. Its brother is working his way out too, and we think we can see the the two top teeth on their way as well. Nothing a little Tylenol can't help. He is rolling and sitting up like a pro. One of our favorite games is to lie him on the far side of the crib, and I lie on the opposite side on the bed and he rolls over and over until he is touching my side. He thinks its very funny. He likes sitting a lot and reaching for toys around him to play with. He grabs EVERYTHING! He's gotten very good at jumping in his Jumperoo...he can really get that thing going! He just got a walker (I know, against the "rules") which he likes, but he always tries to jump in it (LOL) and can only really go backwards.
Now I know some of you may not believe me, but Taye says "Mama." I've been hearing it for a couple of weeks, but told no one since I figured they'd think its just wishful thinking. But, on 2 seperate occasions Luis and my mom heard it and both said "omg he said mama" so I know its not just me! I also think he says "hi" but that hasn't been confirmed.
As for me, I started a PT nanny job on Monday, and quit on Tuesday. The commute was far worse than I imagined, and their 4 year old spends the day beating up on Taye, throwing things at him, he kicked him, drops things on his head, etc. So we were SO out of there. I did give them notice so they can find someone, but I'm not sure I'll stay after next week if the kids behavior does not improve. As for being a mama, I am LOVING it! Watching him grow and learn is so exciting, and he truly is the happist baby I know. He is so much fun to play with, and we have been lucky in so many ways (ie his sleep schedule.) He is such an easy baby I'm afraid to have other ones! But I also can't wait for that to happen. The one thing I am finding hard is getting everything done around the house while also taking care of Taye. And I find that Luis' crazy hours at work bother me a lot more now b/c I wish he had more time with Taye. Other than that, life is good!
Taye adds yfccccccccccccc ,v/ ;//&

9/12/2005 So Strange... (I had forgotten about this one)
The strangest thing happened today. First of all, I don't think I ever talked about it on here, but Taye's birth did not go well. To make a very long, upsetting story short, it was an unplanned, unwanted C-section, and they ended up having to knock me out. They also did not let Luis into the room. So basically we both missed his birth. I still get upset thinking about it, so I try not to. I just started a PT nanny job today for 2 young boys (I get to bring Taye with me-yay!) For the first couple of hours, I only have one of the boys, the older one is at school. So today was my first day, and I had been there a couple of hours. Out of completely nowhere, the boy (who is 4) asked me "Do you have memory of Taye's birth?" I told him, "no, actually I don't." He asked why, and I told him. He asked a few more questions, and I actually had to leave the room at that point as I was getting upset. I wasn't prepared to think about it at that time...usually I can catch myself starting to think about it, and think of something else to distract myself, but this was so out of nowhere. I was shocked, I don't know what would ever have possessed this child to ask me that, its not exactly the average 4 y.o. question. I just had to share, it was a little freaky.

8/25/2005 Message from Debby (davetreymom)
Hi there I just wanted to say I was looking at your sons pictures and he is gorgeous.

(shes so sweet, she made my day)

8/23/2005 What word or sound makes your MM smile?
I have no idea why, but Taye thinks "what?" is soo funny...especially when hes sleepy (everything is funny then!) He laughs EVERY TIME I look at him and say "what?" Like I said, I don't have a clue why, lol.

8/4/2005 Does your MM sit unassisted?
Taye has started doing this a lot lately. Its funny b/c he almost never tips over. When his arms get tired, he just starts sliding lower and lower until he is pretty much bent double. It doesn't look too comfy, and he usually gets mad at that point, so we pick him up Last night Luis also had him standing on his own, holding on to the ottoman. It was pretty cool. He is getting too big too fast.

7/27/2005 My Little Baby...
is really not little at all. He is off the charts! Taye had his 4 month appointment today (I can not BELIEVE he is 4 months old already!!!) He was 27.5 inches long (above 95%) and 20lbs. 6.5oz. (off the chart!) He'd better start walking soon, or I'm going to break my back, lol. I'm not expecting that any time soon though. We went to his new doctor today, and I really liked her and the whole office better than the last one. Of course, he had to have his shots, which was very sad, but I think he was more upset b/c they woke him up to do it than anything else. We had to get up at 5:45 today, and Taye usually sleeps until 10 or so. And he only got about a 15 minute nap before his appointment, so he was very grouchy. He fell asleep as soon as the Dr. was done, so the shots woke him up. But as soon as I picked him up again he fell back asleep. So I guess he got over the trauma pretty fast. OK, now I feel like I am babbling, its been a long day. Thats all for now!

7/12/2005 The little punk!
OK, so we have been working on finishing our living room since we moved in November. We have had all our furniture in the dining room and it was getting real tight. Its finally finished so I spent today moving everything in. When I was about halfway through, I put Taye down on the rug, on his belly, and went to get another piece of furniture from the dining room. I walk back in the room, not 10 seconds later, and the little punk is laying on his back on the rug, gurgling and talking to himself. He rolled over, and I missed it!! I couldn't believe it. Sign me up for the mommy's-who-missed-it club, LOL. I did get to see him do it again later though. Oh well!