I have said it before, my friend Cara is like an ANGEL in our lives.

She is part of a choir, and today I had the opportunity to hear that angel singing.... Sadly I was not able to be there as she is all across the world, BUT she posted two videos for me to see on her blog. She only posts on this blog when she travels, but she posted this for all of us to be able to see it.

Words cant express the joy that my heart felt when I heard her signing... she has a beautiful voice, and her signing is simply amazing.... I wish she could be closer so she could sing to my girls as beautiful as she sang in that concert. I wish she knew how GOOD she sounds!!!

We all watched it and Gaby was sooooooooooooooooooooo excited... she said that she wanted to be there because auntie Cara was a PRINCESS with a PRECIOUS singing!!!

She didnt upload it to You Tube, so I cant post it on my blog... But, you guys can stop by her blog and listed to her by yourselves... You can click on the image here and it will take you to her post.... By the way, she is the one with the princess dress....
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 8:16 AM 3 comments READ FULL POST
There is no much progress on the potty as we are not pushing it... Mimi just turned 18 months old, and to push her is not our plans.. Anyway, it is soo funny all the progress that she is showing, and it really amazes me... I bet tons of other kids knew how to do that by this age, but that has not been my personal experience, so, from perspective, it is awesome...

Sadly, the camera we got doesnt have sound, so our videos from now on will be in MUTE, but you dont need words to understand what is going on here. My instructions were: Could you take the doll to go potty?

Of course, everthing came to an end cause Mia and Gaby came to take their dolls to potty, and Mimi had to take her potty chair and doll away!!!

Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 8:53 PM 1 comment READ FULL POST
As I mentioned before, I have been green-iying our lives and one of the things that we havent been doing have been using cloth napkins.... I have never been a fan of disposable napkins, but we do buy them sometimes.

We are not close to be set with cloth napkins, but we ordered our first set!!! We are so excited specially since they are sooooooooooooooo stinkin cute!!!!! I order them from Etsy from a shop called Little Bit Designs by Girlie Momma. She is a very nice lady and the communication was GREAT! I will be contacting her very soon, cause Im planning to buy a set for my mom's house as a gift for her so her grandkids (my girls and my nephew) can use when they are over there... Cant wait!!

Here are two shots of the napkins... They have cute little animals in one side, and plain red on the other...

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Here is a close up of the fabric:

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The owner will be my customer too now as she will be ordering something from my shop... Gotta love how "mom shops" support each other!

Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 10:42 PM No comments READ FULL POST
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 10:42 PM 1 comment READ FULL POST
Mia had a potty accident at school today, and not only her pants and panties got diry, but also her shirt... I have only been sending an extra pants and undies, but not a shirt... Her teacher decided to "make" her a t-shirt for her to wear in the meantime, and this sure was a "non-sewing" shirt!! Gotta find the instructions to start selling shirts like it!!! She has also wearing a Thanksgiving hat (made with construction paper).
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Please, ignore the cables and mess from the back... The picture was taken at hubby's office, and you cant expect to find something else in a computer tech office, right?
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 10:30 PM 4 comments READ FULL POST
Those were Gaby's words when she tried her eyeglasses... I even asked her if she wanted to take them off and she said NO!! I wonder how she was seeing without them that she become so easily aware of the need of them. I hope it continues to be as easy as it looks. For a week she will use them for 5 hours at the same time that she wears the patches in school, and then after the adaptation process is over, she will use them FULL time... We need to buy an extra pair for phys ed, ballet and sporty situations in all.

I really dont know what was I thinking when I listened to the lady where we got the eyeglasses who told me that Gaby didnt need anti-reflecting coating. What was I thinking... So, now when I take a picture, I will have to put time editing the eyeglasses (which I didnt do in the pictures below).... When I get the new ones, I will get them with anti-reflecting coating and will put it to this one.
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Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 9:48 PM 4 comments READ FULL POST
We need to come up with a solution for world hunger, or maybe find a solution for all the homeless dogs around the world... What do you think?
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Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 11:48 AM 1 comment READ FULL POST
I cant believe it took us that long but we finally went "eyeglasses" shopping with Gaby. We put the money together 3 times and had to use it for something else (the last thing being the almost 300 bucks that I have spend in my ear drama). We all went to buy the eyeglasses (including my mom), and Mimi and Mia had lots of fun!
I truly think that everything happens for a reason, though. After 2 hours of thinking what eyeglasses to buy for Gaby, we all decided to go ahead with a model that just got there a few days before. This means that we would have gotten a different (and probably less cute) eyeglasses if we had gotten them a couple of weeks ago.

I think the eyeglasses are just perfect for her... They are from the brand Hush Puppies. Most of the others had paws all over, but this one actually have FLOWERS... Yes, it even has three little flowers together.... It did had a paw on the crystal, but we explained Gaby that her the ones that she will use wont have that paw in there. She was happy either way, specially since the glasses are pink AND purple: her two favorite colors. There was another one with lighter colors, and my mom (who was with us) and hubby was rooting for, but Gaby really wanted this one, so we decided to let her choose, as they also look gorgeous on her.
We have to pick them up Tuesday or Wednesday, and I promise to take pictures and post them!
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 12:17 PM 5 comments READ FULL POST
Wow!!! I CANT believe Mimi is 18 months old already! There are some many and so many things that were suppose to wait until she was 18 months old, that is feels crazy to know that SHE IS 18 months old already!!

There is no way I can count how many words she says, but I can tell she says A LOT. I remember that Gaby and Mia were able to communicate this much by the time they were 23-24 months old, but Mimi is even putting 2-words sentences together. She says everything that she wants us to know, even pee and poo.

We are planning to start taking her to the bathroom because lately she has been saying "pee or poo", and holding her diaper JUST before she does it. It sounds insane to me, but it now crossed to my mind that I may be out of diapers FOR GOOD in just a few months. Im sure 2009 will be a year of BIG things in our house, because whether I like it or not, there wont be more babies around here!

Mimi turning 18 months old sounds like the end of an ERA. Tears fill my eyes, because sooner or later, my girls will be older and I just hope that they need me as much as I need my mom everyday in my life. I hope they need each other as much, and that they can grow a great relationship.

There were several people (including two OB) that told me that I needed to terminate Mimi's pregnancy, because she had no chances to live, and because I was going to put in danger my own life. I thank God so much because I was stronger than those people. I just look at Mimi's face, and I cant imagine my life without her. God knew that we were not going to look for her at the moment that I got pregnant with her, but he knew we were going to be able to manage somehow and Im so grateful for that.

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Mimi's co-godmother Vanessa called me early this week because she wanted to take Mimi to a field day in a church. She took her for a couple of hours and Im very happy for both of them, because they got to bond. Here is a picture of them just when I was getting Mimi in her car. Mimi was ready to leave, but was not in the mood for pictures, hence her face:
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 7:27 PM 3 comments READ FULL POST
November is the month of the family, and because of that the school had a "Granparents Day" at school today. My in-laws are overseas, my dad very far, and my mom in a meeting from her job that was planned since forever ago and that there was no way for her to scape from... So, that left my girls grandparent-less.

I knew that was not going to help with Gaby's adaptation, as she was going to see all the other kids with several grandparents (some even with all 4 of them), and she was going to be by herself. I knew Camila was not going to understand much to be upset, so I didnt worried about her.

My girls calls my mom's sister: "abuelados", which is a fun made up way to say: Grandma #2, and they have been very close to her (even though not as much as with my mom, of course). Her husband is in a very critical condition, and she hardly goes anywhere. However, that day, she made the arrangements to go out because one of her granddaughters had a birthday party at school. So, as that school was close to our school, I decided to give it a call and Im glad I did.

By the time she got there, Camila's activity was over, but my aunt had to opportunity to participate in Gaby's activity and it was great!!!! Im sure some of the other kids would have let Gaby "borrow" an extra grandparent for the activity, but it was great that Gaby was able to do it with somebody that she loves and that loves her...

There was no pictures taken, but I will take pictures of the activity they made and update this post when I do... My aunt took Gaby home with her (as all the grandparents did) and she spent a couple of hours there waiting for us to pick her up...
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 10:38 PM 2 comments READ FULL POST
Im a very thankful to be able to give Mia this awesome gift. Being able to socialize with kids her age, and being expose to so many activities, makes me feel really blessed. Mia's first period's evaluation was last week, and even though I know everything that you can do (and what she cant), it is great to hear it from other people who happens to be experts in small children's development.

They evaluated her social skills, cognitive development, motor skills and vocabulary. Each part had several aspects that were evaluated. In general, Mia got "Meet Expectations" in mostly every aspect.

In the Socio-Emotional Development, here are the things were she "Meet expectations":
* Says her name when she is asked; when asked, identifies and says her gender; when she talks, she refers to herself by her name; says the names of her classmates; call the teachers by their names; play with other children; share with others when asked; express caring feelings with her teachers and classmates; shows awareness of somebody else's feelings; follows the classroom routine; seeks for help when she needs it; shows friendship towards other kids.

In the Cognitive Development, here are the things were she "Meet expectations":
* Answers simple questions; uses simple sentences to express herself; follow instructions; observe and reproduce simple patterns using objects; counts from one to five using objects; seek and found an object when she is looking for it; gribbles freely; gribbles inside of a giving figure; sort objects in different positions (up, down, in, out); names the action of an image; put puzzles together, recognize the different between “much” and “few”; identifies and names some parts of the body; identifies and names objects around the classroom.

In the Motor Skills Development, here are the things were she "Meet expectations":
* Builds towers with blocks; uses books going from one page to the other and going one by one; tears paper freely; shows her dominant size of the body (right on her case); prefers to use her (right on her case) hand; holds the crayons to color; stands on one feet for a few seconds; runs after a balls and kicks it; crawls easily; rolls her body with support; can climb (oh boy, dont we know about this?); alternate her feet to go up the stairs; moves her body to the music; responds to a simply rhythm using a musical instrument.

In the Vocabulary that they have worked on, here are the ones were she "Meet expectations":
* My School; myself; my community; city helpers.

In the Socio-Emotional Development, she only "Needs Improvement" in "Shows her age with her fingers". In the Cognitive Development, she "Needs Improvement" in Identifying and naming all the shapes for her level, and some colors. For some reason they were not specific. I plan to ask her next week. In the Motor Skills Development, she only "Needs Improvement" in "Uses playdoh to make balls".

There are some areas that were not evaluated this time, so we will see more of that in the Spring Evaluation. Here is the comment that the teacher wrote:
Camila, with her friendliness and kindness, has conquered us all. She shows a positive attitude in the accomplishment of the activities and interacting with her classmates. She express her emotions and feelings on a clear way, although sometimes she does not make use of the verbal language and cries, which is why we are trying to speak to her in a low tone of voice and motivating her to do the same.

She is doing a great job with potty training and has been “dry” most of the time: Good Job, Camila! She still needs more reinforcement in this area, and we are sure that we will be able to accomplish this with the help of the house. Shows very good motor skills development, showing it in “free traces”, “sorting out patterns”, in addition to “going up the stairs, walk, run and jump”. Her favorite activities are: story time, sing songs and put puzzles together.

Camila is a very special child and having her in my classroom enlightens up my days.
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Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 10:20 PM 5 comments READ FULL POST
Since I was pregnant with Mimi I had the feeling that she was going to be the leader in the house, and I still think it will be like that. She is the youngest of the house and it is the one that gets away with things easier. Everything has to be done her way, and she manages to have it done when and how she wants.

She is very easy to please, but she expects to be pleased and PRONTO. There is no delays allowed in her schedule or she will throw the fit of the year.

Mimi also manages to stay serious in front of somebody that she doesnt know, no matter how hard that person tries to make her smile. She wont. At least for the first 20 minutes, she wont. After that, and when she decides, she will be all smile. And oh boy, can she laugh!!! She has this gorgeous laugh that will get everybody laughing wit her.

She is a total cutie and she melts my heart. Doesnt matter how upset or stressed I may be, she will find a way to get me focus in what it is the most important thing: The Love of the Family.

Here is a little collage that I made of her many silly faces (and a effect to try to cover some blurr photos).
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Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 9:32 PM 5 comments READ FULL POST
Today I went in for Tympanometry and Audiology (there was a third exam that I really cant remember the name).

The tympanometry test measures the ear's responses to the sound and different pressures. A device is placed into the ear. This device changes the air pressure in the ear and makes the eardrum move back and forth. He told me I was going to feel like if I had a very bad cold and it's true... That is exactly how I felt. It was not painful, but it wasnt a fun experience in my hurt ear.

Then, the audiology was a bit more of fun (NOT). He actually lock me in a booth, exactly like the one in the picture and put me some headphones (similar to the ones pictured). The last two test (the audiology and the other one that I cant remember the name) were performed in the booth. In one of the tests, I was suppose to be hearing a rain noise in the good ear (the right) and beeping noises in the bad ear (the left) and was suppose to hit a button every time I was hearing the noises. We discovered with this test that I could actually hear the beeps BUT in the other ear!!!!!!!!!! He said that is it normal my kind of trauma.

My ENT asked me to walk in when I had the results done, so even though I had to spend six hours in the hospital I got to get the test done and see her in the same day. Diagnosis: Unilateral Conductive Hearing Loss. There are six degrees of hearing loss: Slight, Mild, Moderate, Moderately Severe, Severe and Profound. Mine is right in between Slight and Moderate (the exact middle point).

As we learned from the graphic my previous post about this (yes, I hope you guys paid attention and learned), the ear has three parts: The outer, the middle and the inner ear. When Conductive Hearing Loss occurs it makes the transmission of sound through the middle and/or outer ear to be interrupted. The auditory nerve still functions normally; the sound is just unable to reach the inner ear.

I have to continue the medication until Sunday, and then have to go on Monday for to get a shot in there... I will find out more about this. Then, I will have to retest a week later (which will be December 1st) to see if my hearing improved. If it doesnt improve she will tell me what to do. They both think (the ENT and the audiologist) that I will outgrow this, and that surgery wont be needed.

(Everything in italic is a quote from the links provided on this post).
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 2:05 PM 3 comments READ FULL POST
Stop by my business blog for the chance to win a

FREE HOLIDAY CARD DESIGN!!
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 9:52 PM 2 comments READ FULL POST
It is that time of the year!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas and I LOVE Christmas Cards!!! My card is already done and I still need one more picture to be sent to be printed!!!!

What I need from you?? Your address!!! I love exchaning Holiday Cards, and sending ours is my favorite part!!

To make it easier, fill out a Conctact Form on my site, feel out the address info and in the subject write something like: Add me to the Holiday Card List... In the comments section it helps if you write me where do I know you from (just in case)...

I hope to get all the addresses from my active readers and lurkers!!!! Can't wait.
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 9:49 PM 1 comment READ FULL POST
The more I read about it, the more I think on the things that we are doing or could be doing to give our 2 cents to help with the environment. There are simply some lifestyle habits or choices that we can change to make a difference. We wont be doing this drastically, and I wont be making my own facil cleanser, but Im positive about little things that we can do here and there.

Either to help the environment, or (let’s face it) to save money, here are the things that the blooming buds are doing (or will start doing) to have a greener life.

1 – Saving Energy. It is a norm in our house that every unused bulb is turned off. I must have gotten that from my mom, but it drives me crazy to see the lights on in an empty room. Also, our bulbs are compact florescent bulbs from EnergyStar. The only regular bulb we have in one from the front of the house that we hardly ever light anyway. However, we tent to leave the fans on, even if we are outside of the house. This doesn’t fit with the “saving energy” motto, but when we turn them off; the rooms are so hot and with humidity smell.

2 - Greeifying my computer. Let's face it... You all know my computer is ON all day long. But one thing that I do is that I always turn off the monitor when I get up from the computer. I can still hear the beeps from an incoming email or the messenger, but at least Im saving some energy as one of the things that makes the bill go higher is the monitor. I do that at school too. I NEVER set the screensaver... What's the point of that? I also turn off the speakers when I will be too far from the computer to hear any beep.

3 - Low printing. As you guys know, I dont print in my business (except for a few things like mommy and business cards), but mostly everything is without printing. Then, when my customers print, they only print the exact amount that they need, and dont have to buy extras (if I sell the cards with printing, the amounts will be rounded and people will end up with leftover cards). I also store my pictures in the computer and CD's, instead of printing EVERY SINGLE picture that I take. I cant even imagine what it will be like if I were to print every single shot that I take...

4 - Washing. I know sometimes I wish to wash with warm water, but we dont even have the hot water connected to the washer machine, so we are set to cold water. I also hand-wash little things instead of running the washer machine for little items.

5 – Gas. We all go to the same area everyday, which reduces our gas consumption in the car. We were both too far before, and saving on gas was one of the things that help us to make the decision of hubby changing job a few months ago. We also try to avoid several trips to the Supermarket or any other place that we frequent. When we need the pharmacy or something from la bodega, we call in for delivery. They use gas to bring it, but less gas is used in a motorcycle than in our car.

The building of the girls preschool is two blocks away down and then one block way right, and MOST people drive back and forth. We try not to drive when we need to go during the morning for one reason or the other. We try to only drive there when is to pick up the girls.

6 – Cloth Diapers. Everybody thought that I was crazy, but we started and it was great. When the girls started school, we kinda stopped using them, especially since Mimi started having rashes. Later I found out that those rashes where because of the detergent we were using on the diapers. Mia is Potty Trained already, but we plan to resume cloth diapering with Mimi this week. Still trying to find the right detergent to wash them. It is amazing the amount of trash that disposable diaper generates, and I really don’t want to continue adding to it. We also NEVER use disposable swimming diapers… We have always used cloth swimming diapers. We also dont use wipes since long time ago. We use cloth wipes or (most of the times) simply water and soap.

7 - Bags. This is something that we somehow need to start doing. I need to research a bit more, so I will leave this subject on hold while I do it. We do plan to buy some plastic containers to stop using the ziplocs that we are using for the school's snacks, but in the meantime, we are reusing the ziplocs when the teacher send them back (which is regular).

8 - Napkins. I have been googling some cloth napkins. I have never been a big fan of disposable napkins anyway, so I will stock up with some cloth ones so we dont even buy the disposables anymore. We wash everyday anyway, so throwing something extra wont hurt us anyway.

9 - Cleaning Supplies: I haven’t done anything in this subject but I plan to do it. I have heard of people using vinager, vaking soda and a few other things to replace some cleaning supplies. It wont hurt to try something to clean that doesn’t make you dizzy as most of the cleaning products make me. I promise to blog more about this when I do the proper research and start doing it.

10 - Food. I have always been very eager to make homemade food instead of buying ready-made food, incluing baby food. I have never understood what is the point of buying a banana babyfood, when I can simply buy the bananas and throw them in the chopper. If you guys dont own a chopper I hightly recommend the Ultimate Chopper. I got one since Gaby started solid months when she was a baby, and we CANT live without it.

I know there are tons of other things that I could be doing, and I plan to work on a few more once I became more aware of them. I also plan to teach my daughters on the day-to-day about how important this is.
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 9:55 AM 5 comments READ FULL POST
There were 14 participants to win 3 complete makeover for family blogs, and I asigned a number to each one. Then I used an only random number generator, and it gave me the winners:
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Congratulations to the winners, and please let me know where to email you so I can start working on you guys over the weekend!! Cant wait!!!!
To all the others that didnt win, you guys will get a 20% off from the makeover price if you order your makeover before December 15th.
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 12:01 AM 3 comments READ FULL POST
The girls had their first evaluation report for this school year. The had an adaptation report that the school issues after a few weeks that the school starts so the parents can know how adapted s the child to the new school year, but this is the first evaluation per se.

I didnt go because Im still on bedrest, and honestly I was not disappointed for not being able to go. With all the things that has happened with Gaby, I feel like I already had enough of the dose of "complaining about your daughter" that I can take for a bit, so I think I needed a break. Dont get me wrong, I still want to know how she is doing at school, but it is just so difficult to understand how she is behavnig so "bad" in school when in the house she is behaving better and better at the house, and stays most of the time in green. She hardly ever goes to yellow, and much less to red.

On a positive note the teacher wrote in the comments that Gaby has the best communication skills among ALL the students, which makes me very proud. She is talking in full sentences in English, and is able to maintain long conversations totally in English. I cant wait for my friend Cara to come back so they can have a loooong conversation!

Mia had an awesome evaluation as she meets with mostly all the things that are expected for her age. They also cant stop saying how much they love her and Im very happy for that. She is so easy to love because she is fun and unpredictable, and you just never know what would be her next thing. I know it is not easy to punish her as she will try to get the fun out of time out and crack you up!

I also had a VERY long talk to her pediatrician, and she is not worried AT ALL about Gaby. She says that she will referred me to have all the tests done, but that she is sure that everything is going to come back negative as she has spend a lot of time with Gaby and that she will have noticed earlier. I have to call her back tomorrow morning to her cell to make sure she was able to get me the pediatric neurologist to see us for thing next week.
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 11:25 PM 2 comments READ FULL POST
Laura aKa Laly is a friend that I met twelve years ago (wow! that long?) and is a new mom who is madly in love with her son. She is also a graphic designer and decided to put together her talent and her son and draw her son's face in Photoshop. This is something that I have tried to do several times, but it is too time consuming for me, and I just dont have the patience required to do a good job.

I saw what she did with her son's face, and asked her if she was willing to do that for the 3 Little Flowers customers, and she said yes!!! So, if you are interested just email me for a quote and we can get a drawing of your little one on an invitation, annoucement, holiday card, anything! Even blog banners, avatars and more.

She is still on the learning process, but she is doing an awesome job so far... Wonder if you guys recognize these faces (by the way, she did everthing... The only thing I did was the background, and some tone adjustment):
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Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 10:53 PM 3 comments READ FULL POST
It feels sooooooooo weird to be home all morning and to actually be "allowed" to nap!! I did worked with a few things from here and there, and received at least 15 phone calls from the school, but I did manage to take one long nap and it was great.
Im feeling dizzy, and Im not sure what else to expect. I just want to feel fine again and to feel a "clean" ear. It is driving me crazy not being able to clean it, as the only things allowed in there are the medicated drops.
Thank you all for your kind comments, and I promise to take care of myself. Im also very happy that this incident gave some of you an "alert" about Q-Tips... Not that we didnt know there were dangerous, but a reminder like this, doesnt hurt anybody.
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 10:46 PM 2 comments READ FULL POST
I went to the ER again yesterday... As it was a Holiday here, it was a bit difficult to be seen by an ENT. Blood was visible so we got worried. This time I went to a different ER, hoping for a different point of view.

The doctor who saw me also told me that there was too much blood to be able to see the damage. However she decided to clean my ears, and also told me that it was necessary for an ENT to see me...

So, today I called in and even though there was no space available, they squeezed me in, even before the other patients. The ENT told me that my tympanic membrane was perforated, and that I was vulnerable to an infection as that membrane is what protects the ears from infections (and if is broken, it cant do its job very well). She is also worried about my hearing, and prescribed me some medications (four to be exact), and also sent me for hearing tests to find out if the if my hearing was affected.

The ENT asked me to rest, and doesnt want me go to work for 5 days (or even drive). She is afraid I can pass out as the balance of a person's body is affected by this. Im not severly dizzy, but I get dizzy from a moment to the other... Im sure this is just temporary and heals by itself very soon.
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 7:28 PM 7 comments READ FULL POST
I wish I didnt had to miss out some much of my nephew's life. I wish we could be closer and to see him more frequenly. I wish my girls could spend more time with him and treat him as a brother. They know who he is (they means Gaby and Mia, cause Mimi still has no clue), and they love him very much, but I hope for more.

He turned 2 in September, and he is the smartest little boy around. He loves to play outside more than anything, and loves animals specially horses.
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I was talking to my sister in law (his mom) and she and my brother are planning to go to a baseball game this Sunday in my town, and if that happens, they will travel here and we will get to babysit him... I hope that it happens!!! I know he will LOVE to meet Sassy!!!
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 5:17 PM 3 comments READ FULL POST
This is Mimi's new nickname... of course, she doesnt know it, and we wont tell her because we dont want to make her feel bad, but she earned the title today. I was working with something and was really focused. Hubby was taking care of the girls, and Mimi was a bit cranky because she wanted to go to sleep. So, hubby started getting the bath ready, and asked me to hold Mimi while he was getting the bath and milk ready.

I was really focused and really needed to finish something (hence why I wasnt participating of bath time), so I was holding her with one arm and continued working with the other. Minutes before I was cleaning my ears and the Q-Tip box was right there, and Mimi grab it. I didnt pay attention to her because the box was closed and continued to work.

Just a few minutes later there was a SCREAM OF PAIN.... who? me!! Mimi managed to open the box and inserted a Q-Tip ALL THE WAY inside my eardrum. I screamed, cry, and screamed a bit more... I was not able to stand the pain, and I couldnt even hear... I was feeling deaf from that ear. We decided to call my mom, as it was night already and there was no point for us to take the girls out to go to the ER, and I was not going to be able to drive... The pain was sooo much!!

When I got to the ER, I found out that it is so swollen and full of blood that there is not much that she can see (the blood was not dripping, it was just inside). There was no way for her to see the extent of the damage... Anyway, I was sent home with a pain killer and referred to an ENT doctor.

The good thing is that Mimi inserted in my ears and not in hers... I have always been so careful with the Q-Tips being out of reach, and I just cant believe this happened while she was IN MY ARMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is no such thing as a "boring day" in my house, isnt it?
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 11:08 PM 7 comments READ FULL POST
Yes totally FREE!!!!! I have been working in several business blogs, and I really want to grow my portfolio of Family Blogs!!!

What would you get?
- Creation of your blog if you dont have one
- A new banner
- The colors of the blog will match the banner
- Home, About me and any other button that you'd like (up to 4 buttons)
- Custom Icon for your sidebar's titles
- Custom Icon for the footer of each post
- Signature
- I will also give you some suggestions and ideas on how to set your settings
- Sitemeter inslation if you need it
- A 15% off from any blog related order that you made with me in the future
- Complete instalation of everything in your blog

What to do? Just leave me a comment letting me know WHY I should choose you for the makeover. Please, dont forget to leave a way to contact you, especially if you dont have a blog and if your blog is not listed in your profile.

How can you get to comment more than once? If you are a follower of my blog (or become one) you will be able to get a second comment, which will increase your chances of winning. AND, if you advertise this giveaway in your blog (or anywhere else), you will get an extra chance to win for each place where you link it.... Just post a new comment with the link of where you posted about it.

When is the deadline?
You guys should leave the comment by next Friday 14th at 9pm (EST). The winners will be announced Saturday 15th.

What should you know?

* No business blogs can participate this time... ONLY family blogs are allowed.
* Have in mind that you dont even need to have a family blog.. It could be one that I create for your from zero!!!
* Sorry, no current or pending orders will be allowed to enter.
* I promise I will do my best to contact you if you win, but I will be choosing a new winner(s) by Tuesday 18th if I dont hear back from the winner(s).
* If and only if you want to, I would love to put a blinkie of my business in your blog (not the giveaway banner... I mean the animated business blinkie). That is NOT mandatory, and it is not a rule to win. You can see the blinkie on the right sidebar of my blog.

Questions? Just fill out a contact form, and I wil get back to you as soon as possible.
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 9:19 PM 18 comments READ FULL POST
A whole year of blogging!!!! 392 post (plus 2 in draft) full of moments of joy or sadness, and simply everything that been our life for a whole full year.

What a difference a year makes... Im just amazed how much we have changed in just one year... The girls have grown so much, and hubby and I too.

Thanks to those of you that have been around since the very beginning, and thanks to those that come to my blog and that care about us. The whole point of this blog is (and will continue to be) a way to keep track of our lives so the girls can read it when they are older, but having people reading and caring about us is just a blessing.

HAPPY BLOGOVERSARY TO US!!!!!
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 1:25 PM 3 comments READ FULL POST
Even though hubby and I managed to have a dialy 21 minutes break when we were watching the 10 season of friends (we finished like 3 weeks ago and we miss them very much), we are lacking with "official" date with the girls as a whole family.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was chatting with my dear friend Michele from Sew Posh Boutique and she told me: "Gotta run, the girls and husband are waiting for my for movie night". It got me wondering how we dont have set up activities with the girls anymore. We play with them, we do homework with Gaby, and we try to do activities with them, but they are not constant and they are definitely not the same day at the same time.

When it comes to watching movies and programs, normally hubby and I watch a movie on my computer, while the girls watch a kids movie in the room. We hardly do it together. As part of the project to "save the flowers", we decided to have: "Friday Movie Night".

We did some googling and came with some conclusions to make it possible, and here is what we plan to do (and already did today):

* Set a date: The first thing to do was to set a day of the week and a time. We decided we will be doing it every Friday at 7:00p.m.
* Fast and early dinner: We normally have dinner by 7:00pm, so that night we will be having dinner by 6:00pm, and it needs to be an easy and fast dinner. Anyway, we will have snacks during the movie.
* Make it official: I made, printed and laminated sign for the movie night that I hang on close to the TV.
* Make it yummy: The only way that Mimi will stay there is if she has some good snack to eat... We will be sure to have pop corn available every Friday night, and maybe some small crackers.

Cant wait!!




Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 11:30 PM No comments READ FULL POST
Today we had a meeting about Gaby's situation at school. I have not taken her to school as a personal decision this week, and somehow everything looked like it was all the way around. The school gave me a list of things that we need to accomplish before December 1st, including to take Gabriela to an specific psicologist, and to do a neurologic test to her.

In the meantime, I will start taking the girls to school next week, and I will spend the whole weekend trying to make Gabriela to know that her teachers and classmates loves her.

Im glad that this situation helped me understand a few things and to to open my eyes a bit more, as some things are not how they look. It helped me get to know some people that I thought I knew but that I was soooooooooooooooo wrong (oh boy, oh boy... I was sooo wrong!)

If you believe in God, please pray for us, for Gaby, for the preschool and the people involved in it.
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 3:01 PM 1 comment READ FULL POST
Lately, shower time is not a fun activity for Mia. She used to love water but she now cries every time we has to wash her hair, and simply doesnt have fun.

Today, I had my water lover back.... I didnt even pay attention to the fact that she has a cold, and let her play a bit... and here are a few pictures of her that I love. It shows her real smile, and her personality so much. If you dont know her in person, and want to know how she is, just look at these picture and image her JUST like that!
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Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 1:16 PM 2 comments READ FULL POST
Im very excited!!! As you guys know, I have been very sad because my purse got stolen, and I havent been using any purse since then... I do have other purses at home, but what was the point of using another purse if I had no wallet or even a card or a ID to put in it??

As the bank didnt want to take the police certification as a valid form of identification, I was totally card-less... As hubby's card was also in my purse, he needed to get a replacement, so we went to the bank. While they were taking care of it, I saw a familiar face!!! It was a good friend from high school who just got transfered to that branch as the manager!! Guess what happened?? I have my NEW CARD, and not only it didnt matter that I had no ID, but I didnt even had to pay as he waived the fee!!!

So, as I have three cards already: Insurance, Debit Card and my card for Paypal, it was time to get a new wallet!! There are some many things that I still need to get for it, but the wallet is here and I love it.... Here is the stock picture from Amazon:
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Isnt it cutest wallet ever??? ALL PINK inside and with pink stitches!!!!!!
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 8:47 PM 3 comments READ FULL POST
.... very excited:
- Are the teeth inside too???

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(By the way, that was the wig we got her for the costume, and the little girl was pictured on the wig's box).
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 8:08 PM No comments READ FULL POST
Starting today Gaby and Mia will be going to the little school that is near my house... We still dont know if we will take them back to our school, and hopefully we will have a meeting some time this week to figure it out...
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 7:03 PM No comments READ FULL POST
We decided to have our very own costume party!! As I mentioned the other day, our theme was Pirates & Fairies. As we are six (including Sassy) we were three pirates and three fairies!! Hubby and I only got a wig for each one, but that was enough for the girls to feel like we were all very dressed up.

We took one of the couch outside and took some pictures... The girls had fun, even when Sassy was trying to bite their costumes!!!! Friday (after Gaby's situation at school), the girls ended up at my mom house and we forgot the pirate pants over there... So, today Gaby was wearing jeans. Gaby was also wearing jeans, so she was Ok with that...

It was also a GREAT day, and we are very happy to have been able to take pictures of it:

Pirate Elizabeth Swann:
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Fairies Isabele & Nicole:
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Fairy Saz:
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Fairy Saz trying to "eat" Fairy Isabele's tutu:
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Pirate Elizabeth Swann, Pirate Jack Sparrow & Fairy Saz:
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Fairy Isabele with a "very-Amelia" expression:
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Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 9:10 PM 8 comments READ FULL POST
For some reason it sounds unreal to me!! I dont know why but I still cant believe hubby and I have known each other for 11 years and today we are celebrating our 6th Anniversary!! We sure have put in a LOT of weight during this 6 years, but we have also grown so much, and three daughters later we are still very much in love.

Not everything has been red roses and pink butterflies, and we surely want to throw each other out of the balcony sometimes (as if we had one), but there is no way we can pull this off without having each other in our lives! Im very blessed to have him by my side, and he is surely the best dad my girls could have asked for!!

We havent had a "date" EVER again since Gaby was born, but we promised that we will make it happen before the end of the year. That's part of the Blooming Buds "action plan". The goal will be one date per month, but we will start by having our first one, and we will see how we go from there... Probably one every 2 or 3 months will be easier to accomplish.
We decided to do something that we have been pulling off since the longest... and we sure had LOTS of fun!! Enjoy the pictures (and shame on us there is no one single picture of hubby and me).

As soon as we got there... Taking a look around:
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Ready to have fun:
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Being cute:
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I told Mia to get Mimi for a picture and she gave me this "I-accomplished-the-task-look".
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Mimi "scanning" the beach:
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The blooming buds:
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We took Sassy with us too (right before the beach we took her to her appointment and she is 14 pounds!! Ouch!):
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She actually spent the whole time digging and digging:
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Mimi enjoyed playing with the sand very much:
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She also enjoyed eating it:
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Mia wasnt into the water AT ALL... All she did was to play with the sand!!!
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The "roots":
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Gaby & Mimi:
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In the water (Mia stood in the sand):
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Mia looking at them in the water:
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Here she is giving me an explanation about why she is not going to get in the water... She always puts her fingers like that when she wants to emphasize what she is saying:
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Mimi (cant even tell if she is crying or laughing):
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Hubby and Gaby decided this was funny:
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It was an awesome day!!!
Posted by 3LittleFlowers On 9:23 AM 4 comments READ FULL POST

 

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