Blogging madness: Updates on the way!!

When I first started this blog, I always said that this was going to be like a journal for my girls to read when they are older.  My life used to be an open book and I really didn't mind that all my adventures were in a public blog.  The end of 2009 brought so many changes to our life that it didn't seem right to keep posting in an everyday basis as I was not going to be able to write as openly as I liked.

BUT, I was looking back at my old posts and it makes me sad that I never wrote the day to day things from 2010 until now.  As we get older, our memory is not the same, and I confess that I can't remember details as much as I would like to.

Luckily, I did post some things in Facebook and I will take the time to update this blog with the main events from our life during these last few years.  Even though I stopped posting towards the end of 2009, there are some updates on us up to November 2011.  Back then, I made a post for each one of the girls with details and updates about them up to that point.  With that being said, I will post updates with the main events that I can remember (with the help of Facebook and my pictures) starting December 2011 until now.  I started yesterday and already made three posts December 2011... It's fun to look back and I'm sure I will enjoy these updates very much!  I will make a new post once the blog is up to date.

Also, I did a blog makeover and I love how it looks now, even though it looks better in the computer than how it looks on mobile version.

And just because a post without pictures is just too boring, I'm including pictures from the girls from this weekend with some of our pets (that's a another post) and also a picture from my oldest nephew (remember him?)

2015 already! :O

So, yeah.... It's been so long that it is not even funny! I keep making promises about updating my blog, but I spend so many hours updating my customers blogs that I honestly cant find a second to update mine. And even as I'm posting right now, I already have to run. For now, I will leave you with our Holiday Card.  I did a very unusual card as this year I included my brother's family.  And also updated the little pictures/ages from the header.

As the letter are so small, here it is what it says for each one:
* Gabriela, The 6th Grader, drama queen, animal lover, tech geek girl
* Camila, The 3rd Grader, sentimental, helper, funny clown, sweet
* Amelia, The 2nd Grader, smartie pants, boss, silly, early bloomer

I promise I will post an update about each one ASAP!!

Not ready for American Idol

As mostly every little girl I know, my girls are crazy about Frozen.  They love all the songs, and they know them all in both versions... English and Spanish.

One of the gifts they got from Santa was a microphone and they asked me to record them singing "Libre Soy" which is the Spanish version of "Let it Go"...

I'm sure they are not ready for American Idol, but they are still adorable. Gotta love Mimi's style too!

A pup's birthday

My nephew's pup, Lila, turned one and a party was done to celebrate.

This pup "resuscitate" today after being lost for two days and it was just an amazing experience for all of us, especially for my girls and nephew.

Lila did something that I have only seen in movies today.  She was able to get to our old neighbor's house, we assume it was because it was the only place that was familiar for her (as we moved last month).  The houses are far away, and we still don't know how she got there. But she did. It was like a miracle!

So, today, was a very happy day and we have enough dogs (and even a cat) in our house to be able to do a big party. On this picture, Gaby is holding Luca, Mia is holding Loly aKa Angie, my nephew is holding Lila (the birthday girl), Mimi is holding Gatie, and I'm holding Lupita (my mom's old dog that is around 12 years old)...


When we were going to sing happy birthday, ss soon as we light up the candle, the cat RAN away!! I'm talking that she JUMPED and ran away like if her pants were on fire. The way the kids reacted was priceless!

It's Christmas Time again!

It is THAT time my girls look forward the most. No birthday or holiday is as important as this date. I may have said this before, but they start making her list for Santa every December 26th. Those items on the lists change a lot during the year, but the line "I want this from Santa next Christmas" is something I hear ALL YEAR long.

There was a leftover cake in the house, and that is what Santa got this year.  I know he was very thankful because he ate it all.  cake from Lila's birthday and he was very thankful... In this picture on the right you can also see the tags Santa had done for the girls.... Also the "Happy Jar 2015" were they will put pieces of papers during the whole year with notes of good moments so we can all read together next Christmas.  I got the idea from Pinterest and I may do a separate post about it.

At 6:25am they were already on my bedside SCREAMING for me to wake up... They are well trained to know they cannot open their presents without me and before taking a picture... They know better...


This year they also got cupcakes... I did the decor after we picked up all the gifts and mess.  They also got cookies and milk... They ate like little pigs...


We had LOTS and LOTS of fun opening the gifts and I'm happy to say that I didn't have to struggle much with childproof packaging... Most of the things where things that they were able to open by themselves. As usual, they spent the day playing with their new toys.

Throwback Thursday #12

Today's #TBT is in honor to my dad's birthday month. Here are some photos with him. First one at a very young age (maybe 3, who knows), then on my 15th birthday and then on his birthday last week.

Mexican for one day

Today was my dad's birthday and his wife decided to throw him a Mexican Themed party. Serving tacos for dinner not only is cost effective, but it's also way less stressful than any other dinner you can offer. People also get to fix their own tacos and most people eat like there is no tomorrow (I know I did, lol).

It was an "adults only" party with lots of drinks, tacos and dominoes, so the girls were not there. I'm sad I didn't get any good pictures but at least I have some crappy cell phone pictures to keep for the memory lane.

One thing that made me extremely happy was to see my favorite uncle there.  My parents have been divorced for 30+ years and my uncles (my mom's brothers) still keep a good relationship with my dad. I think I'm the daughter of the best divorce of the century... Even my mom has a genuine good relationship with my stepmom... And of course, here is a picture with my two of favorite men... And in case you are wondering, my uncle is not as huge as he looks on the picture... He's very tall, that's true... but the truth is I'm very petite and my dad is shorter than average...


This is a picture of the cake and MY tacos (can't begin to explain how yummy they were)...


And here is a picture with my lil bro...

School's Family Day

Today was the Annual Family Day at school and we had an awesome time.  It was too sunny and too crowded to have my niece with us, so my nephew tagged along with us.

I love spending time with him without his parents because he behaves different when they are not around... He is more loving with me, he also respects me a lot and follows instructions... And of course, he cooperates with pictures (which he normally doesn't do).

There were some inflatables that they enjoyed a lot, but mostly it was the escalating wall that won them over. We also played dominoes and ate A LOT.  The sun was also unbelievable and that didn't help with the pictures, but I did get some good ones... Here are just a few... On the one just below, Mia is posing with her BFF.




One of childhood friends from school went with me and it was so nice to have her there. We also spent time with the daughters of another childhood friend from school and we took some pictures. Even though the girls are not in the same location I went to school at, it is still the same school...

A niece is NOT a nephew...

Duh! Right?

I have three bothers and all three of them "decided" they were going to have boys.  I was under the impression that the only girls were going to be my daughters.... and then my niece was born!!!

It's a completely different feeling and I know this beautiful feeling will only grow and grow. As much as I want to enjoy her as a baby, I can't wait to see how much will be to have a little girl running around with my girls.

Regardless the big age difference, I have the feeling she will be guarded and protected by my girls all her life. I think my two little brothers (they are my half bros from my dad) has not close down the baby making factory, but my older and I did... this means that my niece is the last of the grandkids for my mom. Who knows if this will be the only niece I would ever have.

I enjoyed A LOT taking pictures of her this weekend and this is just a little sample... (tons of pictures are posted on Facebook)...

Love goes beyond blood

Yesterday was a very emotional day for me.  Not only I got to meet and hold my niece for the first time, but also my best friend had her baby boy. I'm 7 years older than her, and it feels like she is the little sister I never had. For that reason, I will treat her son as my nephew and I would love him as an auntie.

She had a very difficult pregnancy with lots of bedrest and progesterone injections... Making it to 36 and 5 days was a huge success! He was born weighting 6 pounds, 5 ounces and 18 inches long.

He is just as gorgeous as his mom and didn't have to spend any time in the NICU.  I also got to change a diaper to a one day old baby for the first time in my life! I'm completely smitten with this boy! !

My 100 Happy Days: Day #100

This is it! My task is completed! I didn't post all my happy days on my blog, but all 100 of them are on my Facebook. Being able to capture a piece of my happiness for 100 days in a row REALLY made me smile! No matter how many problems we may have, or how much we struggle, IT IS possible to smile everyday!

My 100 Happy Days: Day #99

I may not have my life figured out and I may not be rich, but I'm proud to say that I'm able to work on THREE things that I love: Graphic Design, Photography and Medical Interpreter. I was playing with the camera and it made me smile. I LOVE what I'm being able to catch behind the lens!

My niece's birth announcement

I have been posting the whole week about my tiny girls, and this post feels the complete opposite. My niece was born earlier this month, and not only she wasn't born early... she was actually born passed her due date!

She's breastfeeding like a champ and acting like a big baby. Gotta love her chubby cheeks, and chubby feet! And those eyes are just beautiful... they are dark blue just like her brother had them at this age.

Preterm Baby: Mimi's Story

Today I'm posting because of the "Preemie Awareness Day" with Mimi's Story.

This pregnancy was emotionally consuming since I found out about it. I was told to terminate the pregnancy THREE times because according to the doctors I was going to die because I had a pre-eclampsia with Mia 5 months before getting pregnant with her. Funny thing is that my blood pressure was never an issue during this pregnancy. Pregnancy was still labeled as high risk and I saw the doctor every 2 weeks since my prenatal care started. Also my doctor asked me to limit my activity level to the very minimum.

At some point during the second trimester, contractions started and they intensified in the third trimester. I also started taking L-Carnitine as according to my doctor, that was going to give the baby some extra fat. Because of the contractions I had several hospital stays, complete bedrest and was able to get two steroids shots

At 34 weeks, I was admitted again because I was getting 4 contractions in 10 minutes. The IV meds they gave me were able to keep them under control. However, I noticed Mimi wasn't moving. She would only move during a contraction. My doctor ordered a Biophysical Profile Ultrasound which measures 5 categories: Fetal movement, Fetal tone, Fetal breathing, Amniotic fluid volume and Fetal Heart Rate. Each category aims to get a score of 2 points. The result was: Very low level of amniotic fluid (oligohydramnios), no fetal movement after 30 minutes, placental calcification (looked like a placenta with 40 weeks of pregnancy), and the umbilical cord was wrapped twice around her neck.

For this reason, my doctor decided to performed a c-section,  He told me we were going to wait 4 hours because I had a full stomach. Then, a couple of hours later, Mimi's heartbeat started to drop and I was rushed to the operating room.

Mimi was born at 34,2 weeks weighting 4 pounds and 6 ounces. She got pneumonia and anemia, and needed blood transfusions. As I have an unusual blood, I had already researched for a donor and he rushed to help us. She was also born with respiratory distress, jaundice and was tube fed for 3 days. On day 3 she was transferred to an isolate with free oxygen. She ate for the first time on day 4, and that's when I held her for the first time. Just as Mia, she was discharged after 6 days in the NICU and needed 3 daily trips back to the hospital for IV meds. She was still with a little bit of low temperature when she was discharged, but she was fine.

She was discharged with almost 4 pounds (in the picture you can see how her head is the size of my fingers) and I needed to combine breastmilk with a high calorie formula for the first month (just like I did with Mia). After month 5 she refused to be breastfeed anymore.

As far as long term consequences, she has vision problems since age 5. She is also very petite and skinny for her age, even though she eats extremelly good. She is growing just at a very slower pace.

Throwback Thursday #11

For this week's ‪#‎tbt, I'm posting the same idea of the previous weeks... Pictures of all of us at 4 years old.....

Preterm Baby: Mia's Story

To continue with the idea of the "Preemie Awareness Day" posts, here is the post about Mia's story.

Mia's pregnancy started as a normal one until week 22 when the contractions started. This time I was able to catch them on time, and we were able to keep them monitored. By the third trimester the contractions were still present and an ultrasound at 32,6 weeks showed that everything was fine and that she was already 4 pounds.

At week 33,2 weeks, when the doctor checked my blood pressure, it was high. Urine test for protein came back negative, but the doctor still wanted to keep a close eye on me. At the following week at 34,3 weeks, my blood pressure was a bit high again, protein was negative, and I was sent for another ultrasound. At this moment I knew for sure that something was not right. The baby was 4 pounds which was the exact weight she was 11 days ago. I know ultrasounds are not exact, but I knew there was something more in this case. As the contractions intensified, I was prescribed with meds to stop contractions.

At 35,6 I had another doctor's appointment and another ultrasound. The ultrasound kept pushing for less weeks of pregnancy, but my doctor and I agreed on using the original due date. We knew the baby was not growing properly. My blood pressure was still high and my contractions were still present.

Three days later, I went to Labor and Delivery because even though I was on meds to stop contractions, I was feeling a lot of contractions that morning. When I got there, I was contracting, but I also had high blood pressure. They kept me in the Hospital from Thursday until Saturday. That day I was supposed to be 36 weeks pg (according to LMP), and that it when pregnant woman are suppose to stop taking the meds to stop contractions. But the doctor told me not to stop taking them until Wednesday that she wanted it to see me again.

On my next appointment I was already 36,4 (according to LMP).  My blood pressure was higher and my contractions were non stop. They sent me for EKG, echocardiogram and urine test, and everything came back normal. However, at this point, she was still as big as a 33 weeker and the doctor determined she had fetal growth restriction.  They prescribed me meds for the high blood pressure and I was sent home.

That night I started to feel some cramps all over my body (specially in the neck) and a tingling sensation. At the ER, my blood pressure was 150/120 and it took the emergency staff almost 3 hours to have it under control. I was admitted and they were giving me Magnesium sulfate for a few more hours when I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. A few minutes later, I was rushed to an emergency c-section as Mia was showing signs of distress.

She was born weighting 4 pounds and 2 ounces.  She had respiratory distress, jaundice, umbilical hernia and was tube fed for 2 days. She was discharged after 6 days in the NICU and needed 3 daily trips back to the hospital for IV meds. She was 3 pounds and 14 ounces when discharged (notice her head is the size of the palm of my hand on the 2 weeks old picture above).

The ped asked me to breastfeed on demand, and also a special formula with extra calories three times per day.  By the time she was a month old, she had already doubled her birth weight. The only long term consequences so far are some gastrointestinal issues and red dye allergies. She also needs a yearly special imaging on her eyes but still has not been diagnosed with any vision problems.

Preterm Baby: Gaby's Story

In honor to the "Preemie Awareness Day", here is the first post I promised yesterday about the girls: Gaby's story.

I got pregnant with Gaby around my 22nd birthday.  I was a normal young woman with good eating habits and without any addictions (like drugs, alcohol and such). All my blood work were close to perfect and my overall health was peachy. The only "issue" with my health that I can think of was irregular periods and recurring cysts on my ovaries. For that reason, I found out about Gaby at around 9 to 10 weeks of pregnancy.

As soon as I found about it, I started my prenatal care and I did everything as I was supposed to. No real complications, just the regular discomforts of any pregnancy. By the middle of the second trimester, I started feeling discomfort and low back pain.  I mentioned it to my doctor, and she said it was normal.

As I first time mom, I didn't know what contractions felt like. They were asking me if the pain I was feeling was similar to menstrual cramps, but as I never had them, I simply didn't know. I kept reading about it and I found conflicting information. I insisted with my doctor, and she kept saying it was normal and sending me home. At this point, I was never hooked to the monitor to check for contractions.

One day at 36,4 weeks, I simply couldn't take it anymore and when they finally hooked me up to the monitors they noticed that I was actually having contractions. They were strong and every 10 minutes, even though I was not able to feel anything worse than a discomfort. Once they checked me, I was already 2 centimeters dilated.

Labor started at the next day and they were not able to stop it because I was already dilating. After almost 48 hours of bedrest, lots of contractions and starvation at the hospital, my water broke and Gaby was born vaginally a few hours later. She was considered “preterm” because she had an almost normal weight, however she didn’t cry right away and needed help to breath for a couple of days. She was diagnosed with Respiratory distress. The biggest emotional challenge faced with her birth is that there was no space in the NICU and she had to be transported to another hospital two hours away. I didn’t see her for 2 days until I was discharged myself. Also, she was tube fed for one day and also needed bili lights for jaundice. She was discharged on day 5 with minor jaundice left.

It makes me sad that this could have been avoided. If the doctors would have listened to me, the contractions wouldn't have been unnoticed until it was too late.

The only long term consequences so far are frequent otitis, sinus infections and also vision problems since age 5, including strabismus.

Things I missed out as a preemie mom

Today is the "Preemie Awareness Day" and even though it brings back sour memories, it makes me smile the fact that my girls are mostly healthy and growing into beautiful ladies.

There are three types of premature babies: 'micro preemies', 'preemies' and 'preterm babies'. My girls are considered preterm babies because they were born between 34-37 weeks of gestation. Mia developed Fetal growth restriction at 33 weeks, so she was the only one considered 'preemie' even though she was born after 34 weeks.

I can only imagine how horrible it is to have a baby born earlier than 33 weeks, and my experience is nothing compared to what those moms and babies went through. Still I'm only human, and I had dreams of holding my babies on my chest as soon as they were born, and I couldn't. All my babies were taken away from me as soon as they were born, and it was heartbreaking how I was not able to be in control over them, and to give them the love they needed... They received the medical care... that part is true... but not the emotional comfort they were used to while being on my belly.

Only a person that have been in this situation can understand what it is to see your baby crying and crying, and not being able to hold her because she needed to be inside of a plastic box! My head knew they needed to be there, but my heart only wanted to hold them close and sing in their ears and make them feel comforted and loved. They were sooo loved and I wasn't able to show them that.

I will be posting individually about the experience of each girl, but this first post will be about me. Why? Because it's easy to find information online about health related issues for the child, however, there is ONE thing that you hardly ever read about... The emotional scar that every mom of a baby born early can't run away from.

That doesn't seem important, and at the end of the day, it is not.  Still, I want to post about those little things I missed out... those little things that made me feel like a bad mom... those little things that made me think it was my fault... those little things that makes me want to hug hard every preemie mom I meet...

This may not be the situation for every preemie mom, but here are some of my own facts... Things I missed out and things I felt... and some other things that I would never know how they feel like...
1- I would never know how it feels to have a normal pregnancy without complications, or to be pregnant full term, or have a birth plan...
2- I would never go through the nesting stage during a pregnancy
3- I would never know what it feels to have everything ready waiting for the baby to be born.  In all three pregnancies they were born before I was even close to be ready.
4- I wasn't able to do skin-to-skin when my girls were born because they needed medical attention right away.
5- I wasn't able to hold my babies during their first day of life, because they were not allowed to be with room temperature.
6- They were not able to room in with me in the hospital, because they were in the NICU.
7- I had to ask permission to strangers to see and even touch MY babies, because the nurses and doctors were the ones in control.
8- I was not allowed to breastfeed them for the first few days, because they needed controlled IV feedings only.
9- After months of having my babies in my belly, after they discharged me, I had to go home baby-less.... No baby in my belly and no baby in my arms...
10- In Gaby's case, I couldn't even see her for 2 entire days, because she was transferred to a different hospital. This happens when there is not enough space in the NICU. Then, I needed to wait to be discharged myself to be able to see her.
11- I had to see them crying without being able to do ANYTHING about it. Then, after they were discharged, and I only wanted to hold my babies 24/7, I had to hear people telling me how it was not good for the babies to be held that much. I seriously wanted to punch every person that said that to me.
12- I wasn't able to have a good night sleep in forever... Not because my babies were crying, but because even though they were asleep, I was afraid something was going to happen in their sleep. I took me years to be able to sleep in peace, because by the time I was starting to feel comfortable that nothing was going to happen in their sleep, I already had a new preemie to worry about the same thing.

I'm sure there are more things but those were all that came to my mind. Now I will post about the experience with each one of the girls.... (post updated to add the links)

My 100 Happy Days: Day #89

Seeing those smiles today made me REALLY happy! Wonder if they would ever know the joy I feel with every single one of their smiles

Gaby's Spa Slumber Party

I have to say that this is one of the parties that I have enjoyed the most. Gaby's actual birthday was a month ago, but the best timing to do a party with a sleepover was this weekend.

I'm thankful that my daughters have always understand when I need to do the parties later on... either because of the budget or because of other factors, and they are always ok with my decisions. They simply get happy and thankful that I do something special for them, regardless of when I do it.

As it was a sleepover and only one mom was staying with me, I decided to have only three guests... That means 6 girls including my girls. Here is the invitation I made for her...


As it was a sleepover, I did a decoration for the night and another for the morning. For the night decor it was more focused on the Spa part.  Then, the morning decor was more focused on their breakfast.  It was already set up when they woke up in the morning. They were all thrilled!


The biggest hit of the night was taking a picture with every hour. The first picture was taken at 7pm and the last one was taken at 3am. They were all still awake at 4am, and I was dead! I was still able to hear their voices but I was unable to move to take the picture!


At every hour they were doing something different. The picture just above on the left was the 10pm picture when they were eating hot dogs and mini pizzas. I lost count of how many times they repeated! Then, the picture next to it is the midnight picture... They were showing off the spa dolls they did for arts and crafts..

Here is the 1am picture while they were eating pop corn and watching a movie. Then, the picture at 3am when I asked them to go to sleep but it took them over an hour to fall asleep.


They really had a blast and they are already making plans for the next sleepover. Here is the thank you note I made...


I will be posting pictures of all the designs on my business blog.  I will update this post as soon as they are up.