Marissa's World

When you have two older brothers, EVERYTHING'S an adventure! The boys put Marissa in this laundry basket and tied themselves to it with string. They were the horses pulling her in a chariot. Yes, this one's going to need to be very tough to survive her little world. :)

Family Ball

I attended a home school conference a week and a half ago. It was nice to actually hear from some speakers and get some ideas since I've been doing this home school thing on my own for six months now. Anyway, Friday I was in the class all day and then Saturday night we decided to go to the family ball. Okay, it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. It's like dances used to be, where the whole family went and kids of all ages LEARN how to ask a girl to dance, how to dance and just can interact with others in a very safe environment. It was AWESOME! Dylan and our neighbor are really good friends. She is five and the younger brother of one of his friends. They play so cute together. Dylan talked about dancing with Leah, but when it came down to it, he was so nervous and embarrassed. That comes mainly because of the constant teasing from her older brothers and my husband. He immediately transformed himself into some animal (I believe it was a leopard) and would not talk to anybody. It seems like a defense mechanism for him...his comfort zone, if you will. Anyway, thankfully Sam and Kelby, his 7 and 8 year old buddies were brave enough to ask girls to dance, which eventually gave Dylan the courage to ask Leah (and a couple other girls) to dance. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen! Watching these "little men" learn to dance and be gentlemen was so much fun for me. And heaven knows I like to get my groove on so I feel very at home dancing the night away. It was super fun to have the whole family dressed up and dancing. Below are a few pictures and a video. Notice Dylan copying Kelby's moves. So funny! Oh and if you wonder what we're doing for school, feel free to check out my other blog. I am going to try to update it a little more regularly.

Saving Worms

A few weeks ago, we decided to get out our rain gear and play in the rain. We had a lot of fun until the rain turned to sleet and the sleet turned to snow. Good thing we enjoyed it while we could. Preston had a great time splashing in the gutter! Dylan started out splashing and walking until he discovered there were tons of little worms "drowning" in the gutter. It wasn't long before he decided it was his personal mission to save the worms. He would scoop them out of the gutter by the handful and take them to the garden. Thanks to my little man, we may very well have the best soil ever this year! :) He was so cute though. That kid has a big heart...especially when it comes to creatures. He looked up at me with those big brown eyes, spaced-teeth awkward smile and said, "Mom, I think Jesus would be proud of me for saving all these worms. I think it's what he would want me to do." Yeah, melted this mother's heart for sure.

Preston was soaking wet by the time we went inside. I stripped him down and wrapped him in a big blanket. And then we made hot chocolate...of course!

He's the sweetest creature protector you will ever meet!

This is real life for us...Dylan on a mission and Preston just chillin' and enjoying life.

Splashing in the gutter

The only picture I took of the worms. Trust me, there were TONS of them by the end.

Observing her big brothers from the dry garage

SPRING FEVER

Anybody else have spring fever? Yes we have had some good weather days here and there, but it's been far too sporadic and unpredictable to appreciate. I'm tired of the cold and ready for consistent warm weather. We've all been feeling pretty cooped up. We get out as often as possible, but we're going crazy. The kids are climbing the walls...LITERALLY!

8 Months Old

I know, I know. I can't believe Marissa is 8 months old either, but she is...as of the 16th. I don't have any new stats to post since she hasn't had a well check visit at the doctor, but my guess is her percentiles are still the same - super tall and plenty chubby! :)

Like my other children, I am already beginning to see personality traits in this little one. Marissa is a squealer, talker and screamer. She can often be heard with her ga ga ga's and da da da's. She found her voice long ago and LOVES it! Not sure if it's a girl thing or what, but the screams and squeals are much louder and more frequent with her. She's funny. She is very calm and mellow MOST of the time, but when she's not, she's not. She goes from calm and happy to screaming and frustrated pretty easily. I can see some of Dylan in her and some of Preston, but overall she is VERY different from the boys.

She's a pro at sitting and loves to sit in front of a bunch of toys and play for quite some time. The tub of blocks is her FAVORITE! It is during her attempts at movement that most of the frustration takes place. She gets down on her hands and knees fully looking like she is ready to take off crawling, but nope. Not yet. I watch her, seeing through her determined baby eyes what she wants and yet not being able to attain it yet. She moves. She definitely moves. I put her in one place and she is never there long, but she has yet to fully conquer this skill...or perfect her direction. On hands and knees, she has only managed to rock back and forth or take steps backwards. The toy is right in front of her and she just needs one little "baby step" forward to reach it. She uses those newly discovered motor skills and moves her leg just so, fully intending to reach her destination, only to discover she is now further away from that toy she so desperately wants to put in her mouth. Wait for it. Wait for it. Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.......... This is not just any cry, but a frustrated, high-pitched, very new-to-me girlie cry. Her crawling to this point is all backward, a fact that she does not appreciate one bit, but hasn't quite managed to remedy. She tries again. One more "step" in the opposite direction of her goal. Before long, she generally manages to get stuck under the couch and then is REALLY mad about it. Luckily, this princess has mommy and two older brothers around almost all the time to rescue her in her state of distress. Dylan used to be the rescuer and Preston would just come tell me what was going on. "The baby's sad" "He needs his binkie" (yes, everyone is a he to Preston) "He doesn't like his crib" (when she's fussing trying to fall asleep). Now, my 4-year-old son has decided he too can be a knight in shining armor to his precious Marissa and will pick her up and try to help her walk to me. He can't quite carry her, but he is gentle as can be. Oh the help I receive from such well-intentioned souls. :)

Marissa LOVES her bath and will splash around for as long as you let her. I take her out every day with a smile on her face and by the time we are to the changing table, she is usually crying. She wants that water! We got into some bad habits during what we call "my time on the couch" but have since remedied that and once again have a lovely little daughter who sleeps through the night.

She has also gone from not understanding or liking solids at all to LOVING them. She opens her mouth as wide as can be the moment she sees the spoon headed her direction. It is the cutest thing ever! Reminds me so much of a little baby bird waiting for a worm.

She is still pretty good about going to other people, but is definitely beginning the stage of "where's my mommy." She looks around for me and notices the second I leave the room. She may end up being my child with the most separation anxiety since I worked part-time when both of the boys were babies so they were more used to leaving me.

I have to say, I love this stage. The sitting, inspecting toys, content to play in the saucer, pre-mobile stage of babyhood is my favorite. We're at the tail end of it, I'm afraid, since she is moments away from figuring out this crawling thing so I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts. We love Marissa and truly can't imagine our lives without her. Her unique smile lights up a room, and those chubby cheeks are simply irresistible!

I got the idea to post some chubby baby bathtub pictures from my sister-in-law, Laura's, blog

Gotta love that CHUB! Her rolls are my FAVORITE!

Marissa LOVES her feet! She doesn't keep shoes or socks on for long.

Mommy and Marissa

Perfecting her crawling stance

One of her favorite toys - the tub of blocks

The Frosting Thief

This was the leftover cake from the party my mom threw for Dylan a couple weeks ago (hopefully I will have a post on that soon). I came down the stairs to find the remainder of the cake mutilated and quickly set out to find the guilty culprit. I was feeling all Sherlock Holmes-ey and ready to bust out Dylan's magnifying glass from his "dino backpack" and solve this mystery. I was a girl on a mission. I turned around to discover there was no need to open up the case. The evidence was EVERYWHERE! Mystery solved!

Preston's Birthday Bash!

We had another fabulous birthday celebration with Preston today. The Birthday Bear came to our house and decorated everything last night. Preston was thrilled when he woke up and found Diego decorations on the wall. He couldn't stop talking about it and walked around telling everyone about every sign or decoration he found. "Is this my cake?" (talking about a sign with a birthday cake on it), "Is this my balloons? My happy birthday balloons?" I told him yes and then he'd repeat it all again. "This is Preston's birthday cake. This is Preston's birthday balloons. My birthday balloons." So cute! We started with a pancake breakfast. The kid LOVES anything with syrup on it for breakfast so I went for quick and easy. We took a bath, got dressed and headed to the train museum since it was such a big hit with Preston when we last visited. He LOVED it! I just wish we had more time to linger, but our day was so packed that we had to rush a bit. We stopped at Del Taco for a quick bite and then headed to his music class. While he was there, Dylan, Marissa and I ran to the store to buy some AirHeads to give to his classmates. Being a long, non-stop day, Marissa needed a nap big time so we headed home and Preston got to watch Toy Story 2 while Marissa took a nap. Marcos got home just after Marissa woke up from her less-than-perfect nap and we headed out the door to go swimming. If you haven't seen Preston in a pool yet, you're missing out. The kid is INSANE! There is no fear in that child when it comes to anything and everything water. We choose to leave floaties on him even though he pretty much can touch in most of the pool where we were playing. He is just too fast and crazy to worry about him losing his balance or something. Crazy! He LOVES water and is excited to be able to splash without the lecture that accompanies him in the bathtub. We swam for an hour and a half or so and then ran home to shower, change clothes and head out the door for his birthday dinner. We asked him where he wanted to eat and he said "bean burrito" so we went to Garcia's where kids eat free on Tuesday. SWEET! He was so cute and excited all day. We left the restaurant, headed home to open his presents, which were all little Toy Story figures (it's the only thing that kid cares about right now. Oh, that and Thomas the Train). I didn't do a cake because we still had cupcakes left over from the party my mom had at her house for him on Sunday so we sang to him and he licked the frosting off the cupcake (which is the only way he eats cupcakes anyway). I didn't even have any candles, but found old ones from Dylan's past parties so once again, I faked it. Preston doesn't care one bit! He just likes blowing out candles. So I put a #5 candle in one cupcake and a #1 candle in another cupcake and we had a 5-1=4 candle. :) Yep, I'm a flaky mom. But the day was EXACTLY what Preston wanted and that's all that matters to me. He knows he is loved and that we feel lucky he was born. We finished off our late evening by reading "Ladybug's Birthday" and tucking him in bed with his new toy story toys and more kisses than he could have possibly wanted. :) We love you Preston! Happy 4th Birthday, big boy!!

Preston's 4th Birthday

I can't believe my little man is 4 today. It seems unreal that he was born that many years ago. But it's true. We have had a fun morning and still have plenty of birthday partying to do this afternoon. But...Marissa is taking a nap so the boys are watching a movie until she wakes up. And that gives me a second to blog. I will post more on our fun day in another post. For now, I just wanted to reflect on the little guy we've been blessed to call our own. Preston Santiago.

March 15, 2007

For the full birth story, click here

My little man in the NICU

His first "tanning" session :)

March 19, 2007 - coming home from the hospital!!

1 Year Old (eating licorice provided by a very naughty grandma)

Looking for cookie crumbs

If you missed this story, click here

Mischievous 2 year old climbing on the table

Happy 3 year old playing at the park

Ready for his big 4 year birthday bash

Sporting some upside down 3D glasses that he refused to take off

We have had more ups and downs from our little Preston than I care to remember, but he has blessed our lives tremendously. He is one of a kind....a unique child in his own right. If you haven't heard him talk in one of his "Preston" voices or had the privilege of watching him interact with others, you might not know what I mean. He has his own way of doing EVERYTHING, which has caused his mother much worry and distress, but somehow everything works out in the end. He is amazing! He's my Preston! He is also the most loving, caring being you will ever meet. He's a healer! We can't imagine our lives without our Prestatonian!

The Decorating Fairies

Last week, my friends Courtney and Kristie showed up ready and willing to help with anything I needed. Thankfully my body is doing much better so my house wasn't a COMPLETE disaster anymore. But...this wall has been empty since I rearranged the living room and I'd mentioned needing to figure out my decor to Courtney at some point. So the two of them showed up with their old and unwanted decorations to decorate my house. Talk about winning the lottery! Look how cute they made my very simple, plain-looking house...for free.

The bare wall of the living room before my "helpers" showed up

The same wall now

My bookshelf in the entryway (sorry, I don't have all the before and afters...just cute after pictures)

Above my kitchen cupboards. There was nothing up there before. Now look!

The corner of my windowsill in the kitchen

A view of the whole kitchen with the new decorations

I have said it before and will say it again. I seriously have the most amazing friends and family ever! I'm blessed with very loving and talented friends who for some strange reason care a heck of a lot about me. :) Thanks girls! You're the best!

St George and INTERVENTION

A couple weeks ago, Marcos decided to go to St. George. His brother was going to be there for a soccer tournament for Gabi and Marcos was in great need of a vacation. He decided to take the boys since there was no way my body could hold up to travel. Plus, I was still not in a good place and had no desire to go anywhere. Apparently Marcos was really worried about leaving me in my distressed state of mind so he called up my mom to make sure she would take care of me while he was gone. Yep, I had to be babysat. Oh well. It is what it is.

The boys had a great time with Marcos in St. George and I ended up being spoiled and taken care of by my family...a much needed change. My sister, Alicia, did my hair and even spoiled me with a pedicure. My mom let me stay at her house and made sure I had help with the baby and meals when I needed them. It was a good weekend for all of us.

Preston was exhausted. Marcos kept sending me pictures of him asleep in the middle of the sidewalk or on the tennis court. So funny! They had a great time hanging out with their Papi, cousins and uncle Esteban.

My cute pedicure.

Parenting Dylan

Oh the things I've learned being a parent. Oh the amount of things I have yet to learn. Yesterday my mom came to the house to watch my kids while I went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with the young women. When I got back, my mom and I were sitting on the couch talking while Dylan and Preston played outside with Tony (their cousin). Dylan came in and tried to bring Preston in the house and tell him to stay. Lately the sibling rivalry between those two is making me crazy. Preston was not happy! He wanted to play too. I gave the little reminder, gently but firmly saying, "Dylan." Here's how the rest of the conversation went.

M: Let Preston play with you too.

D (in a western voice with his twine lasso looped over his shoulder): But ma'am. This here's a bandit and I've got to put him in prison, ya see.

M (playing along): Sir, he's your brother and cowboys are the best kind of brothers.

D: No ma'am. I'm sorry. He's a bandit. I'm the sheriff and he has to obey the law.

M: Dylan.

D: Good day ma'am (tipping his hat at me as he shuts the door).

M: Dylan (more stern voice).

D: He needs to be in prison.

M: I'm going to put you in prison up in your room if you can't play and include Preston.

D: Cowboys can't be put in prison. I'll just escape to Mexico.

M: Dylan

D: Okay, ma'am. But I would escape to Mexico. That's what cowboys do and I'm a real cowboy. I will let him out of prison now. He's done his time. (tips his hat and leaves with Preston following behind him).

He no sooner shut the door than my mom busts up laughing. "He really stays in character, doesn't he? It was all I could do not to laugh during your serious parenting moment," she said. Yeah, I know. Half the time I have to restrain myself too. They're all different and there is a major learning curve with parenting, but Dylan. Well, Dylan is Dylan. That's all there is to it.

Dylan Turns 7

Well, as much as I wanted to post a birthday post ON Dylan's birthday, we were much too busy enjoying every minute of it for that to happen. The kid had every second of the day planned out. What a nut! I had to remind him often that we were celebrating just with our family this year. The parties have gotten a little out of hand and with more than one child, I realized we could not maintain that level of party forever. Too much work and way too much money. We've gradually been downsizing the last few years and have decided on having "special days" or immediate family birthday parties except maybe on "big" birthday years. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, the Birthday Bear visited our home again this year and decorated. It was fun for Dylan to wake up to all the decorations and to see how excited he was about something so simple. He informed me weeks before that he wanted a pancake breakfast with blueberries forming a smiley face...like him. Easy enough! We ate our pancake breakfast and got ready for our day at the Living Planet Aquarium. That's where he wanted to go for his birthday and it was perfect since we're currently finishing up our ocean unit for school. Abuela talked to me about what the boys wanted for their birthdays (Preston's is on the 15th) so I ended up getting annual passes for the three of us with the money she gave the boys. They were so excited and loved every minute of it. I was not super excited with the fact that we ended up there at the same time that two school field trips arrived so I was really glad we would be able to return with our passes again in the near future. We saw everything, but didn't linger and read too many signs. It was a bit too chaotic for that.

I was close to my fun limit at the Aquarium and Marissa definitely was so we headed out to find somewhere to grab a bite of lunch. I should've thought that through and packed something since we were taking Dylan out that night, but I didn't. We ended up going to Village Inn so the kids could have more pancakes. Go figure! Pretty good food though (and cheap) and the kids were surprisingly well behaved. I had the baby half asleep in her car seat and all our stuff when Dylan said he needed to go to the bathroom. Geez! I'm the mom that almost always makes everyone go into the bathroom together and still makes my seven year old come with me in the women's bathroom. Sorry people...I'm over-protective that way. But it was horrible timing and Dylan was nervous and didn't want to go alone so when he asked to take Preston, I just let them go together. I could see the bathroom door and figured I could at least watch to make sure they were okay that way. When it took longer than expected, I decided to go check on them. Of course I couldn't leave the baby or my purse or the diaper bag or camera bag unattended. So I grabbed all my junk and hobbled over to the men's restroom. I opened the door and immediately realized the problem. There was Preston standing in front of the urinal with Dylan behind him trying to wipe his little bum. Dylan seemed relieved to see me and proceeded to tell me the story (while simultaneously adding a lecture for Preston). Apparently while Dylan had gone into the one and only stall in the bathroom, Preston had pulled his pants down and pooped in the urinal. Poor kid! I'm sure he has no idea what that thing is for anyway. Dylan, not knowing what else to do, started cleaning up after his little brother. He got a paper towel and took the poop to the toilet and flushed it and then was trying to help wipe Preston when I came in and discovered the mess, relieving Dylan of his "big brother" duties. Honestly! It's one of those stories that will probably go down in family history and be told for generations to come. I grabbed Preston shuffling across with floor with his pants still down to this feet and dragged him into the women's restroom where I could clean him up more comfortably. I have to say that as big of a pain as it was, it sure made me love my little birthday boy even more. He is such a good big brother! Yes, he fights with Preston and leaves him out and teases him ALL the time, but he is kind and loving and very responsible. I love that kid!

We eventually headed back north and I dropped Dylan off at his music class while Preston, Marissa and I went to buy a bag of bubble pops, the treat he requested to share with his classmates. He was so excited to pass them out. Once in awhile, I catch myself thinking things are pointless and being a grumpy mother and then I remember how much little things like that meant to me when I was a kid and I come back to semi-cool mom mode. So yeah, we bought a treat so he could share with everyone. And he was adorable and asked which colors everyone wanted. He even made sure siblings of his classmates received a sucker too, even though that meant there were no more to take home with us after. It was cute!

Marcos was running late and we were full from our late lunch so Dylan got to watch his favorite show Dino Dan while I cleaned up a bit. We finished off our day of adventure at Olive Garden. We had a gift card so I kind of planted the idea for Olive Garden in his head to keep the day more reasonable financially-speaking, but it is one of his all-time favorite restaurants so he didn't need much convincing. We came home and he opened his present - a kneeboard (kind of like a skateboard). He was so excited. It was a great day for a really great kid! And yeah, the cake was an afterthought. I made a basic cake mix and the next day we put some frosting on it and his dinosaur toys. It's what he wanted. I bought white frosting and he said that was dumb because it would seem like the dinosaurs were on clouds so I mixed in a little cocoa powder. It served the purpose just fine. Gotta love how relaxed I've become about birthdays! I used to stress about making the parties perfect. Now I completely space the fact that I need to make a cake and end up winging it. Yep, things have definitely changed!

The aquarium was so cool. They all had a blast! The bigger picture is of a lady feeding the octopus. I didn't see the sign that says no flash photography and took a picture. Next thing you know, the lady feeding the octopus puts a sign IN the tank that says "Please No Flash Photography." Even when I do something like that on accident, I feel horrible. It's the good student, rule follower in me. :) There also happened to be a worker nearby that then proceeded to tell me why. Apparently it can make the octopus go blind. So then I felt super guilty. Sorry cute little octopus. I won't do it again! Dylan LOVED touching the stingrays and spent a great deal of time there.