Dinner Time

Lately I have been watching a lot of cooking channels and realized that I want to become a better cook. Not to say that I don't know how to cook. I do but not creatively. I mean, I don't have any complains from my hubby. He say's he loves my cooking but then again, he knows better. I basically know how to make the mexican dishes that I grew up with and follow instructions from a box. I don't have the pallet to combine certain spices and ingredients to make a wonderful tasting dish. I want to be like the contestants in Hell's Kitchen and put together a bunch of ingredients and make it look wonderful. So I have decided that I am going to cook recipes from the cooking channels/internet and see if I can establish a better tasting pallet. When I try recipes that I have never cooked, I will post about it.
Today I am making lengua tacos, a traditional mexican taco. You either love it or hate it.
It's one of my husbands favorites, so what ever my hubby likes I make. I will post pictures later tonight...

Due Date

Life has been super busy and hectic since my delivery due date, March 21, 2011. I finally had my beautiful baby boy, Omar Ismael. He was 7lbs 8oz, 19 inches. He was a little guy compared to my first born who's weight was a whopping 9lb 10oz. Boy, life with multiples is for sure much harder than what I thought it would be. The first two weeks were truly the hardest. I was trying to cope with having to adjust my schedule and breaking my time in half to care for my newborn without completely neglecting my 3 year old. It was heart breaking when my hands were occupied with my newborn and my 3 year old was trying to get my attention and I simply couldn't give it to him as I did before. Before Omar was born, Damian was everything to us. Not to mention he was the very first grandchild. He was spoiled rotten and he knew that our life revolved around his. Not only have I had to adjust to this new life of multiples but so has Damian. At night, while I am nursing Omar, Damian wants me to cuddle with him, scratch his back and sing him to sleep as I did before Omar's birth. Although, I can't cuddle with him or scratch his back he sometimes falls asleep cuddling his little arms around me as I sing him to sleep (tear). It hurts that I can't devide my self into two.

It's been almost two months now and we are just getting into a routine. My husband and I are still working out the kinks but things are much better. I no longer feel like the worst mother in the world. As far as my little Damian goes, he has become such a little helper with his little brother and although I can no longer give him my up most attention he knows that mommy loves him and he is very understanding of our new life with baby Omar.

Toddler Eating Troubles

For the past couple of days it's been a real challenge to get my three year old son to eat anything other than his favorites. Which would include; mac n cheese, fettuccine alfredo, quesadilla's, chicken quesadilla's, chicken nuggets fries and mcdonalds cheese burgers. He is just unwilling to even try new dishes let alone the typical mexican dishes that I make for dinner. Last night, I made albonidigas which is a mexican meatball soup. It's absolutely delish. I had my mother in law and Damian's cousin over for dinner. I thought that if Damian saw his also three year old cousin eat the soup, he would too. Boy was I wrong! He wanted nothing to do with it. He spit it out and was challenging me to even attempt to feed him it. I was determined to have him eat what there was or go to bed unfed. He cried and was yelling that he didn't want to eat albondigas and was demanding something else. It was hard but I stuck to my guns and sent him to his room. His punishment only lasted about a minute because he kept on playing the "ok, I am going to eat it game" with me but then wouldn't. I have to say I might be at fault with his eating behavior. Till recently I have been bending backwards and making two dinner dishes, one for my husband and another for Damian. But I came to the realization that he is way to spoiled and he should be eating what we eat as well. Which is why, I am trying to change his eating way's. We ended up driving my mother in law home pretty late. On the way, Damian said, "mommy, I am hungry, can you please buy me a cheeseburger, my tummy hurts". My heart melted and I gave in. Damian might have well said, Happy Meal, here we come because that's exactly what he got. When is it ok, if ever, to force your child to eat something against their will? Or, should I just keep on feeding into his bad habit's and give in?

Cold

The last couple of days have been absolutely draining. I have been sick with the cold. I have a major runny nose, eye sensitivity, headaches and back aches. It's awful because as every prego knows you can only take Tylenol as any kind of over the counter med. Tylenol does nothing for me so I have to fight this virus off myself. Even the brightness of my computer screen is making my eyes water. Oh how I wish I could drug my self up with some good old NyQuil.

Waking up to the smell of pancakes

I am counting down the day's until I can get a good night sleep without having to get up to use the restroom several times during the night. Of course these nights will be replaced with waking up feeds but at least I wont be running towards the bathroom with the sensation of being on the verge of having an accident. Last night was one of the worst nights for me. I was so uncomfortable. My stomach is getting in the way of everything. My back hurts, my feet are starting to get a bit swollen, I have gas and constipation, Ahhhh. If it's not one pregnancy related symptom it's another. I finally fell asleep around 3:30 a.m. and my wonderful husband didn't wake me up and took Damian out to the living room to entertain him when he awoke. Through my sleep I heard him telling Damian, "momma is sleeping and needs more sleep, lets go outside". I thought, wonderful a couple more hours of sleep. I ended waking up around 9:30 to the smell of pancakes and eggs with bacon. I swear I married the most wonderful man there is. He prepared breakfast for our family and made me pancakes with one of my favorite ingredients "walnuts". Due to his temporary disability (which I will discuss in a later post), during the first few months of pregnancy he wasn't very helpful but not because he didn't want to be it was because he couldn't. However, now that he is slightly better he is so attentive and helpful with my pregnancy needs. I am truly fortunate to have such a helpful and understanding husband.

Gestational Diabetes

I have been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes (GD) for about five months now. I have learned how to control it and even out carb's with protein. But what's the fun of being pregnant if I can't eat and indulge on junk food and sweets? It's not fair. My taste buds constantly crave a banana split, a piece of strawberry cheesecake, a root beer float or a box of See's Nuts & Chews. I was diagnosed with GD early on in my pregnancy and I was expecting it considering that I also had GD with my first pregnancy. Still a part of me was hopping that this pregnancy would be different, at least in that aspect. I feel so restricted with the things I want to eat. I envy those that are pregnant and can be free with satisfying their cravings with what ever their pregnant taste buds can handle. To all the pregnant women that are riding on the same boat as me, hang in there and be strong. As for me, I have two more months to go and my husband has been instructed to bring me a Baskin Robins Ice Cream Cake during my hospital stay after the delivery, can't wait!

Here is a link for those of you who want to learn more about Gestational Diabetes.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_gestational-diabetes_2058.bc

For Christmas my husband and I purchased the "Fisher-Price Dance Star Mickey"
for our son, Damian. It wasn't really a planned out gift but when we were at the Black Friday sales at Toys "R" Us, we saw it and totally fell in love with it. This is not a typical dancing character. He is so realistic, he moves back and forth, his hand movements are so realistic and he dances to several songs. Like every child, Damian loves to dance around the house. Every time a song plays while we are watching a movie, listening to the radio or watching cartoons he immediately jumps up and starts shacking his little body. We knew that he would love to dance around with the #1 Disney character. And Boy was I Right! He absolutely loves him. He laughs, dances, jumps and tries to imitate Mickey's every move. I can watch him dance around with Mickey for hours because it's the cutest thing.

Endless Nights

The past few nights have been absolutely miserable for me. I am having such a hard time sleeping. I feel like I have been getting a total of three to four hours of sleep each night. I can now say that I have entered into the agonizing months of pregnancy. Between the 4-6 late wake ups to release my bladder, baby Omar constantly kicking inside me and my 3 year old son tossing and turning right next to me, it's a never ending battle to conquer a good night sleep. I feel like a walking zombie eagerly waiting to devour human blood, except of course I am not looking for blood. All I want is to get a good night sleep. Damian, my 3 year old son, sleeps for two hours during the day and I try to get rest during those couple of hours but I find it a waste of time because by the time I actually start falling asleep he is already waking up. Why even bother? The worse thing of it all is that even after I have baby Omar, I still won't get a full night sleep. It's going to be at least a good seven months before that will happen.
Well it's time for bed, I sure hope I can get at least five hours in tonight.

3D Ultra Sound

As of today I am 28 weeks pregnant. Yesterday, my husband, son, mom and of course I, went to get baby Omar's 3D ultra sound. It was an amazing experience, just like when I had Damian's 3D ultra sound. The technician tried to get a full face picture but baby Omar wasn't very cooperative. He had his hands on his face throughout the entire visit. Damian's ultra sound was dead on. When Damian was born he looked just like the 3D picture. Omar's 3D picture is very similar to Damian's. I think they are going to look very much alike. Just like daddy. See for your self's....

Damian's 3D Ultra Sound Picture

Damian's Announcement Card

Baby Omar's 3D Ultra Sound Picture



Casino

After a long day today, I needed a couple of hours of fun to myself. Where did I go? The casino of course! There is a casino located less than 10 minutes to my home and it is so tempting. I am not a Gambaholic by any means but I can say that it does take my stress level to a bottom low. Because I feel guilty on blowing cash on machines I only go with the bare minimum, $40 to be exact. Some might judge me and think, "Wow, $40 can go a long way with how the economy is", and your all probably right. However, I feel that as adults we sometimes forget to have fun. What happened to feeling like a kid at an arcade? Well that's exactly how the slots make me feel. While I was at the casino, I met the nicest lady. She was incredibly lucky and was winning well over 2k. She was giving $10's and $20's away to those around her, including myself. Her motto was give and you will receive much more in return. Boy was she right! After she gave me a $20 when my $40 was almost extinct, her machine turned around and rewarded her with a whopping $899.00 on top of the $2k she already had. She was so cheerful and full of joy. Every time she gave a little away to someone she would wish them the same luck and was almost immediately rewarded with more. This lady was not crazy or drunk like some of the other casino players I am sure you have witnessed. She was just happy with life.
Was it just luck or was she truly being blessed for having such a kind heart? Perhaps we should all take her motto and run with it, maybe then our luck will change.