Craziness

During the month of June I decided to take some continuing education classes on something I loved to explore but never did. I took some Graphic Design courses and although challenging, I learned a lot. It was difficult not picking up my daughter after school for 2 days and coming home having her sleeping but she got a chance to bond more with her dad and I got some needed time for myself. I met some wonderful and talented people in the class, most of which came from different parts of the world and had a Graphic Design degree. It is funny, because on a Starbuck’s cup there is a quote from Oprah, which states, “No experience is ever wasted. Everything helps.” So little by little I am learning new things and starting to do what I love. To end June, my daughter fell from a hammock and had to get stitches. As much as I wanted her to never break a bone, never hurt, and never get any scars, I knew it would happen eventually, I just think it happened too early. I was totally not composed and neither was my husband. It was hard to see her hurt, and to be totally honestly, I think it pained me more than it did her.

As for July, my nephew was born and I couldn’t be happier. My sister has accustomed herself to the motherhood role fairly quickly and at ease and the little one is a bundle of joy for all of us. My daughter is in love with him she tells me she has three babies, Aden (her cousin on my husband’s side), George Esteban (my sister’s son) and Kaleb (her crush in school). She loves to just stare at him and frankly, it’s adorable. To finish up July, it was my birthday and I really thought this year was going to be the beginning of a no celebration birthday – because ultimately that’s kind of how it becomes. However, I am happy to report that it was not. I really enjoy my birthdays and I don’t want to loose the fact that I can treat myself and give myself time on a day that is mine to celebrate – not for being a mother – but for being me, and I think that it is important.

August has been a month full of surprises and I am now starting to get ready for my daughter’s birthday in September…

These are the wonders of motherhood, we manage to do so much, and yet, I think our biggest flaw is not giving ourselves enough credit. Sometimes I step back from it all and see myself in amazement – Not everything I do is perfect, in fact, most things are not, but I do try my hardest to make them as best as possible and I do give them my all, and to me, that makes it worth it, and that makes it great. I learned that I can’t be too hard on myself. I do a lot and want a lot and I am accomplishing everything little by little.

World Cup Fever

This World Cup brought my family a lot of laughter and joy as well as tears and upset. My two teams, USA & Colombia are out of the tournament but they both played well and really put their heart and soul into the game. Brazil was my 3rd contender – that’s until they played Colombia for a spot in the semifinals and their true colors showed. Of course, like most Colombians, I was rooting for Germany to win on yesterday’s match. Nonetheless, I feel terrible that Brazil lost the way they did, at home, in their World Cup. As much as I thought that they deserved to lose for their rough play, nasty tactics and biased refs, I did not want them to lose like that. At least the US and Colombia left the World Cup with their heads high having given it their all and allowing fans to expect much, much more in the years to come. As for Brazil, being a 5 time World Cup holder did not play in their favor and all the pressure they had showed. Their rough play finally took its toll and as many say, karma, karma, karma. I hope Brazil can recover and return to playing “jogo bonito,” which is the ideological way I think the world views Brazilian soccer– or used to…

As for my daughter, as young as she is, she has become a soccer fan – Yay! In fact, I believe that she is my lucky charm and we love to watch the soccer matches together – which I love because it’s a family tradition. She screams GOAL! every time a player hits the ball (in expectation) and she screams and jumps with us when our team scores. When she is a little older, I will take her to watch some live matches with me which will be pretty exciting. For now, I am content with her cheering for the teams.

Soccer is in our blood and we are now looking forward to watching the last 3 matches of the World Cup and anticipating Copa America next year.

Nautical Baby Shower

For most of April and May I was prepping for my sisters Baby shower – which took place three weeks ago. The theme of the shower was Nautical and the main colors were green and blue. I made the invitations for the shower because it was my chance to be creative and personalize something for someone I adore. (For blogging purposes, I covered personal information with white paper)

For the decorations, I made a banner from the backside of the invitations, we hung green and blue pom poms and made little flags with washi tape and a cut out of the boats from the invitations I created as toppers for the cupcakes. We got the cake made with the colors of the theme and my mom painted a boat she had at home to put as the topper. My mom also made amazing center pieces and an anchor banner which we put at the bar – it came out amazing!

For the favors we bought Essie nail polishes in different tones of blue, white and pastel green. We put a label on them as a reminder of the shower, colored life savers in green and blue, placed them in white bags and tied them up.

I also painted a whale with my nephew’s name on it and framed it so that my sister can put it in his room (picture coming soon).

The shower turned out very nice. I am glad my sister was happily surprised and delighted when she saw everything – It wasn’t anything crazy, but it was definitely made with love.

These are the “Thank you” cards she will be sending out –

And now, I am anxiously awaiting for my little nephew to arrive…

 

Mother’s Day

It is incredible how much perspective you gain as a parent – Mommyhood has allowed me to truly appreciate and value my mom and all her wonders; and due to it I have my utmost respect for all mothers. Having said that, I think it’s impossible to show my mom how much gratitude and love I have for her – I do tell her often, but not enough –  because I truly adore her, and Emma and I are blessed to have her in our lives.

As for me, I feel like the luckiest mom in the world for having Emma. For mother’s day she recited a short poem to me – one that she was taught in school. It was amazing watching her recite the poem and do all the hand gestures that went along with it. The best part of it was how proud she was of herself when she finished it – as was I. She doesn’t seize to amaze me every single day :). The poem would have been enough but she also gave me some flowers and butterflies she colored in school that say “Mom I love you” and her handprint on a heart which I placed on my desk at work. The heart says – “My mom gave me life, gave me love and I repay her with my love and my heart. I love you, Emma.” Even though her teacher wrote those words, I know Emma means them – even if she doesn’t fully understand them. The other day she came up to me and said “Mommy, I love you so much!” and then proceeded to hug me. Ohh how I want to hold on to those moments… Emma means the world to me and I couldn’t be happier to be her mom.

My Little Princess

My daughter is growing up and I can’t help but love every minute of it  – yes, I miss a ton of things that she leaves behind as she grows, but I also love all the things she gains – like the things she comes up with and the things she says. Now she can actually have a conversation with me – Although more often than not, she digresses – just like mommy. She is becoming interested in activities and things that we both enjoy – like arts and crafts – and when I am in the kitchen she often offers to help (even though in reality it’s not really help at all)  but it’s the intention that counts.  She is singing songs – pretending she knows the words – and hugging and telling me she loves me often, and it can’t get better than that.

 

How do I know my daughter is growing?

1. She has moved on from Minnie mouse and is now obsessed with princesses.

2. She reverts things I say to her, for example, she now often says– “Mom I am asking you a question – are you listening?”

3. She corrects me – all the time – and I must admit, she is right 70 % of the time

4. She wants to do everything on her own – Finally!

5. She has a crush on a boy – I mean, she doesn’t even know it – but she talks about him every time I pick her up from school. Not sure I am looking forward to the teenage years…

 

She is turning 3 soon so I can’t wait to see what that age will bring – What are the best and most difficult moments of that stage?

Motivation

Being Mom

When Emma was born I was consumed by an immense love for her – which continues to grow on a daily basis – and regardless of how stressed out or frustrated I get  – with the world or with her – it never takes away from the happiness she gives me every single day. I can be having the worst kind of day but when I see her little face and her smile, all I feel is joy. My heart tingles when she kisses me or tells me she loves me and it seems implausible to live without her.

What is being Emma’s mom like? It is the most precious gift – one that challenges me every single day, that makes me grow in ways I didn’t even think were possible, that teaches me unexpected things about the world and about myself and allows me to truly understand the meaning of love and view the world with a new set of eyes.

I am very grateful and extremely lucky and blessed to be her Mom. What was life like without my daughter? At this point, I am not sure, because life would be incomplete without her. Yes, she drives me nuts sometimes, but she is my little miracle.

Resting in Grace

This is a beautiful post from Illuminated Salt – Mommyhood entails many difficult but beautiful moments and challenges and tests you as a person in the most loving kind of way and it feels amazing to have God by your side, accepting your mistakes and pushing you to be better.

Illuminated Salt

My first year as a mom has taught me many things (one day I may blog about them all) but the underlying theme of them all is that “God’s Grace is Sufficient”. At times I can feel as though everyone else is deserving of God’s grace but me. I’m quick to encourage someone else but can feel as though I should know better.

Do you ever feel like that?

Being a mom has exposed this in my life at a whole ‘nother level. Parenting is something that can only be done with the help of the Lord. I lean on Him for direction in every aspect of raising my son because if I didn’t, I’m convinced I would go crazy and worry would consume me and render me completely useless.

In times where I feel overwhelmed and like I have no answers for the the questions I face I find comfort in…

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Motivation

A friend of mine posted this quote on her facebook page and I thought it was great – It is good to read quotes that serve as inspiration and remind you of things that you might already be aware of but need to work on.

Sometimes it is very hard for me to let go of the past and as much as I think I am over something, it somehow manages to reemerge – only meaning that I’ve failed at really letting go of it. But to move forward, it must be done, dwelling in the past is not positive and I want to fully embark on a road of positivity and motivation. Living this way can only lead to happiness and I would love to pass this along to Emma… I want her to be self- motivated, to feel like she can achieve anything she wants, to live out her dreams without fear or regrets. To learn from her mistakes and take constructive criticism but never let negativity take over, and to look at everything with wise eyes – as life lessons – because living that way will only contribute to her happiness.

Easter Photo

I wanted to share this picture of my daughter and her cousin – Aden. They both look adorable. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of my daughter on Easter (taken by my brother-in-law) as I took 0 pictures.

I remember when I took at least 10 pictures of Emma per day, so much so that I filled up an entire album with pictures of her from 0-3 months of age – I can’t believe that I now forget to take even 1 on special occasions such as Easter… What is wrong with me? I attribute Mommyhood as a contributor to my forgetfulness, but this is UNACCEPTABLE.

Besides, my husband and I bought ourselves a new camera for Christmas, which has so far only been used for Christmas eve and day and on our recent vacation. I need to work on using it more often and learn how to properly utilize all the features. Easter would have been the perfect opportunity to work on it but at this point any day will do.

Clearly, I tried to cut back on the pictures after realizing that I had over a 1,000 of Emma’s first year, which was a little overwhelming. However, at this point I have gone the other extreme – with almost none – Incredible! Photos serve as memories and they are always nice to look back on so I will work on getting to a middle ground – Photos on special occasions and/or cute moments and of course, on Emma’s request.