Play Place H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

Oh wow...I didn't realize how long it's been since my last blog until today's special adventure proved to be one that needed documenting. So I promise to update soon but for now, here's the story....

We decided to enjoy a beautiful feast of chicken nuggets and french fries today at good old Mickey D's. The one by our house has a play place in it, so naturally we ate in there and let Aubrey play. Generally she only goes in this small little car area and is plenty happy with that.

Today proved to be different. Obviously our little one is growing up; exploring life as a toddler and testing independence here and there. She did her usual routine and played in the car, but slowly became more and more curious of the big tubes surrounding her.

She's been up the big tubes before with her older cousins, but never by herself. I watched her curiously as she finally made the mental decision to climb the big tube. She disappeared for a minute and then came back down laughing. Then she went back up....only she never came back down. I got up and looked up the tube only to find she had disappeared.

:: Enter Justin::

The two of us started looking around for her to see what tube she was in. Justin found her and she seemed happy enough crawling along so he kept an eye on her. She finally reached the slide and we figured she would go down so I waited for her at the bottom. Well a few minutes go by and she never comes down and Justin can't see her anymore. So here we go again looking around at the tubes.

I finally find her and the poor thing bursts into tears when she spots me too. Mommy to the rescue...in I go. I make my way through the tubes and find my bawling babe. After comforting her, we start to make our way out of the maze. Well I obviously took a wrong turn and couldn't find the dang slide. I was stuck in play place hell. I kept seeing Justin who was watching safely on the ground laughing his butt off.

I eventually figured out how to get to the big slide, which was a relief. I was getting hot and claustrophobic in there. Now, the only problem with getting to the big slide was that the incline was steeper and thus it was harder for Aubrey to climb up the tubes. So now we're blocking traffic and holding up the line (Justin is still safe on the ground laughing).  Kids are now becoming inpatient with us and telling us to hurry up. One even goes so far to tell me, "Hurry up, your butt stinks!" I didn't know what to say, so I told her she was a rude little girl.

This tale ends happily as Aubrey and I made it out of there alive and in one piece. Moral of the story? Well there are three things I can take away from this:

1. Aubrey is not quite ready to be in that play place alone. She needs a buddy system to help navigate those tunnels.

2.  It will be Justin's turn to go get her next time she is stuck. I will watch from the ground laughing.

3.  Apparently my butt stinks. So excuse me while I go shower.

The Mom Stays in the Picture

One of my Facebook friends posted this article the other day and I just had to share and include it in our blog.  It is really sweet and well said for us Mothers that still sport our baby weight or don't feel overly confident in our appearances.

I know I often feel the same way that this lady, Allison Tate, describes throughout the article.  Often times I prefer not be in the picture if I haven't taken the time to straighten myself up into something presentable.  I still sport my baby weight (and then some) and of course that makes me (or anyone else in my position) feel self conscious about how I feel about my appearance and how I see myself in pictures. 

Despite how we feel, Allison is right.  We need should be in the pictures no matter what.  You may not have your makeup on or your hair done or you may be having a "fat day," but it's important for our kid(s) to see us right there with them when they look back at their childhood.  Don't let the fact that you're wearing your sweats, old/stained t-shirt and a mess on your head stop you from being in those pictures to capture all of the awesome moments that life has to offer with your babe!

Here is Allison's story:

The Mom Stays in the Picture

By:  Allison Tate

Orginally Posted at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-tate/mom-pictures-with-kids_b_1926073.html

 Last weekend, my family traveled to attend my oldest niece's Sweet Sixteen party. My brother and sister-in-law planned this party for many months and intended it to be a big surprise, and it included a photo booth for the guests.

I showed up to the party a bit late and, as usual, slightly askew from trying to dress myself and all my little people for such a special night out. I'm still carrying a fair amount of baby weight and wearing a nursing bra, and I don't fit into my cute clothes. I felt awkward and tired and rumpled.

I was leaning my aching back against the bar, my now 5-month-old baby sleeping in a carrier on my chest (despite the pounding bass and dulcet tones of LMFAO blasting through the room) when my 5-year-old son ran up to me.

"Come take pictures with me, Mommy," he yelled over the music, "in the photo booth!"

I hesitated. I avoid photographic evidence of my existence these days. To be honest, I avoid even mirrors. When I see myself in pictures, it makes me wince. I know I am far from alone; I know that many of my friends also avoid the camera.

It seems logical. We're sporting mama bodies and we're not as young as we used to be. We don't always have time to blow dry our hair, apply make-up, perhaps even bathe (ducking). The kids are so much cuter than we are; better to just take their pictures, we think.

But we really need to make an effort to get in the picture. Our sons need to see how young and beautiful and human their mamas were. Our daughters need to see us vulnerable and open and just being ourselves -- women, mamas, people living lives. Avoiding the camera because we don't like to see our own pictures? How can that be okay?

Too much of a mama's life goes undocumented and unseen. People, including my children, don't see the way I make sure my kids' favorite stuffed animals are on their beds at night. They don't know how I walk the grocery store aisles looking for treats that will thrill them for a special day. They don't know that I saved their side-snap, paper-thin baby shirts from the hospital where they were born or their little hospital bracelets in keepsake boxes high on the top shelves of their closets. They don't see me tossing and turning in bed wondering if I am doing an okay job as a mother, if they are okay in their schools, where we should take them for a vacation, what we should do for their birthdays. I'm up long past the news on Christmas Eve wrapping presents and eating cookies and milk, and I spend hours hunting the Internet and the local Targets for specially-requested Halloween costumes and birthday presents. They don't see any of that.

Someday, I want them to see me, documented, sitting right there beside them: me, the woman who gave birth to them, whom they can thank for their ample thighs and their pretty hair; me, the woman who nursed them all for the first years of their lives, enduring porn star-sized boobs and leaking through her shirts for months on end; me, who ran around gathering snacks to be the week's parent reader or planning the class Valentine's Day party; me, who cried when I dropped them off at preschool, breathed in the smell of their post-bath hair when I read them bedtime stories, and defied speeding laws when I had to rush them to the pediatric ER in the middle of the night for fill-in-the-blank (ear infections, croup, rotavirus).

I'm everywhere in their young lives, and yet I have very few pictures of me with them. Someday I won't be here -- and I don't know if that someday is tomorrow or thirty or forty or fifty years from now -- but I want them to have pictures of me. I want them to see the way I looked at them, see how much I loved them. I am not perfect to look at and I am not perfect to love, but I am perfectly their mother.

When I look at pictures of my own mother, I don't look at cellulite or hair debacles. I just see her -- her kind eyes, her open-mouthed, joyful smile, her familiar clothes. That's the mother I remember. My mother's body is the vessel that carries all the memories of my childhood. I always loved that her stomach was soft, her skin freckled, her fingers long. I didn't care that she didn't look like a model. She was my mama.

So when all is said and done, if I can't do it for myself, I want to do it for my kids. I want to be in the picture, to give them that visual memory of me. I want them to see how much I am here, how my body looks wrapped around them in a hug, how loved they are.

I will save the little printed page with four squares of pictures on it and the words "Morgan's Sweet Sixteen" scrawled across the top with the date. There I am, hair not quite coiffed, make-up minimal, face fuller than I would like -- one hand holding a sleeping baby's head, and the other wrapped around my sweet littlest guy, who could not care less what I look like.

So this is Allison's picture:

AND in honor of this story and idea, here is mine.  I don't necessarily love the way I look in this picture, but it's me...on a Saturday morning...being a mom...loving my baby.

I challenge all of you Mamas out there to follow Allison's lead!  :)



Chatty Cathy

Today Aubrey had a well-baby checkup with her doctor and I have to say, it was all quite comical.  Ok, well not all of it.  Poor Aubrey has been fighting a cold for about two weeks now and we found out today that she has an ear infection in both ears.  Her first ear infection.     Poor baby, but we got her a prescription to get her better soon.  Aside from that bit of news, here’s what happened that just made me laugh.

At every appointment we are required to fill out a questionnaire about Aubrey asking different things about her developmentally.  Today one of the questions was, “Can your child say a minimum of eight words?”  Eight words?!?!  Are you kidding me?  You’re funny.  Yes.  She can say a MINIMUM of eight words.  Here is a list of all the words and phrases we could think of that she is currently saying…I had to list so you can see why we laughed.

Mama/Mommy

Dada/Daddy

Aubrey (Which sounds like Aubie)

Hi/Hello (Which sounds like ‘hewoah’)

Bye

Fish (Not so much emphasis on the ‘f’ though)

Shoes

Nana

Grandpa (Which sounds like Bampa)

No <—A favorite of hers

I want that

Mine

Puppy (Which sounds like poppy)

Thank you

Doo doo (For…you know…#2)

Pee pee

Poop

Potty

Juice

Water (Which sounds like wa-wa)

That’s cool

OK

Pool

Pretty

Mimis (Which is what we call bedtime in our house)

TV

Eat

Nose

Eyes

Head

Ice

Baby

Oh no

Mmmmm (Which is what she says when she sees something she wants to eat)

Cookie

Tickle, tickle (Which sounds like tica tica)

Ewwwwww

I know

Ball

Its hot

Cold

Here you go

Play

Car

More

Again

Yay

Done

I want down

I’m ok

Where it go?

What’s that?

Babe

Achoo (Which is what she tells you when you sneeze)

Like I said…yes….she knows at least eight words.  I’m sure I’ve missed some here too.  What’s even funnier is that while the doctor was writing down some stuff, Aubrey was talking and the following conversation ensued:

Doctor:  Wow she is really talking good.

Justin:  Yeah, she’s a regular old Chatty Cathy

Doctor gives quizzical look.

Doctor:  Is that a cartoon character?

Justin gives an equally quizzical look.

Justin:  No, it’s just something my Mom used to say.

Doctor:  Is there a Cathy in your family?

Justin and I now trying to suppress laughter.

Justin:  No, not that I know of.

Doctor:  Oh.  Maybe a friend?

Justin:  No, I guess my Mom is just weird.

Doctor:  Well I think she sounds really fun.

Me…about to die of laughter on the inside…barely able to contain myself.

After he left Justin and I looked at each other, shook our heads and started laughing.  What the heck?  That was special.

Love,

Justin, Candice & Aubrey

Preschool

Justin and I recently made the decision to start Aubrey in preschool and boy has it been a change for us! We have two weeks under our belts and I think it’s safe to say that we are all adjusting fairly well.  It has been a big change for all of us and some days are more challenging than others, but I think it’s all been for the good.

We’ve been looking at daycares/preschools off and on since before Aubrey was born; always toying with the idea of whether or not to put her in but nowhere every seemed good enough.  I just couldn’t imagine leaving my baby anywhere with strangers. 

Like I said, we recently decided it would be best for us to finally put her in at least part time.  So again we searched and searched all around town for somewhere that we felt comfortable leaving her at and somewhere that we could afford.  Well as luck would have it, we just did not like anywhere around our neighborhood and ultimately it led us to the decision that we would be willing to drive a little further if it meant we felt more comfortable leaving Aubrey there.  So we expanded our search area and kept looking and still no luck.

Oddly enough, I was at a health insurance meeting for work and while we were eating lunch one of the reps and I were talking about our kids and I was telling her my dilemma.  She said she had just recently went through the same problem and she ended up taking her son to Kids Castle and she LOVED it.  She told me more about it and it sounded wonderful, so we decided to go check it out the next day along with a few others on our list.

We checked it out and we really liked it!  We liked the director and the lead teacher in the “Older One’s” room which is where Aubrey would be.  Each classroom has a curriculum that they follow which helps to develop the kids, they send home reports everyday about your child’s day (i.e. what they ate, when they were changed, what it was, their mood, activities, etc.), they have home cooked meals and they are a Christian based school so they learn about God and say Grace before they eat. We enrolled her right away and started her that following Monday.

Aubrey has done really well adjusting so far and we couldn’t be prouder.  The first day was definitely the hardest…actually it was probably the hardest for me.  Aubrey cried when we dropped her off just as we had expected; they had recommended that we sit there with her for a few minutes to let her get used to the place.  So we sat there for a few minutes before deciding that it would actually be easier on her if we just left.  So we kissed her and walked out of the room and the tears poured uncontrollably down my face.  The director let us watch her on the camera and she was already done crying.  She said we could sit there until we were ready to leave.  We left right away because my steady stream of tears was about to burst into a waterfall if I stood there any longer.  I cried almost all the way to work.

Being the nervous nelly that I am, I called half way through the day to see how she was doing and was relieved to find out she was having a great day.  Phew.  The next few days went much the same for me but Aubrey had a harder time and we received notes on her reports saying, “Aubrey was emotional today and missed her Mom & Dad.”  It broke my heart.  However, the second week went much better and she had great days again which is a total relief.

While Aubrey is doing well (knock on wood) we have had a few incidents with other kids already.  She got bit twice by two other kids.    Fortunately it didn’t break skin either time and I think it bothered Justin and I more than it bothered her.  I know that the kid didn’t do it maliciously…I mean come on…toddlers tend to bite….but we were still pretty heated about it.  All we can do for now is just hope for it not to happen again.

Since starting preschool, we have already seen tremendous changes in Aubrey.  She cleans up after herself, she says ‘thank you’ all the time (I think it’s her new favorite word) and she is eating better at the table.  We have our first of many art pieces hanging on the wall at home too!  August is ‘All About Me’ month, so the kids had their body traced and measured and sent home.  It’s awesome!  Every week they will be doing art projects and cooking projects…this week Justin and I are jealous because the cooking project is ‘Sandwich on a stick.’  How awesome does that sound?

Love,

Justin, Candice & Aubrey

 

Aubrey On Her First Day of Preschool

Grandma Denise Lopez

This week the world lost a truly amazing woman; Denise Lopez.  Denise was many things to many people; a mother, a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a friend, a neighbor, a special mother-in-law to me and best of all, a Grandmother.  I say best of all because I never saw Denise happier than when she was around her granddaughters; Amaya, Jessica, Jacklyn and my daughter Aubrey; Grandma’s girl.  I think being a Grandma to these girls was one of her most favorite things in life; they always brought her joy and often times in her last month’s here with us, I would see her the way I knew her years ago when she was with the girls.  She loved them.

My daughter Aubrey is only 19 months old and it saddens me that she will never truly get to know her sweet and wonderful Grandma Denise.  Even at such a young age, Aubrey and her Grandma shared a special bond and even had their own inside jokes that none of us could understand.  Aubrey loved to kiss her Grandma on the knee, they would raise their hands together, watch court TV, share chicken nuggets, frosties and many other things.  While I know Aubrey will not remember these special things when she gets older, I want to make sure that she knows the memory of her Grandma Denise and what a wonderful Grandmother she was to her from the time she knew Aubrey was in my tummy until the day she left this world and began her new journey.

I write this blog so that one day Aubrey, or any other children my husband and I may have in the future, can look back and have a story of their lives.  I want them to be able to see this post and know something about the person their Grandma Denise was.  So here are some of the things I loved about Grandma Denise.

• She loved her grandkids with all her heart.  She cherished and treasured all of them.  Her walls at home are covered with their pictures.  She shared a special bond with all of them and them with her.
• She made sure her grand babies always had a wonderful Christmas filled with tons of gifts.  It always made me laugh because she insisted on celebrating Christmas one week early so that none of us kids would have to worry about picking and choosing where to go for Christmas; it was sweet.  This past year we actually celebrated Christmas at her house on December 15th and then the very next day we celebrated Aubrey’s 1st birthday; our house was swarmed with toys and clothes everywhere!  It makes me laugh and smile thinking of it.  Grandma Denise always made sure the girls had an equal number of presents to open and they were all color coded; red presents for one, green presents for the other and so on and so forth.  The girls would separate the presents out between themselves and once they had the mountain of gifts piled high they could dig in!  HOWEVER, the rule was that you could only open one gift at a time and then you had to throw your trash away and put the gift in your giant bag.  It was always hilarious to watch the girls be tortured by this process but it was actually brilliant on Grandma Denise’s part!  It extended the awesome fun of opening all the gifts for the girls AND it saved all of us adults from literally being buried in wrapping paper with no escape!
• She made the most delicious no bake cookies for all of us kids every year!  They were amazing!  We all loved “The Green Ones” and would try to find which cookie tin they were in before anyone else could get to them!  I guess it’s safe to reveal my secret now, but if I found a tin of them, I would hide them until the end of the party and then take them home on my to-go plate!  I think Aubrey would have loved them and I am going to make it a point to try and make them every year although I know they will never be as good.
• She loved the Dollar Store.    And if you went with her, you got something!  It always made me laugh because she prided herself on shopping at the Dollar Store and sharing all the great deals she got there!  I think I like, appreciate and shop at the Dollar Store more today because of Denise.  Oh and Aubrey always gets something when she goes with me too.
• She loved her puppies; especially her Kobe.  I think Aubrey loves the puppies at her Grandma’s house and at our house because she saw every day the way her Grandma and Papa loved on them.
• Grandma Denise (and of course Papa) would watch the girls without hesitation all the time.  Justin and I were so lucky because Grandma Denise and Papa watched Aubrey four days a week for us while we went to work.  Aubrey has grown to love going over there.  She knows their house immediately when we pull up and starts to get excited saying, “I want that.  I want that.  I want that.” And pointing at the house.

Today we celebrated Grandma Denise’s life and many people showed up to share their memories with the family.  Denise was a special person that touched more lives than any of us had ever realized.  She will be dearly missed but we all take comfort in knowing that she is no longer in pain but now resting in peace.  We will carry her memory.

Another Chapter in Our Story…

Once again I’ve let time slip away from me without so much as an update.  It’s funny how life just gets so tremendously busy and suddenly months have passed by in what feels like the blink of an eye.  I think Ferris Bueller might have had it right, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”  ;)  So once again, here comes another novel in the Lopez saga…enjoy.

Botanical Gardens/Butterfly Pavilion
One of my absolute favorite times of the year is when the Botanical Gardens open up their Butterfly Pavilion!  It is so beautiful and almost magical to be in there with hundreds, maybe even thousands of butterflies flying around.  This year Aubrey and I went with some of our friends to check it out and as usual, it did NOT disappoint.  One of the coolest things that happened was when we first walked in and a butterfly landed on our friend Dasia’s head!  It was amazing!  The rest of us were not as lucky as Miss Dasia, but we managed to get some pictures with other butterflies in the background.  It was simply gorgeous; the pictures speak for themselves below.

After the butterflies, we took a break and ate some delish cupcakes (courtesy of Miss Ann bo nan!) and just enjoyed the afternoon and soaked up some sun before continuing our journey.  Once we had successfully gorged ourselves on several tasty cupcakes, we checked out the Rose Garden and then headed over to the Aquarium to visit the fishies.

It never ceases to amaze me how much Aubrey LOVES the Aquarium.  She just gets such a kick out of all the fish swimming around (although lately the giant sting ray in the big tank seems to scare her a little…she doesn’t like to be next to the tank when he swims by).  We made our way through and let the kids run while the Moms enjoyed the air conditioning.  All in all…a SUPER play date!

Fort
Don’t really know how noteworthy this is, but it was a blast!  We built a fort in our living room one night and ate dinner in there!  Aubrey loved it and of course started crying when we made her come out of it.  I think the pictures speak for themselves here.

Durango Camping Trip
We were able to make it out for a few days to the annual Durango camping trip with our fellow Lopez’s and enjoy some days away.  I don’t know if you can really call it a ‘camping’ trip per se when you have an Auntie Jackie like we do!  This woman is insanely amazing!  While “camping” we enjoyed luxury cabins, delicious meals It was Aubrey’s first camping trip and I think she had a BLAST!  Swimming, fishing, dirt, mud, waterfalls, hot springs, shopping, junk food…what’s not to love?  We were also joined by Nana and Zampa (that’s what Aubrey calls my Dad…haha) which made our trip that much more awesome! 

Aubrey’s Papa (Justin’s Dad) got us all geared up with fishing stuff before we left for Durango, so we were VERY excited to get to the lake while we were camping.  He even had a kids fishing pole for Aubrey (Parenting side note:  We didn’t put a hook on it, just a weight.).  So we got up early one morning and went fishing at Electra Lake.  Justin got me and him all setup with our fishing poles and once we got them in the water we then played with Aubrey and showed her how to use her fishing pole.  She thought it was so funny!  She kept dunking it and splashing it in the water.  Eventually, like any toddler, she got bored with it after awhile and just started splashing in the water.  She also thought she was super cool in her brand new Hello Kitty camping chair.

I’m proud to say that I DID catch a fish!  I’m even prouder to say that my fish was bigger than Justin’s!  Oh yeah, Fishing Master.  See pictures below for indisputable evidence to my victory.

In addition to fishing, we enjoyed a day at the Hot Springs in Ouray, shopping in Durango, swimming, delicious cooking by Aunt Jackie and just the great outdoors.  It was a blast!

On our way home, Justin and I decided to take an adventure detour to cross off an item on our bucket list; see the Four Corners.  So we made our way out towards, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona all at the same time.  NOW, let me tell you, as neat as it is to say that you stood in four states at once, the four corners are NOT that exciting.  For starters, it is literally in the middle of the desert.  There is NOTHING around it for miles..and it is hot as hell.  I think we were there for a total of like 15 minutes.  It literally felt like my $1 Old Navy flip flops were melting with each step I took.  Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea that we did with regards to our adventure because believe it or not, THERE WAS A LINE to stand in the four states.  Are you kidding me?  However, we had already come this far, so we waited and much to our dismay there was some sort of school or camp in front of us in which they took a zillion pictures (yes, a zillion).  They took a group picture, then a kids only picture, then a teachers/counselors only picture, then individual pictures; meanwhile the rest of us are melting.  Eventually we made it to the front of the line, quickly took our awesome picture and then hurried back to the car, air conditioning and cold Gatorade.  Like I said, not overly exciting, but, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED; we’ll cross that one off the list.

Father’s Day
We had another great Father’s Day this year!  Justin actually wanted to go to the Flea Market and shop around which was a strange choice coming from my hubby but we did exactly that.  It actually ended up being a great time despite the extreme heat and all of us found some good stuff!  Turns out my hubby’s real motive for going to the flea market was to find a camo, floppy hat.  Mission accomplished, we scored one for $3 people!  Nothing quite beats an amazing deal at the Flea Market.  We also found an awesome inflatable pool for Aubrey on our shopping adventure…another great steal…about half the price of the same ones we saw at the stores.  All in all it was a pretty mellow but very nice day.  I also think that Aubrey and I did pretty good with our gift giving this year.  I got him some portable speakers for his I-phone and she made him an awesome picture…her gift was better than mine.  ;0)

4th of July
We were a little nervous for 4th of July this year now that Aubrey is a lot more aware of what is going on around her.  She did really well last year with the fireworks but we weren’t sure how she would do this year.  Well she is a product of her Mommy and Daddy because she LOVED the fireworks!  We celebrated with family at a BBQ at my Tio Remmy’s house and we ended the night watching Lumbre del Sol down at Santa Fe High School followed by fireworks.  My mom’s birthday is July 3rd so we also threw in a really nice family lunch at Maria’s Kitchen filled with fun, laughter and good times.  It really don’t get no gooder.

Lumbre on the Plaza
Lumbre recently played on the Plaza in Santa Fe for the summer series and boy was it insane!  Every year it gets bigger and bigger and this by far was the BIGGEST crowd I have ever seen show up to the plaza to see Lumbre!  Wow!  The band did amazing and the crowd was definitely NOT let down.  They even had to do two encores just to try and tame them a little bit!  There is no feeling in the world quite like seeing your Dad on stage bringing down the house.  It is simply AMAZING!  Truly a moment where you look at the stranger next to you and say, “Hey, that’s my Dad.”  

 

Dukes Retro Night
The Dukes are coming out, coming out swinging, hustling all the way!  Oh yeah, I went there.  Dukes Retro night has got to be in the top five baseball nights that the Isotopes puts on.  It is so cool to see all of the old Dukes merchandise for sale, players in their old yellow and red uniforms and of course hearing the Duke theme song.  We pulled up some berm with Justin’s Dad and our niece Jessica and enjoyed a perfect evening of baseball followed by some awesome fireworks.

 

 

 

 

 

That’s about it for now.  Our little family is doing great and as always, Justin and I are enjoying watching Aubrey grow and change before our eyes.  One minute she was a baby and the next she is this “big girl” doing big girl things; drinking from a cup, walking everywhere, talking up a storm with you and just being the smartest and sweetest girl we know.  Every day is a new adventure and it’s always an amazing day with our sweet Aubrey.

Love,
Justin, Candice & Aubrey