Reasons why...

My grandmother and mother have always said that no matter how great a father a man can be, he will never be a mother. I was away from my family for almost six months and during this time my husband was playing Mr. Mom with the help of my mother and sister in laws.
When I got home I noticed that there were a couple of different things with my daughter's attitude... She would say things like, "March Madness" and "Pass the ball!"... Okay, Luis has been watching games with the girls... The other night, I walked in on my husband putting our youngest daughter, Penelope to sleep. She was singing "Na, na, na" along with him and I said, "That's so sweet! You guys have your own song!"... Then he said, "No, she usually goes to sleep while I'm playing Rock Band and the song I usually play is E-Pro by Beck." This doesn't beat Sophia's first time in the snow but it just shows how different men are than women! :)

Here is a youtube link of Penelope's favorite bedtime lullaby... Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WcXWK-Ez8s

1% update...

I had my first appointment for 1% yesterday and an appointment it was. While my doctor was in shock that I was the first person that he has worked with that got pregnant while on Mirena, I guess from his experience he knew something else was up and wasn't being the very happy man that I was used to seeing. He asked me to undress so that I can go ahead and be raped by the internal sonogram penis thing. (If you've ever had one of these, you know exactly what I'm talking about) After lots of poking and searching, he did see one sack but there was no heartbeat. Something had to go wrong in the formation which was probably because of the Mirena which caused the baby's heartbeat to stop. I go in one more time on Saturday to double and triple check for a heartbeat but after that the 1% baby will be no more.
While I am sad, I have to say that somewhere in the back of my mind I knew this would happen. I knew this wasn't REAL. This is an experience that I was chosen to have. Why? Who knows? All I know is that while I am sad, I am okay and have two midgets at home to chase after which keeps me very busy.
Thank you to all of my friends and family that sent me soooo many words of encouragement when I was freaking out about being a mother of three and there being a chance that I might have a boy! AHHHH! Thanks again for always being so supportive! You guys are the best!

Not just a piece of paper...

Time and time again, I hear women who can't get their boyfriends to commit refer to marriage as just a piece of paper. Well, it's not. It's a promise that two people make to one another. Sometimes promises are broken and there are times that they are kept. When my boyfriend proposed to me, his father said something that I will never forget at our engagement party. He said, "This is not a game. Marriage is fun like all the celebrations that we will have but it is also a lot of hard work and there are good times like there are bad." He was so right! After all the celebrations were over, I quickly learned what a slob the man I married was! This is all besides the point that I am trying to make here... Just because two people live together does not give them the right to call each other husband and wife. You are NOT husband and wife, you are boyfriend and girlfriend living with one another. Just because two people get pregnant, it does NOT give you the right to call each other husband and wife because while creating a life together is a promise all on its own, it is not a promise being made to one another. You are making a promise to be a mother and a father. I was watching Oprah today and Jenny McCarthy was saying that she didn't "need" to get married to show Jim Carey she loved him and that it was so much more beautiful that she wasn't married to him because she CHOSE to be with him... Guess what Jenny! I choose to make my marriage work! I choose to argue with my husband about him always leaving his ties and socks all over the house AND I happened to choose a man that was not afraid to commit to me in front of all of our family and friends and made a promise to stand by my side for the rest... of my... life...

Furry baby mommas!

As I have mentioned before... I love animals and come from a family that gave our doberman his own bed... NOT A COT! NOT A CUSHION! BED IN their bedroom so that he could sleep comfortably every night. A family that bought my dog his own entree when we went out to dinner and by the way, he liked his filet mignon rare. NOT KIDDING! I just want to get this all out there because at the end of the day as much as I have loved all my pets, I have known they are just that, pets and not humans.
Today I was talking about how Sophia smacks my husband on the face when he falls asleep telling her bedtime stories and while smacking him says, "AKE UP DADDY! AKE UP!". Then, the other person in the conversation said, "Yeah! I know! When Scooby wants me to wake up he just nudges my head with his little nose until I do!"... Okay... Was I just talking about my dog or my daughter that does not lift her leg to piss on the wall? I just looked at her and said, "It really isn't the same thing, it's a dog and I'm talking about a human being"... She thought my attitude was pretty funny as her and I have had this discussion before when she mentioned how everyone was bringing their babies to work and she was missing them all because a woman that just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl brought her baby in and then someone else brought their dog in! Of course I said, "You cannot put someones baby in the same category as a dog! You just can't!"
Now, again, I'm all about loving animals. I mean, I did take Sebastian to meet Santa Clause and he did have a pretty amazing wardrobe but at the end of the day he was a dog. I never told people about the very cute thing he did with his tail or the stuffed animal that he HAS to sleep with at night OR the fact that he HAS to be tucked in with a specific blanket or else he just won't sleep at all! SERIOUSLY?!?! Are we serious here?! My friend Julie can tell you that my husband got Sebastian used to drinking from a chilled glass and it was just his and my husband's "thing" but please furry baby mommas, have some compassion for the stretchmarks, morning sickness, ripped butt holes, 9 months of no alcohol and deformed bodies that some women have to go through in order to bring a human being in the world and do not compare a pet of any sort to that. The end....

Going Green!

What is going on with my body?! So, the natural reason humans are on this earth is to reproduce... Here I am being VERY green and pregnant with my third baby (pass the paper bag please!)... I am totally giving back to this earth. As an abiding citizen of the planet earth, I feel that I should not already have awful morning sickness! This is not fair! I thought being green was a good thing! I can't wear any of my perfumes, I can't smell anything, pleasant or unpleasant because it will send me to a gagging frenzy. Kermit nailed it on the head when he said, it's not easy being green :(

What's next?

I went to Babies R Us to search for a new cup for Sophia... She should already be used to using a regular cup and not a sippy cup but with me not being home, it's been tough to transition her... Anyway! I went to Babies R Us and was looking at the wall o'cups and was just very overwhelmed... An associate asked me if I needed help and I said yes. I explained to her that I was searching for a cup to transition my daughter from sippy cups to regular cups. The lady looked at me with a blank stare and said, "A cup. You want a cup?" Yes! I want a cup... A cup to transition her... As I was interrupted, she said, "No! You are asking for a cup! A regular cup! Just by her a regular cup!" I was a little dumb founded and just left the store in humiliation. How was I supposed to know?! They make something for every stage a kid goes through! How was I supposed to know that what was next was a regular cup!

What's the lesson?

The Berenstain Bears, a bear family that teaches children tons of lessons in life. It wasn't until now that it finally clicked. My mother told me that the best way to prepare a child for something new is to read them a book about it. I went to Barnes and Nobles to buy Sophia some books on things that she is going through now. I sat in a tiny table in the children's section and began to read through all of the books I had chosen. As my "NO" pile went higher and higher, I saw a Berenstain Bear section. I began thinking about how my brothers and I had every book in the series... I think we might have just been missing one but I'm not sure. We loved those books! We loved that family! I went over to see them just so that I can revisit my childhood. "Berenstain Bears goes to the doctor", "Berenstain Bears get a case of the Gimmies"... I would open each one that I remembered and flipped through the pages and went back in time and was the little girl that would sit on the sofa with my mother while she read us these books... I took a couple of them and sat back down in the tiny table... As I was reading through the books, I thought, "Oh my God! These were our 'preparing' books!" These were the books my parents used to read to us before we did something new! After my light bulb moment, I thought about how obviously perfect I am and bought every copy they had available. I think this is the last Berenstain Bear lesson that my mother taught me...

In case you thought I was kidding!

In case you thought I was kidding about the car seat nazis, please go to the link listed below where I posted a video of my daughter Penelope doing her thing in her car seat :). Once you are on the page, look at the comment left by a car seat nazi! ENJOY! :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ74Gtd1feA&feature=email

Moving on up!

As I mentioned from my previous post, I recently resigned from my pretty awesome job to move back up to the North and claim my spot as a Yankee! (they really say Yankees here!) I have to say that a little piece of me got accustomed to the Texan lifestyle. I can't say that people are nicer here. They really aren't, they just smile in your face and then say something very passive/aggressive towards you while New Yorkers just tell you to eff off to your face. I have met the most amazing people here that are so crafty and make the most amazing things with their hands! Someone made their own tea at home! Tea! Like the kind that comes in a little tea bag, lol! I learned that home made pancakes does not mean the "Just add water" box by Aunt Jemima. I swear to God I thought that was scratch but people actually use flour and who knows what else to make REAL home made pancakes! I know! Amazing! I've met people that make their own jewelry, knit their own scarves, the list goes on and on. For the first time in my life, I've lived in an environment where it is expected to go to church, where family is very important and everyone values the promise of marriage. I really have loved experiencing this culture but along with this culture came other things that I had never experience in my life. For the first time in my life I got called a derogatory term, for the first time in my life I heard someone call Jewish people, "the tree hating people", for the first time in my life, I have seen racism take place right before my eyes and for the first time in my life I have seen more pick up trucks then anything else! I am happy to return to the world of fabulous take out and no stereotypes but I am not happy to return to the world of more rats than residents, lol! I still love NY though! Rats and all! :)

99.9%

Do you ever think about that 1%? That 1% chance that you can win the lotto, the 1% chance that if you are on a roller coaster you might fly out of it, the 1% chance that you can get pregnant while on birth control. I have never thought about this because come on! 1%! Well, I just had one of the roughest weeks of my life. I resigned from my dream job, I found out that there might be a chance that would be pregnant AND if I was, there was an even bigger chance that it might be an ectopic pregnancy because I have this IUD (Intrauterine Device) named Mirena installed. Then, after many days of blood work to check if my hormone levels were going up, down or just staying the same, I got the news... A phone call from a random doctor I had to visit here in TX. "Michelle! I have great news!" I thought, "Phew! It was a false positive test!" Then he said, "We're having a baby! I'll see you here in two weeks!" Oh dear GOD! Oh dear GOD! Once the news became official, I became a nervous wreck. I felt like a pregnant 15 year old who didn't have a husband or home to go to. "How could this be?! I'm on Mirena!" I told him. "Well! There's always that 1%!" he said... When I gave my husband the news, he took it like any man would and was proud of his swimmer's accomplishment. After about a week of therapy from friends telling me that it'll all be alright and that my "planned" family was obviously not the family that I was in my destiny, I have finally accepted the fact that later this year, I will be having a little 1%...

Tomato... Tomahtoe!

My daughter was drawing with her markers and my husband said to her, "Sophia! What a beautiful purple cirle!" Sophia responded by saying, "Daddy! That's not a circle! It's a nugget!"... Tomato, tomahtoe... Circle, nugget... Everyone sees the world in a different way.

Skipped...

Please tell me I'm crazy and if you do think I'm crazy lie to me and say I'm not. So, my family has these heirloom earrings that are passed on from baby girl to baby girl. It's been going on for generations. The person who has the earrings currently asked me before Sophia was turning one, "When are you going to want the earrings?" I said, "Whenever you are ready to give them to me." Then she said, "Well they are typically given when a girl turns two." Then I said, "Well, that's fine because her godmother got her tons of diamonds." Okay... So that was done and I never thought anything else of it. Then, my daughter turned two and I asked for the earrings. I was ignored. I didn't want to seem pushy or anything but I've got two daughters and they are both going to have to get the chance to wear them before someone else in the family has a daughter. Okay... So, I ask again... And again... Ignored... This time I ask my mother if she could do me the favor of asking for the earrings because well, now Sophia is going to just wear them for a picture to keep the tradition going and pass them right down to her sister afterwards. My mother tells me that she will do nothing of the sort and calls me crazy. I asked her why I would be crazy for asking for an heirloom piece that every woman in my family has worn and someone is just hogging up to be a B.I.T.C.H.... My mother then told me that she raised me better then that and if someone doesn't want to pass something down to me then I can tell them to shove it. Now, I am infamous for telling people to shove it but this is different. This is something that my daughters are entitled to as they ARE part of the family! I mean, these people brag to the point that you want to vomit. They will tell you how much they spent on everything from their toilet paper to chandeliers... Can't they just buy their kid a new pair of earrings? I explained this all to my mother and once again, I was called crazy... Now, am I really crazy? Is this something so simple to just "let go"? Wouldn't you be upset? I mean, really?