Month: April 2015

Today I…Explained to Isabel

Posted on by msgagnier

Today I worked from Berta’s house. Little Santiago was off school today because he had stomach issues yesterday so he had to be symptom free for 24 hours before returning. It’s great because Mami Luz is back from Peru right now which makes a big difference in taking care of the kids. It takes a whole lot of women to take care of my two boys:) I feel like the luckiest girl in the world having so much help from Luis’s family. Andres & Santiago are so loved by all and get all the attention and love growing boys could need.  Santiago had a fabulous day with his Mami Luis and Abui. He played at the park, went to Cosco, took a little nap, played with Abuelo and then at the end of it, got to spend time with Mommy and Daddy. Andres was adorned by Mami Luz all day long with intervals from me breastfeeding, playing, and changing him.

Luis came home from work a bit tired. Yesterday Abuelo, Luis Sr., made a little boo boo in his construction work. He is building an addition off the side of their house and built the forms for four columns that will be supporting the house. One of the forms split after the concrete was poured and concrete was everywhere! “You learn from your mistakes”, he said with a smile on his face. So that was that, Luis was there helping him anyways and Alvin, my brother-in-law (Luis’s sisters husband), came to help clean up the mess.

Anyways, right when I was finishing up, Isabel came in with Luis and Luis was telling her that she couldn’t just eat meat. And then I chimed in as I always love to about food and fitness (though my fitness these days is abysmal), and told Isabel as I always do about how important it is for her to be healthy, to make healthy life decisions, to eat healthy and to be smart about her food choices.  Isabel is a sweet 7-year-old girl and her family already calls her “gordita”, which I don’t take issue with, I just think that there are more choices than for her to be “gordita” and that having weight issues at this age can only lead to a more complicated life moving forward. We’ll see the choices she makes moving forward, I can only say so much as her tia Melissa.

Picked out the paint colors tonight. Kitchen in the final stages of construction. Loving life and hoping for the rest of the week to go smoothly with me and my boys (Santiago, Andres, and Luis):)

Advertisement

Today I…Found Many Things to be Grateful For

Posted on by msgagnier

Today I started the day off getting ready for work, folding laundry, breastfeeding, and then hearing that sweet little voice from the other room, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy…called Santiago.  I ran into the room to see a big smile on his face.  That smile makes me melt everyday. I love my little Santiago. Almost ready to leave, knock, knock. “Oooooh” says Santiago, wondering who’s there. We go downstairs and of course it’s the workers. Three weeks left with our kitchen project.  I must say Brothers Services has been awesome so far. Everyday they work, they clean up the work area impeccably. You would only know they were there because of the fact that we have no kitchen currently.

Anyways, off to school.  Santiago is getting accustomed to school again, which is honestly so great.  Not as many tears, not as much guilt. Then off to work.  Got a bunch done, despite the fact that my mother-in-law left for an hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, was a bit frustrating, but you live through it, you put things in perspective and you do what you need to do.

All-in-all, the day was pretty normal. Andres was as sweet as can be as usual, a few cries, but mainly smiles, coos and burps. He’s a sweet baby and is more and more alert everyday. Santiago wakes him up, especially when he unintentionally grabs his arm and scratches the skin off:(  Sitting hear, finishing up work, going to eat dinner hear at my MOL’s and then possibly off to the park and then home.

Loving my babies, my husband, my work, and my family. A lot to be grateful for:)

Today was a typical day

Posted on by msgagnier

Today was a pretty typical day. I dropped Santiago off at school, he had a pretty good day yesterday and this morning I changed up our routine a bit. Instead of having to change him, I just put him in his school clothes to go to bed. It made my life sooooo much easier, should have thought about that a while ago.

Went to and worked from my suegras house today with little Andres.  Mid-day went to pick up the iPad that was stolen from our house last August.  They found it last September and it was finally ready for pick-up in March, it has just taken me a few weeks to go and get it. Andres was great all day long, Santiago came home relatively happy. He had another good day at school and he actually went to bed pretty early, 8pm (normal bedtime is around 9:30).  After he went to bed, I breastfed Andres for a bit, 9pm rolled around and I watched my first TV show this week, The Big Bang Theory, and now I’m here. The days are passing volando and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with everything…Work, kids, life…but what working mom doesn’t. It’s a balancing act and I keep saying this but I really do need to get that workout back in my schedule.  It will happen, I just need to focus and get back into it. So many goals, so little time and so little space. Just need to breath, take a step back, relax and things will come together.

Another day awaits…

Today I…

Posted on by msgagnier

Today I decided that I was going to start to record my memories, my days, to learn to become a better writer by practice, to leave something for my kids and their kids.  Today I decided to write. Santiago is now 22 months and Andres 4 months. The time is passing volando and I can’t keep up.

This morning I had to wake Santiago up to go to school and oh what a disaster, have you ever heard that saying “don’t wake a sleeping baby”, well, I have learned why several times this year. He’s a maniac when he doesn’t wake up on his own.  Santiago refused to let me change out of his moose sweatshirt that is way too small (it’s for a 12 month old), the sleeves only reach to the middle of his forearms.  I finally achieved my ultimate goal of removing his shirt, only to be followed by 10 minutes of continuous crying, running around and begging for his sweatshirt back…I gave in.  He went to school looking like a cute little fool with his sweatshirt that has a big moose and is two sizes too small and his little hat his abuela bought him over the weekend. After that he was a happy little camper, smiles galore, what baby isn’t happy after they finally get what they want.  All the while Andres was patiently waiting in his crib cooing and awing, just waiting for it all to be over.

Off to school, the drop-off was actually pretty uneventful, thankfully; though, as we approached the campus, dije a Santiago “Vas a divertirte hoy dia, vas a jugar con los amigos, vas a ver tus professoras” and he always responds shaking his head “No, mami, no.”  We parked and I took Santiago and Andres out of the car and Santiago hung onto me for dear life until I handed him over to Ms. Faby.  Long story short on why Santiago won’t be going back to his current school…Month of March, one of the teachers had an emergency and had to be covered by multiple subs during her absence, then Santiago & I fell down the stairs, I busted my back and he busted his lip and since then Santiago has pretty much been en contra de la escuela, hoping he’ll get back into the swing of things soon.

Off to work, mostly uneventful, worked from my suegras house, Berta. I have a pretty nice set-up. Berta takes care of baby Andres, I work in one of the bedrooms, and when Andres needs to lactar, she brings him over to me, I feed him and then when he’s done give him back. She’s a god-send (more about religion and god later, still not sure about everything, learning and growing).  Anyways, we’re starting a health and wellness program at work and I talked to the woman who is likely going to be planning and implementing everything; I’m super excited to work with her.  Other than that, just building a new ecommerce site to compliment our current business, everything’s going pretty smoothly and then tomorrow off to the warehouse.

I talked to Mamu, my grandma, mid-day. She’s not doing so hot, Papa is in the hospital, he’s 97 and having some gastrointestinal problems. He should be getting out tomorrow but Mamu is pretty depressed about the whole thing. She’s 89 and overall in pretty good condition; though extremely depressed at times.  She was crying, but always finds something nice to say about whoever she is talking to.  She told me today that I was like her daughter, that Luis was the best guy, the best husband, and that I am very lucky to have him.  Then she told me she loved me.  Mamu is such a special person and I’m so happy to have her in my life. Our Saturday visits for the past decade have made my life so complete. Though the weekly visits have diminished to bi-weekly because she doesn’t feel well quite often, every time I call and talk to her and see her, it puts a smile on my face. My Mamu & Papa will forever be the parents I never had…

Santiago came home feliz de la vida, gave me a big hug & kiss, even though apparently he spent the day sitting in his chair with his shirt and hat held tight for three hours straight, not really wanting to move or get up.  That didn’t phase him though, he was running around, eating nuezes (his favorite) and sitting with his abuelo, while I was breastfeeding and working, I’ve become a pretty good multi-tasker since the first.

Looking forward to another day tomorrow, another day to start something that I wasn’t able to start today…maybe tomorrow I will jump at the chance to finally workout, it’s been too long.