Recovering

We are very exhausted here in the Castillo household. Jeremiah an I especially have been going nonstop for the past week. We spent the day at Disneyland last Wednesday, which is tiring in itself, and then my car broke down on the freeway just a few exits before we arrived home. By the time my dad, CHP, AAA and Louis arrived to come and get me( thankfully I was able to get over to a shoulder!) and we got home it was nearly 10:00, almost 3 hours past my son's bedtime. Then, my grandma picked up Jeremiah and I early the next morning to take us to my parents house, where we stayed until Sunday night. Louis joind us on Friday. I worked for my mom Thursday afternoon, then got my pedicure and manicure w/ my mom. Friday was lots of running around plus the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal was supposed to start at 5:30 but didn't begin til nearly an hour later. As for the dinner? We didn't get out until nearly 10:00. One of teh bridesmaids totalled her car on the way from the rehearsal to the dinner (thank God she's okay) so everything ran way late because of that>

Saturday- wedding! My mom and I had our hair appt bright and early at 9:00 am and were nonstop busy the rest of the day. The wedding ended around 7:30 pm, and Louis, Marissa and I went to an afterparty at one of my brother's friend's houses (another Luis). It was very strange partying with my brother's friends without him there,, and seeing my brother being replaced with my husband in their circle of friends, but we all had a great time playing beer pong, flip cup and eating pizza. We're planning on getting together regularly to hang out until Luis winds up God knows where playing minor league baseball, and whenever Daniel's 4 year old son is in town from Seattle we are going to get our kids together.

Sunday- my cousin Paul very generouslly offered to lend us his Lexxus until our car gets fixed (the engine and transmission are shot). Before picking up the car in Huntington Beach, my dad took Louis and I to Long Beach to pick up my brother's tux and Lindsey's dress and return the tuxes. We didn't get home until 8:30 and believe me- it was GREAT to be home! And I absolutely love driving the Lexxus- I am not looking forward to having to give it back.

But just as we're starting to settle back into a somewhat normal routine, we're going to be on the go again this Thursday! Louis and I are going to Vegas Thursday night for the weekend for the wedding of a distant relative. We are driving my grandmother and staying at Motel 6 on Thursday night since we're going to arrive late (leaving after work), then Louis and i are at the Luxor til Sunday! I've never stayed there before and can't wait. I have to admit that I was really looking forward to some alone time Friday afternoon while Louis is working, but my grandma is goign to be tagging along with me to the pool. She's staying with my aunt at the Excalibur, and since the room is in my aunt's name she can't check in until she arrives. Oh well... I love my grandma and can't exactly tell her to go shopping so I can tan and read! Jeremiah will be staying with Louis's mom Thursday and Friday night and with my mom Saturday night. I hate to leave him but know that Louis and I really need some alone time- one of teh reasons we're staying at a different hotel than the majority of the relatives attending the wedding and one of the reasons we're even attending this wedding in the first place! We just need to get away, the two of us and no kidlets. The wedding is going to be at the Mandalay Bay and Louis is going t be singing and DJing. I cant' wait!

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Billheimer!

Yesterday my baby brother got married. The beautiful blonde woman in his arms is my new sister! I can't even begin to describe all of the zillions of emotions that went through me yesterday as I saw my brother get married. For those of you who have married siblings- especially if you yourself got married before they did- you probably know what I am talking about, especially if you are as fond of your sibling's spouse as I am of Lindsey. Lindsey, if you are reading this, I love you!

More pics to come tomorrow!

101 Update!

It's been 2 months since I began my quest to complete 101 goals in 1001 days. I have been having fun with this, although not as obsessively so as I was in the beginning. For example, I am no longer keeping track of if I read to Jeremiah every day and take my vitamins daily. They happen most days during the week, and thankfully reading has become a daily habit for Jeremiah and I! He loves to be read to now! Here's an update on how things are going:

Key:
**To be completed by November 23, 2009
In Progress
Completed

Creativity and Projects
1. Finish wedding scrapbook, honeymoon scrapbook and Jeremiah's 1st year scrapbook (0/3)
2. Learn to tole paint and complete at least two projects
3. **Finally order my wedding album!
4. Order pictures from Snapfish at least 10 times (0/10)
5. **Organize East Coast Tour pictures into an album
6. Blog twice a week (1/286)
7. Drag out my violin and spend an afternoon or an evening playing... just so I can't say that I haven't played since APU Graduation (May 2005!) anymore!

Education and Learning
8. Read at least 20 new books of choice, including Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice, The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, and The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage (finished 2)
9. **Find our local library and get a library card
10. Read at least 3 books related to the field of education
11. **Finish reading Dr. Jame's Dobson's Bringing Up Boys
12. Finish all paperwork necessary to apply for my California teaching credential and apply for it!

13. **Take a Red Cross CPR Course

Environment and Outdoors
14. ** Take Jeremiah on a walk 3 nights a week for 3 months (0/36)
15. Enroll Jeremiah in a swimming class (does not count for "Mommy and Me" goal)
16. **Go horseback riding with Lindsey
17. **Take a hike
18. Go camping
19. **Take a personal day to go to the beach alone!
20. Transition to earth friendly cleaning supplies once current supplies are depleted
21. Use only "Green" bags or reuse paper bags for 3 months

Family and Friends
22. Get pregnant and have baby #2
23. Nurse that baby for at least 6 months, provided I maintain an adequate milk supply this time around
24. Host 3 family holidays (0/3)
25. Call Grandpa weekly
26. Call Grandma weekly
27. Visit Grandpa once a month
28. **Enroll in a "Mommy and Me" class
29. Mail out homemade birthday cards to family and friends
30. Host another family cribbage tournament
31. **Host a cheese and wine night when Morgan is in town
32. Have another Disneyland day with Anna
33. Read to Jeremiah daily
34. **Eat at 3 of Anna's favorite restaurants that she's been dying for me to try (1/3)
35. Have dates with Louis at least twice a month (1/66)

Health, Fitness and Appearance
36. Take a folic acid supplement every day
37. Wax my eyebrows once a month for a year (0/12)
38. **Paint my toenails twice a month for 6 months (0/12)
39. **Make a fresh loaf of bread once a week for two months (0/8)
40. Try cooking one new recipe a week for 3 months (0/12)
41. **Purchase produce ONLY from our local farmer's market for a month
42. **Plant an herb garden, including the following herbs: basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, mint, cilantro and chives
43. **Grow tomatoes this summer
44. **Learn to style and curl my hair
45. Make a conscious effort to wear makeup daily
46. Donate clothes to Goodwill
47. Exercise three times a week for a month (0/12)
48. Take a multivitamin every day
49. Buy 5 new dresses (1/5)
50. Make homemade chicken stock and freeze it
51. Buy 5 pairs of shoes (1/5)
52. Go running with Marissa. Decide on a good mile time goal for myself (_:_) and work at improving my time (best: _:_)

House and Home
53. **Have all dishes washed and put away before bedtime for 3 months (0/90)
54. Purchase curtains or blinds for all rooms of our house (0/5)
55. Organize dresser drawers in our bedroom and maintain that organization
56. Organize kitchen cabinets and maintain that organization
57. **Organize hall closet and maintain that organization
58. Turn our spare bedroom into a guest room, office, activity room or baby room- something other than a storage room
59. Buy a DVD player
60. Plant flowers in our front yard and back yard
61. Learn five new crock pot recipes (0/5)
62. Acquire a Dutch oven
63. Learn 3 Dutch oven recipes (0/3)
64. Learn 5 new cookie recipes (0/5)
65. Learn 5 new muffin recipes (0/5)
66. Learn how to make sushi and host a sushi night
67. Remodel our kitchen
68. Purchase a new refrigerator
69. **Make Ina Garten's (Barefoot Contessa) Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup
70. Paint our bathroom
71. Paint our hallway
72. Paint our kitchen
73. Organize living room bookshelf
74. Frame pictures and hang them on our walls
75. **Subscribe to the LA Times Sunday Edition for one year
76. Replace our living room couch and love seat

Money, Finances and Work
77. Clip coupons from the Sunday paper every week
78. Open a bank account for Jeremiah, depositing at least $20 a month upon opening
79. Roll all spare change and deposit it into a college fund for our children

Responsibility and Good Things
80. Have all 2009 Christmas presents, other than those for Louis, Jeremiah, our parents and our siblings, purchased by October 1st (purchased 3 presents to date)
81. Do 15 random acts of kindness (1/15)
82. Get up an hour before Jeremiah 6 days a week for a month (0/27)
83. Spend an afternoon watching all of my favorite Disney movies
84. **Get my wisdom teeth pulled

Spirituality
85. Read the Bible cover to cover (Current book: )
86. **Find a home church in Whittier and attend regularly
87. Contribute to the children's ministry in our new church
88. Start a prayer journal

Travel and Places to Go
89. Go on a cruise
90. Travel to 3 new places, at least one of those requiring a plane ride (1/3)
91. Take at least 3 child-less trips with Louis, consisting of at least 3 nights each (will complete one next week!) (0/3)
92. Renew Disneyland pass before the 1001 day deadline (Expiration date: January 21, 2010), and, if needed, purchase a pass for Jeremiah as well
93. Spend the night at Coronado Island with Louis
94. Eat at a Greek restaurant
95. Go to Six Flags, without kids
96. Attend a concert either at the Disney Concert Hall or the Hollywood Bowl
97. Attend an LA Philharmonic "Concert in the Park" at the Arboretum this summer
98. Visit Uncle Ken and Aunt Jean in Virginia
99. Take Jeremiah to the Children's Museum in Los Angeles (If it's still around? If not, find another hands-on children's musem and take him there instead)
100. Spend an afternoon in Hollywood
101. See a live musical

Oh, Toddlerhood

Just when I thought I had this thing called toddlerhood down pat... Jeremiah decides to mix things up and throw new challenges my way! Nap time and bedtime used to be a breeze. Sing a few songs, lay him down with his beloved teddy bear, close the door and he was in dream land. Not any more! Now Jeremiah has this new game where he throws his bear out of the crib as soon as I start to walk out- and will not stop wailing until I go back in and fetch it for him! I played along the first night he did it- but not any more! I'm tired of it! He needs to learn. Last night he only cried for two minutes before he conked out. Today he decided to do this at NAPTIME as well. I put him down 15 minutes ago and I can still hear him crying. Oh, lordy.

I can also tell that Jeremiah is starting to understand what is right and what is wrong for things that I do not want him to do. He will start to do something naughty (ex: climb onto the coffee table) but as soon as he sees me coming or look his way, he usually will correct his behavior. At least he's showing some good judgement- but other times, oh man! He makes a game out of me correcting the behavior for him (i.e. pulling him off the coffee table and telling him NO) and will laugh his head off while I'm doing it. He's starting to test me and I don't like it.

I never thought that raising a child would be easy! But seeing as he's my first, I'm still learning everything right along with him. How to discipline a child so young is so new to me. He finally has sharing his toys with Sydney down- he doesn't care if she plays with his toys and, for the most part, doesn't take something he wants out of her hands. He will play along with her if he wants something that she has, like his fisher price piano. No real discipline was needed here; he just had to get used to her being around. But what about when he's testing me like I just described?

We finally got smart and put a gate up in the hallway to block the bathroom and spare bedroom (storage room) where he's obviously not allowed to play. Now that he's able to turn knobs I'm tired of constantly running over to the bathroom or spare bedroom and pull him out of there, while he's laughing his head off. The gate is a blessing. It makes my life so much easier. But I don't want to block everything he's not supposed to touch or climb on. How in the world do you teach a child self control?!

And lets not even get started on his picky eating. I think he's going to be on baby food when he's in kindergarten at the rate he's going. He refuses to touch anything that looks new. It's baby food, cream of wheat, bread, cheese, cheerios, bannannas, goldfish, granola, and animal crackers ONLY for him. I never thought I would have to coax a child to eat ice cream but he won't touch it. At least he's getting his fruits and veggies in with the baby food. The stage 3 casseroles are hit and miss with him. Some times he'll gobble up the spagetti, lasagna, chicken noodle, etc.; other days he wont touch them. Same with the baby meats. I worry that he's not getting enough protein. Every mom worries about what her child eats. I just pray this one doesn't grow up being as picky as his daddy.

But then he does something sweet, like wanting to cuddle with me for an hour while I sing his favorite songs over and over again (and letting me know that he does NOT want me to stop!) and it makes everything worth it.

Busy weekend ahead!

Tonight- Lakers game! Making a yummy dinner for Louis

Tomorrow- Doing something with Marissa... haven't figured out what yet. Hoping to have lunch with my grandma and pick up Jeremiah's tux for the wedding

Saturday- Kylie's birthday lunch (3:30ish) at Mimi"s Cafe... still deciding if I"m going to have time to make an appearance at Lindsey's bachelorette party. I suppose I should since I'm in the wedding and everything.... but her all-day event is far from where I"m going to be, and I don't know if by the time I"m done with Kylie's party it will be worth it to drive there for just a little bit. C an't give away too many details though since all events are a surprise to Lindsey!

Sunday- clean clean clean. And hoping to visit my grandpa!

Next week- Disneyland on Wednesday w/ Jeremiah and Melissa... Friday is the rehearsal dinner and Saturday my brother is getting married!!!

Happy Mothers Day!

I am so happy that this little boy made me a mommy! This picture was taken in Phoenix at the Phoenix zoo, where they have this amazing fountain area for kiddos to splash in and get wet. Jeremiah LOVED IT! And I love him... oh so very much. I really do think he knows that it is a special day today. My little man is a very busy boy who spends more time exploring and playing than giving hugs and kisses (kisses are VERY VERY rare) but today he's been SO affectionate. Yesterday he spent the day with Daddy while I had a girls day out- having a very fast lunch with my gals, then we went to Paul Mitchell beauty school in Costa Mesa to get our hair cut and colored. I was gone for a good 7 or 8 hours- and when I came home he was thrilled to pieces and would not leave my side. Now, Daddy has been his "favorite" lately- everything is all "di di dada daddy daddy daddy!" all day until he comes home and plays with him. So it was very sweet and much appreciated that wanted all the attention from me when I set foot in the door =) I LOVE HIM!

I also love sleeping in. You may not think sleeping in til 9:00 is really considered "sleeping in," but when you wake up at 5:30 most mornings to babysit, and your toddler wakes up at 6:15 on the dot- 9:00 is like sleeping til noon. Louis got up with Jeremiah so I could stay in bed, and when I got up they gave me the cutest card and a Barnes and Nobles gift card! B&N.com is my new obsession. There isn't a borders or a barnes and nobles anywhere near my house so I love shopping online- especially when orders over $25 get free shipping. I'm really into collecting cookbooks lately- I think my Grandma Arlene's genes are kicking in because she had quite the collection herself. Then, in an hour we are leaving for a nice champagne brunch at the Sheraton hotel in Pomona. We took my mom there one year and I loved it. Afterwards, we are going to see my mom and then my mother in law. Busy busy day.

To answer the anonymous blogger if I"m done blogging- I"m not. I have a 3 1/2 week break from babysitting so I will have way more time and energy to blog. I usually blog during Jeremiah's naptime, which is usually when Sydney takes her main nap too, but for the past two weeks she wouldn't fall asleep until right before he woke up. And come the end of the day, like I said in my last post I was way too tired. I'm back.

Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful mommies out there!

Exhausted

I have had absolutely no motivation to blog lately. To my faithful readers- I'm sorry! I don't know what it is about the past week and a half of babysitting Sydney but I am more exhausted than normal- which, considering Sydney's grandma wanted to watch her two days last week I am surprised at. Although... a teething six month old and a genious toddler who has recently learned how to turn the doorknobs to open the doors is enough to make anyone want to take a nap! But alas, I'm forcing myself to write right now, because I know how frustrating it is to constantly tune into your favorite blogs and not seeing an update for what seems like ages!

The countdown is officially on for my brother and Lindsey's wedding! 18 more days until I gain a sister! I'm hosting Lindsey's lingerie shower on Friday (if I get more positive RSVP's than just her mother!) and am looking forward to it =) Another thing I"m excited about- I put an ad on Craigslist expressing my need for a suit for Jeremiah (he's one of the ring bearers!) because I didn't exactly want to fork out lots of $$ for a suit for him that he would be wearing once. Someone emailed me back today saying that she would sell me her son's brand new tux, in Jeremiah's size, for only $10! Her son wore it once for her wedding. Now if only I can lose a few pounds so I can zip up my bridesmaids dress I"ll be a happy camper....

The week after Joe's wedding Louis and I are going to Vegas for another wedding! I'm sooo excited- especially since it will be a mommy and daddy only affair =) Jeremiah will be staying with his Grandma Bertha. We will be gone for 3 nights, leaving Thurs. May 28th after Louis is done working so that we will be in Vegas friday morning for him to work (yes the laptop has to come again). I don't mind though because while he's working I"m hitting the pool! Because we're getting to Vegas late on Thurs night we're going to stay at a Motel 6 that night and then Friday morning we're off to the LUXOR!! I've never stayed there, but have always wanted to, and it's Louis's favorite.

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately. On Saturday I made ranch chicken, one of the many things that Louis's aunt cooked for us in PA =) Sooo easy- dunk your chicken pieces (we use breast tenderloins at our house) in ranch dressing, and then again in unseasoned bread crumbs, and bake at 350 for 40 min. YUM! Then last night I made taco soup for the first time- another amazingly simple recipe. The most difficult part of that recipe is browning the ground turkey and shredding the cheese. Everything else- just open up cans of lots of goodies and boil! Louis has definitely been enjoying all of these new treats coming out of our kitchen, and I have to say that I am enjoying it as well. Hence the need for me to shed a few pounds.

Jeremiah is growing by leaps and bounds. When we were on our trip his level of chatter has exploded. Before he carefully chose if and when he would want to speak- now it's all day every day! Most of it is still babble but he is trying so hard to talk! Precious. Plus there's his new found hobby of opening doors with the door knobs, which is making us double our babyproofing and supervision. He loves to color, and his appetite is growing also. He is still primarily on stage 2 and stage 3 baby food but is starting to show a slight bigger interest in "big people" food- animal crackers, bannanas, and granola in addition to his bread, crackers, cream of wheat and cheese.

Once again I apologize for the lack of blogs as of late, and for how boring this post turned out to be. I'm kind of in a bit of a blogging rut- there is just so much going on right now that the mere thought of blogging just exhausts me! Show my blog some love though and I promise, if you do that I will blog more!!