Separation Anxiety at it's best:

My poor baby has got it BAD...yes, I'm talking about separation anxiety! I know it's typical at this age, I believe it peaks somewhere near 12 months. And I know that it's a normal stage in his development.
But OMG, it's driving me crazy!! I have to be within eyesight of Aaron at all times or there will be a complete baby meltdown. Crying huge crocodile tears, screaming, yelling, the whole nine yards.
Jacob has actually been really helpful during this time. He will sit with Aaron when he's having one of his meltdowns. Yesterday I was trying to do laundry and Aaron was, of course, screaming because he couldn't see me in the laundry room. Jacob sat and started rocking him. Then the room got quiet, so I went to check and Jacob's rocking and comfort had actually put Aaron to sleep!
Hopefully this stage of his life doesn't last too long. All I can do is comfort him and make sure that he knows that he's safe. If anyone has any tips, let me know!

Sugar Rush

Yes that is my precious baby boy sucking on a pancake syrup bottle!! So much for him not liking sweets!!

See all the pics: http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/Q2DY2wXy/1416548/1751656

Trouble Part 2?

A funny thing happened tonight that I had to share:

'Mi Ollin' blog has a super cute post about Baby D causing mischief at his house.
And the very minute that I was reading the post and typing a comment, I hear some noise coming from my kitchen.
And what do I find?.... My little trouble maker getting into the cabinets!
This was such 'perfect' timing! I had to snap a pic! And I got that great smile that babies get when they know that their doing something naughty!!
I once read a poem that said God made little boys to explore and conquer. So, here's to our mischievous ones, may God give them many more days of fun!

When it Rains, It Pours...sickness!

As if there wasn't enough going on in our lives right now, all the kids decided to get sick! OK, so I know it wasn't their fault...but ugh, I have to blame someone! Let's blame Mother Nature for the crazy cold winds we've been having..OK, I feel better now.
Anyway, after a terrible Sunday night with sick kiddos I decided to call Kaiser & make them appointments. The only problem was that I was going in to have my bi-weekly iron transfusion on Monday, so Gerardo would have to be in charge of taking all three kids to the doctor!

For Aaron Double ear infections & viral infection & asthma causing a cough! He is on Baby Tylenol, antibiotics & Benedryl! And yeah, as you can guess, it's SUPER fun getting him to take the medicine.
Just a simple viral infection for Lilly causing coughing & sneezing & runny nose. Only Toddler Triaminic for her.
Jacob is in the "red" zone for his asthma which means it's at it's worst right now. He also has a sinus infection. He's taking steroids for his asthma, antibiotics & two other asthma medicines.
If you're wondering, Gerardo actually did a wonderful job with all the kids at the doctors office, well, at least that's what he says since I wasn't there. This was his first time ever dealing with all three of them on his own in a situation like this. At least he did it so I'm happy! And now he's gone for 10 days so he'll get a break from the chaos (of the Flores-Chavoya kids) at least!!
So that's wat's up with us this week, just cleaning snot & giving medication. And since my kids were contagious on Sunday hopefully none of the Flores kids get sick from the visit at Tia Yolanda's house! If so, we're so sorry.. but I bought Kleenex in bulk from Costco, so I have plenty to share!lol!

Lighthouse Christian Academy Spring Program

Somos Chivas! (Title by G)

Stockton

Picking Dandelions w/ Lilly

My princess Lilly has just discovered blowing dandelions & making wishes.

She has to do this every time she goes outside. Which makes getting her into the car a little harder because it takes awhile for the whole dandelion process.

I'm sure when her dad sees the dandelions on the front lawn all he thinks about is a bunch of weeds taking over his yard. But for Lilly she sees beautiful white fluff she can blow and wish on!

Lilly reminds me of these flowers. Fragile yet strong. Delicate but resilient all at the same time.

Tia Delores said something yesterday that is so true: When she saw Lilly and saw how big she is getting she said, "This is what happens when you feed and water them!"

No other words could fit this moment so perfectly. Water your children with love, feed your children's dreams and they will grow day by day into beautiful people. I am so grateful to be here and not miss these precious moments.

So Lilly still might throw tantrums in the grocery store, squirm around in church and won't clean up her toys. But for now I'll treasure her sticky fingers and fistfuls of dandelions, and love every minute of it.

See all the pics: http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/SbNQlizQ/1416548/1625004

My new job:

Spring cleaning. Those of you that have ever been to our house know it never looks like this!
What? You can actually see the dining table!!LOL. And the living room took forever to clean with all the toys and junk...as you can see it totally "knocked" Aaron out!!lol

Well, we're almost to the end of a long road to becoming foster parents! Yeah! We can finally see the light! We just past my one year anniversary of not working and I feel personally for our situation that it's about time to take some of the burden off of Gerardo.

With his job working over time not only is tiring, but it's also extra time that his life is in danger. He's such a wonderful husband, he never complains about working hard to support us, but I need to be a good wife and let him relax a little bit too!

Now, I'm not sure if adding more kids to the house is actually gonna let him relax, lol, but we'll see! He's used to a big family and lots of kiddos around all the time. Me, on the other hand, I'm a little nervous how I'm going to cope, but as always we'll take on the challenge as an adventure.

We decided to do foster care because I can still stay home and give a lot of attention to my little ones, which was the soul purpose of me being a stay at home mom. If everything works out, we can get some school age children that can go to school during the day and I can still have all my day time with Lilly and Aaron.

So there is literally about 5 pages of paperwork that still needs to get done, our CPR class that we are going to on 4/19 & our house inspection right after that. So hopefully by the end of this month we will have our license. Some of the paperwork that we need is 3 references from people who think we are good parents..hmmm, that might be hard..lol! I might have to "forge" those letters!!LOL!

So around here it's been total spring cleaning time too in preparation for the house inspection. I literally have hundreds of outfits that Lilly has grown out of! (If any of you know anyone with a little girl that needs clothes let me know!)

I will keep everyone updated on our adventure. Wish us luck, say a prayer for us and let's just hope it all works out! :)

Say Cheese Please...

So today Jacob's school had a field trip to the Hilmar Cheese Factory in Hilmar, Ca. Kimberlyn's class was also there so all together it was the kinder-5th grade classes. Of course, since Lilly is always around she thinks she is a student at the school. She actually fits right into the Kinder class and the teacher Mrs. Boatman calls Lilly her "future student".
This is Jacob with his best friend Caleb. They are eating the vanilla ice cream that they just made. Jacob had a lot of fun too. He loves learning about stuff like this, he's really into science. He likes to learn about how things are made and how things work.
Lilly being silly with a hard hat. She had so much fun. I'm glad she's getting these experiences because then I will hopefully not have too much trouble with her going to preschool later this year.
She is actually really good and always listens to the teacher. She's great at following directions and she's never afraid to join in and participate. I think this is the Flores in her since us Chavoya's are much more shy!

Check out all the pics: http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/7Y5psuys/1416548/1614944

Aaron stands everywhere now!

kiddos being silly

Princess Lilly

I know I have my two wonderful boys, but there is something about having a girl that is different!

I absolutely love having my girlie-girl Lilly. She is a total princess in pink, I adore everything about her.

Her curly hair she got from me but the color of her hair comes from her dad. Her eyes are mine. And her dimple cheek must come from her Nina Mimi. Her cute little fingers & toes. All of her features are wonderfully beautiful and I just can't get enough of her!

OK, so let's just forget for a minute that I can't wean her from a bottle. And that she's not potty trained yet. And that this morning she told me to "shut up". I would not change one little thing about my princess Lilly, I love her oh, so much!!

Aaron standing & American Idol...

Aaron has stared pulling himself up and standing on toys and furniture. It's so cute and funny to see him with this new accomplishment. The only problem is that sometimes he forgets how to bend his legs and sit back down so he gets "stuck" standing up and cries until we "rescue" him!! This has also led to a lot of "No! Aaron!" in our household since he can reach things now that he couldn't before!!
His favorite thing right now is to push the blue power button on my computer. So, I'll be typing and email or Gerardo will be looking at a website...& boom..it just goes off!!!
Lilly has become obsessed with American Idol like her Mommy! It's so funny, she "sings" along with all the songs, claps at the end, and tells us to "be quiet" when the judges are talking!! She tries to copy all the singing...even the high notes at the end of the songs!!
This is Aaron's favorite spot when American Idol is on. He loves to hear and watch the contestants sing. It totally keeps his interest. He also ALWAYS looks straight up at the t.v. whenever the judge Randy Jackson is talking, Aaron will pay VERY close attention (my only guess is for some reason Randy's voice attracts Aaron)!!
Hopefully one day I'll be able to sell this picture to a magazine & say this is where it all started!!