Happy Veteran's Day! 2015

Today, I look back into a few months ago when I abruptly decided to end my military career. Two months later, I was honorably discharged from active duty service from the U.S. Air Force and received The Air Force Achievement Medal for Meritorious Service for the work I have done during my time in service. 

I am a very proud veteran because despite the very short time I was able to serve, I gave my whole heart and soul to my duties everyday. There are still days that I wish that I was still in. I have days when I look at my husband in his uniform and envy the fact that he gets to wear the uniform with pride. 

However, I am proud to say that I have joined yet another exclusive group -- the very proud, unconditionally loving and inexhaustibly supportive Air Force spouses. 

Happy Veteran's Day to all those serving and who have served. My famil and I are thankful for you and your family's sacrifice. 

I'm obviously a bad mother

So I removed the warning labels on my baby's car seat. Oh no! My car seat doesn't work right anymore!  I'm putting my son in so much danger! How dare she! What a bad, bad mother!

I don't know about any other parents but I do know myself. I will never do anything to put my child in any unnecessary risk. 

Let's just put it this way, I joined the military because I didn't trust anyone else to protect my then only son. I would have and I still will, without hesitation am ready to kill and be killed to protect my children. 

Aside from my killer instincts (see what I did there??) I am also not stupid. I never do anything without researching. I don't do anything without planning or preparing anything. I am a perfectionist. I was an event coordinator prior to joining the military. So attention to every single detail is second nature to me.

Lastly, I am not very personable to people who think with their asses. 

So to whoever this is. Yeah, you got to me...because I hate stupid people and I can only do so much to save myself from such a horrible experience. 

Therefore, for my amusement, this is dedicated to you! 

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER! ❤️

Update:

I had to make one last reply because the world is in deeper shit if we need warning signs to tell us not to put our children in harm's way. 

Food is beautiful

I love taking photos of food! Food has so many rich, vibrant colors and textures that are so unique. I love how you can change and manipulate these colors and textures even when you're just simply slicing it. 

I love to cook so I get to work with all different kinds of ingredients. I love how you're able to build up flavors as you go, especially when I'm experimenting. 

Here are some of my most favorite pictures of food that I've taken. I hope you like them and enjoy them as much I do. 

Pork lumpia that I made last night. I took a picture of it because I'm starting a little side business of selling them freshly made every week.

I was slicing up some strawberries to make strawberry flavored ginger ale when I looked down at the chopping board and fell in love with what I saw. Of course, I had to take a picture! 

Last night's dinner was one-pot pasta. I got the recipe from Pinterest. 

It's a Western tradition to keep the top layer of the wedding cake for the couple to eat on their first wedding anniversary. We did just that and I kept the sugar flower that adorned the roof our cake, too! It tasted as good as we remembered it from taste testing and our wedding!

Beautiful pesto pasta and chicken. The pesto is Giada de Laurentis' Lemon Parsley Pesto which I got from googling pesto recipes that do not use basil. I love the vibrant green and the sliced chicken just completes the look of the dish. Unfortunately I didn't like the flavor profile of the pesto because I realized I am not a fan of parsley. 

Zayden: The Journey to 5 months

Zayden turned 5 months on Thanksgiving day this year. Needless to say, this year all 3 of us and I think the puppies, too are all grateful for having Zayden in our family. 

This month he has become more mobile. He is rolling from back to belly and belly to back with so much ease. 

He would go on all fours and rock back and forth, back and forth, back and forth until he thinks he's gotten enough momentum to lunge himself far enough to get to things he wants to grab a hold of. 

A couple of weeks after that he started to use his head as a 5th appendage to help him crawl. So he's been doing the left hand forward, right hand forward, bonk head, drag left foot up, drag right foot up, bonk head, but in no particular order. He's been able to get himself to his destination doing this though. So whatever works right? 

He started to stick his tongue out at us, too. I'll admit, that's my fault. I always do that when I'm playing with him and he's finally able to imitate it! It's so cute when he does it! The cuteness factor just turns up so high it's so impossible to ever have a bad day with this little guy!

This month we moved from rice cereal and had him try boiled apples. I'm adamant on making his food. No bottled store-bought food for us because I want to know what is in my baby's food. It doesn't matter to me if the baby food is labeled organic, I'm sure there's some type of preservative in it and that's why it's able to keep in store shelves. 

Besides, my family and I do not have the healthiest eating habits but I know that when I cook, my 8-year old eats and he eats a lot. No matter where we go and whichever restaurant or fast food we go to, except if it's some kind of fried chicken, chicken strips or chicken nuggets, he enjoys my food so much more and devours it. I'm proud of that and I'm happy and secure knowing what is in my baby's food. 

In the end, it's not a big deal peeling and chopping up some fruits and veggies and putting it in a pot with water. Mash it or put it in a food processor or blender and you're done.

So far, Zayden has been introduced to boiled apple and ripe mashed bananas. He loves both of them. He has been enjoying his food adventures a lot. It's so wonderful watching his reactions when he tries  for the first time. 

Zayden has also been more vocal. He started making the "D". He also started blowing air through his lips that are pursed tightly together. We didn't realize his lips go so far out before this! Lucky, lucky we got in all on video! 

Happy 5 months baby love! ❤️❤️❤️

Zayden: The Journey to 2 months

My little booger has changed so much! He is now feeding on demand. He is also determined to not let Mom sleep. Hey, what's new?! 

The good thing is, I think the baby loves me! He started to smile this month and it is the sweetest and most beautiful sight to behold. His eyes seems to smile, too! There's a little twinkle in there and I think it's meant to say "I love you Mommy!". 

We finally immortalized that elusive smile! You're a such a beautiful gift Zayden! 

This month, we tried putting him in his swing again. This time the startle reflex he had the first time we put him in there wasn't crazy anymore so you being in there doesn't scare me anymore. 

He doesn't stay in his swing very long though. Just long enough for me to do my business in the bathroom, which is good as good as it gets! I do have to make sure to turn the white noise on. The owl sound especially captures his attention. To m

We noticed he's started to get more curious and fixating on things that capture his attention. So we decided to put a toy to hang in his car seat. 

This month is most special because this is the month of mimicking sounds and lip movement. We always say "Hi", "Hello" and "I love you" to Zayden. He has been focusing on how our lips move a lot. He tried and has successfully made sounds that unmistakably resemble "Hi!", "Hello!", and "I love you", too! 

Nicknames earned this month:

"Little Smiley Butt"

"Chunky Monkey" also "Chunka Monka"

 

Zayden: The Journey to 3 Months

Zayden has started to giggle! My heart jumps with joy and beats with more purpose every time he does! 

It's still quite a bit of a struggle to get him to giggle but when he finally does, oh my goodness it's the happiest, most beautiful sound in the world!

I really think he's ready for solid food but Daddy is still in denial and doesn't want him to. I'm fine with waiting either way. 

He's been lunging forward to get to our food or anything he wants to get to. He's quickly learning that he can get to something if he squirms and kicks enough. 

Zayden has learned to hold our fingers and pull them into his mouth to suck on. Recently, he has started to bite down hard on them, too. Ouch! When I noticed that he wasn't just sucking anymore, I gave him his elephant teether. He loves his elephant! The ears are his favorite part! It's a perfect fit for his little mouth. So now I guess he's teething, too!

He has started to sit up a little bit but he falls backward quick. 

Zayden has grown out of his 0-3 months clothes last month and started wearing 3-6 months clothes already so Zayden and I will have to ease Daddy into the solid food. 

We also finally got rid of his yeast infection. The rolls man! He sweats so much and his neck was the worst ever. We had thought it would last until around 6 months when he lifts his head more so it's exposed and the sweat dries up, but since he's been lifting his head since he was 2 months old, he's able to lift his head like pro now. He has even learned to use the weight of his head to help him topple over to move from his tummy to his back!

Two weeks into his 3rd month, Zayden learned to roll over from belly to back and lucky Mommy got to capture it on video! 

My little monster has begun to pull my hair out, too...hooray! See the evidence yourself.

I wonder if he's going to grow up liking girls with long hair like his brother. I think his brother likes girls with long hair because when he was a baby he used to love grabbing hold of my hair and pulling them out, just like he's doing now. 

We have the Texas-Oklahoma fair in September so we got to go to the fair with a 4th member to our family for the first time! 

Zayden enjoyed the bright lights and loud music. He has always been very alert and  observant so he was took in the experience of the sights and sounds very well.

While we were at Lowe's to get Daddy's new grill, Zayden started to play with the toys on his car seat. It's no longer just eye candy! It was amazing to see how how focused he was on trying to figure out the "thing" in front of him. His eyes would grow wider and wider as he played with his toys and discovering new sounds and movements his toys could do. Zenon was so happy seeing his brother start to play with toys. I think he took it as a sign that his brother will be capable of playing with him soon!

We started singing his name to him to the tune of "Ice, Ice Baby", for some weird reason and he loves it. He's quite the vain baby. 

Unfortunately, he has stopped copying us and has refused to say "Hi", "Hello" and especially "I love you" which took us so much longer to have him say. He has moved forward to his own version of baby rambling which is also very, very amusing. He responds to you when you talk to him and waits for you to be done before he "talks" again. I think he's understands how a conversation goes!

This month he has earned the following nicknames:

"Slobber Monster"

"Mr. Giggly Butt"

"Elephantvore"

Zayden: The Journey to 4 months

I can't believe my baby is officially no longer in the first quarter of babyhood! 

It's amazing how many changes Zayden has gone through and how fast he is going through them. It's quite heartbreaking but I think the brunt of the heartbreak is being felt by Dad. 

We were going to have Zayden try solids at 3 months but we didn't because someone wasn't willing to let go just yet. Thanks to our pediatrician who suggested to wait until Zayden is 4 months, things went this person's way! (I don't want to name names but this person goes by the title, "Daddy".)

I wasn't in any rush and just wanted to try if Zayden could handle it anyway just because he was showing signs of being ready and wanting solid food. Zayden has been lunging towards our food, smacking his lips and mimicking chewing. He was drooling even more than usual from teething and his eyes would open up so wide when he sees us eat! 

So this morning Zayden finally had his first bowl of rice cereal. He loved it! It took a couple of times but he got the hang of it quick! 

At 4 months he is 14 lbs and 4 oz. His 3-6 month old clothes fit him almost too perfectly and has begun to wear his 6-9 month size clothes. 

At 3 months we started singing his name to him to the tune of "Ice Ice Baby", but just for fun. Now, it's the only way to calm him down when we're in the car and he decides he doesn't want to be in his car seat anymore. We have a trio singing like idiots in the car. 

Zenon starts off first: "Zzzzayden!" Then I go, "Zayden-den-den-dededen-den!" Then Dad goes, "Zayden the baby!" which is Zenon's and my cue to sing "Zayden-den-den-dededen-den!". Depending on when he decides to stop crying and calm down and if he continues being calm and happy, this could go on for maybe half an hour. Lord help us when we drive to Ohio this Christmas!

Last week he rolled over from back to belly by pulling on the blanket and bedsheet! Yesterday he started moving forward by kicking and pulling on the bedsheets. We think he may be crawling soon! 

A couple of weeks ago he discovered the "M" sound so his babbling has turned into a pursed lip babbling of variations of the "M" sound. 

Although when he does the "normal" babbling, he's more calm as if he was conversing with you like a normal person capable of speech instead of rambling. It's the cutest thing ever! 

He has had many firsts this Fall, this being his very first one. First visit to the zoo. We made sure we took lots of pictures with the elephants of course! 

It was the whole family's first time going to the State Fair of Texas, which is quite fun. The traffic almost drove us nuts, but it was all fun after we were finally out of the car. They had an aquarium in the fair so it was his first time in an aquarium attraction. He was very much fascinated by the fishies. 

We went trick or treating like we always do and this was Zayden's very first one so Dad was willing to participate. Zayden was Jackjack from The Incredibles and Daddy of course had to be the baddie, Syndrome! 

Meanwhile big brother Zenon was a red ninja and Mommy was the worn out momma! Question is, was it really a costume or was this really how mom feels like inside?? We will never know!

The worn out Momma can't get herself ready at all -- can't finish off her makeup and puts lipstick on her cheeks instead of her lips! Leaves her hairbrush in her head, forgets to take off her jogging pants and wears her flip flops out! Meanwhile her eldest son tries to slice her and the baby doesn't care what happens as long as Mommy continues to carry him.

The stealthy red ninja was trying to hide in the dark all night and kept on yelling to ask if we could see him. 

Halloween has become so special this year for us, I hope it has been fun for you guys! Happy Halloween!!! 

Eating solid food, sitting up and getting bigger and bigger! He weighed 14 lbs and 4 oz at his well baby check up last week! 

Nicknames earned this month:

"The Little Third Wheel"

"Zayden Pogi (Handsome) Pie"