sick weekly wrap-up

This past weekend, my sis in law invites me to go swimming. I say nope. Why? Cause someone had a funky eye thing going on. One eye became very red and developed an abrasion...but no itchiness or whines came from the 4 yr old. So we Mexicans do home-remedies first...which means chamomile tea to the rescue!  

Then, the second little boy tells me his ear hurts. Oh great. Also had a mild case of eye redness.

But both of them loathed to lay down and have their eyes covered. Twice they took naps while I had their chamomile rag over their eyes. I even put some chamomile drops in Jo's ears. I researched and researched and I couldn't tell if the boy had pink eye or not....all I knew was that it wasn't going away the 2nd day of chamomile treatment. I am NOT one to join the circus of doctors solely because they over-prescribe you crap you don't need. But alas, there really was no mention of home remedies for pink eye. Please tell me I am misinformed! Both kiddos were behaving normal and I know that's one of the reasons why I didn't panic.

Still, I broke down the third day and paid a lotta money {since we don't have insurance} to see a doctor we've never visited before {we are new to the area}. The boys had a love/hate relationship with the nurses/doctors. And so, we found out we had pink eye {Andrew}, and ear infectionS {Jonah}. As we walk out, they hand me a list of other clinics in the area that are cheaper. Thanks. You see why I hate doctors and their employees?  

It is nice to say they are both back to normal so I am glad to have no more sickness in the house.
Blowing & eating bubbles, beautiful sunsets, sleepy heads, walks around the Greenbelt Trails, and parks!

A new book at the library completely caught my eye and headed straight to walmart to get needed ingredients!

And last but not least...this below.

When I first read it HERE, it was like a "duh!" moment. I felt like I should have known this, like this is what I needed to hear. I've been so out of touch with God lately that it feels like something has been missing. 

Like there's a black spot I can't wipe clean. And what this verse is saying, is so right. I can't do it alone. I cannot live my life without His grace, His love, and His forgiveness most of all. And it is when I am at my lowest (like I have been for the past few weeks), that He shows me His power. How much He is still there just waiting for me to beg for a Jesus comeback into my life. How good it is to have Him fill me up again. Anyone recommend any good devotionals that I can do on my computer? I neeeeeed it. 

Have a great weekend guys!

toddler outfits

Well, we had another wedding this year...this time, the hubs' side of the family {The one on my side of the family was in March and can be found here}  I was told it was supposed to be some fancy ordeal. And it was. Oh my, it was fancy! Immediately I began thinking about the boys' outfits. I had to make them obviously. Me being the DIY-er, I was determined my kids were gonna be the coolest kids ever and they were {in my opinion anyway}!!
So I put their outfits together in my head and searched their closet for their hand-me-down dress pants, and got to work. I managed to make their pants fit them better. They didn't exactly fit right so I did my best and I was pleased with the results, making their pants seem somewhat 'skinny'. I didn't snap any pictures of this process because I was focusing solely on the tailoring job. And on a personal note, I beg my husband on a constant level to switch to skinny pants so I can admire his butt more... I think I commit some kind of sin when I see other guys wearing them...but the hubs STILL WON'T WEAR THEM! I guess it's like when he prefers my skimpy underwear and all I want to be is comfortable. Alright, I get it.
Anyway, on to sewing boy stuff. Vests were next! I combed the racks of a thrift store and managed to find one that fit perfectly for my eldest--it was even the perfect color!

I somewhat used it as a template for the youngests' vest that I had to make from scratch.I gotta tell ya, it was pretty fun. Much more fun than those dang pants. Pants are hard, guys! I sorta used this tutorial online as a guide for the vest and side note again, i love the internet because it tells me exactly what to do. Perfect example, I present the

Add the cutest anchor buttons {cliché, I know} and he would be showing up all those grown gentlemen at the wedding

You guys, I love the internet. And my sewing machine. But most of all, those boys. I would do anything for them. I just wish I had the willingness to make more clothing for them like Dana from Made. I choose to be optimistic and say, it's better than nothing. Hopefully they will remember their cute little vest and ties that I made them just like I remember that knitted vest with bunnies my mom made me and still treasure memories of. 

Next up, toddler ties! These were so fun--picking out the coordinating fabrics and seeing these itty bitty ties transform right before my eyes.

Once again, I looked to the internet for information on how to build them and found my templates here and here. I wanted a true tie. Not a velcro or 'cheating' one and there were plenty of those... ;) And again, I was pleased with the results. Luckily, I have a husband who knows how to tie one.

For Andrew, I picked out a green/blue/charcoal colored fabric to match up with his Forest Green Converse. 

And when the time came to get dapper'ed up, he threw a fit. Don't ask why...but I love these pictures

And for Jonah, the youngest, I picked a fabric that coordinated with the blue in his shoes. 

The lines on the tie are actually a steel blue color, not black as it shows in the picture...and the light blue would light up his eyes, I just knew it.

I backed the ties with fabric I have had for an eternity...I love how they turned out! 

I only wish I had noticed how much Andrew's vest covered up his tie...still, they were so handsome! 

The boys acted appropriately during the ceremony, except for Andrew blurting out chicken butt!! to my husband which was just a bit too loud for the front row to turn around and sorta giggle...but kids will be kids.  Everyone told us what good little boys we have. And I'm very proud of that. 

baby leo

It's been such a roller-coaster ride these past few weeks for my family, but it hasn't hit anyone harder than my own sister. She became a mother way too soon but I know that God has amazing plans for her and her little boy, Leo. She is a great aunt to my boys and I expect her to be nothing else but a great mother to her own little offspring. This is me, documenting her first time having skin to skin contact with Leo after several days of gloves and plastic aprons. Caren, enjoy.

Since then, it's been almost a week and Leo has done wonderful in the NICU. Below are a couple of pictures of what the little changuito looks like now!!! Note that I did not take the photos. 

Photo by Caren Sandoval

Photo by Betsy Robinett

I can't wait to hold him for the first time as his tia!!! 

miles and miles of adventures

Hey, do you remember that time we went on our New York roadtrip with the kids? Well, it's been feeling a bit like that in my trusty red ford...
School's out so I imagine it was time for vacations. Or in our case, wedding, lake and pre-mature babies. That's what has been going on around here. I've literally driven hundreds of hundreds of miles in this frickin' gigantic state of Texas. And me-no-likey. BUT. Yes, there's a but. It sorta has been nice visiting with family and relaxing and getting worried sick and then everything turning out okay.
I met up with my mother at the hospital, came upon my very drugged up 7-month pregnant sister, and a note on the white board:

It's too early for her to have contractions. This was all going wrong.

We all prayed that her contractions would stop. That baby Leo would wait a bit longer to cook. And after 3 days of being medicated and monitored, they gave her the go-ahead to go home and be on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy. SUCKS! 

After my family and I headed out from the hospital, we drove 2 hrs to get to our destination in West Texas for a grand wedding. The husband has a dentist cousin and he was finally getting hitched! The wedding was at a beautiful country resort. The weather was perfect! 

And once we arrived in our room, the boys knew exactly what to do. 

Giggles and sore shins and tumbles made them all giddy.

And after all that hyperness, it was time to get handsome. 

The location, ceremony, the dress, the reception, the food....everything was perfect. The dancing, the music, everything was fantastic! By the end of the night, our faces were stuffed with great food, we had all drank too much, danced to an embarrassing level, and had throbbing feet. 

The next morning, we ate breakfast and went off on a wagon pulled by a tractor to feed some amazing steers. The rest of the stay was full of napping on a hammock and swimming the day away. No news about contractions and such, so I was hoping that was the end of it but worried about what the outcome might be and guilty for not being there. 

Early the next morning we headed to our lake house 2.5 hrs away. And not even 1 hour after arriving and unloading cars, I got a call that my nephew did really want to make his entrance into the world! So off I headed out, sans kids and husband, to be with my sister. Crying on my way to Fort Worth because of what could happen and I just didn't want to accept it. By the time I got there, she was back from her c-section. 

At that point, everything was uncertain. The daddy, Roman, had gotten videos and photos because he was in there with her, so we all OOOh'ed and AAAhh'ed over them.  She whined about not even getting big and how she missed out on that baby bump experience. I told her not to cry over it and showed her the results of two giant pregnancies--stretch marks and belly flab. She need not cry. For real.

Finally, late late in the day, I was able to get my big baby {my camera} in the NICU and take pictures of that tiny little baby boy with such a fierce name--Leo.

 And Momma got to see him too for the first time.

Born 10 weeks early, he has a long way until he gets to be taken home. But he's already loved by so many, it's hard to know what will be, but our trust is in Him above. We will leave it up to Him and the doctors' expertise and caring hands. 

After spending a day in the hospital, I had had enough. I don't care too much for hospitals to begin with, and it's not that it was a bad experience but who wants to stick around those places anyway, right? 

I really missed my babies so I had to get back. Another 2.5 hrs traveled on Texan highways. 

That next morning, Nana had planned some "Minute to Win It" challenges between all four grandsons. They had a blast. Among them, there were some sore losers {mostly my kids} but we all had fun. 

And after that, it was time to go swimming in the lake. Man, it was nice.

After riding on the boat and the tube, we came back, ate lunch, and took long naps. We all lazily lounged around with our iPads, phones, tablets, laptops, you name it...and then it was time to go fishing. 

Papa is a great fisherman. All the fishes are attracted to his line. Must be the worms he uses. And his patience.

After today, I will head back to Fort Worth to be with my sister again. I can't stand living 4 hrs apart. She's hard to live with but still, I miss her. And now I will miss her more when I do get to go home to Houston. I will get back to blogging properly too. There was just too much going on that I wasn't sure what to start with first.