Late on the Bandwagon

Planner Spread: May 4 - May 10, 2015

2015-05-04T00:23:00.003-07:00

Planners...have you guys noticed how everyone is finally coming out out the "planners" closet? We all love it but not all of us have the guts to admit we are total nerds when it comes to playing with paper, cute, colorful pens, our love for stickers, and cute sticky notes, and rolls and rolls of washi tape. I think it is now safe to admit the obsession.

I have filled many different agendas and planners since I was in high school. I liked to make collages from magazine clipping. Elmer's Glue was my bff after school when I didn't have much else to do.

Anyway, I thought I would share my spread for this week since I have a bunch of stuff written-in, that I need to get done, because the last 2 weeks or so I've been lazy and been skipping things that need to get done. So it might look like too much, and like I don't really need to write down the chores, but its just the way I like to keep myself accountable.

The planner, I got at Walmart last year, It goes from July 2014 - June 2015.

Breaded Tilapia w/ veggies and Seasoned Fries

2015-03-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

On Friday we had Breaded Tilapia w/ veggies and ~~Rice~~ Seasoned Fries. We like those fries so much we had to switch the rice for them. That day my husband came earlier than usual and we went outside to remove the weeds from the garden, the baby was outside with us hugging a bag of charcoal while we worked. So we felt like we deserved the fries. We like our fish with lots of lime juice on top and once again I could not stand the ketchup so I ate my fries with blu cheese.

You can look at the original recipe here, but this is what i ended up doing to make my life a little easier:

Ingredients:

Wonders of the Sea Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia, frozen

California Veggie Mix, frozen

Butter

Seasoned Homemade Fries, recipe here

Lemons or Limes

Now "Cook"

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees, place the fillets on a baking pan and put in the oven when its ready for 18-20 minutes.

2. Put the vegetables in a small pan with a little bit of water so they can steam on medium high (or of you have a steamer use that but I can't be bothered with the steamer), add salt, and when they are close to done add pepper and butter.

3. Take fillets out and serve with veggies and fries, and squeeze lime or lemon over the top. Add ketchup or in my case blu cheese to the fries and enjoy!

This is what the packaging looks like for the Tilapia, they turn out good and don't have that strong "Frozen" flavor a lot of fish tend to have.

Source

Breakfast for Dinner - Egg & Ham Sandwiches

2015-03-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we were supposed to have Turkey Chili but that didn’t happen. That day I had made plans to go to a playgroup with some parents organized at a park near the university. There everyone brings snacks, sandwiches, and drinks, and everyone shares and kids play and parents talk and take turns looking after the kids so the others can have a decent conversation.

It was very nice and we stayed for about two hours, for some reason on our way back I crashed and felt so tired. The baby went down for a nap and so did I and, I supposed the time change hit me as well because next thing I know my husband is walking through the door. Me and the baby are cuddled on the couch watching cartoons. And I’m just like “what time is it?” and he’s like “6:30 pm”, and I’m like “what? I was supposed to make chili today!” So, I obviously did not have the time to do that and we had breakfast for dinner. Egg and ham sandwiches, the baby had lentil soup I had saved from before and that was that.

Very easy this doesn't even deserve a recipe but here it goes:

Ingredients:

-Bread, any kind good for sandwiches will do

-Eggs

-Ham, any kind will work

-Cheese, whatever you got

-Butter, or fat of choice

-Sal &Pepper, to taste

Basically:

1. Grease a pan and cook an egg any way you like it, and season it. Me and the baby like them scrambled, my husband; sunny side up. (But that's just too messy for me).

2. Toast the bread, slice the cheese, warm up the ham in the same pan, and build a sandwich.

3. If you are feeling extra fancy add avocado, and salsa, they will be even better.

Caramel Apple Pork Chops

2015-03-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

On Wednesdays we had Caramel Apple Pork Chops, and I was nervous about this choice because I do not have experience cooking pork chops, I feel like I will most likely burn them or leave them super dry.

I was also nervous about the caramel apple aspect of the recipe, especially because I did not know how my husband was going to react to sweetness with his pork. But this was our favorite dinner of the week. He even asked if I was “going gourmet or something.” We had a lot red quinoa so I made some as a side dish and served it in a leaf of romaine lettuce (which I added to the gourmet comment) it was so good. The baby loved it as well, why wouldn’t she if it was nice and sweet.

The original recipe is here, as I found it on google, but I can't remember the exact website so I can't link it. But this is the way I made it:

Ingredients:

-Pork Chops

-2 tbsp. Brown Sugar

-Vegetable Oil

-Salt & Pepper

-1/8 Cinnamon Powder

-2 tbsp. Butter

-2 Apples Peeled and Cored

-Almonds or Walnuts, slivered or chopped

-Quinoa

Cook!

1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees and cook quinoa according to the package.

2. On a pan heat vegetable oil, season pork chops, and place in oil. Cook until they are done at medium heat and place them in a baking pan.

3. Mix the brown sugar, salt, pepper, and cinnamon powder in a small bowl.

4. Without cleaning the pan place the butter, once melted add the brown sugar mix in, then add the apples. Let the apples cook on low, making sure the sugar doesn't burn, until the apples are tender add the almonds or walnuts.

5. Top the pork chops with the apples and place in the oven for 12-14 minutes, then serve with quinoa and enjoy.

Chipotle Meatballs and Rice

2015-03-17T13:12:00.002-07:00

On Tuesday we had Chipotle Meatballs and Rice, and that was a hit especially with me.

One of my favorite dishes, my mom makes, is Chipotle Meatballs. The ones she makes are almost like a soup, they are very hot because she uses real Chipotle chilies, she makes the meatballs from scratch, and shaves potatoes into the whole mix. Its so hearty and hot and delicious. But I have never been able to recreate the dish, she has given me the recipe but I think that’s the problem she never measures anything. Since I was feeing nostalgic, because my mom hasn’t made the dish because now she works on the next state over, I wanted to make my own version.

I did not have time to make the meatballs from scratch so I bought the frozen ones and they adapted quite well. I wasn’t feeling adventurous so I did not use the whole chipotle chilies. But my mom knows a guy who sells a chipotle sauce already made and I used that instead of messing it up with too much salt or too little garlic. Then I made some rice, and heated up some flour tortillas and we were set.

My husband liked it, he even had seconds and so did I, the baby was happy with "emergency" veggies and the rice since the meatballs still turned out a little too hot for her, but not as good and hot as my mom makes them.

You can see the original recipe by clicking here, but this is how I REALLY made it:

Chipotle Meatballs and Rice

Ingredients:

-Meatballs, frozen is fine, half the bag.

-Chipotle Sauce, ready made 3/4 cup aprox. (I just eyeball it)

-Chopped Onion, 1/2

-Chopped Garlic, 1

-Tomatoes, 2

- Potatoes, 2-3, diced

-Water, aprox. 1 cup (not too watery)

-Rice, prepare ahead of time

-Salt, Pepper, Garlic powder, Cumin to taste

-Olive or Vegetable oil

-Flour tortillas

COOK!

1. In a large deep pan add vegetable oil, onion, garlic, and let cook in medium heat.

2. Once the onion turns transparent, add the frozen meatballs and move them around occasionally.

3. In a blender add chipotle sauce, tomatoes, and spices, and have it ready.

4. Once the meatballs look like they are no longer frozen and have browned slightly pour in the chipotle sauce and stir, and add the potatoes, lower the heat and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked.

5. Serve with rice cooked as you prefer it, and warm flour tortillas.

Seasoned Homemade Fries

2015-03-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

I was looking back at my last post and man; I noticed I wrote those recipes kind of vague. But I like them vague now, I used to want to know every detail about a recipe but really, its common sense and I noticed that when I started cooking more. But I do want to write them a little bit more detailed or rather, how I really prepared them because I tend to change things from the recipe as I go. Also, what I thought about the recipe once I made, whether or not it was a hot at our house, if I’m making it again, or NEVER again.

So how did it go last week?

Last week was the first week in a long time I cooked all weekdays, so I met my goal of cooking dinner all five days! This might not sound like a big accomplishment to you, for me it is, I hate cooking and would rather eat out but like I said before its not good for our wallet or health.

On Monday we had Tuna Pita Sandwiches w/Romaine Lettuce, and those were not a hit. I’m never making those again. So what went wrong? I really just don’t like tuna that much and I had scalded my tongue in the morning with hot coffee, so I could not taste anything by the time dinner came around. My husband thought they were okay, but didn’t love them. What saved the meal were the homemade seasoned fries I made, which I ate with blu cheese because I could not stand the smell of ketchup that day. (No I’m not pregnant, because if I were I would probably love the tuna since it was my biggest craving when I was pregnant).

So here is the very simple (not even needed) recipe for Seasoned Homemade Fries

You Will Need:

-Potatoes, your choice we use regular Russell

-Garlic Salt & Parsley Seasoning, to taste

-Black Pepper, to taste

Cook!

1. Wash potatoes very well and leave the skin on.

2. Chop potatoes lengthwise in nice sided wedged, it doesn't matter or thick or thin just all of equal size. Then toss with seasoning in a bowl.

3. Place vegetable oil in a deep pan on medium heat, once the oil has heating carefully drop your potatoes, and wait for them to be golden on one side then turn.

*NOTE: I used to be very anal about turning each wedge and making sure they were all nice and golden, but if you have a steady heat you don't hace to worry about that. Just go in with thongs and turn them over, don't worry if not all of them got turned. I usually walk away from them to get the baby settled of chop other ingredients for dinner, or start the dishes etc.

Wish I had a picture but we ate them all!

Meal Planning: Week of March 9-13, 2015

2015-03-08T23:19:00.000-07:00

So I have been experimenting with some organizational ideas in the home now that I have a lot of free time in my hands and as I was searching more ways to stay organized and motivated, I came upon meal planning. Meal planning is just basically when you sit down and dedicate time to plan what you are going to feed your family for the coming week.

Via

I've been doing it for about three weeks now, and the plan doesn't always turn out but it helps a lot because not knowing what to prepare for dinner turns daunting, and there is this brain block and I can't think of anything and then feel too lazy and then end up ordering in. That used to happen to me a lot, but it isn't good for our family's waist-line or economy.

Via

I try to plan on Sundays. I plan three meals for every weekday and let myself rest on the weekends and only plan for 2 meals then, since those are the time we let ourselves dine out. Then from my weekly plan I produce a shopping list of the things I don't have at home, that way on Monday I can just grab my list and go grocery shopping. So,

SUNDAYS=MEAL PLANNING & CREATING SHOPPING LIST
MONDAY=GROCERY SHOPPING (and hope everything's in stock)

Via

BREAKFAST= I tend to plan it loosely. We always have the basics such as eggs, ham, bacon (save it for the weekends when my husband's here) milk, bread, oatmeal, or cereal. The baby loves cereal, yogurt, and fruit or eggs with cheese, and she loves hotdogs w/scrambled eggs. Breakfast burritos, English Muffins, egg & ham sandwiches, oatmeal with fruit, banana & mango smoothies.

LUNCH= I also plan it very loosely. It could be some leftovers, spaghetti (I make a big batch per week for emergencies ie. the baby doesn't like what's on the menu), Progresso soup, turkey sandwiches or wraps, quesadillas.

DINNER= This is were it gets fun. I like to look for or come up with 3 different recipes per week, just to try something new. Sometimes not everything's at the grocery store when we go shopping so that's when we modify it.

So for this week this is the plan:

MONDAY 9

Tuna Pita Sandwiches w/ Romane Lettuce

Need:

Tuna

Pita Bread, halved

Mayo

Mustard

Grated Carrots

Chopped Celery

RomaIne Lettuce

1. Make the tuna salad

2. Stuff Romaine leaf inside 1/2 pita bread

3. Stuff with tuna salad on top or lettuce.

Side: Homemade Seasoned Fries

TUESDAY 10

Chipotle Meatballs & Rice

Need:

Meatballs

Chipotle chilies

chopped onion

chopped garlic

tomatoes

water

rice

salt

pepper

garlic powder

cumin

1. Sautee onion and garlic with olive oil until onion turns tender.

2. Blend tomatoes, chipotle, water, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add to pan with onion and garlic. Let simmer in low.

3. Add meatballs and cover until meatballs are cooked.

4. Cook rice on the side as desired. Serve.

WEDNESDAY 11

Caramel Apple Pork Chops & Quinoa

Need:

Pork Chops

2 tbsp. brown sugar

vegetable oil

salt & pepper

1/8 cinnamon powder

2 tbsp. butter

2 apples peeled and cored

almonds or walnuts

quinoa

1. preheat oven to 175 Fahrenheit. Keep pan inside to warm up.

2. on skillet cook pork chops on oil for 5-6 minutes turning occasionally. Move to pan in the oven to keep warm.

3. On small bowl mix brown sugar, salt, pepper, and cinnamon.

4. On skillet add mutter and slowly mix in brown sugar mix, then add apples. Remove apple from heat when tender, and let sauce thicken more.

5. Put apples in warm pan in the oven on top of pork chops. Then add the sauce on top, let stand in the oven until ready to serve.

Quinoa will be the side dish because we need to finish it up, but rice would be good in other occasion.

THURSDAY 12

Turkey Chili

Need:

Ground turkey

black or pinto beans

corn

white rice

onions

green salsa

cumin

cilantro

tomato

water

1. season turkey and cook along with garlic and onions.

2. blend tomatoes and water, season to taste add to chili, add green salsa (store bought or homemade, our is homemade and very spicy) and let thicken

3. add rise and cook until rice is done. garnish with cilantro or top with cheese, eat with good bread.

FRIDAY 13

Breaded Tilapia, Veggies, and Rice

Need:

Tilapia

breading

veggie mix

butter

rice

1. Bake tilapia instead of frying it! just coat bottom of pan with a little bit of olive oil to prevent sticking.

2. Steam, vegetables, season, add butter (because everything is better with butter)

3. Cook rice as desired.

And that's the plan for the coming week.

Reflecting on 2014 Resolutions

2015-02-20T16:17:00.001-08:00

I feel like I need to reflect on last year’s resolutions just so that I can analyze my progress as a human being.

Why do we make resolutions and then never really complete them. Some people have become so jaded and they just don’t believe in resolutions and don’t make any because they know they won’t accomplish them. But that’s so negative. I mean its true, but at least, those of us who actually made some had good intentions and were feeling positive at the start of the year. On that note....

So here are my 2014 resolutions and how I failed to meet them:

1. Lose the Baby Weight. Who’s with me on this one, making it and not accomplishing it? I didn’t lose all the baby weight, I lost some of it and then plateaued after I stopped breastfeeding. I honestly envisioned myself weighting 128 pounds by December. I was naïve, so see…I grew wiser, and my waist grew too.

2. Eat Healthier Foods. Can I just LOL at myself for this? Yes? Then LOL!

3. Control Temper. If I still need to work on something is this. I do blame my temper and moodiness to my hormonal imbalance due to the pregnancy, which I will get in check this year. BUT NO I'M NOT MAD!

4. Be Nicer to People. I think in general I was a lot nicer to people but then, what do you do when people are not nice to you? I resent, feel stupid, and vulnerable. So what I learned form this is: Be nice to those who deserve your niceness.

5. Be a Good Mom. All I can say is that my daughter is nice and healthy, so I must be doing my job, right? Actually, I hope I’m a good mom, I heard that if you are wondering whether or not you are a good mom, it means you probably are so I’m going to go with that. AND I'm cool too ;)

6. Read 35 Books. Done! More info here.

7. Learn How to Save Money. Nice one.

8. Write & Blog More. Done!

9. Learn New Recipes. I did that and I have also discovered that cooking is not as hard as I thought it would be. There are no rules and most of the time things will be edible, that however; does not change my dislike for cooking. I knew I had it in me ;)

Enero 15, 2015 - Me Pegue en la Rodilla

2015-01-18T16:07:00.002-08:00

I decided to start making videos or my family. I've just been watching a lot of vlogger families and I think it is so nice to have videos to look back on, especially those people who have been vlogging for years. They can go back and see what they were doing on the same days years back, and I kind of like that and would like that for my family as well.

So, this is the first video we've made. It is nothing special just something we were doing that day, and that's pretty much all.

By the way it is all in Spanish because that's what we speak at home.

Small Steps to Change

2014-09-14T22:56:00.000-07:00

I want to start something up, like my own experimental trial or whatnot. Well, no nothing too scientific but something I can tell you guys about, something that will really help people. Or even if it doesn't help anyone it might help me.

What I'm getting at is that I want to start making small changes to my life so that I can tell you about it, if it was a good idea, if it worked, how it transformed as time passed, I want to document something.

So far I have a few ideas. One is to begin to organize my life, and my home. I love organization and I think I'm somewhat organized for a period of time and then I forget I get lazy and I stop doing it because I want to take on too much all at once. I need to constantly remind myself that small steps are good, and change doesn't appear over night. So, #1 is ORGANIZATION.

Second, I want to improve my health. This is hard, very hard because we all know what changes need to be made in order for us to be healthy. We need to eat healthy balanced meals, cut down fats and sweets, we need to exercise frequently, we all know that, right? But the hard thing is training our mind into doing it, I know what I have to do, but I don't feel like doing it to be quite honest. That's what has to change. How do I make myself addicted to good habits? I need to make that happen little by little right. So maybe if I start doing one thing at a time it will work, small changes are more effective than monumental ones we can't keep up with. So, #2 is HEALTH.

So how am I going to work on this two things?

Here's my plan, which is not set in stone so it can change.

#1 Organization

When I think about organization I think about cleanliness too so I think I need to start there. I came up with a weekly cleaning schedule. On that schedule I have some core chores that let me maintain my home organized and clean. Those include:

Everyday

1.Dishes

2. Take out trash

3.Clean Kitchen & Bathroom counters

4. Pick up mess in living room

5. Sweep/Mop as needed

Then I have other chores that assigned to each day of the week except Friday-Sunday so I can have a break as long as I did everything that week. I check off each chore that is completed and that kind of makes me feel like I actually did something productive.

Monday:

1.Baby's laundry

Tuesday:

1.Husband's laundry

2. Vacuum downstairs

Wednesday:

1. My laundry

2. Vacuum Upstairs

Thursday:

1. Clean all restrooms (bathtub, shower, toilet, counters, sink)

2. Sweep/Mop Everything

Friday-Sunday:

REST, BE FREE, HAVE FUN.

Then there are additional chores which I can assign myself to any day for the week, things like: organize the pantry, clean out the fridge, organize the closet, clean out kitchen cabinets, sort the mail and recycle.

#2 HEALTH

This is going to be really hard for me but I need to do it if I want to improve my health. For this I have pledged to stop eating French Fries, because if we are going to a burger place I'm already indulging myself with a nice big burger, why over do it with the fries right? So no more useless calories coming from fries from me, it's just fried starch I don't need.

Also, I want to start drinking green tea. I have heard that it helps a lot with cell reconstruction, or good production of cells, it has antioxidants which are good for you, but what I really want to find out is if it will make my skin look better. I want to start with one cup of green tea a day, then work myself to two, one in the morning and one at night. It doesn't have that much caffeine according to the one I bought so it won't disrupt my sleep (if strong coffee can't). I hope I feel better and that it helps improve my skin, I don't want to be a saggy faced by the time I'm 30, I have done a good job staying out of the sun, but I need a boost still.

Another thing I was to incorporate into my life is drinking more water. I used to drink a lot of water and I do think my skin looked better back then but now I rarely drink it, and my skin is suffering the consequences. I also heard about a woman who pledged to drink 3 liters of water a day for a month, she took a picture at the beginning of her challenge and one at the end and her skin looked so much better on the after picture. I want to see if that works with me, and well if it doesn't at least I'm really hydrated. But I don't plan to drink 3 liters a day yet, I'm starting with one liter a day for know, small steps remember?

So, in short:

1. No French fries

2. 1 cup of Green tea/day

3. 1 liter of water/day

Little changes small steps.

That's all for now.

Bye!

pfft! I wish I was her!

UPDATE AT THE END OF THE WEEK

Garbanzo, Quínoa, and Avocado Salad

2014-08-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

I came up with this recipe myself! It doesn't mean that there isn't a better version out there but hey, I'm pretty proud of my own creation.

As of late, I've been really into chickpeas or garbanzos as I know them, but the way I'm used to eat them was always in a soup. But a soup is not so suitable for these hot summer months (even though we are basically at the end of summer in Texas, it is still hot, it was 94 degrees today!), so I remember seeing a YouTube video in which a YouTuber is eating a chickpea salad. So I thought, hmmm maybe I should try it. Of course I had no idea what type of salad it was or what ingredients it contained so I just kind of threw everything I thought would taste good together and this was the result.

Ingredients

For the Salad:

1/2 pound Garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

1/4 cup of Quinoa, cooked

1 Large Cucumber, diced

2 Avocados, diced

1 Tomato, diced

1/2 a carrot (or 5 baby carrots), diced

Cilantro, chopped, to taste

For the Dressing:

*All to taste

Olive oil

Lime Juice (juice of 4-5 limes)

Apple cider vinegar (less than a tbsp)

Onion (diced, tiny)

Salt

Pepper

Oregano (optional)

Procedure

Cook the garbanzo beans in advance by having them soak in cold water overnight, then cook them on High in a slow cooker, or on the stove at a high simmer, until the skin peels off and they are soft. You may add some salt to taste. Let cool completely.

Cook the quinoa in a pan by adding twice the water. 1/4 cup of quinoa cooks in 1/2 cup water. But I like to make big batches then use it little by little. So I cooked 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups water, then used 1/4 cup of cooked quinoa for the recipe. Let cool completely. (I used red quinoa because it is what I had, but you can use regular quinoa)

In large bowl combine olive oil, onions, lemon juice, salt, pepper and oregano if desired, and combine to make the dressing.

In the same bowl add the rest of the ingredients, and combine without over mixing. Put in refrigerator to chill until ready to eat.

Smiley 360

2014-07-15T10:21:00.001-07:00

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If you want to join click this link: http://smiley360.com/3496725.cfm

*At the time of this post I had not received any free products from smiley360.com.

10 Things I would do Differently if I Got Pregnant Again

2014-03-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

I really do not feel like I need to have any more children, for one I do not think I can take 9 months of feeling sick, and two labor was very painful, and I just don't want to repeat all that. But of course if a baby is meant to be, IT IS MEANT TO BE. So I came up with some things I would do differently if I were to fall pregnant again, if this does not help me in the future maybe it can help you now.

1. Be prepared

I have to be honest I was not completely prepared for my first baby we left so many things for the last minute. So I would get the nursery ready ASAP, buy everything for the baby months in advance, get newborn clothes, bottles, formula, a load of diapers and wipes, pacifiers, rock and play and swing. It goes without saying but get the car seat and stroller, and get those things installed and practice folding and unfolding those suckers!

2. Keep in mind plans don't always play out.

I was so set on my plan when it came to giving birth that when everything went differently I was really upset and I think that was part of the reason why my experience of giving birth was a bit traumatic. I had signed up for a water birth at a birth center, but baby came sooner, I had a fever putting me at a high risk of infection for me and the baby, and my water had broken hours before I got to the hospital. So I was no candidate for a water birth anymore. So be flexible with your birth plan.

3. Let the house go

I just think that if I hadn't been so anal about how clean the house was I would of been more relaxed and enjoyed the first couple of weeks more. In my case, it was hard because we had guests, and I stressed out about them being comfortable and having everything look "perfect." I should of cared less about what people thought of me and just let it go, they think what they want either way.

4. Ask for help

On the first week I seldom asked for help I felt so flustered and I was all over the place that I just didn't speak up, very bad idea! Ask nurses for help breastfeeding. This time I would ask my husband to stay home from work so he can feed ME! and make a mess at the kitchen if he wants to, who cares! It was so hard to eat or even go to the restroom without any help, which made me crankier or even more depressed.

5. Sleep when baby sleeps

This is easy to say but when the baby was asleep I just felt like I needed to clean. But like I said on number 3 I will just let the house go, who cares, rest as much as you can! This will be harder with a kid already around, but if this is your first baby please go to sleep when your baby sleeps!

6. Guilt free

No one is perfect, much less me. So if breastfeeding didn't go as expected let it go, and get on that formula because a baby has to eat no matter what, and besides formula feeding won't mean that you love her any less. Don't let anyone guilt trip you into breast feeding, me and my baby were so unhappy with breast feeding (she screamed at my boob!) that it wasn't worth it. People would tell me I was selfish to give up because breast is best, and yes I agree its best, but if the baby is barely eating at the boob...and you are just breast feeding so people stop nagging you...then that's more selfish, isn't it? because you are doing it to keep others happy while the baby barely eats!

7. You won't get a trophy

There are so many women who feel proud of themselves for pushing a baby out with no medication, and because they were real troopers...but you know what? we all had babies. And no matter how you give birth no one gets a trophy. How about getting a trophy for carrying the baby for 9 months instead of getting judged for that one day? Yeah good idea right. I don't mean to discredit anyone who went all dry-lands with no meds, but just because these women are awesome, it doesn't mean c-sections mom are any less great. So I would not feel bad for getting an epidural next time around.

8. It gets better

You will sleep for more than two hours in a row, just bear with it. Really there is hope trust me!

9. Breastfeeding

I won't give up so easy on it the second time around, I would ask for more help when it comes to latching, I would take supplement to increase milk supply. But id baby is not happy and I'm not happy there is always formula.

10. Stay away from Google

I can't stress this enough, while forums and mommy-boards are great way to communicate with other mothers this are not places where you should be looking for diagnosis, or for what is normal, or for settling concerns you might have with your baby. If you have a concern call the Dr. PERIOD! There is so much misinformation and so many different circumstances, that although it might sound exactly like yours, you don't know the whole story behind someone posting on a board. If you are going to Google something make sure to look at web pages that are dedicated to health with research backing them up, just look at reliable sources, not at a post from 2009!

Huge Update, Baby is here!

2014-03-08T00:59:00.000-08:00

I know I have been MIA for a long, long time but hey a lot had happened since. First of all I had a baby! I know I owe this blog a bunch of things related to that like the baby shower pictures, the name reveal, updates, and well now the birth and first few weeks of my babe's life.

I guess all that will have to be included here.

So the Baby Showers, I had two. One organized by my aunts in Mexico who felt they needed to throw me one to include my grandmother in it, since she can't travel to the U.S. at the moment. It was a morning breakfast shower and it was very nice we all ate till the guests looked like me, then we opened presents! But guess what? that is all I got on pics. I don't know why I suck at taking pictures of events, I always forget. So this is all I got:

This was the cake, beautifully done by my aunt, she is talented, she did the corsage too!

The little boy right there is my godson, he was so excited when I opened his gift, it was a sponge bob puzzle, lol, he wants the baby to play with it!

Me looking the chubster, that dress thought, kept rising up it was not meant to be that short.

More gifts, there were so many! He is my godson again, and mi little niece she is so cute! Oh, and the lady in pink is my aunt who makes the cakes, and party favors, she's got talent!! :)

The three cousins, girls run low in our family, they say the one in pink and me look sooo alike, what do you think? And that pretty lady is my grandma (^.^) doesn't she rock the white hair?!

The three sistas! My aunt Chayo, my mom, and my aunt Gaby. My aunts organized the whole event, I just had to show up!! :)

My corsage dine by my aunt of course!

Party favors. We went with the pink and bunnies theme, and my aunt did an awesome job! Those bunnies right there were HAND-MADE! YES! Those tiny little things were done by hand somehow with lots of patience!

This is a horrible picture of the invitation, I was big and pregnant could barely put my shoes on so please don't hate, the invitation was beautiful though!

Then the second Baby Shower was organized by my mom at her house. By that time I felt horrible! I was swollen, super pregnant, my shoes wouldn't even fit, my hormones had me in this nasty mood that thankfully didn't last through the shower. Here are some pictures:

The second baby shower was owl oriented! So this was the arrangements we had in the tables, with some cake pops I made myself, I seriously did not know what I was thinking by making those myself I was super tired by the end of it! Oh, and I was laying down on the couch at my mom's house, putting those feet up because they were SWOLLEN!

Here's the cake, again done by my aunt! Party favors, center pieces, and the corsage were also made by her, they are so cute!

Me and my husband cutting the cake, I hate cutting my aunts cakes they are so cute I kind of just want to look at them, they are too cute to eat! (Man, look at those cheeks!)

More gifts, but this one was a little extra special, my mom hand-stitched it, crochet the ends, well in a few words it was all handmade, can you tell we are pretty crafty in my family?

My other grandma trying to stay awake, or maybe just checking out my fat butt who knows? And getting some very special room decorations from my aunt, she and I know what those mean :)

Who would of thought I would be giving birth 18 days later...

So you might be wondering what my baby's name is, and we did not settle for it until she was here. We even made the birth registration lady wait a day because my husband was still giving me the run around on the middle name but finally we settled (he settled) on:

Inspired by Inara George from the Bird and the Bee, and Elise is just simply Elizabeth in French.

She came early and I kind of thank God for that because I was increasingly feeling worse.

I was swollen getting dressed was a task so was walking I was a big fat mess. But on Tuesday December 17, 2013 I had gotten home from taking my brother to the eye Dr. He had a procedure done, and could not drive so I was nice enough to take him back and forth. By the time he got out of the appointment I was hungry for fries so we went to McDonald's and I had my fries with a ton of Louisiana Hot Sauce. We ate then I went home. I waited for my husband to come home and he was hungry and I still wanted fries so I hit up the drive thru at Whataburger and ate my fries with some more Louisiana Hot Sauce.

After stuffing my face I went to the living room to lay down. I was on the laptop on 9gag laughing away when I felt a trickle that I attributed to incontinence. As I was indulging in trash humor, my husband had the great idea of going to Walgreens, so we go and that is when I went into labor. That trickle wasn't pee it was my dripping waters which I ignored. By the time we had been walking around Walgreens for a good hour my contractions kicked in. At first, I was thinking it was just my regular back pain and Braxton hicks.

They got intense real quick, and painful as well, so much I went and sat at the photo machines. I kept telling my husband that I was in pain that we should go. But he kept looking at things, I waited for him for like 15 more minutes. As we were at the checkout he forgot something he needed and at that moment I knew that I needed to really get home. I gave him that death stare and we hurried on home. We got home and I was still in pain. I decided to take a bath in hopes that it would help me relax but it didn't, contractions got stronger, and without even knowing I gave myself a fever for staying too long in the bathtub. My husband had gone to bed with my permission, bad decision since I had the hardest time getting out of the bathtub I swear it probably took me 20 minutes. I wanted to shower because I've always thought that baths are not the way to go, but I just couldn't. I got dried and dressed and that took even longer then went to bed. I lay down and I could not take it so I got my laptop and started counting contractions. I slept through some of them, but this is pretty much how my contractions were going:

After monitoring for an hour

I was ready and coming to my senses thinking that it might be time to go to the hospital. I got up and started throwing my hospital bag together, I was totally unprepared since I had Wednesday scheduled to get everything on my list done (It was already Wednesday). I had bought some things like tooth brushes and so forth, but my clothes, camera, chargers were all over the place. In the end I did not even bother with camera and laptop. I shouldn't of worried anyway, because, ladies you don't need anything the hospital pretty much provides everything.

So I get what I think I need, and wake up my husband. Surprisingly he woke up the second time I called on him, he is a very heavy sleeper but this time he was up. We get our coats on and drove to the hospital. As we get on the car my contractions slow down, and I start thinking it is all a false alarm, we are going to get to the hospital and they are sending me back. But 5 minutes before we get there I get a contraction that convinces me otherwise. We get to the hospital's parking garage and since it is like 2 am in the morning we get VIP parking spot! I walk like a little penguin (huge rather) to labor and delivery. They test me for amniotic fluid and It comes out positive...so I'm staying.

A nurse checks me (and she really digs in there) and says I'm zero cm. dilated. Oh sadness! I get and expert nurse and an apprentice and they keep going back and forth on who is going to put my the needle in and on what vein. I was supper bloated and my usually awesome veins were hiding in all the extra fluid my body was carrying so that was very painful. Thankfully they waited to do anything until a contraction passed. Oh my God, but did those two nurses talk! They went on and on about how I was not pushing until I was 10 cm, they were so soothing, calling me "mommy" and sweet talking me when I was like "Bitch shut up and take my pee or whatever. And don't you think I know I'm not pushing yet!" I think they heard me telling me husband that I wanted them to shut up and they stopped being nice to me and turned nasty. Luckily they moved me to my room from monitoring and I did not see them again.

Oh wait I did see them again, since I had a fever going in, they wanted to test my pee and blood for infection a virus of some sort, you know just to make sure. Since I could not, (I mean I could they just didn't want me to) get up to pee then they had to put in a catheter, I think that's what it's called. The apprentice nurse volunteered to do it and well she clearly could not do it but blamed it on me! She told the nurse that I moved my leg and contaminated her working area. Hmmm no, she just couldn't figure it out! So someone else had to do it for her. Ok that was the last I saw of them.

The pain was the worst I have experienced in my life, the contraction would go off the charts, I never thought I would be one of those screaming ladies but I was. I felt so helpless uncomfortable, I could not move and those beds are so uncomfortable, they dig into your tailbone!

I had a great nurse, she was gentle and she had experience she knew what she was doing. But the pain got really intense and I was ready for an epidural! But why is it that there is only one person who is able to do the epidural in a hospital that is able to hold 90 pregnant women? I had to wait...I don't even know how long since time was a concept that went right out the window for me. My husband got sick of seeing me in pain so he got on the managers case, and so the nurses turned nasty on me once again. The epidural lady came and did it, and it did not hurt, I didn't even feel a thing, she is good. And I was able to settle down for a little bit I wanted to sleep but wasn't successful. I did not sleep at all. Later, the epidural was wearing off and I was feeling the contractions again, thanks to the pitocin the nurse put in since the epidural had slowed down my labor. She kept saying that I was dilating just fine on my own but the epidural slowed it. I was thinking "who cares, let it slow down!" But really I had no idea what I was saying. They had to do a second round of the epidural, and it worked fine. Shortly after that I started feeling the contraction since they were becoming more intense. I felt pressure all the way through but at this time it increased more and more with each contraction. I had to fight the pressure back because I didn't want to push without a nurse or Dr. there. I told the nurse that I felt the pressure increasing and that I was and she said to let her know when I felt like I really needed to push. I went through 5 more contractions or so then I felt it, a desperate need to push. The nurse was there getting everything ready, my midwife had arrived and they were just getting their scrubs on, held on for two more contractions. They set up the bed for me to push my mom on one side my husband on the other, the nurse checking the monitor and the midwife had a front seat of my lady bits.

For a moment, when I knew the next contraction was coming and I knew I had to do it no matter what I felt a sense of empowerment. I'm not a religious person but I honestly thought about God in the purest way I ever had. I told God "This is why you made women this way, and I'm ready, I'm doing it this pain needs to pay off somehow. I'm doing it." I also thought, about all the pain and how I have been complaining about it the whole time, and I just thought it's enough already I'm going to do it. And so the nurse said, when you feel pressure you push and so I felt it and I did. And not to discredit my empowerment but at that moment I was like "Oh shit, maybe I can't." Because the pain of a contraction combined with the pressure then using all your strength to push, is very exhausting and rather draining, plus seeing no progress after about 10 good pushes, it is a big letdown.

I was hyper emotional, I had told my mom not to look at me and she turned around and started crying, then I felt horrible for being such a bitch and from then on I could not stop BAWLING! Seriously my hormones went wild I was pushing while being hysterical all because I felt guilty for telling my mom to stop looking at me! She cried because she was seeing me in pain, she explained to me later, not because she felt offended. The nurse kept telling me to breathe and not cry so much but it was uncontrollable. I pulled it together at times, but then it all came back in my mind, and I would start again. The oxygen mask got on my nerves, it kept me sweaty all the time, I meant I already felt disgusting like someone please hose me down already. I removed it for a little bit just to wipe the sweat, and the nurse told me not to, and that got me more emotional.

My husband kept telling me to push harder because he could see the baby, so I would, but then I had to stop because I couldn't take the pain. The epidural had lost its effect by this time, I was feeling everything at full force. He also kept hurting my leg pushing it way back, I told him he was hurting me by stretching it too far and he got offended. The nurse had my other leg and she was not pushing it back half as much, but she does that for a living. Anyways at that point my mom had seen too much and felt lightheaded and had to sit down. But by the final couple of pushes she was back. I was sick of pushing for so long, and I was fed up really. So in the next two pushes my baby girl came out!

This is her. One of her very first pictures, look at those pouty lips!

"Put me on mommy's arms already you nurses!"

She weighted 6lbs 1.5oz, she was tiny!

She was 19 inches long, and so petite and cute!

I was still a nut case after she was born. Since I had that stupid fever they thought that they might have to take her to the NICU but the pediatrician saw her and said she was perfect so she got to stay with me. I was still crying and asking them, why she was handed to me right away, my mom kept telling me that she was fine and that they were cleaning her up and will hand her to me as soon as they finished. Well, to me that seemed like a whole hour, it took forever in my opinion for them to give her to me. My husband kept his eyes on her while my midwife cleaned me up and sowed my up because I had a 2 degree tear, that believe me nothing will ever be back to normal again. I told her I felt her sewing me up, and I regret it because she had to put local anesthetic, so a direct shot to my lady bits, and it did not even take effect while she was stitching me up, but later...so I felt the string go in and out.

Everything is kind of a blur after that. They finally gave her to me and it made me so sad that as they put her on my chest she cried. I really think that did not help with the bond, I have no idea why she cried, it made me very sad. I was just looking at her admiring her really, and I tried to breastfeed her. She was so tiny, her lips barely the size of my nipple, she tried to nibble on it but I just couldn't get comfortable. I could not move I really wanted to sit up and get her in a position to be able to successfully breastfeed her, but no one was helping me. My mom was like a zombie, my husband had no idea, and the nurse just shoved my boob into my baby's mouth unsuccessfully. I could feel the baby wasn't sucking on it. I just felt that I could not do anything with so many people around. I wanted to be alone to experiment on my own ways, I wanted help sitting up, but they just wanted me to lay down.

Ladies speak up and don't be me, ask for help when it comes to breastfeeding, never feel embarrassed or stupid for asking questions, for all we know if you sound stupid you are never going to see those people again (Well only in the next 3 days but you get my drift). So, my baby didn't eat well. Then on the middle of me trying to latch her on, my in-laws arrive, so I felt embarrassed and had to cover myself. They saw her and passed her around. Then nurses came in and asked people to leave, they would be doing testing on the baby. I was so tired and that time it also seemed like they took forever to do those tests.

My hair was a mess, it was all up in knots, seriously you could not run a finger through that mess. They sent us to another room, and really the next two days were horrible. I was alone for a lot of the time since my husband decided to go to work the next day. My mom came by only for a little, and I don't know everything was a mess I just wished everything had gone more smoothly. My baby wasn't latching on correctly, I was in pain my boobs were super sore, the nurses kept pressuring me into feeding the baby, yet they offered no help or support, but she just wouldn't take it or wake up to eat.

We had a little jaundice scare because she wasn't eating well, we ended up buying formula as per the pediatrician's advice, after that everything went better. I was pumping to increase my supply, she was eating well and taking 2oz of formula at night. I wasn't getting enough sleep but it wasn't that bad really I expected that. But then the holidays came, and along with that relatives arriving from out of town, just added stress that I did not need. So another piece of advice for you ladies, do not have people over at your house. For one they can bring in bugs and you or the baby might catch them, two you're in no shape to host people, three you can't walk around in your underwear in the middle of the night to get water or whatever, a bottle of formula, four people will be on your fucking case with anything having to do with the baby like: are you breastfeeding? What formula is she taking? what diapers? does she have a rash? How are you taking care of that cord? Shouldn't the cord be off by now? When are you going to bathe her? Five, they will leave a mess behind, because they don't know where your shit is and they don't know where to put it back, so you end up having to clean after them anyway.

It was just so stressful, my husband pretty much ignored me, I mean he did bring anything I asked for from the store, but he spend at the most 30 minutes of his time with me and the baby per day, because he had to cater to guests or take them to places.

I was emotional, cried on every short shower I took. I was cranky, completely sleepy, like a zombie, I had to do laundry, I wasn't eating well, breastfeeding was proving to be incredible hard, everything was just piling up!

I'm not surprised if my husband's family thinking I'm a ROYAL BITCH, but seriously when you are bombarded by so much in so little, it plays with you.

I honestly wasn't mad at them I was just SO FUCKING TIRED!

I had my good moments, very few of them, but they were there.

They only positive thing of all of these is the little baby that I now have by my side, who no matter what always makes me smile. She is so sweet!

I'm just happy all that I just told you about is over and I can now enjoy my little one every single day, every single hour of the day. Now she is almost 3 months old, and is little something, her little grins and grunts, smiles, barely there giggles, it was all worth it, it doesn't mean it didn't suck of course. Just trying to tell you all ladies how it is :)

So here is my one and only (that's what I'm saying right now) child:

Still at the hospital, man how I dislike those places.

Her going home outfit, the only Newborn outfit I owned, CNM kept telling me she was going ot be big and she turned out tiny!

Her (my) favorite blanket by BeanSprout, those blankets are the softest ever!

Sleep deprived, those first weeks are the hardest, but it does get better.

My little rock star, coming back from the 5 day check up.

Happy New Year's! Her daddy bought her this cute dress! It is crazy to have her in my arms during New Year's when she was supposed to come on the 3rd!

Bed head, and cute PJ's.

Cutie! I love this little shirt on her!

She turned one month old on this picture!

First Valentine's Day! I remember this day, she did not want to wake up to take a bath.

She turned two months on this picture, what a huge difference from her newborn pic! Look at those eyelashes, this girl got eyelashes for miles.

Being girls with her cute dress!

"Uh-Oh mommy's not okay up there!" Her realizing mom's a little nuts.

Look at her just adorable! She CRIED bloody murder as I put her on that dress though.

Lol! Look at that bow. I wonder if this is one of those pictures were she's going to be like "Mom what were you thinking putting that bow on me?" Oh, some of her book behind her she loves looking at them.

This is from today. She was wearing her cute colorful dress with some leggings the bow flew out somewhere, and she is hugging my bunny. I've had that bunny since I was a baby so I'm just letting her borrow it you know. :P

And this is me and my little one, love her to death! (don't mind the pooch...working on that! Hey man, those are pre-pregnancy jeans already...weight loss posts coming this way)

Sorry for the horrible grammar a possible misspelled words, and the over kill of "!!!!!!!!!!!" can't help I really feel exited....I wrote this at 3 am.

Did I Finally Find the Right Foundation?

2013-09-30T20:26:00.001-07:00

So, for the longest time I have been experimenting with new foundations and always been a little hesitant to say that one is completely great for my skin. At the time it could be that it worked just fine, but later down the line they start to break me out, dry my skin, or make it even oilier.

Well, I think I’m finally up to something when it comes to the whole foundation dilemma. I think I found a good one for my skin type, and it’s something I would have never thought would go with me, mainly because it is not targeted for people my age.

Ok, before I tell you about this product let me take you back a few years, when I was in high school. My skin during my high school years was close to excellent. I did suffer from the occasional break out and black heads but I never suffered from full blown acne. So, it made me wonder what I was doing back then that made my skin so happy. I remember using this Avon crème foundation that came in a small jar and a covergirl powder, and that was pretty much it. But for some reason, I convinced myself that there was no way a crème foundation was ever going to work for me with my oily issues. So I started purchasing nothing but liquid foundation (where is the logic in in that? I don’t know) and those that said “oil control,” “oil-free,” or “acne-control” which I think only made my skin more sensitive and susceptible to problems.

Well a few months back I purchased the Covergirl & Olay Simply Ageless Foundation, and it had been sitting in the very back of my drawer, while I finished my PhotoReady Foundation. The PhotoReady had been giving me problems, I think it was mainly because it was getting old, and by the end of the day I was looking orange pretty much like the annoying orange. So, I threw that one away and hesitantly put on the Simply Ageless. I was very surprised! I thought at first that it wasn’t really the right color for me but as I blend it in it looked completely different. What also surprised me about it was its staying power, it lasts all day long, I was even sweating one of those days and my face still looked like it did in the morning.

This is a brief description of how I apply it:

1. I use the sponge that is included and run it thru water and squeeze the excess out.

2. I rub the sponge over the foundation.

3. With a tapping motion, I apply it starting underneath my eyes and nose, and move outwards, with the last of the product going on my forehead and neck.

4. I then blend everything in with the same sponge

5. I set it with powder.

And that’s it very fast and very easy.

I will repurchase this as soon as I have a chance; I think I might just stick to this foundation and stop messing around with the other ones out there. Although, I want to go through that Flower stick foundation thing from the Drew Barrymore line at Walmart, since I already have it and is just sitting there. Once that one is done I'm going back to my Simply Ageless.

And this is the way it looks once you have used it and abused it!

Teacher Certification: Competency 001 Part E [#7]

2013-09-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

Domain I – Language Arts, Part I: Oral Language, Early Literacy Development, Word Identification Skills and Reading Fluency.

Competency 001 (Oral Language): The teacher understands the importance of oral language, knows the developmental processes of oral language, and provides a variety of instructional opportunities for students to develop listening and speaking skills.

E. Recognizes when oral language delays or differences warrant in-depth evaluation and additional help or intervention.

How can a teacher recognize when a student has oral language delays?

· Difficulty expressing ideas clearly, as if the words needed are on the tip of the tongue but won't come out. What the child says can be vague and difficult to understand (e.g., using unspecific vocabulary, such as "thing" or "stuff" to replace words that cannot be remembered). Filler words like "um" may be used to take up time while the child tries to remember a word.

· Difficulty Learning new vocabulary that the child hears (e.g., taught in lectures/lessons) and/or sees (e.g., in books)

· Difficulty Understanding questions and following directions that are heard and/or read

· Difficulty Recalling numbers in sequence (e.g., telephone numbers and addresses)

· Difficulty Understanding and retaining the details of a story's plot or a classroom lecture

· Difficulty Reading and comprehending material

· Difficulty Learning words to songs and rhymes

· Difficulty Telling left from right, making it hard to read and write since both skills require this directionality

· Difficulty Letters and numbers

· Difficulty Learning the alphabet

· Difficulty Identifying the sounds that correspond to letters, making learning to read difficult

· Difficulty Mixing up the order of letters in words while writing

· Difficulty Mixing up the order of numbers that are a part of math calculations

· Difficulty Spelling

· Difficulty Memorizing the times tables

· Difficulty Telling time

Information from this section was found here: Language-Based Learning Disabilities

How can the teacher provide additional help or intervention?

1. Provide additional instruction to address phonological weaknesses.

2. Engage students in Oral Language strategies. See More About Oral Language Strategies: Here

When do these delays warrant more in depth evaluation or intervention?

1. If the delays are persistent across the student's academics for an extended period of time.

2. The student is behind grade level across all other subjects.

3. The student shows no or little improvement after teacher interventions such as Oral Language Strategies.

• Student is referred for an individualized initial evaluation to determine whether or not there is a need for special education and related services because he/she is

a. not developing at the same rate or sequence as other children;

b. experiencing unusual or prolonged difficulties with general education curriculum and instruction; varied intervention strategies have been tried and documented before request is initiated.

Information on this Section was taken from: Here

**As always, if you find the link is broken contact me I have a saved copy of this article in PDF.**

**Also, if you noticed/feel like I forgot to mention something important regarding this post, let me know in the comments, and feel free to add anything you think will be helpful**

25 Weeks Pregnant and Glucose Test

2013-09-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

So these couples of weeks have been great! I have been feeling a lot better, no nausea, no fatigue and I have been able to do more things around the house that I had been sacking on.

I feel the baby move a ton which is always good; my husband still doesn’t have the patience to wait for a little kick on my belly, so he just pretends he can feel something. So, I’m sitting there with this incredulous face thinking “You liar, can’t feel a thing, because I’m not feeling it” But that’s okay he can take his filthy hands away from me, he makes me feel sweaty anyway. Did anyone get like this when they were pregnant too?

One bad symptom that appeared these last few weeks is the dreaded stretch marks. Did I mention this on the last update or no? I honestly can’t remember, oh there you go another symptom; I’m suffering of pregnancy brain. I forget everything! Anyway, I noticed them from one day to the next. One night my belly was nice and smooth, by the following night I noticed a red line on the very bottom of my belly, it was like a really bad scratch and it was tiny bit sore. I whipped out a mirror and yes, it was a nasty ugly stretch mark, small but still it was there! Then the following day I got another one right next to it, luckily this one was much smaller. So, let me tell you one thing ladies, this little devils will come up no matter what if you predisposed to them, not I really believe they are hereditary. But I’m still layering on the cocoa and shea butter, and will continue on even with the coconut oil, my mom recommended almond oil, I need to look for that.

Another little nuisance is that my wedding rings no longer fit. I mean I can put them on in the morning but by the afternoon they look really tight, so I decided to stop wearing them. Instead I’m wearing this very cute ring with a red heart shaped stone my husband gave me for Valentine’s, that was too big at the time but now it fits perfectly.

I also had a Dr.’s appointment this week, and it was very routine and boring just like the last time. I got there early they kept me waiting for about 20 minutes and within 10 minutes of actually being inside they were already sending me home, with an order for a glucose test. Everything looked fine, this is the first week the baby was not measuring ahead one week, but was just on track measuring at 25 weeks. I got to hear the heartbeat and it was nice and strong, and normal. My fundal height was right at 25 weeks as well (wish I could say the same about my weight!).

Then came the glucose test, which they did not perform right there and there since they stop doing them after at 12 pm. So I decided to go the following day, but I didn’t! I was too lazy to wake up at 5am get ready and arrive at the hospital’s lab at 6am. So I called and asked if they could do it on Saturday and they said that as long as it was the 1 hour test I could, so I’m going on Saturday instead. I’m really dreading the glucose test, I’m afraid they might tell me I do have gestational diabetes because I have gained a little more weight that I should have at this point. So it makes me a little nervous, and maybe that’s why I have been avoiding it. But I’m just going to have to suck it up and do it.

As for the nursery, is still under construction, and by that I mean we haven’t started at all. Next month, which is practically upon us, I’m ordering the crib! We already have one picked out; I’m just changing the color from espresso to white, just because the color that I have in mind for the room doesn’t go well with a natural wooden color (or at least that’s how I see it) so I’m going for the white one.

My mom talked about wanted to get me a Moses basket, but I always read and hear everywhere that they end up being a waste of money. But I don’t know, the baby is not going to be sleeping in her room at first, she will be sleeping with us. So maybe a Moses basket is not such a bad idea. But I still have a dilemma, should I get a pack and play with a changer and sleeper, or just the Moses basket? Decisions, decisions. I also have the stroller picked out, but I heard it was going to go on sale because new models are coming out, so I’m waiting for the sale.

Oh and the most exciting news of all is that my aunt is throwing me a baby shower! It’s going to be on October 20, and I’m very happy about it. First of all, my aunt who is organizing everything should plan events for a living. She plans my entire mom’s side of the family parties and they always come really nice. She does amazing center pieces, and favors, she bakes amazing looking cakes, so I’m very excited. I hope she breaks out her chocolate fountain! I will make a post on the baby shower so you can see how it turned out. Plus I have a few other baby related post coming up too, like baby buys, and the baby name reveal!

Teacher Certification: Competency 001 Part D [#6]

2013-09-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

Domain I – Language Arts, Part I: Oral Language, Early Literacy Development, Word Identification Skills and Reading Fluency.

D. Plans, implements, and adapts instruction that is based on informal and formal assessment of students' progress in oral language development and that addresses the needs, strengths, and interests of individual students, including English Language Learners.

What this competency is asking of the beginning teacher is for the teacher to know how to plan a lesson,

· Know how to write an effective lesson plan

In this case dealing with oral language development and at the same time keeping in mind that what you are planning will be relevant to formal and informal oral assessments you plan to give in the future.

· Know that your lessons' purpose is

· Make sure you are following the curriculum; know your grade level TEKS.

· What are you evaluating? Progress.

· What are you addressing with your lesson? Needs, strengths, and interests.

· Who are you teaching? Everyone, including English Language Learners.

**I really want to kick myself right now because I wanted to show you guys some of the lesson plans I have written before, during my college days, and while I was student-teaching. But can you guys believe I can’t find any of them on my USB’s or my computer! Now I’m beginning to think they were all on my old computer, which no longer works, it sucks!

But I will let you guys know the elements I included on my lesson plans. I did not come up with this specific format, but I learned through one really good teacher I had. Yet, at the same time I tweaked it to fit and Oral Language Lesson.

Elements of a Lesson Plan:

1. State your purpose aka you TEKS.

2. Pre-Oral Activity- a short fun activity that invites students to talk.

3. Oral Activity-This is the heart of your lesson plan, where you will teach, demonstrate, model, show, and set examples.

4. Individual or group work-This is where you invite students to try it themselves either in groups, or individually. You give them time to organize and prepare their oral presentations.

5. Evaluate-You will evaluate their presentation according to the guidelines you set and informed the students of. (Rubrics)

6. Wrap Up- Invite students to volunteer and say what they learned from the lesson and their peers’ presentations.

This format, by no means, is set in stone. Teachers can always and should always modify lesson plans and strategies to fit their students’ needs. But I still find it helpful, because it gives you an idea of where to start.

So, start writing lesson plans and start doing it now, practice makes you better and faster at it. Those tales of writing a lesson plan in 5 minutes, are actually true, you just have to start at one point. **

Teacher Certification: Competency 001 Part C [#5]

2013-09-18T11:36:00.003-07:00

Domain I – Language Arts, Part I: Oral Language, Early Literacy Development, Word Identification Skills and Reading Fluency.

C. Provides language instruction that acknowledges students' current oral language skills and that builds on these skills to increase students' oral language proficiency.

What do I understand about the statement above?

· Acknowledging students' oral language skills, means that the teacher is fully aware of what students already know and what they don't. The teacher knows there are variations within the group of students, meaning that some students will have more advanced language skills than others.

· The teacher must provide students lacking those skills, with opportunities for obtaining them, yet at the same time reinforce students who already have those skills. The teacher can do this by providing a safe environment in the classroom where students will feel free to practice their oral skills without any shyness or embarrassment.

· Oral Language Proficiency has to do with the extent of students’ vocabulary. And the teacher's job is to expand students’ vocabulary even more.

Read this to further Understand Vocabulary and to know how to further increase students Oral Language Proficiency:

REMEMBER: THIS PART OF COMPETENCY 001 DEALS WITH PRIOR KNOWLEDGE, AND HOW TO BUILD ON IT WHEN IT COMES TO ORAL LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY.

The article also shows really good activities, for those, click on the link below.

Information for this post was taken from:

http://www.palmbeachschools.org/multicultural/documents/OralLanguageDevelopmentActivities.pdf

Article written by: Dr. Lisa R. Troute

**As always, if you find the link is broken contact me I have a saved copy of this article in PDF.**

**Also, if you noticed/feel like I forgot to mention something important regarding this post, let me know in the comments, and feel free to add anything you think will be helpful**

Teacher Certification: Competency 001 Part B [#4]

2013-09-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

I hope that by this post you have gotten the hang of your preparation manual and how it is organized, and how I took that format to organize my own notes, which I'm sharing here with you.

Today I bring you part B of Competency 001 (Domain I), which deals with Oral Language Assessment. In college, you will find that you will need to take at least one or two classes dedicated to Assessment. When you hear your professors talk about Assessment think of this part of your preparation manual.

Domain I – Language Arts, Part I: Oral Language, Early Literacy Development, Word Identification Skills and Reading Fluency.

B. Knows characteristics and uses informal and formal oral language assessments and uses multiple, ongoing assessments to monitor and evaluate students' oral language skills.

What are forms of formal and informal oral language assessment?

Oral reports, presentations, demonstrations, written assignments, and portfolios are some forms of Oral Language Assessment. To see a more in depth presentation on Oral Language and Assessment, click on this link: Teaching and Assessing Oral Language

It is important to remember that in order to assess oral language the teacher must create a rubric of what is expected of the students, the guidelines included in the rubric should go hand-in-hand with the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills).

Examples of Some Rubrics:

And Remember Oral Language Competence Equals:

Websites Used to Complete This Post:

http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/assessment/informal/

Links to PDF Files of Sample Rubrics:

http://www.colorincolorado.org/pdfs/articles/academic.pdf

http://www.colorincolorado.org/pdfs/articles/oral.pdf

Link to Presentation on Teaching and Assessing Oral Language (mentioned above) I really encourage for you to look at this presentation, it explains everything in detail and gives you a broader understanding of how to teach Oral Language and how to Assess it.

http://www.adh-ocs.org/uploads.cir/Oral%20Language%20PPT.pdf

**And like always if you find any of this links to be broken let me know and I can send the file to you, since I have them saved on my computer**

**Also, if you noticed/feel like I forgot to mention something important regarding this post, let me know in the comments, and feel free to add anything you think will be helpful**

Thank You!

Teacher Certification: Competency 001 Part A [#3]

2013-09-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

Domain I – Language Arts, Part I: Oral Language, Early Literacy Development, Word Identification Skills and Reading Fluency.

A. Knows basic linguistic concepts (e.g. phonemes, segmentation) and developmental stages in acquiring oral language, including stages in phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics, and recognizes that individual variations occur.

Define the following and provide examples:

Phonemes:

A phoneme is the smallest meaningful unit of sound in a language.

A meaningful sound is one that will change one word into another word.

Example:

nut

knife

gnat

Segmentation:

Any discrete unit that can be identified, either physically or auditorily, in the stream of speech.

What are the developmental stages in acquiring oral language?

**Credits for chart go to Joel Acosta**and the complete slide show can be seen if you click on his name**

What are the stages in phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics?

PHONOLOGY:

the branch of linguistics that deals with systems of sounds in a particular language

SEMANTICS:

the branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning.

SYNTAX:

the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

PRAGMATICS:

the branch of linguistics dealing with language in use and the contexts in which it is used, including such matters as deixis, taking turns in conversation, text organization, presupposition, and implicature.

For Charts on Phonology, Semantics, Syntax, and Pragmatics Development use this link: http://www.srsdeaf.org/Downloads/SpeechLanguage_Development_Chart.pdf

(You will find charts on all 4 topics, if the link is broken or no longer exists, contact me I have a copy of them.)

One important thing to remember is that:

Phonology refers to SOUNDS

Semantics refers to MEANING

Syntax refers to ARRANGEMENT

Pragmatics refers to CONTEXT

*And that is all you need to know for Part A of Competency 001*

*If you feel/noticed I forgot something important and would like to add to this part, please leave it in the comments below, it is all about sharing information and resources*

Teacher Certification: Organizing Notes #2

2013-09-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

So, I’m going to explain my method for organizing my notes on Domains and Competencies. Well, really…it is already organized for you and all you have to do is fill in the blanks on things you don’t know or need reinforcement in.

I like to use OneNote, it is very similar to Word but this application is mostly for note taking purposes. On OneNote I created 4 different “notebooks” one for each domain. Then I divided each notebook into the number of Competencies I have for each domain, these are called “tabs.” Then each tab is divided into “pages” and I created one for each bullet within the competency.

This is an example of how I organize my notes:

Of course you can organize your notes whichever way you see fit. You can even get a binder or a 5 subject notebook, and cut and paste information you find, or simply write it down. I’m the kind of person who likes to see everything in detail that’s why I chose to use a software program because you can easily adjust the content of one page. If you can easily recall information by writing down small sentences or words (lucky you!), then you will be better off with a simple binder or notebook.

I start by stating the domain which in my case is:

Domain I – Language Arts, Part I: Oral Language, Early Literacy Development, Word Identification Skills and Reading Fluency.

So I know everything that I will be taking notes on will have to do with nothing but oral language.

Then I state the first competency which in my case is:

This means that all the bullets that come after this competency will be directly related to the competency above.

Then I state the first bullet under Competency 001 (In some preparation manual these show up as bullets in newer versions they are organized by letters):

After stating part A of Competency 001, I ask myself questions about part A. For example, what is it that I don’t know, or don’t understand, or feel I should know more about this statement?

These are the questions that I asked myself:

Define the following and provide example:

Phonemes

Segmentation

What are the developmental stages in acquiring oral language?

What are the stages in phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics?

After I formulate questions for myself I go and research them. I go online, look in my old college books, but if you are still in school you might be lucky and your professor might be bringing some of this information up in your classes. Pay close attention, because this WILL be on your certification test!

On the next post I will show you the answers to the questions I asked myself and how my notes look in the end.

Getting Ready to get your Teacher Certification #1

2013-09-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

Download your Preparation Manual

Okay so, first of all if you want to get certified in the state of Texas you need to download your appropriate preparation manual and read it!

This does not have to happen when you are in your senior or junior year of college, please download it and print it as soon as you decide you are going to be a teacher, this will help you tremendously, and if you have it with you at all times it will be easy to fill in the “blanks.” Take it from the one who downloaded the guide on her senior year!

This is the website where you can find your appropriate preparation manual: http://cms.texes-ets.org/texes/prepmaterials/texes-preparation-manuals/#Prep Manual Downloads

The manual I used was the one for: English Language Arts and Reading/Social Studies 4-8 (113)

Every so often the manuals get updated, so make sure to keep track of your specific manual every once in a while. For example, the manual that I used got updated not long ago. But that doesn't mean that what you have learned from the previous manual won’t apply to brand new manual, what changes at times is the wording or the format, so don’t worry if yours gets changed in the middle of getting certified.

The manuals are organized by Domains and Competencies. The content is stated by Domains which are the broad areas of content, and Competencies further define the Domains. Also, competencies are composed of two parts, the competency statement and the descriptive statements.

For example, the area I want to get certified (English Language Arts and Reading/Social Studies 4-8 (113)) has four domains, each domain has a different number of competencies, and each competency has detailed statements of what you should know as a beginning teacher.

The questions on the test are based on the competencies you see on your preparation manual, so getting familiar with all the competencies is crucial for answering the questions correctly. Once you know what competency a question is referring to, the easier it will be for you to answer the question correctly.

But I will first focus on the content, that way you can be familiarized with everything you need to know and by the time you get to the sample questions it will be easier.

If you want to follow through with me I would recommend printing nothing but the Domains and Competencies from your preparation manual and keep them with you at all times, and when you have free time take them out and read them. I have been doing that at my Dr.'s appointments and while not all my attention is on the content some things so stick!

So your homework for today is:

*Print the appropriate preparation manual.

*Find the Domains and competencies section and keep that with you at all times.

Disclaimer: You do not have to follow all these steps, this is what worked for me and I understand everyone learns and functions differently. This is just a guide to help you out in the parts you might need helps with.

Pregnancy Update: Week 23

2013-09-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

Wow so I have stayed very quiet about the whole pregnancy thing since I said I was going to tell all about it. But what’s new really, I’m very flakyL.

I really don’t know how some ladies keep up with weekly updates of their pregnancies, I have too many things to do sometimes and by the time I remember I should write about something it’s too late and I’ll rather go to sleep.

But today I have a few minutes to talk about the pregnancy.

So the biggest of the news as of yet is that we are having a GIRL!!

I felt so happy when the ultra sound tech told us it was a girl. What sucked was my husband’s reaction because he was just like “whatever, I knew it was a girl” and I’m sitting there thinking, NO YOU DID NOT, ARE YOU PSYCHIC NOW OR SOMETHING?

Anyways, first chance we got we started buying cute little baby-girl clothes. We have some pretty cute outfits ready to go, and a bunch of PJ’s, and little long sleeve shirts and pants, since she is coming in the winter.

I started feeling her move a couple of weeks back and it feels so weird but in a good way. And now I can really feel her kick, my husband placed his hand on my belly and he could feel it too (but he got weirded about it, when is he going to grow up?). My parents came over to our house the other day and she gave a show for them too, moving like crazy but only my mom was able to really feel it, her kicks were very strong.

As for symptoms:

nothing too bad. I still have some nausea in the mornings but nothing I can’t handle at least I’m not puking my insides out anymore, so it’s all good. My feet have begun to swell, but nothing too bad either, I just put them in cold water then put them up for about 30 minutes and the swelling goes away. The sciatica pain that had landed at the ER has gone away now, I do get some soreness sometimes but nothing as bad as it was on that day. I also feel like I can’t move like I used to. I’m not as fast or as agile, and I can tell especially at work where I do a lot of physical activity, the simple things don’t come as easily as they used to. Getting off the bed is also a little hard, I need to move my legs off the bed and help myself up with my arms, that’s is really annoying since I’m used to just sitting up and getting out of bed. Oh the weight gain is there of course, I have no idea how much I gained but of course I can tell I’ve gained quite some weight.

Another thing I do want to talk about is that I want this to be over! I can’t wait to have my baby here with me already, I can now safely say I do not like being pregnant! It sucks, I feel like I can’t do anything fun or anything physical and its very irritating. I do not understand how some women enjoy this, maybe they do because they don’t get nausea, or don’t feel dead tired every day, or because they have never experienced sciatica pain. So, when my husband mentioned this might be our one and only child, I agreed in a heartbeat!

But really, in the end I just want everything to go well and have a nice healthy baby at the beginning of January (please don’t let this baby go over 40 weeks!). People keep telling me it’s a beautiful journey, and while I agree because feeling the baby move is wonderful, I don’t care too much about the journey I care more about the destination and I want to get there already. I've always been known to be impatient and with this pregnancy there is no exception.

Life Update

2013-09-07T21:51:00.002-07:00

Ever since I thought about babies and children, in this case my own, I always had it all planned out. It was a very naive thing of me to do. Even not that long ago I had mapped out a plan to have a Spring or Summer baby. I would count back the months, and would say to myself this is the months I will conceive in, it's crazy.

That's why since August 2011, I talked to my now husband and we decided to start trying for a baby. There were many things going on around that year. For one I had not graduated from school yet, I was on my last semester. We were still living on our very first apartment, that to be honest wasn't really the ideal place to raise or have a child in. I was also starting the second part of my internship as a student teacher, the most demanding part of the internship to be exact. And we were both graduating on that December, my husband with his Masters' degree and me of course with my Bachelor's. So in reality it wasn't the perfect time to start trying to conceive, but if we had conceived around that time I would of had my Spring Baby.

Luckily it did not happen. On January 2012, we get a letter from out landlord saying that they will be raising the rent, by a huge amount of money. So we sit there and think, why should we pay that much money for living in a one bedroom apartment, full of maintenance problems they never want to fix. So we decided to move out. So we were able to move out on one day to another apartment I was able to find right away, granted the apartment was even smaller for about the same price we were already paying, but everything worked (even the oven!), it was in a nicer neighborhood, and had amenities we really enjoyed.

By this time we had been looking for a house to buy for a really long time. We had almost made up our minds of what we wanted and we kept going back to the same house over and over, just to look at it. By the beginning of March, we had made up our minds and signed the contract to begin the construction of out brand new house.

Everything was looking better now, we both felt that things were finally moving along and we decided to start trying for a baby again. This time I did not care if I got pregnant around that time (February) and that the baby would be a Winter Baby, but at this time I had brushed away all my thoughts and plans from when I was only 16-21 years old, they were just not realistic. Things happen when they happen, and they come when they may. Some things we just can't control, and it takes time to learn that.

Going back to our living situation, we had made the lease for the new apartment for 3 months, so our lease would be over by the end of June. We had been told since the beginning of March that the house was usually built in 3 months tops, that's why we made the lease for no more than 3 months. Of course at the time we did not know that construction takes permits, plotting, planning, and so on...after all that is taken care of, then they begin construction, and then it takes 3 months.

So we are at the apartment biting our nails, because the lease is almost up and the house is nowhere to be near finished, and then I take a pregnancy test on March 31, 2012 and it is positive. The stress is back on. We start to do the math and think that by the time the house is finished I would be about 7 or 8 months pregnant and won't be able to help much on the move. Meanwhile, we get a letter from our new landlord offering us to stay for another 6 months, but we think that's too much, so we ask for 3 more months, and they reject our offer. So guess what? We need to move again! (We know we should of just made the lease for 6 months in the first place, we didn't know, see how plans shouldn't be called plans!).

So a month or so before out lease is over, we find yet another apartment on the opposite side of town. Which really wasn't a big deal since we are moving to that part of town anyway. Then tragedy strikes, and I lose the baby I was expecting. I felt horrible it was the worst thing that had ever happened to me, and it is something really hard to deal with, because with it comes guilt, wondering what I did wrong, or what I didn't do. It's just a really dark place in time whenever a woman has to go through this. So, I refuse to go to work. Luckily its May and I was able to take the whole entire month off work, without pay of course, but it wasn't a big deal to my supervisors they understood. It takes a very long time to get over that event but I keep going. And this is yet another example that illustrates how we just can't rely on our plans, because just one event can vanish it all, as it happened.

The end of June comes and we are once again renting that U-haul moving truck, and loading all our things into it and moving out into our new apartment. Now let me tell you about that apartment, it was the best one we ever lived in and also the biggest. My husband was able to work out a deal with the landlord this time by explaining to her that we were waiting for our home to be finished and for that reason we did not know exactly how long we were going to stay there. Since she knew that we were not going to give our business to the competition after leaving her complex, she decided to give us the regular rate for a month to month rent, finally things were looking up with these landlords!

I really liked it there it was a very nice summer spent there, in the pool, we had an amazing view, and it felt like we had a little beach house in the middle of the desert. It was bigger so it gave us the chance to get used to bigger surroundings. We spent Halloween there and for the first time ever we had some trick-or-treaters, not enough to finish our candy but it was good enough. This marked the 6 month anniversary of the miscarriage for me, and the time we had agreed on to start trying again. But by this time I was in a very negative state of mind when it came to having kids, I didn't want kids anymore. I felt I was okay the way we were, that we needed to travel and enjoy life. "We are too young!" I kept saying, so we did not try for the rest of the year.

By the beginning of November the house was finally done, and so we moved in! This time my parents and brothers helped us move so we did not finish by midnight, thankfully. It was super windy that day and I blame that cold wind for the passing of our cute little pet hamster. The garage door was constantly open because we moved in the furniture through there, and he was in the bed room and the cold air came in no matter what. A few days later he passed away due to respiratory problems, the cold air and the thin sand circulating during those days, was too much for him and besides he was a little over two years old. We tended to Toby, for a whole day, we even skipped work early, and spent his last hours with him. We kept him nice and warm, brought him medicine from the vet, who had just told us there was not much one could do for a hamster who was that old. We gave him the medicine anyways, because one can only hope, but he was too weak and passed on to a better life. We buried him that night on our back yard. He was the cutest, sweetest hamster ever, really he was...he would never bite.

After that came Thanksgiving break and we decided to go on a little vacation to San Antonio and Corpus Christi, which was very nice to get away from the cold windy weather from here. It was a nice 75 degrees in C.C. the whole time we were there and the seafood was so nice, those huge jumbo shrimp were to die for and the fish was so fresh, there was none of that fishy smell on it.

We came back, then came Christmas and the family visited. Then came the New Year and then we needed to go back to work. Still not trying to get pregnant but this time, not really preventing it, just going through life without a plan and thinking whatever happens happens. No plans, no trying to have a Spring or Summer baby, none of that.

But of course when we just begin to make any plans is when things start to go the opposite way. It was the beginning of March when I begin to think that my job wasn't enough for me, yet I was not being successful at all when it came to getting another job. I talk about it with my husband and we decide it will be a good idea for me to go back to school and try to go for a Masters' degree. I go to the University and get accepted, all that is left is for me to get my meningitis vaccine and get registered. Which the first takes $100.00, so I wait for my paycheck, and the second I find out registration won't be open until the middle of April. So I'm waiting for the middle of April which equals, my pay day and my chance to get registered. But for some reason I forget what my priorities are and I decided to get more exited for my birthday than my Masters' degree. So we celebrate!

Things get a little busy at work, since I now have to give 3 classes per month for teacher development, and since I'm a little bit more busy I decide I will just get the vaccine and register on May since I usually have 2 weeks off that month anyway. While I'm waiting for all that to happen I notice my period is not here. So on April 29, 2013 I take pregnancy test and it is positive. So see, once again as soon as we made plans to get Masters' degree the baby decides to make an appearance.

But you know what? After over a year of plans not coming out the way we wanted them to, I don't care. I accept it, embrace it, and if life gives me this situation it must for a reason, because the time is just right, and really who am I to know what is best for me at what time, if I'm just a person that's all I am. Like a little ant, and that's it.

Now its September and I'm five and half months pregnant and I know I'm having a baby girl, and I wouldn't want to be in any other situation. I mean really, who would want to be in a classroom right now learning about differential equations, when you can be at home, happy, eating pastries and pizza with a big belly, at home, thinking about the nursery and baby clothes and baby shower and just waiting to go back to work? I'll take the second option any time.

So right now we are very happy, very excited, and I cannot wait for the little one to be here already. I can't wait to start working on her room, to go out shopping for her cute little outfits and bows. And to be honest the last thing I think about is the fact that I will be having a Winter baby. My thinking used to be: "Having a baby in the middle of the winter....THE HORROR!" Not anymore, I'm just glad we get our little one when we get her and all I can ask for is for her to be nice and healthy.