Waddle It Be? Reynolds Baby Shower!

I was so excited to get to plan a baby shower for my friend Laura. And something else that made it really exciting is that they are waiting to find out the gender of their baby until birth, so i needed a gender neutral theme! I found ducks on pintrest and fell in love with the all the bright yellow! One thing that i was really excited about was the floral arrangements. Putting the lemon in the mason jar added that natural boost of yellow to the flowers! I had asked our mom to be her favorite cake and she told me it was salted carmel cake that her family had all though her childhood. Naturally i was terrified i wouldn't live up to expectations, I used a recipe from , for the salted carmel frosting and it was sooo good! And then there was our onsie banner! i used twine and clothes pins to hang theme oriented onsies in from of a modified ribbon banner. instead of ribbon i used burlap. I am very pleased with how that turned out. what do you think? To keep the theme going I made Almond Shortbread duck cookies! They were adorable and delicious! I am so pleased with how this shower turned out! And even more please with how happy our mom to be was!! Blessed to have given them such a memorable shower. Now we wait to meet this sweet baby!

Bowtie Or Bow?? Gender Reveal Party

I had the great pleasure of planning and hosting a gender reveal party for my great friend and neighbor. We loved the theme "bowtie or bow?" and were really inspired by the vintage rustic trend right now, so naturally our colors were soft pink and vintage blue. TO save money i made most everything myself, starting with the invitations. I found a paper pattern i liked that match our theme. I ended up going with graphic 45, Little Darlings paper pack. each invitation was slightly different but buying the one pack was a very affordable. I enlisted the help of my sisters cricut to cut all my bows and bowties and designed the back off of a vintage poster. Add a little (or a lot) of double sided sticky tape and viola! I made the burlap banner by printing my images full scale and tracing them onto the burlap with a fabric marker. Then i strung it on twine. it was really easy and very affordable. I made my chalk board out of an old cheap frame that i distressed with some acrylic paint and sand paper. The Chalk board part was chalk board contact paper which was much more affordable. it worked great on the small frame for the tally marks but for the big one it had quite a few bubbles that I couldn't remove. it ended up looking fine, but up close it is very bumpy! in the future i will make my own chalk board paint, which would also be a cheaper option than buy it pre-made. the cake was a banana cake with brown sugar cream cheese frosting. I absolutely loved the flags on top! i used left over paper from my Little Darlings packet and just cut and stuck them to the ends of skewers. for some added texture i added some ribbon as well. For the banner across the top of the cake I wanted a stamped look but didn't want to buy all the stamps so i download a "stamp font" and it turned out great! they looked stamped! It was really fun to plan and host this party for such good friends! And they are very excited to announce they are having their second son! Welcome to the 2 boy club my friend!

Busy Much..?

Wow, it has been ages since i have written a blog. well here is the main update... i am busy!! and only about to get busier! i am 32 weeks pregnant (whoa!) and this little boy is BIG! at least i think so. i am going to clarify with the dr tomorrow! speaking of big boys, Orlando has grow 4 inches since his 1st birthday and is continuing to grow out of all his clothes faster than i can pull together hand-me-downs. He loves animals right now and every time he sees one he know shouts it name and does its corresponding noise. SO CUTE! he is running, jumping, and climbing everywhere! He is also working on his next set of teeth (seeing as they have started to come in groups of 3-4), and that has been lots of fun! not. he is a miserable teether! i feel so bad for the little guy. he chews on anything he can and has even asked for medicine a few times. i cant wait for him to have all his teeth! but luckily for us by the time o is done Joa will be just getting started! hopefully he wont have as hard a time as o does! this pregnancy has been FLYING by! i feel like i was 5 weeks and just finding out we were expecting maybe a month ago! but my maternity leave is a few short weeks away! and then its no time at all until my sweet baby Joaquin is here! he is so strong and so active! i am so excited to see if he looks like Orlando or more like Gabriel. Any votes? i have so much to do before he arrives! my mom and i wanted to make be skirts for the boys cribs and i need to get the nursery ready for 2! i feel like i have a lot of little things to do but hopefully i will get everything done i want to in my 4 weeks maternity leave because i wont have time to do any of it while im working! ok ill try to get some pictures on here and then this mama needs a rest! i am so beat!!!

did i mention climbing on everything??... lol

Orlando's favorite this is running around and rough housing with his papa!

Seedlings Nursery School

so here is a run down on Orlando's life in nursery school! he is learning so much and having so so so much fun with all the kids! He is starting to use lots of real words, including basics like mama, dada, ball, uh-oh is a favorite, and has started using the word "more" while signing it. also one of mama's favorites is "tanks oo" (thank you) which he actually uses correctly most of the time! besides words he is running all over the place and has learned to watch his step and be careful on uneven pavement. He can climb onto a bus as school drive it and even go down the slide all by himself! He has also been working on his artwork and has been quite the little painter! I must say i think he is the best artist in the whole world and cannot wait to frame some! Here are some pictures of different things we do at school!

11 Weeks and Counting!

So! here is baby!!! this was at 8 weeks and 6 days! Babies head it to the right and body is to the left.

I love this picture!!! to the left are babies little legs sticking out then its tummy is down so you can see part of it, then is babies little head to the right. Here is am! 11 weeks and 3 days along! so much bigger than i thought i would be around this time!!! Pregnancy has been so much more nerve racking this time around! I have not really been sick and was have some spotting early on. I was super emotional and tired all the time but was super concerned about keeping the baby safe and healthy. After a stressful week last week I have been extremely queasy the last few days and struggling to keep my breakfast down. I feel like its Gods way of confirming for me that the baby is fine and we are doing ok. I am having so much better of a week and feel much more comfortable in the pregnancy. I am so excited for Orlando to be a big brother and to become a mommy of 2! I am already so excited to meet our new baby beltran! cant believe i have to wait another 6 months... well now that i mention it 6 months doesn't seem that long.... hmmm lots to do! i better go clean! lol

PB&J, Cake and The BIG O_N_E!!!

One year ago today I became a mommy and brought sweet Orlando Gabriel into the world! today i am sitting here watching my son eat peanut butter and jelly, drinking cows milk, and watching sprout. I am proud to say that I held in my tears until this moment. and my baby is the most compassionate and loving baby ever! he sees me tearing up and puts his hand, palm up, in the air and pulls in his fingers say"come here mommy" as i get off the sofa and walk to his highchair he grabs my arm and looks up at me with his brown eyes wide and has this look on his face of "mom i love you and i always will no matter how big I am." he smiles and excitedly screams "MAMA!!!" and we both laugh for a minute. I am so in awe of how amazing my little man is and while its very bittersweet seeing him growing older I am so excited for the man he is becoming.

I know i havent written in a long time! so for an update on the little man he has taken 5 steps on his own, his favorite word is mama :D and he loves loves loves to swim! He even blew bubbles in the pool yesterday! this stage is so much fun and seems like he is doing something knew every day!! Oh yeah and his just cut his third tooth today!! yey! he is so much happier now that that one is through even just that tiny little bit! it was the top right front tooth and it was rough getting that one out!!!

Im sure i will post again really soon with pictures of cake and everything!

ER Trip #3... Seriously?

So i never though i would be back in the ER before the stitches came out from our last trip! (which he is getting out tonight, so yes we are going back to the hospital again...) Orlando had been Extremely out of character for the last few days. it started on Easter night we were staying the night at my moms and he didn't sleep at all! i had read different things on babies responding differently to unusual environments. so since we were sleeping at my moms i thought he was having trouble there. Gabriel and i tried holding him and rocking him, but he was inconsolable. i should have figured it out then but when O was 5 months old i thought he had a hernia and took him to a pediatric surgeon (who happened to be our surgeon on sat) and was told that he didn't have a hernia. he finally fell asleep in my arms and was normal until thursday afternoon. we woke up from his afternoon nap still tired, refusing to eat, whinny, and wanting nothing but to be held and snuggled. he went to bed early and woke up friday morning "normal" again. i had plans to do my moms hair on friday afternoon so me and O headed out to dublin around noon. he took a nap and woke up the same way he was the afternoon before. thats when the trouble started.

Since when he was in these moods he wasnt eating he didnt have a wet diaper either.. so from 3 until 7 he was passed between me, my mom, and papa kevin until my mom said that his diaper was a tiny bit wet and it might make him more comfortable if i change it. my poor baby was so upset when i put him down to change him. he tensed up his little hands and was shaking them back and forth. as i took off his diaper i was extremely surprised at what i saw. there was what i thought to be swelling in his right testicle. i called the advice nurse and was recommended to bring him to the nearest hospital. so here we were on our way to Walnut Creek Kaiser. Gabriel was working so luckily my mom and kevin came with me.

once at the hospital we got through the waiting room fairly quickly. once we saw the Dr. he looked at his diaper area, touched it and in about 30 sec determined it was definitely a hernia. then preceded to try and push what had fallen through the hernia back into his body where it belonged, which look very painful. when he couldnt do it he said he would call a surgeon to come take a look. after about 45 mins a surgeon resident came in to take a look a try to push it back in as well. he also could not. about 20 mins after that he came in with a flashlight and shined it through the mass. i was still in the dark about what they had thought had happened and what was going on. then our nurse came in and told us we were being transfered to kaiser oakland... by ambulance.. uh what? later i was told it was because we were already admitted so thats why we needed the ambulance. we waited over and hour for the ambulance. which was nice for two reasons. one gabriel was off work and had met us at the hospital and two Orlando got a pretty good nap in grandmas arms.

Loading into the ambulance ended up being the most informative part of our night. it was now after midnight. and Rebecca my EMT was awesome we talked the whole way there and she told me that his intestine has fallen through the hernia and if no one could push it back up where it belonged that they would do surgery tonight to prevent the intestine from becoming damaged. once at oakland, after going through be admitted again.. and lots of waiting in our room, we met Dr Kim who was chief Pediatric Surgeon he looked and the hernia and determined very quickly that we doing surgery that morning. after lots of paperwork and meeting our amazing pediatric anesthesiologist i was handing over my baby for surgery.


Luckily for me it was a quick procedure and at 3:35AM, about 45 mins later, i got the call saying he was on his way to recovery and everything went great. i was so relieved and just wanted to hold him! we rushed up to recovery and actually beat him into the room. it was so strange seeing him sleeping with the Oxygen mask on. i stood over him gently rubbing his head for about 15 mins waiting for him to wake up. it was now about 4AM and i went to go sit down, as soon as i turned my back he startled up and was ready for me to hold him. i was so awkward with him. i didnt want to hurt him and was trying to avoid touching his IV and all the other monitors connected to him. but the nurses were great and got him in my lap so we could nurse. he hadnt eaten anything since 11 AM the day before. he was very hungry and ate great. after that he fell asleep instantly on my shoulder. then we got transferred to the pediatrics wing and once again went through the admitting process. Orlando went to sleep in his crib and gabriel fell asleep on the couch and i was up answering questions until 5:45AM.



Orlando woke up at 7:30 he was still very tired and wanted to be held. my dad surprised us and came to visit. he held Orlando and put him to sleep so i could sleep some too. they started our discharge around 11 AM and we left around 1 PM. O slept the whole morning and the whole way home. once we were home he was way ready to eat. He was very glad to be home and so was I!

he is doing so good today and acting pretty much normal. We are all still catching up on sleep but he is ready to go go go. im so glad that we got this figured out and fixed. it may seem strange but i am also very greatful and blessed that it happened how it did. i cant even imagine how much more freaked out and nervous i would have been having to wait a week or two for the surgery. Im so glad this is over!! thank you everyone who has been praying for us! your support has made such a difference for our family. i have definitely have felt your prayers covering us and feel blessed to have so many great people in our lives!!

xoxo

ER Trip #2....

So last night was Orlandos 2nd trip to the ER in his 9 month 3 weeks life. although this time was extremely scary and will probably be haunting me for years to come. i am still not exactly sure what happened because i, of coarse, was in the other room using the little girls room. all i knew was a walked back into the kitchen to hear my son screaming with blood all over his face... i scooped him up to consul him and try to examine where the blood was coming from. first thing gabriel and i see is the gash right under his nose. we look at each other and say "ER?" and we were in the car...on the longest 5 min drive of my life. Orlando is not really a crier and he screamed the whole way there. once at the ER he stopped crying and we waiting in line about 10-15 mins. while there i had so many things running through my mind.. "how could this happen?" "will he be ok?" "if he needs stitches how do they give them to a baby? will they have to put him under?" "would if its not the bad and we are being dramatic" "will it be as expensive as last time?" "am i am bad mom for letting this happen?" all the while the line behind us is growing and i am feeling very anxious. once we reach the front of the line we were classified as a "non-emergency emergency" which i guess makes the process faster. we got called back and saw a Dr. pretty quick. once he came in and about a 25 sec look at Orlando's face and said we need stitches. at that point my anxiety sky rocked and i could barely hold back from bawling my eyes out. then Doc asked gabriel "so can you help hold him down?" umm what?!! the hospital just became a modern day torture chamber... as the Dr is getting ready our tech comes in and says "this isn't going to be fun.." so that really helped settle my nerves... the rest is to crazy to describe, but i will say that i was in the corner whimpering telling myself that i have to be strong and telling every muscle in my body not to run out of the room. when the nurse says " ok mom we are almost done and he will want you, are you ready?" "i practically shouted YES!" and he was back in my arms. right where he belongs!! it was not about 1 1/2 hours past bed time and all three of us were extremely tired.. Orlando fell asleep in the car. he seems to not even notice today that he has three stitches going down his face. i wish my memory could be like his in that sense.. praise the lord he is ok now and we had the insurance to get him seen. i guess in the end i am trying to come to terms with the saying that "boys will be boys"...

The Sun is Shining!

What a hot day!! I have been trying to work out and eat better the last few days after i realized i gained 7 lbs only the last few weeks! my new obsession is chocolate delight cereal by special k! i eat it at night instead of dessert which i feel like has been a major part of my down fall! so my exercise for today was a walk and trip to the park with my great friends Katie and Rebecca and Orlando's best friends Jax and Addy! We stopped and got starbucks on the way, which tasted A.M.A.ZING!

Orlando was the most active he has ever been at the park! we went to a knew one the didn't have swings so he couldn't do his favorite park activity. because of the no swings and his latest "trick" of pulling himself up onto everything! and crawling around the equipment.

We had a really good time but once we were in our car and on the way home i had this feeling like i wasnt hanging out with my "bestest friends, that i do everything with and always hang out with" i guess i just felt a distance and a lot more catching up than i would have wanted with my best girl friends. i havent decided if its the season we are in right now or if not going to the same church is going to affect our my friendships more than i anticipated... lame..

i am so excited about summer with my growing baby boy and discovering swimming and walking and im sure lots of sunscreen and park visits!! we already have another one scheduled tomorrow with Grandma, Papa Kevin, Jennilee and my nephews!

xoxo

Our First Trip to the ER....

So we had a very eventful day yesterday... my even keeled, great tempered baby boy was so grumpy! the first half of the day was normal and then i went to lay him down for his second nap and he was screaming! it was a different kind of scream and i am put off guard because it is so unusual for him. i try to let him work it out on his own but when his screams began escalating i went in a got him. then the crazy started! he still was screaming while i was holding him. not only was he screaming hard but he was laying his head down on my shoulder, if he is normally throwing a fit he would be pushing off of me and turning his head all over the place. so i knew he was tired but couldn't figure out what the screaming was about. and for those of you who have kids you understand how broken my heart is at this point.

after an inspection from me, gabriel, and his auntie Jennilee, none of us could come to a conclusion. and im holding him and patting his back to try and sooth him he lets out a a good burp and im thinking yes! ok he has gas its hurting him and thats why he is screaming and wont sleep! he begins settling down and falls asleep on gabriel's chest. we figure we are free and clear until about 20 minutes later he wakes up screaming again. we decide to go to bible study in the city and the car ride will help him sleep, which it did. he slept all the way there. when i pulled him out of the car he just collapsed his head on my shoulder again and pretty much stayed right there until the end of study. he is such an active baby i was really concerned about how tired and unactive he was. then the kicker he is sleeping on my shoulder and then wakes up looks at me, makes a funny face, then i had my first experience of bring thrown up on. it was so gross and at the same time i felt so bad for him and felt a tiny bit embarrassed and disruptive. (which i know is silly but hey im human!)

so on our way home i called the advice nurse to see what i should do and she was concerned about him bring so unresponsive and told us to go to the ER. of course as soon as we get there he is holding his head up and looking around again. the Dr said he doesnt have any signs of dehydration and to just keep an eye on his fluids! good news! so at the end of the day we got some very expensive peace of mind! and i am so thankful! when we got home he nursed which is great because he had refused to twice. he is almost normal today and so far have had a great morning! thank you to all of you who sent your prayers! the first picture is of my poor baby at the hospital and the last two are his improvement today!

btw not sure if you can tell but he pulled himself to standing on the coffee table all by himself!

Rainy days and growing babes!

so for the first time in months Orlando would not take his second nap! i was babysitting jax and i think that he knew he was here and would NOT sleep! it was so weird for me because he is such a good napper i felt lost with what to do! i tried for a while to let him put himself back to sleep and after a while i caved... i brought him out to play with jax and he was in such a good mood! so strange that he skipped his nap and was being an angel! he totally just wanted to play with his friend.

they played so cute together too! they haven't just played together in probably over a month because of flu season. katie was sick, then jax was sick, then i was sick! and now at 7 and 8 1/2 months the sit up on their own and actually are interacting with each other and their toys! so cute! they are both such good babies!

orlando has practically perfected his crawling. it has been exactly one week since his first few moves forward and im so impressed with how quick he picked it up! he was like that with rolling over too! i think he is one of those babies that waits to do something until he is confident he knows exactly what to do! he is growing so big and his face is looking so grown up lately! he is looking just like his daddy! so handsome!

i am so ready for spring and sunshine! not a huge fan of the heat but i was taking orlando to the park for several days in a row last week and could only go on thursday this week because of so much rain! its really nice for o and i to get out and get some air and exercise together! so please rain rain go away! :D

xoxo

Hope, Love, and happiness!

Life has been crazy crazy latly! i have been aprehensive about posting about finding a new church... But we have been on the hunt for 3 1/2 months and are finily settling into something new! it is in SF and we are more than thrilled! we are diving into groups tomorrow and excited about meeting new people and reaching a whole new city! we visited for the first time two weeks ago. the chruch is new,

its frist service was the first sunday of feb. The worship was great, i felt comfortable, they were talented, and they sang some of my favorite songs, which really helped make it feel like home! i think what really got us was how welcoming everyone was! from getting off the elevator to walking down the hall and around the corner to the kids room i think about 10 people greeted us! we already felt like we knew people! and the kicker was the usher sat us in the second row behind the pastor!!! That was our "seats" at tg! we felt so comfortable and welcomed! and then the pastor began his message.... and it couldnt have been more pertinent to our live and our talk on the drive that very moring to chruch! the message was on leadership and contrasting positional leadership to servant leadership! something that has been on gabriel and my hearts and minds for the past few months. God is so faithful and amazing about getting his message to his people in and understandable and applicable way. our lives have flipped upside down in the past few weeks we have a prospect of gabriel going to school and me going back to work! so friends please be praying for continued direction in our lives! God has been so good to us!
favorite quote of the week:
"God doesnt call the the equipped, God equips the called"

on a seperat, lighter note, Gabriel complains that i never write about him in my blog! We are growing and developing our communication all the time! i feel like the "blending" and "becoming one" is like... real... HAHA! i feel silly i dont know how to describe it but i guess bottom line i am sooo happy and "holy" married... (a pun from one of gabriels fav pastors ed young and his series called holy married, highly recommend btw) gabriel is such an amazing dad and makes o laugh like ive never seen!! they are totally buddies! (he even changed a poopy diaper this morning!!;P )

i guess for me my life has been filled with so much joy and fufillment because i have really been honoring god in the good and the bad! it makes such a difference on the bad days and makes the good days that much greater! YEY!!

well my darling hubby just got home from work with taco bell!! yes its late and im eating great! first time ive have it since january.... i hope i dont make this a habit!...

gnight! xoxo

sleep or lack there of it?

one of the biggest questions i got as a new parent was "are you getting enough sleep?" in the early weeks the answer was "yes he did really good last night" or "no...". Now i have had the pleasure of having a very good sleeper on my hands. i can count the nights with two hands, and maybe a few toes, when gabriel and i sat there starring at one another wondering what the heck is our son screaming about and what do we do now...

Now that he is bigger and set in his schedual he sleeps very predictably at night. we eat dinner and play, bath on most nights (dont get me started on how messy of an eater he is that is a whole nother post) we snuggle, nurse and off to bed he goes. right to sleep not a peep until morning. so here i am its around 9:30 or so and have nothing but time on my side. its way to late to clean or do anything that "needs" to be done so i get of fb then one thing leads to another and i am up watching american idol until 2 am. so in resolution to my "enough sleep" question i guess the real question is do you have to option to get enough sleep? and if you do will you take advantage of it?

on a not so "ahh-ha" moment. Orlando turned 8m old yesterday! i cant believe how big his is!! weighed him today and he is 21.8 lbs! wow! really big for an 8m old! the last few days i have been going through orlandos birth video footage and composited a movie of all the clips. so after watching the videos of him bearly opening his eyes and being so sleep and snuggly and fast forwarding to watching my son scoot around the floor learning to high five and giggling with his mommy and daddy it is amazing hoe much he has grown and changed over the last 8m. i have loved every stage and new development and while i miss him being so small watching him learn new things and develop different emotions is so rewarding! i am so busy and wil try to post more stuff! sometimes i feel like nobody wants to read my "ramblings" about motherhood and my son.. lol but thats all that seems to be on my blog.. so there we have it! gnight!
kalli

Tiny Foot Prints

So i found out after orlandos delivery that they no longer take the babies feet and hand prints at the hospital! i have been wanting to do it my self since he was born!! and now, 7 months and 1 week later! i have finally done it! not exactly as small as when he was 8lbs 6 oz but hey 20 lbs is a kot smaller than the 175+ that he will be he grows up! it was so funny and really difficult to get his prints!! he really wanted to grab the ink pad and eat it, which to me didnt seem like a good idea so im fighting with him to only get it on his feet and not get his feet in his mouth.. then getting him to stand still and press his foot in one spot on the paper was a whole new battle! so as i am juggling holding his foot down and keeping his hand out of his mouth and keeping his other foot off the paper... i think we got some really cute prints for his baby book! when i finished getting red ink all over him and me i went to wash it off and realized that my non-toxic ink pad wasnt washable... so my little baby's feet were completely stained red! it was so cute i took some pictures to share!