Patience!

Today was Leyla's first day of daycare!

We haven't exactly been pleased with Maria as a housekeeper or babysitter and lately her conduct had been getting worse. We decided this weekend to send her home so we had to find another option for Leyla. Thankfully a lady I work with gave me the name of the daycare she uses! I don't know if there is another in Catacamas. There are only 4 children, including Leyla, and all are around her age, plus the cost was about the same as we were paying Maria. I was excited because I think at almost 3 Leyla can benefit from a daycare. I don't know how well Maria was watching her, but there, she gets social interaction and they even teach a little bit - like a preschool.

She was excited, too, because I told her she was going to school :) We got her little backpack all packed and she was ready to go! She was so excited to see us when we picked her up, too! The only problem was that she didn't take her nap. I figured she wouldn't, because of too much stimulation, but I thought I would just put her to bed early.

My precious little girl was not so precious. It took all I had to keep from scolding her every second! I feel like it was a great test of my patience and I think I did pretty well. I don't know if it was because I knew she was exhausted, but I did not spank or yell once! But, my goodness - every little thing I said or that she tried to do she had to stop and cry about. She was hungry; wait, I'm making dinner. WAHHHHH. Ok here's your chicken. WAHHHHH. Help Mommy wash dishes - she can't reach the soap - WAHHHHH. Where's my baby doll? WAHHHH. Can't get the diaper on the baby. WAHHHHH. I mean it was every little thing; she would not stop screaming and crying. It was exhausting. Without Maria, I had to come home and clean the house up first and then make dinner, so I was running around "with my head cut off" and trying to respond to her every whine and whimper!

Finally we took a bath and I put her to bed at 7:00 PM and I have never seen her fall asleep so fast :) It is nice to have her asleep so early but I don't know if I can do this every day! Hopefully she will adjust and by the end of the week have adjusted to taking naps there. All in all though I think it will be a great thing for her, and I am already feeling the relief of not having a teenager to "raise" in my house!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving was a pretty special day this year. First, it happened to fall on my birthday. This year was special too because I turned 24 on the 24th of November! Also, my mom came to visit all the way from Tennessee. So Thursday was a big celebration of Thanksgiving AND birthdays (Maria's was on the 22nd, too).

I woke up at 6:00 and had the turkey in the oven by 7:30 AM. Then I started making the fondant for mine and Maria's birthday cake. I can't remember how long that took....anyway in the meantime,

 Rudy and Maria helped blow up balloons!

 Leyla loves balloons so it kept her occupied.

 The turkey! I rubbed it with butter, rosemary, salt, pepper, and sage. I roasted it for about 5 hours, then left it in covered for another hour or so. It was really soft and tender, not dry at all. The wings were falling off the bone!

 Dinner included turkey, gravy, yeast rolls, mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade macaroni and cheese, and dressing. YUM.

 The finished living room! It looked really nice with all the balloons!

 Kyle carving the turkey!

 My cake :)  I love the little beads - they looked like pearls!

 We lit 16 candles for Maria, sang, and added 8 more for me, and sang again.

 

 Everybody stuffed and happy!

Belly Dance

This post will have to come with a little bit of explanation.
As everyone knows who reads my blog or knows me, I had a c-section with Leyla almost exactly 2 years ago. And, after two years, I've been bitten by the baby bug again...
This time around I am determined to have a natural birth, what's called a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section), and need to prepare my body if I want a successful one. Most labors end in c-sections for a failure to progress--the longer the labor, the higher the likelihood of fetal distress and uterine rupture. I need to go into labor on my own, naturally, and push a baby out with 2 pushes!! Soooo I have started exercising.
I started exercising 3 days ago, just doing core exercises since that's the area I need strong for childbirth. I've been doing crunches and planks, and since I took a belly dancing class a few years ago I thought I might as well practice up and throw that into the workout too. Today my abs are soooo sore....so I guess it's working!
I looked up more today and was excited to find this:

"Belly dance helps in preparing for childbirth: The movements of raks sharki make an excellent prenatal exercise regimen that strengthens the muscles used during the childbirth process. The toned abdominal muscles and natural hip tucks, which are similar to the "pelvic rocking" taught during prenatal classes, teach the expectant mother how to move her pelvis. For women who desire natural childbirth, this form of exercise through dance, with its emphasis on muscle control not only facilitates natural childbirth, but also makes an excellent post-natal exercise that helps encourage abdominal tone."

That means I DID have a great idea and it will do exactly what I want! Yay!

Here are a few videos Maria and I watched to practice. We also watched several Shakira videos last night...haha.

Maria's Haircut

I cut Maria's hair a few weeks ago and finally took some good pictures!

 Leyla always wants to join in the fun :)

Her bangs look a tad long combed down like that! But overall I think it looks cute and I think I did a good job! (For someone who's not a hairdresser...)

Daughter, Wife, Mother.....Hairdresser?

Ha. I am all these things and more! Maria was unhappy with her hair, saying it had no shape and was boring. She also wanted bangs. So we watched some youtube videos and I went at it! I cut in some layers and I gave her bangs. Her hair was longer in front than in the back so it seemed like I cut off a lot, but really I didn't cut but 1/2 inch off the back length. I think it looks really cute!

She took this of herself while I was at school, so you can't see the full haircut, but she still looks cute!