Aweigh I Go Again

Its that time again that I must buckle down and start back on the straight and narrow path in search of my waist line.  My food binge is OVER.

Its been a long 3 months of gorging on all my favorite foods and pretending that I was just serving myself a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Who was I kidding hahaha.   My feast officially started in November on my birthday....I received a Flan cake which is my favorite of all pies, cakes or anything else.    Eeeshh!!  No one else in the family likes it but me, you would think they'd buy a small one kind of like a pan pizza-you know personalize it somewhat instead of the regular size!   Of course I ate it all by myself during the next few days yikes.  Im getting full just thinking about it now uugghh!

Thanksgiving Day I really did try to eat just small portions, but after 5 small portions I should have just ate the second helping 'yikes'.  Pumpkin pie is a favorite of mine and for some reason this year I really didn't enjoy it.  Thank God!   I preferred all the other goodies my daughter bakes.  Between Thanksgiving and Christmas there was so much left over food that we just couldn't throw any of it away.  Ay yi yi!!  Think of all those poor people in the third world countries that are starving! 

We made 16 dozen tamales (what were we thinking of)?  There are only 7 in our immediate family and a few friends that come over!   Never the less I don't want to see another tamale for at least a year aagghh!   Using my mom's method I made menudo on New Years eve for my husband who just has to have it for the holidays  no matter what.  I was so proud of myself because it turned out just like hers that even daddy dearest ate some too and complimented me by saying it tasted just like mom's.   Then there was Tiffany's delishus ham with all the trimmings which we have every year and is now a family tradition,  it was the bomb.   The side dishes were  tasty and too many to mention but and Im sure everyone makes the same ones too.  Every where you look there was candy scattered all over the house in little bowls or boxes, Im so glad Im not a candy eater or I would really be in trouble. 

I must not forget all the birthdays that came after Christmas and then the New Year followed by our anniversary.  My Lord it just kept coming, but the end was in sight right after Tiffany's 34th birthday and now I can begin my journey into weightlessness.

We plan on going to New Mexico for a family reunion on my husbands side of the family so I want to look and feel better than the last time I went ten years ago.  Whether we go or not Im still planning on losing at least 200lbs lol.  Thats how heavy I look and feel and Im really tired of being tired all the time.  I can't wear my old clothes because they are too big now due to the weight I did lose and Im making do for the time being.   I don't want to buy anything new so Im in some sort of an in between crises called limbo.  I did have to buy shoes because the ones I had were stretched out and kept slipping off.  Im happy with the little success I've made but I will be delirious once I reach my goal.

I am determined and in Jesus Name I will succeed and starting tomorrow I will have to let everyone in my family know that they are not to eat goodies in front of me.........Ha!!   like that  will work.

My Special Grandson

Yesterday I baby sat five month old baby Adrian and it was truly a great experience.  His mama who is a school teacher needed to go and prepare her classroom for the first day of school which is today.  They live so far away and I don't see them that often so when she asked if I could take care of him of course I said yes.   

None of us here on the plantation have contact with babies except for nieces and nephews or in church.  My daughter's son Dino is 12 years old and my youngest grandson.   It has been so long since there's been a baby in our family until now so I was praying that things would go smooth without any problems.  Even though I knew that my daughter would be home and I know she loves babies.  Phew! what a relief.  I just didn't want his mommy to come and find Adrian crying or me a nervous wreck.

Adrian was a good baby full of smiles and googooing making all the cute little noises new babies make.  He is such a happy little baby.   Im sure he feels loved by everyone who holds and talks to him especially from his little sister Alycia.  She loves him and treats him as if he was her personal baby doll-lol.   If he does have a problem it sure fools you because he is very alert and bright.  He follows you with his little eyes smiling when he makes eye contact with you.  We laid him on the floor on a blanket with Sesame Street characters and he made me laugh the way he kept twisting his body trying  to look at them.  My granddaughter Daisy fed him his bottle when it 'looked' like he was hungry, we didn't really know if he was or not because he never cried.  He started chewing on his little hands so we took it as a sign that it was bottle time.  When he finished my granddaughter Daisy sat him up on her lap to burp him,  whoa!  Did he let out a big loud one.

After a while he fell asleep and I took his sister outside to look at the ducks that disappeared from the pond ~chuckle~.  I did a little gardening and my daughter was busy straightening her messy shed and Daisy kept Alycia busy.   His mommy came about 2 hrs later just as he was waking up, we talked for a while but she left soon because she had a long ride ahead of her before getting home.

Adrian is very 'special' to all of us because he is a Down Syndrome baby.  As most can imagine we were shocked when we first heard and we were very sad.  We all let his mommy know she had all our support an prayers.  We treat him like any other baby talking about his symptoms and encourage her to be strong.  In her family there have been 3 babies born right after the other all normal.  Silvia cries sometimes when we talk on the phone and I let her vent, she's  let me know how angry and sad she was at the fact that her baby was not normal..........WHY?!!!   I don't understand myself but I do let her know that God must have thought she was an exceptional woman by giving her this very Special Baby.  He really doesn't  look very different from other new babies, he's healthy and strong enough to sit up and look all around.  I tell Silvia that having his little sister around him all the time he isn't going to have the chance to be 'different'.  He will mimick her and learn how to do many things the way they should be done because she is constantly correcting him  lol.

I've told her that while it may not be easy and there may be some rough roads ahead to let God help her by praying and calling on Him for comfort.  God has already answered so many prayers and taken care of so many problems that babies like him encounter.  Adrian was born with a hole in his heart which doctors said he would eventually need heart surgery when he got older.  God had other plans for him the hole closed by itself and there is no need for surgery now.  Praise the Lord!!  He is so good.   God stepped in again when a lump he had on his back which seemed to be growing miraculously shrunk to the point that doctors felt there was no need to laser or cut it off!!   I point out all these things to her and let her know that God is working on her baby and he will be just fine.  How many kids and adults act a little off sometimes and supposedly there is nothing wrong with us?

We end up laughing and talking about all the cute things he does and that makes up for any problem he has.  He is surrounded with love from all sides.

I love this little guy and I know God has his hands over him everyday.

He's Here

Congratulations to Cris & Renee, their new baby boy 'Brayden Chase Martin' has arrived!  He weighed 8lbs 1oz, 20in long with black hair (wonder what color hair Cris has)?   He was born at San Antonio Hospital in Upland on Tuesday January 25, at 11:41 pm.

Im gonna try to get out there sometime today to see baby and make sure Renee doesn't need anything.   Im so excited for the new mommy & daddy.  They have been waiting for a long time, actually she was about a week past her due date but never the less he is finally here.   I love this girl like a daughter that I feel like a grandma with a new grandbaby lol.

I think I'll take Renee some flowers & a box of chocolates,  hhmm maybe a blue baby outfit too.   I know she'll never say but I wonder if she needs anything?  She needs to feel special too after all she's been through which only us women can relate to.

                          Babies are blessings from God

The Waiting Hours

When we walked in to the emergency room there were ropes here to go there and ropes there to go over there.  Once you sign in the patient which in this case was my dad and give all the information they require they asked me to wait in the big lounge because I would not be able to be in the room where he was getting checked! (?)   This was really frustrating because sometimes dad doesn't communicate very well with people and its hard to understand what he is trying to say or explain, partly because he jokes around alot but mostly because he can't remember important things.   If asked why he waited so long to be seen by a doctor/er he'll say its only been 3 days when in reality its been 3 weeks, or if he's on any kind of medication he'll say yes when he only takes tylenol.....you get my drift?

After waiting 30 min I asked the clerk if I could now go in and he said no, 35 mins later I asked again and he told me to check with security.  The security person told me I had to wait another 20 mins.  I sat down to wait and trying to be Miss Cool I waited 40 mins then asked the security person to please check and see if dad was alright or if he had been registered yet.  He went and checked came back then said I would have to wait longer because lab results were not in yet.  Pheww at least now I knew they had done something and dad wasn't just sitting around like me.   Another hour passed by when I asked security person that I wanted to make sure he hadn't been admitted into the hospital.  Finally I was told to go sit with dad in another room to wait for the the x-ray and lab results.   How long could that take??

Why some people love to talk to perfect strangers and spill their medical life history is beyond me.  While we waited patiently for the results there was a woman also waiting for hers and she went on to tell whoever would listen about all her ailments and her family history.  It took all I had in me not to tell her to shut the front door!  Oh Lord where is the duct tape, scotch tape or any kind of tape when you need it!   Her husband just sat there and let her rattle on and on contributing to the conversation here and there lol.   Daddy was feeling much better after been given a shot for the pain and since he also loves to talk he fell right in with her.  He got involved in a conversation with this woman and her husband they talked about army life, needles, cars, guns, food, you name it.  I didn't need to know the results of her personal trips to the bathroom!  Im sure on any other day she is a very nice person etc etc but today ..........aarrgghh!!!!  Her mouth never stopped the entire time I was in that room until we left.

Hooray!!  At 9:00pm a doctor finally came in and took off the IV on dad's arm and said the results all came back negative.  He was fine and just had contusions, to walk slowly and try not to fall or trip and follow up with his primary doctor.   I was by now so exhausted from being gone since 9:00am going to church and now having to sit on those hard plastic chairs I was ecstatic.

I am so glad that he did not have a broken hip as I first suspected or fractured leg, he's still in pain but with the medication hopefully he'll be better soon.  Thank you Jesus.

Happy Birthday Thumbelina

 Today was my daughter Tiffany's birthday, she is 34..  It seems like just yesterday she was a lil baby and then the cutest little girl.  Its hard to believe that now she has her own daughter who is 13 yrs old and a son who is 12 yrs old.

Tiffany was always independent and now that she's married with children of her own she is multi-task too.  She is a go getter.........you never see her not doing anything.  She is a mini version of how I was at her age always putting her family first before herself.   She is a good wife, mother and daughter making sure her two children have what they need and her husband is taken care of.  She loves the Lord and is faithful to her church and is making sure that her family does too.

My husband I are very proud of the woman she has become and we are very glad to live in a little house on the same property as my daughter and her family.  Days may go by without seeing each other but we know if we need something we're just a few feet away.  We are so blessed.

Happy Birthday Tiffany, we love you!

Happy Anniversary

Today January 14, 2011 my husband and I celebrated 44 yrs of marriage!  It has been a long road of much laughter, sadness and many hardships, but we thank God that he brought us through all these years.  Although there has been much drama with our kids growing up and alienation of family ties we still love and respect each other.  I can still remember my wedding day as if it was yesterday.  We were young and so in love and now we are older, happy, content and still in love.  We raised our children the best we knew how being so young ourselves.  We fit right in that category of children raising children. We've come this far and with God's help we'll make it to the end.


When I was young and wishing that I would hurry up and get older I never imagined myself being middle aged. Life goes on and  I slowly got older one day at a time, when I finally reached my twenties and then thirties I didn't worry so much about getting older anymore.  I was so busy with my growing family, my career and everyday living that  I didn't notice the changes that were taking place.  Then one day I looked in the mirror or maybe someone pointed out that I looked older.  When I was asked my age I would laugh and ignore the question, but whenever someone asked how many years I was married how could they not guess my age.

Now we've reached the age that we are both retired and live each day one by one giving God all the glory for all the blessings we have.     

Holidays

Today while browsing the aisles of Big Lots I came to a complete halt, I could not believe what I saw.  Didn't we just enter the New Year?  There are Valentines Day, St Patrick Day, and Easter items on the shelves.  Now don't get me wrong I love the hoopla of buying little doodads for these days but its a little too soon...............maybe?

Money was a little tight for us during Christmas holidays especially since my husband was off without pay for three weeks and I know alot of people that were on the same page.   I don't wish to think about any of these days yet until he gets his first pay check lol.  Whats the rush?  Displaying all these items now won't make those days come any sooner...........please I would like to shop leisurely and not feel rushed.
Im upset because people will start buying now and there won't be anything left for me, and I don't think thats being selfish.

Sheesh this will make my year go by even faster than it does already!!! 

Great Grandparents

Devyn Lee Antunez

Ok its official as of January 5 my husband and I are first time great grandparents.  A little girl Devyn Lee weighing 7lbs 19in long born to my oldest granddaughter.  Paulina is my son Paul's oldest daughter,  I cannot believe that he is a grandpa lol.....
I will post more pictures as soon as I receive them.

Mommy & baby

Standing On The Promises Of God

 The evening of the fourth day of the year is ending and Im sitting here thinking how blessed I am.   There was and is so much I wanted to do before the new year begin but time just got in the way and my back has been hurting so much I did nothing.  Im going to live each day to the fullest and enjoy each minute because life is too short for what could've beens and wait upon the Lord for whatever he sends my way. 

For 2011 I promised myself to think positive and have a good attitude, and to bite my tongue before speaking so as not to say something that will hurt someone.  I will pray for person(s) who make hurtful remarks, learn to chill and not take things too serious.  They may be having a bad day and in need of  prayer.  So with an open mind I will let them vent and borrow my ear, if that will help them calm down lol.  I will try to love everyone the way God wants us to do even if its from far away.

These are not new years resolutions but changes from my heart that I need to make for myself because  'I want to see Jesus'.

I want to be a better wife, mother, grandmother and friend.  Being a good daughter to my  daddy who is showing signs of dementia and be there for him if he needs me the way my mother did before she died.   If faced with the decease again, I am standing on Gods promises that he won't give me more than I can handle.  I will let Him guide me and give me patience and strength to help my dad  until his last day. 

Im so sad because I truly wish that my dad could live his last days without sickness of any kind.   He will be 83 yrs in June and has aged alot in the past few months, and I see a very sad and lonely man having to live without his partner of 62 yrs but there is nothing I can do except be there for him.  Daily I see changes in him and his only out is to get angry.  He'll get mad at everyone and everything because his memory is failing and in his mind we aren't being nice to him.  He's locked himself out of his studio by locking the door leaving the keys inside, or forgotten where he left his keys.  This decease eats up the brain where you're  no longer rational in your thinking and start imagining goofy stuff like people trying to steal from you or taking things that belong to you.  Unless you experience this personally you cannot understand the heartache, stress and sadness this decease causes.  When he is in a good mood and in a right attitude he can be very sweet and helpful, but his mood swings are becoming very irritating and stressful to all of us.  I don't want to live in a stressful atmosphere but it looks like it will be a repeat of last year when my mom was sick.  


Life will be what we make it and I am a firm believer in that.  We can want all we see but do we actually need what we see?  Do we argue with each other to make a point or because we want to win the argument?  Are we making the right choices because its the right thing to do or because that's what we're supposed?  One wrong word or action can ruin lives, so 'Think before we speak' should be practiced by all.  The most important thing in my life is making God my #1 priority because then my world will be that much easier. 

There will be situations and trials in the coming months, will I be able to cross that path?  I hope so.  


I enjoy my grandchildren when they visit and Im so glad that my oldest grandson has been coming around more lately.  Daisy and Dino live here on the plantation and while I see them all the time, and silence is golden  without them the plantation would be too quiet.  They are the only 2 grandchildren that go to church and living for God, so I must pray for the others that they see the LIGHT because Jesus is coming soon.  


God willing Dino my son-in-law and my daughter Tiffany will have a better year free from health and financial issues.  Hopefully he won't need surgery and be able to return to work, but in any case my husband and I will be here to help them.  I love my family♥  

I don't know about the future but I do know that He holds my hand, so Im leaning on his everlasting love.

Paul & Tiffany

Paulina

Dino, Monica, Mike, Danelle, Daisy

Danelle, Monica, Daisy

Lil Dino youngest grandson