Meet Lauryn

 There is a lot I want to blog about but it will have to wait another day...

For now, I'd like you to meet;

Lauryn Elise Mendoza

Born March 23, 2010 at 12:09

6 lbs. 10 oz. 19 1/2 inches long.

I got to hold her yesterday! She was making those cute newborn noises. So cuddly and beautiful! Congrats to her mom and dad, Apryl and Gabe Mendoza and to big brother Jaxson! Love ya'll!

PS: I love baby feet. Lauryn has really cute baby feet with long toes

Valentine's 2010

Saturday my grandparents stayed with Jacob while he napped and Brancent and I went to lunch. Thanks Noni and Popi! I can't remember the last time Brancent and I went to eat alone and had uninterrupted conversation. It was nice. Valentine's day after church we helped with a kids party at the church which is always a lot of fun. In honor of "love" I bought Jacob a shirt to wear for Valentine's day...and maybe mother's day if it still fits.

I love the "don't mess with my mom" he has on his face. He rocked the hair, his shirt and his vans.
We sent Katie the new Toby Mac Cd for Valentines day along with Jacob from New Moon candy and a few other goodies.  Jacob's V-day gift was something we had been thinking about getting for awhile. He first saw it on a commercial and was mesmerized. Jacob got...

 A battery powered G2 swivel sweeper! He is signing vacuum to Daddy in the above picture.

   

He LOVES it. He likes turning it on and off, pushing it around, and best of all to see the brushes go "round and round".  He vacuumed the other night for about 15 minutes. Of course, he goes over the same spot 20 times and doesn't get the concept of it's suppose to pick up things off the floor, but that's okay, whatever keeps him busy!  On the rare occasion he sets it down it actually is a good little spot vac. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's day.

21 months

I realized that one of the (many) things I have not done well is give regular updates on Jacob. Hopefully what I write on this blog will someday be transferred into his cute, but empty, baby book.

Sunday Jacob turned 21 months. He is an absolute joy and an absolute toot! Saying he is 100 % boy is putting it mildly.  Rough housing with daddy is a nightly event. Stubborn and ornery like his dad and quick tempered like his mom. Heaven help us! In the past few days when he hasn't gotten his way he will scream/growl and throw himself on the floor. Needless to say we are in a new and interesting stage of growth.

He has a strange and persistent obsessions with the vacuum, anything with a lid and things that turn (wheels, fans etc) Everyday not matter if he is at grandma's house or our house he points to where the vacuum is kept and will sign "please, vacuum". No matter how many times I tell him "no", "not now", "wait", he does not give up. Sometimes it's funny, other times not so much. There have been tears when I won't vacuum or let him play with the tea pitcher.He likes to get on the counter while I cook or wash dishes. He has learned to take the lids of of everything and likes to stir and season whatever I'm cooking.

He has been climbing on chairs and couches for some time, but has now taken it to new heights. Pun intended. I have in the past few weeks found him standing on top of the nightstand, dinning table, his toy bins, and back of the couch, which is not pushed against the wall. I'm thinking he may be a bit of a daredevil and willing to ride roller coasters with us once he is tall enough.

He has developed a love for candy and bribes are not beneath me so it works out for everyone. The other day he was stinky and I told him "go to daddy and let him change you then when you are finished you can have some candy." He signed back "candy" and I said "finish change diaper then eat candy" (yes I did say it like that and yes I know that's not proper English). He drug his feet slowly to where Brancent was waiting and as soon as he finished hopped up and signed "candy please".

As you may have already picked up on he signs a lot, but he doesn't have a lot of verbal vocabulary. His verbal vocab is "momma, dadda, no, pa, ball, shoes, apple, ice/eyes (they sound the same)" with maybe a few more. He has started really trying to have conversations with us, but we have no idea what he is saying. It's pretty funny. His signing vocab is at about 27 signs plus. I say plus cause he signs or tries to sign something new everyday. Of course these are baby signs so not everyone understand him.

We were in Lubbock getting ready to fly to Florida the first of December and while waiting in line I struck up a conversation with the woman behind me. I was hold Jacob who had his paci in his mouth (yes, still. and it was very early in the morning-don't judge me) and all of the sudden he sat up in my arms. He looked at her and pointed to me and signed momma and then turned to see Brancent pointed to him and signed daddy. The lady had no idea what he was doing and said "oh is that your head?" Jacob did it again while I explained/interpreted what he was telling her. She then proceeded to talk about how wonderful that it was that he was learning sign, she knew someone teaching their kid...or dog...or something....but she really was nice. It made me laugh that not only did he try to have his first conversation with a stranger, but that he signed it and I interpreted. HA! In his world everyone signs so I think he was a little confused why she didn't sign back or get what he was saying.

 (Several of the above pics are from our Dec Florida trip, when we were snowed in and at church with our friend DeNae)

60?!?! and 2!

January 2, 2010 we cleberated my mom's 60th birthday. Her actual birthday is on the 6th and yes I know, she doesn't look 60! We (Brancent, Jared, Patty and I) planned a surprise lunch in her honor. Ok it was really Patty and I. The guys showed up, brought the boys and looked nice so they did their part. It was so much fun planning and getting everything together. We celebrated at Napoli's in downtown Amarillo. Such.good.Italian. Patty made flower arragnments for the table that were perfect. My aunt and uncle from Portales came up and best of all my mom got to have all her grandkids together which is rare. My mom is the absolute best. She is always willing to help me out of whatever "overextending" bind I've gotten myself in. Not to mention her willingness to take care of Jacob everyday. She is my mom, but also my friend. I hope someday I can radiate with love like you do (and Noni too :) Hope you had a wonderful birthday mom, WE LOVE YOU!

That same day we went and celebrated Jax's (my best friend's son) 2nd birthday. He is 4 months older than Jacob and so stinkin cute and smart. Poor Jaxs was not sure what to think about all those kids in his house touching his toys. Happy Birthday Jaxs!

                                                 

                                                                                      

Christmas 2009

I have commendered my parents laptop and have a goal of posting 3 seperate post in 24 hours.Will see how that goes.
Christmas Eve we spent at home then Christmas day went to my parent's house. Jared, Patty, Simon and Mark were suppose to come Christmas Eve night, but because of the weather got stuck in Lubbock. We didn't think we would get to see them at all, but they showed up Christmas day around noon. It took them about three and a half hours to get to Amarillo when it normally takes two.  I knew they were coming, but mom and dad didn't so it was a fun surprise. They rest of the day was spent on Wayne's Christmas present (which he gave to himself) the Wii. I have video of a certain grandma in her sweat pants doing the hula hoop on the wii, with the video having been shot from behind...however, since I value my life you will not be seeing it on here! Everyone looked like an idiot playing, it was a lot of fun. Brancent left Christmas morning to go hunting with his dad and nephew. They were going to his friend Jesse's house near Austin and ran into weather so it was a long day for him. He did kill a deer and his nephew killed a wild hog. Brancent has made some amazing deer jerky. It didn't last very long!
Katie flew in December 27. We had Christmas with Brancent's family on the 28th. It's always funny to see how Jacob reacts when he sees Katie. When he first saw her he acted shy and then later when she was sitting in the floor he ran and gave her a long big hug. Luckily my camera was nearby...

Katie is so silly. One day I heard her making funny noises and Jacob came running down the hall and grabbed my leg and pointed to his room. He was smiling, but looked a little unsure. I went to his room where he and Katie had been playing and saw the monster...

HA! She gets an A+ for creativity! She is a very good big sister. For New Years we went to Nelva and Wayne's house for a Wii marathon. After Jacob went to bed Katie, Brancent and I went to Starbucks for some "just the 3 of us" time. We all got several Starbucks gift cards and we put them to good use the week she was here.It amazes me how much Katie changed in the 6 years I have known her. The little girl I loved before I meet her is becoming a young women. Boys are normally the topic of choice, she keeps me on my toes!

 Jacob was not really into opening the gifts as much as we thought he would be. Once something was opened his interest peaked. We had to go get him from his room where he was playing a few times so he could come see his gifts. It was funny, but I think next year will be a whole different story.

The picture in the middle of Katie laughing was when she got her Christmas gift from her baby brother. Jacob got her a Jacob (from New Moon, AKA Taylor Lautner) pillow case, cause he's a cutie ya know! I told Katie since she drooled over him she might as well drool on him in her sleep!

Loving Sunday Afternoons

I have a very long Christmas post to put up, but I just had to blog about my favorite Sunday afternoons. We get home from lunch and Jacob and Brancent take a nap. I look at the Sunday ads...in peace. Sometimes I read a magazine, plan the menu for the week, maybe do a little blogging. I'm convinced God invinted nap times more for momma's than kiddos. I was working on the blog and getting blog advice from Libby via text when I heard a small voice "Momma". I went to get Jacob and came back to the couch and laptop thinking I could finish a few things before he really woke up. At the moment I have child and lap top in hand and Jacob has dozed back off. Ahhhh, love Sunday afternoons!

That being said, after the heart attack I had last night I could use a moment of quite. Jacob had gone to bed and Brancent and I sat down to watch a movie. I once again had the laptop checking email and heard a thud. Previously in the day Jacob had been climbing on everything, table, chairs, bed, toys. He wanted to play in his bed and the next thing I knew he was leaning over the rail trying to climb out. So needless to say when I heard the thud that evening I knew what it was and my heart fell to my stomach. I couldn't even say anything or move. I looked at Brancent and when he saw my expression he took off running to Jacob's room. He found Jacob on all fours, not crying or upset, Brancent picked him up and Jacob asked for me. I was not far behind. His bed was then stripped of everything except the blanket. No glow worm, no elephant, no fox in soxs. Now we have to decide to get a crib tent, switch to a toddler bed, or leave him in the crib and see what happens. A momma's heart can only take so much!

I must go. Typing with my one free hand is getting tedious. But what's a post without a picture!?!?!

I got smiley points for letting Jacob lick the mashed potatoes off the spatula last night. I'm cool like that :)

PS My spell check is MIA so yeah, that's my excuse

Thanksgiving 2009

So, I'm a bit behind. The holidays set me back but now time for a little catch up! We had such a blast Thanksgiving. Katie was with us which always makes things more lively. Plus the addition of a furry house guest whom we found, and then found a home for made for a great time. Katie had to fly into Lubbock so we got to hang out awhile with Uncle Jared, Aunt Patty, cousin Simon and Mark. Simon and Katie spent some time at the mud room and created some masterpieces. Katie painted a mug and Simon a dog. They had fun and would have loved to have stayed and painted more.

We spent Thanksgiving day with Brancent's and my side of the family so to say we were stuffed would be an understatement.
Brancent, Katie, myself and Katie's friend Tori went to see a WT basketball game the day after Thanksgiving. This is when I realized I have failed her in the art of basketball when she saw them lined up for a free throw, our conversation went something like this:
K- "Ha, what are they doing? They look funny standing like that?"
M- "What? He's shooting a free throw."
K- Blank stare
M- "Someone got fouled"
K- "Huh?"
M- (Explanation of free throw, foul, the concept of being ready to rebound (explain rebound) and the trouble you get into when you don't "stand funny")
K- "Oh....huh. This is kind of weird and boring. Oh well"
Katie turns to chat with Tori and I turn to tell Brancent I have failed Katie in the way of basketball.
It could be worse right! Despite it all we enjoyed the game and WT won.

During the weekend we put up the Christmas tree together and made a gingerbread house before Katie had to head back to Austin. I had never really made one before and although it was not structurally sound it was still tastey. In the process we discovered Jacob liked gumdrops, which Katie and I hate so he was allowed to eat several. As you can see from the pictures (thanks to Brancent for taking them-my hands were a bit sticky) we had a lot of fun and probably gained a cavity....or two.

I have SO much to give thanks for....

PS I stole the cute collage idea from Libby so I must give her credit. Her's are super fancy. I still can't get mine right but I'm still trying. Libby's computer IQ jumped a bazillion when she became a Bonjour. HA Love ya Lib!