Tealyn turning 1 & Night time battles.

I honestly cant believe it's been a whole month since my last  post. 

WOW!

I have been really busy and well, life just got in the way of this little hobby of mine.

Meanwhile Tealyn turned 

ONE!!

And I just have to say first off that this past year just flew~~

I still remember that sweet moment at the hospital when I first laid my eyes on her.

A moment I will hold in my heart forever.

And, now here we are a year later.

Seems as though, It was just yesterday that I received the greatest, most wonderful 

gift from God.

My sweet Tea

-Fast Forward-

Getting though the night without waking up 3 sometimes 4 times is 

TOUGH!

I know this is only temporary, and one day I'll look back and laugh, but for now I'm  tired and running on pure love.

Our routine:

she gets fed dinner at around 5.30 ish, she plays till she gets whiny, she then has a warm bath around 7ish with the calming lavender baby shampoo ( that by the way has not worked), she plays for another 30 minutes or so in the tub, take her out,

I make her a bottle 5, 6, heck sometimes 8 ounces with sometimes even rice.

by this time it's already 8ish.

She goes to bed fine till about  1 sometimes she makes it till 2 she wakes and wants a bottle, her pamper is wet , so I change it and I make her a 4 ounce bottle and bring her to my bed (because I am too exhausted to walk across the house every 2 hours)  Only to wake up again at about 2.30 or 3.30. She starts squirming and making whiny noises, I ignore it for as long as I can, usually 10 minutes, I give her a pacifier and that works 2 seconds 

I wake up and go get her another 2 ounces I have to warm it up and by this time the dog is tired of me turning on kitchen light and stops following me.

I give it to her, and like magic she goes down till 5.30, and if I am lucky 6

Now, If someone out there has a magical solution please let me know I am open to any ideas. 

Now, I know I really should get her off the bottle and from what I know a year is the cut of time, but my pediatrician recommended the transition formula for a little longer, and I don't think she'd like that from a sippie cup in the middle of the night.

Someone told me It takes 3 days to break a cycle and just to prepare myself for an all nighter and lots of crying.  I am just so exhausted I don't think I could get through it.

HELP

Sleepless in the Valley.

At home with Tealyn

This little chunky monkey is now into everything and I mean everything. She crawls, she explores, she babbles, she claps to her favorite song, she opens up drawers pulls out everything, she swings doors back and forth, she turns pages to her favorite books, she recognizes certain songs, she chases the dog with her walker, she can climb out of her high chair (scary), she knows the word "no", she can stand by herself for about 5 seconds, bath time is still her favorite, she loves busy beavers on YouTube and this past week she started pronouncing the " M " sound she says mom or mum not sure she knows what that means, but that's okay, I am loving hearing her her say it.

Her new thing is walking around this coffee table. Her goal is to try and grab a pumpkin..

She is full of wonder and curiosity and is non-stop from the minute she wakes.

The poor dog runs away and hides somewhere when Tealyn is on the floor.

If only I could stop time.

Meet Pixie Lou

Pixie Lou is a rescued dog that my husbands cousin gave us. She found her on a very rainy day in the middle of intersection wet, matted and very hungry. She took her in, fed her, and took her to the groomer. The next day she put signs all over town hoping someone would claim her. No luck.  She then posted her on Facebook and that is where I saw her.  I told her if no one would claim her I would love to take her in. A couple of days later she was ours.

Pixie is an older dog, blind, a little deaf, missing some of her teeth and the ones she has are loose. She gets startled easily and is learning to trust us.

Housebreaking....Well, thats another story.  She has accidents when I get company. I don't know why? Otherwise she is learning and most of the time lets us know.

So far so good.

Locked in a hot car.

Yes, this horrible and terrifying incident happened to me.

In the last post, I told you that we bought a new car. This car came with a keyless remote which means that as long as you have the keys somewhere near you such as your purse or pockets, you have the convenience of starting the engine with a touch of a button.

One afternoon, sometime two weeks ago or so Tealyn and I went to Wal-mart. I just needed a few things, so I thought It would take me less than 30 min and it did.

As I was walking back to the car I could hear a car alarm ringing the closer I got the more it sounded like my vehicle. When I finally approached my car I turned off the alarm with the keys and I threw them in the diaper bag. I opened the door and put the baby in along with the two Wal-mart bags and the diaper bag. I strapped her in and shut the door.

This is when my nightmare began:

I went to open my door and it was locked! I tried opening the back doors all were locked mind you, this is in the middle of the afternoon in South Texas. The heat is unbearable 100 plus temperatures, and my baby is locked inside. I go into panic mode.

(Just typing this sends me right back to that place)

I start screaming my legs turn to jello, I am so scared I lose my voice. No one is listening to me I am literally on the ground I can't feel my legs. I am crying and shaking for someone anyone to help.  

Finally, after what seems an eternity 3,4, 5 minutes I don't know. A man and his wife drive by and see me in my desperation on the floor screaming. The man doesn't ask he already knows from the look on my face that there is a baby in my back seat.  He asks me " where is the baby" by this point I can hardly speak from all the crying I  just point to the side window.  He then takes a crow-bar and asks if It's okay to break my window?. I tell him to please do what he has to.

He breaks my window!

And there is glass everywhere on my seat, on the dashboard and floor board , I don't care he somehow unlocks the door and I open the back door to see if baby is okay. She is just a little rosy. I give her a bottle that had some juice.

I praise God!

I thank and give him a hug all while crying. He continues to clean my car with a small broom . (I don't know where that came from) 

By this time there is already a small crowd gathered just staring at me as if I am some type of lunatic who left my baby behind deliberately. 

I leave the Wal-mart parking lot with a broken window, crying and in disbelief of what had just transpired. I call my husband from the car's bluetooth connection. No answer. I call again, and again, and again, no answer. I call my sister, I am still shaking and when she answers, I just break down even more. I tell her what just happened and to keep calling my husband. I get home and take baby out who is  now sleeping,  put her down, and just literally fall apart.

My husband finally reaches me and tells me he is on his way home.  We call up the Cadillac dealership and explain to them what just happened and they apologize and explain  that when the alarm goes off it causes the vehicle to go into panic mode and locks all the doors a sort of safety feature. I didn't know this. Had my key's been on me or with me when I shut the door I would have prevented this. They said it was a matter of changing the settings.

We fixed the window and changed the settings. It no longer locks unless I lock it with the key's remote. 

I completely forgot I had OnStar and well, I didn't have the app installed on my phone either.

Lesson learned.

I thank God for the couple that stopped and helped. I pray that this never happens to anyone. It is by far the scariest thing I have been though. And for a while I kept feeling guilty for not paying enough attention to where my keys were.

 I truly feel there should be some type of warning when you buy vehicles with keyless remote entry. Especially when you have precious babies.

  

Our summer 2014

It seems like this year summer just flew by, and now here we are in September.  And although it was HOT, STICKY and full of annoying mosquitoes I loved every moment spent with this little one. 

Here's how we rolled almost every day.

We did lots of morning mini photo shoots.

 Afternoon pool time to break the routine was fun

 It helped with nap time or at least it made her tired enough to go down easier.

My nephew down-loaded this addicting game and we challenged each other almost everyday, I ended up getting stuck here. Can you help me solve it?

Transitioned her into her crib 

We bought a new car and I was enjoying it until I had a horrible, terrifying  incident that happened to me that I will share with you on the next post.

We did a lot of lazy evening hammock swinging.

And some fun beach time.

So long summer 2014 

Mexican shrimp cocktail

Couldn't let summer go by without making this

It's easy peasy and so

DELICIOSO!

I just made some fresh pico de gallo, added some avocado, drizzled some lime juice, sprinkled some hot cocktail sauce, and tossed in shrimp.

Nothing to it.

Back-yard make-over Part 2

Although I'm not done, I wanted to share some of the pictures of the landscaping I have done.  I can't wait for these trees and bushes to grow. I still want to add a water feature somewhere, more plants and perhaps some type of brick edging or pavers.  But, I had to stop.  With triple digit temperatures there is no way I could continue.

Believe me when I say It's been HOT and DRY here.

And keeping the grass from getting crunchy has been a challenge.

My water bill is ginormous I cringe every time I see it

I pray for rain daily.

at this point a weak tropical depression would be nice.

This project will just have to wait till the fall...

To be continued....

New Cannon Rebel Camera

I got my husband new Cannon a while back and it has been so much fun taking candid pictures of Tealyn  like a real "pro".  At first I have to say it was a little intimidating with so many different settings and options to choose from but, I think I'm learning really fast. If I do say so myself.

Here are some of my shots.

I wanted to capture her sweet chubby arms..

Okay okay, I also take pictures of other stuff too. ha ha

I love, love love this camera. Definitely worth every penny.

Transplant shock

Here's my story...

One day, in early June while visiting my mother.  I look out her window and notice a beautiful 

Mountain Laurel

I mentioned to her how I have been looking for a tree for the corner of my lot.

Next thing you know...

She's got her gardener digging up her tree and shoving it in my SUV

 I drove home and waited for my husband to get home from work to show him my latest surprise.

He planted it that evening and we gave it lots of water. 

It was doing fine for about three days ...

Then slowly the leaves started dropping and before I knew it 

I had no leaves 

I kept watering thinking it would help

IT HASN'T

So, If any of you bloggers know how I can save this tree please share. I love this tree for its showy bloom clusters in the spring and would just hate it if I lost it

Watermelon Margaritas

It's cocktail time!

And I can't think of anything better than watermelon margaritas rimmed with Trechas chilli powder.

A few weeks ago my husband and I went and had lunch at one of our favorites

Costa Mesa

I was so impressed by this cocktail I ordered two.

I left the restaurant feeling It was 1997

and felt like dancing to

Shakira 

Estoy Aqui

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmJHH026X0c

Then

slowly reality set in

Anyway, I finally had the chance to recreate this amazing

Margarita

and I gotta say... I think I nailed it.

So refreshing. I think it's perfect for a summer party.

 My little cocktail hour was interrupted by a certain someone who woke up earlier than expected, so she joined us.

I think happy hour lasted a total of 20 min. :)

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Ingredients

1. 6 ounces tequila, such as Partida Reposado
2. 1⁄4 cup water
3. 1⁄4 cup agave nectar (see note at left)
4. 1⁄2 cup fresh lime juice
5. 1⁄2 cup Watermelon Concentrate (recipe follows)
6. Ice
7. Coarse salt and lime zest or Trechas chili powder (see note)
8. Cut limes
9. Garnish: fresh watermelon wedges

Instructions

1. Place tequila, 1⁄4 cup water, agave nectar, lime juice, and Watermelon Concentrate in a cocktail shaker. Add ice, and shake vigorously, 12 to 14 times.
2. Place salt and lime zest (or Trechas) in a shallow dish or saucer. Moisten rims of 4 martini glasses with cut limes. Dip glasses in salt mixture or Trechas.
3. Pour watermelon mixture into prepared glasses. Garnish with watermelon wedges, if desired.
4. Notes: Trechas can be found in the produce section of some grocery stores. For more information, visit trechas.com.
5. Watermelon Concentrate
6. Ingredients

   1. 8 cups cubed, seedless watermelon
   2. Instructions Place watermelon in the container of a blender. Blend until watermelon is as liquefied as possible.Pour puréed watermelon through a large strainer. Using a wooden spoon or pestle, push fruit through strainer to extract as much juice as possible. Discard remaining pulp. Use within 24 hours