Well, here we are, at the end of the school year with my soon to be kindergartener! Tear tear! I must say the school year flew by for us, I probably spent most of it zombied out trying to figure out this mom of three thing. But I did it!! And so did our little man!! We are so proud of our little Sebastian bear. Preschool is, what we hope to be, the start of his never ending desire to learn and grow.

Sebastian started Thornydale’s preschool a month late (we were in Chicago giving birth to Rosie) but he seemed to have adjusted pretty well. He had three teachers, Ms. Joy, Ms. Shannon and Ms. Teresa. He instantly fell in love with Ms. Joy! I don’t think there was a single day where he didn’t run up to her and hug her! Ms. Shannon was “the mean one” (there’s one in every family HA) for the first few months but ultimately he started running to hug her too! Some days even his classmates started asking for hugs as they parted ways for the day! Yup, Sebastian bear is a hugger bear!

Throughout the year Sebastian had a handful of incidents, ranging from potty accidents to kissing milestones! Ahhhh yesss I said kissing!! He actually became very keen of one particular girl in class. For a while, all we heard him talk about was his new friend. One day, Ms. Joy tells us that he kissed her and had to explain to him kissing isn’t appropriate but may ask her for a hug instead! I stood there in shock, jaw to the floor kind of shock! I’m so not ready for that yet!

Another incident, that I’m not even sure if I should share, happened almost towards the end of the school year. Ms. Joy explained to us that during outside play Sebastian hid behind a play house they have outside and ummm intentionally had a boy potty accident! Like whaaatt?!! He’s never done that before so this was another jaw to the floor kind of moment! Yeah…we definitely had a serious conversation after this!

Overall, Sebastian had a very good school year. Homework is not his favorite thing to do and always required a bit of extra effort to get through it. He made it very clear to us that he hates rhyming. The first time they did it in school he made a pout face as he talked about it. We would randomly ask him if he did rhyming again and he would again pout as if relieved they didn’t do it that day. He does, however, love math and numbers (just like daddy) and is very good at it! He loves it when we quiz him with addition and subtraction. His favorite examples are “If you have two pom poms and Ms. Joy gives you two more pom poms, how many do you have?” His face is absolutely priceless once we tell him he’s correct. We’re definitely curious to see how all this translates as he grows!

On the last day of school, his class had a little presentation for the parents and wow! Sebastian did great singing the songs and even threw in some of his own moves and started dabbing! HA! So much cuteness! On top of the cuteness from all the little humans, there was also so much heartfelt emotion from his teachers, that I must say was very very touching. You see his teachers always felt like they put building relationships with their students as part of the lesson plan. They won the hearts of our tiny people and I most definitely saw this with Sebastian. On Monday’s, I would witness him sprint to Ms. Joy expressing genuine admiration, as if it’s been weeks since they seen each other. Some days he would forget to give ME my hug and kiss goodbye just to run and hug his teachers. Ms. Shannon would always notice and remind him not to leave me hanging.  So, when on the last day of school, we witnessed tears roll down the teachers’ faces – I too was overcome with emotion.

For kindergarten Sebastian will be going to a new school. Thornydale is closing due to low enrollment and even though it was only our first year there we are saddened by the news. Thornydale felt like a tight nip community where everyone knew each other; from the fun spirited principal, Mr. Singer, to the waves and smiles of our crossing guard Johnny. We will sure miss it but we are also excited for what’s ahead!

Sebastian is excited to go to kindergarten, mainly because he’s 5 now and lost two teeth this school year, so you know he’s practically 10. We’re so proud of him and all his little but mighty accomplishments thus far. Mom and dad wish you much academic success and are excited to guide you through it all, one school year at a time! Now time to enjoy our summer break and see what kind of shenanigans we can get ourselves into.

Love,

-Mama Bear Mimi-

Thornydale Elementary

Preschool

2018-2019

P.S.  I just have to let it be known that I’m also relieved to have graduated preschool! Yes, ME! I did it!! The thing is I was ohhh so exhausted all day errrday but still managed to do the whole drop off/pick up struggle with sweet baby Rosie AND firecracker Alex! I was so very grateful when hubs was off and able to pick up Sebastian. It was for sure a struggle getting there ON TIME everyday with three kids. There’s absolutely no shame in my game but most days, ok more like everyday, we all showed up in pjs, except Sebastian. HA! And all for our little Sebastian!

Eeeek I don’t even know where to start!!! You want the good news or the bad news first? Hmmm….Let’s start with the good news…

Good News

Rosalia is just toooo cute!!! HA! No but seriously she’s hit some pretty cool milestones! She has 2 teeth (and looks like she’s working on a third one) she rolls over both ways, started eating solids and got her ears pierced! We first found out she was rolling over both ways on accident…yeah…don’t ask. She’s definitely strong for 13 lbs! She can wiggle and roll herself over all around the house! I can leave her one place only to come back and find her somewhere totally unexpected! Ayyy ahhh ayyy…indeed!

Solids took a bit of work but we’re finally getting somewhere. We started at 4 months old but she was so not interested. So we kept trying, little by little, until she finally seemed to be ready. So far she enjoys green beans, carrots and sweet potatoes. She doesn’t like the baby cereal though, I’m guessing the texture of it.

Rosalia loves to flirt with daddy! She sees daddy and she gets all googly eyed! Daddy kisses her and she tries to return the kiss by licking daddy’s face! Super cute! All daddy needs to do is whistle at her and she just melts. I absolutely love every bit of it. Rosalia gets so entertained by her brothers too. She laughs at the silly things they do and most times calms down when they play with her!

My most favorite thing about her is the way she loves. Her eyes say it all. I honestly feel genuine love from her. I’ll tell you how…when she looks at you, she LOOKS at you. I can see her study my face or hubby’s face in admiration. She likes to rub her face against mine as if caressing my cheeks! And yup we sit there for a while rubbing faces like cats! Ahhh I love it!

Rosie and I cuddle ALOT! As a newborn, I just couldn’t help myself. I loved the newborn curl so so much so I made sure to soak it in as much as I could. I’m sure that’s why she always feels the need to be held. Sorry not sorry! This is most likely my last baby and I’m a cuddler!

Bad News

So the bad news….she’s just growing too fast!! I honestly can NOT believe 6 months have passed! It seriously just happened wayyy too fast for me! Sorry if you were expecting some other kind of bad news, wasn’t really trying to trick you but dude this is bad news enough for any mama!! The next 6 months are going to fly by too! They will be full of some of the biggest milestones for both mama and baby. She’ll start crawling, then walking, then riding a bike, then off to schooool! Mang!! If anyone has a recipe to slow down time please don’t be greedy! I needs it!!

She does always want to be held. At times it’s difficult to do with all of the demands of motherhood with 3 kids. I don’t blame her though, I would want to be held and carried all the time too! It’s all she knows at the time and maybe once she’s crawling I’ll be hoping she goes back to wanting to be held all the time. Sooo ehhh for now I’ll soak it in.

My precious baby may look small but she’s thriving beautifully…she wears a size 2 in diapers and still fits in 3 month clothing. She’s not sleeping through the night yet, but like with solids, she might not be ready yet. Next, I’ll share MY six month update which is a probably going to be a little bit more raw. Motherhood is beautiful and rewarding but oh so tiring! To my little Rosie bear….you are everything I wanted and needed! Thank you baby girl!

Love,

Mama Bear Mimi

We had an awesome family Christmas this year! We were extra lucky that hubs actually had Christmas Eve off so we got to celebrate on time this year. Last year we celebrated almost a week late because we wanted to wait for his days off.

For the first half of the day, we let the boys play outside with our neighbor friends as we sat there together and watched them. Something we normally don’t get to do because of conflicting schedules. It was nice to sit there together…and we made sure to verbalize that to each other. Then it was cooking time…womp womp. Hubs requested albondigas and let’s just say things didn’t come out as planned but we still had a yummy Christmas meal. We watched a Christmas movie with the boys then it was time to go to sleep and wait for Santa.

“Ohhh my gosh, ohhh my gosh, ohhh my gosh” was the first thing we hear in the morning! Alex was the first one up telling us that Santa was here! He said “one for mama, one for daddy, one for baby, one for Bashton and one for meeee!!!” It was too cute! We opened gifts, ate lots of candy, went to the park, played outside and watched movies! It was a very nice Christmas for us! The boys asked Santa for simple things…which was a win win because they have too many toys already! Alex simply wanted candy and candy he got. Sebastian asked for books, slime, cars and a ball.

Alex is still very innocent and played with everything that was gifted. Sebastian played for short periods then, as expected, got hooked on YouTube. DOH! That’s a whole other conversation but for sure something we are trying to limit with him. Truth is; the boys really do have a lot of toys. A whole playroom full of toys. They are definitely very blessed, so we do try to keep Christmas pretty simple for them.

It was a very peaceful Christmas for us. Although we miss our family back in Chicago it felt really nice to spend it amongst our kids and truly soak up the day. We hope you all had a very lovely holiday as well!

Love,

-Mama Bear Mimi-

P.S. Below are our holiday pics and it’s disclaimer! HA!

Christmas 2018

Photos by Danielle Esparza

I know pictures are the easiest way to capture a moment but the behind the scenes are the real moments that should be captured! This holiday session took extra work and patience. I know you can’t tell because of all those pretty smiles but let me tell you we probably threatened to cancel Christmas about 10 times just to get those smiles on camera! The struggle was real! HA! Alex had fallen asleep on our way to our session and was not having it once he woke up. Eventually all three kids were so over it and done with pictures. We struggled to get them to look at the camera and pose. Our photographer Danielle said “don’t worry, I’ll edit as much as I can” and I left feeling a bit overwhelmed. Then we get our photos a week later and am pretty shocked that they came out so good!!! The last thing we tried were family shots and by then you can so tell in all of our faces how over it we were. My cheeks are rosey, Alex is huffing and puffing, daddy is so faking it, Rosie is chewing my hand off and Sebastian just wants to take a nap. HA! That’s the beauty of photo sessions…they’re work!! That’s reality!! Outings with three kids are hectic as is and most times require plenty of patience. They aren’t always going to do what we want them to and my favorite saying (let them be little) truly challenged me that day. So with all that being said I’m grateful for these awesome pics and my little family for bearing it all even though they fought me hard for it! Nice try family but you know we’re doing it again next year! Sorry not sorry.

Baby Rosie is turning 3 months old on the 27th of October! It’s all passing by too fast. It reminds me that I haven’t shared her newborn photoshoot because this mom of three thing is kinda hard. Rosalia’s pictures were captured at only one precious week old and they couldn’t be more perfect!

As you all know I’m over the moon to have a baby girl, but to be honest…this right here is the best phase for me. The 0-3 month phase is the absolute most precious phase for me. They are just so pure and innocent. The newborn curl that they naturally have is my favorite. They will NEVER be this small again and I love that all they do is eat, sleep and poop.

Rosalia is such a good baby! She gives us some pretty obvious clues as to what she wants and needs. She’s definitely not subtle with her stinky stinky time but we all pretty much giggle at it, especially the boys! HA! We’re already communicating so well. There’s no colic, no excessive spit up, and no odd behavior to have to interpret. Win, win, and win!

Adjusting to three kids has been quite the challenge. Rosalia is breastfed, so that bounds me to the couch and breast pump most of my day. I’m not at all complaining though! I actually love being able to cuddle up with her that much. Some say I’m spoiling her but that’s okay with me. She’s just a baby and still needs all those cuddles. Hubs and I have an understanding that my priorities are the kids and everything else will get done eventually.

The boys are just as obsessed with Rosie as I am. Alex actually came up with a chant for Rosie all by himself. It goes “Rosie, Rosie, Rosieeee” and it’s the cutest thing ever! Daddy calls her “Rosie pants” and he’s got us all saying it now. One day I called her “Rosie bear” and Sebastian corrected me saying “no mom, it’s Rosie pants” HA! Sebastian is the protector of little miss Rosie pants. He’s always making sure she’s safe from brother Alex’s loving yet a bit careless gestures.

So here they are! Rosalia’s one week photos, as pure and perfect as can be! They were taken by Photography by Angel in the Chicagoland area. Angel was absolutely awesome and like you’ll read in all of her reviews; she is extremely patient with the little ones. Rosalia’s featured photograph took about an hour to capture thanks to the patience and diligence endured by Angel. Thank you again for capturing such amazing pictures of my princess!

Photos by Photography by Angel – Website Facebook

It’s a girl!!! I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and am over the moon about it! Ahhh!! Pregnancy, labor and all that stuff has always amazed me! I mean my body created a human being, nourished it and then delivered it into this world! Isn’t it amazing that our bodies can do that?!

This time around I wasn’t really anxious or nervous like I was with my boys. I was actually pretty brave about the whole thing, I thought however long it takes or whatever way it happens I…will….be…alright!! I actually had the mentality that it is my last pregnancy so I want to capture as much as I can from it. One thing I was very excited about was wanting to capture raw pictures of the whole process. You know, candid type of pictures that truly capture the moment without being told to look at the camera and smile.

To be real, giving birth is hard work! My first born was 38 hours of induced labor, and my second was 16 hours of induced labor. Yes, every pregnancy and delivery is different but laboring a child is no easy task – which is exactly why I wanted to capture all of the not so easy stuff! I wanted to capture pictures of my baby girl all covered in goo and I wanted a mirror to be able to see everything that’s happening. Yup – it’s just so beautiful and amazing that our bodies can do all that and I want to see it all!

So I asked my sister-in-law, Veraliz, and sister Chio to take as many pictures as they could, even if I looked pained or a hot mess or ready to die, just take the picture! I must say they did an amazing job! Well mostly Titi because my sis was busy trying to help me relax – so thank you Titi and Chio!!

I actually woke up feeling mild contractions on the day I was scheduled to get induced, July 30, 2018. So I felt like we were already off to a great start and probably would have happened naturally had I waited but ehhh I still went along with the plan to get induced. After checking into the hospital and getting situated they said I was 5cm dilated, compared to the 4cm I was the week before. Sweet, I thought!

For the first half of the day I was given antibiotics for Group B Strep, similar to my experience with Sebastian. Antibiotics are given every 4 hours until delivery and my doctors wanted to get at least two doses in. So we actually didn’t start pitocin and inducement until about 4pm…that’s when I started timing everything.

I was pretty comfortable and relaxed until about 8pm when I asked for an epidural. I was still only 5cm dilated but was definitely feeling contractions. I’m always so worried about asking for the epidural at the wrong time, like too soon or too late. I don’t want it too soon because then I can’t get up and all the itching starts. And I do not even want to think about getting it too late where I’m too pained to sit still for it. But I thought the contractions are definitely there and if my plan is to get the epidural anyway why am I struggling with all this pain? Might as well get the epidural now that I’m not screaming or crying. HA.

So I got the epidural and like with my first born it felt weird when the anesthesiologist was doing it. It felt like a shock of electricity going through the right side of my body. They explained it was most likely a pinched nerve as the needle was inserted. It went away after a few minutes and shortly after that I was pain free! Woohoo! Time to nap!

At around 1am, July 31, I was still only 5cm dilated so my doctors decided to break my water. It’s never broken on its own before so I was expecting them to do it anyway. After about an hour they noticed that our baby’s heart rate kept dropping so they kept readjusting my position hoping that it would help. By this time my body is definitely tired and aching. Especially after being in one position for too long.

After about an hour of repositioning I started feeling intense pain with every single contraction, making me tense up and curl in pain. I was so confused why I was so pained. It was like I was totally fine one minute and then the next I’m pretty much crying. It was definitely some of the worst pain I’ve felt. I ended up paging the nurse asking her to check me. She checked me and paged my doctors saying it’s time to have a baby!!! Yay!

Once the doctors came in everything just happened so fast! I was struggling to do anything at this point. The pain was so intense I couldn’t move or turn my body on my own. The nurse instructed me to scoot down lower on the bed and yeahhh. I didn’t filter myself and told her I couldn’t. She encouraged me and said “you’ve got to, you got this!” Hubs then begins assisting me at me feet, my sister was caressing my shoulders and arms while encouraging me to be strong and Veraliz began to position cameras.

The next thing I know my body is begging me to push. The pain is so intense I can no longer fight the urge. About 2 pushes and a pretty pained yelp later, we finally have our beautiful baby girl in our arms! She’s instantly placed on my chest as the nurse almost immediately says “oh she already looks like dad!” (DOH! Palm to the face!) We all kind of laughed and a few of us said “ohhh nooo!” One of my immediate questions were “it’s a girl right?” That also caused a few giggles but I just had to make sure nothing had changed since our last ultrasound.

I made sure to clock in my hour of skin to skin before sharing my baby girl with others. I was still pretty pained and numb but at least now I had my baby girl in my arms. I was also rather starved so hubs started to spoon feed me sliced watermelon as I made my first attempt to breastfeed. He’s definitely a keeper!

Everything happened so fast in the end! I ended up dilated from 5cm to 10cm in the last hour and a half. I didn’t get to ask for a mirror, nor be able to take all the raw pictures I wanted. Veraliz said she turned around to position a camera and the next thing you know the baby was out! That’s exactly how fast it all happened! We even almost missed the timeframe to collect umbilical cord blood and stem cells for storing, something we didn’t get a chance to do with the boys but wanted to do with baby girl.

It was definitely my most pained birth, I have no idea how or why anyone would do this without an epidural! Kuddos to all you natural moms, y’all some strong willed and a bit crazy people! In the end I ended up feeling all the contractions, regardless of the epidural. The nurses and doctors said it was because I ended up fully dilating so fast that my body was in shock. That was some crazy stuff but of course all totally worth it.

Rosalia Villa made her debut, after 12 hours of induced labor, on July 31, 2018 at 3:52am weighing 7lbs 13oz and measuring 19 inches. She is everything we were waiting for. She has been blessed with a little family that already loves her and is excited to shower her with love. Welcome to the world little princess. You will love it!

With all that said and done…this baby making factory is now closed!!

Love,

-Mama Bear Mimi

May the Angels bless this baby, so perfect and pure, and protect, love and guide her through all of life’s doors. May she have good health and happiness and a life full of love, being watched over always by her Angels above. -Mary Jac-

So I’ve reached my due date and yup I’m still baking! It’s actually no surprise, both boys went past their due date as well so I wasn’t expecting to pop early even though it would have been awesome. I just had my 40 week appointment where we confirmed that I am 4cm dilated but still not favorable since my cervix is still up high. Luckily we were still able to schedule induction for Monday July 30.

To be quite honest, its a relief to have a date set. It’s actually a lot easier to plan ahead of time as opposed to having to rush into the hospital with labor pains and the never ending Chicago traffic. So the plan is to enjoy this last weekend with friends and family before the struggle gets real. There are actually a few things on the to do list. Like birthday parties, quality time with the boys, laundry, sightseeing, girl time and indulging in some of my favorite Chicago eats. Ahem, Pacos Tacos! Once baby girl is born, I definitely plan to get into a weight loss routine with diet and exercise as soon as I am able. I know it’s easier said than done but for now the motivation and desire to bounce back is at a high, so I’m hoping the drive to be myself again stays uplifted as I adjust to 3 kids.

So far the decision to come to Chicago to give birth has been the best thing we could have done. Hubs is now in town with us, which is also a relief since I was nervous he wouldn’t make it in time. We are both enjoying our time with the boys and in particular seeing how happy they are being surrounded by plenty of friends and family. The boys are having an absolute blast! Everyday for them is filled with activities and play dates. Sebastian has said that he wants to stay in Chicago forever, while Alex loves hanging out on grandma’s front steps and “car” watch.

The last 4 weeks of my pregnancy have actually been pretty good. I’ve been walking a lot with efforts to start the labor process and have at least made progress dilating, something that never happened naturally with the boys. I’ve been able to enjoy plenty of time with friends and family and of course I have satisfied my cravings with absolutely no regret. YOLO!! Besides what I think are normal pregnancy pains like back aches and cramping I really haven’t experienced any real contractions. During week 39, my feet started to get swollen, which is to be expected. Finding a comfortable sleeping position turned into a mission at about week 37, which is also to be expected.

As far as cravings, I haven’t had anything too crazy. Just plenty of mom’s home cooking and Chicago favorites like tacos, pizza, Crunchy Curls, gyros, elotes, pina rellena, Crunchy Curls, Michoacana, more pizza and more Crunchy Curls. Like I said, nothing too crazy, HA!

The next time I blog, it will most likely be to share Baby Girl’s birth story! That makes me very very excited! I can’t wait to experience the beauty of labor again. Motherhood and it’s process is an absolute amazement to me. Last night, my mom and I sat on the couch and experienced baby girl hiccup. Mom caressed my belly as she continuously introduced herself to baby girl and tried to ease her hiccups. It was such a special moment. We talked about God’s marvelous wonders, letting me experience the beauty of His creation.

Plenty of times I look at my changing body and am amazed that there is a baby growing inside me. I’ve carried my baby girl for 9-ish months and can’t believe we will finally get to meet her. It really is a blessing, despite ALL the struggles of pregnancy and whats to come, it truly is a blessing! I embraced this pregnancy like ever before. Maybe it was the fact that we plan it as our last, or maybe the fact that it’s the baby girl we’ve been wanting. Nevertheless, it’s been an amazing journey and as much as I’ve said I’m over it and want be done, I am a bit sad that it means that now my baby girl will grow and grow each day. Never being as little as today.

So baby girl, we are anxiously waiting for your arrival. You are the tie breaker in the battle between mama and daddy. You see, Sebastian looks just like daddy and Alex looks just like mama. So we are dying to see who you look like and who wins this ultimate battle. There’s absolutely no pressure but you know what they say, girls got to stick together, EH! Just kidding…sort of. See you soon baby girl!

Love,

-Mama Bear Mimi

Milk Bath Maternity

photographed by Millennial Mummy Photography 

35 weeks