Contest Winner Bewildered

Today UPS delivered a box to us. I was a little confused because we haven't recently ordered anything, especially with the whole budget thing we're doing right now. Sure enough it was addressed to me and the tape said, www.maukilo.com so before I opened I looked up the site.

I opened the box to find a bunch of toys and a note that said, congratulations on your win! The note was pretty short and the only other information it gave was a coupon code for further discounts.

Now I don't remember entering said contest but then again I'm always entering blog contests so who knows.

I guess God wanted to bless Jude with some new toys!

Here's what he got...

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Thoughts on Stretch Marks

I think pregnant bellies are beautiful and up until the last 2 months of my pregnancy I was the proud owner of cute baby bump. However, I think some time during the last two months Jude hit a major growth spurt and my skin couldn't keep up. I applied all kinds of cocoa butter and salves but apparently some women are just gonna get stretch marks. Anyway, I'm learning to live with my new squiggly belly friends. Actually, while I was in the shower yesterday morning I was checking them out and thought... I know they will fade over time but they will probably always be there, what a neat little reminder of my pregnant months with Jude. It's kind of like nature's little tattoos, permanently marking a life changing event. So when I'm 50 and I look down and see the faded lines on my belly I'll think back to when my then 22 year old son was a tiny little babe in my belly.

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Chill, and let my Father do his job.

So this morning I read this headline:

Octuplets foreclosure threat
Angela Suleman is months behind on payments for the home she shares with her daughter.

And the first thing I thought was, "they don't deserve any special treatment just because they have lots of kids." Then I immediately thought, "hopefully someone will help them I mean with all the media coverage they are getting someone is bound to help them." Then I thought, "If someone helps them are they fueling the irresponsibility of this family?" Then finally after wrestling with a few more conflicting thoughts I came to this conclusion, Jesus would help them. Wouldn't he?

Yes, maybe this family has some issues and maybe it's "unfair" for them to receive special treatment. But really, what family doesn't have "issues" and when has life ever been "fair"? I don't know all the details surround this specific situation but I'm starting to understand that Jesus doesn't care about the situation we're in even if it is self induced. When did we, especially Christians start to deny people help for any reason. Jesus didn't say, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, but only to those that prove to be worthy and you will have treasure in heaven." (Mt 19:21)

Example: One man spends his whole life working hard, spending his money wisely and saving for the future. Another man works just enough to get by, squanders his money and saves nothing. Both men suddenly lose all the have and are sitting side by side, homeless on the side of the road. One day a rich entrepreneur comes along and sees both men sitting beside the road and has pity on them. He doesn't know their stories and doesn't care how they got there but he helps both men. He clothes them, gives them a place to stay, employees them, and asks for nothing except that they do the same for others.

I think this is how Jesus would want us to react as evident in scripture. (Mt 25: 34-40)

Of course there are people that will argue "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth." (Proverbs 10:4). But I don't think the following verse says, "...therefore don't help the poor because they brought it on themselves." Actually, the previous verse says, "The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry but he thwarts the craving of the wicked." (Prov 10:3) To my understanding that means, he'll take care of it. Simply put our job is to give to the poor, not judge them.

In the words of Salt 'N' Pepa:
"So the moral of this story is: Who are you to judge?
There's only one true judge, and that's God
So chill, and let my Father do His job"

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Baby Jude the Wedding Crasher

This past weekend we went to Chicago for my dear friend, Vasti's wedding. It was a great weekend with great Chicago weather and great Puerto Rican fun. We arrived on Friday afternoon and after we checked into our hotel we went to meet Vasti at her house. I went with her and Talitha to her bachelorette party while Joe and Jude got some dinner and had guy time just chillin at the hotel. Several of Vasti's bridesmaids organized a little get together at one of their houses complete with the yummiest Chicago style pizza, made my Mexicans and cupcakes. We played games and laughed alot. I definitely learned a little too much about some of her friends.
On Saturday we found some coffee for Joe and explored the area before heading over to the Family and Friends Luncheon. Vasti's mom and Antoinio's dad prepared all the food and it was absolutely delicious. Joe could probably eat that rice every day for every meal. After the luncheon the bridal party had the rehearsal so Joe and I went to meet his friend Brandon that lived in the area. We walked to a cool coffee shop near their house and the fellas got to catch up while I got to know Brandon's wife, Sarah. Later that evening we ate dinner with them at a local restaurant called Dunlay's, they had the most amazing Skillet Cookie. Everyone loved baby Jude and he loved all the attention.
Sunday was the day of the wedding so in the early day we got some lunch and hung out at the hotel with the bridal party as they were getting ready and taking pictures. The wedding was beautiful. We were probably the whitest people there but we loved every moment. It was very emotional and made you want to clap or maybe cry. Vasti's father officiated the ceremony and his words were so encouraging and right on. I know they are very blessed to have such a great family. After the ceremony there was a long break before the reception so we stopped at a local record store before heading to the reception hall. The Hall was beautiful and the food was delicious. There was alot of dancing and laughing the whole weekend. We were blessed to be apart of this beautiful day of Antoinio and Vasti's. I don't know Antoinio very well but I can tell he loves Vasti very much and his eyes are full of kindness. I know they will have a beautiful marriage and I hope they have lots of little half Puerto Rican babies for me to kiss.
Monday we dropped Talitha off at the airport, filled up our rental car, cursed the navigation system and went back to the airport. We were very glad to be home after a long day of traveling and a busy wedding weekend.
I learned a few thing about Chicago. First people use their horns alot while driving , not always to let you know they are pissed off but sometimes just to inform you they are running the red light or driving on the median. Secondly, you must be good at parallel parking to live in the city. Luckily Joe is a master at parallel parking so we managed pretty well. But if I'd been driving we wouldn't have gone many places. Finally, it's true what they say about Southern hospitality. People up north aren't quite as friendly and courteous as us southerners. I guess it's just too cold.

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Crib Update

So I think we did pretty well for our fist attempt at crib sleeping.

Jude slept in his crib until about 2am when he got a bit fussy and Joe finally brought him in our room. When he laid Jude down next to me he was all cold. So I think one of our first steps is to move Jude's bed away from the window where it's a bit drafty.

After Jude moved to the bed with us he had a hard time sleeping. He kept waking up and fussing. I tried nursing and moving him around. I don't know if he had gas or was just uncomfortable but he was awake and fussy between the hours of 4-6am. Finally he fell back asleep and as of 9:55am he's still asleep.

I know he can sleep for long periods of time so I think if we keep letting him sleep in his crib eventually we'll get there.

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Sleeping Evolves

Since Jude was born we've been a co-sleeping/bed-sharing family. It has it's pros and cons. The Pros being easy night nursing and cuddles. Cons being Jude is a bed hog.

Jude has a crib in the other room which is technically, "his room", but he's never slept there. He generally takes his naps in our bed and sleeps in our bed and occasionally moved to the play yard in the corner of our room. Well as of recently he really dislikes the play yard... I think he's a bit of a bed snob after sleeping in our comfy bed for so long. While he likes sleeping in our bed sometimes he has trouble falling asleep while we are next to him. He gets excited when he see us and then fussy because he's tired but wants to play.

So today for his afternoon nap I decided to test out his crib. He was pretty sleepy and we got a new diaper on, nursed and I laid him down in the bed. He looked up at me as I told him I loved him and I step out of site. He just laid there for a bit staring at the colorful dots on his bedding and over his crib. Within a few minutes he was sound asleep... no fuss. He slept for two hours and when he awoke I found him happy in his bed playing with his feet and singing his baby songs.

Tonight I decided to see if he wanted to sleep in his crib again. We got ready for bed as usual and I laid him down and again, no fuss just movement as he got comfortable. We'll see how things go tonight and I'll let you know in the morning.

I'm not a proponent of the Cry It Out method which is why I've been hesitant to move him to his own room but so far he seems to like his new space. Joe has already mentioned he's a little sad to see Jude move to his own room as family cuddles are nice. But I don't think we've seen the end of cuddles just yet!

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Why they don't make cologne for babies

Last night Jude fell in love with a magazine, the Victoria Secret catalog to be exact. He flipped through the pages and then ripped them out. Since he wasn't trying to eat any of it, as ironic as that is, we let him have his fun.
But later as I headed upstairs to put him to bed I noticed an odd smell. Now nobody in our house wears cologne or anything with any scent so it seemed very out of place. I asked Joe if he smelled anything odd and he laughed a bit and informed me that the Victoria Secret catalog had a perfume insert which Jude found. It was extremely overpowering so we washed his little hands. Despite our efforts you could still smell it fairly strong. Well at this point Jude was very tired and just wanted to go to sleep. However he typically sleeps with his hands in his face and every time he'd put them in front of his face he'd pull them back down and fuss. After doing that several times I decided I would mask the scent with his Burt's Bees Baby Lotion. It seemed to help a bit but in the end I laid next to him on our bed and he snuggled up next to me and buried his face in my chest. Now I know to never wear perfume, especially Victoria's Secret Sexual Secret.

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