Meet Baby Reyes

Baby Reyes; Meet your blog family

Blog Family; Meet Baby Reyes

Tilt your head to the left and you'll be able to make the out babys body a bit better. 

My sweet sweet baby <3

Sporting the bump

Im a little more than 3.5 months but I feel like I've been pregnant for way longer since Juj and I found out very early on that I was pregnant. I mailed out my pregnancy announcements to my entire family, I wanted everyone to find out roughly at the same time and I wanted them to hear it from us. 

Here is my belly premier shot

Hello bump!

One of the most difficult parts (thus far...) about being pregnant, or finding out very early on is keeping it a secret. We wanted to wait until after the first trimester to officially announce our pregnancy- The only problem is that you know your life has changed... but no one else does. This makes everyday tasks that much more difficult. I lost count on how many times I had to fake a headache, or sip and spit.

I attended a co-ed baby shower- of course there was alcohol... and sangria was purchased just for me, since I'm the only one of my girlfriends who drinks sangria. "Have some sangria Lorena, we got it just for you" My poor sangria cup took so many trips to the toilet/sink where I oh so slyly poured it out.

Then, I had my cousins bachelorette party- where everyone is expected to use the occasion as an excuse to drink until they no longer look like the former hot version of themselves from beginning on the night. I threw a few shots over my shoulder as everyone was still in the tilted head position. I drank a ton a cranberry juice that night and I 'sipped' on the same plastic cup (which worked to my advantage thank God!) of champagne the entire night before heading to the bar.

I'll hopefully try to take weekly belly pics... but I'm not going to lie... I'll have to start fresh this week because I've sorta fell off the wagon since doing the announcements.

21 questions or just 3

This is week 2 of coming out of the baby closet. And it feels liberating! After I told my office that I was pregnant, I told them that I was beginning to fear that they would think that I was just getting fat. I honestly felt like there was an elephant in the room. I felt that everyone 'knew' I was pregnant and I was trying to hide it from them.

One of the top questions that people have asked me, which is a little weird-

Were you guys trying?
You might have well asked me if we were going at it like bunnies. I think people who are trying don't generally tell people that they're trying. People who struggle to conceive, well the majority of them, don't make it public knowledge until they are successful.

So anyhow. We weren't checking temperatures, tracking days or trying the best positions. No, we weren't trying but we weren't trying to NOT get pregnant either, you know to keep it PG.

I always knew that I wanted to have children. I also knew the I didn't want to wait too long to start 'trying'- I've heard/read many stories about people who wait and wait and wait until they think the time is right and when they finally do start trying- they struggle and sometimes aren't able to conceive.

The night before i took the pregnancy test at home I was praying. I had the feeling that i was pregnant but i wasn't certain. And with the uncertainty came, well uncertainty. I thought to myself- what if i really am pregnant? and my mind started racing a thousand miles a minute with every possible answer to "what does this mean?" What does this mean for me? For juju? What about school? What about work? Can we afford a baby? Can we pay to send our baby to private school? it's first car? college? and then i thought but what if I'm not?


So i laid out my cards on the table for God to see and said Let it be your will, not mine. If we are meant to have a baby and that time is now- so be it, I was ready to accept God's plan.

And just like that God sent a little blessing our way the very next day.

1+1 =3 (+dog)

The one time math doesn't add up- Yet it makes perfect sense.

I'm thrilled to announce that Juju and I are expecting our first bundle of joy early February 2012.

I spared you the pee tip and the brand- you know this isn't a free publicity post for first response, though i did find out i was pregnant up to six days before your missed period.  ;-)  I always wondered if i would be that persons who's first thought would be 'holy shit hurry get the camera' right after having peed on a stick. I am.

I can't believe I (we) were able to keep this secret for so long. I had to stay away from the blog in fear that I may just give in and blurt it out. I am so excited- its one of those feelings that you cant describe.

Stay tuned for additional Q&A, I've received plenty of question and I hope to answer the majority here. Please, feel free to stop being a shadow stalker- follow; don't stalk.

We never win- and then we won

You know how people say that they never win anything? Well I, we, never win. But then again I never enter sweepstakes, or giveaways, or raffles. Basically anything where our chances are like 1 in a billion 32. I still get suckered in to buying church raffle tickets or donations. 

So there I was, 2 weeks ago it was Sunday night about 9:30 when I get the phone call, from our priest, saying that our ticket was the first prize winner. I was a little flustered and wasn't sure if i had heard him correctly. He told me to 'come on down and collect my prize'. So Juju, his cousin and I hoped into the car and went to claim our first prize-

A 43" Samsung plasma (1080p- if that makes a difference) 

We were in total shock. In fact Juju thought it was an intervention. Needless to say Juju was thrilled to pieces. So I've started filling out and entering every giveaway, every sweepstakes, every survey.... I'm in it to win it!!

Don't forget the tampoons

On Sunday night Juju and I ran to target to pick up a few things... ( a post on that later ). When we make quick runs- we are determined to not use a cart and spend less than $50. So when we walked in Juj asked if we needed a cart. I said no. I knew this would lead to a whole lot of 'i just want to check out the clearance aisles' or 'oh uh look babe its on sale's. Reluctantly I walked back to get a cart and saw this:

I laughed so hard I almost needed # 3 to clean up my mess.



Quit Your Whining

I've lived in Wisconsin all my life, as well as the majority of the people that i know. And one topic that never ceases to amaze me is the weather. Yes. Weather.

People complain when its cold. I understand. I mean Wisconsin winters consists of snow and ice and very very cold temperatures... -10F with a -30 windchill? yes. Its very common. And yet people are shocked when they step outside and their nose hairs freeze instantly. Its called winter.

Then people complain that we have very short summers. This again is true. We have falls and winters that seem to last forever. Our summers are short and sweet. We typically don't experience heat like Texas or California. We have Midwest summers. Wisconsin's east border is surrounded by water. Its called the "lake effet'.   

Yesterday... it was this hot.

Not very typical for Wisconsin

And while its not the most favorable conditions to be outside, or running errands, I think we all need to take this weather with a grain of salt. Be thankful that you are able to see the sun, that you are able to feel its warmth on your face. Try explaining to the other half of the world that is in famine that your air conditioner went out last week and it is impossible to live with out it. Seriously people, lets find some eperspective here.

Im a murderer- cuz i kill time

And squirrels.

Last monday i was driving to work as usual. I saw a squirrel standing on the side of the road. I knew that as soon as i approached it would make a run for it. So i slowed down. I approached with caution. It simply stood there. It wasn't trying to cross the road.

and then it did.

and i hit it.

There was nothing i could do. It darted across the road just as i was lost sight of him through my windshield. I couldn't break, i couldn't swerve.

It honestly didn't feel like i did. I mean, granted it couldn't have been bigger than a couple of pounds, but it didn't feel like i hit anything- it more so felt like i hit a small crack on the road.

The worst part of this all is that i didn't kill it, i simply fatally injured it. I looked in my rearview mirror to see it drag its fluffy tailed body off the middle of the road to safety. I felt absolutely terrible. I was on the verge of tears. I pulled off to the side thinking of what the proper protocol for something like this was. I did the second best thing to running after the squirrel and nursing it back to health- I called Juju.

He tried his best to console me- I felt so guilty. I knew this squirrel didn't stand a change, he was injured and it wouldn't be long before he died.

I'm a murderer.

a squirrel murderer.

DIY Diaper Cake

A little late, but i wanted to post pictures of the diaper cake i made for my sisters shower a few months ago. I watched a few you tube videos and read various instructions and took a swing at it- I have to say i was pretty impressed with the results. Its not too difficult to make, but like with all projects, you just have to have a little patience.

First- decided whether or not your going with a theme or a gender. Since her shower was more so an animal jungle theme I decided to go with jungle like animals. You can also incorporate additional items into the cake its self. I've seen a few with bottles, baby blankets, baby lotion, pacifiers, etc. Here is a snapshot of what i used & for the cake itself i used 96 size 2 diapers, black hair ties and larger rubber bands.

First i began by rolling each diaper up and securing it with a black hair tie. I made sure i rolled all the diapers in the same direction and rubber banded them roughly in the same spot.

You want to ensure that they are rolled pretty evenly as far as tightness and that they are able to stand on their own. This will make the cake building processes a lot easier.

As i began building my cake I realized that using only 96 diapers would make a small cake, smaller than i wanted it to be. So i quick improvised and wrapped a cookie tin in tissue and added bulk/size by wrapping diapers around the tin. I've seen people wrap diapers around baby bottles, cans of formula and  blankets.

As you can see the diapers are all roller in one direction. This is where the larger rubber bands come in. Once all the diapers are in place place the larger rubber band around them all to secure them together.

The mid tier was starting off unevenly proportioned to the bottom tier so i wrapped the diapers around a toilet paper roll, which worked perfectly!

The top tier i wrapped around a bottle of oregano! That was the only thing in my pantry that fell into the size proportion i needed. This flat surface also worked well for the 'cake topper', so if your using some sort of topper this might be a good idea, though it doesn't have to be oregano ;-)

Once all the layers were assembled, i wrapped a thick brown ribbon, 1.5 in i think, around all three tiers using double sided tape to secure it to the diapers.

I added an accent color to the middle tier. I decided to only add it to the middle tier because I didn't want the cake to become overwhelming to look at.

Once done, i added the small decorations to the cake and used double sided tape to keep them in place. If your wondering where I got the small stuffed animals from... long before we began to plan my sister baby shower  McDonalds had an animal themed happy meal. So what did a dedicated sister do? I bought happy meals until i got the two stuffed animals that i wanted- the giraffe and the tiger.

Here is the cake topper that i used. I bought the pacifiers from her registry, curled a little ribbon and wrapped a monkey beanie baby around it.

Here is a few other pictures of the finished product. 

and yes, i fixed the center ribbon once i noticed it was crooked by the baby wash.

and if your wondering that is the same wrapped board i used here and used here.

Fullbar Review

In my never ending quest for weight loss, i never discard any idea or product - no matter how silly it may seem. My latest try has been the full bar. A coworker of mine gave me a box of these bad boys because they made her gassy. This concerned me, I'm gassy just because, let alone eating something that will induce gas.

And although i cant really say its a full review because i haven't followed the directions exactly, your supposed to eat 2 a day alongside your 2 biggest meals. BUT i have eaten a few of them.

 Here's the breakdown: They are 160 calories and only 10 are from fat, so they are very low in fat. Though they are high in carbs, 31g, most granola, cliff, luna, etc bars are the same. My husband tries to convince me that carbs are not the enemy, and they are not, he's right. Our body needs them- my problem is that i carb over load- and that's what makes you gain weight. It has 4g of dietary fiber, and the average person needs about 25-30g of dietary fiber a day. It has 5g of protein, that ones a no brainer, protein is good for you- helps rebuild muscle.One bar has 13g of sugar, which is the same as 2 Oreo cookies, yes, the oreos might taste better, but these have some nutritional content. Overall they aren't unhealthy and they taste what you would expect from any other bar. They are a little grainy, again like many other bars, but honestly... its not a deal breaker.

In a nutshell, you are supposed to eat a Fullbar with 8 oz. of water, wait 30 mins and then eat a reasonable meal. As the name indicates, this bar will make you feel full- so by the time you eat, your stomach is partially full and you eat less. Simple, right?

So far, I've never felt gassy after eating a Fullbar. I follow the direction and drink at least 8 oz of water, but i tend to drink more. I also eat the bar slowly, by choice.  This actually may be the reason why i've never felt gassy or bloated. Then came the moment of truth... 30, 40, 50 mins later and i didnt feel hunger. I eventually got lunch because i was afraid this feeling of fullness would wear off and i'd binge later. I eat a smaller lunch than usual and felt completely satisfied.

On another occasion i actually substituted my lunch for the Fullbar. I had my regular grande coffee round 8:45a, had my normal 20 oz of water before noon. I opened up a Fullbar and had at least 8oz of water with it. I didn't eat until about 3pm once i got home and again i wasn't crazy hungry.

Go on now, go. Run and try it. What do you think?

30 Day challenge?

We've decided to go to the dells for Jujus birthday. That means i have exactly 30 days (as of Tuesday) until i get into a swim suit. That also means i have 30 to try to lose a few pounds and tighten jiggly areas, if possible.

My biggest issue is my stomach. Its not like its incredibly huge, but it'll be challenge to suck it in for the 3 days that we'll be there. My biggest obstacle right now is my toe. Darn toe. I'm still limping around on my crutch and some days, by the end of the day my foot is swollen and i can feel my heart beat in my big toe. That's my excuse right now, at least its a good one. I tend to always have excuses for not working out, but this one is legit.

So today is day 3 of my 30 day challenge.

I am eating a lot better. I'm not eating just lettuce and carrots, mind you... I'm no bunny- But I've cut down my portions and opt out of empty calories. I haven had soda in a few days. Not even diet. I'm drinking more water- because reserve logic... drinking lots of water helps you release retained water. I wish fat would work that way too.... hm.

Even with my injured toe i have managed to get some exercise in. I did Pilates one day and i did Turbo Jam the other. Both days i "butt blasting" (yes, Butt Blasting") workouts to work my bum. Yesterday i even ventured on to the exercise ball, and i only fell over twice. That's progress ladies and gentlemen.

I've been keeping a food diary, and include everything i eat during the day. Including half a frozen pizza. There's something wrong with me, i know.

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if 30 days is enough to make a difference but I'm going to try pretty darn hard. I figure, I'm aiming for a six pack... if i fail, and fall short, a four pack will do.

wobbling wobbling

Why you shouldn't kick things. 

Don't kick doors. Don't kick tables. Don't kick chairs. 

You WILL fracture your foot and jack up your toe.

trust me.

wanna be a baller?

Maybe you could end up on CNN.com

DIY-Moon Manicure

Let me begin by apologizing about the pictures. They are pictures from my phone.

So the concept of the moon mani is that there is a moon at the base of your nail peeking out. You can really do any color combo but i wanted my moon to be bright.

    

I did them myself, when i asked the nail shop.... (yeah i know)

if they could do it and she said it was only possible with a full set. So after a little research and you can see my results above.

Its pretty easy!

1. Paint your entire nail the color you want your half moon to be. Or you could leave it unpainted with just a clear base coat

2. Allow the nail to completely dry. Its important because if its not fully dry. You'll see. Use hole reinforcement stickers ( you know those little circle stickers that you use when your paper punched hole rips and no longer stays in the binder? yeah, those.) and place them on the base of your nails.
3. With the next color paint only above the sticker. Again. Wait for the polish to dry again. 
4. Remove the sticker. 
5.Apply a top coat and Voila! 

DIY- Favor bags

My sister, Gaby had a baby! 2 months ago. Remember? I made the gender reveal cake for her? Well i was also very happy to co host her baby shower back in February. I'll tell you more about her shower later- but meanwhile i wanted to show you a few ways i personalized her shower for her and my then soon to be born monkey.

I decided on a jungle them for her shower and i wanted to incorporate it as much as i could. Everyone loves shower games (sorta) and prizes so i decided to decorate the gift bags. 

I  bought paper bags with ribbon handles- and yes i know that was sorta girly but they didnt have any blue. Baby wouldn't remember =-)

I purchased jungle animal stamps at Michaels, along with a few colors. I only did a few colors because i didn't want to 'bite off more than i could chew' and end up with ink everywhere.

I had acrylic blocks at home that i used for my wedding. You can see it in the lower left hand corner, its pretty neat the gummy stamp sticks to the acrylic block, the block is see through and has guiding lines

 I then stamped on green vines along with a variety of animals. Note that the monkey appears twice... sure im a little biased. Once that was dry i went through and free handed the word BABY across the 4 bags.

 Its nothing extremely difficult (or fancy)... but its the little details that make any event special.

Plus i like to test my Martha gene out every once and a while. Sometimes i crash and burn... but others, not so bad.

i dont want ice cream

I want a flat belly. That's what i want. I went to the doctor on friday and their scale was a bit more forgiving than ours at home. Which is always nice. I mean theirs could be wrong- but i'm just gonna go with that. I wish carbs were the 'new' thing and it was recommended to drink six to eight 8-ounce glasses of wine and walking in heels was all the exercise you need. 


But it's not.


So i have to dig deep. and find some self restraint, some will power, some self control. I seriously just need to say no. No to chips and snacks and regular soda. 


We might head to the dells for Juju's birthday and there is NO way i would get into a swim suit. Matter of fact i've actually been looking at one piece suits. How sad. Seriously, how old am i? a one piece? Though i did find some very sexy one piece, but i digress, you're missing the point here.


Im making it a point to be more active. I didn't say exercise, i said more active. 

.....I'll let you know.

Amen to that!

Since i have recently DRASTICALLY curved my shopping habits i have learned to be a little bit more savvy with my money, but sometimes- just SOMEtimes....

couldn't have said it better myself.

now.... if only someone could please kindly explain this concept to juju.

Hello? ANYone there?

I'm supposed to be working on a speech that i have to give tomorrow. What am i doing blogging then, right? Well these last few weeks  months I've felt as if may (end of) would never get here. I was/am taking 4 classes, working (duh!) and not only doing my work- but also training a new hire and covering an office for the last 4 weeks- which has been no walk in the park i tell you. My days run 5:30a ish to midnight ish. And i am beyond stupid tired exhausted. I was I'm-crying-because-I'm-so-tired-but-I'm-doing-this-for-us-and-it-WILL-get-better-soon,-i-hope tired. 

Last night I had my Fin. Accounting final. Last week was my final week of Non-western Religions. In 2 weeks my speech and theater class will be over. Oh and btw (as you kids say now a days) I got an A in both class. Today i can almost sorta see a speckle of light at the end of the tunnel. And it feels DAMN good.

It feels good to know that my life will return to normalcy, what ever that is. I feel terrible because i have been a bad wife, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, furmom, etc etc. Not to mention that Ive really let myself go these past few months- eating dinner at 10 just about every night, guzzling more coffee than H1 guzzles gas,  and living off whatever the change at the bottom of my purse could buy me at the vending machine. But soon- it will all be over. And it feels DAMN good.

So instead of working on this impending speech- i just wanted to share this DAMN good feelin'

I'm Back!!

I'm finally home. I had to extend my trip an additional 2.5 days due to inclement weather in Texas and O'Hare. Honestly, i was devastated when i learned that our flights had been canceled. I was beyond ready to come home. Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but i love them in little increments- I had spent all the time i wanted to with them already, i missed juju and i missed cookie, and i missed my bed, and i missed my toilet, and i missed having hot water at the turn of the faucet. I was just missing HOME. I'm sorta bummed that i missed the snow days, i had been looking forward to one all winter long. I really hope we get another storm, thought i highly doubt it.

I feel guilty to say that I'm tired, i know, i know, I just came home from 'vacation', how could i be tired? Well, I'll tell you how. Our flight left from Leon at 6:45 am on Thursday, so that means we were up pretty early to allow enough time for travel to the airport and those pesky mandatory waiting hours prior to your flight departing. Its impossible to sleep on an airplane, i don't care what anyone says. We landed in O'Hare, which was nose hair freezin' cold, shortly before 2 pm. I got home, tried (using that term loosely) to tidy up, but all i wanted to do was be attached to Juju's hip. After eating, we settled in front of the T.V were i dozed off for about an hr. Went to bed around 11 or so. I was up the next day by 6. Worked 10 hours, had a school group meeting at 7:30, ate dinner at 10 and was knocked out by midnight. The next day i was up by 8, went up to work for a few hours, seeing that i missed an additional 2 days of work. Juju and i spent our entire Saturday being couch potatoes. AND I LOVED IT. Sunday was all about homework, except for the few times i felt asleep on my business law book, a little Superbowl, and then back to homework. Out like a lamp after midnight. Beep, Beep, Beep. Stupid Monday morning. Back to the grind. Work and now I'm in class. Ive had 3 cups of coffee in the last 3 hours (& a headache to make matters worse), and I'm pretty sure I'll be out as soon as my head hits the pillow- why? well because i have to be up at 5:30 tomorrow.

I'm starting to think that these grocery bags under my eyes will never go away.

I have yet to download the pictured off my moms camera, once i do, i will start recapping my pilgrimage to San Juan

Pilgrimage to San Juan

So its taken me 4 separate attempts to write this post. Why? I'm not sure- I think its because its hard for me to convey what I'm feeling. I usually manage, you know, italicize here and there, bold/CAPITALIZE when i want to get loud, you know- the usual. So if you can, try to understand.

On Wednesday I'm leaving to Mexico with one purpose. I am going on a religious pilgrimage.

Kinda out of the blue huh? Let me explain- Every year, at the end of January, there is a pilgrimage to the church of the virgin of San Juan de Los Lagos, in Jalisco, Mexico. People make promises to take the pilgrimage to San Juan to visit the Virgin of San Juan in exchange for a miracle. Sounds like a deal right? Well, technically yes. I know i make it sound like a physical exchange- like you are trading baseball cards, but its more like a test of faith. You have to have faith that what your praying for will come to fruition. And you have to really pray. You cant assume that you can pray once and all your worries will disappear- or you can leave it all up to God, without you doing everything you can before leaving the rest up to the Big Guy.

People make promises, or mandas, to make the 100+ kilometer pilgrimage (depending on what part of town you are coming from) to San Juan on foot, and depending on the magnitude of the persons faith or miracle, people complete their mandas barefoot, or carrying a child, or even on their knees. Let me explain. Some people pray for smaller things, or miracles, such as a mother praying for The Virgin to help her rebellious child finish high school, or for an estranged relationship to mend, Others pray for bigger things like a desperate couple trying to conceive after several miscarriages, or a husband praying for his wife to become cancer free. You see, you can pray for anything, you can pray for the simplest of things to the most impossible of things- Yet if you have faith that it will come to fruition, it will. Like i said, it may be hard for some of you to understand what I'm saying, or where I'm coming from, but please- try to understand.

Now that you know a little bit of the background. I can explain what my involvement in this. My mom has a manda to complete. So as soon as what she prayed for came to be, she wanted to complete her end of the promise. My sister Gaby, was supposed to travel with her to Mexico- since she doesn't like traveling on her own. But my sister is all knocked up now, she'd be about 33 weeks at the time when they were suppose to travel. So my mom asked me to accompany her in her travels- not in the manda.

Never did she expect me to complete the pilgrimage with her, nor did she ask me to do it. But I immediately started to think about it. I actually couldn't stop thinking about it. Gaby asked me right away- She wanted to know if i was doing the pilgrimage with ma or not. And i thought about. and i thought about it. and thought about it some more. I really didn't have a reason per say, to do it. But i couldn't stop thinking about it. I really wanted to do it- but i was scared. I was nervous. I got butterflies in my stomach every time i gave long thought to it. But along with the nervousness and butterflies, there was something inside of me that said, go ahead! Do it! C'mon! Do it! I started to think of what it would be like to experience such a pilgrimage with people, who in essence, had been saved by their faith. Even though i had no reason to do it, i felt like i was given this opportunity for a reason. I felt as if at the end of this pilgrimage something, i didn't know what, was going to be revealed to me (like an epiphany of sorts)- Like I was being called to do this- and by God's will, the sequence of events happened as they did, for my benefit.

So on Wednesday morning, around 3 am, my mom and i will make our way to Chicago to catch out 6 am flight to Mexico. As of now, we are scheduled to begin our pilgrimage on Thursday before dawn. Depending on how long we rest for, it will take us about 29 hours to complete our 52+ mile pilgrimage.

I know it wont be a walk in the park- pun intended- as it will be open terrain, gravel and dirt roads, mountains, hills and plenty of sloops, and some paved roads. I am confident that i will make it- many people don't on their first attempt. But i can say that i am, cowardly, afraid of the physical pain i will go through. But i am confident that i will make it.

If you pray, keep my mom and i in your prayers.

And in case you were wondering, I later found the purpose of my pilgrimage. And no honey- its not for the packers to win the Superbowl. I hope to be able to document my pilgrimage. As i write this... this butterfly in my stomach have eased, and now I'm onto a feeling of excitement.

I will be back in a week.

Sit tight boys and girls- when i come back, I'll walk you through my journey