The Happy Things In Life

I had a really bad day at work today. REALLY bad. Working for the federal government for only a year and a half has made me realize the HUGE difference between working for the private sector versus the public sector. Many people have told me "dont let this agency spoil your view of the entire federal service"... but my GOODNESS- Some federal agencies operate so unethically. I left work in tears.

I once heard a story about a father who would leave work every day completely upset. One day he brought a co-worker home with him and the co-worker noticed that he grabbed a leaf on the tree outside, mumbled and continued to walk inside. As the night proceeded the co-worker asked the man "why did you rub that leaf before you came inside?" To which the man replied "I have learned to leave my worries at the door. So everyday, before I walk inside, I hang my worries here so that I can enjoy the happy things in my life". Today, I made myself an imaginary hook wher I begin hanging my worries every day.

My son makes me happy. Every day, when I come home from work, I totally forget about all the bad things that happened. He lights up my life. He completes me. I want to give him all of my attention and show him that I am a very happy mother. So, I hang my worries at the door so that I can totally enjoy him.

This is why I hang my worries at the door... look at how cute he his!


And look- he has FOUR teeth!


And best of all- this is the Authentic Liam Sleeping Position...


I love this kid. Now I am happy again... until tomorrow.

The weirdest night EvEr...

Last night was the most strangest night ever. Below is an account of what happened.

First, I laid Liam down for bed at 7:30, instantly he rolled over and went to sleep. No CRYING. Yes I said it... he did not cry at all. He must have been ReAlLy tired. I went to check on him an hour later and cover him up, this is what I found...

How cute he looks with his butt up in the air, but how uncomfortable. He was in a DEEP sleep here.

Then 9:30 rolled around and we went to bed also. About 11:30PM I woke up to a strange smell. It smelt like smoke from a BBQ grill. Not meat cooking on the grill, but like stinky, burnt smoke. Immediately I begin thinking that Donovan forgot to blow out a candle (actually it smelt like the smoke from a candle once you blow it out). I went out to the kitchen to check. The candle was out. I laid back down and tried to go back to sleep. I work up 20 minutes later and the smell was unbearable. I woke Donovan up. "Honey, do you smell that?" I asked. He woke up and asked me "what is that?" to which I replied that I had no idea. This sent him on an investigation. He came back to bed 10 minutes later and I asked him if maybe he thought it was the heater... he said no. So I tried very hard to go back to sleep. After about another 30 minutes I guess he couldn't stand the smell any longer and got up again. I asked him what he was doing and he said trying to figure out what that smell is. We both went outside to see if it smelt like that outside. Nope, it didn't, but we quickly discovered that it was SUPER windy outside. So, I told him that maybe it blew in through the heater with the wind, and we went back to sleep. We never discovered what it was, and even turned on the lights inside our house to see if it was smokey (that's how bad it smelt).

Then at 2:30 AM we both woke up to a thumping sound. It thumped over and over. It sounded like a rubber ball thumping up against a metal/tin can. Immediately we both thought it was the cat... He got up again- poor guy- to go investigate. I swear, as soon as he got out of bed, it stopped. He went into the living room and was gone for about 5 minutes. He came back into bed and I asked him what it was. Again, he said he had no idea... he couldn't find anything. But then he said "but something really weird happened" to which I asked "what?" He said "I went out to the living room and Tessa (that is our BIG dog) was laying on the couch on the recliner seat". That might not seem weird to you, but out dog does NOT get on the couch. At all. She knows better. In the 7 years we have had her she has never jumped on the sofa, NEVER. I asked him "did you just tell her to get down or did she jump off as soon as she saw you?" and he said "neither, I had to go over to her and push her off". Which is ever MORE weird, because she didn't even care that she got caught. StRaNgE. It was almost liked she was freaked out and needed to get on the couch for comfort. She wasn't even on the long couch. She was on a recline seat. So imagine this- a BIG dog laying on a single person seat all folded up. We went back to bed.

Then about 4:00AM Liam woke up screaming his head off. Unless he is teething, he never wakes up during the night anymore.I went in to see what was wrong. Nothing, Thank the Lord, but he wanted a bottle. So I went and made him one and tried very hard to get him back to sleep. No luck. So I just layed him back in his crib and turned on the music. He cried for another 20 minutes before I went and made him a second bottle and tried again to rock him to sleep. No luck. Again, I laid him in his crib. Ten minutes passed and he went back to sleep. I went in to cover him up, and he must have heard my foot steps because he instantly woke back up. Long story short, I got him back to sleep around 5:30AM.

Next thing I knew it was 8:30 AM and I could hear my son playing in his crib. 8:30????? What, is my clock wrong? I jumped out of bed and checked the clock in the kitchen. Nope, it was right. My son slept until 8:30AM... "My goodness, that was one WeIrD night.

To no avail we never figured out what the burning smell was...

Why?

So, there is this blog, that I am a religious reader of (there are several actually). It is called C Jane Enjoy It and her post today really hit home with me. I am tired of everyone judging people. And therefore, this is what my post is about today.

Why do we judge each other? Shouldn't we just leave it up to God to be the judge? C Jane received an awful comment on her blog. I didnt read it, but according to her, it was malicous, judging and spiteful. I mean, if you dont like someone, why read their blog? If you dont agree with what someone has to say, why read their blog? People say mean things to each other and behind each others backs all the time. I personally, have taken a vow to NOT do this. If I dont have anything nice to say about someone, I try VERY hard to not say it at all. Sometimes in anger we say stuff, and then think that saying sorry is the quick fix. Sometimes, sorry is never said. Sometimes mean things are never said, but judgement is placed on a person.

One thing C Jane put on her blog post today is this (and I quote her) "gave my social working neighbor, Janna, a reason to teach me about our eating disorder culture and why we think "fat" is such a tremendous insult when it isnt. It is a descriptive word that has been abused". I could NOT agree with C Jane more. Our Lord and Savior made us the way he wants us to be. The abuse that has been done to this word is extremely rediculious. Hateful words are said all the time, and they need to STOP. I have learned over the years, that when people say hateful things to just ignore them. Why stoop to that level??? This is why C Jane just deleted the comment that was made.

Thank the Lord for the delete key! Let Him be the judge. If you dont like someone or something they have to say, just keep your mouth shut. Pray for yourself that those nasty thoughts about someone else go away, because He created everyone EQUAL, regardless if you agree with them or not.

Please Pray For My Mom

Dear Readers of my Moms blog:

Please pray for my mommy. I have a severe allergic reaction to both eggs and cows milk. Because of this allergic reaction I can not eat A LOT of things. My mommy is really struggling on what to cook me. You may be really surprised- EVERYTHING is made with either milk, whey, or eggs. Everything from bread to crackers to noodles and pancakes. Please say a prayer for her that she learns how to cook properly for me. My mommy has begun to feed me table food and is struggling with what to make. If you have any ideas on recipes or meal ideas please let her know. Pray that God gives her the wisdom so that this allergy does not make cooking difficult for her. I must say, my mommy has become MUCH more educated on Vegans. She has also started shopping at Trader Joe's for my groceries because they sale a lot of vegan products. One more prayer request- pray that I grow out of this food allergy sooner rather then later and that I never have any side effects from it.

Gods Baby,

Liam

My Hand At Creativity

Just like My Cousin Brianna I am going to post about cake pops. In the picture above, they dont really look like much other then malt balls with sticks. But they are YUMMY. My Sister-in-Law, Dawnelle, is getting married and Brianna and I both had our hand in helping with her bridal shower. Brianna reads this blog Bakerella and told me to go on there and see this "cake pop" that Bakerella invented. She said they look really easy to make, and as a treat for guests to take with them, we should try and make them. So here is the basic recipe for cake pops. Obviously, Bakerella is MUCH more experienced with them and does some creative stuff. Brianna and I stuck to the basics for our first time.

Being that it was our first time, we have learned some must do's and dont's. First- the do's- use a really deep bowl to melt the candy melts in, because as you keep dipping the liquid gets lower and it gets harder to cover the entire bowl. If you are going to use the recipe above buy more then one bag of candy melts, because one was not adequate to dip the entire ball, top to bottom (once you try it you will know exactly what I mean). Do stick the sucker stick in more then it feels like you should. Once the candy melts start to harden we found that the balls tend to fall of if you dont stick the stick in deep enough. If the candy melts start to get hard DO re-heat them in the microwave or else you will have a lot of cake pops fall to there tragic death in the bowl. Now with the dont's- Dont start to late in the afternoon. We started at about 6:30 and did not finish until... well... I am not sure when, because I left Brianna in the kitchen and went to bed, SOOOO SORRY BRI. I just could not stay up anymore. She stayed up until 2AM. If you plan on making 50+ give yourself at least 5 hours of free time to do it (as a beginner). Dont be scared to mix the cake and frosting with your hands. While it is messy, it is fun! And I think you get better balls and and squares. I think that is it for the dont's... for now.

Here all the cake pops ready to be partially frozen before dipping...

And here is our finished product- how preety- we make a good team Brianna!

Busy, busy, busy...

Just thought I would throw this picture in...

So, it looks like this is going to be a VERY busy weekend for the Lucero household. Lots of things going on. To start, Brianna is coming over Friday night and we are baking. What are we baking? Cake Pops. Brianna found a REALLY cute idea on another blog about making cake pops. They are like cake balls on a stick. They look really easy to make and super cute. So, why are we making cake pops? Well, I am partial hosting a  bridal shower on Saturday for my Sister in Law, Dawnelle. We thought it would be a really cute idea to make these cake pops to put by the door so people can take them as they leave. We are decorating then the color of Dawnelle's wedding. At the same time I am also making TWO 20lb briskets for this shower. So I am going to be a busy bee Friday night.

Then on Saturday is the bridal shower. I will post pictures this weekend of the cake pops, and the bridal shower! Lots of fun things planned for that- so it should be LOTS of fun. Then Saturday night we are going over to some friends house for dinner. Sometime this day (maybe Saturday morning) I am going to make biscochitos for my Grandpa. He is still in the hospital, its been two months, but he seems to have a new liking for biscochitos. So I will be baking them as well.

And last but not least on Sunday its church, then off to deliver the biscochitos to my Grandpa and then back home to take down my Christmas Tree. Yes, I said it... I still have ALL my Christmas decorations up. You know, with a 10 month old, who is VERRRY mobile, you do not have time to "un-decorate" your house. So I am hoping I can recruit my husband to help!

When is he going to crawl?????

I am getting antsy. REALLY ANTSY. Over the last two months Liam has learned how to do so many new things. He has learned how to roll a ball back and forth, he can go from laying on his stomach to sitting on his butt, he can say mama, dada and baba. He knows what the word "no" means, he can play patty cake, throw a fit, grind his teeth, cluck his tongue, pull himself up into a standing position, throw a fit, feed himself, and oh yeah... throw a fit. BUT, he is still NOT crawling. I am getting sooo anxious for him. I have a feeling within the next month he will be crawling, but he is advancing in every area other then crawling.

Once my son starts to crawl I will post A LOT more pictures (of everything). Oh yeah, and I am hoping I get the camera I reallllly want for Valentines Day.

Start your bets now... When will Liam start crawling? My bet is by February 9th.

Thats all for now.