A Saturday at the Swap Meet

Today we wanted to give mommy a break and let her catch up on work. So I decided to take the little ones to the local swap meet in Sante Fe Springs. Parking can be a problem if you don’t get there early enough. We were lucky enough to get a parking spot near the entrance. Once we got in the entrance, the smell of churros and bacon wrapped hotdogs was in the air. We decided to check out a t-shirt vendor in the front and Duke saw a t-shirt he liked. The shirt had a diamond and said “Cali” on it. I thought it looked pretty cool, so we bought it and he threw it on. We kept it moving and looked around. You wouldn’t believe all the stuff this swap meet carries. They got everything!  Clothes, underwear, music, dvds, house decor, tools, pets, etc. You name it.  Most likely they have it.  Haha. I  was looking for a little Metallica shirt for Omar, but had no luck finding his size. They had some cool ones for toddlers 2T and up though. Duke was whining that he was hungry and hot. So we went to the middle of the swap meet where they have a food court and a shaded area with a live band playing. I was getting Duke some fries, and the security guard was laughing because Omar was dancing to the music. I got myself a beer and then we sat down and watched the band playing. They were called “Strange Days”. They were covering songs by The Doors and they were pretty good!  Omar was jamming out and kept bouncing himself. He loves rock 'n' roll music. Duke and I kept laughing, because he got so into it.  Once we finished up, Duke wanted to go ride the train in the lil amusement area. After that, we walked around some more.  I didn’t realize how long we were there until we saw a lot of vendors packing up and closing. We called it a day, picked up a pizza for dinner, and headed home. It was a fun Saturday with my babies.

-Chris


Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet
13963 Alondra Blvd.‎
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670

3 Good Things

I needed something like this to remind me of the good things because  I have been no energy, low energy and sick two times over for a couple months now and it sucked.  I'm trying to adjust my sleep schedule to see if it'll help.  I used to go to bed before midnight every night and now I don't even get sleepy till 3am.  The littles keep busy till around 8am and then its up for a little homeschooling.  I would love to have 6 hours of beautiful uninterrupted sleep.

MY THREE GOOD THINGS:

• Omar's 1st Birthday Party!  My baby is turning one!  We officially started planning and we are so excited.  Our families are in Texas so we were low key all these years but Omar is our last child and want to celebrate his big ONE!  I used to plan so many parties when I was a teenager, I got this.   
• GIRLS!  I finally caught up on Season 2.  The plan was to watch a couple episodes but they were so good that I finished five in one night.  Yeah.  Episode 15: One Man's Trash was awesome till Hannah opened her mouth.  I wanted to tell her to just shut up.     
• Sleep!  So I stayed up one night to finish Girls but my boys have been letting me sleep in!  It has been glorious.  I think I just need 2-3 days per week like this and I'm good!  

My Future As A Mommy Rapper...

My husband and I are silly and random.  So when he tells me to bust out a rap, I don't question him - I do it.  Turns out he was recording me with Auto Rap app and this is my song, My Boys Shirts.  Its kinda catchy and makes us all laugh.  I think I sound a little like Kreayshawn.

More proof, I am that Mom!  This app is fun for the whole family!


This post is so not sponsored.

Daddy Weekend

Hey Everybody, This is Xenia's Hubby, Chris.  About a month ago, she came to me with the biggest grin.  So I was like, "What's up babe?"  She told me that she had this big opportunity to go to a conference called Niche Mommy and was chosen to be a brand ambassador for Huggies.  I was happy for her because she seemed so excited to go.  The thing was the conference was going to be in New Orleans which meant she would be away from our six year old and four month old sons for a couple days.  Most often parents would jump at the thought of going on a vacation without their children but I can honestly say my wife & I are not those kind of parents.  We love doing stuff with our kids so I knew it was going to be hard for her to accept the fact she would have to be away from her babies for a couple of days.  So I assured her that the kids would be fine.  I told her that I would take some days off from work to watch them myself and she was much more relieved.  There are times when I tease her about her blogging but it makes me happy knowing that she is doing what she loves to do.

The time she was away in New Orleans, I really enjoyed the time I spent alone with my boys.  We watched movies together, played Legos with Duke, laid around with Omar reading him books, being silly and making him laugh.  We even went on a lunch date at Duke's favorite Japanese restaurant, Niko Niko.  It was kind of weird without Mommy being home and we were all missing her.  Duke would get so excited when she would call on Facetime.  The day she came home, Omar smiled so big, it was great.

It was fun having all that Daddy time with my boys but we were happy having Mommy come back home.

Dear Baby, Why Do You Hate Rap Music?

Omar hates rap, hip hop and pop music.  Any music that isn't rock, he hates.  He cries, not a whiny cry but a full-on "Dad please change the channel" war cry.  It's shocking because I listened to everything when I was pregnant with him.  From the first weeks of his life, he would cry in his car seat anytime we went somewhere.  The minute Chris would put on KROQ, he would stop.  We thought it was a phase but here we are, he is 4 months old and still cries his eyes out if Rage Against The Machine, Metallica or System Of A Down isn't on.  His brothers never complained about music and it amuses me that he is  showing his love of music already.  You have impeccable taste, my baby.  

 

Hi little baby.

My little baby has been studying faces...  and started to "talk" at 8 weeks old!  A couple weeks ago, I was getting ready to feed him and his Daddy had just got in from work and I told Omar "You wanna see Daddy?  Yeah?"

 And he said, "yeah" clear as day.  When I ran out to tell my Husband - he acted like he believed me (God bless him) but must've been thinking I was a bit crazy.  

Later that day, I was relaxing in the living room with my Husband and Duke when Omar was crying for a minute, stopped and said, "Mom" - again, his word was clear as day!  We couldn't believe it but now I had witnesses!  I wasn't hearing things!  (Thank God!)    

And then we started saying "Hi!" and he started saying "Hi" and I finally got it on video!  He is such a sweet, cute baby!  I love that he is mimicking us.  We love his cooing and smiling.  Can not get enough!  (Wondering why we took so long to make another one!)

Birth of a Prince.

We have a little night routine, you & I, Omar.
I bundle you up - Duke says, "You are snug as a bug"
and we head to the kitchen.
I turn on the water and rock you back & forth till you fall asleep.
Sometimes your big brother Duke will sit on a stool and laugh because he can't believe this will help you sleep.
You can't imagine how much I enjoy this moment.  

Omar Theodore was born on April 21st at 8:08pm - He weighed in at 8 pounds 13 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.  He wasn't even my biggest baby!  The first Nurse we asked said Omar was born at 8:13pm but another Nurse corrected her.  8 is mine and my Husband's favorite number.  We were married on 8/8/8.  Some things are just meant to be.

My pregnancy had a few bumps and my labor & delivery had it's bruises but in the end, all the tears and pain were worth our beautiful little boy.  I could go on about how we went through a down syndrome scare, the lab's mix-up about diabetes, how the asshole Anesthesiologist poked the bones in my spine three times, my epidural wore off an hour before I gave birth, Omar had the cord wrapped around his neck TWICE and the first week of his life spent fighting jaundice but let's not.  Let's celebrate the birth of our baby!  We're so happy to have the last piece in our puzzle, you complete us baby.

Duke on Omar.

I started to write a post on Omar and our 6 year old Duke saw it, started to read it and this is what he typed:

HE'S SO SWEET.

He's so cute.

He's so beautiful.

I love Omar.