11/23/05: Madeline learned how to blow a bubble today! She is sooo excited about it! She received lots of pink bubble gum for Halloween and she has been practicing. I have been showing her exactly how to do it by putting gum in my mouth and showing her where to put her tounge and when to blow. She ran out of gum yesterday so we bought her Bublicious. that was even better than the Super Bubble. It took her about a week to get it. She is so proud of herself!
Maddy is really learning how to read and spell words. She can do 3 letter words that are phonetic, but that's quite a few words for a 4-year-old! It takes her some time to sound them out, but I'm super proud of her!! She has fun doing it; the smile she gets on her face when she is successful is such a joy!
11/21/05: This past weekend we were able to spend most of the time at home, which is unusual for our family especially this time of year. From here on out our weekends are pretty packed with Holiday stuff! It's nice to have free time, but it's also nice to be busy spending time with our friends and family. Tis' the Season!
Christian got a turn to take Emma to the doctor this time. She woke up around 10PM on Saturday night crying and saying, "I hit my ear on something". We asked her what she hit it on and she said, "I don't know." I said, "your water cup?, the side of your bed...?" Emma said, "I said I don't know!". We asked her where it hurt and she put her finger inside her ear. Turns out, She has an ear infection. Poor Baby! She's on anitbiotics now and should be better in no time. She still has her cold from last week, but Landon is over it. I can't wait til our whole house is well!
11/19/05: Yesterday I took Landon and Emma to see Maddy's Thanksgiving program at school. Each of the classes did 2 or 3 songs. It was adorable. Check out the videos of the morning on our front page. After the program we all went for a delicious turkey feast. The preschool provided the turkey and potatoes. Then each class was assigned something to bring to add to the feast. It was fun to meet some of Maddy's friends and their parents too. We all had a great time.
11/15/05: I took Emma and Landon for a doctor visit yesterday. Both of them have been coughing and have runny noses. Bronchitus has been going around at church, so I wanted to take them in and rule that out. No Bronchitus here, they both have a cold. The doctor said to keep a close eye on Landon because he's so young. If he has a sign of fever to bring him back in. She said to have him sleep in his carseat or swing so his head is upright and place him near the vaporizor. Emma and Landon are sleeping in Landon's room together so they both benefit from the vaporizor. I always hate to see my kids sick, but it is that time of year again. Hopefully the rest of us will let this cold pass without catching it!
11/14/05: On Friday (Veteran's Day) Christian and I got away for an entire day without any children. We had so much fun! We went to a very nice breakfast, we saw a movie (The Weatherman), we went to Ventura Harbor to walk on the beach, we went shopping at the outlet malls, and we did some Christmas shopping at Toys R Us. We hadn't been on a date since Landon was born. It was wonderful to just be together! Tina watched all of our kids (6 total) for the day. They had a great time and Tina said that it wasn't that difficult. I'm so happy the kids all behaved for her! Thanks Tina!!
11/14/05: If you havn't seen my kids in awhile here's a little info to help you picture their sizes. Also this is for me in the future since I'm not doing so well on keeping up with the baby books!
Madeline- 46 pounds and 43 inches tall. She wears a size 5/6 clothing and shoe size 11.5
Emma- 30 pounds and 35 inches tall. She wears a size 2T and shoe size 8.
Landon- 12.5 pounds and 25 inches. He is wears mostly 0-3 months and some 3-6 months. His shoe size is 0 or 1.
My babies are all growing so fast! I can't believe I will have a kindergardener in only 9 months! I am having the time of my life being a mother. This is the time of life I waited for as a child. I always wanted to have my own kids! Although it is difficult at times, I know this time will pass quickly so I want to enjoy every minute of it. God has blessed Christian and I with healthy energetic kids; I love them with all my heart!!
11/10/05 Landon laughed today!! It was the cutest thing! He was laying in Christian's arms and I was talking to him and he laughed! He did it 3 or 4 times and it was adorable!!
11/9/05 Hey there! Now you can see my kids in action! I have downloaded movies to my site! Check on the front page under our family picture. There is a film-strip. Click on the strip and you can watch a movie of Maddy doing her letter sounds and 2 different ones of Emma singing. Fun, Fun, Fun!!
11/03/05 Christian has been hard at work on our kitchen floor. He did most of it on Saturday. But he did the finishing touches on Sunday and Monday. Then he did the steps out of the kitchen to the playrom on Wednesday and tonight. It's almost done. He needs to do the "corner round" still. The lanolium was white, we laid a brown marble "tile" this time. It is reallly lanolium squares, but it looks like tile. I love it!
It looks like we may be 3 for 3 when it comes to creating thumb sucking children. Landon put himself to sleep with his thumb in his mouth tonight. Everyone says switch it for a pacifier, but none of our kids really liked the pacifier once they found their thumbs. We still give Landon the pacifier sometimes when he's awake or when we're holding him, but he can't (or won't ) keep it in his mouth for long.
Landon had his 2 month well-baby check-up today. He weighs 12 lbs., 7 oz. and is 24 in. long. He's in the 50th percentile across the board. I thought he would be off the charts, but I guess not!? He's just perfect! The doctor was shocked that he's sleeping 10-12 hours per night and that he's eating 6 oz per feeding. He's doing great! ...My little angel!
11/1/05 We had a great time as the "Wizard of Oz" family. We pulled it off, sort of! The kids looked great, but Christian and I looked a little silly. Christian really got into the whole scarecrow thing. He was pretty creative with his head and make-up. We had fun doing it; and hey, we got a cute picture for the scrapbook!
I used Rit dye for Landon's costume. I died a light grey puppy pajama and hat to be black. The problem of the night was that his costume was rubbing off on anyone who held him. Oops! Now I know for next year... Wash a died outfit before you put it on. Landon's head and body were a little black when we got home. Daddy gave him a nice warm bubble bath and scrubbed him down. He still has remnants of Halloween in his fingernails and toenails!
10/31/05 Happy Halloween!! Tonight we will go to the Fall Family Festival. The kids are excited about going. Maddy remembers it from last year and Emma has seen the pictures. They both know they are going to get lots of CANDY!!!
Last night the whole family worked on our pumpkin that Daddy bought. He got a nice big one! Daddy drew the face on it and he and Maddy carved it while Emma did the dishes (see picture). It came out pretty cute, but the girls were much more interested in coloring on the pumkin than carving it.
Maddy went on her first field trip today. They went to Peltzer Farms in Tustin. Her favorite thing to see was a chicken sitting on her eggs. She also said that she saw: a corn field, indian corn, baby goats, a macaw, squash, hay, scarecrows, and LOTS of Pumpkins! She picked her own pumpkin right off of the vine. She got to ride on a big yellow school bus. It scared me a little to know that my baby was going to be on the road not in her carseat, and worse yet, not even in a seatbelt. I couldn't think too much about it. She's home safely now and she had a wonderful time!
10/30/05 Christian took the girls to church this morning and I am here at home with Landon. I can walk around just fine now, I can even carry Landon around the house a little bit. I'm taking today off of church so I don't jump into normal life too quickly. I need to let my body heel itself. I have the natural tendency to want to do everything and get back to normal quickly, but I should take it easy.
Part of my job at church as the Director of Children's Mionistry is planning the Fall Family Festival , a community event as a trick or treating alternitive for our church and the surrounding neighborhood kids. Being on maternity leave for September and half of October, and then out with my surgery all of last week has really placed this event on the rest of the chrch staff. I wanted to have the surgery done after the Festival, but it didn't work out that way. I'm sure the church staff did a wonderful job with the festivities this year, but I can't help feeling guilty that I couldn't do my job. It will be held tomorrow night. I think we will take the kids for an hour or so. I would hate for them to miss it! Christian said he would take them without me, but I really want to see it thorugh their eyes. I'm sure we'll have lots of pix to share from the event!
10/28/05 Landon is smiling a ton now! It's so much fun. He's a very happy baby. He had formula while I was in the hospital and I pumped quite a bit too! He didn't mind the formula at all. He has gone back and forth from the breast to the bottle with no problems. He doesn't care as long as he's eating every three hours! He takes about 6 ounces at each feeding. That seems like a lot for a little guy. But, he's not all that little for 8 weeks old! He slept 11 hours straight last night. He went down at 9 PM and woke up at 8 AM. Not bad!!
October 28, 2005- I am so happy to be back at home recovering from my surgery. Everything happened so fast! It was only a week ago that I was typing that I would schedule the surgery for a day that was convenient for me. Little did I know that a gallstone would lodge itself in my bile duct (potentially fatal) and would have to be rushed to the ER.
Since I have been married to Christian I always thought he was quick to jump to go to the doctor or hospital. Could I have been more WRONG?? If it wasn't for Christian calling the doctor on Saturday morning, who knows what could have happened? I probably would have just waited for my scheduled doctor's appointment on Wednesday to talk about my yellow skin and and upset stomache. God has blessed me with a caring and very responsible husband!
It was tough being in the hospital for 4 days. I really missed my kids!! I still do. Tina brings home Emma today from staying with my mom and dad. So many people have come to our aide to help with the kids. Christian's parents had them for the first few days and my mom stayed here with them when Christian was at the hospital with me. Montse and Liz Love have helped these past few days while I have been recooperating at home. I am feeling better now. It still hurts to bend over or pick up anything heavy, but I am feeling a little better every day. I have 5 incisions total; on the top, bottom, and sides of my tummy, and a bigger one on my right side. They aer painful, but healing pretty quickly. I guess I'll never be a swimsuit model now!
Thank you to all that have helped out, and for your prayers and support!
October 25, 2005- It was the hardest thing I had to do. Take my wife to the hospital not because she was in labor but because she may be suffering from a potentially fatal gal bladder attack. Seeing her jaundiced on Saturday was scary. She did not know that I had done some research on Gall stones and she did not know that I was scared to death. Hiding the tears from my eyes I helped her gather her things and get in the car, not know what was to lie ahead. Once the ER examined her and admitted her, I knew that we had done the right thing. The Dr. said we came in at just the right moment. The only thing I feared now was whether I was coming home alone.
Sunday Julie went in for Gall stone removal. Docs found nothing and assumed it either passed or went back up to the gall bladder. Julie was very much under anasthesia when she got back to her room and could hardly open her eyes. But soon she was back in good spirits.
Monday she went in for the gall bladder removal. When she returned to the room, I could not believe my eyes. I had never seen her in so much pain. She did not want to be moved to her bed and she conjured up enough strength to tell them so. But she did not get her way. Normally it is good to see her not get her way, but not this time. The nurses wanted me out of the room as they moved her, but I could not leave and they would be in for a fight if they removed me. It broke my heart to see my wife so helpless and not be able to do anything about it. I pray that none of you reading this have to go through something like this. Driving in to the hospital these last couple of days has been horrible. I told my friend Tracy that there are moments in my life when I pause and think, "This is really adult and I am going through it." I am certainly not in my invincible 20s and neither is my wife. I do not want to be a grown up, it certainly is not all it is cracked up to be.
My heart sank again this morning when the surgeon, Dr. Litvak, came and said that Julie's immense pain was abnormal and he had to order x rays and blood work. Already seeing her in pain all day yesterday and this morning, not being able to let the kids see her, watching her heart break over not breast feeding our son, and now this. I give blessings to God that we are so surrounded by family and friends. The prayers and support of everyone has been great.
Julie is being released tonite. Her x rays and blood test have come back and all is clear. She is hopeful to see her girls. Luckily she has had Landon all day and has been able to breast feed him. Her spirits are up and the girls and I are at home anxiously awaiting her arrival. Both Julie and I are deeply impacted by this event. We are both in shock and sobered at the reality of watching our health. We are making quick and drastic changes to what we eat and how active we are. I ask for your prayers as we make the paradigm shift from a lifestyle 30 years in the making. I know that Gall stones are common with pregnancy but the fact is that diet plays a big role. This certainly is a poor time of year to begin dieting as the holidays are just around the corner. But we are facing this with grave determination.
Thank you again, all of you, for your support and encouragement.
October 25, 2005 - (12noon) Julie is still in the hospital and she is in a lot of pain, way more then expected. She said it REALLY hurts when her lungs expand. They aren't sure why this is so they are going to do some x-rays.
They are trying to keep her on a lot of pain meds to help relieve some of her pain. But she hasn't been on Morphine for more then 24 hours so she was able to feed Landon today, Yeah!
The plan for the week is that Julie's mom will take Emma home with her until Friday (so she doesn't have to deal with the girls fighting), and a friend will take Maddy to and from preschool. Their Church is also starting to do meals again for them. Thankfully Julie is surrounded by friends and family that love and care for her very much! Hopefully she will be on the mend soon and start to feel better.
October 24, 2005 - I talked to Julie's sister Tina this morning. She said that Julie is going to have surgery at 9am this morning. Julie was able to have a little food too. Julie is on a morphine drip and vacadine for the pain. Let's pray that everything goes well with the surgery this time.
October 24, 2005 It's a Go! It's 9am now and she going in to surgery! Godspeed Jules!
Julie made it through the surgery ok, minus a gallbladder which is a good thing! Although right now she is in an incredible amount of pain! Hopefully she will feel better soon!
October 23, 2005 They did surgery on Julie today but could not take out her gallbladder because her liver was so swollen. They have to wait until it goes back down which may be either tonight or tomorrow. Poor Julie is in terrible pain and has had tests all day.
I just got off the phone with Julie. She sounded great but you never know with Julie because she is so strong. She said she truly was not in any pain though because of the medication they were giving her. Christian and her mom are with her. The kids are with their Lito and Lita. In fact the kids were able to visit her today. I asked if Maddy and/or Emma was scared and she said no they just wanted her to come home. Julie's mom said they probably are expecting her to bring home another baby. Julie said not this time, just gallstone sand.
Julie has been able to pump, although while on medication she has to throw it out. But at least she is able to keep her milk production going.
We still don't know when she will have her surgery to remove her gallbladder. They keep checking her liver enzyme levels to see if they have gone down.
October 23, 2005 - (Christian Here) The Drs at Kaiser have been wonderful. Their communication with me about what Julie is going through. Today she had a ERPC which is a scope that goes down her throat and to her Gall bladder and liver. They found fragments of the stone but no stone. It either passed on Friday when she had pain or it went back up to the gall bladder. Her liver is enflamed. It was .6 on Tuesday, and today it is 4.6. I do not know what measurement they use, but the fact is that it is enlarged. Julie and I will be going on a no/low fat diet to help the liver come down. So the end result of all this will be a healthier and more active lifestyle. So good things will come. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for our family. I appreciate the support of all our friends and family.
October 22, 2005 Julie had been feeling really bad since Wednesday night. But in typical Julie fashion she kept going right along with work, and family, etc. Saturday morning she was in the bathtub and Christian said she looked yellow. Julie didn't think anything of it. But while Julie was still in the tub Christian called the doctor who told Julie to come as fast as she can to the hospital. So, without Christian's fast thinking who knows what would have happened.
Julie has been rushed to the hospital and will have emergency gallbladder surgery tomorrow morning.Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
Since little Landon has had to go on formula. Julie has asked for a special prayer request. Please pray that Julie can continue to nurse Landon after she recovers and that he will latch on again without problems. Thank you!
10/20/05- Things are pretty hectic around here. It's not easy being a mother of 3. The girls continue to fight with eachother quite a bit, especially if I'm on the phone or feeding Landon. I know the answer to this is that I sit down and play with them more often, but finding the time to relax with them and just play is hard. I'm still figuring out how to juggle the girls, the baby, being a wife, work, and keeping up the house. I guess it will all come together somehow? But, this week has been a tough one!
About a month ago I had Christian take me to the emergency room because I was having terrible, horrible pains in my stomache and back. It was 2AM and Jen came to the rescue again. We left the girls sleeping at home with Jen and took Landon to the ER with us. I had no idea what the problem was. After doing an ultrasound it was determined that I had gall stones. The doctor said that I could have surgery to remove them, or they may go away on their own. I chose no surgery.... Well, this past Sunday night it came back with avengence. I had the stones again. I saw a specialist on Tuesday morning and he said I need to have the surgery done. I have a consultation on October 26th and we will schedule the surgery that day. I will keep you all posted on what is going on. Please keep me in your prayers.
10/14/05- Landon has continued to sleep through the night now. Thank God for that! He is making a lot of adorable little sounds and talking now. If you are patient with him, he will coo and smile at you quite a bit. I loved this age with the girls and I'm loving it again! It's so much fun when your child begins to interact with you.
Everyone is now telling me how much Emma is talking. To me, she has been talking in sentences understably for 5 or 6 months. But, I guess everyone else is beginning to understand her now. She does talk a ton!
Both of the girls have imaginary friends. Maddy has been friends with "Angela" for about 2 years now. She came around when I was pregnant with Emma. Maddy was just turning 2. Angela eats dinner with us every night and Maddy tells stories about Angela's life and family at least 10 times every day. Now, Emma has a make-believe friend too. Her name is Reena. We "met" Reena when I was pregnant with Landon; right around Emma's second birthday. Coincidence?? Maybe it's a pregnancy thing or maybe at's a turning two thing?? I should read some psychology books about it?! Emma makes up all kinds of stories about Reena and she talks to her on her Little Mermaid phone daily. The girls actually fight for our attention to tell us stories about their make-believe friends. They both have quite the imaginations!!
What to do? Who did such a crime? Who will pay for this assault on picture taking freedom?
Christian will.
That's right, it is my fault. I went out kayaking on Big Bear lake with the guys. Daniel and I were on the tandem when a wake from a fisherman's trolley struck us sideways. We went down and the camera fell out of the pouch it was in. The pouch was not zipped since I had just taken some killer shots. I know, I know...stupid to have the camera on the water. Well in all of my experience I have never been dumped off a kayak. So naturally, I thought, on a quiet Monday morning on the lake, I should have no problems. As a distant, very distant footnote to this tragedy, I and Daniel, am alright. The water was about 40 degrees and we did go into shock, but managed to swim to shore and rest. We were both glad it happened because of what it added to the adventure of the day. The TRUE ADVENTURE was telling Julie of her camera's demise. A moment of silence for Sony Cyper Shot 3.2 megapixel.........thank you. He was a workhorse, endured the constant abuse of being banged around caseless in the dark dungenous and crowded caverns that are my wife's purse. All the while taking pictures of our family in both proud and compromising moments. We will miss you. Here's to you my little friend...without you we might have missed saving countless memories...may you rest well at the bottom of Big Bear Lake.
10/12/05- Well, here I am back at work today. I was even on time! It was a challenge. I actually didn't acount for us taking 10 minutes to get into the car this morning. But, we still got everyone where they needed to be in a timely manner.
Biggest news of the day (or week or even month.....)
Landon slept through the night!!!
He went down for the night about 11PM and he didn't wake up until 5:30 this morning. It was so wonderful to get 6 and a half hours straight through! He picked a perfect night to do it too considering it was my first day back today. I feel so refreshed! We still went back to bed for a little bit after he was done eating....oh it was so nice!
Christian went on a kayaking rip with a few friends on Columbus Day. While on Big Bear Lake, he and his friend, Daniel tipped over in their tandem kayak and fell out into the 50 degree water. They tried to get back in but couldn't so they had to swim to shore. Luckily they were both OK (no frost-bite), but our digital camera was in the kayak and is now at the bottom of the lake. I tell you this story to say that I am now the owner of a new digital camera with a printing dock. You didn't expect that I would go more than a day without a camera!! Christian bought me a new camera after work on Tuesday. I like it a lot, although I havn't quite figured out all of the ways to use it. I will be posting new pictures from the new camera soon.
10/9/05- This is the week I go back to work. I love my job and I love the people I work with, I am just dreading getting all of us showered, fed, dressed, and out the door by 8:20 in the morning! It was tough when I only had the two girls. Now I have Landon and he needs to eat at 5:30 AM and at 8:00 AM. It will be a whirlwind, but I know we will get used to it. Maddy will be a big help now that she is pretty independent at getting herself ready (all except doing her hair). My first day back is Wednesday. Keep us all in your prayers.
We have implemented a new rule in our house this week. It's not going over very well, but we need to give it time. The rule is "No night-nights outside of their bedroom." Night-nights are the girls' favorite blankets. Madeline is doing fine with it. She doensn't seem to mind that much. Emma on the other hand, has had a really hard time with it. Our reasons for doing this is Emma was constantly walking around the house with her blanket sucking her thumb. She would also misplace her night-night about 20 times a day causing tears and panic for awhile until it was found. Putting this rule into affect will eliminate these problems. Also, Maddy would get into a daze watching a movie and sucking her thumb if she had her blanket. We really want to work on Maddy's thumb-sucking habit, and this will help with that too. Emma has been crying quite a bit because she wants her blanket with her, but our response to it has been that she can go in her room if she would like to have her blanket. I will keep you posted on our progress. It has only been 3 days so far. I think we will all be happy with our new found Torresluna household rule.
It's hard to believe Landon will be 6 weeks old this week. He is growing so fast! He is so much fun too. He is starting to coo at us when we talk to him and he is making good eye contact now. His favorite place to be (besides in our arms) is his swing. We try not to let him nap in it too much, but he really likes it.He went in the church nursury today for the first time. It wasn't a bog deal today because he slept the entire time and it was only for the Sunday School hour, not the service. Next week he will go in for both. I will have asome time to go in and feed him between.
We are really enjoying the three kids. Life is getting easier every day. Thanks for checking in on us! We love you all.
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