FIRST STEPS!

Christian took his first steps today. Well, a few hours ago, so technically yesterday night. I went to have some din at Naomi's...mm...Chili...
Christian was just having a blast at her place. I was feeding him a bit of chili. He would crawl over to me, stand next to me and then let go. So he would stand on his own for a bit which he's done now since he was 6 months. However, it just seemed different than before. He would make some form of attempt to take a step and the just drop. Well, Naomi, Ana, Dan and I were watching Dancing w/ the Stars when suddenly, as he took a spoonful of chili, he just went off!
1, 2, 3, 4 steps later, he stops at the corner of the coffee table and drops. He was inches from slamming his head on the corner, but I just couldn't believe it.
With no warning he took about 4-5 steps.

Uh, I just had this baby a few months ago and he's ready to walk!!!!!!!!

You can tell by his reactions he's a little man trapped in a baby's body. He gets so frustrated that he can't do what everyone else around him are doing. Whether he understand it or not, he's not taking no as an answer.

He's talking more now too. “Mama, teta..”

Christian understands what we are saying to him and his personality is shining through more and more each day.
I'll find him putting something in his mouth that shouldn't go there and as soon as I ask him what does he have and I approach him, he bolts! It's the funniest thing to see a 9 month old know that he has something he shouldn't and when mom rolls around he better run!

I know each individual child has his or her own unique traits, but how is it possible for a child so small and young to know so much already? I know what you're going to say. "Children develop and absorb so much information at this stage in their lives, Etc... Etc... Etc...”

See, there's a lot of Jessica's mini-childhood that I don't remember because I was always working and dealing with a lot during that time. I never really enjoyed her babyhood and didn't understand motherhood still. I was young and dumb.

I'm grateful to have a husband, with his faults n' all, that has given me the opportunity to stay at home and raise my babies. So I have to thank him as much as I can for that.

This is why I stopped breastfeeding

Some photo updates!

E...E...E...E...E...E...E...

This is my second video in experimental cell phone movie magic!

My kids

Can't believe it. Christian turns 9 months today. Jessica had a softball game and won. My life as a crafty artist is overwhelming and unorganized. Life is passing by so fast and I can't seem to keep up.
I love my kids and I want the best for them and I hope when they grow up that they feel I was never there for them because mentally I'm always so busy.
I wonder if there is an organizational guru "in training" out there that can come over my home once or twice a week at a reasonable price and work with me. Someone who can get my mind on track.

Wouldn't it be perfect if there was someone that would come to your house a few times a week, work out with you, mainly motivate you to work out and actually take you out anywhere to work out, and help you organize your papers, crafts, beads, do a little light house cleaning, to remind you to eat, give an occasional back massage and then share a beer afterward.

WHERE IS MARTHA STEWART WHEN YOU NEED HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And to think I want more kids. My children fulfill my life. Their personalities, their mannerisms are hysterical.

It's funny to think that just a few years ago I was in Jessica's position in life. Curious about myself, about becoming a woman, wanting to wear bras and make up. Wondering about boys, caring what my friends thought about the clothes I wore and having the right brand of shoes and never believing my elders about what life really is like and what really matters because, of course, my bratty ass, stuck up friends mattered more.

You always want to make sure that your children have more than what you had, but it always ends up that not only do they have more than you at that age, but acquire less respect for the adults in their lives along with it.

Remember, with just a look from your mom, you knew your ass was grass! You would only wish your parents would count to three just to have those few seconds of your life to savor before the whoopin's began?!

Aaahh.. memories.

The few wishes I have for my babies are that they are well rounded good human beings. I hope to become men and women that go forth into society and care. Care about themselves, about others in whatever status those people may be in. Hopefully their minds are not as cluttered as mine. I would like for them to live and laugh their way through life.
I don't plan to hide reality from them. I just hope that I can prepare them for the crude, the rude, the hopeful, love, money, credit and sex.
Christian will open doors for women, shake hands and protect his family.
Jessica will be well traveled, inquisitive and objective.

We'll see what the next few nuggets have in store for me!

So much to do, so little time

I'm back. Tired, and overwhealmed. I've got to get back to beading! What I wouldn't give to be able to get a pedicure right at this very moment. Need a beer and a pedi.

Teeth Galore!

Christian is sprouting teeth and oh how they hurt!!!
I am always in aww at how my little son is growing. But those teeth! Just like Jessica at this same age; he's cut off!

He's mastered standing on the bed. He'll use me as his jungle gym and he slowly rises and stands with no help!! He just turned 8 months a few days back. Just three days before the 24th is when I noticed his first tooth. Actually, I had noticed a little white dot for a while on his gum before.

At the moment I'm distracted. I just finished watching What Dreams May Come. That movie always makes me cry.

Should I go to the gym? (Yawn)

I have to get this moving off the ground!!

I have to push my business off the ground ASAP! I'm tired of having this stuff just sittin' around. I'm almost done with some repairs Ben and LV had given me, I have to add a button to another greeting card I made and add a little flashy pizazz to it and at some point get some sleep.

I'm still sick, so to speak. I went to the doctor today, for myself and Diddy. I have some bacterial infection in my nasal cavities and they're draining to my throat and that's what is causing my oh so irritating cough that inhibits me from my precious sleep. As if I got any to begin with!!

Christian on the other hand has had a red bump on his back. He wasn't born with it, but somehow developed on his back when he was around a month or two old. I was a bit taken back when the Dermatologist saw his back and said, "Oooh! That's a nice one, can I take a picture of it?"

"Uhh.. ok?" He has Juvenile Zanthogranuyloma. Come again? (Background:
Juvenile xanthogranulomas (JXGs) are benign; usually asymptomatic; self-healing; red, yellow, or brown papules and nodules composed of histiocytic cells that predominantly occur in infancy and childhood. Papules or nodules occur in the skin, eyes, and viscera. JXG is the most common form of non–Langerhans cell histiocytosis.)

It should go away in a few years. What bothered me is that they somehow made it an option for me if I wanted it removed or not. They didn't stress it so much, however, it was an option. Yeah right!

I came home and took massive pictures of my jewelry to go on my other website http://rbustillos.snappages.com/ Make sure you go and check it out!

I have to push this website and myself to create and sell. I know people right now can't afford little luxuries with the "economy" being so "bad", but there are people out there that might be in the mood for a new pair of earrings and I think I'm pretty reasonable? I've been working with new materials and new techniques and I'm enjoying it.

I've also been enjoying my phone as well. I've been creating "shorts" and having fun with them! Like this one. Keep on the look out for these. They're bound to pop up on here for your enjoyment!

Still sick

Have a cough, makes my head hurt. Made new earrings, weather is crappy. Diddy's crying. Gotta run!

How to soothe the savage beast

Wanna see a funny tantrum!! He was intentionally trying to scream his way back into my arms, however, I was not done washing the dishes. As a parent you can always tell the difference between a tantrum cry and a real cry. If your baby is fed and dry, and is still crying.. most likely it's just a tantrum. Check this out, this first video is about 7 minutes long. The tantrum was actually going on for about 5 minutes prior to me filming. The end result. You'll see. AHAHAHAHA! I'm laughing cause it's just too cute. And of course, as soon as I picked him up to put him in his crib he woke up. Se La Vie! P.S. Can you hear him snore?

Yay Sun!

"I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkwJ-g0iJ6w

Here comes the rain again - The Eurythmics

"Here comes the rain again

Falling on my head like a memory

Falling on my head like a new emotion

I want to walk in the open wind

I want to talk like lovers do

I want to dive into your oceanIs it raining with you..."

Another rainy day.. Cleaning.. I think I'm going to make one of my world renouned carrot cakes. I keep saying I want to get some reading done, however, little Mr. Baby Barragan doesn't seem to agree with my idea of some litterary entertainment for mommy.

J starts piano lessons tonight.

I'm excited about it. Thanks to Craigslist I made friends with a close by neighbor Azul and J.D. I'm excited to be able to meet new people and the cute part is that Azul is very much preggo! She's due at the end of the month.

I wonder what they're going to have!!!! I think it's a girl.

Aww.. makes me want another. Maybe not. I'll re-evaluate that idea in 2-3 years.

Wait, here's Christian in his walker next to me pulling the crap out of Zach's ear.

Getting back to some housework now! I'm hungry.

Yes, that's me in the morning guys... I always wake up every morning with my broom in my hand ready to work. Like my rainy day hair?! Very sophisticated, no?

Classic

I was going through my pictures and ran into this. That's me in the background at my baptism and that's my Tio Gaston.. Sweet!

Aaaahhh...

It's about time. I actually had an opportunity to go out without the baby. As aprehensive as I was to leave the baby with Marcos, I drove away elated! Met up with LV for pedi's and we walked to The Ritual Tavern and met up with Ben and their friends.
Funny thing, Ben noticed how out of place I felt. Not so much because I was either at a new restaurant or around another couple I don't know, but more because it was so noticable how akward I was acting as that was my first outting in months without Mr. Baby Barragan.
I had a great time and I recommend the fish and chips. Afterward, I thought I was going home, however, Elvira and Ben were not havin' it. Elvira hopped in my car and we headed back to her place. I'm glad I did. I had one of the best nights I've had in a long time. So I thank you Elvira and Ben for some much needed "No baby night out" night.
Today, another day of rain. Day 3. I staying in house ALL day. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a little more energy to craft something up and maybe get some reading done.

Let's See..

Weekend with the in-laws was fun. Christian is growing and growing. He's thrown some great fits while I'm out grocery shopping, but he will not win the war!!
He's built quite and attitude problem. I had noticed it before, but now I really see it. When he's mad, oh, he'll make it known. When he sits in his high chair he'll bang his hands down on the table either upset, frustrated or not receiving his food fast enough. He will not drink milk out of the bottle, only juice.
He loves struttin' his stuff on the walker and it's so cute to see how excited he gets when he sees me as I come into a room. It's also funny to see how he reacts when I pick him up from the 24 Hour Fitness Kids Club. At times he's fussy with Gretchen, but as soon as I come in to pick he and Jessica up, he gets excited and cries at the same time.
Jessica is so great with him. She's a wonderful big sister and Christian knows it. They fit together like bread n' butter. You can see how much he loves his big sister and the time they spend together.

Yesterday, Jessica had a bad tumble at school. I was pretty worried about it. I received a call from the school nurse informing me that J had fallen off the monkey bars and hit her back on some sort of bench before she landed on the ground. By the time I got to the school she was a bit hunched back and slow to walk. I saw her back and there was such a bad bruise. After speaking with her dad, we decided to take her to urgent care. They evaluated her and concluded that she just fell pretty hard and to take it easy with an ice pack and some Motrin. I spoke with her today and she said she's well, just sore which is expected.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Hanging out with LV!!
Oh yeah! Finally took down that Jacaranda tree! Well, with my mom's help. She is the one who actually pushed the tree down to its end. Unbelievable! I tell you, the front yard looks so much better.

And I was able to make another greeting card. I'm really excited about this one. Working with layers, textures and shapes give this card such a great dimension. Yes?!
Remember to always live your life to the fullest!

Just thought of the word for my mood

Nostalgic

The last 4 days days

Let's see...

Christian began to make "ba ba" noises now. Where before he was making noise, he's now beginning the path of making words. He's been able now to pull himself up from whatever is around and stand and has been crawling now for over a month.

I'm still working on my landscaping. I received a box full of succulents from a "neighbor". I haven't found out who yet, but I put them to great use today in my empty flower pots.

My brother and I finally took down that monster of a dead tree that was just creating such a dreary look to my house. I hate to cut down trees, however, this Jacaranda was officially dead. So in its place I planted a Ficus Benjamina. The house looks so much bigger in terms of yard space having the old tree down. I also gave away my Morning Glory plant.

I know, I have them tattooed to my back, why on Earth would I give this plant away. Simple. It was killing my Canna Lillies, and it was harboring.... S-P-I-D-E-R-S!

Not having it. Luckily enough through the wonders of the internet and Cragslist, I posted the plant and had two wonderful neighbors haul it away. At least it went to a better home.

Lastly, I'm working on two great projects. A necklace and a greeting card. I don't know the name of the stone I'm using on this particular necklace, but the brass beads are handmade from Africa.

Oh, and I just started working on my business cards, what do you think?

I love this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzAv0zNEsnM

My plane dream

I was home with the kids. I can feel a rattle through the house and a strange sound outside. Kind of far off in the distance and at the same time faintly familiar. It was the sound of a plane coming down. I run outside and I can see the plane go over the house in such a close proximity and with such velocity pass us. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I needed to see where it was going to land.

Suddenly it crashes, somewhere around what seemed like National City. I can see the plume of smoke and the ball of fire blast up from the crash site. The force of the blast was so strong I became aware that the blast of fire was heading towards us!

I run inside, grab Jessica by the shirt and Christian under my arm and my initial instinct is to run into Jessica's room because it's the furthest room in the house away from the blast.

I was so glad I did. The sonic blast from the fire hit the house and destroyed the windows.

Afterwards, after I opened my eyes, I realized I was in downtown Gaslamp, close to where Seaport Village is and the trolley tracks. People around seemed as if they didn't know about the plane crash, but the atmosphere seemed so robotic. I tried to speak but words weren't coming out. Then, up in the sky I see a long white cylindrical tube with 4 cylindrical wings, two on each side. The face of the cylinder was black. It seemed like a monitoring plane thing. It was too thin to hold people in. Imagine those Star Wars fighter planes with the X wings with a long cylinder tube instead. (I drew a scetch of this "spy" plane thing)

I look off to the right and I see a machine open up like transformer where it unfolds and a rocket or missile I should say shoots out of it; (by the way, where I was standing I could see the airport. For some reason where Seaport Village is, in my dream was the airport.)

The missile hits the airport! That's when people start panicking.

I woke up after that.

Oh what a day

Today was a beautiful day. Just as expected in San Diego. I washed Zach and took him and Christian out for a walk. It was a beautiful day. I decide before the Charger/Pittsburgh game to go to Michael's and check out the sales. I picked up foam alphabetical letters for Christian's room, some paper and stamps to start my new project, greeting card making. After hearing the two cashier lady's talking crap about their co-workers I wish one of them well and I'm off to look for shoes for Christian. Pay less... none, Target... none. I head back to my car, run into a Wetsel's Pretzels grab a jalapeno pretzel and away we go. But not until Christian throws one of his fits of rage, refusing to get into his car seat.
Now we're off to Burlington Coat Factory. Unfortunately, I wake him up taking him out of his car seat and I immediately head for the lady's room. Time to eat Christian! I figured that's the no fail solution to go through the store with no musical compilations from my miniature Pavarotti. We get through the first few isles an he's starting to warm up his throat. Yes! I find a pair of shoes for him, lets find something for Jessica. I grab a cute book and some undies for her and I make a trip over to the Home Decor section. Now it starts!?!
There is no way of subduing the wild beast once he's off n' going. I make it to the check out counter with only a mild battle and we're in the car back home. Again, I wake him once we're there. I'm sure that is in part the reason why cranky pants is... cranky!
We hang out at home, he's fine. Marcos decides to go out for dinner......... What a mistake that was. Once again he falls asleep on the way to Lefty's which is only 1/2 a mile away from the house and upon arrival, he wakes up. Marcos thought he could handle it. He says, "Don't worry about it! We'll take the stroller and I'll make him fall asleep."
WRONG!
Never fails, as soon as MY food arrives, Pavarotti does as well. Wails n' all. Mind you, Lefty's is a small, small pizza shack filled with hungry patrons and my son will make it knows that he has arrived.
He's not hungry, he's not wet or soiled. Sleepy, maybe. But he's going to make damn sure that his interrupted beauty sleep will not fly with him.
Marcos receives his food and as soon as I take a bite of my fry, excited that we are actually out of the house and in a somewhat restaurant type establishment, the wailing continues.
Embarrassed and slowly loosing my appetite I ask for "To-Go" boxes and we bolt.
Yep, we leave. On the way home, all of 5 minute drive, he sleeps and once home, he wakes.
I make it my mission to make sure he stays up! Imma wear him out so that he can sleep for more than just 2 hours this time.
Christian is 6 months and still wakes just about every 2-4 hours through the night and only naps at most 30 minutes through the day.
Right now Christian and Marcos are watching Sports Center.
Let's see what Perez Hilton has going on.