How I managed to ruin two perfectly good appliances in one day...and other mom-fail moments

Mom-fail #1 

Yep that's right. Two. In one day. About 20 minutes actually. Although one isn't actually ruined after all. So here's the story. After living in absolute chaos for a few months, I decided it was high time I get back into a cleaning routine. So I started last week and was feeling pretty proud of myself for keeping the house at least sanitary again. Until Tuesday that is...when I attempted the kitchen. I usually clean our microwave with vinegar by steaming it. You can read all about that process here. Well I've been doing it this way for about 6 or 8 months so I've done it plenty of times. But apparently I did something different this time. I put the vinegar/water in a glass bowl and turned on the microwave (just like I always do) and started cleaning the dishwasher front. The kids were asleep so the house was quiet except for the hum of the microwave running. And then it happened. It sounded like a gunshot went off and I jumped and screamed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the microwave door flying open and the glass bowl hurtling out. After I recovered from my mini heart attack (my heart was racing for a good ten minutes) I realized what had happened. Apparently the vinegar evaporated. Apparently when that happens the glass bowl gets reeeeally hot. And apparently when the glass bowl gets really hot it explodes. So yes, basically I exploded the door off my microwave. The bad news is the microwave no longer works. The good news is that apparently I have two really good sleepers because neither of them woke up ;)

Ok, appliance number two. As I was recovering from the shock of an explosion in my kitchen, I decided to continue cleaning the other appliances. Typically I just use an all-purpose cleaner and wipe down the fronts but I thought I would go the extra mile and clean our stainless steel appliances with a cleaner made specifically for that purpose. So I cleaned the dishwasher front. Sparkling. The oven? Sparkling. The refrigerator? Streaky and scratched. No one told me our refrigerator was a fraud. It's FAKE stainless steel and that does not work well with stainless steel cleaner. 

However, I was able to salvage the fridge pretty well after lots of rinsing and wiping and buffing. It's not as good as new but it's not too noticeable. 

Mom-fail #2

Twice in the same week I drove home from an outing without buckling my toddlers car seat. Somehow in the chaos of getting both kids out of the parking lot and into the car and loading the stroller while the baby's screaming all while it's a million and one degrees outside...it just got overlooked. And I get reminded about it regularly by my 2 year old who remembers everything. "Mommy didn't buckle me earlier and yesterday! Isn't that so silly?!" Yeah....

Mom-fail #3 

I'm standing in church Sunday morning with my family (E has started coming to "big church" for the music part of our worship service since I've been taking a break from playing keyboard). I was just singing and noticing all of the babies in the service (our church is full of babies). I heard a baby start crying and thought to myself how glad I was that our church recognizes the blessing of children and enjoys having them in service. The baby continued to cry and I began to look around to find out whose it was. All the babies in my line of sight looked happy. "Whose baby is that?!" I said to myself. And then I realized what you've probably guessed by now...it was my baby. Mom-fail.



Thankful that these moments are laughable now. And thankful for grace as I muddle my way through this mess of motherhood.

Until next time!

Adventures with two kids

Well I know you probably don't believe it since I've been MIA since Zoe was born, but we ARE surviving!! The adjustment phase is lasting a lot longer than my optimistic brain planned on it being but that's ok! Zoe has been a really great baby for the most part. She's starting to be awake a bit more during the day and is smiling and "talking" more every day. She sleeps great at night, usually about a 4 hour stretch at the beginning of the night and then eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. She doesn't cry at all at night so we are actually getting a decent amount of sleep. The evening however, is a different story. As best as I can tell she has colic (that mysterious and dreaded word). So we have nightly crying fests (mostly her, although I may have joined in a few times). Elias has had a bit of an adjustment phase as well as he gets used to sharing mommy's time. We've been having a lot more behavioral issues than we were used to with our usually complaint little man. All to be expected, but the combination of a demanding newborn and a much more demanding 2 year-old has left very little time for much else besides survival. I'm sure as the weeks go by and things smooth out, I will feel like we have a life outside of crying babies again! So here are some of our adventures with two kids!

First church day 

Lots of walks in the boba wrap!

Sunday night trip to the myriad gardens for water fun and live music (plus the best chocolate malt ever!)

Zoe's first trip to the zoo!

Lake fun with family

Sometimes your house looks like this...

And sometimes you let your kid jump on the bed with a bucket on his head...

LOTS of days this happens...(why yes, that is her brother's rain boot looming ominously in the corner of the photo) 

And some days, if you're lucky, this happens. 

And that's what makes it worth it. With all the good, the bad, and the ugly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Sibling love melts this mama's heart. 😍

Our new addition!

She's here!! Zoe Jane Souza was born on Tuesday night, June 17 at 8:48 pm. She weighed 7 lbs and was 19.7 inches long. 

After about two weeks of sporadic, mild contractions, I woke up Tuesday morning  with much stronger contractions. They were still coming irregularly and I could still walk and talk through them but I was pretty sure this would be the day she would come. After all, it was her due date! ;)

Marcos had come home early on Monday not feeling well so Tuesday morning I asked him to go ahead and stay home again. I just had "that feeling" that it would happen. The contractions slowed down around lunch but I was tired and we ordered Mcalister's for lunch. Around 1 I laid down for about an hour while Elias took a nap. Marcos called his parents and asked them to go ahead and pick up Elias for the afternoon since I needed to rest and then he and Elias sat down to watch the Brazil World Cup game while I packed the bags for the hospital. Marcos came in the room and said "whoa you're packing everything!" I don't think he believed me that we were having a baby that day ;) Lisa came around 3 and got Elias and I sat down with Marcos to finish watching the game. It was during the second half of the game that the first really hard contractions came - two 10 minutes apart. After the game I tried to rest but I couldn't sleep because the contractions were too strong. Our friend, Crystal, was a doula for this labor and this is about where her version of our birth story picks up. 

"On Tuesday June 17th Maddie began having contractions.  They were not consistent during the morning and they were all in her front.  At 12:45pm she texted their doula, Crystal Steele, that she had been having contractions all morning.  The Souza’s were all home together that morning.  In the afternoon Lisa came to get precious Elias so that Maddie and Marcos could rest a bit.  At 5:40pm Maddie chatted on the phone with their doula again about her first labor.  During their 20 minutes on the phone Maddie had 3 contractions that each lasted 30 seconds or longer.  At 6pm the contraction kept coming and at 6:30 they were preparing to leave the house."

 Marcos had jumped in the shower about 6:15 and I decided to FaceTime my mom (who was in china picking up my newest sister!) before I was in too much pain to talk. That is right when the contractions came on suddenly and super intense. I couldn't even get through a sentence with her and finally she said "umm I think you should go." I hollered at Marcos who rushed to dress and get in the car. 

 "Marcos and Maddie arrived in triage at OU children’s at 7pm with KatieMullican leading them.  Nurse Faith led them to triage room 1 where Maddie’s contractions were coming about every 3 minutes.  She couldn’t sit and only wanted to stand.  Leaning over the bed while someone pushed her hips and someone held a heating pad to her tummy helped her cope during contractions.  Although she had to concentrate during contractions Maddie seemed to be on top of each contraction and trying to relax with them.  When Maddie was able to lay back between contractions Nurse Faith checked her cervical dilation and she was at 8 cm and baby was at 0 station!  Maddie and Marcos had labored so well at home!!!  Faith went to call Leanna Harkess the Souza’s midwife.  When she came back it was time to head to delivery room 10.  Maddie walked down and had 3 contractions on the way.  At 7:40 pm the Souza’s were greeted by delivery nurse Kristen.  Around 8:00 Lisa and (Emily right?) arrived at the hospital.  Lisa took charge of the phone so that she could face-time Maddie’s momma, Dara, who was in China, in for the labor.  Emily was in charge of taking pictures, video and being an extra set of hands as Marcos and Crystal took turns pushing on Maddie’s hips.   Maddie’s contractions were right on top of each other.  Marcos continued to either push on her hips or stay near her face whispering to her and encouraging her constantly comforting her and assuring her that she was doing fine.  Maddie felt most comfortable moaning with her eyes closed swaying her hips while someone squeezed them and with cool washcloths on her neck and forehead.  She leaned over the bed for a while then got on her knees with her upper body draped over the birth ball for a while.  After a bit she got on the birth ball leaning over the bed, she began to feel more pressure from her descending baby as she rocked back and forth.   At around 8:25 she said she thought she might like to get on the bed and try pushing.  Nurse Kristen went to tell Leanna.  Maddie was lying on her side when Leanna came in the room to check her dilation.She had a small cervical lip left and her bag of waters had not broken yet.  She continued to push very well moving sweet baby down.  Leanna checked again and baby was in the posterior position. This explained why Maddie was having contractions all in her front but needed her back and hips squeezed for comfort.  Lisa moved the phone in closer to Maddie so Dara could encourage her daughter during this trying time of labor.Leanna suggested the squat bar so the baby would turn.  Marcos helped Maddie off the bed and everyone helped her do 2 deep, painful squats that did the trick of turning baby.  Maddie got back on the bed on her side again and curled around her abdomen giving 2 incredibly strong effective pushes only to see baby crowning very very quickly.  Leanna asked Maddie to not push but to pant so she could ease the baby out to prevent tears.  Maddie stayed controlled and slowly moved her baby out to where she could be placed on her tummy for Marcos and Maddie to enjoy at 8:48 pm!!  Maddie could hardly believe the baby was in her arms and one of the first things she said was “That was crazy!”  Lisa and Dara quietly chatted as Lisa was taking screen shots and moving the phone in close so Dara could see sweet Zoe Jane who had a head full of black hair.  The Souza family kept talking about how different she looked than Elias at birth and just cherishing the moment together."

My mom on FaceTime right as Zoe was born!! 

My labor was so different this time around but I couldn't have been happier with our birth experience yet again. My whole support team was awesome! And I am so thankful that Zoe is here and healthy and that the birth was uncomplicated. 

Both of our children are such a blessing. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!! 

Monkey Chatter

I thought it was high time for another one of these! This kid makes me laugh daily and I'm sure I've forgotten half of the funny things he's said. Here's a few I wrote down to remember.  No idea where #3 came from!

Convo #1
E (Practicing his memory verse): All we like sheep have gone astray....how many, many feet you meet! 

Convo #2
E (Remembering a conversation we'd had earlier): If I fall and hit the fireplace we'll have to go to the chiropractor later. 

Convo #3 
Mommy (Calling across the room to Daddy): Your food is ready dear!!
E: Is that my dear? Is that my father dear? 

Convo #4
E (In the most grown-up voice ever when Mommy sat down next to him at the table for lunch): Are you having a fun day Mommy?

Convo #5 (This happened on my birthday by the way...best present ever)
E: Mommy, are you my best friend?


A few phrases that we are laughing at right now are "last morning" which usually means yesterday but can really mean anytime in the past, and "to-bout" instead of "about" (as in "I'm talking to-bout that blue one mommy!"). 


Go here to read my last post about this crazy kid's talk!

Nursery progress!

Well at 37 weeks and counting, I finally have a nursery progress post! We have been in a really busy season and I just hadn't made time to get in there and get to work really until recently. One weekend in March I started going through the piles of stuff "on hold" in there. Like I mentioned in the before and after post, this room has sort of been a holding spot for everything that didn't really have a home. It also held all of our board game collection, our sports equipment (balls, racquets, etc) along with several tubs of stuff from mine and Marcos' childhood that didn't go up in the attic. So there was quite a pile of stuff to go through after I pulled everything out of the closet. I did some of the major purging but the closet was still nowhere close to being baby ready. This is what we started with...

And this was the result of my "organizing"...yikes!

But by the time I got done the closet at least was looking a bit better...maybe?

We also worked on some furniture placement for the guest room/nursery combo. We wanted to leave the bed in this room so that we could still have a place for guests to sleep. When people come it will be easy to just move the baby to our room so that they will still have a bed. 

 In progress...

Then came the paint decision which was incredibly hard. Come to find out, a true gray with no undertones that is warm enough without being tan is really hard to find! Especially when the light in this room changes dramatically throughout the day. So I looked at these swatches for literally weeks. We finally decided on a color called Gray Owl for the walls and a light mint for the ceiling. 

 Here is the room all ready to paint! You can see the square of gray I painted on the wall out of a test pot of paint just to be sure :)

And here are the painted walls! I forgot to take a pic before we put everything back so this is actually the most recent picture I have of the room. 

It's really hard to get a true color in the pictures but this one is pretty good of the gray. (That's a sneak peek of the changing table but hopefully that will get its own post!!)

I found the crib on craigslist and my wonderful momma paid for it :) It's a Jenny Lind style and I absolutely love it! 

 Here it is set up in the room (professional photography here, I know). 

This past weekend is really when things started progressing in here, though. My mom came up on Friday and we spent a whirlwind of a day sorting, washing, and organizing baby clothes, hats, blankets, burp rags, and a jillion other things. She also helped get the closet finally organized and cleaned out (as well as my linen closet and a few other cabinets). She is seriously the queen of organizing. Look at this closet guys...

We also went shopping for some more organizing things and some adorable baskets for her changing table and bookshelf. Moms are awesome :)

Then over the weekend, my mother-in-law helped with some touch up paint that needed to be done. My MIL is also going to sew the baby's bedding (which is super exciting!) so we went and picked out fabric for that as well. My awesome hubby hung clothes rods in the closet and curtain rods and also made a jillion trips into the attic to retrieve all the random baby gizmos that have been stored up there since E used them (which I got all washed and assembled). He also sanded and primed the changing table for me and I was able to get two coats of paint on it (it still needs more so I'll update on that later). 

I realize that it doesn't look exactly "done" since there is still obviously a lot of decorating  and cleaning to do. A lot of that is waiting on the changing table and a few more trips to the thrift store ;) But all the major work and necessities are in place which is a huge relief since this baby's arrival is quickly approaching. I will (hopefully) get in there with my "real camera" and give a full tour after we get the final touches done in there. Here's my to-do list that's left: 

• Sew and hang curtains
• Make and hang wall decor
• Paint changing table and put things away on it
• Get changing pad cover
• Spray paint lamp
• Organize and "pretty up" bookshelf
• Get bedding made

So it should look a little more finished than this :)

But we're getting there! Can't wait for this little munchkin!

Maternity/Family Photos!!

Just popping in really quick to share the photographer's link to our family photos! So that I can ever find it again when I want it... :) 

We absolutely loved our photographer and despite the wind and an on-the-verge-of-cranky toddler we got some great pictures!! I would definitely recommend her to anyone looking! 

Here's the link:

The S Family | Oklahoma Family Photographer | Norman, OK | Magnolia Adam's Photography

MAGNOLIAADAMSPHOTOGRAPHY.BLOGSPOT.COM

God is so good

I woke up this morning to the growing baby in my belly doing her morning gymnastics routine and the toddler in the next room singing at the top of his lungs. My sweet husband happened to be home (which is usually not the case by the time I wake up) so I was surrounded by the voices and touch of the people I get to call my family. Such sweet sounds and feelings to wake up to. Such a sweet reminder of the blessings I have. 

"God is so good". I hear my little 2-year-old's voice singing it so often. But it is so true isn't it? He knew that on this morning, especially, I needed a cheerful little boy's singing and a growing, healthy girl's kicks and the strength of my husband still there beside me. 

One year ago today we heard the heartbreaking news that our tiny baby had gone on to meet Jesus. Although it is an emotional day for us and quite a few tears have been shed, the wiggling in my belly is a constant reminder that God is Faithful. 

Our faith was not always big enough and all too often we were confused and afraid. But HE was faithful. He knew the lessons we needed to learn and the areas that needed strengthening. It was not the path we would have chosen for ourselves but our Father knows what we need. 

I think we can look back at this year as one of the most intense growing seasons in both of our spiritual lives. And for that we are thankful. 

"...and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith" - Hebrews 12:1-2

Another song I sing with my toddler (yes, these are the songs stuck in my head all day) comes straight from Proverbs 3:5-6 and has been playing in my head today. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding."

Can I trust Him with my whole heart? My own understanding was not enough to get me through this year. I didn't understand or know what was going on. But I am learning to trust. To trust Him with my whole heart. Even the parts of my heart that are hurting from the events of this year. And the parts of my heart that are overflowing with gratitude for the two little blessings that I do have. 

The refining fire is not a pain-free experience. But I pray that we would long to keep on being refined into the image of our Savior Jesus Christ.