Medina Memories

I am posting pictures of our last home just because I want to remember. I know that sounds strange but we spent the last 6 and a half years of our lives here I want to remember it. This was an old house and it proved to suck every last penny we had out of us to repair it but we also had some good memories here. Sometime I will have to post the before pictures. You would never believe it was the same house.

It has been such a long time since I have updated my blog. I am starting to feel so guilty. So much has happened in our family. Victor just finished running his last race at State for Cross Country. He was the only boy that qualified to go on his team. Olivia just finished her second year with the High School Soccer team. I wish we had some good pictures of her but she really didn't get a lot of playing time so it made it hard to get some pictures. She still played great and hopefully next year will be better. Emilio is busy with band. He plays the Coronet for Jazz band early before school starts several days a week and plays Percussion (drums) for Concert Band which is one of his classes at school. Alesia is doing dance classes and does a singing lesson every other week. She auditioned for a part in her school choir and got it and recently auditioned to sing the National Anthem at the University and will sing it at a Ball game this week. Diego is almost 2 and full of SO much energy! Some days I feel like I am too old to be chasing him but I love him so much and he makes my life so happy. The last few months have been full of so many changes. Carlos changed his job and is no longer working for the City but now works with the University. This was such a hard decision for us but it has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We put our home up for sale and had a solid offer on it and moved into town only to have it fall through 2 months later. We now have another offer and are hoping that it will go through soon. We moved into my Grandparents small town home and we are working hard to save up and get back on our feet. Having a sick baby proved to be financially draining and completely drained every ounce of savings we had. We had gotten to the point of having to juggle bills in order to pay for his daily equipment and oxygen. This along with me having to quit my job in order to care for him really left us with nothing. I can honestly say that we had hit rock bottom. It has been very hard but very humbling too. I sold so many of our worldly possessions in order to pay medical bills when we moved and we have really learned the meaning of living simply. Last but not least....I started school in the summer and am now almost finished with my second semester and will be starting my third one soon. It will be a very long road but I hope that I can eventually help provide some relief for our family and help get things rolling in the right direction. Overall, we are well and have had to rely on a lot of faith lately to make some of these hard decisions but sometimes that is what we have to do to make some changes in our lives. State My sister made this cute sign for Victor. Good luck hug for his big brother.

I just had one of those "just what I needed" moments. Lately my baby has been so challenging. He by far has been my hardest child since he was 9 months old. I have found myself more in "survival" mode instead of "enjoyment" mode when it comes to him. Tonight I was even contemplating not going to church tomorrow. Carlos starts his day shift and I won't have him there to help me. Diego has not taken well to nursery and never stays in there. I thought it would be pointless to go. His sleeping patterns are terrible, he cries so much and he makes it miserable for anyone babysitting him. Which means I never really get much of a breather. I just saw my friend Angie the other day and she reminded me of a blog of a women who lost one of her children. I found myself reading that blog tonight. In fact it kept me up until after midnight right now reading it. It made me realize just how foolish I have been. I was ashamed of my anger, frustration and inpatience with my child. It also reminded me not to take anything for granted. I thought of how much we prayed for our sweet baby and how many times we thought we might lose him. I thought of all of my frustration and the regrets I would have if he wasn't here with us. The Savior must have really heard my prayers today when I thought I just couldn't handle one more tantrum. I was reminded of how much I love it when his sweet little hand is holding mine, when he smiles at me with his eyes or when he cuddles with me while I am reading him a book. Sometimes even a "seasoned Mom" like me really needs those tender lessons.

Diego had his 18 mo well check 2 days ago. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. It makes me so sad :( They told me that he would get his last shot and wouldn't need anymore until Kindergarten. Say what! How did that happen? I just want time to slow down. Here are his Stats Weight - 23lbs. 6 oz. 17 %(just a skinny guy like his brother) Height- 33 1/2 inches 80% Head Circumference 19 63% He is so much fun! He tries to say everything. Lately he has been so obsessed with babies. Every time he sees a little kid or baby he starts yelling "baby,baby." When he takes his shoes and socks off he tries to get you to smell his feet. Cute now, but probably not so cute in the future. And he is still into everything! In this picture, he had just dumped wood stain all over him. Right as we were leaving to a Track Banquet. The picture was taken after a bath so you can only imagine what it looked like before. We just love this sweet boy so much! He keeps us on our toes but we wouldn't have it any other way.

I guess I must have been feeling left out lately since everyone else at our home has been getting injured so much. So what did I do yesterday? I went and broke my nose. Yep it really is the most dumb way anyone could have done it. I was outside pulling off some ugly fabric from some chairs I had just found at a yard sale and came in and was standing by the table talking to Carlos. I didn't hear one of my kids ( who shall remain nameless) come in and open the door. I turned to head out the door to go work on the chairs again and SMACK! I hit the door hard. It had been left open and I didn't know it had been. I knew I broke it immediately because I heard it crunch. Even Carlos heard it and he was sitting on the other side of the kitchen. So I grabbed the only frozen thing I could find at the time which was a bag of frozen veggies and I put it on my nose. It started bruising right away. Carlos took me to the Instacare and they didn't even bother to xray it. He told me could already feel the break in it. Luckily it had already straightened out so they sent me on my way and told me to do lots of ice and Motrin and that I would basically have to let it heal on it's own. He didn't want to tape it because it was already straight and he thought taping it might move it out of line. It hurt really bad but I can't even explain how bad it hurts today. The worst part is I am fighting a horrible cold right now. My nose is pouring all day and blowing it is misery but I have to because I can't breathe out of my chest very well right now.Ugh! Even coughing makes it hurt. I have always hated my nose and used to joke that I wish I could break it so I could have it fixed the way I want it. Well I guess I was successful in breaking it. Just not at breaking it good enough to get a new nose. Dang! Me with my bag of veggies trying not to cry.

Yes, once again I know this is long overdue. This year for Easter, our family hosted it's Medina Easter Egg Hunt that we do every year. It was alot of fun. I remember last year thinking how Diego would actually be able to participate this year and YES HE DID! My sister Angie was able to come and it was a lot of fun having her here for it. Diego loved having my niece Katy help him. He just loves her! On Easter weekend we took Alesia and Diego to some other Easter Egg Hunts and I have to say, that I am so glad I decided to have another child. We realized that this will be Alesia's last year to hunt and it breaks my heart. I am not ready for it to be over. I am still enjoying it so much. Man how time flys! He got to go to our family's favorite spot to for Easter Hunts. We have been taking all of our kids there since they were little. It is fun to carry on that tradition with him. We couldn't have asked for a better day. The weather was amazing and Diego thought it was so fun. I found myself cherishing so many parts of that day with my family.

Yay! Victor finally got his Eagle. It was such a process and yes, kinda a nightmare. I have joked in the past that it is easier to get a home mortgage than an Eagle and I still think that may be true. Hallelujah! I know even though it seemed like a huge pain in the butt to him, he will be glad he got it later.

The last few months have slipped by with some big events that I don't want to forget about. When my husband downloaded our pictures the other day I relaized just how many of them we have had. In February (yes I said February) Victor had a Choir concert and did a great job. He is in the Men's choir. He tried out for Madrigals for next year and didn't make it but did make Acapella.I still can't believe he will be a Senior next year. Emilio also had a Band concert and did an awesome job. He has never played an instrument before and did an awesome job. He is playing my brother Jon's old Coronet. He likes it so much that next year he is going to join the Jazz Band. He wil have to be at school extra early but he doesn't mind. Aleisa is in her school chior and she tried out for one of two solo parts in their program. The poor girl was sick as could be with a head cold and hardly had no voice at all. She almost didn't go because she felt so terrible. She was also nervous because several of the girls go to voice and singing lessons and she doesn't. The first try out had about 30 girls and they narrowed it down to 8 for a final audition and she got one of the parts. I will try to post a video as soon as I can get it to work. That girl never stops singing. From the time she could talk she has been singing. Some days I have to tell her to tone it down so the baby can sleep or so I can concentrate. But I still love to hear her voice. So her are some pictures. For some reason my blogger is puting them in different orders. So I am sorry if they don't make sense.