Meet the Family - Cookie

And here is our little Cookie! You've seen numerous pictures of people holding her, but, finally, here she is!

No, we did not pose her. Banana was holding her and she did this all on her own. 

Her favorite activities are snuggling with Mommy, swinging in her swing, and keeping Mommy up most of the night. We are not sleeping through the night yet, obviously.

Oh, and did I mention, cute as a bug's ear?

Meet the Family - Pookie

Say "Hello!" to my little Pookie! She's 6 years old now and in first grade. This picture was taken at her Christmas party at school last year. Sorry it's fuzzy but she was super excited about the cookie she had just decorated.

She's is definitely a girly girl when it come to clothes and her favorite colors but she's rapidly becoming less so and has been swiping Mario's clothing to wear to school. So one day she'll wear a frilly white or pink dress and the next she'll be wearing jeans and a Angry Birds t-shirt.

But, she HATES dolls. That's capitalized for a reason. She absolutely abhors dolls. She's never liked them, never played with them, and, she wants me to tell you, she never will!

But she loves her baby sister, Cookie, although, I think it took Cookie arriving for her to believe that babies aren't born knowing how to walk, talk and play.

She has the most beautiful curly hair and is smart as a whip. She enjoys video games as much as her older brothers especially Luigi's Dark Mansion, which she got for Christmas.

Her favorite thing is to watch My Little Pony videos or Ihascupquake videos until she runs my phone battery until the phone shuts off.

"Hi Pookie!"

Meet the Family - Mario

Meet my 10 year old, Mario! 

Yes, that is actually a mohawk. It's longer by now, this was about a year and a half ago. He's had a mohawk, by his request, since he was four. He doesn't wear it up everyday. The days that I do fix it up, it takes longer for me to do his hair than I spend on mine! Needless to say, I only do it up a few times a year.

I've called him Mario because of his passion for Super Mario games. He received a bunch of Mario games for Christmas (and gets very annoyed when he can't beat a level right off!). He's also the one that will plug in the old Nintendo 64 to play Super Mario.

He's in the fourth grade at his school and he's an excellent student. He's also a member of a group a students at his school that work with a particular student with special needs. Obviously, I won't give any more details about that student, but he's a good friend to them and is, most importantly, a good person.

His first concert was Ozzy at the age of seven. Slash opened. (He had a better mohawk than some of the adults that were there!) Yes, I took him. He didn't have school the next day and we had a great time. He is totally my kid :)

Say "Hi!" to Mario!

Meet the Family - Jalapeno

This is my 12 year old Jalapeno! I had other, better, more close-up pictures. But I wanted to show the bond between Jalapeno and Pookie. They have always been close. (And I hope they always will be.)

This was taken at a friend's daughter's birthday party. They were sitting next to each other and the next thing we knew, she was sitting on his lap.

Jalapeno started middle school this year and has been taking the bus on his own rather than having Banana take him. He's enjoying his independence except when the wind chills are -20 degrees. Then, waiting for the bus sucks!

He enjoys playing Minecraft with his friends and was Steve (a character from the game) last Halloween. His other passion is penguins. Don't ask me why, but he LOVES penguins. Stuffed penguins, penguin Christmas ornaments, penguin pictures and videos, he loves them all.

My Jalapeno says, "Hi!"

Meet the Family - Sand

Meet my 18 year old son, Sand. (I originally picked a nickname based on his passion for cooking, but his friends call him Sand & that's what he preferred.)

He is a high school junior and loves cooking. Sand decided when he was eight that he wanted to be a chef and has never deviated since. (We have the Food Network to thank!)

He also writes "creepypasta" and occasionally draws characters from the stories as well. Sand also plays video games with his most recent obsession being "Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance."

(Getting him to smile proved impossible. Anyone with teenagers knows what that's like!)

Say "Hello!" to Sand!

Meet the Family - Dibuja

Say "Hello!" to Dibuja! He is my 19 year old son. I picked his nickname based on his favorite past time of drawing. It means "he draws" in Spanish.

His primary drawing preferences lean towards manga and drawing pictures for something my boys call "creepypasta."  This is apparently not anything to do with food. A Google search defines it as: "urban legends or scary stories circulating on the Internet, many times revolving around specific videos, pictures or video games." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_phenomena)

Dibuja is also contemplating joining the Army and has been meeting regularly with the recruiter. So, I might be a military mama soon, too.

You Ever Have Those Days?

Well, today is one of those days.

I'm working from home while on maternity leave so that I still have a paycheck. And it's been a BUSY day work-wise.

Add to that, a screaming one month old. And I don't mean a little grumpy. I mean, she cried for nearly every waking moment today (about 5 hours worth). She finally pooped (twice) and gassed. Then she ate heartily and has been asleep for that last hour and a half.

Mama is relieved.

Mama is tired.

Mama is stressed.

Less stressed than when she was in the middle of her scream fest but still stressed.

You ever have those days?