Pre Thanksgiving

My girls had a rough night. Bianca is sick with sore throat and fever, and Giovanna had stomachache and threw up. Giovanna had a chips and soda party at school and she ate way too much chips. Her vomit had a layer of pure oil (gross!). I don’t wonder why she was feeling so sick!

Since Bianca’s fever wasn’t going away and she’s been complaining her throat hurts for a while I decided to take her in to be checked. I have horror of my kids having a strep throat. The doctor sent Bibi’s swab sample from her throat to the lab and we should hear from them soon.

In the meantime I am just hoping the girls will feel better in time for Thanksgiving feast. Tomorrow we are driving to Lehi to spend Thanksgiving with the Matute family.

“The spirit of gratitude is always pleasant and satisfying because it carries with it a sense of helpfulness to others; it begets love and friendship, and engenders divine influence. Gratitude is said to be the memory of the heart”.

-Pres. Joseph F. Smith

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thyroid

This morning we took Giovanna to the endocrinologist. Some of her blood tests were useful to determine thyroid problems, some were not. And because of that she had to have her blood drawn one more time. The doctor wants to check liver function, bowel, any inflammation on the organs.

Giovanna is been a champ with all these lab tests, but I really hope this will be the last time she does it, at least for a while.

Her x-ray for bone study determined bone delay, which turns out to be a good thing because it means Giovanna still have time to grow. Her lab tests show normal thyroid hormone level BUT it also shows high levels of thyroid antibodies- an autoimmune condition where the body attacks the thyroid. 

Because thyroid treatment is based on symptoms and thyroid hormone levels and Giovi doesn't show any symptoms of fatigue, hair or weight lost, changes on bowel movements, and her thyroid hormone levels are normal, the doctor didn't prescribe any treatment for her right now, but he wants to see her in six months, unless he finds something abnormal on these last blood tests.

I am a bit anxious because my mom and my sister have thyroid problems and I know it is not easy, and Giovanna is so young for that. The lab tests should be ready soon and the doctor should be calling us someday next week.

Weekend

The girls are still recovering from our weekend. Today they had a hard time waking up in the morning to go to school. I told them that we had a super fun weekend, and I knew they (we) were tired, but just two days of school and soon they would be enjoying Thanksgiving break.

Saturday afternoon we drove to Salt Lake City. Ale and I wanted to attend a session at Salt Lake Temple before it closes in December. Mindy and Tales watched the girls for us, and they had lots of fun playing and decorating gingerbread houses while we were gone.

The temple was really busy, and unfortunately we couldn’t get in a session. But we were able to do sealing in behalf of Ale’s deceased family members. I love the sealing promises between husband and wife and Heavenly Father. It’s beautiful and a good reminder to keep our own covenants.

  

On Sunday after church we cooked lunch while the girls made themselves useful and scrubbed the floor. They love any reason to play with water, so why not to help us a little, right? lol

Around five we left the Britos and we headed to Lehi to celebrate Mechaella who was turning thirty. We had a typical Honduran dinner, then we sang happy birthday to her. It was a fun night, and a fun weekend.

We got back home late with two little birdies asleep in the car.

Harry Potter movie marathon

When I was sixteen years old my godmother gave me my very first Harry Potter book. It was the third book of the series- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (the best one in my opinion).

Although, I absolutely love Harry Potter, I am not a big fan of the movies as I am of the books. For some reason I always imagine a better story while reading the books..

One of these days Giovanna told me she is asking Santa for a Harry Potter wand. The funniest part is that she doesn't really know who Harry Potter is. 

I think this past Halloween she saw several friends from school wearing Harry Potter costumes and got interested in knowing who he is and what the story is about.

So today I am starting a Harry Potter movie marathon with Giovanna. I am so excited!!! I hope she loves it as much as I do. Fingers crossed!

And let the Marathon begins!

Selfies, Snapchat, and Stickers

That is what happens when Bianca gets my phone when I am not looking. 

And that is what happens when Giovanna asks for my phone.

I have deleted over two hundred pictures from my phone just this week. Many of them are selfies and random pictures Bianca and Giovanna take.

I think they think my phone is also theirs. These days I found it decorated with stickers. Maybe I should re enforce the word boundary around here.

Lunch for two

Around 4:00 am this morning Bianca came to my bed saying she was scared. Bianca is afraid of the dark, rainstorms, bandaids, and Frank- the Frankenstein I bought a while ago for Halloween. She climbed into my bed asking if I had hidden Frank in our car trunk. He is technically hidden in Giovanna’s closet but she doesn’t need to know that.

After waking up and getting the girls ready for school I realized I had forgotten my keys inside the car when we were driving to church last night. I had to call Ale at work and in five minutes he was home to the rescue. I am so grateful he works so close from home!

He dropped off Giovanna at school on his way back to work, and I headed to the opposite direction to drop off Bianca. I love my mornings because after taking the girls to school I have a few good hours for myself.

After my high fitness class I came back home to fix lunch for Ale and Giovanna. The only day she likes eating school lunch is Thursday when they serve pizza. All other days she takes home lunch, and every time she forgets her lunch box at school. One of these days I went to pick her up and she had three lunch boxes in her hands.

Giovanna is my forgetful child. She forgets everything at school- from sweaters to lunch boxes. I remember when she was little she’d forget her naninha everywhere! Well, I guess some things never change.

In the afternoon I cleaned the kitchen listening to my favorite Christmas jams. Then when the girls were finally home from school I asked if they wanted to watch Home Alone 2 with me, which they replied with a happy yes!

I love my two little buddies.

Bless their hearts

I woke up this morning to find a text from Mrs Kaylee asking if I could volunteer today at Bianca’s preschool since Mrs Akime was home recovering from a cold and they were short on staff.

There are about fifteen kids at Bianca’s class so I tried to help volunteering as often as I can.

While in the playground Bianca fell hard from the top of the climbing thing and bumped her head on the metal. Poor girl! I was glad I was there though. Fortunately, she didn’t break anything and soon she was a happy girl again. 

It was a long, busy and loud morning! Honestly, I don’t know how teachers do it all day everyday. Bless their hearts!

His Birthday

Today our family set up our Christmas tree for Family Home Evening. While everyone was off to work and school I moved a couple of furniture to open space for our Christmas tree.

After dinner we all put our Christmas pijamas on vovó Zete made for us, and we sat down to talk about Who we should remember and celebrate on this Christmas season. My girls eagerly raised their hands to answer: Jesus Christ.

We discussed how sad it would be if no one remembers our birthday, and how good it feels to be remembered and celebrated. Same thing happens to Jesus Christ. He is and always should be the focus of this beautiful season.

I feel so grateful for the gospel in my life and in the life of my family. And I am deeply grateful for the love my kids have for their Brother and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the center of our home and of everything we do.

We also watched this video. It is really cute and the girls love it.

After the message we played Christmas songs and danced in the living room while daddy picked up the boxes in the closet. The girls did an amazing job helping decorating the Christmas tree. It looks beautiful with all its colors and lights.

We finished our night with hot cocoa and the best Christmas movie of my childhood: Home Alone.

Breathe

Before having children my heart was already committed to be involved in my kids academic life.  Giovanna is in third grade and Bianca is in preschool, and I always volunteer when I can. Some days I surprise the girls at school to have lunch together, and I know teachers and other school staff as well as most of their friends and their friends parents.

After dropping off Giovanna at school I head to Bianca’s preschool to drop her off. Every day she asks me to stay for two minutes. Sometimes I read a book with her before I leave, and sometimes I watch the first fifteen minutes of class.

Every day Bianca and her little friends pick a chore to help with. Sometimes Bianca is the weather reporter, or line leader, or milk helper. On of these days she volunteered to help her teacher show the other students some breathing techniques.

When Bianca is home she also likes playing school and she always teach us the breathing techniques. Her school has that on their curriculum to help children cope with feelings of stress and anger.

Parents are encouraged to also use them at home, so Bianca is doing a good job!

Way to go Bibi!

Elsa

In the meantime Bianca wants to wear her Elsa dress all the time. She wears it so much it tore a few months ago, but she didn't mind and kept wearing it anyways. Just this week I was able to fix it so she could dress up to go out for dinner. (Yep! I let my kids go out on their costumes whenever they want).

Grandma Zete made this beautiful Elsa dress four years ago for Giovanna's fifth birthday and still it is a big hit in our home. Bianca loves this dress! Me too. I mean, who wouldn't?

And speaking of Elsa, who else is excited to watch the new Frozen II?

Uma

I had been waiting for a package to arrive home, and last Friday it finally came. Inside there were a beautiful Minnie Mouse sweater embroidered with Bianca's name I'll be gifting her for Christmas and an Uma costume (from the movie Descendants) for Giovanna.

Giovanna has been asking for an Uma costume for a long time and I finally bought one for her. My girls have SO many costumes I decided not to buy them anymore, but since I noticed it was something Giovi really wanted I got it for her. (Disney store has new markdown on their costumes)

Halloween is over but she is enjoying her costume anyways. She dresses it to go out or to go to school. I let her wear the top and the vest with regular pants because it looks really cute and I want her to enjoy it as much as she can!

I love Giovanna. She is the coolest girl!

We can be like Him

My two beautiful girls along with their friends from Primary performed at a special Sacrament meeting that is held every year at our church. They touched our hearts with songs and messages of Jesus Christ and how we can become more like Him.

A while ago the Primary president called the girls to ask questions about Jesus Christ’s birth and His life here on earth. She planned the entire program using the answers of all children from Primary. It was a wonderful idea! The kids were able to express what they knew and how they felt about Jesus Christ on their own words.

Giovanna: "We can be like Jesus Christ by helping others and by saying our daily prayers. We can be peacemakers like Him".
Bianca: "The wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to baby Jesus".

I love children and their pure heart. They are honest, cheerful, grateful, teachable, and naturally caring. Chapter eighteen of Matthew is one of my favorite chapters in the bible. It talks about how crucial it is to learn and develop a child’s traits in order to qualify to live with Heavenly Father again.

My kids are such an example in my life. They teach me how to be better each day in a way I couldn’t learn if I didn’t have them, and I am so grateful for that. They are so little but they know when I am happy or when I am sad, and they are so considerate of my feelings.

I love them both with all my heart.

Doctor appointment

Both girls had annual checkup with Dr. Viera yesterday. They both got shots and Giovanna also had to draw some blood to test three different types of Thyroid.

Giovanna has always had what we call baby fat around her neck, but her pediatrician likes to keep an eye on it and asks for lab tests every year.

Her “baby fat” has been improving over the years- we can barely see it, and her lab test results keep coming back normal, but it’s good to be on top of it.

Dr. Viera also suggested an endocrinologist visit and a bone study age to determine Giovanna's growth since she hasn't grown much this past year. We love Dr. Viera. She has known my girls their entire life.

Bianca is a little overweight, but it’s not reason for concern. I just need to make sure she waits the right time to eat. And I will also enroll her in a dance class. Now she is four she can join a ballet class.

Last year I texted the ballet instructor to see if Bianca could join them, but she needed to be four at the time she started, so we needed to wait a little longer.

After the appointment we drove to North Salt Lake to spend the day with Mindy and the girls. I canceled all my commitments and Mindy checked out Claire from school so the kids could play. It was a perfect October kinda day! The girls played outside, we talked, and we baked cake and brownies.

I REALLY needed to step out a little and have a free day of obligations. I came back home energized. I recently visited with two different doctors to have a few things checked and they both said the cause of my symptoms is stress and anxiety, so I am glad we got to spend the day together and relax.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Giovanna and I had a special date. We left Ale and Bianca home and went to the movies to watch the much anticipated Maleficent. Giovanna was really excited to watch it since we saw the trailer before Toy Story 4 a while ago.

Bianca LOVES Maleficent and was really sad when I told her she was not going with us. Based on the first movie and knowing the second one would be about war, I thought it would be too scary for her. 

It turns out the movie wasn’t scary at all, and in fact for me it fell short of expectations. I was really hoping for more excitement, emotion, and impact (like the first one), but it wasn’t any of that, and I am not sure how I feel about the Dark Fey, although I absolutely love Chiwetel Ejiofor (Conall) as their leader. I thought their scenes were pure Avatar.

Also, I didn’t feel Maleficent as evil as in the first movie and I missed that (I mean, come on, she was supposed to be mistress of evil, right?). Perhaps, she became a softy after breaking Aurora’s curse on the first movie? I don’t know, but I can’t say I like it.

Anyways, Giovanna and I had a great time together. She loves the movie and can’t wait to watch it again with her little sis. After the movie we headed to Panda Express (her favorite) for dinner. Double score! Successful night!

Mamãe, eu te amo você muito!

A few months ago I was diagnosed with flu, then a month later I had a really bad cold, and now I am sick with a cold again. Plus I’ve been coughing I don’t even remember for how long. I just know it never goes away. 

Yesterday, I was in bed most of the day while the kids fixed some bread and cereal for themselves and watched movies in the iPad.

This morning I found this picture on my phone: 

and

This BEAUTIFUL surprise:

Sometime while I was sleeping Giovanna placed her comfort blanket close to me and took a picture. Then she left the loviest message (in Portuguese!!) on my phone. She says:

“Hi mommy, I love you so much. Every time you are sick and I am in school you can watch this video I recorded for you and remember I will always love you. Thank you for everything you do. I hope you feel better so we can do things together. Thank you for everything and I love so so much. You are my world. Kisses. Bye!”

It is so cute how she always takes care of me when I am sick.

I love you so so much too my beautiful Giovanna!
Thank YOU for everything you are in my life.
YOU are my entire world! 

Bianca's field trip

This past Sunday we all shifted our clocks one hour back. I woke up around six this morning sick with a cold, and around 6:20 am Bianca climbed into my bed, then a few minutes later Giovanna came too. Their little bodies were telling them it was already 7:30 am instead and it was time to wake up to go to school.

I let them watch a little show while I dragged myself out of bed to the shower. Then after dropping off Giovanna at school I headed to Bianca's preschool to find out today was their little field trip to the pet store and I had signed up to volunteer.

The kids at preschool have been learning about pets for the last couple of months, so their teachers planned a field trip to the pet store. There the kids were able to see all sorts of animals- cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, fishes, and dogs being groomed. The store staff even let the children touch a snake. It was a quick, fun field trip. 

Bianca loves riding the school bus and always asks me to go with her. I confess I was feeling a bit under the weather, but I can't say no when they request my presence. One day they won't need me to accompany them to places anymore, so let me enjoy it while I can.