Hey followers,
After a long serious time of thinking, I've decided to move our little adventure to a new blog. I started this blog for a very different reason, and I'd really like to have a fresh start as far as my blog goes. I've moved onward in my life past the terrible tragedy that took place nearly 3 years ago, and I feel in my heart it is just time to bring this blog to a close.
Blogging now is sort of like my daily job. Yes, I take care of the baby and do schoolwork - but blogging is my way to accomplish something I enjoy, and strive toward the goal of doing that daily. So I found a new site to host the new blog that you can find here. I truly appreciate all the people who read this... even if you just stop by, it warms my heart knowing my words are being read by someone!
So - I hope to see everyone over on the new blog, we're just starting this crazy adventure & would love to share it with you all as we go along!
Much Love!
Wednesday, February 27
Cranky Baby
I knew when we agreed to come travel with Rudy, it wasn't going to be anywhere near easy. Between the constant packing/moving, new hotels every 3-4 weeks, and being away from family - it takes a lot of strength to be out on this adventure. Not only that, but going from being a working mom back to a stay at home mom is a huge adjustment for me. The last time I was a stay at home mom, Deidrick was so small & very dependent on me. He spent most of his days napping, which made it easy for me to get the house cleaned, or work on homework... He didn't fight sleep as hard as he does now, in fact he seemed to enjoy it as much as I do! Being so small, just holding him and letting him look at my facial expressions was enough entertainment for him.
Now here we are, mama is used to getting ready for work everyday and Deidrick is used to a routine where he did go see someone else for a few hours a day. Any kind of adjustment is hard for him, I'm sure... he has no idea why we are here, what we are doing... he just depends on us to take care of him. I am trying my best to keep things as similar to home as I can - but there's only so much I can do. His pack-n-play is set up just like his big crib at home was, I try to adhere to his daily routine as much as possible - but it is probably confusing to him that we do everything in the same room now.
Nap times are becoming especially hard... he gets so cranky (and so quick) that he screams until he wears himself out and finally gives into sleep. Not only is it stressful to me because I feel so helpless in what else I could possibly do when I know he needs sleep -- but I am terrified that someday a neighboring room will complain & we will have to leave the hotel. I say that statement, almost holding my tongue, as I feel guilty about it. I used to be one of those people who would probably get upset about a screaming baby all hours of the day and night. Now, being the frazzled mom holding that screaming child three rooms down the hall, I feel all sorts of emotions. Guilty for putting people through that, then even more guilty for caring about what they think when I truly am doing the best I can down here. I think this is all coming from my deep sense of need to please people... it is an AWFUL thing.
On a previous note, I'm running out of ideas to entertain little man all day. He's so smart and seems eager to learn - but I haven't got a single clue what to do to tap into that. I worry the toys we have now are starting to bore him. I've read that when traveling you should always rotate the toys out, but I sort of panicked the first night here and gave him everything all at once because I didn't know which one he wanted. Not only is he getting bored, but he's also starting the phase where mama isn't the one he's looking for anymore. He is most definitely a daddy's boy, and although we've been lucky enough to have Rudy home early the past few days.. that won't last forever. Eventually the snow will clear, and he will be out working full days again - leaving D stuck with his boring old mom.
If I could ask for anything... it would be prayers. Prayers and ideas! Although being a stay at home mom is incredibly rewarding, it is also draining & by no means an easy job. It is times like this I REALLY wish someone would just write a manual for children! Between the feeding fears I have & trying to keep a 7.5 month old entertained ALL day, I'm feeling SO lost!
Especially missing my amazing family and friends back home today... sending you our love!
The Sanchez family -- still in Kansas :)
Now here we are, mama is used to getting ready for work everyday and Deidrick is used to a routine where he did go see someone else for a few hours a day. Any kind of adjustment is hard for him, I'm sure... he has no idea why we are here, what we are doing... he just depends on us to take care of him. I am trying my best to keep things as similar to home as I can - but there's only so much I can do. His pack-n-play is set up just like his big crib at home was, I try to adhere to his daily routine as much as possible - but it is probably confusing to him that we do everything in the same room now.
Nap times are becoming especially hard... he gets so cranky (and so quick) that he screams until he wears himself out and finally gives into sleep. Not only is it stressful to me because I feel so helpless in what else I could possibly do when I know he needs sleep -- but I am terrified that someday a neighboring room will complain & we will have to leave the hotel. I say that statement, almost holding my tongue, as I feel guilty about it. I used to be one of those people who would probably get upset about a screaming baby all hours of the day and night. Now, being the frazzled mom holding that screaming child three rooms down the hall, I feel all sorts of emotions. Guilty for putting people through that, then even more guilty for caring about what they think when I truly am doing the best I can down here. I think this is all coming from my deep sense of need to please people... it is an AWFUL thing.
On a previous note, I'm running out of ideas to entertain little man all day. He's so smart and seems eager to learn - but I haven't got a single clue what to do to tap into that. I worry the toys we have now are starting to bore him. I've read that when traveling you should always rotate the toys out, but I sort of panicked the first night here and gave him everything all at once because I didn't know which one he wanted. Not only is he getting bored, but he's also starting the phase where mama isn't the one he's looking for anymore. He is most definitely a daddy's boy, and although we've been lucky enough to have Rudy home early the past few days.. that won't last forever. Eventually the snow will clear, and he will be out working full days again - leaving D stuck with his boring old mom.
If I could ask for anything... it would be prayers. Prayers and ideas! Although being a stay at home mom is incredibly rewarding, it is also draining & by no means an easy job. It is times like this I REALLY wish someone would just write a manual for children! Between the feeding fears I have & trying to keep a 7.5 month old entertained ALL day, I'm feeling SO lost!
Especially missing my amazing family and friends back home today... sending you our love!
The Sanchez family -- still in Kansas :)
Tuesday, February 26
Mama, Dada, Yes & No
First and foremost - we have exciting news to share!! Deidrick is now saying "mama," "dada," and answering questions with head nods/shakes! I think it is adorable, and Rudy of course is thrilled that he says 'dada' too. Tonight, he even picked his own dinner out by nodding his head 'yes' to two different things, then he grabbed the one he wanted. Today, I watched a video we took of him when he was 1 week old and it just blows me away to see how much he's grown.
On another note, I've come to realize that shopping at the Great Bend Walmart is just never going to be an enjoyable experience. We all know that Walmarts everywhere have their downfalls...but here in Great Bend, I almost have to wonder if you are disqualified from employment consideration if you smile....ever. First night here, the customer in front of me and the cashier were cracking jokes about me (still not sure why, I did double check I had nothing on my face or TP stuck to my shoe or anything), the next three times the cashiers all looked so unhappy with their lives & didn't even so much as say "hello." Just a little pet peeve of mine, considering the many years I was a cashier. As the customer, by being in your check out line - I am essentially putting pennies in your paycheck, so be friendly.
Anyway... today I finally finished organizing the room. Poor Deidrick was still living out of a trash bag, but luckily he had no idea! :) Everything has its place, and things are starting to get a little easier..at least here. I realize that here I've spent so many days organizing this room and making it the highest level of functioning as possible - to only be moving in a few days, but at least I will enjoy this for a little bit longer! Yesterday, we got to go swimming - and just as I guessed, Deidrick loved it! We all had so much fun that I can't wait til we get to go again.
Function in such a small space, has brought us to improvise in some pretty hilarious ways. First of all, our food is literally a tower on the dresser right now. We don't really have another way to store it (we're looking into somethings & ALL ideas are welcome!), so it takes over the dresser space right now. Second is our "cooktop". We have three large plastic bins that we store almost everything in when we're moving...but no tables to put stuff on. We fully rely on whatever the hotel has available for space. So - with only a small electric skillet to cook on, we plug it in and cook on top of one of the plastic bins. This of course limits our options for meals... poor Rudy has been seriously craving spaghetti since we got here, and I'd do just about anything for some meat loaf and homemade mashed potatoes...but we just can't do that on what we've got. (That's another thing -- we would LOVE recipes!! We have a small electric skillet and limited fridge space... so we're looking for simple.)
My favorite memory so far from this adventure, has got to be the way we do our dishes. It makes me SO happy to have help every night with the dishes now :) and Rudy finally thought of a great way to do them all after a days worth of dishes. The idea came to him when we gave Deidrick a mashed up banana to munch on while we at dinner. Of course, he's 7.5 months old so most of it was mashed into his shirt and hair by the time he was done. Rudy said, "Wanna just run the tub and put him and the chair in it?" I thought he was kidding. I got up to use the restroom and he said to Deidrick "Oh, mama is going to get your bath ready!" Nope, not kidding! Once we got him out of the bath, PJs on and bottle in hand - we got to work on our stuff. We took it all to the bathroom, Rudy kneeled down on the floor and washed everything in the tub, handed it all to me to rinse in the bathroom sink & then I dried and put it all away. I love how inventive we can be when we need to be :).
Well friends and family, it is getting late here... tomorrow is laundry day, and I'm sure Deidrick will be ready to get his day going before I know it. As always, thinking of everyone & missing you all!
Much love from the Sanchez Family in Kansas!
On another note, I've come to realize that shopping at the Great Bend Walmart is just never going to be an enjoyable experience. We all know that Walmarts everywhere have their downfalls...but here in Great Bend, I almost have to wonder if you are disqualified from employment consideration if you smile....ever. First night here, the customer in front of me and the cashier were cracking jokes about me (still not sure why, I did double check I had nothing on my face or TP stuck to my shoe or anything), the next three times the cashiers all looked so unhappy with their lives & didn't even so much as say "hello." Just a little pet peeve of mine, considering the many years I was a cashier. As the customer, by being in your check out line - I am essentially putting pennies in your paycheck, so be friendly.
Anyway... today I finally finished organizing the room. Poor Deidrick was still living out of a trash bag, but luckily he had no idea! :) Everything has its place, and things are starting to get a little easier..at least here. I realize that here I've spent so many days organizing this room and making it the highest level of functioning as possible - to only be moving in a few days, but at least I will enjoy this for a little bit longer! Yesterday, we got to go swimming - and just as I guessed, Deidrick loved it! We all had so much fun that I can't wait til we get to go again.
Function in such a small space, has brought us to improvise in some pretty hilarious ways. First of all, our food is literally a tower on the dresser right now. We don't really have another way to store it (we're looking into somethings & ALL ideas are welcome!), so it takes over the dresser space right now. Second is our "cooktop". We have three large plastic bins that we store almost everything in when we're moving...but no tables to put stuff on. We fully rely on whatever the hotel has available for space. So - with only a small electric skillet to cook on, we plug it in and cook on top of one of the plastic bins. This of course limits our options for meals... poor Rudy has been seriously craving spaghetti since we got here, and I'd do just about anything for some meat loaf and homemade mashed potatoes...but we just can't do that on what we've got. (That's another thing -- we would LOVE recipes!! We have a small electric skillet and limited fridge space... so we're looking for simple.)
My favorite memory so far from this adventure, has got to be the way we do our dishes. It makes me SO happy to have help every night with the dishes now :) and Rudy finally thought of a great way to do them all after a days worth of dishes. The idea came to him when we gave Deidrick a mashed up banana to munch on while we at dinner. Of course, he's 7.5 months old so most of it was mashed into his shirt and hair by the time he was done. Rudy said, "Wanna just run the tub and put him and the chair in it?" I thought he was kidding. I got up to use the restroom and he said to Deidrick "Oh, mama is going to get your bath ready!" Nope, not kidding! Once we got him out of the bath, PJs on and bottle in hand - we got to work on our stuff. We took it all to the bathroom, Rudy kneeled down on the floor and washed everything in the tub, handed it all to me to rinse in the bathroom sink & then I dried and put it all away. I love how inventive we can be when we need to be :).
Well friends and family, it is getting late here... tomorrow is laundry day, and I'm sure Deidrick will be ready to get his day going before I know it. As always, thinking of everyone & missing you all!
Much love from the Sanchez Family in Kansas!
Monday, February 25
From Chaos to Organized & Back Again
Staring at the huge pile of stuff we lugged along with us, I have felt so overwhelmed for two days now that I didn't even attempt to organize. Luckily, the snow & some job site hazards have kept Rudy home for the past 2 days and he tackled a good portion of it last night.
For space reasons, Rudy warned me against getting too much food at once for the room. I'm now understanding just why he warned against it... we have food piled on the dresser, and it isn't even a whole lot of food! I thought it would be easy living in a hotel. I know how to pack for camping (the tent version even!) and living in a room bigger than a tent should be so much easier than that, right? WRONG! Or maybe wrong for right now... Having only a few hours to pack & get on the road, I ended up just throwing stuff into totes and loading it up. Now unpacking it, I realize how much space I wasted. Needless to say, we are getting a better grip on how to stay organized. Luckily, we are staying right across the street from a Wal-Mart so it isn't a difficult task to get what we need. I thought it would be fun to take before and after pictures - also a little bit of a motivator for me - so here's what the chaos looked like before:
And after!:
It's not beautiful, but it is functional!! Starting to feel a little more like home, at least for the remainder of our stay here! (Ignore the pizza on the bed, I took the photo during lunch :) )
On a lighter note, we got to leave the room (and chaos) behind for a few hours yesterday while we took Deidrick to a zoo! Great Bend has a small little zoo, that is also free! When we found it online, we thought for sure it wouldn't be a whole lot of animals....but were we wrong! When we got there, we first stopped to see the two TIGERS! Deidrick loved watching them pace, and we loved watching them too - I've always had a soft spot for tigers. Then, we wandered along the path and came face to face with a huge peacock. He was just out taking a stroll in the zoo as well, and followed us some of the way. Unfortunately, it is still very cold here and a lot of the animals were indoors where we couldn't see them. We did get to see a lion, an eagle, and lots of ducks. Out of all the exotic animals he'd seen, nothing could tear Deidrick's attention away from those ducks! There were two very large geese that seemed to make him giggle the most. He got a kick out of the noises they made, and it sure made mom & dad smile to see him so happy.
Because of another snow storm, we are hanging out with Rudy all day again today. He got word today that we may be moving to Colby, KS soon (yes, another hour or so BACK in the direction we came from...) so I am going to convince Rudy to get his swim trunks on and we all go enjoy the pool before we leave. Last time Deidrick tried swimming, the pool was freezing cold. He was excited, but too cold to enjoy himself so we ended up calling it a bust. Thanks to my LifeProof phone case cover, I'll be able to get some great shots of him in the pool! I will be sure to post them when I can!
Much love from the Sanchez family in Kansas!
For space reasons, Rudy warned me against getting too much food at once for the room. I'm now understanding just why he warned against it... we have food piled on the dresser, and it isn't even a whole lot of food! I thought it would be easy living in a hotel. I know how to pack for camping (the tent version even!) and living in a room bigger than a tent should be so much easier than that, right? WRONG! Or maybe wrong for right now... Having only a few hours to pack & get on the road, I ended up just throwing stuff into totes and loading it up. Now unpacking it, I realize how much space I wasted. Needless to say, we are getting a better grip on how to stay organized. Luckily, we are staying right across the street from a Wal-Mart so it isn't a difficult task to get what we need. I thought it would be fun to take before and after pictures - also a little bit of a motivator for me - so here's what the chaos looked like before:
And after!:
On a lighter note, we got to leave the room (and chaos) behind for a few hours yesterday while we took Deidrick to a zoo! Great Bend has a small little zoo, that is also free! When we found it online, we thought for sure it wouldn't be a whole lot of animals....but were we wrong! When we got there, we first stopped to see the two TIGERS! Deidrick loved watching them pace, and we loved watching them too - I've always had a soft spot for tigers. Then, we wandered along the path and came face to face with a huge peacock. He was just out taking a stroll in the zoo as well, and followed us some of the way. Unfortunately, it is still very cold here and a lot of the animals were indoors where we couldn't see them. We did get to see a lion, an eagle, and lots of ducks. Out of all the exotic animals he'd seen, nothing could tear Deidrick's attention away from those ducks! There were two very large geese that seemed to make him giggle the most. He got a kick out of the noises they made, and it sure made mom & dad smile to see him so happy.
Because of another snow storm, we are hanging out with Rudy all day again today. He got word today that we may be moving to Colby, KS soon (yes, another hour or so BACK in the direction we came from...) so I am going to convince Rudy to get his swim trunks on and we all go enjoy the pool before we leave. Last time Deidrick tried swimming, the pool was freezing cold. He was excited, but too cold to enjoy himself so we ended up calling it a bust. Thanks to my LifeProof phone case cover, I'll be able to get some great shots of him in the pool! I will be sure to post them when I can!
Much love from the Sanchez family in Kansas!
Saturday, February 23
Great Bend, Kansas
Day 1 living in a hotel room has been an interesting one so far...
When I woke up yesterday morning, I had it in my mind we would not be leaving for Kansas until next week sometime. So, with only a few hours to finish packing - things were very scrambled. My intentions were to organize everything very nicely in storage totes, and then we'd know where everything was & it wouldn't be too much to pack into my car. Ha! You know how they say for such a small person (babies) they sure have a lot of stuff? Wow is that true. Between Rudy, Dedrick and I - we had a car stuffed full of the 'essentials.' Staring at the huge pile of stuff that is taking over the limited hotel room floor - I'm starting to second guess some of what I consider essential.... Never the less - it's all here now!
Rudy ended up working today after having two snow days, so Deidrick and I snuggled all morning and didn't wake up til ten! I have such a fantastic sleeper... :) Once we did wake up, it became instantly clear how nervous D is being in a new place. Add that to the 7 month separation anxiety that is kicking in, and I can't get anything done while he is awake! At home, he would play by himself while I made breakfast, or worked on homework -- so I thought for sure I'd get some organizing done this morning! Well, I dug through enough of the crazy to find my shower stuff & that's about as far as I've made it to accomplishing anything so far.
With Rudy on his way back from the job, we might just end up exploring this town we're in this afternoon. I didn't get to see much on my way in due to how late it was, but I did see just how much snow Kansas got! It is no wonder Rudy was so nervous about us on the roads yesterday, it's a mess here! Thankfully though, the interstate & highways were perfect conditions for driving - and we made it absolutely safe.
More to come when we venture out and explore a little bit... we're sure missing everyone back home - but loving being our little family out here on our adventure.
Much love from the Sanchez family!!
When I woke up yesterday morning, I had it in my mind we would not be leaving for Kansas until next week sometime. So, with only a few hours to finish packing - things were very scrambled. My intentions were to organize everything very nicely in storage totes, and then we'd know where everything was & it wouldn't be too much to pack into my car. Ha! You know how they say for such a small person (babies) they sure have a lot of stuff? Wow is that true. Between Rudy, Dedrick and I - we had a car stuffed full of the 'essentials.' Staring at the huge pile of stuff that is taking over the limited hotel room floor - I'm starting to second guess some of what I consider essential.... Never the less - it's all here now!
Rudy ended up working today after having two snow days, so Deidrick and I snuggled all morning and didn't wake up til ten! I have such a fantastic sleeper... :) Once we did wake up, it became instantly clear how nervous D is being in a new place. Add that to the 7 month separation anxiety that is kicking in, and I can't get anything done while he is awake! At home, he would play by himself while I made breakfast, or worked on homework -- so I thought for sure I'd get some organizing done this morning! Well, I dug through enough of the crazy to find my shower stuff & that's about as far as I've made it to accomplishing anything so far.
With Rudy on his way back from the job, we might just end up exploring this town we're in this afternoon. I didn't get to see much on my way in due to how late it was, but I did see just how much snow Kansas got! It is no wonder Rudy was so nervous about us on the roads yesterday, it's a mess here! Thankfully though, the interstate & highways were perfect conditions for driving - and we made it absolutely safe.
More to come when we venture out and explore a little bit... we're sure missing everyone back home - but loving being our little family out here on our adventure.
Much love from the Sanchez family!!
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