File Folder Games

So a few weeks ago at church I discovered "file folder games." A girl in my ward had made some for her kids and they happened to be sitting in front of us. I was completely intrigued by the idea. So I asked her about them! She invited me over to look through her books and make photo copies of some of the pages. I also found a website with some really cool ones that you can print out in color (and not have to color) or black and white if you prefer to color your own! Anyway, I made my file folder games, laminated them put the velcro on and took them to church this past Sunday. I wasn't sure if Oliver would actually use them or not. He's still kind of young. Well he has never sat still for so long! He had so much fun! One of the ones I made (as you can see) is a family tree. I used actual pictures of our family members so we can work on everyone's names. He LOVED that one! They were fun to make, and will teach him something and the ultimate goal... is to keep him quiet during Sacrament meeting... SUCCESS!!!

The books the color games came from are called File Folder Fun. And the website I found the other ones on is http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/filefolders.asp

On a cute side note. Oliver (who hasn't seen my siblings since last Christmas) took the picture of my sister off of the family tree and gave it a kiss and then put it back! It was priceless! Such a cute boy!

Oliver's Friends

In our ward we have this cute little set of boy/girl twins! They are a little over two months older than Oliver and Oliver LOVES them! We usually sit near them during sacrament meeting and seeing their familiar faces is what I think helped his transition into nursery! The little girl is SO CUTE and is always all smiles. She likes to climb under our pew and smile at Oliver and Oliver loves to climb over our pew and smile at her! They are adorable! Yesterday when Oliver and I were walking out of church the twins were walking out with their parents and Oliver, and the twins started yelling "BYE" to each other and waving! It was the cutest thing I have EVER seen! They looked like a bunch of mini teenagers leaving their friends! It was so stinking cute! I love that he has his two little friends! Today when I went to the YMCA to workout he was not happy (to say the least) to be left in the child care. He was crying (which is unusual for him). The twins mom showed up at the class I was taking and said Oliver wasn't crying anymore but looked sad. She also told me that she pointed Oliver out to her kids! When I went to pick him up he was playing with the little Chloe. He saw me and they both came running! I was so happy he was playing with Chloe and NOT hanging around the ladies that watch the kids (which is what he usually does). He was so happy his friends were there! I love those little twins! We have a play date with them tomorrow! It should be fun!

Our latest Oliverism

So my sweet son is finally starting to talk more and more. This is very exciting for me! I love the cute things he says (usually related to asking for some "teese" (Cheese) or "cookie, cookie." But lately he has been doing THE CUTEST thing ever. He'll ask for something and when we figure out what he's asking for he raises his hand in the air, points his finger and says "WAHOO!!" He does it with such excitement as if it were the best thing that has ever happened to him in his entire 21 months of life. I have to say it is so stinking adorable! I don't know where he learned the word "wahoo" but, it is so cute. He will not say yes, he prefers "wahoo" and I LOVE it!

Swimming lessons, Culver's and no we haven't dropped off the face of the earth!

Okay, so I have not blogged in FOREVER. I don't know what my problem has been but I have not been in the blogging mood. Maybe because we haven't had anything blog worthy I don't know... but last week we had some fun times and I finally decided to get back on the blog!

We started Oliver in swimming lessons last week. He is fearless in the water so we thought swimming lessons would be good for our peace of mind. Oliver hasn't quite caught on to the kicking yet but he has holding his breath and "putting his eyes in" down pat. His favorite is jumping in! It's so fun to watch. A girl in our ward teaches the lessons and it's just Oliver and one other boy which I love. He loves swimming lessons, when I'm getting him ready to go he starts saying "water, water." It's so cute!

In other news. On one of Berto's days off last week we went to lunch and a movie and while we were out we went to Culver's!!!!! For those of you who have not been fortunate enough to experience Culver's it is AMAZING. It's something I was introduced to as a missionary in good ol' Wisconsin. A few weeks ago we found out we have a few here in Arizona. I'm just thankful the nearest one is a 40 minute drive... actually my hips are lucky! Culver's has okay food but the highlight of the Culver's experience is their frozen custard. Frozen custard is this super fattening, creamy, smooth delicious ice cream! For my missionary friends I've included a couple of pictures to make you drool!

The other random picture is just an adorable (in this mommies opinion) picture of my little Oliver fast asleep in his carseat. His lap is full of his favorite little animal toys and a water bottle and he has a pretzel in his hand that he was apparently saving for later! It was such a cute photo moment I couldn't resist!
Nothing too exciting in the Galindo world but we're going to get back into our blog.... again! :)

Cabin Fever Cures

Okay, so Oliver and I are suffering from "Cabin Fever." It has been (in my opinion) too hot to do too much playing outside and we don't have a car all that often these days and I have been feeling like all I do is let Oliver watch movies and play with his toys... and we're both getting bored! I've resorted to emailing a friend begging for suggestions which she was kind enough to oblige! (Thank you, Thank You again Tenille!)

This evening while I was looking on Sugar Doodle for some extras for my primary lesson I came across a section called "Boredom Busters." They have some cute suggestions to help inspire creativity to keep your kids occupied during (in our case) the summer and even the winter months (in other parts of the country) when it's not convenient to go outside! I'm so glad I came across this!!

Baseball Game/ Soccer Star

Last Friday we went to the Diamond vs Angels game at Chase Field! We had so much fun! Chase field is awesome! Up on the level where the cheap seats are they have a toddler playground, a bigger playground and a little baseball diamond where the little kids can go and try to hit a ball and run the bases. It is so cute! Oliver lasted the whole game and through the fireworks which was AMAZING. He is usually so set on his schedule that we were sure we'd end up leaving early with a screaming tired toddler. But he did great and had so much fun! We had a blast! Oliver seemed to be unimpressed by the fireworks show. I thought he'd really like them but he just sat there... and maybe he was just really tired. But at least he wasn't scared.

The other picture is of Oliver playing soccer through the house with Berto. He is such a good little soccer player already! I know this sounds like a slight exaggeration BUT seriously the day Oliver started walking he started kicking a soccer ball around. He can dribble it and everything and has really good control of the ball. It is so cute to watch! I love it!

Oliver is becoming quite the little chatter box. FINALLY! It is getting so fun to listen to his little conversations with himself. I'm still trying to figure out what the heck he's saying most of the time but we're getting there!

I love being this little boys mommy. He is so sweet and so much fun to be with! I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to be Oliver's mommy! I'm one lucky girl!

My Dad is the BEST! By Oliver Cole Galindo

Hi Everybody:
My mom is finally not hogging the computer. I've been dying to get on so I can tell you all what a great dad I have! He's the best. He works so hard for me and my mom. He works late at night and still gets up really early when I wake my parents up because I'm ready to play. He also is ALWAYS doing homework. Sometimes I wish he didn't have to do homework all the time... but mom says it won't be forever and once he's done with school it will be better for our future... whatever that means! Seriously though.. my dad is the best. He's fun to wrestle with, sit on, play soccer with and I especially love just hanging out on the couch watching my favorite movies with him! I am so lucky to have such a special dad! Mom and me decided to get him something really simple this year... mom stole the idea from Katrina Parker... she told me to make sure I mentioned that it was her idea.. grown ups are so weird! (Thanks for the idea Katrina). Anyway, we made him a bouquet of candy in a special mug just for him! The mug says "The greatest gift I ever had came from Heaven I call him Dad." I'm really glad that I have such a great dad! I hope he will always know how lucky we are to have him in our life! He's a really special guy!

Love you Dad!

Love,
Oliver

And we're back!

Okay, so I haven't blogged in forever! I just haven't been in the mood! Quick update on the nursery saga. Oliver is doing much better! Thank you to my mom and all of my mommy friends who helped talk me down off of my ledge! :) Two weeks ago he only fell asleep for a little while and then woke up and played and was not a wreck when I picked him up. And then the last Sunday he stayed awake the entire time and played with the toys and the kids! YAY!! Progress!
So we haven't been up to much lately. Here are a couple of pics. On is of Oliver and his Cousin Vandana on my sister in law Terry and Vandana's last morning here before they headed to their final destination before flying back to Spain. Oliver and Vandana had a fun time together while they were here! In this picture they were wrestling with a giant panda bear!
Yesterday we took Oliver to kids club at the mall. One of the perks is a free Carousel ride on the malls double decker carousel! Oliver LOVES the carousel! After we left the mall we headed over to the LDS distribution center to pick up a couple of things and while we were in the area we decided to walk around the grounds of the Mesa, AZ Temple. It was nice!
So all in all things are good with us! We hope everyone is doing well!
P.S. I started this post on Friday… it’s taken me FOREVER to get my pics uploaded. I don’t know what was going on but every time I tried to upload my internet would get knocked out… LAME!

Naptime Update

Okay, so as of today it has been three weeks of no nursing at naptime! We are in a routine again and Oliver doesn't even try to nurse at naptime at all anymore! YAY! After the first couple of days he doesn't even cry anymore (except on a very rare occasion)! I haven't started weaning him from his final before bedtime feeding yet. It's been a little hectic with my sister in law visiting and we're all a little out of whack. I will be starting that after she leaves in a little over a week.. wish me luck it's going to be a little harder than naptime I think! I'm really proud of my little man!

Nusery Time... the novel!

Okay, so I know I need to just chill out... but I'm so concerned for my little Oliver. Once again he slept through nursery. Last Sunday our ward was realigned and we switched schedules so now we start at noon. I put Oliver down for a nap for a little over an hour before we left for church hoping that he would stay awake. Berto can't attend church with us for a few months until he gets a different schedule so I'm on my own at church with Oliver and our primary class. (I'm most likely going to be released soon... ) So I took Oliver into the nursery before I went to primary and was having trouble sneaking away. He's usually fine if he doesn't see me leave the room. (No matter where we are at home, or church or anywhere I have to sneak away) So I had him playing with toys and kept heading to the door and just as I would get to the door he'd come running behind me to pull me back to whatever he was playing with. Finally I was almost out and he came running but I just kept going. Another mom was in there with her daughter (and she happens to be one of the moms of one of the kids in my class so she tried distracting him) apparently it worked for a little while and he was kicking the balls around and playing with dinosaurs. Then he did his usual and climbed up on a chair and just observed. Apparently he started dozing off while sitting on the chair so the nursery leader laid him down on the floor. At one point my class needed a potty break and the bathroom is right near where the nursery is so while they were going to the bathroom I peaked in on Oliver and that's when I found out he had been asleep. Well he slept for most of the time and woke up hysterical a few minutes before I came to pick him up. He never sleeps like this at home. I really worried that this is some kind of defense mechanism he has and that he's under so much stress being in nursery that his body just shuts itself down and goes to sleep. I know the nursery leaders are glad he's not one of the ones that cries and cries the whole time they're in the nursery... but I'm so worried for my baby boy. I worry about his social skills... but also about what's going on in the inside... am I traumatizing him?? I wonder if I had play dates with some of the other little kids if he'd recognize them and have an easier time? We still haven't gotten to know too many people and him and I pretty much spend our days together with no one else. I know I probably shouldn't read so much into all of this but it's really upsetting to me. I would love any helpful tips our outlooks from you other mommies... I'm such a basket case right now...

Imagination Avenue

Yesterday we wanted to do something on Berto's last day off that would be fun and inexpensive... and would entertain Oliver. I was doing some research online since we still don't really know the area to well and found this place called Imagination Avenue. It sounded like it would be really fun... and it was... just not exactly what we expected. It was definitely worth a one time experience but was on the way west side of Phoenix so it was a pretty far drive for us. Oliver had a blast playing with all the different toys and cars and in the different rooms. It was a fun time!

Papa Jose

Last night Berto's family got some upsetting news. My mother in laws father passed away. He was a man that loved to work. He was in his 90's and still the family would pool their money together to help him have a property to build a house on. House building was his hobby. His wish was to pass away on his property and that is what he did. As of right now they don't know the cause of death and don't know if an autopsy will be performed. We're hoping there will be one so the family can have closure. He lived a long life and left behind quite a legacy. Him and his wife had twelve of their own children and took in a thirteenth. They have a lot of grandchildren and great grandchildren. I was never privileged to meet Papa Jose. Since Berto and I have been together we haven't been able to afford a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico. Berto is sad that his grandpa passed away but we know he's in a better place. I'm so grateful for my husband and his sacrifices for our family. His parents, aunt and sister hopped on a plane early this morning to Guadalajara in order to make sure they were there for the funeral. Berto is not able to go because bereavement isn't paid at his work and we wouldn't be able to pay our bills if he took any unpaid days. I'm grateful to him for letting me stay home with Oliver especially during this time when I know if I were working he'd probably be able to be with his family during this time. He is such a great man. I am truly blessed.

Papa Jose will be greatly missed by his family. I wish I could have at least met this great man. I know I will someday and I will thank him for raising such a strong family that helped to mold my sweet husband.

The picture above is Papa Jose and his wife Mama Chayo on their 70th anniversary several years ago.

Pictures with Cousin V

My sister in law Terry and niece Vandana are visiting for the next three weeks from Spain. During their visit last year we started a tradition of having Oliver and Vandana's pictures taken together. Today was the day. We all survived... my sweet hubby ran himself ragged running back and forth through JC Penney's with Oliver while we took our sweet time picking out the shots we wanted to order. There were so many adorable ones. I'm just posting a few from the day. We got the "smiles by wire" service this time so we could save them to our computers and all that fun stuff. So we didn't actually order all of the ones I'm posting... but anyway they are so cute!

Vandana is such a sweet little girl and she LOVES her cousin Ollie. We're pretty sure he likes her too but one can never be sure! :) They are really cute together and standing right next to each other Oliver is just maybe an inch shorter than his almost 3 year old cousin! In the pics he looks a little shorter than that but he really is almost as tall. It has been so much fun with V this year. She's really talkative and SO cute! And every time (no matter what time of day or night) she comes downstairs or into a new room she says "Good Morning" or sings a good morning to you song. So funny and cute! She has a really sweet personality!

Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Sleepy Head...

So today was kind of a wacky day. Oliver decided he needed to wake up at 5:30 am (yuck). Also, my sister in law and niece flew in from Spain last night so Oliver has been busy playing with his older cousin Vandana. I also took him for a haircut and when we got back (right at naptime) we decided to hop in the car and go to the store with my mother in law, father in law, sister in law and niece. Oliver dozed off in the car during the five minute drive there and I woke him up when we got to the store because I wanted him to take a nap in his bed when we got home. Well that didn't happen. Apparently his five minute nap was enough of to keep him going. Well, we had a birthday party to go to for our neighbors son. Oliver was needless to say CRANKY and only wanted to go outside in the blazing 104 degree heat. So he had many a meltdown during the hour we lasted at the party. We came home and I turned on the Lion King his current favorite flick and pumped him full of water, ice and yogurt. (the water and ice were for the heat and the yogurt was to fill his tummy since he refused to eat dinner while we were at the party). Anyway, once he had calmed down had a little snack and cooled off we were up to the bath tub. Once we finished that I had him on the changing table and was doing our usual routine of toothbrushing, lotion, diaper and pj's. Well before I even got his pajama shorts pulled up he was fast asleep. This is quite unusual for my little one. He's never been easy to put down to sleep. I even put his shorts the rest of the way, his t-shirt and moved him onto his bed without him even stirring... now it's only 7:06 pm and that is quite an early bedtime... I'm really hoping we don't have another 5:30 am wake up call I was really trying to get him to stay awake at lest until 7:00 pm... he made it to 10 till. I felt so bad that he was THAT tired. Too funny though!

Weaning Update... Days 2-5

I'm sorry if you follow our blog and fin this to be completely boring. This is also our little family journal so I want to record these things so Oliver knows what he put me through (jk) ... but really so we can look back and see what I did when we have other kids.

Anyway, so last Saturday was day two. We had another two hour event. It wasn't quite as bad as the first day. He didn't cry hysterically but did do quite a bit of screaming and after two hours was not going to sleep. So I decided to stick him in the car and go for a ride. I could feel myself losing steam so I decided it would be a good idea since we were going to be going out anyway we picked up my mom and headed out.

On Sunday Oliver took a nap during nursery at church. (see the post below) He hasn't been taking two naps lately no matter how hard I try but because he took such an early nap I thought he might be a little tired. I didn't have a fight in me on Sunday and I certainly didn't think I'd make it through two hours again so we decided to go ahead and hop in the car and take a drive. Which was nice anyway.

On Monday day four we went up at noon and turned on a movie. I laid him on his bed and was prepared for a screaming fit. Well he screamed for about a minute and within five minutes he was fast asleep. Yes I felt a wave of relief and was so proud of him and me for sticking to it.

Today (Tuesday day five) was not quite as easy. This morning we went to run an errand in the morning and he dozed off in the car for about ten minutes. I think this kind of threw us off. I didn't try putting him down until 12:30 pm but I think he was still not quite ready because of his little power nap. In any case he didn't cry he just had a few intermitent screaming fits and then a little over an hour later he was asleep.

Monday was such a miracle. I thought for sure it would be at least a week before anything got that easy. Today was a little set back but I know now to wait even longer if he has a little mini nap. I've been putting of the weaning because I just didn't think I had the fight in me. I'm proving to myself that I do but also Oliver is learning to be more independent which is good for him. I'm so proud of both of us. I'm really praying that tomorrow will go smoothly and we'll be able to have a smooth nap time.

Wish us luck!

Happy Mother's Day... and a little advice...

What a great day Mother's Day is. I'm so happy to be a mom to my little Oliver. I want to wish my mom a Happy Mother's Day and also all of you my friends who are moms and expecting moms! I'm so grateful for a mom who is such a strong and coragous woman. I'm so glad there is a special day to celebrate moms! Today was a no big deal kind of day. We went to our 8:00 am church, had an extra rowdy class and came home and collapsed! I received a lovely card from Oliver :) and some yummy candy! I loved it! Thanks Oliver.. (and Berto)

On another note, Oliver has been old enough to go into the nursery for a couple weeks now and has gone three times now. The first time Berto stayed with him the entire time and he was of course fine, the second week he went right in and played with the toys so Berto left and he was fine for a while then a little kid stepped on his finger so he cried and the nursery leader picked him up and he fell asleep for a while. Then today he was a little clingy to Berto so Berto had to sneak out and Oliver saw him right as he was sneaking away so the nursery leader picked him up and he fell asleep for over an hour and then when he woke up he just stayed on her lap. Okay, so the reason I'm sharing all of this is because I'm a little worried about Oliver. I know he's still young to be interacting a lot with other kids, but I'm a little concerned that I don't socialize him enough. (Which I don't) I'm also a little bitter that he easily falls asleep for some nursery leader when it's taking me hours and hours to get him to sleep these days. Any suggestions moms? Should I be concerned? Should I be worried about Oliver's social behavior? I'm worried... leave me comments and let me know!!

Weaning Day 1- The Saga Begins

Oliver is 18 months old... and I know i'm getting a little late start on weaning but today it finally began. He's only been nursing at nap time and bed time for quite a while now... but it's those two crucial times that I've been dreading dropping. Oliver doesn't nurse himself to sleep anymore but he does like to nurse and then lay on his bed and drift off to sleep. Well today I began the daunting task of removing the nap time feeding.

Oliver is such a sweet boy. But he's also stubborn like his mama and has been difficult at times as well. I knew this was going to be a challenge because at 9 months I tried to do the same thing and it didn't go so well. Well after his 18 month check up and a good scolding from his pediatrician I decided I needed to just suck it up and deal with what is inevitably to come. So today it began...

At 11:30 am I had Berto go upstairs and stick A Bugs Life in the DVD player. This is Oliver's favorite movie and I thought it might distract him... boy was I wrong. I gave him a cup of milk and we came upstairs. I had him lay down on his bed and I started to rub his tummy. (He's a back sleeper still) He started to watch his movie for all of 20 seconds and then the screaming began. He would roll around screaming then get distracted by the T.V. then start all over again. This lasted for about an hour. Then it became a full on scream fest. I was running out of mental energy but knew I couldn't turn back because that would just send the message that if he throws a big enough fit he will get what he wants... (the comfort of nursing). So another hour of the full on crying and screaming and he dozed off around 1:30 pm. Boy am I exhausted now. I feel a lot of different emotions. I have been burned out for a while so I know it's time for us to be done with nursing, plus he's more than old enough. The improvement from now and 9 months ago when I tried is that after 2.5 hours 9 months ago he was still screaming and nowhere near ready for sleep. Today he actually dozed off in the exact spot shown in this picture. (I took at it after I knew I wouldn't wake him up with the flash).

I'm really praying that tomorrow will be a little easier and that it will just keep getting easier and easier from here on out. I'm not touching the nighttime feeding until we have naps under control. I can only take so much. It's hard because through all this I find myself questioning my abilities as a mother. I love my little Oliver so much but sometimes I think if I were a better mom I wouldn't have such a hard time with these little things. But I guess it's all a learning process... boy do I know what I won't be doing with my next one... I'm so glad I chose to breast feed, I know it's the best nutrition for my kids and it has been a wonderful experience... it's just this darn weening that's difficult, and I know it's this hard for everyone... just me and Oliver! :) Thanks for listening!

Love,
Elizabeth

So Much Fun

So a couple of weeks a girl from church who has a little girl a month older than Oliver told me about this place just about 10 minutes away that has a pool, lazy river, and a kids zone that is 3 feet deep at it's deepest and in the center is a big jungle gym with two water slides and a huge water feature that is constantly spraying and dumping water. We went today and had SO MUCH FUN! I didn't snap any pictures but I'm putting the link to the website for any of you Arizonans that might be interested! We had a blast. Right now in the mornings only the kids zone is open but that was perfectly fine for us! We loved every minute of it... of course we are looking forward to being able to use the lazy river too! :)

http://www.chandleraz.gov/default.aspx?pageid=733

18 Months already...

This past Monday (May 4th) Oliver turned 18 months old. I can't even believe he's so big already! He's getting so smart. He is saying more and more words. He doesn't put any together yet but he is definitely able to identify and say what certain objects are. His favorite's are airplane, bird, ball, balloon, bubbles, dog and puppy! He's getting to be so much fun! We love Oliver and are having so much fun watching him grow!

His 18 month check up was today.... here are his stats!
Height 35 inches- 97th percentile
Weight 36 lbs 4 ounces 97th percentile
Head Circ. 49 cm 97th percentile

Oliver is remaining true to himself and continues to be a big boy... but he's finally starting to level off on his weight and is slimming down! He's so cute though!

A long awaited blog...

I was told last week that I'm not blogging enough. I haven't been in the mood for some reason. Probably because nothing too exciting has been happening in our lives these past few weeks. Let's see... about almost two weeks ago we took Oliver to story time at our local library ... he wasn't a huge fan. I guess probably because he had to sit still! Then a couple days later we took him to the kids club at the mall. He liked this a little more. It was actually a lot of fun. It's an hour of singing time for the kids. And they get a little toy and snack (which Oliver couldn't eat because it had wheat in it) but it was a fun time!

Aside from that. My 29th birthday was on April 26th. We did some fun stuff the Wednesday and Thursday before in celebration. We went out to eat and had some good quality family time. On my actual birthday I caught a stomach flu from my little Oliver and spent the day not feeling too well! And the following week my mom had us over for dinner and my favorite strawberry cake! So aside from the stomach flu it was nice!... I am a little sad to be leaving my 20's in just under a year... but I'm sure I'll get over it!

So this is pretty much it for us! I'm still caring for my neighbors dog during the week and we're gearing up for my sister in law and niece to come for their yearly visit from Spain starting on the 15th of this month! Hopefully I'll have a few exciting things to post soon!

The picture is at Kids Club... I'm pretty sure we were doing the "Head, Shoulders, Knees and toes" song!