What happened to LIFE?

No, I'm not wondering about the game LIFE. I'm talking about my life. All the parents's lives out there.
What did we do before we had kids? We wasted our time away with our boyfriends/girlfriends, whenever we felt like it. We spent money on stupid things. We partied and played games until 2 am on the weekends. We did whatever we wanted, right? Do you remember those days???
I certainly do. And I miss it. The other day we were at the Real Salt Lake game with some friends of ours and we didn't get home until after 10pm. That's LATE. Jacen was cranky and cried most of the way home. And by 11pm, when he had gotten his bath and had his bottle, and was tucked in bed, asleep, I sat on the couch and thought... "I'm exhausted!" And it's only 11pm on a saturday night! This should only be the BEGINNING of the night!
Elijah and I then decided to catch up on some of our shows from the DVR... by 11:30pm, we were falling asleep. What's this all about?!
This is the HARDEST thing I've had to learn to adapt to after Jacen came along. No more independency. No more staying up late until the wee hours of the night. Everything revolves around Jacen and his schedule. I think my baby blues lasted longer and hit me harder than I thought because of this. And I want my life back, but when do you REALLY get it back? Does it ever come back?
I know that school and work for both me and Elijah has really put a damper on our lives because we must stick to a strict schedule in order to survive every day. If it wasn't for this strictness, our lives would be a total mess (more than they are right now!)
BUT, please don't get me wrong: having Jacen was the greatest miracle that has ever happened to me (and the BIGGEST surprise of all!). I'm not saying that we don't like having him around, and that he ruined it for us... I'm just saying: does our real life, and our real identities EVER come back?

Mother's Day!

It's so weird to think that three years ago I didn't even THINK of the possibility that I could be a mom so soon. In fact, people would tell me "Happy Mother's Day!" when I wasn't even a mom, and I really didn't care for it. I thought for sure it'd be at least 5 years until I was anywhere close to having a baby. But God works in some mysterious ways, and here I am, having my second Mother's Day.
This is by far the best day of the year I think. I actually believe it's better than my birthday, in my honest opinion. My birthday has lost it's magic, but not Mother's Day: it's designed to relieve stress and bring peace of mind, for at least 24 hrs. Whoever came up with it deserves the Nobel Prize.
I had an awesome Mother's Day! Well, it didn't start out that way, but it ended on a good note at least! I had to work all night (saturday-sunday) and not only was I watching over W4, I had to watch over Special Care Nursery as well. It turned out to be a good night, although it was busy. I should get paid double for doing the job 2 clerks can do! Then I had to drop off a document at the NICU at IMC, so I stopped there on my way home from work.
Then I slept from 8:30am until 3pm. Let me tell ya something: it's SO nice to be able to sleep for that long. It's almost as if I don't sleep that long, I pretty much go through the day in a fog. Got breakfast in bed (oatmeal!) and got ready.
After that, my mom came over so we could call my brother in Japan! It was really nice to be able to talk to him. He's got such a strong testimony, he's totally changed since he's gone on his mission- and it's a change for the better!
As soon as we were done, we headed to Olive Garden for dinner. It was so yummy!


Here's a picture of me with my mom. I love my mom!

Then a picture of Elijah with his mom! So cute!

And a picture of Jacen and me :)

And I had to post this picture cuz I thought it was just absolutely hilarious! Jacen learned to ask "Wads dis?", "Was dat?" (What's this? What's that?) while he points to things, and one of them was that lime. So being the mean mom I am, decided it was time for him to suck on a lime and see how he liked it.... well, we realized he's just like me: he LOVED it!!! And he continued to suck on it for a while! When I was little I used to pull out some tweezers and a slice of a lime, and just pluck out the little fibers, and stick a whole bunch of them in my mouth and then pop all of them at the same time to get the juice. So fun! I just thought I'd share this little story LOL

Anyway, I hope all the moms out there had a fabulous Mother's Day!

H1N1 Influenza A...

or the so called "swine flu" has now hit Utah. It's a combination of pig flu, bird flu, and human flu. YUCK!!!! (every time I hear the term "swine flu" I picture pigs with those old fashioned rubber ice bags on their heads while they have a thermometer in their mouths LOL). I wouldn't worry much if it was like the whooping cough that hit about 5 years ago, but this one is different: it kills healthy, young people. And I am reminded of it every time I check my work email: there are daily updates of what's happening and what we need to be doing to protect ourselves from it (even though I work in maternity, there's always a risk to get it from careless visitors).
I'm shocked at how quickly this thing is spreading. The CDC thinks it's spread to Asia, which scares me even more: my brother's in Japan and he is around a LOT of people all day long! I sent him an email a couple of days ago saying to please "wash your hands, and carry hand sanitizer with you wherever you go, and stay away from people who are coughing or seem sick". Mwahhh!!!!
One of the websites I've visited about this emerging pandemic mention emergency preparedness, and how we need to keep at least 2 weeks of food, water, medication, and necessities at hand just in case this thing explodes and stores close down. Maybe this is what the church has been telling us to prepare for years!
What are your thoughts on this? Am I worried about it for no reason?

My brother's blog

I'm just posting on here to let everyone know that Victor's blog (Elder Mourao) went private today. If you want to look at it just send me a quick email and I'll add you to the list of people who can have access to it.
Just a bit of a history on him: he's in Hiroshima Japan on his mission, and every time I get emails from him (which happens weekly) and pictures, I post it on there for people to read. He's doing really well, only a bit over 14 months until he comes home! He's got some great stories, and has been having to speak 4 different languages (english, japanese, portuguese, and spanish) to be able to communicate with his investigadors and companion. Isn't that insane?! But he's so smart he does well with it :)

The crank is coming!

I HATE summer. I think all of you has heard me say that at least twice since I've known you. I just can't stand the heat. Since I was little I've always despised it. You're probably wondering, "But you're from Brazil, you must love the heat!" Well, to a certain point, yes I do, and I'll tell you the times I like the heat:
1) When I'm at the beach. Put me on a beach somewhere where it's 95F and I'm a happy camper!
2) When I'm at the pool. Who wants to be in cold water, only to get out to 50F weather?!

3) When I'm inside a building, i.e. work. Central air/AC is THE best invention ever!

This summer is going to a rough one for me. Last year I swore to myself I'd NEVER go through another summer without central air in my condo. See, when we bought this condo last year (in February) we had to make an offer the same day we were looking at it because we were running out of time in order to get the paperwork going so we could move before the contract at our apartment ended... so we made an offer because not only the inside was nice, it was centrally located in the valley, and it was affordable (at the time!). One of the things on my wishlist was central air, but I figured, "What the hey, we'll be getting bank on our tax returns in 2009 so we'll just get it then!". Oh.... what a mistake. We didn't get a decent tax return.

Last summer was horrid. I don't think I became a potty mouth until last summer. Either the heat of it or postpartum hormones did it to me. But the heat was too much to bear. We do have a wall AC in the living room but it doesn't disperse the air through the house very well... so the living room is a freezer while the bedrooms are ovens.

I can tell this year will be just as bad as last year. Now I have a baby that actually cares how cold/hot he is and it just will not be a good season for us. I may have to shed a few pounds to look a bit better in a swimsuit (just so I don't scare the neighbors) so we can spend days in the pool- and maybe for some of you that have kids you can come hang out with us since Elijah and I are taking school off together!
Anyway. This is the "beware" post to the summer beast that comes out of me every year!