What’s rare? A good night’s sleep

Posted on April 3, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

As for me, my oldest daughter almost gave me a heart attack at 3 o’ clock in the morning today! I’m peacefully, sound asleep when all of a sudden something is touching me and this is how I wake up: literally yelling and bouncing off my bed. I don’t know why I wake up this way, but I do and it drives me (and my husband) absolutely nuts. My nerves get shot to hell and my poor little girl is standing there in the dark not knowing what to do. She woke me up because her fingernail was bothering her after she had picked at it and wanted me to cut it.

At three o’ clock in the morning.

I couldn’t see (due to darkness and bad eyesight), I’m cursing in my head, and I desperately want to close my eyes and go back to sleep, but I can’t because my daughter needs me. So I grabbed my eyeglasses and a nail clipper, turned on the blinding light, clipped away that wretched fingernail, and tucked my daughter and myself back into bed.

I remember reading an article a long time ago about this woman who loved to sleep. That was the whole article. She had an immense love for sleep and loathed anyone or anything that took it away from her. She even shuddered at the idea of becoming a mom and losing her beloved sleep. I enjoyed reading that article, especially that part because I knew what she meant. Before I became a mom, I loved to sleep as well and there were no interruptions. Now, a good night’s sleep is rare and I know that I’m not the only one out there seeking sweet, pleasant dreams. From the person who can’t sleep because they’re worrying about their finances or job, to the sleep deprived new mom who has to wake up every two to three hours to feed her newborn child, the single dad who has to take care of his sick child who can’t sleep, or the person who has a loved one in the hospital. We’re all in it together.

Sleep, where art thou?

Please come back!

One day I will sleep again and no, I’m not talking about the temporary kind. That can stay far off into the future, knock on wood. I’m just wanting some good ol’ restful sleep because once that happens, your body and mind feels the difference and you’re hooked. Some nights I do go to bed late and that’s because I want to see TV, but I’m about to be scaling back on the tube time because I’m missing the zzzzzz’s too much.

Good (luck) night!

P.S. Breaking news on the wiggly tooth. My brave daughter wiggled and wiggled her tooth until she pulled it out herself last Friday. The tooth fairy came that night and left two golden, chocolate coins, two dollar bills, and a small certificate. My daughter, without a second thought, generously shared her new gifts with her little sister! 🙂

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Surprising Art

Posted on March 29, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

I’m making my blog post today as a tribute to my daughter’s art. It’s a blog art gallery for her.

The other day she was quietly working on the dining room table. She was drawing, coloring, cutting, and gluing away. I simply thought that she was doing one of her wonderful drawings, but boy was I ever wrong. When she finished she surprised me with this piece:

Is this call 2D or 3D art? I’m not sure, but I do know that it’s absolutely beautiful. I was speechless and in awe when she presented it to me. By the way that’s me under the rainbow! Do you love my red lips? 🙂 I asked her how she came up with this idea and she responded by saying that she had seen her arts and crafts teacher doing this project with another class so she decided to make one of her own. Simply fabulous. We looked at it and I, of course, took several pictures. Then my daughter realized that she didn’t include her daddy. I told her if you want to include more into your masterpiece, go ahead.

Here’s the finished project: She drew her dad, sister, and herself (on top of the rainbow). Oh, she also gave me a lollipop in my hand. Now, it’s complete!

The artist, Olivia!

This last piece she drew yesterday. She used stickers and made little flowers out of them, drew a cool airplane, connected the star stickers, and as you can see one of her characters is sad. Why? Well, that’s her and she’s sad because she’s running a fever and next to her is me. I love how she made me shorter than her (I’m short, but not that short.) We’re battling germs again, but she’s getting better. Taking her medicine and drinking lots of water, plus resting. Since it’s spring recess, I’m happy that she’s able to get better without missing school.

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this short, but sweet art gallery presentation by Olivia.

Encourage art and you’ll be presented with amazing creations.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

A wiggly tooth

Posted on March 28, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

My oldest daughter has her first wiggly tooth.

I thought that was supposed to happen around the age of 6.

Oh wait, she’s turning 6. In June. Of this year.

Time really does fly.

PLEASE slow down a bit.

😦

Take good care all.

Until next time…

http://www.canadianfamily.ca/kids/pregnancy/your-childs-loose-tooth/

Egg-celent Day!

Posted on March 25, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

Today was the first day of my daughter’s Spring Recess and to kick it off, I decided to dye our first eggs at home. Yes, it’s another egg story. 🙂 I took their yellow Little Tikes table to the kitchen because it’s the brightest room in the house plus the cleaning supplies are there too, just kidding, not really. Yesterday, we purchased this kit at Target.

I chose the Marble Magic effect. Inside you’ll find an egg dipper and color tablets. Instructions are on the back of the box.

I chose to add vinegar to the tablets for a more vibrant color per the instructions. I hard-boiled four of the eggs. The other two were emptied out by my husband the day before. I dissolved the tablets and got green, blue, and pink. Then I added ½ cup of water to each.

We dipped the eggs and my oldest daughter decided to use her M & M’s toy fan to speed up the drying process while my youngest was fascinated and kept looking into the cup. I had to watch her closely in case she decided to take a sip.

We dipped some of the eggs into two colors and achieved somewhat of a marble effect. It looks more speckled to me, but the girls were happy with the results and that’s all that matters. The Peter Rabbit egg holders were very handy. Aren’t they adorable?

Olivia took her markers and got even more creative. It’s a girl holding a basket with an egg. Love it!

She also used glitter glue to decorate the eggs.

Here’s the Peter Rabbit basket made out of cardstock. It was super easy to make and absolutely adorable. I glued the characters to the basket, but used masking tape for the basket itself. If you want to make one for your kiddo click here http://www.nickjr.com/crafts/peter-rabbit-egg-basket.jhtml

I had a lot of fun dyeing these eggs with my daughters and we’re going to be making more because my husband was working today and missed out. We Skyped him at his job, once we finished, so he could see the results and he was super happy to see us and our marbled/speckled eggs. This will be my last post on eggs, I promise. I do hope you guys enjoyed our adventure in egg land.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Welcome Spring!

Posted on March 20, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

Some mornings are very hectic in my household even when I try to have things laid out already. Time is a sneaky little monster that jumps out horribly at you when you’re trying to put shoes on, zip up sweaters, wrap scarves around, and place hats on two little girls with ants in their pants. Oh, and don’t forget bundling yourself up. Today was a good day. I was able to leave the house on time and actually walk my daughter to school instead of jogging/running with her there before they ~~slam~~ close the doors. She doesn’t mind the fast pace though because in her case she BOUNCES her way to school with excitement practically every day. My kid doesn’t do walking, unless there’s three feet of snow in which then she wants to drag her feet and bask in the glory of snow heaven. Other than that, it’s all running everywhere.

This morning my daughter was EXTRA excited because they were going to dye eggs in her classroom. Her teacher asked that the kids bring in two hard-boiled eggs and I was brainstorming yesterday night on how I was going to transport these eggs without them cracking in her bag. I thought, “Why not use the egg carton itself?” so I cut off one of the ends of the styrofoam carton and placed the eggs like this:

Then I put it into a food storage container that fit perfectly and off to school she went with her eggs safely in her backpack. I don’t really remember if I ever dyed Easter eggs with my mom or even in school, but this year we’re definitely going to be dyeing some eggs come Easter week-end. I just have to remember to be patient and have fun, no matter what messes occur. Let the cracked eggs and spilled paint fall where they may. That’s what brooms and paper towels are made for, but just in case I will repeat silently this little mantra, “Just let go and make sweet memories. That’s all that matters!”

Today is the start of Spring so lets welcome it with open arms even if we’re still bundled up over here in Brooklyn.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

I don’t want to see you, love sis

Posted on March 15, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well. Yesterday, it happened! I’ve heard stories about this, but didn’t think that it was going to happen for a while, but yesterday it did. It went down in the Mercado household. My daughter wrote her first “I’m mad at you” note to her little sister! It’s not funny, (but it actually is a tiny bit) because my daughter was serious. They were playing in our hallway, but then little sis didn’t want to listen to big sis so she went into her room furious. A couple of minutes later you heard big sis asking us, “How do you spell blah, blah, blah?” My husband and I were in the kitchen and we looked at each other and said, “Uh oh.” He went off to assist her. A few minutes later, my serious daughter came into the kitchen and handed me this:

These words convey so much emotion (that’s why technically it’s not funny, but I did giggle to myself in private because it’s amazing how she thought about doing this on her own, writing out her feelings) and her drawings as she explained to me were of herself and her little sister, sad and crying. She was sad and crying because little sis didn’t want to listen to her and little sis was sad and crying because she didn’t want to listen to big sis. I’m simply astounded with my daughter and how she felt it necessary to let her sister know exactly what she was feeling, even though little sis can’t read at the moment. She just wanted to get her point across because as she tells me, “she has to listen to me because I’m the big sister.” RESPECT! Of course I HAD to take a picture of her note so she can see it in the future and hopefully laugh about it and little sis can finally read it in case it gets misplaced. Everyday is something new, whether a funny or serious sentence is said or written. I love this part of parenthood. The little, but meaningful surprises that children gift us.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Age appropriate

Posted on March 13, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

Not so long ago, my daughter uttered two words that sent chills down my back as well as my husbands’. They weren’t good chills and the words that she said were Justin Bieber. Ugh! She’s five years old. Why is she inquiring about him? Well, she told me that her friends at school watched him on TV. I simply told her that they were watching him because he was a singer and left it at that. Yes, she’s curious, but I don’t want her in the realm of these young teen celebrity’s shenanigans. I don’t want her screaming her head off and crying her eyes out in admiration for someone. That drives me nuts when I see little girls doing that. It’s just not age appropriate and we as parents have to understand that they only have one childhood. Why would you want to take that away from them?

Just like a toy that has age guidelines that we should adhere to, we should do the same when it comes to entertainment. I don’t want her to know about One Direction, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, etc. She’s five. Yes, they got the Gangnam style fever only because we introduced it to them so we have to really think about what we want to expose our children to. Yesterday, I had a conversation about this with my daughter’s teacher at school. It was parent/teacher night. My daughter’s report card was excellent and I’m very proud of her. She has advanced in several subjects and her teacher mentioned how she shows a great interest in reading and writing. I wish we had more time to speak because her teacher mentioned how parents are their children’s first teachers. I told her that I had written that same comment on my blog and felt wholeheartedly that we have to teach them, but also try to keep them young and not advance them too much where they lose their innocence. We, as a whole society, need to see this and understand it. It’s for our children’s benefit.

Even a manicure, for example, which my daughter has been asking to do, may seem like a small matter, no big deal for some, but it is a big deal for me. I feel she’s still too young for that and I know that there are toddlers out there wobbling around with little pink nails, but that’s their parent’s choice and just because that child has painted nails doesn’t mean that I have to paint my daughter’s nails as well. I have my own opinion, my own view and I know what’s right for my child at this moment. Once you open that door, even just a sliver, into adulthood, you can’t go back. I don’t want my daughter singing a Justin Bieber song. I want to hear her singing, the “Star, Spangled Banner” and “America, the beautiful”, which she’s currently singing and beautifully, I might add, because she learned them in school. That’s what she’s supposed to be singing as well as silly songs that her teacher has taught her. I have nothing against the above mentioned celebrities. I just want to protect my child and let her enjoy her childhood. I know, believe me I know that one day she’s going to grow up and enter that world, it’s just not going to be today!

I gifted my daughter this book, pen, and eraser at her school’s book fair for her wonderful report card. She picked everything out and was very happy.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Guilt

Posted on March 8, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

I want to talk about guilt. Nowadays, I feel guilty pretty much about anything. Yesterday, I felt guilty because my daughter wasn’t feeling well and I was trying my best to make her better. Plus, she was missing school. Now today, she’s still missing school. We didn’t make it. There’s a snowstorm outside and I was determined to take her to school because she woke up feeling better. I was fortunate enough to be able to leave my youngest with my friend downstairs. We made it halfway to the school before my daughter tripped and fell, body forward, on wet snow. I was even holding her hand at the time, but she still fell over and her pants and coat got completely drenched. I couldn’t take her to school and leave her like that. I would be at home feeling guilty as heck because her pants were soaking wet and who knows how long it would have taken to dry. We had to turn around and go back home and once we did, with time ticking away making us late for school and my friend not being able to stay longer with my youngest, I made the decision to stay home.

Guilt.

It squats in my mind and travels down and pangs at my heart repeatedly. I try to brush it off. I tell myself, “It happens to a lot of people. It’s not the end of the world.” But even if I let it go, it only last for mere seconds and then I’m right back to feeling guilty. So I try to figure out why the guilt? Well, in this instance, it’s because other kids made it to school, in the snowstorm. Other parents were able to take their children, in the snowstorm. I failed. That’s how I feel at the moment. I can definitely wallow in it, but I really don’t want to so instead I go online and print out several worksheets for my daughter to work on at home. We also read books and we practice her sight words. It’s the least that I can do and I always include these worksheets in her folder so her teacher can see them. This makes me feel better, but the guilt is always going to be there. It’s part of being a mom. I don’t particularly like it and I wish that I could just switch it off in my brain, but it’s just not who I am. I wish things could fall into place perfectly. Wishful thinking, I know, but then maybe guilt wouldn’t seep in. Or does guilt serve a purpose? I don’t know. I just want the best for my daughter and I don’t want to fail her. It is my responsibility to take good care of her and make sure that she’s in school learning. I don’t want to mess her future up so since I can’t do away with guilt completely, I can at least try to give it all I’ve got and when things just don’t work out, find ways to calm the guilt down and know in my heart that it’s ok.

It’s really ok.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

When will it end?

Posted on March 7, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody. I hope you guys are well.

I currently have two cute, snot faces at home.

Here we go again, and again, and yup, again. My oldest is miserable because she’s missing school and her nose and upper lip are red and swollen from blowing and wiping away boogers. Fun times! When will this insanity end? We’ve been sick before, but this is ridiculous. We’ve even been to the pediatrician twice! I’m giving medicine every four hours, applying Vick’s vapor rub, going through numerous tissue boxes, and the current phrase being declared in the house every ten minutes is, “I have boogies!”

I’m also very conflicted with the fact that I’m keeping her home from school. I hate that she’s missing her lessons, but at the same time I don’t want her to be miserable and spreading germs in her class. She knows how to fully blow and wipe her nose, but as soon as she steps into school she starts doing things differently like blowing softy into the tissue and constantly wiping at her nose, hence why when I went to pick her up yesterday (mind you she didn’t leave the house with a runny nose in the morning and I was shocked to see how she looked in the afternoon) her nose and upper lip were RAW. Today, she woke up the same way and I thought it best to let her clear out as much boogies as she can at home. It’s amazing how much keeps coming out and I can’t see the light at the end of the snot tunnel. How much can there be left?

My youngest is faring better. She doesn’t let a stuffed up or runny nose stop her from playing, torturing her sister, ignoring my demands to stop making a mess, or sleeping. She’s currently walking around the house with her magnifying glass telling me that she’s looking for dinosaur footprints. I just want to scoop her up and give her a thousand kisses, but I don’t want to get sick again, or in my case, again!!

Here’s hoping that I can QUIT writing about us being sick (please!) and banish all yucky snot away from my household.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

A celebration for Dr. Seuss!

Posted on March 1, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

Did you know that it’s Dr. Seuss’s birthday tomorrow? It’s also my mom’s! She’s going to be 61 years young, but she’s reversing things and saying she’s going to be 16! 🙂 More on that celebration later on. My daughter’s school is having a celebration today for Dr. Seuss and she was super excited. Last night, I gave her some time on my computer so she could explore www.seussville.com while secretly I was making her a little pin with the hat from the Cat in the Hat for her school shirt. I thought about this so last minute so I was hustling around the house trying to figure out how to make a pin. This is what I came up with.

I found this image of the hat on AOL search, then printed it out. I taped it onto card stock to make it sturdier and the tape gave it a laminated look. I found the smallest safety-pin I could find in my house and taped it to the back of the hat and pinned it onto the collar of her shirt. I surprised her in the morning by helping her into her shirt and saying, “go take a look in the mirror.” She instantly saw it and loved it.

I also printed out several of the hats because I wanted to tape them onto her lunch containers and give her another surprise when she had lunch at school.

I taped the hat onto her water bottle, fork, sandwich container (not shown), and veggie, fruit, and snack containers!

I found this coloring page also on AOL search, but it’s offered by twistynoodle.com. I printed out several pages for my daughter’s teacher to offer her students. Did I mention that my daughter was super excited? Super duper excited!

I’m hoping that my daughter is currently having a wonderful day at school celebrating a great author’s birthday. Here’s to you Dr. Seuss and thanks for all the lessons!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

themercadoproject

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Category Archives: Parenting

What’s rare? A good night’s sleep

Surprising Art

A wiggly tooth

Egg-celent Day!

Welcome Spring!

I don’t want to see you, love sis

Age appropriate

Guilt

When will it end?

A celebration for Dr. Seuss!