Meli's world

If I am going to be honest, when I started this blog I wanted to name it Meli's Messes, because when it comes to marriage, and motherhood, I feel I have made a lot of messes of it all. I struggle with feeling inadequate and like a complete failure at times. I am not sure what triggers this when I thought of myself as "confident" and the fact my truth is rooted in God's word (for the most part). Perhaps it is the pictures we paint on social media of perfection. Perhaps its our brains are oversaturated with looking at images of other Moms who seem to do it all. Work 60 hours a week, meal prep cooking gourmet healthy meals for the family, working out 5 hours a day even becoming body builders, or running a home based business, all while being able to homeschool or be present at every school event, and looking completely wonderful with their blowdried hair looking like they came out of a salon or stepped out of a Tresemme commercial. Their nails are done...

Dear Emeli Sofia, My princess, my chiquita, mi niña linda! Happy 5th birthday! Today you are 5! Its such a huge milestone.....  As I lay here next to you watching you sleep I can't help but thank God for your life, for choosing me to be your mom and for letting me experience such a love. You are everything I didn't know I needed. You are one brave young lady. And though you just started kindergarten less than two weeks ago, you have already matured so much into following directions, making friends and being away from grandma or family for such a long period of time. It probably makes it easy you already know so much from your alphabet, to colors, and simple math. This past year has brought ypu lots of growth. Its a big difference to when you cried everyday refusing to go to pre-k. Its awesome to see your personality blossom and watch you become the unique you you are right before my eyes. You love swimming!!! And fashion trying different colors, hairstyles and ac...

This past weekend, we decided to take the kids to watch Peanuts. I grew up reading Charlie Brown comics in the Sunday paper and loved all the TV Holiday specials so much. I thought it would be a great day for our kids to gain appreciation for these old classic characters. And Emeli thinks Snoopy is just the cutest dog ever, so they were just as thrilled. We, as parents, are very selective with what movies we support at the box office and what  we allow our kids to watch, but with a "G" rating and good reviews it sounded like something that would really just be innocent fun cartoons. We didn't know what to expect as far as the story line, but as someone who lives in a cartoon world in my own head, I was pleasantly surprised there were no villains. Besides a red airplane that Snoopy daydreams and writes about. The main story line was Charlie Brown's "inadequacy". He always felt he was just ackward, with no real talent, or anything to make him stand ou...

  I know it's been a while since I last wrote, so why not break the dry spell with what I've been going through and what I'm learning. School started about a month ago here in Florida. For my little one Emeli, that meant starting pre-k. I'm not sure what she envisioned it to be but she was super excited. She talked about it for weeks, we went shopping and she couldn't wait to start. The first week went ok. Then the next week, she hated the place. She was refusing to go. Crying about it at home. Didn't want to talk about school at all and just was making herself miserable and anxious about it. So we did what every parent would do and switched schools. She started there fine too. And it seemed to be a more hands on and playing curriculum than the other school. However a couple days into it, again she was refusing to go. Except this time we knew she loved it. She was coming home talking about her friends, all she did and how nice her teacher was. Thi...

The above picture was taken in 2011 when Emeli was just 1 month old. It was one of our first family pictures as a family of 4 and also our first date night after having her. I found this picture today while looking for a throwback picture to post on facebook.  I remember being so scared having another baby. She was not in our plans... We were still living at my parents house and didn't have things in order. I was scared of another c-section, of not being able to provide, and of not being able to split myself between Manny and her. Silly fears.... Almost 4 years later, I gotta say looking back at what God has done is one way to remain grateful. I can sing of His goodness forever! The C- section was less painful than I imagined and I went home on the second day. We bought our first home just a couple months later. God has made all the numbers and finances work. There is a love that has been multiplied in my heart for both my Em & Ems. And seeing Manny become a big broth...

I know its a bit of a change from the usual Lessons with Manny, but I do have two kids. And just because she is 3, that does not mean that there's nothing from me to learn from her. Or at least to be reminded of things. Before I sat down to write this, I was in my room charging my lap top and going through some things in my notebook, when all of a sudden she got really quiet. She was in my room going though my drawers when all of a sudden she is no where to be seen or heard. I got up and she wasn't behind my sleigh bed. Instead she was in my closet. Wearing my heels. She'd gone in there so quietly closed the door and was trying on all my shoes. She seemed so surprised that I caught her in there. She seemed to thing if she was quiet enough and she did it behind closed door, no one would know. Of course, I wasn't mad. She looked so cute and told me she wanted slippers like Cinderella. I was more concerned she'd get hurt but I had to take a picture of this little ...

I just came back yesterday from taking two weeks off my job. I had enough Paid time off accrued now that I have been there over 6 years and it was the first time I took this much time off. I planned it specifically to have my son's winter break from school off as well. 2 weeks of being home and enjoying the family.We didn't have a specific trip planned, we weren't going out of state or out of the country or on a cruise. We were just going to take it day by day and enjoy the time to focus on family.   It started out with a trip to Lego Land. Its not more than 4 hours away, and I had discount tickets though my employer benefits. It was awesome. All the rides were targeted to kids ages 3-12 but as adults we were able to get on and enjoy their excitement. A few roller coasters but nothing too extreme. The lines were short. The crowds weren't too bad. And the prices for food and souvenirs were inexpensive in comparison to Disney or Universal theme parks. We had an a...