Naptime Blog

If you have been following along with me in my blogging history on Naptime Stories, you may remember that I am a Therapist.  I have been working from home as a webmaster for a mothers’ social network, and I believe that it certainly fits well with my career path – as new moms and veteran moms always need an outlet to chat, share, vent and remember they are not alone in their mothering woes!  Over the past few months, I have returned to more of a formal therapist role as a Behavioral Coach for AbilTo.  And in working with clients daily, I have been reflecting on my own life and the year 2011.

First of all, I cannot believe how fast the year has flown.  I do not know if that is because I am constantly busy with my kids and dealing with three toddlers and a tween girl, or just because I am getting older.  But the one thing I have learned in working with my clients is to remember how truly blessed I really am. 

My year started out with tears and grief, as my Grandfather passed away on January 3.  I miss him dearly.  In March, I was laid off from my full-time “at-home” job of running the NYC MomsLikeMe site.  But then the year started looking up.  I re-vamped my Mommy’s Links site to a social network, we took the kids to DisneyWorld, found my niche in my little corner of the World Wide Web, and returned to counseling with Abilto. 

We’ve made a lot of progress at home as well.  I spend many months at home, because after all, with three infants, unless my husband was home or my mom was around to help me, it was quite difficult to get around.  Over the last few months, the twins started nursery school, and twice a week we all get into the car and get them to and from school.  One of the twins is completely potty trained, which makes my life much easier.  If only the other would follow suit!  And the baby is chock full of sentences and animation.  While life is completely chaotic, these last few months have been a lot of fun (well, when they are behaving!!!)

My husband and I took two weekend trips to the Poconos with friends, and we’re looking forward to our annual spring trip again.  We don’t have as much time alone together these days, but we make the best of every moment. 

So yes, I live a completely chaotic life, and I am sure it is only bound to get worse as these kids get older, but I am truly blessed.  I have a wonderful family, we have our health, and I love my career choices.  Thank you, 2011, for helping me remember these things.  Bring on 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

With four kids and two crazy families, opening gifts on Christmas morning does not stop after the Santa Claus presents get opened.  As a matter of fact, this Christmas, we started at 8am and didn’t finish until 2pm!  After the Santa gifts, the kids opened gifts from Mommy and Daddy and each other.  We do a big breakfast with the family, so as we were finishing up, my two aunts gave the kids their presents, then my parents came in with theirs, followed by my sister and her boyfriend, and my brother and his roommate.  We stopped briefly for breakfast, and the kids returned to the tree to play with their new treasures.   Already, I was unable to find my living room floor.  Just as I was moving boxes and making a path to the back door, my mother-in-law and her husband come in with their bags, followed directly behind her by my father-in-law and his wife!  By one-thirty in the afternoon, I was very frazzled!

On top of it all, I was hosting Christmas dinner!  Luckily, my aunts helped with the artichokes and mushrooms and my mom had prepared the lasagna and meatballs.  My mother-in-law brought the antipasto, so in between TRYING to find my children amongst the toys, cars, boxes, ripped papers and garbage bags, I was preparing veggies and meat and other parts to our meal.  And every few minutes, I would glance into my living room and wonder WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE WE GOING TO HOUSE ALL THESE TOYS?

When all of our guests left, my husband and I decided we needed to do something, for if the kids woke up in the morning to this mess of toys, who knows where things would land and what would get misplaced or broken.  So we emptied their toy boxes and sorted out the old toys.  We opened all of the new toy boxes and he broke up the boxes for recycling.  We did our best to put what we could in the toy boxes, the new books went into the book case, the new DVDs into the entertainment center along with the new video games.  The board games we put in the closet, and all the new clothes went into a laundry basket to be brought up and put away. 

Could you imagine my delight when I could see my living room floor again?

Christmas is now four days ago.  This morning I was straightening up and found a shopping bag under the table with my Christmas Village on it (I had it covered with a long tablecloth and forgot I put the shopping bag under it) with more GIFTS for the kids!  My mom had brought them last week from a family friend and I was holding them until Christmas morning, and then it slipped my mind.  And don’t you know it – MORE TOYS!

We say it every year, and I know we will say it again next year – WE NEED TO STOP GOING OVERBOARD!  But then again, kids are only kids for a short time, and these memories they will have their whole lives.  I remember when my parents’ living room floor couldn’t be seen, and those were some of the best days of my childhood!

I hope you are all enjoying the (chaotic and sometimes messy!) holidays!

In this most wonderful time of the year, you may also be calling it the most chaotic time of the year!  I know for our home, we are truly enjoying the family time, the sharing and caring, but we are also overwhelmed with the craziness that comes along with it!  And also, at this time of year, I am remembering those I loved and lost, and trying to keep their memory alive (which is why we still do all the traditional holiday planning and activities, which is part of the craziness!)

On behalf of Shelton Interactive and Chicken Soup for the Soul, I’d like to share with you a free e-book download of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Devotional Stories for Tough Times. 

Chicken Soup for the Soul books are available in e-book format for your e-reader, smart phone or computer! This free e-book works on all e-readers — Kindle, Nook, iPad, Kobo, iPod Touch, iPhone, and others, and all generations of them. Don’t worry, though. If you don’t have an e-reader (or receive one this holiday season) you can still enjoy this free book on your computer. 

The free download is included below. They are only available for a limited time.

To download from Amazon: http://amzn.to/shsW6O

To download from Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/tYS2cB

To download from Apple iTunes: http://bit.ly/tYiaoD

To download from Kobo Books: http://bit.ly/uMSyrX

Enjoy your book!

It is a gift that is over 20 years old, but is still with me. I was ten years old that Christmas and I wanted a special gift that year. My parents didn’t have much, but they did give me a great gift each year. I asked my mom for a doll to play with. I had a few Barbie dolls, but nothing like a big doll that I could take care of. I wanted a doll that I could treat like my baby.

Christmas morning, I found my doll. It was UGLY! I asked my mom why I got this ugly doll. It was a Wrinkles dog puppet. Its face was scrunched up like a sharpie. But, I realized she was soft and cuddly.

I named her Emily and put my baby clothes on her. She went with me everywhere except for school and church. She kept me company after I had a nightmare and watched over me while I did my homework.

Today, Emily is still with me and is the only childhood toy I’ve kept. She still wears my pink baby dress over her original outfit. Emily still carries her toy bone in her dress pocket. She sits on my desk in my room keeping watch. What makes her even more special is that since my mom isn’t with me anymore, Emily can remind me of the best Christmas I ever had as a kid.

Eeeek! If you’re a Santa-believer, your day of reckoning has come. It is a day that many parents dread if they’ve introduced their children to Santa. So how can you handle this? Here are some tips:

1. Ask your child what he or she heard. Kids hear many things at many times and the information can be very inaccurate. It is always good to ask your kids what exactly they heard. Once you know what you’re dealing with, you can move on to the next step.
2. Where did he or she hear it? Ask your child where he or she got the information from.  You can then try to speak to this individual about what you’d like your child to believe about Santa. Or you can let your child figure out what to believe.
3. Consider your child’s age. If your child is pre-school or school age, you can try to salvage this by simply asking your child what he or she believes in. Chances are, your child may not be ready to let go of Santa just yet.
4. Tell the truth. If your child fixates on the fact that Santa isn’t real or is old enough to realize it, be honest about it. There is no point in continuing a tradition that your child does not believe in.

This happened to me. My son (age 10) told me last year that he didn’t think Santa was real. He then said that he thought I was Santa because his gifts were never under the tree until Christmas. (I purposely keep his gifts hidden to keep the Santa tradition alive.) I believe that kids should be allowed to be kids and enjoy the holiday. But, my Santa party is over.

I explained to my son all about the tradition of Santa Claus. He learned the story of St. Nicholas (http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/) who lived during the 4^th Century and gave his belongings away. Then I shared that St. Nicholas was the model for Santa Claus (http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/origin-of-santa/) . Kiddo learned more about the saint at school so I didn’t have to explain much. But, he was happy to hear about where Santa came from and to learn about St. Nicholas. Either way you decide what is best for your child. Happy Holidays!

I LOVE music! It is one of my passions and I especially love holiday music. I love traditional Christmas songs (Silent Night, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town) in English and some favorites in Spanish. Silent Night (Noche de Paz – Night of Peace), Pastores a Belen (Shepherds to Bethlehem) and Hacia Belen (Towards Bethlehem) are my top three Spanish holiday carols. When I listen and sing along to these three songs, I’m a kid again in our tiny chapel.

Other songs that have found their way to my heart are parody songs. Parody songs are tunes written to make us laugh. I will be the first one to crack a joke about the holidays and make my family laugh. Someone (bless them!) came up with the idea of writing parodies of favorite holiday songs.

For the last several years, I’ve kept my radio on to Z100 and 95.5 WPLJ to tune into my favorites – Dominic the Italian Christmas Donkey, 12 Things at Christmas that’s Such a Pain to me and of course, Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah song (all three versions). Each year I look forward to singing these to make myself laugh. Sometimes, we can take the holidays so seriously that we fail to enjoy them. What better way to enjoy music during the holidays than to make fun of ourselves and share the laughter?

Other traditions that come during the holidays are special foods and treats. My mother made several, but there are three that are my favorites during this time of year. One is Coquito – a coconut-based drink that is almost like egg nog (without the egg). Each year, my mother would mix a can of Coco Lopez (thick coconut), a fresh coconut (meat/milk), cinnamon, water and at the end, a splash of Puerto Rican rum. Mami usually made two batches – alcoholic for the adults & non-alcoholic for kids.

Another food tradition is called pasteles. A pastele is a mix of ground up vegetables (Green Banana, Yautia and Yuca) with stewed pork in the center. Mami assembled it on wax paper (in Puerto Rico, banana leaves are used) putting the ground up veggies or masa (dough) in the center. She flattened it out creating a pocket in the middle for the stewed pork. Two versions were made – spicy for the adults and regular for the kids. She would then fold up the edges of the wax paper to make a rectangle-shaped container. My job was to tie two pasteles together tightly. It was a holiday tradition just for us to make it because it is made from Thanksgiving through Little Christmas (January 6). We’d sit and talk while we ground up the vegetables and I’d go steal some of the stew to eat it with crackers. So yummy! After the work was done, the pasteles were boiled for an hour and voila! A delicious holiday treat for me to enjoy.

The final one was a dessert called Tembleque (pronounced “tem-bleh-keh”). It is a coconut custard that mom prepared every year along with the coquito and pasteles. My mom used a can of Coco Lopez and heated it with corn starch. She dedicated a lot of time to this because it had to be stirred constantly so that it didn’t burn. Mami then spread the mixture onto a flat plate. She topped it off with a sprinkle of cinnamon and cooled it in the fridge. After a couple of hours, the tembleque was ready to eat. Hers came out hard enough to eat with my hands like cake. My pal made it for me last year and it was very soft after she placed it in dessert cups.

I’ve only tried to make this once myself and it came out burnt. It was brown like caramel and hard as a rock! This was several years ago already, but maybe next year I’ll try making it again. What are your special holiday food traditions?

Growing up with a mom from a Puerto Rico, I learned about unique traditions that really showed the joy and celebration of Christmas. The first one was the parranda. A parranda is equivalent to the carolers at Christmastime here in the US. The big difference is that members of the parranda have guitars and other instruments to sing to their neighbors and friends nearby. I have great memories of going on parrandas with my mother and her church group. They played songs with drums, tambourines and guitars to sing to sick friends who had not been able to go to church. It is one of my favorite memories of the season.

Another tradition from Puerto Rico, is Three Kings Day or Little Christmas. It pays tribute to the visit of the three Magi or Wise Men who paid homage to Jesus and presented him with gifts. The night before Three Kings Day (January 6), children put out a handful of grass along with a bowl of water for the camels that the Magi traveled on. In the same way that children put out cookies and milk for Santa, children in Puerto Rico (and those of Puerto Rican descent) do the same. In the morning, children will find their gifts as a thank you from the Magi for feeding their camels. I remember that my local church collected gifts to give to the neighborhood children for Little Christmas. I think I got my first Monopoly game this way. What are your special holiday celebration traditions?

There is definitely something to be said about peers.  And just because we are grown-ups and have families and jobs and bills and big responsibilities, doesn’t mean we can’t get together with the girls for a night of laughs and fun!  And guess what?  It doesn’t have to be expensive!

Hosting an ABBA Dance Party was something I could NOT pass up! After all, anyone who really knows me knows that Abba carries the soundtrack to my life! When my oldest child was merely months old, we used to dance around my dining room table blasting “Dancing Queen”. She loved it so much, that by the time she was a year and a half, she knew and would sing every word by heart. She sang (with the DJ’s microphone) at cousins’ weddings, my wedding to her stepfather, her Communion…) in front of crowds and always jammed the dance floor. Juliana is my “Dancing Queen”!

Then, when I met my now-husband Paul, one of our very first dates was to see “Mamma Mia” on Broadway. I was still unsure of where the relationship was going because of my confusion with my recent divorce, but by the end of the show, after dancing, reflecting, laughing, crying, I realized that Paul was the man for me. He knew it too. At our wedding, as we walked back down the aisle as husband and wife, we walked out to Abba’s “I DO”. And after being on bedrest with my twins pregnancy for 2 months, Mamma Mia, the movie, came out just 3 days before my scheduled C-Section, the same day I was taken off of bedrest. So guess where I went that night? Yep! Paul, Juliana, and a VERY pregnant me were dancing in the aisles! Now, all four of my kids can recite the Mamma Mia movie by heart, and they know ALL Abba songs!

Five ladies came to my house last Friday night from Mommy’s Links for my ABBA YOU CAN DANCE HOUSE PARTY. This UbiSoft game for Wii is just AWESOME! And so much fun with a crowd (or by yourself, if you prefer to dance behind closed doors!) All of us moms got a great workout, sang to our heart’s content (songs we all know and love) and really enjoyed the laughs and fun we had all night! And what’s even better is that the kids love it too!

If you love Abba, this is an absolute MUST have item on your Christmas list! See below for the link on where to get it (and it ships free with TWO DAY delivery!)

I apologize for the blurry photos! With our strobe light (complements of Ubisoft), the dim lighting and the fast moving dancing moms, it couldn’t be helped! And as for our videographer, I think 10 year old Andy did a pretty good job!

Please see here for the original post and the disclaimer.