Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
• 1 cup raisins

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

For more recipes visit: http://www.quakeroats.com

Who Says Popsicles Aren't for Babies?

A Tip for Soothing Teething Pain:

Baby popsicles! It's a great way to soothe your baby when the teething pain becomes to much to handle.

I came up with this after several failed attempts to relieve Yadiel's teething pain with Baby Orajel.

To make these all you need to do is fill up six jello shot cups with your baby's regular formula or baby food (if baby's at that stage).

Then, cover the cups with a piece of aluminum foil to help the popsicle sticks stand in place and to prevent anything from getting into the cups.

Finally, insert the popsicle sticks and place in freezer. When you are ready to serve place in warm water or leave at room temperature for a few minutes just until the popsicle comes out easily. The cold will help to ease baby's pain by numbing the gums a bit.


***!!!WARNING!!! BABY MUST BE ATTENDED BY AN ADULT AT ALL TIMES. THIS POPSICLE CAN POSE A CHOKING HAZARD IF NOT HANDLED PROPERLY BY AN ADULT!!!***

It's May, Hooray!!!

I've always loved May which should come as no surprise to those who know my birth date. This May, however, is exceptionally special. Not only am I celebrating my birthday but my first anniversary and my first Mother's Day as well. Needless to say, I am beside myself with excitement and anticipation. 

So far plans have remained the same: Ruby Tuesdays on Tuesday (even though my anniversary is on the 7th, a Monday) and pictures with Darwin and Yadiel on Mother's Day. I can't wait!

OMG! Now I'm 3

Yadiel is now three months old and I can hardly believe it. Time forgives none and here I am trying to make the most of every moment with him. That has become a lot easier since it seems the teething pain has subsided. He is no longer as grumpy as he was a few weeks ago. 

Now he can actually enjoy a few hours of uninterrupted nap-time or watching his favorite soap opera (Una Familia con Suerte) on my Kindle. Now that I think about it though it'd make more sense to call it his Kindle seeing as most of the apps on there are directly or indirectly associated with him. 

These 3 months with him have been a blast and I can hardly wait to see what the future will bring. It has been exciting to see how his personality is developing with every month that passes. His intelligence surprises me so much that sometimes it's difficult not to regard him as a grown person. For the moment I have no choice but to simply continue enjoying my little one's funny faces and occurrences. He is just so random sometimes!

Happy 2, I Love you!

Yadiel,

Today you turn 2 months old and it's almost as if you know it. You woke up super excited today and in a very playful mood. You were kicking the heck out of your crib today because you woke up before everybody and no one had picked you up. After I took you to Lela's room you and I danced like crazy. It was hilarious!

Today was a big day for you not only because you turn 2 months, but because today you celebrate you first April Fool's and I fed you rice cereal. You loved the rice cereal. I wasn't convinced or too eager to introduce it so early but you are tired of milk. You gag, spit up and sometimes just refuse it altogether unless you are completely famished.

Now you are fast asleep in your swing and with good reason. I just hope you get your rest, you deserve it. I'll just sit here watching all the cute faces you make while you sleep and remembering all the memorable moments we've had thus far.    I love you mi kikotico hermoso. You are truly the best thing that's ever happened to mami.

No Milk Tonight!

Hey sweetie,

You surprised me yesterday: you slept through the night. You didn't cry for milk at all and I didn't notice until the next day when I woke up. You must have been very tired. I hope it happens again soon and that it becomes a habit.

***By the way, you sleep just like your granddaddy.

Here I come!!!

Hey Hun,

You're a little traveler! I don't know where you were planning on going but Daddy helped you take a few steps today. You loved it at first but soon became frustrated. You had already taken a few steps with me in front of the bathroom mirror at 2 weeks but I have no pictures of that. Grandma was there with us and she was laughing. I told a pediatrician about it (not your usual pediatrician) and she said it is a walking reflex and that it means your growing strong. So keep it up! :)

I'm not crazy! I'm not imagining things!

3/8/2012—I was sitting in bed playing with you and I asked you, “Yadiel, what color are your eyes?”, to which you responded, “Lue.” You’re grandma kept telling you, you have blue eyes, keep in mind she has very bad eyesight.


3/13/2012—I was downstairs sitting on the couch with you in my arms and I offered you your pacifier to calm you down. You kept spitting it out so I grabbed it and said no bobo, no bobo thinking nothing of it. As I turned to place it on the side table you clearly said, “No”.

I Trust You With My Life ...

Today Yadiel (my son) is one month old and I woke up to the most beautiful site any mother can behold: baby on daddy's chest and both fast asleep without a care in the world. It is amazing to me just how naive and trusting babies are. Perhaps that is what makes them all so perfectly beautiful. It amazed me just how deeply Yadiel was sleeping. It's as if he knew that he could trust his father not to let him fall no matter how hard or how much he moved. 


I am relieved to know that his trust extends to all his family members. As a new mother I worried very much about not being able to cater to his needs immediately. I was worried that he might somehow grow to resent me if I spent even a second away from him or if I let him cry. However, in the month I have spent with our little one, thus far, I have come to learn that, for the most part, he will only remember how much he is loved. It might seem simple enough but knowing that means the world to me. 


Happy one month Yadiel. Mommy loves you!!!

 

My little rolling pin...

I can't believe you already rolled over little one! I swear you are way ahead of your time. I am afraid you're going to be a cyclone when you're older. I wonder if I'll be able to handle you. I placed you in the crib on your side: the way I always do and when I looked back in there after a few minutes you were face down working on getting yourself to face the opposite side of how I'd placed you. Oh and I feel it important to let you know we were the only ones in the room so no one turned you.

Will you be my Valentine?

Today Yadiel celebrated his first holiday Valentine's Day at Ruby Tuesdays with Mommy, Daddy and Auntie Steph. Auntie Steph was your Valentine for the day but you slept through the whole ordeal.

Stylin'

Yadiel,

I have had the hardest time trying to keep your hair in it's place! You take after me with the curly hair. I put my best efforts into styling your unruly hair and a second later it's all over the place. The pictures depict my best efforts though.

Gas? What gas? I'm cheesin'!!!

Hey Cutie,

Your grandmother claims you've been smiling for a while now. However, today was the first time I caught a glimpse of your beautiful smile and this is how it will be recorded.

One week old, wow!!!

One week old, wow!!! I can't even believe it. Time flies. I've just been enjoying my baby to the fullest and trying to get the hang of breastfeeding. We are doing way better but are not quite there yet. Yadiel still gets way to comfortable and fall asleep during his feedings. He has lost some weight and his clothes as starting to look more like garbage bags on him rather than actual baby clothes. Still, there haven't been any complaints on his part yet. Quite contrary, he always has his gorgeous smile on. Also, things would be a lot better if those darn gasses would just disappear. All in all, it's been a wonderful and life-changing week for the two of us.

Enjoying my newborn...

It's amazing how quickly you get attached to the new little people that come into your life. Just when you start thinking this new life is too much to handle, or, that you won't be able to do it, you find yourself unable to wait to wake up to another day of the same; soothing your new little siren, feeding and burping your little one, or, even changing a poopy diaper. They always seem to know just the right thing to make you fall in love with them all over again. It's the only love that never fades. It is always there--giving you strength and reminding you of one of the most important, if not the most important, role you will play in your life. God bless these little people who have brought so many blessings into our lives.

Milestone note: Yadiel must've been having a wonderful dream because today he laughed for the very first time.

3/14/2012—Today we were at the Immigration Services and Homeland Security services office in Durham in the elevator. This was the day your dad went for his conditional residency interview.

Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Yadiel in the Tub

Chiquito,
Your very first bath was totally the opposite of what I'd expected: he actually enjoyed it very much. He cried only when the water stopped running. There were smiles and the cutest little baby sounds all over the place. His grandmother and aunt really did a great job of making his first bathing experience an awesome one.

I'm here, I'm here!!!

On January 17th, my last prenatal appointment, I was scheduled to be induced. I was given specific instructions to go to the hospital on Tuesday, January 31st at 6:30 p.m. if I hadn’t naturally started labor by the 24th. I assume you were very comfortable in mommy’s belly because you made it past your due date. However, on the 31st I began feeling the stronger contractions and they were closer together than they had been. 

A little nervous, scared and not knowing exactly what to expect mommy made it to the hospital accompanied by daddy and grandma. We checked in at about 10:30 a.m. and I was kept because my blood pressure was too high.  After a while I was taken to the birthing room where I was induced.  I had taken several hours to dilate the first 3 centimeters at which point I couldn’t take the pain anymore and asked for an epidural. 

My blood pressure kept going up and complicated things a bit. I had preeclampsia. At about 7 centimeters the pain kicked in again. Luckily, I reached 9 centimeters quite quickly after that. At this point the nurse began preparing for your arrival and I was asked to push. I pushed and pushed to no avail, you wouldn’t budge and my blood pressure continued to go up. Daddy left the room and cried because he couldn’t bear seeing mommy in pain and grandma was worried I wouldn’t make it. 

After an almost inhuman effort on my part the medical team finally decided I had had enough and that my cervix was still too thick: there was no way you would make your entrance into the world vaginally. I was finally scheduled for a C-Section but had to wait another hour and a half because the doctor was busy with another patient. After a while I was finally taken to the operating room. I received a second epidural and, after about 22 hours between labor and the C-Section, you were born. Grandma was in the operating room with me so she witnessed the whole thing.