My Mother in Law.

Angelita R. Garcia 

7/26/1954 - 2/14/2018 

My mother in law passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loved ones on Valentine's day at 7:32p.m. Our hearts broke that day but we knew she had reach victory and she was no longer in pain. I wrote a speech to share at her funeral of what a great woman she was and I am sharing it here today.

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There is so much I could say about Jela she was a loyal friend with a giving heart, she was as strong as they come and boy, did she always have something to say. However my heart always returns to her as a grandmother. From the day we shared the news that we were expecting, she told us she hoped it would be a boy. The Lord granted her prayer! 

She was able to witness the birth of her first grandson, Liam Solomon in September of 2015. After Liam was born she was there daily to hold him and even washed dishes for me. She’d make sure we had meals ready to eat and if I lacked any sleep, which I did, you’d find her pulling the bassinet into the living room so I could get some much needed rest. Once I went back to work part-time she was also ready to become his babysitter. Jela was able to enjoy bathing him, feeding him and put him to sleep for a good year before the effects of her treatments took most of her strength away but even that didn’t stop her because she asked her niece to come help her so that she could still be a part of his babysitting duties.

In time, I realized Jela’s reason for living was not only to be a mother but more so a grandmother. It was her true calling. Being a grandmother brought an immense amount of joy to her and it also drew us closer together. It was nice to have a mother in law that I could count on and call if I ever needed to vent about her son, in which she would remind me jokingly that there was a no return policy. She was great at giving advice and reminding us of how important family and our relationship with God is. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for her boys, daughters in law and grandsons.

In her last days we saw cancer slowly taking her from us. It was hard but we all tried our best to be there for her and take care of her just as she would have for us. One of her favorite things to do was talk and so we did until her very last days. Even though she was in tremendous pain she always remained strong and never wanted attention focused on her disease. She wanted everyone to continue on with their lives and was more concerned with how we were doing and if we were happy.

I wish that we had more time together. I miss her daily phone calls, Sunday lunches at her house and sitting next to her at church. I will cherish all the great memories we had and although Liam may be too young to remember her, I have already made it a purpose in my life that he will never forget her.

Her passing last month left the world a little less colorful and a lot less interesting. But even in our grief, we know we were so lucky to have had this loving woman in our lives and, now, in our hearts forever.

11 Months --- 4 months later

I can't believe the last time I blog I was a mama of a 10 month old baby and now I have a 16 month toddler. My heart just broke a little. I just want to put Liam in a little box and keep him small forever. Okay, maybe not forever but seriously why is this going by so fast? I guess since I left off at 10 months, it's only right to share 11 month pictures and 12 months. I can't remember what he discovered or learned during this period to share along with the pictures. I know he didn't learn how to walk like so many suggested would naturally happen at least by the day of his birthday. LOL! That didn't come for another few months. All I know is that he's always happier in my arms and that he loves to eat his snacks!

11 Months

12 Months

Banners!

I have created the official logo for our shop. This logo took a lot of rough drafts to create. I went through multiple color schemes and themes plus I got Valerie's advice and thoughts along the way. Most of my creativity happens around midnight when everyone's sleeping, so after a few long nights I finally came up with this design and I am so happy with the outcome. I feel like the colors, fonts and clip art represent us very well. I am so anxious to get our shop full of banners. I wish I could get things going a lot faster but with a baby, work and all the other fun stuff in between it's hard to get a big production going right away.

To make a custom order click HERE

Since sharing the news about our shop we've had a few orders for banners. This is so exciting for us and I just wanted to share a sample of the banner we made for our first client! With all the Pokemon Go craze going on it's no wonder we'd get a request for a Pokemon birthday banner.

 

 

Ten months

 Liam, boy are you a wiggle worm! Standing is your new favorite hobby. You look for any thing to grab a grip of to climb and help you stand. I am not ready for you to take your first steps but you are slowly preparing me and starting to stand on your own for a few seconds at a time. You are very strong at only 10 months your grip and bites can really. You can lift "heavy" stuff and yet you refuse to hold your own sippy cup. You hold it to your mouth and then expect us to do the rest of the lifting.

You love for us to come at you saying "I'm gonna get you!" and you try crawling as fast as possible away from us. Then you stop and wait for us to say it all over again with a big smile on your face filled with anticipation. We play that game with you over and over again all day long, it never gets old for us. You love to eat puffs, yogurt bites and swimming!

You pretty much think you are your own boss. You want to up and go on your terms or feed yourself even if the spoon is no where near your mouth. Maybe that means you're a stubborn little one. You love playing with your toys but once you are done with one you throw it out of the car seat or stroller. This can be a problem when we're walking around the mall.

You are currently growing your 7th tooth and it's been a little rough on you. You just want Mama to hold you when the pain comes. My favorite thing of all is that you raise your hands when we say "Thank You Jesus" and you clap along with music. You also sing the ABC's with me but then you quit around "H-I-J" and leave me singing alone. And apparently no matter how much older your getting you are still an emotional little guy when things don't go your way. 

I'm sad to see your chubby rolls start to fade as your keep growing and crawling more and more. You are my world and some days I wish I could stop time and hold you as my baby forever.

My diaper bag.

1. This bag I would consider a little dressier  since it's all black. It sits up on its own and its slim yet fits everything I need. Plenty of pockets for my own personal belongings.