Child bearing

Julien is almost 5 months old now...


Yesterday we mashed up some avocado, mixed it with a little bit of water and gave him is first (very small) meal. He LOVED it! He has been interested in food for quite some time now, and so we figured it was about time to give him a taste. We are going to wait a few days and then give him some (homemade) baby rice cereal.

My parents have been out of town now for almost 2 weeks and it sure has been a challenge! Learning to juggle housework, FGP work, Shower time, and baby is a lot of fun. I guess it's normal for most moms that don't live with 10 other people including their siblings and parents.

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So I know this is embarrassing but it's worth sharing, and some of you with kids might relate.

Child bearing has caught up with me.

I went through my whole 9 1/2 month pregnancy without waking up in the middle of the night to pee, without laughing so hard it starts dripping down your leg. I did my exercises and saw results.

My son is almost 5 months and all I've noticed was the stretch marks, lack of sleep, and exhaustion.

I also have noticed that I might be lacking the urge to pee until recently. it's not like my bladder fills and then I realize soon I will have to go, it was more like..oh It's been 4 hours I should probably use the restroom.

Until...coming home from the store last night, I put the groceries down and immediately I had to pee. No time to explain to my husband to watch Julien, put the groceries away, Or that I even had to pee..just I had to pee.

So me, running to the bathroom...when it is too late. It is now running down my leg. Just enough to wet the jeans.

My friends, Child bearing has surely caught up to me. I thought I would beat the cliche, I thought I could do this without that mistake..

I guess it's my initiation into this whole game.

End of Fall

We met the 4 months mark of his little life.

Only 4 months ago this little guy was born and it has gone by SO fast!!

At the same time I feel like he's so old!!!! Just the other day he got interested in our water bottle, so we gave him a little bit through a straw..Same day we got him a sippy cup. He loves it.
I can't believe he's actually interested in it!

The next step is baby rice and I'm REALLY procrastinating!!

We don't have an appointment with his Doc. for a couple more weeks but I can't wait to find out how much he really weigh's his length..all that.

Also one of his new things is reaching up when you are reaching to pick him up. It's SO SWEET! He is sitting up a little better, holding his head better..he's getting so big!

Yesterday he laughed for the first time!! Hunter was at work so I'm really sad he missed it, but I video taped it. It was so cute! Unfortunately He hasn't laughed since....

He isn't quite sure what to do since we are staying in one place for so long. But he's getting the hang of it..

hopefully.

quick rant.

How do single mothers do it?!?!

My parents are out of town this weekend, Xaundelle and Hunter are working..How am I going to do this without them?

We are having a group of people stay with us this weekend so I also feel like playing Miss Hostess.

and...Julien has decided he likes waking up early.

Today:

Wake up at 7am, I have to clean the kitchen to start Challah to freeze for tomorrow, clean my room because it's a wreck, and finish cleaning the living room. Oh on top of it all i smell so a shower hopefully can be in the equation.

I got Julien to sleep in my bed by himself for an hour, so I got a huge chunk done. But since then..he's grumpy! Not letting me do ANYTHING!
How am I going to finish anything I need to do!? I need a babysitter just so I can shower.
How do single mothers do this?
What do you do when you need a shower, pee, clean a dish?
Do you let them scream the whole time? I don't know if I can do that.

I need my Mom.

Proud Mama!

I am a proud Mama.

For the last 4 months my baby has been sleeping in bed with us (not changing that anytime soon), but I always wanted to put him in his crib for nap time. Which was impossible.
I would lay him down and he would start screaming right away..I would wait a few minutes but it wouldn't stop. I felt bad to let him scream it out ( don't judge me ).

So, on this past tour of 2 1/2 weeks I started putting him in his Moses basket more often to see if he would fall asleep. Success.

Last night was our first whole day home, and Hunter had gotten Julien to sleep. So he laid him down in his crib and he slept for a whole 3 HOURS!! I was so proud of him! When he woke up I fed him and laid him right back down and he didn't wait up until midnight!

He is growing up so fast! I dread the day I have to give him solid food because it's one step closer to toddlerdum. (hah)

There is a new baby in the household, Congratulations Steve and Serena Pinder. Gavyn Anthony Pinder was born 11/11/2010 a whole 9lbs! It's exciting to have another bugger around, makes me feel like Julien was born so long ago!
But we have great plans for the two to be best friends!
Julien looks monstrous next to the little guy, but I'm sure he'll catch up in size soon enough!

We are home, I couldn't be more excited to have a few months off, but then I remember it's not really 'off' just preparing for the next year!
I am so proud of my JuJu bean being so good on tour! He is definitely the DREAM BABY!

I will try to keep everyone posted over the next few months, but we will be very busy booking shows (contact us if you want us menastreeswalking.net), buying tires, doing minor renovations to the bus, and recording our new EP. All in a days work my friends, never a dull moment with the Trees (aguirres, nelsons, hellermanns, pinders) it's great!

A day in the life..

We are driving to our next destination.
Hunter, Julien and I are crammed onto one bench of the van with our day bags, random dirty burp cloths, loose baby socks, and the occasional bag of candy/medicine/and or target goodies.
I happened to eat a taco bell bean burrito the night before, not knowing it was going to upset Julien's belly..he is now fussing aka screaming, crying and farting.

It is that time when no one in the van is saying anything about anything but in your mind your being that frantic mother trying to get your child to shut up because the people behind you (or in front) are getting irritated and you can just tell by their sighs and stares.
What. do. you. do.
It is your fault your child is screaming yet there is nothing to calm him down. I am passed the point of shoving Binky's in his mouth, bouncing him on my knee, changing positions..I can't walk around with him so we are both frustrated.

We arrive at a new location where we are playing a show that evening. We have about 45-1 hour for loading our stuff in/setting up. Awkwardly you meet people while you are breastfeeding and your son decides he doesn't want the blanket covering him, so you fight to keep your breast covered. We sound check and Julien gets handed off to my Mom whom he will soon call KiKi, she holds him while we are on stage. Luckily for all of us he usually sleeps during this time. Either she has him in a sling, his Moses basket, or on whatever soft surface she can find, she is also watching our merch table/selling Cd's, tending to the dog (romeo) and making sure the baby stays quiet this whole time (she is wonder women).

After possibly getting something to eat after the show, we then arrive somewhere to sleep: church, hotel, host home..you name it. Upon arriving we unload 6 blowup mattresses, 3 bags of blankets and sheets, 10+ pillows, 10+ suitcases, and whatever necessary for baby.
This might all be for one night. The next day no meal is promised so you eat or don't eat, and do it all over again.

oh..a day in the life.


Pictures: August 2010

Photos/update

I heard from SOME people, that I didn't have enough pictures (Grace Brindle). So this post is dedicated to Grace.



JuJu's First bath at home!!


Packing all these Diapers for the road! After 3 months I still haven't used them all!



JuJu Hits the road!



JuJu falls asleep listening to his favorite singer Kristene Muller!


JuJu LOVES his KiKi!


And his Sabba too!!



JuJu reading his first Pooh book!


JuJu meets Veda!



JuJu is in California!!


Family photo at the famous PeeWee Dinosaurs (peewees big adventure anyone?)


JuJu meets his Great Auntie Kim!


JuJu meets his new friend Banjo (who wanted to bite him)



JuJu at a show wearing his Headphones!


JuJu being Good lookin!

Julien has already doubled his birth weight (I know) He's a big boy!!
It is a great adventure having him on the road with us and I absolutely LOVE it! sometimes it's hard and frustrating but whose life isn't?

Right now we are in Brandon Florida (close to Tampa), KiKi (my mom), Xaundelle, Hunter, Julien and I are all sick! Please pray for a speedy recovery and that no one else in our group gets sick. We are touring with a few other bands and two young girls 7 and 9 are really sick as well. We need healing!!

Thanks for reading!

married, mother friend

Life has been crazy, thus the long space between these 'blogs'.

Having a child, a husband, and a community of 10 around you is incredible..But there is a whole new realm of loneliness that comes with it at the age of 20.

Julien is my life, I love him like I never thought I could love, and even his quivering lip before a loud screech is adorable.
Along with Motherhood and being a Wife at my age comes quite a few changes:

I consider myself a hippy Mom, I hold my baby more then not because I know it's good for him (find links at the bottom of blog), I breastfeed exclusively (not even pump) because I know what is healthy for him, I'm not going to feed him real food until he is 6 months old because who wants their baby to grow up too fast?, and I'm not going to cut his hair until he is 3.
Because of my parent 'choices' it limits my activity specially with people my age.

No 20 year old girl wants to hang out with her married, mother friend while she is breastfeeding outside of Jimmy Johns, and changes her baby's dirty diaper on the TABLE, No 20 year old girl wants to take her married, mother friend to the movies because she will probably be alone the whole time while the mother is taking her fussy baby out.
No 20 year old girl wants a curfew because her FRIEND is the one with the kid, She doesn't want to miss out on life because of her Friend's baby. Mom friends are few and far between..specially ones your age, stable, God-fearing, and willing to be there throughout the ride.


Being a Mother is perfect, being a Wife is a theme park. I am so happy with my little Family and my guys are really the most important thing to me.

Julien is a trooper! He has been to 11 states in his short 3 months of life, he has probably met more people then the average 7Th grader, slept on more air mattresses then the average Cabelas customer He is a trooper!

He is now rolling over from tummy to back, discovering his hands, and slowly learning he has feet..but he knows how to swing'em.
Only 2 more weeks and we will be home for the winter!!


Links
holding baby: http://www.thebabywearer.com/index.php?page=bwgreatthings
feeding baby: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html
cutting hair: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_haircut

Catch up to the stroller!

Sorry I haven't posted lately, Julien has been keeping me pretty busy! So I will try to keep the 'catching up' part short.

Since my last post from Phoenix AZ, we have made it to California!
Our first stop was Diamondbar CA where we had a show with the Whosoevers! We found out the week before we left that we were playing with The Arrows (thearrowsband.com), so we were SUPER excited to get to know those girls!

The next day (saturday) we had a show with the Dreamcenter in LA with Hope for Homeless youth, it was so cool to see some of our old fans and meet new people. Julien unfortunately cried through our whole set! It was so sad!! My poor Mom had to hold him the whole time!
Sunday we played in Hermosa Beach uhm best beach city in the county!! The weather was great, the people were great..must I go on?
We ended up staying with a couple from the church we played at Lonna and Jason, the SWEETEST people ever!!
That Monday there was a Hermosa Fiesta (city festival), and my cousin Airec and Rhyanne came out and spent the day with us!

After our stay in Hermosa Beach Julien ended up getting his first cold! Poor thing was congested for a few days.

That week we spent a day at Universal thanks to an old friend of ours Kim, then headed North to Ventura to meet up with Mikee Bridges! We had a great time with him at his venue Epic. That Friday night there was a Fashion show being held at his venue and Xaundelle and I got to assist! It was a dream come true for me, and Julien was a trooper with Abba!

After Ventura came Portland/Vancouver where we got to hang out with some old friends and enjoy GREAT hospitality by the Rodgers! Then we made our way to Seattle where we met up with some old Gateways Beyond friends (thats always fun!).

Julien has met some amazing milestones in this journey! He is now learning to hold his head up, and can balance it pretty well! Abba (Hunter) is trying to teach him how to walk and crawl already (oh gosh!) and he is talking more than ever!

I never knew I would have such a great time being a mom, He is SO amazing and amazing to be AROUND! Of course it's exhausting and I have my moments, but he truly is the greatest gift!

This is a pretty scattered post SORRY! I will try to update sooner next time!
Only 2 more weeks on the road!

Packing and hitting the road

Friday August 27Th I was running around with my head cut off. I couldn't wash all of Julien's clothes because I knew he was going to use 3-4 outfits, 5-6 burp cloths and possible 4 receiving blankets in the next 24 hours. So the pile of dirty clothes got bigger and his outfits..interesting.

I had roughly 36 hours to get ready for tour, this is normal. As an Aguirre I wait til the last minute to pack no matter how long the trip. I've prepared for 3 month tours in this amount of time. Why do I feel like I'm going crazy?
I went over my check list well over 1000 times in this 24 hour period. Did I have all his clothes, burp cloths, blankets, wipes, diapers, creams, his nail clipper, thermometer, hair brush (yes hairbrush), bath, swing, car seat, stroller...the list goes on.

I was a frantic Mother.

Saturday came along and for some reason I was taking my sweet time getting ANYTHING done. I still hadn't packed for myself and Hunter and I decided to have a family day out. We went to the mall, to lunch, and a few small boutiques. We got home with 11 hours to spare. I quickly got Julien's clothes in the wash and re-packed his carry on bag at least 3 times before deciding it was perfect.

He slept through this whole process.

At around 9:30pm Xaundelle thought 'What a perfect time to go visit Elisabeth Dunn before we leave! Lets go!' so..of course Julien (asleep) and I went. We went and had shakes and fries and hung out...until midnight.
Frantic Mother mode..back on.

I had 4 hours to finish our packing! I stayed up the next 4 hours putting the final touches on all suitcases and carry on bags. Julien has 2 carry on bags, 2 suitcases, a stroller, a pack n' play, a swing and his Moses basket. Success!

We hit the road! We had 8 hours to get to our destination in Midland TX, Julien did SO good on his first road trip! He was a little cranky towards the end, But he is surely a trooper! We left Midland early Monday and headed to Las Cruces NM for the night. Julien's first time out of Texas!!

We stayed at a church my Grandma had connections to. After dinner we all settled in, Xaundelle and I were watching Chuck while Julien slept when we heard a thunderstorm brewing outside. About 10 minutes into our episode the electricity went out in the whole church! Kind of scary being in a new place, no AC, no lights..nothing.
But we survived! Only 2 hours later it came back on!

Then we headed to Phoenix, Julien's first time to see mountains, crossed the continental divide and he got his first history lesson!

We are trying to break up our drive time by staying with friends/family in different cities to keep us all sane! We are now at my Uncle Omar's house. We are so blessed to have them host us!

Julien has taken quite well to his new bed "the moses basket" and is doing great adapting to every situation. As long as he's with Ima and Abba Huh?

This is going to be quite an adventure! We hit California Tomorrow!

First Bar

Yes I brought my baby to a bar.

First here is a little taste of how we will be traveling.

Through a series of situations and God just outright forcing us we have been pushed to take the Van on tour instead of the Bus. Yes that means baby in car seat, and 10+ people being squished into a 12 passenger van. It's cool tho we feel like this is from the Lord, that we will be seriously tested for the better.

So. A taste of our travels:
Me: climbing into the van
Hunter: passing the baby (in car seat) to me
Me: locking him in
All while wearing full on steam punk gear=big boots, hats, jewelry etc.
(Much more dramatic then it sounds)

Arriving at the venue I had to breastfeed in the van and then Xaundelle attempted to change Julien's diaper on the front seat of the van. The seats all kind of slope back for more comfort but not so much for easy diaper changing. As she wiped his bottom the dirty diaper "flew" out at her and fell to the ground while landing in a puddle splashing her....disaster.

First obstacle (feed and change diaper) accomplished.

Inside the venue:
Trying to find a seat comfortable enough for me to relax in with the baby
Then sound check came along so we had to put him in his sling so KiKi (my mom) could hold him, she some how figured out how to put his big headphones on to block out noise. He slept through our whole sound check AND SET!

Second obstacle (make the baby sleep) accomplished.

After set, before load out:
Breastfeed again inside venue
and finish out the rest of the bands without him waking up.
He didn't wake up! He slept so good the whole time even while other bands were playing, he is such a dream child!

The only downfall:
He has his long sleep while we play and after
so then I have to be up all night with him.
Great.

Third obstacle (survive) accomplished!

Now, to pack!

We are leaving Saturday night/Sunday morning so my packing experience will be blogged about next week. Stay tuned!

Prepare the way!

Julien Misha'el Born July 31st 8:17am 7.15lb 20in.

Preparing to take this little guy on the road is a lot harder then it seems.
Bassinet or Moses basket
Crib or baby sleep wedge
Full swing or table swing

You get the picture, a lot of decisions, and not a lot of time on our hands.

Since we travel 8 months out of the year (on average) finding the right things to bring on tour for Julien is a struggle. I don't have a nursery for him, a full bed set, an Armoire, all those lovely things the average new mother would have.

So here are a few things we have opted for that will be condusive for our lifestyle.

A Moses basket that is a comfortable sleeper and easily portable, a table top swing for all those times he will need entertainment, a table top bouncer seat for when he is sleepy, and a pack n' play for all those times we're at host homes or churches and he'll need a nice place to play.

In the last 2 weeks I have come to find out my son likes to go through NUMEROUS outfits a day, a couple receiving blankets here and there, 5 or 6 burp cloths, you know..I've only done about 8 loads of laundry (that is 4 loads a WEEK). So how will I pack for him?

Did I mention he has gained 2 pounds and grown 2 inches since he was born? He is rapidly growing out of his clothes when it comes to length. Hopefully he won't grow out of all of his clothes while we're on tour.

This is going to be quite an adventure, but I know it will be exciting! Stay tuned to see what it's like having a baby on tour!