Life Lately- Spring Edition

Life this Spring has been pretty busy. But isn't it always? 

We've all had countless colds (thanks Kindergarten germs!) 

plenty of sleepless nights (thanks teething!) 

hours of yardwork to tackle

and lots of trips to the park when the wind isn't trying to blow everything away.

Here's a peek at the hightlights 

(I'll spare you all the details of the 2 costco sized

 kleenex packs we've gone through in the last month!)

Savannah's first taste of Krispy Kreme on a Sunday Morning in our jammies-

 she loved the little bit of blueberry cake doughnut she go to try!

After doughnut snuggles- these sweet sisterly moments are the best! 

Baby doesn't want to take her nap....then lets take some selfies! #whynot #shessovain

Someone has been SUPER helpful with chores lately.

(Note: I was loading the wet clothes IN the dryer at the time)

We celebrated the awesome guys big 3-5!

 It seems like yesterday I was just throwing his 30th birthday bash....

I sure am grateful for this man!

I attempted making classic tiramisu for the first time (his favorite), and it was delicious!

Tiramisu on a paper plate #classy

Recipe can be found here 

We had some warm weekend mornings before the wind and thunderstorms rolled in, so we broke out the water table and sprinkler while the girls cousins were visiting.

Savannah LOVED her first water table playtime, 

but that's no surprise since she loves all things with water!

 The kids begged for otter pops, so....another first for Miss Vanni- 

don't worry, she only got a few sips, then mommy took the rest 'away' ;o)

Kinsey had her Kindergarten Musical- it was an Under the Sea theme

(she's in the back row)

Her class was the Jellyfish, and they did a cute little song and dance to the "Jellyfish Jump", and Kinsey even got to say a fact about Jellyfish!

I cannot believe that she will be done with Kindergarten in less than 2 weeks! 

Makayla had her two week Post-Op following her Strabismus Surgery

Her vision is still 20/20, but her Dr recommended she continue to wear her glasses to hopefully correct the last little bit of crossing we are still seeing. 

He's hopeful that in 3-5 years she will outgrow the need for glasses to correct the lingering crossing. Since the RX she wears is very weak there's no real concern for her becoming dependent on the glasses either.

She got to pick some new frames since her last ones were broken and no longer available. She picked these all on her own- so adorable!

We celebrated Mother's Day with a quiet day at home,

 a BBQ lunch and mommy having a cold (boo!)

 But at least I got some pictures with these three beauties that call me mommy. 

I'm forever grateful for the blessings that I have received in these three girls.

 Motherhood is something sorta crazy, but also really beautiful.

On a final, and somber, note.

 My childhood pet, whom I adopted as a kitten in 1995, 

passed away this weekend at my parents home. 

He was just shy of 20!

Cinnamon was a wonderful cat, my first 'baby', and I will forever cherish the memory of him.

 He was so smart, I taught him as a kitten how to open the treat container with his claw

 and get one at a time out.....to his last days he loved his treats!

 Hopefully there's plenty of them to go around in Heaven,

 along with bunnies, birds and lizards to chase all day. 

Top- 1996, bottom L- 2000's, bottom R- 2013

Comparisons: Not always the thief of joy

What do you get when you have three girls, a mama that saved all the baby clothes and loves to take photos? 

Comparisons of three little Herrera girls in the same outfits/ages!

Kinsey- 6 months, Makayla- 7 months, Savannah 8 months
(can you tell I upgraded my camera between Kinsey & Makayla?)



All three girls have hit milestones pretty much at the same pace.
They were all born during my 39th week of pregnancy( K & M 39w1d, S 39w2d)
They all were late rollers- 5ish months
Makayla cut her first teeth at 6 months, but Kinsey and Savannah were both 7 months.
All three started crawling right at 8 months.

Kinsey, Makayla, Savannah- newborns sleeping with daddy


Kinsey walked 6 days before she turned 1, Makayla walked over 2 weeks before her birthday.
Hopefully this last little baby of mine will follow suit.
I don't want to rush a thing this time!
I might also be pushing her down when she tries to stand alone for a while ;)

Kinsey- 6 months, Makayla 6 months, Savannah 7 months


Here's to comparisons bringing joy, not jealousy!
Each of these girls is so unique, both in personality and looks,
I can't wait to see what strong, beautiful and intelligent women they grow up to be!

Do they look alike or totally different? What do you think?

Makayla the Brave

Yesterday was surgery #2 for Makayla. A Lateral Rectus Resection was preformed on both of her eyes just over 24 hours ago, so here's a little recap of our day yesterday and recovery so far. 

We left about 5:40am, with Makayla and Savannah in tow. Kinsey stayed sleeping in her bed and luckily my parents were in town (for their own appointment) and able to get her ready and to school for us. 

Check in at 6:15, up to the 9th floor by 6:45, they called her back around 6:55. She wanted Roy to take her back, sweet little daddy's girl that she is. I gave a quick hug and kiss and tried not to get to emotional in front of her. She knew she was going to drink some medicine, take a nap and wake up- but what does that really mean to a 3 year old? Surgery is really just another random word for something a Dr does at a hospital at this age. 

I was left with Savannah, tearing up in a waiting room watching the sun rise over the city. I knew she was in good hands, but it nearly killed me to not be by her side. 

Back with Roy they talked to the Anesthesiologist, she drank her sedative, and they were told it would be about 10-15 minutes to start to see the effects, with a full 30 minutes until she was really sedated and ready to be brought back to the operating room. Roy was a great companion, taking a million 'selfies' from every angle of her and her favorite stuffies, tigger and sock monkey, that she had brought for comfort. 

Selfies while they waited on the sedatives

The time came for Roy to leave her side, and while she was pretty sleepy at that point he said it was just awful saying goodbye and seeing the fear in her eyes. Talk about having your heart ripped out of your chest. 

Surgery started about 7:35am, and her Dr came to let us know everything was over around 8:38am. He said she did well, but obviously only time would show us the results of the surgery as her eyes heal. 

10 minutes later they brought be back to the recovery room to a sleepy, loopy, trashing and yelling little girl. It was a rough 20 minutes or so while the worst of the anesthesia wore off, and then she became more coherent and peaceful, with periods of sleeping on my chest mixed with wakeful grumpiness. 

Some of her most repeated phrases:

"I only want mommy's water from home"

"my sister....I want my sister"

"my eyes hurt"

"what's on my face" (nothing was at that point)

A peaceful moment in the recovery room

Finally she drank a few sips of the hospitals water after I convinced her is was mine. At 9:40 they said we could go and took out her IVs and Pulse Ox monitor. They wheeled us out to the car, where Roy and a crying/hungry/tired Savannah were waiting. We drove over to a nearby parking lot so I could feed the baby and as soon as I got her out Makayla started vomiting. It was chaotic moment, but soon we were back on the road for the trip home. Makayla slept the whole ride. 

Back at home she crashed on the sofa for the next 3 hours, with periods of waking, drinking water, vomiting, and then more sleeping. She said the cool rag across her eyes really felt good, so it stayed on her face for most of those 3 hours. Around 2 she began to be more wakeful, sat up to eat some crackers and drink water (kept it all down!) and took some ibuprofen. She was laughing and told us that "there's two daddy's!" At which point we figured she was definitely experiencing some double vision, which we had been warned was a possible temporary side effect. 

Sleeping it off at home

At 3 we loaded up to get Kinsey from school and drive back downtown for a post-surgical checkup with her Dr. At this point Makayla was fully awake and in good spirits. She didn't complain about pain or mention being tired at all. 

On our way for Post-Op Checkup

The Ophthalmologist seemed pleased with the results already! YAY!!!! He said her eyes already appear to be pretty straight, which is great news to us! He gave her great praise from his staff on how well she did during prep and recovery- they were all amazed at her bravery, calmness and maturity at only 3 years old.

We go back in two weeks for more testing, and in the meantime her double vision should fully subside (it already is much, much better) She already looks different to me- whether it is just the swelling and redness, the dilation of her pupils, or the fact that her eyes are more centered and straight is just too hard to tell right now. I don't remember her looking so different after the first surgery, so I'm hoping this is a good sign.

She slept all night and woke up only complaining a small amount about her eyes hurting. After meds and the cool rag she is now back to her normal, happy and carefree self. We basically have to keep reminding her to be calm and play quietly! Her eyes will be swollen and red for several days, with prolonged redness for up to a month. She's pretty good about wearing her princess sunglasses when we go outside, so hopefully she will be healed up quickly in time for a fun summer in the pool!

This morning- eyes closed they look nearly normal

This morning- she wasn't being very cooperative for a photo

She wanted me to take a picture of her new paw patrol toy not her eyes

Praying that this is the last of her eye surgeries and we are over the worst of the recovery process! Thanks to all our family and friends for their continued prayers and positive thoughts during this process.

A Big Day For A Little Girl, Round 2

Our sweet little three year old, Makayla, has a very big day in her near future. She wishes it was her first day of preschool, but she'll have a few more months before that day arrives this fall. Instead, we are all a little anxious about another round of eye surgery on Monday to hopefully further correct her strabismus.

In this post I discussed her first procedure, where the interior muscles (those along the inside corners of the eye) were moved inward to 'loosen' the eyes into a more straightforward appearance. That surgery took place in July 2012, just before Makayla's first birthday.

It was successful in the aspect of her recovering well, and we felt as though the strabismus was improved somewhat, but it was obvious to us that it was still present. We knew going in that the rate of 100% success was not great, and that 10-20% of children require a second surgery. We just hoped that the odds were in her favor and we could be in the 'one and done' group.

Well here we are almost 3 years later facing round 2. We've tried multiple rounds of glasses, and while she looks so adorable in them, they don't seem to improve her strabismus at all. Her vision is excellent, so the purpose of the glasses was to hopefully strengthen her eye muscles if they were weak and therefore relaxing into a crossed or wandering motion due to the weakness. They may still be useful after surgery number 2 in further correcting any lingering strabismus. Only time will tell.

This time the focus of the surgery will be to 'tighten' the muscles on the outside of the eyes, to further stabilize her pupils in the center of her eyes. The younger that these procedures are done, the better the odds that the eyes will start to work together and things like depth perception will be improved. As far as we can tell she can't see things in 3-D, because her eyes work independently, one dominating over the other, alternating at any given time.

Our reasons for doing the second surgery are clear. There's been no change/improvement in her strabismus since the first surgery. Everything, including her eyesight, is stable. Waiting another year is only going to be just that. Waiting. So we are choosing to proceed with another corrective surgery so that hopefully she can start her school 'career' with the least noticeable strabismus possible. From the very beginning of this journey my deepest concern has always been how other children would treat her as she grew up. No parent wants their child to be the victim of teasing, and while I cannot protect her from all of life's dark sides, I want to do everything in my power to help reduce the struggles she will have to face.

As of now, she's a bright, caring, energetic 3 year old who only knows that she has very special and beautiful eyes. Roy and myself have been the ones to take on the burden of others unkind words during the last few years, and my hope for her is to never know how rude people can be.

She knows that Monday is a big day, and that she has a surgery on her eyes at the hospital. We've talked about being brave, and the Dr reassured her that she won't be getting any shots, just a special drink. It's so different this time around, knowing that she is aware of everything around her and will be asking questions and feeling afraid. The entire surgery is on the surface of the eyes, and we are told that the recovery is not very painful, mostly just a bit uncomfortable and achey. This girl has a high pain tolerance so I have no doubt she will be feeling like her normal self before too long.

Of course, all Prayers are appreciated. We will keep you updated.

Life Lately

Life lately is a usual, busy. I'm constantly wanting time to slow down and wishing there were more hours in the day to get everything done and while still soaking up this precious time with my babies.

Also, I put them to bed and then promptly fall asleep on the sofa most nights....zzzzzz.

They wear me out and I'm typically up several times a night 

with little Miss Insomniac (aka Savannah)

It's a good thing she's cute.

This is her after bath hair-do. 

Makayla often plays dress up while big sis is at school.

The girls are still giddy and screaming with excitement with every balloon sighting,

 even though they are near weekly occurrences. 

Makayla has started drawing people and animals- this is her and daddy!

Someone is crawling everywhere. Sometimes like this, and other times on her knees.

 Her days are currently spent working hard pulling to stand up on things 

I cut about 4 inches off my hair. 

With post partum hair loss it was looking a bit lackluster being so long.

We've been sick.....a lot. Each time it seems to drag on for weeks, one down....3 days later the next kid catches it, etc. Finally we are better for a week and then the next bug has stricken us! So ready for a healthy household, especially after this sweetie having her first ear infection.

Kinsey has been helping more around the house- her current favorite thing is peeling...potatoes, carrots, etc. She LOVES to help me cook. 

She's also been branching out and more willing to try food she had previously refused, like mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs. Makes life a little easier when your kids are less picky!

Lots of tea parties with this sweetie. 

I'm planning a post about her eyes soon,

 but she's scheduled for a surgery in late April to further correct her strabismus. 

My little fashonista. All decked out for school one day in an outfit she picked. It's getting harder and harder to chose her clothes for her! She's going great in Kindergarten, reading ahead of where she needs to be and catching on to the math concepts they teach quickly. Her current obsession is jellyfish, she loves watching you tube videos about them and then reciting facts she has learned.

So that's a little of our daily life. Between diapers, dishes, school drop of and pickup and running my design business  we plan to have a lot of fun this Spring! 

The Chaos of It All

In the shower today I was soaking up the silence, the heat, the peacefulness of the moment. Don't get me wrong, I had about 5 minutes to get in out and move on with my day while the big girls played playdoh and the baby napped. But it was 5 minutes of relaxation in a typical day full of chaos. I closed my eyes and thought.....

                               "This is the best part of my day"

I quickly opened my eyes as my conscience reprimanded itself. Yes, it's true that this may be the most PEACEFUL part of my day- a day filled with fevers, teething babies, sisters fighting and the inevitable clean up of all that playdoh.- but it was far from the BEST part of my day.

The best part of my day could very well be the snuggles I get from that toddler with a fever, the happy giggles I get when I play peek a boo with the baby, or the sweet whispers of "you're the best mom ever!" by my kindergartner as I tuck her in tonight.

It truthfully is all of those things and so many more. The small moments of beauty, love, and happiness- after all isn't that what we are all doing this game of life for?

When I look back at this time in my life 10 years from now- when I don't have a baby under foot and all my kids are rushed to school every morning. I know I won't remember that 5 minute shower and how good it felt to my body, that shower will still be there as part of my day. It's true that we all need those peaceful moments to be a better mom, wife, friend, etc. But sometimes it's the moments in between the peace, the real life bumps and quirks, that really become the best part of our days.

I will definitely remember those moments of beauty in the chaos that is parenting.

I'll miss helping them tie their shoes and zip their coats a million times a day.

The baby cuddles at midnight will be long in the past, but a tiny part of my heart will pang to cherish them just one more time.

I'll miss cutting their food into little pieces, even the pizza and pancakes. I'll miss the spills and piles of dirty clothes waiting to be washed.

The sisters will still fight, but it will likely be over ipads, clothes or who gets to ride shotgun, not who can run faster or who gets to be which ninja turtle.

So this day, filled with chaos....I'm going to soak it ALL up. The BEST part of my day will always be watching my children grow. No matter how crazy they make me.