Author Archives: Amanda

Heavenly Father Hear My Prayer

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I’m back at Works for Me Wednesday this week.

Lately, a lot of things have not been working for me. Life has been chaotic, but things are slowly getting better. I’m working on positivity right now, and that is starting to work…. I want to share with you a prayer that I learned from my Great-grandma. It’s a prayer that I have always remembered. I’ve taught Jayden and it is the prayer that he says every night before he goes to bed ~ of course, he adds on at the end to bless his sister Mya and asks for her back and to make sure she doesn’t fall on the clouds. He’s such a sweet boy.

Heavenly Father, hear my prayer
Keep me in Thy loving care
Be my guide in all I do
Bless all those who love me too

My Grandma just moved here and I went into her bathroom and she had this prayer that had been like embroidered with yarn above her toilet, which my Great-Grandma’s name & the year she made it ~ 1981, which was a year before I was born.

My Great-Grandma is still alive and I hope someday my Grandma will give that to me so that I can hang it in my children’s room.

This prayer works for us and to see what other things work for others head over to Shannon’s blog.

I actually tackled some things this week!

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I’m a little late here ~ had a busy day, but wanted to chime in on Tackle It Tuesday

I didn’t take a picture of my new office, but I mentioned a couple of weeks ago how my kitchen table was overtaken by my office. I had papers and files and it was a little chaotic. Thanks to Brittney, my sister I’m just getting to know, my office area is now in my room and it ROCKS!!! It’s such a cute little area and I will get a picture of it up soon ~ maybe tomorrow. Things are filed, organized and I’m feeling on top of the world in that department.

I’ve also organized my spice/medicine cupboard. It was a little out of control, and I threw away old medicines that weren’t needed anymore and empty spices. Feels good!!!!

CABINET BEFORE

CABINET AFTER


Some goals that I’m going to work on tackling for next Tackle It Tuesday is:

  1. Get laundry caught up
  2. Picture frames that are lying around w/out pictures up on the wall

Simple little goals, but must be done 😉

To see what other’s have tackled you could always go over to 5minutesformom.com and get some great ideas on what you should be tackling.

10 Months Old, My Ella

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Dear Ella,

Unfortunately in the midst of all the chaos that has been going on I forgot to write to you on your 10 Months and talk about all the things you are doing.

Every day I fall more and more in love with you. You crinkle your little nose and give big smiles and you are just a loving soul. You’ve learned how to kiss and LOVE to give kisses.

You are such a smart little girl. You have started to imitate people and that has just opened our eyes that you really are learning things ~ your brain is soaking up everything it possibly can.

You try really hard on talking. You have quite a vocabulary, and you will even tell me baba if you want a bottle. You watch our mouths when we talk and try to repeat us. You love to shake your finger and everyone telling them no! no! Speaking of no no, you know when you’re up to no good! When you hear the words no no you freeze and put your head down ~ that’s when we know you knew that you weren’t supposed to be doing that….. like I said, smart little girl!

The walking. You definitely know how to walk, yet you’re still a little scared of it. Sunday at church you actually walked a good distance. Afterwards you clapped, which you always do after you accomplish something, or hear the words YAY. I am excited for you to walk, but there’s no rush. My heart is aching at how quickly your baby years are flying. I love the vibrant personality that shines through more and more every day. There’s no doubt that you’re definitely a Leo.

You love Jayden. When he walks in the room your face lights up and you literally squeal with delight. He picks you up a lot and you smile and laugh. It’s so cute. I love how close guys are and I was so scared that with the age difference, but I think it’s working out perfect.

You finally started sleeping through the night. That happened shortly after you turned 9 months. I just want to say THANK YOU!!!!! You know, your brother actually slept through the night at like 8 weeks. After the 3rd month I kinda gave up, but you have been a beautiful, sleeping angel at night and I am SOOOOOOO THANKFUL!!

You don’t eat baby food anymore. I try to give you 1 jar of veggies/day, but sometimes I kinda forget. You just eat whatever we eat and there hasn’t been 1 thing yet that you don’t like. I can already see you and your dad at seafood while Jayden and I go eat pizza. Jayden is so picky like me, and you just are a disposal w/food like your father.

I love you, Ella. I truly feel blessed that you were sent to us and are a part of our family.




One more thing to add ~ anytime you hear music you dance. You LOVE to dance.

Jayden loved swim camp!

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Jayden absolutely loved his swim camp! I went to my first water aerobics class last night and had so much fun. We’re going to go every Mon, Weds & Fri ~ I think I’m going to sign Jayden up for a couple of all day camps now that I know he did so well. They have a pirates week and they have a super soaker week (which has water slides!) I wish I had done this for him last summer.

These cops need a makeover

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Cops. My new favorite people. I talked earlier this week about how wonderful they’ve been to us ~ I’m happy to say that so far things have been better. Just in case they’re one of my fellow googlers out there that google Amanda Garibay for the heck of it, I thought I’d post a little message to them.

I found a great place that gives great deals on police gear. You could even get some free socks if you’re in need of some new boots. I know, I wouldn’t pass that deal up either. I really want the police department where I live to understand that it really isn’t looking good what they’re wearing… they could totally be in style if they’d only go check out LA Police Gear. They could even get a new Surefire weapon light since they seem like the type that uses their weapons a lot. I’m just saying…. it could come in handy. That way when they’re pulling over people in the middle of the night like they love to do (I know, it’s boring here) they have a really great light!

Healthy, Fun Summer

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We found a fun thing to do for the summer!! We FINALLY joined the YMCA. We signed up Jayden for 2 1/2 day camps that each last 1 week long. The first one is a swim camp from 1pm-4pm starting Monday. He will get swim lessons and learn safety things about the water. The next week he has no camp and then the following week is Swim & Gym. This one I think he will love. It’s also from 1-4pm and he’ll spend half of his time swimming and the other half doing gymnastics. If he does well with these then I think I might sign him up for a whole day Pirates Week summer camp. That goes from 8am-3pm….I’m sure he’d do fine especially with something soooo fun!

Yesterday we took a tour and got to see everything and Jayden saw some kids doing gymnastics and it looked like they were having a lot of fun. They offer so much stuff and I’m even excited. Mon, Weds & Fri my grandma and I are going to do a water fitness class and we’re going to start doing yoga too.

I’m quitting curves. I joined, I liked it, but they have some twisted hours and it no longer works with my schedule, so it looks like we’ll just be doing the YMCA thing for now.

Are you RVing it this summer?

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Today I was driving (like always) and I noticed that there were a lot, and I mean A LOT of RVs on the road. Of course, with the summer there are many people taking their vacations and while it baffles me on how they are affording the gas for those RVs, they scare me. I honestly am so scared of the cars they hitch to the back and have this fear of it swaying right into me. I fear this with every car in some way when I drive by it, but especially with these RVs.

I found this website Hensley Arrow Advanced Towing System that has an anti-sway hitch for RVs. What a relief that would be for not only RV drivers, but the drivers on the road with them. It’s important for them to feel that everything is under control, and this is an AWESOME way. A cool little added bonus is that it actually is small and lightweight ~ you know what that means, right? Oh yes!!! That means saving on your gas bill. If you’re one of those lucky ones out there with your RV you definitely know that you would love a way to save on that hefty gas bill that’s racking up. This could just be the answer to all your problems.

Check it out, watch the video they have and make an investment that will make your vacations better!!
Sponsored by Hensley Mfg.
Hensley_color_logo_copy

My First Calling

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I received my first calling on Sunday and am completely stoked about it. I got called to be on the Enrichment Committee and I will now be running the Mommy n’ Me class. I feel utterly honored to be considered for this and love who is on the committee with me.

I’m going to start planning the Mommy n’ Me class and hope that we can have a wonderful turn out.

They’re Watching

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These babies are watching and soaking up every single thing they see. I was eating popcorn and Ella was sitting on the ground watching me. As I’d grab a piece and put it in my mouth and then chew Ella would then pretend to pick something up, put it in her mouth and then chew.

I realized at that moment ~ they really do watch and learn young. These babies are so amazing.

Ella’s Heart Story

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I’m back! I’m putting my blogging once again before my marriage, my family, eating ~ yes and even sleeping!!!! Okay… maybe not that extreme, but I do apologize for my absence. Of course I missed all my other carnivals I participate in this week AGAIN, but you know I couldn’t miss out on Fro’ Me to You!! Make sure you head over there and check out Kristen’s great blog.

I thought today I would share a couple pictures of Ella at 7 weeks old, and tell the dreadful story of the day she almost died. The day our world went spinning out of control, and the day we realized how strong God can make you in the times you need to be strong.

Ella was only 7 weeks old. It was October 4, 2007 and she wasn’t keeping her food down. I thought she had a stomach bug and decided that it might be wise to take her in just to have the doctor look at her. The decision I made was weird, I never took Jayden to the doctor’s for the flu, but I had this burning thing inside of me saying SOMETHING ISN’T RIGHT. I think the thing that bothered me the most was that she didn’t have a fever. I wanted so badly for her to have a fever, because that meant that yes, it was just a bad case of the flu.

The doctor looked her over agreed with me that it must be the stomach bug and to only give her pedialyte. All night long Gino and I took turns holding her – she didn’t want to be set down and it was a hard, hard night.

Fast forward to Friday, October 5, 2007. The phone rings and it was her doctor’s nurse asking how she was doing and said that they would like to see her since it was Friday just to check up on her. I honestly did not feel like driving there, and she was starting to keep her pedialyte down, but I went. When Wendy, her nurse, came in she was putting the oxygen level checker on her toe trying to get her levels – she couldn’t. She had someone else come in while she went to find the doctor, she wasn’t telling me at the time that Ella’s chest was retracting and there was a serious problem…. I guess she didn’t want me to freak while she went to get Ella’s doctor. Dr. Mills walked in and from the look on his face I knew that something was very, very wrong. I started spinning and feeling like I was going to black out. I just remember them taking Ella and running across the street with her to the hospital.

At the hospital they were trying everything they could to get an IV in her, but the couldn’t – her veins collapsed. Her heart rate wasn’t even registering on the monitors, and when it would I’d see numbers like 280, 300 and then nothing just plus signs. I felt alone, scared and just wanted my baby to stop crying and I wanted to know what in the world was wrong with her.

Gino finally arrived and shortly after they had the crash cart in and they were restarting Ella’s heart – it worked. However, the damage had already been done. Her liver was enlarged, her organs were about to start shutting down, she needed a blood transfusion, and they wanted her intubated.

It was decided that Ella had Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome and they wanted her in Portland where the specialists were. They had a team fly down from Portland to pick her up. It was a process, because she was intubated and they wanted an extra set of hands that could help, so my seat was taken. My baby went into the air without me. It was 11:00pm on Friday night and we had to leave our son behind and drive blindly into the night. We had a 4 hour trip ahead of us and didn’t know if our daughter was dead, or alive.

The team called when they landed and informed us that all went well and they were getting into the ambulance to transport her to the Children’s Hospital. Huge, huge, huge sigh of relief. We finally got there and went to her room and layed down. It was about 6am when they do shift change and the new nurse walked in and said, “This one here is awake.” Gino and I jumped up so quick and ran over to her. She actually looked at us and had these eyes like she wanted to tell us about all of the horrible things that she had been through. This picture is me looking at her right after they took out the tubes.

We ended up staying there for a few days then taking her home. She continued to go in and out of SVT (fast heart rate) all throughout the month of October. Luckily I started to know the signs and could tell when listening to her heart. So, if caught in time it was easy to stop by suffocating her with a bag of ice, which I personally couldn’t do. We had to take her in to her doctor’s to have it done. Once we realized that her medicine wasn’t working we went back to Portland to have her watched closely in the ICU while they tested another medicine that could cause heart failure, but it worked!! When she’s around 6 they’re going to do a catheter ablation and close the extra pathway that’s in her heart.

Her doctor was telling us that if we didn’t take her in to the doctor’s she would have stopped breathing. Her organs were already shutting down and we would have lost our precious, beautiful Ella. I couldn’t even fathom the thought. Heavenly Father kept us so strong throughout this, and I’m thankful every day for the blessings he has given us. I’m thankful that everyday I have this beautiful little girl to smile at me.
To follow Ella’s story as it unfolds her website is HERE