#ruizpics

[mamasanctuary]

Sadly, my middle baby didn’t get the well deserved birthday post on her birthday... but we were too busy 🌼Gettin’ Groovy 😎... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE!!!

Well not quite... we were infested after being around a variety of germs in the form of humans Saturday and we have been recovering the past week. I also ended up with some interesting complications, which I’ll have to explain in another post.  But I want to wish an online happy birthday to my baby girl. In this past year, I’ve seen you grown past your separation anxiety, embrace new friendships, you’ve learned to share your feelings and you’re the greatest helper I know. I can’t express how much grateful I am to have you as my child. Thank you for being the sweetest muneca. I know this year is going to be your best yet!

[mamasanctuary]

Grateful Day 11.26.22

Super late posting but I’ve been dealing with one life event after the other. My sister ended up hosting on Thursday which meant I could relax and take my time cooking Friday/Saturday instead of rushing around like a crazy person. It went well but also started some family drama being that none of the usual guests were invited. For our sanity’s sake, of course. I thought it would be dropped and we could all move on but we can’t. Yeah family. So anyway I finally had the spare time to get on here and just blog how I’ve been wanting to. And let me tell y’all.

I’ve Got Some News.

First, I want to start of by thanking everyone who supports me here. Especially those of you who have been here from the beginning. It means a lot to me that my blog has been an inspiration or even a safe place for some of you on your parenting journey. I know it’s got more personal and less *advice-y/* over the years but I’m leaning towards that direction, with a little twist. 

  I know I’ve made a lot promises over the past few months, regarding consistency, and while I feel awful about it I also realize I set myself up for failure. I don’t thrive off of hard schedules and so I’ve opened myself up to simply offering one post a week at any time during the week. Do you know how many times I’ve gotten on here to post but realized it wasn’t Sunday so I put off preparing a post and then it stayed in my drafts? A lot. I want to be able to share authentically and take breaks as needed without the pressure of only being able to post on my one day a week. 

  Additionally, I’ll make one post purely for advice and questions I’ve gotten over the past several months. You all have sent me 100s of questions/calls for advice that have gone unanswered so I want to take the time and support those who have been supporting me. That particular post will be released on a consistent date because the questions have already piled up. You can look forward to my advice column on Fridays at 3pm. 

With all of that out of the way...

I’ve been super busy prepping for baby#4 these past few weeks. Not so much with actual baby stuff, but with spending a lot of time with me “big” babies in preparation for being secluded with a newborn for, at least, 3 months. The amount of stares and unsolicited “You should be resting” I’ve gotten has increased since I’m the size of a whale at this point, but I truly live for my little outings with my little ones. As I approach my due date, I realize I have an unwavering fear about developing PPD so I think I’m forcing myself to be happy and busy so I don’t think about it. Ah well, as is life. 

The kiddos are doing well and rushing this baby out. Thalia is homeschooling well with me and we’ve decided to take that route for as long as it’s comfortable for us all. It’s definitely been experience and I’m a former teacher! Solomon and Zoe like to join in but often end up convincing me that Thalia needs a break and will rescu- I mean kidnap her from me and run outside. We’ve been taking it day by day and they’re all growing so fast as I’m sure you can see in the photo. They’ve been praying for the baby every night and have asked me multiple times if I could “grab baby out” which has been fun to explain to a two toddlers and a 5 year old. 

Our little family is growing and thriving as best as it can and I hope yours is too. This year has been hard enough with all the nonsense going on in this world so I hope you’re taking the time to care for yourself.

Until next time, 

[mamasanctuary]

2023 Staycation w/my little Ositos

[mamasanctuary]

The Last Of Summer...

Although these are several weeks old, I thought I would come and share anyway. Thalia’s grown like a foot, Zoe’s hair has grown out and Solomon just looks like a mini version of my dad most days. We’ve been dealing with a slew of issues, mostly relational and I’ve been struggling to come back to “normal”. I realize its relative, but at this point, I rather pretend things are better than they are. Proudly delusional. My therapist is working on me, don’t worry.

Anyway, as of this week we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled uploads on Sundays. I often get to upload on to my instagram @beeeauhh so if you’re wanting more frequent updates, check there!

Much love to you all,

[mamasanctuary]

BBQs And Summer Drinks 🍉🌞...

This past week/weekend proved to be quite chaotic. From a sick baby to several days where absolutely nothing went as planned, its safe to say that a family barbeque was necessary. Pretty much every weekend this summer, we’ve spent time out of the house, exploring everything we were cut off from during lockdown. And as you can imagine, it’s exhausting to be out and about with 3 children 4 and under. Hosting a family barbeque is much simpler. We still have company right now, I just snuck off to my office to send this off. Yay for consistency.  This week’s highs: - Finished the final details for my sister’s wedding

- Reorganized my laundry room which was in shambles for the past two months

- Shopped around for interior designers: room makeover coming soon!

- Attended therapy, again, yay for consistency

- FINALLY, used my planner to organize the rest of the year.

Click below for more on my watermelon lemonade recipe ⬇

Also, surprise... I swallowed a watermelon seed. 

I’ve known since around 7 weeks but honestly have had a hard time coming to terms with it. Each pregnancy is truly a blessing. Aside from some growing pains, I have fairly simple and uneventful pregnancies. Doesn’t take away from the fact that it was unplanned and makes me sad most days, but it definitely helps shift my perspective when I have so many women in my life struggling to become mothers. Expect pregnancy rants and emotional displays until late December... thanks ♥ Watermelon Lemonade Recipe - Adjust ingredients to desired taste. Makes 32oz

Ingredients include:

- Half of a watermelon, approx. 6 cups 

- 2 cups of lemon juice (we like ours sour)

- 1 lemon; half to be squeezed in and other half to use as garnish

- 2 cups of sugar

- 8 cups of cold water

- 4 cups of ice

Instructions:

1. Scoop out watermelon half and dice into small chunks

2. Blend approx. a cup of watermelon and a 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Continue adding in chunks and lemon juice until evenly blended. 

3. Squeeze in lemon half.

4. Transfer into pitcher(s) - we stored our other 16oz but I mixed everything at once.

5. Evenly distribute 4 cups of water/per pitcher and 1 cup of sugar/per pitcher

6. Lastly, cool your pitcher with 2 cups of ice/per pitcher 

This drink is fantastic for a summer day and is usually gone within two hours of me making it. Try it out for yourself and tell me how you like it!

Happy Sunday,

[mamasanctuary]

“Sometimes, you just gotta see yourself through our point of view.” - Yadier

I had a HARD day today. Nothing fits, my belly is already the size of a 25 week pregnant person, and I just realized my bridesmaid dress will absolutely not fit for my sister’s wedding this Saturday. I cried. I cried so much today that my I couldn’t see 6ft in front of me. After taking a nap with my babies, and being brought the most delicious sub I’ve ever had, I was met with a gentle proposal by my husband to help me see the “beauty” in this pregnancy. It’s gonna take a while for me to be happy about it, but I can say this was a great start. I have zero energy to give last week’s update so just take these cute pictures. 

Happy Sunday

[mamasanctuary]

  I remember my first mother’s day so clearly. I rushed out of our room to find my screaming six month old with an icepack on her tiny hand. Fear took over and in a matter of seconds I had Thalia in my arms. Yadier tried explaining what went wrong but I couldn’t hear him. I was too busy acknowledging the instant relief that washed over my baby’s face. She stared up into my eyes, communicating with me in our special little way. And for the first time I realized, I was her safe space. She trusted she was safe in my arms. In that moment, as tears rolled down my face, I realized I never felt a love like this before nor have I ever loved like this. Four years later, and three kids deep, I often take for granted those little moments. I take for granted their sweaty little feet running across my freshly mopped floor. I take for granted how they are so comfortable sharing anything with me, even when it’s gross. I don’t appreciate the differing needs for affection each of my children have. But I’m a fool for my kids and a would walk the ends of this Earth to let them know it.  So just a  gentle reminder to any other mom out there thinking you don’t “deserve” this day because you occasionally lose it on your kids. Shut up, take your flowers and  🥀 HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY 🥀

[mamasanctuary]

I’m Back... DIML Pt. 2

Okay, so we left off with me making breakfast and  I realized “I ate A LOT that morning.” And to be completely honest, I ate it all 😂😂.  Let’s jump into Part 2: 

~ Day In My Life Part 2 ~

7:30 - 8:15am: I usually finish up my breakfast(yes, I eat before the kids wake up) and wash any dishes that resulted from breakfast. I threw in a load of laundry and folded a load while watching an episode of “Caso Cerrado” on YouTube. 

8:30 - 9:00am: I go into to wake up Solomon. I usually try and wait for him to wake on his own but he honestly will sleep past 9am which would push back his bedtime. He snuggles in a few extra minutes while I hold him. Usually Zoe will come in and snuggle with us both but not today. I walked into the girls room and found them in Thalia’s bed, singing “Sol Solecito” and it was absolutely adorable. I place Solomon down and go back to his room to grab some clothes. The girls use the bathroom and start their morning routine which includes washing their face, brushing their teeth, combing/brushing their hair and getting dressed. 

9:10 - 9:45am: Breakfast time! The kids are pretty good eaters and we wrap up breakfast after 30 minutes most days. I did have to rewarm their food (the price of prepping breakfast early) but it doesn’t take long. We had an issue with Solomon today. He kept eating his sisters fruit! They were peeved and retaliated which led to a slight meltdown. After breakfast, I have the children use their kitchen helper to help me clean up. They all have a different job, Solomon puts any extra scraps in the trash, Zoe then grabs the plates and passes them off to Thalia to be washed off. I go behind all of them and correctly finish the job and wipe down their breakfast table. 

10:00am - 10:45am: Today is a little different because Yesenia had a doctor appointment to finish up before she came over. I decided to take the kiddos outside while we waited on their nanny to arrive. It’s a little chilly here in MI, about 56 degrees when we were outside, but Zoe and Solomon are always un-phased by cold weather. Thalia on the other hand REFUSES to wear anything  short sleeved or shorts in general, if she’s going to be outside. I know its probably not great to have them in short sleeves and water play but they didn’t seem to mind. Yesenia showed up around 10:15 and I since I was in no rush, I stuck around a little bit and played with them. Yesenia took cute pictures with me and then taught me a TikTok dance before I decided to head inside and start class.

SO that’s DIML Part 2! Tomorrow evening we’ll be back with the final part. from 10:45 - 5:00pm Yesenia has the kiddos so we’ll be picking up with an evening/night routine. 

[mamasanctuary]

How The Weekend Started Versus How It Ended...

This past weekend, I had the honor of making my sister’s dreams come true. When I tell you I’m still crying over this pictures, I mean it. Not only was she an absolutely stunning bride, the color scheme and intimate atmosphere would make this a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ wedding in my book. If anyone wants me for their extremely last minute event planning, reach out LOL!  

I’m exhausted from the work that was needed to pull this together so I’m not sharing again until Sunday. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! 

[mamasanctuary]

 I used to think a dad was just someone who provided financially and was the disciplinarian. Everything else was meant for moms in my head. But you, you Yadier, you’ve set the bar high on what a real father is. An example I never got to see. You’re compassionate, gentle, respectable, understanding, supportive, and undeniably dependable. It’s no surprise that you light up their world like you light up mine. 

Happy Father’s Day Papo 💖 

[mamasanctuary]

The Ruiz Babies Are Back…

Hi,

  How have all of you been? It’s been a few weeks since I decided to take an abrupt break. Although I missed the interaction here, it was quite necessary for me. A few weeks off of this blog has really gave me insight to how I was spending my time and I want to be more intentional with it. I put a lot of pressure on my self to be “consistent” only to fall short and then loose motivation to post. So, I made a loose schedule, emphasis on loose, to help me not overthink my posting. I’m sure there will be times I get to post more, but the minimum I’ll post is once a week. Every Sunday afternoon, around 1pm EST, you can expect a weekly update from MamaSanctuary.

  Anyways, over the past 6 weeks I’ve had to make some major changes to my home life because Yadier has started his own company. For about three or four days a week, he’s working around 13 hours a day. While I never thought I would be fortunate enough to hire help, we’ve decided that’s what our family needs now. I’ve been thinking a lot about the financial privilege of it and how so many parents are struggling to find childcare right now. And while we’ll be paying a pretty price, I can’t help but think how nice it is to have that choice. So just be prepared to see Yesenia credited because I’ll never be one of those moms who pretends they do it all alone. My ego isn’t that big.    I want to thank the followers who have been here a while, waiting patiently for our return. I think it’s safe to say we’re back and ready for what this year brings. 

Have a wonderful week you beautiful people, 

[mamasanctuary]

Random Pics From Tennessee....

[mamasanctuary]

FINAL DIML Pt.3

Okay, we’ve made it to the final post. Let me just preface this by saying, I do not usually show much skin on my kids. I often try to protect their privacy since they can’t fully consent to being posted. With that said, some of these snippets contain half nakey babies LOL and it will not be a recurring thing on this blog. 

~ Day In My Life Part 3 ~

5:15 - 6:30pm: Yadier and I try to make a conscious effort to spend uninterrupted time as a family when we are finished for the day. As of late, he’s been getting home around 4pm and finishing up some work here before being done for the day at 5:30pm. Today, Yesenia stayed around a little longer because we needed to discuss something. After she left, we decided to take an impromptu drive to Krispy Kreme. 

This hour before dinner, is all about being intentional. We’ve realized that when we give the kiddos uninterrupted attention, they respond better when we have things to do. When we got home, we decided to read and act out the book “The Napping House” The kids love acting out books. It’s our favorite family activity! Solomon still doesn’t have the attention span to sit long so after the second story, Yadier took him to play cars. The girl and I joined in with the car play after a few more stories. 6:45 - 7:15pm: Dinner time. Yadier was the cook today so I took some time to get chores done. We recently re did our pantry closet so I spent some time organizing that and put the clothes to dry that I had washed this morning. Tonight we had steak pasta, Yadier’s favorite. I made a yummy, leafy green salad to go with our meal but the kids opted out of trying it. They aren’t really fond of salad yet. We all had our donut for dessert and then we cleaned up to some of our favorite songs before grabbing the kids to start their bed time routine. 7:30 - 8:45pm: Tonight, we had a bit of an issue getting the kids to calm down. Usually we bather them every other day, because they have dry-ish skin but tonight it was necessary to get them to calm down. I filled the tub with water, lavender and chamomile soap and threw them in. We dimmed the lights to help with sleepiness and within 20 minutes, the mood was quiet and calm. Solomon got a bit fussy so Yadier took him out and dressed quickly. I nursed him quickly as Yadier finished washing up the girls. We switched back and he went to lay Solomon down(it’s necessary because he’ll try to nurse to sleep with me.) The girls were visibly sleepy, so I got them out and  dressed in their room. On average, we read three books each night. But we were exhausted and I decided one large book would do. Half way into the book, Zoe slumped against my chest and I caught Thalia rubbing her eyes so I cut it short. My sweet babies were out in less than five minutes and I turned on their night light and fan before I left. 9:00pm - 10:30pm: This time is our time. We spend some time alone, choosing to do some of our favorite hobbies (journaling, video games, editing blogs, etc..) and then come together to get ready for bed. We were both tired and decided to get in bed a little earlier today, at 10:00pm. We always put on our sleepy playlist and then shower together, brush our teeth and climb into bed to pray before falling asleep. 

I hope these last few posts have been interesting. I’d love to know, what’s your family routine look like. On Sunday, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming so stay tuned! Bye bye,

[mamasanctuary]

Today IS NOT Sunday… 

Woah, woah… No need to get feisty😪. We had some sicknesses running through our home the past two weeks so I didn’t get a chance to get any pictures uploaded. Solomon scared us over last week and had a high fever over the weekend, that has luckily broken. He’s completely recovered, thank God. Well, anyways, it’s been over a YEAR since I’ve done any sort of day in my life posts and quite frankly its the easiest thing to do at the moment. Kind of drawing a blank on what to post here. Without further ado, let’s jump into a DIML :

~ Day In My Life ~

5:45am: Yadier and I are usually slowly waking up. There are definitely days when we choose to “sleep in” past 6am but today wasn’t one of those. I struggled to get him up from under the blanket too, had to give him kisses to wake up. Solomon is the same, you’ll see. Once he was up, we made our bed and had our morning prayer/ Bible study before he went to get ready for work.

6:05am: Yadier gets first dibs on the shower, he’s gotta be out the door by 6:30 to avoid traffic on his route. Sometimes we shower together but not often. I get a picture of my RBF morning face and get myself showered after a serenading my husband as he gets dressed.

6:25am: Yadier heads off to work after making some breakfast eggs for us. I still have approx. two full hours uninterrupted which gives me time to do my makeup today. I went super natural and haven’t been using much foundation because I’ve been sweating like crazy. 

6:50am: I usually check the mail and bring any Amazon packages that have been delivered. Only three on this day. I also took the extra time to stretch outside. There are days when I don’t get to spend much time outside, well without the tinies running around, so I took it. Enjoyed the fresh air, watered some plants and then watched some squirrels run around my yard.  7:15am: Yadier made our eggs earlier so I only had to wash some fruit and chop my tomatoes as well as make my bowl of oatmeal. Can you tell I love breakfast? Today I had 2 sunny side up eggs, 4 strips of turkey bacon, a whole tomato, a slice of bread with butter on it, and a maple sugar oatmeal packet with peanut butter to top it off. The kiddos eat pretty “light” in the morning. Each of them had, an egg, a slice of toast, blueberries and bananas for Thalia, and bananas and strawberries for Solomon and Zoe.  Well, that ends part 1 of this DIML series. I’ll be posting the other parts relatively soon. So look out for that! 

[mamasanctuary]

Ruiz Family Pictures, October 2021

[mamasanctuary]

“Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember? Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September” 💃🏽🕺🏽

Perfect cloudy day to dance around and bake cookies 🥰