Don't mess with a man...

and his monkey.

It's nearly 3:00...

in the afternoon. I've eaten nothing but a piece of toast today. I think I brushed my teeth earlier, but I can't be sure. The load in the dryer has been there since, oh, Tuesday? Not sure on that either. But it is dry. I think. But, see... I'm in love. When you're in love, you forget to eat. You care more about time with that person than keeping up with the laundry. Or, in some extreme cases, brushing your teeth. Maybe not that last one. But the Object of My Affection, well, he doesn't care about my breath. Or clean underwear. Or fresh towels. Because he loves me too. A lot. In fact, he loves just about everybody. Especially his pappy. And milk. Oh, how he adores milk. Would you like to meet him?

Yes, I am in love with Leo. He is a dream in diapers. A sweetie in spit. A doll in drool. A treat in tennies. A blessing in blankies. A love in layette. A wonder in one-sies.

I came across an amazing woman's blog today. Her 18-month old daughter drowned in a canal this summer. This woman's writing was full of faith. As I read, I held my son and kissed his cheeks, wiped his bubbles, squeezed his tummy. Someone asked her what would she have done differently if she had to do it over again. She said she would have kept better journals of her time with her baby. I felt, how do you say, pricked. Right in the heart. I have spent four amazing months day in and day out with my son, and I don't want to forget a moment of it. Already it passes too quickly.

He is a joy. I don't know how to say it any more or any better than that. He. Is. A. Joy. A delight. So full of love for his parents. So grateful for every diaper and feeding. So ready with a smile. He is precious above all that is precious. He has redefined my existence. He is, if it is not too bold to say, the measure of my creation. He is the manifestation of God's love for His children. He is the sun, the moon, the stars. He is the universe. He is, to quote someone more eloquent than I, my heart beating outside of my body. It is the greatest honor of my life to be Leo's mama. Honestly.

And his father?! Well, that's an entirely lengthy prose worthy of its own post. Luis has been amazing, to say the least. He adores his son. He adores me. I am blessed. And deeply, deeply grateful. And that, my friends, is where happiness resides. Here on Lincoln Street, with Tres Bonillas completely in love.

Week Three and Four

Two Weeks

Ahhh, sweet second week... Our little Leo blessed me with several nights in a row of 5-hour sleeps. What a rock star! I couldn't believe how 'human' I felt after a couple of nights of longer sleeps myself. It didn't last through the third week, but I sure was grateful for it while it lasted.

I also experienced my first four-alarm diaper in the second week! I always thought it funny that Leo has peed and pooped on his dad a number of times, but never on me. That changed... I was on speaker phone with my friend when it happened, pee in a perfect arch, landing exactly on my cell phone! And then the poops started. Oh, the poops. It was an adventure. I didn't know which end to start at! Sweet baby, he was amused methinks.

In the second week he showed us how strong he is by rolling over on his play mat, putting his weight on his feet when we held him, and pressing his little feet against my arm to stop me from tickling his delicious toes. His neck is really strong as are his stubborn little arms, which he likes to keep right up by his face when he nurses. That's proven to be challenging for Mom to wrestle little fingers, a hungry mouth, a nursing bra, and the Boppy pillow all at once, but it's always good for some laughs.

Also in the second week I felt I got to see a beautiful and emerging side of my sweet husbie. He was supposed to return to work in the second week, but the mere thought of his return left me in a pool of tears, unable to function. Despite all the compelling economic reasons he SHOULD have returned, he took another week off to help me stabilize a bit. Indeed, the second week is when my baby blues hit. Lots of weeping in this week, but I always had a strong shoulder to cry on and a beautiful son to focus on. The biggest melt down happened when I was trying to fill my water bottle while balancing it on my knee and holding Leo in the other arm. Of course, the bottle dropped and water went all over the kitchen floor, at which point it seemed perfectly appropriate to burst into a flood of tears and fall apart. Luis came to the rescue; he gently guided me to the couch, brought me a box of Kleenex, took the baby, and mopped up the kitchen floor. Heaven help the mama...

I have loved watching Luis as a father. He is ever patient, loving, attentive, and devoted. He makes up silly songs, dances with our baby, tells him stories, talks him through diaper changes, and constantly tells him that his mama is beautiful. I couldn't be more pleased with my mate. He is wonderful.

Other than the weepies, the second week was magical and sweet. Lots of down time as a family, our first walk around the block, visits from family and friends, and continuing the life-long and wonderful process of falling in love, again and again and again.

One Week

Our sweetest little heart at exactly one week old... I'm going to have to work backwards here a bit to bring us up to date, as I can't believe that sleeping peacefully in his room at the moment is our almost four week old son. Motherhood is amazing, as was giving birth, both of which will be addressed in a future post. For now, I'll fill you in on the last few weeks.

So, week one. Our first week with a baby was incredible, enchanting, magical, and challenging. Lui and I were both anxious to get home from the hospital and out of the constant stream of nurses, doctors, and interruptions, so we checked out a day early and brought Leo home the day after I gave birth. We arrived home on May 6th, around 6:30pm, to a welcoming party of my mom and step-dad and Lui's parents, visiting from Mexico. Mom had prepared her signature "home from the hospital" dish of homemade chicken soup with dumplings, wheat bread, stew, cornbread and salad. We ate dinner together in a bit of a sleep-deprived daze and marveled at this little angel we call our son.

The first few nights at home, Luis and I weren't sure how exactly you get a newborn to sleep. Like, where does he sleep? How long should he sleep? How do I keep him asleep? Etc., etc., etc. I was up with the babe every hour and a half for the first few nights (which thankfully has stretched to every three hours now), and will forever treasure in my heart those first few early morning hours alone with my baby. I literally felt the presence of heaven in our home and loved the quietness of getting to know my son, feeding him in the stillness of the wee early hours.

Leo was healthy from the day he was born, and his first week was full of perfect advances. He made all the messy and wet diapers he was supposed to make, he ate every ounce he was supposed to eat, and he melted his parents' hearts just as he was sent here to do. By the fourth or fifth night, he started sleeping a bit better and settling into more of a routine with his feedings. Our home was so peaceful in that first week, full of flowers and family and
sleepiness.

His first visit to the doctor found him in good health, with a bit of jaundice that we watched closely for a couple of weeks, but with a strong body and a healthy set of lungs. He was born with curly hair and big eyes and a sweet, sweet disposition. We at first couldn't tell who he looked like, but as he's grown he's definitely becoming his daddy's son.

Luis was home with me the entire first week and I look back on that time now with a sense of nostalgia... the three of us becoming a family, the three of us falling in love, the three of us feeling the weight and the anticipation and the dream and the miracle of it all...

Oh yes, week one was sweet indeed. Welcome home, baby boy.

Tres Bonillas!!

It's official. We're having ourselves a ... a ... well, the deal is, we don't know!! Look forward to an announcement in May and ultrasound pictures coming soon!!

Lots of love from the Casa de Bonilla,
Ali

The Bonilla Family Photo Album

Welcome , welcome! Wow... where have you been for so long? We've just been here... you know, blogging frequently and waiting for you to come visit! It is SO good to see you! Gee, Lui and I thought you'd never come! Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable... can I make you tea? hot chocolate? Would you like to look through our recent family photo album?

Okay, seriously... it's been awhile. I could bore with you with the details, like, I got a promotion at work and have been earning my pay by spending a lot more time there. Or, I could tell you about all the loads of laundry I've been doing and better yet, all the clothes I've hung up that still are waiting in the Ironing Line. I could write about the oil change that the Jeep desparately needed and the time I spent at Big-O reading trashy People Magazine. Or, all the time I've been spending following Michael Jackson's fantastical life on network television, except that it hasn't really taken all that much time afterall, no offense to the Jackson fans in the audience Well, how about the time I've been using for scratching Lui's back at night? Or, the time I've invested in digging my autumn shoes out from under the bed? I guess all added up, it still doesn't equal enough reasons for not updating things here. Guess I'll stop with the excuses and start with the updates... (though I really did get a promotion at work and I really have been scratching Lui's back a lot). I've included some fun pictures to share what we've been up to...

August found us extremely busy with Lui's Kitchen. We had a great time at Harvest Days in Midvale and enjoyed participating with the Provo Farmer's Market a few times before the season ended. It was magical for me to watch Lui totally at home with meeting new people and sharing his salsa with the crowds. He's a natural when it comes to marketing and selling and people really took to him and his salsa. I must admit, I also had a great time wandering the markets and trying a lot of great new foods.

We haven't done much with Lui's Kitchen now that the change of seasons is upon us... it's more difficult to get product out to people without the venue of markets, but we look forward to next summer and participating in more events. We've also looked into the possibility of distributing through local grocery stores, but we'll see. Neither of us are sure we have the time to add something so time-intensive to our schedules... what, with all the ironing I'm doing and all... :)

September was a blur. I turned 34! Luis threw me a suprise party with many of our family and friends and of course, a traditional tamale dinner. The real treat was his mother being in town for the month and the food she prepared for the party (I know, selfish me...). We enjoyed taking her on a date and spending time with her in our home. She is a lovely lady and a beautiful example to me. She also has the most irresistable and contagious laugh, it's wonderful to hear her so happy when she is surrounded by her children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, Lui's dad wasn't able to come for this visit and we missed his presence and fun sense of humor. We hope to see them this Christmas. Lui also started a part-time job with a credit union and full-time freelance work on a computer program
that will be used to teach mathematics on the Navajo reservations.

As is tradition in my birthday month, we also attended the Utah State Fair. This year was kind of different as Jessie (my oldest sister) wasn't able to be here, but Lui stepped up and took me on the Giant Yellow Slide. We also spent some time in the 4-H hog judging contest. Tell you what, it was stinky but infinitely interesting. A nice enough gentleman with a large hat and larger belt buckle explained the hog judging guidelines to us. It was something else! We also waited in the long line for Cajun Fried 'Gator, but upon seeing the micro-sized gator serving and macro-sized price tag, we opted for a gyro instead. Thanks, Lui, for taking me to the fair! Oh, and for carrying my frozen lemonade when my fingers got too cold.

October has found us spending far more time indoors for various reasons. The 8th season of Biggest Loser started (Lui calls it The Fat Loser, not because he is mean but because he can never remember what the show is called) and of course, The Office has started up again. We've also become a little enchanted with The Community and a new form of artistic expression! As many of you know, my husband is ridiculously talented in every way. He's recently set his sites on pumpkin carving and stayed up the other night until 2:00 a.m. working on these:

I must admit, our pumpkins don't quite look like this anymore. They look a little more like Great-great-grandpa without his teeth in and the wrinkled shell to match, but they were great while they lasted. Our ward is having a Halloween party next week, so I think Lui will be hitting the carving table again to prepare our car for the trunk-or-treat.

Over Columbus Day we took a little trip to Sun Valley, Idaho to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday with our family. My dad, my uncle from Colorado, my aunt and her family, my grandpa and sister Adrienne and her family enjoyed a beautiful weekend at Pennay's River Run condos in Ketchum. This is such a gorgeous area at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains, especially in the fall. We love you, Dad! We had a wonderful time being together and cuddling up on the couches around the fireplace at night, talking and laughing and sharing stories. We attended the Sun Valley ward on Sunday and really enjoyed their testimony meeting. It's always a treat to attend church somewhere else on the map...

And now, for one more picture from the Bonilla Family Album. By far this is the most exciting picture we've had taken this fall and the Number 1 Reason Ali has been staying in for the month of October:

Yup, coming from its most nauseated momma and proudest pappa, this is our littlest, sweetest babe. We don't know if we're having a Bonilla-ita or Bonilla-ito at this point, but we've nicknamed it our 'Pinolillo', pronounced Pee-no-lee-yo, which means 'little corn candy'. So far, everything looks great and we anticipate Pinolillo's arrival next May.

I know... right?!!?! Isn't he the cutest little kitty? The sweetest little gummy bear? The tiniest babe with the tiniest legs and arms? Oh, how we love our Pinolillo.

Well, thanks for (finally!) (just kidding) stopping in to visit us and for taking some time to browse our family photo album. I hope to pull myself off the couch a little more frequently in the next trimester to update our blog more often.

In the meantime, honey, do we have more Captain Crunch? And where are those pickles?!!