I'd like you to meet: Mike... Mi Esposo

2 years ago- Our most recent picture together

 
I was 15 years old, a sophomore in high school, the day I first noticed him.

I was walking through the open walkway at old Mesquite High School, weaving in and out of people, late to my next class.  I looked up and saw him just as he walked past me.  It felt like someone had sucked the air right out of my chest.

I turned around to get another glimpse and nearly stopped walking this was a HUGE no-no at MHS that would have most definitely resulted in me being run over or at the very least screamed at by a passersby... imagine stopping your car in the middle of a freeway!

The place where it all went down

I went on to class but couldn't stop thinking about Mystery Guy.

By the end of the week I had seen him at least a dozen times and even managed to make eye contact with him a time or two but I still knew nothing about him. 


I told all my friends about Mystery Guy and started to take note of when and where I was passing him in the hallways. Sounds a bit stalker-ish huh?  I still remember the end of 1st, 2nd, & 5th period making sure my hair and make-up looked perfect and nearly hyperventilating as I left the classroom.

After a couple weeks of this he seemed to notice me too.  We would make eye contact and smile a bit.  We seemed to be flirting yet we had still never spoken a word to each other. 

One day, I walked into my 3rd period science class and found half of my classmates looking through their yearbooks.  I grabbed one and frantically started flipping through.  I had to know his name.

I started calculating in my head... I didn't think he was quite a senior but I knew he was older than me... so I started looking through the juniors first.  I scanned the pictures quickly, determined to find him before the teacher demanded I put the yearbook away.  

And there he was...

Michael Cantu

His named seemed familiar to me but I couldn't figure out how or why.  I was just so excited to know his name.  I instantly started gushing to my friends and classmates about Michael Cantu.

In my history class later that same day I talked about him to a couple of guys. 

"Oh yeah... I know Mike"

I think I nearly passed out.

That poor guy, Daniel was his name, didn't know what he was getting into.  I interrogated him for a week... I needed to know everything he could tell me about Michael Cantu.

I learned that he played baseball, he was a really good guy, he had a couple of brothers and that he really liked another girl.  I tried until I was blue in the face to get more out of him about this crush of his. What did she look like? Was she pretty?  What was her name?  All he would tell me was that her name was Brenda.  

At some point Daniel must have become sick of me and agreed to help me meet Mr. Michael Cantu.  The next day he told me he would introduce us after class.  I followed him down the stairs of C-Hall, fighting off the urge to run the other way.

And there stood Michael Cantu, waiting at the bottom of the stairs.  Daniel introduced us and left quickly and we stood there staring at each other in the most awkward, painful silence ever experienced by two people.  We both tried desperately to spark a conversation with each other but we just couldn't seem to get anything going.  It was every teenager's worst nightmare.  Finally Michael Cantu said he had to go to class... 

"nice to meet you"... 

"yeah... you too" I said

"what was your name again?"

"Breeana" I answered as I turned around

"oh... I thought it was Brenda... bye" he said laughing

I, still, to this day, can't hear the name "Brenda" without grinning ear to ear.  

It turns out we had a class together at the very beginning of the year but I was moved out of it.  Mike had been eying me since the first day of school but had my name mixed up. 

Eventually Michael and I started dating and before long I was "Mike's girl". 

My Senior Prom

Nine years ago today, I became "Mike's wife".

He was 20 & I was 19 & waiting just didn't make any sense to us.

He is a beautiful man with the most amazing soul.  He makes me laugh like no one else can and still makes my toes curl up like a love struck 15 year old.  

Notice the lack of pictures?  Last month my darling husband threw most of them and my WEDDING DRESS away by accident... he was forced to retrieve the dress from the dump but the pictures were never found... yeah he's still sort of in trouble for it and I make sure to bring it up whenever possible... secrets to a healthy marriage huh?

I'd Like You to Meet: Olivia Raine

Two years ago today, this mama of wild, crazy, dirty boys held in her hands a precious bundle, wrapped in pink.

Her delivery was a wild and crazy one... I dropped more F-bombs that day than I'd like to admit... regardless of how warranted they might have been.

She was born on my mom's birthday. Three short hours after they broke my water and four hours after starting the pitocin, I felt the urge to push but wrote it off as a common side effect of pitocin.  

But the urge to push was persistant and getting stronger.  I called a nurse to come check me... 9cm... better call the doctor.  She was out of the room for less then 2 minutes but already back at the nurses station when I started crowning.  

Several nurses rushed into the room grabbing gloves and preparing the room for the doctor.  They weren't paying attention to me.  They were chanting "don't push... don't push" and not listening to me try to explain that she was already here.  

"she's already here... she's already here"  I said... trying to keep my composure. 

They weren't listening to me.

"SHE'S ALREADY F*$%ING HERE!"

That did the trick.

The nurse lifted my gown "... Oh $H*T"  and delivered the rest of my baby girl with the only two fingers she managed to get gloves on.

The nurses and the doctor apologized and I quickly became a legend at the hospital.  I received the biggest room and the nurses knew to leave me alone... I clearly knew what I was doing.

We named her after her great great grandma Olivia (who is still alive and proud to have a namesake) and my mom (her middle name is Lorraine).

That bundle of pink turns 2 today and is exactly what you might expect from a little girl surrounded by a bunch of boys.

She is as girly girl as they come until she sees a pile of dirt to roll around in.

I love that little mess.

I'd like you to meet: Isaac Joven

After my 3rd little man was born, we knew we wanted baby number 4 pretty quick.

In my own little fantasy world, we were going to have 6 kids.  The first 4 would be boys and the last 2 would be girls.  Now I knew and understood fully that this was simply a fantasy.  After having 3 boys, you sort of just know that you are fully incapable of having girls and any subsequent pregnancies would result in another boy.  I was okay with that.  Really, honestly, okay.  So when I say this was my fantasy... the part that was a fantasy was the 2 girls at the end.

It never really occurred to me that baby #4 could be a girl.

So at the sonogram I was on cloud9 that I was actually going to have a girl but also a bit bummed... this messes up my entire fantasy!!


 But it was okay.  We could just cut out brother #4 and go ahead with the 2 sisters. Right?

At my sonogram they told me that baby #5 was not a sister but another brother.  

I laughed.

I thought I would be sad or disappointed.  But I laughed.  I laughed because of course it was a boy.  I laughed because I realized how silly I was to get so wrapped up in my own plans.  I laughed because it was perfect, it was God's plan.  I laughed because I was happy.

On the way home from my doctors visit I thought about the story of Sarah and Abraham.  I thought about how she laughed when she learned she would become pregnant.  I instantly understood her laughter.  It wasn't just happiness that made her giggle.  It was just funny.  Of course she was pregnant now, when she was old and had given up hope.  She laughed because she realized that God had his own timing and plans and he was perfect.

I got home and announced the news to Mike and the kids with a box of donuts covered in blue frosting and sprinkles.

In September our baby was born.  We named him Isaac, it means "she laughed".

Today he is 6 months old.

He looks just like Mikey, Elijah and Olivia at this age.

He is our happiest baby yet.  He seems determined to live up to his name, laughing every time someone makes eye contact with him.

I'd like you to meet: Elijah

I remember the day I realized I was pregnant with Elijah.  Mike and I had just started working as houseparents for a group home.  One of the major stipulations for the job was that you were only allowed to have 2 children of your own.  I assured them that we had one 6 month old baby and had planned to wait a bit before adding any new babies to our family.

Less than 2 weeks later I had to break the news.  I was terrified.  I just knew they would think I lied or covered it up to get the job.

But they didn't care at all.  Congratulations was all they said.

We debated through the entire pregnancy on what to call him.  We decided on Elijah after watching Eli Manning do an interview.  He seemed like a nice guy with a gentle spirit.

Our Elijah is a very nice boy.  But he does not have what anyone would call a "gentle" spirit.  Elijah is our wild child.

He is goofy.  He says the most bazaar things at the most bazaar times.

I love this crazy little boy.

Elijah started preK this year and was bringing home a couple of yellow checks a week.  We didn't understand why he was getting in trouble and were worried that his happy, wild child spirit was going to be the source of many years of grief for us. One day his teacher sent home a note.  She was very upset because Elijah had stuck his tongue out at her.

Now, my little boy might be a bit wild but I just couldn't believe that he would maliciously stick his tongue out at her.  I had to get to the bottom of this before my 4 yr old turned into a 16 yr old getting kicked out of school or something horrible like that! I asked him what he did and why and he explained that he was in trouble for something else (whistling during naptime) and when the teacher was face to face with him and explaining why he couldn't whistle, he stuck out his tongue at her.

He said it wasn't like a "nana booboo" tongue but a goofy tongue.

Elijah was simply trying to lighten the mood a bit... maybe even get himself out of trouble by making her laugh... making her forget. 

It's funny because I have one little boy (Mikey) that has my personality, the oldest child, control freak and perfectionist.  I have another little boy (Jacob) that looks like the spitting image of his daddy.  For a long time we said Elijah the wild child attitude of his Uncle Joseph.  But as he get's older I'm starting to realize that his personality is just like his daddy's.

He is all of the amazing things I love about my husband.  He has his same, sort of off-beat, sense of humor... that no one gets but me.  He has that middle child syndrome that say's "it's okay... I can go without" that so many people think is sad but I think it's beautiful.  It's just like Jesus tells us to do.  Most have to work to behave like that but for Elijah (and his daddy) it just comes naturally.

But today the boy with the biggest heart I've ever known turns 5.  I'm so lucky to be his mommy.

Happy Birthday Elijah

I'd like you to meet: Jacob

When I was pregnant with my first baby I imagined in my head that he would look mostly like my husband.  Mexican, with darker skin, brown eyes and straight black hair.

So when Mikey was born with light brown hair, fair skin and bright blue eyes I was shocked to say the least!  A year and a half later Elijah was born and looked exactly like Mikey only with blond hair.

And then came Jacob.

The moment he was born (three years ago this week) they placed him on my chest and I couldn't believe what I saw... a head full of jet black hair.  He instantly looked like the spitting image of my husband and still does.

This handsome little man is the most nurturing of my 5 kids and does an amazing job taking care of his little sister and baby brother.  He has a mischevious side to him and when we don't hear him running around like a wild man, we know something is wrong.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

I'd like you to meet: Mikey

Oh I love this boy.

This handsome young man is my oldest son.  My first baby.  He is 4yrs old until next month when we celebrate his birthday with a great big Mario Bros party.  He is incredibly smart and has a great big huge heart.  He makes me so proud.

Mikey started PreK today. 

As we left the house to take him to his first day of school he stopped by the fridge and grabbed the reddest apple he could find for his teacher.  I asked where he got that idea... TV... of course. But he looked so stinkin' cute holding that apple and going to school in his "work" shirt as he calls it.

I walked him to his classroom... took some pics... got a "why are you still here" look... took some more pics and finally decided I'd better leave when he asked if I was going to stay the whole time.

When he got home he told me about the playground, and the gym, and his friends and laughed about the lunch lady asking if he wanted cheese on his burger (he thought she was going to put it on the whole burger, bun and all!)