Well... I'm back after a few months of hiatus...
Where to begin??
 Important stuff first:
Madison and Papo are doing great! Healthy and happy and I couldn't ask for more in that department.
Papo started walking at 15 months and my arm is almost back to normal. ;) he still has a very healthy appetite and climbs everything like a little monkey. He's 26 lbs and 32.5 inches now at 16 months! Big boy!
Madison has gotten past her crazy mood swings and is much nicer to Papo these days. Actually she's been extra nice since he started walking BUT she still cracks him every once in a while. :( He fights back though. Madison has gotten her share of slaps.
And in honor of Maddie's, not so new, favorite thing, BALLERINA'S, I've decided that "Madison the 3 year old Ballerina" will, in fact, be the party theme this year.
She's going to go nuts over this!!
All she does all day long is say "Look at me, I'm a ballet!" as she runs around dancing and lifting her leg (doing her best arabesque). She's soo adorable!
In other Madison news, she has begun potty training and has successfully gone pee pee in the potty for the first time this past Sunday!!! Huge milestone! Now the sleep in her own bed RE-training has officially started this week. She became very accustomed to sleeping with mommy and daddy when they were both soo sick.
Oh and the hubby's doing great too! :o)
Ok, now onto business stuff...
The business is doing ok. No $$ yet but I am still perfecting my craft and I have to say, these cupcakes are the BOMB!!!! They're are getting really tasty! Here are a couple of pics:

Tasty Vanilla

Assortment of S'mores, Guava and Cheese and Tres Leche  Triple YUMMY!!!

Banana Nut

Guava and Cheese! YUMMY!

Morir Soñando

My Christmas Pack

I have some plans in the works so we'll see how it all turns out! Right now I'm having a great time baking and decorating. I love the instant gratification! Plus it's soo much fun!

Catch Up

I feel like it's been forever since I posted...
My babies are all better and my mom is back up and staying with us! Yay!!!!!
Christmas is going to be wonderful!!!
My new business is officially launched and I've actually gotten some orders!!! I can't even express how exciting this is.
Not only does this represent financial freedom for me but more importantly, it represents the the great possibility of being able to be home with my children and still bring an income. Now some may view the "financial freedom" statement as short sighted and even naive BUT I choose to see it as positive. For years I have worked very hard and made other people and companies lots and lots of money. Why couldn't I make myself money? So I decided to get off my butt and do something about it.
My all time favorite quote is:
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." Henry Ford
On a different note, Madison has officially entered the infamous "terrible two's".
Wow has she been in a bad mood the last couple of days and apparently, I'm the one who triggers her moodiness. Lucky me! It has something to do with her become more opinionated now and her jealousy of her brother. Anyway, she's been having lots of meltdowns. I have since purchased "The Happiest Toddler On The Block" and am furiously reading through it to figure out the secret toddler code that miraculously halts these crazy meltdowns. :/
Papo on the other hand is very calm... His only blow ups are about getting his food to him on time or early! That one does not miss a meal no matter what! He's been getting braver these days. He walks along the furniture and has even let go for a couple of seconds. He'll be 14 months soon. Madison started walking at 14 months so maybe he will too. I hope so because my arm is about to fall off!! He's a big boy!!! Another milestone is that he's actually saying "Mama" now instead of "Dada". And I love it!!!

New business launch

During the time I was home caring for my sick babies I had some time to think(not much but just enough).
I wrote on one of previous posts that I was going to sell cupcakes out of my trunk and as I reflected on that days later I thought, that's not a bad idea! I used to love baking and then life happened and I didn't do it anymore after I moved to the northeast.
Until now...
So I started baking a bunch of batches from scratch to perfect my cupcakes.

Perfecting the icing...

Perfecting the cupcake...

They MUST be fluffy!!! This was my top criteria and VERY important stuff!!

I got it!! 

The perfect fluffy cupcake! Not to mention, the perfect icing to go on top.

I even made a carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese icing... I'm not a big carrot cake lover but these were very good. ;)  (See Below)

I tested my product out on several different people, some of whom didn't even know I made them, and got really great feedback.
And so, JoliRose Cupcake Catering was born.
My website, Jolirosecupcakes.com, is up and running and my business cards are almost here. This is soo exciting.
I finally have a hope of staying home with my babies, still bring home income and realize a dream I've had for as long as I can remember... Own my own business!
And let's not forget.... Do something for a living that I actually like doing!!

Now the hard part begins.... get people to purchase my cupcakes.... It's ok.. I like a challenge! Besides,once they get a taste of my sweet treats, they'll be lining up. Hopefully. :/
Oh yeah... and just wait till I start getting really creative with this icing!!!!  Stay tuned!!! Much more to come!!!

Things Learned

After a two week hiatus from work to care for my sick babies, I am going back. :(
The babies are finally better after 3 long weeks of doctor visits, antibiotics and infections. Needless to say, they won't be visiting a daycare for a very long time.
Now here we have some issues we didn't have before:

1- My daughter has to be trained to sleep in her bed or at the very least sleep in her brothers bedroom with him. She got very used to sleeping with mommy while she was sick because I needed to be with her to monitor the fever spikes at night. This is proving to be extremely difficult and its actually amazing how quickly children get used to things.
I'll be hitting up babycenter.com for some tricks and tips on figuring this challenge out.

2- Our bedtime routine is completely out of whack. I still put them to bed around 8 but they don't go to sleep till after 9:30!! This is not good and so very tiring for me. Not to mention my poor Madison is literally asking for a bedtime story. With them being soo sick, I was just happy to keep them comfortable and didn't really worry about bath time, pajamas, etc... This is an easy one but nonetheless needs to be addressed.

3- Madison has very little appetite. This is a BIG issue. The ear infection and subsequent antibiotic intake has caused her to have little to no appetite. Madison is already a finicky eater so now this is going to a whole new level of stress for me. The doctors say it will come back and not to worry but she's so thin. It's not like she was chubby before and could stand a couple of pounds being lost. She was already lean and now she lost a couple of pounds. Ugh!!!!! I hate not being able to fix my children and make them all better!

Most Helpful Info

I believe some of the most important mommy necessities aren't actual "things"...
My biggest mommy necessity is INFORMATION!  I constantly need info on development, illnesses, where to go when I need things for the kids at reasonable prices, etc...
Let's face it,  the reason we've heard the following saying over and over is because its true!
"Kids do not come with instruction manuals!"

I have found the following links and book essential in keeping me sane when it was the middle of the night and you can't call anyone for advice on what to do for a screaming baby who isn't sick,  hot, cold, hungry, wet or anything....or when I just didn't have the time or energy to go out to buy anything.

Number 1 on my list goes to none other than....
BABYCENTER.COM
This site is AMAZING! There are sooo many parents from all over who give great advice for any issue you could think of.  This is life experience advice... and some expert doctor advice too...
This is where you want to go when you need lots of information.... they have almost everything covered.

2nd place belongs to
DIAPERS.COM
This is a "convenience" site.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE diapers.com.  Who wants to be lugging around huge diaper boxes and one or two babies all over a store???  Not me!
Diapers.com delivers diapers, formula and almost anything else you need for your baby right to your doorstep within 2 days. And best of all,  they have FREE 2 DAY SHIPPING with orders of over $49....
When you think about it, a box of Pampers are about $40 and you almost always need a onesie or a PJ set(which they have at competitive prices too).
Next thing you know...
POOF.... 
You have diapers and whatever else at your door in a couple of days and NO running around a store with kids and (impossible to accommodate on a stroller) diaper boxes!

3rd place goes to
THE HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK by Harvey Karp
This book is amazing!  It really does work!  I have read many parenting books but this is by far the best and most effective.  Not to mention its an easy read and its not 500 pages.  :)