The Family Story Part II

The Munoz Family Story

Four years ago I wrote a story about my family and kinda felt like that was gonna be the last time I wrote about my children, at least as an introduction to any new ones.  But oh how time has changed. 

Karen and I separated for almost a month and we both kinda of reserved the thought that our marriage was over.  Someone had something completely different in mind.  I had just woken up and saw my phone had updated a new app.  It was a pregnancy app and I realized Karen and my I tunes account was still joint.  I immediately texted Karen and asked her if she was pregnant.  She was in shock and had no idea how I knew.  (I didn't tell her right away). 

Karen said she was going to end the pregnancy and didn't want to have any more children because our marriage was over. I asked her to have dinner the next night with me so we could talk about it and I took her a care package of stuff I knew she loved while being pregnant.  I was not gonna roll over and let her end a life I helped create.  She began to tell me what happened during our separation and she confessed her hurt and regret for leaving.  It was that night I asked Karen to come home and told her I wanted to have her and this baby with me forever.  The next day she returned home and we began to heal and fix our destroyed marriage.

7 months went by and just two weeks before our baby was due, I was accused of lying and lost my job as a police officer.  I was devastated, hurt, confused, angry, and uncertain what the future would hold in store for my family.  On 7/11/ 2012 Anberlin, GRACE, Munoz was born.  She was chubby, cute, and bald.  Perfect!! This baby will probably never know she was the reason her mother and I are still married.  She was a miracle and God could not have given me a baby at a more needed time.  The police thing didn't work out, but they bought me and Karen some new cars and my name was cleared so I could pursue a new line of work.

Anberlin was chubby, no she was fat and perfect.  She was such a chunky little baby it became her name.  "Chunks".  Chunks then became the Chunk-A-Roo, and then shortened to Roo. How do I explain Roo?  Well first off she is Grandma's best friend. Ask Roo and she says "Grandma" without hesitation.  She is another strong willed little girl who knows what she wants and when she wants it. I long to put this little girl to bed each night, only to be shot down every time. Only Grandma gets that privilege. But I keep asking and each night I get to hear her say "tomorrow".  Tomorrow always turns into tomorrow.  She is in love with Frozen, but only Elsa.  Roo was considered a late bloomer and took forever to walk, forever to potty train, forever to do almost everything babies do well before she chose to. I learned something from all this.  She could do most of the stuff she just didn't want to be told when to do them.  She has to dress herself, feed herself, go potty herself, buckle herself, do everything herself. She is beautiful beyond description and before she had a chance to stop being the baby she had to stop being the baby. Kicked out of her bed and gently forced into the role of baby sister protector.  A role she takes very serious. What a hugger this little angel is.

What wonderful joy we experience with our children.  How could we not want more?  Sometimes I feel my heart is missing someone I am suppose to be loving.  How is this possible?  How could I love someone who does not exist?  Then it became clear. I loved my daughter, she just had not been born yet.  Karen and I decided not to wait and we created another perfect baby girl. She was born just before Halloween in 2013.  What joy I felt, finally a brown one.  Jayli Tiler Munoz. Karen was so excited this one was olive skinned she started calling her Taco for the Lil Mexican she was.  We started thinking maybe Taco was not the best nickname and it was obvious she was gonna be another chubby little girl.  She became known as the Meatball.  This is not a joke she is called by everyone who knows and meets her, Meatball.  Meatball just turned two and is 10th in height and 90th in weight.  She is my little meatball.  Now this kid can love.  She loves to climb into my bed and make herself at home.  Feet in my face and her head on Karens, she knows how to get comfortable.  And man can this kid sleep. From almost the beginning she could sleep for 14 hours straight.  If you know Karen, you know she gets this trait from her.  This child is near to brilliant as a baby can be.  She talks in almost full sentences at 15 months and refuses to be outdone by any of her siblings.  She loves to sing Happy Birthday to herself and will drop everything to whip and nae nae.  Oh how she has stolen my heart.  To say I love these children is an understatement and words cannot express how much I yearn to roll around on the floor with these kids.  All six of them.

But wait, we are not done yet.  I still have a heart full of love and a wife who loves making babies.  We decided to keep going and Karen was sure she wanted a single boy.  Whoops I created another girl.  My Grandmother passed away this year and I always made sure she said a prayer over each of my children.  She is no longer here and this right of passage for my babies ended with her passing.  I could only do one thing here and that was if she could not touch this baby in prayer, this baby would continue on with her name.  Carmen Emery Munoz will be due on February 29, 2016.  We are so excited to meet this baby and there is no doubt she will be stubborn, chubby, and one of the most beautiful children on the face of this planet. 

I would be re missed if I left out the last family member living under our roof.  Without this person our lives would be impossible and with so many children here, one more set of hands, set of eyes, and a heart full of love is a welcomed necessity.  My mother placed her life on hold to help Karen and I do the impossible.  We could not imagine what we would have become if she had not been here so many times when we needed that late night away to finish a job, or have her build costumes last minute.  People ask us how we live with a parent under our roof and how we get any time alone.  I tell them how we could not even survive without the third leg to our family tripod.  Jeanette David has done more for us then we could ever explain and its not hard to see why she gets to be the best friend to a cute little three year old.           

Thanks for sharing and contributing to our story and we hope you all contuine to be apart of our journey. #teammunoz

Jr Munoz 10/2/2015