Boricua en la Lima

Tom and I were having lunch at Original Pancake House yesterday (yum) and I was talking to him about Gabi's newfound Star Wars obsession. He tipped me off to the iphone app Lightsaber so as soon as I got home last night I downloaded it. Gabi made me personalize it with a picture of her and she made me change her light color to PINK (she has to be girly while opening up a can of whoopass!). She had a blast with the application, and Sebastian was even trying to imitate the woosh woosh sound and moving his hands imitating the motion, it was histerical! Alex who I was babysitting was quite enjoying himself too...all of this of course led us to having to replay Episode VI for the millionth time and her going to sleep insanely late because the movie is so damn long. Anyway, I must take some video of this happening this weekend so I can post it on here, and I MUST buy Episodes I-III cause yesterday on the way to work she kept arguing with me (while we listened to Weird Al Yankovich...

Ever since Gabi became old enough to be able to repeat everything we say, I figured it was no longer a good idea to play Howard Stern on the radio while she was in the car. That's when we discovered Kids Place Live on Sirius Satellite radio. There's one particular song that makes me smile every time I hear it, and I found the YouTube video earlier this afternoon. I know my friend Tom would really appreciate it. My only question is why hasn't it gone mainstream???

On Friday afternoon we went to Target to get Gabi some movies as a reward for sleeping in her room all night (it's been 4 days and she's slept through the whole night 3 out of the 4!). On Saturday night she snuck back into our bed around 2:30 am and we were too tired to do things the "right way" and take her back.   In any case, Jose convinced her to get Mary Poppins because he loved that movie as a kid.  I didn't think that was a good idea because personally I wasn't a big Mary Poppins fan when I was growing up.  I didn't like the "real people" Disney movies nearly as much as I liked the animated ones.  Also, for the duration of Friday night and Saturday during the day despite the fact that we had Mary Poppins on had Gabi insited on watching Star Wars!!! (she's a strange one indeed).  Finally on Saturday afternoon Jose convinces her to watch Mary Poppins by telling her it was Paloma's favorite movie.  OMG...what ensued!  She LOOOOOOOOOVE...

I got us a babysitter for last night since they're pretty much impossible to find for the weekends. We went to Bootsy's in front of the Aranoff Center and it was really good, loved the food (especially churros for dessert!) and loved the place. Today I got an ice cream cake from Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins. We first had an early dinner at Bonefish (which was PACKED because of it being a Lent Friday - we had no idea!) and then we went to Target to get Gabi the gifts we had promised her for being a good girl and sleeping in her bedroom all night last night (thanks to Jenny who babysat her!). Then once we got home and baby was asleep (I felt bad putting him to sleep before singing Happy Birthday to Jose but otherwise he would've had the ice cream for dinner for sure) we sang Happy Birthday (in Spanish AND English of course!) and then had the ice cream cake. Despite the fact that Gabi got Beauty and the Beast and Mary Poppins from Target, she STILL wants to watch Star Wars.

Someone let me know what the male version of a convent is because I'm sending this guy as quickly as possible...because clearly this isn't a good thing.

We had this training at work for the last two days which is all about managing your energy for full engagement at work. It basically talks about managing your Energy on 4 different levels (Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual). While I had some "aha moments" regarding all levels of the pyramid, my key takeaway was this: I need to make some changes at work. I am not 100% happy at work right now and this is causing me to have stress levels that are unfortunately spilling over to my home life and affecting my interaction with the kids in particular. I get home at night and I'm exhausted, thinking about all the stuff I still have to do the next day and how I am ever going to find the time to do it all. I am short with the kids, particularly with Gabi who of course is struggling with finding her own voice and that can sometimes lead to what I call "Taurus syndrome" (two very strong heads butting together). I am also stressed out about all the things that ne...

Bueno, bonito y barato. That's how us puerto ricans like to talk about things. There used to be a place up in Hamilton called Santo Domingo Restaurant, a pretty long trek for us but usually worth it. Mostly due to the bueno and the barato, because bonito it was not. Yesterday I was feeling in the mood for some mofongo so I called Santo Domingo as they usually asked you to place those kind of orders ahead of time to give them enough time to prepare. Then we would get there, proceed to eat like political prisoners and pay like $10 per person. However when I called yesterday I got a strange response. They answered as "The Green Plantain". While I had heard of this new offering in the Fairfield area I didn't know it had actually replaced Santo Domingo Restaurant. I was actually dubious when they told me, thinking they had stole Santo Domingo's number just to steal their clientele. However when we showed up at "The Green Plantain" I did recognize friendly f...

After many months waiting Gabi finally started her swimming classes again this morning. Whereas last year I set outside the heated indoor pool sweating like a pig in a sauna, since I was 8 months pregnant, this year I am the one in the pool with Gabi since Jose is still recovering from shoulder surgery. But now this year we have to bring baby too which makes me feel bad for him because he really looks like he wants to be part of the action too. Maybe when Jose's shoulder is better Jose can hold him in the water. I've never seen the classes that full though. They needed three teachers to keep up with all the kids when it's usually only been one! They were pretty good with the kids though, so I think gabi will like them. We also saw some repeat parent-kid combos which was nice. For all my friends with little kids who want to do swimming lessons, I highly recommend the parent and child classes through the Cincinnati Recreation Commission (we go to the Mt. Auburn Pool which is...

I installed TruPhone for my trip to Peru so that I could call back to the US (dad, mom, sister) without having to pay the outrageous prices AT&T charges for international roaming calls (and don't even get me started on international roaming DATA plans!). Anyway, today I was talking about it to a friend of mine at work who's an iPhone "buddy" and convinced him to download it on his phone. Lo and behold when I get home from work I get an email saying they announced that they have just partnered with Skype to offer Skype services via the TruPhone application . The best just keep getting better, don't they? And like my friend B. said, you can't beat free! So if you haven't checked out TruPhone yet, I definitely think it's worth the search on the iPhone App Store.

I got home before it was dark today and decided to take the baby-and the Maclaren -for a spin today. The baby was in complete awe, wondering what this "new" environment that I had exposed him to was. I had put a hat on his head right before leaving and he started trying to take it off until I started walking and he was in such awe he stayed with his hand on the hat the whole 30 minutes we were walking for. We stayed close to the house because I wasn't sure it would start raining or be too dark or get too cold. But it was so amazing to take in the fresh air. I hadn't been for a walk pushing a stroller since right before going back to work which was end of July. On a separate note, it's the first time I take the Maclaren Volo for a spin (I got a solid brown color not the one picture above) and it was so light and smooth I could actually jog while pushing it. But then again who would be crazy enough to want to do such a thing?! No, seriously, I did run for about hal...

The little guy is already a tech freak. He loves when I have pandora radio going in my iphone, especially jack Johnson or coldplay. He also loves these little Peruvian good luck beans that are hanging from my blackberry. And finally he loves my new nikon cool pix which makes taking a picture of him without him moving straight towards the camera very difficult.

The poor guy is looking outside as if trapped in the boring jail that is his home because his parents are warm blooded people and cannot be bothered to go outside in 20 degree weather. I know there are places a lot colder than this but you must remember we are from Puerto Rico and Peru. Don't worry baby. Only one more month till spring. And we've bought you a nice maclaren stroller for those long walks to the park (given every other stroller he's inherited from his sister and they're all falling apart on the poor guy).  Soon. That's what I keep telling myself. Soon.

I've been trying to figure out the best way to do mobile blogging from my iphone which also lets me post pictures along with my post. I think I may have found it.

I'm watching sebastian enjoy one of the toys gabi had gotten from titi ge on her first birthday and I have to say it's so much fun to see him discover toys for the first time as if they were also new to him. Also to see him trying to learn how to turn the toys on and off, and also learning the wrong uses of the toy like sticking a utensil down a ball chute. ;)

We just had a huge scare with the baby tonight which hopefully will turn out ok in the end. Turns out that lately there are some nights where he drinks his bottle so fast and furious that he kinda gags on it and ends up eventually throwing up, we don't think it's left over from his reflux days because otherwise it would be more consistent and it's always just that last bottle at night before he goes to bed.  Needless to say we've been doing a lot of laundry lately. Anyway, today we had a crazy scare. The baby starts throwing up but it seems that maybe more than normal and I guess he's been coughing a lot lately cause he seems to have a cold so that may be adding to the intensity of the throwing up.  But at some point I look at him and his right eye is all reddish and it actually starts tearing up but red bloody tears that then start running down his cheek.  So my husband who is a bit of a freak out starts saying "what's happening, what's happening"...

Here are a few of Sebastian's firsts along with a picture of him holding up his bottle, which he has recently mastered: Born: 4/9/08 Went home: 4/12/08 First EARTHQUAKE!!! 4/18/08 Umbilical chord fell off: 4/20/08 First bath: 4/21/08 First smile: 6 weeks Found thumb: 12 weeks First airpline ride: 6/12/08 (from Dayton, OH to Branford, CT) First movie: 6/15/08 (Sex and the City - please don't call Child Services!) First subway ride: 7/4/08 (Washington, DC) First time at the beach: 7/21/08 (Puerto Rico) Started day care: 7/29/08 Flipped on his belly: 7/30/08 First baseball game: 9/5/08 (Reds vs. Cubs -- we had to leave early because it was raining. It was also Gabi's first baseball game) "Army crawl": October 2008 First tooth: early February 2009 Saying "uh oh": early February 2009 Can hold up his own bottle: early February 2009 Can wave and say "bye bye": February 2009 (it's been a busy month for him!) First surgery: July 1st, 2009

Sebastian woke us up at 4 am and didn't want to go to sleep even after giving him TWO whole bottles of formula. This morning I needed to show up to work a little bit early (around 8:30 am) and I go get myself a coffee downstairs cause I didn't have enough time for Drive-Thru Dunkin Donuts. As I get my capuccino I go over to the condiments table and open up my two packets of Splenda but instead of pouring it into the coffee I start pouring it into the trash. At the same time and old co-worker walks up to me and notices what I'm doing and says: J: "Ivette what are you doing?" Me: "Oh, I'm pouring sugar into the trash." J: "I can see that. But why?" Me: "Cause I haven't slept!" Now my contact went up way into my eye (I only wear a contact in one eye I know it's weird but I had LASIK a while ago) so now I can barely see what I'm typing.  I guess that just means more coffee is in my future...

Gabi: "Mami, where are you from?" Mami: "Puerto Rico" Gabi: "Papi, where are you from?" Papi: "Peru" Mami: "Gabi, where are YOU from?" Gabi: "The Sunshine Room"

I am on the airplane on my way to new haven to visit my sister and surprise my dad since I wasn't able to see them for Xmas. Which I guess means I should wait to publish this until my dad has actually landed and I've given him the surprise. We meant to bring sebastian as well but he is pretty sick at home with what seems like a terrible cold if not something worse than that so I felt terrible about bringing him on the plane. Although sadly I must admit traveling alone with one kid seems like a breeze compared to traveling with two. I miss the little guy terribly though, and I'm sad my sister and nephew and dad won't get to spend time with him. It's been miserably cold in Cincinnati, as in I don't wish this cold upon anyone, including my worst enemy. I complained about the damn cold to the pediatrician yesterday when she saw sebastian but she actually said in weather as cold as this bacteria in fact die off and people tend to get less sick. I don't know if I...

It seems that I only have time to write when I'm packing to go somewhere for the holidays and blogging seems like the best way to procrastinate. We are leaving for Peru on Thursday morning and somehow it feels like I actually pulled off the pre-holiday madness that includes making Christmas goodies, something I'm terrible at, packing for three weeks, beautifying myself, doing work and school holiday parties, filling out Christmas cards...all these things on top of working and parenting full time. No wonder people are stressed over the holidays. In any case, I've got one more day to go and a hell of a trip and back. We have a 6 hour layover on our way down and a horrifying 16 hour layover on our way back, both in the worst airport in the US, Miami. So if I don't get to write while on vacation, have a wonderful Xmas and a very happy new year. Here's to a healthier, wealthier 2009. :)