Boricua en la Lima

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. :)

Well I'm in the flurry of activity leading up to leaving for Connecticut tomorrow. I'm almost ready for the 5K race I just need to do a 2 mile run today (which hopefully I can do at work while things are slow) and then pack 4 people into two tiny suitcases. Easy peasy. I'm super sore from doing spinning for the first time ever on Sunday so I need some Ben-Gay before the race too! And then after that I can hopefully relax and enjoy being with family. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Despite my hesitation due to a 13 mile walk my sister and I did 3 years ago which I swore I'd never do again, my sister convinced me to join her for a 5K in Connecticut on Thanksgiving Day this year. I figured the only way I would actually follow through with my exercise regimen was to have something to train for. So I've been training pretty good, and on Monday I actually had some time off at the office in between meetings so I decided to go for a run outside along the river, since it was such nice weather (now it's totally freezing here so I'm sure those days are behind me). I used the shoes that I got from Jose for my bday since those are the ones I usually keep at work. I'd used them a couple of times before, although mostly for the elliptical or treadmill at the office gym. So I'm chugging along and my feet are kinda hurting which I figured was because I was wearing short socks. When I stopped at the mid way point (thanks to my imapmyrun program on m...

Johnson, Aimee Burt, 88, died Thursday, October 30, 2008 at her home in Bella Vista, Arkansas. Rosary, 7:00 P.M., Tuesday, November 4; Funeral Mass, 10:00 A.M., Wednesday, November 5, both at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church. Aimee was born April 6, 1920 in Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies. She moved to Bella Vista from Wichita in June of 2008. She was a devoted Catholic, loved people, reading, dancing, and was a member of the Red Hat Society. Preceded in death by her parents; husband, Arvid; one brother, and a great-grandchild. Survivors: sons, Jan and wife, Marisela, of Granite Bay, CA, Steven and wife, Brenda, of Douglass; daughters, Jennifer Horsley and husband, Harvey, of Bella Vista, AR, Teresa Cunningham and husband, Charles, of Oakton, VA; 20 grandchildren; 28 great-grandchildren; 1 great-great-granddaughter.

Last Friday I went with my friend Jamie to the So You Think You Can Dance tour stop at the Bank of Kentucky Center close to Cincinnati. I have to say this was the best show yet and I've been to all three live tours! The level of dancing was definitely better and more importantly the number of good dances was higher than ever! I almost didn't go because now I have two kids at home and it's always hard for my husband to take care of them especially at the "witching hour" as we like to call it, but I was sure glad I did! My favorite part was two old ladies sitting next to me, one had a super zoom camera that I must get for Xmas, she kept taking pictures of every single dance and showing them to her girlfriend. And then every time there was a sappy story they would be crying in 5 seconds flat. I asked my friend Jamie "do you think that's how we'll be 20 years from now?". I didn't even have to ask cause I already know the answer. Yep, that'll ...

Gabi's officially in "freeschool" as she likes to call pre-school. And God knows it's certainly not FREE! Yep, don't know where the time went. Yep, it's the oldest cliche in the book, but when the hell did my daughter turn 3? When did 3 years go by in this roller coaster of an experience they call parenting? Here are a couple of pictures from her 3rd bday party. We had it at the park next to our house and we got Mr. Cowpie to bring their petting zoo/pony rides. Gabi LOVED the petting zoo, and she'd gotten a real kids digital camera from her "motorcycle grandpa", so she was snapping pictures like the paparazzi that she enjoys to be (just like mama). The pony ride...not so much, she enjoyed LEADING the pony by the rope (like the dictator that she is), but not getting on top of the pony to ride it even though EVERY OTHER KID IN THE BIRTHDAY PARTY BIGGER OR SMALLER THAN HER DARED GET ON IT. I even got on top of the stupid pony and made a fool ...

Just found this great free app on the iPhone called Trail Guru, check my first run out! with Paloma (Running) | Cincinnati, OH 45208, USA

By some miracle of nature both kids went down for a nap at the same time today. And it's been almost 2 hours and they're both still sleeping! And since my husband has been glued to the TV with the Ryder Cup for the last 72 hours I said I'll be right back I need to try to find some jeans that don't make me look like a hobo at Gap. Gap is still without power (at least the one by my house) which made for an interesting fitting room experience. There's plenty of natural light that wasn't the problem, but the heat was killing me. However, I did find a great pair of jeans (thank God for Curvy) and also 4 shirts on sale so I was a happy camper! And I got a Kroger shopping trip in there as well which says a lot about my awesome time management skills. Whatevs! By the way, they must be giving stuff away at Kroger or something because the lines are crazy. I also paid back the 6 bags of ice I stole after the power outage last Sunday. I said I would I'm not a th...

I found this great quote in the " BabyGuide " magazine which I stole from the pediatrician's office.  I just had to put it up here because I loved it so much. A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bank rolls smaller, homes happier, the past forgotten and the future worth living. And on that note I'm going to home to see my babies.

After about 48 hours I finally got my new iPhone working right. I admit during those 48 hours I almost regretted the purchase and went back to my old iPhone. None of my installed applications were working properly so I had to restore a few times which takes forever to do. So literally I got the iPhone around 2 pm on Saturday and it wasn't working right until this morning. But now that it's finally working right I am totally loving it, even more than the original which I thought wasn't possible. Now if only I could figure out how to do a shozu entry on blogger that has both text and pictures I will be golden... Here's an awesome picture of Gabi playing "faceball" taken with the iPhone last Saturday at the soccer field.

My husband got me an apple gift card for my birthday which was yesterday so I'm getting the new iPhone first thing tomorrow morning. Well right after I see the doctor about this hacking cough that won't go away and seems like tuberculosis. I think I might need to stop breastfeeding just so I can take some seriously strong medicine. Anyway, back to watching the embarassingly shallow the hills on dvr.

After a grueling week of meetings in Boston and trying to find freezers all over the city so that I could store my breastmilk so painfully acquired I got home at 10 pm on Thursday night so that I could pack myself and the kids and leave the kids with Bea to come to Chicago for a 1:20 pm Cubs game, which they embarassingly lost to the Nationals 13-5. We were so pissed we left in the 8th inning to the sound of a women yelling at us "if you leave now you're not really a fan". Beyond that we've thoroughly enjoyed the dining experience (have gone to a Cuban restaurant called Cafe Bolero twice already!) and enjoyed a little shopping on Mag Mile since we're a block away from Michigan. I fell in love with a Coach bag at the Pru in Boston and asked at the Coach store here how much it costs and of course when they said $798 I left the store empty handed (if anyone is feeling extra generous my birthday is coming up in the next couple of weeks). Also went to the Apple s...

Went to the chiropractor at 9 am and he says i'm seriously messed up. He couldn't even crack my neck and back cause it's so bad so they had to do ultrasounds first to try to release the tension a little bit and then I have to go back next Monday to see if they can actually crack my neck and back. The joys of motherhood! And working motherhood! Meanwhile I'm still not caught up with the OPENING ceremony of the Olympics, not to mention I'm falling behind on my episodes of Mad Men, America's Best Dance Crew and Ellen. And I have to travel this whole week to Boston which is killing me. And then leave the kids this weekend at Bea's so I can go to Chicago -- first weekend without the kids. I know I'll have fun but at the same time it's like an entire week without seeing them which is killing me. But I'm sure my husband will be bearing all the pain since he has to be alone with the kids for three whole days. I will need to score some major brown...

My husband traded his 2 door Infiniti G35 for the newer model (in a 4 door) in preparation for the arrival of our second child. I told him we could no longer pretend like we could comfortably fit 2 car seats in the back of his 2 door. When he got the car we were both so excited about the techy features (well me more than him), one of which was the iPod hookup, which allowed you to play and control your iPod from the dashboard. Since his iPod shuffle couldn't be hooked up to the car, I got him a Nano for Father's Day (engraved and everything). We spent HOURS building his playlist, including all the songs he wanted and deleting all the ones he didn't like. He was so happy with the thing. All he needed to do was turn on the ignition and voila, hours and hours of his favorite music effortlessly. The iPod and cable are also well hidden inside a compartment so that it's not easy for anyone to see from outside the car. Well, he's also been parking his car outside the...

We just got back from PR and immediately the next day Sebastian started day care. He's done surprisingly well, two days into it and he's already got his routine down for sleeping and eating, while I was never able to get him into a routine when he was home! Those day care ladies are freaking amazing. We had the best time in PR, we did exactly what I wanted to do every day which was go to the beach and have lunch at all the yummy places I used to love going to when we lived down there. I have decided I can totally lose weight here in the US, all I have to do is think that the food here will never taste as good to me as it does in PR. Every day was a little stressful transporting the kids and the boatloads of baby gear to the beach and everywhere else we went to, but it was totally worth it. I also was lucky enough to have another girls night out to go see Mamma Mia. I have never laughed so much. I went with my very good friend Dervin who has one of the most contagious laug...

Hoping to see Ida and other peeps like Chelita/Jaime, German, GEC, etc. I'll be there till the 28th and then start work! :( My body is in no shape to go to the beach but I don't care. Well I guess I do but not much I can do about it now. Mara was here this weekend we had a great time even though it was a really short visit. She's in charge of sending the pictures because I didn't have a chance to take any. There's one of Sebastian sitting in Manuel's lap which is hilarious.

I sound like the survivors of some disease and I don't want to make light of it, but I do feel like I have a new lease on life. All thanks to my son's left thumb. Prior to our trip to DC my husband and I kept wondering what we were going to do once he started bawling. See, my son was one of the few babies in the world that absolutely HATED the car and started crying whenever we put him in the car. Most other babies zonk out the minute the engine starts up. People say it has something to do with the reflux. I had tried several times to get him to take the pacifier (which his sister took during her first 24 hours of life and didn't let go of until her 2nd bday) but he wanted nothing to do with the pacifier. So much to our surprise we get in the car and for the first 5 hour leg of the trip we only get cries whenever he's actually hungry and due to eat. It's like someone took my old baby a way and gave me a brand new, calmer baby. It couldn't have come at a...

Gabi came home today after a looooong 8 hour car ride back from DC to find her very first piece of mail (I was incredulous to find people are actually sending mail these days and not all of what I get is JUNK, 99.44% of it is, but it's worth digging into all of that to find a rare piece of communication you actually want to open). That alone was exciting enough for her as well as me, but when Gabi discovered there was a STICKER in there for her!!!! Well that was just too much to deal with. Stickers are her absolute all time favorite thing in the world, and this one says she's an "awesome big sister". She could not be prouder. I might not ever be able to wash the shirt for fear of having the sticker disintegrate in the wash. Thanks Tom and Meghan! Or as Gabi would say: "Gracias Tomas y Megan!" Gabi also says that baby brother is too little to speak but that he also wants to say THANK YOU for his card. :)

We have started going to Lunken Airport on Sundays with the double stroller to do about 4 miles or so. The whole time Gabi keeps asking why are we excercising which of course sends me into a rambling of "because it's fun, because it makes you strong, because it makes you healthy, blah blah blah". All the time trying to avoid saying because your Mom is fat thanks to you and baby brother!!! At the end of our last walk/jog as we were cooling down she decided she wanted to be strong and healthy too.

We kept walking by this place ( Medaterra ) all weekend long to and from the subway station and couldn't help eying the very refreshing looking sangrias which happened to be on happy hour last night for $3 a glass. What a steal. What sealed the deal was the fact that they had chicken tenders for the kids. The wait staff was all super nice and accommodating of the kids and strollers. I ordered a gyro even though it wasn't on the dinner menu and they happily obliged. It came with fries which was kinda weird but both the gyro and the fried tasted great. So did the falafel my sister ordered and even the kids' tenders. But the highlight of the night was the delicious (and strong) sangrias and the lively atmosphere. Both contributed to our leaving a little tipsy. Highly recommend the visit! Not a very long wait and prices were reasonable too. Great find!

Went to this restaurant ( Woodley Cafe ) looking for a place to have a reasonable breakfast for adults as well as kids. There was no wait which was great and room for double stroller which was also great. No diaper changing station in the bathrooms though. The waiters seemed to have a hard time keeping our order straight but thankfully no mistakes. The food was OK, nothing to write home about. We ordered pancakes, French toast, eggs, omelette and fruit. The fruit plate was not great, just cantaloupe and not even very fresh. And the omelette was made of frozen egg whites or something it didn't taste fresh at all. So overall an OK place, but stay away from the omelettes and the fruit plate. Prices were reasonable. Nothing to write home about...

We went back to the zoo today after the holocaust museum and actually saw a little bit of one of the pandas. Gabi absolutely loved the kids petting zoo she didn't want to leave. That and the little cooling station because she could go in and out and get all wet. We tried to go to the printing and engraving museum but it was closed. Tonight we will do dinner at this Mediterranean place by the hotel which looks like it has a pretty good sangria. For the whole picture album (Kodak Gallery) of the trip please click here .

We stumbled upon Left Bank looking for a place on 18th street where we could actually maneuver our double stroller (all the other places on the street looked like space was too tight for our double stroller). It was completely empty at 7 pm on 4th of July so we actually asked why it was so empty since we were a little concerned about that. While we waited for our food we actually read the reviews online and got even more concerned since they all pretty much said service was terrible despite the restaurant being almost empty the whole time. So we even timed how long our order took. Our main entrees arrived exactly 24 min. after ordering and for the most part everything was really good. I had the flank steak salad and I highly recommend it. My husband had sushi and said it was fine -- not great, but not bad. The only thing I would say is stay away from the tenderloin burger. It was $17 but we ordered because there was nothing else for the kids. That was totally overpriced for what it wa...

Rainy but not bad! We walked around the Mall yesterday and went to the Air and Space Museum which both Jake and Gabi loved. We had to watch the fireworks from the hotel TV because it was rainy. Ge and I just went for a 3 mile walk around a trail right by the hotel which is pretty cool lit takes you around the Potomac River. We will try the Holocaust Museum today. We also tried the Zoo yesterday but didn't see the Pandas and had to leave early cause that's when it started raining. The pool at the hotel is really nice but who knows if we'll be able to use it today because of the rain.

We're on our way to DC and I'm so happy I brought my iBook with me! (yes it came back from the repair shop, arrived straight at my door and is working better than ever -- which is not to say I don't want a new one soon). We drove from Cincinnati to Morgantown, West Virginia yesterday. This is where West Virginia University is located and we even took a drive around the very HILLY school and saw the football stadium where my husband played soccer like 10 years ago. He was very proud of that fact even though we admitted to being on the bench the whole time, but it's a pretty impressive stadium so I would be happy with just being on the bench. "Baby brother" is behaving pretty well since he luckily found his thumb just in time for the trip. I still have to go on the back seat of the car every once in a while to feed him, which I'm sure would please a cop to no end. Gabi is a little bit more hyper though, she's bored with the car and the hotel room. ...

Have you tried the IHOP diet? by ZDNet 's Dana Blankenhorn -- A big breakfast, heavy on the carbs, will cut your cravings throughout the day so you can keep the weight off.

I've of course been pining for the new iPhone. Which of course has resulted in my husband saying "you got your iPhone less than a year ago, there's no way you're getting the new one, there's nothing wrong with yours". And I'm like but it's the new shiny toy! I want the new one because it's better and faster and let's face it, NEWER! But there's no way he'll allow it especially since now that I'm on maternity leave he's kinda the sole breadwinner of the house, on top of which we are nearly broke since we haven't sold the condo (yet) and we are about to start paying a second child's tuition at day care. Go figure how we can be broke with two people working but between day care and house payments and credit card debt and this stupid economy, and the fact that I'm on maternity leave and can therefore go to Kroger or Target practically every other day, well there we are, needing to pinch every penny. But the other da...

Have you checked out your library recently? If you haven't, I highly recommend it. It's truly your tax dollars at work. I first turned to the library about a year ago because of clutter and because I wanted Gabi to pick up her parents' love of reading. It all started with book clutter (both my husband and I love to read and have very different taste in books which means twice as many books) and quickly evolved to toy clutter as well. But we shall manage the toy issue separately. However, after running out of bookshelf space (even my two year old has run out of bookshelf space) I decided at least I wouldn't keep adding to the book clutter in the house. Plus books are so damn hard to carry when you're moving. My friend Mara was telling me her movers charged her more for her books than for her baby grand piano! Anyway, think of it as a Netflix for books, except for FREE! Well not exactly for free but at least you know where some of your tax dollars are going. But b...

...sucks, that's all I can say. I took my Mac to the Genius Bar a couple of days ago, an event which I always think is going to take 30 minutes but always ends up taking about 2 hours. Because of this I always try to "group" problems together, you know like with cars...wait until enough stuff is wrong with it that it actually merits a trip to the Genius Bar. In this case there are several things wrong with my Mac, and I'm not criticizing Mac at all. My Dell before the Mac died about a year after I bought it. I've had my Mac for 3 years and it's still alive and kicking. Which is not to say I'm not DYING to get a new one, the same way I'm DYING to replace my iPhone with the new one, to replace my old Murano with the new one, and to replace my video camera with one of those tiny ones that you plug directly into your computer and uploads video straight onto YouTube/Google Video. Anyone have one of those? My dad just got one for Father's Day and I'...

Well the first thing is I can't believe is that I made it in one piece...there and back. My first trip with the two kids, entirely by MYSELF. Which first made me realize my double stroller is not meant for just one person to be able to open and close by themselves, especially not a person with two young kids hanging on to them who's also trying to take off her shoes to check through the security line. Anyway, the weekend was so jammed packed with activities (and somehow relaxing at the same time which seems impossible) that I just had to recap everything we did: - Thursday: arrived at 10:30 am in LGA, made it to the house by about 1 pm, waited for Jake to arrive from the school bus around 4 pm and then we hung out at the beach until Geraldine arrived from work. Then we went to a great little pizza place by the water. - Friday: my sister made me walk 3 miles at 5:45 am. I then sent Jake off to school at 8 am, went crazy with the two kids until Jake got back from the bus around 4...

I'm sitting in the movie theatre with a baby stuck to my boob which is already odd to begin with. What seems even more odd is that my sister has had the brilliant idea of sneaking in a bottle of wine to the movie theatre and has given each of us a little styrofoam cup to drink it from. Now put the picture together of a breastfeeding mom with a styrofoam cup of wine and you've really got a strange picture at hand. We may not have dressed up to the nines for the ocassion, but that's a moment I will never forget. We BARELY made it to the movie on time, and I was so tired (which is my neverending state these days) that I almost wanted to not go to the movie. Getting my daughter and nephew with my brother in law into the movie theatre next to us to see Kung Fu Panda was the only thing we could think of to get away, but getting everyone to the movie theatre was no small feat. Three minutes later I'm being "Carried away" by the fashion and the drama. Two and a half h...

Warning: this blog entry is not for the faint of heart (i.e. has words like "poopy" and "pee" which might gross you out). The most amazing thing happened yesterday. As background, ever since Sebastian was born we've had problems having Gabi fall asleep on her own (she's been a darling otherwise so I really can't complain about this). So for nap time (which goes off without a hitch at day care but is a herculean task at home) I went to the guest bedroom with her so that Jose could stay with the baby in our bedroom (otherwise the baby can wake up Gabi when he cries). So Gabi and I are lying in bed and she's giving me the HARDEST time going to sleep -- she's talking to me, she's getting up to close the windows and the door and whatnot, she's moving pillows around, you know, those of you who are parents know they will do a thousand things when they don't want to go to sleep. After like half an hour she says "mommy I have to go pot...

Here's a video that irrefutably proves that Gabi is my daughter since she a) likes to sing but is not good at it and b) more importantly, she's a singer/songwriter since she likes to take popular songs (in this case the ABC's) and put her own lyrics. Enjoy! Oh, and sorry you are going to have to tilt your head 90 degrees to the left but my sister in law didn't know that with my camera you have to videotape in "portrait" not "landscape".

Sebastian started vomiting a fair amount in the last couple of days. Jose was freaking out and I was trying to be calm about it, but after a HUGE incident this morning I decided to take him to the doctor. Turns out he has acid reflux, but I am relieved that it's not something worse like pyloric stenosis which actually requires surgery (my nephew had to get surgery when he was very young - 6 weeks or so).

Of course I thought I'd be able to write a lot more than I have, because in my mind I always have more time than I actually do. But I just wanted to update you guys on how I've been! Although first of all I want to ask Lety to give us all the details of her new job!!!! You might notice this blog entry is peppered with introspection about my "strengths" and "weaknesses" - this is a result of my immersion with Marc Buckingham that I've been dying to apply to my work life, but since I'm not going back to work until August 1st (thank god!) I have to apply to my home life for now...so please forgive me for the self-indulgence. Anyway, things have been OK, although Patty left yesterday and she was such an IMMENSE help that I was actually emotionally blackmailing her for a while to stay longer with us, and it was actually starting to work. But then I sort of felt guilty because I knew she wanted to go home, and I also said to myself, eventually I'm goin...

Here are a few of Sebastian's firsts along with a picture of his first bath: 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 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!) "Army crawl": October 2008 First tooth: early February 2009 Saying "uh oh": early February 2009 Can hold up his own bottle: early February 2009

This is the son of a very good friend of my sister's. He has been in and out of hospitals since he was born. His brave older sister (4 years old) will be donating bone marrow and is really proud of her role in helping her younger brother. You can either donate money by getting below cost magazine subscriptions (1st part) or make a monetary donation (2nd part). Derek Michael is a six-months-old baby, who at his tender age, is to undergo a bone marrow transplant due to his condition of Kostmann disease or severe congenital neutropenia, a rare condition affecting only one or two persons per million. Please help Comite de Apoyo Derek Michael fundraise by treating yourself to your favorite magazines. Order or renew any magazine with us and 40% of each purchase goes directly to derek's support. Your contribution will make this a huge success and get us one step closer to reaching our goal! All proceeds will benefit the emergency funding for Derek Michael's bone marrow transpla...

I am putting up this note that I received from a dear friend in the hopes that maybe it'll get some more support on the blog (not that I have many readers but anyway!). I have not disclosed her name to protect her privacy. Dear friends, On Saturday, May 10, at 10 a.m., I will be walking in the Cincinnati Area Preeclampsia Foundation Friends and Family Walk to show my support for the more than 76,000 women and the over 500,000 children who die each year due to preeclampsia (toxemia) complications. I am walking in memory of Chiqui Isaza, my son, who died at birth on May 7, 2006 due to preeclampsia complications. Please visit my website at www.cincinnatipreeclampsia.com to learn more about my personal experience with preeclampsia, the Friends and Family walk, facts about this potentially life-threatening disorder, and to make a donation if so inclined. If you decide to donate, please make the donation “in memory of Chiqui Isaza” so that the national Preeclampsia Foundation knows yo...

This is an amazing video about Puerto Rico done in 1955 which my dad forwarded to me a little while back.

Sebastian is finally here and it's so difficult to try to capture into (COHERENT!) words everything that is going on right now! The hospital was quite the experience, especially because last time I had Jose in there with me practically all the time but now because of Gabi I was alone a good part of the time which was a little sad but at the same time gave me some quality time to spend with the little guy. At home things were upside down when I got home since my husband decided to have the whole interior repainted while I was getting discharged to take advantage of his mom's Martha Stewart instincts. The weekend with both Gabi and Sebastian was a little exhausting to say the least (if not hands down nerve-wracking). Especially the not being able to sleep anything at all at night but yet your daughter is ready to GO GO GO at 7 am the next morning. Now that she went to day care I hope things stabilize just a tiny bit. I feel bad for saying this but if she didn't go to day ...

I am finally enjoying maternity leave! I thought I would have more time to write but I've actually been on a frenzy of getting things ready for Sebastian, climbing ladders and doing other things that Jose would actually kill me for. :) I'm proud of my handywoman skills though, this time's nesting instincts have been much more about cars and ladders than decorating and scrapbooking Martha Stewart style. Sebastian is still making no signs of showing up, just like Gabriela. I saw the doctor for the last time on Wednesday (yay, no more peeing into a cup!) and he was like, I'm not even going to check you because I don't think you're going into labor...EVER. And then I went to the chiropractor this morning and he said you know if I adjust your lower back you'll probably go into labor, and I was like no thanks, I still need to sleep for a couple more nights. So for now, I'm still waiting. On another subject, after 2 and a half years of resisting getting a ...

Well, those of us who live in the Ohio valley experienced what I guess was the worst snowfall in the last 30 years (I heard something like that on the news). Approximately 8-10 inches of snow in a 24 hour period. Granted, this is what I would call a "normal" snowfall in my Boston days, but for some reason the city of Cincinnati seems to be ill-prepared for managing such copious amounts of snowflakes, and thus chaos ensued. My husband and I decided to drive in to work together on Friday which was a great idea given the fact his car couldn't have moved 2 inches in that snow. I wonder how my friend Tom did with his new BMW. On Friday afternoon there were two BMW's stranded in front of my house (one shown above). And I live on a "hilly" street, but nothing a normal car shouldn't be able to handle. But these two cars were going NOWHERE. One of them called a tow truck and even the tow truck started slipping and sliding down the street when he was tryin...

I am 5 weeks away from the big date, and more importantly only 3 weeks away from getting some time off from work, which one can never complain about. :) Of course I have a list of 10,000 things to do at home before the baby comes, so I'll actually have to balance what I want to accomplish with actually needing to rest -- my back is killing me so badly I get home at 6 pm and if I'm not lying in bed by around 7:30 pm (although I don't fall asleep until a couple of hours later) my back doesn't have enough time to recover by morning. And even then by 10 am I already am in back pain mode all over again. I'm going to the chiropractor weekly now which definitely helps, but it's still quite a challenge to manage stuff at home (especially Gabi) with this backpain. Jose of course now claims that he does 100% of the work at home - even though he's not even close to that. But thankfully he definitely is helping a lot more. I can basically only do drop off duties ...

After spending 3 whole weeks with Gabi 24/7, and coming back to a hectic couple of weeks between work, having visitors, and Jose being out of town, my sister offered to take Gabi for a couple of nights this last weekend and although I really didn't see the need for it at first, it was the best thing that's happened to me...ever. After sleeping in until a whopping 9 am, being able to go out only needing to worry about getting dressed myself, being able to have a completely quiet and relaxed meal at a restaurant, and my husband being able to go through an 8-10 hour marathon of watching sports, I realized how badly I was in need of my mini vacation. My only regrets were being so tired last night that we didn't make it to "dinner and a movie" which is what I meant the whole weekend to be about!!! Sometimes I feel guilty about saying this, but it was so good not to have Gabi for a little while. Even though half of the time I felt like I was forgetting something and...

I'm finally back from a three week vacation in Peru which as every other vacation in Peru has been simply amazing. Usually I am in tears the night before leaving saying please let's stay here, let's not go back we can figure out how to make a life here, and this year was no exception. Especially this year which feels like such a transitionary (if that's a word) year. We have Sebastian arriving in less than 3 months (oh my god how time flies, I'm so not ready for his arrival!), I am still in the midst of a "new" assignment at work, Gabi is growing up into an incredible little person, and as I have seen friends come and go from my company (3 friends have recently left to pursue other life interests) I'm just trying to figure out what the hell I want to do with the rest of my life. Sadly I find it harder and harder to want to come to work every day, I'm not quite sure if it's because I've reached a "point of no return" from which ...