Boricua en la Lima

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. ...