Welcome to the world Matthew!

My friend Amanda had her little boy yesterday!
Matthew Dylan

1/30/2007

1:27 pm

5 lbs 6 oz

18 inches

I think he looks like his big brother Brandon. What do you think?

One Word

I've been tagged by Amanda, so here goes:

This Moment: busy
Your Shoes: boots
Craving: none
The State of Your Home: messy
Annoyed By: traffic
Noise In the Background: voices
Really Want To: travel
Thinking about: teeth
Smelling: perfume
Favorite Product In Office Supply Aisle: pens
Don't Ever Want To: drown
Your Eye Color: green
The Weather: cold
Have Never Tried: parachuting
Think Everyone Should Try: dancing
Last Vacation Destination: ElSalvador
The Last Thing You Had to Drink: milk
Your Bad Habit: overeating
What You're Going To Do Now: tag

TAG: Meredith, Emmakirst and Cristina.

Ok, remind me never to do THAT again.

Yesterday, Ren, Chris and I headed out to Sawgrass Mills Mall to check out the baby photo contest that was going on. It seemed like a fun idea to enter Chris in the contest since the proceeds were going to a charity that would help one of our local hospitals (and not lining someone's pockets).

Well, let's just say that there are ALOT of people in South Florida that consider their child to be Miami's Most Photogenic Baby! Hee hee...of course I should have known that going in to it. Since I had never been to or participated in any contest of the sort, I really had no idea how crazy it was going to be (or how LONG it was going to take).

We got to the mall at 11:30 am, had lunch, fed Christian, and changed his diaper (all WISE choices). He had slept in the car on his way over, so he was in a great mood. We walked around a bit and did a little bit of shopping since we didn't know exactly where the contest was being held and Sawgrass is a BIG mall. At around 12:30 we realized that we had found the location based on the swarms of dolled up children, impatient parents, crying babies, flashing cameras, and parked strollers. The registration had just started at noon, so we got there right at the beginning of all the hoopla.

Even though they had just begun, the line was already long since some people had been there since 10 am. You had to stand in one line to get registered (only one person registering) and I think this is what took the longest of the whole process. Ren and I took turns making the line and entertaining Christian. Once you were registered, you were given a number. You had to wait around until your number was called to take the pictures. I felt like I was waiting for my pastrami sandwich at the deli. They had one photographer (poor guy didn't go to the bathroom or have lunch) , one lady helping to call out the numbers and hundreds of parents and babies.

Something that made an impression on Ren and myself is how well trained some of the kids were. You could tell that this wasn't their first (or last) photo contest. They would strike their poses standing up, sitting down, kneeling and then they would lay down for some floor shots while their coaches, agents, drill sergeants mothers gave instructions from the sidelines. Some parents even came equipped with multiple props and outfits to enhance their baby's pictures. Others made sure to enter their babies in all four categories (at $35 a pop). With only the shirt on his back and no props, Chris was definitely a novice in the baby photo contest rodeo.

As the numbers being called inched closer to ours, Chris started to get sleepy. After all, we had been there about 2+ hours and it was getting close to his nap time. I tried my best to keep him up and keep him entertained, but I feared that once we reached the camera he would become a crying, screaming, bumbling mess (I had seen it happen already). I was hoping against all odds that he wouldn't cry, run away from the camera, have a serious face, scream, bite or hit me (or the photographer for that matter).

Fortunately for all involved, he "performed" wonderfully! He sat down and did all the tricks that my family taught him in El Salvador (tortillitas, la jarana, los ojitos, como lo tiene el amor, besito) and smiled for the camera. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures because Ren (who was on photo duty) was too busy trying to get Chris to smile as well, so no pictures for my scrapbook.

It was an interesting experience to say the least and it was fun and exciting, but I don't know that I'll do it again. I don't really have the time or energy for props and outfit changes and things of the sort, but it's definitely something to write about in his baby book.

Now we wait until Feb 23 & 24th which is when they will post the pictures up in the mall for voting. There are two ways to win: Judge's choice and Voter's choice. For the Judge's choice, well, we'll just have to get lucky (because let's face it, there was alot of stiff competition), but for the Voter's choice we may actually stand a chance (hee hee). So, this is the part where I beg, plead, grovel, supplicate, beseech ask you to please go to Sawgrass Mall on the above dates and vote for Chris (this is what he was wearing). If we get 200 votes we get a copy of the CD with all the pictures of him on it (there's hope for the scrapbook after all). Don't worry, I will remind you (repeatedly) as the day gets near. If you will be out of town, don't live in the area or have an unhealthy fear of large malls, go here to submit your vote through me.

Thanks for all your help guys!

Toilet Time

For those of you with a burning desire (if you have other burning sensations, please see your physician) to know what it's like to go to the bathroom with a 15 month old, let me enlighten you. Please note the following series of events:

Enter bathroom with child in stroller.

Wait for the handicap bathroom to be available so you can go inside with child and stroller.

Elbow other women waiting for the bathroom to get to the handicap stall first (hey bitch, you can use ANY stall, I can only use THAT one).

Go inside stall, close door behind you and make sure latch is securely locked.

Wipe off toilet with paper and put seat liner on; if no seat liner is available, line seat with extra toilet paper being careful not to touch the yucky seat or to let the paper fall in the toilet once you've placed it on the seat.

Sit on the toilet seat and begin...

Try and make clown faces to entertain toddler in stroller that doesn't want to be there anymore.

Pull toddler out of stroller (before he chews through the straps and falls out of stroller) and let him walk around the roomy stall while you finish up because he is starting to scream loudly.

Realize that you're going to take a little longer on the potty than you originally anticipated.

Distract toddler so that he doesn't open the door and show everyone outside what you look like sitting on the throne red faced.

Thank The Lord that the toddler can't reach the lock yet, so you get to avoid the previous scenario.

Pull toddler up from the floor because he has started to squat down, wanting to know who the lady in the stall next to you is, why her pants are on the floor and what she is doing.

Try to pull toddler away from toilet flush handle that he has recently discovered (because it's yucky).

Give up trying because you're going to wash his hands when you're done anyway and at least he's entertained.

Wish that he hadn't discovered the handle when he realizes that he can pull the handle and the toilet makes a funny noise.

Enjoy the bidet sensation of having water splashing on your bare ass....repeatedly.

Complete your duty (ha ha get it?) and try to wipe and flush quickly before toddler decides to stick his hand in the cool new whirlpool he's discovered.

Pull pants up and wash your hands.

Wash toddler's hands and quickly rinse soap off before he decides to taste it.

Put child back in stroller and exit the bathroom.

Ignore the glares from other women for having been in there for 30 minutes.

Sounds like fun eh? Yeah. I thought so too. And this is only one child. I don't know how people with two (or more) do it. I guess they never go out alone.

Ladies Man

On Saturday, Chris and I headed out with Amanda and Brandon for a shopping day expedition. We went out to lunch and then to Merrick park to Pottery Barn Kids. Brandon wanted to play with the train table, but Christian liked the pretend dishes, sink, kitchen, washing machine and ironing board (he takes after daddy). He's going to make some lucky lady really happy in about 30 years (either that or he'll live on South Beach, but let's not get ahead of ourselves). Actually, he's apparently already making the ladies happy....let me explain.

Later in the day we headed out to Tarjay where a young girl (3 yrs old?) with long blond curly hair approached him and grabbed him by the hand. She asked him if he wanted to meet her family (brothers and sisters), but Chris felt that she was moving kind of fast in the relationship. He obviously thought she was pretty cute though because he went with her anyway. They walked down the aisle (so soon?) holding hands and she took him over to meet her brother and sister. It was the cutest thing, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me, so you'll just have to picture it in your head.

You'd think I had learned my lesson about not having a spy camera installed in my eyeball in order to not miss these tender moments, but no....I didn't....and the following day, it happened again. Ren and I went to Petsmart to get Candy's nails trimmed. I was strolling Chris around showing him the little birdies when out of nowhere comes this cute little blond girl (18 months) and walks right up to his umbrella stroller and starts to point at him. Now, Christian enjoys being gawked at by other girls, but he draws the line at pointing, so he gave the poor little girl a swift smack on the hand. She appeared stunned, and backed away a bit, but couldn't bring herself to leave or stop staring. She approached again more carefully and he proceeded to hold her hand this time. The young child took this as a sign of love and tried to hug and kiss him (while he sat prisoner in the stroller), but he didn't seem to mind. After his new girlfriend started to walk away, I unbuckled him out of the stroller so he could walk around and see the animals, but he headed straight towards the little girl. Upon seeing that her Romeo was headed towards her, she turned around and headed back towards him with open arms. (Cue romantic music and slow-mo footage of lovers running towards each other through a field of flowers). When the toddlers finally reached each other with arms wide open they embraced and kissed each other .... and then they lost their balance and fell over and hit their heads. Yeah. Sorry to ruin the visual, but yes, they started crying and we (the girl's father and I) picked up by our respective children and tried to console them. This time I had the camera, but by the time I got it out of the bag, they were both on the floor, so there went that. It was cute while it lasted though!

That's two girls in two days! I had to put a stop to this behavior! I figured that it was his long luscious locks of hair that were causing all the uproar in the female toddler community, so on Sunday evening we took Christian for his first big boy haircut (he had only had "homemade" ones up to this point). He wasn't too happy about it at first and I had to hold his hands down to keep him from whacking the lady. After a little while though, the spray water bottle, the video on TV (he actually watched it for 5 seconds!), and the flying bits of hair had him somewhat entertained, so the lady was able to get the job done. Just because he tolerated the haircut doesn't mean that he liked it though. He was mad at us and had a pouty face all the way to the car, but as soon as we gave him his little book, he forgot all about the hair.

Horsy Hijinks

Hi-dee Ho folks! I guess most of my lurkers preferred to remain silent (then they wouldn't be lurkers anymore, would they?). That's ok, maybe next year I can lure you out of hiding.

I'm glad to report that Brandon's Puppy is back on the blogosphere radar. They had a couple of issues over there, but all is well now. Yay!
Speaking of Brandon, his 4th birthday party was on Sunday and a great time was had by all. They had a cute bounce house for the kids, but Chris proved once again that he and Mr. bounce-house are not friends. My little koala clung to me and there was no bouncing to be had. He also got to see his little friend Sophie and a whole host of other little friends as well.

Mr grouchy-face must have been in a good mood that day because he even let Marilu carry him (and make him laugh)! I'm glad I caught that miraculous moment on film as it may never happen again.

Towards the end of the party the ponies came to visit and Chris didn't seem to care for them too much (even though he'd never seen a real life pony before). Good thing too because there was quite a line of children that wanted to ride; I definitely didn't want to walk next to the pony holding on to Chris and risking stepping on pony-poop or being stepped on by the pony or getting pony-pee on me. Besides, if he didn't like the fake horses, I'm sure he wasn't going to stay on the real ones either.

I can just imagine what would've happened. Chris would've freaked out and kicked the pony or grabbed/pulled it's hair or bent over and bit it, then the pony would've freaked out, reared up on it's mini-hind legs, thrown it's mini-handler across the field, stormed off through the shelter, through the cake, into the bounce house, becoming entangled in the bounce house, rolling onto the generator, causing an explosion, catching on fire, rolling again into the parking lot, slamming into a parked car and causing all sorts of mayhem and destruction (I have a very vivid imagination). I sure am glad I prevented THAT tragedy. Note to self: no pony rides for Christian.

Knock knock...who's there?

Oooh! Double-post day! I haven't gotten a chance to catch up on my blog reading yet, so I'm a little late in finding out that this week is National Delurking Week! In honor of this I ask the lurkers to please say hi.

Do I really only have 2 people reading this blog? Que sad.



















Come out come out wherever you are!

And remember:

Holy Moly

Christian's baptism/christening (what's the difference anyway?...please enlighten me if you know) was on January 2nd. We had the whole affair done while we were in El Salvador on vacation because almost my entire family lives there and the ones that don't were there on vacation, so how convenient was that?

I haven't gotten the pictures from my sisters yet (they took lots of pictures), so we'll have to make due with what I got from my uncle and from my camera (which wasn't much since I was holding the child and nobody thought to grab my camera and take pictures with it).

The ceremony was in a small church only minutes away from my grandmother's house (in San Salvador everything is "only minutes away"), very convenient. Friends and family were gathered outside and then made their way into the church as the 11 o'clock hour approached. My mom had gone to the place where the reception was going to be held, so she almost missed the baptism because the priest started 5 minutes before 11 am!

The priest said a couple of kind words and then called the parents and godparents up to the altar. My two sisters and their husbands served as the godparents. First he anointed Christian with some oils on his chest. I thought for sure that Christian was going to whack the priest across the face or shoo his arm away, so I held on to his little arm. Fortunately, he didn't feel the need to hit him at that moment, so all was well. He asked us all to pledge our faith and then took us over to the baptismal area. Mind you, Chris hates having water poured on his head even during bath time, so once again, I was a little fretful of what was going to happen when the priest poured the water over his head. Amazingly enough though, nothing happened. He didn't even wince or make a peep. Wow.

After that we went back to the front of the altar for more anointments and once again he let the priest bless him without any protest. All was going well until the priest brought out the hood that goes over his head. Chris HATES having things put on his head (hats, antlers, water, hoods, ..you name it). It all went downhill from there. At that very moment, he decided he didn't want to be carried anymore. He wanted to walk down the altar steps and take a stroll around the church. Seeing as how the ceremony wasn't over, I couldn't really let him do that. He was wiggling and squirming everywhere and throwing a tantrum...I was afraid the church would revoke his new "membership" with the way he was acting. The priest was trying to say some closing words and handed the microphone to Christian so he could play with it. Wouldn't you know it my son whacked the microphone away as if to say "get this crap out of my face". Classic. We got it on video too, so we can preserve it for all time. Lovely.

By the time the ceremony actually WAS over he had had it. There was no way we could get a decent family picture up by the altar. In every picture he's either crying or fighting or looking somewhere else or pointing or hitting or biting someone. Ah...my little angel. Fortunately when we got outside, he calmed down and behaved well for the rest of the event.

The party afterwards was at the country club which was right across the street from the church (ah...the convenience continues). We had almost 50 friends and family members in attendance and it was nice to see a lot of people that I don't get to see all the time. My cousin's girlfriend Gracia sang a beautiful song for us and we had a DJ playing some nice music. My mom hates seeing an empty dance floor, so she got up to dance to kick things off. After a little while, my mom had everyone cutting a rug. It was really fun to see all these people in the middle of the day partying like it were midnight. Those Salvadoreans sure know how to drink party! When the alcohol started to wear off music was toned down, everyone gathered for a delicious buffet and some yummy cake.

The event went wonderfully and I think everyone had a good time. Christian took a much-needed nap in the middle of it all and had a great time being the center of attention and playing with his aunt and uncle. I'm happy that we (I) decided to baptize him in El Salvador. It was wonderful to be able to share Christian's first sacrament with my family over there since I don't get to seem them as often as I would like.

When we got back to grandma's house mommy Christian opened his gifts and got lots of nice presents: a bathrobe, a children's bible, two charms, a painting, two ceramic figurines, several outfits, toy blocks, gift certificates, and much more (that I can't remember right now). The following day we were on a flight back home and it was quite the bittersweet moment. I was happy to finally be getting back to my (and Christian's) routine, but at the same time, I was sad to leave everyone behind. Christian's first trip to El Salvador went wonderfully and I'm especially thankful that none of us got sick with the Hershey squirts while we were over there. The trip was fun and uneventful (except for the tremor we felt....another first for Ren and Chris), which is just how you want a trip with a toddler to be. Hopefully it's only the first of many visits that we will be paying to my home country.

Happy Birthday Little Bird!

Today Brandon turns 4! What a big boy you've become Brandon. I hope you have a wonderful birthday and I can't wait to see you at your party on Sunday!

I hope your mom will be serving mimosas again like she did at her baby shower on Sunday. I promise to only drink 4 this time. I'll try to behave well and not make outbursts about winning cars or knowing the paramedics or how I really won a vacation instead of a picture frame (despite making up my own word in the word jumble game... "bootsie" sounded like a word to me, then again, maybe it was the influence of the mimosas).

Happy Birthday!

Leaving on a jet plane...

Procrastination is the name of the game...

Ok so it's time to tell you all about my trip to El Salvador. The plane ride was uneventful. Here I was worried that I would have a kicking, screaming, walking toddler on the plane, and no such thing happened. Fortunately his bottle and nap coincided with the plane taking off, so as soon as the plane was running down the runway I put the bottle in his mouth (to avoid the ear pain) and he was in sleepy-land 5 minutes later. The movement on the plane actually lulled him to sleep. He slept for over an hour and when he woke up, he played with his favorite rings (check out my sexy plane hair). At one point I was afraid that he would put a hat on the passenger in front of us, but luckily he refrained from doing so. He had major mommy-itis the whole time that we were over there. It worked in my favor because he didn't want to walk up and down the aisle of the plane. He just wanted to stand next to me and be on my lap (or grandma's lap). Also in our favor was the fact that the flight was only about 2 hours long. Yay.

Once we were in my grandmother's house, he acclimated somewhat well to the whole change of environment. He was a bit overwhelmed by all the new faces. He loved walking all around the house and exploring all the cool things he doesn't have at home. The weather was hot over there (no A/C) so he spent most of his days in just diapers and a T-shirt. Unfortunately the mosquitoes ate us up (especially at night) and I ended up with 50 bites on one leg alone. Chris fared a little better as he only got about 15 total.

During the 14 days that we were there we went to lots of nice places. At the mall, I tried to put Chris on the merry-go-round, but let's just say there was nothing merry about it. Mommy-itis strikes again. On Christmas Eve, we went over to visit my sisters and Chris got to meet a whole other set of new faces. After that, we headed back to grandma's house to see the fireworks outside and open presents. Chris was asleep by then, so he had to wait until the next morning to open all his presents. Santa brought him a fridge farm and he loved it!

The following morning we headed to our beloved beach house. Chris loved looking at all the animals that he usually only gets to see in pictures. Although we live in Florida, Chris had never been to the beach before (yes, believe it), so the whole experience was quite interesting. He didn't want to sit in the sand and play with it, only on mommy's lap. We tried to put him in the inflatable pool, but he just screamed like we were dipping him in hot oil. In hindsight, I guess the saltwater must have bothered his mosquito bites...plus the water was a little cold, so who can blame him. After much prodding and convincing, we were finally able to get him to stand and walk around on his own. After the beach, we headed back to the house to go in the pool (that went a lot better since it wasn't his first time) and relax a bit. It was really special taking him to our family's beach house because I have many fond memories of it.

The following day, we were off to the beach again (different beach). This time we headed over to the house that my sisters had rented. The water wasn't as cold, but he still wasn't amused.
There were some major cows on the beach this time, so I didn't feel too bad being out in my bathing suit. Christian had a much better time indoors...eating (definitely his mother's son). We had the most delicious shrimp I have ever tasted and lunch was great too! Chris successfully went in the pool again and then we watched the sunset before heading back home. What a nice time we had!

The following day, it was off to the beach...just kidding. The next two days were spent at home relaxing. Chris had two teeth coming out on top and was biting on everything and everyone he could get his little hands on. We hired a nanny to help watch him while we were over there and he hated the poor girl (as evidenced by the biting picture). I don't think that particular bite had anything to do with teething though; he hated the nanny and he hates having things put on his head.

On the thirtieth, Ren joined us and we all went out to this nice night spot called "La Gran Via". We walked around a bit and then went to Benihana's for dinner. My cousins Dario and Camila even joined in on the show. New Year's eve was great with friends and family, but C-man went to sleep early, so he missed all the festivities and fortunately this time the fireworks didn't wake him up (he woke up briefly on Christmas Eve).

The first day of 2007 was Ren's birthday, so we headed off to the beach again. No, really, we did. This time, we went to my mom's friend's beach house. Christian was happy as long as he had his rings with him and Ren finally got a chance to relax a bit. As far as the beach was concerned though, the third time was not the charm. He didn't want to leave my side. I finally gave up and went to the pool instead.

The following day was Christian's baptism, but I will leave that for another post because this one is already way too long!

I'm signing off by wishing myself a HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY! I honestly didn't think I would be able to keep this up for a whole year (or that anyone one other than me, myself and I would read it). Yay me!

Oh and Happy Birthday to my little brother. He's turning 21 today!

Resolution Revolution

I'm baaaaaaaaaack! Actually, I've been back since Wednesday, but I've had lots to catch up on at home and work, so time has not been on my side.

I'd like to start by saying Happy New Year to my fuzzy readers. I hope that you have all recovered from the end of the year hangovers and deadly fruitcakes. My trip was excellent and I can't wait to write all about it, but first I want to chat it up with you a bit about some New Year's resolutions.

I'd like to begin by doing a year in review if you will. Here are our resolutions from last year, let's see how many of them I actually kept:

CLAUDIA'S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2006:

1. Think about resolutions sooner. (check)
2. Don't wait so long to share said resolutions. (check)
3. Don't spill pumped milk while trying to list such resolutions. (um check).
4. Don't curse when spilling said milk. (check)
5. Keep pumping milk for baby until it runs out. (check)
6. Lose baby weight. (BIG FAT HA HA)
7. Stop blaming all extra weight on pregnancy/baby. (um what do you mean?)
8. Lose extra weight I had before Christian. (BIGGER/FATTER HA HA)
9. Figure out where strange cheese smell is coming from. (check)
10. Do more exercise.(sort of check)
11. Drink more water.(no check)
12. Drink more prune juice. (no check)
13. Control flatulence. (check)

7.5 out of 13 = 57.69%

Hmm...I need to work harder on these this year.
Let's see how the little man did:

CHRISTIAN'S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2006:

3. Do not breastfeed under any circumstances. (check)
8. Figure out how to put entire hand in my mouth. (check)
13. Clean cheesy-smelling stuff collecting in my neck folds. (check)
1. Sleep through the night. (BIG FAT CHECK AMEN!)
10. Learn to love tummy time. (no check)
5. Hold head up. (check)
2. Get some teeth. (check x 8)
12. Join Hair Club for Men. (not needed anymore)
9. Sit up. (check)
4. Crawl. (check)
7. Stand. (check)
11. Walk. (check)
6. Learn to count. (still needs more work)

11 out of 13 = 84.62%
It looks like I was beat-out by a newborn.

Ok so what is my list for this year you ask?

It's pretty similar to last years except for the multiple milk product references.
Drum roll please.....................Here we go:

CLAUDIA'S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2007 (in no particular order):

1. Fit into my clothes
2. Get more exercise into my daily life (at least 3 times a week)
3. Organize my bed/scrap/playroom/office...ok, the whole freaking house
4. Get somewhat caught up on my scrapping (I'm a year behind)
5. Give Christian a sibling (yes, it's time for #2...but first I have to convince Ren)
5 1/2. Convince Ren
6. Have 11th toe removed (jk..I wanted to see if you were paying attention...if you do by any chance happen to have 11 toes, I apologize if I offended you, as it wasn't my intention to do so).
7. Eat out less/eat less junk food (by less I mean not every freaking day)
8. Drink more water and less soda
9. Take a cooking class
10. Save money by not spending it on useless crap (literally)

CHRISTIAN'S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2007 (in no particular order)

Get molars
Use a spoon
Don't scream during bathtime
Climb
Run
Talk
Stop putting everything in my mouth
Stop throwing things
Reduce my violent tendencies (smacking, scratching, hitting, biting)
Learn my numbers

Let's see if we do better this year.

What are your resolutions? Do you bother to make any?