Greetings from Central America

Well, my pirate eye is doing much better and is back to normal. It all started because I was trying to put together the bed rail so that Chris could sleep in the twin bed (instead of the crib, we need to make room for the new tenant). He took the instructions away from me, with the intention of ripping them into itty bitty pieces, so I pulled them away and the rest, as they say, is history.

Anyway, I am in El Salvador for the weekend because my cousin is getting married, so R is holding down the fort. CMan stayed in Miami too. I was just telling my mom that I don't know what to do with myself; I've never really had this much time to just DO nothing and have no one to look after (since the NY trip). It just feels strange. He he.

It's freaking hot here...I'm gonna go find a fan and stand under it. See you in 3 days!

Just because I like pirates, doesn't mean I want to BE one.

I'm really starting to become an ER whore here. Pretty soon, they're going to greet me by name when I walk in.
Yesterday, while trying to wrestle a paper from CMan's hands, I managed to get a paper cut in my eye. Yes, you read right...only I would get a paper cut on my eyeball.
If it hurts on your finger, imagine how it feels in your EYE! I saw stars and covered my profusely tearing eye and had visions in my head of having to wear an eye patch for the rest of my life. Yes, I'm a bit morbid and exaggerated, so I immediately imagined the worst. Fortunately, the cut wasn't deep and I was given eye drops to use every 6 hours for the next 7 days.

Anyway, I still have some pictures to share from last week. It's all Amanda's fault though. Now that I have discovered PackRat on Facebook, I haven't been able to do anything else. I'm already a pack rat in real life, so this game just feeds on my natural tendencies.

Swim class went well last week with some more underwater action. It's called a mommy-and-me class, but there were no mommies in the pool this time.

Last Sunday (not this one that just passed, but the one before it) we went to a birthday party for Nathan who was turning 3. They had three chihuahua puppies running around at the beginning and Chris couldn't get enough of them (OK fine, I couldn't either). He hung out at the party and had a great time. There was even an old school piñata with blindfold and everything. I'm happy to report that nobody got whacked with the stick. There was so much candy in that thing that Chris filled up a whole bag and then started loading up his pockets too!

Here's a little video of Cman playing with the puppy (aw...I miss my little Peewee).



On a final note: Happy Birthday Adrian. Once again, I'm sorry about your rug. In all the commotion, I forgot to give you your present too. I can just imagine what ya'll are saying now: Not only does her kid pee on my rug, but she didn't bring a present either, Wench!

ps. Let that be a lesson to all of you. If you post about your son's outstanding potty abilities, you will be publicly humiliated by said son when he pees on the rug in front of everyone else. Potty Karma is a bitch. Arrrgh!

I'm almost scared to tell you that he slept in a big boy (twin) bed last night.

Flowers and Family

On Saturday after we made brownies, Cman headed outside to play with grandma while I took pictures of the pretty plants and little animals that inhabit her yard.

That evening we headed up to Ft. Lauderdale to meet up with my cousins (along with their mother, spouses and children) who were in town from Guatemala. They were all heading out to Disney (six kids under 5!) the following day, so it would be our only time to see them (and meet all the little kids at once) since we hardly ever go to Guatemala. It sure is hard to round up 7 children and 8 adults and get them to sit still.

Birthday and brownies

These past two weekends have been so jam-packed with activities that I'm gonna have to break this up a bit.

Last Saturday Cman went to Ryan's army birthday party. He had a great time in the bounce house (and was able to climb the wobbly ladder by himself and go down the slide) and amidst all the fun he even remembered to tell me that he had to use the potty.

On Saturday, my mom, Cman and I had our own version of "Fix it Friday" except that it was a Saturday...and the brownies came from a box. Hey, I can't promise more than that.

First dump the contents of the box in a bowl








Next add eggs, oil and whatever else the box says and mix together.








Mix until it's a big ole' gooey mess.








Complain because the gooey mess is now all over your fingers.








Put the gooey mess in a greased baking pan and stick it in the oven for however long the box says to do so.








Enjoy the results...or in Christian's case, refuse to eat the results because you don't like brownies.

Midpoint *updated*

20 weeks

Pounds gained: 11
ouch.

I swear there's only one in there!

With Christian, I had also gained 11 pounds by the midpoint. Unfortunately I went on to gain another 30 in the remaining 20 weeks (must try not to do that again).

OB appointment today. I'll update later (or tomorrow).

___________________________

The appointment went well. All is good.

Me: Hey Ren, the C-section is probably going to be scheduled on Aug 20th, it's a Wednesday

Ren: Oh good, that's my day off!

Me: Yeah, I figured that would be a good day, you know, in case you wanted to be there or something.

Why did the peacocks cross the road?

There is so much to say today that I don't even know where to start!

I guess I should rewind to last Thursday and work my way forward. Last Thursday was the opening day of The Fair. Chris grew 4 inches since last year, so he was able to go on most of the kiddy rides this time. Since this was his first time, I rode with him on all but two of them. On those two I sat on the sidelines and watched in total fear that my boy would fall or jump off the ride. Yes, I know, a bit of an overreaction, but hey, it's his first time riding stuff at the fair...and by himself! He even rode the big kids caterpillar roller coaster!

After the rides, we had dinner and ended up with front row seats to the parade. Later we went to the petting zoo where he had a great time touching all the animals. He was really into it this year and wanted to hug and feed them all. Some were so cute that he got a little over-amorous with them (oh my god, you're so cute, I could just choke you!).

On Sunday, he started going to swimming lessons again. At first he whined a little since he hadn't been in the pool in a long time, but eventually he started having fun with it and even went underwater again.

Mr. Independent didn't want his morning bottle of milk the other day. He wants to drink out of big boy cups instead of sippy cups. He's been wearing underwear and hasn't had an toilet accident in two days, but going #2 is such a mission that I won't even get into it now.

I was sent on a flashback to my middle school days today as I just found out that the New Kids on the Block are reuniting. Woohoo! I can't say enough about how exciting this is to me. The "kids" look pretty hot now that they're hovering around 40. I hope their reunion tour doesn't start until AFTER August if you know what I mean. I want to have good seats and I need all the energy I can muster for all the jumping and screaming that is going to be had at said seats.

Oh and where else do you see three peacocks crossing the street on your way to work? Only in (South) Miami my friends.

Dude! At night too?

Yesterday at daycare he used the potty the whole day (except for once when he said he had to go, but didn't make it on time). The daycare lady said he is the child that has learned the fastest....you're tellin' me lady.

Last night he woke up in the middle of the night and called out to me. I went to his room and he said "I want to do pipi toilet". Mind you, I was half asleep and wishing he weren't so good at this potty training business. I said, "it's kind of dark now, go in your diaper". He refused and I said, "OK, come on, let's go". Once we got to the bathroom, he changed his mind. I hate to say it but I was kind of glad. Middle of the night is not a good time for potty training.

I should be glad that he even did it, but I wasn't totally with it at the moment and once again was caught off guard. I will be better about it next time (if there is a next time) now that I'm prepared.