Claudia's Spaceship

Mama needs a money tree

2009-11-10T11:26:00.003-05:00

My son Christian has reached that age where he asks for everything...and I mean everything he sees. I'm almost scared to turn the TV on these days. Catalogs that come in the paper are also dangerous. I guess it's my fault because the other day I gave him the Toysrus catalog and pen to circle a couple (key word: couple) of things that he liked. Bad idea. Now he wants to go around with a pen circling everything he sees everywhere. I've created a monster.

The sad thing is that I want to buy him all the things he likes, but I know I can't (and shouldn't).

And now, an example of how bad the "mommyIwant monster" has become....

Yesterday we were watching TV and they were playing a commercial for a Nerf Wii game which looked pretty cool:

Chris: Mommy, buy me that!
Me: What is that?
Chris: It's a nerf gun game
Me: Oh that looks cool, we'll see (bonus: no darts to poke Jordan's eyes out)

The next commercial comes on

Chris: Mommy, buy me that!
Me: I don't think you want that.
Chris: Yes I do. Why not?
Me: It's a carpet cleaning product.

Yeah. It's gotten way out of hand.

On that vein, time for a shameless plug. If you'd like to help me win $500 (so I can get Chris that oh-so-desired carpet foam), head on over to ivillage on Facebook and help Jordan win the Cutest Kids Costume Contest! The child with the most votes wins $500 (Hello!) so please vote and pass this on to your friends so they can vote too!

Jordan is dressed as a baby Michael Jackson (from Thriller of course), so check it out! Voting runs from: Monday, Nov 9 - Sunday Nov 15.

Please click on this link or this link.
You have to have a Facebook account to be able to vote.

I'm not sure if you can vote every day, but please give it a try!

Thanks

Hunka hunka burning love

2009-11-06T23:02:00.003-05:00

I went to the movies with my mom tonight. On our way over there we listened to the new Pearl Jam CD. Once we were in the theater, they gave a preview of the 2012 movie (featuring Adam Lambert's Time for Miracles song), then they gave this preview for New Moon and finally, the movie started, This is It (great show, go see it, it's not sold out). I'd say my night was pretty much complete.

I got home and told the hubby about what a great night I had:

Me: "Pearl Jam in the car, then Adam Lambert's song, then New Moon preview and then Michael Jackson movie, what more could I ask for?"
Ren: (keeps watching the news)
Me: "can you turn the A/C down cause it's pretty hot in here".
Ren: "it must be you from getting all worked up about your evening line-up"
Me: "ha ha, that's true"
Ren: "how about you turn the flames down so I can hear the news"

What a comedian.

Walking!....almost

2009-11-06T10:55:00.001-05:00

My little man is beginning to get brave. On 10/27 my mom and I were at her house talking about whether we thought JJ would be walking before Christmas (maybe) or Thanksgiving (prob not) since he seemed to not be interested in walking one bit.

Not 1 minute later, he was kneeling on the floor and he lifted himself up to a standing position (without holding on to anything!) and took three steps towards me. I was freaking it out because he'd never even let go while cruising before much less come to a full standing position and then walk away. My mom caught the tail end of it and saw him walking towards me.

The next day he took another 3 steps by himself.

Yesterday R said that he took 6 steps by himself.

I think I should make it a point to keep my camera handy because he keeps doing it and I haven't caught it on camera yet. Ah!

I am returning from the dead...

2009-11-03T14:20:00.004-05:00

...just to show you the pictures of Christian and Jordan in their Halloween costumes!

Jordan was dressed as baby Michael Jackson (does that come as a surprise to anyone?). Christian was dressed up as Batman. He wore the mask intermittently throughout the night, but I managed to get JJ to wear his wig the whole time he was trick or treating. I guess he forgot he had it on at some point.

At around 6:45 we went trick or treating, but it felt strange because it was still light out. The first 10 or so doors that we knocked on, did not open the door. That kind of sucks. There also weren't that many kids out. Chris got tired pretty quickly, so we headed home after a short while.

It's kind of sad because Halloween these days isn't what it used to be. Nowadays, there's hardly any kids out because they all go to the mall. For some reason getting candy from Abercrombie and Fitch just kills the Halloween fun for me. Alot of people stop giving candy altogether because they get tired of buying it year after year only to have no kids show up, the kids don't show up because people don't give candy, so the cycle continues.

I loved trick or treating with my cousins when I was young. I remember a whole herd of us would go from house to house (with parental chaperones) and almost everyone would open the door...and no, there weren't any razor blades in my candy. Some houses had such cool decorations on the outside and some were even decorated inside. Ooooh spoooky! I remember we would pass many other herds of children too. After we got tired of walking around (or the parents were tired) we would head back home and check out our stash (which was always huge)! This is when the wheeling and dealing would commence. I cringed when I got pennies instead of candies and I was always trying to trade away the candy corn for gum. Ah, those were the good ole' days.

I know I can't turn back time and let my children experience Halloween in the 80's, but hopefully Chris and JJ can make their own wonderful Halloween memories so they can carry those with them for many years to come.

Jordan aka Mr. Punchykittyclaws

2009-09-25T13:29:00.007-04:00

The other night I got punched in my sleep. There is none other to blame for that sudden onslaught of mid-slumber violence than my dear boy Jordan. He is in my bed more often than not and his sleep is a little restless. Although, he's not much better in the day time. He likes to bite my face, my finger and my shoulder.
He likes to touch/punch/swat at my face, but he does it really quickly like an angry cat, a spiteful, angry cat. I tell R that Jordan's affections are a mixture of a punch puppet and Mr. kittyclaws because his little nails are super sharp.

Ah my darling 13 month old, how I love you so despite your repeated attacks.

This morning he said his 5th word! I was telling Chris about how many days were left until we went to Disney and then JJ said "DINEY". I was cracking up and R was rolling his eyes and thinking the brainwashing begins so early (in the womb to be exact...I think JJ went to Disney twice before he was even born). Other than saying dada, gogo, mama, agua and Diney, he does a whole lotta babbling. Unfortunately only he knows what he's saying. It's pretty funny because he even adds the question intonation at the end. It sounds a little something like this: DabalamawafamatobolonocotuTUU??

His top right tooth is finally emerging, so that makes 6 teeth total. He's still cruising around by holding on to furniture and is just now transferring from one piece of furniture to another. I think he's saving his first time walking for "Diney" too (it's a family thing, that's where my brother took his first steps...Tomorrowland to be exact, by the race cars)! Probably not though because he's too much of a scaredy cat to let go.

What he lacks in upward mobility though, he makes up for in speed crawling. He goes up and down and all around the house chasing after Christian. Unfortunately this has led to several instances where he busted his lip because his body went faster than his hands. He also does this funny thing where he sits and maneuvers his legs to turn himself in a circle over and over again. It's pretty funny and I hope I can catch it on video soon because it's hard to explain and funny to witness.

Jordan loves his big brother Christian and thankfully the feeling is mutual...for now. Chris loves playing with his brother and actually shares his toys with him peacefully. He tells me that he loves his brother and he hugs him all the time. Sometimes a little too tight and a little too much neck hugging action, but other than that, it's super cute. I wonder how much longer this will last...

That is my update for now on Mr. punchykittyclaws. This Sunday is Christian's actual birthday and we're off to see the mouse! Wish me luck, good weather, no crowds and short lines...alright stop laughing, what can I say, it's wishful thinking.

Tidbits from Christian

2009-09-19T23:52:00.003-04:00

Me: Christian, why are you bothering your brother?
C: Because...because...because.....because of the wonderful things he does...we're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!

The other day R was scolding Chris for something he had done and in the middle of the "don't you ever" and the "you are not to ever do that again" Chris very calmly said "there's a bug on your shirt dad". I can't tell you how hard Ren had to fight to not laugh.

Today in the car, we were talking about what rides he wanted to go on next weekend at Disney:
Chris: I want to go to Twilight!
Me: Sorry babe, there's no Twilight ride.
Chris: Yes there is! You go on a ship and the bad guys are there too and then when you look in the mirror, they're in the ship with you.
Me: That sounds like a good idea Chris, you're right, there should be a Twilight ride.
Sounds like an interesting concept (and it also sounds like a mixture of the pirates and the haunted mansion rides).

Random outburst from the backseat: "What do you mean I have a beard?".

This kid is hilarious.

Does whatever a spider can.

2009-09-17T15:31:00.005-04:00

I threw a Spiderman party for both boys this past weekend. It just didn't make sense to have two separate parties when their birthdays are only about 6 weeks away. I was praying and hoping for good weather (and no hurricanes or tropical storms) and I got it for the most part.

The kids had a blast in the bounce house and at the playground and who knew the snow cone machine would be such a hit? I did not have Spiderman show up to the party because I learned my lesson from last year's pirate incident (Chris doesn't like characters or being the center of their attention) where the poor guy was trying to play games with the kids and none of them wanted to play. As they say in El Salvador, que cipotes mas bayuncos (silly kids).

We had a pin the tail on the donkey game and we were also going to play hot potato (Spuderman?), but I forgot the music, so the donkey game would have to suffice. The piñata was super nice, but it didn't work how it was supposed to, so we had to disembowel Spiderman in order for him to give up the goods.

After that, the weather got crazy and we got some wind gusts that knocked over the gift well, the treat bags and threatened to take a few of the children. We quickly sang Happy Birthday because we thought it was going to start raining. The candles of course didn't light so it was one of those let's pretend to blow it out moments, but fortunately Chris couldn't care less...and Jordan can't blow out candles, so we were good.

Our cake unfortunately was not good. Oh sure, it tasted good, but 2 hours before the party was due to start, it said "Happy Birthday Anthony" on it. Too bad it was supposed to say "Christian and Jordan" instead. Anyway, the bakery "fixed it" for us so that everyone at the party wouldn't think that I just went and bought a cake from the bargain bin. Oh good a Spiderman cake, I'll take this one hopefully no one will notice that the name is wrong. Regardless of the name being wrong, I think the design was kind of ugly (Look at it, what is it? a fishing net? a lopsided building? a trapeze net? fishnet stockings? a brick wall?), so this one is going straight to Cake Wrecks. The irony of course is that I had been perusing that site just the week before, little did I know that our cake would end up being a candidate.

In the end, despite the wind gusts, the malfunctioning piñata and the crazy cake, I think everyone had a good time. My parties? Never a dull moment that's for sure.

Jordan's actual birthday was on Aug 20th and Chris' birthday is on Sept 27. The celebrations aren't over as we plan on taking the kids to Disney that weekend...yeah, that's it....we're going for the kids. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I'm too sexy for my clothes

2009-09-10T10:45:00.004-04:00

Hey! Look who's on the new Jady Images flyer!

>

We had a session with Jady Images this past weekend where we discovered these flyers. Ha!

Anyway, I can't wait to see how this last batch of pictures came out, but here's a preview from the Jady Images blog.

The ladies at Jady Images have also agreed to help me out with my "little" Thrill The World project! You guys are great! Thanks!

Well Buzz Lightyear must be a Republican then...

2009-09-09T10:04:00.004-04:00

Last night Chris and I were watching the news and a clip of President Obama speaking to the kids at school came on the TV (if you didn't see it, you can click here to read it).

Chris: Barack Obama!
Me: Yes babe, he's the president.
Chris: Why?
Me: Because we voted for him, we chose him. He said he wanted to be President and we said he could. We said YES.
Chris: Oh yeah, but Buzz Lightyear said NO.

Little Wiggly turns 1

2009-08-20T10:41:00.010-04:00

This morning when I woke up with my little JJ next to me (yes, he's still sleeping in my bed, slap on the hand for me) I quickly forgot the previous sleepless night full of teething, crying and vomiting and wished my baby boy a Happy first birthday.

It's pretty amazing, because he doesn't seem like he's 1 to me. He seems so much more baby-like than his brother was at his age (but he is heavier though). I guess it's true, they are all different and any experiences you had with one, you won't necessarily repeat.

Little man, this whole wonderful year has been a roller coaster ride of love, worry, excitement and tiredness that I wouldn't trade for the world. Together we experienced: a positive pregnancy test, little or no morning sickness, the first kick, prenatal hiccups, heartburn, stretchmarks, arrhythmia scare, pelvic pain, an easy C-section, supplemental nursing, meeting your older brother, painful boobs, exclusive breastfeeding, sleep deprivation, lactation consultant, reflux, thrush, spitting up, middle of the night feedings, the first smile, holding your head up, baby massage class, first Halloween, back to work, befriending the pump, first trip to the zoo, first thanksgiving, nursing strikes, hating cereal, cloth diapering, first trip to Jungle Island, first picture with Santa, first Christmas, first New Year's Eve, first trip to Disney, hating baby food, co-sleeping, co-sleeping guilt, musical beds, rolling over, sitting up, first Valentine's Day, first trip to the ER, bacterial infection, first word (dada), first teeth, first trip to the Fair, first Easter, the nebulizer, weaning, finger foods, pincer grasp, first airplane trip, crawling, pulling up, first Fourth of July, first haircut, first busted lip, second word (caca), third word (gogo: spongebob), first time at daycare, first time standing, teething fevers, vomiting in bed, snuggling in bed (not in the vomited bed), and first birthday! Yay!

Whew! I'm tired just writing that. My little man, I love you so much that it hurts. I feel like my heart is permanently on the outside. I love the smell of your hair and the little rolls on your neck. When I look at your little face, my worries just melt away. It's like I want to bottle this feeling up because I don't want to forget it. I hug you extra tight in the hopes that you'll be my tiny little baby forever. Then I see pictures like the ones above and I realize that it can't be. We've had a wonderful year baby boy and I can't wait to see what lies ahead.

Happy First Birthday Jordan Julian! Mommy loves you!

Daycare Drama

2009-08-13T15:28:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was JJ's first day at daycare, well, partial day. He was there for an hour and a half. The thing is, I didn't even know that it was until I got home.

My mom has been on vacation since the beginning of this month, so I took a week of to stay with the baby and then R took a week off. My original plan was to start taking him to the lady that watches Christian a little bit each day so he could get used to it. I chickened out and never did it though. This week, R was watching him and he didn't chicken out. He just dropped him off, went to do some shopping at the supermarket and then picked him up. Wow, cold turkey, just like that. Here I was analyzing how I was going to do it....half an hour the first day, with me there, a little longer the second day, with me there, but out of sight, a little longer the third day with me not there at all. I did all this planning in my head and he just dropped him off just like that.

He's not even one yet. I think Christian was one and a half before he went to the daycare, but unfortunately my mom just can't watch JJ like she used to with Chris. Her energy and patience just aren't the same.

I'm just glad I didn't find out about it until afterwards. Jordan cried the whole time he was there. Today he went again for the same amount of time. Again, he cried the whole time he was there. Jordan is really attached to me (total mama's boy) and it pains me to know he was bawling for all that time. My mom comes back this weekend. She's going to be watching him in the morning and then taking him to the daycare in the afternoon. I hope the crying doesn't continue. Please tell me it's going to get better. It just has to right?

Wannadon't City

2009-07-30T10:01:00.013-04:00

Yesterday, instead of going to the movies, R and I took the boys to Wannado City (further known as Wannadon't City in my house). Once I got past the price of getting in there (and the ridiculous fact that Me, Ren and the BABY had to pay too just to go watch Chris) it was pretty overwhelming. If you've never been there before, there's a slight learning curve to figuring out how the whole place works. It doesn't help that the people at the registers don't really explain things to you. A simple "Welcome! Have you visited us before? Would you like me to explain how it works?" would have been nice. I guess I've been spoiled by Disney. No friendly mousketeers here, they just put an electronic prisoner tracking bracelet on all of us (I'm guessing so they don't steal your child or in case he gets lost), hand you a piece of paper (a check) and throw you to the lions. There are posters on the wall showing you the map of this place, but there are no maps that you can actually take with you as you go inside, which would be oh so helpful.

We walked inside, looked all around and didn't even know where to start. I crossed the miniature street without getting run over the miniature fire truck and noticed that there were little stations all over the place. Each station had a little (or not so little) line of children waiting to get inside. We walked around a bit and stopped someone to ask them what we were supposed to do with this little check. They told us to go to the bank and cash it or deposit it. Interesting. So we go to the bank and gave the lady the check and she gave us a wad of Wannado City money. Cute, OK, now what?

We went back into the city and looked around for a line to get into. We found a Willy Wonka factory line and were just about to get in line when I noticed that in all the activities, there were only kids in there. Not ONE parent. Parents weren't even allowed to wait in the line! Now if anyone knows my son, then they know that this trip just became a huge waste of time and money. He HATES being by himself and he is super slow to warm up to things, so there was no way he was going to wait in line, let alone go inside the mini little buildings to do things BY HIMSELF. HA! I quickly asked one of the workers there if all the activities were like that and if parents were allowed to go in with the kids. She said they could but that we had to have a special pass which we had to go pick up at guest services which was where exactly? Oh yes, my very own map would have been nice right around now.

After finding the cleverly hidden guest services, we get our pass and go back in the city. With pass in hand we head over to one of the little rides in the Wannado Fair. Surprise surprise, Chris doesn't want to ride by himself, so we went on the merry-go-round instead, where I AM allowed to go with him. We then head over to the Willy Wonka Factory. I get in line with Chris and we wait...and wait...and finally they let in 12 children. Wouldn't you know it, we're #13. The lady tells us that the next batch of children will be let in in half an hour. Nice. In the meantime I start chatting it up with one of the kids in line to get the scoop on how this place works. She tells me that you have to pay some of your Wonga bucks to get inside the fun stuff, but then you can go do a "job" (Fireman, Doctor, Dentist...etc) and you get paid. Wow, we get to do this in real life, why come and pay to do that here!?

We wait and wait and wait, and my child is getting bored and restless:

Chris: Can we go to the Haunted Mansion?
Me: There is no Haunted Mansion here.
Chris: How about the YO-HO's?
Me: There are no YO-HO's here either babe.
Chris: Awww.

Perhaps it was all the time spent in line that made him think that we were in Disney. I felt the same way too (minus the nice employees, more on that later). More than half an hour later, we finally get called in and we have to pay 60 of our Wannado bucks to get in. The actual experience is pretty cute because they had the kids make a little candy ice cream cone. Fortunately for me, Chris took one bite and didn't like it. It was delicious.

Now it was time to go work and make some money. Chris had seen the little ambulance and firetruck driving around, so he wanted to do that. The firetruck line was super long, so we went to the hospital instead. We got in line. They let 8 children in. Surprise surprise, we were #9 (I'm sensing a trend here). The lady said the next fire truck would be here in 45 minutes. Seeing as how we had time to kill, R waited in line with Jordan (wearing the special pass or else he can't even stand in line) and I took CMan across the "street" to the cafe to get something to eat. We ordered our pizzas and just as we were about to sit down to eat, R called me to tell me that one of the kids didn't want to ride the ambulance so I had to bring Chris back now because they weren't going to wait for him and adults weren't allowed to hold a spot in line anyway. So I piled my pizza plates one on top of the other and grabbed the sodas and ran over there, only to discover that the kid that chickened out, decided to ride after all. So here we were standing with all this food and the cheese of the bottom pizza got stuck to the bottom of the plate of the top pizza and the top pizza was too hot to eat and we had to all wait in line RIGHT THERE for 45 minutes because no one could save a spot for anyone.

We're all standing there eating our food when it suddenly occurs to me to ask if parents (with the guest pass) are allowed to ride the ambulance with the children. Surprise surprise. NO. Um OK. So we ask what time the next job starts and the super friendly lady dressed as a nurse points to the wall and says "the times are right there". On the wall are a bunch of little clocks with the name of each job posted on it and the hands of the clock pointing to when the next one will start. It looks like Surgery is starting in the next 5 minutes so I tell the lady that Chris will not be riding the ambulance and that he'll do whatever job is next. She says fine. So we wait...and wait. When all of a sudden I hear someone say that the line for the other jobs is inside. We go inside and the lady tells us to just have a seat inside at which point I not so kindly ask her why she didn't tell us this 10 minutes earlier when I told her that he was going to do another job. She says she did. Rrrright. You know this Wannadon't City really does mimic the real world. I feel like I'm in one of those hospitals with the jaded work staff that is tired of talking to sick people all day and just doesn't give a damn. Amazing.

I leave R and Chris waiting in the waiting room for the next job to start (which is now like in 20 minutes because Surgery is now full) while I go change Jordan. When I get back we switch and R takes Chris to the bathroom. While I'm sitting there, the same lovely nurse tells me that parents are not allowed in there because that is the waiting area just for children to which I reply "he went to the bathroom and I'm holding his spot. Seeing as how we already wasted a lot of time waiting outside since nobody told us that the line was in here, I have no intention of losing his spot again". So There! She didn't say anything.

I continue waiting in my little waiting bench when a group of girls walks in and asks what the next available job is. The nurse at the desk tells them it's Pathology and the waiting area is over there (pointing to an area that I am NOT in) but there is only one spot left. No sooner has she finished saying that when one of the girls sits in that spot. I am just about to have a major freak out when R walks back in and the following exchange ensues:

Me: "What specific job are we waiting here for?"
Ren: "Pathology"
Me: "Oh really? because the lady just said that Pathology is over THERE and there is one spot left, and someone just took it"

At this point Nurse Ratched notices that I am about to stuff my pizza up her ass and she quickly states that it doesn't matter where the waiting area is, we are in the next group.

You know what, this is way too much stress. I leave and sit on a bench with Jordan while R and Chris put their gloves on to do their Pathology work. Is there a miniature insane asylum in this little city because I want to go there.

After the hospital fiasco we head over to the Archaeology area. Chris goes inside with Ren and fortunately this time we checked the sign first to see how many kids go in at once to make sure that we are not that number+1. Their adventure is uneventful and he and I switch off so that Chris and I can do the next job of digging for dinosaur bones. We are happily sitting down waiting for our turn when the lady in the line behind me starts whacking her kid because he did something for the third time already and she is just fed up (she must have just come from the Wannado hospital too, they have that effect on people). Another lady starts reprimanding her, calling her an animal, and telling her to stop hitting her kid or else she is going to call the cops on her. What do you know Wannado City has a Jerry Springer job too!

The rest of the day was spent going on the merry-go-round one more time (don't sit on the horses ma'am....damn, I'm not that heavy) and then we decided to call it a day. We went to guest services to return the guest pass and ask them where we can go to have our prisoner bracelets removed and they direct us to stall number 9 or 10, the sign of which was super tiny, so if we hadn't asked, we'd be wandering around trying to figure out how to leave.

Review and Recommendations: It's a cute concept, but some activities need to be a little more organized (cough cough, hospital, cough cough) and the staff needs to be friendlier. When you walk in they should give you a map and brochure detailing how it works . I also think the age range should be higher maybe ages 4 and up because some 3 year olds just aren't ready to do all these things by themselves. Babies shouldn't have to pay to get in.

Don't expect me to set foot in there for at least another 3 years (until JJ is 4).

Trouble in Los Pantalones

2009-07-21T14:05:00.004-04:00

This morning I had a dentist appointment (ugh), so the day just didn't start out happy. I finished my dental torture and decided to pick some lunch up on the way to work. Chicken...check. Salad...check. Frosty...check. Nice refreshing tall cup of soda...check. I was set. I was happily jamming to some tunes in my car and I had a yummy meal to look forward to, so the day was picking up despite the dental relapse at the beginning. I parked my car and tried to maneuver out of my car juggling a purse, a gym bag, my lunch and my soda. Speaking of the soda....don't you hate it when they don't put the lid on right and you grab it by the top to pick it up and the lid falls off and the soda falls? don't you hate it? cause I do. You know what else I hate? Spilling soda in my crotch so early in the day that I haven't even gotten to the office (well, actually, soda in the crotch is not good at any time, unless, well, you like that sort of thing).

So yeah, I was now wearing a nice tall glass of iced soda, mainly in the crotch and buttocks area to be exact. Fortunately, I had my gym clothes with me so I realized that I could in fact change and did not have to walk around looking like I was incontinent the whole day. I momentarily thought about changing in the parking lot, but decided against it for fear that the parking meter person would drive by at that exact moment and catch me unclothed (because knowing my luck, that would totally happen). Instead I chose to waddle to the closest restroom to change. I figured it was better that a couple of people see me waddling and think I peed myself, than to moon the security guy in the parking lot. Choices people, choices.

So I get in the bathroom and pull out my spare yoga pants from my gym bag. Unfortunately, I do not also carry spare panties, so you guess it, I had to go commando. Boy do I hate that feeling. There's just something about underwear that makes me feel secure and not so drafty.

It's funny the lessons that life teaches you (and life doesn't wait either). This morning Jordan was crawling around me while I got ready to leave. He was trying to stand up by holding on to my pants for leverage. Because I have an overactive imagination, I instantly thought, Wow, that's a recipe for a major embarrassing situation. Imagine if I were wearing loose pants and no underwear and Jordan came and pulled on them to stand up and pulled them right down! I'd be showcasing my stuff to everyone! I quickly laughed it off because of the inprobability of it all, thinking that wouldn't happen though because I love underwear. Plus, I would never ever wear loose pants without it.

Never say never.

Perhaps if it had been called "Killer" instead of "Thriller".

2009-07-16T08:51:00.006-04:00

This whole month, I've been on a 4-day work week schedule which has allowed me the opportunity to be off on Wednesdays. Coincidentally our local movie theater shows free kids movies on Wednesdays, so I've been taking Christian to a movie every week.

It's been quite an experience since he had never been to the movies before. On the first trip (Charlotte's Web) we had much seat shuffling (he doesn't weigh enough to keep the seat down very well) and multiple loud outbursts regarding the plot. Our second trip (Bee Movie) featured TWO bathroom trips and remarks about how big the "TV" was. This last trip (Alvin and the Chipmunks) had him asking to go home halfway through the movie and to get him more popcorn please. I'd like to say that each time it gets a little better, but I'm not really sure. Fortunately the movies are free, so he's going to get alot of practice on movie theater etiquette this month.

On our way out we passed one of those cardboard stands that advertises coming attractions. This one had a picture of a guy in a mechanic suit with crazy hair and a white face holding a knife. I saw it and said "Oh look Chris it's Michael Myers from Halloween" (NO, he has NOT seen the movie). His reply? "That's Michael Myers? It looks like Michael Jackson". Um, no babe, Michael Jackson doesn't walk around with a knife.

Poor MJ, so misunderstood.

Did someone say zombies...

2009-07-07T16:50:00.008-04:00

Well, now I've gone and done it. I've thrown my hat over the fence and now it's time to figure out how I'm going to get it.

I signed up for Thrill the World for this year, so it looks like I need to start practicing my dance moves. I've updated the website I created in 2007 (the first time I wanted to do this) so I'm ready to go. This year's World record attempt event will be on Saturday October 24th at 8:30pm.

The only thing left to do now is to find more crazy people like me that would love to do the Thriller dance. Hm...good thing I have 3 months to do it in...

Alright. Here we go! So...who's in? (don't worry, I won't make you dress like a zombie...unless you want to that is).

Help me decide

2009-06-30T15:17:00.019-04:00

I got the proofs from Jady Images from our most recent session (9 months). I have to pick one for my 8x10, but, as usual, I'm having a difficult time of it. Please vote and help me decide which one I should get:

Amy from Jady Images was kind enough to give me some referral cards, so if you love her pictures as much as I do and would like a free session (and are in Miami), leave me a comment! I have a handful to give away. As usual, if I get more comments than what I have available, I will raffle them off. If you still want to vote, but don't want a referral card (because you're not in Miami, have bad taste, are allergic to pictures, or what have you) just let me know and I'll take you out of the running.

Voting ends on Friday this week.

Thanks guys!

Michael, you will be missed.

2009-06-26T09:14:00.010-04:00

Last night I was in bed watching the news of Michael Jackson's death, tears were rolling down my cheeks as I sat in disbelief. I felt strange because I've never really taken the death of an artist or celebrity so personally before. Amidst my sadness, I realized that this was probably because I was not only mourning the passing of a true legend and gifted individual, but a piece of my childhood as well.

I gather from the text messages, twitter updates and facebook updates I've received, that I'm not the only one that feels like a part of their childhood is gone. Michael Jackson was one of the first musical influences of my youth and to this day continues to be one of my favorite artists.

I can vividly remember singing Beat It on the play ground and trying (unsuccessfully) over and over again to replicate his dance moves on my living room floor. The first time I saw him do the moonwalk on TV gave me goosebumps and that red jacket and glove will forever live in my memories. I would force my poor little brother to watch my Moonwalker video over and over again (so much so that he ended up loving MJ too). I thought he looked so cute in the Bad video and I practically rubbed out the video cassette on the Smooth Criminal song from rewinding and playing it so much because I was trying to figure out how he did the leaning over thing (I still love that song and choreographed it for my final in modern dance class a couple of years ago). Recently, when I went looking for my Moonwalker video tape and noticed it was gone, I bought another copy on eBay, my brother wanted to borrow it of course.

My first copy of the Thriller album was literally a copy. It was a cassette that my parents got for me. They had a friend that had the Thriller record (yes, record) and they had it dubbed for me. I can't tell you how many times I played that cassette tape. I think we finally had to throw it away from repeated exposure (don't worry, I have since bought my own, real, Thriller CD).

For my senior year in high school I used one of his songs for my final presentation. Whenever I hear it, I remember how nervous I was sitting in front of the class. I had to give an oral presentation and the boy I ~~was obsessed with~~ liked was but 10 feet away. For Halloween (OK fine, not only during Halloween) my ring tone is the Thriller song (the video of which probably planted the seed for my love of all things scary) and let's not forget about my obsession with Thriller in general. I love those videos of people doing the dance at their weddings and such and I've always wanted to learn the dance and do it in full costume.

It's strange because on Wednesday as I was driving home I had been thinking about Michael Jackson because they were playing that song that goes "mamasay mamasay mamasacusa" and I thought to myself...what the heck is a mamasacusa? which led me to I wonder if I should do Thrill the World this year? (I was going to do it last year, but then I realized that a pregnant Thriller wouldn't work out quite so well). Perhaps this will be the impetus I need to get my neglected project going again.

And just like these, there have been many moments where his songs are interwoven with events in my life.

I am also sad because of a very selfish reason. I never got to see him in concert. I was too young to go to his crazy concerts when people were passing out and all that hoopla. I always said that if he toured again (in the US) I would go see him and now I'll never get the chance.

The next couple of days of endless tributes on TV and radio are going to be hard. I'll enjoy listening to his songs on the radio, but gosh darn it, I'll probably cry again like I did this morning in the car (thanks alot Power 96 for that tear wrenching tribute).

Rest in peace, MJ. You've touched the people of this world in innumerable ways, you will be missed and never forgotten.

And to think, it only took 10 months!

2009-06-24T09:15:00.005-04:00

Alright peeps, let's play a guessing game. Guess who had a bottle of milk at 8:30 last night, went to sleep in his crib afterwards and slept until 5am without waking up once? Any guesses? No, not Renato. Jordan!...oh and me too...except for the bottle part, I drink my milk from a cup now thank you, oh and the crib part too, I don't fit in there anymore. Ok, that didn't work out like I planned, but the point is that I actually got to sleep a full night's sleep. Well, almost because I didn't go to bed till like 11 because I was waiting for Jordan to get up (he usually wakes up at that time crying to be moved to my bed). I fell asleep waiting because he never woke up! Let's hope he does it again tonight!

When we got back from our California trip, I tried to do a cry it out, but it didn't quite work as well as it did with Christian because Jordan would just scream and cry until he threw up all over himself. When you've just bathed him, it's pretty annoying to have to do so again and change the crib sheets and all that when all you want to do is go to bed, so we gave up on that. What I've been doing now is using the routine that I used to do with Christian (bath, bottle, book, songs, prayer). After that I used to put Chris in his crib somwhat awake and he would fall asleep on his own, but with Jordan, I've had to alter that routine a bit. I put him in his crib and I put the little light show/music toy. I also sit in the rocker next to him and put my hand through the crib rails so he can see that I'm there. This way he goes to sleep by himself, but without all the drama.

On the locomotion front, yesterday I finally saw him crawling like 3 or 4 paces. I think he started doing it on Monday, but my mom argues that it was last week. This is the problem when you work, you miss all these milestones and get the dates wrong in the baby book. Unfortunately, my problem is bigger because I forget to write it in the baby book altogether. Oopsie. I really need to get on top of that, I don't want him to feel like a second child.

He turned 10 months old on Saturday and he's throwing out milestones like a pitcher. He's also pulling up and he likes to stand by holding on to things. He hasn't quite figured out that he can move his feet to adjust his position though, so he comes toppling down sometimes. Pretty soon he'll be cruising all over the place and I'll be wishing that he hadn't learned that because I'll be having to follow him around.

On the 14th of this month, we went to have his 9 month pictures (a little late) taken. I just got them back, so when I get the chance I will post them for all to see. They were taken by Amy from Jady Images and I love how they turned out. Super cute as usual. Then again, I'm biased. Ha ha!

Before I sign off, remember...I'm giving away free samples on this post, so don't forget to leave a comment! The last day to do so is June 30th. If you read this blog through Facebook (I import my blog entries into Facebook), you can leave a comment there instead.

Swiper strikes again

2009-06-17T10:54:00.002-04:00

Seriously...we need to put a stop to this. I was informed this morning by my hubby that CMan swiped a video game from the store the other day. He had grabbed it and R hadn't noticed and he simply walked out of the store with it. R showed me the evidence a little while ago. I sure as hell hope he plans on returning it. In fact, he should take Chris with him to return it and make him apologize.

People...hide your belongings! Especially if we have a playdate scheduled.

Oh and another Christian tidbit for you:

Me: "Why do you wear cologne Christian?"
CMan: "for the ladies"

I'm pretty sure my husband coached him on that one.

There's some spinach in your teeth

2009-06-15T13:53:00.009-04:00

I'm really very nit picky about my teeth (and others teeth) about how straight (I've had braces twice) and clean they are. When I was dating guys, if they had yellow crooked teeth it was a total deal breaker. Given that I have this pet peeve, you'd think that I'd take better care of my teeth, but you'd be wrong. This year, I seem to have been making all these wonderful healthy changes, but my teeth haven't exactly been included in these changes. Don't get me wrong, I brush my teeth as much as the next guy, but not three times a day and I completely hate flossing. I guess it shows because every time I go to the dentist I get the lecture (along with multiple cavities) bla bla bla. So I've been meaning to be better about it, but I just kept pushing it to the back burner. A couple of weeks ago though, I was instantly reminded when I got an email on behalf of Crest.

They were preparing a new Web site for Hispanics called TuCrest, which will feature a podcast series on oral hygiene with a dentist, videos highlighting important parts of oral care, and a bloggers corner available in both Spanish and English. I was asked to be a part of this in exchange for my picture and some free samples for me and my readers. Since ~~I like to see my picture on websites~~ ~~I'm a sucker for free samples~~ I need to get with the program with my dental health, I signed right up. The timing couldn't have been better.

Just before leaving on my trip, I got a package in the mail with my Crest Pro-Health free samples. I packed it up in my bag and decided to use it while on vacation because I didn't have any travel size toothpaste (again, what timing). I unpacked my bag and placed the toothpaste on the bathroom sink. It made me chuckle when I noticed that my niece and nephew were using the same toothpaste (their dad is a dentist, so that should tell you something). Ha!

Well, the product was great and left my breath feeling fresh. It doesn't have that burning feeling that I hate. I don't know about you, but I don't like to feel like my mouth is on fire when I'm brushing my teeth. Yes, I know I'm a total wuss, but really. If I'm trying to brush more, being in pain while I do so is not going to help the situation. I was happy that there was no burning feeling. I really enjoyed the toothpaste (as much as one can "enjoy" toothpaste without being weird) and look forward to using it from now on. Thank you Crest.

If you want to win some freebie samples to try this toothpaste out for yourself, leave me a comment before this month is over. If I end up with more comments than samples, I'll just raffle them off. If I end up with no comments, then I'll just have to accept that my readers have dirty mouths and want to keep them that way. ;o)

Speaking of samples...not that I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but why do some people get to review chocolate and I get toothpaste? Maybe she's allowed to have chocolate since she has no cavities because she actually flosses.

Hmm...now where did I put that floss?...

The San Francisco Treat!

2009-06-04T12:01:00.007-04:00

Hey buddies I have returned from California, um, I guess I forgot to mention that I went to California. Well, yes, I left on Thursday and came back on Tuesday. I went with JJ (his first plane ride!) and my brother because my sister Patti was having a big ole birthday bash.

Jordan behaved very well on the plane. He slept some and played some and all was good and merry and bright. On Friday my brother and I (and JJ) took the BART into San Francisco. We went to the huge mall on Powell and did a little shopping (wherein my brother was asked if I was his mom, damn, I'm old, but not THAT old; he's 23 for Christ sake!). We walked around for a bit and looked at the pretty buildings and then rode the little trolley down to China Town where I bought a new duffel bag for 12 bucks because the one I took ripped on both ends (heavy packer eh?). Then we found a little All you can eat Dim Sum place for $5.99. It was a little scary because some of the food was completely strange looking (what the heck is that gelatinous black stuff? I still don't know), but I'm all for trying new things (chocolate covered crickets anyone?), so I braved it out. I still don't know what some of those things were. If you know, and it's gross, please don't tell me.

After our mystery lunch we got back on the trolley and headed down to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 where we hung out with pirates, did a little window shopping and walked around. Once again I was not able to go to Alcatraz. I've been to SFO like 5 times and I've never been able to go because the tickets are always sold out. This time, I planned ahead and was going to buy them online, but I had the stroller with me and I read on the website that the tour involves climbing hilly terrain, so, once again, that wasn't happening. Besides, the weather was super cold out by the piers so I would've been freezing the whole time. The wind almost blew me away stroller and all. Brrrr.

On Saturday, I went to the salon and got a(nother) haircut, mani and pedi. I had to sit Jordan on my lap during all the pampering because the child will not go with anyone else. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of going to the salon?

That evening was my sister Patti's birthday party. Because I had el niño with me, I wasn't able to really let loose like I am wont to do, but that's alright, I had fun anyway (not as much as they did though). Unfortunately since I was on baby duty, that means I have no embarrassing photos to share this time. Well, no drunk ones anyway. The following day we went to brunch with a bunch of the party guests, friends and family and then we all headed back to my sister Patti's house again for some more relaxation and good times. These people really know how to party, what energy!

On Monday we went back to my other sister's Geraldine's house and I stayed home alone with the baby the whole day. I needed to rest from all that hustle and bustle. I was super tired and I hadn't really done anything! It's hard being the only one on baby duty and not having someone else to hand him off to for more than 2 minutes to take a break. I gotta hand it to those stay at home moms and those single moms. During the afternoon, my Godmother came over for a little while to visit me and meet the baby. She brought me a box of delicious chocolate (which is now all gone). That evening we had dinner at my sister's home and I cracked open the ole' stalkers journal and entertained my niece and nephew with sad/hilarious (I'm not sure which is the better adjective here really) Prom and Grad Nite tales (mine of course). Ah good times...

On Tuesday, I woke up nice and relaxed and lingered in bed. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 9. I wasn't packed, but I figured I had time since my flight was at 1:50pm. Hm, let's double check that, I have the paper right here...OH CRAP...it's at 12:50! Yeah, I kinda freaked out because no one was bathed or dressed or fed or packed and this meant we had to leave in one hour. FREAKOUT! Needless to say, my super packing skills (it's called throw everything in the luggage) and I made it out on time, but just barely (why must there always be drama?!). We went from the check-in counter to security to buying our lunch and right onto the plane (reminds me of the NY trip). The flight was not as nice as on the way back. JJ slept in his car seat for 2 hours, but then he refused to leave my lap for the rest of the flight. Oh well, at least I got to watch a movie and eat some lunch while he slept.

Overall the trip was fun, but I don't think I'll be doing that (traveling with baby) again by myself without my mom or my husband. Yeah, I'm a wuss, I know, whatever. Hey, I've got some free samples to give away in my next blog post so stay tuned.

9 months old

2009-05-26T11:17:00.004-04:00

On the 20th of this month, JJ turned 9 months old (yes, I'm behind on my blogging...don't remind me). We took him to his pediatrician and he weighed in at 19lbs 13 oz. He was 27 inches long. She felt he was a little behind on his motor skills so she recommended OT and PT for him. She was mostly noticing that his hands are still closed (and should be open), he doesn't sit up from a laying position and that he didn't try to scoot or reach for an object that was in front of him. I'm going to wait a bit and see because this weekend, he was really active. I think he's just taking his time with things. I find that I'm a bit more relaxed about when he does things vs when Christian did things. I find that it's mostly because I don't have any other babies his age to compare him to (whereas with CMan, there were 3 other babies born around his same time that always did everything before he did).

He doesn't crawl yet, but I think that's coming soon because as I said, this past weekend he was Mr. Antsinmypants. I put him down and he lunged himself towards any object that grabbed his attention. Unfortunately that meant he came close to face planting more often than not. He then ended up on his belly and he totally hates that. When I try to help him lift his knees, he tries to stand up instead. Maybe he'll skip the crawling and go straight to standing.

I'm also teaching him to sit up from a lying position by pushing off with his little arms. Even though, he's my second child, I think he's got first child syndrome. Mommy carries him too much and babies him too much, so he doesn't get the chance to learn new locomotion skills.

As far as his eating goes, he still hates baby food. He has started eating some finger foods now though. At meal time, we sit him in his high chair to "eat" with the rest of the family. We put little puffs on his tray and he picks them up (pincer grasp!) and puts them in his mouth. At first he would drop most of them, but this weekend, he really became a pro at it. If I'm eating something soft that he can eat, I give him some of that too. Either he picks it up off the tray or takes it from my finger. So far he's had noodles, potatoes, papaya, yobaby yogurt, rice and zucchini. I'm hoping that if we keep this up, each day he will eat a little bit more. Maybe we can skip the baby food and go straight to solids.

Fighting and Stealing

2009-05-14T11:24:00.004-04:00

The other day my parents brought to my attention that CMan was watching a movie that was not appropriate due to its violent content (XMen) with all the fighting that was going on. I shrugged it off because although there is probably a grain of truth to what they were saying, I'm not one of those people that overly concerns herself with that. As long as he's not watching Friday 13th (yet) or watching super violent movies every day, it's OK with me. For the most part, he watches Spongebob, Disney movies or Dora and sometimes he watches iCarly, Drake and Josh, Spiderman, Pirates or Wizard of Oz.

You know what though? Even cartoons can teach kids bad things. The other day when Cman got mad at me he said "I hate you". I told him that it was not nice to say that to people. I figured that he picked it up at daycare. He could have, but the other day, Spongebob was playing in the background and I heard Squidword say "I hate you!" to Spongebob and CMan said "look mom, he said I hate you!" and I said "I know, that's not very nice is it?" and he said "no". Granted, Spongebob may not be geared towards preschoolers, but even the Dora cartoons have bad influences.

Any parent familiar with that cartoon knows that there's a character named Swiper. It's a fox that goes around stealing or swiping things every episode. The lesson comes in when Dora and her clan say "Swiper No Swiping!" and that usually puts and end to it. My son on the other hand, doesn't pick up on that nuance. On Easter morning, we went to Manders house and CMan and Brandon were playing with one of Brandon's toys. When it was almost time to go home, there was no sign of the toy that Brandon had lent to Christian. We looked everywhere and couldn't find it. We asked CMan and all he said was "I lost it". Brandon was convinced that CMan was trying to steal his toy and had hidden it. I, not thinking that Chris was capable of that, assured him that it would be found eventually under a couch or something. Just as we were about to leave, R looked inside of CMan's Easter basket and sure enough, there was the toy. When we got in the car, we asked Chris why he had taken the toy and put it in his basket. R told him it wasn't nice to swipe things. His reply? "I was swiping it like Swiper!". Nice.

Just comes to show you, even the most innocent show can teach them something bad. Perhaps a little sword fighting isn't too terrible after all huh?

Just think, you can say you know someone that won!

2009-05-12T13:43:00.005-04:00

You know I'm a sucker for baby contests, so here's another one that you, my blog friends, can help me out with. I entered Jordan in Elvis Duran's Battle of the Babies. It's supposedly for the cutest baby in America, but we all know it's really a popularity contest. Since I am not very popular, I need all the help I can get. Please go to this page and vote for Jordan once a day every day until May 18th. The winner for week 2 will be announced on May 20th. The prize? $5000. Nice huh?

If you're on Facebook, I've created a Facebook group here. Please repost and share share share!

If the voting page doesn't work, you can try this link too. Just click on the letter J. He's on the 14th page, third row, in the middle.

Thanks a bunch!

Nebulizer City

2009-05-08T13:42:00.003-04:00

It's been Nebulizer and Antibiotic City at my house for the past 10 days. Christian was diagnosed with left upper lobe pneumonia and a double ear infection and JJ had a runny nose, a cough, and icky ears, so both were given nebulizer treatments. Do you know how hard it is to give an 8 month old nebulizer treatments? I don't recommend it that's for sure. It involves lots of flailing and screaming...and that's just me.

Yesterday was the last day of Christian's antibiotic and an Xray done earlier this week revealed that the pneumonia was all gone. Thank God. That was a little scary for a moment there because Chris got really weak (he wanted to be carried) and he refused to eat for a couple of days. He said no to happy meal, pizza, macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets, so you know something wasn't right.

Fortunately, he's all better now. JJ on the other hand still has a runny nose and a cough, so we've had to hold off on the things that the G.I. doctor wanted us to do. I refuse to do a cry it out when he is sick. I did stop on the pumping though (on Cinco de Mayo). It was starting to get a little tedious. Why is it that I always choose to stop pumping around a holiday? For Chris I stopped on St. Patty's Day. I just noticed those are both drinking holidays too...ha ha. That totally makes me look like a lush.

The weaning has gone smoothly because JJ is taking formula like a champ now (still hates food though). I still nurse him at night to go to bed and in the wee hours of the morning when he's in my bed (4am-7am) so I'm not completely done, but it's very minimal. I think because of the fact that I'm weaning is why I've recently gained 3 pounds all of a sudden. This totally sucks because I haven't finished my 20/20 plan (it's more like 7/11 at this point) but oh well, I guess it will have to be extended. 20/30 perhaps?

Speaking of 20/20, I'll be doing another 5K in about 2 weeks. I enjoyed the first one so much that I'm ready to do it again. Hopefully this time I can take a picture...you know to have proof that I was there and that I did it. Ha ha.

Last but not least, I've entered Jordan in a baby picture contest, so please vote for him (once daily until May 18) so we can win $5000. It would really help us to get his college fund going. Pass it on to your friends too! I will do a more thorough post about this tomorrow. Thanks y'all.