12 steps

1. arrive at the car and unlock the doors.

2. lock the stroller brakes. a very important step that must not be skipped. ask me how i know this.

3. buckle baby into carseat.

4. place diaper bag in the back seat.

5. remember that your phone and wallet are in the diaper bag (since the diaper bag now is your purse) and put them in the front seat so that they are accessible.

6. quickly retrieve pacifier from diaper bag for crying baby who's tired of waiting.

7. place shopping bags in the backseat.

8. fold the stroller. yes, this merits its own step.

9. place stroller in the trunk.

10. replace pacifier for still crying baby.

11. quickly run around to the driver's seat and hop in.

12. finally go on your way.



and this is why, when you think you should have enough time to do any sort of errand, you never do.

a non-answer is better than a bad answer

like tara commented, sometimes as parents we can know too much for our own good. the past 2 weeks antonio has been doing this weird thing with his tongue where he keeps his mouth open and you can see his little tongue quivering. at first i attributed it to some sort of food allergy. but even after removing suspected trigger foods, i could see his little tongue trembling. i finally decided to call the doctor today after it was at its worst this past weekend. given my profession and education, i know what sorts of serious things that a quivering tongue is signs of. but i don't know enough to know that it can be normal. so off to the pediatrician we went. after spending about 10-15 minutes with us, the diagnosis was....

nothing to be concerned about. he couldn't give me a reason for it (he doesn't think it's food allergies), but didn't think it was anything bad. i'm the type of person that likes answers so it was a little frustrating to not know why he does it. but my parents gave me great advice when i talked to them afterwards...a non-answer is better than a bad answer.

so true.

Frozen Water

This morning, it was 19 here in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, and when I got to work I noticed that the water in my water bottle on my bike had become ice. First time that has happened to me. I had on full fingered biking gloves, but for temps this low I need some gloves with insulation, my hands hurt by the time I finished my ride. But it felt good to feel the crisp air on my face. I am looking forward to the day we can go bike riding all of as a family (hopefully it will be warmer then).
-Andres

baby legs

i had a bad afternoon today. so bad i almost felt like going jogging when i got home to let off steam. but as i was switching andres' and my laundry over to the dryer i pulled out a teeny pair of red pants that had gotten in there my mistake. and it made me smile.

any ideas...

on how to convince an angry, yelling 8 month old that he can't pick up the little green frog and eat because it is, in fact, embroidered onto his pajamas.

blueberry boogers

i'm home alone last night with antonio and the dogs. andres is in oklahoma. antonio and i are sitting on the floor playing and i look at him and see pink/red running from his nose. i start to panic because why would an 8 month old have a spontaneous nosebleed. then i remember that antonio got blueberries up his nose in the morning and they were now making their way out. the fun never ends.

and this is why

i'm not freaking out that antonio isn't crawling yet. today i asked him to give mami "un beso" and sure enough he leaned forward with his mouth wide open and planted one right on my face.

on andrew and other musings

i worry. a lot. when antonio was one day old and we were still in the hospital i expressed to antonio's pediatrician my concern over the spontaneous nystagmus that i had noted. at one month, i was googling intention tremors in the newborn. just last weekend i looked for information on infant tongue thrust.

i am a pediatric physical therapist. my job involves motor milestones and movement patterns day in and day out. antonio gets a lot of "therapeutic" play. i have, however, been blessed with a child that is in no hurry. i say blessed because i am slowly learning not to worry quite as much.

did i freak out when antonio wasn't rolling back to front at 4 months? yes.
did i freak out when antonio wasn't sitting independently at 5 months? a bit.
am i freaking out that antonio is not crawling at 7 month? not so much.
will i freak out when he's not walking at 12 months? i really don't think so.

antonio will meet his milestones when he's good and ready. i just have to be more trusting and have faith that everything is fine.

what got me thinking about how antonio's milestone acquisition, though slower than i had hoped, is in fact a gift, was thinking about my nephew. my oldest sister has never been much of a worrier. but my next oldest sister is more like me. or i should say was more like me. she was a worrier. until she had andrew. andrew is the sweetest, most caring little boy. he is also fearless and full of energy. my sister recently told me that one afternoon, he decided to talk like tigger all afternoon. he is 100% boy. he was the perfect gift for my sister. because if he couldn't teach her to worry less, then no one could. i realized how both my sister and i were blessed with the children we were blessed with for a reason.

then i started thinking more about andrew. he really is the sweetest boy i know. his eyes were teary and his voice choked when he sang "you are my sunshine" to my son. he wasn't even 5 yet. but such was his love for his cousin that he's only gotten to see just a few times. so maybe it's not that he just has tons of energy. maybe his heart is just so big in his little body that he is just bursting with love.

a season of firsts

so much to get caught up on...

growing up, the christmas season seemed to be the most wonderful time of the year. you just didn't think it could get any better than playing in the snow, decorating the tree, singing carols (the king of glory comes,...), laughing with your family, opening presents. i learned this year that it does get better, way better. i've had many many joyous christmases, but i don't know if any of them can surpass my first christmas as a mother. antonio's first christmas was more fun than i could have ever imagined. the only sad part was that we could only spend it with one half of the family.

antonio spent his first christmas in el paso. his abuelos doted over him quite a bit. and he was just as happy to meet his great aunts and uncles as they were to meet him. he was all smiles and giggles. he even got to meet his great-grandfather with whom he shares a birthday. abuelito roberto is over 90 years old, and while neither one might remember meeting the other, each brought joy to the other. abuelito roberto would reach out to antonio and antonio would grab his hand, and both would smile. truly a special moment that i will never forget and will repeat countless times to my son. andres' family always sings christmas carols on christmas eve and antonio was delighted when we sang his favorite christmas song, the little drummer boy. he loved opening his gifts, and he cried when we would take away the paper. while in el paso we were also able to go to chihuahua, mexico and the canyon del cobre for 4 days. it was quite an adventure, and a separate post altogether. it was beautiful, but definitely a trip for the books.

while antonio spent christmas day in el paso, he got to celebrate the twelfth day of christmas with his other abuelos and aunts and uncles. and his plethora of cousins of course. he and i flew to DC to celebrate his first feast of the epiphany. while we grew up always celebrating three kings day, the way my family celebrates it has changed over the years. nowadays, all the grandchildren spend the night on the 5th of january at abuelo and abuela's house, where they wake up in the morning to open the gifts that the three kings brought overnight. then the parents come over and everyone enjoys brunch together. as my parents' house is not yet ready, thanksgiving and christmas eve were spent at my sisters' houses. but my parents refused to abandon tradition this year when it came to three kings day. so there we were, abuelo and abuela, myself, and 9 grandchildren all spending the night at the "teeny house". what we lacked in space was made up for with laughter, joy, and love.

does it get any better...

antonio and i flew home to DC this past weekend and unfortunately andres could not join us. while we had a great time visiting the abuelos, tíos, and primos, antonio and i really missed his papi. yesterday andres got to pick up antonio on his way home from work and antonio was so happy to be with his papi that andres told me antonio was laughing out loud from his carseat on the way home. it gave me so much joy that antonio was so happy to see his father.