like mother, like daughter

before antonio was born, i wondered what kind of parent i would be. my mom often teases me that i'm just like my dad in many ways. but this week i've caught myself doing so many things my mom used to do when i was growing up...

- antonio had a frustrating week at dinner time. he wouldn't eat anything. instead he would sit in his chair and scream at us. there weren't even any real tears. without thinking, i turned to my son one night and told him "te va a dar escorbuto por no comer".

- in part due to my frustration with antonio's poor eating this week, and yes, a little of the scurvy fear (i know it's ridiculous, but mami always made it seem so real), i was desperate for antonio to eat more fruit. his snack yesterday afternoon consisted of a sliced banana covered in sprinkles, just like mami used to give us. i don't think i've ever seen antonio so happy to eat a banana, though i must admit that at first he only licked off the sprinkles.

- i have an obsession with little gourds and those little, tiny, baby pumpkins. andres doesn't understand why i'm so drawn to them. and today at the pumpkin patch, as i looked over the gourds and wanted to bring home a basket full, it dawned on me. mami loves them too and always has them out during the fall. and don't forget pointsettias at christmas time. if i had my way, our fireplace hearth would be covered with pointsettias.

- every morning i put my pajamas under my pillow after i get dressed.

rural

you know you are working in a rural area when...

- you pass more horses, goats, cattle, and alpacas than cars on your way to work
- the marquees on all the stores are all wishing the cabbage patch kids a happy birthday
- you pass no less than 3 corn mazes in a single work day
- you get an e-mail from work about a pig for sale that is ready for slaughter

Bus Accident

On the way home from work today my bus on I-85 was in an accident. Definitely shook me up. I am physically okay, but my bike is not. It was on the front of the bus when a car illegally changed lanes into the carpool lane (and he was by himself by the way) and clipped the bus, causing the bus to slam into the rear of the car at 65mph. The bus went into a skid, (luckily avoiding the jersey wall) all the while shrapnel from the civic was flying past my window. When we finally came to a stop, I was afraid to look for my bike at the front of the bus, and was surprised to find that it was still there. When the HERO unit came and moved the accident over to the right shoulder, I was finally able to get out of the bus to look at my bike, and found that the front wheel is bent to the point that it cracked, and the rear wheel is bent as well. The frame and the front fork may be bent as well, but I'll need to look at it more closely. Although I am annoyed that now I don't have a my primary means of getting to work, I have to thank God that no one was injured (even the guy driving the civic), and hopefully I'll be able to get my bike repaired/ replaced and be back on my bike in not too long.
-Andrés

the perfect little family?

we are excited announce that we found out we are having a baby girl!! antonio is going to have a little sister!

as we've told people the exciting news, they've all been very excited for us as well. many times, immediately after being told congratulations, people say, "now you have a little pair". or, "one of each, what a perfect little family". it's amazing to me that so many people assume that we are done having kids because we already have one of each. or how people think the only reason others keep having children is to get at least one of each gender.

a friend of mine was leaving the gym with her 3 children: the oldest a boy, a 3-year-old girl, and a newborn baby girl. a complete stranger came over to dote on the baby and actually asked (about the newborn) "is she your mistake?"

like i said, i have just been amazed. we certainly plan on having more kids if we are fortunate enough to be blessed with more children. we may even have 2 "little pairs" eventually. maybe antonio will be our only boy. or maybe his sister will have only brothers. whatever we are given, we will be more than happy to receive. but it certainly will not be because of some societal quota.

there's a monster under my bed

cornflower loves to sleep under our bed. sometimes she'll just go under there when we are all upstairs hanging out. we'll completely forget that she's under there and come downstairs. about 10 minutes later we might hear a soft tapping at the baby gate blocking the stairs at the bottom and a quiet whimper. sure enough, there she is at the gate waiting for us to open it. other times she'll sneak up there without us knowing and she'll just suddenly pop out from the under bed while folding laundry or making the bed. she's not a small dog, mind you. she's about 45 pounds, fairly solid. she's definitely caught me off guard a few of those times when she just jumps out from underneath the bed.

we've always joked that she's our blue monster under the bed. lately we've been wondering if maybe we should stop calling her that. otherwise, how would we ever convince antonio that there's no such thing as monsters under the bed?

my apologies...

...to the lady in the pew in front of us at church a few weeks ago. it never crossed my mind that he might tickle the feet of the person kneeling in front of us.

catch-22

if you clean their hands first they will inevitably get them dirty again by putting them on the tray you haven't yet cleaned.

if you clean the tray first, they will inevitably get it dirty by putting their not yet cleaned hands on the tray.

so which do you clean first?