1. Finished the dress I've been knitting for Julia Belén, and it actually fits her!
2. Sold some diaper covers on diaperswappers that have been sitting unused since before Julia Belén was born, and even shipped them within 12 hours.
3. Got caught up on paperwork for work in preparation for the start of IEP season.

Breakfast with Julia Belén

This morning I brought Julia Belén down with me while I was making & eating my breakfast. She kept me great company, she was full of smiles everytime I looked over at her. She was also chatting & giggling away the whole time.
-Andrés

green carnations

as part of our st. patrick's day fun here, i decided that it we could dye some carnations green. i got a bunch of white carnations at the store and then i let antonio help me add some green food coloring to the water. sadly, it didn't work as well as i would have liked.

dyeing the carnations made me think back to my kindergarten science fair project. same thing, dyeing carnations. i remember we dyed them red. i remember the dark green felt with which we wrapped the display board. and i remember ripping the dark green felt off in a rage as a way to get back at my siblings. apparently, i thought destroying my project would upset them as much as i upset me.

lord help me should julia belén take after me. let's hope it's not in the name.

New thing

My sister has been doing this on her blog, and it's one of my favorite things now. Makes me think about the things I've done right over the week instead of worrying about the things that did not get done. So I'm gonna start sharing too.



1. Did 5 loads of laundry and only 1 still needs to be folded.
2. Went on my first run as part of training for my half marathon.
3. Celebrated St. Patrick's day with a beef and Guinness stew, even though it required a last minute menu change.

Adventures of Bike Commuting

Today was a very adventurous day in the world of bike commuting. This morning I had to sprint the 4 miles to make the bus. The reason I was late is that I had a nail embeded in the rear tire, and in the process of changing the tube I either found or made a pinch flat in my spare, so I had to patch the spare to be able to use it. Then wrestle the tire back on the rim, then head out.

And this afternoon on the way home from work, my bike was in another bus accident on the highway, almost 6 months to the day (tomorrow would have been six months exactly). I am fine, just sore, and it looks like my bike did not sustain damage this time. But it was scary, it was a multiple car pile up, very much like the crash in Taledega Nights, where cars were spinning in 360's in front of our path and the bus swerved, when up on two wheels and then started plowing into the spinning cars, using my bike as the plow.

But I did not start running around screaming about the invisible fire. . . .

Tuesday Feb 24th's reading

I had meant to post about this earlier, but last week, as you may have gathered was pretty hectic, but as I was listening to the daily scripture readings on my iPod while on the bus on Tuesday morning (as I do first thing every morning), the reading really hit home. With how things are going financially, with us personally and with the rest of the world, I really connected. I see it as God's way of sometimes telling me to have faith, that he knows what we are going through, and gives me the message in ways that are sometimes less subtle than others. Here is the reading that I am referring to, I have highlighted the part that really connected:

Sirach 2:1-11

My son, when you come to serve the LORD, prepare yourself for trials.
Be sincere of heart and steadfast, undisturbed in time of adversity.
Cling to him, forsake him not; thus will your future be great.
Accept whatever befalls you, in crushing misfortune be patient;
For in fire gold is tested, and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation.
Trust God and he will help you; make straight your ways and hope in him.
You who fear the LORD, wait for his mercy, turn not away lest you fall.
You who fear the LORD, trust him, and your reward will not be lost.
You who fear the LORD, hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy.
Study the generations long past and understand; has anyone hoped in the LORD and been disappointed? Has anyone persevered in his fear and been forsaken? Has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed?
Compassionate and merciful is the LORD; he forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble.

hold the jalapeños

it's 8:30 in the morning and this is our house: antonio sleeping upstairs in his toddler bed. julia belén asleep in the swing downstairs. andres and i sleeping on the couches. cornflower asleep upstairs under our bed.

i couldn't have imagined a better way to end (start?) the week. it was a long one.

started off with both kids coming down with colds last sunday. julia belén has recovered pretty quickly, just a little bit of a stuffy nose. thank goodness for breastmilk. antonio's been slower to recover. he'd get better, then get worse. get better, then worse. and on monday he started running a low grade fever that lasted all week.

work is kicking my butt. even though it's only two and a half days, and a couple private patients, i am having trouble keeping up with the paperwork, the phone calls, the meetings, etc.

so come friday, one of my days off, i am wiped. frumpy fridays, i like to call them. we usually stay in our pjs pretty late and when i do shower i change into jeans and a t-shirt. no make-up. i don't dry my hair. lazy day.

decide mid-morning to take antonio the pediatrician. of course it has to be a frumpy friday, not looking my best. and at lunch antonio rubbed a plate full of ranch all over his head. i had to take antonio to the doctor and he smelled like a salad.

meanwhile, andres had taken the bus home at 12:30 to immediately turn around and drive back to the south of town to get tags transferred on the solara. we decided a long time ago to become a 1 car family and with the registration due in a couple weeks, we were running out of time. so andres is at carmax while i'm at the pediatrician.

antonio has an ear infection.

takes a lot longer to get the paperwork done on the solara than we thought. julia belén is getting hungry. don't tell us it's going to be 5 minutes to finish the paperwork when it's really 20. 15 minutes is a very significant amount of time when you have a nursling.

we have to stop at publix to get antonio's prescription filled. it's already 6:30. since it's getting late, we decide to get some spuds at mccalister's next to publix while the prescription is being filled. also gives me time to feed the baby.

it's friday in lent so no meat. we decide to get veggie chili spuds. didn't think twice about the jalapeños on top.

the rest of the night went relatively smoothly. we got through dinner and bedtime more or less on time. andres and i watched blood diamond while the baby slept. went to bed at about midnight. and then the fun started.

antonio woke up crying at about 4:45. he tried finding his way to our room but i think he got scared in the dark and just stood in our doorway crying. brought him to bed with us. the crying roused julia belén, who had just nursed about an hour ago. not really time for her to eat again. antonio was restless in our bed so andres went back to the nursery with him to see if he would fall asleep in his bed again. no such luck. even from our room, i could hear him chatting away.

it's now 6 in the morning. antonio's still awake. i can't convince julia belén to fall asleep without nursing again, so i give in. all of sudden, she starts gagging and then throws up EVERYWHERE. i mean, e.v.e.r.y.w.he.r.e. i am drenched, the sheets are soaked on both sides of the bed. there was no way we were getting back into that bed. apparently, the jalapeños did not agree with her. i call andres to come change the baby while i change. he takes julia belén downstairs, and i go back to antonio to rock him back to sleep.

he finally falls asleep. julia belén, not so much. i tried nursing her again. after all she did just throw up everything she ate. she's still up. so i tried just cuddling on the couch but she gets mad that i'm not moving. at this point i am too exhausted to walk around rocking her until she falls asleep so we bring the swing to the living room and see if she will fall asleep. works like a charm. it's like the padding is soaked in ether. andres and i finally lay back down to sleep on the couches if even for a couple more hours of sleep, forgetting that we left the dog upstairs. so that's how we ended up scattered about the house this morning.

i have never been so grateful for a rainy, better-to-stay-home-inside, saturday. because that's all we feel like doing.