we've skipped a few week, but here goes...

1. I took the kids to 9:00 Mass on Tuesday morning. Going to weekday Mass is something I've been wanting to do, especially since I have 2 extra days off work over the summer. But time usually gets away from me in the morning. Not this week. Taking the kids to Mass alone wasn't easy, but we got through it (and were blessed that we could sit with a friend of ours who helped a little with Antonio).
2. I finally finished the second dress I've been knitting for Julia Belén. I love how it came out!
3. We went to visit some dear friends of ours this afternoon. It's been something I've been meaning to do for a loonngg while, and I'm so glad we got to see them today. They are such a wonderful family.

1. I got around to renting a carpet cleaner from the grocery store and steam cleaned the carpets yesterday. Myself.
2. I have made over 40 train shaped lollipops in preparation for Antonio's birthday party this coming Saturday. Last year I made tropical shirt lollipops. This year, I thought about not doing the lollipops since it is a labor intensive. But I decided to make it a fun tradition for the kids' birthdays and when they get older, they can even help.
3. Antonio is 100% pacifier free!! Our dirty little secret is that we've been giving it to him at naptime and bedtime. But on our way home from Helen last Saturday, Antonio was throwing a fit because he wanted his pacifier. We didn't have it so he screamed/cried the whole (hour long) ride home. Amidst the screaming I declared to all in the car, "That's it! No more pacifier, not ever." I had had enough. And we've stuck to it. And Antonio has been just fine without it.

1. We celebrated Antonio's second birthday on Monday. A nice quiet day at home as a family, enjoying some of Antonio's favorite things. He even got to try chocolate milk!
2. Finally got around to some diaper maintenance and bleached them this morning. It was long overdue.
3. Planned ahead and included some "cook once, eat twice" recipes in our menu this week. I now have lasagna and ropa vieja ready for another week. I even made the ropa vieja earlier in the day today so when Andres was alone with the kids for dinner while I saw a private patient, all he had to was heat it up.

Happy Birthday sweet boy

Yesterday, Antonio turned 2 years old.

In the days and weeks leading up to his birthday, I would get sad thinking about my baby boy growing older. He has really starting growing more independent from me. I look at him and I don't see my little baby, I see a little boy. Just watching him you can see him scheming, thinking, problem-solving. You can see his little imagination at work as he plays with his new toy trains. He has his likes and his dislikes. He wants to choose his own shoes when we get ready. He has to have a big boy cup and fork and his own napkin during dinner. It's been such an adventure watching this little person discover who he is.

My little son has taught me so much these past 2 years. So much about living and loving and about what's really important in life.

Am I sad that he's not my little baby anymore? Yes. But I am even more excited about what the future will bring? You bet.

Happy Birthday my sweet Antonio. I love you more than you could ever know.

Proud of Antonio

This past weekend we went to see family in Panama City Beach, Florida. We had a great time, and were actually able to get in a few hours of sunlight, between the rain, at the beach and the pool. I was so proud of Antonio, playing on the beach made me realize how fast he is growing up. He was happily playing in the sand, and when we went down to the water with Julia Belén, he came with us, then decided that he would rather play in the sand back at our towels. So on his own, he found our towels and sat down to play. Later we went to the Ottinger's pool,  Antonio seemed a little hesitant about getting into the pool (since this was the first time since last summer), he finally warmed up to it, and eventually had the courage to go down the water slide (the bottom quarter of it). He did a very good job kicking to propel himself around the pool, which made me so proud. And you could tell he was proud of himself, at least with going down the slide. He would call out loudly "Mami" with a huge grin, so that Julia would watch him go down the slide. And he did a great job kicking around the pool.

This week has been kind of a blur. We have a very busy month ahead of us and I'm tired before we've even gone anywhere. So I don't feel as if I've accomplished much thus past week. But here goes...

1. On Saturday I went to: the farmer's market, the bank, the library (twice), Toys R Us, Party City, and Gymboree. And I was home by 10:30 in the morning, in time for all of us to have a late breakfast together.
2. I caught up with laundry, even if only temporarily.
3. I wrote this post.

Home-Grown Pork Rub

Last night I was able to make a rub using all ingredients grown in our garden for the Pork tenderloin (except for the salt). I was not sure how it would turn out, as I used herbs that I have never cooked with before, and others that I am just starting to experiment with, but it turned out really well. We all loved the pork, Antonio ate everything we gave him, and he asked for seconds and then a third helping of the pork. The herbs I used were Lemon Verbena, Pineapple Sage, Common Sage, Rosemary, Cuban Oregano, and a pinch of Thyme (as that is barely big enough to harvest). Then I added some extra virgin olive oil and a kosher salt. It was definitely a nice feeling of being able to cook with herbs and vegetables that we are growing ourselves, where they were able to go straight from the garden into our dishes.