Jacinta, Joaquin and my new favorite thing to do

Jacinta's hair is really growing out. She still has a faux mullet. Or as Georgie just said, "business in the front, party in the back." Her hair was tied up into two pony tails and the pictures below show Jacinta's hair after Georgie took out the rubber bands.

Sailor Moon hair, according to Georgie.

Jacinta likes to touch Joaquin's head whenever he is anywhere near her which totally annoys Joaquin. His reaction to this is usually with a resounding, "Ow!"

This picture of Joaquin -- especially his facial expression -- reminds me of my brother, Tristan, when he was this age.

Reminder to self: Ask Mama for childhood pictures. Scan pictures. Post pictures to blog.

Jacinta has been biting my clothes and sometimes my skin. Ouch. She does it zombie-style, too, like in Dawn of the Dead when a zombie bites someone's neck and the skin looks all stringy and chewy and the blood squirts out two feet high.


I haven't decided yet if Joaquin likes to be clean or he likes the idea of cleaning. Whenever I ask him to wipe his face clean with a napkin, for example, he gladly accepts it, wipes his face for a good second and then immediately wipes the area around him. What the??


Jacinta still hums when I sing to her. She also hums when she is ready to take a nap while I carry her in my arms.

My cutie!

Now for my new favorite thing... Bath Time! It's almost too good to be true; being able to enjoy a bath and spend time with my children... at the same time! Plus, I think it helps Jacinta feel more comfortable about bath time.

I suppose I should talk about bath time for both Joaquin and Jacinta. Up until a few days ago, Joaquin loved taking a bath. He could spend an hour at-a-time in there! Then, I just had to ruin it of course by buying those anti-slip sticker things and sticking them on the tub floor. Because when I started a bath for Joaquin he saw the said stickers and freaked out. I thought he would be OK with it once he got into the tub, but he wasn't. Tonight was the second bath time since the incident and Joaquin still reacted the same way. To ease his fear, I decided to get into the tub with Joaquin and Jacinta. No luck. So, it was a quick bath for Joaquin.

Now for Jacinta. Jacinta really doesn't like bath time. As soon as we place her in the tub sitting down, she immediately pulls herself up. When I first got into the tub, she was still uneasy. After a couple of minutes of my reassuring her that everything was ok, Jacinta began to relax a little bit. We hung out in the bath tub for about 15 minutes playing with the bubbles and the toys that were scattered about everywhere in the water. I should mention though that even though Jacinta found a little bit of courage, she still didn't leave my vicinity. She made sure that I was one small leap away if she happen to walk a step or two away from me. So cute.


Good night.

Memorial Day Weekend

The picture of Joaquin below says it all about our weekend. It was totally wicked! Ok, so that was my semi-homage to The Incredibles.


We attended Isabella's 5th Birthday party on Saturday. Last year, Jacinta was still hanging out in my belly when we went to Belle's 4th Birthday party. I've noticed that every year now since we've been going to Belle's party, the weather has been pretty amazing, especially for taking photos.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

We headed to a newer mall around Tin & Cezar's neighborhood. It wasn't a good afternoon for walking around. It was quite frigid, actually. And I have a memorable, although not pleasant, incident to tell. One of the rent-a-cops came up to my brother -- who was taking pictures of his kids -- and told him to, "make sure that you're only taking pictures of your kids." Grrr. I don't know why that irked me more than it did my brother.



The next day, Sunday, we had a little picnic. The morning started out beautifully. The sun was out, the sky was blue. Then, at around 11AM, the clouds started to roll in. I checked weather.com one final time before we left the house and it told me that it wasn't going to rain until after 3pm and that it was only going to be 'scattered'. Why do I even bother with weather.com? It's like my going outside, licking my index finger and sticking it out -- my finger, not my tongue... although... -- to determine if rain is coming because the moisture in my finger didn't dry up within 5 seconds.

I love this picture of Mama and Jacinta.

About 20 minutes after we arrived at the picnic area, the rain began its process. A few drops at first, then more drops and this time bigger until there was just a downpour. Everyone headed into their cards. The brave ones, the two oldest picnickers, my Mom and Tita Lily, stayed behind to make sure that our food didn't get wet. Man oh man, they were soaking wet when the rain finally subsided. Thank you, Lolas.

It wasn't just the boys who had fun!

Should I even mention that since I can remember, we've always had this superstition (all in good fun) about Tita Lily? It is that whenever Tita Lily plans something or is part of a planned event, it rains. And this time it truly seemed like a good screwball theory because as the rain progressed into the downpour, Tita Lily was nearing the picnic area. And when Tita Lily finally arrived, the rain was in full force.

Tired.

We played with a soccer ball and a couple of frisbees. Is 'frisbees' not a word or the plural form of frisbee? blogger.com is giving me the dotted-red underline. Christian and Joaquin were in their own little world of bubbles. It was amusing to watch these two interact. Christian, being the older and taller, would occasionally taunt Joaquin by waving a cheese-flavored Pringle or the soap bubble way above his head.

At precisely the time before the sun touches the horizon at sun set, my brother gathered up all of us for a family portrait. He said it was the best time to take pictures because the light is beautiful.

That's a wrap.

We all had a nice time. Thank you, Mama, for organizing the picnic. I know you said that you feel you didn't even do anything but you felt tired. I also know that planning a picnic and saving the food from a deluge of water definitely counts as something.

Jqn: 28 months, 3 days old!

Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin.

Everything these days is about repetition. You can't just say anything once. It has to be at least three times. This is kind of funny to me because I remember being quite annoyed with your Kuya Richard when he use to do just that. Well, here we are and I should really begin to make amends with your Tita Trisa for having cursed silently (privately) at how it bothered me so when Richard would say, "Mom. Mom. Mom. Can we blah blah? Can we blah blah? When can we blah blah? Hey, maybe your Tita Trisa isn't reading this entry and I can get away with that one. Just in case... Ate, I know now what you went through. Ah, so it goes. Please, please, please accept my apology.

But, it certainly has not truly gotten away from us as this very act of repeating everything is happening to us; and done by our own flesh and blood. I wonder who among our family and friends are cursing us this time?

"I Get My Good Looks From My Dad"
I'd like to mention that your funny word this month is "poon". We've been trying to get you to say "food" instead of "coowee" when you want something to eat and it comes out as "poon".

I get a kick out of your handing me the Hershey's chocolate syrup when I open the refrigerator to get the milk.

This month last year, you were learning how to walk. And, you still are. I haven't learned yet why you like to watch your feet/look down when you walk. Are you still amazed that those two limbs beneath your torso is what is making you go places? I know sometimes I catch myself thinking the same thing. That we are the ones willing our bodies to make every movement. And sometimes when I think this way it makes me dizzy.

We need to do something about your eating habits. You are such a picky eater. I can't wait until your appetite becomes that of a hungry, growing boy.

You've been getting up around 3-4am, going into our bedroom and pleading to be let into bed with me, your daddy and Jacinta. I am still astonished to think how all four of us can possibly fit on a queen-sized bed, but we do. I love seeing you and Jacinta in bed with daddy and me, but I also know that daddy and I need our space back.

Love, love, love you,

Mama

Our Little Leonidas

Joaquin got his first buzz cut this past Sunday. His Ninong Tristan gave him the cut.

Here is Joaquin before my brother turned on the electric shaver.
"Wha??"
And thus began almost ten minutes of non-stop crying. Georgie, I really like your hair this way, by the way.



"What are you lookin' at? It was no. big. deal."
I wonder what you were thinking about, Georgie?
Was it that you wanted to get your hair cut, too? :p
Why Leonidas? It is simply just a reference to the film, '300'. If you have seen it, it's a reference to how the young boys looked in their rite of passage to becoming a Spartan soldier.

Friday, Saturday & Sunday

We had my immediate family over this past Friday for dinner. There were a total of five adults (Tristan, Jo Anne, Mama, Georgie and me), a young boy (JJ), two toddlers (Christian and Joaquin) and two babies (Danielle and Jacinta). We had food for about three or four times that.

Lou's Salad is so yummy!
The Spread.
Ribeye. Hungry yet?
The food: Lou's salad, ribs, steak, stew, rice, lentil beans, hot dogs, fruits, chips and M&Ms.

Jo Anne's fruit creation. We're still amazed that you found time to do this!
My version of a centerpiece; store-bought Gerbera daisies.

Riley Preston's 2nd Birthday Party
The next day, we attended Riley's party at Tim and Gina's house. Thank you for inviting us. It's been a while! Our boys both had long hair.

Lovely Gina with Jacinta.

The Birthday Boy.
Oriyen.
That's Oriyen behind Jacinta. Yeah, Oriyen was holding up Jacinta. Strong girl!
Here is a picture of Joaquin on a slide taken Saturday morning. Georgie took Joaquin and Jacinta to a park while I got a haircut and color.

Our little Samson.

Sunday
Jacinta was really funny this morning. Usually, she clings to me as if I never hold her. But as soon as she saw her Daddy walk by with a plate of food in his hands, Jacinta broke her kung fu grip and immediately crawled towards Georgie, pulled herself up and readied herself to be fed.


We continued to purge more stuff from our home today. In the process, I came across Jacinta's caps that she wore when she was born as well as the receiving blanket that was used to swaddle her. I decided to donate all the receiving blankets that we got from the hospital as well as the caps. I kept the actual cap that Jacinta used (the cream colored one) and will put it in her box.

I included the cap that I bough her from the store. It's the one with the pink stripes.

Happy Mother's Week to all Mommas

It was a nice Sunday. We got to spend time with both my family and Georgie's family. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures with my family.

I bought this shirt for Joaquin. Dontcha just love it? I forgot about it, but somehow it surfaced as I was trying to find an outfit for Joaquin that morning.


My family celebrated Mother's Day at Hooter's. Would you have thought that it was an unlikely place to celebrate this occasion? Perhaps some people may have but it was actually a good place to be because there weren't too many people dining in the restaurant that day. Plus, I think their fried shrimp is pretty delicious and worth the trip. Oh, and their chicken wings are good too. Yes, really.

I learned something about my Mama that day. She revealed to me that she was never truly comfortable with getting all dressed up for our past Mother's Day brunches held in hotel restaurants. All this time, I thought it was something she enjoyed. But it's so cool to know that my Mom and I are more alike than I thought. Either she has always been a laid back woman and I just didn't see this as I was growing or my Mom has become a more laid back person once my brother and I left the nest. I think it's probably the latter. No matter, I'm loving this more laid back person who you are now, Mama.

My brother Tristan and his family were all there with us. I received a cute pair of flip-flops from my Mom and a bath soap from Jo Anne. Thank you!

Georgie took the babies to the park afterwards while I went to one of my favorite haunts; Paper Source. I should have gone to the park with them because when I met up with Georgie, Joaquin and Jacinta, Georgie told me that Joaquin was playing everywhere in the park. This is a big deal because he has only been to the park less than ten times. I was so proud and excited to hear that he went down the slides and climbed everywhere.



In the evening, we went to Tia Marie's house to visit and celebrate Mother's Day with Georgie's Mom (Fabi), Tia Marie and 'lita. Fabi, in her Grandmahood-mode, spontaneously started to cook fried bananas -- because the banana was not a regular yellow banana -- for Joaquin when he eyed the plantain. Everyone, not just Joaquin, enjoyed eating them. I received a nice pair of earrings from Fabi -- Thank you!

What I hope to get from Joaquin and Jacinta when they are more aware of these types of events are cards that they make. I will cherish them forever. Well, I'll probably take a couple of pictures of the said items and toss 'em. Not to worry, they will be immortalized in the digital world. We're trying to limit the amount of stuff in our place. At the moment, it's out of control.

Tonight, Tasha came and helped us out a lot by entertaining Jacinta and Joaquin while we got some house chores done. Tasha, you rock! The chores were mostly trying to get Joaquin's bedroom in order. We've decided to give away all their small clothes (there are a lot!) as it is not worth it to keep them for future use and we really do not have much room in our home. When and if the time comes, then it comes. We'll deal with trivial things such as clothes then. I was telling Georgie that I felt almost liberated to be able to put their small clothes into bags for donation. I truly feel -- in a sense -- somewhat lighter in spirit.

I digress. One must admit it was a good segue.

Mother's Day 2008: chicken wings, revelations, courage and love.

Illustrations

About a couple of months ago, I found an artist who does illustrations. I commissioned two illustrations. They are of Joaquin and Jacinta. I picked out certain items that were representative of our children's lives at this time because I wanted a way to remember how they were some time in the future. I am very happy with these pieces and I look forward to working with the artist as our children grow up.

Joaquin. Items included: Binky, Tad, night-night blanket, sippy cup, train-wagon thingy and the Miami Heat logo in honor of Lolo, my Papa. I liked that the artist included two of each animal to symbolize Joaquin's age.


Jacinta. Items included: Pelican, striped cat, inchworm caterpillar, my favorite brown dress for her, shoes, clip and the Miami Heat logo in honor of Lolo, my Papa. Georgie loves the way Jacinta's face and hair turned out.

Cloverfield

Loved it.

I thought I would get disappointed because when I saw the preview for the film, it looked like the monster was going to be a no-show. That it was all going to be a lot of dirt, smoke and loud noises.

I also thought that I wouldn't like the shaky movement of the camera, but it didn't bother me too much. It was interesting to watch the action from the viewpoint of a spectator. The director explained that it was, "like watching everything that was going on through a straw." Everything is right in front of your face. You only see what the person holding the video camera sees.

If you liked films like 'War of the Worlds' (all versions of it -- I really liked the one with Tom Cruise), 'Independence Day' and 'King Kong' then you'll enjoy 'Cloverfield'.

Jcnt: 11 months, 1 day old!

Dear Jacinta,

A year ago today, you were still hanging out in my belly. I kind of miss those belly kicks. I just went back to my posts in 2007 and saw that I blogged on this very same day last year. And it was about your brother, Joaquin's, first time standing up all by himself. This means that you were able to pull yourself up almost five months earlier than Joaquin.


You can now also crawl forward which is pretty amusing because you usually crawl towards wherever you think I may be. I can't believe that we didn't put up any of our security gates this time so that we can keep you in one room at all times.

Sometimes I think I see you trying to mimick what we say and do. A couple of times I swear that you said, "Wow!" when you heard me saw it. And tonight I think we heard you say, "No more". Ok ok, that might be stretching it a little bit.

Teethsies. You have eight: six top, two bottom.

"Not this rocking thing again, Dad."

You still occupy two-thirds of our bed, but I truly enjoy it. Daddy's ready to transition you into the pack-and-play and then to the borrowed crib in Joaquin's bedroom. I'm mostly dreading this as I know that it will probably go rather badly -- a few days of sleepless nights. I shouldn't take it too heavily though as we are about to experience the inevitable.

I have noticed recently that when you are tired or cranky, I can usually get your mind off of this emotion by humming or singing to you. That's not the amazing part. The amazing part is that you join in on the singing. So cute!

We rarely have a photo together. So, here is one!

In less than a month, you are turning one year old. We're planning your party already. Hooray!

I wonder if you will take a few steps on your birthday. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Love,

Mama

P.S.
I forgot to mention that yesterday was the last day of my pumping at work. So, from now on you will only be getting breast milk when we're together and not at school. You don't seem to mind as you love to take swigs of chocolate milk from your brother's sippy cup.

Paola & Steve's Baby Shower

Last weekend was Steve and Paola's baby shower. Quite a few people came from out of town and from another country. Fabi came up here from Florida. Abuelita, who came all the way from Ecuador, came with Fabi. Tia Sylvia came from Arizona. And Tia Michita, Steve's mom, came from Ecuador as well.


As for the loverly objects above, I thought it was a party favor that Tia Michita brought with her. It turns out, and forgive my silliness, they are just salt and pepper shakers. It was perfect though: "S" and "P". Right? Steve later on explains to me that the restaurant is well-known for their salt-and-pepper shakers. When it first opened, the owner bought a few different sets. The patrons really enjoyed seeing them and started to bring more sets for the restaurant.

The ladies: Marie, Julia, Sylvia, Michita, Jacinta and Ximena.
The games:

• Don't say the word 'baby'
• Guess Paola's belly size
• Draw a baby, binky and a baby bottle on your head
• Baby jumble
• Drink from a sippy cup

This is probably the coolest present for the baby.
The parents-to-be.
An adorable memento that Tia Michita brought from Ecuador.
To Steve & Paola: Thank you for letting us be a part of your baby shower. We are excited for you and can't wait to meet your baby! Love you, guys.

For Tasha

Ok, so I made a mistake. What I really wanted to tell you was that GREEN is the new BLACK these days, wouldn't you agree? This is totally your season, Tasha. Almost every store has a green shade of this and that, be it from clothes to stuffs.

Taken almost a year ago. June 2007.
Let me know when you wanna go shopping. I'm sure Georgie and Alex would love to take Joaquin and Jacinta to the park or something. :-)

'lita

Jacinta met her Bisabuelita, "'lita", "Great Grandma" for the first time this past Friday evening. Abuelita Julia came all the way from Ecuador to visit with her family and also to attend Steve and Paola's Baby Shower, which took place this past weekend.

I Love Lucy

One of my all-time favorite TV shows is the ‘I Love Lucy’ show. I remember staying up late at night watching the episodes when I still lived with my parents. A couple of days ago, Georgie and I caught a couple of episodes.

The first one we saw was the one where Lucy had to lose weight so that she can be a part of Ricky's show. She had to lose enough weight to wear a size 12. The dance number that they did was charming and humorous.

The second episode we saw was the one where Lucy was reading a novel called ‘The Mockingbird Mystery’. She was so engrossed in the story that she began to think that Ricky was trying to murder her. Ethel was taking a fortune-telling class (or something) and deals out a group of cards that lead to death for Lucy. And in true I Love Lucy fashion, everything becomes a misunderstanding of sorts.

What's so great about the show for me is that even if I haven't seen one in a while, there is always at least one memorable scene. The only way I can try to explain this more is to compare this to people who loved watching ‘Friends’ and how they can recite the plot of a particular episode just by reading the titles which begin with, "The one with..." or "The one where..."

I think the underlying reason also is that the friendship between Lucy and Ethel is something I've always admired.