I welcomed my son one year ago. It was a very rough pregnancy and I made sure that during the c-section, the doctors fixed me up so I could never go through that again. My emotions were very mixed throughout but once I held my baby boy in my arms, all that went away. I'm very in love with him. I prepared myself to fall in love after being convinced it would happen by my friend the Cheese. Yesterday we celebrated his birthday and it was a lot of fun. He loved his cake and enjoyed smearing it all over his face and head.  My daughter wouldn't touch her cake but he loved it.  He had a smile throughout his party and seemed to enjoy being held by everyone.  Can't ask for more than that.  Happy Birthday Little Man!!!

Our deck is done. Whoohoo!  I grilled my perfect steaks last night and it was nice to just walk from my kicthen, 4 steps to the sunroom, out the door to my grill, and back again.  Previously, I had to carry everything downstairs, through the basement, to the grill, wait around down there for things to be done cooking, and then carry everything upstairs again.  With this process, I often forgot to put the cover back on the grill and my poor grill is hurting because of it.  However, now that its on my deck, it won't be such a pain to walk all the way from my bed to the deck when I forget the cover.  And, btw, my steaks WERE perfect.  I have yet to ruin steaks when I grill them.  So moist…tender… mmmmmm

My daughter played her soccer game on Saturday and LOVED it. I knew she would once she gave it a try w/o crying.  There was still some crying but mostly because the girl needed a nap prior to the game.  She's up by 5:45 a.m. or 6:00 a.m. on the weekends and still needs her naps.  I keep trying to ween her a bit since when she starts school she won't get naps anymore but she loves them. Just like her papi.  She didn't get the ball in the goal but she came close.  And really – I'm past my 'have-to-win' ways.  Although I almost yelled "push him out of the way!!!" to her at one point and had to bite my tongue.  Can you imagine the parents if I had said that?  Yeah – they would love me.  I was very happy that she didn't cry and had so much fun.  Now to get the girl in shape.  She stopped once and said "I'm so tired of running!!!".  I guess for 4 year olds, they don't get to play positions so she was running all over – ineffectively.  Next lesson – how to use the field wisely w/o getting so tired.

I visited the Museum of American History on Sunday. I went specifically to see the Celia Cruiz exhibition. It was really great.  They had some of the 'costumes' or 'outfits' that she wore along with some awesome shoes. If I had downloaded my pics from my camera, I'd post a couple.  I think they did a nice job of capturing her 'essence'.  There was a lot of music playing as well as a couple videos of her life.  If you're unfamiliar with her music, go to Amazon.com and listen to some clips.  No woman has ever accomplished what she did with salsa music.  She was an amazing woman and is very missed in the music world.  

Interesting discussion on camps for the United States. Maybe they go along with the wall all these weirdos want built. And yes, I think you're a weirdo if you want to live within walls. Canada next? Of course everyone thinks there's no problem with people coming in from Canada. Have you been to Montana? If people want to get in, they should just go to Canada first. Much easier…

Why do I have to be the parent who's kid cries over everything?  More later…

UPDATE
So this past Saturday was Petunia's first soccer game.  I had taken her out to practice a bit awhile ago. She had her shoes. Her shin guards. She was excited and ready to run.  She wanted to be the fastest (and probably would be).  I, unfortunately, had to work at a consignment sale so I couldn't attend the game. The report came back as "daughter standing in middle of field crying her eyes out".  It both pissed me off and made me want to cry.  It pisses me off only because she gets excited about so many things and then just cries about it and gets scared. Over everything. Saying hello to someone. Saying goodbye to someone.  Dancing. Now this.  But it makes me want to cry because I know the fear she has.  I have never let fear stop me from doing something like that.  I played sports all my life.  I did dance performances. I did piano performances.  I've acted in front of large crowds. However, I have a deep fear of using the phone.  I email everyone I know because picking up the phone is way too hard for me.  I really have to know someone very well to be comfortable.  I have gotten paralyzed with that fear. Why?  Who knows.  I sometimes have to work through it but it is still always there.

So what do I do? She says she wants to try again and will be less scared. She will have to play the whole season.  I won't let her quit. Plus, I think once she really plays once, she'll love it.  However, it doesn't help that they don't have practices.  They show up 30 minutes before the game and do some drills I think. What good is that for kids who have never played?  Stupid. I hope it is because they are only 4.  I will be finding out this Saturday.  If they do that for other ages, she'll play soccer elsewhere.  That is whimpy soccer.  If she is going to play, she's going to practice like a real player.

Please, cross your fingers, pray, whatever else you do that she'll find the courage to at least run around a bit on Saturday.

I have spent the last two days working from my house (awesome!) while taking care of my son who is just really sick.  He wouldn't eat. He wouldn't drink (much).  He would barely play. And he slept most of both days.  In fact, I hear at this very moment he is still asleep (8:15 a.m.).  That is unheard of in my house where both kids feel the need to be up by 6 a.m. every single day of the week.  Hopefully Papá will wake up, be happy, and eat some food.  If he doesn't, I think he'll be going back to the doctor's today. 

Having a sick little baby is always hard.  They cry. They squirm. They want to play but can't. And all you can do is try to hold them and make them laugh.  I am excellent at getting my kids to laugh but it was getting to be a challenge by 6:30 p.m. yesterday.  Finally, he gave up and I put him to bed. On an empty tummy.  He also took to wanting to play with high-tech toys only.  Remotes. Cell phones. Etc. His toys are no good anymore.  He turns his nose up at them.  Only the best for him.  I gave him an old cell phone to play with but since he doesn't see me using it, it isn't worthy of his time.  How do they learn this at 10 months? Amazing. 

I have actually had a busy week at work. Awesome. I enjoy being busy and completing projects. When I sit here with nothing to do, I get bored and then start hating my job. Being busy helps me feel like I’m worthwhile and actually know something. What’s up for me this weekend?

Friday Night
Dancing, dancing, dancing. Cecilia’s is the place for hot dancing tonight. Salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton. Live band. And me of course. What could be better?Saturday Night
Celebrating a friend’s birthday. On top of that, I have a whole house to clean (see Sunday). Will be a tiring day since I have the kids all day and won’t have a chance to nap and am out Friday night.

Sunday
We have a student teacher from Spain coming to stay with us. It should be very interesting. She’ll be with us for 10 days and teaching at the elementary school around the corner. My daughter is very excited and is sad she’ll only stay for a few days. I am a little nervous about it but think it’ll be great. Hopefully she’ll want to go out with me at least once so I don’t go two weeks without dancing!

So as you can see, I have a very busy weekend coming up. That’s why I’m taking 1/2 the day off today to relax and get a pedicure and, *shock*, maybe a manicure too since I’m almost successful at quitting biting my nails. That sounds weird. Since biting my nails has become something in my past. That sounds better. Still hard to say.