Sweet Child o' Mine

I think Axl Rose (or whoever wrote that song) had to be thinking about his/her own child, because I got to thinking about the lyrics the other day (one of those I-can't-sleep-at-2-am things) and realized that I totally feel that way about my boy.

She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
When everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face
It takes me away to a special place
And if I stare too long
I'd probably break down and cry....

Latest

Just a couple quick things:
1) My boy is going through a clingy phase....please Lord let it be a phase. Now, I don't mind meeting his needs and playing with him, but geez, when I can't even to to the bathroom without him needing to come in and help, it gets kind of old!

2) When I was at work the other day I saw a flyer posted on the door in our break room and thought it was kind of funny. A seminar on menopause given by a Dr. Mary Moody. How appropriate!

3)I'm in the process of trying to reconnect with my younger brother John. He's 16 and for the last 3-4 years relations between me and his parents (my dad and stepmother) have been somewhat strained. I'm not proud of or happy about it but it also is a bit out of my control. I've tried to do what I can and it just doesn't seem to have an effect. Anyway, I found the website of the band that my brother is in and he had his AOL screenname posted up there so last night he was online and I tried IMing him and after a few minutes he didn't believe it was me and signed off. After I got to thinking about it I realized if someone had IMed me out of nowhere saying they're my brother I'd be a little skeptical too, though. Regardless of what has happened or will happen between his parents and I, he is still my brother, I miss him, and would like to have a relationship w/ him. So if you who read this would keep it in your prayers I'd appreciate it.

4) The other night at work I was finally assigned to the newborn nursery for my 8 hours! (traded shifts w/ another nurse) I like working postpartum and high-risk pregnancies but the babies are my favorite!! So I keep asking to be put in there but it rarely happens so I just had to celebrate when it finally did!

Haiti

Getting ready for work so this will be quick. Just wanted to encourage everyone who reads this (all 4 of you!) to visit www.hosean.smugmug.com which is the ministry website of the Caleb Lucien family. They are a missionary family (along with a number of Caleb's relatives) to the people of Haiti and they have such an amazing testimony of courage, humor, and perseverance. I had the privilege of staying with them for 3 1/2 weeks a few years back during a mission trip as did my college roommate Naomi several years later. They are amazing people who do not only evangelism and church ministry/equipping, but health education, primary, middle, and high school, and run an orphanage, all in Christ's name. If you are looking for overseas missions to support, I would ask that you prayerfully consider these worthy folks. Also, the mission organization's website is www.hosean.org if you want more info on the mission as a whole. God bless!

My boy's latest words

Go and Vamonos (Let's go)

Tag

So I've been tagged by Big Brad...

4 books I'm reading:
1. Praying God's Word for Your Husband
2. Travelers Tales: Mexico (again)
3. Other than that I'm
4. way behind on my reading. need to go to the library.

4 things I'm learning:
1. That being the mother of a toddler means that my house will never be clean.
2. That for some reason at work I seem to bond very tightly with 15- and 16-year-old unwed mothers.
3. That my family is worth more to me than everything else in the world.
4. That I should rinse out my boy's clothes after he eats peanut butter and jelly. Otherwise the clothes will have mold on them come washing time.

4 celebrities I'd go on a date with (if I weren't already married):
1. Antonio Banderas
2. Bono, just to chat
3. Jon Bon Jovi, ditto
4. first 3 came easily. can't think of #4.

4 jobs I'd like in the future:
1. Lactation consultant
2. Helping gringos understand Hispanic culture
3. Stay-at-home mom
4. Librarian. Something about being around all those books.

4 articles of clothing I always pack:
1. A comfy pair of flannel PJ pants
2. One more pair of underwear than I think I'll need
3. Something to pull my hair back with
4. One more pair of socks than I think I'll need

4 favorite drinks:
1. Skim milk
2. Mountain Dew
3. Cheerwine
4. Water (by volume it far outweighs the others.)

4 people that make me laugh:
1. My son
2. My husband
3. Tara Bartasavich
4. Cory Cavin via his blog

4 tags:
1. Like Big Brad
2. I'm too nice to
3. Wish this on anyone.
4. But it is eye-opening.

My boy and his father

My boy has decided - well, actually a while back he decided - that his father is his favorite human. The other night as I was leaving to go to work, normally he's kind of huggy and clingy not wantingme to go. Well, Friday night when I was leaving, he didn't even want a kiss. Just waved bye-bye and pointed at the car, like "Ok mom, get in it and go. Me and dad are going to hang out." Bad for the ego! He has become very good at telling us when he's hungry via sign language. He signs "more" when he wants something to eat. If we're lucky he'll tell us what he wants. Aaa-aaa is "naranja" (orange). Nana is banana. Other than that it's a guessing game. However, he surprised me the other night when we were looking at a book with pictures of fruits. I asked him to show me the star fruit and, would you believe that he knew which one it was? I tried it several times to see if it was a fluke and it was not!

Newest word: "ken". Unlike Sam Buehrle, who hollers out names indiscriminately, "ken" means "chicken."

Just another day in the life.

Latest words of the wonder child: coco (Spanish for coconut), dame (pronounced DAH-may) (Spanish for "give me"), "oh man". He is way more fun than going to the movies, and cheaper too.

Hide and seek...

...is my boy's new favorite game. Except that he always hides in the same place and never stays quiet long enough and usually comes out from where he is before he gets "found" (like he was ever really lost). Usually when he hears us calling/searching for him, he starts yelling "hey! hey!" from behind the loveseat. I don't think he'll ever make a good Army Ranger. In this day and age, that's fine with me.

Our Mexican child

...as evidenced by the fact that one night as we were sitting eating our supper, Hubs was eating a raw jalapeno pepper w/ his food, which is not unusual for him. Small Child starts pointing and squealing like he wanted some too...we thought, surely no, that can't be what he wants. So we offer him everything else but he knocks it all away. Finally, we give in and hand him the jalapeno and....he ate the thing raw, seeds and all! That's bad when your 1-year-old eats spicier stuff than you do! One of his latest words (phrase, actually) is "Oh man." This happened the other day as he dropped something on the floor and it bounced and rolled away from him, at which point he states the above. Well, Sunday in church at the end of our dismissal prayer when the pastor said "Amen", my boy thought that that was his cue to say, "Oh man!" So now when my stepfather prays to bless the food, he says, "...in Christ's name we pray, oh man."

Life update

Since it has been, as my grandma would say, 40 forevers since we updated our blog, I'd say it's about time. Life here is pretty much the same...well, Hubs and I are pretty much the same. My boy is growing and learning something new every day, it seems. Here's a quick run-down of his doings: 1) New words: "Dame" (meaning "give me" in Spanish), "Elmo" (his furry Sesame Street friend) "choo-choo" when he sees a train. 2) Is now walking at full speed around the house. Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.....at least that's what it feels like for us his parents who have to keep up with all that he gets into. 3) All 3 of us went to the park the other day to see the ducks and he had a blast. There were lots of ducks there and he quacked at them all. 4) He loves the bathtub. Hubs usually bathes him and I get his PJs on afterward. I'm usually low-man on the totem pole at that point. He's got Papi and the bath...what more could he want? So when I go ask him if he's ready to get out, he shakes his head and scoots to the other side of the tub. Of course, once I do manage to get him out, the running around naked bit is also a lot of fun for him. A couple other things: we rented movies the other night and watched one so far, a Mexican movie called Cilantro y Perejil (Cilantro and Parsley). Although it was very confusing at first the ending turned out to be cute. And it's done in the Mexican (Latin American?) style of "plot-commentary-more plot-more commentary" and so on, so that was confusing as well. But it was worth the $4 we rented it for. The other one we rented was "Hotel Rwanda". I've heard that it was excellent so am excited about it but we haven't had the 2 hours free to watch it yet. And I found a funny joke on my day-by-day nurses calendar that fellow nurses (and maybe others) will appreciate: Q: How can you tell what type of physician caught the elevator door just as it was closing? A: If they put in their hand, they are an internist. If they put in their head they are a surgeon. :) That's our update from this corner of paradise.