Wrestlemania

Here I am teaching Joaquin how to hold his own against the big boys at the World Wrestling Federation.

We do this about 20 times a day, which is what I believe leads Mama to talk about her Zen moments, like the following:

A New City, a New Year and a New (Blog) Name

Hey everyone!  Remember me? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't...I've been pretty silent for quite some time.  But, then again, I would blame you because I'm just so darn unforgettable.  Anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that our blog name is changing.  Sebastian and Joaquin's Crazy Mexican Life will be taking a decidedly domestic change of direction- a Midwestern one in fact! The pictures below are a trailer of sorts...of what is to come in the following months as you tag along with us on our new adventures. So stay tuned to Sebastian and Joaquin's Crazy Midwestern Life.  And come visit!

I Am A Pizza

This song has topped the charts in our household! Hope that you enjoy it!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Summer Shenanigans Part 1: The West Coast is the Best (or so says Mama)

Hey everyone! Look who is back! Did you miss me? What a silly question...of course you did! I pondered long and hard about my first post in oh...well, let's just say a very long time. And since a new school year just started, what better way to kick off my (hopefully) new streak of blogging with a look back on what we did this summer.

In late July we headed to Oregon to visit Mama's family and help Grandma celebrate a very special birthday. I won't say how old she turned but let's just say she's still very, very young. We met up with Tia Liz, Tio Amit, Zev and Hayden, who came all the way from Israel for the event; with Tio Eddie, Tia Stacy and their new baby, Alyssa; with Motorcycle Grandpa who came all the way from Washington State; and Grandma and Opa of course who came down from the Central Oregon Coast. We spent 4 nights at a yoga retreat, which my cousin Zev ingeniously labeled "The Hippie House!" Photos of (most) of the gang are below.

The Elusive Opa

The proud grandparents (and parents) with their first granddaughter

The boy cousins, from right to left: Yours Truly, Hayden, Zev and Joaquin

Joaquin, skinny dipping in the river

Tio Eddie, Tia Stacy and Alyssa

Tia Elizabeth with Alyssa

Daddy and me in the hot tub...too hot in the hot tub

Alyssa thinks that Joaquin is hysterical...just wait until he starts stealing her toys!

Daddy with his Michael Chiklis car...he thought that he was on the set of The Shield all week long!

After we departed from the hippie house, we headed on over to my great granddad's house...known to all as Grandad. Yes, we know it's spelled wrong but one can do such things with proper names. All of Mama's cousins...the maternal line that is...obliged by converging on Grandad's house for the weekend. It was hot, hot, hot...over 100 degrees each day...so we mostly just swam in the pool and lounged in the shade...very appropriate for the following cast of shady characters:

Cousin Jude...he was selling watermelon slices for $1 million bucks a piece....nobody was buying.

Tio Ben and his cool hat

Great-Grandma Rita holding her first great granddaughter...after nine great grandsons!

Tia Danielle and Tio Tyler...they are as cool as they look.

Tia Bernadette, Tio Jerrod, Noah and Micah

Two of these kids are not like the others.

Can you believe that only two people are missing from this shot?

Saying goodbye to Grandad's kitten, Earle...even Joaquin learned to say his name!

Micah and Joaquin...they were born only four days apart!

Noah and Hayden

Noah, Hayden and Yours Truly...we were all born within 6 months of each other!

Six of the nine boys in our generation..yeah, we're a good looking bunch.

We even were able to squeeze in a visit with Roy and Donna. You've heard of the term "home away from home." Well, they are like Mama's "parents away from parents."

And that concludes the first installment of Summer Shenanigans. Check back soon for Part Deux.

(Not So)Still Life with Boys- Part 2

Note to readers: You just have to suffer through one more sappy post from Mama and then we can go back to our semi-regularly scheduled programming: Me!

It's official. I am irrevocably outnumbered. Boys 3-Girl 1. Even if we decided to have a third child, which is not likely to happen, there will be no leveling of the playing field. So what does this mean?

February 2009

It means that I will likely never have a daughter with whom to do girly things. Sebastian likes to put on my lip gloss (something he'll probably adamantly deny in a future post) but the buck stops there. He steadfastly refuses to let me put his lovely locks into a pony tail, stating that "Mommy, colitas (pony tails) are for girls." And Joaquin is 100% boy.

March 2009

It means a lifetime of frogs, snails and puppy dog tails.

April 2009

It means fear of broken bones. Of my mother's three children, only my brother broke a bone during adolescence.

May 2009

It means watching whiskers sprout from their sweet baby faces.

June 1999

It means losing 2/3 of the most important men in my life to other women.

July 2009

It means that someday I will gain two daughters. And perhaps a granddaughter or two.

August 2009

It means watching them suffer silently through their first heartbreaks because, let's be honest here, most men don't like to talk about their deepest feelings, especially not with their mothers.

September 2009

It means countless wrestling matches (real and otherwise) on the living room floor.

October 2009

It means water balloons...lots of them...probably in my living room.

November 2009

It means having to say 100 billion times "stop harassing your brother" in a voice that sounds suspiciously like my own mother's voice.

December 2009

It means, also, watching them grow to be as good as friends as Carlos and his brothers have become as adults.

January 2010

It means smelly socks, muddy tennis shoes, dirty clothes strewn about and "who me?" looks on their faces when I yell about the house being a mess, again in my mother's voice (don't worry Mom, I mean this in the fondest way).

February 2010

It means telling them everyday to stop growing and stay exactly like this...and then standing by helplessly while they flagrantly disobey.

February 23, 2009 (Joaquin's first birthday)

But mostly it means sharing my life with these three men. And what woman wouldn't want that?

(Not So)Still Life with Boys- Part 1

Note to readers: In an attempt to give a more fair and balanced look at our life, from time to time I will cede the floor to other members of my family. This month's guest editor is my number one girl, Mama. Be kind, she hasn't written much ever since putting her career on hold to raise yours truly and is probably a little rusty.

First there was Carlos. He walked out of the rain and simultaneously into The Big Hunt and my life on a cold January evening. We soon discovered that we had a shared affinity for what he calls female singer/songwriters and what I call "chicks with guitars and pianos." Thus began one of the most effortless friendships of my life. And despite my attempts to remain just friends, seven months later I succumbed to his keen wit, spectacular sense of humor, easy-going manner, disarming smile and, of course, his dark, lash-fringed eyes.

The Courtship

Two years and 4 months later we got married, after a couple of pina coladas, during an afternoon downpour on the beach on the Caribbean isle of Antigua. Thankfully the rain cleared up quickly, allowing us to document the occasion as befits an island wedding:

The Wedding

In just over seven years together, we've managed to pack in a lifetime of experiences. Among the list of highlights are: career changes, graduate school (his PhD trumps my MA), buying a house, two international moves and two children.

The Wait (or The Last Days of Freedom)

As most of you know, the first years of parenthood are not the easiest. But through it all he has proved to be a loving, involved father and is still the smartest and funniest person that I know. He is truly my best (heterosexual male) friend.

Then came Sebastian, who taught me that there really is such a thing as love at first sight. From the day that I first heard his heartbeat and saw his little bumblebee-like form on the sonogram at just 8 weeks gestation until the minutes before his birth on December 27, 2006, I had no idea how much joy one little person could bring to my life. But from the moment that he was first placed in my arms, I knew that I would cry when he first went to school, went on his first date, left for college, got married and had his first child because I could never imagine him being bigger than that sweet little bundle in my arms at the hospital. And although only one of those events has happened so far (and I did cry the first day that he went to preschool), I know that the intervening years will not make any of the rest any easier.

Day One

A horrible sleeper since birth and the world's pickiest eater, he also inherited his dad's sense of humor and his mother's good looks! Perhaps he'll even pick up my modesty. He is whip smart: 100 percent bilingual and has an uncannily accurate memory. He loves to make cookies and cupcakes. His terrible twos were intense but, thankfully, brief- although we are currently in the throes of the bipolar threes. He's incredibly agile. Somersaults were once his specialty but I think that recently he has taken up training to be an Ultimate Fighting Champion (see the video below). He seems to have inherited the nurturing male gene from Carlos: after a rocky first couple of months as an older brother, he is now (mostly) very good to his little brother. And lastly, his current favorite catch phrase is "Feliz Leche!"

Day 757

Rounding out the bunch is Joaquin. For most of my pregnancy, I was afraid that I would not be able to love him as much as I loved Sebastian. My mother-in-law is always saying "I love everyone equally. I'm a Libra!" I never really believed her before but as it turns out, she is right. Even though I'm not a Libra, my fears were totally irrational and unfounded. On February 23, 2009, my heart expanded just enough to fit perfectly around the newest addition to our family.

Day 2

Joaquin inherited his father's beautiful eyes and long lashes and, unfortunately, his mother's temper, which he makes up for with unaccountable sweetness. He is constantly on the move and never stops jibber-jabbering. He thinks that Sebastian is the funniest person in the world. He is an even worse sleeper than his older brother but a much better eater. At a year old, he eats a wider variety of food than Sebastian does. And channeling Adam Sandler in "The Water Boy," he "loves mama!"

Day 366

He is also going to be one tough cookie if he manages to survive his older brother's overzealous affection. I attach exhibit A, Wrestlemania:

Photo of the Day #16: My masterpiece... for sale

Hola again,

My apologies for not posting the last couple of days... though I need not apologize to my loyal fans. Every hard-working toddler out there needs to take a break every now and again, so I didn't post anything on Saturday and took off on a well-deserved vacation on Sunday. I'll update you on that soon, and catch up on my photos of the day.

But today, I want to talk to you about my masterpiece. It is not yet named, but I may call it "dinero," which (for my non-Spanish speakers) means money. And, yes, it is for sale. But you likely cannot afford it.

See, I had this great idea last week. Thursday, in fact. I was tired of Dada going to work every day, even when I asked him not to. And I recently learned that Dada goes to work to earn dinero, to buy things like potato chips and candy. So, I decided to work on Thursday as well. I painted this picture so that Dada would never work again, and instead stay at home and play with me. I told him all about it Thursday evening and was very sad to see him go to work on Friday. I was confused. But no longer! Now I know that I must sell this beautiful piece of art in order to finance Dada's early retirement.

So... look closely. Bidding starts at midnight. XOXO,

Sebastian