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

Photo of the Day #15: In lieu of a photo...

Mama and Dada went out to the movies. And, though I could write extensively, they forced me to go to bed instead. And then signed out of Blogger. Tomorrow should be more interesting for my devoted fans. And Joaquin and I will be sure to wake up extra early to punish them for staying out late tonight...

Photo of the Day #14: Tia Lilly

Today's entry is all about one of my favorite people, Tia Lilly. It just so happens that the feeling is mutual, as I am one of her favorite people as well. Actually, she probably loves me a whole lot more unconditionally then I love her...mostly because she is so laid back and I demand, well, loads of trips to ice cream parlors when she is around.

Before I even go any further, I have to tell my Tia E, one of my most devoted fans, that she shouldn't feel left out...she too will soon have her own blog entry. But I decided to honor Tia L with her own entry tonight because she is currently interning with the Seattle Times, covering the 2010 Washington State legislative session, and she just published her first entry on the Seattle Times' Politics Northwest blog. You can read it here. And I don't want to spoil the ending but let's just say that Washington State could soon be known for more than just how "high" it's mountains are.

Anyhow, back to Tia Lilly. I first met her when I was 5 months old, when we both went to Florida for my Tio Eddie's wedding in June 2007. Needless to say, she was smitten with me from the start. Here we are on the day we met.


It was a tearful parting as we did not know when we would next see each other since she lived in Washington and I lived in Peru at the time. Little did we know that we would both be seeing much, much, much more of each other in the ensuing year and a half. For you see, in April 2008 she came for a 2 week visit and ended up staying until early June! I'm that irresistible.

Oh what fun we had! We:

played peek-a-boo in the curtains,

had our own photo shoot,

went to the park (could the wagon be any smaller),

wore matching pajamas,

ate toast with jam for breakfast (she made it, I ate it),

ate loads of ice cream,

she taught me how to take off my socks,

and even went camping!

The day that she left in June was very sad and I gave up ice cream in protest...for about 5 minutes. I would have held out longer except that I knew that I would be seeing her again in August in the great state of Oregon. Here she is with my cousins, Zev and Hayden, and I:

I guess that our time in Oregon together was just too short because just a few short weeks later, she was back in Peru! I did tell you that I am irresistible, didn't I? You might want to purchase travel insurance if you ever come to visit me in Mexico to cover the cost of multiple changes to extend your return trip home. I know that Tia Lilly wishes she did! The second time around she stayed for more than 2 months and we had double the amount of fun.

I waited up late for her the night she flew back to Lima.

Here we are engaging in one of our favorite pastimes: hanging out under Tio Nilo's coffee table.

Hanging out on the couch together. Don't worry, I'm actually wearing a diaper.

Hanging out with my lady before she went to the Marine Corps Ball...with someone else!

The last ice cream before she went back to Washington in December....so sad.

But I'm pretty sure that she'll be knocking on our door soon. After all, Spring Break is just around the corner! In the meantime, I'll be scouting out all the best ice cream parlors in town.