Happy Birthday to me ;)

Tomorrow I'll be officially 31 years old. Man, thirty one... I was running this afternoon pushing the children on the stroller, and I saw a group of giggling teenagers. They were doing silly things, and just laughing. When I ran past the girls, they said it was cute. What was cute? I don't know, I hope not me! Maybe the children, or that I was running with them and Dori. Anyway, I thought, "Oh! To be young again. And to be real-problem free..."

But then I realized I am young. I am really young. Plus I feel great lately. I've been exercising more, and I actually feel better now than a year ago. I have been very, very blessed with many things. I think I don't hear that word a lot unless I'm around someone who believes in God. People say they are lucky, or that they just, you know, are amazing. They believe life is great just because they are great. Before I continue with this post, tough, I just wanted to share that I feel very happy for what I have. And I do not have a better word than blessed. I'm not this amazing woman, you know? I have lots of shortcomings, and yes, lots of good traits, too.

Enzo at his 15 month old checkup

But it is amazing that God can love me so much, not matter what I did, or what I said... and still He will always be by my side no matter what. And yes, it's good that I have a car, and live a very relaxed life where I don't have to worry about what I will eat tomorrow. But those are only temporary things. I love my life not for the things that we can afford, but because of my husband, my children, and all those gifts that God gives me; gifts you cannot touch, but you see them in your every day life. We have peace, and joy, and we giggle, and play, and we are silly. My family is my biggest gift. And that gift only God could have given it to me. So I guess I just wanted to openly say thanks to everybody who has made an impact in my life during these 31 years. You know who you are. And yes, I'm a little bit sad because Emerson won't be here to give me a hug. He is in India. He left on Wednesday.

Skinny? Libby's only 4 lb. heavier

Skinny guy

I've been talking to him before going to bed (when he wakes up), and when I wake up (when he goes to bed). He flew to Frankfurt, and it was a looong flight, around 10 hours. Then after changing planes, he flew another ten hours to Chennai. He has mentioned so far that at night (when they took him to his hotel) the streets were dirty, and ugly. He saw about 20 cows that night. In the morning, tough, the streets were still ugly, and dirty. People were just "fishing" on a river, or just standing there. The trash was burning, and the dogs were heavily barking at the cows. It's just funny, I just wanna laugh. I don't get the picture, but at the same time, I do. I think I'm going to cry when we get there :S

Then he said that he felt like if he were in Iztapalapa - if you've ever been there in Mexico City. But he did not feel threatened, so that's good. Because there's this saying than in Iztapalapa even the dogs carry a knife. So he said that as his first day went, he felt more and more in tune. Like it was really easy for him to adjust. "It's easy to adjust to India if you are a Mexican, Karla", he said this morning.

Enzo talking on the phone

Oh, great! I can't wait... Anyway, on Monday he'll talk to their manager because we might not go to Chennai, but some other city in India where they have labs. We'll see... I'm not anxious, or worried. I am not. I truly believe what a friend once told me when we were moving to Houston. He said, "God is already there". So God is in India already. He knows where we'll go. He will guide us there. And those are the gifts I have. That's the peace that's surpasses all understanding. My apartment can burn to the trashes, I can even lose all my photos and videos, but that peace is mine. It's in my heart. Nobody, no-freaking-body can take God away from me. See what I mean? I am blessed. Very blessed. Not lucky.

This song reflects how I feel tonight about everything... like I told Emerson, I'll follow him wherever. Home is wherever all of us are ;)

Lift my life up, by Unspoken

  

We took Daddy to the airport, and it was sweet to see Libby say she was going to miss him. I had a coffee, we bought muffins, and lemon pound cake. The children were really tired, but we made it home safely. It has been really interesting being with them on my own. I've always liked being with them, but Libby is getting more and more outspoken now. My challenges are not poopy diapers or plain vomit anymore. Now I have to hold it together when my 2 year-old daughter walks away from me, and says, "No, thank you, I don't want to listen to you." 

What the heck??

We've been hanging out with a really sweet neighbor, Cora. Clara, her almost five year old, really likes Libby. They play really nicely together, and even tough there have been just rough moments for Libby and Enzo, they are just children being children. They are not aggressive children at all. I really liked all of them. So I've noticed that Libby is very compliant to whatever Clara says. I want to teach Libby that sometimes it is okay to say No. She is also learning to defend herself, at least from brother, because she yells at him, "NO! NO! NO HITTING!", when he hits her. So the other day, we were talking and I told her that if at any time she felt like she didn't want to do something that Clara asked her to do, it was totally fine to say, "No, thank you. I don't want to do that". It back fired :S

Shame on you, Burger King!

She got a spanking because she disobeyed in the first place, and when we were talking about it in the bedroom, I asked her if she was listening to me. I repeated, "Are you listening? Be quick to listen, and slow to speak..." She said she didn't want to listen, got up and started opening the door... I didn't yell at her. I just told her that if she walked away, she was about to disrespect me greatly. And so she opened the door, and said, "No, thanks. I want to go", and left me there. And I had to let her go. How did I do it? I have no freaking idea, but I did. When she left the room, I laughed. I couldn't believe what had just happened. My two year old had walked away from me. And I was so proud of her, because that meant she is learning to let people know that she doesn't want to do something, but I was so mad at the same time, because I am her mother. She is not supposed to do this to me!!

Enzo at BK

I think I never told her that. So I had to go back, and bring her again to the room. I'm glad I didn't yell at her when she left because that would've taken away any credibility for the things I said later. I asked her to apologize, but she didn't. I explained to her that Clara is her friend, and that she doesn't have to obey her friend, but she has to obey me. We hugged, she apologized, and she asked me to pray for her - which I did. But yesterday the same thing happened when I asked to have my cellphone back. She said she didn't want to give it back. I honestly believe that she feels she is expressing what she doesn't want to do, and that's great. But for me, as an adult, it sounds very disrespectful. So I'm being very patient.

Tonight I told her it was time to get out of the bathtub, and she said with her sweet voice, "No, thank you. I don't want to get out. I want to swim". I think it's just a matter of time and boundaries. She is learning what is fine to say, and to whom. She is just learning about life. And she will get in trouble with me, when the occasion deserves it, but for the most part I just need to breathe, and not take it personal.

And all these things happen when Emerson is not here. But you know what? I'll take it, because last time he left, both children got sick with fevers, and it was awful! So I can be patient with my daughter... and my mother in law gets here tomorrow to help with them :)

The Airport

Thanks, Drummer Boy.

So finally... let's begin.

Mommy's Birthday Celebration

(Saturday, January 11th, 2014)

• Thai food place

So I ran in the morning, a lot. I was exhausted by the time I came back. By that time, Emerson had vacuumed the carpet, the right way. He actually lifts every single chair, and moves the night stands - he is a keeper! But my children hadn't had breakfast, only the smoothie I gave them before leaving... an hour and a half before!! So I gave them and Emerson something to eat. I had something, too, but it was too little. 

We took a quick shower, got ready, and we left to have lunch near this neighborhood that Emerson wanted to check out, The Heights. He said it would be nice to live there when we come back from Chennai. It's nice, I mean, not like, "Oh, man, I would kill to live here", but it's nice. By that time, I was ready to eat an elephant, I had just ran 10 miles in the morning and I was literally starving... Well, not really, I have no idea what real starvation feels like, but I know I could become some weird kind of person when I'm hungry. I was really in a bad mood, so we stopped to eat at this Thai place.

I originally wanted to go eat at Olive Garden  because I love their chicken alfredo, but there was an accident on the highway and we couldn't take that exit, so we ate at the Thai place. It was really yummy food. I should know better, though. My body is not used to a lot of grease anymore. I don't know if it was because that food was excessively greasy, or because I don't cook that way anymore, but I paid for that sweet and sour fried beef later.

"Let' see..."

"Humph!", said my little sour kangaroo

"Nice place, Mommy"

Trying to get a good birthday photo

• Walking to the bakery

Anyway, after eating, we walked about a mile to get a cupcake at a bakery. But it was an old bakery, so there were no cupcakes, only muffins and artisan breads. So we shared a blueberry muffin. Enzo walked the whole time! Also, on the way there, Libby fell down at least 5 times, and her knees were bleeding awfully. She is such a trooper. We talked about falling and getting up again, and we told her we were so proud of her for wanting to keep walking. There were life lessons in all the things Daddy told her. She was crying so hard, and real, big tears were strolling down those cheeks... Actually, the day after, Daddy showed her this video to help her remember how important it is to get up again when you fall. I almost cried...

Pick them back up

Good looking family ;)

Libby singing Happy Birthday, Mommy

• The slides

After coming back from the bakery to the car (that was parked at the Thai place) we went to the slides. Libby had been asking us to take her to the slides because that's what we had said we were going to do, and it was a gorgeous day! It was completely out of the way, and everybody took a nap. I was so exhausted from the morning run, and my head hurt so badly. The children were out in the back of the car, and Emerson took us to the ones I specifically wanted to go to. Libby and Enzo love it there!! She was going up and down, she almost fell from the stairs, but hold on tight until I came to the rescue. Enzo played in the swings, and went down the slides... they had a blast!

Lately I've been really bad at taking pictures of them all the time, which is good at the same time. I enjoy the moments. I've been less stressed about recording and documenting everything they do, you know. After the conversation with Libby where she said my cellphone was my treasure, I've been putting less and less attention to it when I am with them. That includes taking photos of them every five minutes. Still, I do take photos every now and then ;)

These photos are random (the thing is I don't have photos of the actual slides)

Runaway Enzo

Following Sister

Holding hands

The wind

So by the time we were at the park, I had to go and puke my stomach out in the trees, back in the woods... I felt so sorry about the people there, but I went as far as I could to make sure nobody could see me vomiting. I felt better, a little better. My head was just about to explode. We made it at the park for an hour, and when we came home, I had to breathe really fast so that I wouldn't throw up in the car. I made it to the bathroom and that was it... I had just flushed down the toilet fifty sweet dollars worth of Thai food. I had also peed my underwear because of the effort, and splashed my toilet with grease - lots of grease - coming out of my stomach. 

So my sweet, sweet husband did what I can describe as the best birthday gift possible: He took the children grocery shopping while I rested. Bless his heart. I took two advils, and still with chills, tried to rest. My head was spinning and it hurt so badly, but somehow after twenty minutes I passed out. I woke up when Libby opened the door and yelled, "Happy Birthday, Mommy". They had gone to Walmart, bought everything I had written on the list (we were supposed to go together after the slides), and bought half a gallon of Blue Bell red velvet ice cream (that wasn't on the list). They also bought me a red velvet cupcake from Gigi's.

Enzo is walking more and more

"We ate a blueberry muffin, Papa", I said

"Yeah, but you wanted a cupcake", Daddy said.

So, after having dinner (it was a banana for me after how I felt), we ate ice cream, and that was the ending of my birthday celebration. I really liked it.

Tomorrow, I might convince my mother in law to go to Olive Garden after we pick her up at the airport. She really likes it there, and I'm still craving that chicken alfredo. I don't know, we'll see.  

Picnics and walks

Oh, when they went grocery shopping, Daddy said the cashier told Libby she was going to take her to her house, or something like that. It sounds weird, but I'm sure it wasn't that weird. I just don't remember exactly what it was.

"Do I have to go, Daddy?", she asked him. "No", Daddy said. "No, I want to go to my own house", Libby finally replied.

"Good for you, Nena. You don't go to anybody's house, specially if they are strangers", I told her.

Exercising

See? I hadn't been having these conversations with her just yet. Otherwise, she would have said, "No, thank you. I don't want to go to your house. I want to go to my own house."

Emerson just sent me this video (10:30 pm). This is happening pretty much right now at the lobby. Reminded me of a Mexican wedding with mariachis. Emerson thought about The Godfather, when Michael marries Apollonia in Italy. NICE. We might actually blend in ;)

He's waiting for some people because they are gonna take him to visit a temple. It's Saturday morning already. I asked him if he was going to a service or whatever they call it, or just as a tourist. He doesn't know :S

Emerson's first trip to Chennai, India 

My family loves me. Just being with them a week ago was the best birthday gift ever. I am so happy and thankful to God for being one year older. I really am. And I want to grow older an older, as long as it is with them :)