Ski Shores/ New Toothbrush

Sunday evening we ate at Ski Shores. I hadn't been there since we took our pregnant pictures back in November.

There have been a lot of changes since the last time I went. There is a little stage area for performers, there is an outdoor tiki sitting/eating area by the boat docks, a playground (fenced in) for kids, and there are a couple new things on the menu. The changes came with an increase in prices...but I guess some negative effects of change can be expected.

I hadn't been there in a while...and had forgotten how peaceful it is, the water, the wind, the view...everything about it just makes me love "being in the moment" and forgetting everything else.

November 09September 10

Nico BRUSHED HIS TEETH 4 TEETH, with his NEW toothbrush!

Diloman Triathlon 9/18/10

Peter competed in the Diloman Triathlon on Saturday.

750M Swim * 20k Bike * 5k Run

It was at the beautiful State Park, Pace Bend on Lake Travis. It was the first tri Peter has done in a while...and he did really well: 52/160

Mommy and Nico cheered for Daddy and surprised him around the course at random spots.

Congratulations Daddy!

What leads to Success?

This morning Peter showed me a TED cast that was pretty interesting. TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.

Watch the video here.

Richard St. John interviewed successful people in the past couple years to find out WHAT LEADS TO SUCCESS...maybe Luck? maybe smarts? He actually concluded that the following 8 words can sum up what leads a person to achieve success. These are in no particular order*

1. Passion: Do it for LOVE not MONEY
2. Work: Have fun while you work
3. Focus: Focus on ONE thing (this one is hard for me)
4. Persist: Persist through failure and C.R.A.P., which is an acronym for Criticism, Rejection, Assholes, Pressure.
5. Ideas: Be observant, curious, and open to making connections.
6. Good: Get really good at what you are doing> Practice makes perfect.
7. Push: Push yourself physically and mentally...and he joked that when you can't push yourself, that's what your mom's for.
8. Serve: Find a way to serve other SOMETHING OF VALUE.

I really enjoyed his presentation and am glad that I could not agree more with Richard and his findings...hopefully this means that at least I have the right idea...

In High School, one of my teacher's a a poster in his classroom that has really stuck with me. The had a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson and read:

"To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded."

I aspire to live a successful life according to these parameters.

Nico is 8 months old!!!!

Nico turned 8 months old TODAY!!!

• Eating habits: He is eating at 9am, 1pm, and 5pm, about 4oz of food which includes gerber beef, chicken, turkey (no ham yet), veggies, and fruits. The bulk of his diet is still milk (Formula)...i'm still breastfeeding some, but mainly now for comfort. He's chewing on little gerber biscuits and puffs. It's really cute how long it takes him to eat a tiny puff. TEETH!!! He has 4 teeth out and 2 more trying desperately to interrupt Nico's and Our SLEEP! The first 2 that came out were the middle bottom( 6 1/2 months) Then came the 2nd tooth(right) from the middle, then the 2nd (left) tooth from the middle....and now the right middle tooth's little ridges are making their way out and I can see the white outline of the left middle tooth! He's SLOBBERING ALL OVER THE PLACE.
• Motor Skills: He's crawling ALOT, kneeling, standing with help. He has (_im not sure the name___), meaning that he looks behind the chair when I hide behind it because he knows that i'm there, even though he can't see me. He holds his bottle by himself! And he is playing!!! Throwing the ball, going to get it, laughing when Peter bounces it...I forgot how much fun playing with a ball could be. He can crawl over things, like Peter's leg or his toys. He palms things...he hits the table with his hand or Peter's chest if Peter is playing with him on the floor. He thinks it's funny the loud hollow sound that Peter's chest makes when he pounds/slaps it...Peter-not so much...hahaha. OHHH how could I forget. He is pinching and BITING!!!! BOTH HURT. He pinches with his tiny little fingers and tiny little nails and it hurts BAD...The biting, I hope it's the teething and not the early signes of a hated PRESCHOOL BITER!
• Emotional changes: The clingginess continues! I haven't seen any ANGER lately, which I hope is a sign of great parenting...lol. He continues to recognize more people (i think).
• Sleeping habits: I don't want to jinx ourselves but he has been doing really well. Since we got on the schedule almost a month ago, he's been doing really great...Napping 2x during the day and sleeping through the night. We've had maybe 2 or 3 bad nights due to (i think) TEETH! But it's been smooth sailing...SO PROUD!!
• Speech: No words yet or sign language-though I try signing to him whenever I remember to and ALWAYS when we are eating...Comida...mas. We continue hearing dadadada, jajaja, yayaya, but still no MAMA sounds , funny right.
• Other: He's putting everything he finds in his mouth! He gave me a HUGE SCARE the other day. He was playing with a cereal box and ripped off a piece of cardboard that tore off when we opened the box. He started making some weird noises and my reaction was to start hitting his back. It felt like hours later but really it was only seconds, he threw up...out came the little piece and his lunch with milk...all over me, the carpet, and the couch. But I didn't care. I was just happy nothing happend. This really scared me. I was shaking, with tears rolling down my face, voice shivering...all i could do was hold him and be thankful that nothing happend....he on the other hand thought it was funny. Thing is...THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING! I know that from now on, SUPER CAREFUL isn't enough...I HAVE TO BE SUPER-DUPER-UBER to the millionth power CAREFUL cause he's gonna start putting EVERYTHING he can get his little hands on in his mouth. I've heard crazy stories of kids swallowing pennys, buttons, food things(peanuts, raisins...or anything that might have fallen to the floor from the previous night's dinner). This new status of careful is what I DEMAND, EXPECT, and HOPE of anyone who watches, Nico even if its just for a second....which is making it even harder for me to leave him with anyone! It's so scary how fast he gets into trouble!

WE LOVE YOU NICO SAMUEL FLORES!!

Peace Corps Journal Entries--As true then as NOW.

Looking through my Peace Corps Journal, I found 2 entries that I just have to share. This poor marble composition wide ruled notebook is falling apart, but it holds a written account of all the emotions I was feeling and things I was thinking while abroad. Going back through it has given me a chance 'walk through that path again'.Here is part of the entry for 5/1/09:

“...I called Peter when we got back to the bus meeting place in Chorrera(the bigger town near my training community of Santa Clara de Arrijan). I really miss him and love talking to him. I want to tell him that I keep thinking about: What if we do end up together? type of questions. I have thought about having kids and what kind of dad he would be. I know it’s weird so I wouldn’t tell him but what if he the one and he slips away while I'm here. Will I just be a little less happy w/o him or will we have our fairy tale happy ending? I do hope so b/c he’s what is getting me through. I don’t think he realizes how much I need him and need to hear him say things like: I love you, I'm waiting for you, there’s no one else like you, I can’t wait to see you, I want to be with you forever. I know it sounds crazy but just thinking that he might say these things makes all these things I'm experiencing here so much more bearable. I wouldn't want to lose the best man in the world for trying to do something good in the world....”

I also want to share part of the journal entry for 07/05/09:

“...I started reading Walden & Other writings by Henry David Thoreau. Peter and I got similar books about a year ago when he was in Chicago but I was never able to get through it then. Yet now I think I’m in the right mind frame for it. Thoreau went out to Walden for 2 years =), like me. He wanted to see just how simple he could live his life. I feel like we have a lot in common. When he moved away, he began to build with his own hands the little one-bed roomed cabin on the shore of Walden Pond like I will soon be doing. He was determined to meet himself face to face which is what I hope this experience will help me do.
My favorite quote so far is: “He was also, though no one is likely to forget the fact, writing, for Thoreau was born writer, which means both he had a gift for using words effetively and that he had an irresistible need for self-expression.” I share that disease as well, I might not have his gift of using words but I definitely share the need for self-expression. I want to be understood, I want to be heard, I want to be read.
I have a feeling I'm going to love this book and that it’s going to take forever to get through if I keep analyzing all the different parts it has.
Another quote I've thought about a lot is: “Most men, it seems, are to some extent disappointed and discontented. We complain of our luck, lament that we did what we did or did not do. Things might have been better had we been born somewhere else or under some different circumstances, we missed our chance;did not get our deserts. We are trapped in a life which we should not have chosen. The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”.
He believed himself to be that very rare thing, a happy man, and he had no regrets. I’ve seen this despiration all around here in Panama. It’s in their hands to make CHANGES as it is in our hands too. I came here because I didn’t want to sit and let life happen to me, I didn’t want to say that I missed my chance!Everyday is a challenge, and every morning I wake up and realize that I too am a rare thing, a happy woman that has NO REGRETS.”

Both these entries are as true then, as they are now.

Here I am married to a man who has confirmed that he is a far better dad than I ever imagined and who is still helping get through things, calming me when I allow myself to get overwhelmed, making me laugh at silly things, and inspiring me to be better and do more everyday. I continue to describe him now as I did then to my friends who asked me about Peter:“..So inspiring, so cute and knows exactly what to tell me when I need to hear it. I love him for that and for just being there-always-so dependable, loving, and encouraging.” Obviously this blog is evidence of that desire and need I have of self-expression. And I can still agree that everyday is a challenge, but every morning I wake up and realize that I, too, am a rare thing, a happy woman that has NO REGRETS.

Ramblings and fotos of this weekend

A couple months ago Peter set up Skype in Nico's room to answer automatically whenever we cll from our accounts. Video baby monitors at babies r us go for $200+. This one was FREEEEEE =) thanks to my genius engineer husband.

The reason i'm bringing this up is that I'm in the living room working on our weekend blog entry and uploading pictures and Nico is in his room in the crib...SUPPOSEDLY NAPPING. We have him on this new( well not sooo new now but whatever) schedule to help him sleep better (actually help me sleep better lol). In that schedule, he has 2 nap times. Many sources (books and other new moms) say that you should put them down and let babies try to self soothe themsleves to sleep.......I LAUGH in the face of these statements. I have been unproductively sitting in the living room watching Nico do back flips, circles, handstands, pull-ups, and what nots in his crib for 30 minutes or more. He isn't crying so I haven't gone in to get him, but it's almost as if he knows i'm watching him. He keeps looking over at the webcam (maybe the green light is interesting) smiling, getting really close to make a face, and then resumes his gymnastics training--during his allotted NAP TIME!

When he grows up, he'll wish, like most of us, that we could have MANDATORY NAP TIME like those siesta-believing countries do. I wish that Obama would integrate NAP TIME into his stimulus packages for the work force, especially since I will be heading back to work for sure when we move to LA. Speaking of work, I'm already nervous for the transition to breadwinning working adult! Will I be able to keep my 3rd language under control in when under pressure at work...or will i just start jabbering in baby talk. Will I cry and through things like Nico when I'm confused or tired or just overstimulated? I hope that I won't randomly fall asleep while working at 9:30am and 3pm. My majorest (yes, if sarah palin can make up words, so can I) concern is that I won't be able to concentrate on the tasks at hand, thinking about my little pumpkin and what he is doing, who he is laughing with, if he is crying, who's comforting him, if he's hungry, what is he eating. I know Nico will be a year when we get out there....but thats still tiny, still my baby, my pumpkin head!!! I guess the truth of the matter is that i'm probably more attached to him than he is to me.

Anyway...back to the Weekend update:

• I ran with Nico...he slept 75% of the run, i felt great! The half marathon is 2 months away!!! I need to step up my milage!!
• Peter went on a bike ride...he has a triathlon next weekend!
• I went to breakfast with mommy friends....didn't realize the no baby memo...ooops, but it was delicious fun anyway. We ate at Chez-zee , finger-licking, come again with visitors ASAP type of great! The company of course was hilarious as always. We tried to stay away from the usual topics : spit-up bloopers, "REALLY (insert husband name here), your gonna(insert loud distracting activity) right now when i'm trying to put the baby to sleep" stories, "your not gonna believe what (insert baby name here) did" stories, new evidence of loss of braincells post-partum, and sleepless night stories. Instead with discussed the lives we once had, and the activities we liked doing in that s0-distant past of ours...lol. In that convo I noticed that other than going out and not being in a remote community in Panama working in fields, I am pretty much doing what I did before. Volunteering is a little more difficult, but we've done it together. I guess what i'm trying to say is that pre-Nico I mainly liked to HELP PEOPLE, WRITE AND RUN...and post-Nico i'm still doing it =)! I was surprised by almost all of the other mom's answers...Make-up artist and college swimmer?! Psychologist?! Dancer?! Partier?! These women were cool pre-children and I guess that's why they are still pleasant interesting people to be around. WE were all wearing making up, dressed in non- easy to breastfeed clothing, WERE WEARING ACCESSORIES, and WERE DRINKING at 10:30am!! I bet their babies barely recognized them...lol.

From 1009 SAHM breakfast,shopping with daddy

• Peter went on a second ride in the evening--this one was a social ride for entertainment purposes ONLY.

• With my cousin, Debora, visiting, I was able to sneak out to meet up with Peter and his friends for a WHOLE HOUR after Nico went to bed!

SUNDAY

• we hung out together. It was entertaining to see Nico play with his soccer ball:

  From 1009 SAHM breakfast,shopping with daddy

• watched a movie (DEAR, JOHN)
• went CHOPIN (shopping is miamian-language spoken in Miami) at the Round Rock Outlets, where Peter got some GOOD-LOOKIN new LOOKS for his new JOB!!! How did I land myself such a hunk (thanks NICO,lol)?

From 1009 SAHM breakfast,shopping with daddy

(banana republic jeans=$24.99, banana republic jacket= $24.30, Ralph Lauren oxford= $19.99)

From 1009 SAHM breakfast,shopping with daddy

(banana republic pants=13.99, Ralph Lauren oxford= 19.99)

With all the craziness surrounding this weekend (9/11 memorial, Quran burning/ burning protests, gas explosion in San Bruno California, hurricane clean-ups/missing persons searches in Austin), I'm saddened that so many people in the world are angry and suffering. I almost feel selfish and thoughtless when I sit here and post about all these HAPPY things that are happening in my life. I can't help it. I think that if everyone had a child next to them, saw them smile, laugh at your weird faces, inspected random objects...maybe then people wouldn't have time to be SO ANGRY...(if they had a child they would probably be too busy to protest, or actually DO ANYTHING else...lol) I am grateful and hope that more people find the time to enjoy, appreciate, and recognize those little things in life that make life worth living!

Thank you Austin, Mommy friends, Peter, Nico, and God for another great weekend.

Here is my favorite pic of the week:

From 1009 SAHM breakfast,shopping with daddy

Mommy, daddy, manu, snoopy...I miss you guys so much, I'm glad you were able to "CHILL" together...=)muahhhh

BTW..GO GATORS, even though they had a sloooooowwwwww start! I love them anyway!

LA Trip

Our new LA names: NiSaFlo, PeMaFlo, VaRoFlo

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

We just got back from LA. It was a pretty crazy whirlwind trip. Being that were were scoping the area out for possible location move, it was a little more stressful that I thought it would be. I kept trying to picture us in the different places...and had trouble in some areas but we quickly found some other areas that were pretty great. There are so many options of places to live...which will keep us busy in the coming months when trying to narrow down areas to live in.

Like this great little park, Coldwater Canyon Park snuggled in Beverly Hills...

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

This was our first vacation...not to Miami...which meant that we had to travel with 100 extra baby items: car seat, stroller, diapers, baby food, formula, water, play-pen, baby bjourn, wipes, clothes, sweaters, toys--most of which we never have to take with us when traveling to visit family in Miami...cause it's all there already!

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

Nico did GREAT! He slept through the night...EVERY NIGHT! The first day he got up really early, 4am(6 am Austin time) but he quickly adjusted. Yesterday morning he slept until 8 or 8:15am (10am Austin time). He made Peter and I stay on schedule though. He would quickly remind us when we had take TOO LONG at dinner, or had been DRIVING FOR MORE THAN THE ALLOTTED TIME!

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

We ran all over! On Santa Monica between the beach and the Pacific Coast Hwy (1), in Runyon Canyon Park (Hollywood hills),and in Santa Barbara, along the water. It was nice because on those early runs we managed to see the calmer, quieter sides of LA. We got a chance to ENJOY the cool weather, and the beautiful mountains, ocean, palm trees, and crisp ocean breeze. Once we move we'll have to test our fitness level improvement by running up Runyon Canyon periodically to see how far we get.

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

We rented a double bike (Tandem) with a trailer attached to it. It was my first time getting on one of those...SO SCARY. Peter was making fun of me, saying that he loved me anyway even though my idea of adventure now was biking on one of those bikes...BUT IT WAS A SCARY ADVENTURE- TO BE WABBLING ALL OVER the place, having NO CONTROL, NO vision (I was in the back), and to catch glimpses from over Peter's shoulder or under his elbow of a BIGILLION crazies on the side walk jumping in and out of the way...some not even concerned that a very large moving object was coming straight at them or worse, that it was going toward their 3 year old child who just darted across the path for a ROCK or their shadow!
In the end, I did have fun, in a cold beach, california, adventurous kind-a way...lol.

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

The weather- was the most shocking part of the trip once I got over the thousands of people that I SAW the first 10 minutes of being there. It was COLD...in the middle of the summer, ON THE BEACH! The ocean water was FREEZING!! It was Nice to not be sweating. It was especially great RUNNING WEATHER!!

We ate yummy food! PIZZA, LOBSTER, FISH, SHRIMP & CHIPS, CREPES...just to name a few.

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

Places we visited and/or drove through:
Santa Monica- A lot of tourist
Beverly Hills- Expensive
Brentwood- Quiet, I like
Westwood- I like
Malibu- hahaha...right
Augora Hills- family style, affordable, far from the water
Westlake Village- family style affordable, far from the water
Thousand Oaks-family style affordable, far from the water
Oxnard- on the water, but didn't like the rest of the area
Ventura- can't remember
Santa Barbara- we won't be living that far north.

SPOTTING A MOVIE STAR. When we arrived in LA I told Peter that we would see someone famous. I kept my eyes peeled the whole time. The last day...hours before we were leaving, we saw Rawle D. Lewis, Junior from the movie "Cool Runnings" at lunch and Peter bet me $100 that it wasn't him....and so I asked him...and he said yes...and proceeded to taking pictures with him and NICO!!

From 1009 Los Angeles Trip Labor Day

We had a great trip!!! There are a lot more pictures: