End of November

As we mentioned before, November was a very sickly month and I AM SOOO HAPPY IT's over!!
But we have to share the HUGE events that happend in the last couple days of November:

We decided to go Celebrate Thanksgiving with Kelly and Josh in Arizona!
Tia Kelly was ready for Nico with fun-filled activities planned for the WHOLE WEEKEND!!

When we were packing to head out----I received a call from a Doctor's office that I had interviewed with....and they told me that I GOT THE JOB!!!

The drive was LONG, thanks to LA traffic....






Thursday- Thanksgiving Day!
We got up early for a run (Kelly and I) and Peter and Nico joined us for a little and then went back to kelly and Josh's place to help him  PREPARE THE TURKEY and MAKE BREAKFAST for us girls =)

We have so much to be thankful for!

Friday at midnight we hit up TARGET for BLACK FRIDAY!!
Friday during the day we went to a mall and joined the masses in shopping for things that we were told we couldn't live without...lol like candles from bath and body works, and an 8th pair of jeans...hahaha
BUT we did find some great BARGAINS!!!!
Friday evening we met up with Kelly's friends who have a little 2.5 year old---Her and Nico had an unforgettable first date. They were huging and holding hands the whole time! We all got to hear a live concerts and see SNOW (bubbles) come down from the sky!! It was AWESOME!!!

Then Peter and I went to Melting Pot (tradition) and to a Comedy Show to celebrate our 2 year Anniversary! Crazy that it's only been two YEARS and at the same time already two years!! Two Years ago we were at TOWN LAKE saying: I PROMISE to LOVE YOU FOREVER....sometimes its hard but there are those moments that really do take your breath away--when you feel SO LUCKY that you get nervous that it might

Saturday we did a little more shopping then we got ready for the UF vs FSU game....which led to some heated discussions at the Allegro residence.
Sunday- Our 2 year anniversary!
In the morning we got up early for breakfast and to head out to "avoid traffic".
At breakfast,Manuela and Juan called us with some GREAT NEWS!!! THEY GOT ENGAGED!!!!

I feel so connected with my sister and friends.
Angela and Andrew got married on my birthday.
Kelly and Josh got engaged on my birthday.
And now, Manuela and juan got engaged on Peter and mine's anniversary.


But the end of november craziness continues....
 Monday morning I started working at the Optomologist office! I told everyone in the elevator that I was super excited that it was my first day of work! Everyone at the office was super nice!

However 1 hour after walking out of my first day of work, I got a call back from another job I had applied for...I was happy and excited about the job I had just started but I thought I would hear her out. Peter said it wouldn't hurt to interview them so I did. I scheduled an in person meeting.

My dad arrived on the 30th! From the second Nico saw him...they have been inseparable!!
It was an amazing way to close NOVEMBER!

I GOT THE JOB!!

I spoke too soon! This morning I wrote about how I had so many things to be grateful for and that I was okay with not knowing if I got the job yet or not.....and right around noon....I GOT THE CALL!

Erica from the doctor's office called to offer me the full-time job at their office!!!!

YAYYY!!! I am beyond excited! Now I have to continue packing so that we can head out to go visit KELLY and JOSHY!!!

Pre-Sansgivings

This morning I got to watch the sunrise while working out with some friends...AWESOME START to my PRE-Thanksgiving Wednesday! I have a lot of things on my "things to be thankful for" list. So what if I don't know if I can add "NEW JOB" to that list just yet. 

I love my life, all the people in it, my adorable family, and the amazing experiences I've had the chance in live in these (almost) 26 years!

Thank you GOD...for real! I'm a lucky girl!!!

22 month old Update

November 15 was Nico's 22 Month Birthday!
I love you Pumkinhead! I hope you feel better soon!!!

Health update- Unfortunately lots to report on this topic this MONTH!
So this has been A ROUGH MONTH....

• He started the month off with a double ear infection that actually started right before Halloween--at the same time that I had an ear infection and was super sick for 3 days. 
• We went into the Docs office for a flu shot and another shot on PICTURE DAY.
• Then seemed to be making his comeback and doing better. We decided to join Peter who was going to be in San Diego for the weekend for a work conference. We drove down last saturday, checked into the Hiton and hung out at a sports grill for a late lunch early dinner. After dinner  (5:30pm) we went out for a walk when Nico all of a sudden started acting really weird. His eyes were justed focused straight...not looking at either of us and his teeth were clenched shut. He wasn't responsive and seeming to be having a hard time breathing. We called the paramedics and they stabilized him, got him some oxygen and we headed to the ER in San Diego. From what we told them, they concluded that it was what is considered a seizure even though there was no body shaking of any kind. We were at the Hospital forever...and finally we saw a doctor who wanted to check Nico's brain with a CT scan(12:05am)....THAT CAME back NEGATIVE for anything INTERESTING(1:5am)...which was AWESOME. She recommended seeing our pediatrician and going to the neurologist.  We then headed back to the hotel(2am).
• When we got back we went to report the San Diego Incident and hospital results of the CT Scan to our PCP-primary care physician (pediatrician). He agreed with the Hospital recommendation to ge see a neurologist and gave us the referral to see one....but he also found liquid in his ear (another ear infection). Later that day he had a fever of 103 and threw up...=( But I wish it ended there. 
• The next day there was a cancellation at the neurologists office---who is usually booked months in advance...so we went on over. She commended him on how advanced and smart he was. She did however recommend an EEG to see if there was any underlying seizure brain activity. He will have to be sedated for that procedure when the time comes, but she recommended to not book the EXAM until he was 100% over this cold and ear infections.
• The very next day he woke up with what looked like pink eye...but didn't end up being pink eye...it was all related to the ear infection!

It's all be nerve wrecking, scary, and sad. I just want my baby to be well. When is this poor little man going to catch a BREAK! Hopefully DECEMBER comes with LOTS of GOOD HEALTH! The mucousy eyes, bugarry nose, overall sickly appearance-- that seems to reflect terrible parenting-- continues. He is on antibiotics for the 2nd time this month. We are doing what we can to keep him comfortable.

Other than all the infections, hospital, and doctor visits, Nico continues to impress us with the things he remembers and his funny thought process.

Language Update: He has the #2 down! He always find 2 of everything to match them. He continues to REPEAT EVERYTHING! His favorite word by far is NO....adorable right?!?!?! He has started putting little phrases together...which I love!

Food update: He's been super picky lately and NOT very excited about eating, due to his buggars.
Sleep update: Since he's been buggary, he's gotten up a couple times during the night but he's been doing relatively well.
Other updates:This month he did his first CHICKEN DANCE at his friend- Kiera's 2nd Year Birthday Party.

Catch-up post part2-November

November came and (almost) went with out me getting a chance to take it all in!

I'll divide this post in sections:

Important Dates

Progress/Updates

First I'll start with IMPORTANT DATES this month:
Abuelita's Birthday was on the 2nd. So was mommy's friend-Galey's Birthday.

Daylight savings! What used to be my favorite holiday!

Tia Manuela Celebrated her 24th Birthday on the 14th with a very creative VIP style BASH in Miami's Latest hottest CLUB---BYOB with a red carpet entrance fit for the best sister!!

Nico Celebrated his 22month Birthday. Yes folks that means that this little man is 2 months from being in his TERRIBLE TWOS...lol. Just kidding....well I hope, for my sake. You can see more about his stats and such on his 22month Update.

In the Progress/Updates section:
I have three topics to report on:
1. MARATHON TRAINING:
 Training has been difficult to get into a routine but I've been out there pounding the payment and trying to get in as many miles as I can. Race day is creeping up on me and I do want to be ready. My longest run till now has been 11 miles which I know is about 6 miles too short for this time in my training....but I've done 89% have been done with Nico in the stroller; So maybe I can add a couple miles to total milage and subtract some seconds from the average pace!
Recent events-> the time-change and  sicknesses running around have gotten in the way. But NO EXCUSES...I know. I'm ramping up the training...come race-day, I'll be ready!!!!

2. Children's Book: I am proud to report that the manuscript, images, and what-nots were sent to the submission coordinator at Xlibris, Cherry. Tomorrow I should be hearing from Patrick, my assigned Design Consultant who will be contacting me to go over details for my books initial designs and layouts!!!! THE BOOK IS NOW IN THE DESIGN PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT!!! All very exciting!!! We'll see what the coming weeks bring!

3. Working Momma:As you know I've been hard at work applying for jobs EVERYWHERE...and ALL KINDS of jobs...and have been TURNED AWAY, shut down, told : "No Thanks", "Not Hiring", "We're going in a different direction", "We're looking for someone with more experience", "We'll contact you",or SIMPLY...NOTHING...
BUT this past friday was different! I had an interview at a Opthamologist's Office. How I got the interview in the first place is a great story of FATE...I think. I went to my regular primary care doctor and asked to see an eye doctor cause my vision was blurring after a couple hours of drawing. She recommended a doctor she really likes that happend to be not too out of the way. So I made an appointment for later in the week. While getting my eyes checkout by this doctor, we started small talk....and I ended up telling him that I studied biology, that I have been looking for work and wanted to make sure my eyes were ready and all set for when I did get a job and have to focus my vision ALL DAY...He asked me about my work experience, and I was honest...telling him that after college I went to the Peace Corps and then since moving back have been dabbling. He recommended that I shadow his head technician if I was interested. I happend to have a resume with me, so as I checked out at the front desk, I asked the girl...By any chance, are you guys hiring? To my surprise, I didn't get one of the past answers....she said: I don't know, but we are super busy and can always use the help. So I gave her my resume and I got a call from the head technician for a job interview a couple days later. Friday I went in for an interview where they told me the position that they were looking to fill, and the hours. I talked with the manager for a while about my resume and then I waited in the "kitchen/break room". One by one the office staff, and doctors came in. Most of them said they had all already heard about me, and were super nice. The head tech who called me also noticed how funny I was =) which made me happy that he had such a great sense of humor. The hiring manager thanked me for coming in and said she'd call me Monday with an OFFER. I don't know how close I am to actually having a NEW JOB...but I can't help but feel super excited and hopeful. Tomorrow can't come soon enough, it's gonna be a BIG DAY!


On not so important news,  I got a new phone =) with a new NUMBER...IPHONE BY THE WAY! If you call my old number you'll hear the message-with my new number on it. Some of you may be wondering why I haven't  texted you back....we'll there you have it!

Deadlines don't care...

I'm a little sad to say that I won't have my book available by Christmas as was my goal. Today was the deadline to submit some page layouts. I submitted all my material days ago, but instead of picking a generic layout, I chose custom layouts for each page, which they asked me to send them by today. Due to some unexpected worsening of Nico's ear infection,  my inability to finish last night (since I was exhausted by 1am), a last minute doctor's appointment today (3rd this week), and late napping action, I wasn't able to get my material out until 15 minutes after the Editor had walked out of the office-central time...It was only 4pm HERE!!!!---I know they are all excuses....but that's all I have to hold on to right now. I know it's my fault for not manning up and staying up all night when I had to, not working fast enough, and not putting MY BOOK as a PRIORITY...but I didn't.

In the grand scheme of things, my pumpkin head's health is what is most important....but TODAY i'm a little sad...I feel like I let my self down. The book might not be available til January and print til maybe 3 months from now due to the holiday season and the crazy amount of people who slid their stuff in by deadline because they made-publishing their book by christmas a priority.

It's a hard reality....Deadlines are deadlines. No one cares if you didn't sleep, if you had to tend to a mucousy, ear infected toddler who's been sick for almost 2 weeks, or a sick husband, or if you don't have a SET "work" schedule where you can accomplish what you need to accomplish....They definitely don't realize how hard it is to concentrate when your falling asleep after a long day and the only time you have to "work" is 9:30pm-12am....They also don't know how difficult it is to draw when you have a sneaky buggar head trying to take your "colors".... But I know how hard its been...And I am proud of what i've accomplished in this relatively lonely process where you basically only have yourself to push your self and keep yourself on course.

I'm happy that it's on it's way...and even if I don't get my christmas gift this year....I hope that whenever I do get it...that's it's everything I want it to be.

By the way...I wonder if I can put a deadline to Nico's ear infection...that would be nice. I just want my buggarhead to feel better and SOON! I want my pumpkinhead back by Turkey day!!!!

Catch-up post part1- October

So I have a lot of catching up to do!

This is going to be the first of a  2 part post to help me get my blog back up to date.
At the end of these posts you will see all the things that kept me from publishing these posts and depriving you of your much needed NICO MOMENTS.

Okay so let's back track to Halloween. I know it's almost Thanksgiving but cut me some slack....ENJOY!
Check out this Very stylish MAN!!!!

 I made Pumpkin Jello the week of Halloween!

  Nico Found Mommas' Stunner Shades and started striking some poses:

 We had guests over for dinner from all over....Miami-Gaby, Austin-Anna, and Atlanta-Al...as well as from Westwood =).

Tio Charlie read Nico some books while we fired up the grill.

There was a lot of laughing during dinner!

 During Halloween Week Nico also had a Playdate with LORENA! They had a lot of FUN! and so did I! They chased eachother all around the living room, played catch, and laughed-ALOT. So different from the first couple times they hung out. Guess there is no more parallel players here!

FULL SPEED AHEAD!!!

The evening concluded with a lovely DINNER for TWO!

We also attended a HALLOWEEN STORYTIME at out library:

 Getting a shot of all these little guys was hard! But I guess every parents know that from the First time they attempt any GROUP shot with kiddos!

Todd and Antu arrived later that day!!!
Nico and I got really sick and had to go to the Doc...but we still managed to get some fun in on the days they were here!

Todd Surfing!

Papa Showing him how it's done!

Skatboarding in Malibu

images out of People Magazine....lol

We also went out to West Hollywood...however we don't have any pictures =(. 

 Their visit was a lot of Fun! It was great having friends to HANGOUT with. They also made trick or treating an adventure!!! I still don't have pictures of the last night they were here...Halloween...but when  I do, I'll post them!
  And with their visit we concluded the OCTOBER UPDATE!