Ruben was outside playing in the snow today. We bundled him up in his snow suit and wrapped his face with a scarf. He didn't know what to make of the snow around him. I took a 1 minute movie of him making a snow angel but I am having a difficult time learning how to embed it on our website. If you would like to see the movie just email Kiesha or I and we'll send you the file. 

Top Things Heard while Traveling to Kentucky

1. You should have stuffed those cats and shipped them out to Kentucky. (Obviously these people were not cat lovers.)
2. You will have to take your cats out of their carriers. (Obviously these TSA bag screeners are sticklers for rules, after Kiesha gave them a mean look and said she would not they finally caved in and allowed us to take the cats out behind a screen, while they took the carriers and ran them through the X-ray machine.)
3. You have one kid now but when you're kids outnumber you, you are dead. (What about when you have a kid and two cats, does that count?)
4. Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow! (Even after heavy sedation, Domino would not shut-up)
5. Traveling with cats? How cool. (I was ready to strangler her but I didn't, she's obviously a cat lover, but people hater.)
6. If you didn't get a breakfast bag, please ask a flight attendant for one. (Breakfast bag? Don't like the sound of that.)
7. He's so adorable. (They obviously were not talking about me.)
8. Your flight captain today is Captain Kirk ?. (I didn't here the last name I just heard Capt. Kirk. Hahahaha)

Wow, talk about a snowy Christmas! It started snowing here Wednesday morning and after the snow came sleet (I hope I spelled that right). It all finally stopped some time early this morning. We were without electricity yesterday from 6:00p.m. to midnight. Apparently all this sleet and snow knockout a transformer somewhere. Kiesha tells me that she's never seen this much snow here before. Her mom and aunt tell me it never snows like this. All I know is that my little putter has never seen this kinda snow either and she has never been snowed in like this. Poor girl, I'm gonna have to make it up to her after this. All this just brings flashbacks of Minneapolis -- 40 degrees below zero with the wind chill and just hunkering down with some snacks and a book and calling it a day. Well, now I don't hunker down I blog -- how times have changed. I have one request from everyone out in Cali, please, please do not tell me how warm it is over there. :-) One cool thing about this snow is that we get to put Ruben in his snow suit. Hahahahaha, he looks like the Michelin tire man and when mom wraps him up with a scarf everyone will think of "A Christmas Story". We'll send pictures so everyone can have a good laugh. 

Final Post

Well folks, we are packing up our computer tonight and there will be no more blog posts until our computer arrives in Kentucky. According to our countdown timer as of this moment, Kiesha, Ruben and I have 3 days, 12 hour and 33 minutes left before we leave but don't fret because Kiesha and I may not be able to place written posts but we can blog audio MP3 files. Hhhmmm...very, very interesting.

I will take this cool piece of technology and provide field reports from Kentucky. Is Madisonville that different a place from Los Angeles? How many gun racks will I see within my first week in Kentucky? Do Amish really live near Madisonville? Do they sell Jack Daniels in vending machines? Most importantly, can I get a venti latte at a Starbucks? Wait...do they have Starbucks in Madisonville? Stay tuned.

You're So Money

Monday night Kiesha, Ruben and I were treated to dinner at the Dresden by our neighbor Jane and her friend Jean. Ruben was a hit with the staff there. Everyone always has to go on about how good he is and how quiet he is and how happy he is all the time. I was half expecting one of the staff to say to Ruben, "You're so money".

It was cool to dine at the Dresden one final time. Jane has a website herself, it is at www.janeymilstead.com. She has a page dedicated to her Datsun named Matty, it's titled the "Ten Demandments of being a WriterDog". :-)

Take a good look at this woman. According to Ruben she is public enemy #1 and should be apprehended. She came by Saturday and scared Ruben with her mere presence. Then after she said something, Ruben once again began screaming and crying. Poor little guy. Poor Heather. I don't know what kinda karma you have Heather but you may need to see a curandera to cleanse you or something. :-) hahahaha Well, she can drown out her sorrows in alcohol because she left our place Saturday with a big carton full of all our liquor...I mean "spirits". Spirits sounds so much nicer. She made off like a bandit and for that alone she deserves the title of public enemy #1. 

In case you are interested, I have added a countdown timer at our family website. I know that Kiesha is couting down the time. Now you too will know when we hit the not so friendly skies and move to Kentucky. Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Ours was great. We went to Andy's cousins house (Dave and Dori's) for the day. They were all great. They have three kids, ages 10, 7, and 4. Ruben went right to them and never looked back to find Jose and I. He thought he had new parents and was so happy! He apparently likes experienced parents. I guess he doesn't like the trial and error parenting that Jose and I do :)

Just 9 more days to go before we move to KY. I can't wait, but still a little nervous about the whole thing. It will be nice to be home though and be close to mom. I know she has missed me. She has surgery on Dec. 9, and I am glad we will be there with her. It's kidney stones again. I hope they will find out why she keeps getting them.

Update on Sis (Elizabeth), her little girl is due on Dec. 5 but she has been having contractions and if she hasn't had her by Nov. 30 the doctor is going to induce labor. I can't believe she is having a baby, my little sis is growing up!

It's hard to believe that it was just two years ago today that Jose proposed. Time goes by so fast!

A few things I'm thankful for...
A healthy happy baby boy.
That I followed my heart 3 yrs ago, even when everyone thought I had lost my mind.
That I found my soul mate and he loves me just the way I am.
All the great friends I have made in LA.
Those few but wonderful friendships that have stood the test of time.
Chocolate :)

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

More Pictures on Family Website

Kiesha and I have added more picture albums to our family website. I haven't yet put titles and captions to all the pictures but I will in the future. In the Olvera Street album you'll find some cool pictures of Ruben with the hunky Josh and his five o'clock shadow. The Old Spaghetti Factory has pictures of our farewell dinner with our friends, Andy, Halim, Heather, Maythee, Pete, and Suranya. Enjoy.

He has a rash!

Ruben is still sick. The doctor said on Friday that sometimes babies run a fever for a few days and then break out into a rash. I had never heard of this. Even after the doctor mentioned a rash on Friday I still freaked out and called her 3 times yesterday when I discovered a bright red bumpy rash all over Ruben's back. Nothing like being a first time mom and freaking out all the time. :)

His fever is gone and the rash is looking better but he is very grumpy. Constantly whining and fussing today. I guess he has us spoiled. He is such a good baby and rarely fusses, so when he does it wears me out. So I am counting down the hours till Jose gets home so I can hand him Ruben and go have a drink and hot bath! :)

This is one of the few instances when Ruben smiles for a photo. The negative? He is drooling. Well you can't have it all. We had lunch with some friends at Olvera Street. We were buying Ruben some Mexican toys and decided we would take a shot at taking his photo so that we would have a keepsake for him. He actually looks half-Mexican with his sombrero and sarape. He's such a cutie. 

Saturdays

I like Saturdays. Saturdays have so much going for them.

First, I can sleep in on Saturdays. And those of you who know Daddy, know that Daddy likes to sleep in. Now that we have Ruben, sleeping in takes a different form. If Ruben can sleep until 7:30 a.m. then that's sleeping in for Daddy. How things have changed.

Saturdays also have morning cartoons. I used to love those morning cartoons. I don't watch any now but I am sure that the pooper is going to love his morning cartoons and I am going to learn to talk about a whole new set of colorful characters. Hopefully Ruben won't like Barney.

Let me list the many things that Saturdays have:
Not a work day - A break from the office is always good.
Baseball Game of the Week. - Ahh, baseball.
College Football - Go Trojans!
BBQ's - Hhmm, Carne Asada with Guacamole and corn and fun in the sun.
Mexico: One Plate at a Time - Rick Bayless can cook some mean Mexican dishes. Check out his show on PBS at 3:30 p.m.
Time with the Family - I get to spend a whole day with the Mama Bear and Cubbie. Ruben is lots of fun. When he isn't fussy and with a fever that is.

Well, these are but a few things of why Saturdays rock. I'm sure that everyone has some of their own favorites for Saturday.

Ruben was ill today

Poor little guy. He had a fever last night of 102 degrees. He didn't sleep well all last night. His fever dropped down to 101 but we still took him to his pediatrician. His pediatrician says he just has a virus and that we should keep his electrolyte's up. He's alright. I think he was happy that this visit to the doctor didn't end up with him getting an immunization shot. :-) Little does he know that appointment is next week.

He is taking a nap now. He's worn out. I think he's been asleep for about an hour and a half. We'll keep giving him his Tylenol and wish him well.

First Blog

I hope this works well and everyone can have fun while blogging. Embrace the Blogger Nation. Happy Blogging.