Diego Arjun Eshwar

Today, after a very special, although long and tiring day for my sister, my nephew Diego was finally born. It was hard to see my sister work so hard, and get so exhausted, but I am happy I was there for her every step of the way. My parents were also there, and at the end of the day Lionel and the girls came to the hospital as well.

We may have just met him today, but we have been waiting for him. So we love him lots already, and can’t wait to see him grow.

Welcome dear Diego. Welcome to our world!

Autumn

This was the sight at the fruit store earlier today. Fall colors for sure...

Lluvia ... vienes y te vas, mojando mis cabellos

The weather forecasters said it would rain this evening. In fact, they particularly said that there would be scattered showers. Of course they get it wrong most of the time, but turns out that today they were right.

After picking both girls up from school we stopped by the fruit store. On our way out, as we were walking to the car, it started raining really hard. We had no place to hide, so in two minutes we were soaking wet. Bella started to cry, and asked for some dry pants. Sofia thought it was funny and just kept telling me to hurry up.

Of course five minutes later the rain had completely gone away.

Weird

Yesterday afternoon, during my commute back home, I noticed that the car in front of me had a sticker that read: "Buckle up. It makes it harder for aliens to suck you out of your car".

I don't even know what to say to that.

19 de Septiembre de 1985

I always remember this date. On September 19, 1985, a devastating and powerful earthquake almost destroyed Mexico City. Many lives were lost. The devastation was unbelievable. I was only 9 years old. I remember watching the news, and hearing how many countries were sending help, and expert search teams. I remember pictures of men in hard hats standing over debris. It is strange that I remember so well. Thankfully that tragedy hasn't repeated itself. And hopefully it never will.

Surf Dog

I waited for 6 long years, but this time around Sofia and I finally rode together in this. This is also in the kids section, and even though it is by no means a wild ride, it is as wild as it gets for me.

Dividend day 2011

This past weekend was dividend day, the yearly tradition where the company rents the entire Kings Island amusement park, and distributes free tickets to all Cincinnati based employees. Although I am not the biggest fan of roller coasters, mainly because they about give me a heart attack, I am always happy to go once a year. The girls enjoy running around, and getting on the few rides they are tall enough to ride. It is a day for them, where no work emails, and no house chores take our attention away from them. This year it was unusually cold, but the girls didn't seem to care.

Thinking of you

Yesterday I saw this chubby vaquita and lovingly thought or my sister who by now is very pregnant and beautiful, full of life.

Guilt

I have to say that becoming a mentor at this stage of my life was probably not the best idea of all. I really don't have free time, and to make matters worse my mentee leaves too far from me. So most of the time I just feel guilty for not being able to give her the attention she deserves. I committed to do this for a full year, and I am two thirds of the way there. I will definitely finish the year, but beyond that I very much doubt I will be able to do it again.

Together

Today I did not go anywhere without my girls. First we went to Sofia's tennis lesson and stayed for a gymnastics exhibition followed by some free play time. We then came back home for lunch and afterward went to my parent's house for a little while so my mother in law - who is visiting - could take a nap. From there we went to Target with my parents to buy couple things for them and the girls.

The weather warmed up a lot, so once we were back home the girls and I hang out in the backyard. The girls had fun playing with the neighborhood kids, and I had fun seeing them enjoy the weather and have a good time.

Dinner at home, shower time, and soon it was time for them to go to bed. It was a busy day, and a rare one where no distance came in between me and my girls.

Recognition

This past Wednesday evening I attended a very formal award ceremony from work. I was nominated as part of a team that planned a pretty successful coaching event earlier this year. This was the first time I attended this event, and even though I always dread not being at home for dinner with Lionel and the girls, I was happy to be part of it and be recognized for once.

The event started with a cocktail hour followed by dinner, the ceremony, and finally some more mingling time. Turns out, my team also won. When I got home and told Lionel that we won his first question was "What did you win?".

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that we won!", I said and meant it as well.

What mattered to me was attending the event, having the chance to take the stage and - above all - seeing the pride in my director's face.

Vaso medio vacio

Some people are very quick to criticize, complain about, and challenge what others do. But they are unable to provide solutions themselves. They are glass half empty type people that make me mad now and then, but above all I feel very sorry for them.

The Reds

Tonight Sofia went to her very first baseball game ever. It was just Lionel and her, with some people from his work. I don't know if she cared much about the game itself, but she was excited to get ice cream in a helmet shaped cup. I think she had fun, but since she went to bed almost at ten I am anticipating that tomorrow morning I will have one tired, cranky little girl.

Exams

Last Friday Sofia had her very first tests ever:  A spelling one, and a timed math test. Here is how she did.

Life happens

Based on my own experiences, and those of the people around me, I think that hitting rock bottom hurts the most when just the second before you were flying high.

Double Standard

Yesterday I went to the mall for a little while by myself. As I watched girls showing items to their moms, and asking for their approval, I was grateful for two things: 1) I no longer have to ask my mom, and 2) Sofia still does.

Best seats

On Saturday night Lionel and I went to see "The Script". When I bought the tickets I just went for the most expensive ones, because I no longer want to see shows with bad seats. What I did not realize was that I bought tickets for the pit, which meant no assigned sitting, and standing for the whole show right in front of the stage. I was not wearing the best shoes to be standing, but I managed to hang in there. I really like some of their songs so I am glad that I went, but I must admit the show was not as good as the other show I know and love. Maybe one day they will get there.

Familia

This past Saturday morning we had an impromptu family reunion at a local coffee shop named "Coffee Emporium". My parents always get coffee on Saturday and Sunday morning, as it is part of their routine. Gabi sometimes goes with them as well, but I always seem to have other stuff going on with the girls.

This Saturday however I was able to join them, and bring the girls along with me. Unfortunately I did not realize Raj was going to be there, so I did not invite Lionel as well. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, not hot, not cold, so it was really nice to be out there. I even managed to feel relaxed for a little while.

Joy

I love the sincere joy in my girls' face when I pick them up from school at the end of the day. They are so happy that their eyes literally shine. I will enjoy it for as long as I can. I know that one day that joy will become annoyance, before turning into indifference. But hopefully one day, even if it is many years ahead, the joy - or at least some sort of appreciation- will come back on its own.

Tree Pose

I don't know how it all started but tonight, right after dinner, Sofia and I started a friendly tree pose competition. Sofia lost her balance before 10 seconds, but I did pretty well.  I had declared myself as the winner when Bella decided that she also deserved a chance. So with all the confidence in the world she walked up to the chosen tree pose spot, spread her arms, and stood there with a "This is how you do it" grin without ever - not even for a second - lifting one foot from the ground. It was such a classic moment and Bella was so cute that all of us couldn't help it. We just had to laugh.

NO Bella

This morning Bella made Sofia really, really mad. She actually makes her mad on and off every single day, but today was particularly bad. Sofia left her American girl doll catalog within Bella's reach, so that one grabbed it and in the process ripped couple pages off. This was particularly bad in Sofia's eyes. We of course told Bella that was not ok, but that was no consolation to Sofia, who was crying about her broken catalog.

Sofia was so upset that she made a "No Bellas allowed" sign, and later on even wrote Bella a note asking her to apologize. When she complained to me that Bella had not responded to her note, I pointed out that Bella does not know how to read just yet. So she asked me to read it to her. I did, and Bella apologized once again. That was good enough for Sofia, who decided to play with her again.

Mami-Bella Special Day

Bella's daycare was closed today, so I took the day off and we spent it together while Sofia was at school.

Much to my dismay the day started by flat out lying to Sofia and making her believe that Bella was going to school, just like her. She is still very sad every morning when I drop her off at school, so I figured that knowing Bella and I were spending the day together would make her even more anxious and sad. Furthermore, I did not want her to spend the entire day thinking about us, and wondering what we were doing at the time.

After we dropped Sofia off we went to Tios' house, but turns out they were both at the doctor's at the time. We then headed to the Gap outlet in Kentucky; I hadn't been there in a while. Against all odds Bella actually let me shop, and she even found ways to entertain herself. Among other things we found a French style hat, so I made her put it on, we took a picture, and I sent it to Lionel. Since it was only two dollars we also brought it home.

After shopping we picked Gabi up for lunch. By the time we were done Bella was so tired that she fell asleep in the car even without it moving. So I drove around for about an hour just to let her rest.

Once she woke up I took her to the cheap movie theater, since they had a Winnie the Pooh movie that was only 60 minutes long. This was her very first time ever at the movie theater, but she did really well. She did not want to sit by herself, so she watched the movie on my lap which was kind of nice. Even though I found the movie quite boring, it was nice to have Bella so close to me.

By the time the movie was over it was time to pick up Sofia, so we headed straight there. She was happy to see us, and even though I told her Bella's school was closed after all, by then she didn't seem to mind that much.

We then ended the day with a visit to abuelito's house where the girls played around, had dinner, and terrorized Tia and my poor parents with all their noise and their messy ways. Lionel and I snuck out to have dinner by ourselves, but came right back for them. A quick ride back home and it was time to go to bed.

As every day off it didn't seem to last that long, but I had fun nonetheless. It was a really good day.

The French side of Bella

Exhausted!

First movie ever at the theater: Winnie the Pooh

Baby!

Sofia is so excited about Tia's baby that today she made this card:

Front

Inside

Back

World Peace

And here is a drawing of the world according to my 6 year old.