Twilight Saga

Can you believe I am done with reading all 4 books in the Twilight saga by Stephanie Meyer? I now understand why so many people went ape crazy over the Harry Potter series. Honestly, I was never crazy about Harry Potter, like at all. However, the Twilight saga attracted my interest. Nino said it is total brain candy. Yep it definitely is.

I am pretty sure that the open captioned movie of Twilight will be out next month. I have seen some other states on the East or West coast are already showing the open captioned movie of Twilight so I take that as a good sign.

Anybody has read Twilight yet? I dare not to put any spoilers here!

Thanksgiving is next week?!

I am totally not prepared for Thanksgiving next week especially the fact that the holidays are approaching fast. However, Luis on the other hand, is eagerly looking forward to a break from school. It will certainly be nice to have two days off next week from work. I am certainly looking forward to get the house in shape, it desperately needs cleaning and organizing, you name it! It would be so nice to hire a housekeeper so they can do the hard work then I do the easy work ::snickers:: I have to admit, it is quite challenging to try to clean the house while Benjamin gets in the way. That's why I would love to hire a housekeeper. Maybe I should get that for my Christmas present? ;-D

Speaking of the holidays, we decided for sure that we are driving down to South Florida for Christmas/New Years to visit with the Rivera family. We are looking forward to a change of scenery, and of course, to introduce Benjamin to a bunch of family members and hopefully, my dear friends such as Elisha. We think we have a date in mind when we will leave, but will find out for sure next month.

In This Time of Need

Yesterday I came across a news article on CNN.com about one man who killed his family and then himself in Southern California. Why? Because of the horrible economy and how he could not find a job for months. My heart broke. It seems like everything is going wrong, and many people feel there is no hope. I personally went through the hardship of looking for employment for about two years before I finally found a job where I am currently working for about four years now. I can feel the people's frustrations of not being able to find a job. For those are actively looking, you WILL find something. Things will get better. In fact, I believe that once we hit the rock bottom, we learn from it and move up.

I want to share something that may inspire you to think positive. My sister in law Ninotchka "Nino" is truly amazing. She is the one who started this blog, www.thehappyblog.com. Go ahead and read, hopefully, this will remind you why we should appreciate little things and be happy no matter what in life! Enjoy :-)

Morning Person? No way!

Lately I have been having a difficult time to get up in the morning despite the fact that I make an effort to sleep earlier. Luis, on the other side, has no problem getting up bright and early. I would protest and throw the cover over my head whenever he turns on the light in our bedroom. Even with the ceiling light on, I remained fast asleep at least for a while. I would wake up to look at what time it is. When the clock shows like 6:30 or 6:45 am, I groaned and forced myself to get up. There are some days where I am tempted to sleep in, and forget about work. However, I knew there are some things at work that are time sensitive. Great. Eventually I got up and dragged myself to take a shower. I have never been a morning person, like, ever in my life. I recalled several times while I was growing up where my dad would get angry and pull the sheets off my bed. He would sign furiously, "Get up now!" He absolutely hated it when I slept in late, like, until 9 am or even later until noon. To him, it is a complete waste of a productive day.

However, I can assure that since last several years, I have improved at getting up early. Still, no matter if I get up early, I am still NOT a morning person. Like, at all. My mind barely functions properly in the morning. Give me tons of iced tea (not coffee, yuck!), and life will slowly return to my body ;-)

Inspired

The other night I had a lovely chat with a dear friend on vp. Thank goodness for the videophone where we can see each other's faces, and converse in American Sign Language. Anyhow, she mentioned that she is looking for a job. Even though she is deaf, it does not stop her from approaching hearing people to inquiry about a job opening. Many deaf people I know tend to be passive and accept the consequences without standing up and be proactive. I applaud her for being proactive, and be strong! And by the way, she is an Aries, which in other words, she has no patience to wait and plus, she is stubborn. She definitely inspires me to be more proactive and stand up a bit more. It is too bad that we live way far apart. Every time I wear the purple Tampa t-shirt, I always think of her ;-)

After our chat on vp, there is nothing more in the world than wanting to live near my dear friends. However, again, thank goodness for the videophone!

Update

Surprise surprise....I have time on my hands! Benjamin went to bed way too early. Apparently, he did not have a solid nap at the daycare. That was all because of his erratic sleeping schedule last weekend due to being sick with a fever. He's feeling all better now. Ahh, speaking of the devil, he just woke up. :-)

Success!

Yesterday and today, Benjamin was very much looking forward to the daycare. As a matter of the fact, once we stepped into Sarah's house, he zoomed to the playroom! I was surprised but pleased. Sarah has been very open to learning some sign language, such as "play", "eat", "milk", "sleep", "diaper" related to what Ben is already familiar with. We are really pleased with Sarah. She used to be a teacher for several years ago, and seems to be quite educated which we really like. Even though we have to pay for the daycare, we definitely think it is much better for Ben to be around kids than having my mom watch him at our house daily.

And other success! Luis finally found the camera battery charger.

O Where Are Thou, Camera Charger?

For days we are not able to find the charger to our camera, which means no new pictures lately. Grrrr. It looks like we will have to get a new charger. Oh well. Remote controls, small stuff, or whatever always get lost around here. Ahh, the life with a toddler.

Speaking of our toddler Benjamin, his sleeping habits are getting better. He does not cry that much when I put him down in the crib. Just a minute or two, that's it, he goes to sleep. Yay! Success = happy parents and babysitter

Sleep Challenged

Past this week at the daycare, Benjamin has been having a strong aversion to sleep. Poor Ben and poor babysitter! She remarked how he has the stamina to cry and scream continually. We have been e-mailing constantly to think of a better way to help him sleep, but I was running out of suggestions fast. Finally, yesterday I decided to throw in the towel and try to get Benjamin to sleep on his own in the crib. Naturally, he immediately started protesting and crying. I signed to him, it is time to sleep and that I love him. After hugging and kissing him, I left his bedroom promptly but watched him from the baby video monitor in the living room. I can see how he was crying and screaming. Every inch of my body was tempted to run to his crib to soothe him, but I knew I have to endure for at least ten minutes. It felt like eternity! After a while, I can see he was starting to calm down a bit. Crying continually sure can wear you out. Finally, he decided to fall asleep. He did wake up in the middle of the night, but I definitely think we are on the road to success. As a matter of the fact, he is sleeping in his crib right now.

Today he did not even take a nap at the daycare. What? Both the babysitter Sarah and we decided that we will work on setting up specific nap time and bed time for Benjamin. I believe that the kids do better with a daily routine, of course, with some flexibility especially during the weekends. Past this summer we were wayyyyy flexible because Luis did not have to work (he's a teacher). Now school starts for yet other new school year, we are once again trying to settle into a daily routine. Of course, I am certain that happens to practically all parents though.

Oh hey, I just saw Michael Phelps winning 100m butterfly....just barely! AMAZING. Way to go!

On the way to work

This morning on my way to work, I spotted the mother cow playfully chasing her baby calf. Sooooo cute. Be still, my heart. There are some days I wonder why did I decide to move back to Missouri from Washington DC? Seeing the cows and driving peacefully in the country reminds me once again why I do not want to live in a HUGE city again. I know Luis will tell me, "I told you so!" ;-)

Wide Awake

at 3:30 am. This is what happens when you go to sleep early. I was exhausted and went to sleep at around 7 pm. I did not even stay awake to watch Michael Phelps winning his first gold in Individual Medley swimming event. I woke up when I had to go to the bathroom. Then, when I came back to bed, Luis was worried about our cat Tito. Poor cat, he had to go to the vet recently. However, fortunately, he seems to be doing better with new cat food and antibiotics. His blood work and urinalysis results came back normal. Thank goodness. Right now, Tito is sleeping near me on the couch.

Even though it is very early today, I want to wish my sister-in-law Dawn a very happy 30th birthday!

Hello August

Next week Luis will be back at school preparing for the upcoming school year. One of the classes he will teach this semester is Pre-Calculus. I know he will do fine, but me, forget it. I nearly failed Calculus I in college. I knew if I need help with math, I can rely on him. And other thing next week, Benjamin will start daycare on Monday. It will be bittersweet but at the same time we think it will be good for Ben to interact with other kids especially in a licensed daycare setting. Originally, we thought of having my mom to continue to watch him, but we know she really needs to find a job very soon. And yet other thing, Luis starts online class on Monday as part of fulfilling teacher certification requirements. I have skimmed through his textbook, "Educational Psychology," it seems interesting.

I am somewhat sad that the summer is soon over because it gave me an impression that it is okay to be "lazy." Not that LAZY, but more laid back and mellow. However, at the same time, I absolutely can't wait to have cooler weather. The summer heat has been absolutely suffocating. The minute I step out of the door every morning, the humidity feels like I am sticking my head in the oven. I welcome every opportunity to dive into the swimming pool, and thank goodness Benjamin loves going to the pool. That's my boy :-)

Finally, I wanted to say happy anniversary to Luis and his family because on this day today, they moved to South Florida from Puerto Rico 26 years ago. My sister in law Nino wrote a brief post about this over on her blog.

Work in Progress

FYI - I am trying to fix this blog, so don't be alarmed if you get multiple feeds to your blog reader list.

Ben & The Pets

Benjamin & our cat Tito - July 2008

We have 3 pets - 2 cats and 1 dog. Tito has been with Luis for many years way before we met and had a baby. He is incredibly sweet, practically a saint. We were somewhat worried about how Tito would react to Benjamin. Imagine how relieved we were when Tito accepts Benjamin into our family without any hesitation. As for our other cat Polo and dog Lucy, that is a whole different story. Both Polo and Lucy are scared of Benjamin. Even Lucy is scared of Tito. Anyhow, Tito tolerates Benjamin's playful tactics; however, at some times, Tito would escape from Benjamin's wrath by sitting on the top of the TV entertainment center. But you can see in the picture above, Tito was willing to sit right next to Benjamin if only he is sleeping (in other words, not picking on him!)

While Tito is being very sweet and tolerable towards Benjamin, Polo can be tolerable with Benjamin's playful tactics but he would rather stay in our bedroom where no one can bother him. Almost daily Ben would beg for Luis or I to call for Polo to come out of our bedroom. He would attempt to say, "Polo" and clap his hands at the same time. Cutie pie. It is very easy to say Polo. However, whenever we call on Polo, our dog Lucy would go crazy and bark loudly. Ben gets a kick out of it.

With Lucy, Ben loves to help out by pouring dog food into the dog bowl for Lucy or give her a treat after she is done with her business outside. Whenever we go for a walk, Ben likes to hold the dog leash while sitting in the stroller. Lucy was very scared of Ben when he was first born, but now she is slowly warming up to Ben. I think it gets easier as Ben gets older.

It is certainly an adventure having 3 pets with a baby in the house, but we would not trade it for anything else in the world. We had every intention to expose Ben to the animals from the moment he was born. But sometimes we even forget to feed our pets, poor them, because we tend to be very focused on Ben. Sometimes, we were like, did you feed the cats? Did you feed Lucy? One of us would be like, hmm, I am not sure. Don't worry, we don't do that everyday. Really.

Live from Blackberry!

I am testing to see how it works to type a blog from my new Blackberry (courtesy of my job). If it works, then I absolutely have no excuse not to update this on a daily basis. Right??

Today started off to a deliriously slow start, but now I am worn out from spending the day at the pool with Luis and Ben. If you see how Ben does in the water, oh my god, he LOVES water everything. Just like his mom! Ben always demand for a bath every. single. day. I guess we should be grateful that he loves baths?

Now Benjamin wants to play with my new Blackberry. Absolutely not. He has dropped Luis' Blackberry numerous times, and now it is acting funny. Adios for now!

The Debut.....Again

I know this must be my fourth time or whatever I am setting up a blog once again. However, I just can not stay away from writing! In fact, one of my career inspirations was to be an author. If only I have free luxurious time, I would bury myself into a mountain of books. Seriously.

Anyhow, I must tell this story why I chose to name my blog, "Purple Roses." Back in the summer of 2000, I was coming back home from my intern job at Food and Drug Administration Center of Veterinary Medicine in Rockville, MD, I saw a gorgeous bouquet of purple roses waiting for me. It completely took me by surprise, and oh my, it was so breathtaking. My husband (boyfriend back then) Luis explained about how he saw purple roses at one of the street vendors selling flowers outside Dept of Transportation where he used to intern at, and knew he had to get this for me. Purple is my favorite color in the whole world ever since middle school. At that moment right there, purple roses immediately became my favorite flowers just because Luis got it for me. It is extremely rare that we have not seen such kind of purple roses very much since then. Whenever he or I see a bouquet of purple roses, we would grab the opportunity to buy them right there! We have talked about planting our own purple roses......one day.