First Bite

According to Ariel's pediatrician, we aren't supposed to start her on rice cereal until next week. That was fine, until we had "Night of the Ever-Waking Dead" (just in time for Halloween). Ariel woke up five times last night and ate 4 times out of the five. I'm not sure if her teeth are bothering her or if she was just a very hungry caterpillar, but in any case, no one got much sleep. This translated into a very grumpy little girl ( and a not-so-happy Mommy) this morning. I don't really know what to do, but I'd better figure it out soon or we're all going to be walking around like zombies.

We decided to give the rice cereal early. Ariel didn't seem to mind the soupy concoction in her mouth, but then she didn't seem to enjoy it either. The box directions say to make the cereal soupy, but wouldn't this make it more like breast milk? Where the texture? I think we'll make it a bit thicker tomorrow. Anyway, enjoy the pics and video as Ariel experiences her first bite of "solid" food.

Gotta Catch 'Em All!

As everyone knows, the All-Stars do enjoy dressing up for Halloween. Since the addition of the team's shortstop, the costumes this year had to be a very special team costume. After kicking around a few not so good ideas, we decided on "Pokemon." It's kind of a shame to do this now, as most people have gotten out of the Pokemon craze. The younger kids don't even know what it is. *Sigh*

Pictures are posted early as we participated in the Pet Palace Pet Costume contest. Last year, Eric and Pazu won 4th place for the Red Koopa Troopa and Luigi group costume. This year, we shooting for gold. Pazu and Ariel will be Pikachu, and electric mouse Pokemon. Eric will be Professor Elm, a Pokemon scientist. I'll be going as May, a Pokemon trainer and coordinator. Who wouldn't fall in love with a matching set of Pikachus?
Well, it appears that cute and adorable would not be enough to win this year. The competition was stiff and as we walked in and scoped out the other costumes, we knew we had a snowball's chance in Haiti. The Aurora Sentinel (a local newspaper) was there to document the event through pictures. That's where these links are coming from. I hope they don't mind I borrowed them.
http://aurorasentinel.com/content/gallery/gallery_3/album_195/midsize_photo4ae4d7ebbcaba274808613.jpg

Our costume didn't place this year, but we lost fair and square.
Fourth place went to a long haired Chihuahua dressed as "Strawberry Shortcake" (striped tights and everything). http://aurorasentinel.com/content/gallery/gallery_3/album_195/midsize_photo4ae4d7ea3c83a874476261.jpg

Third place was the winner from last year. He and his Lab were the "GhostBusters" (jumpsuits, hoses and all). http://aurorasentinel.com/content/gallery/gallery_3/album_195/midsize_photo4ae4d7e9dc314121858515.jpg

Second place was my personal favorite-superhero Green Arrow with his sidekick (a cat), the Hairball Breathing Dragon http://aurorasentinel.com/content/gallery/gallery_3/album_195/midsize_photo4ae5c84165b98366052221.jpg
. I give props to this guy. He showed up in spandex green tights and totally rocked it.
The winner was a couple of cocker spaniel mixes dressed at Peter Pan and Wendy (the owners were Tinker Bell and Captain Hook). http://aurorasentinel.com/content/gallery/gallery_3/album_195/midsize_photo4ae4d7ed85edc662037135.jpg
Like I said, competition was tough, but we had a great time. People are so creative with Halloween costumes.
So we're thinking about costumes for next year. Yeah, we're not competitive or anything. I'm going for the "Wow" factor. We are accepting ideas if you have any.

Professor Elm

May

Pikachu

Family Fued: The Sequel and Me

So, I've come to the conclusion that writing is very similar to having children.

It all starts with the idea, the conception. There there is the joy of creating this world and these lives for which you are the sole caretaker. You spend months, even years, perfecting and nurturing your creation to ensure that everything happens the way it should. All loose ends are tied, you've done the spit bath just before you send your "baby" out into the world. It is the greatest to joy to finally see your "human" child come into the world or finally completing your novel.

But here is the problem I'm running into.

The sequel. The second born.

While I'm not currently pregnant, I do have an imagination, so just indulge me here. With the first, everything is new and exciting and you wonder where this adventure is going to take you (applies both to babies and books). But the second should be easy, right? Been there, done that, sorta thing. But it appears to be more complicated than that. You really must treat them like separate individuals. While the two are similar, you have to find what makes the second tick.

As I'm currently 8 chapters deep in my sequel, I found that the energy is different. My characters have grown up and changed and I'm struggling to get to know them. I have a game plan for this book (as I had a general idea for the first), but it feels weird writing this time around. It could have something to do with my diminished writing day ( I get 2-3 hours some days, when I used to write 8+ hours daily), or perhaps Ariel has stolen a bit of my creativity (she could have stolen my IQ, so I should be thankful). For some reason I'm only able to write 7 pages within 4 weeks. That's pretty sad if you're me. I was writing 10-20 a day! It seems that when I get to 7 pages, my muse leaves the building and my brain shuts down. Totally weird and super depressing.

"Liquid Light"and I have to find some common ground if it ever hopes to join its sibling in the literary world.

Five Years of Lovin'

It's hard to believe that Eric and I have been married for five years! Honestly, its feels longer than that, but in a good way.

Originally, we were going to celebrate by going back to Jamaica or head off to the Cayman Islands, but having Ariel post phoned our plans for a few more years. While it would have been nice to sit on the beach with an ice cold beverage, what better way to celebrate our love than with our precious angel?

On the fourth, our actual anniversary, I made a sizzling citrus shrimp with angel hair pasta, crusty bread and garden salad. Since I can drink again, Eric and I are getting reacquainted with our wine. For the occasion, we chose a chenin blanc from Africa. It claimed to have hints of peaches and pineapples, but we found it quite nasty. It could have been that it was dry or that it just wasn't that good. Anyway, it made a great de-glazing sauce when I used it a few days later.

Anniversary weekend, Eric's parents were on babysitting duty, so we ventured out to Dave and Buster' s where we feasted on a late lunch riddled with calories (you know calories don't count on birthdays and anniversaries). We tried burning off some of lunch by playing a bunch of games. Nothing really burns calories like good old fashioned competition, or in our case, Dance, Dance Revolution (we suck by the way). To finish off our calorie splurge, we went to Baskin Robins to seal the deal. We were only away from the house for about four hours. We easily could have been gone a lot longer. Its amazing how fast time flies. We really enjoyed our "adult" time together. Date nights are few and far in between. Here's to many more wonderful years.

20042009

The Little One Stopped to Roll for Five

While Ariel is not technically dancing, she is rockin' and rolling over (front to back only). See her cool video below. At her last doctor's appt, she weighed 13 lbs, 10 oz (50th percentile) and she was 25 inches long (25th percentile). She'll be ok'ed for solids around her 6 month birthday. Her new thing to do now, is scream. Not a "I'm-in-pain" scream but those high pitched screeches that are reminiscent of tropical birds. Sometimes she does it out of delight or to get our attention. But in general, she does it because she can. Ariel also enjoys hiking the hem of her pants up to her knees. Showing off her cute little baby legs, I guess.

There aren't many pics this time around, as we have been home-bodies. But enjoy anyway.



daddy kisses

can you believe we're watching "the view?"

hang on

chill'axin in mom and dad's bed

we're cute

bath and bubbles