Married to a Mexican

I absolutely love being married to a Mexican.

It has changed my life and enriched it so much.

I secretely wish I was hispanic too.

I just need to perfect my amateur Spanish speaking abilities.  

The Mexican people are so warm, fun, and full of traditions. I love their history. I love that I've been to Mexico City, Cancun, Tasco, Cuernavaca, Merida, and all of the amazing ruin sites. I'm ready to add some more to that list too. I love eating at little taco stands on the street and watching all of the folkloric dances. I love hitting the local hispanic bakery and bring home Mexican pastries to share with the family. For someone who loves to celebrate and loves a good party, they offer me so many other opportunites to have fun. One of which is the Mexican Independance Day on Sept. 16th.

 A friend of ours throws a huge party in his backyard and we get to go and mingle with latinos for the evening. Everyone brings their favortie Mexican dish to share and their were probably about 400 people there. He brings in singers and folkloric dancers and then a band plays the rest of the night, so everyone can get in some good salsa dancing practice. (too bad we had to leave at 10:00 when the dancing was getting started. Max was sick and we were freezing to death). But it's fun to see my girls mingle and make friends with all the little hispanic girls. I love that they get exposed and don't get uncomfortable around spanish speaking people and are able to have experiences to embrace their cultural heritage. We love being Mexican!

Viva Mexico.....Viva!!!

Dear Gigi and Elena

My girls are obsessed with paper and markers. They spend hours creating things like this. And since they choose the biggest paper we have to write letters, this is my way of delivering them to the recipients.

Hope you enjoy!
Love, Gabriela and Sophia

4 months old today

POM Couples Retreat

This past weekend was the Power of Moms Couples Retreat that I had posted about. It was such an amazing experience to be in a room with such amazing parents. It was an experience like non other where you are able to discuss and talk about parenting issues with other couples openly. When was the last time you got together with your friends (men included) and had a good discussion on how you can be better parents. Probably never. And it was so fun to hear from all of the dads. They actually have a voice to heard and I found that in our discussion groups, they almost always had more to say than the women. After the retreat, I was talking to Miguel to get his take, and he said it was a neat experience to actually sit and talk with other families on the subject of parenting. Most men never get that kind of opportunity.

(that's us sitting in the very back. Miguel's got the red shirt on.)

 The Eyres are always inspiring and I came away with all new insights this time around about how to build a unified partnership in our parenting efforts. Have you ever asked your spouse what their favorite part of parenting is? What parts do they enjoy doing? Maybe they are the things you don't really like doing and you can just hand that responsibility over to them. For example, I really like to read to the kids. But I've always felt like I was hogging that opportunity and would encourage the kids to go read with dad sometimes to allow him that chance. Well come to find out, he doesn't even like doing it, so there  you go. I'll just take that on and he can take on the jumping on the trampoline and wrestling around with the kids.

We also talked about how to establish a family that functions like any other successful enterprise. What do you need to do that? A good Legal System (rules and consequences), Financial System (a family economy), and a Family Culture (mottos, songs, traditions). Why do people want to work for Pixar, Disney, Google...it's probably the company culture, right? You've got to create something that makes them want to keep coming back, even after they've moved out. We got a ton of ideas and probably one of my favorite parts of the day was the break out discussion groups, where we got to exchange ideas on certain topics that being discussed. Oh, and ask me about Middle Management...that was one of my favorite ideas of the day!

At the end of the day, it was so refreshing to come home and know that Miguel and I were on the same page. We could move forward together. I encourage everyone to save and make it a priority to attend one of these retreats. With or without your spouse. It will change your life and your families life for the better.

Plus I'm super excited, because I'm going to be bringing the Power of Moms to the great state of Georgia next spring (I'm thinking sometime in April), so plan now to attend. It will be awesome!!!

The Last?

It's funny how much I'm trying to soak in this little baby boy. Perhaps it's because he may be my last. Maybe not. I haven't decided, but what if he is, and I didn't drink him in enough while he was little. I'm really trying to be present and take note. I want to remember his sweet face years from now. I want to remember how he just smiles and starts kicking when he finally sees me, or when I come in to get him up from his naps. Those are my favorite moments. And even when I have to get up in the night, I like to breathe him in. I love that baby smell . I like to rub his little head, and kiss him in that neck, no matter how much it smells like spit. I always go get one last look at him sleeping before slipping into my own bed at night. I really like this stage and hope it lasts a while.

But I also love my big girls. I love that they can play, and run around, and we can talk. I love watching them learn new things and to see them try things for the first time. Life is more fun, and it's like my sister in law recently said, you get to experience childhood all over again through their eyes.

Motherhood is a privilege. I'm privileged enough to get to share in the lives of my children each day. Some people would question why I have four children, thinking that it is far too many, but I can't imagine my life without them. Maybe we'll have another or maybe not, but now I'm just going to absorb the ones I'm lucky to have right now.

Changing Paths

My Green Smoothie Girl!!!

(check out Robin's new children's book. It's great for reinforcing good eating habits.)

I know I have blogged about green smoothies a couple of times, but this post is not just about that. It is about a lifestyle change that I'm after. And not just for me, but for my family. I have really had the impression that things need to change and that I am in charge of what my family consumes and it is my responsibility to teach them good habits. That being said, I do think we are already far ahead of the typical American family. My kids do eat vegetables and will go out to the garden and nibble on lettuce as they play in the backyard, but there is still so much to do and teach.
I went to an actual class by the Green Smoothie Girl herself last week and picked up her manual that I'd been eyeing on her website for quite a while. It's called the 12 Steps to Whole Foods. and the site is : http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/12-step-blog/12-step-program/ . After hearing her tell her story I just felt really good about the decision I had made to change our eating habits to make us more energetic and healthy people. I have already seen great changes in the way I feel after being on the smoothies for a good solid two weeks, despite the fact that I can't breathe from asthma and the cold I've had!!!)

But here is the reality of it all. Once you've decided to change your eating habits and avoid those things that aren't good for you, they seem to be EVERYWHERE!!! You sort of box yourself into a corner and everywhere you look is SUGAR. I went to the grocery store the other day and thought I was going to have an anxiety attack as I walked through the boxed macaronni and cheese, the white bread, the soft serve ice cream, and everything else in that darn place. I just wanted to close my eyes until I got to the produce department. Then I noticed  how much dairy and processed meat are in there. It's like a whole store of stuff that can eventually make you sick.

Don't put the healthy food eye glasses on until you are ready, because it will flip your world upside down. My biggest challenge will be coming up with what to eat. Right now I don't know very many recipes that include more healthy options. I've grown up on the typical American diet that dominated by meat centric meals. I've got to move to meals centered around raw produce with a tiny side of meat, if I choose to include it at all. I believe in this stuff, but it is a lot harder than it seems. And trying to get your family on the bandwagon is going to be tough. But the good new is that the 12 steps coincide with the 12 months of the year, so for now, we will switch over to drinking green smoothies for breakfast everyday. One change at a time and eventually we will get there. If you want to join our family on this adventure, feel free. It would be great to have a support group and to exchange ideas.

What do you do to keep your family healthy?

Creativity?

This sweet child of mine.

We've struggled lately. I love her to death, but the thought that keeps coming to my mind is, "where is your brain?"

I know that sounds harsh, but this child is always pushing the limits and my patience. She doesn't do the obvious thing to do. I'm always faced with some new challenge as I raise her. Some new thing or problem I have to solve.

For instance.
- She decided it was a good idea to CUT MAX'S HAIR, the other day. After I've threatened her life after her last 3 hair cutting incidents!
- I catch her setting up camp in the back of Grandpa's truck that's parked out on the busy street in front of our house. We only have a 1/2 acre forested backyard to play in. And she leads her sisters out on the street!
- She has been digging in my sewing box and cutting up my saved material to "make clothes for her stuffed animals."
- She is constantly sneeking candy around the house. I had to throw out their whole bag of candy because they were breaking the "asking rule."

And the list could go on and on.

I feel bad for her, because she is always in trouble and I feel like I'm always loosing my cool with her. She does push my limits. It's like it physically hurts her to be obedient to me. If I say put the sweater on, she takes it off. If I say one thing, she'll do the other. It's just a battle.

But then I started thinking that it is probably because she is the oldest and she is always breaking new ground around here. The other two girls don't seem to phase me or do such naughty things, but I think they are watching Gabriela to learn the limits. Poor Gabriela. She probably feels like she's the first one over a field of land mines, trying to figure out what things are going to set her mom and dad off.

I also believe that she has an amazingly creative mind. She is always thinking outside the box. She will make an octopus out of a DOTS candy box. She makes clothes out of fabric and brads. She is very imaginative. Sometimes I wonder if I'm stepping on her creativity when I am yelling at her about constantly getting into my stuff. Miguel reminded me that those types of people are usually the most successful in life, because they CAN think outside the box.

The point is: I'm Hard On Her

My parents were hard on me.

Does that just come with being the oldest?

How can I change it?