Primary Stresses

Well, on Sunday I start my new calling as the Primary President in our branch, and I am nervous! I finally have my counselors, I think, and we are supposed to be having our first meeting on Thursday evening... Two of the four teachers have been called, and it is just getting a little nerve-wracking. I am grateful for the husband that I have, though, especially since he will be teaching the 10-11 year olds, and it is going to be done in Spanglish, as we have a few kids that don't speak any English, and others that don't speak any Spanish. The whole Primary has 28 kids, with 5 in the nursery, so it's not too big, but not too small either.... I'm sure you will hear more ranting and raving...

Bueno, el domingo que viene empiezo mi nuevo llamamiento como la presidente de la Primaria de nuestra ramita, y estoy nerviosa! Creo que ya han llamado a mis consejeras, y supuestamente tendremos nuestra primera junta el jueves por la noche... Sé que dos de los cuatro maestros han sido llamados, y me esta haciendo un poco nerviosa. Estoy extremadamente agradecida por el esposo que tengo, especialmente porque él va a estar enseñando a los jovenes de 10 a 11 años, hecho en spanglish ya que tenemos unos niños que no hablan nada de ingles y otros que no hablan nada de español. Toda la primaria consiste de 28 niños, con 5 en la guardaría, así que no es demasiado grande, pero tampoco es muy chica... Me imagino que escucharán más de mis historias...

Floor

We decided that it was time to get rid of our awful living room carpet last time we cleaned it, as there were so many spots that would not come clean that it looked like a dalmatian! So Marcelo did a little paint job on the side and we got the money to put down hard wood- we found some bamboo on Craigslist for really cheap, and were able to get the rest that we needed for half price, so we went ahead and did it a few weekends ago... Here are a few pictures of the process and the finished floor. I am absolutely amazed at the things that my honey can do when he decides to- with no outside help! I love the floor, and it is so much easier to keep up than the carpet was. And we really like the way that bamboo looks, it's beautiful!

Decidimos que ya era tiempo de cambiar la alfombra fea de nuestro living la última vez que intentamos limpiarla, porque habían tantos manchitas que no salían que ya parecía dalmata. Así que Marcelo hizo un pololito y así ganamos el dinero para poner unpiso de madera. Encontramos bambu en una pagina web por muy barato, y pudimos conseguir la otra mitad que necesitabamos por la mitad de precio, así que lo hicimos hace unos fines de semana... Aquí hay unas foros del proceso y el piso terminado. Me asombran las cosas que mi esposo puede hacer cuando decide que quiere, sin ayuda de otros. Me encanta el piso, es mucho mas facil de mantener que la alfombra, y realmente nos gusta mucho como se ve, es hermoso!

Daniel-ism

For the last several weeks, Daniel has been asking everyone "what I gonna be?" meaning, how old am I going to be on my next birthday. We tell him he's 4 now and will be 5.

So, the other day he was looking for something that I assigned him to find because he had 'put' it somewhere, and he kept saying, "I twogot, Mom." Finally I understood what he was trying to say...I forgot! I said, "No, Daniel, you forgot." Then his face lit up and he said, "OH! Alin 2-got, I 4-got, and you mom, how many you got??"

Brag Bit

So, I really just want to brag about myself for a moment- I know, that is not cool, but....... I am going to anyway. I posted earlier about how nervous I was about the semester, but as of right now, with only one of my 1 credit classes left to post, I have 5 A's and 1 A-. I am pretty proud of that, because with 19 credits it was a busy, hard, yucky semester. But I lived through it! And in two more semesters I am DONE!


Bueno, realmente quiero jactarme un momento no mas... Sé, eso no se debe hacer, pero... Voy a hacerlo igual. Antes subí algo hablando de lo nerviosa que estaba para empezar el semestre, pero desde ahora , faltando solamente una de mis clases mas pequeñas, tengo 5 A's y un A- ( Equivalen a 7's con un 6.5. Estoy bastante orgullosa de esto, por al tener 19 creditos fur un semestre bastante agitado, dificil, y basicamente fome. Pero lo sobreviví, y me faltan dos semestres mas no más para terminarlo todo!

Ain't we cute!

So, this is a picture we took at my brother's wedding on the 20th. Marcelo was so sick he thought he was going to die, but he lived through the night... And I really liked a few of the pictures.....




Aqui hay unas cuantas fotos del matrimonio de mi hermano que fue el día 20. Marcelo pensaba que estaba muriendose, por estar enfermo, pero sobrevivió... Me gustaron algunas de las fotos asi que...







The whole family! Pretty impressive, I think!

Halloween pics

Here are a few pictures from Halloween- we did Trunk-or-treating at the church, then came home and ordered pizza... and opened the door to the 3 sets of kids that knocked...


Here is my knight in shiny plastic armor...















And my Snow White ( we left her seven cats at home...)

And then we have the little cow...

And the whole group

My happy boy, Gabriel

Daniel

Alin

Long time...

So, it's been more than a month since I have written on this, but that doesn't mean that nothing has happened in the past month- just means I have been too busy or lazy to update! But here I am, trying again.
Well, let's see... What new has happened... I'm still in school, just plugging along with 19 credits and trying to pretend I have time for a life. I hate to do homework over the weekend, it makes it feel like I don't get anything else done, but at the same time, it's hard to find any other time to do it...
Gabriel was sick last weekend, low grade fever and stuff, took him in on Monday and he has an ear infection. This is the first time that I have had to deal with one of those, thankfully he is feeling a bit better now and is not a bear!
And today it looks like Alin is getting sick- she's been awfully grumpy. Let's hope it;s just a fluke.
Daniel is getting so big- every day I look at him and he just doesn't have a baby face anymore- he looks like a little boy, and it makes me sad! I sometimes feel like I didn't have time to enjoy him little, because time just flies!
Speaking of time flying, Marcelo's aunt passed away this past week, and it has really reminded us why we want and need to be in Chile. He was the only person of the family that was unable to attend her funeral, since he was up here; and he really felt the need to be there for his family, especially his mother. I just wish that plane tickets weren't so expensive, or I would have sent him down. Maybe I will try to talk one of my sisters into being a flight attendant or something, so we can get cheaper plane tickets!
My brother Neil's wife had their first baby on Halloween, a little red-head named Elsie Rae. It's so weird to think that my little brother is a daddy! At least I still have 3 little brothers that are still little...

Bueno, ha sido mas que un mes desde que he escrito acá, pero eso no significa que nada ha pasado en el último mes, solamente que he estado o demasiada ocupada y floja para hacerlo! Pero acá estoy, empezando de nuevo.

A ver… Que hay de nuevo… Sigo en la U, trabajando con 19 horas créditos, y tratando de fingir que tengo tiempo para vivir. Odio hacer tarea los fines de semana, me hace sentir que no hago nada más, pero a la vez es difícil encontrar otro tiempo para hacerlo.

Gabriel estuvo enfermito el fin de semana pasada, un fiebre bajo y cosas así, al llevarle al doctor decidieron que tiene una infección en su oído. Primera vez que mis hijos han tenido una de esas, felizmente se siente un poco mejor ahora, y no anda como un oso!

Y hoy parece que Alin esta enfermándose- ha sido un poco pesadita. Ojala que no sea así.

Y Daniel esta creciendo tanto- cada día le miro, y ya no tiene cara de guagua- parece un niño ya, y me hace triste! A veces me siento que no tuve tiempo para disfrutarlo chico, porque el tiempo si que vuela.

Hablando de como vuela el tiempo, una tía de Marcelo falleció la semana pasada, y realmente nos ha hecho recordar del porque queremos y necesitamos estar en Chile. Él fue el único de la familia que no estuvo en su funeral, siendo que estamos tan lejos, y él realmente sintió la necesidad de estar allá para su familia, especialmente su madre. Desearía que los boletos de avión no fueran tan caros, o lo hubiera mandado allá. Quizás le trataré de convencer a una de mis hermanas que deben ser una azafata o algo, para podernos conseguir boletos mas baratos!

La esposa de mi hermano Neil tuvo su primer hijo el Halloween, una pelirroja llamada Elsie Rae. Es tan raro pensar que mi hermanito es un padre. Por lo menos tengo tres hermanitos que todavía son chicos…

HUSBAND TAG

I got tagged on Holly's page, so here it is!

What's your husband's name? Cristian Marcelo Acuña Rivera
How long have you guys been married? two weeks shy of 5 years
How long did you date? That's kinda a technicality... We knew we were going to get married a little more than a year and 3 months before we went on our first date... After the first date we were married 5 weeks later.
How old is he? 31
Who eats more sweets? Me, majorly!
Who said I love you first? Funny that, I really don't remember. I think that he did, but i'm not sure...
Who is taller? Marcelo
Who is the better singer? I know how more, but he has a very nice voice,,
Who is smarter? It depends on the subject.
Who does the laundry? I do.
Who pays the bills? I do
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you are looking at it, me.
Who mows the lawn? Me, sadly enough. I hate it, but he hates it more/
Who cooks dinner? Me, usually- or sometimes Papa John's, depending on how exhausted I am from school and life!
Who drives? Him, usually- because he likes me to scratch his head and neck as he drives.
Who is the first to say they are wrong? Me, always!
Who kissed who first? He kissed me, in his car before we had our first real date...
Who asked out who first? Ummm... once again I don't remember, it was kinda something mutual, the day that I got to Chile, some of his friends stopped by to meet me, and we all went out- not sure if i got asked out ever...
Who wears the pants? usually him, but i do have my moments

I tag Rebecca and Lori...

staples, stitches, and other joys...

On Saturday night, my parents came by and we were going to watch a movie. Daniel gets a little hyper when his uncles are here, and was kicking a ball around and playing rough, so I told him to go to his room to kick it, as there is nothing in there that he can break, or so I thought. I was helping get some dinner on, when Marcelo came in with Alin, who was screaming, with blood running down the side of her head and her arm. I didn't panic, because I am not one to do that, and just grabbed a towel and asked what happened... Apparently Daniel kicked the ball in his room and it hit the light cover, which shattered and fell on Alin, cutting her head and arm. So, we jumped in the car and went to the ER, where after an hour of waiting they put two staples in her head and five stitches in her arm. We are just feeling blessed that she didn't look up or it could have taken out her eye or something- and that the piece of glass that fell on her head wasn't turned a few degrees, or it could have really caused some serious damage... She was a trooper, screamed like crazy when they did the stitches and all, but after a minute was perfectly fine. She still cries if she sees the stitches, but I'm sure that's normal... Marcelo did awesome in the ER with her, I had to leave because it made me quesay. Funny how I can be okay with blood, but needles make me weak.

Flu and other weekend joys

Well, it is not often that I am up at 4am on the weekends, but apparently I have the flu, so I have spent most of the night in and out of the bathroom, or at least every 15 minutes... I really don't appreciate this, I am exhausted! But I guess I will live, right? Hopefully! I decided not to stay in my bed because every time I go into the bathroom I was waking up Marcelo and Gabriel, so here I am parked on a chair in the office feeling miserable, and with no one to complain to... So you, dear reader, get the brunt of my whining...

Bueno, no es muy a menudo que estoy despierta a las 4 de la madrugada los fines de semana, pero parece que tengo gastroenteritis, entonces he pasado la mayoria de la noche entrando y saliendo del baño, por lo menos cada 15 minutos. Realmente no me gusta esto, estoy exhausta! Pero sobrevivire, no? Espero que si! Decidi no quedarme en cama porque cada vez que me levantaba les despertaba a Marcelo y Gabriel, entonces aca estoy plantada en una silla en la oficina sintiendome miserable sin tener alguien que me escuche las quejas... Entonces, tu, querido lector, recibiras la mayoria de mis quejas. Y te lo a gradezco.

School, Again!

This week i started school again. The plan was to have class on Monday, Wednesday, Friday during the days, and Tuesday and Thursday in the evenings, so that Marcelo can be at home and watch the kids half of the time. Everything was all well and good until Friday, when I was walking to class and saw a girl from one of my classes last semester, who I thought was doing her student teaching. She let me know that instead of there being only 2 block classes in the teaching thing, there are three. This was not welcome information at all, especially since I was planning on being in school only 3 more semesters, and that would make me a semester behind. So, after my classes I went and talked to my advisor, and we were able to get things figured out, I did have to drop two classes and add different one, but it seems that it will work out okay. They were able to convince the guy in the Spanish department who is in charge of internships that I should get credits for my job as a Spanish 101 grader, which will be nice, and that means that I don’t have to take any more Spanish classes besides the two that I still have this semester, and it will look really good on my transcript.

So, now I have classes on Monday and Wednesday from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm, and still on Tuesday and Thursday nights, but I have my Fridays off… I am so glad that we were able to work everything out, I was really panicked for a few minutes!

Esta semana entré a estudiar de nuevo. No estaba muy animada, pero por lo menos iba a ser los lunes, miércoles, y viernes durante el dia, y los martes y jueves en las noches, para que Marcelo pudiera estar en casa con los niños. Todo iba de maravilla hasta que vi a una conocida con la cual tuve clases el semestre pasado, la cual yo pensé que estaba haciendo su practica ya. Resulta que yo me habia confundida, y que hay tres semestres de clases de maestría, lo cual me haria estar otro semestre estudiando. No queria eso para nada, entonces al hablar con mi consejera de la escuela, pudimos arreglar todo. Tuve que dejar dos clases que tenia, y agregar otro, pero por lo menos aun estoy donde debo de estar para poder graduarme en diciembre del 2009. Y lo otro bueno es que hablamos con el hombre quien esta encargado de los internships (no se como se dice, significa que uno recibe credito en la escuela al hacer su trabajo pagado…), y como yo soy la corregidora para las clases de español para los principiantes, me van a dar creditos para hacerlo, ademas de pagarme. Entonces no tengo que tomar mas clases de español ademas de las que yo tengo ahora, y se va ver muy bien en mi curriculum.

Entonces ahora tengo clases los lines y miércoles desde las 10.30 de la mañana hasta las16.30 los lunes y miércoles, y en las noches martes y jueves, pero tengo el viernes libre. Me siento muy bendecida que pudimos arreglar todo, pero estaba ya en un panico por unos minutos!

A great weekend

SO, this past weekend we decided to go camping with some friends, and we went up to a little place past McCall called Burgdorf Hot Springs. It was the coolest place, with a huge outdoor pool, and 15 cabins to stay in. We stayed with 9 friends in the largest cabin, and did all of our cooing on the woodstove, since the place didn’t have electricity or anything like that. The outhouse was amazing to Daniel- he loved to go potty in the hole- it made me laugh! There was so much that I was going to tell about the whole trip, but since I haven’t found time until now, I have pretty much forgotten what I was going to say. On the way home we took our sweet time and stopped at a few places just to take pictures and look around. It was really a great weekend, and a good way to get ready for this week. The kids loved to play in the water, which was a balmy 102 degrees, and there was a little hot tub part that was 113. It was really interesting, because they usually don’t want to get in the water, but since it was warm I think they thought it was a huge bath tub and they didn’t want to get out. I would totally recommend that place to anyone that is looking to get away for a honeymoon, or weekend away with just their significant other, it was wonderful.

Bueno, este fin de semana pasada decidimos ir a acampar con unos amigos, y fuimos a un lugarcito a unos 3 horas de la casa que son las aguas termales de Burgdorf. Fue un lugar genial, con una piscina al aire libre gigante, y tenia unas 15 cabañas en donde quedarse. Nosotros nos quedamos con nueve amigos en la cabaña mas grande, y cocinamos todo en una salamandra, siendo que el lugar no tenia electricidad ni nada por el estilo. El baño fue lo que mas le cautivó a Daniel, le encantó hacer sus necesidades sobre un hoyo, lo cual me hizo reir bastante. Hay tanto que iba a contar acerca de nuestro viaje chico, pero como no he hecho el tiempo para escribir hasta ahora, se me ha olvidado mucho de lo que iba a contar. En el camino de vuelta nos demoramos harto y pasamos y sacamos fotos a varios lugares y exploramos un poco. Fue un fin de semana genial, y una buena manera de prepararnos por la semana. A los niños les encantó jugar en el agua, lo cual estaba a mas o menos 42 grados, y hubo un lugarcito que era como una jacuzzi que tenía como 48. Fue muy interesante, porque a los niños usualmente no les gusta jugar en cosas como piscinas, pero esta vez no querian salir. Pienso que lo consideraban como una tina gigante con piedras. En serio que yo le recomendaria ese lugar a cualquier que este pensando en su luna de miel, o para salir por el fin de semana con su enamorado, fue de verdad maravilloso.

Correction

So, my husband pointed out the other day that I have misspelled the sign off name of the blog, as well as the web address. The correct way to spell it is patiperriando, not pataperriando. But i guess that is what we get for having a gringa writing it! But, just so everyone knows, i messed it up, so don't look for that word in a dictionary, cuz it won't be there!

Bueno, mi esposo me hizo saber el otro día que escribí mal el nombre con el cual se cierra el blog, tambien la direccion web. La manera correcto para escribirlo es patiperriando, no pataperriando. Pero supongo que eso es lo que pasa al tener a la gringa escribiendolo! Pero, para que todos sepan, yo me equivoqué, entonces no hay que buscar esa palabra en el diccionario, porque no lo encontrarán!

More Firsts

So, this past week we have had quite a few "firsts" in our lives. One was last Sunday, we got home from church and Alin disappeared, I didn't really think anything of it, because she likes to play by herself a lot. After a few minutes Marcelo found her, hiding behind the office door with a third of a bottle of Tums. When we left for church there was two thirds there, but she had eaten a third of a bottle of 96... Basically 30 extra-strength Tums. So, the first first of the week was calling poison control to see if that is something that can make her really sick and if we needed to take her to the hospital. FYI, no, it may give a bit of diarrhea, but it is not something that will stunt her growth or anything. I had never called poison control before, but they were quite helpful and had all the right answers.
The second "first" for the week was Daniel's. He has learned to sing a song, all the way through. We have tried with the ABC's, I Am a Child of God, etc, but he hasn't picked up on any one of them- so, on Tuesday evening, Marcelo started to sing "You Are My Sunshine," and Daniel chimed right in. I have no idea where he learned the song, but he only messes up on one part, he sings "when skies are great", not "when skies are gray." It is so cute! But any time that he starts to sing, Alin comes running in and yells "stop it, Dano, stop it!" Don't know what she has against the song, but i love it! So that is his first of the week.
And Gabriel also has a first for the week... He has found his left hand thumb. He is our first baby to suck their thumb, and it really is kinda cute! He also sleeps almost through the night now, he wakes up around 4 am to eat, but that's it. He is a wonderful baby!
So, those are our firsts for the week- not always things we want to remember, but at the same time, things that are kinda fun to look back on.


En esta semana hemos tenido varios cosas occurir por primera vez. La primera pasó el domingo pasado, habíamos llegado recién de la iglesia, y la Alin desapareció. Eso suele pasar, porque a ella le gusta pasar tiempo jugando a solas. Despues de unos minutos el Marcelo la encontró, estaba en la oficina con un tercio de una botella de Tums, los cuales son un antacido de calcio. Cuando salimos por la iglesia habia dos tercios de la botella, pero ella habia comido un tercio, o sea de la botella de 96 pastillas, ella comió mas que 30. Entonces tuve que llamar a la agencia de toxicología, para saber si lo que ella habia comido podria hacerle daños mayores, o si necesitaba llevarla al hospital. Y pa que sepan, no, no le hacen daño, nada mas le pueden dar diarea, pero no es nada que va a impedir que crezca ni nada por el estilo. Entonces esa fue la primera vez que he llamado a la agencia de toxicología, y me ayudaron bastante y fueron bien simpaticos.
La segunda cosa que pasó esta esmana tiene que ver con Daniel. Mi hijo por fin ha aprendido una cancion entera. Hemos intentado enseñarle su abecedario, o Soy un Hijo de Dios, pero no los ha captado. Pero el otro día, martes, marcelo empezó a cantarle "You are my sunshine", traducido tu eres mi rayito de sol, y Daniel empezó a cantarlo con el. No tengo idea de donde lo haya aprendido, pero lo sabe perfectamente, con una sola equivocacion- la cancion dice "cuando los cielos estan grises," y Daniel canta "cuando los cielos estan grandes". Es tan tiernucho! Pero cada vez que él empieza a cantar, Alin entra gritando "para, Dano, para!"No se poque a ella no le gusta la cancion, per a mi me encanta! ENtonces ese es su "primera" de la semana.
Y el tercer primer es del Gabriel. Ha encontrado el pulgar de su mano izquierda. El es nuestro primer hijo que chupa su dedo, y se ve tan rico! Tambien duerme por casi toda la noche, ahora esta despertando a las cuatro para comer, pero solamente una vez. Es un bebe maravilloso!
Entonces, estas son las "primeras" por la semana, no siempre cosas que queremos recordar, pero a la vez, cosas que son divertidos de ver despues de tiempo.

To the dentist!

Today Daniel and Alin went to the dentist for the first time... I know, they should go as soon as they have teeth, but I think that because of my fear of the dentist, i didn't think that they needed to. So, when I had to have a molar extracted two weeks ago because it had been infected for almost six months and had a crack down the side that was too big to save, I decided that I don't want that for my children, and that they would be going to the dentist regularly.
Daniel went to get his teeth cleaned, but they didn't really do much, because he was being a turkey- he wouldn't open his mouth except to growl at the hygienist or to tell me no... It took her about half an hour to clean his teeth, but finally got it done.
Alin went to meet the dentist because they figure that kids her age need to get used to the idea first... She smiled and showed him her teeth, then bit him when he tried to count them. She's a natural!
Before they called us back, the dentist came out to say hello to the mother of another patient, and Daniel went running up to him and wanted to show him his teeth- I had been telling him all morning that we were going to see a guy who was going to look at his teeth- apparently he wanted it to be on his terms, not on the dentist's!

Hoy llevé a Daniel y Alin al dentista por primera vez. Yo sé, supuestamente deben ir al dentista tan pronto como tengan dientes, pero creo que por mi propio miedo al dentista no les había llevado hasta ahora. Pero, cuando me tuvieron que sacer una muela hace dos semanas porque estaba infectada ya hace como seis meses, y tan roto que no se podía reparar, decidí que no quería eso para mis hijos, y que ellos irían al dentista con regularidad.
Daniel fue para que le limpiaran los dientes, pero realmente no le hicieron mucho, porque estaba siendo pesado y solamente abría la boca para gruñirle a la niña que limpia los dientes, o para decirme que no... Se demoró casi media hora en limpiarle los dientes, pero por fin lo terminó.
Alin solamente fue para conocerle al dentista, porque piensan que los niños de su edad necesiten acostumbrarse a la idea primero... Ella le sonrió al dentista al principio, pero cuando trató de contarle los dientes, le mordió. Ella es perfecta para eso!
Antes de que nos llevaran al cuarto de limpieza, el doctor salió para saludar a la madre de otro paciente, y Daniel fue corriendo para mostrarle sus dientes- le había estado diciendo toda la mañana que iba a ir aver a un hombre que le iba a mirar sus dientes, pero parece que Daniel quería que fuera bajo sus terminos, no los del dentista!

Flabby, fat, and LAZY!

Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I abhor exercise with a passion most people save for terrorists, inlaws, or the IRS. So, what am I doing at 7 am in sneakers, jogging pants and a sports bra? I really don't know either! I have been thinking and planning of getting in shape for the past ten years or so, and never really made good on my threats- I told my body that if it didn't stop gaining weight and being so flabby, i was going to make it do terribly uncomfortable things, ie exercise. And it didn't listen, so here I am- a little shaky from having done like 40 crunches and jumped rope for a whole five minutes. How pathetic is that?!?! My little sister, Valerie, who is 16, sent me a website that she got from some running group, and it has a ton of different exercises that are supposed to tone and firm and all that, and it seems to have some pretty good stuff. The web address is http://www.mastertheshift.com/index.shtml, it you are interested... It only takes a few minutes to do quite a few different things, and they all really make you sore! I don't know if i will be keeping up on this, but I am really going to try! If anyone wants to join me on this little venture, let's do it! And plan to get together and run a 5k in like a year! We could totally do that... hmmm..... now it's time for breakfast, 'cuz the kids are up and wondering what these strange things on my feet are!

Cualquiera que me conoce puede affirmar el hecho de que yo tengo un odio hacia el ejercicio que la mayoria de la gente guarda para terroristas, sus suegros, o la hacienda. Entonces, que estoy haciendo aca a las 7 d la mañana en zapatillas y buso? La verdad es que yo no se tampoco! He estado pensando y planeado de ponerme en forma por los ultimos diez años, pero nunca seguí con mis amenazas... Le dije a mi cuerpo que si no dejaba de engordarse y ser tan asqueroso, iba a hacer algo muy drastico, como el ejercicio. No me escuchó entonces aqui estoy, tembloroso por haber hecho como 40 abdominales y haber saltado la cuerda por casi 5 minutos. Que patetico soy!!! Mi hermanita, Valerie, quien tiene 16 años me mandó una pagina web de ejercicio que recibió de parte de un grupo de correr, y tiene un montón de ejercicios que son para ayudar a afirmar y hacerle mas esvelto al cuerpo, y parece tener unas cosas bien buenas. La página es http://www.mastertheshift.com/index.shtml, por si les interesa. Solamente demora uno unos minutos para hacer varias cosas diferentes, y todos le hacen doler bastante al cuerpo! No sé para cuanto voy a seguir con eso, pero realmente voy a intentarlo. Si alguien quiere juntarse conmigo en esta aventura, hagamoslo! Si lo planearamos bien, podríamos juntarnos en un año para hacer una carrera de 5k o algo. bueno, ahora es tiempo para hacerles el desayuno a los niños, ya que están preguntandome lo que son estas cuestiones raras que tengo en mis pies!

And they're finally sleeping! Por fin se duermen!

So, recently my kids, Daniel and Alin, don't want to go to sleep at night. I don't know how to convince them that they need to be in bed at a certain time, as we have never had structured bedtimes or naptimes. It has always been that as soon as they are tired, they go to bed, unless we (the parents) are tired first and then they go to bed as soon as we do. This has started to be a pain in the neck, especially during the summer, because they want to be up since it is still light, and Marcelo has to be up by 5:30 am to be to work by six, and when they don't want to sleep until at least eleven, it makes for a rough time! They just quit talking about 2 minutes ago, which means that at least one is asleep... Alin hates to stay in her bed, but since we took the crib out of their room she has to sleep on a normal bed- and there is no way for me to keep her in! It is so frustrating, and i don't know what to do about it. If you have any ideas, please let me know!

Recientmente mis hijos, Daniel y Alin, no quieren dormir de noche. No sé convincirles que necesiten estar en cama a cierta hora, siendo que nunca hemos tenido una hora exacta para acostarse, ni tampoco para las siestas. Siempre ha sido que tan pronto que tengan sueño, se acuestan, al menos que nosotros, sus padres, estemos cansados primeros, y si es asi, se acuestan a la hora que nosotros lo hacemos. Eso ha empezado a ser un dolor de cabeza, especialmente durante el verano, porque quieren estar de pie mientras haya luz, y Marcelo tiene que levantarse antes de las 5:30 de la mañana para llegar al trabajo antes de las seis, y cuando ellos no quieren dormir hasta pasado las once, hace problemas! Apenas dejaron de hablar hace unos dos minutos, lo cual significa que uno o el otro esté durmido... A Alin no le gusta quedarse en la cama, pero suendo que le sacamos la cuna de su cuarto, tiene que dormir en una cama normal, y no la puedo mantener en su cama! Me frustra tanto, y no se que hacer... Si tienes soluciones, favor de avisarme!

So, this is a partial family pic from the other day, with everyone making weird faces... not necessarily on purpose, but we did anyway!

What it means...

I just realized that the way that this blog is signed, losacunapataperriando, may not make sense to anyone else... I guess I will explain. Pataperros are basically globetrotters, people who are seeing the world and who are not necessarily staying in one place... That is us- not that we have had the opportunity to travel much, but it is always on our minds! We are working on getting ready to buy a place down in Chile, as soon as I get done with my schooling (3 semesters to go and counting!), and there are so many other places that we want to see and experience, that we feel like we should be globetrotters! So, even if we have to do it from our computer, via Google Earth, we are always on the move, discovering new places and ideas.

Justo me dí cuenta de que la manera en que se firma este blog, losacunapataperriando, no ha de tener sentido por mucha gente, entonces se lo explicaré. Paraperros son personas quienes viajan por todo el mundo, viendolo siempre, y no necesariamente se quedan en un lugar... Así somos nosotros- no estoy diciendo que hemos tenido la oportunidad de viajar mucho, pero está siempre en nuestros mentes! Estamos en el proceso de prepararnos para comprar un lugar en chile, tan pronto como yo termine mis estudios (y me quedan tres semestres no mas!) y hay tantos otros lugares que queremos ver y experimentar, que sentimos que debemos ser pataperros! Asi que, aunque sea solamente por el computador por medio de Google Earth, estamos siempre en movimiento, discubriendo nuevos lugares e ideas.