Helping Pepe!

I am interrupting regularly schedule adriancito news to talk about a friend that is in need. Below is a copy of an email that I received regarding a friend that recently discovered that he has cancer. We have known Pepe and Gina for a while now and we were shocked when we learned about their situation. I figured the least I could do is post this and get the word out. I'm sure we all have confronted with a family member or friend that has faced a similar situation so if you can please help.

As you all know our good friend Pepe is fighting Cancer. The kid has been through a lot this year. He just had surgery to remove the tumor and they found more cancer cells afterwards. He will need to go under more chemotherapy.Meaning he will be battling this fight for a while.

Everyone is asking how they can help. Pepe is engaged to be married with Gina and has 3 beautiful children. He just bought a house to build a future for his family.Lets help with contributions to give them one less thing to worry about.

We are opening a bank account later today so you can make donations. If money is tight you still can help with your time.We all have our trade professions. If you can do anything to help with things around his house that would be awesome.

Reply to me on exactly what you can do and we can set up weekends when we can all work as a team to get this done.Please know a small donation or your time can go a long way to help a friend who has always been
there for us.

Here is the information on where to send your contributions. Go to or mail checks to any M&I Bank. Pay to Jose Covarrubias Benefit On the memo place 4873

While at the bank we had our first donation. Ana, the person who helped open the account took the initiative to help our deer friend.
Now it's our turn. Please give what you can.

Thanks,
Mando
p.s. Forward to family and friends. God Bless.

Our prayers are with Pepe and his family. My thoughts are also with Gina having to worry about the doctor's appointments, supporting her husband and taking care of the children and bills are very stressful. She definitely deserves credit for all her work.

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ~Mother Teresa

Dilemma

Right now I have about two weeks until the semester ends. And I still have not decided whether to take summer classes. Time is ticking, I have multiple papers due and have lots of things planned for this next month. And on top of that after more than a year of computer problems our computer finally gave out. So for the May I will approaching with as much patience that I have and am doing one thing at a time for the sake of my sanity. So my dilemma, I would like to take the summer off because my poor child needs to get potty trained and with me always running around the house and town like a crazy person all week long that doesn't exactly give him the best of routine and stability for it. And to tell you the truth I've been kind of avoiding it because I've heard it's hardest part of parenting. So as he goes to day care everyday (with the best babysitter ever) and sees two other children that have just been potty trained, he's still in diapers. He knows when he's going to go potty. He hides under the table, hides in the corner or goes in his room and denies anyone entry. The babysitter and I have both tried putting him on the potty but he's not having it. So if I take the summer off, it would be great, i could dedicate the summer to tackling this issue before life goes back to it's usual craziness during the school year. But the thing is want to go to summer school, i want to get a jump on my credits so that i can speed up the school process, finish faster, start my career, buy a home and ultimately have more children. I know it sounds a little weird (I feel a little weird writing this) but I a little irresponsible not going to summer school. I feel like a little lazy bum working part-time and not going to school when I know I can be in school and finish faster. I'm going to feel guilty that I can't do it all and even though i really want to. Mon's response to my dilemma is "stay home he's only going to be 2 once." but I'm still undecided...

Finally!

I am halfway through the semester and surprisingly this semester I don't feel like I am going nuts. Like I posted a couple of months ago I despise the time that takes away from my little one. But now I am more determined than ever to just finish school and get it over with. Little Adrian's personality is changing and changing. He has such a strong personality I can't believe it. Loves to watch television which I am growing to despise. I try not to put movies and tv on for him other than early in the morning so I can get ready for work. I don't think it's healthy for kids to watch tv all day and it teaches him bad habits. So right now tv is the enemy. Adriancito has branched out from Elmo now even though it's still his favorite. He likes other characters and has a thing for elephants too. it's cute. He's FINALLY picking up words. For the longest I've been subconsciously worried about his speech. It just seemed like other children were picking up words quicker. But this past month adriancito left and right has been repeating everything and learning things. It am sooo excited FINALLY!!! Right now he is two years and three months and growing fast.. I can no longer hold him for long periods of time. He's has evolved from his crib to his toddler bed and tends to wake us up every morning. "No night night mama". Now that he's picking things up I'm trying to teach him as much Spanish as possible. He'll learn English in school and speak it the rest of his life, it's Spanish that I'm worried about. I want him to grow up knowing the most important thing about his culture, the language! Although he still picks up words here and there from cartoons and family in English so far I have been quite successful with teaching him Spanish.

He received his fourth hair cut about a month ago and his curls are dying to come out. Like the last time, he cried like it was the end of the world. Me and mon are itching to get out of town to escape from the cold weather. So hopefully as soon as we have funds available we will be heading west. We will see....

Christmas Eve

Sorry I'm a little late on my updating the blog but school just started and this is the best time to catch up.

This year Adriancito really enjoyed Christmas for the first time he could open presents and hand them out to everyone. Although the night before Christmas eve there was a huge snow storm me and Limon decided to head to the mall anyway to pick up some last minute gifts. It worked out perfect because Adriancito slept through our shopping extravaganza. We actually ended up going grocery shopping, to target, to the mall and ate at Pizza Hut. It was nice to spend time together the three of us. It's funny because at Boston Store we saw my uncle that said he got my cousin for secret santa that's about Adrian's (Limon) size. So he had Adrian trying on all these sweaters and asking for his opinion. Long behold on Christmas eve guess so got Adrian? My uncle, Adrian had picked out his own gift the day before.. lol..

On Christmas Eve we started out the evening going to Limon's cousin's house (Leni). There we ate and danced and danced all night. There Adriancito danced all night around everyone and loved being part of the party.

Adriancito got a little carried away with the candy canes. As you can see in the picture above. Adrian and Tio Juan(Big Adrian's Bro)

Ari giving the thumbs up to Christmas

Everyone dancing and dancing.

Then ended the night at actually my aunt's house/our house. At my family's party we usually start out by singing posada. (When the men and women seperate into different rooms and sing a reenactment of Mary and Joseph going from house to house.) Then we stay up until midnight and someone starts the Secret Santa exchange by stating three things about the person and everyone tries to guess who the person is. When they reveal the person, they open their gift and then recipient start it all over again until everyone gets their present.

Mary and Joseph (my cousins) for the Posada!

Adriancito with his partners in crime.

Opening presents at midnight

When we finally went to sleep at 3:00 a.m an hour later Adriancito woke up in pain. Our Christmas eve was sleepless. Adriancito has been having teething issues this holiday break and has been experiencing lack of sleep and in pain. So that means everyone in the house has had lack of sleep and heartache for him. It doesn't help that he stayed up to open presents that night so his sleep cycle was off. But with me and mon back to work his sleep cycle is back to normal.


So sleepless the next morning we woke up to open presents amongst each other. Then off to spent it with family. We spent Christmas Day with both our families. I loved Christmas day this year so relaxed and just hanging around with immediate family. Of course, I love it every year but each year it just keeps getting better and better. I am so grateful to have such a happy and healthy child. A man that not only helps me but genuinely loves me for who I am. And parents and a mother in law that are always there to help no matter what, and I know they always have our best interest at heart. I love my life, I know I'm super super late but what the heck... Merry Christmas...

My 2nd Birthday!

We'll Adriancito's Birthday was partially planned out. We definitely knew that the day after thanksgiving we were going to see 1-2-3 Imagine with Elmo and friends at the Bradley Center. In early May an attorney that works closely with the office that I work for mentioned him taking his son to see Elmo. I mentioned my son loved Elmo and he mentioned that his wife got the tickets from her work and they get them at a discounted price and pre-sale. So I jumped on it. Two weeks later I had our front row tickets in my hands. I only had a couple of doubts. One- by the time his birthday rolled around he wouldn't be in this Elmo phase anymore. Two- that he would be terrified of the huge elmo compared to the little one on tv. Since Thanksgiving, Elmo show, his real birthday and grandma Irma's birthday all land on the same extended weekend it was going to be busy one.

First... Elmo. So the show started 2:00 p.m. we had vip tickets for a meet and greet with elmo an hour prior to the show. So we arrived at 12:50 waited 10 min for the doors to open and headed to the room to meet Elmo. Adriancito had no idea what was about to hit him. But as soon as Elmo and Rosita walked out his face lit up. He was getting out of line to get a closer look and telling us to look. He laughed and could not wipe the smile off his face with anticipation to see them. When we finally reached the front of the line the fuzzy characters grabbed him and put him on their lap to take the picture. He giggled and could not stop smiling and laughing. I think me and mon were on the verge of tears to see him so happy. He said bye and we left with little adrian wanting more. Then we waited for the show to start.

Trying to get a closer look at Elmo

The room was dark and my flash didn't go off..

Our seats were in the front row but off the left a little. None the less we were very happy. During the show lots of characters came down to say hi to little adriancito including Rosita and Bert. He loved the show and we even had to hold him back from running after the characters when they came down the stage. He was definetly entertained but because the show was during his nap.. he still had no nap that day. So towards the end of the show he was tired and rested his head on his daddy. He was a blink away from falling asleep but then the show finished. Snuggled into the carseat he fell asleep.
Second... the celebration. Since black friday everyone is out shopping we decided to head to chuck e cheese that day versus his real birthday. So right after the show we headed to chuck e cheese to celebrate with family. We had no reservation and it was a last minute decision for me and mon so we just crossed our fingers and hoped it was gonna be a slow day at chuck e cheese. Sure enough there was just enough space for our party and a lot of family showed up.

The cake

I am so grateful to have so many people in our lives. It was an exhausting day but a good one. On top of that I was getting sick and loosing my voice by the end of the day. But Me and mon are very happy that everyone shared Adriancito's brithday with us and to see both of our families come together is a great feeling. Thank you everyone.

It's Cold Outside

So yesterday was the day of our great blizzard in Milwaukee. Not really! It was too warm so it was more rain than snow. But it was the first time little Adrian could actually enjoy the snow. The last couple of years he really didn't know what was going on. But yesterday morning as soon as we walked outside he had a huge smile on his face and told me "mira, mira". He loved it and ran in the slushy mess outside. He even slipped a couple of times and got his clothes all wet.

We had Adriancito's 2 year doctor's appointment and he was a trooper. After trying a new pediatrician that I didn't like at ALL. I went back to my old one and he loved to see everyone again. It's so nice to have that stability because they have seen him grow since he was born. The nurse was soo happy to see him and commented on how he had grown since his last visit. Adriancito recognized her and since she's a younger female, her wish was his command. After that awful ER visit he's been terrified of the doctor but I couldn't believe how much of a good boy he was this time around. I was also relieved he got the H1N1 vaccine. I was contemplating getting it but better safe than sorry.

My semester is almost over and then I can really relax and enjoy the winter weather. I can't believe that it was -16 windchill this morning when I left the house. I had to struggle a little with adriancito to get his snow suit on. He was not happy but it was cold. I hope we get a big snow fall soon so he can fully enjoy the snow, maybe even go sledding, I don't know. All I know is that I'm excited my baby is getting bigger and it's fun being able to do more things with him.

Mi Pollito

For Halloween last year my little mister was tigger! This year I felt like a bad mother because it was the night before trick or treating and I still didn't buy him a costume. My boss mentioned he got a good deal at burlington coat factory so halloween eve i headed there to see what I could find. Initially I was thinking he could be a T-bird from the the movie Grease. All we needed was a leather jacket and gel up the baby hair with a curl in the front. But once I got to burlington I saw the cutest little costumes. I walked out with a dragon and chicken costume and a leather or pleather jacket. When I got home we tried on the chicken and knew that was the choice.


We left a sign and a bowl full of candy for the children passing by our house. While setting up everything in front, adriancito was sitting on the porch eating some candy from the bowl but when children came with their costumes. He got scared and right away got up and headed inside, starring at the kids. It was adriancito's first time actually trick or treating and he was scared from time to time of people handing out candy with masks. It was very cold so we didn't do much trick or treating but it was fun to get out and see all the other costumes and see how people reacted to little adriancito's costume. I was never really a fan of halloween but I think now that I have a child I am more enthusiastic. This year we also bought about 6 pumpkins and carved out sesame street characters.

When returning the dragon costume and jacket the next day I noticed I bought the costumes 50% off and i only paid 4.50 for one and 6.50 for the other. What a deal... We decided to keep the dragon costume just in case we want to see a little dragon running around the house.