Aging

I have always loved looking at photos of my parents from when they were younger. My favorites are the ones from when they were dating or just married. So young and excited. The photos are from the mid 70's many with the rounded corners and with that slight red tint that old photos get.

It wasn't until yesterday that I realized that PR Dad and I already have those "back in the day" photos. I got a text message from our friend Holly and attached was this photo.



From what we can remember this photo had to be from either late 2003 or early 2004. I was 26 and PR Dad was 30. We are at a hookah bar, I am sure it was late.We look young, excited, and happy. Not a care in the world! This is a picture that The Phi will look at and laugh at how young we looked.

In my mind PR Dad and I had not changed yet. We were still the same people we were when we met. Maybe because I still feel the same. I feel the same in my body, despite the pregnant belly, extra weight, stretch marks, and the aches and pains of being 32. And I feel the same way about PR Dad, happy and just excited to be with him.

Then I looked at this recent picture and realized that indeed we have changed. Physically anyways. These are the faces that The Phi sees in her mind when she thinks of her parents. Not those two crazy kids in the first picture that I see in my mind when I think of PR Dad and I.

December 2009

Over 6 years later. Our late night hookah sessions have turned into early school night bedtimes. We look older, much more tired, but still happy.

Big Families

I come from a big family. On my Mom's side I have 38 cousins. And yes I can name them all...

Leo
Marissa
Lorissa
Gabriel
Melissa
Adan
Patricia
Jovan
Rosie
Giovanni
Cassandra
Betty
Roman
Arnie
Gabriel
Angie
Karina
Enrique
Erika
Jo-Jo
Monique
Raymond
Flavia
Anna
Joaquin
Michael
Jamie
Eric
Victor
Jorge
Emmanuel
Vanessa
Selina
Carlos
Christopher
Aerica
Mikey
Nick

Of course this does not include me and PR Dad and my 2 sisters and 2 brothers.

Not only are we a big family, we are a close family. We stay connected and in close contact. We are involved and intertwined in each others lives no matter how near or far we are. When something bad happens to one of us we all feel the pain and carry the hurt. Our hearts ache and we cling to each other. On the other hand when something wonderful happens we share in the joy. When one of us accomplishes something we all shine with pride for each other. We are each others backbone and biggest fans.

Today our family grew when my cousin Gabriel and his wife Angie had a baby girl they named Melody. As soon as she was born text messages between us started flying. Pictures started being sent and congratulations went back and forth. For some of my cousins they were becoming Tia and Tio's for the first time. And for the rest of us our hearts swelled with love and family pride.

We are all very happy to have another beautiful flower in our big, lush, thriving, colorful garden.

love, honor and no mini-vans

The Phi is a funny kid. She likes to tell jokes and be silly but sometimes she is hilarious when she is not even trying.

There are many bad things about the pick-up line at The Phi's school. One of those things is that to The Phi, the pick-up line a just a parade of mini-vans. She loves to watch those automatic side doors and the big screens in the back seats for optimal cartoon watching. She wants us to get one, really, really, really badly. When she approached me with the idea of getting rid of our toaster on wheels (we drive a Scion XB) and getting a mini-van I had to explain to her that her Father and I made a promise a long time ago to never drive a mini-van, no matter how many kids we have. The Phi was disappointed but apparently she understood.

Fast forward a few months to this past weekend. We were watching TV and there was mention of going on a date. She asked me...

"Mom did you go on a date?"
"Yes I have been on dates"
"With Daddy?"
"Yes with Daddy"
"And you thought he was cute and fell in love with him"
"Yup"

She proceeded to ask me about our dates, like where we went, what movies we saw, and what we ate. She also asked if Nana was babysitting her while we went on these dates and again I tried to explain that there was life before she was born and again she did not grasp that concept.

This lead to questions about moving in together, getting pregnant with her and getting married. She wanted to see pictures of the wedding so I busted out the wedding album. We looked at pictures of me getting my hair and make-up done, of the cake and of my sisters helping me into my dress.

Then we got to the pictures of the actual ceremony. Lots of shots of PR Dad and I gazing into each others eyes and such. Then The Phi asked me.....

"what part did you promise about the mini-vans?"

I had to have her repeat her question because I wasn't sure I heard her correctly. She asked me again and I started cracking up. She remembered that PR Dad and I had promised each other no mini-vans so she assumed that we made that promise when we got married. So I found a photo of PR Dad and I at the ceremony looking at each other and laughing and I told her...

"Right here, here is where we promised to each other NO MINI-VANS".

Explaning "The Phi"

The Phi has had many nicknames in her life. Some have been....

• face
• sofa
• dupa
• kiddo
• Sophizzle
  

We have been calling her The Phi for a long time. Many only know her as The Phi, and others even think that is her real name. It's not. It's her nickname and I have heard it pronounced by others in many different ways. And I love when people ask me how its pronounced or what it means or where it comes from.

So a quick lesson! It is pronounced The "FEE". Like, "your bank sucks because they charge you a monthly fee". Most nicknames are shortened versions of names or cutesy ones that end with a -y. With The Phi we took the middle part of her name and that became her nickname. We added the "The" because she is that cool.

So lesson over. Please enjoy a little part of our morning routine.








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Valentine's Day

We had a mellow Valentine's Day. Luckily The Phi had a great Valentine's at her school complete with her first long stemmed rose from a boy and a giant marshmallow from her teacher. On Sunday PR Dad had to work but in the morning The Phi and I got to give him his cards. And PR Dad and I got to give The Phi the card we made for her and a small box of chocolates. As I was getting The Phi dressed for the day she hugged me and told me that I had stolen her heart. So cute!

When PR Dad came home for lunch he brought The Phi and I bouquets. Carnations for her and 3 roses for me. One rose for each of his girls. Soo sweet. He also gave me sugar-free caramels and chocolate. You know cause of the diabetes I can't have real candy.

That night we went out to dinner. Just the three of us. Except at dinner little Sweet B reminded us that it is the 4 of us. As we were sitting and eating Sweet B gave me a good swift kick. The first one I have felt. It was a nice Valentine's Day gift from my second daughter.

My Heart Grows

Happy Valentine's Day to the 3 loves of my life.
I love you more than anything.

Love,
Elissa
aka Mom

Reading

The Phi has pretty much mastered all the letter sounds. The next step is blending those sounds together to start reading. As an avid reader I am very excited about this. Reading opens a whole new world to her. I read to The Phi every night and soon she will be able to read books on her very own! PR Dad is very excited about The Phi reading and while at dinner the other night he started writing words on an envelope. The Phi sounded them all out and read them back to him. The more she read the more he wrote down. The look on her face when she figured out the word was priceless.