Coppelia's Blog

The Potty Diaries ... on hold?

2009-05-04T18:34:00.001-07:00

Ah, potty training! If you've been through it, please, um, HELP!

Christopher is great about sitting on the potty, but he's not actually going in it yet. He hides in the closet to "go"! So if you have any good tips, please post a comment. Adam and I would love to hear your ideas.
And the poor guy gets really frustrated when he sits there for a few minutes and nothing happens. So we're trying not to pressure him, just encourage him as much as we can.

We're praising him for trying. But how do we help him to actually "go" in the potty?

We have till Thanksgiving until baby #2 is born, so we have about 6 months, give or take, to complete potty training. Is that doable? I hope so!

Coppelia, Adam and Christopher-in-training!

The potty diaries

2009-04-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

Potty training, take 2! A few months ago, at our friends Mark and Kristy's house, Adam and I found Christopher sitting on a potty. Wow, we thought, this is it! He's ready! Adam ran to Walmart, bought a really cool potty and we were ready to go! But Christopher decided the potty was yucky. There was no way he was going to sit in that thing. So we let it go for a few months.

Then, when our friend Jessika from church told Adam how she had potty trained her son, Talan, we decided to try that tactic. We took Christopher to the store, and he picked out "big boy underwear". Power Rangers! We told him that when he's ready to wear big boy underwear, he can wear these. And the underwear waited in his drawer for a few weeks.

Suddenly, a few days ago, Christopher announced he did not want to wear diapers. He wanted to wear his Big Boy Power Ranger Underwear. Yay! So, I went on a google-fest, googling everything about potty training. Mayo Clinic has some great info. And I found one lady's idea of using a timer the first few days, to get him used to going to the potty.

Day 1: The underwear was on right after breakfast and the timer was set to every 10 minutes. We had a few accidents, but every 10 mins., Christopher sat on the potty. And each try, he got a star on his special potty chart!

Day 2: Breakfast, underwear, timer at 15 minutes. He almost made it to the potty to poop (almost.) And he almost made it to pee (that time without the timer, he just ran to the potty!) We'll make it next time!

Day 3: Busy day for mom and dad, so no real attempts at potty training. But more tomorrow!

Daddy took these super cute pics of Christopher. Too cute!

Christopher smilin' at home!

2008-12-02T16:14:00.001-08:00

New cell phone pic 08
Originally uploaded by Coppe-liah

Since all the pictures that I posted yesterday were from 2007, here is one that I took with my NEW phone! :)

More to come...maybe...one of these days! :)

Love,
Coppe

A fall 2007 photo album...and it's not a typo!

2008-12-01T17:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, the title says it all. The pictures you'll see here below are a cute collection of mostly Christopher pics (with a few random ones thrown in) that I had taken with my cell phone. A few days ago, it started acting weird, so I knew it was time to start shopping for a new one. I always look for the cheap-o ones, the ones that are free with the service contract, 2 for 1, that kind of deal. But Adam decided this would be an early Christmas present! So we went to see what they had (and of course, I went for the deal!) :)

They had a blackberry special where, after the rebate, you got it for free! Unfortunately, the girl who told us this was misinformed; the special ended one day before. The phone ended up costing us, but it was way less than the actual retail price. So I'm very happy with my new blackberry curve! :)

Before I surrendered my old pink Razr, I wanted to save all the pictures and address book info. So I started e-mailing the pictures until I realized....there are a TON of pictures! So the girl at the store said, no problem. Take it home, move the pictures via bluetooth to your computer and bring the phone back later (they have a rebate for that, too!)

So here I've been for almost an hour (!), moving pictures from the phone to the computer via bluetooth (a pretty cool thing if you've never done it.)

I saw my sister do a cute little photo album, so this is my first one. I hope you like it!

And by the way, the pictures range from August to November...2007!! (Again, it's not a typo!)

(Maybe the cool new blackberry gets me motivated to take pictures...and post them...more often!)

Love,

Coppelia

Is Christopher a Toddler or Teenager?

2008-11-18T23:02:00.000-08:00

Christopher has been so funny lately!

He will turn 3 in January, and it seems the closer we get to his birthday, the more he's becoming a big kid (read: teenage angst is starting to rear its head!)

He made his first few attempts at the potty..then decided it was yucky! He thinks it's gross that he has to deal with poo, and wiping and flushing! HAA!!! Neither Adam nor I have been able to get him to try it again. So we'll let it go for now, and try again later.

He's much more vocal about what he wants, when he wants it. We used to have no real resistance from him regarding what needed to be done (clean-up, eating dinner, taking a "tito aguas" or bath, etc...) But now, if he doesn't want to, it's gonna be a fight!

Seriously, is he a toddler or a teenager? It used to be that he'd wake up early and come in to wake us up. Now, we have to turn on the lights and start waking him up half an hour early...and he still wants to keep sleeping! We'll say it's time to get up, and he'll say "go away!" I thought this didn't start 'till he turned 13!! HAHA!

Our days have taken a wonderful shape recently. We've been waking up early to share breakfast together. After work (around 1:30pm), we have a snack or lunch, and go to the gym (where Christopher loves the Kids' Club). Then, it's home for nap time. Then Dinner. Then sometimes I go to my rehearsals for "The Music Man" and Adam does bedtime, or I stay and hang out until it's bedtime.

We are truly blessed. I love our family routine right now. And the fact that it's so flexible is amazing. Thank you, Lord!

Coppelia

Inexplicable bedtime joy

2008-09-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

Children are a blessing from the Lord and I was blessed tonight. My husband, Adam; our 2 year old son, Christopher; and I usually share the bedtime ritual. Adam takes care of bathtime ("tito aguas"="ba~nito con agua!"), and we both do the story/prayer/tuck-in time. But Adam was working tonight, so it was just Christopher and me. So after "Tito Aguas"/story/prayer/tuck-in time, I stayed with him, hanging out a little while longer.

And I just had the coolest time!

Christopher's really been flexing his imagination muscles recently. During lunch today he was "serving" Adam and me imaginary "ocholalis" (chocolate milk), and bringing us imaginary airplanes and race cars for us to play with. Then we asked him what else he had in his "imaginary store", and he had ocholalis, airplanes, race cars, a toothbrush, apple juice, pan 'lali (chocolate croissant), and a few other favorite things!

Tonight his imagination kick continued. He has a little stuffed coqui (puertorrican frog) that my friend Stacey gave him for his birthday in January. Adam and I taught Christopher the "Oh, coqui" song (yes, the Menudo one!) And Christopher actually sings it to the little stuffed coqui as he tucks him in bed. But tonight, it wasn't just songs and tuck-in. He was giving the coqui imaginary ocholalis, ice water and race cars so he would sleep better! You have to understand that Christopher loves races cars and oftentimes takes 3, 4, 5 or maybe 8 (!) to bed with him, and just crams them all around him. So, he figured coqui would like this, too! He's just so sweet! Christopher, the coqui and I took turns kissing each other, sharing imaginary sippy cups of ocholalis and ice water, rearranging the race cars and patting each other on the head "good night". I loved it! It's so much fun seeing him engaged in "serving" others. :)

I love seeing how his imagination works. It's so fun to spend time with him! And you should have seen him in his little Superman pjs! It's too cute!! :)

This was definitely a good night. (Now, I can't wait for Adam to come home from work...) :)
Coppe

Fun with Ding Ding!

2008-07-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day...but it didn't start out great.

I was ready to spend the day skulking around, throwing myself a big pity party because I just found out that we have to move in 30 days. Unfortunately, the owners of the house we are renting had to foreclose. And Adam is not here (he's working in NC for the summer) so I'm going through this alone.

I had reason to skulk.

But, I got up early and thought it would be fun to go to Barnes & Noble with Christopher. They have a yummy cafe with breakfast sandwiches and Starbucks mochas and the kids section has a Thomas the Tank Engine railway that kids can play with. Christopher loves it, so off we went!

Once we got there, I started feeling better. The breakfast was GREAT (I wanna go again!) And Christopher was having a blast with the trains, while Mommy read a book about making healthy snacks (which she really needs to start making). :)

All of a sudden, my friend Wendy calls. She's going to the Folsom City Zoo. Do we want to come, too? YES!! The Zoo has an actual train that Christopher could ride. He got really excited when I told him about it. So we played a little more at the bookstore and then left to meet our friends Wendy, Tim, Kaynen and Kenya.

We crammed everyone into Tim's work pickup truck (all 3 car seats fit in the back, and all 3 adults fit in the front!) And off we went to the Zoo.

It was a fun, cute little retreat of a zoo. It's cool because it has rescued animals, so it's sort of a sanctuary. And you get that feeling of "sanctuary" as you walk around. We all really enjoyed it!

My two favorite animals from this trip were a tiny squirrel monkey that Christopher loved, too, because 1. It's a monkey, and 2. It had a little jungle gym in his cage!; and an albino peacock. OK, I know the cool thing about peacocks is their beautiful coloring....but you just have to see an albino peacock up close. It is one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen!

So one of the funniest parts of our little zoo trip was when Wendy told us that Kaynen (2 years old) started to differentiate between his name and his sister Kenya's. When Kaynen says his name, it sounds like he's saying "Ding Ding"! So of course, we're all trying to get him to say it in the car on the way there. :) It's so cute!!

Wendy, thank you for making my day great! You called at just the right time...and gave me the perfect excuse to not spend the day skulking. It was really a lot of fun hanging out with you guys (like it always is)!!

Proverbs 27:9b (The Message)
"...a sweet friendship refreshes the soul."

Coppe

A week in the life of a temporarily single mom

2008-07-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

I am a temporarily single mom. My husband, Adam, is working for the summer in Charlotte, NC.

It's going on 5 weeks and I miss him! But...

...I am super proud of my hubby for what he's doing. He's working for Audio Ethics, a sound/production company that is exactly up his alley. He was even part of the production crew for a Newsboys concert. Fun!!

So, here's a recap of what my week looks like as a temporarily single mom:

My Day
6ish Wake up & get ready
7ish Wake up Christopher/breakfast/morning TV
7:30 Joanna's here so Mommy goes to work!
7:30am to 2:30pm Fun with "Nanna"
2:30pm Mommy's home!
From 2:30pm on, each day's a bit different:

Mondays we grab a bite to eat, then go to Mommy's voice lessons, then it's home for dinner/TV/Bathtime/Sleepytime

Tuesdays we grab a bite to eat, wait until it's 5:30 (sometimes Christopher naps), go to my Hip Hop class at the gym (where Christopher loves the KidsClub!), then it's home/dinner/tv/bath/sleepytime

Wednesdays: home, grab a bite to eat, hang out or run errands until it's time for the routine

Thursdays: similar to Wednesdays

Fridays: similar to Thursdays

Some days we'll throw in a trip to the mall play area or library in the afternoons. Those are always fun!

And I am very grateful that God provided us with a wonderful "Nanna"! Joanna Scales is a wonderful girl from our church who needed a part time job for the summer--while we needed someone to take care of Christopher for the summer. Perfect!

Joanna (Christopher calls her "Nanna") comes to our house every day, from 7:30am to 2:30pm, takes Christopher to the park, lets him color all he wants, and makes sure he is well taken care of while Mommy works at Air 1 radio (www.air1.com).

Joanna's family is like our extended family here in CA. Her Mom, Jan, lives within walking distance, and they often take Christopher on errands and other fun stuff like the "pito madona" (Parquecito de McDonalds/McDonald's Play Area).

As if that were not all, Joanna's little sister, Natalie (Christopher calls her "Nani") is Christopher's favorite friend from church! Natalie is 11 years old, but she loves Christopher and he loves his "Nani". So every now and then, he'll get to play with Nanna and Nani while Mommy's away.

It's all worked out great. Thank you so much, Lord, for providing for all of our needs.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19

Love,
Coppe

Ocholalis, chuchuquen, and other cute words!

2008-07-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

Christopher is now 2 1/2 years old, and it seems everyday he adds new words to his vocabulary! Just a few weeks ago, I wanted to make sure we were on the right track with his language ability. We are bilingual, and I wanted to make sure he was learning both English and Spanish to his advantage.

A speech therapist came to do a free evaluation, and almost as soon as she walked through the door she could tell Christopher was fine. But she went through all the questions, and evaluated his interaction with us and with her.

I thank God that her evaluation reassured us (me) that he was more than fine. His language ability is above average for his age. Praise God! Thank you, Lord!

I had been concerned that it seems as though his vocabulary is 50% English/50% Spanish. But she said that he is "code switching" between the languages and that's perfectly normal. :) YAY!

One cute thing that happened during the evaluation:

She asked us how many words he knows. I don't know! So Adam and I started saying out loud all the words we know he uses:

Mama, Papa, Abuelayabuelo (for all 4 grandparents), water, TV, Cars, Truck, Chuchuquen (choo choo train), titoagua (for ba~nito con agua/bathtime), ocholalis (chocolate---for chocolate milk), leche, pan, tena (avena/oatmeal), chukuman (superman), batman, lollipot (emphasis on the "t"!), jugo, pititas (for papitas/french fries), hammer, bob (bob the builder), wall-e (he doesn't really like wall-e), Thomas (the train), Max & Ruby, Dora, Diego (and pretty much all other PBS and Noggin characters)...

All of a sudden, Christopher interrupted us and said "Jesus loves me"!

How could we forget those most important words?!

We all laughed, and I was extremely proud. My son's first "evangelism" experience--sharing his love for Jesus with the speech therapist.

Thank you, Lord, for a loving son...who is learning to love you, too.

Coppe

2 years and counting

2008-04-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

Time for an update! Wow! Since I posted the "Thank Zoo" trip photos a LOT has happened! That was right after Thanksgiving 2007, so here's a quick glance at the last 4 months:

December 2007
Awesome Christmas at home. Christmas Eve was at church with a really cool, special service. Then Christmas Day I was bent on taking Christopher to see the Polar Express at the IMAX theater. Adam knew it was more for me than for our almost-2-year-old son, but we went anyway. Guess what? He HATED it!! (Christopher, not Adam) :-) We had to walk out. The enormous sights and sounds of the IMAX were a bit too much for a little guy. They were almost a little bit much for me! :-) So, that Christmas idea might have to wait a few more years. (He's fine with other movies, though. We took him to see "Horton Hears a Who" a few weeks ago and he really enjoyed it! He likes elephants, so that probably helped.)

New Year's Eve we celebrated with friend's of Eli & Celest. It was SO COOL! We had a blast playing Guitar Hero, singing, all our kids running around the house, talking, laughing, getting to know each other better. We had so much fun, pretty much the same group of people got together for a Super Bowl party in February! FUN TIMES!! :-)

January 2008
Trip to PUERTO RICO!! WOO-HOO!!! I was SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS TRIP I COULD WRITE THIS WHOLE PARAGRAPH IN ALL CAPS, but that would be annoying, right? I'll just say it was AWESOME!!!! :-) We squeezed into 10 days as many visits to friends and family as possible. It was too little. I can't wait to get back to see all the fam, plus Stacey & Joel (& Jonathan, David, Seth & Shayna), Brenda & Dan (& Evan & Joseph) & everyone else! And of course, I can't forget Rey & Vane & the Coppelia Band. :-) I miss all you guys!!! We had SO MUCH FUN! Plus, it was so cool to do Christopher's 2nd birthday there. :-) Let's do it all again next year!
We came back from PR (Adam couldn't wait to get back! He loves it here in CA. I do, too but the PR trip was SO COOL!!!) :-)
So we came back from PR and we had our 4th wedding anniversary! TE AMO, BABE!! We had spent a bit o' $$$ on the trip, so we couldn't really splurge. But if you read the Christmas part of this post, you saw that I have this thing for IMAX movies. I found out that they were showing the U2:3D movie at the IMAX in Sacramento. So on our 4th Anniversary date, we went to a really cool sort of swanky restaurant next to the IMAX. We had appetizers to stay within budget...and so we wouldn't be late for the movie. It was super fun! We sat in the bar next to this couple who were obviously trying to impress each other. It was fun for us to compare how comfortable we are with each other vs. how sort of awkward they were being with each other. I thank the Lord for my wonderful husband, best friend, person I so enjoy spending my life with! :) TE AMO otra vez, BABE!! And needless to say, the U2:3D concert ROCKED!!! It was AMAZING!! We had an AMAZING time!!!! :-)

It's almost 8pm and I really have to go to bed...but a lot of cool things happened in February and March, so I have to come back for those. And hopefully soon, I'll be able to post pictures to accompany all these stories. :)

It's all because of Jesus I'm alive
It's all because the blood of Jesus Christ
Covered me and raised this dead woman's life yeah
It's all because of Jesus I'm alive!
(Chorus of a song by "Fee")

Coppe

Visit to the Sacramento Zoo!

2007-12-19T21:57:00.001-08:00

This is turning into a yearly tradition. Every year, the Sacramento Zoo has a "Thank Zoo" day, the day after Thanksgiving. There is no way you'll catch me shopping on Black Friday, so I'd much rather go to the Zoo for free, which is what "Thank Zoo" day is all about. So for the second year in a row, we went. We missed, Tat, my brother, who was with us last year. But he got to spend this Thanksgiving with Milli, so that was cool.

So the pictures show Christopher (22 months old) as a kangaroo, with Mama and with Papa at the zoo. I think his favorite animals included the penguins, any type of monkey/orangutan/gorilla, and a really big turtle that was close to the Giraffes. It's so fun to see him interested in the world around him. :-) He's learning so much!!

I know that I am writing this a few days before Christmas...maybe by Valentine's day I'll have the Christmas and New Year's posts up!! :-)

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and a very Happy and Blessed New Year 2008!
Coppelia

Christopher's first visit to the dentist

2007-11-05T20:03:00.001-08:00

Another milestone!! Yay!! Today, Monday, November 5th, 2007 was Christopher Jean's first visit to the dentist! He is 21 months old and enjoys using his orange toothbrush with a green Shrek. Particularly, he enjoys the tiny amount that mom or dad give him of the yummy toothpaste (pasta). I think that will be one of his first words. In fact, I think I heard him say "pasta" the other day. He certainly points at the pasta and flat out refuses to even hold the toothbrush in his hand (let alone bring it near his mouth) unless the toothbrush comes with "pasta".

Adam and I had our 6 month cleaning/check up last week. Christopher came with us and we showed him that the dentist is really COOL! I don't think he bought it, but they did have a cool magnetic table that he played with, so at least that was cool.

Now look at the picture. Do you see that cute little smirk? (Not the one on Adam's face, the one on Christopher's!) It's the face he makes when you ask him to show you his "dientes" (teeth)! Ask him "Christopher, donde estan tus dientes?" (where are your teeth?)
And that's the face he makes everytime!
It's SO CUTE!
Adam and I were hoping with our encouragement, being really excited about the dentist and the whole "dientes" game, he'd be excited, too!

Well, guess what?! He did GREAT! When they called his name, he walked "solito" back to the dentist area. He looked a bit apprehensive at all the equipment, but happily sat on Mami's lap. Papa was cheering him on from the sidelines. The dentist and assistant (both ladies) were smiling, friendly, really nice. He didn't like the bib, ("cause, Mom, I don't wear bibs anymore!") But after an initial resistance, he was ok with it, especially because we turned on the TV and found Sesame Street!

Christopher loved the little mirror that the dentist used to look at his teeth. He especially loved the "pasta" that they used with the really cool electric toothbrush-y thing-y at the end of the cleaning. And then he was happy with the little toys and balloon they gave him at the end. The dentist and her assistant were really happy and proud of him...and needless to say, so were we.

Thank you, Lord, for giving us such an amazing blessing in the shape of a boy named Christopher Jean.

Christopher is 19...wait, almost 20 months!

2007-09-10T20:21:00.001-07:00

Is that crazy? Christopher Jean (as in Jean Claude, not blue jean) is almost 20 months old! And he is getting cuter and cuter and cuter and more fun every day!! Almost every day he walks over to two different DVD racks and he points to either Cars (Pixar) or Adam's paintball DVDs. And then he points to the TV until you get the DVD going! There are countless Elmo DVDs, Disney DVDs, and all sorts of other DVDs, but those two are the ones he likes. :-) Also, he doesn't seem to like being inside. He LOVES playing outside in the patio. And if the playing involves water, even better!

The picture I posted shows Christopher and Kaynen. Just today, my good friend Wendy dropped off her son Kaynen on her way to Jury Duty. (side note: I'm so glad she got excused. She's 8 months pregnant!! She doesn't need the stress of jury duty!) So Kaynen and Christopher are about 6 months apart and they had a blast playing in the patio today! They were splashing around, laughing and everything was great until I dried them off and brought them back inside. Then they saw the building blocks and the world was great once again.

Christopher is definitely into his toddler stage. He knows what to do when I say "subete el pantalon". He's working on that. He loves trying to put on his shoes or socks with Mom's help. He has his electric Shrek toothbrush which he just shoves in his mouth while it's moving (and then mom or dad help to actually brush the teeth) and he LAUGHS all the time. It's so fun!! He's just a really happy baby. And i remember thinking that when I was pregnant. I just "knew" he'd be a happy kid. :-)

I do mornings & breakfast and Dad does bedtime & naptime. Whenever Adam asks if he's tired and he is, Christopher just walks right up to his crib and waits for Dad to lift him in. He seems ready for a toddler bed, but not yet. He seems content when I get him in the morning. And when I walk in the room, he gives me his little Baby Jesus board book (thank you, Stacey!) and we read it together.

We are blessed.

Christopher is 18 months old!

2007-07-26T23:49:00.000-07:00

Time to celebrate another little milestone!

Christopher is 18 months old and he's the funnest little guy around! This past Sunday we had friends from church over for a BBQ. It was so much fun! We had Wendy & Tim, Eli & Celest, and Bob (Amy was at a softball game). And, in turn, they brought Kaynen, Avery, Noah and of course we had Christopher here. The cool part was that all 4 of us (Wendy, Celest, Amy and I) were pregnant together (we went to the same church) and our babies, i mean toddlers, are just months apart.

It was a blast to see the toddlers huddle around the ice chest, grabbing the root beer bottles and imagine them doing this in about 18 years with their school buddies! What a blast!! Even funnier was their hands, mouths and noses were bright red from the cold! They insisted on playing with the ice, sucking it, holding it, etc. And then we remembered that we had sprinkled salt on the ice to make it last longer!!! Salt lick!! It was all hilarious!

So here's my little "milestone" chart for Christopher. It has both milestone-type things and just plain old fun things that he's been doing recently.
Every morning he has breakfast with mommy (usually cheerios)
He feeds himself just fine, thank you, with milk dribbling everywhere...all the way through to the last drop which he feeds himself by picking up the bowl and drinking it!! Some days he'll have a banana or raspberries this particular week and he'll eat it all and then some. Wonderful appetite so far!

On most days we'll watch a few Disney shows (Little Einsteins, Mikey Mouse Club House, Handy Manny, The Doodlebops) or my other favorite PBS Kids (Curious George, Clifford & Sesame Street). I love it when he interacts with the charactes (he'll pat with Little Einsteins, wave goodbye at Mickey, or get excited with Elmo or Bert & Ernie!)

Adam and I usually pray before meals (:-) and Christopher wants to eat as soon as that food is in front of him! But every now and then, he folds his little hands together and pray...and then we all throw our hands up in the air as if to say "Woo Hoo"!! and say Amen! :-) It's so fun to watch him do that

Adam, Christopher and I are also big right now on floor wrestling, rolling around, tickles and more! One of our favorites is "hooey!", where we poke someone's belly button and it makes them jump and say "hooey"! It is hilarious! Especially when Christopher pokes Adam! :-)

And the sweetest part of all is the kisses. Adam and I love it when Christopher give us "besos". We'll ask him to kiss us and we know he only does it when he wants to...not always. So when he does want to, it's the best thing ever! :-)

Yeah, having Christopher is fun! So for now we're happy as a family of 3. We'll see where we go from here. :-)

How many "life-plates" do you have?

2007-05-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

By life-plates, i mean those pages that we fill up on the web with personal information, pictures, surveys, etc. Is there too much on your life-plates? As if we already didn't struggle to manage our lives, now we have to manage life-plates like Myspace, Facebook and, yes, even this blog. Like with everything, there are pros and cons to life-plates. I love re-connecting with my friends, staying in touch with my family more than I used to, and getting to know more about them than I did before. You can find out a lot about a person from their life-plates. I hope my life-plates reflect a little bit of who I am...that i am able to bless someone through them, and i hope we can all learn to appreciate one another more for what makes us unique. I think life-plates are almost like fingerprints. It would be hard to come across one to be exactly like another...even if they share the same background or layout.

What I like about you

2007-03-23T00:26:00.000-07:00

What do you like about yourself? Do you think you are the greatest person ever or do you sometimes doubt your value?

This question came up for me during a recent Small Group meeting. If you are not familiar with church small groups as you read this, it's just a few people (usually between 4 and 8) who meet to discuss the Bible and have "fellowship" (which is nothing more than "hanging out" & eating pizza) :-) Yum. Although I'm liking the home cooked meals better. :-) Yum, Yum.

Recently, we were discussing prayer...and confession. Part of the Christian life is confessing sin and moving on without it (go and sin no more). As I thought about what I could possibly be struggling with that was not completely evident to me...I thought that I had been struggling with what I'll describe as self-hate. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it's true. And I got even more confirmation on the fact from my husband when I shared how I felt.

Over a period of months (dare I say years), I have put myself down much more than I have felt good about myself. And I have a lot of things to feel good about, so what's the deal?!

I like a lot of things about myself:
I like my hair & my eyes
I like mornings (waking up with Christopher, nursing, breakfast, playing, waiting for Daddy to come home [he works 4 to 9am] and playing some more!
I like having lunch with my posito on most days
I like my job & ministry (singing & radio)
I like living in California and being from Puerto Rico
I like having great old friends that I'm still in touch with &
I like all the new friends I've made in California
I like laughter and having fun
I like thoughtful conversations, hearing from friends (via phone or e-mail), and vacations
I like having a great relationship with my family, Mom, Dad, Millita, Tat, Mamin, Joshua, etc...Love you all!!!
And I could probably list more things that I like!

I have a lot of things to be grateful for. I am grateful for my family's health, both husband and son and our extended families. That is one of the most precious gifts we could ever receive. And I am especially grateful that we have eternity to look forward to. It does not end here. Friends (and family) are forever, when the Lord's the Lord of them.

I should keep my eyes on that...it's much better than putting myself down for no good reason.

I like blogging. :-)

Coppelia

Fotos!!

2007-03-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

Fotos!! This is my family, my awesome, amazing, patient and cool hubby, Adam (aka "Posito") and my cute, sweet, demanding, fun and happy son, Christopher Jean (aka "Chincho"). Life is good, God is great and we are so blessed! We are Boricuas, born and raised in Puerto Rico. About 2 years ago, I got a job offer and we left "la isla del encanto" for Rocklin, California. Now, we LOVE living in California! I especially love that we can go down to San Francisco in about an hour and a half! And I am looking forward to future trips to Tahoe (everyone tells us it's beautiful) and Napa (wine weekend!) Hopefully soon! Come visit us sometime! :-)