Other Happenings in 2014

It helps to do this, you know? It helps to look back and be grateful for all the things we were able to do in spite of my disease. It's nice to be reminded that I'm advancing in knowledge, raising my kids in a thoughtful way, and keeping family traditions alive.

Don't ask me how this happened, but I now have a kindergartner. Here he is with my mom, who was helping me out that day, probably for health reasons. . . Oh! Back to positivity. I really enjoy our walks to school together. Leepo was SO ready to be in the classroom and he loves his teacher and classmates. He is now a voracious reader and we're so proud of him. 

We're kind of closing in on purchasing needed furniture items, but we've developed such a strong habit of visiting furniture outlets and resale shops that we just can't quit looking. That's not to mention the many enduring friendships we've made over the years talking to furniture-enthusiasts and sellers. Our week is not complete unless we're sitting in some teak chair, catching up with our friends, and convincing others that lamp/coffee table/side-chair is in need of a good home. 

On the topic of traditions, I've been going to the St. Charles Scarecrow fest since I was 9 years old! I've been able to take my kids and it's so sweet to see them experience the simple wonders I enjoyed as a child. Here's Homegirl (previously known as Beanie) with a large gourd she referred to as "Snakey."

2014 was a good year for having guests stay with us, even for weeks at a time. Some people say they stink like fish after a few days, but we honestly love our guests and miss them when they leave. Admittedly, the best are the ones who cook, clean, and paint our house while they're here. Ahem. ;)

MSI in the background

The kids are more into science these days and that makes my heart leap with joy. We got membership to the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) and I marvel at what a treasure that place is. In the summer, we walk from the MSI to the local beach and we're so grateful we live near the great city of Chicago.

Because I never know what each week will bring (stupid colon), I've gotten better at seizing any and all opportunities to do field-trips with the kids. Doing so has made me more purposeful and the results are fantastic. In the last picture, you see my son learning about squid and how they're used for research in the fascinating realm of biofilms. Since that time, he's said that he wants to be a scientist, maybe even an astronaut. I love this age for the intellectual curiosity it brings and the fun to be had with it.

You guys, when I'm not in the bathroom, I'm a pretty interactive and great mom. :)

Pure Michigan

Hello there, sorry it's been 5 months since I've posted but. . . y'know.

It feels strange to type about this when it's snowing outside, but this summer trip does feel like it was just yesterday. It was good for the soul, too. We had wanted to have a family vacation and mini-road trip, but my disease was so volatile it kept getting pushed back. While I wish I could say I was in remission when we went to Michigan, the truth is I was coming out of a flare and if I recall correctly I was also on some prednisone. We pushed ahead anyway because Michigan had come to represent taking a hold of our life together and dang it if we were going to let disease ruin it. --That's a job for kids, instead!

The only thing I wanted to do on this trip was go up these dunes and look over Sleeping Bear. A certain 5 year old boy kept complaining about sand in his shoes and things were over before they even started. What.ever.

At least we got some amazing views along the way. It was green, green, green for as far as the eye can see. Coming from Illinois, this would be described as mountainous in my book. :)

Oh my goodness, the little farmer-owned shops along the way were the best. Michigan strawberries just burst in your mouth and cherries were in season when we arrived, which was a splendid thing as well. I can still taste the tart cherry juice we picked up on the side of the road, Heavenly.

Traverse City was a larger than expected, but still very quaint town. The views along the lake(s) were out of a picture book. On our last day we stopped at a French restaurant and got to speak with the locals. As expected they were totally lovable. Next time I'd like to take a pontoon boat around and visit all the lakeside establishments. Maybe by then my gut will welcome some ice cream. . .

The Feel Good List

Goal setting time. If this looks ambitious, that's not the point. I'm not starving for accolades or titles. I just want to have fun, feel good, and show love to people.

Health/Beauty

• I'm going to try out this Korean Yoga class, give it a good effort for a year and look for improvements, if any. Already I've been challenged to do morning meditation and "intestinal exercises."
• Strengthen my core. To do that, I'll need to start an anti-diastasis recti routine. 
• Eat clean, for myself
• Learn how to do my eyes super dramatic like this, and go out looking like that once.

Home

• Make the bedroom beautiful and peaceful
• Grow a garden
• Create a fun and engaging environment for learning
• Publish a photo album for Homegirl, update both memory books
• Family archiving
• Spend more time in the city, especially beach(es)
• Invite people over, often

Community

• Set up a relationship between the YW organization and Almost Home Kids
• Continue our pen-pal relationship with a prisoner
• Find a 1-2x per month service opportunity that helps inner-city Chicagoans
• Make our home a retreat for those who live in the cross-fire

Career

• Get into the swing of CME and truly enjoy it
• Write a presentation combining both specialties (PM&R and Integrative Medicine) and present it
• Attend conference(s)

Church/Spirituality

• I want to try going to the temple every week! Especially with some of my friends.
• Keep keeping up with Personal Progress. 
• Write in my journal as often as possible
• Read the scriptures daily 
• Get back on that family history
• Hold family prayer routinely, with a big session on Sundays
• Visit the Westchester Ward (they're awesome!) at least once every other month

Brain

• Read 4 books for fun
• Shine and polish my Spanish skills, converse more
• Brush up on math from time to time
• Paint!

Travel

• Puerto Rico 
• Quebec 
• Japan
• Road-trips

My other goals are to do the following:

1) Take up a new hobby that I'm destined to be awful at. Like, maybe I can improve, but I will never be great at it.

2) Become knowledgeable about something so esoteric most people will not care.

Out and About

The kiddos in a field of wild chamomile, on the Mississippi.

We've made a resolution to get out there and do more stuff with and without the kiddos. We have a bunch of fun things planned for the summer months and I'm really looking forward to it.

One thing I realized is that mothers need to be very organized and pro-active about planning activities for kids. While I think it's important to have unstructured playtime, there is also a lot of value in taking advantage of educational programs and activities nearby. There were several options available through our local park district, but of course the good and cheap stuff went quickly. Now I know that early May is the time to start signing up for activities. 

The buddy-system is always good for keeping commitments, so I invited my friend Mimi over and we went through our calendars to make play-dates for our kids. Our goal is to enjoy as many activities as possible, for the lowest cost, and to save on transportation by car-pooling. We'd also like to spend more time in the city, Chicago.

A goal that Tim and I share is to do more road-trips. Now I must confess something, we got a minivan. Egads, what has happened to us?! Here's the deal, though. I see it more as a party wagon. -I'm Latino, we travel in packs and this vehicle is fulfilling my destiny, OK? Anyway, we went on a maiden voyage with our new ride (named Donatello because it's green and looks like a ninja turtle) over Memorial weekend and it was glorious.

We went to a town called Nauvoo (IL) on the Mississippi, though we stayed in Keokuk, Iowa. It was perfect for my boy, Leepo. They put on demonstrations of how things were made in the mid-1800s, with the actors dressed in period clothes. We learned how bricks, wagon wheels, ironwork, ropes, bread, clothing, and candles were made. As for souvenirs, we were given our own brick with an impression of the town name, a ring forged from an iron nail, ginger cookies, and Leepo got to keep the rope he made himself.

Let's lasso everything in sight. 

More important, we survived our 4 hour car ride and managed to have a bit of fun during it. This is what helped:

Stay tuned to see what adventures lie ahead!

Sensory Overload!

The other weekend I was in design HEAVEN. If Nate Berkus had showed up along the way I would have spontaneously combusted, I'm sure of that. As it was, there was a lot of squealing as I went about looking at paint colors and what seemed like every tile sample under the sun.

I got the day started by attending Benjamin Moore's 'Day of Color' at my local shop. I'm pretty sure I was the youngest person there. Well, except for the young man who was dragged to this event by his mother. (I wondered what horrible thing he had done to deserve being surrounded by women who were getting their jollies on about window treatments and stain finishes. --Doesn't that sound like teenage boy hell?) The speaker announced their color of the year  'Lemon Sorbet' and I gotta say I was a little surprised. Yellow? How did we make the leap from tranquil greys to in-your-face yellow? We'll see how this one plays out.

Overall it was a really good seminar about the various ways we can incorporate color in our homes, and of course we learned all about Benjamin Moore's new line of paints (they are the only ones to have no VOC) and design services. I left contemplating the endless possibilities and with a few goodies in my hands, including a quart of Lemon Sorbet. --Not gonna lie, kinda wish it was the edible kind.

'Day of Color'  by Benjamin Moore

Me with a paint fan deck, this might be dangerous.

Afterwards, it was time to head into the city. Chicago is where I was born and raised and yes I have tons of inner-conflict about being a suburban girl now. This is why, with my exams behind me, Tim and I made yet another resolution: Get out there! Where we live isn't very far from the city to begin with, but culturally it's worlds away. Each locale has its plus/minuses, best to soak in the best of both.

Tim is originally a SoCal valley boy, but he's adapted quite well. 

Wicker Park hipsters

Steak and pineapple. Who knew?

After we dropped off Leepo with my parents, and filled out stomachs with tacos, we headed to THE Merchandise Mart. The Mart is the stuff of legends, chock full of every design showroom you can imagine, and it goes on and on. I scarcely believed I could handle entering its doors that day.

In front of the Merchandise Mart.

You're literally not seeing the half of it.

We weren't there to walk around aimlessly.  We were on a mission, and this time it had to do with tile. I have a strong love/hate relationship with tile. I've seen a lot of bad tile design in my life and that has left a bad taste in my mouth. And even when you find something good, it's very easy to err when it comes to pairings. Next thing you know you've spent a fortune on what looks like a cheesy Las Vegas hotel foyer and you find yourself wondering if you should balance it out with marble columns.

I'll tell you what, we found some excellent stuff that day. The best bang for your buck was definitely Spain's Porcelanosa. (You'll be seeing more posts about that later, because I'm pretty sure we're going with them for our kitchen and bath backsplashes.) We couldn't, of course, pass up looking at the really high end stuff, fantasizing along the way. Ah, yes, Ann Sacks. What surprised me the most is that the sales people were more than willing to give samples once you showed an interest. This wasn't like The Tile Shop where they make you swear on your firstborn that you'll bring back that one glass subway tile. They just handed over the beautiful marble and porcelain goodies like it ain't no thang. And I gotta say it's a good tactic, if a company can afford it, because I'm seriously considering a 'splurge' (all things being relative) on one teeny-tiny accent wall now.

Rows and rows of samples.

Funky

Endless this

After looking at what must have been thousands of tile options, we went for sustenance at one of the greatest places for french pastries: Vanille. If you're in the neighborhood and can't make it out to France as often as you'd like a croissant, you need to come here. This place is legit.

In a word: delicious.

The combination of sights, sounds, and taste was really remarkable that weekend as you can see. The whole experience has me excited about tackling our upcoming renovations and, as I've said countless times before, I'm just so darn happy to be in this stage of life. I've worked so hard to make it here, and here I am indeed.

Teaching the Kid(s) How to Read

On my list of things to start on my maternity leave, I included the task of teaching my son, Leepo, how to read. I think we're off to a really good start, so I'll share what has worked well so far.

This is obvious, but we started with the ABCs. We sang the alphabet until it was memorized, then we went through this stack of flashcards as often as we could many months earlier. I just love the Eric Carle letters because they're so vibrant and display all different kinds of animals. I admit to using fruit snacks as an incentive, though I have mixed feelings about rewarding kids with foods (am I laying the ground work for eating disorders later on?).

Once Leepo mastered letter cognition with the accompanying sound, we moved on to this nifty paint chip idea I found, where else?, on Pinterest.

Here you see my son playing with word stems that contain a window view box (got these from Lowe's) on a color sheet that contains first letters (from Home Depot). We sound out each component first and then put them together. I think he's starting to grasp the concept now.

The only thing to warn you about is that since these are paint chips, and they're good quality paint at that, even permanent marker will smudge off. Also, be warned about unintentional curse words. The nice thing about using a fold-out book for the initial letters is that you can plan ahead and separate out Tr for truck and F for food if you know what I mean.

Some high yield word stems:

-it
-ig
-at
-oy
-ook
-oon
-ite
-ing
-ove
-ack
-ob
-eep
-ain
-est

Still Nesting, and it's Contagious

One of the things I hoped to accomplish before delivering was to set up a playroom where Leepo could do his thing and keep small toys (read: choking hazards) away from Beanie.

With all the other stuff going on (see the previous entry about storm damage), I thought this was a project we wouldn't touch for another few months, but seemingly out of nowhere Tim has conjured up the energy to jump right into this.

The picture you see below is actually an improvement to what we call "the messy room" after tossing out a lot of junk. I didn't take a 'before' picture for two reasons. First, it was physically impossible to get a good shot from a room that left no space to move within. Second, you can all use your imaginations to visualize what a room must look like after 7 years of dumping stuff into it when we were too busy with work/school.

Once we get things up and moving, we hope to clear out a lot of the toys that are seeping into our not-so-tranquil-right-now family room. This will also be the area where Beanie will play during the winter days, and hopefully where we'll have fun gatherings with other adults in the evenings (far away from the nursery).

Of course you didn't think I'd jump into this project without analyzing the layout and color schemes! Here I am, as always, looking at a few things in Microsoft Paint. I'm trying to find the perfect foam tile color and texture to go with my desired wall color: Mint Fizz by Behr.

I think we're going with choice A.

I've also been doing quite a bit of research on fostering learning at home based on this Pinspiration.

Stay tuned to how this all unfolds. I'm excited!

List Progress

It's one thing to make lists, it's quite another to make progress on them.

Let's see how I'm doing on my Remediation List.

• Have more indulgent time 
  Ben and Jerry's 'Chocolate Therapy' is practically orgasmic. I'll leave it at that. 
  I've also had uninterrupted bath time, followed by massages with the.best.smelling.oil.EVER: 
• Develop a menu plan
  We're getting there. Tim and I never fell into a cooking routine because our schedules kept changing. Plus, I suffered from bad morning sickness with both pregnancies and that meant I could stomach something one day, and find it repulsive the next. That makes menu planning hard, very hard. Lately we've been trying more "crockapot" recipes, as Leepo would say. -Many of which come from here. 
• Increase my service to those in need
  OK, I did something really cool in this regard. While my dear friend was away on vacation, I organized a team to give her home's facade a pretty dramatic makeover.  She and her husband provide much service in our community, so this was a great way to give thanks. I was able to be on the phone with her when she arrived back home and her reaction was unforgettable.
• Teach my son how to read, recognize numbers/patterns, and potty train!
  Leepo can recognize and count numbers, and he's well aware of what sounds letters make. The potty training thing. . . I guess he'll let me know when he's ready.
• Get this house ready for Beanie's arrival
  This weekend we made a lot of returns, which means we'll have gift cards for the stuff we really need. -Believe it or not, leopard print onesies with hot pink trim were not on our must-have list. The big things left to do are pick up the nursing chair from the reupholster guy who happens to look like Bono, wash the layette with this stuff, and hang the curtains.
• Start exercising (oh, the irony of being a doctor)
  Unfortunately, this has been put on hold due to a hamstring injury. I'm lucky if I get to stretch. :(
• Preserve and archive family photos and mementos
  Have not even started to tackle this. 
• Switch to organic cleaners
  I've made some major progress in this regard, which deserves its own post. 
• Garden
  I got off to a good start, unfortunately this is what triggered my hamstring injury.

FREEDOM (& The Remediation List)

I took my last examination for the next ten years (when I will need to re-certify my Boards in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation).

Words cannot begin to describe what a life altering moment that was. Instead of saying, "I'm sorry, I can't, I have to study." I will now be able to devote myself to family, community, and keeping up my talents. It feels like I've been let out of jail after a 25 year sentence.

Last night I read a book for pleasure. . . PLEASURE, people! I was so happy I could have cried.

Today I begin the remediation phase of my life, that is to say I'm going to get caught up on all the things that were put on the back burner for so long.

Here is my basic list:

• Develop a menu plan
• Increase my service to those in need
• Teach my son how to read, recognize numbers/patterns, and potty train!
• Get this house ready for Beanie's arrival
• Start exercising (oh, the irony of being a doctor)
• Have more indulgent time 
• Preserve and archive family photos and mementos
• Switch to organic cleaners
• Garden

I'm so excited!