Even though it is probably completely irrelevant to any of you, I feel compelled to tell you that there has been a change in my intent for this blog.  I created my first blog in 2003 when we moved to Mexico.  It was crappy by today’s standards but at the time I thought my little tripod blog was pretty cool.  I think I only wrote about four times the entire year we were away and we mostly used it to house pictures.  Those posts have since been copied over to this blog, by the way.

When we moved to China, I got more serious about blogging as it was a way to keep in touch with people back home and share our photos and experiences.  I tried to send updates once a week and if it became longer than that between updates, I felt like I was abandoning our friends and loved ones back home.  That blog was on Mobile Me and has since been copied to this blog as well.

Once I became pregnant with Belén, the blog was a great way to share pregnancy experiences and sort through some of my feelings about impending motherhood.  After we had Belén until I went back to work, we used it to share photos and experiences with our tiny infant and thoughts about being newly minted parents.

It was about that time when I started to realize that blogs could be more than just fun and informational but that people actually make money on them.  I immediately made it my life goal to be dooce, a woman whose entire family is supported by her blog.  After this realization, I shifted my goal for the blog to to be that of someday maybe I could quit my job and stay home with my baby because I am going to have a world famous blog.  Which if you read any other blogs, the authors will tell you is not very likely to happen.  But I think I needed that possibility to be out there in front of me to make it through my first year of being away from my baby eight plus hours a day.

I am here to tell you that I finally came out of my baby-induced haze of a pipe dream and making money on the blog is no longer a huge focus in my life.  It really doesn’t make sense and it was starting to take the fun out of it.

Why doesn’t it make sense you might ask?  I think I have about three people a month click on ads which makes me about $1.79.  I pay more to host the blog on godaddy a month than that.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not discouraging people from clicking on ads.  I definitely feel the love and the few pennies here and there still gets me excited because it makes me feel like a “professional” writer for a meager moment…and it would be great to at least get the hosting covered with ad revenue…but honestly I am over it.

The reason why this is likely irrelevant to you is that I don’t think the blog content will change much based on my change in inspiration.  Maybe it will get better because I now recognize I am writing because I love to.  I still love having readers and check my stats to see how many people are reading and subscribed to the blog because that is in my Type A, driver-manager nature, but honestly it is different now…and it feels good.

I should clarify that this does not mean that I am abandoning my “365 plan” where I intend to make a blog entry every day in 2010.  At this point, if nothing else, writing in this blog is my therapy!  That must make all of you readers therapists.  What kind of couch did you decide on?  Fight the urge to go for form over function!

When I was in fourth grade, I was convinced I wanted to be a writer.  I kept a journal and documented everything I could.  For whatever reason, I was selected to go to a writing workshop which I find out years later Andy was also attending.  All of the participants received navy blue t-shirts which I really wish I still had today.  In white letters it said, “tis my fate to write”.

You see, it was kismet.  I was born to be a starving writer…I just happened to be one with a back up plan.

Anyway, I THANK YOU each and every day for reading this blog!  You have no idea how happy it makes me to have such great  readers!

It’s funny eating meals with a toddler.  Sometimes I find myself  eating less than I had anticipated due to a certain little two foot tall person tugging on my pant leg saying “Ma-ee, ma-ee” until I give her what she wants (my food.)   Before my very eyes a 72-calorie banana becomes 63 and then 56 as Belén consumes her part.  If this were always the case, it might be a good diet plan.

But then there is the opposite effect when we order more food for her and then she doesn’t eat it.

Take tonight as an example.  We had a very healthy vegetable curry dish in the crock pot (thanks to my wonderful husband).  We were both thinking about curry all day long only to find raw vegetables in cold curry when we returned home from work.  The power had gone out early in the day and the crock pot was not smart enough to restart itself.  So we piled into the truck and headed to a local restaurant.  I ordered a healthy-ish spicy beef salad for myself and a cheeseburger from the kid’s meal for Belén.  I secretly wanted a taste of the cheeseburger too.

When the meals came, B’s cheeseburger was in my mind, adult-sized with a full side of fries.  She was a trooper eating quite a bit (for her), but it was way too much food.

But you see, this particular restaurant has fantastic fries and a good burger so I quickly found myself “helping” Belén way more than I needed to…until her plate was nearly clear.

So I think I am of the conclusion it is actually a net caloric positive having an extra mouth to feed of which it is very easy to share food with.

As we get more and more glimpses of Belén’s (strong-willed) personality, we often wonder what she will be like when she is 5, 10 and 15 years old.  What will she be like when she is in her twenties?  Her thirties?

Will she marry?

Have kids?

Travel the world?

Have good friends?

Be in a band?

Compete in the Olympics?

Be a Democrat?

Be nice to her parents?

Have curly hair?

Be articulate?

Be compassionate?

Continue to have a zest for life?

Work in an office?

Try drugs?

Smoke?

Rebel?

Be athletic?

Be girly?

Be good at math?

Like to shop?

Join the swim team?

Be boy crazy?

Prefer girls?

Be popular?

Be an outcast?

Be okay with who she is?

Be artistic?

Be a homebody?

Continue to like books?

Fall in love with a member of a boy band?

Be the future’s equivalent of Gothic or Emo?

Go to college?

Go to grad school?

Be passionate about whatever it is she pursues?

And then, we reel it all in with an internal, mental rendition of a song you are likely familiar with which my mom used to sing to us when we would ask her such futuristic questions.

Que será será.

Whatever will be, will be.

The future’s not ours to see.

Que será será.

And for the record…Our only wish for our daughter is that she finds happiness, whatever that might look like to her!

This pool might make me more motivated to get some swim workouts in during the week…

photo (c) Reuters // found at Flickr

It sits atop the new Marina Bay Sands Resort in Singapore.

Render of Sands Skypark by Safdie Architects. Courtesy of Marina Bay Sands

Pretty incredible!

View from “Gardens by the Bay.” Photo by Timothy Hursley.

I wonder what the fine is if you throw your chewing gum down from up there?

A couple of weeks ago, I started noticing that Belén had a little bit of both a widow’s peak and mullet going on with her hair.  She can get away with most looks at this age, but I figured with family photos coming up and since I had a hair appointment already scheduled, it was as good of time as any to give Belén her first haircut.

My mom was watching her that day so she drove down to the salon to meet me and bring Belén in for her first new du.

It was pretty bad timing because it was right around nap time and she had actually fallen asleep on the way to the salon giving her enough of a revival to be wild but not enough sleep to be rested and um, calm.

We survived (thanks to the help of my mom!) There was a lot of wiggling involved but we eventually got a nice cut and it is really amazing the difference a few snips here and there made.

Special thanks to Tara, my stylist who was very patient and didn’t even charge me extra for B’s cut!

Tamara sent this sneak peak from our family photo session last weekend.  Now we cannot wait to see the rest of them!

If you have not heard NPR’s Story Corps yet you are missing out.  Basically NPR traveled throughout the country stopping in cities and towns everywhere inviting people to come in and record their stories in their mobile recording studio.  I really wish they would have done it a year or so earlier because I would have loved to have my grandparents participate and tell their wonderful stories of their youth when they were first married, but by the time the Story Corps Mobile made it to Boise, my grandparents were failing too much.

EVERY SINGLE STORY I have heard on Story Corps is interesting and often touching. I heard this one when driving to work Friday morning about this mother and daughter.

From npr, StoryCorps,  Theresa Nguyen and her daughter, Stephanie, in Morrow, Ga. If this does not load on your browser, click here to listen.

Even on second and third listens, I am crying.

While I was gone all day Saturday in Twin Falls conducting interviews for my Rotary Districts’s Group Study Exchange, Andy and Belén were busy with an agenda full of fun.

A fun walk to Starbucks.  A fun birthday party for Dora at Wal-Mart.  A fun trip to the zoo.  And fun at the park.

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(click for high-res photos)

Overalls and pink camo really do outfit a girl for a fun time with Dad!

I have found that I think of my birthday a little differently now that I have a child of my own.  My focus is less what kind of keg should we get for the party and more about what my mom was going through 33 years ago wondering how similar the experience was to when I had Belén.  Oh yes, my point…Today is my birthday.  Yay!

It has already been a wonderful day.  I turned off the various alarms I had set and woke up on my own at 7am.  My parents called soon after to wish/sing me a happy birthday and then Belén woke up. It is only 8am and I have already been showered with a song from my two favorite people in the world,

kisses,

text messages from good friends,

a lovely picture from my daughter,

an awesome gift that is exactly what I wanted,

and Facebook is exploding with Happy Birthdays!  You gotta love the Internet.

I am humbled and thrilled for all of the well wishes!  Thank you everyone!  You all are the best!

Growing up I was in all sorts sports and activities but I was never involved in anything that awarded merit badges.  Actually, let me take that back, my sister and I participated in the Y Indian Guides which surely has been renamed since our participation circa 1987 to something more politically correct.

The main thing I remember about Y Indian Guides was making a car for the Pinewood derby and riding the lone black train in the Thunder Mountain Railroad backwards to the station.  Although I believe we were awarded merit badges to put on our Native American vests, it was not memorable like I imagine it would be in Girl or Boy Scouts.

I have spent very little thought on merit badges until this morning.  When I saw my coffee mug with steaming coffee sitting on top of the car while I loaded everything else in the backseat I recognized it…my merit badge.

To be awarded to those who are on a budget, on the go, attempting to juggle it all with their cup of Joe.

Next up on the to do list, a PhotoShop merit badge.