Grandma is doing better...

...well at least she's in a good mood... The cancer diagnosis was confirmed and my grandma is now in the process of seeking possible treatments for her condition. She is now at home, staying with my cousin Ana, who is caring for her. An appointment has been set up with an oncologist and Grandma has decided to look into her options.
She is such a fighter!!! The whole time she has been in such great spirits and remains positive in spite of the situation.
Please continue to pray for her health... I will continue to give updates!

Wordless Monday...

Aqsa's 1st birthday!

Today we attended yet another birthday party; this time it was Aqsa's 1st birthday celebration. He was born on April 17th of last year to my good friend Sandra, who I met in grad school. The party was held at the clubhouse of their development and included a great kid's entertainer and lots of Arabic food (they are Muslim). Olivia had so much playing with the other kids and dancing around. We had fun eating the yummy food and seeing the kids enjoy themselves. It was a great party! Here are some pictures of the birthday boy and others from the party....

Valeria & Irene Victoria's birthday party

We had so much fun today at Olivia's cousins' birthday party. The Gumucio sisters celebrated their 2nd and 7th birthday in a joint party... (their actual birthdays are April 6th and 19th respectively). They are the daughters of my cousin Irenita, who lives in Doral with her husband Enrique. The party was held at their home in the pool area. The kids had a blast swimming in the pool and playing in the park. There was a lot of food to enjoy, including hot dogs, empanadas and yummy desserts. Olivia had such a great time in the water, so much that she decided to jump back in the inflatable pool once she was in her clothes...mmm... not so much fun for me.. but she really enjoyed her little adventure!
The party ended with yummy cakes and piñata... so much fun!

Meeting baby Daniel Andres

Today, Olivia and I met yet another newborn, baby Daniel Andres.

Dani was born to our friends Luis and Valentina on April 8th via c-section. He is so cute and such a good baby. We spent a couple of hours visiting with the newborn and the new mommy and were able to see him sleep, eat and cry..haha.. it brought back memories of when Olivia was a newborn and it actually hit me that I will soon be going through the newborn phase again... wow!

All in all it was great seeing the new baby and we're so happy for our friends and their new addition...

Update on Grandma!

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my post and pray for my grandma.  All of your thoughts and prayers are well appreciated. 

Not much has changed since my last post regarding Grandma's health.  The doctors discovered that her lungs were filled with fluid and she was given oxygen to help her breathe.  Some cancer cells have spread through her liver and kidneys and she is not doing too well.  She has been in the hospital for the past 3 days and is expected to be discharged either today or tomorrow. 

Doctors told her that her body will not survive any more chemotherapy considering she's already had cancer (and radiation treatments) twice in her life.  My grandma doesn't want to go through treatment either; she has decided that she will just live her life until God allows her and will not seek additional medical care.  

We are all very sad but trust that God has a plan for all of us and what He decides, will always be the best!

Worried about my Grandma!

Dear family, friends and followers, as of yesterday, my grandma has been diagnosed with what could possibly be lung cancer.

She hasn't been feeling too well lately, so she went to the doctor and he found a large mass in one of her lungs, that is taking up about 95% of it. She has been having a lot of difficulty breathing and her heart also seems to be failing.

She has been admitted to the hospital today for additional testing and to seek possible treatment; we are all very worried about her because her health history is not that great. She has survived cancer twice and has had emphysema for a long time (even though she was never a smoker).

I spoke with her last night and she told me she felt "very sick"; I did not like her tone one bit and have been very sad since I last spoke with her. It is very difficult for me since she doesn't live in the US; she is currently in Venezuela and most of our family is here. It's very scary to think that she really has no family around her at this point.

I need all the prayers I can get for my dear Grandma, so please, if you read this, send a prayer her way for the best possible outcome to this situation!

Trip to Washington, DC

April 16th-19th
This weekend we had the opportunity of traveling to Washington DC to visit some friends and spend time in our nation's capital. What a great trip we had.. it's always so great to get out of town and even greater to do it in good company...We went to visit our friends Donna and Kurt, who have a son, Grayson, who was born a day after Olivia. They live in Great Falls, VA in a beautiful house; it's very near DC. Our friends Kim and Megan also joined us with their toddlers Caden and Brody.We spent a great day walking around DC and seeing all the monuments and the kids a blast playing together. The weather was perfect, which made the trip even better...I got a little bit exhausted from all the traveling, but all in all we had so much fun! We hope to do it again sometime in the near future!

Olivia is 21 months!

She's 3 months away from being 2 years old! Oh my! Time has flown by for sure.. I can't believe she's such a big girl already.. she has a mind of her own and a great personality... I'm torn by seeing her grow up so fast and a part of me wishes she was little forever...

Olivia talks up a storm and is a very good girl.. she behaves so well and has such a charming demeanor... I just love her!

Iggy and I have decided to start her in Day Care within the next few weeks. We're currently in the process of locating the best place for her and have been visiting a few learning centers and filling out some admission paperwork as needed. I think she will be happy to interact with other kids daily and I also feel that it'd be great for her to learn new concepts and be in a more academic setting.. I hope I'm right!

Needless to say our little girl is our pride and joy and we're so blessed to have her in our lives...

Feeling blue!!!

I'm feeling so blue today! Maybe it's the pregnancy blues!?? Maybe it's because hubby is out town and I feel lonely??

I'm so emotional today... I look at my daughter and all I want to do is cry! She's so precious...I wonder what my life would be like without her... mmmm... not as perfect as it is I'm sure...

Hubby left today for a business trip and I just hate being home alone... let alone sleeping in a bed that's half empty! Am I emotionally dependent? is that wrong? I know for certain he makes my day every day and I miss him terribly when he's not around...

Oh blue.. I feel so blue.. I miss you my love and you know I'm not the same without you! :(

Easter pictures

We had a wonderful Easter sunday... lots of family time, a nice time at church and lots of great pictures of Olivia...

Andres and Alejandra in Miami

We had the great opportunity of spending some time with Andres and Alejandra, who came to spend a few days in Miami for the Holy Week break. Andres is one of Iggy's cousins, who lives in Venezuela; he is married to Alejandra, a super nice girl that happens to love kids like Olivia...they are such a sweet couple.
We saw them a couple of times, before and after they went on a cruise and had some great meals with them. One night we went to Grand Lux Cafe for dinner and another time we had lunch at the Olive Garden. It's always wonderful to have family visit... Thanks guys for spending time with us!

Day at the beach...

Today was a great day for the beach. The weather was absolutely amazing and we were in the mood for some time outdoors. We went to Ft. Lauderdale beach and although it was a pain to find a parking spot, we were able to spend a couple of hours soaking up some sun and having fun in the sand. Olivia had a blast playing with her beach toys and bathing in the sea. We took some great pictures of our wonderful beach day. Here are some...

Our new car...

Since one of our leases expires pretty soon, Iggy and I decided to trade in our Volvo S40 for a new car. After much research and car shopping, Iggy decided to lease the Honda Civic Hybrid. It is such a nice car, it feels so great to drive it and even better to know that we're somehow helping the environment. Thankfully I didn't have to go to the dealer since Iggy had the day off and invested some time to do the trade by himself..
We're both happy with the new car and are glad we finally made a choice.. Here's a picture of it!..

Meeting baby Ethan Anthony

Today I finally met baby Ethan, who was born to my great co-worker Yisel and her husband. Ethan was born on March 20th and he is such a cute little boy. Olivia and I had a wonderful time at Yisel's house and she was able to interact with a newborn for a good hour or so. It was so great to see how intrigued she was by this little being. She was so cute with the baby; she wanted to protect him and kept saying she wanted to take the baby home with her. I certainly hope she is that sweet with her little sister...

Play date with Roxy and Jose Miguel

My friend Roxana happens to be visiting this week from Venezuela so we decided to meet at Busy Bee Kidz for a play date. Roxana is mother to a little boy, Jose Miguel, who is 6 months younger than Olivia and she is also pregnant with her 2nd child. It is so neat because we are both due on the same week and both of us are expecting girls. I hadn't see Roxy for about 10 years but we clicked right away. The kids had a blast playing at the baby gym and enjoyed an hour filled with toys and lots of fun. It was so great to meet up with old friends, we had a wonderful time!

A new item for my wish list

It's no secret that I'm fascinated by cameras and everything having to do with creative photography. I currently own a Nikon D80, with an 18-200mm lens and an SB-600 Speedlight flash... My equipment is not professional but it's definitely above average. I'm lucky to own this kind of equipment and be able to have fun with photos.Today, I decided that I want to buy a Nikon 10.5mm fisheye lens. I think it'd be so much fun to take pictures with a fisheye lens. For those of you that don't know what a fisheye lens is, it is a lens that creates an image with a round effect resembling the shape of the earth. All pictures taken with fisheye lenses look so cool. Here's an example of that kinda of picture as well as an image of the lens I want. The lens it's about $700, so I gotta start saving up to buy it! It's officially on my personal wish list! ;)

Wordless Monday...

Big sister...little sister...

Since I'm having another girl, there isn't much I need to buy... I have so much clothes from Olivia and our house is already filled with pink... So I have just bought a few t-shirts for the Big Sister and cute matching onesie/shirt for them to wear at the same time.. Here are the pics.. so cute! I can't wait to dress them alike! ;)

A visit to the Miami Children's Museum

Today we visited the Miami Children's Museum for the first time.... it was wonderful...

The museum is located near the Port of Miami, right by the water so it makes it even better. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and Olivia was in a great mood. She had so much fun going through all the exhibits and playing with other kids. We stayed at the museum for a couple of hours and then Olivia played at the museum park, located right outside. It was such a fun Saturday. Here are some of the pictures I took today during our visit to the museum.

Olivia riding the Miami Police motorcycle.

Play area for the kids to "pretend" play.

The big slide.. she wouldn't go down on her own, so daddy had to bring her.. so cute!

Olivia playing in the music area....

A little fun at the museum park....