It's Julian's Birthday!

Someone please tell me how, oh HOW, is my kid a TWO year old boy already!!?!?!??!?!?!?
I'm feeling very sentimental today, well, actually I've been feeling like this for weeks! I can tell my little boy is so grown up already and it kills me to think time just flies. I wish I could just pause moments and enjoy them forever.

Julian is learning so much! He knows his ABC's, can point to the letters and tell you what they are. He's a pro working any computer, iPod, iPad, or phone. His favorite hobby, besides watching Sesame St., is to take photos of himself on photo booth. Every time I check there are about 10 new pictures of him.. he even poses for the camera! silly boy :) He is sooo close to his daddy and I, loves snuggling with us and half of the time he's hugging us and kissing us. I really hope he's always, ALWAYS, this close to us. The day he doesn't hug me, I'm going to cry myself to sleep for a month... 

I still can't explain myself what I did to get so lucky and be Julian's mama. He is such a blessing! I never knew I could love so much and I'm very thankful for him <3

On endings and new beginnings...

Tomorrow is my last day at work, a job I've been doing since college, a place that gave me lots of opportunities, but where I don't feel happy anymore. This past year I was feeling tired of being at work, I definitely didn't enjoy it anymore. So I decided to quit, even if I'm scared to death thinking we'll run out of money or something. And I will start my Master of Arts program in Spanish Literature next week, simply because it's my passion and it makes me happy.

I'm truly thankful that my fiancé fully supports any decision I make. When I told him I was quitting he said, "about time", when I told him I wasn't feeling Law School and was putting it on hold for a while, he said "take your time"... and when I got into the M.A. and turned in my two week noticed, he cheered for me... and when I was having second thoughts about everything, he reassured me that everything happens for a reason and there were many other opportunities coming my way... He's a wonderful man, I tell you!

Yesterday I went to pick up my new school I.D. and met with the Graduate advisor. Later during the day I met with some former professors and I was offered a job! It won't pay as much as my old job, but it will allow me to make my own hours, it's on campus, and I would have weekends and holidays off. Most importantly, it would give me tons of experience in different areas and I help my future career immensely!

I'm starting to feel like all these changes were necessary, meant to be... still unsure about the future but things are starting to look brighter! I do not know if this post makes any sense, I just felt like the need to tell someone even if no one reads this. Anyway, gotta go to bed early, I have a big LAST day tomorrow :)

5 Things Monday: LOVING RIGHT NOW

It's been ages since I wrote a 5 Things Monday post!! So I thought it was a good idea to do one as my "come back" after a bit of an absence.. .planning Julian's 2nd Bday party requires all of my free time!

So here you go, 5 things I'm loving right now:

via

1. This printable "mini planer" Found this free printable while going through some blogs. I usually have too much in my head and too many things to do, so if I don't see it written down chances are I am going to forget and it won't get done. And while I do have a planner, it is no very portable. This printable keeps all my to-do's, appointments and notes.. and most importantly: it fits in my back pocket!

2. Eating Breakfast. One of my goals for 2012 was to take better care of myself, and the first step was to get used to eat breakfast! It's the most important meal of the day, and before I wouldn't eat anything until Julian took his nap (around 12pm!!) I was always cranky, tired, and had the worst headaches! I'm doing pretty well for the most part. I think I've only missed 2 days since the year started. My usual breakfast is a wheat bagel with peanut butter and honey or a bowl of oatmeal with nuts and raisins. I also make a simply smoothie every morning with whatever fruit I have, like bananas and strawberries, almond milk, and some chia seeds. Now, if I could only get used to taking my vitamins!

3. My new engagement ring. The engagement ring my fiancé originally gave me was too big for me, so we sent it back. He surprised me on Christmas eve with this gorgeous light pink ring! It's just perfect!!

4. Philosophy's Purity and Hope in a Jar. I started using these products a few years ago and my skin looked amazing! even people were telling me how great it looked. But the products are a bit pricy so I stopped using them for about six months. Not only did my skin get dry and ugly,  I also wasted way more money looking for cheap skincare products. So I went back to these two! You only need a little bit of each, they last me about 5-6 moths, so when you think about it is not that much!

5. Pinterest. This page is my dream come true!! A place to "pins" ideas, images, and more from around the web! I used to to bookmark what I liked but sometimes I would never come back to those bookmarks. This is a great way to keep them all in one place and easy to access. Also, it is quiet addicting ;) If you're already on Pinterest, follow me!

What are some things you're currently loving???

Noche de Reyes- Part 1: El Zapato

Tomorrow is the day of the Reyes Magos, aka The Three Wise Men. Won't bore you with all the history, you can always google that if you're interested! ;)

Anyway, many people in Latin America and Spain celebrate the day of the Reyes Magos, others different than other of course! Growing up, I remember my mom telling us to leave our shoe out since the Reyes would come by to drop off a small gift. We usually got something small this day since all of our bigger presents were brought to us by the Niño Dios on Christmas Day. So on January 5th my sister and I would leave our shoe under the Christmas tree and go to bed super early, hoping the morning would come fast so we could open our presents!

We never got fancy gifts or anything on Reyes Magos day... Most of the time we got a few pesos, sometimes school supplies, and when my mom, I mean Reyes Magos, had a better job I got purple contact lenses!! It was awesome!

So when I learned I was having a baby I promised myself I would teach him about all the traditions I grew up with, either big or small like this one. And even though my pocho americanized and atheist fiancé shakes his head at me many times, I put Julian's shoe under the tree just like I used to do with mine.
He's to little to understand yet, when I told them he had to leave his shoe under the tree he thought I was asking him to look for it and kept repeating "Dónde está shoe?" jeje But I know he'll be delighted tomorrow when he finds his little presents!

Growing up I would always ask the Reyes Magos for three gifts since there were three of them: Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar lol They always brought me one, of course!! But I decided my boy will get three little gifts! Two at home, and one that the UPS guy, I mean Baltasar, dropped off at grandma's house ;) It's something small but it would hopefully remind him of his culture and family when he gets older and when he's celebrating the day of the Reyes Magos with his own kids!

MJ