Reston Zoo

After our disappointing experience with the National Zoo, we decided to visit other zoos in the area. My sister recommended the Reston Zoo. She said the kids love it and it's so much fun riding the safari. It was great, no pushing or shoving to see the animals, no big groups of kids running unattended. We enjoyed our visit and highly recommend it to all our friends. Look at these fun shots...

Our Little Baseball Player

We are starting him young. Actually, the younger we start him the better. We are working on our retirement, can you tell?
Noli is so excited to finally being able to teach Alex to hit and throw the ball. It's just getting kinda tough since they have been playing ball inside the house. I can see a lot of broken things in the near future...
Our Little Baseball Player sporting a Nats jersey...

Alex's BooBoo

It's not hard to keep track of the times Alex had hit his head or face... It hurts me more when it happens, but hey... accidents happen and I expect to kiss many other booboos and hopefully make them better. That's what mommies are for!

Here are a few shots of my baby's booboo and his many adorable faces...

My Baby is So Cool…

He can give knuckles when you ask him to, he can also give you high-fives.
He can imitate “Baby Chewbacca” by rolling his RRRRR’s.
He lifts his pants and shows you his birthmark in his leg and says “hi” in a high-pitch voice.
He squats down when you ask him to be a “catcher”.
He walks to the pantry when you ask him if he wants dessert.
He dances when he listens to music.
He drinks his morning bottle wearing sunglasses…

Easter 2009 - Alex’s First Easter Hunt

On Saturday, we were invited to an egg hunt. Alex’s friends Mia, Max and Angelina Bezos were hosting this fun get together… the only thing, it rained all day. What a bummer!!! But kids and adults had a grand time nonetheless.

Let me tell you a story about Easter eggs… A few days before Easter, Noli wanted to teach Alex how to do “egg hunting”. So he bought a bag of plastic eggs, the ones that you can fill with chocolate. So he started showing Alex by placing the eggs around in the living room, behind the couch pillows, under the sofa, you get the idea. Then he would ask Alex to help him find them. It was all fun until Alex discovered that he can take them apart in half. So as anything else that is new, he was putting these half-egg pieces in his mouth… not a good idea. But of course he doesn’t know any better!!!

So Noli and I started our never-ending chant “Alex, no a la boca” - meaning “Not in your mouth” in Spanish. Being the sneaky-boy that he is, Alex went into the living room while Noli and I stayed in the kitchen cleaning dishes. After a little while of silence (watch out when it gets quite!!!), I saw him sitting in the middle of the hall struggling to get something out of his mouth. I jumped and went to help him. He had put the whole half of an egg inside his mouth and was having a hard time taking it out. As you can imagine, that kind of freaked me out, a lot of things went through my mind and I felt the adrenaline rush, I was shaking… Anyway, that was the end of those eggs.

So during the egg hunt at the Bezos’ Noli and I kept a close eye at this boy. Thank God there was a lot more to entertain him than just the Easter eggs. Considering this was his first egg hunt, he did very well. But he soon forgot about the eggs and went to play the piano.

Tia Olguita y Alex



So I put the eggs here?



Posing with all the kids...

Alex got a surprise box as well!

Alex and Abby comparing notes

Me and my Sweetheart...

My Little Beethoven...

Unblocking a Tear Duct

Alex needed surgery on his right eye after all… When we saw the ophthalmologist a few months ago, he said that by rubbing the corner of the eye several times a day, we could help open up the tear duct. But it didn’t (maybe we didn’t rub enough). Some days Alex’s eye was fine, some other days it was so red that it showed signs of infection. Poor Alex kept rubbing and rubbing and at the same time he was making it worse. We felt so bad for him.

Although the whole “surgery” thing made me very worried, I was much more nervous about putting Alex under general anesthesia. Both the pediatrician and the ophthalmologist said that they had never seen anyone have complications from anesthesia. So what do you do but to trust them, right? That was very, very hard… and like a lot of times I tried not to show that weak side of me… the side that is so scared I can’t even think straight. But Noli knows me so well. I bet he knew I wasn’t thinking very straight.

And the day came and went like nothing. I will admit - it seemed like we waited an eternity before they took us back to the Pediatric Ward. Once we got there, we saw so many other parents and young children. The kids were playing with toys in the waiting room oblivious to what really happens there. I could see the worry in those parents’ eyes. I wondered what sorts of problems they were dealing with. At the same time, I was very thankful to God that OUR problem was not too serious and we have a very healthy boy.

Alex looked SO cute when we changed him into his little gown. The nurse said “this is the smallest we have” and it was huge on him. He kept busy playing with toys and riding on a big wagon through the hallways. Once the doctors were ready for him, I also changed into full scrubs, hair was covered, face mask, the whole 9 yards… I looked like one of them!!! I carried him into the operating room. He was so curious looking at all the lights. As I laid him down, he looked at me as if to ask, “What is going on Mommy?” and started to cry. That was hard!!! It wasn’t very long before the cries stopped and he was asleep like a little angel…

We took a few pictures with our phones, sorry for the poor quality shots, but we wanted to capture this moment to share with you all.

"These toys are so much fun!!!"



"Woo hoo!!! Faster Daddy, faster!!!"



"OK, I'll pose for you one more time"



"Can I climb on top of the table? "



"Come on Mommy, let's leave now that no one is watching!!!"




Couple of shots with Mom and Dad...






Ready to rock and roll...