aberrant | undulating | relative

Woo hoo….. It’s been quite a year!

To recap the holidays: Life doesn’t quite work the same when you have a kid (duh). The holiday hustle consisted of hauling Ryan to every family festivity on both sides of la familias. Toward the end of Christmas day afternoon, Bobby was worried that Ryan was breaking out in hives (he wasn’t) but both Bobby and I realized how tired we all were. But that was AFTER the catch phrase game at my Aunt’s…..

New Year’s was just right. A slightly sicky Gabe made for a stay home celebration for us, but it was great. You would think after the Xmas experience we would have already made plans to stay home but …. well you know us. So we had two of Ryan’s favorite Aunties, Na and Beth (and Matt) over for a lil bubbly countdown. Pretty easy and low key. Then the baby Ry and I fell blissfully asleep in the chair…… Life is good.

A few year beginning/year ending ponderings: God Blesses! This year saw the wedding of my bestest friend, Renee to her sweet (and silly) husband Luis ….. And a baby born to each of my awesome high school friends: Joycee’s Nate, Rose’s Joshua, most recently, Shy’s Selah on 12/29 — exactly three months after Baby Ry was born. Lu went on too many trips to count, remembering to bring back baby Ry a souvenir from every trip, before and after he was born, and we saw and talked with many friends that we don’t see often enough with the baby showers and misc. visits …. the TJH crew (with various look-Len’s-famous-emails), a visit with Jo and her girls Juliana and Abigail, Bob’s lunch with Vic at the English Pub (with RYAN) and many others! One of the nicest things that has happened this year was the deepening of good friendships, NAY (no words, no words!!!!!!!) and Piia (ahhhhh, the commute call chitter chatter, what would we do without it??) All in all, a year full of friends, family and fun and an amazing baby boy to call our own.

What an amazing year. 2003, year for me!

The biggest blessing of all has been Bobby and my relationship. It’s great, so happy and real. He’s been amazing through the bedrest, and carrying all the burdens of our family for most of the year. It’s only now that I’m back in the “real world” that I can appreciate how much work he did, and is doing, for La Familia Armijo, Junior…..

On New Year’s Eve I went grocery shopping BY MYSELF for the first time in probably 10 months. Bobby was engrossed in a book, Baby Ry was sleeping and we needed a few munchies and whatnots from the store. So I drove myself (an amazing feat in itself) down to Raley’s and proceeded to shop haphazardly. At the checkout stand, I got carded (which felt good by the way) but didn’t have my license, only Bob’s, since I had his wallet. Luckily the years must have shown thru because the checker sent me off with my purchases after a brief glance at Bob’s ID. It’s a good thing we look alike …. no we DON’T! someone was trying to say that a while ago ….. Uh I love the man, I just don’t see how we could ever look alike ….. Anyway to end a silly story, I had to haul all the groceries in on my own, and put them all away. That was a ton of work and I didn’t even fully shop which leads to mad props and appreciation for the honey who used to have to hunt and gather for the family on his own.

Jeez, I know, I know I’ve been a princess for far too long …… Babe – if you’re reading this – THANKS!

Once again I have more to say, and leave this post unfinished …. but it’s a start, just like the new year ……

P.S. – Nay, this one’s for you! If not for your prod, I woulda been lazy and not posted. And you inspired me with your actual “I wrote a letter” You ROCK!

It was my 31st birthday yesterday (Sun) and what a good time it was …. First, a visit to St. Anne’s where Bob, Sr did the 8 am reading and my darling baby boy was sooooo good. Only at the end did he open his eyes and stir a bit. But he was adorable in his little blue velour jumper with a reindeer whose antlers stuck out of the thing. And matching hat. He’s a cutey ….

Then off to brunch with La Familia Lising y Armijo. My parents and my inlaws (wow!), my bro and sis, gram and lu and mama estes joined baby Ry and Bobby and I for some serious grub at Hs Lordship’s Champagne brunch on the Berkeley Marina. The buffet was set against the windows which looked out over the water, sooooo pretty and such a nice sunny day. I’m a blessed chick!!

It was a whole lotta eating, with people having to take breaks in between plates, and very yummy. I do have to say it was a strange but enticing hodge podge of food – standard brunch fare – omelette bar, turkey and primerib carving station, belgium waffle and frenchtoast, then a sushi stand, fresh salmon, shrimp, crawdads (!!!) and crab legs next to the muffins. That’s right, I said sushi. And let me not forget the Korean bbq shortribs and teriyaki pork chops and rice right next to the cheese blintz.

And all that was at the opposite end of the buffet from the mexican food – everything from enchiladas to fresh fajitas to nachos. Scary, right? Then there was still the salad bar with tuna and assorted mixed salads, cheese and crackers precariously stacked, and then a host of desserts that looked a bit better than they tasted. Well, I nabbed some tasty tidbits, but the creme brulee was really a chinese egg pie in scorched sugar disguise ….. The best part, which I forgot to partake of, was the frozen ice cream drumstick cones. Uh huh, there was an ice cream freezer there ….. helado ….. helados …..

As if that wasn’t celebration enough, there were gifts galore from the famalia…..Lots of pretty clothes, nifty cards (my mom’s were so sweet and personalized, my mum-in-law’s made me teary, and lu’s mama was quite the elegant and pretty thing – mom’s know how to pick em!) And Bobby did a major damage at Sephora with some luxe spa type items from bliss …. The two gifts most memorable for the quirk factor were of course, the IRON from LU – the need for one obvious with the shirt I was wearing for the brunch …. and the hand made (hand knotted?) blankie from NAY. That thing rocks, and I’m not sharing it with anyone. Finally a blanket to call my own, don’t have to borrow Ryan’s anymore!

And then the fun don’t stop, don’t quit – after a little nap at the casa, packed baby Ry off to his grandma and grandpa Armijo and went up to the city for a Nutcracker performance made more interesting by the challenges of a blackout in SF. Luckily, they hooked up a huge PG&E truck to the War Memorial Bldg which acted as a power generator and had enough lights to do the performance. So after a trip to the darkened bathroom, illuminated by a tiny Japanese woman holding a flashlight and a few bonus Christmas carols performed by the symphony, we enjoyed the Nutcracker. I’d forgotten how fun all the music is and the bright and happy the performances were. Ahhhhh, it was bliss. Had a bite to eat afterwards and picked up the littlest Armijo who I heard was screaming his little head off by the time we made our way to pick him up. But that was a long and busy day for him, so it was understandable.

Those Armijo Juniors. You think we’d stay home now and again ….. But it was a lovely birthday and thanks to my hunny bunny who made it all possible and also all of you who called/emailed nice wishes. Can’t wait to see what the next year has in store!

k i am not a huge liv tyler fan but i am changing my position as of now. now as we are talking about hot not hot, britneys album is good. i listen to it all the time. i like it better than all the rest of her stuff, can’t say why though must subliminal messages. i mean i like britney. like really but i didn’t expect to like this one because of the single . . . .wait to be continued pooo pooo time for the baby and that does not wait. oh yeah i saw lotr3 last night bad ass (not to build it up to much) but it was fucking amazing!
k i am back now lets just say it was an explosion!ploooow!!
but cool coincidences i looked at cyn’s site today and she got a pic up of her girl,
congrats! by the by,
and she got the same vibrator chair (lifesaver!) as we do.
wow i guess its not that big of a thing
but its like cool and there are people going through the whole new baby thing.
like last night conan had greg kinnear on and
kinnear has a 12 week and
conan has a 8 week old (I MYSELF care for a 10 week old).
as you all know i am now home with the chau(ryan)

–side note top 3 brit songs
-touch of my hand
-toxic
-outrageous

any way back to the chau i couldn’t ask for a better guy. thanks ell thanks god!
lates
rea

After a big nap yesterday afternoon, the Armijo Juniors went to JC Penny’s for first photos of the Armijo Juniors’ Junior. It was a riot.

Baby Ry started out in the white Gap outfit Auntie Cyndi (Castro) gave him (of the oooohhh and ahhh box at the shower) and did ok. The funniest was trying to make sure he didn’t fall off the assorted prop pillows and stands and whatnot. After a couple of poses, we switched it up to the Santa fit. Though he wasn’t too pleased at this point, Ryan was tickled and cajoled into at least looking at the camera. We’ll work on smiling next time!

But the best was at the very end where both Bob and I are leaning next to him to help hold him up for the pics and take a whiff. He had dropped a big bomb. Maybe that’s why it was all grimaces and snarly faces during the photos. So to be further initiated into the rites of mommyhood, I changed my baby propped up on one of those changing tables in the restroom. Had to strip him down to nothing since he had shot thru his onesie and jumper, luckily missing the Santa Suit. There was more poop everywhere than in his diaper. Ah well, everyday something new….. But you do feel a sense of accomplishment that you didn’t drop the kid, had all the supplies you needed, managed to wipe everything up and get him back into presentable mode. Yay. Yay for cleaning up poop. Oh boy this is the life!!

so i was watching the snl with rob lowe and eminem,
and em and dido were doing their song together,
it jsut occured to me again he is bad ass
i can’t even say it occured it more so became obvious that he is a genius.
that being said i think its a fucking waste that his mom and his environ limited him for so long.
but the thing that was in my mind was that such succint verbal imagery has such a limited frame of reference
1 because he was dealing with a sociopath during his formative years.
and
2 because he grew up in an area with such and overt “machismo or else” type paternal social structure.

then it made me think about my childhood and my frame of reference growing up, one of my mom’s most prized posessions is a set of encyclopedias which i think imbued me with a sense of knowledge and literacy as a cornerstone of basic existence,
then my dad branded me with the idea of service . . .
side music quote: “nothing better than love and service”(red hot chili peppers) . . .
so one of the basic elements of his existence was his service in the marine corps
it taught him to be with other people and to be a student of persons
but most importantly to persevere and stand strong against persons whom don’t believe in you; to use that discord as a kind of a fuel; kind of like anti-matter.
and i don’t know if this came from his dad or from the marines but he is so strong in believing in the righteous way and that his path is so,
it formed in me a personal steel, of which i can always call.

but to bring this all back to the starting thought

what would em be with loving, caring, role demonstrative parents?

is there a chic hotter than jessica alba?

also four rooms was so under rated

ryan says hi