I'm a Big Girl Now

We spent Saturday transforming our nursery into a "big girl bedroom" for Katrina. She now has a "big girl bed" and fun sheets and a beautiful quilt (thanks Ampa and Nana!) and she sleeps with a pillow!

She still needs (she even says, "I need it.") her chupon (nuk) at night but she is our big girl. She wanted us to take a picture of her "sleeping." Isn't she cute?

I must admit it has been a bittersweet time for me thinking about transforming her bedroom and taking down the crib and moving the changing table... Both Pancho (I am going to do my best to call him Pancho) and I have dreamed about our child's/children's nursery for many, many years, even before we were married. Dismantling the crib and moving the changing table were symbols of a part of our life that is over for now. We are hopeful that the Lord will bless us with more children and that we will be able to assemble the crib and get out the sheets and the changing pad, etc. but we are focusing on being thankful for the time we did have with her room as a nursery and for this new era of our lives together.

As I tucked her in last evening and again tonight I couldn't help but praise the Lord for the miracle she is and the joy she brings to our lives each day. She looks so tiny in that "big girl bed" and yet I know that the outward transformations that are taking place are representative of inward transformations that are taking place inside her as well as inside us and I am excited to see what God has in store for the Durán family of three.

Citizenship Trip

On Wednesday, March 26th Francisco Jose Durán became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America.

Let me give you a bit of history and then please take a look at the pictures from the trip...

March 25, 2001 Panchito and I were engaged in Venezuela. The following month his family traveled to Caracas, the capital, to petition for a tourist visa for the US. They had to have this tourist visa in order for us to get married in the States, which was our first choice. Thankfully, they were granted tourist visas in April and we all traveled back here for our wedding on August 11, 2001. We moved back to Venezuela and lived there about 15 months before it was politically and economically unsettling there for Americans. We decided to move to the United States. We arrived here on October 14, 2002 and petitioned the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service now USCIS or Department of Homeland Security) immediately for a change of status. We no longer wanted Panchito to be viewed as a tourist, but rather a resident. That took a LONG time and we eventually hired a lawyer to help us with the complicated process. Because we were doing all this during the time after 9-11, the USCIS was changing almost all of its documents and regulations and things were VERY confusing.

Finally, in June of 2003 he was granted a work permit. We filed more paperwork and in August of 2004 he received the green card. The green card allowed him to travel freely to and from the US as a permanent resident without jeopardizing his standing for citizenship.

In May of 2007 we were able to finally apply for naturalization. A certain amount of time must elapse after the green card is received in order to apply. If you are married to a citizen, 3.5 years is the magic number. You can apply 6 months prior to the 3.5 year anniversary. In June we traveled to Milwaukee for fingerprints. In January Panchito went to Minneapolis for his citizenship interview. (Proud to be an American... Almost) He was approved and we were waiting for the ceremony.

Tuesday afternoon we went with my parents to Milwaukee and spent the night in a hotel. We had a GREAT time and then Wednesday morning we went to the US Federal Courthouse on Wisconsin Street in downtown Milwaukee. It was VERY exciting. Panchito can maintain his Venezuelan citizenship according to the law in Venezuela and here in the States. Now Katrina and Panchito have dual citizenship. Poor Mama! She will only be an American! Oh well, I am proud to be an American.

He loves me. He loves me not.

Last evening we set the table for our Easter dinner. Katrina was a GREAT helper, putting on the napkins, forks and spoons. Then I was going to take out the not-so-great-looking roses from the vase. Katrina wanted to play with them. I thought, "What harm could she do with three almost dead roses? It looks like she is playing "He loves me. He loves me not."

This picture does not even begin to demonstrate the mess she made... She shredded the petals and then proceeded to carry them around the house, putting some on each CLEAN plate...

Oh well, it was fun, ok, at least it was fun for her, and she was occupied while I finished the night-before Easter dinner preparations.

Computer Technician Apprenticeship

Panchito has loved computers and fixing them since he was a young boy. In fact, the first computer his family owned when he was 8 or 9 years old, he took it apart to learn how it worked and then he put it back together. His dad was horrified, but Panchito was able to get it back in working order without any glitches.

We have always joked that our children will be like him, very technology-savvy. Well, we were right...

Here Katrina is praying about the task at hand. She gets this from her papa. He always asks the Lord to give him guidance and direction in how to best resolve whatever issues may be taking place.

Here Katrina looks over the CPU. Now, most people call this part of the computer the hard drive. This drives Panchito bonkers! The hard drive is within the CPU. Anyway, Katrina is thinking about her diagnosis.

Ah-ha! She figured out the problem. This pink thing has something to do with the issue (not really, but it is cute that she thinks so!).

Well, I guess she is not quite ready for clients. She has more fun climbing on the computer than actually fixing it!

Brian and Beth, we will get this back to you ASAP.

From Little Debbie Easter Cakes to White Chocolate Chips

Now Katrina is a sucker for white chocolate chips. At church this Sunday she received a cute basket with some chocolate eggs in it. I told her they were chocolate and she could have one for a treat after eating her lunch. Well, since then she has been asking for chocolate.

I don't keep candy around at all. I am more of a salt eater and I would rather munch on chips and dip than chocolate or anything sweet. I don't keep salty stuff around either because my husband likes to munch on anything if he is bored and so to help him out, I simply don't buy any of it.

I do, however, buy chocolate chips and Katrina found the white chocolate chips in our lazy suzanne the other day. Today after lunch, actually before lunch, she went to the lazy suzanne, opened it up and got out the bag of white chips. I told her she could have a few after lunch. (Now this is the part that is worth blogging over: she was SATISFIED with that answer! Hallelujah! She let me put the bag on the counter and then proceeded to ask what was for lunch. Maybe it helped that I was making her absolute favorite food: spaghetti, but still, she did not have a rabieta and I was SO impressed and pleased)

After she ate two large servings of spaghetti, she went right to the counter dragging her Little Tykes chair and looked for the white chocolate chips bag. I rushed to her and poured about 12 into a little bowl. She walked around the living room happy as a lark eating her chocolate and even shared one or two with her friend who stayed for lunch.

I would like to say that we have arrived, that she has passed on to the next developmental plateau and we will not have to deal with rabietas anymore when it comes to junk food. I know too much about children to believe that, but for today, we arrived and for that I am thankful.

To see how this idea began, please refer to These might be the end of me and You guessed it

Dude...

When I walked by and saw this, I immediately went to get the camera. I really don't even know what to say about the picture. Katrina had a friend over today and they were playing dolls (while eating animal crackers). Katrina said the baby was sick and I told her to take her to the doctor. She got a doctor kit for Valentine's day. The next thing I saw was this.

Talk about freaky. This particular doll is one that is filled with water. She does not urinate, but she is swishy sounding. In fact, sometimes when Katrina is playing with her I think that she has had a bowel movement (hers are sometimes swishy sounding too - you know that if you know her!). Anyway, in the doll's back there is a little hole and Katrina put the syringe in her back. I told her friend's mom that it looked as if they were giving her a spinal block. I had to share this photo with you and see what you all thought. Like I said, I am not really sure what to say or think about it.

Spring Fever Has Officially Hit

Today when Panchito came home for lunch someone was grilling in our neighborhood. We could smell the meat and immediately, we contracted spring fever. He said, "I am grilling tonight." GREAT! I love grill season because I have so much less cooking to do! So, I had some steaks that I prepared (marinated) and I made a nice salad and some Texas toast. He uncovered the grill and took Katrina out on the deck to play. She wanted to clear off some of the snow. Then we took a walk.It was such a fun time. We felt so invirgated and alive. It is amazing that grilling steaks and taking a walk can make you feel that good.

Our family is ready for spring. If it is coming or not, we are ready.

Time to Clean the Fish Tank

A few years ago when Panchito's parents were here they bought us a fish tank. We have had to stock the tank a few times over the years. It is the one part of the house that I have delegated to Panchito to clean. I help with a few parts, but he does the majority of the cleaning. It looks like he has found a helper...

Hat Night at the Durán's

Katrina has a basket with various hats for dress up. The other night she gave me a few hats to wear and she tried on some as well. Personally, I think she looks better in the hats. What do you think? I should also let mention that we got a new camera and Panchito was trying his hand at "photographer."

Talk about a red-neck with weird teeth? I don't know why my teeth look so bad in this picture, but they look better in person!

I look a bit better here, but still a hill billy.

Now isn't she adorable? She has an old camera and was taking some pictures too. What a doll!

Her final hat for the night. A sailor hat from the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum Toddler Tuesday event a few months back. Do you think she looks like Panchito?

Thankful for Health

The beginning of this week was tough for us. Katrina came home from church on Sunday with a high fever. She was very inactive and did not want to eat. She had a temperature of 102. On Monday she was about the same. She went down for a nap and woke up just screaming. I ran into her room and she was burning up. I took her temperature and she was at 103. I called the clinic right away and our doctor agreed to squeeze her in as soon as we arrived (God bless Dr. Grim).

When we got there she was at 103.5. They checked her for influenza (nasty swab check up the nose) and that came back negative. Then they took blood and an x-ray. As it turned out, she had a bacterial infection and the beginnings of viral pneumonia.

We are so thankful for the wonderful medical care we have here. Our doctor is our closest family friend and we appreciate his treatment of Katrina. She loves him and could not wait to see "Doctor" even though she was feeling miserable.

Katrina is feeling much better and we are thankful for her health. We were both quite concerned (ok, worried) about her and were so happy when she started to get back to her normal self again.

Katrina is SO Loved

My grandpa, Melvin Gehring, was a firefighter for the Wausau Fire Department. My dad was a WFD firefighter. Both of my brothers are now firefighters here in Wausau. You could say we are kind of proud of having firefighters in the family.

The next generation of firefighters has her first shirt...

Nick ordered this shirt for Katrina for her birthday. It is identical to the one he and Shawn wear when working. Of course, on the back of their's it says, "Firefighter Nick/Shawn Gehring."

When Katrina was about 4-6 months I made up a song. Here are the lyrics,"Cheeky, weeky. Cheeky weeky weeky. Cheeky weeky weeky weeky woo. Cheeky weeky woo woo woo. Cheeky weeky woo." It is more of a chant, I guess. Anyway, that morphed into a nickname for Katrina of Weechie woo which morphed into woochie woo. Nick has called Katrina woochie woo ever since.

You can ask Katrina, "What does Nick call you?""Woochie woo," she replies. (She says Shawn calls her Treenie Neenie and Nana calls her Hello Dolly... Obviously my family has a thing with nicknames. Especially the boys. They have nicknames for almost everyone they know!)

Thanks, Uncle Nick, for the t-shirt. I love it and I love you too!

You Guessed It

When Katrina woke up this morning she had a stinky diaper. I took her to the changing table and laid her down. As she was fussing over the wiping she started to say, "Torta, torta, torta." I tried to ignore her. I asked her about her night, how she slept, how her dog slept (she always sleeps with a stuffed animal). She continued to cry out, "Torta, torta, torta." I continued to pretend I didn't hear.

I guess I was ambivalent in how to respond. Should I give her one or make her eat something else first? Our days have been tougher lately as she has learned the art of "rabietas." I like the Spanish word for tantrum better. Probably because no one else knows what it means! Tantrums sound so naughty. Anyway, she has been having some "rabietas" and I didn't really want to start our Friday with one.

As I debated what to do, Panchito heard her cries for torta and went right to the cupboard, pulled out a Little Debbie Easter cake and said, "Is this what you want, Katrina?" She said, "YEAH!" So, he put her in her chair, put her bib on and gave her torta for breakfast.

What can I say? Hopefully she will not ask for more today, but I think I know her better than that!

These might be the end of me...

Katrina has discovered "torta." She absolutely LOVES these Easter Basket Cakes. She likes the zebra cakes too (the non-holiday version) but since it is Easter time she sees these on an end cap at Target and we have to get them. I mean HAVE to get them. She starts yelling, "Torta, torta, torta!" (Cake, cake, cake!)

So, being the great mom that I am I think, why not? A nice little treat every now and then won't hurt her. Yeah right. She wants to eat the ENTIRE box immediately. I hide them in the cupboard and when she remembers we have them in the house she runs to the cupboard and points and starts yelling again, "Torta, torta, torta!"

She had three today! One after breakfast (like two hours after, but still it was after breakfast like a dessert after breakfast), one at Target (she couldn't wait to get into the van, she had to have it that second so then I had to go to the baby wipe section and buy a thing of wipes so I could use one to wipe her hands and mouth because the frosting and the creme filling are REALLY buttery and greasy) and one before bed (great idea to give her a sugar load right before bed).

I hope she won't remember we have them here when she wakes up in the morning, but I won't count on it. This morning when she woke up I dare you to take a wild guess what were the first three words out of her mouth...

When will it end?

I am SO tired of winter... As I dress in the morning I stand in our closet and look and look and look at the winter clothes. Nothing jumps out at me. My eyes glance at the capris and 3/4 length sleeved shirts. Could I pull it off today? It is really sunny out. I check the temperature. It is 1 degree above zero. Maybe I could wear the shirt with jeans.

It's no use. I cannot! I will freeze even in the house. I know it is March and spring will be here in Wisconsin in one or two months (AGHHH!) but it seems that EVERY single year at this time I go through the same dilemma. I want to switch wardrobes. I want to put away the socks and shoes and pull out the sandals. I want to get out the bubbles and sidewalk chalk. I want to take walks morning, noon and night with Katrina and Panchito.

To make matters worse, I went to the mall yesterday and EVERYTHING is summer stuff. I mean EVERYTHING. Of course, they are having great deals on winter clothing but I could not even bring myself to buy a $12 sweater that I have had my eye on since it was $60 because I thought, "Well, I am not even going to get to wear that this winter." (Yeah right, I could probably wear it for two or three more months!)

I am done complaining now. I will enjoy the days we have whatever the weather. I purpose in my heart to enjoy them!