Puerto Rico -- Day 1 and 2.
We arrived in Puerto Rico after 11 hours on an airplane. 11 LONG, very turbulent hours on an airplane where people were very obnoxious, had no respect for each other and pretty much felt like they were out for blood.  It was VERY hot and VERY VERY humid when we arrived. Needless to say, the weather man in Puerto Rico is just about as accurate as he is here.  They had told us that it would likely be rainy and cloudy the whole time we were there.  Yup.  Definitely looked that way.  LOL.  The sun was out... there was no rain to be seen and the weather to looked to be gorgeous.  We quickly found our way to the luggage claim and thanks to the help of the wonderful staff at the airport, we found the shuttle to the car rental counter. 
A few things you need to know about Puerto Rico, EVERYONE speaks english, or at least they think they do.  They claim they do and they all try to but it doesn't always come out that way.  Luckily, I studied 6 formal years of spanish and most of it stuck with me.  We made it to the car rental place and managed to get our GPS system installed and our car rental paperwork ( in english ).  Second, the country is obviously spanish speaking, so any smart person would realize that all of their road signs are probably not going to be in english.  At that moment in time, I was not one of those smart people.  However, I chose to realize this AFTER getting behind the wheel of the car.  LOL!  I then promptly decided to let Jason drive.  We got the GPS working, in English, and got on our way.  We learned the hard way that most of the roads on San Juan, Puerto Rico are one way and not marked, this is just something you are supposed to know.  We were politely notified of this by people on the street.  Luckily, everyone is really nice in Puerto Rico.  That is the other thing I wanted to share with everyone.  People in PR are super helpful and really nice and not necessarily because they want something from you.  They really truly are sincere and nice. 
So, we finally made it the 7 miles to the hotel, go parked and got checked in to the hotel. It was amazing.  We found out that our room wasn't ready yet and so we decided to go find lunch.  We decided to head to Old San Juan, the next city over. This is where we would spend the next two days. It was the best city.

We spent the bulk of day one here touring San Critobal, one of the oldest castles in Old San Juan. It is absolutely beautiful. It is considered a landmark now and is protected by the US government. We spent hours walking the grounds and taking a million pictures. The history there was incredible. The castle is spacious and the views are incredible. 

After the castle, we went to this local italian restaurant for lunch, Sophia's was a quaint little restaurant that offered great homemade recipes and wonderful bar options.  The best part was as we got seated, I excused myself to the ladies room to wash up.  However, the restrooms were so old that as I locked the single bathroom door behind me, the lock actually broke.  I actually managed to lock myself in to the bathroom.  I couldn't get out.  Now, I mentioned before that the country is very hot and very humid.  Did I mention that there is very little air conditioning.  Add to that a mild sense of panic from being locked in the back bathroom of a restaurant you don't know with staff that barely speak english and things get really warm really fast.  And leave it to me to come up with the craziest thing to keep calm.  I start looking around for a way to get out.  And what do I discover, not a way to get out, but the fact that oh... they make their own salt scrub.  So, while I was waiting for someone to realize I was locked in, I stood at the sink and use the homemade salt scrub.  LMAO!!  Eventually, the waitress realized what was going on and they unscrewed the handle on the door and let me out with a mild apology. Nothing is a big deal in PR.  And Jason and I had lunch and went on with a our day as if nothing happened.  And I still love the soap scrub!  Oh and I ordered water and they brought it to me in a liter bottle and served it to me in a chilled wine glass.  Made me giggle.  I had to take a picture.

That first night, after returning to the hotel, we discovered that the hotel was in fact a full resort spa and so we decided to investigate.  We took the first of what would be hourly showers trying to stay fresh in the humidity and took off for more adventures.  Oh, our hotel room..... WOW!  Becuase of the inconvenience we supposedly suffered for waiting we were upgraded to a junior suite on the top floor of the newly renovated building of the hotel.  We had an ocean view room.  NO COMPLAINTS HERE!  The room was huge!! 

We made reservations at the steakhouse in the hotel and we swung by the pool bar to see the local drink menu.  We chatted with the concierge about the local fare and we found out about how to drop off our rental car the next day.  We swung by the local shops and did some browsing (when we found out the price of things, browsing was all we could afford to do) and then we went down to the beach for a walk along the sand and oceanline.  It was truly a beautiful afternoon.
We spent the evening in the five star steakhouse and then we spent the rest of the night winning money in the local casino.  Puerto Ricans are very serious about their gambling.  I hit a three-of-a-kind on the three card poker table which my fellow gamblers know pays out at 30-1 which is about a $400 hand.  I was very excited.  The American dealer immediately warned me not to get excited.  It is not customary nor appreciated to get over excited in their casinos, so I kept my wits about me, tipped the dealer well and pocketed my winnings promptly.  However, when my pina colada arrived, both the pit promotions boss and the waiter hung around close and waited eagerly for my response to the beverage.  Apparently, Puerto Ricans take their liquor VERY serious!  LOL!  Every new beverage is something to celebrate!  LOL!!  Needless to say.  Puerto Rico was exciting. 
However, the highling of PR came the next day.  We awoke the next day and decided to find a lunch place that seved traditional fare that would provide us a true PR experience before catching the boat.  The concierge recommended the Cafe Puerto Rico just up the street.  So we headed right over.  Good thing.  It filled up right after we arrived.  We even waited ten minutes for them to open.  The food was amazing and their beverages were cheap and amazingly good.  Jason and I wished we had found them the minute we arrived.  Their "dish to die for" is called Mofongos and is the customary dish in PR.  It is made of baked Plantains stuffed with creole seasoned chicken and served with a couple of sides.  It was fantastic and so filling.  We craved it the rest of the trip and still continue to crave it even as I type this!  I need to find a PR restaurant here in SLC!!

After lunch, we dropped off our rental car, thanked the concierge for the lunch recommendation and made our way to the ship.  We began our cruise that afternoon.  IT was a wonderful two day stay in San Juan and we could defnitely go back again. 
A few things we will remember for next time -- DON'T GET A RENTAL CAR.  Cabs are cheap, drivers are crazy, walking is easy, parking is expensive and there is no need to rent one.  SHOPPING IS EXPENSIVE.  Don't do it while in PR.  Minimize souvenirs and don't plan to shop in PR.  THEY WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TOURISTS.  Puerto Ricans are super nice, but they love to take advantage of tourist season.  They will charge an arm and a leg for everything! 

Three Degrees.... How It Happened

As many of you know, I am a self proclaimed professional student. I am soon to be the proud owner of THREE very expensive college degrees. Yes, you read that right. And no, I do not plan to stop there. I definitely plan to pursue at least one masters with hesitant plans for a second and potential for a PhD. I just love Academia. I mean what's not to love. I know people say they hate school, but I think they say that because they just haven't found their niche. I truly think if you give it a shot, there is something there for everyone. There is an aspect of college that can appeal to every personality and every culture in every person. It is the most amazing and beautiful place. It offers the most unique opportunities to learn and grow and expand your horizons while giving you the ability and potential to make more money and more growth potential within your career and various other arenas. It's just great.
With my schooling, I wanted the first degree with a passion. I went after it aggressively. I hit a few road blocks along the way and one day I might tell you about a few of them. But I wanted it and I wanted it in hand before I got married, so I had it in hand May 2008 and had the ring on my finger September 2008. Felt weird to be out of school so started back literally the week after the honeymoon and couldn't really decide what I wanted. Floated back and forth for a while and ultimately decided to apply to graduate school got accepted in to several. Got a couple of scholarship offers, a couple of pretty BIG ones..... then I got a very LARGE surprise.... we ultimately named her Elizabeth Jean. I really didn't think being pregnant and going to graduate school really fit together so while I was pregnant I just kept going with that second bachelors. Work paid for it, so why not, right?! It worked out well. Just kept plugging along.
Had Elizabeth, survived that (barely), recovered, got the hang of being a parent, got back to work, fell in to normal, and reapplied to graduate school. Unfortunately, lost out on those scholarships and things, but hey, she is worth it. I got reaccepted to some of the programs, found some new ones, found some new hobbies, applied to some new schools, started pursuing some new interests and hit some new road blocks........ we eventually named her Annaliece Michaela. At this point, I am being strongly encouraged to STOP applying to graduate schools. We are starting to think that graduate studies are not in my future and that I should just be content with three undergraduate degrees. I mean, together I can still be a force to be reckoned with! LOL! I know some doctors who tell me frequently they would never like to meet me in a darkened alley or a court room. (I really hope that is not true!)
So there is my educational story on how I managed to accomplish three degrees. It wasn't necessarily intentional although birth control isn't always reliable I guess. "It just sort of happened." I didn't want to stop my learning opportunities, but I didn't ever think that graduate school and pregnancy went together. For the record, I have reapplied for graduate school. I have been accepted and I am slated to begin this Fall. However, I am not sure I am ready to begin. I have a few loose ends I would like to tie up first. Also, I think we do have one or two more bright stars we would like to add to our family, but certainly not this fall. Sadly, we do not seem to have much support from our extended families and colleagues in that arena, but I think that comes more from fear of the unknown and not because they don't want us to welcome any more babies. We all know my pregnancies are just so much fun! But that is another story for another day.

Bed Time Routines

I never thought I would survive. I really didn't. I remember when Elizabeth was born. I thought I was prepared for the sleepless nights. I thought I was ready for the routines that we would set up. Oh yeah, I thought I was ready. Boy was I wrong. But I was wrong about a lot of things then. Just as I was wrong about a lot of things with Annie. I suffered loss with both. But that is a blog for another time. This blog is about survival. And providing hope to those reading this. Maybe some of you are going through this very same thing. Let me assure you, it can be survived. I promise. I told myself day in and day out that I will survive this. And sometimes I even had to say it out loud over and over again. I really didn't think I could survive the endless nights, screaming days. The tears. The frustrations. The not knowing what was wrong, how to make it stop. But guess what? One day, you wake up and it just happens. You survived. You find that that you actually survived.

For example, tonight. Tonight was my big realization. I got off of work and I picked up my girls.
I am usually very excited about this part of my day, although a little apprehensive as Tuesdays are spent by myself while Jason is in school. This makes me nervous as I am still uncertain about being by myself with two little girls. Especially with Annie having such high demands still and Elizabeth wanting so much of my time. We got home and Annie decided to take a little snoozer. Elizabeth and I made little sandwiches and glasses of milk for dinner. We washed our hands and then curled up on the sofa and watched some Phineas and Ferb. We played with my phone. (Lately she loves to watch the video I recorded of my dad's retirement party. She calls it Papa's Video) Then, before I knew it, Jason got home. I couldn't believe I had made it all night with my girls all calm and quiet. It was great. We fed Annie some solid food, managed to do a few dishes, spent some time with Elizabeth while we cuddled with Annie, then we finished our bedtime routine -- he put Annie to bed, I put Ellie to bed. And that was it. No fussing. No crying. The girls went right to sleep. I was amazed. Could it really be that easy? After 6 months of tears and crying and screaming and fussing, could it really be that easy? I think it can. I have been hesitant to voice my excitement that Annie has slept through the night 9-10 hours a night for the majority of the last 3 weeks, but now is time to share the news. I think it is safe to realize that I did survive! It can be done!

So for those of you still going through it, hang in there! There is an end. With Elizabeth, I got lucky. She was sleeping 12 hour nights and going to bed without fuss at 8 weeks of age. For a full term baby that is remarkable, for a three pound preemie that's a miracle, but that's my Ellie for you. With Annie, well, she decided to take a bit longer, but I think we can finally count on some good sleep. YAY!!