Country Rican

Michael and I went to  our first of two labor and delivery classes yesterday.  8:30 am to 2:30 pm with an hour for lunch for two Saturdays to, sort of kind of, prepare you for childbirth. As you can imagine, as with everything else, there are two schools of thought on this subject, and various variations in between.  There are those people that believe that you should take a much more than two days of classes for this momentous occasion.  There is, after all, a lot of information to gather and learn to prepare you for this.  Then there is the school of thought that women have been having babies for milennia and never needed a class for it, so why bother?  Those of you that know my husband can guess where he stands on this. As with everything else, I am somewhere in the middle.  I think a two day class is helpful.  I have only taken one day of it, but I think it was good.  Keep in mind I have read several books on the subject, have three nieces and many, many friends that I have see

I LOVE Harry Potter.  I don't care who knows it.  I love everything about it.  I love the books, I love the characters, I love the movies.  I think the sign of the Dark Lord, you know that mark the death eaters use to call him? Would make an awesome tattoo.  If you are lost already, then this blog post is not for you. I started reading the Harry Potter books before the movies came out.  Book 4 The Goblet of Fire was announced and I was assistant manager at a book store.  There was a big deal happening because this 4th in a series of this children's book was coming out and I did not get it.  My manager, Sendy, told me the books were amazing and I should read them.  I looked at her with the arrogance I usually reserve for people who read Harlequin Romance novels.  "Isn't this for children?" I asked.  Sendy, an avid reader and a wise woman said "Well, it's for young adults, not little kids.  Just read the first one and you'll see."  So I did.  I f

OK, so I had my first official "I'm scared, let's go to the emergency room" moment in my pregnancy.  From what I hear, many first time moms have them.  If you or someone near you never had one, then congratulations, you are in the minority. I want to start out by stating that I am fine, and so is Baby Sofia _____ Davis (Ayala).  I am, however in pain, so I guess it sucks to be me. I had a great weekend.  I managed to make it to my book club in Athens, saw some friends, had some cake, all is well.  Monday morning I get up and I have this nagging pain in my lower abdomen on the right side.  I think nothing of it because pregnancy so far has been full of aches and pains so I figure it will go away.  Unfortunately, as the day progresses so does the pain. By the end of the day I am having a hard time getting up from my chair, getting out of the bucket seat in the car seems impossible, and getting up a short flight of steps becomes a chore.  Not to mention lifting my le

OK, so I want to warn those of you who are not interested in all this to skip this blog entry.  I understand there are some out there who are not too interested in the whole "creating life" thing.  For me, it consumes me for obvious reasons.  I am now 22 weeks pregnant.  My due date is March 5th for those of you who can't do math or don't care to... but I feel strongly that I will have a February baby.  I write this as I watch the Georgia Florida game...it's not going too good... I tell you this because it is my intention to post some pictures, and even though I am huge, I am currently wearing non pregnancy clothes.  OK, so it's a GA T shirt and sweats but still: Go me! Not very attractive, I know... My first trimester felt a little like torture.  I realize I am very lucky that I only threw up once towards the end of the trimester.  However, I was nauseous all the time.  ALL THE TIME!  For the men out there, or the women who have not been blessed with p

Wow...I have seriously neglected the blog.  I have been busy though, as those of you closer to me know.  I was in Puerto Rico for 9 days visiting with my parents and brothers and nieces.  It was a nice calm time.  Forcibly calm, since I am pregnant and do not drink, there was no clubbing or Medallas for me.  Plus, we had record rainfall during that week so there was not much beach time either.  Kano and I managed to sneak in one beach morning before the rain hit which was fabulous.  Otherwise, it was rain all the time.  We actually broke the record for most rain in a years time the first week of October - ever.  Or at least since they have been keeping records.  Some areas got 15 inches of rain in 5 days.  Yeah... But it was a good time nevertheless.  My Mami spoils me terribly on regular trips, try to imagine the spoiling going on when I'm pregnant. El Kano, Mami, me, Lucho & Papi in the back.  Andrea and Camila modeling in the front.  This is the best we could do all toge

Yes, folks, yesterday Michael and I found out that in fact we are having a girl.  I am very upset about this, because everyone knows little girls belong to their dads.  It is not fair... after all my cats have already abandoned me for Michael, now this... Of course I am kidding.  I found the whole thing comical yesterday.  Especially the part where I have to watch my husband struggle with the news.  Anyone that knows Michael knows that he will be completely taken by a baby girl, but he doesn't seem to know that yet. Thank God for the technology because he has 22 weeks to get used to the idea.  After all, we watched "Bend it like Beckham" last weekend (which he had not seen before) and towards the end was very emotional stating that if we had a little girl she would watch this movie as soon as she was old enough to follow it.  Girl power all the way! But I digress... I was ecstatic, because my doctor is awesome.  He is so into babies it is cute.  After 27 years of prac

My Michael is turning 37 years young this Thursday.  I know I am a bit biased, but he looks freakin' fantastic!  I'm not kidding.  If I could get him to pose for a sexy pic I'd post it on here for you guys to admire his body of work (so to speak).  But maybe you guys just have to trust me on this one... As some of you know he has been trying to do the Paleo diet.  This is responsible for the quick fat loss he's experienced without a doubt, but I still think it is unhealthy and a bit cultish.  Anyway, he has a blog where he has talked about such things... in case you didn't know it's Southern Fried Paleo  http://southernfriedpaleo.blogspot.com/2010/08/beefcakebeefcake.html  Michael's cabbage, zuchinni and onion dish...   When I say "trying" I mean he does his best to follow it.  I, however, am stubborn and pregnant and refuse to join in.  So while he is buying spinach by the pound and wilting it with red cabbage (which stinks by the way...) I

This blog is all about movies.  If you are not a freak like me, you might want to skip it... About a year ago Michael and I decided we would re watch all of our movies.  OK, I decided to and Michael agreed.  You see, we are movie freaks and have an extensive collection.  However, there are still quite a few movies he owns that I have not seen and vice versa.  Those of you who know my movie taste know that I am certainly not a girlie girl when it comes to movies.  Here is when growing up with a father who loved TV and movies, and two brothers comes into play.  My mom could go through life without watching TV or going to the movies, so her influence here is null. When it comes to movies, I admit it, I am a guy.  I'd rather watch anything by Quentin Tarantino than a romantic comedy any day of the week and twice on Sundays.  I have seen the holy trilogies of Start Wars and The Godfather more than I can reasonably count.  There are days when nothing but a scary, or violent movie will

The concept of "the other" is something that is studied in school in history, sociology, literature, psychology and a whole bunch of other fields.  I don't remember ever hearing about it until I was an undergrad in Mayaguez majoring in Political Science.  At that time, a Puerto Rican studying at one of the campuses of the University of Puerto Rico (the best one, btw) it was hard to feel my "otherness".  In the only way I could truly relate was in being female in a male centric world, especially in such a sexist Latin society.  Alas, I was a feminist.  Really, my brother would say I was a femi-nazi because I was a bit extreme at times, I admit it. Later, when I moved to Georgia I realized what it really meant to be "the other".  All of a sudden I was considered "a minority" because I was Hispanic, something I never really had to face before.  It is not like I sat around thinking about it.  Truth be told with a name like Lisa, and such fair s