What a great year! Worthy of being in VH1′s “Best Year Ever” episode. I got promoted at work, bathed in 9 different beaches, become closer with my family, closer with friends, and received the gift of creating life: my little lady, Seanna Sofia.

She’s so beautiful. So adorable. So gentle. Tender and sweet. Just like the flesh that made her and carried her in her womb. I love how she smiles in her sleep, how she opens her mouth wide and closes her eyes when she yawns, how she makes sounds like a kitten when she cries — But I’m getting ahead of myself.

So let me start with the first day, January 1, 2009. Man, what a party! What a crazy youth-spirited reckless night! What loss of control, what disregard for the norm of society. It was fun. To be careless one last time. To sing along songs, out loud; to dance like a high schooler, raising a glass of champagne to love and life, and bring in the new year one last time without second thoughts, toasting along friends and my beloved Monica. Aniceto and Jose, Primo Productions, you are to blame for such madness. And that was it. No more partying like a rockstar. We felt that it was not for us anymore.

As far as getting the new year started, Bianca, Monica and I went snowboarding and man it was about 75% torture and 25% fun. We ended up on the ground so many times that I felt I had bursted an instestine. We hit the ground so hard so many times that even though we had gotten the “All Day” pass until 10PM, by 5PM we couldn’t get up anymore. When we fell, it took us a good 5 minutes of just laying there, motionless, groaning, gathering strength to get back up. The problem was that when we went, even though it was cold, it wasn’t snowing. Instead of snow, there was ice on the slopes. It was basically trying to snowboard on frozen concrete. Looking back, I don’t think it was the determination to master the bunny slope that kept us there, it was plain masochism. This was just plain painful. I wish we could have made it to the regular “grown up” slope though, but we’ll shamefully admit that the Bunny Slope punished us so bad we got scared. After we left, Bianca looked like she had gotten in bar brawl, Monica looked like she had married a wifebeater, and I, well, I still looked good.

In February, we visited our good friends Yazmine and JP in Puerto Rico. We really enjoyed our stay with them and got to visit different parts of the island. I had many times seen the sun at sunset, but never actually sat down to contemplate it and enjoy it. When we visited Dorado, we did exactly that. And it was beautiful. It was an orange reddish circle with a soothing glow, slowly being swallowed by the dark sea and the endless dance of the waves. I wrote about this beautiful experience here. We also got to visit hidden coastlines and experience Puerto Rico underwater; we went Scuba diving in La Parguera, a diving spot where you can supposedly spot whale sharks during their migration. Unfortunately, we were a day late. The guides said they had seen a 40 foot whale shark the day before. What a disappointment Puerto Rico was a lot of fun and its waters hold a special place in our heart since that’s where Seanna’s nickname “Sirena” came from. I was going to write about our scuba diving experience but didn’t get to it because Monica surprised me with the news that she was with child. I won’t be able to finish the second half of our Puerto Rico experience, but below are some videos and pictures we took of our dive trip. Although it was nice and full of corals, we were disappointed that there were very little fish. Weird.

Video of Scuba diving. From getting into the water, diving to bottom, seeing the “wall of corals”, to getting back on boat:


In May, I traveled to my native Nicaragua, for the weekend yet again. I went because it was little cousin’s time to shine in her coming-of-age tradition of having a Quinceanera party (Sweet 16, except over there is Sweet 15). This was the first time in decades that my mother, brothers and I travel together to Nicaragua. It was a great time to spend it with my father, Robert, and just kick it like the old days when I was a young lad. Going back had an unexpected sense of awakening deep inside me somewhere. It was the first time that I actually took notice that the hands of time labor without rest. Others around me had grown up, kids I used to know are now teenagers. The adults were now elderly. Some of them walked with dimmed eyes, some sat long silent hours contemplating their surroundings with their white hair and wrinkles lines that seem to creep slowly across their faces like somber cracks on a dry river. As for my beloved father Robert, you can tell that time has put a slight hesitation in his step. His tone of voice is more moderate. His eyes had more depth, more intensity and a subtle mystery about them; they reminded me of a deep dark lake with a tranquil surface that only left to the imagination the currents that lie beneath.

I had one of those heart to heart talks with him one day. One of those conversations without barriers, walls, or shame, where you could be as transparent as day and that you knew your way of thinking would change. With an obvious passion, he spoke to me of what it is to be family man. What it is to love. What it is to be a father. He spoke of his defeats, his glories, his experiences that life had dealt him, how he reacted, what he would have done different, what he did right. I now realize that he no longer saw me as the little “cabeza de choza” (“straw hut head”, the nickname he had given me as a child due to my blonde straw-looking hair and the style to go with it). I was no longer a kid in his eyes. We spoke like men. We spoke of adult subjects. I listened to him knowing that I, a naive being, haven’t lived enough, haven’t seen enough, have trials and battles ahead of which I don’t yet know or am not prepared for, needed to absorb the wisdom being passed from a generation of heartache and hard earned success. I stopped seeing myself as the little kid I saw myself as when I was around him. The ocean that divided the adult world from children, was crossed and I felt that I had eaten from a tree of knowledge. I realized that “When I grow up” was here, in the now. Gracias Robert.

As most of you know, our wedding anniversary is the 4th of July. Since Monica was 6 months pregnant and the outlook for a future vacation seemed doubtful, we decided to make our 1st year Anniversary a “Babymoon” (it’s like a honeymoon, except it’s taking a vacation with a pregnant chick. Actually, formally, it’s when you take a vacation so that the future momma could relax before the baby comes. I didn’t know such word existed either until Monica told me). So we decided that we would go to Jamaica mon! Not just that, we would go with Dan and Carolina as well, since they also celebrate their anniversary in July. It was a fun experience as my brother from another mother, Dan, and I pretty much drove the women crazy. This guy Dan is really like my long lost clone, except he’s white and a redhead, but we pretty much think the same way and act the same way — except Monica says I’m louder. I meant to write a dedicated blog about this trip but man, with extra hours at work, extracurricular activities and a pregnant chick at home, it was hard and I never got around to it.

There’s not much to say about this trip. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Montego Bay and the food sucked. I hate bacon but it seems that it was the only edible thing in this “All inclusive” resort. Jamaica itself was the bee’s knees. The beaches were pretty cool. The locals were natural born sales people that ended every sentence with a smile and “Respect Mon.” We visited the famous Dunn River Falls, where Carolina saved my teeth from being shattered on a rock when I slipped, by heroically sacrificing her shins to cushion my fall. I left teeth mark on her shin. Although my mouth was bleeding, I was happy I still had my teeth. Thank you Caro! After the Falls we went to lay out at the beach in Ocho Rios and had to deal with the constant barrage of beach/street vendors that kept approaching us to sell us handcrafts — while some from far away kept asking us with hand signals if we wanted to try some of Jamaica’s best known export, weed. We also visited Negril’s Seven Mile Beach where we hung out at Margaritaville and had El Presidente Margaritas and Red Stripe beer, the official Jamaican beer. One of the most awesome experiences we had was when we went to Rick’s Bar where we did some heavy duty, ball-busting, stomach wrenching cliff diving. Also, one night we went to Margaritaville near our Hotel and after a drink or two or more (I don’t remember), Dan and I decided to leave the ladies at the bar and go jumping in a trampoline that was about 50 feet away in the ocean. It was a crazy idea since we had to swim to it, it was raining, and it was the middle of the night. The ladies were hating on us for the rest of the night. This was the firs time that our charm didn’t work. But looking back, it was awesome. Oh, and we also when “Gondola” riding (more like a raft) on the oh so relaxing and very peaceful Martha Brae river. This river was so quiet, so relaxing, so awesome. In Montego Bay, we did find “Doctor’s Cove” which offers some of the best snorkeling in the caribbean. Overall, the experience was fun, but I doubt that we would go back. Did I mention the food sucked?

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And then came August. Monica was 7 months pregnant and that meant that it was time to throw a babyshower. I took charge and assembled the finest Babyshower committee ever assembled. These ladies were hardcore to the teeth. They planned, worked, sweated, cooked, cried, had a Wet T-Shirt contest, and gave it all they got; minus the T-Shirt contest.

Soon after the babyshower, I got traumatically injured. I tore my ACL, Meniscus and sprained my MCL. I had surgery in December and am now recovering through painful physical therapy. Monica really kept her end of the bargain when she vowed to love me “in sickness and in health”. Right after the surgery I couldn’t move my leg at all, was drugged up on Percocet 24hrs a day for the first few days and couldn’t do anything at all. If I wanted to get out of bed, she had to pick up my leg and carefully place it on the floor. She was taking care of me and the baby at the same time. She said she felt like a “single mother of twins”. Thank you Love for being a great wife and mother! I’m now walking with a limp, but it’s becoming less and less every week. I can’t wait to be able to run. I’ve gain 12 lbs since I’m not exercising and am eating my blues away.

Aside from the trips mentioned above, we also took two trips to North Carolina this year. We went to Myrtle Beach in May and then to the Outer Banks in September. This where we met Jeff, whom Mari fell head over heels and became obsessed for. Jeff is a pretty cool guy who gave me the shirt of his back when I broke my finger (to use it as an ice bag). And he also fought the good fight with us when we got flooded in the OBX. On top of that, he rocks out to Guitar Hero and watches my back in Call of Duty. So yeah Jeff, welcome to the family. Propose to Mari already and get her outta the house. (Just kidding Mari, you know we love you… sort of..)

Then came October 27th. As much of a cliché as it may sound, it was the greatest day of my life. Seanna has unlocked the tenderness that waited in us, for her.. and we soak her in our love.. holding her with such gentleness as if she were to break with the wrong stare, or vanish without our arms enfolding the soft grape that is her skin. There’s an abundance of joy that she has brought to our lives. We are enjoying everything: from the random giggles that resonate in our minds when we are at work, the baby rolls that makes us just want to smother her with kisses, to even the sleepless nights when the lullabies, constant holding, rocking and soothing hymns momma hums cannot keep her beautiful almond-shaped, dark eyes from staring back at us. Or the way her tiny hand wraps my finger like a coil on a tree. And when she smiles, oh when she smiles, that smile that I know in my heart she has specially reserved for me, I feel like lifting her along with me, lifting her above the heights that she takes me. Seanna, my little Seanna, you are as radiant as the snow that whitens the night. Mi pequena Sirena, you have brought to our lives an implacable sweetness that we did not know, had never touched, but had long sought. The two of us had to unearth our bodies, ripping our flesh until linking our souls: this is where we found you. You, my little angel, my little princess. In you we find the love that we share, the purpose for our lives and an indescribable joy-filled madness that comes with parenthood.

Parenthood so far has been filled with the constant euphoria of discovering something new about her. At first, we would think it was awesome for her to just stare at us. Then we would discover her making her sweet gentle baby noises in her crib while “talking” to her toys. Now we know that she recognizes us by smiling whenever she sees us. We are that stage where she’s trying to sit on her own and is constantly talking (baby noises) and asking for attention. I can’t wait until she’s actually reaching for me with her tiny arms.

A result of Seanna’s arrival, we have been hit with “Collateral Blessings”: our friends and family. We feel truly blessed with the support, attention and love that our little Seanna has received. We must thank you all for the support, love and prayers that you have offered all of us. We are truly blessed.

Since Seanna’s birth, that’s pretty much what has had us occupied. She has brought both of our families closer. Alvin and Richard are very proud uncles. The ladies are very proud grandmas/aunts. And so November and December, we spent the holidays with the families and Seanna as the main attraction. We are very excited for what the future holds now that we have joined the parents club. We ended the year in big contrast than the year before. We held a small get together at our crib with family, Karen, John, Bianca and Ronnie joining us to start the year.

We are definitely looking forward to the new surprises and blessings that come along every year. And new discoveries that our little angel has hidden for us…

Best.
Year.
Ever.