The Barrios: March 2010

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

An stressful morning....

Last night at work we were told that due to the snow, the office would might be closed on Wednesday, that they would update the "hotline status" at 5:30am on Wednesday. I went to bed thinking and wondering if we would be closed on Wednesday, I woke up at 4:15am, of course, called the hotline and it said "all offices are open for regular business", I tried to go back to sleep and it took me a while to finally fall back to sleep, I don't remember when I finally fall asleep the fact is that I slept in, I woke up at 7:30am (without planning on doing that), I jumped out of bed and called the hotline again, no change, "all offices are open for regular business", at that point, I knew that I had to hurry up to get out of the house as soon as possible and make it to work on time. Not only that I was under pressure because I was so limited on time but, Braiden woke up hysterical crying (for the second day in a row), he wasn't sick but, there was nothing that would make it stop crying, all the wanted to do was for me to carry him, of course I didn't do that because I was rushing, against my will I had to let me baby cry until he was done, which wasn't right away, I left the house and he was still crying.

Julio was out cleaning the snow (tons of it) and told me that he wasn't sure if his car would get stocked getting out of the driveway, he was able to drive it off the driveway and when I took my car out of the garage he put his inside.

I was so blessed to make it to work on time and with no problems, I was so happy that I was successful at driving my (I don't like driving on a snowy day and I'm not the best driving with ugly weather/road conditions, even though I've been in Colorado for 6 years, I'm not used to it, I'm so spoiled, Julio usually takes me everywhere where it is snowing). I got to work and the parking lot was almost empty, then I found out that two members of my team will be out (making that only 4 of us, counting on the other 3 being here). Not only that, my stress is not over yet, I'm still thinking if Julio will be able to make it to Claudia's house to drop off Braiden and then get to work, he is supposed to be at work from noon to 9:00pm.

Lets hope the rest of the day is better.

Take care and be safe!!

Claudia :)

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Braiden's 1st Birthday party!!

Braiden turned 1 on Saturday March 6th, 2010. For the past couple months, I was thinking Braiden's first birthday was fast approaching, I wanted to plan a special party to celebrate his birthday. I had no idea what the theme would be, where would the party take place, how would the weather be (since you can't never know in Colorado) but, everything started with an idea. I was talking to Alexandra and Amanda Leon to get their opinion about the party, they suggested that the party's theme be Yo Gabba Gabba since Braiden loves watching the show (the suggestion sounded great to me but, I had no clue who Yo Gabba Gabba was so, I started to goggle the show and met the characters).

Since that moment, they volunteered to help with anything they could do for me. Once I had the party's theme, I needed to decide where to have the party, Julio recommended to have the party at the Church's building so, I called to reserve it and the building was available so, then I knew for sure the party's location. Once I had the theme and the location, I made and sent out the invitations and thought that the rest will be the easiest. Of course, being busy with the daily routine (Braiden, work, the house chores, etc), I actually started making everything the week before the party.

This special celebration ended up being a combined effort/team work, Alexandra & Claudia made the cake (Alexandra was definitively prepared with the cake's design way in advance), Danielle assisted in making the t-shirts, Monica (my friend and manager picked up the piñata) and Julio helped me making the candy bags, center pieces, the set up and picking up the food. Alexandra and Amanda did a great with the set up and decoration of tables and building, and putting together the party hats and blowouts. Amanda also took the time to put together the music CD. The photographer Steve Allen (capturing the special moments and memories), Jill Moyer (cutting the cake and making sure everybody would get a piece) Thanks to all who participated and attended, Braiden's 1st birthday party was a success, everything worked out the way I wanted it.