June 1st

I can't believe it is already June! Ramy is happy we are home, but he has been quiet too. I think Ramy isn't too thrilled with being back in Pomona. He loves the commute, that's for sure, but his courtroom experience isn't as good as it was in Norwalk. He's also been very worried about his dad. Fred had to go back to the hospital last week for another blood transfusion. It is a terrible thing to see the shell of a person who was so full of life merely just existing now and having no pleasure in anything. It makes me so sad for Rebecca that she won't ever get the opportunity to have grandfathers. My dad and Ramy's would have both been such fabulous men in her life, and she was cheated out of both of them. And while she will know them through the stories we tell (and also because Ramy and I both have a lot of qualities of each of our fathers), it isn't the same as having memories with them. But I'm thankful that they both did get to meet our Rebecca.

Yesterday morning, we got up and ate breakfast at Chick-Fil-A and then walked around at the new Shoppes At Chino Hills, an outdoor mall that just opened blocks from our house. Only about half the stores are open yet, and none of the restaurants are open yet. I'm so excited that I'm going to have a Panera Bread just down the street! Equally as exciting is the fact that we now have our very own Trader Joe's, so I can buy Rebecca's Cat Cookies, cereal bars, whole fillet fish sticks (I'm completely repulsed by the fact that most fish sticks are "minced fish pieces"), tortellini, cheap organic whole milk yogurt, cheap organic eggs, steel cut oatmeal, and all their yummy salads, nitrate-free deli meats, pizza dough, cheeses, and scones for us. They always have such awesome meats and dinner options that are so different from regular grocery store fare, plus their prices are much cheaper than Henry's or Whole Foods ("Whole Paycheck") and they actually have a broader selection of most things. They also have really cheap good wine (apparently), but we're not vinophiles, so it just comes in handy for my beef stew recipe.

Anyway...

In the afternoon, Ramy took Rebecca with him to take Myrna and Jessica to the train station and then to visit his mom. While they were gone, I got all three suitcases completely unpacked and everything put away. Woot! Last night, we went to Costco and then on a search for some new outdoor patio furniture. Then we got takeout from Johnny Carinos, and Ramy and I had to have the discussion about whether I ever order anything except lasagna (yes, I do, but it is rare) and why that is (why mess around with a good thing?).

This morning, we went to mass at 7:30. We decided that we would start sitting in the cry room. We've avoided it thus far, because at the later masses, it is a disorganized chaos that is headache-inducing, but it works out nicely at the early mass, because there aren't that many of us with little kids who get up and out that early in the morning. Since Rebecca can get loud much faster and more unexpectedly and has become really interested in exploring everything, we thought the cry room would make mass a less stressful experience for all of us and allow both of us to sit through the whole mass. It was a success! Rebecca enjoyed being able to sit right next to us and read her book and play and walk around more than she can in the sanctuary. Then we got bagels after church and read the newspaper, then went to buy the patio furniture we had decided upon.

Ramy had his 3rd degree ceremony for the Knights of Columbus this afternoon, so he went to Fontana for that. Rebecca and I hung out at home and made birthday cards and watched a marathon of Season 1 of The Bachelor. I'm a little embarassed to admit that, except for the fact that there really was nothing else on television, and I have to have something mindless while I'm folding laundry. I also edited some case closure reports for one of my students and finished scoring the Luria Nebraska. When Ramy came home, we went to Toys R Us to get Rebecca a water table to play with in the back yard and grabbed some quick fast food for dinner. Then we all hung out in the back yard on our new outdoor furniture, while Rebecca pointed out the rabbits and birds that she saw. Oh yes, our mourning doves that had nested in our wreath outside my kitchen window have had their two little babies. Our front porch is off limits to visitors, because we haven't wanted to disturb them, but it has been nice hearing their cooing so much.

Ramy was snacking on some blackberries, and he gave some to Rebecca. At first, she took a few seconds to decide whether she liked it or not, because it was a novel taste, but then her eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Mmmmmmmm!" and proceeded to help him polish off the rest of the container of blackberries. She is such a little mimic; it is so cute and funny. She had fallen in love with a Little Golden book of baby animals at my mom's house, so it came home with us. She and my mom had looked at it a lot in the car when we were there, and my mom would point out the animals and tell her the animal sounds. At church, Rebecca was "reading" the book and when she flipped to the page with the baby lion, she looked up, grinned and said, "Rahhhhhrrrrr!" Mother did the sounds for baby cows, baby chickens, kittens...what does Rebecca decide to imitate? The lion! She's a dramatic one, my Rebecca is! Above are a couple of pics of us this morning before church.

Now we're just relaxing and preparing for the week.