The AM:

Get up, Iron, take the kids to school.

Get home, eat breakfast clean up a little, check the emails, go pick up the preschooler.

The PM

Get home feed the kids lunch, check email again.

Go pick up the pre-teen. Come back home and clean up again.

Start dinner, clean up again, homework, check email, clean up again.

Welcome hubby home, serve dinner, eat dinner, clean up again.

Bathe the little ones, tuck them into bed, and finally I sit on my nachas, open up my laptop cuz it’s…

LATISM time.

I look forward to Thursday nights all week long.  Every Thursday on Twitter (use the hashtag #latism),  I log on, and party with the many LatinosInSocialMedia. I heart this group.  Not only have I found a pretty cool way to spend my time (other than watching la tele) I have made great friends on there.  You will always find the ever so gorgeous host @ergeekgoddess there tweeting away with anyone who joins the fiesta.  If I can’t participate, I always try to sneak a peek at the paranda.  There are your regular party goers and almost every Thursdays, we get someone new. This is such and awesome group to join.  If you are Latino (or not) I invite you to come a join us for laughs, chats, music and lots of great friendships.  Each week they talk about something new.  Topics range from Finances to any issues that any Latino(a) may face.  Last week was in celebration for El Dia del Niño. Yesterdays party was all about the sad situation over in Arizona.

A little cachito about Latism:

We are the largest organization of Social Media profesionals of Hispanic origin.  Our members are bloggers, twitters, social network group leaders, e-commerce owners,  marketers and more.  Join the first LATISM Heritage Tour and directly connect with the Social Media influencers of the Hispanic community.  Whether you are a Latino in Social Media or a company that targets the Hispanic Market, this organization will bring you to the next level of connection. -Latism.org

Nos vemos el proximo Jueves en Twitter!!!! See ya next  Thursday over at Twitter!!!

I’ve had a cell phone without an actual keyboard for SO long, I found it a bit of a challenge to get used to pressing buttons. It’s not too small, and not too big.  I love the fact the the screen slides up to reveal the keyboard, then closes to cover it up.  It helps to keep little fingers from touching anything!

Another thing that did concern me was that the buttons are small (again, I may just have to get used to it).  I’ve had a Smart Phone (with no keyboard) for the past 2 years, so I have to acknowledge that the Palm Pre gives you the best of both worlds.  And that Amigas, is A-ok with me. It has a pretty good screen size, and the touch pad is easily managed…I like that.

In the following months, I will provide reviews on the many uses that the Palm Pre has to provide for us, the busy mom. If you already own a Palm Pre, let me know what you like or don’t like.  If you want to know about a certain app, that you would like for me to try out… leave a comment letting me know and we’ll try to check things out for you.  This is for you, my readers.

Some specs…

• Palm webOS™ platform
• Touch screen with slide out QWERTY keyboard
• Wi–Fi Ready (802.11 b/g)
• 3G Mobile Hot Spot Capable
• HTML Web Browser
• Palm Synergy™ –See contacts, calendars, or conversations from multiple sources in one view
• Memory: 16GB Flash/512 RAM
• Bluetooth® Wireless Technology–(V 2.1+EDR)
• Music Player for MP3, AAC, AAC+, WAV, AMR, QCELP
• Gesture area –enables simple, intuitive gestures for navigation
• Universal search –Automatically start searching the phone or the web just by typing on the keyboard
• Email –Exchange ActiveSync support for corporate email, as well as personal email support (Google push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP)
• Instant Messaging for Google Talk and AOL
• VZ Navigator^sm Capable
• Assisted & Standalone GPS
• View Microsoft Word, Excel®, PowerPoint®, and PDF documents
• Palm Over the Air Updates
• 3 Megapixel camera with flash
• Wi–Fi Ready (802.11 b/g)
• Music Player for MP3, AAC, AAC+, WAV, AMR, QCELP
• Download MP3’s from Amazon Music Store
• Speakerphone
• Total Equipment Coverage is Available

Stay tuned for more.

Disclaimer: I was contacted by Verizon Wireless to see if I wanted to review the Palm Pre Plus phone.  I accepted and received a phone to review for 6 months only.  Other than that, ALL these thoughts are my own.  They are in no way fabricated to promote the product. Other than getting a temporary phone, I am NOT receiving any kind of compensation.

Last week I was given the great honor of getting a virtual Easter basket.   I do have to say, that it’s the first Easter basket I get in a LOOOOONG time!

Virtual or not, me encanto!

It was sent to me by a very special blogger, that I met over twitter.  Janis of Sneak Peek at Me.  If you haven’t been to her blog, I strongly suggest you stop by after reading this post.  I am truly grateful to twitter, for introducing me to such a wonderful Latina Mami.  Gracias Janis!

Not only did she give me a cute canasta, it’s also for a good cause!  Hershey’s Better Basket is donating $10 to Children’s Miracle Network for each blogger who writes a post in support of giving. (You can see the details & rules here).

Without further ado… I would love to give this Virtual Easter Canasta to:

Silva~ Mama Latina Tips

Marcela~ Culture Mami

Aracely~ Daytripping Mom

Caryn~ Rockin Mama

and

Lisa~ Sabor a Cajeta

Ladies, thank you SO much for blessing my life with you encouraging comments and wonderful chats!

De todo corazon, Muchísimas Gracias!

HERSHEY’S BETTER BASKET BLOG HOP RULES

* Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.

* Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.

* Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.

* Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.

* Leave your link at BetterBasket.info/BlogHop comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop, and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.

* Hershey’s is donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written by April 4th, 2010).

* Please note that only one blog post by each blog url will count towards the donation.

Photo by me

We had the chance to meet and greet some of the pioneers behind the Chipmunks! Here we have Film producer Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., director Betty Thomas, Chipettes founder Janice Karman, and choreographer Rosero McCoy.

Photo by Fox Studio

They gave a short presentation on the history of the Chipmunks, and I couldn’t help but be flooded with lots of memories of my childhood.  I grew up watching the Chipmunks and the Chipettes.  Seeing how technology changed the way the cartoon series was, and how the movie is now, it’s truly amazing to see!

Aww, remember these?

Wow, I’m old…. lol                                                                      Photo by Fox Studio

They had great activities for the kids.  They got a chance to play Chipmunck Twister, paint their own Chipmuck T-shirts, and were even taught some of the dance moves by none other than choreographer Rosero McCoy! 

Yup, that’s my nena, dancing the day away!!!! (:

What a great way to celebrate the March 30th Blu-ray Disc and DVD release of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel than at the Fox Lot in Los Angeles .

As many of you know, I have 3 chiquillos.  I have an 11 year old, a 4 year old and a 3 year old.   With my 11 year old, I was a typical new Mamí.  I had the nursery all coordinated, the cutest maternity clothes, and the greatest baby showers.  I loved being pregnant for the first time.  Although, because of my heart condition, I was considered  “High Risk”, but other than that, my  pregnancy, labor and delivery were uneventful.  When the time came to decide if I was going to give Chi chi or Formula feed, the first thing that came out of my mouth was Chi chi!  I was dead set on BFing.  I had the nurse and Lactation Consultant come to my room and teach me all the trick to BFing successfully.  I was 22.  Breastfeeding  hurt.  It hurt like hell!  I couldn’t do it!  For the life of me, I couldn’t get over the pain of him latching on.  So, I gave up!  I tried to BF for 2 weeks.  From then on, he was on Formula.  Next: Jonah

Fast forward 7 years.  Yes, it took us 7 years to get pregnant again.  This pregnancy was the complete opposite of my first.  For the first 3 months I bled.  Then I got Gestational Diabetes,  went into Pre-term labor, and in the end the mocoso bouncing baby boy, ended up being breached.  C-section for me!  This time, since there was such a big age difference with the boys, I was even MORE determined to BF.  I had the nurse and Lactation Consultant come over and re-train me for BFing.  I gave it my best.  I really did.  It HURT!  I couldn’t do it… again! This time though, I decided to pump.  Oh yes!  I pumped for my nene.  For 1 whole year, I pumped every 2-3 hours. Day and Night.  My loving hubby, gave me the privilege of becoming a SAHM.  It was hard, but at least he was drinking my milk.  I loved it.  I didn’t have that special bonding time as other BFing moms do with their little ones, but I was satisfied with the fact that he was drinking my leche.  Next: Sarai

Sarai was a complete surprise.  I found out I was pregnant the day after Jonah’s 1st birthday party.  The little ones are 1 year and 9 months apart.  This pregnancy was somewhat normal.  Well, normal in the sense that I already knew what was going to happen.  I had No bleeding this time, but I knew I would get the GD, and surely I did.  Also, to my great joy, she was breached.  Yay, another C-section for me!  This time though, I did try to BF without the pump.  I tried, and failed! For 6 months I pumped.  In total, including my last pregnancy, I had been pumping for 1 year and 6 months.  By this time, I got tired from it and switched my Niña to formula.

I am A-Ok with all this.  I tried my best to BF directly from my chi chi, but it just wasn’t in the stars.  Now here is my dilemma….

Jeremiah was in such GREAT health.  He was rarely sick.  I think he was about  a year and a half when I had to take him to the ER for the first time.  Don’t get me wrong, I thank the Lord Almighty for that.  Jonah on the other had visited the ER 5 times in his first year.  He already broke an arm.  He just got over having Pneumonia.  He’s had more stomach “bugs” than I care for.  He’s thin.  For the longest time he had VERY thin hair.  He still has very thin, nappy hair…like me (:

Since starting Pre-school last September, he’s had more cold’s like you wouldn’t believe! Again, I thank Jesus that these are all just minor illnesses, but still… ya know?!?   Sarai is the same as Jeremiah.  She rarely gets sick. She’s strong and healthy. Her immune system is more resistant than Jonah.   She’s never had an ear infection (again, knocking on wood)!!

I do have to ask….Is breastfeeding really all that better?  Jeremiah was a formula baby.  Sarai was a halfer.  Jonah was a FULL BLOWN BF baby, yet he’s the one who gets sick ALL THE TIME!  What the heck, gives?!?  I complete support BF 100%.  But in the back of my mind, I always think of my kids.  Maybe it’s different with each kid?  Maybe I’m completely off my coco!?!  Maybe it’s an Asian thing, since Norman is Filipino.  I don’t know?

This is something that I wanted to blog about for a while.  If any of you have had this happen to you, let me know.  I would love to hear what you have to say.  I only know of 1 other person, this happens to.  She’s my best friend, with 3 kids also….

To Breastfeed, or not to Breastfeed… That amigas, is the question!