Victoria Marie - 7 months old

I took some time this morning to shoot a few pics of her.. It's amazing how much she changes every day; sometimes I feel like I am missing out on a lot of it by being at work and not with her.

She is an active, determined, observant, demanding, affectionate, energetic, sweet little 7-month old.. She is our Victoria..

Walk for Will

Another year went by... Lots of change... But, do we know more about Autism, its causes or its cure? Not really. Why? I don't know.

Is Will still Autistic today? Yes, he is. But, is he doing better because of what we know that does work, such as therapy, special school, structured play etc.? Yes, he is. Knowledge is power.

No matter how long it takes, we can't stop asking questions or give up; we have to fight for answers and demand information in order to help ensure that our children get a chance at life that we all refer to as "normal."

Autism Speaks is the largest national organization that has been instrumental in helping parents, researchers, teachers and communities find answers to many questions. But, there's a long way to go. As far as I am concerned, we just recently started this life-long journey, but we have to stay focused on its mission and course for as long as it takes.

Join me on October 22, 2011 in Washington DC for an annual walk to raise Autism awareness and funding and to Walk for Will. Your participation and donations will go a long way, so please visit my page by clicking here. I believe in it. Do you?

Thank you.

San Francisco Dream

It's been more than a year since our trip to San Francisco, and I am just getting to blog about it. The truth is that I'd always wanted to go to San Fran, so I was super psyched when I had enough United miles to book two free round trip tickets for August 2010. I had made lots of plans and had super high expectations - why wouldn't I?

... and, then I got pregnant.

I was in my first trimester and super sick and tired when it was time to travel. Rescheduling the trip was not an option as I thought that somehow I would be able to shake it off.

Wrong. You can't shake off pregnancy. Maybe the flu or a cold, but not a pregnancy. It not only penetrates your entire body and mind, it temporarily changes you as a person. You literally have zero control over your body and mind, even if going to San Francisco has been your dream.

So, the sad reality is that the trip wasn't what I wanted it to be: I fell asleep on the tour bus and missed half of the sightseeing tour, I threw up at the Golden Gate bridge, and slept for 16 hours at the hotel after the trip to Alcatraz. Poor Ed... He wanted to do stuff, but he never complained once. He wanted to ride a trolley, but we didn't because I didn't want to..

But, we did manage to do some things: we walked the streets of San Fran quite a bit, compared to our typical non-walking life style. We visited Alcatraz, we ate out at some cool (and pricey!) restaurants, we went to China Town (and had some strange and not very appetizing Chinese food), and went on a San Francisco Dinner & Dance Cruise, which was wonderful. We were in San Fran for only 3.5 days (long weekend), so there was only so little we could do.

After we got back to DC, we decided that we will definitely go back. There is so much to see, including Sonoma! It's definitely a trip that couples should do sans children, so I’ll keep on dreaming of San Francisco in the meantime :-)

I brought along my Canon SLR but I didn't take many pictures for the reasons mentioned above. Below are the ones that I am not too embarrassed to show.

True Friendship Grows Stronger Overtime...