The Gonzalez Family

This weekend is the first weekend in a while where we have nothing planned. I'm excited to have some time to just hang out with Israel and relax! We're not apart very often and I missed him a lot last week when I was gone on my business trip to Boston and New York for five days. I love coming home to my hubby after a busy day at work like today (it was a crazy week). He always gives me a big hug and reminds me what's most important in life and it makes it all worth it. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing husband!!

This weekend I got to spend some time with my niece and nephew in New York City. My nephew, Owen, was so curious about the baby in my tummy and he constantly wanted to talk to the baby and hug and kiss the baby. It was sooooo adorable. On Sunday morning, I was reading a book to Owen and Emma called "Baby On the Way." In one part of the book it says that when you hug your Mommy, you are also giving the baby in her tummy a hug. I decided to insert "Auntie Melissa" where is said Mommy in the book and Emma stopped and decided that she needed to give the baby in my tummy a hug right then. She and Owen gave me a big hug around my tummy and it was so cute. Owen kept asking me when the baby was going to come out and Celeste and I kept telling him that he would be coming after Christmas. I'm so glad that I got to spend a few days so that they could get to know their "Auntie 'Lissa" better. :-) I'm hoping that I'll be able to go back for a v...

I was traveling for business in Boston and New York this week so I decided to spend the weekend with my brother James and his family in Manhattan. I don't get to see them very often so it's been fun!

So I saw this website where you can check how many people have in the U.S. have your name. According to www.howmanyofme.com, only 71 people in the U.S. have the name Israel Gonzalez. I wonder how many people in South America have that name? Only 49 people in the U.S. have the name Melissa Ransom compared to 1,171 who have the name Melissa Gonzalez. It's based off the U.S. data but the website disclaimer says this information is for entertainment purposes only. Israel is convinced that the website data is totally wrong.

This year will be the first year in 12 years that I haven't attended the RNC convention in person. I went to the 2000 convention in Philadelphia and I was about 25 feet away from President George W. Bush when he accepted the nomination. I also went to the 2004 convention in New York City and dragged Israel there with me when we'd only been married for about a month. We went for two nights and were there when Arnold Schwartzenagger spoke, which was pretty cool. I am a little sad that I'm not there this year, but it was too hard with the pregnancy to take off an entire week of work. I also wasn't too excited about the nominee or the location this year. (If Mitt Romney had been the nominee I definitely would have gone). I know I would have loved to be there and I would have especially loved to hear Sarah Palin speak. So far I have been very impressed with her and I think it's exciting that we have a woman VP candidate (especially one who is not Hilary Clinton). ...