Everybody Loves Baby

10 tips for traveling abroad with young kids

by Ailen Arreaza on January 24, 2013 at 9:20AM

We traveled to Spain over the holidays with my mother. Here are 10 things I learned about traveling across the globe with two young children:

"Mami, you forgot to pray for the man with the gun"

by Ailen Arreaza on December 20, 2012 at 3:43PM

I don't even know where to begin. Ever since I heard about the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, I've been vacillating between anger and despair, relief and helplessness, heartbreak and confusion.

The "magic" of Christmas

by Ailen Arreaza on December 5, 2012 at 4:04PM

As a mom trying to raise honest, kind and caring children, there is no time of year more conflicting for me than Christmas. Last year, I paid Target $30 for The Elf on the Shelf so that I could orchestrate an elaborate lie for Luki.

And still, we give thanks

by Ailen Arreaza on November 22, 2012 at 9:46AM

Whenever I see ads for Black Friday on television, I feel sick to my stomach - and not only because America's consumerism disgusts me. Black Friday has a very negative connotation for me. On Black Friday three years ago, my father had an accident that resulted in his death. It was, by far, the darkest day of my life.

Dear Luki and Pau,

by Ailen Arreaza on November 9, 2012 at 10:08AM

President Barack Obama was just re-elected. That means he will lead our nation until 2016 and you boys will be 7 and 4 by the time his second term ends.

Does this person look like twenty-nine year old mother of two to you?

On turning 29

by Ailen Arreaza on October 30, 2012 at 9:39AM

If I were to ask Luki three times in the same day what he wants to be when he grows up, it's likely that I'll get three different answers — Fireman! Drummer!

Sons, Malala, and the binders full of women

by Ailen Arreaza on October 18, 2012 at 12:25PM

Ever since I heard about Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban for defending her right to an education, I have been thinking about the daughter I didn't have. It's no secret that, at the beginning of my pregnancy with Pau, I was hoping for a girl.

Kids and politics

by Ailen Arreaza on October 8, 2012 at 8:55AM

My ever increasing obsession with the presidential election and profound dislike of Mitt Romney led me to make a parenting decision this week which — after much thought and consideration — I’ve concluded to have been a poor one. I attempted to explain the difference between the candidates to my 3-year-old and in doing so told him that Romney was not nice and didn’t like to share.

A good one

by Ailen Arreaza on September 25, 2012 at 12:39PM

I’ve known it from the beginning. It was maybe our third or fourth date.

No sleep till... who the hell knows?

by Ailen Arreaza on September 19, 2012 at 1:37PM

It’s been a rough couple of nights at the Arreaza household. Luki has a sinus infection that keeps him up at all hours of the night coughing, and Pau has recently figured out how to roll over onto his back, a skill he only likes to practice between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.

Creative Loafing Charlotte