My "get out of jail free" card

That is what Gabe is in this crazy country. I have previously discussed how being pregnant got me to the front of the line at grocery stores and banks. It gets better! Last Friday Mario, Gabe and I went to Buenos Aires for an appointment at the US Embassy to get his citizenship and US passport. While we were there, we decided to take care of his Argentine passport because if you do the paperwork in BA it takes about a month to get a passport. If you do the paperwork in Rosario, it takes 4 months. Go figure. Anyway, we got to the national passport center at 8:30am, and Mario tells me to go in carrying Gabe in my arms so someone will take pity on me and give me priority. No need! There was a whole special room to process passports for women with babies and old people, with NO LINE! We processed all his paperwork, took his photo, got his fingerprints taken (crazy to stamp that little tiny finger) and were out of there in half an hour. It was an amazing experience in my life.

Basically NOTHING in this country is easy or efficient. I still haven't gotten my own national identity document (follow-up to previous post, the first time I went to the office they were on strike, when I went back I was told that even though they are open until noon, I must come before 10am to request an appointment, I have my appointment in August, their first available...) and with a mere two visits to the DMV equivalent, am no where near getting my driver's license. So needless to say I was completely blown away at how simple and fast this was.

They say that is a true sign of a 3rd World country, that all resources go to the capitol and the rest of the country is left lacking...
Gabe's US passport photo. He has officially been granted US citizenship and I should be receiving his US birth certificate and passport within 3 weeks.

It was such a beautiful day that we walked around Parque Palermo - which is the Argentine equivalent of Central Park. It's truly beautiful, this picture does not do it justice. Of course Gabe was well protected from all external elements. I actually think we were cooking him in there, but there is a great fear of children getting cold in this country....

As a nod to the good taste of Ashley and Mindy, we stopped by Un Altra Volta for ice cream. Well worth the visit...

Blog-worthy??

I have noticed there is great liberty in what is considered blog-worthy, but I will contribute the following hoping my loyal readers find it as entertaining as I did!

Blog-worthy comment: My nephew Franco was at my house the other day, and I was talking to the baby in English. Franco looks at me and says "aunt, but the baby can't understand English!" Silly me, I was not aware that babies born in Argentina understand Spanish, not English!

Blog-worthy happening: The other night I handed the baby and his pijamas to Mario and told him it would be most helpful if he couldn't put the baby's pijamas on while I tidied up, and then I would nurse him and put him to sleep. Mario is very careful and precise in all things, and that combined with a fear that he will hurt the baby, and the fact that he was watching some kind of sporting event on television at the same time (any event involving a ball is carefully monitored in our household) means he is not particularly quick when changing the baby. After a few minutes, he called my into the room urgently to see something, and when I arrived he pointed out a significant amount of liquid in Gabe's ear. I asked Mario if that came out of his ear - thinking Mario had spit a fine stream of water, as his is known to do at me. But I didn't see any beverages present, and Mario seemed slighlty alarmed. So I start poking about, notice sprinkles of water on the changing pad beside his head...feeling a stream of water across his clothing, and ask "how long was he without his diaper on???" Yes, Gabe had peed lying down, so it shot straight up and landed in his ear as he was looking sideways... Mario claimed this means he should no longer be allowed the change the baby as he is not very good at it. I told him it just means he needs more practice.

Food is LOVE

Think of those times when the food is so amazingly delicious, that you can't stop eating. And you probably made the mistake of drinking soda so your stomach is way too full of bubbles but you HAVE to eat the rest of that chocolate molten cake including licking the plate because the chocloate slowly disolving on your tongue and seeping into your tastebuds is too amazing to give up. And then you want to burst. Apparently this is what I'm doing to my first born approximately 7 times a day.

Gabe has been experiencing prolific growth. At his five week check-up he weighed 10 lbs. 2 oz. and has grown 1.5 inches. But lately he has also been vomiting back up at least a third of what he eats. Because this is Argentina, everyone has a theory they all too glady pronouce as fact.

• He has a cold and he is getting out the mucus in his stomach
• He has an alergy to your milk
• You are eating things he doesn't like and need to eat only clear soups and mashed potatoes until you figure out the problem.

I talked to my pediatrician and he sent me to an infant digestion specialist. Today we visited the specialist and in the three days since my last dr. visit Gabe has gained an additional 7 ounces. He also puked several times in her office, which was fantastic because don't you hate it when the problem disappears when the doctor is present?? She asked me how much I feed him - approximately 25 minutes on each side, or 90 ml when I give him a bottle. After about 10 minutes of chatting, she diagnosed him: "you child is WAY over fed". He sucks because the action is comforting but his stomach can't handle it so it comes back up. And for him to vomit that much, and still gain weight at a rate of twice the average, I am feeding him approximately 3 times what he needs.

So now I can only feed him 7-10 minutes on each side...or if the vomit doesn't bother me evidently it isn't really harming him so I can continue to teach him to eat for comfort and with a little luck he'll have the same eating disorders as the rest of us!

Gabe and me in our matchy-matchy stripes.

Lindsay is playing a game with Gabe whose purpose is to see who can open their mouth the widest. Gabe accompanied his expression with loud wails to protest Lindsay leaving, and in that I joined him.

What, you want my opinion??

I'm not going to lie, I really love Subway, as in the chain of sandwich shops. I realize it is not on the same plane as The Italian Store in Arlington, or Delmonico's in Danville, but there is just something about a whole lot of filling options that are almost as readily available as McDonalds. We got our first Subway here in Rosario about a year ago, and I rushed home in euphoric joy to tell Mario about it. He didn't understand, but he pretended to be excited for me. There are now two Subway Sandwich shops here in Rosario, and I frequent them.

On mine and Lindsay's first afternoon without our spouses, we of course took a cab all the way across town to eat at Subway. As we were savoring our deli meats, a man approached us and asked where we were from. Now, even though he was effectively demonstrating the amount of time he spends in the gym with his form fitting Subway polo shirt and and equally form fitting slacks, I was suspicious. For some reason it really annoys me that I am always considered a foreigner, an outsider. I live here - leave me alone! However, he then asks a magic, attitude transforming question, "Can I get your opinion?" Finally, someone wants my well-formed and most important opinion on how they should run their business! Jessica assumes everyone wants to hear what she has to say. I think they should want to hear what I have to say. Needless to clarify, I was delighted to share my opinion that more filling options, more flexible workers, and refillable fountain drinks would make all the difference in their business plan.

I have no photos of our Subway visit, but a blog without photos is rather boring so here are other recent random shots.

Cute Gabe today in a rare moment of wakefulness.

Us forcing his new toys upon him.
Looking very handsome in his outfit from Grandma Pat.

Matt is an ardent Suns fan. Mario loves the Spurs. Mario decided to twist the knife a little and welcome Matt with the above display in our entry way.
Matt and Lindsay at the monument to the flag.
We visited again at night to see the new lights on the monument in honor of Flag Day, which was a couple of weeks ago, and Independence Day, which is today.
Gabe looking very serious.

Changing of the Guard

Last week Matt and Lindsay arrived, and my mom left. My mom leaving was terrible. Her last night at my house I sat on the couch with her and just cried. In part because she was the most amazing help ever, and in part because I hate that Gabe doesn't always get to have her around, she is the best grandma ever, and I'm sure also in part because I am not entirely emotionally stable these days...

We traveled to Buenos Aires last Monday to meet Matt and Lindsay and spent some time touring around until Tuesday late afternoon when she headed to the airport and we headed back to Rosario. Above we are at the Recoleta Cemetery.
Here we are at a mall - I needed retail therapy to help me get over my mom leaving, and we are having an incredibly cold winter making outdoor activities (meaning shopping in boutiques instead of malls) impossible.

Here I feel the need to put a disclaimer about my chubbiness. I know this is ridiculous and vane, but as Celia so insightfully pointed out, blogs are all about old acquaintances looking you up to see if you've gained weight. Let's just say that this photo is a bad angle, I don't look that bad in real life. Or maybe the last picture in this entry is what Paul Harvey likes to call the rest of the story...

Gabe has been doing lots of bonding with Aunt Lindsay, who currently holds rank as favorite Smart aunt, but Ashley, Allison and Misty can still be in the game with visits or more gifts! :)

Meeting Uncle Matt.

The carnage after our fantastic meal at a steak house in Buenos Aires. We don't know why, but they kept giving us free food - two entrees and champagne (which we had to politely refuse) to finish the meal. The best part is that each dish comes with 6 tiny side salads, plus an assortment of 8 more for the table - like a buffet but without the creepy feeling like you are sharing your fork with a stranger. It was delicious. Gabe had to take a bottle so I could concentrate on my food.

The Life Of A Narcoleptic

Most days, Gabe sleeps all day long.

Or yawns like he is incredibly sleep deprived.

Except for the hours between about 11 pm and 2 am, when he is wide awake, and fussy - meaning he likes to be walked around the house. It wouldn't be as bad if I could sit and read a book, but we have a 3 yard track between the living room and the kitchen and we circle it many times in those hours. Everyone keeps telling me to keep him awake during the day, but it is seriously impossible to wake this kid when he wants to sleep.

Swinging him around does no good.

Some days I just give up and we sleep together on the couch. I love taking naps with him, although admittedly they are not the most restful.

Grandma's Visit

I know I am in trouble for not posting for two weeks...but let's just say that never sleeping more than 3 hours in a row has caught up with me, and I am an exhausted waste. But here is a pictorial history of what we have been up to.

Mostly my mom sits holding the baby - and gets up in the night with him...

Me attempting to multitask so that I can do something besides feed during the day...
After church today.
Big eyes - still blue for now...
Angel Gabriel.

My dad combed my hair and you can see how I feel about it!

I'm so excited to be a fashion statement courtesy of Aunt Ashley and her extraordinary ability to buy me great clothes!!!

I took my nephews to this children's "city" where Tomas drove us to Buenos Aires where he told me he had to run errands but I could go shopping...
Mom and her gaucho boyfriend.