Christmas Wishes

I love Christmas cards, but for plethora reasons I did not send them this year. Please forgive me. The poor quality of the photos above can serve as partial explanation. So this will have to serve as our family Christmas card.

We have had a wonderful 2009, filled with many adventures and blessing, and we remain incredibly grateful to our fantastic families, amazing friends and our Heavenly Father for all that we have. We are looking forward to 2010 and hoping it brings visits from many of our loved ones that we don't see too often.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Adrianne, Mario, Gabe & Lucia

t

Snippets

I'm lacking the creative drive to turn any of these into an entire post on their own, so here are some snippets from our December.

Gabe has been invited to no less than 4 birthday parties in two weeks, and he has another one tonight. He likes the food, the games, the balloons and especially singing "Cumpleaños Feliz"...all as long as I am holding his hand.

In a young life highlight, the famed Alejandro came to babysit and he and Gabe show off their "Broken Jandros" together.

Gabe's preschool teacher plays the guitar and sings with them, and he has been asking for a guitar repeatedly. We finally made one out of a box and rubberbands. He loves it, but we'll have to see if Santa can upgrade it.
December 8th is the day of the virgin in Rosario, so no one has to work. We took advantage of Mario's mom being out of town and invited all our friends to her house to have an asado. Good thing Damian showed up to cook the meat!!

My friend Stephanie is pregnant so all the American girls (I like to refer to us as the Argentine sperm stealers) had a surprise baby shower for her. Cool shower games Janette planned: everyone brought a large bead and we each gave them to her with a wish and made a bead chain that she can then hold onto, throw across the room, whatever she wants during birth. We also planned to draw on her belly with henna, but we couldn't find henna here.

I made her a diaper cake with diapers, breast pads and enormous maxipads. Just trying to beautify the not so picturesque facts of childbirth! I went with Christmas theme b/c she isn't finding out the sex.

I think you're supposed to record your child's first bath. This is not her first, but the first one Mario was around to get a picture of.

She's chubbier and longer every day - she's already outgrown the sink!

Yeah for Carcinogen Spraying!!

We have a mosquito infestation here. Seriously. So. Bad. You can't open the doors to enter or exit without 50 flying in the house. Every night I walk around with the vacuum sucking them up (amazingly effective) and douse us all and Gabe's bed three times a day with Off! Lucia sleeps with a mosquito net over her bed.

The other day I was ranting (surprise surprise) that I couldn't believe the government wasn't fumigating. Especially since we have Dengue here. I don't know what I imagined spraying involved, but I certainly wasn't prepared for what I saw today: a pickup truck driving down the street with two guys and a tank in the back, letting out an enormous cloud of chemical smoke. It sprayed all over a huge crowd of people waiting for the bus! I was so confused it took me a few minutes to come to my wits and take out my camera to snap pictures while driving. I chased it for a few blocks trying to get a better picture but couldn't see well enough. This is about a block away.

And now it's raining so all the carcinogens released into the air are probably for naught.

Gabe's Preschool Graduation

Basically, that's what it was. They invite all the parents to come sit on tiny kid chairs for an hour, and try to get the kids to perform something. Then they call each kid's name and have them come to the front and get an evaluation and hug their teacher.

with teacher Fifi whom he LOVES

They had all the kids in another room, then they came out one-by-one and were supposed to jump in some circles then do a summersault. All while circus music was playing too loudly. Gabe came to the door, took one look at everyone, and turned and left only to return crying for us and refusing to participate. Some version of the same was repeated with every kid.

he kept tying to hug and kiss this girl, vicki.

While public performance is clearly not an achievement this year, he has learned to play with other kids, identify colors, count to three, learn body parts and relational words like front, back, up, down, and his verbal skills in both languages have exploded.

He had blood drawn that morning, and was way into showing off his new - real - injury (same girl).

He also apparently has learned to share, but pushes others "sometimes". There is a kid in his class that everyday he comes home telling me he has hit someone. I wonder if his evaluation says "sometimes" as well.

Injuries Make You Cool

About a week ago we saw my friend Susan's son Alejandro with a brand new cast - he had broken his wrist. Gabe was fascinated by it and examined it thoroughly. When I could finally tear him away, he didn't stop talking about "broken Jandro" and showing me his wrist and telling me that Alejandro hurt "un poquito". After several days of talking about it INCESSANTLY, I finally found an old Ace bandage of Mario's and asked Gabe if he wanted a cast too.

He loves it. He calls it his "broken Jandro". He wears it everywhere. It's been over a week and it hasn't lost it's lore.

10 Pounds of Love

who doesn't love a baby in a long nightie??

Yesterday marked one month of Lucia's life. I can't believe how the time has flown by. She has gained over two pounds and grown two inches, and she's my little doll. She's pretty colicky and still yellow so we took her to the doctor yesterday and they ordered a bunch of tests to find out what the problem is.

I had her head shaved when she was born (Argentine tradition, did it on a whim), and her hair is growing as fast as her body!! It must be something in the water here because I certainly contributed NO genetics for thick hair, and Gabe also has a TON.

She likes to sleep on her stomach and wakes up crying if I try to put her on her back or side.

She sleeps a lot and in that in-between stage from eating to sleeping she lies calmly in my arms and smiles and makes funny faces and I love it so much I sometimes forego my own sleep just to keep her little body next to mine and try to absorb every single second of her babyhood because I know it is so fleeting.

We're so in love with you our little Cia!!

Health and Happiness

In the LDS religion, new babies are given a special blessing by their fathers after they are born. Lucia Anne Resek was blessed on Sunday by Mario to have a life full of health and happiness. It was very sweet, for a very sweet little girl.

My mom and I made her dress together this past week. I love the way it turned out, and I love that I can some day tell her that it was a labor of love by her mom and her nana who love her so very much.

Crying, but best shot of the dress!

Susana's Surprise

Susana (my MIL) turned 70 today and we had a surprise party for her on Saturday. Here is the pictoral record.

Mario, my mom and I. Seriously could not have hosted a party less than a month after having a new baby if it wasn't for my mom's help!!

Lucia spent most of the party, dressed in her adorable party dress, sleeping in her bed.

Pictures at Last

I took a few pictures, then misplaced the camera for a few days, and finally found it today. So here are some pictures from the last 2 weeks.

I put this on her today because I love it and we made some new hairbows to go with it. Then we happened to have a "Traditions Day" activity at the church tonight and everyone complimented me for dressing her in the colors of the Argentine flag. I went with it and pretended I did that on purpose...

Hilarious Gabe, in his new sunglasses, admiring the nice card his cousins drew for him, ready to take a spin with papa in his new stroller, without clothes, at night. Nice.

Lucia working on her tan... or trying to get rid of her jaundice.

Lovely sleeping Cia (as Gabe calls her, and we like enough it may stick as her nickname.)

Smiling while snoozing.

Gabe and I playing around - and the face he makes when you tell him to smile.

Welcome to the World Baby Girl!!

The official story... Tuesday morning I woke up, took Gabe to preschool and went to my water aerobics class, where I proceeded to jump and run the entire time, instead of just taking it easy like I had been. I came home, and while getting ready for my regularly scheduled dr. visit, my water broke. I did what any normal woman would: finished my hair and makeup, called my mom, and then swept the floor and cleaned the bathroom to prepare for not being around for a few days. I then called my husband and we made arrangements for Gabe. He asked me how I was going to get to the hospital since I told him to wait, get Gabe from school and take him to his mother's house and then come, and I realized I probably shouldn't drive myself, so I took a taxi.

I got to the dr.'s office (it's in the hospital) at 11:30, he discovered I was dialated to a 5 and sent me down to a room to get hooked up to a monitor. He stopped by about 12:30, just as Mario got there, and I reported that I was having contractions about every 3-4 minutes, but they weren't painful yet. He said it would be a few hours, relax, he was going to lunch and would be back.

Mario and I hung out, he snacked on the sandwich he brought with him, my contractions progressed in intensity but nothing too bad. About 1:30 I was in a lot of pain and my Dr. was still gone (remember Argentine lunches are looooong) and I told the dr. on staff I wanted an epidural. She reported it was too late, the baby was coming. After an episode of howling and screaming that would have thrilled "the baby story" producers, Lucia was born at 2:03 pm, approximately 7 minutes after my dr. arrived.
They reported at birth that Lucia weighed 3 kilos 50 grams, which would be about 6 pounds 11 ounces. But at her control appointment 3 days later, after checking her on different scales, she weighed 3 kilos 500 grams, 7 pounds 11 ounces, and the ped said this had happened to her a couple of times lately and she thinks the scale in the delivery room is wrong. (all my dr. offices are in the hospital). So who knows what she weighed at birth. She is 19.7 inches long.

Gabe ADORES her. When he came to the hospital to see us I handed the baby to my niece so I could pay attention to him, and he would have none of it. He wanted mama to hold the baby. Here he is showing me how big his hands are and how small hers are. He is fascinated that she moves, and squeals and tells me every time she moves. He gives her all his best toys, usually on top of her head, and wants to hold her, love her, touch her eyeballs, pull her out of her chair to play with him, etc. I love that he loves her so much, but it's a bit exhausting trying to protect her.
We've also had a bit of drama the first few days of Lucia's life. First, the doctor heard a "wooshing" sound in her heart and sent for a cardiologist. We learned that Lucia has a very small hole in her heart, but apparently this is very common and will probably close on it's own. For now we've just been told to monitor it in 2 months. She's also had billirubina, which I guess is just jaundice but it's made her pink instead of yellow. This also isn't too serious, but it has meant regular return visits to get her blood drawn and see the dr, which have been time consuming and exhausting.

But she is a tiny, sweet bit of pure heaven and I don't want to put her down, even to sleep. Gabe was a baby on Monday, and now seems like a giant compared to her, and I am already panicked at how fleeting my time is with my newborn baby.

October Festivities

We've had a good month. And while I realize there is more of it left, I'm desperately hoping to be unavailable so I thought I should post now.

First, we celebrated my birthday. Apart from the Stake church activity I was in charge of, very nice, calm weekend with a pedicure, dinner at a fun new restaurant, and lots of desserts. Then a few days later I had a surprise baby shower (no camera, didn't know) and then the next day my American girlfriends treated me to lunch and more fun gifts (forgot camera, am a dork). Couldn't ask for more.Gabe LOVES to sing "cumpleaños feliz" to anyone who may or may not be having a birthday. He finishes it off by blowing/spitting. It's adorable, really.

Mario and I were in charge of the Halloween dance for the young adults at our church. I went with a sea theme for our costumes. Gabe repeated his turtle costume, Mario was a man-eating shark and I was a jelly fish with absolutely no padding in the middle of this costume. Apparently my costume ideas are a bit obscure because no one ever knows what we are until I explain. I guess next year I should just go as a witch! We danced all night trying to induce labor but it didn't work, I'm still pregnant.
Sunday was Mother's Day in Argentina, and here are my two favorite guys wishing me Feliz Dia Mama. Lots of family was in town and we had delicious fondue for dinner and it was a lovely day.

Now can I please go into labor???

Babymoon

We had planned to take a "let's get away now while we still can" mini-vacay back in July, when I was only 6 months pregnant and feeling great. But swine flu madness hit Argentina and EVERYTHING was closed down. So our little trip got postponed and evolved and finally a couple of weeks ago, at 35 weeks pregnant, bloated, and totally generally uncomfortable, we were able to get away for the weekend. We ended up going to Cordoba because not only could we spend some time with some of our favorite people, they also offered to watch Gabe for a couple of days so we could be alone! (maybe their generosity is what makes us love them so much??)

We left on a Thursday morning and thanks to all the new highway that's been completed, got to Cordoba in 4.5 hours - as opposed to the 6.5 it used to take. We spent the afternoon taking Gabe to the zoo and exploring some of the historic center of the city. It's truly a lovely city and I could have spent the whole weekend there.

Friday morning we left Gabe in the very capable hands of Cecilia and Aaron (who got to ditch kindergarten to be Gabe's entertainment committee) and we headed to La Falda. It's a very quaint town that grew up around the Eden Hotel, which was completed around 1900 to be a refuge for aristocracy from Europe. The owners were German and wealthy patrons from all over Europe would come with their families and servants for a couple of months to avoid turburculosis. It is rumored that the German owners were very connected to Hitler and that he didn't actually die in Germany, but escaped and lived secretly at the hotel until his eventual death... We spent all of Friday and Saturday exploring La Falda, La Cumbre and the other little surrounding towns, and just generally relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Mario go to play 9 holes of golf, I got to relax and read a book, and we had delicious grilled goat, which Cordoba I guess is known for?

Then Sat. afternoon we returned to spend the afternoon having an asado next to a river with the Azcuy's.

Sunday dawned FREEZING and RAINING so we hopped in the car early and headed home. Over all it was a great weekend and we're so thankful to have friends that not only make us laugh, but also take care of our kid!!!