Rosario Reseks

October 2011

2012-01-26T02:27:00.001-03:00

October is birthday month, and I told Mario I did NOT want any kind of a party, but I would love to go to Sedona for the day, just the two of us. So we pawned off our kids on my family members, and headed to the beautiful red rocks.

We had gone once before, but now are pretty sure that we stopped at the little town just before Sedona and never made it to the city itself. It was beautiful and amazing and we have vowed to go back more often.

We did lots of my favorite activities. First, we got exercise and saw beautiful surroundings by going on a hike to a natural bridge, which was stunning.

IT's kind of hard to tell, but here is Mario on the natural bridge.

and me.

and us.

Then we did another of my favorite activities, shopping! It's an artists compound, sort of, with lots of little boutiques and beautiful courtyards.

and even a little chapel.

And then we did my most favorite activity, eating. We went to the most delicious MExican restaurant. The wait was insane, and we only got to sit in the bar, but it was totally worth it. It was a beautiful day and we had the best time just being together.

We also Halloweened in October...but more on that later.

On my actual birthday, Mario planned a surprise party for me, because he didn't believe me when I said I really didn't want a party.

So we got together with our lovely friends the Reyna's, the Hidalgo's, The Larrietta's and the Lista's for cake and ice cream.

It was a nice evening.

Lucia also turned TWO! And I was pregnant, exhausted, working too much, and finally made myself okay with just a small family party one Sunday after family dinner.

She was completely obnoxious. She somehow got the idea that she had to take her dress off, so went to her birthday in her birthday suit (and a diaper).

We did have cake.

And the families from my birthday party again participated, plus cousin Olive.

Gabe helped Lucia open every present.

And Lucia could never find her happy side that night. Good thing I didn't go to a lot of trouble, I might have been really annoyed!

We also celebrated Halloween, again, and again, and again, and again in October. Gabe was Astro boy.

And Lucia was a sock monkey. I had fun making their costumes, and definitely feel like they wore them enough to merit the effort!

Gabe and his blue core energy...

First we went to a carnival at Gabe's preschool.

Where Olive the chicken was the total star of the night. She was so cute.

Then we went to the party at church and collected way too much candy at the trunk-or-treat.

Then we went to a hot air balloon festival where the kids could trick-or-treat at each balloon.

Some costumes were a little scarier than what you find at the preschool carnival...

But we loved looking at all the amazing balloons.

Then on actual Halloween, we went to my parent's church party and trunk or treat, and Mario dressed up for work. And was the only one at his work who did so. I was really done with Halloween by the time it was over, and I ate WAY TOO MUCH of the candy that I hid from my kids so they wouldn't overdose. Next time I think I should just let them eat it...

We didn't carve any pumpkins, because it was still 100 degrees every day and they would just rot, so why bother? But we did make pizza in the shape of pumpkins and ghosts, and ate it for dinner. And we made pumpkin rice crispy treats, so that kind of counts, right? I'm a lazy mom, I admit it.

September 2011

2012-01-26T01:57:00.001-03:00

My attempts to recap our lives for posterity continues... Looking back through photos, it seems September wasn't super eventful. We did go to a local pool "movie night" where everyone hangs out in the water and watches a movie on a huge screen. My kids were not interested in watching the movie, only in annoying the other patrons, so we didn't stay long after the movie started.

They LOVE the water, and Gabe is an amazing swimmer.

They were, however, interested in eating watermelon. And making a big mess with it.

We also took them to some scummy indoor amusement park - the kind of thing you do in Arizona when in September it's still to hot to go outside. Lucia was terrified of the carousel,

Gabe loved it because it was a horse.

He was also big enough to ride the bumper cars.

Lucia did do better on the little train and other rides. Overall, not a terrible day, not great enough that we really want to return.

We also took our very first family camping trip with our friends Diego and Shannon. Luckily, my dad has everything one could need or want in the way of camping gear, including a large 2 room tent so big even Mario could stand up in it, so it didn't matter that we pretty much only own flashlights.

During the day we had lots of fun. Eating camping food,

Going on nature walks, playing games, etc.

Sleeping was a NIGHTMARE. First, Lucia made her first and last attempts to get out of the port-a-crib...by hurling herself over the side and falling on her head numerous times. Mario finally calmed her down enough to nap a bit with him.

Gabe begged and begged to cook "marshes" over the fire, cooked one, and then declared "I like them better just plain." Too funny.

But then we got to nighttime sleeping again...Lucia took FOREVER to be calmed down enough to sleep. Then I went to bed, dressed warmly and in a sleeping bag on an air mattress, and was freezing and trembling so much I feared for the lives of my children, had a minor freak out, and got up in the middle of the night and went to sleep in the back of the van. I took Lucia with me and we turned on the heater for a bit, then turned it off to sleep, then when it got cold turned it back on for a bit. Needless to say, the night was so miserable that I think our next "camping" trip will be to a lodge somewhere.

I also attempted to make Raspberry jam. I didn't make freezer jam b/c my freezer is too small. I got special recipes to make it low-sugar, I brought flats of raspberries and jars and lids. Then after an entire day making it, I stored away all my little jars. Then, a few weeks later, Mario and I hear this crashing sound, but can never find the source...until a few days later I open the cupboard where they are stored and discover that somehow my jars did not seal, the jam fermented, and now the lids are EXPLODING off the jars. I'm done with canning, I'll just buy it from now on. But the one that went to the fridge and I consumed, was delicious!

And apparently, we did nothing else camera worth in September!

Lucia is TWO!

2011-10-21T13:22:00.001-03:00

My baby girl turned two yesterday, and I can't believe how much she's grown!

Some things I want to remember about the two year old Lucia:

She CANNOT sit still. ever. seriously. Cuddling her only lasts a few seconds, try as I might to get her to sit in her chair to eat, she is always climbing down and walking around, and sacrament meeting (which we have from 4-5 pm, so bad anyways) is a complete joke. She's not load, but moves so much she inevitably bonks her head on the bench and then starts crying, or wants to wander the entire chapel and gets mad that she is restrained. She HATES her carseat - still. She always slips out of the shoulder straps because she can't handle being restrained.
Part two is that she has tons of energy and is super funny. Her favorite thing of late is to play hide-and-seek with Gabe. She counts "1 -3- 5- find you!" and then goes running to find him. REally she just likes the chase! When it's her turn to hid she doesn't really get it, so just runs around in circles until someone "gets" her. She loves it when Mario comes home at night and takes the kids acroos the street to the park to play with the soccerball. She chases it and kicks it but mostly is content to just run all over.

Gabe, whom she calls Bage, is her favorite persom and biggest nemesis. She misses him when he's gone, always wants to play with him, but also kind of likes to start fights with him.
She LOVES fruit, but we have to be careful because she gets diarrhea really easy. Her favorites are strawberries and peaches, which she calls onions?? no idea why. She also loves peanut butter sandwhiches, and she calls bread "bim", but says peanut butter just fine. She has a very adventurous palate and will each just about everything - avacado and hummus being some of her favorites.
She talks more and more every day. Mostly she comes to tell me "Bage no share!" or to ask for "lechle chocolate" but she only likes it in the pink bottle.
She understands everything you say to her in Spanish, but the only words she regularly uses are "mas" and "agua" and "leche". Kind of sad - not sure how to change that.
When she wants to watch any kind of movie/tv she calls it "memo" and LOVES sweets, which mostly all get grouped into the category of "chocolate".

She's started singing to herself - loudly - when she's laying in her bed and other times. It's hilarious. She just makes up whatever words and sings about "Jesus, blah blah blah, sunbeam, blah blah blah, Ollie (cousin Olive) blah blah blah."
When presented with a new situation she is more of an observer than one to jump right in, but I don't think she's afraid, because she'll walk up to any stranger and say "hello" and when she's ready to play she jumps right in.
I love her absolutely like crazy. She is my girl, and she loves me right back. She'll call out "I lub you too!" when I tell her I love her, and she gets jealous if I'm even holding Gabe. She's beautiful and funny and sweet and I feel so blessed to have her!

August Review

2011-10-13T01:10:00.004-03:00

I still have hope of this blog somehow forming itself into a blogbook and becoming a record of our family history. However, I really may have to find a new platform as the tediousness of uploading photos and my inability to really control their order or do much formatting is starting to drive me nuts.

Anyway, here is my first catch-up post. August began with a quick trip to LA for a visit to the Argentine Consulate. We made a weekend out of it and enjoyed the beautiful weather that typifies southern California.
The kids at Santa Monica Pier.

You may not be able to tell here, but the kids loved the beach and neither were afraid of the waves.

We walked around the Long Beach Harbor after our visit to the acquarium.

The kids had a GREAT time at the acquarium, but Mario and I both agreed it was worth it only because we got in half price. It's kind of small for what they charge for regular admission...and every acquarium will always be compared to Monterey for us...

They loved the bird exhibit.

In other August news, Lucia started a tap/jazz/tumbling class and she not only looks totally adorable in her dance clothes, she actually goes without crying and likes her "tappy tappy time". Quite a change from Gabe who REFUSED to participate in any kind of class at her age (still does actually!)

We also celebrated Mario's 36th Birthday with a homemade ice cream party. The Dulce de Leche was by far the biggest hit, and it was amazingly delicious, if I do say so myself!

Aren't the kids cute?? now let's stick them in bed so we can actually talk and enjoy ourselves!

For most of the month, Mario and Gabe went to Argentina and Lucia and I stayed home and ate a lot of frozen treats. It was too hot here to even enjoy the pool.

My New York Sweat-away

2011-07-27T19:20:00.005-03:00

I had a work meeting in NYC last Thursday with the lovely ladies of Pascale Communications. It's an all-virtual, all-female niche public relations firm that specializes in health care, primarily ophthalmology. I do their medical writing. Once a year or so we all get together to build our team spirit (read: eat and laugh together). It was a fabulous time, although I have no pictures of the actual "work" events.

I was also able to take advantage of the trip and have a lovely girls weekend in the city, and spent some time with some of my favorite women that I don't see nearly often enough. New York was experiencing a heat wave while we were there, so it was over 100 degrees and disgustingly humid the entire trip. My sister Lindsay (who is a personal shopper for anthropologie) outfitted me with adorable fashion for my trip there, and most of my cute outfits got kicked to the curb because they required long pants or too many layers and I couldn't handle the heat. And in case you were wondering, all that heat and humidity does not create a plesant environment for my uber-sensitive sniffer. I wanted to gag every time I left the hotel. Seriously.

But above all, it was a fabulous trip. First of all, I got to see Tammy for the first time in over two years. She is the most amazing person, a wonderful friend, and always a party. She also knows all the good places to eat. Here we had scrumptous breakfasts at Norma's in Le PArker Meridien hotel.
She also convinces me to do things like "go for drinks" at midnight on a Thursday to fun roof top bars where I have to make small talk with the excess men that are trying to hit on her. I just started talking about my husband and kids and they disappeared quickly.

We went to dinner one night at The Spice Market in the meatpacking district. I highly recommend it - everything was delish.

Friday morning we made it to the MET where we checked out the Alexander McQueen exhibit with Diane Keaton. It was amazing - as was the line to get in. I became a museum member to avoid it. McQueen was a true visionary and it was fabulous to see how his suit tailor background worked its way into the details of so many of his concoctions.

Paige, always up for a party, flew out from California and my good friend Catherine, who is currently living in Pennsylvania, also made it into the city.

Catherine and I sat in Colombus circle for probably more than an hour eating Tasty-D-lite yogurt and chatting.

Sunday morning we biked around Central Park and then met my friend Carol for brunch. (I'm dumb, no picture of Carol)

One of my main goals of this trip was to visit some of the fabric stores recommended by a designer/blogger I read and find some fabric to recover the chairs in my living room. I went to Mood, of Project Runway fame, and they had the most amazing selection. But the best deals were found in these little dives where you really have to search.

I mean, would you even walk in the door if someone hadn't recommended them? But I found some great fabric!

I also spent a mere hour at ABC Home & Carpet. I love that store. I wanted these amazing pendant lights for either side of my bed, but I can't afford over $1000 for bedside reading lights...

In spite of profuse sweating the entire weekend, it was such a fabulous trip. I love New York, but more than that I realized what AMAZING girlfriends I have. And I'm so lucky that they would all organize their lives to visit with me!

Conversations with Gabe

2011-07-27T03:23:00.003-03:00

self portrait

Gabe frequently tells me "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSSING OF ME," and it's really annoying to me, and tonight after we calmed down from the most recent challenging of authority I sat him on my lap and told him:

Me: Gabe, you know that before you were here on earth you lived in Heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus, and when you were born They sent you to me and told me I had to protect you, and love you, and teach you to be happy and be the boss of you. Just like Nana was the boss of me when I was little.

Gabe: and Jesus sent me here to be with you and papa and Lucia?

Me: yes

Gabe: and Heavenly Father and Jesus told you to be the boss of me?

Me: yes, so I could teach you how to be happy

Gabe: and did they tell you that when I say "you're not the boss" you could yell back "YES I AM!"?

Me: um, well, kind of?

and not 5 minutes later we walk downstairs and I move a pillow on the couch only to find a large and long lock of blond hair.

Me: Gabe, what is this? Did you cut Lucia's hair?

Gabe: It was an accident!

(at this point I burst out laughing because how classic is this?? after composing myself I turned to this very bewildered boy who was obviously expecting to lose his life)

Me: Gabe, we don't cut people's hair. Ever.

Gabe: Only Aunt Allie can cut hair?

Me: Yes, only Aunt Allie because she went to school for a long time where they taught her how to cut hair, and we did not.

Gabe: no, my school only teaches me Noah's Ark.

I I I Idaho....

2011-07-11T15:27:00.008-03:00

My mother is from a very small town in Idaho with something like 500 people living in it, approximately 350 of which she is somehow related to, or has known for so long she's not really sure if there is a blood relation or not. We visited there frequently growing up and although I never wanted to live there, it has a certain enchantment for me. The weather is gorgeous. It's so green, with beautiful flowers every where.

The first week of July we had a family reunion and a majority of my 28 first cousins, their spouses and children where there to celebrate. It was truly a fabulous week. No matter how seldom I go, I feel so loved by me 6 (5 living) uncles and their wives, and love so much to spend time and reminisce with all those cousins. Gabe had 10 male cousins between the ages of 3 and 5 to play with daily. I felt like I hardly saw him - and he is my clingy kid.

Ashley - Lucia, Olive and Gabe having strawberry soda on Aunt LaDee and Uncle Noel's porch. My aunt LaDee was a home economics teacher for many many years and let's just say that he home is functioning perfection. It was amazing to stay with her.

Ashley, Lindsay and I left the kids with my mom and drove up to Jackson Hole one day - beautiful place, we were sad we didn't have time to do more hiking or biking or something.

The famous antler arches in the center of town.

Olive, Hayley and Lucia just fooling around.

Travis playing the guitar while we all camp out on the front lawn waiting for fireworks to start.

Lindsay, Olive, Gabe, Birdie, Ashley.

Pulling the rocking horse around to ride while we wait.

The small - ha ha - flag they fly at the park across the street for the 4th. Small town America is a great place to celebrate the nations independence!

Lucia playing in Uncle Noel's backyard. The diversions are endless!

Waiting for candy during the parade.

Listening to Cara and other performers at the Forth of July festivities in the park.

Hanging out in the grass, drinking more soda. Man did those kids get their fill of soda this week!

Brigham, Alex, Jayna, --,--, Cade, Kallie, Ashley, Khloe

Colton, Gabe, Lucia, Olive

Lots o cousins hanging out on the 4th.

Lucia, Olive and Khloe (Birdie) matchy-matchy thanks to aunt Ashley.

Alex, Misty, Lucia, and Mindy at the town breakfast.

Cade, Khloe and Gabe chowing down pancakes.

Lindsay and I AFTER the town 5k fun run. I won't mention my time, because it's not something to be proud of! (I swear it was the altitude)

The veterans who performed the gun salute. The same ones that were at my Grandfather's funeral a few years back, and we were quite sure they were going to shoot us!

Gabe, totally annoyed that he had to get hosed off after playing in the mud.

All the boys creating the mud pit.

Baby Olive enjoyed the mud pit as well!

Uncle Noel taking the kids for a ride. Who wouldn't love this??

Uncle Jay organized a family cemetary tour - all the graves belonging to family members had been marked with flags.

Misty and Josh at the family reunion. We are dumb and I have no big group pictures.

Gabriel is Four!!

2011-06-29T13:24:00.006-03:00

Gabe turned 4 two days before cousin Olive's first birthday, so Lindsay and I decided to have a joint, circus-themed party. We recognized that to the kids all our planning and decorations would not matter, but that made it fun for us, so we did it.

Lucia with cupcake all over her face.

We worked like crazy to get our backyard done before the party. Then we decorated, we had personalized water bottles, animal ballon making kits, otter pops in little bins all over the yard, a photo booth (which no one used) and a delicious dessert table. It turned out adorable and we had the best time planning it.

Mario was not so amused by all the planning (and a mild amount of pre-party stress) and swore that he is taking Lucia away on her next birthday so I can't have a party.

Gabe blowing out candles while Lucia watches.

Some things I want to remember about my four year-old Gabe:

He loves his sister. They are finally starting to play together and it is so fun to watch. Of course she still annoys him sometimes when she doesn't understand how to build a good ranch out of blocks, but he is very protective of her with others.

He LOVES everything cowboy, and tells anyone who will listen that he is a cowboy, that he can ride a pony on his own, and he likes to wear his jeans, boots and cowboys shirts everyday, even when it's 110 outside.

He likes to be in control. He tells me I'm not in charge of him, he's in charge of himself. He has such a *STRONG* personality and at times it's trying, to say the least. But I know if he gets on the right track in life no one will convince him to do anything else!

He loves his dad to make up stories for him at night and sing him songs. Mario and I both just kind of make up lyrics as we go along, and Gabe often interrupts and says "no, what I want to happen is..."

He loves his cousins and extended family. He would go to Nana's house everyday if he could. He loves his Brampa, and all his tias and tios.

He is an absolute fish. He would play in the pool all day. Swim lessons were a complete failure, but he already dives in head first, swims down to the bottom of the pol to get dive toys, and loves doing cannonballs.

with friends Allison and Daniella on our new swingset.

He is very alert - you can hide nothing from him. We've had some very funny conversations lately about body parts and the differences between boys and girls.

He likes everything sugary and has become a rather picky eater, even though he used to eat anything and everything. It's annoying.

He colors inside the lines, and has started writing random letters, although he can't identify them correctly. He counts well and does simple addition.

He loves to get into my makeup, and he knows he's not supposed to. The other day he snuck in my bathroom and painted his nails and when I asked him what happened to his nails he said "nothing mom, Jesus just made them this way".

It's getting harder and harder to get him to speak Spanish. He'll still do it with his dad, but he just tells me "mom, just speak English, okay?" But this is important to us so we keep insisting...Mario introducing terere to our friends the Hidalgo's and the Larrietta's

TJ - Gabe's best fremeny from preschool. They always want to play together and all they do is fight.

Lucia spent the whole night grabbing otter pops and finding different people to open them for her. "Treat" she says and she holds them up, and someone always helped!

Our favorite baby Olive in her adorable circus skirt. Gabe and Lucia both adore her and the three of them play together great. That alone would make it worth living here, but thankfully we like way more things about living in Arizona than I ever would have imagined.

Happy Birthday Gabe - we love you!

All We Do Is Play

2011-03-17T18:04:00.007-03:00

A little update for the record books...
My kids are getting bigger and funner, as well as funnier, every day. I love the things that keep them little, like that they are both totally and completely emotionally tied to their blankets. I smile every time I hand Lucia her blanket and she squeals in joy and shoves it in her mouth and bites it. Gabe's blanket provides untold calming, and he likes it to be cold, he says so he can scratch it better??? The other day we looked and looked and couldn't find it anywhere. It was a total mystery. Eventually it showed up in the freezer...he forgot he stuck it there to make it cold enough. This Arizona summer is going to be hard on blanket temperature maintenance.

Gabe's preschool participated in a trike-a-thon to support St. Jude's Hospital this month. We went to watch him ride, and stayed to read stories in his class and eat pizza with him afterwards.

With his friends from preschool, AJ and TJ.

Riding their trikes around and around!

Uncle Josh wants to love on Lucia, and Lucia is not too sure of this big dude with facial hair. He came with a tractor to redo our patio and we're soooooooo happy!

Lucia loves books. She likes to sit on the fireplace and set up the books standing in front of her to just sit and stare. It's hilarious. He vocabulary is slowly budding. She'll now say "narni"=nariz=nose; "jew"=juice=any kind of liquid beverage; "shew"=shoe. The other day we took Gabe somewhere and when he got out of the car and not her she began wailing loudy "adfrbkllker GAY adlkjfnfdalkj GAY blelbhelblehoi GAY!!!!" Clearly not happy that Bage was going somewhere and she was not!

Gabe had pijama day at school, and insisted on wearing his favorite pijamas - the ones I made him for Christmas that I made poorly and are too small. But he's cute anyways.

He is a complete cowboy. Loves his boots, and always wants to rope EVERYTHING. Lucia wasn't so into sitting on the horse while he pulled it around, but he insisted.

We went to Cave Creek for the day with Lindsay, Matthew and Olive, and Gabe made buddies with a fellow cowboy boot wearer.

just because she's adorable.

Cave Creek is the total western town, and it was fun to visit.

Of course Gabe wanted to sit on the horse, even though it didn't go anywhere. all day. seriously, 5 hours later this horse was still sitting in the exact same place.

This was my failed experiment. The beginning of February I met this old Italian man picking olives from the trees all over our neighborhood and I stopped to talk to him. He told me they were delicious and I just had to hang them from a tree in an old pillowcase, covered in salt. I went home and the internet verified this method of curing olives, so I did it. I took the kids out, we picked tons of olives, I made a cute bag to hand them in, and we covered them in salt and hung them...for a month or so, shaking them up every so often. Then we took them down, washed them, and soaked them in water, changing the water every day. After about three days they were rotten and I had to throw them all out. I'm not sure what went wrong??? I was so excited for my olives...I guess I'm back to buying them at the olive bar in the market for $$$$$.

Even though it's just a big patch of weeds, we've been playing outside in the yard a TON. WE got some old boxes and made a play house and painted it. Lucia mostly just ate the paint, but Kallie, Birdie and Gabe painted and played.

I got extra stars on my mom chart that day for creativity and fun with my kids!

All business, No pleasure

2011-01-25T17:59:00.004-03:00

Mario needed to go to LA this last weekend to attend a preparation class to take his physical therapy exam. I offered to stay home, I really did. But he didn't want to go alone, so I sacrificed and went with him. And while he sat in classes all day long, I had a nearly perfect weekend.
Saturday after he got out of class we went to the Getty center. I forgot how amazing it is. The gardens, the architecture, and after all that, massive amounts of great art as well. Better yet, Friday's after 5pm you get in free.
Mario as art outside the Getty Center.

I perused Montana Road and oogled everything in Jonathan Adler.

And I hiked in Palos Verdes. It's so beautiful there, how had I never been there before? looking back up from the bottom.

I started at the top and hiked down to the water. (Catalina Island in the background)

We also drove past the little house I lived in on Overland when I was young and single.

And visited the Oakland LDS temple.

I love LA - I'd forgotten how much. All the fantastic little neighborhoods in Westwood, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach. All the beautiful hiking, walking on the beach, little cafes, and great stores. Too bad the traffic is HORRENDOUS and living there is rather price prohibitive.

oh, and Mario felt his class was well worth it. If he needs to, I suppose I could make the sacrifice and go again...

Free Culture

2011-01-19T15:44:00.005-03:00

Our county provides limited free entries to a variety of museums through something called Culture Passes available at your local library. My amazing friend Linsey and her bucket list of activities for her family to complete has inspired me to seek out more interesting and cultural activities for us to do, and the Culture Pass seemed a great place to start. When we popped into the library last week there was one available for our local contemporary arts museum, so I snached it up and Gabe and I went on Saturday.

Gabe really loved the plant beds out front and their great colored rocks.
He also loved the horse sculptures on the stree before we got in.

And he did reasonably well in the small but very nice three room museum. Perfect size for his attention span. All in all it was a great little outing for us and a nice introduction to the world of art. I always dreamed of taking my kids to museums (a dream only the childless would think of!)

Gabe is growing and saying funnier/sassier things every day. He learns quite a lot at preschool that isn't strictly on the curriculum. The other day, I did something he didn't like and he told me "If you don't stop that right now I'm going to tell Brooke (school friend) to come and put you in a cage." ok. apparently Brooke has been threatening the other kids with cage time and they have been impressed with the idea.

But then he came home yesterday and told me "mom, The Lord is my friend and I need not be afraid, it's in the Hebrews book." I LOVE LOVE LOVE his Lutheran preschool.

The other day we were walking home from preschool and he just stopped on the sidewalk and sat down and told me "I just need to sit a minute, and then when I get up I won't be angry anymore." He hadn't manifested anger, but apparently was giving himself a little timeout.

He sometimes likes to say the prayer at meals, and always gives thanks for his cousins, the horses, the cows and ropes. The other day Mario told him to say the prayer in Spanish and he said "I can't, because then I can't pray for the ropes." I guess ropes aren't part of his Spanish vocabulary.

He calls cow horns "corns". He loves the movie Flicka and the cartoon Dora. He is completely sweet and completely terrorizing, in equal parts, with his little sister. He likes to be in charge of everything, and no matter what you offer, he will say no, just to let you know he's not going to be pushed around. It's very tiring finding creative ways to make him think he came up with every idea. When I start to get exasperated he'll say "mama, I love you." and I totally love him back.

And So This Was Christmas...

2010-12-28T15:37:00.006-03:00

By some strange aligning of the stars, we have had a totally calm and pleasant Christmas season. I finished all my shopping on black Friday, we don't know anyone besides my family so we had no parties to go to, and my Christmas cards were mailed by the first week in December, so we just relaxed and enjoyed the holiday spirit the rest of the month.
We did a lot of driving around, looking at lights. Did you know there is a club for people that like to build model trains and that use their entire backyards to set up tracks and tiny cities and landscapes? And two weekends in December they open their homes to the public and we got to see their miniature worlds. It was very cool (pictures are unrelated, as I am challenged in the rembering to bring the camera and use it department)

We went to see the temple lights a few times, once with our friends the Wilson's, which made it that much more fun. Aren't these boys adorable? (seriously, only cold night of the year.)

We also drove around lots of neighborhoods and visited other festive sights. We didn't make it to any of the shopping centers that had artificial snowfall at night. Don't know why we missed that. We did go to a local Lutheran church's "walk through bethelem" which was complete with hummus to taste and a real donkey in the manger.

I made new pijamas for everyone to wear on christmas eve- a tradition passed down from my mom.

We opened family gifts on Christmas eve while we were together - Gabe is modeling his new boots from Jimmy and Allison, while trying to figure out the rope.

Lucia got her first baby doll, also from Jimmy and Allison. She is adorable and pats it's back and puts the pacifier in its mouth.

Mario got his first pair of althletic pants that are actually long enough. Did you know it is almost impossible to find jogging pants in long sizes? xxxxxxl, no problem. Large/tall, don't make them. He is undefeated after his first two tennis leagues, and I thought he may need them when he plays in the cold january nights coming up. We have a deal, if he plays 41 games undefeated - Federer's record - I'll take him to Italy. (makes us both care about his tennis games!) He's 15 - 0 right now. Think he'll make it?

Gabe was totally thrilled by every gift. It was so fun. Here he is checking out hungry hungry hippo.

Lucia is trying out her new slide.

While we consciously do NOT want to promote a future of "cowboy" for our son, it's what he loves right now, so his Christmas seemed rather centered around those things. He was beyond thrilled that santa got him a truck and horse trailer.

Us coming down the stairs together at a very reasonable 8:30am. I love the look on Gabe's face as he excitedly tells me "look momma, Santa came!"

We truly have had a wonderful holiday season, filled with peace and joy and time to reflect on the meaning of the savior in our lives. One highlight was a visit to the temple with a large number of the adults in my family. I am so blessed to have the family that I do, who taught me that the God and his son Jesus Christ had done all that they have and continue to do, so that I and my family might have JOY. We hope that your holiday season has been filled with happiness and joy that will continue throughout the coming year.

Quotables

2010-12-17T01:42:00.003-03:00

Gabe just got out of bed and came a told me "el viento paro mama, quiero el viento"
-"the wind stopped mom, I want the wind"

Confused, I followed him back to bed where he pointed to the heating vent. He wanted the heater back on.

Pre-Holiday Wrap Up

2010-12-06T01:26:00.004-03:00

Living in the desert has it's benefits. And a day so hot a jump in the pool sounds good in the middle of November is one of them. All the cousins were over to play this really fun game where they ride around a tennis court on their bikes, and Lindsay and I try to hit them with tennis balls. They got hot, and wanted to jump in the pool so I rounded up swim ware and they went running and jumped in without testing the water. Their screaming and Khloe's near-drowning experience due to being too cold to swim deterred Gabe. But he jumped in later and came out crying from the cold. Remember I said jumping in the pool sounded nice, not that it actually was a nice idea. Gabe continues to ADORE his cousins, and talks about them non-stop. Or maybe it's just that the talking is so non-stop I sometimes don't know if it's about the cousins or not. Seriously. non-stop talker this one. Just tonight they were trying to play a game with him but he wouldn't stop talking long enough for them to explain how it works.

Lucia is hilarious and I enjoy her so much. She's getting quite verbal. About two months ago she delighted us with her first word: tickuh = tickle. Yes, that was her first word. Her next words in order of arrival are: gieb (Gabe - she calls him non-stop throughout the day), no, and finally, ma. Yes, "ma" was her FORTH word. I'm only mildly insulted. Now she comes up to me and pats my legs and calls "ma" and expects to be picked up immediately. If not, she lets out a shriek. Not a yell, not a cry, a true glass-breaking shriek. I don't really know what to do about it, so I just pick her up. I'm creating a monster here, I know.

But she's funny and adorable and generally content and good-natured most of the time. She likes to suck on toothbrushes, pull all the toilet paper off the role, climb up the stairs but not down, and will eat anything, including the German cabbage dish that my family makes for Thanksgiving. She goes to bed easily but doesn't stay asleep so well. She pulls the bows/flowers out of her hair and then looks at me and says "no no no no". Does she think the flower is called "no no no no" Is she confused that it is supposed to stay in as adornment?

Misty, Ashley and I took the kids to Bass Pro Shop where they had free pictures with Santa and Christmas crafts. Fun afternoon, and we didn't have to buy anything (nor was I tempted!)

Gabe goes to a Lutheran preschool. At first, Mario and I were a little worried about indoctrination taking place that was not inline with our beliefs. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I love that at shool he talks about doing what Jesus wants him to do every single day, that he learns new bible stories, that he prays before snack time, and that their Christmas pageant was not about Santa or snow, or reindeer or anything secular, but was a Christmas party for Jesus, where they learned the cutest songs to go with the theme: "Jesus is my Best-est Friend". The program was adorable and surprisingly, Gabe stood on stage and sang every word to every song and was great. We totally thought he would see us and come running off the stage, as he remains VERY attached to us and afraid of new people/situations. But he didn't, and we were thrilled.

Gabe, as part of his complete adoration of his cousins, is obsessed with being a cowboy. He plays with horses and cows all day long and makes them corrals our of whatever is available. He tells me "mom, be nice to me because I'm a cowboy." I respond, "Gabe, I'll be nice to you because I love you." His English is amazing - he's totally caught up with other kids his age, and now we're worried about reinforcing Spanish at home. A few funny things he says: Mom, I wanna "moshu" something, instead of "show you" something. I'm not sure if it's just like dyslexia, or if he's confusing show and monstrar, the Spanish equivalent. But I don't correct him because I think it's cute. Also, when we finish a book instead of saying "the end" he says "bien" hey, it almost sounds the same, easy to confuse.

Lucia looooooooooooves her blankie. When she first gets it after not having it she shoves it in her mouth and does a little dance of joy. Then she grabs it with her right hand while her left thumb gets popped into her mouth. I'm sure there are a thousand other little things I want to remember about my kids right now, but of course I don't remember them when I have time to sit down and blog. But they are funny and smart and totally challenge me every single day.

Mario continues to win all of his tennis league games, study a ton, and sneak in a golf game when he can. I participated in my first Black Friday shopping spree and loved it. I got pretty much all my holiday shopping done and now am free to enjoy the month of Christmas parties, concerts, lights, etc. Saturday we hiked to "hole in the rock" and are excited to enjoy the outdoors beforethe heat drives us in again. We're thinking a trip to Havasupi in the Grand Canyon is in order in May. Want to join us?

Halloween in just better in the USA

2010-11-07T13:07:00.005-03:00

This is me, beaming, because I am thoroughly enjoying a halloween in which the only thing I did to prepare was BUY my kids costumes. I didn't plan a party, or a dance, or have to decorate a cultural hall. I didn't have to make signs and posters and try to get people excited for a holiday they don't normally celebrate. And going against all my DNA, I successfully squelched the guilt and just simply bought Halloween costumes. I did no online research to find something adorable, I made no trips to the fabric store, I sewed not a single item, not put makeup or accessories on my kids. I'm sure in years to come I will go back to trying to be the super crafty mom. But this year I was too overwhelmed with everything else in life, so I just enjoyed laziness. Oh, and the fact that there are wonderful schools, churches, pumplin patches and everything to fill in so I didn't HAVE to do it!
Kallie the witch, beaming lazy mom, Lucia to bumblebee, Khloe as Pocahontas, Gabe the horse and Cade the American Indian. Oh yeah, bought that cute at bag as well.

Totally relaxed and enjoying Gabe's preschool fall festival. We had a great time.

Cade and Gabe enjoying the enormous inflatable slide.

Fun trunk-or-treating. Gabe was very excited and boldly walked up to the cars and pronouned "twick o tweat" and "tank u". He then had to eat what he was given before being able to proceed to the next car. Clearly didn't understand that efficiency would net him more in the end.

We figured if we all did the cake walk together, we would dramatically improve our odds of winning a store-bought baked good. What happened to the days when parents could actually make something that tasted good and bring it to a school?

Gabe the horse checking out the animals in the mini petting zoo.

baby Olive came with us, but her mom didn't love her enough to get her a costume. (just kidding Lindsay)

Everybody loves a bounce house. Not.

I had seriously had THE cutest little bumblebee ever.

Two cousins that adore each other. Cade spent most of the night making sure Gabe was correctly holding the reins of the horse. He does not tolerate improper handling of horses apparently.

Picture before we left the house, when Gabe hadn't succumbed the peer pressure yet and was still refusing to put on his costume. We're thankful for cousins to help show him the path of fun.

We also carved pumpkins at Nana's house.

Lucia just likes to be in the middle of everything.

Kallie and Birdie carving away.

We also made a trip to a local farm/pumpkin patch. There they decorated pumpkins with stickers. It's a good idea - they don't rot immediately like the carved pumpkins do.

I put stickers on, Lucia picked them off. It was a good system.

It's nice to have papa able to do fun daytime activities with us.

Lucia's 1st Birthday!!!

2010-10-24T18:55:00.003-03:00

My baby turned one, and in a feat of determination she started officially walking the day before her birthday. She's also had two more front teeth come in, so she's looking far more like a toddler than a baby. My one year old Lucia is:

fearless. I put her at the bottom of the slide at the park thinking she'd just hang out, and before I could finish attending to Gabe she had climbed the stairs and was ready to throw herself down the slide. I sat her down and let her go and she LOVED it.
Opinionated. She is generally happy, but will let out a shreik only dolphins can understand if she wants something. Anyone have advice on how to make that stop?
Laughs a lot. really, she's a funny baby and one of my favotie things is to lay on the floor and tickle her and listen to her giggle.
Addicted to her blankie. When it's timeto go to bed I hand it to her and she snuggles her face in it, sooooooooo happy, pops her left thumb in her mouth and goes right to bed. She doesn't stay asleep great always, but she goes down easy.
Great eater. She'll eat almost anything, and eats a lot - more than Gabe most days. But she'll only drink milk if it's warm. And she loves to rub her food in her hair. If I was fanatical about her having clean hair I'd seriously have to bathe her after every meal.
She adores her mom, and the feeling is mutual.

We had a family party for her on her birthday and here is the pictoral evidence.
demolishing her cake. At least I removed her shirt first.

toddling around, loving all the people to give her attention.

Ready to blow out her candle, or just grab at it.

We played games that were all about Lucia. Since she loves to eat anything and everything off the floor, she had a race to see who could eat the most cheerios. I love that Lindsay has abandoned playing and is just shooting Matthew with a water gun as he attempts to compete, that Misty does it while holding a baby and that my dad is as into it as any of the kids.

eating baby food. Lucia is a great eater, of anything but baby food actually, but it worked for the game. racing in diapers full of lemons. It was difficult to determien a winner since all confessed to cheating.

The birthday girl and her papa.

Lucia and Kallie on her new horse.

Waiting for the party guests to arrive, in the 2 minutes that her headband lasted on her head.

So happy this girl is in our family!

My Roger

2010-10-22T19:02:00.004-03:00

Mario plays in a tennis league, and Wednesday night after Lucia's birthday party (post coming soon when technical difficulties with photos are resolved) all the adults at the party transferred over to the tennis courts to cheer him on for the division championship. HE WON! Sexy and plays well, I'm ready for some endorsement deals!!!!!!!!

10-10-10

2010-10-14T02:59:00.003-03:00

Sunday was my magic birthday. 10-10-10. That will never happen again. Crazy thought. It was also magically fabulous. My big day coincided with a trip I had to make to a work meeting on the east coast, so I stayed a few extra days to see all my wonderful girlfriends in DC.

Oh, and Ashley, Lindsay and Olive decided we needed to make it a super girls trip so they accompanied me. It was fabulous.
I flew home on my birthday day, and Mario had prepared an adorable little party with pink plates, pink napkins, pink balloons, pink suckers, and pink candles in a chocolate turtle cake. And in the not pink box was a new sewing machine. YEAH! (and my mom said he did it all himself!)

Lucia and I at the botanical gardens with the US capitol in the background.

In old town Alexandria where we only entered 4 stores but I still managed to spend too much money. We had to go to carriers because boutiques aren't made for strollers. I love Olive totally passed out from exhaustion.

Lucia and Olive hanging with Lindsay at Eastern Market while we waited for our crepes.

Marianne and I. I LOOOOOVE this lady. I want to be her when I grow up. Because I suck, I somehow missed getting pictures with Linsey, Emy, Holly and Catherine, other fantabulous girlfriends I saw on the trip. Man how I miss these girls in my everyday life.

Lindsay, Ashley, Noah, Marianne and Lucia outside DC cupcake.

As you can see, our weekend went something like this: talk, eat, talk, shop, talk, eat, talk, eat, talk, shop. Living abroad for so long one of the things I desperately missed were the interesting converstaions with my educated, witty, intelligent, thoughtful, insightful, politically up-to-date friends. This weekend was like water in the desert and I soaked up every bit of it.

A Place to Call Home

2010-10-14T02:40:00.003-03:00

A major reason for my recent blogging absence has been the very very time consuming task of searching for a house. And the middle of September, we were FINALLY able to move into our own home!

Here are some of the before pictures.

master bedroom
the green space in front of our house and the community pool on the other side - serious highlights of this house.

entry way/living room

family room - finally a departure from that hideous peachy color in all the rest of the house!
Front of house.

We're super excited. It's not huge, or elegant, or anything overly exciting, but it's more than twice the size of our last house, and I have American shopping opportunities to fix it up.

Work-in-progress pictures coming soon.

The Last Days of Summer

2010-09-24T15:13:00.006-03:00

I feel that the infrequent updates and lackluster writing are making my blog a little pathetic. I mean, my header doesn't even have a picture of my almost one-year-old daughter and claims I live in a country where I no longer reside. But since I fear other, more tedious forms of family record keeping, I am resolving to make this one a little more complete. So readers, if there are any of you left, I promist to improve.

Our last month has been essentially just an extension of what has been a vacation of sorts since we arrived to the US in July. No home to call our own and my ability to work remotely has allowed us to drift about. Abuela Susana came to Utah to wish her first grandchild to serve a mission farewell, so we spent quite a bit of time there with her. We also made a quick trip up to Eastern Idaho to visit my mom's side of the family. Here is our pictoral report.
In front of the Rexburg temple.

Gabe in the BYU-Idaho botanical gardens with his cousin.

With my fabulous cousin Kara and her adorable daughter. We had the BEST time with them.

Lucia getting her first taste of terere (cold mate).

When Erick got set apart. I stayed home with the two kids of questionable reverence and got berated by Gabewho was NOT HAPPY that he wasn't with all his cousins.

Spotting wildlife on Antelope Island.

Mario got to visit an old mission companion in Idaho - he reported Mario was in fact a good missionary.

Gabe and his great-grandma Pat gathering up the apples that blew off the tree to make apple crisp.

A super fun day at "This Is the Place" Park, where we learned about pioneer life.

Gabe loved to play the piano, and Joseph's trombone, and Ezra's trumpet, which one night when no one was watching he took out of the case, took on of the buttons off and dropped it down inside the horn, where it was finally located after hours of all adults on all fours searching the carpet...I think that was the point at which we over stayed our welcome...

fun times in the beautiful parks with cousins - Lucia and Janelle

Sandra, Susana and I making hundreds (literally) of empanadas for Erick's farewell gathering.

Gabe participating in soccer practice with the big boys. Privelege of being the coach's nephew...

In short, it was a great month, but I am excited to report that my next post will feature our new, permanent living quarters!

Joyous July

2010-08-17T19:28:00.003-03:00

Well, we survived the move. After about 6 weeks here in the US, I'd have to say it all feels more like a strange vacation rather than a relocation. We're still with my parents while we search for a house - which means lots of extra help babysitting and someone to share cooking and other household necessities with. I kind of love it, and in some ways think I could co-habitate for quite some time! Lucia has had one intense ear infection that necessitated 2 trips to urgent care and sprouted two new teeth since we arrived. Like her brother, her eye teeth came in before he middle teeth so we have another vampire baby.

We've taken advantage of the virtual nature of my job, and the non-existent nature of Mario's to spend some time visiting Mario's brother and his family in Utah. It was a fantastic visit where we visited Hogle Zoo.

Went rafting in Lava Hot Springs and got seriously mauled by the river.

Visited with my wonderful friend Marianne and her family at the Gateway, where Gabe wasn't too sure about the water fountain.

Went to to the super fun South Bountiful recreation center where I got to visit with my BFF Jessica while our kids played in the water. (I'm terrible and don't have a picture of either of them)

We also enjoyed the beautiful outdoors and hiked Ensign Peak

as well as hiked to Timpanogos Caves.

It's a 3 mile hike and Gabe walked the whole thing! I was so pround of him.

Don't worry, without the stellar example of his cousins the following week he couldn't even walk through the mall for 20 minutes.

Now we're back to the heat, spending all day in the pool and looking for houses. But the quasi vacation life isn't so bad...

Joys of June

2010-06-28T22:03:00.004-03:00

I am so insanely busy, that the only thing I can do is sit down and blog about our last month.
Elder Neil Anderson of the Quorum ofthe Twelve Apostles presided over our stake conference and we got to meet him and his lovely wife. It was a wonderful experience for all of us, but especially Mario who got to spend quite a bit of time meeting with him and was so impressed with his humble and kind spirit.

In a less spiritual reunion, I went to the concert of the Argentine heartthrob Axel with my friend Carolina and Florencia - my most wonderful babysitter/cleaner/helper ever.

It was in the ballroom of a hotel and there were maybe 1000 people there - very fun, relaxed concert full of screaming females.

In case: selling all our belongings, packing, making sure we have all the necessary birth certificates and documents, getting international apostilles for them, selling our car, going to a million doctors to make sure we're all healthy before we have no more insurance, trying to find a car and a place to live online, etc. etc. etc. weren't enough, Mario lost the keys to the car last weekend. Which necessitated breaking two windows, having the car towed, getting the keys replaced, then getting the windows replaced. Fun.

I'm a second child - there is no baby book or record of my firsts. I swore I would not do that to my children, yet my second child is suffering the same fate already. Lucia is now 8 months old. She's been crawling all over the place for a month now, and for the last couple of weeks pulling herself into standing on anything that will support her - usually my pants legs. Makes it difficult to get things done. She is still ridiculous about sleeping - hard to get her to nap, won't sleep through the night - but when she's awake for the most part she's happy and giggly and babbling and we all adore her to pieces. Oh - except that she completely hates her car seat and screams any time we are in the car. Nice.

Gabe has survived his first girlfriend and first breakup. For the last couple of months he has come home from school every day telling me about his friend Barbi (just in front of him in the picture). "Ma, Barbi es mi amiga" with a special smile on his face. He wants to go to Barbi's house, he wants her to come to our house, he's sad when she doesn't come to school. Then today, I asked him if he played with Barbi today and he told me: "No, parece que Barbi no fue mi amiga. Es amiga de Mattias y el es grande" (No, it seems that Barbi was not my friend, she is friends with Mattias and he is big). But he seemed not at all concerned or saddened by that. I tried no hold in my laughter until he could no longer see me.

This Land is My Land

2010-06-16T09:22:00.003-03:00

and this land is about to be their land as well.
In 19 days we will be boarding a plane with 6 suitcases, 4 carry-ons and 3 "personal items" and headed to Arizona to start the next phase of our lives.

This Saturday we will have a massive garage sale in a country that has no clue what a garage sale is and disperse of all of our wordly goods. I am too busy to think about how I "feel" about it. Mario wants to price everything super high due to emotional attachment. Gabe tries to "prender"=vender=sell everything for 2 pesos to anyone who happens to come to the door. He's totally into the whole sale idea. Lucia is busy eating any bits of paper that happen to fall to the floor.

So if you have any clothes/dishes/beds/furniture/kitchen items/appliances/toys/etc that you're in the process of eliminating from your home, we'd love to take it off you hands! Oh, and a nice, economical place to rent for a few months? oh, and a car to buy? oh, and a job for a not yet licensed but very experienced physical therapist? we're looking for all that as well.

And now you know why I haven't updated my blog header photos - impossible to get a decent one of the whole family!

Gabe Turned 3!!

2010-06-09T09:52:00.009-03:00

Last Saturday Gabe turned 3, and requested a farm animal themed party. Here is the photolog in reverse order since I am no longer able to change the order of pictures in blogger. Can someone please help me??
Here we are tired but happy after a long and beautiful winter afternoon playing outside.

The kids pinning the tail on the horse. All played, except Gabe who refused to wear the blindfold. My handsome boys - the younger of which didn't get his hair combed for the party because his father was in charge of dressing him while I went ahead to set things up. oh well. Gabe ADORES his dad, and is sad every.single.day when he wakes up in the morning or from his nap and his dad is at work. And he loves to tell anyone who will listen that now he's big and plays golf and football (soccer) in the grass with his dad.

Gabe hitting the piñata.

Blowing out his candles while I hold back Celeste who blew them out the first time around.

So happy we are singing to him!

Running across the basketball court with their pinwheels. They were supposed to be decoration but made a great activity!

Cupcakes decorated with farm animals accompanied giant suckers, white chocolate covered popcorn, number 3 sugar cookies and mini caramel apples on the party sweet table.

Gabe and Roque in the fantastic barn my niece Vicki painted on the giant piece of cardboard I found in a dumpser in front of my house. I made little beanbags for them to throw through the windows at each other and the kids had a great time.

The dessert table with the piñata and the souvenir bags for his friends. I made little coloring books and we gave them to the kids with crayons and modeling clay.

I am 3!!! (his thumb is up you just can't see it.)

This was my fridge the day before the party - the door wasn't closing properly so I called the repair man, and he had to remove the door and take it with him to fix. So I baking and preparing for a party with a fridge covered in cardboard. nice.

The kitchen table more or less looked like this the whole week previous to the party - and every day Gabe asked "is this for my party"? "are Roque and Felipe coming to my party at the church?" "can we have my party today??" "can I see the candy inside the piñata? just a little bit? Can't I just eat one piece mom??" anticipation. it's the foundation to appreciating the moment!

The Days of Our Lives...

2010-05-09T12:16:00.007-03:00

What we've been up to:

After 5 years in Argentina, my National Identity Document finally arrived. Mario asked if I want to stay now that I can open a bank account. Um, no.

I decided to take advantage of Gabe's desire to help and started giving him chores. He's responsible for putting away the silverware and he does a great job - even distinguishes between the big and little forks and puts them in the right spot. He really wants to help wash dishes, but I try to avoid that due to the lake that appears on my kitchen floor afterwards.

Gabe likes to be just like his dad and wear a tie to church...and just like his mom and use lip gloss. He talks a TON and says the funniest things, but of course I can't remember them when it's time to blog.

Lucia had her first two teeth come in these last couple of weeks. They came in at the same time, which couldn't have been too comfortable for her. Here we are headed to church - with one shoe missing before we've even made it out the front door. That tends to happen a lot. Why can't babies keep their shoes on?

I've been trying my hand at crochet lately. I like it because it's way less mess than sewing. I don't have to get out my machine, set it up, cut out the fabric, have thread, bobbins, etc etc etc.
Also, you can do it anywhere - waiting for the doctor, in line at the bank - I just drop the yarn and hook in my bag and anytime I have to sit around I can keep working. But I don't love it so much because it takes FOREVER. This little dress of Lucia's was a vest that Susana gave her and I crocheted the skirt on and added the flowers. First I spent three weeks working on it and hated it so unraveled the whole thing, then I started over and it took me another week to finish it. A month.. Seriously? Do you know how many skirts I could have machine sewed in that amount of time??

Mario and I celebrated our 4th anniversary a couple of weeks ago. We had all these big plans to go away for the weekend, which changed into going to a local hotel for the night, which ended up just being going out to dinner. But it was nice to have alone time and I'm still married to the hottest and nicest guy I know.

One of the big reasons we didn't go away overnight is that Lucia is a TERRIBLE sleeper. She likes to nurse about every 2.5 hours - all night long. While I initially loved my quiet time alone with her in the middle of the night, now I'm tired. 6.5 months is a long time to go without good consecutive sleep.

So this weekend I got strict. I sent Mario and Gabe to Susana's house to sleep and made her cry it out. It's horrible listening to her cry - it breaks my heart. I go try and calm her, but I don't nurse her so she just gets madder and screams more than when I just leave her alone. The first night she cried an hour. Last night only 30 minutes, we'll see how tonight goes.

Lucia in the adorable sherpa hat my friend Stephanie made for her, and her little ruffle outfit I made (with the machine. waaaay faster.)

I feel like I've been busier than this, but I don't have any other pictures on my camera so that must be it!

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

2010-04-21T15:35:00.002-03:00

Yesterday Lucia turned 6 months old. A half of a year has passed. I can't believe it. We've been going the rounds with dr. check-ups this last week. She now weighs 18.5 pounds and is 27 3/4 inches long. We went to the cardiologist on Monday and the two small holes in her heart she was born with have closed. YEAH! We're waiting for the results of her anemia studies to see how she's doing on that.

But whatever the studies say, she acts like a growing, thriving, funny, lovey baby. She loves to be in her "activity center" and won't even sit in the bouncer chair anymore. This girl wants to be up and on the move! She mumbles "mamamamamamama" all the time, so I'm guessing her first word is MA!

She wants to eat all the time. Not just nurse, although she would happily live doing nothing more, but she watches the food everyone else is eating so intently, and tries to grab at it. Her diet so far consist of: cereal/polenta - likes it, bananas - likes them but only room temperature, not cold, grated apples - not such a big fan, carrots - gobbled them up! Next we'll be introducing squash and sweet potatoes. With Gabe, I couldn't buy baby food in jars because it didn't exist here. Now I see it in some stores, but it seems so processed and gross compared to fresh food that I haven't even really considered it. Plus, I love that really quickly I just get to the stage that whatever we're eating goes in the food processor and she eats as well.

When she's on the floor she rolls and scoots all over the place, and she gnaws on everything. I'm guessing crawling and teeth aren't too far off. Man we love this little girl!

Cute new shirt I "made" sewing some flowes onto a onsie that I cut off into a t-shirt.

I seriously could spend all day making clothes for her!

chirlo...chino?

2010-04-14T19:40:00.002-03:00

Esta no fue precisamente la escena, pero si', le di un chirlo en la cola a gabriel porque no se estaba portando bien a la hora de su siesta... horas ma's tarde hablo' con su abuela Annette y e'l le dijo que yo le habi'a dado un CHINO en la colita!!!! ja ja ja mario

orejas??!!! ears??!!!

2010-04-14T19:28:00.002-03:00

estaba caminando con Gabriel (2 a. y 8 meses) cerca de la estacio'n de omnibus y senalando a un colectivo (bus) como el de la fotografia exclamo'!!!! MIRA PAPA: tiene orejas!!!!!! refirie'ndose a los espejos retrovisores.....muy gracioso

Easter Easter

2010-04-07T21:37:00.004-03:00

I read a lot of party related blogs, and sometimes it makes me get crazy ideas and I start looking for reasons to have parties so I can use all the cute ideas I've seen. Thus the birth of an Easter party for Gabe and a few of his friends. Only a few, because the actual house-full-of-noisy-messy-toddlers is not the part I like. I like the prep. I kept it pretty simple, but still had fun.

A sampling: eggs made out of craft foam (can't buy plastic eggs here) finger puppet bunnies stuffed with candies and orange candies made into carrots.

Easter bags for all, little popcorn cups, and balloons strung with paper chain garland. All so cheap, easy and fun to do.

They decorated cookies with excess amounts of sprinkles. Gabe loves "cocinando/cooking".

Then we went to the lawn at the church where I had hid all the goodies and they had their Easter egg hunt.

Roque, Gabe and Felipe searching in the bushes.

All the kids with their goodies: Uli, Felipe, Roque, Gabe, Celeste.

Then we came back and they ate popcorn, had juice boxes and went home. Perfect length - fun party!

Then we went to Mario's sister's house for actual Easter, so I made more bags for the kids and just filled them this time. Gabe - Pilar - Franco

My cute babies on Easter Sunday, not in Easter outfits b/c we didn't go anywhere to show them off and I was lazy. I kind of regret it now.

With their cute dad. It's impossible to get Gabe with a clean face!
It wasn't a matchy-matchy Easter outfit, but I still thought Cia looked pretty stylish.

Lucia's Happy Place

2010-03-26T09:57:00.004-03:00

Disclaimer: this is a post that will most likely only be interesting to my mom.

When my baby is crabby all day long and I can't figure out what she needs, I put her in the bath.

And then I get this:

Dance Party

2010-03-23T10:51:00.009-03:00

We've had lots going on in the month of March. First, we finally put our house on the market. After much debate, frantic cleaning and clearing out, we listed it with a supposedly well respected, big, real estate company. We haven't had a single visitor in three weeks.

Our stake presidency decided that we needed to have an activity just for couples, so Mario and I were put in charge of planning a couples only dance. About 150 people attended (and less than 10 kids!) and we seriously danced for 4 hours without stopping. Definitely a success.

(stake presidency & wives: me & Mario, Cintia & Jose Zacarias, Carola & Cesar Toricella)

These are 2/3 year old sons of the stake presidency. Someone misbehaving at a primary activity?? Probably one of these. Roque figured out Filipe and Gabe go to church together while he goes to a different ward, and he was mighty unhappy about it. I'm sure any primary president is glad they are seperated!

Our stake primary invited every family to make a model of a story from the scriptures or church history, and then we all got together to display them. A great display of creativity and workmanship!

pioneer history model made by the stake primary president.
We created King Benjamin preaching to the people who had gathered around and set up tents to listen to him. Not nearly as detailed as the others!

For a ward activity I planned this month, we had a "foam" dance. All the members were invited to make hats out of craft foam and then we handed out awards. The primary made maracas and learned how to dance the "murga" - or dance that starts carnival in latin countries. In addition, we gave out cans of that spray foam/silly string stuff in the middle of the dance for people to spray each other. Great times had by all, and especially fun for me is that Gabe LOVES to dance with me! We had the best time.

This friday is the farewell party for a kid from our ward leaving on his mission. It's a short fireside, then a potluck dinner, then a dance. I'll miss all the dancing when we're not in Argentina anymore!

Lucia 5 Months

2010-03-23T10:33:00.004-03:00

My little lovey girl turned 5 months old on Saturday, and I cannot believe how fast the time is flying.

At her check-up on Monday she weighed in at 16 lbs. 13 oz. and 26.5 inches long. That's the same length at Gabe at this age, but a little over a pound lighter.

She rolls over and then scoots around almost like she wants to crawl, but annoyed that she's face planting in the ground. So we've pulled out Gabe's walker and she's enjoying being upright. She can barely reach the ground so moves a little but not much, and as expected, everything she can reach goes to her mouth. When she can't reach anything, in goes her thumb.

As she learned to communicate from Gabe, she is full of happy squeals and shreeks, especially about 5 am, when we then have to move her basinet out of Gabe's room so she doesn't wake him up. She smiles by opening her mouth huge and wide and has the most adorable laugh. She is very friendly and loves to smile and laugh at strangers.

I gave her her first taste of banana this week, and she gobbled it right up. But her favorite is still nursing, and would just sit and suck for hours if I let her.

She is my absolute love bug, and I cannot get enough of her!

Raising a Girl

2010-03-07T21:36:00.003-03:00

I recently had a light work week, so was finally able to get around to a project I've been dying to try - making baby shoes. It was harder than I thought - working with the small sizes, adapting a pattern for what I wanted, and finding ones that would stay on her feet, but I think we had a pretty good first run. She ended up with 4 pairs, and I would have kept going but Mario was tired of the mess all over the kitchen table and some new work projects came in...

I even made leather ones!!! But leather isn't soft and flexible like fabric, so they're too small. But as soon as I can I'm making more!

(Baby Brown, these will be your first gift from Aunt Adri)

Heard Around Here Lately

2010-03-07T21:25:00.003-03:00

I am recording these in Spanish because that is how Gabe said them.

G: Mama, viene pichi!!.... (despues que llegamos al inodoro) ah, no viene, se fue a su casa con su mama y abuela.

G: Mom, pee pee is coming! (after we get to the toilet) oh, it's not coming. It went home to it's house with it's mom and grandma.

G: Se enoja piderman (spiderman) si se moja con pichi!

G: Piderman (spiderman) gets mad if he gets wet from pee pee. (re: his spiderman underwear)

Last night Mario got out of the shower and didn't get dressed right away and Gabe walked up behind him and started poking his bum.

G: que es esto? Tu colita? Que tiene? Tiene pichi y caca? Es feo.

G: What is this? Your bum? What does it have? Pee pee and caca? It's ugly.

I tried to tell Mario I didn't think he had an ugly bum, but I was laughing too hard to get the words out.

Love-ly Things

2010-02-25T22:21:00.004-03:00

Mario and my first Valentine's Day together I did 14 days of Valentines with a little gift/love note every day starting on Feb. 1st. I thought I was starting this great tradition I would do every year. It didn't even last two years. Waaaay too much work. But I still ocassionally have desires to do fun things, so this year I planned a surprise with two great couples to have dinner on the roof of Mario's mom's house.
I told him I had to go visiting teaching. on a friday. at 8 pm. and he believed me. (luckily our night didn't include "how well do you know your spouse" games.) a bit later the babysitter showed up with a note telling him to go to a certain place at an appointed hour. He looked at her kind of confused, and she told him "I'm here to watch the kids". He was in his bathing suit, just home from the pool, and asked him if he could go as is. She told him "um, you better shower and put on some nicer clothes, but I can't tell you anything more than that!"

The note sent him to the church to meet up with Leandro and Gabriel. There they found another note sending them to an ice cream shop, where they found another note informing them they had to sing a love song to the employees to get their kilo of ice cream. When the singing had been completed, the ice cream was delivered with another note sending them to Susana's roof top where we waited.

We had a great night, and I love my eternal valentine!

This is my love monkey, who is potty-training. sort of. I'm trying to to make too big a deal out of it b/c he's had some pretty big changes in his life lately, and is about to have more. It's working like this for us: naked = no problem going to the bathroom, not a single accident. Underwear or bathing suit = no need to stop what I'm doing to use the restroom, accident every time. Any suggestions?

This is my love baby who is now four months old and has reached a couple of milestones. First, I started giving her cereal and she LOVES it. She refuses to take a bottle and I felt like she was still hungry at times, so I just decided to start the cereal. Seriously, she can't get enough. Although based on the amount that gets all over her face/eyes/hands/clothes, I'm not sure how much actually gets into her stomach.

On the day she actually turned 4 months, she rolled over completely for the first time. Then she's annoyed because she can't roll back and who likes to face plant?

But could she be any cuter? We love her.

Destiny Fulfilled

2010-02-11T13:46:00.004-03:00

A photo summary of our summer.

Lucía is getting very close to rolling over. I am not encouraging it because signs of growth and development make me sad. Gabe loves to help me in the kitchen, and loves every kind of batter, dough, etc. I don't mind if he dips his fingers, but we're working on it being just his fingers and not his entire hand.

Gabe is randomly in love with corn on the cob this summer, and asks for it at almost every meal.

It's official, Lucía is a major thumb sucker. I love it.

We've spent lots of time this summer playing in the water - either on our patio or at the local pool. Gabe can now hold his breath under water and float - it's time for swim lessons!!

Now to the real subject of this post, Mario and basketball. In Argentina there are no school sports, so people play for clubs. Mario played club basketball all growing up, as well as before and just after his mission. Then he had to stop and get serious about school. But his old club in Colon invited the previous championship teams to come play a "friendship" game.
There was just something about walking into the gym with my two small children and hearing the pound of the ball and the squeak of shoes against the highly polished wood floor that made me feel like my mom, hauling us to countless basketball games of my dad growing up. Destiny had come full circle.
Gabe wants to play too, even though the ball is too heavy for him to throw very high.

Take a Number and Wait in Line

2010-01-29T14:41:00.004-03:00

Wednesday we spent the entire day in Buenos Aires doing "tramites". And I mean we started at 7 am and didn't finish with the last appointment until 8pm. But we got it all done. Lucía is now a US citizen with a passport and social security number on their way. She also has an Argentine passport in process. Mario had bloodwork done, x-rays taken, and a medical review to demonstrate that he is acceptable health-wise to be admitted to the US.

In the middle of this hideously hot day, we had a couple of hours to kill while waiting for the lab results to be available and found this park. They lend out reclining chairs for free and have some sprinklers to get wet and cool down. Mario and Lucía joined all the 50+ year old sun bathers in the sprinklers and I laughed out loud at the Argentine addiction to "taking sun". We were the only ones who intentionally sat in the shade!!

And Lucía had her best day yet - happy all day and no problem taking naps while waiting in embassies, doctors offices, walking, etc. I think she just likes to be out of the house!

I was playing with the rapid shot feature on my camera, but I spared you and only included here 3 of the 30+ pictures I took.

The Forth Trimester

2010-01-21T13:44:00.006-03:00

Yesterday Lucía completed three months of life. She weighs 13 lbs 12 oz. and is 24 inches long.
She has started smiling and cooing and sometimes even laughing, and it's magical to hear.
We celebrated by getting out some new (recycled from Gabe) toys to stimulate her. Gabe is highly amused by her, loves to be next to her and regularly tells me "mom, she's moving!!!" He also tells me she can't do some of the things he does because she's "muy little". Her first three months have not been so easy. She cries an average of 5-6 hours a day. But because she doesn't have a fever and gains weight, it's all classified as "colic". I hate the word colic.

On Monday the ped finally gave her an antacid that seems to be helping. She's down to only about 2 hours a day of crying. a relief.My baby update email yesterday said she should be able to start sitting up with the support of pillows. WHAT?? I'm not even going to try. I don't even check to see if she can lift her head, because why would I look for signs of growth?? She's still my newborn, and I am so.not.ready for that to change. I love the way she curls up next to me, how she holds my finger when she's nursing, and when she's done eating she just nuzzles her head into me. I am so in love with this little baby girl.

Chile

2010-01-11T14:36:00.016-03:00

Don't judge a book by its cover - or a vacation by its first 24 hours, because ours went something like this:

Start out 4 hour drive to airport with the news that the freeway has flooded and is closed, we'll have to find an alternative route. Freeway opened - but I got the airport wrong and when we arrived we discovered we had to drive to the other airport in Buenos Aires. Flight delayed, fear of missing connecting flight. Hours traveling, plane runs out of food to sell one row in front of us. Finally arrive in Santiago with 2 exhausted children and two starving adults with 5 minutes to get rental car before office closes for the night. Customs agent is AMAZINGLY SLOW, I'm sure it's intentional and Mario is trying to prevent me from fighting with her and going to jail. Finally make it through, and car rental agency DOES NOT EXIST. Seriously, no one has ever heard of them, phone calls go unanswered. Decide to take taxi to hotel and deal with it in the morning. In the morning hotel finds us a new car rental, but at twice the price. We call all phone numbers in Chile and the US for original car company as a last ditch effort, and then call to confirm rental offered by hotel, but it's too late, no more cars. Finally get a car for an even higher price, and set out for Viña del Mar. Arrive fine, but when we try to use the car later that day, it won't start. We spend the rest of the day on foot and they bring us a new car the next day.

After that the trip was great, but there were enough stress-causing situations piled on top of each other for Mario to swear off traveling for good. (I don't swear off traveling, I just swear.) Below is the pictoral record.

Gabe totally occupied for all 4 hours of the car ride with his new Mr. Potato Head.

Gabe and Tomas with the funnest game ever - attack mom with water guns!

Us at Isla Negra - one of Pablo Nerudas three homes. It was meant to look like a ship, and the inside has all super small, short passageways and doors because it's okay to be eccentric when you're rich and famous.

Mario and Gabe on the little boat tour we took in the bay of Valparaiso. I sat inside to keep Lucia out of the sun and the captain told me all about the privitization of the ports, the upcoming presidential elections, and the ongoing disputes with Peru and Bolivia that force them to maintain the best navy in Latin America. It was fascinating.

Cool random wall art in Valparaiso.

130 year old "elevators" to transport people up and down the hills of Valparaiso.

on top of one of the hills.

Valparaiso feels like it hasn't changed in 100 years. There is nothing new or modern. I felt like I was experiencing exactly the place Isabelle Allende describes in her books. Pablo Neruda said he had a house there b/c it is a place that lends itself to nostalgia and imagination.

the rocky coast of Viña.

early morning before the beaches fill up.

Chile loves American chain restaurants, and I love things that taste like home!

first day in the sun.

Gabe LOVED playing in the waves, even though the water was freezing.

But at first he was hesitant to even walk down to the sand.

Los Dominicos - a church in Santiago with the best artists' market I've ever been to. We loved Santiago - a fantastic city.

Outside the temple in Santiago.

Santa Cruz, Chile. Chile is California, and this is Napa.

Gabe totally wiped out on our bus tour of Santaigo.Mario's brother is the mission president in Rancagua, Chile. One morning I made a big American breakfast for the family and the missionaries that work in the office with Esteban.

Gabe likes to be held, A LOT. When Mario and I refuse, he goes to "San-TAY-o", or his cousin Santiago, who was amazingly sweet with him.

flying over the Andes.

Cia did a lot of sleeping in car seat and stroller.

Estela, Esteban and boys were GREAT. We had an amazing time with them.

Christmas For Archives

2010-01-01T14:59:00.000-03:00

With the trip to Chile coming right on the heels of Christmas, I never posted anything about Christmas itself. It was a particularly fun year because it was the first year Gabe really "got it". We have the Little People Nativity Set and he played with it every single day. He could tell you that Christmas is the birthday of Jesus, that Jesus' mother is Mary and he was born in Bethlehem (all in Spanish, not English). He also was intrigued by Papa NU-el (how he pronounced it) and for weeks after Christmas would point to the sky and say "Alli esta!" (there he is).
We spent Christmas Eve with Paco, Alicia and Pilar in Santa Fe where Alicia and Nora had produced and beautiful atmosphere and the food was very tasty.

Gabe was enthralled and afraid all at the same time of the tiny puppy Pilar got.
Lucía spent a good part of Christmas day in the hammock while the rest of us were in the pool.

Gabe and Pilar singing from the hymn book together.

Christmas Wishes

2009-12-22T13:02:00.003-03:00

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

Snippets

2009-12-17T11:46:00.005-03:00

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!!

2009-12-01T22:57:00.003-03:00

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

2009-12-01T22:32:00.004-03:00

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

2009-11-24T09:48:00.002-03:00

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

2009-11-21T12:41:00.002-03:00

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

2009-11-15T22:56:00.003-03:00

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

2009-11-15T22:47:00.004-03:00

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

2009-11-06T15:30:00.006-03:00

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!!

2009-10-24T19:25:00.003-03:00

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

2009-10-19T14:20:00.002-03:00

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

2009-10-11T22:57:00.006-03:00

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!!!

For Posterity

2009-09-06T15:38:00.000-03:00

Since this blog has been my primary means of tracking Gabe's life, and I haven't focused on him in a while, I thought I should post.

About the last month, he has entered into a much easier phase - meaning his demands for my attention and time has lessened, slightly. He'll play for small moments of time alone, he'll stay with babysitters without crying, and he'll stray from my side in large group/family activities. He even willingly goes to preschool now!

His language skills have just exploded. He repeats everything and he's totally getting the 2 languages. He'll ask me for an apple, and then tell Mario he wants a manzana. Or he'll point out a plane to me, and then show Mario where the "avion" is. It's amazing to me not just that he gets it, but that he differentiates which parent speaks which language, even though we're not super consistent with the mom=english and dad=spanish at home - we just kind of mix it all up.
He loves to draw and play with plah-doh, although I don't love him to play with play-doh because it's SO MESSY. When he draws he still just scribbles, but then tells me what it is, like he's really drawing. He's also started with imaginary play, like he'll pretend that his animals are eating, or pretend he's something else. I love watching his development.

(our stake youth put on a Hi-5 show and Gabe LOVED it.)

This week he has also started counting to 10, in spanish, and always skipping the nubmer 7. Guess he's not into the number 7. But he really counts, and it's adorable. With his colors he's stronger in English, but still mixes them a bit.

He's also gotten much more cuddly, which I love. He lays down on the couch and tells me "mama, hay down aca (here)" and then he likes to give me eskimo and butterfly kisses. I made the mistake of pointing out when we were reading a book that Bambie gives kisses to his mom by licking her so sometimes he likes to do that as well, which isn't my favorite. But I have this fear that when the baby comes I won't have time to cuddle him anymore. I know it's not totally logical, but when you're used to dedicating ALL of your time to one child, it's hard to imagine how you are going to split it. And I have this kind of sadness like I'm going to lose this special time of adoring him and only him, mixed a bit with this recognition that my first baby won't be my baby anymore, and fear that I haven't appreciated it enough. Thus we spend as much time now cuddling and loving as I can, even with this enormous belly in between us.

My not-really-yoga classes

2009-08-25T11:16:00.003-03:00

7 months pregnant

I feel enormous, and I'm ready for this pregnancy to be over. But I'm measuring and weighing exactly the same as at this point with Gabe, but without that hideous cough, so I guess I should be happy. And at my dr's appt yesterday I had only gained .5 pound a week for the last 5 weeks! I was very happy about that.

In my attempts to stay in shape, stay relaxed, and mostly meet other moms, I had been searching and searching for a yoga class for pregnant women, and thought I had finally found one. Only when I showed up, it was all women over the age of 60. The instructor assured me we all have the same physical requirements so I would be fine. All the pregnant girls go at night and this was a morning class. Oh, and then she also revealed that although she is a yoga instructor, she actually things yoga poses are bad for the body and she doesn't like it so really it's a therapeutic exercise class. um, ok. I decided to swallow my hesitations and even though it created a mess with babysitting, etc, to try the night class because more than exercise I was looking for community - other moms of babies to play with in the park, etc. I also signed up for her preparation for labor class - once a week for 4 weeks - same reasoning.

I have to say the only way to get through it is to think about it comically. First, the exercise class is a joke. We just stretch, and LAY ON OUR BACKS for long periods of time. The first time I abstained (in the old lady class) and she totally called me to task in front of the whole class and told me it was a lie that pregnant women shouldn't lay on their backs. ok. then I started the labor prep class. I didn't bring pen and paper to take notes so she very snippily gave me some. Then she sits at the front of the class and recites very slowly what she has to say so that we can note down word for word her information. Um, if you want me to have your exact words why don't you just make me a photocopy??? She also told us that we can't swim because we could get bacteria from the pool, and that if we had certain problems with our pregnancy, to call HER, and she'll tell us whether we need to contact the doctor. oh, and the doctor knows if we need an epidural or pain relievers or not, so don't ask for them or contradict his opinion in any way. Oh, and it's selfish to ask to hold your baby as soon as it's born, the nurses need to clean and review him first and they'll pass him to you when it's the correct time. and...I could go on.

Needless to say, she brings out the rebelious in my personality. I prompty left and signed up for an aquagym class. Which is also all women over the age of 65 that really go to talk (seriously, I'd say 30% of the women are even attempting to exercise) but I absolutely love it. I can do things however light or strenuous I want, and my belly weighs NOTHING in the water! And the old ladies LOVE my pregnant belly and are super friendly and even invited me to lunch today!

Now I have to tell her that I'm not coming back for the second month of classes...I don't think she'll mind, she doesn't seem to like me much anyway!

Babybook Help!?!

2009-08-24T15:17:00.003-03:00

One of my current goals is to finish Gabe's babybook before the 2nd child arrives. As of a month ago I had finished up to about 2 weeks of his life, so it is taking a LOT of time to catch it up, time I'd rather spend on fun new crafty projects.

I bought a basic album, like a scrapbook album that I could put anything in. Then I bought a set of basic babybook pages such as the one below where you bsaically just fill in the blanks:
At first, I was trying to be super creative and create fantastic spreads with adorable baby pictures. But they really weren't that cute and it was taking me FOREVER. So then I just divided all the pictures by month, printed out anything interesting I had written about Gabe on my blog that month, and created really basic collages such as the one below.

This is going much faster and I think if I didn't have 2 years to catch up, wouldn't be so overwhelming. For special occasions, such as first birthday, I tried to create more interesting (read: labor intensive) pages.

(This page looks so simple now that I uploaded the picture, but it seriously took me over an hour to compile)

Part of my problem though, is I don't know when I'm done??? His first year? His first two years? When I get too bored/distracted and give up? And what system should I use for baby #2??

So please, dear blog readers, tell me what you do for babybooks, what worked well or not, and how long I have to keep this up!

WOO HOO!!!

2009-08-20T22:30:00.004-03:00

I just got the following email:

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***
The last processing action taken on your case
Receipt Number: WAC**********
Application Type: I130 , IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN
Current Status: Approval notice sent.
On August 20, 2009, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service.
If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results listed above, or if you have not received a decision from USCIS within the current processing time listed*, please contact USCIS Customer Service at (800) 375-5283.
*Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at http://www.uscis.gov/ under Case Status and Processing Dates.*** Please do not respond to this e-mail message.
Sincerely,
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

**************************
and we got it in under 3 months, for my spouse or orphan...

Don't cry for me Argentina....

Weekend of Festivities

2009-08-12T18:06:00.008-03:00

Last weekend we celebrated all weekend long.

Mario initially told me "I don't want to have a party, let's just go spend the weekend with Paco and Alicia." ok. About Wednesday it evolved to "how about we invite a few friends over for cake on Friday night. Just cake, nothing else." sure, I can make a cake. Thursday sometime he comments "maybe we should have cake and one other dessert, just so there's enough." no problem. Friday morning he calls me "I was thinking you could make make that crab dip I really like and serve it with crackers, just to have something savory. but nothing else." ingredients for crab dip acquired. Friday night when he gets home from work "I'm worried people will be hungry, so I bought a bunch of soda and chips and how about I order some pizzas?" It's your birthday, whatever you want baby!!

So Friday night we had a very casual, but with lots of food, gathering with our friends. We started playing a modified version of Taboo, and were quickly screaming and having a riot. It's amazing that Gabe never woke up!!

The women's team, which technically won.

The men's team, which claimed victory due to a technicality.

Then Saturday, as previously planned, we headed to Santa Fe where Paco prepared a MOST DELICIOUS asado for us. Mario discovered the real secret to preparing the meat has everything to do with the right tools...starter cubes for the fire, "asado" salt for the meat, a state-of-the-art barbeque that sucks up all the smoke without leaving the room cold, and some cool utensil thing for serving the meat straight off the grill and onto the plates - one-handed.

I made cake to take with us but made Mario take a picture with it before we left b/c I didn't think it would survive the trip. Can anyone tell me how to get cream cheese frosting how to set up stiff enough to decorate with??

Gabe is sampling the "cream"

We all played croquet on the lawn, and Gabe loved having lots of space to run around and Pilar's playhouse.

and Pilar got Mario to dress up like a magician and pull a bunny out of a hat (which she previously drew and stuffed into the hat for him. I appreciate her sense of preparedness!)

Gabe really enjoyed all of Pilar's toys, especially dressing up as a "'posa" (mariposa = butterfly).

Then Sunday was Dia del Niño, or Kid's Day. So after church Pilar and Gabe got special presents. Gabe got a kids golf set (now I get my kitchen spatulas back) which he loved for the whole 48 hours he had it before he took it to the glass doors on the entertainment center and smashed one. Now he gets to look at the clubs on a high shelf in his room and contemplate his actions for a few days.

And Tia Alicia also surprised him with LOTS of Play-Doh!!! He is thrilled, I'll try to remember to be thankful that you can't break things with Play-Doh.

We all had so much fun we think we might go back this weekend!

I Love To See the Temple

2009-08-02T19:21:00.003-03:00

A week ago Friday we had the priveledge of going to the temple to witness Pilar being sealed to Paco and Alicia. For those not of my faith, when we are married in the temple we are married not just for time, but for all eternity. Children born into such a marriage are consequently sealed for all eternity to their parents. Pilar is the beautiful love child of Paco and Alicia that was biologically born to another mother and adopted by Paco and Alicia. Thus there is a small ceremony to seal Pilar to her parents for all eternity. It was lovely, and not just the part where we left Gabe at home and spent the day with adults!
I made Pilar a sweet little all white dress to wear in the temple using the fantastic flowers Cecelia taught me how to make, but I'm a dork and didn't get a single picture. It was a COLD day so Pilar was already changed into more winter approriate clothing by the time we got outside.

It was a lovely day, made all the better by the fact that when I got home the babysitter had Gabe fed, changed into pijamas, the house clean, and had even DONE LAUNDRY!!!

Azcuy's = Great Friends

2009-08-02T18:55:00.003-03:00

Argentine's only kind of celebrate Valentine's Day, and they definitely don't make Valentine's to distribute to all their school friends. The don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day (lack of Irish immigrants??) barely Halloween (unless you are in my close circle and then it is obligatory) or really even their own Independence Day. However, July 20th is "Friends Day" in Argentina and they ALL celebrate friends day. For a society that doesn't generally plan much in advance, if you don't make a reservation a month in advance you won't get into a restaurant.

It was very fitting that our wonderful friends the Azcuy's were visiting us on July 20th! Since they moved back to Cordoba we have missed them tremendously. They stopped through on the way to Buenos Aires and on the way back where they had to update their kids passports in the embassy, and in our approximately 36 hours together:

Mario and Adan confirmed they are soul brothers.

Cecilia and I talked and laughed and she taught me how to make the coolest fabric flowers and empañadas arabe, which are easy and delicious.

Their two oldest kids Augustina and Tomas were wonderful and played brilliantly with Gabe.

And they accompanied us to a gathering of other Rosario friends to celebrate Friend's Day.

We promised them a trip to Cordoba to visit as soon as it isn't so freaking cold there!

We love you Azcuy's!

What's in a name...

2009-07-16T19:52:00.006-03:00

It all started before Gabe was born...Mario mentioned to his then counselor in the bishopric that if it was a girl we would name her X. His counselor responded "oh, we love that name too. If our next child is a girl we talked about using it". Fastforward 2.5 years later, this counselor's wife and I are pregnant AT THE SAME TIME. Her due date is two weeks before me. I'm kind of freaking out, because we both want the same name but I DON'T want to be the copycat - two weeks apart...same ward... I end up getting my ultrasound before her and I find out we ARE havinga girl. I don't know what to do. I don't like to tell everyone the name before the birth because when the baby's not born yet everyone feels they can offer their real opinion, even if it's negative, and I feel I have until the birth certificate is signed to change my mind. But should I tell everyone early so I don't look like a copier and maybe intimidate her into choosing another name? Why am I the only person concerned about this?? Oh yeah, in Argentina only approved names are allowed so everyone has the same name anyway! No one cares about originality!

Then...she gets her ultrasound and it's a....BOY! Thus, coming this October to Rosario will only be one.............Lucia.

Middle name still to be decided.

And while we are shut-ins, I have been taking all Gabe's old onesies and making them girly. It's great fun. I also crocheted her little maryjane's with interchangeable flowers in different colors. My sewing machine is currently in repair, but when I get it back there will certainly be more to come!

I've also been trying to keep Gabe entertained with clandestine outings to the little train at the park and visits from his cousin Pilar - equally as bored as he is! Don't worry, when we go out we use alcohol hand cleaner liberally!

and p.s. if anyone happens to be getting rid of baby girl clothes, we are accepting EVERYTHING!

sorry for the lameness of the photos, blogger and I were having a fight tonight.

Health Emergency/House Arrest

2009-07-02T13:43:00.003-03:00

Swine flu has arrived to Argentina in a big way. The government has declared a health emergency and all schools and institutes have been closed down for a month. Church - including Sunday meetings and all activities - has been cancelled for two weeks. People are encouraged not to go to public places like malls, movie theaters, children's play areas, etc. Some cities have even closed all businesses. Pregnant women who work with the public have been told not to go to work, and they will lose no benefits.

Under direct mandate from my husband, I am only allowed out of the house with a face mask on and hand sanitizer at the ready.
Problem is, I CAN'T BREATH with this stupid thing on. I have breathing problems anyway - I don't breath through my nose because I don't feel like I'm getting enough air. I can't put bed covers over my head because I feel like I'm suffocating. Withing 60 seconds of having this thing on I'm asphyxiating.

Second problem is, I feel like the panic is a bit excessive, so I don't really need to wear the face mask to go to the grocery store. Mario sends me text messages when I'm out to remind me to wear it. I will not reveal publicly my responses nor whether they can be considered 100% truth...

But this is the breakdown, according to my understanding. Swine flu is not in and of itself more serious than any common flu. However, it does tend to set on very quickly and have respitory side effects. Because it is a new strand of the virus, it is spreading very quickly because no one is immune to it. But a normal, healthy person should be able to recover just as they do from any flu. Argentine complications: Argentine's, by natural selection, are generally more resistant to the flu. They are NOT more resistant to swine flu. A very large percentage of Argentine's live in less than ideal situations - no adequate heating in their homes, no proper diet/health, sharing of germs when drinking mate, and while no one else admits this I would say not as sanitary. Not because they are dirty, or don't care, but my personal belief is washing dishes by hand does NOT clean them as well as a dishwasher, and I know no one in Argentina who has a dishwasher. Add to that that I have witnessed regularly here that people kind of rinse dishes in cold water more than washing them in soap and hot water, probably for a variety of reasons that have to do with heating the water being expensive historically, and even today in poorer or more rural areas where there is not a city gas line but gas has to be purchased in tanks.

Anyway, when someone here gets the flu, it can very easily turn into pnuemonia. Especially swine flu, that is already associated with respitory side effects. And if you live in a draftly cold house without proper alimentation, sanitation, etc, pnuemonia is even more serious. And when you're a third world country that doesn't produce any of it's own antibiotics, so it all has to be imported and you suddenly have an exponentially higher need for antibiotics, you worry a lot. And if you're the citizen of a 3rd world country you tend to feel like most of life just happens to you, out of your control, so you really start to panic about things like the flu.

And if you're a north American, who has a nice toasty warm house and lots of good food and sanitizes the house and dishes regularly, you think none of this applies to you so you shouldn't have to wear a face mask or stay in doors and face the much more real threats of asphyxiation or craziness due to boredom. And everyone around you will think you are an insane risk taker and should be institutionalized...or at least sent back to your own country.

Sad, Sweet Goodbye

2009-06-29T11:17:00.002-03:00

Last Thursday night, the 25th of June, Mario's father, Deolindo Antonio Resek, passed away. He was 85 years old and had lived an exemplary life. Deo was very intelligent, learned, humble, generous, loving, and many other traits. But most importantly, he was one of those rare people who can really say that he didn't just try, but did his best to follow the example of Jesus Christ every day of his life. I am grateful for the relatively brief time that I knew him, and am even more incredibly grateful to have the blessing of being married to someone who was raised by his example and teachings.

I know that the highest honors and glories of heaven are reserved for men like him. We will miss him.

Polo ~ Pirouetes ~ Pathetic Princesses

2009-06-20T21:22:00.004-03:00

Polo Ponies. Argentina is known for polo, and having a taste for all things fine, I've always been interested. Last week there was a polo tournament here in Rosario that was open to the public so I went with Gabe and my friend Janette and her son. It wasn't what I expected. First, the horses are small, which is fine, I jut didn't know that they are called polo PONIES because they are truly small, agile animals. Second, it was so informal. There has hardly anyone there, it was basically just a field and we could have walked right onto it - no real division between us and the herd of charging horses (that didn't seem so light weight when they ran storming past a mete 3 feet from you in a herd, with no barrier in between. And there was no score board, so I had no idea what was going on. But we had fun anyway, Gabe loved the horses and continue to shout "dale caballo, dale!" (go horse go!) The best side benefit from that is when he's piddling along and I need him to get moving I can say "dale Gabe Dale!" and he'll start running like the caballos. Works great.Mateo and Gabe found polo balls and the trainer let them keep them. They're heavy and feel like they're made of fiberglass.

One of Mario's responsibilities in our church is over the Young Single Adults. We were in charge of the regional dance so I declared a snow theme (it is winter here) and taught them how to cut out snowflakes. It was fun to decorate.

We decided to serve soup and water instead of hotdogs and soda. Some were horrified by the departure from tradition, others tried my taco soup and declared that it was so spicy it was completely inedible (I swear it was totally mild) and others were happy. Whatever, I feel like I'm helping to expand their palates and hopefully their minds! (I also made squash soup, pictured below)And in a grand personal accomplishment, I finished my first novel in Spanish. I finally read the first of the Twilight series when I picked it up in English in an airport earlier this year. I couldn't get New Moon in English so decided to try it in Spanish. I had a hard time getting into it, and blamed that on the language but have since heard many felt the same way. Is it me, or is the heroine whiney, suicidal and pathetic in this book?? But by the end I was enjoying the story again. I wanted to get the third in English but then I met a guy the other day that just got back from living in the US for 8 years and his English was not good, and I was really kind of surprised and dismayed, and I don't want that to be me so I think I've convinced myself to read the 3rd book in Spanish as well. But if someone wants to mail me their old copy of the 4th book in English I'd be most appreciative. Santa hasn't come through with my Kindle yet.

The picture was clear

2009-06-09T17:54:00.001-03:00

We just got back from the ultrasound and...

Let the shopping begin.

Two = Dos = Two!!

2009-06-09T14:38:00.003-03:00

Gabe is "TWO" he will tell you if you ask in english and "DOS" if you ask in Spanish. It amazes me. He is funny, and energetic, and a little mischievous, and his intelligence and the way he connects things often astound me. He also LOOOOOOVES his mommy, and wants to be held all the time, and still gets incredibly jealous if I happen to be holding another child.
He likes to kick the soccer ball, whack the tennis ball with the kitchen spatula, throw the nerf ball, and have someone lift him to try for baskets with the basketball which is truly to heavy for him. He loves his books and can now complete all his puzzles without thinking. But his favorite toys are the cows nana bought him. Seriously, he LOVES the mama cow, papa cow, and baby cows. We have to stop in the grocergy store to examine every kind of packaging that has a picture of a cow on it.
He loves to sing and dance and comes home from preschool singing new songs I don't know. He blew out his birthday candles all by himself...3 times!

And his favorite part of his birthday party was eating the "cream" off the cupcakes. It's all about the frosting for this kid.
He loves his cousins, expecially Vicki and Pilar. And likes to repeat "ojo Paco" warning his uncle Paco that he's going to beat him at golf someday.

We love you baby Gabe!!!

Playing Catch-up

2009-06-09T13:38:00.005-03:00

That seems to be my MO with this blog...

A couple of weeks ago we were experiencing unseasonably warm weather here. So we took advantage of it and spent the day at a kids farm nearby. It was fantastic. Gbe LOVED all the animals and it was clean and beautiful.

"zashy, Mingos!!!"

The woman working there came around an got really annoyed that everyone was trying to feed the horses bits of hay that were about, "We've told EVERYONE they are NOT to feed the animals! It makes them sick!!" Yet there was NOT ONE single sign anywhere saying not to feed the animals. We stopped anyway, I just thought their lives might be easier if they actually put up a sign or two.

They day after our visit to the farm, the cold came with a vengence. And that week was "preschool week" in Argentina (random holidays, whatever) so his school celebrated with special activities all week, culminating in a preschool birthday party/costume party on Friday. Since I am expected to be birthing around Halloween this year, I was happy to put emphasis on this costume extravaganza and made Gabe a costume for this event instead. Trying to learn from my failures of last Halloween when I conned my mom into sending me tons of feather boas and then spending hours hand sewing them into a parrot costume that Gabe refused to wear, I attempted to fool him into thinking he was just wearing "normal" clothes...with a small pillow velcroed to his back!

and thus I present Gabe the turtle.

He had fun at his party, and even wore the costume!!

In other family news without photos, Mario has almost finished the golf lessons I gave him before I left to the US (thinking he would use them all while I was gone and not annoy me with this demand on his time, but not so) and is loving them. He is now telling me he needs golf shoes.

I also just finished my first round as teachr for the Self-Employment Workshop that our church offers. It was quite an interesting experience and I liked it a lot. Now if only I can find more ways to make my ifluence felt on the merchandise available in Argentina!!

And like father like son... Gabe and Mario give a shout out to Uncle Matt before heading off to church last Sunday.

Deseret Towers, T-Hall, 1992-1993

2009-05-22T09:42:00.004-03:00

I realize that by publishing that I am publishing my age...oh well. I feel like I've had a reemergence of BYU in my life lately. First, I went to women's conference and for the first time really since I graduated spent more than a couple of minutes on campus. Every young student I saw I thought I might know...and then I realized I wasn't their age anymore... Then I came home and the BYU dance group Living Legends came to Rosario to perform, so we hosted two of the girls in our house for two nights. There were super cute, and their performace was really excellent. One must have said "oh yeah" a couple of times, nothing too notable, but Gabe picked up on it and randomly looks at me throughout the day and says "Oh yeah. oh yeah, no hay mas oh yeah!" (no more oh yeah).
Then I reconnected with some old BYU friends from my freshman ward on Facebook. SO FUN. Really, I think someone should plan a reunion of our freshman ward, we had a great ward.

Other than that, we haven't been up to too much, so I will complete this post with some gratuitous photos of Gabe. Here he is at a friend's birthday trying to blow out the candle. He must be practicing for his birthday.

And in his Batman pijamas.

And sorry for the poor quality and sideways viewing (anyone know how to turn video?), but here he is demonstrating his early skill at golf...with a kitchen spatula and a tennis ball. All day long he asks to play with his "raquet, ball"! Mario is very proud.

Please Stop Talking - Pregnant Woman Present

2009-05-14T09:41:00.003-03:00

For any of you not yet aware, our family will grow to four the end of October. That makes me just barely four months pregnant, looking slightly chubby but not decidedly pregnant yet. However, I reside in a place where people feel entitled to tell you exactly what they think about you at all times, so here are so recent comments I have been subjected to:

At the vegetable stand...
Vegetable wife: Are you pregnant?
Me: (completely dumfounded that someone would be asking me this while I am wearing a sweater and jacket) um, actually yes, but why would you ask me that?
Veggie wife: because your face has completely changed, so I knew you must be pregnant. Husband, She is pregnant!
Veggie husband: oh, how nice. You are going to have a boy, I know it, you don't need an ultrasound now.
Me: um okay (totally irritated, how does this almost complete stranger think he knows MY body??)

At church...
Me: Hi, how are you, I haven't seen you in a while..blah blah blah
church lady: oh look, your hips are getting really wide, that means you're going to have a girl!
excuse me?? I'm still in my size 6 jeans, maybe you're confused by the pleats in my skirt??

So apparently it's open season for commenting on my body/life/reproductive tendencies/etc. so feel free to comment away!

A Summary That Doesn't Do Justice to the Visit

2009-05-11T21:01:00.006-03:00

The plane trip to get there best forgotten, Gabe and I had a great time visiting faimly in the US. Gabe learned lots of new tricks from aunts and uncles.

He spent lots of quality time with cousins.

We got to be matchy-matchy for easter (no fun with just one kid - I needed the cousins)

We got a taste of old western life at Josh & Misty's ranch, which Gabe absolutely adored.

My mostest wonderfulest friends came to visit and amongst eating, pedicures, shopping, long walks and visits to the Chihuly exhibit, I was brought back into the realms of current fashion, good parenting techniques, and pop culture. It was amazingly fantastic and I cannot even attempt to summarize it. Guess who's toes are whose??
I had lots of amazing time with my sisters (also Allison, not pictured). They had to outfit and accesorize me daily because I wasn't cute enough to hang out with them.

I got to go to Women's Conference at BYU with my mom, ashley, lindsay and misty. It was a great experience.

So, I'm ready to become a permanent resident again. Anyone have a visa and a job for my husband?

March Tides

2009-04-01T17:14:00.004-03:00

Well, a month has passed and Gabe seems to be adjusting to preschool. Or at least that's what they tell me. Yesterday was the only day he didn't cry when I left him, and he's always crying when I pick him up, but they say he is great in the interim.

He talks a ton, I just don't know what he says. I don't know if they are new words in Spanish he is learning at Jardin, or made up words, or English words I'm not disciphering?? I'm sure it will all becoms clear soon enough. My favorite new word is "cac-lat" as in chocolate. He also loves to eat any kind of dough, like the above pictured pizza dough. Mario is totally grossed out by it and attempts to stop him, but I do not. He is so my son.
We've spent a lot of time this month joing to the park playing with the croquet set that Allison and Jimmy sent us for Christmas, however, I managed not to get a single picture of that.

Mario and I at a wedding.

And with the finalization of this document, I am now ready to travel to the US with Gabe next Monday to spend a month with my family. This is a travel authorization granting Mario's permission for me to take Gabe out of the country. This was the process for obtaining it: go to the courthouse and wait in line for a form-filler-outer. I don't know what else to call him. You cannot get this form on your own and bring it already filled out, this person must do it. He neatly writes all the details (Mario, id # xxx gives permission for Adrianne, id # xxx to take Gabe, id # xxx, determined to be their legal child by xx document, testifying that in book x of the city of rosario it is declared...to the United States of North America. I'm not lying, he literally added "north" because people here seriously take issue with the fact that we call ourselves "americans" in general.) Anyway, the form guy fills all this out, making little scribbles and lines through any space he did not write in should I try add information later or something. He then hand writes all of this information in a book, and notes on this form the number of the book and page, and Mario has to sign both the book and the form.

When this is done, Mario can go back to work and I go wait in another line to pay for this service. After I have paid, I wait in another line for the official lawyer of the forms section of the courthouse to sign and stamp the form. All that done, I then go to the bank and pay for a "seal". Once I have that paid for, I go to another place in the courthouse to get an authorization of legality of my document. There's some more stamping going on all the while.

Three hours and 8 stamps later, I am good to go. I am totally annoyed by this process, obviously, and know I could effectively streamline it should they ever put me in charge. But I'm also curious as to why the US doesn't require ANY KIND of permission for one parent to take a child out of the country. Is it just not an issue?? I realize that both parents have to sign the passport application, but after that, open season on abduction??

Pronunciation is hard!

2009-03-10T21:43:00.003-02:00

Gabe loves fruit - basically any kind or variety. His current favorites are grapes and Craisins. Fruit in Spanish is "fruta" but that's kind of hard to say, so he tells me all day long:
- Puta, ma, puta
- Do you want some fruit Gabe?
- Si!!

That was the first bad word Lisa Marieiro taught me in Portugese when we were kids...I blush (and laugh) every time Gabe says it.

How To Make Difficult Decisions

2009-03-08T15:23:00.002-02:00

For any of you out there having difficult making a decision, I suggest putting off making the decision until there is only one option left, and then there you go!

At least that is what I did with the big debate about sending Gabe to preschool. I know, he's not even 2 yet, but here he is standard starting age. The school year runs from March to December, and all kids that will turn two before the end of June start in the two year old class in March. All preschools are three hours a day (morning or afternoon turn) five days a week. While some are public, the majority are private and cost anywhere from 130 to 400 pesos a month.

I have been throwing around the idea of sending Gabe in my mind since about last November. There are no play groups, no mommy-and-me clubs, no gymboree kids groups, no daycare at the gym, or anything of that nature here. The only music class around is the one I teach, and I do it FREE, and I'm lucky if one other kid shows up. So basically, Gabe and I spent ALL DAY together, with NO OTHER kid/mom friends to break it up. I felt like he really needed more social interaction.

However, he just seems so young for preschool. He's going to learn bad/annoying habits from the other kids, probably bad words, and what kind of stay-at-home mom sends her kid to preschool before he's even two?? I mulled around and weighed all these aspects for a few months. By the time February rolled around, I had decided that if I couldn't start getting out to go to the gym a few times a week and a couple of other things, I would be clinically insane. An insanity never did prove a good mothering quality. Thus I set out to sign him up. For about three weeks, I pounded the pavement all around our neighborhood stopping at every preschool to check it out, find out if there was space, etc. They were all closed. Seriously, I couldn't find a living person at ANY of them.

The last week of February, the last week before I knew classes began, I started finding live people to answer my questions. And this is what they said "sorry, no more space." "nope, no more space" "ah no, you're too late". I was seriously frustrated. How did other people sing up their kids if I couldn't even find anyone to talk to?? But at the very last option (a few blocks farther than I really wanted to walk) there was space. Money was paid, child was registered, I didn't even ask the standard questions like what's the child/teacher ratio and how do you discipline and what are you teaching methods. He's not even two, and he's only there for three hours. What can really happen??

So last Monday Gabe started preschool. He seems to really like all the toys and the other kids, with one caveat: I remain present in the room. Monday all the parents stayed with the kids and we did activities. Tuesday I stayed 20 minutes then left him long enough to go to a pilates class and they called me because he was crying inconsolably. Wed. I was exhausted and it was pouring rain so I didn't take him. Thursday I stayed 40 minutes and left him 20 - cried almost the whole time. Friday I didn't enter, but only left him 30 minutes. The teacher said he cried, but there was notable progress. When we show up, he's all excited, wants to go in and play....until he figures out I'm not going in as well.

Will this get better?? Who will be more emotionally damaged - me if I don't get some alone time or Gabe if he's forced to be seperated from the extension of himself = me?

While you ponder that, let me what with you the list of items I was required to provide Gabe with to attend preschool:

A backpack containing:

plate and a cup
a placemat and a napkin
a towel for drying his hands that has elastic to go around his neck
liquid hand soap in a pump container
a cover-up shirt for painting
a notebook with a blue cover for communications with the teacher

Seriously? Isn't it just easier to stock the bathrooms with papertowels and buy a big thing of soap for everyone to share?? Or even ask the parents to take turns providing paper towels and soap each month?? Are you seriously going to go to each kids' backpack and get out his individual soap and towel every time he needs to wash his hands?? And let's talk about the placemat and napkin...I asked if I could just put in a pack of paper napkins, you know, the DISPOSIBLE kind? "um, well, if you could just get him a cloth napkin and placemat then he'll have it for the whole year." Yeah, and I have to take it out and wash it every night! I ignored them and shoved in a pack of cheap paper napkins.

And please note that I refused to buy him a "character" backpack with backyardigans or winnie the pooh or something on it, and instead settled for nice plain blue one. I won't cave to characters before he can even ask for them!!

Gabe 21 months

2009-03-01T22:46:00.006-02:00

pre haircut. demonstrating his helpfulness in the kitchen. If I'm cooking/washing dishes/etc. so is he!

I feel like I haven't been updating much about Gabe, and since I have no other record of his childhood I should be making a better effort. So here are all the humorous and not-so-much idiosyncracies of the 21-month old Gabriel.

He is in love with me. Obsessively so. He feels the need to be at least partially attached to my body all day long. He also loves his dad, and he has no greater conflict in life then when we are going seperate directions and he can't be in two places at one time. Whichever one he is with, he is crying for the other. Vacation was great for him because all three of us were always together!

eating his Valentine's cookie.

He is in constant motion. Seriously, this kid does not EVER sit still. Church and car trips are expecially trying and I'm always wondering if we can't take our favorite car trick - the portable DVD - to church with us. If I play a church video very quietly would that be acceptable in Sacrament meeting??

He has been folding his arms now for a while when we pray - or at least putting one hand on the elbow of the opposite arm in what may be considered a vulgar gesture in some countries, but we accept for reverence. He now blesses mama, papa, yaya (abuela), deo, nana, nona, tias and bipu. Bipu is what he calls his cousin Victoria. We have no idea who nona is, but it seems to be the male equivalent of nana, which I feel is acceptable for grandpa.

in the plaza in Colon, with the same robot Mario played on as a child.

He can also identify Jesus, which he just calls "G". They're home boys apparently and whole names are not required.

The bilingual experiment continues. His vocabulary is growing daily, and he continues to learn most individual words in english - moon, star, all the body parts, door, bath, meat, wower/flower, etc. but his phrases tend to be Spanish. "ya esta" = all done and "no hay mas" = all gone. He calls all little children "nenes" = boys, and he is very social with other kids - as long as I am within eyesight. He continues saying "gracias" all the time and I love it, and while he has been saying the bilingual "no" for quite some time, he recently started saying "si" as well. So yes and thank you lose out for now. While he says "fshy fshy and tua = tortuga = turtle, most other animals he identifies by their sound only, but you can ask him about any animal in either language and he responds to both.

He likes me to allow him to walk while we prowl around the neighborhood, but I must be feeling VERY patient and have absolutely no time constraints in order for this to take place because EVERY SINGLE door we pass, he has to stand on the door step, then sit down on it, tell me that the cement/granite/tiles are "cold", then lay down on the step, then get up and proceed to the next step. People passing who happen to catch this routine stop to tell me my child is tired. My child is not tired, he is strange.

He still loves his "gooks" = books.

He continues to be a good sleeper - average of 12 hours a night and a 2-3 hour nap, no problems going down to sleep. And although he has successfully climbed out of his bed and regularly climbs into it, other than that one time he has never tried to get out of bed on his own again.

He likes his "meme"=milk in a bottle. Please do not try to fool him with all those fancy sippy cups and insulated straw cups and other trappings, he just wants it in a bottle, preferably this old crappy one that I think is left over from his cousin and spills milk EVERYWHERE and that he holds with one hand on the bottom.

He likes to climb into the space between the window and the bars and play there. What, your windows don't have bars??? Clearly you are depriving your child!

Imelda Make Way

2009-02-26T14:41:00.003-02:00

I returned home from my vacation a few weeks ago with NINE new pairs of shoes. Nine. It was amazing. The tennis shoes were a gift from Mario, a couple I bought, and the rest all came courtesty of the most amazing friend ever - Tammy. Tammy took heart after my post about shoe shopping deprivation and single-handedly tried to alleviate my suffering.

These adorable little grey numbers are perfect because the have the perfect amount of wedge heel. Just enough to be cute, small enough to be comfortable. I have already been wearing them a ton.
Gabe is modeling some great black peep-toes that he finds very stylish and comfortable.And these quasi-biker boots will hopefully help me be stylish this winter. Now that the trend is 4 seasons old, I am feeling significant pressure to wear my jeans tucked into my boots. All my other boots had too skinny of legs to allow for jeans to be inside. These have wider legs and comfy wedge heels. I am a big fan of wedge heels. I walk a lot and kids are heavy.

Happy shoes to you! May you all have friends in life like Tammy!

Can't Vacation Last Forever?

2009-02-09T15:34:00.013-02:00

Re-entry is hard, especially after such a fantastic vacation.

We spent the first 3 days in Caracas with Linsey and Kenny. Caracas is beautiful and they are the best hosts ever, but "Chavezland" has debilitating traffic and much of downtown and public transportation is dangerous, so our sight seeing was limited.

We then all headed to Curacao, and since there wasn't much to do in Caracas Mario and I added on two days in Aruba before heading back to Caracas.

Now, after I have spent hours uploading all these pictures, I realize that I should have just made a slide show so I don't torture the minimally-interested. But now that I've already invested all this time Gabe will be waking up from his nap any minute now so I just need to get this done. Thus, these are in no particular order:

The amazing view from Linsey & Kenny's apartment in Caracas. But seriously, so hilly Mario was practically carsick any time we had to leave the house.

The cablecar we took to the top of El Avila National Park. Much faster than driving through the insane traffic!

mimicking the airplanes on the trip back from Aruba

Our amazing dinner in a little hut on the beach in Aruba. It was one of those "is this my life or am I dreaming" kind of moments.

Mario playing beach voleyball

Gabe and I playing in the pool waterfall

Mario and the amazing white sand beaches in Aruba.

Relaxing in the hotel pool while Gabe napped.

Gabe playing in the sand at Baby Beach. It was super shallow for quite a distance, and so I would walk out with him and he would call "fishy fishy" and with the help of a few bread crumbs, colorful fish would start swirling all around our legs. He loved it.

Relaxing on the amazing bed at our B&B in Aruba.

Checking out the Marriott beach in Curacao.

Great Indonesian food for dinner in Curacao.

Gabe having a great time throwing seaweed.

Mario at Mambo beach, with the final stages of facial hair before it all came off. (He wanted to grow a beard, but the hair broke the seal on the snorkeling mask so water kept leaking in.)

Gabe throwing rocks in his little european-style swimsuit.

The snorkeling was amazing.

The aquarium in Curacao wasn't as nice as Monterey, but we got to touch sharks,

sea anemones

sea slugs

tortoises

and sting rays. We were stinky when we left.

Mario at Jan Theil beach in Curacao.

The beach is so much more enjoyable when you get a little cabana/bed to rest on!

Mario and Gabe playing in the kids play area with water pumped in from the sea.

Enjoying the private beach by our villa in Curacao.

As soon as we arrived we could smell the ocean.

Feeding the geese at the Parque del Este in Caracas.

Who's scarier - me or the lizard??

Crazy propaganda all over the city that is part of Chavez's path to totalitarian dictator. Read Linsey's post here for more explanation.

Gabe and Isaac demonstrating "parallel play". Gabe loved Isaac and Caleb and their amazing "play room".

Checking out the birds at the artisan market in El Hatillo.

Colorful colonial architecture in El Hatillo.

more artisan market

crazy poor "barrios" that literally cover the hills around Caracas. The level of poverty was astounding, even for us. The view from the top of El Avila wasn't so great due to the clouds...

Linsey and I checking out a little market.

A Scheduled Absence

2009-01-22T23:15:00.002-02:00

as opposed to my regular, unscheduled absences. Tomorrow we're leaving to go here:

Caracas, Venezuela

and then here:

Curacao, Netherland Antilles

I have packed: 1 aquadoodle travel pad, 1 colorforms Thomas the Train, 1 magnetic farm friends pack, 1 set of crayons and coloring pad, 1 portable DVD player with 6 videos, 1 iPod full of kid's music, 2 favorite old books and 2 new "surprise" books...and one bottle of Benadryl nighttime. Wish us luck!

Christmas Recap

2008-12-31T16:31:00.004-02:00

Gabe's annual picture with Santa. While in line he was waving, all friendly and excited to see the big man in red, but when it was our turn, he wanted NOTHING to do with Santa, and refused to stay up there without me. Thus I enter into this picture of a not-so-friendly santa and Gabe's not-so-disguised terror at being so close.

I have very strong feelings about Christmas, specifically Christmas happening exactly the way it did all the year's I spent it in my mother's house - which would be 32 of my 34 Christmases. But I've had to adapt a bit to incorporate Mario's traditions and form some of our own, and so far it's turned out better than anticipated. Their big celebration in Christmas Eve, and this year I got to host at my house.
I made Christmas crackers after the English tradition with a little gift for each person inside. We invited everyone for 9pm, and started the night with piña coladas and stuffed muchrooms, coconut shrimp and crab dip as appetizers.

After that we read an adaptation of "The Women Who Knew Christ" - the points of view of the shepard's wife, the wife of the inn keeper in Bethlehem, the mother of Joseph, the mother of Mary, and Mary about the night Christ was born, singing lots of Christmas songs in between each part. I love my family tradition of acting out the nativity, but with only 2 kids at our party, it wouldn't have been the same, so we did this instead.
We then feasted on grilled lamb, rosemary potatoes, and lots of amazing salads until almost 1am. Paco and Mario took Gabe and Pilar outside to watch the fireworks going off all over town (which we ended up not being able to see any!) and to light sparklers and throw "chakibooms". When they came back in the house, Pilar discovered that Santa had flown by and dropped a big bag of presents in the patio!!

By this point, Gabe was about at meltdown stage, but managed to open a few gifts before being put to bed.

Pilar expressed pure, unbridled joy with every gift.

It was 3am before we went to bed, so Christmas morning we slept in, then Gabe and Mario and I got up and opened Gabe's remaining gifts and our stockings just the three of us.
Then the family all came back over the eat left overs for lunch, work on Pilar's big puzzle,
and then we went to the local orphanage and made Gingerbread houses with the kids.
We divided into two groups. The other group's house was all nicely decorated, while our colapsed under the weight of all the cadies basically just thrown on...
We also delivered goodie plates to neighbors then just hung out and played with the kids' new toys. It was truly a wonderful holiday season, and I actually really like having it all centered on Christmas eve - I felt like the emphasis was so much more on the family gathering and dinner than the gifts, but maybe that was just due to the fact that I did all the planning/cooking this year!

Happy New Year to all!!

Worth It

2008-12-19T23:00:00.003-02:00

If I had had time to write this blog yesterday, it would have gone something like this:

I am a terrible mom. Not only does my child find my sewing scissors (read: sharpest scissors in the house) in the 30 seconds I was going to the bathroom and scratch himself across the forehead...
...but he is driving me absolutely crazy. To the point that I think I should not have any more kids because if this is normal behavior, I'm just not cut out for it. I thought my house was child-proofed, but he manages to CLIMB and BREAK almost everything. Truly. And he must hate the heat as much as I do because he has made an ART of fussiness this week.

On top of that, I'm over Argentina. All kinds of really annoying things I could live with, like us finding out yesterday, and only because Mario's mom happened to read it in the newspaper, than in these last two, busiest weeks of the year, we also have to get our car inspected because 2005 cars were newly admitted to the inspection requirement, and to do so we have to take all the tinting off the windows and then pay to get it put back on (because by law it's not allowed but it's only enforced at inspections and it's too freaking hot here to live without it) and oh yeah, in this city of 1.5 million inhabants there are only 2 places you can do it so bring a few novels because it ain't likely the line will be short!

But that I could live with. What I cannot live with, is the shopping deficiency. I needed/wanted new shoes for the season, and to wear for Christmas, so I got a babysitter and set out. I went to the mall (most expensive), I went downtown to the hub of all shopping, I went in all the small shopping galleries and San Luis street (Rosario's equivalent to Canal Street in New York). And not only is there a total lack of variety, but they are so ridiculously expensive!! The cheapest passable pair I saw cost 150 pesos. That would be US $50, and they're PLASTIC!!!! Okay, I'm not above the ocassional cute plastic shoe to capture a season's trend. But only if I pay less than $25 for it!! Because I am apparently snobby and ridiculous, I wanted an actual leather shoe, so I ended up with the below pictures footware for the outrageous fee of...
260 pesos, or almost 90 dollars! I mean, they're cute, but certainly not $90 cute! And about 10 stores had the exact same shoes, each with their individual store logo stamped on the inside as if they're the only one that makes them. How is a girl supposed to live under such circumstances???

But then I went to a dinner at the church for all the current and former bishops in the stake, and realized even the "perfect" mothers are totally fed up with their kids in this horrible heat wave we're suffering through, and that I really love some of the people that I've met here, so I may survive a little bit longer. I came home and did some shopping online to make myself feel better.

And then this little monster got up this morning and cuddled with me for almost an hour, which makes it all worth it. Good thing I didn't post yesterday.

C is for...

2008-12-09T10:55:00.003-02:00

Civil Unrest. Last week there was a huge riot on the corner of our street between two unions. One person was shot and 18 were wounded. Fortunately, we weren't home at the time, but here are all the police lined up about an hour later.
Cousins-Campo-Carne. My niece Victoria attended a private school focused on agriculture. On top of all the regular history/math/language type classes, she also had to work in the fields, learn about seeds, pesticides, watering, animals, dairy products, etc. Select Saturdays throughout the year she had to go help with the cows. She has very tan arms due to her field working. She graduated last weekend so we went to celebrate with her.

Victoria in the middle, with two friends

In a tradition I think the US should adopt, only the parents go to the boring diploma ceremony, and the rest of us jut go to a big dinner/dance/party afterwards. Because of the nature of her school, all of the food was locally produced at the school, with parents, teachers, students and directors cooking, serving, etc. (the students who help get out of one of their cow working saturdays...) we had pork, stuffed chicken and steak so tender you could cut it with a butter knife. The cheese on the appetizer plate was even made at the school, and it was all DELICIOUS.

Church Callings. Our church is run by volunteer assignments. We call these assignements "callings". Two weeks ago Mario was released as Bishop of our ward and called to be the 2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency. We both are having mixed emotions about it. He really loved being bishop, and I loved always having him in the ward. Plus, I used his position to thefullest and planned all the parties I wanted (i.e halloween)! He was only bishop for 2 years and 25 days and he was very sad to leave the position so quickly. His new stake calling will mean we hardly see him on Sundays, and it will be much more demanding on his time throughout the week. However, we both know that with new responsibilities come new blessings, and in this time of great unrest worldwide, we are particularly grateful for the promise that our family will always have what it needs. Saturday instead of leaving with us in the morning to go to Griselda's, he had to stay to attend a multi-stake leadership training meeting with a member of the quorum of the seventy. He really enjoyed the learning opportunity and the spirit that were present in the meeting, and took the bus to meet up with us in time for the party. And as the meetings were in our building, he was party responsible for preparing the building, food etc. He went over early to get everything ready, and even took some of my christmas decorations to decorate all of the tables. I am clearly rubbing off on him!

Mario and Franco

Christmas Trees. I finally have mine up, and Gabe is in LOVE with it. He waves to it, points to it showing me it's there, and TOUCHES it all day long. He points to the top and tells me "sta" for star, and then he points to the ornaments and says "Ba" and then he shakes his finger and says "no no no no no no no" because he knows he's not supposed to touch it. But curiosity overcomes him at times and he has to touch, and sometimes he has to take off the balls and throw them to see if they bounce. Good thing they're plastic!

Boy or Monkey??

2008-11-27T14:38:00.004-02:00

Have I mentioned how I think my child is unusually strong?? Yesterday I put him down for a nap and as I was leaving his room he was expressing his disagreement with nap time by grabbing the rails on his bed and shaking them while hollering. As I have been sleep trained, I just left and shut the door. He settled down quickly and took a fabulous nap. When he woke up, I discovered that he had broken one of the wooden rails in half!!

Clearly he has outgrown this bed. While some may be tempted to say he is ready for a "big boy" bed, Mario and I are in agreement that we will just have taller, stronger bars made.

Pilar is visiting us this week, so Tuesday I took them to a museum. It wasn't airconditioned, so we didn't stay long. Pilar is a very quiet, orderly, obedient 4 year old, who is utterly confused as to why cher cousin should be so disobedient and rambunctous. I love this picture of them in the pool because Pilar's face expresses so well her feelings about having to play with Gabe. She was trying to keep her hair dry, and Gabe wash NOT cooperating.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I normally like to import all holidays, but it's waaaay too hot here to even think about cooking or eating all that food.