Welcome to the World Baby Girl!!

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

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

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

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

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

October Festivities

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

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

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

Now can I please go into labor???

Babymoon

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

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

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

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

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

For Posterity

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

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!?!

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!!!

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....