A picture is worth...

It seems to be particularly difficult to sit down and write on my blog, so I thought I'd send you a bunch of pictures to make up for it. :)  Emily is now a month old and getting bigger and fatter by the day.  This last week she gained nearly 300gr!  We are still working on losing the nipple shields for nursing; they're a huge pain...but otherwise breastfeeding is wonderful.  

I am incredibly grateful to have so much live-in help from my parents so that I can be 100% attentive to my very hungry caterpillar. ;)  There's no way I would be quite so relaxed just sitting around all day if it weren't for them.  They walk the dog, light the fire, cook lunch, to the shopping, clean...  Emily A. and I are very lucky girls to be so pampered.  As it is, I sit happily in my armchair all day in awe of this small, beautiful being that is my daughter.  I am so happy nursing her...I can't imagine wanting anyone else to feed her! (My sister-in-law is quite exasperated by her breast dependance because she can't wait to whisk her away from me!)

Emily Alejandra with her abuela. 

Mom´n Me selfie! :)

Someday Bela will be very sorry we ever put this idea in Emily's head!  She's such a patient dog...too bad Angelines wasn't just a bit quicker with the camera. ;)

Emily A. and I have been able to get out on a few walks recently.  This was one of the beautiful sunsets we caught with Mama and Bela.

My sleeping beauty. :)  She's getting the hang of siestas pretty well...I guess it runs in her Spanish blood. ;)

...Grandpa is bored because I don't let him hold Emily enough...once again, poor, patient Bela!

Snuggle Bug on the couch one month old. 

What blog post would be complete without a food picture?  Here's the DELICIOUS turkey pot pie we made with the leftover turkey from our Thanksgiving day feast. YUMMY!

Happy Thanksgiving

Yes, a slightly late Thanksgiving post... but in my defense, we are celebrating the holiday tomorrow.  We always celebrate the weekend following T-day since Thursday obviously isn't a holiday here.

 Right now I'm set up in the kitchen with a pile of pillows on my lap topped by a nuring baby reading off the recipies for pies, brining turkey, stuffing, etc.  So much to be thankful for this year!  I suppose the number one thing on my list is the little being placidly nursing as I type this; number two would be the fact that I can still celebrate Thanksgiving even with a newborn because my mom is cooking up a storm and I am only helping intermitently between baby feedings.

Emily will be a month old this Tuesday and I can hardly believe it!  She is changing by the day and getting so much stronger and fatter.  I am astounded by how she holds her head and seems already to be trying to get her knees up under her to crawl if I put her on her tummy. And it seems almost magical to me that I am her only food source...and she is visibly gaining weight and happy as a clam. :)

I am thankful that my parents can be here for so long and not only because they're an enormous help,

...sorry, my baby finally fell asleep long enough for me to get some cooking done with my mom.  I had to leave that mid-sentence!  I promise to finish some time soon, but in the meantime I want to post this so you all have something to read. ;)

To wrap up, I will say I am thankful that I can leave my mom reading in the kitchen keeping an eye on the apple pies in the oven while I can go straight to bed and hopefully sleep a bit before hungry Emily wakes me up!

Happy, happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

One Week Old

It is hard to believe that just one week ago my baby girl was only hours old.  I can already tell this is going to go by far too fast.

Welcome Emily Alejandra!

...one week ago today...

At the moment, my little angel is sleeping peacefully and has been for the past three hours...  My breasts say it's time for her to wake up, but I am rue to wake a sleeping baby.  We wore her out today with a visit to the pediatrician for her and a visit for me to the midwife to look at my stiches.  All is well, my girl's gained back 100 gr. although the pediatrician warns that that is the minimum.  She wants to see us next week again.  My milk only came in on Saturday, so I am sure that she will gain much more weight this week.  In anycase I know that breastfed babies are a little slower to gain than bottle-fed babes.  

...I am beginning to hear her stir so I think I'll jump at the chance to empty my engorged breasts.  There is no lack of food here, let me tell you.  Little Em just isn't taking full advantage of my full boobies!

more soon...

thanks Leah! One week today :)

Welcome to the World

Well, all of you have seen by precious daughter by now I am sure.  With the way communication and social networks go these days I feel like everyone saw her before even I did!  On the one hand that was a wonderful thing because we were being bombarded by congratulatory Whatsapp messages and phone calls... and I still haven't dared to log on to facebook (my dad posted a picture or two).  But at the same time it couldn't help feeling just a little invasive in such an intimate, beautiful moment.  

Anyway, I really have been wanting to share this with all of you and write it down for myself, but of course that's hard to do with a baby on your breast! At the moment, it seems that my little, milk-guzzling, wiggle worm is down for the count so I can finally get on here and share some of all this myself.  

***

...So I started writing that this morning over my dad's homemade pancakes (yummmmm) and since then we've had to bathe and nurse little Em.  I think I'll opt for a longer email some other time.  And leave you with a little picture documentation for now.  Now that my milk's come in it seems Emily A. is more and more satisfied after each feeding and therefore sleeps a bit longer each time.  

In any case, I cannot complain--she's the world's sweetest baby and really doesn't cry at all.  It's just that she's so small she gets tired at the breast and spends a very long time there, sucking, resting, sucking, sleeping, sucking, resting...etc.  So of course that means I can do very little other than read or chat with the seemingly endless stream of visitors who come by to see my little bundle.

Today we're going to venture out with her.  During pregnancy I couldn't eat jamón, and today there is a jamón expo. in a nearby town...I'm taking full advantage of my non-pregnant state and we're off on the town with my little one to ingulge in the best cured pig this side of the Atlantic! ;)

Hours old and I'm a happy, happy mommy.

Could she be any cuter?

Sunbathing with mamá to keep bilirubin at bay...

She got dressed up to leave the hospital.

Five days old and still wondering exactly what's happened to her. ;)

Hither and Thither

I haven't told you, faithful blog readers, that Angelines and I have bought a minivan to make our metamorphose into motherhood that much more complete. ;)  The whole shopping process is worthy of several posts, but I'll spare you the details.  In short we were driving all over kingdom come visiting dealerships and searching all over the internet for the best deals and all under a deadline because we had already "sold" our previous car.  In the sale contract we agreed to turn over the car by Oct. 20th so we necessarily had to find a new car by then.  The poor guy who bought our little "Cherry" (as my mom fondly dubbed our little, red Peugeot) actually took it home with an additional 2000 km on it thanks to all our frantic searching!

Obviously we've bought a used vehicle.  New cars just aren't worth the expense in my opinon, although Angelines was a very wary about a second-hand purchase.  We ended up getting it from a used car dealership in Málaga and I think we got a pretty good deal.  It's a 2010, metalic beige Citröen C4 Grand Picasso with five seats and the option of seven (the two in the back fold up out of what is usually the trunk space).  Most of the time, obviously we won't be needing more than five seats, but this Christmas with my sisters here there will be seven of us total and we'll all be able to go wherever we like!  Plus it was always a bit of a show picking up visitors from the airport in our little car because getting their luggage and all squared away was a little too much like playing tetris.  Now we have room to spare,

Angelines was, of course, quite sad to see her sporty, red car go.  She bought it brand new eight years ago and even had it special ordered just the way she wanted it.  Another friend of mine, who's just had a baby and also had to sell her previous car for a more family-friendly one, described it as "selling my youth".  When I relayed that quote to A, she agreed whole heartedly.  Still, even she is pleased with our new car.  The only thing is that the minute we drove it away from the dealership the service light came on with some warning about the diesel partiticle filter...(?!)  Luckily the dealership guarantees their cars for a year so we are not paying to have this looked at/fixed, but the downside is of course the fact that their mechanic is obviously in Málaga.  More driving.

Today is my due date--40 weeks.  And so we have been going to Málaga for the past two weeks for check ups anyway and have been able to also work in these visits to the mechanic for the car.  Having grown up in towns that were never nearer than an hour's drive from the nearest shopping mall, I am quite used to making a list of chores to do "in town", and taking any excuse to get them all done in one trip; Angelines, on the other hand, is someone who likes doing one thing at a time.  For her, taking advantage of a trip to Málaga for the doctor in order to see the mechanic and get some shopping done is a bit of an overload.  Needless to say she's been more stressed than usual recently.

And of course, the imminent birth of our dear Emily Alejandra adds another level of uncertainty to the stress.  Every day that goes by is one more closer to her arrival and one fewer that we have to get these things taken care of.  As of now we're going in for an appointment on Monday with my gynecologist and will be leaving our car with the mechanic for a few days (!).  The dealership has arranged to loan us a car in the meantime since we absolutely cannot be without a vehicle.

So you see, I could just as easily have titled this post "Helter Skelter"...These past two weeks have been madness.

...At the Last Minute

It seems that procrastination is a hereditary trait.  The bad habbit of putting things off until the last minute is something I have been fighting against for the better part of my life, and it seems that my little Emily is doomed to follow in her mother's footsteps.

After waking up at six in the morning on Wednesday, to be out the door and at the hospital by eight, and after waiting for a good half hour in the gynecology ER before they called me in, little Emily Alejandra, contortionist extraordinaire, had put herself into place.  No version necessary!  The doctor turned on the ultrasound machiene, gelled up my belly and then, with the wand just above my pubic bone declared, "There's her head!"  What a relief! :)

Once the version was cancelled they took me off to monitor litte Em's heart for a good twenty minutes and check for any contractions--all was well and 0 contractions.  Next week we have an appointment for the same.  From here until 40 weeks (two weeks away) we'll be going in for the monitoring...unless, of course, I go into labor before then. ;)

Anyway, this is all great news.  I was really not looking forward to the version procedure.  I am very happy that Emily and I haven't had to be sedated for her to get her little head in gear, so to speak.  As a procrastinator myself, I like to say, "better late than never, little one!"

"Grandma" Shower

Last Monday, my Aunt organized a "Grandma" shower, thusly named because my mother would be attending in my (and Emily's) stead.  I have never been to a baby shower, and unfortunately the skype connection was horrible when I made my virtual appearance at what was really my own shower; but all the same it was wonderful to see so many people I love all in one place.  At least I could hear how much fun they were having even if the image was too pixelated to make out facial features. :)

When I first heard of the Grandma shower, I was thrilled for my mom because I know she's been feeling the 5,792 miles that separate us more than ever in the last nine months.  Celebrating my baby (her first grandchild) with family and friends would make her feel a little closer to me.  I was happy to think of her basking in the attention of all the atendees, glowing with enthusiasm for the little being that is about to make her a grandma.

However, when I discovered that the "grandma" shower was a baby shower in disguise, I must admit I was a little less excited. Let me explain: I despise situations that put people in a position where they're excpected to spend money.  At baby showers, you're supposed to bring gifts.  I thought a grandma shower would just be some fun and games, food and maybe some cute grandmotherly things for my mom...  But a baby shower is different.

It's not that I don't enjoy getting gifts, and Lord knows that babies entail a lot of "things" (trust me, I've been going crazy arguing with my in-laws about just what's necessary and what we can do without); but I don't like to think of people having to buy me something because they were invited to a party.

It's kind of like sending out H.S. graduation announcements--they're a subtle (or not so subtle) way of asking for money/gifts.  Once you have the announcement, you can't feign ignorance if you just don't feel like buying a gift/sending money.  I felt the same way about baby showers: once you're invited, you have to find a gift!

I enjoy getting gifts from people when I know that they come from the heart, that they weren't subtly coerced into the purchase.  But when I dutifully skyped into "my" baby shower on Monday, I completely changed my opinion.  Even through the bad connection, I could feel the love emannating from across the ocean via my computer screen and I wished I could have been there in person.

In Spain, babies are celebrated differently.  There are no baby showers, no ceremony to celebrate the unborn child.  I suppose that here, baptisms assume that role: celebrating and welcoming the new baby. Gifts are generally reserved for after the birth. But having this brief, virtual connection with my traditions, seeing so many of my people gathered together to honor my little Emily Alejandra, anticipating her arrival into this world, helped me remember just how BIG this really is.  And, of course, that it deserves due celebration.

We felt very loved and I'm so thankful for all of the friends and family who attended. :)

Acrobat

That, it would seem, is what I have on my hands: a little acrobat.

At today's ultrasound appointment little Emily was a full 180º from her position just two weeks ago.  That is to say, bottom at 6 o'clock head at 1!  Two weeks ago the doctor assured me that such a thing would be quite rare because as she grows there's less room to move around in there, but confined spaces don't seem to hinder her spinning around, it would seem. :(

We have made an appointment for the 15th to go ahead with the procedure I mentioned in my last post and move her into place from the outside.  She will be bigger by then and it could be more difficult, but my parents arrive on the 14th, so we decided it was the best date just in case they have to do a C-section.

Of course, there is always the chance that we'll get down to Málaga, all set up in the surgery ward and when they turn on the ultrasound Emily will have moved into place on her own, in which case they wouldn't need to do the procedure at all.  Once again, the doctor said this would be rare given that she'll be even bigger; but keeping in mind that we are dealing with a little contortionist, I am somewhat hopeful.

36 weeks and counting...

I know it's been a long time without a blog.  There is much to tell, but as usual time seems to get away from me before I can sit down to write it all out.

All is well.  We had an ultrasound appointment just three weeks ago and miss Emily is nearly in position...  If you can imagine a clock on my tummy, her head was just between 7 and 8 o'clock, when it should be at 6 o'clock, of course.  I'm not sure about the US, but here if a baby is breech or otherwise not in the correct position, they schedule a C-section directly even though I've read that some babies can turn during labor.  I suppose there's less risk involved in a cesarean if the woman doesn't go into labor first.  However, there is a procedure that can be done under certain circumstances and after the 36-week mark to move the baby into position from the outside.

I would prefer to avoid a cesarean at all costs and so I asked about this at our last appointment.  The doctor said that I was a fine candidate for the procedure especially since in theory they wouldn't have to do much poking around to move little Emily down into position--she's almost there.  We agreed that if by tomorrow she hadn't moved, we would schedule an appointment to move her for this Friday the 10th.

Of course any kind of poking around involves the risk of the placenta dettaching from the utirine wall, which means they would have to do an emergency C-section, so there are necessarily some precautions to be taken into consideration.  I would have to be admitted into the surgery ward and given a small ammount of sedative and then be under observation for about two hours after they were finished.  None of this exites me much so I am hoping that tomorrow she'll have gotten herself into place.

At the appointment prior to this last one she was nearly completely breech: head at about 1 o'clock.  The doctor gave me some exercises to do to help turn her and I have been doing those daily ever since.  They seem to be working somewhat since at this last visit she was nearly turned, so I'm hoping that in these three weeks with exercises and walking she'll have moved that last little bit on her own.

Cross your fingers.

Awkward selfie at 36 weeks. :)

Exploring

The beautifully deccorated turn-off to another small town
"witch" we did not explore.  Everything was witch related...it
would have been interesting to find out why...

Sadly our vacation's ended and even Bela's got post-vacational blues!  We had a fabulous and very relaxing week.  We got up early every morning let Bela do her business, had breakfast and then set out to explore; then it was tapas time, home for lunch and a little siesta, a dip in the pool around five, relax until later in the evening to take Bela out quickly, then dinner, a movie and bed. :)  The perfect vacation routine, right?

Bela checks our the community laundry facilities.
Pretty sure no one actually washes here any more,
but this was definitely the center of the rumor mill
back about 70 years ago. ;)

The first few days we decided to explore other small towns in the area: Pampaneira, Bubión, Capileira and Trevélez.  They're all beautiful.  I especially wish we'd had more time to explore around Trevélez.  It's one of the highest towns in the Alpujarra and just on the edge of the declared Natural Park.  Unfortunately, the windy roads meant it was a little over an hour from Lanjarón and so we didn't have time for much hiking once we arrived and had a look around town.  Some day we'll go back for sure though because the town is also famous for its jamón serrano which because it isn't cooked, but rather salt cured, I cannot eat in my current state.  There were all kinds of places offering free samples... Angelines has promised that when I can eat whatever I want again, we'll go back.  I will stuff myself on free samples like a true American! ;)

Pampaneira, Bubión and Capileira are three lovely little towns tucked into the mountainside and just over a kilometer away from eachother.  There is a popular trail that leads from one to the next so you can easily walk between the three towns.  Perhaps "easily" isn't the best word for it since there is a very steep climb between Pampaneira and Bubión.  It's about 250m of elevation in that one km--basically all straight uphill.  It was slow going for us, but thankfully we got an early start and the trail was shaded throughout the morning.  The bit from Bubión to Capileira was more level, but less shaded and we actually ended up losing the trail at one point!

This was before getting lost...a tired me after a rest stop between
Pampaneira and Bubión.

Angelines was about to have a heartattack thinking about being lost in the Alpujarra with her eight-month pregnant wife...but I am a fearless Somes Bar-barian to the core (aside from also being quarter Okie as my Whoa Whoa loved to point out) and I really wasn't phased; even though at one point we were basically scrambling straight up the mountain on all fours!  The frustrating thing was we could see the town the whole time (most of why I wasn't really scared), but we just didn't have any clear way to get up to it!  And the annoying thing is that in losing the trail we also lost elevation and so had to climb much more to get up to the town than if we had been on the real trail.

Like I say, Angelines was pretty freaked out and every five seconds or so would ask if I was okay... but once we made it into Capileira and we had our cold beers (well, I had aquarius) and tapas, the frantic scrambling on the trail was all but forgotten.  On the walk back we were able to follow the trail and as it turns out we had been very, very close to NOT getting lost but the trail passed through a marshy area with zig-zaging sheep trails cutting all helter skelter and there was no clear sign marking the way.  All's well that ends well, though and now we have a great story to tell about Emily's first adventures in the Alpujarra.  She had better be an outdoors girl! ;)

Bela and I in the lower end of the parque Salao in Lanjarón

Sunday we drove into Granada capital and visited my host family.  Although the original plan was to visit in the morning and be "home" in Lanjarón for lunch, Isa convinced us to stay for lunch.  So the nine of us (they already have two Americans living with them for the semester) squeezed around their tiny dinning room table to enjoy Isa's "arroz amarillo", she never calls it paella for whatever reason.  It was a great visit, and they were very happy to get to see me with my big belly!

The rest of our vacation we spent just hiking around Lanjarón.  I was plesantly surprised to find that there were so many hiking opportunities right out the front door.  There is a beautiful park in town with a stream running through it--the highlight as far as Bela was concerned.  From the park we found a trail leading to the old moorish castle of Lanjarón.  We also completed about 6km or so of the trail that completely encircles the town on another day's adventure.  Needless to say we got our exercise in!

But now we're home and getting back into the routine.  A week was the perfect ammount of time to be gone.  We are well rested and slowly getting back into our "real" life activites.

Picture from the Castle in Lanjarón.

Vacation

The sun heats the pool all day and the water is absolutely
divine!  We were worried that this late in the summer it
would be too cold to swim, but it's been perfect.

Angelines's birthday was at the end of August and I decided I would surprise her with a vacation.  However, August is when EVERYONE is on vacation in Spain and so it was pretty tough to find anything available.  In any case, the last week in August as I mentioned in a previous post was pretty busy for me and I decided that earning the extra money in that last week would go a long way toward paying for this surprise.  

At the beginning of summer we had talked about taking two "mini-vacations" since our original plans of something more grand disappeared as the budget for the work around the house grew.  We went to Cazorla, Jaen for four days at the end of June and beginning of July...but with all the craziness of the tiling, etc. any relaxing we got in during those four days was quickly forgotten.  

For some time now we've wanted to visit the Alpujarra in Granada.  I have been before with my parents some 11 years ago when I was studying in Granada.  The Alpujarra is part of the Sierra Nevada mountains outside Granada capital full of tiny villages and lots of hiking opportunities.  This was the final refuge of the Moors after the fall of the Kingdom of Granada to the crusading Christians in 1492.  

Angelines and Bela next to one of the aqueducts that riddle
the mountainside.  These are all thanks to the Moorish
engineers of Al-Andalus.

I was able to find a great little house for two that offered a discount on the price per night if we stayed for a full week.  Of course, staying for a week means closing the bar...  That part of the surprise was something I was more than a little worried about.  In the end, I decided to tell her about the "surprise" about a week before we were supposed to leave.  It's a good thing I did because although she's happy to be here now, she had to adjust to the idea of having to close the bar, etc.  

So here we are in Lanjarón, Granada.  The house is up on the mountain above the town so we have great views.  The only downside is the steep path up or down from here to walk the dog!  We are getting our workouts for sure.  

The landscape is amazing because this time of year especially everything is quite arid, but there is still a good ammount of runoff from the high peaks.  You can see the house has got a great lawn and beautiful flowers; there are pear trees and persimmon trees, too.  And on our walks I snack the whole time: figs, blackberries, pommegranets, grapes and cherry tomatoes.  Today we even saw kiwis!  Walnut, almond and chesnut trees shade our walks along with the ubiquitous olive.  Every house has a stupendous garden and it seems like they all produce far more than any of the gardners are able to eat!  There are all manner of peaches, tomatoes, apples, figs, etc. fallen and rotting on the ground.

Tomorrow we're going to explore more of the nearby pueblos. It feels great to be away from home and on an adventure with Angelines and Bela. :)

The view of Lanjarón from the house.

Without Me...

I'm sure you'll all remember this is the time of year when we make our night-time pilgrimage to Corcoya to visit the Virgen de la Fuensanta.  It's a 12km (7.5 mi) walk and this year I stayed home.  I do walk every day with my puppy, and probably do between 2 and  4 miles daily...but Angelines was adament that this was too far for me in my "delicate" condition. ;)  Instead, I stayed home, watched a stupid movie and waited for her phone call that they were there to go run pick-up.

I'm glad Angelines went.  It's not often that she is able to go out and do much with anyone other than me.  I'm fine with that, of course, but a person needs time with friends.  Her work conflicts with virtually everyone's schedules to the point that at best we have a few beers with friends on a Saturday around mid-day.  I think she had a good time, so I didn't mind fighting off my sleepiness with a stupid romantic comedy (really stupid) and driving to pick her up.

Not a lot of other news to report.  August left with a flourish.  I had classes every day for the last two weeks--kids preparing to re-take their failed finals mostly.  It was nice to earn a bit of spending money, but we've decided that come October I'll be quitting definitively.  For a while I was thinking that I would try to teach a few of my less stressful conversation classes through the Fall...but monetarily it just wouldn't compensate for the stress; besides, once Emily Alejandra makes her entrance I know I won't want to be doing anything other than snuggling her.  What's the point in stressing over classes if I can put it off for a few months.  I will be starting up in January, but by then I hope to know my little one well enough that we'll be able to schedule, at least somewhat, according to her needs, too.  Working for myself is very nice in the flexibility aspect, but I will admit that a paid maternity leave would be great right about now!

Here's a picture of me and Miss Em at 32 weeks--8 months.

Furniture

Since Angelines and I have been together, the only furniture of importance that we have purchased has been

We also bought this lamp for the bedroom.
It's from the same Moroccan emporium as the
wall tiles in the living room. :)

our dining room table with six chairs and a couch.  Granted we have had a few things made, like the table in our kitchen or the sofa in the living room, but my point is we have been living for seven year with mostly gifted, hand-me-down furniture.

For years now, my mother-in-law has been after us to get a headboard for our bed (hand-me-down gift from my sister-in-law).  First of all, this has never seemed like much of a priority to me, and second of all, we just never seemed to be able to find anything we liked.

Last year we found a full bedroom set from Ikea which we both really loved, but just couldn't justify spending the money at the time.  Finally with little Emily on the way, we decided we would buy the bedroom set (bed, night tables and a nice, big dresser) thinking tha the dresser could be for all the baby's clothes.  When we finally went to Ikea to make our big purchase, it turns out they don't make the set in the color we liked anymore!  Now they only have it in either black or white, neither of which works for us. :(  We were quite upset and kicking ourselves for not having bought it way back when.  It was back to the drawing board for the bedroom, but we decided we would at least have to buy some kind of dresser for Emily Alejandra's growing wardrobe.

Our bedroom looks legitimate now!  My
mother-in-law was thrilled to see our
purchase. ;)

Another item on our shopping list was an armchair.  We have a nice big couch, but it isn't very comfortable for sitting on.  It's more of a sprawling type couch; so with the prospect of breast-feeding in the future and the possibility of being very uncomfortable in a completely prone position as my pregnancy reaches full term, we began the hunt for a nice recliner.  At first we were looking for a rocking recliner thinking it would be nice for baby comforting, but a saleswoman at one furniture store (upon observation of my bump) pointed out that breast-feeding can be tricky enough as is at first without the added complication of rocking.  She said she had bought a rocking chair when she was pregnant and it's sat virtually unused in her living room ever since.  It seemed like sound advice.

After all the bother of renting a van to take back and pick up the closet units from Ikea, we weren't keen to find a nice armchair in Malaga.  Angelines suggested we look at the local furniture store.  As long as we were in there, we decided to have a look around at possible bedroom sets (or at least dressers), too.  Alas, they were all too modern and quite frankly, ugly; but hidden away at the back of the shop behind several unassembled bed sets, something caught my eye.  It was a beautiful, rustic-style headboard--exactly what we've been looking for!  I asked about the price.  It is solid teak and valued at 500 euros...my heart sank.  But, as it turns out, it's been sitting there for some time and being a solitary piece--not part of a set--the man was looking to get rid of it.  We took it home for 195 and we were also able to find a suitable armchair!

I'll have to put up a picture of the chair in our living room...this is obviously in the store.

Hooray for supporting local business!

...of course, the dresser has yet to be purchased... Ha!

Outings

July and the beginning of August have been full of home-improvement projects.  We really haven't had much time at all to enjoy the summer.  Until just last week we hadn't even been to the beach!  But now we seem to have reached an appropriate resting point on all our various projects.  We continue to peck away at things--our closet isn't completely finished yet and we still have to organize the upstairs bedroom and do a bit more mop-up cleaning--but it seems that the most urgent parts of everything have been finished and so we can carry on normal life in between spurts of organization and cleaning.

Being back to "normal" has freed us up to do more fun things.  Angelines especially is prone to diving head-first into projects and not coming up for air until they are 100% completed.  Of course "100%" completed is an unattainable goal when you're a home-owner.  There is ALWAYS something more to do!  So her get-it-done attitude in this case is more harmful than admirable.  We've been working to break-up the work and enjoy the small, daily progression of things as opposed to holding off to celebrate the elusive End to work around the house.

In the past two weeks we've taken several evening trips out.  We had a picnic dinner at El Chorro and also visited two different fairs in towns nearby.  Our most recent trip to the fair in Puente Genil on Sunday resulted in a delicious and oh so unhealthy dinner of churros con chocolate!  Angelines loves potato churros and they're hard to come by except at fairs so we ordered to go and brought them home for a greasy, sweet dinner. ;)  Puente Genil is the town that we always visit at Christmas time because it's famous for the great lights.  The lights at the fair were equally exceptional.  I think a summer pilgrimage to see the fair lights might become a tradition. 

Tuesday went to the beach to take advantage of the fact that I had no afternoon classes.  It was fabulous.  When we headed out in the morning it was cool and overcast in La Roda and I was worried that we'd chosen a bad day for the beach, but as we came down from the costal mountains to Málaga the temperature had gone up to 30ºC and it was a clear, sunny, windless day!  Perfect!  The beach was full, but not packed and the water was the perfect temperature--just cool enough to be refreshing.  As the afternoon wore on the wind picked up and we got to have some fun playing in the waves. :)  Around 5 we decided to pack up and head home.  Although we were only on the beach for about 4 hours, it felt like a mini-vacation. :)

At the fair in Herrera we decided to get shwarma for dinner--Mmmmm!

Posing in front of the waves in Rincon de la Victoria, Malaga.

The churro stand at the fair in Puente Genil.  Aren't the lights great?!

Silhouette at dusk looking out over the reservoir at El Chorro.

Picnic time!

Perks of Pregnancy

In Spain they say that if a pregnant woman has a craving for something and she doesn't satisfy that craving, the baby will have a birthmark in the shape of whatever it was.  Birthmarks are called antojos--"cravings".  Needless to say they take this very seriously.

Being the stupid American that I am, I haven't taken advantage of this major perk: everyone, everywhere will heed my every whim and fancy!  For example we were out having beers before lunch one day and when everyone else had ordered a second round, I was still nursing my lemon soda and therefore wasn't entitled to a tapa.  When Angelines chose some salami (which I cannot eat), I said, you should have got the cheese to share with me!  Nuria, who was sitting on my other side, overheard and immediately called the waitress over: "She's craving cheese, give her a tapa of cheese".  The effect was immediate: a mini plate of cheese was placed before me within seconds; although I'm sure it was added to our tab. ;)

There is a small, family owned and opperated dairy farm behind our house down a dirt road where we walk the dog most days.  For some time now, I have been wanting to talk to the owners about buying milk straight from them, but I´ve never had the oppotunity to bring it up and I didn't feel right just waltzing up to the farm with a bottle and asking for milk.

Wednesday evening Angelines and I were coming home from our evening walk when we ran into the dairy farmer heading for home on his tracktor.  He stopped and as we were chatting, I noticed that he had a small tin canister by the tracktor seat.  This was my chance to bring up the topic: "What's that," I asked, "milk?"  It was.  Apparently he takes some home every day... I would too if I had a dairy farm!  When I told him that I wanted to buy milk from him, he wanted to give me the cannister then and there: "Take it!  You don't want your baby to have a milk-shaped stain across her face!"  I laughed and said that we'd talk about it after the baby was born.  I know that fresh milk can be more dangerous to drink than what you get in the store and playing with risky foods during pregnancy isn't a good idea.  

I was finally able to dissuade him and off he went.  But the next day coming home from my walk, as I was turning the corner to go home, his 85-year-old father, Pepe, flagged me down and said he had a bottle of milk for me!  I wasn't about to argue with an elderly man who spent all his youth milking straight into a glass and drinking it about the possible dangers of raw milk... so after asking about how to boil it and for how long I  graciously accepted the bottle and headed home to do a few google searches just in case.

Pepe had assured me that I just needed to bring it to a boil, that once the milk had formed a foamy head and risen to the brim of the pot, I could take it off the stove and let it cool.  I should stir it as it was reaching the boiling point to kill anything in it, but "nowadays there are all kinds of controls and vaccines for cows, they're healthier than we are!  There's nothing bad in this milk" he assured me.  The germaphobe got the better of me though and I opted to follow some advise I found online on home pasturizing which said to let the milk simmer at 145 F for thirty minutes.  I took out the meat thermometer I only ever use at Thanksgiving, and got to it.  

The milk was on average well over 145 and so I took it off the stove two minutes early.  Even though I know that cooking it so long changes the flavor somewhat, this was by far, the best milk I've ever drunk.  It was delicious.  I didn't even wait for it to cool, but instead grabbed a chocolate chip cookie I'd made a few days earlier and sat down to enjoy--divine. :)

Today Angelines and I finished off the last of the 1.5 liters that we were given.  They say that you should drink fresh milk between 36 and 48 hours after milking...although I think if you cook it as I did it will last a bit longer.  In any case, we finished it off with no problem within the 48 hour time frame.  Breakfast this morning was homemade pancakes with peanut butter, maple syrup and ice-cold, FRESH milk.  Yum!

...and just for fun, here's my belly at 7 months. :)

Back in the Pool

Last Thursday, after about three months of no swimming, we finally got back in the pool.  Life just got too crazy for a while and driving to and from Antequera took up precious time we needed to spend elsewhere and so our swimming routine was put on hold.  During the summer months, however, the outdoor pool here in La Roda is open and so we're finally getting back in the water.  July flew by with all the work we've been doing here in the house and so we've only just bought our pool passes for August.

It felt great to be back in the water, but the first lap was a long one!  Our pool in town is 50 meters instead of 25 like in Antequera...and after three months of nothing, I could feel it about half way across.  It didn't take more than two laps to get back into a rhythm.  I ended up swimming 1,200 meters.  Not bad, right?

But as is always the case when it comes to me, the real highlight of the day was coming home to the great lunch I'd prepared ahead of time: homemade pasties with tomato, cucumber salad and a side of zucchini cream soup. Soooooo good!

No picture of the pool...but those of you who know me aren't surprised by that!

One Month and Counting...

This was all I was able to do myself...pathetic.

Remember way back at the beginning of July when I blogged about the tile work we'd be doing in our walk-in closet and living room?  That ended up being far more work than either of us imagined.  If you recall, we had planned to do the prep work for the tiling ourselves, but after chipping away no more than about one square meter of 45 total, we caved and paid the brick-layer to do it.  I may have inherited the Wilbanks frugal gene...but I also have my mother's practical, good sense in these situations--the time and pain (literally: Angelines couldn't raise her arms after one day of helping the guy we hired) just weren't worth the money we'd save in this case.  As it was, the brick-layer took a full week of seven hour days just to chip the walls!


In the living room we discovered that part of the reason there was so much humidity seeping through was because the walls weren't covered in cement.  It was just plaster on brick...usually they put a layer of cement in between as a humidity barrier.  We still aren't sure of the origin of so much moisture, but it's nice to know that now we've got things a bit more under control.  That was extra work we hadn't counted on: cementing over the brick in the living room before tiling!

Notice the bare brick?  ...and see all that dust?  Every day we had to finish up the morning by sweeping and mopping. :p

...Another three days of work.

See what I mean?!  Yuck.

Finally, we got down to the "easy" stuff--tiling.  And yet again we ran into a small hiccup in the work.  The decorative tile we'd chosen to go along the top of the work in the living room looked beautiful in the showroom, but was absolutely horrid when put up on the wall.  We had thought it would look nice because it had darker shades than the wall tiles and would look nice with the dark wood furniture and window frame... WRONG.  It completely took away from the elegance of the clay-colored wall tiles and especially clashed with the three, beautiful, smaller tiles we bought at a Moroccan emporium.  It looked nothing but busy and created an atmosphere that was far from relaxing.

Thankfully we decided we just couldn't live with those tiles while the cement was still wet.  We asked our patient worker to please take them down and then dashed off to see if we could find something better.  At the very least we'd decided we would just end the wall without any deccoration, a far better option in light of the hideous alternative.

We ended up finding some very nice, blue and white tiles for the deccoration.  The design is much more simple and I think you'll agree that the end result is light-years better than our first choice.  The blue brings more color into the room and ties nicely with the moroccan tiles.  It also contrasts beautifully with the reddish tiles and the red grout we chose.  I am very pleased with the final outcome, but there was a moment when I was worried we'd made an irreparable mistake!

The finished living room wall.  Only the couch is missing from the picture.

Close-up of the wall.  The tile below is one of the ones from the moroccon emporium.

At the back of the picture you can see the closet.
The tiles in these front nooks are the same as the
living room, but set square instead of on end.

The tiles in the closet are different: long, rectangular, cream-marble. They have a glossy finish as opposed to the living room, which is semi-glossy.  It looks very elegant finished and so I'm a little sad that we've decided to go with Ikea pre-fab closet units (purchased Monday, delivered Friday) which will completely cover the tile!  We could have saved ourselves the money on the tiling, you say?  Yes, perhaps, but the main purpose was to keep out the humitidy anyway and regardless of what kind of shelving we put into the closet, once all our clothes and things are in it, you wouldn't see much of the tiles anyway.  That's also why we chose the tiles we did, they are beautiful, but they're best asset by far was the 6 euro/meter price tag. ;)

This weekend we've run into some issues with the Ikea furniture; it doesn't seem to be quite the right fit.  But thanks to their awesome return policy, we can exchange everything, even the stuff we've already put together!  I think with the exchange, we might even end up saving ourselves some money--hooray!

Bela supervising Angelines's work as she puts together one of the closet units from Ikea.  The color is nearly the same as the tiles!  That was completely unintentionaly, but it looks great in there. :)

In total the guy worked three weeks to get the job done.  He did great work and, all things considered, I think he did it pretty quickly, too.  Now one month has gone by since we began with all this and only this week did we finish all the clean up--so much dusting! moping, scrubbing, painting (walls and ceilings)...  Angelines has done virtually all that by herself.  My sister-in-law came over to help a few days this week too.  I'm being told I can't partake in such "heavy" labor and so I'm off the hook! ;) Now the living room is all back in place and looks more beautiful and homey than ever!  Of course, the closet has yet to be finished...and so our bedroom continues to look like a disorganized thrift-shop, but we're getting there... little by little. ;)

Homemade Pasta

There is other news, plenty of it, but by far the most exciting thing as of late is the fact that this morning Angelines and I have successfully made homemade raviolis! :)

Tah-Dah!!!

At the beginning of June Angelines bought me a spaghetti maker with an add-on for raviolis.  I was stoked; who wouldn't be??  Both of us have been dying to try it out, but we haven't actually sat down to make them until today.  We whipped up the dough, but there was a slight learning curve using the machienery to roll it out to the right thickness.  Angelines got a handle on that part relatively quickly while I mixed up the filling: spinach, ricotta cheese, toasted walnuts, garlic and salt all into the food processor.  After a taste test we decided something was still missing.  I added pepper, a small chunk of manchego cheese and some nutmeg--delicious!  I was so pleased with myself.  

Filling the raviolis was like playing with playdough. :) You catch the ends of two long strips of the rolled out pasta dough between the rollers, plop the filling in between and then just crank away.  Vóila, out come the completed raviolis you see in the first picture.  Now we have to let them dry a bit, then separate them.  We're actually not planning to eat them until tomorrow, but I can tell you right now they're going to be AMAZING.  I can't wait to make my own spaghetti and fettuchini, either.  What fun.

Of course as we were playing with the dough and marvelling at how it squished out into perfect little zigzag edged squares, I couldn't help thinking how much fun my daughter will have helping me do this some day in the future. :)

I Couldn't Resist...

Okay, so this might weird more than a few of you out...but I just thought it was too funny not to share.  I can almost picture a certain relative of mine throwing a similarly embarassing party for her daughter.  As a girl who dreaded getting her period and was oh so happy that it came late, I think it's particularly ammusing.  It is also true, however, that there's no shame in it and celebrating is a good thing...maybe just not like this. ;)



Enjoy!

Growing: 3-6 months

I thought it'd be fun to post some pictures of my belly's progression.  Really, I don't have any pre-three month pictures, because lets, face it...What for?!  Even the three month picture is pretty anticlimactic, and yet three months is a huge landmark for a pregnancy--the end of the precarious first trimester.  Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, I've uploaded the pictures I've been taking on my cell phone.  So here they are: welcome to the last three months of my pregnancy! ;)

12 weeks--3 months...notice I am still wearing my normal jeans without any discomfort.

16 weeks--4 months...not much change.

20 weeks--5 months.  There's a little bump, but nothing to blog about!

The inside view at 20 weeks.  Nice profile, right?

Apparently, a month ago she was still small enough to stretch out entirely.  I think she's got runner's legs. ;)

24 weeks--6 months (today)...I am shocked by how much she's grown in this last month!!  I finally have a decent bump and look pregnant!

So there you have it.  Monday we have another doctor's appointment.  Aside from the routine ultrasound, this time I'm also getting my glucose levels checked to rule out the possibility of gestational diabetes.  Fun times.  Apparently I get to drive all the way to Málaga without eating, get blood drawn, drink a super-sweet syrup, and then sit (not allowed to move) for an hour at which point they'll take another blood sample.  Sound fun?  ...yeah, that's what I thought, too.  I am wondering if I'll even feel like having breakfast by the time I can eat!  And thank goodness I'm through getting so sick if I go without food for longer than an hour and a half. ;)  It should be interesting to say the least.  I'll be sure to update all of you and of course post the new ultrasound pics.