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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

A Change of Scene

Last Friday we loaded Bela in our little red Peugeot and headed for the nearby sierra where the romería is celebrated.  Instead of walking the typical loops around our house, we opted for a little change of scenery and took a very nice morning walk around the ermita de San Pancracio.  It was a bit hazy from the heat, but the views are always beautiful regardless.  Bela was thrilled to explore some place new, and the truth is that a little change in the routine was good for us, too.  Sometimes just getting out and doing something a little different helps makes the day feel less monotonous.

We were trying to re-create our wedding picture...  The "selfie" version isn't nearly as nice as the original. ;)  Remember the ermita is where we were married.

Coming down the backside of the hill behind the ermita.  You can see the steeple and in the hazy distance is La Roda.


Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Home Improvements 2: The Beginning

We are gearing up for another big home improvement project.  This one is a little more related to Emily's arrival than the last.

Our house is huge, as those of you who saw the video tour I posted a year ago will remember. And although we still don't have a lot of stuff, having so much space has allowed us to be terribly inefficient with storage.  At the moment we have one of the upstairs bedrooms completely dedicated to storage: mostly winter clothes, suitcases, and pictures that haven't yet found a wall.

When we moved into the house there was a HUGE armoire in the master bedroom, which seemed silly becase adjacent to the master bedroom is a small room 5X7ft (I use the term "small" quite loosely here) that was meant to be a walk-in closet but was never finished by the previous owners.  What we did was move the armoire into that space.  The problem with that is, however that it is incredibly inefficient space-wise.  The ceilings are around 9ft but the armoire is only about 6.5.  And we couldn't put any shelves along the side walls because we wouldn't be able to open the doors!  We obviously have more than enough space downstairs to keep all our stuff (and little Emily's), if only we organized a bit more.

The job is this: we are taking apart the armoire and tiling the whole walk-in closet to guard against humidity that seeps through the walls.  Then we'll be puting in floor to ceiling shelves for all our clothes, towels, sheets, etc.  Everything will be in one place.  This means that the current storage bedroom can be used as a second guest room, something we'll be needing this Christmas when my sisters come to meet their new niece.

Today we moved all our clothes out of the armoire and into our bedroom.  We laid the closet doors out as shelves and have piled everything up there.  Then we took down half of the armoire.  Once the whole thing is down, we'll have to start chipping away at the wall to prepare for tiling.  We're going to do that bit of work to save us a pretty penny on labour.  I'm my father's daughter, what can I say?

While we're at it with the tiling, there's another bit of work that needs to be done.  Our living room is three steps below the rest of the house which puts it below street level.  I love the way the steps split the space and also give us those high ceilings that make it feel even more spacious, but the problem with being below street level is the humidity.  The exterior wall (and any adjacent walls) have peeling paint and patches of yellowed stains.  The only sure way to block the humidity is by tiling and this is part of why in old Spanish houses (and not so old houses) it's very common to find a zócalo: tile about three feet up the walls and along the entire length.  A zócalo is exactly what we're going to be doing in our living room, though the height will be closer to five feet than three.

Are you wondering how this is related to my baby?  Our plan is for baby Emily to sleep with us for at least the her first year.  Essentially, the nursery will be our bedroom and closet area.  We have plenty of space, but as I've mentioned it is very poorly organized at the moment.  At some point in the future we will have to adapt my current office space to be her bedroom, but there really is no hurry with that since it's just more practical to have everything in one place and have my baby closer to me.  Also my parents are both coming for the birth and staying through New Years, so when my sisters come at Christmas, we really will need that other bedroom upstairs.
Taking apart the armoire...
Our new closet...

...And the other half...

Half way there.  We've got one down and one to go.  You really can't appreciate how big this space is in the picture.

Just an example of some of the ravages of humidity.  The tiling will also make our living room much more cozy (I hope) since at the moment it's just painted white.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

New Wheel's

Strollers are a BIG deal in Spain and I'd say all of Europe.  They're sturdier, and definitiely more stylish than American strollers I've seen.  My cousin, who spent time living in Switzerland with her two-year-old, will tell you all about the inferiority of her American baby mobile and the scornful looks she received from passersby on the streets as she wheeled him around Europe. ;)

However, all that style and quality comes at a pretty price.  There are people who spend 1000 euros (yes, three zeros!) on a stroller!  Angelines and I are neither so materialistic, nor are we rich enough for such things so we decided from the get go that we would be looking for a second-hand ride for Miss Emily Alejandra.

Yesterday I had another doctor's app't in Málaga and we spent the morning prior to the ultrasound shopping and running errands.  It just so happens that I found a second-hand baby store in Málaga--perfect!  Of course, we stopped to see what they had.  We didn't have any real intention of buying anything at this point.

The sales lady was great, very knowledgeable and friendly.  She showed us a few different models after ruling out her first enthusiastic suggestion of a HOT PINK stroller when she heard we were expecting a girl. ;)  The third one seemed perfect: it had a reversible seat, and a 0-13k baby carseat incorporated.  Unlike other models that come with three parts (one for a child up to about 2 yrs, one for new borns that is completely flat, and one for new babies that can be clipped into a base that's buckled into your car), this stroller only had two.  There was the seat for older kids that was reversible, and then the new born part which was reclineable to let the baby rest completly on its back, or it could be placed in up to three different, more upright, angles.  This second piece can also be buckled directly into the car so until the little one is over 13 kilos, there's no need to buy another carseat.

This stroller was more than half the price of the original (some 800+ euros).  It was in great condition--no stratches, no chipped paint, no tears in the fabric.  And the shop guarantees all its products for one year, even being second-hand!  We decided we probably wouldn't find a better deal.  You could just tell the difference between this one and the other's we'd been shown by rolling the thing around the store a bit.  We were sold and decided to buy it right then and there!

So here it is, Emily Alejandra's new ride:

This is the new-born part, fully reclined.  We can buckle it into the car just as is.


Here's the side-view with the sun roof up. ;)


Here you can see it's slightly inclined.  It can also be buckled into the car in this position (faceing backwards, of course)


Here's the bigger baby seat.  This is the one that can be turned around to face the "driver" if desired.


...and it also fully reclines.
So, there you have it. Pretty snazzy, eh?  I'm am very excited and so happy with our purchase.  Here's promotional video I found online.


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

A Smile in the Night

At around 5:30 or 6am (I usually try not to look at the clock), I woke up last night for what has become my routine night-time bathroom trip.  This is by far, to date, the worst part of pregnancy.  I hate getting up to pee!  Thankfully the bathroom is just right across the hall from our bedroom and so I usually manage to remain half asleep as I stumble to and from the toilet.

Last night, after crawling back into bed, I took a deep breath, spread out on my back and began concentrating on the dream I'd tried not to leave behind.  It was then that I felt a jolt in my lower abdomen like a giant heart beat.  I've been waiting exactly five months and four days for this--the "quickening". I smiled in the dark, then rolled over and whispered her announcement to Angelines. :)

Hello Emily.  Nice to feel you.  


Sunday, June 8, 2014

The Post (Most of) You've All Been Waiting For!

For nearly five months, I've been sitting on this news.  It's been such a long time really that I don't know where to start with the telling.

Once upon a time, on February 25, we found out I was pregnant.

This had been our second attempt with a clinic in Seville, and when I was staring at the bloodwork printout displaying the varrying levels of human chorionic gonadotophin, trying to understand what my 118mUI/ml meant, I tried not to get my hopes up; but since about a week after the insemination, I had known deep down that this time I was pregnant.

"Enhorabuena!" was the answer I got when I called the clinic to report my results.  I couldn't hold back my smile and a shy, "gracias" in response.  It was official.  I was 2 weeks pregnant and even though most doctors will advise against sharing the news until after the first trimester, Angelines and I were immediately calling friends and family.  Living in La Roda, it didn't take long for the whole town to know my "estado", as they say.  So then why wait so long for a blog post?

I suppose the reason is partially just because it's taken me a while to assimilate the reality that there is a little being growing inside me.  I was initially very annoyed that my in-laws had started sharing the news because when people would congratulate me, I almost didn't know what to say.  I didn't have morning sickness at all, my breasts weren't tender, I didn't have a heightened sense of smell, there were no cravings...  I didn't feel any different than I had four weeks earlier and yet the bloodwork said that a tiny blastocyst had burrowed its way into my uterine lining and its cells were rapidly dividing to become my future child--just a little hard to wrap one's mind around.
These are the very first baby pictures.

At seven weeks we had our first ultrasound: a tiny white blob floating on a screen of black; but suddenly the doctor turned on the sound and sure enough there was a tiny heart racing somewhere inside--a strong, pounding cut-time rythm beating out of the blackness.  Once again, I couldn't hold back my smile.

About the time of the ultrasound, I began to be constantly starving.  Regardless of what I ate, or how much, I was hungry again every hour.  It seemed that the little bean inside me had an appetite even bigger than my own.  I was beside myself when it came time for my afternoon classes.  Sometimes I would take something to eat (of course the kids reminded me smugly that there was no eating in class!), but most of the time I suffered through and did by best to ignore the rumblings of my tummy.

The crazy hunger abated around week 10 or 11 and since then it's been nothing but normal.  Until just about two weeks ago, I wasn't even showing at all.  So if it hadn't been for doctor visits and the reassurance of that staticky, black and white image to tell me otherwise, I would never suspect I was pregnant.

Since the beginning there wasn't really any question that we would find out the sex of our baby.  It just seemed a given.  I can see the fun in holding out 'til the end, but I don't have patience for that!  This past Monday we had our most recent ultrasound and the doctor was able to confirm that we're having a little girl. :)  We are thrilled.

Ever since I was little I've dreampt of having a baby girl of my own; but when we decided to take the steps and undergo treatment, I had to face the reality that there was a 50% chance I would have a little boy.  Over the course of a year or so I have begun getting used to that posible reality, so much so that when people would ask what I "wanted" I could honestly reply that I didn't care.  My gut told me from the beginning that this baby was a girl, but I didn't want to be disappointed if I found out otherwise.  I was starting to think that it might be fun to have a boy, something different after having been brought up in a household of girls!  So, ironically, there was a tiny part of me that was disappointed when we discovered we were not going to have a niño.  Still, the fact remained that I much prefered the name we had picked out for a baby girl than for a little boy.

Her name is Emily Alejandra Wilbanks Granados.

My aunt sent me this poem just after I announced to family that our little bump was a girl named Emily:

Naming the Baby

by Faith Shearin
When you are dreaming of the name
you are also dreaming of who they
might be. They are invented in darkness —
under cloak of skin — and, for the better
part of a year, are a swelling
or a set of symptoms. The name
books are like a box of chocolates
and when you open them you see
how many kinds there really are.
There are names of people you
have known and disliked and names
that make the wrong sounds and names
that suggest your child will be
like everyone else's. There are names
that turn your child into a character
in a novel and names that recall
the time when your great grandmother
was young. Naming the baby is a way
of dreaming about a creature who is
almost but not quite. It is a way of
imagining the soul of a person you
are making but have not made.
The name is the first way you see
the baby: their title, the syllables
that conjure a shape from the lantern.

"Naming the Baby" by Faith Shearin from The Empty House. © Word Press, 2008.
---

Nothing could be more true.  In the weeks even prior to the insemination I was dreaming about a baby and dreaming about a name.  I am a strong believer in the importance of names--I would be a very differnt person if my name were Jessica or Lisa or Mandy.

A name should mean something.  I have always been proud to have two family names (Viola Fenn and Pearl Idelia were two of my great-grandmothers) and I think they bind me to my roots, to who I am beyond myself in very special way.  I want my daughter's name to do the same for her.

Emily was my sister and Alejandro was Angelines's father.  I never had a doubt that Emily would be part of her name, and Angelines knew it too.  In Spain having a middle name isn't as common as in the States, but I insisted that our baby have two names.  It's only fair to choose one from one side and another from the other, right?  And besides, this baby is an American Spaniard, she needs names accordingly.  

I thought up names and combinations and ran them by Angelines, but it wasn't until Emily Alejandra rolled off my tongue that I knew we'd found our baby.


We love you!


Here she is!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Pictures to Accompany:

They say a picture's worth 1000 words, so here are the pictures to go with that last post.  I was too lazy to upload them last time! ;)

Covering the exterior wall.  You can see it was quite the job...the downside to having such a big house!
Here's a picture of the garage half way through the project.  He's taken up the broken and loose tiles and chipped up all the old cement that was holding them down.  Now what's left is cleaning off the old, unbroken tiles and putting them back down along with a few new ones. ;)  Notice the AC against the wall.
This is the first coat of white in the guest room.  Can you believe the color?  Impossible to relax in there...  A had to paint three coats of white.  She was beat when the job was finally through! 

The white is finished and there's the AC in place! :)  Hooray.  This weekend I have to clean it...

The finishing touches: here Angelines is trimming along the top of the closet.  We decided to only paint two walls in the room in color.  This is a nice change from the fucsia, right??  I think it looks very elegant.

Okay, well there you have it: the month of May (beginning of June) in pictures!