Where does the time go?

I look at the baby clothes that we brought Emily home from the hospital in...and even now it's hard to remember that they were huge on her.  Of course, now they don't even fit her.  When I look at the pictures of her that I've posted here on the blog, I can see the change in her little face, but it's hard to really get an idea of her size in the pictures.  You can't really see how she's grown and filled out; how her little legs have doubled in size and her belly is disproportionately big and round.  It seems that her clothes MUST be shrinking!  Can she really be growing so much and so fast?

Today as I was looking at her holding her head so straight and looking out the window while my mother-in-law held her and cooed to her in Spanish, I couldn't help thinking she looked like such a very big girl.  She will be 10 weeks old Tuesday...

And that brings me to another point: tomorrow my parents head for home in California.  It really has been a gift having them here.  All long-term visits have an adjustment period, and I'd like to think that when I was short with them I could blame it on post-partum hormones (not always the case probably...), but in general, I think we've worked out living together quite well.  I think that they have enjoyed being here just as much as we have enjoyed having them.

It's been wonderful of course, to just be able to dedicate myself to my little one and completely forget about cooking, cleaning, dog walking, etc.; but it's also heartwarming for me to see the joy that my little girl brings them.  And if I am amazed by my baby's growth, I can only imagine what they must be thinking now being faced with leaving her.

We are arranging a weekly skype session for little Emily A. to get her regular dose of grandparents and English.  This summer we're planning to be in the States for at least two weeks as well, which means grandma and grandpa will get to really see the differece in their little girl--a lot happens between 2 and 6 months!  There are times, like now, when being closer to family would be heavenly... but I like to think that being so far away from each other means that usually when we see each other it's for a more extended period of time.  Other families might see each other more often, but I think we usually see each other for about as much total time as other families because the reality is that even if we lived in the States, we wouldn't most likely live in the same town as all our family.  And that means that we'd see each other at Thanksgiving, Christmas and probably one or two other times during the year.  Thanks to skype and whatsapp and viber, we can even communicate very frequently all for free--it's a small world after all. ;)

Anyway, Angelines, Emily A. and I will all be very sorry to see grandma and grandpa leave.  It will be another adjustment to make for our little family to be living and opperating all on our own (or as much on our own as my in-laws will allow!).

Thanks mom and dad.  I love you and I'll miss you.

Another Picture Post

Here are some pictures from the past few days.  Angelines bought me a new camera for Christmas--a complete surprise--and these are a few of the shots I got with it before I decided I should return it.  It ran on AA bateries instead of a rechargable one... and in my experience, the AA's run out too fast.  It's far better to have two rechargeables and just trade out.  Anyway, it was a great camera as you can see.  Tomorrow I'll be hunting Amazon for another one. 

Cold morning walk with Angelines, Maggie and Bela--Merry Christmas. 

This one's from our yearly visit to Puente Genil to see the Christmas lights.

Baby Em snuggled in her stroller with a few of her Christmas presents: outfit (Thanks, Camry) and blanket (Thank you, Shawna)

Auntie Maggie and Grandmas

My pink kitty cat in her little cuna

Overdue

Wow...almost a month has flown by without a single word from me in the blogosphere!  Shame, shame, shame.  Thankfully, I have the cutest, most wonderful excuse EVER:

Emily is growing a cm. per week and already weighs over 4 kilos (roughly 8.5lbs).  Her growing layer of fat means that her cute wrinkly forehead is a thing of the past.  You'd be hard pressed to find the slightest furrow on her brown regardless of her expression.  When she was first born she looked like a little shar pei puppy every time she'd raise her eyebrows!

She is beginning to smile more and more. She's so serious most of the time that her smile is quite a treat.  It lights up her whole face!  And today she even laughed a little.  I am transfixed by her growth and development.  I just cannot believe how quickly it's all happening.

Things around here have been stressful.  The holidays always are, and especially in this house.  Angelines of course doesn't get Christmas vacation...in fact, it's the very busiest time of the year for her.  Once again, my parents have been lifesavers.  Aside from stepping in and cleaning the bar, cooking, cleaning and dog-walking, just having them here in the house with baby Em and me gives A a peace of mind that she wouldn't otherwise have.  She's been able to pretty much go about her normal (stressful) business of stocking and fretting, budgeting and working herself to death, without having to worry about me being home alone with our little girl.

This year Christmas has been much merrier than in the past because my whole family was together!  It's been six years since all of us were together for the holidays; and of course this year was extra special being little Emily A.'s first Christmas. :)  Maggie and Lucy arrived on the 23rd and left this morning at 9:30am (a barbarous hour on New Year's Day for any Spaniard). My brother-in-law asked (only half way joking) if we were sure the pilot would be sober! 

Their visit was far too short, but I suppose considering the circumstances (A.'s stress and my fluxing hormone levels) a quick visit was the best plan.  I like to think we took advantage of our time together, but in reality, little Emily was top on my priority list and I wasn't much up for staying up late laughing and teasing like we always have in the past.  When my baby was asleep at 9pm, it was bedtime for Francis. ;)  Still, we did watch a few movies, do some yoga, go for a couple walks, play Christmas carol trivia while I nursed... I loved having them around even though I didn't get much chance to just hang out with either of them much.

Now the house is starting to feel empty and I am realizing that in just a week and a half I'll be all alone!

...interrupted by baby again so I'm leaving this here. 

Happy New Year!!

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. ;)