All's Well...

...That ends well!

I am home, eating a sandwich on the couch with a fire blazing and a sleeping baby in the bedroom.  All has certainly ended well. ;)  Our trip to Sevilla went smoothly and we arrived with time for me to give Emily a quick snack before my first exam and then because I finished early we had lots of time for a good feeding before the second one.

I feel very good about both the tests I took.  The first one I'm pretty sure I nailed it 100%.  I'm a little less sure about my second one, although I am sure that I passed.  Hooray!  No more exams for me!! :)

Emily was a little champ.  She was a little dream baby for her auntie and even let her read for about 45 min. while she napped during my first exam!  What a good little girl. :)  When I finished my last test I could hear her crying as I came out of the room.  She was pretty tired, sweet girl.  I was able to put her to sleep in the hotel lobby (the exams are in the hotel's convention rooms), but unfortunately she woke up after moving her into the car.  She got increasingly upset and we had to pull over before getting out of Seville to calm her down some--poor baby.  In the end we had to let her cry for a bit in her carseat, but super auntie sang her to sleep and she was out all the way home.

The afternoon went flawlessly smooth if it hadn't been for one small hiccup.  When Toñi rushed out the door with Emily to go feed the parking meter, my jacket (with cell phone in the pocket) fell out from under the stroller without her noticing!  As it turns out, she didn't need to put anymore money on the meter because at 8 o'clock parking's free.  When she got back to the hotel, happy to have saved a few cents, she got a panicked call from Angelines asking where she was and where I was and why I didn't have my phone!  As it turns out, a nice, young lady found my phone and called the first contact (Aangelines) on the list...  She turned my phone in at the hotel front desk, but someone thought my jacket was too much to resist with this awful cold snap we're having!  I loved that jacket, too...  but I guess I'll console myself thinking that someone else, colder than I, will be snuggled and warm through these cold weeks ahead.  I have other coats.

...So, as I say, all's well that ends well.  My exams went well.  We made it home.  I have my phone.  The baby is still sleeping and now I'm off to bed, too!

Feliz Cumplemeses

Instead of a cumpleAÑOS...today is Emily Alejandra's third cumpleMESES. :)  That's right, my baby is three months old today.  I can hardly believe it.  She is ceratinly growing big, strong and fat!  We took her to the pharmacy to weigh her today and she's up to 5.6 kilos (12lbs 5 oz); three kilos above birth weight so an average of one kilo per month.  Not bad...just glad I don't gain weight that easily/quickly!

The hat Auntie Maggie made for her is nearly too small already!  ...Big-headed Wilbanks.

Things are going pretty smoothly around here, although we're coming up on another adjustment period.  Next week I'll begin teaching a few of my classes again.  For now I'm only going to be teaching my youngest students so that means only three hours one day a week.  I have to say I am not looking forward to it at all...but complaining about such a ridiculously small work load seems incredibly self-centered when I know many of my friends are working 40 hour weeks and had to go back to work even earlier than I am after having their babies.  

Normal maternatiy leave here in Spain is four months, so I'm almost there.  Of course, since my work is all under the table this isn't real (read paid) maternaty leave.  If I had it my way (or if Angelines earned a bit more) I wouldn't go back to work at all.  (I feel silly even writing that: "work"...but I really would just love to be with my baby ALL day EVERY day as I have been now for three months.)

  

Like I say, I'm starting out slowly: just the kids' classes for three hours a week, and we'll see where it goes from there.  I may begin teaching a few hours out of home a little later on in the spring.  In this second semester for my university studies I'm not taking anymore classes (Yay!), just working on my final capstone project (Yuck!), so that's work I also have to keep in mind when planning to take on more English classes or not.   

Regarding my capstone project, I'm kind of excited for a change.  I really have enjoyed all my classes, but it will be nice to do something different.  Research can be fun.  I don't really know what I'll do my project on...definitely something related to bilingual teaching...but I can't tell you much more than that.  Actually my Didáctica de la literatura infantil class is making me think that maybe I can do something with children's literature in English or bilingual literature.  Sounds promising, right?  I'll keep you posted.

So as I am dragging my feet about getting back into teaching, Angelines is plotting ways to bring in more money at the bar.  Bless her heart.  We're having a concert on March 7th that we're selling tickets for in order to defray the cost of the band.  I am so glad she's come to see that selling tickets is the only way to make money when we have groups come and play!  Let's hope we sell out. ;)

She has also been picking up the slack around the house since I've been on "vacation" as she jokes. ;) But it is true that I cannot do as much housework as I used to just because a certain small someone demands quite a lot of attention (and food).  As I say, things are going pretty smoothly.  We've found a routine and have been enjoying being a little family.  Angelines hasn't been opening Thursdays because after the holidays it's more expense than it's worth (electricity, heating, etc.) so that's an extra day to have her here at home with us.  And we have been going on weekly outings (even if only to Estepa) to mix things up and get out of Dodge a bit.

Well, this is a study-break blog so I should get going.  My exams are Friday.  Wish me luck.  My sister-in-law is coming along with me to babysit while I take my exams...we'll see how my little girl holds up.  She usually starts getting fussy in the afternoons and my exams are at 5 and 7:30pm... hmmm.  Once again, wish me luck. ;)

She likes relaxing on the couch with mamá after siesta.

Another photo entry

I have a sleeping angel in one arm, so this is one-handed typing... Maggie suggested that I make this a photo blog since time to write is few and far between.  I hope to be able to get back to posting for real pretty soon beacuse there is something cathartic about the process of sitting down, reflecting, and writing; however, in the meantime I'll leave you with some pictures.  :)

A loved girl!

 Wednesday we had planned to go to Seville to get Emily's American paperwork taken care of--consular report of birth, social security card, passport--but just as we were getting ready to leave the house, I got a call from the embassy in Madrid saying the consulate was closed because all the workers were home sick with the flu!  We decided to go to Málaga since we were up and ready for a car ride.  These are a few pictures from the drive:

A January landscape for sure--our first snow.

...and this is what it looked like in Málaga!

In the car and ready for anything.

Lunch in Málaga (for both of us)

Shot out the back window of the car.  Not bad for 100km/h, right?

 And these last pictures are just because.  I am loving my new camera and Emily is just so photogenic!

Emily with two of her Christmas presents :)

Such a strong girl!

Baby blue eyes

Goofy!!!

I don't know why she looks so grubby in this last pic. but it's prettycute anyway.  Her smile is contaigious and she's even starting to giggle sometimes. :)

Shakira's Speech at Oxford Union

I came across this gem of a speech surfing around a blog that was recommend for my Didáctica de la Literatura Infantil class.  (That's right, I'm still taking classes...)  My exams are fast approaching: Feb. 6th, and so I am beginning to cram.  I say "cram" even though we're still two weeks out because in all honesty, I've done next to nothing all semester--surprise, surprise.  I have done the classwork to keep my participation grade up, but I haven't been attending classes or doing the reading.  So now it's catch up time in these last two weeks.

And I must say that I am a little sorry that I didn't take this class sooner in my studies just because it's a class I really would have liked to dedicate more time to.  The teacher is great--very engaging and fun; and the subject matter is obviously right up my alley.  Especially now with little Emily, I am even more interested in finding quality children's literature and learning about the best, most effective ways to get her hooked on books from the beginning. ;)

Anyway, I'll leave you with this video now.  I must say, this changed my opinion of Shakira, too.

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!!