Living in the Pacific Northwest with our two beautiful little boys. There is SO much to share and so little time. We love life and we are so blessed. Hopefully this blog helps us to capture and share exactly that.
At night, I usually head to bed before Mateo. Still, I am not alone. :) As soon as he hears me brushing my teeth, Koda comes to the bathroom door and waits for me. He watches me brush, hoping to get a lick of my freshly toothpaste-y lips. When I'm finished in the bathroom I head into the bedroom and I usually find him waiting for me. He's polite and never steals my side, always taking Matt's pillow instead. As I finish my final pre-bedtime prepartions, he watches. Patiently. Finally, I slip under the sheets of my side. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Time for bed. But not yet. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch someone looking at me from his pillow. "I wuv ooo mumma," he says. :) I rub his belly and tell him I love him too. Goodnight, my little bed buddy.
The POD today is more of VOD. :) A day or so ago, I had the privilege of watching our friend's little girl Claire for an hour while Mom and Dad ran an important errand. When she was dropped off at our not-so-child-friendly house (yet!), I wondered how I would keep her entertained. Little did I know, Takoda already had this one covered. :) No joke... this is what we did for one full hour. My favorite part of the video is RIGHT at the end, however, because after doing the SAME thing for 45 minutes... Claire decided to spice it up a little bit. :) Priceless.
Rebajas aka HUGE country-wide sales, only happen twice a year here in Spain. In every store in the mall you'll find 25, 50 and even 75 percent off nearly all items! So yes, the same scarf that you spent ten euro on last week is only five or three now!
I've NEVER been a person who pays full price for things. I can't stand it. I always hit the sales, clearance racks, even thrift stores. So despite window displays and racks of clothes that leave me drooling, I wait and hold out for Rebajas!!!
Just this Tuesday, I hit the jackpot. I went to one of my favorite local gypsy markets that's starting to lower prices with the end of winter selling season. Having an excuse to shop (nothing fits me!) I went hogwild! I got 5 pairs of leggings (one euro each!), a sweater dress for 3 euro, a 15 euro jacket AND some smokin brown boots! Okay, the 10 euro boots were not necessary for my expanding waistline, but I've been WANTING some brown boots and how could I resist when they were half price?!
Anyway, I wasn't planning on taking any photos but in the search for a winter coat that looked good and had a little room to give, I needed a mirror! No mirrors?! Thankfully, a genius shopper near me asked if I had a camera and suggested my friend take a few shots so that I could see what the coat looked like on. I loved it. I didn't know what it cost, but if it was less than 30 euro... it was coming home with me. "Cuanto cuesta?" I asked. I couldn't help but smile when she said 15. "Baratito!" Soooo cheap!
So here are my "How does it look" photos. PS. If you look close enough in the boot photo, you'll see WHY I'm in search for a new winter jacket. See those two cute little bottom buttons that are NOT fastened? That's because they can't be. OH, and don't mind my face... I didn't know the face was in the photo. ;)
Baby Brain: a pregnancy induced brain fog. :) Did I think it actually existed? No. Do I still feel that way? No. Oh, IT EXISTS. It's a phenomenon that strikes poor helpless pregnant souls when they least expect it. Like, "Oh, so exciting, I'm pregnant... What do you mean I left the burner on?"
I've had a few forgetful moments since those two glorious lines appeared. I've forgotten where I was driving, forgotten to pick up the key ingredient behind my whole trip to the grocery store, and forgotten to call or write friends back. BUT my worst mindslips have been in the kitchen. OUCH. The kitchen USED to be my pride and joy. I could COOK. I could cook pretty good and half the time I didn't need a recipe.
As you know, my Christmas cooking was just short of a disaster, but I managed to write it all off because I wasn't feeling well and sort of "rushed" through things. Now that I'm feeling better, what's my excuse eh?
My cooking is bad. No, seriously, it's lacking that pizzazz that it used to have! Matt says it's okay, but he's just trying to avoid something being thrown at him. :)Anyway, I think I'm going to stick to recipes from here on out in the pregnancy. You can't go wrong with a recipe right? RIGHT? Unless of course you're like MEEEEEEEE (PREGNANT) and you somehow manage to forget to add the most vital ingredient every time you cook! SIGH. As the POD today, I give you exhibit A: What is this, you ask? Is it some sort of toasted trail mix? I mean, it certaintly DOESN'T look like a BAR. The recipe is called "Magic cookie bars." But after a crappy dinner (I searched for the garlic salt for 10 minutes, asking Matt where he put it away incorrectly, only to find that I had already taken it out. Whoops.) I decided to REDEEM myself (in my own mind) with oh-so-easy throw in the pan cookie bars. I threw it all in the pan, waited the 30 minutes for it to cook and I triumphantly used a butter knife to cut out a nice, warm, gooey bar. But it wasn't gooey and it wasn't a bar. I almost started to cry thinking... how could I have screwed THIS up? Maybe it needs to cook longer? Maybe my oven isn't working? ANNNNND then I saw it. See if you can spot it in the picture. No joke, this is where it sat the WHOLE time. The KEY ingredient that gives the gooey bars it's gooeyness and pulls the whole thing together. Literally. Sigh. Despite the gaping hole I'd already created at the corner, I added the condensed milk and put it back in the oven for another eternity (aka 25 minutes). Is it pretty? No. But it's edible and I'm grateful that my baby brain didn't completely foil me. THIS TIME anyway.
On Friday evening we recieved a package from our amazing friends the Daltons! Of course it had their beautiful "Happy New Year" card inside, but most importantly (according to the the pups) were a couple of doggy toys! You see, being overseas now, the doggy toy selection is somewhat limited and NOTHING compares to the aisles upon aisles of amazingness you can find stateside at stores like Petsmart! SO, the puppies were VERY grateful to have not just some new toys, but the TOY OF THE CENTURY. Seriously, you should see this hedgehog looking thing in person, it's huge (for one) and it squeaks! But it's got two different sqeak pitches! Squeeze the belly for the low oink sort of sound, but then it's also still got the typical high pitched squeaker if the pups go for the head. The pups were happy, and watching them, we had our Friday night entertainment! I've provided a video as proof that the pups were MORE than excited. :) Thank you Hooper and the Daltons!!!
Enjoy this little auditory treat while catching up on our exciting news. :)
Well, the secret's out! I'm PREGNANT! Or perhaps I should say "We're pregnant." While waiting for our second ultrasound, Matt made the mistake of looking through the Fatherhood section of What to Expect When You're Expecting. When offered a frosty adult beverage, the book advised him to say "No thanks, we're expecting!" HAH! If any pregnant women (who are not raging alcoholics) do this to their men... I think they've got to have a screw loose.
Anyway, back to the news! We found out JUST before our 4 day Rome getaway, JUST before Thanksgiving. We called close family to let them know we had a little something extra to be thankful for this year. :) We had a wonderful time in Rome and I felt great! A little tired, and a little hungry... but great! I couldn't help but think perhaps this pregnancy thing was going to be a breeze!
HAH! (Again.) By the time we got back from Rome it seemed I was sleeping more than I was awake. I was exhausted! I also was starting to notice a ravenous hunger that hit me about every 2 hours. A hunger that when not taken care of promptly, would turn into a mean nauseousness. This vicious cycle of sleep, find something to eat that doesn't look disgusting, try not to think about the food you just ate that now sounds disgusting, sleep, try to get something done, try not to get mad about something stupid, try not to cry about something stupid, eat something else, try to avoid the smells of the kitchen...etc. continued for what seemed much too long. I frequently told Matt that I was SO tired of feeling like poo. I told my mom that it was like that movie Groundhog Day where he keeps waking up and everything is the same. Just get through the day and you can go to sleep again at night and hope the next day won't be the exact same. :)
Our first ultrasound on December 17th gave me the first glimpse that all of this was really happening and that all my sickness and fatigue was worth it. The little "gummy bear" as Matt described it, didn't look like much, but the doctor said it was a lil fetus that was growing right on schedule. Oh, and scheduling my end of the first trimester appointment for January 18th gave me a "light at the end of the tunnel" to push towards. I would feel better. I just had to! My blog readers were waiting! ;) Slowly, day by day I started to feel better. I went from feeling crappy every day, to feeling stinky only 3 days a week. Progress! When our second ultrasound at 13 weeks came around, we were both anxious and nervous to see that everything was still going okay. What was the baby going to look like? Was it going to be okay? The doc squirted the cool jelly on my tummy and as soon as he got the camera focused on the baby's profile, the lil guy/gal flung itself into the air, arms flailing. It settled back down at the bottom of my uterus and then, seconds later, it did the same maneuver! Matt laughed, I laughed, my belly shook, and the doctor lost focus of the image. We were so surprised to see that the baby was SO active considering I couldn't feel a thing! "Is it hiccuping?" Matt asked. The doctor basically explained that the lil one was just swimming around in a dark warm cave, trying to keep itself entertained. :) The baby was still growing on schedule and I had survived my first trimester. What an amazing day. So that brings us to now! I'm just about 14 weeks and I'm feeling much better! KNOCK ON WOOD, but I've really only been nauseous when I don't keep myself fed. An empty stomach is the devil's best friend. ;) I am still in most of my clothes, although the Bella Band (which came highly recommended) is helping to keep some of my now TIGHT,tight jeans hanging on. Yesterday I woke up, got dressed and managed to catch my profile in the mirror. WHOA! Where did THAT thing come from? That stomach was NOT there last night when I went to bed! :) SO, of course I had Matt take a few pictures to document that monumental moment as well. I will continue to keep you updated on my journey through pregoland and of course, how pregoland affects our vida fanastica!
I woke up this morning with an abnormal amount of energy. Maybe that's what happens when you get 10 hours of sleep? ;) So I decided to do something that our semi-calorie concious family usually tends to skip out on: Sunday morning brunch!
That's right. I channeled my inner Dad (the Sunday breakfast MASTER) and decided to whip up something delcious! So the music went on and I went to work. A few days ago my pregnancy cravings told me it was time for a good sausage biscuits and gravy. Wait... you didn't know that I was pregnant? You somehow missed that on Facebook? Sorry, I'll catch you up on a blog post later today. :) ANYWAY...
With no bisquick in the house I was going to have to make drop biscuits from scratch, so without hesitation I began cutting the shortening into the floury goodness.
Takoda, not very interested in what I was doing, focused instead on the fact that I was neglecting his morning toy toss. Note him staring longingly at his green squeaky gator. Sultan on the other hand continued to make his shark like circles inside, not wanting to miss out if any of that "snausage stuff" dropped within his radius. Long story short, my sausage gravy would have made dad proud, and you would have never known that I didn't have any bisquick! SO delish!!!
Although the Spanish celebrate Christmas, their BIG gift giving day is Three Kings day on The 6th of January. That's the day when not Santa, but the three wisemen bring presents to the children of Spain.
Leading up to the big day is somewhat similar to our pre-Christmas craze in the United States. The malls are packed and children write their letters to the Three Kings telling them what they'd like this year. However, lines to sit on Santa's lap are replaced by lines to talk to the town postman. The postmen listen wholeheartedly to the eager niños and promise to deliver their letters to the Three Kings. Other similarities to the US include nativity scenes, Christmas trees and parades!
Despite my first trimester bleckies, Matt and I managed to get out and capture some of the Christmas season spirit here in Southern Spain! Just think, we'll be doing this next year, only with a lil bundle strapped to our backs. :) Enjoy the pics!
EASILY my favorite tree. A tree made from wine bottles in Jerez, the home of Sherry!
There was a huge parade in Rota on the eve of Three Kings Day. The floats were very elaborate and the candy was never ending! Just watch out! They throw those hard candies OVERhand and you're BOUND to get hit in the eye if you're not paying attention! Haha gotta love this guy sneakin a smoke in his uniform! UMMMM so semi hysterical/ extremely politically incorrect would be the blackfaced Third King. Yes, there were 3 kings in the parade. Yes, traditionally one has dark skin. Yes, he was represented. No, apparently Rota couldn't find a black man to fill this role. Yeahhhhh that's paint. :) We were all impressed with the IMMEDIATE cleanup that began as soon as the parade had passed. It was like the caboose of the parade. Of course, after the parade the kiddos had to get home to bed, right? Well, I mean the three kings were coming so they had to get into bed and get to sleep early! True, but early for the spanish isn't until like 11pm! SO, the party continued well into the night! The streets were PACKED! We learned a valuable lesson that night, do NOT attempt to park a car and/or drive in a Spanish town during a fiesta!
At night, I usually head to bed before Mateo. Still, I am not alone. :) As soon as he hears me brushing my teeth, Koda comes to the bathroom door and waits for me. He watches me brush, hoping to get a lick of my freshly toothpaste-y lips. When I'm finished in the bathroom I head into the bedroom and I usually find him waiting for me. He's polite and never steals my side, always taking Matt's pillow instead. As I finish my final pre-bedtime prepartions, he watches. Patiently. Finally, I slip under the sheets of my side. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Time for bed. But not yet. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch someone looking at me from his pillow. "I wuv ooo mumma," he says. :) I rub his belly and tell him I love him too. Goodnight, my little bed buddy. 
