Busy July

Sorry for letting so much time pass between posts, but we’ve had a very busy month. This past weekend my college friends Kim and AnnMarie visited from Seattle and New York respectively. We had fun biking, walking, waterskiing, talking, and of course spending time with Emilia. Here’s a photo of AnnMarie and Kim at the Tin Fish restaurant on Lake Calhoun, where we enjoyed lunch after a bike ride around the lakes.

On Sunday my mom’s (excessively large) family gathered at my parent’s house for our annual family picnic. The weather was fantastic and we swam, tubed, floated, played water volleyball and ate and drank merrily. Unfortunately my mom’s camera has disappeared with all the proof of our jolly good times. Hopefully she’ll find it soon and I’ll be able to post the traditional family photo on the steps.

Emilia is changing daily. Her hair is crazier than ever and she now laughs out loud regularly (of course, mom and dad have learned how to bring it on). She seems to be going through a bit of separation anxiety when mom is in sight but she can’t be in my arms (especially when she’s a little tired). I’m really hoping this phase will pass quickly. She’s started to scoot, although mostly backward. She loves water bottles and her grandma loves to give her one every chance she gets. The result is usually a pretty wet little Emilia. She’s getting pretty used to the lake and also took a dip in a pool one day, even going “under” with mom. Here’s a photo of her hanging out with grandma by the lake, sucking on a water bottle.

She’s finally starting to get the pinching and hand to mouth thing coordinated. She’s able to bring many Cheerios to her mouth now and a few actually go in without adult assistance. Here’s proof:


And here’s proof of the four teeth I mentioned in a previous post:

This weekend we're headed up north for my cousin Amy's wedding, so watch for a post on that next week.

Weekend update

We had a busy weekend, spending both Saturday and Sunday with students from the Latin American Student Leadership Institute that I'm working for. Saturday my small group enjoyed the lake at my parent's house. This is a photo of my brother Devin with Diana from Ecuador and Olu and David from Guatemala (our other group member, Daniel from Venezuela, was missing that day). Sunday we caught some of the Aquatennial activities at Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun with the full group.

Of course, no post would be complete without a photo of Emilia. So here's one of her just looking cute, and another of her enjoying a bath this evening.

Getting up to speed

Emilia is now about 7 ½ months old. She’s supposedly long and thin with a pretty decent sized head (wonder where she gets that!). She’s been sleeping through the night (11 blissful hours) since she started sucking her thumb at three months of age. Currently she’s very interested in people’s faces (which can be dangerous because it’s difficult to keep up with her fast growing finger nails), drawstrings (which means we always have to check to make sure our bottoms are secure before standing up), glasses (mom is wearing her contacts more often as a result), getting in touch (literally) with nature, playing in the bath or her kiddie pool, banging her hands and feet on the furniture, and eating (yes, eating, not reading) books. She’s shown no interest in crawling yet, but manages to get where she wants by rolling and spinning on her stomach. She has two bottom teeth, as well as one on the top and another poking through the gum. She has been eating “solid” foods (I don’t know why they’re called that because there is nothing solid about them) for almost two months, and is now trying her hand at Cheerios and the sippy cup. The latter is relatively easy, but she hasn’t yet managed to transfer a Cheerio from the high chair tray to her mouth on her own. She can pick it up in her fist, but can’t quite maneuver it into the mouth, so we have to help with that part. Her wavy brown hair is growing like crazy and we pretty much let it do what it pleases. I’ve posted a few photos in small format, but you can see any of them in a larger size by just clicking on them.

Agustin is still enjoying his job as a Senior Business Analyst at Guidant, “a Boston Scientific Company” (really, you’re supposed to say it that way), and he seems well-liked (no surprise there). He got to spend a week working at the plant in Ireland in late May, which he really enjoyed.

I just finished my first year of the PhD program in Comparative and International Development Education (i.e. international education) at the University of Minnesota and am really enjoying it. During the school year I work part-time (from home) as a Teaching Assistant for a course called Maximizing Study Abroad. Students who are studying abroad for the semester or year have a text that they read, then they send their assignments, which are reflections on the text in the context of their cultural learning experience, to me and I give them feedback via e-mail. It’s great because it’s almost like I’m studying abroad vicariously through them. I’ve already started with my fall semester students, who are in New Zealand, Australia, Egypt, Iceland and Malaysia. This summer I’m also working part-time on a project at the university that’s funded by the Department of State. There are 17 students from Guatemala, Ecuador and Venezuela on campus for a leadership institute. I’m one of four graduate student mentors, which means we assist them in their adaptation and intercultural learning and get to partake in many educational and fun activities with them.

More photos....

Visit to Spain

In May we spent two weeks in Sevilla, Spain, introducing Emilia to her papa's side of the family. This first picture is of our family at the market in Ayamonte (on the southern coast, next to Portugal). Agustin wanted Emilia to get accustomed to the smell of fresh fish so that she will grow up to be a proper Spanish girl and like seafood more than her mom does. The second photo is Emilia's introduction to the ocean. It was taken just prior to her getting soaked by an oversized wave and scared off of the ocean until next summer.

We also had Emilia baptized while in Spain, at the tiny church in Palomares del Rio, the town just outside Sevilla where Agustin's parents live. Godparents are Agustin's brother Javier and his wife Encarni; both can be seen in the photo below. Afterward we celebrated with family at a restaurant in town.

And last, but not least, we celebrated Agustin's 40th birthday (which is actually today--lucky 07/07/07!) a little early. He's always said he was never able to officially retire from rugby the way he would have liked to (and is customary). So, with the help of some of his friends, I organized a friendly game with many of the guys Agustin has played with over the years, and they honored him in the customary way after the game. Here are a few photos of the event.

Let's Get Blogging!

Agustin and I have decided to start a blog in order to keep some of our friends and family (those who are interested at least) informed of what's going on in our lives and, more importantly, to share photos and anecdotes about Emilia. Most posts will probably be in English, some in Spanish. Most will probably be about Emilia, but we'll try to remember to say a few things about our other activities as well. And I'm sure almost all will include photos (of, you guessed it, Emilia!). Here are two of my favorite photos, although they are from March. I'll get up some more recent pictures soon. I hope you all enjoy our blog and feel a little closer to us when you visit!