The Adventures of Agustin, Tara, Emilia & Mateo

Back to School & New Do's

2010-09-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

All ready to head out for the first day of school!

This week Emilia went back to school and Mateo started for the first time. Emilia started at the school when she was Mateo's age and is now officially in their pre-school curriculum (a.k.a. the "Terrific Tiger" room). Mateo is a "Busy Butterfly," which seems very fitting. Both go two full days (i.e. 9am - 5pm) a week. Emilia was very excited to go back and really enjoyed her first week. Mateo did amazingly well, thanks in part, I think, to the fact that he's been going to the childcare center at our gym for an hour or two several days a week since he was three months old (and probably the fact that he's been to the school many, many times before). He headed straight for the toys when we arrived the first morning and didn't even seem to notice, much less mind, when I left. On the second day, unfortunately, he got sick and had to be picked up halfway through the day. If exposure to a classroom full of other snot-nosed toddlers doesn't build up a kid's immune system, I don't know what does.

Before

During

The start of school also seemed to warrant new haircuts, initially for Emilia, and then mid-way through the week for Mateo when the arrival of a good coupon (not to mention Agustin's comment that he would try cutting Mateo's bangs himself) convinced me it was time to get his first haircut. So Emilia is now sporting a cute and curly bob, and baby Mateo has become a big boy. His curly "wings" are gone, but there's still some curl in the back, so hopefully we haven't seen the last of it. I can't believe how quickly they are growing up!

After!

Summer Days Gone By

2010-09-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

Holy crap! It's September! It's practically mid-September! I guess it's true that time flies when you're having fun (and when you're crazy busy). I can't possibly begin to itemize all that we did (nor would I subject any of you to that), so I'll just say a few words and share some favorite photos. Most noteworthy in the second half of summer was that we had a pseudo exchange student during the month of August. Paula, a 16-year-old from Spain, gave us a taste of what it is like to have a teenager in the family. She is the daughter of one of Agustin's childhood friends, who also spent a few days with us before deciding we were (barely) trustworthy enough for him to leave his daughter behind. All in all, I think it was a good experience for everyone. We are always looking for ways to expose our kids to the wider world and different cultures, so this provided a great opportunity. Her presence forced us to spend a little more time having fun and relaxing, and a little less working (and when we were working, we did not miss the opportunity to teach her about getting her hands dirty, literally). She was also quite helpful with the kids and spent a few hours two mornings a week with them while I worked. And Paula not only improved her English, but also learned a little bit more about a place she previously hadn't even looked up on the map.

If I had to summarize how we spent our time this summer, I'd say we spent it on the water. We were either at the pool at our gym or on the lake at my parents several days a week. Paula's presence and interest in tubing and skiing meant my mom and I had the third person necessary to go waterskiing whenever we wanted (typically while Mateo and Grandpa napped). Emilia tubed for the first time and continued to take to the water like a fish. She passed the swim test at our gym, which entails swimming the length of the pool (25 yards) unassisted. According to the lifeguard, she is the youngest one to pass (although I doubt the official-ness of this claim). Mateo also took to the water much more this summer than he had in the past. He'd go running into the zero-depth entry pool at our gym and keep going until he was over his head or fell over, and just calmly wait until someone pulled him up from underwater. Agustin, the kids' unofficial swim coach, is determined Mateo will break Emilia's record next summer and pass the swim test at age two. It's good to have goals, right?

Oh, and I certainly can't overlook the fact that Agustin and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary in August. Marriage with two small kids is not easy, but I am so thankful that I found such a great partner and someone who can put up with me!

In Honor of Two Great Fathers

2010-06-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

This past Father's Day weekend, we enjoyed a little time "up north," as we say in Minnesota, with my parents and my brother Jordan and his wife Tara. We had a lot of fun swimming, playing at the beach, eating, coloring, playing lawn games (or, in Mateo's case, anything involving a ball), golfing, and even relaxing a bit in between all the fun. It was nice for Agustin and I to have four more sets of hands to help with the kids. And Emilia and Mateo loved all the attention. In honor of Father's Day, I'd just like to say thank you to my dad and my husband for both being such great fathers, each in their own way. Here are a few pictures of our fun.

A Weekend Away

2010-06-21T14:26:00.001-07:00

Agustin and I recently enjoyed a much-needed weekend away without kids. My parents were kind enough to watch Emilia and Mateo (thanks Mom and Dad!) while we headed to Madison for the wedding of two friends (we'd barely been back since moving away from there four years ago). We spent a day/night in Madison, where we visited all our old favorite places and watched the U.S. vs. England World Cup game at a popular sports bar, then headed out to farm country, where the wedding was held on the couple's property. It was a beautiful and very fun wedding, and we partied into the wee hours of the morning with old friends and new before retiring to our tent and camping out right there on the property. A big congratulations and best wishes to our friends, newlyweds Chris and Stephanie!

This is the first in a series of photos of Agustin dancing (a sure sign he's having a good time) with the sister of the bride (and her scooter). The others were a little too racy to post.

Mateo is One!

2010-06-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

Little Man Mateo is now officially one year old! We celebrated his birthday at the beginning of the month with a small family gathering. As is to be expected with a first birthday, the birthday boy was as enamored, if not more so, by the wrapping as the gifts themselves, the older sibling was more than helpful with unwrapping said gifts, and the man of the hour was not quite sure what to think of his first experience with cake. But fun was had by all and our baby is turning into a little boy right before our eyes. He's trying to communicate a lot more with sounds and hand signals (and banging his head on the floor when he's tired and wants to be held), and I have decided that his first official (i.e. intentional) word was ball ("ba!"). He also loves putting Emilia's headbands in his hair all by himself (in the picture above he has one around his neck); I think he's trying to keep up with his ultra-fancy sister.

Mateo models the poncho Tio Jojo and Tia Tara brought him from Chile

And here are a few more pictures from the past few weeks:

Emilia models one of her many homemade costumes; I forget what she was supposed to be here, but take note that she's wearing puppets as slippers

Enjoying a warm day in the backyard; Mateo isn't a big fan of the big pools yet, but loves the bath and the little plastic pool

Although Mateo took his first steps several weeks ago, he has preferred crawling as his primary means of locomotion until just recently. Now he takes as many as 8-10 steps at a time and enjoys showing off his walking skills. He still looks like a drunken sailor most of the time, but our cheers and laughter just encourage him to keep practicing the walking. I'll bet it's his preferred way of getting around within a week or two.

With Yaya and Grandpa at a different birthday party (note Emilia and her doll are wearing matching outfits--the result of shopping with Yaya)

School's Out for the Summer....School's Out Forever (well, kind of)

2010-05-27T14:09:00.001-07:00

May has come and almost gone. I passed my oral preliminary exam and prospectus for the PhD in April, then completed my final course at the beginning of May. That means I've completed every requirement for the PhD except that pesky little thing called the dissertation. It means my basic research plan for said dissertation has been approved. I will be collecting data in the fall, which will include a trip to Spain and one to Senegal (the former probably as a family and the latter solo). I'm hoping to officially become a "Dr." two years from now, if all goes according to plan. In the meantime, I am going to try not to stress too much over my research plans this summer, and plan to spend a lot of quality time with the family. These are just a few photos from earlier this month to demonstrate we're off to a good start.

Emilia's First Self-Portrait

2010-05-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

This post is a bit belated, but I wanted to document Emilia's first self-portrait, which she did last month. She loves to color and had been improving by leaps and bounds. Several times she handed me pictures when I picked her up at the childcare center at the gym and I questioned whether they were really hers because it looked like someone had actually tried to color in the lines. I'm not quite sure why it didn't occur to me that she might just be improving. Heck, the girl knows how to write half the letters in the alphabet; why wouldn't her coloring skills be improving? Then one day I picked her up and she handed me a picture of Tinkerbell with her signature scribbling. "Nice picture," I said. "No Mommy! Look on the other side...it's me!" Sure enough, when I turned over the paper, there was a very distinguishable human figure. Not just a human figure, but a girl. Appendages, head, face, clothes, the whole deal. "It's me in my orange dress," she explained (although she does not own an orange dress). "I couldn't make the hair curly, so I just drawed it short," she said. Of course. And purple. This is definitely a keeper.

11 Months!

2010-05-05T14:15:00.001-07:00

Mateo is 11 months old today, just one month shy of his first birthday. Hard to believe. He uses anything and everything (laundry basket, empty diaper box, stools, etc.) as a push toy these days and is practicing his balance, although he hasn't ventured a solo step yet as far as we've noticed. He loves vacuums (yes, vacuums), enjoys climbing back and forth through the side table in our living room until he's dizzy, has given himself yet another bloody lip (well, last time it was a bloody nose) by smacking his face on the hardwood floor, and has learned to sign "more" (particularly handy during snack time; see photo above). And he thinks his sister is the funniest person on the planet.

Emilia, who cannot be forgotten, has become a little fish. It helps that her amazing father takes her to the swimming pool four times a week. She is now swimming on her own and can even show you how she does the butterfly (she doesn't have the arms down yet, but the butt action is spot-on). She also loves dancing, although she isn't exactly the most graceful (must be genetic). She takes dance class at school once a week and enjoys showing everyone her ballet moves, but "dance party" is her favorite style by far. Oh, and "Dancing with the Stars" is her favorite TV show. Come on over and you won't be left out; get within a mile of one of her dance parties and Emilia will command you to "Dance! Dance!"

Double Digits!

2010-04-05T20:34:00.000-07:00

Mateo is officially ten months old today! He is super vocal these days (although we don't kid ourselves with illusions that he's intentionally saying "Mama" or "Papa") and loves giving (well, receiving, really) high fives, playing with Tupperware, bashing his head against almost anything or smacking himself on the head, chewing on anything and everything (including electrical cords--ooops!), and playing "Soooo big!" He's a pretty laid-back little fellow (he kept accidentally rolling down the hill at my aunt and uncle's house on Easter and wasn't fazed in the slightest). We really couldn't ask for a better baby.

Proof that this summer is going to be very interesting

Tupperware!

Big blue eyes!

Exploring new finger foods

The bibs are almost as fun as Tupperware

The kids hard at work in their kitchen--these two are already best buds.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

Painting Easter eggs. Emilia's fingers were more dyed than the eggs!

Emilia does a pretty awesome rabbit impression....without even trying!

Emilia enjoys a little "Strawberry Fluff" with Great Micky.

"Papa, Papa, come help me find eggs!"

"Found one!"

Nine Months!

2010-03-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

Our little boy is nine months old today! This is such a fun stage, even if his curiosity often does get the best of him (and us). Mateo has been crawling since five months of age, and has been pulling up on things and "cruising" (walking around by holding onto things) for about a month now. He likes to practie walking with his little push toy and just recently started pulling up on things and then going "no hands." And yesterday he crawled up his first stair. He is very ticklish and loves to laugh almost as much as we love hearing him do it. He also loves playing with the door stoppers ("boing!"), digging in the house plants, playing with the door on the DVD player, and, more than anything, chewing on shoes. We need to start taking babyproofing a little more seriously, I guess. Oh, and did I mention he gave himself a bloody nose the other day when he was just laying on his stomach on the hardwood floor and decided to bonk his face on the ground? How do you babyproof for that?! He's had the front two bottom teeth for awhile now, but the top two and a few others are suddenly making themselves known. As a result, Mateo has developed a fondness for Barbie--apparently her long, slender appendages make great teethers for those hard-to-reach back teeth. So, without further ado, here are some of my favorite recent pics of our growing little boy.

Visit to Spain in Photos

2010-02-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

As has become our tradition, we headed to Spain right after Christmas to spend New Year's, Reyes Magos (when the wisemen were believed to have brought their gifts to baby Jesus), and our nephew Javi's birthday with Agustin's family. Here's a little taste of our trip in pictures.

Emilia waits with her seeded, peeled grapes to ring in the new year. It's tradition in Spain to eat twelve grapes--one with each "dong"--when the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Eve.

Emilia helps Papa prepare a "tarta de galletas" (cookie cake!) for Javi's birthday. Below, Javi blows out the candles and Emilia continues to be helpful, this time with the eating part.

Three generations

The newest additions to the family, Mateo and cousin Alejandro, get to know each other. Our next visit, when both these guys are entirely too mobile, will be interesting!

Agustin and I prepared an all-American meal for the family. It was a tight squeeze with 20 people, but great to see everyone.

Mateo's make-shift bath

Mateo and Bob the Builder, a new gift from the Reyes Magos

Emilia tries out some of the loot she scored at the Reyes Magos parade. Watch out Hollywood!

It rained way more than normal while we were there (hence the umbrellas on the stroller), but we did our best to not let it keep us indoors!

Above and below: We were lucky enough to get to see one of our old roommates and his family (including two daughters who are each just a few months older than our kids). Although they don't live in Sevilla, we've been able to get together with them for a few hours when they were passing through town during our last two visits. If Emilia had her way though, she'd play with Celia every day (last year she came home from Spain and named a doll after her new friend).

The boys--brothers and cousins

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-23T12:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate, and happy new year!

These pictures make me disappointed I was on top of things and got my holiday cards made (although not sent out) early this year. These are way cuter than what we sent out!

Emilia Turns Three (and other November Highlights)

2009-11-30T19:55:00.000-08:00

Time has gotten away from me again! And things are only getting busier with the holidays upon us! Emilia turned three about two weeks ago and, as such an occasion requires, we celebrated for almost a whole week. First we had a birthday party with my parents and friends of the family and their three kids. Emilia's favorite part was getting her face painted by her friend Liza, then painting Liza's face. Then Emilia celebrated with her friends at school another day, and on her “official” birthday our immediate family had a special birthday dinner. Emilia is so “sited” to be “free” (excited to be three)! Oh, and is the fact that my daughter's favorite present was, at only three years of age, clothes reason to be concerned?

Last week Emilia had her three-year check-up, and we learned she is in the 90th percentile for height—looks like she might have gotten her dad’s genes in that area.

In general, we are pretty crazy about our little three-year-old. She is smart, funny, imaginative, creative, sensitive, and caring. She’s quite the talker and is picking up a lot of Spanish these days, not to mention repeating anything and everything she hears (we need to start being more careful about what we say). For awhile she said she wanted to be a “doctor and a dentist” when she grows up, but today she said she wants to be a mom or an actor. She said she’d try each out to decide which she wanted to be “for a long time.” I explained that you can be a mom and something else, so she decided that’s what she’d do.

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad’s side of the family. In practice for her acting days, Emilia performed the play “Hansel and Greta” (apparently a modern adaptation of the original by a similar name?) for the group. However, she has not actually seen that play yet (we have tickets for later this month) or even heard the story, so it was a lot of dancing around and singing, “Haaaaanselllll….aaaand…..Greeeeeettaaaaaaaa…..” Needless to say, she loved the attention!

Mateo, who will be six months old within the week, is a little mover and shaker. He has been crawling for a few weeks already, although in a bit of a worm-like fashion. He loves Emilia’s doctor kit and piano, and often goes straight for them when you set him on the floor. We just started him on “solids” (there is nothing solid about baby rice cereal, in my opinion) this week, and with every bite he seems to be saying, “Where have you been hiding this insipid stuff all my life?!”

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

Wow! Life has been incredibly busy lately. I started class again in September and, although I only have one class this semester and am not teaching this year, I have started working on the literature review and preparations for my dissertation. The result is that I never feel "done" and always have more I could be doing.

The potty training continues. She wears underwear while awake and really has no problems, but we're still working on the finer points of it, so the sticker chart continues (for dry diapers at night and a BM on the potty) with an ice cream outing whenever she completes a row. Chocolate brownie is the flavor of choice; I assume she does not see the irony in that.

We also joined our local gym when Mateo became old enough to go into the child care center there last month; the kids and I go several days a week (I’m almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight!) and Agustín takes Emilia to the pool at least twice a week. She’s becoming a fearless little swimmer! So, life is busy, but good….very good.

As a reward (i.e. bribe) for being such a good flower girl, Emilia got a pink doctor's kit, and has been doing a great job of keeping H1N1 out of our house. Her favorite tool in the kit is the "stefacope."

Just a few weeks ago we said goodbye to "Tío Jojo" and "Tía Tara" as they headed off to Chile to start their own adventure travel company (see www.KnowmadAdventures.com).

Emilia has been enjoying the lead-up to Halloween, with opportunities to wear a costume to her school party, a parade at the gym, and trick-or-treating. She’s worn a different costume each time! That makes sense, since if you ask her what her favorite letters are, she responds very quickly, “E for Emilia and C for costume.” She has gone to three childrens plays and has decided she wants to be an actor when she grows up. Specifically, she wants to be Louanne the pig in the play “I Like Me” (based on the book by the same name). And Yaya has fueled her love of costumes by taking her into every second-hand store she sees and not coming out without something shiny, sparkly, frilly or fancy. They even got Mateo a great little dinosaur costume, which has seen its share of wear this week.

The photo above and below are from a recent trip to the Children's Museum (Mateo's first!).

Mateo is getting big quickly; he’ll be five months next week. He’s working very hard on moving—he rolls over, pulls his legs under his stomach and pushes forward, does a no-handed downward dog, and generally does whatever he can to propel himself wherever he wants to go. He loves to practice standing up and is rocking the exersaucer. He’s losing his hair in a very interesting pattern, leaving a dark mohawk and crown on his head. He’s quite a talker, very ticklish, and laughs a lot. He’s sucking his left thumb just like his big sister, and we think the blue eyes are here to stay, just like his papa’s. Oh, and last but certainly not least, he sleeps 11-12 hours straight at night.

My parents babysit every Monday afternoon/evening while I'm at class until Agustín gets home from work. Last week they tackled the great pumpkin project with the kids (and yes, my dad is wearing Zubazz....no comment).

Emilia models her Halloween costume, a "flying pink dragon."

Mateo in his halloween costume (although we'll wait until next year for him to go trick-or-treating).

The costume that Emilia chose to wear for her school halloween party. I have no idea what she's supposed to be, but she seemed to think she looked like someone from "Dancing with the Stars" (her favorite non-PBS show).

Flower Power

2009-09-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we celebrated at the wedding of my brother Jordan and his new bride, Tara (with whom I now share a first name, middle initial, and last name). One of the highlights was Emilia as the flower girl. We were worried how she would do, especially after a meltdown at the rehearsal. It didn’t help that she decided this past week to rebel against the nap. But, despite all this, she did an amazing job! She was completely concentrated on her basket of petals during the long walk up the aisle, except for when the photographer stepped in front of her to snap a picture—she stopped, looked right into the camera, and smiled! Unfortunately I was so focused on getting her to walk down the aisle to me, I didn’t get a great picture. Hopefully the photographer did. Anyway, here are a few of the better pictures we did snap.

The happy couple at the rehearsal dinner

My other brother, and the best man, Devin, and girlfriend Noelle

Congratulations Tara & Jordan! Next month they’ll be moving to Chile to start the next chapter of their life together and we wish them all the best.

Cousins Megan and Amy

The Scotts

Mateo’s First Swim & Woodstock Revival

2009-08-23T18:42:00.001-07:00

Here are a few photos from Mateo’s first dip in the swimming pool last week. He didn’t love it when I laid him on his back and got his ears a little wet, but was pretty content being held in my arms with the water up to his thighs.

Last week we also enjoyed a concert at Lake Harriet celebrating the anniversary of Woodstock with some of my family. Emilia LOVED dancing to the music with her “cousins” (technically my cousin’s kids). When she easily talked my mom into buying her a tie-dyed dress at one of the stands, all the other girls begged their parents to do the same….what a trend setter!

Can’t believe I finally got a half decent shot of me with my two kids!

Quite possibly one of my favorite pictures of Emilia of all time!

Flower Girl in Training

2009-08-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Emilia practices for the flower girl duties she'll have at my brother's wedding next month, with the help of her (formerly my) Easter basket and some "practice petals" that came with a great flower girl book from my friend AnnMarie, who works for Scholastic (thanks Ann!).

And one of Mateo, of course, chillin' on the boat.

More Summer Fun

2009-08-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures of our latest summer fun. I don't think they need too much explanation (nor do I have time to give it), other than maybe to say that Emilia has been very into "costumes" lately (the shinier, the better). Oh, and regarding that last photo, all I can say is my husband is weird.

The Latest Developments

2009-08-06T13:39:00.001-07:00

Mateo is now two months old and started rolling over from front to back a few weeks ago (see proof in photo sequence above). We’ve put him down on numerous occasions for “tummy time” only to turn around a few minutes later and find him on his back. He wants to move! He also scoots around when on his stomach, pushing against the floor with his feet and causing him to move in a wide U-turn.

Emilia is also at a developmental milestone, making big strides in potty training. We introduced the idea a year ago, but have not pushed it much. She has been more than ready for awhile though, and needs to be in underwear by this fall if she wants to move into the next age group at her school. I didn’t want to do too much with potty training around the time of Mateo’s birth, but now that we’re settled in a bit, it’s time. A little over a week ago we made the switch to “big girl” underwear during the day (other than at naptime) and it’s going pretty well. A few accidents here and there early on, but we haven’t had one in about a week. Yay, Emilia! I have to consciously give her a lot of liquids, however, or she doesn’t ever seem to have to go while awake and instead just fills her diaper during naptime and at night. Below, Emilia shows off her “potty chart” (which is now almost full of stickers!). For every five stickers she gets, she gets to go out to Ben & Jerry’s with mom or dad. We took other photos to document the potty training process, but it doesn’t seem appropriate to post them on the web. ;)

Summer Fun

2009-07-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

People keep asking how life with two kids is going. Apart from the fact that I don’t have time to do much like update this blog, clean the house, do the writing I had planned to do this summer, or have much “adult” time, I think it’s going pretty well. Emilia and Mateo and I are kind of getting into a weekday routine, which usually includes a fun outing or activity in the late morning and quieter time at home (well, Emilia is quieter because she naps in the afternoon; Mateo usually sleeps through the morning outing and is fussy during the afternoon, but it’s quiet in the sense that I only have him to deal with) in the afternoon. Mateo is a bit fussier than we remember Emilia being as a baby—lots of spitting up and gas is the likely culprit—but his cute face makes up for it. He's also started smiling more deliberately and is holding his head up for long stretches.

Here are a few of my favorite photos of our latest summer fun.

Princess Serious

Mateo getting his smile on!

Grandpa and his babies (including Emilia's baby doll, Lilly)

The gang tries out the new tent Yaya just bought

Three Weeks

2009-06-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

Mateo is now three weeks old. At his two week check-up (which he really had when he was about 2 1/2 weeks old) he weighed 8 lb. 13 oz., which is more than a pound more than he weighed at birth. I have a feeling he's going to become one of those chubby babies, rather than a skinny mini like his sister.

Agustín went back to work this past week, and so far so good, although my mom has helped out in one way or another almost every day, so it’s probably too early to say how it’s going with two kids at home.

I’ve noticed this blog is a bit like a television sitcom—when a baby comes along, the humor seems to disappear (have you noticed that?). I think I’m still a little too tired to be witty (I have to admit, I was debating between updating the blog right now and taking a nap). Therefore, without further ado, I’ll just post some of my favorite photos from the past week or two.

Mateo (with great uncle Barry) finds his thumb for the first time! I think it was just a happy coincidence, but hopefully he'll get the hang of this habit soon (Emilia started sleeping 12 hours straight during the night as soon as she began sucking her thumb)!

As mentioned in a previous post, Emilia has started nursing her baby doll--burp rag, nursing pillow and all! (Authenticity is important to her, I guess.)

Above and below: Two cute pictures Agustín snapped when he and Emilia spent the morning at Como Zoo.

I've heard many women say that when their husbands watch the kids, they are unable to do anything else (as in, "I couldn't do the laundry because I was watching the kids.") As can be seen above, that is certainly not the case with my husband!

Above and below: Emilia loves "tummy time" with Mateo. When I told her that this was Mateo's way of exercising, she attempted to teach him some yoga (which she learned at school). Those of you who have done any yoga might recognize the "happy baby" pose below. Needless to say, Mateo hasn't mastered much yoga yet.

I think I have more pictures of my mom with my kids than photos of me with my kids.

First Week at Home

2009-06-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Mateo is now eleven days old and we’ve been home a little over a week. So far, everything is going well. At his one-week check-up last Friday, Mateo weighed 7 lb. 12 oz., which means he’s already surpassed his birth weight (something that babies ideally do within two weeks of being discharged from the hospital).

Emilia loves her baby brother (who she often refers to as “my baby”). She constantly wants to give him kisses (and is usually pretty good about doing so gently), and every time I change his diaper she wants to be my “special helper.” She is even copying a lot of things I’m doing with Mateo with her own “baby,” Lilly—from diaper changing and burping, to putting in the carseat for trips to the doctor, and even breastfeeding (those photos to come in a future post). It’s really cute (and a little scary how impressionable she is)! Emilia has become a bit of a handful lately, however (2 1/2 is proving to be both terrific and terrible), so I’m especially grateful to have Agustín home for two weeks (which are coming to a close more quickly than I’d like) to help out during this transition period.

Emilia enjoys a morning at the Children's Museum with Papa.

Emilia licking the spoon after helping mom bake a cake to celebrate Mateo's arrival (that's face paint and chocolate on her face--the signs of a truly fun day).

Mateo's First Days

2009-06-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more photos from Mateo's first days, in the hospital.

Like father, like son

One proud grandma

My mother took care of Emilia for much of the time we were in the hospital (thank you, mom!) and doted on her endlessly. This is the "big sister" outfit they bought together, which Emilia wore for three days straight. Her favorite part is the "wiggly skirt."

Our newly expanded family of four

Introducing Mateo!

2009-06-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce the birth of our son, Mateo Malet Harvey. Mateo (pronounced “ma-TAY-oh”) was born Friday, June 5th at 3:57pm. He weighed 7 lb. 10 oz., and measured 20 inches long, with an impressive head circumference of 14 inches (already following in his sister’s footsteps there). Labor went very smooth, especially compared to the last, and Tara and Mateo are both recovering well.

Like big sister Emilia, Mateo has no middle name, but instead has a “double” last name, with a family name from dad and one from mom. This not only follows Spanish tradition, but also fits nicely with Tara’s feminist values. :)

We’ll post more photos and updates in the coming days and weeks, but for now we are tired, and I think Mateo is hungry…..

39 Weeks!

2009-06-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

I've officially reached 39 weeks today! I feel like a boat and look, literally, like I'm very unsuccessfully trying to sneak a watermelon (one of those melons that’s won a blue ribbon at the State Fair not for tastiness, but for being freakishly large) out of the store under my shirt. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I've even outgrown most of my maternity clothes (thank goodness I rarely have to look presentable these days). I am ready to not be pregnant anymore. Don't know if I'm ready for a newborn, but that's beside the point now.

I'm scheduled to be induced on Friday in an attempt to avoid some of the complications that ensued during Emilia's birth. The baby is growing about ½ pound per week at this point, so the sooner I go into labor, the more likely it is to go smoothly. So, hopefully by this weekend we’ll be the proud parents of not one, but two, beautiful healthy kids!

New Swingset

2009-05-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately this isn’t a great photo, but I had to document the outfit Emilia put together today. These may be pajama pants, but they actually match the “dress” (it’s really a shirt, but Emilia always wants to wear it without pants) perfectly. And these are the Crocs that Emilia says have “two seatbelts” (the Mary Janes as opposed to the ones with only one strap across the back).

But today definitely warranted a special outfit; it was a big day—Emilia got her very own swingset (well, to share with her brother eventually). I found a second-hand Rainbow playset on Craig’s List, and today Agustín, with much help from my mom, spent the full day disassembling, moving, then reassembling it in our yard. We made it into a bit of a party, spending most of the afternoon/evening outside and having dinner with my parents on the deck. The job is about 80% complete, but Emilia couldn’t wait and was already playing on parts of it this evening. She’s already a big fan!

And a few photo highlights from the past month….

Emilia’s new bike

Mother’s Day at the Minnesota Zoo

Easter Bunny or Easter Bug?

2009-04-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we enjoyed celebrating Easter and a beautiful day with my parents and the local faction of my dad’s family. Unfortunately the day ended badly when Agustín, Emilia and I took a walk later that evening and Emilia proceeded to vomit profusely all over herself multiple times. Yuck! Some major clean-up ensued, primarily of Emilia and the stroller. In the end, Agustín ended up actually cutting some of the seams of the stroller cover, pulling out the metal rods, putting the cover through two cycles in the washing machine, then putting the rods back in and sewing it back together. Where do I nominate this man for a Father of the Year award?! (And why aren't strollers made to be more easily washable?!)

Above and below: Emilia shows off two of her gifts from the Easter bunny, a little stuffed bunny and bunny pajamas. She got a big kick out of following the trail of eggs that led from her bedroom down the stairs and to her Easter basket.

Anyway, I initially blamed Emilia’s unsettled stomach on too many Easter sweets. However, the next morning she proved me wrong. We headed to the doctor (where she proved me wrong once more! Thankfully I brought an extra set of clothing), where the expert opinion was that she had “some sort of stomach bug.” Thankfully there was no more vomiting after that morning, but Emilia was totally out of sorts and didn’t eat more than a few bites of yogurt and dry toast, along with her “special medicine juice” (Gatorade to replace electrolytes) until Wednesday evening. She’s still not 100% herself, but we’re getting there.

Above: Enjoying a treat the Easter bunny left her at Yaya and Grandpa's house (which I originally thought might be the culprit for the upset stomach).

Another Easter egg hunt at Yaya and Grandpa's house out in the beautiful sunshine.

It was so nice out that Emilia made her Yaya and great grandma check out the lake with her. She's so excited for summer that she even rolled up her pants and jumped off the floating dock (into six inches of water) despite the fact that the water was freezing.

Above: This is how the poor little sicko spent most of her time this past week.

And here she is, finally feeling a little bit better, and enjoying one of her non-edible Easter treats, fun chick window stickies from "Great Micky."

Florida Revisited

2009-04-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

I already posted about our recent vacation to Florida (see March 24 post), but I just got my mom's photos of the trip, so I wanted to post a few of my favorites.

Emilia pets a baby alligator after a tour through the Everglades.

Look, mom! I'm a turtle!

Fun, fun, and more fun at the beach!

Big Girl Transition

2009-04-05T19:09:00.001-07:00

With the new baby on the way, it was time to move Emilia into a “big girl” bed. It’s been a work-in-progress for awhile, since we are moving her into a different bedroom and leaving the nursery basically as-is for the new baby. This involved selling two rooms full of furniture (thank goodness for Craig’s List!), moving my office from one of the bedrooms to what was formerly the “formal” living room (I love my new office!), having my uncle John (of Flannery Painting) paint the room a more fun color, and then moving the new furniture (thanks again to Craig’s List) into the new room. Although we’re still working on the final touches, Emilia finally started sleeping in her new “big girl” bedroom last weekend. She was a little hesitant the first two nights, yet did very well, only waking up a little earlier than usual. Now when I tell her it’s time to go to bed, she says, “In my big girl room?” and when I answer, “yes,” she yells, “Yay!” and claps. We’re still putting her down for naps in the crib and will probably continue to do so (or try) until next month, since I’m worried putting her down midday in the big bed will be the end of naps as we know them, which I am not ready to have happen until the end of the semester (at the earliest).

Some of the things Emilia says these days are just hilarious, and I want to share one. While in Florida, I noticed at one point that Agustín had turned his baseball cap backward for some reason (not a normal style for him; it had something to do with convenience). I commented jokingly that he looked like an American (in case anyone reading this isn’t aware, he’s Spanish). Later, when Agustín once again turned his hat backward to get the bill out of the way, Emilia said, “Papa looks like America!” We all cracked up. Then, last week, Emilia and my mom and I went shopping at REI. Emilia latched onto a cute little yellow baseball cap with a pink heart, and easily sweet-talked my mom into getting it for her (it really only takes a smile). But she had no interest in wearing the cap forward. She kept putting it on backward and saying, “I look like America!” Then she added, “Just like Papa!”

A Fish in Florida!

2009-03-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a week on Sanibel Island in Florida. My spring break coincided with my mom’s, and she was dying to spend some time at the ocean with her only grandchild, so we headed south with my parents. It was nice to travel and do everything with a four-to-one adult-child ratio—made it much easier to relax, and Agustín and I were even able to go out to dinner alone one night. We took walks on the beach, biked, swam, ate (well!), and went on an airboat ride in the Everglades to see crocodiles.

Emilia makes sure she gets every last lick of ice cream!

Emilia enjoyed catching crabs (well, watching them after someone else took them out of the ocean for her to see; no worries—they were all treated very humanely and all went back to where they came from) and playing in the sand at the beach, but what she loved more than anything else was swimming in the pool. She’s always enjoyed going to the pool, but once there has usually been more interested in playing with the toys than actually swimming. Eventually she’d get in the water and enjoy it, although she didn’t love going under the water too much. But in Florida, where she was in the pool at least once a day, she was a total fish! She was jumping off the edge and going under on her own practically before someone was ready for her to do so, swimming all on her own with a noodle under her armpits, and loving every minute of it. It was so fun to see!

Our little swimmer moves on to diving (well, we still need to work on the form a bit)!

The above two pictures were taken at the house of some family friends that moved to Florida years ago, the Bresnehans.

Going to the Zoo & Going to the Chapel

2009-02-25T20:40:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to post a few photos from a recent trip to the zoo, as well as from last Saturday, when Emilia thoroughly enjoyed shopping for a flower girl dress for Tío Jojo and Tara’s wedding.

The look on Emilia’s face (well, the reflection in the mirror) is so sweet in the picture below, although I’m sure it’s hard to see in this small size.

Unique Fashion Sense

2009-02-25T20:21:00.000-08:00

Emilia seems to have developed her own unique sense of fashion lately and it quite opinionated when it comes to clothes. Above is an outfit she put together. What was the occasion? A trip to the grocery store….where, I might add, she wore her sunglasses the whole time (which she wanted nothing to do with during the summer sunny months).
And here she is modeling the hula skirt her grandma brought her back from a recent trip to Hawaii. She likes to pull the skirt up under her armpits and declare, “It’s like a bra!”

Again with the sunglasses on a recent trip to the park on a particularly “warm” February day.

The shoes that came with her flamenco dress (which she’s outgrown, much to her dismay) now fit just perfectly, and she can’t get enough of them. She loves the noise they make when she dances around the hardwood floor (she’s even learned to say “hardwood floor”). People sure look at you funny when you go furniture shopping with a two-year-old wearing heels!

With a favorite stuffed animal’s hat and scarf, and her favorite “shiny” purse.

Boy Parts!

2009-02-03T20:08:00.000-08:00

It’s a boy! Here’s one of the ultrasound images from my 20-week appointment, which was almost two weeks ago now. The technician hadn’t had the probe thingy on my stomach more than two seconds when he said, “Those are boy parts.” Agustín was still getting situated under the pile that was my winter outdoor wear and purse. “Did you hear what he said?” I asked him. “No. What?” he asked innocently. “He said our baby has boy parts!” That time he got it. It was pretty funny. And sure enough, the “boy parts” were pretty darn clear in the ultrasound. In an effort to not begin embarrassing our son before he is even born though, I won’t post the ultrasound that explicitly points out these “boy parts.”

Emilia understands that mommy has a “big baby boy” (a.k.a. “big baby boy brother”) in her stomach, and she no longer insists that she has a baby in her tummy too. (I hope she’s not demonstrating some type of psychic powers or sisterly intuition with the “big” part, especially since her dad was a ten-pound baby.) Oftentimes, when we ask Emilia “What’s your name?” or “How old are you?” she responds, “I’m a sister!” (her use of the present tense demonstrates she definitely doesn’t get the whole gestational period concept yet). She’s even pointed out that the baby is “Papa’s son,” which took me by total surprise when she said it because I’d only explained this to her once. She likes blowing on my stomach to give her baby brother “zerberts.”

If anyone has baby boy name ideas (only requirement is that they work well—preferably are pronounced very similarly—in English and Spanish), please post them in a comment or e-mail!

Spain, Part II

2009-01-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

One highlight from our visit to Spain was the opportunity to meet up one day with one of our former roommates from when we lived in Madrid, and his wife and daughter, who is just two months older than Emilia. Coincidentally, they also suffered a miscarriage two months before us, and are now expecting their second child two months before us. Above and below, Emilia and Celia get to know each other.

To celebrate Reyes (see previous post), most Spanish cities and towns have a big parade featuring the three wisemen, along with music and lots of projectile candy. Emilia was a little leery about it at first, especially when she took a handful of candy to the head. But she soon got really into it and was dancing in the street to the music like a maniac (she definitely takes after mom in this area).

Above: Enjoying a beautiful paella made by Agustín’s brother in the plaza in front of his house on Reyes.

Emilia kept stealing Javi’s sunglasses, acting as a model for Optica Malet (the family optical store).

Sevilla has changed a lot in the ten years since I lived there in 1998/99. The main downtown streets are now pedestrian-only and there is a great above-ground metro system. Both Agustín and I were impressed and took a few pictures to document the changes (see above).

Above and below: Meandering through the famous barrio Santa Cruz and historic district.

Perhaps one of Emilia’s favorite memories from the trip was our visit to Parque María Luisa where it is a tradition to feed the pigeons. Although she loves the idea of animals, Emilia is typically a little reticent around them. Yet she was completely unruffled when the pigeons pecked away at the food in her hand and flapped their wings in her face. It was so funny to watch!

As usual, we spent two days in Ayamonte, a small town on the southern coast right on the border between Spain and Portugal, where Agustín’s brother has an apartment. This is the little street kiosk where Manuel and his wife serve up some great tapas (and good picos and pan, according to Emilia), and below we enjoy a walk along the beach.

And we stayed just long enough to attend Javi’s birthday party on our last day. Emilia wasn’t too sure about sharing her cousin with his friends, but was pretty excited to be included with the big kids.

Spain, Part I

2009-01-26T09:51:00.000-08:00

This year we once again headed to Spain (Sevilla) shortly after Christmas to ring in the new year and celebrate Reyes (a Spanish holiday on January 6th celebrating the three wisemen bringing their gifts to baby Jesus) and our nephew Javi’s birthday.

Overall, it was a good trip. Emilia loved the bar culture of Spain (which she actually demonstrated on our last trip there as well) and spending time with her only cousin, Javi (who just turned eight; he’s expecting a baby brother soon which will double Emilia’s cousin count). We would go into a bar for a pre-mealtime tapa (like an appetizer; this pregnant lady had to eat many times a day) and Emilia would pull a stool up to the bar, climb up (with help) and demand picos (like a small pieces of hard bread) or pan (bread). It was fun to see how much her Spanish developed even in just the three weeks we were there. Although she understands most everything in Spanish, she typically speaks mostly in English, since this is the language she’s most accustomed to others understanding. But you could almost see a light turn on in her head when she said something in English and realized the other person didn’t understand. By the end of the trip she was often translating for others—saying something in English, then repeating it in Spanish. She went from saying sentences primarily in English with the key words in Spanish to combining Spanish verbs and nouns to get her point across.

We were also surprised at how outgoing Emilia was with everyone. She quickly took to calling her grandparents “Yaya Quita” (Paquita) and “Yayo Mio” (Emilio; coincidentally, “mío” also means mine, so this translates to ‘grandpa of mine’) (yaya/yayo is the term for grandparents in the language spoken in the Barcelona region where both Agustín’s parents are originally from) and giving them hugs and kisses every night before bedtime. And every time we left the house she asked if we were going to see cousin Javi.

So here is our trip in pictures (the first of several such posts).

Above: At the park with Javi. Most people bring their kids here to play. On this particular day, some man brought his baby goat to play, much to the delight of all the kids.

One day Agustín and his dad were enjoying some snails (spicy ones, I should add) and Emilia began demanding a taste. After telling her several times that she would not like them and her becoming only more insistent, Agustín finally pulled one out of its shell and fed it to her (see above). Instead of spitting it out like we assumed she’d do, she demanded, “More, more!” She ate about four or five of the little buggers before Agustín cut her off for fear of what the new food might do to her system.

Above: Checking out a bull head in a local bar with ‘Yayo Mio.’

Emilia loved being in such a heavily-populated urban area, particularly playing in the parks and plazas. Above she’s playing with one of Javi’s Transformer trucks in the plaza in front of the building where he lives.

Above: Modeling masks with Javi.

Belated Holiday Update

2009-01-26T09:30:00.001-08:00

We arrived home one week ago from our three-week trip to Spain to visit Agustín’s family and I am just now getting caught up enough to update the blog. So, this is the first of many posts over the coming days. I’ll focus here on our holiday celebrations stateside.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with my immediate family, then Christmas day with my mom’s side of the family, which is a large and crazy bunch (there are ten kids in that family, all with their own kids and many grandkids now as well). My brother Devin was in town from DC with his girlfriend, Noelle, and her mother. And my brother Jordan announced he’d proposed to his girlfriend of approximately four years, Tara (ironic, I know). A huge congrats to them! Although Jordan headed off for a three-month internship in Chile (Patagonia) and Tara to Vail to work the winter season, I believe they are planning a September wedding. We are very excited to officially welcome Tara to the family!

This was, in a sense, Emilia’s first “real” Christmas. I say this because she is beginning to understand it, or at least the part of it that is most important to a two-year-old. She loved opening presents (highlights included a red outfit from China, an Obama doll, a hand-me-down rocking horse of Tara’s from when she was little, a piano and a bath-friendly doll) and still asks daily when we’ll see Santa again (despite the fact that she was petrified of the guy).

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-23T19:09:00.001-08:00

Happy everything to those who celebrate anything (as well as those who don’t) this time of year! We will be celebrating Christmas here with my family, then New Year’s and Reyes (which is the day Spanish Catholics exchange gifts because it is when they believe the three wise men gave their gifts to baby Jesus) in Spain with Agustín’s family.

We have had a very busy December. The end of the semester meant I was busy with papers and projects, as well as grading a lot of student papers (finally done!). Agustín has temporarily taken on a new responsibility at work that requires him to work Saturdays. But Emilia is just busy having fun! She’s on break from “school” since I finished the semester. These are a few pictures of our recent fun times.

Above, Emilia plays dress up with mom’s tote of winter clothes. It’s so much more fun to wear other people’s hats and gloves than your own!

Emilia tries the stockings on papa’s feet. (You gotta admit, it makes sense!)

And here are a few photos from yesterday’s trip to the Children’s Museum, an amazing place that we would visit weekly if it were closer to home. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of her petting the snake, which she was very proud of (she was too scared when she was first given the option to pet the turtle, but later came out of her shell….sorry, couldn’t resist the pun!).

Emilia Turns Two!

2008-11-25T20:16:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday we celebrated Emilia’s second birthday. On the day of, we just enjoyed Emilia’s favorite dinner (chicken nuggets) followed by cake at home the three of us. Then on Sunday we had a larger celebration with some friends and extended family. I hear about a lot of kids being overwhelmed at their own birthday parties, but thankfully that wasn’t the case here. As usual, Emilia was shy for the first minute or two, but then lost her inhibitions and got lost in the crowd. It helped that gifts kept coming out of nowhere and there was a cake and singing. Emilia just squealed with excitement when everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to her and the cake appeared. Here are a few pictures of the birthday girl modeling one of her gifts. Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate!

Growing Family

2008-11-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

After more than one year of trying, one miscarriage, and one round of infertility treatments, we are (obviously) super excited to announce that we are expecting our second child in early June. This will come as no surprise to some of you, but is certainly news to many of you, so I’ll try to fill in some of the details.

We learned when trying to get pregnant with Emilia that we are not one of those couples that can nicely plan pregnancies around our personal lives. It took us a full year of trying to get pregnant with Emilia, who defied all convenience by being born one month before the end of my first semester in the PhD program. We ideally wanted to have our second one about two years after Emilia was born; since we knew our history, we got to work on it early. But after about nine months of trying, I finally took my pile of charts (I’ve spent more than two years of my life trying to chart my body’s ovulation signs) to the doctor to ask why I was having so much trouble identifying when I was ovulating. Turns out I am not as incapable as I thought—I couldn’t identify when I was ovulating because, most months, I wasn’t. In the nine months we’d been trying, the doctor said I’d ovulated probably twice. We made plans to start Clomid—one of the most common infertility drugs, which is used to induce ovulation—in the following cycle. I went home with the newfound knowledge that I did in fact know what I was doing with all these charts—that it was just a matter of waiting until there was actually something to identify—and, in some sort of crazy coincidence, I ovulated and we got pregnant before even starting the treatment. That was back in May. On July 4th, however, during my first days at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication in Portland (on a holiday right before a weekend and while out of town for an extended period—I think that’s the definition of inconvenient), I started bleeding and eventually miscarried.

So it was back to the drawing board. Once my body was fully recovered, the doctor okayed us to start Clomid. This involved two early ultrasounds, a week of pills, and a shot to my stomach, all involving very precise timing. Thankfully, the first round was a success, and we found out about a month ago that I was again pregnant. I’m now about 10 weeks along. We had an early ultrasound (because of my history) that confirmed things were proceeding as they should, and have already heard the heartbeat twice. So, we are finally letting the reality set in that we’ll have another kid come summer time, and wanted to share the news with you, our friends and family.

Yoga, Snow & A First Haircut

2008-11-11T18:46:00.000-08:00

Here are a few random pictures of recent good times. Emilia has apparently appropriated her doll Gunther’s swimsuit (which is the old-fashioned 1920s full-body style). Although she can’t get the straps over her shoulders, she likes to take off her pants, put on what she can of the suit, and then show me her newest yoga poses (which she learns at school). Above she does her best Richard Simmons impersonation.

And here’s Emilia checking out the first snow of the season. She wasn’t too sure about the snow, but since this day wants to wear her rain boots no matter how suitable (or unsuitable) the occasion.

Lastly, here’s documentation of Emilia’s first haircut. We took her to one of those kids’ hair salons. It was kind of a crazy atmosphere, but Emilia was perfectly content the whole time, particularly since she got to enjoy a sucker during the actual hair cut. We just got her a trim (after all, some of that hair is two years old!), so you really can’t even tell she had it cut (we love those crazy curls too much to do anything more drastic!).

Happy Halloween from Little Bear!

2008-11-01T09:14:00.001-07:00

Although this was officially Emilia’s second Halloween, it was the first one we really celebrated with her, and boy did she celebrate! She got several days’ use out of the “bear suit” we borrowed from a friend. Above she’s all suited up for some trick-or-treating, which she seemed to be an expert at. I wouldn’t be surprised if we find her ringing the neighbors’ doorbells for weeks and asking for a treat.

Above Emilia is dressed up and enjoying a small petting zoo at a Halloween-themed birthday party last week.

And here Little Bear is all bundled up for her first hayride at yet another Halloween party last weekend (surprisingly, the only one without nice weather). Below Emilia helps Yaya carve a pumpkin.

Flamenco Fun!

2008-10-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

I couldn't help but post a photo of our little Spanish girl in her flamenco dress (a traditional Spanish dress). This was a gift from Agustín's brother and his wife (who would really like to have a little girl to dress up like this). The last time we tried this on Emilia over the summer it was still really big on her. Well, I came home from a morning of studying at the coffee shop last Saturday to find Agustín had spent the morning playing dress-up and photo shoot with Emilia because apparently she's almost grown out of the dress already. Just like her mom, she is not exactly the picture of grace and femininity. It doesn't help that Agustín put a onesie on under the dress, which you see peeking out the sleeves. Oh, and Emilia put the bracelet up on her bicep like that of her own accord. But she sure likes dresses and such much more than I did at that age, and handles heels better than I do even now.

Lots of Visitors & Fun

2008-10-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

Wow! September just flew by and we’re already a week into October! The past few weeks have been extremely busy in our household. In addition to school and work responsibilities, we have been busy having fun as well. Three weekends ago we took advantage of a nice warm day to take a family hike at a local nature center to explore the outdoors together (see above and below). Emilia loved running around outside, but wasn’t so keen on her papa trying to show her a frog up close.

Then two weekends ago we had visitors from Madison—two former colleagues (and friends, of course) of mine and their families. I was so busy taking pictures of Emilia with her new friends Belle and Wesley that I forgot to take any photos of my colleagues and I. But the kids are cuter than us anyway.

This past weekend many interculturalist friends of mine were in town for a conference, and I enjoyed meeting up with several of them. We also had one of my closest college friends and her partner visiting us. We visited the Minneapolis sculpture garden and a local apple farm (Emilia loved eating the apples right off the trees--see below), and enjoyed a walk to the park and a sunny but crisp fall boat ride.

Emilia absolutely loved having all these visitors; she acts shy and innocent for the first minute or so around new people, but her true self soon shines through as she calls them all by name (or just “boy” in the case of my friend Kim’s spouse—apparently she doesn’t much care for the name Jason) and orders them to play with her. She kept telling Jason, “Boy make castle!” And make castle he did!

Fall Fun

2008-09-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

Just a few quick photos of our fall evening fun in the backyard. Trying to enjoy this nice weather before we're forced into hibernation. And don't worry about the photo of Agustín "throwing" Emilia; all the necessary safety precautions are always taken (and the naked body flying through the air is Gunther, the well-worn, much-loved Cabbage Patch doll that was once mine and now hers, not another small child).

I turned in my written preliminary examination last week, which is a great relief. Yay!!! Now it's just classes, teaching, and on to the next hoop to jump through.

Agustín the futbol star and his biggest fan

Washington Visit

2008-09-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

For my 30th birthday (which was at the end of June), my mom offered to take me on a trip. For numerous reasons, not the least of which because I was already leaving Agustín and Emilia for two-and-a-half weeks this summer, I chose to make it a long-weekend visit to my brother Devin in DC. I’d never been to DC, if you can believe it, so it was nice to see some of the iconic sights. And even more fun to see Devin and his girlfriend Noelle, and get a glimpse into their life on the east coast.

One of Devin’s jobs is as a bike tour guide, so he hooked us up with some free bike rentals, showed us around and shared lots of interesting tour guide lore. My favorite of the memorials was FDR’s (a bit off the beaten tourist track, but not far with bikes), shown in the photo above.

We were able to meet up with a friend of mine from the area, who I’d met earlier in the summer at SIIC. Above we’re all enjoying some music in the park before enjoying an amazing Asian-fusion dinner.
Here we are just before a morning of kayaking on the Potomac River.

August Update

2008-09-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

Finally uploading the August photos and sitting down to write an update. I can’t believe I’m back to classes tomorrow and summer is officially over. Although I’ve spent a huge chunk of time since returning from SIIC in July writing my written preliminary examination (one of the many hoops you must jump through when pursuing a PhD), we also had plenty of time for fun. I think I’ll tell the story mostly through photos (and it will probably take more than one post).

Earlier this month we went to a kids luau hosted by the city. The photo above is of Emilia with a few of her buddies at the luau. Here’s another of our family on the same bench, and Emilia and papa playing in the grass.

Uncle Devin gave us this soccer (we—including Emilia—prefer the word ‘futbol’) net as a gift. It’s already been the source of much family fun. Thanks, Devin!

Babysitting Nelly (Yaya and Gampa’s dog). Emilia always wants to hug her; Nelly is not amused.

Ice cream at the pool. “Big pool, big pool!” Emilia always says.

“Big spoon, big spoon!” is another favorite phrase, as Emilia seems to think she’s outgrown the toddler spoons. I must admit though, she handles a full-sized spoon rather well for someone who is not yet two.

We all enjoyed watching the Olympics together in the evenings. Our favorites included swimming (“big pool, big pool!”) and gymnastics. Emilia loves jumping, and the first time she saw gymnastics, they were doing the floor routine, so I told her she was going to see jumpy girls. Well, “jumpy girl” is now one of her favorite games. She always wanted to see “big pool” or “jumpy girls.” We found her sport when one day diving came on and she yelled, “Big pool! Jumpy girls!”

Lastly, Agustín and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary this weekend. My parents took Emilia and we spent a whole day together, just the two of us. We didn’t do anything particularly extravagant, but it was very nice and rare for us to spend that much time together, alone without Emilia, and, perhaps more importantly, without trying to do anything more than just relax and enjoy each other’s company.

Now it’s back to school for me tomorrow. Where did the summer go?

That’s all for now, but I’ll post an update about my trip to Washington DC (to visit my brother Devin) soon.

Mea Culpa

2008-08-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry such a silent August. I promise I've been writing like a fiend, but it's been for my written preliminary examination instead. I've also been preparing for the course I'll be teaching this fall. And when my face isn't in a book or glued to the computer, I'm trying to enjoy the last weeks (now down to a week!) of summer with Emilia. So, needless to say, I have not had time to get out the other computer, upload photos, and write something witty. But I can assure you that Emilia is cuter than ever. She has very strong opinions about things (like what she will and won't wear, eat, do at any given moment) and conveys those opinions quite effectively in pretty complex sentences. One example: "Socks on, Mini pretty toes bye bye! Mommy, Mini go outside walk park!" ("Pretty toes" refers to her painted nails, which she loves.) I promise photos within the next week or two with some more details.

All in the Family

2008-07-30T20:23:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was all about family. My youngest brother, Devin, and his girlfriend Noelle were in town from DC, so we had dinner with them Thursday. Then Friday was my cousin Nick’s engagement party. We wish Nick and Heather a life of great happiness together! If they have half as much fun together as Emilia had dancing at their party (seriously, she was hilarious!), they will lack for nothing.

Our dancing queen!

Sunday, my parents hosted their annual picnic for my mom’s side of the family (see this year’s family photo at top). My mom has nine siblings and a foster brother, so this is no small ordeal. I think I can safely say that fun was had by all, but once again Emilia was arguably the happiest one there….good company, swimming, ice cream, cake…what more can a girl ask for? What more can anyone ask for, really? She is constantly reminding me to simply enjoy every moment of life.

Devin and Noelle looking hip, as usual

Emilia having fun with my brother Jordan’s girlfriend, Tara

Agustín and I even got some time to dork around together while Emilia napped

Emilia "Home Alone"

2008-07-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

It seems everyone wants to know how Emilia did while I was gone for 2 ½ weeks. The answer is… just fine. Actually, she was quite content. She spent her days with grandma—going to the beach, the zoo, or the “big pool” almost every day—and her evenings and weekends with papa.

When I returned, I found my little brunette had turned into a blondie! (Which is particularly funny because her passport, which we got when she was three months old, says she has black hair and blue eyes—neither of which is true now. And the passport is valid for five years!)

Language-wise, the most noticeable developments were that she learned to say her own name and to sing “Happy Birthday.” We often call her “Mili” for short, and she now refers to herself in this same way; sometimes it actually sounds more like “Mini,” which is perhaps even cuter. She says sentences like, “Mili bye bye car car big pool.” It’s amazing how well she can get her point across!

And she has learned that the “Happy Birthday” song is associated with cake, so she’s always singing it hoping to get cake or when she thinks cake is soon to come (like whenever we’re at grandma and grandpa’s house, where dinner is always followed by dessert). Sometimes she just cuts right to the chase and sings, “Happy cake to you….” Smart kid!

A big thanks to my mom and Agustín for giving me the opportunity to have such an amazing experience! The problem is, now I want to go back every year!

SIIC 2008

2008-07-24T20:05:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week I returned from Portland, Oregon, where I spent two and a half weeks at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC). I participated in the SIIC internship program with 34 interculturalists from around the world. As interns, we participated in workshops with regular participants, plus had an additional week of intercultural teamwork training and did much of the behind-the-scenes work. Basically, it was a work hard, play hard, learn and grow a lot environment. It is impossible to explain what an amazing experience this was in words, so I will simply post a few of my favorite photos. My most humble thanks to my fellow SIIC participants!

One afternoon off, a group of us interns made a trip to the Oregon coast, which was absolutely gorgeous!

Karaoke night each week contributed to the summer camp feel.

The faculty and interns with whom I worked during the second session--we had so much fun (oh, and learned a lot too)!

Hanging out in the intern lounge in Bragdon Hall at Reed College.

Stay tuned for an update on how Emilia and Agustín (and grandma, who watched Emilia during the days) did while I was gone.

Reflections at 30

2008-06-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I turned 30. Despite it feeling like any other birthday, the milestone has caused me to reflect a bit on the past decade of my life, and, I must say, I’ve been pretty lucky. In the past ten years, I’ve lived in two countries and six cities—Evanston (Illinois), Seville (Spain), Madrid (Spain), College Station (Texas), Madison (Wisconsin), and Plymouth (Minnesota). I met Agustín when I was 20, we married when I was 24, and had our first child when I was 28. Amidst all that, we learned each other’s languages and came to appreciate one another’s culture. I earned a Bachelors, two Masters degrees, am two years closer to a PhD, and supported Agustín through an MBA (which he earned less than four years after moving to the U.S. and starting to learn English!). All in all, I think it was a pretty great decade. Sure, there are plenty more things I would have liked to have done—traveled more, lived in another country, etc.—but you can’t do everything. So I have no regrets. And I am extremely excited about my 30s—motherhood, enjoying the friends and family I have come to appreciate so much, hopefully becoming Dr. Harvey (don’t worry—I won’t make anyone call me that), and who knows what else.

Here are a few photos of Emilia in the month that her mom turned 30. It has occurred to me that she will likely never remember me in my 20s, but many of her memories will surely be of our times together while I’m in my 30s. So here’s to another amazing decade!

Marveling at a spinning top I brought home from my last trip.

Anything—like these pants—can be turned into a “hatty.”

Playing in her swimming pool in the backyard with friends Madeline and Anabel.

Emilia modeling her “lellow hamas” (yellow pajamas), which Uncle Jordan bought her in Thailand before we even knew if she had a “man handle” or not (Jordan’s words; ironically, it looks from this picture that Emilia might think she has a "man handle").

I’m leaving town later this week and will be away at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication for two and a half weeks. Stay tuned for a newsy update when I return.

“Up North”

2008-06-16T15:03:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we headed “up north,” as we say here in Minnesota, to Grandview Lodge, where we celebrated Father’s Day with my parents and brother Jordan. We golfed, ate way too much, swam in the pool, played on the beach, and just hung out. It was very fun watching Emilia explore the new surroundings. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the weekend.

Emilia loves taking caps off and putting them back on, so the sunblock has become one of her favorite toys (with chapstick coming in a close second).

Whereas she used to baulk at getting her hands dirty, she’s now all for it.

Devouring a “cheesecake lollipop.”

“Helping” grandpa open his Father’s Day gift.

Summer Trip to the Zoo

2008-06-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

Above is my electric baby and below are a few photos of our trip to the zoo with grandma earlier this week.

And here’s demonstration of what a daredevil she’s becoming (and how obstinate she is); that's an empty animal cracker container she's standing on.

Sex in the City & Pee Pee in the Potty Chair

2008-06-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry; I just couldn’t help the urge to put those two together in the title. I love a good juxtaposition! Although I’m not a particularly big Sex in the City fan, I went with a group of girlfriends to a Sex in the City premiere party on Friday night. It was lots of fun, although we all were feeling a little old when the movie let out at almost 1am and we realized it was the latest we’d been out in a long time.

Okay, so here’s my attempt to make a transition from Sex in the City to Emilia…. While shopping at Target last week, we passed the shoe department and Emilia started pointing and excitedly declaring, “Sooz, sooz!” (shoes!). I told her we weren’t shopping for shoes and that she had enough shoes. She responded even more excitedly, doing the sign for ‘more,’ “Mo sooz, mo sooz!” (more shoes!). Is this a sign?! Do I have a future Carrie or Samantha on my hands?!

So, now that I’ve made that smooth transition to the Emilia update, I want to report she went pee on the toilet twice yesterday! We just bought her a “potty” because the pediatrician at her 18-month appointment recommended we do so now just so she can start getting used to the idea. Well, our introduction to the potty led to two semi-successful squirts into the toilet. Emilia was ecstatic when music played from the potty in response (and I got one of the most simple potties; you don’t want to know about all the bells and whistles on the higher end ones!). Of course, the potty was not the only place where she peed, but that’s just a minor detail. I fully understand this probably won’t become a regular practice anytime soon, but it still seems like a big milestone. Sorry I don’t have a picture, but I’m sure Emilia will thank me for that one day (or at least not resent me for pulling out a picture of her first pee pee on the potty chair to show her high school boyfriend or girlfriend!).

Emilia Changes Gunther

2008-05-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

Lately Emilia has been playing with my old Cabbage Patch doll, Gunther. Today she decided to change his diaper. She pulled a diaper, wipes, and changing pad out of the diaper bag and went to work. Here is photographic evidence of her earliest attempts at motherhood. Or maybe she’s trying to tell us she wants a baby brother or sister? While the finished product could use some work, she definitely has the basic steps down. She could even teach her grandpa a thing or two!

Summer is Here!

2008-05-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve been meaning to update the blog for awhile now, but somehow haven’t found the time despite the fact that I finished my PhD courses over a week ago. Yay! Things were pretty crazy the last two months and especially the last few weeks (see the dining room table below, where I spent many, many long hours), but now the summer should be more relaxed. I’ll be working on my preliminary examination paper, but apart from that, just enjoying the summer with Emilia.

Here are some pictures of all the fun we’ve had since my coursework ended.
Emilia trying on her new Keen sandals she and her papa bought while shopping together.

My purses are a favorite toy for Emilia. Here she is swinging a purse over her shoulder and heading to the car to apparently drive herself to work? We’ll have to teach her you don’t go out into the world wearing your pajamas.

Emilia is apparently picking up her papa’s organizational skills. Whenever I dump the clean laundry on the floor, Emilia picks out all her clothes and arranges them neatly on the kitchen floor.
I just really like this photo of Emilia and her papa.

We scored this great Cozy Coupe car at a local garage sale and Emilia has been having a blast pushing her “car-car” around the cul-de-sac.

Tonight we had dinner at our place with some friends and their two kids—ages five and one. Emilia was in heaven! Here she is with Liza.

Then we got out her flamenco shoes (see January 23 post), which are still a little big. She’s already better at walking in heels than her mom!

The kids had so much fun together (in other words, got so dirty) that we decided to throw them all in the bath together at the end of the night.

Helmet Head

2008-05-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Agustín got a Burley bike trailer for Christmas from my parents that he’s been itching to use with Emilia. Our local fire department sells bike helmets for a reduced price every Thursday evening, so the two of them went up there last week while I was at class to get Emilia a helmet to go biking with Papa. Well, apparently she was not a happy camper while getting fit for the helmet, so when they got home, Agustín got out his helmet and put it on (what a dad!). Seeing that, Emilia happily put on her helmet and didn’t want to take it off. Thankfully, Agustín even thought to snap a few pictures. Now, when Emilia sees her helmet in the garage, she says “hatta” and points to her head. When she did this while we were playing outside yesterday, I put it on her. Then she insisted I put mine on. So there we were, two helmet-headed lunatics with no bikes. If any neighbors saw us, they had to have been thinking I’m an extremely over-protective mother.

Cutie with a Mean Streak!

2008-05-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

Emilia came home from school one day last week with her hair in pigtails, and it was so cute I couldn’t help but post these photos. We’ve tried to repeat this look several times since then, but Emilia won’t sit still long enough. I think part of the problem is that Agustín and I both lack any of the necessary skills for doing a little girl’s hair.

Apparently Emilia is going through some sort of mean streak. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a sweet little girl the majority of the time, but has taken to scratching and biting when she doesn’t get what she wants or if another little kid is trying to “share” a toy with her. So there’s a lot of “gentle,” “don’t bite mommy’s leg,” “don’t hit papa’s glasses,” “no scratching,” etc. going on these days.

Favorite words these days are leche ("laykay"; milk in Spanish), jacket (“jacky”), shoes (“sooz”), hat (“hatta”; I’m trying to convince her this is no longer part of the routine, but we still wear the winter hat outside more than necessary), and outside (“sah…sah”). And one of her favorite things to do is to carry around her shoes and jacket in an attempt to get someone to take her outside. She also loves our shoes and slippers and will bring them to us. It’s so funny when we walk in the door and she sees us, turns and runs away, then comes back with our slippers. I knew there was a good reason we didn’t get a dog!

Let's Play!

2008-04-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

Yay, it’s finally nice enough to go outside for playgroup! But all this playing can make a little girl tired....

Emilia has been so much fun lately. She’s really into imitating. Here she is attempting to fill up one of her stackable cups with water from the refrigerator door. She’s not quite tall enough yet, but no matter. She declares “wa-wa” (not sure yet if she’s trying to say water or agua or both), holds the cup up, then brings it to her mouth and pretends to drink, complete with the “glug, glug, glug.”

We babysat my parent’s dog, Nell, one night last weekend, and Emilia was in heaven. Nell, who is getting on in age, however, was completely exhausted after having a one-year-old chase her around non-stop.

And here are a few photos from a family gathering this past weekend (for which we had beautiful weather, as you can see). With Uncle Jordan, playing on yet another new toy grandma got her.

This girl is a cake-eating machine! She went around asking anyone with cake on their plate for a bite (or two or three).

The Great Outdoors & Using Utensils

2008-04-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

After a nice little April Fool’s Day snowstorm, spring has begun to taunt us here in Minnesota, showing her face sporadically. Emilia has always enjoyed being outdoors, but especially now that she can walk! She chases the neighbors’ dogs, insists on walking everywhere instead of riding in the stroller, and plays happily with her newly-liberated wagon. She doesn’t much like getting her hands dirty—always asking for us to wipe them off whenever they get a little dirt on them—but I’m sure she’ll get used to it soon.

Emilia’s also been practicing with the spoon and fork lately, with quite a bit of success. Here’s proof. You can also see here that she’s picked up the Spanish habit of soaking up whatever is left on your plate with bread. She saw her papa doing this and just started copying him; it was so funny!

Belated Easter Update

2008-03-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

This is a bit belated, but my mom just sent me these photos from our Easter celebration, and I wanted to post a few. We got together with the Minnesota faction of my dad’s family at my grandma’s house (Emilia’s one surviving great grandparent) on Easter. Emilia absolutely loved my grandma’s cat, Sugar, as you can see here (and Sugar tolerated Emilia).

Emilia loved the plastic eggs my grandma had hidden around her house. We took a few home and she practiced putting them together and taking them apart for a week. Below she's playing with one with Uncle Jordan.

And below Emilia gets a "zerbert" from Grandpa. You probably can't tell in this photo, but Emilia and Grandpa Scot are hair twins; Emilia's is just a cooler color and more "cute" than "Mafia."

In other news, Emilia is rapidly adding to her Spanish and English vocabulary, saying at least one new word daily. She loves repeating things and has recently repeated words and phrases as complicated as ‘Happy Birthday!’ and ‘applesauce.’ She kind of trails off at the end, but I think even an objective observer would identify what she’s saying. One day last week, on two occasions I smelled a stinky diaper and when I looked at Emilia, she looked up at me and said, clear as day, “Poop!” She’s making associations! What a proud day!

Fun at the Children's Museum

2008-03-21T18:42:00.001-07:00

Today my mom and I took Emilia to the Minnesota Children's Museum, where she had a particularly good time playing in the "Habitot." Here are a few of my favorite photos.

Personal Leadership

2008-03-18T18:22:00.000-07:00

I apologize ahead of time to those of you who read this blog for one reason and one reason only; this post is not about Emilia. Gasp! The reason is because I spent last week in Crestone, Colorado, (a very small town 4 hours southwest of Denver) at a Personal Leadership Seminar. Although I missed them dearly, it appears Emilia and Agustín faired just fine without me.

The seminar was amazing! Basically, Personal Leadership is a methodology for “anyone who is living and/or working across cultural differences (national, ethnic, religious, etc.) or in situations of uncertainty and transition”; it teaches you to more effectively use these experiences for learning and personal growth. (Check out http://www.plseminars.com/ if you’re interested in learning more.) It's something I'm really interested in for both personal and professional reasons.

One of the highlights of the week was spending time with some incredible people from around the world—the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Denmark, and Bulgaria (and many from multiple places). I won’t include their names here for reasons of privacy, but here are a few of my favorite photos. My interculturalist friends reading this might recognize some colleagues.

Emilia on Ice

2008-03-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

A week or so ago we took advantage of a little "warm" weather to take Emilia out for her first sledding experience, pulling her along on the lake at my parent's house. Okay, maybe you can't really call this sledding, but we did pull her over a few bumps.

We Have a Walker!

2008-03-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

Emilia has finally decided she’s sick of hanging out down around her friends’ knees and it’s time to do more of this walking thing. She’s been practicing for many weeks now—taking several steps at a time and then deciding to go the rest of the way on all fours—but in the last week or two she's realized going upright might be more efficient. Personally I think peer pressure played a part. Walking has only fueled her curiosity. Here she is exploring the cupboards (she really gets into it!).

She’s also quite a talker and her vocabulary is rapidly expanding. One of her favorites is “bye, bye,” which she yelled to all of the cashiers (one at a time) at the supermarket the other day while waving to them like the Pope in a parade as her papa pushed her along in the shopping cart. Our favorite, however, is probably “ya está,” (three syllables!) which loosely translates to ‘all done’ (that’s right, she’s officially bilingual!). And she answers her cell phone "hola" or "hi" depending on her mood. Of course, this bilingual thing can be confusing. Agustín thought “caca” meant poop until I informed him it was Emilia’s way of asking for a cracker. You can see how that could cause problems!

Emilia Feeds the Animals

2008-02-14T19:59:00.000-08:00

Agustín put the bibs on Emilia’s monkey and lion. I gave her a bowl and spoon. She did the rest. Fun was had by all. Sorry you weren't invited.

In Good Spirits

2008-02-10T19:45:00.000-08:00

Emilia got her first ear infection this week. Other than being a little extra tired (oh, and some other stuff that's improper to talk about here), however, she seemed to be in pretty good spirits. She was definitely a much better trooper than her mama and papa, who both got some sort of 24-hour (thank goodness!) virus this weekend!

Despite her ear infection, she still found time to take care of monkey (who apparently likes to sleep in the secret compartment of her wagon)…

…dress up like mama…

…practice putting on her own socks (she’s so close!)…

…and do whatever she’s doing here.

When She Grows Up

2008-01-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, I’m not writing this to pressure Emilia in any way, but after witnessing her in action over the past few weeks, I feel inclined to make a few speculations about what she might choose to be when she grows up.

A circus roadie perhaps? She likes hanging out in a wagon full of animals.

This wagon was a Christmas present. Of course, it’s supposed to be an outdoor toy, and my idea was to let her play with it indoors for a week or so since it’s snowy and cold here, then put it away until spring. No such luck. Emilia spends about 90% of her play time climbing in, on and around this thing or pulling it. I don’t have the heart to put it away, so it’s replaced our coffee table as the center of attention in the family room.

Or maybe a heart surgeon?

As many of you know, Agustín works for a company that makes pacemakers and heart defibrillators, and he brought home this sticky, gooey heart replica. Emilia was quite entertained by its sticky, squishy exterior and the fact that it stuck to her hand when she tried to throw it. (No worries—there was full-time supervision and immediate washing of the hands.)

Or, as seems most evident thus far, will she become an acrobat or gymnast?

This little red fold-up chair was my “movie chair” when I was little, and my mom kept it all these years so now it’s Emilia’s. She much prefers turning it upside down and climbing between the legs to sitting on it normally.

Catching Up With Bonjwing

2008-01-28T10:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, most of you probably won’t be interested in this post, but I thought many of my old Northwestern friends would like to see this picture. My college friend Bonjwing was in town last week and we were able to get together for coffee and catch up, which was really nice, particularly because we hadn’t seen each other in about eight years. He’s a lawyer in his Midwestern home town (to remain nameless because I like to try to maintain people’s anonymity somewhat on this site—why you never see family names—and I know there probably aren’t a plethora of Bonjwings where he comes from) and his stories made me glad I didn’t go that route myself (I considered going into international law; took the entrance exams and everything). If anyone from college is reading this and wants to catch up with him, post a comment and I’ll send you his contact info. Oh, and he’s single and looking, so if anyone’s interested in a serious but funny, well-cultured Republican (but one even a liberal can discuss politics with civilly) boy…..

Greeting 2008 in Spain

2008-01-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

Our trip to Spain was relaxing and enjoyable, although getting there was a little rough. Two cancelled flights, re-routing that resulted in us taking four flights instead of three, and two missed connections made for a bad mix. It took us 30 hours of traveling time and we got there two and a half days later than originally expected. Argh! Emilia was a trooper though. Although she only slept about 4-5 of the 30 hours, she never cried!

Emilia was extra tired during the entire visit (and had a temperature of more than 102 degrees Fahrenheit for several days at the beginning), napping more than at home (too bad the same was not true on the airplane!), but other than that she did wonderfully.

Here’s a short recap of what we did….

Emilia received her first flamenco dress (which can be seen a bit in the top half of the above photo) and all the accessories from Aunt Encarni and Uncle Javier. It’ll be a bit before she grows into it, especially those shoes, but we’re thinking it will fit perfectly on top of a snowsuit for Halloween 2008!

A walk through the park with Agustín’s brother Javier, his wife Encarni, and son Javi (Emilia’s only cousin!).

Unfortunately I did not capture it in a photo, but at one point Emilia was holding on to this climbing wall with no help!

Emilia was a huge fan of the Spanish bar/tapas culture (don't get the wrong idea; the 'bar' scene in Spain is nothing like in the U.S.) and tried a whole host of new foods. Yummy bread dipped in olive oil, fish, tuna, you name it! We had some troubles following the ‘one new food every three days’ rule, but luckily there were no negative repercussions.

As usual, we stayed with Agustín’s parents, and watching a baby for 2+ weeks in an only semi-baby-proofed house can be tiring. Emilia took a particular liking to the bide (beats playing in the toilet, right?) and these buckets in the bathroom.

A family gathering with Agustín’s parents, one aunt and uncle and their four kids and families.

As usual, we spent a night at Agustín’s brother's vacation home in the beach town of Ayamonte (on the border with Portugal). Here are Agustín’s parents with Emilia at the little outdoor bar near the house, where we often partake in a few tapas (like appetizers) whenever we go. Emilia appears to be discovering a new land (or a new star).

More fun in eating. Don't worry; we did not actually feed Emilia this fish in one piece and with the bones like this. (If you look carefully, you might notice that in the background there is a cross on the wall right next to a naked lady calendar; nice juxtaposition, huh?)

Papa bird feeding baby bird.

At the market in Ayamonte, where the seafood is so fresh much of it is still moving. Agustín always gets a kick out of taking Emilia’s picture with as many of these creatures as possible.

"This is what I want, Papa!" She knows what she likes!

Here we are taking a stroll along the beach.

Emilia and her cousin Javi rode together in one of these cars where you put in a Euro and it bobbles around for a few minutes. She loved it so much that when it stopped she started screaming. Thankfully it was time to go anyway.

Holiday Update

2008-01-21T19:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, I’m finally getting around to posting some photos from the holidays and our trip to Spain. I’ll start off with a few from Christmas.

Uncle Devin visiting from Washington DC.

Emilia had at least as much fun with the boxes and wrapping paper as the presents themselves.

An early holiday gathering with the Minnesota faction of my dad’s family.

Emilia enjoying a few of her new toys with Grandma and Uncle Jordan.

At the Christmas gathering with my mom's family, Emilia was enamored with her second cousin (?) Abby (pictured above and below).

Santa’s little helper?

Stay tuned for an update from our trip to Spain.

Long Overdue...Emilia at the Zoo

2007-12-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

This post is incredibly overdue. But, in my defense, the end of the semester is crazy for any college student, but especially a full-time graduate student with an assistantship and a job as a full-time mom. And it doesn’t help matters that I felt compelled to get out holiday cards this year. I’ll try to keep this short and sweet, but I’m not promising anything.

I just wanted to include the picture above because it captures very nicely Emilia's self-soothing pose--left thumb in mouth, right hand twirling hair.

Emilia has been a lot of fun lately. She’s really into baskets these days (literally). In the photos below she demonstrates how a one-year-old gets out of her toy basket all by herself. Now I understand why she was always practicing that downward dog pose!

Here’s Emilia’s first encounter with snow. She didn’t quite know what to think, although it’s clear she didn’t like having a cold butt.

One belated piece of news to report is that Emilia said her first Spanish word! Most “words” in her repertoire so far either resemble English (i.e. “bah” for ball) or could go either way (i.e. “bah-bah” for bottle or biberón, “mama,” “papa,” “beh-beh” for baby or bebé, etc.). Emilia had learned to clap when we said “yay,” so Agustín decided to teach her to clap when we’d say “ole, ole, ole!” So now she does just that, but she also says “googly, googly, googly!” at the same time, sticking her tongue out just like she sees her dad doing when he says “ole, ole, ole!” It’s hilarious. And it’s also good exercise for her newly-liberated tongue (see October 1st post if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

This past weekend, my parents and Agustín and I took Emilia to the zoo for the first time. Somehow grandma decided it would be a good idea to show Emilia a soft, plush polar bear in the gift shop entrance as soon as we walked in. Emilia latched onto it for dear life and didn’t let go all day long. So her grandma had to buy the stuffed animal for her (“had to” is a bit deceiving if you saw how quickly grandma jumped at the opportunity). See Emilia with her new best friend (who grandpa quickly named Huggy Bear, which seems appropriate given Emilia’s obvious affection toward the toy) in the photos.

The above picture, which I like to call "Emilia with new friend watching fish" is one of my favorites. Here's hoping your 2008 is equally filled with good friends and a sense of wonder!

Cruisin' Like Crazy!

2007-12-03T19:53:00.000-08:00

These past few weeks have been very hectic for me as the end of the semester looms, but it’s difficult to get overly stressed when I have a face like this to look at and an excuse to stop studying and play with Emilia when we’re home together and she’s not napping (which, of course, means I have to make naptime super productive!).

Emilia is “cruising” (walking around with the help of furniture) like crazy these days and loves pushing around the toy Agustin and I gave her for her birthday. She’s even doing “no hands” more often every day. For the most part, we manage to avoid a resultant bloody mouth (but she does seem to be pretty tough when it happens).

Emilia has finally grown into the hat and mittens Uncle Devin gave her for Christmas last year.

In other news, we had a bit of a snowstorm over the weekend. Not very big by Minnesota standards—six inches or so—but still the type where you have to start shoveling before it’s even done (that’s Agustín under all those clothes).

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T18:54:00.001-08:00

This has been a busy week, with Emilia’s birthday celebration on Tuesday and Thanksgiving festivities today. I wanted to post a few pictures from both events. Above our new little one-year-old tries out some of her birthday gifts with grandma. Emilia wasn’t quite sure what to do with the cake when we plopped it in front of her in one piece, but once I broke it up in small pieces, she scarfed it down in no time flat.

Here’s a cute photo I took of Little Miss Serious in the car on the way to grandma and grandpa’s for Thanksgiving.

And here’s Emilia enjoying “the game” with the boys (grandpa and Uncle Jordan).

As a final note, we are very thankful for the amazing first year we’ve had with Emilia in our lives. We hope you all have much to be thankful for as well!

The Story of Emilia's Birth

2007-11-19T19:59:00.000-08:00

Above: Emilia shortly after birth under her oxygen hood (see below for one-year comparison photo)

Tomorrow is Emilia’s first birthday, which makes me feel the need to finally record my memory of her birth. I’ll try to include only the parts that make me look like a hero and Agustín look like a putz, just to fit the stereotypes. But honestly, my husband was as helpful as he could have been without actually giving birth himself.

One year ago this evening, after experiencing two days of increasingly frequent contractions, I said to Agustín around 7:00pm, “I think it’s time to go to the hospital now.” To which he responded, “Oh, now? I still have to shower.” (He’d been working around the house all day while I alternately worked desperately on finishing a final paper and lying in pain on the couch watching the only channel that Agustín had been able to program on our new TV—one football game after another.) On the way to the hospital, my contractions were exactly five minutes apart (which is when we were told to go to the hospital). Upon arrival I was dilated to six and got the epidural I requested an hour or so after check-in. All was good with the world for many hours as Agustín and I attempted to get some sleep in between frequent visits from the nurses to check my progress. In the early morning hours I was told to start pushing, which I did with such vehemence that Agustín told me later he was scared and surprised at just how intense it was (how did he think I’d push—daintily?). At first it seemed like all was going well, but after about a half hour of pushing the nurse realized the baby had turned sideways, so they made me lay on my side for an hour to try to turn the baby. By this time the epidural was wearing off, I was tired from the pushing and the fact I hadn’t been able to eat much before coming to the hospital, and the world was just a little less wonderful.

Luckily, this painful lying in wait turned the baby and we were back to pushing—hours of pushing. For some reason she wasn’t coming out as quickly as we’d initially expected. Meanwhile, my epidural was continuing to wear off and exhaustion was setting in; I swear I blacked out a little at the end of each push (I just remember briefly thinking, ‘Where am I?’ at the end of each contraction). After more than two additional hours of pushing, I finally convinced nurse #3 (funny, when the first one had to go home she was convinced I’d be delivering any minute) to get a doctor to assess whether they could use a vacuum on me (the modern-day equivalent of forceps). By this time they’d realized I had a temperature of 101 degrees, which supposedly meant I had gotten an infection in my uterus during the labor, so they forewarned me that the baby risked having an infection as well, and so they were going to take her away for monitoring right away. I think I was too exhausted to be very concerned, but they acted like it wasn’t a very big deal.

Finally a doctor (I think it was the third one I saw) came and decided it was indeed time for the vacuum. I thought that meant just another push or two, but I actually had many more contractions while they set things up, then even with the vacuum I had to push a half dozen or so more times. But she came out! Monday, November 20th at 9:32am, she finally arrived. Agustín says she looked a little sickly, and she supposedly also had a temperature of 101. I was too exhausted to notice or feel much of anything, so it was just kind of weird when they set her on my chest for a second and told me to kiss my daughter before they carted her off to the nursery.

With the help of an oxygen hood and an IV, Emilia gained her strength over the next few days and was able to be released from the hospital only 12 hours after I was released. We arrived home the night before Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow we plan to celebrate the special occasion with a small family gathering. I’ll post photos of the event. In the meantime, here's a photo of almost-one-year-old Emilia modeling her new winter coat.

A Swimming, Climbing Boogery Girl

2007-11-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago I reported that Emilia was not enjoying her swim lessons. Well, after she screamed through two lessons with her grandma, I decided to get into the water with her. Not one scream, which meant poor grandma had to sit on the sidelines and watch Emilia and I at swim lessons for the next several weeks. Today was the last class, which we had to miss because Emilia was too sick, but they’ve obviously paid off because she started blowing bubbles in the bathtub this week!

Not only has Emilia been sick, but our whole family has gotten the bug. First me, then Emilia, then Agustín. Thankfully I think we’re all in the recovery phase now. But it’s the first time Emilia has been sick, and although it’s just congestion, it’s been a pain. She has a face covered in snot whenever she wakes up and does not like the bulbous booger sucker one bit!

Emilia is constantly on her feet these days. Last week, when I found her pushing around the upside-down laundry basket, I realized it was maybe her way of saying, “Get me a walker toy, you cheapskate!” So, we borrowed this fun toy from a friend, and Emilia has been having a lot of fun with it. They say people resemble their pets, but I think in this case Emilia resembles her toy. Am I the only one who sees it?

Emilia has also become a big fan of climbing through, under and over furniture—the side table (see photo) and the legs of her high chair or the dining room chairs, in particular.

Emilia's Developing Personality

2007-11-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

I’ve been a bit delinquent about posting lately, but our camera (or, more specifically, our batteries) have been on the fritz lately. So we’ve had to survive with only a few dozen photos of Emilia over the last week or two rather than a few hundred (remember, she’s our first child, which means we’re a little overzealous with the photos).

It’s been fun to watch Emilia’s personality revealing itself more every day. She seems to experience some separation anxiety when she’s tired, but apart from that she is extremely curious and quite outgoing. We are involved in a play group, parent/baby class, and story time. At all of these, Emilia spends most of her time exploring and paying little or no attention to mom. Yesterday she helped our teacher play the guitar; maybe she’ll turn out to have more musical talent than her parents—let’s hope! When we go shopping, she sits in the cart and smiles and often laughs out loud at anyone that will pay any attention to her. As a result, we get lots of comments on how cute she is and dumb questions like, "Is she always this good?" (anyone who's a parent knows why this is a dumb question--of course no baby is always an angel). Emilia is also learning to be tender and affectionate (something I just learned is natural around 12-18 months of age), but has trouble with the concept “gentle.” But she knows how to kiss Baby (her doll), kiss doggy (a toy), and kiss mommy—although she’s selective about when she chooses to do so. She's also very good at hugging.

Emilia continues to not want us to help her stand up, but instead prefers to do it on her own by pulling up on furniture or her toy basket.

This is a photo I just had to post because I think it’s so funny. No, we do not have Emilia begging in the streets and we don't give her alcohol. Agustín burns a DVD full of photos every month or two and sends it to his parents so they can see how Emilia is growing. This was the final photo on the last DVD we sent them. Agustín took it when I wasn’t home (no worries about the rubber band around her neck; he didn’t let her out of his sight for the few minutes she was wearing it). The sign says ‘Grandma and grandpa (this part is in Catalan, a language from northern Spain where Agustín’s parents are originally from), prepare my room, I’m coming for the holidays.’ That’s right, we’re headed to Spain just after Christmas for Emilia’s second visit. This trip should be a lot more interesting (read ‘difficult’) because Emilia has developed overly-good sleep habits and is incapable of sleeping in our arms. Not to mention the fact that she wasn’t mobile the last time we made the long flight (it’s actually three flights---argh!).

Spanish Visitors

2007-10-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Agustín’s cousins Pilar and Emilio spent a few days with us. Pilar is living in Washington DC for a few months and her brother Emilio is visiting her right now. They are only our second Spanish visitors since we moved to the U.S. five years ago, and we had a lot of fun showing them around.

On Friday Agustín introduced them to suburbia with a long (and somewhat wet) bike ride around some local lakes and took them shopping for gifts to take home.

Saturday we went to the Gophers vs. NDSU football game then went to my parent’s house for dinner and a boat ride (boat rides, I guess I should say, as our visitors tested out the kayak and paddle boat as well); thankfully we had the most beautiful weather in weeks that very day.

Sunday we had burgers at a sports bar (one of Agustín’s favorite aspects of U.S. American culture) and took a very windy walk on Nicollet mall (in Minneapolis) before Emilio and Pilar headed back to DC.

No Longer A Baby?!

2007-10-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

My how time flies! My mom is already asking if we have plans for Emilia’s first birthday (a little over a month from now) and last night we had dinner with a few other couples with babies—a five-month old and twin four-month olds—and someone commented that Emilia is “not really” a baby anymore. What?! Where did the time go? Actually though, she’s really at a fun age right now. She has several “words,” including mama, papa, do (dog), baba (bottle), bebe (baby), and ba (ball). She uses most of these rather indiscriminately, although baby is the one she uses most frequently and appropriately. This is because she has a doll (see photo above) we refer to as ‘baby.’ When I have my hands elbow-deep in dirty dishes and Emilia is attempting to open the still-not-baby-proofed cabinets, I say, “Where’s baby?” and she takes off in search of her baby. Can you really be a baby when you have your own baby? And last night she kept looking at the other little ones at the dinner party and saying “bebe” (pronounced beh-beh).

Anyway, here are a few pictures. My friend who works in children’s publishing sent us several bilingual board books (thanks again, Ann!). I think Emilia can read better than we think. Here she is eating the book entitled ‘Vamos a Comer!’ (Let’s Eat!) and throwing ‘Vamos a Disfrutar!’ (Let’s Have Fun!). Curious irony, no?

Downward Dog—Emilia now practices yoga daily.

And here she is acting innocent. Hmmm....

Emilia's Gets De-Tongue-Tied

2007-10-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Today Emilia had her first surgery. Thankfully it was a minor one. She was born tongue-tied, which means that the piece of skin that attaches the underside of her tongue to the bottom of her mouth extended almost to the tip of her tongue. Until Emilia was born, I never knew tongue-tied was a real medical condition. Anyway, it wasn’t causing her any problems (often tongue-tied babies have trouble breast feeding because they can’t latch right), but we were told it could cause speech impediments in the future and she wouldn’t be able to do things like lick an ice cream cone. So, because Agustín wants Emilia to be able to roll her Rs like a good little Spaniard and because it seems virtually impossible to be considered good parents by children’s standards if we deprive her of the ability to eat ice cream cones (not to mention it’s what the Ear, Nose, Throat specialist recommended), we scheduled her for a frenulectomy, and today was the big day.

So I packed Emilia chock-full of milk early this morning, then she had to fast for several hours before being put under anesthesia. Later we took a trip to the children’s day hospital where Emilia got all decked out in the cutest little hospital-blue pajamas I’ve ever seen and then had a ball playing with all the new toys in the patient waiting room. They gave me the option to be with her or not while the “sleep team” did their work, and I opted to stay with Emilia. She sat in my arms very calmly as they put a tiny plastic mask over her face and she nodded off.

I was whisked away to the family waiting room, where I guiltily indulged in a little non-academic reading for the first time. But before I even got half-way through my first ‘In Touch’ magazine (honestly, more Hollywood info than I ever needed), the doctor came in to tell me everything went great. He’d done a little clip and put in a few dissolvable stitches to prevent re-growth. Emilia was a little sad and cranky coming out of the anesthesia, but has been improving throughout the day. The doctor said the pain level will be like having a canker sore for a week or so. Thankfully Emilia is a big fan of grape-flavored Tylenol—the only thing that she doesn’t like about it is that the dosage is not nearly as much as she’d like.

I don’t have any photos from the hospital, but these are a few cute ones from the past week. Recent highlights include Emilia’s ability to clap and wave bye-bye (when she feels like it).

Emilia Reaches Double Digits!

2007-09-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

This week Emilia reached the double digits—that’s right, she’s now 10 months old. Today she started swim lessons with grandma. Agustin and I were in favor of taking her to the pool and teaching her ourselves (after all, we both spent years competing with swim and water polo teams, as well as lifeguarding, not to mention that I also taught swim lessons in college). But we told grandma she was more than welcome to spend her money if she wanted to have this special bonding time with Emilia. Emilia cried through most of the first lesson, but we assume she’ll enjoy it more in the future since she has enjoyed our informal visits to the pool. It wouldn’t hurt if she put on a few more pounds for insulation.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this past week. In this first one, Emilia is checking to see if the bathroom is occupied. In the second one, she’s apparently practicing her gymnastic skills (a new favorite pose) while waiting her turn.

Emilia models her new fall coat:

Grandma bought Emilia her first pumpkin, and only six weeks before Halloween!

Discovering the World & Goodbye Devin!

2007-09-16T19:47:00.001-07:00

Tonight my immediate family enjoyed our last family dinner together for awhile (where we took the photo above). On Wednesday my brother Devin is off to Washington DC to begin life after college. After many years with all of us spread out over the world (Thailand, Spain, Cuba, Czech Republic, Chicago, Los Angeles, Texas, Wisconsin, Colorado, etc.), it’s been great to have the whole family in the Twin Cities for the past several months. Good luck Devin! We’ll miss you! This picture is a little old, but it’s a great one of Emilia and her uncle Devin. Now you know where she gets her eye lashes!

This week Emilia made several new discoveries, including two pictured below. First she discovered the spring doorstop and had a ball pinging it back and forth.

She also discovered lunch meat, which has quickly become a new favorite. She is really starting to favor table foods that she can feed herself over baby foods. She eats up the turkey almost faster than I can rip it up. Can you find the lost piece of lunch meat in this photo?

September is Birthday Month!

2007-09-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Last week we celebrated the birthdays of my mom, brother (Jordan) and grandmother. Jordan made a great salmon dinner for our immediate family on my mom’s birthday and Agustin, Emilia and I hosted a Sunday dinner for a larger group. These pictures are from the first celebration. Happy birthday tomorrow to Agustin’s dad and my good friend AnnMarie!

Emilia is now crawling all over the place and getting into anything and everything. Why is it that we spend all this money on toys and babies seem more attracted to things like cell phones and their chargers (or pretty much anything with a cord), the TV remote, and their parents’ important papers? Here’s Emilia exploring her surroundings.

Our Anniversary & Emilia on the Move!

2007-09-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it's already September? On Friday, Agustin and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. Emilia stayed with grandma (or vice versa, depending on how you look at it) while we enjoyed a night on the town. As can be expected of new parents, we're so busy taking pictures of Emilia these days, we completely forgot to take the camera with and record any memory of our anniversary celebration.

In other news, Emilia is really starting to move! She can now sit up from lying down all by herself and has also started crawling. The other day I went in her room and found her sitting in her crib (instead of napping)--she'd untied the bumper from the railing and was shaking the two bumper ties like she was driving a horse and buggy. Here's a picture of one of her early crawling attempts.

Here she is helping mom fold the laundry. Aparently she thinks we're "number 1"!

And here she is enjoying what might be the last swim of the summer (unless this Minnesota heat keeps up) with grandma at the lake.

A Visit to the Farm

2007-08-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we visited a local farm with one of the play groups in which we participate. This was Emilia's first experience with many of the animals and she seemed very intrigued.

Here's Ava, Liza and Ethan (left to right) checking out the chicks.

Cole, Ava, Connor and Wyatt (a.k.a. "the big kids") with the baby goats.

With help from mom and Liza, Emilia managed to pet the baby goat without pulling its hair (she has recently become a big fan of grabbing other people's hair).

And here's Emilia just checking out some of the roaming birds.

Good Hair Day

2007-08-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

Emilia was having a particularly good hair day yesterday (thanks to a bath from her papa just prior to bedtime the night before), so I felt the need to post a picture of her.

Nine Month Check-Up

2007-08-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

On Monday Emilia had her nine month check-up, where the doctor confirmed that she continues to be "petite", as many people point out to us. She is very light, at only 15 lbs. 7 oz., which puts her in the 4th percentile (meaning only 4% of babies her age are lighter). She's in the 50th percentile for height, at 27 1/2 in. What is perhaps most surprising to those who don't know Agustin and least surprising to those who do, is that she is in the 90th percentile for head circumference, at 18 in. While her weight percentile is going down and height is holding steady, her head is quickly taking her to the top of the charts. What a big brain she must have! We also continue to assume she will be (or in fact IS) left-handed. She sucks her left thumb, maneuvers her sippy cup primarily with the left hand, and usually reaches first for whatever off-limits thing she's trying to grab with--you guessed it--her left hand. The doctor confirmed that she is a happy, healthy baby. It will be interesting to see how Emilia tackles standing alone and walking if her body continues on this top-heavy path.

Emilia Learns to Swim!

2007-08-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, mom is once again exaggerating her daughter's talents. But Emilia has really taken to the water. Besides splashing around in her bath and kiddie pool, she's spent a good amount of time in the water at her grandparent's house on Lake Minnetonka. The picture above was taken at the wedding we went to at Breezy Point up north.

Her grandma and I have also taken Emilia to a local pool twice now and she's loved it. She kicks and splashes and even goes under with mom (and is very brave about it). Here are a few photos from our trip to the pool last week.

Emilia Learns to Read!

2007-08-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, she's not quite reading yet, but she is looking at the pictures and listening to me read to her as much as if not more than trying to eat the books. Baby steps, right? Tomorrow Emilia turns 9 months old!

Family Picnic Photo

2007-08-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

Every year my mom gathers her nine brothers and sisters and their families at my parent's house for a picnic. And she always insists we take a group photo. People tend to complain about all the shuffling around and trying to stare into the sun while holding a smile, but in the end everyone appreciates the photo. Anyway, here's one of the best takes, as promised in a previous post.

Amy & Brett's Wedding

2007-08-10T12:18:00.001-07:00

With the students gone, I thought August would be a bit quieter and I could make some progress on reading and researching my dissertation topic, but that hasn’t really been the case yet. This past weekend we headed to Breezy Point Resort for my cousin’s wedding. The weekend was a blast, despite the fact that Agustin and I played some of our most pathetic golf ever (which, if you’ve ever golfed with us, you know that’s really saying something).

Here’s a picture of the happy couple, Amy and Brett. Congrats and best wishes to you two if you're reading!

And here’s a picture of Miss Emilia all decked out for the occasion. Her outfit was actually made by the bride, who used to design baby clothes for Target (and we are super grateful for all the samples she gave us!).

We stayed in a cabin with my whole immediate family (yes, it was as crazy as it sounds) right at the resort, so we were able to put Emilia to bed, leave her in the cabin with a babysitter, and return to the dance floor for a bit more unrestrained fun. It was almost like a date!

Full Steam into August!

2007-08-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, lots to report, but I think I’ll attempt to tackle it in small chunks with the hopes that it’s easier to accomplish that way during Emilia’s naps. Last week I said goodbye to the students I’d been working with from Ecuador, Guatemala and Venezuela. It was sad to see them leave, but I look forward to seeing all the amazing things I know they are going to accomplish in the future. The Minnesota Daily published a so-so article about the program; it’s available at http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2007/07/25/72123.

As I mentioned in my last post, my college friends AnnMarie and Kim visited at the end of July. I was having so much fun with them that I forgot to take many photos. Thankfully Ann remembered and sent me hers. Here are two cute ones she took. Her other photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/annmarieharris/.

Busy July

2007-07-31T09:40:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-11T15:05:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

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!