wowzers

Have you ever been in the middle of an aerobic class and wanted to keel over and die from being freaking exhausted and out of shape? No? Nothing? Just me then?

Towards the end of the class we were doing leg lifts and the other people in the class had weights lodged in the crevice of their leg and I seriously couldn't even finish with NO weights wedged between my leg.

I'll tell you what though......the thought "I've given birth I can do this" really does help in a lot of situations

ie
Pumping Gas
Juggling baby and Starbucks in one hand
Being a single parent (until Sat!) etc.

I'd also like to mention that I hate my teacher for doing so many jumping jacks and jump roping. Doesn't she know that there are breastfeeding women in her class and that's just not possible with these jugs? How rude.

pool time

Nora has been in a few baby pools and yesterday she had her first experience in a BIG pool *unfort. I don't have any pix.

My friend has 1 year old twins and she invited us over to swim. Her aunt was holding Nora on the pool steps and the 1 year old daughter accidentally kicked Nora in the face. First reaction.....throw other baby into the deep-end. But, that would probably be considered poor taste.

Nora was screaming bloody murder and I really had to hold back my tears because I felt so bad for her. I am SUCH a loser. Luckily I did not cry (that would have been totally embarrassing) and Nora eventually stopped. Her poor little eye was red for awhile though and I thought she was going to have a black eye.

It was my first "taste" of her getting hurt and what that would be like. Not so fun.

Summer is going by TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fast and A gets here on Sat. Good times! Can't wait to make out........er hang out with him:O)

......

Five things you wish could be a little more dry:
• Your baby's chins.
• Your shoulder and hair, after a burping session.
• Your underwear, after sneezing.
• Those two spreading circles on the front of your shirt.
• Your eyes, whenever you see a hurt animal, your baby's face, or an even vaguely sentimental long-distance phone service commercial.

Typical Spanish Attire

lbs.

"She's only 1 month old"
"She's only 2 months old"
"She's only 3 months old"
"She's only 4 months old"

This is what goes through your mind when thinking about losing baby weight. There's always time for that.

But now she's five months old. Maybe I should start thinking about losing this gut before I'm saying, "She's only fifteen years old."

Nah.....I'll wait until after I leave America. There's way too much good stuff to eat here.

On a side note: My nephew just pointed to a picture of Angelina Jolie and said, "Auntie Sara?" Smart little bugger.

Nora Lindsay Luque Fisel

........

I thought of some more things.....

Leaving lights on and slamming car doors. That's crazytown.

weird

I've been living in Europe for five yrs. now and each time I come back I kinda get weirded out by things.

1. new inventions. Have you seen the "Off" clip on fan? wowzers. I should just take these things back w me and claim that I invented them.

2. Everyone acts like my best friend. I'm not used to anyone and everyone saying hello to me and striking up conversations. It's just not common in Seville. I want to say, " Do I know you?" By the end of the conversation I feel that these complete strangers know my whole life story. It's wild.

3. Slow drivers in the left lane. GET OVER!

4. Not honking. Here honking is SOOOOOOO rude and there it's just what everyone does. Wild.

5. Drive Thru's

6. Mullets and men wearing sweatpants.

7. Women with mullets wearing sweatpants.

8. Yards and sprinklers with pools and swingsets (sigh).

9. Supermarkets with aisles for one thing ie. cereal, detergent etc.

10. English!!!!!!!!

playdate

Today I drove to Portage to hang out w my friend Andrea. It's been WAY too long since we've gotten together. About 3 years! She has a little boy that's 2.5 and E is 2 mths older than N. We had a fabulous time today and I'm so glad we're friends.

5 months

Dear Nora,
Today you are five months old and are weighing in at exactly 20 lbs! You are still a big girl, but have tapered off a bit! This past month seems like it's been a really long month since we've been so so busy.

This month you travelled with me all the way across the ocean to Indiana to see our friends and family here. You did so great on the plane I can't even believe it. You pretty much slept 7 out of the 9 hours and hardly ever cried. Thank you Lord!

Everyone was offering to hold you and I took them up on that offer when I had to go to the bathroom. Of course you had a blowout on the plane and got pooh all over your pj's. I just threw them away..not worth the clean up! I fed you in the bathroom stall which was hilarious. You were looking around like " where the HECK are we?"

Nana and Pa are so happy to spend time with you and so is the rest of the family and my friends:) It's taken you a bit of time to get adjusted to the time change and I'm kind of sad about the loss of nap times, but I suppose it's all worth it in the end:)

You are so alert and active and want to grab absolutely everything, not to mention put it in your mouth! You've met a few of my friends dogs this trip and they have even licked your face and your hands. You didn't seem to mind too much.

You seem to have rediscovered squealing mode and love to screech and yelp constantly. You love hearing your own voice:)

You celebrated your first fourth of July American style and you had the attire to go with it. You were sleeping by the time the fireworks started, but I'm pretty sure you would have hated them since you are still terrified of loud noises! You cried during your first thunderstorm!

You've gotten to meet lots of mommies friends babies and you kind of just stare at them and sometimes even hold their hand. You are so sweet.

You are getting more hair and have a whispy mohawk now. I love it! You have the darkest eyes in the world and every day you get cuter and cuter. I can't handle it! Everyone here in America likes your earrings:)

You finally like your carseat and fall asleep most of the time in the car. Nana and Pa got you a new stroller and you love it of course. You still love being outside!
We talk to your daddy on skype and you look around like " where is that voice coming from?" We miss him SO much and can't wait until he gets here!

You still only have two bottom teeth, but I think you are teething again and I'm just waiting for more to pop out! You love playing with your rings and esp. chewing on them!

Recently we have been travelling lots and I just plop you on the ground on top of a blanket and you fall right to sleep. (The ground has carpet of course) The other night while we were visiting family I put you to sleep on your tummy on a blanket in the corner and I woke up around 6am to check on you...you had flipped over and were staring contently at the ceiling not making a sound. HILARIOUS!!!!!!! I guess you can roll over now too......please do it while I can watch! Apparently you can "scoot" too. I put you down for your nap and when I came back you were UNDER the bed. OMG this is too much fun.

Can't believe how fast five months have passed by and am so looking forward to many many more. Just keeps getting better and better. Happy 5 months monkey butt. Love u!
Mama

ode to wildwood acres

So, up until the age of 11 I grew up in this fantastic neighborhood called wildwood acres. I have the greatest memories of playing with my friends, riding our bikes around, swimming, trick or treating etc. SOOOOOOOOOO yesterday I decided I was going to park the car in that neighborhood and show Nora my old stomping grounds.

I decided that if the people that live in my childhood home were outside I was going to ask if I could go in. Outrageous? Yes. Awesome? Totally! Unfortunately, no one was home, BUT my childhood friend just happened to be pulling up in the driveway and I'm all, "Do you know who I am? " And he's all, "Is that Sara Fisel? Don't you live in Spain?" And I'm all, "YES, but now I'm here, walking around...." and I went inside. His mom was my nanny for me for several years while growing up so it was GREAT to see her.

Sometimes I wish Nora could grow up in a neighborhood as fabulous as wildwood acres....

more 5 some

i promised more pics and here they are! we had a great time getting together and we've seriously been friends since first grade....minus heidi who moved here in fourth. thanks for the memories ladies!

........

nora is getting so big i can hardly stand it! she's the best baby EVER!

!

How amazing is it that Spain won the world cup? Antonio called me like two secs after the game got over and asked me if I had watched it. Umm...duh! So cool! I wish I could have been there to celebrate. I'm sure this will probably become a national holiday. YES!

Today I went to step aerobics with my mom. I'm just saying....if you get prego it's gonna be at least a good two years before you can do step comfortably again. Last summer I was prego so the ta tas were growing. This summer they are full of milk...I swear she did jumping jacks every other move. Not a good time. I actually tried grasping them for half of the class and then it just got a bit awkward. Maybe next summer?

I better figure out a way to do it though, considering all of the foods I'm craving are BAD BAD BAD for you. I can't stop!

I'm having so much fun hanging out with family and friends and introducing Nora to everyone. She's been such a trooper and is actually on some kind of a schedule. I'm not gonna lie, I like her Spain schedule better, but that's okay. It's still good to be here. I just can't wait for A to get here. Being a single parent is tough. I'm exhausted!!!!!!

5 some

last night we all got together and had the BEST time! i'm so glad we have been friends since first grade. more pics to come!

playdate

Yesterday Nora got to meet her possible future mate:) It was great seeing you Jen and Allyson!

weird

so, i'm sitting here alone.......well, nora is upstairs sleeping, and all of the sudden i hear BOOM BOOM BOOM and someone was like, banging down the door. who does that? so, my brother happened to call at that moment and i told him i was totally freaked out. i was basically on the ground looking through a crevice of the blinds so i could see who it was. a huge fat motorcycle man with a mullet. SOOOOOOOOOO scary! he finally left...what was it that he wanted? maybe some grey poupon?

pix etc.

Still rocking it here in the USA. It's been great to see family and friends after 10 long months. AND I'm loving the food......A & W rootbeer floats baby!!!!!!

Here are a few pix!

Happy 4th!

It feels SOOOOOOOOOOOO great to be in the USA this year for this special holiday!

Nora and I got in on Thursday and everything went great. She pretty much slept 7 out of the 9 hours and ate when she needed to. Of course she had a huge blowout on the plane and her pj's were covered in pooh. No biggie. I just threw them away and she was naked for the rest of the flight. (just kidding) She truly is THE BEST BABY!

My folks were there to pick us up in Chicago and they were very excited to see her of course:) Before we even got home I demanded a DQ oreo blizzard, subway, and Dr. Pepper.......in that order. Delish! The next day I had a long john donut and Starbuck pepperint mocha. GOSH how I've missed American food! I'm prob going to gain 20 lbs in a hot second!

Yesterday my friend had a pool party and it was so fun to introduce Nora to everyone!!!

Today we're having a big 4th party. Nora is dressed accordingly. Pix to follow! xo