crash and burn

yesterday i was having THE best day! i had a class in the morning and then in the afternoon my american women´s club had an awesome thanksgiving meal..pumpkin soup, turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and delicious apple pie! the meal was downtown so i thought i would take advantage of being alone and do some shopping. glorious!!!

and then i decided to ride the bike home. it´s so much faster and it was only raining a little bit. next thing i knew i was sprawled out on the ground, crying with a crowd of people around me. i was THAT girl. the one that everyone was looking at! i fell off my bike with my right leg bent all the way back and it was not cool. so, one of the people called an ambulance to come and get me. an ambulance! really? hey, i guess it´s free here so that´s cool. my first ride in an ambulance. wild!

and there i was at the hosptial, 9 mths after giving birth to nora remembering those orange walls as i waited to dialate.

i have to wear a brace for a few weeks and my knee hurts like a B*tch!!!!!! but, all is well and i am blessed!!!

my own personal butterball

This Thanksgiving is my count them....sixth one away from the USA and quite possibly the first year I didn´t cry. It just seemed different this year. I didn´t want to jump out of a window or stab myself between the eyes.

Maybe it´s because for the first time I have three different dinners to go to (Thur, Fri, Sat) or maybe it´s because I´m just used to not being home now and I don´t even remember what it´s like. But it´s probably because I have my own personal butterball to much on and nuzzle whenever I want. I even named her. Nora!

T day

This is a pic of me last Thanksgiving. I pretty much look exactly the same this year, the only difference being there is no baby in my belly.

Our family obviously has so many things to be thankful for it seems impossible to list them all.

Gobble Gobble!

old

so, i just got done teaching my class and i went to the bathroom.

i heard some of my students coming in and one of them started singing in the stall.

i came out and one of my other students was freaking out and was like ¨elena! guess who is in here??! sara!¨ and they were all embarrassed.

wow. i´m the teacher and my students are embarrassed in front of me. that´s just weird.

baby shower

Starting this past Oct I know someone who is going to have a baby every month up until April. Holy babies! Yesterday we had a shower for my friend Ivonne and it was super fun to hang out w good friends and not be the one that is prego. ha! Best Wishes Ivonne!

cuteness

random

So, we just got back from dinner and I saw an old man eating by himself. I don´t know what it is but whenever I see that it just breaks my heart. I mean, maybe his wife just couldn´t join him, but I always think the worst and I really just wanted to go over and give him a big squeeze. He was so adorable and he was so dressed up with a tie and all. God bless him!

So, I have a ¨close talker¨ student and 9 times out of 10 she spits on my face when she talks. Spittle, on my face, so freaking gross. Today it literally flew into my eye and kinda shocked me. I didn´t know what to do and I think I almost lost an eye. She just kept right on talking. It also kinda touched my mouth. Does that mean we kissed? She needs a splash guard or something......seriously. What is the etiquette on this?

9 months

Dear Nora,

Today you turn nine months old and are weighing in at around 26 pounds. Hard to believe that the first year of your life is 75% over. I really do think that time has gone by faster ever since you´ve been born!

This past month was quite a busy one. You travelled on an airplane yet again and we went to visit some friends in England. You had a good time and were such a good little monkey!

We also dressed you up like a little devil for Halloween and I honestly don´t think you were that impressed. Maybe next year you will have more fun.

You are still wearing your brace and will need it until February, but not even that can stop you. This month you have really gone from ¨bouncing¨ in place and have taken off and are zooming around the house like a little racecar. You also love to stand up (especially in your crib at naptime when you should be sleeping) and I think you are going to be walking sooner rather than later!

You absolutely love music and every time you are crabby or upset we just play some music and it´s like a dark cloud has been lifted and all is well in your world again. You start to laugh and you love to ¨dance¨ all the time!!!!!!!!!

Your smile makes everyone´s day a little bit brighter and no one can believe how tall/fat you are. I attribute the tallness to your American blood! Someone also commented the other day that your hands are gigantic. Here´s to hoping that a set of man hands are not in your future.

You are getting more hair slowly but surely, but I still hear peole calling you a boy when we´re out. I´m really not sure what else I can do about that little girl. I dress you in pink and you have earrings, they must be blind and stupid.

I´m not sure how many teeth you have at this point because you hate when I touch your mouth and I fear I may lose an apendage if I try sticking my fingers in there. I think you have 8 more or less!

You absolutely hate getting dressed.....this worries me that you like to be naked so much. Where did you get that from?!

You love your abuelas dog and try to pet her any chance you get. You make a funny cooing noise when you finally touch her. You also love the fish tank and can stare at it/be entertained for a good 30 min.

You love to watch you Sesame Street while eating your cereal every morning and you laugh hysterically at Burt and Ernie. You are quite the eater and there really isn´t anything that you don´t like at this point.

I started working again this past month and I miss you terribly while I´m away. You make me smile when I come home and call your name you come crawling towards me wherever you are in the house.

You now are able to hold your arms up when you want held and sometimes you wave ¨bye bye¨

You are such a joy to be around and I couldn´t ask for a better baby!

In the words of my fellow blogger Rebecca ¨ I´ve taken a hundred thousand photos so I can capture your infancy like a butterfly and keep you flapping forever in my heart.


In my dreams you were faceless and now I know why. I never would have believed such beauty was possible.

It is my greatest honor to be your guide for as long as you'll have me.

Thank you (Dear Nora) for being mine.¨

Love, Mama

brace

well, the good news is it´s gotten better the bad news is she still has to wear it. next apt is feb 2nd!

eek!

Today Nora has an appointment with the Dr. about her brace. Lets hope and pray for good news!

bringing sexy back

Ladies, all I have to say is enjoy your pre baby bodies. I´m thinking I should have spent more time walking around naked before. Heck, I should have been a stripper or something. Flaunt it while the ta tas are up!!!!!

It´s killing me trying to lose these last couple of lbs but I just might die trying. Literally. Yesterday I fell during my aerobics class and it was extremely awesome. I don´t even know what I did I just know I was on my butt and no one even blinked twice or asked me if I was okay. I sort of hurt my wrist, but it´s gonna be fine. I´m not gonna lie, my bladder control is not what it was before baby and I may have peed a little too. So, I picked myself up, brushed myself off and kept doing what I do with a pee stained outfit and an injured wrist. If that isn´t dedication I don´t know what is! Hold on......(Patting myself on the back).

I´d also like to mention that women´s locker rooms are weird. I am not comfortable walking around naked in a locker room and I´m really not comfortable with other women doing it either. I mean, can´t you wrap a towel around you or something? I give naked women the side eye. It´s like you look but you don´t look. I´m sorry but if you are walking around naked it´s like you have a sticker painted on your forehead that screams ¨look at me!¨ Mainly it´s comparing and quite possibly admiring ¨God I wish I had a body like that¨ but guess what? I don´t. I have a pee stained outfit with a sprained wrist, saggy milky boobs and a saggy gut. So you see, this is why I´m not walking around naked. Maybe next year. Stay tuned!

Baptism

Yesterday we had a baptism and A was the Godfather. Pretty cool. I had never been to a baptism here before. We are definitely going to get Nora baptized it´s just taking forever to make the plans!

oh yeah

I went to Starbucks yeterday and they had the whole place X mas ized. How freaking excited am I?!!!!!!!!!!

tgif!

it´s been a long week. i had to change my gym schedule all around since I now have classes when I used to go to the gym. now i have to go in the evenings, which i´m not a huge fan of..but whatevs. i seriously think aerobic instructors should not be allowed microphones. i had a teacher the other day that kept whistling into it. i thought my eardrum might be broken and i wanted to karate chop her in the face!!!!!!!!!! also, im noticing all of the women are anorexically thin. i want to bring in mcdonalds one day and pass out hamburgers for free! i bet they have never had one! Today a guy asked me where i was from and i said ¨chicago¨ because that´s what i always say even though i´m so totally not from chicago. one of these days i´m just going to say ¨alabama¨ and make up some crazy ass story of my life and fake family. now THAT will be awesome!

omg i just remembered A was making my oatmeal today and he was all, ¨um, u can´t eat this there are bugs crawling in it¨ and he was right. there were worms........my cousin brought me the box not this aug but the aug before that. i guess it´s expired. too bad i ate some last week w out noticing. and i didn´t get sick..just some extra protein! HA

so, we just went to the supermarket and it was nora´s first time riding in the cart. it was hilarious. she kept wanting to suck on the sides of it. (kind of not sanitary but at some point you just have to ¨let go¨ and let them chew on whatever!) ok, maybe not anything, but most of the time there is nothing you can do about it! she really liked it though. i can´t believe i am old enough to have a baby in a cart at the supermarket. i was having total deja vou of when i was little sitting under the cart. how can this be reverse?!!!!!!!!!!!!! life goes by too fast and it´s freaking me out!!!!!!!!!!!! i was just 16 you know..like a long time ago. ha!

i also recently ran into two of my previous students on different occassions and they told me and i quote, ¨you look as beautiful as ever¨ how nice is that? i´m wondering how beautiful is that though? maybe their standards started pretty low! bwah!!!!!!!!

ah!

babies change so fast so quickly you HAVE to enjoy every second of it.

nora now has 8 teeth and i think she grew four over night.

she is also maniac crawler now. she´s been ¨bouncing¨ for a long time now and she would crawl a little bit then sit but now she´s on the move! today when i got home from work she was in her room with A and i called for her and she peaked her head out of her room and came roaring towards me. be still my heart!!!!!!

brr

its kinda chilly but we are prepared!

beautiful day

What a gorgeous day today! The sun is shining, it´s nearly 80º and we decided to take a walk downtown. I was thoroughally enjoying the sights and sounds when I heard someone throwing up on the main street downtown. That´s so freaking gross. I turned to comment to Antonio about how gross that was...Antonio? Hey, where are you? Oh wait, he was throwing up on the wall downtown with people staring at him like he was a total loser who drank too much or something. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I am not gonne lie I just kept walking and acted like I didn´t know him. Bad wife? Possibly. Necessary? Absolutely. I hate throw-up! (Nora is never going to throw up in her life)

Apparenlty his stomach was hurting. I´m glad I know these things ahead of time.

what a great way

to start out the day.....looking at this face!

plaza de españa

So, I´ve seen post-cards of the plaza with water and boats under the bridges and I wondered if there would ever be water again. When I came to study abroad here in 2002 there was not water......and A can´t even remember the last time he saw water. How long has this construction been going on?????

So, it´s finally over and there is water under the bridge folks. Cant wait to take a ride in the boat when the line isn´t forever long!!!!!!