IN bound

I´m going to Indiana on Thursday.

Please hang on grandma so I can say goodbye to you before you go to heaven.

Thirty something.....

On the 29th my hubby had a birthday. Let´s just say he´s closer to forty than thirty. Insane? Yes. Hot. You betcha.

It´s hard to believe I met him NINE years ago, right here in Sunny Seville. He was turning 28 (Ok, you do the math) and I remember we went out for ice-cream and some butterflies were starting to flutter.

Happy Birthday Baby! I´m sorry if I´ve given you even more grey hairs. It just makes you look more sophisticated:)

Wilma Jean

My thoughts and prayers are with my grandmother. She´s been in the hospital for awhile now and is not doing well.

I really wish I could give her a big hug and take away all of her pain.

Please keep her in your prayers if you think about it. I can´t think of anything else.

Dazed and confused.

We always go for lots of walks. We basically live outside.

This afternoon we went downtown and I thought it would be fun to let Nora play int he fountain. Not really ¨in¨ it just get her hands wet. Kids love water.

So, of course she was happy and content. First one hand, then the other...oh, and then she fell in. I mean, head first, underwater, in a fountain...with people watching.

Here is where A and I are granted the ¨Amazing Parents Award.¨

She was fine, didn´t even cry, and probably got cooled off. The water was indeed GREEN and freezing, so that´s probably not good.

I´m not gonna lie. I laughed through the whole thing. WHY? Because no sooner had Antonio said, ¨If she slips she´s going to fall in¨ and as soon as he said, ¨in¨ she was indeed, ¨in¨

I´m a firm believer that your kids reactions are 99 percent of the time based on their parents reactions. So, when we pulled her out and we were both basically laughing she was like, ¨oh.¨

Thank goodness we have some friends downtown who brought us a towel and a t shirt. Ah, Nora. Never a dull moment that´s for sure!

Jumpy

So, tonight we decided to head to a friend´s house. They are a fun couple that live about twenty five min away and have a 3 year old and another daughter that is only three months older than Nora (Nora is lots bigger than her FYI) so I thought it would be fun if the girls played and we could hang with their parents.

So, we get there and the three year old opens the door with a shower cap on her head. ¨That´s weird I thought. Are they coloring her hair so young?¨

Ya, she has lice.

Seriously? Do you think you could have told us that before we came over! Awkard.

My head started itching instantly.

So, we were in. It´s not like we could just turn around and leave. Or could we? I REALLY wanted to, believe me!

About a half an hour later the mom and the grandma took off the cap and had to comb her hair looking for all these eggs. They´re all ¨Do you want to see it on the hair and on the comb?¨

My thought...¨HELL NO I want to stay as far away from her as possible.¨
My earthly reply, ¨Sure¨

They are TINY...not even a fine tooth comb can get them all out. Intense. They´ve been doing the treatment the past couple nights and each time there are less and less so that´s obviously good. But I´m all..don´t you have to wash all the sheets, towels, sofas etc? And they are all ¨no, it´s fine.¨ I wanted to RUN away.

So, the rest of the night my head is itching and the daughter keeps getting close to Nora and hugging her and their hair was def touching at some points. I Wanted. To. Die!

Seriously, can we go yet?

When we FINALLY were able to leave the daughter was all, ¨HUG and KISS¨ I played dumb and pretended like I didn´t know what she was saying but her mom was standing right there and ¨translated for me¨ DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I don´t have lice as I type this it´s a miracle.

xoxo

Oh my goodness Nora is in the giving kisses and hugging stage and I can´t even stand it! We will be reading a book and she will just stop and give me a kiss. I´m going to enjoy these while they last!!

Nanny Diaries

Remember Mrs. X from the Nanny Diaries? I totally met her yesterday in the park. Ok, not the real Mrs. X but she could definitely play the part for sure.

I think people are so fascinating and everyone has a story. Whether that story is boring or amazing, it´s still a story. The trouble is we are so BUSY with life that we rarely talk to ¨strangers¨ since we´ve had the ¨don´t talk to strangers¨ rules embedded into our heads ever since we could talk. Does that rule continue until adulthood? It sure seems like people think it should because I never see people talking to people that they don´t know. Or if they do it´s because they accidentally bumped them, etc.

Well, this is the gloriousness of having a kid. Especially my kid. She is Miss social extroverted butterfly and wants to talk to anyone and everyone. This brings us to Mrs. X.

Mrs. X has two twins (boy and a girl) and they are two years old. She also has another daughter that is 13 and they were all at the park together. Mrs. X was on a blanket with her 13 year old daughter and the twins were running around like crazy people. I met Mrs. X because Nora saw a ball that one of her twins had and went rushing over to the blanket. I wasn´t able to talk to Mrs. X for very long, but I found out some interesting things.

1. She´s from Paris.
2. Her husband is an African American living in NYC
3. She lived in Russia for awhile because her oldest speaks it..among three other languages.
4. She speaks French to her children..or maybe I should say ¨yells¨ it.
5. She seemed very very rich. Her diaper bag was Gucci. And not a fake one either.
6. She told me that she never comes to the park with her kids because they annoy her and that they usually come with the Nanny.

Ok, stop right there. This question has always blown my mind since the beginning of time. WHY do women have kids if they hate them and are going to have the Nanny raise them? I mean, what´s the point, honeslty? Does anyone know? I´m going to have to ask Mrs. X the next time I see her. I don´t think she´ll mind.

Until our next meeting Mrs. X....until next time.....

Mom Award

I really think any mother deserves an extra mom award when her child pukes on her like mine did this morning. I can count the number of times that Nora has puked in her life and every single time it has been when she has had a cold and lots of phlegm build up.

Don´t you just hate the smell of puke? It´s like...it never goes away and burns inside your nostrils even after you have taken a shower.

Just because I´m a mother doesn´t make dealing with puke any easier. In fact...it´s even more disgusting because now someone is doing it right on me...awesometown.

Peter Pan

I have to search high and low for peanut butter over here. I finally found some Peter Pan Creamy and there were two jars on the shelf. For some reason, Spaniards just don´t get the deliciousness of Peanut Butter. I mean, it´s close your eyes, ¨mmm¨ finger licking good. Why don´t they get that???

Thank God Peter Pan found his way here though.

I love you Pete!

15 mths

My dear sweet Nora you are fifteen months today! You are weighing in at 29.5 lbs, and are growing like a weed. People think you are at least a year and a half and the clothes sizes that I´m buying you are outrageous (3t).

I know I say this every month, but you seem to be getting cuter and cuter as time goes on. I want to squeeze your face off! I can´t even believe what a big girl you´re becoming, and I´ve especially noticed it this month.

You love to turn around and around in circles until you fall down dizzy and think it´s the funniest thing in the world! You still love music and dance any chance you get while clapping your hands.

You want to eat by yourself and even attempt to use a spoon at times. It´s amazing how fast you learn things. You see us do something once and that´s all it takes!

You recently learned how to climb up on the chair and sofa all by yourself. Uh oh, this could be trouble!

You have learned to tell things and people ¨shhh¨ and even put your little finger up to your mouth. It´s adorable.

We are trying to teach you to wink and you can almost do it, but not quite! It´s fun to watch you try.

You are so independent and will NOT let us hold your hand while we walk with you in the street. You never did let us and I was hoping that would change. Nope! You do have your moments when you like to cuddle and be held. Be still my heart when those moments arrive. Can´t get enough of those!

You sleep around ten hours a night and have two naps during the day. You still love ANY food and every food and would be eating all day long if we allowed you to.

You love animals and water and now you love to push anything..ie. your stroller..chairs, etc. You make everyone laugh so much and you even made your abuela pee her pants twice this month! She had to shower and change because you are THAT funny!!!

You say mama, papa, wow wow, uh oh, caca and agua. You ¨talk¨ a lot but that´s all I get for now. You also say ¨P U ¨ when you smell your foot;O)

My only wish was to have a happy healthy little girl and it looks like my wish has come true. Thank you for making motherhood such a delight.
Love you long time!

Mama

pix

The pits.

So, last week Antonio had something weird going on with his armpit. It was just really red and irritated and I told him it´s prob from that jungle he calls an armpit. I even think I saw a monkey swinging around on that bush.

Point taken. He shaved. Score! I like having a metrosexual husband. Any time a woman OR man raises his arm and a bush of hair whacks you in the face that´s just unacceptable. Period.

So, he told me that he was putting talcom powder on it and it was getting much better. Hmm. I thought that was interesting since we didn´t have any talcom powder. Then I went into the bathroom and noticed the bottle of ¨Summer´s Eve¨ powder on the bathroom sink. I almost wet my pants. ¨That´s for Vaginas!¨ I schreeched at him through my snorty laugh.

The best part is....he didn´t care and kept using it...and his armpit was instantly healed. Woot!

25

I feel like my daughter is so old this week. She started eating w a spoon, dances in circles until she falls down dizzy and she tells the dog to shhh and puts her finger up to her mouth. Ah!

USA?

The dilemma is doing my head in. Before we had a child we went to the USA for X mas and every summer. Now it´s a bit more complicated. I went alone at X mas for a whirlwind six days (which I do not think I would do again because it was just too much and no time to enjoy!)

So, our dilemma is if we are going to take Nora this summer or not? She will be 18 mths old in August and to be quite honest the thought of having to make that journey with her really makes me want to die. She can´t sit still for five seconds let alone nine hours!

BUT who can stand Sevilla in August? It´s a nightmare. Over 100 degree temps and so I think to myself, ¨what would we do if we stayed here?!¨ It´s so hot you can´t take walks or go out or do ANYTHING! Misery. So I kinda figure maybe it´s better to be miserable for the one travel day instead of an entire month. PLUS it will be a year since my friends and family have seen my daughter. Do you know how incredibly hard and sad that is for me?

So anywho, I don´t know what to do. Drugs? Advice?

lazy

On my way home from the gym there is a part of the sidewalk that has two stairs and a ramp right next to it. Everyone takes the ramp (including me). This shows you how incredibly lazy the human race is...we can´t walk up two stairs.

Today there was an old man walking near me and we were both headed straight for the ramp...I had to swerve to get out of his way and take the stairs. How furious was I? Who does he think he is? Oh wait, he was 85 with a cane. I guess he deserved it.

Happy Mother´s day!

To all of you special mamas out there. Especially mine. Love ya mom!

Here are some of my favorite quotes from a book my mom got me on my 28th Birthday.

Don´t poets know it better than others God can´t be always everywhere and so, invented mothers....Sir Edward Arnold

I wonder how she does it, holding it together the way she does. It seems no matter how life gets out of place she puts it back the way it was. It´s always been a myestery, but I guess it must be true. That there is nothing stronger than a mother´s love when she uses Mother´s Glue. Markess A. Wilder

She remembered that when she´d had her first baby she had realized with astonishment that the perfect couple consisted of a mother and child and not, as she had always supposed, a man and a woman. Alice Thomas Ellis

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother. never. A mother is something absolutely new.

A mother holds her children´s hands for a while, their hearts forever.

Oh my son´s my son till he gets him a wife, but my daughter´s my daughter all her life. Dinah marie Mulock craik


motherhood is not for the fainthearted. used frogs, skinned knees, and the insults of a teenage girl are not meant for the wimpy. danielle steele

Cutest one there.

Feria

Feria has been really fun this year! We´ve already been about three times and my dress fits so that´s an added bonus. Last night we went sans Nora and met up w some friends. I was dancing Sevillanas which felt good too...since I hadn´t done it for a few years and I´m so happy I remember.

We got home at six am. Prob not such a good idea..but SO worth it!

Feria 2011

What a difference a year makes. Last year she was a little two month old brown ball. Now she´s still a ball of fire..but not so brown and a little bit taller. :O)

I´m going to the Feria tonight. CANNOT WAIT and SO excited because my dress fits. WOOT!

doghouse

I´m desperately looking for a new job. Antonio´s been out of work since Nora´s been born and his unemployment is running out in ...oh wait, now.

Here´s my website. Please take a look at my resume and qualifications. I´d LOVE to hear from you if you have any ideas or if you want to hire me:O)

http://sarafisel.resumeconnect.com

pix