Isn´t that last post hilarious?

Lets try this again.....

What a difference a year makes..

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!

..

I just went to midnight mass (I'm not even Catholic) with my mother in law, in Spain, on Christmas Eve. Is this really my life???? I think I would have laughed at you if you tried to tell me this a few years back. I was afraid to spend the night at friends houses when I was little....what if I decided to study abroad in France? Would I be married to a Frenchman living in France??? I do believe in destiny and that God's hand leads the way. Even though I never in a million years thought my life would turn out this way I'm glad it did. My heart is missing home this Christmas Eve but home is where the heart is, no? And for the moment its right here in Spain with my own little family. Good night to all..Santa is coming!

Merry Christmas Eve...

cutie.

Santa Baby, Hurry down the Chimney tonight.

honesty is the best policy

At least she already knows that at 22 months old. I was showing her a photo of my belly when I was pregnant with her and I said, ¨What´s this Nora?¨ Her reply: ¨Peppa Pig.¨ I couldn´t have said it better myself. Love you too honey!

22 months

Dear Nora,
I just realized that you turned 22 months two days ago. Oops. Sorry for the delay on this update!

It´s December! You met Santa and any time we see anything with Santa on it you scream his name. I found a five minute video and you LOVE it. This morning I think you watched it about eight times, and each time you got more and more excited. It was so cute to watch. SANTA! TRAIN! MOON!

You are starting to speak more and more words(a mixture of Spanish and English) and sometimes I´m so shocked at the words you even know. You pull them out of nowhere. I am working on the alphabet and counting with you...today you randomly shouted ¨THREE¨ I´ll take it! At least those numbers are swimming around in your head somewhere..ha!

Your hair is wild and whispy and out of control. I love it! It´s curly like your daddy´s. You are sleeping 11 hours at night and a 2 hour nap during the day. You still are such an amazing eater that I swear I have to cut you off sometimes..you´d be eating everything all day long! I wouldn´t know what to do with a picky eater or bad sleeper!

You weight 15.5 kilos and are super tall for your age. I´m excited for your 2 year check up to see what the pediatrician says! Today someone asked you your name on the train and you said, ¨Nora Luque Fisel¨ it was SO CUTE! You also told her you were two..ha!

You love to chase pigeons around and today you said, ¨bye bye! Love you!¨ so loving. Right now you want to kiss everything in sight and tell it bye bye.

We are very excited for Nana and Pa to come for Christmas and another holiday with you.

Love you so much monkey!
Mama

Little Red

Joseph´s Lullaby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PytP9XPhP1g

What great song that I´d never heard before. We don´t think about Joseph´s perspective that often. His son was the savior of the world. Pretty intense stuff. Sometimes I wonder what they used to talk about? Probably not so much girls or sports. More like saving the world from their sin. I wonder to what capacity Joseph even understood Jesus? Was their relationship a good one? I´m sure it was. I mean it was Jesus. WWJD, right?

It must have been hard for Joseph to watch Jesus grow up and know that he would one day have to suffer(for a good cause of course).

I think it´s hard for any of us to imagine being Mary or Joseph. Actually, I think it´s impossible. We can try all we want, but we will NEVER know what it was like to have been His PARENT while He was living on this Earth..

As I looked at the pictures of that video it made me sad to think N´s hands were once that small. It´s like when you see baby pictures of your child you feel like you are running up a large sandy hill trying to reach the top to make time stop and you can´t quite make it. Just for a moment longer...be still....be a baby....but my baby will soon be 2 and I blinked for only a moment.

What can a mother do? We can´t go back in time...so I must push forward and enjoy each step of the way and all of the phases that will be her life. Until the next baby comes......

on stuff...

Signatures are weird here. I mean, they don´t even make sense..is that your name or are you doodling on the paper? I thought that was the point of a signature..to write your name..in cursive. Not make up some sort of squiggly drawing? It´s taken over the nation. At first I thought it might just be one or two people......nope. it´s everyone and it freaks me out. Write your name gosh dang it!

Totally switching topics......the locker room at the gym..

I´m not a lesiban, but if you are going to stand around BUCK naked I´m going to look at you. Is that what you want? It´s just human nature..it´s like our eyes are magnets and naked bodies are the magnetic field and zzzzzzzzzzrp I´m looking. At you. Naked. i have no idea what it´s like for men that are running around naked in dressing rooms..but I think for women it´s all about comparing. ¨Oh, so that´s what my boobs are going to look like in twenty years¨ sort of thing. I WILL say that I wouldn´t mind handing out a pair of scissors to a few women. Or possibly a weed wacker.........

Today there was a 20 something girl standing naked in front of the mirror rubbing lotion all over herelf and literally like tweaking her own nipples. Seriously? Is this necessary? I really honestly don´t need to see that. Just freaking change and get the heck out...these women are desperate for attention.

The way I see it there are three types of locker room behavior..

1. THE HIDER These women go INTO the bathroom stawl to change and would DIE if anyone ever saw them naked. Ever.

2. Go Getter These women change quickly and efficiently and would rather not be seen naked but it´s not a huge deal if they are seen. (This is me)

3. LOOK AT ME I AM NAKED! Mirror lady up above...ya, this is her category. It´s not necessary to blow dry your hair naked either. At least put a bra and underwear on for God´s sake!

So, there you have it men..in case you were wondering what was going on behind those closed doors. Now you know!

I wish

that it was acceptable to wear a diaper as an adult. Sometimes I just DO NOT FEEL like getting up and going pee. I just sat in my chair uncomfortable for over an hour because I was so warm and toasty in my snuggy and checking out great deals on Carters.com

Perfect adult diaper scenario!

104

Antonio´s grandma died on the 10th at the age of 104 years old. Oldest person I have ever met! Think how much the world had changed since she was born 104 years ago. Heck, it´s changed a lot since the 80´s...can you even imagine? I phone? Overwhelming I´m sure.

My first funeral-cemetary experience here in Spain. Antonio´s uncle is a priest so the funeral was at his church....lots of people! I´d say that part is pretty much the same. I also hear that do not embalm here that´s why the funeral has to happen ASAP. I´m glad it was a closed casket. Caskets are a bit different here... wood and tear shaped...and small!

Now the cemetary.....that is a different story. It´s like there are social classes even in death!!!!!!!! Rich, normal, poor!

Rich...it was like a village of what you would think of big Southern houses but in mini version with huge white pillars in the front etc. Incredible.

Normal: Pretty nice white marble head stones with their names and the date. Weird part.....there is like one hole for the whole family. So, Antonio´s grandma was placed on top of her sister and husband. I looked in the hole when they opened it. The wood caskets were gone and it was like bones..I guess with time the caskets just disappear. WEIRDNESS!!!!!!!

And poor: Well, that was just sad. It was like a Dickens novel from 1845 or something. Holes in the side of the wall..no name, no nothing. Just dirt.

And that my friends is what we all become after death. Doesn´t matter where they bury me cuz I ain´t gonna be there. I´ll be in Heaven rocking the dance floor.

true story...

I´m 31. I know, right? Who would have guessed I would have lived to be this old?

So..I had a great b day.

N and A came in to wake me up holding a jewelry bag...can´t ever go wrong w those. What a lovely turquoise heart necklace I got. (Thanks babe!) Then we ditched the kid and headed to the beach. Sorry N...mommy and daddy needed alone time. It was obv not bathing weather, but it´s kind of fun to go to the beach when it´s colder out. No sunburn!

Then I got all dolled up and had a night out on the town with my girlfriends. 6 of us making trouble. We ate ate a cute little Italian restaurant..good food, great wine, good company. Seriously..awesome! Until I stood up to go to the bathroom.......and my skirt fell to my knees.

So there I stand in all my pantyhose and underwear glory while a table of four men directly in front of me stare. At me. In my underwear. In a nice fancy restaurant. I didn´t even know what was happening. My friend said ¨I SEE YOUR UNDERWEAR!¨ and started pointing..and then the other one said, ¨UNDERWEAR!¨ First of all..thanks ladies for being so subtle..Second of all...Thank God I was wearing underwear..and really nice underwear at that..I decided to get all Victoria Secret black laced out.

How did my skirt fall down? Well, it zips up in the back and I guess the zipper came undone while I was sitting down w out me realizing it..

And that my friends is just the beginning of 31.

Lets hope this isn´t a foreshadowing of how this year is going to go...

Santa!

This past week we´ve had a few days off so we´ve been able to do really fun stuff as a family. It has been a lot of fun!

A shopping center near our house that we love and go to often has new German owners and this year instead of an ice-skating rink they brought something SO much better............SANTA!!

We waited for 1.5 hours in line and got sprayed with ¨snow¨ (that was wet and kind of horrible) and when we got inside N was scared of Santa and didn´t say a word........but it was all so fun and very worth it! HA! Ok, I´ll admit it. I had more fun than her;)

heartache

I knew it was bound to happen at some point. No denying it would. And it did. Today. At 1:55 pm in the Cortes Ingles department store. I started to cry. In front of everyone.

I couldn´t help it. There was Christmas music playing and I was in the Christmas section looking at all of the decorations and I saw a bowl that looked just like one that my mom has and I lost it. Wah. 30 year old woman standing in a department store crying because I´m not going home for Christmas. Real mature.

Then I went and gave Santa a lapdance and felt better. (jk!)

Dec

How is it Dec already? Seriously. How?

We aren´t going home this year for X mas. My 2nd year away from home at X mas in my lifetime...and the last time was because I was preggsters. This year we are not going because it´s freaking expensive and hard to travel with an almost two year old halfway across the world.

I go downtown and I see Christmas decorations, I go into Starbucks and hear the music and see the trees, but it just feels fake...like tomororow I´m going to go back and it´s not going to be there.

Maybe it´s because it´s 78 degrees and I haven´t even been wearing a coat, or maybe it´s because I´m not going home this year. Either way, I need to get in gear. I have not started to decorate or buy X mas gifts.

I was in the store and a sad X mas song was on and I almost started to cry. How lame is that?

It´s time for me to make NEW traditions with MY family and let go of the old ones. I hope Santa visits our house this year.