Happy Birthday Lucia!

***Belinda is celebrating Lucia's birthday by writing her first blog***

I don’t think it is fair for people to warn you or give you parenthood advice, because truth be told – NO ONE and NOTHING can ever prepare you to become a first-time parent.  It is most probably the only job in the world where you go into it completely blind, inexperienced, and scared as … (insert your own phobias here), and then just for the fun of it – throw in sleep deprivation, raging hormones, and screaming-baby-pitches-you-didn’t-know-could-be-possible.  It is a miracle that the human population is still around! 

 I mean, if someone were to apply for a babysitting job or daycare job and say – “I have absolutely NO experience with a baby, and I am hanging on by a thread because I only slept 3 hours last night and I am having a hormonal breakdown”  - there is no way THAT crazy would get the job.  And yet that is what happens each and every day.  In fact, exactly one year ago TODAY, we were ‘hired’ for the job of parenting our beautiful little girl.  Our life changed in a way that we couldn’t even begin to fathom. 

This past year has been the craziest, toughest, but most incredible year of my life.  My beautiful daughter Lucia Grace came into my life one year ago, and boy was I not prepared.  And the funny thing is - I thought I couldn’t be any more prepared than I was.  But just when you think YOU have everything under control – God likes to use life as a little teaching tool. 

And boy did He teach.
And boy did I learn!

My daughter screamed from her first day in this world, and continued to do so (straight) for the first 3 months.  I don’t just mean baby-scream … I mean scream – with pitch and loudness that her pediatrician described as ‘blood curdling and bone piercing’.  There are a few of you out there that got to witness and experience it … you know what I mean.  Never have I felt so helpless, and never have I prayed so much - I prayed for the screaming to stop, I prayed for sleep – for me and for her, I prayed to not strangle my husband, I prayed for my old life back.  There were a number of prayers said.

But as the months passed, a funny thing happened. Things … got … BETTER!!  And better, and better, and better. Everybody always tells you to “hang in there, it WILL get better”, but in the moment, it is impossible to believe them. The first 6 months were just pure survival. My husband was a saint, and as I was struggling to just make it through the day, he was doing all the cooking, cleaning and laundry – because the most I could get done in a day was get either myself or her dressed (and it could never be the both of us on the same day).

After 8 months, I would guess an average of 4 out of 7 days were functional and actually enjoyable.  And then 11 months came along and it has been a new lease on life.  She naps, plays, eats (generally) and sleeps like a regular baby (still doesn’t sleep through the night though).  I can NOW tell when she is having a bad day or doesn’t feel well, because they are an oddity – NOW.  Beforehand, she would have an ear infection or a sore throat and we had no clue because that was her regular temperament 6 days out of the week.  

Now for all of you people out there with good, perfect, happy babies – don’t judge me and don’t give me advice!  And if one more person suggests stuffing her with cereal to make her sleep through the night, I’m going to tell you where to put that cereal (and it isn’t back in the box)!  My daughter is ‘cut from a different mould’, and that is okay.  She is all the more beautiful for it.

She inherited her father’s fiery temper and her mother’s willful stubbornness.  She has her father’s rhythm and love of music (thank goodness she has the voice to go with it).  She is exceptionally serious and inquisitive, which leads to great self-entertainment for long periods of time.  I love her little quirks and irks – like her puffy marshmallow feet, her 3 fat rolls on her upper right thigh, her cellulite dimpled bottom.  I truly believe that all the hard work that goes into parenting this strong little girl will create a confident, intelligent, happy woman one day. 

Over the past year, I have not been apart from my little girl for more than 5 hours.  And as much as she drives me crazy sometimes, I miss her the instant that I’m apart from her.  Being a mother is harder than anyone can ever tell you, but it is also the most amazing thing you will ever do in your life.  To watch this miracle of life unfold before my eyes is awe-inspiring.   It is the most selfless, thankless job you could ever do, but I would still choose to do it again.  I thank God for giving me this precious gift for the past year.  I can only pray for many more (years together that is – not kids!).

I also thank God for giving me the husband and marriage that I have.  Javier most probably changes more diapers than me – including poopy ones (once again – don’t judge my parenting/diapering skills).  He bathes her each night and reads her bedtime stories.  He will get up with her in the middle of a rough night even if he has to go to work the next morning.  He watches her in the morning on weekends, so that I can sleep in.  He sadly leaves her (and me) behind each morning to go to work, so that I have the privilege to stay home with her.   

He teaches her, sings to her, plays guitar for her – I am so blessed to have such an amazing and involved father for my daughter.

But most importantly, he has stood by my side through my rough days and my good days.  He has never stopped loving me, and has never stopped trying to be the perfect husband and father.  We are a good team, with our strengths and weaknesses balancing each other out.  I can see that now, and I know God knew that when He matched us together.  The family that prays together, stays together – TRULY!

And so on this one year anniversary of unfathomable changes – I celebrate the gift of my beautiful daughter.  I celebrate every milestone that I have been blessed to witness, not missing a SINGLE one.  I celebrate every tear that I was able to wipe away, and every snuggle that I was able to enjoy.  I celebrate every laugh I was able to initiate, and every joy that I was able to share.  I celebrate every new discovery and wonder that we discovered together.  You are one of the greatest loves of my life, and I thank God every day for you.

Happy birthday to my sweet little Lucia

11 months!

They say time flies when you are having fun. Time has gone by and I have completely ignored by blog postings. I would say we have been having a lot of fun lately and probably that's why we feel like it's only been a few weeks since the last blog. If I had to describe the past two and a half months for our family in two words: sick baby.



We were sick and tired of being sick and tired and after an almost 9-week period of constant stomach and cold bugs we finally have spent the past week enjoying life like normal people do. On top of everything I decided to take one of the most important steps in my career and I switched jobs right in the middle of our sniffle battle-o-rama. Not for the faint of heart I tell you.

After 10 years of working in the investment banking world helping Oregon municipalities raise funds to build public projects, I decided to take one step closer to my dream career and join the public service. Yes, I am now a government employee. I joined the Bonneville Power Administration in the Treasury division. Less than two weeks into the new job and I can already say it was the best decision I could have made. But enough of me, you're probably here to hear about our little miss stinky pants.

Lucia has continue to grow in leaps and bounds. She's crawling and cruising on our furniture and I have a feeling he will begin walking any time now. Today, our sweet little princess turned 11 months. It seems like an eternity ago but one year ago we were really busy finishing our hospital bad list and going over the last few details for Lucia's birth. And now she's almost talking and will be walking before we know it. It is amazing how much we have also grown. I have to admit that parenthood was the hardest test our marriage has ever faced. It's so easy to have an amazing relation with your spouse when all you do is eat out, go to movies, go out with friends, go on vacations. But when all of these things go away for a while and you are stuck at home with a sick, crying baby for 3 days in a row, things can turn a little rough.

I have come to appreciate the patience that Belinda has always had with me in a huge way. I would have already kicked myself on the head a few times if I were her, but she has continued to smile as she always does even in the toughest of days (or sleepless nights).

We took Lucia to a coop pre-school two blocks away from home to see if we wanted to put her there one or two days a week starting next year. It is an amazing place with really nice teachers but after a lot of thought we decided that Belinda really wanted to spend as much time as possible with Lucia, because it will be a once in a lifetime opportunity and we'll have plenty of years to send her to school in the future. So for now, we will continue to be her teachers.... (huge responsibility).

We are really excited because as Lucia continues to grow into a little girl, the weather is starting to change and I am looking forward to enjoying the longer summer days with my little family. We are going to drop off our bikes this weekend for tuning and service and we will continue getting things ready to hot the ground running once the weather turns and the sun comes out again.

 

2011, the best year of our lives.

You know how some of us say "it was the best ______ ever". Fill in the blanks. Belinda and I usually fill in the blank with some type of food, usually ice cream. I think this also applies to years. I have to say my life has been so blessed that usually on the last few days of the year I look back and say "this year was the best one ever".

For us, 2011 was the year when we became parents. This has been the most joyous, nerve-wracking, trying, tiring, gratifying and fulfilling experience of our lives (and she's not even one year old). I am grateful for many things, but especially for our little Lucia.

As we look back we have been blessed in so many ways it is hard to summarize here, plus I already talked about that in my previous Thanksgiving post.

Lucia turned 8 months last week. She got the two front teeth my American friends sing about every Christmas :). She has been developing so many new motor and mental skills it is hard to keep track of them every day. Belinda has been doing an amazing job as a mom, housekeeper, milk lady, rocking champion, playmate, cook, nutritionist, nurse and baby fashionista. I have asked her if she misses her days working at the hospital and she always replies "are you kidding? No!". She misses her co-workers but definitely prefers the aroma of a fresh poopy diaper to some of the patients' well-aged scents she had to put up with every now and then at the hospital. :)




Speaking of diapers I have to point out the obvious, but something I am very grateful for. During the first few months, when their poop is runny and gets EVERYWHERE, at least it doesn't stink. Now that it is starting to stink (a lot), at least it is usually contained in one little pile and we don't have to deal with diaper explosions the way we did initially. So I guess it is one more of the many tradeoffs we experience as Lucia continues to grow. Here here for stinky AND solid!

Lucia has been sleeping longer and longer every day. Last night she slept for 11 hours straight (8pm to 7am) and she just woke up from a 2-hour nap. This girl is probably going through a growth spurt and mommy and daddy are enjoying every minute of it!

Glenda (Belinda's mom) got a job in Portland and finally moved over on December 6th, becoming officially 100% of the family we have in town. It is so nice to have her living a few blocks away from us. On Monday Belinda and I went to the movies for the first time since Lucia was born. Bear in mind that we used to go to the movies at least once every two weeks so this was a very special date for us.













Everyone told us that the best Christmas present for the baby is the wrapping paper and we confirmed it a few days ago when we opened presents. Lucia was in wrapping paper heaven for a few hours.  Here's a little video we made in case you haven't already seen it on our facebook accounts.

Thanks GIVING

One of my favorite American traditions is Thanksgiving. This was my 12th Thanksgiving since I moved to the US and it was the first one as a family of three. Belinda and I have no idea how to cook a Turkey, yams, pumpkin pie or any of the other delicious and traditional American Thanksgiving dishes. But we are experts at eating and enjoying them in the company of good friends (thanks to the Spains for adopting us again this year into their family Thanksgiving).


As the day went through I kept thinking how grateful I am for all the blessings in my life. It is so easy to get distracted from the essential and complain about the superficial. The last time we were at the hospital was for the most joyous reason: to welcome Lucia to this world. That was the only time we have been at the hospital in the US. The last time I was at the hospital for a family issue was in 2000 when my mom had two strokes and today she is still with us more alive than ever and enjoying her granddaughter.

I have a job. One in ten Americans don't have one. One in four Southafricans don't have one either. We have a warm and dry place where to spend the night. We have never worried about having enough money to buy food. We buy new clothes. We have a car and money to buy gas. We can visit family when we can take time off work. So many things we take for granted. So many things we truly believe we are entitled to. But in reality we don't deserve any of it. They are all blessings and I am thankful for each one of them.

Last week Belinda chatted with someone (who will remain anonymous) who was going to spend Thanksgiving alone. When asked why he wasn't visiting family he said he just didn't have enough money to buy a bus ticket to go. This person had not seen his family in 6 years. They live 8 hours away by bus but he has struggled for a while and without a job or money couldn't afford the luxury of visiting his loved ones. We couldn't see our families this Thanksgiving either but that's because they live in a different country and we couldn't take the time off work to travel. We decided to thank our Lord for being so good to us and share with this person by buying him a bus ticket to see his family.

We have done these type of things in the past, usually from Belinda's initiative. We never share this with anyone because we don't need the recognition and because it is not the 'proper thing to do'. Well, this time is different. While we certainly don't need the recognition, this world needs more people like Belinda. I am sure we are not alone and that most of you out there in cyberspace reading this blog have done similar things for people in need and I want to thank you too. I am tired of hearing sad news every day and I would love to hear more of these type of stories so  even if it's not considered polite to talk about the good things we do I will continue doing this every chance I have. Maybe it will help brighten your day a little bit as it sure does brighten mine.

I am thankful for every material thing we have but I am even more thankful for having a wife that keeps my feet down to the ground and reminds me how blessed we are and how we can share the little we have with other people.

I really hope we are good parents to Lucia and that she grows to have the same amazing and giving heart that her mom has.

Fall...ing in love

Ok, if you have endured reading some of my previous posts you pretty much know I will eventually state how much I love my daughter. Well, this will not be an exception.
I love my daughter. Lucia has exceeded all our expectations on how much love we can have for anyone. And to think that our Heavenly Father loves us even more than that is just mind-boggling.

Anyway, we are having the time of our lives with Lucia. She's changing so much so fast that sometimes we would like to press the pause button just so we get to enjoy every little moment with her. For example, Belinda and I have been waiting for Lucia to turn on her own. Last week she finally did it. And I missed it! Belinda left Lucia laying on her back on her playing mat right next to me. I happened to be checking my email. Two minutes later Belinda walks into the room and asks me "why did you put her on her belly?" After seeing my clueless face we both realized Lucia had just turned on her own for the first time and no one saw it. Of course she's turning on her own all the time now and she just started showing some interest in crawling so we will be watching for that next big step in her life.

My parents are visiting us for a couple of weeks and needless to say they are in 7th heaven with their little granddaughter. She's so much more alert and socially active than the last time they saw her (2 months ago) that they are now able to enjoy her even more. Lucia loves her grandpa. We don't know why but every time he walks into the room her eyes light up and she gives a huge smile.

My mom plays the piano with her every morning and Lucia loves it. There is something about music and sounds that has always been interesting to her. If she's getting fuzzy I usually take out my guitar and start playing for her and she usually calms down and just watches me play for a while. I really hope she shows interest in music when she's older. If she enjoys it half as much as I do, she will have a blast.

The infamous earrings. So, as some of you know or may have noticed we had Lucia's ears pierced while we were in Mexico this summer. Pierced ears in baby girls are a common practice in Mexico. In fact, it is usually an item on the hospital checklist if you want her ears pierced before you all leave the hospital to go home.  Anyway, we came back from Mexico and for the first 2 months she wore her earrings without a glitch. Until last week. Belinda was feeding her and we thing one of her earrings got caught in the blanket and when Belinda pulled her up, the earring made her ear bleed a tiny bit. Of course we were so upset and felt so guilty that we even considered just taking the earrings out permanently. If my parents hadn't been here with us we would have probably done just that. However, my parents helped calm us down and we put a new pair on that should have fewer chances of getting caught on anything. We'll see how it goes but for now my baby is still wearing the distinct Mexican heritage of earrings. And I must admit that I love how she looks with them.

It is November 6th and the sun is shining in Portland, which means I should get in the shower and get out of the house quickly to enjoy the dry weather treat. We'll probably take my parents out for a drive at the Columbia Gorge to enjoy the fall leaves scenery.

Oh, and by the way, the picture above with the green stuff on Lucia's face was her first experience eating avocado. Certainly not a good one. Maybe next time we'll make the avocado into guacamole and see how that goes!

My dear sweet little angel

Words cannot even begin to describe how much we love you. You have brought more joy into our lives than we could have eve imagined. Your mommy and I had been talking and dreaming about you for many years and today my little girl, you are literally a dream come true.

We are so blessed that we get to spend the rest of our lives together. Today, as you turn 6 months we look back at how our lives have changed and we cannot imagine life any other way. It has been a bumpy ride at times, especially as we learn how to be parents. We have made every effort to be the parents that you deserve and with time and a little patience we will eventually get there.

I am about to spend three days away from you. I started missing you and your mommy the minute I walked out the front door this morning to go to work. You and your mommy complete me and inspire me to become a better man every day.

You know, you are one lucky little girl. You got the best mommy anyone could ever wish for. I fell in love with her almost 10 years ago and I can tell you she's the most loving person you will ever meet. She's smart, compassionate, patient and she's very pretty, just like you. She studied really hard for many years to get her dream job. Now she decided to put her career on hold for a while to spend time with you at home and care for you and me. We are just that special to her. I don't have to tell you more about her, you will realize in time what am I talking about.  

It is getting late and I have been traveling all day for work. I should probably go to bed soon.In the meantime, let me tell you happy half-birthday my little Lucia. You are truly a blessing in our lives and we cannot thank the Lord enough for allowing us to take care of you, His daughter.

Grow up strong my love, just not too fast

Again, I'm probably stating the obvious but bear with me. After all, this is the first time I experience these new feelings as a dad. For the past 23 weeks we have been hearing from everyone (friends, family, strangers at the grocery store, literally EVERYONE) to enjoy our baby because "... they grow too fast".

Today I started feeling exactly what everyone had warned us about all this time. Our little baby is growing up too fast. A little over 23 weeks ago she took her first breath of fresh air. Today she ate her first solid food. There's no going back, and I am now a little worried we will miss some of these amazing stages.

On the other hand, I think of my parents and their generation that didn't have digital cameras, smartphones, internet or skype. They managed to record a few memories of us in polaroids and 8mm film. We grew old and they probably felt the same way I am feeling today. I am so happy for modern technology that allows us to take thousands of pictures of our lives and document/share it with our loved ones even if they are literally on the other side of the planet.

So this evening as I finish writing this blog, I will be able to share with Lucia's grandparents, aunts, uncles and even her great-grandmother her first experience eating solids. My baby girl is growing up and I am looking forward to enjoying a lifetime with her. She is part of our family now and it is now three of us that will continue making memories for the years to come.

Glenda (Belinda's mom) came to visit us for a few days and we are thrilled that she's here. She baby sat for us on Friday and Belinda and I were able to go on our second date since Lucia was born. We are praying really hard for her to be able to move to Portland and be closer to us. We miss our family and having her around will be a huge change in our lives.




I cannot wait for Lucia to wake up in the morning so that I can hold her and squeeze her like I do every day. For now, I will take a moment to remember the best 23 weeks of my life and to thank our Heavenly Father for giving us the privilege of choosing us to be Lucia's parents.