Allie in the South of Spain

This post is coming late because as you might know from my last post, things have been a bit crazy around here this month. Now that we are back home from the hospital and I have some more free time I am going to try to write more on the blog, especially since I feel like the girls are growing so fast! This entry is important since it chronicles their first Christmas. Enjoy! Noonie came to visit! I like the Christmas season but I have to say that this year was super special since it was Laura and Vera's first. Jose and I tried to do all the fun stuff associated with the holidays and over the past month and a half we have had a blast. From shopping for gifts, to spending time with family and friends, to visiting Seville and our town´s city center, everything has been wonderful.  Downtown Sevilla We kicked off Christmas by heading into Seville to see the lights. We went after work one afternoon early enough that it wasn't too cold and before there were too many people...

These last two weeks have been awful and I am just now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel of crapiness. It all started on a Sunday night in mid January when I myself started to feel terrible and began to get sick. I woke up probably every hour from 2am until Jose went to work throwing up. When I was still feeling like death in the morning, still getting sick, I called off work. Jose took the girls to daycare and I stayed home between the bed and the bathroom. I know that I am a big baby but being nauseous is one of the worst things. That and migraines. Just gross. I was seriously ill until mid-afternoon when I was able to fall asleep for a while. When I woke up I was feeling slightly better, Jose brought the girls home from daycare since they called saying both had a slight fever and so we had a low key afternoon and evening after Jose took them to the urgent care. This type of visit to the doctor has become sort of routine for us (since the girls started daycare). U...

Christmas Eve I just re-read my monthly update for November and I am happy to say that December was much easier on all of us. Laura had a lot of congestion and both babies got new teeth but we all got a lot more rest. So yay! Plus this last month was a lot of fun with the girls´first Christmas (which I will write another blog post about soon). Jose and I were off work for the last week of December for the holidays and we did all kinds of fun activities to celebrate the season. Plus Jose´s sister came with our niece and my mom arrived right at the end of the month so things have been busy, thus the late monthly update. Ready for a visit to Jose´s village We had a few days off at the beginning of December and we spent them trying a new restaurant close to our apartment and meeting up with friends. We also went to see Jose´s family in their village before the madness of Christmas began. The month went by very quickly and most of it was spent getting ready for the holidays, de...

It's been five years since I first started writing these blog Christmas cards and I spent some time this afternoon looking back through the past four that I wrote. Things have changed a lot but life just keeps getting better. We have had another wonderful year and I hope you have, too! As usual, I will list the things we are most thankful for from the past 365 days but before you read I will give you a hint, almost all revolve around babies. Surprise, surprise, huh? If you feel the inkling, here are links to past cards. It's especially fun to see the progression of the yearly pictures we take which have become a tradition in themselves. Since the first digital card we started taking them all in front of our Christmas tree the night of Jose's work dinner: Christmas 2015 Christmas 2014 Christmas 2013 Christmas 2012 Here is our list for 2016: 10. After taking a year off teaching while I was pregnant, this fall I started a new job which I am very much enjoying. Be...

I am not going to lie. We have had a tough month. Daycare is a cesspool of germs and both Vera and Laura have been sick since they started. These past few weeks as the temperature has cooled have been especially bad. Besides feeling awful myself that they aren't feeling well, any of us getting enough sleep has been difficult, especially for Laura. We have been in and out of the doctor's office for bronchitis and chest colds for the past month. And I don't want to jinx it but during the last few days it seems like things might finally be improving and we might just have babies with congestion. Although now as I write this it looks like more teeth are coming in so I guess I should just accept that I will be sleep deprived for the rest of my life. I am so thankful for my in-laws who have taken the girls overnight a few times so that Jose and I can catch up on some rest.  Jose's birthday was at the beginning of the month and we had a lot of grand plans to celebrat...

The month of October has just ended and with it we mark the girls' eight month birthday. To be honest, we didn't really do much that was exciting over the past few weeks because of work and the babies being sick. It was a tough month in a lot of ways. The girls have been going to daycare for a few hours each day as I go to school and teach class. Things have been going fairly well so far except for the fact that they have been sick with colds basically since they started. Recently things took a turn for the worst with Laura and she ended up with bronchitis and an ear infection. We took them both several times to the doctor and with medication, patience and a lack of sleep for us parents, things appear to be looking better. Vera finally got her first two teeth this month but she doesn't ever want to show them, little stinker. She will smile with her mouth closed as if she knows you want to see them but won't let you. She is moving around very well on the flo...

This past month has been a month of a lot of changes. We have been busy with lots of stuff going on so there is quite a bit to update. First we had the girls' baptism at the beginning of the month. I wrote an entire blog post about it which I will link here if you want to check it out. All in all it was a wonderful day that we spent with Jose's family and our good friends.  The following weekend we took Vera and Laura to their first wedding which didn't last very long since we ditched them after the ceremony. Mom and Dad needed some alone adult time and Jose's parents were more than happy to take care of them for a while. I wrote about the wedding here .  We have made some changes to our living space to make it more baby friendly. We had to move our furniture around in our living room as well as start to baby proof every thing. Our next step is going to be installing some baby fences or gates to keep these almost mobile babies contained. Vera is almost cr...