Allie in the South of Spain

Surprisingly I felt like this pregnancy was harder than with Vera and Laura. I felt worse than when I was growing two babies and I chalk this up to already having two three year olds running around as well as working. I didn´t have morning sickness but was tired all the time and felt out of sorts. This pregnancy also seemed to go on forever since Carla was born at over 40 weeks. She was just too comfortable in there. Thankfully with how crappy I felt for a while, she has ended up being a nice baby so far so I will forgive her. We found out I was pregnant in the fall and by Christmastime I was already feeling gross which affected my  family´s visit from the USA. I was bummed about that and tried to take it easy as much as possible. It was an overall uneventful pregnancy with no major complications and towards the end I did start to feel better (although I never got to experience that pregnancy glow that other women seem to have, what the hell?). Unfortunately we didn´t get a ...

It has been a year since my last post so as you might guess, there´s been some changes around here. The biggest being a new addition to our family, Carla who was born this past July. Obviously that means I spent the better part of this past year pregnant (and not feeling great). Jose and I both taught the last school year in our respective schools and we´ve been doing well overall. We celebrated Halloween with a group of friends at a park and the girls dressed as ladybugs. They also did some quick trick-or-treating with the neighbors on our floor at our apartment. At Christmastime my parents, sister Katie and niece Daphne came to visit us for a week or so and we loved having them. My favorite part was our ride on the Christmas train and our trips in our big rental car to visit close villages. We celebrated the holidays with Jose´s family as well and I am excited to say that this upcoming Christmas we will be visiting home in Michigan! I am absolutely kicking myself for not doi...

Summer is coming to an end and I am not ready. I am never ready. It means going back to work and our usual routine. Although July was not great for us (Jose and I worked part time for the first three weeks, we painted our apartment the last week and had a lot of not super things happen/bad news throughout), August ended up being pretty wonderful. So all in all, it balanced out. This summer has not been as hot as summers past and yet it is the first time that we have taken FULL advantage of our pool. We have been swimming almost every day and it has been a life saver. If I had to pick a theme for  this season it would be bathing suits and Frozen since both have accompanied us throughout. I have that damn movie memorized by now and so does Vera. The girls probably watched it five times on our drive to and from France to visit Jose´s sister and family for the first two weeks of August.  We went to Paris for the first half of August and stayed part of the time with Miri...

I am back again for another update on the happenings around these parts and honestly there is not much to report. We have had a strange spring here in the south of Spain when it comes to weather (very cool and rainy) and the girls have been sick on and off so we have been taking it easy. We went downtown Seville to see a few processions on one day of Holy Week. The girls were not impressed so we didn´t last very long. Laura and Vera looked cute though!  We went to a few different ferias, both in Mairena del Alcor and in Dos Hermanas. Vera and Laura LOVE wearing their flamenca dresses. In fact, given the choice they would probably wear them every day. We have also been to a bunch of birthday parties of the girls´friends (they have a serious social calendar, highly in demand). Jose and I have been starting to plan our summer since we will be staying here in Spain. We are trying to take advantage of our time here to work and get some projects done around our ...

It is official, we have 2 two-year-olds at home and although I was afraid, very afraid, things have been pretty good so far. We haven´t had many meltdowns or tantrums but we have been hearing a lot more NO! The girls want to do stuff for themselves and they have their own ideas about everything. Laura and Vera have been talking a lot more in general, too. They are still mixing languages and using their own twinspeak but have a lot more words and are making short sentences.  We hosted a birthday party for the girls at the beginning of the month and invited both family and friends. We ended up having a lot of people come and I think everyone had a good time. First we had a paella with Jose´s family and then later cake and treats with the rest of the guests. Vera and Laura had a blast playing in the bouncy castle and ball pit. It was a great day that started with birthday pancakes and ended with two exhausted toddlers and two wrecked parents. On the actua...