Allie in the South of Spain

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...

Let me start this post by saying: Babies need an incredible amount of stuff. It's amazing really. And yes, I understand that they don't ACTUALLY need all of the things that we have created a necessity for as parents but a lot of these items do make my life a heck of a lot easier, so they are now my must-haves (like my double boppy pillow!!!!!). It isn't true that you need two of everything with twins, however. We make do with one of a lot of stuff like a play mat, or a rocking seat. Some we were able to have only one of until recently like a crib (now they are bigger and moving a lot so they sleep separately). But it just seems as if the bigger the girls get, the more crap they need. Today is officially the day that Jose and I lost our living room to the babies. We have surrendered, hoisted a white flag and become resigned to the fact that it is really no longer our space. You have to understand that our apartment (like most throughout Europe) isn't large. We have ab...

This is going to be a quick post just for posterity. Two weekends ago we went to our first wedding as parents with the twins. Our friends Juan Pablo and Lourdes got married in Jose's hometown. The ir ceremony was in the same church where Jose and I did our vow renewal and then they had a reception at a hall where we had never been. The girls were dressed as "damitos" for the ceremony along with our other friends' kids. I think they looked adorable in their specially made dresses (although as my mother-in-law pointed out the quality of the clothes wasn't that great). Jose and I actually left Vera and Laura with my in-laws after the ceremony in order to be able to enjoy some adult time. And we completely did. We took advantage of a kid-free afternoon. I decided that I wanted to have a big hat for this wedding and got one made by a local lady who does great work. If anyone is in Dos Hermanas I would totally recommend Conchi at Complementos...

This weekend was Vera and Laura's baptism into the Catholic faith. We had the ceremony at the church which we joined in the town where we live on Saturday and then had our family and friends all go to a restaurant to have lunch afterwards. It was a wonderful day. My mother-in-law made the girls' gowns and bonnets this summer and they turned out beautifully. I think the twins looked adorable and it's special to have these dresses now for any future children we might have. She did a gorgeous job! I am in awe of her talent and plan on asking her to teach me a few basic things soon. The girls with their abuela The actual ceremony was performed by the deacon who lead our pre-baptism classes and I would say that was the only negative of the whole day. It was quite hot in the church and he just kept going on and on. It was the same as the three classes we had, repeating himself, scolding people, over explaining things. In any case when he finally got to ...

August has been a crazy busy month for us! We spent the majority of it back in Michigan with my family and then flew back to Spain on the 25th. As always, we get to the first of a new month and I can't believe my girls are already a month older, so much bigger, doing different things and at this point are becoming less infant-tiny baby like and are now biggie babies.  The very beginning of the month of August found us still in Grand Rapids after our GAGME family reunion weekend ended. We stayed a few more days at my sister Katie's house to be able to hit up a few more breweries and to be able to hang out with my niece Daphne. I am not sure how much she enjoyed having her cousins stay longer at her house though. It is tough for her since she was the only grandchild for a while and then all of a sudden a bunch more came along. Jose and I love Grand Rapids, in fact we went back at the end of our trip again to complete the brewery passport that you can get and accumulate sta...