Carla turns 2

My littlest turned 2 last week. She's no longer a baby and she will tell you, "yo solita," which means "I can do it by myself." Carla may not be talking much yet but she has quite a personality and it shows. She wants to do everything her older sisters do, doesn't want to be left behind and she's very independent. I guess that's pretty common for kids that have siblings.


Her birthday fell on a Friday so she celebrated at daycare first and then with us at home in the afternoon. She was pretty spoiled by her friends and family both here in Spain and from abroad. Thank you to everyone who sent gifts and well wishes. We appreciate all the messages and posts for our girl.


The next day we had a small celebration with some of Jose's family in their village. Carla didn't have a first birthday party at all due to the pandemic. This meant that this was her first (second) birthday party and she had a blast swimming in the pool and playing with her cousins and sisters. 


It's hard to believe that it's been two years since Carla was born after taking her sweet time to decide she was ready for this world. Although she was difficult in being born (my mom flew over from Michigan for a two week stay right around my due date and Carla wasn't born until the day before her return flight so she just got to meet her and then leave), she has always been an easy child and continues to be a nicey girl. She loves her baby dolls, lining things up in rows and reading books. She enjoys an ice cream and teasing her sisters. Her favorite person in the world is her abuelo. She goes to daycare happily each day and it doesn't seem to matter to her that people around her are masked all the time. Children are amazing in what they adapt to.

As I write this post I can't help but to reflect: Carla's first two years have been quite intense. She was born and almost immediately after I was having ultrasounds and biopsies done on my thyroid, which led to surgery. Weeks later we took off to spend a few months in the USA for a wedding, baptism and Christmas. When we returned early in 2020 I had a radioactive iodine treatment and consequent quarantine before we were smack in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. Spain had one of the most strict confinements in the spring which took us into a strange, locked-down summer. We all went back to school (teaching, studying, masters etc) in the fall before selling our apartment and moving twice. It's been a crazy past two years and Carla has taken it all in stride. In fact, all three girls have been incredible and I'm proud of them.

Happy birthday, Carly Darly! Here's to many more and a HUGE birthday bash next year when we are in our new house (hopefully).



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