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...

Hi everybody! I just wanted to log on here today to give a bit of a life update for our family before the craziness of the holidays begins. Time has flown since we got back to Spain from our summer in Michigan. I could say that I don´t know where the past three months have gone, but I do know. And soon you will, too. I started working in mid-September at a private academy one town over. I was looking for a teaching job this year that would let me stay home with the girls as much as possible and this position is perfect. I am with Vera and Laura all morning, drop them off at daycare around 3pm and then go to work until 10pm. Getting home that late sucks but for now and until they start preschool it is really important for me to be with them as much as possible, partly because I love being a part-time stay at home mom and partly because I really want to solidify their English before they start school. Even though they will be going to a bilingual school, I think having a strong bas...

Only a few days ago, Jose, the girls and I arrived back in Spain after spending six weeks back in the States. I wrote about the first half of our adventures here and about our annual GAGME family trip here but I figured I needed to chronicle the rest of what we did before school starts again and I forget. At the beginning of August we went up north to celebrate our extended family´s annual reunion (PUFO) on Lake Huron. This year was an extra special weekend since almost all of my cousins were there, plus all of their kiddos. We had a lot of children under foot for a few days and the weather cooperated enough for us to spend time at the beach. My aunt and uncle had just recently finished a huge renovation on their cottage and it was beautiful. Jose, the twins and I stayed a few extra days up north and were visited by our friends Erica and Ernie who drove over from Mount Pleasant. We all stayed at my cousins´cottage for a couple of nights. Unfortunately we didn´t have th...