Friday=Swing Day. Don't mind his crazy hair, just a little yogurt hair gel.

My friend Debi installed her own WATER HEATER. What? What?

I didn't feel so good so I spent a lot of time here. A nice white duvet is like sleeping in whipped cream. Thanks to Amanda Hesser for the brilliant metaphor.

My parents came to visit and brought pomegranate balsamic vinegar and basil olive oil from their homeland. That is one of many reasons they are welcome anytime.

My Daddy and my baby Daddy. I haven't spent Father's Day with my Dad for at least a decade so it was extra special to have him here for Arnold's first Father's Day.

We went out for Chinese food to celebrate Father's Day.

I love them so much.

This is part of Michelle’s Bits of my Weekend Community.  To check out more weekends visit her blog here.

This is both my greatest strength and my fatal flaw:  my total inability to not follow my heart.

Eight years later we’ve had some incredible ups and downs many of which I’ve shared on this blog.  However this past year has been the most up/down of them all. It’s brought us the incredible frustration of filing the adoption paperwork and the unforgettable joy of celebrating the day we received Elian’s first picture.  The unimaginable love and amazement we felt the day we met our baby boy and the heartbreak of watching him suffer through the separation from his foster family.  These first months home as a family have been both better than our wildest dreams and more difficult than I could’ve ever imagined.  Eight years ago sitting on that swaying train I never in a million years would’ve imagined where life would take us but I’m glad that I at least had the common sense to choose my husband well.  Without Arnold I would surely not have made it through this last year.  He has carried far more than his fair share of our trials and stitched up the pieces when I’ve frayed at the seams.  He has forgiven a multiple of sins and encouraged me when I’ve been bereft of hope.  He has proved his mettle time and again to love me in good times and bad and I’m so blessed to be his wife.

PS-I can’t believe how much bigger he is now.  Crazy.

PPS – Thank you to everyone who shared their encouraging words and crazy parenting experiences yesterday.  I truly appreciate your support!

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Okay who I am kidding?  Before we adopted Elian I used to grab Arnold and random intervals and demand “What are we doing? Is this a good idea?  Are we going to hate each other after we do this?”  There was pretty much nothing hidden about my fears.  I had a similar type of panic attack right before we bought our house.

Despite my natural tenancy towards anxiety one thing I’ve never worried about is whether Arnold would be a good father. Anyone whose seen him fuss over Nutella can immediately see that he is “Bestfatherintheworld” material.  I’ve always known he would be a wonderful father and now that I’ve seen him in action I can’t help but think not only are we the luckiest parents to have Elian but that Elian is the luckiest little boy to have Arnold.

One morning the first week Arnold single-handedly fed Elian breakfast (incidentally the third breakfast he made, since Elian rejected the first two) while keeping him away from the Christmas tree ornaments and distracting him so that he wouldn’t have a fit about not being allowed to touch the Christmas tree ornaments.   It is no joke feeding a toddler without a high chair in someone else’s home.  Trust.

The first day we broke out the stroller I asked Arnold if he needed help and he waved me off indignantly “I used to wheel my Tia all over Bogota” I’m a professional.  And you know what?  He totally is.

At night Arnold puts Elian to bed cooing in his ear and tucking him in snug as a bug as a rug.  In the middle of the night he wakes me up saying “I think his blanket is on his head, do you think he is okay?”  He plays with Elian spoiling him with kisses and has infinite patience with the hard parts of each day.  When I spent 20 minutes flossing my teeth the first week because I couldn’t handle one more minute of tantrums Arnold sat on the floor with Elian as he kicked and screamed.  He picked him up and held him tight as he cried hysterically for his beloved foster mother while I sat in the bathroom with my head in my hands and the cleanest teeth of my life.

Arnold is now and always has been a wonderful husband but he is an incredible father.  We’ve been married for almost eight years and together for almost 10.  After so much time together I didn’t think it was possible to love him more but now I know that I was wrong.  Like most people I hate not being right but  every time  I see Elian in Arnold’s arms, I think that being wrong never felt better.

Surprise party!!!!!

It all started out pretty simple but then as more people got involved I decided it might be better if my organizational contribution might be to “take Arnold out to the movies” so the party could be prepped.  I have to say this was a very smart move on my part.  I avoided a lot of boring discussion about what beverages should be served with cake plus I got to go to the movies.  Miraculously Arnold didn’t suspect a thing.  When Carmen called and asked if he was at the door yet he turned to me and said “We better get back now, I think my Mom’s tired of being with the baby.”  Then he detailed out an elaborate plan for the rest of our night which included taking Elian on a walk and taking Carmen to mass.  Meanwhile I nodded in agreement as I plotted my dastardly surprise birthday plans “Muwahahahaha!’

I have to hand it to the Restrepo-Perez-Carrascal families.  They really know how to surprise the right way!  We opened up that door to a “Happy Birthday” chorus and a never-ending stream of people who poured out of Andres’ bedroom.

It was a great day, wish you all could have joined in the fun!

It was Arnold's Day so of course our first stop was Juan Valdez. I got chided for taking pictures which is "Not allowed at Unicentro". Look at baristas indignant face! While she lectured me I took the opportunity to "Not speak good Spanish, am gringa"

We saw Avatar in 3D and ENGLISH! So happy about that. Not as excited about the weird "cows show you how to do yoga" cartoon that preceded Avatar. Long and weird.

We ate lunch at Wok. I swear I almost cried when I ate those noodles, it tasted like home.

Elian observes Dad's technique. Jorge Hernan approves.

Party People in the HOUSE!

Are these people nuts? Don't they know that we're not in Sacramento? It's really not cold enough here to demand a ski hat or a fleece!

Arnold and Elian check out the Colpatria building.

I ended up with Elian's ski hat after I realized we dressed him for Minnesota and it was like 70 degrees outside. The beautiful weather didn't stop me from having a little aromatica bought off the street though.

Beautiful Bogota with Bomberos on standby.

As you can tell it was perhaps not the most calming environment to put Elian to sleep.

We were pretty much obligated to buy some street food. Patacones and churros. Si, porfies!

Elian is too cool for New Year's Eve. He opted to go to bed early... okay so did we!

A Street Food binge should always be followed-up by onces. Agua Panela, queso fresco and a little pan de coco.

We watched the fireworks from Martiza and Andres' bedroom window. They were out partying, as all proper Colombians should, all night long.

Elian and Arnold enjoy Plaza Bolivar

A bit of background:  Elian is a hyper-active kid, I mean even for a toddler he seems a little bit on the Richard Simmons side.  He is a ton of fun every day, but he is not the type to quietly play with his blocks in the corner.  He is the type to open and close the door while shrieking at full strength for 2 hours or so.  He can also spend hours throwing cell phones or screaming because we won’t give one to him.

Abuela Carmen has not yet met Elian yet because she lives in another state.  She’ll probably be coming in a few weeks to Bogota to get her visa etc. but she is VERY anxious to meet Elian so she calls everyday.  Tonight we decided to make the extremely dubious choice of letting her talk to him on the phone.  I was pretty sure that he would try to throw the phone across the room and then scream when we wouldn’t give it to him.  If we were extra lucky we’d get a full blown-parents start-counting-to-100-must-stay-calm style temper tantrum.

Instead something unimaginable happened.  The second he heard her voice he was lulled into a state that was equal parts comatose and tender.  He smiled sweetly, placed his hand gently on the phone and snuggled into Arnold’s chest for a long chat with abuelita.  For the next 10 minutes or so he laid on Arnold’s chest babbling softly to her and when they were done chatting he turned to Arnold’s face and I held my breath as I saw my son kiss his Dad’s cheek for the first time.

First conversation with Abuela Carmen