Hi Everybody, Thank you for indulging my parade of memories posts, there are more to come but today is picture day! Merry Christmas! -Love, Arnold, Amelie and Elian
Getting dangerous with the pens. Obviously not my idea.
Mami shows off her vocal skill signing "Los pollitos"
Papi rocks the swing!
Tunnel Vision
How long did it take for Arnold to introduce Elian to Juan Valdez? One day.
Our little rubber ducky loves taking baths, which is great because we’re currently bathing him a tiny bucket. We have to seat him Indian style so that he fits. Then we place this tiny bucket on a stool in the shower so Arnold doesn’t break his back. It’s about as safe as it sounds. Except that superMom technichal advisor Offir sat there and gave us step by step instructions as in “Okay, now wash his armpits”
The first night I was kind of terrified of the bathing process since Elian wasn’t really taking well to having his clothes taken off at all. We’ve also had many a bad experience trying to wash our high-strung puppy so perhaps it’s our personal history that made it so scary.
It didn’t help that he started freaking out the minute we took him to the bathroom but apprently that was just some kind of pre-bath confusion because he LOVES taking a bath. He loves splashing, he loves trying to drink his dirty bath water and he absolutely loves playing with the foam blocks that Dahlia and Mark got him. He also didn’t mind that all five of us crowded in the bathroom watching Arnold give him his first bath. Elian is nothing if not a star.
Later that night when Andres came home all of us who were “privileged enough” to be there for the first bath exciteldly showed him the videos. His reacion “Oh my God, It’s like “Washing babies for dummies instructional video”
Well, I can’t believe we finally made it to… Houston.
I'm gonna be in trouble when he finds out I posted this... LUUUUUUUUCY!
See this weirdo sleeping on the floor? Yeah, that’s Arnold and I think this picture says everything about the crazy week we’ve had… I always thought as the day got closer that we would be a Hallmark card of excitement and joy but it was more like a Lifetime “Special Event”. There was anxiety, fitful nightmares, bureaucratic debacles, heavy workloads and lots and lots of hysterical crying. I won’t speak for Arnold but I quite frankly spent most of the week alternating between three states of being: 1) Hysterical Mess 2) Freakishly Efficient 3) Overwhelmed with Gratitude. I think that psychology textbooks refer to this kind of week as a “Stressful Life Event”.
It’s very strange indeed to oscillate between having a hysterical breakdown on the phone with an FBI agent to cooing over baby clothes and installing childproof latches but it’s all over now and I feel like I’m starting to come together and let myself start to get excited. And now, lulled by the comparative blissful calm of the Houston airport it’s all starting to sink in… tomorrow, barring any further disasters we are going to meet the little boy who will be our son. The little boy who will change our lives forever. The little boy we’ve been imagining and praying for and loving from afar for three long months.
Ready for a quick culture lesson? In Colombia there’s something called “giving papaya” and let me tell you “papaya” isn’t something you want to give. In English we say “asking for it”. It’s the opportunity for someone to tease you or make fun of you in some way. For example if you say somethign stupid or wear something dorky you are giving papaya. There are two rules to papaya
1) You should try not to give it.
2) If someone else give it, you must take it.
This is why when Lisa thought that my new short hair was a wig I was wearing for the party Arnold felt obligated to lie to her and say “Yes, isn’t it a great wig?” He was obligated to take the Papaya! It’s a cultural rule.
My friends and family used to give him a lot of Papaya that he would happily take. Now 10 years into our relationship people are wising up. They’ve finally seen past his innocent smile. There is only one person who has never given Arnold papaya and that is my Uncle Jim. I think it is his legal training that has prevented him from falling victim to the Papaya. When were in the mountains and Arnold was making up ludicrous stories about seeing all-white albino deer the night before my Aunt Carole innocently believed him. She excitedly started remarking about how unusual that was! My Uncle however began with a cross-examination of when, where and what the deer looked like. I was so pleased to watch Arnold flounder around as my Uncle Jim took HIS papaya.
I’ve been putting off this post because I don’t even know how to describe the delicious insanity that was my 30th B-Day Party. It seems words alone can’t do it justice, but here goes…
My friends are creative (no really they have actual creativity licenses, physical ones!) but they really took it to another level. Even though I knew there was a party being planned I had no idea what was in store until I arrived to find out that they planned an entire party around the premise that I am actually… a huge, famous Jenny-on-the-Block style pop star.
SO VERY AWESOME!
They made fake album covers (Sample album: Big ears. Bigger Fun.), a tour t-shirt and an insanely detailed Biography DVD about my humble roots and rise to fame. The DVD included baby pictures that I myself have never even seen. When I asked Debi where they came from she shrugged “I called your Mom and spent a few hours at your house downloading pics and copying photo albums”. You know, like it ain’t no thing to put together fake biographies.
Oh yeah and they got everybody to dress up as pop stars (or soccer players depending on your interpretation of pop star) and rented a karaoke machine so we could spend the whole night being rock stars, which we did, for hours and hours and hours.
Did mention that they all sang me “Happy Birthday” with a recording of the New Kids on the Block? While I blew out the candles on a cake made from a recipe from Julie and Julia (one of my favorite books). The attention to detail was astounding and apparently I experienced a party that was very much restrained compared to the original brainstorming session. Not that it mattered, the party was themostfunever. At some point Emily put her hand on her forehead and sighed “I forgot it was possible to have this much fun.” I totally agree. I laughed so hard my face still hurts three days later.
Debs Lisa and Em, I love you more than chocolate and peanut-butter. Thank you for giving me the gift that keeps giving, memories of Arnold singing Macarena.
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The start of the school year wears us out...
