Dia de Gracias

It has been quite awhile since my last blog entry. Thanksgiving brings alot of discussion about gratitude. I am grateful that Maximo and I spent our first Thanksgiving together with Leo as a family unit. That we are altogether with my family in the USA is a bonus. This year, my brother Usher and his wife Jenny and their boys, Pierce, Kelsey and Reese came to us in Phoenix.

On Thanksgiving morning, I made some of the side dishes. I took some time to enjoy a film classic the original "Willy Wonka and the Choclate Factory" with Maximo (who had never seen it growing up in Argentina) and Leo. My 8 year old nephew commented he liked the "Johnny Depp version" better.

Our turkey dinner together. We began the meal by each of us saying what we were grateful for. We cooked 2 turkeys however, it turns out the bottom oven does not work so one turkey was inedible. It was a glutonous meal with too much food. It was a leisurely meal and we all began the

The holiday season makes me reflective. I thought back on how last years Thanksgiving in Buenos Aires was remarkably different. We had over 20 friends, guests and visitors in our small apartment. We had a pot luck style dinner with my friend Katie's dad visiting from California doing a majority of cooking. It was a special dinner. I could not imagine the next year would be very different.

Its not only different because we are bank in the USA but having a child makes all of my thinking different. We are planning on seeing my friend Kelli in San Diego for the holidays in December. How I will fit a pack and play, bottles, clothing, diapers, stroller and breast pump into our car? How will we maintain Leo's bedtime routine? What happens if we run out of diapers? I have become of those "women with baby gear." I finally understand why when I was single and my friends who became moms were suddenly unavailable. I thought these moms had fallen off the face of the earth when they had a baby. I get it now! My life has changed so much for the better and I am grateful about it.

The Little Boy Who Would not Sleep

Leo is 14 weeks. He is supposedly passed being "colichy." He is talking alot. Yesterday, I made a rolling "r" sound with my tongue touching the roof my mouth. Leo imitated the noise. It was the sweetest noise I ever heard. WHAT A GENUIS!

After his amazing sound imitation he fell asleep in the car ride to Tempe Town Lakes. We had a "playdate" with Jennifer and Stori. I met Jennifer through mutual friend in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was a conicidence (or are there really coincidences?) that she was from Phoenix, AZ. She returned back to the states shortly after we arrived. I consider Stori a sort of "older" sister to Leo. She is 2 years older then him.

Leo slept through the entire playdate. I did not have to take him out of the car seat as he slept through everything. We met a friend for our lunch. At lunch, he woke up and fussed but went back to sleep. We got home and he woke up. Maximo arrived home and took him away so I could get out of the house alone. I realized that
a journey outside of the house alone is a gift.

I returned home only to have Leo asleep again. I knew he would be up in a few hours as he did not have any boob or formula. (I supplement as formula is fattier and tends to put Leo out quicker then breast milk) I know there are purists out there, the anti-formulistas but when you are sleep deprived you got to go with what works!
He woke up at 9:30 got fed,4:30 am stared at his dad and lay in the crib, 5:15 am up and fed. I knew something was wrong when he fussed with his food at 9:00 am. It took 45 minutes to get him to sleep in the bouncer. However, when he was up he was up!

Leo has been awake since 10:15 am. I did everything that I know to get to him sleep again. I even "let him cry" but it did not work. As I started writing this post and nursed him (I have to multi task) he got quiet and eventually started to fall asleep. I suppose just giving him a boob and white noise (typing on key pad) was the trick.

Wait, wait dont tell me

Every week, Maximo downloads the new pictures of Leo from the SIM card onto the computer. After he downloads them, he emails the photos off to his father in Argentina. Maximo's dad, Leo's abuelo Andres has not yet met his first grandchild. When will he meet Leo? I have no idea.

According to Abuelo Andres, things in Argentina are "muy mal." The Argentine government has "borrowed" people's pensions. Crime is on the rise. There is actually less violent crime in Argentina then the U.S. Its alarmed Abuelo Andres enough that he fears traveling. We hope he comes here before too long.

Tonight, Leo's grandma watched him so we could go out together sans. We went to a sushi restaurant in old town Scottsdale. The city of Scottsdale is all lit up with Christmas lights. It makes the town look pretty. Its also a reminder of the poor state of the U.S. economy.

At dinner, we reflected on this being our first Thanksgiving together in the U.S. since 2005. The last 2 years in Argentina, our expat friends and I would get together and have Thanksgiving dinner (see Nov. 2007 post). I am happy to be able to spend Thanksgiving together with Maximo and Leo and my immediate family.

Halloween

Leo had his first halloween. He started the day off by carving the pumpkin he picked out from the pumpkin patch. In the earlier part of the day he wore his skeleton costume and lunched with his girlfriend, Amelia. That nigh he attended a Halloween party. The party was outside and we were able to people watch. One of the scariest costumes was the grim reaper. There were the usual witches, cowboys and one of his friends was Curious George. He was pretty exhausted and we went home early. We watched the Jack-o-lantern light up the backyard. (see photo) The following day we took the pumpkin seeds and roasted them. A special shout out and thank you to Kelli for the recipe.

Now, we can go on to concentrate on the election. Arizona had early voting and mail in ballots. Unfortunately, I did not find out the information until it was too late. I will go around 5:30 am on Tuesday to vote. The polls open up at 6:00 am but I dont want to risk waiting in line all day. According to friends, the wait for early voting was over 5 hours!! I am glad people are getting out to vote. It will be interesting to see what unfolds. At this time next week we will have a new president!

the cousins are here!

On thursday night, my sister, Unice, husband Stephen and their boys David and
Louis arrived in
Phoenix from D.C. They were followed by the arrival of brother, Mike and his wife Samantha and children, Grant and Brooke. The house was full of voices and toys. Leo was very excited to meet more of his family.

On Saturday night we had a belated 70th birthday dinner for my dad (aka Grandpa Abe) He was delighted to have 5 of his 8 grandchildren surrounding him. Its been a happy and exciting visit as I truly experience what it is to be a mother and a sister, daughter, aunt and wife. For the party, Maximo grilled steak and salmon ala parilla style. We got these fabulous cupcakes from Sweet Thang bakery. (see photo above) We were all over tired especially the "D.C. cousins" who were jet lagged and without a much needed nap.

We reconvened the next morning for a fabulous brunch at "Sanctuary Hotel." This is a breathtaking setting surrounded by mountain views and lush green landscape. An interesting note, Sanctuary Hotel was built in the 1920's as a sort of athletic club for Hollywood stars coming out to Phoenix for a bit of "r and r." We then paid a visit to the Scottsdale train park. A park complete with a train all can ride around the park.
At the end of the day, everyone started to drift off, exhausted from all the activity.

On Monday, we drove up to Sedona. We took a tour of the Sedona scenery while riding in the "pink jeep" tours. My niece Brooke and nephew Grant were looking like Joe Cool with their shades on. We ate lunch at L'Auberge de Sedona which is in Oak Creek Canyon.