November

So, yes, we've been terrible about blogging and now I'm just doing a bunch of catch up writing. I've had a few people request more photos or at least updates on how our Christmas tour went and so I'm just going to do a couple of posts breaking down the past few months.

November was pretty mild. Started off the month by celebrating O's best friend's birthday and then we had our anniversary and Thanksgiving to celebrate. A friend of ours offered to watch O so we could go to dinner and celebrate our seven years together in peace. I was almost to the dessert course before I remembered that we had a little boy waiting for us-- it was just such bliss to eat a very nicely done steak with the luxury of time to actually chew instead of having to choke it down as fast as I can so that I'm free to entertain little O. Thank you, Fernanda and Andres.

And then there was our Thanksgiving feast. We celebrated it on Sunday with a few friends, a couple roasted chickens, and some turkey running around somewhere having been spared his fate on our table. Andrew did fantastic roasted chicken and, despite his doubts about my stuffing from scratch, actually acknowledged that it ended up being ok to not do Stovetop. Homemade spiced nuts, rolls, beans with fennel, and Michelle's pies topped the meal. It was odd how much fennel we ended up using this year. On a side note, Andrew was in charge of the camera and took precisely ten photos of the food (eight of them of the chickens, which did look beautiful) and five photos of O.

Here's a link to our best photos from November. I can't remember why but I didn't have a best photos of September album on Picasa so I put it up here-- if anyone still cares. I know I've published those photos before on FB but I think Dad is still having a hard time figuring out social networking so this link is for him.

Bag - Cat = Baby

I don't know who knows and who doesn't at this point so I thought I'd make a formal announcement. Our fantastic awesome blog probably isn't on anyone's regular rotation, and if it is I feel real bad since the last post was in September, so don't know who this will actually reach. But just thought I'd inform all interested parties that our family of three will be growing by 3.33% (give or take) in the beginning of August. It's a decision that may only be regarded as dangerously reckless, but we're rolling the dice that the difficult first couple of years will pay dividends as they grow up together.


But really, can you imagine any kid cuter than this?:




New baby has his/her work cut out for them. That's all I'm saying.

Costa Brava

Which, in Spanish, means the Brava Coast. I think. I'm not sure what Brava means, but it reminds me of patatas bravas, which I love and had a couple up times up there. Mmmmm, love that bravas sauce....

Lost my train of thought. Anyway the important thing is, here are some pics.

PS It literally means the Brave Coast, but I've been told it really means the rugged coast. Still love those rugged potatoes.

The Madrid Metro system...

...would like to invite you to get funky.

I've wanted to take this picture for over a year now. This last time I was in Madrid I finally got my chance. I think it pretty much speaks for itself.

Apparently I've turned into one of those people I complain about. I always felt a bit annoyed when peoples' blogs are all about pictures of their kids or what their kids are doing. Generally I'm friends with the parents and so I want to know how the parents are doing and what they're up to. While I certainly care about the kids and like to know what they're doing, I just kind of am more interested in my friends rather than their kids. Callous, I know. I feel like a terrible person for admitting it, but now I have joined the ranks of people who only blog about their kids and I realize why they do it. Andrew and I don't do anything without O and frankly he's the most interesting thing in our lives right now. We're not learning any new tricks and we certainly aren't as cute or photogenic as O, and so we put his photos and videos forward as proof of our validity and best offering to the world.

The last night Heidi was here, though, she was kind enough to take O for the night and let Andrew and me go to a movie. We chose which movie to see like it was our last chance in a theater, as well it might be for the next year. Star Trek won out and we took our cab ride to the theater without looking back. Thank you Heidi.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I feel the need to clarify. I absolutely do care about my friends' kids and enjoy watching them grow and change and love having a fun relationship with them. I just am so poor at keeping in touch with my friends that I always want to hear more about how they're doing. Basically, I want peoples' blogs to fill in for my laziness at being a good friend. Is that too much to ask?

I Feel Like Gwyneth Paltrow

After we said goodbye to Heidi we took O to his first music festival. There's a giant electronic music festival here every summer and this year they decided to do a little one for kids. From what we could tell, most of the people involved in organizing the adult festival were having kids and weren't quite ready to give up their raving days and so they organized the kids festival.

We met up with our friends Fernanda and Andres and their daughter Martina. M is a couple months older than O and so we get together for playdates and walks every week. The festival was a fun way of mixing it up. They had some cool displays and demonstrations of things to do with kids but mostly we enjoyed just hanging out with everyone.

Heidi Fun Time

I am way behind but since we haven't gotten any comments on the blog in a while, I'm not entirely sure anyone even reads it still. Can't blame anyone for giving up hope on us since we do tend to be terrible bloggers. But Dad appreciates the posts, so this one's for you, Papa.

My fabulous friend Heidi came out and visited us for a week in June. We walked, we talked, we saw the sights of the city, and we spent many a night

up late talking, almost succeeding in adjusting Heidi to the local time schedule. Not easy for someone who willingly wakes up at 5.30am.

It was fantastic to have her here-- she's someone who always reminds me to laugh at myself and to truly enjoy all that life has to offer. Her visit included a beach day with O which was a mixed success. I can't say he's as addicted to a coastal life as I am but we're working on it.