A day of Painting

Today I was awakened to a beautifully fresh squeezed glass of orange juice. I am truly a lucky little lady.

I have done absolutely nothing but paint all day long. I even skipped dance class, which is unheard of, with the promise to myself that I would instead go tomorrow.

I have a little personal problem, being my own worst critic and all, I am constantly creating and then deciding I hate what I have just spent days making, only to transform it to something else.
A few days ago I decided that I no longer liked the very first painting I did of the little red bird...hanging next to all of the other paintings I liked him less and less with each day...so today he was reincarnated as twins! And oh how I love the transformation!


To add to the growing collection of birds and owls, I also did this one...Which perhaps is my new favorite!


Besides painting, I have been really really lazy. My brain seems fuzzy, like I am on a different planet. I am not thinking straight and feel just short of a vegetable. Apparently this is normal for new mothers, but I am a bit panicky that I am going to end up staying like this forever!
I find myself thinking, is this what happens to all the mothers out there in the world, and why all of the little old ladies are so clueless about life, because they got knocked up, ended up on cloud nine and never got down?

Beautifully Put

Our Earth is wounded. Her oceans and lakes are sick; her rivers are like running sores; The air is filled with subtle poisons. And the oily smoke of countless hellish fires blackens the sun. Men and women, scattered from homeland, family, friends, wander desolate and uncertain, scorched by a toxic sun...
In this desert of frightened, blind uncertainty, some take refuge in the pursuit of power. Some become manipulators of illusion and deceit. If wisdom and harmony still dwell in this world, as other than a dream lost in an unopened book, they are hidden in our heartbeat. And it is from our hearts that we cry out. We cry out and our voices are the single voice of this wounded earth. Our cries are a great wind across the earth.

- From the Warrior Song of King Gezar

Brujerias!

Some people in the United States believe in the magic of crystals and pendulums, in Argentina it is a bit more simple. There is no need for shiny rocks and shaman blessed pendants. Any married woman in the room simply takes off her golden wedding band, strings it through a slim gold chain, certainly someone in the room has a gold chain on, and the magic begins.

The gold ring is threaded onto the gold chain are then placed in a pile of a woman's right hand. This woman does not need to be pregnant at the time...This method is said to be able to tell the future as well as confirm the past. When the time is right, the designated fortune teller lifts the chain, trying hard to be as steady as possible.

At which point the ring does one of three things at this point: either it swings in a slight circle, meaning your first child will be a girl, swings back and forth in what is some what of a straight line, predicting a boy, or it simply does nothing, meaning you will have no children.

Because I really want to have a boy and a girl, I made my niece try it several times with me, not just over my right hand, but over my left, over my stomach, laying down...and all 4 times the results were the same.

When I shared this with my mother today, we had a good laugh about my great grandmother Dorothy, who was quite the definition of a witch. She read the tarot and foretold the future, and drank a few too many vodka tonics before she passed out in her lazy boy each night. She was a wild trail blazer of a woman! When my mother was pregnant with my sister I remember my great grandmother using her pendulum to confirm the ultrasound that said my sister was going to be a boy and we all swore she was moving the pendulum on purpose. Silly grandma. Maybe it was the vodka.

Interestingly enough, I did some investigating and apparently in the US, it is visa versa! The circle is for the boy and swinging right to left it is a girl!

So, according to the golden ring in the southern hemisphere, I will have two children, both of them boys, and by northern hemisphere standards, I will mother two little ladies.

This being said, if any of you grandmas, grandpas, great grandparents, or aunts are thinking about buying cute little baby gifts, it is probably better to go with gender neutral colors, yellow, green, brown, cream, red, royal blue, etc.

Moving Right Along

Everyday we get a little bit closer to finishing our new addition. It is not easy living with the dirt and dust of a construction site, but I am being patient, something my father taught me a long time ago. He said, "The best place to practice learning patience is in the checkout line at the grocery store, getting impatient isn't going to make the line move any quicker, and that is how life is, you can't make things happen faster than they already are, so just sit tight and wait it out."
He is a wise man in a burnt out hippie man's body, but looks can be deceiving, for there are many a wise man quote that ring through my ears daily thanks to him.

Getting back on track here, yesterday they poured half of the roof, which means we are 1/4 of the way finished. I am not sure if they have begun using these types of methods there in the US, but we have chosen to use styrofoam bricks for the roof, making it much lighter and more insulated at the same time.

I can hardly wait to get to the good part, the decoration!
In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the most recent progress.

Another highlight of this weeks past is that we have found Jalapenos!!!!
I thought I was going to cry when, casually walking down the street, we discovered a small hole in the wall with imported can goods from Mexico.
I have eaten so many in the last few days that I suffered sever heart burn nearly all day yesterday, but it was so dang worth it!

Project of the Day!!

Oh man, yesterday my friend Adrianne sent me this link called "Tuesday Tutorial" which includes a new crafty activity for each week. This weeks tutorial was called a "tutowlial" because it is a how-to-make-your-own-little-stuffed-owls

So...of course it was one of the first things I did today...start an army of little stuffed owls from all the left over scraps of fabric I have been saving for years, knowing that some day it would come of good use.

I really like the small one better, but my mother brought up a good point. She said, "you can't give your baby a toy with small swallow-able sized buttons on it! The baby could choke!" Something, I, would have never thought of...So, I kindly plucked his button eyes and replaced them with fabric ones, THANK GOODNESS FOR MOMS!!

Get ready because they are so cute are gonna want your very own!
I will be taking orders...hehe

10 weeks

Today I am 10 weeks along...just two weeks short of finishing my first trimester. The "young one" is now approximately 1 inch long with recognizable eyes, ears, fingers, and toes. All of it's internal organs are functioning and it's brain is growing at an incredible rate of 250,000 new cells every minute.

What that says to me is, if my child's brain is growing at such an unbelievable rate, that means my body is the one producing those cells. The food I intake each day is being converted faster than I can eat it! My brain, my mind, my heart...are all working together to produce life.
The body is really a mind blowing machine! It is so hard to believe that in 40 short weeks, we are capable of building such a complex system, a system that may one day repeat this cycle of giving life.

There is no technology advanced enough to even come close to mimicking the efficiency of one's own body. In fact, breast milk still remains a complete mystery!

Baby Sling!

So I have been seeing all of these women using what they call a baby sling. This sling runs between 30-50 dollars, and after carefully examining one, I decided to make my own. I changed the pattern quite a bit, as I thought that the other slings looked unsafe. This one may need some reworking as the baby gets heavier, but in the meantime...Octubre fits nicely! hehe

So it is just undyed Lycra that I sewed first into a cylinder. Then I cut the unsewn edge in the form of a "C" which makes for a nice little pouch.

The only downside is that the more weight you put in it, the lower it hangs...which means I will need to cut the strap to be a bit shorter.

On another note, today is international friendship day! International meaning, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. However, most all countries now celebrate a friendship day, and in the US they celebrate it on July 30th instead of July 20th. I have searched google to find out where and when it first began and have been unsuccessful, nonetheless, I think it is a fantastic and wonderful thing to celebrate! So to all my friends, I thank you for being in my life! And to all my family, I thank you for being my friends!

I send you love from way down deep in the southest of souths...the bottomless pit that is my tiramisu eating tummy!

A hard day's work

I awoke to a cloudy drizzly day, quite with no sound of hammers and cement mixers hovering over my head, I was able hear the birds sing songing for the first time in weeks. I spent most of the day inside, as usual...working away on my miniature paintings.

The only moment I did leave the shelter of my home was to go have my nails done. Now that I am no longer part of the nail biters club, I am fascinated with having them done. Today I tried this cute little place that opened this month, called Make My Day. It is a make over parlor done in all red and white...super cute and the price of the manicure was super reasonable. However, I suppose you get what you pay for! After nearly 2 hours of dry time, they were still wet! I have successfully ruined my shiny red nails. Ugh!

So...I attempted to paint them on my own...worse idea! I have made a complete mess of myself, and have now re-painted them for the third time...trying to give them sufficient time to dry, but each time touching something I shouldn't, whereby ruining them yet again.

I don't get it! How can my hand be steady enough to paint small intricate details on canvas, yet when it comes to my own finger nails it looks as though a 3 year old got a hold of her mother's stash of 1980's nail products.
Lets hope that the third time is charmed. Now, after this oh so stressful day, I am going to a nice hot bubble bath while I continue reading one of the best books I have read in a very long time; "Three Cups of Tea."

Before doing so, however, I wanted to post my hard days work...

Project disaster zone...ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!

I have often been referred to, from time to time that is, as a messy person. You know, the artistic type that looses themselves in what looks like something short of an artistic war zone... Someone that has 15 projects going all at once, including dinner and dessert...then suddenly has to up and go, whereby leaving everything exactly where it lay until she gets around to finishing those projects, as it would be a mere waste of time to carefully store everything just to get it all back out of it's storage place the day after tomorrow...

That is me...and THIS is my living room!


I have been so inspired with projects of all sorts, that I can barely finish one before I begin another!

After spending something short of 50 hours on the afghan I started a few weeks back, I am sick of looking at it! I have even come to hate the colors I have chosen, and have decided only to finish it in order to make a new bed for Octubre, my cat.

In the meantime I have started another one, which, as of right now, I like much more...later I will post photos of the finished product, because right now...there are more important projects to post.

After hours of perusing the internet for ideas and inspiration in children's room decor, I think I have decided. I found this fabric, only available in the US, of course, that I just absolutely love.



With this fabric in mind, I have begun painting small sized canvases to hang in a cluster on the wall.








Two down...several to go...

Tear brimmed eyes

Yesterday was Sunday, family day. Not every Sunday, but at least every other Sunday, we go to a nearby town called Funes, where my sister in law and our nieces and nephew live. Traditionally every Sunday, Claudio's family, and most Argentine families, get together forming a lunch table of about 15-20 people. As time goes on, this tradition is being lost, however, yesterday there were 7 of us.

Though it is winter here, the sun was out and if felt more like a lovely spring day. So, taking advantage of the sun, Claudio took my first tummy pictures!

At two months, I am barely showing, In fact it looks a lot more like an exaggerated version of a beer belly only much firmer. I would like to also take this time to draw your attention to my manicured finger nails, for which I was awarded after having stopped the gnawing and chewing of my hands.

Around 2pm we finally all sat around the table for a very traditional meal, pot roast with raviolis and a red sauce. I, of course, gorged myself beyond what seemed humanly possible, and then some.

Then Agus arrived, the second to the oldest of my nieces. She came in, tired and smelling of bakery, after having worked from 6-2. She headed straight to her room. Without my noticing, Clara, my youngest niece, had excused herself from the table to follow her. A few minutes passed, and I continued grazing like the growing cow that I am, when suddenly Clara, handed me a package. She smiled and said, it is for BiaJu (her invented version of Bianca and Juan).

My first baby gift! Carefully I began opening the package, and instantly I was in tears. My first set of newborn clothes, a onsie, leggings, a little jacket, and booties, all out of the same fabric, with a note promising a beanie, blanket, and burp rag in the making. My nieces, who want to be declared as honorary aunts rather than cousins, had all pitched in to have these specially made out of a cream colored fabric with beige colored giraffes printed all over it, so it would be unisex and so it would all be matching.

I looked at Claudio through tear brimmed eyes, he too was crying. It was a moment to always be remembered.

Building a House and a Home

So we are in construction!
Monday through Saturday, from 9-5 I have a crew of 3-6 hard working workers pounding a way at laying the bricks that will soon form the walls of our new addition. When all is said and done, we will have added about 800 square feet, three bedrooms and a bathroom.
We are aiming to have everything finished, wood floors and all, by the end of October.

I keep thinking about the coincidence between us building on to our house, and building on to our home. While both "home" and "house" are nouns, and tend to be interchangeable, their meanings for me are drastically different.

What is the true meaning of "home?"

There are dozens of sayings regarding where and what "home" is:

"Home is another word for Peace."
"Home is where you lay your head."
"Home is where the Heart is."

If this last one is true by definition, I then find my home in the world, as my heart is strewn across the map.

But the anonymous quote that I like the best is this one:
"It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home."

We are building on to our house. At the same time, we are building onto our home, our family...
Adding strings and heart ties that attach a new and more profound meaning to the word "home."

8 weeks

At 8 weeks the embryo now becomes known as a fetus- Latin for "young one." The young one weighs less than half an ounce and it's primitive circulatory system is carrying blood and oxygen to it's rapidly developing digestive tract.

If you ask me, there is nothing cute about this photo. The body is an incredible mechanism, mindblowing even in it's ability to create life, but cute, cute is something it is not.
My "young one" looks a bit more like an alien!

Morning Sickness
My morning sickness comes and goes...and as long as I keep ingesting massive amounts of oranges and mandarins I find that I am A.O.K!

Of all the books and suggestions, I have to hand it to my genius cousin about the vitamin C tip. No where in any book has it mentioned this small yet pertinent detail! You can eat all the saltines and drink all the sprite that you want...but the only thing that has seemed to work for me is 2-3 glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice per day.

After a long online chat with a friend, I realized that my stomach is being very demanding at very early stages! I am only 2 months prego and already I am having to indulge what seem like life or death cravings. Two days ago, at approximately 9pm, I HAD to make Tiramisu. I was not going to be able to sleep if I did not eat at least a portion of this creamy chocolate decadence. Now, if I am experiencing this at only 2 months, I am afraid of what is to come! So, after chatting a good long while, we came to this conclusion:

Claudio is a saint!

He is so patient and attentive, catering to my outlandish needs. I truly am a crowned queen. (Fun Fact: Stephanie, Greek in origin, means "crowned")

:::::::::::NAMES:::::::::::

Most of you have already asked about names, and some of you know because I have been talking about those names for like 6 months now. But, for those of you that don't know, here are the names we have decided on.

Should this wonderful creation of life create itself into a baby girl, we will name her Bianca.

The girl's name Bianca and is pronounced bee-AHNK-ah. It is of Italian origins and means "white, or pure." Bianca was the subject of a song in a spin-off musical "Kiss Me, Kate" and was also made famous by former Rolling Stone wife, Bianca Jagger, who was a Nicaraguan fashion model, peace worker, and diplomat. Most importantly, however, Bianca is the name of one of Uranus's moons, discovered in 1986 in the Voyager 2 expedition.

Should this life be fantastically created into a baby boy, we will call him Juan Nicolas.

Juan is the Spanish version of John, and means - "God's gracious gift."

Nicolas is the Italian version of Nicholas, a Greek name meaning "victorious people."

However, the meaning of Juan Nicolas for us, is much more profound, for it is the name of each of our fathers. Why would be name him after our fathers you might ask? Well for one, Claudio's father passed away 18 years ago and we wanted to find a way that he be present in our children's lives. While my father is still very much alive, as you all know, there are very slim chances that he will ever come to Argentina to play his role as grandfather, so we wanted to pay homage to the both of them.

On that note, regarding grandparents that is, I am very fortunate to have several!!!

My fondest memories as a child were made with my grandparents. Shirley Temples with Grandma and Grandpa Cariker, (always extra cherries without even having to ask!) And the secret snickers bars I use to devour in the garage when my mom wasn't looking,
Sing songs and moving making with Grandma and Grandpa Hawley, learning to paint with Grandma Carolyne, organ lessons and learning to curl my hair and put makeup on with Great Grandma Underwood. Going through my Dad's old keepsakes with Grandma Ramey, the annual decorating of the Christmas tree with Grandma and Grandpa Hurley...

I could go on forever...

Our children will, unfortunately, will have only two grandmas and one grandpa, two of which reside 12,000 miles away, BUT...The amazing part is, our children will have more Great Grandmas and Grandpas than anyone I have ever met! And our goal is to help you all forge beautiful relationships with your grandchildren and great grandchildren regardless of the distance between us!

1000 days and counting

One hundred and ninety three years ago, Argentina declared their independence from the Spanish rule on today's date, July the 9th, 1816, whereby commemorating the start of a new holiday.

This holiday might just be the only holiday in Argentina where there is no huge celebration, no grand party, feast, or commemoration, no overwhelming political act, no fireworks, or official parades. It is a day that people get to escape the daily routine of work, a day of rest.

As for us, WE are celebrating something totally independent from this day of independence...Today, July the 9th, 2009, we are celebrating 1,000 days of our happy marriage!

Now, I would have never ever ever ever ever thought of this, however, for those of you that did not know or have forgotten, Claudio studied to be an accountant and of all the skills he has mastered, numbers are his strong point!

You might ask, "well, how do you plan to celebrate this anniversary of 1,000 days?"
With a beautiful beef stew, full of banana nut squash, zucchini, carrots, potatoes, celery, leeks, corn, beans, and whatever else I can find in the kitchen to keep my witches brew brewing. "Well, that doesn't sound like much of a celebration," you might say. That is because you all are enjoying beautiful warm sun shining weather...and today, in our river-side city, we have reached temperatures of 4 below zero. (25`F) What I am trying to say is, It is EFFING COLD!

Kitty Love

Ok Guys!
My stomach is not that big yet! I am just sitting sorta weird with my muscles all relaxed.

Soo at 7 weeks I look like I am 7 months!!

We were watching a movie when I realized that Octubre, our kitty, was positioned as though she were hugging the baby!
She feel asleep that way and I couldn't resist the photo op!
"Hurry Clau, get the camera!!! Octubre already loves the baby!"

Baby Book!

So, the afghan is coming right along, however, there are so many projects I want to be doing, I had to stop in the middle so as to get on to other less timely things!


The making of the baby book!

When I was in the states, I bought a book full of fantastically colored paper used for scrapbooking. My grandpa laughed as if to say, "what in the hell do you need that for?" The truth is, I didn't need it, but I am glad I have it because it has come in so very handy during these craft making days of my nesting!

What I did was glue these six pages together at the edges, then I cut a piece of heavy mounting board to to size. I carefully glued and cut the paper to envelope the mounting board, creating the front and back of the baby book. Now I just have to take it to get spiral bound Friday morning!

2 hearts that beat as one

At 6 weeks the embryo's eyes, arms, and legs are present. It is less than a 1/4 inch long, yet has a heart beat that beats in time with my own. It was at 6 weeks that I began to have a bit of nausea. I never doubled over and blew chunks, though I came close. More than sickness I just could not imagine eating anything other than fruit. In two days I consumed nearly 20 pounds of fresh fruit, and yes, I suffered from a minor case of diarrhea (even though prenatal pills supposedly constipate you, it seems that is not my case)

As you know, it is winter here, which has been perfect for me because I have absolutely no desire to do anything but stay in my pajamas, watch movies, make art, and read. And because it is cold outside, and everyone is suffering from the swine flu here, I have a fantastic excuse for justifying my sudden homebody-ness.

So at 6 weeks I started this afghan! It is not yet finished but when it is
I will post a large photo of how it turned out!

The day we read the news...

It was the second weekend in June and I knew I was pregnant. We had decided to try to have a baby upon my arrival home to Argentina in April. It didn't take long! By the first part of June, my breasts were swelling and I was sure we had conceived. Though as not to be overly eager, we waited another week. On Monday June 15th, I could bare the wait no longer, and sent Claudio to by a pregnancy test. We sat in the bathroom together, me peeing on the long white stick that would soon show us two pink lines, and Claudio knelt down in front of me. We waited the whole three minutes, careful not to peek, smiling with anticipation. When the three minutes had passed, Claudio looked at me, face serious and calm. He said, "I do not want you to be disappointed if it turns out that we are not yet pregnant. It will come in good time." I promised that I would not be upset, and only then where the positive results revealed! Screaming with excitement we kissed and cried and laughed and smiled, all the while holding each other on the bathroom floor.

The Path to Life

From Cosmic intelligence came space:

From space, air;
From air, fire;
From fire, water;
From water, plants;
From plants, food;
And from food the human body,
Heads, arms, legs and heart.
- Taittiriya Upanishad

For all of those that want to follow us on this creative journey, my plan is to post photos and messages throughout the week, so that the geographical distance might shorten it's gap between us, and so you might also take part in this magical moment!