Missing Them

I think with the New Year upon us, and feeling a little sentimental about what the New Year will bring us, a baby girl, I am especially missing my Grams and Paps this morning.  Love you guys and wish you were here.   Missing you so much....

Christmas

This Christmas was especially wonderful, knowing that next year at this time, we will have 4 stockings to fill : )  Rafa and I were on a serious budget this month, so we kept things real simple except for buying things for baby girl of course.  Christmas Eve, Rafa was my hero.  He painted the baby's room perfectly pink all in one day, even though sleeping in would have been preferred.  In the evening we went to Marisa and Derricks house to celebrate with apps and drinks.  We enjoyed the evening with their little family (Kayla and Brianna), Marisa's mom, dad, and brother and with Janelle, Pedro, and little Ava.  It was nice to spend time with friends, who really are our pseudo family!  Christmas morning, I was up early, and surprisingly, so was Rafa.  We opened gifts by the fire with Bella, who we realize is becoming more and more spoiled by the minute.  Later in the day, we cleaned up the painting mess, worked on fixing the squeaky floors in the baby room, and set the furniture all out. And for dinner, we had the traditional fixings.  By 5pm, all of us could have slept till morning : )

It was a wonderful little Christmas : )

Dinner with Anaya's

Stace and Nick are in town this week for the Christmas holiday and we were able to hang out for the evening last night.  It was a beautiful evening that started off with Snow in the Sylvan Hill and ended at Meriweathers for dinner.  It was nice to see our good friends and hope that we can see them again real soon.

Baby Bump 8 Weeks - 25 Weeks

We are growing!

Baby Girl 24 Weeks

So we went for our 24 week appointment yesterday and everything is as it should be...she is measuring exactly 24 weeks, no more, no less.  The heart rate was 149 and she is still a girl : ) The technician said it was hard to take photos of all her various parts because she was squished up in a tiny ball.  In fact her hands were holding her feet in some photos.  Rafa video taped the ultrasound and at the very end she yawned, clear as day.  How cute!  But Rafa says he's tired of ultrasounds....he wants the real deal.  Just about 16 weeks to go!

BTW, I think she has my nose, see the little tip curl up just a tad?  Or maybe I am just imaging things : )

Tree Time!

And what a perfect tree it is this year!  We were supposed to go humble, but Rafa really wanted a big full tree.  And so we picked up this beautiful Grand from a local place (but the tree is from Washington).  It is so beautiful and smells so wonderful!  Gotta love the Northwest!

On our way to get the tree...

Rafa trims...

Bella rests : )

Ready for Christmas!

Corvel Holiday Party

Last weekend we went to the Hotel Deluxe in Portland for Rafa's company holiday party.  I had a Shirley Temple and ate the night away!  The food was so delicious, I really ate for two, maybe even three : )  Of course Rafa's plate was a mound of meat and potatoes, like always.  We chatted with a few couples who all had three kids each, so the topic of conversation was all about baby : )  Of course, I didn't mind, but Rafa may have gotten a bit squeamish when the ladies started talking about breast feeding : )

W+K Holiday Party - Brasil Style!

This years holiday party for Wieden + Kennedy was Brasil themed in honor of celebrating our new office that we opened in Rio de Janeiro.  It was a very nice evening!  I especially liked the drumming and samba dancers ( Rafa and I danced too!) and Rafa especially liked the Caipirinhas and all that meat they served.  Nice job W+K, celebrating our friends to the south : )

Photo booth take 1 and 2 : )

Baby Gifts From Brasil

Here are a few things from our trip to Brasil:

Raquel (Rafa's sister) made this, it is a Princess Leah kimono from Star Wars : )

These are outfits that Rafa wore when he was a baby.  The one on the left his mom made.  She gave these to us for baby girl : )

I picked up the outfit on the right at a little shop inside a feirinha.  And Rafa's brother Gustavo, and his girlfriend, gave us the little shoes (see the little Brasil flag?).  So cute!

Fortaleza/ Cumbuco Brasil, Thanksgiving Week 2010 - Local Pictures Edition

Brasil has so much color and flavor, it is hard to capture the sights and sounds that make it the wonderful country it is.  I didn't spend too much time taking pictures, because, after all, I was so tired from all that lounging around (!), but I was able to get a few that I enjoyed that will remind me of my first trip to the NE.

 This is a caju fruit, in english is Cashew.  The green top holds the cashew nut : )

Jangada boat

 Kids at play on the beach, which is something I enjoyed watching the most when we would go in the mornings.

 The dunes 

Fortaleza/ Cumbuco Brasil, Thanksgiving Week 2010 - Family Edition

Rafa and I traveled long and far to the beautiful NE of Brasil, about 26 hours there and 24 hours coming back.  While the travel was long, it was one of the most relaxing trips I have ever been on.  And even with being relaxing, we seemed tired all of the time!

Our days consisted of waking up to the early morning sun, about 7am, having breakfast of fresh local fruits and fresh breads delivered by our caseiro, Marcus.  Then we would walk two blocks to the beach where we swim and watch what seemed like hundreds of Kite Surfers.  Cumbuco is after all VERY windy!  We would walk back home, where we would stop for a Fruitati (like a Popsicle in which my favorite was the limoa, yum!) or a Magnum ice cream filled with caramels, nuts, and various choices of ice cream flavors!  Back at the house, Fernando would grill up many meats for barbecue and we would take frequent dips in the pool.  In the evenings, we would lounge on the hammocks and usually Rafa and I would take an evening walk after the sun went down.   And then we would wake up and do it all over again!  There was one day where we managed to peel ourselves from the beach and the pool and we took a day tour into the heart of Fortaleza for shopping and more beaches!

It was a wonderful trip, and I can't wait to visit Brasil again next year with our little girl : )

In front of our house rental...

In Fortaleza...

Barbecues every day!

At the second floor of the house...

Lots of lounging!

Collecting specimens for Raquels research...

 A few of the gals go for a dune buggy ride!

A quiet walk in the dunes...

Fernando barbeques...

Rafa and I and the belly bump!

Rafa takes an outdoor rinse!