Almost Here!

The past few months Pancho and I have been getting ready for our little man!  That includes getting the new house ready and making lots of purchases.  It's really exciting just imagining what it will be like just a few weeks from now.  We've been given a few different due dates, but they're all about the same, ranging from June 12-June 15.  Less than a month away!  By the end of next week we'll have everything ready.

The upcoming birth has pretty much taken over our lives.  Pancho has his things that he wants to get done before the birth, and I'm feeling big and uncomfortable.  We just finished our last birth preparation class last week and we've been reviewing the basics- like diaper changing and swaddling.  Mostly, I'm just really curious about this little guy, I really want to get to know his character.  Since our 10 week ultrasound, he has always been on the move and very squirmy.  I felt his first kick at 17 weeks, and have felt him moving and getting stronger.  However, the moment someone tries to feel his movements too, he stops.  Maybe he's shy?  But when he thinks he's alone he's having his own little dance party.  But his poking little bones aren't too comfortable to me.

Here he is when we first saw him moving.  That is his head to the left and his little arm was going up and down.  The little white spot in the middle is his arm.

Pretty proud of our creativeness in making the closet into his changing area.

Something that we both like is when I get into the pool (well, I don't know that he likes it, but he always jumps around as soon as I get in).  I tried to do other exercises, but the pool feels so good.  I'm so grateful that we have easy access to one.  The only thing that doesn't feel good is getting out- and not because it's cold (which it isn't) but all the sudden my back and legs feel the weight again.

This is at 33/34 weeks.  I don't look as big as I feel.

Last month I had a baby shower.  It was nice and small and super beautiful.  And for Mother's Day Pancho and I went to a small city nearby called Atlixco.  I bought some strawberry plants and basil, and afterwards we had breakfast in the downtown.  Right now we're just really looking forward to having our son here.

It really was a perfect morning for a baby shower.

Here I am at the plant nursery.  The hill in the back has a church on top.

And here is Pancho at breakfast.

Christmas to Valentine's

The past few months have been busy for Pancho and myself.

In December we were back in Orlando for almost three weeks.  It was a really good vacation for us.  It was great to see family and friends and to relax.  I was so happy to be home that I didn't notice the morning sickness quite so much and Pancho hadn't taken time off of work in almost a year, so it was good for him to be able to spend his time focusing on other things, like tennis.  Overall, it was a really great trip and we loved spending the time with family and friends.

Family that were home for Christmas

We came back to Puebla Jan. 11, and on Jan. 20 we decided to move!  We found a house really quickly and signed Feb. 1.  We've been pretty busy the last couple weeks and time has flown by quickly.  When we moved to Mexico, our apartment was completely furnished, there were very few things we needed to buy.  It had couches and beds to dinner plate and cooking utensils.  The house that we moved into had nothing, so we have had to purchase everything in a pretty limited amount of time.  Pancho did a great job in finding things online and we were able to get some good deals, but it was a fair amount of work.  But we're really happy in a house.  We feel so much more relaxed and comfortable.  Living in the apartment was a good for the time, but it's nice to feel in your own place.  And here are some things that we won't take for granted after our apartment experience:

-Having hot water on windy days (our hot water heater would go out if it was just a little bit windy)
-Not being dependent on neighbors for running water (the building shared a water tank, and if payment was late, the whole building had to wait for water)
-Not having to bring groceries up four flights of stairs
-Having a dryer on rainy days
-Being able to have more than one person in the kitchen at a time.
-Not hearing dogs barking only a few feet away

The list could go on, but those are the things we're grateful for on almost a daily basis.

We are also excited about the house because of our growing family.  We found out a few weeks ago the our baby is a boy!  It has been fun making plans in the house as to where the baby things will go and being able to include a baby in the plans.  Everything has been going well.  He's quite the squirmer.  I've been feeling him moving around a lot for about a month and a half now and have been able to pick up things that I do that either wake him up or surprise him, like cracking my knuckles- he always squirms if I do that- or positions he's not comfortable in, like if I'm on my back.  It's been fun and Pancho has been able to feel him moving around as well.

That's about it for now, we're just excited for what the future holds in store for us!

Our little man's 3D profile at 20 weeks

Me at 23 weeks

Baby Emmelhainz

Right now the baby is 12 weeks along, due date is mid-June.  We have been asked a variety of questions so I’ll go ahead and answer them here. 

Will the baby have dual citizenship?  Yep!  There shouldn’t be any difficulty in getting the baby’s dual citizenship. 

Will you have the baby in Mexico or the US?  The plan is that we’ll stay here in Mexico.  We have a wonderful doctor here that we trust.  I wouldn’t want to go to the US anyway, because it would be super impractical for Pancho right now, there’s no way he could take off that amount of time from work.

But will there be any problem getting the baby’s US citizenship?  Nope.  It’s easy to prove that I’m the mother.  We just have to go to the US Embassy in Mexico (all three of us) with the birth certificate and my proof of citizenship, and we’ll then get proof of the baby’s US citizenship and his/her passport.

Will you be finding out the baby’s sex?  Yes, we will.  Pancho and I are horrible at surprises.  Also, it’s a lot easier for planning purposes.  We have family around the world that will be giving us hand-me-downs, so finding out the sex would be super helpful for planning.  Unfortunately, we will not know until after we come back from the US for Christmas.

Will the baby be bilingual?  I hope so!  Pancho and I speak in English most of the time, but it’s Spanish with everyone else.  So, as long as we’re in Mexico we’re planning on English in the home and Spanish everywhere else.

Are you still horseback riding?  Unfortunately, no.   I miss it a lot, but I’ve been feeling horrible in the mornings (most of the day actually) as it is, and super tired, that I wouldn’t enjoy as much even if I could.  But even if I felt fine I just wouldn’t risk it.  There are some horses that are bomb proof and never freak out, but there’s still a chance of falling or getting kicked, and it’s just not worth the risk.

If you have any other questions, please ask! 

As far as the pregnancy so far, things have been going great.  I have been feeling horrible, but that’s a good sign, so I’ll take it.  And Pancho has been great.  Lots of foods have been making really sick, so he’s preparing lots of his food now.  And if I’m sleeping he’ll take care of things, like the laundry. 

One final thing I want to address in this blog is gifts.  Pancho and I will be back in Orlando from Dec. 24 to January 11.  We are most certainly not asking for gifts, but if you wanted to get the baby something, we have a baby registry at Target.  Almost all these things we will be buying anyway before we leave for Mexico, but this way people can know what we need. 

Also, we will be cloth diapering.  I was able to put some of the cloth diapers on the Target registry, but there are a few other things we need.  If you wish to make any of these purchases, please please let me know, so that we don’t have too many of one thing and not enough of something else.  Again, these are things we will be purchasing before we return to Mexico, especially the cloth diapers since they aren’t as common here.

And, one other gift we’d be interested in is books!  We don’t want to bring back too many, especially as books are pretty heavy, but each time we come to the US or someone comes from the US it would be nice to bring a few English childrens books to Mexico.  So if you have a favorite story you’d like to pass along, we’d be more than happy to accept it!  

Target registry: You can search for the registry with either name: Mary Emmelhainz or Francisco Emmelhainz

Cloth Diapers:

• ·         We would love some of these pocket, all in one diapers: Bee Changed Utlra Cool, One Size and some inserts from The Little Bee Co.  http://thelittlebeeco.com/

• ·         Swaddlebees Capri Diaper covers (we would like around 5), size two http://www.littlemonkeystore.com/Capri-Diaper-Covers--Snaps_p_255.html

• ·         Dappi Nylon Pants (we would like 3 packs of each: newborn, small, and medium)  http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=97

Looking forward to seeing our friends and family in Orlando!

The Past Four Months

I haven’t posted in that last couple months because there hasn’t really been anything too new to write about.  So I’ll give a quick update now on how Pancho and I are doing here in Mexico.  My friend Carly (now Sr. Carly) visited in July/August.  It was great having her here and I loved seeing my two worlds coming together.  After that things were pretty quiet.

In September my sister Joanna had a nice visit here.  It was great to have her here and pretty relaxing for me.  Later in the month I had my second jumping competition.  It went really well, I placed 2^nd out of 15 in the 80cm course.  I had a lot of fun too.  And in October I had another competition.  It didn’t go as well, but that’s ok because sometimes we have to make mistakes to get better.  My mistake was forgetting a jump.  The course had 13 jumps, and I couldn’t remember exactly which jump was jump number 10, so I lost a lot of time and points when I missed it.  But it’s ok and it was bound to happen eventually.

The end of October brought a wedding which Pancho and I enjoyed very much.  It also brought the family from Norway and we had a good time with them while they were here.  A week after the wedding we celebrated the Baptism of our new niece.  

Pancho is doing well at work and has learned a lot in the year that he’s been working.  He’s also learned to manage his time a lot better and we get to see a lot more of each other than in the first few months when he started working.  He’s playing tennis in his spare time and is almost at the point where he wants to be.

And perhaps our most exciting piece of news is is that I’m pregnant!  I’m just getting into the second trimester now.  We found out the day after my last competition, so of course we had fun saying that the baby is going to be a horseback rider because he/she has already had their first competition. 

Carly and me on the tour bus of Puebla.

Yay!  Second place!

Anyway, that’s it for this post.  I’ll be posting a second one about the pregnancy and some common questions that we’ve been asked.

Family Visits!

In general things have been fairly routine with Pancho and myself and pretty quiet.  But last week my parents and my two little sisters came to visit!  They were here for a week and we enjoyed it a lot.  I'm pretty tired from playing the tour guide and translator, but it was a lot of fun and worth it.  The first day they were here I took them to horseback riding with me.  My trainers let me do some jumps for them and afterwards Therese and Patty got to have a little ride on F5.  They seemed to enjoy riding and seeing the view of Puebla from where I ride horses.  Later that day Pancho and I took them to the downtown to see some of the sites and go on a tour bus.

Wednesday we went to Mexico City!  First we went to see Our Lady of Guadalupe.  It was a really nice day and not too hot for walking.  We took the metro to the downtown area where our hotel was.  We had a nice rest and then went out to eat.  We had a pretty nice view.  And after that we went to the Palace of Fine Arts (which is beautiful) to meet up with an acquaintance of my Dad's and saw a really nice show of Mexican Folk Dance.

View from the restaurant

Palace of Fine Arts

Inside the theater

On the tour bus we went by the jai alai fronton in Mexico City.  It's been closed for a bit, but it was cool to see it.

 Thursday we took a long tour bus around Mexico City and then went home.

Friday I took my parents and sisters to the forts.  After that we went to Casa de Uriarte to see the oldest talavera company in Puebla.  We ended up getting a really nice tour by the owner (who is from Canada) and learned a lot about talavera (a type a cermanic particular to Puebla).

Saturday was a long day.  I took my family to the pyramid in Cholula.  And after the pyramid we took another tour bus which made stops at some of the more historic churches.  After that we ate dinner in the downtown of Cholula.  It was also my Dad's birthday, so in the evening we went out for dessert and coffee.

Sunday was a more restful day.  We went to Mass and breakfast in the downtown of Puebla and did some souvenir shopping afterwards.  We had the big Sunday dinner at Pancho's grandma's house, to give my family an idea what our family life is like here in Puebla.  And we had a pinata for my Dad's birthday!  I wanted him to celebrate with a Mexican birthday.

My Dad hitting the pinata.

Monday we went to the pyramids of Teotihuacan.  I really enjoyed that a lot.  I hadn't been there yet, so I was pretty excited to go.  I climbed the two big pyramids with my family.  After that it was time to go home and rest.  We took my family to the airport the next day.  Now I'm ready to be a tour guide for when one of my friends comes at the end of the month and for when my older sister comes in September.  I'm really looking forward to it!

View from the pyramid of the moon.

Me and my sisters on the pyramid of the sun with the pyramid of the moon in the background.

You should visit Mexico!  Pancho and I are happy to have you!

April and May

I haven't written any blogs because there really hasn't been too much to write about.  Pancho is still working and playing tennis, and I'm still horseback riding and just doing daily household things in Mexico.  We've been to a wedding and two weeks ago we went semi-camping, which was a lot of fun.  We went to a place about an hour from Puebla with some cousins and did some bike riding, trailing, fishing, zip-lining, bonfire and s'mores (sort of- they don't have graham crackers in Mexico, so we had to use plain cookies).  We stayed in a cabin and had a really good time.

There are have been some tennis tournaments here in Puebla, so Pancho has been going to those.  The last one was on Saturday.  In the morning Pancho came to horseback riding with me and convinced my trainers to see if I could jump 110 cm, about 3'6.  I was jumping well at lower heights and they kept moving the bar up.  So I did my highest jump and was pretty happy about it.  Saturday evening we went out to eat in the downtown.  The food was really good.  It was typical food from Puebla.  There was a kitten sitting in an alley next to me.  It was really hard not to give it food and take it home with me.  It ending up sitting at my feet the entire meal.  But it wasn't annoying or asking for food, just sitting there.

It wasn't normally looking at me, but I made noises so he would look up.

On Sundays in Puebla one of main streets in closed from 8am-12pm.  We borrowed some bikes and went with a cousin and his wife to ride through the downtown area and have breakfast.  We really enjoyed it.  Afterwards, Pancho and I went to the ex-hacienda de Chautla.  I've been wanting to visit since I've seen so many pictures of it.  The house itself is a little disappointing because it's completely empty and not as big as it looks.  It's frustrating to see something so pretty not being put to good use.  It could easily be used as a restaurant or a place for events, but it's just an empty building.  But all the other buildings are really cool.  I like looking at ruins and imagining what they were used for.  This place must have been pretty big.  We had fun walking around and we brought a picnic dinner with us.  It was a very enjoyable day.

Here's the garden without water in the fountains.  Still very pretty though.

I love how the house reflects on the water.  But like I said, completely empty on the inside.

Walking up to the house.  That's Pancho on the right.

Walking up the tower.

Very pretty place to go.

I love seeing the cactus just growing out of the old wall.

The only other interesting thing is that the Popo has been pretty active.  One morning we woke up with a layer of ash on everything.  The only dangerous this for us is the ash.  Every time I stepped outside for a day or two my throat would start getting scratchy and it irritated my eyes sometimes.  But, it has since rained and washed away a lot of ash.

Pancho leaving for work.  That's ash all over the car.

That's about it for now.  We're doing well and looking forward to some family and friends visiting in July.  :)

Easter!!!

Happy Easter!!!

This was my first Easter in Mexico.  There were enough differences that I can write a blog post about it.  In general, in the US for the weeks leading up to Easter there's a lot of springlike type decorations in the stores and lots of Easter candy, but not so much here.  But Holy Week was a lot more celebrated here than in the US.

 Holy Thursday Pancho and I went to Mass and it was crowded.  We weren't late, but had to sit outside.  It was packed.  It's pretty well packed in the US too, so there wasn't much difference there. 

Friday was interesting.  We went to Stations of the Cross in the morning.  I assumed that it would be an hour.  It was 2 1/2 hours.  It was a procession through the neighborhood with designated houses as the stations.  Afterwards was Veneration of the Cross.  But that was it, just Veneration.  There wasn't a 3 o'clock service.  Everywhere in the States there's the 3 o'clock Veneration.  We went back to the Church in the evening where there was Veneration again and the "Consoling of Mary."  It's pretty much the same as the 3 o'clock service in the US.  But different name and different time.  And it was 2 hours.

Saturday I definitely missed being in Orlando.  In Orlando I would go to the rosary procession to the abortion clinic to pray.  It was always really good to go to that.  Saturday night Pancho and I went to the Easter Vigil Mass.  It was 3 hours long, which I expected considering that they're usually 2 1/2 hours long in the states.  But the difference was that the Vigil Mass here is super attended.  There's usually a good number of people at the Vigil in the US, but it's late at night and long and it's not the popular Mass.  The popular Mass is the Sunday morning.  But the Easter Vigil Mass is my favorite, so I try to go to that every year.  I was determined Pancho and I would get there early for seats.  We got there early and had to sit outside.  It was super packed 15 minutes before the Mass.  And you had to buy a candle... but now I have one for next year.  And there weren't any new Catholics either.  I suppose that because most Mexicans are Catholics and they receive Baptism when they're babies, there aren't many adults that go through RCIA here and receive their sacraments at the Easter Vigil.  I missed that part, I always liked it a lot.

Then there's the parties and the fireworks, but Pancho and I went home.  Holy Week is definitely very celebrated here.  But I do have to say I'm a little sad that Mexico hasn't adopted many of the Easter candies, like Robins Eggs and Cadbury Creme Eggs and Peeps.  But my parent's are bring some Cadbury Eggs when they come to visit Mexico, so it's not that bad.  :)

Overall, Pancho and I have been having a good Easter so far and are looking forward to continuing to celebrate it for the next 49 days.  We hope you all have a happy Easter too!