Rebecca turned 1

Hello guys!!

Well, I decided I won't translate the last two posts from portuguese because I don't feel it's a good idea! Mainly because of three reasons: One, I don't feel that way anymore, it was more like a momentary feeling; Two, I think most of the people didn't think it was an inspiring thought anyway, on the contrary, although that was not my intention AT ALL and I think I was misunderstood, which it's understandable, btw. And three, because I'm lazy right now and don't feel like translating anymore!

But to compensate the fact that I won't translate the last two posts, this one I will first write in english which it's not that big of a deal since most of the people in Brazil can read in english and - in fact - I've noticed that many people DO read my english posts. So I guess many people in Brazil like reading my posts twice! Weird... I think they want to see if my english is that much better than theirs since I've been living here in the US! Well, I bet many of them are kinda disappointed with my english and all the many mistakes I make! But never mind, isn't about this that I intend to write about today!!

I got carried away by the many things and changes Rebecca is going through in the last week so I wanted to write this post really bad!! Yes, one week and sooo many things happened all just at once!! Well, first Rebecca turned one year old on Tuesday, August 30th and we threw her a little birthday party on Saturday, Aug, 27th. I remember I wrote here that we were going to give her a "water park party" but then we thought better and we realized many of our guests have really small children so it wouldn't be comfortable to them! Well, we were about to give up the idea of a party for Rebecca but D was stronger than me and he convinced me to use our small apartment to throw her a party! But we couldn't invite many people or all the people we wanted to. Well, everything went well although it was a little too crowded.

I decorated the apartment with some pink balloons, some pictures of Rebecca from her birth till now and a "happy birthday" banner or something like this, I don't know how they call it in here! (I have to pay more attention to what it's written on the label packages...). We also had two tables, one for the food and other for the sweets and cake along with some beautiful roses!! Well, about the food. We made two brazilian dishes: feijoada and chicken stroganoff. (We were having some indian guest so we opted for the chicken stroganoff not the beef one). We also made pao de queijo, we served a salad and some brazilian peanuts (ovitos).

Well, I guess we should have made our guests plates because they loved the stroganoff and didn't care much about the feijoada, which it's not very common at all when we invite people to eat only feijoada! So I guess it was a matter of not combining all the ingredients correctly since this is kinda crucial on eating feijoada! All the side dishes matter and combined they are delicious! Well, we cannot complain much about it since we had many feijoada leftovers for ourselves but I wish they had enjoyed it more! But the chicken stroganoff they really loved it! Almost everyone asked me the recipe, which I still didn't give it to them, btw... ops!

Well, about the sweets, I made one chocolate cake with walnuts filling (close to a camafeu flavor) and strawberry cupcakes with white frosting. Both were dairy free!! I discovered that some duncan hines cake mixes are dairy free so as the ready frosting we bought! So I was very happy about it since Rebecca has dairy allergy! Ok, then I also made brigadeiros, but there is no way a brigadeiro can be dairy free so Rebecca  just didn't have it! I also prepared a fruits plate and bought a cool whip to eat together with the fruits but I only remember to serve it too late so I guess none of our guest ate it!

Then we opened the presents in front of everyone! Well, this is kinda traditional in here although we are not very used to it yet.... but since people were expecting it, we did it for them! Rebecca loved all the presents specially the beautiful bags and wraps! lol Classic, I know! And Rebecca had an awesome time with the people and kids around!! She was about to cry when the last guest left, poor child... I guess only mommy and daddy aren't enough for her.... "mom and dad, give a little sibling NOW!!"

Well, so that was it!! Mission accomplished!! I was kinda tense about all this party stuff.... I feel like D and I are so unprepared for this kinda of thing.... we are so all by ourselves here that I feel like we are two children that don't know exactly how things should be done.... but we made it anyway, everything turned out just fine! I can relax now!!

Now about the other things that were very exciting to us!! Well, the first one was not very exciting but I think it's kinda important to mention it. Well, Rebecca had her 12 month check up on Thursday, Sept 1st and the doctor told us she is doing fine bla bla, but... she didn't gained too much weight like the last few times. And since she is a small baby in length she was also worried about anemia (iron deficiency). So, the doctor asked for an extra appointment for the next month to check her weight and also a blood test for anemia. Besides these, since Rebecca was in Brazil for more than 3 weeks in May, she also asked for a skin TB test (tuberculosis test). So we had to come back on Saturday so they could read the results. Of course, it was negative!

Well, so the doctor made us see that we're putting Rebecca under a low fat diet... well... we realized she was correct about it! Since Rebecca is still breastfeeding but only trice a day and my breast milk was her main source of fat since she can't have cow milk instead, nor cheeses and she doesn't like to drink her soy milk in a bottle but only on her rice cereal, so she wasn't getting much fat. And the world nowadays teaches us to be very healthy but things should be different with children! Kids need fat!!! So the solution we are now trying to apply to her is to put a good amount of olive oil on her baby food after it's ready and we are putting some peanut butter on her rice cereal too! Fortunately she is enjoying both changes!

Well, now about the exciting things! Rebecca had a "word boom" this weekend!! Before, she only said "mamae" (mommy in portuguese) pretty well actually, but only this! So we wanted her to say "papai" (daddy in portuguese) pretty bad!! I remember trying to make her imitate what I just said to her, but she didn't even try!! I felt like her personality doesn't make her try when she knows she is not able to! Well, but this weekend, all of sudden, she just did it!! A perfect "papai". So she's been saying it all weekend very happily!! And also she is giving her first little steps all by herself!! And many other cool things!! Like yesterday I was reading some books for her, and I decided to test her for the first time!! And she scored high, man!!! Oh my!!! That was soooo awesome!! She showed me with her little and cute index finger the strawberries and the bananas, when I asked for it!! And also Dora and Boots!! This was sooo incredible!! And I was asking it in english!!! Also, she said "bye" and waved to the priest on Friday Mass when we asked her to!! The priest was so happy, hahaha! Aaaand, she tries to say "God bless you" when we sneeze!! I swear it!!! I noticed this a while ago but now D thinks this too!!

Well, it's been amazing to find out this new stuff Rebecca is doing!! We are overwhelmed by the fact it is all  happening at once!! Also, she has two teeth already but I'm almost sure her next two teeth are about to pop out, I would say, in a week!! Which is actually a fast pace for her! And I think because of everything, now she is not so attached with my breasts!! I mean, sometimes she doesn't even want to drink my milk so I think we are now and finally ready to stop breastfeeding her!! I'm so happy I'll be able to eat milk and cheese and sweets again!! D and I've been saying it's my freedom day coming!! haha! I'm like: "Owa, I don't know what I'm going to eat first!!!".

And today is Labor Day here, so it's a holiday!! And we took Rebecca to play at a playground!! Owa, there were so many kids because of the holiday and because the weather today it's beautiful!! She enjoyed it so much!!! She even cried when we were leaving the place!!

Well, and that's it! Yes, I'm aware this post turned out HUGE, and I'm sorry, but I guess you all know me by now and you don't expect anything different, right? So sad... lol!

You all take care!!

Uma coisinha a mais!

Ola gente!

Eu agradeco a todos os que escreveram pra mim, seja em comentarios, ou por outras formas, mas eu percebi que preciso me esclarecer em um ponto aqui!

Sou e sei que sou muito feliz com minhas escolhas! Nao tinha percebido, mas parece que o tom do meu ultimo post pareceu um pouco triste, mas nao era essa a minha intencao! Disse q me pego "muitissimas vezes chateada" mas eh pq fuco no FB muitissimo! kk Isso que eh triste, viu! kk

Mas esqueci de dizer que todo santo dia me pego morrendo de rir com a Rebecca e o D!!! E tenho total e constante consciencia que sou abencoada e feliz!! Estou feliz aonde estou nessa minha vida!! Os meus arrependimentos se resumem a esses que falei: sobre nao ter viajado antes de casar/namorar e talvez por nunca ter tido algumas experiencias na facul. Mas como tentei explicar no ultimo post, pensando a fundo, mesmo se eu pudesse voltar no tempo, eu nao teria feito nada de diferente!

E eh isso! Mas eu realmente agradeco a delicadeza e o carinho de todos que quiseram me animar, mas acreditem, eu sou uma pessoa feliz com minhas escolhas!

Arrependimentos

Arrependimento eh uma coisa engracada! Acho que a imensa maioria das pessoas jah parou pra refletir sobre os proprios arrependimentos mas nao sei se todos chegam nessa mesma conclusao que eu: que arrependimentos sao esquisitos! Explico! Eu me pego muitissimas vezes chateada pensando nos meus proprios arrependimentos. Mas quando realmente deixo o drama de lado e passo a refletir a fundo vejo que sao raros os arrependimentos cem por cento verdadeiros! Ou pelo menos os que fazem jus ao nome!

Explico agora com exemplos! Primeiro aos de menor amostragem. Portanto quanto aos verdadeiros arrependimentos, soh consigo pensar nos meus pecados pessoais, nas ofensas a Deus, as pessoas (primeiramente as mais queridas e depois as menos queridas) e a mim mesma, mas que nao convem comentar a respeito disso publicamente. Isso tem lugar no confessionario em que recebo a Graca de Deus e na minha meditacao pessoal com Deus!

Agora em relacao aos falsos arrependimentos e que por sinal, estranhamente, sao os que mais me causam uma primeira infelicidade! Ahan, esse jah deveria ser o primeiro ponto para desconfiar de que algo nao esta certo! Isto eh, sao preocupacoes mundanas, besteiras passageiras, e que me causam tristeza, nitidamente indevida! E sobre esses falsos arrependimentos vou me ater a exemplos a seguir.

Em geral esses falsos arrependimentos - preciso dar um nome mais a curto a isso para facilitar a escrita... escolho entao o termo "fumacinhas". Pois entao, estava dizendo que essas fumacinhas em geral me ocorrem quando me pego fucando nas fotos alheias no facebook, blogs, ou sei lah mais onde! Mas o ponto em questao eh: fotos! Que coisa mais inutil! Fotos! Que jah cansei de ver como pessoas as vezes sorriem para fotos, ou montam situacoes que nao correspondem a realidade!

E em geral, sao fotos sobre viagens, algumas vezes sao festas, e outras sao reunioes entre amigos. E me pego sentindo as tais fumacinhas!! Ah, como eu deveria ter feito mochilao. Ah, como eu deveria ter ido para alguma engenhariadas. Ah, como eu deveria ter me preocupado mais em fazer um milhao de "amigos".

Agora a verdade? Por favor, mochilao, engenhariadas e falsos, barulhentos, grosseiros, invejosos, bajuladores e interesseiros amigos que em nada compartilham das mesmas ideias que eu? Nunca gostei de nada disso!!! Numa foto de viagem nao esta estampada a fortuna que voce esta pagando pra conhecer um lugar que nem valeu tanto a pena! Ou nao esta mostrando a falta de seguranca que essa viagem supoe! Tambem nao mostra o cansaco de tanto andar a pe (odeio). Tambem nao mostra a chatisse dos museus (perdoem-me os cultos), e nao mostra o mal estar estomacal de ter que comer fora - e nao aquela saudavel comidinha caseira-  por tantos dias seguidos de cafe, almoco, lanchinhos e janta!!!! Que horror! Do que mesmo estava com inveja??

Numa foto de festa tambem nao mostra o barulho infernal, o cheiro de maconha, alcool, vomito e urina, e aqueles caras especialmente chatos e bebados que estao tentando dar em cima de voce! ODEIOOOO. Ah, mas a engenhariadas nao eh soh festa!! Nao mesmo, alem disso tem condicoes insalubres de acampamento (para dormir e usar o banheiro).

E quanto a falsos amigos, fora todos os outros titulos acima apresentados que sao auto explicativos, incluo que sempre preferi amizades pessoais! Um bom papinho a dois - pq tres eh demais nessas horas - trocando uma ideia, etc! Eh claro que para botar o papo em dia eh gostoso reunir as amigas para um grupo e cada uma ficar fofocando de si mesma!

Entao, eh por isso que essas fumacinhas sao engracadas, esquisitas! Porque nao fazem sentido! Porque se voce parar pra pensar, voce esta se arrependendo de coisas que na realidade nao merecem arrependimento. Sao apenas ilusoes!! Eh claro que viagens, festas e muitos amigos podem ser bons e tem gente que realmente gosta disso! Mas nesse caso, soh acho que sentiria realmente uma invejinha boa se nao comprometesse os meus ideias de vida, que eh o que realmente conta para uma vida tranquila e feliz!

Entao tem vezes que preciso fazer isso! Primeiro parar de gastar tempo fucando na vida online das pessoas! Depois, se precisar disso, parar pra pensar realmente na fumacinha. Depois, ser agradecida pelo o que eu tenho na vida! E como fui realmente abencoada desde o meu nascimento! Nao estou falando de dinheiro! Nao eramos ricos, por sinal, quando nasci os tempos eram dificeis, mas a familia e a espiritualidade que recebi no berco (melhor, na barriga) nao tem preco! Sinto pena das pessoas que nao tiveram a mesma sorte do que eu e portanto nem percebem a falta de sorte que tem, porem algumas percebem. Mas isso me faz pensar que Deus conta comigo para espalhar um pouco de bons ideais na vida dessas pessoas! Certas pessoas vao desprezar a minha participacao na vida delas, outras apenas respeitar e algumas vao acolher apenas parte dela! Mas assim eh a vida nesse mundo de pernas para o ar. A cada um soh cabe a sua parte pequeninha!

What we have been doing!

Hello everyone!

I want to tell everyone what we have been doing in the last weeks! For those who are my friends on facebook and are following our pictures, they can already have an idea! But I want to write here some more details! But I also want to make a short post, like if I could do that!

So in the last couple weeks we have been busy setting up "playdates" for Rebecca! Rebecca loves children, babies and people in general, and being an only child - for now - we feel very sorry and sad to see her alone! So we managed to set three different playdates! The first one was with a baby two months younger than Rebecca! It worked well! But Rebecca loves to get up on top of people so we thought it was getting kinda dangerous to let her get so close to that baby who can't crawl yet! And there was also that part of the initial whining - Rebecca started to cry because the voice of the father of the baby was very strong - although he is super gentle - and she got scared - haha, then the baby began to cry along with Rebecca! hahaha! It happens!

The second playdate was with a little girl who is almost two years old and another one who is nine, I think! And that playdate turned out very well! I called the girls together with their mothers to play here at home and have a snack! Also, each one brought some food to share! So we had popcorn (and my special sauce, loved by all), brownie with walnuts, cookies, a japanese sweet of rice that I forgot the name now and natural strawberry juice! It was a binge! Rebecca sat on her high chair eating puffs - snack for babies!
And when they were playing it was really fun and everyone seemed to have a great time! Rebecca squealed of happiness! It took nearly two hours and half for the playdate to get to an end, and the little 2 years old girl didn't want to leave the apartment, hahaha! I was marveled!

The third one was a more spontaneous playdate but no less fun! Rebecca and this little 17 months old friend play so well together! They know each other from mass! Both are super happy and love a good fun and bustle! At one point the two were very close and my friend was going to take a picture of the babies but as soon as her little boy realized it, he threw his arm around Rebecca, embracing her, and smiled for the picture! hahahaha And after that he didn't want to let her go hahaha! I was also marveled!
In addition, we are trying to take Rebecca in all activities for children we can find, as in the past saturday that we took her to watch a show for children in the public library! About some other commitments, on this next Sunday we are going to a baptism and then Rebecca has a birthday party to go at the city's water park! It will be great!

Now about other matters! My friend from college is on a business trip and she came to Houston! So we all went see her and spend the day together! We had lunch at a seafood restaurant (with lobster, crab, clams and shrimp!) Easy, it was not so expensive (we ate at Joe's Crab Shack)! It was fun but it was messy, besides being very difficult to take the meat off the crab and the lobster! I became a human being again after I cleaned my hands with the damp cloth they give you along with the dish! Oh they also give you a bib which I used of course! I forgot about self embarrassment a long time ago!

We had a little stroll near the restaurant that has a nice bay view (the place is called Kemah Boardwalk). The place is pretty cool, but about 40 minutes away from Houston and like in everywhere throughout the U.S. it was sooo hot! Then we took my friend to do some shopping, but the plan didn't work out very well maily because it was Sunday! Also, we took pictures at the water wall in Houston, stopped at her hotel to give Rebecca a break so she could crawl a little bit and then went out to dinner at Chili's, which is always a good choice! And then we drove back home!

We are also in preparation for Rebecca's 1st birthday party! We are going to have it at the water park too! We wanted to do at our building's club room which is super cool, super furnished, super AC cold (lol), but the rules for renting the club room just changed and since we don't have renters insurance we can not rent the room! It's too bad! We were planning to cook some brazilian dishes and I was already planning a super decoration with a space for the babies to play! But the water park was our second option and it should be cool too! Different, but cool! The sad thing about it is that we can not bring food, just cake!
In this last month we also offered dinner for some friends in three different occasions! I always enjoyed to invite people over to have dinner (I learned this from my parents) and now D also likes it and even gets excited too!

Well, I've noticed this post turned out to be not so short, but it's okay! Now I would like to inform that I plan to give the blog a break so I can at least START something my mom asked me to do a long time ago! So first I should get some improvement at this other project and then I will be back to the blog! Who knows, maybe this will help me get to action faster!

A kiss to all and please e-mail me telling me about your news!

Gabby, D and Rebecca!