Taking after her daddy

We are getting new Internet so I am at an Internet café and can´t put pictures in this post so sorry!

We had Lilia´s second doctor´s appointment this month to weigh her again.  Lilia´s gaining 130 grams a week and she´s supposed to be gaining 130-180 a week.  Since she´s gaining the bare minimum the doctor told us to go ahead and supplement a little formula after breastfeeding and then we´ll weigh her again in two weeks.  The doctor said that Lilia is probably being a little lazy with breastfeeding which is something I´ve noticed myself.  She falls asleep almost 30 seconds after she starts eating and that´s both when she´s taken a long nap or when she´s crying out loud for some food.  Even when she´s awake I tell her I´m not a "human pacifier" because it feels like she´s sucking and not eating.  A lot of the time it´s a struggle to get her to stay awake to eat.  We´ll see if the bottle works.  If so I plan to tell the doctor I´ll just pump milk into a bottle and feed it to her that way she´s just getting breast milk.

She´s still a happy little baby and she´s rolling around all the time now.  I love watching her when she´s happy and seeing her smile.

I´m trying to find some English speaking moms in Madrid.  Women in Spain tend to start having kids around 35 so it´s hard for me to meet moms my age.  I also want Lilia to be able to learn to play with other children which I think will be good for her social development since she´s not going to daycare.

Quique hurt his arm the other day in his Krav Maga class.  We thought it was broken for awhile because it was all bruised up a week after he hurt it.  It turns out it´s just a contusion (can you say that in English?) and he just has to have a little medicine.

I´m starting to do some exercise tapes and walking to get back into shape and MAN am I out of shape!!  Either that or Gabby Reese´s postnatal workouts are ridiculously hard.

So my reality check for this week: Grandma send me a package the other day.  I was so excited to get it!  When you send packages internationally you have to write on the outside of the box what is inside so on the box it said, "two piece outfit, book, etc."  Well, in my head I´m thinking, "Yes!  I love new clothes and I could definitely read a good book!"  So I open the packages and what´s inside?  A 3-6 month outfit and "The Love Bug Book" for babies.  That´s not all that was in the box though!  Thank you Grandma for the socks!  I´m using them when I work out.  I had to laugh at myself for not figuring it out sooner.  The books and the outfits are adorable too and I´ll take a picture of Lilia wearing the outfit when she fits into it!

Okay well once we get new Internet at the house I´ll be able to upload not only pictures, but also videos so that´s exciting.  I´m thinking the new Internet will be up and running in about 3 weeks.

Miss you all and feel free to write comments on the blog.  I´m not sure who reads these updates so it would be great to hear from you on here!

What's this?!

It's so fun having Lilia because I love watching her discover or do something new every day.  And of course right as I typed that she let out an enormous fart...in her sleep.  So elegant.  Anyways, this week she discovered her hands.  Sometimes when she's wiggling around she throws her hands in the air and they catch her eye and then she stares at her hand for a good minute (cross-eyed.  I don't think she has that focusing thing down just yet).  It's great for me because it's an extra few minutes that she entertains herself and it's fun to watch.

We went to the pediatrician appointment last Thursday.  The pediatrician was excellent and came recommended by the neonatologist.  Lilia's doing excellent.  The doctor checked all of her reflexes, her neck and back strength, and her height and weight.  The pediatrician said she needed to gain a little more weight so I'm feeding her a little more often.  I think she's one of those babies who is "happy to starve" so feeding on demand is difficult.

I feel like I won the lottery because Lilia is now finally sleeping through the night!  Almost every night she sleeps about 7 hours and I feel so rested I don't even know what to do with myself.  I think she could sleep longer than 7 hours, but I get so nervous that I end up waking her up just to see if she's breathing.  haha!

Quique and I are doing great (especially with all this sleep!).  Quique joined his Krav Maga class and loves it.  He comes home absolutely exhausted, but he has a blast doing that type of stuff.  And of course he comes home from work every day and then talks about what he did for hours.  He absolutely loves his job.  I think he's lucky because I think it's rare for someone to like their job so much.  I'm doing really well at home with Lilia.  I'm going to put a sign outside of our window in the next day or two advertising English classes.  Four of Quique's coworkers have asked me for English classes in the past year so I'm thinking their might be business in that market as well!  I had the chance to get together with some friends last Sunday for a "proper British dinner" with some of my British and American friends.  It was great to get out of the house and just relax for a few hours without having to take care of the baby.

Well Lilia's waking up from her nap because of the motorcycle that just went down our street (I swear I could kill all the kids and cars that drive down our street while I'm trying to put her down to bed, haha!).

This is an outfit I wore when I was a baby although I have a feeling I was wearing it a lot later than 2 months.

2 months

Lilia turned 2 months on February 5th! It seems so strange that it's already been two months since she was born. She's already starting to wear some of her 3 month outfits and it's fun to finally get her into some new clothes although when I put her newborn clothes away I start to think, "My baby's growing up!!!"


She's getting so strong too. She can now hold her head up at a 90 degree angle when she's on her tummy. On Monday she learned how to roll over!! I thought it was just an accident, but now she does it every time I put her on her stomach. I'm going to have a hard time teaching her to crawl if she always wants to roll to her back! She's been cooing for awhile and now we have "conversations" where she coos and then I make a noise back. My favorite times are when she's just finished eating and happy and we have our little conversations.






On Saturday, February 6th we had her baptism. It was excellent. It was a private baptism at the church Quique and I go to. It's the only English-speaking church in Madrid and the American priest, Fr. Ron, did the baptism. Quique's immediate and extended family came and since they don't speak English the majority of the baptism was in Spanish. He said he didn't want to lecture during the baptism so he did a sort of Q&A about different aspects of baptism and the other sacraments. It was such a great event and I wish all of you could have been there as well!




After the baptism we had a little luncheon at our apartment. We had some excellent tapas and cake and of course lots and lots of alcohol. The Spanish like their cheese and alcohol...but of course you'll all learn that at the wedding!



This picture says: "Take this hat off or I'll punch you!"

Getting bigger every day!

Lilia just keeps getting bigger and bigger every day! As she gets bigger she also gets more beautiful. She smiles a ton now, especially right after she eats. One of the funny things she does is smile and laugh as she falls asleep. I'm not sure what kind of reflex that is, but I love watching it. For some reason, that neither Quique nor I can figure out, she loves being on her changing table. As soon as I put her down on it she will look up at me and give me the biggest smile. I've never heard of a baby who actually liked being changed. We are just starting to see her eye color, but it hasn't quite developed all the way. Right now she has beautiful brown eyes and we're thinking they might turn hazel like her daddy's. Her eyes are so big and dark that even in the middle of the night when I lean over her bassinett I can tell if she's awake because her eyes are the first thing that stand out. She's getting good at sucking on her hands. She hasn't figured out how to put her thumb in her mouth so she usually just tries to put a couple fingers in or her whole fist. She loves using her hands for everything! She doesn't like them to be covered when I put a blanket over them and the second she stops eating she puts them right in her mouth. I just discovered a new way to calm her down which is to have her grab one of my fingers. I think it's because it makes her feel like she has control over something. Also, when she eats she puts her hands in front of her like a little squirrell eating a nut. Too cute!

I wasn't sure before Lilia came if I would like staying at home all day or if I would be crawling the walls to go back to work. I'm happy to say that I absolutely LOVE staying at home with Lilia. We're starting to develop a routine, but it's still changing. She eats about every 3-4 hours and she sleeps a lot during the day, but she's starting to be more wakeful. We like to play "tummy time" so she can strengthen her back and neck and I also like to read to her. I bought The Very Hungry Caterpillar and I've probably read it 15 times already. I know she can't understand, but I think she likes listening to my voice and seeing the colorful pictures. I really want her to be a reader when she gets older. I'm trying to start a little library for her and so far we have about 6 books. She used to cry a ton in the later afternoon hours, but now she is getting better. I try to feed her around 11 p.m. and then put her to bed. We used to have to rock her to sleep and then hold her for hours to make sure she was asleep before putting her in her bassinnett because once she touched those cold sheets she was wide awake. Now I put her in the room and she usually puts herself to sleep in a half hour without crying. I'm glad that I can be with her all day instead of a stranger at a daycare. For this reason I've decided not to go back to work in March like I had planned. My school is just way too far away and I would have to be away from her for 12 hours a day. I learn so much about her by staying home with her that I can't imagine all the things I'd miss out on if I was gone for so long every day.

Quique and I are doing excellent although I'm pretty sure the bags under our eyes will never fully disappear (or my stretch marks!). I'm joining a gym to lose some of this baby weight and Quique joined a different gym to do Krav Maga, an Israeli combat self defense class. I think that classes are good for us so we can have interests outside of work and baby.

Saturday we will have a private baptism for Lilia. I can't wait for her to be welcomed into the Catholic Church! Quique and I go to an English-speaking church in Madrid and the priest is excellent. Fr. Ron will do the baptism and Quique's entire family is coming up from Sevilla and El Puerto to be there. We also have a few friends who will be there. My mom bought us a beautiful baptismal dress for Lilia and it's absolutely gorgeous! We tried it on her the other day and it fit perfectly. She's going to be so cute! Since I didn't have anything to wear for the baptism I went dress shopping this past Saturday and being seven weeks post partum I felt a little like this (minus the first part where she's actually skinny!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gy4xMgArmk&feature=related

1 month already!

Lilia turned one month on January 5th! I can't believe it's already been one month. Time flies!

Well lots of things have been happening and changing. Lilia is getting bigger and bigger. She used to eat every four hours and now sometimes I feed her every two. I think she's going through a growth spurt. I think she looks like me more and more every day, but Quique think she looks like him. We'll have to see as she gets older. Lately she's turned into a little cry baby! At the hospital she would sleep so much we had a hard time even getting her to wake up to eat. Now she cries a ton. Normally she eats, stays calm and happy for 20 minutes, and then starts crying until she goes to sleep. Sometimes at four in the morning I just want to put the pillow over my head and block out the noise! The other day she just cried and cried all night long until 7 in the morning. She's breaking me into motherhood the hard way! Despite the crying I just can't get enough of her! I love her puffy cheeks and little pancake bottom and the way her eyes look so big on her little face. She's just starting to smile (really smile, not the gas smiles) and it is too cute!

We just got back from a week and a half vacation in El Puerto. It's so nice to be near the beach and sun. I took a few walks with Lilia and Quique while we were there. We celebrated Christmas and New Year's in El Puerto with Quique's family. Sue made some excellent food for both holidays! I had a great time, but I missed Christmas in Indiana and New Year's fondue at Aunt Kathy's. On January 5th we celebrated Three Kings in Sevilla with Quique's extended family. It was the first time everyone got to meet Lilia. We had a great time and got lots of nice presents like a bottle warmer, bottle sterilizers, and a video baby monitor. We're headed back to El Puerto in a few days after all of our doctor's appointments. Lilia's got an appointment with the cardiologist and the neonatologist. She had a little heart murmur when she was born which is typical of newborns and it's slowly fixing itself. I'm hoping it will be completely fine by our next cardiologist appointment.

I've added some pictures for you to enjoy. If you are on Facebook I also have a lot more pictures and videos!

Welcome Lilia Helena Mallén Latty!

Finally I have my little girl in my arms and not my belly! Lilia Helena was born December 5th at 7:15 p.m. I broke my water at 8:30 a.m. on Friday right as Quique and I were getting in the car to pick my mom up from the airport. I started contractions around 12 p.m. and labored without an epidural until 3 a.m. The baby had not engaged into my pelvis and was not pushing against my cervix which is why I labored so long and dilated sooooo slow. After my epidural I labored for 16 more hours (surprisingly with still a little bit of pain) and finally was told that we would try a test run of labor. Because the baby still had not gotten into my pelvis we spent about 10 minutes pushing while the doctor attempted to turn the baby. Finally I said I just couldn´t take the pain anymore and we decided on a c section. During the c section I had an almost panic attack which elevated my stress levels allowing me to feel the pain of the actual surgery (I panicked because my mind started to wonder if my baby was okay even though nothing was going wrong). Lilia was born absolutely perfect though and when they showed her to me I immediately went back to feeling numb (so strange how the body works). All I could think was Oh my goodness she´s a little chipmunk!! She had the biggest cheeks I have ever seen!! Quique got to hold her for an hour while I recovered.

I am doing excellent now although I´m still at the hospital. I have a little bit of anemia, but it´s nothing to worry about. I am learning a million new medical terms in Spanish! The baby is AMAZING. She is absolutely gorgeous and I just can´t stop looking at her. I can´t believe I lucked out (so far) because she is the most calm baby I have ever seen in my life. She never cries for more than a minute or more than once a day. Breastfeeding is incredible. The bond I feel with her when I feed her is amazing. Sue, Quique´s mom, and my mom are here. Let´s just say we are the nurses´LEAST favorite room because not only are there new parents in my room, but also 2 grandmas. We ask a million questions! Quique is making such a good father as well. He helps me a TON with working with the nurses since Spanish can be difficult sometimes and he has been changing her diaper and doing pretty much everything since I had a hard time moving around the first few days.

Well I´m going to relax for 20 more minutes before I have to breastfeed. I think I´ve gotten a total of 10 hours sleep in the last 5 days! I feel so lucky to have our little daughter with us and I can´t wait to share every little moment of hers with all of you in the coming years. Thank you so much for your prayers, thoughts, and support. Lilia is lucky she is being born into such a wonderful network of family and friends!

In labor!

This will be short because 1) I'm in labor and 2) it hurts to type with my IV. I'm so excited and nervous! My water broke this morning at 8:30 right as Quique and I were getting in the car to pick up my mom at the airport. Talk about timing! The hospital's policy is to admit you once your water breaks so I am now relaxing (haha) in the hospital room now. So far so good as far as contractions go. They are coming every 5 minutes, but they are mild right now. I'm a bit nervous for the stronger ones!! Say a prayer and wish me luck!