Long Wait, Quick Ride

We waited 45 minutes for our bus today. We waited 45 minutes for a journey that takes 15 on foot. I was getting so pissed off because I saw the bus parked at the previous bus-stop. It just sat there for ages. Of course the whole time I was thinking about how many times I could have walked home instead of just standing there, but it was good ol' Murphy's Law that kept us there, "I've already waited this long, and I know that as soon as I start walking, the bus will come."
**Luckily we were surrounded by a beautiful rose garden with fountains and green foliage as far as the eye could see... Just kidding. This picture has nothing to do with the story. ;-)


I was ready to give the driver a piece of my mind: we were cutting into Bella's bedtime and you just don't fool around with a baby's bedtime routine. It's like a science, man! When we finally got on, however, I went to put my bus pass in the machine, and the poor driver had to do it manually. Turns out the machine was down. It took about five minutes for him to give up on the other machine and just punch my pass with a paper hole puncher. Meanwhile, another girl had got on and was also waiting for him to validate her pass... I could just imagine him having to go through this procedure AND try to drive the bus through the whole route, which made me glad our ride was a short one. Talk about dangerous!

Ends up, it was shorter than ever. We made it two stops before the entire bus broke down! Apparently, he'd used up all the battery power on the machine!!! I was watching him pushing all these buttons that kept beeping and flashing and then finally the engine seized. The poor guy, he seemed so desperate. He couldn't even get out of the busdriver's chair because the counter wouldn't open. He had to up jump over. I suppose that's the down-side of electric busses.

In the end, we walked home anyway. There could have been another bus right around the corner, but I didn't want to risk it. Bella missed out on the entire adventure. She said, "to heck with my bedtime routine. I'm pretty comfy pressed up to my mommy in my Ergo!" She went right back to sleep again once we got home.

Arabella Cuteness

For the grandparents... Here she is again. Laughing her head off!


And here is the link to my Youtube page... You can check out the other videos of her (laughing, mostly ;-) www.youtube.com/user/geminiprincess77

Big Changes on the Horizon

Things are about to get exceedingly more hectic around here (and no, I'm not pregnant again ;-))

We are investing in our future... Alex is going back to school to get a degree in graphic design, most likely Web Design or 3D Design. He is so thrilled about this. In my opinion, it is what he's always been meant to do. It just fits him. It's like Merry doing interior design. There was no question about it. She was already designing floor plans in the fifth grade. ;-) Alex is similar.

Isn't this exciting news??!!!! It means that Alex will be doing something he absolutely loves and, essentially, it makes our long-term future a bit less shaky. Unfortunately, though, it makes the next three years tumultuous. Alex will have class five days a week from 9am-2pm, then he'll have to work from 7pm to close (between 1 and 2 am usually... around 4am on the weekends). I already feel bad for him. He thinks that he will be able to do it, though, because he'll be inspired by what he's learning. Who knew he was such the optimist?
I will be doing a very important job as well - taking care of Arabella and running the household - but I will also be working at least half time from home. I just started this past week with my classes again, and so far so good. We hired a nanny/babysitter to be with Arabella while I'm teaching. She's a Bulgarian girl who has been living in Valencia for the past nine years. She's very nice. Arabella laughs and plays and seems to have fun with her.

Since Alex will be tied up with his classes, I've offered to put my bossiness to good use at The Bohemian when I can get down there in the afternoons. I'll be participating more with the managerial side of running the bar (the part that Alex hates. I LOVE it. See Geoff and Tammy? My bossiness has served a purpose!)

So our next three years are going to require a lot of work, being very conservative financially (we aren't going to take out a loan, so we will just have to make monthly payments) and even more patience with each other if we want to make it through alive.

The exciting news is that there is the option of doing a fourth year to finish up the degree in England. Alex is already researching the different universities that offer top end design programs, and has found quite a few grants that we might be eligible for. Huh, I may be moving to ANOTHER foreign country. Yikes!

Well, there you have it. This all starts in October. Cross your fingers for us and send us lots of positive energy. I'm sure I will be reporting back on our progress from time to time ;-)

Our Hard Headed Girl

Thursday night I dreamt that Alex had left Arabella on the couch for only a split second, and while he wasn't looking, she reached for Gaia, fell on on her face and scraped and bloodied herself up big time.

The next day I kept teasing Alex to make sure to keep an eye on her, to be careful with her, not to drop her... etc.

I'm sure you can all see where this is going....

Friday night. This is how it all played out:

I was sitting in front of my computer, savoring each sip of the rare glass of wine I allow myself these days, when very faintly in the background I heard cries coming from our baby monitor. I jumped up, grabbed my glass of wine and my glass of water (one can never be too careful with alcohol while breastfeeding), ran them to the kitchen (one can also never be too careful with a cat named Gaia) and took off running to our bedroom.

From her cries, I knew something had happened. I opened the bedroom door to complete and absolute darkness. I had closed the shutters and pulled the blinds earlier that day to keep it cool and couldn't see a damn thing. Of all the days to do that... I didn't need to see her, though, to know she had fallen. Her screams were coming from too far away to be in bed. My heart was pounding so hard. Stumbling and fumbling, I finally found the light switch and ran over to my poor little baby, scared to death on the the TILED floor. She had rolled all the way over to the other side and right off. All I could think was, "Oh my god - my dream. Oh my god - my dream."She stopped crying almost immediately after I picked her up. I, on the other hand, kept shaking for nearly another half an hour.

She's ok; pretty much left unscathed. It must have been pretty terrifying for her in that moment. One last turn and you're flying through the air and then... hello floor. OOOOWWWWWWW!

As for my dream/premonition, I wish I could hone in on the skill and use it to my advantage. Wouldn't we all love to have a little internal warning system? The same thing happened the day my dog, Mia, died. The movie "Pet Cemetery" popped into my head upon waking. "Huh. That was a good movie," I thought. Then, on my way to work, trucks kept cutting me off, one after another. I remember thinking, "There is something about trucks today."

Sure enough, there was. My dog was hit and killed by one that very afternoon.

Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. Unfortunately, I have so many vivid dreams, I can never tell which ones are warnings and which ones are just manifestations of all the pent up craziness I have inside. What to do, what to do... I guess, I must accept the fact that I am a mere human and try to protect the people I love the best way I know how - by paying attention, by being vigilant and careful (and by covering every hard surface with soft, squishy pillows). ;-)