A Month and a Half in Photos

Hi, Friends. It's been a while since I last wrote. You wanna know why? Because being a mommy of two is tough stuff!! Bella is going through the prime tantrum-throwing stage. She's two and really good at it. Add that to Julietta's occasional incessant crying and that makes for an exhausted mommy who would rather veg out and stare at walls than think about writing and wrestling with technology. Luckily we all sleep pretty well at night.

I have been making sure to dedicate some time to my personal interests, otherwise I'm sure Alex would find me vegged out, rocking back and forth and babbling to myself in the corner somewhere. I've spent the past month completely obsessed with learning about photography, so I decided to do this post heavy on the visual and a lot lighter on the yammer (if I can contain myself, of course).

On March 31st Sweet Bella Lu (Squirty) turned two!!!! I was in denial and put only one candle on her cupcake.
/Bella%27s-2nd-Birthday-cupcake350.jpg">During a holiday here in Spain, we went to visit Alex's sister, Irene, in her monastery. This is when I started becoming more interest in learning more about photography. The pictures practically take themselves, it's such a beautiful atmosphere.

I thought this one looked almost biblical. In reality, Bella was throwing a tantrum and Irene was trying to console her.

We went on walks. LOOOONG walks with Alex's parents. Anything to get out of our house and let Bella run around!
We went to Viveros, one of my favorite parks in Valencia. I loved this shot so much in black and white, I entered it into a contest on the Clickin Moms website, and it came in second!!! (This is an awesome forum site for anyone interested in learning more about photography. THANKS, LEAH!!) I'm still glowing about that! We went to the park to blow bubbles. I have some hilarious shots of Bella throwing a fit because she wanted to blow the bubbles herself. She ended up with an empty container and a soapy mustache.
But she did have fun!
We played.
We found a new home for our cats, Ari and Gaia at Alex's friends house near Teruel. How perfect is this place for two cats on the prowl? Now, hopefully, our neighbors won't hate us so much.We walked around the surrounding towns, Mora de Rubielos AND Rubielos de Mora. Who can keep those straight??
We went to the park (yet again) to feed the ducks. Bella was a stinker, though, and ended up eating most of the bread.
One overly aggressive duck, didn't like that one bit and got a little too close for comfort.
We held, comforted and loved Julietta as much as we could.
Bella began learning how to push the stroller around by herself. Now we have to struggle with her every time we go out because she wants to do it BY HERSELF.Bella also has been taking care of her sister. She likes to undress her, poke her in the face, hold her hands and call her "Jayta", "Letta" and "Letita". It's cute, but I've got keep both eyes on her at all times. She just loves her so much.
Last weekend we went to Albacete, Paquita's family's hometown, for their annual festival. Unfortunately, it started pouring rain and we spent the rest of the day listening to Paquita give marital advice to her cousin's husband. Can you say "akward"?.
I managed to get a couple cute pictures of Bella while we were waiting for Jesus to open the car for us.
We also spent lots of time staring at cute little Ju Ju. She's starting to "talk" and it's the sweetest thing.
Most recently, we spent a day and a half in Madrid filing paperwork so Alex could get his visa. So far so good. We're on our way! The trip was extremely tiring for a little toddler. She was amazingly well-behaved while we waited and waited in the embassy.

But there were many moments like this:
We did manage to take a little break and have a gin and tonic at Parque Retiro amidst explosive poopy diapers and incessant crying. We were more than overjoyed to be back home on Wednesday night all snug in our beds enamored with the silence.