Emmanuel & Katharina

The story of the Benis

2009-11-27T20:49:00.027+01:00

There once was a boy called Hans Rudi with lovely round cheeks

God blessed him with long and beautiful hair
as well as lots of beer
he traveled the world
and made many a friendplayed with his pets
and camped naked in the wild
now....
there once was a girl called Else Marie. her eyes shone just like Shurly Temple's did (the one to the right) but her smile was even more beautiful.
except when she was frowning of course...she also had long flowing hairwhich caused some people to mistake her for a dog...but she was a lovely lassand loved to skip in the sunshine with her kangaroo
these two met and decided to make a baby or two...

they made some girls
and a rather ridiculously good-looking boy...
A princess
another 2 rowdy boys...boys a bit to rowdy to sit still for a picture:D

and a prodical daughter(Ashi)...that just hasn't returned yet

here are some pictures from our recent family reunion ...great-grandparents and all

this is a castle we visited in Rappersvill

my gorgeous momie:D:D
Tido and I catching up on old times
Adrian chatting with his great-grandma
us standing on a famous rock
We had a nice get together and they visited our home for 5 days(everyone from my family came except for Ashi). We showed them around the area we live, the river, the hills, etc. We went swimming altogether. We visited my dad's parents. We went to Rappersvile to see the mountains(not that we got to see them as that day was totally foggy, but we did enjoy our November picnic:P). We talked a lot, Adrian's uncles and aunties played with him a lot...(he loves you guys so much!) Had a sleepover party (next time we have a pillow fight guys!!:D:D) ate grandparents yummy cake...AND champagne, beer, etc, etc.

I miss you guys tons and you are in our prayers!

Autumn ---6 months young

2009-11-02T20:14:00.021+01:00

Why do we call a one day old baby OLD? He's as young as he'll ever be!

I don't want to keep telling myself how fast he is learning things or how quickly he is growing up. ...It already goes too fast as it is. I want to enjoy when he falls after a few minutes of sitting up. I want to laugh (and comfort him if it actually hurts) as he bangs himself with his blocks because he doesn't have perfect coordination yet. I want to smile when he leans too much to one side in his buggy and waits for me to notice and kindly centralize him. Or when he is trying to put something in his mouth and it takes a few tries before he gets it straight. It makes me feel like he is the most cuddly thing in the world because he needs me so much. If I laugh he starts laughing with me. Not because I told him a funny joke or tickled him, but just because he saw the smile on my face and wanted to return it. Maybe I hold him in my arms to much.. but soon he'll be crawling on the floor ...soon he'll be walking! he won't want to be in my arms all the time in just a short amount of time. Soon the world gets a lot bigger then mommy, daddy and play mat...so I want to treasure this time when we are still so close, so big. So important to him! I know we will still be his favorite people in a few years but there will be so many more things crowding his day and his life.

a beautiful place in the mountains near us

He loves books and he's really getting into them! I show him a flannel graph every day as well as read a bible story from his baby Bible. He sits through almost 2 sets of baby quotes at a time and I read baby rhymes to him daily.
On the scholastic side of things I show him math dots 1-5, big red lettered cards with words like 'daddy, car, ball...'etc. We hung up the alphabet on the wall close to his play area and I sing the '12345...counting angels can be fun' song so he learns numbers. Oh...and I got a big sketch pad for him and I marked one page '6 months'(which he colored in with his fancy new crayons :P the day he turned six months) the next '9 months', etc so we can see how he improves artistically...lol. maybe I'm overdoing....but that's what you do with your first kid!!

his first food...avocado and yogurt! I don't want to give him banana as his first because it right away gives them a sweet tooth, plus avocado is even healthier for them! and he actually likes the avocado!

his uncle Martin makes the exact same face !
talking!

I wouldn't say he's spoiled. Though he is extremely spoiled in the 'love' department. Chockie and I are always hugging and kissing him that sometimes he almost pushes us away he gets too much! but you can never give a child to much love. That's my opinion. It doesn't mean giving them everything they want, it just means giving them a spirit of trust in God and trust in us that we will give them everything we know is good for them...that we will love them unconditionally.

The beauty of a sister

2009-10-12T16:30:00.003+02:00

I miss you Tido

Nine countries and counting

2009-10-06T10:04:00.053+02:00

We had a wonderful week seeing ancient ruins, eating ardente pasta, dancing til our backs ached, racking our brains for foolish skits and songs for the PMA, getting diplomas, making friends, playing soccer, reading exciting prophecies, soaking in Jesus, getting blisters from walking to much, listening to songs we never heard before (thanks to Ready), raising our arms, listening to lots of audios, getting some sleep, drinking wine ...relaxing and having fun.

I had a lovely time. Everyone also helped out with Adrian as Chockie wasn't there. So sweet!

Adrian has already been to 9 countries! Norway, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Slovenia, Romania, Serbia and Switzerland!

The Vatican

Adrian with the Vatican in the background
Inside St. Peters Church
This massive thing is made of wood. There is also lots of gold on the roof.

It was such an impressive building, So big, SO rich

Inspiration at the PMA
Ready, helping the guys with the croaking
the girls

The Colosseum

The police came chasing them after this..lol!
Adrian, Andrea, Angelo, Sam and Sam
Andre, trying to be all fatherly...hehe

An olive tree....the first one I ever saw!
Some Romans...walking around trying to get you to take photos with them(and they only charge you afterwards..tsk tsk)
the catacombs
Old Roman roads
Doesn't it look like he is taking a photo of himself?lol
More ancient ruins
to our right is the place they used to have chariot races
Le Citta d'Italia
Christophe, Angelo, me and Sara
Awesome place...!

The pride swelled in his lungs...i don't know exactly what for though
me and Maweee
Results of a long day of walking

poor Mary being all squished...
Sara don't kill me for putting this pic here, but you look so gorgeous I couldn't resist:D
cute photo no?(no, that's not a duck....just for the record)
PMA class
what da ya know? Three men and a baby! hehe
We went to a club one evening
and used their toilet...
dance night. there were only 2 girls...not that i was bothered....:D:P

the PMA graduation

All the mentors and Andreas
JM practicing his wine principle
Mary, me, Christophe and Sam
the happy bunch

We missed Chockie so much that I was actually really happy to get home and see him again, despite all the fun we had. Adrian was all excited to see his Daddy again that he stuck his tongue out and started spiting. lol.

Thank you Jesus for that wonderful week of fun

And there was great feasting in all the land...sweet 22nd

2009-10-05T17:40:00.013+02:00

Happy Birthday to you....oh Happy Birthday dear Chockie! Happy Birthday to you!(his bday was on the 22nd last month)

I made a special meal for Chockie of Chicken, mashed potatoes (his favorite) a big salad, and two types of cakes: brownies and honey vanilla. (thanks for helping me, Coco!)

this is how we rap our presents in Switzerland....
mitch's kind gift...Joy, Sybilla, Andre and Sunny entertained us with some nice music
muleckie*Andrea sang us some love songs from his country
Then we got up and danced a lil salsa...etc.
It was a very enjoyable and relaxed evening... :D

Will she survive the week?

2009-09-23T18:24:00.005+02:00

I'm going this Saturday to the PMA(Professional Missionary Academy) graduation(in Italy)!!Yay! I'm real glad and excited that I get to go, as last year I did the course but couldn't attend the graduation!
It's so sweet how the Lord does these things for us and rewards us all in due time. :D

So we are guna be gone for a week ...we is Adrian, Andre, Mitch JM and I.
I hope we also get to see some of the sites in Rome, like the Colosseum. We are also going to stay right next to the beach for a few days....:D

Sniffle...Chockie isn't coming with us as he didn't do the course. It will definitely be the longest time we'll be apart since...since the fundrasing trip in Norway. sniff...it's going to be so weird...waking up and Chockie not being there. going to sleep and not cuddling him or being cuddled by him. Adrian is going to have to learn to be mighty cuddly.:P I know i sound all mushy and clingy, but i guess when you learn to share your life with another you share everything. Then when you are just you ...you feel...strange..naked... weird..etc! that's the best way i can describe it. yes, my describing skills could stand some improvement..lol , but I suppose you know what i mean. i'll miss you incredibly...my wuv!

Teething!!

2009-09-09T11:50:00.023+02:00

Our sweet baby is teething!! well, its actually already been since the day we came here. It started on our trip. When he teethes he bites everything he can touch. He doesn't like biting his own fingers though, cuz it's too painful. Lol. He started drinking water from a glass cup recently...he loves it!

His new thing is squealing really loudly to get attention. He does it in the middle of a meeting or devotions...any time he knows he can get a smile or two.

When he lays on his stomach he lifts himself on his arms as high as he can and looks around at everything. He is such a curious baby. He looks people straight in the eyes and really tries to reply with whatever baby babble he can come up with.

He already started provisioning. We went to pick up the bread and one of the counter ladies walked by. He gave his winning smile and the lady returned with a big, fat, juicy nut cookie only to hand it over to me, to Adrian's dismay. We had a bit of an argument which was resolved quickly when he realized he didn't have any teeth yet. Anyhow, he received some in the milky so he realized that truly Romans 8:28 does apply, even for babies.

This morning in devotions he was looking at the pic of Jesus and staring. Then he began smiling and being super noisy, getting every conceivable sound out of his throat, disrupting the whole devotions and making everyone laugh. He went on for about 5 minutes with his animated conversation with Jesus till I had to take him out of the room.

He actually started laughing. last night I was being foolish with him and made a silly laugh and he started cracking up. Every time I laughed, he laughed. So adorable! He is growing up so fast!!

His first Book

Reading his baby quotes
having fun in the jolly-jumper

yep! this is what toys are for!
taking our daily walk
saying hello to the other youngsters in town

snoozing till we reach the llamas.
and yes, there actually are llamas around, I just haven't gotten around to photographing them yet.
cuddling mommie
outside our window on a rainy day (like my photography skills..??:D:D)

this pic is from last weekend that we spent in Zofingen. We made a fire and danced around it, went swimming, played basketball, and soccer, etc. Adrian and I were the cheerleaders.
*no, I have no idea who those goofy guys in the back are
Joy, my violin teacher...yes!! I'm learning violin! I've always wanted to learn and now I finally have the opportunity...yayyy!!!
this is of Adrian completely chewing up his jolly-jumper thingy*nevermind the vacuum cleaner in the back

Switzerland!

2009-08-25T21:31:00.000+02:00

We are now in the sky home! It's a nice home close to Zurich (in a lil village called Saland) in the hills, neighbors to the sheep and cows and a few llamas. Today Adrian saw a cow real close for the first time and he couldn't stop staring and started fussing when we left. He loves the color black as well as red. Those two colors always catch his attention.

this is the nice route we take for walks and hikes in the hill/mountains

the beautiful river we have a few steps from our house

the water is freezing...but I love it. in that way Chockie and I are total opposites. lol.

Adrian with his awsome first garage
holding his own bottle! and not even 4 months yet!
him and the ball...his faithful companion

making that irresistible face

his play area a crib. ...yep...we are already teaching him how to read. :D:D

sitting on his very own moose
by himself!!
biting those cute pink lips

Serbia...Goodbye

2009-08-25T18:16:00.030+02:00

On the 15th of August our family reunion in Serbia ended and we drove by bus to Switzerland. We did so many fun things with you guys there and we miss you guys and think of you a lot! Adrian especially misses all his fun and entertaining aunties and uncles.
Thank you so much, mom and dad and all for letting us stay at your place and for making it so fun and enjoyable.

my three month old darling
bonding with funny uncle
lil guy hugging me the day before we left(Daniel)

do they get cutter?
the new toy grandparents got for him...his favorite toy!

Igor my wonderful connexions class student and good friend
the last supper
my family, my family...sniff... i miss you!

proud grandparents. *he just woke up for the photo hence the grumpy face

Esty the youngest girl in our family
Tido (Christina) and I being silly...:D
steve the youngest and definitely blondest in our family
we miss you tons Igor!
my ridiculously goodlooking brother...:P
...and our muscles
saying the last goodbyes

Tido sniffing on my shoulder
the angry faces at us leaving
grandma and grandson...what a young beauty! can you believe she's a grandma?
sharing love with crazy aunty
we miss you all, guys, so very much and we are praying for you every day! (Igor that is you too!) big hugs and kisses!

The Exit Fest '09

2009-07-18T13:56:00.030+02:00

Its quite nice, Chockie and Adrian and I arrived just in time for the Exit. We were also able to see a lot of our friends and Bible class students again which was really fun.

Around 40 or something people came for the Exit from the family. We went witnessing, prayed with lots of people (Even Adrian and I got 3 souls..yippee) performed street plays, sang in the walking street, gave free hugs, played a few soccer games (to bad i don't have pix of that) slept in tents (we stayed at the home) fellowshipped and bonded with dear friends ...and lots more.

The fortress where the festival is held
prayer at the campsite
Igor (our active member) and Claire (camp organizer)
Inspiration/devotions
me and lovely
Adrian and twin Aunty
we performed the 'everything' skit...people loved it and Marie was a great actor.. or shall I say actress

check out the people in the bus behind with their noses glued to the window...they stopped the bus because they thought a real fight broke out...lolfree hugs
Silvia, etc
Steve, my joyful brother taking part in the action:D

Kathy's sister. They look so alike!
a bagpipe...yay!
the frenchies that stayed at our home for a night or so
my crazy brother and sister...(yes..Martin's suddenly bloomed into a man...his voice scares me!!)
but look at his gorgeous locks!
some females from the camp
as well as some boys...fear not...they don't always look this...um...frightful..:D
beautiful people. Esther, Etienne, beauty at the back (sorry, I didn't catch your name) Marie and Ashie
Marie...a wonderful, sweet and crazy girl
Andy, our pet dinosaur
hey look! its fatso again! hehhe
after camp exhaustion

The Cassiopeia Spoof by our greatest fan

2009-07-18T12:59:00.006+02:00

After someone in Ashies (my twin) home saw the pic of our singing group thingy he saught to entertain us and give us a few giggles. I'll share it with you.
(oh and for you that don't know, my first name is Anna....scary aint it?)

CNN Entertainment - Cassiopeia Captures Crowds Completely – composed and collected by Casey Cole Charleston, CNN correspondent.

Brought to you by CNN, communism’s most propagandized network

As thousands flock to see Cassiopeia’s concerts, we can’t help wonder what this sensational music group is all about. We at Communist News Network were wondering what it is that makes this dynamic 5-piece trio+duo so fantastic. After a few compelling surveys from among Cassiopeia’s biggest fans, we have come up with a confirmation: this mind blasting music group might be the answer to Serbia’s bad music crisis.

Cassiopeia fan and musical composer, Aleksandr Diaghilev, said this: “The way Cassiopeia blends 80’s hair, makeup, clothing, sounds and harmonics (with an occasional 80’s- looking sneer from vocalist Liz) makes Cassiopeia the newest, hottest, most lively band of this 21^st century. Just listening to their practice jam mad me fell orgasmic,” says Aleksandr, adding, “I haven’t been this elated since the Bolshevik Revolution!”

Even the Cassiopeia’s critics can’t help but like this amazing new, 80’s-souding band. Cassiopeia-hating Toney Horton angrily said, “I hate them, but I love them.”

Emmanuel Marvin, obviously the band leader, has become the nation’s sex symbol. Many stunning and straight Serbian woman as well as many stunning and not-so-straight Serbian men are huge fans of Eman’s beautiful face.

17-yearold Natalia Kandinsky wrote in to say this: “OMG OMG OMG! Emmanuel is so hot. He’s like, OMG, so hot! I can’t wait for their next concert.”

Take a look at Anna Chagall who easily outdid Natalia’s enthusiasm, “OMG OMG OMG OMG! I, like, OMG, like, it’s like, Eman is like, sooooo hot, it’s like, OMG.”

Vladimir Pudovkin, Serbia’ newest poof, came out of the closet to say, “He’s the man of my dreams.”

But Emanuel Marvin is not the only hunk in Cassiopeia to get wet-in-the-pants for. Cassiopeia’s other guitarist/erotic-backup-dancer, Ettienne Chakor-Djaltia, is quiet the lamb chop. Jesus Christ wired in last night to say this, “That guitarist dude, Ettienne – however unpronounceable his name might be – is getting quite the huge hug when he gets up here.” Female vocalist Liz tends to agree with Jesus. “I agree with what Jesus just said,” agrees Female vocalist Liz. “Ettienne is like, OMG, hot and I just like, love our music,” and none of us at CNN could tell if she loved or liked Cassiopeia’s music.

Cassiopeia has come out with some very revolutionary sounding stuff. Their number one hit single right now, “Revolution for Stalin, for Love,” is their number one hit single right now. Other ear-shattering songs of theirs include: “The Amazing Kat,” “Beauty for Ashes,” “Anna from Heaven,” the remake of Vas’s song“Emmanuel,” and “ET-tienne Phone Home.”

STEM, the lover that wants to hold Marianne’s hand is off to a Cassiopeia concert, and there he wants to stay, for the rest of his days.

But let’s not overlook the girls. Already taking first, second, and third place in Serbia’s Loaded Hot 100, (although it’s not surprisingly difficult – the woman that came 4^th place only had one eye, due to an unfortunate land-mine incident) the three stunners haven’t escaped the paparazzi for one moment.

Aside from conflicting hair-colors, the pretty girls Christina and Elisabeth look so similar to each other you could swear they were twins. Besides looking alike, they share many of the same tastes and opinions; for example, both girls would hate to be tortured to death.

CNN held an exclusive interview with the bands lead-hotty, Anna, who other then being very attractive seems to sing pretty well as well.

We asked her, “What do you plan to name your first album?”

Anna: “Your Pleasure is our Enjoyment.”

CNN: Nice name. Why would you call it that?

Anna: “Because our pleasure is your enjoyment.”

CNN: Isn’t that the truth, as so many people certainly seem to be enjoying themselves with your latest break into the Serbian top 2 with the excellent new song of yours, “Lookin’ for my Lenin”. Let’s quickly take a look at these powerful lyrics:

Oh I’m lookin for my Lenin

Where could he be?

I hope my Lenin isn’t somewhere thinking

I’m counter-revolutionary

He could send the KGB or

A cosmonaut

But if I end up in a Siberian jail I’ll be

Really distraught

Lookin for my Lenin

(Na na na naaaa na na… na na na naaa na na… na na na Lookin for my Lenin)

Now I’m reading my manifesto

In section A

And I use my hammer and my sickle

Every day

And now it’s execution time and

It’s for the cause

But I totally forgot my manifesto

Had that clause

Lookin for my Lenin

(Na na na naaaa na na… na na na naaa na na… na na na Lookin for my Lenin)

CNN: Great stuff, Anna, great stuff. Oh boy, look at the time; we’ve got to finish up this interview. Do you have any closing words for us, Anna?

Anna: Enjoyment is enjoyed if you pleasure us.

CNN: Thank you very much you young, sexy lady, woof woof! Here’s my phone number, please call me when you are of age. We hope all you readers have enjoyed this special Communist News Network look into Cassiopeia’s music and musicians. Tune into CassiopeiaRadio or feel free to browse yousurfing_ourwebsite.givesus_greatpleasure.com and make sure to give a donation to their Radio-Activated charity. Helping those poor woman and children who have suffered the negative effects of nuclear energy is so touching; the smiles on those radiant radiated faces are so powerful!

Thanks for reading.

Next on CNN: Why killing missionaries in Serbia can become a fun and rewarding hobby – and exciting article brought to you by Christian Marx Mann.

We're back!

2009-07-14T16:16:00.003+02:00

hey everyone! I know its been a long time since we've posted and its mainly...(here come the excuses) because we moved from Spain to Serbia, which involved a lot of packing, fund raising...traveling, etc.
So now we are here in Novi Sad with my parents and family. Adrian met his grandparents (and still hopes to see his other set) as well as his aunties and uncles which he simply adores. He talks with them in baby language a lot and seems to be very happy here. Yay!

so here are a few photos with what we've been up to recently.
oh, and we just came back from the Exit...Adrian came too! He loves music. He's also already been to 5 different countries...(most of them being the countries we traveled thru to get here...lol)
anyways...here are the pix. enjoy!

some of my photography...:D

my gorgeous brother

our singing group...Etienne, Emmanuel, Ashes, me and Tina

singing in the walking street, Novi Sadthe kids singing group
flirting
sticking his tongue out...:P

fast asleep with his newly acquainted grandma...
just waking up in the morning
trying to figure what language his toys are speaking...
Adrian and uncle Daniel
his awesome blossom 'throne' buggy..hehe
making important phone calls to his girlfriends
his play cornerAdrian giving mommy a stirring speech about staying in line

Being your Mommy

2009-06-12T15:00:00.000+02:00

Yes, life is different since you came. It's more beautiful in every way.

I wake up in the morning not to wash my face and look myself in the mirror
but to pick you up and look at your face
I look into your eyes and i feel you say 'thank you for your care'
then you smile that smile
it almost brings tears to my eyes
you are perfect, dear baby
being with you brings me the greatest joy
and i will treasure every moment i have you
and i will pray that the moments i do have you will last
that you won't grow up to quick
i so like you small :D

(doesn't he look like he's saying 'what's your problem mom, what are you getting all emotional about?')

One month old! Our trip to the beach and a bunch of other random stuff

2009-05-30T13:19:00.000+02:00

Our sweet Adrian is one month old.
He is now 4 and a half kilos and 52 cm long! His eyes are still blue(yay! I pray every day they will stay that way) and his hair is getting a lil darker as well as his skin.

the naked fellow

this one just made me crack up...
he started crying because he hates being naked
until I begged him for a smile (and he can't resist mommy, especially when she offers extra amounts of milk for snack)
his new towel

A few days ago we went to the beach with Michelle, Amelia, Nina, Chockie, Adrian and I. It was loads of fun and Chockie and I went swimming while Nina (thank you!) watched Adrian for us. He slept almost the whole time and at the end opened his eyes to peek and see what was going on and why it was so sunny and windy and why there were so many naked girls walking around...lol.
The beach is soo gorgeous here, I can't believe we've only been there twice. Well, It takes about 3 hours there by public transport and 3 back, so that might be one of the reasons...hehe...but it really is worth it being there.

us in the metro (Chockie looks like such a sweet fellow in this one)

Nina, Amelia and Michelle
the beach
the foolish children we met there...

...:P

Our home here in Spain is closing down and we are looking for a temporary place to stay until we find the home the Lord leads us to next.
I'm going to miss this place, Amelia and Joshua (they are the ones I spent the most time with...I love you lil guys!) Esty's helpful advice on pregnancy and babies, Adam's nice guitar playing and singing, Rose's concern and liking for fun and fellowship, Timi's foolishness and random sense of humor, Nina oohing and awwing over my baby and her constantly reminding me how adorable and cute he is (how my chest swells with pride:D..of course it's only Jesus)...and her spanish temper!, Ozies nice brownies (I won't forget those) Michelle being nice and aprochable and easy to talk to (and man...our crazy conversations...:P) Vale, Mina and Esy's wild Italian spirits, Lily running around and always taking care of everything, Samuele always being available for any questions (especially for Chockie and thier hours long conversations about computers and that irritating ubuntu program thingy..lol) Frans interesting stories and ability to entertain, Jordan for his funny sayings and cute questions, Becky's cuteness and willingness to help, and Antwone always kindly reminding me 'I'm with my mommy'!! and nice hugs. And the beach....waaahhhhhha! I hope we'll get to go there a few more times before we leave.
anyways...Moving on..I have to get my mind off that beach. :(

Spain's next top model..:P jk...see what I mean by random humor
and the kiddos...taking it all in

Chockie and I really want to go to the Exit festival (in Serbia) and have some kind of family reunion. Ashie could come (yes, this is your official invitation...oh, wait a sec, we aren't exaclty hosting the thing..) Chockies lil brother and even have Chockies folks joining us there. It would be awsome! Also we would get to see our sheep, which I miss so incredibly much! Igor is finished with the 12FS and is now an active member! I really hope we'll be able to visit...we are even thinking of staying there temporarily till we find our winning team.

More pix

this one's so funny...
and this is my absolute favorite and I think it looks so much like Tido (my sister) when she was a baby

Anyhow, please keep all this in your prayers; that we will find a good temporary place to stay and also for a new home. We've been traveling a lot recently and really want to find the place the Lord wants us to actually stay in.

Big hugs from Adrian, Chockie and meeee...!

From 12 to 25 days old

2009-05-23T18:36:00.000+02:00

getting chubby no?:D
I can siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!!
aww mom... you promised me this would be the last one!

pondering the life of a baby
ohh the cuteness
the rapping sailor...hehe
happy bday to me...llalaa
my Bday cake...brownies of course. (Adrian and I had a great time walking around the house half the night after those!) It was delicious Ozie, and as far as the looks...Esty...you impressed us all. thanks guys...:D
I cant really put a name on this one...its just too cute...his lil 'checking the situation out' look (hey hey hey...I did come up with a name:D)
his concerned face
he woke up after laying on my stomach and his hair was all sweaty and spikey ..lol
awwww...doesn't it make you feel like crying
doesn't he look chinky in this one ...?
being adorable

he loves the spotlight
being silly with ma
smiling just like his father

getting sleepy from all the picture taking
studying daddy's face very intently
playing with daddy
bathtime...yay!

2009-05-12T23:01:00.000+02:00

We took care of his birth certificate today and it all went pretty smoothly.ptl.

His name is officially Adrian Quinn Marvin. They couldn't put both our surnames so we decided to give him his daddies surname in case we get married (no...he hasn't proposed yet, as he's pretty intent on having his girl propose to him...ever heard of that before??:P) sometime in the future or end up having more kids (so they can all have the same surname).

All the ladies at the consulate were ooohing and aawing over him and calling him 'que guapo'. I had to change his diaper in the middle of the office on a table because the bathroom didn't have a changing table.lol.

so here are a few more pictures of our adorable lil thing to keep you updated with all the cuteness...:P
enjoying the afternoon sun
snuggling with his paci (however that darn thing is spelt)
yawning. he makes this adorable lil grunt noise after every yawn(i'm trying to get it on video)
mommy time
trying to fit his fist in his mouth (some of these pix are kinda fuzzy as I am not using the flash yet for the sake of his eyes)
busy growing (he's already 51 cm)
conversing with mommy in one of his jolly moods
being squishy and cute (this one is from the hospital) Amelia meeting 'baby sheep' (her affectionate name for my son)

Delivery

2009-05-10T16:23:00.000+02:00

Delivery story...yay!
I thought to write this out as a couple of you asked and also...its nice to have the story and all the details to look and read back on. so...here goes... :D

I woke up at 2:00 with contractions. It was normal for me, as I had been having contractions since 8 months pregnant. The only difference was they were coming and coming and weren’t slowing down or giving up. Still I thought it would die down so I could go back for more sleep. After an hour, and with each contraction getting stronger and closer together, I decided to wake Chockie up. He was sleeping real deep and looked like he was having a great time in la-la land and I didn’t really feel like waking him but my contractions were so close together I thought there must be something different about them.

So I start shaking him and calling his name. No response, not even a slight movement of his little toe. I call his name again and again (and yes, it still amazes me he can sleep thru just about anything, including Adrian a couple cm away crying at the top of his voice for booby) until he starts moving around a bit trying to get some words together. Finally he’s like, ‘yeah, I’m awake. I heard what you said. You said…volleyball!! That’s went I started losing patience at my sleeping boyfriend.

Chockie!! (This time louder with me getting all irritated.) ‘CHOCKIE!! I’m having the baby! WAKE UP!!! This reached his ears. So my loving guy pulled himself from his sleep and started timing my contractions. They were only about 1-2 minutes apart. (Weird, huh? I’ve read they only get that close at the end.) We finished packing the hospital bag and woke Esty up. I didn’t want to go to the hospital yet as I didn’t want to go all the way to the hospital just to be sent back home. So we loused around in the living room talking about whatever could get to our minds at that time of morning.

At 6:30 we decided to leave. I was getting impatient. Chockie was taking it well and didn’t look very nervous at all…I guess he was glad delivery was finally coming around as I was already 40 weeks and 6 days. We get to the hospital and they send me to the delivery waiting room. I sit there in pain fanning myself and very irritated that Chockie and Esty couldn’t be there. I wait, and wait. Finally a doctor showed up asking for my papers so he could check me, which I left with Chockie. I walk back to the place they told Chockie and Esty to wait to get the papers…and they are gone…! The contractions were getting stronger and stronger and I started looking everywhere for them. I go back to the doctors and tell them I can’t find them and the doctors sweetly tell me I have to keep looking. I was in such pain and I felt all alone. Finally I walked out of the hospital crying and having no clue what to do. I didn’t speak a word of Spanish and the doctors said I could only come back once I found my papers. I was really distressed!

Thank God Chockie suddenly appeared (from a different waiting room) and held me for a few minutes till I stopped tearing all the while trying to figure what the beep was going on.

So that was my introduction to this hospital and its kind doctors.

View from the Hospital window.

Tragedy over, they check me. 1 cm dilated. Yay! What a fine wait we have here! They gave us a nice room with 2 beds (only one were we allowed to use, but they left the room after saying that) that we were supposed to stay in until I was 3 cm dilated.

We wanted to wait up there as long as possible because its comfortable, you can take a shower, be in any position you want, etc, etc, and when you go down to the actual dilation room you have to be hooked up to a bunch of stuff etc.

We watched ‘sex and the city’ pausing every time I had a contraction. Esty would pull out the fan viciously whipping some air into my face and Chockie sacrificially giving his arm so I had something to squeeze/claw. It would have been so funny to watch if I wasn’t in pain especially when Esty hit my nose with the fan. Don’t worry Esty, you guys did great and gave me a good laugh despite the contraction. They sent us surprisingly good food for breakfast and lunch which I was glad about till it came to having to get it all out. (ladies that have had babies, you know what I mean by this!)

Dealing with boredom.

snoozing....

Then a doctor showed up, checked me and after realizing I was already 5 cm dilated they sent us down right away. (I know this sounds all nice and fast, but we did wait in that room over 12 hours)There the midwife hooked me up to a hundred and one wiry thingies (well, it was more like three, but it felt like more). She gave me a sedative which made everyone look like they had 2 heads and I don’t know how many feet.

The midwife. I could write a whole story on her. She refused to let Chockie in (even after they devised a plan to try to get them both in by saying he didn’t speak any Spanish and that she spoke lots of very good spanish…) and after a long while let Esty in.

And gosh the moment Esty walked in…(in that sexy see-thru green thingy reaching the floor that you wanted to keep) it felt like an angel had just come down straight from God to bring Kat some relief in her moment of pain. She started fanning me, holding my hand and telling me to breathe deeply and held my legs still to keep me from kicking. (This I only found out the next day) Of course, this just pissed the midwife off. Before Esty came she was just sitting there reading a novel watching me lay there in pain and refusing to let me move position.

Esty really helped me at this point and I have to honestly say I think I would have totally lost it without her there holding my hand (let’s just call it that, as clawing her hand doesn’t sound very …nice). Thank you so much, Esty, for being there with me, all those hours and helping me. You really did! You were able to calm me and you knew just what to do. Thank you so much.

Back to our story. The midwife broke my water bag and the water was greenish so I had to lay completely still because my baby could be in danger. (I don’t understand much about the water colour and all, I just knew he was in danger) So I have to say this was really the worst part. There was a cord inside of me to hear his heartbeat and it had already fallen out once (as I was moving so much) and the midwife said if it happened again she would kick Esty out of the hospital. It was the most painful stage and the last thing I wanted was to be alone with this mean lady with my contractions getting worse and Chockie far away in another room.

I was around 6 cm dilated. From 6 to 8 cm was the most painful I think. I wasn’t screaming, but the pain was …bad. REALLY bad. I decided on epidural and they called the epidural giver. (I have no clue what you call those kind ppl) He was a nice guy. Young and not so hardened and mean like the midwife…AND… he was good-looking.:D:D:D So things were already looking up. (not literally of course) we had to wait an hour before getting it because I had to have another blood test due to the fact that they didn’t take enough blood in the last test, in order to know that the epidural was okay for me and all. So the guy stayed an extra hour in order to give it to me.

Epidural given I waited to see how the next contraction would feel and …well, it felt better, except that all the pain was on one side.

The epidural had numbed half my body, not the other half. Lol. I mean, it wasn’t funny rather extremely annoying, but at least I could concentrate on the side of my body that was numb and tell myself that my whole body felt that way. Anyways at 8 cm dilated, he fixed things up and eventually waist down I was numb on both sides. (not really numb…you can still feel, its just not that painful)

Then. Owch. Finally! I felt his head going down. I couldn’t believe I was finally going to give birth. They stuck me on the delivery chair thingy and told me to push. Now I was in a room full of doctors (7 or 8) many of them students and all of them looking at my wide open legs. This is where the Lord did wonders with the timing. They didn’t want Chockie and Esty in the room at the same time so Esty ran. She ran, grabbed Chockie, he ran, made it to the room, and in one push Adrian Quinn was born.

He didn’t even cry much. His cry was beautiful and I felt so good. I felt so happy as Chockie and I sat there looking at them clean Adrian. Then they placed him on my chest. It was beautiful. The two of us, just looking at him and smiling.

Right after delivery.

He was born 2 kilos 960 at 4:50 in the morning after 26 hours 40 minutes of labor. PTL! It was just a miracle that Esty knew she had to run and Chockie made it in time. Everything was a miracle! Our lil guy is healthy and so beautiful.

I’m writing this as I watch him sleep right next to me. He breathes so cutely and every once in a while he opens his eyes just to check that I am still around. He already smiles and makes cute noises. He nurses well and has gained a good amount of weight. Our sweet Love did things so perfectly and we are both so happy to have Adrian in our lives.

Adrian

getting to know daddieour lil wuv...:)
confiding in daddie

itching his nose
giving suck (now he's addicted)
this was the smallest undershirt we had...
His first clothes (besides hospital garb) getting fancy for home..!!

....and Chockie, thank you for being there for me.
It was a wonderful experience (minus the pain of course...:P)and i'm so glad you were there with me to share that special moment of our baby coming into the world. I love you!

Fallas

2009-03-28T18:45:00.000+01:00

So... The Fallas.... well its like a Valencian tradition... where they make these paper-mush stuff and then burn it .... yes it may seem like a stupid thing to do as what they burn usually costs a ton to make... the most expensive one that they made this year was like 900,000 Euros... so ... like I said lots of money just to burn... enough introductions here are the pics...
So this was the closest one to our home... its by the metro stop.

So while we where waiting for the firemen to come so that we could watch the stuff burn in a flame of glory we went ahead to the entertainment spot where they had a band playing and we started to rock out .... um ... yeah twas the kind of dancing that turned many heads... yes we did look crazy.

Yes, this is the band we "rocked" out to..... or something like that.

Yes, we all had our moment of glory...

Oh yeah I almost forgot... there are like the "Special" women that are called Fallas... yeah they dress kinda special and they all look a bit like princes leiya ... all version ... old, chuby, young... ugly ... less ugly.... unbeliveably.... erm .. yeah here are some ....

So yeah ... after them women go around and parade that place they light the papermush and fireworks.....

Amelia and Joshua

2009-01-31T12:59:00.001+01:00

The munchkins I take care of

Joshua watching 'atto' (Pato)
And they think no ones watching...(they are not allowed up there...ha)
Singing to the birds and the bees...
When Amelia smells flowers she sniffs with her nose but puts it to her mouth..:P
meditating on the meaning of life...
And the weather...

Amelia's 'Jack Black' face...(Michelle is there something your not telling me??..heehehehaa) Amelia thinking about what her next naughty plan should be...('hmmmm...Joshua...what should we do next....heeeehe')

Such cute goofs:)

Dear family in Serbia...

2009-01-10T20:46:00.000+01:00

We both (and our lil guy...us three I guess) Love you guys so much! This is a special post to say we are praying for you there in the Cold Serbia. With the gas being cut for the whole country and it being...minus 15 degrees we can imagine its not very comfortable! But I can see you all cuddling around those two electric heaters reading exciting stories and you, mom, wrapping Steve real close while Daniel tries to snuggle up to Tido all sweetly. (I miss you SOO much lil guy!) We hope Igor and all the dear sheep are doing good! Kisses to each one of you! I'm sure the Lord is taking care of you! Think warm and fuzzy thoughts...xxxx

Christmas Meal 25th

2009-01-10T19:23:00.000+01:00

Here are some pix from the next night after the Christmas Eve fish meal Emmanuel wrote about. This was an English meal with Chicken, stuffing, apple sauce and a bunch of yummo stuff! my belly looks huge here! (it wasn't only the food:P) It was alot of fun and we all enjoyed the food, the Lord and each other.

1. Us hugging

2.Emmanuel trying to be romantic while I itch my ear

3. Us..:D

4. Thinking something naughty...thats for sure

5. Us wishing you all lots of love

2008 Our First Christmas Together (as told by Emmanuel)

2009-01-10T13:43:00.000+01:00

Mkay... so this was like the most hectic situation ever! The entire Christmas Season was run here do this, run there do that. So we where more than happy to be able to have a nice little off time like um ... yeah having the Christmas meal! Well, I don't exactly know what to call it because we ate it at Christmas eve, so I'm not certain what people would call it but yeah. Anyways for the first time in my life Our Christmas meal was Fish!!! I mean, ok it tasted fine and all but gosh where did the turkey run off to??? I spent half the night lamenting the loss of the turkey. But then as soon as I started drinking some wine... and as I started to get drowsy I started to forget the dreadful lost turkey.
So ... now that I'm done with my complaining here's some of what happened...

Lets start out with the getting ready part... This is My Wuv... My Wuv is very beautiful... My Wuv is pregnant... and My Wuv is thinking why the hell is he taking pics of me while I'm beautifying my self?
So needless to say we tried to look at least half way decent for our first Christmas together...

So ... That suspisious looking fellow hugging my girl soooo greedily was just visiting from a far far away land called Italy where pasta grows soo abundantly in the fields (for those who don't know pasta is grown pretty much the same way that rice is grown)...

Just messing with you Ema we all love you!

Ok so for my grand entrance this is MEEEE!!! Traumatizing the poor females... (I was actually trying to teach her a new handshake... heheh)

The best part of all... This Is Me Wuv Wuv, with Tiny yet a big part of our little happy little Family ... whom shall be called ... Quinn Anthoniouse Teraniouslisious Macalious ...oh nevermind the name is too grand to be posted atm and its still under construction ... and there's me.

where our brilliant idea to start a blog came from...

2008-12-09T18:39:00.000+01:00

Yesterday Emmanuel and I were sitting around talking when we thought, man, it would be so nice to have something our kid could look back to when he wanted to know how his lil life began...even tho he is not born yet he's already quite smart and finds it totally exciting to count the times he can viciously kick my stomach and wake me at night.:) sweet lil thing!! On the second of this month we went for my first ultra sound. It's also the day we found out its a boy! When we were looking at the screen seeing his little head and legs, etc, he kicked one of his legs. He probably knew we were watching and was telling us kindly to back off by shooing us off with his lil scrawnie leg. The doctor was like 'heres the head, heres the legs, and..yep ...its definitly a man! Gosh was I happy cuz I think Emmanuel would have fallen over hearing its a girl cuz his heart was really set on having a furry lil thing identical to him. shhh...don't tell him I said that) Well Emmanuel is actually looking over my shoulder every now and then just so he can say he had something to do with our first post..lol.
Our baby is 5 months (in the stomach) tomorrow. That reminds me of this really goofy thing my lil sister Esty said when I was chatting with her the other day. I was telling her ' really soon our baby is going to be about 5 months' she writes back 'wow, he's already born?' I've really got some goofs to call family...but I love them so much! Here's some pix when we woke up at 6:30 in the morning to go to the hospital for the check up.
note: we were really freezing our hinies off and thats why we have these rather constipated looks on our faces...:D this one is of Rose and me (thanks for waking up so early and taking us Rose!)(hey, and check out that sexy old man in the background:P) Heres Emmanuel staring at the chicken on the metro roof(thats just a wild guess)

and last a pic of my belly (sorry about the quality of the pic...its not actually the quality, its just a setting on the cam which makes it look bad, and Emmanuel took it so...hehehhee)