Are we related?

I decided to go back and take a look at Grace's pictures to see if she and Jacob looked similar at this age.  When Grace was a baby everyone said she looked like Dean.  With Jacob, everyone says he looks like me.  What do you think?

Serious Grace

Serious Jacob

 Happy Grace

 Happy Jacob

Happy Birthday to Grace!

It's hard to believe that Dean and I are now parents to a seven year old.  Where has the time gone?  We are way too young to have a daughter that old! 
We celebrated Grace's birthday at school with a Hawaiian Party. Of course Grace loved being the center of attention for the day.  She handed out leis to her friends and then they sang happy birthday in English and Portuguese.  After cupcakes, it was time to head outside to burn off the sugar. 

Who says that dairy free, egg free, nut free cupcakes can't be great?

Like most of Rio, it appears that shoes in the classroom are optional.

Let the party begin!



Looks like shoes are optional at recess as well!

 Despite the all the noise, Jacob was sleeping and didn't make it into the family photo.

Construction or Something Like It

I know there have been a lot of baby posts lately so I decided to mix things up a bit with a "Things You Only See in Brazil" photo.

Recently while I was out for a walk, I saw the framing of a new house being built in our compound.  When I saw the framing, I could not believe my eyes.  Now, I have no background in house-building but using tree limbs for framing is definitely not something we've ever seen in the US.  Keep in mind, we live in a really nice neighborhood so the construction only goes downhill from here.  By the time I got back to take a photo they had started building the house, but I think you can still get the idea...

All I can say is that I am glad we are renting!

A Few Firsts

It is hard to believe that Jacob is five weeks old, yet at the same time it feels like he's been a part of our family forever. We are enjoying having a baby in the house again. Looking at Grace, we can't believe how big she is and how fast the past 6 years have gone by.

Jacob is doing great. He went to the doctor yesterday and he weighs 10.5 pounds and has grown 2 inches since his birth.

As you can imagine since Jacob has been born we've had a lot of firsts. Here are a few photos of some of them...

First Walk at 2 weeks

First Bath at 3 weeks after his umbilical cord finally fell off

First Bottle at 4 weeks (neither one of them appreciated all the effort it took to pump!)

First Photo as a family of four

Grace's first day of school

Meet our Brazilian Baby

Jacob Dean Berck
28 June 2011
10:16 pm
8 pounds 3 ounces

Last Tuesday morning we went to the hospital to induce labor at 41 weeks. After several hours there was no progress and our doctor suspected that the baby's head was too large for my pelvis. At that point we decided to go ahead with a c-section, my biggest fear. Amazingly enough, I was really calm and at peace with the decision. In fact the doctors were surprised at how low my pulse was as they were getting ready for the surgery. I think God intervened at some point to calm my nerves, I have no other explanation. When Jacob was born they saw that he did indeed have a big head and his arm was next to his head. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and his legs several times, another thing that would have made a normal delivery difficult if not impossible.

Seeing my little boy for the first time was indescribable, it was love at first sight. All the morning sickness and pregnancy pains were worth the end result. A parent's love for their child is truly an amazing thing.

We are home and doing well. Grace has been an amazing helper. She loves to hold Jacob and has taken this huge change so well. I was worried about her reaction since it has been just her for so long, but she has been amazing with him. We are so happy with the new addition to our family. God has truly blessed us with the gift of Grace and Jacob.

Yes, I'm STILL pregnant!

Today is the day we have been waiting for and there is no baby in sight! Of course we have tried a lot of the old wives tales of getting labor started but so far they have not been successful. It's funny how different people have different theories. If only one of them worked for me! The goood news is that everyone can have one last laugh at my big belly...

Grace has started begging the baby to come out, but so far he is proving to be stubborn, not surprising considering who his parents are.

The doctor is giving me until 41 weeks to go into labor on my own so no matter what we have less than 7 days until we meet our little one. We are praying for labor to start on its own, for as I've mentioned before C-sections are the norm here and I have a feeling that is what will happen next week if this little guy does not cooperate.

The question is what will come first the baby or the part to fix the washing machine (that we ordered 3 weeks ago)?...

Is this really what we need right now?

So with my due-date fast aproaching (although not fast enough for me) my washing machine, which we brought with us from the US, decided to quit working. You know it's bad when you smell the thing burning. In most circumstances, you just call the Whirlpool man and he comes and fixes it the same day. Unfortunately for us, the Whirlpool man is on a different continent. Much to my horror, Dean decided to take the thing apart and I walked into our kitchen/laundry area to this...

After some time, I finally convinced him that he was not a professional repairman and that we needed to call someone. When the repairman came out he told us, much to our dismay, that the part we needed (the motor) was not available in Brazil that we had to order it from the US. This is very bad news since our mail takes 3-4 weeks to arrive once something has shipped.

Here in Rio there are no laundromats, only dry-cleaners that charge an arm and a leg, which we learned while we were living in the hotel when we first moved here. I think we spent about $75 to have three loads of laundry washed. I wasn't convinced our clothes were truly clean after they went to the lavanderia. The big reason this is such a headache though, is that there are too many unknowns. I don't like the idea of dropping off my clothes and not knowing what kind of detergent is being used on them-especially on Grace's things since she has sensitive skin. Also not knowing if my clothes are tumbling around a washing machine with someone elses-yuck! I don't even like Dean doing the laundry, I feel he can't be trusted with the task. I'm going to get in trouble for that comment, but I take all the blame, I'm picky about my laundry!

The good news is that because of my OCD, the baby's things are ready to go. Also, our wonderful maid has been hand-washing some of our clothes for us so we don't smell (too much). Of course at 38 weeks pregnant I have very few things that still fit me so the fact that she is willing to hand-wash our clothes when I am at the point where I can hardly move, is truly a blessing. I think I'll have to pay her a little extra this month!