And She's SIX

It often still amazes me. This life we brought into the world, six years ago, shortly before 10pm on July 3.






From her first moments she made her mark on us, and on everyone around us. Every year I relive the joy and excitement and trauma and fear that was her birth. The excitement as I finally realized I was in labor.  The peace and calm throughout labor, until, she decided to stall  (knowing her now, she was probably distracted on her way out of the birth canal...). Then finally, when she made her way out - the relief and joy. And then those hours after, when the NICU team weren't sure she'd survive (even though we never entertained such thoughts). 

In the six years since, our strong and determined baby has blossomed into a strong and determined and beautiful and funny and clever and crazy little girl.










She has this amazing sensitivity that allows her to feel so intensely, so passionately, for all those around her.






She's said before that she couldn't have just one best friend, because that would make her other friends feel bad.









A friend described her, saying, "you feel so full of love when you're with her." And it's true.









You get this sense of a big heart full of love flowing out to fill the space when she's near (except when she's cranky....she is a kid, after all).

Happy 6th Birthday Angelina! The world is a better place because you are in it.

And so it began...

Two years ago today, the Wild Man of Devine Street was BORN. So calm and peaceful, so easy going....we were in for a surprise.

He is anything but calm, but that's what we love about him! Happy, crazy, laughing, mischievous, full of spirit. That is Lenaïc.

Happy Birthday Monkey Boy!

Celebrating Angelina's 5th Birthday

Angelina has been asking, oh, since December, when her birthday party would be. I explained July. When is that? "When it gets hot again." Only it's been hotter than hell since April. She's been to tons of birthday parties all year, and has been not so patiently waiting for her own. In the past week, every morning she'd wake saying "Is today my party?"

Finally, FINALLY, the day of the party arrived!


Her actual birthdate is July 3, but because that's usually a holiday weekend, we've been having her party early. This year, we celebrated June 26, which also happens to be our Swiss Wedding Anniversary (7 years!).






Invited were all the kids in her class, a bunch of neighborhood playmates, assorted other friends with kids. Turned out to be quite the shindig!

Angelina is absolutely obsessed with an out of production PBS show, Dragon Tales (we watch on Netflix). I'm not good with theme birthday parties, but I thought I'd try...

This year we have our pool up (3ft x 15ft), kiddie pool for the little guys, trampoline, and thanks to our wonderful neighbor Fredo, who initially asked me months ago if we'd be having a party because he really wanted to hire a pony (he knew a guy...), pony rides. All this turning our house into quite the Fun House.




And having heard my Dad say enough times that no matter how many adults are around during a party, someone must be lifeguard, I took it to heart and asked our neighborhood teen/housesitter to act as lifeguard during the party. Best decision ever. even though it's only 3 ft deep, with 15+ kids playing in it it can get a bit crazy, and it'd be hard for parents to really watch, esp. if they also have a younger kid around.

The ponies were a huge hit, once the kids got over the shock. I didn't tell anyone, including most of the parents, so it was a surprise for all. The kids were more surprised than excited at first, but then they loved it. Most got to have multiple rides.


Then back to the pool.

Then the piñata.

Then singing Happy Birthday.

And back to the pool.

A great party!

And what a great party it was!

Despite there being about a million events happening May 7, a wonderful group of friends (and their kids) turned out for Frédéric's birthday celebration Saturday.

Happy 40th Birthday Frédéric!

That fabulous husband of mine turns 40 today. And what a way to celebrate: recovering from cancer surgery. But celebrate he will. He says he's up for a party so that's what we're doing - a big party!

Overall, he's recovering well. Sore, worn out after a couple of hours of being out and about, but generally improving. We're not sure yet about the next steps regarding chemo. There's a good possibility he won't have it, but we won't know for sure til next week. For now, he's trying to get his body back and all his insides back into place.


Happy Birthday My Love! May we celebrate 40 more!

Happy Birthday Little Monster!

One year ago today (not until about 10pm), this little creature entered our lives and changed it forever. For the better.

Happy Birthday Lenaïc! Thanks for choosing us to be your family!


And some One Year stats, as of Dec 10: 29in tall, 22lbs 12 oz. Short and fat!

How does a year go by so fast?

And when did my tiny little baby become a monster toddler?

One year old. ONE. How did that happen so fast? It was just yesterday I was sitting here 38 weeks pregnant, trying to finish things up and hoping the little one held off at least until the due date of Dec 25. He decided this place was just too much fun he needed to join the fray early, on Dec 9. And now he's ONE.

If I was a more organized mom I'd have some cool slide show of his first year, but since we're still editing years 1-4 of Angelina's video in addition to Lenaïc's first year, that's going to have to wait.

It's been an incredible year for all of us. Angelina has learned to love (and hate) being a big sister (but mostly love). We've learned to handle 2 kids -ok, so we haven't really figured that out, but we're trying. Lenaïc went from struggling to gain weight in his first few weeks of life to bursting off the charts (he's in 18 month clothes now and some of those are already too small). He zooms all over the house on his hands and feet (he crawls too, but he has this funky yoga position he likes on his feet instead of knees, and "walks" all over like that, even better if he has two small cups in his hands). He pulls up. He likes pushing things as he "walks." He hasn't figured out words yet but has his own way of talking. He loves Chakapu (our cat) and big sister Angelina, he loves parties and friends. He loves Mommy and Papa - the look on his face when Papa walks into the room is enough to melt the hardest heart. (He is happy to see mommy, too, but I'm convinced he just sees me as a meal source)

He likes to "help" unload the dishwasher, though we've taught him to "help" by closing the door instead. He likes to unload every cabinet in the house, but I can't fix that yet. He likes balls and cups and plastic containers. He LOVES lids. Metal lids, who needs cymbals when you can use Mommy's pots?


He is full of laughter and love. Even when he's cranky, all we have to do is sing a silly song or clap our hands and he starts to laugh.


The old poem clearly didn't have it right for Lenaïc. He's a Wednesday Child. Woe is the farthest thing from his existence.


Happy Birthday my Brightness of the Sun. You and your sister make this world a better place for all of us.

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.[1]

Let the Fiestas Begin!

Me: "We're going to have a little party on Lenaïc's actual birthday, just you, L, Papa, and Mommy."
Angelina: "No! I want a BIG party!"
Me: "We already had the big party."
Angelina: "We need ANOTHER big party! I only like BIG parties. Not little parties!"
Yup, she may look identical to an Allegrini, but she definitely inherited the Rohr and Beltran genes.


Festivities have begun with a birthday party this past Saturday for all our San Antonio friends.


Next up, a California celebration!

Happy Birthday Angelina!

Four years ago our adventure began. Our bright eyed angel came into our world and everything changed. Hurricane Angelina continues to fill our days with laughter and love (and a few other emotions too). She's teaching us humility, and love.






Happy Birthday Pucinette!

Parties

Angelina turns 4 this year! To avoid the holiday weekend, we celebrated last week, which, coincidentally, was our 6th wedding anniversary. We were happy to share it though.


Angelina has been looking forward to her birthday for about a year now. She's asked often "When's MY birthday?" and she was practicing singing "Happy Birthday to me" for weeks.

Since we belong to the Clan of "The More the Merrier," we invited everyone: School friends, neighborhood friends, dance friends, parents' friends. I had no idea how many would finally show up. As usual, we had a great crowd and a lot of fun. And a special treat, my friend Monica from Switzerland was in San Antonio visiting one of her other friends (who was 40 weeks pregnant) with her two kids, Elliot and Ivy.



It was hot as can be, but that didn't stop kids from jumping to their hearts' content.


Or moving to the pool to cool down.

Angelina took the notion of "Birthday suit" to heart: before I knew it she'd ripped off ALL her clothes and jumped in the little pool. Other kids followed suit, although most managed to leave some clothing on.

Lenaïc, for his part, has clearly inherited the party gene. He was happy all day, letting everyone carry him and play with him.

And the birthday celebrations continue.....today I brought cupcakes to her school so she could celebrate with her friends there. She was telling everyone she turned 4 last week at her party. When I explained her birthday was actually tomorrow and she'd have another celebration at school today, she said "So I will turn FIVE now?! Yeah! I get to be FIVE!"

Birthday Party Fun

Birthday parties are interesting events for Angelina. She's at that stage where she wants every party to be about her, and she wants us to always sing "Happy Birthday" to her. As you can imagine,that makes it difficult when we go to other kids' birthdays.

She seems to be improving though. On Saturday we went to our friend Juanito's 3rd birthday. She doesn't know they share a special bond - when she was about 9 months old and he was about 1 month old, they came over for a visit. He had a cold. His mom, Nicole, used a bulb to suction out his nose. She laid it down. Angelina picked it up and sucked out its contents into her mouth.....you can't get closer than that! (And of course 3 days later, her cold started)

Anyway, after saying Juanito's gift was "mine" all morning, when we got to the party, she immediately said "This is for you!" And then at present opening time, she happily handed it to him to open. Of course, then she wanted him to play with that present and ONLY that present, but we're working on it....

As for singing, she very happily sang "Happy Birthday Dear Juanito" with no complaints. So, we're getting there.

Parties, Parties, and More Parties!

A weekend of parties was a glaring success. And not too hot either. I was far too busy to take any pictures, so thanks to Lih-Lan for this one of Angelina.

We had the kids party in the afternoon, with assorted kids of assorted ages. The bounce castle was a HUGE hit, as was the kiddie pool and sandbox. I now have sand all over the house.... Angelina had tons of fun. My favourite moment was the birthday cake (which said "Happy Birthday SuperNina*) the look on her face when she realized everyone was singing for her was priceless. She's heard it before, but it still makes her soooo happy.

We had a short transitional period and then the rest of the party began - we invited everyone without kids for the evening, and those with kids to stay, but it also gave a chance for those who weren't really into the evening thing to leave early. For this we joined forces with our neighbors - now that we have a gate, it's so easy. And then their neighbors also opened their gate, so it turned into a 3-house party. They had a band and dunk tank which was tons of fun. It was also 7 yr old Wiley's birthday party, so there were a ton more kids who showed up at night. Our house ended up being the more kid-oriented side and also a somewhat quieter pocket for those to talk, while the grown-ups centered around the band, with the bigger kids in the dunk tank. It was a mass of kids and people wandering around, and at one point very chaotic, but everyone had a great time.

We followed up the next day with another birthday party, this one for 5 yr old Lily. It was a pool party which was just perfect!

Now I'm done with birthday parties for awhile....

(the cake decorator called, unsure of the spelling for "superNina" - apparently she thought it was supposed to say "superNINJA")

More Happy Birthday Time

Angelina's birthday party is a little late this year due to trying to coordinate with neighbors and not overlap with too many other birthday parties. We decided to do a join Annual Summer Bash + Angelina AND Wiley's birthday party. Smart me thought we'd have an afternoon "kids" party so all the adults without kids wouldn't feel obligated to participate in the kid-party or bring her a present. So now, we have TWO parties: one in the afternoon and one in the evening. All the afternoon families are invited to the evening (and everyone's welcome to the kid part if they want to), but it still means planning for two parties in one day, which is a lot of work! Food for kids. Food for Grown-ups.

We'll have a bounce castle and the kiddie pool. Our neighbors will have a dunk tank and live music. And we'll both have more food and drink than we can handle. And have I mentioned it's been 100F+ here lately?

As for Angelina, she thinks her birthday lasts forever. Thanks to packages arriving from assorted friends and family across the globe, we keep finding boxes on our doorstep. Excited child she is, she was even thrilled when the coffee we ordered arrived. She picked up the box and kept saying "My present! My present!" not wanting her to be disappointed I explained it was coffee for Papa. No.....it was a present for her. She opened it and exclaimed "Wow! For me!" (it is colorful)

Yesterday I went grocery shopping for the party, and came home with things like punch. Conversation ensued:

Angelina: "Mommy, open it!"
Me: "No, honey, it's for the party."
Angelina: "My party?"
Me: "yes, your party is on Saturday."
Angelina: "Happy Birthday to you" (singing.....) followed by her "blowing" - like she was blowing out candles.

Needless to say, she's excited.

A Very Special Day

In addition to celebrating her birthday on our last day in Switzerland, Angelina got to spend extra time with Granpapa. Though she'd visited him nearly every day, and entertained him in his hospital room and later rehabilitation room, this was the first day he went out on a wheelchair outside since entering the hospital more than 3 weeks before.

Of course, she wore him out, but then she usually wears all of us out.




Le famille Allegrini and Ferrari

Happy Birthday To Me

Angelina is having the birthday that never ends. Thanks to friends and family scattered all over, new presents keep arriving.

Nanny sent her a bunch of dresses. She calls this one her "Happy Birthday Dress."


We also had a birthday party the day before we left Switzerland:



She of course loves presents, what kid doesn't?


Our problem now is how to teach her that she shouldn't expect presents every day, and not to be greedy about it? She's grateful at least. Somehow we'll figure out how to make a big deal out of her birthday (which I think is justified, since every one needs one special day per year) without making it all about presents.

Happy Birthday Mundie Pie!

From this......


To SuperNina!


You can already see in her eyes in that first picture that despite the trauma of birth, how strong-willed our Angelina was destined to be.

I still get emotional on July 3. I wonder if that will always be the case? Three years ago our excitement of labor starting turned to fear once she was born and later to joy when we brought her home.

Three years later, this child, whom most of the medical professionals didn't think would survive, is more full of life than just about any child imaginable. She's the kind of person who lights up a room just with her presence (sometimes that's not a good thing.....like when you'd like her to be just a little bit quiet). But we remind ourselves that it was this vivaciousness, this fighting spirit, this strong will that got her through those first weeks. I will forever be grateful to that spirit (and to the many medical professionals who helped her through those rough first weeks).

Happy 3rd Birthday SuperNina!

Tour de France, here we come!

Angelina has fallen in love with bikes, at least when someone else is pedaling.

I had been talking about buying a new bike for weeks, since my last good bike was stolen (some years ago) and my attempt to be cheap by replacing it with a yard sale find meant a bike that was bent and not ridable. And after 3+ years of "I can fix it" but it not being fixed, I finally decided it was time for a new one. To cement the plan, a couple of weeks ago Angelina rode in Angela's bike seat and fell in love.

Lucky for me, my birthday was coming up and Frédéric, always paying attention, decided to surprise me with a bike. Angelina got a present too, a bike seat. I haven't managed pictures of us riding yet, but suffice it to say we're having a blast! The first two days Angelina had her new bike helmet, she wouldn't take it off, she even wanted to sleep with it. I had to hide it during the week or we'd never hear the end of it.

And more pictures here

The Birthday That Never Ends

Angelina is going to start thinking that every day comes with a present to open! Thanks to family and friends scattered across the world, for awhile there, a new cadeau was arriving almost daily!

This one came from the Etoy Allegrini Cousins. Actually, this is a mix of two - Charlotte aux Fraises (ie Strawberry Shortcake) and another cute skirt and top. I couldn't get her to wear the right combination though she insisted on putting it on immediately.

Merci Tonton Philippe, Taunte Sophie, Megane, Mael, and Gilles!





And here she is just having fun -

Happy Birthday!

Two years ago today, it was the best day of our lives, then the worst day, and then eventually the best day again.

I don't know if it's the same for other NICU parents, or for all parents. We both find ourselves overwhelmed with emotion on our child's birthday. Is it because we remember that day? So hopeful, then so terrifying? Or does everyone feel this?

It's amazing to us that she went from this:

To this:















It's difficult to think of that day. It started off with so much anticipation and promise, only to end with terrifying fear that we may lose her. But really, something inside us told us we wouldn't lose her. That she was tough, and would pull through. Thanks to a wonderful midwife, Holly, whose years of experience in delivering babies and with laboring moms told her Angelina was going to need some extra help, even though once we got to hospital, all signs were stable and normal. Thanks to a wonderful OB on call, Dr Bryant, who was patient and kind and proactive and not afraid to do what she thought best. Thanks to a wonderful neonatalogist, Dr. Hilliard, who told us "Don't even think of an ECMO when others mentioned it, and told me to just keep pumping milk, that it was the best thing for her once we could take her off the IV. Thanks to the wonderful lactation consultant who held my hand (and boob) to get the milk going. Thanks to a wonderful team at Christus who kept her alive in those first dark hours. Thanks to all our family and friends around the world, both real life and online, and the many many people whom we've never met but who prayed, wished us well, shared kind thoughts and supported us through those terrifying days.



Thanks to all, she is here today.

Celebrating her 2nd birthday.

Full of life and smiles and cheers and cries and screams and laughter. Angelina has all of that.

She already lives life fully.

Completely.

Sometimes much to our dismay.

I wouldn't change anything for the world.

But I'd also never go back to July 3, 2006. Or rather, July 4th at about 2am. No. I don't want to relive that. Instead, we'll live each day, as Angelina teaches us to.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea.