SOFIA GIULIANA ARRIVED

Technically, it's been almost 3 months since she was born. What a Journey!!!! We have gone trough a few things in such a small period of time. Starting with the C-Section getting postponed, Karina getting induced into labor, emergency c-section cuz Sofia was "stressed", Sofia not wanting to breath and with tachycardia and going to NICU and not being able to carry her for two days. Then came the sleepless nights... for Karina...ha. After a few days went by, all that subsided and a few days after that it began to sink in the fact the there is little baby that came out of nowhere and it's the most incredible feeling. Such awe and love at the same time as you stare at that little miracle that depends on you for everything. Seriously, I don't understand how people don't believe in Jehovah and the tremendous miracle that is the creation of a tiny human being.
When that baby looks into your eyes and grabs your finger, it just spins your world around in a way that you cannot describe it. Of course you have an idea when people tell you how it feels like, but until you go through it, you realize how strong a bond can be, and how much you can love a person.
That brings us to another subject, being a mom. Now, I am in the same boat about having an idea but not having the opportunity to fully inderstand it, for obvious reasons. But after seeing all Karina went though and all those sleepless nights and all the devotion and dedication invested in a lil pooping-farting-burping machine. I take off my hat to her because it has been rough on her and she is doing such an excellent job. And I love her and thank her so much more for that.

DANIEL "pulgarcito" ALEJANDRO VARENA has arrived!!!!

Maybe I am getting old, or sappy, or gay... but when I carried my nephew for the first time, I felt so many wonderful things that I can't even begin to explain them. I felt a bunch of things, like happiness for Maggie and Pilo because they had been wanting a baby for a while, joy because El Dani came out healthy and sooooo cute. At the same time it hit me that that lil baby shares my blood and is now a part of the family, and that in some way I am responsible for him as an uncle. I dunno, maybe it is hiting home so hard because I am going to be a Father soon and all these heavy feelings of family, responsibility, love are coming up under a different light. By the way, Danielito weighted 5 pounds 10 ounces, and measured 18 inches. I promise to be there for him and to be the best Tio he could ever ask for. By the way, CONGRATULATIONS PILO AND MAGGIE!!

Baby Shower Thanks

It's been almost a week and people are still tellling me how pretty and awesome the Baby Shower was. It's not like I did anything, other that cause the whole thing to exist! Since some of you weren't there for the big speach after we finished opening all the gifts, it went a lil' like this:
Mauro: I want to thank everybody for all the effort, money and time invested. Everything came out beautiful!
Karina: That's all you are going to say??
Mauro: That... and thanks a lot, guys.
Karina: Ever so eloquent!

Special thanks to the girly crew: Anita, Gabriela, Jenny, Maggie, Miriam, Olivia (in alphabetical order, btw)
There were many other people that helped, pitched in with $ or gifts, or BOTH. Our hearts go out to all of you. We are extremely blessed to have all of you around us through thick and thin. I thank Jehovah for putting us in the path of so many loving and caring people. Enough with the emotionalism...
GRACIAS... TOTALES!!!

Baby Girl Update

I'm back after four months. Time flies when you are expecting! Two Saturdays ago, Karina and me went to a Birth and Delivery class. It was so much fun... it was only from 10am to 6pm. Among other things, we listened to nurses, doctors and practiced spooning and relaxing techniques. It was adorable... the highlight of the day were the videos, one a normal delivery and the other a c-section. I would take the whole class again just to see the faces of all the pregnant women squirm while the babies were coming out. Even though they couldn't watch it, they all began discussing how women are so strong and how if it was up to men, there wouldn't be any babies on earth... Right! Anyway, I salute all the suffering souls that populate humanity in their stomachs.

Moving on, we saw the first 4D picture of the baby!! I am so exited, specially because a few people have said that she looks like me. HAHA! Of course Karina is devastated by the news, and I think she is secretly praying extra hard for the baby not to have my nose, feet, apetite, and the ever present need to annoy somebody. I Well, in all seriousness, all we are really praying for is for her to be healthy, the delivery to be good, and finally... we are praying to see if we can decide on a name for the baby. We have narrowed down the list to : Angelina, Victoria, Camila, Sophia and Giuliana. To tell you the truth, I don't know if we are too indecisive or if the seriousness of the task at hand is so up there, that we are putting it off till last minute in order to have as much time as we can possibly can to pick a good name. Hopefully, we'll have something by March 18 or even before that.