Marc is now officially half a year old, Thursday he had his 6 month check up with his pediatrician. Following are his stats:
- Weight: 19.1 Lbs (8.7 kbps) -> 75 %-ile
- Height: 27.1 inches (68.8 cms) -> 75 %-ile
Everything looked good, he got 3 more vaccines and hopefully won't have to see his pediatrician again until June. We hoped that'll be the case, he's been a very healthy boy so far, the only time he got sick, the whole family did (some sort of flu/cold).
Hoy, después de 30 años empieza una nueva vida para mi hermano Manuel, mañana pasara a engrosar la lista del paro después de trabajar en el mismo sitio, de repetir la misma rutina durante 3 décadas… No ha sido por sorpresa, ni tan siquiera por culpa de la crisis económica. A su jefe le llego la edad de la jubilación y decidió cerrar el negocio.30 años en los que trabajo demasiado, durante mucho tiempo 7 días a la semana sin vacaciones, en los que fue leal, en los que dejo pasar otras opciones mejores por la fidelidad a ese hombre que le ofreció su primera oportunidad cuando apenas había acabado la EGB. Después de 30 años, mi hermano y su compañero tan solo han recibido de ese hombre para el que trabajaron duro, el mínimo a que obliga la ley, ni tan siquiera un gesto para reconocer como esos dos empleados llevaron el negocio adelante… Tampoco tuvo el detalle de dedicarles su tiempo, de hablar con ellos, quizá de ofrecerles la posibilidad de traspasar el negocio, ofrecerles su ayuda en caso que decidieran intentar la aventura por su cuenta. Durante 30 años, ese hombre ni tan siquiera tenia que presentarse en el trabajo, ellos dos se sobraban y bastaban…. Al final de esa relación de confianza solo hubo un silencio cobarde y traicionero…Lección aprendida, en los negocios hay que ser egoísta, no hay lealtad ni fidelidad que valga… Al final nadie se va preocupar por uno, tan solo uno mismo.Por otra parte, se que mi hermano encontrara otras oportunidades, sin duda mejores. Siempre pensé que malgastaba su talento e inteligencia en el mercadillo, ojala este cambio forzado le ayude a ser ambicioso. Es duro volver a empezar después de tanto tiempo, salir de la rutina, quizá aprender un nuevo oficio, pero si alguien puede hacerlo, ese es mi hermano Manuel.Te queremos y estamos orgullosos de ti, ahora más que nunca!
... or: how dad and mom get an opportunity to go out and enjoy a romantic night together.Yes indeed, our good friend Kula volunteered to babysit Marc on Valentine's night, what a nice detail! Being far from our families, these are the kind of things that mean the world to us.
The plan for the night? Dinner a Sura Thai Bistro and a movie. Again, it may not sound like much, but to us it is. One of the few things we really miss from our life pre-Marc are our weekly movie sessions.
Dinner was amazing, a festival of flavours and great presentations. Kudos to a creative special menu built around flowers with a total of 4 dishes each one of them equally impressive, I wish I remember the names of the plates, but there was a little bit of everything: roasted duck salad, ceviche, orchid tempura,... Following are a couple of shots we took:
After the nice dinner we enjoyed "Revolutionary Road", some may say "not the happiest movie for a Valentine's date", but what a great movie nevertheless, two great actors probably at the peak of their game, specially Kate Winslet who fills the screen with an unbelievable portrait of these woman trapped in a life she cannot stand.
Happy Valentine's (even if with a little delay) :)
We've been married for 2 years! So many things have happened in this time: we looked for and found our first home, we decorated it, we've been together to Hawaii, Miami, New York, Spain and China, we got our green cards, and last, but definitely not least, we've had the most wonderful baby together.Ours was a very unconventional wedding, we just knew we wanted to be together and we were willing to do anything to accomplish that goal, we did not want to risk being apart for long time again due to immigration aspects, we also knew that preparing a formal wedding with our families living in two different countries so far away as China and Spain was not a realistic option.Therefore, we decided to just get married in the Chicago city hall on Feb 13th 2007, a Tuesday, in the middle of one of the worse snow blizzards of that winter. The judge joked that we would probably be the only couple getting married that day and that we should be really in love to marry that day. It's funny, but I remember almost every second of the ceremony, I remember how nervous we were, how warm Chenli's hand felt while I was holding it.We did not even have rings, the rings came later as a present of my family when my sisters (Ana and Mari Carmen) and my brother-in-law came to visit us. I've actually never been one who likes to wear any type of jewels and I thought wearing a ring would not work for me, but now, I love it, it reminds me of one of the most wonderful days of my life, it reminds me that I'm lucky to share my life with such an amazing woman and it reminds me that our families are always with us supporting us and loving us.This posting is dedicated to my wonderful wife for the last 2 amazing years and for the many more that will follow... Love you more and more everyday.
