Much to be thankful for...

A 3-week visit home: much to be thankful for! Celeste and I were showered with love and care as family members and friends met her for the first time. A few highlights included: a walk with her grandpa in the woods, a group huddle around her playing with her at my cousin’s, a Meet celeste party at her Aunt Julie’s in the city, a cozy Thanksgiving with Abuela Ju (Julia)’s great cooking, and a day-long event in which people came and met her for the first time at Grandma Lala’s (my mom’s). To expand a little bit: 1) my dad (grandpa) and I took her on a walk in the woods for her 4-month birthday. I thought it would be a great bonding experience for him to carry her around for an hour or so, but she ended up being so heavy, his back was aching near the end! She really seemed to enjoy staring at all the interesting shadows in the trees and appreciating the thump-bump of grandpa’s experienced hiker’s walk (mine was more like a heave-drag trying to keep up). 2) The cuzzys love Celeste! I brought her over to their house for the first time and found myself greeted by a life-size cut-out of her head they had printed off the computer, with a super-cute Santa’s elf outfit attached as the body. It was hilarious,but kindof scary too since the printout of her head was like the size of a large adult male’s head on a baby's body. Haha. Needless to say, she was asleep, and Lindy couldn’t take it any longer so she woke her up after dinner, only to run away because she got scared by Celeste’s glazed-over-massive-staring-eyes look she has when she first wakes up. She thought it was a sign that Celeste was going to vomit, but luckily she saves that for mama, never in the presence of cuzzies. The night proceeded with Celeste laying on the couch and the entire Cuz clan huddled around her all playing with her at once. I swear each Cuz had a different limb and were all making funny faces and noises to over-stimulate her. Celeste was loving it…so much attention! 3) Aunt Julie had a “Meet Celeste” party with her friends. Music, wine, cheese, friends, and a baby thrown into the mix: could it get any better?! ( ; I really enjoyed seeing some old friends and meeting new ones, showing off my daughter is always a good way to feel even more proud. The night ended, however, not quite so enjoyable. I pictured a peaceful night, with Tay (that’s her nickname) cuddled in between me and her Auntie till the morn’. But instead I was unpleasantly interrupted by Tay waking up SIX times between midnight and seven a.m. It was miserable. Two days later two little teeth popped up, and now I understand why she woke up so many times (teething!). 4) Thanksgiving was great. The whole family contributed to the cooking, but Julia masterfully prepared the turkey. We had some great dinner conversation, and then sat by the fire and gave Celeste a good-night massage to top off the night. Julia gave many great presents, including an awesome Bolivian baby poncho made of llama for Celeste. Thank you Julia for coming! It was so nice to have Mark and Ashley there too for the weekend. I really enjoyed having nearly our whole family together to enjoy and uplift each other despite everything going on. Another random highlight: Julia stealing the dancing chicken! We had a white elephant gift exchange the next day with Julie's boyfriend's fmaily and Julia was ridiculous really wanting a dancing, singing chicken toy. She stole it from Nathan's dad. Ive never seen her laugh so hard. 5) The California visit culminated in a day-long event at Grandma Lala’s in which nearly 25 people came through from 10am-11pm to meet the lil munchkin. Everyone loved her of course, and she behaved herself so well. It was so great to see friends I haven’t seen in nearly a year, catch up, and share this part of my life with them. I really enjoyed our last visitors: Elista came over all the way from Berkely with some home-made enchiladas, which I ate with Martha Dunn, Mom, and two good friends Joanna and Balboa. Then Balboa, who is a super skilled musician for a reggae band, discovered our piano and played some great songs for us to enjoy while we all relaxed by the fire. So nice. Thanks for everyone for coming by! Ahhhhhhhhhh…..so now I’m back in freezing Boston, but feeling refreshed and more myself after time with good friends and family. Not to mention the beautiful landscape of mountains, water, and trees, and sunny days that left me full of energy and life. Grandma got some good babysitting in, and I got some much needed-time to reflect on all the changes that have been going on and reconcile some difficulties. I return back to Boston motivated to start pursuing my interests again, start working, and with the understanding that living in Boston is a healthier place for me to be for now. Thank God for California, until we meet again…!