AMAZING APRIL

April was a great month and not just because it is my birthday month. I have always loved April because I love spring with its blossoming trees and flowers, nicer weather and longer days. I love the Easter holiday and the sense of rebirth after the long winter. The only bummer of course are the allergies. This April was even more special because we got to spend lots of time together as a family. Here in Spain the fathers have a right to take paternity leave and since Leo did not take the time off when Avery was born he took the time off in April. The first 20 days of April were spent either running around getting things done before our big move or spending time together as a family in the house or at the park. With Leo´s job and recent promotion and with his classes for his MBA plus the time spent being bishop there are some months that we don´t see very much of ,so it was nice to have this time together as a family.

On April 5th we took the train to Madrid in order to go to the US Embassy the next day because we had an appointment to get Charlie´s passport renewed and report Avery´s birth and apply for her passport and social security card. We thought since it was mid week we wouln´t have any problems with train and hotel occupancy so we waited until the last minute to make our reservations. Well, unfortunately the train was so full we were not able to sit all together and it was very difficult to find a hotel for a good price. The boys of course travelled pretty well but Avery was not a big fan of the train ride so I had to stand up with her and hang out in the space between the cars to make her go to sleep. It was not until we got to Madrid that we found out that there was a League of Champions Soccer game as well as a Justin Beiber concert so that is why everything was so booked. The hotel where we stayed was actually quite nice as it was a suite and in the room there were even robes and slippers for us to use. The boys took a bath in the jet tub and in the morning Clark said he didn´t want to leave because it was all his "todo mio". We had to leave early to catch the subway to the embassy. The subway system is very nice in Madrid but it is still an adventure to travel with 3 kids. Luckily, overall the people are nice and would give preference to the kids to sit down on the seats and all the older ladies oohed and aahhed over Avery.
Every thing went well at the embassy but we were there about 2 hours as there is a lot of paperwork we have to fill out and turn in so that a child born outside of the US can claim American citizenship. In order to take advantage of the long trip to Madrid after the embassy we took the subway to the Madrid zoo. Charlie has been to the zoo before but Clark had not. We rented a golf cart and we spent several hours exploring the zoo. We then took the subway once again to the train station in order to catch the train back to Cartagena. Once again the train seemed to be packed and Avery was quite fussy so I went to find a not so full car. Avery and I took a nap in one part of the train and Leo and the boys took a nap in another part. Since kids 4 and under are free we only bought three tickets but since the train was pretty full that also meant that we only had 3 seats for 5 bodies. It was pretty uncomfortable since Clark wanted his own seat. I am thinking next time we will have to buy the extra ticket to make the traveling a bit more comfortable. We didn´t get back to Cartagena until after midnight but luckily Grandma Yolanda came to meet us to help carry the kids and luggage to our house.

I am happy to announce that Avery is now an American citizen and we have received Charlie´s and Avery´s passport as well as her SS# so all the paperwork is ready for our big move. During Leo´s time off we also had to renew his Spanish passport and we applied for Clark´s and Avery´s Spanish identification card plus Leo renewed his Spanish driver´s licence.

This year I turned the big 33. For my birthday the kids and Leo made me breakfast and then Leo took me to a hair salon to get my hair cut and styled. I am ashamed to admit that I hadn´t got me hair cut for a year and a half so it definitely need a good trim. (There is only one hair dresser I trust and she live too far way). After getting my hair done we went out to lunch and then in the evening we had a meeting in the church. Overall it was a very nice birthday however, for some reason turning 33 made me think I was getting old so I started applying all these different creams on my face in the hopes of stopping time. It was a slight mid life crisis I think. I still can´t believe I am closer to 40 than to 20. It will be 15 years this June that I graduated from High School and 10 years since I finished my mission so I think everything started to catch up with me and I had a mild crisis but I am doing better now but I still apply my daily sunscreen to make sure the wrinkles stay away as long as possible.

Easter is a week long celebration here in Spain. The kids are out of school and the Holy Week is full of parades depicting different aspects of the life and death of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. It is definitely a cultural experience living in Spain during Holy Week. My children still have not experienced an American Easter with all the corresponding traditions but we did take the kids to the park on Saturday to play soccer and then the Easter bunny came and hid some chocolates for the boys to find. I am looking forward to next year so that the boys can dye eggs and go on an easter egg hunt.

The kids are great. Of course we have our challenging days but they are the joy of my life. There isn´t a day that goes by that I don´t laugh. Charlie is still doing great at school and has improved a lot with his reading. He loves playing basketball so we go to the nearby court as much as possible. From my point of view he does quite well for his age. It must be his teacher! Clark still loves superheroes but more than anything he loves balls. Everyone comments how well he kicks for his age. We have quite the soccer games in our long hallway as all three boys (Leo, Clark and Charlie) are very competitive. GOOOOOAAAAALLL!.

Clark has turned into a parrot and repites everything anyone says whether it is Spanish or English. He counts to 12 or 13 in both languages and does well with his colors as well. Avery is growing like a weed. Even her doctor is amazed how big she is considering I only breastfeed her. She is in the 100% range of the growth curve. She is sleeping better and only wakes up one time during the night which I am greatful for but sometimes I still feel like I am playing musical beds at night because Clark still wakes up sometimes so I start out in my bed but then I go and feed Avery then I go back to my bed then I sometimes go to Clarks bed and then back to mine. Oh, the blessings of being a mother.

I pulled back the covers of Clark´s bed and this is what I found.

Clark usually keeps all his balls in his Spiderman backpack but sometimes he pulls them all out to admire them I guess.

Or sometimes I find them through out the house. There isn´t a day that goes by that I don´t pick up at least 10 balls and when I sweep underneath the furniture I find even more.

On an overpass in Madrid on our way to the subway from the hotel.


At the Madird zoo with the golf cart. The boys were very excited to drive around in the cart and it certainly helped to keep the sun off the baby and me.

Some very hungry bears we saw at the zoo.

The boys cute as ever.

Avery at 4 months.

The next Pau Gasol.

The next Cristiano Ronaldo.

Avery cheering on her brothers at the park.

The boys at the park.

On one of our family adventures in Cartagena trying out the new escalators to a newly built viewpoint of the city.

The boys playing soccer the Saturday before Easter.

Avery at the park.

The boys on the easter candy hunt.

Checking out their loot.

The boys love playing with Leo.

Just another fun day at the park.

MARCH MADNESS

March was a pretty crazy month and not just because I tried to follow March Madness and all the “Jimmermania” from Spain. The month started with a bang as we were able to go watch the parade in conjunction with Carnival. Who needs Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans when you can go see a man dance in a pink outfit with feathers right in your hometown.

This month we also avoided a possible tragedy. Every Friday, Leo has his class for his MBA which is until 9:00pm in Murcia so he is home by 10:00 pm. He usually calls before he leaves to let me know that he is on his way. One Friday it was almost 11 pm and I still hadn´t heard anything from him so I was starting to get worried. I called him and no answer which is very unusual. He always answers his cell phone. I called his mom and his sister and they didn´t know anything either. Leo always lets me know if he has interviews or visits but as far as I knew he had nothing scheduled so I was really starting to worry and so was his mom. I called and called and still no answer and so my mind started to wander and imagine things. I was picturing Leo unconscious in a car accident and that is why he wasn´t answering his phone or even worse. I started looking at Charlie and Avery asleep on the couch and I started to cry thinking “how am I going to raise these kids by myself”. Clark was patting me on the back trying to comfort me. I asked Clark where daddy was and he kept on saying “work, work”. I started to pray as I was I starting to think the worst. Finally at 11:30pm I got a phone call from Leo. He was at the church conducting an interview and he accidently left the cell phone in the car. He had 16 missed phone calls when he got to the car. Of course I told him I loved him but I also let him have it for making me worry so much, however it did make me appreciate my husband even more.

We also experienced some big changes this month. After 6 years in the bishopric: 3 years as a counselor and 3 years as bishop, Leo was released. With everything on his plate: even longer hours at work, working on a MBA, father of three young children and husband of a somewhat needy wife, plus preparing to make a “big life change” in the very near future, it was time for somebody else to take over. Of course Leo had some mixed emotions but I am not ashamed to admit that I felt relief. However, Charlie and Clark did not take the change very well. Charlie cried through the whole sacrament meeting when Leo was released because he was sad that his dad would not have an office at the church anymore and Clark was sad that he wouldn´t be able to help the bishop hand out candy to the rest of the kids.

Also in an effort to get ready for our “big life change” and reduce expenses, we have been trying to sell one of our apartments where Leo´s mom and sister live, however we have been unsuccessful as the housing market has really gone down here. Since we were having no luck selling the apartment, we decided to try to rent the apartment but that was not going much better since we didn´t want just anybody to live there. We finally decided to offer to rent the apartment to the church for the missionaries to use. At first the mission office just said that they would think about it, but then one Monday in March we received an e-mail from the mission stating they wanted the apartment by Thursday. Leo and Cristina were working so pretty much Yolanda and I had to get everything ready for the move including packing and cleaning. Luckily, Leo and the Elders did all the moving but since Yolanda and Cristina were just moving to our apartment across the street and the move was such a rush, the move was not very organized and a bit chaotic. Pretty much we just stuffed things in bags and suitcases. We were able to get everything out and cleaned at the one apartment but our house turned into a total disaster as we had to find room for 3 more people and all their belongings. Let´s just say we have had to come up with creative ways to store things and we have given away a ton of things. At first it was a little crazy, all 8 of us in a small apartment but things are better now and I know it is all worth it since it is what had to be done in order to acheive our goals.



The kids are doing great. Avery continues to grow at an alarming rate. People can´t believe how big she is. She is smiling more and loves being spoiled by the Yaya (grandma). Clark pretty much has counting from 1 to 10 down in both languages. He is also starting to say more complete sentences in both languages like (I´ll get it, You get it, I did it, My turn, I love you, No quiero, Te dije). He still loves playing with balls and he wants to learn how to skateboard. Charlie is perfecting his reading in Spanish and is writing very well in cursive. He also loves to help me make cookies and his favorite food lately is french toast. If it were up to him, there are some days he would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He usually eats at least 4 pieces. We love our little ones and all the joy they bring to our home.

Carnival parade: pink, gold and feathers need I say more

Participants of all shapes and sizes.

Avery at almost 3 months with her typical Spanish outfit.

Avery and her yaya.

What cute boys I have!

Avery at 3 months.

Clark wanted to participate with his sister in the photo shoot.

One day I decided to take a picture of Avery without her clothes on and Charlie wanted to join.

Our dinning area after the move after we started to organize a bit.

Our living area with all the stuff we had to find room for. Before we started to organize things, you couldn´t even see the rug and the boys had to climb over the bags in order to get to the couch.

Front entry.

Avery and the Yaya´s room. Next month I will hopefully have the after shots.

Avery´s first bath in the big bath tub.

Clark discovered the small ironing board and inmediately thought it was a skateboard.

Cute picture of the boys.

Clark likes to pose for the pictures.

FEBRUARY 2011 REVIEW

February was a short month and actually a pretty non-eventful month except for the fact that sickness continued to rule our house. Leo once again was sick and sometimes I felt like a mother of 4 instead of 3. Both Charlie and Clark also got sick with the flu and fever. I spent quite a bit of time washing sheets and washing toys and light switches etc. with the hopes of killing all the awlful germs. Luckily, (fingers crossed) Avery did not catch the flu. Leo was so sick he said even his finger nails hurt. Although he was so sick he couldn´t take any time off from work because he was promoted to an even bigger branch and there was just too much work to do. Leo even went sick on an overnight bus trip to go the temple in Madrid in order to attend the sealing of a family from our ward.

Avery is doing very well and is starting to baby talk and smile more. On her 2 months check-up she weighed and measured in the 95th percentile. She is growing out of a lot of clothes including a dress that supposedly was for 6 months to 9 months old.

On the last Saturday of February, the kids and I with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and nephew, we walked to the port to see Spain´s largest aircraft carrier. It wasn´t as big as I thought it would be but it was fun to get out and do something different.

Avery at 2 months

The first and last wear of this size 6 months old dress. (She cried when I had to put her arms through the holes.)

The princess amongst the many princes.

Family outing to the port to see the aircraft carrier ship.

JANUARY 2011 REVIEW

January was a joyous yet difficult month for the Wilcken Gutierrez Family.

First the joyous occasions: The first Sunday of the month was the blessing of our little Avery. Unfortunatley there was too much noise around for me to hear the whole prayer but I did hear that she is to live a very charitable life.

In January we also celebrated Three Kings Day with the rest of Spain. This is the biggest gift giving holiday in Spain in which the Wise Men come on their camels and leave gifts for all the girls and boys. We have started to celebrate this holiday as well, but Santa still leaves most of the gifts at our house.

Avery turned 1 month and is growing very quickly. She is a very good baby and the boys have been adjusting very well to the new addition although Clark seems to get a little jealous sometimes. However, he loves to cuddle next to her and say "Mi nene" although he should say "mi nena" since she is a girl.

Clark is saying more words in both Spanish and English and understands both languages. He can almost say 1-10 in both languages by himself. We are working on his colors but for now yellow is the color of everything. He is also a superheroe expert and can identify all the Marvel Superheroes and he can tell you their real last name.

Charlie has been learning to read in Spanish and is doing very well. He is also a Superheroe expert and he and Clark still love to dress up as Superheroes.

Not so joyous occasion: The hardest thing about the month of January was that we were all sick, even Avery. The fact that I just gave birth, was not sleeping very much at night, hormones going crazy and sick with a cold that lasted a month, made for few crying sessions on the phone with my mom and on the shoulder of Leo. All this, I think, made the transition of 3 kids harder than I expected.

Let´s hope for a healthier and happier February.

Avery on her blessing day.

For Three Kings Day each boy received a new Superheroe costume.

Avery at 1 month old.

Clark helping to iron with a beater.

The boys playing cowboys and superheroes and Star Wars all at once. Even they like to multi-task.

PLAYING CATCH UP: A QUICK MONTHLY REVIEW

When I decided to do a monthly post I knew it would be a challenge but I didn´t think it would be impossible, but it has been harder to keep up than I thought. And now that I am a mother of 3, I think it will be even harder (At this moment I am trying to feed Avery while Clark is standing next to me asking to sit in my chair). No matter the obstacles, I am determined to keep up the blog, but I am so behind now I must resort to just a quick review of the past several months.

SEPTEMBER:

Celebrated Charlie´s Superhero 5th birthday

School started and Clark wanted to go too.

One Sunday afternoon we picked up 3 young Belgian girl tourists who were going to sleep in a not so nice park so following the Spirt we brought them home and let them sleep in our living room. (They couldn´t have been too bad because they watched High School Musical with us.)

OCTOBER:

After trying to convince myself not to, I finally decided to organize once again the ward Halloween Carnival party. This year was much less stressful and I didn´t yell at my husband once. I was very proud of myself. Charlie was a vampire and Clark was Spiderman.

We also went to a friend´s halloween party at their house.

See pictures below.

NOVEMBER:

The biggest highlight for November was that we attended a Stake Marriage Conference at a 4 Star Hotel with an all you can eat buffett and swimming pool. We brought the kids along and had a very good time.

My kids know about Thanksgiving but we still have not celebrated the holiday properly since both Leo and I work that day. Some day soon my children will eat turkey and stuffing.

DECEMBER:

This month was very busy. We first celebrated Clark´s birthday, then our anniversary and then on the 13th, Avery Susana was born, not to mention Christmas and New Years and all the happenings that go along with these holidays.

On Sunday the 12th, I woke up and I thought that my water had broken but I was in charge of the primary program that day so we went to church and then later we went to the hospital. At the hospital they determined that I had a small leak so they admitted me but since I did not start having strong contractions on my own, they induced me Monday morning and by early afternoon, Avery was with us. It has been such a blessing to have her with us. She is such a good baby and the delivery was the best of all three. The only problem is that I have had a stubborn cold for almost a month now, that just won´t go away and now Avery has it too.

Pictures from decorating the house for Christmas and Clark´s birthday.



Random pictures from December including pictures of the cool book Grandma and Grandpa sent of G & G reading ´Twas the night before Christmas.

Christmas morning opening presents.

Fun at the park during the Christmas break.