Spain Dad, a baby blog

Apparently we’re having the baby “ultra-sooner than we thought” since the ultrasound at our birthing center in Madrid today said we were 16 weeks along instead of 14 weeks. I’m all for getting this baby here as soon as possible. Patience is not my virtue. Watch our 16 Week Ultrasound on Vimeo. For more, read [...]

The midwife shook the bottle, turned it upside down, and drew a circle of blue gel on April’s belly. She rolled over the ultrasound machine, which was nothing more than a laptop on a cart with a holster on the side for the probe, which she untangled and rolled over April’s stomach like a miniature [...]

I sat on the couch with a pen in my hand. I was supposed to be editing my book proposal, but instead I was watching April stand on a Wii balance board. The balance board is an accessory for Nintendo’s Wii video game system, and it’s a white slab that looks like a household weight [...]

Watch Pregnancy Test on Vimeo.

I leaned forward and adjusted the camera so my parents could see Alleke playing with dominoes on the floor behind me. “Can you see her?” I asked, glancing at Alleke over my shoulder, then back at my parents sitting in their living room, across the ocean, framed by the small computer screen. “It looks like [...]

This post is the second one in a set of two. To read Alleke’s birth story from the beginning, click here. The next thing I knew another nurse came and loaded up my bed for transfer. We rolled down the hallway, and he tried to make small talk with us as I moaned and made [...]

Today is Alleke’s first birthday, and as promised, we have a guest contributor here to help us celebrate. April (Alleke’s mom) is going to tell Alleke’s birth story. As a writer, I love a good story, and I couldn’t think of a better gift for my little girl than her mom telling the story of [...]

Putting a baby to sleep is like learning a second language. It’s a lot of hard work, and if you have to do it, you will, but if you don’t, you won’t. When I first moved to Spain, I was surprised to discover how many English speakers had been living in the country, but had [...]

Iowa Blizzard Photo by kellyandapril. My dad went out to look at the road. He said there was a car in the ditch by our mailbox. He said there were snow drifts over the road as high as the window of the car. I asked my dad if anyone had been on our road besides [...]

I walked into the living room today carrying a box full of old bank statements, bills and residency paperwork. I set the box on the floor next to the couch where all the other paperwork from my office was spread out in piles. April, Alleke and I will be flying back to the U.S. for [...]