April 2007 Grenoble

And so our life started in Grenoble...

I won't spend a lot of words describing our intense moving, but I will say this, the day we left, Vincent and I both fell sick! Really sick, so did Paul. Not Sofía though. As we went to have our last morning coffee at Vienna, we ran into everybody we knew in Sabadell. Everybody was so concerned about Sofía and how sad it would be and how she was doing, while our daughter was jumpin' up and down and really excited about the whole deal... Vincent and I were certainly ready to go to the hospital or stay in BCN in the bed that was no longer there... we chose that moment to ask ourselves why were we moving? why weren't we staying in BCN? First time we hesitated about our decision! Thank God my parents in law had come to help with the moving! They were there to structure us and push us into driving the 8 hours to Grenoble!

March 2007 - Wrapping up BCN

Also wanted to go to the beach before I were to be inblocked between mountains ;-)!

And of course a few photos of my baby boy...

My aunt Maureen was visiting us during this time. It was really nice to have her over for a few days! She and I had a blast walking BCN! We visited, talked and spent some quality time together...

Now a few Photos of Vincent's goodbye party. I didn't assist and I am not sure who is who either :-), but here are some photos...

Eros...

Nuria...

Ricardo, quien siempre hizo reir mucho a Sofía...

Manos :-)...

Gemma...

Juan Diego y Aaron... los compañeritos de slumber party de Sofía!

Laia...

A few days before Paul was born, we got the news that Vincent had the job at HP. So, now we knew that we needed to go back to BCN to wrap our life there and bring it to Grenoble. Here are a few photos of those events. This first is Sofía goodbye party at one of the inside parks so famous in Catalunya. We invited all the class, plus a few more...

La Cuarentena

You must belong to a Spanish colony to actually understand the meaning of the title up above. I mean, its really all about ancient female wisdom being transmitted from one generation to another and then becoming scientific fact. See in the old days, "la cuarentena" meant 40 days after a woman gave birth in which she was unleashed from any duty and/or responsability except for taking care of her health and baby (excluding any tasks that involved physical effort). Other women around took care of household tasks and of the mom's health (healthy diet, cleaning of the wounds, etc). Medically it's proved that it takes 40 days for all organs to go back into their place and normal size, thus making these 40 days critical in recovering in a healthy manner. Anyhow, here are some pictures of my cuarentena (although I did shorten it a bit)...

The D Day

Last but not least, Pasha is tata Christine's B-Day gift! (just for the record, my son's name is actually Paul).

And here's the proud family. You'll even see 4 generations of Steegs (gender: machos ;-))!

At the hospital, waiting. Yes, Pasha took his time... I mean he was not in a hurry, why would anybody else be in one? 13 hours!!! Of which I truly suffered 5, without the freaking epidural which I thought I would be able to proudly do without, but when I had suffered quite a lot for a very long period of time and they told me that I had only dilated 2 cm (by that time it felt like my heart had dilated that much!), I thought that was enough suffering for one day... then again, from the time I decided IT was my best friend and the moment they got it in and working, 5 hours went by, Ufff! Very nice sagefemme, her name was Sophie. Everything was allowed except for her to try and distract me with stupid questions such as "what color did you paint the room?" GRRRR.... the worst was when at one point my mom came in and told Vincent to go rest, he was so tired... GRRRRR... about to commit a crime at that point! Anyhow, the epidural made me enjoy the rest of my birthgiving experience like a devil on drugs... wow, how soothing! How exciting, really incredible! The photos speak for themselves. Look at my Pasha!!

The Big D is approaching

Here is the day before I gave birth... it's quite a funny story because this was a Sunday (Jan 28, 2007); I had been on Friday to the doctor and he had told me that we needed to set a date for the C-Sec because my due day had passed a week earlier and it wasn't wise to keep waiting. I agreed with him that it would be the following Tuesday (4 days later). I had been so anxious about wanting a natural birth that at that point I had finally let go and accepted the fact that I was going to have another C-Sec. I went to sleep after eating that taboulé; next thing I know it's 5am and as accustomed for the past days I was wide awake (my imagination as fertile as Sofía's about how, who and how and who this new little person was going to be). Suddenly... oops, I think I've peed my pants... well, it has happened before... yes, although probably not this much... shit, got to get up and clean myself now... oh, my! but it's cold out and I have this big belly to carry around... ufff! Okay, let me conspire the will to get up... uhhh... what the heck! This is not pee, this is a river!!!! Ahhh, I just broke my water! V I N C E E E E N T!!!!!!!!!!

My father-in-law making a surprise for Christine and I, with Sofía. It's a pregnant snowlady! How cute is that?!

Here's also a so very happy Sofía, mainly because she was soon going to be a big sister! This fact somehow triggered her emotions and her imagination, thinking about this new wonderful baby that she could now take care of. She was really so very happy...

Meanwhile, we also enjoyed the Wintery Alsace with my family-in-law.

YES!!! My mom got here! Mid-January... Now started somewhat of a hassle going to the hospital every 2 days to check if our Pasha (half Paul, half Sasha... couldn't make up our minds) was at all starting to "open" his way into this world... but nononono! He was a real Pasha, laying there... My cervix was as closed as if it was still in its original packaging, but my belly kept stretching! The doctor kept giving me a couple of days every time I came back. At one point he said we had to start considering a C-Section, cause they couldn't "provoke" the birth with hormones as they do with other pregnants ladies, 'cause of my previous C-Sec (provoked contractions can be too strong and rip the uterus open where it had been cut already).

With a belly bigger than Santa's me and my 1.51mts looked like something had to happen soon whether I wanted it or not! So now we are in January... quite an interesting month, intense as well. HP's super jackpot job proposal had somehow cooled off, Vincent had to go back to Spain to work and I was anxiously waiting for my mom to arrive... I felt a bit lost and confused as well as so, so excited! I was also excited about having this time with Sofía. It was good to be able to dedicate space to share and also to help here integrate in her new school, language, country and so on. Well here's the Santa Claus looking belly...

Around X-mas Time, 2006...

Look at us! Me about to pop, Christine still a few months to go :-)...

X-mas Eve...

In Strasbourg, beautiful christmas!

At school, for her x-mas show...

Here are a few photos of Sofía's first ice skating experience. This was the precedent that would then motivate her to start ice skating lessons once we got to Grenoble...

Sofía's 5th B-day

Here are a couple of photos of Sofía's Bday. She was now turning 5 years and about to have a baby brother... wow! How exciting this time was for her! We took her to Hard Rock Cafe, to have her favorite meal: Hamburguer! We had mommy's favorite dessert: Brownie! The whole staff came then to sing her happy birthday, 70's style, even hopping on the tables!

Favorite Autumn 2006 pictures

Just a few really nice ones...

Halloween 2006

In this last picture, I think she's crying after realizing she wasn't going to get as much candy as she had expected :-)... Some people were nice, others were confused, others (I think) thought we were confused of country and we hadn't realized it!

These are a few photos of Sofía's first "consciuess" Halloween. I actually made her go from door to door in our building asking for tricks or treats. Of course not alone, there was another courageous or crazy (as you prefer to see it), Venezuelan mom in the building, who sent her son, Juan Adolfo, along with Sofía on a quest for candy...

Autumn 2006 - Mallorca con Fiore...

That was our trip! It was 3 very intensive days... we really made the most out of it! Gracias Fiore!

The prettiest part of the island that we got to see...

Nos pasamos un súper fin de semana en casa de Fiore, quien gentilmente además nos llevó a visitar la isla... ¡Qué bonita!

Autumn 2006

A few photos of us, Barcelona, pregnancy...

Summer 2006 - Venezuela

This is the end of our trip! A succesful, enjoyable, relaxing and colorful trip! We were lucky enough that my godmother was able to pump us up into first class! Sofía couldn't believe her eyes. She used the remote control so many times to extend her chair and fold it back again that she broke it! We were scolded :-)...

We took advantage of being all dressed up to take a family photograph... it came out nicely!

You see these pictures... We took them! I was really hoping, waiting and wishing till the last minute that something were to happen!! A gift from the beyond... the airline calling and saying we couldn't leave or something, a storm, a plane damage... but nothing... so I get to the airport, very very dissapointed. I see the Iberia airplane flying in at the moment we are parking the car. We get in line for the check in, for about 40 minutes, everything seems to be in order. Suddenly 3 people before getting up to the counter, they tell us that no more passangers fit in the plane. They had overbooked the flight!!!! So we got to stay an extra day and got pad for it! It was really amazing!

Here's the funniest episode of this trip... it's more of a miracle episode actually. I had bought my tickets a few months prior to the departure date. A few days later my aunt announces that she's getting married to Arnaldo and has already set the dates. We were leaving on Sep 2nd afternoon and they were getting married Sep 2nd night. I was very very frustrated. There was nothing to do though. Their dates depended on Arnaldo's work vacations and they were unable to move them around.

Here we are, next to playa parguito, eating the inevitable.. fresh fried fish!

We also got to visit my friend Adriana. She had just recently bought a bed&breakfast with her cousinon margarita Island. It's the cutest thing! Visit it, http://citronela.blogspot.com/. It's beautiful!

We also made a small trip to Margarita. It was our first family trip, composed of the 4 of us! My parents invited our stay in the 5 star hotel of Isla Bonita!

We took advantage of my cousin Federico's first dental cabinet, to go take care of our teeth! He hadn't graduated yet, but he was already working at it! Although, I was shocked with his prices ;-)... I have to say he has very smooth hands! Here you can see Sofía as a first hand helper!

We also visited my grandmother on my biological father's side, Pepita! This is my Portorican grandmother. Here we are, the 4 generations!

Had to get up early... wasn't very happy about it... but it was worhtwhile! Here are my brother and my husband beating each other up at tennis...

Laura and Federico

Susa la loca and me ;-)!

This is in Alecita's B-day, with the whole clan! Here is my aunt Maureen, my uncle Kunito and me!

Another highlight was my cousin Sharon preparing dinner for the 5 cousins and Co. Here are some good pictures of that night...

Daddy love-a-dub...

A few city trips as well. We went to el teleférico, the cable car that takes you up Caraca's mountain, el Avila. There is food and games and an amazing view from there. We also went to Parque del Este. All with my nanny, Alecita!

It was a trip were we got to relaz quite a bit; we were quite homey. Here's Nico and Vincent playing chess and Sofía developing the artist she has inside!

These are just common sunsets and views we get from my parent's apartment in Chuao, Caracas. Isn't that amazing?! I love it! It's also Vincent's doing, he was really into taking the best shots with our new Nikon D70!

This trip was very olorful in the sense that we got to do a lot of stuff. For instance here's a photo of my uncle Ricardo's apartment. He's an architect and had just remodeled it. Before he did so, it was almost a big empty storage room.

We also enjoyed the pool. Sharon, Sofía's godmother, was so good with her...

We had so much fun that day at my uncle's house. We jumped on the trampoline, for which Sofía was delighted and Sofía played pictionary with the adults for the first time! Tuti was the best at it with her! They made a wonderful team and beat us all!

Here's a nice little trip we made of going back home to Venezuela for 3 weeks. I was pregnant with Paul of about 4-5 months. Here we are at my uncle Kunito's house. Look at the color of these guacamayas and in general the beauty of the garden and the view...

Catalunya mid-2006

More Sofía...

Pregnant but not visible yet!

My beautiful flowers...

Future as an actress? I say yes!

Vincent and the whole Teamlog network team

Benoit and Stéphanie came to visit us during this time. We are eating the famous Felafel's we loved!

This is in Barna, on the famous Ramblas!

I had a couple of mom-friends from Sofía's school, Verónica (Aaron's mom) and a Venezuelan women (Juan Adolfo's mom). We use to babysit for each other so, that we could have each have a free night every other WE. This is a photo of Sofía, Aaron and Juan Adolfo's leg. It worked out well for everybody!

Just a few photos of our life (mid 2006)...

Pyrenees Trip - April 2006

Well, that's all I have of this wonderful trip! It will stay in our minds and hearts for years to come. When I think about this trip, I feel this is the kind of experience that build life up in a special way. I believe we should just create more of these... Again thanks to my mom for organizing such a complicated task! Thanks to Mir for coming through with this in the first place, so we could then want to reproduce it and dare try and feel how she did... She's a real heroine!

We stopped an extra night at a small town somewhere in Catalunya. They had an openair play of a chapter in the bible. If I recall it was the Last Supper. Vincent took some pretty cool photos!

When we got to a certain point downhill, our men came to pick us up with the cars and we pursued the walk. We found a few Dolmens, which have a special meaning, because it was in one that Mir and the kids would hide during the day, to not be seen by the the Nazis. During the night they would walk the mountain with a local guide that would cross people. Mir had a little bottle with liquor she would give the guide to maintain him warm. She carried Elsa in her arms and Hugo and Louise would walk down. This lasted 3 days if I recall correctly.

Going down...

Okay, we made it! From the Lodge to the Spanish border, only 20 minutes!

Other beautiful photographs...

We had come up, but now we needed to come back down. The kids adn husbands left in the guy's truck and we came down the Spanish border.

Angelina & Nicolai's love...

Dani filming, with the intention of doing a documentary maybe someday...

Us listening...

Here's Hugo storytelling... this was a beautiful experience. He was trying to recall all the details of the time when he was an 8 year old boy and he crossed the Pyrenees, escaping from WWII

Storytelling time... first Dani and I, mimicking my mom! We are just saying how, since we are little girls, she could tell us "Let's go girls, we want to get to the other side, all we need to do is cross this wild river; but Ingy we don't know how to swim; excellent, a good time to learn! Come on girls, this is really nothing, nothing to be afraid of!". It was a parody to the previous's day adventure!

This is the next day... the night we got there, we felt like the luckiest set of human beings. We were fed warm food, we hadn't died on the way there, we actually found other human beings! This is how scary it got towards the end of the hike. A few of us wanted to accuse my mom (she was the organizer), but the truth is, she did an excellent job! Thank you Inger for organizing one of the most incredible adventures we've done!

The trip that was suppose to be 2 hours long ended up being almost 6 hours!!! It was 11pm and we were lost in the middle of the Pyrenees, already imagining the wild pigs attacking us! These cows were the first sign of life we had seen in a long time. We had lost our trail, it was dark, the kids couldn't handle it anymore and nor could we. At that moment, when we were all about to start attacking each other, we found a road!!! A few minutes later, we found the Lodge that were we were going to sleep!

Here's some of the scenery on the way there. The kids (Angelina, Dane and Sofía) walked the whole way! 5 hours up the mountain! They were like goats... not even complaining for the most of it. When we came back home from this trip, Sofía had a school trip to a mountain site with the school for a whole WE. As soon as she started climbing the mountain, she got sick. When she got home she had 40 of fever for a couple of days!! After that, she didn't want to see a mountain again for a while!

Here we are finally going up. I want you to please notice the happy grin on Hugo's face!

Just to add up to the full house, Sharon and Martin came to visit also! Here we are all of us at the magical fountain in Barcelona (Plaza España) as well as in Tossa de Mar...

Us all, enjoying at the Parc de Catalunya, in Sabadell...

A few sleeping beauties...

I will start with a few photos of the pre-adventure. When my sisters Dani and Nikki & Co had arrived to Barcelona. I will show some photos of all of us at our place in Sabadell...

This was one of the coolest adventures we've done! It was something my parents had talked about for such a long time, and it suddenly came possible. We were trying to reproduce the escape, my stepgrandmother, Myriam and her 3 kids, Louise, Hugo and Elsa had done during the 2nd World War to get away from France and rejoin her husband and father, Alexander van Dobben in Venezuela, where he had been sent of by the Dutch governement as a Consul, away from the Nazis.

We should thank my mom for making this happen. She gathered the information, about moreless where they had crossed over (the Pyrenees) and figured how it was possible to do so today. The participants in this adventure, were: Nikki, Rob, Dane, Angelina, Danielle, Hugo, Inger, Nicolai, Vincent, Vanessa and Sofía.

Other spring photos...

And again, at our little park down below from our place...

Just a day at the beach and at a park close to Poblenou... These are the happy days!

B-Days...

Vincent managed to set the camera on top of a branch, probably hanging and about to fall into the little creek, but somehow it worked and the camera survived the adventure. For once we have photos of the 3 of us together...

We enjoyed the foie gras and tuna salad I'd made. Yes, I know what a combination, n'est pas?! And here, I'm not sure why I'm doing this, but I'm sure the camera deserved it ;-)...

We went for a picnic at the Montseny National Park. We found a beautiful deserted spot, only for us! We had a little river by our side. Sofía enjoyed exploring the ants and walking by the river!

Experimenting...

This is and might be the closest we ever get to plastic surgery! Well, you never know! At least, we had so much fun while designing our new eyes!

Carcassone

Uhh, wonderful! Here we were at the town square, enjoying our capuccinos, while our cuty pie would run around on her little scooter, having a blast!

A friend of mine, Elena, said that she didn't like Carcassone because it seemed like a Disney imitation of a middle age village. It's so well renovated and preserved and a little bit turisty that I can understand the statement, but it's still so beuatiful, without a doubt worth the visit!

Inside "la cité"...

This was a magical little trip! I did not expect to see such a wonderful site! We were quite impressed on how it had been rebuilt and renovated.

Christine & Flore's visit

So, it's January, and what does that mean? Well, it means there's "Les Soldes", and a good excuse for my sister in law to come visit! Of course, she didn't need an excuse, she was always ready to come see us...

Yes, these are not photos of the shopping, these are photos of the cultural side of the visit. A little insite into Parc Guell, one of Gaudi's most remarkable works. It was never finished.

Babka and Sofía in Barcelone

Some pictures of our beautiful Barcelona.

This was not a time when Babka enjoyed Barcelona, she said she was no longer into European cities, she preferred older cities with more history! Probably our fault for not doing a better job as tourist guides! However, they do seem to be having fun here...

Meanwhile, us enjoying the sightseeing in Sabadell...

Finally in 2006!

So we're approaching our modern days! Here I will show a few pictures of a very intense month, were we had a lot of family visit! But it all started out with Sofía in Saverne for New Year's Eve...

This must of been a really amazing Galette des Rois!

Enjoying their recently acquired x-mas presents...

"And I'm this big!"


A special love for this bird...

Other nice 2005 photos...

Youn and beautiful...

Note, that the most important part of this photo is not only Yasu and Vincent, but the man behind, who's behind and other parts are available to the public eye!! Ohh, Barcelona! Or should I precise, Sitges!

Another one of Vincent's passions... I don't know why...

Sofía's x-mas school presentation

Isn't this the cutest little devil you've ever seen?!


She was really going for it! She did such a good job, I was impressed, she scared those little angels away and was not shy about it!

A day in Montserrat