Antojo 3

Nuestro viaje a Ecuador

Y aquí estamos, en Ecuador! En este viaje no habrá nada de hiking, mountain biking u otro tipo de actividad de aventura. No queremos poner en riesgo nuestra salud y no queremos que tu papá se esté preocupando por nosotros.

Día 1: Llegamos a Quito!
En nuestro primer día en Quito, la pasamos muy bonito y anduvimos tranquilos caminando por Quito Antiguo (Centro Histórico) y por la noche tu papá me llevó a un lindo restaurante en las alturas de la ciudad donde teníamos una hermosa vista de toda la capital y adivina qué más hizo? ... después de decirnos lo mucho que nos quiere y lo feliz que se siente, me dijo que quiere casarse conmigo!! así que ahora me tienes luciendo un precioso anillo de compromiso. Ya quiero llegar a casa y mostrar mi anillo a todo el mundo!!

Día 2 y 3: Conociendo esta hermosa ciudad
Anduvimos algunas horas en bus y llegamos a la mitad del mundo!! Tienen un recorrido informativo y muy agradable, ya verás las fotos que tomamos.

El día siguiente fue tranquilo y paseamos por los grandes parques y mercados artesanales en Quito mientras caía una suave lluvia. Compramos cositas muy coloridas para el departamento.

Quito es una ciudad hermosa, ves colinas verdes por todas partes y la ciudad se construye siguiendo ese panorama natural. Me encanta!

Día 4 y 5: En Baños
Aquí se respira deportes de aventura! No podíamos obviar todos esos letreros que nos invitaban a probar algo emocionante, así que tu papá y yo terminamos haciendo Canopy! Ya verás nuestras caras en las fotos!

Día 6: Riobamba
Aquí solo nos quedamos una noche, tu papá tuvo la buena idea de hacer más placentero nuestro viaje a Cuenca y descansar en este lugar antes de continuar con el viaje.

Día 7, 8 y 9: Que lindo es Cuenca!
Llegamos a Cuenca y yo necesitaba un descanso. El día siguiente visitamos uno de los baños termales de la zona y el tercer día tuvimos un lindo tour alrededor de la ciudad.

Cuenca es un lugar pintoresco, con casas y edificios construidos al margen de un río limpio al cual se tiene libre accceso. Es muy agradable caminar por sus calles y toparte con cafés, tiendecitas, restaurantes, museos y más. Me gustó mucho ver dibujos preciosos en algunas paredes que al parecer no aportaban mucho al lugar y ahora se han convertido en agradables obras de arte que puedan ser apreciadas por el público en general.

Día 10, 11 y 12: Guayaquil y Salinas
Estos días conocimos un poquito de Guayaquil. Nos distraimos un poco caminando por el malecón y disfrutamos de un rico almuerzo. También visitamos las playas en Salinas. La playa pichiche parece una piscina y yo estoy color camarón!

Día 13, 14 y 15: De regreso a Perú!
Llegamos a Tumbes y luego fuimos a Piura. Aquí pasamos unos días agradables en compañía del sol, mar y arena. Nos olvidamos de más viajes en bus y disfrutamos de nosotros en este lugar tan lindo relajante.

Fueron dos semanas increíbles y aunque no he escrito mucho en esta publicación, hubieron muchas experiencias lindas que compartimos tu papá y yo y también tú, que estuviste acompañándonos todo el tiempo.

A touch of courage.

On Friday I asked your mother to marry me. I had thought about it before, and wondered if I could do something special for her, something super romantic. There were two problems with this. One, I am not very creative (I hope you take after your mother for that) and two, I am not very patient. So once I had the idea to ask your mother during our trip to Ecuador, that was it! Instead of dazzling her with private musicians playing classical hits and chilled champagne served on a river boat below the stars and going down on one knee while reciting a love poem recounting all the moments that lead me to love her so much, I nervously stuttered a bunch of repeated lines about how I didn't think marriage was necessary before trying to get a ring out of my pocket while sitting down and being interrupted by the waiter telling us that a cocktail without alcohol wasn't worth the effort (your mother didn't want to drink).

Luckily, your mother is an amazing person and she made me feel that the restaurant overlooking the city of Quito, with it's majestic basilica lit up against a dark night sky, was a perfectly romantic setting for a proposal and that my unconfident mutterings were like a Shakespearean sonnet. She is good like that your mother, she can make you feel real good about yourself.

I didn't ask your mother to marry me because you were coming to be with us. I asked her because I love her and had always wanted to share my life with her. But you gave me the courage to ask her, so thanks for that :)

Antojo 2

Wiggling you.

So, I saw you yesterday. You looked a bit like a caterpillar in a chrysalis, wiggling your feet. Actually I suppose you are a little like a caterpillar, eating and eating to grow bigger and bigger and soon to undergo an amazing transformation into something beautiful.

You don't actually have feet yet, but you do have a heartbeat, and the doctor told us it was a good heart beat. Steady, strong, regular. He also told us everything was perfect, exactly as it should be. What an amazing word to hear when someone is talking about your baby. Perfect.

Seeing you there, comma shaped and wiggling, and hearing your heart beating, was the first time we were really sure you existed. It was like completing one more stage in the journey to meeting you and now we know when that will be too. August.

Before seeing you it was hard to believe I could have been any happier about what was going on. Looking away from the screen where the images of you were being displayed and seeing the huge smile on your mother's lips, a smile she couldn't have stopped even with both hands over her face, made me feel so great I wish everyone could have shared that feeling right then. With that smile your mother was telling me how happy she was. She was telling me that she loved you and that she loved me. How great is that, hey? We should tell her the same when we get a chance.

Now that we know that everything up to now is 'perfect' I decided to tell a few close friends their children were going to have a Peruvian cousin. Andy, Matt, Adam and Chris. I still haven't talked to Chris, but I will soon. They were all so happy it took me a little by surprise. Amazing really, you are not even out of your wiggling chrysalis yet and already you are making people as far away as England throw their arms up in the air and cheer like they were watching sports. (It was your uncle Leon that did that. He was happy to hear about you.) You are the result of two people being very much in love and so far, apart from making your mother tired and a little bit sick, you have just been the cause of joy in the world. This world could do with some joy. Not a bad record. I doubt many that are much older than you have such a good one. Let's see how long you can keep it up!

1 era Ecografía

Llegué a la clínica a las 8:30am y tu papá ya estaba ahí. Me encantó verlo esperando, sentadito y con café recién comprado.

Entramos al consultorio, yo en la camilla y tu papá a mi lado, donde también podía ver el monitor. En seguida el doctor pudo ubicarte en mi panzita. Que alegría nos dio al verte! Podíamos ver tu cabecita y el resto de tu cuerpito aún formándose. Tienes 9 semanas y pude ver como tu corazón se movía muy rápido y escuchamos tus preciosos latidos. El doctor dice que estás PERFECTO.

Debiste ver los ojos de tu papá, bien abiertos para no perderse de ningún detalle. Mientras intercambíabamos sonrisas, tu papá acariciaba mi pierna y me mostraba su afecto para nosotros. Me hizo sentir en confianza, que estaba bien acompañada y rodeada de mucho amor.

Vimos moverte un par de veces y te sentí tan cerca, tan real y muero de ganas de verte otra vez!

Happy New Year

So, a new year has started and I am focussed on work, moving into our new flat, your Mother's and my trip to Ecuador and, most importantly, I am focussed on you and your mother. Building a person inside you is hard work and it makes your mother tired. Remember that from time to time, and give you mother a kiss. She deserves it. She is sleeping right now, so I am here talking to you.

It's amazing how sure of things I feel right now. With so much we don't know about the future, so much that is going to change this year, so much that is now out of my control, I should be feeling a little lost. But the idea of being with you and your mother is enough to put all the unknown into perspective. That is your gift to me, you and your mother. To feel, for the first time in my life, very sure of want I want and where I am headed.

What a great way to start the year! By the way, you birth year will be 100 years after the start of the first world war. I thought of that today. I will look up some nicer facts about 1914.

I often send your mother photos of flowers. I wonder if I will still be doing it when you read this? If not, lets get your mother some flowers now, or send her a picture! I've added one I recently sent to her to this post. Nite nite x