Still Pregnant.

My parents have been in town for about a week and a half, and we've done a lot of touristic exploration since then. In the meantime, I'm still knocked up! EDD is tomorrow. Will she really arrive? Here at 40 weeks and about to explode.

My parents braved public transportation.

First touristic stop is the typical walk down Las Ramblas. Dad couldn't stop taking pictures of the street performers.

A tourist with Dracula and Frankenstein.

Fernando got pulled in by a Flamenco dancer. Ole!

Mom and Dad in Port Vell.

Me in front Casa Batllo.

A classic Barcelona shot. Mom in front of the Sagrada Familia.

In the neighborhood of Borne, they cooked a huge paella for a feast.

Older folks dancing Sardana, a cultural Catalan dance.

We made our way to Park Guell.

Mom really enjoyed it.

The tiling on this colorful park makes me happy.

Dad and his camera are inseparable.

Cousins on the Way

Fernando and I visited his brother Rafa and his wife Katya in the nearby pueblo of Sant Boi. By coincidence, Katya and I are both expecting at almost the same time. My due date is June 16, and hers is June 22 - just a week behind us...but who knows, right? I'm so excited for the two cousins to meet. It's gonna be awesome!

You will never be bored with Emma and Maria, Katya's twin nieces. My Spanish is most challenged when I'm hanging out with these sweeties.

These two are best buds. Can you stand their smiles?

Day with Nature

I heard that the beach was within walking distance of our new place, so Fer and I took a walk and confirmed it was just a half and hour away from Nova Mar Bella.

Skate or die.

Check this out. A teepee slide. Wheeeeeeee!!!

It took us awhile, but we finally realized there was a strong gay community here. 

We took a walk to a Diagonal Mar Park. It felt very tranquil.

Mega pottery.

 The park has some whimsical structures.

Up close, the pottery is a mosaic of an image of soda cans.

We chilled by the lake.

Here, ducky ducky...

Good Friends and Good Food

We were lucky this weekend to have some good friends in town again. This time it was Ale (one of my old roommates in Sevilla) and Nicole. I'm officially declaring a favorite restaurant in Barcelona. It's the same one that Kelly and the gang visited, called Origens. 

On with the dishes! Here are just a few new ones we tried. Courgette with codfish and topped with Emmental. Delish.

Pork fillet topped with a sauce of dried fruits and apples. 

Eggplant stuffed with minced meat, fried tomatoes and onions.

A sweet onion stuffed with ground beef, pine nuts and raisins.

This place has simple style. Another HUGE plus: it's non-smoking. Hallelujah!
We took a walk toward Passeig de Gracia after lunch. Oh, we stopped by an heladeria and stuffed our faces with ice cream too. 

Belly Update: 35 1/2 Weeks

Fernando and I have been busy with getting our new place in order (= intensive nesting), so I haven't been able to update this blog as much, giving me a bit of blogger's guilt. Here is the most recent picture of me today. Our due date is exactly in ONE MONTH!!! Meanwhile, I've been crazy busy with my sewing machine. I just sewed up a Boppy pillow (for nursing), a pillow cover, several pairs of washable nursing pads, and a baby sling. I'll probably be working on craft and sewing projects as long as I'm not working. I love it!

We've also been going to childbirth classes every Monday, and the first hour consists of pregnancy and labor exercises which have helped me TONS. No more hip pain since I do these exercises every day. The only problems I have are sleeping at night (probably too much worrying too), and catching my breath if we're out and about. But that depends on the day also. The more I learn about the female body and what happens during the delivery, the more at ease I am with childbirth. Please keep us in your prayers as the countdown to the big day approaches. 

Love, Justine

Last Free Museum Day for Awhile

On Sunday, we took advantage of free museum day on the first Sunday of the month and headed to the Museum Nacional d'art de Catalunya, a palacial art center sitting at one end of Plaza Espanya.

It was a very warm day, and the pains of pregnancy were at their peak. Luckily for me, there are escalators leading up to the museum.

Although my face doesn't show it, tired and hot pregnant woman = grumpy woman.

Heading northbound, we found these cool steps where Fernando could play.

We reached the top! The view is always amazing.

By chance, it was the last day of the exhibition of Joaquin Sorolla. My God, look at this line! Can you find Fernando? He waited 45 minutes under the hot sun while I cooled down under any shade I could find.
Sorolla's most typical works are characterized by representation of Spanish people and the landscape. 

No, Sorolla didn't support the KKK. This is a typical image of penitents during Holy Week processions in their traditional vestments.

Traditional images of matadors in their exquisite garments. Ole!
This one's my favorite. The Feria of Sevilla.

The foyer of the museum.

The Sala Oval is a rental space available for grand events. Organ pipes and all.

Ooh! We found a cool room where the kiddies do arts and crafts.

Me and the citrus-themed paintings by kids.
These represented natural environments. 
We walked back to our metro stop at Plaza Espanya. The two towers have some presence in this plaza. See the museum in the distant background on the left?

Here, the Plaza de Toros is being renovated into a shopping center. Although word has it that construction has stopped due to "the crisis".
In doing research for this blog entry, I found there's an upcoming free museum day in two weeks. Yay! Hopefully my hips will be nice and flexible that day. We're trying to take advantage of our last few weeks before we focus all our attention on the babe.

We've moved!

Fernando and I have finally moved from our quaint, lovely, one-bedroom apartment in the barrio of Sant Antoni to a more spacious three-bedroom in Sant Marti. We prepared all of our boxes and suitcases last week and rented a van for the day on Thursday. It was my most physically challenging day as a pregnant lady yet, and it's just getting harder for me to move around. It took three trips for us to settle in, and we ended up returning our rental van at the very last minute at midnight.

Adios, city landscape!

Adios, cat in heat that woke up this side of Barcelona every morning!

Adios, loud single bachelor to our left!

Adios, clamorous bickering family to our right!

Adios, odd smells coming from the vents!

Hola, more family friendly neighborhood!

Hola, extra room for Baby (and my arts and crafts)!

Hola, ramps, ramps, ramps to the elevator!

Hola, view of a major street!

More pics to come once we get settled. Nesting in full force. Make room for Baby!