Destination Paradise

We left the house at 7:30 am so we're a little droopy at this point, but a quick rest will cure that. The airline apparently has a policy of very much overbooking flights so that even though we arrived 2 1/2 hours early for our flight, they tried to bump us to tomorrow's flight. We weren't about to have any of that and insisted that they find room for us on today's flight. We won. Other than that, no incidents to speak of, and a quick and easy flight. The hotel is great, with a couple swimming pools and a verrry comfortable bed. Later we'll post some photos, after we better figure out the internet situation. Tonight we'll be going to bed early so that we can be ready to get up early for Carlos' medical appointment.

That's right! I'm now a 26 year-old! I'm fortunate to have enjoyed my past several birthdays in pretty interesting places: 2005 - Chicago 2006 - Barcelona 2007 - Rome 2008 - Monterrey Last year, it was authentic Italian pizza and gelato. This year, Carlos and I celebrated at Peter Piper Pizza with a "Chicago Style Pizza". Apparently in other parts of the country/world, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and green peppers are all it takes to make a pizza "Chicago Style". Regardless, the pizza was good, which is why we went there. Afterward, we went with Nico for a long walk under the stars (or whatever can be seen under the smoggy Monterrey sky). The best part of my birthday was being together as a whole family! Here's hoping for the next one, we'll all be back in Chicago.

And just in time for my birthday! I flew in on Mexicana yesterday, which was great! Direct flight from O'Hare to Monterrey, only 3.5 hours. They did ask for my Doctor's permission to fly right away at the check-in when they saw me, so apparently I look really pregnant now! The flight was great, I love Mexicana. They even serve real meals during the flight! Only snag was getting through customs, and not for the usual type of reason. No, in my case it's that 15 or so flights in a year have taken their toll on the suitcase I chose, and having lost a leg somewhere between Europe and Mexico, it now lost a wheel on this flight. This only caused a problem when I had to hoist it off the customs baggage scanner and the sharky businessman behind me felt it would be helpful to push me, so that I was off-balance and dropped the already-unbalanced suitcase ON MY TOE! I emerged from customs frazzled, pregnant, dragging an injured suitcase, and gushing blood from the toe. But all ...

Despite torrential rains, power outages, and a PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation! according to the Weather Channel), the storms cleared up in time for an ultrasound party at the hospital at 10:30 pm. Truly, that's when my appointment was. The crew there to witness the excitement included my parents, my aunt, and both of my cousins. We had a blast. The baby looks great, and of course, the long awaited moment: we found out if we're having a boy or a girl!!!! The following are some non-gender-revealing photos: Here's a profile of our beautiful little one. And in this shot, you can see that the baby has clearly not inherited my birth trait of 6 fingers per hand and foot. Count those five healthy digits! So the big question remains: boy or girl? Of course, we're not telling you unless you really want to know. So, for those of you that are anxious to find out, click here to get the big news.

Obviously it's been forever since the last post, and here's one reason why: Yes, folks, Carlos and Amy are going to be parents by Christmas if all goes well. World, get ready... We're close to 14 weeks now, and glad about it. The first trimester was tough, between the nausea, food aversions, morning sickness, exhaustion, and frequent travel. This baby has already flown internationally 3 times and it'll probably happen a few more times before the birth, Lord willing. So, some details, since our world is dramatically different than it was in March. 1) End of March - I quit my job. This was based on several factors, including problems obtaining legal working permission in Mexico (after 6 months on the job!), awful salary/work ratio, and a massive decline in my health. It was the right choice, although it was a scary one, since no other job was lined up. 2) Beginning of April - Carlos agreed that I should spend a couple weeks in the US to regain my health, earn some g...

Then An immigrant family arrives to the US at Ellis Island Now A hopeful immigrant holds some of the paperwork needed for his spouse visa OK, recently we've decided that part of the reason this blog exists is to bring light to some of the facts, myths, and injustices in the world of US immigration because our lives have been permanently affected by them. So first, we've got to clarify what it takes to immigrate to the US. In the olden days, people could arrive to the US on a ship, full of hopes and willingness to work hard, sign their name to a register, get a medical check-up, and start a life full of promise in the US. It is no longer even remotely this simple. According to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services , there are four ways a person can immigrate to the US: Be one of the rare winners of the US State Department's Diversity Lottery . This only applies to people from certain countries (most of the world's largest ones are excluded)...

It's a good thing we took all those nice photos of the city on Sunday, because right now it looks completely different. Monterrey got slammed with a surprise windstorm on Tuesday. No rain, hail, or precipitation. Just 75 mph winds and so much dust that the city's air-pollution detectors hit 10 times the danger level before they finally clogged and shut down. The city maintains its claim that there was no indication this was about to happen, so people like me and Carlos just went about our normal lives (or "Spring Break") until it became clear we were in the middle of some near-apocalypse. The power got knocked out to nearly the entire city around 10 am. Then the cell towers went down, too. Carlos and I decided to go to the local shopping center (it's like a half-mile away and approximately 10 weeks old) to pick up some essential groceries. That's when we realized it was probably not the smartest move, as the outer perimeter of the mall had already susta...