December 28, 2006 by mama.

This Christmas, Mama and Papa each went to visit with their own families for various, very practical reasons but we missed each other very much!  This won’t happen again once Ernestito arrives!

At the Burke family Christmas, it was cousin Abigail’s first Christmas but it also felt like Ernesto’s first Christmas!  He received his very own ‘Yankee’s backpack’ along with Yankee’s booties and ‘onesie’ along with everything he needs for his first bath and enough clothes for his first few days, at least!  It looks like we’d better have a baseball fan on the way.

Last night, I had a dream that Ernestito was already here.  It managed to wake me from my sleep.  On one hand, I felt very blessed because he was a perfect little beautiful baby.  But I also felt very nervous- he was so tiny and I was sure I would break him.  In my dream, I was very worried about feeding him and making sure he had enough to eat.  So much responsibility!  I think I will feel better when Papa comes back from Nicaragua.

Meanwhile, Ernesto keeps rolling around and kicking away inside the womb- enough to make sure that I don’t forget that he is there and is getting ready to join us.

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December 26, 2006 by papa.

Hola hijo,

Estoy en mi pais, de visita por las fiestas de navidad y ano nuevo. Me haces falta. Me hace falta jugar contigo, sentir tus movimientos, pero por sobre todo me hace falta tu mama.

Estoy pasando las navidades con tus tios y abuelos. Durante la noche bueno, abrimos los regalos mas temprano de lo usual, porque tu tio Orlando y tia Blanca debian de irse temprano por tu primo Pedro Jose. Esta muy pequeno y esas actividades por ahora son mucho para el.

Hijo, ya has recibido tus primeros regalos. Tenemos una panalera, donde pondremos tu panales. Creo que es para panales de tela. Tambien, recibimos un cartel de Ernesto Che Guevara. Ahora mismo ando una camiseta con la figura del Che.

Feliz navidad, hijo y desde ya te deso un prospero ano nuevo!

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December 13, 2006 by mama.

Last week, at the beginning of my 24th week, Alvaro and I visited with Yolanda Eng, a pediatrician in our neighborhood who came highly recommended by friends.  We found Dr Eng to be very knowledgable but also very approachable - and her sense of calm inspired great confidence in me.  We asked her various things about what we could expect for Ernestito’s first few weeks and how we should think about preparing for our move to Nicaragua.

 She was very reassuring- she has lots of experience working with families relocating to the developing world both from her time in Washington Heights and her previous practice in Chinatown.  We now know that, assuming everything goes smoothly with Ernesto’s arrival and his early health, we can plan to move 7-10 weeks after his birth.  This gives him the chance to have a round of vaccinations and prepare his little body for the trip. 

 We still have to wait and see to make sure all goes well but so far we have every reassurance that Ernestito is developing normally and I have had an incident-free first few months.  Ernesto’s little kicks remind me regularly that he is with me and he seems to really enjoy ‘playing’ with papa by kicking wherever Alvaro’s hand goes on my stomach. 

 - Mama

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