Coisa mais fofa

Ontem de manha, Antonio veio me mostrar o dever de casa dele. A tarefa era criar uma "reportagem", fazer um desenho e escrever algo a respeito.

Ele entao me apresentou essa verdadeira"joia", o lancamento de um foguete. Com direito a um astronauta dentro da cabine de controle ao lado e tudo.

Agora o mais fofo foi o texto, que dizia: "Prontu pra decolagem 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1"
Nem preciso dizer que que quase me derreti, nao e?

I loved this one I got this morning

Quote of the day:
'The financial situation at the moment is so bad that women are now marrying for love'

Ultima do barrigao/Bump update

Tem essa foto do cha que mostra bem o tamanho do barrigao. Olha so':
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Latest update on the bump. Check out this picture taken in the baby shower.

Cha' de bebe/Baby shower

Foi tanta confusao que acabei me esquecendo de escrever sobre o cha' de bebe do Joaquim.

Nem sei como comecar... afinal estava tudo simplesmente perfeito.

A Bruna, minha amiga querida do coracao, irma camarada e futura comadre, que vai ser a dinda do Quim, deu um show na organizacao do evento.


A casa, que ja' e um desbunde, estava linda - com sutis arranjos em hortensia - a mesa estava um luxo, a comida deliciosa, o servico impecavel. A anfitria veio chiquerrima (o que nao e' novidade) e suas meninas deram o toque gracioso `a uma tarde memora'vel.

As amigas mais queridas compareceram e o papo fluiu gostoso.


Obrigada, minha querida. Foi simplesmente inesquecivel! O Joaquim, aqui da barriga, agradece emocionado.
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After all the chaos, which took place last week, I nearly forgot to write about Joaquim's baby shower.

I don't even know where to start... as it was everything perfect!

Bruna, my dear friend, sister from the heart, and future "comadre", who will be Quim's godmother, organised the most memorable event.

Her beautifully decorated flat looked stunning - ornated with subtle blue hydrangeas' pieces - the table arrangement looked amazing, food was delicious, service was impecable. The hostess, looked super stylish (as always by the way) and her girls gave the afternoon a gracious touch.

My most dear friends showed up and conversation was good, funny, unpretentious.

Thank you very much, my dear. It was simply unforgetable! Joaquim, from inside the bump, thanks you enthusiastically, very touched by it all.

As Verdadeiras Mulheres Felizes II (continuacao)

Voltando a tal da frase... Olha so' o que a Martha escreve:

"O que ela quis dizer? Que os homens saem pela porta de manha e vao trabalhar sem pensar se os filhos estao bem agasalhados ou se fizeram o dever da escola. Os homens nao menstruam, nao tem celulite, nao passam por alteracoes hormonais que detonam o humor. Os homens nao se preocupam tanto com cabelo e nao morrem de culpa quando nao telefonam para suas maes. Os homens comem qualquer coisa na rua e o cardapio do jantar nao e' da sua conta, a nao ser quando decidem cozinhar eles proprios, e isso e' sempre um momento de lazer, nunca um dever. Os homens nao encasquetam tanto, sao mais praticos. Eu, que estou longe de ser uma feminista e mais longe ainda de ser ranzinza, tenho que reconhecer o brilhantismo da frase: OS HOMENS SAO MULHERES FELIZES. Eles fazem tudo o que a gente gostaria de fazer: nao se preocupam em demasia com nada.

Porque nosso mal e' este: pensar demais."

Nao e' perfeito?

As Verdadeiras Mulheres Felizes I

Ja escrevi aqui no blog sobre o livro dela, "Doidas e Santas", simplesmente sensacional, meu livro de cabeceira. Martha Medeiros, a autora, e' do naipe de Clarice Lispector, tem o talento de botar no papel o que sentimos. E com maestria.

Ja li o livro livro todo mas gostei tanto que vira-e-mexe volto la' pra dar uma olhada, tao bom que e'.

Tem uma cronica em especial que achei genial, "As Verdadeiras Mulheres Felizes". Nela, Martha fala sobre o livro da francesa Eliette Abecassis, sobre o nascimento de um filho e o fim de seu casamento e ainda solta a frase: "os homens sao as verdadeiras mulheres felizes".

Continua
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I've previously written about her book in the blog, "Doidas e Santas" (Psychos and Saints), simply sensational, my bedside table book. Martha Medeiros, the author, is from the same school as Clarice Lispector, and has the talent to put everyone's feelings onto paper. And with mastery.

I've already finished the book and liked it so much that every now and then I go back and take a look, so well written it is her work.

There is a chronicle in particular that I found brilliant, "The Real Happy Women". In it, Martha makes a reflection about the book of a French author, Eliette Abecassis, which adresses the birth of her child and end of her marriage. In it she found the sentence: "men are the real happy women".

To be continued

Lazy

I promise to translate the posts below to English tomorrow morning. It's already 10pm and I am pretty tired.

Good night.

Adoro

Nao escondo de ninguem que adoro uma piruice. Gosto de roupa, decoracao, cabelereiro, sapatos ate' nao poder mais, flores frescas, joias de qualquer tamanho e valor, lingerie, revistas de moda, spa, pulseiras, massagem, unha grande, cabelao. Tudo bem mulherzinha mas nada exagerado.

Na falta de filhas mulheres, tive de me contentar em fazer o quarto dos meus meninos de forma bastante alegrinha mas sem frescuras. Tento pegar leve, mesmo que tenha vontade de "pirar" de vez em quando. E quando vao chegando as coisas e vejo o resultado, fico na M-A-I-O-R F-E-L-I-C-I-D-A-D-E! Vivi isso ha poucos dias atras.

Abaixo uma palhinha do quartinho do meu Quim. Em breve fotos de tudo pronto.


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I can't hide from anyone the fact that I am the queen of frillery. I love clothes, decoration, hairdressers, shoes galore, freshly cut flowers, jewllery of every size, shape and value, lingerie, fashion magazines, spas, bangles, massages, long manicured fingernails, long hydrated hair. All very feminine, nothing over the top.

As I had no baby girls, I had to contend myself to decorate the room of my boys in the most beautiful way but with no frills. I try to take it easy, despite wanting to go "nuts" once in a while. And when it is all ready and well in place, I feel an enormous satisfaction with the result I see. I went through this experience just a few days ago.

Above, a small sample of the decoration. Soon, I'll post a few pics of the baby room looking all nice and ready.

Clarice

Tenho uma amiga inteligente, culta, bonita e talentosa, Fabiana "Bibi" Barcinski, que teve uma filha e chamou-a de Clarice.

Achei sua escolha simplesmente extraordinaria, ja' que imaginei se tratar de uma homenagem a fabulosa Clarice Lispector.

Sou fa incondicional, louca, simplesmente devoro o trabalho dessa figura unica. E vou comecar a postar algumas frases de sua autoria e passagens de seus livros.

Leitura obrigatoria para mulheres, tenho certeza que muita gente, como eu, passou a vida inteira esperando alguem botar em palavras aquilo que sentimos. E ela fez exatamente isso.
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I have a friend, who is intelligent, cultivated, beautiful and talented, Fabiana "Bibi" Barcinski, who had a daughter and called her Clarice.

I found her name choice simply extraordinary, as I figured out it was a tribute to the fabulous Clarice Lispector.

I am an unconditional fan, mad, I simply adore the work of this unique figure. And I will start posting a few phrases and passages from her books.

Compulsory reading for women, I am certain that lots os people, like me, spent their whole lives waiting for someone to put on words what goes inside our minds and hearts. She did exactly that.

Dr Luis Fernando bateu o martelo

Estive la' hoje e meu querido obstetra decidiu: "Seguramos o Joaquim ate' dia 30. Quero entrega'-lo pro Pedro sem ele ter nada pra fazer".

O Pedro nesse caso, e' o Dr Pedro Solberg, pediatra do Antonio que fara' o parto do Quim junto com o Dr Luis Fernando e o Dr Bruno. Ele quer esperar ate' 38 semanas e ate' o nenem estar "prontinho", portanto repouso absoluto ate' la'.

E assim foi decidido e na proxima semana vem a confirmacao. Parece que o Sr Joaquim de Azambuja Fehring vai nascer mesmo no dia 1o. de Dezembro de 2008.
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I went to his practice early this morning and my beloved obstetrician decided: "We'll keep Joaquim in till the 30th December. I want to hand him over to Pedro and give him no trouble at all".

Pedro, in this case, is Dr Pedro Solberg, Antonio's pediatrician, who will work hand-in-hand at the delivery with Dr Luis Fernando and Dr Bruno. He told me he wants to wait until the 38th week and until the baby is ready. So I must keep on resting.

And that's how it was decided and next week we'll have the confirmation. It seems Master Joaquim de Azambuja Fehring will come to the world on the 1st December 2008.

And last

It's great being home.

Abundance of love

One cannot - and should not - oversee the flooding of love and genuine concern dispensed by those closest when an unexpected situation happens in one's life.

I felt incredibly fortunate and overwhelmed by all the demonstrations of love and friendship I got from my friends and family after what happened to me last week.

They outshone by far the lack of support I got from those I most expected to.

To everyone who called to offer help and to check on me, to send their love or simply to say hi, my infinite gratitude and love.

I am nothing without you people.

The biggest scare

There are moments in life when everything else seems to be extremely small and irrelevant. When we are faced with panic and real scare.

Waking up last Wednesday with a bleeding and having to rush to the hospital in my 35th week of pregnancy was one of those moments. Worst of all: fearing for my baby's life.

Being alone with a five-year old boy in a house - being heavily pregnant - and not knowing what to do when you must jump a taxi and leave him with a neighbour makes you stop and think that there is something really wrong about the whole situation. And about your life in general.

The health problem was actually dealt with. My body was too tired and my placenta warned me of being too much "out and about" (when I shouldn't) and screamed: "STOP!"

The long overdue life-changing measures I must take are just starting though.

Bumpy in the tropics

There is no better place in the world than Brazil for being pregnant. People here are enormously kind and helpful to pregnant women. I already start missing all this attention, which will vanish very soon.

Be it in banks, shops, on the street. From taxi drivers, waiters, shop clerks, pedestrians in general. It's all smiles, helping hands and politeness. Pure bliss.

On top of that, people seem to feel magnetized by baby bumps.. Women love it - they want to know the gender, the name, the due date (oh, you look so fit!) - and men (believe me) seem to have a strange, out-of-place attraction towards it as well.

It is time then to enjoy the last leg of the ride as in a few weeks time I'll go from being "with child" to being overweight (and not so sure if you are still pregnant or not - awful!) and then the real hard work starts. Shedding baby kilos is surely not such an easy task at 37.

Getting jealous

Our little boy Antonio. So cute and loving and already so jealous of his unborn brother... the poor thing.

I remember when I was a little girl and my younger cousin was born. As my grandmother was the most important person in the world to me, I felt like ripping myself apart every time I saw granny holding Mari in her arms.

I am sure we'll do our best to comfort our boy. However, in truth, there is not so much we can do to relief his feelings. So natural and unavoidable.

House arrest

That is the perfect definition for what I am going through right now.

Being (and feeling) huge and having to take it easy until the birth (by doctor's orders) I have decided to venture out only when strictly necessary.

This afternoon I've heard all the gossip (and told a few) from my maid's family, friends and neighbours, the hot stuff going on in the favela (township) where she lives and stories from her hometown (ex-husband tales, mother-in-law back stabs, all the lot) - I know, I know, I should have saved a little bit for later on.. but I just couldn't resist..

Luckily enough this week I have a few unavoidable commitments (e.g.: Joaquim's baby shower, doctor's appointment, a kid's party, massage).

By next week, when boredom may be taking over, I might think about starting to do some online Christmas shopping.

And - who knows? - I might even send out a few Christmas cards ON TIME for the first time in my life.

Santa porradaria

Hoje vi na TV e quase me rasguei de rir da historia de uma briga entre monges Gregos e Armenios dentro do Santo Sepulcro em Jerusalem.

Ano passado quando estive em Israel, fiquei muito impressionada com a grande diferenca entre as quatro partes da "cidade velha" de Jerusalem - Judaica, Muculmana (com cedilha), Crista (com til) e Armenia.

Na parte Crista (com til no A), um detalhe em particular me chamou a atencao...

... a sisudez do monge grego (todo de preto, com uma barbicha rala comprida, com aspecto sujo e totalmente mal-humorado) que tomava conta do ediculo, espaco que "aparentemente" guarda a tumba de Jesus Cristo.

Cada fiel so pode ficar 30 segundos dentro do espaco e ja, ja tem que sair ao comando do tal monge estranho, que fica estacionado na porta, olhando de esguelha.

Em tal clima de bizarrice, nao estranho nada, nada que o pau coma entre esses malucos dia sim, outro tambem.

And...

... just for the record, Vasco's dramatic situation in the National Football Championship may force them to drop down to Series B.

HAHAHAHA - it feels fantastic thinking that this may become reality.

Yes, yes, Mr Paes, one can't win on every single front.

The Pit-Mayor (Pitbull+Mayor)

I remember a very funny story of when I was around 18 years-old, coming back from a football game in Maracana (Rio's main stadium) with a couple of friends.

I've always been a fervent Flamengo supporter and my passion for the club was notorious among my friends at that time (still love Mengo to bits).

This afternoon in particular, the match was between the archi-rivals Flamengo and Vasco and unfortunately we lost 2x1 despite having opened the score in the first half.

Despite the awful result, I agreed to join 3 dear friends (all guys and crazy Vasco supporters) to have a beer and a pizza in Banana Cafe, a very popular hang-out at the time.

As we came in, all laughing and enjoying ourselves, we met another Vasco fan, whom, among other things decided to make fun of my Flamengo jersey and to slash on my team.

We then started a heated discussion and the, very rude guy, told me simply to F... OFF! Just like that.. for no reason at all. We were all shocked by his lousy temper and by such an ungentleman-like behaviour.

The reason why I remembered this story is because this guy was elected 2 weeks ago as the new mayor of Rio de Janeiro and his name is Eduardo Paes.


PS: Paes is the one on the right-hand side, looking every little bit like the Vasco supporter (arrrgh), pit-mayor, "in-the-closet" politician (rumours..), hand-in-hand with "Father Lino". No comments.

Missing our doggy

It's been now 4 months that we came to Rio and stayed on. As unplanned as our stay was, our puppy Chocolate was left behind in Joburg for what was supposed to be a one-week stay in Brazil.

After all this time, Antonio misses our dog terribly and I can't hide I am heart-broken as well.

Last week we nearly bought a Shitsu puppy (called Victor) in a shopping center but then later thought it was "kind of" insane to have a new baby and a new puppy at the same time.

Plus the thoughts of Choc eating his own pooh when he was tiny made me so sick (and being told that all Shitsus do the same) that I decided it was better to wait for a while and then have our one and only doggy shipped from SA (as he is now "nearly" trained and no longer appreciates this delicacy as a meal).

Just for the record, a picture of our beloved doing something he absolutely HATED (but looked lovely afterwards).

The Press

Brazilian press is merciless with our politicians and their never-ending corruption scandals.

The press, in Rio in particular, covers absolutely EVERYTHING that goes on in the city and country. Be it money-laundrying scandals, violent crimes, police corruption, the horrendous situation of Rio's healthcare system. You name it.

Their favourite characters (to slash on) include Lula, our president, Cesar Maia , Rio's mayor (in his last weeks as mayor), George Bush, sometimes Putin, whoever else is in the limelight and, of course, Dunga, our national coach.

Agression aside, touches of humour certainly enhance the "not-so-easy-to-read" pages (for obvious, bloody reasons).

This morning, it featured on the first page of "O Globo" (best selling serious paper) this charicature of Rio's Cesar Maia ("the only mayor in the world who became a full-time blogger during his mandate" - anonymous author).

I loved it.



It says: Meanwhile in "ostrasystem". the mayor says: "tell me about you, George"

Last strength

A flu was the last thing I needed right now when I feel so heavy and tired - at the last stage of my pregnancy.

Our house still have no furniture, as our container sits at Rio's port waiting for the majestic spectacle of bureaucracy performed by Brazilian customs to come to an end and therefore we have very little to do in our new home.

I cannot find a proper position to sit and write or to sleep and my feet are getting swollen.

I'd call this pregnancy, move and re-start of our lives in Rio, an endurance test. Really, there is no better way to describe it.

All worthwhile, that's for sure. There is nothing better than being handed over your newborn baby. The explosion of love is indescribable.

Let me try and keep this in mind 24/7 in the tough weeks ahead.

The new US President

I haven't felt that happy about politics in a long time.

Actually, I haven't written anything regarding Obama's victory in my blog and decided I won't do it.

Anything I write will seem too small to describe the importance of this event to the world and inter-racial relations.

Congratulations to the American People and Barack himself and all the best of luck for the next 4 years.

3 to 5 weeks to go

I had a scan yesterday morning and our little baby is already 2,5kgs - Hurray!!!

Once again we were overwhelmed by the experience of a 4D scan in real time and how precise all the details on Joaquim's face, body and internal organs were shown on video.

This time I couldn't quite figure out whose features the baby has. A few months ago I thought he looked very much like his bro and later like his daddy.

Who knows..? Maybe this time I might have a child who looks just like me.

As irrelevant as this actually is after all. From the bottom of my heart it makes no difference to me at all.