St. Patty's Day in Manaus

One of the fun parts of living in New York City used to be celebrating St. Patrick's Day. It was always amusing to see how much people (meaning Jay and his friends) looked forward to getting together and going out to celebrate, especially if it fell on a weekend. The last year we lived in the city, Jay and I even marched in a band in the big St. Patrick's Day Parade up 5th Avenue.

As the big day approached here, we didn't really have any plans. Despite this being a country with lots of saint days and holidays, Patrick did not make the cut. I guess not everyone fully appreciates a guy that rid Ireland of its snakes! 

At basically the last minute, we decided to get together with our friends Mark and Debora for a traditional Irish dinner. I made an Irish beef stew, and we put it over mashed potatoes with chicken sausage. We couldn't find any proper Irish beer at the grocery store for the stew, but we managed just fine with some expensive Brazilian made Scottish ale. 

We all dressed in green and listened to hours of traditional Irish music while we cooked and then ate til we could eat no more. It turned out being lots of fun, and Debora got to celebrate her first St. Patrick's Day! 

Cooking the stew, 33wks

Yummy Irish dinner

Don't mind the crazy hair- it gets hot cooking here ;)

Debora and me 

Mmmm... Frog Legs

I'm not sure if it has to do with being pregnant or the fact that I have more spare time now that I am not playing with the orchestra, but I have been on quite a cooking kick lately. Nothing special, just making real food for lunch and dinner more than usual and not going out to eat so much. By real food, I mean we're eating less grilled cheeses and Top Ramen (a favorite of Jay) and more roasts with veggies, paprika chicken with brown rice, etc. 

One of the greatest kitchen appliances I have come to love thanks to living in Brazil is the pressure cooker. I had only heard horror stories about it being dangerous in the States, so I was surprised how many people use one here. You'd think in the US of all places, people would prefer the speedy cooking with a pressure cooker (45 minutes for a 3lb roast with perfect potatoes and carrots) over the slow, all day cooking with a crock-pot. And for the record, I use my pressure cooker about 3-4 times a week and have never had any explosions or near explosions. 

So last week I thought it would be nice to have some chicken with veggies for lunch. I looked to see what I could throw in the pot, and I found some fresh kale we bought a couple days before. I pulled it out of the fridge, washed each leaf, and set it down to start trimming it. At that point, I saw something small and brown under the top leaf and called Jay over in a hurry. As he moved the top leaf, we both saw two little black eyes looking up at us. Turns out a little frog had come home with us on the kale 2 days earlier, chilled out a bit in the fridge, and almost got boiled for lunch! 

Needless to say, we didn't end up eating any kale with our lunch. Hopefully that little froggy enjoyed his break from the heat of Manaus once he thawed out :) 

 

Surprises

Yesterday turned out to be quite a memorable day for us, and not exactly in the best sort of way. 

I'll get the bad surprise out of the way first. As Jay walked me to my last rehearsal for a while, I stopped looking at the sidewalk for a couple seconds. This is never a good idea here because the sidewalks are not only very crooked and very uneven, but there can also be garbage in some spots. Well, as we approached the intersection, I felt something slippery under my foot. I looked back to see what it was, thinking it was just some fruit peel or whatever. If only... it turned out to be a big, dead, hairless rat! And I was wearing flip-flops! EWWW! I immediately got so grossed out that I almost lost my breakfast right there. I made it to rehearsal and washed off my shoe, but it still gives me the heeby-jeebies to even think about it. 

While I was busy counting measures at rehearsal, Jay was taking part in a tv show about sports in our state, Amazonas. His Muay Thai teacher invited him and another student the day before to be part of a segment about Muay Thai. He agreed, thinking it would basically be a demonstration of combinations they've learned in class. He was a little surprised to see a scene set up with chairs outside for an interview, and even more surprised when they told him he would be the one getting interviewed! While he does speak portuguese, this live tv situation was not exactly ideal. So the reporter asked him a question, which he answered to the best of his ability, and then he said the guy just looked at his teacher, kind of stunned, not knowing what just happened, and then never talked to Jay again after that! I tried to find a clip of it, but so far haven't had any luck.

That was definitely a day neither of us will forget anytime soon (though I really wish I could)!

Mahler 1 Concert

I have officially played my last concert as a pregnant woman. For the last 2 weeks, our orchestra has been rehearsing Mahler's Symphony No. 1 with the Experimental Orquestra (youth symphony), and we played a side by side concert this week. As a trombonist, it's always fun to play Mahler, and although it was not a perfect performance, the energy of the group was great. Jay even said it was an "inspiring performance."
One of the big feats for me in this concert, being 30 weeks pregnant, was the fact that I made it through the whole piece (more than an hour long) without needing to go to the bathroom. The lil guy squirmed around a lot during the concert. I think he is a big Mahler fan!

Side by side concert

Low brass section

Our bows at the end 

Because of the timing of the opera festival, I won't be playing any operas this season. While I do want to continue playing until he's born, cramming into the hot pit for 4 + hour rehearsals would probably not be a great idea for anyone. It's hard enough to maneuver around down there without a big belly getting in the way. 

It's kind of amusing how many people think I am due any day now. It's pretty funny to see their faces when I say I still have more than 2 months left. Jay and I are looking forward to seeing how much bigger my belly will get in the next 10 weeks, and of course, we can't wait to hold our lil guy in our arms! 

Back to Brasil

We had a great end to our extended vacation in NYC and Phoenix, and with our previous weather karma, Jay was hoping to delay our departure to Manaus by another day, too. We didn't get so lucky though, and we left NY during the afternoon on Super Bowl Sunday. Unfortunately for Jay, by the time we landed in Atlanta for our first short layover, it was half-time! Not only did he miss the first half of the game, we had to board right before the second half started. We thought maybe they'd be playing it on satellite tv on the plane, but they didn't. Good thing his team wasn't playing... well, sort of.
About a week before we decided to go to the states in January, we had planned on being there February through March. As annoying as it was to be forced to change our plans because of visa issues, I am so grateful to have traveled at that earlier point in the pregnancy. The going there was not so bad at 22 weeks or so, but the 20+ hours, 2 day trip back at 27 weeks was a little much for this lady. We had 2 short, 3.5 hour flights at the start and end of our trip which weren't too bad. I had to get up and walk around a bit and use the bathroom, but they were nothing compared to the 9 hour flight from Atlanta to Brasilia. Talk about uncomfortable. While the guy next to me at the window seat slept the entire time, neither Jay nor I could sleep at all. I had to get up so much to stretch and walk around, and never felt comfortable enough to doze off. Fortunately, Jay is super supportive and rubbed my legs for me, but there was really no relief until we got off the plane.
That relief was rather short-lived once we got back to our place in Manaus and discovered that there was mold everywhere! Having no previous experience traveling at this rainy time of year, we didn't think it would be a problem. We were seriously wrong on that one. We spent the whole afternoon back cleaning the couch, pillows, floors, bathroom, fridge, and cabinets.
Not exactly the welcome home we were expecting, but then again, somehow it didn't surprise us!

Tales from NYC

Somehow we ended up with bad traveling/weather karma on this trip to the states. Granted, we don't usually do so much traveling in January or February, but still. Our flight to Phoenix from New York was canceled and delayed a day because of an impending winter snow storm. It ended up snowing 7 inches overnight, and by mid afternoon on the original flight day, most flights were operating on schedule. We had a place to stay in the city and didn't want to chance spending a night at JFK, so we didn't mind the delay too much. On the way back from Phoenix to New York, another impending snow storm in the East caused our flight to be canceled again! We changed it online for free, showed up bright and early at the airport for our new flight the next morning, and were promptly forced to reschedule it because it too was canceled. Our third try to get into the NYC area was successful, and after a brief stop off in Baltimore, we were back to the cold, windy winter days of NYC. The only concern we had with our changing schedule was the time constraint we were under with the visa documentation for Jay. Luckily, our plans were not ruined as the nice woman at the Brazilian consulate made an exception for my desperate husband. Muito obrigada!!
Being 6 months pregnant and with 4 full suitcases, we thought it would be best to forgo the shlepping up non-elevator buildings and sleeping on futons generally associated with staying at friends' places in New York.  Jay found an absolutely great hotel on the Upper West Side at a good price. We stayed in a residential building that also rented out places for people in a studio apartment that slept 4 comfortably and had a kitchen and bathroom. We were less than a block away from the subway, Trader Joe's, and Gray's Papaya. We both highly recommend it!

26 weeks prego, Woogo Hotel apt.

My best friend Nik came to visit us there <3

One of the things we most looked forward to this whole trip was our Baby Shower in NYC. My good friend Natalie volunteered to host it at her house for us, and she couldn't have done a better job! We were so thrilled to be able to spend time with all of our friends in one place on a Friday night, and I know that everyone had an amazing time.

Me with the Hostess with the Mostest

We started the night with a delicious homemade dinner of arugula salad, baked chicken, and pasta w/pesto and sun-dried tomatoes. Nat is quite the chef and baker, and everything she makes turns out being awesome. She made lots of cupcakes that spelled out "Showers of Happiness" and even made chocolate lollipops in the shape of baby things to give as favors. It was so cute!

There were a lot of fun games planned, and lucky for us, all of our friends are really good sports! Everyone participated between conversations, and I know I will always fondly remember all of the laughing involved. 

This is the game where each person tried to guess 

the right measurement of my belly. 

Jay's was too short! Good work ;) 

Each team had to act out a song with the word "baby" in it. 

Ours chose "Hit Me Baby One More Time," as you can see!

The other team's turn singing.

After several fun games, like name the baby animal, we opened our presents. Since space was quite limited in our suitcases, thanks to the generosity of family and friends in Arizona, we mostly received gift cards in NYC. They will all undoubtedly be put to good use for our lil guy. 

Plenty of our friends told us after the shower that it was the best shower they've ever been to. Besides the host's obvious enthusiasm and preparation, the reason for this is because we have such great friends in our lives. We truly feel loved by them all, and we hope there is no doubt that the feeling is mutual. 

Let's Go Suns!

Jay's mom and dad treated us all to a Suns game the other day, and it was a great time. They played the Celtics, and the Suns pleasantly surprised us by kicking some serious booty! They were ahead the entire game, and I have to say, that makes the whole experience so much better.

Right before the start of the game

The Happy Hatlers

It was cool to see the game in person, and even better to go home with a win and a super happy husband!