Day 10 - Superbowl Sunday !

As stated in yesterday's post, I went to sleep with a couple of drinks in me. So my night was relatively quiet. Linda on the other hand, had a rather long night.

So at 6:00 in the A.M. Linda was done and it was now my turn. Ugh! Doesn't she know that I was up until 1:30 writing the all important days events? (Note to self: no more drinking while there is 4 - 6am feedings happening.)

The baby is still feeling crappy. There is no pleasing her. She doesn't sleep for very long, maybe 3-4 hours at the most. Today was for maybe an 1 at a clip. Nothing that we do will stop her from crying. We both feel so bad for her. Every time she has an "episode" James gets very nervous and doesn't know how to handle the situation. So he kind of goes off the deep end. Which means we now have two kids at a time losing it.

He has the same helpless feeling that I do, and just wants to do anything to make the baby feel better. I start to get angry at him for doing things. Then of course after the situation I feel guilty for yelling at him.

Anyway, Amelia was up for about 2 hours and finally went back to sleep. I decided that I needed some air and went down to have breakfast by myself.

Upon my return, everybody, including the baby was awake. So now Linda and James needed to escape, and they went down and left me with a baby that we cannot make happy.

She was actually quiet and sat on the bed with me for quite some time. Long enough that she started falling asleep in a sitting position. It was pretty funny actually, because she did not want to fall asleep. So she kept dozing off, with her eyes rolling back into her head. Then she would start to slump forward only to catch herself and then she would pop up like a jack-in-the-box.

I felt bad and tried to get her into the crib. We've noticed that she is alot like her big brother, whenever they both start falling asleep, they do whatever they can to wake themselves up.

So once I stood up, she starts freaking out and screaming. Another 20 minutes of screaming and she falls asleep in my arms.

At which point Linda and the tasmanian devil stroll back in. The tasmanian devil with 5 pancakes and a half a gallon of syrup in his belly.

Linda actually got him to sit still and do homework at this point, don't ask me how she did it. It is like trying to keep a hurricane in a box, it is almost impossible. But she did it.

It was a perfect opportunity for me to get some work done. So both James and I did homework. His was over within the hour. Mine was a few hours longer.

The baby got up screaming and crying again. So James and I abandoned Linda and went to the pool.

We met up with Oola and his son, Simon. We hung out down there from about 12:30 to around 4:00. It has been raining here every day. But today it wasn't raining when we were in the pool, it was cloudy though. The pool is heated and is warmer then the air. It is actually quite chilly when the sun is not out.

We had lunch and a couple of margheritas for Daddy at the poolside.

Linda and the baby showed up around 4:00 about 7 minutes before the rains came. So she turned around and went back up stairs. And 10 minutes later James and I were right behind her.

She had stopped at the front desk to inquire about how we could see the super bowl. The other guys wanted to get together and watch it somewhere, even though Oola has no idea what it is.

The front desk informed her that the game was on ABC and that the hotel didn't have ABC. Now I have not missed a super bowl since I was ten years old. That is 28 years without missing a superbowl.

Okay, do I hold this over Amelia's head for ever? After all she is the reason I am down here in the first place.

So I suck it up and realize, what the hell, it is only a game. We decided the baby was starting to do better and we all went downstairs to the outdoor restaurant for some dinner. The baby fell asleep within minutes, so we were going to have a nice family dinner.

Before they came to take our order, the baby was awake and screaming.

We placed our orders, and Linda took the baby for a walk, only never to return. She walked right up to the hotel room with a screaming baby.

Let me just interject here for a moment. Things are different here. There is no such thing as a quick bite to eat. When you first sit in the restaurant a waiter comes to take your drink orders. Before you even see a menu.

The 10 - 15 minutes that it takes to bring a 7-up and a couple of margherita's (see the pattern) is like an eternity when you have children. They bring the drinks, then you have to request a menu because they assume you will have cocktails for awhile.

Another 5-10 minutes goes by before the menu shows up.

When it does (This is the point at which the baby wakes up freaking out), the waiter disappears.

15-20 minutes later, he comes to take your order. Gracias, senor waiter for blessing us with your presence.

Linda splits, and another 15-20 minutes later the food makes it to the table.

After you are done eating, you have to get a waiters attention, because he will never come to you. They believe it is rude to interupt you until you need them.

James and I order some chocolate ice cream (another 10 minutes).

IT IS AT THIS POINT THAT OOLA COMES DOWN TO GET SOME FOOD TO BRING BACK TO HIS ROOM, THAT HE INFORMS ME THAT HE IS WATCHING THE SUPERBOWL IN HIS ROOM AND I AM WELCOME TO COME WATCH!!!!!!

Well I had made the mistake of ordering a cappucino, which of course is another 5 - 10 minutes.

Let me just say that there is only 6 other people in the entire restaurant, so I certainly wasn't competing with anybody else for a little time with my waiter.

I drink the cappucino. I have to get the waiters attention to bring me the check. Another 10 minutes.

I am usually pretty casual about the time line, but now that I have been told that the superbowl was actually on I needed to get upstairs as quick as possible.

Let me add up all of those minutes for you. We made it down to the restuarant around 6:30ish. James and I got back to the bedroom at 8:55.

He was losing it, Linda felt abandoned all day so I called him to decline his offer and to find out what channel the game was on.

Channel 19, ESPN Desportes!

The TV in my room goes from 2 to 17 then 20 and above. Are you freaking kidding me? I immediately run down to the receptionist and ask her to fix it.

They send a maintainence guy up to my room. The tv is right next to the crib where the baby is finally sleeping. He whips out of his tool belt a universal remote control to reprogram the tv.

This process involves the tv going by itself from channel 2 to 120 searching for a signal. It then does it a second time to confirm the signal and automatically makes the channels work.

Well my autoprogramming functioning tv goes from 2 to 17 and then 20 to 120. Skipping ESPN Desportes channel 19. What the hell?

The looks at me and says in english "TV no works, buenos noches"

Okay, I can handle it. I have seen every Super bowl for 28 years, so what if I miss this one game.

5 minutes later there is a knock at the door, It is the maintanence man. Standing before me in the doorway holding in his arms a brand new television set. He goes into the room and moves furniture around removes the old tv and installs the new one all by himself in about 3 minutes.

This guy should work in the restuarant. He would make a killing with the American clientele.

Downside is the baby wakes up crying again. So what! I have the super bowl on for almost the entire 2nd half. I have a screaming baby in my arms, which doesn't matter because the game is being broadcast in spanish.

She passes out after a good 30 minutes, but again who cares, I have the superbowl!

For those of you who don't know, I am a NY Giants fan for as long as I remember. However, My grandparents and my mother are from Pittsburgh. I went to college in Pittsburgh. So I am glad that they won and that I witnessed it about 8 gazillion miles from home.

29 super bowls and still counting.


- - - - -

I was going to end this evenings blog there.

However, after reading the last comment from yesterday, I need to continue. It seems that "Sam T" doesn't know if this is a family blog or not, so some things must be clarified.

1. Linda thought the same thing about his traveling companion.
2. You know me, I may only look tough, but deep down, I'm a softy.
3. Ancyay Kayay isyay elcomeyay otay eesay myay ideovay
4. a. Real estate is good. Land is expensive but labor is cheap. There is no middle class here. The rich get richer and the poor live in shacks with tin roofs outside of the city limits in shanty towns, I am trying to get a picture, because these towns spread for miles into the horizon.
b. Exchange rate is fairly stable at $2000 pesos to $1 U.S.
c. Hookers? Not that I noticed. HOWEVER, for all of you single guys back home. I have met or seen 4 Americans down here with their new Mail order brides. The women all get boob jobs, and walk around showing everything off. They think it will win them a green card. I have included a google link to satisfy all of your curiousities. Kids under 18 stay away!
d. Don't even know who to ask about the poker, but I have seen it on tv here.
5. We effed up, what can I say?
6. My camera was not my good digital one, but it was an Olympus and Nancy will be getting a call.
7. The guy from Hicksville has an aunt here with a full time staff of servants. Each servant is responsible for a particular job, one cooks, one cleans etc. Each one is paid the equivalent of $40 U.S. a week. And it is the best job that they could ever ask for. So I am thinking a dirty sanchez might be affordable...
8. We miss you too, and hopefully you will be home soon.
9. If any kid under the age of 20 comes to me and asks me what a dirty sanchez is, I will give you Sam's email address, because he will be only too happy to answer that question.
10. We will always love Sam.

Adios, and hooray for the Steelers!