Clara chill'n

Vô Luiz and Robert

Another day with our precious gift ... we are exhausted.  Exhausted but radiant in love with Clarinha Bonitinha.

Vera's Vote for Best Picture

This evening Joana and I were sitting with the "Avos" looking at the hospital pictures, reminiscing about Sunday's big events.  Vera selected this one as her favorite :-)

She's so fluffy!

I cannot believe how tiny she is.

Sleeping Clarinha

She's our little sleeping beauty.

Clara is coming home!

All dressed in red for good luck, our little Clarinha is coming home with us today.  We are getting ready to leave the hospital this afternoon.

Professional Pictures

In the name of documentation and sharing this special day with the world, we decided to utilize the hospital's photography services - as things turn out, these pictures are worth a million words ... 

... although a bit out of order :-)

Robert inspects the final product: a super healthy and beautiful Clarinha Bonitinha!

Clara Beatriz Guratzsch weighs in at 3,170g - not so chubby after all!

Along with Clara, a new dad is born - what a champion!

May we introduce to the world: Family Guratzsch (South American Branch).

Robert doing his job: hiding behind the curtain, holding Joana's hand, and taking pictures.

Confirming the name tags - we don't want to take the wrong baby home.

This is the before picture ...

This is the after picture ...

Once more, we want to introduce: Family Guratzsch!

My little bundle of joy

Is she not the most beautiful bundle of pink you have ever seen?

Clara is born

The most beautiful mother gave birth to the most beautiful daughter this morning at 10:00hr.

Oatmeal Cookies

Since I have a bunch of free time with maternity leave and the heat outside makes it prohibitive to get out of the house without melting, I went to the kitchen again to try another recipe that was given to me by my yoga friend Kimberly. The oatmeal cookies turned out great and healthy. Cookies anyone?

Clara's First YouTube

Clara was extra active tonight while we were relaxing on the couch.  So we caught the whole thing on camera:

Birthday Party

Today was Joana's friend, Julia's, birthday. So we all celebrated at the local Fazendola!
Happy birthday!

Car Seat

Since Thursday's doctor appointment revealed that little Clarinha Fofinha could "arrive" any minute now, we thought it might be a good idea to install the car seat.

Valentines Date Night

Since I had to work yesterday and start the day early today, we have postponed our official Valentines Day Date to tonight.
Happy Valentines Day!

Valentine's Day

Today Robert celebrates 6 years in Brazil and I made him this little surprise. I love you, amor!
Happy Valentine's day everyone!

Cheesecake

I had been meaning to try this recipe since we came back from Germany. So during Carnaval, I finally had the time and courage to try Oma Gisela's cheesecake recipe. Here is my adventure in the kitchen. Danke Oma.

Three Days of Carnival

The beach these days of Carnival is "insuportável" - the trash, the people, the ridiculous prices for Mate, umbrellas, and beer, the "Blocos", the garbage, and the obnoxious tourists - it all makes going to the beach a nightmare rather than the usual pleasure it normally is.
So we've been enjoying the rooftop pool at Joana's parents's place. Today it turned out to be just the two of us.

Pool Side

After church today - yes, we went to church today - we joined Pedro and Paula at their pool.

Great times!

Jardim Botânico

Today we met with Luiz and Dani -our family photographer since 2005 - for a final photo shoot before Clara's arrival.  The weather was perfect and Rio's Jardin Botânico had some great backgrounds for my beautiful wife.

Going to the Movies

We went to see the 3D movie called: Life of Pi.  It was awesome!  The graphics, the story, the 3D's ...

Check out the trailer on YouTube.

Clara's room

It's coming together! This is Clara's room, only a few minor final touches left to finish.

Hope she likes it and sleeps like an angel in it :)

Hot Day in Rio

We had an awesome day!  It started with a pancake breakfast (unfortunately no pictures to prove the level of awesomeness) with friends.  Afterwards, we went to the beach for the first time in 2013, and we discovered some interesting changes: umbrellas are now R$10 for rent, Matte tea is R$4, and the sand is hotter than ever!

 Guilherme and Joana are comparing bellies - what do you guys think?  Who's the winner?

The beach was packed!