Another Spanish Adventure

We are now in our permanent residence here in Madrid. (More pics and video to follow this weekend.) Moving is always an adventure; there alway seems to be plenty of unexpected things arise to throw off your plans. Thankfully, our move from the temp apt in Madrid to our new apartment went very smoothly...just a bit differently than our previous moves in the U.S.

First, we don't have an SUV nor any friends with an SUV or truck, so Brendan rented one of the few automatic transmission cars he could find - a Volkswagen Golf. We thought it might take us all day, but I think the Lord miraculously expanded the space inside the car so that we were able to get everything in just 4 trips! And one of Brendan's friends from work, Charlie, helped out so he got everything up the elevator and into the apt when Brendan brought it over. Charlotte and I were able to hang out in the new casa and start unpacking. You can see below that we found an interesting picture hanging in Charlotte's room! I think I've decided to leave it up just because its funny that she has a donkey in her room. :)

{Charlotte & The Burro}

On Tuesday, Charlotte had her first doctor's visit in Spain. Before I even get to the doctor's visit though, I need to praise God for providing insurance for Charlotte (BCBS NC) that covers her overseas! How incredible is that! And they called to make the appointment for her...even better. Soon we'll both be covered by Brendan's new insurance here in Spain but until then it is so great to know that she is covered.

Ok, so we had a little trek to get to the doctor. We took the Metro, then had about a 15 minute walk from the Metro stop to the hospital. Thankfully, I decided to put Charlotte in the stroller rather than in the Baby Bjorn...she's a bit heavy for that (on me anyways). We didn't have a suite number for the doctor at the hospital so we knew we would have to do some searching. It didn't take us long to find where he was located, but we did figure out why there was no suite number. We saw the doctor's name on a door and assumed that this was his office (waiting room, etc). Brendan begins to open the door and quickly realizes that he is entering an EXAM ROOM not a waiting room for the doctor's office! Oops! The doctor came out later to get the next patient and we slowly figured out the Spanish system.

So, the doctor had no nurses or support staff...just himself. And his office and exam room were the same room. Interesting to say the least. But the good news was he spoke English, and Charlotte received her vaccinations...although she was not too happy about that part. :( I am getting more familiar with measurements in centimeters and kilograms - Charlotte weighs 7 kg (~15 lbs) and is 63 cm (~25 in) - something I had to figure out in order to buy her diapers last week. And I think the diapers I bought are Pampers with a different label!

After Charlotte finished crying and we were done with the appointment, she took a good long nap on the way back home then she decided to play around with Brendan while getting ready for bed. We were both very surprised! I'd been telling Brendan about how she giggles now, but he hadn't really heard her do it yet. So out of nowhere, she starts giggling for him while he's playing with her....so cute! And you can see below, she also showed Brendan how flexible she is getting - finally figured out that her toes can go in her mouth too!

{Bandaged up after vaccinations}

{Caught with her foot in her mouth!}