Lo haremos para ella

Owing to a number of issues it looks like our life in Spain is drawing to a close.

The problems we've encountered I'll save for later once we've left.

However, to guarantee our childrens' health and education is why we came to Spain in the first place. Now it seems we must leave for the same reasons.

I don't believe that Spanish society has changed at all whilst we've been here, nor do I believe we came with "rose-tinted spectacles". Our childrens' needs have changed, and that alongside the darker aspects of Spanish society and institutions have made us realise that Spain is not where we want to be.

Where next? We have a number of options, but we'll almost certainly be moving house during the summer holidays. We'll probably rent the house out short-term and sell later, unless any of you dear readers are interested.

¿Qué ha pasado con abril?

A whole month has slipped by without a single post.

The main reason has been our occupation with Suzie, her baptism at the local church, the baptism of a neighbour's baby, that baby's health problems and of course doing battle with the State over our rights.

The last item goes back to our arrival in Spain. We soon discovered that we qualify for familia numerosa which gives not inconsiderable benefits, especially when it comes to taxation. We first applied in 2005 and got the book last summer, after two years of jumping through hoops put there to stop extranjeros applying. So the book arrived just in time for Suzie's birth which meant we had to immediately ask for a re-issue or lose the entitlement. Suzie is now almost nine months old and we're still fighting the Junta. This despite the fact she was born here in Andalucía.

After a useful relationship with Miguel Angel, a genuinely caring social worker who made every effort to help us through the system, he has moved on to another case. The new SW is a complete waste of space. Unhelpful doesn't even cover it. We patiently explained to her that the Junta's position on the familia numerosa is not only unlawful since it goes directly against the European Accession treaty that Spain signed and against the Maastricht and Lisbon treaties, but that the Junta's attitude is institutionally rascist, openly discriminating against EU citizens who are guaranteed equal rights before Spanish law. Her reaction was to side with the Junta, saying that "Spain is a special case and Spaniards have special rights reserved for themselves". Not in social equality they don't. She should re-read the above-mentioned treaties.

We will give her one last chance to break the logjam, then it's off the the press, lawyer and European Commission with the case. I don't think the Spanish government will want to hand back their Social Fund grants to Brussels on top of the 63 million euro they've had to repay to the CAP.

¡Anda ya!

A week ago we were invited to Seville with the company for a weekend break and dinner. Since the company was paying the hotel and dinner it would have been churlish to refuse.

Suzi celebrated by having a little crawl along the hotel bed.

The logistics of a family of six meant that we were unable to see much of Seville, but the dinner was very good and we enjoyed the lazy trip back to Casares through the countryside and mountains via Cortes de la Frontera. The town is a bit bigger than Casares, but has the same ubiquitous castle and crazy road layout - we felt quite at home.

Sólidos

A little ahead of schedule Suzie has started on solids - and is growing rapidly - 4 months old and already growing out of her "3-6 month old" baby grows.

One innovation we found (since the other kids were babies) which has been a real boon to us are "grobags"; just right for our little tomato plant.

¡Qué asgo!

This is presumably what Suzie thinks of babysitters who prefer to watch TV than look after her!

She's very people oriented, thanks I'm sure to always being fawned over by all and sundry here in Spain. Always ready with a smile - she seems so different from her older siblings who should be in Spanish politics they argue that much.

Bonita chica

Susie is progressing very nicely at last. After a dodgy start and numerous visits to hospital in Marbella and Málaga she's doing well at home.

She's now more than doubled her birth weight and is gordita. She's also starting to smile and laugh (especially at me). She also, thankfully sleeps through the night. I don't recall the other three being so well-disposed, perhaps living in Spain is good for babies.

Al hospital - ¡otra vez!

Suzie had to go back to hospital recently after a chest infection - this time for three weeks.

So far she's spent more than half her life there.

This time we didn't get such a good service from the Costa del Sol hospital, so we took her to the children's hospital in Málaga city. It may look a bit run down, but the quality of care there is the best around - just don't expect any English-speaking staff.

The doctor's have picked up on the amniosentesis report which shows Suzie has an extra 'marker' chromosone and wanted to do all sorts of test on her. So far everything has come back clear, but she'll need to go back again for more tests soon.

El primer paseo, part 2

And this is what happens - each child is presented to the Virgin by the priest.

El primer paseo

This was Susana's first outing - to church at the request of her godmother.

The occasion was a blessing of all children in the town born in the last year, so we just scraped in.

Que orgullosa es

To round off the August catchup - I don't think this needs a caption.

Por fin a casa

Actually Susie came home on the 20th August, ten days old. After a few days at home she started to settle down. Her minor eye infection cleared up and she showed us she has blue eyes (though not as blue as mine).

Here she is about to enjoy another nappy change. She's a windy little beggar, always burping and farting. She poos so infrequently she's got her mum worried - and me relieved, except that I'm now going to have to give her suppositories.

She has a good, regular appetite. The neighbours are always chipping in with good advice, mainly ¡Dale al pecho!

Libro de familia

The day after Susie was released from hospital I went to the ayuntamiento to register the birth.


You can tell it's a small town as all the records going back to 1879 fit in one bookcase. From the photo you can see that 1884 and 1886 were bumper years for births here.


Once registered I got the libro de familia. Unlike the UK where you get one certificate for each child, here in Spain both births and deaths for each child is entered in the same book, so it's a vital document to get for any benefits that are available.


Since 'ZP' said back in July that each child born in Spain would get €2,500 we've applied for that. It turns out that when I applied at the end of last month the law had still not been published and is not due to see the light of day until November (assuming there's any money left in the governments coffers by then).


I also applied for paid paternity leave, which in Spain is 15 days (2 paid by the employer and 13 by the state). I'm happy to report that this was processed promptly once I had the libro, and I got the money in full this week. Hooray!


Three years ago we applied for familia numerosa, a benefit paid to families with three or more children. We are still waiting, but hopeful that having at least one child with a libro will break the logjam. Vamos a ver.


Curiously, although Susie is not Spanish she is counted as Andaluz and therefore entitled to full rights under the Andaluz constitution - such as "dignified" housing. This might come in handy when we start talking planning permission with the town hall.

Mil gracias

Six weeks away from the blogoshere can seem like ages, but at least I have a good reason.

Susie continues to do what normal babies do: eat, fill nappies and grow - with a little sleep on the side.

I've been bowled over by the presents (flowers included) and gifts from colleagues at work and neighbours.

Thank you everyone for your gifts and best wishes.

y las hermanas mayores

Susana's big sisters made this lovely painting whilst we're waiting for her to come home.

She's picked up a slight infection so probably won't be home this week. The hospital is allowing Carole to stay on even though she is fit to come home.

Hermanita nuestra

Finally Susana gets to meet her brother and sisters. The doctor on the neonatal ward waived the normal visiting rules and let them all in at once.

It looks as though Susana will be in the neonatal ward for most of the next week as she still has breathing difficulties after swallowing amniotic fluid.

At least she is feeding more or less normally now from Carole and is getting slowly stronger. Carole tells me that she has blue eyes just like the others. Another coinicidence is that although we did not conciously choose Susana as a name, she shares it with her great-grandmother.

Sigue mejorando

Little Susana continues to improve and is now out from the sun bed. She's still staying in the neonatal ward as the doctors want to monitor her breathing more.

She's on oxygen and is being fed through a shunt. She took a little milk by syringe today but wasn't able to suckle.

She opened her eyes today, but too briefly for us to gauge what colour they are.

Carole is improving too, but is plainly still in great discomfort. She can get to Susana only in a wheelchair as her bed is the other end of the building from the neonatal ward.

The children will have to wait until Susana leaves neonatal before they can see her.

Susana Isabel

The latest addition to the family arrived this morning at the 12th minute past the 11 hour on the 10th August.

At the time of the photo she was 15 minutes old.

The whole process took SO much less time than in the UK. 20 minutes from going into theatre to holding the little darling in my arms.

She was then whisked off to the neonatal ward and put on a sun bed (warming lamp). A great way to start your life in Spain.

Both mother and daughter are doing well (in separate wards), though I don't know when they'll be home. In the meantime I have three older kids to wrangle. They can't wait to meet their kid sister.

¡mujer!

Now you know the reason for the silence and lack of posts this year.

This little bundle of joy is due to arrive in August. We were due to have the first antenatal appointment at the beginning of February but not knowing the system here proved to be a major stumbling block and we were turned away a number of times due to misunderstandings. We were even booked in for a termination at one point by mistake! The staff assumed that because we already have three children and Carole is over 40 that we wanted one.

The birth rate in Spain to Spaniards continues to show a long term decline, though immigrant births are showing a sharp rise. The cynic in me thinks that given the paperwork and toing-and-froing to various health centres, doctor's surgeries and hospitals, it's enough to put most off the experience of wanting a baby here; of course us foreigners only find out about the system after the event.

At the scan this morning the nurse said it could be a girl, though our less scientific methods indicate a boy - as usual we disagree with the authorities.

Now all I have to do is save up for a bigger car (Oh, God! Not more paperwork!) and an extension to the house (our local builder says don't even go down the paperwork route for this).