Happy Halloween!

They do it the same here in Peru.  It was fun.  The only difference is you yell “HALLOWEEN!!!” instead of “Trick-or-Treat!”.  The kids loved it. Well…ok, another HUGE difference is that we got NO snickers, NO m&ms, NO skittles, NO hersheys kisses, NO starbursts, and NO reeses WHILE Trick or Treating.  We were very excited to receive a bag of all of that candy I just mentioned from a team of families who came through Lima this past week on their way to move to Cuzco, Peru from the States.  So, despite not getting any of that tonight (we mainly got hard candy tonight…like the kind you see in the candy bowls at the Dr.s office), we still had a great time.  Plus, I don’t have to worry much about wanting to raid Cailyn’s candy bag.  Thank goodness.

Hope everyone enjoyed their night!  And, we’re on to November…can you believe it?!

Stuff…I feel like it’s always so random

I feel like all of my posts are always just me telling how it is for us…just several random things piled into one post.  I guess that’s cool.  I never have a theme.  It’s the same this time…sorry.

Corban is 9 weeks today.  Man, time flies.  So, a little about him…

• he generally isn’t fussy, although this week he was, so i hope that isn’t changing.
• we plan to use cloth diapers on him (we’ve already bought several, so hopefully it works out), but his legs are still too skinny for them.  we have some that say they fit from 7-35 lbs…we’ll see.  he has little chicken legs, so for now, disposables it is.
• he loves his sister
• he smiles a lot, and he has begun to chuckle at times
• he’s got dark blue eyes and poofy-on-the-top brown hair
• he really loves his paci…hope that proves to be ok
• he has only just begun this last week to sleep longer than 4 hrs. at a time at night…but, this week, he began sleeping from the time i put him down for the night around 8:30pm or 9pm until close to4:30am or 5am.  yay corban!  his sister did this sooner, so i am happy to finally have a little more sleep than i was experiencing in the earlier weeks.  although, he’s not one of those babies we have to pace the hall with when he does wake up randomly in the night.  he just eats and goes back to sleep, or we plug him up with his paci…cailyn was.  if she woke up, it was all over…haha.  she didn’t use a paci until closer to 8 months.
• basically, we love him. =)

9 weeks

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Cailyn’s cool dad made her a balance beam for the back yard.  She’s good at it…

Cailyn is doing well these days.  She still has a very strong personality (like, that probably won’t ever change…hah), and we have to be fairly firm…ok, really firm with her most days, but we also get a lot of laughs out of the things she does.  I am pleased to say that she is getting a lot better at using the “good manner language” we are always reminding her to use the first time she says something…it’s nice to be able to praise her for doing that instead of saying, “how can you rephrase that in kind words?”  It’s those little things we see daily that make parenting really fun.

She and I have been doing some crafty things lately having to do with Halloween.  Not like REALLY crafty.  I’m not the most crafty gal there is.  Just like, craft projects that anybody could think up.  She painted pumpkin shapes the other day and thought it was just the best activity ever…hah.  Our sweet friends Kellan and Parker Davidson gave her a small Halloween door hanger craft to do, so we put that together today.  Thanks, guys!

yes, she is wearing a green plastic watch on both of her wrists.  thank you, McDonald’s, we wear these ALL THE TIME!

finished product…

So, in other news for Cailyn, I believe she is heading over that last hurdle in the saga called, Cailyn gets potty trained.  Do I even admit to the world wide web that, yes, it has been A LONG TIME since we began this process?!  Basically, just so you know, we began about 8 weeks before we left Costa Rica.  She had just begun to show signs before we left there that she was noticing when she had to go and that she was possibly about to begin to tell us when she had to go.  I had prayed about whether to start the process or not, and I had been prepared by some other mothers that I had talked with to expect a possible backtrack when we moved or when Corban was born, and I was prepared for that.  BUT…I had no idea it would last as long as it has.  Then, we left CR…oops.

In the first week and a half or so that we were in the States, we spent time in TN in someone else’s home and in a totally new world for Cailyn.  She started really getting mad when it was time to try and go to the bathroom.  She had a fairly rough first couple of weeks when we were back in the States for furlough, so we decided it was not a battle we should continue to fight at that time.  We kept her in a diaper a lot because of going out in public and not wanting to have a huge scene…honestly, it was just tough to fight it while at the same time living out of suitcases, me getting more pregnant by the minute, and us just being out of our norm.  So…we SORT OF kept taking her to the potty every now and then at the end of our furlough time, but we got here to Peru having backtracked a lot.

Then, our first month here consisted of us walking around the city of Lima and being in taxis A LOT.  We were house hunting, furniture shopping, stressing out about money some of the time, and NOT wanting her to pee in taxis, in her umbrella stroller that we used like 5 hours out of any given day, etc.  You get the picture.  I was also getting huge and fairly unable to put up a fight in the bathroom.  It just wasn’t happening, folks.  hah…I just laugh thinking about it all now.

So, by the time Corban was born, we hit potty training hard once more.  It honestly meant that Justin and I had to get back into the swing of things…making sure we took her to the bathroom at least every hour to try AND just leaving home in panties…no diaper.  So, we are still sort of training ourselves again, really.  It’s frustrating on the one hand, BUT…just this past week has Cailyn begun to tell us…honestly, for the first time…when she needs to go.  She has successfully stopped her play time to tell us she has to go #2…OMG!  Like…can we say…we’re hoping this is a light at the end of a dark, dark tunnel??  haha.  Anyway, please, please pray for us.  She does still have accidents (our teammates can attest to that…she pees a lot when she gets excited…haha).  We are hoping she can really get a grip on this whole using the bathroom thing.  I know it might sound silly to some, but if you have ever had a long-haul potty training experience…you know…it stinks…in more ways than one!

Basically, hindsight is 20/20.  I would have never begun this process until we got here and settled had I been able to see how it has turned out.  She was doing so well in CR, but our transitions not only made it hard on her, but it just got harder for us, too…considering our specific situations (moving, being in unfamiliar places for C, me being fat and preggo, etc).  So, now that I have admitted to all of you that we have been working on this for like 8 months or something like that…I feel like I should be embarrassed.  But…I’m not.  Maybe someone reading this will have a better/shorter time with potty training because of our story.  So, for real…please pray for us if you think about it.  Pray we can have patience with her.  Pray she will see the benefits of doing it like we adults do it. =)  Pray we can remember that she WILL learn to do this.  Thanks.

Finally, her FAVORITE, FAVORITE, FAVORITE (I could type that in caps probably 10 more times and it still wouldn’t be enough) song these days is “Awesome God” (you know…”our God, is and awesome God, he reigns, from Heaven above, with wisdom, power, and love, our God is an awesome God…”).  We listen to it all.the.time! in the car.  No kidding.  More than we listen to ANYTHING else.  So, here she is listening to it tonight on the computer.  We had to document this phase.  We can’t complain really.  What a great song to be addicted to! (you have to look kind of close at the computer screen to see the name of the song on there…in case you were wondering what the big deal was about this picture)

And that’s all for now.

I love this time of year…just like almost everyone else, I guess.

I feel like EVERYONE posts about how they love Fall, or October, or the holiday season, or…whatever else falls between Oct. 1-ish and the end of December.  Well, I am the same way, but it just looks different for me this year…and years to come.  We are headed out of our “cold” season here (not like it gets cold in the States by any means, but chilly nonetheless), so the emotions and all of the wonderful things that people in the States like October-December for are just not happening.  You know, the leaves changing colors, pumpkins and stuff like that on people’s porches, the Thanksgiving/Fall decor that comes out in the stores (we already have Christmas stuff here), etc.  Well, there is a Halloween candy aisle at the grocery store I shop at with a fake spider web hung all around it.  I shouldn’t forget to mention that, I guess.  haha.  That’s about it.  Despite that, I am PUMPED to have some sunny weather these next few months!  It lifts my spirits, and a day that starts out sunny for sure just feels better right now.

Anyway, they do celebrate Halloween here in a similar way to what we are used to from back in the USA, so we do plan to take advantage of that.  I’ll have to post about how that goes in a few weeks.  I couldn’t let the month go by and not have some cute Halloween stuff for the kids to wear, so I got online recently and had some shirts sent to my mom so that she could then send them our way.  I figure if I want the kids to have something cute to wear for a specific holiday and it not to cost a load of money, I might be shopping online like that for each holiday…we’ll see.  Maybe I can find a store here with a good selection of holiday clothes.  For now, though, online it is.  So, Old Navy didn’t disappoint.  Here they are…just too cute!

Don’t you just wanna squeeze them?!

We’ve had some other changes around here, too.  As of Sunday, Corban was 8 weeks old.  Time is going by too fast it seems.  He grows up every day.  He is becoming entertained by his crazy (and loud) sister, so I have found myself sitting him in his little seat next to her when she is eating breakfast or lunch so that I can have both hands free.  He is happy for some time just watching her and listening to her high-pitched little voice.  She usually talks to him or sings, and I love it that he is entertained.  Cailyn is very into saying, “He’s MY brother, and I love him” these days.  It makes us laugh…yes, it’s sweet, but also funny to me.  She is a great big sister.

8 weeks

Finally, I also changed my look.  I got my hair cut pretty short last year around the end of the summer when we lived in TN.  I loved how it looked (especially the day it was cut…which I can never duplicate), so I took a picture of myself to a “peluqueria” (salon) near my house to try and come out looking similar.  I was just ready for a change again.  My friend and teammate, Stephanie Fletcher, reminded me a few days before I got it cut that last year I had told her “I will never get my hair cut this short again”, but I did it anyway.  I had said that because my hair is so thick and generally gets frizzy and poofy when it’s humid, so a short cut can go awry really fast when I have straightened my hair.  Just after I got it cut last year, we entered rainy season in Costa Rica…bad news.  So, I tried to wait this time until it was a little less overcast and humid-like outside.  Hopefully it proves to be a good choice.  Anyway, all that to say…I have short hair again.

I had been nervous about getting my hair cut here, and I had been thinking, “you were so dumb not to get your hair cut when you went back to TN in May!”, but I just decided to go for it.  The street just next to ours (back to back with us) has several salons on it, so I just decided which one looked the best from the outside and went in to make an appointment this past Saturday.  I was very pleased with my choice!  Not only do I like my haircut, but the experience was great in general.  The owner of the store, a male, is the only one that cuts hair.  Interesting.  So, one lady got me to wash my hair, and just when I thought she was done washing my hair, she gave me a nearly 20 minute head/neck/shoulder/upper back massage!  It was amazing.  Then, she took me to my chair where another woman combed my hair out and separated it to prepare it to be cut.  Then, I watched as the owner made his way from chair to chair just cutting hair and handing each woman off then to have her hair dried and straightened in most cases by another worker.  The same happened to me.  The boss (it was clear he was in charge) cut my hair, and then he passed me off to another chair to get my hair styled by yet a different woman that I had not come into contact with until that point.  Overall it was a neat experience.  I could tell there were a lot of “regulars” that came in and out while I was there, so it made me feel good about what my hair was going to look like when it was all said and done.  I plan to go back again, if not for a good hair cut, then for the massage!

So, that’s what’s going on in our house.

What we do…

Here’s what we’ve been up to in pictures mostly.

More fun activities. My mom gave me this cool book, Mommy Teach Me!, a while back, and I read half of it in Costa Rica and the rest here in Peru. The author, Barbara Curtis, gives some wonderful ideas on things to do with your preschool aged kids, and she makes some great points about how to really figure out how your child works and functions. I enjoyed it, and I’ve been trying to put some of it into practice. It’s been fun.

Glitter and Glue.  Messy, but we did it on the back patio, so I just had to sweep well when we were finished.  She did great, and it was fun to see her excited that I was allowing her to do it all alone.  Patience.  It took patience. =)

Pouring.  This was one of the ideas in the book, so I bought lentils.  She played here for quite some time.  She even peed on herself and I had to remind her that just because she was having fun didn’t mean she could sit in a puddle of pee.  Good times.

This wasn’t from the book, but I bought Cailyn a pair of her own scissors a few months ago, and she LOVES them.  I’ve written about it on here before I’m pretty sure.  Anyway, we’ve designated a few of her coloring books as “cutting books”.  She goes to town…

Nana gave us a really cool Coloring Apron.  The apron came with crayons that go into tiny pockets in the front.  Cailyn loves to color, so this was a special treat.

SUN!!!!!  We’ve been having sunny days lately.  Not scorching hot like Texas summers, but getting less chilly.  The wind sometimes makes it a little cooler, but we’ve had some hotter days as of late.  We pulled out the water hose again.  The yard gets watered, and she has fun, too.  We all benefit.

MOVIE NIGHT!

Justin is the best dad, and Cailyn just adores him.  The other night we went for a walk before dinner, and Justin bought Cailyn some cotton candy from a vendor on the road.  We came back home and had a movie night after eating dinner.  Cailyn had never seen “Finding Nemo”, so we found it on YouTube and watched it while munching on some stove-top-popped popcorn and cotton candy…very fun.

There are a couple of Organic Markets here on Saturday mornings near our home, and we’ve been meeting the Davidsons, our teammates, there for the past few weeks to do some shopping and to let the kids enjoy the park.  There is everything from clothes, jewelry, and kids toys to fruits and veggies, yogurt, cheese, breads, etc.  It’s great fun, and Tara and I have loved the chance to shop solo while the kids are off enjoying the great outdoors.  This past week the dads got the kids some snacks from one of the vendors, so here they are chillin’ and chompin’ on some great organic goodies.  Aren’t these 3 just too cute?

Baby Brother has been doing well, too.  He was 7 weeks this past Sunday, and he just continues to bless our family.  He is awake more these days, more fussy on occasions than he has been in the past (but still really easy), and cuter every minute!  We just love him.

So, that’s it for now.  Hopefully soon we can update you on what we’ve got going as a team here.  If you want to pray for us, we would love specific prayers for the people we are hoping to have in our home soon for a weekly Bible Study.  That is just one thing going on, but Mark C. and Justin and I are working on getting a neighborhood study going.  Also, we’ve begun meeting as a team to practice singing many different songs in Spanish.  We’ve enjoyed our time, laughed at ourselves a lot, and look forward to having Peruvians join us in our worship time soon!

Video

I am constantly taking videos of Cailyn and never putting them together for anyone (namely her grandparents, aunts, and uncles) to see!  So, here we go.  I have a lot to post about, but this is all I have time to upload for today.  Enjoy.  Oh…and…the music in the background of the video is what we hear EVERY day beginning about 7:45am.  There’s a small gym basically in our backyard, and they must only do aerobics and dance classes.  We’ve become accustomed to it, and honestly, I don’t really hear it most of the time when the doors are all shut.  So, on to the good stuff.  Cailyn performing for us.