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?!

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 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.

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!

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.

God has blessed me with a wonderful day so far.  Cailyn and I had a great time this morning getting into lots of things while Corban (yes, once again) was sleeping.  First, we made different pictures for the end of popsicle sticks like the sunbeam my mom made for Cailyn while she was here.  It was great.  Cailyn LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to cut things.  Well…paper.  If we just gave her an old coloring book or scrap paper, she would cut away for like an hour if we let her.  She is constantly saying, “I want CUT!” (“i want to cut”).  So, she traced on my dotted lines, and I assisted her cutting each shape out.  Then, we glued them each at the end of a popsicle stick.  I then put contact paper around each one to preserve them, and we sang songs pertaining to each one.  Here’s what they look like, and with each one, she would hold it up and wave it around as we sang a song that had to do with that picture (i.e. for the heart we sang a song like “God is Love”, for the Jesus we sang a song like “Jesus love me”, etc.)  We laughed a lot and had a great time.

My mom also brought a growth chart with her, and we JUST now got it hung up.  Cailyn loved seeing how tall she was.  She’s really into being tall…not sure why.

(yes, she does have her mickey mouse socks on with this outfit…in case you were wondering)

After cutting and gluing, we had fun making chocolate covered pretzels.  Messy, but delicious!

and after this, she washed her hands played in the water while I made her lunch…you might notice the ENTIRE front of her shirt is soaked.

so, yes, we had a great morning, and now BOTH of the kids are sleeping.  That’s what topped it off for me!

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Corban was 5 wks. old on Sunday, so I took some pictures.  Cailyn wouldn’t have it for me to stop at taking pictures of just him.  Poor Corban.  Anyway, here’s what I got…

5 weeks old!

And this next picture is what I got when I told Cailyn to give Corban some kisses for the picture.  We’ll work on it…

Finally, the next picture I thought was funny because they each sort of have the same look on their faces.  Most of the time this is what Cailyn does when we ask her to smile, and that’s all Corban can do for now..haha

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Last, but NOT least.  Our teammates, the Fletchers, found out that due to the position of their soon-to-be-born baby boy, their Dr. wants to deliver him on Monday!!!  We are so excited for them that they will be welcoming a sweet boy soon.  They have had an incredible (in all senses of the word – good and not so good) last year, and we’re so glad to be welcoming another baby into their family!  Please pray that all goes well on Monday.

It is so hard to believe Corban is a month old (well, 2 days ago).  He is just the most precious baby ever, and he is proving to be fairly easy-going.  I think that has some to do with the fact that we are more laid back as 2nd-time parents, but he is also very easy.  At his appointment on Monday, the Dr. said he was looking good, he has grown from 51cm at birth to 55cm now (21.65 in.), and I’m pretty sure (his weight stats are in the side console of the car, so I don’t have them handy now to put on here) he might just now be about the size his sister was when she was born.  He has the tiniest little chicken legs ever, but we are beginning to see some little rolls form on his thighs.  Cailyn came out with like 4 rolls on each thigh.  Somehow, our daughter was born (and still has) what every girl always tries to get rid of…chunky thighs, and our son was born with skinny legs…NOT every boy’s dream.  haha.  Good thing they’re still both little and have no clue the demands our society puts on self-image!  We think they’re both perfect…of course. =-)

Cailyn is still doing very well with Corban.  She basically has about 5 phrases she says about him when she sees him.  1. “You change him?!”, 2. “You feed him?!”, 3. “He little!”, 4. “He happy!”, or 5. “He crying!”  Yup…that about sums it up, doesn’t it.  He really doesn’t do much else…haha.  Soon, she might add, “He smiling” to her list.  He is beginning to really perk up more when he notices people talking to him.  There’s no way he can miss it when Cailyn is talking to him, because she is basically nose-to-nose with him.  Oh, the life of a newborn with an older sibling that is 2.  Never dull.

Here’s our sweet Corban:

I tried out a paci the other day for the first time…he’s a pro!  He kept it in on his own for like 15 min. straight.  Cailyn never wanted a paci until she was about 7-8m old.  Looks like he might like his…

I could just gobble him up!

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I’ve tried to be very scheduled with my time with Cailyn during the days.  I know all children do better when they have attention usually, but our child REALLY does better with specific daily activities and not a ton (or even a little for that matter) of piddle-around time.  Otherwise, we have chaotic and overly dramatic days.  I was just telling my sister this morning that Cailyn is a mixture of strong-willed and sensitive.  It’s a dangerous combo, let me tell you!  In any moment she could be screaming “NO!” and deliberately disobeying us, or she could be CHOOSING time-out or a spanking OVER obeying us (not caring whatsoever that she has to be punished), while in the next moment crying because she is just torn to pieces that she has to sit in time-out or is not getting her way.  This is thanks to mixing a personality like mine and a personality like Justin’s.  Yes, we are always required to be on our toes.  Despite this, she can be just the sweetest thing sometimes.  Anyway, she and I had some fun, quality time during one of Corban’s naps recently (oh, so important these days!), so here’s what we did.

After I took these pictures, she asked me to take more of her smiling…priceless…

fun times.  She’s a mess.

]]> http://thethompsonfamily.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/one-month/feed/ 6 Alison DSC_0627 DSC_0661 DSC_0636 DSC_0638 DSC_0640 DSC_0641 DSC_0643 http://thethompsonfamily.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/yay/ http://thethompsonfamily.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/yay/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:07:30 +0000 Alison http://thethompsonfamily.wordpress.com/?p=941 ]]>

We are excited to announce that my sister, Hannah, got engaged this past weekend!!!  Jason Grassie is her wonderful, new fiance (sorry, i have no clue where the accents and things go in that title), and we could not be any happier that God sent him for our Hannah.  He is fun, funny, a leader, spiritual, loves God, driven, a perfect match for Han, and even calls my parents just about as much as Hannah does (ok…maybe a little less, but they already have a great relationship!).  We were honored to get a phone call from Jason a few weeks ago asking our blessing to ask Hannah to marry him, and we let him know that he was just what we have all been praying for.  We were excited to bless him in that and even more excited to hear that he popped the question this past weekend when she went to visit him in his new home, Washington DC.  He is there for school, and once Han graduates from her program in Tulsa, she will then be moving there…after they are married.

Congrats to you both!  We love you, and we couldn’t be more excited!

Well, I could not have asked for 2 better days.  Since my parents left on Saturday night, we have had 2 successful days flying solo with 2 kids.  Mom and Dad were so helpful, it was easy to wonder if we would be able to do things on our own without their help, but God’s been faithful.  I did end up bathing Cailyn in the swimming pool shower with one hand today while holding a screaming/hungry Corban in the other after her swimming lesson was over, and I thought to myself, “it HAS begun…”  But, all I can do is laugh at how I must have looked and be glad the only other person in the bathroom at the time was my sweet teammate, Tara Davidson, who already knows the challenges of having a newborn and 2nd very small child.

Sunday was my birthday, and I was pampered by Justin, Cailyn and others throughout the day.  Justin never ceases to amaze me with his ability to purchase cute clothes for me on special occasions, and he even did it this time for a slightly larger Me.  He has heard me complain often in the past months about being tired of my maternity clothes, and now being ready (but not able) to use all of my pre-pregnancy clothes.  He did a wonderful job of gifting me with some new clothes that fit just perfectly now, and they will also fit well when I return to my normal weight eventually (hopefully!).  What better way to make your wife feel good about herself just 3 wks. after having a baby?  He’s a special one!  Cailyn sang “Happy Birthday” all day long, and then we got to celebrate with our teammates last night with some wonderful ice-cream cake that Tara D. made for me.  Great day!

Today we went and got Corban’s Peruvian birth certificate.  The way they do things here is that you get a document that is not the official birth certificate when you leave the hospital.  The thing is, only the mom’s information is on it.  So, then you have to take that with you to a certain office to get the official birth certificate that they add the father’s info. to.  We found the office alright, and we were there just behind 2 other couples with newborns.  We were excited to see that they each got their paperwork finished and were walking out with their child’s new birth certificate in like 10 min. flat.  Our turn didn’t go so fast.

I guess our guy had never dealt with a family from anywhere other than Peru, because he was gone a while from our cubicle asking other workers ?s about us.  After 20 min. or so, he came back and questioned us about our last names.  Here in Peru the people all have 2 last names…the first being their mother’s maiden name and the 2nd being their father’s last name.  So, we have been asked numerous times what our 2nd last name is, and we have to explain we only have one.  Anyway, this came up in our cubicle today with the birth cert. guy.  He questioned our names, and Justin had to explain that people usually just have one last name in the States.  The guy accepted that, but he looked confused.  So, then, after leaving and being gone for another 15 min or so, he reviews what we’ve written down about Corban, and even though we’ve already explained our last name “situation”, he says (all in spanish), “so, his 2nd last name is Thompson?  Corban Luke Thompson Thompson?”  Uh…no.  Remeber what we just told you?  Then, he proceeds to tell us that we have to have a 2nd last name for Corban.  I looked at him and sort of shrugged my shoulders like, “are we supposed to just MAKE ONE UP?”  No thanks.  Justin then told him that we didn’t want to do that and asked him why it was necessary.  He told us that Corban could have problems in the future because of the confusion caused by him having just one last name (highly unlikely I’m sure), so we HAD to put a 2nd name.  He also told us that even though people in the States usually just have one last name, we were in Peru.  They do it differently here.  I found myself feeling a bit pushed into a corner and slightly annoyed.  Justin asked what in the world kind of problems could this really cause, and the guy really couldn’t even be specific.  I was slowly becoming more and more irritated that we were being told what our child’s name had to be, but in the end we could not have our way.  We now have a son named, Corban Luke Thompson Thompson.

Seriously?!

Surely there are Peruvians out there who just have one last name.  Now, it might mean they don’t know who their dad is, but still.  I also got annoyed because it seems that if we were in the States, we could have put 5 last names if we wanted, and nobody would have questioned what we were putting on our son’s birth certificate.  Whatever.  Hopefully we can get just one Thompson put on his US passport.  We still have to go and register him as a person at the US embassy here so that we can get his passport and visa for the US.  So much paperwork…man.

For now, I guess we have to teach him that he has 2 last names…Thompson, and………..Thompson again.  Weird.

So, we’re makin’ it.  Even though mom cooked nearly every meal while she was here, bathed Cailyn mostly every night, rocked Corban while we were busy, and did just about everything else, too, we have had 2 successful days alone so far.  We’re looking forward to more!

A few shots of important things from the last week or so…

We purchased a car!!! We are excited to have a car now so that we don’t always have to haul 2 kids around and all that goes with that when we go everywhere in the back of a taxi.  Plus…with our frequent taxi rides to get Cailyn to school and back 3 days a week as well as to swimming classes and back 2 times a week, taxi fares add up!

Mom and Dad treated us to Tony Roma’s for my birthday…

I got to celebrate my birthday with 2 sweeties…and my wonderful husband who captured this cute picture…

Just thought I would first share 2 of my favorite pictures from this last week.

Could he be any sweeter?

pretty sure he has a receding hair line already…haha

It’s mandatory for all girls/women to wear swim caps when in the pool where Cailyn has her swim lessons, so here she is in hers…I honestly could just gobble her up I think she looks so cute in her cap.  She is also great at putting it on…with a little help, of course.

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We are doing well now 11 days into this 2 kid thing.  There have been some honestly really difficult moments with Cailyn a few times, but we are all learning how to overcome some of this newness and difficulty in transition.  On the flip side of that, we have also had some wonderful moments with both of our kids in these past 11 days that have made us smile and feel full of Joy.  God can renew our spirits in great ways, and I have found myself thinking and even saying out loud, “Oh…God knew I needed that!” several times in this past week and few days.  Just when it can feel so overwhelming, God sweeps in to remind us that He knows, He understands, and He is in control!  Praise him for that, because there have for SURE been moments these past few days when we were completely OUT of control as parents…or at least it felt that way.  Overall, God has truly blessed us with our new family of 4, and I know he won’t leave us hanging when it comes to giving us the strength and wisdom of how to raise our 2 sweet ones.

This is literally what Cailyn does the entire time she holds Corban…

just too sweet…and also one of those “God knows I need this now” moments. =)

Justin ran in Lima’s half marathon (the 100th one put on like this one…it was pretty cool) this past Sunday morning…he did great considering he hasn’t had much time lately to run.  I pretty much told him he was crazy for throwing himself into a run like that after not having run much at all lately (i know…very unsupportive of me), and I had to eat my words, because he ran just under what he felt was a reasonable expectation for himself considering his lack of training.  We had a great time meeting him at 3 different spots – 2 in this cool park near the ocean here, and the finish was at an even cooler park near downtown…full of awesome fountains…

during the race…J stuck out like a REALLY SORE thumb…haha

doesn’t he look great?! (not sure how great he felt, but he was lookin’ strong)

we’re very happy to announce that this old man, who did run with no shoes at least for the entire time we saw him, finished AFTER Justin did…

after the race…

(we had this older peruvian lady take this…i literally almost lost it laughing and was saying, “we’re over here!” while she took the picture…i wasn’t sure she would even get us all in it…that’s why there’s so much scenery involved below)

I think Justin really enjoyed this experience, and we were extremely thankful to Mark C. for meeting him at more stops than the rest of us could to help him with water and things as well as helping my mom, the kids, and me find Justin in the end.  We owe him quite a bit for all he has helped our family with lately…We love you, Mark!

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(I just reread what I have written below, and if you don’t care to read about Corban’s birth story…look no further!  Just a warning that it is LONG.  I meant not to write so much, but in my true fashion, I was detailed.  So…consider my post over for yourself if you aren’t into reading details about 1 day of a person’s life!  Otherwise, read on!)

Last, I thought I would give the details of our day on August 23rd…Corban’s birthday.  It was honestly quite a whirlwind of a day, and looking back, I can say with certainty that God took care of us in ways I had prayed for but also in ways I had not even thought about before.

Going into the last weeks before my mom arrived here, I realized there was almost nothing I was nervous about as far as delivering the baby would go (I probably would have been had I been able to see into the future…haha..so, thank God we can’t do that!), but the one thing that brought me to tears one night as I lay in bed with Cailyn praying for her after she had fallen asleep was that I was fairly worried about the timing of everything, WHO was going to care for Cailyn, and WHAT they would have to do for her in the amount of time we would be gone to the hospital.  That specific night I began to almost feel sorry for myself that I wasn’t living in a place where all of our family was available to help and where we had a huge church family that included a few families who would be waiting just to find out what they could do to help us (pitiful, I know).  After a good cry that night and talking to Justin, I decided to just write some in my journal about how I was feeling and begin to pray more specifically about my worry.  It wasn’t so much for myself, but for Cailyn.  I just saw her that night in her bed asleep looking so small and innocent.  She had no idea what was about to happen in our family, and I just felt so unable to control (which is what God wants anyway, right?) how things would play out for her in the hours that I began labor and at the point in which I had to leave home to head to the hospital.  As those last weeks went by, I honestly felt a peace that God would work it out, and that was no longer something I felt I needed to continue worrying about.  Besides, we all know how unpredictable a baby’s birth date can be.

Just a side note:  We had wonderful teammates here when Corban was born that cared for us in amazing ways, but the night I had my little worry session, the Davidson family happened to be on a trip back to the States, and Mark C. had not yet moved here.  So, although I knew those things would change by the time Corban was born, I was allowing the reality of that day to take over my emotions…Justin reminded me of that later.  Aren’t husbands great when you aren’t thinking straight?!

As those of you who keep up with our blog probably know, August 19th, my original due date, came and went.  That was disappointing in some ways, but more just because I was physically tired and fairly weak from being in the end of my pregnancy.  So, when the morning of the 23rd came, I wasn’t expecting for that to be the day…since EVERY day before that had not been THE day.

We went to church that morning at a church we’ve enjoyed visiting on Sunday mornings called Camino de Vida.  After that, we went and had lunch at Norky’s, a chicken place that is really pretty good, with the Yoakum family.  I wore some black dress pants to church that morning, and by the time lunch was over, I felt like the elastic waist band was literally strangling my waist.  REALLY uncomfy would be an understatement.  We got home around 1:30pm, and once Cailyn was down for her nap I found myself just sitting at the dining room table recovering from having such tight-waisted pants on for so many hours.  By that time I had put my wonderful stretch pants on, and I just knew I would have some relief soon.  Then, around 2pm I told my mom that my lower abdomen area was still hurting from having those horrible pants on, and it was even hurting all the way around into my lower back.  Dumb me…those were contractions beginning to start.  So, at 2:30pm I layed down on the couch to watch a movie, because I just knew I would feel better getting a load off.  I also went and told Justin, who was outside building a small bookshelf for our front toy room, that I wasn’t sure, but that these pains had sort of continued and I knew that laying down on the couch for a while would tell me whether or not they were contractions.  Mom was taking advantage of the quiet house and napping at this point, so I thought I wouldn’t wake her in case it was nothing.  At 3pm I decided to grab my spiral notebook and time these pains, because I was pretty sure they were too consistent to not be real contractions.  I was trying not to get my hopes up, because I didn’t want to get all excited only to realize they were subsiding…although, they were beginning to hurt worse as time went on, and in the moment I probably would have said…ok, they can stop now!

5:30pm rolled around, and I had been timing my contractions for a while.  I was for sure they were the real deal, and they were hurting enough to make me have to stop talking, stop dead in my tracks, and breathe deep, yet I knew they weren’t the worst of it all.  Uh…that was to come.

About that time I realized with my contractions being about 6 min. apart, I probably better go ahead and shave my legs.  Why didn’t I do this at like 3pm when things began?  I’m not sure, but I headed upstairs to start my bath water, and Justin came with me so I could get him to write down and continue recording how often I was having contractions.  By the time I had made it upstairs to our bathroom, I had stopped twice because of contractions, and it was making me feel like I needed to rush to get my legs in an appropriate fashion…=).  I started my bath water, and I had another fairly strong contraction.  At that point, I was thinking, “maybe I should call my Dr…those happened really close together.”  Justin agreed, so I stopped the bath water…stink.  Dr. A would just have to deal with my semi-hairy legs…surely he sees that a lot, right?

The way things work here, or at least with my Dr. and his clinic, is that when you go into labor, you call him, and he warns the clinic that you’re coming.  Then, he meets you there immediately, and he never leaves the clinic until the baby has arrived.  That gave me peace knowing he would be there at any given moment.  So, I called him around 6pm, and by 6:30pm Justin and I were in a taxi and on our way to the clinic…just 5 min. down the road.  We were so blessed that Cailyn had already had dinner, thanks to mom, and mom decided to stay home with her until she heard from us after we were checked in to the hospital (Praise God for working all of this out so far!)

When we arrived at the hospital, the receptionist right inside immediately said, “Señora Thompson?”, and when I said that, yes, that’s who I was, she directed us to the 3rd floor.  The minute we walked off the elevator onto the 3rd floor, the nurses were literally standing there waiting for me, and they showed me to my room…no paperwork.  It was great.  Within 5 min., I had my hospital gown on, I was in the bed, and I was hooked up to the monitor that detects your contractions and the baby’s heartbeat.  All fairly similar to how it works in the States.  Then, the nurse informed me that I had dilated to about 5cm.  Hmmm…way farther than I had expected.  I was prepared for her to say, “well, 2cm!” or something like that.  Nice surprise.

Then, about 10 min. later, Dr. A. showed up to check in on me.  He agreed with the nurses findings as far as my progress went, and he told me he thought I needed to get my epidural right then or it might be too late.  All of a sudden, I was feeling just slightly overwhelmed at how fast things were going.  I looked at J and mouthed, “CALL MOM PLEASE.”

Within 10 min., the anesthesiologist was there, and they had me laying on my side, balled up, and ready to insert my epidural.  I held onto Justin’s hand so tight, because I was so nervous.  I found myself straining my brain just to know exactly what they were telling me in Spanish, and at the same time, I was wide-eyed and mouthing to J…”tell me EXACTLY what they are doing NOW…ok, NOW…and…are they inserting the needle NOW?!”  Not sure why I was so nervous to get my epidural.  I think it was because it was happening like 20 min. after I had even just arrived at the hospital, and there were like 6 different nurses in the room all talking in Spanish to me and one another as I was laying all vulnerable on my bed.  Plus…what if mom arrived too late?!

God came through…doesn’t he always.  Mom got there just a few min. after my epidural was in.  Mark C. had made his way to our house, and he took over the care of Cailyn.  He had a taxi all ready for mom when he arrived, so she didn’t even have to use her 2 phrases of Spanish that she had been practicing since arriving here!  I nearly immediately felt my legs tingling, so I was sure I would reach NO FEELING soon.  Around 7:30pm they informed me that I had reached almost 8cm.  The nurses were SO EXTREMELY attentive, and they were coming in about every 20 min. or so.  I felt very cared for, and with each visit they made, they were giving me news that I was progressing.

Close to 7:45pm or so, I told J and my mom that it was odd to me that I could still move my legs and feel my toes.  I had been completely limp when I had my epidural with Cailyn, so this began to worry me.  Along with that, I was starting to feel like the baby was literally pushing it’s way out.  I turned to mom and asked if she thought I should call the nurse, and just as I asked, the nurse walked in.  I informed her that there was quite a bit of pressure I was feeling, so she acknowledged me and left almost immediately.  In a couple of minutes, the pressure was strengthening, and I was sure it was NOT normal contractions.  The Dr. peeked his head in, and I fairly worried-like, said, “I am feeling A LOT of pressure.”  He immediately checked and saw that I was at 9cm.  He told the nurses to get me down to the delivery room.

UH…WHAT?!  I had no idea until that night that I was going to have to be wheeled through the halls of the clinic to get to the actual delivery room.  I was pretty sure I was NOT going to make it to wherever we had to go, but I held on to the hope that I would.  How could this be happening?  I felt like we had literally just pulled up to the clinic in our taxi!  The nurses preceded to UNhook me from everything minus my IV with fluids.  I didn’t really pay much attention to this until we were heading down the hall and my pain was nearly immediately getting worse.  One short little nurse, who had not been caring for me previously, was doing her best to wheel my bed through my doorway, down the hall, into the elevator (that was just large enough for my bed to even fit in), and out through the first floor to the tiny little hallway that led to the delivery dungeon.  Well, at least that’s how it all looked to me.

Mom and Justin had to part ways with me when the little nurse go to the double doors of the delivery area, and she told them to go ask the receptionist for scrubs…huh?  Sort of a weird process, but whatever.  They said later that they were 100% confused, but finally realized that after they got their scrubs, my Dr. was going to come out and show them in through another door so that they could be with me during delivery.  Meanwhile, I was NOT having such a great time.

The little nurse then stopped rolling my bed when we entered into this open area of the delivery ward (i honestly have no idea what the delivery area was called…that’s why i keep calling it random things), and she left me for what seemed like 10 really agonizing minutes…it was probably more like 2 minutes…but agonizing nonetheless.  By this time, my rather weak epidural had nearly completely lost it’s affect, and my body was shaking like I had never shaken before.  It was in those minutes alone that I began to pray out loud, “God please have mercy on me!”  I almost laugh at myself now, but I have never experienced so much pain in my life, and it all seemed worse due to the fact that I NEVER expected to be going through it quite like that.  I was feeling a bit alone (well, I literally was for those few minutes), and I was also a bit scared seeing as I had NO CLUE where mom and Justin were and if I would see them around the next corner or not.  Finally, the nurse did continue to pull my bed around the corner, and I was praising JESUS because my Dr. was standing there.  I immediately informed him that I was fairly certain the baby was literally about to push itself out of me, so he then stood there in the hall of the delivery area (although we were not yet in the actual delivery room), and he checked me to see about my progress.  His eyes got a little wide as he said I was at 10cm and gave instructions for the 2 nurses standing there to hurry and get me to the delivery room.  YES PLEASE!

Within seconds, we were rounding the corner into the rather tiny little room.  They asked me to then move myself from my bed over onto the delivery bed…which I thought looked like a dentist’s chair.  In the moments that I was struggling to pull myself over onto the new bed, I came to realize the full extent of the LACK of work my epidural had done.  It hit me that much pain was coming my way.  I got a little more scared.  I did not feel prepared for that.  AND…WHERE WERE MOM AND JUSTIN?!  I continued to ask “Dónde está mi esposo?!” (like…where the heck is my husband?!) in between my gasps for air and the immense pain coming from this baby nearly pushing it’s way out on it’s own.  I was convinced in that moment that neither mom nor Justin was going to witness his birth!

Within a few more minutes, they both had in fact made it into the room, and I had grabbed mom’s hand and begun to squeeze as hard as I could.  Justin stood by my side as well just stroking my hair to calm me.  As the Dr. and nurses continued to gather their supplies I knew I was not going to be able to wait, so I said to my Dr. in the middle of my gasping for air, “I HAVE TO PUSH!”  He agreed that I could push with my next contraction, which happened in seconds, and with 3 pushes, Corban was out.  8:30pm.  I have never felt pain the way I did in those moments.  I was literally bawling so hard I couldn’t stop…yes, it was a sight.  I am pretty sure I looked like those women in the movie scenes that we all usually refer to as “faking it.”  I really did bawl, I really did yell, and I sounded probably like I was dying a horrible death…haha.  Corban’s cord had wrapped around his neck in the few days since my last sonogram, so in between my 2nd and final push, Dr. A had to cut it sooner than expected.

The pediatrician was also in the delivery room, and he immediately took Corban and weighed him.  We found out in kilos how much he weighed (well, mom and J did…I was still bawling and had no clue what was going on), so none of us really had tons of an idea of what he weighed until an hour or so later when we could convert the #s on our computer calculator…haha.  There was nothing in the delivery room for the pediatrician to use to really clean Corban or do all that they did at least for Cailyn in the hospital in the States, so he was nearly immediately taken, and we literally did not see him again for a couple of hours.  This was probably the biggest difference in the whole process of his birth that I wish we could have changed (well, that and the fact that I had to move to another place to push…and another bed), but we lived through it. =-)

After giving me shots so that I couldn’t feel the Dr. stitching me up…shots that really didn’t fully help…I layed there feeling slightly overwhelmed that everything had just gone down the way it had.  Oh well…guess I can say I did it now that we’re on the other side.  By 9pm we were back in my original room, and Justin was out bringing me Chili’s for dinner from across the street.  Oh…but, on the way back to my room, the wheel of my bed broke as the nurses were trying to push me out of the elevator, so I had to uncover from my blankets and move my very sore self onto another bed right there in the middle of the hallway.  Interesting.  We all laughed when it was all said and done about the few things we had all been surprised or confused by, and I honestly felt immensely better when those approximately 45 horrible minutes of pain were over than I did after having Cailyn.  I had more energy and everything.  Go figure.  With Cailyn, I pushed for 2.5 hours!

When I left the hospital, I felt very free to say that my experience of having our first child in a foreign country was good.  The care was wonderful, and I felt very much looked after in a tender way.  Although I wasn’t 100% sure of what they were telling me 100% of the time, there was in fact mostly successful communication going on, and I received the things I needed when I needed them.  I am glad to have gone through this experience, and I am so thankful to be able to credit God with all that He smoothed over for me throughout the whole process.

Praise His Wonderful Name!