Mexico Part VI: Extracurricular Activities

Back in August when we got here, trying to be friendly and meet people, I began talking to one of the muchachas and the tennis instructor, and I was semi persuaded to put Eva in tennis.  We started slow at first because I didn't want to overwhelm her with a new sport, and since I was paying up front for 15 lessons, I also wanted to make sure they lasted me awhile.  Lessons went on and I didn't feel like she was making the progress that she should be making.  I could see why the tennis instructor was pushing to see her three times a week versus two.  There was clearly too much time between lessons and he was loosing momentum.  So, we changed to three times a week, which just about killed me.  I realized one thing about myself, while yes, I have come to the realization that I am a taxi driver for this family, I don't like to overwhelm myself with being at multiple places at specific times feeling like I am always rushed.  But, we kept plowing through the lessons, while by now I started practically dragging Eva to go to tennis lessons because she didn't want to go to them anymore.  In her mind, they were making her "too tired."  What does that mean?  I thought.  Isn't that what physical activity is supposed to do to you?  I kept wondering if I was turning my kid into a couch potato.  So, all the while she was taking tennis lesson, it was very clear to me that what she really wanted was ballet, not tennis lessons.  The reason why I knew this was because she kept putting on her old tutu and would wear that thing all around the house every day.  I would sneak up on her and catch her dancing around her room like a beautiful ballerina with her fairy wings.  It was super cute!  Keeping my eye open for places to take her, I saw that right by where we go to church there was a dance studio.  I called and found out that they had just started their four year old ballet class at a very convenient time for me and it was twice a week!  Matthew and I discussed her starting ballet and we went for it.  For a while we were going to ballet, rushing home for tennis and then leaving to pick up Matthew from school.  It was crazy.  So something had to change.  But, then, to top it all off, she started saying she didn't want to go to ballet anymore either.  I could not believe this kid.  She mentioned that her teacher was too loud and she hurt her ears!  I didn't know a four year old could make so many excuses.  Well, I got to the bottom of everything.  With a broken heart, we had to pull Eva from tennis.  She really didn't want to go and Matthew and I had to realize that we weren't going to have a star tennis player on our hands to make us rich.  He is under the full impression that there are two sports that  women can make it big in and tennis was one of them.  The other if you are curious is golf.  It's okay though because we have another kids and if Elijah doesn't change in stature, we for sure have a football player on our hands.  Anyway, she really was getting good at tennis by the time we decided to pull her but it wasn't what she wanted and now she doesn't even miss it.  We thought if she did we would consider putting her back in but I don't think it's going to happen.  And now, about a month into ballet, Eva loves it.  I think  her teacher grew on her.  Not everyone can be as sweet and loving as her old teacher, SalliJune.  Her new teacher, I believe is trying to teach them technique and discipline and I think that is good for Eva.

Now I only have one extracurricular activity to take her to and I love it.  The moms are starting to warm up to me and talk to me and that's great!  And since Eli and I can't watch Eva during practice we usually leave and walk to the plaza (which is like Sunset Esplanade, I don't know what else to call it).  I pick up last minute things for dinner that I might need and at the grocery store, there is a sweet, little old lady that loves to see Elijah on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  She's become a constant in our life.  And then we go over to the merceria (which is where they sell buttons, ribbon and yarn) and we visit the two nice lady owners of the store there too.  They are the other constants in our life.  I love to hear them struggle to pronounce Elijah's name.  I always have to tell them that in Spanish you could say Elias and sometimes they just call him that but he doesn't know how to answer to that name.  We really did give the Mexicans here a hard name to pronounce.  Who would have thought.  All that matter is that things are good!

Pictures:

1.  Elijah hanging out at tennis.  I paid way too much, here, for that car you see in the picture, but I think that car finally taught him how to walk so it was worth it.  He's funny, he just hangs out by himself a lot of the time.  So different from Eva, but such a relief to us.

2,3,4.  Eva at tennis lessons on one of the last days of practice.  By then she had started ballet and would refuse to take off her ballet clothes to go to tennis.  I thought she looked cute though.

Mexico Part V: Our Home

I know many of you have been wanting to see pictures of our house. It has taken us quite a bit of time to accumulate everything. We are renting a pretty big house, I know it doesn't look like it from the outside, but when you look at the third picture you can see how there is a bottom floor, midfloor and than the upper floor where Eva's room is. So when we began renting it, it came with nothing. The only thing I can say it had was an oven, but of course the oven is missing a handle for me to be able to open the darn thing. Since it is gas, it get's really hot. Right now I am using the handle of my fork to open it. I might have to complain about that soon. Anyway, we had to buy a fridge, washer and dryer, water jug filter, beds, couches, tables, everything! Needless to say, the first month here we were spending a ton of cash. Well, no, not cash because it took a long time to get our student loan money, more like I was swiping a lot of plastic. As time has gone on, I have discovered that paying with plastic here is a bad idea. They charge you more for every individual item when you pay with plastic than when you pay with cash. Luckily there seems to be an ATM machine at every store, so, I learned quickly that cash is the way to pay in Mexico. Anyway, we are pretty settled now, so I suppose you can now see pictures of the house. I like living here for the most part. At times I wish I was in more of a walking distance to stores, but for now, I will have to be content with where I am at. They are in the process of building a Walmart and a Sam's club about half a mile from where I live. That wouldn't be too bad to walk too. We'll see how long it takes them to put up the stores. Eva the other night, gave thanks in her prayer for living in Mexico. That made it all worth it. I love to hear that she is happy where she it at.

The house is very open with high ceilings. I think Eva's room is the best. Matthew and I though do have a HUGE walk in closet and our own bathroom. It is nice to have our own bathroom. We didn't realize what we were missing in our old house. I like my kitchen. It is where I spend most of my time when Matthew is studying, so I am glad that I like it there. I have the computer in the kitchen and the kitchen has a door, so I shut myself and catch up in the blogging world, watch my shows and craft, my little heart out.

So now, for a funny story. The other day Elijah was playing in the fridge. He loves the fridge and as long as he lets me get dinner ready, I let him. I choose my battles. Well, he decided to exchange his poopy diaper for an apple. That's what those pictures are all about. He's pretty funny that kid!

Mexico Part IV: Mexican School

I don't even know where to begin. I know this is old news for most but I still wanted to get the pictures on this blog. Eva started school end of August. In Mexico, the kids start going to school when they are three and they have three years of kinder. At Eva's school, but the time she leaves kindergarten, she will be expected to know how to read well in Spanish. I am VERY excited about that. She goes Monday through Friday from 9 to 1. One of my good friends that I met here asked me if I missed Eva when she was at school because she missed her three year old son when he was gone twice a week and I said no. I love that Eva is at school because it gives me time to run errands without her. Since she has turned four she hasn't been the nicest kid to have around. In fact, I am started to believe that it is MUCH easier to work full time than to be a full time stay at home mom. It is emotionally draining to be with your kids all day. I love them to death, but man, they wear on you. I am currently trying to teach Eva how to cope with all this anger that she has bottled up inside her. Needless to say that her little brother more than 50% of the time is NOT her favorite person to be around. I think I spend most of my day trying to keep them away from each other so that I don't have to hear them scream at each other. Now, in their defense, the other 50% of the time, they are so cute together. There is nothing better than to hear your children laugh together while they are playing. The other day Eva was laughing like crazy because Elijah was completely on top of her try to shove the end of the maraca in her belly button. Quite the site to see. So, I am trying to manage how to parent these kids. I feel like I am making progress but just when I thought things were getting easier with Eva, I feel like I stand corrected. Sorry, I digress. Back to school. Eva loves school. The other day she said that Miss Carla, her teacher, loves her because Eva handed her a piece of paper and then Miss Carla kissed her. That's when Eva finished the story, beaming and saying, "Miss Carla loves me mama." The sweetest thing ever. I love preschool for that reason. I don't know if you could get away with that in the states, but definitely never, ever in elementary school. She seems to be making friends, she can now list three, Sofi Mora (don't know why she always calls her by her last name too), Renata and Luna. This is huge for my Eva because for a while she was looking for friends by the name of Lily and Molly, to replace Jackie's kids. Well, kind of to replace because she'll always love those girls. Her school is bilingual. She spends two hours in the Spanish room and two in the English room. Matthew and I are hoping that the Spanish comes along because ever since we got to Mexico it was like someone told her she could ONLY speak English here because that's all that she's been doing. I think she is speaking more Spanish now but time will tell. I suppose there are some good things about her keeping up with her English too. The picture of Eva is in her uniform. That's mexican schools for you. Everyone wears some sort of uniform. In fact, Matthew keeps wondering why he brought his clothes since almost all of the time he has to wear white. Eva also wears white but it's not too bad. Monday, Wednesday and Friday she has to wear their school polo with whatever bottom piece they want, while on Tuesday and Thursday they wear this pant suit (I bought the shorts too because it is hot/humid here). They have "dance" classes on those days and that's why they wear the pant suit.

So, while Eva is in school Elijah and I just kick it. He has proven to be a pretty good kid for his mother. He is super duper attached to me but I guess what could I have expected when the kid and I spend every waking moment together. I am hoping the separation anxiety will pass soon because I would like to leave the house every once in awhile without him, if you know what I mean. But now that everyone is in school we are finally into a routine that I love. I feel like a taxi driver, baby sitter, muchacha, and cook most of the time, okay ALL of the time, but I wouldn't trade it for anything right now. I miss the teaching, but I know that I am eternally grateful for the blessing that it is for me to be home with my kids for once in my young life. I have a lot to learn because you would think that being home would give you oodles and oodles of time to get things done but that is yet to be the case. One of these days I am hoping to get this stay at home mom thing right. Not anytime soon, for sure.

Pictures:

1. Eva on her first day of school. She still didn't have a uniform yet but she was pretty exicted and didn't chicken out on me which I was pretty surprised. In fact, when I was getting ready to drop her off she coached me on what to do if Elijah cried. First, turn on the music (in the car) and if he was still crying to get him a snack. Does she have the typical older child syndrome or what?

2. This picture shows why that I think all the people fall in love with Elijah, here. He is such a flirt.

3. Eva in her full uniform.

Elijah Walks

It took Elijah 16 months and 10 days to finally do it, but he did it. He is finally walking. I think he is discovering that it is more fun to walk around than scrap his chunky knees because he's actually choosing to walk to different places. I couldn't be any happier. I was getting a lot of looks from people here in Mexico. I swear, it's like they have never seen a kid his size before. Plenty of people would stare and make comments about how BIG he was (like I couldn't hear them or something). And the nice ones, would come up to me and make conversation about his size and then squeeze his juicy legs. I might miss carrying him all over the place, the Ergo was the biggest blessing in my life and by far would recommend above all other carriers, but I think I will get over it quickly. He might actually return to a "normal" kid size. He has chosen to go vegetarian on me lately. He thinks most meats are disgusting. So, if he's vegetarian and walking, that can only equal skinny Elijah. Only time will tell.

Mexico Part III: "Elevation"

Are those cookies or biscuits?  They are biscuits.  Here in Guadalajara, we are at 5,200 ft in altitude.  I am still trying to figure out the baking thing around here.  Not to mention Fahrenheit to Celsius to get my gas oven started.  Not sure I am a big fan of the gas oven.  My german pancakes seemed to turn out fine therefore I didn't think I needed to alter the recipe but my biscuits...not so much.  They actually tasted really good (thanks to America's Test Kitchen) but didn't rise the way they should have.  Any suggestions are gladly taken.

The high elevation is a beast at first.  It took me about two weeks to kick the fatigue I felt around 1:00 in the afternoon everyday.  Part of that could have been from lugging Elijah two small flights of stairs inside the house, but honestly, the elevation made me feel weak all over.  Three weeks later, I am feeling pretty good.  It is nice to have your energy back.

Now if I could just get Elijah to walk so that I don't have to haul him around all over the place that would be awesome.  I actually paid way too much on a fisher price walker that converts to a car to get this kid moving today.  He's going to be 16 months soon.  I am starting to worry.  Maybe I should stop giving him the biscuits, and then he'll loose the weight which in return should magically make him start walking.  Only time will tell.

Mexico Part II: "Muchachas"

Can you see this crazy tile in the background?  Why not lay down cement?  Or brick even?

I love this attitude.  Not sure why the picture seems blurry, you can click on it and it seems better.

Around here, well, especially where we live, everyone seems to have a "muchacha."  For 1500 pesos a week (Monday-Saturday from 9ish to 5ish) these girls are there to help around the house.  1500 pesos is about $125 a week depending on how much the dollar is worth, but these services are cheap.  Now you would think that these girls would do it all but that is not so.  Apparently, some people have separate "muchachas" to cook, clean, and take care of the kids.  In fact, I rarely see the people that live in these homes.  Most of the time I see the "muchachas" cleaning or looking after the kids.

So personally, I think it is a waste of time to keep this tile area that I have where we park our car squeaky clean but today I decided to clean it.  Mostly, I have to admit,because I am afraid that my neighbors might be judging me because it isn't as clean as theres.  But, since we have no "muchacha" (well, not yet anyway, I have to say that I am hoping to get one to help me clean the floors and bathrooms for 200 pesos a day.  That's like 15 dollars!) Eva and I went outside and cleaned up the area.  First, we started by sweeping.  By this point Eva's capris were still down and she was wearing sparkley shoes.  Well I got after her because her white shoes were getting dirty so she went upstairs and put on some sandles.  Meanwhile, Elijah was watching from afar and screaming for attention.  After the sweeping I decide that it still didn't look good so rather than busting out the mop, which I think is the proper way to clean this tile outside, I took out the hose.  Like a good teammate of mine would say, I was trying to be efficient.  That's when things got fun.  Elijah REALLY enjoyed the hose just hanging out on the tile and Eva disappeared on me to come back outside with this ensemble.  Is she sassy or what?  We managed to clean the outside in a timely matter, but then 10 minutes later, Matthew came home, drove up and left black, dirt, tire marks all over the tile, yet again.  Pointless I know but it seems like there a lot of things like that in Mexico.  So, now the neighbors, for sure, must think I am the "muchacha" that doesn't know how to clean this tile or take care of the kids for that matter because one of them was slaving away and the other was getting soaked which around here they think leads to pneumonia.  

The adventures of Mexico Part I

I can't believe I don't have one single picture! The next one, I promise.

Where to begin, really? Well, we did it. We are finally in Mexico. We are living outside of Guadalajara, in a really nice town. It is pretty clean for Mexico and I live near all the stores that I might possible want to shop at. We live in a "coto" which is a gated community with a guard on post 24 hours a day in a dead end street, so I am not really in walking distance of anything but I think we will live. We have a swimming pool for the kids in the rec area with a full size tennis court. In fact, we have Eva signed up for tennis lessons, twice a week, starting this week in our coto. Maybe when we get back to the states she will have some mad tennis skills. We have a little park outside our coto that we can walk to but coming back home and going up the hill is killer on my legs when both, Eva and Elijah want to sit in the wagon. Hauling 70 pounds up a steep hill is quite the work out I tell you. But we love it here in our house. It is pretty big too. We have 4 rooms with 3 full bathrooms, which is a nice change coming from one bathroom! Honestly though, three is a little excessive but when people are here it is nice to have three. The backyard is much tinier than what we had back home but I am thinking about how to make it a little more useful. I have been thinking of adding a sandbox and some chairs with a table. I think they would make a nice addition out back. We are working on the furniture piece right now. The house echoes like crazy. We are hoping that when we get our couches on Wednesday it won't be so bad but I am not holding my breath quite yet. We have some high ceilings in our living rooms so it might be the challenge. I feel safe where I live. Although, believe it or not but the day after we got here, one of the two most notorious drug lords in Mexico was killed about a mile away from where we live. Apparently there were 200 soldiers and various helicopters in the area and I didn't even hear a thing! Crazy huh? Overall, I do like where we live.

We are all making the adjustment. There is a two hour difference, so now that visitors are gone for a while, I am hoping to get the kids on some sort of schedule. We only have one car so I am hoping that I can get them used to getting up early enough to get Matthew to school by 8. I know it isn't that early but we you don't have to rush out of bed it makes for such a nicer morning. He usually then stays at school until around 5:30, comes home and eats, goes back to studying, plays with the kids for a little bit, puts them to bed and then goes back to studying. He is still trying to find the right balance between studying and being with the family, but I know he'll figure it out real soon. I am also trying to get some routine in the life of my kids. It is so different from when I used to have a car available all the time. When we got bored, we just jumped in the car and went somewhere. That isn't the case right now. I have to get a little more creative. But, I am excited to be with my kids all the time. There is hardly a dull moment. Although, if any of you have some creative things you do with your kids, I would love to hear.
I love the markets here. It is so fun to drive a couple of miles and be in a market full of people, crafts, and food! I don't think that will ever get old for me. I don't know yet if things are cheaper here or not. Most food is, but some things are extremely pricey. Especially when you are talking about electronics or something real american like chocolate chips. You can pay twice as much for anything that is electronic here. And milk too. Not only am I paying twice as much for the gallon, it expires, like three days after I but it. Oh, the adjusting. The other crazy thing about going out in public are the parking lots. You have to pay at every single one by grabbing a ticket. Then you have to remember at the store to validate your ticket and/or pay for your ticket, because at some places there is no one to pay your ticket and then you are stuck in this parking lot. These tickets can be quite stressful. And, at the parking lots you have people helping you back out, but of course they want you to tip them. It is quite silly really. The only nice parking lot that I have loved is the costco one. One, because it it free. No tickets involved in the costco parking lot. And two, because they will load your entire cart for you in your car! The other day I got a mattress and they actually tied it to the top of my car for me. Talk about service. You have to tip them of course, and that has been a huge learning curve for me, apparently, I might be tipping too much, but I love that service!
Well, I could go on forever. Until the next blog. For now, know that we are safe and really like it here. But, I do miss all my friends!