Mexico Part VIII: Matthew turns 29

Way back on the 9th of November, sheesh its been awhile, Matthew turned 29. I can't tell him we are getting old though because that is upsetting to him. But, man, I can't believe that we are getting closer to 30 more than ever now. We had a short little birthday celebration. I made his favorite dinner and made his birthday cake. Nothing more fitting than a tres leches cake if you are celebrating your birthday in Mexico. It was short because he had a meeting that he needed to go to that night, so by the time he got home it seemed like we were rushing his birthday. But I think he had a good birthday. That morning, Eva was so excited. In fact, I think for like three weeks straight she prayed every night how thankful she was that is was her papa's birthday. It was pretty funny. But that morning of his birthday, she had told me that we needed to get balloons for Matthew's "party." So, after I dropped her off at school I took Elijah to this big party store near her school to pick up some balloons. It was around 9:15 by the time we made it to the store, only to find out that the store was closed! This is something that seriously drives me nuts around here. Stores open at about 10 here and that is if you are lucky. You can often go up to a store and see that they open at 10 and then not have the owner show up until quarter after 10 or later sometimes. Is that not crazy? Clearly it is not about the customer here. In fact, stores here don't do any of there restocking at night. Nope, all happens during the day while there are tons of people trying to do their shopping and maneuver around huge boxes. But, I will save all this for another post. I will have to take my camera to the store one day to show you some other crazy things about shopping in good ol' Mexico.

Anyway, the last picture is just a cute shot of the kids eating some popcorn. For about five seconds they weren't at each others throat and I thought this was cute.

Mexico Part VII: Mes de Fiestas

In Mexico there seem to be a lot of holidays. The month of October through the beginning of November is marked as the "mes de fiestas" or party month. I haven't really been able to get a straight answer as to why it is, people just keep telling me that it's the mes de fiestas. Duh? Right? Anyway, so in October about a week before Halloween it was Dias de Naciones Unidas, or the United Nations Day. Do we have such a thing in the states? Maybe I am just not very cultured. But, in Eva's preschool they celebrated this holiday by having the different classrooms represent different countries. Eva's was assigned China. I found out on a Thursday, that if she wanted to she could dress up on Friday representing China. So, last minute I ran to a costume shop during her dance class and picked her up this little ensemble. She looked adorable. I spent a lot of money for the little outfit, but I have this issue, that I want my kids to participate in everything that they can. Growing up sometimes, I felt like I missed out on some things that had to do with school because my parents didn't really understand the American culture so I want Eva to not have to feel like that. I know it isn't the end of the world, but I suppose it goes with that feeling that we want to always give the best to our kiddos. I think the kids paraded around the school in their hats that they made at school and learned about different countries. Pretty cute.

Then, the following Friday the kids celebrated Halloween at school. Eva told everyone she was going to be Ariel. And since the kids were allowed to dress up at school that's exactly who she wanted to be. If the costume looks familiar that's because it's last years costume. She wanted to wear it and after spending 35 for her Asian costume the week before, I wasn't going to fight her. So, to answer many of your questions, they do celebrate Halloween here. We have a wives club here for the American wives that are in Guad with their husbands and through that we helped put together a pretty awesome trunk or treat event. We had a potluck event, with a brincolin (one of those big bouncy things), two pinatas, and the trunk or treating. Mexicans can really throw a party for cheap here. The kids had a blast. I kept waiting for the cold wind, or rain to come and ruin our event because that is what I am used to, but instead it was a sunny, 80 degrees with costumes fully exposed. We didn't have to wear oversized jackets to hide the costumes. Elijah was a little pirate with eye patch and all. Next year I have decided to make my own costumes, so I can't wait to think of how to coordinate these two kids of mine. On the actual Halloween day we stayed home since it was a Sunday and we felt like the kids already had enough candy anyway. But the kids around the cotos came around chanting, queremos Halloween (we want Halloween), over and over as they came up to the doors. Guess they don't use trick or treat here. It was quite different but amusing. Now we'll know what to teach our kids to say next year.

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.