Mexico Part 10: Cribs and V-Day

It goes without saying that we really don't have much money.  But, poor Elijah has been sleeping in a portacrib since we got here back in August.  Can you imagine a huge kid like him still sleeping in a portacrib?  I wish I would have taken some pictures of him sleeping in that thing.  In fact, I think the kid slept in the corner because he seemed to fit a little better that way.  It was just that cribs are so expensive here.  And if you know what I endured to get Eva out of the crib, you would think I would just transition Eli to a toddler bed asap, but did I mention that they don't really have those here either.  What they do have are very overpriced cribs that turn into twin beds with two night stands.  Not to mention that you then have to special order a mattress for the crib that almost costs the same as the crib.  I looked at buying those rails you put on twin beds but those cost a lot too.  Pretty much the cost of the special order mattress.  Thinking Elijah would never get a bed and sleep in that portcrib until he was five, I accidently found the perfect bed for him.  Yes, it's still a crib, but since he's not climbing out of the portacrib, I don't know why I would want to give him free reign to explore the room.  In fact, I like to confine the kid as much as possible.  What I can say is that I so dearly miss craigslist.  I know I paid way too much for this bed but at least Elijah can sleep better.  He was pretty excited to get the bed.  In fact, the first time he went in the thing we was jumping from side to side and beaming from ear to ear.  It was pretty cute.  So, that was one "big event" that has happened in the last couple weeks.

Next, I had a nice valentines.  I remember the first one Matthew screwed up the first year we were married (does it sound like I hold grudges?  I have forgiven him, really).  We were living in Salem and I was so excited for Valentines day.  I had gotten all ready thinking we were going to do something special and exciting and NOTHING happened.  I was beyond disappointed.  I remember him even asking me why I had dressed up for the day, and I couldn't even face him.  Well, needless to say he never did that again.  And this year he actually surprised me the night before, telling me to eat a light dinner with the kids because he was going to take me out.  I was shocked!  He doesn't normally think of things like that on his own.  He even got a sitter all by himself.  And he bought me the most over priced roses, I have ever seen.  We had a nice evening together.  It's funny how when the kids are little, the little things are that much more special.

Third, I have come to the realization that I think I am going to have to order Elijah one of those monkey backpacks with the leashes because he's all over the place.  Eva asked me if I was going to get him a leash like River and I just laughed and said yes.  A couple weeks ago he busted out of the house, half-naked ( the kid sweats A LOT so he's always half-naked) and ran away from our house, crossed the street in our coto (gated community) and was in the neighbors yard, wandering with the dog.  I almost had a heart attack, and he just laughed.  Thank goodness it was at a quiet time of the day and I realized fairly quickly that he was gone but it still gives me an ulcer thinking about the what ifs.  We now leave the door permanently locked!  He is proving to be quite the handful and what worked for Eva doesn't always work for him.  For example, Eva and I would go to the store and use those little kid shopping carts and I would tell her when it was time to go, "bye, bye, cart," and she would leave it no problem.  Well, then there is Eli.  You tell him the same thing and he throws himself to the ground and throws his little tantrum.    And again I don't know if I want to laugh or just hide in embarrassment.  Kids, I tell you!  Thank goodness my sweet Eva is still sweet on most occasions.

Lastly, I have been at it again with a little crafting.  I am including a picture of Eli half naked because those are the attempt of pajama pants that I made for the kid.  I was so scared to try clothes but it wasn't too bad in the end.  I used this tutorial with the pattern she provides for her 2/3 year old but apparently my kid is too chubby for that pattern, even though he's not even 2 mind you.  I will have to be giving those pajama pants away but they won't be the last.  I think next time I will try making my own pattern.

I know I am all over the page, but I think it's because that is how my life is for now.  Scattered thoughts here and there, not very significant really but they are what my life is.

Mexico Part 9: Pesos and River Sand

I have been so lazy when it comes to this blog.  I think often that I need to update the good old blog, but life happens and nothing gets posted.  Maybe this month will be better, but I won't hold my breath so neither should you.  In a lot of ways nothing really has changed around here.  Our routines are still the same.  The beginning of the term is always a little stressful because our financial aid check always comes late and then to top it all off they issue us a check in american dollars.  There are plenty of places that want to take your dollars but of course give you the worst deal possible.  To top it all off as well, the dollar isn't doing that well either.  When we first got here we could get the dollar for almost 13 pesos and now it is hovering around 12 pesos.  Pretty stinky if you ask me.  But none the less there is nothing we can do about it.  At least we are getting financial aid right?  People often think that it is cheap to live in Mexico and maybe it is in other areas but not so much here.  And for some crazy reason, everything seems to cost me double than the rest of my friends that live here.  I will give you some examples.  Everyone here fills there gas tank for about 1500 pesos and it will last then three months.  Me?  A month and a half, and that is if I am lucky.  I am in the process of trying to figure out if there is a gas leak in my house because according to what everyone else tells me my gas should last me longer.  Example II, my good friend got her water bill for the whole year and she was estimated that her water usage would be around 500 pesos this year, mine?  998 pesos.  Now we have discussed that I shower my kids every night and she doesn't but I can't imagine that that would double the cost of my water usage.  I don't even water the lawn, which isn't a good thing, but still, you would think that with the amount of water I am being charged for, the grass is bright green and my driveway sparkley clean.  But if you know me, this is not so.  And for example three, electricity.  I pay 1500 pesos every two months and that's with the government paying half of my bill but my friends all pay under 500 pesos.  I just might have to be a fly on my friend's wall to figure this all out.  Regardless, I know that if you were to do the math in dollars it isn't too bad, but when you don't have too much money every little bit counts.  Now, Matthew wants to try to get me to budget and I am trying my hardest, but I never seem to do that well.  For now I am just saving receipts for food and then I suppose it is something that I will just get better at over time.  What are your thoughts on budgeting?  What's worked for you guys?

Kids are doing well.  They spend a lot of their time outside playing in this used sand/water table that I bought them. They love it.  I went to a place here where they buy sand and people from Eva's dance class told me to ask for river sand, but the "river sand" is more like dirt.  Of course, the kids still love it but I am now on a quest to find real sand.  You should see how dirty the kids turn out when they are done playing.  And more so that they discovered they can add water to the "sand" and it turns into mud.  I could get super annoyed at the clean up, but, honestly, it is the only time they play semi decent together and I enjoy the "free" time I get to get things done around the house.  Elijah on the other hand, likes to drive me nuts by throwing the sand in the dryer ducts and inside the house.  He is going to drive me bonkers, I swear.

As for me, after we got back from Oregon, I discovered that my sewing machine lost its timing AGAIN.  My machine was a Singer 150th Anniversary edition, that had a game boy for a computer, that my parents bought me my senior year of high school.  It has been fun to learn on even though Matthew made fun of me all the time because it had a game boy.  But, the machine has not been strong enough for me.  I got it off its timer trying to sew bumpers for Elijah and it cost me $100 to fix back home.  So, when it happened again and I took it here it only cost me 250 pesos, way cheaper, but the guy didn't fix it all the way.  Technically it was my fault because I didn't give him the game boy to check the stitches but I was getting tired of the machine.  That's when I went on an adventure to buy one here.  Talk about super annoying.  It took me over two hours to purchase the machine, because they couldn't find all parts to the machine.  Apparently, they only carry one machine of its kind at a time, then they open the machine to display it, but in the meantime, they lose the boxes that the machines come in with all their parts.  I was extremely frustrated about it but I think I came out on top in the end because I made them give me an additional 10% off what it already had discounted and in the end I got the machine for 25% off of what they were asking.  I now have a new Janome and I love it.  I decided to go with a manual machine this time and I couldn't be happier, even if it doesn't have a game boy.  I can already tell how much stronger the machine is and I am off to making all the crafts I have been dying to make.  Plus, Matthew got me http://www.amazon.com/Stitch-Learning-Sew-Project-Time/dp/1440211612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296762995&sr=8-1 for Christmas and I am teaching myself the fundamentals of sewing.  It has been fun to be home because it gives me some time to do the stuff that I love.

Pictures:
1 and 2:  Kids in the sand
3:Elijah using his watermelon like a car.  That kid can eat watermelon.  Often his poo comes out pink!
4:One of two pillows that I made using this http://jessicapeck.blogspot.com/2011/01/valentine-candy-heart-pillows-tutorial.html tutorial.
5:Who does this kid look like?

Catching up...December in Oregon

The first post of 2011.  There are so many things I want to do better this year.  Like always, I suppose.  Wish I wasn't as imperfect as I am.  But, I am excited for a new year and all the things that life will bring this .  The end of 2010 was a good one.  We spent 4 weeks in Oregon, bumming at each other's parent's houses.  I don't think we drove them too crazy.  Well, maybe just a little.  At times it was difficult not being at home.  I realize now how tough our little guy is to have around.  He gets into everything.  I think it was worse at Matthew's parents because they have so many beautiful Christmas decorations around the house.  If he wasn't grabbing the fine china, he was going after these glass pitchers and putting them up to his mouth.  I suppose he liked the echo they made.  By the last day that we were there I saw that someone had moved them out of this reach.  A very smart idea.  He has proven to be quite the boy.  He likes to get into everything.  I like what one of my friends posted on facebook when I mentioned that he was bringing in dirt inside the house, just so he could sweep it up. And what she said was that we can't have the sweet until we have the sour and I like that a lot.  All in all, it was great being in the same vicinity as all my brothers, even though we like to drive each other crazy.  In the past, I had my own home and for the sake of not bothering my mom too much since she works nights, we wouldn't see them too often.  But this time we were there 24/7 and it was fun.  We played lots of chicken foot and settlers of catan.  Some of us were a little more intense than others, right Alex and Matthew, but we all managed.  Then the weather was crazy cold in Oregon.  It was hardest for the kids to get used to.  Elijah, especially, kept wanting the back door opened so that he could play outside.  Something we take for granted living in Mexico.  But it was so cold.  The funny thing is, I think we let him go outside more in Sisters, than in Hillsboro, even though it was much colder in Central Oregon.  Sometimes even barefoot.  But that was because he would escape every so often.  Did I mention it was tough watching him all the time?

Christmas was great.  Santa brought us some neat things and the kids got way too many toys.  It was quite the adventure coming back to Mexico.  We left Mexico with 4 suitcases, and came back to Mexico with 6 and a dog.  And, to top it all off, US Airways (not sure we'll fly with them anymore) charged us for every single suitcase.  Is that normal now??  But, seeing the kids finally play with all their loot when we got back was worth every penny.  For me at least, you will have to ask Matthew.  I will just tell you that I promised to try to pack lighter the next time we fly.  We brought River back with us.  It was funny when people realized that with all the stuff we were hauling on the plane we also had a dog.  I am sure most thought we were crazy but we couldn't help it.  We had to bring River.  I feel like we are finally a family again.  I remember now why I like her.  She is so good with the kids and they love her so much.  It's nice to have her around to eat up Elijah's messes, finish off the empty can of tuna, and to feed her a piece of pepperoni when I am making pizza.  It makes me laugh because she has definitely become Elijah's buddy.  He will even ask for more food just so that he can feed it to River.  And while Eli doesn't speak much, he can say River beautifully.  And you know, even though River is a one eyed dog, she is still cute to me.  

I have been HORRIBLE at taking pictures.  But, you know, the kids are starting to mellow out more that I should take out the camera.  Before it seemed like I was constantly trying to keep the kids from beating each other up that I didn't feel like I could bust out the camera in fear that they would take it out as well.  But things seem better now.  We are back into our routines and life is calm.  Just the way I like it.

Pics:
1.  Kids at my parents.  There Christmas tree took quite the beating.  It didn't look so good after Eli was around.
2.  Erik's birthday.  His birthday is on the 26th and we never spend it with him.  This time around we celebrated it early and he actually had a celebration.  Cake, presents and all.
3.  Eva and Owen with Nana.
4.  Sledding day
5. Carla decided to bust out cowgirl outfits before we went to ride horse's where Shiara's mom works.  She did it as a joke, but we looked pretty cute, I thought.
6.  Family pic with the ponies.  Elijah was scared at first, but Shiara's mom told us to put him on there and move with the horse, and he loved it!!  Eva did too.

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!