So I started a new blog that will be a continuation of this one. I just made it public, so you no longer need an invite!
*My new blog address is whatdoublecando.blogspot.com.
5.26.2012
2.02.2012
Kylee: 2 1/2 years old
It's been two months since I did an update on Kylee, so I think it's about time for one! I really need to get back to doing a post once a month about her, because these two-month posts become WAY too long.
Kylee is wise beyond her years, stubborn, and has the funniest sense of humor ever. She is sure to tell me when she thinks I look pretty or when my hair doesn't look very good, she laughs at my Spanish & loves Lincoln's Spanish, she calls us by our first names half the time, she is constantly walking around yelling "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" (I'm afraid she picked that phrase up from me), & she loves to tell us what to do. I've been working with her lately on asking, "Mom, can you get this for me?" & "Mom, will you do that for me?" instead of demanding that I do this or that. Kylee has some words that she pronounces wrong, which cracks me up. She currently calls watermelon "melon water" & says "ock, ock, ock!" when she knocks on a door. There are more, but those are the only two I can think of right now.
Kylee loves to try to sing the hymns in sacrament meeting and she even learned "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" in Spanish in nursery & can sing it all by herself! (It's called "Cabeza, Cara, Ombros, Pies" here or "Head, Face, Shoulders, Feet"). Kylee loves to pray in Spanish. Every time we are getting ready to pray, she asks if she can pray in Spanish first. Her Spanish prayers are often random words in English, with her saying the word "Spanish" every so often. She also counts in her prayers. In fact, our favorite Spanish prayer of hers so far was the other night when she prayed, "Cuatro, Cinco, Seis, Cuatro, Cinco, Amen".
Kylee can count to 11 in English & to 6 in Spanish. I realized that she is old enough to learn her letters, so I worked with her on the letter "A" last week & she likes finding the letter on items around the house. She knows her alphabet, but "A" is the only one that she knows by sight. Kylee is much better at playing nicely with other children now & doesn't bite, hit, pinch, etc. like she used to. I noticed this change after she got the tubes in her ears. I think the poor girl was just hurting so much & wanted to be mad at someone about it! I still feel bad for my friends' kids who suffered because of it though!
Kylee & Hallux have a really funny relationship. I love watching them chase each other around. Kylee can get Hallux to go berserk...running, jumping, and sliding around. It is hilarious, & I know that Hallux loves having someone who is willing to run around with him. Kylee likes to flip over the chair in the tv room & loves to run in circles on the church basketball court. She is still learning that running toward the street is not a good idea & that cars can give her "big owies". She's almost given me a heart attack a couple of times when she takes off running toward the busy street at church & I'm chasing her in my heels. I'm hoping she learns the "stay on the sidewalk" lesson very soon!
Kylee is constantly asking me where "so & so" is & what they are doing. She asks if they are in Arizona or Mexico quite often, and is still kind of confused about who lives where & why we only see them at certain times of the year. Kylee is also confused about where she lives, now that we've moved. She hasn't asked about our old house in a few days, but she definitely regressed in a few areas during our move. She started talking like a baby more, stopped wearing panties & going potty in the toilet for a week, & has had a hard time falling asleep in her new bedroom. Of course, all of this is to be expected. I just feel really bad that she has to deal with change so much...but I guess that's a valuable life lesson to learn early on, right?!
She has done better with her potty training for the past few days & even went #2 on the toilet for the first time today...then again later today! Yahoo! Since moving in with Thomas, Kylee has been introduced to a lot of new movies (gotta love his movie collection on his Apple TV!). Kylee still loves Snow White & Sleeping Beauty (which she calls "Some Beauty") but her new favorites are Peter Pan (which she calls "Dee Dum") & Lady & the Tramp (which she calls "The Baby Movie", even though it only shows the baby for about 2 minutes). Kylee rarely calls a movie by its real title & I love hearing the different names that she chooses instead!
This month Lincoln & I decided that Kylee was ready to do chores around the house for money. She helps me with dinner, helps me sweep or mop, feeds the dogs, dusts, hangs up her clothes, cleans up her toys, and a few other things. She usually earns 1 peso (like 8 cents) per job & does one or two jobs a day. She desperately wants an alphabet Elmo app on Lincoln's iPad that costs $5, so we told her that once she earns 30 pesos, we will buy it for her. She LOVES earning money & putting each coin in her piggy bank!
I don't know if I've mentioned that we started talking with Kylee last semester (a common time reference for me, since we basically measure our time in semesters) about where she came from. When we ask her whose tummy she was in, Kylee says, "Breonna's" & when we ask her whose family Breonna let her be a part of forever, she says "Mommy & Daddy's". It was actually nice because when we met with Breonna for a visit in AZ, Kylee remembered Breonna's name & that she was in her tummy. I don't bring it up to her often, but I'm glad that she is starting to learn about & kind of understand her adoption. I think it can be a really positive thing for her if we let it be.
Another thing that I can't forget to mention is that Kylee has named her sister from the orphanage "Rosie". This started when we were in AZ at my parents' house & I was sleeping in the same room as Kylee. Multiple times as Kylee was near sleep, she would say "I want to find my sister Rosie", "Where's my sister Rosie?" or "I want to find my sister at the orphanage." Now when we ask her where her sister is, Kylee says (very matter-of-factly) "In Mexico at the orphanage". When we moved in with Thomas, he was selling a bed for really cheap, so we bought it from him & put it in Kylee's room. She knows that it is her sister's bed & that we just have to wait to find her. We haven't heard anything new from the orphanage, but are trying to show faith in things working out, which is why we are starting to prepare now to get this child.
Kylee got her first real haircut at the mall a few days ago, & when they were done, Kylee says "My hair is grown up now, Mom!" (I have to admit, she does kind of look like a boy, since they cut her mullet off, but I'm hoping it will grow better now!) Kylee sure is a feisty one & even told me the other day, "Mom, girls wear bras, but boys don't. I want to buy a pink one at the mall." Geez, she honestly must remember the Victoria Secret ads hanging in the mall windows or something, because she hasn't seen a pink bra here!
I've been feeling really lousy physically & Kylee often asks me, "Mom are you sick?" or "Mom are you awake?" (ha ha, sad!) & says, "I help you feel better", then pretends to give me a shot in the arm or a kiss. It's extremely cute. A few weeks ago, I took Kylee on a walk in her stroller, & our conversation went like this:
Me: "Ok Kylee, we'd better go home now. Remember how I'm sick? So I'm really tired already & need to go home & rest."
Kylee: "Ok. You're doing a great job."
Me: "Oh thanks! Let's go home & see if Dad has dinner ready..."
Kylee: "Supper isn't ready yet, Mom."
Seriously, what would I do without this girl? She makes my life very exciting & eventful! :)
She still comes up with great dress-up outfits...
Kylee is wise beyond her years, stubborn, and has the funniest sense of humor ever. She is sure to tell me when she thinks I look pretty or when my hair doesn't look very good, she laughs at my Spanish & loves Lincoln's Spanish, she calls us by our first names half the time, she is constantly walking around yelling "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" (I'm afraid she picked that phrase up from me), & she loves to tell us what to do. I've been working with her lately on asking, "Mom, can you get this for me?" & "Mom, will you do that for me?" instead of demanding that I do this or that. Kylee has some words that she pronounces wrong, which cracks me up. She currently calls watermelon "melon water" & says "ock, ock, ock!" when she knocks on a door. There are more, but those are the only two I can think of right now.
Kylee loves to try to sing the hymns in sacrament meeting and she even learned "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" in Spanish in nursery & can sing it all by herself! (It's called "Cabeza, Cara, Ombros, Pies" here or "Head, Face, Shoulders, Feet"). Kylee loves to pray in Spanish. Every time we are getting ready to pray, she asks if she can pray in Spanish first. Her Spanish prayers are often random words in English, with her saying the word "Spanish" every so often. She also counts in her prayers. In fact, our favorite Spanish prayer of hers so far was the other night when she prayed, "Cuatro, Cinco, Seis, Cuatro, Cinco, Amen".
Kylee can count to 11 in English & to 6 in Spanish. I realized that she is old enough to learn her letters, so I worked with her on the letter "A" last week & she likes finding the letter on items around the house. She knows her alphabet, but "A" is the only one that she knows by sight. Kylee is much better at playing nicely with other children now & doesn't bite, hit, pinch, etc. like she used to. I noticed this change after she got the tubes in her ears. I think the poor girl was just hurting so much & wanted to be mad at someone about it! I still feel bad for my friends' kids who suffered because of it though!
Kylee & Hallux have a really funny relationship. I love watching them chase each other around. Kylee can get Hallux to go berserk...running, jumping, and sliding around. It is hilarious, & I know that Hallux loves having someone who is willing to run around with him. Kylee likes to flip over the chair in the tv room & loves to run in circles on the church basketball court. She is still learning that running toward the street is not a good idea & that cars can give her "big owies". She's almost given me a heart attack a couple of times when she takes off running toward the busy street at church & I'm chasing her in my heels. I'm hoping she learns the "stay on the sidewalk" lesson very soon!
Kylee is constantly asking me where "so & so" is & what they are doing. She asks if they are in Arizona or Mexico quite often, and is still kind of confused about who lives where & why we only see them at certain times of the year. Kylee is also confused about where she lives, now that we've moved. She hasn't asked about our old house in a few days, but she definitely regressed in a few areas during our move. She started talking like a baby more, stopped wearing panties & going potty in the toilet for a week, & has had a hard time falling asleep in her new bedroom. Of course, all of this is to be expected. I just feel really bad that she has to deal with change so much...but I guess that's a valuable life lesson to learn early on, right?!
She has done better with her potty training for the past few days & even went #2 on the toilet for the first time today...then again later today! Yahoo! Since moving in with Thomas, Kylee has been introduced to a lot of new movies (gotta love his movie collection on his Apple TV!). Kylee still loves Snow White & Sleeping Beauty (which she calls "Some Beauty") but her new favorites are Peter Pan (which she calls "Dee Dum") & Lady & the Tramp (which she calls "The Baby Movie", even though it only shows the baby for about 2 minutes). Kylee rarely calls a movie by its real title & I love hearing the different names that she chooses instead!
This month Lincoln & I decided that Kylee was ready to do chores around the house for money. She helps me with dinner, helps me sweep or mop, feeds the dogs, dusts, hangs up her clothes, cleans up her toys, and a few other things. She usually earns 1 peso (like 8 cents) per job & does one or two jobs a day. She desperately wants an alphabet Elmo app on Lincoln's iPad that costs $5, so we told her that once she earns 30 pesos, we will buy it for her. She LOVES earning money & putting each coin in her piggy bank!
I don't know if I've mentioned that we started talking with Kylee last semester (a common time reference for me, since we basically measure our time in semesters) about where she came from. When we ask her whose tummy she was in, Kylee says, "Breonna's" & when we ask her whose family Breonna let her be a part of forever, she says "Mommy & Daddy's". It was actually nice because when we met with Breonna for a visit in AZ, Kylee remembered Breonna's name & that she was in her tummy. I don't bring it up to her often, but I'm glad that she is starting to learn about & kind of understand her adoption. I think it can be a really positive thing for her if we let it be.
Another thing that I can't forget to mention is that Kylee has named her sister from the orphanage "Rosie". This started when we were in AZ at my parents' house & I was sleeping in the same room as Kylee. Multiple times as Kylee was near sleep, she would say "I want to find my sister Rosie", "Where's my sister Rosie?" or "I want to find my sister at the orphanage." Now when we ask her where her sister is, Kylee says (very matter-of-factly) "In Mexico at the orphanage". When we moved in with Thomas, he was selling a bed for really cheap, so we bought it from him & put it in Kylee's room. She knows that it is her sister's bed & that we just have to wait to find her. We haven't heard anything new from the orphanage, but are trying to show faith in things working out, which is why we are starting to prepare now to get this child.
Kylee got her first real haircut at the mall a few days ago, & when they were done, Kylee says "My hair is grown up now, Mom!" (I have to admit, she does kind of look like a boy, since they cut her mullet off, but I'm hoping it will grow better now!) Kylee sure is a feisty one & even told me the other day, "Mom, girls wear bras, but boys don't. I want to buy a pink one at the mall." Geez, she honestly must remember the Victoria Secret ads hanging in the mall windows or something, because she hasn't seen a pink bra here!
I've been feeling really lousy physically & Kylee often asks me, "Mom are you sick?" or "Mom are you awake?" (ha ha, sad!) & says, "I help you feel better", then pretends to give me a shot in the arm or a kiss. It's extremely cute. A few weeks ago, I took Kylee on a walk in her stroller, & our conversation went like this:
Me: "Ok Kylee, we'd better go home now. Remember how I'm sick? So I'm really tired already & need to go home & rest."
Kylee: "Ok. You're doing a great job."
Me: "Oh thanks! Let's go home & see if Dad has dinner ready..."
Kylee: "Supper isn't ready yet, Mom."
Seriously, what would I do without this girl? She makes my life very exciting & eventful! :)
She still comes up with great dress-up outfits...
She loves playing with the Play Doh that Grandma & Grandpa Allen gave her for Christmas...
(She especially likes when Daddy plays Play Doh with her, because he knows how to use all of the cool Play Doh tools too!)
Happy girl...
Oh, & did I mention that she loves markers?
Kylee also LOVES to wear her apron & hat that Montse made her for her birthday...
Kylee helps me cook (& eat) & does it in style!
LOVE THIS GIRL!!! I can't believe she is 2 1/2 now!
1.24.2012
The Big Move
Many of you have probably heard that we are moving this week! Luckily, we are moving less than a mile from where we live now. This was a last-minute decision. We were going to sign a new 6-month contract on our house in a few days, but decided that wouldn't be the best idea. We are sad, because we LOVE our house, but we really feel like this was an answer to our prayers.
I've failed to mention that things have gotten really crazy here this semester. We received an email from the school during our holiday vacation, stating that we would be receiving $1000/month less than we did before. Apparently they no longer consider dependents when determining the loan amount that a student is eligible for. Because of this, the single students & married students will now be receiving the same amount of money to live on. Needless to say, this was a shock & the families here are not happy about it! Because of this, a lot of my friends have moved back to the U.S. with their kids & their husbands have stayed here in Mexico to finish school.
Being in medical school is hard. Being in medical school in a foreign country is extremely hard. We don't have state programs to depend on when we don't have an income (no health care, food stamps, cash assistance, etc.), which many U.S. students have to use to make it through school. To save on rent here, we would most likely have to compromise our safety & security. To live any type of American lifestyle we have to pay more for the items that we want. There aren't coupons & extra ways to save here. I could go on & on.
Lincoln's cousin, Thomas, lives less than a mile from us here in Mexico. (We stayed with him & his family the first month after we moved to Mexico, until we found our own place.) Thomas's family is one of those who has had to split up for awhile, with Jenn & the kids living in AZ while Thomas stays here in Mexico. Thomas was going to move out next week & find an apartment to live in. Well, he had us over for dinner on Saturday, and one of us was joking that we should just all move in together. The more we talked about it, the more sense it made though! Lincoln & I went home & talked about it for about 10 minutes...& that's all it took for us to make a decision. We would still be able to live in a nice, safe area (in the same neighborhood we are in now) & we would save money by sharing the costs of rent, utilities, food, etc. with someone else.
Anyway, that's the story! We are in the process of packing our stuff up, figuring out what we want to keep & sell, while Thomas & Jenn are trying to figure out what they need to keep & have Thomas bring back to the U.S. with him when he visits. It's pretty crazy! I'm worn out, of course, since I'm not feeling well. As I said before though, this will be a blessing for all of us. I just wanted to let everyone know what is going on. I'll post again when we get settled into our new home!!!
Peter Piper Pizza
On Thursday night, we headed to Peter Piper Pizza with Jaren & Vanessa, Matt & Verenice, & Brittany & Lucas (plus the 6 kids) to celebrate sweet Lola's 2nd birthday. I didn't get a picture of Lola, but I did get a few pictures of the fun we had.
Drinking her soda in style...
I really wasn't feeling well that day, but at least I got out of the house! Linc's been great about putting up with me being sick. I LOVE HIM...
By the time I made it over to the play area, Kylee was already out of money. There was no way we were giving her more than $5 to spend on games, so she spent a lot of time wondering why nothing was working...
Vanessa made some YUMMY Oreo cupcakes for dessert. Before we left, I had to get a shot of this poster on the wall. This is Mexico's version of "the works" pizza...
Thanks for the fun night Kottraba family!!!
1.21.2012
Best of 2011
Another blogging tradition I have is to post my top ten favorite pictures of our family from the past year.
BEST OF 2011:
#10:
#9:
#6:
#5:
#4:
#3:
#2:
#1:
To view my top 10 pictures from past years, click on the links below. I think they are worth clicking on...there are some pretty funny ones! :)
2011 Recap
I love posting an overview of our year to see how far we've come! Here's my recap of this past year:
JANUARY:
JANUARY:
We moved to Mexico!
Lincoln started his first year of medical school.
Linc had his White Coat Ceremony & took the Hippocratic Oath.
We found a house to move into that we love!!!
MARCH:
Our kitchen was remodeled, which turned out to be a long & messy process.
APRIL:
Duke went to doggie heaven.
Lincoln & I celebrated our 7th anniversary.
MAY:
I ate brain tacos for the first (& probably only) time.
I turned 28 years old.
JUNE:
We went back to the U.S. for summer vacation:
We threw Ashley a baby shower.
We attended the annual Hiatt family reunion in Pine.
Kylee went to Disneyland for the first time.
We celebrated Easter, Halloween, Christmas Eve & our birthdays with my family...
JULY:
Lincoln turned 29 years old.
Kylee turned 2 years old & we celebrated with a Minnie Mouse party.
Our nephew Cooper was born to my brother Shawn & his wife Ashley.
(This makes nephew #11 for us!)
AUGUST:
(This makes nephew #11 for us!)
Our dear Da (Lincoln's grandpa) passed away.
The whole family was able to be at Da's funeral in AZ.
Hallux joined our family.
SEPTEMBER:
Kylee started potty training.
I experienced my first running injury. :)
Verenice helped us celebrate Jackson's 5th birthday.
OCTOBER:
We celebrated Mexican Independence Day for the first time.
My parents came to visit us here in Mexico!
We attended a Halloween party put on by the Wives Club, where Kylee dressed as Snow White.
Lincoln & I hosted our 1st annual Gothic Halloween party.
We submitted our papers to adopt a 3-5 year old girl from an orphanage in Guadalajara.
NOVEMBER:
I "swam" with the sharks at the Guadalajara Zoo!
I "swam" with the sharks at the Guadalajara Zoo!
We spent Thanksgiving in Mesa with my family.
DECEMBER:
Lincoln & the dogs drove to Arizona for the rest of our vacation:
We attended the Hiatt Family Christmas Party.
We attended the Cooper Family Christmas Party.
Lincoln & the dogs drove to Arizona for the rest of our vacation:
We attended the Hiatt Family Christmas Party.
We spent Christmas in Snowflake with Lincoln's family.
Dr. Page put tubes in Kylee's ears because of chronic ear infections.
Dr. Coss diagnosed me with mono.
Once again, we've had a year full of excitement, sorrow, accomplishments & experience! I can't wait to see what the year 2012 has in store for our family!!!
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