9.09.2011

Not My Favorite Week

Well, we had an exciting fun-filled week last week, & this week has been frustrating and boring. We took Kylee to the doctor on Monday (I'm still so thankful that we have a doctor to see for FREE!) & found out that she has a double ear infection & a throat infection. I swear we've had more throat infections since we moved here than we have had in our entire lives! (Another interesting thing about the doctors here in Mexico: As far as I can tell, they never tell you the actual name of their diagnosis. All I know is that Kylee's throat looks "muy mal".) She is on 2 medications & is starting to feel better.

I've been feeling pretty sick since Tuesday. I've had bad headaches, some body aches & have been exhausted...but nothing else. This has happened to me a few times since we've been in Mexico & I've talked to a few other Americans who have experienced the same thing. It's just bad enough that I've been staying in my pajamas & hardly doing anything productive...besides filling my Pinterest boards with fun things. :)

Anyway, enough about our random illnesses. Yesterday, I had a little photo shoot with Kylee in her new Snow White dress. 

We blew bubbles on our back patio...
 I can't get over how cute this girl is...
 That is, until I took the bubbles inside. Then she had one of her throw-herself-on-the-ground-and-scream-bloody-murder fits...
(Do you like her dirty slipper & dirty bare foot?)
She finally came inside, climbed up on a chair & fell off backwards, hitting her head. When I sat Kylee on the couch, Daisy immediately jumped up next to her & didn't leave her side until she was sure that Kylee was feeling better. I'm telling you...this is one amazing dog! As you can see in the pic below, I'm still letting Kylee use her bottle. We've gotten her to only drink water in it, which I think is a step in the right direction. :)
 At 6:10pm, we headed to our favorite pastry store, La Canasta de Carmelita. Why? Because the pastries come out of the oven between 6:15 & 6:30 every night. We like them warm & fresh! (Don't worry...we don't have one every night. We limit ourselves to one or two pastries a week, even though I'd have one for every meal if I could.) The pastry store is a few blocks away from our house. Kylee was pretty excited that I let her keep her Princess dress on while we walked there!
 There's an empty lot down the street where some bunnies live. Kylee likes to stop & watch them...
 We both got "crema pastalera" pastries. They are heavenly. We went across the street to the pine tree park & sat in the grass while we ate them. Here's my attempt at a picture together, with my makeup-less face & messy hair, & Kylee saying "cheese" with a pastry in each hand. That's my girl!
I did realize that a lot of my bad attitude this week is probably coming from the fact that Jackson's birthday is coming up. I do this every year...I feel discouraged & spend way too much time wondering what my problem is. Then I realize that September 13th is almost here. Is it bad to say that I dread that day? I'm always relieved when it's over with & I know that it won't come again for a whole year. I try really hard to focus on the positive memories of that day, but it is hard. 

But I'm continually growing from the trials that I've had in the past & I am thankful for them. Even when I feel like I want that piece of me back that Jackson's death took away from me. Even when I feel like someone is missing from our home. Even when I see a curly-haired boy & want my curly-haired boy here on earth with me. I'm grateful. I'm humbled. I know that I'm loved.

9.04.2011

Kylee's Bday/Gotcha Day Party

Well, I think I went overboard celebrating Kylee's birthday this year. We were planning on having a party for her a few different times, but going back & forth to the U.S. made that a little bit difficult. Even though Kylee's birthday was 5 weeks ago, I figured that her "Gotcha Day" was the perfect excuse for us to throw her a late birthday party! When Kylee turned 1, we just had a little family party, so this was her first big birthday party. It was a blast! Some of our guests stayed for over 4 hours, which I think means that everyone had fun. :)

We had a brunch with Costco muffins, yogurt & granola, bananas, watermelon and juice. We set up to have most of the party inside, but everyone ended up staying on the front porch the entire time, which worked out great. There was less clean-up for me, and the weather was PERFECT, plus the kids enjoyed playing in the back of the truck. (That's usually where the kids congregate when we get together with friends anyway.)

We bought this adorable Minnie Mouse pinata for the party...
(I love that the pinata is bigger than Kylee! They sure do know how to make them here in Mexico!)
Giving Minnie a kiss...
Kylee, Riley, Eva & Dylan with Minnie...
Kylee was pretty timid when it came time for her to hit the pinata...
The last kid to hit the pinata, broke it, which turned out perfectly! I bagged the candy beforehand so each child had their own bag of candy & everyone got the same amount. (I got that idea from our Hiatt Christmas Party & I think it is genius.) We splurged & had some American candy in the pinata: Ring Pops, Lifesavers & Jolly Ranchers. We threw some Pelatons (chocolate marshmallow suckers) & Nucita (neopolitan frosting) in there so that Mexico was represented too! 

The kids loved the candy... :)
We sang "Happy Birthday" to Kylee & ate chocolate cake...
Kylee loved having all of her friends in one place, celebrating her! I wish I would have gotten more pictures of our guests, but here is Kylee with one of the twins who lives a few houses down from us. (I get the two mixed up, so I don't know which one this is!) Anyway, she & her two sisters teach me Spanish & are SO good with Kylee...
Montse made this apron & chef's hat for Kylee's birthday. Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen?! Kylee LOVES it!!!
I think this shows how much Kylee enjoyed her party...what a mess!
I meant to learn the "Pinata Song" & teach it to Kylee before her party, but I forgot. Next year, we will know it for sure! I asked the Mexicans at the party to sing it & they did a great job. Seriously, I love the fun Mexican traditions here!

In case you are curious to know what the "Pinata Song" is, I won't leave you hanging. Everyone sings these words to each child while they take their turn hitting the pinata:
"Dale, dale, dale. 
No pierdas el tino.
Porque si lo pierdes.
Pierdes el camino.
Ya le diste una.
Ya le diste dos.
Ya le diste tres.
Y tu tiempo se acabo."

And the English translation:
"Hit it, hit it, hit it.
Don't lose your aim.
Because if you lose it.
You lose the way.
You hit it once.
You hit it twice.
You hit it three times.
And your time is up."

Our neighbors also sang a really cool "Happy Birthday" song to Kylee in Spanish when we brought out her cake. I'll have to ask them for the words to it!

We had such a great time celebrating Kylee with our friends here! I've decided not to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed anymore trying to speak Spanish here, and it is paying off. I am making new friends & learning new words on a regular basis. Kylee is too! In fact, tonight she wanted another blanket & said, "Una mas!" It was hilarious. I am so thankful that we have this opportunity to learn another language & to become close to people who have totally different backgrounds than we do. We are so lucky to live here!!!

9.03.2011

Trompo Magico

On Wednesday for our Wives Club activity, we met at a children's museum called Trompo Magico. (It means "Magic Top".) I had heard amazing things about this place, and it still totally exceeded my expectations. All of the kids were in heaven there! They could make as big of a mess as they wanted to, while we moms got to visit. It was nice for Kylee to have so many hands-on things to do & it made me realize how much better I need to be at providing things for her on a day-to-day basis that stimulate & teach her. 

They had so many cute little stations, including a restaurant, grocery store, play area, bubbles, fishing w/ magnets, computers, tools, doctor's office, reading, music, radio, television, dance...not to mention a whole science area that we didn't even visit. One of the best parts is that Kylee got in for free & I only had to pay 20 pesos (less than $2). We stayed there for 3 hours & could have stayed for at least 2 more. You can't beat that!

During our visit, Kylee took my order & cooked a meal for me in the kitchen...
Then she took a look at the menu...
And ordered some food...
Enjoying her hot dog...
She loved being inside this huge bubble with me!
And trying to blow her own bubbles....
She took care of a baby in the doctor's office with Riley & Kirtlyn...
Then sat down to read books with Mom...
And ended the trip on the playground outside while we ate lunch...
We are planning on going here again in a week. I'm sure you will see many more posts from Trompo Magico during our time here in Mexico!!!

9.02.2011

Another Random Post

I seem to have a lot of posts titled "random" lately. That kind of describes life though...full of random day-to-day things.

The Powell family watched Daisy for us while Lincoln was in AZ for the funeral...
Daisy & Hallux are becoming better friends. The fact that Daisy lets Hallux lay on the same blanket as her now is a huge step forward. They play together at the park, and are getting to be protective of each other. It's nice because Hallux wants to do everything that Daisy does, and she is a really well-behaved dog...so I think training him won't be quite as much work as it was with Daisy & Duke as puppies.
We had a girls night at Applebee's last weekend. It helps so much to have close friends here!
(Me, Verenice, Montse, Vanessa, Yari, Michelle, Amy)
We've been working on repainting an entertainment center that we bought from our neighbors. I forgot how long it takes to get a project done when you have kids! Kylee loves to be right in the middle of it all...
My friend Dani is taking a photography class & took this picture of Kylee...
Life here is busy with studying, friends, developing talents, & striving to become closer as a family every day. We sure are blessed to live the life we do!

Nothing Like It

There's nothing like old friends! Heather & I have known each other since we were 13, & for some reason when we get together we seem to revert back to that age. :) Heather moved to Utah while Kylee & I were in AZ last month, so we had to make sure that we saw each other one last time before she moved! I'm guessing this move won't affect our relationship a ton, since I live in Mexico anyway, but I'm still going to miss her. :)

Kylee liked the swings at Heather's parents' house...
Here I am acting like I'm 13 again...
And a few normal pictures...

I love you Heather!

9.01.2011

Kylee's "Gotcha Day"

While reading an adoption book, I came across the idea to celebrate the day when you "got" your adopted child & call it their "Gotcha Day". So September 1st is Kylee's "Gotcha Day". Two years ago today we brought Kylee to our home. The original plan was to babysit her for a few hours that day, so that we could spend some time with her before she was in our home full-time...but we ended up having her with us from then on! The way she came to be a part of our family is truly miraculous. This was such a special time in our lives. I am thankful that Heavenly Father has a much better plan for my life than anything that I could ever think of!

Taking a little look back at September/October 2009:
Kylee already had her Daddy wrapped around her finger...
We were trying to adjust to our new sleep schedule, or lack thereof...
We were showered with SO many amazing gifts & money to help with Kylee's adoption...
(Just another testament that we have the strongest support system ever!)
We started a mountain of paperwork & got temporary custody of Kylee...
Our family grew...
I felt like a mom again...
We couldn't stop staring at this adorable girl & wondering how we ever deserved her...
She was definitely WORTH THE WAIT!!!

We started a tradition last year to go out to dinner on Kylee's "Gotcha Day" every year. Tonight we went to a pizza place called Broken Cheese. We'd never tried it, but this place is owned by the sons of our friend who owns our favorite restaurant here (Chez Nene), so we thought we'd try it out. It was good and cheap, which was a plus! After dinner, we realized that we were close to our favorite crepe stand, so we went there for dessert. 

Family picture...
(The crepe guy remembered what I usually order. I'm not sure that is a good sign. :) )
 Kylee loved the ice cream, but loved spending time with her dad even more...
 The Powell's joined us, which made our celebration even more fun. Kylee loved having Elijah there...
 And Eva too...
Thank you for being a part of our family Kylee! WE LOVE YOU!!!

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