Guadalajara Zoo

Last Saturday, we met some friends at the Guadalajara Zoo. Lincoln is right in the middle of finals right now, so this was our opportunity to spend some quality time with him before things got really crazy! We ended up spending over 6 hours there. All of the kids missed their naps and everyone was exhausted by the time we left, but we had a lot of fun. 

We bought Kylee an elephant visor when we arrived. Hallux chewed & ruined the butterfly visor that Grandma & Grandpa bought for her on our last zoo trip, so Kylee was pretty excited to get another one. She preferred to wear her new visor upside-down though...

We found a duck area that we'd never seen before. We were even able to feed them. Kylee thought it was so cool...

Until the ducks actually came close to her!

This was a "put my hair in a bun & leave it wet" kind of day for me. I was trying to get closer to the swan, but Kylee would have none of that...

Watching the polar bear...

Watching the black bears climb...

Kylee enjoyed holding her sucker in her mouth like this...

We stopped to eat our sack lunches and Kylee immediately started playing in the water...

Then, of course, Linc ran around with the kids. Kids love him...

There were some horses to pet...

And huge hippos...

Our favorites...the orangutans!

This baby chimp wasn't there the last time. He is SO cute!

We watched the mountain lion sleep...

And Kylee steered Daddy by his ears in the direction she wanted to go...

(Now Linc has cuts on his ears from her nails.)

As I said before, we were at the zoo for a long time. Kylee decided that she was tired & crouched down right in the middle of the sidewalk to rest...

She looked way too cute...

And one more...

This giraffe let us get really close to it again...

It totally looks like I'm wearing Kylee's visor in this picture...

The giraffe kept getting closer & closer to Lincoln, until...

It was licking his shoe!

After that, we headed to the aquarium. None of our friends had been there before, & we all really enjoyed it. 

We pet the stingrays & fed them...

Kylee listened to Daddy's music while she watched the stingrays swim around...

A cool starfish...

Kylee looking at the stingray...

(Her pigtails were gone by the end of the day. This girl's hair seriously cracks me up.)

This is me "telling" Kylee to look at Daddy so that he can take a picture of her, & Kylee acting like I'm ripping her head off...

Then we saw a stand where you could sign up to "swim with the sharks"! Verenice, her friend & I did it and it was a blast! I told Verenice beforehand that I was more nervous for people to see me in a wetsuit than I was to be around the sharks. And that was the truth. :) We stood in this box & went underwater to get a better view of everything. Verenice's friend actually stuck a stick out of the box with some food on it, but the sharks had just eaten and weren't very hungry. It was such a fun experience though!

 

We stopped by the fake hippo at the front of the zoo on our way out. Kylee made sure to say goodbye to it...

And here are the kiddos on it...

We ate dinner at Burger King with the Powell's, then headed home!

Kylee: October 2011

It's time for my monthly update on Kylee. She is 2 years & 3 months old now...& it is very obvious. Being the oldest child in my family, I thought I had a decent idea of what to expect when my kids turned 2, since I was constantly around my brothers & sisters at that age. Well, now I realize that it is completely different as the parent! Two-year-old's are...intense.

I've called my mom multiple times in the last few months to tell her thank you for still loving me despite the fact that I was a crazy two-year-old. And since I am writing this post on a day when Kylee has been extra cranky, I'll focus on the positive: the fun, adorable & hilarious things that she is doing at this age. Because let's face it...when she isn't screaming, crying or talking back she is absolutely adorable!

Kylee's favorite show is Caillou, and she has recently become fascinated with mine & Lincoln's wedding video. She is also very interested in Santa & Christmas right now. When she isn't behaving, I ask her if she wants to be put on "The Naughty List" like Swiper. (She has a Dora Christmas movie where Swiper is put on Santa's "Naughty List".) That's her biggest fear in life currently. :) Kylee wants Santa to bring her a Barbie, crayons, a coloring book, gum & candy this year.

Kylee loves to chase Hallux around the table. Her favorite song is "Kylee Raelyn" (a song that my mom made up about her). She is constantly talking to her stuffed animals & random objects in the house. Her conversations with them are hilarious. Kylee definitely talks to & disciplines her stuffed animals the same way that I talk to & discipline her. Kylee is still a total "Daddy's Girl". She knows that Daddy is usually at school or studying, but when he isn't, Kylee wants Lincoln's full attention. When Linc asks Kylee if she wants to run errands with him, she just beams. I love seeing that bond between the two of them.

Kylee's favorite things to say are "That's a funny joke!" whenever one of us says something funny, "I been in bed 2 hours!" when she wakes up from her nap, and "It's little bit big" when I put clothes or shoes on her that she doesn't want to wear. She is great at saying "I love you" & "Thank you". When I compliment her, give her something to eat, give her a kiss, etc. she always says "Thank you Mom."

A few funny things that Kylee said this past month are:
When I asked her what she wanted to do one day, she replied "Eat tacos & talk in Spanish."
One night she started yelling my name in the middle of the night, & when I went in her room & asked her what was wrong, she said, "Mom, I want cake from Walmart."
A few days ago, Kylee was taking a nap & Lincoln & I were watching tv upstairs. Suddenly we heard her yell "Room smells really bad! Little poops all over!" Oh, how I did not want to open her bedroom door when I heard that. I won't go into details about what we found. Let's just say we need to buy some duct tape because she is excellent at taking her diaper off. :)
When I ask her each week what she did in nursery (hoping she will tell me what her lesson was about or what songs she sang) she says "I hit. I pinched. I pulled hair."

Kylee's naps are becoming more sporadic. She either skips her nap or takes a really long one (like for 4 hours!). I'm not sure why, but I'll take it. Kylee has learned a few more Spanish words lately. We've heard her singing a song in Spanish that she heard one of her friends singing the other day. She also knows the answer to "Como te llamas?"

Kylee's potty training is going really well. I think I mentioned before that I am basically just letting her potty train herself. She goes in the toilet a few times a day, but still wears diapers. She hates having me sit in the bathroom with her & prefers to do it all by herself. Kylee's favorite part about potty training is the candy that she gets after she goes!

And now for my favorite moments:
Twice Kylee has mentioned Jackson out of nowhere and told me that he is a missionary. I love that kids are so innocent & pure and that they are able to teach us so much!

Here are a few pictures of Kylee from October:
Kylee sitting outside with Barbie, telling her what she did wrong & putting her in time-out...

Cute headband Kylee!

On Halloween, we were driving back from a friend's house & saw all of the Trick-or-Treaters outside. (Halloween was a way bigger celebration than I thought it would be here in Mexico. My favorite part was hearing the Trick-or-Treaters chant "Queremos Halloween!" ["We want Halloween!"] as they walked down the streets.) Kylee saw all of the kids in their costumes & immediately grabbed her Elmo bucket that was sitting next to her on the seat. She put it on her head & said "Elmo costume, Mom!"

We Love You Kylee Girl!

Trunk or Treat 2011

We went to the Wives Club's Annual Halloween Trunk or Treat on Friday. It was a blast! Kylee made the cutest little Snow White ever. I tried to straighten her hair with my flat iron, so that she wouldn't have to wear her usual pigtails...it [sort of] worked. :)

Kylee had so much fun playing on the big bouncy toy that they rented for the party!

Kylee & Kirtlyn...

Crazy girls! Kirtlyn, Riley & London...

Having fun together...

Linc making Snow White "fly"...

The kids getting ready for the costume contest runway show...

(Look at Kylee sitting so prim & proper in the back.)

Ready for the show...

Kylee with silly Thomas...

Kylee at the end of the runway receiving her costume award from Jenn...

 Showing off her cupcake & award...

During the Trunk or Treat portion of the party, Kylee got tons of candy. She was so good at saying "Trick or Treat" & "Thank you" at each car!

 The best part of Halloween is being able to eat as much candy as you want. You'd better believe that I let Kylee do the same!

After the party, we waited with Thomas & the Powell's for the bouncy toy to be picked up. The company ended up being over an hour late, so we found ways to entertain ourselves while we waited.

Linc played Ring Around the Rosies with the kids...

Kylee tried to see how many suckers she could eat at the same time...

Verenice, Matt, Thomas, Linc & I played a pretty intense game of basketball. The teams were "girls plus Thomas" vs "boys". :) I think we were all sore after playing, but it sure was fun!

Lincoln looked good trying on Ava's Minnie ears after the game...

This picture just makes me laugh...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

A Fun-Filled Week

Well, I've been healthy for the past week & a half & I am VERY happy about it! This is the longest I've gone these past 2 months without getting sick. I sure hope that my good health continues, because life is much more fun for both Kylee & I (& Linc) when we are able to get out of the house & spend time with our friends!

We've had a lot of fun things going on lately, including:

A BIRTHDAY PARTY:

Kylee hit a pinata by herself  for the first time. Granted, she just lightly tapped it with the stick...but usually she is too scared  to do it at all, so I was proud of her! :)

WIVES CLUB ACTIVITY:

Kylee loved playing in the water at the park...

A TRIP TO TROMPO:

Kylee matched the numbers...

 Doctored the babies...

 Checked the baby's ears...

 And her heartbeat...

(Can you tell that Kylee is the daughter of a medical student? She totally knows what to do with all of the equipment, thanks to Daddy showing her how to use the real things at home.)

She snuck a plate of food out of the kitchen area over to the computer...

(I'm afraid she has seen me eating in front of the computer one too many times!)

Kylee picked onions & carrots...

 Made huge bubbles...

 And tried to blow them...

TACO/CREPE STAND:

Not pictured:

FHE with friends

Relaxing & watching tv with Linc (which doesn't happen nearly enough!)

Girls Night Out to the VIP Movies

FHE/Halloween dinner & desserts with friends

Lincoln has 3 weeks of school left, which means lots of studying for finals! Thank goodness for good health & great friends who keep me social!

Adopting...

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, already know this news, but I wanted to let those of you who don't know, that...

WE ARE ADOPTING AGAIN!!!

Now, before you get too excited, let me just say that it may take quite awhile before we are matched with a child & are able to complete the adoption process. Many people have asked me if we would be adopting from Mexico while we were living here. We definitely thought the answer to that question was "no" and that we would wait until we were back in the U.S. to adopt again. However, Lincoln & I started bringing the subject up to each other about 2 1/2 months ago. It was one of those things that just popped in my head & I couldn't get it out, no matter how hard I tried.

A few days later, we went to Chapala with our friends, Brother & Sister Herrera. We didn't know them very well at the time. As we were talking with them on the drive over, they brought up the fact that they used to own an orphanage. Lincoln & I just looked at each other & knew this probably wasn't a coincidence. :) We had only started talking about adoption a few days before, & nobody had any idea that we were even considering it. Needless to say, this was huge...Brother Herrera was able to answer our questions about adopting from Mexico & ended up meeting with multiple orphanages to try to get us an appointment.

The orphanage that Brother Herrera was originally thinking of matching us with only had children ages 3 & older. Linc & I have always wanted to adopt a baby instead of an older child...but I could not get the idea out of my head that we needed to consider adopting a child instead of a baby. I wasn't excited about this feeling, because it would complicate things quite a bit for me...I would suddenly have a school-age child (they put children in school here between ages 2 & 3), this child would only speak Spanish, I would have to buy clothes & other things for this child instead of using the baby clothes that I already have from Kylee & Jackson, it would change the birth order of our family, & this child would have already learned a lot that we hadn't taught him/her & wouldn't be used to our way of doing things. There are so many more things that went through my mind, but I was still feeling such a push to put in our papers to adopt an older child. I called my dad crying & told him that I'd gotten an answer, but that I didn't feel like I was cut out for this. We had a good conversation & I was reminded once again that as long as I'm following the promptings that I receive from the Lord, the details will eventually work themselves out.

Brother Herrera was able to set up an appointment for us to meet with the director of an orphanage here in Guadalajara. Most people have to send in their paper work, then wait to see if they are approved, without ever meeting anyone in person at the orphanage. Because Brother Herrera has so many great contacts since owning an orphanage, he was able to use that to talk the director into meeting with us first thing. About a month ago, we met with the director. We had a good visit with her (although she spoke mainly Spanish so I wasn't able to understand everything that was being said), she gave us our preliminary paper work to fill out, & told us that if nobody from the orphanage had contacted us within 15 days of turning our papers in, that we should call them back.

This orphanage is huge & has about 450 kids. The only kids we saw were the ones who were coming back from school when we were leaving. We were impressed with how happy the kids seemed to be, and how clean & orderly the orphanage offices were. All of the employees there were very kind & friendly too, which made us really happy.

After we left the orphanage, the director herself immediately called Brother Herrera twice to tell him that she wanted to rush our paper work. She told us that it wasn't necessary for us to have all of our documents, reference letters, etc. but to just turn in as much as we could, as soon as possible. We turned in our paper work (almost completed) a week later. We had to show in our paper work what gender & age we wanted to adopt. We finally decided on a girl between 3 & 5 years old.

Last week, Lincoln called the orphanage and was told that the committee is giving priority to couples who are waiting to adopt, who don't have any children yet. Since we already have Kylee, we were told that it could take 1 1/2 to 2 years to match us with a child. When Linc told the director that that was fine, and that we would just wait, because we still wanted to adopt from them, the director seemed surprised and told us that she will talk with the committee about us again. That's the most recent information that we have received.  We're just waiting to find out more.

Adopting from an orphanage here in Mexico can be pretty complicated. It's not as straightforward as adoption in the United States is. Nothing here really is. It's hard to explain, but in almost everything we do here, we receive some sort of info, then different info, until we put the pieces together & figure out the whole picture. I'm not sure if that makes sense to those who haven't experienced living here. But anyway, we've already obviously experienced the same with this adoption, & we will probably continue to, until this adoption process is complete.

The reason I'm sharing all of this now is because:
1) I want to document the details of how we get this little girl.
2) We need people's prayers!
3) I want our loved ones to be able to experience this journey with us.

I will post each time we receive more news from the orphanage. I was so thankful for all of the comments on Facebook & all of the love and support that we constantly feel from everyone here in Mexico & back in the United States. How blessed we are to have such great support systems in TWO countries!

P.S. We've explained to Kylee what is happening, even though I'm not sure how much she understands. In our prayers we ask Heavenly Father to "please help us find Kylee's sister". She is very excited about having a sister, even though she has informed me that she wants her sister to sleep in the extra room, not in "Kylee's room". :)