August Accomplishments and Activities

Hey August- we had fun with you, but you just up and left so suddenly. What's up with that?

I didn't get a chance to do any great recaps. Here's what happened in August for us (youngest to oldest)...

Zadie started crawling! Our happy little girl is on the move now. She tries so hard to keep up with her speedy brothers and delights in being able to get herself from room to room. She's slimmed down a bit this month and doesn't have quite so many rolls. I think she and Ezra are starting to look a lot more alike. Here's a 36 second video of Zadie crawling.

Ezra loves clapping. Seriously. If anyone uses a positive-sounding tone in what they are saying, Ezra picks up on the cue and starts clapping. His sister is usually quick to join in behind him, but he's a real cheerleader. Ezra is also a champ in the highchair. He loves to eat any kind of finger food, and does so with great enthusiasm. Since mealtimes are often hectic around here, the babies have been feeding themselves pretty often. They love peas, carrots, butternut and pasta, chicken, and cheerios.

Zeke successfully beat the paci habit. Giving up his "bepe" was a bit brutal (on all of us) for about a week. It was really tough for us to watch our little guy who had always looked forward to bedtime and hardly ever fussed about it have complete emotional breakdowns. Luckily, the Bepe Fairy doesn't do tradebacks, so we all toughed it out. Zeke has been able to fall asleep pretty peacefully without his paci now for a week, and we congratulate him for it. (Ezra is always game for applauding him) Besides playing all the time with his new big-boy trucks, Zeke happily spends hours playing with his "hooker". (a 12 inch bungee cord with hooks on the ends). Hookers make great cranes, tow trucks, and are just generally great to have a conversation with. (Quote from the living room 5 seconds ago: "Do you have a lot of cranes at your house, hooker?" ) So fun!

I thought that taking care of 3 kids age 2 and under was too easy. I began taking care of a little two year old girl at the beginning of August. The first week was definitely tough, but since then, things have almost been easier than before. Zeke LOVES having a little playmate in the house (and the backyard, and the park, and the library...) and I enjoy having a little side income too. C comes here Monday-Friday during the day, and we're still able to do all of the fun activities we have come to enjoy. She's a really sweet little girl, and I think the arrangement will work out well for everyone!

Tom went back to grad school! Tom is now a full time student and a full time employee, meaning he works and works to squeeze as much into his week as possible. His classes have begun for his Masters in Social Work degree. Tom will be super busy for the next 2 years, but will graduate in Spring 2013. He likes his classes and has made some friends too! I suggested that he find a group of type-A ladies to join for group projects and presentations. So far, he's been keeping up with his homework and even learned a few things about social work.

Well, that's all for us. Happy Labor Day weekend!

Thank You

We are truly blessed to have a loving family and such wonderful and supportive friends. Thank you all for your best wishes, prayers, and happy thoughts. Karine is resting. I am just blissed-out in general. I think my blood pressure has been a touch high for the past three weeks. I'm sure things will calm down now that the twins are on the outside. Right? That's how it works, right? The hard part is over and now everything is super chill. That's the plan. Karine is going to write about her experience sometime soon, for now I just want to say thank you. Thank you, everyone. Our doctor did everything perfectly. All of the nurses here love what they do and they truly do their jobs with love in their hearts. Karine is my hero. We'll post more pictures of Ezra and Zadie soon. Here I just want to post one picture of Karine. It says it all. I took it about one minute after the twins were born.

Fall

Family Updates

In just 6 weeks or less, we'll be welcoming the two newest members of our family into the world. This afternoon, I go to the doctor for the 32 week growth scan. Basically, they'll use ultrasound to measure all the babies' parts and see that everything is growing as it should be. I feel confident that the babies are growing, because I can see the evidence. This picture was actually taken over a week ago, so I'm actually a little bigger. Just think of this as my skinny picture.


I'm huge. But that's okay. I guess that's a part of having 2 little people living inside of my belly. I've reached the point of being more pregnant than I've ever felt before, so this is all new territory. Aside from arthritis-type pain in my hands and some backaches, I'm still feeling pretty good. My energy level has taken a little hit, but I've appreciated the extra help from Tom and Grandma Jean, and of course Zeke.

Tom has been working hard to financially support the family. In the daytime, he's been working at his new job with Hayneedle where he writes and edits copy. I think he enjoys using his creativity in a cubicle- and I think he might be pretty good at it! (Of course, Tom is modest about it.) In the evenings, Tom has been playing jazz on his upright bass at a downtown steakhouse/bar. While he's home, we've been putting him to work doing heavy lifting, assembling furniture, family excursions, and making yummy dinners!


Zeke is growing and maturing by leaps and bounds each day. He's verbally exploding, repeating words and short sentences, and surprising us with words we didn't even know he knew! Every day I talk to him about the special role he is going to play as big brother, and that there are two little babies that will be in our family soon. I don't think the kid has any idea.


Zeke has been an enthusiastic helper around the house though. Last week, we made chocolate chip cookies together and he was actually helping with the steps. He loves being in the kitchen while we make dinner. Zeke has recently shown more interest in music and instruments. He loves hanging out with his dad while Tom practices. Zeke can differentiate between a guitar and a bass. I think that's impressive. I think Zeke's piano lessons with Dad will begin pretty soon!

Zeke has also taken an interest in playing with "babies" lately. (Maybe with a little encouragement from Mom) The other day, I came into his room and Zeke was tenderly giving a bottle and pacifier to his baby Elmo. They are both sitting in the "crib" that we made out of a drawer and a towel. It was so sweet. I think he'll be an excellent big brother.

Pregnancy so far x 2

I am now officially in my second trimester of carrying twins. It's been a fairly easy pregnancy so far. I've had a lot of questions about the pregnancy, the twinning, etc. so I'll try to give a little rundown of FAQ's here:

How have you felt?
Honestly, the first trimester was pretty okay. I was more nauseous and sensitive to smells than I was while pregnant with Zeke, but nothing unbearable. Now, I'm a lot hungrier every couple hours. I am always thirsty. I drink twice as much water- much earlier- than I ever felt the first time around (At least 3 liters per day). Plus, I'm growing every day! I need a nap after school most days, but Tom has been wonderful about making sure that I can get the extra rest I need.

Are you showing yet?
Yes. I look about how I did at 16 weeks with Zeke. My pants haven't fit for a few weeks, and some shirts are beginning to look inappropriately like belly shirts. It's fun though- when you look pregnant in Honduras, you get to go to the front of the bank lines. :)

Do you know if they're identical or fraternal?
Nope, not yet! There's really only one way to tell for sure before they're born. That would be if we have one boy and one girl. Then it would be pretty obvious that they aren't identical. Otherwise they can perform some tests after the babies are born to verify. We do have reason to believe that they are most likely fraternal- see next question.

Do twins run in your family?
Yes! My mom's uncles (my grandmother's brothers) were twins. The fraternal twin gene can only be passed down through the mother's side. The identical twin thing just happens randomly. Since I've got the gene from my mother's side, it's pretty likely that they're fraternal. Tom has twins on his side of the family too, but that's just bonus. The gene comes from my side.

What are you going to do???
Well, we're going to have 3 kids under the age of 2. I'm going to do my best as a stay-at-home-mom. We'll be landing in Omaha to start our new stateside life on June 4. My due date is around Nov. 18, however twins are born on average at 37 weeks (instead of the 40 week pregnancy of a single baby). In reality, the twins will probably arrive closer to Halloween than Thanksgiving. Tom is actively looking for the next great opportunity to make some money to support a family of 5. We're just going to take things step by step- we're up for an adventure!

Have you felt them move yet?
I think that one of the cool things about twins is that they're a little more crowded than a single baby. Last week I felt them both move. As I type this, I think they're practicing for a synchronized swimming routine. It's pretty neat to be able to feel them this early.

How is Zeke taking it?
He is very excited. Every day, I explain to him how lucky he'll be to have 2 new brothers/sisters/ or brother and sister to play with. He will never be able to remember life as an only child. Luckily we will be able to remember this special time for him, and we've got about 4000 photos to prove it! Zeke has been having a lot more fun lately learning to play with other kids. I think he's going to be a wonderful big brother.

That's all for now. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! In the meantime, say a couple prayers for us! This month of change will bring many exciting moments. We're just going to keep taking it all in stride.

I'll try to post a belly picture one of these days. I'm not feeling incredibly photogenic lately, but I'll do my best sometime this week. Thanks for all the well wishes and support. We're counting on friends and family to help keep us sane in the upcoming year(s)!

Family Update

Ezekiel is now almost 7 months old! He likes to sit up, and can play pretty well without toppling over too easily. He also loves standing in his exersaucer and johnny jump-up. Zeke's little legs are getting quite strong! At his 6 month checkup, Zeke weighed in at 17.6 pounds- a healthy weight and right in the 55th percentile for his age.

Developmentally, Zeke is doing great. He can roll over both ways, but chooses to stay put unless there's a toy or a dog that he really wants to get. He's not crawling yet, but seems anxious for takeoff. We're prepared for it any day now. Still no teeth or hair. Good things come to those who wait!

Yesterday, we bought Zeke a highchair. He's been a great eater at mealtimes, enjoying all sorts of fruits, vegetables, oats, and rice. We're excited for Zeke to become a part of our family dinner table experience.

Tom has been extra busy the past few weeks because his job at school has changed significantly. Due to some movement within our school staff, a position opened up in the middle school, and Tom is now a teacher! He loves teaching 7th and 8th grade English and Math. He's the homeroom teacher for 8th graders so he gets to spend a little extra time with those kids. Each middle and high school teacher is also responsible for teaching an elective class. Tom has enthusiastically been teaching his weightlifting elective every Tuesday and Thursday to a small group of guys. Between his weightlifting class, and running 3 times a week, I think my husband is going to be one of the most fit guys around town pretty soon!

I have been thoroughly enjoying school so far this year too. I've got a really sweet class of 4th graders, and now that it's my 3rd year at our school, I feel like I really understand what I'm doing. I recently acquired a new cookbook from my friend Erin. The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook is awesome! A couple nights per week, I've been trying out some new recipes- meatloaf, chicken piccata, and omelets have been some recent hits. It's strange that for the past 4 years, we have tried and tried to make omelets, and never had success. I get this great illustrated cookbook with all sorts of helpful hints, and they turn out wonderfully! I'd recommend this book to anyone.

Ruby will be celebrating her 2 year birthday on August 26. Our goal is to find her the best dog bone in La Ceiba by Wednesday. Our dog has been handling all the transitions in the past few months really well. She had 2 dog/housesitters this summer, a new nanny in the house (and her whole family- but that's a story for later), a baby that has started grabbing at her in glee, and another new nanny. Ruby takes it all in stride. Tom has also been working with her off-leash a bit more. Tom and Ruby sometimes take late-night walks around the neighborhood without a leash. Ruby loves the freedom, and Tom loves that his dog is well-trained enough to not run away.

And the nanny... Some of our readers may have heard about our nanny drama. I'll keep it brief, but the young, enthusiastic girl we hired to care for Zeke turned out to be a different person than we thought she was.
Some of the surprises included: stealing two of Zeke's keepsake baptism gifts from grandparents (one of which she took to her family's home), lying about many things, watching tv all day long while leaving Zeke alone, packing our food in our tupperware containers to give her family members through the gate, inviting her dad in for gourmet lunches in our kitchen, having friends over to watch tv, and inviting her whole family to our house in the daytime to cook up lunch for her whole family. Every day, she would go under my bed, take out my straightening and curling irons, use them and my makeup and lotions.

Because of some carelessness on her part, we started to discover the stealing and lying last Friday. When she came clean and confessed to stealing the keepsakes, crying and begging forgiveness, we decided that maybe this could be a real turning point for a young girl. Everybody makes mistakes, and this could be a real opportunity for change. Except that 3 days later, Tom stopped home in the middle of the school day to find a baby (not ours) wandering around our house in a diaper, the stereo and tv blaring, her mom cooking up a storm in our kitchen (and later taking it all with her) and Zeke all alone in his crib- wide awake. Tom fired her on the spot, for violating one of our biggest house rules- no visitors! She and her family and friends were out of our house within 10 minutes.

Fortunately, thanks to the outpouring of help and suggestions from our friends and coworkers here, we had 5 great leads by the next day. We interviewed 5 women- all with experience and strong recommendations, and we hired a real winner. I think Zeke will be much happier with his new nanny, Belkis. She's an experienced mom who is musical, intelligent, and best of all- has a professional reputation of being honest and trustworthy. She doesn't live with us, but bikes from her own nearby neighborhood. She had her first day on Friday, and we have high hopes this time. And now, for a happy thought- watch this cutie in his new high chair!

As for what's going on here in Honduras politically, things seem pretty normal in La Ceiba. I don't claim to understand all of it, and I don't care to turn this into a political blog. Our own lives here in Honduras have been fairly normal. We're not trying to say that we don't care about people whose lives have been changed and affected by the events. It's just that this blog is about Karine and Tom (and Zeke and Ruby too) in Honduras- our lives and the stuff that happens right here in our little home. We've been a little slow on the blogging this month, but will try to get back on it!

Baby Lew FAQ's

As I sit at home enjoying my 3rd week of pre-baby maternity leave I've had a lot of time to relax, prepare, and enjoy the end of this exciting period of my life. I've loved being pregnant for the last 9 months, and I'm excited to do it again someday- but not too soon!

I thought I'd take a few minutes to answer some of the questions we're asked most often about the pregnancy/birth of our firstborn.

Q: Are you in labor yet?
A: Nope. Not yet.

Q: Do you have any signs of labor yet?
A: My doctor hasn't "checked" me yet, so I'm not sure about the whole dialation/effacement thing yet. I do know that I've been experiencing Braxton Hicks (or as Tom likes to call them, Meyers-Briggs) contractions quite a bit lately. These painless contractions are getting my body all ready for labor. I've been feeling a bit more uncomfortable in the last 2 days, so I'll take that as a positive sign. I've also been napping quite a bit during the daytime after bouts of baking and organizing.

Q: When is Baby Lew actually due?
A: That depends on who you ask. Throughout the course of the pregnancy, we've been given several "official" due dates. These dates include Jan. 23, Jan. 25, Sometime in the last week of Jan., Feb. 2, Feb 5, and Feb. 15. This can be especially confusing for people who thought there was a specific date on which this baby is/was supposed to arrive. Based on our doctor's best guess, use of his little wheel/calculator, ultrasounds, and our own calculations, we expect him sometime in the next week.
We chose Feb. 5 to be our "official" date because it's sort of in the middle of all those dates, and yet is far enough out that we won't feel like he's really late if it's still a week after that. Please pray that this child does not adopt the Honduran laid back approach to time until after he is born.

Q: Does your doctor know what he's doing?
A: I hope so. :) Actually, he's a very experienced baby deliverer- over 3,000 here in La Ceiba! He's pretty laid back about me needing to come in often, but we're scheduled to visit again on Feb. 2. Hopefully we'll have some news then.

Q: How big is this baby?
A: According to Babycenter.com, he's about the size of a small watermelon. I would argue for a medium watermelon.

Q: How are you going to get to the hospital?
A: On Tom's bike. He's installed a big basket on the front. It's only a quick 3 mile ride to the hospital. No- really, we'll probably take a taxi if it's between 5am-1am, as there are plenty all around town. If it's the middle of the night, we've got 3 different good friends that are happy to come and get us!

Q: Will you post news on your blog right away?
A: Our intention is to be able to share the good news as soon as we can. We'll be taking our laptop and our cell-phone modem to the hospital. We should be able to post pics and news as soon as we've got some. (Who am I kidding- Tom will be posting pics and news. I will not be blogging at that point)

Q: Do you know about all the "tricks" to make yourself go into labor?
A: As an avid internet junkie these days, I am well aware of all the "tricks" involved. I'm not too interested in eating/drinking any weird concoctions, but I've been taking walks a few times a day. I've been following the advice of my favorite pregnant-lady bulletin board. The ladies on this discussion board are full of ideas about the best ways to make a 39 week pregnant lady go into labor. I'd like to be confident that this little guy will come quickly as soon as he's ready.

Q: Are you scared about how much it's going to hurt?
A: Thanks to Discovery Health, I've seen a number of births and c-sections on tv lately. I think it's a pretty decent dose of reality. I'm bracing myself for whatever comes, but I don't really want to hear anyone else's story about how much it hurt until after the baby is here. Thanks!

Q: Do you actually have a real name picked out?
A: Tom and I are about 93% sure of a name. We'll tell you all once we see the little guy and know for sure. I hope that everyone likes it as much as we do. If you don't like it, please just pretend you do for my sanity's sake. I've heard that new mothers can be pretty emotional.


So that's what I've got. These are the most frequently asked questions, but please comment if you have other questions. I'd be happy to answer! Also, proceeds of bonsai tree sales until the due date will go to support hospital bills. Buy a bonsai today!

Growing Excitement!

Since Tom has been the main blogger lately, I thought I'd take my own chance to write about the ultrasound and the cool stuff going on with Baby Lew. When we went in for our ultrasound yesterday, we went in with the idea that I was about 32 weeks along. (There are usually 40 total weeks for those of you who weren't aware). Anyway, we've been expecting this baby to come sometime around Feb. 10 or so. The doctor originally thought my due date would be on Valentine's Day, but since getting our ultrasound yesterday, we've learned that he's coming sooner!

Since our little guy is already over 6 lbs, we will probably be meeting him sometime closer to Jan 25. This is a full 2 weeks earlier than we had planned! I'm taking this as a good sign, because if he's already over 6 lbs, I don't want him growing inside me for 8 more weeks! I'm just not prepared to deliver a 14 lb. baby!

After a visit with our regular doctor today, we were reassured that the baby looks wonderful, healthy, and I do too. I've been given the go-ahead to fly home for Christmas, and we've got plans to see a doctor in the U.S. when we get there. We're ready to be flexible with our plans, just like our baby is with his body. (Seriously, I think he might have a future in Cirque du Soliel)

Here are two self-portraits of me and my giant baby belly taken in the mirror. My maternity leave begins on Friday afternoon, after report cards are handed out.




While we're home in the states, we're grateful to our friends back here in Honduras for house-sitting and dog-sitting. We sure will miss Ruby, but we know she'll be in good hands.

Oh- and Cousin Mark is arriving within the hour! How exciting to have a visitor here- more about our fun to come...

Sunday on the Cangrejal

We've been enjoying the spledid weather the past couple of days. Its been about as good as it gets here in La Ceiba. We took a Sunday trip up the river yesterday. Here's Karine looking pretty in the sunshine.

It sure is pretty up there.

Week 29 Action Shots

To Do: Sunday!

We woke up today and realized that there are only 10 weekends left before we become parents. This includes the holidays, and so we're only actually home for 6 more of those weekends. Eeek!

It's rainy season here in Honduras. This means daily temperatures around 63 degrees and 100 percent humidity for about 3-4 months. When living in Honduras, mold becomes a part of one's life. For example, in our house right now, some of the items that are moldy are: bathrobes, front/back wooden door, walls, ceiling tiles, books, shoes, leather belts and purses, and a clay wall hanging. It's not because we're dirty people. It's just because it's the perfect condition for mold to grow! We try to keep up with it, but nothing ever completely dries out.

With our recent realization of the short amount of actual time left here before Baby Lew arrives, we both freaked out in our own way. I made a list of the things I need to do before the baby arrives. This includes things like buying a dresser, rug, and blinds for the baby's room, sewing a big patch for our green velvet couch, checking references on our potential nanny, and of course, decorating for Christmas. I'd also like to sit down and talk with Tom about my feelings and make some goals and plans for the upcoming weeks. We also need to figure out what we want to name this little guy.

Philosophically, Tom and I have some different feelings about what type of preparation needs to happen. I'd like to think about things and maybe buy some baby stuff. Also, I feel that our bedroom is incredibly ugly, so I'd kind of like to paint it, rearrange it, and sew some new curtains for it sometime in those 6 weekends.

I'm concerned about strollers also. Do we go for a travel system or just a stroller and a carrier separately? Forward or rear-facing stroller? I've read just about every review out there, and I've narrowed it down to a couple. Tom is also excited about strollers, but he's definitely into test-driving them before we buy. I hope Delta Airlines will let us travel with a stroller for free even without the baby. That's our plan for now! Here are a few pictures of those I'm interested in:




















Above: Kolcraft Contours (faces both forward and back) Right: Graco Stylus Travel System, Below: Chicco Cortina Keyfit. What decisions!

Feedback on strollers, anyone???










Tom's idea of preparation is on the list below. You will see that he's also scheduled some special time for us to talk about my feelings. It's just going to be after cleaning and organizing and bleaching our house. :) Meanwhile, I'm just going to think about my feelings and the projects I'd like to do. For me, it all starts with visualization.


I feel good about the progress made so far. Our house feels a lot cleaner, and I haven't had to do too much of it. We have already worked through the medicine cabinets and wicker bathroom drawers together. Now Tom is heating up some soup for lunch. Yummy! Happy Sunday, everyone!

Saturday News

Here is a picture of Karine drinking orange juice. She's wearing a funny outfit!

The Nanny Diaries

I know that from time to time, people wonder why the heck Tom and I live way down in Honduras. Aside from the 75 and sunny November days, there are some other major advantages for us to live here.

Throughout my life, I've experienced many different aspects of childcare. When I was growing up my mom took care of a couple neighbor kids in our home for awhile, and she later went on to license daycare homes in MN. Dinner topics could include the number of fire extinguishers in a house, or the quality of craft activities one home would provide for its charges. I did my fair share of babysitting as a teen (after reading 150 Babysitters Club books). For a year and half while I was in grad school, I worked as a nanny for two girls in a family's home. I've become sort of an expert on appropriate activities, healthy snacks, and required tasks of childcare.

The diaper is about to be on the other butt cheek now that I'm about to become a mother. Recently, a friend back home wrote to me about the challenge of finding a daycare home that met her needs. It turns out that it can be difficult to find someone with whom you can trust your child for several hours a day. In addition to that, a mother can only hope that their caregiver will instill the same values (and good grammar!) that they would receive at home. In the past few weeks, I've begun to think carefully about who will care for our little guy when I return to work.

I pulled the table below from the Minnesota Child Care Resources website.

Average Weekly Cost of Child Care

Below are some average ranges of weekly child care costs in Minnesota as of June 2008. Rates for part-time and drop-in care may be higher than those listed below.

Metro	Centers	Family Child Care
Infant	$286.00	$160.00
Toddler	$240.00	$150.00
Preschool	$212.00	$140.00
School-Age	$184.00	$125.00

I assume that this is pretty accurate and I know that the going rate for an in-home nanny is upwards of $400 per week. For the past few months, I've been researching child care options here in La Ceiba. While there are a few private centers in the area, the most common form of childcare is an in-home nanny. Many live in the home (or in small rooms attached/outside the home.) Others come only during the daytime. The average salary for a full-time nanny (not live-in) is about $25 per week/$100 per month. Yes- that's right. It's the going rate around here! A huge savings for a young couple on a budget!

We intend to find the best nanny in La Ceiba, and pay her an above-average salary to meet our above-average expectations. We've already interviewed (in Spanish) a woman that we've known for awhile from La Ceiba. She's a warm, caring, 50 something woman who would love to care for our little baby. If all goes as expected, I think she'll do a great job.

So that's one reason we like living here in Honduras. Ideally, I'd love to be able to stay home with our baby. Since that is not our plan for now, the second best option for us is having two income-earning parents and a loving nanny to care for our baby in the home. Anyone else want to move to Honduras???

Third Trimester

Tom and I have been amazed this past week to see how rapidly my belly is expanding. Here's a little trip down memory lane...

This photo was taken at week at Week 13 (Around August 10)

This one was taken at Week 19 (Sept.11)

And finally, you can see that today at Week 27, I am getting huge!

Baby Lew is about 2 pounds, 3 oz. From head to toe he measures about 15 inches! The official "compare your baby to food" website says that he's about the size of a full head of cauliflower. He loves moving around day and night, practicing for a future on the Honduran national soccer team. I'm pretty sure he's going to be a goalie, because he's using both hands and feet!
All in all, I still feel great and love being pregnant. The next few months are sure to fly by, but we are so excited to welcome our little guy into the world!

Nesting

The countdown is on! I've officially entered my third trimester with this pregnancy- just 3 months to go! I'll have Tom take a few Week 27 belly pics to post for tomorrow. (I'm serious about this swimming with dolphins thing- so far, we're winning our every day in November contest!)
For me, it's been an exciting week of baby prepping. Two big thank yous go out for a couple boxes we received earlier this week. Tom's mom sent us a box filled with goodies for the family- including some adorable baby clothes for our little guy. Also, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Cabbage Patch dolls, Tom and I became adoptive parents of a little tyke named Wally Aurelio. I'll admit that it's been pretty fun to think about the fact that our real baby is almost that size! Tom has also worn his newly repaired shoes twice this week, and I've enjoyed using a new kitchen sponge holder- a pink flamingo! Thank you, Jean!



The other box that arrived came from a helpful couple in the Austin, TX area. Mark and Jen sold us our baby bedding off of Craigslist.com, and really went the extra mile to ship it to us. After putting all of the bedding on the crib, and hanging some of the cute decorations, it's really starting to look like a nursery! Thank you Mark and Jen!


Finally, this weekend's project so far has been sewing cushions and cushion covers for our rocking chair. Unfortunately, La Ceiba does not have a Jo-Ann Fabrics or a Michaels, so searching for everything I needed required trips to several stores. For example, the store that sells fabric does not sell thread. The store that sells thread and rick-rack does not sell cushions or "esponja" (torn up pieces of foam to be used as stuffing).



I prefer to sew without a pattern. This way, I can't really get anything wrong! I just kind of measure and draw on the fabric. I cut the fabric with my handy-dandy rotary cutter (a super sharp pizza cutter-type gadget) and after stuffing some esponja inside- voila! I had a cushion!



The next task involved creating a cover for my cushion that would match our other decor. Luckily, there are 17 shades of blue and 5 shades of green in the patterns. I chose a cute blue gingham print and lime green for the accent color. I'm still debating whether to add my rick-rack as a finishing touch. I'm afraid it may look too 1960's.


I also made a cushion for the backrest, but haven't sewn the cover for that one yet. Maybe tomorrow. For now, we're using the comforter that goes with our bedding set. I think it looks great!



I'm not exacty sure what the next big project will be. I was thinking about curtains, but I think that blinds or a pull-down shade might be better. We've got one window valence right now, but it doesn't cover the whole window, so I'm going to get another one of those. Oh, the tough decisions that are facing us! Pretty rough. Well, all this nesting really gives me an appetite, so we're off to dinner with friends at Playa Taty's, our favorite sea-front restaurant in town!

Karine, looking sort of mischievous at 22 weeks

A Day in the Life of Karine

5:30am Wake up, let dog out and make coffee

5:45 Shower and get ready for day, put on a preggo outfit that feels like pajamas but looks like “real work clothes”

6:30 Get in the car of a family on their way to school to avoid taxi fare (1 whole dollar saved!)

6:45 Arrive at school, am greeted by 18 eager 4th graders standing outside my classroom door

6:55 All 28 kids are in desks and have started reading chapter books of their choice

7:15 Teach Reading and discuss whether city or country life is better, and then send kids to library class with Mr. Lew

8:55 Supervise recess outside, get patted on belly by at least 5 kids coming to say hi to me and the baby

9:15 Pass out English test on What is a Sentence?, reminding students that the word “is” is actually a verb/simple predicate! While students are taking test, I get brilliant and self-centered idea for this blog.

10:05 Math class- regrouping and subtracting across zeros. Tough stuff for some, collective “yessssss!” after each correct answer is read as students either celebrate or pretend they got the right answer and say "Yessssssssss!" thirty times.

10:55 Supervise elementary lunch/second recess outside

11:15 Visit 1st grade classroom to explain that the big mean 4th grade teacher noticed them throwing rocks at lunch and it will not be tolerated. Scare them a bit, but feel a little bad for the kids who weren't throwing rocks.

11:30 Eat lunch in the library’s kitchen/lounge with Tom and another woman who works in library. I have 2 squares of leftover homemade pizza and grapefruit juice. Get caught up on the goings-on of Sarah Palin and the economy from Tom.

12:05 Return to my classroom for a prep period.

1:00 Begin teaching Social Studies (studying the Northeast region of the U.S.) and then meet with 12 student groups about their upcoming science fair projects.

1:45 Shoo kids out the door as the bell rings and begin to meet with parents lined up outside classroom. Several have questions about the science fair projects.

2:20 Sit down at desk, looking at piles of math papers and English notebooks. Tom's Pop Band is providing the background soundtrack to my work as they practice in the All Purpose Room

3:15 Take a taxi home and relax on bed in tv room. End up watching 2 hours of "coverage". (Tom takes following political goings-on seriously. "This could be a landmark day".

5:20 Walk to friend's house in neighborhood to pick up Fisher, Ruby's doggy boyfriend. He's going to stay with us for 2 weeks.

6:00 Feed the dogs and the husband. (Dog food and tacos)

6:30 Spend a half hour catching up with my mom and dad on phone. Learned that my dad enjoyed reading Water for Elephants too.

7:10 Think about grading the English tests I gave today. Thinking I'd probably rather read for an hour or so before going to bed.

8:43 Time for bed. Woo-hoo!

MORE EXCITING UPDATES AS THE DAY PROGRESSES!

My Birthday Present

Our son gave us an early small birthday present last night. Very small, but it's definitely there! We are excited to share that we are going to be having a little boy! Here's proof:

The arrows don't lie!

Finding out was what I really wanted most for a birthday present. Since ultrasounds here are first come, first served, we could have been waiting anywhere from 5 minutes to 3 hours for an appointment. I didn't want to spend my birthday in a waiting room, so I convinced Tom that Children's Day (Sept. 10) would be a better time to wait, and I got it last night.

This is one of those cool 4-D ultrasound pics!

For those of you who have been keeping tabs- I knew it all along! I was on cloud nine all night. When I woke up this morning, my first thought was, "We're having a boy!" and my second thought was "I'm 30."

It's been a great day so far though, and I'm so happy to be wearing my new blue birthday shirt over my 19 week preggo belly!