Zeke in the snow

I think we forgot to mention anywhere here that we got about twenty inches of snow at the beginning of February. Here is Zeke wading in God's gift to Northwest Arkansas.

Cold Front

It has been unseasonably cool this past week in La Ceiba. We couldn't be happier. Lower temperatures means more clothes. More clothes, more cuteness.

January Rains

Sometimes it rains here in La Ceiba. Sometimes it rains quite a bit. Today is an absolutely perfect day: sunny, bright, breezy, and fresh. Not so much last night after the circus. Finding a taxi after the show was, well, a bit of a circus.

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!

How is the weather in La Ceiba?

The weather is slightly moldy with a chance of mildew.

The following actual conversation took place last night as I was getting dressed for my weekly gig at Expatiates Bar. I had just put on what I thought was a pretty sweet looking shirt.

KARINE: You can’t wear that shirt!
ME: Why not? This shirt is awesome.
KARINE: That shirt is covered in mold.

Rainy season is really fun.

Rain Day

Our alarm clock went off at 5:30, and by 5:40 am, my phone was ringing. School was cancelled! It's been raining for the past 20 hours pretty steadily, and when this happens, bridges go out and roads are flooded. No school for us today! (When our principal called to tell me, she could hear Tom singing and dancing "No school- phone tree!" in the background- she found this funny.)


We were already up and the coffee was on, so after activating my class phone tree to let the students know, we enjoyed a relaxing morning with coffee on the front porch, hot veggie & egg scramble, and fresh sparkly juice drinks. We have cozied up in our favorite cold weather clothing - sweatpants and t-shirts. Tom has even donned slippers for the occasion. For our first activity of the day, we curled up to listen to an episode of an NPR show we love (and so we download the podcast), "This American Life." Tom cuddled with Ruby on the floor, while I watched my belly move and dance around. (The baby really likes rain days with coffee and juice too!)


Who knows what other exciting activities today will bring! Happy Rain Day!

This and That

It's been another busy week in Lake Wobegon- I mean La Ceiba.

Due to Tropical Depression Sixteen, school was canceled on Thursday and Friday of this week. While the storm did bring about quite a bit of rain on Wednesday, and was supposedly going to get worse in the coming days, the storm fizzled out once it hit land, and didn't pose much of a threat to us in La Ceiba. We woke up Thursday morning to blue skies and light showers later in the day. Our school totally would've had class, but COPECO (the Honduran equivalent of FEMA or something like that) declared that it would be illegal for any school to have class for 72 hours. Unfortunately, they declared this in the middle of the worst day, and Thursday and Friday were beautiful.


We went to the doctor again for a checkup on Thursday. He said that everything looks great! We even took a tour of the recovery rooms (that's what I think of them as) for after I have the baby at the hospital. Each room is equipped with cable TV, air conditioning, a second bed for hubby and a walk out balcony with an oceanfront view! You can visit our hospital's website here. Our doctor is a German man, who speaks 5 languages. He's the founder and director of the hospital. We like him!



Our doctor had not yet seen our ultrasound pics that proved our baby was, in fact, going to be a boy. When he looked at the pictures, he said (in Spanish), "I don't see any boy parts here! 18 weeks is too early to tell. That ultrasound doctor (not the one that our doctor normally works with) didn't know what he was talking about!" Imagine my concern when I pictured our little boy actually being born a little girl! So, we took advantage of a second day in a row off of school to visit the sonographer again (the one our doc recommends) and confirmed that Baby Lew IS actually going to be born with boy parts. It may seem like we do a lot of ultrasounds, but they only cost us $3 each! It's so fun to check him out and see him moving around. He's already up to 1 lb. 5 oz and around 12 inches long! That explains my ever-expanding belly.

Ruby thouroughly enjoyed her almost three-week stint with her boyfriend, Fisher. He went home to his owner today, and Ruby has been a bit sad ever since. Yesterday, we came across the dogs just hanging out in the doorway to the backyard. It was just too cute!





This morning, Tom had band practice with his friend. They're playing again on Wednesday nights at Expatriates Bar here in La Ceiba. It's always fun to listen as Tom learns new songs to sing and to play on the guitar. For the 10 years I've known him, I've been listening to him on bass, but recently his guitar skills have become quite good! Plus, he has such a nice voice too!

I'm officially in full nesting mode. Every day, I begin thinking about the evening meal. This week, my new recipes were rosemary roasted chicken, homemade enchiladas, french bread, monster cookies, and tonight's special- chicken pot pie from scratch! (I did have to substitute rosemary for sage in the crust, but it was still very tasty.)



Last weekend, we got our crib and put our rocking chair together (Okay, so Tom put them together, but I was solid moral support). Today, I saw the table man walking down the street selling this table. We already had a similar one that we've been using on our patio out front, but I've been thinking that it's just the right height for a changing table. I flagged him down and paid him 350 Lempira ($18) for his craftsmanship and home delivery. I think I'll sand it and paint it tomorrow. The nursery is really starting to come together!


Well, that's the news from La Ceiba, where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average. (At least I'm pretty strong, Tom is definitely good looking, and I've got a good feeling about Baby Lew being above average.)

Karen Lewandowski: Extreme Weather Photographer

My little sister Karen took this picture of a tornado from her backyard. She lives in Denver. She said there was no wind, no hail, no rain, no thunder and lightening. Just a tornado sucking up houses about a mile from where she lives. Great job Karen! Maybe next time there is a deadly tornado in your neighborhood take some pictures of a closet or bathroom located in your basement.

Hurricane Update

Not too scary so far. A lot of rain and a little wind. We went to the La Quinta Real Hotel to find the CNN correspondent we saw on TV. We couldn't find him, so we decided to do our own broadcast.

The Sea

Living on the Carribbean coast can certainly have its perks. On Sunday, we joined 8 friends on a chartered fishing boat out to the Cayos Cochinos. These are a small series of tiny cays and islands just off the coast of Honduras. The islands are considered a natural park reserve, yet people are allowed to buy the lots and live there. Our friend has just purchased a lot on one of these islands. We spent the day lounging in the water, getting a little sunburned, eating fresh fish at a Garifuna village, and snorkeling in the reefs. It was a beautiful day!



As some of you have probably heard, we are in a red alert here in Honduras as Hurricane Felix makes landfall today. While it hit land as a Category 5 off the eastern coast of Honduras and Nicaragua, the storm is expected to lose a lot of its windpower as it passes over the many beautiful mountains here. By the time it reaches La Ceiba, we won't be dealing with the winds as much as the rain. In the past, when La Ceiba has been hit with torrential rains, it floods the rivers and the streets become undrivable. Bridges are washed out and people are not able to get out of their neighborhoods. We are still living at the Dole guesthouse (our stuff is still in the port with customs) and we are actually in one of the safest places in La Ceiba. The campus here may have some standing water outside, but is not expected to experience serious flooding. Dole has also set up several buildings on the campus as a safe haven for any employees living out in the community. Here, we have a generator and backup water, so we shouldn't be without either of those for very long. But, this is Honduras, so I can't guarantee any communication for a few days.


Bottom line- we'll be fine. That sea just likes to change things up once in awhile. It can't always be as picturesque and perfect as a Corona commercial! (Seriously- some of the islands were a tiny sand oasis with two perfect palm trees) If we need to get anywhere, we now know a guy with a boat! Besides we have today off of school, and probably another couple days depending on how the roads are!

PS- Thanks Cousin Mark! We ate at Ricardo's Saturday night, and it was delicious. I had Lobster Thermador and Tom had steak and lobster. It was a yummy treat!

Three Seconds of Rain

Counseling.

We'll Be Fine

We'll be Fine. The forecast calls for a lot of rain and wind, but nothing too scary. The phones and power might go out though...

We call him Dean-O

Don't worry...

To quote our favorite artist, Bobby McFerrin, "Don't worry, be happy!" Hurricane Dean is really nothing to worry about. The National Hurricane Center has now predicted that Hurricane Dean will go north of Honduras. This is often the way tropical weather patterns will work around here because the Carribbean's warm waters cause storms to head northward before they would hit Honduras's coasts. Nevertheless, we have plenty of experienced storm-weatherers to keep us safe and well communicated in case of an emergency.

The Beach

We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant on the sea last night. Half-way through dinner, a three piece band showed up. They arrived by bicycle. They asked us if they could play a song for us, but there was already music blasting from the speakers. So we said no thanks. I hope we see these guys again so we can get a picture.

We're thinking about taking a trip this weekend, either the mountains or the beach. It kind of depends on what hurricane Dean does though....

Can't Wait for the Rainy Season

We were on our way to dinner tonight when we got caught in this.

Rainy Day

It's been a rainy day here in Hondo. We tried to go to the local catholic church this morning for mass. When we arrived, it appeared as though the mass would be beginning shortly, and the priest was busy baptizing about 9 Garifuna kids. Each row of people would go to the front of the church, have their child baptized, and then return. After that, each row of people then went up again and did the baptism candle and passing thing. Then, everyone else said the Lord's Prayer in Spanish (We didn't participate because we didn't know the words in Spanish). Then it was over and people started taking pictures. Though we didn't actually see a mass, we figured watching a sacrament 9 times over fulfilled our holy obligation today. We got caught out in the rain after church so we went to lunch at a restaurant in the Hotel Paris. Meals here take a little longer, so we were at lunch for 2 full hours. It was nice though, since we have nothing we need to do today.

We begin work tomorrow. The new teachers will be given keys, a tour, and a physical. We'll sign some papers and call it a job! Rumor has it that the 4th graders at our school are nervous that their new teacher won't speak Spanish. Up until this point in their education, most instruction has been in English but their teacher has been fluent in Spanish. I'll be patient and kind, but my Spanish is not strong enough yet to teach them too much. Our administrators have assured me that the kids will learn quickly and it will be very good for them. How exciting!

Here are a few pictures of our new home and our neighborhood.




Some flowers I picked in our yard...

The Bedroom

Dining Room/Kitchen


Living Room