Back in Honduras

We have been back in Honduras since April 4th! It has been challenging to settle back into things and to adapt with the new baby and establish a routine. We're still working on a routine...

After Lucas was born, we spent a week more in Dallas before heading to Stillwater, OK to my sister's. Then we skipped back to Edmond to stay with Joni and Terry before heading to my grandfather's in Arkansas. After spending a few days with them we completed the trip to Nashville! It was a whirlwind time trying to pack, unpack, pack....nurse, feed bottles, and see everyone we wanted to see. We had a health scare also to deal with - Lucas's newborn screening test came back abnormal and we had to leave my Granddad's early to take him to the ER in Little Rock where they did additional blood tests and assured us that these tests have a high false positive rate. Of course the results came back within normal ranges and we were told to follow up once we got to Nashville just to be sure. In the end everything was fine, but we were scared out of our minds and exhausted from all the rushing.

It has been nice to finally be back in my own space and not living out of a suitcase! When we got back, however, the house was a mess! It was so dirty and dusty but luckily my sister in law had come to clean the day before. Still it was messy. And we had mice. Again. There weren't any when we left...but the people "taking care of" the house never cleaned I guess, so that was definitely not a fun realization. We killed THREE!

We also had to delay unpacking somewhat because we had so much junk to get rid of. I think we cleared 5 boxes of stuff to throw or give away! Then we had to buy a few things - a water dispenser, a bouncy chair for the baby, and just recently a new fan! Marcos found a good deal on a portable AC/fan that holds 7 gallons of water and has an ice chamber; so the fan blows cold air like an AC. It's pretty nice, and blows cold even without the ice! He also bought Leyla a swimming pool since she LOVES water and it's so hot anyway.

The other issue was whether or not to hire a maid. I have been so stressed trying to clean, take care of Leyla, take care of the baby, cook, and have some time for myself in there somewhere! It has been especially difficult with Lucas not wanting to nurse. We have had issues from the beginning and I have been trying desperately for about 3 weeks now to wean him from the bottles and get him back to exclusively breastfeeding. He is doing a lot better latching on correctly and my milk supply seems to have increased somewhat, but we are still not all the way there! He is down from 25 ounces of formula a day to 12 ounces, and is seemingly still gaining weight and doing fine so we will keep on trucking. :)

Anyway, we finally found someone to come twice a week and clean. So far she is great! She comes and starts right in and leaves everything clean when she leaves. She does a very thorough job and it takes the stress off of me for the rest of the week - I can do dishes and light sweeping, knowing that deep cleaning is done. Before I pretty much always lightly cleaned what was visible, but the dust and the corners never got cleaned...and that drives you crazy but there was just no time to deep clean!

Trying to nurse, pump, and feed bottles - and cook, and clean, and answer Leyla's every request, and rest, was NOT working!! Plus no rest and all the stress wasn't helping my milk production. I was doing so much to increase my supply and felt like it was taking way too long and not doing anything - so I've realized that stress and rest really do affect it. Just in this last week I have really noticed a difference so I am a lot more hopeful and positive about it now.

Lucas is 10 weeks old now and weighs around 12 pounds (he's a chunker!!). Leyla is doing better but still not speaking any Spanish. I think she is understanding a little more now though and at least participating (in Church) and having fun. She plays in the water all day long and changes clothes 3 times a day, almost always choosing a "beautiful" dress. She has really liked having her mantequilla and beans back!

 Before leaving TN, we went on a walk at my dad's - Lucas slept the whole way, thanks to this sling from Tia Fide!!

 Leyla and Lucas with Mama-Dena before leaving!

 Lucas at Mommy-Me's in Nashville - this outfit doesn't fit him anymore! He was probably a month old or so in this picture.

 Lucas asleep in his cute crib in Honduras!!! He actually won't sleep there for more than 5 minutes. I have GOT to sleep train him - but with all the stress from nursing I don't want to add anymore. Once he gets a good feeding routine going, we'll work on the sleeping.

 The two of them asleep on the couch! I love this picture! They look so much alike!

 Smiles!

 Swimming at Iguana's water park - Leyla had so much fun!

Lucas had a lot of fun :) Kidding! He slept the whole time.

35 weeks...at home in Nashville!

Oh goodness I am getting really bad about updating. Well, we are in Nasvhille and have been here since just after Christmas. We have had lots of fun but I've spent WAY to much money already and still have 2 months  to go!
So far I've bought ALL the baby's things, clothes, blankets, bedding, and a few rattles. I tried not to go overboard but it still seems like a lot!
For Leyla and me, of course we had to buy winter clothes - so I have spent a bit on maternity clothes and long sleeve shirts and sweaters for her. I bought a few nursing tops too, for later. We bought a computer also, so that was a bit pricey! Probably the most expensive thing I bought. I had to get my licensed renewed and my bank account switched to something that worked better for us. We bought Leyla a baby doll, some books, and a few videos to keep her entertained. Mom had bought her some puzzles, playdough, and a dollhouse, which she LOVES. And I guess I've been eating a lot too! So from now on I'm going to try not to spend anymore money unless it's on groceries, until Marcos gets here and then I can blame him if we run out, ha!

 We had lunch with Mauricio at his restaurant - this picture really makes me look like I swallowed a watermelon!

 Leyla and her mommy-me at Mama-Dena's house.

 playing badminton in the yard at daddy-dee's house!

 playing tea party and birthday party at mommy-me's - one of her favorite things to do!

eating spaghetti at Fazoli's! yum!

I always end up slacking on maternity pictures; tried to take one every 4 weeks and I think I've only gotten a 4, 9, 12, 19, 28, ad 34 week picture! OH well. Anyway, I think I am pretty big but still not as big as I was with Leyla at the end. I was sticking straight out with her! So I've got at least 2 inches to go with this one. I am starting to get really tired now and am not able to put my shoes on comfortably. Now I'm starting to think about post-pregnancy and how I will shed the weight. I did nothing with Leyla and the pounds just came off, thanks to breastfeeding. But I am afraid I have gained so much in the last few weeks just from being in the USA that I may have a harder time losing it all. We'll see how it goes, but, I will definitely have to exercise some just for my own health and energy. I HATE running but I know that exercise gives you more energy instead of zapping you of it - it is had to get started though. I have always liked to do core exercises and when I found out I was pregnant I had found some great routines that I tried to do a couple times and then stopped because of the pregnancy (they were too intense). I think I will go back to those routines afterwards. I definitely feel out of shape, and not just because I'm pregnant!

Next week, we will be driving to Dallas for my first appointment with my US doctor, at 36 weeks - then it'll be wait, wait, wait!

A Few Holiday Pictures

Back in Honduras!

We have been back in Honduras now since Sunday! Leyla slept from Nashville to Atlanta but was awake the entire trip from Atlanta to Tegusigalpa! She fell asleep right as the plane landed and stayed asleep through customs. She loved looking out the window at the mountains and the clouds! When we got to Tegus, the bus station was closed for some reason and we didn't want to take the cheaper bus because they are so crowded - sooo, we paid the taxi driver to take us to Juticalpa. We rode a taxi to Juticalpa! And Leyla slept the whole way. Then Angel and his brother came in Marcos's truck and picked us up.

The house was fine, Dania had taken good care of it - almost all the plants were still there, haha. The house was picked up but there was a lot of dust. Amazingly we got all unpacked, bought groceries, did laundry, and cleaned the entire house on Monday!

Leyla is doing well now. The first couple of days she was a little confused and clingy but now she is doing really well. However, here's a really funny story: Wednesday night, Leyla was with Marcos coloring with markers all over herself and the floor. We heard her crying and so came in to see what was wrong and her feet were completely colored red and she was staring at them screaming! Every time she looked at her feet she screamed! We washed it all off and she still cried. She would not go to sleep - it was like she was scared of her feet! Finally we had the idea to put socks and pants on her and she calmed down. Poor thing cried for 2 hours I think and slept with us. I think she must have a really good memory or something because it bothered her the whole night and she couldn't forget about it. Even yesterday she would look at her feet and start whimpering!

That's really all the news, I haven't started working yet but have started getting prepared. Mostly we're just relaxing and taking a break and spending time with Leyla!

IT'S SNOWING!

It snowed on Sunday! I didn't really take pictures, but here are a couple of Leyla and I. I really wanted to play in it with her but it's just soooo cold and she doesn't have a snowsuit, so we just stood there and took a picture.

I worked Sunday morning for the first time (drive-thru) and it was so cold! The snow kept hitting my face. It was fun to watch it though. Then Sunday night we followed tradition and watched cars try to make it up the hill in front of our house :P Is that mean? It's our only entertainment, ha. We saw a van head up and slide backwards and just stop there as if not sure what to do. Then a car passed it going down the hill. Then, another car went by and all the sudden I heard CRUNCH! and it hit the guard rail. So the two were stranded for awhile. All the passengers got out eventually and the cars slid down safely. Then a salt truck came and spoiled our fun!! We had about 5 cars stranded though.

Christmastime and other News...

It's almost Christmas!! We have had so much fun at grandma and grandpa's. Leyla is learning lots of new things - she started saying a form of "moo" yesterday for a cow and a type of "cock-a-doodle-doo" sound for roosters! She has three and a half teeth now, she's obsessed with her belly button, loves unplugging Christmas lights, has learned how to take her DVD out of its case, turn the TV on, start the DVD player, and watch her movie, and can touch her toes when we sing "Head and Shoulders." She's getting there on the rest of the body parts :)

We took her to nursery-class at Church on Wednesday and she had a blast with the little kids. They were all blond except Leyla! She played with the bubble machine, hugged the little babies, even fought with one over a toy car, and ate lots of cheerios. I can't wait to take her Sunday morning to see what she does in an actual class!

I put up all the Christmas lights in the house and 2 Christmas trees! I've been making lots of cookies too - I went to a Cookie Exchange at my cousin's and came home with some fabulous recipes! I made peppermint bark with dark chocolate and white chocolate too and some delicious oreo balls. They are soooo easy to make and ridiculously good. They are my new favorite dessert!

1 package doublestuff oreos
1 package almond bark
8 oz cream cheese

All you do is separate the cookies and cream, mix the cream with the cream cheese, crush the oreo cookies in a blender, and mix them together again. Then once it's all good and mixed you form the dough into little balls and refrigerate for about 1 hour. Melt the almond bark and dip the balls in it! They are seriously amazing!

Thirteen Months

Leyla turns 13 months tomorrow. She has been doing so great in Nashville this time! She is sleeping all night, on her own, not waking up, not getting in bed with mommy...it's incredible! And she's taking long naps during the day. I don't know what's gotten into her but I sure hope she keeps it up when we get back to Honduras!!

 She likes to play outside and had lots of fun in the grocery cart at Kroger!

She is so cute, she is learning about body parts - we got her a "head-and-shoulders" Baby Einstein video and she loves it. She loves to find and touch her belly button and she's started opening and closing her fists a lot too. My mom got her a cute little Dora chair too, to watch her videos in - and she goes straight to it when the TV comes on!

She loves to play with the dogs and try to catch their tails and she loves climbing up and down the stairs when we're not looking! Sometimes she just sits on the bottom step like it's a little seat made especially for her :)  She also figured out how to open the Jack-in-the-Box by flipping the switch instead of waiting for the song to play! She is getting smarter every minute!!

Back in the USA

Leyla and I made it back to Nashville yesterday, November 20th. It feels great to be back! We had a good flight - Leyla slept - and no delays. Grandmom and "Grandpop" as he calls himself were very excited to see the sleeping beauty when we arrived :) Of course she woke up when we made it to the house and had a blast with all the new toys her grandmother had bought her!

Today we went to church and had my birthday lunch - pot roast with carrots and potatoes! Mom made me a red velvet cake, too! It was delicious. Leyla took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, so we were VERY happy about that. She has been having so much fun playing in the yard and with the dogs and loves all her new toys! She loves to chase the dogs and pat them. She has a new grocery cart too with play food and she likes to push it around. Mom also got her a pink Dora chair and it is so cute how she sits herself down in it. She loves it :) So far she is not missing Honduras or warm weather at all it seems! She is so flexible and adjusts easily. But then she does have lots of new distractions :)