Well we are still here, waiting for a visa.  We hope to be traveling before the end of the month, but we aren't really in charge of anything at this point, so we don't know for sure.

In the mean time, we are having a bit of a summer vacation in February.  Daniel already started leave and is home, which the girls are just loving.  We are mostly living out of our suitcases, and I have time to thoughtfully pack, store, and get rid of stuff.  We are only bringing 4 suitcases with us, and I'm being very choosy about what stays behind in storage.  Things don't store easily here, between heat, bugs, and moisture.  My brother-in-law will be staying in our house, so our furniture can stay here, and everything else has been winnowed down to a couple dozen tupperware boxes.  I'm looking forward to not being tied down by stuff!

Miss M and Lu like nothing better than being outside, especially if they can help their daddy with chores.  Their daddy is looking forward to the day that he can send them out to do chores on their own....

The girls are growing and changing moment by moment.  Ms M has already outgrown the next up size in shoes that I had planned to take with us.  She's speaking in full sentences, and likes to bust out with random reminders in quiet moments, like "We don't eat soap!"  Truth.  Lu is a perpetual motion machine, and is in trouble the moment my back is turned.  Her favored method currently is dragging a chair over to reach anything out-of-bounds up high-- door latches, the top shelves of the bookcase, the back of the counter.  She is impervious to any method of discipline, which does not bode well for our future.  Both girls are able to count to 10 in English and Spanish, which sounds impressive but actually is because I count at them all the time ("I'll give you to the count of 3 to come over here!!!" ) so mostly reflects on their naughtiness :)  For two-year-olds they are pretty mellow though.  We aren't struggling with temper tantrums, knock on wood.  Crossed fingers for our upcoming looooong flights!

This summer was rough.  Normally the rains start in August, but this year they were late, which means temperatures were out of control.  An article in the paper said this September was the hottest on record for Belize since 1857.

The problem with the heat is that the girls and I just can't escape it.  Our house is so tiny, all of us in one room all day long.  By 9am it is too hot to be outside, so we bounce around the (un air-conditioned) 12X20 ft downstairs, everyone getting a little crazier each day.  Everything edible/throwable/breakable has migrated to above 3 1/2 ft and yet the house still looks like a hurricane has hit it approximately 10 minutes after the girls wake up.  Once a week or so we journey out into the world, for a playdate or a visit to see Daddy at school.  Nowhere is air-conditioned, there is no escape from the 90 degree heat, so these trips (with the in/out of the car carseat wrestling matches, the inevitable toddler faceplants, and the dreaded car seat naps) wipe me out for the rest of the day.   Coping mechanisms have been lots of iced tea (for me) and Disney movies (for them).  Ms M now knows most of the words to the songs from Annie, the Lion King, and Mary Poppins.... which actually I feel is quite an accomplishment for a 2 year old.

I've been reflecting on this summer, though, and I decided I want to remember the good things.  The funny toddler sayings, their weird little quirks.  I have a pretty poor memory, so by writing down the good things and ignoring most of the bad things (AHEM potty training) in a few years I will look back at these toddler years with happiness.  Hopefully.

So on to my babies.  Since Ms M turned 2, her language has exploded.  Every day she tries out new words and phrases, and often Daniel and I turn to each other, puzzled as to where she heard her newest expression.  Her face and expressions are so animated, that even when she is just babbling in baby talk people often ask me what she is saying, convinced maybe she is speaking some other language.  She is quite, quite certain that there are monkeys in the fridge, and points that out to us several times a day.  She belts out show tunes and nursery rhymes, and dances with total freedom.  It's a joy to watch.  She is gentle with babies, but not with her sister.  She takes my face in both hands every night, and gives me a run down of her day in baby babble, often ending with, "monkeys upstairs?"  She talks to herself in third person, saying, "Look Emma, look!,"  She still hasn't figured out the logic of names, and calls pretty much everyone (including Daniel and I) "Tio." (Spanish for uncle).  Lu she has nicknamed Isa.  She is a night owl and a morning grump.

Lu is up, awake, and smiling by 6:30 every morning.  She talks a lot, mostly about her favorite things: flowers, balls, and the cat.  The cat she loves with much physical affection, and the cat really does not reciprocate. She is an independent miss, not really affectionate, but she likes to lean against me when I am sitting on the floor.  She is always dirty, even minutes after a bath.  She eats everything (even non edible things) with gusto.  She is absolutely fearless. When she falls she never cries, just picks herself up and barrels onwards.  She likes to spin in circles until she falls down and walk around the house with her eyes closed.  When you ask for a kiss, she shuts her eyes tight, sucks in her bottom lip, and turns her face up to yours.... which looks like a beaver.  She is obsessed with giving fist bumps, and will circle the room at family gatherings giving bump after bump.  She sits on her sister whenever she gets a chance (revenge I think for all the times her sister sat on her as a baby).  She has the longest eyelashes I have ever seen on a baby.  

So that is us, at the end of the summer.  Hanging on, looking forward to rainy days and cool nights.

summer summary

Summer, mostly over, and everything a blur of hot humid days.  Here is what we are up to...

The girls are growing so fast I could probably chart the differences day by day.  Ms M went though a shoe size in a week!  They drink about a half a gallon of cow's milk a day (thank goodness we have a cow) so that could have something to do with it.  They are in the language explosion stage and I love it.  Lu is already starting on a few words at 1 1/2 years old, but Miss M is in the accelerated growth stage of language.  A few months ago she was trying out one word at a time, and now she turns to Lu and says quite clearly, "go away now."  They have 15 minute periods scattered throughout the day of actually liking each other.  The rest of the day I mostly feel like a referee for angry territorial cats.  There is a lot of shrieking in this house.

I spent quite a lot of time this summer making cheese.  We were only milking 3 goats, but that was enough for about 5 pounds of cheese a week! I did a fun cheese swap with some facebook friends in San Pedro-- I sent cheese (by plane!  I felt very sophisticated... this is what my life has become) in exchange for some organic cocoa powder and a whole pile of fabric, most of which Miss M has claimed for "pretty dresses."  Most of my cheese I sell locally, since I am actually one of the few people in the entire country who makes and sells goat cheese.   That is not something I ever expected to be known for...

We've also aquired some new creatures, namely a pair of fluffy dwarf bunnies

and a goat named Snow who was raised in a kitchen (NOT mine) and thinks she is human.

 She sleeps on our doorstep each night and faithfully follows Daniel around the farm each morning. Whenever I open the door she walks right into the house with an attitude of absolute entitlement. She's pretty gentle with the girls, but will buck them over if they bother her too much.  So basically she fits right into the toddler mafia at this house.

 Nana came to visit a few weeks ago, bringing tutus and fairy wings and lots and lots of chocolate.

We went to visit friends who live deep in the jungle, where a family of howler monkeys came to observe us as the babies splashed in the jungle stream.

Mom was convinced the monkeys would pee on her head, but she escaped unscathed.  Our friends say they are fascinated by children, and come to watch every time the kids swim.

On the farm, it's baby goat time.

In one of the crazier things that has ever happened in our goat experience, we discovered a brand new baby goat deep in an ant nest tunnel.  The mama goat delivered a set of twins on a leaf cutter ant nest, which is a nice clear sandy mound and must have seemed like a good choice.... until one of the babies fell into a hole.

Fortunately we found him quickly, but we had a crazy time getting him out.  The tunnels can go 10-15 feet down, and the little guy was stuck in a bend about a foot from the surface.  The good news was that part of the nest was abandoned by the ants, so they didn't swarm and kill him.  The bad news was other unsavory things like to move into abandoned nests.  This fact didn't occur to me until I had both arms past the elbows squeezed in the tunnel trying to basically deliver a baby goat out a small dirt hole, and Daniel warned me not to put my hands all the way under the goat.  That was the point when I really got motivated.  It was a tight squeeze getting him out, but we managed with only a few scrapes and he is just fine.

His twin sister is 1/3 his size, and the tiniest baby goat we have ever had.

Which makes her the perfect size for the girls to play with.  And by play I mean practice being "gentle" while repeatedly pointing out "EARS!!!"  A baby goat with long ears is very exciting when you have just discovered ears.

Finally, Lu's teeth have started to come in... but only the canines on the top, not the front teeth.

We love her adorable baby vampire look :)

Every once in a while I start feeling a bit guilty about neglecting this blog, which means it's probably time for another update.

December was a really good month for us.  After over a year and a half of stress, lawyers, and paperwork, our little Miss M's adoption was finalized.

Such joy, and such relief to be done with the process.  At a little over a year and a half old, Miss M rules the house.  She spontaneously dances to any sound-- the cell phone ringing, the guinea hens calling-- and she is good.  One point to nature, because Daniel and I certainly can't nurture dance, we are painfully awkward.  She loves to stay up late and sleep in, her favorite food is pineapple, and she lives in her red rubber boots and a tutu.  For some reason even though she can say 'mommy,' she prefers to call both me and Daniel 'daddy.'  I answer to it :)

We celebrated Lu's one year birthday a few days later...

Everyone goes crazy over her eyelashes.  Lu is an interesting mix of independence and clinginess at this age.  She does not like strangers, but she doesn't really like to be held or cuddled by us either.  She wants to be on the go, exploring and putting everything in her mouth.  Her favorite thing to eat is paper.  She is a bit of a klutz, falling over and banging into things all the time.  I desperately hope she outgrows it, because she is also totally fearless and will fling herself off the couch with glee, leaving us frantically grabbing for an arm or leg.  I predict a future of trick horse riding and emergency room visits. 

And Kobe came to visit over Christmas.  

Random picture, but one of the few I have where his face is not a total blur because this kid never stops moving.  He's 3 1/2 now, and goes to pre-school where he lives with his family, which frankly must be the saving grace for them, because at the end of the day Daniel and I would collapse in an exhausted stupor from trying to keep up with him.  He is a smart little guy, and remembers everything about living with us.  As soon as he walked in the door he started begging to milk the cow.  Daniel took one side of the udders, and gave Kobe the other, and Kobe would sit there patiently and slowly milk, getting a cup or 2 of milk all by himself.  Then he would carefully carry the little bucket in to show me.  Daniel loved to point out to everyone that Kobe is already a better milker then I am. 

(which is pure strategy on my part-- if I don't know how to milk then I can't be out there at 6am milking, right??)

it's been a while, how about a snake story?

So it’s been a while.  I confess, I was lured away by the easy of use and almost instantaneous validation of Instagram.  My account is private, but if I know you send a follow request to @pioneerbookworm if you like.  I’ll try and put some Instagram pictures up here every once and a while for those who don’t do Instagram.

babies

I have a story that needs to be documented for posterity.  It involves a snake, as stories frequently do (at least around here).  Two things to start: 1.  No, I have no idea where all these snakes are coming from.  We’ve had more snakes in our house in the last 4 months then we’ve had in the last 5 years.  But I do live in the middle of a field in the Tropics, so odds are not in my favor.

2.  I hate snakes.  I hate them worse then you do.  I can’t even handle pictures of snakes. If a snake shows up on a tv show I have to change the channel.  The first time we ever had a snake in the house I got so hysterical that Daniel had to fill the bath with cold water and sit me in it to calm me down. 

visitors: Kobe, my mom, and my sister!

Here is the scene: It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Daniel is taking a nap on the play mat on the floor, Lu is buzzing around in the baby walker, and Ms M is playing on the floor.  I’m sitting on the couch, getting my computer ready to skype with my parents.  The cat is playing with something under the stove, and I assume it’s a grasshopper cause she likes to play with them.  Then everything happens all at once.  A 3 foot long snake shoots out from under the stove, heading straight for Daniel and M.  I screamed, Daniel shot up from a dead sleep, grabbed M, and basically threw her at me.  I stashed her on the couch and took two steps to grab Lu, only to fail to catch Daniel as he keeled over in a faint at my feet.  So now I have 2 very confused babies, a husband out cold on the floor, and a snake under my couch.  I take 30 seconds in which to privately panic in my head. Ok, OK, you can handle this.  YOU CAN HANDLE THIS.  Triage.   Babies, then husband, then snake.

Daniel came around by this point, but didn’t remember fainting.  Since I distinctly saw his head bounce when it hit the floor, I was a bit concerned.  I quickly stashed the babies safely away in their crib, and explained to Daniel that he fainted and hit his head on the floor. His response:  Oh, that’s why my head hurts.  We got him moved a bit away from the couch/ snake, and I made him lie down with his feet propped up while I started calling around  the family for help.  Meanwhile, Daniel began to realize what was going on, and told me not to call for help because then people would think he fainted because of the snake.  This is unacceptable in a family in which your 4 ½ ft tall sister in law takes on a boa constrictor with a  fence post. This could become one of those family legends, like the time his brother accidentally killed a calf by dropping a gate on it.  I could see the horror dawning on his face:  years of “but what about the one time Daniel fainted when he saw a little snake??”  I expressed my empathy with his concerns by standing over him so he couldn’t get up while calling every member of his family, meanwhile not letting the couch/snake out of my sight.  Fortunately a worker was quickly sent over with a machete.  The babies and I went upstairs for that part, but I did let Daniel sit up in a chair to supervise and  somewhat salvage his dignity.

The snake was promptly dispatched.  It was "just" a garden snake (3 feet long! really big!!), fortunately nothing poisonous.  And here Daniel would want me to emphasize that he did not faint because of the snake.  He fainted because all the blood rushed from his head when he went from sleep to panic and stood up too quickly due to his wife’s scream.   I’m sure that’s exactly how it will be remembered by all his brothers. 

a half-day in my life

I love having these "day in the life"posts to look back on, especially since my life seems to change so much from year to year.  The last time I did one of these, I just had one little boy...

 This time a half-day of documentation was about all I could handle :)

7am:  Lu's up so I'm up.  Do the diaper change/ bottle/ diaper change routine.  Put some water on to boil for baths (we don't have hot water!), and boil this morning's milk (Daniel milks our cow at 6am or so) for Miss M to drink.  Sweep the floor, wash some leftover dishes and bottles, feed the cat.  Daniel heads out.  Make Miss M's bottle.

8am: Miss M slept in today but now she's up. While she drinks her bottle, I take a quick bath.  Get M dressed, then put some more milk on to boil cause today I'm making some yogurt.  Mop the floor (M eats any dead bugs she can find so floors have to be suuuper clean) and do some dishes. Start to sort some beans for dinner, making stewed beans.  Lu falls asleep.

 

9am: Miss M is getting cranky, so take a I break and read her a story.  We go upstairs to sort some laundry, but after 10 minutes M decides she's had it.

turn the water on to do some laundry (I have to fill our machine with a hose, because we don't have enough water pressure for the machine to fill automatically).  Put Miss M in her chair and attempt to console her with food while I continue sorting beans.  Make some foster phone calls, get secretaries and voice mails.

 

10 am:  Mom calls, and we chat while I'm finally getting Miss M to eat.  Lu is awake, and gets a bottle. Culture the yogurt and put it in jars on a heating element to set.  Then I hear the awful sound of water hitting the floor-- I forgot to turn the hose off for the washing machine and it overflowed all over the bathroom floor.  I do this on a semi-regular basis.

 

11am:  Finally finished sorting the beans, and put them on the stove to cook.  Matters are not improving with Miss M (who has a cold, poor thing) so I decide we will have a youtube video dance party.  Lu looks on with glee.  Miss M gets a bottle, and put down for a nap.  I mop the bathroom floor.

12pm: Lu falls asleep.  I eat some lunch.  One hour of quiet, and then we start again....

traveling in Belize with small children

I think at this point I can say I know something about this topic, right?

First, let's start with the good stuff. The most important thing to remember when you are hauling little kids around Belize is that, pretty much across the board, Belizeans love kids.  When your toddler is fussing, rather then getting dirty looks from those around you, someone is more likely to hand your baby a cookie with a smile and an encouraging word. (This has actually happened to me several times).   Don’t be surprised if grannies come up to you and ask if they can hold your baby for a bit.  At the parish I have gone to for years, there are still kids that I am not quite sure who their parents are, because during Mass they are passed around from person to person, with everyone getting a chance to fuss over them a bit.

That being said, it is also important to understand that Belize’s standards of hygiene and safety are very different then places like the states.  For example, there is no law requiring car seat use, or even seat belt use in the back seats.  Water and food-born parasites are extremely common here, so extra caution should be taken with young eaters. There are few conveniences like shopping carts or parking lots, and most of all, it is HOT.

So how do I do it?  Sheer determination to get out of the house, preplanning, and a method.

First, car seats.  I use them, but most other people don't, and like I said that is not against the law. Rental companies here mostly do rent car seats, but I wouldn’t count on it being a nice new model.  If you will be in Belize a while, it is worth it to buy a car seat. New car seats are extremely expensive and hard to find, but there are a few places that sell used car seats for between $50-70 Bz.  The Boundary store in Orange walk usually has the biggest selection.  If you plan on picking up a used seat, do your research before hand to know the best models and what parts should be included, because if there is a strap missing or it is a 3 point harness instead of 5, it is up to you to know that.

I try to avoid situations in which I do not drive my own car or have a car seat, but sometimes it happens.  If I have to ride in a taxi or bus or water taxi with no car seat, I strap a baby in my front carrier and then use the lap seatbelt for myself (if there is one).  I figure it’s better then just holding her in my lap even though it’s far from ideal.

When I have all the kiddos with me, I only go to the few grocery stores that have carts.  Using a stroller inside isn't practical, cause the aisles are often narrow or filled with boxes.  I  also like to park in the new lot behind the welcome center in Cayo, which allows me to use a stroller because it has sidewalks straight to the market. However, there are a few places in Belize that are stroller friendly. Sidewalks are fairly rare-- even on part of Burns Ave, the center street in Cayo, there are no sidewalks so I have to push the stroller in the street while avoiding potholes.  Not fun. Those big-wheel jogging strollers can come in handy over rough roads but are nearly impossible to find here. I also have a baby backpack with an attached leash for my toddler in case we need to walk along busy streets. 

As for supplies, diapers and wipes are easy to find anywhere.  If your little one is potty training or newly potty trained, consider going back to diapers for a bit when you are out.  Public toilets are few and far between here, and some of those are so disgusting that I would never take a child in.  Always carry wipes, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper, because many restrooms will not have toilet paper or hand soap.  You won't find changing tables anywhere, so bring a changing pad with you.  

If your baby is on a special formula, bring it because formula selection is limited to about 5 kinds, mostly nestle.  Healthy snacks can also be a challenge.  You won’t find prettily packaged toddler organic snacks here.  When we are out and about, I stick to crackers, cheerios, and small boxes of raisins.  I try and bring water with me for the kiddos, but all grocery stores sell bottled water if I forget.  

I think that is about it.  When I bring people with me, they are always surprised at how exhausting it can be.  Most of this is just due to the heat-- imagine moving babies from car seats to strollers to carriers and back when it is 90 degrees outside, then repeat 4 more times because there is no mega store where one stop has everything.  And by the way, there is no AC anywhere.  Bringing help is great, and being reasonable about how much time things will take and how much the kiddos can handle is essential.  

rain and bunnies

Every year we get a week like this, where it rains all day every day and everything molds.  Crossing the 100 yards of mud to get to the car with 3 little ones in tow becomes an exercise in strategy, strength, and patience.  Rubber boots are a necessity, and a spare "nice" shoes are kept in the car for quick changes in case we go somewhere where boots are a bit gauche.  And the laundry just piles and piles because line drying is impossible in torrential downpours.

But this year, I got a dryer.  Suddenly life is so easy.  I did 5 loads of laundry in 2 days, and everything is DRY.  I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually, but for now I'm washing everything even when it is raining out. Because I can.

All this rain means the ground is so saturated that water actually seeped up through our concrete floor and flooded our bathroom for a few days.  Of course creatures also are being flooded out of their homes, and often chose our house for a bit of a nice dry vacation.  I'm glad I don't have anyone crawling this year, because the inevitable crumbs that toddlers seem to multiply and spread to every corner are attracting ants like mad.  Then there was the tarantula in my towel incident. I'm still not sure how I spotted the dark spider sitting on my navy blue towel as I was stepping out of the bathtub, since I'm blind without glasses, but I am forever grateful that I did because my next step would have been to dry my hair.  With the towel and tarantula. Ugh ugh ugh.

Not everything that has moved in is gross.  A new batch of baby bunnies were getting a bit cold and damp, so they have taken up residence in a tupperware box on my kitchen counter.

They are indescribably soft.  I don't mind about the lost countertop space, cause I get to pet them whenever I like.  Bunnies are nice stress relief.

we interrupt this blog silence for a public service message: Snakes can climb stairs

Yesterday morning I was in the middle of the usual late-for-mass scramble when my husband came up to me holding a plastic bag.

him: how long has this been on the stairway?
[we have a tiny house, but a large landing on our stairs, so sometimes things without a place linger there]
me: I don't know, a while?
him: but how long exactly?
me: (thinking this is a bad time to be picking on my housekeeping skills) Maybe a month?  Why?
him: cause there was a snakeskin on it.
me: *zzzzzrghSPLAT* (the sound of MY BRAIN EXPLODING IN HORROR)

A bit more deduction established that the stairway had been recently cleaned, and it was very unlikely that a snakeskin had been hanging out, unnoticed, on the stairway.  Which meant that a snake had recently moved in and was somewhere in the house.

Then we had to leave for mass.  (We made it before the second reading this week! Yay!)

On our way home we discussed the strategy for the great snake hunt of 2013, which would involve coordinating baby removal with furniture displacement, etc.   My husband ran upstairs to change, and after a minute I heard a funny "urp" sound and then-- "FOUND IT!"  The snake was hanging out by my husband's dresser.

"Great!" I shouted, "need any help?" and by this time I had grabbed one baby under each arm and was already outside and halfway to the car.  It's the thought that counts.

Fortunately my husband keeps a machete close to hand (this is the tropics) and a few loud whacks later had dispensed the snake.  It was a common grass variety, about 2 feet long, and non poisonous we are pretty sure (because I can't even look at pictures of snakes, so I've never been able to look it up and confirm that).

But here is the really disturbing part.  We don't know how the snake got into the house, but let's say it took the easy way and came in one of the doors.  It then had to climb up 5 open-tread stairs to the landing, and 6 more stairs to our upstairs.  This means that NO WHERE is safe from snakes.

I shall now move to Ireland.

7 quick takes vol. 6

--- 1 ---

     Last week my car bit the dust. We were about 40 minutes from our house when it happened, and of course there is no triple A to call to come get us.  So we called our mechanic, and he had his son drive ½ an hour to come and tow us.  During the hour or so we were sitting on the side of the road, 3 of Daniel’s current or former students saw us and dropped by to chat and of course diagnose the car (teenagers are good at this).  One guy even rode his bike home and came back with a few tools.   The only thing that was surprising is that more people didn’t stop by (I would have expected at least one cousin). 

Belize is really just a small town masquerading as a country.

--- 2 ---

I finally succumbed and started caffeinating myself.  I’ve always been a hold out against coffee, maybe because my dad drinks like 5 cups a day and is continuously wired.  But two babies have succeeded where even grad school failed.  Every morning around 10 I have my (classy) spaghetti jar of sweet tea.  I use a cold brew method, and put my jar in the refridge the night before so the tea steeps a while and it is icy cold.  I am rather shocked at how much more energy I have.  Now I’m actually voluntarily doing things at 4pm, instead of dragging myself off the couch while softly weeping.

.--- 3 ---

   The energy burst let me rearrange a bunch of the Babe’s stuff to mesh more with a montessori philosophy.  Beyond a bit of internet research and having attended a montessori-ish kindergarden myself, I don’t know what I am doing.  However, I like the ideas of order and self-sufficiency that montessori promotes, so I set up some stations for the Babes.  In the bathroom he has a little tray with his toothbrush, some soap, and some small hand towels.  He does not get toothpaste on his tray cause he would eat the whole thing.  In the kitchen, he has a little tupperware filled with his utensils, cups, and plates so he can set those up for himself when he eats, and I've also put single servings of snacks in easy-to-reach containers so he can serve himself.  So far it has cut down a lot on whining and messes cause he stopped going through my other cabinets looking for his things.

--- 4 ---

His toy shelf has also been overhauled and now includes a sensory basket and some other learning type activities.  I'm working with what I have, so no fancy matching baskets and trays yet.  He is playing so much better now that he sees his toys, and also because he has less to choose from I think.  The house is much easier to keep looking neat, which is a nice bonus.

--- 5 ---

This is in my front yard.  I FINALLY got my husband the chicken collector down to 2 chickens, but he is unable to help himself and let this hen get broody so more chicks I guess in about 2 weeks.  ARGH.

--- 6 ---

I found a bumbo for Miss M, but it is proving to be a popular spot for others.  The Babes is a big fan too.

--- 7 ---

And this.  The best part of my days.  Miss M has started smiling at us, and she puts her whole heart in it.  Really it doesn't get any better.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!