A Little Helper

H and I went shopping at a local market the other day for some fabric. We combed that place for pink cotton fabric and we managed to find some. He was eager to help the store employee measure fabric with a meter stick!

An Evening Walk

We recently took an evening walk from our home over one of the nearby bridges (alright, alright... halfway over... I was tired!) We think it's such a special privilege to live in a city with such a great river!





I wish we'd do this more often... maybe we will later in the year when it's not so hot...

Baby Girl's First Cereal

My girlie is 6 months old! I can't believe how fast it's gone... but that is always the story, isn't it?

So today was the day to feed her cereal!

She was happy in her highchair!





She had no idea that THIS was coming for her MOUTH...



Here's goes nothin'!



And...




...not impressed. The two words I would use to describe her experience would be

1. confused

and

2. mildly disgusted.





It didn't get any better as long as we tried.

Better luck tomorrow, eh?

A New Stage

First it was "Why Mommy?" That is a bit of an adjustment initially.

And now awhile ago we've added "Whatchya doin' Mommy?" to the most-commonly asked questions by my boy. More recently he's added "What's happening?" and "How you do dat?" and "Why not?" and "Wha we gonna do?"

These I can deal with.

But the latest is "Watch dis Mommy!" and "Wook at dis Mommy!"

And this really gets me! I don't mind watching some silly antics (I mean, my son is pretty cute), but how many times do I really need to watch him knock himself in the head with his toy truck or roll around on the floor with his left leg held in the air while he does it? 2 times? 5 times? 38 times?

What to do?!

I guess I my response will be similar to my response after the fourth "Why Mommy?"

"You heard me H."

I'll just change it to: "I saw you baby, very funny!" And hope that that satisfies.

Puh-lease may it satisfy!!

After Dinner Activities

Wanna know what tonight's after-dinner activities were?

I wish I could say something cool sounding like "Conversation by moonlight" or "Tea on the veranda" or even "Charades on the green" (ha! I just said 'on the green!' What am I talking about?!)

Tonight's actual activities were not quite that sophisticated. But they weren't torturous either... like "Dishes by my lonesome" or "Cleaning poop under the table." (Did I just say 'poop under the table?' That's gross Suz. Where do you come up with these things?)

Okay. So here they are. Our very normal, un-sophisticated, yet un-gross after-dinner activities...



Little boy body tracing! I assure you no one was shot on our balcony. Just now I realize how this looks. I'm innocent I tell you. Innocent!! Innocent except for having the poor boy lay his body down on a small colony of fire ants for me to trace him. But he didn't mind. Promise. I have three body traces to show as proof. "Do it 'gain Mommy, Do it 'gain!"

If you look close you can see where he'd draw his own eyes and mouth. Don't ask me where he learned that. I sure don't go around drawing stick people with eyes and mouths...

After that came pool-splashing and porch (balcony) swinging.



I did join in both the splashing and the swinging. Although I have to say the water was a little cold and the evening wasn't very hot. So I didn't last long.

Then... a bath!



Water a little murky you say? Yup. It's got corn-starch in it to try to treat my boy's prickly heat rash. He doesn't know it exists all over his body, but I noticed it so I thought we'd try to clear that up. He just thought his 'Special white bath' was great fun!



And, in case you're wondering. my daughter slept through all the fun. She's apparently plumb tuckered-out.

:)

Sweet Smelling

My daughter is growing! And you know what that means?

Well. It means a lot of things. A lot a lot.

But the thing I am thinking of at this moment is that she's outgrowing her clothes! This is sad because my baby is not a teensy weensy baby anymore, but good cause it means I get to get out a whole new round of cutsey, pink, purpley, lacey, flowery, cutest-baby-girl-clothes out! And that is super fun!

The past couple days I've been sorting and trying things on N to re-stock her cabinet with clothes that I don't have to stretch and pull to snap up.

Tonight I put a sweet little pink and pink striped onesie on her. It says "I love Mommy." Isn't that sweet that she already expresses her feelings to me...
he he

Anyway as I was nursing her and holding her I noticed how soft the fabric felt and how clean and fresh and lovely it smelled. Since it hasn't been worn here, it hasn't been washed here. Things washed here aren't soft (hung to dry, no dryer!) and they don't smell super nice (no fabric softener either).

So I was just enjoying the clean sweet-smelling softness of my baby's new onesie on her clean sweet-smelling soft little baby body! And THAT is a lot of sweet-smelling softness!!

Too much sweet-smelling softness for you? Sorry!

Like I say... It's the little things...

A New Love Language

So, we all know about the Five Love Languages. You've got words of affirmation, gifts, quality time, touch and acts of service.

Today I discovered a new one that Gary Chapman obviously isn't aware of.

It's the drive-me-to-a-bunch-of-stores-to-find-the-almost-perfect-thingy love language. Mikey did it so willingly on the way home from visiting our vegetable man and his family tonight. Went something like this:

1. Pull up in front of plastic shop.
2. Jump out of car, being careful not to trip on my long skirt and fall flat on my face.
3. Greet man working in the shop.
4. Ignore the smirk on his face and his glance over to his friends to say "Lookie guys! I have a white lady in my shop!! Isn't this neat?!"
5. Glance around amongst many dusty plastic tables, plastic chairs, plastic buckets, plastic baskets, plastic bowls, plastic tanks, plastic containers, plastic trays, plastic EVERYTHING.
6. Locate a set of plastic shelves.
7. Try to explain using wrongly-pronounced words and various hand motions that yes, I want something like this, only a bit different and with wheels on the bottom.
8. Listen as they tell me no, we don't have that.
9. Stand politely while they offer me any number of other various plastic items that they believe I am in need of.
10. Say no thanks.
11. Climb back in the car being careful not to get my long skirt caught in the door.
12. Repeat steps 1-11.
13. Repeat them 12 times.
14. Then find an almost perfect version in the last possible shop and get excited.
15. Try to choose the least ugly color between pink, purple and yellow.
16. Attempt to barter price from 20 down to 15.
17. Succeed at my bartering attempt "9ashaan Arabi tamam" (because my Arabic is good!)
18. Climb into car final time with coveted plastic shelves in hand.
19. Tell Mikey how loved I feel!



It's the small things.
:)

Lil' Teeth

Poor baby girl is working on pushing her first lil' teeth through. It's been kinda rough on her. Frankly, it's been kinda rough on all of us.

This is her 'Mama, my tooth hurts' face...





Don't know what she'd (I'd) do without Baby Orajel...

Lovies

My girlie loves her Dolly and her taggie blanket. They make good company for an afternoon snooze. :)

We Got Mail!

We received some wonderful treats in the mail recently including hats made by Grammi!







Our sweet girl was happy in hers even if it'll take her a little while to grow into it...

Thanks Grammi!!

So Everyday...

This photo is just SO everyday and I love it. As usual, Mike and I had finished eating awhile before and were just sitting around waiting for our boy to finish his meal. Looks like here he has the last bite in his mouth!

Intensity

World Cup Soccer = Intense

Well, sometimes. Today it was SO intense. I haven't watched many games, but this one we watched as a family with some friends and had a great time. Mike said it was the most intense sporting event since the OSU vs. Miami of Florida College Football Championship in 2003. Whatever that means.

:)

Today I could feel his blood pressure rising as the 90 minutes ticked away.

And.

Then.

SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!

Whew. About time! I was starting to think we might have a very sober evening at home after this.

And then my beloved husband was screaming and yelling, jumping up and down and up and down in front of the television. And THAT was better entertainment than the game! HA!

I was teasing him about it later, and he said "Any respectable fan would have been jumping up and down. The question is why weren't you jumping up and down?"

Guess I don't get no fan respect around here.

But then he continued: "After that I tried to give high fives but nobody would give me one back."

Now THAT is sad. Mostly funny though. But kinda sad.

Someone give the man a high five!!

Passport

I need a new passport.

My first passport took me on my initial trip to Europe (a semester in England fall of my Junior year in University) when I was 20 years old. I had no idea at the time that those few months weren't going to be the adventure of a lifetime, but actually just the beginning of a lifetime of adventure. A bunch of extra pages and 10 years later it's time to start filling up a new one.

So today we took some photos to get printed and submitted. But I can't stop wondering how outdated is today's photo going to look in 10 years? And will I look back at my photo and sigh at how young I once looked? Will my daughter tease me for my gold hoop earrings, the color of my shirt and the way I had my hair?

And the next time I need a new passport I will be 38. My firstborn will almost be a teenager and my daughter will be in the double digits when we snap a plain square little photo of my head and shoulders again. I mean 38 is almost 40. Right now, 28 is like... almost 24. And 24 is just-out-of-college-young-person. Right? But 38 is almost 40 and 40 is like A REAL GROWN UP. Not that I think I won't like myself at 40. I think I'm gonna love myself at 40, but it just A REAL GROWN UP age. Do ya hear me here? I mean... no offense to my readers 38 and older. 38+ doesn't seem old on any of you. Seriously. You're all charming and fabulous and so full of life...

Wow. Am I talking myself into a hole or what?

Aaaaaaanyway...

Back to the passport.

I probably won't even need to snap a picture and print it out to mail in with an actual application. I'll probably just choose the 'Update Passport' option under the 'International' Drop-down menu on my AEPD-IDD (Arm-Embedded Personal Data and Identification Device), aim my TEPPD (Thumb-Embedded Personal Photographic Device) at my head, say "Take photo," and my digital file will be instantly updated.

Yikes.

My Daddy

He'll always be my Daddy,
But now he's so much more,
A Poppi to my children,
One who they adore!

Tractor rides and toys,
Bouncing on his knee,
He's always ready to show his love,
Just like he did to me.

Happy Father's Day Daddy! I love you. And I always have...



(last two photos of H, his cousin D, and Poppi were taken by Atalie Bale)

My Treasures

Here are my two treasures both at 5 months age.





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Do they look alike to you?

I think as newborns they REALLY looked the same. Now N is changing a bit to look less like her big brother and more like herself. But sometimes I am still baffled. The picture just above is H, but I feel like it could be N. In 20 years I'll probably have no idea which child it actually IS!

ha!

Peaceful Babe

Just a few sweet shots of our peaceful babe in the big bed one morning last month...

One of the Reasons

This is one of the reasons why I love our diverse international church!



A local man with his arm around a Phillipino singing worship to Jesus together! A small reminder of what is ahead for us in heaven.

LOVE it!

Balcony Before and After

I know this is a long time coming. This was finished quite awhile ago, and I failed to post it until tonight.

This is our balcony before our new shade. Whew! Looks so hot and sunny (and messy), huh?



And after! Ooooh, so cool and, um... GREEN!



It's wonderful, eh? We LOOOOVE it! In fact, just today my boy and I spent at least an hour out there swimming in his paddling pool. Yes, I did say H and I. Both of us. In the pool. Splashing, playing, kicking!

However.

Yes, there IS a however...

Remember when I wrote a long post about our house projects that were going all wrong? The last project I mentioned was our balcony that was getting it's cover the next day. It involved welding and cementing and drilling and after so many disasters I was preparing myself for the worst.

Well. it was good that I did. I'm smart. I've learned these things by now.

While chipping away the cement in the post of the balcony wall to insert the metal pole the worker managed to chip off a whole corner of the post. And so he had to bring the welder back to weld an entire frame over the cement post to hold the pieces together so that it didn't come crumbling down.

See?



(Don't you love that amateur arrow? Yeah... I did that in Paint. My parents spent good money to send me to design school my freshman year in college so I could learn things like Photoshop and here I am drawing amateur arrows in Paint. Disgraceful. Just disgraceful.)

Aaaanyway...

That metal cap is so aestheticly pleasing to the eye, don't you think? They would really have loved THAT in design school. Lemme tell ya! And this is actually after I asked the worker to un-do his work and re-do it in a way that wasn' t so ugly. So if you can believe it, this is actually the 'nice-looking' version 2.0 of our welded-column-cap.

Luckily, I've lived here long enough to not care. It really is a small thing anyway. I'm just thankful for my green shade that means I can spend more time outside splashing in a paddling pool with my boy!

...

And while I'm at it... I'll go ahead and show you my sweet boy the day all this went down. He was sooo into watching the welding-man do his welding-thing! He was enthralled...



You can see the worker in the reflection of the glass in the frame above the couch...

A Local Visit

A group of us made a visit to a co-worker's home a couple weeks ago. It's always nice to visit and see where our colleagues live! We were served fresh fruit juice when we arrived!



And while we waited for dinner, my boy and some other kiddos munched on chips outside. We don't hardly ever buy chips here, and if you remember... they are some of H's favorites!



Munch, munch, crunch.



Look at the glare my son is giving that chip in Antony's hand! Looks like jealousy to me... so he goes in double fisted...



Meanwhile, N chills on the ground.



Until two little admirers come over...



And Valentina takes a closer look.



And look at these cutest little feet!



Here H is being coaxed to wash his hands with the pitcher and basin.



And dinner was served!



Some of my favorites!!! Chipote, beans from the SOUTH (yum!!), rice, fresh veg, and a potato dish. It was delicious! Thanks T and P!!