Our House

I guess I haven't really said much about getting our stuff. Not that it was bad, trust me, it isn't, it has been fabulous! We could have made do with little. We would have survived. But there in nothing like sleeping in your own bed, and just seeing and functioning with your own stuff. Nothing like it. 

I guess I still don't feel completely settled. We are in the process of having AC installed (Thank Goodness), there is dust everywhere, so my painting is unfinished. The guest room is still a mess, but it's slowly coming together. 

Here are a few pictures of our house. The kitchen is the most updated in the apartment, and is really spacious. There is a TV there, so Cayden can watch cartoons at breakfast. Behind the kitchen is the laundry area, but I think I've mentioned that before.

Dining Room. Obviously a work in progress. The big square on the wall is where we tested out the painted color, and then painted over it. 

Cayden's Room. The rugs have been heavenly. Noise reducers and a good place to play!

Beckham's Room. I like his the best. I think it's the soothing colors. Whites and grays. 

Our room. I really like it. I even told Heath that when we get back home I would like to put hardwood in our bedroom. I like the feel and look of the rug. 

The guest room. It's ready, kind of. But it CAN be ready for whomever wants to join us. Really. The weather is great. There is a pool. You have your own bathroom. Any takers? I promise to take out the toys when you get here!

These two. It is a daily prayer that God gives me patience and that my kids remember and feel love from me. There are days where I'm not nice.  My tone is negative, and I can only seem to focus on the negative. I'm trying. But reality is that this job is hard. Sometimes it's day by day, sometimes minute by minute, but I really wouldn't change it for anything. They need me. Tomorrow they will too. A few years from now they may not. 


So tomorrow is a new day, full of new possibilities, and full of grace. 

What We Do

This post is primarily a photo dump from my phone. I take pictures. I post pictures to Instagram and Facebook, sometimes with a witty remark, but usually no backstory. We've settled into a pretty nice routine here in Brasil, and we are doing pretty good. 

Cayden loves school. We are working on issues with pushing, taking toys from others, and sometimes hitting. We have the same problems at home. I'm not really sure if there is a particular method to use, but we try to be consistent. I'm focusing more on positive interactions. Hugging more. Pointing out the good things he does. Honestly, if I don't, it can get pretty grim in here, when you are constantly saying No, counting to 3, etc. 

Carnaval was last week, so school was out for three days. The Friday before the holiday they had a party at school. The kids could dress up as whatever they wanted. This also coincided with our stuff arriving two days before. Therefore I was in no mood to hunt up a costume, so I made one. We had the Superman shirt and the mask, all we needed was a cape! Voila!

Now, he may appear to be a willing costume wearer in the picture, but he had nothing to do with it after this shot. He took it to school, refused to wear it, and that's okay. He might like it better someday. 


There is a mall not too far from our house. It only take about 20 minutes to get there if there is light traffic. They were having a dinosaur exhibit that I thought Cayden would like. Plus, it was an excuse to leave the house. 

He LOVED it. In fact, for several days after he wanted to go back. It felt weird telling him the dinosaurs had moved or went somewhere else. I mean, how do you explain extinction to a 2.5 year old. 

We try our best to get to the pool on the weekends. Heath can usually squeeze time in to go with us, and it's better for Cayden to have someone in there with him. He can be pretty fearless. 

Cayden has his moments with Beck. I love this picture. They both look focused and willing to play nicely. 

 Beckham is quite mobile. He is minutes away from moving to a real crawl instead of the army crawl. He tries pulling up on stuff. He's everywhere. Into everything. 

Kristin have me some StickyGrams before we moved of all the kids. They are so fun to look at. Cayden likes to rearrange them, but mostly he asks to go to the red park with Mill. I can't wait to actually take him in a few short months!!

The weather is beautiful here. I can't say that enough. We are hoping in the next month to take a small trip to the countryside. I know we are supposed to go to the beach first, but I'm not sure what Beckham would do. He's not one to just sit on a towel and play. So for now we are looking at a place that has horses, a small petting zoo, a pool, and lots of land. 

Boys

Cayden and Beckham are just three weeks shy of being two years apart. I think you can argue both ways for the optimal age difference between kids, and I'm sure that it has a wide range. I think two years is going to be good. Right now, of course, it isn't. Beckham can't really "play" and Cayden's version of "play" is yanking toys away from him. Or pushing his walker a little too hard. Or rolling over him. I'm hoping his tendency toward aggressive behavior is more about is age, and not a true aspect of his personality. 

Don't get me wrong, he can be sweet too. In the mornings when I go into Beckham's room, Cayden climbs up the side of the bed and says, "Hi, Sweetie Beck!" or "Hi, Sweetie." 

Tonight at dinner Cayden sat next to Beck and was trying to get him to say Dada. Moments of sweetness and goodness happen, sometimes it feels like the bad overshadows the good. Throw in two kids who didn't really nap, and it's not even 8, and I'm ready for bed. 

They did play nicely for two minutes today, so that I could take their picture. 

I pray that they are the best of friends as they get older. That they take care of one another, and that they always want to be friends. That they play together, pray together, always include the other, treat everyone with kindness, and are the guys people want to know because they have integrity and a good moral character. 

It's easy to want for so much, and also easy to just let their lives play out. We have to work hard at it. Work hard to be good examples, to show them what  good character looks like, what a good friend looks like, etc. Parents aren't perfect, kids aren't either. We just have to take it one day at a time.