The First Week

On Monday we will have been here for one week! I love the complex that we live in. Having come from winter weather and freezing temperatures, it is a nice change to look out your window at green trees and feel the 85+ degree warmth on your face. 

The boys and I try to make it down to the playground once a day, sometimes twice. It's not a far walk, at all, but it's more exercise than I've had in awhile. There is a pretty steep hill on the way, so I'm sure that I will end up with toned calves soon. Too bad I can't say the same for the rest of my body. 

This is a picture of the pool from the playground. Dare I say, it almost reminds me of a resort. Ooh La la. 

This is on the path to the playground and pool area. Every morning, I think that it is such a nice walk. It isn't too warm yet, and our apartment shades most of the road. 

Beckham is getting to be such a big boy. I know I haven't given a 6 month update, sadly, I may just have to do a 7 month. He is definitely a mama's boy. He's by me all. the. time. It could be because he can't sit up on his own. 

The path up to our apartment. I love how green everything is here. 

So the week went by pretty well. Our driver took us to the store a couple of times, helped Heath buy a car, and numerous other things. Just having someone around that speaks fluent English and Portuguese has been life saving. We are now hooked up to the internet which is great because we have been able to FaceTime with a lot of our family. This weekend we ventured out on our own to Walmart and Pao de Acucar. Our rental car is a standard and I haven't driven one of those in years. YEARS! Anyway, we survived. Both places are literally less than five minutes from our home.

I know that everyone was worried about us. What would I do at home all day? Heath working a lot. There isn't much that makes me worried about whether I would be happy. My only frustration right now is that I can't communicate. I'm not sure how people can come down here and not learn Portuguese. I have to be able to know what's going on. I want to be able to read the apartment newsletter. I would like to be able to order take-out, that apparently is amazing. So after we are little more settled, and Cayden starts school, my goal is to find a tutor. 

I know that this coming week will be filled with playground visits, and a trip to the feira (market)! I can't wait to see all the produce!!

Until then - Tchau and Boa noite

Leaving on a Jet Plane

First off, we made it safely to Brazil. The nine days prior to leaving for Brazil were cumbersome at best. Living in a hotel is for the birds if you ask me. If we didn't have kids, it would have been fine, but two kids sleeping in the same room was kind of a nightmare. We were very ready to leave on Sunday just so we could get to our new home and get back into a routine. 

Sunday came, and so did the snow. Of course. Heath kept a vigilant eye on the flights leaving XNA because we only had a small window of time for a layover. As in, our flight could be delayed no longer than 45 minutes. 

The time to leave the hotel came.

We decided to check our stroller and just let Cayden ride in Beckham's car seat (that we were going to use on the flight to Brazil). He loved it!

Car Selfie

Cayden had my phone and took about 75 pictures within 30 seconds. This was the only clear one. 

Snow! We were not sad to leave Arkansas weather. 

We were sad to leave our family, though. Jennifer, Phil, Debbie, and Kenny all came with us to the airport. Thank GOODNESS!! We needed the man power to hoof 9 suitcases, two diaper bags, a breast pump, stroller, two car seats, a go-pod, and a pack n play. Whew! Plus, we just liked getting to see them for as long as we could. Saying good bye at security was pretty rough. I tried to hold it together as best I could. 

 We had to wait about and hour or so for our flight, which was delayed by 45 minutes. 

They had put our seats away from each other. So I held Beckham, and Heath sat in front of us. 

The first leg wasn't too bad. Beckham fell asleep about 1/2 through. We didn't have any problems with ears popping, so I was definitely thankful for that!
We made it to Dallas in time to go straight from one flight to the next. In hindsight I am thankful for this too. We didn't have to entertain Cayden and Beckham. There was no sitting around waiting. 

The flight wasn't 100% full, but as soon as we got on and Heath sat the car seat down in Beck's seat, we knew it wouldn't work. A very nice gentleman was sitting in the window seat, and there would have been no way for him to get out, plus the seat was huge. We traipsed back to the front and gate checked it. 

By a stroke of luck, we couldn't fit the Boppy in any of our luggage, so I had to carry on. It was perfect to put him in. Beckham did okay during the flight. We had some rough goes here and there. But for the most part it was great. In fact, the guy beside us told me that he was a great baby the whole way. Even after Beck fell out of the seat. I was awake most of the time, but had fallen into one of those sleeps where you are nodding off, and then jerking awake. Well, I guess Beckham was twisting and turning, and rolled off the seat into the floor. Don't worry! He wasn't hurt, there were two airline pillows and a blanket to break his fall. oops.

Cayden was our loose cannon. We worried from the get-go about him. Surprisingly, on a 10 hour flight, we slept about 9 of it. Amazing! He used the bathroom like a champ, and did really well! He told Heath he wanted to go to sleep, and he did. 

We made it through customs and here are the three guys with our stuff. I've seen worse. In fact, there were several people returning from the states that had just as much stuff as we did. I'm sure hoarding American goods. I would.

Where we're going, we don't need car seats. Just kidding. I don't think it's a law in Brazil to use them, so we saved ourselves the hassle of trying to install them and drove like this! It's okay, they have since been installed in our rental car. Albeit a little haphazardly. 

So, we made it to Brazil. It's warm down here…They say it's hot (90's). We were just glad to make it, and start living this crazy adventure. I think we will learn a lot about ourselves, our family, and maybe figure out that life isn't about the stuff, but about the people and the memories. 

Tchau meninos e meninas. (Good bye, boys and girls.)

Our Last Night

One of my favorite movies, of all time, is Father of the Bride. There is a moment in the movie where Annie realizes that her life is about to change. Not for the worse, but it's going to change. She talks about how it's her "last night" in her room, with her things. It's her last night as a kid. 

I had this moment tonight. It's our last night in our "home." We drove by our house tonight, and the renters were moving in, and I saw some kids playing in Beckham's room, and it just struck me. Like it's not our house anymore. It is, but it isn't. I got teary eyed, and quickly chose to think of other things. It is strange knowing that we aren't going to drive these roads for awhile, or do the things we've done for years. All along I have been able to remain fairly calm about moving. In reality, I just don't let myself think about it. I'm just going through the motions. I don't think about all the family we leave behind, our friends, our house, our life here. And if I do, I quickly move on to other things. It's just too hard. 

These next pictures are the progression of moving out of our house. The movers came and literally had 80% of our house packed up by noon on the first day.

After the movers were there the first day, it was clear that we wouldn't be staying as long as we had hoped. Off to the hotel we went…for nine nights...

We tried our best to pack stuff for the kids to do. But it's hard when you have 9 suitcases that you are filling with necessities for three weeks. Most of the stuff in our luggage is clothes. We had to pack for staying in the cold weather for a week, and pack clothes for warm weather when we get down there. The movers also informed us that they couldn't ship anything liquid or medicine. No lotion, toothpaste, shampoo, nothing. We had to do some difficult pairing down, and we still have an entire suitcase of this stuff. We threw out a TON of stuff. 

Good bye house. It was weird being in our empty house. We moved in when Cayden was three months old, and we are moving out when Beckham is 6 months. 

Living in a hotel means you pretty much have to eat out all the time. We are really tired of fast food. But Cayden had his first milkshake, he's not complaining.

He also loves the hotel. He likes eating breakfast or dinner at the hotel. He had a moment a few days in, where he wanted to go to "Cayden's House." And we had to tell him, that he was getting a new house, and that we wouldn't be going back to the old one for a long time. Again, I try not to think about these moments too long. I'm an ugly crier. 

Having both kids sleeping in the same room has been difficult. Beckham has done pretty well. He gets up twice a night. Cayden has been the pistol. He goes to bed, and then wakes up in the middle of the night, crawls into bed with Heath or I, and then it takes him 1-3 hours to go back to sleep. UGH. 

Today he did a lot of walking around the hotel with Heath's mom and aunt. But no nap. Well, he ended up passing out in the car on the way to get dinner. He was so tired that we put him on the couch at JeJe's house, and even when we said "Milkshake" he barely made a budge. He did eventually wake though. 

This is the container that holds most of our stuff. We will see it again, in about 3-4 months. 

We are ready, I suppose, to start our new life. It's scary. Scary to do the difficult, to do the different, to step out of our comfort zone. Things will be hard, but at the same time we will be making a lot of fun memories. We will get to see and do stuff that many don't. 

In the last week we have gotten to eat at all the places we love, and gotten to eat with all the family we love. That's what we will miss the most, our family. 

The Weight of a Baby

When you find that perfect someone that you know completes you, knows the best and the worst of you, and still loves you, that is a great day. You get married and it's off to the honeymoon. As a couple with no kids, you go to the movies, travel, hang out with friends, and learn to take in as much of each other as you can. Years go by and together you decide that your life would be even more complete, even more perfect, if you started a family. Your parents want to be grandparents, your friends are having babies, and you know that now is the time. You try, and try, try, and try. People ask. People don't ask. -The weight of a baby.

You begin to lose hope, and then it happens. You get the message, you start seeing the signs, you schedule the appointment, and you finally see the perfect little nugget of you and your beloved. You are fine - the baby is fine. You eat healthy most of the time, you try not to fall into the "eating for two" but those Dairy Queen Blizzards are hard to resist - the weight of a baby.

Months go by, your belly swells, joy soars, nerves kick in, and the time finally arrives. It's a rough go, but your body is made to do this. Love surrounds you and he finally arrives. A sigh of relief, the tears fall, and he's placed on your chest - your heart couldn't feel any bigger - the weight of a baby

He's 5 months old, he needs to take a nap, and you start rocking. You smell the top of his head, let your lips linger to savor the warmth, and you feel his body relax. And you rock. And you wait a little longer to put him to bed, because you love the weight of his body on yours - the weight of a baby. 

We have bad days, most are good. Mothers are the worst critics of themselves. Each day, I know that I could have, should have done a better job. Not for me, but for them. Then a few moments in a rocking chair and all is right with the world.

Our New Home

Here we go kids. This moving business is getting real, and real fast. We have four weeks to go and let me tell you, I have no idea how we will get it all done. The problem is that we can't really pack anything. The movers will be here the day after Christmas (Eeek) and because of insurance purposes they have to pack it themselves. Trust me, there are several junk drawers around here that are not for the faint at heart. So I sit here, and the tree is up, a few decorations are around, but not one item is "move" ready. It'll be fine, right?

To the fun stuff. We have finally settled on an apartment that we really like. I'll start with the pictures, and then get to the details. 

 Heath took these photos with his phone, so some might be blurry. This particular apartment is partially renovated. The bathrooms are not, but they are in good condition. 

 The bedrooms and really the whole apartment has tons of storage. These are the closets in one of the bedrooms. 

 The kitchen has been remodeled. Honestly, it was the nicest kitchen we had seen all day. 

 I think this is the master bedroom. Notice the A/C in the corner. This was a big bonus for Heath. 

 Hallway.

 Another bathroom. Bidet, anyone? Interesting information: Because of all the millions of people, and a not so great infrastructure, the plumbing system doesn't really tolerate toilet paper. So, the idea is to not flush the TP. Hence, the bidet. Sweet dreams on the thought of mastering that!

 This is part of the smaller living room. I'm not sure if they refer to it as a TV room, but I love the views this apartment has. We are on the 4th floor, almost level with the trees. I love it!

Part of that other living room. I don't think the fireplace is functional. 

We looked at a lot of places. We even looked at an apartment on the 24th floor. Yowzer. I stepped out onto the balcony and thought there was no way I could live that high. This area has a lot of green space, and you can see trees out of almost every window. This particular complex has a pool and playground for the boys. During the week they even offer swim lessons. I heard that they even have some young guys teach soccer, I'm just not sure if Cayden would be old enough for that. After looking around, we also noted that there were several English speaking residents, too. Thank Goodness. Meu portugues e ruim.

Since we got back from Brazil, my mind has been in moving mode. As I mentioned, I can't pack anything, but I can make lists. Every item in our house has four possible places it can go. In our luggage, in the air shipment, on the container, or in storage. Every. Item. In. Our. House. From furniture to q-tips. It all has to go, somewhere. It's daunting. 

Then there is the task of loading up on items that are too expensive or unavailable and finding a place in the mix for those. Shampoo. Brownie mix. You know, the necessities. 

Up until now, we haven't said anything to Cayden about moving. I'm not sure how much he would understand. But the other day, I said something to him about getting a new house. Moving to a new house. He then started saying stuff about JeeJee's house. (Because JeeJee moved to a new house.) So I guess he has an idea about new houses. Well, since then, he keeps saying, "Move House." Not yet, buddy, not yet. I'm hanging on to these last days with all my might. 

The holidays are here, schedules are getting busy, and we are trying to squeeze in time with those we love. It's not that we are dying. But moving away from people who are within driving distance, and some that are within walking distance is a big deal. It's a huge change, and totally out of my comfort zone. Someone posted a passage from a devotional about New Normals. "New Normals are a test of our trust in the Lord. They are transitions we go through in life when we move into new seasons. Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19.

So, while I may not dwell on the past, I will definitely think of all those we leave here in the North. I will remember it all, but I will not let it sadden our days in Brazil. It's just a new normal, and I know we will have all kinds of stories to share. We will make our way!