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. 

 Beckham has reached the ripe old age of 8 months. God has a funny way of helping parents raise kids at this age. He helps you to forget, kind of, the sleepless nights, constant nursing, and pain of labor, so that you can focus on how mobile your child is/wants to be/needs to be. 

Stats:

Beckham weighs more than 20 pounds. I know it's scientific, but that's as close as I can get right now. He's long. He is very much out of the 6 month Carters close, since I can't even get the PJ's over his shoulders, they are so short. We've moved on the Cayden's hand-me-downs, and go back and forth between 9 and 12 month sizes. He can still wear the 6-12 in GAP clothes. He's in size 4 diapers, and probably needs the size 5 at night. No, he's not huge. He just pees a lot. This is because he gets up a lot. Refer to SLEEPING section. 

Eats: We have put bananas and strawberries in the food mesh thing. He likes that pretty well, and gets excited when he sees it. Brasil isn't too keen on feeding your baby, baby food, so the selection down here is nil. We have almost depleted our supply, but are thankful for a care package that will be here on Monday. Oh, it's not quite as magical as it sounds - Customs decided to tax me for it. Approx. 50 bucks. Silly people. 

I am going to attempt to make my own. I'm not sure what keeps me from it. Laziness is the usual culprit. It's just so. easy. in. a. pouch. 

Sleep: It's getting better. Sometimes. He wakes twice a night. Nurses and goes back to sleep. I know I should put my foot down, but until he gets his own bed, I'm just dealing with it. He does really well with naps, and as long as you don't let him sleep past 4 in the afternoon, goes down fairly well at night. We are getting on a pretty good schedule here, where naps are pretty consistent.

 He all but crawls. His Army crawl is awesome. He's fast, and if you aren't watching, will get into things he's not supposed to. We put the baby prison up, and it's great for containment. And for keeping unwanted predators out (Cayden).

 The verdict is still out on eye color. They are blue and brown, and I really really hope they stay that way. So unique. A little of me, a little of Heath.

He is mastering the walker. He's fast. Agile. And will clip your ankles and make you scream. The pain is horrible. I have bruises on my feet to prove it.

One Month:

 

This sweet baby boy is getting a little less baby-ish. He said Mama the other morning. It hasn't happened since, and I try not to get too excited, but it was so clear and perfect. I put him in a laundry bucket today and he pulled himself up. I try to get him opportunities to stand and practice, but this was the first time he actually did it himself. I'm telling you. He wants to move and go, and loves it when you just let him crawl all around. He loves Cayden, and they are getting to where they play pretty well together. So long as Beckham doesn't have any of Cayden's toys. But if they are crawling, or Beck's in the walker, Cayden is happy to play. 

Beckham~

There is no place I would rather be every day. I love our time together. You and I go from room to room, and run errands, and just work at our pace. It's slow and lovely. You are so interested in what is happening around you. You just want to be in the middle. You let random people hold you, and are pretty well behaved. Unless it's dinner time, and I'm not fixing your food fast enough. Then it's bad. You love when Heath comes home and the smile on your face is priceless. I love the little man you are becoming and I can't wait to see more of your personality come out. 

We love you so!
Mom and Dad

No Worries

We are still here. And alive. I blame Blogger for my lack of posting, and they will be receiving a harshly worded note shortly. 

This post is quick, no worries. Beck will be 8 months old tomorrow, so I'll be more detailed then. For now, it's a few quick stories. None of which have anything to do with anything. 

A few months ago, when Cayden was having his speech delay, Heath would comment on how he wished that Cayden could talk because kids always say the funniest things. It's true, and slowly I've been hoarding my arsenal of stories to tell. 

1. Stop me if you've heard this one. JK. We were in the city clerks office, filling out our passport/VISA stuff. I was trying my best to entertain Cayden, while pacifying Beckham. I hand off Heath's phone to Cayden and he proceeds to browse through the photos. All of a sudden he stumbles upon one and starts saying, "Poop! Poop!" He starts off low and gradually grows to a kind of scream. Very embarrassing. The poop picture in question was of Beckham's diaper, so we could show the doctor. Technology is awesome. Sometimes.


2. We were painting outside today. It's been pretty windy in SP. Cayden was decked out in his Cars undies, and the wind was a little cool. Trust me, it ain't cold here! Anyway, he yells, "Turn the wind off!" HA HA. It was super cute. 
 

3. I have a Paramore song on my phone. Ain't It Fun. He plays it, and tries to sing a long. It's delayed, but the words are all there. 

On that note (ba-dump bump). Sorry. We are just thankful he is putting words together. He's quite the chatterbox now. I love it. Most of the time. 

Come to Momma!

No, Beckham isn't crawling yet. The news is even more exciting than that! Our air shipment will be here on Wednesday. And I don't mean in Brazil, I mean in our. apartment.!! We are SO excited! Finally, some of our stuff. It's not much, but boy will it help!

Here are just a few things we are excited about getting:

1. The Walker - Beckham is ready to scoot. 

2. The Vacuum - Just think back to the dirty feet picture. It's a must have. 

3. Toys for Cayden - To say he is a little bored is an understatement.

4. Kitchen stuff - I'm ready for some cooking supplies. We bought a can opener last week, it deserves its own post. Trust me.

5. Beck's Crib!

And funny enough, we actually don't remember a lot of what we are getting. Not that we can't live without it, it's just that moving and getting our stuff packed up was such a whirlwind, we don't remember what is in there!

OH! And, our container made it to Brazil yesterday. Maybe by April, we should have that. I'm not holding my breath. 

If he knew what was coming, he would be happier. 

We've Been Here a Month

Wow! It's funny because it feels longer. If feels like a lifetime since we lived in the quiet neighborhood, houses away from friends, and minutes away from family. I miss home. Not in a "I cry at home all day, every day way" I just miss it. Some things/Most things are easier there. But that is part of the journey, right? If it were easy, everyone would do it? Journey's and adventures are about trying new things, making new friends, having new experiences, etc. 

I had my first Portuguese lesson on Monday, with another scheduled for tomorrow. I really hope that within 6 months, I can speak fairly well. Well enough to communicate with the people that work here, to go shopping, to go out to eat. All of these things we can do, but it would be so much easier to speak the language. And while we are on the subject, I have a new appreciation for those within the US that don't speak English. As long as they are trying, cut them some slack. It's hard. 

It's hot here. For Brazil, it's hot. We have AC in our bedrooms, but the boys don't. I feel bad for them. Thankfully, we have begun the process of getting some installed. I know it will be a month or so, but at least we will have it going forward. I'm sweating writing this post. 

Last Friday, Cayden was at school, and Beckham and I were having a leisurely day at home. The light was nice, he was in a good mood, so I snapped some photos. 

He has pretty much mastered sitting up. I can sit him down, and leave him for a few minutes, and not worry about him smacking his head on the ground. He's also getting really mobile. He's not crawling yet, but the kid has mastered the army crawl. If he'd realize he could pick his belly off the ground, we'd be in trouble. 

I've started a Bible in a Year plan. Basically it gives you four passages to read every day. One from each the Old/New Testament, and from Psalms and Proverbs. I really like it. Anyway, this week just happen to be about coveting your neighbors stuff. I'm paraphrasing very loosely. 

I don't want to be jealous that the neighbor several floors up had their stuff delivered this week. But it was hard not to be envious. I'm ready to have my things. Minimalist living would be fine, if the minimal items were mine. 

 This is the entrance to our place. I like that there are tons of trees and greenery around. 

 And the award for most useful gift, that fit in a suitcase, goes to Kristin. She got Cayden this parachute. Now, we probably aren't using it like we should, but Cayden loves to be pulled around on it. Beckham wasn't quite as fond of it. In due time, I'm sure. 

Well, we have survived. Who knows what sorts of outings I can force Heath to go on this weekend. There are some really, really nice malls not too far from here. :o)

Tchau-Tchau