Some Kid issues and More Diaper Giveaways

BoyD had a little problem yesterday. (It is a little better today) His right ear is HUGE! It seems as though a little creature bit my child on his ear. We don't know if it was a spider, a mosquito, or what, but he ear doesn't like it.


We have given him Claritin and rubbed hydrocortizone cream on it multiple times, but it isn't really helping yet. Boy, this kid can react. But isn't he so handsome??? I mean, geez! He's a looker! :)


Well, not photos of this one, but BabyM is trying to poop on the potty. She sits down (she is so little she can even fall in the kid potty) and pushes out toots. She is so proud of herself! I think that if we could time it right, we could get her to poop in there. I mean, she's not ready to potty train totally b/c she doesn't shoe many of the other readyness signs, but boy she has desire! It is the cutest thing, b/c she will toot, look up and you and laugh! She wants to be just like BoyD.

We need to buy her a better potty chair. The one we have will tip over b/c she isn't big enough to stablize it.


More diaper contests! If I blog about these contests, I get entered to win, so if you do cloth (or want to try) then check these out!

There is a diaper called grobaby that is so cool! I don't know if you can read all the fine print, but you have these inner layers that you can switch out when the baby's wet, and just keep using the outer layer. When it's all snapped together, it goes on just like a disposable.

My favorite part? It is one size from newborn to toddler! It adjusts. That means that if I had this diaper (and I don't yet, but I'm trying to witn it) then I could use it on the new baby coming in Jan, and on BabyM! Talk about saving money on diapers, let alone saving the countryside here from poopy diapers.

Here is the Link to the website.

There is another very cool website where this mom reviews different products. One of the products that she reviewed is a Bambino Mio cloth diaper. If you want to read about a cloth diaper experience from the perspective of a disposable user, check out this site.

She is giving away two of those diaper sets, and oh, do I want one of those! They work like a disposable when you put them on, (no pinning), but you can reuse the cover over and over. They even sell these flushable liners that you can dump in the potty if baby poops! So cool.

Here is the link for the contest.

There is another really cool giveaway for a Gad cloth diaper. It is super cute and looks so soft! I want one of these also. I am trying to increase my stash for the new baby coming! :)

Now, this is the monster of cloth diaper giveaways from a blog Rocker Bye Baby! I mean, this stuff is for super cool moms with stylin kiddos! :) Even if you aren't interested in this stuff, you should check out how fun these diapers are. The coolest part, these are WAHM diapers, meaning that they were made by Work At Home Moms, so buying these dipes helps other mom's stay at home!

Go Here to see this stuff in detail (or to enter to win)

Looks like a fun store with contests!

Boy, I love free stuff! And I love baby stuff. There is a new website that is launching called BabyHalfOff.com and they are having contests!

On this blog, you can access a contest for a gift certificate. Cool, huh?

Let me know if you visit them.

By the way, thanks for all of the prayers regarding BabyM. We are certainly adding calories to everything, so we will see in a couple of weeks if we are making headway. I am definitely less stresses, b/c as Robin pointed out, I am doing all I can, and the Lord is responsible for the rest.

You guys are all so great!

Just a little frustrated.

Ok...time for another update/rant regarding BabyM.

First of all, BoyD was so cute in his little play. All the other kids had full fledged costumes, yet poor BoyD just had a dinky mask, but he didn't care in the slightest. He looked so cute. Sorry, grandmas, Brandon took the camera with him out of town for the day, so all the photos are stored in my memory and we don't yet have the technology to download those! Anyway, he didn't know the motions so he just copied what the other kids did a few seconds behind. It was hilarious, and he was so proud of himself. I, too, was proud.

On t0 BabyM. She is 19 months old and weighs 17lbs 12oz. She is growing at a slower and slower rate. Basically, she has been well since March, but hasn't gained an appropriate amount of weight. She isn't climbing the charts, or even levelling off. Her height and head circumfrence are doing fine, although she is still little.

Trying to get that kid to eat is so frustrating. I can't begin to decribe the stress I am under. It just makes me leave the table in tears. She is on a new vitamin that is supposed to increase her appetite, and is has some. She refuses anything that has any real nutritional value (except for avacados) She will eat bread, pasta, chips, crackers, cookies, all day long.

I saw a recipe some where for a breakfast cookie. I may try to make some of those. We visited a nutritionist, and she told us some things that just don't seem good. The problem is that I am arrogant and prideful, and think that I know what is best, when I probably don't.

For example...we're supposed to stick to white bread. It fills her up less as it has less flour. That makes sense, I guess, but knowing how bad white flour is for you, makes me cringe. She said to puree food for her to eat. I guess that is worth a try (anything is) but I already know that she is a texture kid, and I don't envision her liking pureed meat with veggies mixed in. But, like I said, whom am I? I mean...I am at the point of really trying anything. I thought that she had been doing ok since she had been well, for the most part. She is eating well today, though. Maybe we have turned a corner.

Just please keep praying for her.

BabyM and the Lion

Ok...so not together! But I wanted to update on our little BabyM, post a couple of photos, and tell about the lion mask that I made for BoyD.

Well, BabyM received 2 vaccines (actually 4, but in two shots) today and is doing well. Woke up from her nap fussy, but other than that, is in very good spirits.

The dr. is sending us to a nutritionist (we go this evening) because although she has grown 3cm in height in 5 weeks, she still only weights 17lbs 12 oz at 19 months old. At this rate she will be well over 2 before she reaches 20 lbs, what most babies reach at a year. Now, the good news is that she is not sick, does not have diarrhea, and is developmentally normal. She just doesn't eat enough to gain the weight that she should be gaining. I'm happy, though, because she is otherwise healthy, and maybe with a nutritionist, we can fatten her up! :)

BoyD is in some sort of cultural program tomorrow that we found out about today, b/c he hasn't been to school in 6 weeks! He-He! Anyway, he needed a lion mask for tomorrow, so I got to
work!

I printed a little template on the computer so that I could get the right size, as BoyD wasn't here. I glued that template to some yellow foamy that I had, and cut out little ears from brown construction paper.

I had destuffed an overstuffed toy and had kept the left over inards, and glued that on for the mane. I tried various methods to paint the mane, and finally settled on some watercolor. It worked pretty well. Then I painted the face, glued on construction paper wiskers (curled a little at the ends) and attached elastic to hold it on him.

When he got home, I measured for the eyes and cut those out. I think it turned out pretty well, and he is at least happy with it. It is taking everything to keep him from wearing it until tomorrow! (I don't want it to get messed up before the program...he'll have plenty of time to wear it later!)

The photos below are 1st: the fourth of July celebration that we went to while we were in the states, Uncle Ian fixing BoyD's hair. So cute

2nd: BabyM playing at the park by Grammy's house. That was like 10:30am and it was so hot that she looks like she has been in a sauna. Sorry for all of you who live in Texas in the summer. The promise land betrayed us a little!


3rd: those are some of my girlfriends from highschool that I got together with while in Lubbock. It was so fun! Aren't they beautiful!





Ok, that's it.

Cotton Babies

Ok. At the end of last year, we received a diaper grant from a company called Cotton Babies. They sell cloth diapers. For many reasons, we use cloth, but we just couldn't afford the initial start up to have enough diapers for 2 kids in Diapers.

I found this grant application on their website while drooling over diapers, and applied. We were granted the grant, and received 16 BumGenius diapers, a bunch of cloth wipes, bottom spray (for cleaning), and 2 dirty diaper drawstring bags. All free. This grant is for missionaries only. What a ministry! I don't know exactly how many diapers that they give away, but the list of missionaries that have received this grant over the years is amazing.

I just feel so blessed. I am plugging this website, this company, because they are putting their money (or diapers) where their mouth is. They are a company that is giving back. They are serving people who serve for a living.

Please visit them. There is even a place to donate towards the grant.

Mosquito Bite

Just for fun...or because I'm morbid, I wanted to post another couple of photos of BoyD when he got a mosquito bite.

This was a different bite than the one shown below, but had similar dramatic affects. The circle is the bite, the little dot being the center of the bite. Poor baby was a little freaked out when he woke up that morning.

Keeping things neat.

I was w/o internet or too busy to look for almost a month, so I am just now catching up on all kinds of blogs, but there is one thing that I have been reading that I just think is fantastic!

My friend Alicia has a blog outlining her new cleaning method. Before I had a 25 hour a week housekeeper for around $100 a month (I know, I know, everyone is jealous, just move to Guatemala and you too can have this luxury!) I did the flylady program and loved it! I seriously did hardly any work and my house was neat!

For me, with a preschooler, a toddler, and a newborn on the way, the trick to keeping things neat is having the kiddos be responsible for their own stuff. (w/in reason) For example, if I have to pick up my preschooler's toys, then I keep them in something called a "work-it-out box." Since I had to do his work, he has to do some of my work in order to "buy" back his toy. (Pick up the Baby's toys, or put folded laundry in the correct room, for example) BoyD makes his own bed, picks up his toys, can only get out 1 (sometimes 2) toy at a time, and must clean up one before getting out another, puts up his own dirty clothes, takes his plate to the kitchen after eating, wipes down the table (on occasion), feeds the dog, helps me put clothes in the dryer or picks up the clothes pins when they dry on the line, and generally helps me when I ask him to (pick up any trash, put things on the stairs, etc) BabyM picks up her toys (with help), and is learning to take her plate to the table after she eats. She also picks up trash and puts it in the trash can.

I do have a very organized play room and kids rooms, so that my kids know exaclty where everything goes. We also talk a lot about how good it feels when the house is straight. We talk about how nice it looks when we go to bed at night, and how nice it looks when we wake up in the morning.

The real problem is my bedroom. I (and Gladys) keep it relatively neat, but it seems that there is always clean laundry folded on a surface. Clean laundry is my bain. Also, I have a problem with stray glasses. I get a drink, take it upstairs, and leave it. Gladys, every day she is here, gathers up cups from the house to wash. I don't know what my problem is, but I just can't seem to keep up with a cup! :)

You will never, though, hear me complain about housework. I, for the most part, do very little. That being said, I don't want my kids to grow up thinking that they don't have to do chores, just b/c Gladys works for us. We make the kids clean up spills, sweep up stuff, etc.

I know, if and when we move back to the states and I am again responsible on a regular basis for cleaning my house, I will go back to the FlyLady stystem. It works and it kept our home neat.

Oh, a photo for Alicia:

This was taken the morning after taking steroids for a mosquito bite on his forehead. He was bitten on Day 1, Day 2 he woke up with his eye swelled shut and the bridge of his nose flattened out, we went to the doctor and got some steroids, and after taking benadryl that night and steroids for the swelling, he woke up like this. And we thought at the time that he looked SO much better. Poor guy! (I attached a picture of the boy looking normal for a reference, in case you don't remember what he normally looks like. )

Good Friends and Good News

(this first part was written a long time ago. I have just been too busy (or lazy) to post in a long time.)
Well, today we got a care package. We have actually gotten a couple of them. The first few were from my mom. Then, Susan, from CBC, sent us this amazing package with clothes, playthings, first-aid stuff, I mean a ton of stuff. It was like Christmas opening it up.

Well, today we got a little box with 4 little Easter toys for the kids. Oh, my gosh, they are so cute! (I can't find what I did with the photos, so I will post them another day)

There are 2 chickens and two eggs, one of each for each of my beautiful kids. They love them. BoyD is taking a nap and wanted to sleep with his chicken. He has decided that one of them is a rooster (although it still has his egg) and the other is the hen. It's nice to have friends, isn't it?

We have had a few problems with the house. The paint is chipping all along bottom of most of the walls. BabyM's room has large chunks of the paint missing, and we have mold/mildew problems all in our kitchen cabinets. The owners came by today and checked it all out, and this Thursday, they will be starting the repairs. YEAH! Oh, and our pila leaks, but they are going to fix that, too. I'm so relieved.

Well...we're going to try this again. I'm pregnant! I am 7 weeks and feeling a little crappy. I mean, this is my third kid, so preggo sick is nothing new. I am actually so incredibly thankful that I don't feel as bad as I did with BabyM. I mean, I didn't get off the couch and I didn't get my face out of the bowl for over 3 weeks. I finally had to take a pill ($25 each) made for cancer patients so that I could eat a little protein. I lost 13 pounds in 2 weeks! Now, I am just generally nauseated all the time, and very tired. I get really winded easily, and I can't stand up very fast w/o feeling like I'm gonna pass out. I am eating like every 1-2 hours so that I don't get really nauseated, and overall, it is working. I can function for the most part. I am having a hard time dealing with left-overs. The kitchen is shaky ground for me. I have an incredible husband that cooks and takes care of me.

They have these new memory cards (or maybe it's the cameras) that can wirelesly download photos from your camera to whatever folder you want on your computer! You just have to have that blue tooth technology! If I ever do a techno upgrade, I want that. I mean, that is so cool. Just to let you in on how behind I am, my cell phone takes no photos nor does it have a color display. And it's not because the technology isn't available here. I am just turning into an old person.

Our neighbors lent us season one of Little House on the Prairie. Oh my gosh! Why can't we get back to that. I don't mean living like that, their lives were incredibly difficult. I mean, having that kind of thing on TV. There is NOTHING that wholesome on TV any more. You have to watch PBS Kids before 9am to see something that is not on some level offensive. Oh, I do long for those days. When Andy Griffith, Little House on the Prairie, and old school Star Trek were the prime time entertainments. I am grieving that a little. Even if there is a show that is OK to have on while my kids are in the room, the commercials are so horrible, they should be rated pg-13 at best.

We (Kelley, the kids, Brandon, and I) went to visit Jacaltenango. It is a little town about 5 hours from here, up towards the Mexican border. Kelley taught a little art workshop. The 25 people from the church who attended loved it and did great work.

This is the kids working on their project and us explaining some stuff. The next photo is Kelley, Brandon, and Pablo (one of the Lopez family kiddos). The view behind them is Mexico.


This is the Lopez family. They are from the Xela area, and moved out there to be missionaries to the community. BabyM made a friend with the cat, and BoyD was obsessed with the rooster. The very loud rooster that we heard all night long. It was funny, BoyD will pick up all manner of insects, but was afraid to pick up the kitten.


The first picture was where BoyD slept. Or napped on and off all night. The next picture is their kitchen. It is basically outside.

We went to see the Mayan ruins near Huehuetenango. they are super cool and considered small. The little people on the top of the one on the left are my family. That gives you an idea of the size.


Precious BabyM is now a climber.


Kelley is an artist and painted this super cool palm tree mural in BoyD's room. It looks so fantastic.

That's enough for today. I don't get much time to blog, so I have to vomit all the info at once!

So Much to Say

So much to say, so little time.

Spoke at that women's meeting. It was so fun and I loved it. I would love to do that more often.

I cooked for the pastor's prayer meeting at our house. That was fun, but I hate spending that time in the kitchen when my kids want to play. Especially when we all had to be in the kitchen and be quiet while the pastors prayed. Next time I will make a casserole or something the night before.

After reading "Snuggle Puppy" by Sandra Boynton several times to my kids, I made chocolate chip cookies this afternoon for them. So fun to bless them like that.

It is so great to be out of school for the semester. I have nap times and night times and early mornings to do things that I want/need to do. Laundry, workout, pray, nap, pay bills, bake cookies...

My ladies Bible Study is back on after a couple of weeks off. I say off, but really, the people that said that they were coming wouldn't show up. That's Guatemala. It's hard not to take it personally. I mean, maybe I should, but they showed up today! :)

We finally found sand for the BoyD's sandbox. It cost $40 to fill it. Yikes! At leaste we are getting to play outside.

Rainy season has started. It rains every day. Well, almost everyday. It hasn't rained so far today, but it will rain tomorrow. Usually it starts pretty soon after lunch.

We bought a new vacuum. That was a really hard decision, because we don't just have a ton of money laying around, yet our other vacuum had to pass over an area 2 or 3 times to pick up the obvious dirt. With a dog, a cat, and 2 little kiddos, I demand clean rugs!

We bought it, and after the rugs had been vacuumed with the old vac, I used the new one. The folllowing pictures are the results. I vacuumed two rugs that are this size:
These are two photos of the dirt that this vacuum picked up.

This is AFTER they had already been vacuumed! So, all that to say, I am ok with our purchase.

This last saturday morning, we took the kids to our little park in our condominium to play baseball. It was so fun and so cute.

Here are some pics. BoyD had a really hard time remember to run to all the bases and then run home. He just wanted to run. It was great. Too bad there is no little league here! We'll just have to have our own.


Ok - going to go eat a snack and go to bed. Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later. I actually have a ton that I want to write about.

Ok - I wanted to post some photos of BabyM's room. I realize that her name is on the wall, but it won't show up on any search engine or anything.

This first is a broad shot of the wall:On the left are two of BabyM's dresses from when she was really little. In the middle is her name spelled out in cloth letters hung on a length of twine with clothes pins. (I will be getting some smaller ones soon) Under that is a painting by my sister-in-law, Denise. She is an incredible artist. She also did the treasure map painting in BoyD's room. On the right is a picture of a paper doll set. Her crib bedding in doll dresses.

Another view of above:
This is a close up of Denise's painting:

Ok, below is a close up of the cloth letters. I bascially cut out letters that I printed from Word, glued them to a cereal box, cut those out, and hot glued the fabric to the cardboard. Then is a shot of the paper doll picture.

Both these dresses and the paper doll print above are hung on some wooden drawer pulls that I found in a hardware store and covered with fabric. The hangers are ugly pastic ones, so I covered them with ribbon until I could find some others. I actually found some metal ones today that Brandon is going to spraypaint either silver or white. I'll then tie a little bow around them.

The best part is that aside from the painting and the print (both were gifts), I spent like $6-$8 on the whole thing. When I get back from my trip, I will finish the other wall, and post some more pics.

Finally, here are my sweet babies! BabyM just woke up (look...she is looking fatter!) and sweet BoyD sleeping with Brandon's boyhood stuffed dog.

Well, I don't consider myself very good at decorating, but this was one of those rare occasions when it turns out even better than I had imagined it. Even BabyM likes to be in her room better now. Any ideas on what color we should paint that wall? I am thinking some shade of green. We'll see.

More later:

Just an update.

I am almost finished decorating BabyM's room. The walls were totally bare until today. We've been here a year, and she hasn't had one picture on her wall! Oh, well. I will post tomorrow the photos of her room. I am so excited. There is still more to do, but it will have to wait a week or so.

I leave to go spend some time with my mom this Sunday. Me and the kids. Without Brandon. That will be weird! I mean, he has been gone from the house for a day or two, but I've never traveled for 5 days without him.

When I get back, I will have a week to prepare for the women's meeting. I will be teaching. I have like 45 minutes or so to share. These are pastor's wives, and there were 100 or so invited. So we will have anywhere from 25 to 100+. I am told I am supposed to teach on how to be a pastor's wife. WHAT?? I mean, what do I know about that??? I am a little overwhelmed. I am not a pastor's wife. I am not guatemalan. I don't have any idea what these women deal with. I have the impression that the pastors want me to teach their wives this.

Anyway, more on that later. Moore photos of my kids as well. I think that those photos might be the reason that many of you read this blog! Well...that's why the grandparents read it.

I went to the orphanage today. That is going really well, except that they are totally disorganized. I was supposed to work with 11-13 year olds, but when I got there, they were not there. And the other groups were working on their homework. I will go back tomorrow. I wish I could spend more time with those kids.

Ok...going to bed.

Big drinks and guns.

Ok. It's time to post some pics. Really don't have any stories to tell today. Just that I finally finished a 17 page paper regarding the revelation of God in prophesy, dreams, and visions. Whew! So glad that is over. Now I can go back to being a house wife and get some stuff done. This is sweet BabyM (who is eating great, by the way!) drinking a monster tea from Burger King. I tried to give her a drink of carbonated orange drink, and she just makes this awful face. She loves iced tea, though.

Time to cut bangs. That cup is half her size!

The other day, the kids wanted to play in the rain, so we took off thier clothes, put on their rain coats, and let them play. It was a little too cold, so BabyM was suffering a little. She was torn, because when I was trying to bring her inside, she wanted to stay out, but she kept shivering and crying out. I finally did the parenting thing and brought the kids into a warm bath. BoyD was super disapointed. The cold didn't faze him and he wanted to keep playing.
This is babyM and Glady's grand-daughter hugging. Well, BabyM is trying to give her a kiss, but she wants none of it. That little girl is about a month older than BabyM and so much bigger.
BabyM got to eat...well...she got to disolve a guatemalan cookie which is basically hardened pink meringue thingy. What you can't see in the picture, is the little pink handprint on the couch beside me.

And this is my precious GQ son. I think he knows how handsome he is. This kid asks questions all the time. I mean, why is his favorite word. The cool thing is that he aks important questions. Like about God and faith and life and death.

I must tell one story. My son is a Scott boy. We were watcing the last part of Jurasic park 3 and there was one dinosaur attacking the group of people and BoyD asked "where is their gun?" I don't know if I am proud or a little sad that my son thought of guns when the dinosaurs attack.

Anyway, I will be travelling back to the states with the kids to spend some time with my mom on mother's day. After that, I will be speaking at a women's meeting of pastor's wives. I can't believe that I am going to be doing that. Please start praying for that now.