Whole lotta cash!

One of the things of living in a "2nd/3rd world" world is that some transactions are still in cash.
Since we moved here back in April, we have had the generous loan of three different cars and had put off buying a car since we were hoping that our residence visas were going to come "soon". Registering a car in someone else's name is a hassle for all parties involved and if we were just going to turn around and reverse the process to put the car in our name a few weeks later, it didn't seem worth it.

Well here we are 6 months later finally buying a car (= In cash!

Once we decided on the car it took a mere 24 hours to open the bank account here in town, transfer money to my dad, to friends here the country, from their account to our new account and to withdraw it all! We needed to add the step of using our friend's account because of the different weekends between the US and here. We knew we needed one full day for our account to work, and by that time the US banks would have probably closed and we would have had to wait several more days.

Some things can go so much faster than in the US and some things are slower. There is no predicting what category something will fall into. I would not have predicted 'financial gymnastics' to be in the fast category.

Because Tom was opening a new account and trying to transfer a chunk of american dollars, the bank manager now things we have some sort of wasta (= The combination of that and taking Layla into the bank has made sure that we will be remembered (=

All in all, we are so grateful for the resources to do this, the resources of friends' we've used along the way and for His provision of it ALL.

We're not trying to teach Layla to love money here...it's just that there aren't many ways to make pictures of cash interesting (=

Some things Daddys do, mamas would just NEVER do!

Sorry to post twice....just couldn't get the video the right size for my blog....plus I didn't want all the extra You Tube videos showing up.....you never know what you might accidentally click on! Yikes.

Ryan is 4.5 months old here.

Get a job; throw a party!

In the culture here, when someone gets a new job, or buys a new car or has a baby, they treat their friends to a big meal. We aren't quite up for doing that, but I made a TRIPLE batch of chocolate chip cookies (yes, all in one go in my FAB mixer).

Can you see sweet Ryan peeping through the chairs? Tom bought that walker for him and I thought it was a bit much, but he really enjoys it so I am grateful to have a place to put him where he is happy for a long stretch of time.

It has been very fun and gratifying for me to remember so many things that we used to do with Layla that are the same with Ryan. I've said it before, but we've had SO much change in our last 8 years that having two babies in the same hospital and the same house has been very grounding for me. It has been wonderful to remember Layla in the same bouncy seat on the same kitchen table while I cook at the same stove (=

We have been nesting like crazy - today we bought trees to plant! Our neighbor went with us to get the trees. You should see their yard - all kinds of jasmine bushes, a fig tree, guava, lemon, and bunches of other things I don't remember. They know what they are doing! Anyway, he and Tom are going to dig holes early tomorrow morning and I am finally going to have trees to look at out my kitchen window!!!!! I'm probably more excited than I should be about this (= This big tall trees are pretty wimpy looking but rather tall. I can't believe they are only $8 each. I'll have pictures soon!

Part 2: Finished Construction - Oct 2010

House Improvements!

After being in the US for 18 months, we moved back in April of this year. We had a baby one month later and have been working on trying to get our residence visa. During this time we had considered moving to a slightly larger house and were casually looking around. We decided for sure that we were going to stay a few weeks ago and as a result we are doing some improvements around the house.

The major construction stuff was supposed to take 10 days but they finished in 5! It was a little hard to trust the construction process at the beginning because things are made soooo poorly here.

Anyway, Tom did a great job managing the guys and making friends with them and they really did a great job for us. They even cleaned up which is UNHEARD of! Part of having men work on your house is supplying them with water and chai (tea) and sometimes even meals.

These guys didn't expect meals as they brought they own. Layla got a kick out of watching their picnics in our yard under the shade of our massive palm tree.

Sorry this is in two slideshows - I made a mistake in my uploading and I'm not going to take all the time necessary to correct it. I'm happy I even have this done in the same month as the construction!

Enjoy the pictures!

Residence Visa Photos

How CUTE are these photos??!! Tom has his labor card which means we are really official and that he can legally start to work! Just in time for most of the construction around the house to be finished. Getting our paperwork done should be a matter of just a few days at this point.

Daddy Time

We've often said that Layla is a daddy's girl. Maybe all little girls are
at some point (= If Layla is having a hard time sleeping, Tom often goes
in and lays down with her. She LOVES to have someone to snuggle with.
And with so much going on these days, sometimes Tom just falls asleep and takes his nap right there with Layla (=

You can see her sippy cup by the bookshelf...it has to be in that exact spot. She'll check it a few times as she goes to sleep and gets irritated if it is moved or has rolled over or something. Such a child of habit.

So we're enjoying these day when she wants to snuggle up. I think there are few things sweeter than a three year old girl falling asleep (=

Should work now....

Layla turned 3 less about a month ago and a friend gave her these shoes. She wears them multiple times a day. We have tile floors everywhere, and this is what I have to live with now (=

She is wearing jeans which is VERY unusual. She totally prefers dresses these days. We were headed out to a park and I wanted to make sure she was really ready to play without having to worry about a dress (=

btw, she is singing "Oh say, what can the matter be, Oh say, what can the matter be....." Someone has gone to the fair. Something like that (=

Ryan sits up!

Ryan is 22 weeks old now which is about 5 months old. We had him in the bouncy seat the other day and he just sat right up and leaned over to grab that toy on the floor! I was so surprised. He didn't make it back into the sitting position, but I was impressed nonetheless.

He is still not sleeping through the night in stark contrast to Layla who slept like a rock from about 6 weeks of age on. She still does! Consequently, I've been pretty exhausted and wiped out. Last week we started to think he has some reflux issues and once we began to take some measures to deal with that, his nights have gotten better. He wasn't ever really crying, but we can see now that even his mild fussies were about his tummy. Once we elevated his crib, he is able to actually fall asleep on his back for the first time. Now I am feeding him once a night as opposed to sometimes four times a night!

Some things I love about Ryan at the moment:

When you lay him down to bed on his tummy he rubs his hands in a circular motion on the sheets (= So predictable. If he isn't doing this, he isn't ready to drop off (=

He is a very mellow baby - really only cries if in pain or missing a nap. He
needs lots of burping periodically so we carry him a lot more than we carried Layla. He is HEAVY.

His blue eyes and red hair

He crosses his ankles almost all the time. Layla points this out constantly (=

He has a very quick smile when Tom or Layla are around. He loves to watch her and I've banned them both from being in the room when we nurse. It is just too distracting for him!

I think he is just too handsome (=

When I wake him up to nurse (we are nursing more frequently since smaller meals are easier on his tummy) he just nuzzles up so close until we are ready to feed. It is too precious.

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