Settling in

Charlie and I are settling in quite nicely. The days are slow, routine and filled with enough time to enjoy every moment and take up a few hobbies. Since being here, I have actually cooked on a regular basis (not sure what I was doing at home when I think about it but cooking has never been my forte). I have also taken up knitting. I am definitely not an expert but at least now I can make something like a potholder or scarf and not get so frustrated that my weave is too tight. It flows easier. The only way I can explain how life is here is like a river that is meandering its way downstream. Back home (in Minnesota) life was more like a hurricane... I am not very good at metaphors but that is the best way I can describe it.

Life here has offered a new perspective. Like any drastic change, it sucks at first but you realize somewhere down the road that it has actually taught you something, enhanced life, helped you to understand more about yourself (as a wife, mother, individual). I think it is going to be hard to go back to the pace of life back home but, luckily, I think I have figured out how to ease back into it...we'll see...

A bit about Charlie: Every time I look at him I think, "what a blessing" or "you are soooo amazing!" I feel so humbled by him and love him so much. He is sooooo much fun! Right now he is eating crackers next to me, which he calls "COOOkie" and as he is about to take a bite he says, "Yum!" This morning he woke up at about 6:40am. He stands up in his crib and says, "out!" and then tells me to take his "night night" which is his blanky. I then lift him up out of his crib and bring him to daddy while I make up his breakfast. Lately, all he has wanted to eat is bananas so even though I prepared cereal, he wants a banana. He eats his banana double fisted (banana cut in half) and then, once finished, asks to get down by pointing and the morning routine of changing his diaper, clothes, putting on deet and sunscreen commence.

Then, we play soccer outside together after he insists on putting on his galoshes (boots) because the ants bite and after he has placed my sandals by my feet to get me going. We play for about 30 minutes, kicking the soccer ball around and then make are way around the yard looking for the turtles. We couldn't find them today and since the ants were killer this morning, I retreated us back to the front lawn (where the ants are not) and fill the basin full of water. We pretend to make soup, stirring it with sticks we found in the yard and placing grass, leaves, flowers, toys into the "soup" and say "yum!" He wants to do this FOREVER, so I ablige for about 1-1.5 hours and then take us in to do dishes. He helps me, standing on a chair. His job is to put all the dishes on the right side, on the left side into the basin filled with soapy water while I wash. He insists that I run the water so that he can fill up a cup and unfill it in the meantime and I ablige him because, frankly, it is easier than fighting him on such a small thing. We get done with the dishes and I start on lunch at about 10:45am. Today, I heated up the leftover pasta I made yesterday, cut up some cucumbers and cooked a hot dog for him. He ate the hot dog and cucumbers and drank some water. He knows the routine, so when he says "all done" by saying it and waving his hands back in forth (signing), I take him to bed, change his diaper and read him a few books. Then, I put him in his crib and say "good night" and he slowly falls to sleep.

Charlie has always been really good at nap time so he makes it easy on me. He sleeps while I read my book ( I am hooked! It is called "my sister's keeper" and is very touching which is maybe why I am a bit sappy right now....no, Meagan, I am not PMS'ing). Charlie wakes up enough to see me reading by his crib and stands up. I pick him up and he lies back down on my chest and falls asleep. I pick up where I ended in my book and continue reading. After about an hour (total 2.5 hour nap), he wakes up and we make our way to the kitchen where Christina (our maid who works 3 days/week for 20 dollars a week) is making homemade passion fruit juice from the passion fruit trees outside in our yard and homemade bread is in the oven. This is the life! She makes Charlie some juice and I give him some crackers and...that is where we are right now. Later, I may have a play date with Natasha and her 2 kids, Henry and Elijah..or, I may not. That is the beauty about living here, there are no appointments, no major expectations, just learning to live in the moment...

Oh, and Eric just walked in. It is 3:30 pm...I LOVE IT!