About a week and a half ago, a dear cousin of mine lost her 14th month little girl in an accident. I have been extremely impressed with her daily writing on her blog. I've read it everyday and cried many tears. My heart and prayers go out to her and her family. But in one of her daily entries, she told us to write down little moments we remember or notice about our little ones. I've thought over the past couple of days about doing this, but haven't gotten around to it, but it's something that I feel is important.
Aiden Diego Rodriguez
I love my son so deeply but sometimes he is very difficult to like. But just the thought of losing him, makes my heart hurt and my eyes fill with tears. Things he does that I can't help but smile . . .
- When he gets excited or a song comes on with a beat, he does this little shimmy with his upper body.
- When he sees water of any kind, whether it be in a cup, on the street, the ocean or in the shower, he gets so excited and has to be in the middle of it.
- Putting my ipod headphones up to his ear and smiling so big when he can hear the music.
- Taking any phone there is whether it be a real one or his play one and talking into it. His favorite thing is when Ben or I pretend to answer it and talk in "Spanglish" -- "Bueno. You want to talk to el Gordo? Quien habla? His novia?" And then we hand him the phone. He gets so excited, you can't help but laugh.
- He's now starting to do the copycat thing. Everything Ben or I do or say, he tries it. Granted his speech is a little garbled, but he sure tries.
- He thinks that Nana (our new family addition, a puppy) is his own little toy. He doesn't realize that she's so small and he tries to lay on her, pick her up by the tail, kick her like a ball and hold her upside down.
- He loves being read to. Especially "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". I've taken on singing this to him as has Ben. There's a spider that lives in the top corner of our shower, not large, but I'm aware that he is there, as is Ben and Aiden. When we get in the shower, we have to sing the song and he is happy.
- Feeding himself . . . what more can I say?
- There's a drink here that is called "Yokult" and it has been his favorite since he was 2 months old. Don't ask why he has been drinking it since that young, it wasn't exactly my idea. But he goes to the fridge and has me open it and looks for Yokult or yogurt. If there isn't any, he just looks. He doesn't care that all he sees is pots and pans, he just want to look.
- He has now caught me in a web of singing him to sleep. It's terrible for me, but a great comfort for him. One song in particular shuts him right up and he listens. I rub his back and my fingers through his hair. Usually he falls asleep rather quick. Tonight was a different story, but it happens.
- Body functions: farting, peeing on the floor or me and burping are things for him to laugh at. Unfortunately, his father encourages it. It makes me crazy!!!
He is an angel sent to Ben and I. I mean that in the sense that he is a gift, as for being an actual angel right now leaves something open for negotiation. I am so grateful to have him! I am so grateful that he has this opportunity to spend a couple of years in a place that part of his ancestors are from and learn their language.
Yes he drives me crazy and tries my patience (what little I have) but I wouldn't trade him for the world!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Reflection over a year . . .
That's a long time to reflect on! That was actually when I entered my last blog. I've found that it's easier to upload photos here than on email, so we're going to try this for awhile.
Reflection:
As I've lived here over a year, I have met and made some amazing friends!! Because of them, I have been able to survive!! I've also learned that I need a lot of faith to get through the tough spots!! Circumstances here have made some friendships tough and literally impossible which breaks my heart! These are the friends/family that were there through the roughest times at the start. I am so thankful to God for sending them into my life when he did. I think about them often and find myself feeling a tightness of chest and regret. But there are so many others that I can't even begin to tell you have made a difference!!!
I was in my conversation class on Tuesday and we were talking about me being here. And I had actually been thinking about that on my drive to class. Was I upset at Ben for making the choices that he did that brought me here? Did I regret being here? The answer to both of those questions is ABSOLUTELY NOT!! How lucky am I to have this adventure!!! To do the things I've done, to meet the people I have, to experience an entirely different life. Yes, it's been harder than hell, but worth every minute!!!
Up To Now . . .
It's been awhile since you've heard from me, other that I was barely alive. When I said that I didn't mean by lack of food, it was stress was literally killing us! We ended up moving out of the Chateau when first the water went out (at that point, Aiden and I took a bus trip to the Ranch and left Ben to fend for himself), then the electricity and gas. So, basically, we had to use the public showers in the Jardines (a word they use for garden area) and the Kiosko (our version of 7-11) to go to the bathroom. Fine. It was time to go anyway. However, when we left we left an ANGRY family with Maria. The last night I was there, Simon, her 21 year old son threw a party from hell. It was so loud and the music was so awful, it made me physically sick. When I went down to tell them to turn it down, Simon looked at me like an innocent little puppy. I wanted to strangle him. We had talked about these parties for 8 months and nothing ever changed. So, the next morning, Ben got up to find that our car had been keyed. Up until then, Ben had been a patient individual, not causing any waves, just hanging out and letting me do all the talking. (probably not such a good idea) But when he saw that, he had me call Mike and it was over from then on. Mike was furious and when I told Simon that the parties were over, he had moved out of the house within 2 hours and Maria didn't show up for work for 2 days. They were FURIOUS with us for calling Mike. But what was I to do? I had talked to everybody several times, but nothing happened. It was time Michael knew. This was all happening the first week of May. I went to the Ranch and my brother-in-law and Ben's cousin drove me home to a house with no water and electricity. Boy was that a fun time!!!
HOUSE HUNTING
In the meantime, we had found a house that we were in LOVE with!! It was exactly what I wanted and we were going to put a deposit on it and it was going to be available the first of July. When I went to the Ranch, I told Ben to contact the lady and give her some sort of deposit. When I came back, he hadn't. Surprise, Surprise! This was still in the first part of May. Well, Nicole, my best friend here, was renting a house from the same lady that I was planning on. But Nicole's house was going to be ready sooner and she was going to California for some health testing. She told us to move into her place until the other one became available. When we were moving into Nicole's house, the Senora was there and Ben went to give her some money for a deposit and she told us she had already rented it to someone else. There was no "sorry" NOTHING!! Upset is a mild word for what I was at that moment. So, we found a bunch of houses for rent and found a man who found places for us to rent. That was his job. He showed us one the night we called. We loved it and called him within a half hour telling him we wanted it. He told us all the paperwork we needed and we got it together, the deposit and everything. He texted me the next morning telling me that the house had already been rented. That's 2. Okay, I had a roof over my head, water and electricity, but it was AWFUL living conditions. (I'll explain later) We just wanted out. So, Alberto (jack-ass as we now refer to him) kept looking and everytime he found something either there was a problem or I hated it. He found us one that we had decided was the perfect location, the perfect price, etc. First, it was available, then it wasn't because there were painters having problems with the owners, and then it was rented and then the next day, it was available. He texted me and told me to meet him at 1:30 because someone else was looking at it at 2:00. I hurried over told him I wanted it and we would sign the papers that night. That was Friday. He never called or texted (he never wanted to waste minutes calling, so it's cheaper to text). On Monday, I had had it with waiting. I texted him and told him to call me. He finally did and told me that the house was unavailable. At that point, we were finished with him. The last time I met with him to look at another house, I ran into Brenda who is now my current Landlord. We moved into this house June 15th. It's 3 bedrooms, a/c, completely furnished (beds, fridge, stove, etc.), and a large patio. One of my requirements. I finally have a place where I can hang MY pictures, MY things and feel like I actually belong instead of leeching off someone else. Of course we moved in Monday and Ben's family showed up Tuesday. It's interesting that they can always end up coming at the worst times. When I got in there on Monday, Brenda said she would have it clean. Uhhh . . . if what I moved into was clean for here, I don't even want to know what dirty is. We spent 2 1/2 days just cleaning. We found cockroaches the size of keys, dead mice, spiders. It was so disgusting!! GROSS!!!! But we got through it, his friend came and fumigated, but that will probably have to be done a couple of times. At least here, we don't really have to worry about scorpions. It's cockroaches and I can handle those!! I'm becoming quite good a washing clothes by hand, BUT I did find out that you can rent a washing machine for $8 per 24 hours. And if you get one on Friday, you can keep it until Monday for the same price. Yeah, will be doing that!! Ha! Ha!
Marimar -- Nicole's house
This house was such a blessing. Ben and I can't thank Nicole enough for her generosity, but it's for one person. And it's in the perfect location for Nicole because it's right by the highway and that's how she gets to work. For Ben and I it was REALLY far away. He had to walk a mile to catch the bus in the morning. It was so dusty out there that you'd clean something and within minutes it had a inch of dirt on it. We had nothing to put our clothes in so we were living in bags and boxes. We had a fridge and microwave, but that was it. There wasn't anywhere to hang our wet clothes so we became very good at improvising!!! The neighbors had 3 children and one of them was crying at all times. They didn't take baths and the dad beat on a regular basis with a belt. Not exactly my cup of tea. The neighbors on the other side were fabulous! They have a dog named Blackey and boy did that dog love Gordo and I. He smiled everytime he saw me! (Those of you who know what a dog looks like when they smile, will understand) Nicole had bought two couch/beds (not futons--different) and the 3 of us slept together. Not so much my favorite thing!! It was really camping. The floors were cement and impossible to keep clean. I'm not complaining because if it hadn't been for this house, I don't know what we would have done!! I'm just telling you how it was. I attached some pictures of me washing clothes there. I really am getting good at it. But I HATE it with a passion!!!
Work
Ben is still working at Hotel Tesoro. Right now is Mexican season which is a lot of work and no tips. As of this minute I have 50 pesos to my name! ($5) Thankfully he gets his tips today and paid on Friday. I get paid Monday. The reason we are running on nothing is because we had to come up with rent and deposit for the month of July. So, thankfully, July is paid and what I make over the next little while will go straight to saving for August's rent and bills we haven't had to pay until now. Although that's a new stress I'm okay with that. I'm still teaching English and Tech and I enjoy it. I picked up a group of engineers at Nissan and they are so much fun!!! We are on a break for now, but hopefully starting up again in a week or so. Exams are next week for all my other classes so, I'm preparing those and that's about it on that front.
Aiden . . .
Now this is a topic that is hard to put words to!! He is so damn cute!! He's so funny! And he has endless amounts of energy. He just isn't gentle. Does that make sense? At daycare, he is the bully. He picks fights, he pushes, he hits, kicks, bites, whatever he feels like doing. It's so awful. There's one little boy that cries the minute he sees Aiden because he's scared of him. That is so NOT okay with me!! I am at a loss of what to do. They put him in time out. He's usually there about 30% of the day and doesn't cry once. He doesn't care. On Sunday, I put him in time out almost the entire day and he just sits there. I was under the impression that that was supposed to be a punishment. Apparently for my son, it isn't. He's not as picky as he used to be at eating, which is nice. He's slimming down, kind of. He's tall!!! His obsessions are still the same: agua (water), pelota (ball) and wow-wow (dog). I don't think he could survive if these things did not exist. He has started to get into the Disney cartoons. But we have to be careful with what he watches because he gets scared REALLY easy. When a plane flies overhead, he freaks out! In the movie Mulon, he gets really scared with the Huns. We have to hold him. So, we are trying to monitor his cartoon watchage.
The Weather
HOT! HOT!! HOT!!!! It finally came. It hit about a week ago and hasn't stopped. It's rained a few times which makes it even worse! It's so hot that when you step outside it's hard to breathe because the humidity is so thick! It's like you have stepped into worldly sauna. Yuck!! And as humid as it is, you would think that my face and hands wouldn't be dry, but they are. What's up with that? I've lived here for over a year and not once have I gotten burned and I've spent a lot of time at the beach!!! But when Ben's family was here, we went on a Party Boat and I fried! It was so wonderful. Up until that point my skin was pasty white because of stress and I looked sick. I feel a little bit more spunky. My husband's cousin bought us a hammock, we just need to get it up. I am SO excited!!!
The Surprise . . .
I waited until now to tell you. We're excited and a little overwhelmed right now. I'm Pregnant!!
Gotcha!! We are excited and a little overwhelmed but not because I'm pregnant, are you kidding? I'd probably kill myself!! We were given a gift and her name is "Nana". She is one cute mut! She's 2 months old and finally clean. I've had to shower her 3 times with special soap to get rid of all the fleas and ticks. And then I had to give her worm medicine. That was the worst!! She was so full of worms. The poor thing. I'm a little stressed right now trying to potty train her. It's easier when Aiden is at daycare, but when he's here, it's almost impossible! He picks her up by the tail and drops her. He wants to lay on her, but he doesn't realize she's too small. I can't even imagine having another child right now. Nana is almost as tough as another baby. Mariah, I admire your willingness!!
That's where life stands right now!! I'm heading up north July 19th and will be in Salt Lake around the 1st. I would like to see as many people as possible! This time, I won't have any doctor's appointments except one! Dentist. :)
I hope all is well for everybody!! Loves and kisses!
Reflection:
As I've lived here over a year, I have met and made some amazing friends!! Because of them, I have been able to survive!! I've also learned that I need a lot of faith to get through the tough spots!! Circumstances here have made some friendships tough and literally impossible which breaks my heart! These are the friends/family that were there through the roughest times at the start. I am so thankful to God for sending them into my life when he did. I think about them often and find myself feeling a tightness of chest and regret. But there are so many others that I can't even begin to tell you have made a difference!!!
I was in my conversation class on Tuesday and we were talking about me being here. And I had actually been thinking about that on my drive to class. Was I upset at Ben for making the choices that he did that brought me here? Did I regret being here? The answer to both of those questions is ABSOLUTELY NOT!! How lucky am I to have this adventure!!! To do the things I've done, to meet the people I have, to experience an entirely different life. Yes, it's been harder than hell, but worth every minute!!!
Up To Now . . .
It's been awhile since you've heard from me, other that I was barely alive. When I said that I didn't mean by lack of food, it was stress was literally killing us! We ended up moving out of the Chateau when first the water went out (at that point, Aiden and I took a bus trip to the Ranch and left Ben to fend for himself), then the electricity and gas. So, basically, we had to use the public showers in the Jardines (a word they use for garden area) and the Kiosko (our version of 7-11) to go to the bathroom. Fine. It was time to go anyway. However, when we left we left an ANGRY family with Maria. The last night I was there, Simon, her 21 year old son threw a party from hell. It was so loud and the music was so awful, it made me physically sick. When I went down to tell them to turn it down, Simon looked at me like an innocent little puppy. I wanted to strangle him. We had talked about these parties for 8 months and nothing ever changed. So, the next morning, Ben got up to find that our car had been keyed. Up until then, Ben had been a patient individual, not causing any waves, just hanging out and letting me do all the talking. (probably not such a good idea) But when he saw that, he had me call Mike and it was over from then on. Mike was furious and when I told Simon that the parties were over, he had moved out of the house within 2 hours and Maria didn't show up for work for 2 days. They were FURIOUS with us for calling Mike. But what was I to do? I had talked to everybody several times, but nothing happened. It was time Michael knew. This was all happening the first week of May. I went to the Ranch and my brother-in-law and Ben's cousin drove me home to a house with no water and electricity. Boy was that a fun time!!!
HOUSE HUNTING
In the meantime, we had found a house that we were in LOVE with!! It was exactly what I wanted and we were going to put a deposit on it and it was going to be available the first of July. When I went to the Ranch, I told Ben to contact the lady and give her some sort of deposit. When I came back, he hadn't. Surprise, Surprise! This was still in the first part of May. Well, Nicole, my best friend here, was renting a house from the same lady that I was planning on. But Nicole's house was going to be ready sooner and she was going to California for some health testing. She told us to move into her place until the other one became available. When we were moving into Nicole's house, the Senora was there and Ben went to give her some money for a deposit and she told us she had already rented it to someone else. There was no "sorry" NOTHING!! Upset is a mild word for what I was at that moment. So, we found a bunch of houses for rent and found a man who found places for us to rent. That was his job. He showed us one the night we called. We loved it and called him within a half hour telling him we wanted it. He told us all the paperwork we needed and we got it together, the deposit and everything. He texted me the next morning telling me that the house had already been rented. That's 2. Okay, I had a roof over my head, water and electricity, but it was AWFUL living conditions. (I'll explain later) We just wanted out. So, Alberto (jack-ass as we now refer to him) kept looking and everytime he found something either there was a problem or I hated it. He found us one that we had decided was the perfect location, the perfect price, etc. First, it was available, then it wasn't because there were painters having problems with the owners, and then it was rented and then the next day, it was available. He texted me and told me to meet him at 1:30 because someone else was looking at it at 2:00. I hurried over told him I wanted it and we would sign the papers that night. That was Friday. He never called or texted (he never wanted to waste minutes calling, so it's cheaper to text). On Monday, I had had it with waiting. I texted him and told him to call me. He finally did and told me that the house was unavailable. At that point, we were finished with him. The last time I met with him to look at another house, I ran into Brenda who is now my current Landlord. We moved into this house June 15th. It's 3 bedrooms, a/c, completely furnished (beds, fridge, stove, etc.), and a large patio. One of my requirements. I finally have a place where I can hang MY pictures, MY things and feel like I actually belong instead of leeching off someone else. Of course we moved in Monday and Ben's family showed up Tuesday. It's interesting that they can always end up coming at the worst times. When I got in there on Monday, Brenda said she would have it clean. Uhhh . . . if what I moved into was clean for here, I don't even want to know what dirty is. We spent 2 1/2 days just cleaning. We found cockroaches the size of keys, dead mice, spiders. It was so disgusting!! GROSS!!!! But we got through it, his friend came and fumigated, but that will probably have to be done a couple of times. At least here, we don't really have to worry about scorpions. It's cockroaches and I can handle those!! I'm becoming quite good a washing clothes by hand, BUT I did find out that you can rent a washing machine for $8 per 24 hours. And if you get one on Friday, you can keep it until Monday for the same price. Yeah, will be doing that!! Ha! Ha!
Marimar -- Nicole's house
This house was such a blessing. Ben and I can't thank Nicole enough for her generosity, but it's for one person. And it's in the perfect location for Nicole because it's right by the highway and that's how she gets to work. For Ben and I it was REALLY far away. He had to walk a mile to catch the bus in the morning. It was so dusty out there that you'd clean something and within minutes it had a inch of dirt on it. We had nothing to put our clothes in so we were living in bags and boxes. We had a fridge and microwave, but that was it. There wasn't anywhere to hang our wet clothes so we became very good at improvising!!! The neighbors had 3 children and one of them was crying at all times. They didn't take baths and the dad beat on a regular basis with a belt. Not exactly my cup of tea. The neighbors on the other side were fabulous! They have a dog named Blackey and boy did that dog love Gordo and I. He smiled everytime he saw me! (Those of you who know what a dog looks like when they smile, will understand) Nicole had bought two couch/beds (not futons--different) and the 3 of us slept together. Not so much my favorite thing!! It was really camping. The floors were cement and impossible to keep clean. I'm not complaining because if it hadn't been for this house, I don't know what we would have done!! I'm just telling you how it was. I attached some pictures of me washing clothes there. I really am getting good at it. But I HATE it with a passion!!!
Work
Ben is still working at Hotel Tesoro. Right now is Mexican season which is a lot of work and no tips. As of this minute I have 50 pesos to my name! ($5) Thankfully he gets his tips today and paid on Friday. I get paid Monday. The reason we are running on nothing is because we had to come up with rent and deposit for the month of July. So, thankfully, July is paid and what I make over the next little while will go straight to saving for August's rent and bills we haven't had to pay until now. Although that's a new stress I'm okay with that. I'm still teaching English and Tech and I enjoy it. I picked up a group of engineers at Nissan and they are so much fun!!! We are on a break for now, but hopefully starting up again in a week or so. Exams are next week for all my other classes so, I'm preparing those and that's about it on that front.
Aiden . . .
Now this is a topic that is hard to put words to!! He is so damn cute!! He's so funny! And he has endless amounts of energy. He just isn't gentle. Does that make sense? At daycare, he is the bully. He picks fights, he pushes, he hits, kicks, bites, whatever he feels like doing. It's so awful. There's one little boy that cries the minute he sees Aiden because he's scared of him. That is so NOT okay with me!! I am at a loss of what to do. They put him in time out. He's usually there about 30% of the day and doesn't cry once. He doesn't care. On Sunday, I put him in time out almost the entire day and he just sits there. I was under the impression that that was supposed to be a punishment. Apparently for my son, it isn't. He's not as picky as he used to be at eating, which is nice. He's slimming down, kind of. He's tall!!! His obsessions are still the same: agua (water), pelota (ball) and wow-wow (dog). I don't think he could survive if these things did not exist. He has started to get into the Disney cartoons. But we have to be careful with what he watches because he gets scared REALLY easy. When a plane flies overhead, he freaks out! In the movie Mulon, he gets really scared with the Huns. We have to hold him. So, we are trying to monitor his cartoon watchage.
The Weather
HOT! HOT!! HOT!!!! It finally came. It hit about a week ago and hasn't stopped. It's rained a few times which makes it even worse! It's so hot that when you step outside it's hard to breathe because the humidity is so thick! It's like you have stepped into worldly sauna. Yuck!! And as humid as it is, you would think that my face and hands wouldn't be dry, but they are. What's up with that? I've lived here for over a year and not once have I gotten burned and I've spent a lot of time at the beach!!! But when Ben's family was here, we went on a Party Boat and I fried! It was so wonderful. Up until that point my skin was pasty white because of stress and I looked sick. I feel a little bit more spunky. My husband's cousin bought us a hammock, we just need to get it up. I am SO excited!!!
The Surprise . . .
I waited until now to tell you. We're excited and a little overwhelmed right now. I'm Pregnant!!
Gotcha!! We are excited and a little overwhelmed but not because I'm pregnant, are you kidding? I'd probably kill myself!! We were given a gift and her name is "Nana". She is one cute mut! She's 2 months old and finally clean. I've had to shower her 3 times with special soap to get rid of all the fleas and ticks. And then I had to give her worm medicine. That was the worst!! She was so full of worms. The poor thing. I'm a little stressed right now trying to potty train her. It's easier when Aiden is at daycare, but when he's here, it's almost impossible! He picks her up by the tail and drops her. He wants to lay on her, but he doesn't realize she's too small. I can't even imagine having another child right now. Nana is almost as tough as another baby. Mariah, I admire your willingness!!
That's where life stands right now!! I'm heading up north July 19th and will be in Salt Lake around the 1st. I would like to see as many people as possible! This time, I won't have any doctor's appointments except one! Dentist. :)
I hope all is well for everybody!! Loves and kisses!
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