Intermission

Congratulations. You are now midway through the Joel and Michawn story. :) So, I thought I'd take today and just update you on the happenings around here the past couple of weeks. Nothing huge and newsworthy or anything, but just a few tidbits of interest...and of course pictures...LOTS of pictures.

On the homefront: Kids are doing well. They are still playing together so great. Asa is really joining the crew now in playing. It's fun to see them all 3 playing together and hanging out. For those of you who have known us for a while, we like to have a schedule that we go by during the days. We always have a regular routine (same naptimes and mealtimes everyday and so forth), but a schedule is something different. We have moved several times as you all know and so everytime that happens or we travel, of course that gets disrupted. It's fine...we aren't super rigid or anything. But, it's just nice when one is in place so you can have an idea of what your day should be like...takes the guess work out of questions like, "What can I do now Mama?" And, of course keeps me on track with laundry and dishes and such too. We just started today, but all went great...it's so much fun to look at the whiteboard and see what's next. ;) When Joel was home for lunch, Grady looked at the whiteboard and said, "What's next on the menu?" He then called it our "schedule of cool things." Funny.

Grady: He is still staying busy climbing trees and eating mangoes. :) He's very, very helpful to Hadley and does NOT like to not have something to do. He's so funny about things...tends to be a bit more particular than Hadley. It's funny to watch.

Hadley: Such the little mother. Still loves her babies and hates shoes. She can be heard telling Grady or Asa "no no" at any given moment.

Asa: We still haven't braved the passy wean yet. We've all been a bit puny for the last few days and haven't been getting that much sleep. Night before last was esp. bad. I asked Joel last night when he wanted to start the passy wean and he said, "Not tonight." So, not sure when that will be, but soon and very soon. Also new in her life and her room is a rocker that we bought. I've wanted one forever and we finally got one...had it made (you can't find them here much actually). What does Asa think about it? She laughs. She thinks it's hysterical. We've never rocked our kids to sleep, but we've rocked them. Asa, though, hasn't been rocked since we left Saline back in May just because we never had one to rock her in. She doesn't remember being rocked I'm sure, so now she thinks it's just a fun ride. Oh well, I'm sure it will come in handy at the end of March...and we plan to keep this rocker, so this baby will always be accustomed to it. ;)

Joel: He's doing good. No big news with him...just working.

Pregnancy: We went to a doctor on Thursday finally. She was nice and seems to be just what we'd want as for as doctors go. But, after having midwives, man...doctors are just different no matter now nice they are. At the beginning of last week, I was just feeling no peace about the whole doctor/hospital thing and decided to just try...I had never even researched because I'd been told by everyone that there was no such thing as midwives here and that a hospital birth was the only option. Well, I did a google search and there are actually midwives here in Brasil. Granted, they are few and far between...and not common at all (hence, nobody knew about them). There are none here in Anapolis, but I have some leads of at least one that isn't too far away. I also found out about an American doula that lives not too far either. I was able to talk to her on the phone and get some information from her. She actually gave birth to her son here in another city, but her doctor is very into natural births (even water births) and actually does home births. So, needless to say, we are excited about the possibilities. We don't know that anything will pan out, but we are glad to at least know of other options.

Alright, are you tired of waiting for me to get around to the pictures? :) Here they are. Hope you enjoy.

The final installments of the Joel and Michawn story will start tomorrow or at the latest Wednesday. After the story is done, I will definitely be updating you on all that is going on here again...and hopefully we will have found out more about the midwife situation (and maybe Asa will be passy-less too, who knows).


The girls helping with dishes.
Hmm, wonder how much "help" Asa was. :)
Asa of course loves to try to get in the chairs and on top of the table...even if the chairs are all the way placed back under the table as you can see. Boy was she mad!!
It was actually pretty chilly here for a couple of days. I decided it was time for me to make some hot chocolate. I finally perfected my recipe on the 3rd batch (you have to double the sugar but not the cocoa to get it to taste like the hot chocolate from the store-bought mix). Here were the kids enjoying their first cup of hot chocolate...1st ever I think. They liked it (but who doesn't?).
Found them watching their video like this...I'd say they must be pretty close friends.
Happy girl.
Not so happy girl. Not sure what caused the split second emotion change, but thought it was funny that it got caught on camera.
When Hadley got into the fingernail polish one day. Not a bad job. Does this sound familiar, Kristin? :)
Afternoon nap. She's getting so big.
Waking up happy...or probably wondering what her goofy Mama was doing waking her up with a camera flash.
Joel took the kids to the playground yesterday afternoon after naps. They had already been there probably an hour when I made my way up there with the camera. Asa had been doing this the whole time. Seems she LOVES to slide. She was doing it all by herself...all of it.
Oh my gosh, she loved it.
She did it over and over again...and always ended with a hearty laugh at the bottom of the slide.


Hadley and Joel having fun at the playground.
Asa getting some sliding pointers from Daddy.
Grady (in the yellow shirt) off picking fruit with the friends...Hadley on her way back to the playground.
More slide tricks with Daddy.
Asa eating a jaboticaba (explained more in a later picture)...she eats anything...and eats the whole thing (seeds and all).
Getting more fruit with friends.
Grady under a mango tree. They are very plentiful here on the seminary campus...all shapes, colors, varieties.
This is a jaboticaba (ja-boo-chee-kah-buh) tree. They are pretty popular around here. The fruit grows on the bark itself, making it look like the tree has hundreds of boils. :) People love it. I like it alright, but it's not my favorite. It's not nearly as good as a scupanon. :) But, the kids love them. I have to be careful...if they don't eat their food at lunch (which is saved for them to eat at snacktime...if that doesn't work it is saved for supper), they can truly eat off the land right around our house. :) Not to mention the cat food (which I've found them doing before). Little rascals.
Asa with her prize. She LOVES to chew and suck on mangoes. Oh my gosh. If she has a mango in her hands, she is happy for hours. Maybe we'll just substitute a mango for the passy. :)
Joel taught Grady (on their first day of mango-gathering) how to peel his mango "in the field" so he can eat them anywhere, anytime. Here is Grady showing off his mad skills.
A view of our house from where we were up the hill. Our house is the blue one at the very center of the picture.
This seems to be the blog post with all of Asa's sad/mad pictures, but they're just so funny. Here she had fallen and Joel took her mango away to wash it. Not a happy camper.
"It's about time you gave this back to me."
"O.K., now I'm better."
Of course our schedule has a craft time. This is what we made today. I know...a little late on the Thanksgiving theme, but it was still fun...and the kids learned about their American holiday (that we didn't celebrate).
Here's the rocker. I love it. It's the perfect size for me with just the right angle on the recline (incline...whatever...it leans back just enough).