Cass - 1 Month Old

Time flies, doesn't it? Funny...in some ways though it seems like Cass's birth was a long time ago. Is everything like that? It's been less than 3 years since we lived in Phoenix, but it seems like eons ago in some ways, it really does. Anyhoo...

Our little 4th child is 1 MONTH OLD as of today. It's been a stupendous 1 month with little Cass and she is doing great. She's really attentive and communicative with her eyes and smiles and sometimes even her coos these days. She still smiles a ton, which of course we enjoy. She smiles and just instantly lights up when one of us comes in the room...and also calms if upset. The Brazilians use the word tranquilo alot which of course means tranquil/calm. That is Cass. She's just super sweet. Really fun stuff.

1 month old Cass.

Ruined Diet

Yesterday afternoon some ladies from Asas de Socorro came over to visit me. They called last week to schedule it. I wasn't sure what to expect, but there were 13 ladies who came over with refreshments (i.e. sweets) and drinks (i.e. cokes) to just hang out, see the baby, and pay me a visit. How sweet that was! It was really fun. Seriously, there are some really great and really fun people within this organization. They all got here a little later in the afternoon, so couldn't stay long...lots of them had to go pick up children from school. But, it was a great time.

One of the ladies, as she arrived, said, "We are here to ruin your diet." :) I hadn't known they were bringing snacks, but there was no way I wasn't going to politely eat what they brought (only that one lady knew that I was restricting sweets). So, I decided to just thoroughly enjoy my time of snack-having since I had a great excuse. And, there was a fellow American who joined them who made scrumptious (and I mean scrumptious) oatmeal, peanut butter, and chocolate chip cookies...HELLO!!

Anyway, so we had a great time and then they left. The kids really enjoyed that they came by (we let them partake) and then we exercised. :) I was going to exercise while Joel played with the kids before bedtime, but those plans changed. The kids got SO VERY excited about exercising...Turbo Jam won out over Lincoln Logs last night. :) It was so funny. Grady was the coordinator it seemed...he was really into it and made sure everyone had their water (he's cautious like that...don't want any dehydration).

Now for some pictures...

Mmmm...and this was after almost everyone had left...there was lots more.
4 of the 13 ladies that were there. I completely forgot about taking pictures while the party was going on.
This lady to my right is so funny...she was careful to take her sunglasses off the top of her head for the 2nd picture. That's what we are all laughing about. She actually works in the dept. where I will be helping out at Asas, so I will see her alot soon. The other 2 ladies on the right of me are wives of Joel's fellow students. The lady on my left is the wife of one of the leaders here. They have been with Asas for many years.
Proof of exercise.
Yes, all the children were in there with me (Cass was awake in her bouncy seat on the couch). It can be done. It's a bit crazy, but it can be done.
We couldn't find the match to either of these shoes this morning, so yep...this is what she'll be wearing around here at home now. :) She loved her new pair of shoes, so no worries.

Slackers That Just Don't Care

O.K., not really, but I'm sure that's how we seem to some of you. If you've emailed us and we haven't emailed back, we probably seem like that. If you haven't gotten comments on your blog from us, we probably seem like that. If you haven't even gotten a phone call from your brother on your birthday (Andre), we probably seem like that. In due time it will all get done. You will get your reply emails, some comments, and even a phone call (or some sort of communication). ;)

I just wanted to let you know that we do care. We love each and every one of you and love to get your emails and blog comments. We think of you and pray for you often, even if we don't always communicate often. This blog is all I've had time to do lately though. And I figure it reaches everyone (that is interested)...a blanket communication with pictures and all. So, it's important to keep it up. But, just wanted to let you know that just because you may not have heard from us personally doesn't mean that we aren't still engaged. I still read blogs (while I'm eating breakfast, so that I can keep up with you all), I still read emails and blog comments, and I also just generally think of you...just so you know. Anyhoo, thought I'd let you know a few things that are going on around here...

**Joel has been flying a good bit lately (and needs to blog himself, I know). He's doing well. He is supposed to go on a cross country flight this afternoon if weather permits. For those of you who don't know (I didn't when Joel first started flying), this doesn't mean actually across the country or anything. :) It's just an extended flight. Today they plan to go to 5 different airports and do maneuvers at each. It'll be a long afternoon and he'll get home late. Things are progressing though, so that's good.
**I am about to start going to Asas Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to help out. That is my alternative to the kids' school. Instead of going there to learn/practice/be around Portuguese, I will be going to the Asas headquarters. It's all the great benefits of the school (except being down the hall from my kids), plus I will just be able to be around the Asas folks...get to know our organization even better. I start May 5th.
**I started doing a modified form of Weight Watchers yesterday. I say modified because Eliane has been cooking lunch for us basically every day (a perk to leaving all things familiar and going to another country I'd say). I'm going to definitely keep taking advantage of this. For the most part, everything she makes is basic anyway. It's delicious, but what I mean by basic is just that there are no big creamy casseroles for the most part...no pre-prepared/canned/packaged things. Usually the foods we have would fit into the Core list of Weight Watchers anyway. I'm not having sweets and will be starting the exercising soon, so it should be fine. I just have to keep an eye on how much I eat...I'm still a bit ravenous it seems. But, I'm ready to get skinny, so hopefully it will all balance out.
**Someone asked me in the last post how having 4 is so far. The answer is that it's not really any different as of yet. I mean, I have to schedule in nursing time and that can get pretty hairy at times when others need something or Eissa is getting into things or we really should be leaving to go somewhere. But other than that, no huge changes. It's always been that way for me though. Hard to see a big change until they really start making their presence known through bigger things...bigger than sleeping, crying occasionally, nursing, and pooping. Yes, we have really "good" babies, but I also think that the "good" part has alot to do with their environments and the structure of their days. I'll talk more about that in another post soon. But, having 4 is great. It is busier already of course, but we are loving it. It's really been fun and the kids are still loving their new little baby.

Alright, that's enough ramblings for today. And speaking of that new little baby, here are a couple of pictures...

We went to the young married couples meeting last night for the first time in ages. The older 3 stayed home and slept while we took Cass. Although oh so cute in her little Brazilian outfit, this kept happening, poor girl. :)

Starting to wake up.
Hugged in between 2 pillows...this is where she does her best sleeping.
Going in for the stretch.
Starting to wake.

1 Little, 2 Little...

Yeah, just 2 little Indians. :)

Apparently it was the day of the Indian or something last week...I never got the full story. But, Indians were celebrated. I'm not sure what the history of the Indians here in Brazil is, but do we celebrate Indians in the states...have an Indian day or anything? I don't know...may be a touchy area. Might not go over so well seeing as how we came and stole their land and made them live on all the crappy United States land and all. Anyway...

So the kids had an Indian feast at their school last week (they ate what the Indians eat/ate). Their teachers (or someone) made them these cute Indian clothes, they had necklaces made of yarn and pasta, and they each had another something fun (Grady had a stick made of our broom handle...and Hadley had a shaker made of a play-doh holder and probably beans, I didn't look...they danced with both). Joel said when he took them there was a big teepee/tent set up in the gym area. And then this is what came home to me at the end of the day. Too cute. They had a GREAT time!!

Apparently they didn't want to ride in the car...they ran all the way home. Seriously, I looked out the window and saw them coming and they looked just like on the movies...little Indians on the war path (for anyone who has seen Old Yeller, it was just like when little Arlis was pretending to be an Indian...Jared, you might be the only one who knows what I'm talking about:) ). It was so dadgum cute and fun. This is a picture of Grady in the distance.
My little squaw rounding the corner for home. :)

Spectacles = Celebrities

It never fails...we cause a scene. A big one.

We are just very different around here. We don't stand out as Americans or foreigners unless we are talking, but just our equipment alone gives us away. Whether it's our wagon or my Moby Wrap (the sling I carry Cass in) or our double stroller...boy, do we get stares. Of course, there is also the issue that we have "many" children (by many people's standards, but esp. compared to most people around here).

After we first moved here Joel noticed and pointed out to me that the men here have no problem staring at women. I didn't really believe him...thought he was surely just being a bit hard on the Brazilian men. But, after paying attention...nope, he was right. Not that men don't look at women in the states, but they tend to try to do it secretly. Here they unashamedly stare and oogle over the ladies walking by. It's pretty disgusting I have to say. Obviously not all men are like that (just like in the states). But, when it happens (it's quite common to see this), it is just blatant.

Funny...staring like that is across the board. The other day, when I was still great with child, I went for a walk here at the seminary. I guess people aren't used to seeing such big pregnant women walking around exercising (I'm just assuming that was the motivation), but there was a group of people walking in front of me. They all turned around and stared...and they would not stop. They were about 50 feet ahead of me probably. It became quite awkward because they were not turning back around. I finally smiled and waved and was about to be forced to engage in conversation...it was just really awkward and weird.

When we go anywhere with the kids we get stared at. Of course if we're talking we get the looks, but even if we aren't talking...stares. We've got all these little kiddos and then if we have any of that equipment with us that I talked about earlier, they just go goo-goo and ga-ga over it all. It's the funniest thing.

Ha ha ha...good thing I've always wanted to be famous. :)

To some that would be totally annoying. Some are not at all comfortable with being oogled over. Some are just completely irritated by it. And, to be honest, sometimes it is annoying...sometimes you just aren't in the mood. But, we just choose to view it as a celebrity lifestyle. That makes me laugh, but seriously, we have to...otherwise we would stay annoyed all the time. We aren't snobby, rude celebrities. We are very nice, friendly celebrities. :) Even after we get to the point where we are all speaking Portuguese to each other when out and about, we will still be spectacles, er, I mean, celebrities...just with that equipment and the amount of children we have (will have). But, that's ok. We think it's fun to be famous. ;)

Now, for a few updates...

1. Today is a holiday. I didn't know that last week, but you never start restricting yourself on a holiday, for heaven's sake. So, the healthy eating thing will wait until tomorrow. :)

2. My mom found this somewhere regarding the possessive form of Cass...so, looks like it's O.K. and I will be using "Cass's"...just so you know.

5. If a singular noun ends in an "s," use "'s" to create the possessive form only if the noun ends in a "s" sound. However, if the noun ends in a "z" sound, use just an apostrophe without adding an additional "s." This produces a more pronounceable possessive.

Correct: The car in question was Roger Weiss's red convertible.

3. Also, a couple of people commented on the blog post about baby poo. They both said that breastfed baby poo smells like buttered popcorn. I'd never thought about that, but it is so very true. Now every time Cass poos, I feel like I'm at the movies. :)

And, for pictures today, we have just a few from the other day when Joel took the kids (older 3) swimming at the seminary pool. They had a ton of fun. Joel said Eissa wasn't all that into the water (it's not really a kid-friendly pool), but Grady and Hadley jumped in with their floaties and swam the length of the pool several times.

Health and Births and Possessives

I know...kind of a random hodgepodge (is that how you spell that?) of blog subjects, huh?

First off, I want to tell you some exciting news. Cass was born just a little over 3 weeks ago. We talked to our doctor a few days ago and he told us that he had already had another home birth/water birth. Can you believe it? So cool!! Apparently there are indeed people interested in such things...just needed a little open opportunity thrown their way...needed to see that it was a possibility here after all. I'm really excited for our doctor. He said it went really well.

Secondly, it is time. I've started the process of getting healthy again. By that I mean eating the right things, drinking the right things, and losing this baby weight. I haven't started exercising yet (although, can't wait), but today I started with the drinking lots of water thing (at least 32 oz. a day). I'm not much of a drinker no matter what the beverage is, so this is always a challenge. As of Monday I will be having no sweets/sugar for a month. My plan was to eat as much junk as I could for the next few days. :) Ha ha ha...of course. But, I'm dialing down on that. I was having lots of Coke and chocolate...2 of my favorite things. But, I started to feel really yucky last night, so we might start that no sweets thing (or at least limiting) earlier than Monday. :) I'm excited though.

Lastly, which is it......Cass' or Cass's? :) I found this website and it made complete sense to me, but throughout my thorough 10 second Google research, it seems to be that either is acceptable...or probably stated more accurately, there is just simply not a set way to do it. Some manuals have one way and some have the other way as the correct form. So, all of you grammar specialists out there, tell me which you would use and why. I personally like "Cass's" better and it's what I've been using so far...that's how I say the possessive form of her name (I wouldn't pronounce the possessive form of her name just like I pronounce the non-possessive form of her name...for instance Cass outfit, which is the way Cass' outfit would be pronounced if pronounced according to spelling alone...I would say Cass's outfit), so that's the way I'd prefer to write it. In other words, I'd prefer to spell it out the way I say it phonetically. But, if it's wrong, or even just more wrong than the other, maybe I should write it the other way. Thoughts? Recommendations? Help me out here.

Now, pictures...

Eissa usually hates to get in her bed to go to sleep. A couple of nights ago though, she had wandered off to Cass's carseat right before bedtime. So, Joel just carried her to her bed in the carseat.
She was completely content in Cass's carseat.
I put pigtails in Eissa's hair again yesterday, so we had to take some pictures.


Her hair is so curly that it rebels a little with pigtails. They just look like 2 fountains coming out of her head. It's really cute though.

I was playing with Hadley's hair and wanted to take a picture of how long it is when pulled straight.

She was having a hard time being able to hold her hair so that the camera could get it and look at the camera herself.
So I just ended up doing it for her. :)
This is what Cass does...kind of passes out with her eyes open after her milk cocktails. :)
As I nursed Cass this morning, I looked over to see this. Oh yes, the whole household was nursing. And no, there was no prompting from me.


Babies are all done with their breakfasts.
That cracks me up that they're the same size.