Lily at 3 Months

(First of all, because it took me AGES to set up last month's blog post, I've decided to shake things up a bit. I will now blog at the beginning of the month about family stuff, what we've been up to, etc. The on the 9th of every month I plan to do a blog update about Abby, and on the 24th about Lily - their birthdays for anyone who's paying attention. This will spread the work out a little bit and hopefully in the long run make my life easier. Or just give me an excuse to take even MORE pictures!)

So, Lily is 3 months old today. I seriously don't know how that happened because now it's like I can't even remember her not being around and being a part of our lives. When I was pregnant I was worried about how adding another person would change our little family unit, and how Abby would react, and all that. But Lily has just slid right into her groove in our family and it's great. We are loving having her around.

Lily at beginning of October (Lily actually sleeping was so rare I had to take a picture)

At the beginning of October, Joel was gone for a week back to the US, so every day I tried to take a picture for his "Daily Dose of the Dynamic Duo." Well, since the "Duo" barely ever slept, it only lasted the first couple of days because I was exhausted. But here is an adorable one, right after bathtime for both girls. Abby loves holding Lily. We are so blessed that there's hardly any sibling issues between the girls. I hope they grow up as close and sweet as they are right now. (Yeah, yeah, you cynical ones out there, I don't want to hear it. Let me live in my fantasy world.)

What's fascinating to me is how Lily is such a different person than Abby. It's going to be so interesting to watch as they grow up. Here is a quote from The Baby Whisperer:

The "Spirited" baby seems to emerge from the womb knowing what she likes and doesn't like, and she won't hesitate to let you know it. These babies are very vocal and even seem aggressive at times. She often screams for Mum or Dad when she gets up in the morning. She hates lying in her own pee or poop, and she says "Change me" by boisterously vocalizing her discomfort. Indeed, she bables a lot and loudly. Her body language tends to be a bit jerky. These babies often need swaddling to get to sleep because her flailing arms and legs keep her up and overstimulated. If she starts crying and the cycle is not interrupted, it's like a point of no return, until she's reached a fever pitch of rage. A spirited baby is likly to grab for her bottle at an early age. She'll also notice other babies before they notice her, and as soon as she's old enough to develop a good, firm grasp, she'll grab their toys as well.

This is my little Lily to a T. Opinionated, bossy, and not afraid to let you know it. (Mom. Quit laughing.)

This picture is for all of you who don't believe me.

You know what, I LOVE that about Lily (okay, not the incessent crying). She's gonna need a lot of channeling, but I love that she's not gonna be anyone's doormat later in life. She's gonna be my little Zena warrior princess. Rock on, little chica.

Storytime with Daddy after his trip

Now both of my girls are Daddy's girls, but it's so fun to watch Joel turn into a marshmellow around Lily. This time around he's much more relaxed because now he knows what's going on. I tremble to think how these girls are gonna have him wrapped around their little fingers when they're older, though.

So, this month I don't have any fun stats about Lily. Until our car arrives, it's almost impossible to get to the embassy to have her weighed. The last time we were there though, she weighed 10 pounds, 4 ounces, and that was 2 1/2 weeks ago now. She's got a cold right now, courtesy of her big sister, but other than that she is doing great. She's still got reflux, but it's mostly maneagable as long as we don't run out of her meds. She sleeps well maybe every other night, and as long as Abby cooperates on the same night, I can actually get decent sleep occasionally. Not great, but decent. And yes, if she's in bed with me, Lily will still try to talk to me all night long.

Lily talks.all.the.time. Really. She'll carry on a ten minute conversation with you. And her grin just lights up the room and makes you feel great -- like you earned it or something.

That's all the pictures I have for now. Our camera battary is dead and we can't find the charger (probably in our shipment of stuff that hasn't arrived yet). I'll have more next time.

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

Clean Out Your Kid's Toys for a Great Cause!

You guys know Abby has started at a Montessori preschool here in Chile. At a brunch for new parents, they told us about a new preschool that needs help.

This new Montessori preschool was built and is funded by the government - they built the building, pay the teachers, and the kids go for free. It is in the WORST neighborhood of Santiago (think inner-city but in a third world country). There are 300 kids from birth to age 6. Four classrooms are from ages 0-1, and there are 7 classrooms from ages 1-6. The school was a six year project and finally opened just last month.

The catch is this: they are in empty classrooms! They are given virtually no funding for supplies, toys, books, you name it. They literally have nothing. So, they are looking for donations. Specific type things that were mentioned: puzzles, craft supplies, books, baby blankets, toys. Stuff that has some kind of "educational play" value. From my experience with Abby's classroom, they set up "stations" in these classrooms so think in that kindof direction.

We are looking like dressup clothes, maybe plastic kitchen type stuff, animals/farm-type toys, kitchen toys, baby toys, dolls, etc.

They have 78 babies from age 0-1. They have beds but no blankets - and it can be quite chilly here in Santiago. (We are thinking of getting together and creating those fleece blankets that you tie the fringe around the edges possibly, but no real plans have been made.)

Any picture books are fine, even if they are in English. Mostly they are looking for bright pictures with really good pictures. Of course, any children's books in Spanish would be great.

They have no decoration or artwork for the walls! So any pictures/posters, anything to make a preschool classroom pretty and appealing to small children would be great.

I asked about craft supplies as well. Crayons, markers, construction paper, playdoh, umm, whatever preschoolers like to do crafts with. I'm thinking coloring books would be great as well.

And if you're getting really ambitious, they even mentioned they are looking for play equipment for their yard, which has nothing. That might be harder to mail though!

Sorry to bother all of you guys, but I just have such a hard time thinking about little kids Abby's age going to preschool and having nothing to play with and nothing to learn with. All that they ask is that of course whatever items that might be "used" still be in very good condition for a classroom.

And of course if you don't have stuff to get rid of, but would like to hit up dollar stores, Walmart, or Target, etc.; feel free to do that as well!

I have a US mailing address where you can mail stuff and I will receive it here. Then I can take your things to the school when we go visit in a couple of weeks. Please email me (JMSjulie@aol.com) if you'd like my address, and I'll be happy to send it to you.

I won't bother you guys with too many more emails, but will upload pictures of the school and more details to our blog after us moms visit next week.

Thanks!

Julie

October Mendez News

Oh my goodness, where in the world do I start?

Seriously, a month ago we were in the US. It hardly seems possible, it's been such crazy chaotic month since then. Here's a picture of Abby with a couple of the Crutchfield boys right before we flew out.

Well, we arrived in Santiago on a Friday, immediate went to Abby's preschool and got her registered and she started the following Monday. She honestly did great. And she's finally gotten over the concept that Mommy leaves, and is truly blossoming and having a great time. I think she's making lots of friends too, her little classmates wave at me when I come to pick her up. They're so friggin cute.

And just this week we started using a schoolbus service to take Abby to school, until our car gets here (MUCH cheaper than taxis). It is so cute to watch Abby get on the bus each morning. We've starting singing many choruses of "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round" again.

Our house is in a private gated community that is very family oriented and quiet on the outskirts of Santiago. Like the "hem" of the "skirt" really, we are two houses away from the mountains (Andes) which mark the city limits of Santiago. Can't get much further out than that!

Our Neighborhood

Our House is at the end of this street, practically right by the mountain!

We've received about 3/4 of our stuff so far (waiting on one more shipment of stuff from the US) and supposedly our car will arrive in Chile sometime this month. We probably won't actually get it until sometime in November though, due to customs. But, mostly everything is unpacked and put away, and I'm almost to the point where I'm ready to start hanging pictures on the walls. It's starting to look really good, and I can't wait until it starts to "feel" like home too. Abby is really loving the backyard, and I'm loving that she can go out there without me having to worry, it's completely fenced in. The grocery store is fabulous, they have Safeway brands of a lot of different items, and name-brand of mostly anything else you can want. It's great. Expensive, but great. I've spent a lot of time at the grocery store this month!

So, yeah, most of our month has been about us frantically unpacking and setting up the house. And hiring and firing housekeepers. Joel has become quite a pro at interviewing, hahaha! Our first one cleaned well, but gave us attitude about doing anything and then she refused to play with Abby. (Huh? Who wouldn't want to play with her? Even our scary Marine Gunny Seargeant neighbor adores her and plays with her.) She lasted a whole four days. We had two different housekeepers accept the job and then not show up to start. They told Joel they were offered more elsewhere, but I personally think they were trying to shake him down for more money. We've had one lie to us in her interview, and 3-4 not even show up to be interviewed. We think we finally found a good one today, but I'm not counting my chickens, ya know? Too much drama these past few weeks for that.

Last Saturday we took a tour of Santiago with the Embassy language teacher. I didn't understand any of it, but I did enjoy the fabulous empanadas we had for lunch. Hmmmm, yum.

Family Picture

My Big Girl

And no, I have NOT forgotten about Lily at all! Just saved her for last to make you all read everything else!

Lily is doing well. All she ever wants to do is eat, and be held by Mommy. All day and all night. Daddy's okay, but he doesn't have the right equipment and all she really cares about is where the next meal is coming from. Her reflux is not getting more maneageable. A local pediatrician tried to change her to a medicine that is easier to get here, and this has been one of the worst weeks ever. Screaming colic for four/five hours at a time. Just awful. So the Embassy nurses are helping me switch back to our US prescription.

But she's smiling so cute now, and is starting to do these little giggles. They just crack me up. And she just lights up when she sees Abby. I'm enjoying this while I can; I know one day the sisters will be all catfights and hairpulling. Until then . . .

Here is Lily at 2 months:

Here is a picture of her little thunderthighs. It might not seem like much to you guys, but Abby never even got this much fat on her. And since Lily is being breastfed, I'm very proud of those fat rolls! (Goodness knows she eats enough to put them there.)

The girls snuggled up:
Abby kissing Lily:
The girls having a philosophical discussion about the fish in the bouncy chair:And a quick one from this morning while we were waiting for the bus to come pick up Abby. Doesn't that face say, "Mommy, hold me"???


Okay, almost done. I know there is someone's computer I've already crashed out there with all these pictures. But ya'll will love this story. As if you needed another reason to know "quiet" is not good when you have a two-year-old.

One day, I was nursing Lily and couldn't get up to check on Abby.

Finally Abby walks into the room.

I guess she decided she needed a little extra mascara.

The girl had the audacity to say "Cheese" when I took the picture too, the little booger.

So that's it. Our month in a nutshell. For October, Joel goes off for a week on a business trip for a week and a half, and we hopefully enjoy the housekeeper (goodness knows my cleaning skills are not up to par while holding Lily at the same time), and I get back to working on my business. There is still some unpacking and settling in we need to do, and perhaps we can get back downtown and see a bit of the city. Oh, and Halloween is this month! I've got the best idea for the girls costumes if I can pull it off! Just wait till you see!

Talk to all of you soon!

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily