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

We Made It! And We Have Internet!

Hello all!!

Well, we made it to Santiago, and finally got our Internet turned on!

I don't have much time right now to tell you all our news and stories - I promise to do that later. Because we have some seriously good ones.

For a quick rundown: the house is nice, and we like our neighbors next door (Marine family from the Embassy), the grocery stores are great - we can find ALOT of American stuff here but we just have to pay through the nose for it, Abby started preschool and is doing well I think, and Joel is working his tail off at his job.

Right now I've got laundry running, the dishwasher has to be unloaded and the kitchen cleaned up. Our housekeeper (they call them nanas here) starts tomorrow morning at 8am, I have maintenance people from the embassy coming first thing to move the furniture around and take what we don't want, and then the first of our shipments of stuff arrive for us to unpack. Don't worry, we have about three more different shipments coming, so we get to spread all this fun out over the next several weeks at least.

Oh, and both girls are sleeping at the same time at the moment, so I've got to run around doing my chores as quickly as I can. This doesn't happen very often in our house! But I at least wanted to let you all know we made it here safely.

Talk to you all soon!

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

September News - Where in the World Are the Mendezes?

Hello all! And to answer the question - today we're in Atlanta. Tomorrow? Who knows?

August has been a busy month (but then, what month hasn't, right?). Between getting up every 2-3 hours to feed Lily at night, and chasing after Abby during the day, I feel like we've been in continual motion.

(Lily and Grandma Bessie)

Abby and Lily are great together. Abby just loves her new baby doll; she pees, poops, cries, eats, and is fun to dress up! Hahaha. Seriously, Abby loves playing with Lily, and we're constantly having to remind her to not hug too hard. She's also taken to mothering her stuffed animals, which I think is adorable when she rocks Eeyore and tells him to "night night."

Lily is growing like a weed. She was 8 lbs, 3 oz at her last appointment, gives great open mouth kisses, and is starting to coo and do all those adorable baby things that make you want to just eat her up. And I don't care what they say about gas, this girl grins at you when she sees you. I love that.



Oh, and we did get a diagnosis of reflux for Lily, so we were able to get a prescription for her from the pediatrician. It took about five minutes during one of her check-ups. I LOVE American medical care. And Abby has finally grown out of her dairy allergy, which means our life has instantly gotten so much easier!

Joel's parents came to visit for a week this month also, and we had a great time showing them around and eating some great food (Tata cooked almost every night. It was wonderful.) Abby had a blast playing with Tata and Papa Luciano, and Lily was quite spoiled because she was never put down. It was definitely a win-win week for everyone.



We also took a very quick road trip to Auburn to get professional pictures made at a photographer that my mom likes. The pictures turned out so great - when we get them back I'll scan them show them to you all.





Last week we took Abby to her first football game! We went to a Fairhope High School game and had a blast. (Go Pirates!) Abby loved the drums in the band, and was very impressed by slushie she and I shared. Lily, bless her sweet heart, slept the entire time we were there. If only she slept as well at night.






Other than all of that, we've been frantically dealing with all the rigamarole of trying to get out of the country. Our medical clearances, birth certificates, social security cards, passports, visas, vet certificates and all that. In addition to that paperwork, we've also been dealing with movers. Again. After Hurricane Fay, we had movers pick up our "stuff" shipment, and take all of that away.


So, why are we in Atlanta now, you ask? Well, with Hurricane Gustav barrelling down on the Gulf Coast, we got worried about flooding. And since the apartment we rented was right on Mobile Bay and we have that lovely new car, Sunday we packed up the car and "evacuated" to Atlanta. (Murphy's Law, we leave and Fairhope got a bit of rain and nothing else.) Can you believe we were able to pack 8 suitcases, 2 kids with carseats, a double stroller, a cat, and us in our car?? I love our Pilot! We've been hanging out in a hotel here near the airport.

Our new plan is to leave on Thursday night, so we can miss the next hurricane coming through that is supposed to be here sometime Friday. This is just not a good time to be trying to fly.

September is going to be busy yet again, and in Spanish! Well, if we ever get to Santiago it will be. I'm hoping we get a lot of our shipments at our new house before the end of the month, have Abby start preschool and get our housekeeper hired. I don't know how long it will take to get our internet set up, so contacting us might be a little spotty for the next little while.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the girls down at the Fairhope Pier:

(This one is of our brand new double stroller.)

PS. Completely forgot to tell you - Abby loves to go "sopping" (shopping) at "Walam" (Walmart). (Here is a picture of Abby playing on the car at Walmart - her favorite part of the trip.)



We'll talk to you all soon!


Love,


Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

July Mendez News

Hello all!

Yep, July was quite a busy month here in the Mendez household!

First up this month was Abby's birthday. On her birthday, we went with the family to one of our favorite restaurants here in Fairhope, Big Daddy's. Some of the best seafood in the world is right here in Fairhope, especially the fried kind. If you guys have never been to this area and had fried shrimp, oysters or fish, you are seriously missing out. But then, we fry everything in the South. We even fry pickles. (Hey, don't knock it if you haven't tried it; they are AWESOME.) Big Daddy's is right on Fish River, and the kids like to hang out outside in their play area.


That weekend, we had her birthday party at a local petting farm. The cool thing about this place is that it's on land that used to be my great-grandmother's farm. We're still distantly related to the folks that own it now, but it was cool to say, hey this is my-great grandmother's farm and we're having my daughter's birthday party here.

Abby LOVED her farm birthday party. She got to pet all sorts of animals include a rooster and a baby chick and a rabbit, feed a baby cow, ride a horse, take a hayride, feed goats, you name it. She talked about it for days. Here are some pictures from the party:






And here's a picture of the pregnant belly at the party: (I was 36 weeks at the time. Lily was born almost 2 weeks after this picture was taken.)

The rest of the month we spent waiting for Lily to arrive. And since she's gotten here, we've been keeping busy with changing diapers on 2 kids, feeding 2 kids, getting 2 kids to sleep, that sort of thing.

We also had a nice visit from Joel's sisters and dad and Abby's cousin, Belen. Joel showed them around the town and they hung out and helped out with Abby and Lily. It was great having them around.

Lily is doing great. She's starting to be awake a bit more showing off her pretty blue eyes to anyone who's around. She also sucks her thumb, just like she would do in all of my ultrasounds! Abby just adores her, and only gets upset when others hold Lily. Not because they're not paying attention to her, but because Abby's not getting to hold Lily. She calls Lily, "my baby." It's so cute. I'm getting used to waking up several times a night again, and Joel has been so great with getting up with Abby and letting me sleep in in the mornings.

August is cranking back up again, with all of our preparations to travel again. Between getting our shipments picked up, getting Lily's passport and visa, and check ups, we're keeping busy. My sister and her boys came down again this weekend to visit this weekend and Abby has been in heaven. She loves hanging out with "the boys." We're also looking forward to seeing Joel's parents who will be coming to visit for a week this month as well, and that will be great. That will be our month, and it looks like we'll be heading out of here the first week of September.

(We had to get the lens to our camera fixed, but it should be arriving today. I'll have much better pictures to share with you guys next month.)

Talk to all of you soon.

Love,
Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

Announcing the Newest Mendez Clan Member

Yep, you guessed it, Liliana Claire Mendez is here!

She decided to grace us with her presence on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 6:03am. She weighed 7 lb, 4 oz, and was 20 inches long.

Labor was very fast. Contractions started around 10pm, and then around 11pm went from 14 minutes apart to 4 minutes apart in 15 minutes. Totally not kidding on that one. I kept waiting for them to slow back down, but nope. When we got to the hospital about 3:30am, I was already dilated to 8 cm! (Imagine me screaming to God for mercy for the ten minute drive to the hospital. It might have even been funny if it wasn't me living through it.) The nurses tried to break it to me that I was not going to have time to get an epidural, but I wasn't going to hear that at all. Dude, no one stands between me and my drugs.

So, I finally get all prepped and get the epidural (GOD BLESS THE INVENTOR OF THE EPIDURAL) and the nurse checks me again. All of the sudden she's paging the doctor and a swarm of people rush in. Apparently I got my "happy drugs" just in time because here comes Lily. The doctor, nurses, and Joel are all saying stuff like, "Wow, would you look at that," etc. I ask Joel if he can see her. Then Joel looks at me and says, "Julie, she's already out."

I didn't even have to push. Seriously. (No tears or stitches either. How in the world did I luck out like that?)

So anyway, that's the story of Lily's birth. She's doing fantastic - perfectly healthy, and a champion nurser and pooper. She has black hair, dark blue eyes, pale white skin, my nose, and Joel's ears. Lily also has a bit of confusion between days and nights at the moment, which is killing her poor mommy. And oh, my new name is "Human Pacifier."

Abby is also doing great. She loves "her baby Lily," though we have to be extremely careful that she doesn't love on her too hard, if you guys get what I mean.

Joel was great during the delivery. No passing out, no turning green or anything. I was quite impressed with him.

I'm recovering nicely. I feel so much better than I did for the two weeks before the birth (off and on contractions that never went anywhere, etc.) that I'm having the worst time behaving and sitting still and "relaxing." I really could use a decent night of sleep though.

Okay, that's it for now. Here is the new Mendez family portrait.

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

PS. The winner of the Baby Pool was Lily's Tia (Aunt) Basi. Congratulations!

July Mendez News

Well, we made it. Our stuff is all packed and the movers took it off to who knows where. We spent our week in the hotel, and flew the 15+ hours and arrived in Alabama. Abby did pretty well, for a two year old that wasn't allowed to run around for fifteen hours. She fell asleep at the most inconvenient times, like going through security and customs, but other than that, she did pretty good.

We spent the last days of June moving into our apartment here and getting settled, buying our new car (more on that later), and doing alot of the shopping we'll need in Chile. We've been able to pick up alot of the big stuff we need so far - I've still got to do a major run to Sam's for diapers and wipes, but that's got to wait until my parents are free (they have the membership card) and someone else can do the heavy lifting. Joel had to spend last week in DC for work, but got to say hello to a few friends and family. Now he's "home" for a while, and we're all very happy about that.

Our first week here we also did the hospital tour and paperwork, and met my doula and OB for the first time. Lily's heartbeat was good and I'm measuring right on schedule still. So all that's going well too. Though I still have this personal belief that I'm not going to go the full 40 weeks. Heck, right now I'm just praying I make it to the 38 week mark like I did with Abby. No, the Dr didn't say anything, it's just this gut feeling I have about this one.

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(That's my personal hint that if you haven't voted in our baby pool - and let's face it, you haven't - you need to do so NOW. Just click on http://expectnet.com/game.php. You don't have much time left.)
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So we're trying to get all of our to-do lists done as quickly as we can so we won't be dealing with it after Lily is born. And yes, I am LOVING all my trips to Walmart. All these shopping trips might not make sense to most of you, but think about having to stock on baby Tylenol for a year and you might start to grasp what we are doing. Unfortunately we won't have a military base to rely on this tour. I explained it once to someone like being Pa Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie, where he would go to the store twice a year for supplies. That's what we're doing.

Yep, we bought our new car. It's a 2008 Honda Pilot. Bigger than we planned to get, but we were able to make a great deal so we're excited. It's got a third row that folds down flat, and can I just say how much I am LOVING all the space in the back! We've taken advantage of it already by buying the crib mattress and toddler bed for Abby already, and to shove all the suitcases in when we moved into the apartment. Here are some pictures:

Some of you might remember me telling you that my dad had told me he was getting Abby (and Lily) her own playhouse in their backyard? Apparently this is his new "project." Currently he's "landscaping" around it. I have to admit, it is the cutest thing you've ever seen. It also has a little kitchen to play with inside of it.

My sister is also down visiting with her boys and we are having a good time. We went to the Exploreum (Science Museum) where they saw a frog exhibit. They also had a preschool section set up like a fishing boat where little ones could "fish." (That's Abby and her cousin Nic below.) Last week my sister brought all of their fishing gear to our place and everyone fished off our pier and swam in the pool all day. Maybe I'll get a good fish/crab dinner out of this visit!

Abby is having a fabulous time getting spoiled by Nana and Papa. It's crazy. And now she has her three Crutchfield cousins hanging on her every word. She's got all of them wrapped around her little finger. We are in SUCH trouble when she gets older. All she has to do is scream their names and they come running. She wakes up asking for them and wants to talk to them before she goes to bed each night.

So that's been our month. We are SOOOOOO glad to be home in the good ole' US of A. We spent July 4th here at our place - my parents and Nancy and the boys came here and fished off our pier and swam in the pool and we ate all the fantastic BBQ that my dad made (and boy was it GOOD), and then we hung out and watched the fireworks. Everyone was exhausted by the time they were done, which I guess is the sign of a good day. Abby also learned a new word: "Fire-ire-worts" '(Fireworks). She wasn't scared of them either, though she did say that they were "loud" and pitty" (pretty).

July is just more of the same for us really, hanging out here, finishing up our prep-shopping, etc for Lily and for Chile, and also possibly welcoming the newest Mendez to the world. My due date is August 4th, so it's quite possible and probable we'll see her this month.

Talk to all of you soon.

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby and Lily

Pictures of Lily

Hey all. I had my OB appointment on Wednesday and finally got some decent pictures of Lily. Not great, but decent. So, who do you think she looks like?

3D Face Shot

2D Face Shot

She's doing great, measuring exactly on schedule. She's not as active as Abby was, that's for sure. I don't get kicked nearly as often. Lily prefers rolling and twisting and flopping all over the place.

It was very hard to even to get these pictures because someone was sucking their thumb the whole time and then had their other arm up covering up their face. She wanted to sleep and did NOT appreciate being poked to wake up.

Perhaps Lily will be my quiet child, and a good sleeper? Joel and I can't wait to find out!

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

Late May News from the Mendezes

Hello all!

I'm writing this early because our internet will be turned off this weekend in preparation for our move, and who knows how much time I'd have to deal with the blog in the next couple weeks anyway? Plus, Abby's currently occupied with Sesame Street. So, here I am.


May has been a crazy busy month. First was Croatian Labor Day on May 1st. Joel had the day off, so we went down to the big park for their festival. They had all these booths and vendors, and the city gave away free food -- this apparently famous Croatian stew, which strangely resembles beans and weenies. Who knew beans & weenies could be a national dish?

After that, a friend of mine threw me a small baby shower.

Then came Mother's Day. Joel and I had already made plans to go out of town for a long weekend later in the month, but then at the last minute he decided we should have a dinner out that night as well. We had the restaurant to ourselves which was nice, plus Abby behaved during dinner, which is a gift in and of itself.



Last week, we took our last road trip in Croatia to visit the Istria area. We spent most of our time in Pula, which is a famous city there. They have an amphitheatre which is smaller but in much better shape than Rome's Coliseum, and is still in use for concerts, etc. The Istria area used to be part of Italy (before WWII) so there's alot of Italian influence and ruins there.

We also spent a little time in the pool and the beach. The water was freezing, but Abby didn't seem to mind at all. Joel had "chasing after Abby" duty, while I did my job holding down the beach chair and reading a book.

Our absolutely favorite things were the two agrotourismos we went to. (Agrotourismo is an Italian term for "tourist farm".) We ate some fabulous food and Abby got to see and play with animals. Oh, and Joel got to drink copious amounts of wine. The owner apparently makes his own wines and liqueurs as a hobby. Joel got to be his buddy, and all of the sudden I look over and Joel and the owner at the bar "testing" various things. Needless to say, I drove home.

Is that smell the goat, or Abby?

Abby oinking at the pig, and the pig oinking back.

Yes, Joel is on a horse. This is what happens when you drink too much wine.

In addition to all these activities, we've been incredibly busy here. We've both had dentist appointments, OB appointments, and then we've gone through the whole house organizing it for the movers. Plus, Joel's had some interest in his car, so it looks like we might have that one sold soon as well. Which will be great.

(Hey, does anyone want a cat? At the very least for the summer? We haven't been able to get anyone to take Puzza here, and we're starting to get really desperate about what to do with him. Seriously.)

My business is progressing quite well. I've been working pretty hard on getting my credentialing credits completed and am almost halfway there. The website designer has been going full throttle on the website and it's looking really good. We're down to the nitty-gritty stuff now, so hopefully by the time we get home to the US, I'll have more to share.

Lily is rolling around like crazy in there. I'm starting to get that jiffy-pop thing happening with my belly. She seems to be calmer than Abby. Abby kicked me all the time, but Lily just seems content to do rolls and flips.

Speaking of Abby, she is just a very active 2 year old now. She can practically carry on a conversation with her 2 word sentences, and she's great at getting her point across when she wants something!

We're going to be a little difficult to reach in the next few weeks. If you need us, please email us. Joel will have more access to his email than I will. Our movers arrive on the 12th and we'll move into a hotel for our last week here, and then we fly home to Alabama on the 20th. So, it's going to be a nutty month, but we are really looking forward for it all being over, and getting to see family this summer.

Talk to you all (and see some of you) very soon!

Love,
Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily