Playin' Catch Up

Wow! 2 months have flown by since I last posted on here! How did that happen?! Well, spending about half of that time out at summer camp might have something to do with it...just for starters!

Before we jump into all that you may have noticed a new look around here...what do you think? So far, I am enjoying this fresh new page of lavenders, but you may see a few more little "tweaks" in the near future. {Women's prerogative, right?!}

Now, let's back up and give you a {brief} sketch of what's been goin' on 'round these parts lately...

January...hmm...did we really have January this year?! I think it brushed past me in a giant, hot and sticky, mosquito infested blur of camps. As a family, we spent one week at teen camp nearby and the next week we all tagged along as hubby preached a whole week of camp about 4 hrs. away. The Lord truly blessed and took care of us, it was a blessing to see God working in the lives of the campers, and a good opportunity/experience for us and the kiddos, too! {They loved every min., stole the show, and really improved in their Spanish, too!} BUT, at the same time, when you have 2 little rugrats full of energy + one hot, prego. and growing mama, + busy hubby, Camp Season really =s Survival Mode!

February started out with lots of heat and humidity accompanied with trips in a non-A/C car to do {lovely} paperwork and apply for our permanent residency. Thankfully, we were able to do everything on our end and are now waiting to pick up our completed papers within the next month. After all, I am sure I can squeeze in another trip to downtown Buenos Aires in order to pick a number, stand in line, wait and wait some more, all while keeping 2 kiddos entertained, balancing my baby belly, fighting Braxton Hicks contractions, and running to the bathroom....no problem!! Never a dull moment...that's FOR SURE!!

The Happy Birthday Boy!

Ethan and Pastor Rickey--the birthday buddies!

Birthday Fun

Playing Peek-a-Boo with Mama

Trucks and Tools--"Man" Toys

 Also, in Feb. we attended a Pastors'/workers' retreat out at {you guessed it} camp. Ethan man turned 2 out there and had so much fun celebrating/playing with all his buddies. He was loving his new tool set and eating yummy chocolate cake. I can't believe he is 2 already, but we are so enjoying this stage with him! He is 100% boy and brings so much joy and entertainment to our lives!

Notice how he is much too captivated by the cake to look up for the pic! :)

Chocolate Frosting!

♥ my family!

 ♥ My handsome men! ♥

 Now, on to March. I see a lot of packing and baby prep. in my future. Trying to start packing the house for our upcoming furlough {We bought our tickets and are flying out on June 27th}. All while preparing everything for the arrival of my baby girl...we had an ultrasound recently and confirmed that it is a girl and she is in position! WooHOOO!! That makes this mama very happy! My due date is April 11th, but I would be okay with a late March baby, too! Time will tell...until then staying busy, as much as my belly allows, and enjoying the 2 munchkins that I already have. ;)

Hopefully, I will be able to keep up a bit better with bloggy land now...at least til the princess arrives! Don't worry--I will make sure to update you with her pics, name, etc...34 weeks and counting!

1 and a half

**Author Unknown**

My Baby-Man--he sure is in a hurry to leave the baby part behind. 

♥ him and ♥ every moment I have with him. 

Thank you, Lord,

for my precious little boy!

You are so good to me.

Undeserving, but grateful, 

My Lil' Preacher Boy

As you can see he is stylin' and studyin' -- sportin' daddy's {looooong} necktie and " readin' " some Bible stories. Gotta start 'im young! ♥

Happy Sunday!

Laundry Lovin' Helpers

 Who says laundry can't be a barrel {or basket} of laughs?! My kids think it's so much fun that they want to get right in the middle of it.

Sometimes there are just no words!

Not to be left out or out done...

Say "CHEESE" and hold on tight!

 Ethan decided to find his own spot to steal the show.

Sittin' in the bathroom sink

Since I am here..."Toothpaste, anyone?"

He is part monkey after all...makes sense to me. :))

I just love it when a plan comes together {Smile}

Today was a simply lovely fall day in Argentina. It reached a sunny high of 73*, complete with blue sky and crunchy leaves.

I spent a good part of the morning getting my hair colored ...umm...er...I mean done! But, I didn't have to wait and was done relatively quickly--something I am always most thankful for. Plus, it's good when it actually comes out the nice, rich brown that it is supposed to and not some funky burgundy color (or worse). I don't take that for granted either. So, no hair disasters today. Then I got to take a nice walk home and enjoy the solitude and sunshine for a few minutes. Aaahhh! It felt good!

While I was detained trying to make myself beautiful {or at least presentable}, sweet hubby took the kids to the park. As I mentioned it was GoRgEoUs today, and they had fun romping and playing together. It's so fun to see Ethan as he is getting big{ger} and is able to do more things! He truly LO♥ES to be outside and watch the breeze rustle the leaves in the trees, etc. He is all BOY and I am enjoying watching every stage.

Watching the leaves blow

Later this afternoon we headed to Pilar, a town about 45 minutes from us, to go to the hospital and have an X-ray done on Bubs' head and see the neurologist, again! You see, when Ethan was very small we noticed that the back of his head was not perfectly round, but rather kind of had a lumpy/bumpiness on one side. She really felt like it was nothing abnormal, but  just to make sure that it was not serious our pediatrician recommended that we have an X-ray done.

Ok, no big deal, right?! WRONG!! You know that saying about "making a mountain out of a mole hill"?! That about sums it up. We had the X-ray done, but it was very poorly done and you couldn't see anything on it.

Instead of an X-ray, we will do a full CT Scan and then we will know for sure. That didn't go so well either. First, we had to put my poor baby under anesthesia to do it (because he had to lie perfectly still for 10 min., a 10 month old, riiiiiggghhhhtt!), and then the results were no better than the 1st X-ray. The doc. still could not say with complete confidence that everything was fine and normal with my baby's head!

So, he ordered another X-ray. But, of course, when we got there today, there had to be a catch. There was no order under Ethan's name of any kind. How strange! Turns out the doc. didn't look carefully when placing the order and put it under hubby's name instead. Easy enough to do especially when Ethan's middle name is hubby's first name, Matthew. Anyways, UGH!! One thing after another. We waited around for nearly an hour before getting word that they had gotten a hold of the doc. and had the order changed. Wheew! At least we didn't make the trip for nothing and we can still get this done!

Next stop was the doc.'s office and he had an emergency surgery so we almost didn't get to see him, but he squeezed us in long enough to tell us the good news--This X-ray was very clear and he could tell at a glance that Ethan's head was perfectly normal!! YAY!!!! I wanted to jump up and down and shout from the roof tops, not only could I now rest easy knowing that my son is well and whole, but also this going around in circles for months and months was finally over. We have a definitive answer and don't have to wonder and live with "what ifs" anymore. What a blessing and relief!

Totin' his milk around

And what a cute little head he has!!

I'm singin'~~

"Ain't God good?!!!! 

He gives me so many blessings, 

undeserving, that's what I am. 

I ought to thank Him, 

love and praise Him,

a little bit today, 

and a whole lot more tomorrow!!!"

Happy, healthy kiddos! ♥

All in all, a very good day--we got some things accomplished {in a foreign country that's HARD to do some days}, got wonderful news, have 2 healthy children, and enjoyed the day and the outdoors together!! For these things, and many, many more--I am thankful!!

The {Littlest} Cookie Monster

So, I am in the office on the computer. {Gasp!} When I hear one of those sounds that all young mothers dread to hear. First of all~Quiet! There is way too much of it I realize. Then, a crinkly, wrinkly, plastic bag or wrapper sound. The oldest munchkin is out with her daddy right now, so I have no problem deducting who the culprit is. Time to investigate?! Or maybe I should just sit here and pretend that I didn't hear a thing, right?! After all, I doubt that I am really going to like what I find. Okay, okay, I'm moving, I'm going...


This is what I found...

BUSTED!!!

  Not just slurping on the wrapper either, oh nooooooo, he sunk his little chompers in there and made a nice hole in order to devour the cookie goodness.

Notice his mushy pants

Clearly, that breakfast that he ate {all of maybe 1 whole hour ago} has already worn off. Or maybe he just needed a sugar fix. All I know is that the smiley face cookies were found and moistened by the {littlest} cookie monster. 

Really getting into it

You can tell that he is just wasting away to nothing and has a serious need to include these cookies into his lacking diet, right?! The poor little thing...truly starving {HA!}

That's right, he got to the cookies inside!

Naturally, my first reaction was, "Ethan, Ugh!" But, I stopped and thought to myself, "WWMD?" {What would Maria do?} Maria is my dear missionary friend that has such a sweet attitude and teaches me much about taking life as it comes and looking for the positive in things. My next thought was, "Ok, I guess he really, REALLY wanted a cookie, and since it is all "pre-moistened" anyway; Why not?" So, Ethan had a cookie.

YUM!

Just as his {already chubby} cheeks were packed to the fullest with his tasty prize, he enjoyed it to the fullest, too.

{Extra} Full Cheeks

 Just look at that {cookie packed} face? Such a mischievous, caught-with-my-mouth-on-the-cookies look. What's a mom to do?

Trying to escape

  He got up to run away with his treasure, but Mama was not to be outdone.

Caught, but CUTE! :)

He had been caught in the act, and I was going to get the pics. to prove it! {LOL}

One thing you must admit, he's not only the littlest cookie monster, but the cutest, too!

{NOTE TO SELF: Move cookies up a shelf or 2 in the cupboard~WiNk!}

New glasses...No glasses!

Sounds like it makes NO Sense, doesn't it?! But, it does if you have 2 kiddos that have both had eye check ups in the last couple of weeks. Clara is doing great with her glasses, has a new prescription for her left eye, and the journey continues. As for Ethan, the great news is that he doesn't have to go down that path. At least not for now. His eyes are perfectly fine for his age and the doc. said to come back in a year for a reg. check up. That's it! Yippeee! Lenses, frames, eye appts., etc., can be so expensive and such a hassle. At the same time, I am thankful that all of these things work together to allow my baby girl to see so much better and train her eyes to focus properly. Ultimately, the goal is that having glasses now, will help her to not have glasses later. On the other hand, so nice to not have to go through these things with Bubs and to rest easy knowing that he is happy and healthy, all the way up to his beautiful baby blues. :)

Sporting her new glasses

Beautiful princess

So full of life and laughter

and so SILLY!

"CHEESE!"

Aren't her new pink frames cute?!!

"Ok mom, are we done with the pics yet?"

Bubs handsome face with chompers showing

Always on the move!

Bug Bitten Buddy

Well, it seems that my sweet little Baby-Man has a gift. A special knack for attracting aaaallll the mosquitoes in the entire area right to him. Wherever we are, he cannot escape. They hunt him down and find him--merciless creatures. I am beginning to think that they have attached a homing device to him and that I just haven't discovered it yet. They must be looking at their buddies and saying, "Hey, over here. The Sweetest little boy in all of Argentina is right over this way. Come on over for a taste; you have never had anything like it, I assure you."

The good news is that lack of rain = not a million, bajillion mosquitoes this year. Only a couple hundred thousand or so are out there trying to track my baby down. And they are doing a bang-up job of it, too.

Guess he has some Indian blood in him after all. We'll have to start calling him "Little Red Blotchy Faced One" or something like that.

Or maybe he's the "other kind of Indian", with the dot right in the middle of his forehead! Poor baby boy!

All I know is that we are going to take out stock in OFF repellant. Plus, Caladryl and Benadryl are definitely becoming new-found friends of ours, as sometimes his bites are accompanied with LOTS of swelling. A couple weeks ago a bite on his forehead swelled up into a big knot and you would have sworn he had hit his head hard in a nasty fall. Then today he is fighting with a swollen calf, his left leg from the knee down is noticeably bigger than the other one. Not to mention the above pictured "Dumbo Ear" episode. All due to our over friendly mosquitoes. I know there are definitely worse things to contend with such as food allergies and serious illnesses or impediments, but it's still annoying and uncomfortable and makes me say "GRRR!!! Back off mosquitoes! Nobody is allowed to eat up my Baby-Man! {except his mama, wink}."

As much as I will be sad to see summer leave us, it will be nice to get a reprieve from these "Ethan-craving" critters!

Birthday "Wrap Up"

No, we did not drop off the planet. We survived the week at camp and had a good time, too. But, whether I like to admit it or not (and I don't), my Baby Man turned 1 last week. As we were out at camp, he was able to share his birthday with lots of friends. There were many, many birthday greetings sent his way, and of course, yummy cake and gifts. Oh, and lots of little "helpers" to demonstrate his new toys, too. It was a simply gorgeous day and we enjoyed our time of relaxation and play outside. Most of all, it's just so good to be together as a family. Here's a glimpse into how Ethan spent his birthday~Enjoy!

He says, "Get this thing off of me!"

 There he is...the Birthday Boy!!

Daddy with the Big Man

Time for PRESENTS!!

Yah, he likes it! :)

Standing like a big boy and showing off his new soccer outfit!

Getting in some practice with his hammer

It's tasty, too!

Of course, Clara had to show him how it's done!

I know it's a bit fuzzy, but I love how Daddy's attempting to nap and Ethan is climbing up on him.

Me and the Birthday Boy, oh, and the CAKE!

♥ Family Pic! ♥

DIVE IN!

YUM!

These 2 were "hammin' it up" singing "Happy Birthday" on the platform in front of everyone!

The Happy Guy!

My sweet boy~
I ♥ U with all my Mother's ♥
and wish for you another year
full of hugs and kisses,
health and growth,
and blessings from above.
May we cherish everyday,
every moment of exploration and discovery
together!
~Your mama