Yoga Baby

I've done more yoga during this pregnancy than I've done during any other. I've always wanted to do more yoga but haven't been able to shell out the bucks to go to a studio. And trying to do a little yoga in my house with my "helpers" climbing on me doesn't really work. Not that we are big spenders now, but we've happily discovered Groupon.

So I realized that this little warrior inside me is loving the yoga. Instead of curling into a comfortable little ball and just kicking me in the ribs or head-butting my bladder, Peep is constantly stretching. Sometimes I'm physically unable to sit down because the stretching is so intense! I can lie down or stand up, but no sitting. I can just see little Peep in there, doing the warrior sequence over and over. Looking forward to a little yoga buddy down the road. :)

My latest craze is... SIMPLIFYING AND ORGANIZING. Two necessary components of having a new baby in the fam (either by choice or by force). Unfortunately, I'm not good at either. Working on getting the kids' stuff under control, and my stuff, and family stuff. We live in an awesome house, but it is tiny. I'm trying to get away from the idea that we have to hang on to every little thing (it is hard to let go of that when we had no income for so long). And organizing takes time, which is in short supply. Any tips?

Forty-four!?! What can I do??

Just got a letter from Squeak's school. She's been tardy FORTY-FOUR times this year, "which is an excessive amount" (says the letter). I love that girl to pieces, but her spectacular ability to dilly-dally drives me up the wall! We all know that punctuality is not my forte, and Squeak is her mother's child, of course, but her ability to dawdle far exceeds my past or present ability. I spent over an hour venting about this to D the other night. I am definitely out of ideas. I've tried:

--rewarding punctuality with treats
--profuse praise for punctuality
--waking her up earlier
--setting a timer
--having her talk to the principal when she's late
--having her pay me for tardiness with both money and jobs
--keeping her home from school when she's late
--taking away things/privileges for tardiness
--letting her miss breakfast when she's late
--letting her go to school in her pajamas
--letting her go to school with messy hair/ugly clothes
--putting her in the car whether or not she's ready
--and of course the usual scolding and lectures, which don't work for anyone

What's next? Nothing works, and the only way I've ever gotten her to be on time is by hounding her from the moment she wakes up until we walk out the door. AND I DO NOT ENJOY MICRO-MANAGING!!! That's my hang-up. Those forty-four tardies only make me look bad, but I can only take credit for two or three of them (and that's because I have to get me, Pip, and Chiquitita ready and loaded in the car)--the rest of the credit goes to our fun girl.

Squeak's ability to dilly-dally is so much a part of her being, I don't know if it can ever be suppressed. I mean, people, she came this way! I was in labor with her for triple or quadruple the "typical" labor for first-time moms. She just likes to go at her own pace. Not that she can't do things quickly--she definitely has the ability if she's motivated. I'm just out of ideas to help her be on time for school, because she really doesn't care.

Any ideas, my peeps?

And since I'm soliciting advice, I might as well confess that we're in the market for a minivan (ugh!). It is, sadly, the only thing that will really work with all our kids in car seats and a brand new baby. I just can't see myself hopping up on the runner board of the Suburban two days postpartum with an infant car seat, or climbing over the second row to buckle kids into the back seat. I love having a Suburban and think it's a delightful family vehicle for families with older kids (i.e. at least two or three aren't in car seats anymore).

So we are looking to buy a minivan that is 10-12 years old with 100K miles or less. If you have experience with this age/mileage of vehicle, what would you recommend or not recommend?

Low Volume

I've lost my voice. This is the second or third time it has happened since I've had kids, and it is really inconvenient! We rely so heavily on verbal communication around here, and our base volume level is usually so high (they didn't call me "Volume" for nothin', folks!) that nobody can even hear me. After I repeat myself for the fifth time, I'll "yell" and the only thing that comes out is a wimpy croak. Hoping to get my voice back soon!! How do those quiet moms do it?

In other news, I'm planning to potty train Chiquitita next week (BTW, I finally took the plunge and potty trained Pip in December--it was SO EASY and done in a few hours, I wondered why I'd waited so long). She wants to do it, and I'd like a few diaper-free months before the next one comes. She even peed in the toilet the other night, and I couldn't adequately show my excitement because I didn't have a voice. Clapping and jumping up and down just isn't the same as whooping with delight in our house.

This was last winter--we never had a big snowfall this year. Squeak asked me to make a Dada and a pregnant Mama snowmen.

This winter has been so good to me. Delightfully mild, and now we're having spring weather! Oh, Detroit, you've surprised us again!

This was one of the less-mild winter days and we went to play at the mall playground. Hard to get them to hold still on the slide!

What to do with an extra day?

I was thinking what a wonderful thing it is to have this extra bonus day. Maybe it's time to catch up on my blog briefly in three ways:

Someone I admire:

Baba Dona (our kids do not use the word "grandma" or "abuela"--they've always said "Baba")--she is a saint and she's my mother-in-law. She came and took care of our munchkins for a week AND EVERYONE HAD FUN!!! We love her!

Something I've wanted to do for a LONG TIME:

After planning and talking about it for six years, D and I took a trip to my beloved Dominican Republic. It was CHEVERE! And I left the kids for a week and we all survived. Miracles really do happen (see above)!








An announcement:

Yes, I'm putting on weight. I have a parasite! We have a Squeak, a Pip, a Squirt, and now what? A Peep? We will all meet officially around the beginning of June, but in the meantime, I'd love any in-utero nickname ideas that go with our previous fetuses' names.

Join us: A skinnier December for everyone!

Last year D and I decided to lose weight over the holidays. This year we're taking it a step further. Our household is going to lose weight! As a Christmas gift to ourselves, we are going to get rid of (by giving away, throwing away, or selling) 25 apple boxes (or equivalent size) of stuff. I'm looking forward to more open space, room to park a car in the garage, and more organization in my life! Who's in on the fun?

Skeleton Family

I should probably post our Halloween photos before the month after Halloween is over! I love our costumes. They are so comfortable, and we were all nice and warm on that cold night because we each had two shirts and a pair of pants underneath our costumes. I wasn't kidding last year when I said that we're going to get some serious mileage out of these costumes--they'll be back next year too.

 Church party and trunk-or-treat. The backdrop just happened to be a graveyard--perfect for our little family photo!

Trick-or-treating: For the 2nd time in 6 years, D got to go trick-or-treating with us. Maybe you're wondering what's up with his hair. Well, he decided to shave his head, and I didn't like the look, so I've been making him wear a wig. Costly mistake, D!!! Just kidding. It's a bearskin hat.

Living with squirrels

I didn't grow up around squirrels. In Panama we had monkeys, exotic birds, opossums, bats, neques, and iguanas. But I found squirrels to be fascinating when I came to the States for my first year of college (in Missouri). They scampered everywhere, chasing and playing with each other, and I was surprised to notice that they didn't disappear during the winter--I still saw them out playing when there was snow on the ground. My years in Utah and Arizona didn't allow much squirrel-watching because they just didn't live nearby (although my in-laws get robbed of their walnuts every year by the squirrels). When we moved to Michigan, we were in squirrel heaven again, with the plentiful tall trees and seeds available everywhere. The kids love looking for squirrels when we're out in the Baby Jogger. We love watching them play and chase each other and gather and stash their winter cache. One of my favorite things right now is hearing Chiquitita's little voice say, "Hola, ardilla!"

D and I discovered that we have some squirrels living inside our house. They scamper everywhere and are so adorable when they play. They also love to stash things in special places. I find laundry baskets full of random items like one shoe, a doll, a pan, a plate, important mail, a ball, a bag of Cheerios, and a napkin. I also find plastic bags, drawers, purses, cupboards, and cardboard boxes full of the same random assortment of items. Scamper, play, gather, and stash--that is what they do. I told the kids, "Guess what? We have squirrels living inside our house! Sometimes when we can't find things, it's because the squirrels took them and hid them in a secret place." They thought that was pretty fascinating. They say they've never seem them in action though. But I have, oh, yes, I get to watch them every day. They are such cute little things, but, man, these little squirrels are not helping me to be more organized!!

Market Magic

I took the kids to the local farmer's market (for the first time here) the past two weekends and I've been wondering, "Why haven't we come here every weekend?? I love this!" Local vendors selling handmade/homemade treasures like candles, jam, bread, cider (unpasteurized!!), flower arrangements in pumpkins, as well as the abundance of "real" produce that isn't pre-packaged... I'm a sucker for markets. I've loved them since I was little. There's just something about touching something with your bare hands before buying, or having the opportunity to sample a little bit first, or knowing it was made by hand--instead of buying everything all packaged and processed and factory-produced. I grew up eating fruits and vegetables that mostly came from the produce market, and I spent many happy hours bargaining at artisan markets for jewelry or other tropical treasures. Whenever I travel outside the U.S., the market is one of my favorite places to go. Which is maybe my hang-up. The markets inside the U.S. seem so overpriced compared to the markets I've been to. But I should be honest with myself--if I were to sell some of my blackberry jam at the market, would I sell a little jar for $1? NO WAY!! Not when I've spent hours picking, washing, cooking, and canning it. After all that work, you couldn't get me to part with a half-pint for less than $10. Unless I really like you, and then I might give you some as a gift (if I ever start canning again).

Anyway, this market is particularly magical because they have a weekly market basket giveaway--something from all the vendors in a basket given to one lucky winner. We happened to be the winners (WOW!!) of lavender soap, an orange clove candle, unpasteurized cider, pumpkin scones, a pastie, cheese, an oil change, kettle corn, truffles (and D can attest that they're good), spicy curry mustard, Matt's seasoning, peanut butter, yoga class, elderberry syrup, donuts, a movie ticket, wonderful produce... I can't remember all of it. Most of it homemade or home-grown--what a treat!!

I'm thinking that I should start supporting local industry by having a little market budget--feed my market habit by spending $5-10 per week. Sure, I could probably buy stuff cheaper at the store, but it wouldn't have that market charm. Plus, I need to get my kids hooked on markets so that when we move back to Panama when student loans are paid off, they'll be old pros at navigating the market. YESSSSS!

No Costumes, No Candy!

I love Halloween! I love dressing up and going to parties and trick-or-treating. I will confess that I dressed up and went trick-or-treating to age 29 (always had a sibling young enough to take), after which I had my own child(ren) so I haven't had to suffer a break in the glorious trick-or-treating tradition. Last night all of us got dressed up and went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. D and I did NOT have our own bags, but we do buy candy from the kids or have them pay us with their candy for misbehavior. Fun times! We stopped by a house that had an interesting sign, "No Costumes, No Candy!" (I should've taken a photo). I thought it was a good policy, but I wondered why they'd even have to post that sign...

And then a few streets down we saw a van full of kids from another part of town. Nobody was dressed up, there wasn't a kid under 14 in the group, they were all overweight, and they shamelessy went from house to house asking for more candy to add to their huge pillow cases. Oh, and the obese mom had a pillow case and was right there with them. Something's wrong with this picture!!

Ann Arbor Botanical Gardens

I was thrilled to discover these amazing gardens this summer. They have a gorgeous flower garden and herb garden, as well as miles of nature paths. AND a special hands-on children's garden. I love going places where my little people are allowed to touch!! We are in heaven every time we go. Bonus: only 30 minutes away and it's free!

 Checking out a dove with my girls

 Huge hibiscus!!

Squeak riding the piggy statue 

Chiquitita makes music with the bells 

 Huge dirt pit--every little kid's dream!

 Riding the turtle

 Fun, big bird's nest (Chiqui was NOT a fan!)

 Peaking under the grape arbor. There was an edible garden that children are allowed to pick and eat from too!

Come visit me and I will show you this awesome place!