Mayan country

We are in the middle of Mayan ruins, which is awesome! We like to head out to a site and explore with our little explorers. We haven't yet ventured to the huge sites (Chichen Itza, Uxmal) because they're a little bit further away and our little explorers get tired after a few hours. But here are a few photos of where we've been:


Dzibilchaltun:
This site is very close to our house and includes a delightful cenote (limestone cave filled with fresh water) which is above ground and has a bonus shallow end for little ones! We all took a dip in our clothes, and I honestly could have stayed in that refreshing pool all day! I loved doing "sea turtle" with Pip (something my dad used to do with us--we'd hang on to his shoulders while he swam under water). So fun!

Pip and Chiqui

 My Cheetah girl

 checking out the li'l fishies that like to nibble your toes

naked baby even took a dip

 Walking to the temple

The boys

Mayapan

Although this city is larger than Chichen Itza, only a very tiny part has been excavated, so the part we explored was small and easy to walk around with our crew. We also used two Ergos instead of one, and Chiqui's little legs were less tired. There was a huge pyramid that we were able to climb (many of the larger sites don't allow visitors to explore the temples and buildings anymore). I loved feeling the burn in my legs the next day. :)

 Look, a slide!

 Squeak and Pip

 Pip, me, Chiqui

 Squeak, me, Chiqui

 D on top of the large temple

 I found these well-preserved etchings to be absolutely curious. I wonder what the rest of it looked like back in its glory.

Wake up! We're in Mexico!

And moving right along--we are now living in Mexico! It's a blur how it all happened. I'm not quite ready to write the "do's and don'ts of this move" yet--some of the wounds are still so fresh...

D finished residency and after considering over half a dozen job offers, he took this one. He works for Michigan State University as an associate professor and director of medical education here in Merida, Mexico. They have an agreement with a local hospital--they send down med students and residents and attending physicians for research and educational opportunities. They are also hoping to get some local residents up to Michigan. D is loving his work and they love him!

We have mostly just been working on getting settled and keeping the chaos under control. (Raise your hand if you think moving is a cakewalk!) Here's a little bit of the fun stuff we've been able to fit in:

Halloween--I love Halloween and felt so sad about barely missing it (we arrived here on Oct. 24).  Although Mexicans generally don't celebrate it, the kids' international school had a party, so it gave us a chance to dress up. The girls were Snow White and the boys were Spiderman (I threw together a Snow Whitish outfit for me and D didn't care about not dressing up). The heat that evening was absolutely stifling. We felt and looked like we were in a sauna! Not quite like the Halloween our Michigan friends experienced.

The Zoo: There are two zoos in town! Even better is that entrance to both is free! I'm quite surprised at the variety of animals--lots of monkeys, birds, big cats, hippos, even zebras and giraffes! We love going, and the kids love watching me talk to the parrots!

 

 

Making bread: After our little Peep came, I gave up on making bread (I pretty much lost all motivation to spend more than a few minutes a day cooking)--something about the combination of new baby, three other little ones, and doing homeschool made me incapaz. And there was a thrift store bakery that sold decent bread for really cheap. Well in Mexico, decent wheat bread is very hard to find and really expensive. So I've started making bread again. Except that now we don't have a mixer so I'm doing it by hand. At least we have an oven though! My little peeps love making their own creations.

We've been to some ruins and to the beach too, but that will have to wait for another post...

Christmas in July!

Back to blogging! We'll see how long this blogging revival lasts! I realize this little note is passé, but here is the 2012 Christmas letter I sent in July (that's all the catch-up I can manage after over a year of inattention to this little blog).

I missed out on emailing a Christmas update for 2012 although I did manage to mail a family photo Christmas card—if I had your mailing address handy, you got one. Maybe I'll have more mailing addresses next Christmas (hint, hint!). For this li'l family update, just pretend it's still December 2012 (family ages and accomplishments are written AS IF we aren't having Christmas in July!). I'm hoping to be more punctual for the Christmas 2013 mass email. No promises though!


D and T started the year 2012 boldly by taking a trip SANS KIDS to T's beloved Dominican Republic. It was awesome to see the people and places that became so dear during the mission. Hopping on guaguas, riding on the back of motoconchos, cramming four or more excursions into one day--this was made possible by Saint Dona (D's mom) who partied with our kids in Detroit while we were gone. Bless her!!


D began to really branch out with his leisure-time (i.e. time-away-from-being-a-resident) this year. He helped to re-roof the house (a big and expensive job!), led the sag wagon for an important race, revamped the bathroom sink and garage door, worked as a doula, and taught himself to play the accordian in two weeks! He also contracted pneumonia, fought the sickness and won after three rounds of antibiotics. He took T to a Red Wings hockey game—fun! The whole family enjoys hearing (if we behave ourselves) his nightly piano serenades. D also discovered something thrilling--he can earn more than the residents' salary of $7/hour when he works extra shifts at the local urgent care offices—yay!


T continues to be awestruck that everything tends to move toward entropy. All she has to do is sit here and eventually everything's a disaster—how is it done?! She worked as an incubator for the first half of the year (doing a bit of running and yoga on the side) and lactated for the second half. This occupation earned her the title of Miss Universe (in the eyes of the smallest Malouf at least) and she is constantly in the spotlight. She was also honored to win first place in the exclusive "Tera Half-Marathon" in the fall. Speaking of winning, she tied for first place in the Witches Cackle Contest for Halloween--who knew she was so talented? T enjoyed teaching more HypnoBirthing classes and of course sharing one more amazing birth with her favorite doula.


Nena/Squeak (6) is boisterous and happy, just like her mama--perhaps there's some cheerleading in her future? She taught herself to ride a bike in two days, loves her baby brother to pieces, and is a superstar reader. She is the smartest, tallest, loudest, and most outgoing girl in her class. Of course, she's also the shortest, quietest and most shy girl too--that's the fame you get when you do homeschool! She doesn't want to miss a thing—she'd like to be in every room, every conversation, and involved in every activity at the same time (T also has this desire)--it's a shame there are only 24 hours in a day and 365 days a year.

Pip (almost 5) continues to be a tender hearted charmer. He is still in love with balls, sticks, cars/trucks/trains, his Mo, and his big wheel. He is an amazing worker--always offering to help his mama (she is so grateful and is planning to put him in charge of the kitchen duties!). He helped Squeak with the tomato crop over the summer (they literally did all the watering and harvesting while Mami breastfed all day) and we had a wonderful time eating the fruits of their labors. Pip is so delighted to have a baby brother!

Chiquitita/Squirt (3) is still "la bebe" which works fine because our youngest is "el bebe"--thank goodness for Spanish! She LOVES cheetahs so we all do too--she wears cheetah print every chance she gets. She also gave up diapers thanks to our family's favorite comfort food—cheetos! She is giggly and sweet, loves to swim, dance, ride her tricycle, and snuggle her “Mo” and her mama. She is great at taking care of her babies and is a marvelous big sister. Chiqui is truly “merry”--we love watching her sit at the piano with a songbook open, singing the very song on that page (she isn't reading yet, but she has memorized the pictures on each page).

Peep (6 months) is pure delight. He's our first baby to arrive on time--I know he was excited to get here because he is in love with all of us. He is the perfect fourth child—with things in a constant state of chaos, all we can really offer him is a joyful, “Welcome to the party!” and his cheerful response is, “Hey, guys, I'm here, and I love parties!” He is so happy to go with the flow. Peep also started out as our best sleeper and our biggest babe. As his siblings before him, he wants to be a marsupial and has an extreme dislike of the carseat and diaper changes. I'm so grateful for my snugly baby, his constant hugs and smiles, and the ring sling and Ergo that have kept us close. He spent a good amount of time practicing the plank position before he became a champion crawler, and now he's everywhere!

We love Detroit and feel very blessed to live where we do—we love our house! Last year I wrote about how awesome our city is; this year I'm going to talk about our awesome house—we wish we could take it with us everywhere we go, and here's why:

We are all cozy on one floor—no worries about losing my kids inside
Finished basement that has room for storage, laundry, and a play area
A laundry chute—truly the best thing since sliced bread!
Gorgeous tile work (put in by a previous owner) in the bathrooms and kitchen
Fabulous neighbors
Awesome fenced backyard that is just the right size for our little ones
Pretty brickwork outside in the front and back (also done by a previous owner)
CVS is right around the corner
Small enough to clean in a few hours
Location is optimal—so close to many fun activities


If I ramble on much longer, this little note won't get sent until Christmas (a year late!). We send our love and hugs to you all. Hope you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas in July!

Beautiful Birth

Our "new baby" has been here for over three months! He is so fun!! I have just been enjoying having a new little one. It's difficult to describe in an itty bitty blog post the thrill I feel at having this baby here and experiencing another beautiful birth. And most people don't care about the details like I do, but here's a smidgen of our latest fantastic birth experience.

Finding the ideal care provider was a challenge this pregnancy. I started out going to a great midwife group that I thought would be perfect--they attended births in a wonderful birth center with a reputation for really low intervention. Unfortunately, their office staff and OB partner were very dishonest and I couldn't continue going to them because it bothered me so much. I switched to the OB group at D's hospital (free prenatal/birth care for us) to see if I could make it work. They were very caring and kind, but they were also bound to their history. I talked to them about my birth preferences during every visit--I felt uncomfortable every time. They said things like, "Birth is a crisis waiting to happen. Yes, we'll insist that you have an IV. Yes, we're going to break your water. Yes, you have to have continuous fetal monitoring..." They were very honest with me and said, "I don't think we can provide the kind of birth you're looking for." So at 37 weeks I switched to another midwife group. I'm so grateful I made that decision!

CNM Lorie attended our birth 

The last few weeks of pregnancy I was trying to fit it all in, as always, hoping my baby wouldn't show up early. Since all of our kids have come late, I was expecting to have a late baby. So when labor started the day before Peep's due date, I was kind of in denial. I kept busy all day cleaning, doing laundry, running errands, and crossing things off my list. I told D not to come home from work. I really tried not to focus on labor--this was great because it kept my labor slow and allowed me to get some things done. I still had stuff to do in the evening hours--a visit to a friend, painting the kids' nails, the neighbors over for a visit... Our kids went to bed pretty late.

It was fun for me to spend all that time socializing--I always feel so energized when I'm around other people. I was very relaxed all day and didn't feel too anxious, but I didn't want to push it. Our friends recently welcomed their baby to the world in their car en route to the hospital, and I didn't want to join that club. I told D we should wrap things up and go to the hospital. Things got a little complicated when Squeak started complaining of belly pain around 11 p.m. and D suspected possible appendicitis. I thought, "Can I really stop my labor long enough to take her to the pediatric ER and get her checked out?" We agonized and prayed about what to do and ultimately decided to give her some tylenol and wait it out.

I packed up all my stuff for the hospital (I had just pulled things out of boxes since our move two years ago earlier that day!). D put together my labor and birth music. Our dear friend Liz came over to take care of the munchkins so we could head to the hospital (we told her to let us know immediately if Squeak woke up crying or throwing up, etc.). We rolled in around 1 a.m. and they checked me--I was only open 4 cm--so they told us to walk around for an hour. I was a little bit annoyed at first because my heart's desire was to get in the jetted tub so D could take me to the beach and really help me focus on labor (I'd been trying NOT to focus on labor to that point). Then we found the atrium inside the hospital. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place and completely deserted in the middle of the night, so I enjoyed an excursion to the beach while we were there.

We wandered around in the atrium enjoying the peace lilies and ficus trees. I stopped every few minutes during a surge. I reclined on the chairs for a bit and D took me to the beach. I was pleased to find my favorite flower in the collection of mosaics.

Then it was time to head back so my midwife could check me again (she'd said she wanted to make sure I was really progressing before admitting me--probably a good move considering my history of lengthy labors). I was at 5 cm so they admitted me at 2:30 and took us to room 9 (that's my lucky number!). First, though, CNM Lorie said they could monitor me on the EFM (that would be my best friend, the Electronic Fetal Monitor). "No thanks!" I said. "No problem! We'll just use the dopler," she said. Things were looking good! I mentioned my desire to not have a bunch of vag exams. "All right, then, we'll just forgo those," she said. Things were looking GREAT! "How about some aromatherapy--lemon or lavender?" Lorie asked me when we got to room 9, "And some candlelight? Oh, and here's the roomy jetted tub..." D filled the tub. I got in, turned on the jets, smelled the energizing lemon and gazed at my sweetie pie in the flickering light. Things were looking SPECTACULAR!! Lorie and Annie (the nurse) set things up, asked if we needed anything (we said no) and then left us alone to do our thing.

So Dave turned on my labor music and took me to the beach. The gorgeous sunshine, the warm sand, the gentle and salty breeze, the soothing waves, and the tiny lizards scurrying across the coconuts. I was really feeling in my groove. Calm. Confident. Energized. Just relaxing as I breathed and letting my body do the wondrous work of birth. I did think to ask Lorie to check the baby's position, to see if (s)he was sideways or posterior. Baby was sideways (just like Chiquitita). I got into a better position and visualized my baby turning. There was no pain. There was no fear. Just trust--trust in my body, trust in my husband, trust in my Heavenly Father, and trust in the birth process. I looked at the clock. 3:41. "Another few hours and I'll be holding this baby!" I thought. Then I heard myself breathing and thought, "Hmm, that sounds like the baby's moving down." (I breathe a certain way when the baby is moving down; in past labors, I made a conscious decision to switch to "birth breathing"--this time, my body made the decision for me.) D later told me he was also thinking, "Huh... Sounds like birth breathing."

Suddenly I felt a little pop as the amniotic sac burst. I told D and he went to get Lorie. When he returned, the baby was crowning. "Do you want to move over to the bed?" D asked. The hospital has tubs for labor but moms aren't supposed to birth in them. "No way," I said, "Baby's coming," Seconds later when Lorie came in, the head was coming out.  She hopped up on the tub, straddling it--I love how midwives are so versatile! Lorie was right there to help if necessary, but D caught the baby. Lorie unwrapped the cord, and then the rest of our baby came out. It was 3:48. WOW, what a rush! I felt so much energy and thrill at the amazing miracle of natural birth. We had done it once again! I couldn't believe how fast it had happened. Then I looked down and noticed...we had a little boy! Pip's little brother!  I said I could walk over to the bed, so I did, cord still attached. I sat there enjoying my gooey baby. I love the primal part of birth! We took our time getting to know our "little" boy. We talked and laughed, did some skin to skin bonding and breastfeeding. I wasn't tired at all, even though I hadn't slept for 23 hours. I always feel extra energetic after giving birth. Eventually D cut the cord and our baby was weighed and measured. Nine pounds nine ounces! No wonder  I felt like he was my yoga baby--it was getting crowded in there!

I feel so grateful to have a husband who is the perfect teammate, who can and will work to give me the birth of my dreams. I'm also grateful for a healthy body and the circumstances that have enabled me to experience birth this way. What a blessing!

After several hours, the fatigue caught up to me and we all took a little nap. I was really looking forward to seeing my other babies when I woke up, so wonderful Liz brought them over. They didn't know the baby's gender yet, so they gathered round to watch as I opened the diaper. I loved watching Pip's face as he realized that he now has a baby brother! As I sat there surrounded by my favorite people, I truly felt like I was in heaven. I looked at each of my babies and recalled the details of each glorious birth. A feeling of complete peace filled my soul. Life doesn't get better than this!

My other babies arrived to meet my littlest baby

Here we are in front of the tub where Peep was born!

I love this! "We are a HypnoBirthing Family. Thank you for honoring our requests and being a part of our birthing." And I didn't even ask the staff to put that sign on our door.

It may take me three more months to post some updated photos!

"Lucky"

I had a baby! Is this old news yet? I have spent the last two months holding my new baby instead of posting. I started a post about the birth but haven't finished it. Maybe during this next month!

Peep joined our family, yippeee! Here are the stats:

Birth Day: May 30, 2012 (our first baby to arrive on time!)

Time: 3:48 a.m. (our fourth baby to arrive in the middle of the night--

they love for me to pull those all-nighters!)

Weight: 9 lb. 9 oz. (my lucky number 9!)

Length: 21 inches (our tallest)

Head circumference: 14 inches (D's genes, not mine)

Labor time: 23 hours (it seriously felt like a short labor)

Time it took to choose a name: 3 1/2 weeks (the longest so far)

Squeak, Pip, and Chiquitita came to meet the new baby, and when we opened up the diaper together, we discovered that Pip has a BABY BROTHER!! So exciting!

"The Baby"

"What are you going to call her when the new baby comes?" D asked me (referring to Chiquitita). "I don't know. Probably 'the baby,'" I replied. Yes, she's two-and-a-half and I still call her "the baby." She is such a fun baby--and I didn't want to post about the new baby until I did a little post about her. Ten fun facts about "the baby:"

She loves purses and bags
She is very sensitive and kind and gives great hugs
She loves water--swimming, bathing, splash pad, the sink, etc.
She loves softing my undies while sucking her thumb
She is so happy and loves other people
She loves to change her clothes--like ten times a day
She loves skirts and having her nails painted. Also loves playing with dirt and cars.
She sings all the time. Some favorites: Happy Birthday, Soy un Hijo de Dios, Twinkle Twinkle  Little Star, Praise to the Man, Jesus en Pesebre
She loves shoes--mine, D's, Squeak's, Pip's, her own
She loves a good snuggle, books, being outside, and wrestling

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.