"Ready to Hatch:)"

Blaise & Easter Egg Hunting Pals

The Photos For the Last Post:

Kids enjoying tamales

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday I was up at 5 to get to the Easter Sunrise Service. I've always been gung-ho to go to these sunrise service type things but sleepiness has always managed to win when my alarm rings. I made it to this one in part because I don't sleep as much or as hard as normal being in the final weeks of my pregnancy, and maybe in part because I am a mature adult now:) Zaak and Blaise stayed home and slept because that's WAY too early to wake up Blaise.
So the first photo is of the kids at the service enjoying their tamales. It was a slightly cloudy morning but neat to be outside and watch the sun peak out from behind the clouds during the service.
After a nap and shower at home we got ready for some egg-coloring and hunt. Blaise had 4 little buddies over and they had a fun time finding the eggs I hid. With the bigger kids (like Zaak, Mariah, and Zoila:) we painted eggs. All the easter stuff came from Canada thanks to Saison and Luana, there is nothing in the stores here for Easter. It's called Holy Week and everyone gets time off work/school, and there are these somber proccesionals through town. It's a huge holiday for the Catholic Church but it's strange to me how Jesus' death seems more important that His Resurrection.

Playdate at The Granja

This morning Blaise and I took our friends Priscila and Miguel out for breakfast. Priscila watched Blaise for me the 3 mornings I helped out with the medical clinic last week so I wanted to say thanks. The Granja (The Farm) is a great little restaurant just 1 km away from us, it has pretty tasty food and a great playground. Miguel is 4 months younger than Blaise and so they play alongside each other quite well. Priscila is a stay at home Mom like me and we always have lots to talk about, in spanish no less. It was a fun time, but I think I need a nap now:)

Just 2 Weeks Left...

...Until the baby's due! Incredible that this time next month we will be a family of 4. I'm still feeling really well, just can't sit/stand/lay down for too long. This baby seems more active then Blaise was, it's constantly kicking and stretching, so much that I sometimes involuntarily gasp in shock at it's strength. We're pretty much ready for the baby's arrival, I've got it's bed set up and all it's cute little clothes in a dresser. We still need to blow up the kiddie pool we bought (as I plan to labor in water again.) Blaise will go over to our neighbors if we go into labor during the day. The only thing I can think of that we are lacking is a final decision on a boys name. Zaak will be home tomorrow so we'll have to sit down and slug it out:) He was saying we should decide before he had to go away these two nights, but we didn't. I think the least of my worries would have been the baby's name if I started going into labor with Zaak a 6 hour drive away. He will be home tomorrow so I'm glad. Blaise took only 5 hours to birth so I'm thinking this one could be even quicker. What a special time of life we are at right now! I'm so happy to be me:)

Yahoo!

We have internet again after almost two weeks! All of you out there that have consistent, reliable, fast internet should thank your lucky stars. So poor Zaak is too tired to blog, he's been going full tilt as we have 2 teams here from Canada right now. I was helping out with a medical clinic but was home all afternoon so that was nice. Here's a shot of Blaise "stuck" in his chair. Stuck seems to be his favorite word lately, and he tries to get himself in funny places so he can say to me "stuck-stuck!" What a goose:)

The Littlest Leprachaun

Happy Birthday to Zaak

It was Zaak's 31st birthday on Friday. He worked all day but then we celebrated with a nice supper and a surprise night away from home.

Snuggle Bug

Blaise is so snuggly after his bath - I love getting him out and how he clings to me, all clean and fresh smelling:) One of the many perks of parenthood:)

Adventures in Potty Training

This past week Blaise started using his potty - I was shocked and thrilled:) But he only used it two days in a row, and then peed on the floor for the next three days! So we'll keep encouraging him, but today is rainy and cool so not very condusive to Blaise running around with no diaper. We'd LOVE to have him out of diapers in time for baby #2 but time is ticking...

Baking with Blaise

I love how this little guy has such a sense of wonder for everything. Mama's stirring a bowl full of interesting gloop? Let me see! I got him a chair so he could stir the dry ingredients for the muffins I was making, and he did really well. Only spilled maybe a tablespoon and tasted even less than that:) What fun.

Valentines Banquet

Last night we enjoyed the Valentines Banquet at our church. The inviation said 6 so we left around 6:20, and still things didn't get started until around 7. It was Blaise's first time being put to bed by someone other than Zaak or I, but he was in the able hands of Mariah and went right to sleep. So we had a fun time listening to musical numbers, laughing at the couples who played the "blow up your balloon and pop it hugging" game, eating a delicious meal, and hearing an encouraging talk about loving and appreciating your spouse. It was really nice to get out and remember what it's like to just be us, and why we fell in love in the first place:) In the photo the drink in our glasses is Grapette - a grape flavored pop. We had a good chuckle over being served grape pop at this romantic event.

Love Day

We celebrated Valentines Day as a family which was nice. Zaak only arrived home at almost 6 so he wasn't keen on going out again which I could understand. Plus we get to go to a Valentines Dinner on Friday night, so I'm content with that. And Zaak brought me flowers, donuts and some lovely posters to frame. Donuts from the capital are a big deal because they are actually good and sweet, unlike the ones you can buy here in town that look sweet but are barely sweeter than bread. This Valentines Day definitely beats last years as I was sick with a sinus infection and felt like my face was bruised, yeesh. I hope everyone else had an enjoyble Love Day:)

Mucho Calor!

I just have to gloat a little that we are enjoying 28 degrees weather and clear blue skies here today. So before you get green with envy, just buy yourself a plane ticket and come on over for a visit! I've got cold watermelon and horchata (a sweet rice drink) in the fridge too. This is perfect weather for letting Blaise run around the house with no diaper on, as I have great aspirations of having him potty trained before baby # 2 arrives. I'm not really holding my breath though, I don't think he's quite made the connection that he needs to pee on the potty. He will be happily playing away and then I hear him say "Pee! Pee!" and he's pointing to a puddle at his feet. Oh well, all in good time hey:)

Medical Clinic Adventures

Monday and Tuesday afternoon of this week I translated for the Canadian doctor here doing a medical clinic. It was a great experience and I now have a knowledge of spanish words for constipation, rash, dizzyness and the like. Most of the patients complaints are a result of them working so hard - I would have pain all over my body too if I washed clothes by hand or worked in a field all day! A few people said how they had pain in different parts of their body when they were angry:) Also there were some who complained of pain when they would eat fatty foods:) There were lots of Moms with little kids and babies, and one Mom's breastmilk had quit so she'd been giving her little boy coffee. He was 3 months younger than Blaise and as I translated to the doctor what she said about feeding her little boy coffee, I started to choke up. Milk and formula are too expensive here, so she gave him coffee. The doctor told her she needed to stop giving him coffee, that it has no nutritional value, but I wonder if she believed him or not. If it's coffee or nothing, what can you do?

Blaise is Better!

Blaise's fever finally started to go down at about 3 a.m. so I put him, and then myself, to bed. He cried again shortly thereafter so Zaak got up and took a shift. I was prepared to let him cry himself to sleep as I was starting to feel delirious from my lack of sleep. I think at around 6 Blaise went to sleep again, this time for 3 1/2 hours which was the most he had slept at once all night. He's back to normal now and I'm so thankful to have my energetic, talkative little boy back. The only good thing when he's sick is that he's snuggly:) When he's healthy he's just constantly on the go and too busy for cuddling.

2 a.m. Troubles

It's 2 a.m. and Blaise is sitting in the armchair across from me watching a Baby Einstein DVD. This is not a normal middle of the night activity for him, in case you are questioning my parenting skills. The thing is he's had a fever since late this morning and hasn't been able to sleep as a result! He drifts off fine and then jerks/twitches awake and starts crying. So him and I are both totally sleep deprived. We are mercifully letting Papa Zaak sleep as he has to be out with a team all day tomorrow. I'm hoping Mariah will watch Blaise for the afternoon and then I can snooze. Unless his fever finally breaks and he wants to sleep all morning, that's cool too. I'd appreciate your prayers that Blaise will be better soon and life will get back to normal. At least he's sick now, while there's a Canadian doctor here with the team AND before his new little sibling arrives and wreaks havoc of his or her own on our sleep. Hope this all makes sense as I am getting a bit fuzzy around the edges.

Mama's Little Helper

We FINALLY went and got some soil so I could plant my seeds that I bought months ago. It's spring here, with lots of trees blossoming, so in the spirit of spring I immensely enjoyed planting all my flowers and herbs. Now if only they would sprout overnight:) Blaise was very into the whole process and especially liked helping me shovel the dirt into the planters. I'm not sure now how to keep him from digging now that there's more than soil in my planters, but he's still pretty easily distracted so it should work out okay.

I see the difference, can you see the difference?

The first shot of me is from today, and the second is when I was pregnant with Blaise. Both are taken right around 27 weeks (about 6 months for those of you who think of pregnancy in months:) I feel like I look A LOT smaller with this baby than I did with Blaise, but maybe this one will get big at the end or something. Anyway, it's just fun to compare:)

The Bike Trip Gang

The Four Generations

The Four Sisters

We're only missing Alanna:(

Christmas Gang

Gingerbread House Girls

Wig Fun

Trying on Grandma's wigs on Xmas Eve with Grandma (Zaak's Mom) and Emily

New Hair-Do!

Papas and Sons

Notice Elliot (baby second from the right) is picking his nose for the picture:)

It's Good to Be Home

We're finally back home here in Tactic after a whirlwind tour of AB and BC for Christmas and the New Year. It was a wonderful time visiting with friends and family, eating incredible food, taking baths, shopping, and introducing Blaise to snow. I didn't even bother trying to blog while we were away with so many other things going on. I'll post some photos here right away giving you a taste of what we were up to. It's strange to be home but great - Blaise has been asleep for almost 13 hours now so I think he's happy to be home in his own bed. Yesterday I told him we were going home, and he looked up at me and said "Home? Bye. Snow?" So I think the poor little fellow may be confused as to where his home is...I guess that's understandable after sleeping at 8 different houses in Canada:) So now we will finish unpacking and get back to work, and hopefully our memories of the holidays will stave off homesickness for a very long time.

Bed-Head Blaise

Glorious Galoshes

Gingersnaps

Here I am with my second batch of Xmas cookies, we already polished off the shortbread ones I made on the weekend. Thanks to Aimee for the great recipes!

Earthquake!

Yesterday we felt our third and so far biggest earthquake since we've been here. Mariah and I were sitting at the table when it started, and we both thought it was just a truck going by (we live too close to the highway, I know). But when we continued to feel the table shake we knew we were experiencing an earthquake! The water in the jug on the counter was even gently sloshing back and forth - wild eh. A friend here told me today that it was 5.3 on the scale, but I don't know if that's just hearsay or not. Anyway, cheers to it not being any bigger than that!

Halfway to Baby

We are 20 weeks pregnant now, and just 20 more until we get to meet this new little person! I can't believe how much faster this pregnancy is going compared to my first with Blaise. The baby has started kicking and squirming a bit but the movements are still quite gentle. For some reason I suspect that we're having a girl this time, but we need to get cracking on a boy's name in case it's not a girl. We've got 2 girls names we like but can't decide on a boys name yet.

Amber at 3, 5 and 7

I went searching for some old birthday photos and found these. Notice for my third and fifth birthdays I have a green and pink cake. My mom for some reason went on a streak of making me pink and green birthday cakes, so to this day it's a joke in our family. My favorite is actually my mom's German chocolate cake, mmmmm.

Twenty-Eight on the 28th

Today was my "golden birthday" and it was a good one. I got up to the smell of breakfast cooking and had a nice long shower. Zaak made me pancakes, papaya, fresh squeezed o.j. and Mildred tea. He also surprised me in an email I read after he left for work, with a picture of his gift to me - a new ipod shuffle! The punk had just convinced me I didn't want one when he had this up his sleeve the entire time:) Then I did some errands and later relaxed while Blaise napped for a good three hours after lunch. We ordered tamales and cake for my bday supper so all I made was the ponche, a cinnamon-y, fruity hot drink that people drink at fiestas around Xmas time. Yum. So then we celebrated with our small group and a few other friends. I feel blessed to be me, with the family and friends I have been bestowed with. Thanks to my sweet husband who made my day special, my son for his extra long nap and kisses and snuggles today, and all of you who emailed me your well- wishes. I am truly loved.

Copan Birthday Trip

Here's Blaise and I at a lovely restaurant in Copan Ruinas, Honduras. We left Friday and drove the 4 hours there with Mariah as our travelling buddy. The highlights for me were eating out and getting a break from cooking ( top 2 meals were waffles and salmon, mmm), an hour long body massage (Mariah's birthday gift to me), exchanging 7 of my old books for 6 new ones at a book exchange, and just the change of scene. Blaise did not sleep well the two nights we were away but travelled like a pro. We enjoyed a good night's sleep in our own beds and rooms last night that's for sure. Now its just over 2 weeks until we leave for Canada, yippee!

It's Cold

We are experiencing some seriously cold weather here in Tactic. Before you squack "What!?! But they live in Guatemala, Central America!" keep in mind we live in the mountains. No they are not snow-capped or anything but it still gets cold. Plus houses here have no heating system, so it's like we're camping. It's even warmer sometimes outside than inside! So we are doing all we can to stay warm; eating soup, huddling around our fireplace, drinking tea, wearing layers, and snuggling up to the rice bag and each other. I'm also working on Zaak to take us somewhere warmer for the weekend for my "golden" birthday present. (I will turn 28 on the 28th). So if I get my way (and I usually do:) we may just be a few hours away for the weekend enjoying some +20 degree weather, oh joy, oh bliss! In the meantime I will take any suggestions out there for keeping warm.

Blaise's World

Blaise has got a skirt of mine on here that he rummaged from the dirty clothes basket - funny boy. He was sick this past weekend, vomiting and no appetite. Thankfully he's on the mend now, but man there's nothing in the world like your child being sick and not knowing what to do for him. Not fun. He can say water now (more like "wa-wa") and says "mmmm", "wow", and "wowee", quite the expressive little lad. Zaak started scaring him the other day so now his thing is to walk into a room and say "rawrrr!" and expect us to be scared. He also likes to say "boo" to try and scare us:)

The Happy Couple

Congrats Oscar and Evelin, may you be eternally happy together:)

La Familia Robichaud

This is our third attempt at a family photo with Blaise aka Mr. Squirmy Pants. We were all dressed up for Oscar and Evelin's wedding so I was hoping for a nice shot. Oh well! Blaise likes to be on the go a lot lately, which makes any type of sitting still event a bit difficult. At leasthe can't out-run us quite yet:)

Las Vegas and a cozy fire.

Our landlord, Frank Sr, came over yesterday to size up our fireplace situation with his young son, Frank Jr. Little Frank is a talkative lad and was asking me questions about Canada. Their family lived in States for a year when he was 4. He must be about 7 now, and shared some of his ideas about the world with me. I will quote him here: "The best towns in the world are Canada, the United States, and Las Vegas. In Las Vegas there are no poor people, and even the smallest house is a mansion." Talk about cute eh? I didn't have the heart to tell him there are poor people everywhere, and that Las Vegas is one of the saddest "towns" in the world.
Back to the fireplace situation. Last week I had purchased wood for our fireplace so Mariah made us a fire while I made supper. Soon our house was filled with smoke as it poured out of the fireplace instead of going up and out the chimney. Zaak says it's poorly constructed and I am in full agreement. So today Carlos the Carpenter came to fix it and and it works now! I was so thrilled to have a warm crackling fire going this evening - God bless you Carlos!

Thief Part 2

So unfortunately I have another thieving story to tell. Today I went to the market in Tactic and someone swiped my wallet out of my purse. I reached into my purse to pay for my pineapple and two pounds of tomatoes, and there was no wallet. Mariah was with me so she paid for my stuff but I had this sinking feeling in my stomach. I checked the car, the house, and it was nowhere to be found. So, we have now had our house broken into and robbed, I had my wallet stolen last March in Antigua, a plant stolen, and now my wallet again. I only had Q300 cash in it (about $45) BUT I also had my visa so I had to cancel that and can only get my new one at Xmas. More than the actual losses is the feeling of violation. Why me, and why me again! I'm a missionary here in this country supporting the Guatemalan economy with the money supporters send our family and this is how I'm repayed?!?! Sigh. I guess it's all part of the journey but I just feel sick about it still. And I know I need to keep it in perspective, and fight the feelings of wanting to pack up and head back to Canada. People are robbed all the time in Canada too. The highlight of it all is that Mariah took me out for lunch afterwards to cheer me up - what a sweetie:) Mariah is a Canadian friend who just moved here from AB to tutor the Peters kids in their homeschool. We love having her here, she's been hanging out with us a lot and it's great.