Parks, Dates, and Cute Boys

I've tried to be more diligent in taking pictures, so here are the results. We went to the church building last week to attend a karate class that was supposedly happening. But when we showed up, the only people there were seminary students.  So we stayed in the gym for a few minutes and ran around.

And let me tell you, Uncle Rick is the best! It was about a million degrees in there, but he ran around and chased those boys.  All three were red, sweaty, and smiling. Theo just loved running around with the big boys. (the above pictures are our walk home. I forgot to pull out the camera while we were there)

When we got home, Popsicle were the perfect treat. Jett got his before Theo, but was so sweet to share.  I guess Jett is not a biting man, so when Theo kept taking chunks out of his, it was quite perplexing.

These boys kill me with how cute they are.  One morning, I was trying to get everyone fed, and this just kind of happened.  I don't know how long they sat like this, but it is precious.

On another occasion, I had been doing laundry in the back room, when I came out to find them flipping through a book together.  I heard Jett telling Theo repeatedly, "You might get a little scared, Theo.  These are spooky stories." Melt my heart!

We went on a walk last week that was a bit comical. Theo goes in his stroller, which means Jett wants to ride in his stroller. But Mora also had to be taken out, so she was along for the ride. The five of us were quite a sight, and did not make great time.  

We finally reached a park, and Shelley left the boys and me there to take Mora home. It was the perfect little park for Theo. The slide was just his size, and there were teeter tauter, and swings.  There was even a really cool church nearby (which you can sort of see in the picture above). But after Shelley had returned, and Theo had gotten some very sound bonks, we went home.

I love being able to go on walks!

Side story: When Rick leaves in the morning, Shell has usually been in bed, but I've been awake and already hanging out with the boys.  But a handful of times, Jett has asked Rick, "But when you leave, who will take care of me and the boy?" He always calls Theo 'the boy.' It kills me!

=

Thursday night was date night, and the Allisons took me to get a delicious steak dinner.  These steaks were huge! And so delicious. And all the other food to go along with it was equally as delicious.  

Afterwards, we stopped at Munchie's, and got some very yummy ice cream.  We wanted dessert, and it was the perfect thing to fill the cracks in our tummies. 

On Saturday, we all went to a huge and beautiful park.  We took the subway there, which Theo loved.  Then the walk from the station to the park was lined with large and beautiful statues.

The park had a large lake in the middle, and was surrounded by a street that they close on the weekends for the use of runners, roller bladers, bicyclists, the works.

Rick and Jett rode their  skates, and Theo roamed free.

Notice the orange and blue speck in the distance. And the glamorous lady in the foreground.

The feeling of comradery there was great, a sense of community where everyone was just hanging out and enjoying themselves.  And look how beautiful it was with all the trees and tall buildings behind them.

However, after we'd been there a while, a hard wind suddenly blew in some very dark clouds, and almost instantly started pouring rain. Theo had already reached his end point, so this wasn't helping.  We left the park and walked along the main street in hopes of a finding a taxi. By this time, I was holding Theo, and he was nestling his head into my neck to try and protect himself from the rain.  The whole thing was worth the snuggles!

We eventually did find a taxi, and the driver was very kind to our very muddy children.

Here they are right about to run inside, all of us completely soaked through!  Our inadvertent watery ended with tear-fraught baths and a quick dinner before bedtime. But the whole experience was super fun, and I'm excited for adventures to come!

Date Night and Watery Adventures

The Allisons have a babysitter come once a week, and on Thursday she had two cute blondies instead of one.  Valeria was very sweet and took good care of Theo, even though he was exhausted even before we left.

 

 We walked to an incredible book store.  It is a repurposed theater, and it's gorgeous inside. We spent the first few minutes inside just enjoying the air conditioner and craning our necks to look at the beautiful paintings on the ceiling.

 

We didn't stay for too long, only enough time to choose a Clifford book for Jett and to brows some tourism books.

Afterwards, we went nextdoor to a yummy restaurant.  Our waiter was very sweet and tried to speak English to me, but mostly just spoke to Rick.  It's a little obvious that I speak no Spanish, Shelley speaks some, and Rick speaks really well.  

The food was amazing, although it took forever to get to us.  I guess that's just an Argentine standard.  Also, they had to be very clear on ordering water without bubbles.  I guess carbonated water is the norm, too.  I had my first experience with pate on the bread they gave us at the beginning.  I'm not sure if it was my pregnant taste buds, or being starving, but I loved it.  

I didn't mind filling up on the bread before my pasta came, because Shelley had warned me that the portions are smaller here than in the US (not surprising). But when my plate came, it was such a huge serving of pasta that I barely had a fraction of it.  No matter, I'd just take the leftovers home and have it for another meal or two.

But alas, it fell victim as the first miscommunication of the trip.  The waiter asked me something in English that I understood to be, would you like to take it out?  So I said yes.  But I guess he meant just taking it off the table for me.  I never saw that pasta again.  I felt bad for practically wasting a whole meals worth of food that the Allisons had treated me to, but I also had been so excited to eat more if it because it was so good!  Oh well, there hasn't been a shortage of delicious food to be had.

We rode the bus home, and I felt a little like I was taking my life in my hands.  Everyone drives crazy here, including the buses.  There isn't a flat fee when you get on; the driver has to calculate what you pay based on where you want to get off.  He was typing in fees on the pad next to the steering wheel while driving.  No one else looked like they were afraid, so I wasn't either.  And obviously we made it!

This morning we got to enjoy a thunder storm with rain to match.  I decided Theo and I would go out in the rain and have a watery adventure, and when Rick heard, he asked if he and Jett could join.  Of course, but only if Mora could come too.  

So Jett geared up in his swim suit, and the five of us embarked on our adventure. The boys got instantly soaked jumping in puddles.  Theo had to play in every doorway we passed, and look through every shop window.  Unfortunately, many of the shops don't have doors, so I was doing lots of refereeing as well.

One of the favorite activities was Rick taking their hands hand having them race Mora. Theo had never played in warm rain before, and he was loving it!

We walked to the park, and that was a muddy wet mosquito-filled adventure of its own. Only one or two other doggies were there, no other children, and we had free reign of the whole area.  Mora got to go off-leash for the first time since they've been back, and she had a blast!  She usually doesn't like being wet, but today was the exception.

We didn't stay too long, seeing as we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.  But the walk back was lovely, and we even stopped to get Subway for lunch to take home. We may have to have a watery adventure again sometime.

And I must give Rick the shout-out he deserves.  He has been so great with Theo.  He got up with the boys this morning and let me sleep.  He took Theo the other day when I was feeling so exhausted and Theo was being a terror because of teething. (sidenote, teething molars on vacation is not a great idea.) I just can't say enough about how awesome Rick has been in helping with Theo, and therefore making my life a whole lot better.  Thanks Rick!

Our First Adventures

We've had several fun adventures in the days we've been here. On Sunday, Shelley wasn't feeling well, so Rick Jett Theo and I all went to church.  It was a lovely walk there.  (have I mentioned how wonderful the warm weather is?) Unfortunately, Theo was already tired by the time we got there, so he was a bit moody for the three hour block of classes.

It was great having Rick introduce me to everyone there.  I felt a little foolish just smiling and sitting there since I couldn't understand a word anyone said. But they were all so gracious and sweet, especially to Theo. Man, Theo is quite a hard name for them to say.  They made a joke of trying to pronounce it properly, biting their tongues and giggling.  It was great.

My favorite part were all the besos. Everyone greets each other with a kiss on the cheek.  I had remembered Shelley being surprised by it when she first moved here, so I felt a little more prepared.  While Theo and I were wandering the halls during sacrament meeting, and old woman came up to admire Theo, and turned to ask me a question.  In English I said, "I don't speak Spanish." And with a huge smile she gave me a hug and a kiss.  That was my favorite.

It's been interesting adjusting to Allison/Argentina time.  Theo still gets up at 7, which means I still get up. But the rest of the house sleeps until 9 or 10.  The AM is slow and easy going.  We don't end up eating dinner until 7 or later. And Theo has gone to bed at 9ish every night (which is annoying that he still wakes up at 7!).  Thank goodness I have a sister who encourages me to lay down during the day. Being pregnant is the best excuse ever.

As pictured above, the "Kirby face" is quite popular here. That's because Kirby the video game, along with Mario Galaxy that we brought to share, are popular activities for the boys.  Theo would watch it all day if we let him, and I've heard Jett say that he likes to play video games three times a day.  Don't we all?

Good thing there are also bunches of fun toys to play with!  And Jett has been such a nice cousin to share his toys and his space.  They sleep in the same room, and it has worked better than I could have hoped.

These boys are so cute together.  It's hard every morning when Theo wakes up and all he wants is cereal and his friend Jett.  He'll walk through the house, cup his hands around his mouth and yell, "Jett!  Where are you?"

He will also do this for Shelley, but what he calls her varies.  Sometimes he'll call her Shelley, but most of the time he has been calling her Mama.  It's pretty confusing having two mamas in the house.  Once, I was in the kitchen when everyone else was in the play room.  I heard Theo yelling, "Mama!  Mama!" and I kept answering him and telling him to come to me.  After a while, I finally went to him, only to see him staring straight at Shelley and yelling to her.  When I got her to turn around, he could finally ask her what he wanted.  I think this is so cute, and I hope he doesn't miss his other mama too much when we have to go.

We went to the little China Town yesterday, and it was quite the adventure. We all squeezed into the back of a taxi and rode down there.  Theo started the trip on my lap, but wanted to sit next to his cousin.  We passed some sweet statues that I can't wait to go visit.

When we got there, we walked past some pretty sweet stores.  Shelley was a lovely Mama, and bought Jett a rubber snake, and Theo a jingle bell shaker.  Theo made beautiful sounds as we drove over the uneven sidewalks in his stroller.

We went there for the express purpose of loading up on peanut butter that is as close to American style as they can find here.  We walked around some, and then hopped back in a taxi.  The ride home was more quite since we were all hot and tired, but Jett and Theo laughed and giggled as Jett had the snake bite Theo's finger.  They are such cute cousins!

One of the best adventures is getting to enjoy Mora.  She came back from doggy vacation a few days ago, but she has had to stay out on the balcony while some flea medicine was working on her.  Today was her first day back inside, and we all had a wonderful time.  Above, she is relaxing on the couch, while Theo bends down to say ,"hi." over and over and over.  It's very sweet.  I was worried that one might overwhelm the other, but they are friendly, and stay out of each others' way for the most part. Theo always likes to have her around, and she likes to lick his tasty fingers. I think this will be a wonderful friendship.

We made it after all!

Theo and I are here in South America, partying with my sister Shelley and her husband and son.  I can't believe this is real life!

Our journey down here had a rocky start.  We flew out of New York City, so Corbin was lovely and drove us the four or five hours down. But as we were entering the city, the crazy snowy conditions caused us to check up on the flight.  Turns out, everything for the rest of the day was canceled.  NOOO!!

So we ended up driving in terribly snow and traffic for six more hours until we got to our hotel.  Corbin ended up missing his first day of school the next day. But the next morning was spent relaxing and trying to store up energy for the days travels.

Corbin dropped us off at the airport around three o'clock (he wanted to make sure and get out of the city before rush hour and nightfall).  After a teary goodbye, Theo and I were on our own.  We wandered the airport killing time until our flight at 10:30 ish. 

Theo had a great time walking around on the moving sidewalk things, pushing his stroller, and charming every person we passed. He even conned a sweet Brazilian family out of a whole cup of mixed fruit and a granola bar. They even pulled out pens and drew him pictures.  There were so many sweet people who were tender mercies in my long day.

And I am giving a special shout out to Whitney for letting me use her baby leash.  I don't know what I would have done without it, because it gave him just enough freedom to not feel trapped, but it let me reighn him in when he wanted to run in every single direction at once.  So thanks for saving me, Whitney!

When we finally got on the plane, Theo slept the whole night (thank goodness!) There was some shifting every few hours, but I couldn't have asked for more.  When he woke up, we spent the rest of the flight eating and watching movies.  The flight attendants were so sweet and gave him extra juice and yogurt through the flight.

Theo was a super champion through all the driving, waiting, and even flying.  So by the time we got off the plane and made our way through customs, he was a crab.  And of course I was low on energy to deal with him, but I couldn't be mad since he had been so good for the past 36 hours.  But we made it out alive, and Shelley and Jett were waiting for us with sweet smiles and nice cold bottles of water. 

Only as Theo and I were waiting to pick up our bag did I realize it was his second birthday!  The only celebration he got the whole day was a "happy birthday" and a kiss in that moment.  But he didn't care, so neither did I.

We spent the rest of the day letting the kids play and vegging.  We walked down the block to their huge mall and got some Wendy's, and Jett got to show Theo the enormous play place.  I think Theo wasn't quite big enough or emotionally prepared for it.  Our outing didn't last too long.

Anyways, it has been so fun being here with the Allisons and getting to experience a little of the Argentinian life. 

And by the way, one of the best parts is, it's not covered in a foot of snow!  I wore shorts today!  I can't wait to soak it all in!

Why hello, little baby

 

 Today, we had our first appointment with the midwives.  I thought we would only get to hear the heartbeat, but we had a surprise ultrasound! 

It was so wonderful getting to see the little baby in there, and it made it so much more real! That little guy or gal was really grooving in there.  It was so cute to see it squirm and stretch.

Since today marks the beginning of my second trimester, I feel like I've gotten over the yucky sick part of being pregnant.  

And only a handful of days before Theo and I ship out for Argentina!  I'm trying to psychologically coach myself for dealing with a toddler alone on a 24 hour travel day.  But it will be worth it.  We're so excited!  And Corbin is excited to finally be able to get some work done. He's done such a great job of taking care of us during this break, I'm sure he'll count it as a break to go back to school.

We're Expecting!

Merry Christmas! On Christmas Eve, we finally started telling people, starting with our family, that we are having another baby!  It's been so fun sharing with all our friends and family, and seeing the varied reactions.

But I want to share the rest of the story too.  As some of you know, we've been trying for a while. With Theo, we got pregnant right when we wanted to, which made the waiting for this baby more frustrating and disappointing.

And when I say waiting, I mean trying for nine months, maybe longer.  I know it's nothing compared to what some people go through, and now I have a greater empathy for them.

Anyways, about three weeks ago, I started feeling off.  A voice in the back of my mind said, "maybe you're pregnant!" But I would push that thought away as hard as I could.  I'd thought it before in months past, and it made the reality of not being pregnant even more disappointing.  So this time, I wasn't about to fool myself.

Soon, though, the morning sickness kicked in. I'm afraid Theo got to watch a lot of TV while I just laid on the couch, immobilized by feeling yucky. This was a Monday, and Corbin's last day of the semester was Tuesday, so I only had to make it alone for so long.  I was beginning to believe I was really pregnant, but I was still cautious. 

On Wednesday, Corbin came grocery shopping with us, and I threw a pregnancy test in the cart. I wanted to know if I was sick for a fun reason, or if I needed to see a doctor right away.

The plan was to do the test the next morning, but I was so excited (and hadn't been sleeping well anyways) that I woke up at 2:30 AM and knew I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't know. So I took the test, came back to bed to wait the two very looong minutes, and went back to check results.

This was the kind that has a minus sign for not pregnant, and a plus sign for pregnant.  The vertical line was very dark, but the other was super light.  Corbin ended up coming in the bathroom to help me interpret the results, before we realized that the dark line is the one that indicated pregnancy anyways.  We felt pretty silly about not getting it.  That's why they don't tell you to take the test in the middle of the night, I guess.

Yay!  A baby on the way!

We decided to wait til Christmas time to tell everyone.  That was a very long two weeks of waiting!  But this is how we told most of our family:

"I am making a gift for you (some people got it right then),  but it won't be done until July or August (most everyone got it here)."

Corbin took the ruse awkwardly long with a few people, causing me to yell into the phone, "We're having a baby!!!"

It was a pretty fun Christmas activity!

I want to give Corbin the biggest shout out imaginable.  The timing on my morning sickness has worked out nicely (maybe God had that in mind when he made us wait). Corbin finished his semester right when I started feeling sick, and won't go back to school until the end of my first trimester. That means he gets to spend his 5 week vacation taking care of an energetic two year old, an invalid wife, and most of the house work.  I feel really lame not being able to help much, but Corbin has done an amazing job taking care of us. He does it without a word, and usually with a smile.  He's a wonderful husband and a wonderful daddy. 

I'm so glad we get to start this journey all over again! Let the adventure begin!

December, you snuck up on me!

Wow, it's been far longer than I thought since I've posted something. But I hope to make up for it!

December has been awesome. Corbin finished out the semester and we've been relaxing at home for over a week, now. Something I've learned from school breaks past is that Corbin is a home body. He is so busy during the semester that all he wants to do is stay home, record music, catch up on sleep, etc.

It sort of conflicts with my vision of how breaks go, which is us going out and doing things as a family. So when I would say, let's play in the snow together, and Corbin says, no thank you, I would just resign myself and none of us would go out. But not this break! If Corbin doesn't want to come out with us, I still need to go out.  I am realizing more and more that I need time around other adults, and I need to have adventures out of the house.  Theo too, cabin fever overwhelmed during our week of being snowed in.

What I'm saying is, I love having Corbin home to help with Theo and around the house.  He has been a lifesaver!  But I also need to feel ok about leaving him behind when he wants to be left behind. I think that will be good on many levels, or else the five week break could get very long.

We took the side off Theo's crib, and he has been doing great! For the most part, he will stay in his bed and sleep after I've rocked him and sang to him a little.  But sometimes, he doesn't.

Yesterday, he was supposed to be taking a nap, but every time we put him down and left the door cracked, he would come out.  Imagine a sleepy eyed Theo, bursting into the room and saying, over his pacifier and with a sleep-croaking voice, "Ta daaa!"  He did that to us a few times, and although it is very cute, the man needed to sleep!

So we put him down again, and this time shut the door.  What ended up happening was Theo knocking on his door for a while, then falling asleep next to it.  I'm pretty sure he slept at least an hour on the floor.

Then last night, he did the same thing.  When Corbin opened the door after an hour, he had to slowly push Theo's sleeping body out of the way so he could get in to move him. So sweet!

One of my favorite things I get to do each week is explain the Sacrament to Theo during church.  When the bread and the water are being passed around, I whisper in Theo's ear about how we take the Sacrament to remind us of Jesus, and the beautiful sacrifice he made for us.  Then we talk about how Jesus loves us and wants us to be happy.  I love getting to review it with him every week, because it's a great review for myself too!

We went to the mall to get a Christmas present for Corbin, and ended up playing for almost an hour on the coin operated toys.  Did we even use coins? No, who needs them!  Below, he's sitting in a little ice cream truck, and he served me lots of ice cream from the side window.  He's a good business man. 

We're so excited for Christmas here at the Miller home! Stay tuned for our special Christmas edition of the blog!

Catching up on November

This will be an odd compilation of thoughts and stories, seeing as I haven't written consistently this month. Enjoy!

There is an equine annex near our house, so we drive past it very often. The other day, it was so cold that the horses were wearing coverings to keep them warm. I mentioned that the horses were wearing jackets, so Theo repeated over and over, “Horse. Jacket.” We were on our way to drop Theo off on campus with Corbin so I could run some errands. Apparently, Theo carried on the horse jacket conversation with Corbin after I left, but it obviously didn’t make sense to him. That is, until they rode the bus home, and Corbin saw the horse jackets for himself. They were both quite excited about the discovery.

I teamed up with a bunch of ladies from church to create a "quiet book." I am making thirteen copies of this awesome page, and then we'll trade pages.

I think it turned out quite nicely, and I can't wait to give the whole book to Theo for Christmas.

Corbin and I have been reading the New Testament for our couples scripture study, and tonight we are on track to finish! I am also studying the Old Testament in my personal study, and I realize that these books were really not written for our time.  It's really great to have all these stories and accounts through history, but there is a lot of weird stuff to sift through. Stuff that is from another culture, another time, another understanding of how the world and God's relationship with it.

It makes me appreciate the Book of Mormon a whole lot more.  It was written in a similar time frame as the Bible, and it is another testament of Jesus Christ. The Bible seems like a bunch of writings that were thrown together, because they were available, which is nice to have. But the Book of Mormon was compiled very carefully from a lot of different writings for a specific purpose.  In its introduction, it says that it was made for our day.  It sure makes a lot more sense to me, and I feel like I don't have to work quite so hard to glean the spiritual messages from it. Reading the Bible helps me appreciate the Book of Mormon so much more.

Corbin and I went on a date a while back, and I got these sweet new shoes. I put them on right outside the store, and threw the old ones in the trash.  Best part, they were only $10.

NaNoWriMo is going really well for me.  I'm almost at 40,000 words! I'm so close to my goal of 50,000 words by Nov. 30th, and I feel such a sense of accomplishment already. But I need to keep it up if I want to win!

I'm not sure if I've talked about this yet, but there is so much free food floating around Cornell Campus, it's astounding. Corbin gets free lunch many days of the week. He is such a lovely husband, he brings me home leftovers very often. Yummy veggie or humus wraps, sandwiches, chips, cookies.  It sure makes my day. Thanks, Love!

I am so excited for Thanksgiving! We’re staying in New York, and we will be dining on turkey with our new best friends from church, the Passeys. Sara’s sister and family will be joining us, so Theo will have an 18 month old play mate to enjoy. We sure are lucky to know such quality people.

Sara said something to me a while ago that warmed my heart, and I think about it fondly. We had been playing at their house, and before we left, she stopped me. She said she liked the way we parent Theo. It looks like we have fun, like it’s a pleasure to be a parent.  And that we’re patient with him.

As a mom I’m constantly evaluating my actions, so it was nice hearing that from an outside source.  It gave me confidence that maybe I am doing a good job.  Sometimes, Theo and I are bored, or he does something that makes me want to throw him out the window. But most of the time, we have a lot of fun and enjoy each other.  So thank you, Sara! You made my day, and many days since!

The Passeys joined us for an event on campus last week.  Josh Malina, who we are fans of because of West Wing, came and spoke about how his Jewish life and his acting life intermingle.  It was so interesting, and very entertaining.  Thanks for pointing it out to us, Holly!

And last thing I wanted to talk about, but certainly not least. Shelley bought Theo's and my tickets to Argentina!!! I'm not sure if she wants us to pay her back in pesos or dollars.  We will be ditching Corbin at the end of January and staying til the end of February. We are so so sosoosososoooooo excited! I've had intentions of learning Spanish before we go, but all I know at this point is si, and como se llama (and that's only because Shelley told me).