7 weeks to go!

Okay, here are our adventures from the past week:

On Thursday we went to a park. Yes, we finally found a park! And it isn’t any normal park, it is a HUGE complex with 8 different playgrounds, a couple of soccer fields, and many basketball courts. It also has a café, plus a couple of carnival-type food stands. There is popcorn, corn on the cob, cotton candy, and things that are like churros but with honey instead of cinnamon and sugar. These carnival foods are soo cheap. Ellie has a great time there, and she is improving a lot on being afraid of other people. She is no longer afraid to climb on the playground if other kids are in the way. Ellie also loves to swing! Although she is terrified of the baby bucket-style seats, she loves swinging on the normal “big kid” swings. So, we’re planning on going to the park at least once a week from now on.

Ellie and I also found a small bookstore that is all children’s books. They have a little area with toys to play with and books that can be read. As desperate as we are to find things to do, we’ll be going there often just to play (although I’ll be buying a small book each time, or else I’d just feel weird!). I found a book there called “Broken Biscuits” that is currently Ellie’s favorite. It’s neat because it’s in English, but it’s based on Egyptian culture (the mom and daughter have to hurry to the village oven so they don’t miss out on their turn for the day). There are also some nice Arabic baby board books that we’ll be buying for our little guy.

On our way home from the bookstore last week, I was approached by a woman who was collecting things in our neighborhood. This has happened before, people coming to our door looking for “stuff” that they can have. Well, obviously I don’t speak fluent Arabic, but I caught the word for clothes and she kept pointing to Ellie, so I asked her if she wanted some of my daughter’s clothes. She said yes, so I told her to follow me back to my house. I had just gone through Ellie’s clothes and separated out all of the ones that are too small, intending to donate them somewhere here (so we have room for all the stuff sent to us!). At one point walking back the woman picked up Ellie, even though I told her not to, and Ellie freaked out (which is exactly why I told her not to). So, when we got to our house, I gave her the clothes and shoes, and then she asked me for some of “Baba’s” clothes (which is referring to Jason). I told her no, and she asked for some of my clothes. I told her no, then she gestured to Ellie’s toys. Finally, I put my hand on her shoulder and gently led her to the door said “No, sorry, there are none.” Ellie of course is crying hysterically this whole time; it was naptime and she was not happy to see someone taking her things. I’m sure we have some other stuff that I could have given her, but I did not want to go through our things with her standing right there, especially since Ellie was so upset by her. But she finally went away! And I was glad to help her out, even if she was so greedy :)

Ellie and I went on a nature walk this morning. Here are some pictures: (the cat next to Ellie is "our" cat that hangs around our house and plays with Ellie)

It's snowing!!!

Okay, after it being almost 80 degrees last week, today it snowed all day long! This picture was taken around 10:30am, but it's still snowing now at 4:45pm. How crazy is that? It was definitely a surprise for us. We are slightly jealous of all you Arizona people with your warm weather, but we're supposed to get into the 70s again next week.

Technical difficulties

Jason just took Ellie with him to the Fulbright office to pick up some mail. Do you know it's been months since she's gone out of the house without me? I'm happy for the free time, but I was a little sad watching grown-up Ellie marching down the street next to daddy. Man, I knew she would have some adjusting to do when we returned and she is not only with me all day, but I think I'll have an even harder time adjusting!

I thought I would fill you all in on the major appliances in our apartment. Here is a picture of our "washing machine." The left side is the "washer." I fill it up with water, add soap and clothes, and then it agitates the clothes for up to 15 minutes. Then, I drain out the water (into the nearby sink) and put all the clothes in the right side of the machine, the "spinner." This spins out all the excess water. Repeat this process two more times (to get all the soap out) and then the clothes are ready to hang for a day on the drying rack. Needless to say, washing clothes takes a bit more time than in the usual washer/dryer. Hey, I'm not complaining, as this is the first time we've even had a washer in our house. But, we will all be needing new socks, undies, and shirts when we get back, since this process is very rough on our clothes!

And then our stove. There are many problems with it, but I've managed to figure out how to deal with most of them. It runs off a (propane?) tank, not electric. So, when the tank runs out, we have to get a new one. This is not too much of a hassle (Autumn had it much rougher!) since a truck drives around the neighborhoods during the day with filled tanks. The truck plays music (much like the ice cream man) and if you hear him coming, you run out and flag him down. The first time ours ran out, it was no big deal. This time however, I was right in the middle of cooking dinner (chicken-fried chicken and mashed potatoes - yum!). What to do? It was already getting dark, so the trucks weren't running that we could see. So, here is a video of the solution that Jason so brilliantly thought of. It worked!

All about Ellie

Ellie has really been growing up lately. It's kind of sad to see her leaving babyhood behind, but luckily she's not our last baby!

Potty-training is pretty much accomplished, except for when she sleeps. We don't really ask her if she has to go anymore; we trust her to come to us, except for when we're leaving the house, then she must at least try. Today was a mini-milestone when after her nap she asked to go potty while she still had a diaper on.

Her vocab and conversation skills are incredibly advanced (I think). She speaks in complete sentences all the time, and knows when to say thank you, you're welcome, bless you, things like that. The other day our friends Alex and Kendra were here for lunch and they were cracking up at the things she would say. We all laughed at something and she said "What's so funny?" She is also very imaginitive and has conversations with her "friends" often. Here is a typical conversation that I've had with her recently:

Ellie: uh oh

Me: what's wrong Ellie?

Ellie: It's Benny the bull!

Me: what's wrong with Benny?

Ellie: He's stuck in the gooey geyser! (this is all from a Dora dvd)

Me: oh no, what can we do?

Ellie: We have to help him!

She goes through many Dora episodes this way, acting them out with her "friends."

For the past week, she has had trouble sleeping, and I could not figure out why. Recently, I think I found the culprit. Her two-year molars are coming in on the bottom! She has one that has broken through, but the other side is still barely under the gums. I can't see any coming in on the top, but I'm assuming they're coming soon too. I was just thinking that I can't wait for teething to be done, but now we're starting all over!

All right, I think that's all the latest Ellie news. Here is a recent picture of her as a big girl.

It's a ... (take 2)

Hmm, I thought about teasing you all and making some way that you would have to wait or jump through hoops or something, but I guess that's too cruel.

So, the doctor was doing the ultrasound and showed me all the tiny body parts, and everything looks great. The baby was sucking on the hand; it was so cute. The doctor started putting the ultrasound thing away, and I said, can you tell if it's a boy or a girl? She replied, I already told you, I pointed it out to you. I must have missed it. I thought I might have seen the gender at one point, but I don't remember her talking about it. Maybe it's a culture thing and she didn't want to out-right name the parts?

So, we're excited to finally know. Now we can start thinking about names and planning room themes and everything. Don't ask us about the names though, because for one, we have no idea right now, plus we might decide to keep it a surprise :)

Oh wait, did I forget to tell you boy or girl? So sorry. It's a ... BOY!

Great news!

Jason just received word that he will be awarded the Advanced Opportunity Fellowship for his Ph.D. program! This is the same offer that was given to him last year, that was very difficult to pass on for the Fulbright. We were hoping that he would receive it again this year, but it wasn't guaranteed. This fellowship covers tuition, insurance for him, and a stipend that will cover most of our living expenses. And, it's pretty much guaranteed for the entire four years we are there!

Belly update

So, 23 weeks pregnant. Can you see the belly yet? :) Holy cow, I'm so much bigger than last time! Please excuse the messy hair. I can't believe I'm only a little more than halfway there. How big am I going to get this time?!?

Does it look like a boy belly or a girl belly?

Happy Birthday Bryson!!

My nephew Bryson is turning one today! It's so hard to believe that he's one, and Ellie is almost two! I know everyone says this, but kids really do grow up fast!

Ellie has been potty-training lately. She usually goes the whole morning, and then most of the afternoon. Sometimes we are lazy and don't take her diaper off after her nap, but most of the day she goes with just her undies (which are sooo adorable!). She definitely wears diapers when she sleeps though. I think sometimes she just holds everything in until she gets a diaper on; I'm hoping that as she gets used to going in the potty she'll do that less.

I must have been in a cooking mood today. For dinner I made homemade whole wheat flour tortillas and homemade refried beans. Those are two things that I love that are hard to find here, plus if we do find them, they are expensive. And I love homemade tortillas! I also made banana bread. Since we don't have a loaf pan, I made it in a round pan that used to be a saucepan. So, I guess it's more like banana cake. And it's a recipe I found that uses whole wheat flour and honey instead of white flour and sugar. It's really good though, I promise!

Jason started school again this past Sunday. On Tuesday he moved up an extra level! He skipped the entire level 6, since it was too easy for him. His teacher said that he was the best student in level 5. He probably wouldn't tell all of you this, but as his wife, I can brag :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We send our love to all our friends and family! Ellie and I were busy this morning making creations for Jason. Here's the fruit of our labor:

I had never made powdered sugar before using regular sugar and a blender, but it worked fine today to make the frosting on these cookies.

And here is Ellie wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

So glad we don't curse!!

Ellie copies EVERYTHING I say. Luckily my vocab is at worst PG rated. But I've decided I need to try to bring it down to G. These are the not-so-nice things that Ellie has picked up. She says:

Oh jeez
Oh my goodness
Gosh
Jeez Louise

And then today, as I was cooking, I said "What the heck!" Guess who repeated?? So, I will be watching myself!

Packages!!

We went to the Fulbright office and post office yesterday, and we came home with mail from 3 people! Our 4-year-old friend Maggie drew me the cutest get well card that Ellie loves to look at, a lifegroup from Calvary sent us another box of yummy food, and Ellie's Grammy (Jason's mom) sent her a box of friends to play with. It was an exciting day! Here is a picture of Ellie with all her friends, old and new:

Petra - success or failure???

Well, we're back. Overall it was a nice trip. I was a little worried when we first climbed into the minibus and Ellie looked around at all the men and said "I don't like the bus." But, she soon fell asleep and didn't have any problems. Our hotel room was just fine, and the jacuzzi was amazing, although they charged us to use it! So, we only used it once. The town itself was pretty dead; I guess it isn't high tourist season right now.

The day after we arrived we went into Petra. The weather was cold, but we all bundled up against the chill. We set off walking, with Ellie walking much of the way, since she likes to be free. We walked quite a long way (almost 2 miles maybe?) before we reached the first real site. When we looked at our map and saw how little ground we had covered, I started to doubt that Ellie (and I if we had to carry her) would make it. We debated whether Ellie and I should go back right then, but I decided that maybe if Ellie and I rode a camel to the next part, we could make it. The camels looked like they loped along at a slow enough speed that it wouldn't be too jarring for me to be unsafe. However, after the first couple yards, I quickly saw that this wasn't the case. Plus, Ellie freaked out (she was already getting a bit cranky) over riding the camel. The camel ride actually scared me because I started getting Braxton-Hicks contractions. By then, Ellie was full-on crying and could not be consoled. So, Jason was able to convince someone to send a horse-drawn buggy to come and pick us up (at an extremely steep price of course!) and take us back to the beginning. The buggy ride was very bumpy as well, and I was having the contractions the whole way, and Ellie was screaming "Don't like the horse!" all the way back. Finally, Ellie and I made it back to the hotel, where Ellie took a long nap and I rested (the contractions went away completely). Jason, however, came all the way to the beginning with us and made sure we found a taxi, before he hiked all the way back in and further to see all the sites. What a trooper! He had a good time being able to hike around and see all the ancient monuments. Besides the botched trip into Petra, we had a good time seeing a new place.

One semi-sad anecdote to share: When we walked into our apartment, Jason and I felt a bit of relief to be back, but Ellie did not share our sentiments. As soon as Jason shut the front door, Ellie ran over to it and started crying "Our room!" (referring to our hotel room). I guess we didn't properly warn her that we were leaving our hotel permanently and coming back home. She was fine once she found her toys that she left behind.

On Vacation

Just to let you all know, we'll be away from the computer (most likely) for the next couple days. We're finally going to Petra, the number one tourist spot in Jordan. Wish us luck, as it is a lot of walking and hiking. I get out of breath easily now, and I'm sure Ellie will tire out quickly. So, we'll see how much sight-seeing we are actually able to do. Our hotel supposedly has a jacuzzi, so maybe we'll spend most of the time there (although I will have to be hopping in and out to make sure our baby doesn't get cooked!). Plus, I'm planning on using their Turkish bath once, if they are able to give a massage to someone with a big belly in the way. This is a link to the hotel we'll be staying at: http://www.amrapalace.com/index1.asp .

Miss Manners

Ellie is starting to do very well with her manners, when she wants to, of course. She knows she can pretty much get anything she wants, as long as it isn't dangerous, by grabbing our face with her little hands on our cheeks, putting her pleading face right up to ours, and saying "Please mommy or please daddy." She knows how to work us already! And if anyone in her vicinity sneezes, she immediately says, "Bless you." If we don't say "thank you" quickly enough to her, she'll beat us to the punch by saying "You're welcome."

Then again, miss proper can also be very unladylike. She is starting to potty-train (and doing very well!) so she talks a lot about her bodily functions. Everytime she "expels gas" she exclaims, "Toot, toot!" There's no more blaming our noises on Ellie, because she'll point out exactly who makes what noise. Anything crusty that comes off her cheek or eye or anywhere on her face is a "booger, yuck." I know she must have learned all of this from us, but did we really teach her this?

About potty-training again. Today we received a new potty seat for Ellie (thanks to the Harkins family). It is a Dora the explorer seat, which is Ellie's favorite character right now (well, Elmo is still in the running). We have one Dora dvd that she asks to watch over and over again, and we often let her because it is so cute to watch her dance with Dora and Boots. (Yesterday she was twisting from side to side shouting "We did it, we did it, lo hicimos") Anyway, she was very excited about the seat, but was very apprehensive of peeing on Dora. Once I convinced her that Dora wanted to see Ellie pee and poop, then she was able to relax. I'm amazed at how well she's doing with this, hopefully it will continue!

It's a....

baby! We went to my doctor's appt today, hoping to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl. The doctor really tried, but she couldn't get the "money shot." So, we don't know yet. But, the baby looks really healthy, and that's what matters most, right? Right?!? I know, we're disappointed too. Hopefully next month this baby will cooperate. I am just not patient enough for this!

We're planning on another bus trip next week, going to Petra. In October we had plans to go, but they never happened, so we're trying again. We're running out of new adventures in Amman, so this should be a lot of fun for us. We just hope it's not too cold.

Sorry we don't have much news to report. It's just normal life as usual here in Amman.

Ellie's First Year

So, I guess I'm being a little nostalgic with this new baby coming, thinking about Ellie growing up. So, here is a photo montage of Ellie's first year (bring on the kleenex!)

Make an online slide show at onetruemedia.com

Another hospital trip

This time it wasn't for Ellie!

I've had a cold for about a week, and yesterday I figured out that it had turned into a sinus infection. When researching it online, I discovered that this is common in pregnancies. Who knew? So, yesterday I had some pretty bad pain in my cheek area; right under the cheekbone is one sinus cavity. I wanted to wait until today to find a doctor, since yesterday everywhere was closed. Last night however, my sinus infection turned into an ear infection, with extreme pain in my left ear. Then, around 5am, my eardrum burst! So, after a night of hardly any sleep, I woke up Jason around 7am and we went to the emergency room. Luckily an ear,nose, and throat doctor was coming in soon, so we waited there for him. He cleaned out my ears (SOOOO painful in the bad one) and prescribed antibiotics and pain killers, both safe for the baby. He also prescribed a nasal spray, which he and the pharmacist assured me was perfectly safe. However, when I came home I read the info about the spray and it says this, "Otrivin should be avoided during pregnancy...the medicine should be administered only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus." So, I won't be taking it. I don't think the potential risk is worth a less-stuffy nose.

Can I nominate Jason for the husband-of-the-year award? When I came out around 1:30am, not able to sleep in the bed, he set out to make a comfortable place for me to sleep. He made this contraption for our bed:





UPDATED: Today I feel better, my ear doesn't really hurt, I just have a lot of pressure in my sinus area. The antibiotics are making me sick, but I just took one with a lot of food, so hopefully that one will stay down. And in other news, tonight Ellie tried to secretly change her own poopy diaper. You can imagine the mess that made! Actually, she did a pretty good job, she just couldn't quite wipe everything off herself. Sorry, no pictures for that :)

My very first french braid attempt!!

You can learn anything online!!

Back to school

School again for Jason. He's had a really nice (and unexpected) break since Christmas, but he had to go back today. Fortunately he only has two weeks left of this semester, then he has another 2 week break. Hopefully we'll be able to travel a little bit within Jordan during that time.

I'm feeling a lot better as far as morning sickness. I have an episode every once in a while, but for the most part it has gone away. And I'm pretty sure I've felt the baby moving around a couple times! I was starting to get worried because at the last ultrasound (about 2 weeks ago) the baby WOULD NOT MOVE, even when the doctor poked at him/her. I was reprimanded for not eating enough, so I was starting to worry that my morning sickness had caused some sort of permanent damage. I know logically that it didn't, but it's hard not to worry about everything! Since getting over the sickness, I've started cooking good dinners again. Jason's excited about that!

Recently we took Ellie to this place that is like a mini-carnival for little kids. There are about 6 small rides (ones that pretty much go around in a circle) and tons of those toys like in front of Walmart that you put quarters into. But Ellie's favorite part was the bumper cars that she went on with Daddy. Now she stands at the front door every day and asks for the bumper cars.

Ellie is also her own biggest fan. All day she walks around saying "Ellie's beautiful, Ellie's gorgeous, Ellie's adorable, Ellie's cute, Ellie's awesome." And each time she says one, we have to repeat it before she'll move on to the next one. She also tells herself "Good job" a lot and today after I gave her a cup of tea (basically warm whole milk with a couple spoonfuls of my tea in it) she kept saying "Good drinking" every time she took a drink. She was very proud to be drinking out of a cup without a lid!

I have some pictures that I'll have to upload soon!

Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone's celebrations were fun. I woke up last night to the sound of fireworks; I couldn't even stay up late enough (not that I really tried).

Here is a video of us reading the Christmas Story. This video is only the first half, but if you only have time for one (they are almost 5 min. each) then watch the second one instead. If you want to see the beginning of the story first watch this one:


This second video starts in the middle of the story, so that people who don't want to watch everything can at least watch some. We have more, but it takes about an hour to upload each one, so I'm only doing one a day. This one is the cutest though: