Dogs in the Mall

In the mall closest to our house the allow dogs to be everywhere. They even allow them on the elevators! It's so crazy to see everyone walking their little yapper inside. Only in Brasil!

Tchau,
Sara

Got Mail!

We got mail!! Grandma sent me two things- a postcard, which brings me back to the days my brother and I would wait for the mail to see if we have a new one waiting for us, and a letter. She sent the postcard out on March 21st and the letter on March 27th... We received them both on the same day :) April 5th.

I guess I could have been sooner since I didn't check the mail this week but I am would trust the latter time over an early one.

Love getting mail and I am so glad that we live in Rio now where the mail is a little bit more reliable! Now I just need to figure out how to send you all mail :)

Tchau,
Sara

Jammy Day

Belle's new jammies are so cute that I didn't want to change her out of them this morning! 

We have made the switch from the footied onsies to the 2 piece separate because she is just too long! These are 12 months and seem to work great with a little room to grow :)

Tchau,

Sara

Tale of Two Maids

Would you clean this up? or pay someone else too.... exactly why I pay someone :)

Right now I am in the process of trying to find someone who is great cleaning the house and great with Belle. I know, I know I am ridiculous but being in a random country with zero family takes a toll! Not to mention no dishwasher, less than average washer/dryer, everything molds, and having to make all my own baby food.

Needless to say I am exhausted just keeping up with Belle and all her meals. It seems that she likes a food for one minute but then hates it the next. Then one minute she wants to feed herself and the next she wants me to feed her. I can't win right now! I pull stuff out of the fridge at the speed of light just trying to find something she will like. By then end of the meal it's like a bomb went off....

In Brazil maids and nannies are entitled to benefits when they work more than two days for someone. This means that when we have someone working for us we will be supporting all the health benefits, retirement, sick pay, sick days, holidays, and paid vacation. These are some of the reasons we hesitated on hiring someone full time. Turns out the more we looked into the subject we found that you spend less to have a maid everyday than you would for just 3 days.

I found a girl that I liked to come and work for us but it turns out she can't work 5 days a week which is what I wanted. Well I found another girl to come in so I could see if I liked her... without firing the other maid. Then it turns out that I don't really like her and I would rather have the number 1 maid work 4 days for me than not at all.

What a mess.

This week the two different maids are cleaning my house while I delicately tiptoe around the hiring and firing. Not really speaking Portuguese leaves both women up for confusion.

Toady though I made the decision to hire Number 1 maid, Rosa, and fire the number 2 maid which has only worked for me once and who thinks that she will be working for me full time. During my talk with Rosa today she is absolutely thrilled to be working for me :) and she loves loves loves Belle. Now I have two days to figure out how I am going to gently fire the other girl... oh my.

Do I fire her at the beginning of the day? The middle? The end? Oh crap.... what have I done! See what little sleep does to me. I bet that none of you feel sorry for me one bit. I don't blame you at all because I judge myself as well. I find it hard to believe that I have a maid full time yet I really can't find the time to shower everyday. Sleep when the baby sleeps so when does the shower come in?? Just sayin.

Well off to sleep while I can and hope that Belle has a good night. Last night was another war zone with her waking every two hours. Poor girl.

Tchau,
Sara

Can Belle Catch a Break?

A decent post is long overdue but I am seriously hanging by a thread! Belle is more mobile than ever and with all the teething, she has been doing little sleeping. Last night was the worst night in the past month and we were up every two hours. I actually fell asleep holding her in the rocker which I haven't done since she was first born! Finally the top left tooth is coming in and it's giving Belle quite a bit of pain. She also started to get a little stuffy nose :( which makes life even more difficult for her and me!

I just keep saying life will get back to normal once the teething is done but what is normal these days? I should just be going with the moment because nothing is normal or ever will be!

Normal these days:
Belle doesn't sleep through the night anymore and usually has at least one waking in the middle of the night for a little comfort or ibuprofen. She wakes up really early around 5am and sometimes even earlier.... no matter what time I put her to bed these things don't change.

She is very clingy and just overall hurting. For the month she now has 7 teeth and the 8th is working it's way out. I just feel so bad for her and there is nothing that I can do really. I give her frozen things to chew on which helps for an hour or so, oralgel for babies she hates, the natural teething tablets don't seem to touch her, and ibuprofen I can only give so much of. One thing I have yet to try are the amber teething necklaces that supposedly have analgesic properties... unfortunately you can't buy them in Brazil so I will just have to wait for my next visit home in two weeks. By then maybe she will have all of her teeth!

Tchau,
Sara

It's for Real Now

She is crawling for real now and pulling up!!



Tchau,
Sara

Belle Eating

Belle during one of her eating sessions and she can't seem to get enough!




Tchau,
Sara

I'm in Trouble

I meant to post this last week but better late than never!! Now that Belle is pretty mobile, especially with the walker, it's making day to day life pretty hard :) I have now reached the part of mommyhood where I never get a bathroom break. Below is why.... I go to the bathroom and five seconds later I walk out to find this- (of course I tried to get her walker stuck in the bathroom doorway so I could see her but she broke free)

What does she have you ask? Well it's the emergency flashlights that are plugged in to the outlets in the wall. I died laughing but wondered how she did it so I watched her!

There she goes!!

So there you have it! Now I had to take down all our emergency flash lights, which are needed cause the power does flash often. They are now replaced with socket covers. The medicine cabinets have also been locked down and the cleaning supplies. We now have to work on the cords for the TV and a few other things I haven't thought of just yet!

Tchau,

Sara

Tuberculosis Vaccine

For Belle's 7 month appointment, last week, she received the TB shot in her right arm :( While I hate to see her in pain I do feel comforted knowing that she will be protected from this terrible disease. Unfortunately in recent months there is a strain of Totally Drug Resistant Tuberculosis floating around India. I guess Belle will be safe if there is every a large epidemic!

Day after the shot- The vaccine itself is intradermal which means that it's given right under the skin instead of in the muscle like all the other shots. 

It's hard to get a picture of her sitting still but this it was it looks like this morning.

A few days after the shot it sort of looked angry red and infected. Of course since the vaccine is a weakened live virus technically it was infected. The instructions for care include ignoring the site. No creams, ointments or covering with bandaids. Pretend that nothing ever happened to prevent too much scarring. I have done just that so far and it seems to be running it's course pretty quickly although it looked gross for a few days. 

All in all she doesn't even notice anything and continues to be on the go all the time. 

Tchau,

Sara

Africa

Just wanted to let everyone know that my parents have made it safely to Africa. Their flight from London was delayed so by the time they arrived in Johannesburg they had to wait a while for the next flight. No worries the minute they got to the lodge they went on safari and saw quite a few amazing animals- Rhinos next to the car and cheetahs in trees!

They have also already seen the Big 5 (Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, and cape Buffalo) and baby giraffes. I honestly think my mom is in heaven :)


I will let you know if I get anymore updates from them so you all don't worry!

Tchau,
Sara