One gets sick....we all do

Since the post last week Belle managed to get better but I managed to get worse and so did Nate. Unfortunately the weekend was spent coughing and sneezing with a little nyquil :(

Belle did great even though Nate and I took an F for parenting. She ran around and played well by herself with the occasional meltdown.

Now I am preparing for my mom to be here! She should arrive tomorrow if everything goes right and I cannot wait.

I am having a cake made for Belle and cupcakes for the rest of us to celebrate her birthday. My mom is bringing down the cutest little outfit for her and hopefully we will get some good photos!

Tchau,
Sara

Not so Hot

Belle is still fighting the gripe. She is sleeping restlessly at night with a few coughs but not at all during the day. As you can tell from the pics she just doesn't feel good.

This morning since she didn't have a fever I took her out an she likes the leaves now. It was so beautiful and she enjoyed being out of the house. Once we got back home she pretty much fell asleep walking around the house. The minute she hits the bed the coughing fits begin.

At this point she just wants to roll around her bed is a semi comatose state while coughing. If I pick her up she gets upset.

Poor girl! It actually hurts me to see her like this! I wish there was something I could do.

What I am doing so far: no milk to reduce mucous, warm air in room and the natural humidity, honey with a little lime, and tons of fluids. We are also resting and watching Elmo quite a bit.

Any suggestions on what I am missing?

Tchau,
Sara

Gripe

Belle has the Gripe... well that's what a cold is called in Brazil. I think it seems appropriate for what she has in English too. Sneezing, coughing, and a little fever will make anyone grippy. Anyway, this time around she isn't too fussy just a little clingy and sad.

She is also letting me hold and cuddle her which I am loving despite the not sleeping well once again. I actually feel like a mother instead of her being so mad at me and the world when she has hand, foot and mouth disease.

Staying strong and in good spirits. Off to catch nap while she is napping because who knows how the rest of the day will turn out. Yesterday she didn't nap at all except for maybe 20 min here or there. But despite no naps she was in a great happy mood which I couldn't have asked for better with her being sick!

I also think that her molars are trying to come through. She is drooling a ton and gnawing on everything she can get her grubby little fingers one :)

Tchau,
Sara

Lunch at the Beach

Banana. Coconut water. Beach. Awesome.

Tchau,
Sara
Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

11 Month

So here is the post you have been waiting for and I have been waiting to write, Belle's 11 month photos and update. 

Since the post is so far off I thought I would write about several things she does now and is up too. 

Waking up for the day. Happy girl! Loves her bed.

Playing with the huge bunny and reading books. Two of her
favorite things to do.

Bath time in the sink. Since our house doesn't have any bathtubs
we are still bathing her in the sink every night. Nate's turn for bathing and he is giving
 Belle a nice little hair do.

She loves water!

Carrying Pooh to her room. I love how she throws him over
her back and walks around the house with him!

She puts everything into her stroller.... Pooh is no different.

She loves watching Elmo and Seasame Street on Youtube.
She actually goes to my laptop or iPad and sings "lalalalalala" like
Elmo does until we turn it on for her.

Rock and Roll. We bought her some new jeans and she looked too cute!

Still loves anything that resembles a ball or is a ball. 

Carrying around balloons we found in the the
elevator one day after a quick trip to the grocery store. She thinks they are balls and was too
happy for us to take them away.

Carrying the balloons and helping us unpack the groceries.

Ready for her late photo shoot.

She hates wearing bows now and anytime you touch her hair she thinks
there is a bow somewhere up there!

I love this face. 

She looks like Nate here I think....

So pretty. 

The best shot I got with her showing the number 11 and looking at the camera.

Before I know it she will be ONE! I am so thankful that my mom will be making a trip down here and the day after she leaves then Amy, the sis-in-law (really just sis), will be coming down to visit for a week. Belle will have family around to celebrate her birthday! Not that she will remember but I will and so will the camera. 

Then in September Nate's parents are making the trip back to Brazil for a visit! So freaking excited! 

Tchau,

Sara

Early Bird....

I have to say that Belle received the sleeping gene from me. While I am not an early early early bird I am definitely an earlier riser than Nate. The most consistent problem that I have with Belle and sleeping is her waking up before 6am to start her day. I play around with her bedtime which doesn't really seem to help.... She doesn't follow a routine when it comes to waking up. 

Yesterday she started the day at 515am and this morning she started the day later at 645am. I couldn't believe how late she woke up! Actually she cried out at 520 and I shed a few tears when I saw the clock but then fell back asleep only to wake up freaking out at 630 to find her still asleep.... ahhh the joys of parenting!

What will tonight bring? Who knows because she would nap all day from all the sleep she got the night before. All in all I all things couldn't be better. Life is awesome chasing her around while she learns new things such as: stepping up the mini steps from our balcony without crawling or holding onto anything!

I did take 11 month photos so as soon as I can muster up the energy to get off the couch, find the cable to upload the photos, edit the photos, upload them to the blog and write a story, then I will :)

Tchau,

Sara

Old Photos

I should have posted these a couple of months ago!! O well!

Sort of failed in my mission to blog everyday this week. I swear that so many moments are filled with randomness that I finish the day not knowing what happened. Does that make any sense at all?? I get lost in the moments of randomness.... Right?

Ahhhh... This week has been great. More on that tomorrow ;)

Tchau,
Sara

Elmo

Belle is obsessed with watching YouTube videos of Elmo... This is us cuddling up on the couch enjoying the video for the millionth time. She actually took a moment to look at me ;) actually it was probably to start the video but I will take what I can get.

Tchau,
Sara

Mistakes

Well looks like Nate and I are even for mistakes. His cost us a little more though. What you are looking at is twelve 12 packs of sprite zero.... Nate did our grocery shopping online and miss typed 2 with 12 so now we have 144 sprite zeros to drink.

Uhhh it couldn't have been a drink with at least a little caffeine!

The delivery guy was tipped with some cash and a twelve pack :)

Tchau,
Sara

Ps- yes you can do you grocery shopping online here and it's awesome! No waiting in lines for an hour anymore!

Week Wrap-up

The week went well. Belle slept great and all through the night the whole week. Her naps are back to normal and she is super happy. Of course I am chasing her around but it's fun because she isn't upset for every little mishap... she trips, falls, and gets right back up to running around.

I still need to take her 11 months photos and before I know it I will have to take her 1 year photos. I just cannot believe that ONE year will be coming up on August 9th!!! O my!!

Rosa showed up for work and said that she was sick the week before. Ummmm call me? For some reason this is really common in Brazil. People don't really feel like work deserves respect but each person feels that they deserve respect. Of course not everyone is like this but most of the population is like this.

Nate successfully fixed our toilet and sink which had been leaking. The untold story on the blog was that I paid the maintenance guy in our building to fix our constantly running toilet. He charged me ridiculous prices and it was still broken. I asked him to come back and fix it so he then grouted my shower.... what? Any way more money down the drain with a still broken toilet and a newly grouted shower. Then, fed up, Nate took the time to see the problem and buy the parts to fix it. Ten US dollars later the toilet was fixed.

Note to self: fix things yourself because then they get done right and you will spend less money.

Belle can now 'ooh ooh ahh ahh' like a monkey as she points to a tree. Weird when your child knows a monkey before she knows a cat.... That being said she started making the monkey sound when she saw a cat the other day. I guess she saw the tail but I didn't have the heart to tell her she was wrong so I started making the noise with her. I figure one day she will know the difference but now she is still pretty young.

Nate and I still are waiting for the day when she says 'mama' or 'dada' and means it. Really, other things must be much more exciting and important to her!

Tomorrow might be the day for the photos and then next week I promise to post something new everyday.

Tchau,
Sara