Puzzle.

I was asked to take a picture of the puzzle just prior to completion and once it was complete. I contributed a whopping one piece to this puzzle. Dana asked me to post the pics. Maybe she'll add on to this post...not sure. Good job to Bobbi for doing the majority of the puzzle. Also, props to Meg, Eva (Meg's daughter) and Jacob who blitzed the puzzle Christmas Day.

The puzzle prior to my (Dana's) contribution

The completed masterpiece

Sick Micah

Here is the little bud on Boxing Day, feeling seriously rotten. We got a big dose of snuggle time while he was feeling so terrible. I'm grateful he's got his spark back! Don't even mind his mischief so much ;)

Back in the Saddle

In Parras

Good thing Andrew got really into the blogging the last little while, because I have dropped the ball! Any down time I might have had while my parents were here (can't believe they're already gone!) got taken up caring for and comforting sick little Micah. He had bronchitis for a while and now he's recovering from strep throat. He had some scary high fevers from that and we have been back and forth to the doc and pharmacy quite a bit. Finally he is on the mend! No more fevers, but he is still so congested he has sleep apnea at night. Very disturbing. I am giving him the hated salt water nasal spray which helps a little but makes him scream. No fun.


My parents left this morning. Wow. Blink of an eye visit. They were planning to leave on Thursday but the weather has been so nuts in the U.S. and Canada they thought it would be better to leave a couple of extra days rather than pushing so hard like they did on the way down. Smart move, but very sad to see them go sooner than expected! We had a great visit though. Highlights include:

- The kids' reactions when they got here. They were so excited! And all over them, Papa in particular. It was a joy and a pleasure to see the four of them enjoying each other so much.
- Delicious meals together, in particular last night's Adults Only Steak Dinner
- Hilarious bloopers in the midst of our attempts at Awesome Family Photos. If only our remote shutter release had arrived in the mail on time.... well, maybe next time we'll get a photo of all of us together.
- Christmas Day, opening useful, fun, educational, thoughtful gifts and sharing Christmas dinner with friends as well as family



- BLOKUS!
- Lots of laughs and good times last night

And now Andrew is still on holidays for the rest of the week. How shall we spend it? Well, today is definitely a lazy day. This morning Sherrif Woody and I made pancakes. I tried a new recipe and threw some molasses in there... not terrible but wouldn't make it again either. I just tried to catch up on the sleep I didn't get last night but Micah didn't cooperate.

Christmas Day Photogs

check out www.thewillmsphotogblog.blogspot.com for the latest photos from yesterday!

Eva's First Pictures

Here are Eva's best 2 photos from yesterday. It's funny to hear her talk about downloading her memory card etc etc. I can't wait to teach her about ISO settings etc. Nerd Alert.
She likes her camera a lot however, she wants no advice or direction. That's our girl.

Eva's second official photo after we bought batteries at the Farmacia Guadalajara.



On the walk home one of the houses had this tree...

Present Opening...

We decided the kids could open one present per day leading up to Christmas. Last year it was toy overload so this year we thought we'd break it up a bit. For you traditionalists out there....Bah Humbug.
Anyway, yesterday both Eva and Micah opened gifts. Yesterday Micah received an awesome Dragon and Eva received "The Little Mermaid Part 2". Well, Eva had a problem with her gift and really wanted a toy. Just take a look at the sequence of photos and you'll see her reaction versus Micah's. It starts off great but then turns to bitter disappointment.
Yes. Yes. Yes.



No. No. No.






Today was a different story. I made an imprompto decision and decided Eva could have our old Kodak digitial camera. This only cost me a mere 600 dollars about 6 years ago. Nice price for a 3 megapixel badboy. Anyway, Eva got the camera and Micah got the movie "Wall-E". Both were excited this time.



Here is Eva in action. I'll download her card soon and see what kind of photogs she got. Should be a lot of fun.

Pictures from the past 2 days....Nothing more.

New Coffee Maker

Christmas came early for us. Sorry Mom and Dad but we had to open your present otherwise we would have been coffeeless. That would have been terrible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The coffee maker is awesome. To go along with the new maker we got individual mugs!
(Andrew = Blue, Bill = White, Bobbi = Green, Dana = Light Blue, Eva/Micah = White Talls.) Eva and Micah had hot chocolates this morning.

Dry Day!

In honour of Nana and Papa's arrival, Micah had a full 24 hours of dryness. I put Bummis training pants on him and he kept them dry all day long! Even during an outing, and a long stretch in the afternoon. And to top it all off, he kept his pull-up dry all night long!

I'm glad I didn't declare him 'trained'- this morning he did a soaker at the grocery store. But we are making progress!!!

Restitution

Some of you may remember my long-ago posts about a couple of incidents of inadvertent theft. First I walked out of the supermarket without paying for the 2L of Coke that was underneath the cart. I think it was the very next trip to that store that Sticky Fingers Micah swiped a pack of wipes. By the time I realized it, I was already back at the van and there was no way I was going through all the maneuvering required to get myself, toddler Eva and baby Micah back inside.

I tried to get them to add those items to my bill the next time I was there but they said I couldn't do that. I almost gave up right there and then. But it has been nagging at me since. Finally, my conscience and my shopping list were in the same place at the same time and I remembered to buy 2L of coke and a pack of wipes. I intended to leave them at the store after I paid for them but of course forgot. So I drove around with them in the back of the van for a week or two. And the whole incident came to its conclusion this morning when I remembered to smuggle them into the store and put them back into the shelves!

Weekend in Saltillo

text by Dana, photos by Andrew

This weekend we headed out to Saltillo for a (delicious!) Christmas dinner at Jim and Lorraine's with some other Palliser folks.



Crafting it up. Incidentally, they just moved into our favorite of the houses we looked at. We enjoyed seeing it with furniture and getting a chance to 'live' there.



Lorraine had all kinds of crafts ready for the kids... cookies to decorate and glue and paper and sparkles and scissors... a preschooler's dream! I think in this photo Micah is actually eating one of three yogurts he had in quick succession that morning.



Sunday morning we headed up to the town of Arteaga before going home. It's about 15 minutes from Saltillo and they have a market every Sunday. Very nice Sunday outing. The kids loved holding the 4 week old puppies and we loved seeing them enjoying themselves so much.





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The kids having a pony ride. They liked it but Micah was too ready for a nap to thoroughly get into it.



We stopped for supper at Tio Taco, right by our house. Yummy! Though the kids and I maybe indulged in a few too many cookies on the ride home. And chip appetizers. Our plates weren't exactly clean, though the food was very good.

Scorpion Action

This morning Dana found this badboy in the bathroom. The kids (Eva, Micah, Emily and Corrina) were just running around like crazy in the area. Thankfully, this guy kept to himself. Dana and I used this opportunity to give the kids a lesson. We told them to run when they see one of these guys. Somehow I think Micah will go to pick it up. Let's hope we have no more unwelcomed visitors. This was the first time we had seen one.

He was ticked that I picked him up with the tongs and talked to him in my Steve Erwin voice.

Comments Welcome

Don't be afraid to leave comments, people. It's really encouraging!

Yoga Fun

We decided to replicate this yoga pose from the cover of the most recent issue of The Reader's Digest (thanks Ma for the subscription!):

Here is Andrew assuming the pose with signature ease:

The final products:

I'm in the zone....

Micah Holmes

Sick Kiddies and Date Night

Micah's congestion and coughing has been making it tough for him at night, and when Eva complained that her ear hurt, we knew it had come time to see the doctor. We got an appointment right away (one of the things I love about Mexico!). I really like this pediatrician- he is gentle and kind with the kids, and he really takes the time to listen and talk with me. Yesterday at the end of the appointment we had quite a long conversation about vaccinations. I so appreciated how he didn't pooh-pooh my concerns, recognized my research, and gave his own opinion without judging me. Based on my research and that conversation, the plan is to get Micah his Hep A shot as soon as he is well again, and delay his MMR and Varicela shots for a couple of years or until we travel overseas or are legally compelled (i.e. when he starts school).

The diagnoses are: ear infection for Eva, and bronchitis for Micah. We came home with quite the schedule and collection of meds! Eva has two to take twice a day. Micah has one syrup that makes him gag, which I have to figure out how to get into him twice a day. And every six hours he gets a medicated vapour treatment. We had to buy a 'nebulizer" machine, a syringe, and some IV fluids to mix with the medication. I feel like a medical professional! And Micah definitely looks like a patient when he's getting his treatments!

Right after we got home from the doctor, it was time to head out for the photo shoot. Bertha was right on time and the kids were seriously excited to see her. They played "Prince and Two Princesses" and Babies, and they ate Kraft Dinner. Does it get any better?

We had such a fun time too! The light was perfect. My role as assistant is mostly to notice things like stray hairs, awkward poses, distracting background elements, etc... but Andrew is getting so much better at noticing this stuff as well as getting the technical part right that soon he won't need me anymore ;) Astrid wasn't that comfortable having her photo taken so it took a while to warm up, but by the end we were all having a great time. We even had enough nice light left after we finished to take some fun shots of Bryce, Paty and also Andrew and me!

After the shoot Andrew and I had a relaxing and enjoyable dinner together, then we headed home to download the photos and give the kids their next installment of medications. I got Micah to sleep and then we headed out to the movie theatre. We saw Pride and Glory. It was very good. Intense, sometimes very hard to watch, but very well done. Though I wish we'd sat a little further back because there were a lot of shaky, jerky shots and my eyes had trouble keeping up sometimes!

Updates

Eva has been doing super great at school this last week! Late last week I sent a note with her to her teacher, and she just hopped right out of the car and dashed to class. So now I send a note with her every day (today she told me to write "I love you very much"). That sense of purpose, a mission, really drives her. Awesome!

She has been sniffly since she started school. No surprise, given the germ exposure and stress factors. The last few days she's developed a cough and is obviously not at 100%. I suggested that she could stay home from school. She didn't want to!!

Eva's teacher told me this morning that Eva is starting to interact with her classmates in spanish! She is really starting to understand, and to communicate. I'm super excited for her!

Update on me: thanks for your prayers! I have been feeling quite calm and patient lately, and the high volume verbal outbursts have really fallen off. I am feeling energetic and filled with purpose and achievement! :)