33

I'm 33 today. It's good to celebrate in Mexico!

We made it!  And we now have Internet access.  There's so much to say about the house and our trip, but it's all a jumble and I've not much time.  Avery has just woken from her nap in the stroller and I put her in the Pack N Play with some "toys" (my purse, D's swimming googles case, her toothbrush).  So random bullet points it is:

• Avery was just perfect on both flights.  She slept on both, then played happily with a plastic water bottle the rest of the time.  My no toys idea worked out perfect for the flights.  She is perfecting putting the lid on the water bottle and that literally kept her occupied for a couple of hours total. 
• We got to the Portland airport quite late Christmas morning.  Our luggage just made the check-in cutoff, we made it through security and got to the gate right as they were boarding.  Amazing how not stressed I was about it all. 
• The house is great, but I have the usual problems I have with anything expensive we buy: I only see the flaws.  And there are flaws.  I told my mom I have a convergence of two feelings: "What the hell were we thinking buying a house in Mexico!?" and "Wow - I am so happy we did this!"  It's rather surreal to arrive at a home you've bought to find all the furnishings moved in, dishes washed and put away, and toilet paper stocked.  It's also a bit shocking to realize that there are no cabinents in which to store peanut butter.  Rachele, you would gasp at the lack of functionality in our kitchen!  But, I must remember, we didn't buy this place for a gourment kitchen.  We wanted a place of our own in a warm climate where we could get away from it all. 
• The community is still a construction zone, albeit one with a lot more houses done than before.  I am, surprisingly, not bothered by this at all.  I would totally be bothered if I had booked a vacation here and paid vacation prices.  However, I seem to not have my usual Megan-annoyances down here.  That in itself was worth the price of this place!
• We had hotdogs for Christmas dinner.  Yep. Hot dogs.  And I have no regrets about that.
• Avery refused to sleep in the other bedroom last night, but we did get her to sleep in the crib in our room. And, in the end, this worked better for me, too.  It's hard to know what the temperature is in any one room.  I was worried she'd be cold or hot or scared.  Napping is still an unknown.  We don't have blinds yet, so it's really bright in the rooms.  She can sleep in light, but I think she doesn't know that it's nap time without the dark.  It's like a calming signal to her that it's time to calm down.  This morning they were installing our TVs and Internet, so I took her out for a stroll in the stroller and she fell asleep in that.  She only slept for an hour or so, but it's something.
• The weather is warmer than I expected.  I thought I might be chilly this time of year, but the days are perfect.  Not too hot, but warm enough for capris and a tank top.  The nights are fairly chilly, and the house doesn't have heating, but it wasn't an issue last night. 
• They cleaned before we got here, but the construction means dust.  And the openness of the house (a main selling point for us) causes the dust to be constant.  So I'm struggling to deal with the floors. I am planning to mop today and ban the wearing of outside shoes.  Avery's knees and hands are always dirty. We have little hand prints on everying. 

OK, Avery has had enough of her PNP time.  And I can't locate the crackers to give me more time. So I shall sign off.