Back

Ah, home sweet home away from casa dulce casa.  I'll just bullet point the highlights of our trip back:

• They confiscated the baby nail clippers I had in my carry-on at the Loreto airport.  I never get any sort of nail clippers taken in the States.  Bummer.
  
• Avery did well on the flights, but was fussier than usual on the flight from Loreto to LA because she was utterly exhausted and just wouldn't go to sleep.  She went immediately to sleep on the LA to Portland flight.
  
• LAX is fast becoming my least favorite airport.  We waited forever to get our gate checked items at customs.  Then there was a huge line to recheck bags after we cleared customs. 
• We arrived to snow in Portland.  This caused delays in getting the bags out to us, but we eventually got both checked bags. 
• The line for a taxi was very long at 12:45 in the morning.
  
• We got to the top of our development about 1:30 AM.  The cab couldn't make it down the hill, so in the middle of it snowing and blowing, we got out and walked down to our house.  My shoes (which are summer shoes) had no grip so I was sliding all over the place.  It was freezing cold and I had no gloves or hat, though I did have a headband.  My feet were soaking by the time we got home. Anyway, we did make it home and all is now well. 

Today is a catch up day.  I'm watching Elise right now.  After Rachele picks her up, Avery and I will head out to help out at a place I used to volunteer regularly (a quick visit hopefully), then it's off to Target and the grocery store. 

Sunrise

I did it!  I got up to view the sunrise.  Sort of.  I was only up there for a few minutes, but I went up to the viewing tower and did indeed look around.  It was gorgeous. I took my camera up to take pictures, but I had forgotten to put the memory card back in, so you'll have to trust me when I say it was gorgeous.   During our next trip, the goal will be to get down to the beach during the sunrise.  I set high goals for myself.

In thinking about what it is about this place that I love so much, I have determined that part of it is the clean lines and solid colors.  For example, looking out my window right now, I see a vibrant blue sky with no clouds.  The houses have very simple, straight lines with little adornment. It just feels very clean, despite the fact that it's so dusty and in the middle of a construction zone.  I guess it feels clean when you gaze upward.  


D and I have a bit of a role reversal going on down here.  He's done all the cooking, a majority of the laundry, and much of the cleaning (except the sweeping - that's my department).  Today he actually said to me, "How is that you just got in the kitchen and it's already a mess again!"  I'd gotten some crumbs and milk on his nice clean counter.  I smiled sheepishly and he sighed, "A husband's work is never done."  


We've noticed that Avery's starting to understand more words.  She definitely knows what it means to go upstairs.  And she'll do the "up" sign even if you're just using up in a sentence vs saying, "Do you want to go upstairs?"  D asked Avery is she wanted to go upstairs to nap and she signed up.  Then he asked her if they should change her diaper first.  She pointed to her diaper when he said that.  As this comprehension of language advances, my concern for our language around her heightens.  D and I speak a bit colorfully at times.  We have a bit of a disagreement as to what's OK for a child to say. I say I don't want my kid showing up to kindergarten saying, "Wow!  That's a big ass bookcase!"  D says he doesn't see a problem with that.  I think what he fails to realize is that our daughter will not have an English accent.  People won't dismiss her language as just the way those Brits talk. Of course, his accent is so watered down now that I'm not sure he even sounds very British anymore. 


All right.  I'm going to tear myself away from the computer and go spend time outdoors.

Straw

The morning sunrise viewing didn't happen.  If you're shocked, then you clearly don't know me very well.  Hopefully tomorrow.  

D bought a Hello Kitty cup with a straw for Avery.  I'm sure it's loaded with BPA, but I let her have it anyway.  Avery now knows how to drink out of a cup with a straw.  Yipee!  Still no progress in getting her to hold the milk bottle, but maybe when we get home and I find a more acceptable (i.e. less BPA loaded) straw cup, she'll drink milk out of that.  

We've also had some minor improvement in Avery's eating recently.  Before we left for Mexico, we were eating steak one night.  Avery's interest in eating what we're eating has gotten much stronger.  She showed very little interest until about a month ago.  Anyway, we tried to appease her with the potato, but she wanted the steak.  So we cut up a piece that was small enough to avoid choking (or at least we hoped it was small enough) and gave it to her.  Avery will put most food into her mouth now, but she spits about 95% of it back out.  She chewed on that steak and then swallowed it.  She did the same with some turkey the next night. I guess she's been waiting for meat.  She would never eat any of the jarred food with meat in it, but I can't blame her.  Even the organic stuff is just nasty. 

D has gone into town for some supplies and groceries.  Unless you're just getting groceries, a shopping run requires stops at multiple stores, so Avery and I are staying behind. 

We downloaded Skype last night and were able to talk with some of our Mexico neighbors who are up at their primary home in Canada.  Their friends will be using our casa soon, so we were coordinating those details and generally catching up on Loreto Bay happenings. We happened to meet this couple at the airport in LA on our first trip down here.  It was just luck that we get along so well and ended up buying houses near each other.  It's also a good situation for us because they are retired and planning to spend a lot more time down here than us, so they are able to check on things if we need them to.  Finally, they bought a car and drove it down here to leave, so in the future we can borrow their car rather than renting. 

2009

Happy New Year! I greeted the new year by sleeping until 11 ish. This was not a constant sleep - I woke up to put Avery down for her morning nap and proceeded to take it with her - but it was lovely. I almost always fall asleep for naps with a smile on my face. Ahhhh, the lovely, lovely nap!

Last night, we were priviledged enough to see all three planets: Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter. I'd read about this online, so we thought to look up at the sky right after sunset and there they all were. What I thought was a satellite the other night I now believe to be Venus. One of our neighbors down here is into astronomy, so I'll have to check with him next time we're all down here at the same time. It was beautiful. The night sky here, with the jagged mountains on one side and the sea on the other, is just stunning. I look forward to visiting in the warmer months when it's so warm at night and I can just sit on the terrace and look at the sky.

Avery and I headed down to the beach early this afternoon to see if she'd be more into it if she were wearing pants. I figured maybe the sand hurt her knees or something. She loves being there as evidenced by her refusal to get back in the stroller, but she won't crawl. It seems that watching the waves mesmorizes her, as do the birds. Plus we saw three big dogs on the other end of the beach and she loved watching them play in the small waves. I even got my feet dirty! I've actually gotten much better. I still need to wash them at the first moment available, but I can walk in the sand and not freak out. This is a major improvement.

We walked along the golf course yesterday afternoon. I'd actually not been in that area despite it being very close to all the construction. The golf course looks really, really good. I cannot believe the difference from the first time we saw it from afar. There's also a little inlet there where the pelicans dive into to get fish. It's not teeming with them like Coronado Island is, but they are not infrequent. Who knows what this community will turn out like, but it has so much potential. Hopefully it'll be able to ride out this slump in the ecomony.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow morning will be the sunrise morning. Really.

Cookies

You know those wafer cookies that have some sort of cream filling between rectangular wafers?  I bought some strawberry ones the other day.  It took me about 12 hours to polish off the package.  I'm now through package #2 in just under a couple of hours.  Zero will power on stuff like this.  Which is precisely why I never buy cookies when I'm at home. 

It was D's morning, so I slept in.  In fact, I slept so long that when D came upstairs to put Avery down for her morning nap, I selflessly offered to sleep with Avery during her morning nap. He's now upstairs putting her to sleep.  We are switching off days.  So when it's his morning, it's also his night to bathe and put her to sleep. Tomorrow is mine.  

Avery keeps pointing to her ear and sometimes pulling on it.  She has no other signs of an ear infection and is not cranky.  We'll keep an eye on it. 

Yesterday I showed Avery where her belly button was.  She was fascinated and apparently didn't know that was there.  Today if you ask her to show you her belly button, she lifts up her shirt and points to it.  Then she gets fascinated by it all over again.  Sometimes she looks at it, then looks up and says, "uh oh!"  This leads to the fact that it only recently occured to me to play the "where's your ..." game.  I am missing the gene that early education professionals have.  This is rather amusing considering both of my parents graduated from college with teaching degrees (for elementary students). 

Bouncing onto another topic, the skies at night here are amazing.  There are so many stars.  It's just gorgeous.  There's also a satellite - I think that's what it is - that looks like a really bright star.  I don't care if it is a satellite.  It's beautiful. 

We have realized that we need some people with specific skill sets to enhance our vacations down here.  First, we need to locate a guy (or gal) who is very handy around the house and loves to fish.  I figure this person could do some home maintenance down here in exchange for using our place, which happens to have great sport fishing (from what I'm told).  It's a pipe dream that we'll find such a person, but that would be nice.  Why two people who loathe home maintanence go and buy another home I'm not sure, but we did it.  The other thing we need is a nanny on vacation.  Anyone want to come be our nanny?  Relaxing is tough with a 1-year-old. 

Last night we went to a homeowner's happy hour at the bar in the hotel located next to our community.  Avery stood out at a bit, but she quickly charmed those around her by stopping her frenzied crawling and bopping to the music in the middle of the floor. 

Freedom

This place will be a lot of fun when Avery's a bit older.  I can envision her running around the community and investigating things.  She'll have some freedom that isn't as accessible in Portland.  

This morning we ordered blinds for the house.  There aren't too many people down here right now, so the fact that we have no blinds and there are houses all around us isn't too much of a problem.  It will be nice to have them next time we're here, though. 

Tomorrow we have the closet guy coming by.  We need to have some shelving put in our pantry, as well as some additional organization put in the closet upstairs.  I'm also hoping he can build and put up some simple shelves in one of the nooks in the living room.  This would serve as a place to put keys, sunglasses, hats, etc.  

The weather is great today.  I'm finding one of my favorite activities is to sit up on the roof terrace and watch the birds.  They are large, soaring birds.  I would assume hawks or eagles.  I'm not sure, but they glide and are just beautiful against the clear and bright blue sky.  

We've seen a number of large and small dogs in the community - and even one cat lounging on the walls of someone's roof terrace.  There are stray dogs and cats around, but you don't see them in the community itself, though they are sometimes in the construction areas.  One couple has two yellow Labs, another woman was running with her two Irish setters on the beach this morning.  I hope we are able to make the drive down with the dogs at some point.  Turtle and Eddie would just love to explore this place.  Originally we thought we'd be driving down with them often, but I'm not sure when we'll be up to making that drive with Avery.  She does well driving, but that is a long trip. 

Bored

I'm bored.  Yes, I said it.  I'm bored.  I'm thinking of posting a status-off competition on Facebook.  It would be a grueling 24-hour competition to see who can post the funniest/most clever status updates.  The only problem is that I can only think of one funny status update and it would be a lie for the sake of being funny.  Dang it!

Avery took a 3-hour nap this afternoon with Daddy.  Well, they were in the same room, but Avery slept in her crib.  It was rather cute when I'd go up to check on them and they were both snoozing away.  I also took a nap during that period, but I did so on the couch, which is surprisingly comfortable. 

We wandered over to the Inn today to have lunch. On the walk back, I let Avery crawl on the sidewalks at the hotel.  I realized, when talking with Christie a couple of weeks ago, that I don't ever let Avery explore things outside.  It's not a conscious thing or me being worried about dirt.  It just hadn't occurred to me that she might want to crawl around outside. Anyway, she loved it and quickly started crawling very fast away from me, thereby amusing the hotel staff.  We also put her in the sand to play for a bit.  She was very unsure of this and pretty much immediately started doing the "change" sign*.  


Here's an amazing story efforts of one employee of the Portland Water Bureau to aid a family with getting water back during the storm.  Quite impressive. 


I'm so not tired right now.  Might have been that nap this afternoon.  Oh, and no, I didn't get up to watch the sunrise.



* Somewhere along the line, Avery got the change sign mixed up with the all done sign, so now when she's done eating, or done being in the stroller, or done with any activity, she looks at us and doesn't her change sign.  I am not too concerned with her getting the sign right.  After all, it's more about whether she can communicate, and we can understand, her needs.  At least this is what I'm telling myself since we've obviously confused our little girl.

More

It's evening now.  We returned from a walk a bit ago.  Thank goodness D insisted we bring the Bob stroller.  In order to navigate through the various obstacles around here, not to mention very bumpy sidewalk when they do exist, a stroller with shocks is definitely a must.  Avery inevitably falls asleep on the walks because she's not napping much.  Granted, today was the first day to try to get into a routine. 

The weather here this time of year is ideal for me.  It's warm in the mornings, hot in the afternoons in the sun, then cools down for the evenings.  The evening walk along the beach was enjoyable and I even took off my shoes and walked in the sand!  I'm trying to be less hung up on these things.  That was a big step.  I, unsurprisingly, showered off my feet at the showers by the hotel pool on the way back (we're allowed to use the hotel ammenities as home owners until our community has, well, any ammenities I guess). 

Avery is doing well at finding things to occupy her time, though it's more work watching after her here since it's the opposite of baby proofed.  We borrowed a baby gate from some neighbors, but with the types of walls we have, it's not the safest thing in the world.  With three flights of concrete stairs, it's a chore making sure Avery goes no where near them without one of us.  Before arriving, I was a bit worried that the roof terrace and the viewing towers wouldn't be baby safe due the height of the walls, but they're higher than I remembered and there's no way Avery's getting over them.  She loves the roof terrance.

I started to clean our kitchen/living room floors, but it turns out they aren't nearly as dirty as I thought.  In fact, I'd say the cloth comes up cleaner than when I clear our floors at home.  I think there was a layer of dust in the courtyard and Avery transferred quite a bit of that indoors during her many trips from the courtyard to the living room. 

Finally, I shall part with good news about our viewing tower.  We do indeed have a much better view of the sea than I was expecting.  I thought we'd have to be on tippy toes and lean a bit to the right to see anything.  But we can see quite a bit while sitting down.  Not as cool as being right on the beach, but not too shabby.

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.