Ponderings Part II

So, it turns out that this rainy streak is actually the Tropical storm Agatha passing through Central America. It has not stopped raining for more than one minute all weekend. It makes for great lounging around weather and a great excuse not to leave the house. However, El Salvador is a very fragile country when it comes to rains like this. Thousands of people have been evacuated and there have been a few deaths here in ES already. Sadly, there was another mudslide at our friend Jose Luis's house which snapped the retaining wall they built like a twig. Apparently his house was not damaged too badly, but there is a lot of mud and tree limbs piled up all around the house. Luckily, they had already decided to leave the house last night and spend the night in another town. Please pray for those whose houses have been washed away.

A few of my ponderings from yesterday have already been answered, for example:

-No, in fact Suzy's diapers will NOT dry in this weather. It doesn't matter if they are hanging inside the house in the laundry room, they will not dry. Which means they will probably get "the funk" as well.

-We did manage to make it to Suzy's checkup yesterday, and she weighs 14 pounds 3 ounces! And she is almost 26 inches long, which at least in ES is right on average. She does get to start eating new foods this week, starting with green veggies. It's weird, they are all salvadoran veggies that we don't have in the US, so I don't even know how to tell you what they are. So here are some pictures of Suzy's cuisine for this week:
Guisquil: kinda like a green potato but not so starchy.
Pipian: A kind of squash. This will be Suzy's lunch today and for the next few days.
She will also be dining ayote, which if you've had squash pupusas down here with us, this is the squash they use for them. Next will be carrots, then we start with the fruits. I think it will be interesting when we go to NC because we don't have these veggies in NC. For those friends of mine that have new babies in the states...what are the first (American) veggies you start your kids on?

Well, got to get working on cooking this squash. Church has been cancelled tonight due to the red alert we are under here in the country because of the storm. Apparently schools have been cancelled too until further notice. Although I am sad for our country, I am thankful to have a day of rest, a true Sabbath, here snuggling with my two faves. It's also been a nice break from the heat...it's finally cool enough for Suzy to wear real pijamas!

OH! And the big news....Suzy woke up bright and early at 6:30am just like every other morning. Apparently she didn't get the memo that rainy days are for sleeping in. So, we put her in bed with us, with hopes that she would go back to sleep. She, however, thought it was time to play and to wake us up she said: "MAMA" and then two minutes later she said "PAPA" !!!!!! We were both like...were we dreaming? Did she really just say that? Go Suzy! That sure woke us up!!

Rainy Day Ponderings...

Something about rainy days makes me start thinking. I don't know what that says about me during the 6 months of the year here when it doesn't rain a drop....
Anyways, as I sit here, listening to the rain that hasn't stopped for 3 days, I started thinking:

-How in the world are Suzy's diapers supposed to dry with this kind of rain?

-How are we supposed to get rid of that funky smell in our clothes when they're hanging up in the garage for days but don't completely get dry because of the moisture (I hate that word, but it was the only appropriate word I could use here) in the air? Those of you who don't have a dryer and especially those who live in a country where it rains for several days straight know the funk I'm talking about.

-Suzy goes today for her 6 month checkup. How much will she weigh? What new foods will she get to start adding to her diet??

-How will Suzy do during our all day travels from El Salvador to NC in June? What can I do to keep her entertained on the plane ride? (suggestions welcomed)

-What would life be like if I went back to school one day and started working on my masters in Intercultural Studies at Fuller Seminary (be it online or in Cali)??

-Should I change my trusty email address and nickname that I've had all these years, "Baldwash", being that my last name is now "Henriquez"?? You see, Baldwash was the email address option that the computerized UNC email system offered me by taking the first few letters of my last name, Baldwin, and combining them with the first few letters of my first name. It was an instant hit. So, I guess if we follow the same strategy and take the first few letters of each name, we would get......"Henrash". I can just imagine the following conversation:

Person #1: "Oh man, I'm so sick....I've got the swine flu."
Person #2: "Dude, that's nothing....I've got the hen rash!"

Well, I think I'll stick with Baldwash. =)

too cute not to post

new hair'do

Suzy has been trying out some new hair-dos this week. What do you think?
The other day we were thinking about how puppy dogs, when you blow in their faces, automatically start licking the air. So, we were wondering what Suzy would do if you blow in her face (not that we compare her to a puppy dog). It turns out that she is super cute when you do it! Take a look:

cereal and gardenias

So, Suzy has decided that she loves rice cereal. She's so cute eating it. And she loves sitting in her high chair like a big girl. She found out, however, that you cannot blow bubbles while eating cereal, or it will end up in your eyelashes. She also loves eating her high chair when the food doesn't get to her mouth fast enough.

We all are loving our first ever gardenia flower from our little tree in the patio which we've had for years!

Mother's Day in the mountains!

Mother's Day this year was great for many reasons. First of all, I'm a mom this year!! Secondly, I got to be with my mom on Mother's Day for the first time since 2005. Also, it was cool this year because the US celebrates Mother's Day on Sunday, and here we always celebrate on May 10th, which was Monday. So two days of celebration!! Actually, we turned it into a whole weekend, and took Mom up to our favorite little town up in the mountains. What a fun weekend of drinking coffee, shopping, giggling, and eating! Suzy loved the cooler weather. We stayed in a cute cabin and even made a fire in the fireplace!! (Don't think it was actually cold enough to merit a fire...we just had to do it though because it was there!)

Here are some pictures from our fun weekend (sorry, I'm really bad at deciding which pics to put up, so I like to put up a ton):

Sadly, mom had to leave on Monday. We had such a good time with her! I think she enjoyed taking care of Suzy a bit, too. =) Elvis helped me not be so sad by having some beautiful gerber daisies waiting for me Monday morning (Salvadoran mother's day) and took me out for some yummy sushi that night...the first time we've gone out for sushi since before i was pregnant! Mom made it home safely, and apparently Dad had written a rap to perform for her at the airport. Maybe we'll get a video of it to put up one of these days......

Baby aerobics

I caught Suzy and ENanny on video today doing their exercises....look at Suzy pumping those arms and legs!

Suzy also started eating rice cereal this week...she loves grabbing the spoon and shoving it into her mouth. Or all over her face.

ENanny fiiiinally let Suzy's other grandma get a hold of her, but she was so tired from so much playing and exercising with ENanny that this is what happened:

Beach bum at an early age

This past weekend was definitely a memorable one...we took Suzy for the beach for the first time! We got there late Friday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. It rained on and off on Saturday, but that made for some perfect lounging around and resting. Suzy got in the pool for the first time, got in the waves for the first time, and loved every minute of it. She was really comfortable in the water. The place we stayed at is one of our faves and is complete with several pools, lots of animals (monkeys, crocodiles, toucans) in cages, but also lots of animals running around in the wild, including a cute tiny dinosaur looking lizard that guarded the stairs going up to our suite. Speaking of our suite, they made a mistake when reserving our room and so we ended up with a huge suite with a ton of windows looking out over the water and our own little front deck with rocking chairs to watch the waves.

We had a great time relaxing, eating, sleeping, walking, swimming, and Mom and I even got massages right there on the beach (don't worry, it was part of the hotel, not some sketchy massage parlor)! I mean, we are talking about a cute little hut right there on the sand with the sound of the crashing waves in your ears, the smell of hibiscus flowers in the air, the refreshing sea salt breeze on your skin. Perfect early Mother's Day present.

Our room:

Suzy loved sleeping with ENanny in those big hotel beds!