A whole lot of updates.

I seem to spend most of my time outside these days, which can't be bad. We are loving our new deck, with baby gate. Diego is loving his sand box and running around outside. The nice thing about our schedule is that we get back around 3:30 and have time for some good outside time before the dinner, bath, bed routine.

A couple of weeks ago my mom and rest of family headed off to my Aunt's surprise birthday party. Here is a picture of them having fun.

We stayed home sick which led to lots of cuddling on the couch and watching TV.

 He got over diarrhea, went back to school for a couple of days and then was down again with a bad cough. This time he took me with him. I managed to keep standing long enough to sing in in "Afternoon at the Opera" with the Kingston Symphony, which my mother came to.She stayed over for a visit and then went home the next day.

We were all home sick on Tuesday, lots more cuddling and watching movies. I did manage to get the baby seat on the bike installed amongst all that sickness. We tried it out today, with the new aviator pigs helmet. A big hit!!

Cloth Diapers

Why I am glad I have used cloth diapers.

1. It turns a necessary evil into a thing of beauty. My new favorite, made by me, cloth diapers are made with fun colors and patterns and soft, bright fabrics. I proudly display them on my clothes line.
2. I get to walk by the baby isle in the grocery store which, besides making me feel very righteous and  saving me money also keeps me from making all kinds of other spontaneous baby purchases because I just never see all the crap they try and sell you for kids.
3. When my son, the environmental engineer/archeologist/recycler/miner is given the job of  digging out a garbage dump for it's great natural resources I can show him these pictures and assuage some of his guilt, and mine.
4. Some of the diapers that we used with Diego had been through 2 babies by the time they came to us, they are on to numbers 3 and 4 and then will come back to us. That's right, count them, 5 babies and still going strong.
5. Our household waste has not increased with a child. Every time I wash diapers (every three days or so) I am amazed by the size of the pile, and am so glad that I am not throwing out that much extra garbage.
6. Babies that use cloth diapers have less rashes, certainly our experience. Babies that use cloth diapers tend to potty train faster, our hope.
7. Because I get to cheat in other ways and not feel at all guilty. See Jenn's post on long, hot, showers.

A Whole lot of Things

Bare with me because I have a whole lot of random things to catch you up on. Diego is asleep early and I am blogging and drinking a nice glass of wine.

First story: about a month ago I was cleaning out my diaper making basket and with the help of a rotary cutter discovered these...

Which, this weekend thanks to Diego being sick and sleeping a lot turned into this...

I tried Jenn's technique with the interfacing which simplified some things and complicated others. One of the problems was that the fleece that I used didn't stick except with nice, direct contact from the iron which tended to also melt the fleece. I think I will go back to good old piecing, but I find I am often a purist like that.

I remember once Kendra saying that a sick baby isn't such a bad thing (besides the added laundry) because you get lots of extra cuddles. That was us this weekend, cuddle central. Diego was home today because the daycare asks you to wait 48 hours after your last 'explosion' to come back and D's was yesterday morning. He'll probably be back in the thick of it tomorrow. In the mean time, he and Dad has a nice day together.

We've been having all kinds of fun in the sun and with our new deck. Last week Melanie and Landen came to visit.

We've been in the hammock....

and Diego has been enjoying his rocking horse, which was a gift from a co-worker at Loyalist Township.

This weekend Diego ventured out on his own into the back yard. After making sure he was safely down the stairs and the sandbox was open Rafa came back into the kitchen. From our patio door and thanks to the lower railing on the new deck we were able to see him as he wandered around, playing in the sand, talking to the neighbor's dog and generally exploring. One of the few times he thought to look up to see if we were around I waved, he blithely waved back and continued playing.

I wonder when our baby was switched with this little boy. A question I am sure I will continue to ask myself.

Easter Weekend - so far.

Well, we couldn't have asked for a better one could we? Our weekend started with a deck renovation.

With a baby gate for hours of semi-supervised fun.

Today we went to a community egg hunt - which Diego was sceptical about at the beginning.

 The idea grew on him as he figured out what the whole thing was about. 60 kids and 700 eggs and 3 city blocks of field. Perfect really.

Now, lots of relaxing and enjoying our new deck. I might get up the energy to build a play house on Monday with left over materials. ...Keep posted for that fantasticness.

Talking

It's amazing what you can say with small syllables. What follows is a new list of new vocabulary in bold - in English and Spanish with attached translation - and sign. This is our world.

Bye Bye - in English, with wave.
Mama - the same in both languages, handy. Refers to mom and dad interchangably.
Papa - usually only when reminded, definitely refers to Rafa
Da! - this is both of us when mad, upset, hungry, tired, etc.
Pa pa - with sign, to distinguish from papa, Pajaro=Bird
ato - Zapato = shoe
eta - Galleta = cracker
New sign: fish thanks to Brown Bear Brown Bear. We also get a pretty reliable growl for just about all animals and a bit of akaka for monkeys.

As I said, it's amazing what conversations you can have with such small, simple syllables. Little man - you are so smart. Just for the record.

14 months

Dear Diego - you are 14 months old today. You are such a good communicator. You have expanded your vocabulary of signs to include: milk, more, again, sleep, bye - most of which you understand in both Spanish and English. You have also started to use your voice. It all started a couple of weeks ago when you sat up in bed at about 6:00a.m. and very clearly called out "aadie, bow wow" (Sadie, the neighbors dog, Bow wow). Judy, the neighbor, was a little embarrassed to find out that you learned to say the dogs name before mine but I don't mind. You followed quickly behind with Mama, which you seem to use for your father and I interchangeably. This week you have replaced you sign for more with 'ma!' or (mas, more in Spanish). You have been a bit demanding and I'm not sure but I miss the nice, quiet sign language. This week you have discovered the back yard, and it is just perfect. It is large enough to be an exciting adventure and not too big. You wake up from naps (which are suddenly longer, thanks, perhaps to all that fresh air) and go directly for the door, signing to go outside. You are really sturdy on your feet, in all kinds of terrain, and you have started climbing. We are going to have to watch you carefully in the next little while! We are really looking forward to this summer, looking forward to discovering the big outdoors with you.

Keep growing little man, it only gets more fun.

Your Mom.

More Pics

Here are some more pictures from our StayCation. The weather has been FANFRIKINTASTIC!!!! and we have been spending lots of time hanging out in our backyard and catching up with friends. In between we've walked and napped. Perfect really. I actually feel like I am on maternity leave again. It's going to be strange to go back to work on Monday.

StayCation Day 1 and 2

Day one saw us at my mother's house where we went out for "eggs as you like it" breakfast provided by a church fundraiser. Lots of good visiting and playing with Deigo. Day two: a trip to the Playdeum (large indoor playground) for some shinanigans. The only down side - I've got the strange stomach bug that Rafa and Diego seem to have worked through, it does make me doubly glad that we didn't try to go away however.

A StayCation

First I want to thank everyone for their wonderful offers of boots. We found these beauties at Loblaws (yaaa Joe Fresh). Plasticized cloth so they are soft and waterproof. They also have Velcro on the size for easy on and off.

Next come some pictures from a recent park visit with Isla and Kate.

Today we started our StayCation and I am thrillingly awaiting a week of easy, short plans. Parks and walks, and a visit to the playdium, and the 6 movies that I borrowed from the library. Hooray!

"Spring" Walk

As proper, spirtied Canadians, we have been out enjoying the "Spring". The reason for the quotation marks will become obvious as you look at the pictures. It really was a wonderful sunny day, Rafa is appreciating the extra light but looking forward to actually warmer days. Diego will enjoy moving around without so much clothing on. I tried to find him a pair of spring boots in size 4 but it turns out they are hard to find. My little man is just too little to be jumping into puddles according to mainstream economic norms. Silly mainstream economic norms.

Still Working

I'm still at work - I guess that won't change for a while. Diego is warming up to day care which is good. He lasted out one day of hunger strike and then decided to give it up. He's even sleeping well, they lie him down in the crib along with all the other children, he wimpers a little bit, cuddles up to his teddy bear and goes to sleep. Is this really my child? Rishi - if you ever read this - the teddy bear you sent is saving the day, when he's unhappy at day care he cuddles up to it and won't let anyone else near him. His only faithful friend, as mom and dad have clearly abandoned him.

Rafa is enjoying his time and home, he and D hang out and go to play group on Tuesdays. They have been doing mornings together and Rafa has been taking almost all of the night shifts. God Bless him. All in all we're really well considering. No pictures though. We are managing to do the laundry and right now that is a great accomplishment. I'm going to work exercise back into my schedule and then I will work on pictures.

Back at work

And now I'm back at work. I've finished up a week and a half and so far so good. It's like riding a bike I've decided, you never forget. I have a great group of mostly boys, which is great because we just do a lot of boy stuff and everyone's happy. It's nice to be back and the transition has gone surprisingly well, thanks in very large part to the fact that Rafa isn't working right now. We've begun taking Diego to daycare part time and so far he is not a big fan.. but we have hopes. We ended up getting a spot in the daycare right in my school, it's on the same hallway as my classroom so that has been great! Rafa is job hunting but not too frantically, we are all enjoying having him around and Diego and him are having a wonderful time playing at home in the afternoons. I had the afternoon off for a doctor's appointment and so am catching up on some personal computer work - which I will soon put away and curl up with a book until the baby wakes up. Overall: all's good.

The rest of our trip

So - after being back for a while I finally find time to summarize the end of our trip. We went to the beach for the weekend with three other families and had a wonderful time. We stayed in two very simple but nice cabins with air-conditioning. There were a couple of nice pools. It was great.

We did some more visiting and got to the zoo which is small compared to the Toronto Zoo (what zoo isn't really?) but nice. It was actually refreshing to be able to see the whole thing in two hours and then head home with a feeling of a job well done.

And finally, it was time to head home. Rafa was sad, Raquel was sad, Diego was tired and didn't really know what was going on. I was sad, relieved and nervous about my upcoming transition back to work. Here is a picture of us in the airport at 12:40am waiting for our flight. I though for sure that Diego would go to sleep but I was wrong. Very wrong. He did sleep a fair bit on the way home however. I didn't. I got to see Zombieland though.. small blessings?

Dancing

All good here

All good here. One week to go. We´ve done more visiting and I went to school again. I´ve been to the salon and done some shopping. We continue to eat and take lots of naps. Here are a few pics from Raquel´s camera of birthday and other fun things.



This weekend we´re off to the beach with three other families, friends of Rafa.

Update

Diego is having a nice long sleep - the apartment is quiet and he is taking advantage of the opportunity, as did I. Rafa´s cousin and her son have gone back and Andres is off visiting his brother Arturo. We have been to a baptism, done lot´s more visiting and eaten a huge pizza. Rafa´s father came from Medallin and we had the beginning of a visit from him, he is also off with Arturo. I went to my old school today and connected with lots of people. I continue to feel like we never left, it´s sort of odd really. Tonight Rafa has a social engagement with a bunch of friends from high school who are in Barranquilla for the holidays - we may try to go for a bit. Here are a few pics.

Diego sitting on a case of Colombian beer.

Baptism of Rafa´s third god child.

Rafael senior and cousin Juan David.

A very giant XL pizza.

More family.

Picinaso

We have been here for 3 or 4 days. I´s hard to count. I think it´s Sunday. Diego is so happy. He wakes up and goes looking for Alejandro (a second or third cousin - whose counting?) and then does the rounds and wakes up everyone else. There is always someone to play with him and besides naps (which get harder the happier he is as he doesn´t want to miss anything) he is laughing all day long. We´ve been to the beach where he made a bee line for the water. The ocean was really choppy and so I was too nervous but Rafa took him in a little way and that was the end of it. We would take him up on the beach, turn him around a couple of times to see if we could disorient him but the second his feet touched the sand - straight for the water again. Yesterday we went to ´the Club´ with Jorge and his family. The pool was a great hit and I had to remove Deigo from the water when he started shivering but he would have stayed. He loves running around in his diaper and shirt without all the encombering clothing. In the words of Rafa ¨I think we have a problem Julia, I think we are going to have to move here.¨
Rafa is loving the talking and the occational bouts of Colombian Chaos. I am enjoying the vast majority and I´ve got myself a membership at the gym for a month so I can escape the apartment when it just gets too crowded and noisy for me. It looks like crowds and noise are no problem for Diego Rafael Campos. Definately a Latin baby.

Barranquilla

We are in Barranquilla and recuperating from the trip. It was successful, Diego was an absolute trouper but a 4 hour delay in Toronto and the night in Bogota that that created made for a very long trip. Here is the itinerary in short form.
-28th we drove to Toronto to stay with Kendra and Len. Great visit but not much sleep for either of us due to the emotion of the upcoming trip.
-29th we get to the airport in lots of time. Park the car - get free valet parking, arrive at the airport and find that the flight is delayed. Diego - happy in the airport walking around and looking at people keeps us entertained.
The delay continues to grow and we finally leave the airport at 4:30 - now with little hope of making our flight in Botota. We arrive at Bogota and are given a hotel voucher. A mini bus picks us up - with all our luggage and the luggage of several of the other travellers - including a couple of very tired and disoriented Canadians from Alberta and gets us to the airport. In the room by 12:00
-30th. Once in the room Diego wakes up after having slept in the sling for the whole bus ride and ensuing chaos. He thinks it,s morning and time to play and needs some convincing to sleep. 1:00. After 3 very short hours of sleep we are up again, getting the bags down the elevator and into a taxi. At the airport we get pushed ahead in the line (thanks to God for small blessings) and get organized to get on our flight to Barranquilla. Everything went well, Diego slept, we were so tired by the time we arrived it was hard to be too excited. Raquel came to get us in her new car with airconditioning. We got to her apartment, ate, rested and felt much better.



Now it´s new years. After a wonderful New Years dinner we talk, eat, receive visitors, phone calls, rest. Today we are going to try to get to the beach but if we don´t that will be OK to. We´re happy to be here and to not have to do much. There is a delicious breeze and lots of people to play with and keep an eye on the baby. Perfect really.