Question of the Week

I think this question thing is kind of fun! Here's another one, to go along with last week's question.

How often do you wash/change your bed sheets?

My Answer:

This is probably a little embarrassing, but I don't usually change my bed sheets but every month or so. Sometimes I forget to and it will be more than two months before I remember to wash them. And I just feel they don't get dirty enough to necessitate washing them more frequently. Plus, I hate taking all the sheets off and putting new ones on! It's such a pain. Since we have to carry all our laundry to a laundromat, and then pay for all our laundy to be washed, it's just more convenient and more frugal to wash them less frequently. :)

American Goods

Our friend Sarah had some visitors come, and so I had them bring me some stuff from the USA. One thing I really wanted was Cherrios for Owen. I hadn't been able to find ANY puffed-grain baby food or similar cereals here. The stores only have sugar-coated stuff like fruit loops, chocolate puffs, trix, and frosted flakes, or adult cereals like granola and honey bunches of oats. Not ideal for Owen. So I was quite happy to get these! Plus, it came with a cool race car, a sweet bonus. Owen is excited for any new toys.

Her friends also brought THIS:

Yummy Easter candy!!! And my favorite, Reese's peanut butter cups! They also brought some muffin mixes. I have been wanting blueberries for a while now (there are NONE in Ecuador. I bet most Ecuadorians have never even tasted blueberries.) and Sarah told her friends, so they were nice and surprised me with blueberry and mixed berry muffin mix!!!


All I can say is I am one happy person right now.
:)

Question of the Week

Josh is in Lima, Peru this week for a Fulbright conference, so Owen and I are just hanging out together here in Quito. I am a bit bored, so I thought I would do something new.

I thought it might be fun to post a question each week that people can answer if they want. These questions will be about everyday things. Sometimes while I'm doing something I find myself wondering if other people do things similar to me or not. You know, I wonder if I'm "normal" or "average," or if there really is a normal.

I promise I'm not trying to compare myself to anyone by asking these questions, and I won't judge anyone or their answers! It's purely for fun. So answer truthfully and honestly. I will!

Question of the week:

Do you make your bed everyday?

My answer:

Usually, yes. I'd say 95% of the time.

But I haven't always been good at doing it! Since being in Ecuador I think I make my bed more than I ever have. Maybe it's because I don't have to get up really early for work or school, so I feel like I actually have time to make it up nicely. In Chicago, I would make the bed maybe half the days of the week. And that's probably because I got up really early 3 days a week for work! If Josh is the last one out of bed he'd sometimes make the bed. If we were in a hurry, making the bed often meant throwing the comforter over the sheets to sort of cover it up. If company were coming over, we'd always make a point to make the bed before they got there! (our bedroom door was usually open and thus our bed visible.)

I like having a nicely made bed, something about it just makes me happy! I hope to keep up my good bed-making habits.

ok, your turn to answer. :)

Owen Likes Books

He got the "chew" part right, just on the wrong end.

Bath Time Fun

Eight Month Videos

Owen crawls really well now

Owen pulling himself up to standing

Owen loves to play with daddy's hair. We think he's really just jealous since he doesn't have any.

Eight Months Old

Happy Easter! Owen is eight months old today. To celebrate, the Easter bunny brought him some treats...he was able to find some chocolate eggs with a toy inside, and a stuffed doggie. Owen loved the wrapper on the eggs. Mommy and Daddy helped eat the chocolate for him. :)

This month I feel like Owen has entered the dawn of toddlerhood! He surely no longer is my little baby (tear). This is what he's been up to:

*He crawls ALL the time, and everywhere! He's really good and fast too. But this means I've had to babyproof the apartment, as well as I can. He still finds ways to get into everything! It also means he no longer plays with his toys as much because now he has a whole home to explore.

*He pulls himself up to standing all the time, and just today started "cruising" a little bit! Sometimes it seems like he's even a bit bored of crawling and would rather stand and try to walk.

*He LOVES it when I hold him upside down and help him do backflips. (Don't worry, we do this in a very controlled manner!) He'll often arch his back to get me to do it.

*He gives lots of big, open mouth kisses. We love it, even though he often looks like a vampire when kissing us.

*He usually takes two naps during the day, ranging from 30min to 90 min, and he goes to bed consistently around 6 or 6:30pm, waking at 5am to eat, then sleeps again until 6 or 6:30am. He only sleeps on his belly, often with his bum in the air. It's pretty cute.

*He started using a sippy cup, but hasn't really taken to it yet. He still prefers to use it as a chew toy rather than a source of liquid refreshment.

*New foods this month: crakers, bananas, applesauce with cinnamon, zucchini, eggplant, pumpkin, pears, and avocado. The crackers he wasn't sure what to do with, and the avocado gave him a rash, so no more of those for a while.

*He had his first bottle of forumla. I hesitated doing this, but did it for several reasons and he loved it! He drank it up, and has seemed to tolerate it fine so far.

*He's growing more hair! His mullet is gone, but has more on the sides of his head. It's still clear colored.

*He responds to his name, and when he's playing with something he shouldn't and I say "Owen!" he looks up and gives me that look like he knows he's getting into trouble.

Fun photo shoots with Owen. :)

(the last two pictures he's wearing some traditional Ecuadorian clothes)

Easter Fun

After participating in the traditional Ecuadorian Easter festivities, we decided to keep some of our U.S traditions alive. Today we made and decorated mini cupcakes and also dyed eggs. We ended up with a ton of cupcakes! We colored both brown and white eggs. Most of the eggs here are brown, but we bought white just for the occasion. Both turned out nice! Our friends Sarah and Eddie even came over and decorated a few eggs. They made one for Jack, their dog back home in the U.S. Owen got his first Easter egg, too.

Viernes Santo (Good Friday)

Here in Ecuador, the Easter holiday is celebrated differently than we're used to in the U.S. There is no Easter bunny, no baskets, no cute little chicks, no eggs, no jelly beans, no chocolate bunnies, no special Easter clothes. But in a way it's nice to not have any commercialism and only focus only on the real meaning and purpose of Easter.

As in many other places, Ecuadorians celebrate the whole week before Easter. It's called 'Semana Santa' or Holy Week. The week of celebration started with a big procession on Palm Sunday, and several other celebrations/ceremonies/events took place throughout the week. Yesterday for 'Viernes Santo' or Good Friday the big procession of Jesús del Gran Poder took place in Old Town. The celebrations of this week are some of the biggest in South America.

Tens of thousands of people pack into the narrow streets of Old Town to watch as Jesus Almighty, the Virgin of Sorrows, and hundreds of men and women dressed in purple walk by. The men are called cucuruchos and wear long robes and tall pointy hats that also cover their faces. They are the penitents who are repentent and sorrowful for their sins. The women are called Veronicas and also wear purple with veils over their faces. They represent the woman who came to Jesus as He carried the cross, and who wiped His face full of sweat and blood.

Along with these purple people, there were several men (even some kids, which we were surprised about) who dressed as Jesus and carried heavy crosses. Some even wore chains around their ankles and barbed wire crowns on their heads. The people who particpate in this procession consider it a great honor and they take it very seriously.

Cucuruchos

Owen had the best view.

lots of people...

the Veronicas

the Virgin of Sorrows

The typical dish that everyone in Ecuador eats only at Easter is called fanesca. All the restaurants are making it special this week. It is a soup made with at least 12 grains and legumes, supposedly all the ones available in the Andes. They represent the 12 apostles and the 12 tribes of Isreal. It is sometimes served with fish, representing Christ and the way his message feeds the Christian community. Boiled egg, fried bananas, floured dumplings, and cheese is served on top. It was quite hearty, and really yummy!

Guayasamin Museum

Thursday we went to the Guayasamin Museum. Oswaldo Guayasamin is a famous Ecuadorian artist and sculptor. He has a very distict style, and his work often depicts emotions of the human soul, including agony, fear, and joy. The museum is located in a beautiful area, and it used to be his home and studio. Much of his collection of pre-Columbian artifacts is also housed at the museum.

Before his death, Guayasamin started to build this 'Capilla del Hombre' located just a few blocks from the museum. It wasn't completed until after his death, but it is considered his crowning achievement. I think it is just a fun building to look at itself! It's also up on a hill which overlooks Quito, it's a great view!

the inside of the dome

This is his most famous painting, it's called "La Ternura" or 'The Tenderness.' We really like how it depicts so well the love this mother has for her child. We were a little cheesy and tried to mimic it. :)

March

The month of March was a really busy one for us! With Josh hiking Cotopaxi, going to Tena, going to Baños, having Josh's grandma visit, Owen getting teeth and learning to crawl, things have been almost non-stop! But I like it this way. We've seen a lot, done a lot, and had a lot of fun. We like to be on the go. But I'm starting to realize that all our traveling is getting a bit tiresome. It's hard to pack and unpack our bags so often, and it's even harder when we have to pack all of Owen's things too. It's hard to travel by bus. Owen is and always has been such a good traveler, but I think it's getting a little bit harder for him as well. He doesn't sleep as much, and when he is sleeping it is more easily interrupted. Having his naps interrupted doesn't always make for a happy baby!

But, this past week and a half Josh has been working in La Y and Owen and I have been in Quito. (It's getting too hard for all of us to lug our things out there for a stay longer than a few days. That's the main reason Owen and I stay behind.) It's been nice not to have anywhere to travel to, to be able to stay inside, to make sure Owen gets all of his naps. Whenever Josh has been gone I always make a "to do" list, and usually get it all done. I stay busy doing the mundane things of life and motherhood, but I also make sure to get out a little. This past week I've met up with some friends, gone to lunch, made some new friends, went to the senior missionaries' home, went to the mall. I feel so blessed to be able to have the small group of friends that I do! It's also a nice feeling to know I am able to live independently and be ok with it, not be nervous or scared- even in a foreign country! I absolutely do miss Josh, but it's been nice to have this little bit of "me" time.

When Josh gets back to Quito we'll have a few weeks to kill before he gets busy again. Weeks like those are always the hardest for us, when we have no set plans and we just try to stay as busy as we can. But then we remind ourselves that we need to enjoy and treasure this free time we have to spend together, because in a few months from now such days will be few and far between! We have less than three more months to go here in Ecuador! We want to make the most of it, though these next months probably won't be as busy as March was. We are going to enjoy things while they last, because we'll be home before we know it!