A doctor a day keeps the apples away....

It's only been one week since our last post but so much has happened we feel like its been longer. Let's jump right in.

Mackenzie and Daddy's new trick; flipping!

We are a little hesitant to lay out all the details of this week but remember this has become more than just a weekly update about our goings on. It's become a family journal and accounting of our time overseas. So with that in mind let's move forward.

After our last post on Monday, that evening Kiersten experienced some spotting. Now before the mothers and grandmothers all freak out, spotting isn't unexpected with placenta previa but it still isn't good to bleed while pregnant. Kiersten immediately laid down and we contacted a health care provider. All day Tuesday Kiersten stayed horizontal (as much as possible) and rested. That afternoon, we went to see the doctor. They checked out baby's heart and all was well and the bleeding had stopped by then. An ultrasound was ordered for the next morning to check out baby and again everything looks good. Baby is healthy, moving and growing. Thursday morning Kiersten went to see an Obstetrician here and after a slightly Spanglished visit, again all was confirmed well and good with both mother and baby. Kiersten is no longer supposed to pick up Mackenzie because she is heavy and is supposed to rest more.

Guess she still learned a few things from Mommy while she rested.

So three doctor's visits in three days! It was a lot but we are super grateful for the medical system down here. We have been extremely pleased with all the medical staff we've come in contact with and nothing seems to be lacking.

Saturday afternoon we attended a 2 year old's birthday party. As soon as we arrived, Mackenzie took off playing with toys and other kids. She was in heaven for those 3 hours. That night she slept hard until 5:15am when she woke with a massively poopy diaper. We were alerted to the mess and after 10 minutes of changing everything (diaper, pjs, bed sheets, blankets) M was back in bed but not asleep. She was quiet for about an hour then decided she was done. Friday afternoon we lowered the side of her crib to make it more like a toddler bed and purchased a little ladder for her to get in and out of bed. She loves it! So around 6:20 she came into our room and climbed in bed with us. K and M went downstairs a few minutes later to play and start making bread while Scott got some more sleep.

Church went well enough. Mackenzie was a little more tired than usual but we made it through all 3 hours. Kiersten even taught her first Young Women's lesson almost completely in Spanish. She struggled a few times to speak and never understood the mumbled responses of the girls. In time things will get better and she's happy to have the first lesson done and out of the way.

Our dinner with homemade focaccia bread and red pepper fettuccine. So good.

You'd have thought Mackenzie would have been exhausted but she refused to nap until about 1:30 and slept until 4:45 so Kiersten attended choir by herself. It was a much more quiet rehearsal than normal. When she got home we all enjoyed some homemade pumpkin pie. It was a genuine pregnancy craving for K so she made a pie after church. Not her best but the taste was good so it did the trick.

Now we are back to Monday. This morning, Kiersten and Mackenzie along with Brenda and Brittany (new American member in the ward) with her two kids (Leah, age 16 months and Jason, 2 weeks) went on a tour of the Small Seeds Preschool a few blocks from our house. As soon as we got there and went out back to the playground, Mackenzie took off like a shot without looking back. Kiersten, being very hormonal and pregnant, just about lost it. It was like sending your child off on the first day of school. We were there about an hour and Kiersten signed the necessary paperwork. Scott and Kiersten will interview with them tomorrow afternoon for some more information on us and Mackenzie and then Mackenzie starts this Wednesday, August 1. She loved it and did not want to leave. Nice to know she enjoyed herself in so short a time. Maybe this transition is coming at just the right time.

Climbing the ladder for some slide action!

Quirks of Paraguay:

• Winter continues to be comfortable in the 50's to mid-60's here. Love getting to wear pants, socks and sweaters for a change. 

The Mackenzie Update:

• As previously mentioned, we lowered her crib side down so she can access it by herself. She is loving this new independence. The struggle now is to teach her to stay in bed so currently we move the ladder when she's supposed to be sleeping so she is forced to stay there.

  

  We were using an upside-down trashcan as a step stool until we bought the ladder.

• Oh and she's back on pacifiers. We re-introduced them during R&R and are afraid it might be harder to kick the next time around.
• New words. She surprised Kiersten the other day by bring out an elephant puppet and announcing she had a puppet. We have no idea where she learned the word 'puppet' because we don't think we taught her. Also, she has become a sponge so we need to be more careful with the words we use. Thankfully we don't swear but in the car someone cut Kiersten off and she called them a 'jerk' and Mackenzie started to repeat something. Luckily it sounded like 'don't' so that's what we reiterated for the next few minutes until the word was forgotten.
• Not sure where she picked this up either but she says, 'bit' as in 'a little bit' and hold her fingers close together. She doesn't always use it correctly which makes it funny.

  

  "Do you want to flip?" "A bit."

• We've had to change the location of timeouts. Instead of a corner where we had to stand with her we've started placing her in between doors from the outside to the quincho. Sounds a little cruel but this is making her understand her punishments better and her behavior has improved so we call that a win.
  
• Dance Party. Mackenzie has always loved to dance to any music she hears. Kiersten found some approved kid's songs (Kidz Bop) and created a Mackenzie's Dance Mix playlist for her. Now she'll request a 'dance party' when we are together and she'll jump and dance along to the tunes.
• Every time she goes down the stairs she likes to turn on the stair lights. One day, one of the lightbulbs burnt out but it did so in an explosive manner which startled Mommy and made her scream. No one was physically hurt but Mackenzie seems to have suffered some trauma because now she either won't use the stairs alone because of the "pop" or she will recount the event each time she uses the stairs and move quickly past the light. "Light pop, mommy scream, scared." We continue to reassure her it won't pop again.

That pretty much wraps up our week. Again, everything is fine. Baby is healthy and actually measuring a little big for 23 weeks. One blessing of being ordered to rest more, Kiersten has felt increased movement of the baby and this girl likes to move! Scott finally felt her this week too! Next step is to square away our flight home in October and hope to have that finalized by this time next week. Until then, have a great week!

Mackenzie's snow gear arrived! And she looks adorable!