It's raining it's pouring...

... Inside and out! We've had rain almost everyday this week which has been great because the weather is cooling down. Fall is coming! And inside the house we've had two drooling children. Finley spits up and drools normally but it seems like teething drooling? (Please no!) Mackenzie has also been drooling/slobbering this week. One day she said her tongue hurt and it had white spots on it so we suspect its Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. It seemed to have cleared up this weekend so fingers crossed that is over with!

A little short but she loves her rain coat.

Busy busy as usual. On Thursday Scott needed to work late (until 9pm!) so it was up to Kiersten to put the kids to bed alone. It wasn't too bad actually. Kiersten introduced "The Floor is Lava" game to Mackenzie who loved that we put pillows on the floor and walked all over them. It also helped to tire her out. So while K was feeding Finley, all the girls sat in the glider while Mommy told Mackenzie a story. Finely fell asleep so she went to bed then we finished up with Mackenzie who after one more trip to the potty, went to sleep. Kiersten felt like a champ for 45 minutes... and then the baby woke up again demanding to be fed. 

M had another doctor visit this week too.

The floor is lava!

Friday we had our lunch date this time to Hiroshima, a Japanese restaurant in town. We tried some vegetarian sushi and deep fried temporah veggies. Everything was delicious. We topped it all off with a peach sundae at Dona Angela.

Look at that handsome man!

Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice creams, peaches, caramel, cherries and cookies. Yum!

That night we were invited to a party for an Embassy family. Everyone had a great time and we were going to get burgers for dinner but with the rain, rain traffic, Friday evening traffic, and cranky-hungry-tongue-hurting Mackenzie, we just went home.

She got pretty good at peddling this bike before the evening was through.

Saturday it threatened rain all day but none came. M took an early nap then we ran errands all afternoon. That evening we did finally get our burgers but at Johnny Rockets which was decked out for St. Patrick's Day which is not celebrated in Paraguay.

Sunday was super busy. An English speaking Sunday School class was formed and Kiersten was asked to be the teacher so that happened yesterday. Once at home we discovered a leprechaun had come and left golden coin candy for Mackenzie who was thrilled. Then when the girls were napping we began moving furniture. We decided to officially move Finley's room to the office downstairs so if she wakes and cries in the night she won't wake Mackenzie and we can teach her to self soothe a little better instead of rushing in to shush her. We like the changes so far but now her nursery is a little bare with some BYU regalia on the walls. For dinner we had Irish potato-cheddar rolls and shepherd's pie. For dessert we tried a treacle tart which tasted like a caramel, honey pie. Really good but now we have so much of it!

Keep the Sabbath Holy. Cover the good activities with gold coins.

All in green except Finley who is our pot of gold.

The Mackenzie Update:

• She has started to come to Finley's rescue and not just physically. We had a playdate and one of the kids took a toy that Finley enjoys to look at. Finley wasn't near the toy so it wasn't an issue but Mackenzie ran after the child saying, "No! That's Fineys!" This particular toy is actually Mackenzie's but we love that she is fighting for her sister.
• The other day before Finley went down for a nap, Mackenzie had a paper in her hands from which she told her a story. The highlights of the story: "Once upon a time... Not by the hair of my chiny-chin-chin... The End."
• She likes to comfort Finley in the car when she cries. The other day she said, "It's ok, Finey. Mommy and Daddy are here. I'm here. I love you. *mwah*"
• One of her new favorite bed time songs is "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man".
• Before bed now she'll request "pretend stories" which are stories told without a book. Daddy has been doing the 3 Little Pigs lately (thus the 'chinny-chin-chin' line in her story) and Mommy just makes up stories.

  

  Found her napping on the floor when we got home from our lunch date. Weirdy.

• She's growing out of her shoes and got some new sneakers this week.
• She learned how to buckle her carseat this weekend!

The Finley Report:

• If you blow raspberries on her tummy she'll actually laugh!
• After about 3 weeks of nightmarish bedtime routine we finally realized she is going through the 4 month sleep regression. She would cluster feed for about an hour keeping Kiersten trapped in her room and then fall asleep and wake up needing comfort for the next 30 minutes. And then she'd wake up a few times at night! Now that she's rolling and we stopped swaddling her, she seems to have moved on to the next phase which is sleeping better through the night.

  

  You know the expression, 'Bring 'em young'?

• Yes she is a rolling machine these days. Only back to belly. She'll lay on her tummy for a few minutes then eventually get frustrated and cry to be rolled back. But she happily slept on her tummy all night after we stopped swaddling her. Mom on the other hand did not sleep so well, worrying about her safety all night.
• When she was first born, Kiersten crocheted her an octopus because she read that premies like to hold on to the tentacles to remind them of the umbilical cord in the womb. She never used it then but now it has become her comfort toy when falling asleep because she likes to hold on to our fingers and this is the perfect replacement!
  

And that was our week!

Two mobile children! Almost.

How is it that every week seems just as busy as the last? Here are the bullet points from this week:

• Kiersten had a very wonderful and productive Health and Wellness Committee meeting where she welcomed new ideas and introduced some fun activities for the coming months. She is super jazzed about this work!
• Finley got her 4 month shots and did fantastic. Cried during the initial stick but then she was done. We did it at the Embassy so afterward she tolerated being held and passed around by some of Scott's co-workers. She is such a good baby.
  
• We've been having the sister missionaries over for lunch every other Friday. It's been a good way to practice our Spanish and invite the Spirit into our home.
• The weather and humidity shot back up this week but then was cooled down by Friday allowing us to enjoyed a pleasant dinner outside at the mall.

Quirks of Paraguay:

• Street Performers. This isn't actually isolated to Paraguay but they come out on weekends or at night. There are some jugglers near the Embassy that we pass after church.

  

  Really working for that money!

The Mackenzie Update:

• She learned the phrase: "I not feeling good" awhile ago but she's been using it more and more and we finally figured out that she uses it when she doesn't want to do something. For example go to school in the morning, take a nap, stop playing, eat dinner. You get the idea.
• The bedtime routine is becoming insane! Some nights it goes on for almost an hour and a half to finally convince her to sleep. So we've decided to shorten her naps to 1 hour since she still really needs them but doesn't always want to take one. On days she doesn't nap she goes down without too much issue. It just makes the days really long.

  

  We tired her out at the ball pit on Friday night.

• She's become more interested in cleaning, especially using the broom. And we've taught her to put her still clean clothes on the chair in her room instead of the floor.
• She loves trying to get Finley's attention. "Finey, look a me!"

The Finley Report:

• Big news! She rolled over! The first time it was on our bed from belly to back. So it was soft and a slant... does it count? The next time it was on the floor from back to belly. That counts! She's been lifting her legs and rolling on to her side for a few weeks now and this time she made the plunge to roll over! No more leaving her alone on the bed or couch.
• When she gets really excited she tends to spit up. It's a nice warning sign, like the popping sound before the fire spurts in The Princess Bride's Fire Swamp.
• Her favorite thing to chew is her fingers. She gnaws on them all the time. Really hope she isn't teething already!
  
• We introduced her to a new toy this week: Sophie the giraffe. Mackenzie didn't understand that this is a toy only for Finley. There was some stealing and tears.
  
• We've started the transition into 3-6 month clothing!
  

Thanks for reading! See you next week!

It's another 3 day holiday weekend!

What a glorious week! Mostly in regards to the weather. After a rain storm on Monday the temperature remained in the mid 70s with low humidity for the rest of the week until Friday when the temp hitched back up. We spent more time outside this week for sure with this delicious glimpse of the upcoming Fall.

Tuesday we took a trip to visit a new pediatrician. Our current/previous one has become extremely busy working to train new doctors within the country and has two days of office hours so we got a new one. She was wonderful, trained in the US and spoke English. Mackenzie needed a checkup for something minor so it was good timing.

Wednesday Kiersten went to the Embassy to continue in her new role as the Health and Wellness Coordinator by participating in the monthly Professional Development Day (PDD). There is an hour reserved for a wellness activity or seminar and this month the topic was Heart Health and the seminar was given by a local heart surgeon. After 90 minutes, Kiersten was very bored and had written a lot of notes to hopefully help improve these in the future.

Thursday was Nanima's birthday! We made her mint brownies since she said her favorite dessert was brownies with mint ice cream so we combined the two. Mackenzie remembered all day it was her birthday and once we picked her up she "sang" Happy Birthday to her when we got home. That night for dinner we had our new neighbors over. They are new to Post, having been here just over 2 weeks now, and they live in the townhouses behind us. Very nice and we hope to continue to build a relationship with them especially since so many of our friends are leaving in the coming months.

She loves her treats!

Friday Scott and Kiersten were able to, for the first time since being back in Paraguay, go on a date sans kids! We opted for Gripon Criollo which is another of the many Brazilian Steakhouses (or churrasqueria) in the city. Food was pretty much the same as the others but the decor was very open and modern. We had a great time and talked mostly about our R&R in June.

Meant to get a picture of us but forgot.

Then we looked at some Paraguayan art. We really like this piece but left empty handed.

Saturday morning we took the girls to Parque de la Salud for M to play and S&K to run with F in the stroller. We actually met up with some of our Embassy friends and they were happy to watch the kids at the playground while the parents ran. We stayed for about 2 hours and then went home for lunch and naps.

The afternoon was typically busy with chores then in the evening we drove to the Costanera for an International Gastronomic Fair. We weren't aware there was a fancy, sports car drag race also taking place so parking was scarce, the other side of the road closed and tons of people standing. We drove past everything, looped around through the city and came back again and parked. We got out, walked by some food trucks, passed all the people and fancy cars to the Food Fair. It was supposed to start at 6pm and by the time we arrived at 7:15 only a few stands were open with others starting to set up and they were selling empanadas. It was so Paraguayan. So we went back to the food trucks, got a decent dinner and randomly talked to some Canadians who were vacationing. It was a fun cultural experience.

Fancy cars, funny girl.

Lots of tents and not enough food to show for it.

We finally dined at some food trucks!

Our dinner was from Chewi's.

Sunday was pretty relaxing and best of all, we gathered some English speakers and had a terrific Sunday School discussion in English! It lifted our spirits and we felt edified for the first time in a long time in our Ward here. The rest of the day we played, chatted with family and went to choir. We've been preparing for a Stake Conference that we don't have a date for for months now. Should be soon though...we hope.

Quirks of Paragauay:

• Remember how we've said the roads are pretty bad here? Well they are. And if there is a hole in the street, not like a pothole but like a hole, they'll stick something in it to warn cars not to drive there. Not like a cone but like a stick or a bag or if its really big, a refrigerator (not making that up.)

  

  And they fill the hole with whatever they can find for a temporary fix. How nice.

The Mackenzie Update:

• She calls men 'guys' and women 'little lady'. She'll ask, "What's that guy/little lady doing?"
• She's learned the expression, "That's amazing." 

  

  She loves to "drive".

• If Finley is crying, she'll go over and say, "It's ok baby sister, I'm right here" because she hears Mommy saying it. But it works!
  
• The other day she held up a tomato slice and said, "Mommy, cir-cur (circle)!" She's learning her shapes!
• A few times now when calling for Mom in a public setting she'll call for "Kier-sen!" What?! No!
• New game: steal the arm covers off the couch. Daddy chases her, takes it back then she gets a new one and runs away with Daddy on her heels. She emits a most joyous laugh during this game.

  

  Running away with her stolen arm chair cover.

The Finley Report:

• She's getting better at tracking people. She recognizes Nanima and smiles at her. She doesn't smile at everyone so this is how we know she likes her.

  

  Photo taken by big sister. Not bad, eh?

• She didn't sleep well this week but we suspect it was because of her congested nose from the cold everyone got this week.
• Still in 0-3 month clothing. Failed to mention in last week's 4 month update.

  

  It's she adorable?

• When she giggles, she sounds like a squeaky toy. It's the best.

And Monday is a holiday here so no work or school for those in the family it applies to! We're going to the Hostel for lunch with the American members and saying good-bye to some sister missionaries. Have a great week!