It's quiet... too quiet.

We were all kept busy this week. The days blend together and it's harder to remember what happened. Let's give you a run down person by person.

Family photo from Easter. Yes, Bop-bop is a member of the family.

After last weeks pronouncement that Kiersten needed to buckle down and finish her new Personal Training Certification, and the fact that she had been sick the previous weekend, she took the week off from exercising and focused all her efforts on studying. On Wednesday, she passed her course! She is now a certified Corrective Exercise Specialist! She was then able to relax the rest of the week, stress free.

We walked Mackenzie to school one morning and F fell asleep.

Scott was busy this week with a few work related dinner or lunch appointments as well as being in charge of getting the home of the family we sponsored ready for their arrival. They flew in late Thursday night and he was at the airport to receive them. He got home around midnight that night.

Mackenzie has been a busy bee. Going to school as normal and coming home and playing hard. Most days this week she didn't nap but instead opted to have "quiet time" in her room. One day in particular she was content for about 2 hours. When Kiersten finally went to get her, she found the lights on, the trash liner out of the can (contents still in the bag thankfully), her brand new toothpaste in her hand almost empty, the bathroom floor slightly greasy, and the child completely naked except for her socks. She had eaten the toothpaste (non-floride), cleaned the bathroom floor with baby wipes and still don't know why she was naked. It's a funny story now but at the time... K didn't laugh.

Her "special braid" which K can only do if her hair is wet.
She took a bath in her sink another day and this was the result.

Finley turned 6 months old! She has grown so much. She is rolling more and more, playing with colorful toys, eating solids, eating a ton in general (breastmilk and formula), smiling and giggling at all of us and wanting to sit up so badly. And finally this week she started to sleep through the night again! We are all getting a lot of necessary sleep.

Six months!!

Mackenzie helped make cookies to celebrate Finley's half birthday.

So many cookies!

As a family on Wednesday we attended the farewell party for our DCM at his home with an ice cream social. Fantastic idea really. Every farewell should be an ice cream social. Then, by way of celebrating Kiersten's accomplishment, we went out to dinner. Nothing fancy but she didn't have to cook.

They were very generous with the ice cream.

Friday Kiersten took our sponsor family (Lows) to the grocery store. They are really nice, 2 kids (3 and 1) and both will be working at the Embassy. That evening we took them to the mall for dinner and we'd never seen the parking garage this full. We had to drive around and up and up for a spot! Insane! But dinner was good and the company fun.

Saturday morning we all went to clean the church. Finley was content to sit in her car seat and watch as we swept and mopped and even Mackenzie got in on the action. She loves to help with anything these days. Afterwards, we went to our new favorite fruit bar for a treat. Later that day we invited the Lows over to play and have dinner with us. It had been raining all day so they appreciated getting out of the house with the kids and we all had a good time. Mackenzie really enjoys playing with the 15 month old girl. We hope she'll still like playing with little kids when Finley gets to be that age and can take her toys away.

Mackenzie found some games which increased its appeal.

The Mackenzie Update:

• "Let I do/see it."
• Aqui (here), mira (look), ese (this).

  

  Matching outfits. Sadly, this was the best pic of the bunch.

• Her new favorite show is PJ Masks which she calls "Azul, Green and Rojo" because those are the colors of the kids. It's about 3 kids, approximately ages 6-8, who fight 'crime' at night. Kiersten has a lot of issues with the show, mainly, when do these kids sleep? And where are their parents?? And they can drive?! She watches it in Spanish so we say its educational. (All her shows are in Spanish.) But the music is pretty great. Nice superhero theme.
  

The Finley Report:

• Six months old! She has come a long way.

  

  Two days old.

  
  

  

  6 months!

• She's starting to do the mini crunches in preparation to sit up.

  

  This was after setting her up, fixing her legs and taking the pic super quick! She didn't last.

• She's starting to suck on her lower lip and she looks so cute!
  
• New game! Pull the towel down! 

  

  She loves it.

That's about it for this week. Counting down until we take off for Utah. Less than a month now. Can you believe how this year has flown by? Until next week!

Semana Santa and Pascua 2019

We finally caught a break this week. Four day weekend! It was mostly relaxing. Love living in a country that celebrates Holy Week (Semana Santa) by taking off work on the Thursday and Friday before Easter. Helps us to focus on the importance of that day a little more.

Tuesday was a busy day. Mackenzie didn't want to go to school (she'd thrown up again on Monday afternoon) so we kept her home. She played all day with Nanima and then Mommy wore out both girls a little more. They both fell asleep by 7! Miracle.

Yes! She fell asleep at the counter and had to be transported to her room. A first!

Wednesday Mackenzie officially didn't have school so it was another play all day with Nanima. Finley was so excited to have big sister home again that she decided to forego some much needed naps and was a very tired girl by the end of the day.

Weird places we find our child napping! 

Thursday, Scott worked a half day and finished his last interview for our next potential post. Fingers crossed for us while we wait until May for the results and our pending future home. That evening we had Brenda and Netza over for personal pizzas and Harry Potter. The pizzas were a hit and we now know we can make 3-4 personal sized pizzas to fit our pizza stone and they turn out delicious. And! We defeated box 3 of our Harry Potter expansion! Yeah! One more to go!

Went to the mall for lunch and it was so nice we ate outside.

Burger 54!

Mackenzie got in on the pizza making action. She loved the making but not the eating.

Our dear friends! They were such sports in making their own pizzas. It was fun!

Mini cheesecakes while defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!

Friday was busy but restful. No work just chores and playing with the girls. That evening we went to a 'Welcome to Post' party for a new family who just arrived. Mackenzie had a blast playing with the other kids and we all ate way too much food. Kiersten in fact felt so full that she went to bed by 7 along with the girls. Then woke up at 9 very sick and had a rough night. Food poisoning. Luckily it happened on the weekend when Scott was home to take care of everything and everyone. He was the hero of the weekend!

Grocery store run! We even saw the Easter Bunny and Mackenzie was thrilled.

So Saturday we had planned to go on a drive to see some of the Paraguayan country side but alas we spent the day at home so Kiersten could rest.

Easter Sunday found us feeling much better and mostly well rested. Kiersten wasn't sure she'd have the energy to stay for all of church but she did and it was great since it was a third Sunday and that means Sunday School which for us now means English! Highly recommend this fabulous talk by Elder Holland to help you better understand Easter and the Atonement.

Happy Easter from our Paraguayitos!

The rest of the day was very low key. The Easter Bunny came after a very abrupt nap (non-nap) complete with bubble wand, bouncy balls, church board books, chocolate and an egg hunt. The Easter Bunny made sure to leave one egg empty to symbolize the empty tomb and help us remember Jesus on this special Sunday.

Hunting some eggs.

Happy, smiley Easter bunny baby.

Dinner was delicious and simple; chicken, rolls, steamed veggies and cheesy scalloped potatoes. We didn't have our traditional Hungarian Easter brioche loaf since Kiersten wasn't up to much baking nor did we have a carrot cake. Maybe later this week those will happen. We chatted with family and saw a beloved cousin and life was good.

Today we find ourselves back to the normal grind. Scott returned to work and Mackenzie to school. Kiersten is hitting the books hard this week to finish up her Personal Training course before the end of the month and recovering, still, from her weekend.

The Mackenzie Update:

• Some new Spanish words take us a while to decipher. Can you guess what, "doo-sa" means? Took us a week but it's "gusta" which means "like". She'll say, "No doo-sa" or "yes, doo-sa" meaning she doesn't like or does like something. Thank you preschool!
• Lately she's been calling Kiersten 'Mom' not 'Mommy'. Makes her sad. Don't worry though, Scott is still 'Daddy'.
• She's a cheerleader! Meaning she likes to give encouragement to others, mostly Finley and Mommy. "Good job, Fin-ey! You did it!" What a great kid!

  

  "Look Mommy! I a horsey!"

• New game with baby sister. Finley lays on the ground and kicks her legs. Mackenzie stands near her kicking legs and falls down when she "kicks" her. They laugh and have a great time.

  

  "Kick me, Fin-ey! Kick me!" Pillow for safety.

The Finley Report:

• Easter was the big day: first solid foods! We gave her pears at dinner and she seemed to like the taste but was understandably confused by the texture. She had some more today (Monday) and has picked it up quickly.

  

  By the end she was opening her mouth when the spoon came to her.

• Sleep issues. It's really starting to take its toll on us. She wants to play all day and not eat or sleep and she/we pay for it at night. She is starving come bed time and overtired that a few nights this week we had to let her cry herself to sleep. We're really hopeful that the introduction of solid food helps to resolve some of these issues. And the new weighted sleep sack that just arrived. Fingers crossed!
• As a result of crying so much from tiredness, she sounds like she's lost her voice. It's really, very sad. Pobrecita (poor baby).
• Her newest trick is to blow raspberries or bubbles. She even does it sometimes when she's eating. She thinks it's hilarious.
• Happy Baby yoga pose! As soon as she gets on the changing table, her legs come up and she grabs her feet in the perfect Happy Baby pose.

  

  Here she's doing her yoga move AND blowing raspberries. Multi talented baby!

Much better week all around as you can see. We are now counting down the days to our Anniversary and then upcoming trip to Utah at the end of May. Until then, see you next week!

It's been a Helluvha week

Sorry for the slight swear in the title but it took every ounce of energy, strength and patience in us to survive this week. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were seemingly normal days except Nanima was looking more worn down and sick each day. We reminded her she could take a sick day if she needed one and to please do so. That night, Kiersten discovered she was developing a plugged milk duct and the pain set in.

Due to the plugged duct, she didn't sleep well and then made the horrible decision to try to nurse the baby at 1am to help relieve the pain but that just woke her up and then neither of them really got any sleep after that. 

Thursday morning, Nanima called in sick so Kiersten took Finley in to bed with her and spent basically the entire day persistently nursing or pumping to unplug the duct. Mackenzie watched a lot of tv that day much to her delight. Luckily that night, the pressure and pain ebbed and relief was in sight but not sleep. Finley woke up a lot during the night causing Kiersten to have fitful sleep as well. 

Happy girl after school.

Our one outing that day to Le Frutte Bar near our home. Been wanting to go for a while and it didn't disappoint.

Meanwhile, Scott had been crazy busy at work preparing for the arrival of the Secretary of State and came home exhausted every day. Friday was the big show and he had a normal work day finishing at noon, came home, ate lunch with the girls, got some rest then at 4pm headed back to work for the next 6 hours. Nanima called in sick again so Kiersten, finally feeling like a human again and not a milk machine, took the girls to the mall to burn off energy and eat dinner. Got home very late and got Finley to bed then Mackenzie. Both were down by 8:30 and miraculously stayed asleep. Scott got home earlier than expected and went to bed soon thereafter to wake very early the next morning to return to work. Finley woke every 2 hours that night causing us both to wake up and get another rough night's sleep.

Mackenzie's school had their first art exhibit of the year!

Playing at the Galleria ball pit in the food court.

A Paraguayan food court. We ate American Burger King because Mackenzie wanted "burger cheese and papas fritas" and a balloon.

Scott left the house by 5:15 Saturday morning and Kiersten finally got a few hours shut eye before Mackenzie woke for the day. When all the girls were awake, dressed and fed, we went to the park to get out of the house and kill time before Daddy was finally done at 12. He came home, changed and we went to our favorite Thai place for some yummy and filling lunch. Home for a little rest, we were all exhausted. Scott had one more work item to check off for the weekend and left the house again for a few hours later that afternoon. 

Sitting in the big man's chair on the plane!

Just a boy and a VC-40!

Enjoying her lunch time by chatting with herself.

Five o'clock rolled around and with it brought Scott and a much healthier Nanima who had agreed to babysit for us for the night so we could attend our favorite Embassy hosted event: Trivia Night! We left the house childless for the first time all week and had a great time at the trivia night. Both of our teams ended in the bottom 3 but we survived and got home an hour earlier than planned. Scott spent the evening translating and practicing his Stake Conference talk and Kiersten practiced the songs for the choir numbers. Nanima had managed to put both girls to bed flawlessly so we figured we were in the clear. If there is one thing about parenting we haven't quite learned it's to expect the unexpected. 

At 10:30, as we were dragging ourselves to bed, a scream, cry and flung open door from Mackenzie's room shook us from our stumblings to find she had thrown up in her bed, magically missing her pillows, blanket and Bop-bop. Scott cleaned her up while K changed and cleaned the bed. She went back down but about an hour later threw up again. Same duties. We got to bed around midnight. Mackenzie woke about 2 more times from sickness and sleep was lost again... except Finley who slept all night long, none the wiser. 

We decided Mackenzie couldn't attend church so Scott stayed home to not give the talk he worked on all week and Kiersten took Finley to choir practice and Stake Conference. The choir sounded great and we are so happy it's done. We have our Sundays back! and one less thing on our plates. Mackenzie seemed completely normal albeit a little tired from lack of sleep. She slept great that night...Finley did not. Woke every 2 hours again but this time, Kiersten was able to go back to sleep after each waking.

Rehearsal setup. Reminded me of this one time on my mission....

Looking cute in her Palm Sunday dress.

So the week in a nutshell: we didn't get a lot of sleep, we were sick and the Secretary of State ruined our weekend.

The Mackenzie Update:

• She likes nuts, specifically pistachios. I mean, who doesn't? She calls them, "Uhts."
• She's been fighting sleep all week and sometimes we let her skip her naps. And sometimes she passes out where she plays.

  

  Sitting! next to her door ASLEEP!

  
  

  

  Same outfit, different days.

• She loves to help and asks if she can help. Help with laundry, dishes, cleaning up, with Finley, etc. And she actually does help rather than get in the way some of the time.
• "It's not working." Her explanation when something doesn't fit or go the way she plans.

The Finley Report:

• She rolled from her belly to her back for realz!
  
• She has discovered the wonder of her own reflection. She has long conversations with herself. It's ah-dorable.

  

  Yeah, we're that generation. This is her mirror.

• We think her troubled sleeping is two fold. One, she's congested. Two, she isn't getting enough food during the day. We are desperately waiting for Easter to give her solid foods (because we want it to be memorable) and hope that will help fill her belly. Fingers crossed!

We are pretty sure this week will be more manageable but won't count our chicks before they hatch so catch us next week to see how we faired! Thanks for reading (it was a long one).

Szent Templom lesz Magyarorszagon!!

What a weekend, huh? Love General Conference! But before we get to that here's our weekly recap.

Normal yet busy week. We are happy its April because March was crazy. The weather continues to cool off which has been glorious. The temperatures are currently paralleling much of the US so now is the time to ship our refrigerated items like cheese and chocolate.

Mackenzie found these hospital beanies and wanted to wear one. Twiners!

As a result of the nicer weather we spend more time in the hammock.

Friday we had the sister missionaries over for lunch and they had requested American food so we made Sloppy Joes and mac and cheese. Can't get much more American than that. That evening we had a late choir rehearsal for Stake Conference so we had dinner out near the church at Monte Libanos, a middle-Eastern kababs type place. Then we went up the street to Paris for ice cream and tried their milkshake and it was found worthy of our American palate. Both girls did great during the practice and Finley even decided to join in the singing!

We were the only restaurant patrons so Mackenzie had a blast playing on all the toys.

She picks her ice cream by color. Usually she wants pink but went with yellow this time.
It's vanilla.

Saturday morning we hosted a Conference Brunch. The night before, Kiersten spent several hours in the kitchen preparing her bi-annual cinnamon rolls and they were well received. Mackenzie surprised us by not wanting anything to do with it. We explain to her it was sweet pan (bread) but she wouldn't have it. Strange child. We spent the rest of the day enjoying General Conference from our couch. Mackenzie did a pretty good job of "watching" and being quiet. We went to dinner at Santa Gula, one of the few "gourmet" burger places that opens before 7. Delicious. (Note: Kiersten has been craving burgers basically since we returned to Paraguay. She suspects its because burgers were off the menu during her pregnancy so she's making up for lost burgers as it were and they are particularly good here.)

Caught between the bars during a nap but she still slept fine.

Sunday was such a relaxing, wonderful day. We played and rested in the morning then watched more Conference. After dinner, Scott needed to participate in a work meeting so the girls stayed home and watched the afternoon session. It was a little more challenging to contain Mackenzie so towards the end Kiersten needed to resort to letting her watch her own show. 

Hanging out in the morning.

Spent part of the last session with this darling asleep on me. Not gonna complain.

While making dinner, Kiersten had had a thought about the upcoming session when President Nelson would inevitably announce new Temples. "What if Hungary is announced," she thought. She always hopes it'll happen but this time didn't brush off the feeling. During the announcing of Temples at the end of Conference, Kiersten received a feeling of calm she can't describe and the long awaited for moment arrived. Budapest, Hungary was announced to receive a Temple. Tears of joy flowed unhindered down her face as the moment she's waited for since receiving her mission call 11 years ago was fulfilled. The Saints and people she came to love will finally have a Temple of The Lord in their own country. It still feels like a dream but it was one of the single most exciting spiritual moments of her life. And it feels even more appropriate that President Nelson be the prophet to announce it since he was the Apostle to give the Dedicatory Prayer over Hungary when missionaries were allowed to proselyte 30 years ago. Isten, aldd meg a magyart! (God, bless the Hungarians!)

The Mackenzie Update:

• Soley. It's her own Spanglished version of solo/only. She says, "soley me" a lot.
• Asi no! More Spanish! It means, "not [like] that."
• Had another good teaching moment when she Harold and the Purple Crayon-ed the tile floor in the quincho. We made her clean up her mess and she did so somewhat happily.
  
• She is starting to tell us stories now. Made up ones.

  

  Telling Finley a story during Conference.

• Her drawing skills are improving. She loves to draw happy faces (smiley face) since she usually gets one on her hand at the end of school. She proudly shows you her hand after school and announces, "Happy face!"

  

  It's there, ya see it? Two dots and a line. Happy face!

• Still sick... Going on week 3 now?

The Finley Report:

• She can roll both directions now! And today she successfully rolled from belly to back after trying for about 20 minutes. 

  

  So proud of her accomplishments!

• The cursed sleep regression is back! This whole week has been horrific. Kiersten will nurse her to sleep, she falls asleep, she is carefully transitioned to her crib. She'll sleep for about 10-30 more minutes before waking up screaming! Nothing pacifies her (literally) except being fed again to which she'll eat for a while then fall asleep again. And the cycle repeats for about an hour and a half. Maybe solid foods will help but we're waiting until Easter to give her her first taste. (And of course tonight she went down without much fuss.)
• She is getting better at grasping items and reach for things now. And they go straight in her mouth. Speaking of, if she isn't holding something in her mouth, it's her fingers in there. All. The. Time.
  

Good week, good news, good night! See you next week!