Pedro's (totally lame) First Halloween!

Poor Pedro has been gyped of his "First Halloween" experience. He had absolutely nowhere to go in his costume. Brazilians haven't embraced Halloween like Mexicans have, so we have no trick-or-treating tonight.

Check out his cutest-costume-ever (never mind that it's one of those fleecy, super warm costumes and it is currently in the 90's here. That's what we have air conditioners for.):


He had it on for a total of 2 minutes, just so I could take this picture to put in his baby book to document that he did, in fact, dress up for his first Halloween.

(And that would be me in my "Festive Halloween Mom" costume. It's some Halloween garland wrapped around my neck. I've got costume issues I tell you.)

Happy Halloween!

"Woman without Children"

We had to go to a Halloween party last weekend. I like Halloween, I really do. But the costume thing gets me every year. I always wait too long and then expect to just open my closet door and have cute, clever costume jump out at me.

It never happens. I usually end up going as a doctor because I have a set of scrubs and a jacket. Why you ask? Because once upon a time I was premed and I went on a study abroad program to Mexico to work in a hospital. I am not a doctor now. (It wasn't a total waste, I met Guapo on the trip and learned I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in a hospital.) Every time I wear it I feel like I have to explain WHY I have it and then it brings up all the old unfulfilled dreams/disappointing my family issues. I just feel kind of like a loser dressed up like what I wanted to be for a while. I'm fine with the not being a doctor-I realized I wanted to go to med school more that I wanted to actually be a doctor-but I just hate having to explain it.

(Like I'm doing right now)

So, I finally decided I will not be a doctor and put myself through it. But, that takes away my Halloween safety net.

Anyway, back to the party. I came up with what I thought was the perfect costume- "Woman without Children"

I would start my transformation in the beauty salon with:

1. A manicure
2. A pedicure
3. Highlights
4. Eyebrow wax and shape
5. My hair styled

In addition to my new groomed look, my costume would include:

1. A dress (instead of the mandatory skirt and top due to constant breastfeeding) that was slobber and spit-up free
2. High heals
3. Make up

I thought it was ingenious.

Guapo didn't like it. He told me I would feel dumb without a "costume". I tried to explain how it was a costume-I never look like "Woman without Children".

He suggested my doctor costume. I explained the baggage that goes with that costume. Then he had several other suggestions which included:

1. A Miner
2. A Pioneer
3. Raggedy-Ann
4. A Woman in Jammies
5. A Farmer (this would require my maternity overalls which I have sworn to never wear again)

This was a work party; I knew the type of women that would be going-beautiful Brazilian woman dressed like Samba dancers or swimsuit models. We are already quite the freaks drinking our Sprites-I don't need to be dressed like a farmer on top of it.

So we compromised. Here we are:


Dracula and Dracula's Girlfriend/Victim (see the blood on my neck???)

Best Halloween costume ever!!!

October Showers Bring November Flowers

Changing leaves.

Crisp Air.

Halloween.

Wassail.*

First Snow.

Sweaters.

Hot Cocoa.

Football Season.


Not for me.

I grew up with seasons. I spent the first 26 years of my life with seasons. I heart seasons.

But, alas, for the last 8 falls I have been living in places that are nicknamed "The City of Eternal Spring", or even worse, places like Small Town Mexico where I could count the number of times I could comfortably wear pants in 2 1/2 years on one hand.

And now we are here in Brazil. South of the Equator. Opposite seasons from the States. So, let's see, this year I've had:

• One (eternal) spring in Mexico
• One summer in the States
• One Brazilian winter that felt suspiciously like summer in the States

And now I'm smack dab in the middle of spring again headed for a beastly summer just in time for Christmas!!!

What's worse, I've had to "spring forward" with daylight savings twice this year. Once in April and again a couple of weeks ago. I am not a good "springer." I'm a much better "fall-backer".

Sorry, I hate to have a whiny blog, it's just that I'm reading all of these posts about wonderful fall-ish things and I am a little sad.

So have some cocoa or wassail* for me and enjoy the changing leaves. :)

*I actually hate wassail. But I miss the idea of Wassail. And how it smells.

The Ugly American Throws a Birthday Party

I hate birthday parties.

I love celebrating my kids' birthdays, but I hate being the "hostess". Why it would stress me out to have 10 extra kids (whose moms are my friends) in my home for a couple of hours, I'll never understand. But it does. A lot.

So this year, since we just moved in to our new place and it is still kind of a mess, we were going to outsource Julio's birthday party. You know, the kind where you just show up at some place other than your home (so you don't have to clean it), and they provide the entertainment, food, cake, etc. etc.

My maid was in charge of calling party places for me. She was totally excited when she found what she felt like was a deal.

It would have cost in the ballpark of $1,500.

Umm. No.

EVERYONE throws these kinds of parties here; even my maid informed me she spent MORE than that when each of her kids three kids turned 1.


I told her it was NEVER going to happen.


So, I sucked it up and convinced Julio what he really wanted was the ole' standby: the Halloween Birthday Party that we have almost every year for him.

I bought a cake (no cake mixes here) for $20.00. I ordered pizza for $60.00. A friend of Guapo's coming back from the States brought me some gift bag items $75.00. Guapo was the game man (he didn't charge me anything-yet).

We played the Mummy Game (Juan Carlos was a monkey. Check out his banana):

The Limbo:



The Freeze Dance Game:



Happy Birthday Julio!!!

(And now I don't have to think about another party until the Spring)

Drumroll Please...

The Last Box...

has been emptied.

The Exact Opposite of Wanting to Shop

...trying to cram more 200+ boxes worth of crap in to our new apartment that has about 1/2 of the storage space of our place in Mexico.

Long time no blog. Sorry about that. When moving, I am not the type of person to do a little each day. I must have it all done NOW. So I've been working like a dog for a week now to unpack and organize the stuff from the 200+ boxes. I think I even got up one day at 5:15 am (if you know me, you know that I never get up that early unless it's to catch a flight). It is far from perfect, but at least there are only a handful of boxes left.


It was great to be reunited with all of our beloved stuff, but wow, what a pain. After waiting almost 3 months for the stuff, you start to wonder how much you really need your stuff after all.

Here's Pedro in his exi-saucer thing (I'm glad we got it before he was too big for it!):


Even though we found a bigger apartment than the one we had when we arrived in Brazil, we are still lacking lacking in the space department. I feel like I'm in college again, hunting for any little unoccupied space that I may be able use.

Poor Pedro's shower was the first causality of the Stuff War:



Then the space under his crib:



And I completely took over his closets, adding some new shelves where we could:



And here is the last of my space that I am keeping available for stashing secret stuff:



We are feeling fairly settled. The apartment is great-the best part is the roof that is a big deck with an awesome view of the lake and the Christ the Redeemer statue (tiny little thing on top of that mountain):






Aapartment was partially furnished and they left their piano!!! I have wanted a real live piano since I was a little girl and have never had one!!!




Now I only have to finish those last few boxes and I can sit down and practice!