Robot costumes
Car ramps
Play kitchens
Playhouses
Car Garages
and car "rugs!"
There are little graveyards everywhere here and most houses have a family graveyard in the small yard. This graveyard is across the street from one of the stores:
I've been taking pictures of Windwardside to post but I can't get the pictures off my SD card! Help! My computer recognizes that the card is in the drive, but it says I have to format it to read it. I'm pretty sure formatting the card will erase all my pictures. Help!
WOOOHOOOO!!! I am so ecstatic to soon be joining my legions of friends and sisters-in-law who have daughters! WOOOHOOO!!!
If you're thinking, "Wait, I didn't even know she was pregnant." Don't worry, you're not alone. We never really told anyone (even our families) until yesterday, when we found out that we were having A GIRL. Our reasons were #1, we knew everyone's first questions would be about how we were going to have a baby in the Caribbean and before we got here, we didn't know how to answer those questions. #2, we knew everyone's next question would be to ask when I was due and, frankly, I'm never quite sure about that one either! We measured THE GIRL at 21 weeks at yesterday's ultrasound, not the 22 I had guessed. So I think that makes my due date October 30th-ish. It was hard to be feeling all that first trimester junkiness while we were packing and moving and visiting family before we moved here but it turned out to be a good learning experience not being able to complain about it! We found out we were expecting in March, about 2 weeks after we had informed the school in Saba that we'd be coming for sure in May. The news about put me over the top with worry since I was so worried about everything else but I think this is going to turn out well.
Having a baby GIRL here will cost me about half (if all goes well) what I paid for Eli's prenatal care in the U.S. I have full confidence in my doctor here but the resources at the hospital are limited so I'm afraid my delivery will be forced to be au naturale (no drugs, no epidural, no nothin'). But women have been known to do it, right? I'm praying all goes well so I can deliver here on Saba. If I go into labor during the daytime, all is well: a bigger, better equipped hospital is a 15 minute flight away. If there is an emergency during a nighttime delivery, you're doomed to a two-and-a-half hour boat ride to get help. Please pray for a great delivery!! My other alternative is to go hang out in a hotel on St. Maarten for a few weeks and deliver there but that one seems pretty tricky and expensive. Post-delivery, since the pace here is so laid back, I figure this may be the best place for me to be the crazed mother of three aged 3 and under.
And did I mention I'm having a GIRL?!?!? I flew with my fabulous friend Rachel to the next island over, St. Maarten, yesterday. We hit the hospital first where I got my ultrasound and found out about THE GIRL and then paid the doctor directly for that ultrasound. It was so funny to hand cash over the doctor's desk and then have him whip out his wallet to give me the change! Then Rachel and I went to Heaven. And by that, I mean Ace Hardware. It was so great to walk into an "American" store that was clean and tidy and huge and had variety and had everything I wanted at a reasonable price! Then we hit a store called Cost-U-Less, which is much like Costco. Again, second heaven. Next we tried to hit a few baby stores but everything was absurdly priced and the selection was very limited. The cheapest carseat I found was $105 and it was never used but at least 10 years old. They don't even make carseats that way anymore!! Fortunately for me, there are two other student wives here who have baby girls so I will greedily accept all their GIRL hand-me-downs and probably be pretty much set. Since we knew we'd be having a Sabian baby when we got here, we brought pretty much all of the baby paraphernalia with us (blankets, bibs, binkies, etc.).
Thanks for caring enough to read about our great news!
P.S. How could I forget?!? I got MCDONALD'S for lunch yesterday! YUMM!!!
People are so astounded when I tell them I'd like more children. "WHY would you want to do that?!?" they ask with shocked faces. That makes me sad. Why, you ask?
My children are a lot of work. I'd say 90%+ of my time and energy are dedicated to my family right now. For the moment, gone are my days of consistently sleeping through the night and sleeping in the next morning. Gone are our days of hitting a Friday night movie or going out for a nice meal at a sit-down restaurant. Gone are a lot of things Jaron and I enjoyed before we had kids.
So WHY would I want more?
I find the truest and sweetest joy in my kids and our family life. I find enough there that it makes me want to be a mother all over again. By replacing ME-ness with FAMILY-ness, I feel like I'm replacing good things in my life for better things. I feel like the best thing I can do with my time and energy is be a mother and raise up good children. There are lots of other things I could be doing right now, things that many people would tell me are a better use of my time. Instead, I spend most of my time within the four walls of my own house making it a home for my boys. And that makes me happy. My life has fullness and meaning largely because our little family.
The Savior said, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." (Luke 9:24) For me, this seems to apply to motherhood as well. My life isn't about ME right now and somehow, that has made ME more of the person I want to be.
Please don't take this post as giving myself a pat on the back. I am far from a perfect mother and I certainly struggle sometimes to meet the demands. I guess I just feel frustrated that in so many people's eyes motherhood has been reduced to menial labor. Also, I hope that by writing these thoughts down I'll be better able to express them the next time I'm confronted by the next incredulous person!
We are definitely adjusting to life on the island and discovering that it is still just, well, life. People are the same here as they are in the US or Canada, even if they do have a different accent and a different lifestyle. The mold situation is looking up; we find fewer things these days and I'm able to keep on top of it with my trusty vinegar spray bottle and the sunshine. I've somewhat adjusted to the price of groceries, which makes it easier to buy the foods I want to eat rather than just rice and beans. ;-D I'd say we're pretty happy here, all in all. We seem to have a lot of family time right now, since the classes Jaron is taking are largely a fast-speed review for him of the classes he took in chiropractic school. That family time is one of the BESTEST things in the world.
However, in my head I seem to be compiling a list of the things I miss:
However...I have also been compiling a list of things I already recognize I will miss when I leave here:
So the moral of the story is this (and I've said this before): Life is about perspective!
Do you ever find yourself saying, "Oh, I'll finally be happy when..." HOW many times have I said this to myself?!? "I'll be happy when the baby starts sleeping through the night." "I'll be happy when Jaron's done collecting letters behind his name. ;-)" "I'll be happy when I've lost some weight." "I'll be happy when we just have more money." What I need to learn better is to live for now instead of always living for some distant tomorrow!
