Which Is Worse?

When Scott saw this picture he posed the question,

"I'm not sure which is worse - my 3 1/2yr old daughter painting her toes or my 2yr old son wearing a necklace!"

Longaberger

I've never, to my recollection, introduced Longaberger to my blog. For two years now I have been a Longaberger home consultant. Longaberger is an American company that makes hand-crafted baskets in the USA. They also sale pottery, wrought iron products, and a few other things. I wanted to share Longaberger with you through my blog this month because of their once-a-year pottery sale as well as the new colors of baskets available (pictured above).

If you have any interest in receiving weekly sales, please let me know. You can browse my site by clicking on the hyperlink above.

The kids and I leave for TX on Thursday. We'll see if I'm able to blog much between now and then.

Yet Another One

I was so very close to home when a driver pulled out in front of me. Sigh

If you'll go down memory lane with me I had a wreck last October as well, right before I left for the States for the month of November. Guess where I'm going next week? Yep. To TX for the month. Sigh. I gues if it had to happen then it couldn't be better timing.

So the male Dominican driver that I hit (he was in a small compat car that actually rotated 180 degrees after I hit it and stopped when he hit a large truck) said he has been driving in NYC and Miami for 40 years and this was his first wreck.

That's nice, senor.

This is my third in a year and a half! I'm thinking, "You haven't had a wreck because you were in the States where driving laws are enforced and people can wait in line and not pull out in front of oncoming traffic!!!" Dominicans can wait in line in a bank...because there is ALWAYS a line at the bank. But in order to not have to wait while driving, Dominicans will:

1. drive down the wrong side of the road in order to be #1

2. make 3 out of the 4 lanes turning lanes AND even U-turn out of the outside lane

It's an "all-about me" driving world here in the DR.

I'm not going to lie, I have taken advantage of the chaotic driving system...it is a race isn't it?

I am grateful that there wasn't a child in his car because more than likely the child wouldn't have been buckled. I've observed in the majority of cars here the children are not buckled in, but have their hands on both front seats looking out the front window.

Since I'm now a pro at the Casa de Conductor system (where you file with the police when you have a wreck), I was surprised at today's visit when they kept my license. And no it wasn't due to the number of wrecks I've had! The ladies in the car had muscle complaints and the Casa de Conductor requires a medical note that the ladies have been examined before they will release my and the other driver's licenses. I've already recieved a call from the man I hit that they've been to the doctor, so I should receive my license soon. In the meantime, I am legal to drive with a paper given to me from the Casa de Conductor.

P.S. My loving husband reminded me that my first wreck was caused because I was driving down the wrong side of the road. NICE

Growing Up

My little boy will be 2 this Sunday and everyday he reminds me with his vocabulary how old he is getting. Within the last month Darton began saying full sentences. I love this age! I don't know why Scott and I are so surprised when he communicates so clearly with us...but every single time we look at each other in amazement at how "big" he is. Here's a few of his sentences/phrases:

I find it. (suppose to be "found")

Me first.

My turn. Your turn. He insisted at his 2yr check up yesterday that it was "my turn" instead of "his turn." He was happy as a clam until he saw the doctor in the hallway. All those "shot" memories came pouring back into his little head! The rest of the visit was pure screaming...but did I really expect less?

Where's daddy going?

Put clothes on.

Want some? I want some.

Ad-e-line (yeah! all 3 syllables)

Baba please (yes, he is still on a bottle, but for the last 3 days we have been enforcing only one in the morning and one at night)

Baba chin (chin is the dominicanism for "a little bit." So he's asking for a little bit in a bottle. Too cute!)

I get you.

Watch me.

That's funny.

Mmmm. I like it.

I like your dress. (He's learned well from his sister ;) )

He's also learned from his sister that when mommy asks a question that you don't want to answer you just respond with "No, nothing."

Until two weeks ago his "yes" was always "si." He officially abandoned that when English dominated the house with my parents here.

Bed time went so well tonight! Another reminder that my kids are growing up...which is why we're adding another :)

I took the pictures of both kids tonight to remember this perfect night of bedtime. Darton has now started going to bed with an array of toys. I really don't mind because he just plays himself to sleep. Tonight for the FIRST time he said he didn't want to rock and wanted to be with his truck and book in bed. Once I put him in, he initiated "Goodnight, momma" and "I love you." Now tomorrow night will probably be a different story!

Little Princessa below did everything she was asked of tonight in order to prep for bed. She got herself dressed, pulled out her bed, turned off her room light, turned on her closet light, plugged in the bathroom nightlight, and began reading while waiting for me to finish with Darton!!! And you can tell she was quite proud! :)

It's 9:40p and the lastest I've been to bed all week. This nauseousness is killing me! The kids are being troopers though and understand that the baby in my tummy is causing mommy to be sick. Adeline tells the baby to "stop making mommy sick." Darton today informed me he now has a baby in his tummy. Adeline informed us last week that she has a kangaroo in hers! And we're not the only people she tells!! Hilarious.

Easter

For the third year now Scott was the head Easer egg dyer in the family. I sat on the couch trying to be as unnauseous as possible ;)

Dman carefully getting an egg out of the coffee cup. No dying egg packages here. Very very few plastic eggs to be found as well as classic Easter candy. I put small Christmas candy canes in the plastic eggs (given to me b/c I couldn't find any) and made small baggies with a mini brownie muffin and a few Easter stickers. On the hunt in the Botanical Gardens. I organized another hunt this year. Most expats leave for the week of Samana Santa (which is pretty much Spring Break but a religious spin on it since it is always the week leading into Easter). There were a few families around who hadn't left the country or the city to hunt eggs with us. One family that joined us is American but has lived here for 15yrs and their kids had never hunted eggs since they have adopted more Dominican than American traditions. Pobre mi esposo. You can tell he wasn't feeling so hot when you do a close up of is eyes. He stuck it out though.

And also..

We were also recommended to use this product alongside Sinusin when Adeline was 15mths old and having sinus issues (nothing mjor). We still use this product but not as regularly as the others and it is safe to use on newborns.

When We Get Sick

I've been meaning to post this now for a few weeks. When I find something that works for us I can't wait to tell other people :)

When the kids show signs of a weakened immune system, I give them

I will also pump their systems with Sambucus before traveling.

When they are having nasal problems, I give them

This last go around they had a nagging coufh and runny nose that people around us were saying they had had for a month. So I went to the local organic store and found a Hyland's product...healed in two days.

On a semi-regular basis they are given Nordic Naturals Nordic Berries Multivitamin. When Scotty starts feeling ill he pumps his immune system with Vitamin C and Echinacea. If he feels like it's a bit more serious than a minor cold, he takes

I just finished making my first homeopathic tincture - ImLife Tincture and we'll use that especially for Scott and I like I do the Sambucus for the kids and if we run out of Sumbucus then I can give it to the kids. We'll see how it works. Hope these products work as well for you as they do for us!