Making Up For Lost Time: June 2010

June marked:

A visit from Grandma and a mini vacation to Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs


My baby's 2nd haircut


My baby's 2nd birthday (celebrated early in Colorado Springs)


Halfway through June, I borrowed a camera from a friend, and a week later my mom gave me a new camera as an early birthday present. After 4 1/2 months of no pictures, I'm trying to make up for lost time...

June 14 - n*k*d time in the car seat


June 15 - afternoon visit to Kieth's daddy's barber shop


June 16 - showing off strong abs


June 17 - a favorite spot at Whole Foods


June 18 - an afternoon visit with Murphy at the pawn shop


June 19 - konked out in the car


June 20 - exploring tunnels at Glen Eyrie


June 21 - exploring Native American cliff dwellings


June 22 - exploring Old Colorado City


June 23 - baby and Grandma at the Glen Eyrie Castle


June 24 - wearing a potty hat


June 25 - watering flowers with Ticha


June 26 - morning-after-birthday breakfast


June 27 - fun with mud at the park


June 28 - racing our new vacuum cleaner to the office


June 29 - sound asleep


June 30 - hide and seek in the office safe


And a few Mamatoto pictures:

A Month in Our Life: April 2010

Still no money for a new camera to replace the one that was stolen, so here are a few notes from April:

• Both bottom two-year molars came in
  
• First four-syllable word: dandelion
• First three-word phrase: mama blue car
• Other three-word phrases: dirty blue car, dirty gray car
  
• His term for fish in a fish tank: agua birdie
• My baby has quite a lot of upper body strength. He can pull himself up onto a high chair and climb the side of our bookshelf.
• My baby is still obsessed about keeping things clean. If he spots a tiny crumb (so small that I have to get on my hands and knees to even see it), he either picks it up and puts it in the basura (trash can) or cries out "blue on, blue on" (referring to the blue vacuum cleaner at the office). He would vacuum all day if he could. Unfortunately, the office vacuum cleaners are too loud to run when our landlord has clients in the office, so we only get to vacuum after they leave at night.
• My baby is also concerned with putting things away in their proper place. If we are in a grocery store parking lot and he spies an abandoned shopping cart, he doesn't rest until we have pushed all the out-of-place shopping carts back where they belong!
• OH DEAR! My baby picked up this phrase from the adorable book Sheep in a Jeep. He says it often - up to 5 times a minute. It's quite catchy: I now say it, our roommates now say it, people at church now say it, people at the office now say it. Amazing how influential a baby can be!
  

A Month in Our Life: March 2010

Still no camera! So here is a few brief "journal entries" to memorialize fun things that happened this month.

The last thing we do before leaving the office every night is to put our toys and books into baskets. One night a client came in right before closing time and stayed about 1 1/2 hours, so by the time she was gone my baby was over-tired and definitely ready for bed, and the room was a disaster . I bent down to put a few things in my bag, and when I stood up the entire room was perfectly clean! My baby walked over to me and started to pull the bag towards the door. He may not be able to tell me with words that he's ready to go, but his communication skills are impeccable.

Our first year in Denver, we lived with my brother's wife's parents, affectionately termed Oma and Opa. We didn't see them much after moving out last November, but recently started going to their church and so now see them at least once a week. The first Sunday we saw them at church, my baby was so overjoyed he couldn't stop saying Oma and Opa. He woke up and went to sleep saying Oma and Opa! And now every time we drive into the church parking lot, he starts saying Oma Opa Oma Opa. I guess he misses them!

New skills this month include walking up and down stairs without holding on to anything, walking on his heels, and walking backwards.

My spare time has turned a bit crazy. The end of last month, God graciously brought me a sizable contract with an attorney. Each night I complete what I need to do for my own clients, then work at least two hours for him. I try and make it into the attorney's office at least once a week, plus I organize/clean house for a friend one morning a week and babysit at church two to three times a week. Beginning mid-April, I will be cutting my hours at the office down from six days a week to five. But at the same time I will be starting studies for a three-year Master Herbalist course, as well as training to be a La Leche League leader. I'm excited about each new opportunity, but am not sure exactly when I will have time to sleep, much less blog!

A Month in Our Life: February 2010

Our month began with a trip back to Washington State - a second (late) Christmas with the entire family. (My brothers both had to work on Christmas, so they weren't able to fly in for the "real thing.") My baby had lots of fun playing with his cousins, and I enjoyed seeing how big each had grown since last seeing them in person.

We were blessed to have an entire airplane row to ourselves both coming and going, and my baby loved moving from seat to seat, clicking the seat belt together, then unbuckling it, clicking it together again, then unbuckling it... I have always wondered why the flight attendants demonstrate how seat belts work, especially since they only do the demonstration after everyone is already supposed to be buckled in. Now that I know a 20 month old can figure it out on his own, I'm really wondering...

Reading up on airplane emergency procedures:


Sadly, I lost my camera (had it stolen?) near the beginning of the month. Of course, my baby seems to have done more cute things this month than the other 18 months of his life, and I had no way to photograph them. But here are two cute stories that exemplify our month. As a backgrounder, my baby's favorite phrase is "uh oh" (which he says any time something breaks or falls apart) and his two current obsessions are vacuums and poop.

1. The hose attachment on his toy vacuum broke off, and every time he catches sight of the broken vacuum he say's "uh oh." I tried multiple times to tape the hose back on, but it never stays long, especially since my baby likes to push the vacuum back and forth as fast as possible in an attempt to "re-break" it. One morning the tape came loose and the hose fell off. After saying "uh oh," my baby took off his diaper and proceeded to try and tape himself!
2. My baby stopped telling me he had to go potty a month or so ago. But he immediately takes his diaper off as soon as he wets or messes his diaper. Whenever there is poo poo in the diaper, we wrap the diaper up like a burrito and my baby walks the diaper through to the bathroom, places it on the floor, carefully unwraps it, picks the diaper up, and with my help dumps it in the toilet. He panics and cries if he has to wait for our routine - after all, who wants to sit there and look at poo poo - so even when there is a client in the office we quickly excuse ourselves to take care of business. One day as we dropped the poo poo in the toilet, it broke into two pieces and he blurted out "uh oh, uh oh."
   

The One Year Mark

The last week of February marked one year in business as Immigration Solutions LLC. During this first year I have had paying clients from the following countries:

Burkina Faso


Colombia


Cuba


El Salvador


Ethiopia


Gabon


The Gambia


Ghana


Guinea


Iraq


Mexico


Peru


United States

Mexican states represented include:

Aguascalientes
Chihuahua
Distrito Federal
Durango
Estado de Mexico
Guanajuato
Hidalgo
Jalisco
Michoacan
Morelos
Nuevo Leon
Tamaulipas
Veracruz
Zacatecas

Thank you, Lord, for an interesting first year! I have learned about countries I didn't know existed, and have helped people file for immigration benefits I thought only attorneys could do. I wonder what next year will bring...??