Ecuador Day 45

Feb 1-Sorry we didn't post yesterday. Our internet was out all day. That just added to my frustration that we didn't hear from MJ about our Decree either; and that is with my calling her three times (she never returned my calls).

Two exciting things DID happen yesterday though, first, Flor lost her first tooth! At least we think this is her first tooth-- it is the only one currently missing in her mouth so we are guessing so. We didn't even know that she had any loose teeth. It is one of her top front teeth and luckily we were able to rescue it from her bed. So yay for that!

Second, Jacer turned 11 months old! We have now celebrated his turning 10 months and 11 months old while here. It is hard to believe that he's almost a year old! Heaven help me be home for my baby's first birthday. I don't think I would take it very well if I wasn't. Anyway- a few things about Jace at 11 months before we continue since I kept a rather detailed record for every other month (except 10) for him and I want to remember these things.

Jace at 11 months:
*Weighs 26 pounds, according to the doctor's office yesterday. We suspect that he has lost some weight while here and while being sick.
*Army crawls like a mad man and is starting to climb up on things. He gets up on his knees and can stand on furniture, but does not "cruise." He also does not crawl normally. I am not sure if he ever will.
*Has 9 teeth and seems to be cutting a few more. We noticed the other day that one of these 9 teeth is a molar! No wonder he has been crabby!
*Jace says "hola" (his favorite word), "dada", and sometimes if I am lucky "mama". He also likes the sounds "yayaya" and "bababa".
*Jace has a really cheesy grin, much like Hallie did at this age. He likes to ham it up.
*Jace eats anything and everything. He eats table food mostly and has cut way back on the formula. In fact, we brought 7 full things of formula from Costco for while here, and we still have 3 full ones after nearly 7 weeks. (And sidenote: we really should not have packed formula at all-- when we got here, the first day at the grocery store, we noticed that Enfamil (the large large can-- like the size of the Costco cans) is only $16 here. WHAT? )

We sure love our handsome boy!

Yesterday morning, Devin took Jace's "samples" in to the doctor's office to have them tested. Everything came back negative for a urinary infection, so we don't really know what is going on. We know something IS going on, though, as his fever has continued and we have to keep up on his Tylenol doses or else it gets out of control. I supposed we will just have to see what is up when he gets back with Devin on Tuesday. The funny thing about the situation though is that as we were reading the paper of instructions from the doctor yesterday (remember the one where she wrote how to put cream on him and how to give him Tylenol), we noticed that according to her letterhead, she went to medical school in Brazil. So, when Devin went back in, he asked her if she speaks Portuguese, and sure enough she does. Could have saved us some embarrassment the day before with our horrid Spanish. Oh, well!

Yesterday afternoon, we went out and about for a little bit. Devin and Jace needed hair cuts, so we went to a little barbershop that the Schinnerers had been to and recommended. It was a fun little shop and the barber did a great job. Devin even had the barber shave him. He quite enjoyed that experience, nearly falling asleep. The man shaved him a straight, old fashioned razor and went over it three times. Hopefully that will last a little longer!

After haircuts and shaves, we walked past the Megamaxi on our way home to pick up a few things. There are some things that are cheaper here, as evidenced by our bill yesterday. We bought a thing of salt (we have used up all of Andres's), two limes, and two big carrots. The bill came to 82 cents. The limes were 6 cents total and the carrots 20 cents total.

We stopped for ice cream on our way home at KFC's "Krushers." KFC is HUGE here (like on every corner) and they have expanded into ice cream as well. They had simple cones when I was here before, but I never noticed the solo ice cream shops. They have ice cream cones, sundaes, dulce de leches, and shakes. It is quite yummy. Good for ol' KFC.

Nothing too exciting happened during the evening, except that the kids went to bed early and we also went to bed early so that we could be ready to get up early for our trip to Cotopaxi today with the Schinnerers. That post will be coming.

Halster wanted her picture taken of her braids. Her hair is finally long enough to do braids in the back, which she has been wanting me to do for months. I have a feeling we will be doing this hair-do a lot.

Ready to be shaved

Jacer's turn for a cut.

He was such a good boy- he sat there and just looked at himself in the mirror. Such a cute handsome.

The boys with their new do's. Okay, Jace and his new 'do and Devin and his new shave. Devin's hat is obviously covering his hair.

This picture is actually from today, but shows Flor's missing tooth! We tried to get a picture yesterday, but she was uncooperative. Pablo was making her laugh in the van ride home today though and we were able to get some cute pictures.