A Delivery to Remember...

Not to say that every delivery is not forever, permanently marked into your memory for all time - but this one in particular, I am sure, I will NEVER forget.

Starting Monday morning around 1 am, Caleb lost his cookies. This continued  every hour or so into Tuesday morning. So we watched lots of Thomas the Train, and hung out on the couch together all night/morning long. John and I kept Caleb in his room the entire time watching movies in a vain attempt to keep Hannah from getting whatever Caleb had. As Tuesday morning rolled around, Caleb started feeling a little better and John and I were just about to walk out the door for my OB appointment when Hannah lost all her cookies on the kitchen floor. Our poor Empleada, Ines, feverishly worked to clean up the mess as we left the house for our appointment - everyday I am grateful that Ines enjoys hanging out with my children so much; even when they are REALLY sick!

 

John and I headed off to my OB appointment, and it turned out that since my blood pressure was still high, our doctor decided to induce me right there in the office. The interesting thing was that she sent me home after the induction was started to labor at home - this was nice but totally never would have happened in the States. The induction worked really well and within an hour I was having noticeable contractions. I labored at home, sleep deprived with my poor sick children - it was pretty awful. As evening rolled around the kids started feeling a little better and when we put them to bed I breathed a sigh of relief. John and I headed to bed, but by this time there was no way I was going to sleep through the contractions, and it did not matter anyway because about an hour after I went to bed Hannah was up wanting to be held. I was super grateful that at this point she was not throwing up, she was just wanting comfort. Some of you might be asking where is John in all of this as the pregnant lady is laboring with sick children - well that evening John caught the bug too - yep pretty horrible. John could not get up with Hannah because the poor guy was so sick. We did not know how we were going to make it to the hospital especially with him in the bathroom every 30-40 minutes.
 

Into the morning, at about 2 am, I finally went in and told John that we needed to go to the hospital. I think John looked at me like I was half crazy. He was still pretty out of it and I decided to go wait a little longer for him to gather himself. I remember sitting on the couch crying thinking about how I was going to do this one on my own - I know some Spanish but not enough to go through a delivery. It was looking dim. John told me later that he was praying that God would hold off my contractions until he stopped throwing up. About a half hour later I told John we really, really needed to get to the hospital or pretty soon I would not be walking and he would be carrying me. John mustered up the strength and we called a friend to come over and watch the kids. We were so grateful that our friends got us a taxi when they came over. We found that the streets of Arequipa at three in the morning were completely empty, and that would have been a LONG walk to the hospital.

 

The taxi driver drove us right up to the emergency room of the hospital, and I think John and I looked at each other wondering if it was even open. There were a few lights on and one door open - and where was everyone?? It took us a few minutes to find one of the hospital staff, and once we did they took John over for payment and me behind a small sheet in the corner to start admitting baby and I.

 

 I am not going to go into all the details here, but I will say this - privacy and asking permission are not the same here in the Peru - enough said.

 

The nurses asked for the baby clothes and blankets that I had for the baby as they dress the baby in the clothes you bring after delivery. They thought we were crazy because I did not bring super warm clothes for the baby. Back in the States we have central heating in our hospitals - yes, that is right, there was no heat in the hospital. It was about 50 degrees outside and about 60 degrees inside the hospital. The nurses were wearing down coats at work. John and I were wishing we had thought about this before, as John was only in a sweatshirt - he did not even think about bringing a jacket! They wheeled me up to the laboring floor completely covered from head to toe in blankets. I could not even see where I was going. Not knowing the language and my head completely covered, unable to see I though to myself, "What have I gotten myself into?"

 

Upon arriving in the room we received our one roll of toilet paper we would need during our stay, my one and only gown, and a bed - nothing fancy. We had the room to ourselves for a while and later we ended up sharing our room. It was so cold in the room that John asked for a blanket and they looked at him like he was silly saying: "Blankets are only for the patients." They must have had pity on us as they brought John a small blanket. I was covered in four blankets and was still freezing. One of the reasons the room was so cold was because the windows are not insulated , resulting in the wind coming right in through the cracks. As we sat and stared at the window we could see the blinds moving back and forth from the breeze - it was going to be a long, cold night.

 

Shortly after we arrived they began the induction with a gravity IV drip of pitocin, nothing like the IVs we get in the States. If I turned my arm one way I felt more contractions and if I turned my arm the other way the contractions would lessen. There were no fetal heart monitors, only a heart doppler for baby which got checked every few hours. According to the rules at the hospital, only my doctor could check my progress. Since no other staff doctors or nurses were allowed to check me, we never really knew how far along I was in the whole labor process. My doctor was actually Really Great! She was always willing to work with us. She came in when we arrived in the emergency room, and she came by before clinic that morning to see how I was doing. A few hours after she came by, my contractions were progressively getting more intense, so John checked me to see if I was making progress - they never said John couldn't check me right? I had been laboring with decent contractions since Tuesday morning around eleven and now it was nine o'clock on Wednesday and I was only at 4.5-5cm!? Not fair! The good news though was that my doctor said at 4-5 cm I could get an epidural. We had discussed this with our doctor a few weeks ago and she said we could get one. Initially we thought that we could not get an epidural, so this was good news to me!

 

So being at a 4-5 the hospital staff was going to send me down to "la sala de parto" - the delivery room where you "da la luz" or "give the light" - an interesting way of looking at it huh? We were getting ready to head down to the delivery room when the nurses looked at us and said, "Okay are you ready for your C-section?" John and I said,"NO." Apparently epidurals are so rare here that they thought if I was getting medicine, I must be getting a C-section. John thought he cleared up this problem with the nurses and we continued our trip to the delivery room. The same thing happened a couple of more times, and they even tried to wheel me into the C-section room. Thank goodness John had seen the delivery room before I was wheeled down there so he knew they were

taking me to the wrong room!

 

As we made it to the delivery room, I was wondering if I was going to survive this delivery. Once we got there they moved me to the delivery bed which had wood side rails! Not something I've seen before. Now I was  really starting to get worried. Another doctor who worked with our doctor was in charge of me until my doctor could come from clinic. This other doctor came in and checked me only to say that I was not at a 4.5 to 5 but only a 3 and she was not going to give me an epidural. She said I could not get an epidural until I was 5 or 6 or possibly 8 or 9! WHAT?!!! John was frustrated and inside I was livid! We were both confused as I knew John knew how to check me, and he would never have lied to me just to get an epidural - even if I wanted him to.

 

We sat there for what seemed like forever, which was only 30 minutes or so, until our doctor arrived. She immediately checked me and agreed with John that I was at a 5 and we could get our epidural right away. John and I were both relieved to say the least! I got my epidural - which was a little different from my last two. Instead of having a constant regulated dose, I just recieved one dose of medication and if I wanted more, I would have had to ask and get more - it was not a constant drip. So, this might have been nice to know before delivery. This explains why the end of delivery was more painful than I had remembered the others being. It worked out perfectly though. It was just enough medication to take the edge off, but I was still able to walk right after delivery. I think this is the way to go.

 

After I got the epidural my doctor broke my water, and within an hour Hudson was here! The cool part was that John got to deliver our son. John helped me make it through the last part of delivery, as there was no one there to count for me or hold my legs - just John and I. We pulled it off together. Little did I know that after John caught Hudson he nearly caught his scrubs on fire with the kerosene open-flamed heater that had been turned on to warm up the room for the baby. Apparently they had set up the heater about 3 feet in back of where John was delivering but they did not tell him. When he stepped back after delivering Hudson, he noticed that his leg was feeling quite warm. He looked down and there was the flame and three holes burned into the scrubs that they'd given him. Craziness!

 

Finallly, Hudson Elias Washburn was born on July 3rd at 1:05pm weighing in at 5lbs, 14oz. What a tiny little guy! We both thought for sure he would be bigger than that, but I did only gain 25 lbs with this pregnancy. All of the walking we did over these last few weeks kept me from gaining weight I think.

 

If you're interested in why we chose his name, we really admire Hudson Taylor and his willingness to be one of the first missionaries to serve God in central China. He inspired many people to serve God including Nate Saint and Billy Graham. There are many very interesting books about him if you'd like to learn more. Hudson's middle name is Spanish for Elijah and means "The Lord is my God". We hope that someday Hudson will make the Lord his God and that he will serve Him wherever the Lord leads him to serve.

 

So shortly after delivery they wisked Hudson away saying they wanted to keep him for observation. John explained to the pediatrician that we wanted to breastfeed, and the pediatrician said, "No problem," and that he would be right up - so three hours later Hudson still was not in our room! John had to hunt around the hospital to find our son and once he did they told him he would be up to our room at 4pm. So at 4pm he was still not there and we sure did miss him! At about 5 pm he finally arrived in our room. Things just work a little differently here - that is all there is to it.

 

We were happy to have our little guy and we left the hospital the next day. I did take a few pictures of our hospital room. We had a TV which was in purple because it was a little old but otherwise worked fine. The room had a bathroom attached with a shower, but it wasn't stocked. There were no towels or soap which made washing our hands a little interesting, but again it worked out. I cannot complain though becuase John had a couch to sleep on and I had a bed that was electric and could move up and down!

 

This was one of the nicest hospitals in Arequipa and we feel blessed to have had Hudson here. As the fourth of the July rolled around the next day I felt a much deeper gratitude and appreciation for our country.

 

UPDATE:

 

The kids have still been really sick so we started treatment for Giardia yesterday. They have definitely improved over the last 24 hours so we are hoping this solves our problem. Poor Caleb has lost a fair amount of weight, and Hannah has been super grumpy - understandably so. We have had some LONG days and nights with our sick children and our new little guy. Pray that we can all get healthy again!

 

Our First Week of Language School & A Mouse in the House

 

Starting off the week well...trying to shew a mouse out of the house. The mouse was quite frightened, as was I. The mouse was jumping in the air, as was I. It was quite the sight to see. Too bad we do not have it on video. So the mouse poison is out - not in the house of course because of the kiddos, but outside. Hopefully this will solve our little problem, as our little problem has already wreaked havoc on my oversized bag of oatmeal!

 

It has been an interesting couple of weeks : we have started language school, John went to his first clinic here in Arequipa, and I went to a doctors appointment where the doctor never showed up!

Language school is going well. It has been quite busy for us though. John goes to classes in the morning and I go in the afternoon. I come home and spend a couple of hours cooking dinner, and then we spend a little "together time" as a family before the kiddos head to bed. After the kiddos head to bed it's homework time! We spend a couple of hours on homework each night. I wash the dishes and the laundry, and then we head to bed. Late nights, early mornings - are we in college again??? Language school is going well, and we are enjoying perfecting our Spanish. Sometimes we are so consumed with Spanish I feel like we are losing our ability to speak English!
 

Here we are enjoying a little family time watching a movie, and eating some popcorn. This is one of the kids favorite things to eat for sure.

  The kids are doing much better this week than the last. They seem to be adjusting a little bit better. Caleb is enjoying all of his toys and Hannah is enjoying all of her stuffed animals. Caleb has started speaking some Spanish as well - not intiated by us - which is kind of cool to hear. Hannah is becoming more vocal as well, saying "UP" for everything! They are growing up so fast. Caleb is adjusting to the idea that he will have a brother soon - not sure if he really understands but he seems excited.   John visited a clinic in Arequipa today. He was able to join another group of doctors and see a few patients in a school that served as a clinic about thirty minutes from here. He is learning many good lessons about patient care and how that differs from back home. He also got to help diagnose a case of placenta previa and help with some minor surgical procedures today as well.  He enjoyed being able to practice medicine again even though that is not our main focus during language school. It is quite important that we speak Spanish well before we can truly help people - minor details huh??   I also went to my 37 wk doctors appointment this week. It was supposed to be at 5 pm. When 6 pm rolled around John and I decided to head out to a "welcome party" some friends were throwing for a few of us newbies. Since there were several people waiting in front of us and the doctor still wasn't there, John and I decided to call it a night. Here appointment times are not really "appointment times", they are suggested times when you might want to see a doctor. Just because your "appointment time" is at 5pm, it does not mean you will see a doctor at 5pm , more like 6:30 or 7pm. Everyone just shows up and it is first come first serve. Not sure what happened at my last "appointment time" but we are assuming she was delivering  a baby. She is the doctor, nurse, secretary, and cashier, so we never got a call telling us why she wasn't there. Oh well. Good thing I am married to a doctor huh? I just hope she is there for the delivery. Be praying for us as I could deliver any time -woohoo!   Saturday is market day for us. We get most of our fruits and veggies that day. The market is only a couple of blocks away so we pack our bags full and head home with our fruits/veggies for the week. It has been such a fun experience for me and the kiddos. I get to use a little bit of my Spanish and get to know the local vendors and Caleb enjoys bringing his basket and helping me carry apples. They have pretty much everything at the market to include huge slices of meat they sell right out of the back of their cars. Definitely a little different than your everyday trip to Target - but hey it's fresh right. Everything has to be sanitized, which usually takes a few hours. We only have one sink and very little counter space so sometimes it can be a little challenging but I think I am starting to get the hang of it. I buy everything in bulk, sanitize it, freeze it, or make bulk quantities of sauces (or other things) so that I do not have to cook as much during the week. Cooking takes quite a while when you have a small stove, you have to boil your water to wash with, and then you have to handwash your dishes. I have never been so grateful for hot water or the dishwasher I had in the States. I think I appreciate that appliance a little more now.

 

We are super excited to pick up a package hopefully this week. Some friends of ours have sent us a little something in the mail, and we cannot wait to pick it up! We just have to coordinate our schedules with the schedule of the post office...not always an easy task.

Praising God for:

(1) John and Caleb took a nasty fall this week into a drainage ditch full of water. Hannah was on John's back as well but she made it without a crash. The only injury we had ended up being a rather large bump on Caleb's head. He is fine, and we are happy everyone is safe. Walking a night can be kind of dangerous with the condition of the sidewalks.

(2) That we did not burn our kitchen down, after discovering a charred plastic and cardboard box underneath our oven. Apparently some pieces to the oven were in the bottom drawer of the oven, which gets incredibly hot, and all this time I thought I was smelling "new oven" - um no that is burnt plastic! The oven gets so hot when I cook that even I cannot touch the outside of the oven. Good thing we taught the kids not to touch the oven.

We Have MOVED In!

 

We are so excited to announce that we have moved into our apartment here in Arequipa. We have been a little busy trying to make this place look more like a home so we have been off the grid for a while. Our internet, which we got a few days ago works wonderfully - which is super exciting for us and our families :)
 

 

The house is coming along. We have couches, a table, a refrigerator, a stove, a washing machine (they do not really do dryers here in Peru and they do not need to because it is so arid here), a mircowave (!!) and we all have beds. The most important things of course. Actually buying all of those objects was quite interesting - each item (including all three beds) were bought at different stores. This might sound like no big deal but it has proven quite exhausting, especially for the pregnant woman (me). We feel so blessed though to have all that we do and most missionaries in other countries probably do not have all of the items listed above. In some ways we feel quite spoiled and in other ways well we just need to suck it up and take it :) It was an adventure buying each item and seeing how we would get it home. For example, our dining room table with 6 chairs went sort of like this in our subaru taxi - 6 chairs in back of the car, which is where I actually road home, and the kids twin mattresses on top of the subaru, with the actual dining room table on top of the mattresses, and of course John road in the front seat to direct the taxi driver to our apartment. Needless to say with every turn we took I cringed at the thought of seeing our table in the middle of the street. The table made it home safely and so did we. I only wish we had taken our camera!!

 

Another totally typical scene around here.

 

 

Our microwave did just stop working today but apparently it is quite normal for things not to work. So John tried to return it. They told us they do not exchange but they will fix it with their technicians and call us back within 15 days. We will see how that goes.

 

Currently, John is glueing together a computer desk for us. We bought it as a kit, here at a store similiar to Home Depot back home. John is laughing at the fact that he has to glue it together with "assembly glue" also known as Elmers Glue!
 

 We have been busy filling the house with all of our stuff as well. It has been a fun week of unpacking all of the bins we brought. The kids have had a great time with all of their "new" toys - to them it seems like Christmas. We have all of the bins unpacked and mostly everything in its allotted place. It has been interesting putting things in our house since we have NO dressers?! I find this a bit different but hey I guess built in closets in all of the rooms works too right? Everything fits but my room feels odd with no dresser. I am sure I will get over it :)

 

We do have hot water in our showers, but this is the only place we have hot water. So for dishes everyday I boil LOTS of water to wash with. Cooking here takes 5 times as long, and washing the dishes takes even longer. I do not have a double sink so I think this lengthens the process as well, but we are making adjustmenst to make this cooking thing easier. John is willing to do whatever it takes so that I cook for him :)

 

John and I also celebrated our 5 year anniversary at the end of May. We just spent the day in the city without the children - it was definitely refreshing. To top of the day we walked home in the beautiful Arequipa weather only to hear a trash truck playing the Fur Elise as it picked up everyone's trash in the street. Yes, the trash trucks here play the funniest tunes - even The Little Mermaids "Under the Sea". We defnitely took video because we just could not help it!

 

We had a freak wind storm this week. Tin was blowing off of peoples houses, and schools were closed. Our laundry room is actually open to the air so tons of dirt/cement blew in and clogged up our sink for our laundry - which led to the washer overflowing with water. The weather has been quite strange here lately - EVEN RAINING!
 

 

Well it has been a long day, so this post is not going to get proofread - sorry guys :). The kids are having fun but are having a difficult time with the move and us being away so often. Pray for an easy adjustment for them as we will start language school next week. We are also having some troubles applying for the kids visas so pray that that goes smoothly and that John does not have to make yet another flight to Lima. We also have a doctors appointment coming up on Friday, so we will keep you posted.

 

On that note, we were looking at baby toys and some of the same brands they have in the States cost $50.00 or more. For BABY TOYS! John and I thought we would be able to find lots of cheaper Peruvian versions here but for some reason we cannot seem to find much. Aparently most of the time the little babies are across their mother's backs while they work/sell things, so there appears to not really be time for toys. When they get to be Caleb's age (2-3) they start preschool full time here. Not sure I am ready to part with my boy for preschool, although we are thinking about putting him in a jardin (kindergarten) just so he will learn Spanish. Pray that God gives us direction on this!

 

 

Finding a House

 

After looking through SEVERAL ads, we have managed to find an apartment for the five of us to call home for the next several months.

 

We will try to get some pictures up soon. It is on a quiet street - the gate on both ends keeps traffic down to a minimum. We found something on the first floor, which we are super, super grateful for. Most of the apartments we looked at were on the third or fourth floor. Here in Arequipa the windows are maybe two feet above the ground and very easy for children to open - can you see the problem I am getting at here? 

 

We do have a guard dog who lives on the third floor/roof, and his name is Rambo. Our landlord also lives right above us so that is comforting too. We do not have a great view but at least I know if  my children fall out of the window everything would be okay.

 

It is a three bedroom apartment, smaller than our house we had in the States which was about 1000sq ft. So it is pretty tiny, but again out of our options this was a great deal for the price. It was actually just built too, so everything is nice and new.

 

Since we are moving to Curahuasi where we knew the chances of obtaining a furnished place was extremely slim we decided to get an unfurnished house here. In the future this will be very helpful because we will have everything we need for the move to Curahausi after our language school is finished. Curahuasi is extremely small and really only has a couple of produce markets/a few local restaurants. This task of furnishing an ENTIRE house has proven quite exhausting and daunting. Imagine obtaining everything in your entire house at MULTIPLE (~ 40 different) stores/open markets, with children in hand, and only being able to carry as much as you can in your hands. Having to walk to every store, and then not having a car to take things home in has definitely gotten us into shape over these last couple of weeks :)

 

 Our hope of starting language school next week is dimming, but that is okay. We would rather have a home established and a safe place for the kids before we start on full time language school.

 

On another note, I (Crystal) flew to Lima yesterday by myself - I am getting brave! I went to get my carnet (visa). Mine was ready to be picked up but unfortunately John's was not ready. We spent about three hours sitting and waiting and standing in line. The reason we did not have to stay that long (even though I consider three hours to be long) is because I get "preferential" treatment for being pregnant. Yes, here in Peru if you are pregnant or with small children you get priority in store lines, aiport lines, bus seats - practically everything. That is a nice perk for sure -and this is the only reason I managed to catch my flight back to Arequipa last night. Lesson learned - I need to give myself a little more time to get to the airport. The traffic in Lima is less than desirable. But hey, I made it!

 

We have learned a very valuable lesson while here in Peru - If you can accomplish one thing in a day, you are doing a wonderful job. Seems crazy right? Well it is true, and our definition of being "productive" has definitely changed.

Here is a picture of Hannah in a handmade dress. Sometimes it is just nice to have things that look pretty, even if you know they will get horribly dirty.
 

Lots of things going on right now...

 

I should really be handwashing my dishes right now but I am definitely procrastinating. On that note though, the whole "handwashing" the dishes is not as bad as I would have thought. However, someday I would not mind having a dishwasher again :) Hey most people in the world do not have dishwashers right? So right now I am just fitting right in.

 

We are trying to find an apartment to live in more permanently while we are here learning the language in Arequipa. We are here for 6 to 9 months and cannot really stay in the guest house that long. Finding an apartment might seem like no big deal but it is much different here. There are literally hundreds of "for rent" ads in the local paper - amongst thousands of other ads for other things - and rarely do they include a description or price they want for rent. This has been quite a process. Our mentor couple has done loads of work to help us accomplish this and we are coming down to our final decisions. We have one more place to look at tomorrow and we will make our decision. We are really hoping to find a place close to the language school, close to food, and big enough to support our growing family of three kids almost under three years of age. Pray for guidance.

Happy Birthday to our little Man!
 

Today was Caleb's third birthday. He had such a wonderful day. We brought a play tent from the States with us when we moved and had it all set up this morning with balloons our friends had given us for Caleb while we were in the States. Caleb and Hannah had such a great time playing in it today. We also went out to eat with some friends at a little restaurant that had some fun toys to keep the kids entertained. Caleb really enjoyed playing with his friends, and now is sleeping soundly after his fun filled day. He also enjoyed his "brownie cake" - okay so it was just brownies but I had to add the word "cake" to it. It just makes it sound more festive and immediately satisfied my little guy.

 

We are so blessed to have Caleb in our lives and we look forward to seeing the wonderful plans God has for him. He is such an energetic little guy - who never stops running in circles (could he be a future track star :)??? ).He is a great little helper and full of compassion. He loves all airplanes, helicopters, and trains and shows everyone all of his toys every time we go out. He talks to everyone in English and even though they cannot understand him he just keeps talking. I never imagined in a million years what a talker he would be. He is so curious about the world and narrates everything. He memory is impecable, I mean if I could have a tenth of it I would be doing well. As it is I feel like I cannot remember anything these days. We just love having Caleb in our family - that is just all there is to it! We love you little guy!

Hannah's First Steps

 

We actually caught Hannah's first step on video. Hard to believe she will be walking soon and that Caleb turns three tomorrow. Time goes by so fast!!!

  

Thanks to John for figuring out how to get this video up here.

Hooray!! Our luggage Has Arrived!!

So grateful that our luggage arrived a few days ago. Some friends of ours offered to drive our luggage from Lima to Arequipa and ran into some car trouble along the way. They drove 15 hours while we took a 1 hour plane ride. Crazy huh? The mountains are treacherous, and the roads are windy. We are super glad they made it in safely despite trouble with their cars. These guys are veterans here and made sure to take along all of their tools in the backs of their trucks just in case something went wrong - good planning since the desert is unforgiving to broken down vehicles. They will use these newly purchased (well used) vehicles they bought in Lima to do work among the people of Cotahuasi who are not accessible by road. These four wheel drive vehicles will make their own roads!

Now do not get confused we are going to Curahasi not Cotahuasi - confusing huh?

By the way our doctors appointment went fine. Everything was in Spanish so I was a little out of the loop but John got most of it - I think :) We got to see baby - as the doctor told us this baby was definitely a "varon" (a boy). My water levels look good - which we are grateful for since this has been a problem in the past. The doctors here are a "one man show" - she did my ultrasound, blood pressure, took my money, and everything else. My next appointment is in a couple of weeks. We will keep you posted.

Everyone but John has been fighting a nasty head cold this week. Not fun at all. We are grateful John has not gotten it - as I have been out of commision and needed his help with the kiddos. We are also super grateful for good friends who brought us homemade chicken noodle soup (oh wait everything here is homemade :) ) and some wonderful spaghetti sauce for dinner. What an answer to prayer - literally. God knows what we need just when we need it huh?

 

We broke down and bought some peanut butter this week. It was 23 soles for a 16.3 oz jar of peanut butter. EXPENSIVE. So we use it sparingly :) Also we found an american brownie mix - which was again expensive since it is imported - AND we found chocolate chips. We know where to get them although I have not bought them yet. It looks to me like they are milk chocolate and who knows how they taste, but we will find out. We are trying not to stock a pantry till we find a more permanent place to live, so that we do not have to move more stuff.

Interesting facts about Peru:

 

* We just had rain here - it has been 27 years sinced it has rained here in the month of May. Can we say desert? This was on the frond page of the local paper.

* Diapers are individually wrapped and sold - depending on where you are. In Curahuassi you buy diapers one at a time. Here in Arequipa we can buy a pack but they are all individually wrapped.

* You do not eat icecream when it is cold as Peruvians think this will cause you to catch cold. You do not open windows here either for the same reason.

* Always, always, always check the water you buy - as it might be carbonated (con gas), which we are not used to.

* The garbage guy rings a very LOUD bell at 5:30 am when he comes by to pick up your trash nearly everyday of the week - this makes for some early mornings with the kiddos.

* Milk comes in a box - not a plastic container. We go through like 6-7 boxes a week.

 

 

This picture is off the internet but it looks exactly the same here.

 

OH AND...Hannah took her first unassisted step today. Get walking girl because baby number three is coming soon :) Just kidding, take your time.