Weekly Update: Airplanes, stuck arm, turtles....

Yes, we do live it paradise. It's still 35 out and it's the middle of November. But I do have my hard days where I do struggle, where I wish I could just be back home. Luckly those days do pass and I try to focus on the positive things in my life and the blessing I have to be thankful for.

Heres what we were up to this past week: Lincoln likes the new movie Disney Planes and apparently we need more planes. I found this craft on pinterist and thought it might fill the needs of Lincoln's new plane obsession. He loved them!! and so did Lacey.

 He wants airplanes from Santa. He has now specified that they need to be the airplanes with eyes.  But the wait to Christmas is killing him.  He keeps asking, "is it only 2 more days?" These air planes are so cute, cheap and easy to make = hours of fun. Lacey also enjoyed playing with the air planes.

Lincoln got his arm stuck in our desk chair. I mean really stuck. I was up stairs putting Lacey down for a morning nap and when I came down stairs Lincoln was crying, not a fake cry, as real sad cry. I calmed him down and told him it would be okay and we'd get his arm out. I had no clue how he got his arm in the chair in the first place. I could not pull it out and his hand didn’t have enough room to come back through to straighten his arm first to pull it through. So I grabbed a knife and put it in a crack that was already there hoping to pry it open a bit giving his arm a bit more room to get it out.  Luckly this worked. When we got his arm out he bursted into tears. I think he was so glad to get them out. I think he learned his lesson and willn't be doing that again.

Lincoln hasn't been having naps for quit some time but that does mean he will fall asleep watching a movie one night before bed at 6:20pm, one day was even 5:30pm. He will then sleep throughout the night till 6:30 am. He must need it.

Lacey is a girl who likes to snack and walking around with her snacks. She gets so happy when I let her walk around with her snacks.

  Lacey also loves to color, and eat the crayons too. This girl thinks everything is food.

 All ready for church. Church gets really hot here, there is A/C in the chapel area and thats it. After sacrement meeting they use that room for the adult sunday school and priesthood. While the kids get to roast in these tiny primary room. It's not fair. I'm a primary teacher for the sunbeams so I roast too. We are so done church after 3 hours. How is it that the church's in Canada have A/C but not in the Caribbean. Make no sense to me. Church is always LONG and HOT.

We visited the Nature park here on St. Maarten. It's located in Cay Bay. The natural park reminded me of a farm. Kids loved it, they got to see chickens, ducks, horses and goats.

Water fun- we got to play at our friends pool in afternoon.

Our land lord Ting, is the sweetest lady. She lives just out side our gated community. She invited us over one day to see you turtles. She has 5 turtles and 2 baby that just hatched that day. Lincoln loved seeing them wonder around and he had fun feeding them some lettuce. Our land lord also has 3 dogs, 3 cats, coy fish, a bird and I think thats it. Its like a pet store. 

Thats just a few of the things we did this week.... we also had fun at the beach, went to the zoo (love feeding the monkey some grapes), hit the twist n' shake play centre at the blue mall. We try to do an outing each day to keep busy.

Josh also had it's Birthday this week.  So glad he's my husband and best friend. Josh and I were able to go out on a date. First date in 7 months. I sure miss my weekly date nights. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Jimbo's and it was really good. 

A wife of a med. student and her kids

We are loving St. Maarten. We still get to experience the island life but without feeling like we are living 30 years behind time like back in Statia! Don't get me wrong we aren't living a resort life style like some may think. Yes there are resorts on St. Maarten, but as soon as you drive down the road to where the locals live, there are parts that still look pretty 3rd world-ish. 

Update on the kids:
Lacey:
- Lacey claps for herself when ever she accomplishes something, because thats what we do that for her.
- She is very determined to eat with a fork and is doing very well with it.
- At 12 months she got her 3rd and 4th teeth (top 2 front teeth).
- If you ask her where something is and she doesnt know, she'll puts her hand up. it's so cute!
- Lacey loves climbing up on the couch and getting back down, its like a game to her.
- She loves saying "ya", "boo"
- Even thought she doesn't say to much yet she is very good at communicating what she wants. Very expressive.
- 13 months weights 17.5 lbs
- Lacey loves to share with Lincoln and is very concerned about others.
- This girl loves her dolly, stroller and beaded necklaces.
- Lacey has this head nod, its like a head bang movement. You definitely know when she is saying yes... :)
- At 14 months we took Lacey's bottle away and all has gone well so far. She was still getting it before both naps and at bed time. So I was wanting to try. The first two days I just put water in her bottle, she drank it anyway. On the third day nothing, but I give her milk before she went down in a zippy cup and she's done awesome. We are also keeping her soothing only in her bed for nap time and bedtime. Its worked great since she has something to look forward to and take her mind off of no bottle.

Lincoln:
- 3.5 yrs weights 27.5 lbs
- Loves practising his letter drawing. We haven't decided if Lincoln is left handed or right. He uses both and seems to have no problem with either hand... When lincoln first started using a fork I would always put it in his right hand and josh would do his left (josh is left handed) with out even thinking about it. So we don't know if thats why he still uses both hands, time will tell.
- Lincoln just had he's first primary presentation. We made sure we practised his parts at home each day. he knew his part pretty good. I was wondering if he'd actually say his part in from of everyone, and he did. He did awesome! Proud mommy moment for sure. 

We are making memorable moments on this adventure in the Caribbean. Some of the most challenging moments have been here too (days when we see Josh for a max of 1-2 hours the whole day). It has certainly been an experience of a lifetime. I couldn't think of better people to share this journey with than my little family.  I am so blessed to have such an understanding and supportive, caring and patient, loving, best friend, and husband.  I love being a stay at home mom and giving my kids all my attention. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Right now Lincoln and Lacey are busy and curious, which keeps me on my toes. Lacey wants to be held while I am cooking or doing laundry or when I'm giving Lincoln some attention. Lincoln wants me to build towers with him all day, play trains and cars, or play puppies or just love in the ocean/pool and become a fish. Their are times when they both want to be carried inside from the car, and need the same snack and drink at the exact same time. Or want cuddles in the middle of the night... I love my life and cherish moments with these two and I know they won't always be this small. I have to remind myself there is a time and season for all things and right now I am blessed to be caring for these perfect little beings.

I love being a mom, I love life!

My little Pirate

Here's some pictures I took of Lincoln's halloween costume this year. A little bit late since I never got time to take them till after Halloween but... So glad I did. They turned out really good. The location of the pictures is at a restaurant on boardwalk that I spotted one day on one of our walks.  The restaurant is boarded up and i've never seen it open. I knew it would be the perfect spot to take a few pictures. 

 Here's my little pirate!

The many faces of my little pirate Lincoln!

Halloween

Halloween in the Caribbean isn't the same as a Canadian Halloween, it doesn't seem to be as popular of a holiday as it is in Canada and the US, but we still decided to celebrate how we could. We did Halloween crafts to decorate our house, we painted coconuts to look it pumpkins as pumpkins were too expensive for my liking, I wasn't willing to pay $12 for a pumpkin. So we got creative and used the coconuts instead, it was lots of fun. Lincoln loved his pumpkin. He would push it in the stroller, wrap it up like a baby, lets just say it was well played with. I love keeping things simple and thats one thing I have learned to do while living here with a student budget.

We were able to attend two Halloween parties on the island that the kids really enjoyed. One was at a Montessori school....

The second one was put on by the med student wife's for their kids at the church building.

Caribbean Day Of Service

Today we went to help with a service project with the church to clean up the Gauna bay beach  for the Caribbean day of service and we had a fun surprise... Baby TURTLES hatching! We watched them come out of their nest and swim to the water. So cool!!!! I have to say it was pretty neat to see. Lincoln and Lacey loved watching the turtles make their way to the ocean to swim for the first time.

!

Marriage isn't for me

I came across an article titled "Marriage Isn't For Me" and I love it. So I wanted to share it with others. Here it is....

Having been married only a year and a half, I’ve recently come to the conclusion that marriage isn’t for me.

Now before you start making assumptions, keep reading.

I met my wife in high school when we were 15 years old. We were friends for ten years until…until we decided no longer wanted to be just friends. :) I strongly recommend that best friends fall in love. Good times will be had by all.

Nevertheless, falling in love with my best friend did not prevent me from having certain fears and anxieties about getting married. The nearer Kim and I approached the decision to marry, the more I was filled with a paralyzing fear. Was I ready? Was I making the right choice? Was Kim the right person to marry? Would she make me happy?

Then, one fateful night, I shared these thoughts and concerns with my dad.

Perhaps each of us have moments in our lives when it feels like time slows down or the air becomes still and everything around us seems to draw in, marking that moment as one we will never forget.

My dad giving his response to my concerns was such a moment for me. With a knowing smile he said, “Seth, you’re being totally selfish. So I’m going to make this really simple: marriage isn’t for you. You don’t marry to make yourself happy, you marry to make someone else happy. More than that, your marriage isn’t for yourself, you’re marrying for a family. Not just for the in-laws and all of that nonsense, but for your future children. Who do you want to help you raise them? Who do you want to influence them? Marriage isn’t for you. It’s not about you. Marriage is about the person you married.”

It was in that very moment that I knew that Kim was the right person person to marry. I realized that I wanted to make herhappy; to see her smile every day, to make her laugh every day. I wanted to be a part of her family, and my family wanted her to be a part of ours. And thinking back on all the times I had seen her play with my nieces, I knew that she was the one with whom I wanted to build our own family.

My father’s advice was both shocking and revelatory. It went against the grain of today’s “Walmart philosophy”, which is if it doesn’t make you happy, you can take it back and get a new one.

No, a true marriage (and true love) is never about you. It’s about the person you love—their wants, their needs, their hopes, and their dreams. Selfishness demands, “What’s in it for me?”, while Love asks, “What can I give?”

Some time ago, my wife showed me what it means to love selflessly. For many months, my heart had been hardening with a mixture of fear and resentment. Then, after the pressure had built up to where neither of us could stand it, emotions erupted. I was callous. I was selfish.

But instead of matching my selfishness, Kim did something beyond wonderful—she showed an outpouring of love. Laying aside all of the pain and aguish I had caused her, she lovingly took me in her arms and soothed my soul.

I realized that I had forgotten my dad’s advice. While Kim’s side of the marriage had been to love me, my side of the marriage had become all about me. This awful realization brought me to tears, and I promised my wife that I would try to be better.

To all who are reading this article—married, almost married, single, or even the sworn bachelor or bachelorette—I want you to know that marriage isn’t for you. No true relationship of love is for you. Love is about the person you love.

And, paradoxically, the more you truly love that person, the more love you receive. And not just from your significant other, but from their friends and their family and thousands of others you never would have met had your love remained self-centered.

Truly, love and marriage isn’t for you. It’s for others.

Sidewalk Chalk

One night after dinner (Random fact: St Maarten locals ONLY call it supper, they have no clue what dinner is) the kids and Josh went out side to play and Josh got Lincoln really into drawing dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes with sidewalk chalk. (Thanks nana Yamamoto for sending chalk!) Lincoln loves to draw, he is getting very creative with his drawing these days. Josh would draw the body then Lincoln would say it needed spikes and big teeth to protect it... and long legs to reach high places and so on... it was fun to watch. :)

Lincoln's masterpiece's!

Lacey had to join in on the fun too. But her idea of having fun with sidewalk chalk was eating it.

In this picture dad is telling Lacey that we don't eat chalk its for drawing. Then Josh got this look.

She's only 1 and she's already giving dad the... "are you for real dad?..." look... teenage years should be fun...

She can be quite wild at times as you can see here. My mom says its payback for how I was as a kid. ;)