Random Tid-Bits

• Maddie had her one-year check up at the doctor last week. She is doing very well and is totally healthy. We're due several shots. About half of those we can do with the Ministry of Health for free since Maddie is Ecuadorian. The other half we have to do at the mission hospital (the ones that we do in the States that Ecuador doesn't do) and they are very expensive. Brooklyn needs her four-year shots too. So next week we're going to take out a loan and put not one, but two, little girls through a sure-to-be traumatic vaccination session. Fun.
• Yesterday, Sean had the day off for "Dia de los Muertos" here in Ecuador. We spent the day cleaning and re-organizing our bodega. Bodega is a general term for a storage-type space. Our bodega is a building in our backyard that houses our washer and dryer, our gazillion totes and tubs that we used to bring our stuff to Ecuador in, lots of odds and ends that we are storing (such as baby stuff and Christmas decorations), dog and cat food, extra paint to re-paint moldy places on the walls in our house, car parts, the weed-eater, bikes, strollers, and just about anything you can imagine. We made some new shelves and got rid of a large monstrosity of a bike rack that was just taking up good space. We sorted out some things we want to sell or give away and passed off some things to our very grateful neighbors. It is soooo nice! Sean and I both love having things organized in our home - although Sean prefers almost military precision and I'm not quite that bad. The best thing is that we can find what we need and get to it without hurting ourselves. We did a lot of sweeping in there too - and I sneezed like crazy. We must have stirred up some animal dander and mold. But it is clean in there and I finally feel like our house is in complete order for the first time since we moved to this house a year ago. Ahhhh. I can't wait to do some laundry in there....once the water comes back on.
• Speaking of water.... Things here south of the Equator are just backwards. The more rain we get, the more likely it is that we won't have any water. I was talking to an Ecuadorian the other day about how that seemed weird to me and she just looked at me like I was crazy. Of course the water goes off when it rains so much. Apparently, the rain causes trash and stuff to block pipes...which gives you an idea of the quality of water and sewage systems they have in Shell, Ecuador. We have 3 different filters that we change weekly to keep our water clean. One filter takes some of the grit out of the water so we can use it for showers, laundry, etc. The other two super-clean the water so that we can drink it. On our roof we have a tank of water for use when the city water isn't working. We have a pretty great water system that the family that lived in this house before us put in, and we are daily grateful for it. But when there isn't any city water, we can't do much - one load of laundry will pretty much empty the tank of water. We've accidentaly drained our tank before realizing that the city water wasn't coming in on several occasions! So, for now, we have enough water to wash our hands and some dishes but we have to skip the long showers and laundry. Luckily it doesn't usually last more than a day or so.
• We have had lots of rain the past several hours. At about 2:30 a.m. there was a HUGE thunder-bumper that made me jump about a foot off the bed. It was big enough that it knocked the streetlight outside of our house off for a few minutes but, amazingly, the electricity stayed on. Brooklyn was startled awake by it but Maddie slept blissfully on...
• Today we have Brooklyn's friend, Olivia, over so that her parents can go on a little trip. Olivia even gets to spend the night! This is a first for us (the sleep-over) and Brooklyn is so excited. I'm confident that it will be a great time. Olivia and Brooklyn get along really well and girls are so easy! They are so cute together dressing up like princesses and prancing around with their purses over one shoulder and a baby in the other arm. It is a rainy day, though, so I'll have to be creative to keep them entertained in the house all day. I'm thinking a good Barbie movie and popcorn will do the trick just fine :-) Or we may just have to do a tea party.... The trick is going to be tonight at bed-time. I don't think Olivia will be the problem but getting Brooklyn to settle down to sleep with a friend in the bed right next to her? Oh my.