Secadora is the Spanish word for dryer. 

We have a dryer!

I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to have a new appliance.  Eight months of hanging clothes on the line will do that to you.  Yes, I had my time of fun in the sun and reflecting on the joys of a simpler life.  However, I am fully willing to give that up in lieu of having warm dry clothes within an hour (rather than room temperature dry clothes in 24 hours or more), towels that are soft rather than crunchy, and my husband no longer sporting the teenaged boy saggy pants look (the slightly stretched out concept has been on my side with my gradually expanding pregnant belly). 

For the next few days I imagine our house will be a frenzy of laundering pleasure.  Not to worry though, I’m sure it will quickly die down, after all laundry is still a chore (even when there’s a dryer involved).

For now I’m basking in warm tumbled bliss.

Now if only we could get a laundry folding machine...

I admit, on more than one occasion, I have gotten on my husband’s case about not waking up in the middle of the night when Eli cries. 

However, last night somewhere around 4 am, a car backfired outside our apartment.  The award for first responder goes to our sweet little 20 pound fur-ball of a dog, who I often think has a bit of a Napoleon Complex.  He immediately let out a bark letting the world know he was in charge. 

My husband was close on his heels in a move of agility like I’ve never seen from him before.  Within seconds he had flipped from sleeping on his back to up on his hands and knees ready to pounce.  I am convinced that if either man or beast had been intruding into our apartment at that point his lanky 6’2” frame would have taken them down.

My sleepy pregnant body, on the other hand, barely moved as I assured them both that it was only a car, we were not being invaded, and “please just go back to sleep.”

The moral of the story: If you want to awake my husband, start with a bang, not a whimper.

I admit it, I have a new addiction to Pinterest.  Unfamiliar with Pinterest?  It's an online pinboard to collect the things you find online and share them with others- decorating projects, DIY craft ideas, recipes, wedding and party ideas, Christmas wish lists, you name it.  Basically it's just one more online social network to suck up your time.  But I've actually found some useful ideas and tasty recipes there.

Just a couple of weeks ago I was looking at some home decorating ideas and showed Dave a picture of a bed with a headboard made out of old shutters.  We commented that it would be fun to try, but we would never actually find any old shutters to try it with in Mexico.  One week later, I came home from the grocery store and tada someone had left an old set of shutters by the garbage.  We're not known to be crafty people, but we grabbed them up, made a trip to Home Depot (yeah, we have those here too) for paint, and went to work.

I think the results turned out pretty nicely.  There's still plenty of decorating work to be done, but it's starting to look a bit more homey around here.

Sorry for the cutesy title, but alliteration just seems to trip off my tongue these days as we work on language development with Eli.

I’ve had a growing urge to bake since we moved here.  I think this urge came from the fact that I simply couldn’t bake because I couldn’t find all the ingredients I needed at first. (I see the same urge in Eli when I tell him he can’t touch the tv remote – suddenly it’s the best toy in the house.)  So, I finally found baking powder and baking soda in Mexico and I was ready to realize my baking dreams - and then I realized why Mexicans don’t bake. 

You see my oven is a little old school.  I have to actually light it with a lighter each time I want to use it, plus there’s no actual temperature setting.  The labels on the knob read: Apag (Off), Asar (Broil), Hornear (Bake), Precal (Preheat) – which is useful, but not ideal. And yes, I realize there is a nifty little gadget called an oven thermometer, but if I bought one here it would be in Celsius and I just don’t feel like constantly calculating back and forth between Celsius and Fahrenheit. Luckily my lovely momma will be bringing me an American oven thermometer in a couple weeks.

Until then I’m working on mastering the art of baking with my old school oven and the added bonus of the high altitude (7000+ ft.).  Here are some of the yummy things we’ve enjoyed so far: lemon yogurt cake, banana nut muffins, and apple cinnamon pancakes.  Delicious!  Next I think I’m going to have to try this glazed apple cinnamon bread.  The apple cinnamon pancakes and glazed apple cinnamon bread are from WhatMegansMaking.com.  Megan lived a couple doors down from me my freshman year of college and although I didn’t get to enjoy her culinary creations back then I’m now a big fan of her site.  Even if you’re not into cooking, you should check it out just to see the pictures of her food.  She’ll have you drooling in no time!

Meanwhile, I’ll be here working on perfecting my baking and expanding our wastlines.

So let's start with the easier news: Dave has officially embraced his balding state and buzzed his hair.  I have to say it actually looks pretty good.  Pictures will have to come later though, because...

Last night, we had our second major rain shower with hail since we've been here.  Marble sized hail came pouring from the sky while we ate dinner last night.  Dinner ended when I looked down at the floor and saw water streaming in through the front door from the garage, across the living room, and into the dining room.  FLOOD!  At this point the garage was already filled with at least 6 inches of water and it was streaming into the house fast.  Lauren and I (with Eli strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn) went to work mopping water out the front and back doors while the guys frantically tried to save what they could from the stuff stored in the garage and the lower storage space under the stairs (the places most of our stuff has been stored while we're staying here).  Most everything has been salvaged, but several books (including a sweet copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and Eli's crib mattress have been ruined.  We'll be mopping, putting the downstairs back together, and assessing the damage most of the day today.

I have to say, at this point I'm pretty excited about the 5th floor apartment we'll be moving into this weekend....

Our condo has been rented! We're so happy that the stress of waiting is over.  Thanks for your prayers.

And in other good news - we found an apartment to rent.  We'll be putting a deposit down on it today.  It's just a five minute walk from where we're currently staying in a fairly new and large apartment complex.  My favorite feature?  The great walk-in closet in the master bedroom with tons of built-in drawers and shelves.  With a husband, son, and a male dog I have to make sure to keep a few girly favorites:)  Besides we weren't able to bring much with us, so although I don't have much furniture to fill up the apartment I at least have clothes to keep in the closet.

On Tuesday we took a brief break from city life and visited a nearby ecological park.  It was great to get away from the crowded streets and enjoy a little bit of nature.  It's hard to believe the park is surrounded by such a huge city.  I have a feeling Eli and I will be stopping by occasionally to take a walk and spend some time in the grass.