Exploring. . . Peru!!!

It's finally time for me to finish posting about our South America vacation. Seriously, I've been home for two months already! Can't even believe it took me this long to get my pictures edited and organized and all this stuff posted. I'm a bad, bad blogger.

It's great how you can look back and even after a short time remember mostly the good and awesome things about a trip. Even the bad stuff doesn't seem so bad in hindsight. And that is why we travel. . . and have good memories about our childhood. . . and continue to have more children. :) But because I want to remember that it wasn't all amazingness, I'm going to write the WORST things about Peru before I write the good things. So here you go. . . the worst of Peru:

-The altitude. Maybe it was the pregnancy combined with the altitude, but it really wiped me out! I felt fine in Lima (the capital city, which is at sea level), but as soon as I got to Cuzco I just didn't feel like myself. I didn't want to eat, needed a lot of sleep, ran out of breath quickly, and just felt off in general.

-Lack of appetite. This is probably directly related to the altitude, but I ate VERY little throughout the entire country of Peru. Nothing sounded very good to me, and I hated ordering something off a menu and then eating only a few bites of it. But I had no appetite! It came back just fine when I got back home to the US, but for awhile I ate practically nothing.

-Our vacation was a little bit relaxing when we were in Brazil and Argentina, but as soon as we got to Peru that was OVER. We were off and running! Our itinerary just got really crazy, with flights at 3 in the morning, buses at 4 in the morning, trains at 5 in the morning. . . it was insane! And practically killed me, I might add, since the earlier it was the more pregnant and sick I felt. YUCK. I really was miserable on our fourth day in a row of waking up so early it was still dark outside.

-The hotels in Peru (at least all the ones we stayed at in the various cities) had walls that must have been as thin as paper, because you could literally hear everything that went on all around the entire hotels. Other people's wake up calls, other people brushing their teeth, the hotel restaurant chopping fruit, the elevator, the front desk. At all hours, day or night. Oh my gosh, it made it almost impossible to sleep! I was wishing for a sound machine, air conditioning, anything to drown out the noise!

-The traffic was just the craziest thing EVER. Constant honking from every car and truck, and nobody paid any attention to lines in the road, traffic cops, or lights. I'm glad I didn't have to drive there! (This picture is from the traffic in Lima. It really doesn't show the entire mess very well at all though!)

Good thing the GREAT things stand out the most in my memory! We finished out our big vacation with about a week in Peru. Suddenly I figured out why we never saw any American tourists in Brazil or Argentina. . . because they were ALL in Peru! I heard tons of English and we saw tons of other travelers from the US.

We started out in Lima. We didn't have much time there, but we did enjoy the city! We found some really awesome craft and artisan markets there, and I bought some of my favorite souvenirs from the entire trip. I figured out that I am a sucker for anything made out of alpaca wool. SO soft.

Our tour guide took us to a really beautiful park in Lima that was on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Check out this huge, amazing statue!

*The mosaics along the cliff were so awesome!

*And the park had some gorgeous flowers too!

*Lima did have some really nice buildings and town squares.

*Some of the cathedrals in South America really exceeded my expectations. The one in Lima looked like this on the outside. . .

*And they had some really elaborate and beautiful carvings inside. It was reminiscent of some of the incredible cathedrals I've seen in Europe!

*Lima was the only city where I truly enjoyed the Peruvian food, since I actually had an appetite at this sea-level city. Their national soda (and believe me, we saw ads for it everywhere) is Inca Kola, and it tastes better than you'd think a bubble gum-flavored soda would taste.

*We really loved these things. . . Tequenos. Crispy, fried wonton shells filled with creamy cheese and bits of bacon. Served with avocado cream sauce. Yeah. . . how can that combination not be good?

*Stephen tried Peru's national dish. . . Ceviche. He enjoyed it a lot, while I tried not to look at it or smell it too much. Even when I'm not pregnant, raw fish is not something I like.

*Our time in Lima was over quickly (really, we just did the city tour and shopping and that's all we had time for!), and then we were off on the earliest flight ever to Cuzco. Even while feeling the effects of altitude sickness and only wanting to get some decent sleep, it was impossible not to notice the charm of the city. . .

*You could actually step right out of our hotel and into this historic and beautiful city square. Wow! I was amazed!

*And here we are with the Peruvian ladies and the cute little lamb in the middle of the square!

(Yes, we DID take the train to Machu Picchu after our first day in Cuzco. But Machu Picchu deserves its own post!)
*Another photo of the cathedral.

*We took a very long city tour of Cuzco and the surrounding areas after we got back from Machu Picchu. It was SO great to see so much of the city. It was also really exhausting, with tons of walking. I was glad we didn't try to do it on our first day in that altitude. . . I never would have made it! We saw lots of beautiful sites. . .

*As you can tell, I couldn't resist getting pictures with the Peruvian women and their cute animals whenever we saw them. Yes, they charged money. But it was such a small amount! Everything was a really good value in Peru, unlike Brazil. I just wish I could have paid extra to RIDE the alpaca!

*The city tour took us outside the city and up to an old fortress called Saqsayhuaman (yes, I totally looked up how to spell that). And when the guide pronounced the name of it, it sounded exactly like "Sexy woman."

*Our last and definitely LONGEST bus ride (10 hours!) was to our final destination. . . Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. At an even higher elevation than Cuzco! At least the bus was large, comfortable, and air-conditioned, and the trip didn't seem too bad because we stopped off numerous times to see different sights along the way.

*I can't even remember what this was called. . . but it looked cool!

*A shot of the locals selling all kinds of stuff.

*Oh my gosh, I loved this stop. . . it was a little shopping market, but I only had eyes for the two baby alpacas who lived there.

*I got to bottle-feed them! It was so adorable! One was kind of a bully and kept pushing the smaller one out of the way, no matter what I did.

*Seriously, how CUTE are they???

*I think I want a baby alpaca for Christmas this year!

*At the highest point of the whole bus ride, we stopped and took photos of this amazing mountain view.

*And finally we arrived at Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at 12,421 feet above sea level. Pretty amazing!

*We got as much sleep as we could in our noisy hotel that night, and woke up excited for the next day. . . We got to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the native people at the floating reed islands on Lake Titicaca called Uros Islands!!!

*The floating Uros islands are man-made, built of reeds, and the native people have lived on them for thousands of years, depending on the lake for their survival. It was completely fascinating to see the way that they live on those islands!

*We even got to dress up in their native costumes. It was pretty fun, but I'd hate to wear that all the time!

*Not the most flattering look in the world. But some fabulous colors!

*The natives on the islands sure have figured out some smart ways to make money. Boats bring tourists like us out to see them every day, and they show us around their homes and then sell stuff to us. This little native girl was so cute!

*We actually got to ride around the lake in one of their boats made of reeds! It was SO awesome! And we got some really beautiful pictures from the boat.

The speedboat took us even further out into the lake (3 whole hours further!) to a large island called Taquile. This was a regular island, not a man-made floating reed one, and we got to hike up to the village.

*I've never thought cows were beautiful animals before. . . but this was the most beautiful cow I have ever seen. If I were an artist I would paint this cow in this setting. Stunning!

*We had some beautiful views of the lake from the top of the hill!

*The whole Lake Titicaca experience was unique and amazing. . . something we couldn't see anywhere else in the world. When I travel, I really seek out experiences like these. They are the kind you remember forever.

*We had another partial day in Puno before leaving for the airport one last time, and we got to ride in one of the cute little open-air carts.

*On our way to the airport, our super friendly guide took us to see a countryside home of a family he knows. I wanted to pet the baby llama who lived there, but wasn't sure what the mother would do to me if I tried. :)

*The home was so cool! All built around a little courtyard, with separate buildings for the kitchen and sleeping quarters.

*Aww, look at all the cute little guinea pigs. They raise tons of them. . . because they eat them. I told our guide people have them as pets in the US!

*At least they have a pretty posh life. . . for as long as they're alive.

*And then our guide took us to our final site before the airport. . . the ancient Sillustani Burial Towers. The sun was setting and it just seemed like such a mystical, mysterious place.

So there you have it. . . our explorations of Peru! Whew, what a trip! I'm getting exhausted again just looking at all of it and reflecting back on all the stuff we squeezed into those two weeks. And there will still be a post to come very soon about Machu Picchu!

Potty Training For the Reluctant Toddler. . . What Worked For Us

We've been saying this a lot at our house lately. . .

And it's about time, too! Since Kirsten turned 3 in May (yes, I will post cute birthday party pictures someday!), I decided to stop waiting for her to show all the "signs of readiness" I've read about. This girl doesn't really like change, and I was beginning to fear that I waited for her to want to get rid of diapers I'd still be changing them when she's 4! Not acceptable. So, a couple of weekends ago I decided we'd stay home for the entire weekend and just go for it and see what happened.

The two purposes of this post are:
1. To help any of my readers who are having trouble with potty training or want potty training tips for the future.
2. So that my future self who may be racking my brains trying to remember what I did the first time will be able to look back on this and have a guide!

(A lot of these ideas came from a pamphlet or book my friend Miranda read and told me about. I'm not even sure what it's called! And I did adapt it to fit our situation. Every kid is different after all!) For the past few months I've tried various things, like having the potty in the living room where she can see it, having her sit there with treats and juice until she actually goes in it, giving her stickers and rewards, but nothing was really working and she still seemed content to use diapers all the time.

So here are all the dirty details for what we did over Potty Training Weekend:

*When she woke up that morning, we put her right into regular panties. No Pull-Ups or training pants. I didn't think those would work well on her anyway, since they're too much like diapers and she wouldn't care about wetting in them. She wasn't excited about the panties like I hoped she would be, despite the Sesame Street characters and Disney princesses on them.

*She wore regular clothes the whole time. No running around the house naked or with nothing on the bottom. I found that thin pants like leggings worked best, so I could really tell when she started wetting herself.

*Since the idea is for her to be able to recognize and tell us when she needs to go potty, we didn't ask, "Do you need to go potty?" Instead, we reminded her over and over, "Tell me when you need to go potty!" I still do this pretty often.

*For the whole weekend, we tried to follow her around and keep her in our sight as much as possible. This is so they can't just go off in corners and have accidents. As soon as you see them start to wet their pants, you pick them up and get them to the potty as quick as you can. If they can finish in the toilet, give them praise and a reward. If not, just tell them that next time they'll make it to the potty in time. Don't punish them for not making it, but do give them a wipe so they'll have to help clean up the mess too.

*This didn't work too well at first for Kirsten. She wet her pants four times in a row, all Saturday morning, and we never managed to get her to the potty in time to finish on it. I was starting to get discouraged, wondering does she even know when she has to go? But we kept putting her back in clean panties, asking her to tell us when she needs to go. And, lo and behold, right before her nap she finally told us she needed to go potty, and went on the toilet! For the rest of the day, she had no more potty accidents! I guess it finally sunk in that she didn't really like making her panties and pants all wet. Hooray!

*Don't force them to go potty if they say they don't need to, and don't make them sit on the potty until they go either. The only time I say "You have to go potty first" is before we leave to go somewhere and before a nap or bedtime.

*Another idea this method had that I liked is to keep the potty seats or seat covers in the bathroom. This helps them to learn that they'll need to get to the bathrooms to use the toilet. I bought a couple of Sesame Street seat covers, one for the upstairs and downstairs, and they work really well. I have step-stools in front of each one so Kirsten can climb up to them, and she sits on them just fine. I like them SO much better than our little plastic potty chair because you don't have to clean it up afterward. She can flush the toilet and everything is gone! Plus she thinks it's fun to flush everything away.

*I did find a good use for our plastic potty chair. . . I keep it in the minivan. She hasn't asked to use it yet when we go out (she just poops in her pants on the way home instead. . . GROSS), but it's nice to have it there in case she ever asks for it.

*Another tip. . . Buy toddler wipes. They clean up messes a ton better than toilet paper, but they're something new too. Baby wipes are for babies, just like diapers.

*We have a sticker chart with a bunch of Sesame Street stickers, and she gets to pick out a sticker every time she goes potty. When she fills up a chart, she gets to go to Chuck E. Cheese. I already took her once last week, and she's almost filled up her second chart now. I'm thinking I need to change the reward to something else pretty soon. I'm already sick of Chuck E. Cheese. At least I got a reward too. . . I went and got a pedicure on Saturday. Parents need rewards too! After all, we're the ones cleaning up all those messes!

*Reading books and watching videos about the potty is a great idea, of course. Kirsten's favorite is the Little Critter book called The New Potty. She also loves the Elmo's Potty Time video.

*It was pretty difficult to stay home all weekend, but it did pay off! She does really well! Of course she still has accidents (she wet her pants about an hour ago), but for the most part we are diaper-free and feeling great!

*She does still wear diapers to sleep in at night. I keep her in panties for her nap, but she wears a diaper overnight. Sometimes she does wake up dry, but other times she's really wet and I'm glad I don't have to clean up that bed. We'll get there eventually, but I want her to have the daytime down really well before I attempt the overnight panties.

*Poop is a lot tougher. For almost a week, she wouldn't poop in the toilet. She just waited until she had the diaper on overnight or pooped in her panties. I really HATE cleaning poop out of panties, it's so disgusting! But she's getting better, because she has pooped on the toilet about 5 times now. I try to make a really big deal out of it when she does (I get really excited, give her 2 stickers instead of 1, and a treat!) Going out is also kind of scary, because she doesn't really ask to use the toilet at public places even though I try reminding her a lot. I just make sure to pack extra panties and pants whenever we go somewhere.

So those are some things that are working for Kirsten! I know every kid is different, and I'm sure I'll have to switch a lot of things up when I potty train Natalie someday. I'd love to hear comments and tips! And I hope this post will help somebody!

Buenos Aires, Argentina!

Continuing on our journey through South America. . . after those spectacular days at Iguassu Falls, we hopped on another plane to Buenos Aires! We were both excited to see this city, since we had heard it described as the most European-influenced city in South America. And it really did remind me of Europe! Tons of architecture almost made me think I was in Paris. (Okay, not quite. I still think Paris is the most incredible city in the world. But the architecture was quite a bit better than what we saw in Rio!)

It was great to be in Argentina, where they speak Spanish and Stephen could communicate with everybody. We only had a couple of days there. On our first day, we took a long bus tour of the city. And on that bus tour we discovered our favorite area of Buenos Aires, called La Boca. It was the cutest little Bohemian part of the city that the Italians originally settled in, and just FULL of artsy boutiques, souvenir shops, cool buildings and statues, and fun restaurants with Tango dancers in front of them. We ended up going back the next day, because it was such a fun area and we wanted to spend more time there!

Of course. . . we had to shell out a couple bucks for the tacky tourist photo. And really, I think this photo turned out pretty awesome!!!

That night we went to an AMAZING tango show and dinner. Wow, those dancers were incredible! I guess they better be, living in the birthplace of tango. Their steps and movements were so intricate and it looked so difficult. I love how you can't tell if tango dancers are in love or want to kill each other. :)

A lot of people have asked me if I saw any crime or scary stuff in Rio de Janeiro, since it's kind of known for that. We didn't see any crime in Rio. . . but we DID see someone get mugged in Buenos Aires. It was insane! We were walking along a normal city street and it was late afternoon, still light outside. Out of nowhere, a man ran up, jumped on top of the guy standing directly behind us, and then leaped onto the back of a motorcycle speeding past us. It happened so fast we weren't even sure what happened, and we couldn't see what he took (although I'm assuming it was the guy's wallet). Isn't that crazy? It was definitely a well-orchestrated thing. Those thieves really know what they're doing! I was a little more wary in that city after that!

The city's main cemetery is actually a really popular place to go see, and we heard it was beautiful, so we walked around for awhile there the next day and took some really nice pictures. A whole ton of cats lived in the cemetery too, and it was a really peaceful place.

Evita's tomb. . . (one of the less impressive tombs there, believe it or not!)

The weather was really great in Buenos Aires. . . cool, breezy, but sunny too!

When we went back to La Boca, we got some more pictures of the colorful buildings. It was just such a fun place to walk around!

The tango dancers outside the restaurants weren't nearly as skilled as the ones we saw in our tango dinner show, but all the music and the dancing made it such an awesome atmosphere.

The food in Argentina was GOOD. Delicious steaks and juicy empenadas were our two favorite things there. YUMMMMMY!

Next. . . . off to Peru!!!

Giveaway Winner!

Winner of the pack of coupon inserts and $5 Amazon gift card is. . . . #5!

Lisa said... i clip coupons because i LOVE to organize and i LOVE getting great deals, and even better: getting things for FREE. oh and even better than that: getting PAID to take things from the store. ;)

Congrats, Lisa! Watch for more giveaways coming in the next few weeks, everyone!!!

Stuff

This is going to be a completely random post. But how else am I going to talk about everything I want to talk about on here? Okay, I won't talk about everything. I'll trim it down to a list. Yes, a list will be much more manageable to write and to read. Here goes. . .

Stuff #1: So I guess this baby is a girl. That's what the ultrasound technician said. It took her a really long time to get any kind of visual, and she didn't get a clear shot. But she said she's leaning towards girl. This is the first time I didn't get a very definite answer from my ultrasound. The first time I left feeling confused. The first time I left feeling kind of disappointed.

I totally shouldn't say that. I'm happy to be having this baby, and of course I will love and adore a third girl just as much as my other two girls. It just doesn't make sense to me. My other two pregnancies were SO similar to each other, and this one has been completely different. I've felt different, craved different things, been a LOT less sick. . . I thought that had to mean I was having a boy this time! I was ready to go out and start buying boy clothes. And now I have to change my whole way of thinking about this pregnancy. I wanted to have another girl eventually. I just thought right now was my time to have a boy.

Growing up, I longed to have sisters, and I always felt jealous of families who had three girls. I never got a sister. . . but I guess I'm getting a good amount of daughters instead! Isn't it funny how sometimes we get what we wanted, but in ways and times we never expected to?

My doctor can check again at my next appointment in a few weeks, and try to get some more conclusive evidence. But I'm going to start thinking of this baby as a girl. I will definitely keep everyone updated if anything changes!

Stuff #2: To change the subject entirely (well, that's what random posts are for, right?), I have a new favorite to add to my Bachelorette boys. Frank! I thought he and Ali were SUPER cute together on their one-on-one date, and their chemistry and attraction were great. He made me smile on the very first episode, and he does even more now! Got to add him to my favorites and I hope he's around for a long time! Anybody agree with me?

Stuff #3: Ever since we got back from our trip, we have been having the rainiest weather in Seattle! May has been much rainier than February or March were! I love the rain (LOVE it), but I will admit that I'm ready for our cool, mild, sunny weather that's perfect to go outside in. That's the kind of weather we normally get in May and June. Bring on the sunshine and the not very hot temperatures, please! I'm ready! (In a few weeks we will probably get a massive heat wave here and I will regret wishing away our rain).

Stuff #4: Since we're going to be staying close to home for a good portion of the summer and I'm still fairly new to the area (LOTS of stuff still to be explored), I made a list of Seattle Summer Must-Do's and I'm excited about it! My list has 52 things on it, and we'll see how many I can get through this summer. So far I've crossed off one. . . for Memorial day we went to the Seattle Folklife Festival. We got some food and hung out around the International Fountain, and then headed into the Pacific Science Center to play with the kids and see the new Shrek movie. Kirsten was very excited to see the "Shrek movie show." I wasn't sure if the 3D Imax thing would be too much for her, but she did great! She thought it was awesome to wear the special movie glasses and she enjoyed it a lot!

Stuff #5: Sorry this had to go in the middle of a random post, but. . . Happy 5-year anniversary to me and Stephen! Our anniversary was on Friday, and we went out to a delicious dinner and a movie. He's such a great husband! I hope our next 5 years are even BETTER than the first 5 have been!

Stuff #6: Hands-down, the winner of the BEST brownie box mix in the world is Ghirardelli! Homemade brownies don't even hold a candle to them. They are delicious! Go buy a box and make yourself some, especially if you haven't tried them before. And then don't ever go back to Betty Crocker.

Stuff #7: I really have been wanting to learn how to quilt. I need to find a good beginner's quilting class that I can go to. I should have just had my mom teach me. She makes awesome quilts! I still love my cross-stitching, but I'm running out of wall space. Quilts will be next!

Stuff #8: Does anybody else think the New Super Mario Brothers for the Wii is a really tough game? Stephen and I have been playing it together recently and I can't figure out if the two players simultaneously makes it easier or just easier to push each other off ledges. It's fun, don't get me wrong! But some levels are so frustrating!

Stuff #9: I'm really behind on reviews and giveaways. REALLY behind. And I'm sorry if you're one of the ones who's waiting for me to post about your product, or if you're waiting for some more awesome giveaways to enter. I promise I will post more of them within the next few weeks! I have a list of toys, clothes, and accessories that I need to photograph my kids with, and I'm waiting for nice weather so I can get some good pictures. There are quite a few things I'm very excited to review, including one for CSN Stores. They have some gorgeous headboards that I am drooling over. Go check out this one. That sure would spice up my bedroom! I still need to finish posting about my South America vacation and then start posting reviews and giveaways. Gosh, how did I get so behind? When it comes to blogging, why do I feel like I'm constantly behind?

Stuff #10: Now that I'm the mom of a 3 year-old, I need advice from other moms who have been there, done that (or who are there right now, like I am!)
- Kirsten isn't potty-trained at all and still doesn't show much interest in it. Should I really wait until she seems ready and wants to be potty trained? Or should I just go ahead and give her no option, since she's three already for heaven's sakes?
- Swimming lessons. . . too young? Just right?