This is Christmas

After decorating the gingerbread, we took a couple of portraits of the family in front of the fireplace.

Something Else to Do with Your Money

We found out about Kiva.org on an episode of Frontline called Uganda: a Little Goes a Long Way that we saw(and you can watch online by clicking on the link). It's a microcredit organization based out of San Francisco. It allows people to loan money to small business owners in the developing world. The small business owners use the money for whatever they feel they need to improve their businesses. Some build a new house as a headquarters for their work, others buy machinery, and some just buy more stock. The organization in San Francisco uses non profit organizations in a variety of countries to evaluate and support the people requesting the loans.

Most loans are between $500 and $2000, and are provided by several people. The loans are repaid over 6 to 18 months. Once the loan has been repaid, the money you loaned is returned to you to withdraw or to loan again. So far, the organization has a 100% repayment rate.

Karla and I made our first loan. I was hoping to make a donation to a Nigerian or Cambodian, but as no loans were currently requested from either of them, I chose a widow from Mexico who prepares and sells food to care for her 6 children. It was only $25. At the time of writing this, she still needs $200. There is a link in the sidebar, to her (and after all her money is raised, to others).

In other family news, we are now only one week away from heading back to Canada. I sent an email to Jocelyn, the owner of Fernie Academy, to set up an interview to talk about working at the school next year. I hope that by the end of the vacation we will know what wwe are going to do next year.

It's our last weekend in Colombia, and so we've got to get everything finished off. Karla is relaxing tonight watching Anne of Green Gables. I'm doing a bit of work and posting to the blog. Tomorrow and Sunday, we have a busy schedule of work. Good night all.

Holiday Photos (or Photos of Aysha in New Places)

Hi everyone!

Nice doggie...

Moooooooooorre?

Let's roll!

Karla, Aysha, and Jamie - under the wax palms

The wax palms (under Karla, Aysha, and Jamie)

Aysha hikes the Andes

Whew, that was a great trip, but it's time for bed.

Thankful

It is the American Thanksgiving weekend here. We had a scheduled holiday yesterday, but the sea came up on Wednesday and flooded the road that the school is on. School was cancelled on Thursday, leaving us with a four day weekend. It's Saturday morning, and I'm almost done everything I need to do for the weekend.

Today, I am finally getting around to taking a look at our holiday photos. Hopefully in a little while I will have them ready to post to the blog.

Karla has been in touch with the airlines and has it all sorted out. She has written a letter that satisfies all their requirements to allow her to travel over the holidays. It was translated into Spanish at the school. The doctor took a look at it at the last appointment and said that she would be happy to sign it.

Karla is feeling increasingly large and uncomfortable. She is slower than usual, but still is getting everything done. Stairs don't agree with her, but once last week she came up to my floor to get me at the end of the day. She managed to get out to do some Christmas shopping yesterday too.

Aysha is telling us more and more about what she wants. This morning she got out her puzzle and sat down on the floor. She patted the floor on the other side of the puzzle and said, "Dad." She wanted me to sit with her on the floor. She is starting to put words together, too. She says things like, "This is a book."

A couple of her favorite games at the moment are putting the ball back. I run and put the ball somewhere, and Aysha goes and picks it up and puts it back in its place. For a while she has been playing the Pina-Papaya game (Pina is the Spanish word for pineapple). When you say either word, she says the other. After a few rounds, you change your word and she changes hers. The game can be prolonged by adding other words, like mango or manzana (apple).

Well, I'm getting back to editing. I will try to post some photos soon.

I've Fallen Behind and I Can't Get Up

Aysha is sitting in her little chair babbling away and drinking juice. We've barely left the apartment this weekend as we've been busily working away to try to get ready for our departure in three short weeks. We only have two weekends left after this one and we have course grades to finish off, exams to write, and reviews to plan for our absence.

Ever since last week I have been trying to sort through the photos of the holiday to post a few. Today I got a chance to do a few of the Halloween night ones. Aysha went out trick or treating with Julian. She left behind her cork costume for a Cinderella one that Sylvana, our neighbours' daughter, lent to her. We gave special instructions to our colleagues to only give healthy treats. Aysha came home with a bag full of crackers, veggies, and yogurt.
































You ready?
I'm ready.
Good, let's go.

















Come on, people, we haven't got all night!

Family Halloween Fun

Well, we might not have had time to blog lately, but now you can see why - we've been working on making these costumes. Here we are:


Can you tell what we were? There are a couple extras of Aysha since she is changing faster than Karla or I. Aysha is saying more and more everyday: not only more words, but combinations too. This week she even whispered for the first time. We peeked at Karla through the bedroom door and Aysha whispered, "shh, momma."

One less desirable development in Aysha's communication is that she has begun to cry for everything that she wants. Gone are the days of the rising tone "Moooooore?" Now, she repeats whatever she wants more and more urgently until she breaks into sobs. The whole process takes only a few seconds - from realizing what she wants until despair sets in at the realization that she doesn't have it. Usually, she recovers from her misery quickly, but not always, especially not when tired.

Karla's last doctor appointment was last week. Everything seems to be progressing well. Karla is larger than she was with Aysha and hot all the time. The AC runs night and day here.

It's almost 5:30 and Aysha is napping right now before her first night out trick or treating. We have set up all of the other teachers with instructions to provide healthy snacks: fruit, crackers, cheese, etc. We'll only have four or five stops on the rounds tonight. We need to go wake her up and work off the post-nap grumpies before the trick or treating.

Happy Halloween

Halloween Experiment
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

We haven't forgotten you. More photos of the family in our costumes are coming soon.

Recognized Photo

Xavier Rudd
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

I have been using Flickr a lot with my digital photography elective. And I have had a photo of mine added to the 500 best shots of the day! In fact, it is the 231st best shot of the day. Here it is from the Calgary Folk Festival two years ago.

Silhouette

Bogota Monserrate
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

Aysha and Karla are in a church in Bogota we stopped at on the way back to Cartagena in August.

Two New Videos

The first one is a few weeks old. Aysha and I are in the bedroom practicing our body parts with Baby. When I was getting this one ready, Aysha was watching it with me and playing along, pointing out the body parts along with the video.

The second one is Aysha and a peg puzzle she borrowed from Julian. She got so good at hers that Karla organized a puzzle swap. Aysha is picking up the pieces and delivering them to me. She isn't patient enough to put them all back so the video ends a little sooner than I has hoped it would. This one is a little long even in its shortened form. Maybe Aysha made a wise directorial decision by wandering off to look at the ocean when she did.

Aysha works on her peg puzzle.

One Amazing Photo

Museos Vaticanos
Originally uploaded by Juanillo1.

I have been looking at a lot of photos on the web with my digital photography elective and I came across this one that just blew me away. I've been back to look at it a couple times and I am more impressed with each viewing. You really shout take a look at it in its full size. (Click on the photo, then on the all sizes button along its top edge.)

All I Want For Christmas

Here it is... Aysha's Christmas Wish List (up early by most standards, but requests for it have already been forthcoming from the early-bird shoppers - Grandma G.)

Before getting to the list, we would like to request that not a lot of money be spent this Christmas on Aysha gifts. She will have plenty to play with regardless, and later won't get any more enjoyment from a mountain of toys than she would from a few toys. If you would like to contribute something more than just one play item, then money invested toward her future education would be helpful.

In order to save confusion and overlap, we're dividing gift ideas by sides of the family.

The Germaine Side:
- stroller for "baby" - her baby, that is, not the one due in January
- Fisher Price Farm Set
- Hot Wheels Cars
- simple puzzles (wooden or other)
- paints
- books (a couple)
- musical instrumnets (ideas: tamberine, triangle, finger cymbals, recorder, drums for kids, xylophone)

The Hide Side:
- Mega Bloks (medium size, age 2+)
- clothing (24 months to 30 months) - pants, long sleeved shirts, socks, PJs
- Magna Doodle (Fisher Price makes these, but so do other companies)
- big ball (beach ball size)
- medium ball
- train set (something age appropriate)
- bubble bath
- play stethescope (she is starting to be afraid of doctors)
- a boat for the bathtub (she now identifies boats that she sees from our front window)

Of course, if you already have a gift ideas of your own, go with those. These are only suggestions for anyone wanting guidence. We are thinking that birthday gifts should all wait until the summer, when they will be more appreciated than on the actual day of her birthday.

As I look at this list, I realize how lucky Aysha and we are to have a family, immediate and extended, that love us immensely, and that are well enough off for gifts over Christmas to be taken for granted. I think that we will have to give a bit extra over Christmas to help Claudina's family so that she can purchase toys for her grandchildren.

My Morning with Aysha

Last night, the girls and guys gathered for their own nights. The girls watched Sex and the City at our place, and the guys met up at Tony and Diana's for a game of Settlers of Catan. It was John's first time playing and he seemed to be hooked by the end of the night, talking on the way down in the elevator about strategies and variables to account for. There's a bit of a Settlers of Catan craze on right now - the game is borrowed for a game or two a week and plans are being made for who will get which expansion pack over the holidays. Christian won John's introductory game(partly because I miscounted and declared myself the victor when I actually was one point short), but I came back the second game to defend my honour (and math skills).

This morning Aysha was up at 5:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep, so we got up and she had a breakfast of cereal - which she can ask for by name now - no longer requesting it by crowing like the rooster that is on the corn flakes box. While I was waiting for Karla to rise, I had an apple, which Aysha shared with me off the core. She chorused "mmmmm, apple" after each bite. After her apple, she decided that it was time for a rest on the yoga mat. She went over and lay down for at least three or four seconds before popping up to come and grab my hand. It seemed that we both needed a little rest. Unfortunately, our ideas of how long a little rest lasts are very different. After another few seconds, she let me know what was missing... "Baby."

We were off to the crib to collect baby. Snuggle Puppy was there too, so he came along for our rapidly expanding group nap. The yoga mat was getting full. Baby needed a clothes change, and after a couple reminders from Aysha that I needed to be quiet... "Shhhhhhh," the nap seemed to be coming to an end. I tried to lure everyone back to restful stillness by getting Aysha's pillow from the bedroom. It was a hit, but didn't produce the effect that I had hoped for. A couple of wrestling moves later, Aysha had baby safely napping in the center of the pillow and Aysha and I were headed for new adventures.

We took a look at the family photo album. Aysha is getting better at recognizing everyone, and is much better at pronouncing names. All of you in the book are also getting regular kisses through the plastic coated pages of the book too. Mom finally got up and pancakes were for breakfast.

In other Aysha news, she has become an expert at goodbyes. She watches us every morning and when we start to get our bags and shoes, she heads over for her goodbye kiss and hug and starts with her farewells. She has developed quite a repetory of words for the occasion: bye, see you, ciao, hasta luego, adios and hasta manana. She responds to requests for kisses and hugs and even sends people off with waves and blown kisses.

There's only two more weeks left in the first quarter of school - that means soon we will be half way to coming back to Canada for Christmas. Karla has been busy trying to get her tests corrected since the party last weekend left us tired and lazing in bed half the day. She tried all week to get caught up, only to give another test on Friday and be buried under paperwork again. I give my test next Thursday, and will be busy next weekend.

For the Novembrinas holiday, we are heading to the Zona Cafetera, or coffee region, in the center of the Colombia. It's up in the mountains and should be a cool, rainy respite from coastal Cartagena. We are planning to go with Tony, Diana, and Julian again. Another teacher, John, and his wife, Katherine, are also planning to be in the region.

Well, Karla's got to get ready to head out to pilates for expectant mothers, which she is starting today, so I have to go take over with Aysha. We went to another doctor appointment this week. Everything seems to be coming along fine. The doctor confirmed a due date of January 15-26 after seeing the ultrasound. She is still willing to confirm Karla to travel back home, but would like another examination in Canada before Karla is cleared to return. Karla still hasn't gotten the low-down from Air Canada yet on height and size of the hoops they reserve for pregnant women. We'll let you know...

Puzzled!

Tonight, Aysha put together her farm animals peg puzzle all by herself. I was sitting on the couch while mom was napping. Aysha retrieved the pieces one at a time for me, with a bit of prompting. "Where's the sheep? No. That's not the sheep." After she had delivered them all to the couch, I got up to see to the music playing on the computer. When I looked back, Aysha was picking the pieces up from the couch, one by one, and putting them in their places in the puzzle. She would even turn them until they fit in place. I was impressed.

There's not to many new words to report that Aysha says, but she really seems to understand a lot of what we say to her. She is usually pretty good at following directions. Well, directions that don't include the word "no." She can "go get" things and "give" things to someone. A couple times she has responded to the call for a diaper change by laying down on the clean diaper in almost the right place (except that the velcro ended up at the wrong end).

Karla and I are maintaining a good, clean lifestyle. Most days we get to be before 9, after not much more than a bit of baby playing, dinner and perhaps a walk or jog (for me, anyway). Novembrinas, a week long holiday, is coming up and we are deciding whether it would be better travel now, before the new baby, or in April, after the baby is born when Jeff may come to visit. My vote is for November. I think that with two babies, even with an uncle-at-arms to assist, a good day would provide 15 to 30 minutes of sightseeing amidst the rounds of diaper changes, feedings (breast and otherwise), naps (mother and children), stops at parks, diaper runs, clothes changes and other less glamourous aspects of travel with children.

That's all the news that's fit to blog for today.

Saturday Afternoon at the Pool

Yesterday, we sat out by the pool in the afternoon with Tony, Diana and Julian, and Christian and Sophy. Here are a couple photos from the day. Julian was doing some big jumps into the pool, but quit before I could get the camera. Aysha was being her usual cute self.






I played soccer at the school yesterday morning too - we moved the game from the late afternoon to eight in the morning, hoping more people would come and the game would be cooler. No one showed up at eight and by the end of the game at ten it was very hot. Next week we will go back to the afternoon game. I am still the worst player on the field, but am having as much fun as the others.

Last night we played a game of Settlers of Catan, which is proving very popular. First we played with Christian and Sophy a couple weeks ago and the next day at work, Sophy told me not to give any of the details about the game to Christian so she could get it for him for Christmas. Right after the game last night, Tony was planning to get the expansion pack so more people could play at once.

At school, progress reports are due on Monday (that means the first quarter is already half over) and so I should get back to work. I just took a little break to put up a couple of pictures.