January at the Beach!

This little Monkey has been giving me a run for my money. She is still an exceptional baby but has very different challenges than Banks did. She has been drinking water out of a sippy for months now but ABSOLUTELY REFUSES to drink Milk from a sippy. Today, I made the decision to cut the bottles cold turkey. Sadly she drank a little milk this morning but not much sense. Plenty of water though :) The milk is another thing in itself living in a "developing country" in that we don't get milk regularly so it's powder we go...blah. She doesn't love it and it's doing a serious number on her tummy. She didn't have a problem with whole milk while we were in the states. IDK...plus she has had a little nagging cold for over a week and then today while she was screaming at me I realized she is getting ALL 4 Molars in...I felt so bad for her, Sooooooooooo....This picture is how I like to think of her and not the ever crying, pulling everything in God's country out of my cabinets 47,000 times per day. Don't even say childproof them to me..."developing country"...enough said.

This was Banks and Eloise first day back to school. Banks is attending a homeschool coop started by mom's of kindergardeners here on the island. She loves it!!! Every Friday is an excursion day. Last Friday they went to the home of a local cocoa farmer, named Cocoa, and participated in making chocolate, and learning about the cocoa plant. She still exclaims...IT WAS AWESOME! Sadly, I couldn't attend but will hopefully be chaperoning many of there excursions.

Homeschool coop. I'm super super proud of Banks she is the youngest by over a year but is "rising to the occasion", said by her teacher Mrs Womack, and learning exceptionally!

Whale Watching...The whales forgot to mention they would be attending a reggae festival in St. Kitts that weekend :(...wha wha waaaaaaa. So no whales for us but a nice 4 hour boat ride with great friends!

 Snoozing

 Dominica is an exceptionally beautiful island!

 Banks and her friend Mae Lynn. I was the totally over cautious "safety first" Mom and wouldn't let her take her life jacket off. I couldn't handle the nerves and what if's!

 Don't know why these are in super fast mode but Banks rolled down this hill for 30 min and had so many strawberries on her shoulders and knees. She gets it honestly

  Somebody is walking...when she feels like it!!! She can literally dance, do squats, and pick up anything while standing but only chooses to walk occasionally. When not sick, teething and pissed about not getting her bottle she's so chill natured...just like her Mom...ha! Hope you caught the sarcasm there! ;)

 In our old place she napped in the tents on the front porch. Here she stacks couch cushions in the kitchen for a quick snooze. I was washing dishes and literally turned around to see her asleep on these cushions.

We miss you all so much!!!

Love you

Amberly, David, Banks & Eloise

New Things in the New Year!

As I mentioned in my last post we are super happy in our new place. This week is our first week back to school and routine and we're loving the place even more. It's larger than our old place, 30 sec from the pool a 5 min walk from the beach and 7-8 minutes from school!

Banks and David got much needed hair, and thankfully beard, CUTS...not trims :)  Picture of both of them below.  There hair is super curly bc of the humidity here and so is mine if you can believe that, although I'm not in picture taking condition today ;). Banks' doesn't look that drastic but I actually took about 3 inches off and even gave her a graduated bob with layers. I like to act like I can cut hair but in reality I'm just lucky that my clients have curly hair and you can't tell :).

My attention was brought to the condition of everyone's hair because when we arrived back on the island there was a lice outbreak among the kids. :/  Luckily and with fingers still crossed, we have not been infected. Another issue we are facing returning to school this week is that the Prep School and Early Learning Center are undergoing MUCH NEEDED renovations, however to know one's surprise they are not finished in time. Not only are they not finished it will be weeks before the kids can enter the new space. The alternative is 3 trailers at the back of the school grounds, with terrible AC and absolutely no toys or space for kids to learn or play. I sent the kids 1 day but have decided to keep them at home with me until the new facility is complete. To give you a better idea...they have babies...I mean 3-9 month babies in a trailer with no cribs and a few mats on the floor. It's not acceptable at all and we mother's have voiced our opinions loud and clear. I'm sure no one is surprised by that :)

I am also considering a new school for Banks. One of the spouses who formerly taught at the prep school here and was a teacher in the U.S. has started an at home pre-K and Kindergarten.  I am working with Banks at home but she really loves to be in a structured environment with peers...Peers being the operative word!  The early learning center on campus is great and she loves her teachers but I worry it's not challenging enough for her. Since we are in a more relaxed environment the option to start her in Pre-K early has presented itself so I plan to take it!!! We go for a visit on Friday...wish Banks good luck!!

Last but not least...David has been in the pool at 6:30 a.m. every morning for the last 9 days swimming for 30 minutes. I am pretty proud of him!!!

 the view from my kitchen window...not bad

If you look in the middle of the picture and see some brown rice looking things...those are the clips hanging on 2 clothes lines that my landlord hung just for me at the bottom of my backdoor steps!! This is a big deal! This spot is feet from my apartment, not in the mud and gets full sun and tons of breeze until 3 pm. Oh and this is our landlord's son and apt complex manager, Marley.

My full size fridge. The pink towels stays there bc the fridge leaks really bad but i refuse to tell the landlord in fear she will replace it. It is unheard of to have a full size fridge in Dominica!!!

clean, white and tons of counter space!

Putting my new rug to use...I love it Bam

The built in closets in both bedrooms...Banks demonstrating her time out chair, although she's not really in time out :)

David and I's bedroom. We have an extra twin mattress in our room bc we moved it out of the front room/bathroom, below, to make room for storage and a very spacious laundry room :)

Sorry David, just realized your drawers, or sundries as you may say, are hanging from the ceiling!! It looks junky but it's the only storage space we have.

hallway...sorry sideways

other view of the laundry room. The landlord calls this a 3rd bedroom with a bath in the room. very weird. makes a great utility room for me :) I just have a twin bed as my side table now.

huge shower & bath with lots of closed storage

Den...that's the front door. 

other view of the Den...kitchen to the left and the front door is to the right of the fan.

another view of Den :)

front porch

view of Banks on stairs and our apartment.  Uncle Julvet, David's best friend, moved with us and lives down stairs :)

pretty girl :)

Her hair was about 3 in longer...it was soooo long

it looks better in person...i promise :)

I can't find the pic of David's trimmed up Do and don't have one of the girls bedroom but that'll just get you to come back again :)

love and miss everyone!! 

The Joneses

Not a resolution!

I'm not making a New Year's Resolution to update my blog everyday because part of my resolutions was to not have something I "had" to do everyday. I mean, taking care of my kids, cooking, cleaning, bathing, is a given.  I really want to spend the rest of my time on the Island enjoying the things I "like" to do and honestly figuring out what it is I like to do. This is starting to sound a little EAT, PRAY, LOVE, soooooo Namaste ;)... What I'm saying is I will do my best to update as often as possible. I'll keep it short and fun! :) 

We had one of our dear friends and driver on the island Kenny move our belongings while we were gone...I got a text message from him while in the states, it read..."OMG...that's a lot of shit...I get why you overpaid me ;)" 

I LOVE our new place. At first we had a few issues with the hot water, kitchen sink, fridge, etc... but now that we are almost all unpacked and settling in it feels more like home than Kootney did. The layout has a hallway that leads to the bedrooms and the bathroom. We also are on the terrace level so we don't get any direct sun on our roof so the place seems to stay a great deal cooler. We also have fabulous air conditioners in the bedrooms that we use at night. We can set them on a temp and the unit kicks on and off quietly to cool the room. It's worth every penny...but actually we're saving a decent amount of money from our last place. We are a 1 min walk to the pool and a 5 min walk to the beach, which is invaluable. We also have a so called "3rd bedroom". I can't imagine anyone actually living in that room but it makes the perfect storage, utility, laundry and twin bed home for us. Pictures to come...I want to wait until we have completely unpacked and organized. 

More to come soon.

Love you all and it was so great to see most all of you over the break. For those of you we didn't get to see please understand our time was so short and a lot more hectic than we imagined with the holidays. We'll be back home in April for Michael & Catey's wedding and hope to see you then...especially you Valerie Brantley, Bethany Hale & Brandon & Shawnee Evans...we miss y'all terribly!!!