April Collage

4 months old and 15lbs 9 ounces. Affectionately named "Tub of Lard" by uncle Kelly.

Top 10

April 2008

Grampa and Grama Morrell came to visit! It was so great to have some time with them and have them get to know Ariana. We stayed in a great beach house with a private pool. We had a nice 9pm swim every night to cool off. I can´t go places like that very often though, it reminds me of the nice things in life that I am missing. Like being able to put my toothbrush on a surface without worrying about mice, lizards or cockroaches walking over it. Ewe. Here´s a list of my top ten best and worst things in life right now. It alternates between bests and worsts, but not necesarily in order of bestness or worstness. lol


Top 10 Bests and Worsts:

1. Doritos and ice cold diet coke, with no ice. Generally for breakfast.
2. Mosquito bites between my toes.
3. Ariana´s smile.
4. Mosquito bites on my butt.
5. Lizards all over the house that eat the bugs. They are called housekeepers.
6. Mosquito bites in general.
7. Visit from Grampa and Grama Morrell (and the beach house we stayed in).
8. Not seeing my family very often.
9. Skype. (Cheap phone calls to the states)
10. No water.

All About Ariana

jueves, 24 de abril de 2008 (She´ll be 4 months old tomorrow, shes getting immunizations as a gift – pobrecita)

So, do you think that you can really tell something about your child´s personality as young as 4 months old? Or are most babies the same at that age? If you can, then I think we have a beautiful, smiley, happy, tempermental, high-maintanaince child that I am crazy about.

I noticed I write alot about random things and not much about Ariana, which is the main reason I started blogging. But when I think about all the little things that tickle and amaze me, I feel silly writing about them becuase anyone else who is a parent has already seen or heard it a hundred times. But I have to remind myself that this blog is also a journal and scrapbook for her, so it is important for her to hear about her own progress. I am also aware that my entries are a little longer than the average blog entry, but again, I´m journaling. So all the seasoned parents or bored non-parents can skip over this stuff if you want, I won´t know. :)

A few days ago I gave Ariana a bath, she now not only tolerates cold baths but loves them – she smiles as she gasps and grunts through it. We actually bathe her two or three times a day, everytime she seems anxious and we are not sure why, I think the heat bugs her. I had pulled her towel off of the clothes line and then wrapped her in it after her bath, like I do everyday. Well a few minutes later she started screaming, a scream of pain that I have only hear once or twice before. I picked her up, still wrapped in her towel and tried to comfort her as I am trying to figure out how she got hurt. Then I start getting bitten by ants. I put her down on the bed, open up her towel and saw that it was full of these little ants called candelia. They are tiny but their bites hurt so bad and she had little bites all over her chest and tummy, poor thing. The same thing happened to Isaac´s nephew last month, where there were ants in his towel. He´s 21 but he cried about it too, lol, it´s painful. So I threw her towel off and brushed off her body and the bed, stuck her back in the cold water to take away the sting, then had to hold her the rest of the day because she was a little tempermental, but I really can´t blame her. The good thing about these little ant bites is that even though they hurt like a ... the hurt only lasts about 15-20 minutes. It is not bothersome for days like mosquito bites.

She rolls over on her own now. It´s funny though, rolling from her stomach to her back always surprises her, like it was an accident. She always leans over to roll, but I think it is still a shock to her everytime she ends up on her back. Then EVERYTIME I put her on her back, she immediately rolls over onto her stomach (I just hate it when she´s full and it makes her puke). But what makes me laugh is that when she rolls over, there is always one arm kind of stuck under her body and she gets SO mad because she can´t get it out. The first few days (she has only been rolling over for four or five days now) I would pull her arm out for her. Yesterday I was in the kitchen when she rolled over and I heard her get mad about it, but then she calmed down. She figured out how to get it out. So I watched her a few times today and she got mad everytime she rolled but 3 out of 5 times she was able to pull her arm out after a minute. We are making progress.

I don´t think I´ll be able to leave her on the bed much longer now that she is rolling. That is the only place she´ll let me put her down longer than 5 minutes – but not much longer. So I bought the little foam alphabet floor things. She is fascinated by the contrasting colors – from a distance – but she is still not very keen on the idea of being left on it. (Even though I bought her a bunch of toys, that she is too young to play with, to keep her company.) Poco a poco.

Rough Night

Last night I woke up at 2 am realizing that I had used the last of the boiled water in the last bottle I made for Ariana. What a nigtmare it would be if she woke up hungry and I had to start boiling, then cool off some water. She is so incredibly impatient and unreasonable when she is hungry :). So I groaned out of bed (wishing I could just latch her on like so many other new mothers can), feeling pain soot through my back, which I messed up pretty bad the day before carrying a big bucket of water from the back of the house to the kitchen so I could wash dishes and cook. I just hope I didn´t do any permanent damage.

I fill up the rice cooker with water, we don´t have a working stove yet, and I noticed that the water pressure is great at 2am. I decided to wash and sterilize the extra bottles while I waited for the water and I got hit with a wave of stomache pain. I wont go into much detail there, but after a half an hour in the bathroom with only the Jehova´s Witness magazines for reading material, I decided I might as well take a shower since there would be little or no water in the morning. A 3 am shower is pretty cold, but it was the first time I´ve had any good water pressure in the shower so I actually enjoyed it.

By this time the boiled water had cooled off enough for me to put it in the thermos, so I finished up with all of that and turned of all the lights and headed for bed, at about 3:45. I stubbed my toe on something - still not sure what it was, there was nothing in my path but a big armchair and it didn´t feel like that. It actually felt like something sharp poked under my nail rather than a stub, but I went to the kitchen to check it out since it felt like it might be bleeding. My whole toenail had lifted up! I was shocked because it hadn´t really hurt that bad (but killed by 7am). So I sat at the kitchen table trying to decide wether to cut it off, it was hanging on at the side cuticle, or just put a bandaid over it all to reduce risk of exposure to things. It actually hurt a little more to press the nail back against the nail bed, so I ripped it off and put a bandaid over it.

Again, lights off and on my way to bed, 4:15 now, and Ari decides shes hungry. Good thing I have clean bottles and sterile water! Isaac got up too and started to study for a test he had today, so I stayed up with him to encourage and keep him awake then I made him some pancakes (which I make every morning at 5 am believe it or not). I finally rolled back into bed at 6am and had a great hour and a half nap when Ari woke up at 7:30 ready to play.

I know, I know. Welcome to motherhood – in Panama. lol

I´m attaching a few pictures of the house as promised before. They were taken by Janna, my stepmom, so they show what she thought was interesting, like the ceilings, rather than the actual rooms. lol. But if she thought that was interesting, I´m sure others will too. Enjoy.

Newest Ariana Collage

Ariana Isabelle Yanguez; 3 months old and tons of fun!

Who Needs Cash or Credit Cards?

Thursday, 03 April 2008



There is a little corner market kiddie corner from our house. It´s called a Chino, all of the little markets are called chinos because Asians own them. I imagine most of them are from China, but I doubt all of them are. They sale everything. Fruit, meat (butchered fresh there), veggies, canned things, top ramen, women´s products, just about anything you need, jam packed into this little market. I even asked them to start stocking the brand of formula I use for Ariana so I just have to go across the street for it. The owners are really nice.

Last week I came to the house, before we moved in, with Ariana to wait for the Internet and telephone guy. I was starving because had to leave super early, drop Isaac off at school, then head out here. I went across the street to buy something for breakfast when I find out they don't accept visa, que problema. I started rummaging around in my purse and the car and came up with fifty cents. I was able to buy a small carton of chocolate milk and 2 bananas. At least as long as I don´t have cash I can´t spend any money out here.

Two days ago I was trying to get my vonage phone working. I had to get a hold of tech support so I was IMing Destiny who was talking to tech support and then relaying the instructions to me. We were doing that for a little over an hour when one of their interventions took out my Internet connection (when we changed the IP address). I needed a calling card to call Destiny to continue working with the technician. The Chino has the cards but I didn´t have cash. I grabbed an unopened can of baby formula and ran across the street with Ariana. The China already knows the can is worth $10 since she started stocking it for me. I asked her if she would trade me the can for a couple of calling cards and that I would buy the can back when Isaac got home. “Sure, no problem, no problem”.

So, who needs cash, I found out if I am dying for some M&M´s or a diet coke I can just go trade a can of tuna fish for them. I like this system.

I may start trading English classes or tutoring for housekeeping. I already have a few takers.

Food For Thought

martes, 01 de abril de 2008

I noticed something interesting. I, like most everyone else I know, am always wanting to loose weight (I wrote trying first, but I don´t try very hard). The first month after Ariana was born, I didn´t really leave the house. So I didn´t eat out at all either. I lived on soda (not diet), juice, cheese sandwiches on white bread, and rice, beans and chicken in the evenings. Full of Carbs. And I lost over ten pounds that month. I thought it was the sweating. But everyone, as soon as they saw me could see the difference immediately. It was nice to see what a difference only 10 pounds makes.

When she was five and six weeks old, we started going out a couple days a week, and eating out a couple days a week. I gained it all back in a month (or less).

It surprised me to see how much eating out affects my weight. At home we had the habit of eating out two or three times a week, at least. And I couldn´t figure out why I was gaining weight all the time.

Last month, when I figured out what the difference was, I tried to buy healthier foods. I thought if I lost effortlessly on high carb foods, I´ll loose a lot more with healthier foods... But I still continued to gain. I ate out more or bought more high calorie things while running errands because I didn´t feel satisfied with what I had at home.

Now we are in the new house and Isaac takes the car to school (it is the equivalent of commuting to Ogden from Logan). So I am home bound again with my cheese on white and soda. I guess we´ll see if it proves my theory.

Religious Stew

jueves, 03 de abril de 2008

So I have an appreciation for what Joseph Smith was surrounded by, and I know this is only a fraction of it. Our neighborhood is full of spirit. Most of my neighbors are Catholic, of course, because most of Central and South America is Catholic. But there is also an Evangelical church somewhere down the street. They meet almost every night to sing and chant and pray. The pastor wears a microphone, and it is really loud. He sings terribly and shouts the prayers. When they pray, he says one main payer but at the same time everyone else is shouting/chanting individual prayers. It sounds pretty chaotic, but it is a big hit in the neighborhood.

And of course the Jehovah´s Witnesses. They caught me the day I was moving in and we talked a bit and I told them I would read their pamphlet. It is on crime and overcoming it. But after being a proselyting missionary I know how hard it to approach and talk to people. So I was friendly and courteous and today they came back with reinforcements. They left me a book this time. Last time it was Panamanians, this time they brought a woman from England with them, she said it is better to talk about the gospel in your own language...She´s coming back next Wednesday to see what I thought of my reading assignment. LOL.- I told her I was Mormon and that I also served a mission in Panama. So I hope I am not getting their hopes up...

When Cinder block feels like Glass...

Tuesday, 01 April 2008


In our new home, there are “decorative windows” all through the house. In the living room and dining room there are glass windows facing the street. Glass windows covered with iron bars for security. All through the rest of the house are these decorative windows that are actually cinder blocks with designs in them to form windows. It is cheaper than glass, and it lets a good breeze in, but there are some drawbacks. They are always open, since they are built into the wall, and they are on every wall. Some of them have a screen tacked to them to keep the bugs out (we have to put screens on the rest because we get quite a few mosquitoes coming in at night and Dengue is a big threat here). We could cover the windows with curtains, but it would be stifling. The breeze here is really great, we actually get a little cold at night.

So, I feel like I am living in a glass house, because there are these big windows (big like, six feet by four feet) in every room and in the hallway and kitchen, so there is nowhere I can walk around in my unmentionables in the evening without feeling like I´d be putting on a show. And our bed is in the living room right now because there are no screens on the windows in the bedroom, so we are doubly exposed. The whole front wall in the living room is a glass window with the main street and a bus stop right in front of the house. But, I guess it is a good way to get to know the neighbors (or for them to get to know us...).

I will post some pictures of the house soon...

Blogging

domingo, 30 de marzo de 2008

Blogging

So, I am a blogger now. For the past three months, I have been sharing experiences with my family, fun things about Ariana´s development and personality or crazy things about our Panama experiences. Everyone keeps telling me to write it in a journal for her, and I still haven´t. I have now forgotten most the things I found so enchanting. And since we are out of country and phone calls are expensive, only some people hear what´s going on.

It is a little weird thinking just anyone can pop in and read my blog, but I guess the only ones that would are the ones that are actually interested in how we are doing, and then for the other half of my mailing list, they don´t have to bother reading through my big group email.

I have to throw in a disclaimer though, my entire life right now is in Spanish. There may be some words or phrases that don´t sound right in English, so bear with me.

Ariana laughed for the first time yesterday. She has been smiling and squealing for a couple weeks, but no real laugh. But yesterday she finally figured it out. It was so cute! Mostly it was a body laugh, where I felt her tummy contract, but she got some sound out too.

We moved to a new home in the “country” yesterday. It is called the interior. Anything outside of the capitol city is called the interior. The capitol of Panama is Panama City. It is definitely not third world. It is the crossroads of the world, both through physical transportation of goods through the canal and through banking. It is not that big, but it is SO crowded. It is noisy and busy and noisy, it takes a half hour to drive a mile and accidents are routine (I was in a not-serious head-on collision a few days ago, but no major damage). So, we decided to move to the interior. The problem with that is that the interior is not first world like the city. Some areas are definitely third world. I think I live in the second world, I have a telephone and Internet but no running water. Lol.

In this area the water comes and goes pretty regularly. Usually goes in the morning and comes in the evening. So every evening we fill up a bunch of buckets and soda bottles to get us through the next morning. But even when there is water, the water pressure is terrible. But I really like the house. It is very open, airy and cheap. So it is worth a few sacrifices.

It is a bit of an adjustment for Ariana (and Isaac and I) because in Isaac´s mom´s house, where we were living before, we had air conditioning in our room and hot water in the kitchen and shower. Hot water is not very common here since the climate is so hot anyway, but when Ariana was born Isaac´s brother, Roberto, installed a water heater and new plumbing. It was very nice to have.

Ari struggles to nap because she is sweaty all the time. We bought a fan, but it´s not the same as air conditioning. And she hates cold baths. I warmed up half of the water in the microwave, but it was still a little cold. The first bucket bath we took was a shocker for both of us. I didn´t realize the water would get so cold sitting in a bucket all night, but it was like ice. It´s not as bad coming straight out of the shower head. But, of course, I didn´t test it first, just through the first bucket of water over the top of us. We both screamed. Oh well, I´m sure we´ll both get used to it.

I kind of felt like we were camping last night, because instead of hearing traffic all night we hear all kinds of insects and birds. It was pretty noisy too (because we can´t close the windows – see When Cinder blocks Feel Like Glass), but a noise I prefer over traffic. And at 5am, Isaac doesn´t have to use the alarm because there is a cacophony of roosters that sounds like there is a stadium of people cheering next door. It makes me laugh, after I am done cursing, every morning.