Vacunes TB/BCG

A newborn in Mexico is suppose to get this vaccine in the hospital when they are born. Apparently the private hospitals are bad about not doing this. So our baby got hers on June 23rd when she was 3 months old. I was very interested in this vaccine because its not one that we get anymore in the states. I asked if we had to get it and the answer was yes it is one of the required vaccines for a child to go to school. So we went to get it. My husbands mom showed up that morning and said shed like to go with me to help translate. I said ok and we headed to the Segudo around 12pm. We were told the shots don't begin till one but its a first come first serve type of thing so they told us to show up at noon. When you get there you hand over your babies vaccine card and it is put in a stack with everyone else who is there for vaccines. We waited a little under an hour which is about how long I always had to wait at the Dr. in the states. So this wasn't to bad. What blew me away was as we were walking in for our turn the nurse said only one adult could go in with the baby. My husbands mom explained that my Spanish was limited and that she needed to translate. They said no and that if we wanted she could go in with the baby. Well that got whopping no from me and I said I would be ok. Which I was, thankfully most Medical words are conjugates in Spanish. So I understood when they told me that we needed to come back for more vaccines AUG 3rd. They also explained that the TB shot should not cause any fever, pain or diarrhea. But that in a few weeks it would swell up. The injection is intradermal, which means right under the top layers of skin. If you have ever had a PPD test which tests for TB then you know what it is. They make a bleb or small bump under your skin with the medicine. After a few days the bleb turned into a knot and then disappeared and her arm looked normal. Then about a week ago it started with a small red bump that looked almost like a mosquito bite. Then it got larger and was a knot again. Because I never studied this vaccine in school nor have I ever seen one except the scar left behind I was constantly asking neighbors and family if it was looking like its suppose to. A few days ago we were at my husbands grandmas house and I asked again. The knot was about the size of a garbanzo bean and there was redness surrounding it. They said it was fine and to stop worrying. Yesterday I had her in the bath and the knot began to pus and lot of exudate came out. It was thick and yellow and there was quite a bit. I kinda freaked out and grabbed my husband to come look. He said yes this was normal. I pushed gently on the knot until it was done. We saw one of his aunts later in the evening and I confirmed with her that it was ok. She said yes also. Today the knot is smaller but still there and it has a white head where the puss came out. I'm assuming it will happen again when shes in the tub and the skin gets wet. I'm trying not to mess with it to much to minimize the scaring. I hope this ends up being helpful to any moms who will be having newborns here and getting there shots.

Staycation

Well today my husband went back to work after his almost week and a half off. At his work you don't really add up hours for vacation time. You get one week a year for the first few years then after that they slowly add more time. You also don't get to pick when you go. As a matter of fact they changed our week on us twice, once a month before the dates and the second time a week before. So now we know not to buy any tickets ahead of time next year. He got more than a week because of some recent overtime he had done. The don't pay you for overtime here they just give you time off which is fine with us also. We were not planning on going to far but we did want to visit some friends (Leslie) and head down to Lake Chapala and see some of Issacs old friends down there. Well the first day of his vacation we headed to Guadalajara to hang out with Melissa (Refried Dreamer). As always it took us as long to find where we were going as it took to get to Guad. As we were searching for the right street our truck started acting crazy. We did make it though and because of the truck situation we decided not to do much but to hang out with them at their shop. Melissa did take us to Costco which is a treat for people who don't have any stores that big in town. We got quite a few things that wont run out for a long time. ;) We brought the truck in to get looked at and over the next few days got several different opinions on it. No matter where we went it all came down to the fact that our Vacation money was going into the truck. So for my husbands first time off in over a year we got to stay home. I suppose it worked out for the best at least we didn't spend all the money then find out the truck was broke. Since we weren't going anywhere we decided to have some people over for cake and icecream for our now 3yr old. We celebrated early which was a good thing because by the time the birthday came she had a stomach flu. Poor baby thank goodness shes feeling better now. The good thing about Mexico with sick kids is that there is always a tienda very close, for us its downstairs. I remember in the states having to call someone to either bring me the pedialite and soup or to sit with her while I went to get it. Well on Fri night one of Issacs cousins stopped through on his way down to the lake and he stayed here with the girls so we could go out on a date. So at least we got to go out. We went bowling and I kicked his butt. hee hee. Then we played pool and he kicked mine. Funny how a date turns in to who kicks whos butt. lol But it was so good to get out and knowing we may not get to again for a bit made it so much nicer. We then went our for tacos. Yummmm. Well I seriously thought he was going to be sick of us after all that time at home with us but he wasn't. And I miss him already. Its nice to know that after 4 yrs of marriage and a year of living together that we could spend every waking hour together and still miss each other. I love that I still miss him when hes at work everyday. And he feels the same way. Once again just more reassurance that this is where Im suppose to be.

Duritos

These are things that look like chips kinda and are usually orange or white. They are kind of like corn puffs but with little or no taste. Until now I didnt know what they were called. The other day a friend of mine (ok the only friend I have in town) held up a bag of what looked like little candies in the shape of S. She asked if I liked them. I said Im not sure what is is made of, thinking it was candy. They looked like little caramels to me. She then said they were Duritos which I still had no idea what she was saying so I went to try one. She then of course laughed at me and explained that you have to cook them. OH Whoops I said. She then reminded me of a time when our daughters had shared some and then I laughed at me for trying to eat one. We never got around to making them that day and she left some for me with instructions on how to make them. Basicaly you use a lot of really hot oil and throw them in. I just got done making (and eating) them and it was sooooooooooooooooo fun. I loved watching them come to life in the pan. Yes I was one of those kids that would sit and watch those black snake things grow at the 4th of July. I should have taken before and after pictures but after the first batch I just kept throwing them in and now we are all out. lol
I cant wait to go buy more. Oh and another super plus is that they are way cheep.

Patience

This is a virtue Iv always struggled with, I like immediate gratification. Also I feel punctuality is an even more important virtue. Or I did at least. The verse that God has frequently in my life had to bring back to me is in Mathew and it talks about not worrying about anything including the future. This is the real reason I want things now is so that I don't have to worry about if I will get them or not. I like to go back and read old journal entries to see if I have learned anything from myself, and if I haven't, if I can. I do it a lot during the first of the year but randomly Ill flip back a few months and take a look. Today was one of those days. Here is a blip of the entry I read. The parenthesis is just a little explanation.
(this was at the bottom of a bible study entry)
*Side note, since I've been here (Mexico) I felt as though I had not learned the patience or goodness or what ever it was that I was suppose to learn through the last 2 years of trial(meaning the years I lived in the states raising my daughter without my husband). But I realize what I did learn is that when I lose my grip on that patience and goodness I just have to honestly pray and ask for God to help me to do, say, and feel what is right for the situation. (end of quote)
The reason this entry struck me so this morning is because over the last week I have noticed my change in reaction to things like waiting, and not getting answers when I want them, which is always now. Like I said this is something that has been a part of me since I can remember. I have always, even before following Christ, analyzed myself and tried to find ways to better my faults. And this patience issue has always been one that I have struggled with since I was young. If when I was 12 and first discovered this in my self you would have told me, "Just move to Mexico and that will help you." I would have been like, "ok, I love the world and I want to go." If you had told me at 16 when I was trying to look inside myself, I would have been like, "Hell no, Id be lost without my friends. But then again isn't there good drugs in Mexico?" lol
Then if you would have asked me at 20 I would have said, "No way I'm trying to get my life on track here, I'm in school again and want to be a nurse finally." Then at 25 when I married and illegal alien I still refused that Mexico was the place I needed to be. Then almost 4 years later and a lot of court dates and legal mumbo jumbo I accepted the call to move to Mexico. After all did I really have a choice, well of course I did, you always have a choice. I chose to live with my family together and in no way expect it to help me become a better person. Well look what happens when you finally listen to Gods call of his will for you life. You become more of the person you and He have always wanted you to be.

The Move

Ok so I got a few questions from a friend and I wanted to answer them on the blog in case I had other readers who were interested in the living situations here.
Since Iv lived here over the last year we have moved twice. We are renting because of a few reasons. First of we didn't and don't want to buy anywhere here until we know where we are happy and think we can raise our family. When I first came I was skeptical because the other areas of Mexico I had been to visit I didn't like and couldn't imagine my family there. We now know we love Tepa and this area of Mexico and most likely will buy here. But we need to wait for the money. Apparently the gov has a program where if you work for a certain amount of time they give you points towards getting a loan for a house. From what I understand we are about 6-9 months from being eligible. When we are we will start looking we are in no rush to buy. I'm a little skiddish after having to give up on my home in the states.
Our first apartment was actually pretty big and very nice. We had a lot of counter space and cabinets in the kitchen, there was a large middle area between the kitchen and the living room where we kept our book shelf and our daughters toys. And the living room was big enough for 2 small and one regular size couch, our computer desk and the TV. The bathroom had a cabinet under the sink and the toilet had a seat on it (yes this is important). We also had the whole roof to ourselves. I must admit this was a lot of space for our little family but it was a nice transition for me from the large 4 bedroom house I had moved from. This apartment was on the third floor and on the edge of town. We liked how quiet it was but being on the edge of town means your next to crops and therefore pooo. Yes the lovely smell of natural fertilizer. There also was nowhere close we could walk to except a tienda which I quickly became friends with the workers. Well this apartment we were paying 2,000p for and we quickly realized on my husbands income that we would burn through our savings very quickly if we didn't find something cheaper. So we started the search. Over and over we would hear, "Its rented out already we just haven't taken the sigh down." And a lot of places just didn't have what we needed like parking space. Finally we found the second apartment we lived in. This one was also on the third floor and on the bottom floor was a bar. But it was only 1600p a month and we knew we could do that. It also had tons of room on the street for parking and was a lot closer to my husbands job. He could now walk to work if we needed him to. It was only 2 blocks for 2 different parks, and within walking distance to just about any type of store I might need. The apartment consisted of one room that was the size of our bedrooms in the other one that had a sink in it with a small set of cabnets, 2 md size bedrooms with large dome shaped doors in each bedroom, a bathroom with no cabinets and no toilet seat, and a tiny laundry area which I had to walk sideways through one area because my hips wouldn't fit. So you can see the good and the bad. That move to be honest was complete hell. My husband wasn't able to get off work so we moved over 3 or 4 days in the evenings. Oh and I was huge prego so just about anything was bad for me at that point especially living with my stuff in 2 houses and in boxes. But we made it and got comfy. It didn't take long for the bar to drive us nutzo. It was one of those bars that plays only old Mexican music and on top of that had a karaoke machine. Oh when we first moved in there was also a tienda on the lower level. this was great because I could run down when the girls were napping. The owner has a son the age of my oldest daughter and a new baby that was born 3 weeks before ours. So we got to know them pretty quick, kids do that. Anyway this store moved around the block and we still kept it as our main tienda.
Soon enough the store owner informed us that he had an apartment for rent above his store. This is the one we just moved into. Its a tiny bit small sq footage wise but is shaped different and is actually more open. I have more counter space, but no cabinets under or above the counter. This is normal here and a lot of people just hang up a curtain type of thing under the counter and use that space for storage. I'm using it for storage but not sure I care to hang a curtain. The roof is ours again for laundry and play time. We do share it with the neighbors but they are a nice couple maybe a little younger than me. This one cost about 1700p and is on the 2nd floor. Yes we are finally coming down in the world. ;) It is only around the block from the other one so we still have the benefit of the parks and stores close by. We are still on a busy road but the traffic doesn't bother me I lived in the city and am use to sleeping through it. The bathroom is a tad bit smaller but the bin we use for the 3yr olds (yes she turns 3 in a couple weeks) bath fits and the bathroom already had a toilet seat. ;) No cabinets but that's ok we already had shelves from the last apartment. So I may be leaving something important out about the apartments and such here in Mexico if you notice as always please comment and add what you know or ask what you want to know.
The major difference her in the living quarters bought or rented is that there is no carpet, hardly any cabinet space, usually no closets, sometimes no toilet seats (but can be bought for like 10p) and usually your laundry area is somewhere open to the outside. Funny I guess I could have just put that last paragraph and not all the other jaz. lol

Babies US papers

Ok so there are a couple things you must get for your child that is born in another country. The first is the Consular Reports Of Birth Abroad (CRBA) and the other is only necessary if you plan to travel back to the US with your child which is their passport. The link below is what we used to find out what all papers we needed.
http://guadalajara.usconsulate.gov/service/passports-and-citizen-services/consular-reports-of-birth-abroad.html
From their suggestions we gathered:
prescriptions from our dr
Our Doctors records of our prenatal care which is just his notes from each visit typed on a paper with his letter head on it
The babies certificate of birth (certificado de nacimineto)
Our certified copy of our US marriage lic
The babies Mexican birth cirtificate
My Social Security Statement
The print off of our appointment page from the website stated above which I will talk more of in a min.
Both application forms from the website above

The babies armband from the hospital
a copy of my highschool and nursing school diplomas
The hospital bills
picture of me prego, at the hospital, and with the baby after she was born
Our Mexican marriage lic
The babies vacination record and booklet from the segudo
And the DVD of our ultrasounds

After gathering all this stuff up we went on the same website above and made our appoint. This is pretty simple but they didn't have any appointments available for almost a month. So we picked the first one. Also all the appointments Im pretty sure are early, the latest one available on the day we picked was 830am.
So we got up on June 24th at 5am and headed to Guadalajara. By the time we found the place and our parking garage we litteraly got there right on time. We walked up to the window with the speaker box and told them why we were there. They asked for our piece of paper showing our appointment and we presented it. Now you have to go in almost empty handed so we left everything (including my husbands belt) in the truck. If you cant make it through the air port with it you cant take it into the consulate (long story short). You also can not take any electronic devises including your cell phone. Once we get past the security check and inside a guy give us a number and tells us our number will be called. At this point and still Im not sure what the appointment was all about, I assume its so they dont have to many people at one day but then why give times. Anyway shortly after we called to a window and tell here why we are there. She then asks for the items that are in italics above. She was extreamly rude and short with us. She says that my social earnings statement is no good without W2's (this makes no since to me) and that I should have printed pictures of the ultrasound off of the DVD. I then explained to her that that is impossible for us. How on earth do you print pictures off of a DVD, our computer wont even play it, we have to play it on a TV. She says she doesn't think those to things will pass but she will take them anyway. Oh and I had to refill out the paper that tells of you physical location for your entire life. I thought it meant where I had lived and didn't include the visits to Mexico. The other times I had to fill this out we had an immigration lawyer in the states who helped us. The rude lady then tells me to go to the receiving window and pay for our stuff. We paid I think it was 960p for the CRBA and 1600 for the pass port. When we went to pay for the CRBA and I realized she didn't charge me for the passport I asked her about this. She said the CRBA has to be approved first then you pay for the passport. I also had to fill out a different form for the passport apparently the one I got online was wrong. But this lady was very nice and patient with me, she even whited out some stuff when I filled it out wrong. Something the website didn't say is that you have to have your passport photos, she said that my husband could go out with the baby and have them taken and come back as quick as he could. That the interview could go on with out him if he wasn't back in time but that the interviewer did have to at least see the baby. So Issac takes the paper that shows we had an appointment, the requirements for the photos and the baby and goes to get the pictures. This isn't hard to find anywhere you walk with in a couple blocks of the consulate you have people telling you they can do your photos for you. This took him about 20 min and when he got back we still had about another 30min to wait until we were called. The lady that did our interview was pleasant and helpful. We had to put up our right hands and swear that what we were telling her was the truth. (I find this funny because now days there is no bible so what the heck is the point in putting up your right hand). She asked if she could have permission to look up my work history using my social security number so that I didn't have to provide w2s. Well of course I said. Then she leaves for like 2 min and comes back with a couple pages of my complete work history. (kinda freaky if you ask me, but hey its the US gov right?)She tells me to send my husband over to pay for the passport and he goes. She explains that she is kinda rushing through my "interview" because she has a meeting in 2 min. Wow did I get lucky, I love to be rushed through in situations like this. Then she gives me all my papers back after checking to be sure she made copies of all of it. She also gave us two little slips of paper that had numbers on them. She told us to go to the MultiPac desk that was in the same room and give her our information. We litteraly just moved this weekend so we asked if we could pick up the papers at the office in Tepa, because we didn't know our address yet. Yes this would be fine and we should have our babies papers in our hands in a couple weeks.
Wheww now that's done, both my babies are officially duel citizens. No more paper work needing to be done until Dec when I need to renew my FM2.

The Cricket

As best I can remember this is what it looked like. One night we heard one out in our laundry area and my husband went out and sprayed everywhere because he couldn't find it. Well the next morning I had a dazed half drugged cricket in my kitchen. Then the next day I found something that looked similar to the one above on my wall. To me it didn't look like a cricket but I could tell it was not a roach. So what was it. I expressed this to my husband and he said "what makes you think its not a cricket?" Well I said it didn't have big pointing up back legs. He then gave me that smile like, oh your so cute sometimes. (this ticks me off sometimes lol) and says "Honey not all crickets have big pointy up legs." "Really, are you sure." I say. So I look it up online and sure enough I find lots of pictures of bugs that I don't think look like crickets but that's what they say they are. Ok fine....
So now Im thinking what the heck is a cricket if it doesn't have big pointy up legs... Right? So I pulled a Bob and looked up the definition (hee hee) and here it is.

crick·et 1 (krkt)
n.
Any of various insects of the family Gryllidae, having long antennae and legs adapted for leaping. The males of many species produce a shrill chirping sound by rubbing the front wings together.

Well my bug had long antennae and I guess long legs adapted for leaping but you know I killed and disposed before I got that good of a look. Next time I think I will examine a bit longer.

Amanda