Paradise?

Dominica, being in the tropics and all, gets a lot of sun.  For someone who is brown-ish and "ethnically vague" like I am, this is no big deal.  For someone who is white and pink like Wonderman is, it is a big deal.  Bean takes after her father.  Sigh.  I have come to the conclusion that a person like me (brown and completely unaware of sunscreen) to have a baby like Bean (white, white, white, and a little pink) in a place like Dominica (S-U-N-N-Y) is the perfect storm of bad luck.  Thankfully, I did think (by chance really, but I am very grateful) to buy her a sun hat before we came down.

 Conclusion:  Sometimes protection can be fun.

Eaten Alive

Um, all my posts may begin to seem a little Bean-centered.  Good thing she's so adorable, eh?   (Don't answer that.)

So, we live on a tropical island.  It sounds like paradise.  In many ways it is.  Not so much in all ways.  One not-so-paradisaical element is the beast known as "mosquito."  They always seem to eat the newcomers first.  Both Bean and I seem to count as new-comers.  After just a couple of days here, her little face looked so sad (and yet she grins), with all the bites on it:

And her little arms and legs were worse.  Especially the tender (ok, it's all tender on her) under-arm area, since she always sleeps with her hands above her head as though she is surrendering to a brutal police force.  Thankfully, a friend of ours had a mosquito net he was willing to lend us.  Now she sleeps like this:

The puffy pink spots have GREATLY decreased.  They really didn't seem to bother Bean (although she is just developing enough body awareness to rub her eyes when she's tired, so maybe she doesn't have a way to show that it bothered her), but it definitely makes for a much happier mommy.

Conclusion:  Armor of all kinds has value.

In Hot Water

Bean had a conniption fit during her first bath (I was rebellious and didn't let them bathe her at the hospital.  I probably would've waited even longer than I did to bathe her if her daddy hadn't been leaving.  He wanted to bathe her, so she got her first bath at two days old).  Both Wonderman and I were doing everything we could think of to make it less horrible, as her tiny body turned purple from screaming so hard.  Bath time slowly got better as time moved on, but there were still many nights that she screamed, and screamed, and screamed when getting out of the bath.  I think it was the combination of being tired and COLD.  Cold is not so much an option here in Dominica.  And she almost always loves her bath.  She ends her baths with a smile:

It's so much nicer this way.  I'm not sure what to do if I ever have a baby in the winter time again.  I don't think we'll be living on a tropical island for the rest of forever.  I suppose I'll just have to enjoy it while I can.

Conclusion:  Take joy in simple pleasures

Blessed

Did I tell you that Bean got a name and a blessing (ok, so she had the name for a while before this, but it became official on the records of the church) on January 2, 2011?  It was a sweet day.  I got choked up as I heard Wonderman start to speak, then he got choked up as he blessed her.  We are quite a pair.  Then Bean took over for both of us and cried heartily throughout.  Of course she stopped as soon as it was over.  We think the bouncing was, in fact, too vigorous with so many hands working together, trying to keep her happy.  Alas and nevertheless.  It was a good day.

Adventures of arrival

So, I just barely took my camera out of my backpack, which means that zero pictures have been taken of our trip or settling into home.  However, I just thought I'd toss in a couple cents. 

We got to Dominica just fine.  Bean was screaming every time we boarded the plane (three different flights), but once we got settled and she got to nurse she was quiet and asleep for essentially all the flying time.  Hooray!  That is one big worry down.  She seems to like it here.  She likes the warmth and the breezes.  She is taking some time to get used to her new crib.  Still, I think all in all the transition is going remarkably well, even if there are times when I wonder if I'm going to survive because she is screaming for no apparent reason.  I think those times are decreasing.  I hope. 

I am fully enjoying being back on the island.  I'm glad we came in January so I could enjoy some of the "cool" weather before it gets all crazy again.  The first day we were here, we walked to campus and to a store and I realized that the "walks" I went on in Utah were ridiculously easy and didn't count as exercise at all.  Sigh.  And I've found that carrying a baby makes it hard to carry anything else.  We'll see if at the end of 8 months I regret my decision to wear Bean instead of pushing her around in a stroller.  However it goes, it is good to be home and delightful to be a family that's together more than just for a nightly Skype session.

Wonderman is back to the grindstone and doing well.  It amazes me how much he puts into this.  I've come to the conclusion that not only do I never want to go to med school, especially since it would be mostly just to prove I could do it, not because I want to be a doctor, but a regular job is much easier than med school or motherhood.  That may seem obvious to you, but it is still a bit of a revelation for me.  I already have found myself thinking about how easy my life used to be when I just had to go to work.  Ah.  If only I had appreciated it then.  :) 

And that's it.  The adventure continues.  I'll try to take some pictures and post them later.  Maybe soon-ish.  Maybe not.

Until then.