Why I'm Exhausted

We are entrenched in a busy schedule and it exhausts me in a way I can't remember since I had a newborn waking me up every few hours all night long.

Both girls caught a cold last week at school. Ellie's didn't do much, but Hazel had more days of fevers and waking up in the night, something I'm not used to (she usually sleeps 12 hours uninterrupted). Today was her first day without a high fever, and her energy seems to be back, so we're hoping the sickness is finally gone.

Our Beautiful Girls

Then we have our stubborn 2 1/2 year old. I remember the days when she used to wake up no earlier than 7AM. EVER. In the last few months she started waking earlier, and since moving to Guatemala gets up anywhere from 5-6:30AM, most often around 5:30.  We finally accepted it because she shares a room with Hazel and forcing her to stay in her room only woke up her sister and created a lot of stress for us trying to "encourage" our very wide awake girl to go back to sleep. Now, we usually prepare the coffee pot the night before so we can gulp down the caffeine at the bright and early crack of dawn.

After taking the girls to school Michael and I take a bus to our school, an Anabaptist Seminary in town. We each have our own teacher and sit in a classroom for 4 hours (minus a 30 minute break) one-on-one with our maestras. My brain and tongue usually feel like I've been doing some kind of marathon training with them for 4 hours. 

We get home, grab ourselves lunch, get the girls to bed for naps, and either try to nap ourselves (yeah right), do dishes from breakfast and lunch, or work on our Spanish homework. Then it's dinner, bedtime for the girls, and more Spanish homework until I fall asleep studying. I have dreams of Spanish. Not IN Spanish, but ABOUT Spanish, as in, conjugating and conversing and trying to remember vocabulary even in my sleep.

Weekends we have go to the market and make trips to the supermercardo (Wal-Mart), do laundry, and if we have time, more homework. It feels like we spend the weekend preparing for the week ahead. 

Today a co-worker took us to a huge park with running trails and a humungous stadium and one of the largest kids play areas at a park I've ever seen. It was fun for Ellie to play and to see another part of the city. I felt very daring today and snuck my IPhone in my pocket so I could snap a few pictures.

The right side of the stadium

The left side of the stadium with some kind of "mural"

On the way home we walked past Ellie's school and I finally took a picture of her in front of it.

Yes, this is the front door to the school. We love the mural.

So, that's what we've been doing. Today marks one month of being in Guatemala. Wow. This will be our routine for several more weeks. I better go start my homework. 

Hazel is pulling herself up on everything and is more brave every day. She could be walking before we know it.