my sweet sena

i think i tried too hard not to have us get sick before our trip. nagging the kids to dress up warm, and just putting too much energy into it. i feel like i drew this to us, because guess what happened? sena and aiyana got sick on saturday, (as i wrote earlier), and now i'm sick. sena and aiyana are pretty much over it, and i'm also starting to feel better, altohugh the last few nights have been difficult. i couldn't sleep bc i was so stuffed up and my body was aching. i must've poured gallons of salt water down my nose, this being the only way i can clear my sinuses enough to be able to breathe at night.

but i don't want to make it sound like i'm down, because i'm not. i'm actually feeling great right now, sitting at the cafe in between errands. the kids are at gymnastics with grandma and grampa, and i'm having a short break before continuing on with my to-do list. i went to see our naturopath this morning. it wasn't for my cold, it was just to talk to him about mexico and kids' health. he's so amazing, i am very grateful to have him. he gave me one hour of undivided attention; tons of useful advice and remedies about different ailments that may be of concern on our trip. we spoke about stomach bugs, and scorpion stings. he also had a lot of useful knowlegde about snake bites, and how to avoid them. he said that i could email him with any questions i have from Mx; it's such a relief to know that he's there if we should need him, and i feel much more prepared to deal with any health problem now that i've seen him; not to mention that he's been to mexico 15 times himself, so he has some first-hand knowledge. he's such a gift to our community... so now i'm off to the health-food store to get all the remedies and herbs he recommended.

did i already mention how excited i am? sorry, i can't help it. we're leaving home tomorrow morning around 1am. driving to laguardia; our flight is at 6am, and we should be in oaxaca at around 4pm. i reserved a nice hotel for us for the first night, just so we don't have to worry about anything. they have free coffee and wireless internet. nice thing. especially the cofee. oaxaca is renowned for good coffee and chocolate. and good food. and friendly people. you see why i picked it...

so i just hope that ed doesn't catch the cold i have and other than that things should be good. oh, and speaking of my cold. yesterday afternoon i was feeling pretty bad. i had done some errands in the morning with the kids, and when we got back home, i barely had enough energy to stand. normally, aiyana and i nap in the afternoon, and sena does quiet time. but i didn't have any energy to read to them and do our regular pre-nap routine, so i just told them that they could lay down with me if they wanted to, otherwise, they'd have to play quietly on their own while i rested. i wasn't hoping for much, but in the end, i rested for 2.5 hrs, while they played together without making much noise at all, without disrupting me, and without any conflict. this was amazing enough, but then when i got up, feeling somewhat better, but still pretty crappy, nauseous and stuff, sena said to all of us (ed was home by then too) that she had an idea to make me feel better. she said "let's take turns and say one thing about mama that we're grateful for". she was so sweet. she spoke about how much she liked what we do when we're together every day; i told her how much better she made me feel...

here she is, at her birthday party last saturday, smiling despite her fever


and blowing out her candles...

peace