This morning Eric and I went to look at one more school for Carli. I was really hoping that my cousin Emily was going to come visit for a while and was going to be able to help me with the kids, but it looks like right now she won't be coming. We are all sad:(
I have mixed feelings about sending Carli to school and having her leave me at such an early age. I told Eric if this school doesn't work out we can stop looking. It's just that at home we have lots of activities to do together during the morning...music, library time, Moms Club activities, and also driving around to the beach or park isn't hard or even running an errand. Well here it seems most of the kids her age either have a full time nanny or are in school, so there isn't much for us to to together except play at home, and play with the kids and nannies downstairs. She struggles sitting in her stroller for any period of time, so it's even hard to run errands, or walk for exercise. I guess the INC (Newcomers Club) use to have a play group for little kids, but it was disband due to the limited numbers. Also our apartment is super nice and not very kid friendly. Plus we didn't bring very many toys so she is pretty bored at home. I did invited a few girls from church over tomorrow for a playdate, so hopefully that goes well and we can do it again another time. Hopefully the weather is nice so we can play outside since we don't have many toys.
Being pregnant is hard on my body. My hips are already really hurting which makes it hard to get on the floor and play much too, so seeing if we could find Carli a place to go for a few hours a day seemed like a good idea. Also Eric has been getting home around 8pm at night which makes the afternoon/evening long too. Tonight it took one hour for him to drive 0.7 miles due to the traffic. Riding the bike is the way to go, but he drove today because he spent so much time helping me this morning and also they were cleaning the parking garage, so the car had to be out of the building.
I saw this International/bilingual school two blocks from here while Carli and I were walking around. Eric called and set up an appt for this morning. Right when we walked in I knew it was better than the last place, and it's great its only an 8 minute walk from our house.
They have a class for kids 1 1/2 to 2 with 12 kids, 2 teachers and one helper. Carli enjoyed playing with the kids on the playground. She will go form 8 to 11:50 everyday. Twice a week she will have music, and gym and once a week they do cooking class. The playground is nice and the class room had a lot of fun toys. While we were there the kids were playing with legos and balls. I think it will be fun for her to have some structure and some other kids to play with.
After we got her all set up to go to school tomorrow we went to my first OB Appointment with Dr. Amborsio. She was refereed to me by another American and speaks perfect English. Her office was nice and not to far from our house. It was just her and a secretary. First we went into her consultation room and then after we went through my history she had me to into the exam room that was off her consultation room. She did the whole exam including vital signs. It was a very thorough exam. She even did percussion and palpation. I don't think I have ever had a dr in the US to percussion. Everything looks good. My blood pressure was 110/50. The fetal heart tones were good and my uterus is measuring 20 weeks even though I am only 17 weeks. If her scale was right I have lost 5 lbs this last month. It's not great for a pregnant lady to lose weight. I started this pregnancy 20lbs heavier than my other 3 so it's not that I really want to gain weight, but I am still at my pre-pregnancy weight. I am just worried about making sure that the babies gain enough weight. I have been reading a book about having twins, triplets and multiples and it recommends gaining most of your pregnancy weight before 28 weeks because after 28 weeks it's hard to gain weight due to the babies needing so many calories. I have been having a hard time eating because everyone else eats lunch out so they aren't really hungry at dinner which leads to low motivation to make a big meal. Plus all Eliza has requested or eaten at dinner this week is toast. It's also hard to go to the grocery store and even figure out what I need to buy. I just haven't had that much of an appetite.
I also wonder if it has something to do with the air quality here. Gretta was 3lbs smaller than Carli and when I think back about her pregnancy I was on bed rest for 8 weeks and we lived on a very busy street. I wonder if all of that air pollution caused her to be small for her gestational age.
Today in my AANP email I get every day an article about even small amounts of pollution can lead to smaller birth weight babies was in it.
http://consumer.healthday.com/respiratory-and-allergy-information-2/air-pollution-health-news-540/briefs-emb-10-14-6-30pmet-air-pollution-birth-weight-lancet-rm-release-batch-969-681073.html
We will have to see how these babies do after living in Sao Paulo for 4 months right off a major road. At least we are 14 levels up, but people have warned me that the black tar like stuff that gets on the floor is traffic pollution.
Dr. Ambrosio wants me to see the Specialist for my 20 weeks US. It took the secretary forever to make this appointment for us because since I am having twins I needed 2 appointment spots back to back with one of the three specialist who speaks English. It almost took as long for Eric to pay and get a receipt and make the appointment as my whole OB appointment. Interesting we pay per visit and insurance company will reimburse for the appointment, but lets just say it's not any cheaper here in Brazil.
Dr. Ambrosio did give me her card with her personal cell phone number, home number and country house number and email on it. That's different than the US.
After that long morning Eric went to work and Carli and I came home for lunch and naps.
When I picked the girls up at the bus Gretta told me she knows how to say, "goodbye" in Portuguese and proceeded to tell me how. When I asked her if she knew how to say, "thank you" she said "No." Really. After 7 days at school in more than 50% Portuguese she hasn't learned much. She might be taking after her mom who after hours and hours of Spanish lessons never learned any Spanish. I am sure that Gretta is going to help her classmates learn a lot of English!!! At least she seems to enjoy going to school and playing with the other kids.
The big win in the afternoon was that I finally learned how to work the TV better and was able to get Disney Jr in English. The girls were so excited. We don't even have Disney Jr at home. Plus the neighbor girls came over to play. They really love playing with Carli. (notice my girls glued to the TV). Dani has been so much help to me already. I am so glad to have a neighbor that speaks such great English.
I also wonder if it has something to do with the air quality here. Gretta was 3lbs smaller than Carli and when I think back about her pregnancy I was on bed rest for 8 weeks and we lived on a very busy street. I wonder if all of that air pollution caused her to be small for her gestational age.
Today in my AANP email I get every day an article about even small amounts of pollution can lead to smaller birth weight babies was in it.
http://consumer.healthday.com/respiratory-and-allergy-information-2/air-pollution-health-news-540/briefs-emb-10-14-6-30pmet-air-pollution-birth-weight-lancet-rm-release-batch-969-681073.html
We will have to see how these babies do after living in Sao Paulo for 4 months right off a major road. At least we are 14 levels up, but people have warned me that the black tar like stuff that gets on the floor is traffic pollution.
Dr. Ambrosio wants me to see the Specialist for my 20 weeks US. It took the secretary forever to make this appointment for us because since I am having twins I needed 2 appointment spots back to back with one of the three specialist who speaks English. It almost took as long for Eric to pay and get a receipt and make the appointment as my whole OB appointment. Interesting we pay per visit and insurance company will reimburse for the appointment, but lets just say it's not any cheaper here in Brazil.
Dr. Ambrosio did give me her card with her personal cell phone number, home number and country house number and email on it. That's different than the US.
After that long morning Eric went to work and Carli and I came home for lunch and naps.
When I picked the girls up at the bus Gretta told me she knows how to say, "goodbye" in Portuguese and proceeded to tell me how. When I asked her if she knew how to say, "thank you" she said "No." Really. After 7 days at school in more than 50% Portuguese she hasn't learned much. She might be taking after her mom who after hours and hours of Spanish lessons never learned any Spanish. I am sure that Gretta is going to help her classmates learn a lot of English!!! At least she seems to enjoy going to school and playing with the other kids.
The big win in the afternoon was that I finally learned how to work the TV better and was able to get Disney Jr in English. The girls were so excited. We don't even have Disney Jr at home. Plus the neighbor girls came over to play. They really love playing with Carli. (notice my girls glued to the TV). Dani has been so much help to me already. I am so glad to have a neighbor that speaks such great English.
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