Thankful List

I have never taken part in a thankful list before.  But after having such a tough year, I thought it would be the perfect way to reflect on all the wonderful blessings I have in my life.  I will try to update it daily.

1. I am thankful for Jesus and my faith.  I have been saved, enough said!

2. I am thankful for my amazing husband.  Not only is he a great husband, but he is an amazing father.  He loves his family and supports us in any way possible.  He would rather spend time with us than anywhere else.

3. I am thankful for my 3 boys.  God has given us these 3 blessings and we try our best daily to live up to the responsibility he has given us.  Our apartment is insanely loud and crazy and most of the time I feel exhausted.  But each morning I get to wake up to a goofy 4 year old, a silly 2 year old, and a kissable baby!

4. I am thankful for my parents and in-laws.  These 4 people love our family unconditionally and support us anyway they possibly can.  They send us love through care packages, advice, and visits.  We could not ask for better parents!

5.  I am thankful for my brothers sisters in law, and new brother law.  I don't see or talk to them nearly as much as I should but I know they care so much about our family.

6.  I am thankful for the kindness in others.  We are in the rainy season in Bogota right now, which means that most days by 2:30 ish it starts to rain.  Today it started at 12:15, on our way to pick up Caleb from school.  I had the rain cover on the stroller, but it was pouring and Elias' socks and bottom of his pants were soaked.  So I stopped under a covering for  a garage of an apartment for it to lighten up.  But after 10 minutes it was still pouring.  A lady saw me standing there and asked me if I wanted to wait it out in the lobby, so I explained to her I had to pick up Caleb.  So she offered to drive us and then take us home.  It was such a blessing.  Both Elias and Caleb just got over colds and Ollie is battling an infection.  Our van still does not have plates, so we would've been soaked by the time we would've gotten home!  I am so thankful she went out of her way to help us!

7. I am thankful for the US and the US government.  A lot of people have been complaining lately about how it works or does not work.  Colombia is the 3rd country I have lived in outside of the US and I have travelled in Asia and Europe as well.  There is no country like the US.  Plus our government really does take care of us there and abroad.  I am very grateful I am American!

8. I am thankful for my friends.  It is difficult maintaining friendships when you have moved as much as  Brian and I have.  I have a few very close friends in Maryland that I have known for years that I know I will always have a close friendship with wherever I am.  Also an advantage of moving so much is now I have friends all over the world!  I am been blessed by the people brought into my life!

9.  I am thankful that Brian has a secure job that supports our family with an added bonus of helping us see the world!

10.  On that note, I am thankful I have the opportunity to stay at home with my boys right now.  We can only afford this when we are abroad.  I love spending my days watching them learn and grow!

11.  I can't believe it has not come up earlier, I am thankful for coffee!  Plus now I live in the coffee capital, seriously the coffee here is amazing!

12.  I am thankful for the opportunity to improve my Spanish while living here in Colombia.  I am starting class once a week for 3 hours.   Yay!!

13.  I am thankful that I had the opportunity to have a relationship with all 4 of my grandparents.  Both my grandfathers died when I was in my mid-20's and my grandmothers are still living.

14.  I am thankful for the sunny days in Bogota.  We are in the rainy season now, so having a sunny day is wonderful and means we can get out and go to the park!

15.  I am thankful for the friendship that is growing between Caleb and Elias.  Elias adores Caleb and Caleb is learning that it is handy to have a little brother who will play with you!

16.  I am thankful for the teachers Caleb has had so far.  They have been very loving and patient with Caleb.  I am thankful there are teachers who love this age!

17.  I am thankful for the health of my family.  Oliver has had some issues this first year, but in all, I have healthy kids and a healthy husband!

18.  I am thankful for the growing friendships I have here in Bogota.  It is tough always having to make new friends on moves.  So I am thankful for the ones that are starting here!  Now one just needs to come back from R&R, you know who you are!!  We miss you!

19.  I am thankful for books!  I love to read and getting lost in a book!  Now that I am a stay at home mom, I love spending my evenings reading after the kids are in bed instead of grading papers!

20.  I am thankful for the silliness of my kids.  I know it is similar to #3, but it is an adjective now, not the noun :)  They make me laugh everyday!

21.  I am thankful for the technology that we have now.  We skype every week with my parents and Brian's parents.  It is so nice to be able to "see" them!

22.  I am thankful that we have been able to find a church family wherever we have lived.  Each has been perfect for our stage of life and has blessed us in so many ways!

23.  This was my Dad's birthday.  So I am thankful for my Dad!  He has been and still is an amazing father and has been a wonderful grandfather (Gramp) to my boys!

24.  The 23rd was also Oliver's 11 month birthday!  I am thankful for my baby boy who soon will not be a baby!  He has improved so much over the past month and is sleeping almost through the night!  He also took his first steps on Friday, so he seriously is not a baby, now he is my toddler!

25.  I am thankful that we have been able to find a good empleada here.  She is such a huge help and my boys love her!

26.  I am thankful that the plates for our car finally came.  Hopefully now we will not be caught in the rain picking up Caleb from school!  

Tricky tricky Halloween

It is always interesting navigating holidays in another country.  Halloween was the first big one for us here.  Last Friday the embassy had a Halloween celebration.  We attended the ones in Canberra when we were stationed there and they were lots of fun.  It was a bit of America while abroad since Halloween is not really celebrated in Australia.

My empleada helped me dress the boys and I hired a driver to get us to the embassy.  We have our car but no plates yet.  The embassy did a great job of decorating.  Every section did something different and had different levels of scary so we knew where to go trick or treating with our little ones.  One section was Disney, one was candy themed, one had a little box maze foe them to crawl through.  They also had a little train ride.  It was a lot of fun.  Very different from Canberra which was a small affair.  This one estimated 700+ kids, all of the Colombia and American employees were able to bring their families.

So Colombians love Halloween, well at least Bogotanos.  A lot of the stores and restaurants have been decorated for weeks.  Caleb's preschool did something special for it all week.  Monday was crazy shoe day, so we decorated Caleb's rain boots with stickers.  Tuesday was crazy hat day, so I let him choose whatever hat he wanted to wear (I know, not so crazy, but still fun).  Wednesday was crazy hair/painted face day.  Caleb did not want to do anything with his hair and I don't have face paint, so we put temporary tattoos on his cheeks.  On Thursday he got to wear his costume to school. He had a lot of fun!

On Wednesday, Elias, Ollie and I went to the playgroup Halloween party.  It is an English speaking playgroup we have just started attending.  It rotates locations.  All the kids dressed up, played, had treats, and they hired a photographer.  It was lots of fun.

For Halloween day we got together with another family and decided to have a picnic in the park.  I had heard that the businesses might do some trick or treating.  So after naps I dressed up the kids, got some sandwiches and juice boxes together and we headed to the park.  We figured even if there was no trick or treating the kids would have fun playing in their costumes.  Both Brian and the husband of my friend were working late, so it was nice to get the kids out for a bit!  The kids played for a bit and then we had the picnic with our friends.  Then we went to a restaurant for ice cream.  After ice cream we saw a restaurant very decorated and kids with bags going in, so we thought we would give it a shot.  They were giving out candy.  So we went around to other restaurants, we were passing a pub and some people were shouting for Woody to come over and then saying, "canta, canta".  Apparently there is a song that kids sing to get the candy.  I apologized and said we were American and didn't know the song.  I asked my empleada today and she said it is "tricky tricky Halloween, quiero dulces para mi, y si no me das se te crece la nariz"  Which means, I want candy and if you don't give me some, your nose will grow.  haha!  Next year I will teach them to sing it :)  Anyway, we went to about 10 places and then headed home.  In all it was a really fun night!    Here are some pics of our fun Halloween!

Woody, a frog, and cookie monster

posing for a picture at the embassy Halloween party

Mounted police that did very little work, but the boys got to sit on the horse!

Later in the night I saw them giving horseback rides to kids, I really doubt these police officers did any work that night!

He climbed the 5 stairs to get up there.  He is alllll over the place and going to be walking VERY soon!

trick or treating in the drogueria!! haha! 

Futbol

Yesterday was a big day for Colombian soccer.  Next year the World Cup will take place in Brazil.  Soccer is of course the biggest sport here and every Colombian wants their team in the world cup.  Right now the qualifying games are being played in order to get a bid into the World Cup.   We have been here for 3 of these games for Colombia. When we arrived their team needed 2 more points, which meant they either needed to tie or win 2 more games.  The first game they won against Ecuador and the second they lost against Uruguay.  Sot it came down to yesterday's game against Chile.   They have not made it into the World Cup since 1994.   Here is a little tidbit I got from ESPN about the 1994 World Cup;  Colombian defender Andrés Escobar scored an own goal against USA that helped knock his team out of the competition. A few days after he and his team-mates returned to Colombia, Escobar was shot dead by gangsters amid speculation his error had cost drug barons millions in gambling losses.

We live very close to a park surrounded by a lot of restaurants.  When Colombia has a game, they put up an enormous screen in the middle of the park.  In front of the screen there are a bunch of bean bag chairs.  Every restaurant has a huge Colombian flag or balloons in red, yellow and blue.  Almost everyone you see is wearing a Colombian jersey, yellow with blue stripes going down the sleeves.   There will be vendors on every corner selling jerseys, flags, and horns.  In the park there were 2 people decked out in Colombian colors on stilts with their faces painted.  All the cars are rushing home or to a place to watch the game.  (which was awesome for us because there is no traffic during game time so Brian got home a little early)  You can feel the excitement in the air!  

Caleb loves all sports.  He will watch any sport, baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, golf, seriously any sport!  So since the game came on at 4pm, I put the game on for him (us) to watch.  He watched and played his own game as well, by bringing in his soccer ball and goal.  When Colombia was losing, in his game, Colombia won 24-3 :)  We of course were cheering for Colombia.  But don't worry, Caleb is very clear that the United States is his favorite team!

The game started off badly and by halftime Colombia was losing 3-0.  It was completely silent outside! But they came back in the second half and with only a couple minutes left tied it up.  Colombia only needed 1 more point so a tie would get them in.  When they scored the last goal to tie it up it was so loud!  Everyone was screaming and blowing their horns!  

The entire night you could hear random people celebrating, screaming in the streets, blowing their horns, or honking incessantly!  Even when we went to bed around 10pm, people were still honking and blowing horns.  

We are really happy Colombia won and will be in the World Cup!  I am sure I will have more crazy soccer stories as it gets closer to the World Cup!  Vamos Colombia!!

Ollie getting into the soccer spirit!

The shutdown

So the federal government shutdown today.  I will not get into how I really feel about it, but it is affecting a lot of family and friends of ours and of course us as well.  So here is how it is affecting us.  Obviously Brian is a federal employee as he works for the State Department.  He was told yesterday that if the government shut down he was to report to work as usual.  But we have no idea if he will be paid for the work he is doing.  The embassy in Bogota is the largest in South America and 3rd largest in the world.  So it takes a lot to keep it running.  So Brian is working as normal today and will continue to, we just don't know if his work will be compensated.  We are of course praying that he will be paid retroactively.  But luckily if we lose out we will be ok.  Having a financial officer as a husband means that we have enough in savings to get by for awhile.
The boys and I are having a normal day as well.  Caleb was happy to go to school today since he stays late on Tuesdays to go swimming.  I had to run after him to say good-bye.  Elias is feeling a bit under the weather.  His tummy is bothering him.  Ollie had a good night last night and therefore has been in good spirits.  That is the wonderful thing about their ages, they have no idea what is going on at their daddy's work.
We have and will continue to pray for our government and those who are harder hit by this shut down.  

Updates

I feel like I should update you all on the last couple of posts.  So here they are:

Caleb's school:  For the most part he is really happy there and the longer he is there the more I feel like we made the right decision.  He has been coming home lately telling me about new people he has been playing with.  Also in the park last week we ran into 3 kids from his school, 2 from his class.  They were all so happy to see each other and played so well!  Also swimming started last week.  Caleb looooooves to swim so this is a huge bonus!  Yay!

Weaning Ollie:  I decided to continue weaning.  His daytime sleep is better.  Although he was just crying for 15 minutes when he should have been sleeping.  He has taken 3, 2 hour naps since I started formula.  Something he has not done since we moved.  So I feel like during the day he is getting enough sleep.  Also *most of the crying during the day is gone.  His nighttime sleep still sucks.  So if you feel led, please pray for his nighttime sleep.  I do think he is getting his 2nd bottom tooth.  So that could play a part, but to be honest, I think he is just a lousy sleeper!

Empleada:  She worked 2 weeks, 6 days total and quit.  She wanted more money than we were willing to pay.  I should have known better because when we interviewed her she kept asking for more and that should have told me she was not the right person.  So we had a clean apartment for 2 weeks.  Now we are back to my not so great cleaning.  I am interviewing another person tomorrow that a friend recommended.  I am also going to go down to 3 days a week.  I have talked to people that have had to try out 4-5 empleadas in order to find the right person.  So we will see!

If you are my facebook friend, which if you are reading this you probably are.  I posted about "que basura de ninos" asking if I misheard it or if it had a different meaning.  Well I definitely misheard it!  They were saying "que hermosura de ninos".  oops!!!  The first quote means what trashy kids, the second means what beautiful kids.  haha!!  I was talking to a lady in the park and she was quite certain about it.  I really did not think that I heard it right.  Colombians love children and everyone has been so sweet with them here.   I am so glad I heard it wrong!!!

We still do not have the bulk of our things or our car.  Brian is supposed to be checking on that today.  But he is under a lot of stress at work.  Things have been quite busy for him :(

We have been going to an English speaking church every other week since we arrived.  It is tough because they do not have a nursery, so I end up taking Ollie out half way through the service to feed him.  Also the activities for preschoolers and toddlers is more like play than learning.   I think they have more lessons during Sunday school but we have not tried that yet.  We have to hire a driver every time we go, so we have just been going to the service.  Maybe this week.

I think that is about it for now.  I have other posts bouncing around in my head that I will hopefully get down soon!!

Mommy choices

Being a parent is absolutely the hardest job in the world.  Of course we all know this going in.  The decisions you make directly affect the life of this little person.  There have been 2 decisions that I have been struggling with this week.
First is Caleb's schooling.  As I wrote in a previous post, we had to choose between 2 schools.  A creative arts school where each teacher spoke some English and he knew a girl going there and a Reggio Emilio school where his teacher did not speak English and we did not know anyone.  We chose the Reggio Emilio school because Caleb is not that into art.  We have been praying about a school for Caleb for months.  We knew all schools here are 5 days and Spanish speaking.  God had blessed Caleb in this school.  His teacher is amazing.  We love her!  She is patient and makes Caleb feel comfortable.  She gives him a hug each morning and is genuinely happy to see him!  Caleb got off to a bad start with music class.  The first class was apparently very loud and this immediately turned him off.  So his teacher would take him to another room and play with him.  Well yesterday Caleb was refusing to go to school, crying and pleading with me to stay home, it was music day.  He kept saying "Maybe I will go tomorrow mommy, ok?" Doesn't this break your heart!! I tried all my mommy tricks and nothing seemed to work.  But after about 45 minutes I was able to talk him into going.  I talked to his teacher and told her about his morning and she told me she had already talked to the music teacher and they moved the music class to their classroom and they were going to just have a guitar and sing.  This did the trick.  When I picked him up yesterday he came out saying how much he loved music and the songs they sang, in English!
All yesterday I was second guessing my decision to put him in that school.  But the way his teacher went out of her way to care for Caleb was such an answer to our prayers!
Ok, decision 2 was to wean Ollie.  I have been struggling with this decision for about 5 months.  Ollie has severe food allergies.  At Our first visit with the paediatric GI, she directly asked me how attached I was to nursing.  I said I was very attached.  He was only 4 months.  I nursed both Caleb and Elias until they weaned themselves.  Caleb lost interest in nursing at 12 months and Elias at 13 months.  So I eliminated dairy, soy, eggs, and wheat from my diet.  When I had any of these I saw the difference in Ollie.  It would affect his sleep, he would take very short naps and wake up moaning, and wake several times during the night.  We lived close to a Good Earth market so it was relatively easy to find products without these allergens.  Also I cook 5 days a week so we were all allergen free!  But when we moved it became almost impossible to keep up the allergen free diet.  I tried just giving up wheat, but it did not seem to do enough.  Then Monday Brian was home for Labor Day but Caleb had to go to school. So we decided after we picked him up from school he could choose where we all went out for lunch.  Well Caleb being a 4 year old chose McDonald's.  This of course has every allergen ever!  That night Ollie was up every hour.  On a good night he is up 3-5 times.  When I got up Tuesdays morning I decided I could not do it anymore.  After over 8 months of broken sleep at nights and screaming during nap times I just could not do it.  So I boiled water and gave him a bottle.  We had shipped 3 cans of formula in case I decided to stop or Brian and I went out, etc.  I was in a lot of pain for 2 days and would have him nurse a tiny bit each night to relieve the pressure.  So when he was up his normal amount I thought it was due to the nursing a tine bit before bed.  I was nursing 5 times a day, so you can imagine the pain!  Yesterday I was feeling a bit better so he did not nurse at all.  But last night he was up at 9:30, 11:30, 3:30(this is when I fed him), 5:30, 6:20, and up at 7.  I feel like not much has changed.  So I am second guessing the decision.  Should I have given up nursing?  He was an excellent nurser!  Should I continue with formula?  I did go out and buy the super hypoallergenic formula today, maybe that will help?  As I type this he has woken up twice from his nap.  I don't know.  I guess that is the hardest part, not knowing!
Lucky we have a God that loves our kids more than we do and does know!  Now let's pray he lets me in on that knowledge!

our first Colombian birthday party

On Friday Caleb, Elias, and I went to our first Colombian birthday party.  It was for one of Caleb's classmates and her little sister.  We went to the store and got his classmate a present since the one I ordered online had not come in time.  Toys are very expensive here, so if I have enough time I am going to order them online.
The party was in a social club.  It was by far the most over the top party I have ever been to!  When you first walk in it was decorated in princesses with tons of pink balloons and steamers.  There were giant marshmallows in the shape of flowers on the tables and candy.
The party was hosted by a a man and woman dressed as a princess and a knight.  There was an area where the girls could go and dress like a princess and put on make-up.  The boys could wear a knight tunic, but my boys were not interested.
The princess and knight did a few warm-up games with the kids like the parachute with balls.  Always a favorite with kids!  Then they went outside and divided into gender groups.  The boys learned to bow properly and how to joust a little with toy swords.  The girls got magic wands and were learning how to do little things with that.  Then we went back inside and they gave all the kids different animal headbands with ears.  Elias was a ladybug and Caleb was a tiger.  They had this talking tree that would describe the animal and the kids wearing that animal headband would go up front and act it out.  You can imagine how Caleb did with this!  I was in the back feeding Ollie solids and I hear people calling for me because Caleb was crying.
Then they had food, hot dogs with cheese on top, chips, and juice boxes.  Great party food for preschoolers!  While the kids were being entertained there were waiters walking around with hors d' ouevres; pita with hummus, little empenadas, chickpea balls, and drinks.  I am sure there was other food  too, but I did not get a chance to be with the adults much.
Just when you think it might be over, after the kids finished eating, the dancing started!  There was a disco ball, a bubble machine, and loud crazy music.  But as far as I could tell it was appropriate for a kids party.  After the dancing we went back outside to break the piñata.  It was Belle from Beauty and the Beast so it was weird watching the, beat up on Belle!  This was Caleb's first piñata, so it was fun for him.  People were sweet and picked up stuff for him and Elias so he did not miss out!
Then we went back in for singing and birthday cake, called "ponque" here.  It is a bit different, first they sing "Happy Birthday" in English there was a second verse in Spanish,

Que los cumpla feliz
Que los vuelva a cumplir
Que los sigue cumpliendo
Hasta el ano tres mil.

Then they count to the age they are turning and the birthday kid blows out the candles.
At that point Ollie was no longer cheerful so we decided to get going after the boys ate a cupcake.
We got the the party at 2:45, the invitation said 2:30, I knew it did not to be there on time, but we were still early.  Apparently the general rule is to show up half an hour after the invitation says.   Now we know!  We left at 6!  We were one of the first to leave.  My back was killing me from holding Ollie for 3 hours and he was ready for his last nap.
Both big boys got a goody bag as they left that had a plate, bowl, and cup with Monsters University.
The boys had a great time!  They were very excited to go home and show Daddy their goody bag and  goody bag from the piñata.   It was a good time but unlike any party for kids I have ever seen!

Paro

This week paro (strikes) started in Colombia.  There are several groups protesting different things against the government.  Health workers are protesting recent health reforms passed by congress, coffee farmers are protesting that subsidies from the government to compensate for international falling prices have not reached them,  truckers are protesting high gas prices ($4.82 a gallon),  university teachers are striking because their demands from their last strike have not been met, miners are continuing their strike from the last month about the destruction of mining equipment, rice growers are protesting that the government is not listening to them, sugar cane cutters don't want to be contractors, and Putumayo peasants because they are not allowed to grow coca (you know what that is :).  Then some foster care workers also joined in having to do with insurance stuff.
The strikes started Monday.  Yesterday was the worst day.  About 40,000 people were striking all over the city.  Schools were canceled and Brian came home from work early because there is a big university near the embassy and you know how college students are.  Their strikes usually get violent.
The area that we live in is really safe so we were not really affected by it.  But our housekeeper lives outside of the city and could not get home Wednesday night due to the lack of transportation and could not get in today because of it.  It did get violent in Simon Bolivar park yesterday but we live about 30 blocks from there.  We just watched on the news.  In other cities like Medellin it was bad, dairy farmers were spilling 500 liters of milk on the streets.
Today things seem to be under control in the city.  Caleb's school is open, although some others are still closed.  But he had a huge meltdown going in.  He started out having a rough morning.  So I think that is what set him off.  But August is the month of wind in Colombia, so the school is going to the park for the day to celebrate the wind.  His teacher showed me these colorful plastic streamers they were going to play with and they are having a picnic.  We made cookies last night to bring in and he was excited about it then.  So he should have a good day.  But lately he has been asking me when preschool is over.  I don't know if he just needs a time to know or what.  When I ask him if he likes school he says "yes" and if he has fun he says "yes".  But I worry he is getting overwhelmed with all the Spanish.  I ran into a dad that is going to the park later to spy a bit and he asked if I wanted to come along and get coffee.  So we might go.  I mean it is not spying if we are getting coffee right?!

Empleada

Tomorrow our empleada (housekeeper) is starting.  It is extremely common here to have help.  Most people have an empleada, nanny, and driver.  One day at the park I was talking to some Colombian ladies and when I mentioned I did not have one their response was "Que horror!". Haha!  I get asked a lot if all three boys are mine.  When I say yes, the next question is either if Elias and Oliver are twins (I seriously get asked this like 5 times a day!  How can an 8 month old and 2 year old be twins???)  or, do you do it alone?  As in why don't you have a nanny?  Which I have also been asked!  So when in Rome, or Bogota :). It is seen as helping out the empleada by giving them a job, plus you get help too! When you employ them you help them by paying their pension, transportation if they don't live in, and severance.

We knew we would look for help when we came.  I admit I cannot do it all, raise 3 kids under the age of 5 and have a clean house.  But to be completely honest with you I am a terrible housekeeper.  I can manage to keep myself and the boys mostly clean and we always have clean clothes, but beyond that I am terrible.  My parents really tried with me.  They made me clean my room growing up and every Saturday I was given chores to do.  My brothers and I also had to trade off weeks doing the dishes.  My mom even tried complimenting how well I would clean the bathroom.  My love language is definitely words of affirmation.  And I think she figured that out quickly, it was a good way to get me to do things.  But alas, I am still quite messy.  Brian is the neat one and gets quite annoyed with my shoes, piles, and overall disorganization.

The embassy puts out a weekly newsletter and people leaving post will recommend their housekeeper and nannies.  You can get live in or live out.  We decided since I stay at home and this is our first experience we wanted live out.  So we interviewed 2 ladies and chose the one that we thought would be the best fit.

So she starts tomorrow!  There is a 3 week trial period which if either party is unhappy it is fine to bow out.  She will come 4 days a week.
I am nervous!  As an American I feel like I should not need one.  I mean shouldn't I be able to do it all myself?  Isn't that what we are taught.  You can do it all if you try hard enough!  Plus will it be weird to have her here cleaning while I am not?
But, I am looking forward to a clean apartment!  I hope she likes us!

Happy 8 months to Oliver

Today Oliver is 8 months!  It seems like he has been here so much longer than 8 months.  I will start at the beginning.

I came home from Australia pregnant with Oliver.  I thought when arrived that I was about to finish my first trimester.  Brian and I had talked about having another child, but we had not come to a conclusion and then we found out I was pregnant!  So the decision was made for us!  I had to take fertility drugs to get pregnant with both Caleb and Elias, so getting pregnant naturally was a shock!
When I was 18 weeks Brian and I went in for a regular ultrasound and found out we were having another boy and that I was actually 22 weeks!  I was more upset about losing a month than having a third boy! It was a very emotional pregnancy for me.  I knew this was God's plan for us, but we had so much transition going on!  An international move, a new job for me which included a new school, a class I had never taught before and a changing curriculum for the class I had experience with, adjusting the boys back to the States, Caleb starting pre-school, Brian travelling, and preparing for another international move!  Luckily, physically it was a good pregnancy, no pre-term labor like with Caleb and Elias.

My water broke at 11:45pm on December 22.  I woke up Brian and called the doctor.  My favorite question is always "Are you sure your water broke?"  If you have experienced it, you know!!
Oliver was born at 3:01am on December 23.  He was a repeat c-section.  I was scheduled for one on December 28, obviously he was ready before, and was born 11 days early overall.  He was 6lb 12 oz and 20 in.  We named him, Oliver Gene, Oliver for my maternal grandmother Olive and Gene for Brian's paternal grandmother Jeanne, maternal grandfather Gene.  I had a good recovery and for the first month he was a normal infant.  He nursed very well and did the normal sleepy newborn stuff.
But after the first month the issues began.  I have always said we are "blessed" with difficult infants
and Oliver has been the most difficult.  He developed reflux, which the two also had, so this was no surprise.  He has been on previcid since I think 3 months.  He also has a lot of food allergies.  At first I just thought it was dairy, like the other two.  But when his sleep did not improve after I eliminated dairy I realized there was something more.  His pediatrician referred us to a pediatric GI who informed us that his reflux was secondary to his allergies.  I eventually had to eliminate dairy, soy, egg, and wheat.

Even with the restricted diet, Ollie has never been a good sleeper.  He had to be held during the day for the first 4 months.  Then after sleep training he would sleep in his crib, but not consistently or well.  At around 4 months I noticed he was not using his arms correctly on his tummy.  He would swim, as in keep his arms behind him.  The pediatrician and I thought it was from all the swaddling, so we stopped swaddling and just tried to let nature take it's course.  But after a month he was still not using his arms on his tummy. So we started physically therapy.  The therapist was wonderful and gave us a lot of exercises to do.  It really helped.  She said his arm issues were due to his reflux, since he arched his back so much due to reflux pain.

I don't know why, but I thought everything would get better once we moved.  But he has had the toughest transition.  He was really affected by the altitude and after a month seems to just now be adjusting.  It is also very difficult to stay on my diet here.  I am staying away from wheat and that seems to be sort of working.  I took him to the embassy pediatrician this week and she thinks he is having issues with the allergens in the air.  So we have ordered a humidifier.  We also bought a noise machine which seems to help him sleep as well, since it cuts out noise from his brothers and the city.  But with all that a normal night with Ollie includes 12:30am, 3am, 4am, 5:30am, and 6:30am wake ups. I feed at 4am.  If we are lucky he will go right back to sleep once we re-insert the paci.  But on the bad nights he ends up in bed with us.  You can probably tell from the previously mentioned sleep training, we are not co-sleepers.  I can understand why some families like it, but we all like to have our own space and I never sleep well when he is in bed with us.  I am always afraid I will roll on him in my sleep.

The wonderful thing about Ollie is when he is awake he is so happy!  He loves his brothers!  He is constantly smiling and developmentally right on track.  His arm issues are completely gone as he started crawling this week.  He is babbling, saying"ba ba ba"and "da da da" and he loves to blow raspberries.  He loves to give kisses and hugs.  He loves all attention and will smile at everyone when we are out!  He still nurses really well and eats 2-3 servings of solids a day.

I have gone back and forth a lot on whether to give up nursing because of his allergies.  Everyday, and depending on the night, I have different feelings.  I truly love nursing, but I don't want to hurt my baby!

So that is the short (actually very long) of it!  He is the sweetest and happiest baby when he is awake!  I keep praying his sleep issues will resolve soon!  So happy 8 months Ollie G!  I love your cute and sweet personality and I can't wait to watch you grow!!  I am so blessed to be your Mommy and that God gave you to us as a precious gift!!

8 months!

Our early Christmas gift!

It's been a day. .

You know you just have one of those days where you wish you could just start over.  This was one for us today.

It started off ok.  Oliver had an ok night.  Which means he only woke once at 12:30am before feeding at 4am and then was up at 5:30am, and then 6:30am when I brought him to bed with me to get a little more sleep while Brian was getting ready.  I will blog about all of Oliver's issues another time.  

The big boys were mostly cooperative while getting ready and the walk to school for Caleb was fine.  We stopped at the store on the way home to get a few things and the store had them, which was a success.  The grocery stores here are hit and miss.  Then Ollie took his morning nap and Elias and I had some time together.

I had arranged to meet another mom and her girls at a park after Ollie's nap.  We got there before them and Elias was playing.  This park has big slides with ladders, the old fashioned kind, think back to when you were a kid.  He had gone up the ladder on his own 4 times without help.  The 5th time he fell  off the ladder.  He hit his head pretty bad and was bleeding everywhere.  Another mom stopped to help us and gave me some toilet paper to help stop the bleeding and strapped Oliver back in the stroller so I did not have to worry about him while I was trying to calm down Elias.  I eventually did stop the bleeding and got a band-aid on, luckily it looks like he does not need a stitch.  The rest of the time at the park was fine, Elias played with the girls and I talked with the mom.

Then when I went to pick up Caleb from preschool, his teacher came out with him.  You know it is not a good sign when the teacher comes out with the kid!  But it was not too bad, she just said he is getting hungry before snack time(ie, he needs more breakfast).  We will have to work on this since he is not a big breakfast eater.  Also that he refuses to go to music because it is too noisy.  She was very sweet about it though and said that she takes him out and spends time with him and in time he will be ready to go.

Ollie fell asleep on the walk home and made the transfer to his crib, but he decided an hour nap was sufficient.  I disagreed and he cried for about 45 minutes before he decided to go back to sleep.  I have to re-sleep train him since the move.  More on this later.  

We had another play date after naps.  So we made some trail mix and headed to another park.  At this park, Elias and Caleb were swinging side by side.  Caleb got off the swing and walked in front of Elias, who was still swinging and got kicked in the face.  So now he as a bruise under his eye.

I decided to pick up dinner on the way home.  Ollie had his third nap and when he woke up, I came back to the dining room holding Ollie and Elias was crying and his 2 front teeth were bleeding.  I am still not sure how that happened.  But he was wearing the football helmet, so maybe he somehow bumped into the mouth guard?  Caleb said something about him falling out of his chair.  But Caleb has had some issues with telling the truth lately, so I don't know if his story is accurate either.  Also because he said "I didn't do anything to him!"  hmmmm.  .  . 

Brian has had to work late a few days every week and this was one of them.  So I had to shower the big boys on my own.  But Ollie was not happy that I put him down, so he screamed while I was getting the boys ready for bed.  Luckily Brian came home while I was dressing them and held Ollie.

I know everyone has days like this, but wow, it was rough!!!

Here are some pictures from the week!

Elias wants to be in a package! 

It's a good scary face!

 Elias had fallen out of bed last week and gotten a black eye.  So that is still healing.  I have a friend who recently blogged about needing to wrap her son in bubble wrap.  I might need to join her!!

Now a black eye and busted forehead!

Oliver decided to start crawling this week.

Caleb in his gym uniform.  Why Colombians think white is an appropriate color for gym is beyond me.  He comes home absolutely filthy and his gym uniform is never white after school!!

He has to wear the sweatpants and fleece over the uniform.  But when it is warm enough he can play in just the uniform for the rest of the day.  I think I will be buying bleach soon!!

 

Apartment living

Bogota is a very large city!  It has about 8 million people!  So everyone lives in apartments.  This is our second time living in an apartment as a family.  When Brian and I lived in Manhattan we were also in an apartment.  The apartment here is much different.  Our apartment in NYC was great for our family at the time, it was just the 2 of us.  It was a 1 bedroom with a den.  It suited our needs perfectly.  We lived on 57th and 11th.  It had a shuttle to Columbus Circle and was walking distance to the Hell's Kitchen area that had great food!

In Bogota we live in Chico.  It is a busy area of town and a booming area of town too!  There is construction everywhere!  We walk past 2 sites taking Caleb to school with is only 5 blocks away.

This apartment is 4 bedrooms, and a den.  Each bedroom has it's own bathroom and there is a half bath off the entrance, that makes 5 bathrooms!  It has a galley kitchen and an open dining room/living room.  We are walking distance to 3 parks.  One being Parque 93, which has a play area for kids, a large green space, and lots of cafes and restaurants.  Here are some pictures of our place!

Bathing in a pool!

 One downfall to this place, is there is no bathtub!  So Ollie is bathing in  a pool and the big boys take showers.  I thought they would not like it, but they love it!

decorating Caleb's room!

 We bought decals before we left the States to decorate their rooms.  Caleb chose pirates, Elias chose balls and I chose dinosaurs for Ollie.

 Eventually we will move Caleb into Elias' room and make Caleb's room the guest room.  But for now we can't fit his bed through the door and we don't have tools to take the bed apart.  When the rest of our stuff comes we will have some people come out and take away furniture we don't want and rearrange a bit for us.

We turned the den into the playroom.  Now that we have our air freight we have toys!  We had 750 pounds in our air freight and  I think 4 of the 6 boxes were toys!  We definitely have too many!!

So many toys!!

Our best view is actually from our bathroom!  Mountain living!

The Preschool Process

Brian and I knew one of the biggest challenges we would have in this post as compared to Australia is having a school aged child.  We left Australia right before Caleb started preschool.  He and Elias did go to a drop in center that had some preschool activities that I really liked.  But Caleb's first true preschool was in Olney.  He had a wonderful year there! I loved his teachers and he easily made friends with the other children in his class.
When we first learned of our housing assignment the first thing we did was see what preschools were close.  The embassy puts out a list of schools that other embassy members have used.  We found about 3 that were close so I emailed them to see if there was space.  There was in each school.  So I felt good about it!  Then 3 weeks before the move and 1 week before pack out we were assigned different housing.  The new apartment was 27 streets south of our old apartment.  So all of the schools I had contacted now we could not go to.
I really want to walk Cakeb to school this year.  The English speaking elementary schools are all far and he will have to take a bus.  So for this year I really wanted to walk.
I found 3 schools that were close to walk.  But I could only get in contact with one of them and they said there was space, phew!  So I filled out the application and was feeling ok.
Ok, about preschools here.  They are called "jardin"(garden).  They are all Spanish speaking.  They all start at 18 months of age and go through age 5.  They are all 5 days a week.  Some are half days some are full.  They are all very different!
When we arrived, I called the school that had space to go see it.  I hired a driver since it had 2 locations and the closer location was being renovated.  The boys and I took the tour and at the end the lady said, "I will call you next week to tell you if we have space."  I was pretty upset.  If there was no space than why did I take the tour?  Also what was the point of me filling out the application?
So the search began for a new preschool.  1 week before school started I called the 2 other preschools.  One was a creative arts school and the other followed the Reggio Emilio model, which the kids learn through projects.  It was a tough decision, we knew an American girl that would be in Caleb's class at the arts school, but the class size was really big, 20 kids to 2 teachers, it was a pretty far walk, and I just did not think it was the best fit for Caleb.  So we decided on the Reggio Emilio school.  It is just a 10 minute walk.  For now it is half day, but when he is adjusted, his Spanish improves, and we think he is ready he will do 8:30-2:30.  He will be able to go swimming every Tuesday, gym twice a week, art twice a week, and music once a week.
Today was his first day and I think it went well.  I prepped him with a few key phrases, "puedo ir al bano" (can i go to the bathroom), "ayudame por favor" (help me please), his teacher's name, and "gracias".  There were no tears on his end.  I got a little teary as I left.  His teacher said he did well.  He said he was nervous at first, but thenwas ok.  He talked about playing outside and when I asked if he wanted to go back tomorrow he said "yes"

Caleb is ready to go wearing a new shirt from his preschool!

Ready to walk to school!

.
I am feeling optimistic.  But I know it might be a tough transition.  Hopefully he will make some frinds soon and start picking up Spanish! 

tres hijos?!

We have been in Bogota a little over a week now and I thought I would start to write my initial impressions of the city and people.
The first is the reaction we get to having 3 kids.  At first I was not sure if people were so surprised that it was 3 kids or 3 boys, hijos in Spanish means both children and male children.  Every time I leave the apartment with the boys I get at least 3 comments, either to me or about me.  I finally asked a lady the other day and she said that most Colombian women are going back to work, so having more than 2 children is a lot.  It also costs a lot to have children here.  If you want them to have a good education you have to send them to private schools which are hugely expensive.
That being said, after the look of surprise and "tres hijos?!" people (men and women alike) are very sweet about it.  Normally it is followed up with , "preciosos", "carinosos", "bellezas", "lindos", etc.  Colombians love children!  Men and women, love to smile and talk to our kids.
The other weird thing is we always get asked if they are twins.  Which I don't get at all, I think my boys look their age, so how a 4 year old and 2 year old or 2 year old and 7 month old could be twins is beyond me.  But I think it goes back to why would you choose to have 3 separate kids, if you have twins it is by chance.
Anyway, I have often felt like the Duggar family here.  People in the States don't blink at 3 kids.  But here we might as well have 19!  

New beginnings in a new country!

So here I am again in another country trying to navigate a new city.  We were in Maryland for 1 year after Australia.  I will write a post about that later.
We arrived in Bogota last Wednesday after a teary good-bye with our parents.  This time we needed 2 cars to take us to the airport.  The man who checked us in was amazing.  My suitcase was overweight by 20 pounds and we were willing to pay extra but he talked us into re-arrainging, even after we were about 3 pounds over, but he did not charge us.  We had 4 suitcases, 3 duffle bags, a diaper bag, and 3 car seats.  He helped us get all out stuff in order and where it needed to be.
On the first flight to Miami, Caleb got sick and threw up.  I don't remember much else about that flight. Then it was 3.5 hours to Bogota.  That flight went ok, but we found out after we got off that Elias had made a huge mess of his diaper and needed a complete change of outfit.  When we finally arrived we were all exhausted.  The only thing that did not show up was the base of Oliver's car seat.  I have called the airline rep several times and I think it is gone for good.
Luckily this time we went straight from the airport to our apartment.  It is a wonderful apartment, 4 bedrooms, each with it's own bathroom, and a den that we will make into a playroom.  It is in a really nice area of town called chico.  We are in walking distance to 2 parks and a ton of restaurants and cafes.  I will post pictures of the apartment later.
Bogota is situated  in the Andes mountains and is 1.5 miles above sea level.  Ollie and I were hit with altitude sickness.  The day after we arrived I got a migraine and nausea.  Luckily it did not hit until evening so Brian was able to look after the boys.  We were not sure how it hit Ollie, but he refused to sleep in his crib for 2 nights.  He would just scream!  He has had the hardest transition by far.
Once I recovered from the altitude sickness, I really started to enjoy city living.  I love being able to walk to everything.  I am trying to find a preschool for Caleb that is walking distance also.  I will post more on that one later too.
We will be here for 2 years.  I am looking forward to what adventures there are to come here!