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!!