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!