Roundup this week

I'm hosting the Weekly State Department Blog Roundup this week and the theme is your best/worst/most embarrassing ex-pat moment.

I'll have to spend some time this week thinking about mine...maybe my moment will even happen this week.

Car Trouble, Birthday and Baby, Oh my!

Our car has been costing us lately. The mechanic has fixed many problems. Now it's doing something weird with the steering, and making a very loud squealing noise that sounds like a belt problem. I hate car trouble.

Other than that, nothing big is really happening right now. John's going to be gone on a work trip on Simon's birthday this year. This makes me sad, but luckily for us Simon has no clue. He may be back in time for us to have Simon's party that Sunday, the 13th, but he might not. We should know by Tuesday...we'll see.

As far as what we'll do for his 1st birthday party, I don't quite know yet. Since he doesn't care about the party, we may just have our friends over, at this stage it's really about the parents anyway.

John and I have decided that Simon's going to have a much harder time getting a baby brother than Malachi did. Without the ability to reason with Simon at such a young age, we're not able to prepare him for the arrival the way we did Malachi. One thing we can do with Simon that we did with Malachi is to make sure we spend as much time with him as possible and make sure he knows how much we love him. I hope it helps.

Healthy Eating on a Budget

Check out this blog I've been pointed to recently. It's done by the sister of a friend from D.C., who's not FS but isn't in D.C. anymore. I think that may be the way of that city.

Anywho, I digress. Natalie blogs about having a family and living healthy on a budget. She's done some great things and even tests products for us, so we don't have to.

Check it out here.

Calling all Foreign Service bloggers (and readers)

John and I are about to bid and Malachi's class 2 MED clearance is sticking like white on rice. With that said, we've been told that we have to do research about what posts have the proper medical care. So here are my questions...

Do you have a kid with Epilepsy? Do you know someone who has a kid with Epilepsy? Where are you, or they, posted? Does anyone know of any kind of easy to use (HA!) database where we can just check what posts have Pediatric Neurologists and ER's?

If anyone has any advice on this I would greatly appreciate it. We're supposed to bid soon, and we were just told today of the research we're supposed to do.

Not Yet 4 1/2 Months

I'm not yet 4 1/2 months into my pregnancy. However, I'm showing quite well, I too easily tire out, I get sore in so many places after a day of work (or after standing for a while), my belly hurts when placing Simon in the crib, etc.

On the other hand...I can feel him moving around a lot. I love that part! It doesn't hurt to have him move, or sit up top like he does. I love knowing that he's growing and doing well.

Also, I think we've picked a name...and no, I won't tell you what it is. We have to have ONE secret!

Minnesota...The End

Things I did in my last couple of days (of course, in no particular order)...

One more trip to: Jimmy John's and Target

Trip to: Walgreens, USPS (Sent my Swap Box!), The Carver County Service Center, scary Thrift Store, TJ Maxx and Payless for Bogo

Afternoon and dinner at my dad's house

Met sister-in-law in Bloomington to go to the airport

Cried at security when they made me throw away the cold medicine for Simon

Great Flight to Atlanta with Simon napping a bit

Chick-fil-A in Atlanta and barely no delay

Not a horrible flight to San Jose with Simon sleeping as long as he could be comfortable

Met at the gate by John and Malachi with Malachi running to me yelling MOOMMYYYYY (Best arrival ever)

Easy time through immigration and customs

Stop at Taco Bell on the way home

Gifting items from myself and family members to John and Malachi

Sleep in my own bed

Since Friday I've seen some friends and spent some quality time with my family. Right now we're sitting in the living room watching Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back, having just eaten eggs and toast. I'm not sure we're not in the States sometimes. Well I guess we bring the States to Costa Rica anyway. 

Simon and I are still sick, but we're on the mend. Hopefully we won't pass it on to John and Malachi.

Minnesota So Far...again

More things I've done (again...no particular order):

• Watched: Date Night, All of the Twilight Saga movies and some special features
• Ate at Jimmy John's, First Course (Tapas)
• Spoken a little bit of Spanish
• Had my first dream in English and Spanish
• Comforted a sick baby
• Lazied around a large part of MLK day
• Gone to Target two more times (total of three so far, and spent surprisingly little money)
• Had my favorite orange rolls for breakfast with the family egg bake
• Saw family and friends that I haven't seen in at least a year and a half
• Took some cute pictures (that I can't get online because this computer doesn't have an SD slot)
• Played Scattegories Junior with Mom and Aunt Patty and lost by 1 point

Minnesota So Far

Things I've done (in no particular order):

Gone to a movie without Spanish subtitles
Spoken zero Spanish
Hung out with Mom, Sister, Dad, Aunt, Friends (hanging out with many more relatives and friends today)
Eaten at: Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, Papa Murphy's x2
Had my favorite family recipe/meal
Played Bananagrams and Five Crowns
Slept at least 7 1/2 hours the last two nights
Driven in MN winter, safely making it to all destinations, passing fatal accidents
Watched zero T.V. (can you believe that babe?!)
Comforted and fought to feed a teething baby
Introduced said baby and his grandpa (my dad)
1 full load of laundry that sits in the dryer waiting to be folded - HA!
Shopped at Target
Woke up before the sun rises (8:00 a.m. in a MN winter)
Taken a few pictures

It's been a great trip so far, and today we're having a party for my mom's 50th, tomorrow is her birthday filled with all kinds of fun activities.

Oh - I got my FS Swap partner. I can't wait to swap parts of our country!

15 degrees

Where I am it's 15 degrees outside. The high today will be 20. The high tomorrow will be 15. But at least tomorrow it'll be sunny. Today's forecast? More snow!

But...I get to see family! My dad gets to meet my son for the first time today (in about three hours), and I will hopefully see some old friends while I'm here. I'm only going to be here for about six more days and then I return to a (hopefully) sunny Costa Rica. So I've decided that I can do this. It doesn't matter that my toes feel like they're going to fall off...because they won't. And I somehow made it here in between snow storms amidst people that had been waiting four days to fly. The only delay I had was one hour from Atlanta to Minneapolis. I could easily deal with that...we missed rush hour on the highway because of it!

I'm really very happy to be here but I must go find my slippers.

New Stuff

Becky at Small Bits is hosting the roundup this week. The theme is "new stuff."

Of course I got a lot of new stuff for Christmas, I made out like a bandit actually. And my blog background is new (this was a coincidence, I did the new background a few days ago). But the best "new stuff" that I'll be getting in 2011 is my little boy.

I've been feeling him move more lately. I got my eyebrows waxed yesterday and when I laid flat on the table, I felt him climb as high as he could and go as close to the front as he could. It was the first time I felt him strongly. It was a bit of a weird sensation actually. Not weird because I've never felt it before, but weird because I felt such a strong movement so early in the pregnancy.

Speaking of early in the pregnancy, I'm already pushing the limits of my shoes and boots. I can't believe that at 17 weeks my shoes were too tight.  This pregnancy has been so different from the other two.

Besides the biggest and best new thing that I'll get in 2011, I'm going to get a lot of little new things in the upcoming days. I'm so excited to buy things in the States again. Thing is...where we're posted, a lot of what I'm buying will be cheaper in the States than it is in Costa Rica.

I may not blog much, if at all in the next week or so. But a lot of my readers will be sick of me by then!

Great Weekend

Our family has had a very chill weekend. In fact we really haven't done much. Well...I haven't done much. Friday night John and I went on a date. We had dinner, played at an Arcade, had dessert at a different restaurant and saw a movie. We don't have a huge selection here, so we thought we'd see The Tourist. It had its good and bad moments, over all though, I liked it.

John and Malachi went out yesterday in the morning to check prices on dirt for our raised bed gardens, and then they did a little more shopping around. After they did that they picked up Simon and I for a little American fast food, heart stopping lunch at McDonald's. The rest of the day yesterday was spent relaxing at the house.

Today we went out to try an organic restaurant about five minutes from the house, but it was closed. So we went to a local restaurant that everyone says is really good, and it is. We enjoyed it and I'm sure we'll go again.The rest of the day has just been restful.

Sounds like a normal family living in the States doesn't it? Sometimes even though we're in Central America life seems pretty normal.

2011

Linsey at Rambles and Ruminations is hosting the WSDBR this week with a theme of 2011. What are your goals and resolutions?

Mine? Well...mine are kind of secret. One is a family goal, and if/when we meet it I'll share it. The one that's not a secret? Don't gain too much weight this pregnancy, and keep exercising throughout it! I guess that's two goals, but they go together.

With Malachi I had gained 35 pounds at the point in which I went into the hospital. Who knows how much weight I gained just laying there for two weeks. With Simon, I had a net gain of 20 pounds (I say net because I actually lost about 7 pounds in the first trimester and then gained about 27 throughout the last two). This time, I can't gain more than about 18 pounds (9 kilos here). So far, I've only lost, so at least I'm not gaining yet. We'll see how it goes in the second trimester. I haven't been able to take as many walks because Escazu (where I live) is so hilly and I can't do them anymore! My Dr suggested swimming and a treadmill. My sweet girlfriend, C, knows about my struggles to walk and is going to take me for a walk in her neighborhood this afternoon (it's so much flatter than Escazu), for about half an hour - yay!

So, that's my biggest goal this year. Of course it only lasts through June, so maybe I should tack something on to it. My goal for the second half of the year is to exercise well, and lose weight at an appropriate pace - not too slow, not too fast! That's a great second half of the year goal.

Check Up

John, Malachi and I headed over to my OB's office yesterday to check on the baby, the previously mentioned placenta issue, and of course to find out the sex.

My OB lets the other Dr's in the practice to most of the ultrasounds (apparently they're better at it), so I met one of the other Dr's and she did our ultrasound. I was only 15 weeks 5 days, and he wasn't cooperating as much as she would've liked but we did get glimpses of HIS "stuff" if you will a couple of times. We laughed as we realized that we would have three boys in the house. Malachi was mad - he wanted a sister. I assured him that a little brother is way more likely to rough house than a little sister. I think that helped a little.

The rest of the ultrasound went well. The placenta is in a great position - couldn't be better actually. And the check up with my Dr went well. I didn't have any questions - it's my third, I feel pretty confident right now. He did my vitals and checked the heartbeat for himself. The one odd thing this check up...I've lost more weight. I lost about a pound in the last month, making it a loss of about 7 1/2 lbs. How I lost weight over the holidays and with barely exercising I have no idea! If I continue to lose weight, I'll have to eat more and I don't know how that will be possible! However, this month, I'm supposed to do business (eat like I was) as usual. I got a DVD of the whole ultrasound, and I'll see if I can somehow get the file online.

It seems the boys are getting sick. All three of them have some kind of congestion. John's well enough to be at work, and the boys seem fine right now, we'll see how it progresses. I really hope if Simon has a sinus thing it goes away in time for the flight next week.

What flight, you ask? Well...I'm going home! I'm going to visit my family and celebrate my mother's birthday. I can't wait to go to MN, and I can't wait for food. FOOD! Good (but really probably bad) food. With the cold weather, staying inside and sitting around all the time, and all the eating I'm going to do, I imagine I'll gain a bit of weight in the States.

FS Swap

For those of you out there who are Foreign Service...no matter where you're serving. If you want to connect with someone whose serving somewhere else, and send a little bit of your current culture to them, as well as receive from their current culture, join the swap!

Amy at Crafty Foreign Service is hosting the second FS Swap and this year I signed up. I'm excited to share a little bit of Costa Rica with somebody else. I'll also be in the States sometime soon, so maybe I'll send it from there and share a little bit of the States as well. Amy would like to hand out the swap partners on the 15th, so if you want to join in contact her quickly! Happy Swapping!

BTW, I'm super jealous of whoever gets Kolbi as their partner because I know she's going to be awesome.

1/1/11

The first day of 2011 was pretty much like any other day. Except it went really fast! The kids slept in - I didn't get out of bed until 7:45. That was a very special treat.

We relaxed at home most of the day. John and Malachi went shopping for the rest of dinner ingredients and John  made an absolutely wonderful dinner for our first day in 2011.

One thing I noticed yesterday was Simon's newest tooth. He now has six teeth, and for all I know the seventh popped its way out last night. Poor little guy has gone through a lot the last week with his weird appetite and fitful sleeping. Hopefully todays sleeping until after 8 a.m. is a sign that he's moving back to normal.

Things we're looking forward to this year:

Finding out our next post
Baby
Not moving
John finishing his Masters Certificate in International Relations
Me possibly starting school
Celebrating 10 years of marriage
A ton of awesome adventures in and out of Costa Rica