Vomit

In our house, the worst offense a child can make to a parent is vomiting. Cleaning up vomit is disgusting, talking about vomit is disgusting as well. Blame Jill for this post.

So far in a combined total of almost nine years of children we've had a surprisingly small amount of vomit.

All of our kids were born with some reflux, Malachi had it pretty bad when his tiny body was born (that contributed to the 14 day stay in the NICU at birth), but I don't remember it being real bad at home. He was on meds though.

Simon and Coen were NOT on reflux meds. During the time I was able to nurse them it wasn't bad. But once the formula started it got worse. A very vivid memory was when John was holding Simon at a friend’s house. We were there on a short trip through Dallas on the way to Costa Rica and they were hosting a party for us so we could see all of our friends. I wasn't in the room, but I heard a commotion from the living room and was summoned (loudly) by my husband. when I arrived I saw him holding our baby away from his body and a bit of spit up on his shirt. I certainly didn't think this was enough spit up for the commotion I heard. Upon further inspection I noticed that the vomit (it has been upgraded due to volume) was all over John's back and the back of our friends couch. It looked like he'd lost his whole bottle. That day lives strongly in our memory.

With Coen we've had lots of vomit. He did have some reflux, just a bit, when I moved him to formula. When he cried after being put in bed he would get so worked up that he would lose his lunch, or breakfast, or dinner...you get it. We ended up starting to put him to sleep before putting him to bed. That ended at about two and a half months old. At three months old he had a cold so bad that it triggered some asthma. He had so much phlegm that he would gag on it, and not infrequently would vomit from the gagging. One time, we fed him his bottle successfully, waited about half an hour after the feeding and THEN put him in his car seat to go out. We got the whole family in the car and started driving. Right out of the drive way he starts coughing. John and I look at each other but we didn't stop driving. We then heard the oh too familiar noise. We asked Malachi if he was vomiting and sure enough he was. It was all over Coen, all over his car seat and the seat belt, and a bit on Malachi's car seat.

There was the time when Malachi came to our room in the middle of the night to tell us his bed was wet. I don't know what state of mind we were in, but we didn't ask questions, we just told him to go back to bed. He obeyed and a couple minutes later I got up to use the restroom. To not wake the sleeping baby in my room, I used the bathroom out in the hall. Near the bathroom I could smell that smell...you know the smell. I poked my head in his room and saw him curled up on a small corner of his bed where it didn't reach. How did didn't reach that corner, I don't know. It was all over his mattress, the bed frame, the floor, the stuffed Tiger, his pillows, and for some reason his mattress pad wasn't on his bed, so it went through the mattress as well.

There was the other time, quite recently, when Coen was in bed and he was crying, and he didn't stop, and the crying intensified. So I went in with the lights off to not bother Simon, who was still awake anyway. I put my hand on Coen, and into a goopy disgusting mess, and then smelled that familiar smell. That time it was all over Coen, the crib, and a few things in the crib.

I think that was the last time anyone vomited in the house. But of course, since I wrote about it and how disgusting it is, I'm sure it'll happen very soon.

My Great #3

Ok, so if you know me (whether through the blog or personally) you probably know that I say things that I want to do, and then don't follow through. For instance...since saying that my blog is going to be devoted to great parts of my life, I've only done that for two out of four posts.

I think about my blog often, and though I don't feel guilty about not updating often, like I used to, I'm sad that I don't have the time to update it. I would love to talk about life, and how great it is. I would love to be able to share with people who are assigned to Costa Rica, or who are entering the Foreign Service the good, bad, and ugly of living abroad and being in the Foreign Service. And because I would love to be famous I'd love to be a, Kolbi, Jill, Donna, Naoma (or any of the other famous FS bloggers).

Well...anyways, all of that to say that because I did three hours of homework this morning while the nanny is here, I'll use the commercial time during Castle to tell you about my great #3: Costa Rica.

I love Costa Rica for so many reasons. Mostly I love Costa Rica because I love my life here. Sure, it's been hard some times. But let's not talk about that. Let's talk about why I love my life here.

I get to live in a place with a beautiful language. I took Spanish in Middle and High School because it seemed like the easiest choice, and everyone was doing it. After I spent three months here in Costa Rica (after high school everyone went to college - I went to Costa Rica) I didn't think there was a language as beautiful as Spanish. I still think it's beautiful. Sometimes it drives me crazy, but I love it. I wish I had worked harder to learn more, but I'm pretty proud of how much I do speak, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn it.

The scenery is amazing. Once you're about 30 minutes out of the city center (especially if you head West on the new/old Autopista) you see green, and hills, and trees (we have real Christmas tree farms here because you can grow firs at the elevations we have in Costa Rica), so many different kinds of trees. The sky is a gorgeous blue dotted with white clouds, or clear of clouds , or maybe some scary looking dark grey clouds. I have so many pictures from above those clouds when I lived near the top of Irazu Volcano of the clouds. Living above cloud line three days a week was amazing, cold, but amazing. The beaches aren't as great as you would think unless you go to the Northern Pacific coast, but they're still beaches. Costa Rica has water for surfing, or if you'd like calm waters for the most novice swimmers. My favorite beach so far is Tamarindo, we've been there twice and it's great. You can also boat down a river, climb mountains, camp in a Rain Forrest, sit in a hot spring near a volcano...you can see so many things.

Pretty blue sky dotted with clouds (picture by John)

Jaco Beach - another favorite

Wildlife! the range of things to see here is amazing. I know we haven't seen it all, and that makes me sad. But we've seen a lot...monkeys, birds, reptiles, spiders, crocodiles and we even saw a deer.

this is Angelina Jolie. She and I became close friends. 

This is a big beaked bird (also known as B.B.B.).

 Beauty Services! If I had time I could be at the salon every week getting hair cuts, waxes, facials, manicures and pedicures. It's certainly not Asia cheap, but it's cheaper than the States. If I want - I can have someone come to my house for the services. An at home massage after a hard day of working, homework and kids is a great thing (and too infrequent if you ask me).

Nanny! I have a nanny for the first time ever. Remember when I said I did homework for three hours today? Simon and Coen were up playing and eating during all of that. My nanny made that possible. My nanny has an adult daughter who likes my kids...a lot. She even babysat overnight last weekend so John and I wouldn't have to worry about getting home early or waking up early. I love having a nanny who has a daughter who loves my kids and is willing to do that (side note: next time, we're just doing a live-in).

Schools. Malachi has a great school that we love. The teacher is really dedicated to the education of her students, and is eager to work with parents to make sure they get the best possible education. She has been great for Malachi, and she'll hold a dear spot in my heart for a long time. There are a few schools that are pretty good here.

There are other reasons why my life is so great, but they don't really have to do with Costa Rica itself. Nonetheless, for many reasons (I'm sure I'll remember others as soon as I post this blog) Costa Rica is my great #3.

Reflections on 2011

Someone turned one, someone was born, someone turned six, two people turned 30. There was travel to Minnesota, North Virginia/D.C. (twice, by two different people, at two different times), Ecuador, and Hawaii. There was a complete overhaul of my husband's section during which time he did a job two pay grades above him (there was also an award given for the service he provided (a big one - rare for a first tour officer)). There were two different schools, and Kindergarten twice. There was a first love made and lost, and the realities of the Foreign Service life set in for our sweet son. Our next assignment was given and much rejoicing was had over one word: Manila. There was family in Costa Rica on both sides, sadly this year no friends came to visit. There was a relapse of Epilepsy and a new treatment found. There were beach trips, a volcano trip, and a group vacation to one of our favorite places - Tamarindo.

I have much more written on another computer I'm hoping this will tide you over until I finish it. Here are some pics to remember 2011 by (in no particular order).

Simon turns 1

High School Friends!

Grandma visits Costa Rica

Malachi zip lines!

On our not kid free babymoon

Welcome Coen!

John at the Equator

Celebrating Easter

Celebrating 10 years

Swimming with some not dangerous (yet still cool) sharks

Coen's first beach trip

I guess some pictures haven't gotten off the cards yet, we're missing Christmas and Malachi's birthday. There's a chance they'll make it on here one day...

Physical Therapy Update

I wrote this morning's post days ago, and last night finally set it to publish today.

Even before it went live we had a great experience with Coen. He woke me up at 5:40 a.m. (that's not the great part) and he was on his back talking. Since he was happy I let him be. When I looked at him again at 6:20 (still happy but it was time), he was on his stomach!! He had rolled over for the first time! I'm a little sad that neither of us got to see it, but I'm super happy that he's made it to this place! After we went downstairs for breakfast I put him on the floor so I could get his bottle made, and I got him to roll over - so satisfying! I can't wait for his physical therapy appointment on Friday afternoon!

My great #2

This is actually three greats. They're 6, almost 2 (going on 5), and 6 1/2 months. They're all amazing and I can't imagine my life without them.

Malachi is in Kindergarten right now, at a great school. He gets to ride the bus every day, and has a crush on the neighborhood girl that goes with him (she's 10). His most recent report card reports that he's doing very well. He's excelling in reading and writing and is improving in Math, Social Studies, and social skills. When you ask what his favorite class is, he'll tell you computers. He LOVES computers. His class had a mini concert last week before school ended for the semester and he was so cute! He was the only one who danced during "Feliz Navidad," and he was the clearest person to say his line when he and two others got up for a little speech (a very little speech). He's becoming more and more outgoing, and he's got so much energy! I think he wears people out after just a few minutes with his talking, running, jumping, running, climbing people, hanging on people, smiling, loving...well you get the picture. He loves people so much! He's very well liked by our friends as well.

Simon is growing! He gets very frustrated when he can't do something by himself (hence going on 5), so we're letting him try most things. It must be hard to have a brother who can do stuff that he can't. He must have gone through a growth spurt because he looks tall to me right now. He's adding words to his vocabulary daily. He still calls all liquids agua, but is willing to change if we tell him it's something else. He's defnitely bi-lingual, and I think he's figuring out who to respond to in English and Spanish, he's so smart. He started saying short sentences the other day. He now says "hi (insert name of person or toy)" and " (insert name of person or toy)." He still doesn't get Coen we think, because he still sits on Coen's head when we're not in the room.


Coen is really growing! His exercises are working to strengthen his legs, sitting and rolling. He now rolls from his stomach to his back, almost sits by himself, and almost rolls the other way. That darn arm just gets in the way. I think that with the moves that he does, he'll be doing all three soon, and even crawling early because of the other exercises that she had me start. He loves avocado, and unfortunately the variety of jarred food here isn't very good, and I haven't had much time to do some baby food making. I'm gonna have to start though. Maybe some squash or something else soft - ideas anyone? Coen is smiling and "talking" a lot. He uses the guh sound, muh, cuh, and nuh. I feel like that's early, but my kids have always been early talkers.

Cinnamon rolls are rising and cooking in the oven, Christmas music is on, baby had his bottle and cereal and apple sauce, and kids are coming down.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Epiphanies Galore

Breaking from my not-progressing series on My Greats, I have to say that this must be a time of epiphanies. I had another one yesterday...a big one. A very painful one, that I'm not going to get into because it's just that personal.

I really hope that I can fix what needs to be fixed though so that relationships improve and life becomes even happier (because life, over all, is pretty happy).

RE: the other epiphanies I had: I seem to be getting a lot closer to Simon. Right now on vacation there are a lot of people here for him to play with (insert lots of cuteness with cousin here), but I've gotten a bit of time with him here the last few days. Yesterday we got a rare few minutes by ourselves and had a very good time playing together.

I also got to bond with my niece a little bit. While her parents were snorkeling I took her to the water and splashed around with her. She would laugh, and I would laugh, and we were having a grand time. If we lived closer to family I think I'd try to be closer to her since I don't get a little girl of my own. I'll just have to settle with R&R's, home leaves, and their trips to visit us. I often think of her when I pass girl clothing in the stores. I'm good at policing myself, but it can be hard!

We're all enjoying our vacation on Oahu a lot. So far we've: swam at the beach, done an ATV tour, swam at the beach, done a Segway tour, snorkled at Lanikai Beach, eaten at the highest rated restaurant in Hawaii, snorkled at Hanamua Bay, played games, celebrated 10 years together, watched the cousins bond, and enjoyed family time. And we still have six days left! Today John, his brother, and I are going to swim with some sharks. Actually...the alarm is going off in three minutes (4:40 a.m.), I should just start getting ready.

I hope everyone had a thankful and relaxing Veteran's Day.