Chaos

The BRU over at Jill's blog this week is about chaos. Check it out on Friday. My entry is a photo essay. I think you'll understand. 

What did they pack up?!

Crib parts and other random junk

My child's bedroom on a nutshell...or multiple boxes

They took the sheets with everything else!

Suitcase stuff in my closet

They hadn't finished here before their lunch break. 

kitchen is "organized"

Tonight John and I went through every inch of our kitchen and made three lists: UAB (air/fast-ish), suitcases, and get rid of. Anything that didn't make it on those lists is going HHE (ship/slow).

It's nice to have that done, to know what is going where. And that's the only room in the house that's completely organized. But upon thinking about our house, we've realized that we really don't have that much stuff. It feels like we do, because we have a full house. Most of the furniture is from the Embassy, though. We got rid of a ton of stuff at the garage sale, and still have more to get rid of.

We probably won't get close to our weight limit on this end.

But the shopping...

We're going to do a ton of shopping in the States. We might close up the gap in D.C. We also plan on shipping some stuff to ourselves in Manila.

I'm still a bit sad about leaving, but I'm getting really excited about the time we're going to spend in the States. And I'm excited to go to Manila. I really am.

We don't have sponsors assigned yet, that I know of, or a housing assignment but once we hear about those, I'll be even more excited.

I had a job interview tonight for a position in the Consular Section and I'm pretty excited about it. I'd be doing fingerprinting, which sounds like the exact amount of mental stress that I want the next two years: none.

I feel like I did really well, and I look forward to hearing back from them.

Our last CR vacation

The topic for the BRU  this week is vacations.

In February we went to Tamarindo for our third and last time. We dubbed it our favorite place in Costa Rica, and chose it as a good place to meet John's parents who flew into the Liberia airport.

It was fun, but a bit bittersweet knowing that it was our last trip there. We didn't get awesome photos from that trip unfortunately, but I'll share a few.

Simon climbed into Coen's bed

Yes they are...and they're amazing

A cold beer on a hot day

A cold lemonade on a hot day

Simon being awesome

Coen copying Simon

Insurance Fun

One thing I love about the Foreign Service...Insurance.

Now, if you're Jen you'll completely disagree. But I've had nothing but good experiences from the Foreign Service Benefit Plan.

I love the system of paying upfront and then sending in receipts to get reimbursed. I love not having medical bills to worry about. I wish I could do this in the States as well, but health care in the States is so expensive, I don't think it would work.

Health care costs in Costa Rica:

Pediatric Visit: $80
Physical Therapy Appointment (for baby): $34
Complete blood count (nurse friends help me here: Why is it called complete and then they need to order other things? It doesn't seem so complete to me.) and extra labs for pediatric neurologist: $87
Prenatal Exam: $70
Prenatal Ultrasound $50

Being able to call the Dr's on their cell phones at any time: free (and priceless)

I have to say, I really am going to miss the private health care system in Costa Rica.

Yard Sale and other random stuff

Off and on since I quit my job (I ended working on the 29th. It was a great day to have as the last day of work.), I've been organizing our place for the yard sale that's coming up. I gave away all of the maternity clothes already, and to the same person a bag full of baby stuff. But then there's the rest of the baby stuff, the clothes that I've grown out of/shrunk out of, the lotions that haven't been and never will be used, the bracelets and necklaces I've had since I was 15 and need to get rid of, and so...so much more. And this is just in the attic, my closet, bedroom, and bathroom. 

Every time I walk into Malachi's room and look at the toy closet and the toys all over the floor I walk right back out. That room scares me. 

On the school front: school this semester is hard! I'm enjoying the English class, but it's really challenging me. I am learning quite a bit from it and am happy to be doing so. 

Coen is waving, it's really cute. This morning, as soon as I walked in the door, he started waving at me. I love it. 

Malachi's been doing Tae Kwon Do in school, he loves it. If you see him this summer, be sure to ask to see some moves.

Simon is talking up a storm! Prepare yourselves family...

We leave Costa Rica in less than seven weeks. This is both good and bad. I'm excited for our journey in Manila, but I love my life here so much that I don't want to go. I'm so glad I feel this way, rather than the opposite. I fear the days when I hate where I live. 

I think I'll go check out the kitchen and see if there's anything to sell there. 

It's a Small World

The theme for the roundup this time around is things that are liked about Post. 


Today we went to the home of a couple that used to live in our Condominio (gated community). They are Baha'i and were celebrating a holiday. I made my way into the kitchen to see if I could be of any help and lo and behold: Malachi's teacher was there helping! She's Baha'i and was over to celebrate the holiday as well. It was such a treat and we really got to understand that in Costa Rica...it's a small world after all. 

Simon, the two year old

Simon turned two years old recently. 

This is unbelievable since I think it was just a bit ago that he was born a few days after the last of three blizzards that happened with-in 10 days. 

Simon is amazing John and I every day. He's talking up a storm. Sometimes he chooses Spanish (he can almost count to 10 in Spanish and gets to 2 in English), sometimes he chooses English. If he doesn't get the desired result in the first language he tried, then he might try the other. 

He has tantrums unlike any I've ever seen. Simon knows what he wants, and will not tolerate not getting what he wants. Unfortunately for him, I don't always care about what he wants, only what's best for him. He doesn't get that yet. He also doesn't get that tantrums usually tend to have the opposite affect in this household. 

Simon walks, runs, and sort of jumps now. He can go down stairs all by himself, but he usually prefers to hold a hand. He LOVES to shower with his brother, and if we even say the word "shower" he goes into a frenzy. 

He's a bit of a pick eater. He likes rice (who didn't expect that?!), pasta, homemade cheeseburgers (but not McDonald's ones - how did we luck out so much there?), juice, milk, water (with ice please), toast, eggs (that's new) and a few other things. He wants more syrup or honey on his bread product after about every bite - we tend to fake it for him. 

He really wants to be like his big brother. He would probably love it if we sent him to school with his own backpack on his own bus. However, he and his brothers often fight. This is usually resolved with one of them screaming and one of us breaking it up. I have a feeling this is my foreseeable future.

I can't tell who his favorite family member is. I think it used to be me, but now I think it changes with his mood, and who can/will get him what he wants at that moment. 

He's a bit shy until he knows you, but then he's very sweet and will even call you with a parent's cell phone and chat you up. He'll also text my mechanic 11 times with nothing to say...he's not allowed to use my phone anymore.

He's handsome, charming, sweet, loving, protective, amazing, and so much  more. 

Happy Birthday buddy. Mommy loves you so much and no matter who you are now or will be later, I'm always going to.