Lame title

So, we have been busy. We're a busy bunch (too busy to think of a good title)!

We've been here for five months now. Five months, you say?! That's right! We've now been here a week over five months. It's hard to believe that it's been that long already. In one month, we'll already be done with one-sixth of our time in Jamaica. The other five-sixths have potential to go by very quickly.

So, in case you're wondering what's up...

Out of the six of us, there are only two at home during the day.

Johnathan has been busy managing in the Consular section. He enjoys his job, his co-workers, and his local staff quite a bit. He's continually making me jealous of them because he cooks for his team meetings. His current team isn't very big, and he wonders what he's going to do when he moves to a bigger unit in the section next year. He has an amazing garden growing in our backyard. We're constantly using tomatoes, lettuce, dill, and other things from our garden.

Sara (yeah...I do third person sometimes) has been busy with her Housing Assistant job. For a month, her coworker was on a well-deserved vacation, and she handled the job of two people. Sometimes she did it like a rock-star, but there were times where she wanted to just give up. She's learning that being in the GSO section is hard work. She's learning that she prefers to not work in Management section jobs, but is going to make the best of her situation. She's been playing Dungeons and Dragons on a monthly basis with some friends.

Malachi's second semester is going very well. He's been enjoying school more, has more friends, and is even enjoying math this semester (this kid really gets fractions!). This semester his after-school activities include Lego-Yuh Mind Robotics, and he's continuing his private drum lessons. He's been rocking the Skylanders game on the Xbox, as well as the Lego Movie game.

Simon is killing it in pre-school this semester. He brought home some homework last week and was so excited to do it. In fact, on Monday he asked Johnathan to make him some homework (I think he wants to be like his brother - we'll see how long this lasts). His birthday is coming up soon and he'll be five - yes, five! As crazy as that sounds, it's true. He's asked for an alien-themed birthday party. So we're trying to trying to figure out an alien-themed birthday party for kids who may not know what aliens are.

Coen stays home with Lucy and chills out with her. He plays on his own, as well as helps her in the yard, or in the house. He loves to help anyone with their task. Last night he wanted to help me with dinner, but I was dealing with a very hot pot of food, that was splattering. The answer was no. Poor Coen. He's so excited to go to school this fall. I had been worried about him and going to school. He has introvert tendencies, and at someone's birthday party wouldn't sit at the table to eat with all the other kids. I thought - how is he going to go to school?! But I think he'll do well. He's been wanting to go for so long, that I think he'll jump right in.

Lucy is doing well. She has a church community that she likes, and she has two close friends. On Sundays sometimes she goes to the mall with her friends for lunch and shopping. She's also often on the phone with friends in the Philippines. She seems to be happy, and I really hope she continues to be.

Everyone has been struggling with allergies and colds to some degree. I hope that as the rainy season ends we'll have fewer sicknesses (and fewer mosquitos!).

We're liking it in Jamaica and are looking forward to the next five-sixths of our time here (sorry for the lack of photos - we're too busy living life to take them!).

Not fair

It’s not fair that I have to be so far away. It’s not fair that I can’t help even when I want to. It’s not fair that her mind is going while I’m so far and can’t be there to see her or talk to her when she’s still “there” so she’ll at least know me. Right now, she’s not so far. But how quickly will it progress, how bad will she get? Will anyone really know? She wants to be independent, but how independent is she? According to an ER doctor, she can’t be. She needs help. Why can’t she be the woman who makes me itchy clothes, and has a biting wit that either made you roll your eyes or laugh? Why can’t she be the strong woman from when I was young? Why do I have to be so far?

And I can’t be there.

This sucks.

This is the worst part of the Foreign Service.

No More Babies

It’s official.

There are no more baby boys in this house.

Coen started his potty training today. He was very proud of his underwear and showed it to his daddy after putting it on.

I don’t know how ready I am for this. I love the baby phase. It’s the only phase when they can’t get away and they have to cuddle with you!

However, the fact that they’re getting older is a good thing. It means more independence for them, and more freedom for other people (*cough* parents *cough*). It will be great to travel without the worry of diapers, wipes, changing pad, etc. Granted we’ll still travel with change of clothing, but that’s nothing new. That, we’ve been doing for years.

No more babies.

This is a good thing…right?

Yes, it is. It really, really is.

Why I love Christmas

Tim Minchin wrote a song about why he loves Christmas, and it hits home for me.

The meaning of Christmas has changed for me over the last few years. I used to be a Christian and had the traditional views of the holiday. I loved Christmas as a way to celebrate my religion and it’s savior. The Christmas Eve candlelight services at our church in Dallas were my favorite.

My first Christmas as a non-Christian (before I had fully transitioned to Atheism) was difficult. I was in a difficult time, I guess, but Christmas was particularly hard that year. I wondered what the point was.

Since then, I have come to love Christmas as much as before.

I have always loved tradition. I don’t know if it’s because I was in Fiddler On The Roof when I was in 8th grade, or if it’s because my family loves tradition. We have Christmas traditions in my family (hot chocolate and orange rolls!), and we’ve brought them to our family as much as possible (the kids didn’t drink nearly as much hot chocolate, yesterday, as I thought they would). Orange rolls aren’t available so we’ve made homemade sweets. Cinnamon rolls, or blueberry cream cheese puffs, or something. John had traditions growing up too that we’ve started doing. Our kids get a pair of pajamas on Christmas Eve to wear that night. 

And, come on. My whole life, the best part of Christmas has been the presents! With three boys I get to give a lot of presents! I love to give as much as I love to receive. Except to John, I always have a fear I’m getting the wrong thing. Despite being together over 16 years, I still suck at getting him the right things.

I digress.

Yesterday I enjoyed Christmas the most I have in years. The children loved their presents. John made a super delicious breakfast feast with the aforementioned puffs, homemade biscuits and gravy (no packets in this family), and scrambled eggs. We spent the day watching movies, playing with new toys (including my run in my new running clothes), swimming in our pool, and on a Christmas drive (which was supposed to be easy and stress free but was actually stressful. Manila never ceases to surprise). Lunch and dinner were leftovers, sandwiches, or snacks and the children (and possibly adults) indulged in a ton of sugar throughout the day.

The kids went to bed with a new toy and were perfectly happy and tired from their big day of playing. We hung out for a few hours and I went to bed happy. I was so happy yesterday.

I love Christmas and I’m so happy to pass on the traditions from our families to our kids.

Merry Christmas, from the Roy Family!

It’s Quiet Here

I wrote this yesterday and the writing program crashed and I lost it. So this might be abbreviated.

As I previously mentioned we had guests in the house. When the helpers were here there were six adults and five kids in the house. It was loud. Especially when four of them are 3 and under.

I was sad to see them go yesterday. As I hugged my niece and nephew I was sad to realize that I won’t see them for seven-ish months and they’ll be so much bigger by then.

Now there are three kids and three adults in the house – and it feels so quiet. Even if my littles are screaming. It’s gone from four littles screaming to two – the difference is amazing.

Not as easy as we thought

John’s brother and his family are in town. My kids have two cousins. Adelyn, who’s close in age to Simon, and Odin, who is 18 months.

We were excited for the cousins to reconnect and play together.

Unfortunately they haven’t gotten along as well as we’d hoped they would. There are many times through the day where separation is required.

That being said, there are some amazingly cute moments. Mostly they’re quick and the camera doesn’t make it out in time. This morning, Simon wanted Adelyn to wake up and play and he was so excited when she finally did. The happy-play-time only lasted about 30 minutes until something happened.

Oh well. The adults are all happily enjoying each other’s company. We’re just learning how to manage the kids’ time to make sure relations don’t get bad.

It's official

Yesterday's early release at the Embassy and the flooding confirm it: it's rainy season.

I thought maybe it was early, then I realized that we got here late July last year, so maybe I just arrived late. Then someone on facebook said it is early. Hopefully it doesn't just carry through like this. I think I would have a hard time being stuck in the house if it's flooding all the time.

On a happier note: I had a great visit with my sister! She was here for almost three weeks. Mostly it was just us relaxing (somehow I let her leave having only had one massage - how did that happen?!), but we did some touristy things too.

We went to: Ft. Santiago in Intramuros, Divisoria (think local market/bazaar), and Greenhills (pearls!). We tried to see the sunset at the bay, but unfortunately I picked a bad spot for it. She saw parts of the Embassy, and the school. And we traveled!

It was my first time traveling in the Philippines without John and it was weird to go to a beach resort without him. I had to get my mind out of romantic vacation mode and into sister vacation mode. Unfortunately I didn't do a good job explaining myself at the spa and I accidentally booked us a romantic cooling wrap treatment. It dawned on me after we were both laying on the tables having ice cold green mix that looked like guacamole put on us. "They think we're a couple!" I said. My sister agreed. They did think that. Oh well, it was still fun.

We went to Mactan Island which is connected to Cebu Island which is South East of here. It only was about an hour and a half flight to get there. The resort picked us up and brought us back to the airport when it was time to go. We ventured out to a restaurant that Anthony Bourdain said had the best pork ever. I didn't think so, I'd had better at home, but it wasn't bad. The resort itself, Bluewater Maribago, was a bit above average. I'd had worse, I'd had better. We went on a Deal Grocer deal, and I'd return with kids on a Deal Grocer deal. There were a lot of families there, actually. But there's a Shangri-La down the road that offers a government rate...we'll probably do that with the kids instead.

We ate out a ton while she was here. It's hard to get out of that habit, but I'm working on it.

She says she had a good time, and I think I believe her. I really hope it was a memorable trip. And I really hope she got the rest she deserves after her super hard school year. We loved having her here.

Oh and Steph - you were included in Malachi's family picture the other day. Thought you'd like to know.

A new normal?

I don't have much to blog about. Nothing spectacular has happened in the last few days. Malachi is getting much better, but is still coughing quite a bit since he doesn't yet know how to "cough it out." Coen's feedings are no less than three hours now - how did I get so lucky?! Simon's quite used to him now, I think. He says "hi" to him a lot and either waves or rubs Coen's head gently.

Life has been good these last couple of days. With nothing spectacular I wonder if it's just become...normal.

Catch up #5: Visitors Round 2

John's brother (B), his wife (S), and their daughter(A) came on Thanksgiving and stayed for 10 days. I'd never met A and I was so stinking excited to meet her, she's so cute and sweet. She didn't like being held by me at first because she didn't know me, but she warmed up.

We had a great time with them. We took a day trip to see Volcan Poaz, an active volcano crater. The walk from parking to the crater is about half a mile, and we also decided to walk up a hill to the lagoon - which I think used to be another crater. That walk was tough! And B & S brought A in the stroller (John did not bring Simon) which wasn't easy for them! The walk back down was so much easier and faster. Then another half mile walk to the parking area to meet John and Simon. On the way home we found an amazing restaurant. John and I both said it's some of the best local food we've had since we got here. I think the volcano and lunch trip will become a regular thing for our guests.

While they were here John and B had to work a lot (not together) and their five month old daughter still spent a lot of time eating and sleeping, so we actually spent a lot of time at the house. S and I did go on a couple of walks, and we hung out with the babies while the daddies made the money. Then we went away their last weekend to Jaco. It's a town about an hour and a half from here with a beach. A lot of people at the Embassy talk Jaco down, but we had a great time. John rented a 3 bedroom 3 1/2 bath condo for us, so we brought our maid - best decision ever! This was our fourth beach trip and it was the most fun I've had at a beach because I wasn't stuck on shore with the baby. I was able to have fun in the water with John and Malachi, and I really enjoyed it.

One of the reasons we picked Jaco was because B really wanted to learn how to surf...like it wasn't an option, the boys were surfing. Right outside of our condo building (which was on the beach, btw) there was a surfing school set up under a couple of collapsable tents. John and B talked to them when we got there on Thursday and set something up on Friday. So Friday afternoon at 12:30 everyone but Simon and P (yay P! (also, it turns out P doesn't like the sun and she loves Simon, so she wasn't upset at all)) headed out to the tents. Guess who else got lessons! No, not me...I'm pregnant! My Dr. would have killed me. My five year old, however, has no such restriction. He learned how to surf right along with daddy and uncle B. Malachi even stood up on his own and surfed once! It was totally worth the $25, and he loved it. John and B had a fun time surfing and I think they'll both do it again. I got video of the whole time Malachi was in the water (including a time when a wave took me down - we have a water proof camera) and S took really good photos of John and B surfing. Unfortunately we had to leave before they could get out into the water again the next day.

We had a really good time with them here and we hope they'll be able to visit us again before we leave.    

Catching Up

I've started writing about all kinds of things but it's getting so long that I thought I would release it all in a series of catch-up posts. Here's number 1. Oh, and btw, this is post number 400 for this blog. Pretty cool!

John's parents came down at the beginning of November (yes, this is how far back I need to blog), and we had a great time showing them around the Embassy and our little community. We also took a trip to Puerto Viejo for a few days. We stayed at a B&B (which was more like a resort) about a three or four minute drive outside of town. We ate at a couple of restaurants in town, and we went to the Jaguar Rescue Center (which didn't have any jaguars). 

They had an amazing baby howler monkey cage that we were able to go into, and the monkeys climbed all around and all over us. It was a great time. We also got to hold a baby sloth. Sloths might be slow, but they're mean creatures. Keep away from their face! One lady didn't take this advice seriously and was bitten on the face by the sloth. They had, horses, frogs, birds and snakes as well. All of the animals were rescued and/or donated to the center. We lost interest in the snakes, but it was a lot of fun there. 

We tried the beach for a little bit, but I wasn't interested because it was really rough. Simon was really scared of it, he did take a nap on grandpa's chest at the beach, but otherwise the sound of the ocean really seemed to scare him. The rainy season was just ending so we still had rain during their visit, which was too bad. We got to see the sun a bit though, so that was nice.

My father-in-law had to leave just short of a week after he got here, but my mother-in-law got to stay. She stayed with the kids while John and I went on our vacation!

To Be Continued...

Fun

We had some fun family time tonight.

After I got John from work we went to a Tex-Mex restaurant for dinner. The service was both good and bad. It was crazy fast but John and I both got the wrong food.The wrong food was still good though.

We came home and I immediately had to feed Simon his dinner, but I wanted us to spend some more family time together so we played a game that Malachi made up. He said I was the bad guy and his daddy and he were the good guys. I had to try to shoot him, with the laser gun he had given me, while I was being attacked by them. They went to the kitchen and hid while poking their heads out so I could take a shot here and there.

Eventually they decided to start throwing things at me. First they threw tortilla bombs. That didn't last long because we only had two. They threw hot pads, baby toys, and what ever else they could find that was soft enough. At one point Malachi came out and through garlic at me after saying "the power of Christ compels you." He had a hard time delivering that line through the laughing though.

At one point they ran into the hall bathroom and put rags on their heads - I had to get a picture of that. I finally sicked Simon and the power of the possibility of spit up on them. I did pretty much concede to them by then though.

We spent almost an hour more just hanging out with each other.

I tell you what...having a four year old is crazy stressful sometimes. But the rest of the time, it's pretty amazing.

Oh, by the way. We had another earthquake tonight. This one sent us to the door ways on the first floor. It was the longest one we've had. Nothing was damaged, I'm sure nothing even fell. We didn't even feel compelled to check on the kids. They slept through it. I cried a bit - earthquakes scare me!  John held me and comforted me. He's amazing. Don't worry parents - when you come visit I'm sure it'll be fine.

I'm off to bed early tonight because I have a big morning. I can't share about it. In about three weeks I'll let you know what I did.

Link

I feel I have failed to give a link for the Spring Read Thing so click on this button to get to the official page:



I'll also put it on my side bar.

We had a good Sunday. We went to Price Smart with one of John's co-workers. She brought us first to Chez Christophe for breakfast and it was amazing! John and I are breakfast people and we were so happy to find a good place that is close. She mentioned that we'd always find someone from the Embassy there, and sure enough one of their co-workers from the consular section showed up when we were eating.

Price Smart was busy for Price Smart but it was the same as Costco on the weekend in my opinion. We got a few things and then came home. In the afternoon everyone but John napped...for four hours. John had to wake us up. During our nap John made donut holes...mmm. Then dinner, Skype with my mom and sister, bath/shower for the kids and bed. We started watching Chocolate and then stopped half way through so John could sleep.

I couldn't sleep...and I couldn't sleep. Finally after an hour and a half as I was about to fall asleep John's alarm went off. You see, last Friday morning we had a power outage for just a few seconds. Long enough to reset his clock of course. I reset the time, but failed to reset his alarm. DOH! So a little bit after that I finally went to sleep. When Simon got up to eat in the wee hours of the morning, I had such a hard time getting up. And then when Malachi woke me up it was just as hard.

And now here we are. I was blogging and feeding Simon breakfast at the same time. And now I'm done feeding him and I have nothing else to say except that I'll post a couple of pictures soon, but we don't have a regular computer yet to download pictures on (just a netbook and it doesn't have the space for our pictures). So I haven't put any pictures on our "computer." I'll do a couple though, I suppose.

Oh, and one more thing! Our HHE is in country today!!! It's supposed to take a few weeks to go through customs. Maybe it won't. That would be nice. No word on the car (which I'd rather have more than the HHE honestly).

3/3

Those in the Foreign Service will know that, that number repeated twice means completion of training in a language. Today John took his Spanish test and that's what his score was. Congratulations John! I'm so proud of you!

My mom and sister have been in town since Monday. Steph got sick with vertigo so they haven't made it downtown yet - and it looks like they won't at all. They are on the way to Mount Vernon right now and tomorrow we're going to Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's house). They leave on Sunday after church and are taking Malachi with them. He'll be gone for two weeks. We should be able to get a lot done while he's gone. About 10 days after Malachi gets back we'll leave for Dallas. CRAZY!

The Year of The Hospital

In the last 10 months Malachi has made two trips to the ER and I have made three unplanned trips to the hospital, twice to the triage at the L&D unit and today to the ER for something I will not mention for the readers of this blog who've never had a baby and would be grossed out.

I was discharged about three hours after arriving, but one of the times that I was waiting in my room for something (test results, or a Dr to see me, or maybe a transport, who knows, it was mostly waiting) with John, I told him this has been the year of the hospital.

We discussed the timing of everything that has happened over the last 10 months and he helped me realize that the timing of it all has been perfect. It's much better now that John isn't working and in school too. The stress level was already high at times, to add a pregnancy while we lived in Dallas would've been too much.

Malachi's first hospitalization, after his first seizure, happened on May 23rd while we lived in Texas, but he was in MN at the time. They did some blood work and did a CT Scan and didn't find anything. We saw the Pediatrician twice after that seizure and another one, but the majority of the seizure drama happened after we moved to Virginia.

He was hospitalized on June 8th and stayed for one night. He had an over night EEG (and the application of the leeds was quite traumatic - for a while he wouldn't let anyone even touch his head), blood work (more traumatic with repercussions still happening), and an MRI (traumatic for me because he was put under for it - horrible to see your child like that). The whole process was quite an ordeal to find out that he has seizures. There was no conclusive evidence as to why he has seizures, all tests were negative or normal. He was put on medication and hasn't had any seizure activity since.

My first trip to the hospital was on July 16th. It turned out to be a non issue. My second trip is also unmemorable, I don't even know what the date was. Between that trip and my trip to the ER today we did have a planned trip to the hospital. I went in on Thursday the 11th of this month and came home on the 14th with a baby in hand - so this only counts as a great trip!

And that brings us back to today. While discussing things with John I wondered out loud about the reason for the timing of all of this. That's when he convinced me that the timing was best for all. Sure we could have done with out the seizures and all the drama that ensued with them, but better then, then when we lived in Dallas.

With everything good that happened in our lives in the last 10 months, I suppose there has to be a balance, right? What I'm very, very happy to report is that we never let it get to us. Sure there has been some fear during the events, and even after, with the seizures. But it hasn't changed our lives. We're still the same people, the same family (with one more of course), with the same faith (if not a little stronger). If anything the last 10 months has made us stronger. So, for that I'm thankful.

I have to admit though, I'd be happy to go without a trip to the hospital for a very long time.

The cold that won't go away...and other stuff

Remember the cold that I had a couple of weeks ago? Well it seems that Malachi did catch it and it was dormant until a few days ago. This cold never seemed to bring his spirits down, and on the first day that he was pretty sick, I had to work at keeping him laying down and watching t.v. He never seemed to get much of a fever if any at all, and he's barely coughing now. He is still suffering from nasal congestion and is still blowing some pretty colors (she says sarcastically). We skipped church today to keep his cold with in the family (hopefully). Malachi was supposed to graduate to the next class up today with his friend Kimberly, who I'm sure is very sad he's gone from church, again.

Yesterday morning we went to Costco with a couple who is moving to Ecuador in May and wanted to start stocking up with things that they need to bring down with them. We spent quite a while walking through the warehouse, but fortunately for me it was at such a slow pace that I didn't have too much of a hard time. I did take a break in the furniture section at one point, but so did the rest of the group. I found a leather chair and ottoman that I really like and would be good for nursing, and would serve to be just an awesome chair for our furniture collection (and would really be the first thing we bought for our furniture collection since we gave away our old living room furniture). I didn't get the chair and ottoman, but I did get a pack of socks! I've needed new socks for a while. I probably should've just gotten two new packs of socks and thrown away the old socks that are now hole-y. We went to a restaurant for dinner with them called City Diner. None of us had been there, and only two of us liked their food. I don't think Malachi liked his food either. But we were all really hungry and ate the food, even if we didn't like it. I'm happy for the two that did like it though, at least we all weren't eating food we didn't like.

After a short nap for Malachi and I we went to a couple's house (with their knowledge of Malachi's cold, and permission to bring him over) to have dinner and games with them while the kids played and watched movies. We've known this wonderful couple for over seven years now and have enjoyed living near them again, if even for a short time. We don't get to see them often enough and we really enjoyed our time last night. The adults sat in the living room for dinner and the kids sat in the dining room. After John and I had both finished our dinner and were enjoying the fellowship with our friends, we heard one of their kids yelling out to us that Malachi did something, to which he yelled out to us that he puked.

I took him to the bathroom to clean up, and asked him what happened. He replied that he took too big of a bite and choked on his food. He's done this once before...when he was two. I know that he didn't learn from this lesson because this morning he ate half of his clementine in one bite. /sigh

I'm really loving that John has tomorrow off. I wonder what we'll do...probably hang out and rest, my favorite thing to do right now.

My due date is in less than a month, weird, and cool. I love that he's chillaxing and growing and waiting until he's ready to come out. I'm still looking forward to a normal labor and delivery.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I love you!!

The Weekend

Wow! What a weekend! John's parents got into town on Thursday morning. The turkey was in the oven, and before noon the whole Roy family was together for an awesome Thanksgiving dinner. It was a chill day with eating and hanging out at our apartment. The grandparents offered to babysit while their kids went sight seeing on Friday.

And that's what we did. John and I took the metro down town and met Ben and Sarah at the National Gallery of Art. We took our time going through, with a break for lunch. Shortly after lunch I wasn't able to walk around anymore so I made my way quickly through the Photography exhibit and then spent about a half hour sitting in the lobby while John, Ben, and Sarah finished and saw most of the famous stuff. It's too bad I missed it, but I could always go back.

After that we headed over to the National Archives. The line to get in was pretty long and very slow moving. Then an employee came to tell us that the line was stopped for the next 15-20 minutes. It was very, very cold outside and we didn't feel like sitting outside for what could be 45 minutes waiting to get in. So instead we headed over to the Natural History Museum because Ben and Sarah were interested in the Hope Diamond. After seeing it, they went through the rest of the gems, and after that we sat in a stairwell resting our feet and trying to figure out our next move.

After some weird looks and some deliberation, we decided that John and I would go home, change, pick up the car and then head back downtown and meet them for dinner. Since it was still freezing outside when we got home, I fixed myself some hot chocolate...it was so tasty! John changed, and we took the car downtown to pick up Ben and Sarah and head to the restaurant. They chose one that served organic, natural, and/or local foods whenever possible. Unfortunately when I read the menu the only thing that looked tasty was one of the most expensive things on the menu and I didn't feel like spending that much that day (even though my husband told me I should (I think something inside me is becoming more frugal, which is weird since John's job provides plenty for us)). I ended up ordering a pasta and a side of carrots. Both of them were really tasty!! The menu said that the pastas were served at a moderate portion. I thought that I would be getting a small portion, which is fine since I'm pregnant and can't eat American sized portions anymore. When I got my pasta I was taken aback by what their definition of moderate was. I felt like I got a big bowl of pasta. I may have eaten too much of it. :)

We headed to a movie, that I ended up not liking, so I walked out and got a refund. I didn't expect anyone else to come out, so I hung out in the lobby, journaling (it's been FOREVER since I've done that) and making lists. I made a pretty comprehensive list of what we need still for the baby.

Saturday we as a whole family went out to Mount Vernon. What a beautiful place! We have lots of great pictures from that, and they're on my facebook. Everyone enjoyed that, and since it's the holidays we got to see the third floor where Martha Washington slept after George died. So many important people visited that house and stayed with the Washingtons, and it's supposed that's where General Washington found out he was voted in as our first president (not what he wanted to hear by the way). It was really great to step back in time and see the house the way it was when the Washingtons lived there.

After we got home I had to nap. I was so exhausted from the weekend so far and I hadn't slept all that great either. When I woke up the in-laws were being taken to the airport by John and Ben and Sarah were watching Malachi. Saturday night was another chill night at our apartment with a movie.

Sunday was church followed by naps and Christmas tree shopping! That's right! John and Malachi went and found us an awesome real Christmas tree (and supported the Boy Scouts too). John set up the tree while I went downtown and picked up Ben and Sarah. We headed back to our apartment to get John and Malachi and all went out for a Peking Duck dinner with some of John's coworkers. It was a tasty meal and it was fun to have Ben and Sarah meet some of our friends. I even made a new friend there with one of John's coworkers that I'd never met before. She and I clicked very quickly.

Yesterday John left at 4:30am for his two week trip to Guatemala. I haven't heard from him since he was in Atlanta. Hopefully he's enjoying his time. I had mom's group with church in the morning, and an ultrasound in the afternoon. The day really went by pretty fast.

Right now I'm going to get off the computer and get ready to pick up Ben and Sarah again. We may be going to a museum by the Dulles Airport, we may not. Either way, I'm taking them to the airport. After that Malachi and I are going to the store to get some things (including Christmas tree lights!).

I'll blog again about my ultrasound appointment, and about Christmas decorating this year.

Happy Thanksgiving

On the mushy note:

I have so much to be thankful for this year.

I love and am loved by a God who saved me.

I have an amazing husband who has an awesome job that's going to give our family so many great experiences over the years. I have a wonderful four year old son who has survived so much in his short life thus far, and has given me so much joy.

We've been through a lot in the last 28 1/2 years, but love is still present in our family. I'm thankful that I have a mom, dad, and sister that love me and I love back. Also, who can forget the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Cousins-in-law that fill my life with joy whenever I see them. For the last eight years I've had a family-in-law that I love.

I'm thankful for my friends. I've made many friends over the years. Some of them I still have. One of my friends I've known since I was about three years old. Some of my best friends I've known for only two years.

All of you put joy into my life. I hope I do the same.

On the practical note:

My brother-in-law and his wife came into town late Tuesday night and we got to hang out with them yesterday. My mother and father-in-law arrive in about three hours and we'll have the whole family together. It's pretty rare for us to have this. In fact, we remembered last night that we were together at the end of January, beginning of February. It's really, really rare for all of us to be together two times in a year.

We're having a turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stove top (a family fav), corn, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberries, and the must have, olives and pickles. It's nothing fancy, and I hope I do it right. My mother-in-law is bringing her pecan pie (John's favorite), and I'm going to ask her to make the gravy. I don't eat gravy, so I've never made it, and I don't want to wreck it for those who do enjoy gravy with their potatoes.

Anywho...Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Baltimore

Friday John got home before noon, and since it was Friday we discussed going "away" for the night. Somewhere not too far that would be fun to spend the night. My first thought was Historic Williamsburg. Then I thought it would be more fun to go somewhere closer so I suggested Baltimore to John who apparently was thinking Baltimore too. John got a good price on the Hyatt Regency in the Inner Harbor area of downtown Baltimore. We took off before 1:00 and were unpleasantly surprised to run into a thunderstorm on the way there. It got pretty bad at some points. This picture doesn't really do it justice.



Before we left we made a reservation for Friday afternoon at the Baltimore Aquarium. We scheduled a Dolphin show at 3:30, a 4-D show at 4:15, and then after that we could go do the rest of the aquarium. The Dolphin show was great. Malachi really enjoyed it!





After the Dolphin show we headed over to the 4-D show. Basically that's a 3-D movie with physical involvment: water spraying in your face, a poker in your back, a "snake like" tube on the floor, bubbles, and snow. Unfortunately Malachi really didn't enjoy the physical aspect of the show, so we had to leave. We thought it would be really fun for him, but we were wrong. Here's Malachi with his 3-D glasses on. They're a little different then I remember them.



After that we had dinner at a restaurant that I really didn't like. I'm not going to put up a picture or devote any more time to it than this.

The next morning we got up, decided on breakfast at the hotel restaurant which was pretty good, expensive, but good. We didn't know if it was going to rain or not (rain was in the forecast) so we decided to stay in doors and go to the Children's Museum. We had a lot of fun there! Malachi really enjoyed it and was sad when we had to leave.







After lunch at McDonald's we started on our trip home. With clear weather on our trip home we got home in one hour and one minute. We really enjoyed our time. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the whole set of pictures up on Facebook.

Old Town Alexandria

Tonight we headed to Alexandria so I could scratch a pregnancy itch. I really, really, really wanted some Jimmy John's. Alexandria just happened to be the closest one (about 20 minutes away). When we got down there though it was closed. It was closed all day today! We were shocked and I was extremely dissapointed. We decided to walk across the street to Potbelly to see if we could get a sandwich there instead. But on Saturday and Sunday they close at 5pm. Who closes at 5pm on the weekends?!?!

We had planned on going somewhere in Old Town after dinner, so we decided to just head down there for dinner too. We went down there, found a parking ramp and tried to figure out dinner. We ended up walking to the water front area on the river.



On the right of the picture you'll see the restaurant we chose to eat at. It's called The Chart House. It's mostly a fish and seafood restaurant but I had a really good dish called Almand Crested Chicken Breast served with herbed risoto and brie. We really enjoyed the dinner and I know we'll be there again.

After the wonderful visit at the restaurant we walked back to the pier and visited the parrots that were hanging out. We donated some money to the foundation that's saving abandoned and abused birds and I got to hold one of them. Malachi didn't want to hold it, but he did pet it. After that we walked over to Candie's Candy shop. I really felt like a kid in a candy store (pun intended). We ended up buying over a pound of candy! I might have a bit of a tummy ache right now and I don't think I can stop.

We then came home. I had such a great night with my boys. John then went out with some friends to see Section 9. Now I'm chillin watching TV and Malachi's sleeping soundly.

Ahhh....(happy sigh)

WooooooHooooooo!!!!!

Tomorrow I go home and see hubby after being gone for a week. I'm a bit excited ;)

Malachi and I have been having a good time with family this week. Aunt Stephanie and him have been getting to be really good friends and he's spent most of this day with her. He behaves really well with her - I wonder how she does it ;)

After his nap this afternoon we're heading up to Ben and Sarah's. I'll be there for one night, he'll be there for two. Rick and Mickey are taking him over to the Zoo tomorrow. At least that's the plan. I haven't told him that yet, just in case it doesn't happen.

Unfortunately my camera batter died on Monday at the MoA and I didn't bring the charger. So I haven't gotten very many pictures. My sister and my aunt did get some great pictures. Malachi used Steph's camera to take some awesome pictures too. Hopefully those will be posted on Facebook soon so we can see them.

Malachi's off to his nap now, and we're going to watch Pride and Prejudice (one of my most favorite movies).