Maternity Pictures

I'm in love with the maternity pics!! It was a very hot experience that involved treking through a cow pasture, but I think we got some good shots!

I had really hoped this cow would stick around to be in more photos, but he did not. :(

Eduardo loves the bump. 

He's such a ham. 

I'm so glad Mom could be here!!!

My boys are so handsome!!!

With two months still to go, it'll be interesting to see how big this bump gets!!

Eduardo is too funny!

Bella didn't do a great job cooperating for the pictures. :)

I ended up pretty squinty in a lot of the pics. 

She's going to put them online in a downloadable format so people can grab the ones they want and print them off wherever. When I have that link, I'll send it to you! Below is the link we have so far with all the pictures, but I don't know if the pics are print quality. 

https://plus.google.com/app/basic/photos/photo/108700128090156998400/6042001986902035858?cbp=19g9lpf9s2bux&authkey=CJXwupGy1rDSJA&sview=20&cid=5&soc-app=115&soc-platform=1&pct=ab&pcv=6041997511537397617&spath=%2Fapp%2Fbasic%2Fphotos%2F108700128090156998400%2Falbum%2F6041997511537397617&sparm=authkey%3DCJXwupGy1rDSJA

Sweet Pea

She's too funny!! And she has no boundaries. :) Of all my animals, I was most worried about her with the move. She has some health issues and has major anxiety about everything, but she's done great!! I'm so glad to have all my girls here with us!

She eats like a teenaged boy - she's always hungry!!! She got very excited thinking this was her new food bowl. :)

Of course Eduardo's clothes make the perfect resting spot. 

And Bella's crate isn't just for Bella anymore! We couldn't find a bed to go in the bottom of the crate, so Eduardo donated one of his pillows. :)

Visitor! And other things.

We had so much fun with Mom here over the weekend!! We had three very busy days, but they were perfect! It was great having her here to be in some of the maternity / family pics, and I'm so excited with the stroller / car seat we picked out! I swear I tried out six + options at the store, but I was so nervous about buying a stroller! It seems like such a big purchase. I didn't want to end up regretting whatever we got. But I think we'll be very happy with it. I can't wait to get to use it for real! 

Thanks to everyone who sent us things in Mom's suitcase. Davie, Eduardo and I all had a great time Friday night after Mom's flight got in, going through the "big suitcase". I do have to say that I'm now not the only one who brings lots of stuff on international travels and then takes almost nothing home. :) It's hard to visit family in another country and not take a lot, especially when kids are involved. :)

Here are a bunch of pictures from Moms' visit. 

Tiger says "I know this lady!" Mom was so excited that the animals wanted to love on her. :P

Mom had a gluten-free restaurant finder app that had options in San Jose!! It was soooo good and there was a swing set in the back for Eduardo. It was a win-win for all of us!! I think Mom would say her food during her visit was successful, so my gf peeps don't need to worry about visiting. We've got you covered! (Davie and I spent the weeks leading up to her visit going over food options to make sure all meals would be ok. I'm glad it worked!)

Eduardo loves having his picture taken!

Sunday I wanted to do something touristy with Mom. We went to a biological reserve park called Inbioparque. It was awesome!! Mostly an arboretum type place, but there were some animal exhibits scattered around. The butterfly farm was a big hit with all of us and we learned to wear white for the next visit. The butterflies flocked to Davie's white shirt! I think he had 5+ on him at one point!

My favorite part of the park was the three-toed sloth that was hanging out in the trees in the dry forest area. It was just really neat to see a sloth in more or less the wild. They are ugly things, but really kind of cool too. Unfortunately he was too far away for me to get a good picture with my phone. :(

We found an area that had a sign talking about iguanas but didn't see any. Then I asked Eduardo if he wanted to see anything else before we left (we spent almost five hours in the park - I think we got our money's worth!) and as we were walking back to the aquarium, we suddenly started to see iguanas everywhere!! Davie has great eyes and could spot them high up in the trees. It was so neat to see them right there on the path too though! They did not really seem all that shy! We decided they had still been sleeping when we were in the area the first time. It had gotten sunnier by the afternoon, so they had all come out to sun themselves. 

Eduardo wanted to get closer so badly, but this was as close as she would let him get. 

Eduardo was so excited when he finally got one to move onto his finger!

Davie's art shot. 

Rabbits in the petting zoo. 

Seriously, the butterflies loved Davie!

Owl at the entrance to the park. They had other organizations visiting that had brought different animals. Ever since seeing owls at our house, I've become a little obsessed. 

What you can't tell is that Eduardo was pretty high off the ground standing on this bird. I swear, he's going to give me a heart attack one day!

View from the lookout at the park. Beautiful!

I love the fridge magnets and pictures y'all sent!! Thank you!!

We're mean and put Eduardo to work. :)

Mom and Dad got Eduardo a bike - he loves it!! 

Since I gained 5 pounds last month, the doctor had me redo the glucose test. Well, not really redo, since my first test ended up not being a regular glucose test. I didn't have to drink the glucose for the first test - they drew blood after I fasted for 12 hours then had me go eat breakfast and come back awhile later for them to draw blood again. That test showed everything was fine so at my second appointment the doctor said I didn't have to do the regular test - I had only gained a pound that month. With this months' weight gain, the doctor decided to have me do the regular glucose test after all. I was very nervous about drinking the glucose - all you ever hear about is how bad it tastes and my stomach does not do well with nasty things - but it ended up tasting not that bad to me. Of course after not eating or drinking for 12 hours, I think I was so thirsty I would have liked anything they gave me! All of that is to say that the second test came back borderline. Some labs use 130 as the cutoff for normal and others use 140. I was at 135. :P So the doctor recommended I start exercising and cut out sweets and cut down on carbs. Of these things, the exercising is the easiest. I already knew I really was eating too many sweet things. Turns out anything not sweet that I'm eating is a carb, and most of the sweet things I'm eating have carbs too! :P But I walked two miles this morning and spent time in the pool. Hopefully that will help! Eduardo rode his bike while I walked laps in our complex, until he crashed into a ditch. I have no idea how he made it out of there without a broken bone, but I'm glad he did! Scared the crap out of me though! 

Excitement!!

Baby's room before

In progress pic #1

In progress pic #2

I'm so beyond excited about her room!!! We should have the crib and a small side table next week so all we'll need for the room is some sort of chair. I can't wait to see it all finished!!!

Baby girl - 31 weeks, 5 days

She likes to hide her face! Today she had a hand, a foot and the umbilical cord blocking our view - all at the same time! I think she's going to be a gymnast with her foot up like that.  :) But we did get this shot. There's a little smile there! Doc said everything looks good, but I've doubled my weight gain in just a month. That's not so good! Doc also said that after another month and a half baby could come at any time. Craziness!!

The best

The other night we were laying in bed watching a movie - and can I just say that a full sized bed doesn't leave a lot of room for two adults, a 7 year old and various animals, I'm not sure where baby girl is going to fit when she gets here! - and I thought to myself "This is one of my favorite times of day".  And then I realized I say that about 10 times a day.  :)  So I thought I would share some of my favorite times of day with you.

-  Davie and Eduardo have been working on their English.  I love listening to them talking along with the teacher on their video.  They are so cute!



Eduardo working on his English while on vacation - no break for him!

-  I love listening to Davie and Eduardo in the mornings when they sing together.  They'll be downstairs making breakfast and Davie will sing and Eduardo joins in.  I love it. 

-  I love hanging out on the back porch, me in the hammock and Davie and Eduardo and Bella just sitting around (one day maybe we'll have more furniture out there :)).  Davie and Eduardo will be sharing an orange like fruit that they just picked from a tree.  It's very relaxing and peaceful.

-  The other day Davie, Eduardo and Bella left the house to pick avocados.  I stayed and cleaned up the kitchen and put the clean clothes away.  I loved it - it felt very domestic and homey and I love that we live in a place where we're able to pick fruit from trees that grow 20 feet from the house.

-  I love making dinner with Davie helping and Eduardo hanging around talking with us.  The other day Eduardo told me in English "We are a family".  I loved it. 

I will say, it's not always "best" moments.  :)  For example, Eduardo is currently in his room watching a movie on the tablet because he doesn't want to be with Davie and I - he's being a little grumpy today!  He's already had one crying fit and another whining meltdown.  Living with a seven-year-old is fun!  But that's life, right?  And that's why I love that there are so many moments that are my favorites.  And I'll keep noting them when they come - to give me something to remember when the meltdowns / fights happen!  :) 

31 weeks - the bump gets bigger and bigger!

30 weeks

Only 10 more weeks to go! Which sometimes seems like a lot and other times seems like nothing. I go back and forth between thinking all will be fine and thinking there's no way we are ready for this. :) I'm glad we have Eduardo - being a parent to him helps make me feel I can be a parent to baby girl too. Although I know parenting a baby will be way different than parenting a seven year old. 

Sometimes I look at Eduardo and I'm shocked by how much my life has changed in sixish months. I went from being basically single again, to relearning how to be a full-time wife and becoming a mother to a seven year old and growing a new life of our own. It's all pretty crazy! But definitely in a good way. :) I'm kind of glad I had a year of being "single" before I got pregnant and I had to grow up for good. Obviously it would have been preferable to be with Davie during that time, but it was nice to have one last year of doing pretty much what I wanted when I wanted before becoming responsible for little people. :)

I also feel like things have changed more in the last ten weeks as far as the pregnancy goes than they did the first twenty! Maybe it's just that the changes that are happening are more visible to me and before they were all internal. I'm very much enjoying this part of the pregnancy, I have to say. I do think not working helps with that too though. :) I don't have to drag my bump to work every day. We get to be lazy and hang out at home and I can sleep as much as I want. Davie completely spoils me, although I do try to help around the house when he'll let me! I am quick to point out I'm building a person if he gives me a hard time for being lazy or walking slow or getting tired easily though. :)

Baby is the size of: a butternut squash. Last trip to the doc she was at 2.2 pounds, and the pregnancy apps say she should be around 3 pounds by now. She's going to add weight fast the next few weeks! Which means I probably will too. I'm not super excited about that part - I think I'll end up gaining 15 pounds by the end, five more than I really wanted - but I think I'll lose most of what I gain just by giving birth, and then I'll be back to where I was when I got pregnant. Needing to lose 65 pounds. :P 

Baby craves: frito pies and s'mores. Very healthy. :) I am sad I didn't have any crazy cravings. I didn't really have cravings at all. I was looking forward to that part!
Mama craves: a job :) - it would be nice to know I'll have work again at some point!  
Pregnancy symptoms: not many these days. Mild heart burn some evenings; gagging while brushing my teeth some nights, but not very often; still tired, but nothing like the first trimester; the nausea finally went away and I was able to stop taking the meds for it, although strong smells can still make me want to throw up. Oh, I do have to pee every ten minutes. That's fun. :)
Baby bump: is huge!! I can't wait to see how big I am at forty weeks! That is the fun part of gaining weight. I love my bump!
Mama worries: about not having a job and about the birth and about needing to quickly get all the paperwork done so baby can have US citizenship and we can leave the country with her and getting our residency here after she's born. There will be a lot to do very fast after she's born!
Daddy: is doing a great job taking care of us and can't get over how strong she is when he feels her moving. She is definitely a mover, especially at night and first thing in the morning. I love watching my belly move all over the place as she moves. I wish I could see inside and know what she's doing in there. :) She likes watching the World Cup, I think. She'll start moving around while we're watching - I think she wants to get out there and play!
Baby name ideas: Kaylynn Alexa Maradiaga. Or Gilbert Maradiaga. I didn't want to give her both last names at first, and I'm still going back and forth, but I do kind of like the idea of her having that part of both of us and that is a big part of the culture on her dad's side. Although her name will already be so long, I hate giving her another name to make it even longer. And I don't feel like the Gilbert really flows in her name. And if her last name is Gilbert Maradiaga, none of us will have the same last name, which seems soooooooo weird to me! As it is, only she and I would have the same last name. I just can't decide. (Davie doesn't really seem to care either way.) We are pretty much sold on Kaylynn, although Davie doesn't always seem to like Alexa. I'm still reserving the right to change her name at any point if we find one that seems to fit her better though. :)

Davie cut my hair Thursday. I think he did a good job. :)

Two months

I can't believe we've been here for two months. I just dropped Davie off at the bus stop to get a bus to downtown San Jose where he'll catch a midnight bus to Managua to renew his visa again. If all goes well, he'll be back here this time tomorrow. I've requested a call when he gets on the bus to go to San Jose, a call when he gets to San Jose, a call when he's at the border in the morning and a call when he's at the border coming home. I know it's very unlikely that anything will go wrong, but I'll feel better knowing it's all going right! Otherwise I'll just worry the whole time. :) His phone doesn't work in Nicaragua, or else I would have asked for a bunch more calls. :) 

We've ordered furniture to be made for baby girls room and I am soooooo excited!!! Yesterday we went six places and found one set that would work but I wasn't in love with it. I had found what I liked on amazon, but of course shipping it here would be crazy expensive. I sent pics of what I had found to the wood worker and he said he can make something similar for not too much money. I can't wait for her room to be put together!! Here's a pic of what I found on amazon. 

I can't believe it's only ten more weeks until she's here!!

Moving Day

Remember the nasty closets Davie made better by taking the doors off? Well the one in baby girls room was still nasty. I'm pretty sure it has termites. It has some sort of bug that is eating the wood and leaving behind piles of wood shavings anyway! So, needless to say, it needed to go. No way was that staying in baby girls room! But it was affixed to the wall somehow, so we couldn't move it without talking to the landlord first as we didn't know what kind of damage might happen if we could get it moved (and by we I totally mean Davie). The landlord wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but finally gave us the go ahead today. It didn't take Davie five minutes to get it detached from the wall and then started the process of moving it outside. (We had to save the piece so it can go back when we leave. Assuming there's any of it left and the bugs haven't eaten it all by then!) Turns out it's very heavy, so Davie moved it to the balcony off our room instead of trying to take it downstairs. There was a little damage done to the wall in her room, but nothing that a little spackling and a fresh coat of paint can't take care of. I'm also excited about the idea of getting her all matching furniture now. I really like the idea of making her room an actual nursery, which wasn't really what we had been planning before. Hopefully it will help make this place feel even more like home. And we can do Eduardo's room next! I really want to find him a fun bed - a bunk bed with a slide from the top perhaps - but we'll see how things go. :)

It's a really big piece of furniture! Eduardo is on the other side helping guide it out, so Davie wasn't all alone in the work. :) I did some work too! Although mostly just supervision. :)

We had baby girls stuff on the shelves and it all just kept getting full of wood shavings. Yucky!

I'm still waiting to hear from Walmart US. I emailed Wednesday before last and they were meeting the following day to discuss candidates. So I emailed again Thursday because I still hadn't heard anything and the recruiter was out for the holiday. I hope I hear something soon, even if it's a rejection. It would just be nice to know where I stand! Of course hearing I'm moving on to the next round of interviews, which the supervisor had already told me I would be so I don't know why he would change his mind expect he said that before I told him I was pregnant so you never know, would be even better. 

I'm going to email some different lawyers today and see if we can find someone who is more responsive. I would really like to get my visa extended so I don't have to leave next month, but I've heard good and bad stories about people who've done that / tried to do that, so I don't know if it would work. Davie has to leave again this week. He's thinking he'll just do a day trip to the border. There's a bus that leaves at midnight from San Jose, so he could conceivably be home by the afternoon. He'll probably go Friday. I can't believe we've been here two months already!

Big day

Last night while surfing the web looking for childbirth classes, I stumbled upon a Facebook group for expat families living in the Central Valley (where we are). I spent quite awhile looking at recent posts on the group page and found a post about a weekly "Kids Cafe" during the month of July while the kids are on vacation from school. Every Wednesday kids can go to a private school in Escazu and spend three hours planning and executing lunch for their parents. For $20 for one kid and one adult plus $5 for each additional person at lunch, I figured this was something Eduardo had to try. The post said it would be bilingual too and would include music and art. Definitely sounded like a win-win. I didn't figure Eduardo could get into today's class given the short notice, but I emailed anyway and the lady emailed me back and he was able to go today! I think there was actually less Spanish than English and Eduardo seemed very nervous when I left him at the school, but when Davie and I got there he seemed to be having a good time and he said he wants to go back next week. The food was yummy too! And I really enjoyed getting to speak with some Americans!!

We came home and Davie and Eduardo played soccer for awhile and when they came inside I decided it was time to play with the egg we had put in vinegar Monday as part of our kitchen science experiments for the week. Eduardo thought the bouncing rubber egg was way cool. Until Davie tried bouncing it from a higher height and it broke. :) Although even that was pretty fun. 

Then, because we hadn't done enough today, I decided that the weather was perfect for us to make s'mores. I've been craving them for quite awhile now and we got the stuff to make them at the store this weekend (it was almost a major meltdown moment for me when I couldn't find graham crackers at first!). This afternoon it's actually cool with a storm rolling in, so really pretty good weather for cooking something over a fire outside. I'm not sure who was more excited about the s'mores - Eduardo or me - but all of us, including Davie, loved them. Neither Davie or Eduardo had ever had them before. Eduardo actually crazily said the next time we make them he wants one without chocolate! They were so good and messy. 

For me, a much better day today after Sunday. :) Although after Eduardo's big birthday day yesterday and everything we did today, I think tomorrow will be pretty boring! Friday I found a Fourth of July picnic that's put on each year by a group of expats, so that promises to be a lot of fun too. There will be food, games, a petting zoo and lots of other stuff. I'm also looking forward to spending more time speaking English! :)

I'm hopeful that the various groups of expats I've stumbled across the last few days will be helpful as we continue to transition to this country. It was interesting because the woman from the private school mentioned at lunch that she's spoken with lots of expats here who aren't happy because it's so different and things are just generally not as easy as we're used to things being in the US. While I agree with that sentiment and feel the same way, her comment made me want to not be one of those people. No, it's not easy here (my hammock pictures notwithstanding :)), but that doesn't mean I can't still come to be happy here. And that's the ultimate goal that I plan to reach!

Here are some pics from Eduardo's birthday yesterday and yesterday's vinegar and baking soda experiment. We went to an indoor play place instead of having a party for various reasons. It was a hit with Eduardo and only $4, so another win-win!

He enjoyed jumping off the stairs into the ball pit. I just tried not to picture him breaking his leg landing wrong. :)

He didn't mind this so much. But this....

He didn't really like at all! :) They had ropes and a harness so Davie pulled him up the wall and was able to slowly bring him down. But it totally freaked Eduardo out being up that high!

I've had Eduardo write in his notebook what he thought would happen before each experiment. (Because that's what the websites say you should do.)

He thought this was pretty cool. Of course I can't explain to him why any of what happens happens during the experiments, but he doesn't seem to mind that part. :) And the why isn't that important, right? Isn't it enough just to see the experiments? That's what I'm telling myself anyway! :)

We're three days into his three weeks of vacation. I'm hoping I haven't had us do too much too soon! We still have a ways to go before school starts again!