~ Muddy Boots ~

family fun

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:01:00 +0000

With three boys who have had a camera shoved in their faces most of their young lives, in order to get them to agree to a "nice" picture, I have to bribe them with getting to do crazy ones afterwards. So for every nice picture on my hard drive, I have at least a couple of these...

Truth be told, I actually like the crazy ones better than the normal ones most of the time! Very soon I'll have enough to put into a book!

This photo was submitted to the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

Christmas Day in photos

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:51:00 +0000

Andrea from the fishbowl once again issued an Hourly Photo Challenge for Christmas day. I've enjoyed seeing others blog their holiday pictures in this way in past years, and -having joined the iPhone club not long ago- I decided it'd be a fun way to document the day... although my DSLR wasn't far away the entire day and also got put through its paces.

This was, however, a lot of fun.

Moreso for me than for all my family who had to endure the alarm on my phone going off every hour and me spending a few minutes each time to edit and upload a picture.

Good thing they're used to me having a camera in my hand.

So here it is, our Christmas day in hourly increments...

8:00am... and the kids are still asleep! All five of the older ones! Only the babies are up.

9:00am Baby's first Christmas. For this baby AND my new niece and nephew.
STILL waiting for the bigger kids to wake up and join the party.

10:00am A trio of minifigures from Liam's stocking.

11:00am Christmas kisses. She's so sweet.

12:00pm Andrew sitting at the window waiting for everyone -who wasn't sick-

to get home from church, and hanging out with Sir Axlerod and Finn McMissile.

1:00pm Tucking into the big gifts since we only had time for stockings and
breakfast before heading to church. It was a tight fit at my sister's, with seven adults,
five kids (3-9), and three babies! (wish I hadn't left the black bands on the top and bottom of this pic)

2:00pm Spreads and dips and crackers and fruit and nuts and chocolate and
coffee and egg nog and juice and Irish cream, oh my.

3:00pm The building begins.

4:00pm The building continues.

5:00pm Simon on the left and Rowan on the right. Masters of mischief.

Getting along better than ever before.

6:00pm One of my two (TWO!) jaunty hats. You will see them both often.

7:00pm These particular Christmas decorations are up year round at my sister's place.

8:00pm After seven boys between my older sister and I, we both had surprise pregnancies
this year AND BOTH HAD GIRLS! Eloise is on the left and Maizy on the right.

9:00pm My nephews received these carousels for Christmas from another aunt. Twitter
informs me Es ist ein Weihnachtspyramide! (translation: It's a German Christmas carousel!)

10:00pm Since someone was sick-and-throwing-up-and-took-an-almost-four-hour-nap-in-the-afternoon, that someone got to stay up late and play games with the grownups.

11:00pm Ticket to Ride is FUN! (depending on how ~~fair~~ charitable you are, I either came in second or last)

12:00am I kind of look like I have no/weird eyebrows here, so just look at the sweet-
and-wide-awake-at-midnight Christmas baby in her pretty rainbow wrap.

It really was a nice, nice day.

We had fun giving gifts to our family and were thoroughly spoiled in return. We all received gifts that were special and fun and thoughtful and perfect. The boys were thrilled with all their Legos, Peter with his Tassimo (to take to work), me with my hats and wool and jewelry and to-be-exchanged-for-different boots, and Eloise with her crochet hat and handmade dolly.

We tore through our stockings, ate copious amounts of good food, Peter took Liam and Simon to church where their uncle Joel was preaching (to a higher capacity crowd than was expected for a Christmas Sunday morning!), opened loads of presents in a bit of a frenzy to make sure we were through before my younger sister and her family had to leave for her in-laws, ate some more, visited, put a not-feeling-super-well Andrew to bed for a much needed nap, said "No you can't open any new Lego sets." a dozen times before finally relenting because we realized it was too cruel to make them wait, made some phone calls home to friends, talked to family on Skype, ate even more, built more Lego, searched for already-missing Lego pieces, played with babies, read Christmas stories at bedtime, played Ticket to Ride until far too late and finally went happily to bed.

It was a very good day and a very good night.

consider this your Christmas card

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:45:00 +0000

Perhaps the best

Yuletide decoration is being

wreathed in smiles.

~Author Unknown

Many blessings to you and yours.

the rest of the family is just as crazy as we are...

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:52:00 +0000

In the past, I've been terrible about blogging when people visit. It's not that I don't want to write about it all... it's the exact opposite! Usually we are so busy and having so much fun together and making lots of great memories, and I'm left with a camera full of to-be-editted images and a heart full of love for our great family and friends. Yet when my house is empty again, I realize that I've gone a week without doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, bathing my stinky kids or doing any school with them, and then blogging ends up waaaay at the bottom of the priority list!

But not this time!

I really, really want to post pictures from Simon's birthday this last weekend, but I promised myself I wouldn't do that before dedicating a quick post to our most recent visitors.

Peter's brother, David, and his wife, Kristi and new baby Eli were here last week. We saw Parliament Hill, walked around Byward Market, celebrated American Thanksgiving (with all the trimmings!) AND threw one heck of a Super Hero Party for Simon's 5th birthday. They left Sunday morning and we already miss them terribly!

Here are a few pictures from their last night with us, including a sneak peak at a couple of the (many) crafts we did for the party.

cousins (from left to right): Eloise (5 months), Liam (8), Andrew (almost 3), Simon (5), Eli (4.5 months)

modelling felt masks that Kristi and I made for the party, and being rather good sports about it!

these two are only 13 days apart!

this, according to Simon, is his "superhero face"

poor Andrew was up until 10:30pm the night before and then

had NO NAP the day of the party!

What a good looking bunch!

...most of the time.

Thank you guys soooooo much for all your help getting ready for both Thanksgiving and the birthday party! There's NO WAY I could've done it all without you! Kristi, having someone to talk and cook and laugh with was a far better way to spend all those hours in the kitchen... maybe sister-wives isn't such a bad idea, eh? ;)

We can't wait til the next time we get to see the three of you!

*Check out the cool minimalist superhero art that David and Kristi put together for the party! Those are definitely going up in the basement once it's finished!

at least I got this post in before Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:36:00 +0000

I'm the last kid on the block to post about Halloween. To make up for it, you get a video instead of only mere images.

(Warning, when I first watched this it was suuuuper loud. Maybe turn down your sound.)

My kids crack me up.

I was a lazy mom and didn't get a costume for Eloise this year. For her first Halloween! I know! Hopefully she'll forgive me one day.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Clearly I haven't been blogging much since we moved back. I've just been busy. But good busy. Moving, unpacking (no, we're not done yet!), setting up house, homeschooling (again! yeah!), several photography sessions, and -oh yeah- A NEWBORN have all conspired to fill my days to the brink and leave no room for blogging. Pinterest hasn't helped anything either, if I'm being honest.

Thanks for sticking with me. I'll be back soon.

Promise.

six years

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:30:00 +0000

I desperately want to blog and get everything out of my head and onto paper, but it will have to wait.

Instead, I'm going to repost last year's birthday post for Nathaniel. Not much has changed, except that this year our box of his little things is not thousands of miles away... just buried a pile of boxes of non-essential-things-that-didn't-have-to-be-opended-right-away. Hopefully I'll have the chance to pull it out this afternoon.

Wow.

Six years.

*********************************************************************************

Another year has passed.

Another year with a hole in our family right between Liam and Simon. This hole is imperceptible to most -even those who know it exists- but, to me, it's gaping. This hole should contain a little boy whose birthday we would be celebrating today. A likely loud and crazy five year old to add to the already loud and crazy chaos that reigns here most days.

It's a Nathaniel-shaped hole.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Because Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is October 15th each year, and the anniversary of Nathaniel's birth and death is October 19th, the middle of this month is always rather... emotionally charged. Even if I wanted to "forget" this day was coming, it would be impossible.

Not that I want to forget. THAT would be impossible.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Five years later, I can say that the sting of Nathaniel's death has gone out of my memories of him (hazy, dream-like images seen through the heavy fog of exhaustion and powerful anaesthetic drugs). The searing intensity of grief and loss has ebbed. The rawness is gone. The pain is still there, but it's more of an ache. A dull roar rather than a piercing scream that tears through my heart without any warning. A throbbing that lies below the surface, always present, but now covered over by the experiences and life lived over the last five years... including the addition of two life-filled little boys and the anticipation of the newest member of our family.

But it is hard not to wonder what our life would be like with him still in it... what HE would be like.

An almost-black-haired little boy with eyes that would have likely turned some shade of brown, like Andrews. I'm sure that, like Liam and Simon, he'd love all things Lego and Star Wars and Clone Wars and Bionicles, and would gravitate towards heros like Indiana Jones and Iron Man and knights and soldiers and super heros. I know he would laugh at America's Funniest Home Videos and Garfield comics and Wipeout along with his brothers.

I wonder if he'd sit quietly and spellbound during our readings of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia like his older brother, Liam, or if he'd squirm in his bed like his two younger brothers. I wonder if he'd prefer soccer or hockey. If he'd have allergies like Simon and Andrew, or be able to eat anything like Liam. If he'd be reading on his own yet, or riding a bike without training wheels. I wonder what his personality would be like. What would be his strengths and weaknesses? What kind of brother would he be? What kind of son?

I do know that he would be loved.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Somewhere today, that sweet boy who I will have to wait my lifetime to know is celebrating his fifth birthday with his cousin, Lachlan, and with his grandpa, my dad. He is perfect and whole and healthy and happy. He is being toasted by angels and sung to by family and friends who have passed before. He is surrounded by love and light and the glory of God.

And he is loved.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

For those of you who are new(ish) to this blog, here is the video we played at Nathaniel's service. For those who've been reading for awhile, no obligation to watch it again. I know it's not a "fun" thing to watch. It is, however, almost all we have. The little box of mementos from the hospital -his bracelets, copies of his hand and foot prints, the comb we used to brush his hair, the tiny preemie sleeper we dressed him in- all those things are thousands of miles away in a storage facility in Ottawa. And his little grave is next to his cousin's in Regina.

And so we watch his video and experience again the wonder of his birth, the pain of his loss, and the love we will always feel for our sweet boy, Nathaniel Achaziah Bundy.

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:12:00 +0000

I kinda left you all hanging with that last post... almost a month ago! Moving into a new house WITHOUT INTERNET ACCESS FOR TWO WEEKS can seriously cramp one's blogging style...

Speaking of our new place, here's a picture of the boys on the front step the morning we got the keys (Andrew's holding the keys up).

We've been settling in and slowly making our way through the mountain of boxes and bins and crates that need to be sorted through, and whose contents all need new homes. We're arranging and re-arranging and trying to figure out how best to make this house work for us.

And we're really enjoying it.

(The house, that is. Not so much the unpacking.)

You might have to indulge me a bit in the weeks and months that follow as my head -and by extension this blog- is constantly full of design ideas. I'll try to get some 'before' shots posted along with the 'in-progress' ones as we work towards the 'afters'. Those of you who follow my boards on Pinterest probably won't be surprised by some of what you see.

Oh, and in the midst of all this, we're also homeschooling again.

Cause I don't have enough to do.

But so far we're enjoying that too.

Thanks for sticking with me over the summer. I'll try to pop in here more regularly from now on.

new house! new house!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:50:00 +0000

We get our keys today!!

I'm so excited (!) that even though Simon is the only one awake (barely), I've been up for an hour and have made toast, bacon, an amazing fruit salad, and have the eggs all cracked and beat and ready to scramble. If I knew how to use the coffee maker here, I'd have done that too!

After feeding and watering the little people, we'll be dressed and out the door and heading to the notary to sign the papers AND GET THE KEYS! Peter will have to go back to work, so I'll get to re-explore the new house with the kids on my own. We have lunch planned with some good friends who very conveniently live only a few blocks away, which will get them the chance to see our place and it'll give the boys a chance to run. And at some point we need to get to Home Depot or another paint store to look at paint chips. Then tonight once Peter gets home, I'm going to head back to the house with just Eloise and paint all night.

That's the plan at least.

Wish us luck and pray that the house is as we remember it! Looking at 22 houses in two days, deciding on one, and making a offer ALL IN FOUR DAYS was a bit of a whirlwind!

So long and thanks for all the fish*

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 06:12:00 +0000

Criminal Minds is on right now.

Again.

It's on every night here, one of the only shows in English so we seem to watch it a lot. The wife of one of Peter's co-workers used to work homicide with the RCMP in Vancouver. I once asked her if she ever watches shows like the CSI and Criminal Minds type shows. She said that she COULDN'T STAND all the CSIs, but that Criminal Minds and Cold Case were both pretty accurate.

I'm going to miss it, I think... along with a certain Dr. Reid.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Although I've written all year about our time here and the things we've done, I haven't spent much time describing some of what makes it such a special place. I've left out a lot of details.

Like the smells.

While I definitely won't miss the smell of the Septima with its thousands of unruly taxis and almost equal numbers of obnoxious smoke-belching buses, there are many smells here that will always make me think of Colombia... the scent of rain in the air (which happened probably 80% of our days here!), corn grilling on street corners and meat grilling on parillas, smoke from cedar and eucalyptus wood fires, and the sweet scent of jasmine flowers (now one of my all time favourite smells).

And the sounds.

The ringing bells of the church next to our apartment building, the buzz of the gate letting cars and people into our complex, the somewhat-out-of-place-yet-completely-normal sound of horses' hooves on the pavement below, the bells of the propane trucks, the vendors in the market, the "buenos dias'" and "buenos tardes'", the "permissos" and "gracias'", the buzz of the phone in the kitchen when the portero would call up, the sound of our doorbell early on Tuesdays and Fridays signalling the arrival of our maid...

Ah, Rosalba, our maid.

At first I was completely against the idea of having a maid. I didn't need help. I didn't like the idea of some stranger being in my house, doing my laundry, touching my stuff. Someone I couldn't even communicate with. Then I got pregnant and so sick I could barely drag myself out of bed before noon. A person gets used to not cleaning bathrooms or the kitchen, or changing beds, or vacuuming, or doing laundry pretty darn quick, letmetellyou. Having some help around here (even if it was only two days a week compared to most people's five) has been nothing short of phenomenal.

But Rosalba is definitely not the only person I'll miss.

There are other people... great, lovely, amazing people.

The friends we've made here have been really wonderful. The Canadian Embassy is not huge, and there are definitely some, uh, "colourful" personalities within its walls, but in general it's a really nice group. Even though our post was only a year long, most everyone embraced us -and our growing family- with open arms. Many (both Embassy staff and others from the expat community) went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and at home and cared for and loved.

* * * * * * * * * *

As I sit here, it's after 1am and I'm sure I'm going to be tired in the morning. That will, however, hopefully make the nap I have planned for the afternoon even more effective.

You see, we have this wee overnight flight with four kids that leaves Bogota just before midnight tomorrow night.

(Or more than likely after midnight since the flights from here are rarely on time.)

DOESN'T THAT SOUND LIKE FUN??

Even though we haven't left yet, I'm already feeling a bit nostalgic about this place. This country. This city. These people and the year we've spent among them. I honestly don't know if I'll ever be back here...

There is much I'll miss.

*10 points** to the first person to correctly identify the origin of my post title and tell me who said it.

**In this case, the 10 points will actually be a tagua (also known as "palm ivory") ring that I picked up at the market today. You'll have to agree to send me your full name and address, or we'll arrange to meet if you're local.

ETA: I published this post at 1:12am, and although Kelly commented at 3:01am (so says google reader), Sara aka @squirrellykoala responded to me via twitter (since she couldn't get the comments to work) at 2:21am. I am impressed that you both knew the answer AND THAT YOU WERE BOTH UP SO LATE. The correct answer is, OF COURSE, that "So long and thanks for all the fish" is a parting message from the dolphins before they leave earth prior to its destruction in the fourth book "in the increasingly inaccurately name Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy" and is also and also the title of said book. Congrats Sara! We'll touch base when I'm back and unpacked.

loose ends

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:57:00 +0000

Have I really only posted once since July 15th? Hard to believe that much time has gone by, yet when I think about all that's happened it seems incredible that we fit it all in!

Little Eloise (or Lolo, as Andrew calls her) is now eight weeks old. Holy smoke! She's still as sweet as can be and is far more amazing than any parent of a newborn has the right to hope or dream. She cries only when desperately hungry (which rarely happens as she's on her own schedule and I feed her whenever she seems to want it), when she's having trouble burping (which she does seem to struggle with a bit), or when she's tired of having the hiccups for the sixth time that day. She rarely ever spits up... even when I'm too lazy to burp her in the middle of the night. She often has a 6-7 hours stretch of sleep each night... she wakes up less than Andrew! She's smiling more and more each day, and has even treated us to some little giggles. The boys eat it up and I'm sure it will be no time before they're constantly competing to see who can make her laugh (with Andrew having a wee melt down when it's not him).

Also during this time, Peter and I left the boys here in Bogota with my mom (bless her!) while we travelled back to Canada to shop for a new house. While Colombian women traditionally don't take their babies out of the house until after 40 days, Eloise travelled internationally, stayed in a hotel, visited several new restaurants and pubs, went to her first tweetup, went shopping, met almost all our amazing friends for the first time, and travelled home.

We saw twenty-two (22!) different houses in two (2!) days before finally deciding on one. It came down to a choice between two very different homes... My choice had a loft, finished basement, MASSIVE although super empty yard that backed onto the highway, but walking distance to a school. Peter's pick had bigger rooms, a garage, a smaller yet more mature yard, nicer finishes, partially finished basement (that we can finish to suit our needs), but will mean a bus ride to school for the boys (should we send them). I was almost in tears the night we had to decide from the stress of it all. In the end, I convinced myself to like Peter's choice and he decided he'd be much happier in a place where I was happy. Aren't we cute? Truthfully, we would've been happy in either place, but we put an offer in on the one Peter liked. In all honesty, come winter -and snow and ice and freezing cold weather!- I'm sure I'll be plenty glad for the garage (which the other house didn't have) and will happily declare it was MY IDEA ALL ALONG.

On the way home our flight from Ottawa to Toronto was cancelled, putting our connecting flight to Bogota in great jeopardy, making me freak out a bit since the boys had been promised they'd see us that night and prompting me to snap at the Air Canada ticket agent. After sitting around for an hour waiting to find out if they could route us through Chicago, New York or Miami, it turned out that the flight to Bogota was actually going to be delayed enough that we could get on the next flight to Toronto and still make our connection. And while waiting, we met a Colombian lady travelling to Bogota alone with her two small kids who not only all speak French and a bit of English and Spanish, but the mom also babywears and they live a few blocks from our new house! Not sure what the odds of that happening are.

During our trip, I joked with Peter that we should be taking different planes. We're like the President and Vice President, and shouldn't be travelling together. What if the plane went down??

But it didn't. The boys were thrilled to have us home, as was my mom. They all survived the 10 days (ten!) without us... and I survived the time without them! Having never left them alone for even a night (with the exception of some sleepovers at my sister's house and Liam spending one night at a friend's), this trip did afford me with a fair bit of anxiety. But I held it together. Three cheers for me!

And to be honest, the trip was good. Really good. Peter and I got to do some shopping, see almost all our friends, visit our much-missed church, eat out LEISURELY... and we bought a house that we're all excited about. Seeing so many houses with four kids in tow would've been nothing short of a nightmare... can you imagine!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

As I sit here typing, all our household goods have been packed and it feels like we're once again living in a (very bare) hotel. As soon as we got home from our trip, we started in on the task of deciding what to pack up in our shipment of goods and what to keep aside to carry back to Canada in our luggage. Clothes are a given, but we needed both cool weather clothes for here in Bogota and warm weather clothes for back in Canada. We also needed to keep out bed and bathroom linens, all the necessary new baby accessories, and enough cooking basics (ie, spices) to keep us going for a couple weeks before we get our house keys.

The boys are going a bit crazy with so little to do... read: they've been playing an obscene amount of wii. They've even badgered me into playing, shattering the carefully and deliberately crafted illusion that I know nothing about that confounded machine. We have been out to the park and the market a few times, and also drove out to Chia (a nearby town) and spent a super fun afternoon with some friends from the Embassy.

Hopefully we'll be able to take full advantage of our last few days here before saying goodbye to Bogota and Colombia.

one of my favourite things about motherhood

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 03:51:00 +0000

I know I just posted these, but they deserve a repeat in honour of World Breastfeeding Week from Aug 1-7, 2011.

And here's a little video I put together of some of my favourite breastfeeding images from the newborn sessions I did before moving to Bogota last year (I think you'll have to click through if you're reading in a reader),

For those in the Ottawa/Gatineau area, if you'd like to book a maternity, newborn, or family session with Muddy Boots Photo send me an email to muddybootsphotography@live.ca . I've already booked as many sessions as I'm willing to take for August, I might be able to squeeze in one or two more for September, and still have a bit of availability for October. I'm going to keep things pretty low key while we wait for our shipment to arrive and then spend time going through all our stuff and the boxes we packed up over a year ago... and set up our new house! So please contact me soon so you're not disappointed. ;)

Eloise: one month

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:35:00 +0000

Alternate post title: The Easiest Baby in the World*

*except when her mom wants to take a particular posed picture of her

I was all set up yesterday to try to recreate a certain picture I'd seen months ago -and was reminded of thanks to a pin of Dani's- but Eloise had different ideas. After over two (TWO!) hours of nursing, hushing, rocking, bouncing, nursing some more, being peed on, changing six (SIX!) different poopy diapers, swaddling, holding, walking, nursing again, etc, etc, ETC, this baby girl STILL REFUSED TO SLEEP.

Even with a heater set up nearby to keep her toasty, a fan on for white noise, and all the aforementioned tactics, Eloise insisted on staying awake, using up the entirety of the little boys' nap time. This is especially remarkable considering that a normal day for her is more like today... As I type this, she's sound asleep, as she has been since about 11pm LAST NIGHT, having only woken up long enough to nurse, burp and be changed.

Yesterday was a very poorly-timed fluke.

But I did use it to my advantage and pulled in Simon and Andrew once they woke up to snap a few shots with them and Eloise.

And ruined photo attempt aside, she still retains the title of one of the easiest babies I've ever met.

Seriously.

I won't go into her awesomeness too much -lest I sound like I'm bragging- but I will say that this first month with her has been wonderful. She's fit seamlessly into our family.

The boys all adore her without question or reservation or any jealousy. They run in to greet her first thing each morning, insist on holding her often, and practically (sometimes literally!) smother her with love and kisses and affection.

She sleeps peacefully most of the day, making only sweet little squeaking noises (and the odd tiny grunt or snort) when she dreams. When she's awake, she rarely ever cries unless to let us know she's getting hungry. She's generally content to just lay there or be held while looking around and taking it all in... the colours, the smells, the voices and faces of her family... the noise!

(Oh, the noise!)

where'd my fist go??

I have all the respect in the world for photographers who rock the self-portrait. Clearly I need way more practice. And maybe a tripod (to avoid the perilous laundry basket + milk crate + pillow combo I used for these).

focus of off/soft, but I still love this

look at the wrinkles!!

The pictures I took of Simon and Eloise didn't turn out that well. One always looked great while the other way making a beyond-weird face. Simon had zombie eyes in the first picture, and Eloise looks awful in the b&w picture, but I think Simon looks pretty stunning so I wanted to post it. He looks so much older than four! And you can hardly see the chunk of hair he cut out near his temple.

And I think Andrew looks sooooo cute here! But his bracelets were blocking Eloise face... and poking her in the eye.

She eventually did start to get a bit sleepy, but still wouldn't give in. I ended up running out of both time and light (the sun sets here at 6pm EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.) without getting my shot. Hopefully I'll have time to try again this weekend, although it's looking like a busy time... what with getting ready for our house hunting trip back to Canada!

This first month has gone by so quickly. It's been wonderful to finally meet this little soul that's been entrusted to us, and so fun to watch the boys interact with their new sister. The adjustment has been so easy, it's hardly been noticeable, except in a slight more fullness to our day... and more laundry!

That being said, when we return to Canada in a little over a month it will be without a) my mom, and b) a maid twice a week who does all the laundry, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, bed changing, kitchen cleaning, etc, etc, ETC.

That's when everything will likely come to a screaming, crashing halt!

how to spot a Canadian in Bogota

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:18:00 +0000

While not all of these characteristics are specific only to Canadians, they certainly help to identify us as foreigners.

- When walking down the street, we yell at our kids to stop at the corner in English instead of Spanish.

- We go to the park with our kids as opposed to having sent them with the nanny.

- We have "blue plates". Colombians have yellow license plates with black writing, while our diplomatic plates are blue with white writing. This doesn't necessarily set us apart as Canadians, but it definitely screams "diplomat". "Blue plates, baby" will be a running joke in this house for a LONG time.

- Even after almost a year here, our kids still take off their shoes as soon as they enter someone's home. No one in Colombia takes of their shoes inside. The line of little Crocs with maple leaf jibbitz? Sure since there are Canadians in the house.

- Speaking of those ubiquitous rubber shoes, here in Bogota, Crocs are akin to slippers! I didn't know this UNTIL A FEW WEEKS AGO! Simon's teacher mentioned that it was "so cute to see Simon running around outside in Crocs". I asked what was cute about that and she went on to explain that no one really wears Crocs outside here. They're worn inside as slippers... or as work shoes for maids! Sans jibbitz of course.

- Most Colombians carry their kids. Everywhere. Rarely, rarely do you see a stroller, and those you do see are generally European brands and likely being used by foreigners. It's commonplace to see a parent cradling a tiny newborn wrapped in thick blankets while walking along (or running across!) one of the busiest streets in the city. But it's also not unusual to see someone carrying a sleeping -and obviously very heavy- toddler in their arms. Strollers are really rare. And if you've been around this blog long enough, you'll have seen pictures of our stroller... a Chariot Carrier. It's big and bold AND BRIGHT YELLOW. This thing STOPS PEOPLE IN THEIR TRACKS down here. Seriously. People stop and stare.

- For women, the "tourista uniform", ie. capris or sandals. Extra "foreigner" points for wearing both at the same time. Colombian women are typically VERY well-dressed. They favour perfectly coifed, long hair and skinny jeans tucked into tall, tall boots. Eighty percent of women seem to wear this outfit at. all. times.

So if the jibbitz-accessoried, Croc-wearing, English-speaking, blond-haired, blue-eyed kids aren't obvious enough... and if the giant school-bus-yellow stroller doesn't give it away... seeing me at the park in my yoga pant capris, Croc sandals (Twitter confirmed these are allowable when pregnant, so I'm going to claim clemency when two weeks post-partum as well), AND BED HEAD might also help tip one off to us not being from around here.

Oh, I was also wearing Eloise in a wrap.

If only you all knew how funny this description is in comparison to the typical Colombian woman in this neighbourhood!

Trust me. It's funny.

no more school, no more books...

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 03:47:00 +0000

... no more getting up at 5:45am to get the boys up and ready for school!

Wednesday, June 22nd, was the boys' "graduation" ceremonies for school. Each year group (grade) had their own awards ceremony, speeches, etc. It was a bit tedious, but also fun to see the boys with all their friends.

Eloise was only a week old, so was quite the attraction.* Simon couldn't even manage to stay in his seat. He kept coming over to my mom and I, and asking when he could show Eloise to Miss Denise or telling me in a not-so-quiet whisper that so-and-so wanted to see the baby. It was sweet, but also a bit nerve wracking since I knew he was supposed to be getting an award... but didn't know which one.

Turns out he got the Music Award. He adores singing. He has an amazing memory and does a surprising job carrying a tune, whether the song is in English or Spanish. I did get a kick out of his music teacher's notes on his report card though... something about having a "strong voice" but needing to "learn to control it".

That's teacher-speak for "your son is LOUD".

Anyone surprised?

Liam's time slot was after lunch, so we spent some time at the school letting Andrew run around and showing Eloise to some of the staff and students.

For Liam's year group, there was only one award in each category per year. So only about 7-8 awards for about 40 kids. Liam was a bit disappointed to have not been chosen, but we talked about how it really wouldn't have been fair for him to be given one when he was there for less than half the year while all the other kids had been there working hard for the whole year.

Besides, we made it clear how proud WE were of him.

Friday, June 26th, was the boys' last day of school. Official.

Woohoo!

And huge sigh of relief! I can't tell you how much Peter and I were looking forward to this day.

My mom, Andrew, Eloise and I arrived at the school laden with snacks (strawberry lemonade bars) and gifts (pounded flower bookmarks) for the boys' teachers. We found Liam finishing up break time and lined up to head back to his class. What I didn't get a picture of was Andrew running up to throw his arms around his big brother. Andrew's displays of affection always draw huge reactions from the other kids.

And the girls dig it.

At Simon's class party, they had a special time for the kids who are moving and won't be at the school next year. His teacher, Miss Denise, gave each of the four kids a special book with pictures of them throughout the year, and little messages and drawings from their classmates.

Simon was so thrilled with his book. He had both his teacher and the class assistant, Miss Natalia, read it to him in succession. That night he insisted on having it read to him a half dozen times by Peter AND me AND my mom. It's now been put someplace up high to keep it away from little fingers who started to pick at the decorations, but I can see how much Simon would love a special photo book (or ten) for his birthday or other special occasions.

Simon with Miss Natalia

Simon and Andrew with Miss Denise

After Simon's party, we headed up to Liam's classroom. We were there about an hour early, which allowed time for an impromptu health and science lesson about reproduction, gestation, birth, babies, etc. Liam's teacher did an incredible job covering an amazing array of topics in a short time. The kids asked questions and had the chance to hold Eloise.

Then the party started.

Liam dancing with Andrew and John

playing a who-can-stay-still-and-quiet-the-longest game.
genius.

School was a bigger adjustment for Liam than for Simon. There were a few bumps -socially more than academically- but he really did a great job. He ended the year strong... and with some really great friends. I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that these elementary school friends -of only five months, really- will be life long friends. But you never know. With the nature of the foreign service and embassy life... you just never know where we'll all end up.

* * * * * * * * * * *

After school, Liam headed to the house of a friend for one last playdate.

My mom and I came home with Eloise and the younger two boys... who got into the markers.

Simon emerged from the bathroom looking like this...

he declared he was a ninja

this is his "ninja face"

clearly being a ninja is serious business

mostly

We followed this up with a flying-jump-kicks-off-the-couch photo session, but I'll save you seeing those hundred pictures.

Until later.

*In Colombia, women don't leave the house with their babies until after the 40 day mark, so seeing a teeny, tiny newborn out and about drew quite the crowd! I don't know what all those ladies do for forty days (leave their baby with the nanny, perhaps?), but the reaction to Eloise has been a tone of fun to witness. Walking through the crowded Sunday market draws audible gasps from all sides... everyone from the lady selling high end leather goods to the scruffy youth selling gum and cigarettes on the corner. So funny.

awwwww inspiring

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 04:12:00 +0000

Since no one seems to object to more baby pictures, these were taken June 30th when Eloise was 15 days old.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I'm not sure why the boys always insist on cuddling their baby sister at night before bed... when it's dark and the only light I have to work with is an awful yellow table lamp next to the couch.

It might be that they agree with my need for an external flash and are trying to help me convince their dad.

More likely, however, is that it has something to do with their nightly efforts to delay said bedtime...

It works.

What's that? It's time for jammies? But can't I just hold Eloise one more time? Please? Just look how cute we are? Will you take our picture, mom?

Half an hour later...

Baby has been cuddled, pictures have been taken, and bedtime has successfully been postponed.

Mission accomplished.

*Eloise, day 11 photo session

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:19:00 +0000

We interrupt this sweet, sunny nap...

...with a marker-covered (as usual) littlest big brother who just can't keep his hands off of baby.

And since you're already awake...

...and doing your best Igor/Hunchback of Notre Dame impression...

...how 'bout mama grab a white blanket, strip you down, and play with
some of the feather headbands from the nearby market?

So worth it.

I'm done now.

Carry on with your sweet self.

You'll let me know when you get tired of baby pictures, right?

Eloise in a sling, two ways

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:47:00 +0000

age: 9 days old

sling: Didymos gold-dyed silk indio, version 2

notes: rebozo carry

(earrings: patina-ed copper from a local artist who sells in the weekend market near our house)

another good choice for her red hair, I'd say

age: 12 days old

sling: Didymos Laguna indio ringsling

notes: tummy-to-tummy carry... from which I carefully extricated myself to lay her down (still all curled up) on the couch, which she quite perfectly matches

sweet, snuggly, squishy newborn pics

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:06:00 +0000

Just a few pictures from this last week. You don't mind, do you?

A late afternoon nap in an adorable outfit from auntie Heather (organic cotton and Made In Canada... may have to figure out how to sketch this pattern to make more, I love it so much). The sun shining in was so delicious... and who can resist that arms-above-head-can-finally-stretch-out newborn pose? The blanket Eloise is laying on is also from my sister, knit when Liam was born in 2003.

Another nap on a sunny afternoon here in Bogota (which has been happening more and more often as of late... we don't miss the rain). Ignore my zebra print pyjamas and focus instead on the sweet little booties Eloise is wearing. A gift from the lovely Jessica. Knit in Saskatchewan with wool from Saskatchewan sheep. Perfect. Just perfect. I might need these in multiple sizes and colours also, so will have to get over my fear of knitting booties.

knit from the Saartje's Booties pattern on Ravelry

That same night, Liam spent almost an hour just chilling with Eloise on his lap. Light from the lamp over his head was a bit harsh, but I'm still totally in love with these images. Liam is so sweet and attentive with his baby sister. The other day we were driving to his friend's house and she was fussing (she HATES the car seat) and I could hear him in the back seat whispering to her, "Shhhh, shhhh, baby. It's okay. Liam's here. Big brother's here."

*melts*

See that hairline? Those cowlicks and widow's peak? Score one for the Bundy side.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

I've added this post to the Photo Story Friday link at Better in Bulk and My Chaos My Bliss.

finally... the birth story.

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 06:09:00 +0000

Around 1am, I woke up (once again) with wicked heartburn. It was so bad that I couldn't even be laying down. After a trip to the bathroom for my fifth and sixth Tums of the night, I decided to head out to the recliner in our living room so I could sleep a bit more upright. It worked and -after quickly checking Facebook and the comments on my blog, of course- I fell asleep and didn't wake up until right around 5am. Almost four hours! Quite the feat considering the capacity of my bladder at 41+ weeks pregnant.

But before I go any further, lets have a recap of the few days prior... courtesy of my Twitter stream.

Saturday, June 11th,

Sunday, June 12th,

Monday, June 13th,

Monday, June 14th,

Carrying on...

5:00 am - Wake up. Feel a contraction not long after... that actually kinda hurts. Get up, grab the laptop so I can listen to my hypnobabies scripts. Head back to bed.

5:10 am - Back in bed, listening to the "First Stages" script. A few more contractions. Have to concentrate a bit during them, more to try to figure out if they were real or not. Have to use the bathroom after each "wave" (more on that later).

6:00 am - Not really able to sleep. Get up to wake the boys for school. Simon and Andrew are already awake. Attempt to rouse Liam. Have a contraction.

6:05 am - Another contraction. Tell Liam that maybe the baby will be here when he gets home from school. Get no response (but I do get a nice hug before he heads for breakfast).

6:10 am - Sit in the dark of the boys' room contemplating the possibility that this might actually be the birth day. Feel yet another contraction. Go back to bed to listen to my script and try to relax. Not able to get comfortable at all while lying down.

6:30 am - Peter comes back up from getting the boys on the bus. I tell him that maybe he should stay home from work, but "would he be mad if it doesn't happen today?". He says he'll stay. I have him move the chair from the boys' room into ours so I can be sitting up, then move the crib and dresser out of the way so there'll be room for the birth pool.

6:45 am - Not timing contractions, but think about calling the doctor.

6:50 am - Okay. Enough waiting. Call the doctor AND GET HIS VOICEMAIL. Leave a message saying I think this might be the real thing. He calls back and says he'll be here in an hour. I hang up on him because I can't talk through the contraction.

With all my other labours, my contractions followed a predictable pattern. They very distinctly started low and the tightening worked its way up my belly in a wave, peaked, and then worked its way back down. These are so, so different. While I still feel the tightening, there is almost no pain whatsoever in my abdomen itself. It's ALL in my cervix. Deep inside and so, so strong. When I lean forward even the tiniest bit, the pain is unbearable. Way too intense.

I labour mostly sitting up in an armchair, listening to my hypnobabies script. Peter brings in his coffee and newspaper, but Andrew follows him in and keeps trying to climb on me (only during contractions of course). I try a few times to lay down -since I really want to lay down!- but the pain quadruples and I lay there whimpering. I can't relax or concentrate on anything other than just surviving til the wave ends and I can get back in the chair. I try sitting on the exercise ball. I try kneeling on the ground, leaning on the ball. But anything other than sitting slightly reclined in the chair just doesn't work. I feel very nauseous during each contraction.

I sit in the chair with my legs crossed, feet on the exercise ball, and head propped up on a pillow against the wall (Peter has to both lift my legs onto the ball AND reach the pillow that's sitting mere inches away). I concentrate on consciously relaxing all the muscles in my abdomen and uterus, and say to myself "open, open, open" with each wave of pain. I can hear Peter playing with Andrew somewhere in the house. Between contractions I silently curse the woman on the disc and her claims that all I feel is "pressure". This is far, far, FAR more than pressure. FAR. MORE.

Peter comes in often to check on me. I can hear him come in, but he leaves me to my chair and scripts. A few times I sit up to talk to him or attempt to change positions, but whenever I'm not concentrating on relaxing I want to climb out of my skin. Even though listening to the scrips and practicing what I've learned do not make things painless, I feel completely out of control when I break my concentration.

7:50 am - It's one hour after the doctor said he would be here in one hour. He's not here. I have Peter call him. He says he's 10 minutes away. I'm super nauseous with each surge.

8:00 am - Me: CALL. HIM. AGAIN. Even with deep, deliberate, conscious concentration I'm having a hard time keeping calm and relaxed. Although I still feel in control, I begin to wonder if the doctor will make it in time. He definitely won't have time to inflate and fill the birth pool. Peter fills the tub and puts some water on to boil (since our hot water tank hardly fills the tub 8" before running out).

8:05 am - Peter calls down to the portero (guard) to let him know to expect the doctor and let him up right away. I'm whimpering and starting to feel frantic. I can tell baby is coming, BUT I'M STILL FULLY DRESSED SITTING IN THE ARMCHAIR.

8:10 am - The doctor finally arrives. He and Peter make several trips bringing equipment into our bedroom. I'm on my hands and knees, barely able to speak, and starting to seriously panic THAT THEY KEEP LEAVING THE ROOM. I somehow manage to blurt out that the baby is coming and THEY NEED TO STOP LEAVING. I'm still wearing my pyjamas and at serious risk of delivering baby girl fully dressed. The imminency of the situation now clear, the doctor helps me out of my pjs while Peter runs around the house frantically gathering every towel we own. The doctor tries to check me and I none too calmly tell him to get away from me. I ask Peter to change the track playing on the laptop to the "pushing" script.

8:15 am - I ask Peter what time it is. He tells me 8:15. I start pushing and can tell she's coming fast. About three minutes after asking Peter to turn the hypnobabies pushing script up, I tell him abruptly to turn it off. I'm not listening anymore... or maybe just not hearing. At this point it's all about getting it done. I vocalize loudly, but am not screaming like with Andrew. Pushing is painful (way more than pressure!), but is also a relief. I feel intense pain as she descends through the birth canal and crowns, but am not worried I'll die before she's born like I did during transition and pushing with Andrew.

8:22 am - As her head is born, the doctor asks me to stop pushing. Ha. As the rest of her body emerges, there's such a wave of relief. The bag of waters breaks as she's born -or the doctor broke it once her head was born- as it hadn't broken prior to labour. Still on my hands and knees and shaking from the effort, I don't even pick her up immediately. Either Peter or the doctor wraps her in a hand towel and I get my first good look at her as she lets out her first little cries. I again ask Peter what time it is and am amazed to hear it's only been seven minutes. After a few more minutes, I manage to turn over so I can sit and get a better look at her... and her red hair!

8:30 am - The nurse arrives as we're waiting for the placenta to be born. The look on her face when she sees the baby already here is priceless. After sitting for a few minutes more, I decide to get up and head to the pre-filled-but-now-barely-warm tub with the baby. Even with all the boiling water from the stove, it's not comfortable for long. It does give me the chance to clean us both up a bit and to nurse the baby.

After changing into a clean (and non-pyjama) shirt (that I managed to put on backwards), I headed to the bed and we finally called my mom and Andrew into the room... to meet Eloise Amora Kaye Bundy. Andrew climbed right up onto the bed and was quick to give hugs and kisses to both me and Eloise, although he was more focused on me than the baby.

about 75 minutes after birth

She didn't have even a hint of a cone-head, no bruising whatsoever. She came out so quickly, there was just no time.

After a few pictures, Peter took Eloise out to try calling his family on Skype, and my mom was able to get ahold of my younger sister. Since I was still laying on the bed covered by a towel, I finally asked the nurses to get the doctor to come assess the damage. As he started with the freezing, I had to ask one of the nurses if they'd mind getting me some toast or a muffin or something to eat. I was feeling light-headed and realized that -at 10:30 am- I hadn't eaten a thing that day!

Stitching completed, they brought Eloise back in to weight and measure her. As you can see, she wasn't a fan of the process.

After another shower, I headed out to grab another snack and pretty much parked myself on the couch for the rest of the day. The doctor and nurses mentioned several times "how strong Canadian women are". They couldn't believe how quickly and "easily" I laboured, that I was up taking a bath 10 minutes after the birth, and walking around getting myself something to eat a few hours later (they had, however, just come from a 21 hour labour where the mom pushed for four hours). They left about four hours after Eloise was born.

I'll end here even though I haven't written about Liam and Simon's first reactions (Simon said some hilarious and blog-worthy things), since it's taken me this long to make it this far... and she'll be 15 days old tomorrow!

Eloise birth was not quite what I'd envisioned... It was not the calm waterbirth I'd wanted. There was no birth pool. No cute bathing suit I'd bought specially for the occasion. There was no peaceful easing, no gentle waves of pressure, no letting my body bring the baby out. It was intense and powerful and overwhelming and fierce AND FAST.

BUT... even amidst the pain of contractions (although some women have painless births with hypnobabies, mine WAS NOT!), I felt so... in control. There was no fear. I welcomed the pain of the contractions, rather than tense up and fight it like my prior births. I don't even have the words to explain it... other than I felt so confident and, yay, in control. Only when it became clear that baby was crowning and the doctor still hadn't arrived, did I start to panic and feel overwhelmed by the pain. I do wish that he'd arrived sooner and I'd been able to stay relaxed throughout, but it was just too fast!

So fast that there are no pictures! *sob*

I'd gotten the camera all charged and ready to go, brought it into the room and set it on the shelf... where it remained untouched throughout the entire labour and birth. Being a photographer, I'd really hoped for wonderful images to remember this, my last, birth.

But what I do have are wonderful memories of a quick, intense and empowering birth welcoming this amazingly sweet little soul into the world. Our sweet little Eloise who we've spent the last two weeks getting to know and love.

Next up, a post about the placenta in our freezer. Not to be missed.

6 days old... this is how we roll

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:46:00 +0000

Still no birth story. Sorry. I'm working on it! I promise!

Will some new pictures make up for it??

These were taken yesterday when Eloise was six days old. I'm wearing her in a Didymos Laguna ring sling... for anyone who cares. I also used this sling when she was three days old when we went shopping. Yes, I went out shopping at three days postpartum... amazing what you'll do for a nursing bra... which we didn't even find.

Anyways...

I'm laughing at something Peter said here. I'm also out of focus. Oops.

I actually prefer a simple rebozos carry to a ring sling, so I might need to find this same wrap as a shortie instead.

I loooooove the orange/turquoise combo! LOVE. IT.

Colombians would say we "have a good mould*"

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:07:00 +0000

I know that Father's Day was Sunday, but I was going on four nights without sleep and tear-inducing engorgement since my milk had just come in. Baby girl was thrilled with her sweetly-filled belly, but this mama (and her, uh, abundant supply) were very sorry -and sore!- indeed.

Thankfully things are starting to regulate themselves, I'm no longer full up to my armpits and can therefore type again.

And put together slideshows**.

About the amazing guy I chose to make babies with.

Happy Father's Day, hon.

Love you.

*We're Canadian. We like our extra 'u's.

**These are all pictures taken between last Father's Day and this Father's Day.

(ETA: This morning, while showing the video to Peter, I noticed there were a bunch of photos missing from Sept-Dec. I couldn't leave things alone so I edited the video. If you're reading in a reader, you'll have to click through to see it,)

let's hear it for the boys

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:57:00 +0000

My entry for the i hearts faces photo challenge this week. One of my favourite pictures I've ever taken of the boys. From our trip to Curacao in November/December.

still working on my birth story....

a new crazy

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 11:44:00 +0000

If I wait until I have the entire birth story written up, pecked at one handed a line here and a line there, I'm not likely to get any pictures posted before July.

And you know there are pictures.

* * * * * * * * * *

Eloise Amora Kaye Bundy

born 15.June.2011 8:22am

7lbs 11oz

20cms long

about 75 mins old

letting friends at the Embassy know

meeting the boys on their return from school

dressed in the same sleeper that my parents brought me home from the hospital in!

no important family event would be complete without some silly faces...

poor baby girl... get used to the crazy!

you're surrounded

tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag... or the best 50 cents I ever spent

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:29:00 +0000

Though her words are simple and few
Listen, listen, she's calling to you
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag"

Tell me you remember that song from Mary Poppins.

These were all taken by a friend of mine, Lisa, during a sightseeing morning with my mom and aunt. We went up the cable car up to Monserrate, then headed to Plaza Simon Bolivar and the Presidential Palace before a visit to the emerald district in La Candelaria. I rarely hand my camera over to other (cause I'm a control freak), but I'm so glad I did because Lisa did a great job AND I'M ACTUALLY IN SOME PICTURES. I didn't even remember to take the camera out of manual!

And Andrew? He loooooved feeding the pigeons. I thought he'd freak out with them clamouring all over us, but he couldn't get enough. We'll definitely be taking all three boys back before we leave Colombia.

(If I get around to it, this post will link back to these Wordless Wednesday parties.)

an update on my earlier emotionally-fragile, too-pregnant rant

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 02:07:00 +0000

I know my post from earlier today didn't portray me as the ray of sunshine I'm sure you've come to expect when you visit this blog.

Um...

Well I did want to update a couple things.

Not long after writing that post and hitting publish, I spoke to my doctor. Being over 41 weeks, he wanted me to go in for both an ultrasound and an NST (non stress test). Although I wasn't thrilled about a bunch of testing that would have the potential to lead to even more intervention, I understood our doctor's position. He's currently the only doctor in the city (this city of 9 million people) who does homebirths and he generally caters to the upper class... including diplomats. I'm sure it would be an absolute nightmare for him should there be some tragedy involving the wife or newborn of some diplomat or high profile ex-pat.

Our doctor made the appointment and I went to pick Peter up from the Embassy. I was so thankful he was able to leave work on such short notice to come with me... and thankful that we could get in so quickly (once we found the place!).

We ended up having to sit through TWO twenty minute scans since baby girl slept soundly through the first. Because they weren't able to track any movement, the tech sent us to "eat something sweet" and come back. Two Snickers bars and a bottle of Coke later and she was hopping all over the place! The second scan went great and baby girl passed with flying colours.

The ultrasound was quick and painless. The tech measured fluid levels -which were perfect- and then went on to take measurements of head, torso and long bones. Each time, she made some comment about HOW BIG the baby is... even saying, "You have a FAT BABY." This made me pretty nervous... until we saw the actual gestational age the measurements corresponded to, most of which were in the 37-38 week range.

I'm 41+ weeks!

Then we reminded ourselves how small Colombians make em. She probably just wasn't used to seeing measurements of those sizes... even though baby is only estimated around 7lbs!

Either way, it all went well and baby girl scored 10/10.

We're total over achievers.

* * * * * * * * * * *

While Peter and I were sitting around during the NSTs he informed me that he learned that, while we might end up being short on time to apply for the baby's diplomatic passport, there is the option of getting a temporary passport printed for urgent travel. So regardless when baby decides to make her grand entrance, a temporary passport only takes three days to obtain.

*big sigh of relief*

More importantly, he also informed me that the consultations in Ottawa that would require us to leave Bogota July 3rd (in 2 1/2ish weeks) have been rescheduled for two weeks later. We still haven't narrowed down when our house hunting trip will be, but we now have more time. A bigger cushion. Less stress.

*bigger sigh*

So, yes, I feel a bit silly for my emotional fragility of earlier, but it was probably a good thing to get some of it out.

Not a complete waste.

But more than a bit humbling to see how things have worked themselves out so quickly.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now I'll return to surfing Pinterest and killing time on Twitter while I time "contractions"... hopefully some of these ones are real.