from ours to yours

A very Merry Christmas from Bogota.

From my family to yours.


taken Christmas Eve, 2010

all I want for Christmas...

...Is for Bogota to drop about 8000 ft. 

Is that too much to ask??

Even if I'd planned to get pregnant during this year posting (which I didn't), I wonder if I would've had the forethought to google "pregnancy at high altitudes" or "the effects of altitude on morning sickness" or some sort of similar phrase. Because friends? It makes a difference.

While I have been feeling a bit better the last week or so, I still can't get over what a marked difference there was between our trip to Curaçao (Caribbean island at sea level, obviously) and or return to Bogota where we're over 9000 feet. Although I felt mostly wonderful on the island, within two hours of landing back here, I was once again feeling rotten and nauseous. 

Though that's gotten better recently, what's taken its place is a nightly struggle with insomnia. Every. Single. Night. I wake up around 2am (to pee, remember I'm almost 4 months pregnant!) and then can't get back to sleep. I find it hard to believe that I actually lay there for 5-6 hours without sleeping a wink, so I must doze a bit, but it's not the kind of deep, restful sleep that I need to function with any amount of success while parenting three little boys. Even when I'm exhausted to the point of having a headache and not seeing straight, sleep is elusive and hard to come by.

Now just guess what another symptom of altitude sickness is?? THAT'S RIGHT! Trouble sleeping!

I'm not sure if it's the morning sickness making me more susceptible to the effects of altitude, or if it's the altitude making my morning sickness symptoms worse, or if it matters. Either way, if Peter's constant reminders weren't enough, this pregnancy has convinced me that this will, in fact, be my last. I can't do this again.

Just wish I could enjoy it a bit more.

this photo deserves its own post... if I do say so myself

I'm so happy with how this picture came out. I love how you see almost none of the boys' features, yet each one is clearly SO TOTALLY THEM. I'm also pretty partial to Andrew's big baby belly. Oh to be not-quite-two again and have a paunch be cute!

All I did in post process was to crop and tilt a bit (the horizon was crooked) and make it slightly darker so it'd be a true silhouette image.

This was taken our last night on Curaçao at Hook's Hut beach. It had been kind of a crummy afternoon (read: torrential, monsoon-like rains that almost saw our rental car die on a road flooded by nearly two feet of water... where there were mere puddles twenty minutes prior) but it turned into a gorgeous evening. Peter had wanted to stay in our hotel room and play Uno (?!?) instead of packing up the boys for another night at the beach, but I won. GOOD THING or he'd still be hearing about it now!

not-quite-25-days of Christmas

Last year I read about Andrea's 25 Days of Christmas and loved the idea, but with planning a solo cross-country trip with three kids (remember that one? F-U-N!), I didn't quite have the time/energy/will/desire to play along. This year, with our trip to Curaçao and not returning home until December 7th, I'd kind of written the whole Advent thing off for this year, too.

But then Christmas-y things just seemed to keep happening to us.

So I present you with Days 1-3 of our abridged 14 Days of Christmas...

Day 1: We set up the Christmas tree and put the lights on while watching "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

*sorry, no pictures*

Day 2: A kids Christmas/cookie decorating party with some friends from the embassy. The kids got to play, decorate gingerbread cookies, play, eat, play some more, and then have a gift exchange. After a nap/sugar crash, we headed to the Usaquen Market to see the wares, have supper and see the lights in the park after the sun went down.

enough sprinkles, Simon??

our fellow decorators/sugar-eaters

Day 3: My pregnancy-induced insomnia and general exhaustion kept us from being ready for church on time this morning, so we put on some Christmas music and FINALLY(!) decorated the tree. After fresh fruit and eggs for brunch, Andrew had a nap and Liam went down to the courtyard to play soccer with some neighbour boys while Peter and Simon were able to spend some one-on-one time playing Snakes and Ladders. I was busy making cookie dough (this recipe, doubled) that Simon later helped me roll while Peter taught Liam how to play Risk. As I type, the game is wrapping up (if they're able to keep Andrew from destroying the board), there are five tummies full of ginger cookies and the sun is actually shining here in Bogota. (ETA: the sun didn't last *sigh*)

"What do you mean I'm not supposed to throw these?? THEY'RE BALLS!"

Now to figure out Day 4...

couldn't stay away... more to see

From Friday, December 3rd:

Since we check out of this resort tomorrow morning, we wanted to take advantage of our Seaquarium passes at least one more time. This time we had the Flamingo Feeding on our agenda, along with the glass-bottom boat and another visit to the Touch Tank. 

After watching the keepers corner the baby flamingo, they brought it over for the kids to pet. Liam and Simon were excited to get their turn, but Andrew was more than a bit unsure. He did finally consent to reach out a finger and ever-so-lightly touch the bird.

I promise we did put sunscreen on Simon's face, but he kept rubbing his eyes from the 

saltwater in the ocean yesterday because of the salt water and must've rubbed it all off

nooooot sure

After hanging out with the flamingos for a bit, we headed outside to look for the stationary glass bottom boat. We'd missed this during our first visit, but it was one of the main reasons we went back... and we were so glad we did! For Simon and Andrew who hadn't really snorkelled, it was really neat to see all the fish, sting rays, turtles, nurse sharks, etc that were in this lagoon.

I forget what this first guy was, but he was HUGE.

this was some sort of puffer fish... who wouldn't puff for us.

And except for the eerie bluish tint, I think  this is actually a pretty good family picture, although Andrew could be smiling more. When I have time, I'll have to see what I can do with it in Lightroom (note: all of these pictures are unedited, so forgive the slightly bland look of them).

After the boat and a last visit to see the starfish, conches, urchins and sea cucumbers in the Touch Tank, we headed back to our room to make a quick lunch, then headed to the beach. Simon and Liam were both anxious to try out their new flippers.

The resort was built on a man-made island next to the aquarium, and it's been there long enough that there are corals growing right along the rocks. You don't have to go far in order to see crabs, urchins and fish galore.

someone didn't realize quite how the sun would burn a back this close to the surface of the water...

the day was a bit chilly, so Andrew just played on the beach

walking in flippers is hard work!

Before heading to the beach, we'd walked around to the opposite side to book a snorkelling trip for Peter and Liam while the younger two were sleeping. We'd also spent money on flippers, a new mask and snorkel and an underwater digital camera... then we got to the beach and Liam decided that it was too cold, too windy, the flippers were too hard to use, he didn't want to swim and would rather just sit on a beach towel, wrapped in a towel, pouting.

See his face?

imagine how blue this water looked on sunny days!

Liam was in such a foul mood that I actually walked back over to the dive shop to ask if they'd refund us the cost of his trip, telling them that no one would want him on that boat. They agreed, thankfully (but, also thankfully, he decided he wanted to go in the end).

still more interested in his truck than the water

so typically Simon!

Since it was so chilly, the boys all went for a quick dip in the hot tub before heading back to the room. By that time, we'd guilted convinced Liam that it would be a shame for him to miss out on this special snorkelling adventure with daddy and that he'd have a ton of fun once he got out there. When would he have another chance to snorkel at a sunken tugboat?? But I haven't uploaded those pictures yet, so that story will have to wait.