Peter's on his own for those four cases of wine we brought with us...

When we got a higher than expected tax return this last April, Peter and I decided to make a batch of wine. The batch we'd made in February of 2009 had lasted us over a year, but had just run out. We ended up splurging and making two batches, one inexpensive one to use for sangria, cooking, etc, and one higher quality one that we could enjoy with a nice meal or when friends were over.

Then we found out we were moving here to Bogota.

Simon's drawing for daddy

At first we were unsure if we would be able to bring it with us in our air shipment. We were told no one day, then yes the next, then back to no. In the end they allowed us to bring it, but said we'd likely have to pay duty and import taxes on it.

On all 48 bottles.

Imagine our surprise and delight when it all arrived safe and sound and duty-free. Yeah!

Imagine my dismay when I realized that I would not, in fact, be able to enjoy said wine...

...at least not for the next eight months.

Liam's drawing for daddy

That's right folks! Not to be confused with a black Spiderman symbol, that's actually a baby in my... um... I'm not sure why the baby is in my chest... Nor why I look about four feet taller than Peter, who seems to be channeling the Green Lantern.  I'll clear that up with Liam in a few weeks when we start learning about human anatomy (I'll also try to limit the amount of Justice League he watches).

Those of you who follow me on Twitter are already privy to this information and were of great assistance in helping me come up with a fun way to tell Peter the news. Someone -whose name Twitter won't let me go back and look up! argh!- offered up the fantastic idea of making a shirt that would read, "Made in Colombia". I loved the idea and (although it took me a day to find the blank shirt I knew I had in "a box somewhere" and two days to cut out and hand-stitch all the letters on) love the final product even more.

Sorry for the crummy pics. I took them at night under halogen light.

I know it's a bit wonky, but stitch quilters cotton onto a ribbed knit is easier said than done. I don't mind it though. It's clearly handmade. I wasn't trying to fool anyone.

(The fabric for those interested is a rad print from Alexander Henry called Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead or Sugar Skulls. I love it and have it in three colourways. Here's a link to a pic of the full fabric.)

If you're wondering, this came as a HUGE SHOCK. Seeing as I wasn't able to become -or stay- pregnant with either Simon or Andrew without the help of hormone supplements, we really didn't even think it was a possibility. Even with that knowledge though, we still always play it pretty safe (not safe enough, clearly). And while I did always want to have at least one more baby at some point, it was not really in my plan for this year.

It was not AT ALL in Peter's plan.

So like a good and compassionate wife, I filmed him while he was opening the boys' cards and the little shirt I made. I haven't had the chance to upload the video yet, but it'll be worth the wait. I promise. I can tell you that in includes the lines, "Shut up!" "Are you kidding me?!?" and "Turn that thing off."

Good stuff.

So yeah. In eight short months we will be Bundys plus one. A family of six. Wow, thinking that still makes my head spin.

Now to figure out what to do about all my maternity clothes and baby stuff being thousands of miles away locked in storage...

from Ottawa to Bogota, via Toronto

This post links to these great parties.

more goodbyes

Mattias and Liam

Simon and Edouard

Liam and Jorick

Alexi and Simon

Mattias, Liam and Nathaniel

the whole gang (those who were there)

I've mentioned what great friends we have, right? These pictures of the boys and their friends were taken on our last Sunday at our church in Gatineau. It was a really special morning and I'd love to share the card plastered with love-filled messages that we were given, but it's currently in a box somewhere awaiting its big international move.

I'm hoping it won't be too hard to find someplace to print some of these images once we get to Bogota. I especially love the grimace pictures. Little boys being little boys. At their best. Love it.

And love all these little faces.

goodbye to our besties

As I sit here at the computer, there are three workers from the moving company busy packing our house. The contents of our home -of our life- are soon to be the contents of boxes. Some boxes we won't see for 4-8 weeks and others will be in storage for at least a year.

This is all starting to seem more real.

Although I know it will only feel completely, irrevocably, unchangeably real when we're on the plane the day after tomorrow. When our bags are packed, our goodbyes are said, our house is empty... when there's no turning back.

Well, sort of.

This first trip will see us heading to Regina for three weeks -with a weekend spent at a family reunion in Calgary- before a brief stop back in Gatineau. Had this trip west not been planned months ago, we probably would have talked ourselves out of a last minute visit, so I'm really glad the timing is allowing us this time with family. On the return trip, we'll be back to for a day and a half before our actual departure for Colombia. Peter won't be with us then (since he flies direct to Bogota the day after we leave for Regina), but I know that day and a half will be as crammed full of friends and visiting and fun and (more) goodbyes (again) as time will allow.

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

Speaking of goodbyes, we had a wonderful evening with friends on Friday night. Most of our closest friends were there. We ate good food, drank yummy sangria, celebrated two birthdays, and chatted late into the night... all while 22 kids played hockey, wrestled, roasted marshmallows and generally ran wild.

These are some of the people we love and who will be greatly missed.

I'm near the upper right, grinning madly... and hiding Andrew who's in 

Peter's arms behind me. Liam and Simon are hugging just left of centre. 

I love this picture. It's not perfect (deep breaths, Amy), but it's full of so many people that we love. This is our family. There are others who aren't pictured but who will be equally missed. All together, these people are making our leaving very hard.

I look at this picture and smile. 

While a very large part of me is super excited about the adventures this next year will bring, and equally large part of me is already looking forward to coming home.

We'll miss you guys.

(Do. Not. Cry. Now. The movers already think you're weird since they saw the green smoothie you made this morning and for insisting that Peter take down the piece of 1x4 we've been using to measure the boys' growth*.)

*This is totally NOT weird, thankyouverymuch. What mother wouldn't want to take that with them? Especially since we screwed that piece-of-easily-removably-wood to the wall precisely so that WE COULD TAKE IT WITH US WHEN WE MOVE? Totally not weird. The green smoothies? Well, maybe.

Over the weekend, I took Simon and Andrew* to the mall in search of carry-on bags. There's a huge sidewalk sale going on this weekend, so I was hoping there were some deals to be found. I found four rolling carry-ons, regular price $440, for $145, but then there was also a "Buy 1, get the 2nd 1/2 off". So I ended up getting all four for $112. Not too shabby seeing as the regular price was over $400! They all have a 10 year warranty, too. 

We made our way out of the mall, me with two of the bags' handles over the handles of the stroller, and Simon pulling the other two behind him. Then this:

Simon: NOOOOW can we go to I-gina (Regina)?

me: No honey, not for about a month. We'll leave for Regina right after we pack up the whole house.

Simon: Are you kidding me??

me: (laughing) No, I'm not kidding.

Simon: (looking back at the bags we'd just bought) We're going to need a really, reeeeeeally big suitcase to pack up the whole house!

He takes everything we say so literally. Sarcasm is completely lost on him. Wrong family to be born into, kid.

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

One of the first things Peter did once he accepted this post is Bogota, was to find the name and email of another employee already posted there, who also has a family with young kids. In one of the first few emails he sent, he asked if it would be alright for his wife (that'd be me) to send a list of questions to his (the other employee's) wife.

That's how my correspondence with Patrycja started.

Not long after that, I posted on Twitter that we'd be moving to Colombia (there were several exclamation marks involved), and not long after received a message from Susie (who I "met" on thebabywearer and who runs The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe here in Ottawa) asking if I'd like her to put me in touch with another ex-pat living in Colombia. A lovely lady with two young girls, whose husband is also posted in Bogota.

A few nights later, I received both a message from Susie and an email from Patrycja saying, "Hey you already "know" Patrycja!" and "I'm so excited you're "friends" with Susie!". So both Peter's contact at work and Susie's ex-pat friend are the same person... Patrycja. For some reason, this left a HUGE smile on my face. I walked around the house with a silly grin on my face every time I thought of it.

Not only will our husbands be working together at the embassy, but their girls are just a month or so either side of Simon and Andrew (we're still working on finding some friends Liam's age). We seem to share many of the same views re type/quality of food (and although they're vegetarians, we've decided we can still be friends). She breastfeeds, cloth diapers, babywear... AND BLOGS.

Clearly, we are meant to be friends, Patrycja and I.

(Which just means that expectations are high and I'm bound to be at my most awkward when we do actually meet. Fair warning, Patrycja... I'm a hugger.)


* * * * * * * * * * * * 


So much still to do (SO. MUCH. TO. DO.) so I might start posting some of my to-do lists here for accountability. 


Today's list:

• drop off our broken Tassimo at FedEx (although huge props to Tassimo customer service for the brand new machine! woo hoo!)
• stop somewhere and buy more expresso discs for said Tassimo... I'm going to need them!
• call Mastercard and order new cards since ours will expire not long after we leave
• finalize next year's homeschool curriculum and order all the books I'll need for Liam and Simon
• hopefully find time to edit some more pictures from the two sessions I did the weekend before last (I'd need to have these done this week)
• clean up the DISASTER of a playroom and start the inventory of the toys
• have supper ready before picking Peter up so it's not such a mad dash to get Liam to soccer (like it is every other Tues and Thurs when we get home with Peter at 5:30pm and have to leave for soccer not long after 6pm.)
• tackle the mountain of laundry that is accumulating in every corner of the house

*Peter and Liam were camping this weekend with a group of kids from our church. They had a BLAST and came home full of dirt, mosquito bites and stories.