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.

that was quite the bloggy break!

While not an intentional break, it seems I just couldn't get on the computer to blog this last month. My last post was about Peter's first day in Bogota (the day of the car bomb) and he's been here over four weeks! And although I know this post will have limited appeal, I did want to write down some of what we did (although I know that dozens of funny/touching/charming/memorable and blog-worthy moments have already been forgotten.

So to summarize:

I spent the first week in Regina babysitting my nephews to cut down on my sister's childcare costs. A week with five boys (ages 8, 7, 5, 3 1/2 and 1 1/2) was a little exhausting, but the boys (mostly) had a ton of fun. During the week, however, a new form of play emerged -at least new for my boys- in which life starts to mimic video games and it's all "this is my home base" and "you do this or this to get an extra two lives" and "if you do this you lose a half life" and "pause" and "game on" and "you're dead". Liam (7) and Xavier (8) seemed to change the rules to suit whatever their whim of the moment, Rowan (5) only wanted to play with the big boys and be on either of their team, and poor Simon (3 1/2) usually ended up confused, crying, or just completely left out. He was at a bit of a rough age this visit.

Thankfully, we also spent some time with my friend, Saffron, and her two sons who are four and two. Much better ages for Simon. He and Jake hit it off immediately -even though all the home bases and points and "lifes" and pauses and you're-deads had him turning to his mom and saying, "Mom, I don't know what he's talking about...". I had the chance to photograph Saffron and her family along with the family of some other friends, Geoff and Tree, as well as reconnecting with an old friend from high school (likely even before then) when I did a session with her family also.

Liam, Simon, Xavier and Rowan camped out in a tent in grandma's backyard. They played with glowsticks and sparklers and fought for elbow room in a 4-but-should-be-2-man tent. 

We visited the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (Natural History), the Saskatchewan Science Centre, and listened to the Regina Symphony Orchestra perform at the park.

My sister, Heather, and I took the five boys swimming at a local rec centre, where all the boys had a blast and Andrew even swam on his own (with water wings) for the first time. Terrified and clinging to me at the beginning, once he learned to trust his floaties, HE LOVED IT. I didn't take my camera, but I hope I'll always remember his tiny self swimming around the pool.

That same trip to the pool, unfortunately, also lead to my getting a wicked bad ear/throat infection that, after three days of suffering through it and trying to give my body the chance to heal itself, turned out to be a pretty bad case of strep throat. It was full on ear ache, fever, chills, shakes, headache, swollen glands, inability to swallow or even talk (!). It was awful. And while I usually like to give my immune system the opportunity to take care of things on its own, it clearly needed back up. I was losing the war. Reinforcements were called, in the form of antibiotics. They worked like a charm. Normal activities were resumed.

We drove to Calgary for a family reunion of my mom's side of the family. It was very unpleasantly cold for most of the weekend (like, they were forecasting snow in the mountains!), but it was such a neat time with most of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and dozens of kids. I also had the chance to photograph the families of two of my cousins. SO. FUN. 

After the reunion, we drove 45 mins to meet up with Peter's sister and her husband and their sweet little girl (who we'd never met before!), as well as Peter's dad who was in the country for a medical procedure. Since we usually only see Peter's family once a year if we're lucky, this was an amazing gift. We also saw two of his uncles and aunts and his grandparents -the boys' great-grandparents- who are two of the most special people I know. I'm so thankful for the time we got to spend together. Unfortunately my plans to get Matt and Sara and wee Bella in front of the camera were spoiled by all day, soaking rain. This was really disappointing since I have no idea when I'll see them next.

The whole weekend, we stayed with my good friend (and blogger drop-out), Heidi, and her four awesome kiddos. I've truly missed her the last two years we lived in Gatineau and loved the chance to visit, catch up, and spend time with her family. She's an amazing mom, a beautiful woman and a loving friend. And even though her hubby was off in Uganda (I know!), I had fun getting some shots of Heidi, Sadie, Telly, Mabel (I seriously love these names!) and man-of-the-house, Sloan, as well as Heidi's new nephew Bodhan.

To top it all off, Monday morning we had a play date with three friends who I was in a bible study group with when we lived in Calgary. They lived through Nathaniel's pregnancy with me, as well as his birth, and the questioning, anger, and grief I went through after his death. These gals loved me and blessed me more than I can say. I didn't get to see everyone who helped me through those years, but loved seeing the ones who were able to come... and taking their pictures of course.

The drive back to Regina was BRUTAL. A huge storm and awful driving conditions, heart-stopping hydroplaning, crying babies, and a trip that took almost two hours longer than it should have... but we made it home safely. No pictures of the drive or my white-knuckles gripping the steering wheel for the last three hours of the drive.

Back in Regina, we squeezed in as much bonus play time with Xavier and Rowan as possible... even though they'd already started school. We had a nice "last supper" with Adam, Karen, Jack and Julie after a quick and efficient photo shoot in Heather and Joel's backyard. After supper, I got in a big fight with H&J and finally succeeded in guilting them into letting me take some family pictures of them. It was quick and painless and the results are awesome... yet you'd think I was forcing some the most awful and disagreeable experience of all on them. But in the end I got my way. Yeah me.

Oh, and my sister found out that SHE'S PREGNANT. The very day after proclaiming that they were 100%, unequivocally DONE with babies! HAHAHAHA! Hopefully the shock is wearing off and they're beginning to be rightfully excited about this new little blessing. AND IT HAD BETTER BE A GIRL. My sister and I have had seven -SEVEN!- boys between the two of us... and my mom has a basement full of Barbies and My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake and Cabbage Patch dolls. It's a veritable time capsule to the 80's. However with her being in the process of selling her house and downsizing, I'm not sure we'll be able to convince her to hang on to it all if this is another boy.

If you made it to the end of this picture-less post, well done. You must really love me. I promise to upload some pictures now that our internet it hooked up (woohoo!)... as soon as I find my camera cord in whatever bag I stashed it in. Unfortunately, the majority of the pictures will have to wait until our shipment arrives and clears customs, which we were informed this morning will likely not be for more than two weeks. Ugh.

Thanks for sticking around, everyone!

the good, the bad, the ugly, the spending, the not-so-celebratory

It's been two weeks since my last post. TWO WEEKS. I know you're all super sorry I didn't take time to document every detail of our move preparations in all their fascinating minute. Truth is, it's been pretty monotonous and painstakingly boring at times. Having to write down everything you own, how many you have, when it was purchased and how much it would cost to replace is really a wonderful catalyst for WANTING TO GET RID OF A WHOLE LOT OF STUFF.

While shipping our household goods down to Bogota is paid for, we decided early on to take as little as possible. We're taking everything we need (no need to have to buy things down there that we already own), we're only taking about half of the boys toys, 2/3 of their clothes, maybe a tenth of all our books, and -prepare yourself- hardly any of our Christmas decorations.

We have A TON of decorations. Dozens of strings of lights (white and multicoloured), boxes and boxes and boxes of balls (from shatter-proof to hand-blown glass, from vintage to ones I made as a preschooler to brand-new last year), twenty-some nativity sets (some handmade, some store bought, some given to me as gifts, others purchased from Ecuador, Argentina, Egypt, etc), and various other stockings, linens, napkins, placemats, etc, etc, ETC. 

Oh, and books. We have a couple dozen Christmas themed books that we only pull out during the holidays.

We narrowed it down to the lights, garland, the tree (!), and two toddler-friendly nativity sets (the Fisher Price Little People one and a beautiful, simple wooden one given to us as a wedding gift from friends in Regina *thanks, Lorraine*). 

THAT'S IT.

From an enormous Rubbermaid (fondly referred to as "the Christmas coffin") and several smaller totes... to one book box. 

It's a little sad, but also a little exciting. 

This year will be my chance to really flex my crafting muscles and hopefully get the boys involved and really appreciating our Christmas "away from home". So if you know of any great Christmas/craft/tutorial related blogs, leave me the links in the comments section. Pretty please.

(Although we also run the risk of having a bare tree with nothing but lights and whatever toys the boys decide to hide in its branches.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

We have been hemorrhaging money these last two weeks in a sometimes-fun-but-almost-always-sickening way. After being so careful and frugal and making sacrifices whenever possible in order to pay down our debt, spending this kind of money is more than a bit unsettling. 

It's not that we've been foolish with our money. We've needed to stock up on things that we either know we won't be able to get down there or know they're hard to find or more expensive than here (ie, all the different flours and other food stuff I'll need to feed Simon and Andrew safely down there for a year, given their allergies). Also Peter needed a new suit and a sports coat, the boys needed rain gear, Liam needed a few shirts and shoes (STOP GROWING, CHILD), I had to order our homeschool supplies/books/curriculum and I needed a few pieces of clothing befitting my new wife-of-a-diplomat status...

*snort*

In my case, that means I've traded in my ratty sweats and pj bottoms for some more respectable black yoga pants.

We also stocked up on a few toys for the boys for birthdays and Christmas since we don't know what will be available down there. Several Lego sets, a few new games for the Wii, new markers and other craft supplies, and about 7 or 8 new dress up costumes (I'm super excited to surprise them with these when our shipment arrives in Bogota), along with some marbles, Nerf guns, mini hockey sticks and nets, and a couple super cool remote control helicopters for Liam and Simon.

I think we just might have subconsciously tried to buy our way out of some move-related parental guilt... the whole taking-our-kids-away-from-their-home-their-(amazing)-friends-and-church-and-throwing-them-into-(yet another)-new-culture-and-new-language-AND-MAKING-THME-LIVE-IN-AN-APARTMENT kind of guilt.

That type of guilt can be assuaged with Lego, right?

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

It was my birthday last Saturday! My 31st birthday on the 31st of the month. Friends on Twitter informed me that it was my "golden" or "champagne" birthday. The one where the year matches the date. I guess you're supposed to drink champagne, but we opted for sangria.

(Peter makes the best sangria.)

The day itself was pretty low key as far as celebrations go -see, we have this little move we're preparing for- but I was made to feel special nonetheless. In addition to the sangria, Peter also made a delicious supper with steak, shrimp, scallops, fresh veggies with hummus and tzatziki, and cheesecake with fresh berries for dessert.

My favourite part of the day was hearing Liam and Simon pray for me at supper and again at bedtime.

By far my least favourite part was -one duvet, one pillow, two sheets, two sleeping bags, and four changes of pyjamas later- confirming that Simon does in fact have an allergy to either shrimp or scallops. Or both.

My 28th birthday saw me spending the night in the ER with Simon because of a diner-time tumble down the stairs that resulted in a broken collar bone (he was only 9 months old), and I got to play nurse to that very same Simon the night of my 31st birthday.

So maybe not the best way to ring in the next year of my life, but I am genuinely excited about this next year and all that it promises to bring.

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

I don't know how many of you have ever suffered through experienced a move like this -a last minute international move with only four weeks to organize/pack/inventory the contents of your house, prepare and sell said house, complete passport and visa applications, purchase all the necessary food/toy/school/clothing for a family of five for a year, and fit in some precious visiting time with good friends whenever a golden moment presents itself- but I will not admit to you select few (hundred) who read my blog the following things:

• I will not admit how many times I've fed my family MacDonald's, TacoTime, frozen pizza, or those hot dogs at the exit of Costco over the last few weeks.
• I will not admit how many days in a row Liam wore the same shorts EVEN AFTER WEARING THEM ALL WEEKEND AT CAMPING (but there's the slightest chance that it possibly, just maybe  was in the double digits)
• I will not admit that while Liam's grass-stained, smoke-smelling, ketchup splattered, every-present shorts were more than a little cringe worthy AT LEAST HE WAS WEARING PANTS. Never in my life have Simon and Andrew gone so ill-clothed for so long. While we did manage to stay on top of Andrew's diaper changes, I can make no promises for how long he might've been in the same shirt. And Simon? Let's just say that he's lucky he had some almost near-misses over the last week so that at least his underwear got changed.* 
• I will not admit how poorly/little I've been sleeping these last few weeks. When I do sleep, it's not soundly because Simon and Andrew have both been waking often. And whenever I get out of bed to see to them, it takes me forever to fall asleep afterwards because my mind starts racing with all the things we have to do before we leave and questions about what it will be like when we get there.
• I will not admit how poorly/little I've been eating these last few weeks. Never mind the poor quality of many of our meals (see above), I often find myself forgetting to eat altogether. I've heard wondrous things about these stress/anxiety diets before, but clearly I'm the exception. Not only are the pounds not melting away in all of my fears and worries, but I actually feel bloated and gasses and tired and sluggish. I need energy, but feel even more lacking than normal. Hmmm, think this might be related to all the gross processed foods we've been eating? We've eaten more garbage this month than the rest of the year combined and I think my body is rebelling. Even with how hectic our lives are right now, I'm thinking some daily green smoothies are in order (now to find time to get to the store for supplies...).

*SERIOUSLY WHO HAS TIME FOR LAUNDRY AT A TIME LIKE THIS? How am I supposed to get all the clothes organized/inventoried/packed WHEN THEY KEEP GETTING THEM DIRTY? For this last week, my plan is to keep out two outfits and just rotate them. It's too hard to keep track of what they have and where it all is when they have free reign of their closets.

Sorry if I left you all with a lot of questions after that last post!

To answer a few questions:

• No, our time in Bogota will not be indefinite. The post is only for a year. It's a crazy lot of work and hassle to do this all for only a year, but we decided it will be worth it!

• We do plan to return to Gatineau in Sept '11. The only thing that would change this is if Peter gets offered a cross-post. Meaning we'd go from Bogota to another overseas posting. This isn't super common though. In the off chance that it does happen, we'd still come back here between posts, I imagine.

• Peter is with DFAIT (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade). This particular post is as a political officer in charge of reporting on issues concerning educational links (or some such thing) between Canada and Colombia, and Human Rights issues. After being a desk officer for a year here in Ottawa, this will be much more fulfilling and exciting.

• The Mission in Bogota is responsible for finding us housing. The Crown leases them and we pay essentially the same thing we've been paying for rent/utilities here. While being in the Foreign Service is by no means lucrative (*snort* it is a Public Service job after all), they make sure that you'd never lose money by being posted overseas. Because Colombia is a Level IV (out of five levels) for "hardship", there are actually some surprisingly nice incentives for being posted abroad there. Especially with a family of five.

• We will be homeschooling. Yeah! Originally, Peter was adamant that we take advantage of the Government-paid private education that is offered to all overseas employees. In Bogota, there are actually some really highly rated bilingual schools. Unfortunately (I'mnotreallysadaboutthis), the school year starts before we'd arrive and it's far too late to enrol in any of the approved private schools. Nuts. So I've already started a list of all the materials I'll need for Liam and will likely look for some fun, simple workbooks for Simon as well. We will be eligible for a gov-paid French tutor (to keep up with both of Canada's official languages) and may try to find a Spanish tutor as well. Clearly -CLEARLY!- this whole homeschooling thing was meant to be.  *grin*

• We're still undecided about what to do with the house. This is definitely our biggest stressor right now. Neither renting it out nor selling it are great options. Not with such a short time frame. Not will all the unfinished projects scattered throughout. Projects we assumed we'd have the summer to finish. I just know it wouldn't show well right now. There are pieces of drywall and stucco missing (where we took out a window and installed a door), painting that needs to be done, some x-small gaps in the flooring since the earthquake last month. Things that we live with, but wouldn't inspire anyone to fall in love with the house on initial viewing. *sigh* This is the biggest decision we have to make.

• And we still don't know when we're leaving! I know when I'm leaving for Regina with the boys, but not when Peter needs to be down there. Without a start date, we can't schedule packing/moving/loading dates. We can't make travel arrangements. We can't do a lot of the STUFF we have to do. I'm really hoping the decide this soon. I know what would be easiest for us, but ultimately it's not our decision.

So lots of decisions to make. So much is still unknown or still up in the air. We did have a good meeting with our trip/move/FSD (Foreign Service Directives) Client Advisor and she was able to answer a lot of the questions we had, so that was helpful. We also have some workshop/briefings scheduled for this week that will give us even more information.

But still...

SO. MUCH. TO. DO.

And less than a month (likely) to do it in.

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

Since my last few posts have been picture-less (even after promising picture-heavy posts... I'm such a liar!), I'll share a couple of pictures from when Peter's parents -Papa and Nana, to the boys- were here in May. We had lots of fun with them, riding bikes, going to the Aviation Museum and the Museum of Agriculture, and jumping in puddles. And worked them like dogs. But even with the amazing (and yet-to-be-blogged) deck (THAT NOW WE'LL HARDLY HAVE HAD THE CHANCE TO USE! *sniff* ) and the house full of clean, freshly folded laundry THAT WAS ACTUALLY PUT AWAY, these pictures are my favourite thing about their time here,

(except that I look a little pregnant here...)

This one is also a huge -HUGE!- favourite. I love how Liam and Simon are laughing and I love Andrew's little tongue sticking out. Man, my kids are cute!


Their flights out of Ottawa were very early morning flights, so they were up and gone by 5am. When Simon woke up and found them gone, he asked us where they were. After hearing that Peter had taken them to the airport, he yelled at us, "WHY DID YOU LET THEM LEAVE?!!" Poor little guy.

We miss you Papa and Nana!