Come on little package

For my birthday I ordered some yummy fabric.  I was SHOCKED out of my mind when the diapers I ordered arrived first.  It was clearly the larger package and most of the time the smaller ones are faster.  So since I'm not home we had to run and set up a quick power of attorney so that someone else could pick it up for me at the post office. 

So one day I'll get my hands on this fun Michael Miller fabric, for now I'll just be dreaming of what they'll become.  I'll really be sad if it never makes it, so come on little package, you can arrive any day now.

Round 2….oamc

I managed to make some freezer meals the beginning of this month. I didn't get to my entire list of because I had trouble finding some ingredients, so I had to scratch three meals L. I guess that comes with living in Central Asia, sometimes we can find things other times they're nowhere to be found.

I am glad I did another OAMC spree because I was able to leave Marvin and Calvin with a few things to eat, when I suddenly had to leave. It makes me feel better knowing that I am making it a bit easier on them, and that they have something healthy to eat.

This month I broke my cooking into 3 days, and it was much smoother and easier to manage. I'll be doing it this way in the future. Day one was shopping day and prep day. Day two was raw meat day, I put together all meals that needed to be cooked in the Crockpot later, or cooked on the stovetop later. I also cooked all the chicken and meat I needed on that day too. The last day I finished up all other meals and bagged my shredded cheese. Doing my OAMC this way gave me some flexibility and I didn't feel rushed to finish in one day, I could also do a few meals at a time throughout the day. Like when Calvin was finishing up eating lunch and during his nap. I think I've found a good system. Here is my list of meals for my fellow OAMC pals out there.

1.  Taco Meat
2.  Italian Sausage for Pizza toppings
3.  Italian Sausage Spaghetti Sauce
4.  Manicotti
5.  Fajitas
6.  Beef Carnitas
7.  Hawaiian Chicken
8.  Hawaiian Joes
9.  Honey Lime Chicken
10. Crockpot Jerk Chicken
11. Asian Lettuce Wraps
12. Coconut Chicken Fingers

Staying Put

I had a good long chat with our doctor at this week's appointment and can I just say how much I appreciate her. She is just so sweet, I knew she had a ton of patients waiting, and also had a patient who was in labor, but she didn't hesitate to spend time talking about her thoughts on returning home and answering a million questions I had. Everything looks normal and my body is showing no signs of premature labor right now, but since I have excess fluid I'm at risk of my water breaking at any time, with no warning. Even though the contractions I am having right now are painless they can still push things along. So with that being said and the lack of frequent flights out of our city and the neonatal care available there, she recommended I not travel home, and our second doctor agreed.


Thankfully Marvin and Calvin are going to join me very soon!!! I cannot wait to have our family back together again. It makes skype much more bearable knowing I'll get to see them soon. I am very thankful for that because every day I've talked to them our call usually ended with me in tears.

I've had a ton of time to reflect on what a gift my family is. It's been very strange being in a place where I'm not asked to read a million books every day, or if I want to play soccer ball, candy land, and go fish every 5 minutes. I haven't had to sweep the floor 4 times a day, my laundry pile is very small and I haven't had something to look forward to everyday, Marvin coming home from the office. I am so thankful that Father has given me the opportunity to be a wife and mom. I wouldn't have it any other way. Strangely enough I miss the normal boring parts that come with those roles.

I've also been confronted with the reality that I do not like to share. This pregnancy has been tough. Marvin's done a great job at reminding me that I have a responsibility right now to make sure this little boy stays put and that nothing is worth jeopardizing that. I whole heartedly agree, but it's hard to accept sometimes. I'm not officially on bed rest, PTL, but I am on a very restricted activity level, which I'll take any day over bed rest. It's frustrating not being able to walk places and every day I find myself just desiring that freedom. But right now my body is not just my own and even if it means it's going to be a nightmare getting back into shape after he arrives it's worth it.

When we found out I would have to travel out I could not stop crying, I honestly did not want to go. It's hard for me to accept that my body has problems handling pregnancy. At the start of this pregnancy we were both very hopeful that things would be different, and thankfully I have not gone into premature labor this time. It was hard for me to accept the fact that I am not in control of this pregnancy, and that everything is not normal. As I sat and thought about my friend who lost her baby a day after she was born in Nineveh due to inadequate neonatal care, it breaks my heart and is terrifying to even imagine having to go down that road. So after many tears and many conversations with Father the news our doctor shared with me this week was not unexpected, not even unwelcomed. She asked me before she shared her opinion, if I would be mad at her if I stayed in Turkey and never went into labor until 36/37 weeks? I looked at her and honestly said no, I am so thankful for the wrestling I did with Father over this issue and so thankful for the sense of peace he has given me about being away from home longer than we planned.

A little peek

Isn't technology amazing?  This week our little guy was actually cooperating and didn't have his hand in front of his sweet little face.  I was already in love with him, but now I really can't wait to meet him and kiss those sweet cheeks.

We're still waiting on the verdict from Doctor #2 about whether I stay or go home for a few weeks. I'll keep you posted. Until now here are some pictures of our little man. Sorry for the poor quality I had to use our web cam since Marvin has our camera.

My Adventurers

Calvin's been having a lot of fun with his Daddy while I've been gone.  Marvin's kept him busy everyday and I think they both have been sleeping well at night.  Friday, Calvin had his first experience on a zip line.  I am sure it will be the first of many more to come.  I've been told he was a little apprehensive at first, but after he warmed up he was open to trying it.

I sure do miss these guys.

I can't wait to be together again!

Finishing Fast

Last week I was working hard to finish up a few baby clothes.  I only brought a few neutral clothes with us and clothes are just so expensive where we are at,and not even very cute.  So I decided to tackle a few projects so our little guy would have something to wear.  I also tackled my hatred fear of sewing with knits.  I'll be honest it wasn't that bad this time around.  I've had some pretty bad experiences working with knits but after doing these projects I have more confidence.  I guess practice always helps.  I made 5 pairs of little pants, which are ridiculously easy, it's not even funny how fast you can whip up a pair of baby pants.

I've been dying to make these 90 minute shirts since I saw them.  Our little guy will be born, we hope, when it's cooler (that's how I remember things with Calvin)  so I wanted to make a few long sleeved shirts.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how they turned out.  I also added a few appliques to some onesies but didn't get pictures of those.  Those will have to wait until they are modeled by this little bug.

Project stroller revamp was successful.  I had finished the seat part a while back but needed to make bias tap and sew over he existing trim.  I kept putting it off because of the work it would take initially.  So when we got home late Saturday night and found out I would be leaving VERY soon, it was crunch time.  Thankfully I was able to finish this project during Calvin's Sunday nap, and I love the transformation.  It wasn't too difficult either.  Oh and if you ever want to make bias tape, here's a great tutorial that will save you so much time.

I had so much fun sewing recently.  It's been fun looking at the finished project and having my heart melt thinking about the little tiny baby that will soon be here.

Music that Makes you Move

I had a little request for more of Calvin.  So here he is showing you the best moves.

Top of our fridge

So I have a thing for reading blogs, I love them and can easily spend way too much time reading in the them.  A little over 2 months ago I discovered an amazing one.  I know, I know you don't need another blog to read but seriously this woman has a gift with words.  Her writing is so eloquent, beautiful, deep, and just stirs my soul.  (Not to mention her photography skills are unbelievable).

Today I had some time while we were waiting for a meeting so I stopped over to see what Ann had to say today.  It rocked my world, seriously the second after I read her post The One Parenting Skill that Changes Everything I had to read it to Marvin.  (Trust me you want to click on that link, for those of you who don't know how to do that, just place your cursor over this and click.)

We decided to add some Real Bread to our table too, we started last night, because why wait to start something so beautiful.  I can't wait for this to become something Calvin expects.  It's funny how this post came about the same time I've been feeling an urge to start again reading Proverbs at breakfast with Calvin.  It's something I did while we were in the states and after we moved I just never got that ball rolling again.  But now is the time to start again.

I'm so excited this Book has made it's way to our fridge. I can't wait to see what Father has in store for our family.

Smells of Childhood

Do you have smells that you remind of your childhood.  For me I can always remember the fresh cut grass smell most Saturday mornings, and the smell of bacon.  Dad was always good at cooking breakfast Saturday mornings.  I also can clearly recall the smell of our vaccumm, mom was and still is a great about housework.  I also remember the smell and sounds of my grandma making tortillas.  Those are a few that stand out to me.

Sunday and Monday I was busy canning those 20 kilograms of tomatoes we bought.  When I emerged from the hot kitchen on Sunday Marvin said, it smelled like his childhood.  How fun is that!  Who knew canning tomatoes would bring back such strong memories!

I've offically canned 17 jars of tomatoes, and salsa.  The salsa was entirely too much work.  We don't have small jars here and after 3 hours of work, I only had 4 jars of salsa, such a bummer.  What I will do more of is diced and whole/crushed tomatoes.  Those babies were easy, now if only it would cool off so it wouldn't be such a hot process.

Delayed

Marvin had a good camping/hiking trip last week, one of the local guys who went used to play ball with Marvin when we lived here before, so it was fun for Marvin reconnect with him.  Overall it was a good trip.  This particular mountain was pretty rough once they got past the trail, loose rock and you had to climb over several peeks to summit.  Marvin decided he'd rather not break a leg or die so he let a few go on, only one local made it to the top, thankfully without any injuries.  Marvin said he was like a goat and literally ran up the mountain.

Thankfully Calvin was super sweet and obedient while Marvin was gone, which always makes it easier.  This weekend he decided he's delaying the big mountain till next year.  He wasn't comfortable being gone for 5 days right now.  Anyone want to come and join him next year?

He's been very cautious of what I do and just doesn't feel right being gone that many days during week 30 of my pregnancy.  These are his exact words I heard after I tried to talk him into going, "I'd be the worst husband in the world if my wife went into labor while I was trying to climb a mountain."

Week 30 was the week I went into labor with Calvin and I have a lot of the same similarities this time around too.  My ultrasound this week was encouraging, but I still have to be cautious because of the excess amniotic fluid.  With Calvin I saw the doctor on Wednesday and everything was fine, then went into labor on Sunday.  Thankfully the contractions I am having, even though they are 5 minutes apart have not progressed things, PTL.  Still it makes us nervous with the likelihood of preterm labor.  It's a daily struggle of placing my fears in his hands, but we are thankful to stay home as long as we can before traveling out to deliver.  Thank you for those of you who have prayed for us and for the safety of this tiny little guy.  Keep it up!

On a happier note here are a few pictures of Marvin's last trip.

Hiking up to their campsite

The goal

The Campsite

The lifts close early so they were able to use the deck of the restaurant to set up camp.

The Accent

That's all loose rock friends, these guys are crazy

The decent

He'll make it up this guy next year.

Visitors are always welcome!

With new skills come new challenges

Calvin's becoming more and more a preschooler and less and less a toddler. Part of me is excited to see him learn new skills and knowledge but also a little sad that his toddler days are numbered. Recently he's been working on a few social skills, which will be very helpful when little brother arrives.
The first one is pouring, he's become obsessed with pouring his own drink, and thankfully we have just the right size pitchers for him to pour from. He's also attempting to pour his own cereal for breakfast and his milk (our milk comes in liter boxes which are 100% easier to pour than gallon jugs in the states). He's also gotten very good at knowing where the towels are to clean up the liquid that doesn't make it in his cup. Two great skills, however since he knows how to do these things he thinks he can do them all the time without help and without asking. So we're learning how to ask first.

The second thing he has loved lately is changing his clothes. His mood changes throughout the day and so does his desire to be certain team. When he wants to be different team he NEEDS a new shirt and since he has a new shirt he has to have a new pair of pants, and with new pants come new underwear. It's so funny watching him try to undress himself as fast as possible just to get to that new shirt. So he's keeping our washing machine busy. He's slowly getting the dress yourself thing, although he's gotten stuck in shirts more times than I can count and today he wore a pair of undies backwards for the better half of the day. 

And I'm learning that matching isn't that important.

Good idea?

We headed out to a bulk market in our city this weekend.

We set out to find some jars for canning.

We came home with 54.

54 jars I hope to turn into canned whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and salsa. 

But to give myself a little motivation I also bought these:

20 kilos of tomatoes. 

The tomato lady told me to expect to use a 1 kilo a jar,

so I bought a lot...........

because I have all those jars.

I better get to work.

Sometimes my great ideas are pretty exhausting.

1 out of 2

Guess what arrived last week?
Breaking all records as the fastest package we've ever received (less than two weeks)............

Our Fuzzy Bunz!  I already love them and after going back and forth about which ones to order I'm very glad we went with the fuzzy bunz.  I think they will work great for our family, although I'm pretty sure the excitement will wear off eventually.  But right now I can't wait to put a little tiny baby in those things.

Now if only my birthday gift would arrive because I can't wait to get my hands on the yummy fabric I ordered.

Calvin's been our little artist lately.  He's cleared out our pile of reuse paper (our equivelent to recycling in this part of the world.) The number of pictures he draws daily is crazy.  Here are a few he drew the other day that I thought were pretty good. 

This first one is scoop from Bob the Builder.

This one is of a blowfish.

And because I cannot figure out how to get this guy turned around here's an upside down pirate guy.  I think he's pretty cute.  (He's very into making sure his people have eyebrows lately.)

I just love watching the progression of fine motor skills, I guess it's my inner early childhood geekness shining through.

Knock knock

Me: Knock Knock………….now you say, Who's there?
Calvin: Who's there?
Me: Boo
Calvin: No you're mommy

I guess we're not ready for knock knock jokes yet.

Exploration

Marvin's been enjoying the great outdoors recently. He had several good few hikes lately in the mountains near our city.

He's loving having a few guys around who love this kind of stuff and a vehicle that can get him to places we've not yet explored. It's been fun watching him get excited over hiking routes, new valleys, and watching him play on google earth and try to calculate how far each trip has taken him.

He's been training for a big climb (5642 meters of 18510 feet) here in a few weeks (granted everything remains stable with my pregnancy.)

The first of his hikes took him to a valley he's wanted to explore for a while. It was definitely an exploration hike as they had to find the best path. Unfortunately they learned a lot about the terrain and had to hike through a marsh, across the freezing river several times, and then had to whack their way through ferns that were about head high to get back to the van.

He went back to this same spot this weekend with some local friends. One of the guys he went with carried a plastic bag the whole way up because he didn't have a pack. (Now that's talent.) They found a better path and had a good time.

Lunch time

Right now he's on an overnight trip and hopes to summit tomorrow.  We can't wait to have him back home, but thankful for these opportunties for him to enjoy our surroundings.

{and worms}

Last week we had a few rainy days and there were snails everywhere. This week it's been hot and dry and Calvin's wondered where his precious snails have gone anytime we walk anywhere. We made a quick run to the kiosks near our apartment building after lunch one day to pick up some essentials and the whole way he was searching for snails. It was like he found a treasure when at last he spotted one about half way home.
In order to get home faster I told him we'd take it home and put it in a container with some water and rocks and that when he woke up from nap we'd see if the snail came out of his shell. Sure enough after his nap this is what we discovered.

He was pretty thrilled about that little snail. And I'm thrilled that the snail survived a curious Calvin and found a new home outside that evening.

I happened to be skyping with my mom this same day and she told him that little boys were made of snips, and snails and puppy dog tails. Which he quickly added…. "and worms".  He obviously knows since he's a boy.

You win some and you lose some

I'm pretty infamous about not reading directions. Basically I think I know what I'm doing, so I don't pay attention to the steps. Then about half way through the recipe/project I reread the instructions because I've forgotten something to find out I've missed a step or two, or done something different. Most of the time things work out, well this cake was another story.

Our teacher had a birthday and I wanted to make a cake that had a local flair. Marvin and I decided a marble cake would be best, and thought I'd try this frosting since it claimed it wasn't super sweet. (Local frosting is on the less sweet side of the scale.) I didn't know how it would hold up overnight so I woke up early and started it. I finished chilling my flour milk mixture and just dumped everything together, if you want to make this don't do that. It never made it to the right fluffy consistency. So because I didn't have time to start over I slopped it on the cake, and watched as most of it slid right off the sides. Because I wanted to make it even more of a wreck I added a purple blob border at the bottom (which Calvin liked to call the choo choo train) and a little happy birthday on top. I just hoped the taste made up for it. Thankfully our teacher was more surprised that I made a cake and did not comment on my lack of decorating abilities. I'm not giving up on this recipe though because it was mighty tasty, next time I'll follow the directions. (Oh and I'm pretty sure this is not made to replace a buttercream frosting).

It’s been a while

Sunday Calvin was pretty beat. After his usual nap he came out of his room and wanted me to hold him. I was working on the computer so he climbed up in my lap and quickly fell back asleep. That little guy slept another hour in my arms. It brought back so many memories of his days as a tiny little baby. It's not often I get to snuggle him to sleep. I certainly treasure moments like these!