Thanksgiving in Costa Rica

For the second time in my 10 years here, we have celebrated Thanksgiving with my Costa Rican family and they truly enjoy it (one was 3 years ago and now this one). I have to continue to make this tradition happen because we all really enjoy it. Little by little, I'll have to share the recipes with them so they can help make a few dishes because they really want to help. I have only done the dinner with other American friends but I won't always have them to participate, but I still want to continue the tradition. My family here is super good at going around and saying what they are thankful for. They are all mini speeches and usually somewhat touching and emotional. I started and basically said that I was thankful for my family here and in the US, thankful for the baby that I have and the one that I will have shortly, thankful that we all have jobs and good health and are able to live a nice, enjoyable life. That was about it. Of course I'm thankful for so many other things but really, I am just not that much of a talker, whereas the Costa Ricans (especially my family) are. We decided to all serve our food and then one by one say what we are thankful for because it could take a good 30 mins and the food was getting cold. So it was better that everyone could be eating while listening to others give their "speech". I hope I can continue this Thanksgiving tradition for my family here and especially for my sons, so they'll be able to celebrate and learn about both their cultures that they come from.

Dani giving his "speech" and saying the blessing.

Coming Soon!

I had a doc appointment today and everything looks good! The doc told me about 3 times that I'm just 2 weeks away, meaning full term but he kept stressing two weeks! Now, I probably won't have this baby in two weeks (37 weeks) but you never, never know...... Like I've said before, I feel like the baby will be here sooner than later. I can't believe the Braxton-Hicks (false labor/contractions) contractions that I'm having that I didn't feel last time. Last time I was walking an hour a day several times a week with no problem. Of course after I got off work at 4:30pm, I had nothing but time since Dani usually got home from work around 10:30pm. I feel like if I even attempted to do that right now, I would go into labor. Seriously. I just feel delicate, like I should take it easy. I should trust my instincts.

After seeing the doc today, while waiting in line (yes, there are LINES here in the universal healthcare world to get an appointment) to get my next appointment in two weeks, I wasn't feeling so good. I felt like I was going to pass out (everything started fading out of my vision) and I was feeling cramping before, during and after that. Thank goodness a chair opened up a few feet away from the line so I asked the guy behind me if he would mind saving my place in line, that I wasn't feeling so good and was going to sit down for a minute. Freaked me out a little but realized the hospital was the best place ever for this to happen if something bad was going to happen. I just didn't want to end up laid out on the floor with ALL those people around, how embarrassing. Anyway, as the 7 people in front of me went to the receptionist one by one to get their appointment, I started feeling a little better. Then it was my turn so I got the appointment for the morning of December 6th, the same day my father and his wife are coming  into town, got in the car and went home. I laid down for 5-10 minutes, got something to eat and coffee and started feeling much better. Glad that was the end of that. Braxton-Hicks contractions I can handle, passing out in the middle of a crowded hospital floor, not so much.

So that's my event for the day.....Oh, and the fact that this is the fourth day that Matthew has not gone down for an afternoon nap. He is going down earlier around 7:45-8pm, so at least there's that. He also lets me have rest time which is when he watches youtube videos in his room while I lay on the bed next to him and rest for about 30-40 minutes. Better go fix that boy some dinner now, while I'm thinking about it.

Matthew is so sweet!

My little man has been giving me more and more kisses, hugs and love pats these days. Especially kissing on his baby brother in my belly :) The other day he was halfway in my lap on the sofa and looked up and said "Papá?" and I said in a kinda sad voice, "He´s at work again sweetie. He´s at work a lot, isn´t he?" Matthew nodded his head and then proceded to pet my leg and said "ya, ya, ya, mamá" (which is a way of consoling someone in Spanish, usually children after they´ve hit their head or hurt themselves so I´m sure he´s heard it from many in the family and teachers) and then he laid his head in my lap. Then he said, "me here, mamá, me here" and then kissed my leg and hugged my lap. It´s so neat how he perceives other people´s emotions and reacts to them during this age. What a sweetie.

Almost!

The title of this means two things. First, I ALMOST passed my taxi licensing exam and missed it by one question. It was only 25 questions, and I got 19 instead of the necessary 20 to pass. I'm hoping to schedule it again in a week to 10 days but we have to call on Monday morning to make the appt.

Also, my second son is ALMOST here! I am 35 weeks today and at 37 weeks, he'll be full term. Matthew came early at 38 1/2 weeks so I'm saying that we are talking just a matter of weeks left until I'm a mother of two. I mean, we're talking as early as 2 weeks away and as many as 5......that ain't much!!! I've got my bag halfway packed for the hospital, just have to wash all the newborn clothes so I'll have something to bring him home in and also get my coming home outfit in there as well. A few little things here and there like a toothbrush and other things that I have to get in there last minute. I don't know why, but I've thought A LOT about this baby coming early this go around. That hardly ever occured to me last time, I just figured that first timers usually went almost the whole 40 weeks (or more sometimes). But this time, I feel like he's really big and moving around so much that I'm not sure if I was getting this uncomfortable at the same time in the last pregnancy. I'm sure I was, I was just excited and didn't care how uncomfortable I got because it was my first time. I never really remember being very uncomfortable last time. I remember thinking that I wasn't desperate to get the baby out like so many women talk about in the last few weeks. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at that point now or anything, I just wonder how many more weeks I can go without starting to feel that desperation. It's much harder this go around having a toddler around and being a stay at home mom which is much harder than my office job I had last time. Last time, I just went to work and sat in front of a computer all day and it was pretty low pressure and physically very relaxing. Not like being a stay at home mom at all. It's only a few more weeks left, so I'm not really complaining, I just compare, compare, compare with these two pregnancies. I'll probably do that with the two boys too, lol! BTW, Dani and I are still throwing some names around so if any of you are set on Christian Thomas, it's still not 100% like I said in the post that I mentioned it in. I want us both to be 100% about the name so we're doing our best to make sure that's the name we want. Here are two baby bump pics to satisfy your curiousity. There are plenty of women much bigger than me at this point, so I can't complain, I'm not really that big.....it's just a lot harder to get off the sofa, bend down and pick something up, help my son go to the bathroom, give him a bath and turn over in bed. Just the little things you take for granted :)

Family Day

Friday was family day at Matthew's school so they had a talent show for each class. It was a really nice time and Matthew's grandmother "Tita" and her husband Mario were able to make it. There was another event in the family so that's all that could make it that day and Dani was working. Matthew had to dress like a mouse so I made him some ears (with Tita's headband she left here one day while babysitting, lol) and we painted a nose and some whiskers on his face. I say "we" but really it was his teacher. He was kicking and screaming practically before we left the house because he didn't want to put on the ears or have his face painted but I knew his teacher would be able to convince him and she did! I think Matthew's talent must be standing there because that's pretty much all he did.  That's surprising since he loves to dance and actually has pretty good rythym. I do have to give him credit though......about 30 seconds before they opened the curtain, I saw him squirming around like he needed to pee and he did right after the performance so I think he was halfway concentrating on NOT peeing, lol. Also, the boy is really shy, I mean really shy with lots of people around and when they opened the curtain, little did he know there would be about 100 people staring at him, poor thing! So, needless to say, he just stood there. You can't see his facial expressions or anything much here (I'm working on getting a few pics from other people to show you closer so you can see his face better) but this is the best I have. I can't wait to get my NEW camera when my dad and his wife come in December. I'm hoping it'll take better pictures AND better videos. Matthew is 4th from the left between a light gray mouse and a darker mouse with black ears who dances a lot.

Better Late Than Never!

It sure took a while since Matthew was 2 years and 4 months old when he potty trained (which he pretty much did in a day or two) to finally be pooping consistently in the potty! The peeing thing was no problem and he even pooped a few times when he first trained but then something happened and he was scared of something and has been pooping in a diaper (could be worse, in his underwear) until about a week ago (just turned 3!). Luckily, he would tell me he had to poop, I'd put on a diaper, he'd do it and I'd change him back into his underwear. We have done that once a day for 7-8 months now and I finally decided to put a little pressure on him (they say not to force these things, so I wasn't!) and also offer him candy (which I had offered before) and it worked! Somehow, the norm ended up being 3 pieces of candy (like the individual wrapped hard candies). It was Dani's idea to put some pressure on him and I'm glad I did it but we started doing the math and realized if we gave him three pieces every day, that would be 90 per month, ugh!!! TOO MUCH! We stay away from sugar as much as possible so I really didn't like this idea. Today, he actually pooped two times and I didn't mention the candy and he didn't either, yay!!! Hopefully that candy idea will only last the week that it has and we're pretty much done with it. It's how I got him to pee in the potty in the first place and it was only a few times that I actually had to give him a lollypop.

He still wears a diaper to bed partly because I don't feel like dealing with the accidents but many times he wakes up dry. I suppose we're going to have to nip this in the bud soon too. Guess it's better before the baby's born than have to deal with it after. Although, regression is VERY common with a new sibling but I'm really hoping he doesn't go back to diapers for while. I have a friend and her daughter went back to diapers for 4 months when her little brother was born, ugh! I'm sure it's going to be a rollercoaster ride when this second one comes because I KNOW there will be some jealousy but hopefully not too much acting out for attention. He's DEFINITELY a mama's boy though, so I'm expecting the worst but hoping for "not so bad"...........

I'm proud of my little man though, a big boy bed AND pooping in the potty AND staying overnight without mommy and daddy for the first time.....all in a matter of a couple of weeks. Major milestones so close together, I can't ask for much better :)

Sushi for Pregos/Taxi License

I made sushi with steamed lobster tail and cucumber the other day and it was GOOOOOOOD! No, it wasn't a "craving" I was having or anything like that, I just like sushi and we had frozen lobster tails in the freezer and so I used it. Since being pregnant, I can't eat raw fish, I steamed up the tails and put 'em in there.  We don't always have the seaweed wrap, sushi rice and wasabi around here in Nicoya to make it but I was in Liberia the other week and stopped in the supermarket to look for some chocolate chips (another thing we don't always have around here) and I stumbled upon the international foods section.

The reason I was in Liberia was because it seems that I'm going to get my taxi driver's license here in Costa Rica. Yes, that's right, I'm going to be a licensed taxi driver but it will not be to actually drive the taxis. We already own a taxi and have another guy as our driver but none of us actually have a license so we can't drive it. I know this all sounds weird but a few years ago my husband and I went in with my mother-in-law and invested our money in a licensed taxi. It seems that the taxi business makes more money than if we were to put our money in a bank somewhere and earn the interest. Plus, every week or every day, there's constantly extra cash coming in that has been a great perk of the business. Anyway, as owners we get 70% and the driver gets 30% and we share the gas expense with him. Our SUV is getting a bit old and after running 6-7 days a week, sometimes 14 hour days, it's having to be fixed A LOT (and that's OUR expense as owners). So, we've decided to buy a new one. The problem is, the taxi we have now is still in the name of the original owner who, I think is dead or something (I'm not kidding, I think he's dead). There was some weird legal issue where we ended up leaving it in this other guy's name and Marjorie, my sister-in-law has documents written up and signed protecting us against any type of legal problems. The issue now is that we want to buy a new one and the person's name it's going to be in has to have a taxi driver's license. Well, we can't put it in my husband's name because he's a doctor and in case he were to get sued, they could go after that as part of the payment. My mother-in-law doesn't even have a regular driver's license, much less a taxi specific one. So......that leaves me! Up until recently, I didn't even have a Costa Rican license since the US one is accepted here but I really did need to have it after living here 10 years so I got it. It looks like I'm studying for the exam now for the taxi license to take next Friday. Trying to get all this done before I have the baby and I'm 34 weeks along today. Whoo-hoo!!!



Toddler Bed

So far, so good with the toddler bed. Today is the first day and below is a video of him coming home from school and seeing his new bed set up for the first time. I didn't even ask him to take his shoes off, that's just something he does!  There may be some getting up in the night and wandering into our room, I wouldn't be surprised. We shall see! I sure hope he adapts to this well :) Being almost 34 weeks pregnant is not exactly the time that I want to be woken up many times during the night (except for the normal uncomfortableness and peeing), but if it happens, so be it.

Not Sure Why We Waited Three Years

We had a wonderful weekend getaway for our 7 year anniversary. It was absolutely perfect. I'm still not really sure why or how we waited over 3 years to get away just my hubby and I but somehow the time just flew by and it happened! We won't wait that long again for sure. We had room service breakfast, amazing restaurant meals, drinks at the poolside bar (non-alcoholic for me, of course!), evening show entertainment followed by dancing at the disco, lounging, relaxing and we slept till 9:15am!!!!! Whoa! Another thing I haven't done in over 3 years, ha, ha, ha. And it was funny because I thought that I had only slept until 8:15am and was kinda bummed because it wasn't as late as I was hoping for. Then, Dani starts stirring around and says something about sleeping until 9:15am and I was like, no it's 8:15 by this hotel clock here that was correct yesterday. Then, after checking Dani's cell and seeing that it ALSO was in the 9 o'clock hour,  I was like OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH, I know. Since the US had their time change that Saturday night, the clock is obviously imported and changed automatically, lol! So, I did get to sleep in late and that made me smile :)

Change of subject, but Matthew is starting his big boy toddler bed tomorrow. I had to have the sheets specially made since the mattress was custom made since we're using a toddler bed that was made for Dani when he was little. It's a really pretty bed (basic, of course, with a railing and all) and Matthew seems excited about it. We finally picked up the sheets today from the seamstress so, it looks like tomorrow is the big day! Oh, I hope so much that he just stays in the bed and goes to sleep! I will take pictures and give an update soon!

A Little Time Away

Tomorrow Dani and I are going to leave Matthew for the first time to go to an all inclusive 5 star beach resort for one night for our 7 year anniversary. His Aunt Carolina (AKA Tia Ina) will be here from San Jose and stay the night at our house to take care of him. He loves his Tia Ina and I know he'll have a great time. We will be leaving in the mid morning and getting back mid afternoon sometime on Sunday. We haven't been away just the two of us in over 3 years so we're pretty excited! It will be amazing not to wake up to "mama, mama, mama" for the first time in so long. I doubt I'll sleep that late or anything since being 33 weeks pregnant (and a little uncomfy) and so used to getting up at an early hour for so many years but it will be great just to lay in bed in the morning, have some coffee and watch some tv if we want. We might just have to do room service in the morning for breakfast. I am pretty sure we WON'T be waiting 3 years to do this again. I'm thinking it should be an EVERY wedding anniversary tradition. Our anniversary is on November 6th, so that's the perfect time in Costa Rica since the rains have pretty much ended, clear blue sky is all around and the low season prices are still in effect (barely). Matthew's little brother will be about 11 months old, this time next year and I think that would be the perfect time to leave him for the first time.

 

The resort we're going to is The Westin at Playa Conchal. I've been to this beach before but it was many years ago and what's unique about it is that instead of actual sand, it's made of tiny broken up pieces of shells. They are so tiny that many of them look like it could be sand but if you look at it real closely, you'll see that they're shells and they've been worn down and smoothed over by years in the ocean. Here's the link if you want to check it out.....

 

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3560

 

I am sure I'll have some pictures later.