Consular Report of Birth Abroad

 Yesterday we went to San Jose to the US Embassy to apply for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad for Julian. In order to get his US citizenship, we have to go there to report his birth in a foreign country. There are many requisites including proof of my living in the US for at least five years after my 14th birthday (high school transcripts and social security reportings work for that), a letter from the hospital with the basic details of the birth, stating all the dates of which I have been outside the US in my life and where (which is A LOT of work) etc. It's all worth it though. In about 10-15 days we should have his Birth Abroad certificate and his US passport. I will officially have two Gringo Ticos by law with dual citizenship.

We had to leave around 4:45am in order to get the Embassy by our 8:15am appointment and we out of there by 9am. I LOVE how efficient the US Embassy is! Anyway, after that we had to go get Dani's tourist Visa from the Peruvian Embassy for us all to travel there at the end of September. Costa Ricans need a tourist visa but for Matthew, Julian and I, we're good with just the US passport. After the Embassies, we ran a few more errands and ended up eating lunch at Outback Steakhouse which made me pretty happy. Julian was a trooper the whole day but since he's easily distracted when nursing and we usually only do it in my room in the rocking chair, he didn't nurse well at all. He's always looking all around behind him, to the sides and at the ceiling. I guess in Peru he'll just have to get used to it because we'll be there a week. Since he wasn't nursing hardly at all, he tried some new foods! Don't judge me too harshly but he tried Ritz crackers (pre softened by me) and french fries and Alice Springs chicken at Outback. The chicken did not include the cheese, bacon and mushrooms that come on that though. He had a pretty good time with it all. After lunch we went to a place called Atenas ("Athens" in Spanish which is ironic since Dani's father is from there and both my parents are from Athens, GA) to visit some family on our way back. We had a good visit and Julian was great and even held by many people he doesn't know (which is iffy these days if he'll let them do that). Finally we got home around 7:30pm.

Matthew had stayed all day with my friend Lisa. Lisa spent the night the night before, got him ready and took him to school in the morning and picked him up at 3pm. Three days a week Matthew does afterschool activities like going to the sports complex in Nicoya, arts and crafts and science experiments. He seems to really like it. After 3pm, he played all afternoon until his grandmother arrived around 6pm to take over. I think he really enjoyed the whole day and did really well. I'm so proud of both my boys. They are so awesome!!!

 

 

 

 

Quick Catch Up

So, it's been awhile since I've posted, for me anyway. Three weeks is longer than I ever wanted to go without posting mainly to not miss documenting anything in my sweet little boys' lives but also to keep others up to speed.

My excuse for the last ten days is that both my little guys got strep throat and my almost 8 month old not only got strep but another tooth coming in (that makes the third, two on bottom and top right) PLUS as uncommon as it is, seems to have a mild case of chicken pox. Apparently babies under one year are usually protected by some type of antibodies or something from the womb of the mother but it seems like Julian got it. Also being under one, the condition is so mild that it was almost like nothing. I'd say he had about 15-20 pox on his body and he didn't even scratch them. I've noticed this on babies this age and younger that they don't seem to even notice a mosquito bite. Matthew used to get bitten all the time and they never seemed to itch him (now he scratches till he bleeds). The only thing I was worried about with his and his little brother of course, is Dengue which is very common in Costa Rica and even people in our own neighborhood get it. That's something that we never thought about in Atlanta when thinking of mosquitos, just that awful itching. Here, putting on repellent is taken to a whole new level because you might be keeping him out of the hospital for a week or so by protecting him. So luckily ictching wasn't a problem and we're not even convinced that's what it was but it sure did look just like it! He's due for the vaccination at a year and three months. I don't know if there's a test to see if he already had it but it's probably not even worth it if there is. We don't know anyone who has chicken pox either and we don't leave the house THAT much, so it's a little shady. After the strep incidents, both boys were good for 2-3 days and BAM! They woke up with really high fevers and instead of throat pain, it was cough and congestion which turned out to be Bronchitis which is what my husband Dani had........Ahhhhhhh, good thing it hasn't touched me yet because I just don't know who would take care of all of us! All this sickness has meant going  back to "newborn" sleep habits and with Dani out for the count, I had to take care of Matthew and Julian tag teaming me throughout the night. I really do think they planned it to just when one gets back to sleep the other one wakes up. Wow, I'm tired.

To catch up a little, Julian is army crawling all over the place. He can really go fast on those elbows. He's toyed with getting up on his knees a bit but doesn't go far that way. It is adorable when there's something he really wants across the room and he just goes for it, usually smiling and laughing the whole way. He's so happy being mobile. Before even crawling really well, he's trying to master pulling himself up on things which is so scary having only tile floors and cement walls to bang your head on, ugh! He's pulled himself up on the coffee table few times with me "spotting" him but I'm so nervous for him to do it by himself. I really have to watch him. Gone are the days that I could go do a couple of things in the kitchen and leave him in the living room unattended for long. He's also eating 2-3 meals a day but still nursing full time as well. He usually eats pureed carrots, sweet potatoes, avocados, rice or oatmeal cereal, pureed fruits like cooked apples, papaya, banana (which he really doesn't like), etc. I just made a chicken puree that he ate tonight for the first time and he accepted it pretty well. I now bathe the boys together and they LOVE it! It's kinda nice to get them both in and out at one time and only have one bath time per night. Julian wants to do anything and everything Matthew does. He gets POed if I don't let him. Which means he gets POed a lot!

This was supposed to be a quick catch up but it's turned longer than I expected. Since Julian is taking a sippy cup pretty well now (never could get him to take the bottle) with my breastmilk, that allows me to go on a field trip with Matthew's class on Wednesday. We're going to a Puma rescue farm outside of Liberia and we'll be gone until about 2pm. This sippy cup thing was just in the nick of time because the kids can't go if an adult doesn't go with them so Matthew wouldn't have been able to go. I'm so glad we get to and I'll make sure I post pics.