Scenes from our Spring Break Staycation

This past week Chile celebrated its National Festival and the city comes to a complete halt. Festivities are everywhere. You really can't miss it and the boys were excited to celebrate Chile all week long. All week it was, "CHI, CHI, CHI, LE, LE, LE!"

It also happens to be the start of spring and the boys had the entire week off of school to celebrate...so it was our spring break and we had a staycation. JJ's mom and sister were coming to visit, so when everyone was heading out of town (literally everyone leaves) we stayed put and enjoyed time at home and in the city.

Here are some scenes from our staycation...

On Friday after school spring break started off with a play date and the boys and WE learned how to play boccie ball...what a fun game for the whole family. I think we might have to buy a set for the house.

The boys played soccer on Saturday for their new teams at the Universidad Catolica. They are really embracing the soccer culture. Here is Luka singing the Catolica song after practice.

We went to a festival on the weekend and the boys took it upon themselves to wear their huaso outfits. They are very proud of their "adopted" Chilean nationality.

Oma has arrived and Luka's first request was to take her to sushi...the boys' favorite.

After sushi we head to the Bellavista area in search of precious stones for their new rock collection...jackpot! We found some new ones.

We were invited to a BBQ for the 18th Celebration and "Super Sammy" helped me make some delicious cupcakes.

So after we made the cupcakes I said, "Boys, time to go...We have a party to go to...Let's get dressed and pick out something nice to wear." This is what they came up with...the difference between boys and girls!

On the 18th Mikah also turned 3 months and we couldn't let the day end without singing to Mr. Mikah Joseph.

Abuelo and Abuela in Miami also wanted to get in on the festivities...like they do every month and they sang him Happy Three Months with a homemade cheesecake. They are truly the best!

During the staycation the boys wanted to make breakfast on their own. Here they are eating syrup and waffles...in that order.

Marielle, JJ's sister, arrived. Here is the whole family (minus a napping Mikah and me, the photographer). This is the first time in almost 18 years that JJ's mom has both of her kids together for this long of a period!!!! Talk about a family reunion and it is also the first time Marielle visits us since we have moved overseas.  

We were pleasantly surprised to find another Chile festival in the park and the boys were happy to chant, "Chi, chi, chi, le, le, le VIVA CHILE CON PURE." I think Sammy thinks he is really Chilean. 

Look who is a big boy now and can sit in the regular seat of the stroller. He enjoyed hanging out in this seat for the first time. 

Anytime there is a stage in the vicinity the boys are attracted to it like magnets. 

I broke down and couldn't resist to sample some artisan chocolate...YUMMY! 

Here Luka is being asked yet again for the 100th time for a photo. This poor kid is harassed all the time. But nowadays he is able to say no on his own. Here he is telling the lady, "No, I don't want to take a photo with you." Good for you Luka...stranger danger. But Sammy was happy to comply. Can you tell in the photo he is saying, "Yo si." 

Here they are taking a selfie. That Sam is a big ham and I think we might need to talk about limits. 

On Sunday we headed to Pomaire, a village about 1.5 hours from Santiago, where clay pottery is in abundance and the empanadas are delicious. 

It was a fun-filled week but tomorrow we go back to school, our routine and enjoy the last 5 days of Marielle's and Oma's visit.

On a side note, I really count myself lucky to be able to spend all these wonderful moments with my THREE boys. Who knows where our next stop will be and if I have to go back to work...for now I will enjoy my family.

Get Acquainted with Our Foster Dog & My Dad's Humor

A couple of weeks ago while at the Back to School Fair my boys (that means JJ, Sam & Luka) all fell in love with Negrita - an 8-month old lab mix. She is super sweet and although we vowed never to have a dog until we knew we were staying permanently in one place, we never really discussed the idea of "fostering" a dog. So we...and when I say we I mean JJ decided fostering a dog would be a great idea. I don't include myself in that "we" because I was so sleep deprived at that point that I can't be held responsible for any decisions...ha ha ha.

But in JJ's defense the boys were acting up a little with the baby and we both thought this would be a good project for them and a great opportunity to teach them a little about responsibility. Our job is to take care of her until "Adopt a Dog" finds her the perfect home.

So far she has been a total puppy...as if I didn't have enough work with one baby in the house! Negrita is great to play with. She knows how to catch. But she is also great if your paper shredder is not working. Anything you leave out she will rip to shreds! This morning we had to puzzle piece our electricity bill back together....ooops! She gives new meaning to the phrase "My Dog Ate It."

Nonetheless, we are enjoying having her around for the time being. 

My dad is pretty funny and when I told her we were fostering a dog I found this picture and letter in my inbox the next day...

Dear Melissa and JJ:

I remember the other day you told that your son Mikah was already an American citizen, and very soon he could travel with his American passport.

I wanted to help you from here, because I know you will be traveling to Miami in less than five
months and you and JJ are always busy with work, school and three kids.

I contacted the State Department in order to obtain a passport for the new dog, but they gave the
run around. In order to be an American dog it has to be born in the United States or work for the military overseas.

Then I had an idea and contacted the Dutch Consulate in Miami and they were very helpful.
As long as the dog belongs to a Dutch citizen and can bark some words in Dutch, the dog can apply
for a Dutch passport. I took her picture to the consulate and based on the Dutch Dog Naturalization Act of 1995, they were able to issue a passport to Negrita.

So now you do not have to worry when you come to Miami in December. You all will have passports.

Love,
Pai

Photo Book: Sam's First Year of School in Chile

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality wedding photo album at Shutterfly.com.

Things are moving slowly with project "CATCH UP WITH PHOTO BOOKS" but they are coming along. Here is the book I recently made for Sammy from his first year at school here in Chile. This is for the year 2012.  He already looks so much older than in these photos. This is part of the series I do for the boys for their school...every year they each get a yearbook from all the moments, experiences, friends, artwork, etc. from that school year.

It makes it easier (aka I feel less guilty) when I toss artwork in the garbage. I couldn't possibly keep everything.

Note: Once I scan or take photos of the art for the yearbook I select a few and rotate them on an art gallery wall we have in the house. Then after their time there they get tossed or mailed to the grandparents.

Enjoy the book. Luka's Kindergarten one is almost done. Yes, he is currently in 2nd grade but who is counting.

6 Down...46 to Go

You might notice another tab (page) on the blog or you probably didn't...but you will find Mikah's Weekly Project at the top of this post. The plan is to have 52 photos by the end of his first year. 

I was inspired by my favorite bloggers from Young House Love. They did something similar with their daughter Clara and now their son Teddy.

I do feel kind of guilty that I didn't think of this with Luka or Sam, but hey...you live and learn and Mikah gets less of my attention with two other brothers, right!?!?!? So he will have this project!

My version of the project is a bit more simple. I use my phone to take the photo. I use Overgram to put the week number in a square format then I load that photo to Instagram. 

Maybe at the end of the 52 weeks I will create a photo book with all of the photos...who knows. Lets see if I can really keep up with the project, the fact that I take the photo with my phone makes it MUCH easier and takes off the pressure of taking beautiful photos with the DSLR, which is harder and harder to take out these days.

I kind of like the spontaneous vibe of the photographs. What do you think?

This week Lucky Number 7! Stay tuned...

Mikah's Birth Announcement

 

Birth Announcements are very much part of American culture and also part of Dutch culture. But in all of the countries we have lived in with they boys they are merely a novelty and not really popular. But nonetheless I love keeping this tradition and with each of the boys they have all been a little different.

This year with Mikah we used Shutterfly. I had a coupon and paid about $38 USD for 50 announcements (great deal!!!). I was also able to capture a jpg of the announcement so that I could use it online and via email. I usually design them on my own from scratch, but this year with two other little boys running around the house and Mikah's demanding feeding schedule I opted for a Shutterfly ready-made design. It was challenging enough to take out the DSLR camera and take some photos for the announcement.

It was easy peasy to finalize the design and I was super impressed with the quality of the cards. We also ordered a couple of matching mailing labels. 

Just for fun...here are some links to the Luka and Sam's birth announcements.

Click here to see Luka's. With Luka we actually only did an electronic version. Living in Maputo it was a little challenging to get them printed. He also came home with us so fast after we met that we didn't really have a lot of time to prepare.

Click here to see Sammy's. With Sam I designed them and printed them professionally. Wow, I just realized that we did two versions in both languages. Ooops...this time around we just did English.

Welcome to the World...Mikah Joseph van Herksen

 

So here we are taking Mikah's first selfie...literally minutes after he was born. My hair looks pretty good, no? That is because I went get my hair done that morning. Labor came as a surprise to say the least. On Tuesday I went to the hair dressers, picked up the boys from school, took them to an ic skating birthday party, had my 38-week appt (yes the doctor said he wasn't coming anytime soon) and had time for a trip to the grocery store. Little did I know that a few hours later when I would lay down to rest for the day my water would break...in no dramatic fashion by the way.

I have to say that this was the most relaxed and easy going birth EVER. I hope it is a sign of what is to come from our little Mikah Joseph van Herksen born on June 18th at 4:05 am weighing in at 3.460 kg and stretching a whopping 53 cm!

Mikah's arrival was something like this...

11 pm - I start to leak and I am not sure if it is my water breaking or if I really had to pee. I call the midwife and she says to monitor it for one hour and call her back.

12 am - I call her and tell her that I think my water indeed broke...but slowly. She says to breathe and meet her at the hospital at 1 am.

12:30 am - We drop off the boys at our friend's house. Thank you Sanchez family!

1 am - Arrive at the hospital and as I am changing in the bathroom my water OFFICIALLY breaks. So it wasn't the shopping mall or grocery store movie I had thought about...but it was broken and it was time to rock and roll. At this point I was 3 cm dialated and no pains at all.

2 am - By now I am 4-5 cm dialated and the contractions are coming. Not too painful, but since we had decided to go the epidural route with this one. They called the anesthesiologist.

2:18 am - Epidural is in. They induced me with drugs. Feeling great. Cracking jokes with the anesthesiologist. JJ and I just realized we brought our nice camera, but no memory card...CLASSIC. So this will be an iPhone documented birth.

3 am - Everything is moving along. I can feel the contractions, but I am in no pain at all. They call the doctor since the midwife can tell that this is going to happen FAST.

3:30 am - They ask me NOT to push and close my legs. I am 10 cm dialated and Mikah is ready to come out but my doctor and pediatrician are not there yet.

sometime between 3:45 - 4:05 am - Three nice pushes

4:05 am - Doctor asks me to grab the baby's shoulders and I put our new son on my chest. AMAZING...Mikah is with us. He cried the whole way out and opened his eyes right away to check us out.

JJ and I can't believe how fast it all went. After a while of spending quality time with Mom and Dad they take Mikah to make sure everything is ok. He is SUPER healthy and Dad gets to officially cut the umbilical chord. 

Mikah and I spent the next 4 days in the hospital. Nothing was wrong...in Chile they just like to pamper you and make sure you are ready to go home and take care of your new baby. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

I was very ready to go home on Saturday and start our new life with THREE boys. Luka and Sam were also excited to have their new little brother at home. Here are the signs they made for us. Don't you like how Luka calls us a "crazy" family. Still trying to figure out if this is good or bad. I am going to think he means crazy "good."

 

 Another sign from Luka...

 

 Sam decided to go the abstract route...

 

So there are tons of photos to share. You can see some on Facebook. I promise to try and get organized, but between recovering from the birth (three little stiches can cause lots of pain...OUCH) and figuring out Mikah's feeding schedule. Currently his schedule goes something like this...He eats about every 2.5 hours and it takes me about 45-1 hour to feed him...so if you start counting from when I started I am basically feeding him all the time. At night he does manage to sleep for about 4 hours straight, but then at about 2 am or so he is up till 5 am.

I am not sleeping to say the least, but the good news is that I also don't have time to eat so the baby weight is coming off fast. I have almost lost 20 pounds since Wednesday!

Wow, I went off on a tangent there. They talk about preggo brain, but newborn baby brain is worse. In conclusion I will try and post photos of all of us with Mikah soon.

2013 Brag Books

Okay, so these are for 2013 and it is 2014...technicalities. I am playing catch up before the baby is born. Actually these books were done on time (in December in time for Christmas)...I just have had  it on my to-do list FOREVER to go ahead and post on the blog to share with the world.

Every year these books are created for the grandparents. They are business card sized brag books and it is the perfect way to chronicle the year for the boys and share with family living far away. They are actually super easy to make with iPhoto. 

Here are the videos for everyone to enjoy!

We are pretty lucky to have two such amazing little boys.....in 2014 I will have THREE books to make..FUN!


Sam's 2013 Brag Book

from Melissa van Herksen on Vimeo.


Luka's 2013 Brag Book
from Melissa van Herksen on Vimeo.

Our Family Getaway to Argentina

A few months ago (yes, back in March...I am a little behind) we took a quick trip to Argentina. It was the last trip we would take as a family of four before I stopped flying for the pregnancy. Back in March I was still able to walk all day and had the energy for sightseeing by day and dining by night. We had the opportunity to meet JJ's dad and step mom there for an amazing trip.

We met in Buenos Aires and then took a quick flight to Iguazu Falls to see these amazing falls. We can now check it off our bucket list. You can actually see Iguazu Falls from multiple countries. We stayed on the Argentina side. Although it was easy to get to the Brazil side, as an American I had to pay quite a hefty reciprocity fee so we thought Argentina was good enough.

Here is a photo recap of our trip...

Our first day in Buenos Aires it poured. We had to wait for daddy while he spoke to some colleagues at the Dutch embassy. We found refuge in a little cafe where we had many yummy treats. Sam and Luka were just so happy to spend time with Oma and Opa.

Luka being silly as we walk around the city... 

Here she is...Evita..Luka thought she looked like a man. 

Luka was particularly obsessed with the obelisk. He wouldn't stop drawing or talking about it. 

Like in Santiago...Buenos Aires has some beautiful street art. 

We also kind of ate our way through the city. I was on strict orders from the doctor to eat a lot of red met on this trip due to a little anemia that I had. I was happy to oblige.

Oma and Opa are awesome travel companions...they are always game for anything and boy do they love to walk!

Luka and I at the cemetery with Evita's tomb. The boys were peeking into all the tombs...kind of creepy I think. 

The boys really had a great time and enjoyed our stops in the city for snacks and drinks. 

Cafe Tortoni is Buenos Aires' most famous cafe. We made a stop there for some delicious coffee, hot chocolate and pastries. Really we ate a ton...They also have really awesome tango shows, but they are all really late at night and we skipped all the "late night" events on this trip.

But by far the best part of this quick trip to the very interesting city was reuniting with part of our "family" from Maputo. We met up with Laura and her kids. We hadn't seen each other since we left Maputo almost four years ago...but like with family and close friends the minute we saw each other it was as if one day had not passed. The kids picked up right where they left off and Laura and I as well. My friends from Maputo will always hold a special place in my heart and this lady is amazing...till the next time Laurita. 

Here we are off to Iguazu...didn't really now what to expect.

Our hotel was literally in the jungle. The boys were so into this adventure. I was following everyone with mosquito repellent like a crazy woman. Actually no one got bit that bad. Not sure if the situation wasn't that bad or I was just really good about putting repellent. I guess we will never know...

The boys enjoyed the pool with Opa.

Here is a picture of one of the falls...they are enormous and it takes about 1 hour or more to walk to the them. It was an all day affair seeing these spectacular sights from different vantage points in the park. 

Argentina...till the next time...and I think there will be a next time.

When do kids graduate to a bath on their own?

I don't know why but today I started thinking about bath times and how I was going to coordinate three bath times a night. You know the silly things you start thinking about before you pop out a baby. In addition to...

- I should be caught up with my photo books (NOT)

- I really need to organize my drawers.

- The laundry room needs a good purge.

- I don't have enough nursing shirts or bras.

- I really need to move the legos and toys with tiny pieces out of the playroom for the baby.

- I need to start working out after this baby is born.

I could go on and on with all the little things running through my head, but this morning it was bath time.

Luka is 7 and Sam is 4 and they still bathe together. Is that too old for Luka? They have so much fun and really it is a matter of convenience. Usually JJ bathes (especially these days since my belly is in the way) and then I prepare the room, PJs, clothes for the next day and help dress them when they are done. We have it down to less than 10 min (including some play time).

I noticed on our blog that I had posted about this before here and here. Since we are reminiscing about bath times why not show you....

- Luka in the bath a week after he arrived

- One of Sam's bath when he was teeny tiny (in a hotel) since we were in the middle of moving from Maputo to La Paz

Okay, sorry to go off on a tangent there, but bath time is so fun when they are little.

So, I was just wondering when your kids started bathing alone? Oh I forgot to mention one thing...we have the most tempermental water temperature EVER. Apparently other people have that problem in Santiago with the gas heaters. In our house the water from the shower might be perfect then suddenly scolding hot, then freezing cold. This makes it hard to let my 7-yr old shower alone. Heck, it makes it hard for me to take a shower without using numerous expletives in a 10 minute time span.

I was just curious when your kids started bathing on their own...