What's that smell?

Seriously. Everyday I walk into a different room in my house and I try to figure out where the smell is coming from. Pregnancy threw my nose into overdrive and now the overwhelming smell of everything annoys the crap out of me!

Monday- Master bathroom. Still have not found the source. I believe it is coming from my shower drain which scares me to be honest with you. I have resorted to shutting the door at all times to prevent migration of the smell.

Tuesday- Kitchen. Obviously the trash can but it took me a few hours to pinpoint the exact piece of trash that could induce gagging. Day old cooked chicken bits thrown in the trash.... who knew it could smell eerily similar to tuna? Problem easily solved by taking out the trash- well really I waited for Claudia to get here today to take it out. Since I knew the source of the smell I could avoid the area. Yes, I was lazy so sue me. If I didn't leave stuff like this for her than why would I pay her... right????

Wednesday- Upstairs tv lounge. Pretty sure it's our couch that we have named Big Brown. Yep. Big Brown contracted something and I don't know what to do about it. You walk into the room and the smell mixed with humidity and salt water air smacks you in the face like a five day old pair of Nate's underwear. Totally assuming on the comparison but 98% sure it's accurate. To fix the problem: Decrease the average room temp to 20 Degrees Celsius= 68F and add an automatic aromatic sensor thing. You know the ones that you can find in any public restroom that spray in the most inconvenient of times. Sad, I know but short of calling someone to come and clean the couch I don't know what else to do! I think I might stuff dryer sheets in between the cushions and add a few more humidity containers.

Thursday??? Who knows what my nose will find- haha.

Sorry it's raining so no new pics of the Stick's family or what's going on in Macae. Maybe tomorrow I will have better luck.

Tchau,
Sara

New Toy

Number one most asked question when visiting home: What do you do with your time? Well now I have a perfectly great answer besides mumbling. Trying to dissect my new camera! I mentioned before that I purchased the camera but I didn't really do anything more than take it out of the box until now. I want to learn how to use all the settings and be comfortable with it before Belle gets here. That way I can take tons of great quality photos and pick up a new hobby! 

This probably wouldn't have happened if we still lived in the US. While I have always dreamed of being an artistic person I stumble short of the starting line. Give me sports or science and the game is on. That being said if Belle was born in the US I would be paying high dollar to have her pictures taken. Not to mention that I would be struggling finding time between new baby and possibly a job. 

How am I going to learn you ask? Practice makes perfect and these days there is so much information on the internet. Right now I am becoming familiar with all the settings the camera has to offer. Basically I spend the day looking up what this word means and why it's important. I found a great website that goes over all the basics and it's free. I looked into an online class but maybe in another month I will sign up. 

Haha- Below are a photographs of my new toy which Nate thinks is funny that I am about to post. Dork at heart, what can I say.

The set up looks almost identical to the power shot that I have. One of the reasons I chose the Canon over the Nikon.

Off to dinner with friends. Surprisingly this is the first meal that we have gone out to eat since we have been back instead of me cooking or Nate on the grill! This weekend will break that for sure as we are traveling to Buzios for yet another golf tournament put on by an oil company. Maybe I will nab some great photos to share next Monday?

Tchau,

Sara

House Update

One of the fears that I have after returning from a long trip home is to walk in and find that A. Everything is gone or B. Everything is soaking wet and molded. We pay Claudia to keep her regular schedule while we travel to negate those problems but could she really handle them if they arose? Good for us that each time we return home the house is spotless, mold free, water free and smells amazing.

This time around nothing changed and she even planted some new flowers for me to kill. The pool even still works! Go new pool guy :) Claudia likes him but she says that he talks way too much. I was curious to see how she would handle allowing him into the house to clean the pool while we were away. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Monday he showed up per usual time, chatted away with Claudia and then went off to work.

Another worry this time around involved GG and the owner who is in the processes of selling our place. I think Claudia feels our house is her turf and GG wants to be a part of it. Too bad she hates him because he never works or does anything for that matter. Anyway, most of the time he feels entitled to enter our house and gets mad when she won't let him in. I have had several talks with him saying that I told her not to let anyone in while we are not home. That includes your worthless booty GG.

Back to topic. I could see GG forcing his way into the house to allow people to look around while we were away. We come home to find out that GG in on vacation too! Talk about luck. I dread the day I have to deal with him when he returns.

Other than that things are pretty good. The leaks still haven't been fixed and who knows if they ever will. The front gate still doesn't work with our phone (which is supposed to allow us to buzz people in without having to go all the way down) and we have reached the year marker that people have been working on it. The elevator button to our floor is on the fritz and I am sure it's only a matter of time before it needs to be fixed.

Overall I have to say that this was one of the easier returns. Brazil was good to me this time around. I can only really speak for myself though. Nate and Brazil always clash but the relationship continues.

Cheers to a great week!

Tchau,
Sara

26 Weeks

Houston. We have a problem. The past week I experienced a huge growth spurt and I feel it. The problem derives from the fact that I really didn't spend very much time getting clothes for my growing body. For some reason I only focused on bras and I bought three shirts just because. Well that's great if you have bottoms to wear with those tops.... I just could bring myself to go into the maternity stores.

Ahhhh. I didn't really think that I had a problem. I can still button a pair of my jeans so I thought that other things in my closet would fit. Denial. I guess those jeans only made of lyrca because nothing else does fit. I am left with yoga pants and a few dresses. As you can see in the photo even my tank top is working hard but still cannot cover the belly. 

Rumor on the street is that there is a good maternity store in Centro Macae and I am sure that will cost me a pretty penny. I will just have to see how resourceful I can be. If all else fails then Nate's clothes should work :) 

Onto other things: 

Belle moves all the time and I even see my belly move. 

I forget something everyday.

I haven't noticed any stretch marks but I am sure they are waiting for a bad day to show up.

I feel great! 

Starting to get tired more.

I am sleeping less. 

I have anxiety.

My next doctor appointment isn't until May 6th. 

Not sure when we tour the hospitals.

My face is clearing up.

My legs rub together when I walk now- Nate laughs.

I am sick of water and have started making more herbal tea with milk and sugar.

I have switched back to skim milk since my weight gain is on target.

Heartburn is not my friend but he likes to visit me daily.

That seems to be about it really. I still don't have any complaints about being pregnant and life is good. I will write up a house update tomorrow- problems, Claudia, pool guy, and GG. Then I will do a Macae update- Mr. and Mrs. Sticks photos :), bike path, acai place and whatever else I can find.

Have a great day!

Tchau,

Sara

Easter Time!

Easter in Brazil differs quite a bit from Easter in the US for me. In the US I wake up and go to church with my family then either go to breakfast or cook at home. Either way we spend time together. Here in Brazil I don't have a home church. There are several 'Life' churches and one Catholic church that I can walk to but no Lutheran or English speaking church. Therefore I rely on self study which I lack the self discipline so it really ends up being no study.

This year I thought Nate and I could find out a few interesting differences for the commercial side of Easter. Everyone knows that in the US for whichever holiday it may be, every candy maker has a special marketing strategy. The decor of the bag or the wrapping of the candy itself invites consumers to buy their product. Brazil works a little different. I haven't really noticed anything special for any of the holidays except for Easter....

You can walk into any grocery store and there are these foil wrapped eggs hanging from a scaffolding like set-up. Nate cannot fit under these displays which makes me laugh as I glide under the display. Actually it's more like I elbow people around and stumble out not knowing what just happened!

Saturday we bought a blue egg for Nate and a pink egg for me just to try out. Which I had to send Nate into battle to get since I could reach- haha. Jokes on him!

On Easter morning we unwrapped our eggs :) Fun right? 

Since neither of us our big chocolate fans the whole thing ended up in the trash.... If you were a kid though I could see loving the egg and the little toy. 

In the end we won't be buying over priced candies next year! I know that there is more to the holiday in Brazil than these candy eggs but really as an outsider it is all you would think mattered. A friend of our even bought his whole office eggs because they were working on Good Friday. He said everyone went nuts. I take it as a throwback memory to childhood! Everyone wants to be a kid every once in a while.

Tchau,

Sara

Fruits

From right to left

Mamao- papaya
Manga- mango
Maracuja- passion fruit
Caqui- not sure the English word for it.

The fruits in order have slowly become a craving over the past year and a half. It started with the papaya now I can't get enough of the passion fruit. Today I bought the caqui because I am thinking I need a new obsession. Plus I think they are in season because they are everywhere and very cheap. I will let you know how it goes!

Tchau,
Sara

Good/Bad

Our trip home turned out to be a little bit longer than expected so I am going to map out the good and the bad for each of the little events :)

Tuesday 19th at 6pm-
Good: Arrive at the airport with all our bags fitting in the car
Bad: Continental charges us for the car seat because I don't have an infant with me- Pregnant doesn't count. I will be calling them about this.

Good: We only had to pay 100$ per extra bag, 200$ total because we bought our tickets in February. The prices elevated to 200$ per extra bag the past week! Ouch!
Bad: After going through the check-in process we find out our flight is delayed 12 hrs.

Good: Continental is giving out hotel vouchers and food vouchers. Not to mention we don't have to drag all those bags around town again.
Bad: Back to the hotel. No extra clothes and no bathroom stuff. We are going to be some stinky beasts by the end of this trip home.

Good: The hotel has a shuttle at the airport and a decent restaurant to eat at.
Bad: We have to wake up at 430 am to get back to the airport.

Wednesday 20th at 430 am

Good: I wake up first time with the alarm.
Bad: It was set to Brazilian time..... 2 hrs ahead so it was really 230 am. By the time I fall asleep it's time to wake up again.

Good: Shuttle to the airport left on time.
Bad: Shuttle broke down and a new one had to pick us up- delayed maybe 10 min.

Good: The flight leaves at 645 am and will be easy for me to walk around and not feel so tired being prego and all.
Bad: We realize that landing in Brazil at 7pm is a little late to be driving back to Macae. Not to mention against new company policy. We need a hotel.

Good: Flight goes well
Bad: Only breakfast and dinner were served..... and you could tell it was from the day before.

Good: I am pregnant so we got to cut in front of everyone in immigration
Bad: We had to wait close to 40 min to get our bags from baggage claim

Good: Customs didn't stop us
Bad: Nate loaded me down like a pack mule to play the pathetic pregnant woman carry too much stuff. I guess it worked. Now Nate thinks he is invincible with customs.

Good: Our car started after sitting for 20 days
Bad: I realize how hot it is here and its 8pm at night.

Good: All of our bags fit.... somehow
Bad: We have to drive 40 min to hotel.

Good: It's the Sheraton and we have all our bags!
Bad: I just want to be home.

Thursday 21st 830 am

Good: I wake up in time for free breakfast! Yummy fruit here I come!!!
Bad: The breakfast lady knows me.....

Good: It's a beautiful day
Bad: It's a holiday

Good: We leave after lunch
Bad: So does everyone in Rio

Good: Nate and I didn't kill each other
Bad: It took us 7hrs to get home

Total travel time: 49hrs


I will write more when I have energy!!

Tchau,
Sara

Bags

Six bags... Check (2 bags apiece for free the other 2 are $$$)

Under 70 lbs each.... Barely

One car seat box... Check (free!)

Ready to go!!
Tchau,
Sara

Good Byes :(

We originally planned on leaving this past Sunday but Nate had some meetings so we had to extend our stay. This helped out tremendously because the suitcases needed some organization. My expert packing skills allowed me to get everything we acquired in Houston into the same overstuffed suitcases we came here with. I have my Grandmother to thank for that. All the clothes rolled and into little ziplock baggies.

A list of the things we are bringing to Brazil for Belle:

1. Tons of clothes 0-9 months ( I am amazed at how much she has now!)
2. Car seat plus all the little things that go with it- mirror and toys.
3. Swing
4. Bassinet for now. My parents are bringing the pack n play after she is born.
5. Breast Pump- Who knew this thing would be that expensive and heavy?
6. Teething toys
7. Bath stuff
8. Baskets and decor (It fit so I am bringing it!)
9. Not sure but more stuff....

Wish us luck as we weigh our six bags...
Tchau,
Sara

Belle's Revised Bag

Tchau, 

Sara

Next Top 5

Here is the other part of the Top 10. I really had so much fun doing this! It makes me excited to pick up my new camera and take tons of photos :) Just in case ya don't remember I purchased the Canon Rebel T3 EOS 1100 and I have already looked up some classes online. Of course some courses cost more than the camera itself so I will be sticking to something a little more basic. Plus I have heard that youtube also has tons of instructional videos... who knew? I even bought a book with ideas for photos or projects. By the time that Belle gets here I won't have to think twice about what settings are what in my camera. Good thing is that I already own a Canon so the settings are pretty similar :)

We have one more Baby Shower to go to today with all our friends in Houston. Nate's pretty pissed that he has to go but he needs to remember that once Belle gets here he will be out numbered all the time. Unless we have a boy next he better get used to girly stuff fast! 

Tchau,

Sara

Overwhlemed?

Each time that I walk into a Babies R Us my heart races and I quickly find my nearest exit. I just can't seem to take the overwhelming feeling of needing everything the advertisers press on the consumer. Seriously? I need to have the bottle warmer or I will never get my milk warm fast enough for the baby. What about the special trash cans or the pacifier holders. Not to mention millions of different brands claiming several different life changing qualities. I have officially checked out.

My child will survive despite lacking the latest and great technologies. I mean how else did women raise kids 20 years ago? Belle will be loved and we all know from the mandatory psyc class, that in the classic Nature vs Nurture, Nurture won. 

I can't say that I am sad about this revelation. If we had never left the US, I could totally see myself stocking up on several types of this and that or random crap and spending tons on money. Now that I have only bought the basics I feel that maybe having a kid won't be as expensive as we originally thought. 

Thanks to family and friends there really hasn't been very much for us to buy. Add that to 100% coverage medically and you have yourself a great situation to be in! Ok. I think that I am ready to move forward stress free. Actually I am a little worried about getting all of this stuff home. I am not ready to think about that right now. Sunday we can talk.

Tchau,

Sara

First Day Top 5

Here are my top five favorite photos from the first day. Keep in mind that these are unfinished and a little photoshop might change a few things for the better. Even without the photoshop I am pretty impressed with Natalie's skills!

I will post the top 5 from the second day tomorrow! The files are just so big that they take forever to upload. 

Tchau, 

Sara

Photos Lately

The wedding couple from Saturday! We love you Bryce and Lindsay.

The menu at Brennan's! The Turtle soup was amazing.

 The beautiful flowers!

 Me with the Bride... I was mad that Nate didn't get my belly in the photo :) Oh and the dress made it through 10 hours of fun!

 Our one photo together... of course you can't really tell that I am prego.

 The two of us with the wedding couple. Nate was the sweaty guy and you can tell because of his cute red cheeks! Makes you want to pinch them! As for me I was freezing the whole time. I keep waiting for the pregnancy heat to kick in but it has failed me this far.

 With Kari.

 Pics from last night with our new throwback teeshirts. Too bad we lost but it ended up being a good game.

 Nate posing like one of my pregnancy photos... the belly is almost the same size! For those of you who think that I talked him into this you are wrong. He came up with the idea himself and now I can tease him forever via digital proof.

Off to Babies R Us to pick up some random things to bring home. As if we have room.... ahhhh we are in trouble!!!

Tchau,

Sara

Laundry

Who knew that some hotels offer washers and dryers?? Maybe I should ask more often before I send down the laundry to be done at 6$ a pair of socks! Right now I just finished Nate's underwear load.... It was take a nap and buy him some new undies for tomorrow or suck it up and wash/dry like a good wife with no job and zero obligations.

The good life eh?

Tchau,
Sara

Sneek Peek

Here is a little preview of the day! The Astros let us in to the stadium for a quick pic or twenty! It absolutely made my day and I wanted to share it really quick. Now I have to sift through 500+ photos to pick out which 20 or so that I love to be photoshopped or cleaned up. Maybe by the time I get back to Brazil I will be able to post my top 10. 

Hope everyone is having a great day! Go Astros and beat the Cubs!!! (Sorry family.... the Cubs fell to second place in my heart when I moved to Houston. Mark Grace or Ryne Sandberg- I still love you if your reading this.)

Tchau,

Sara

Belly Shots

No not with alcohol but a camera :) a friend of mine does some photography for fun and wanted to take some pics! Don't mind if I do. Yesterday we went to a few places in Houston Whig left me so tired I took a four hour nap. Yes, I know. It really was four hours.

Today is round two for pictures so wish me luck. I have already seen the pictures from yesterday and I am in love with several of them. Who knew that lighting could change everything?

Oh, forgot to mention that I purchased a DSLR camera so I can take photos of Belle when she is born! I bought the Cannon Rebel and I am so excited. I have even looked up classes online so I have something to do while the bun in the oven cooks. Nate has a smile on his face too since it cost more that his Playstation 3. Are we competitive much?

Tchau,
Sara

Shower #2

Here are some of the photos from the shower in Tulsa with the family and a few close friends. The turn out was amazing and overwhelming! The amount of things we received made my jaw drop. We are both so grateful to everyone that was able to make it and to those who sent us gifts and couldn't be there. Even those who didn't get us anything we love you too!! Just knowing that people care about us puts a smile on our face :)

The amazing cake! I ate those cupcakes for days afterward.

Nate preparing for being a dad. Holding little Daylee and watchin over Colson.

Part of the loot.

More cute baby pics!

Another belly to belly photo. After this shot we both decided that we should have wore tighter clothing to show off the bellies. 

Crazy that you can hide pregnancy just by facing the camera or who ever you are talking too! I am sure that these days are limited so I should enjoy them while I can.

Nate trying on the little sun hat. He was so funny during the shower because he didn't know what half of the stuff was.

Wait for it.

So pretty

He was the model for everything including the baby carrier. Colson didn't seem to mind one bit. Hopefully Belle will be just as agreeable. 

Me being awkward because everyone is looking at you and waiting for your response! 

We are blessed and there is nothing more to say. Now how are we getting all this to Brazil? Trust me it's going to be interesting and I will post about it later in the week.

Tchau,

Sara

Fat girl little dress

My zipper is screaming right now... The picture doesn't do justice. Hopefully it will hold out through the night but I might end up with a funny story. Note to self: when you are six months pregnant it might be time to invest in maternity clothes!!

Tchau,
Sara

Black Gold Run/Walk

I am about a week behind on posting so here are the photos from the previous Saturday. My parents church is raising money to go on a mission trip to Honduras to build a school. They held a 5K run and a 1 mile fun run to help the cause. It was a pretty small turn out since they didn't really advertise too much. We all decided to do the 1 mile fun walk. Nate doesn't run and I haven't ran since the marathon I did three years ago. My 83, almost 84, year old grandmother did the walk with us! Here are the photos.

My mom and grandma! Love them both so much. I am so glad that I got to spend so good quality time with both of them. 

 The crew- My best friend from high school who is 4 months pregnant, Nate, me and my dad. Smile dad.

The entire group together. Gotta love family.

 Belly shot! This is Lindsay's third kid and my first. I remember the days of talking about having kids together and now we are both pregnant at the same time. We are both having girls so maybe we are continuing the friendship for generations. 

 The four girls. Grandma, mom, me and Belle! 

 They wanted a picture with the bellies framing them. Ahh what a photo.

The walk went great and it was actually just a really nice day all together. Moments like this really make me miss living at home and being accessible to so many people who love you. I would love to see Belle have the same great experience that Nate and I had for high school but then we would have to move home. Who knows when that will be. Right now she will be getting so many other opportunities that we didn't have growing up. As long as she is healthy and happy then we are both happy! 

More to come from the past week.

Tchau,

Sara

Houston

We leave tomorrow to Houston and stay for the week for a friends wedding, Nate's training and one more baby shower. I can't believe how much time has flown by while we have been here. I even missed turning 23 weeks pregnant! Gosh it's going to be hard to leave.

Allergies, thank you Northern hemisphere spring, and heartburn have kept me sleepy. That's the reason you get for no new photos yet! Above is a photo of Belle's clothing suitcase compared to my clothing suitcase. It begins the days where my child has more clothes than I do :) Thank you to everyone who has donated to her fashion (haha) thank you cards are in the process of being written. We are both so lucky to have such great loving family and friends.

Tchau,
Sara