12 Weeks!

Today I am 12 Weeks with 196 days to go until my due date on August 1st. Don't think that I am psycho or anything but there is an app for that through Baby Center that tells you what goes on each day throughout the pregnancy. It also includes a count down which can be very daunting. 

Check out the awkward picture below, it's very hard to photograph yourself from this angle.

So far no weight gain, that I know of, and I can still fit into all my clothes. I cannot wait for the day that I will start showing! In the photo the shirt is kinda loose so next time I will wear something that will show it a little better. Trust me I am pregnant. I took another pregnancy test last week just to be sure. I know I am crazy but I feel great.

I went to Pilates today for the fist time in a month and everyone there couldn't have been happier. If you wouldn't have known then you would have thought they were all my sisters. I have never seen so many acquaintances be so happy and friendly to me. They asked tons of questions and touched my belly which was weird because there is nothing there. Even when I walk home on the boardwalk people that go there tell me congratulations. Who knew I would be so popular? This is awesome!

Claudia, my house helper :), is really treating my like a daughter. Making me eat and drink. She even tells me to put my socks on! This afternoon she cut up all the fruit for me and brought it to me at the computer. Have no fear mom and dad, she's keeping me inline.

We have rescheduled our appointment for the 31st of January in Rio. On that day I will be 14wks and maybe the ultrasound will tell us the sex! I cannot wait. Nate keeps calling it the little peanut which is an improvement from parasite. I think we need something more creative. Any ideas? 

Tchau,

Sara

Sorry for any misspelled words but blogger now thinks I am spelling everything wrong because it's not in Portuguese.... Don't judge!

Goin Private

 T- 2 days until the blog goes private. Unfortunately I thought that anybody who followed the blog would have access. Turns out that I have to email invite people who then have to sign-in using their email account. I toyed around with the idea of creating a new blog and making it unsearchable by google and even starting a new blog using iWeb. Turning this blog private seemed to be the best and easiest option.

With that I am sticking to this blog and moving forward. It has been a great year with new friends made and a community of support. All good things must come to and end- or said better- things must evolve not end.

For our growing family we wish to share important details in our lives that we do not wish to share with people who can use that information against us. With the events of people recognizing me who I do not know I wish to end this information available to all. We are going to stick with family and friends back home to keep up with our lives.

Thank you to all for your support and letting me use the blog as an outlet. Maybe on day I will resurface but until then I think that this is the best option for my family.

Tchau,
Sara

Rough Week

I am not sure what really has prompted my new negative attitude but I am really having a hard time adjusting back in Brazil. Maybe I left my patience back in the States? What ever the reason each little thing bad that happens I fall further into the trap.

Most of the time I try to be very positive because negativity breeds like wildfire. I have tried to make the best of living in another country seeing the good in everything. Both of us have made really great friends, traveled South America and have even been trying to learn another language but Brazil never will be home. We will always be working to somehow return to our families in the States.

When we left both of us went with the attitude that good or bad one can handle anything for a year. Well our year marker is over due and we are working toward year two. Maybe I am just tired.

Tired of everything being a challenge. Why can't just one thing be easier for me to do here. I miss being independent and not having to rely on anybody. I miss having a car or some form of transportation. Here I feel so trapped. Maybe I do need to buy a car but I still cannot justify the price.

Simple example of something easy being hard:

We need to wrap a gift, a digital picture frame, but have no bags or wrapping paper. In the states this wouldn't even be a problem. Maybe to figure out which color of tissue paper to stuff the bag but that's about it. You can probably buy the gift and the wrapping paper at the same place.

Nate gives me a task for the day to get wrapping paper or something similar. Go to the grocery store- Nothing. Go to the drug store- Nothing. Keep in mind I am walking. I call Nate and I have to tell him the one thing he asked me to do I could not accomplish. He then has to stop by Walmart on the way home to pick up something but found nothing suitable (which secretly made me feel better). Here are the options he brought home:

One large weird see through bag which I wrapped a box fan for the example.
One small bag that doesn't even hold half of the gift.

(I had a picture here but blogger messed it up.... fail)

What? Why? Ugghhh. I was talking to my mother yesterday and all the things that are making me crazy this week have happened before so why now? Why do I feel the need to be negative this week. Maybe I deserve a negative week. I mean who can be happy 100% of the time. Maybe I have been fooling myself with the difficulty of expatriatism. Not sure if that's a word but great description.

New plan: focus on being happy and drive the negative out. This weekend hopefully Nate and I can get back to neutral and move forward with our life in Brazil. One more year. I can do this.

Tchau,
Sara

Flooding In Rio State

We live in Macae Rio Brazil so when all the news stories report flooding in Rio State they are referring to the entire state. Although many think that we are directly North of Rio de Janeiro you can see on the map below that we are mostly East (We are located at the g in Nova Friburgo). 

The black dots show where there in flooding in Brazil. Most of it is occurring in Rio State.

I just wanted to let everyone know that while we are experiencing rain our town in safe from flooding. Nova Friburgo lies three hours away while Teresopolis lies around five hours away. Both beautiful cities are nestled in the mountains with gorgeous views of Brazil. Upon visiting these two particular cities I found myself jealous that we lived in such an ugly town. The devastation to these areas breaks my heart.

Our group has actually been trying to plan a weekend getaway in Petropolis but I don't think we will be traveling there anytime soon. For the meantime we will be sticking to Buzios and other nearby weekend spots. 

Staying dry.

Tchau,

Sara

11 week Apointment

Today was supposed to be the day that I went in for my first ultrasound and another doctor appointment but we had to re-scehdule. No biggie. At this point I feel great and don't really have any questions or concerns. Waiting a few weeks to go doesn't mean to much to me at this point.

What I am having a hard time with is these darn emotional swings. The washer wasn't working because it was raining and the back half of our house didn't have electricity. Believe or not I don't care but somehow it does happen here Brazil. Anyway, I broke down. Then the microwave went out. I broke down again. Then yesterday, the internet went out on a perfectly sunny day. I had a major melt down.

Even though I keep telling myself that this is normal and nothing new I could not control the tears. I don't know what Nate was thinking but I am sure it was along the lines of, "Great, now I work and I have to deal with crazy over here". Naw, he's been great. I really couldn't ask for more.

I do wish there was something more to post over :) I can't even give you a picture because I look the same- well maybe a little different. My hips are softening (as Mamma H put it) I say they are growing! All my jeans now whisker throughout the hips and the button/zipper are working hard. Now off to take  a nap :)

Tchau,
Sara

Back

After two long days of travel we both are finally back home. The plane ride proved itself unbearable once again and I managed to not sleep the entire flight. So much for being pregnant :) I can't wash down my Tylenol PM with a glass of wine to knock me out. Since I couldn't sleep, random thoughts of blood clots filled my head so I stretched and walked quite a bit.

I was flying US Airways (terrible don't ever do it) and Nate was flying our usual Continental which arrived the same time in Rio. Unfortunately it took me two hours to get through immigration and customs while Nate got through in 20 minutes. Why you ask?

Nate's plane gated at the International section but was the first flight of four to gate and unload. Therefore he was the first through immigration and down to get his bags. My plane gated at the Domestic section of the airport and was the second of only two planes unloading.

Note to self:
It doesn't matter if there are four hundred Brazilians in the immigration line and only twenty foreigners in the other line... the Brazilian/Resident (which I am but chose to go with the shorter line) will go faster. Never think you can beat the system just always chose the Brazilian/Resident line. What can I say? They had one immigration agent working with the foreigners and seven with the locals. I like this idea but if America were to do this then world would back lash and criticize. Instead the US has more people working for the foreigners and less for locals..... beats the hell out of me.

Sorry I am getting a little heated. I really am angry that it took that long to get back into the country. Especially after such a long crappy flight. I just really hate the Rio airport and it's minimal air-conditioning.

Well to end on a positive note- off to walk to the grocery store for some fresh fruits and veggies. The one thing I really missed being in the US.

Tchau,
Sara

Preparing for Return

D day approaches for our return home in Brazil but before we leave there are several things we have been asked to pick up for friends. The list is below.

1. Screen protector for ipad
2. HDMI Connectors
3. 3 bottles of perfume
4. Lanolin cream for a breastfeeding friend of a friend (that conversation was interesting... )
5. Two kindles
6. Maple syrup extract
7. Wireless keyboard

Random huh? For the most part we bring back whatever is asked of us but sometimes it's just impossible. This time around the bags are stuffed full of baby stuff and we are even leaving our stroller in the box to make things easier.

Since Nate and I rarely ever fly together we are taking different flights on different airlines on the same night. Turns out that no matter how many miles you acquire, only round trip flights can be booked. I think that's a crock of &*%$! Did you know that a flight from Houston to Moscow Russia is only USD $800 while you pay double that for a round trip to Rio. Sorry I am getting off topic!

Overall I am ready to return to my own bed and house. I wish that I could drag my family and friends along but let's be realistic. I just hope that my friends really do visit us this year for some fun in the sun.

Tchau,
Sara

Exhausted

How does any be pregnant and make it through working? Seriously I need to know. The depth to which I am tired is almost scary. I can make it through about 6 hours of the day before I turn into a sleep walking zombie. After taking a two hour nap I can go for another 6 hrs before crashing again.

If I didn't feel worthless before, now I feel even more worthless but very thankful I can listen to my body and nap when ever. I give props to all the working moms who endured pregnancy while working.

The week that we have been in Houston makes us miss the US even more than ever. While we would love to be able to return to Tulsa one day realistically we would have to move to Houston first. With that in mind I have dreams of the day we move here.

Buying a house and raising our family in a stable environment are two very enticing qualities. Just the idea that I can drive throws my happiness over the edge. I cannot even imagine being a real manager of the house and actually being able to get things done. Gosh I miss the US. I am not dissing Brazil but my home is in the states.

One day we will be back. Until then we continue to embrace living abroad.

Tchau,
Sara

Pregnant

This is the news I have been holding out on everyone! I am about 10 1/2 weeks pregnant :) I wanted to wait until we were able to tell most of our friends in person first before I posted on the blog. The four posts below were written previously just to keep me sane.

Next week we will be returning to Brazil and we have an appointment with our doctor and the ultrasound guy... yes we have to see multiple different people and it's not just one visit. That's probably the only thing I am not liking about being pregnant in Brazil but everything else has surpassed the US.

For now we are enjoying our stay in Houston and look forward to returning home.

Tchau,
Sara

10 Weeks

Ok so I still don't feel pregnant and I am seriously debating buying another test to make sure. Things seem to be going so well other than being tired. While I know that being tired is a symptom I can still see myself just being lazy and thinking I am tired therefore sleeping all the time and not really being pregnant.

On a lighter note our families couldn't be any happier for us and I am really starting to get excited. Several of our Christmas gifts this year were for the 'Bump'. I even got a few belly rubs which I had to explain was just pre-existing belly fat and not a baby. The weight has stayed off which is surprising because I always gain when I come home to the US so being pregnant and not gaining seems questionable.

Both of us have been scrambling trying to figure out what we need to take back with us. We bought a stroller and we need to buy a monitor (to test it out) and clothes for me... to grow into. The hard part is trying to plan for how big you are going to get.... what about bras?

Things we plan on purchasing this trip home for the baby:

1. Bras/skirts for me to wear when as I grow

2. Stroller (Too expensive to  expect getting this one at a shower. Bad part about this one is that we are having to buy a jogging stroller instead of the small wheel traditional stroller which triples the cost. The reason for the jogging stroller is that the roads and bike paths are ridiculously uneven and almost all cobble stone. I am sure you can figure out the rest.)

3. Baby monitors to test out with our concrete walls..... do we go with camera monitor or voice? Whichever works I guess.

4. Breast pump because it's already expensive in the US and I am not really sure I can get one in Brazil and who knows what I will need once the kid is hear.

5. We hope to gather things needed through showers and what we don't receive purchase in April when we plan to be home again. In April I will be 6 months and probably the last time I fly before the due date so I should have a better idea of stuff I will need.

All in all this baby is goes to get the bare minimum in terms of material items and tons of love from family. By having to bring everything down from the US the need vs want plays a large role. What can you get by without?? We are about to find out!

Tchau,
Sara