Hi Friends

I miss you. And I've been thinking a lot about you lately. I've got a lot to tell you! We left Moscow last June, and went back to the States for a little while before turning around to a new post in...

Moscow, Russia!
Just kidding, just kidding,
We live in Kiev, Ukraine now!

See, here we are (minus me) on New Year's Day somewhere in the center of the city (Neil is in the "sleeping bag").
I associate this place with the names Maiden (pronounced may-don), Independence Square, and Kreshatyk.

We have been here five months, and have done, oh about zero sightseeing. Maybe a tiny bit. Maybe when the weather warms up a little more... but for now, we are busy with the real life of having four children in a foreign country. A foreign country in which Dave proclaims daily "You are not allowed to call yourself a civilized country with roads like this!"
So, don't forget me! I'll write again soon!

Owen-isms

Scene: In the kitchen. Bacon, eggs, and toast are cooking.

Owen: What's for dinner?
Me: We're having breakfast for supper.
Owen (looking around): What?
Me: Breakfast for supper.
Owen: What?
Me (getting a little frustrated, but thinking maybe he doesn't know what supper means): Breakfast for dinner. We're having breakfast for dinner.
Owen: (pause)... This is breakfast food?

Bar-ba-la

Barbara: Owww, my tummmyyyy.

Me: What's wrong with your tummy?

Barbara: It has an egg in it.

Get it?

She has a "tummy egg".

Say it fast.

I don't know if this is as funny to read as it was to experience.

This is How We Fall Asleep

 

Yes, that is an ipad.

Poser

I think it's a good thing that I wait so long to post pictures. I have such a hard time deciding which ones to use, and it's easier if I wait longer. So you should thank me for being a procrastinator. Instead of 500 pictures that all look the same, you only have to scroll through 20!

These are just after we got back to Russia from Utah. So, Neil was about six weeks old.
He would wake up at 5 most mornings, and he is such a happy, smiley, expressive, fun baby that I loved getting up with him. It was nice and light and the house was quiet.
What a perfect way to start the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fantastic Four

Seriously?
 

Could my heart love any more?

That's Right Ladies and Gentlemen....

A couple of celebrities right here in our neighborhood.

Speaking of celebrities... did I ever tell you about the time I kissed Jonathan Brandis?

What? Who is Jonathan Brandis?

Anyway, it doesn't matter.

Celebrities in my house!

I'm so starstruck, I think I might faint!

This one gave me a kiss, too.

With his "I love all the girls" smile.

Dear Bar-ba-la

Barbara, who is quite a character, referred to herself as Barbala the other day.
So cute. So funny. I think it's going to stick.

One of the first weekends we were in Utah, Dave's parents came and took the older kids for a few days. They got to swim and bowl and play with cousins and have a great time.
Barbara got to stay and entertain me.

We played at the huge tree in the University Mall.
She went down the slide about 50 million times. On her way back to the stairs she started flapping her wings and "tweeting". Later she was running and hissing and announcing that she was a snake. I don't even know where she gets these things.
Dear Andrew: Thanks for letting me use your old iphone. I got to take pictures of my Baby Girl being a zoo and share them with the world and keep in my ever fading memory.

We went out to eat.
The people at a nearby table were so entertained by her that they shared a balloon.
It made her day.
Dear Strangers: Thank you.

We did some shopping.
This is not Elton John. This is a hat from the unavoidable Mardi Gras section at the party store, and some princess glasses that she could not pass up. I'm not sure which is better, but it kept us entertained during the shopping, which was good for me. And then it went back on the shelf.
Dear Future Mardi Gras Hat Owner: Sorry if you thought you were buying a brand new Mardi Gras hat. It was actually "EUC".

I love my sweet, spunky, smart, funny, cute little girl who is growing up way too fast.

Going and Coming and Going

P.S. (that's for "pre-script") Am I back on the blogging bandwagon? I'm not sure yet. All I know is that I've got a lot of pictures (mostly baby related), and I need to do something with them. If that happens to work out as blogging, well then... lucky you! I'll try to give them to you a little at a time. With that being said...

I left Moscow 7 1/2 months pregnant with my three other kids in tow.

Dave rode with us in the taxi and helped us get checked in at the airport.

It was the last day in January. It was about 3 degrees farenheit (if I remember correctly), and it was 9am. Good bye snow. Good bye dark mornings.
It was probably this light outside at 6am today (I don't get up until 6:30, but when I'm up with Neil at 4, it's starting to get dusky). I will never get over the light/dark here.

Good bye rynok.
(there are places like this all over the city. from what I understand, up until about 5-10 years ago, this is how everyone did all their shopping. now there are a lot of malls and markets. a lot. like a tiny little mall every few blocks. it can be very convenient, or very frustrating. like today I need to buy some western boots for evelynn, and i'm not sure where to look. I certainly am not going to check every little mall I know.)

Good bye traffic. I won't miss you.

Good bye shapka (hat).
(this is supposed to be a sly picture of my driver wearing his hat, which of course he would never take off. even though it was roasting in the car. shopping in Moscow kills me in the wintertime. they crank up the heat, but everyone keeps their coats on. I've tried it. I don't know how they do it. I have to carry my coat.)

A long flight, three months in beautiful, clean, convenient Utah, and then a long flight back.
We have always moved around a lot. I think we have only lived in one other place for more than a year, so this place has really started to feel like home, and I was excited to come back! Of course, this is the weather we came back to:


Hello guy on the side of the road.
When I very first got to Moscow, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had a few guesses and I was wrong about a lot of them. The guy peeing on the side of the road though? I was exactly right about that. It was one of the first things I saw. This guy is at least going up to the egde of the trees for some reason. Maybe he is not going to pee. I've never seen someone make that much of an effort. (should I be saying urinate?)

Hello Moscow sign! I've always wanted a good picture of you!

Hello hot water heaters. I don't remember you being painted so nicely. Maybe that is new.
This is how they heat the hot water for the whole city (can you see the steam?). And I haven't confirmed it, but I'm pretty sure they run the pipes of hot water under the roads. I've seen the snow melted in funny patterns before. And they shut the hot water off two or three times a year in an orderly fashion around the city for maintenance, etc. We have our own hot water heater, so we don't ever have to worry about it. Our driver on the way home was very talkative, and made sure to point out that these were not nuclear.

Hello thousands of apartments.
a) check out the Russian style truck
b) check out the bus stop on the side of this road, which is effectively a freeway
c) there are these little mini cities of a ton of huge apartment buildings all around the outskirts of the city. Moscow doesn't feel like a really big city, but there are so. many. people. These are just the apartments outside the outermost ring road (of which there are three complete, and one partial). There are also aparments all over the city.

It's so crazy.
And now we are packing up and getting ready to leave for good.
And as crazy, and different, and inconvenient, and sometimes hard as it has all been, it has been amazing. We have definitely made some great memories here in Moscow.

Baby, Baby, Baby...

Baby!
(anyone else thinking Justin Beiber?)

So (a couple of months ago), after enjoying (well, relatively enjoying at 40+ weeks pregnant) a few weeks of fantastic weather, a little storm blew in, and wouldn't you know - that's just what my contractions needed to regulate.
(Regulators!)
(sorry about the song references)

By the time Dave got back from picking up his Mom at his sister's house, so she could watch the kids, the contractions were getting pretty serious. So, we headed out to the hospital in this:

I had been trying to reach the on call Nurse-Midwife, but her shift was over in an hour, and I wasn't having any luck. So, then I was trying to reach the hospital, which was conveniently not answering the phone at 6am, and I almost swore during one of my contractions. But now that I'm writing this, I'm glad that I didn't, because I never swear, and I would hate to say that the one time I did was in labor.

But we got to the hospital, and got checked in, and then the Nurse-Midwife who had been on call and the one who was coming on duty began a race to get there (from their homes apparently) before I had the baby. And a couple of times, I wanted to swear again. But I didn't.

Anyway, a couple of hours later, we had this!:

Cute Little Baby!

or should I say Big Baby?

Baby Number 4!

Baby Brother.
(barb was sick, so she couldn't come meet him at the hospital)

Meet Neil.
9 pounds, 15 ounces
21.5 inches
Loveble. Huggable. Squeezable. Can't-Get-Enoughable.

Waiting on the World to Change...

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Here is my story.

Approximately nine months ago (I don't know specifics on this kind of thing), a little seed was created that has been growing, and incubating in my now rather large belly. Rather larger than I appreciate. I was very sick for a few months. I recovered, and then had a great while of peace and plenty and prancing in the pleasant joy of motherhood coming once again. We got some pictures showing the growing babe to be a BOY (by the way), and life was grand.

You may or may not know that I live in Russia. But I am American. And in Russia, I have American doctors. Doctors who highly recommend choosing a place outside of Russia to birth babies. Not that people don't have babies in Russia. Probably every day this happens. But from what I gather, the purpose of leaving Russia is just to find someplace with similar medical care/procedures than what I and the doctors are familiar with.

Just in case.

So I did.

About six weeks ago, I packed up all my three kids (well, technically four, but the fourth one didn't require too much packing yet), and flew them over the north pole, and across time zones to good 'ole Orem, Utah.

First Question: Why Utah? Do you have family there?

Best Answer: It was the best place for us. I do have family here. I have a sister-in-law (and family, including cousins for my kids) and a brother who live here. And it is within "more-affordable, easier-than-Maryland traveling distance" of both of our parents and plenty more family and friends. I had my oldest baby here, so I am familiar with the doctor and the hospital (one less thing to worry about). Also, Utah is loaded with clean, safe parks, great libraries, free activities, cultural activities, etc. = plenty for me to do with my kids. Also, people don't look at me like I'm crazy all the time, walking around pregnant with three older children (four kids?!?! what kind of crazy?!?), and no wedding ring, because it hasn't fit for a month. Oh, and no husband, because he has this little thing called a job that he has to be at, dangit. Oh, okay, and one last thing, I promise - I really do get service with a smile from everyone, even when my gaggle of children are climbing the walls and making messes everywhere. That can go a long way for a single pregnant mom of three living in a hotel and homeschooling!

Okay, Next Question: Where are you staying?

Answer: Oops, I gave that one away. We are staying in a hotel (with two bedrooms and a kitchen). I worry way too much to ever stay with someone I know for that long, and the couple of furnished houses we were interested in didn't work out. This was where I wanted to stay, and I'm very happy with it. Last week the people downstairs complained that there was too much running going on, so we tiptoed for a few days, but guess what? they checked out Sunday. It's great.

Next: What are you doing with your kids?

Answer: This has been the hardest part of the whole process. I considered leaving them home with Dave/neighbors/nanny, but we decided it would be best to take them out of school, and bring them along. It was a tough decision on what to do about school once we got here, and after a lot of research and thought, I decided homeschool would be the way. So, I've been exercising my brain beyond it's normal activity to try to pick up in the middle of the school year, incorporating the concepts they are missing at school back home as well as things I want them to learn and things they would like to learn, ALL without having the slightest clue what I'm doing (Evelynn reminds me). Plus, trying to have some sort of work to bring back to their teachers to show that we really did do school work, but worrying that it will just show how completely inadequate that this has been. Mmmhhhhh..... was it a mistake? No, I'm still glad I'm doing it, but it's very difficult. And P.S. they are involved in a couple of classes to keep at least some socialization going outside of cousins and church.

Okay, Last Question: How long will you stay?

Answer: They sent me out six weeks before the baby was due, and I will stay six weeks after the baby is born, assuming everything goes well, everyone is healthy, and we can get all the paperwork and everything done that we need to get a six week old baby to Russia.

So, that's it.

My due date is tomorrow. And here I sit. Waiting on my world to change.

Oh, and Dave is here now. But he won't get to stay forever, so it would be nice if the Boy would come sooner rather than later. All three of my other babies have come at least a week early, so we're all a little baffled by the delay, but I guess sometimes it takes a while to change the world.

And P.S. this is the answer for my radio silence. As well as absence of pictures. And if you live locally here in the USofA, and haven't heard from me, you are in good company. I've spoken with about 8 different people and seen fewer than that (not including strangers, of course. I'm always talking to strangers. Just don't tell my kids). The End. Good Night.

Advent

Our Christmas preparation this year was finally organized enough to have an advent calendar full of activities to do every day! It was all stuff we do every year anyway, but spaced out nicely and (mostly) planned for. Do you want to see my list? (sometimes I wish I allowed comments...) Well here it is - just scroll past if you don't want to read it:

1. Watch Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (an elementary drama production at the kids school).

2. Put up Christmas tree.

3. Go ice skating (this didn't actually work out, because I can't ice skate being 6 months pregnant, and we neglected to remember that they probably wouldn't have super giganto rental ice skates for Dave. The kids were too young to go by themselves. But we had gone to Red Square for the activity, so we still enjoyed all the lights - Moscow has great lights all over the city during the holidays, playing in some snow, and a yummy snack at Chocolodnitsa. Not a total fail).

4. Read the Tale of the Three Trees.

5. Have a picnic dinner by the Christmas tree.

6. Have hot chocolate with marshmallows.

7. Decorate gingerbread houses.

8. Read Mr. Finnegan's Giving Chest.

9. Watch White Christmas.

10. Go to Ward Christmas Breakfast (we had to skip this one too, due to "possible political demonstrations", a working Daddy, and a sick mama, so we made muffins, and had hot chocolate instead).

11. Deliver Holiday gifts to friends and neighbors.

12. Invite friends over to play games.

13. Have hot chocolate with homemade bread toast.

14. Read Christmas Day in the Morning.

15. Make treats to share with friends at school.

16. Watch Muppet Christmas Carol.

17. Go sledding (you would think by the 17th of December in Moscow, we would have enough snow to go sledding. All we had this year was mush, so we went out to breakfast for this one instead. We have had a really warm winter so far!).

18. Deliver toys to someone in need.

19. Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

20. Make cookies to donate to someone (the idea was for them to go to some people at Dave's work).

21. Have hot chocolate floats.

22. Open family Christmas presents.

23. Go to Spain!

24. Read the true story of Christmas and act out the Nativity. Go looking for Christmas lights.

It was a lot of fun, and it's nice to have some of these things down on paper, so the kids can start recognizing them as family traditions (for example, we have a TON of Christmas books, and we are not lacking in Christmas movies, but there are a few I want to make sure are family traditions, so I included them in the advent).

HOWEVER, I felt like the advent could definitely have been a little more Christ centered, or at least more service oriented. This is something I will have to think a little more about. A couple of years ago, we did one that had a scripture and a little activity to go along with it every day. Maybe we can find a way to incorporate that next year, but still keep it simple.

Because above everything else, it's the simplicity that I love!

Hope you had a great December!

Snapshots

It's been a while, so here's a double dose of snapshots:

She just keeps bringing me more, and asking me to put them in her hair.

I love getting this little girl into her snow clothes, and she loves playing in the snow. Win-win.

Owen "bubble wrapped" at a birthday party. This was after chasing two pirates around an indoor amusement park for an hour on a treasure hunt. Now do you see why we don't do birthday parties?

and p.s. what does it tell you about Moscow that I don't even blink an eye anymore when someone shows up dressed like that to entertain at a children's birthday party? Dave had to point it out to me when he saw the picture.

Outside a car dealership near Red Square.

Ev in uniform. When she's not in this, she's in t-shirts and jeans all the time.

Riding with Dad while she waited for Owen to be finished at his friend's birthday party.

Getting out the Christmas stuff.

Dave playing with the crazies. Barb especially love to play "up high".

Feliz Navidad... (and Happy New Year!)