Happy 4th of July!
And no, no baby news for you guys yet.
June was a crazy month for Joel and me. We spent an insane amount of time on planes. From Rome to DC first; then I want from DC to Alabama, Joel went from DC to Miami and then from Miami to Alabama, and finally from Alabama to Croatia. We’re pretty much settled down for a bit now.
So nope, no news on the baby front. Unless you count the weight I’ve gained, the swollen ankles, the inability to sleep well, etc. I have less than three weeks to go and am so ready for this to be OVER. I’ve put my time in Alabama to good use though. With trips to Wal-Mart, Target, BabyRUs, and stocking up on diapers at Sam’s, I’m trying to get us everything done before little Abby gets here. Can you believe I bought 1000 diapers in various sized and 2000 wipes? I wonder how long they’ll last!
Other than that, I’ve been getting a lot of family bonding in with my crazy nephews here in Auburn. We go to the pool almost every afternoon where I’ve been getting a nice little tan, and watching them playing in their backyard. This holiday weekend, we came down to my parents house and spent the weekend down at the Gulf on the beach. It’s been miserably hot here in Alabama, even if you aren’t pregnant! We’re talking highs of 95 degrees!
Joel is getting settled in Croatia, and hopefully should be able to move into our new house this week. He is enjoying his job there, and all the folks he’s met so far. Last night he told me that he will be celebrating the 4th of July by going to McDonalds. Here at my parents we have set up the kiddie pool, sprinkler, and Slip&Slide in the backyard for the boys and grilling ribs. A great 4th of July in my opinion!
Thank you all for your kind thoughts about our cat (Obe Wan) that passed away this month from kidney trouble. We received a lot of help from our friends in Italy while dealing this and we appreciate all of your efforts. Obe was over ten years old and had a good long life. We will miss our beautiful cat but are glad he's no longer in pain.
So, on the agenda for us in July: Joel comes back to visit and Abby is born. Sooner rather than later, I hope!
Oh be sure to check out the updating I did on the blog website. So far, I've figured out how to add web links on the right side.
Love to all,
Julie and Joel
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
More from the Mendezes in Rome
Hi all. I’m doing the blog just a little early this month because I have the day off and next week might be crazy with us flying around and everything. By next Wednesday afternoon we'll be back in the US!
A couple of things:
*Baby Pool: Here is the link if you want to join in before it’s too late. By the way, this is an updated one – if you did the very first one, you’ll want to go re-do your bet again.
www.expectnet.com - Game Name: MeetAbbyMendez
*New Address in Zagreb: Update your address books! Mail can reach us in Zagreb at:
(Email me directly if you didn’t receive it. I don’t want to stick it on the internet.)
The movers are finally gone and so is our stuff! I’m sitting in an almost empty house as I write this, enjoying the peace and quiet. Today my goal is to get completely caught up on all the paperwork stuff for our move.
Would you like to know how pregnant I am? Well, we have a walk-in shower in our bathroom, and I can’t get through the door sideways without sucking in or scraping my belly. That’s just sad. Oh here’s another one. I broke down and bought slipon sneakers last month so people couldn’t hear me grunt when I bent over to tie my shoes, and now I’m having difficulty with even those!
Abby is a crazy kicking/punching machine. My belly looks like JiffyPop popcorn. I kindof think it’s fun; especially when Joel’s around and he can feel it and then his face turns a slight green color. It’s so weird carrying this little alien around. She’s found my belly button and last week I think she punched me right behind it. That HURT. We have this little game – she stretches her legs out as far as she can (I can tell it’s her legs because she has big feet) and I push it back in. And repeat for about twenty minutes! I figure she’s building up strong leg muscles in there, and I’m learning that this child won’t be listening to her mother. Hahaha She does let me sleep at night mostly thank goodness.
I have just three days left of work and am so thrilled by that. I enjoy working, but am completely ready to be out of there by now. Last weekend we did a farewell BBQ for all personnel that are leaving this summer, and then Saturday we did a full-day excursion to Herculaneum (in the picture) and Pompeii, which was very cool. In Pompeii, they have the casts of bodies found there on display. Gives all new meaning to the phrase, “I see dead people.” This week I just have a few meetings and things I have to deal with in order to wrap up and get out of here. Joel is busy running around and trying get everything done this week too! And then next week we leave! Yeay!
Yesterday, we discovered a new flavor of gelato, and I’ve decided that I NEED to eat gelato every day until we leave. It’s called “Smith” here, it’s made from Granny Smith green apples. It’s really good.
This past month Joel and I also took the drive to Zagreb one last time. Oh, the fun part of the trip was when one of our tires blew out 2 hours north of Rome on the Autostrada. So we had a break in the middle of about 2 hours while we got towed and got two new tires put on the car. Yikes, you wouldn't believe how much we got hosed on that. But, what can you do? And the cats were so ticked off by the time we got to the kennel. We'll be lucky if they speak to us again when Joel picks them up in two months. Then the next day we drove the rest of the way (about 4 hours) to Zagreb where we dropped off our car, ran around and did errands around the Embassy, and we got to see our house! Oh, it's so nice and we have a good-sized yard and I can't wait until we get there! The only thing is our oven is TINY. It's about 17 inches wide on the inside. No way I’ll make a Thanksgiving turkey in that thing. That is really the only thing that annoys me about the house, and since I cook casserole dishes a lot, I can see that really becoming a pain. But a house! It's going to be so much fun to have a house.
Then we had several hours to kill before our train left at 11pm at night, and the bad thing was that I was beat. And cranky. We ate dinner and walked around just a little and mostly watched the clock. Finally we got on the overnight train and got into our sleeper car. Which is a cool idea, but border patrol police kept waking us up to check our passports. Very annoying. The next morning at 7am we arrived near Venice and had to kill three hours in between trains again, so we got Joel coffee, and sat in a park for a while (I snoozed on the park bench leaning on Joel - that was a great nap) and then went to an internet café to kill some more time. Finally we got on our train to Rome and that was a nice trip. It was so nice to be home.
Okay, that’s all I can remember that we did this month, though I know we’ve been going non-stop. Blame the pregnancy brain. We're at 31 weeks and counting, if you can believe it.
Love to all,
Julie and Joel
A couple of things:
*Baby Pool: Here is the link if you want to join in before it’s too late. By the way, this is an updated one – if you did the very first one, you’ll want to go re-do your bet again.
www.expectnet.com - Game Name: MeetAbbyMendez
*New Address in Zagreb: Update your address books! Mail can reach us in Zagreb at:
(Email me directly if you didn’t receive it. I don’t want to stick it on the internet.)
The movers are finally gone and so is our stuff! I’m sitting in an almost empty house as I write this, enjoying the peace and quiet. Today my goal is to get completely caught up on all the paperwork stuff for our move.
Would you like to know how pregnant I am? Well, we have a walk-in shower in our bathroom, and I can’t get through the door sideways without sucking in or scraping my belly. That’s just sad. Oh here’s another one. I broke down and bought slipon sneakers last month so people couldn’t hear me grunt when I bent over to tie my shoes, and now I’m having difficulty with even those!
Abby is a crazy kicking/punching machine. My belly looks like JiffyPop popcorn. I kindof think it’s fun; especially when Joel’s around and he can feel it and then his face turns a slight green color. It’s so weird carrying this little alien around. She’s found my belly button and last week I think she punched me right behind it. That HURT. We have this little game – she stretches her legs out as far as she can (I can tell it’s her legs because she has big feet) and I push it back in. And repeat for about twenty minutes! I figure she’s building up strong leg muscles in there, and I’m learning that this child won’t be listening to her mother. Hahaha She does let me sleep at night mostly thank goodness.
I have just three days left of work and am so thrilled by that. I enjoy working, but am completely ready to be out of there by now. Last weekend we did a farewell BBQ for all personnel that are leaving this summer, and then Saturday we did a full-day excursion to Herculaneum (in the picture) and Pompeii, which was very cool. In Pompeii, they have the casts of bodies found there on display. Gives all new meaning to the phrase, “I see dead people.” This week I just have a few meetings and things I have to deal with in order to wrap up and get out of here. Joel is busy running around and trying get everything done this week too! And then next week we leave! Yeay!Yesterday, we discovered a new flavor of gelato, and I’ve decided that I NEED to eat gelato every day until we leave. It’s called “Smith” here, it’s made from Granny Smith green apples. It’s really good.
This past month Joel and I also took the drive to Zagreb one last time. Oh, the fun part of the trip was when one of our tires blew out 2 hours north of Rome on the Autostrada. So we had a break in the middle of about 2 hours while we got towed and got two new tires put on the car. Yikes, you wouldn't believe how much we got hosed on that. But, what can you do? And the cats were so ticked off by the time we got to the kennel. We'll be lucky if they speak to us again when Joel picks them up in two months. Then the next day we drove the rest of the way (about 4 hours) to Zagreb where we dropped off our car, ran around and did errands around the Embassy, and we got to see our house! Oh, it's so nice and we have a good-sized yard and I can't wait until we get there! The only thing is our oven is TINY. It's about 17 inches wide on the inside. No way I’ll make a Thanksgiving turkey in that thing. That is really the only thing that annoys me about the house, and since I cook casserole dishes a lot, I can see that really becoming a pain. But a house! It's going to be so much fun to have a house.
Then we had several hours to kill before our train left at 11pm at night, and the bad thing was that I was beat. And cranky. We ate dinner and walked around just a little and mostly watched the clock. Finally we got on the overnight train and got into our sleeper car. Which is a cool idea, but border patrol police kept waking us up to check our passports. Very annoying. The next morning at 7am we arrived near Venice and had to kill three hours in between trains again, so we got Joel coffee, and sat in a park for a while (I snoozed on the park bench leaning on Joel - that was a great nap) and then went to an internet café to kill some more time. Finally we got on our train to Rome and that was a nice trip. It was so nice to be home.Okay, that’s all I can remember that we did this month, though I know we’ve been going non-stop. Blame the pregnancy brain. We're at 31 weeks and counting, if you can believe it.
Love to all,
Julie and Joel
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Spring has come to Rome! May Update from the Mendezes!
Hello all! This will be our last regular monthly update from Rome! We fly out of here on May 31st. The weather has been very nice here, and we are having a beautiful spring!
(This is the belly shot from last week at 27 weeks). Our next appointment for the baby is May 4 (Tuesday), so we'll let you know how it goes. Abby is doing well as far as I can tell. She responds when we play music and sometimes when Joel talks. She kicks. A lot. And Hard. And she's started doing this freaky rolling around thing. Being pregnant is SOOO weird. I can feel this little alien moving around inside of me and can see it if I watch my belly. It's kind of gross, but cool at the same time. I'm doing fine too. I can tell that I've officially moved into the third trimester. My energy levels have really dropped and I'm back to sleeping all the time again. I could have really used one more month of that 2nd trimester high!
As you can imagine, Joel and I are keeping very busy with all of the last minute details of getting ready for our move. I've been going through our apartment room by room, closet by closet (and we have quite a few closets!) throwing stuff out, giving stuff away, figuring out what we might need to get etc. Most of that is done. . . I think. Next week we drive to Zagreb and drop the cats off at a kennel, and leave the car there so Joel will have it when he arrives. Then we take a "sleeper" train back to Rome - just like in the old movies! (Gosh I hope the beds are comfortable!) We switch trains over in Venice, so maybe we'll have enough time to run around sightseeing for a little bit. That's not likely as I don't see me actually "running" anywhere, but we'll see.
This past Thursday we also did our last run to the Naples military base. We ran several errands and took the cats to the vet there to get their shots updated. That didn't go over very well with Obe and Puzza. Puzza hissed so bad, it sounded like he was cussing like a sailor, and afterwards he pouted all day long. Obe actually climbed into Puzza's carrier with him and sat with him, which was really cute. Oh, and little tiny Puzza? Ain't so tiny anymore. When we got him two years ago, he was 3 1/2 pounds. Now he's 17 lbs, 9 oz. Yeah, you read that right. Don't worry, we're already trying to put him on a diet. He runs around a lot already, so exercise isn't a problem. No wonder it was hurting me to pick him up. Obe has actually slimmed down to a lean 14 lbs.
Then of course, we have all the fun "leaving a job" junk that still has to be done. I'm still trying to finish up a couple of little projects and get everything cleaned out and organized in my office. My last day of work is May 26th, and they are definitely not letting me slow down in my last four weeks! I have two workshops, an appreciation lunch, a farewell BBQ for departing employees, and a trip to Pompeii on my calendar - all before May 26th!
My other big project is my scrapbooking. I am desperately trying to catch up as much as possible and actually get these albums DONE before we pack up and leave. Slowly but surely I'm making progress - however, it might not be in the cards to actually complete any of these projects. Well, we'll see. I really don't want to have to bring it home with me this summer to complete because then I have to lug it back! And I am planning to go crazy on Abby's album so I do need to be caught up on everything else before I get to Zagreb!
I got a new job beginning this fall! In Zagreb, I will be writing the Zagreb Embassy's weekly community newsletter, which I am very excited about. I get to make a little dough plus work from home, so that will be fun. Plus, it will force me to get out of the house every once in a while and talk to adults which I think will be good for me and keep me from going stir-crazy. Ya'll know me, I can't sit still for long. That'll start when I arrive in September, I guess.
We've had several long weekends lately here - between Easter Monday off, and Italian holidays right and left. We have another one tomorrow - It's Labor Day for Italy. No trips planned though. Pretty much we have turned into homebodies, it's too much trouble to go very far when you have to stop for potty breaks every half hour for the crazy pregnant woman in the car. Mostly we are busy doing dinners with all of our friends here in Rome before we leave.
Oh, cool thing: the law enforcement agencies here at the embassy had an internal open house for our employees, and then raffled prizes off at the end - and I got a Secret Service hat, commemorative coin from the Presidental Protective unit, and a box of chocolates from Air Force One! How cool is that?? Nope, not eating the chocolate - I'd mess up the Air Force One Logo on the packaging. Don't think I didn't think about it though!
Joel wants me to say that he can't wait to get out of here and see everyone back in the US. I agree with him. I think we both could use a bit of home cooking and Americana. Being out of the US has made us extremely proud of being American and more patriotic I think.
And just to update you all on our summer plans: We fly into the DC area for a week or so, then I'm off to Alabama. Joel will jet-set around to Miami and to see me in Auburn before he heads out to Croatia to start work. Then after a few weeks, he'll be back for Abby to be born (hopefully she cooperates) and then goes back to Croatia. Abby and I will follow him when she's about 6 weeks old and the docs give the all clear. Joel will have to deal with the movers and the unpacking by himself this time, hahaha.
Talk to you all soon, hopefully from DC or Alabama or Miami!
Love,
Julie and Joel
(This is the belly shot from last week at 27 weeks). Our next appointment for the baby is May 4 (Tuesday), so we'll let you know how it goes. Abby is doing well as far as I can tell. She responds when we play music and sometimes when Joel talks. She kicks. A lot. And Hard. And she's started doing this freaky rolling around thing. Being pregnant is SOOO weird. I can feel this little alien moving around inside of me and can see it if I watch my belly. It's kind of gross, but cool at the same time. I'm doing fine too. I can tell that I've officially moved into the third trimester. My energy levels have really dropped and I'm back to sleeping all the time again. I could have really used one more month of that 2nd trimester high!As you can imagine, Joel and I are keeping very busy with all of the last minute details of getting ready for our move. I've been going through our apartment room by room, closet by closet (and we have quite a few closets!) throwing stuff out, giving stuff away, figuring out what we might need to get etc. Most of that is done. . . I think. Next week we drive to Zagreb and drop the cats off at a kennel, and leave the car there so Joel will have it when he arrives. Then we take a "sleeper" train back to Rome - just like in the old movies! (Gosh I hope the beds are comfortable!) We switch trains over in Venice, so maybe we'll have enough time to run around sightseeing for a little bit. That's not likely as I don't see me actually "running" anywhere, but we'll see.
This past Thursday we also did our last run to the Naples military base. We ran several errands and took the cats to the vet there to get their shots updated. That didn't go over very well with Obe and Puzza. Puzza hissed so bad, it sounded like he was cussing like a sailor, and afterwards he pouted all day long. Obe actually climbed into Puzza's carrier with him and sat with him, which was really cute. Oh, and little tiny Puzza? Ain't so tiny anymore. When we got him two years ago, he was 3 1/2 pounds. Now he's 17 lbs, 9 oz. Yeah, you read that right. Don't worry, we're already trying to put him on a diet. He runs around a lot already, so exercise isn't a problem. No wonder it was hurting me to pick him up. Obe has actually slimmed down to a lean 14 lbs.
Then of course, we have all the fun "leaving a job" junk that still has to be done. I'm still trying to finish up a couple of little projects and get everything cleaned out and organized in my office. My last day of work is May 26th, and they are definitely not letting me slow down in my last four weeks! I have two workshops, an appreciation lunch, a farewell BBQ for departing employees, and a trip to Pompeii on my calendar - all before May 26th!
My other big project is my scrapbooking. I am desperately trying to catch up as much as possible and actually get these albums DONE before we pack up and leave. Slowly but surely I'm making progress - however, it might not be in the cards to actually complete any of these projects. Well, we'll see. I really don't want to have to bring it home with me this summer to complete because then I have to lug it back! And I am planning to go crazy on Abby's album so I do need to be caught up on everything else before I get to Zagreb!
I got a new job beginning this fall! In Zagreb, I will be writing the Zagreb Embassy's weekly community newsletter, which I am very excited about. I get to make a little dough plus work from home, so that will be fun. Plus, it will force me to get out of the house every once in a while and talk to adults which I think will be good for me and keep me from going stir-crazy. Ya'll know me, I can't sit still for long. That'll start when I arrive in September, I guess.
We've had several long weekends lately here - between Easter Monday off, and Italian holidays right and left. We have another one tomorrow - It's Labor Day for Italy. No trips planned though. Pretty much we have turned into homebodies, it's too much trouble to go very far when you have to stop for potty breaks every half hour for the crazy pregnant woman in the car. Mostly we are busy doing dinners with all of our friends here in Rome before we leave.
Oh, cool thing: the law enforcement agencies here at the embassy had an internal open house for our employees, and then raffled prizes off at the end - and I got a Secret Service hat, commemorative coin from the Presidental Protective unit, and a box of chocolates from Air Force One! How cool is that?? Nope, not eating the chocolate - I'd mess up the Air Force One Logo on the packaging. Don't think I didn't think about it though!
Joel wants me to say that he can't wait to get out of here and see everyone back in the US. I agree with him. I think we both could use a bit of home cooking and Americana. Being out of the US has made us extremely proud of being American and more patriotic I think.
And just to update you all on our summer plans: We fly into the DC area for a week or so, then I'm off to Alabama. Joel will jet-set around to Miami and to see me in Auburn before he heads out to Croatia to start work. Then after a few weeks, he'll be back for Abby to be born (hopefully she cooperates) and then goes back to Croatia. Abby and I will follow him when she's about 6 weeks old and the docs give the all clear. Joel will have to deal with the movers and the unpacking by himself this time, hahaha.
Talk to you all soon, hopefully from DC or Alabama or Miami!
Love,
Julie and Joel
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Happy Easter!
Hello all and Happy Easter!
Joel and I attended Church this morning at St. Andrew's Church of Scotland, a "Presbyterian" church led by a Scottish minister (think heavy accent Aka. Mike Myers). It was nice, and they had a potluck lunch afterwards, and we visited with several folks who were in Rome visiting and dropped into the church for the day also.
Afterwards, (after a much needed potty break for the pregnant woman) we stopped by the park near our house, and took Easter pictures. And Joel got me a pretty Azalea bush from the flower guy on the corner. Rome is practically deserted - there is no one in the parks, no cars on the roads at all. Even for a Sunday, it's crazy quiet.
We're spending the afternoon relaxing on our balcony enjoying the warm sun and just hanging out. I'll go and make our nice Easter dinner eventually, but it's so pretty outside!
The Easter Bunny didn't bring us much candy, because the pregnant woman in the house would have eaten it all way before today. But Joel did get two boxes of Snowcaps
from his sister, Lucy, in Florida. Crazy. $1 worth of candy totally made his day!
I hope all of you are enjoying your Easter as much as we are!
Love,
Julie and Joel
Joel and I attended Church this morning at St. Andrew's Church of Scotland, a "Presbyterian" church led by a Scottish minister (think heavy accent Aka. Mike Myers). It was nice, and they had a potluck lunch afterwards, and we visited with several folks who were in Rome visiting and dropped into the church for the day also.
Afterwards, (after a much needed potty break for the pregnant woman) we stopped by the park near our house, and took Easter pictures. And Joel got me a pretty Azalea bush from the flower guy on the corner. Rome is practically deserted - there is no one in the parks, no cars on the roads at all. Even for a Sunday, it's crazy quiet.
We're spending the afternoon relaxing on our balcony enjoying the warm sun and just hanging out. I'll go and make our nice Easter dinner eventually, but it's so pretty outside!
The Easter Bunny didn't bring us much candy, because the pregnant woman in the house would have eaten it all way before today. But Joel did get two boxes of Snowcaps
from his sister, Lucy, in Florida. Crazy. $1 worth of candy totally made his day!I hope all of you are enjoying your Easter as much as we are!
Love,
Julie and Joel
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
FUNNY: How to Know Whether or Not You Are Ready to Have Kids
Sorry, I just had to share this - it's hilarious!
MESS TEST: Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind
the couch and leave it there all summer.
TOY TEST: Obtain a 55 gallon box of legos (or you may substitute roofing tacks) Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold and try to walk to the bathroom or the kitchen. Do not scream because this would wake a child at night.
GROCERY STORE TEST: Borrow 1 or 2 small animals (goats work best) and take them with you as you shop. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.
DRESSING TEST: Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag
making sure all the arms stay inside.
FEEDING TEST: Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.
NIGHT TEST: Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8 -12lbs. of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 3:00 pm begin to waltz and hum with your bag until 9 pm. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10 pm. Get up, pick up your bag and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until about 4 am. Set alarm for 5 am. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for five years. Look cheerful!
INGENUITY TEST: Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. Now take a toilet paper tube and turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. Use only scotch tape and a piece of foil. Last, take a milk carton, a ping pong ball, and an empty box of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.
AUTOMOBILE TEST: Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a dime and stick it
into the cassette player. Take a family size package of chocolate chip cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There, that should do it.
PHYSICAL TEST: (Women) Obtain a large bean bag chair and attach it to the front
of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans. And try not to notice your closet full of clothes. You won't be wearing them for quite a while.
PHYSICAL TEST: (Men) Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.
FINAL ASSIGNMENT: Find a couple who already have a small child. Lecture them on
how they can improve their disciple patience, tolerance, toilet training, and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they must never allow their child to run wild. Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you have all the answers.
MESS TEST: Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind
the couch and leave it there all summer.
TOY TEST: Obtain a 55 gallon box of legos (or you may substitute roofing tacks) Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold and try to walk to the bathroom or the kitchen. Do not scream because this would wake a child at night.
GROCERY STORE TEST: Borrow 1 or 2 small animals (goats work best) and take them with you as you shop. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.
DRESSING TEST: Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag
making sure all the arms stay inside.
FEEDING TEST: Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.
NIGHT TEST: Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8 -12lbs. of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 3:00 pm begin to waltz and hum with your bag until 9 pm. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10 pm. Get up, pick up your bag and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until about 4 am. Set alarm for 5 am. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for five years. Look cheerful!
INGENUITY TEST: Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. Now take a toilet paper tube and turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. Use only scotch tape and a piece of foil. Last, take a milk carton, a ping pong ball, and an empty box of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.
AUTOMOBILE TEST: Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a dime and stick it
into the cassette player. Take a family size package of chocolate chip cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There, that should do it.
PHYSICAL TEST: (Women) Obtain a large bean bag chair and attach it to the front
of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans. And try not to notice your closet full of clothes. You won't be wearing them for quite a while.
PHYSICAL TEST: (Men) Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.
FINAL ASSIGNMENT: Find a couple who already have a small child. Lecture them on
how they can improve their disciple patience, tolerance, toilet training, and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they must never allow their child to run wild. Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you have all the answers.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
April’s Here and All’s Well!
So the news is true! We had the “official” sonogram and Abby is definitely a girl (good thing too, because I have a lot of pink floating around the house right now). She’s a big baby, weighing about 600 grams at 23 weeks (normal is 500 grams) and is a very active healthy little rugrat. During the sonogram, she wiggled like a worm on a fishing line and it was difficult for the technician to get the pictures she needed. Oh, and apparently I’m a week more along than the doc originally thought, so if you’re keeping track I’ll be at the 25 week mark this Saturday, and my due date is now July 22nd.Abby is also a champion kicker. She is going to be a Rockette one day, I’ve decided. One night she was kicking especially hard when I was lying down in bed. Joel leans over and starts talking to her in Spanish, telling her to calm down. And she started kicking harder! Whether that was because she was excited because her Papi was talking to her; or obstinate because he was telling her to calm down and she didn’t want to, I’m not sure.
So, all this month one of my big projects has been the baby shopping – we’ve bought the car seat and the stroller over here, and ordered the crib over the phone. We I found the layette stuff on sale and it finally arrived yesterday, which was lots of fun. We now have quite a baby stash going.
This Sunday was my Baby shower, which was very nice. It was a “Tea” theme, and one of the gals that threw it for me is a professional pastry chef, so you know we ate a bunch of great stuff! I was practically drunk on sugar by the time we left. We got some cute clothes (pink, of course) and a couple toys.
Other than dealing with baby (yes, I CAN talk about something else hahahaha), our lives are starting to revolve around our departure. We have 56 days and counting left in Rome, so Joel and I have been working our way through all the tasks we have to do to move again. We’ve got a kennel picked out near Zagreb for the cats, and we’re going to drop them off, leave the car in Zagreb, and then take a sleeper train back to Rome. I’ve been spending my time off on the weekends purging the house, going from room to room cleaning junk out and throwing out what I can, organizing everything so it will be easier for the packers to put together.
We will be flying to Washington, DC on May 31st! Then from there on to AL for me and Joel, and then Joel’s off to Zagreb for several weeks. He comes back for a bit when Abby is born and goes back, and Abby and I follow him to Zagreb a bit after that. We are going to have quite a busy summer. We have our time in DC completely planned – Chinese food, Thai food, pancake house, burger joint near Alexandria called 5 guys, Taco Bell, and more Chinese food!
What else have we done this month? Joel had his birthday; he’s 27 now, the old geezer. We went out to dinner with a bunch of people and had a good time. We weren’t kicked out of the restaurant, so that was a bonus! Hehehe I talked my pastry friend into making Joel’s birthday cake again this year, and I surprised him at his office with it. It was great – and lasted about ten minutes before it was demolished.
Joel also played in a basketball tournament with the Embassy guys against the other embassies, and the team is very excited because they came in 4th. Now I won’t point out that that it was 4th out of 6 teams, and they got 4th by default because one team forfeited the last game and another got disqualified. But our guys are still very proud of being 4th place, and they get trophies.
I wish I could say my job is winding down but it’s going full throttle. In March we had a huge Departure Seminar for everyone who is leaving this year. It was a great success, and really helpful. The Annual Community Auction was this past weekend and raised a lot of money for next year for community events and stuff. Tip if you ever do a fundraiser and want people to spend money: Get Them Smashed. It was a crazy night. I also dressed up and wore a dress, and apparently looked HUGE. People kept rubbing the belly like I had a neon sign saying, for a wish, rub here. It was so weird.
The rest of April is going to fly by. I’ve got a couple of functions for work this month, and we are doing a group tour of the Vatican this month. Joel has his last poker night this weekend, and we are going to head back to the Naples PX Sunday to stock up at the military base for Zagreb. We’re also starting to get invited to dinner by folks before we leave. Except for Easter weekend, we’re pretty much booked solid. I don’t plan to leave my house that whole Easter weekend if I can help it. I know we won’t have any other peace and quiet between now and the time we get on that plane.
So that’s it for this month. I’m doing good, and Abby’s doing great. Joel’s putting up with his beautiful, pregnant, hormonal wife, and being pretty great about it, especially when I freak out because I can’t find “the” stroller.
We’ll talk to you soon!
Love,
Julie, Joel, and little Abby
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Junior Now Has a Name!
Guess what!!!!!
It’s a Girl!!!!!
The doc is 90% sure, he says that if was going to be a boy, "something" should have shown up by now in one of the ultrasounds! (He's German, so he's very proper.) And yes, I walked directly out of the doctor’s office and right into a baby store and bought a little pink outfit! I have it hanging up on my bulletin board in my office right now.
So, everyone, say hello to:
Abigail Celia Mendez!
Here’s her little outfit hanging up in my office!
So that's all the news for today! Joel and I are estatic and bouncing off the walls!
Love,
Julie and Joel
Thursday, March 02, 2006
March - and the Rome Countdown has begun!
Well, as of March 1, we have 90 days until we leave Rome! Joel and I are bogged down in the all the complicated processes of trying to plan a move and switching countries already! And of course, throwing a pregnant woman having a baby right in the middle makes life a little more exciting.
So for February, the embassy world in Italy was all about the Olympics. I'm really glad they're over! This was not a big month for us at home - we had to stay around town "just in case," which never materialized, thank God.
I did get to see the First Lady though, which was very cool, but I did not get to shake her hand or have my picture taken with her, so that is really a bummer. Not for lack of trying though! I got in a few "side" pictures, which I guess will have to be good enough for now. (That's me in the center with the blue shirt.) Oh, well, one day. Oh, and Carrie Shrug and Dorothy Hamill were there too, and I didn't get my picture taken with them either. Stinks.
So what else happened in February? Oh we did have the Chili night which was a lot of fun. I had some of the best cornbread EVER, next to Granny Andrews' cornbread, of course. Junior seemed to like the chili, amazingly enough. And my partner and I have been working on this "Departure Guide" for our Departure Seminar coming up in two weeks. Amazing how such a simple project can turn into a huge monstrosity. It's now about 63 pages long, and we are just praying at this point that it's done. (Being reviewed at the moment.) Oh and they finally did the interviews for our replacements this summer, but it hasn't been announced yet.
Baby News: No, we don't know what it is yet. Do you think we could have kept that quiet a whole month if we did? What we do know is that Junior is a Boxer. At our last appointment, he/she was just punching away and dancing a jig a the same time! As soon as the doctor brought the camera-thing around, Junior seemed to know what we were doing, and turned around and refused to move and show us the goods for the rest of the visit. Completely annoying. Of course, Joel would say it gets its stubbornness from his/her mother. I say someone's father has got a bit of a hidden stubborn streak himself.
Want to join in the Baby Pool? (yeah it's amazing what's online now-a days.) Go to: http://www.ExpectNet.com, Game name: WhatsJuniorMendez. Enter in your choices.
Joel and I have been working quite a bit on the baby stuff this month, trying to figure out all the fun paperwork details it takes to bring a rugrat into this world and get it on a plane and into another country at the age of 6-8 weeks. Plus, we're starting to work on all the fun other details of our move. We think that we've got our house assignment for Croatia, but we haven't got any pictures or anything official yet - just stuff through the grapevine.
Oh, and here is a different picture of Junior at 18 weeks! Yeah, mom had to get into the picture, too! And yeah, I am pooching way out there now. The Italians at work come up and talk to me about "il bambino" in Italian. (Il bambino, come va? - The baby, how is he? I respond, Lei e bene. She is well. Qui e? What is it? Non lo so. I don't know.)
So here's the deal: our next appointment is next Tuesday, the 7th. Will you all please join me in negotiating with Junior to face front and show us the goods? I keep telling him/her that there will be no cool things in the nursery if I don't find out which gender to buy for (Bribery is starting early!). I'm also trying guilt. I'm a mom now, so I can, right? hahaha
March for us is packed full of work, work, and more work. Joel just seems to run around like a chicken with his head cut off, he stays so busy. (He stops in every once in a while to lecture me on eating lunch.) And unfortunately, it looks like I'll be running around like that this month, too. We have the a trip to the Naples military base, the Departure Seminar, the Regional Education Director's visit, a small Orientation session, the Community Auction, and zillion "important" meetings that everyone has all decided we just have to be at. I'd like to say that April is going to slow down, but that would probably jinx us.
We're counting down the days til we're back in the States and hopefully we'll get to see many of you again! You might have to come to me though, I think I'll be stuck in one spot for a while this summer!
Love,
Julie and Joel
So for February, the embassy world in Italy was all about the Olympics. I'm really glad they're over! This was not a big month for us at home - we had to stay around town "just in case," which never materialized, thank God.
I did get to see the First Lady though, which was very cool, but I did not get to shake her hand or have my picture taken with her, so that is really a bummer. Not for lack of trying though! I got in a few "side" pictures, which I guess will have to be good enough for now. (That's me in the center with the blue shirt.) Oh, well, one day. Oh, and Carrie Shrug and Dorothy Hamill were there too, and I didn't get my picture taken with them either. Stinks.So what else happened in February? Oh we did have the Chili night which was a lot of fun. I had some of the best cornbread EVER, next to Granny Andrews' cornbread, of course. Junior seemed to like the chili, amazingly enough. And my partner and I have been working on this "Departure Guide" for our Departure Seminar coming up in two weeks. Amazing how such a simple project can turn into a huge monstrosity. It's now about 63 pages long, and we are just praying at this point that it's done. (Being reviewed at the moment.) Oh and they finally did the interviews for our replacements this summer, but it hasn't been announced yet.
Baby News: No, we don't know what it is yet. Do you think we could have kept that quiet a whole month if we did? What we do know is that Junior is a Boxer. At our last appointment, he/she was just punching away and dancing a jig a the same time! As soon as the doctor brought the camera-thing around, Junior seemed to know what we were doing, and turned around and refused to move and show us the goods for the rest of the visit. Completely annoying. Of course, Joel would say it gets its stubbornness from his/her mother. I say someone's father has got a bit of a hidden stubborn streak himself.Want to join in the Baby Pool? (yeah it's amazing what's online now-a days.) Go to: http://www.ExpectNet.com, Game name: WhatsJuniorMendez. Enter in your choices.
Joel and I have been working quite a bit on the baby stuff this month, trying to figure out all the fun paperwork details it takes to bring a rugrat into this world and get it on a plane and into another country at the age of 6-8 weeks. Plus, we're starting to work on all the fun other details of our move. We think that we've got our house assignment for Croatia, but we haven't got any pictures or anything official yet - just stuff through the grapevine.
Oh, and here is a different picture of Junior at 18 weeks! Yeah, mom had to get into the picture, too! And yeah, I am pooching way out there now. The Italians at work come up and talk to me about "il bambino" in Italian. (Il bambino, come va? - The baby, how is he? I respond, Lei e bene. She is well. Qui e? What is it? Non lo so. I don't know.)So here's the deal: our next appointment is next Tuesday, the 7th. Will you all please join me in negotiating with Junior to face front and show us the goods? I keep telling him/her that there will be no cool things in the nursery if I don't find out which gender to buy for (Bribery is starting early!). I'm also trying guilt. I'm a mom now, so I can, right? hahaha
March for us is packed full of work, work, and more work. Joel just seems to run around like a chicken with his head cut off, he stays so busy. (He stops in every once in a while to lecture me on eating lunch.) And unfortunately, it looks like I'll be running around like that this month, too. We have the a trip to the Naples military base, the Departure Seminar, the Regional Education Director's visit, a small Orientation session, the Community Auction, and zillion "important" meetings that everyone has all decided we just have to be at. I'd like to say that April is going to slow down, but that would probably jinx us.
We're counting down the days til we're back in the States and hopefully we'll get to see many of you again! You might have to come to me though, I think I'll be stuck in one spot for a while this summer!
Love,
Julie and Joel
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
January is over, February has begun!
So we are finally through January. This month went really fast, and all of the sudden I am overwhelmed by the mental lists of everything I need to get done before we pack out and leave Rome early this summer.
Oh, and January also marked the end of the morning sickness, praise be to God.
(This picture is Junior at 12 weeks.)
The last doctor's appointment went well. Junior has two halves to his/her brain and a stomach and sleeps with his/her arm over his/her head like Joel. And is stubborn like his/her mama, because we couldn't see what he/she is yet. (Well, it was a little early yet. Hopefully Junior doesn't get his/her Mama's lack of patience.) We have another appointment in a week or two, so I'm really hoping we get to see the goods then, as I am just dying from the not knowing. Did I say hopefully Junior doesn't get my lack of patience?
(This is me and Junior this week - at 15 weeks. I am really sticking out now and am definitely getting big!)
Bets are being taken around the embassy if Junior is a he or she, and everyone has different theories - from the way I'm carrying to looking at the Chinese calendar.
The time I spent propped on the couch this month has been on the net, investigating baby STUFF. Oh my gosh, it's crazy out there. Do you know they have invented baby LUGGAGE? Complete with individual compartments for baby shoes, etc. And I was pregnant-brained just enough to have it on my list for about ten minutes because well, we travel a lot, so of course Junior is going to need luggage. Yeah, haha, until I saw the price and realized I'd be carrying another piece of luggage on top of my own, and a baby and a car seat all on the plane. Thank goodness my sanity returned.
And to prove I can talk about something besides the baby:
In between the billion holidays we had in January (we get both Italian and US, so that is really cool some months) Joel and I have kept busy with work. My job was re-announced because they are hoping to get someone in it in time for me to train them before I leave. And we had our annual Volunteerism Week and Volunteer Appreciation lunch. We also had a "State of the CLO" Town Hall, where we told everyone what we had been up to for the past 6 months.
Life around the embassy is picking up speed the closer we have gotten to the Olympics, and looks like it will consume the month of February. I'm not expecting to see Joel much this month. Oh guess what? The Today Show is coming to Rome next Monday! If I can sneak out of the office, a couple of us are thinking of going and trying to get on.
In my down time, I've been desperately trying to work on my scrapbooking and get caught up on everything before we pack up in May. Right now the wedding album is spread out across the dining room table. Joel hates it, but I've just finished the pictures of the ceremony, and have yet to even start looking at the reception! In other words, I've got a long way to go, and it looks like this wedding album is going to at least be a Volume 1 and 2. I'm looking forward to having this done because soon it's going to be time to start the baby album (see it all gets back to the baby somehow.)
We went out to an Indian restaurant with a bunch of friends, and it was sooo good. I love Indian food. Currently Junior hates marshmallows and only sometimes likes chicken. It's something about the texture I think. Cravings kind of go all over the place, but are mainly Americana type food - yesterday it was pancakes and French toast. McDonald's seems to be a favorite too.
Also in February is our annual Chili Night, and our American Breakfast Fundraiser (hence the French toast cravings). My partner and I are also working heavily on all of the newcomers for this summer, and getting all of that set up. And this website project that she and I have been working on for months has finally gone live, which is a huge accomplishment and a big deal for our embassy, so I'm excited about that.
That's all from Rome for now. It's been yucky and rainy and cold here this month. I'm starting to get a bit of cabin fever, which I'm sure will be around for a couple more months at least.
Talk to all of you soon!
Love,
Julie and Joel
Oh, and January also marked the end of the morning sickness, praise be to God.
(This picture is Junior at 12 weeks.)
The last doctor's appointment went well. Junior has two halves to his/her brain and a stomach and sleeps with his/her arm over his/her head like Joel. And is stubborn like his/her mama, because we couldn't see what he/she is yet. (Well, it was a little early yet. Hopefully Junior doesn't get his/her Mama's lack of patience.) We have another appointment in a week or two, so I'm really hoping we get to see the goods then, as I am just dying from the not knowing. Did I say hopefully Junior doesn't get my lack of patience?
(This is me and Junior this week - at 15 weeks. I am really sticking out now and am definitely getting big!)Bets are being taken around the embassy if Junior is a he or she, and everyone has different theories - from the way I'm carrying to looking at the Chinese calendar.
The time I spent propped on the couch this month has been on the net, investigating baby STUFF. Oh my gosh, it's crazy out there. Do you know they have invented baby LUGGAGE? Complete with individual compartments for baby shoes, etc. And I was pregnant-brained just enough to have it on my list for about ten minutes because well, we travel a lot, so of course Junior is going to need luggage. Yeah, haha, until I saw the price and realized I'd be carrying another piece of luggage on top of my own, and a baby and a car seat all on the plane. Thank goodness my sanity returned.
And to prove I can talk about something besides the baby:
In between the billion holidays we had in January (we get both Italian and US, so that is really cool some months) Joel and I have kept busy with work. My job was re-announced because they are hoping to get someone in it in time for me to train them before I leave. And we had our annual Volunteerism Week and Volunteer Appreciation lunch. We also had a "State of the CLO" Town Hall, where we told everyone what we had been up to for the past 6 months.
Life around the embassy is picking up speed the closer we have gotten to the Olympics, and looks like it will consume the month of February. I'm not expecting to see Joel much this month. Oh guess what? The Today Show is coming to Rome next Monday! If I can sneak out of the office, a couple of us are thinking of going and trying to get on.
In my down time, I've been desperately trying to work on my scrapbooking and get caught up on everything before we pack up in May. Right now the wedding album is spread out across the dining room table. Joel hates it, but I've just finished the pictures of the ceremony, and have yet to even start looking at the reception! In other words, I've got a long way to go, and it looks like this wedding album is going to at least be a Volume 1 and 2. I'm looking forward to having this done because soon it's going to be time to start the baby album (see it all gets back to the baby somehow.)
We went out to an Indian restaurant with a bunch of friends, and it was sooo good. I love Indian food. Currently Junior hates marshmallows and only sometimes likes chicken. It's something about the texture I think. Cravings kind of go all over the place, but are mainly Americana type food - yesterday it was pancakes and French toast. McDonald's seems to be a favorite too.
Also in February is our annual Chili Night, and our American Breakfast Fundraiser (hence the French toast cravings). My partner and I are also working heavily on all of the newcomers for this summer, and getting all of that set up. And this website project that she and I have been working on for months has finally gone live, which is a huge accomplishment and a big deal for our embassy, so I'm excited about that.
That's all from Rome for now. It's been yucky and rainy and cold here this month. I'm starting to get a bit of cabin fever, which I'm sure will be around for a couple more months at least.
Talk to all of you soon!
Love,
Julie and Joel
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Goodby 2005! Happy 2006 from the Mendezes!
Hi all!
Yes, I didn't send out a blog last month. I tried, wrote the whole thing out, and then the darn thing didn't save, and I was just too pooped to write the whole thing over again.
To catch up from my last email - November was good, my dress DID arrive in time for the Marine Ball, and looked fantastic. I LOVE Ebay, got my fabulous dress for like $50. And it arrived about 24 hours before I had to wear it, AND it fit. Barely, but I'm not complaining. I just didn't breathe much that night. Oh, and I got an award from the Marines that night - a Certificate of Appreciation, but it was still cool.
After the Marine Ball came Thanksgiving, with 10 people at my house. I spent a week cooking. And we also went on wine day trip with my job.
Oh wait, there was just one little thing between the Marine Ball and Thanksgiving.
Some of you might had already heard about this, because Joel and I stink at keeping secrets. (all right, I stink at keeping secrets.)
Joel and I found out that a little junior Mendez will be joining us next summer. July 29th approximately. Yep, read that again, you heard me! Yes, we're thrilled and excited. And Joel is arguing with me about nutrition and vitamins and all that junk. (No, I didn't drink wine on the wine trip. I was trying too hard not to puke from motion sickness on the bus.)
So, anyways, back to the story. To me, Thanksgiving was all about trying to cook this smorgasbord of food for 10 people and not hurl from the smell of turkey, and trying to act perky while everyone was at the house, hoping no one would notice. But everyone had a great time and enjoyed hanging out. So much, I barely could rid of them that evening, so I could sleep.
We started letting the news slip a few weeks after that, once we went to the first doctor's appointment and saw the heartbeat. Let me tell you, that is SOOOOOOOOO cool. And another cool thing about Italy - they do sonograms at every visit, so I will get a new picture of the baby every month. I'm about 10 weeks right now, and according to the books, the baby has ears and can hear us talk to it now, and had organs and is growing bones and stuff. It's gross, but have you ever thought of growing bones? It's just disgusting enough to be cool.And to answer all questions, I will be back in the States to have the baby, and yes we plan to find out the sex. We have already picked out names, but we are not telling the names until we find out - who knows when we will need the other name?? And we made the doctor check VERY closely - there's only one in there, no twins.
And our doctor's visit was on my 30th birthday - yes, the big 3-0, so that was a pretty darn cool birthday present.
We also went to go visit Zagreb, Croatia, the week before Christmas. That's where we will be moving next summer after Rome. And I think we are really going to like it there. Nice little city, quiet (compared to Rome) and I think a good place to raise little kids.
Christmas was quiet and almost boring. Since I don't do anything else but sleep it seems, we woke up to open presents, I slept on the couch, woke up to make Christmas dinner, laid back on the couch, and that's about it. Joel played with his toys all day - Santa brought him an IPod. Don't worry, I racked up some nice gifts too. I got a nice flatscreen monitor for my desktop. I had my first major hurling experience with dessert that day. Oh well. Junior DOES NOT like blackberry cobbler.
Today is New Years Eve, and I hope all of you have exciting thrilling plans. I'll be sleeping because that's all I do. I will be glad when this first trimester mess is over. I don't fit in my own clothes already and am starting to move into bigger clothes.
We don't many big plans for January. Another doctor's visit, and a couple small events for work.
Don't forget to make your New Year's Resolutions for 2006. And you have one more day to complete any you didn't finish. I plan to scrapbook today as much as I can - I'm really far by hand on my scrapbooking.
So that's it for us this month. Talk to you all soon!
Love,
Julie and Joel
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