Ian Alexander- 5mos old

Ian, you are 5 months old!!

Ian, you turned 5 months old on Easter! You are wearing 6-9mos clothes and size 3 diapers! I'm unsure of your exact weight, but I'm estimating right around 16 pounds, give or take a pound. You are still exclusively breastfed and nurse about 5 times a day for 15minutes or so, usually to fall asleep. You take a morning nap around 9:30am for about an hour, then a longer afternoon nap from about 1pm-3:30pm. Sometimes you take an evening nap around 7pm, and then down for the night around 9:30pm. You usually wake up around 3am to nurse, and then we end up co-sleeping into the morning. You are cuddly and affectionate!!

One thing we have been dealing with is attachment issues. You are a mama's boy for sure!! You do not like to be put down, especially by mom, and you will cry until you are picked back up..by mom only. We got you a little activity car that you sit in that you seem to like at least for a little bit. You've outgrown your activity mat because you roll all over!! For Easter you got a foam ABC mat that will be easier for you to roll around on. One other thing to note this month is your skin issues. You have super sensitive skin, like mama. We had to try out multiple sunscreens to find out what works for you. Your poor eyes would get red, puffy and watery and you'd get red blotches all over. Turns out just plain Zinc Oxide is the best for your skin. It is thick, but does the job.

Overall, it has been another great month with you. You really are a wonderful baby and make us so happy! You have officially lived in St. Maarten longer than the United States so I guess that makes you a true island baby :) We love you, Ian!!





Easter Weekend

Happy Easter from the Marshalls in St. Maarten!

 

Saturday the Spouses Organization put on a great Easter celebration for the island kids. There was egg dying, build your own peep house and finished off with an egg hunt at the school's playground. I feel so thankful to be a part of the Spouses Org, and like to participate in just about everything. All the spouses on the board serve a great role in making all spouses and families feel welcome here on the island. Holidays in particular can feel lonely..you're not around extended family, doing normal traditions, etc., but being around our new "island family" lessens that sad feeling.

Speaking of island family, our friends Robert and Gozzie came over Saturday evening for some card games, and adult beverages after the kids went to sleep. I may have had one glass of wine too many and serenaded our guests with country music with full on country twang. Good times ;)

Sunday morning Bradley and Ian woke up extra early (7am ouch) and we headed downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny brought. We are not a religious family, so Easter has become quite the commercialized holiday, but it's all fun.

The rest of the afternoon was spent down by the pool while Jordan went to study. We took the bubble wand that Bradley got in his basket and blew bubbles and enjoyed the sunshine. Our hometown of Wichita received 3" of snow for Easter morning! I'll take sunshine over snow any day.

Another great weekend documented on this medical school adventure on this beautiful island!

 



 



Zumba @ AUC

After 11 weeks of saying, "I'm going to go to zumba..." I finally made it..twice! Five (5?! Where does the time go?!) years ago I was going to Zumba religiously 2x a week. Two kids later...I decided to give it another go. I'm still uncoordinated, but it's still fun. I'd be lying if I said my knees didn't hurt this morning though!

AUC offers a Zumba class Mondays and Wednesdays from 7pm-8pm. Now, having 2 kids and a husband who studies 12+ hours a day it is challenging to get out of the house, but luckily Jordan understands my NEED for that hour. Ian is...well, to not beat around the bush, ATTACHED. And Bradley is three if you catch my drift. I NEED that hour.

I also need to lose weight. I'm currently 47lbs way from a weight I feel more comfortable at. It's definitely harder this time around postpartum to lose the weight. I had lost the weight plus some with Bradley in no time flat. It's hard, living on an island, where you're in a swimsuit at least 4x a week if you don't feel comfortable! I will get there though..one pound at a time.

Post Block Pool Party + Orient Bay Beach

If you follow me or Jordan on FB you know that we hosted a post block pool party this past Saturday. I use the term "hosted" lightly because it was a potluck and we all just gathered at our complex's pool. I made this pasta salad, and there we tons of other food- cupcakes, brownies, cookies, chips...and adult drinks. We ended up being out at the pool for 4 hours! It was so nice to be surrounded by genuinely good people. I vote we do this again after every block!

There were more people not pictured

Speaking of blocks...there is only one more block until 1st semester is over!! Hard to believe we've been in St. Maarten for 3 months now! We're looking forward to break. We have family coming into town so I'm trying to plan things to do to maximize our time together before Jordan is back to studying hard for 2nd semester.

Sunday we asked our friend Gozzie if she'd be willing to watch Bradley for a few hours while we went to play Easter bunny and get groceries for the end of the month. What better babysitter then a future pediatrician, huh?! I would have left Ian, but..I only have 4oz of frozen breastmilk and he is super clingy to me at the moment. Anyway, we were able to find good Easter gifts for both boys under $50, get groceries AND stop by Sarafina's for some treats for us and Gozzie all in about 3 hours..that's record island time! 

Since we had a car rented already we decided to not let it go to waste. We headed to a beach, Nettle Bay, that we always pass on the French side that I've been wanting to check out.

We quickly realized this wasn't quite the beach for us! It's very...posh. We immediately felt out of place. Then I saw the sign "Nudist Beach" and decided it was probably time to go. For the record, I honestly don't care about naked people on the beach. I don't even really censor my children, because I want to teach them that there are different cultures, types of people etc., but I knew we could find a more family friendly environment.

Which we did! We ended up at Orient Bay Beach, which is much bigger with tons of things to do. There was a small playground (like a swingset that you'd see in backyards in the states) for Bradley, volleyball nets, surfers, parasailing..just a really fun atmosphere. We stayed until 5pm. The boys were both so tired.

It was a GREAT weekend!! 

Block 3, St. Patrick's Day & Super U

Last week was Block 3 and Jordan was tucked away, studying hard. His hard work paid off again!! He passed all tests with awesome scores. We are so proud of him! Third block down, 1 to go until the end of the 1st semester. It's been great. Of course, there are challenges living on an island, but there are anywhere you live. I'm enjoying this time in our lives as our kids are young and energetic and staying positive through it all. I think that is key to success to island living. Our house is a "NO NEGATIVITY" home!!
This week was spent playing outside. Sunday evening we were so stir crazy that we ended up playing at the AUC playground for 2 hours!! Luckily there were some other families there for Bradley to play with. I put Ian in the swing for the first time too! He wasn't a fan :)

 We also went to the pool twice, because the daytime has been HOT! Evenings are great..the weather dips to about 75 degrees so we have been sleeping with our windows open which is awesome. Thursday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with matching green shirts. I remember when I bought the shirts last summer on clearance after I found out I was pregnant with boy #2 I was so excited for them to wear them for St. Patrick's Day. I LOVE matching them!! 

Today my friend Christel was gracious enough to take us to a grocery store, SuperU, on the French side. I have been wanting to try it out, but have been to intimidated, because...well everything is in French! But I've heard it greatly helps with the budget, and everyone knows the med school budget (especially in St. Maarten) is tight so I was willing to check it out! Right now the Euro is 1=$1 and they accept the $USD so it wasn't any issue figuring out prices. On the Dutch side of the island everything is priced in Gilders so you have to do the price conversion. Anyway! Christel was kind enough to show me the ropes around the store..what's a good deal, etc. It won't be a place where I get weekly groceries, but it is great for "fillers" like snacks for Bradley, yogurt, frozen vegetables, etc. I was able to get a cart full for $37. There is also a bakery right next door with French pastries for .90 cents. They smelled so good..of course we had to get some! We love St. Maarten.

Sand Castle Contest

Last week the Spouses Organization announced that there would be a sand castle contest! I told Bradley about it and asked him if he'd like to be on my team; he was so excited. We spent quite a bit of time looking on Google images of sand castles and sculptures. Finally we decided on building a town with his train track around it. Easy enough!

All ready to head to the contest!

We rode with our friends Chioma and Ugo to Kimsha beach for the contest because Mullet Bay was way too wavy. It is so nice hanging out with people that you genuinely enjoy their company!

We had fun! I'm not typically a huge fan of sand, but anything for my big boy. Unfortunately we didn't place in the contest, but just being at the beach with my boys and new friends is a win for me! 

Baked Spaghetti

I wanted to share a recipe I've made once a week since we've been here. It's a crowd pleaser!! No..it isn't Paleo, or low carb, like I've been trying my hardest to eat, but it is delicious..so there's that :) Also, affordable and easy. I need easy. and affordable :)

Baked Spaghetti

ingredients:

• 16oz spaghetti noodles (I can barely find wheat pasta on the island so I just use regular spaghetti noodles for .88 cents)
• 48oz of spaghetti sauce of choice
• 2C Mozzarella cheese
• 1 8oz package of cream cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Drain.

Heat the sauce in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the cream cheese and stir until melted. Pour pasta and sauce into an oven-safe baking dish and mix well.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake until the sauce is thick and the cheese is melted, 10 to 15 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Family Day at Friar's Bay 3/5/16

Well Block III week is here which means Jordan is studying even harder then he has the past 3 weeks. This means we see him for lunch and dinner only. On a usual week he will help me with giving the boys a bath one night, or even staying home to put Bradley to bed one night, etc, but not block week. So thankfully we took a family day on Saturday for a little mental health day :)
I googled "best beaches in St. Maarten for kids" and Friar's Bay kept popping up. The Spouses Organization had a beach day there earlier last month, but we were unable to go due to a lack of car. Now that we were renting a car I knew I wanted to check it out. We drove to the French side because the Heineken Regatta was going on and there were going to be bridge closures that I wanted to avoid. First we had lunch at the McDonald's. Sometimes you just need a taste of "home." The French Mcdonalds takes 3 different currencies! There was a playplace that Bradley wanted to play in. The kids were speaking french and Bradley came up to me very concerned that he couldn't understand them. I told him that even though he spoke english and the other kids spoke french they still wanted to play with him! Then he went about running and going down the slide like there wasn't a language barrier at all. That's the great thing about kids..they are innocent and unbiased. I personally love that we have this opportunity on the island to learn different cultures.
Anyway, afterwards we headed to Friar's Bay which was close nearby. But first we were stopped by 3 cows crossing the road!! Yes! It was a sight to see. 

The thing I liked about Friar's Bay immediately was that it was not tourist-y at all. You are not bombarded by people offering massages, drinks, selling jewelry, etc. You just pick your spot and enjoy the beach. The water was CALM. So beautiful. But it was one of the rockier beaches we've been to. When you first go into the water you have to walk over about 5 steps worth of seashells and rock..once you're past those there wasn't an issue. The water is pretty clea toor..people were practice snorkeling. 
Afterwards we hung out on our sheet we brought for about an hour while we dried off and Bradley collected a pile of rocks. Ian had a mild reaction to some new sunscreen, but thankfully it cleared up. It didn't bother him, but his eyes were red and puffy and he had red splotches on his face and neck. He has very sensitive skin like I do. Poor baby! 

When we were finished at the beach we did our bi-weekly grocery trip. It takes about 2.5 hours to grocery shop! We do bulk shopping at a Cost-u-less then go across the street at the Grande Marche for produce and canned goods. To put into perspective grocery trips prices- $270 at cost u less and $80 at Grande Marche. Groceries are quite a bit more expensive here than in the midwest for a family. I meal plan for 2 weeks- lunches and dinners, and it's been working out well. In addition to our groceries we also shopped for 3 other students. I don't mind doing it..I know they are busy and don't have cars to get to the store. Plus they chip in for the rental car so it's a win-win. See? I'm an entrepreneur in St. Maarten too! 

It was a great day, enjoying the sun, scenery and quality time with Jordan. He's the best.

Ian Alexander- 4 months old

Ian is 4 months old!!

I posted a brief 4 month update on Ian on my personal facebook for family and friends, but decided to write a more in depth post on this sweet baby. We left Kansas when he was only 8 weeks old, so sadly it seems like those closest to us don't really "know" him. Let me just say this..Ian Alexander is the sweetest, most relaxed, happy baby! We are so lucky.
At four months old, Ian weighs right at 15lbs. He is wearing 6 month clothes. He loves to eat! He nurses about 5-6 times a day. He sleeps through the night from about 10pm-6:30am, nurses back to sleep, then wakes up around 8:30. This is perfect because I can get big brother dressed and eating breakfast before he's awake for the day. He sleeps in his pack n' play, but also loves co-sleeping if we let him.

Ian is a pretty attached baby! There are many days that he wants to be held...all..day..long. Sometimes I can get away with cooking and him in the stroller in the kitchen if he can see me, but most of the time he wants to be held or in the Ergo baby carrier. He used to be Mr. Serious, but now gives away smiles all the time. He also coo's and giggles. He is super ticklish!! He loves looking at his brother and Bradley usually gets the best giggles out of him. He doesn't mind Bradley at all, even when I think Brad may be being too rough with him. Also, when Jordan walks in the room all eyes are on him. Sadly, he only prefers to be held and soothed by mom when he's upset.

As for milestones, he's hit quite a few! He found his feet and can roll over from tummy to back. We are still working on back to tummy. He can also grab for toys if you hold them out in front of him. Way to go, Ian!!

Happy 4 months, Ian! We love you so much!

Remember when..

There have been so many moments so far here in St. Maarten that have felt stressful and crazy in the moment, but once they pass we can let out a sigh of relief and smile at when we reflect on it. I'm going to be documenting them so that one day, when we're finally settled down somewhere and Jordan is practicing medicine we can just say "remember when..." and laugh, laugh, laugh. I'm almost positive there will be a "Remember when pt. 2, 3, 4..." to be documented.
Here is the story of our 1st day in St. Maarten. At the time it felt like the most stressful time in our life. Now, it's one of my favorite stories to tell:

I remember when we left Kansas to move to St. Maarten on New Years Eve 2015. I basically cried the entire 6 hour airplane trip. In the weeks leading up to our big move I was so SO ready and anxious to be back with my own family unit in our own place, but I never lead on exactly how nervous and scared I was. We were leaving Kansas and weren't sure when we'd be returning. When we were getting ready to land I felt the tears welling up again, but opened the little airplane window to see the coast and there it was...a rainbow. I immediately felt a peace and calm come over me. I haven't cried, or felt any kind of regret, about our move since.

The plane landed and we went through customs. Then we waited anxiously for all of our luggage. I was worried because some of the families that were already on the island had lost luggage. Luckily we didn't have any issues with our belongings making it. Next thing we know this guy is by us loading up all 6 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, a pack n play, a 2 carseats and starts heading out into the lobby. It happened so fast and we were frazzled! He asks us if we want a taxi, but we had rented a car in a package with our flight, but couldn't remember which company we had rented through. I had only printed our flight iteniery, not one for the car. Anyway, I'm frantically trying to pull up my email on my phone to find the confirmation, but my phone wasn't picking up service yet. Meanwhile the man who had loaded up our luggage was now unloading us on the side of the road until we got our situation under control! Apparently we were taking too long. Of course he wanted a tip, and Jordan only had $20's so the guy got a $20 tip. ugh.

The story gets better...

Jordan leaves me on the side of the load with 350lbs of luggage, a 2 month old baby, and an antsy 3 year old while he goes back inside the airport to all of the car rental counters to see which one had our confirmation. Next thing I know Bradley is dancing around telling me he has to poop! He hadn't gone to the bathroom all day because the airplane bathrooms scared him! Poor guy. So I waved down this lady with a badge..I didn't know if she was the police, security or someone who just bought a badge from the dollar store. I asked her if she could watch our stuff while I found a bathroom for my son. I rushed him into the bathroom. Of course then Ian wanted to nurse so I had to quickly feed him as well. I just knew when I went back outside all of our luggage was going to be GONE! Whew, it was still there. Faith in humanity restored. But Jordan was still no where to be found. I had no way of contacting him either. So we just stood there..and waited. We still had our jeans and jackets on, because we left snow on the ground in Kansas! But it was sunny, hot and humid in St. Maarten. 

After about 20 more minutes Jordan pulls up on the side of the road. Okay, we had rented a SUV. Um no...this rental car was a Kia hatchback. We were lucky to fit 2 suitcases in the back of it! Jordan starts asking around for a taxi because there is no way we can transport all our luggage. Some random guy says, "hey man I have a van. I can follow you to your hotel." Sad thing was..we didn't know where our hotel was! He says, "oh yea I know where that's at! Follow me!" Jordan loads up the rest of our luggage in this guy's van. I'm not sure if he's a professional or just some guy with a van! I didn't feel comfortable riding with him or driving the rental car myself so we just took our chances with this guy. Situation #2 where all our luggage could have been stolen!! We follow him to the hotel and he unloads our stuff, $20 tip #2. We get checked into our hotel, and breathe a sigh of relief, until...

We realize it's New Years Eve and places to eat and stores were closing early! The next day, New Years, everything would be closed for the holiday. We needed to act fast to buy some food or else we would be starving the next day. We went to the asian market and bought some Campbell's Chunky soup, bread and peanut butter and jelly. And that it what we ate for our New Year's Eve dinner.

We were so exhausted by the end of the day that we fell asleep at 8pm, 6pm Kansas time. The kids slept all night. Jordan and I woke up when the fireworks were going off. We hugged each other and watched the fireworks from our hotel balcony. Whew. First day down.

The view from Alegria hotel