We have lots to be thankful for this year, including this little munchkin!
Foreign Service Life
“Hey, where are we? Who are all these other babies? I’m going to be extra cute to make sure I get noticed!” “This yoga stuff is a piece of cake. All I have to do is lay here...
One of the biggest things that has surprised me about Motherhood is how draining simple things like diapering, feeding and rocking can be. None of them requires much brainpower, but the energy...
Friday was a big day for little Nia. It was her first visit to see Dr. Tonnie. As many of you know, I’ve been doing Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) with Tonnie for several years now. My work with...
Since Nia and I are spending Christmas Day with Nick in DC, we celebrated early with the Miller family. Nia was the belle of the ball in her new Christmas dress (and by new I mean ‘new to...
It was a very DC Christmas for us this year. Nick wasn’t allowed to take any vacation days during his language training, so we spent the holiday in DC instead of traveling to see our families...
Much like Christmas, our New Year’s Celebration had a bit of a different feel to it this year. The biggest difference would be that it all took place on New Year’s Eve DAY since we knew...
When we’re in the States, it’s easy to get lulled into the familiar routine and forget that we’re heading back overseas soon. By the time we leave in May, I’ll have been here...
So we started at the gym this week. I was beyond excited to find a place that would accept an 10-week-old. I’m allowed to leave her for one hour, which is the perfect amount of time for me to...
Big week in the Novak house – Nia has learned to roll at 14 weeks old! What amuses us most about this is that she has to get really agitated before she’ll start contorting her body enough...
We are pleased to report that we made it (mostly unscathed) through the first 100 days with our little one. We attribute our success to 1.) Our parents’ assistance, 2.) Caffeine and 3.) These 5...
We’ve hit the 4 month mark! We celebrated this milestone by retiring the first of our 3-6 month clothes that she’s already outgrown. Our little girl is growing steadily –...
In the life of a Foreign Service Spouse, there are certain involuntary breath-holding moments that occur in response to the ambiguity of this lifestyle. One of those moments is the day you get a post...
Had to share these adorable photos from a fantastic week with Grandpa and Grandma Novak! We are so lucky that they’re willing to travel all the way from Oregon to see us!
Nia and I recently started attending Mommy & Me Movie Days at the Regal Potomac Yard Theater in Alexandria (now closed). They take place every other Tuesday for the first showing of the day...
Well, here she is in all her drooling glory! We garnered quite a few looks from the passing Business People as we went about our afternoon ‘photo shoot’ in front of an office building...
Here’s Nia doing her new favorite thing – playing with her feet! I found these great Lamaze “Feet Finder” rattles to make her play twice as fun…
Tonight we had our first go at solid foods. Nia sampled both pureed Pears and a Mum Mum, which is a Rice Paper flatbread. Nia made a big ole mess and wasn’t too sure what she thought about it...
Greetings all – We’re less than 30 days out from Peru now and the reason you never hear from me is that every spare moment is going into our pack-out preparations. Any advantage...
We’ve got new tricks to show off. In video 1 – pushing up onto our hind legs. In video 2 – “fake chewing”.
So, my subject wasn’t into our 6 month photo shoot. She was too distracted by the sound of all that rushing water behind her. Mistake number two was shooting at 3 o’clock in the...
It was a wild weekend here on the home front. We are a mere one week from our international move now and for some reason (back in January) we thought it’d be a grand idea to schedule...
Well, what do you know?! It’s Moving Day at Apartamento Novak! We are not-so-patiently awaiting the arrival of the movers, at which point chaos will ensue. Here’s a snapshot of what our...
Hola from Peru! It’s been a chaotic 48 hours of transit and orientation to our new home. I had forgotten how humbling it is to struggle with communication and completing basic tasks. That being...
You know me, I’m not much for wasting time. Might as well just jump right in. I woke up Friday morning feeling energized and ready to see the town. Nia and I started our day with a walk to a...
As I’ve mentioned before, Nia is VERY popular here. Almost too popular, if I’m being honest (although who am I to shy away from attention). This outpouring of love for her shows up in a...
On Thursday Nia and I took our first taxi cab ride (our car won’t get here for three more months). Sounds simple, but as with most things in a 3rd world country, it proves to be far more...
Well folks. One week down, 103 to go. As with any new place I arrive in, there’s always a few things I love, a few things I hate and a few things that just make me scratch my head in...
Can you believe it? Little Nia is 7 months old! Where did the time go… My little girl is getting big – and FEISTY! :) She refused to sit or lay on her back long enough for me to get more...
Hola Blog Readers — Hope you had a wonderful, relaxing Memorial Day Weekend (for those who celebrate it). We were initially going to go away this weekend for our first official getaway but...
Today I’d like to tell you a little story. Once upon a time there was a girl named Sarita. Sarita began taking Spanish as a freshman in High School. She initially loved the subject, dreaming...
So, so proud of Mr. Nicholas. Yesterday he found out that he got tenured, which essentially means he can’t get canned (unless he does something so bad he loses his security clearance). When you...
This week might as well have been called the “Week of Gluttony”. I swear, all we did was eat amazing food. It started back on Monday with our lunch date at Pescados Capitales. As...
I am trying so, so hard NOT to compare everything here to the Philippines. And the harder I try not to, the more I miss the Phils. The funny thing is, I really like Lima. It’s just not Manila...
This week’s Saturday date coincided with an Embassy-planned outing to La Mar Cevicheria. Instead of going solo, we met up with 10 other ceviche-lovers at what could arguably be called the most...
I was more than a little nervous to start up Spanish classes again. I mean two hours a day, five days a week is a LOT of Spanish. That two hours could really go by slowly, especially if I’m...
At every post with a hardship designation, there is inevitably something that the Security Team scares the bejeezus out of us about (with the intent of keeping us safer, of course). They go over-the...
We’ve been in Lima for over a month now and decided it was high time we did some ‘touristy’ stuff and saw the rest of the city! We picked the oh-so-popular Turibus Tour (complete...
A little something new from Ms. Nia that we have termed “Lizard Tongue”…
My first month of Spanish came to an end today. The sad part is that most of these amazing people won’t be in my next class (they’re staying in the morning, I’m going to try...
These are about 10 days late – oops! She’s definitely starting to explore her world, as reflected in these photos.
This video is dedicated to Auntie Emily, who has been begging and begging to see footage of Nia on the move!
I woke up on my birthday in a foul mood. I had decided in advance that it was going to be a crap b-day because: a.) My bday fell on a Monday this year b.) I have no friends here yet (please note the...
My daughter is a drama queen. Drama queen with a CAPITAL D. Her intensity is unparalleled. She can go from dawn to dusk and has recently decided that she isn’t interested in sleeping (LUCKY US)...
Peru’s Independence Day is coming up on July 28th. People have been showing their pride all month long, with many wearing pins, some adorning their car with a flag and EVERY house putting up a...
No, we’re not leaving the country, but we are moving to a new place in Lima. We were very lucky to have a great condo in the heart of Manila for our first tour and were totally digging our...
“Hollywood has its film stars. We have our cooks and Mistura is like the Oscars.” Guess who has tickets to this food festival in September??? It will surely be the highlight of my...