Welcome Thumperl!

Um, wow...delay in blogging? Yes, this definitely falls in that category.

A lot has happened since October, and yet not much has happened all at the same time. We took a 3 week vacation to visit Matt's parents in Zambia (and my old stompin' ground after college). Then we went to a meeting in Turkey, where a doctor from the US was concerned about me going into labor early. So we ended up not going back to our country (well, Matt went for 3 days and was able to get some things in order) awaiting the arrival of Thumper.

So now we have another child. Very strange since we left the US 2 1/2 years ago as a couple, and now we  have two little boys. But we'll be back on that side of the ocean later this year to do introductions, and we're really looking forward to that!

"Every birth is different, or so I've been told. And this definitely seems to be the case. When hearing stories of other ladies who have given birth in Turkey, I had my hopes for a speedy, starting-on-its-own delivery."

 This quote is how I started the blog about Michael's delivery. Um, this is exactly what happened this time. And I didn't even remember writing this! Funny how Dad works. He did give me the desires of my heart...15 1/2 months later! :)

Thumper was due March 7. I had been going to checkups every 10 days because of the US doctor's concern about early delivery. At first my doctor didn't see these things, but she kept a close eye on me and did tell me when she saw things that could indicate an early delivery. So I tried to take it easy (between a fabulous husband and an excellent family we were sharing an apartment with, this actually was able to happen most of the time!). On Feb. 17, a Monday, I went in for a checkup. At this point I was past the concern mark and a delivery at any point would be fine and Thumper wouldn't have to go to NICU. My doctor said I wouldn't be making it to 40 weeks, so sometime in the next 2 weeks we would get to meet our 2nd child.

Stereotype? You betcha!

We then headed to the mall as a family of 3 (after going on a hunt for Coldstone Creamery near where we were staying...sadly, it hadn't opened up yet). We walked through the mall after grabbing lunch at the food court (hooray for Arby's!) where I even told Matt that I wasn't mentally prepped for having 2 kids yet. I know, 8 1/2 months of prep time and I hadn't gotten there. Just call me slow.

When going to bed that night, I told Matt that I thought something might be different. There was some mild pain in my lower belly, and it felt different than it had other nights. So I let the flatmates know (by this time there were two other families in the apartment...each family had a bedroom) and promptly fell asleep at 10:30. This was strange because for several nights prior I couldn't fall asleep until sometime after 11.

At 2 I made a bathroom run, then laid in bed for the next 30 minutes rocking myself through pains (at which point you say "Why didn't you call the doctor?" Again...slow.) I wasn't convinced they were real contractions instead of Braxton Hicks. So from 2:30-4:30am, I googled the differences online, timed them, and wrote a couple e-mails. At 4:30 I finally woke up Matt to ask about the cell phone. After a brief moment of tears brought on by nerves, I talked to my doctor who said to go to the hospital and have them check me out. We woke up a flatmate to ask her to keep Michael, and out the door we went (after fumbling around packing the hospital bag in the dark while trying not to wake up Michael...theme of the post: slow.)

She called ahead and apparently told the nurse she expected it to be false labor. After all, she had just seen me less than 24 hours ago! My final words before walking through the hospital doors were to tell Matt that I wanted an epidural. But when the nurse checks you at 5:20 and you're already at 8cm, that goes out the window really quickly.

My doctor got there at 5:40, found me at 9 cm, and broke my water to help hurry things up. Fine by me! Don't know when the pushing started, but it was less than 30 minutes. I kept digging my nails into Matt's hand saying "I don't like this! It hurts!" But at 6:18am, our newest addition completely arrived. Another boy! Matt was pumped because he and one of our flatmates were the only people throughout the entire pregnancy to guess boy. And it made my heart happy to know that Michael would be growing up with a brother close in age to play with.

Helloooooo Samuel!

That said, may we introduce you to Samuel Slayton Mitchell. He was born at 2.805 kg and 50 cm (that's 6 lbs. 3ish oz and about 19.7 in.). And for those of you wondering, Michael made the adjustment quite well and either ignores or tries to care for his younger brother. Couldn't have imagined that going as smoothly as it has.

Pardon Matt's crazy eyes...trying to keep a wiggly newly-walking little boy still for the self-photo was a real trick!

My heart melts every time looking at this picture.

3 Becomes 4

So obviously we're waaaaaaay behind on the blog posting thing. This is actually a trial run to see if it's even possible to post from home. Our internet isn't anything fabulous, but sometimes it surprises us at what it's capable of doing. I'll try to upload a picture as well, but if there's not one...well, then you know that didn't work out.

Our big news at the moment (though you probably already know this either via our updates or Facebook) is that there's another little Mitchell bun in the oven! Due early March, "Thumper" and Mikey will be about 16 months apart. Whether this one is a boy or a girl will hopefully be a surprise yet again, but either way, we're expecting these two kiddos to become good friends quickly.

We had a teammate who just had a baby in Turkey and they used a different hospital than we did, though the doctor was the same. From their initial tour of the hospital, it sounds like a better fit than the other one. Not that the other one was really bad or anything...just that this has some improvements on it. Like, for example, the labor and delivery area is not only on the same floor as the recovery area, but is NOT in the basement. Hooray for windows! It didn't bother me like I thought it would, but what a mental joy it will be to not be in the basement for that, plus quicker getting to the recovery room. Anywho, we're excited.

Life has gotten slower here (and we weren't sure that could happen initially). We not have jars of tomatoes, salsa, and pickles (dill, break & butter, and hot dog relish), so here's to hoping they were done well enough to still be good in a few months. But I can officially say that we've broken into the canning world. Now, don't get too impressed. I'm pretty sure that anyone in the western world would be appalled at the method and equipment we used, but we were taught the local way and that's all we know...and frankly all we're currently equipped to do.

Introducing Thumper! Can you find the head and the rather round belly?

A New Home

The living room, packed full of stuff.

The small bedroom, stuff all in it.

The river just below our house. It's also the border.

Our living room, cleaned up. We have a nice, big cabinet in it, some storage room that we really like having.

Looking to the right in the living room. The couches all came with the house.

Our kitchen. We also enjoy these cabinets, although we have less room than we used to. Things are a little tight in these cabinets, so we are thinking of getting some to add.

The kitchen sink and tables. We don't have any counter space yet.

Michael's room. We put our old couch/chair set in here, figured it would be easier to spread out in here and not worry about keeping it too clean.

Our hall. I am standing at the front door. The first door on the left is our bedroom. The second is Michael's, with a storage room behind it. Straight ahead is the living room. To the right, behind the fridge, is the door to the kitchen. There is a hall on my right to the bathroom.

The bathroom with our washing machine.

Our water heater and the rest of the bathroom. Note the lack of a toilet. Also note the bucket with a lid. 'Nuff said for now.

Our view from the kitchen window. This is our yard, the toilet is the small room on the far left of the picture, mud walls an a low roof. We do have a pretty decent view

We have a new home. I am sorry it took as long as it did to upload pictures, but life has been a combination of slow internet and extreme busy-ness. We have a good story about the moving process as well.
If you have been doing much keeping up with us lately, you will know that about 2 weeks ago, the Mitchells made a move to a new house and town. After a year and a half in the town we have called home, we packed up our stuff once again, and moved to the district headquarters of another area about 3 hours away. Don't let the term "district headquarters" fool you, it's a town of a little over 3,000 people with a tiny bazaar and four roads. Perhaps we felt like we weren't living remote enough. 
Moving in Central Asia is an experience in and of itself. We had to hire moving trucks on our own. One truck was too small, so we hired two "chinese pickups" and asked the drivers to be at our house at nine. One showed at 8:30, the driver and Matt loaded that car and got him on his way. The second showed at 11, but this driver had a severe limp, so we both loaded what we could, then we asked for our teammates to come help load the heavy stuff. Eventually it all made it, some of the chairs were scratched or missing legs, but all told it was a very successful move.
We are very happy  to be in our new home, settling in, meeting neighbors. We wanted to share a few pictures of where we live, hopefully we will post again soon about how life is different in our new place.

"Quick and Easy" Breakfast Sausage Ring

My mom sent this recipe that she found on Facebook (cool mom!) and it just looked delicious! Plus, it only calls for 3 easy ingredients:

--> 1 roll of bulk Jimmy Dean sausage (any flavor)
2 7.5 oz cans of Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese



In the US, I would definitely buy the sausage and biscuits as it calls for (except maybe house brands) and go ahead and buy the cheese already shredded.


Here, however...well, it took a little longer to set up. But it was oh so worth it!


The sausage was purchased as a 3.5 kg hunk of imported boneless red meat, and we ground half of it. Then one lb had spices added to make it taste like sausage (and from the looks of what we made, I'm guessing that 1 roll of sausage is 1/2 lb, so we've got that much left for something else).


The biscuits were made from scratch with a recipe that Matt's mom gave us.


And while we (thankfully) didn't have to make our own cheese from scratch (this cheese-lover would just have to go without before she got into that boat!), it did have to be shredded...but that was the shortest step of all.


So for those of you living where you can get these ingredients, give it a try. And if you can't...well, see what you can come up with on your own.


And thanks Momma! This is delicious!

This was the photo that came with the recipe. But ours looked like it, only the biscuits were lighter colored.

RECIPE:
--> Preheat oven to 350. Brown sausage in frying pan, drain. Open one can of biscuits and flatten each biscuit into larger circle. Place in bottom of greased bundt cake pan, overlapping each biscuit so that it makes a ring around bottom of pan.

Top biscuits with 1 cup of shredded cheese, next place cooked sausage on top of cheese then top sausage with remaining 1 cup cheese. Open second can of biscuit dough and flatten out each biscuit, repeat placing dough around the top of bundt pan so it looks like a ring.

Cook for 25 min or until golden brown. Let sit in pan for 5-10 min before inverting onto a plate. Slice and serve.

Life With a Kid - Part 2

As you probably read earlier, bringing a kid into life here means you get to pick up on different aspects of culture. Below are some more observations:

• People spit around little ones in order to get rid of the "negative energy." While I appreciate the heart behind it, I wish they knew that it doesn't really do that.
• The other day at the bazaar, a bizarre thing happened. (Get that? Good, you're quick.) An older couple was leaving as Michael and I were coming in. We shared the normal greetings, including questions about his health, age, and gender. As I was looking around (since they are talking to him, after all), I hear the sound of a recorder. Just one note. I turn back to the couple and the man has opened his sports coat and has a recorder type thing inside. He blew that one note, got Michael's cheek again, then they went on. What just happened?!?! My guess is that it has the same effect as the spitting. But I've never met someone who just carried a recorder around inside his jacket.
• Our landlord and his family like Michael. A lot. And that is a major understatement. The other night, his wife came next door, asked about one question about me, then 3 about Michael, who was napping at the time. Once she realized that, she said goodbye and good night. So yesterday on her lunch break, she came over to get a plant and also to let me know that after work she would take him. And she did. And this isn't the first time. She'll take him for 1-2 hours at a time, so Matt and I get an evening alone at home. Not a bad deal in my book! Everyone is all smiles when this happens. :)

That's all for now, but who knows what we'll learn as he gets older. Oh, and when we move to a different town in our region, which will happen next month.  Woo-hoo!!

Birthday Party

Happy (belated) Birthday, Matt!

For his big day, we celebrated with a party set up local style, but with chicken enchiladas and rice and beans as the main course. Yummy! After last year's attempt at hosting neighbors with chicken and dumplings and it not going over too well, we weren't sure what would be best this year. So we still settled for something without too much spice or flavor, since we haven't had a meal here that has just "wowed" our tastebuds, but something that we wouldn't mind having a lot of leftovers from. That did not turn out to be an issue this year though!

Meet my neighbor, who was the mastermind behind creating the spread. She set up things in such a way that when people walked in, they immediately felt comfortable. And now I feel more comfortable setting a spread of my own without assistance (though the company is always welcome!).

And here is the spread before the main meal was brought out. There's fruit, candy, cookies, and a cake that my friend above brought. Since the cake she brought said Happy Birthday in English, I decided that writing it in the language we're learning on the cake I made would be appropriate.

This says Рузи Тавалуд Муборак (pronounced Roozy Tavalood Muborak).

 Here's the birthday boy relaxing with a few friends. Looks pretty comfortable to me!

It was a great day. Though there were plenty of dishes to wash, a couple of the gals jumped in afterwards to get everything cleaned up and to entertain Michael. We definitely live among some great people and love being here.

Two Surprises

Yesterday was Mikey's 4 month birthday. We're definitely grateful he's such a joyful and overall easy kid. Thanks, God!

So today we went to the clinic just around the corner to get just a couple basic things taken care of. When we returned home in January, we brought his 4-months and 6-month vaccinations with us. We have a cooler box in the car, so they stayed refrigerated the entire time. Then they went straight into our fridge. So we took them with us today to the clinic hoping to get him weighed, measured, and shot up.

The first 2 were easy. Then she checked his heartrate, asked if he was getting vitamins (apparently babies around here have more hair than Mikey, so she was concerned about this), and made sure we didn't drink alcohol. Then it was time for the vaccinations.

The local baby-weighing method.

We explained to her several times that we had the vaccinations with us and that they have always remained cold. She asked why we weren't using her vaccinations. Well, we didn't know what was there, and these are already paid for, so we needed to use them. Finally, we just got it cleared up that she wasn't comfortable giving them to him since she didn't know herself how they had been handled and she didn't want them to backfire on him and make him sick. Gotta say, that if it's either that extreme or putting anything in a needle, I'll take this cautious approach. So surprise #1 was that the clinic wouldn't vaccinate him. Fortunately, we think we may have found another way to get them given to him. So don't worry...it's all under control.

Then, as we were taking our walk around the neighborhood, we stopped in to see a good friend who we hadn't visited in a while. Her mom had been out of town but recently returned, so we figured today was as good a day as any. Surprise #2 for the day? Our friend's sister had her baby! They had just returned from the hospital this morning, so Mikey and I were invited in to see mom and new baby. This boy was 3 kg at birth, just like Mikey. Crazy to see by comparison how much he's grown!