April Update

We have now been in Honduras for 2 months now and we have 2 months until we head back to the Pacific NW to give birth to little Streett #2. I feel like we won’t be quite settled by the time we have to go.  I guess such is the nature of this life, by the time you get settled you have to pick up and move again.  N is definitely enjoying the weather and all the space to run around here.  He rarely wears more than a T-shirt and is doing fairly well on our newest round of potty training.  He gets “off” with each change, but is still growing like a weed.  He measured almost 35 inches this morning, but skinny as a string bean.  His cute little baby thighs aren’t going to last much longer.  Although I find it a little too hot being pregnant, it isn’t as formal as it was at Main State so I can dress more comfortably going to work each day.   

I’m enjoying my job and I feel like I am getting the swing of it.  It is harder in some ways than I expected, but better in others.  Not just for our lives, but it will difficult to go and come for my job as well.  When we first get back to Pacific NW, I’ll be doing a temp job at the Seattle Passport Agency, where hopefully I will add to my skills to bring back to the embassy with me.  We shall see!  It is going to be quite the summer.  

We have been getting out more, mostly to restaurants and grocery shopping, but it has been fun.  We have a French Sunday brunch place that we go to most weekends.  We have a couple pizza places we like, and one we don’t.  If you are a fast food fan, Tegucigalpa is your perfect location.  There is a main road where there is every kind of fast food under the sun.  S keeps suggesting a Ruby Tuesday outing, but I must say, it doesn’t sound that appealing to me in either country.  Though I have heard that the food tends to be better that the Sysco food you would get at Ruby’s back home.  Tegucigalpa manages to have a Thai place (really tasty!) that is more expensive that we’ve ever paid for Thai food in the states!

In a final piece of trivia, there are 3 people from Vancouver, WA here.  It sure is a small world!

N and his favorite pastime, squirting the hose!

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

The Streetts made it to Honduras!  It feels nice to finally put the foreign in the Foreign Service.  I (E) am well entrenched in her job already, I am a tad worried that they set her out on her own too quickly!  Hopefully I don't make too many mistakes!  I really like the team I work with and enjoy going to work each day.  

We are enjoying our housing, N especially loves being able to go inside and outside to play all day.  Although he has a number or bruises as he learned about tile floors and living in a house with stairs.  We have plenty of room, so come on down and visit.  Another enticing factor is that the fruit here is very good and we have been eating more of that than anything else.  We have been facing a few bureaucratic hoops, but hopefully we'll be able to drive soon and start exploring the city (and shopping for groceries) a little.  I feel like the little old lady who swallowed a fly.  I have to get a number to get the title (of a car I already own) to get the insurance to get permission to drive.  So far I have only successfully completed the first step.  Our car just sits in the carport collecting dust everyday, waiting to be driven.  

Luckily, our newly hired gardener washes the car too!  He puts the world to shame!  He is 84 years old, walks up the hills of Honduras to garden different embassy houses each day.  He has 11 children from 3 different wives and has the energy of a 25 year old.  Besides a salary, he asks for a cup of coffee in the morning and some water in the afternoon, but won't say no to a few cookies or snacks!  N doesn't know it yet, but he is coming tomorrow and is excited to have N help him all day.  I think N is going to love the hose!  We have a beautiful garden, but not too much of a yard.  We have a little gazebo where it looks like we should hire one musician to play for an evening garden party.  

If you are worried about us and security, so far we haven't felt too unsafe.  A lot of the neighbors go for walks in the evenings, which is a rare thing due to safety concerns.  S has successfully tested our security alarm twice already, so we have learned that security will come check on us very quickly.  

In case you haven't heard, we'll be back in the Pacific Northwest for the summer (we planned the timing well for that one!) for the delivery of #2.  We'll be in Seattle for a few weeks in July and then in Vancouver, WA for the rest.  

A few low quality pictures:  

Gecko "pet"

N & S Kitchen Selfie

N & S Kitchen Selfie

N & S Kitchen Selfie

N before getting in trouble by climbing on table

N getting in trouble

N crying about being in trouble and not finding the camera in its case

I'm so cute!

N in our gazebo (I didn't realize how dirty he was until I uploaded the pics)

Looking cute!

N finally reached the camera

Big smile!

I conquered the table

N's ideal outfit

Is this where I should go potty?

February Check-In

Passed my Spanish test back in December and now I am well into learning how to do my job in Honduras.  No, not in Honduras, I am still at the training center learning away.  We do, however, fly to, I mean move to Honduras the last week of February.  I can’t believe that the month is almost here. Time is flying by and we need to enter panic mode, but life is just moving on at its normal pace.  We move into a hotel on the 16th so we can organize and clean before the packers pack us up on the 24th.  

Looking back, we had a nice Thanksgiving and an early Christmas with S’s family in PA and we took a holiday cruise with my family (my sister and fiance and my parents).  We had a great time and visited Key West, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.  It was a great cruise and fun to set foot in Honduras prior to moving there.  And what you’ve all been waiting for, some pictures to enjoy:  

N sitting on the table, his favorite pastime, when allowed!

N & S waiting to get into the Washington’s house at Mt. Vernon.  

Still waiting!

N decided he didn’t want to wait any longer!

N & S meeting Popcorn and Caramel, this year’s pardoned turkeys.

N loved the turkeys!

Meeting the Xmas Camel

Unsuspecting people posing with the Xmas Camel

He tried to eat N!

October 2013

Less than one year later the Streett family is writing again.  While our year posted to DC wasn't a high choice (or medium…), it worked out in the end as a lot of our family has had the chance to see N start to grow up and turn into a little ball of energy.  In less than 4 months, we will leave for Honduras, where E will start her second tour in the Foreign Service.  Honduras was our first choice this second time around and we are very excited for our first overseas adventure as a family.  

E and S both started taking Spanish classes on July 1st, though S’s “FAST” class ended after 8 weeks.  E has about 6 weeks left until her final exam, where she needs to be deemed to have Minimum Professional Proficiency:

Able to speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social, and professional topics

Able to read standard newspaper items addressed to the general reader, routine correspondence, reports, and technical materials in the individual's special field.

Think positive thoughts as the test is notoriously difficult!  I, E, enjoy my days but with a current section of only 2 students I come home exhausted.  We have finished the textbook and my professor asked if she thought I would get bored with just speaking practice (=talking about anything under the sun!).  Clearly, she doesn't know me very well as I love to talk!  

Back to the family, N spends his days running around making messes while waiting for someone to talk him to the park or on a stroll in his tricycle.  He loves to go out and have a good time.  S is exhausted at the end of each day of chasing him around.  True to form, his least favorite part of the day is still when he has to go to sleep.  He is a great little eater!  S and E are always amazed how much he packs in at every meal.  E has been spoiling him with bites of her TJs peppermint patties and dark chocolate peanut butter cups.  Looks like N inherited a sweet tooth.  

On that note, we've noticed a few things N has in common with relatives:  (some are funny and others are serious, please take all with a grain of salt and add any you think!)  

Sweet tooth = all except S

Appetite & Likes to Read = Paternal Grandpa

Sociability = Paternal Grandma

Height & Shoe Size = My sister

Hoarding = Dad (S added he is handsome like his daddy too!)

Generosity (N loves to feed people) & Likes to talk on phone = Nana

Hair Color = S’s sister

Extroverted-ness and most everything else = Mom

Dance Skills = UNKNOWN

Our to do list is SO LONG and some of the things we don’t even know where to start!  Oh well, good thing E likes to plan and S handles any problems that pop up...

Back to work!

For any blog readers that may have missed it, Tuesday was born on Sept 14 and I’ve been home on maternity leave ever since.  We call him N. 

Only one week left and I go back to work.  I’ll go back after ten of my twelve weeks of FMLA time.  The last two will be part-time to ease back into it, but I don’t know if that will make it much easier.  I sure will miss the little guy!  Hopefully he’ll miss me too!  S is getting primed and ready to takeover the full share of daily parenting duties.  I don’t envy him, but I’m sure he’ll do a great job.  I’d be extremely nervous!  N’s smiles and “oh”s and “gu”s make everything worthwhile, he is such a cutie!

Today S and I (with N) went to a local stay-at-home dads group to meet the crowd.  The invite was for wives too since the holiday meant we might be home.  However, I was the only wife there.  I guess if the wife took the day off, they were probably heading out of town already.  I think he’ll go back, it is a good way for S and N to meet new friends. :-)  There are quite a few Foreign Service dads in the group already.  The nature of the lifestyle creates a lot of stay-at-home parents. 

This parenting thing is harder than it looks.  N is a smart little guy, he naps like a champ, but once you turn the lights out and it is time for bed, he wails because he wants to stay up with the action.  Even when S and I go to bed with him, he usually wants to stay up without us.  Silly guy!

I’ve started keeping a record of how I think of N each month on his birthday.  I only started on month 2, but it is a start.  When I was back home visiting my parents, my mom had done the same for me and it was fun to read.  Except during my terrible twos where each entry started with “pesky” or some derivative of it. Apparently I was bossy and wouldn’t leave people alone, following them around to get them to play with me and do what I want.  I’ve changed for the better, wouldn’t you say? 

I guess I should start following up on my portfolio so I have an idea of what is going on in the region.  Had I been clever, I might have followed it this whole time.  Reading news about the Middle East might be a good way to spend maternity leave between naps... There certainly has been a lot going on in the region in the last few weeks!

Time to go relieve S in putting N to bed!

Attempt at Maternity Pictures

S and I ventured into Alexandria today to find a park. We ended up at Jones Point Park, an old park that covers Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia land. Although I was having trouble smiling (maybe because I'm so pregnant...), there are some decent shots that we'd like to share.

This was our first attempt to use the timer. I sat on S, which explains his face and my surprised/scared face. And a better one next to it. 

Here is the requisite picture with hands on the belly. At least in this one you can't see my poor attempts at smiling. Who knew I could be so bad at it? The one next to it is S hovering over one of the original markers separating DC, MD and VA in the park. You can see the gold lines pointing in each direction away from buried rock marker. 

One successful smile!! :-) 

A look at the historic lighthouse.

S will teach little Tuesday some strong playground skills!  

Maybe it runs in both our genes. Here are my favorites from the afternoon!

Short Update

September 1^st, means only 2 weeks until our official due date. We are technically full-term and getting more nervous and excited to meet little Tuesday. Although there is a little bit of shopping left to do, I feel like we have everything we NEED in case Tuesday makes his/her appearance early. Now we are trying to get some meals cooked and frozen so those first few days aren’t made more overwhelming trying to figure out how to feed a baby and ourselves. :-)

Nothing new to report on the job front, still learning about the Gulf Region. My coworker is in Bahrain for a month, so I’m handling the whole region until I go out on maternity leave.

We’ll try to get some pictures of little Tuesday up once he/she is born. My helpful sister can get us looking cute enough for posting on our blog. There are so many little outfits to choose from!