February 15, 2015 - Busy, Busy, Busy

February has been a really busy month for us! 

First we had wonderful visitors!  Kristoffer's cousins, Aja (The original Aja, actually! Yes! pronounced the same as our Aya!), and her son, Mads, came to visit us for some days before going on a Tanzanian safari.  The very sad news is that Mads got sick with a bacterial infection in his throat (Brought from Denmark? Acquired on the airplane? Picked it up within his first few hours in Dar?  We'll never know!) which meant that their visit in Dar was pretty low-key, their safari was delayed, and maybe they were quite ready to go home when the time came!  

We felt SOOOO bad (still do!) that it was not a perfect trip for them and that Mads had to see a doctor 4 times!  EEEK!  But we really loved having them even though it wasn't ideal, and we hope that with some time they will only remember the good parts of their trip (he got to see a hyena, which he REALLY wanted to see!) and not all of the antibiotics.  I think the best part of their visit (for us) was just how well Mads, Grace and Noah played together!  We love any time our kids have access to cousins or any family...so the fact that these three just played and played for days was a wonderful treat!

Aja & Aya

Star Wars & Legos were great interests the kids had in common!

While Aja was visiting, I was also started a two-week work project...invigilating (fancy word for proctoring!) mock IB exams at IST.  This was my third year giving these exams...it is a little bit busy (lots of organization, which I love) and a little bit boring (watching 67 kids take hours of exams for 2 weeks!) and happens two times a year.  The real IB - International Baccalaureate - exams are in May so twice a year I have a super busy schedule and then in between I am just a regular on-again-off-again substitute.  

Factor in some of the usual medical issues that our family faces (mostly mine this time around!) and add one baby who usually wakes up 2 times a night but sometimes wakes up 5 times a night...and well, I'm just plain tired.  So that's why I broke my NYR to blog more - all spare time must be used for SLEEPING.   But now that the exams are over I hope to give it another shot.  

While the kids are off school next week Kristoffer, Aya and I will be making a quick overnight trip to Nairobi. Oliver will stay at our house overnight with Grace and Noah - we've only done that one other time with Rose.  The kids seems totally cool about it...let's hope all goes smoothly.  More on our trip later, but I keep thinking how weird it will be to go BACK THERE AGAIN after more than 3 years away.  I hope to have a few reflections on my return to Nairobi (just remembered that Kristoffer has gone for work...)...I suspect it has, and we have!, changed quite a bit.  

  

Thanks for checking in!

LMW

February 14, 2015 - Hearts Full

For the past two years, during this week, I have tried to honor the memory of my nephew Kyle by posting every day for Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Week.  This year, sadly, I did not have my act together enough to do it.  Today is the last day of the awareness week, though, so I'm squeaking this one post in.  Just because I didn't post every day this week, though, doesn't mean that I don't think of Kyle every day.  Because I do.  Every single day.

If you would like more information about Congenital Heart Defects, you could check out my posts from the past two years:

CHD Awareness

Facts

Signs and Symptoms

Screening and Screening

Causes and Risks

Someone You Know

How You Can Help

Remembering Kyle

Otherwise, just know that 1 in 100 babies are born with some kind of heart defect...and with proper and early detection, most of them can go on to live healthy, full lives.  But the research is underfunded and it is a very worthy cause.   I feel it is a little bit hard to "help" from Tanzania, but someday if I ever live in the United States again, I would love to find a way to DO something for those affected by CHDs every day.  

So on this Valentine's Day, when I am once again so grateful for the lives of my three heart healthy children, I am also very aware that today, and every day, many parents are missing their beloved children because of CHDs or related causes.  

LMW

February 13, 2015 - This Year's Fastelavn

Fastelavn is a Nordic, especially a Danish, tradition that involves kids dressing up in costumes and hitting a barrel/pinata for goodie bags.  A simple-minded American like myself might think of it as the "Danish Halloween."  And today was the day!

Noah was insanely cute in full costume as Darth Vader, including black winter gloves and black socks in 95F weather [No, that is not an exaggeration.  That was the temperature.  I checked!]. My favorite part of the whole event was when he first got into his costume ALL of the kids in his class were so amazed.  They were telling him how cool it was and asking to try on his helmet, try his light saber, press the "buttons".  I could tell by the look on his face that this otherwise little-bit-of-a-loner really FELT cool.  He told me, "Everybody loves my costume the most!  Can you believe it?!"  So the thick layer of sweat covering his whole body was worth it for that moment when the world was his oyster.

He even tried bobbing for apples!

When I just flashed back to last year's Fastelavn I realized that Grace is wearing the exact same "costume" (literally...just different leggings!).  Hmmm...not very creative on our part, but I encouraged her to try something new (Elsa, anyone?) and she just insisted that she could only be a dragon.  At least you can compare the pictures and see that she has grown!

When I think back to last year's party, it was hot, I was "very" pregnant, it was the day before Grace's birthday party, and I was really hoping to not go into premature labor before I got to Boston.  How quickly that year has gone!

And I know, I know...what about my New Year's Resolution to blog more!  Well, we had a good run in January, didn't we?  More on that tomorrow...

LMW

January 29, 2015 - More Milestones

This week Grace lost her first tooth!  The new tooth had already come up behind it and we were just waiting for the little one to come out.  How did she manage?  She was trying to pull apart some small Legos and used her teeth to bite them...next thing she knew the Legos were covered in blood and her tooth was in her hand!  It was very incongruous to see a very bloody, but smiling, mouth!  The tooth fairy managed a visit that very night...now Grace is just using her tongue to try and loosen more teeth!

Aya, who since her fever last week has been sleeping HORRIBLY again (hours of crying at night, waking up every couple of hours, ack!) and wanting to almost exclusively nurse, has been very busy on the developmental front.  This week she has really been trying more and more to stand on her own, she is also waving sometimes for hello and sometimes for goodbye (no consistency yet!), and today she called me Mama!  Last night actually - during a very long session of inconsolable crying (new teeth possibly?) - she was saying "Mama...Mama...Mama" and Kristoffer thought she was asking for me.  But I've just heard her make the sound without necessarily meaning me for the last few weeks so I wasn't sure.  But this morning she crawled right to me saying "Mama!"  It was awesome and almost made up for all of the sleep I have not gotten lately.  I'm telling you...when it comes to our babies and sleep...let's just say it's a good thing they are (or were) so cute!

We have a few sickies in the house still...Aya is at the tail end (I hope) of her virus but Noah and Kristoffer picked it up so are a bit under the weather.  But we are so excited to welcome Kristoffer's cousins Aja (same pronounciation) and her son Mads who will visit us for 4 days before going on safari next week.  We hope our immune systems will rally and that we'll have a great Dar weekend.

I wonder what milestones will be next!?

LMW

*Edited to include that Aya is also playing peek-a-boo a lot these days (hiding herself and finding others), has gotten really good at bending down to pick up something while holding on to furniture with one hand and then popping back up again, and she kneels quite a lot.  Should we take bets on when she'll be standing on her own or walking?

January 26, 2015 - The Dark Side

Yesterday was Noah's Birthday Party! 

I tried to get what I could in the US back in November to help with our Darth Vader theme.  Otherwise, Dar is always a challenge to go too crazy because of what's (not) available.  I think it turned out to be fun for Noah and his (and Grace's) friends.  He even invited many teachers from his school and 3 of them came!  

For food we set up half the table with healthy snacks (the light side) and half the table for less healthy options/treats (the dark side).  At the very least, Kristoffer and I thought this was very funny.

 The Star Wars coloring station, before the kids arrived...

 Light Sabers and Star Wars Masks for all!

 Noah was inititally wearing his full Darth Vader costume, but gosh it's hot where we live so that did not last even until the party started.  He went with a paper Vader mask instead.

 We started off with light sabers and balloons - trying to keep them up in the air...

 ...which turned into a full out light saber war against Far!

 Noah enjoyed opening up some really great presents!

 During some down time there was a lot of coloring...

 Then we had a big Lego tower building contest.  Grown ups first!  While the Imperial March from Star Wars played in the background, they had to build as high as they could!

 Kids were not supposed to be helping, but that was hard to control!

 In the end, Noah's teachers from Nordic School won!

 Then the kids also had a contest - it was really loud and fun!  Luckily, Noah was on the "winning" team and at the end he received a treasure map to go on a treasure hunt for goodie bags.

 The kids followed him allll around our house and compound searching for photo clues...

 In the end they had to put together a phote puzzle to find the final location of the treasure.

 We ended with Noah's second Darth Vader cake of the week (had to get my money's worth from the cake pan I bought!) and Noah enjoyed another round of birthday songs in 3 different languages (see the video below for a snippet of each!).

He was a happy guy and we all had a great day!
(Now we get one month off before Grace's birthday!)
LMW

January 22, 2015 - Noah's Fourth Birthday!

And then suddenly! This little baby, our sweet Noah Dean, was 4 years old.

The day started around 5:15 am.  We had a full family party before Grace left for school at 6:30 am. Noah was VERY happy with many, many, many Darth Vader and Star Wars and Lego presents.  He did not like his pirate costume and told me I should give it to someone else.  He loved the little Toothless dragon from Grace.  He loved some new TMNT gear. He ate "dinosaur oatmeal" from America for breakfast :)

Noah brought a big watermelon to school to share with class at snack time.  He got to raise the Danish flag and was sung to in 4 different languages by all of the teachers and children.  He was extremely shy and kept his back turned away from them, but he was singing along and smiling to himself. Far went to work late to be there - definitely a highlight for Noah.

I went back to school in the afternoon with a Darth Vader cake - practice for his party on Sunday - and he was sung to again, this time in 3 languages (he stuck with Danish, Swedish and English but ditched the Norwegian).  

Back at home, Grace decided to skip her after-school program to spend time with her birthday brother.  I thought that was very sweet.  They watched a Lego Star Wars DVD that Noah received and they played with some of his new toys, read his new books, ate popcorn together.  It was lovely.  They got to decorate their own cupcakes for after dinner, and as I type this they are up past their bedtime playing Legos and having an absolutely wonderful time.  So far, life is good on the other side of 3. 

As for this sentimental Mama...the highlight of my day was when Noah's class was singing to him at cake time.  I was next to him and at some point during the singing, he just put his hand on top of mine and looked at me with a little twinkle in his eye. It was the sweetest gesture...as if he could feel my emotion and acknowledged, "I know, Mama.  I am growing up quickly.  But I'm still yours."  I will never forget it.

We love you, our sweet Noah.  We hope all of your birthdays make you this happy and that you are always this sweet.  Have a wonderful year!

LMW