November 24, 2009 - At THAT Age

One day last week while Grace and I were out and about running some errands, Charles told me that he spoke to his wife on the phone and she told him that his mother was sick. I asked him what was wrong and he told me something that I didn't understand, but I told him I was sorry she was sick and that I hope that she will feel better soon. Then he says to me:

"Well, you know, at THAT age there's not much you can do."

I know that Charles is 38 so I was thinking that maybe his mother is around 60, which I don't consider to be very old. But when he made that statement, I started thinking she was 85 or 90! So I asked him her age; he thought about it and said, "Over 50!" I told him that where we come from that is not very old, to which he replied, "She was born in 1952 so she is 57."

Of course I knew that the life expectancy in Kenya would be lower than in the US or Europe, but I've never actually known what it really is. So, now I know that (according to the CIA World Factbook) the life expectancy rate for the total Kenyan population is, in fact, 57.86 years (slightly lower for men, slightly higher for women). Women here often look much older than they are because their life is hard and they work really hard from a young age doing a lot of physical labor (unlike their lazy counterparts, in my opinion). Our housekeeper Jonipher looks about 65 I think and she is 47 I believe. So, I suppose it is understandable why Charles thinks his mother is so old at THAT age!

For a bit more about Charles, here are some of the pictures that Kristoffer took of his family when he visited Machakos early in October (and you can see that his mother definitely looks older than 57):

Charles, his wife Janet, his mother, his sister, his niece, his uncle, his nephew, and his son in front (from left to right)

Charles, his wife, his son and daughter (daughter is under all those blankets - she is now almost 4 months old!)

Charles' mother and son (he sleeps with her every night)

The house Charles is building. He is VERY proud of such a strong door and windows and the house will a have a toilet inside, which is a pretty big deal. He is almost finished now after working on it for 2 years.

Kristoffer and Charles eating ugali and sikuma wiki (traditional Kenyan food)

Charles' son, mother, wife, niece and sister

Charles' wife Janet and daughter Hezrah

I printed these pictures for Charles yesterday so he could take them to his family and he was really appreciative of that. I'm sure they don't have family pictures taken very often! We might pay them a visit this weekend with Grace.

LMW

November 22, 2009 - Fourteen Falls

No, Grace did not fall down 14 times.

We took a little trip out of Nairobi on Saturday to visit a natural attraction called the Fourteen Falls: a waterfall site about an hour and fifteen minutes north of Nairobi. We've been talking about going to see the Falls for almost as long as we've lived here, although we have never actually talked to anyone else who has done it. It was just something we saw in our "Rough Guides" a long time ago and it kind of stuck as something we should do. After one week of being stuck in the house with a virus, I was eager to get out so we left at 8 in the morning to visit the Falls.

The Falls has the potential to be a great spot for those who want to get out of Nairobi without having to travel very far; there is great potential for camping and really appreciating a bit of nature. And, to give more context, we are used to visiting parks here that are run by the Kenyan Wildlife Service (the gov't), which are clean, well-maintained and employ trained, uniformed guides who are friendly and smart. Our expectation, therefore, was that the Falls would be similar to other places we have been.

The reality, however, is that the Falls are dirty and smelly and mostly unimpressive. When we arrived we paid a huge fee to "get in" to the site. Supposedly that money goes to the local council of the district, but we are not convinced (we wouldn't be surprised if the guys collecting the fee were pocketing some of it). Then we parked the car and were greeted by several young guys who wanted to be our "guide" of the Falls. Kristoffer asked how much and, of course, they told us not to worry about it, which classically foreshadowed the haggling that would take place at the end of our tour. The guy we ended up with was named "Steven" and within 5 minutes (or was it 2 minutes?) we could tell that he was drunk. Not only did he smell more-than-faintly of alcohol, but he started saying the same thing over and over and over (and over) again. If he told me fewer than 8 times that the river was called the Athi River then I am surprised. And, ok, maybe once just for fun at the end of our trip I did ask him, "What's the name of this river?" just because it was TOO EASY and I could not resist creating a bit of humor for myself. He repeatedly complimented Kristoffer's sneakers (so we were surprised that he never asked for them outright) and told us over and over and over (and over) again that his wife was dead and that he loved Grace and that I was a wonderful mama.

The water in the Athi River is essentially sewage from Nairobi and you can see below how dirty it is (imagine the smell to go with it). It was such a beautiful day and if the water had been bright blue to match the sky, it would have been a spectacular natural site. After looking at the falls, we took a bit of a "nature walk" with Stephen - who didn't tell us anything we didn't already know - to a small hippo pool and then we were ready to go.

So began the debate about how much to pay him. He asked for 2,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $25. Kristoffer offered him 500, or about $6.50, which I thought was even too generous. Stephen insisted on more money saying that this was his business and he had a large family to support, etc. So Kristoffer asked him, "When was the last time you drank alcohol?" Stephen thought that was irrelevant and kept trying to negotiate for more money, and Kristoffer kept asking him about when he last drank. After several minutes of this Kristoffer said, "Stephen this is your business. And if it were my business I wouldn't drink the night before and come to work drunk. If you had been sober and not told us the same thing so many times, maybe I would pay you more." So Stephen said he would take the 500. And as we were driving away Kristoffer reminded him from the car, "Stephen, stop drinking and use your money wisely for your family."

He (Kristoffer) was all fired up! As we were driving away and discussing this, he said to me, "I just hate Kenyan men. They are such a disappointment and I hate to see their wasted opportunities," which is a very good way of summarizing what we have learned in almost-two-years here. Kenyan men - and of course there are many exceptions to this generalization, but the reality is that generalizations usually exist for a reason - are lazy and spoiled and very, very frustrating.

So now we have been to the Fourteen Falls. I wouldn't say it was a wasted day at all, but it was a disappointing site, for me at least. Grace was very well-behaved and it was nice to get a little nature under our belts for the weekend.

LMW

November 18, 2009 - All in the Family

The Welsiens have been hit hard by a nasty stomach virus. Kristoffer was sick with it over the weekend, then Grace had it on Monday, and then Tuesday I was down for the count. Kristoffer actually had to stay home from work because I was so sick in the morning. Yuck. Luckily we all seem to be on the mend now, although I am still not really eating much. We all saw doctors to confirm that it was a virus and not a parasite of some sort, so that is good news. You know, this IS Africa.

And to lift our spirits, we got some cute pictures of Baby Nora in our email. I hope my sister won't mind that I share them here, because Nora is SO cute and her immediate family seems completely in love with her.

Maybe if Nora is a really nice cousin, she'll lend Grace some of that hair!

LMW

November 14, 2009 - Grace's NewER Trick

Since I posted the last blog three hours ago, Grace has mastered the skill of going from lying down to sitting up all by herself. We actually got the second time on videotape, which is really good for us because we always forget to tape stuff! She woke up from her afternoon waving to her father (not her arm lift, not the backwards wave, but the full on facing the person to whom she's waving with all fingers moving the right way), then proceeded to double wave with her arms in the air, and when she was on her belly crying she got herself in to the sitting position. Too bad she didn't do her "we are the champions" position after that accomplishment, she just cried!

This just goes to show how QUICKLY babies change. She couldn't quite do the sitting up thing a few hours ago and now she can! Now we know she'll be siting up in her crib all the time...and we fear that crawling is definitely next!

LMW

November 14, 2009 - Grace's New Trick

We haven't had anything too exciting going on since Baby Nora was born earlier this week. Although, Kristoffer and I did go out to dinner last night with some of our friends to celebrate a birthday, and we left Grace with Jonipher (our housekeeper) for the first time. Everything went well (Grace did wake up and Jonipher kept her up playing until we got home, but no harm done and we all survived) and now we know that we do have an evening babysitter and can start being a bit more social.

Grace is close to going from lying down to sitting up by herself and is close to properly crawling forwards (backwards she has some sort of movement already). BUT what is she is into the most right now is featured below:
While eating a meal, she will frequently raise her arms up above her head for a few seconds (as above), and occasionally she will smile widely while doing so. She and I were sitting at the table eating lunch today from 12:30 to 1:00 and in that time she did this "we are the champions" bit 12 times! It is very funny. In the eating department things are going well; for lunch today she had: one piece of whole wheat toast with hummus (she loves hummus!), two tablespoons of pureed pears mixed with whole grain oatmeal cereal, 1/4 of a potato, and 1 grape. It was her first time eating grapes and I think it was a bit tart for her preference. Anyway, we are making a lot of efforts to help her gain some weight and we hope they will pay off!

Happy weekend!

LMW

November 10, 2009 - The X Factor

My sister and brother-in-law, Meghan and Tim, and their children Michael, Sean, and Molly welcomed the newest addition to their family last night around 7:30 pm. The baby formerly called "the X factor" turned out to be Nora Patricia O'Brien; she weighed in at 7 lbs. 3 oz. and is about 19.5 inches long. It was not an easy labor or delivery for Meghan and required an emergency surgery once the baby was born; I am told that both Meghan and Nora are doing okay this morning. Sadly because of the H1N1 flu virus, no visitors are allowed to see them in the hospital so my parents are holding down the fort in Plainville with the three kids, who I am sure are eager to meet their baby sister.

I can't wait to see a picture of our newest niece! Congratulations, O'Briens!

LMW

November 9, 2009 - Uh Oh! Spaghetti-oh!

Grace: meet Spaghetti.

Spaghetti: meet Grace.

I think this is the start of beautiful friendship.

(eating whole grain pasta and homemade tomato sauce for the first time)

LMW

November 9, 2009 - Hurricane Ida

Grace went to the doctor today and we learned, in a big shock!, that she has gained almost no weight in the last two months! This is not good! She weighed 7 kg at 6 months+2 weeks old and today, at 8 months+2 weeks old, she weighed 7.1 kg. I made them weigh her on 3 different scales because I couldn't believe it! This is a baby who likes fruits and vegetables, and eats them well. But apparently they have not been enough for her to put on weight. We will change our feeding strategy and give her cereal with every meal instead of just once a day; we'll start giving her whole grain pastas, rice, and bread as well. And we'll load her up on avocados! Calories, calories, calories! The doctor basically said she is clear to eat anything but nuts, honey, and eggs...so we'll feed her a bit more like we feed ourselves, just all soft and mashed, of course. I have to say I have been very bummed about this all day because her being underweight (she is now less than 10th percentile for weight) seems like an accusation that I have been doing something wrong in the feeding department. I'm sorry, Grace, and I'll try harder to help you put the weight on! She did grow a couple of centimeters, so she is still 50th percentile for height. It seems to me that she would LOOK a lot skinnier if she is 50th for height and 10th for weight, but she still has those chubby cheeks and thighs! Maybe she is just a baby with a high metabolism? I mean, it is not like Kristoffer and I are the biggest people, right? The doctor supports breast-feeding until we are ready to stop (at 1 year or later) but I suppose if she continues to not gain weight then maybe we would need to reconsider our no-formula policy. I'll keep you posted on that, and in the mean time if you have any suggestions for helping a baby gain weight - please pass them on!

In other news, we got an update on "the-housekeeper-formerly-known-as-Ida" yesterday. Our friend learned from her housekeeper that Ida got a job at another compound on our street as the nanny for two American children. This is the kind of job she wanted - no cooking or cleaning! - and I am sure she is much happier than she was with us (and hopefully isn't stealing from her new employers). We also heard that Ida came to our compound to visit her housekeeper friend but our guards wouldn't let her in because we gave them strict orders not to! So her friend had to visit with Ida outside the gates of our compound. This is the first time that I think the guards have really listened to us! But, of course, we had heard before that they didn't really like Ida because she was rude to them to begin with, so maybe they had an ulterior motive for keeping her out. Anyway, when I read in the news that there was a hurricane named Ida out there, I wondered if the person who named the hurricane was a reader of our blog?!

LMW

November 8, 2009 - Family Time

It might just be my imagination, but it seems to me that Grace is happiest when she is relaxing with both her parents. We had a really nice, relaxing weekend together. It started for Grace on Friday, when I decided to let her air out in her birthday suit for awhile after she just recovered from a somewhat nasty diaper rash (in the heat now she sweats a lot).

She enjoyed playing in her room and her can be found chomping on Baby Jesus from her "Little People" Nativity set. She couldn't quite give up control of her blocks though so she kept them nearby, which also kept my pictures from being too indecent :)

On Saturday the three of us went to lunch at "Amani", the cafe/playground where our playgroup meets every week. They serve delicious salads and treats in a really serene garden. There are always lots of families with babies there, and we even saw three other families that we know. Nairobi is a surprisingly small world.

Here Grace was trying out the slide for the first time. She took it very seriously and was not too thrilled.

I think this is the BEST picture of Kristoffer and Grace, ever! I guess people are right...she does look like him!
You can see a little bit of both teeth in this shot.

While we ate, Grace was happily emptying the contents of my bag...until...

her friend Molly came along (literally, Molly is almost 1 and a super-fast crawler) and wanted to share. You'll note that Grace's shorts were a little too big for her and kept falling off!

Even though it was hot out this weekend, Grace was a very happy baby.

Our weekend ended today at a lovely brunch (ok, we were eating from 1 to 5:30...is that really brunch?!) with several friends, some "usual suspects" and some new faces as well. Grace was really good for being out all day in the heat and we stuffed her with a lot of cereal before bed. Here's hoping she sleeps long and well in a repeat of Thursday night's performance. Tomorrow morning she goes to the doctor bright and early for her 8-month check up! Stay tuned for her latest stats!

LMW

November 6, 2009 - In the News

I am still blogging this morning because after her big night of sleep and being awake since 5:30 this morning, Grace is taking a great morning nap!

Yesterday there was an article in the New York Times about the current situation in Kenya and its handling of the post-election violence disaster. Basically, the government has been dragging its feet on the issue of prosecuting politicians who are suspected of funding and aggravating the post-election violence in early 2008. Finally, the International Criminal Court in the Hague will now take action and begin its official investigation in December. Prior to now Kenya has been given many chances to set up a local tribunal here which it has repeatedly failed to do. The article implies (correctly, in my opinion) that both political parties in Kenya have reasons for covering up this matter and that both will be damaged when the names of suspected politicians are revealed and prosecuted. We'll see how long the ICC investigation takes before a trial actually commences.

Another interesting article I read this morning reports a new study about how babies cry. It says that babies cry in their "mother-tongue", where the pitch and volume of their cries can be compared to speech patterns they have heard from their mother since they were in utero. There are some critics of this theory, but German and French babies' cries were studied in depth to determine how babies mimic their mothers. Now...I think it would be hard to determine on my own if Grace's cries sound like my own voice, but there is one baby in my group who definitely cries similarly to the way her Australian mother talks (and she sounds very different from the European and American babies in our group when they cry). It is fascinating!

It is amazing what I can read and get done with a "good night" of sleep and a napping baby!

LMW

November 6, 2009 - Oh, what a night!

Grace went to sleep last night at 7pm. She did not make one peep until 3:30am. That is 8 1/2 hours of sleep! She has only ever slept 9 hours three times before in her life (months ago!) and has never slept longer than that at once, so this was nearly a record for her. I woke up at 2am and thought about going in to check on her, but decided that she was probably fine and to just embrace the sleep (was that wrong?). I fed her at 3:30 and she slept for 2 more hours before being up for the day. Hallelujah! Not that I went to sleep at 7pm myself...but not too much after 9pm so that I did get the longest stretch of sleep I have had in ages. It feels good!

And to what can we attribute this change in her sleeping behavior? Well...for dinner last night she ate: 2/3 of an avocado, 1 small potato, 2 tablespoons of smashed carrot, and 1/8 of a honeydew melon. Coincidence? I hope not! We will load her up with food again tonight and see if we can turn this anomaly into a pattern!

LMW

November 5, 2009 - Groupies

Grace and I had a fantastic time at our play group yesterday. It was nice to see my mom friends again and I was reminded of how important it is for the both me and Grace to interact with other moms and babies!

Grace is pretty cute with the other kids: she tries to touch them and talks to them and shares her toys (also maybe takes toys from other kids too...but they are babies, they all do that!). She is so stimulated that it is an easy few hours for me :)

There were 10 moms yesterday and 5 of us have been going regularly (when in the country) since our first meeting six months ago. We talked about how much the babies have changed and grown; three of the original babies have already turned 1 or will do so this month! We have grown accustomed to holding each other's babies while we take turns eating a salad or drinking coffee, and yesterday we noted that most of our discussion topics haven't changed in six months: sleeping, feeding, frustrations with Kenya, and developmental milestones. During our discussion yesterday, one of the babies stood up unassisted and remained standing by herself for over a minute for the first time. I desperately wished I had my camera with me because we were all sitting around her clapping and cheering, and she was standing there with this huge smile on her face. It was really special, almost like she had ten moms instead of just one!

On a day like today, when it is almost 4pm and Grace has only napped for 20 minutes since 6:15 this morning and I am exhausted and currently letting her scream in her crib because I need a break from holding her, I am especially grateful to know that I have that outlet every week and wonder to myself, "is it Wednesday yet?"

LMW

November 4, 2009 - Ride On

Grace got a new toy yesterday. It is supposed to be a walker that turns into a rider, but Grace always has her own view of how things should go so she reversed the order. Even though she seems to enjoy practicing to walk with us, she was not so happy about doing it with this gadget. She does, however, really like to "ride" it, even though her little legs can't quite touch the ground yet! It also has a little basketball part to it and she likes the sound when we turn it on.

Kristoffer took Monday and Tuesday off of work to hang out with us and we had a great time. One of the things we did together was take Grace to a yoga class for moms and babies (Kristoffer was allowed). Let's just say that Grace was not a huge fan of yoga on the first try. She was really tired (the final vestiges of her jet-lag kicked in) and over heated quickly so she screamed big time. She ended up eating and falling asleep for the last 30 minutes, during which time Kristoffer did the yoga for all of us. We'll try again next week and see if it goes any better. Kristoffer is back at work today and we miss him, but we are also getting back to some kind of normal routine. Today we get back to our regular baby/mom's group and are interested to see how all the babies have changed in the last month!

Ride on, Gracie!

LMW

November 2, 2009 - The (Old) New Dane

Today was a big day for Grace!

We took her to the Danish Embassy to apply for a Danish passport and we discovered that Grace was automatically a Danish national at birth because Kristoffer and I are married. If we weren't married, she wouldn't be a Danish citizen. So yay for Danish citizenship! We had been told contrary information in the past and didn't think she was an automatic Dane!

We were also told that she keeps her Danish citizenship until she is 22 years old. Currently the law in Denmark does not allow for dual citizenship after that age, so if the law doesn't change then she will have to choose when she is 21. If she forgoes her American citizenship to remain a Dane, she will have to apply and they review it on a case-by-case basis looking at connections to Denmark, language, and a few other factors. BUT the good news is that the same law was recently changed in Sweden and it is very likely that within the next 20 years the law will change in Denmark. If so, Grace would get to keep both citizenships permanently which would give her so many options in terms of education and employment in the future. We are hoping that happens because what a gift we feel that would be for her to literally have much of the world as her oyster :) Some Danes might need to start voting a little bit more to the left in order for the law to change (hint hint: Hans, Military Morten, Lars?) so we will be pushing for that when we are home for Christmas!

Grace is RED, Grace is WHITE, Grace is DANISH DYNAMITE!

LMW

November 1, 2009 - Trick-or-Treat

Yesterday evening we took our little giraffe to a Halloween party where there was some safe, staged, expat trick-or-treating going on.

We were invited to this party by our neighbors and fellow trick-or-treaters, Ben and Mae (below, a skeleton and a Harry Potter Death Eater, respectively):

Grace didn't eat any of the candy, but she did enjoy holding individual pieces as we went along.

I am sure, as with most other things in her life so far, Kristoffer and I enjoyed the whole thing even more than she did.

Today - the morning after - she got back to her healthy eating habits with this bowl of carrots.

And our weekend concluded with this BEAUTIFUL rainbow right over our house! That has to be good luck, right?

LMW

October 31, 2009 - Happy Halloween!

Greetings from Nairobi.

Grace and I arrived in Kenya a little over two days ago: Wednesday night Kenyan time. Our trip back was as "easy" as any day-long international travel alone with an infant can be (and to spare you a very long story I can just say that the trip back was much easier than the trip there). An infant who, by the way, had a fever and cut her second tooth during our 8 1/2 hour flight from London to Nairobi - and without too much fuss thankfully!

I was yet again surprised (maybe for the 2nd or 3rd time?) that it was actually really nice to return to Nairobi. This is where I live, where my husband is, the only home my baby has known. It may be in Africa, but it is my home right now and it has been nice to be in my own house and sleeping in my own bed the last two nights. Despite some miserable jet-lag, Grace has also been so happy to be here. She was reunited with some long-lost toys that she has enjoyed playing with the last few days, she has laughed harder in the last two days than she did the whole month because nobody makes her laugh quite like her Far, and maybe she can sense that there is a light on at the end of this jet-lag tunnel called "routine" and she is eagerly heading towards it. For myself, I can only say that I missed Kristoffer in a different way that I ever missed him when we were usually apart for the 4 years of our pre-marital relationship. It wasn't just that I missed the love of my life, but I felt his pain being away from Grace and seeing all the beautiful moments of his daughter's life that he didn't get to see this month.

But we did have a good trip! Specifically, it was wonderful to have so much quality time with my parents. She might not have remembered them when we arrived in Boston, but she knew them well by the time we left. Even in the last two days, she smiles when she hears their voices on Skype :) It was wonderful to be there for my sister Christine's wedding, to spend some quiet time with my sister Meghan in the last month of her pregnancy, and to party a little bit with my brother. I was reminded of how much I love my parents and siblings, as well as my nephews and niece: Matthew and Nathan are so big now but I so easily can remember spending time with them when they were Grace's age. They were so cute with her, "GEW" as they call her!, and I loved watching her cousins entertain her. Michael, Sean and Molly were so sweet with "Baby Grace" too, which I think is a wonderful sign of how they will be with their new brother or sister in the coming days.

I was happy to reconnect with almost all of my close girlfriends and have them get to know my sweet little baby a bit more. Of course time is always scarce, but I am grateful for the precious moments Grace and I had with these women.

I enjoyed doing a little bit of driving for a change (okay, not really until my last week did I fight my fear and drive again!) and slowly walking the aisles of Target with Grace happily in a shopping cart. I spent very little time on the internet, which was a nice break, and didn't even watch very much American TV! I enjoyed being with my parents and greatly, greatly appreciate everything (big and small) they did to make it a good month for me and Grace.

The only bad part is that I also took a break from taking pictures! Kristoffer had our "good" camera for a field mission he went on and I just never got used to taking pictures with our video camera (also sometimes the battery died or I just plain forgot to bring it wherever I was!). There were not many to choose from, but here are a few highlights from our trip.

The day after we arrived, Brooke and Dave came to visit over night. Despite our jet-lag, Grace and I really enjoyed their visit. Thank you for coming, guys!

On our way to the wedding in Baltimore, we stopped to visit my mother's aunt, Sister Irene Murphy. She is my Nana's only living sibling and the last relative I have of that generation. She will soon be 90 but has not lost her touch with children; she instantly fell in love with Grace and it seemed to be mutual from the start.

Four generations of "Murphy" women.

When we got to Baltimore, Grace met her Uncle Mark, Aunt Carrie and cousins Matthew and Nathan for the first time. Carrie, I am sorry I didn't get you in a picture with her!

They took Grace to the Baltimore aquarium which, you can see, she loved seeing from my brother's back!

Then came Christine and Kevin's big day! I didn't take any photos at all, but someone else captured this sweet moment of their first dance. Could my sister look any happier?

The morning after the wedding Grace hung out with lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins at breakfast. Here she is already trying to get away with her Godfather's baseball hat!

The first time Grace met my cousin John was the day before the wedding. She was a bit overwhelmed and cried, which devastated him because babies normally really love him! The father of three hadn't lost his touch though; she spent quite a bit of time in his loving arms on Sunday morning. This picture was taken right before she fell asleep on his lap!

A week after the wedding, Grace hung out with my friends Kate and Julie for a bit before bedtime. Julie said, "Lis! I can't believe this baby is yours!" Tell me about it, Jules!

Michael was practicing holding Grace for when the next baby O'Brien (lovingly called "the X factor") arrives any day! Grace always smiled for him.

When I had a night out in Boston with the Fun Factor (my college girlfriends) for my friend Marcie's bachelorette party, Nene and Pops took great care of Grace for the night. They even got her to take a bottle for the first time! Good girl, Gracie!

Throughout the month, we were trying to get Grace ready for her first Halloween. Here is one of her reject costumes (it was way too big). It was my original idea for her to be Simba for Halloween...

but how could I deny this cute little giraffe?!

Sean and Molly even got dressed up in their Halloween costumes to teach Grace how to "trick or treat"!

I wish I had a picture to show you Grace's face when she saw her Far for the first time at the airport on Wednesday night. Two words will convey the moment: instant smile.

And now it is Halloween. I will try to get some sleep now and we will take Grace to a Halloween party with our neighbors in the afternoon. I'm sure I'll be back to my regular photo-taking self and can share more of our day with you.

It was a really nice trip, but it feels just right to be back.

LMW

October 26, 2009 - 8 months old

Dear Everyone,

My mom and I have been in the US for almost one whole month. It was really fun to spend so much time with Nene and Pops and to meet more of my family and Mom's friends.

I...

• had a fun sleepover with Brooke and Dave
• loved the Baltimore aquarium with Uncle Mark, Aunt Carrie, Matthew and Nathan
• am happy that Auntie Christine got married to Uncle Kevin
• am sad that Auntie Meghan didn't have her baby in time for me to meet my new cousin
• love Nene and Pops' doggy Belle and Auntie Meghan's doggy Homer
• did way too much shopping with my mom
• did not sleep very much
• fell in love with Cheerios
• drank from a bottle for the first time
• learned how to wave hello and goodbye (for real)
• repeatedly stole Pops' glasses from him
• got to see all but one of mom's closest girlfriends (sorry, Abs!)
• did not get any new teeth
• started to say "Mama" when my mom enters or leaves the room
• dressed up for Halloween with Michael, Sean, and Molly
• laughed and played with Nene and Pops every day!
• pushed myself all around on my belly, but did not start to crawl on all fours
• spent one night away from my mom for the first time (and we both survived without too many tears)
• and most of all I REALLY REALLY REALLY missed my Far and cannot wait to see him when I get back to Kenya on Wednesday night

On top of all that, today I turned 8 months old!

Mom says to tell you that she will post some pictures from our month (she barely took any though...can you believe it?!) and tell you more about our trip in a few days when we are settled back in Nairobi.

Wish us an easy-with-lots-of-sleeping trip back to Kenya. We leave tomorrow night!

Love, Grace

October 20, 2009 - 6-13

This blog was written a few days ago!

THE RAINS HAVE COME! This week I was monitoring schools in the districts around Mt. Kenya together with the head of the school feeding unit at the Ministry of Education. The clouds were building up the whole week and we talked about clouds, wind and El nino more than anything. We would constantly look at a new cloud trying to interpret what that cloud could tell us about the arrival of the rains. Thursday night we stayed at a town called Embu not far from Mt. Kenya. The sky was darkening, clouds were building up and then it rained. Light at first but then long heavy showers blessed Embu town. I remember waking up at around 2 am listening to the rains for more than an hour.

The next day after breakfast we went to monitor schools in the rural lands. It was raining when we got into the car. As we got out of town we could see people planting. Families had prepared their small pieces of land long before the rains had come for planting. Entire families were in the fields with their bums in the air planting maize; we saw old mamas carefully putting every seed into the wet soil. We were greeted with “Poa” from a young family on the dirt road. Nobody would have said “poa” earlier that week. Poa means “cool” in Kiswahili and in this case I found some hope because everybody knew that the drought was over. It was emotional for me, very emotional in fact. Now, in Kenya a man can’t cry - even from happiness - so I stayed quiet for a while in the car and sucked it up. But what a relief: Rain!

My Kenyan WFP driver Nicholas (in his late fifties) was also excited. Over our high frequency radio he reported that “Mobile 195” (a license plate) had seen rain in Mbeere district; he called his wife to hear if there was rain in his home. It had rained there and he was instructed by his wife to buy seeds. “I better buy before I get home or I’ll be in trouble with my wife,” he told me (half joking half serious!). I have to buy “6-13” maize seeds. Look, they are planting over there he told me as he pointed to a farm we drove by. I hope they are using 6-13. 6-13 is the best. 6-13, I have to try and get it today.” Now 6-13 is what is called a hybrid seed. It matures in only 3 months (the normal is 4), it is shorter so that the wind is less likely to lay it down and it is more resistant to drought. 6-13 is recommend by the Kenyan Ministry of Agruculture and promoted by Kofi Anan. 6-13 is perfect for the short rainswhich started yesterday and will end in December. I hope Nicholas managed to get 6-13 before he returned to his home. I didn’t know about 6-13 (the maize seed number) before this trip with Nicolas.

Now Kenya is unfortunately not out of the woods just yet. The rains has to continue throughout the season and if there is a break of more than 2-3 weeks farms with no access to irrigation will lose their crops, although with 6-13 they might hold out a few days longer. In one month farmers who plant tomatoes, kale or peas will be able to harvest but it takes 3 months for the maize which is the bulk of the harvest. For the pastoralists (Masai and others communities only relying on animals) the next few weeks will be crucial. It will take about 1-2 weeks before the grass sprouts and is long enough for the cows to eat it. The rains will bring cold weather and many cows are likely to die of pneumonia. After the long dry season the cows’ stomachs can’t cope with the fresh new grass and they will have diarrhea for a week or two. It’s tough and many will not make it. I have seen them; they are too weak. Sheep (the dumbest of all farm animals) might be okay. Goats and camels are so so tough and will make it for sure. Goats are very intelligent animals and will recognize their own individual names as cows and camels also can (as a vegetarian I am proud to know this J).

The monitoring this week went well; all schools had food, children were happy to see a white man, we saw many schools and Mt. Kenya (from all sides) and many wild animals on our way including giraffes, elephants and rhinos. We have a big meeting with the World Bank next week but I’ll let you know about that one in another blog. This week’s conversations with my driver are also material for a blog of their own!

It’s Friday night in Nairobi, I have played a game of squash and eaten some food and am tired from 6 days in the field. It’s Lisa’s sister Christine’s wedding tomorrow and I wish her all the best on her wedding day. Enjoy your weekend.

KW

October 14, 2009 - Home to Machakos

Machakos is a big town and a district about one hour drive from Nairobi. Our driver Charles was born there and his family still lives there. He has invited me there several times and the Saturday morning after Lisa & Grace left Kenya we went there together. It was a pleasant drive and Machakos turned out to be much hillier than I had envisioned.

Charles was overly excited and told me that of all the white people he had worked for I was the first to come to his house.

Charles had told me that he was building a small stone house for his family and the construction had been going on for quite some time, interrupted by lack of funds for cement. So when we got to Machakos town I told him I would buy him 5 bags of cement (I thought more would ruin the car’s suspension). After that purchase he was so grateful and we went to the supermarket, as his wife had given him a list of things to buy in town (see, wives are the same all over the world!). In the supermarket, he had to make a tough decision as he had promised his son a soccer ball but the good ones turned out to be very expensive. I told him to get the good one and some extra food and baby stuff and then I would pay for it. We proceeded from town into a more rural area and up the mountain as our route took us on a small dirt road. Charles drove slower and slower and started greeting almost everybody on our way. He told me that now that he had been seen driving a car with a white person he would never have a problem borrowing money from those people or paying them late as they now would assume he had money. He also told me that white people were seen as being closer to God, maybe because Jesus was white or because of the missionaries.

He eventually stopped the car and I learned that his house/plot of land was on a beautiful steep hillside right off the road. We parked the car on the road since it wouldn’t disturb any traffic; only about 15 cars would pass there every day. Now Charles was the boss! A few boys on the street were told to carry up the heavy cement bags to the house and Charles could walk up the hill with me without carrying much. We were greeted by his uncle, sister, niece, nephew, wife, son + baby girl, and his mother. They all seemed very excited to meet me, almost like they couldn’t believe it. But they were so relaxed and we joked, played some football and Charles showed me the small house he was building. He was very proud. I walked down and saw from where they fetched water, we talked about the rains, the drought, the baby, the teaching course his wife wants to take, the son, the local fruits I tasted, the price of maize, one day having enough money to buy a car, the church, water pumps and education. Then we drove around the area in my car, Charles driving with his son on his lap and his uncle and niece in the back seat. They greeted everybody who we met and I saw their church, the little local marked, amazing views and the niece’s high school. I tried to talk about gender and how unfair I thought it was that only women fetch/carry water. That didn’t help the mood so I changed to a lower gear again (baby steps).

Earlier this year an American woman visited us in Nairobi for a few nights, she was the cousin of the one who hurt her shoulder. Anyway, she accidentally left a pair of shoes, which I donated to Charles’ niece who is in the last year of high school. She got very excited. We went back to the house and just enjoyed the day together and ate some ugali and spinach. I brought my camera and took a lot of family photos, which I can print for them later.

There was no tv or radio running so we were just chatting and enjoying the time together. I was joking and trying to speak Kiswahili to everybody’s amusement. I was looking at the 3 month-old baby who was wrapped in several thick blankets on a hot day. The sweat was running from her forehead, but that is how they do it in Kenya.

After about 7 hours I drove back to Nairobi after a great day. Surely I’ll take Lisa and Grace there when they come back to Kenya.

KW

October 1, 2009 - Farvel Far

Grace and I leave tonight for a month in Boston. While we are very excited to see my family and friends, the mood in our house the past few days has been a bit sullen. Kristoffer and I used to be so good at doing "long distance", but now the Grace factor will make it harder than ever.

Kristoffer, we will miss you very much. I will do my best to keep Grace from doing anything too cute while we are gone :)

Far, Jeg elsker dig.

LMW & GEW