June 21, 2014 - Two Months Old

Out littlest lady is two months old today.  After a week of not feeling well Aya is back to her normal sweet self, which is a little bit smiley these days (we still have to work for it, but she is getting more generous with the smiles).  We were thrilled on Thursday night when her fever had passed and she was no longer screaming when she was awake.

At a doctor's appointment yesterday, she weighed 4.9 kg (10.78 lbs), was 55 cm long (21.6 in) and her head circumference was 38 cm (14.9 in).  She received 3 more vaccinations (boo!), one of which really made her scream, but she recovered well from them.  I am happy that she is back to nursing normally after a 3-day hiatus.  During that time I pumped a lot of milk so Rose has given her a couple of bottles...an experience they both seemed to enjoy as you can see below.

We are starting to feel a sense of rhythm to Aya's days and nights, and hope to have her routinized a bit more in the next few weeks.  She is still a better sleeper than the big kids were (except when she was sick).  She is pretty sweet and Grace and Noah still enjoying interacting with her very much.  As you can see, they are helpful as well.

We are loving this girl, especially as she is more alert and responsive now.  The big kids (Kristoffer included) can't wait until she "can do something" (Noah's words).  Aya loves her bath every night, to hear music, to feel motion, and to be talked to.  Happy two months, Aya!

Custom-made jewelry...from Noah with love!

 Napping in her big girl crib.

 Peek-a-boo!

 

 This past Monday...

 Her second bottle ever, and her first bottle with Rose...

 Someone was feeling better (Thursday night)...

 Friday smiles :)

And two months old today!

 (she was really constipated after being sick...sitting up in the boppy with some head support finally did the trick!)

Gracie LOVES to be with Aya!

LMW

June 19, 2014 - Moving On

So I haven't written about it yet because it is a hard thing for me to write about.  But it's time to let you know that Rose, our housekeeper and nanny for the last almost-4 years, is moving back to Kenya and getting married next month.  We only have her with us for a short time remaining, and this is very big news in our world.

We are very happy for Rose (who I know often reads this blog...Hi, Rose!) and think it is a great next step for her life.  We never knew that she would want to stay with us in Tanzania as long as she had, and we are so grateful for the time she has spent working for our family.  

But at the same time, I credit Rose's presence and help for much of my sanity living in East Africa these last many years.  Our transition from Nairobi to Dar was very smooth, in large part because of her.  So I am particularly and quite selfishly sad that Rose is leaving because I do believe she is irreplaceable.  I am sure we can find someone else to work for us (working on that currently...) and we'll even find someone who we like and does a great job.  But she will not be Rose.  And considering that she is probably the person on this continent that I have the spent the most amount of time with consistently in the last 6 1/2 years combined I feel it will be a hard goodbye.

Grace and Noah took the news well and are talking about it a lot.  Noah asks her everyday, "Rose, did you get married yet?  When are you going to Kenya?"  Grace is telling everyone she knows that she has to get a new "dada" [means sister in Kiswahili and is used for a nanny/housekeeper] "because my Rose is moving back to Kenya to get married."  (Please note how much I love it that she calls her "my Rose.")  I am sure the sadness of the situation might not occur to them until after she leaves and doesn't come back.  Luckily, though, this lifestyle has helped Grace and Noah become pretty good goodbyers. I am sad on another level, though, that Rose will not be here with Aya...especially because they already get along so well!

But mostly, as I said, I do feel really grateful that we were lucky enough to find a woman who has really loved our children these years - especially because we never intended for her to be our nanny (note that we hired her to be a part-time housekeeper but on her first day working for us I was admitted to the hospital with complications in Noah's pregnancy and - ta da, Rose became our nanny just like that!).  When you live so far away from your own family, it is a blessing to have some extra love around for the little ones.  We have so many great memories of and with Rose, and she will always have a special place in our family's story. 

Rose is leaving at the beginning of July and next weekend we will throw her a little goodbye party here to send her off.  I'm already crying - ACK!

LMW

June 18, 2014 - Dar Strikes Again

Well we were only back for two weeks before the first sniffles.  And then the coughs.  And then fevers.    Grace and Noah both got sick on Saturday and by Sunday morning it was obvious to me (Dr. Mama) that Grace had a sinus infection and Noah had the croup.  We went in to the see the doctor to find that my diagnoses were correct but that they both ALSO had ear infections.  We got drugged up with antibiotics, inhalers, nasal sprays, etc.  Great.

Until the baby got a fever!  So now we're on Day 5 and while the big kids were cleared to go back to school, Aya still has a fever and is not herself at all.  Not eating well, fewer diapers, poor sleep, lots of screaming and/or moaning.  Her blood test yesterday showed it was viral, not bacterial like the big kids, so she is spared the antibiotics for now.  But wow...we hate to see our baby with a fever feeling so miserable!  Hoping the madness ends today.

All of this is just to confirm that we are officially back in East Africa - the land of infection (at least for our kids!).  Argh!

LMW

June 15, 2014 - Happy Far's Day!

While I could not be with my Dad today, I have been reflecting a lot about him on this Father's Day.  Because both of my grandfathers died before I was born, I find it to be an extra special gift that my father has been around all three of my kids in their very early days.  It is not something I take for granted, this wonderful Pops my children have and know and love...perhaps because I always wished I had had one.

With Grace...

With Noah...

With Aya...

We don't call him the baby whisperer for nothing!  As much as I appreciate what a great dad he is and has always been to me, in my parenthood I appreciate him even more as a grandfather.  Thank you, Dad - for unconditional love and support and great stories and advice!  And for the beetles! 

It should also go without saying, but I will say it anyway, that Kristoffer is an exceptional father.  Especially during the last three months when we have been separated and he has been a single parent for much of the time, he has just been amazing.  He knows our kids so well and has such great parenting values.  I know exactly why I wanted to have a family with him - he is just brilliant at it.

With Grace...

With Noah...

With Aya...

It was great to be parented by my Dad.  It is great to be parenting with Kristoffer.  That's all there is to it!

On this Father's Day - when both of our big kids are pretty sick (ear infections, sinus infection, croup!) and we spent some time at the clinic (of course! this is Dar!  and we've been back for two weeks!) - Kristoffer got some time in on the sailboat even though he did a lot of work around the house.  And he got in a little Lego "play time" at home too...

(below is my new favorite picture - two kids sleeping, one on the iPad almost sleeping and Far building a Lego airplane!)  

He is Super Far indeed!  

Happy Far's Day!

LMW

June 11, 2014 - Boston Strong Baby

Thanks to Auntie Brooke for Aya's Birthday onesie, celebrating that she was born on Marathon Monday.  She wears it with Boston Strong pride!

LMW

June 10, 2014 - Aya's First Playdate

While the big kids were finishing up the school year on Friday, Aya attended her first baby group.  Here she is chillin with three little boys.  She somehow ended up mostly in her birthday suit...hope she didn't make a bad impression!

LMW

June 9, 2014 - Last Day of School/Pre-School Graduation

Flashback over here to see what the big kids looked like at the beginning of the school year.  And this past Friday was their last day of school shot!  They have really GROWN!

 (Ninja Turtle pose)

It was also a day to say goodbye to Elisabeth, one of our very favorite teachers for the last 2+ years.  We will really miss her!

I cam back to school later in the day to watch Grace "graduate" from preschool.  All departing kids (whether moving away or moving up to kindergarten) got a medal and a book of pictures made by all of the other kids.  It was very sweet and she was very proud.

We also waved goodbye to some great teachers!

And to top off the day, we received both Grace ans Noah's class pictures.  Noah is excited to move up to the big class when Grace starts at the international (IST).  The Nordic School has been a very special place for Grace these last couple of years...I was a little teary thinking about how big she is now! 

Today they started 3 weeks of summer school (more like "camp") before the long 6 week break in July/August.
LMW

June 8, 2014 - Annual Circus

This year marked our third circus celebration at the end of the school year in the Nordic community here.  Different from last year, Noah actually participated!  And Grace was in a new routine :)

We present...Little Ladybugs

And...The Sea Lions

(surgeon general's warning:  pretty long video...might only be interested if you're a grandparent!)

Our kids have so much fun at this event every year that I was really happy we were back in time for it.  It was also Aya's first introduction to the Nordic community in Dar, and she was very well received :)

LMW

June 7, 2014 - Homecoming

The best part of our arrival in Dar two Friday nights ago, was that my friend came to pick us up at the airport as a surprise, with another driver and an extra car so we could fit ALL of our stuff (9 bags equal to 510 lbs of luggage + 7 carryons + Aya's car seat and stroller + 5 people).  It was a wonderful treat and helped me relax a lot even though Grace & Noah's car seats didn't arrive with us.  

Arriving at our house at about 11:00 at night, we were wondering if we would have electricity.  It was another gift that our electricy was working.  Thank goodness!

But that's where the "good news" stopped.  Our water pump was broken so we had no water at all until late the next afternoon.  We discovered the next day that both of our car batteries were dead dead dead.  AND, the worst, our house was covered in mold!  

It was a rookie mistake for us to leave our house so closed up during what turned out to be an incredibly long rainy season.  The air was damp and it never moved or circulated and it was so hot that the mold just grew and grew.  Rose has been furiously cleaning all week and we still keep finding it in new places!  We'll NEVER make that mistake again!

All of this is just to say that despite a very long 3-month break from Dar, it took just a few minutes for us to really "feel" the differences of being here.  I have to say I took these small inconveniences pretty hard the first couple of days because Aya - who had slept through our whole trip here - was WIDE awake our whole first night until 5 am.  That was brutal.  The next two nights were also not great before she started sleeping at more normal times by Monday night.  Once the cloud of sheer exhaustion lifted, I could see that these were really small problems on the Dar scale of "irritating" to "complete disaster".

And back to the good news, we've been welcomed back so warmly by all of our friends in the Nordic community and our friends in the more American-ish Friday happy hour community.  On Grace & Noah's first day back to school they were welcomed like rock stars!  They have been on a constant ride of play dates with good friends, and everyone has been very sweet on our little Aya.  

All in one week I felt like I experienced the high and lows of expat life here, but overall it is quite nice to be back in our daily life and in our own house.  I'm not perfectly well rested, but I'm also not doing too badly considering we have a 6 week old.  

Pictures of some of this week's events (playdates, circus and last day of school!) are coming soon!

LMW

June 6, 2014 - Boston Departure & Aya's First Travel

We've been back in Dar for just about a week now, so I think it is time to get back to blogging.  Let's see how I can keep up with life and all three kids!

My last two days in America were slightly stressful.  Specifically - Aya is on medicine for reflux, and I had confirmed that the medicine is not available in Dar, so the plan was to get a year's prescription to bring with me.  The doctor and nurse had this idea and were incredibly helpful in making it happen.  But the logistics and bureaucracy of the World Bank and the insurance companies (one for docs and one for pharmacy!) AND our lack of understanding the process from the start made the whole thing very complicated.  To make a long story short, after 10 days of emails not working, the morning of our departure I started calling.  It was a few hours on the phone with a variety of different people at different levels BUT in the end I was able to get her medication.  On our way to the airport, heading into Boston traffic.  4 hours before flight departure.  TALK ABOUT CUTTING IT CLOSE!  

As my mom said to me in the car after we had finally gotten the medicine, "If you don't have an ulcer after today, you never will!"

Then there was a slight hiccup with our baggage.  I had been told on the phone that all business class bags could weigh 70 lbs.  When I got to the airport they told me that Aya's checked bag could only weigh 25 lbs.  Whoops!  But I was able to get a manager to understand that my $200 fee should be waived because I had in fact been told by someone who worked at Delta that the bag could be 70 lbs.  Sheesh!  And you better believe me that we do not waste space or weight allowance when we travel. We were packed to the MAX in three brand new suitcases!

Next came a sad goodbye with my wonderful parents.  It is hard to explain why it was SO much harder for me to leave this time than usual.  Something about being home for 3 whole months, with my parents doing so much for me and for us, and enjoying them enjoying their grandchildren, Aya being born in America.  It was just hard.  But weepy me said goodbye as Aya remained sound asleep through the car ride, the check in, and TSA security check (even though they made me take her out of the car seat and everything!).

We got some pretty nasty glares when we walked into the business class lounge.  People were either thinking, "How dare you bring a baby in here!!" or "Dear God, please don't let that newborn be on my flight."

But to prove them all wrong, Aya was the perfect traveler.  Something about the noise or motion of the airplane maybe?  She slept for almost the entire 24 hours of travel and in the rare moments that she was awake, she was NOT crying.  She even happily let one lovely flight attendant hold her so that I could go to the bathroom.  We had nobody sitting next to us on both flights, so there was plenty of space for all of her stuff...but as long as she was laying on my chest, she was asleep and since I could lay down all the way, I actually could sleep too.  All airport/airline people were very kind to us on this trip.

It was another lovely reunion meeting up with Kristoffer, Grace and Noah in Amsterdam.  Our layover was just long enough for one last round of McDonald's french fries for the kids and bathroom trips all around.  Sadly, we were not sitting together on the LONGEST flight of the last three months.  10.5 hours all the way to Dar with a stop at Mt. Kilimanjaro.  Kristoffer gets the award for sitting with them in the back while Aya and I snoozed up front.  

And then just like that, our three months of crazy logistics were over.  We are here now in Dar.

More on our homecoming later...THAT is another story altogether ;)

LMW