July 24, 2014 - Summer Holiday

Farmor and Hans have been in our neck of the woods for two weeks.  Nothing makes for happier kids during summer vacation than totally dedicated grandparents!  Here are a few scenes from their visit.

Picnic Lunch at the Beach

Mini-vacation at a hotel called Protea Amani Beach on the South Beach of Dar es Salaam.  Two nights away and it was just lovely (minus a wee bit of food poisoning for Farmor - welcome to East Africa!).

(huge waves were crazy but so much fun!)

(crabs all lined up for a race!)

Making New Friends

Learning New Games

(Grace is the new Welsien Family UNO champ!)

Playing Playing Playing

(one of East Africa's finest "death trap" playgrounds) 

Practing our Bike Riding

(she doesn't yet know that he often lets go!)

Baking with Farmor

Beautiful Sunset over the Indian Ocean...

sometimes I forget how lucky we are to have this view everyday if we want it!

Shopping for Grace's new school uniform!

Admiring the Tanzanian Flag :)

We have another week-and-a-half to go with Farmor and Hans, so that's great. And a very nice part of summer break has been that Kristoffer has taken quite a few days off of work here and there, making for long family weekends (which means I get to sleep late a few mornings a week - yippee!). Only 19 days until back to school (not that I'm counting)...and as much fun as summer break is, with not so many "new" things to do in Dar this time of year (despite the WONDERFUL weather right now) I think we will all appreciate the routine of the school year (tell me I am not the only parent who thinks that?).

LMW

July 21, 2014 - One Sweet Face

Sorry (Mrs. D!) for my absence on the blog these last few weeks.  Kristoffer's mom and Hans are visiting so we've been having a lot of fun.  But 2/3 of the kids in this house don't sleep through the night, and I have also had a sick stomach.  So all of that has not left so much time for  blogging, and not nearly enough time for sleeping either.

But our little lady is 3 months old today!  While the camera rarely shows it (she goes into "zombie" mode when the iPhone or camera appears!) she is one big smile these days.  Last Sunday (July 13th) Aya really belly laughed for the first time and has done it once since then.  Even more exciting, this past Saturday (July 19th) she rolled over from her back to her front for the first time.  The coolest part was that my mom was on FaceTime with us watching her and so she saw the whole thing. Aya has done it several times since then, even getting her one stuck arm out from under her (no video yet!). The problem with this new skill is that she is doing it in her sleep and in her little co-sleeper (attached to our bed like this), she doesn't have enough room so gets a bit stuck or twisted and wakes up.  I then need to resettle her back to sleep.  Argh - more wake ups than before?  No thank you!  So last night we started the transition to her big crib in her own room.  She put herself to sleep in it at bedtime and slept in there for 4 hours before her first wake up.  At that point I brought her back into her co-sleeper, but thought it was a good first effort.

She doesn't go to the doctor for more shots/stats until next week, but it is clear that she is growing well, as her little chunky thighs and arms aren't fitting into everything these days and many of her footed pajamas are too short.  Aya eats well from me, and will also take a bottle of pumped milk easily (a very wonderful change from her big siblings).  

Her favorite things remain: her swing, her binky, her big sister, and her bath time.  Whatever you do, don't take away her bath.  This girl will start fussing between 6:00 and 6:30 and will not calm down until you put her in her warm bath.  She knows this is bed time, and afterwards she eats, burps, gets a story, and goes to bed for her "long" sleep.  In this coming month we are mostly just hoping that her first stretch of sleep gets much longer.  

We're loving this girl and as she starts to be able to "do" more, we know that she is adding new and exciting energy to our family.  It is hard to believe that we're a quarter of the way through her first year...and with all of Aya's firsts I am emotionally aware that they are also "lasts" for us.  That is the beautiful cycle of life I suppose, and I am so very grateful we're experiencing it all again with Aya.

Here is Aya's sweet little face these last few weeks.  And try to spot the picture that ISN'T Aya!

Meeting Farmor for the first time.

 Big bro is always ready to "handle" Aya!

 First long-weekend away to South Beach (Tanzania, not Florida)...more on that later.

 (Not Aya - but Aya's first monkey sighting!)

 Family photo on our mini-vacation...Aya did not get the memo to be a little bit silly!

That is her MOST serious expression.

 Hans and Aya called each other to plan their outfits :)

 Classic Welsien Baby Hotel Sink Bath Picture! 

(about 6 weeks older than her siblings were for theirs!)

And today - our lovely ladies!

 Can't get enough of this girl...we love her more every day!

Keep up the good work, kiddo!
LMW

July 4, 2014 - Every Heart Beats True ('Neath the Red, White and Blue)

It's one of my two least favorite days to be an expat.  I've said it before and I'll say it again...there's just something about The Fourth and Thanksgiving that makes me really believe you should be IN America to celebrate them properly!  The best we could do around here was to sport our American wardrobe.  So I present to you...

Miss America,

Uncle Sam,

 and our biggest Firecracker!

(who has been sick for three days with a bad sinus infection and is on her fourth round of antibiotics in a month. ACK!  But she's still smiling!)

I know I haven't lived there in a long time and I know she is a flawed, imperfect lady...but she is still mine and I am still hers.  God Bless America, land that I love.  

LMW

July 2, 2014 - Baby Life

Aya is 10 weeks old now, and living a pretty good life.  She has been to the beach 3 times.  During her first time, below, she loved the cool breeze.  We definitely brought Aya back to Dar at the right time of year.

She was really loving a little time with Rose every day, but now seems to like Oliver pretty too.  

Here you can see the changing of the guard...Rose introducing Aya to Oliver.

The big siblings are always around, loving on Aya!  

Aya specifically responds really well to their voices and has gotten quite good at following them with her eyes.

She has also gotten used to how silly her Far is!

I need to start taking more selfies I guess of me and Aya because I have no pictures of the two of us - but we are together a lot.  At night time, since she had that virus, she is not doing as well as she was before the virus.  The last two nights have been 4 or 5 wakes/feeds :(  She sleeps well and often during the day - often putting herself to sleep on her playmat or snoozing in her swing which she just loves.  As long as I avoid her trigger foods, she is not fussy at all.

Aya is very smiley now and also chatting more and more, although I haven't caught a good conversatiom on camera yet.

We can't wait for Farmor and Hans to meet Aya when they arrive in 9 days.  Their visit will be the highlight of our third summer in Dar!

LMW

July 1, 2014 - A Good Goodbye

Yesterday we said goodbye to Rose.  First on Friday night her fiance, Marsh, arrived from Kenya to help her get back home with all of her stuff.  It was nice of him to come pick her up.  Then on Saturday afternoon we had a goodbye party where she could invite all of her friends to send her off.  It was really lovely - all of her friends wrapped her in kangas (African cloth) and offered her words of wisdom for her marriage.  They all got to meet (and question) Marsh, and he gave a speech to them saying he had no idea she had such a wonderful network here in Dar.   She also presented us with a painting of our family that she had hired someone to paint for us.  It was a very thoughtful, special gift that we will always have.  On Sunday night we took Rose and Marsh out to dinner with our whole family, and yesterday we said goodbye ahead of their very early departure this morning.  

All of these events were a way of helping Rose and the kids and us process her departure and celebrate the next phase of her life.  While sad to no longer have her here, we are very happy for her.  Kristoffer, Grace and Noah are so far doing OK.  Rose and I were the ones crying last night!  We are happy, too, that we found a nice woman, Oliver (pronounced Oliva...like with a Boston accent!), to replace Rose and Rose was able to train her for a few days last week.  Two days in and so far no complaints. Fingers crossed that it keeps going well!  Aya likes Oliver a lot and the big kids are starting to interact with her a bit more too.  I am sure that will take just a little more time.

Here are some pictures that I don't think Rose minds if I share.  We wish her all the best in the next chapter of her life. Safari njema, Rose, na nashukuru sana.  Hongera!

We gave Rose a framed copy of this picture and will display one in our house as well.  It is important to me that the kids will not forget someone who was such a big part of their formative years!

Rose with the three women who used to be nannies for Grace's best friends.  In our first summer here they spent a lot of time together and became good friends!

With a couple more of the "dadas".

 Everyone at the party!  

(Christopher the cook to the left...Rose's fiance, Marsh, to the right.)

 The Happy Couple...ready to get married!

LMW