January 21, 2015 - Three Quarters

Oh man!  Enter every cliche written about the quick passage of time here.  I just can't believe she is 9 months old (but that pales in comparison to Noah's 4 years tomorrow!).  Aya now sports two center bottom teeth.  She is a pretty good eater, enjoying things she can hold herself the most (regardless of how much she consumes).  Her sleeping has improved A LOT...two nights this week she only woke up once and that was after an 8 hour stretch!  Woo hoo!  I already feel so much more human because of it, and started back as a substitute teacher at IST today.  She is also transitioning to two naps instead of  three (maybe that is helping with the night sleeping?).

Aya can now cruise furniture as fast as she can crawl, and she prefers to be standing up when possible. I think we will soon see her getting more independent with standing and then taking some steps.  I saw her try to go from her little music table to the sofa by herself (didn't work at all, but she wasn't afraid to try!).  She remains a very big fan of Grace and Noah.  She shows a lot of interest in her Far when he comes home from work.  When she sees Oliver, our housekeeper/nanny, in the morning she gets REALLY excited.  And then when she sees me if I have been away she gets REALLY excited again.  It's just the best.

Aya gets weighed and measured at a doctor's appointment next week, but we believe she is growing really well.  She is trying to mimic sounds (see one of the videos below) and makes sounds that sounds like "HI" and "MAMA" even though I know she isn't saying them on purpose or to me specifically.  She loves animals - our compound has a cat that she just adores, and any time she sees a dog she gets really happy.  Aya still loves her bath and enjoys being in the swimming pool as well.  She loves music and is working on her dance moves :) I had forgotten what a fun, sweet age this is.  She has a true, emerging personality...and we enjoy her a lot.

It's (only?) been 9 months of our gorgeous girl...but it's also pretty hard to remember when she wasn't part of our family.  Have a look...

 (tried to get her with her best friend, but Oliver remained camera shy!)

Here are some videos of our sweet, silly girl in the past week.  She's irresistible!

LMW

January 20, 2015 - Great News!

Very happy news from our family.  

Grace, Noah and Aya have a new cousin!  

Allison Mueller Phelps was born on January 14, 2015.  This is my favorite picture of her so far because she looks so much like her brother, Kyle.  What a blessing for my sister's family to welcome a new baby.  It is an emotional roller coaster, for sure, and her arrival was not as drama-free as we all would have liked...but she is now doing really well at home with her over-protective big sister firmly by her side.  Just I have thought with the birth of all of my nieces and nephews (Matthew, Nathan, Michael, Sean, Molly, Nora, Zoe, Kyle and now Allison) and my own children...what an incredible gift!  

We aleady love you, Allison!

LMW

January 10, 2015 - Another First

While I hoped her next milestone would be sleeping through night, Aya did check "first tooth" off the list today.  I think it might have happened yesterday afternoon because after her nap she seemed in a much better mood than the previous few days and I know she didn't have it yesterday morning.  I am feeling a little guilty that the week she got her first tooth was the week I weaned her at night.  No more nursing during the night - only during the day - which means, she has had some really tough nights of screaming (and soothing from Far) this week, and now I'm thinking of some of that screaming was related to teething (whoops!).  It keeps getting better though.  Last night she slept 8 hours straight - but that was from 6:30pm-2:45am, so I am not sure if that counts as sleeping through the night, even if was the longest stretch of sleep she has ever had in her life!  I think we are VERY close to a full night of sleep and, at the very least, we are over her habit of waking up every 2 hours so that is a huge success.   She's about 2 months older than her siblings were when they got their first teeth (or at least Grace...I would have to look it up in Noah's baby book to remember his!), but so happy for her. Hope she doesn't suffer too terribly with the next ones!

LMW

(love her sly smile in this one!)

January 5, 2014 - New Year's Resolutions

I love new beginnings and fresh starts and making lists and getting organized.  So January is always a month I look forward to.  Nothing special to report in the resolution department this year (get back to blogging!) but I do have a new trick for anyone else looking to stick to their resolutions:  Tell Your Kids!  Little kids will keep you really honest, I promise.  Here's how I know...

On New Year's Day Grace and Noah were fighting and I decided to use that moment to talk to them about making  resolution.  I explained what a resolution was and why you make one at the start of the new year.  And then I gave them some examples.  "For example, Grace might make a resolution to stop using a mean tone of voice when she talks to Noah.  And Noah, you might want to make a resolution to stop kicking Grace, even when she hurts your feelings.  Or..." I said..."Or, I could make a resolution to stop drinking Coca-Cola in the new year, because I know that it is not healthy for me."  

That was sort of the end of the conversation because then Grace said something about poo and laughter erupted and they forgot all about the resolutions.  I thought: I tried, but that's over with.

UNTIL

We were sitting at the McDonald's at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.  It's always a special airport treat that the kids get McDonald's there.  I had just gotten people happy meals and some breakfast food for Kristoffer and me.  The kids were drinking their chocolate milk when Grace asked me what I was drinking.  

Me: Coca-Cola.
Grace:  Why are you drinking that?
Me: Because that was really all they had that I liked.
Grace:  But what about your resolution not to drink any more Coca-Cola?

And just like that, I was so busted.  So I told her that once we got back to Dar es Salaam - because I was definitely going to have a coke on the airplane - I would try much harder to stop drinking coca-cola.  "Because it is not healthy for you?" she asked.  "Right," I said.

Today was Day 2 back in Dar.  I wanted a coke yesterday when we were so tired after the trip and Aya hadn't been sleeping.  I wanted a coke today when I was standing out in the heat waiting to pick Grace up from school.  But both days I DID NOT GET A COKE because I told her she can ask me any time.  And I don't want to lie to her.  And I do actually want to stop drinking coke, even if if it was not really my intention to make it a NYR.

So, the lesson here is that if you really want to be held accountable for something - tell your kids about it and they will help keep you honest.  It absolutely caught me off guard, but was a nice indication that she was actually listening to me, right?  Let's see how we're doing a little further into 2015.

LMW

January 4, 2015 - Home Again

Sometimes after doing long-haul international travel with kids, I feel like we deserve some kind of a huge reward, because even at it's smoothest and "easiest" - which yesterday was! - it is still just absolutely exhausting. I guess the reward is that our kids are, and maybe always will be, really great travelers.  They love packing up, they are great at saying goodbye, they (the big kids, that is) are great at putting themselves to sleep, they watch shows or play the iPad as easily as most kids.  They don't even complain at middle of the night wake ups to go to the airport - they just TALK the whole drive there (right, Farmor and Hans?).  Towards the end of our very long day yesterday they did get a bit antsy of course - we ALL did - but no major problems at all and, in fact, they were both very helpful entertaining Aya - who we hope will someday be a great traveler but right now still falls into the "undecided" category as a curious, active, not-prone-to-sleeping-when-she-should baby.  

We are tired, but it's nice to be in our house after 3 great weeks of seeing so many people we love in Denmark.  Thanks to all who took the time to see us and so sorry to those of you we might have missed this time around. A special thank you to Farmor and Hans, who were as accommodating as ever and, as always, really make us feel at home-away-from-home when we visit.  We know it is really hard work to have our family for so long, so we hope you can have a restful month of January to recover ;)

Kids are all asleep now, and it's back to school tomorrow!  Let's see what Life in Dar has in store for us this year!

LMW

January 1, 2015 - Ringing in the New Year

Starting off the new year with a new post!  That's a good way to be better than last year, for sure.  We had a lot of fun celebrating last night with Kristoffer's family.  There were crazy hats, lots of decorations, party poppers, and very exciting fireworks...not to mention some great food, drinks, and happy company! Truly a great way to say goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015.

 A catered dinner was so lovely!

 Kristoffer relived his days training the Royal Queen's Guard in the military.  Noah was fascinated!

 Like every New Year's Eve, at 6 pm sharp the Queen addresses the nation.  I learned that she is the only one in any country who does it LIVE!  And you know, Danes love their Queen!

 Aya stayed up so late trying on hats and playing with everyone.  She was down just before midnight actually - ack! The fireworks outside and excited siblings made it pretty hard to sleep.

 Noah and Uncle Rasmus even started planning for what Santa should bring NEXT Christmas!

We spent a lot of time outside watching and lighting fireworks.  Noah was a little bit scared but found out that the sparklers were just his speed.

Grace, on the other hand, might have a future in pyrotechnics.  She LOVED lighting small fireworks with her cousins and running away from them.  Hans had bought some big ones that we watched while the kids were still awake.  It was really fun! (also, this American was a little freaked out...but notice the safety goggles.)  

Hoping this was the first of many happy nights in the coming year.  We are starting to pack up now and will head back to Tanzania in two more days. It's been a really great Christmas trip to Denmark, and we're also looking forward to getting the kids back into the regular routines of everyday life.  That's what keeps this time of year so special!

Again, Happy New Year!

LMW

December 31, 2014 - Happy New Year/Godt Nytår

While it was not a great year for me in terms of blogging, but our family did have a lot going on in 2014.  Our biggest change was the arrival of Aya Karen!  Clearly the year's highlight and a wonderful gift to all of us.  But since then we've also been pretty tired and hope that in the new year she will let us a get a little more sleep.  In 2015, I think our biggest wish would be to relocate our family out of Africa and back to either the US or Denmark.  No - that is not an announcement of any kind - just a wish for the new year.  We'll certainly try to make it happen any way.  After 7 years in East Africa, I think we're finally ready to try something new!

My resolutions for 2015 are to do MORE:  blogging, sleeping, exercising, and problem solving.  I would like to be more patient, more productive, more kind, and more "in the moment".

My resolutions are also to do LESS:  complaining, time-wasting, and internet-ing. I would like to be less tired (ok, maybe already mentioned that one), less far away from our families, less whiny, and less distracted.

Everyone else is sleeping right now or getting ready for tonight's new year festivities.  But Aya is with me now and she says: gee gee gee gee...mamamamamam...aslkdhsgkjhalk...ack ack ack.

We are counting the many blessings of this year and looking forward to what next year has in store for us.  Here's hoping you're doing the same.

With love and good cheer...Happy New Year!

LMW

December 30, 2014 (belated) - More Merry

Some more sort of random, but lovely, pictures of our post-Christmas days. I should say that most of these pictures come from Hans because we just haven't been taking any!  (terrible, our poor 3rd child!) Kristoffer and I actually took Aya to Copenhagen for a couple of days without the big kids...they stayed home with Farmor and Hans to have a lot of fun and we got to visit some friends we really missed.  No pictures to prove it, but we had a great time seeing Malene & Casper from Nairobi (with Silas, Julius and new baby Marie), Anne & Soren (with new baby Jonathon), and Morten & Linette.  Thank goodness for dear friends - even if you haven't seen them in years!  

 SNOW ANGELS!

(frost angels?)

 Aya loves Farmor's Giraffe!

We will miss these Danish days when we head back to Dar on Saturday.  We might not miss our colds/coughs...but if they would just go away, we could find out!

LMW