Sleeping In

My daughter loves to sleep in...

Here is she snoozing in our big bed.



I feed her at around 6:30 in bed with me. And then she falls back asleep. It's a beautiful thing!



For a long time.



Really long.



See?

She is still snoozin' strong and now it's nearly 11 o'clock...

I'll thank her profusely when she's older!

Four Months!

My sweet baby girl is four months old!!

Sunday (Friday) Shoes

I always thought it'd be fun to dress a girl. I mean, I guess I thought it would be fun. But maybe I actually never actually thought about it much.

Let me re-phrase.

Ahem.

I never actually thought much about how fun it might be to dress a girl.

But I know that I never thought I'd be the put-a-headband-or-bow-on-my-daughter-all-the-time-even-though-she's-still-just-a-baby kind of Mom. But I am definitely that.

Today I put her in a headband AND cute shoes. Can a 3 1/2 month old have too many accessories? At least I didn't make her carry a matching bag. Ha!

This is the first time my baby girl really wore shoes. At least as far as I can remember. And that's not always very far. Remember I have two small kids. Pregnancy zaps away all my brains (but only when it's convenient to use that excuse).

Anyway... It was just a whim on my part. I mean, does she really needs shoes? Her feet don't go anywhere near the ground. And you KNOW it's not cold here...

But here she is before church this morning (yes, we go to church on Friday morning. AND Friday afternoon. It's one service... just goes on a long time.)
:)



Maybe you can't tell. But that is a miniature jean skirt.

She's just so precious.

But just look at this face.



Just look at it.

Again.

From a different angle.



She's so sweet. Even with her little baby cheek squooshed into the arm of the couch.

But wait.

Zoom out.



Oh yes.

There they are.



*smile*

I'd now like to give a shout-out to whoever bought those shoes for her. I can't remember who you are (see paragraph 7), but she told me to tell you that she loves them...

Story Time

Ever since my boy was probably 6 months old he has always 'read' books in bed for awhile in the morning before we get him up. (I highly recommend training your child to do this by the way!) So he's accustomed to sitting in his bed looking at books for a good period of time each day.

Well, one day a couple of weeks ago I had put his little sister on his bed later in the day for whatever reason and he decided he should share his books and read to her some too!

It was so sweet. He chose the smallest board books we have and brought them in bed to show her and 'read' to her!



See him pointing out the pictures in the book?



love.them.

Fuse Box

Today the welders came and did their welding. There was also sawing and cementing involved in day 1 of balcony-shade-construction.

There were no disasters!

But I feel that we may have come rather close.

This (in case you are unable to identify this strange web of wires) is our fuse box[es?!].



I mean, I'm no electrician. But I'm fairly sure that a fuse box[es?!] is not supposed to look like this. Just doesn't seem right. Just doesn't seem safe.

And today the welders had to tap directly into on of the wires in order to run their welding tool.

I think it's a miracle that we haven't had so much as a spark from this [these] box[es?!] of electrical-accident-waiting-to-happen craziness hanging on the wall of our living room...

Such is Life...

Returning to our African home a few weeks ago, we noticed some things in our rented home that needed fixed and needed maintenance. So in the midst of our other activities, we've been attempting to get this house in better working order.

We should have known better.

Wednesday we had some metal workers come to fix the gate for our car. It wasn't closing well, so they had to re-weld some pieces.



Our gate is working well now. That's good.

What is not good is that in the process they managed to knock out the electricity in my downstairs neighbors detached guest room. Along with half their house. And it's not an easy fix. Apparently there is a short somewhere in the cement walls somewhere in the house. Oh my goodness.






[next scene]



Meanwhile we had a plumber come to fix this sink.



It used to be in our bathroom, and as you can see, it needed some help with the faucet. However, in the process, he managed to crack the whole thing from side to side.

So, we had him bring us a new (used) sink. He installed that one for us, which was all well and good.



New (used) sink was cheap and okay with us.

However, in the process of installing it he managed to cause water to do this every time we turn on the faucet.



Oh my goodness.



[next scene]



Now it's the end of the week and were climbing (falling) into bed at the end of a long day... SNAP... the corner of Mike's bed breaks. (yes, we have two beds... two twin beds pushed together to make a king. It's just how they do it here folks!)




Anyway, he couldn't sleep on it and we have to turn sideways so that only our legs are on the broken bed. Happily, today it's already fixed.

But it was just the perfect ending, wouldn't you say?

And what is coming up next might you ask?

Well, tomorrow (fingers crossed) we have workers coming to make this metal



and this gumash (fabric)



into a shade covering for this half of our balcony.



There is going to be welding and cementing and drilling involved and needless to say I am VERY VERY nervous about it. I'm preparing myself for the worst...

"If it ain't broke don't fix it.
If it's only kinda broke STILL don't fix it.
And if it's really broke and you must, then 'fix' it. But don't get your hopes up..."
-me

:)

A Discovery

One hand found the other!



And then she discovered them both...





Hours of enjoyment... lemme tell ya!



Oh yeah... and my boy would like you to know that he too has hands!

Potty Training Final Day

I KNOW you know what this is...



Yep, that's right.
:)

Potty Training Day #2

Do you know what this is?



It's the number of peed in cutest-toddler-boy-undies that I dealt with today!!

I am so proud of my big boy! He did so well!

Potty Training Day #1

I tried to keep track of how many trips we took to the bathroom. And how many minutes we spent in there. I'd like to be able to tell you my boy's stats for the day. You know... how many times he peed in the pot, how many times he stayed dry in his "unner-wear" (underwear), how many treats he got.

The one thing I can tell you is how many accidents I cleaned up.

That number is five.

And that was just between 3 and 7pm.

Here's is a pile of cutest-toddler-boy-undies. Nevermind they are laying in the corner of the bathroom cause he peed in them. They're still cute. Count them. Five. Five cute peed-in undies.



And. Stop judging me for the appearance of the corner of my bathroom. I live in Africa... do you expect corners of bathrooms to be nicely finished and perfectly clean? Puh-lease.

And here is the stack of clean cutest-toddler-boy-undies. Just waiting to be peed in tomorrow...



You're right. I should more optimistic. I'm trying. Okay. Here's some optimism... I have tile floors... halleluiah!!

Also, a warning to any of my local readers who may stop by. Sometimes the heat and dry air causes 'pee footsteps' (you know... tiny toddler feet tracking pee from puddle where the accident happened leading in the general direction of Mommy or the bathroom) that dry up so fast that I can't even put H on the potty and run back with a rag fast enough to clean them while I still know where they were. So they may or may not have been wiped up...

Just being honest.

Like Big Brother, Like Little Sister

In an earlier post I mentioned N following in H's swaddling footsteps (Wait. Can you call them 'footsteps' when they're just infants?)

Anyway.

Tonight she's doing it. She's sleeping with HER arms behind HER sweet little baby head.



Just like her big brother here and here.

Oh I love them. I think my heart may just explode.

Sneaky Little Things

Unpacking last week I found a surprise hidden amongst my boy's socks.



Needless to say, I didn't mean to pack these.



Yeah... I don't think we'll be needing them here.

Some things never change

We've been out of this country for almost a year. And we've seen a lot of places and experienced a lot of things in that time.

But the bottle-man has been doing the same thing every day that entire time.

It's a humbling thought.



This man walks all through our part of the city yelling "Al jerrkanaat" (at least I think that is what he's yelling.) He's asking for old plastic bottles. He pays people a few cents for their used plastic bottles, then takes them to a recyling center somewhere and gets paid a few more cents when he turns them in.

The other morning I heard his very familiar voice calling out from the empty square behind our apartment. And there he was with his empty bags walking through just like always.

He maybe doesn't mind that this is just what he does day in and day out. It's all he's known.

Humbling, huh?

Easter Sunday in Pictures...

Sunrise service on the Nile...

How does one keep a small boy still(ish) and quiet during a worship service when he's on a beach covered in sand (dusty dirt?) and all he wants to do is dig?

The answer: Pretzels!



Then a little loving (poking) for his sister...





And then it's time to dig!!



and pour...



Checking out the water...



Not allowed to get in today... can you guess why?



Feeling parched.



Meanwhile, our baby girl is happy as a clam on the blanket out of the sun.



Later in the day, after baths and naps... my boy 'searched' for his Easter Basket.

"H... you can't find it?... why don't you look right there on that chair in the middle of the living room?!!"

"I pound (found) it Mommy!!"

"Good job H!!"

But you'd think by the looks of this picture that Easter baskets are pure torture...



N was a little happy about it...



And then H lightened up too!



That's right. He got some of his last "fruit gacks" in one of his eggs as an Easter treat.

Beautiful day. Beautiful children. Beautiful Savior risen and alive!!