Tad recap

Aw, there's my little muffin! These are some of his 1 year photos (taken by Sabrina at her stylin' downtown studio). Raising two kids is exponentially more busy than one (no time leftover for blog writing!). Tad is a very happy baby, with the widest grin you can imagine. He started walking at 11-1/2 months, and says a few words now, notably: hiiiiiiiiiii!, heddo, uh oh, mm mm (for thank you - says it in the right context!), baba, and mama/ma/mum. He is practicing shaking his head no, and nodding yes - up until recently, every question was answered with nah and a shake. He loves to sing to himself, and grins proudly when you sing along with him.

Tad loves his big brother - though he prefers from a distance! Unfortunately for him, Toby smothers his baby brother with love... always going for his hair (Toby loves hair), dragging him around, and generally mauling him. Better than kicking him I suppose (though they have started to wrestle a bit lately - both giggling wildly!). Tad imitates Toby, like when he tried to "jump" up and down in his crib (while hanging onto the rail) as Toby's jumping on his own bed, blasting his Dora CD.

Tad's got lots of toys & interests, and eats pretty much anything all on his own now (though messily, go figure!). He loves yogurt, bananas, and peanut butter. He sleeps well - 99% of the time, it's 8pm to 8am, with no waking at all (YAY!). Tad goes to daycare at the Y baby room full time, and just loves it. He's social, happy, and very well adjusted! Only very rarely does he cry - when I can't make his bottle fast enough, or he's got a poopy bum (and who wouldn't!).

He is well loved by family & friends alike, and always does us proud. We love our Happy Baby!

Kenyan Ugali

Have had a few requests, so thought I'd post it for all to see!

(1) Buy maize flour - it must be white corn meal, not regular corn meal - buy from health food store or African shop. It's a bit fine and not as gritty as yellow corn meal, but not as fine as wheat flour.

(2) Boil "enough" water on the stove - probably 1.5-2 cups for 2 people.

(3) While still boiling on a hot burner (turn down to med-high at this point), dump in "enough" maize flour to mound up slightly above the boiling water.

(4) Mix with a wooden stick or hard spatula - slowly at first to avoid splashing, then quickly as more maize flour is incorporated. Break up any clumps and keep stirring/pushing it against the side of the pot for about 2-3 min - it will get very hard to do!

(5) Shape it in the pot to cover the bottom and let it sit uncovered on a medium burner for about 4-5 min. It's good if the bottom gets brown but not burnt! There should be lots of steam coming up through it, and it should sort of lift off of the bottom of the pot.

(6) Flip the pot onto a plate and it should just come out with not too much urging. If it won't come out, it's probably not cooked enough, or there's either too much or not enough water.

(7) Shape into a smooth mound with a wide/soup bowl and keep it covered until ready to eat with any any tomato-based stewed meat or veggies (add lots of cilantro to meat/chicken to make it taste Kenyan).

Let me know if you try it - and how it turned out of course!!!

almost 3 months

Taddi Babes is moving right along - full out grins, cooing, and gurgles are the norm, with the occasional quack. He urgently requests my attention when we're sitting together on the couch by waving his arms, telling stories, and smiling winningly (with frequent kicks in the arm). He is very strong, standing upright at any opportunity - pretty much since day 1, like his brother. He's tall and has long feet - he's grown out of the 0-3 month clothes and is even wearing some 6 month clothes now. He's getting good practice with his hands and makes this cute concentrating face, tightening his upper lip, when he's trying to grab something. He especially likes his zebra block toy that he got from Santa.

I've also notices his ears tip out at the top - wonder where he got that from ;-) (other than that, I don't see much Voerman in him). Everyone thinks he looks like Toby, except for me. They both have Anthony's eyebrows, but are otherwise pretty distinct. However, when Toby sees his own baby pictures, he thinks it's Tad ;-)

Health wise, I'm sure everyone's relieved to know that he poops a whole lot - liquidy & bright yellow, about 6-8 a day. Very difficult to get that stain out! We think he's starting to teethe as he's been uncommmonly fussy a few times, and one time I gave him a little dose of ibuprofen after 2 hours of inconsolable crying that seemed like pain to me. We've since gotten prepared with some Orajel & teethers. He still sleeps quite a bit, having most of his wakeful periods in the afternoon & evening. We have managed to get him to sleep more often in the crib than Toby did, but the last feeding at night often finds him falling asleep in our bed, with me right along with him. Gotta get him out before he gets stuck there! However, he mostly sleeps through the night, usually waking only once between 4-6am to feed.

Anthony gave him a haircut the other day - now he has his own cute little fade, just like Toby and Baba!

This is us writing this blog - see the concentrating face?? ;-)

happy new year!

Here we are celebrating in a blizzard - quite different from last year!

Tad was not terribly excited, though he refused to sleep before midnight (Toby, on the other hand, had passed out hours before - definitely a turnaround!). We stayed in, since I'm attached at the boob, and it's difficult to get a babysitter anyways. sonJa and Vanessa came over and we had Kenyan samosas, various apps, and bad punch (according to V!)

Toby & Tad have both been sick - Toby with the ears again, and Tad caught Toby's perennial cold. He's got a heart breaking cough, losing his breath and all snorty. He's been more fussy than usual and his sleep is off. Other than that, he is gaining well - up to 12 lbs - and learning new tricks every day.

He was 2 months old on Christmas Eve, and has just discovered his hands - he bats at baby toys and often goes for my cleavage. He sleeps pretty well most of the time, and spends a fair amount of time gazing at Toby. He also likes editing videos and dancing to African music with Baba, and recognizes his other peeps with smiles and gurgles (Auntie V, Gungie, and Opa).

Tad wasn't very interested in Christmas, but Toby was the perfect age for his first visit from Santa. When he saw the Diego doll under the tree, he said, I asked Santa for roller skates, but he brought Diego - it's okaaaay, and headlocked the full size Diego. I guess he thought Santa only brings one gift per person, so tried to give us the other items under the tree. Once he realized he could have more than one present, he happily opened the box with the roller skates - and then said, what are these?? I guess he had no idea what roller skates actually were when he asked the daycare Santa for them.. But he loved everything about Christmas - especially helping Auntie V dish out the gifts - for you you, for you you, is this one for ME? with a high pitched squeal. He was delighted and delightful... not yet a brat, and hopefully won't be!

Taddi-Babes

There's our new boy! He arrived 6 weeks ago already, and this is the first chance I've had to write. Tad is wonderful! And Toby really loves being a big brother (the 'hugest brother in the whole wide world,' actually...)

I worked up to the last minute, after light labour all day Thursday, and more intense labour starting about 2am Friday morning. In fact, we ended up going to the hospital a bit late - at 8cm! We thought he'd be born any minute, but he was stubborn. I was stubborn too, so even though delivery seemed imminent, I made them give in and give me an epidural.... what a miracle! (the epidural, not the baby... yet!). After a few hours of intense pushing, they figured out that his head was a bit turned - to profile instead of face down. We had to go into the operating room for forceps. Poor Anthony had no idea what they were up to - he was pale as a ghost, and look like he wished he could sink through the floor. I got them to explain, and Anthony agreed - out popped Tad a few minutes later - with his head blown out to one side! I said he was pretty damned ugly, but I was lying... and crying... and soooo happy!

We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights - the IWK is fabulous and we were well looked after... I wished I could stay! But coming home was great - Anthony's a wonderful Dad, and helps out a lot with housework, surprisingly. Mum brought meals in and helped me with errands and chores for the first few weeks, and Auntie V was another willing helper. Uncle Jake got to see him a couple weeks later after his hitch. Though Toby's still in daycare full time, sometimes I miss having a housegirl!! I am finding it a bit stressful with a toddler and a newborn, but it's all coming together - I will get used to it in time!

Toby's at the Farmer's Market with our upstairs neighbour right now, and Anthony went to New Brunswick with Rollie to help him chop wood for the winter... (I figured he should get a taste of true Canadian winter ;-) Tad's sleeping away and I have finally had the opportunity to post. I will try to be a bit more regular from now on, as I love having the record of all of Toby's firsts!



At six weeks, Tad's practicing his smiles like crazy; lifts his head a little when on his tummy; certainly recognizes me, as well as Anthony and Toby; drinks expressed milk from a bottle when I need to go out; sleeps for 4-5 hours at a time though often then feeds for 2-3 hours after that; and is generally a joy and a delight... yay!

long lost Khisas

So much has happened that I will get into the details at a later date. The crux of the story is that Toby and I traveled to Canada in April for a holiday, with Anthony planning to join us for a month or so in May...meanwhile, we decided to stay!! This decision was primarily a result of several factors; notably, a) discovering I was pregnant so therefore b) not being able to follow the work into Sudan, and then c) being beaten up & thrown in jail by the Kenyan police while a) pregnant. I just could not go back... with Toby & #2 on the way, I think I've had enough of insecurity, thank you! We scrambled and got Leah & Gigi in boarding school in Kitale (Anthony's hometown) till AK's a permanent resident.

The rest all fell into place (with a bit of shoving on my part ;-)....

- got beautiful flat in Halifax near the Hydrostones
- got a snappy cherry red VW Jetta TDI
- got a cool job at Concertia.com with lots of familiar faces

We are due on or around Oct 19, and it's a boy! AK's here at least until then - everyone's fingers must be crossed that he can stay in our wonderfully safe country with us for a long long time!

SPLM training

I am working in Yei, Sudan - this time in the Community Development vocational training centre in Yei town. I am facilitating the assessment, reporting, and IT content for a 2-week workshop for SPLM Information Officers. SPLM is the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (not the Army) that is now transforming into a political party. Three Information Officers have been flown in from each of the 10 states. Their role is public relations, reporting, and record keeping, so they are being trained on journalism, translation, and information management techniques.

As for the IT part, 25 of the 40 are comfortable on computers - though only 22 speak English. All of our sessions must be simultaneously translated into Arabic. This will be fine for lectures, but I am still wondering how we will do practical computer sessions... We will give extra sessions in the evenings for the beginners, and the ones who are comfortable will learn photo editing, newsletter production, and have practicals in online communication tools. I will also give a session on networking, VSATs, and security.

We are staying at the garden-like Food Security camp in Logobero, just outside of the town - I am accompanied by Monica, my Swedish NPA colleague Goran's girlfriend, who is leading a separate workshop in the tailoring department of the vocational centre.

Better get back to my presentation.... more later!