This morning we hosted a birthday bash for Nikki. She’s turning TWO!

Matt and Lorraine brought 4-month-old Callum. New to Cairo with a new
little boy, they are in a huge adjustment phase. Ben has worked with
Matt before, and Matt helped us get settled into London when we moved there.
It is such a pleasure to be able to return the favour here in Cairo.

Kevin and Lita brought 13-month-old Reese – she’s just started walking. Before the party she was taking only five or six steps before sitting down. At our house she was inspired by Nikki and just took off – go girl!

Pictures of Nikki and Michael just before our guests arrived…

… and here are pictures Lorraine took of us as they were leaving.

We enjoyed brunch: whole-wheat waffles with Canadian maple syrup, fresh cut pineapple and melon, bananas, Cinnabon , cheese cubes, dried apricots, and of course chocolate cake with chocolate icing and vanilla ice cream to top it all off!

Just for fun – I am using the ‘future post’ feature to make
sure this blog appears on 08/08/08 at 08:08am. Thank you, Beijing
Olympics, for giving me the idea.

Michael is six months old today!

Many thanks to Zach and Laura for the monogrammed romper and to Aaron and Mishea for the fun and funky rings!

In the past month or so, Nikki has been saying a few words and phrases, and even one sentence. She loves to go on walks or trips, and a favourite phrase is ‘let’s go!’ which sounds like ‘ay-lo!’ She even asks for ‘cheese’ by name.

Nikki’s first sentence? She was playing with Cedric at his house on 25 June when he reached for something she was holding. She hugged the toy to her chest, shook her head, and said ‘No, no, no! I will not share my toy with him!’ Irrelevant then that we were at his house and it was actually his toy  – it was as good a time as any to start to learn about sharing.

Nikki has also added a couple new signs to her repertoire since we
have been home – ‘where’ and ‘mama.’ She has been making the sign for
‘baba’ for a while, and I feel honoured to get a sign as well! She says ‘mama’ and ‘baba’ as well, with or without the sign.

Recently she has been making the ‘more’ sign and saying ‘again’ at the
same time to get me to read a book again or tickle her more. During our
trip I caught a couple of other words she joined with signs – ‘car’ at
the Heartland Ford Museum and ‘water’ at the St Louis Zoo ‘s spiral water fountain.

During our time in St Louis, we visited with all of Ben’s family – inviting ourselves to their homes for dinner and also enjoying a day trip with them at the zoo. Special thanks to his grandparents who drove in from Kansas – time with them made the family visit complete.

We enjoyed a day with Zach and Laura and their super-cute son, Cedric.

For the first time in the three years they’ve lived there, we made it out of St Louis to see Josh and Betsy’s home in Mexico. They make small-town living look marvelous.

From Mexico, we took a day trip to Heartland , where Amanda is attending high school . We followed up a tasty breakfast with a tour of a car museum , and some fun on a newly built playground.

Currently a National Science Foundation
Astronomy &
Astrophysics
Postdoctoral Fellow

at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy , our friend and Ben’s roommate from the University of Missouri-Rolla (now the Missouri University of Science and Technology ), John Johnson , is giving a talk on ” other worlds ” in Honolulu on 30 June. I am sure the lecture will be interesting, and hey, it’s free – so stop by if you are in Hawaii!

Another day of driving and an overnighted diaper bag (thank you, Mishea!) later, we arrived in Tampa, Florida, home of my university roommate Megan ‘s family – Colin, Katie and Natalie! The fun started with the waterpark at their local YMCA, which was followed the next day with a fascinating trip to the aquarium downtown.

We visited their church on Sunday, though unfortunately the famed and fabulous cry room, where parents can see and hear the srevice from the convenience of a sound-proofed room, was the nursery that morning.  We also got to experience a thunderstorm from the comfort of their screened-in porch, and the mini-kitchen within their kitchen was a hit with all the girls!

They fed us steaks, beer butt chicken, and some awesome enchiladas, as well as Sonny’s barbeque, Steak-n-Shake, and Chipolte. Quite a fun and tasty visit!!

After the wedding we spent some time enjoying Houston : shopping at the Galleria , visiting the church we used to attend which has now moved into a new building across town, and eating barbeque and frozen custard with my parents. Then we began the overnight road trip along Interstate 10 to Eglin AFB in Florida, arriving at 7am Tuesday morning.

Mishea, Aaron, and Ayden were very gracious, allowing us space and time to recuperate from our long drive. On Wednesday we felt much more refreshed and went together to the Air Force Armament Museum , just off base.

As we toured the display of planes outside and bombs and guns inside the museum, I was reminded of the awesome might of the American military – a potent juxtaposition with the innocence of our children. It is that very might that enables our children to be so carefree. God bless America!

Ben, Nikki, Michael and I flew to the States on our 9th wedding anniversary to join the best man from our wedding, Keith, as he married his sweetheart , Tricia, on the 14th of June .

The ring bearer, Ben, has a sister named Alisa. Keith had met them while in California and had mentioned us to them and their parents, Dale and Diane, so that by the time we met them while the guys were changing into their tuxes, they felt they knew us already. Ten-year-old Ben did a terrific job as ring bearer, and his nine-year-old sister, Alisa, was an amazing help to me during the ceremony while my Ben was up on stage as a groomsman.

We sat in the very last pew in the sanctuary so we would not distract others – which was a good thing because Alisa balanced Michael on her head during much of the service! She enjoyed it, he enjoyed it, and I got to concentrate on the ceremony while Nikki flipped through a hymn book, so everyone was happy. Other parents had to run out with screaming children, but not me. Alisa and E – we were a great team!

I have been incredibly blessed on my return to Cairo to be invited to a ‘baby group’ full of breastfeeding mums. Most are also cloth diapering and a few are babywearing as well. Since I’m one of the few who has a second child and also because I’m tandem nursing , I get asked a lot of questions and am able to share my experiences and information I’ve picked up along the way. Big change from other groups where the mums get saucer-eyed and shy away when I mention home birth or sleep sharing.

Attending the baby group this morning and also receiving some questions today from my dear friends Megan and Jill made me think that I should give an update on several different aspects of my own brand of mothering that I haven’t mentioned on here in a while: sleep sharing, baby wearing, and cloth diapering.

Sleep

Nikki shared a bed with Ben and me from day one. She indicated that she wanted more
personal space for sleeping when she hit 10 months , and that’s when we purchased a crib for her to sleep in downstairs. Since then she has slept through the night every night. She is a phenomenal
sleeper. While we were in England for Michael’s birth she switched from two naps to one 40-minute nap per
day, and she was going to bed at 6pm and waking at 7:30am. Here in
sunny Cairo and with her dad’s early schedule, she wakes at 6am, so I
put her down at 4:30pm in order to give her the 13.5 hours she
needs at night. Still one 40-minute nap, which is thankfully flexible
on timing. Ideally I put her down at 11am, but with the baby groups all
starting at 10am, on those days she ends up with a 1 or 2pm nap. Like
today.

Michael sleeps in our bed. He’s less demanding than Nikki was at this age , and he wakes only twice in the night – once at around 3am for
a diaper change (I’m leaving him in cloth at night and he doesn’t like
to feel the wetness) and feed and then again at around 5am to feed
before his sister wakes up. It works out pretty well. At first I tried  to feed him more often at night since Nikki always wanted to, but he just wanted to sleep, so I guess I won’t complain about that! He also sleeps on my back in the Mei Tai during Nikki’s hour-long bedtime routine. We have a baby hammock for Michael which he enjoys for short periods of time during the day (eg when Nikki is having her diaper changed, or I’m getting dressed), and he will also
sleep in the hammock if put in there when he’s already sound asleep. Based on our
experience with Nikki,
we’re not keen to rush him into his own bed before he’s ready, hoping
that when he is ready it will be clear to us and also at that point he will
sleep straight on through without any difficulties.

Babywearing

Before leaving for England, Ben and I purchased a Cairo-proven tandem stroller off of some expats who no longer needed it. I had thought that I would start using it once I got back here, but so far babywearing has been so convenient that I have not familiarised myself with the complexities of unfolding the pram. Fortunately wearing two children is not at all uncomfortable if the correct carriers are used, and if the carriers are used correctly.

I have used three different carrier combinations so far:

• Nikki in the Ergo on my back, Michael in a pouch on my front
• Nikki in the Ergo on my back, Michael forward-facing in a wrap (buddha carry) on my front
• Nikki in a Mei Tai on my back, Michael facing me in the Ergo on my front

The first combo, with Michael in the pouch , was the one I used on my five minute walk to the doctor’s office the other day. Handy for a short walk, but not recommended for a longer trek.

My favorite wrap for a little one is the forward-facing buddha carry in a wrap. The baby gets to see the world go by, and all skin is protected from the sun except the face peeping out, which can be protected with a hat. I’ll wait to do this again until Michael can hold his head up a little longer. I also love having Nikki in the Ergo on my back. Very secure, quick and easy, without the ties from the Mei Tai trailing around and getting dirty if I have to re-tie when I’m out.

Until Michael has sufficient head control for the front-facing buddha carry, I will continue placing him in the Ergo on my front, with the super handy sun / sleep cover pulled up to protect his baby skin from the sun and to support his head while sleeping. This also lets me show off my beautiful new Mei Tai, so it’s a happy combination all round.

Cloth Diapering

Not since the La Leche League meeting I attended when nine months pregnant with Nikki have I been in a group with so many cloth diapering mums as I was this morning. One mum uses prefolds with a diaper wrap. Another loves her Bum Genius all-in-ones . A third is so against throwing anything away (even toilet paper!) that I think she is a strong candidate for elimination communication .

My Ella’s House hemp nappies are going strong. Nikki moved to the larger size while we were in England; perfect timing to have all the small ones available for Michael. The wraps are my favourite part of cloth diapering, and of course I had to buy all new ones for a boy this time around. Fun!

Here is my best estimate of the cloth diapering supplies I now need for two children, washing daily except weekends:

• 20 small cloth nappies (ella’s house – hemp nappy – poppers, size small)
• 20 small cloth nappies (ella’s house – hemp nappy – poppers, size small)
• 40 boosters (ella’s house – fleece topped hemp booster )
• 48 cloth
  wipes (green baby co – organic cotton washable
  wipes with a bowl of tap water at the changing station)
• flushable/washable liner sheets – a necessity for Nikki since she started eating solids ( ultra bio-degradable nappy liners )
• 5 medium “boy” diaper covers (two Tots Bots , two Nature Babies , one Wacky Wrap )
• 5 large “girl” diaper covers (two Tots Bots, two Nature Babies, one Wacky Wrap)

We had a terrific time with Mary, Pete , two-year-old Ally, and Mary’s parents, over Christmas this year. Fantastic food, conversation, and two cute little girls playing, made for a happy and memorable holiday. Many thanks to our friends for letting us join their family celebration this year!

 

This is our last Egyptian weekend for a while, and we decided to make the most of it!

Friday morning we took our friend Lita and her daughter Reese to church. Then we went over to Mike and Ute’s house and Ute showered me with warm clothes for Nikki – some of them hand-knitted by her mother, but too small now for little Roxanne. After that a late lunch at Cielo Lindo , a new smoke-free restaurant in Maadi, complete with play house, slide, and seesaw for the little ones. The gathering was in honour of Margarita’s 2nd birthday and it was nice to catch up with friends both our and Nikki’s age.

This morning began with an outdoor breakfast starting at 9am and lasting until the peach cobbler and chocolate cake were devoured at 1:30pm. American bacon, Turkish sausage, corned beef hash, scrambled eggs, roasted tomatoes, hash browns, toast, and mushrooms. It was all cooked to perfection on the grill and in dutch ovens over coals. We were recreating the desert camp cookout experience in George and Despina’s back garden – except we had comfortable chairs and a playground for the children.

In addition to cooking, Mike took some photos of Ben lowering Nikki so she could touch the grass, then lifting her up high to start all over again. Nikki is wearing a sweater knitted by Ute’s mom.

After the breakfast feast we made our way to the Boulak fabric market for some blackout material to hang in Nikki’s bedroom. I had been to the fabric market twice, first with a tour group and second with my friend Ramona – both times I was chatting in the car and didn’t really notice how we got there. Fortunately with a Cairo map and Ben’s magnificent driving skills, we found the market and secured a parking place. Once there, we pressed through crowds of people examining and haggling over fabric. Frequent hellos for our daughter, yells of ‘mister,’ ‘madam,’ ‘what your country?’ shrill whistles from the food vendors, and the hubbub of so many people jostling in such narrow alleys completed the experience. I negotiated for the blackout material, as well as a tiny pair of mittens for our son, a few silk scarves, and a car cover. Walking back to the car, I asked Ben what he thought of the fabric market. He replied, ‘it’s a fun place, once you’ve parked!’