Week 3

All three of the boys are sleeping right now so I thought I would try to write a quick update Sean has taken the past two days off so it has been SO nice to have two of us with the boys vs. only me. He is hoping to work between 3-4 days/week here and is really enjoying getting to know the people here at World Vision. Last week he also helped out his former employer, Water Missions, and helped a team here with some well work which he also enjoyed. On Friday they treated us to a WONDERFUL seafood dinner at the Hilton. We both filled up on very good food that night!
We have been here three weeks now. I can’t believe it. The boys are doing well, still crying when they are tired and refuse to sleep but generally they are healthy and I have much to be thankful for. C rolled over this past week and both are sitting up well with a little help (they fall over after about 10 seconds if you don’t support them in some way). They could not even hold their heads up when we met them so this is great progress I think! Today we fed them a little rice cereal at lunch and they gobbled it down with no problems at all (eating is one of their specialties!) We aren’t trying other solids until the official 6 month date (2 weeks away) but I think we just can’t keep them full on formula alone. I am hoping it will help them sleep better too. E has now caught up with C in weight, both 17.2 lbs. I think C’s cold may have slowed him down a bit I got out a bit today as well on my own. I have been a bit hesitant to do this, I feel so much safer when Sean is with me but this is hard to do on this trip! I decided to take a walk down a road I hadn’t been down (Sean stayed with the boys). I found a mall with many nice shops, some coffee houses with wireless internet connections (nice to know!) and a theatre. I don’t think we will have much time to go but it was nice to be a place I felt safe to roam about and to start thinking about what I might want to bring back with me, it was also nice to get a little exercise. Next Saturday I am hoping to go shopping with Almaz (Tsyguy’s wife) and a bunch of Americans who will be here picking up their kids at the HOH so I am looking forward to that too. I also found some cute baby stores on my outing which was fun as well. The only thing I bought today though was water. We really go through the bottled water here between the 4 of us! A

2 liter bottle is about 60 cents and we go through about 4 liters a day so I bought 6, 2 liter bottles. It seems we go shopping here about every day for something as we can only carry so much walking. There are many small shops around our guesthouse-small grocery stores and fruit/veggie stands and since we cook most of our meals at the guesthouse it seems we are always in need of something.
After shopping this morning, I came back to Sean looking exhausted as both boys had only slept for 40 minutes for their morning nap and they were very grumpy. (He has come home to me in this state a few times now too). He had to call on one of the ladies to help him while I was gone as they both were screaming…poor guy. This parenting thing IS exhausting, I love it but both Sean and I feel fairly delirious as we are going on so little sleep every day. We did not bring pacifiers but I found some the other day and they work wonders to get the kids back to sleep during a nap so we are using them for this purpose. I think it comforts them and they are SO much happier in the afternoons if they can sleep for a few hours vs. a few minutes. I can’t wait until we can take the boys out with us in America, I am sure this will be a whole new experience. So far we basically stay in one room with them all day. But, I wouldn’t change one minute of this time for the world. I LOVE being with our babies, they are so sweet and smiley and wonderful.
Sean’s parents arrive next week and we are very excited to see them, both for the support and because they will get to meet the boys!
Thank you all so much for your emails and prayers and support. It has been hard to find time to sit down and journal or pray or anything but I do feel God’s loving arms supporting us every day and I am sure this is due to all of the prayers you are sending out for us.
Bless you!