Is it just me or do the months seems to go faster and faster? Maybe it's because we aren't waking up every 3 hours like we were in the beginning, which I am so thankful for! But seriously, this kid blows our minds every time he does something new. This month he has become a pro at sleeping on his belly, laughing A LOT, walks around the room with his walker and pulls on things, can rotate his body around and so close to crawling it's scary. He also had is first campout under the starts and swim in the ocean. Not to mention he met the Easter bunny (in Africa!) and got to have two egg hunts, this kid is living the dream...
Refresh My Soul: Past Vacations
St. Augustine, Florida
I've been thinking a lot about vacation recently. Hot season has arrived and my already weary soul is so ready for some rest! It's actually been a long time since the hubby and I have planned a vacation. What I mean is that most of our trips have been tagged on to conferences or taken because we live in unique places. Even our honeymoon was decided based on the cheapest thing out there. But for the first time we have saved and saved so we could go somewhere new for our 5 year anniversary in September. When I floated the idea by my precious mother she decided it would be a great family vacation! So now all of us and little man will be heading on a 7 day Alaskan cruise in July! Say what?! Bucket list location for sure. Reed and I love cold weather and mountains and living in one of the hottest places on earth we are eager for some cooler weather.
I have often met people who don't take vacation. They throw around the phrase, "You can sleep when you're dead." Guys, don't be this person! Vacations are good and healthy! One of the best pieces of advice we got when we were preparing to move overseas was to "vacation" every day, every week, every month, and every year. What that look likes practically (for myself) is this:
Daily I spent time with God, reading, relaxing, praying, working out, and even napping at times!
Weekly we take a day where we don't do work, we sleep in, watch movies, laugh, explore new places.
Monthly we have a date night (or family night). We go to a nice restaurant, swim in a pool, take a trip out of town.
Yearly, we take a vacation. Visit somewhere, stay in a hotel, order room service, get a massage, and DO NOT feel guilty about it.
So for this month's refresh the soul I'm taking us back to some of my favorite vacations since being married. And if you have a vacation planned for this year, comment below, or share your favorite vacation you've been on. We are always looking for new places to explore!
Nice, France
Grand Cayman Island
Epcot Center, DisneyWorld
Amman, Jordan
Central Asia
New York City, New York
Daytona Beach, Florida
Fairhope, Alabama
RMNP, Colorado
Estes Park, Colorado
Verrana, Italy
Antalya, Turkey
Paris, France
Istanbul, Turkey
Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)
Gulf Shores, Alabama
Grand Lake Lodge, Colorado
Marseille, France
St. Paul de Vence, France
Annency, France
Austin, Texas
Lyon, France
Amman, Jordan
Galveston, Texas
Monaco
Albertville, France
Murren, Switzerland
Ezra James: 6 Months
This past month has gone by so fast! I feel like I blinked and Ezra was 6 months already! He has been full of laughs and giggles as he wasn't having to deal with unpleasant teething, but that's about to change. He also is getting better at sitting up, had his first ride in the grocery cart seat (he wasn't a fan), no longer sleeps in the bassinet of the pack-n-play, and is LOVING solid food. Seriously, I can't give that kid enough, unless it's peas, not a big fan of peas. If you're interested in what we feed our little one then check out this book. It's based on the French food system and it's a great way to introduce real whole food and a variety of flavors to your little one. So far, Ezra is loving all the recipes, except the peas, but it's growing on him. :)
Life in a Volcanic Dessert
As we bumped along the dirt road to what looked like the middle of nowhere, we suddenly pulled in view of what appeared to be a brand new center. It’s off-white buildings perfectly constructed. Even the ground had been covered in rocks to give the compound a feeling of wealth—but that was just an illusion.
Now all that remained was an abandoned center, cut off from funds, full of women, children, and older men inhabiting the rooms, once meant for classrooms. We were hours outside the city and with a minority people group living there, the government overlooked the needs. Others had come to help, but they also had given up, as seen by the classrooms now used as makeshift homes.
When our trucks pulled up with food, clothes, and blankets for this small community, it didn’t take long for word to spread. Soon children and women swarmed the vehicles. We quickly realized that what we thought would be a small gathering of village elders, had turned into a community event. Later that day, we learned that another organization was also planning a distribution that day, which may have led to the community already on alert for distribution of aid.
Mira stood out in her bright blue hijab, the colors bouncing off the background of brown dust. She had a baby slung on her hip and one of her daughters following her around as small children often do. Though she had another child, he was out playing with his friends. Mira isn’t sure what age her children are, as age isn’t something often kept in their community. Instead, she was more concerned with what they would eat and if they are safe.
Asna appeared quiet and uncomfortable, she nestled her little girl in her lap, and after few questions began to smile. She was pregnant. Joy came across her face as she told us, and one could see that having children out here was no small feat. Later when we were eating with the village elders, we learned that many women do not have access to a hospital. If there is an emergency they will go by ambulance to a town several hours away, but for the majority, having a baby is something done at home.
Agnus reminded me of myself. She had a gold nose ring similar to mine, she was tall and sturdy like me, and even had a 4-month-old boy just as I did. It’s funny, seeing yourself in someone, yet living completely different lives. I can’t imagine the hardships that Agnus faces. While we were blessed with a beautiful windy day, there are many months out of the year that their home is considered one of the hottest habitable places on earth. Temperatures sore above 100 degrees, and when you only receive water once every 10 days, surviving becomes that much harder.
Several of the women who received rice and beans at the distribution
Asna pictured with her daughter
Agnus pictured with her children
Mira pictured with her daughter
We asked the elders how we could help relieve their strain for fresh water. Living in the middle of a volcanic desert doesn’t provide much access to clean water, or even dirty water for that matter. There is a water source 30 minutes away by foot, but it’s not much help, when there is no irrigation system for the water to reach the village. When asked what would happen if the water trucks do not come, Muhammed* replied matter of factly, “We would die.”
In our line of work there are often two things that help people get out of the poverty cycle—nutrition (provided through water and food) and education. But here, in a small village, of forgotten minorities, there is neither. The children do not have a school to go to, though they live in abandoned classrooms. Muhammed said that the older children are becoming restless and starting to cause trouble. The lack of basic needs is why these people feel helpless. Though they keep on having babies and caring for their young, they yearn for more—a place where they can send their children to school and not have to limit their intake of a water, a luxury we so often take for granted.
But since we now live in the country, we have the opportunity to keep helping, to keep loving, and to keep going to the hard and forgotten places. So it's our hope that we can soon send some teachers into this community and begin educating these kids, because we really believe that one of the biggest helps in getting out of the poverty trap is education.
We feasted on goat meat and more
The fed us enough for days
Ya know, when you get a flat, and it takes 5 gives and two goats to get it done...
Because it's not a trip unless you come back with a goat. Don't worry by the time we were done we had one more goat in the back. Yet, sadly these goats will be dinner soon. :)
I am still amazed at to how they get up there!
Baby toes and the most colorful meal I've ever seen!
The boys hanging out.
Ezra was not into this flat tire thing...
This beautiful girl and her father live in a hut on the side of the road that takes us to our destination. We stopped and gave them some of the food we had for our distribution.
goats on trees
Ezra James: 5 Months
Oh my goodness, is this little guy really 5 months! Well he has done so much this month, he now has two teeth, is almost sitting up on his own, sits in a high chair and eats solid food, and sits and plays in his walker. I really can't believe he did all that in one month, not sure if I should be scared or excited for this next month of growth. Anyways, here are a few photos from the past month with Ezra. He might just be my cutest valentine to date.
Refresh My Soul: Lac Assal
Back in December we took a family trip to the Salt Lake. It's the saltiest lake in the world and the lowest point in Africa. It's also one of the prettiest landscapes in our country. So enjoy this month's refreshment courtesy of the beautiful Lac Assal.
Ezra James: 4 Months
4 months. Wow. Little guy has now spent half his life in America and half his life in Africa. Kind of crazy, when you think about it. In the past month, Ezra has learned to roll over from his tummy to back, he loves laughing at mommy and daddy, enjoys catnapping in his carseat, has started sleeping 10+ hours at night, and is officially 17.2 pounds! Unfortunately we missed how long he was because ya know it was in French with the metric system, but we did understand that "whoa" that followed after the nurse read the measurement. And the latest development is our little guy has started teething. We thought we would have another month or so before this started, poor guy has NOT been happy. There has been a lot of tears and a lot of time in the rocking chair. Anyways, here's to 4 months and we can't wait to see what next month has in store!
Intentionality: My 2017 Plan
Goal Setting. I've always been someone who loves taking time sit down, dream, write, and make a plan to get things done. But there's always been one problem with all that, actually doing it.
While it looks pretty on paper and I might stick with it for a month maybe even two, it eventually trails off. So this year, I wanted to try something different with goals. And by definition of "goals" these probably won't even qualify, so let's call them something else—my plan for living on purpose.
First off, I highly recommend Lara Casey's blog on goal setting. You may have seen her powersheets on Instagram or book, Making it Happen. I have wanted to do her powersheets for a couple years now, but they are always sold out once I get around to spending my Christmas money. But this year she did a 4 part blog series that helps you work through some of the things she discusses in her book and powersheets.
So after working through her blog series there were a few things that stood out. The first is that I have one word that came to mind for 2017. I've heard of people choosing a word for the year before, but I never understood how that word actually changed anything. I think this is where Casey's blog series really puts it all together. Instead of just claiming a word I now see how that word needs to play out in certain areas of my life. And I'm laying it all out on the blog so that through my vulnerability I might have some accountability—even if it's only with myself!
So what's my word?
INTENTIONALITY.
And I want to be intentional in these four areas:
1. Community
2. Health
3. Spirituality
4. Creativity
So what does that mean exactly? Yes, Jess, it looks great when you write out with numbers and have a pretty graphic, but how do you really go about making change? Glad you asked. :)
Let's look at each one of the areas and I'll break down my plan for you.
1. Community - Since we live in Africa it's imperative that we form community among our team, nationals, and find ways to keep up with friendships back home. I have never been really good at keeping up with people who I don't see on a daily basis, and I hate this. Because I mean, these people have been with my as I stood at the altar promising to love my husband through it all. These are the friends who have witnessed good times and bad times, and when more good times and bad times come, I want to have them standing with again. But I also need a community of people to love in person, here in Africa. So that means being intentional about inviting people over, asking how they are doing, and getting out of my comfort zone and meeting new people with the intention to love.
2. Health - After having a baby, I'm officially in the worst health of my life. Understand me, I don't just mean weight, though that plays a big part. I have no muscle tone, food allergies, thyroid problems, and too many cravings. I want to get back to the person who use to crave work-outs, eat healthy, and fit into something other than maternity pants. :) But for real, as I was working through this plan on paper, something occurred to me. And while this may seem like a no-brainer to others, it really hit home for me the first time. "I have to be intentional about my health, it's not something that will just happen."
I mean duh, right? But for some reason I have been living as if getting healthy will just happen! But it's more than just eating right and exercising, it's getting to the heart of the matter. So that's why I'm reading Made To Crave. I want to get to the heart of cravings, and not be defined by a number on the scale, but instead by how my heart reacts. Guys, if this is something that you struggle with or something you have down as a goal for 2017, please, please read this book! That's all.
So as part of my intention for health, I plan to work on my heart, eat less sugars and bread and eat more veggies and water, and exercise 5 times a week. While I'm still working on the right eating plan for my family and for living in Africa, we have already made some changes in our daily diets. And since I use to blog about my allergy-free diet I'm restarting the blog series, but tailoring it to life in Africa. I plan to share easy to make recipes that are both healthy and quick, because when you have a newborn and are cooking in a kitchen without a/c in one of the hottest places on earth, you better believe it's not going to take more than 30 minutes!
3. Spirituality - In short, I want to be intentional with my own daily devotional time, and I want to be intentional about teaching our baby boy to love Jesus well. On that note, if anyone has some good book recommendations for teaching your kids, please send them my way! As for what my daily quiet time looks like, I have found that 40 minutes of pumping breast milk in the morning is a great time to pull out my Jesus Calling Journal Book and Journaling Bible. I love working through one days' devotion by reading it and then answering the questions and writing out a prayer in the space provided. Afterwards, I look up the 2-3 verses provided and read them in the journal Bible and pick out a part of the passage that stands out to me and doodle it. Because I'm a kinetic learning, this has been one of the most successful ways for me to really hear and understand God's word. I just wish I had discovered 2o+ years ago!
4. Creativity - As most people know I am a photographer. I love photographing people, whether it's a newly engaged couple or a mom in Africa loving on her children. But these things don't happen every day, and I've come to learn that if I'm not picking up my camera more than when I just have the opportunity that I'm not really pushing myself creatively. So I'm doing something that I've done before, a 365 challenge. I'll be posting a photo everyday following along with the prompts from #thebethadillychallenge. When I did this in 2015 I could see a huge difference in my posts from January to December and how much I had grown in trying to capture a specific shot. I hope that it will also challenge me in thinking outside the box.
My other way to intentionally nurture my creativity is by blogging. I mean, it may just be my fam reading these things (hi, mom) but I don't care. I've decided that blogging isn't really about who reads it, but that I get my thoughts down on paper. It allows me to "feel" like I have an audience for my writings and photography, therefore I put thought and effort into what I say. It's an accountability of sorts. So if you do happen to read the blog, you can look forward to see a few things habitually showing up on the blog this year: a monthly health post, a monthly refresh my soul post (like this one), updates on baby boy Ezra and life in Africa, and my most passionate blogs: stories of lives changed here in Africa.
So there you have it, my plan of intent for 2017. I would LOVE to hear from each of you on what your goals, word, or hopes and dreams are for 2017. I think the best way we can actually try to work on these things is by telling others and not keeping it to ourselves.
Having A Baby: What We've Learned In 3.5 Months
As we've ventured into this whole baby thing, we've finally started learning some things about being parents. There's the obvious things like how your heart might burst when you see your little one smile and laugh and then there's the practical things, like learning which pacifier works best and which diaper cream gets rid of his first rash. And while I don't claim that any of these things may work for anyone other than our baby, I encourage you to try them. Because that's how we found out what worked to begin with—we tried and then tried again.
First off, I have two books I highly recommend reading. I'm not one for lengthy, doctor-jargon books, so needless to say some of the more popular books bored me straight to sleep (literally). But there were two books that had me so intrigued I couldn't put them down, I even finished one of them in one day, and yes, that was while pumping and taking care of baby! The other I read while pregnant. With that said, I recommend reading this book while pregnant. It will give you some practical guidelines for a newborn (just a couple) and a whole lot of ideas for when they are older. I really recommend reading the other book after you've had your first baby, in the first few weeks. I think if I would have read it before having baby I would have been totally overwhelmed. I feel much more confident having spent time with my little one and understanding the importance of the issues discussed in the book.
So, here we go: What I've Learned. And as you read these, I want you to remember that every baby is different, every mom is different, every culture is different, and every day is different. In other words, let's not judge, but learn.
1. Learning to Read Your Baby Takes Time, But Trust Your Instinct
I really had that feeling of meeting someone new. I feel like it took a few weeks before I could even start to understand what to do with Ezra. We kind of just did a simple routine of put him down in his little lounger (rock n play) to sleep, when he wakes up crying, change his diaper, then my husband feeds him his bottle while I pump more milk, and repeat every three hours for weeks on end. Sometimes we'd change it up by putting him in the mamaroo, but we usually only used this when he was awake (more on this later), which means, not much use the first month. Now during growth spurts and cluster feedings life looked a lot more chaotic. There was less sleeping and more crying (mostly from us) and wondering if this would ever pass. I had never even heard of cluster feeding or growth spurts until my husband read about them online. Do yourself a favor and look it up, then be prepared. We know use an app called Wonder Weeks (there's a book too, but I haven't read it) and it will tell you when your baby is in his fussy stage. This helps with your sanity when you know he's growth spurting and not just fussy for no reason.
While learning to read our baby we were also able to realize that he was having tummy troubles. He would spit up a lot, have lots of gas, and just seemed to be in pain. At his one month check up the doctor put him on acid reflux meds and it's been a big game-changer. He started crying less and when I cut back on my dairy at month two I even noticed less gas, which also reduced the fussy fits he would have. That said, don't leave the hospital without gripe water—it will save your life! When our little when get the hiccups, crazy amounts of gas, or just not stop crying no matter what we would give him just a little bit of gripe water and the whole world would calm within seconds. I highly recommend Momma's Bliss brand because it's void of sugars and much more natural then other brands out there. You can get it at your local store or on amazon.
I usually put his paci in immediately after I give it to him so he sucks and soothes himself. And speaking of paci's we were all about those green Philip's Avent Soothers (the same paci on the wubanubs), but after using Dr. Brown Bottles we discovered that the Dr. Brown Pacifers worked better since they were same shape as the bottle he was use to sucking from. I suggest finding what works for you, if your little one doesn't take the paci, try a different brand, remember try and then try again. Also, I love using the wubanub type pacis when we are in the car or when we are trying to soothe Ezra during sleeping hours. Why? Because when he drops the paci I can easily find it with my hand, with the little soothers, I could never figure out where it rolled to. Oftentimes I would find it behind his head or under his carseat support pillow. And of course, he's screaming bloody murder because, ya know, he wants his paci. Now we use this one non-stop. He has his scent all over Mr. Turtle (as we affectionately call him) and it's become his lovey, comfort tool for sleep time. I also like the Dr. Brown over the wubanub beause you can remove the pacifer and replace it with a new one. With the wubanub it's attached forever, until your little guy yanks it off as my nephew did.
2. Teach Your Baby To Sleep & Have A Schedule
Okay, so remember, if you don't like what I say, just repeat my mantra above. But this is where I recommend the books above. I really believe that we need to be taught to sleep well. We can all sleep, but how many times do you hear people complain about lack of sleep, sleeping bad during the night, etc. It's interesting to see how sleep is viewed and taught in different cultures, and I love the Brining up Bebe book for this reason. It takes a look at French culture and how simples things like sleep aren't looked at as horrible and hard things to accomplish. So we decided from the beginning to try and train our baby to sleep. However, we got lucky and our baby was born way over 9 pounds so he slept 3 hours from the beginning and then slowly worked his way up to 5 and then one day it was 10, all before 3 months and without any sleep training! But after he started regressing and waking up during the night again, I decided to take a friend's advice and read a book she recommend (see above).
Immediately we began implementing the steps. What I like most about her book is that it gave me a practical step-by-step guide on what to do. First, being to feed him every 4 hours and make sure by the end of the day he had at least 24 oz. This helps eliminate snacking and makes sure he's full so he can sleep for 12 hours straight. Since Ezra was already eating around 24 oz, I knew it wouldn't be a problem to get his amount in, but he was having them sporadically. When he would cry we would feed, what we learned in just one day of following her steps, was that sometimes when he cried, he was tired, but needed help. Wow, remember how I said reading your baby will take time, yeah, still doing that at month 4. So we started by picking our 12 hour time frame (8am-8pm). Some people do 11-11, some 6-6, etc, you can make it work for your schedule, which is another important thing that is stressed in both books above. Baby needs to adapt to your world, you don't need to adapt yours to baby's. So at 7:45am we get Ezra up, change his diaper, and begin feeding him by 8am. We then feed him again at 12pm, 4pm, and 7:30pm. We try to make feedings last only 30 minutes, and to have an average of 6oz each time. He usually heats 8 oz in the morning and then less at the 12 pm feeding. At 10am we attempt to take an hour nap and at 2pm we attempt to take a 2 hour nap. Ezra is not a good napper, which I'm learning is because we weren't reading him well. But since trying our sleep traing for only 3 days, he has now started taking a 10 am nap and sleeping through the night. He does wake up or root around a bit once in the early morning, but instead of feeding him, we now use shooshing, paci, and rocking the rock n play to get him back asleep. Guys, I really can't recommend this book enough! It's been amazing! We are still trying to get naps down, but she doesn't even recommend nap training until 2 weeks of sleeping through night, and did I mention we are on day 3 of 3 of trying and succeeding! *happy claps*
Also, having a schedule really helps me have a set time to get my work done, and be able to plan site visits or grocery shopping. It wil lbe even easier when I'm done pumping and can just rely on formula. Because of that, my husband helps A LOT! And I mean a lot. I honestly wouldn't be able to stick to this schedule if I had to pump and get him fed and down for sleep all by myself.
3. There are Few Things I Couldn't Live Without
So now, for the fun stuff. Here's a few things that Ezra has loved and so have we. Again, each baby is different, but I encourage you to try them out.
1. This thermometer. Because let's be honest. There have been so many time I thought he might be sick, and sticking this up to his forehead is WAY easier than trying to stick one under his arm and hold it.
2. Gripe Water, because it will be your best friend. Read more about it above in the blog post.
3. Zen Swaddle. Our guy was too big and strong for ordinary swaddling, it was pointless. I couldn't even do it for his newborn photos. But this guy not only keeps him in with the velcro straps it also has a weight in it that makes him feel as if he is sleeping on his chest. It really helped in those early months.
4. Bamboo is amazing, and even more amazing for Africa weather and washing clothes in harsh water with no dryer. It's the only fabric that doesn't seem to get all stiff and hard after washing. We love using this particular style now that he's older and sleeping 10-12 hours.
5. Because we don't leave the house without mosquito protection. This stuff is gentle enough for even a young baby.
6. The insert that came with our infant car seat was a joke. It did nothing, so we quickly realized we needed something else to support his neck. I love this one because it's reversible (ya know for spit up situations) and the other side is plush and soft! There is also a removable neck support pillow and we actually took that out and use it to support his neck when he is in the mammaroo.
7. Because in Africa you cover up. Also, I would totally use this for walks at dusk in the states, I mean we may have Dengue and Malaria in Africa, but the US has West Nile and Zika, both of which have been found in the neighborhoods we have lived in.
8. Favorite paci so far, see above for more on this.
9. Love these bottles. We quickly switched from the basic Madela bottles when we noticed he was getting too much air and having trouble with gas and spit up. It didn't eliminate those things, but it reduced them for sure! I have enough bottles now for one day of pumping and feeding (thanks to a friend who donated her stash) so I only have to wash them once. I will say, I really wish I had dishwasher for these, but that's where #12 comes in handy.
10. I wasn't sure if I'd use this or not until he got older, but after his two month shots and a couple rough nights after some intense travel to Africa, this stuff came in very handy. There have been a total of 3 nights when he was in a lot of pain. We gave him a little bit of this and it worked like magic and made him sleep for hours. :)
11. I didn't think I'd need a monitor at first, but wow, was I wrong. I also didn't want to invest in an expensive monitor or one that used wifi, because our wifi is not unlimited in Africa. When I ran across this guy for under $100 I was skeptical, but my mom graciously purchased it for us and it's been amazing. Sometimes it looses signal so I have to play around with where I put it, but it allows me to hear him cry after nap time while we are in team meeting or when we were still in the states it would let us know he's awake for night feedings, because even though in the beginning we'd wake up at the slightest sound, we eventually became immune and it took a lot more to get out of our sleep deprived state. In other words, volume up.
12. Because without a dishwasher you want to make sure these bottles are clean! So this guy helps get all the leftover residue out.
13. I had the hardest time picking out a stroller. For one they can be super expensive! And then there are ones (like ours) that are priced for normal people, but what's the difference? I have yet to discover anything wrong with our "cheap" stroller and he even handles the pot hole dirt paths of Africa. Ezra loves his carseat (I think because it keeps him upright) so he spends most of his time in his carseat when we are out of the house. I also like keeping him in the stroller because it puts him at my height and I don't have to bend down to reach him in the carseat. Anyways, if you are having trouble deciding on a stroller and don't want a fancy $500 one, but you aren't really into umbrella strollers, I highly recommend this one!
14. If your kid has acid, this will be a life saver. It can adjust to different inclines, and is great for rocking your baby to sleep. It's been even more handy during our sleep training nights. I can't say enough about this, except that they should make them longer for babies like ours. I'm not sure how much longer he'll be able to sleep in it, because the poor guy is getting kind of cramped!
15. Y'all, this bag! I didn't use it all in the states, but starting from the airport on, it's been my only bag. Since there are no changing tables in the rest of the world, this guy provides the perfect solution. We went on a 3 hour drive in country last month and in the middle of no where I can plop down the bed of the truck, open this guy up and voila, changing pad. We also had a blow out diaper at a cafe one day (all over Reed, poor thing) and with no bathroom, we were able to open this bag up, change him, wash him, and get him clean without any hassle. It even has an insulated pocket for milk. Seriously, can't go without this guy.
16. This one serves two purposes. First, it's a must for moms. I have so many times started a cup of coffee only to have gotten distracted and not finished the cup before it went cold. With my Yeti it stays warm for hours. In fact, one day I didn't have my morning coffee till dinner, the Yeti even kept it warm for me. I also use it for ice water. Since we live in a place that is hot all year round and we only run a/c at night in our bedroom, drinks get warm quick. I love that I can put water in this guy and it never goes warm, plus it doesn't sweat so there's no clean up or dripping of water everywhere.
Okay and purpose number two. It's great for warming up bottles. Since it retains heat, we put the hot water in it and drop in the bottle. To be honest, we actually have another mug we got a coffee shop in Colorado. It is tall and slender and has a lid to it. I like that one better because I can fit the whole bottle inside the mug and then twist the lid shut and wait for the bottle to warm. It also allows us to bring hot water with us when we leave the house in case we need to warm up a bottle on the go.
17. Another bamboo clothing item. In the first two months when baby is still getting up every 3 hours or less this guy made diaper changes MUCH easier. We didn't have to mess with buttons during the middle of the night and could just pull it up and go. And if you want you can covert it to pants instead. win, win.
18. The mamaroo. Really, any swing would do. I just recommend using it for playtime and not sleeping, read the sleep training book above to find out why. We just have the mamaroo because that's what someone bought us. And we loved it so much we put it in it's original box and took it as one of our luggage allowances back to Africa.
So there you have it, a list of all the things we have come to love these past 4 months. I'm hoping that we'll start using a baby carrier and play mat and toys soon, but for now they haven't really been much of help. There were a few times I would put Ezra in the Moby Wrap and it would calm him down, but here in Africa it's just so hot! I plan to try a ring sling soon, so we'll see how that goes. I would love to hear what products or tips have been a big help to you as you raise your little ones! Leave comments below and let me know!
Also as a sidenote, if you are overwhelmed by cost (as we were) make sure and ask friends who are done have kids if they want to sell anything or check out craigslist or resale shops. We got almost everything gifted to us and the few things we didn't get as gifts we found at resale shops. Just remember that there are LOTS of people getting rid of things and all you have to do is ask!
If you want to see more reviews of incredible products check out Jenn Reviews' Blog Post Here!
Ezra James: 3 Months
First off, Merry Christmas! It just so happens Ezra turns 3 months on Christmas Eve Eve...and yes, that's a thing! So of course, this month we had to get some photos with the tree. Can you believe we found a tree in our small tiny Africa country that doesn't celebrate Christmas a holiday? I was shocked, and overjoyed to say the least!
This month Ezra moved to Africa and learned to sleep through the night! He has been pulling anywhere from 10-12 hours. However he goes down so early that he's still waking up pretty early too, but still, it's more than 3 hours of sleep at a time! *all the feels* That said, our little boy is full of smiles, loves making "ahh" noises, and sticking his hand in his mouth. Can't wait to see what the next month holds!
