William John 3 Months

Will has grown so much this month! He has also done quite a bit of traveling around Kenya.  Here are a few highlights from the past month :)

Feeding: Will is still taking 4oz about every 3 hours. Every now and then he will take 5oz.  He is a really good eater and usually only cries when he is hungry.

Sleeping: Will is a great sleeper. He takes 3 small naps and one long nap during the day.  At night he is sleeping longer and waking up to eat around 4-5am.

Fun Info:

William can now hold his head up on his own! However, he still hates tummy time.

He now wears 6-9month pants. #LegsForDays

Will is so close to laughing. We have had a few small chuckles but are still waiting for the all out giggle.

He is slightly obsessed with the elephant on his lay-n-play that plays music. Every time he lays under it he gets a huge smile on his face and he kicks his feet like crazy. Its super fun to watch :)

Will is smiling a lot these days.  We have tried several times to get a picture of his big grin but each time we pull the camera out he decides not to smile.  One of these days we will get it!

Will got to see a giraffe for the first time! The sun was in his face and he was crying because he was hungry so it wasn’t the best first impression but for the first few minutes he did enjoy looking up at them.

He got to visit Mark’s childhood home in Kenya and meet Mark’s nanny from when he was a little boy.

William has been sleeping a lot more at night. The past few nights he has gone to bed around 830pm and slept until 4-5am! His parents are super grateful and hope this trend stays :)

Will got to meet the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya! During the Ambassadors talk, Will decided it was prime time to be super grouchy so he did not get a picture with him.

He still greatly enjoys playing with his sister, hearing her sing, and getting lots of kisses and hugs from her.

Will is not the biggest fan of going to church right now because the music is super loud as is the pastor when he preaches and it makes it hard for him to sleep.

He got to go on his first hike this month! But lets be honest, he slept the whole time :)

We got to spend time with grandma and grandpa Fogleman twice this month! It was so fun for William to meet them for the first time.  We look forward to seeing them again in October.

Fun Pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

What day is it?!?

We have been back in Kenya for just over a month now and are finally back in the land of the living! Jetlag this time around knocked us all out! In the past, we would be functioning after a week, however, this time around, it took us a month. 

A few days after we returned home, Emma got a cold which made it difficult for her to sleep. This meant that Mark was up with her every couple hours. William continued his normal of waking up 2-3 times at night to eat which kept me up.  The lack of sleep resulted in two parents feeling like zombies and praying their kids would sleep and feel better. 

After a week, Emma was back to her old self feeling great and running around the house.  William had kind of put himself on a schedule of waking up once in the middle of the night and then once for an early morning feeding. We had about one good night of sleep before Mark caught Emma’s cold which eventually turned into a sinus infection and stuck around for 3.5 weeks! Because he felt like he got smacked in the head with a two by four, I continued to get up with the kids at night so that Mark could get rest and hopefully feel better. This of course meant, zombie mommy.

During the day, I decided the kids no longer liked me because they would never sleep at the same time.  For example, Will would take his morning nap, then would wake up right before Emma went down for her nap.  He would stay awake the WHOLE time she slept.  When he finally went back to sleep, you guessed it, Emma would wake up.  This continued for a couple weeks which meant mommy got zero naps. Thanks kids, love you too.

One day, in the few hours we were awake, we learned we needed to buy a new vehicle. So, with little to no sleep, one sick parent, and both kids in tow, we drove to Nairobi and Nakuru to search for a car. It would take a whole other post to write out all the details of searching for a car in Kenya so I’ll just try and sum it up. We are cheap Americans and had a small budget that would not get us anything we were originally looking for. After a couple weeks of looking for a car we settled on what is best described as the smallest car in Kenya.  It was not good for off-roading to the village and it would only seat our little family but I will say, it was a cute little car. Thankfully, our co-workers are awesome and said that was a horrible decision (I blame it on lack of sleep) even if it was cute and found us an 8 seater, 4x4 van that was in our price range! Thank you, Jesus and thank you, co-workers!

To top it all off, we are back in the land where I have to make EVERYTHING from scratch! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All homemade. This requires energy and brain power (both of which I did not have) to think up meals, especially if you have to plan for more than one day. So, we ate all the American snacks we brought back in the first two weeks.  We had planned for them to last at least 3 months. At that time I was too tired to care, however now, I’m sad we don’t have anymore.  So, if anyone feels like sending some KIND bars this way, we would greatly appreciate them.  Oh, and Emma requested some cheerios J

Thankfully now, Mark is back to his old self working hard and driving our new van out to the village to do some surveying for our first water project. I am finding my new normal with work and with two kids who have very different schedules and needs. I applaud all of you mommies who have multiple kids and find time to shower. Please tell me how you do it! Despite our exhaustion and it taking hours to cook anything, we are happy to be back in our house, in our Swahili classes, and getting to share William with all of our Kenyan friends!

Oh and bonus…. our house keeps getting invaded by safari aunts…so there’s that.

Emma Hadassah 2 Years 8 Months

Emma talks so well nowadays. She really enjoys saying as many words as possible to describe something or to tell you something.  She tells us stories and her imagination is growing every day.

Emma loves to shower her brother with hugs and kisses. We have had to teach her boundaries with her brother and she is not the biggest fan of them. She thinks he always wants her to kiss and hug him.

Emma got a cold soon after we arrived back in Kenya which made it more difficult for her to sleep.  After about a week, she finally started to sleep through the night again which meant we got more sleep J

She greatly enjoyed seeing all her friends at church.  They all loved touching her hair since it has grown so much.

When we first arrived back at our house we kept the back door open to let the sun shine in.  Emma said “Ahh, my eyes! We need to shut the door! It’s too sunny!” I guess she was used to the cloudy/winter weather back in the states J

Emma loves to play Go Fish.

She was happy to be reunited with her pool.

Emma has become a very picky eater. We are in the process of her learning when we make something for dinner that is what is for dinner.  The joys of parenting a toddler J

The other day she told me she was going to eat healthy and teach her animals and friends to eat healthy.  Once dinner was ready (chicken and veggies) she said she did not want to eat the food. I told her it was healthy food and that she said she only wanted to eat healthy food.  Her response, “Oh, well, I can just eat my goldfish.”

For some reason she hates taking a bath because she does not like getting her hair washed. I am not sure when this fear arose because she used to love taking a bath…

Emma is a big helper.  She likes to help cook meals, get things for her brother, and help with laundry.

She would live in her jammies if we let her.

The other day she was playing on a playground singing “How Far I’ll Go” from the new movie Moana at the top of her lungs. She did not care at all that there were probably 6 other families around watching her.  

Emma has a fear of flies. It’s quite funny.  One day I will try to get her reaction on camera.

Emma has started working out with me again.  She takes a water break about every 2 minutes J

There are several times Emma has said something and I try to remind myself to write it down but never do.  She is quite witty and has a super fun personality.  She loves to play pretend, sing, have dance parties, read books, eat goldfish, and play in the water. 

Fun Things We Did This Month:

We flew back to Kenya as a family of four and Emma was awesome on both of the 9 hour flights. She was very content watching movies and playing the games.

We got to stay with our friends Sonia and Sonji while in Nairobi one night. Emma loves to visit their house.  She got to try deviled eggs for the first time and loved them!

Fun Pictures From The Month:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William John 2 Months

Happy 2 Months to our little man cub. This month has flown by….I think due to lack of sleep J One super exciting first, Will got to go on his first international flight this month! Yup, we are back in Kenya.  Little man rocked the flight and pretty much slept the whole time (praise the Lord!). He was a trooper even when we had to run through London Heathrow Airport to catch our flight to Kenya. 

Will is still a super happy baby, especially in the mornings!  Recently in the afternoons, he has had a bit of a fussy time that last a few hours unless he is able to fall asleep.  I think it is mainly due to a little congestion so hopefully that will go away soon.

Feeding: William is now taking 4oz and eats about every 3-4 hours. We are trying out a new formula with him since the kind we used in the states is not available here.  Seems to be a good fit so far. 

Sleeping: I am so thankful we did not get him on a schedule while we were in the states!  Will takes about 3-4 naps during the day. His morning nap is the shortest right now – around 30-45 mins. Then his other naps are about 1.5 hrs. each. He takes his last feeding at night around 10pm then will sleep until 3-4am when he wakes up for a super early morning snack. He then will go back to sleep and wakes between 6-7am.

Fun Info:

William is smiling a lot more these days! We all love seeing it, Emma especially.  She will sing him songs or give him kisses to try and make him smile.

Will has started to giggle while dreaming. It’s the cutest.

He hates tummy time. But he does love when we hold him up on our shoulder so he can look around.

Will got to go on his first Fogleman family road trip.  We took a trip to Kentucky the end of Jan. He did awesome in the car except for the last hour.  I don’t blame him though, who wants to sit in a carseat for 12+ hours? 

He fits in 0-3 month clothes/onesies and wears a few size 3 month outfits.

William enjoys being outside as long as he is in the shade. He is very alert and likes to look around.

Will got to meet all of our friends at church on Sunday.  It was fun to introduce him to everyone here in Kenya.

He still loves bath time.

William will sleep for hours as long as he is swaddled. Something his sister never liked J

Pics from the month:

 

 

 

 

Emma Hadassah 2 Years 7 Months

This month has been especially fun since we got to see Emma in more of a big sister role. She has proudly taken on her new role and is very excited each time she gets to hold her brother or feed him. It has been super sweet to watch the start of their relationship. Here are some more fun things from this month J

Emma has her first imaginary friend named ‘Sarah.’  She loves to boss around her new friend. It’s quite humorous.

Emma is obsessed with her baby brother's little ears. In her own words…”mom, look at his tiny ears! They are so wittle and cute!”

Emma would brush her teeth 1,000 times a day if we let her.

She got a new swimsuit and wore it around the house once we got home.

Depending on her mood she likes to be called ‘Princess Emma’ or ‘Queen Elsa.’

Emma is always singing. Especially if there is a mirror she can see herself in or if she notices she has an audience.

We are working on not whining and talking like a big girl. If anyone has advice about this we would greatly appreciate it J

According to Emma, to be a big kid, you have to be able to swing and slide at the park.

We never have to introduce ourselves, Emma does a great job at sharing “this is mommy, this is daddy, I am Emma, and this is baby Will.”

Emma still loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Doc. McStuffins.

Aunt Annie and Uncle Kurt came to visit.  Emma got to go golfing for the first time at Top Golf while they were in town.  She now ask to go back so she can practice her ‘goofing’ J

Emma learned how to climb up the rock wall at the park! Yay!

Emma is a little obsessed with PJ Masks. So much that she pretends to be all three of the characters.  She will chase you around the house with her super cat speed, then blow you away with her owl wind, and pick you up with her gecko muscles.  If you just read this and have no idea what I am talking about, be thankful.

Emma has been awesome in this whole transition of family of 3 to family of 4.  She has been super helpful with her brother and for the most part understanding when her parents need to feed her brother, change him, or put him to sleep. 

Fun Pictures from the Month: