11 months

Thinking that Zoe will be a year old in less than a month is making me a little sad... Oh how the time is flying by. Sometimes that makes me happy though...like when I think that this time next year we will be home for our stateside--enjoying our first Thanksgiving and Christmas at home in 3 years! Ahhhh...I'm already SO excited about that!!

Zoe is growing like a weed--still more length than pudge. But she is getting a little belly on her! She still has 6 teeth and they are almost all the way in. It's amazing how much her teeth have changed the way she looks. Still cute as a button though. She celebrated her first Christmas just a day before she turned 11 months old. She had a great time opening presents, watching Christmas movies, skyping with family back home, and listening to her daddy read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible on Christmas night. We baked (and ate) Christmas cookies and had a grand old time!

Just within the past two days, she has started standing up on her own. Like from sitting on the ground to standing...not even pulling up on anything. But it's only for a few seconds. She stands up--looks to make sure we are watching, smiles with pride, and plops back down. She is eating less and less "baby" food and more of what we are eating at mealtimes--which she seems quite pleased with. She loved our Christmas dinner of meatloaf and mac and cheese (still so much like her daddy!) She has more energy than ever and it is almost impossible to keep up with her. This is what we found her getting into recently...she got the box out of the pantry, opened it and pulled out the plastic bag. Then got the oatees (like chocolate cheerios) and is enjoying the fruit of her labor:

We went to the beach to relax and celebrate Zoe turning 11 months. Here are a few pictures of us hanging out at the pool:

merry christmas!!

10 months (and a few weeks)

I'm totally slow on posting this...Zoe was 10 months on the 26th and we are almost halfway in to December. There has been so much going on since we moved to Dar...we are still trying to get our house in order (building a wall in Zoe's room, painting, putting up curtain rods and curtains, decorating for Christmas). There is much more going on here than there was in Morogoro which means less time for me to get on the computer.

Anyway, we celebrated Thanksgiving on the day Zoe turned 10 months. It was a Saturday because since Thanksgiving is just an American holiday, people were still working and kids were still in school here. So we celebrated with a bunch of friends on that Saturday. We had all the traditional foods of Thanksgiving--which is a rare treat here so we were really excited. Especially since we had chinese food on Thanksgiving day.

It seems as though each month goes by a little faster and my little girl is so close to turning 1 year old. Each month I'm amazed to look back at how she has developed and new things she has learned. This month she is finally up on her knees crawling. She did the army crawl for such a long time that we didn't think she would ever get on her knees. With our dirty floors and her scooting on her belly, it made for some nasty onesies at the end of the day. She has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom). She is pulling up on everything and just starting to let go and stand still for just a second before she gets scared and grabs something, or just falls on her bottom. She can wave, clap, and give high fives. She is talking up a storm and loves to be the center of attention (sound like anyone in particular?) She is finally getting a little bit more hair and has one little curl on the top of her head. She also learned to drink through a straw--and more importantly for her--to blow bubbles through the straw. She is into anything and everything and never.stops.moving. It's extremely exhausting at times. But she is our love and such a blessing to us!

movin' on up...

...to the east side...

(of Tanzania, that is)

Yep, we have finally moved! After months of waiting (sometimes not so patiently) we have arrived. We are now officially living in Dar es Salaam. So far, we are really happy. We feel like we are where God wants us. I would like to stay I absolutely LOVE living here, but there are a few things that are keeping me from being able to say that...

(1) It is seriously hot here. No joke, you can't get away from it. The humidity is no lie like 100%. We just dropped $1000 on 2 air conditioning units for our 2 bedrooms. Did we ever think we would spend that kind of money on a/c?? No, but we realized after our first night here we had no other option. Down to our skibbies, we moved our bed to the middle of the room so that it was directly under the ceiling fan, we layed there and we sweat. We were miserable. The next day the a/c units were installed and we decided we would never again leave the comfort of our bedroom (just kidding...but not really).

(2) The traffic is pretty nasty. We come from Atlanta, normal traffic doesn't bother me that much. I can handle it..you know? This is not normal, these people are crazy. They make me crazy. Nobody follows the rules. It's one big game of: dodging pedestrians, cows, sheep, goats, motorcycles, and bicycles, cutting people off even if you are the only two cars on the road, buses stopping in the middle of the road to pick up passengers because pulling into the bus lane would take too much effort, memorizing which potholes your car can take and which ones it can't, making one lane into three...and on and on. It's the whole "me first" mentality...my time is more important than yours, I need to be somewhere type thing. I hate it...sometimes me and Nate roll down our windows and yell "shame on you" out the window in Swahili. It doesn't make matters any better, but at least we can make our frustrations known.

But on the other side...we have tons of new places to eat (as opposed to the same 3 restaurants in Morogoro), we have grocery stores, malls (yes, there are 2 now!), and the beach!! As soon as we get all settled, I am very much looking forward to taking a beach trip and relaxing knowing that everything is done! 

This is where we live:

retreat from the retreat...

Do you ever feel like you need a vacation from your vacation? I do.

So this past weekend we had a wonderful prayer retreat in the beautiful mountains of Lushoto, Tanzania. It was a much needed break from the heat and a great time of refreshment with our friends. We absolutely LOVED the cool weather (I got to wear long sleeves and a scarf!). We had people cooking for us and 24/7 chai and coffee with CoffeeMate from the States (yummy!) The ladies had a wonderful tea and gift exchange while the guys played wiffleball and corn hole. And most importantly--we had a chance to just get away and pray and retreat from the places that so often wear us out. 

Unfortunately it was so cool that no fans or air conditioning were needed and at night it was extremely quiet without that white noise. Quiet except when Zoe heard us roll over in bed or heard dogs barking outside. So it was a looong night. She is so used to being in her own room with the fan on high and she usually sleeps so well. Fortunately, the next night, the staff found a fan for us to put in our room and the next two nights went much better! Until the sickness came. Our group had been passing around a little stomach bug and I thought we were going to narrowly escape getting sick...well...not so. The night before we left I caught the bug. I was up early that morning really sick. Of course...disturbing Zoe from her sleep which didn't help the situation much. Nate packed up the car and I layed in bed until the last possible second. I grabbed my pillow and toliet paper and dragged myself out of bed and into the car. A friend gave me some medicine and only by the Lord's mercy did we make it home without any major problems. A 6-hour car drive down the mountains on bumpy African roads is not a great time for a stomach bug. But we made it.

So yesterday and today I've done alot of resting and recooperating. I need it because we are scheduled to move on MONDAY! Yep, that's right...moving day is almost here so we have quite a bit of work to do over the next few days! I will leave you with a few pictures of our trip to Lushoto...

what i'm loving wednesday: pumpkin!

So one of the biggest things I miss here is Fall. I love how beautiful Fall is in Georgia (and pretty much everywhere for that matter). There is pretty much no season change here...we have hot, very hot, and unbearably hot. Unlucky for us...it's getting to that unbearably hot stage. I keep telling myself this is our last Fall/Thanksgiving/Christmas before we go home for our Stateside next year! But I still get super jealous of people talking about carving pumpkins and going on hay rides and drinking Chick-Fil-A peppermint milkshakes (ok...that's more of a lead-up to Christmas...but still).

In an attempt to fool myself, I burn pumpkin pie candles and try to put out some Fall decorations. BUT we are now in the process of moving and so I can't really do that because we are staying at a guest house until our house is ready. But then our teammate found a pumpkin at a local green grocer (I have never seen pumpkins here before!) She made some yummy pumpkin muffins and I immediately went to this little store to get one for myself. When I got there, there was a little pile of these odd looking gourds in the corner and I asked the man what they were. His reply was pumpkins...so I grabbed the one that most resembled my idea of a pumpkin, paid way too much, and was on my way!

We took Zoe outside with the pumpkin so we could take her picture...they are below. Then Nate cut up the pumpkin for me, I roasted it, scooped it all out and made myself some pumpkin puree. I found this yummy-looking recipe for pumpkin snickerdoodles and I'm very much looking forward to baking them this week :)

man of my dreams

Four years ago (on the 27th) I married the love of my life. 

Special days are let's say....different in Africa. What would we have done in America for our four year anniversary? Probably dropped Zoe off at the grandparents, gone out for a lovely dinner at Olive Garden, maybe caught a movie, or perhaps just walked the mall holding hands. What did we do in Morogoro, Tanzania?? Well, for starters the power was out from about 8am until about 5 pm. Kinda ruins sleeping in when its 80 degrees inside the house and no fans are running. So we got up, Nate did a little work on the laptop before the battery died and I took care of some house work (we are in the process of packing and moving). Then we went out to lunch to a little restaurant. There was nobody there so the waitress held and played with Zoe the.entire.time!! Yep, so me and Nate got to have a little lunch to ourselves (kinda). Of course, the power was out when we got back to the house and it was cooler outside than inside...so we put a blanket outside in the shade and all sat around outside for a while (including Chester). That was nice and Zoe had fun.

Finally, a little later the power came back and we all breathed a sigh of relief! Nate picked up some take-out for dinner, we put Zoe to bed, and watched a scary movie in bed together. The movie wasn't spectacular, but it was nice to snuggle in bed with my love (especially since he had been out of town for a week and came home especially for our anniversary!) I am so thankful for my wonderful husband. He even got the book that I have been wanting for SO long. A book that he thought was too expensive. But it is so cool...it's drawings and captions all about Dar es Salaam (our new home!) I LOVE him. I will leave you with a picture of my new book and a picture of how it all got started...

my baby is 9 months old

Wow. This little girl is into everything! It's a good thing we are about to move, because almost every day I have to pack up stuff that's been sitting on the bottom shelf so that she doesn't get into it. So it helps me to make progress on packing at least. Hopefully when we move in, I can unpack in a way that is more baby-friendly.

Zoe has been up to quite a bit this past month. She learned how to clap (we weren't even trying to teach her, she just picked it up at church one day); she has tried to get up and crawl on her knees a few times, but has decided that it's much easier and faster to just push off with her feet and do the army crawl thing; she is now pulling up, although she is not good at letting herself down easy; and she survived her very first cold. It was my fault--I gave her the cold , but she handled it pretty well and we are almost over it! She now has 4 teeth...the two on bottom are almost all the way in, and the top two have broken through.

Nate has been gone this week, so it's just been me and Zoe (and the biggest baby of all-Chester). Needless to say, we all miss Nate terribly!! Zoe looks at me all the time and says "dada"...like she is wondering where he is. The dog is in constant whine mode. Between both of them, the laundry, giving Chester a bath (yes I did!), and trying to pack up stuff for our move...I can't seem to get a moment to myself. Just to get out of the house, I strapped Zoe on yesterday and we took a walk into town--it will be the last one, it was blazing hot! We will all be so happy when Nate gets home later tonight :)

up, up, and away!

Yep, Zoe is now pulling up. Aah! A few days ago, she was just playing around the floor and I was sitting in the recliner with the computer, I look up, and she is standing--holding on to the coffee table with the biggest grin of self-satisfaction. She was so proud of herself. She isn't quite sure how to let herself down easy...so she is requiring quite a bit of attention these days. Her favorite thing is to get on the couch and pull up against the back and pull the curtains back and yell out towards the street or at the kids if they are out playing.

And here is a video...

our new library...

Here is our reading material for the next several months...courtesy of the Holmes Family

Kara was so sweet to spend almost $50 just to SHIP this package, not including the price of all the goodies inside! I had mentioned to her a while back that Christian reading material and devotionals were one thing that me and Nate both really missed out here, because we don't have much opportunity to get fed. So her and Trey (and of course, their sweet little girl Kate) gathered up all these great books and sent them to us. How amazing are they, right?! They also sent some adorable onesies for Zoe and a book for her too. Here she is reading it:

So thank y'all so much...you have blessed us more than you can know...we love you guys!

8 months

Eek! That is 2/3 of a year old! So hard to believe...but then again I say that every month. So this past month Zoe has really started to get on the move. She is doing the army crawl and can get just about anywhere...still no sign of getting up on her knees...maybe she never will. But she makes her away across our nasty floors pretty well and by the time she is done and I pick her up, her belly is filthy. I know "poor baby" right? But she is happy as a clam and doesn't mind getting dirty at all. We have had to move all our stuff from lower shelves up high. The "easy days" of her just laying around and playing in one spot are so over.

She also has figured out her little scooter seat (I'm not really sure what they are called.) But she flies around the house in that thing with no concern for what is in her path...toys, our feet, or Chester. Poor Chester hates that chair and avoids it at all costs...she will seriously charge at him with it! She loves to roll up to the mirror and really gets a kick out of herself. Here is another video of her in her chair:

I'm still making all her food...carrots, avocados, bananas, potatoes, butternut squash, zucchini. We have tried giving her a little bit of french fry and she is not a fan. She better learn to love them though, because we have eaten more "chips" in the past 2 years than I have eaten in my entire life! She is getting her bottom 2 teeth. She has been a little fussy at night, but all in all, she is handling it really well. She can say "dada", "mama", "baba" (swahili for daddy), and she is starting with the "t" sound...it's sweet because she says it like a whisper. She still sleeps like a champ and we are sooo grateful for that! She has the attention span of Nate so nothing holds her attention longer than a few seconds. She actually gets everything from Nate...including her good looks!

what im loving: catching zoe sleeping

Ok, I promise I'm not just going to post only on Wednesday for the rest of my life. It just seems like I always remember today. Oh well...

So on Sunday we go to church and then usually come home for a little bit and let Zoe take a nap before we go out for our usual Sunday lunch. This past Sunday, she was sooo sleepy we had to wake her up to go eat. I can count the number of times we have seen Zoe asleep..most of them were when she was a tiny baby. We usually lay her down in her crib and she will fuss or cry for a little bit and then put herself to sleep and we almost never wake her up and if we do, the door is so loud it wakes her up as soon as we walk in. So it's a rare occasion to see her sleep. But this Sunday she must have been super sleepy and she didn't even hear us come in to her room. And we found her sleeping in the most precious position. Nobody probably cares to watch this video except us and maybe grandparents :)

what i'm loving: making baby food

Let me first just say...it is not an easy or quick task, but I am loving making all Zoe's baby food. I also cannot lie and say it's purely motivated by my love, or by trying to make sure it's all organic...if we lived in America right now, I most probably would not be doing this. But to my dismay, when we walked in the grocery in Dar-es-Salaam to pick up some solid baby food jars, they were going to cost around $3 a pop! For those little tiny jars...unbelievable. Fresh fruits and veggies are so cheap here...I couldn't force myself to pay that much. So that is how it happened. But I do love it, I know it's healthy and organic and all that...but it sure does take a huge chunk of my time. This is what I do...

First, I wash everything in water mixed with potasium permanganate (it's what gives the water the purplish color).

Then I peel (if needed) and either boil or steam:

Then I mash it all up in the blender:

And put it in little containers to stick in the fridge:

I usually do it once or twice a week. I wish I could do it less often and just stick everything in the freezer, however our freezer is tiny (did you know the rest of the world makes fun of americans for the size of their refrigerators?? they do) and even if we had something bigger, our power is not reliable enough for me to defrost it in the microwave when Zoe gets hungry. Anyway, it's hard work but I like it, and so does this little girl...

what i'm loving wednesday!

Ok...so I'm going to start participating in....

Every Wednesday I will try my best to post about things I'm loving. I say "try my best" because life in Africa with a baby sometimes puts a kink in my plans. Anyhow, this week there is one thing I am seriously LOVING! It's Pinterest....if you haven't heard of it, you need to. Although-- beware! It's seriously addicting. Basically it's a way to "pin" or bookmark things you love (crafts, ideas, recipes, clothes, shoes, stuff you want to buy, anything you could possible think of!) And you "follow" other people on what they are into at the moment and you can "repin" things that they have pinned. Also, on the toolbar of your web browser, you can make a button that says "pin it" and if you are on some random website and love what you see, all you have to do is click that button and it gets pinned to you. Amazing. It's great for putting everything you love into one place. Just yesterday I saw this adorable jewelry organizer and it is currently en route to my parents house so hopefully they can mail it out in a christmas package!! Here it is...

Here are just a few other of my Pinterest finds....I love it!

family rules

oreo rice krispie treats

amazing shoes

kama kawa...

That's Swahili for "as usual." We had a wonderful trip to Dar this past weekend and before visiting the University of Dar-es-Salaam, we went to the mall to grab a bite to eat. We've learned in the past 2 years that you always ask what is available before you order, because chances are they don't have what you want. The conversation that took place sums up pretty much every tanzanian restaurant experience.

Nate: "je, kila kitu katika menu kinapatikana leo?" (is everything on the menu available today?)
waitress: "ndiyo, kila kitu." (yep, everything)
Lindsey: "naomba chicken spring roll mbili." ( i would like 2 chicken spring rolls)
waitress: "pole chicken spring roll hazipatikana." (sorry, chicken spring rolls aren't available)
<<Nate laughing behind his menu>>
Lindsey: "sawa...naomba sambusa mbili" (ok...i'll have 2 sambusas)
waitness: "hamna shida" (no problem)

...5 minutes later, the waitress returns...
waitress: "pole, lakini sambusa zimekwisha" (sorry, but there are no more sambusas)

7 months old !

Yeah, Zoe is 7 months old today! Can you believe, because I can't! Where does the time go? Nate had some stuff going on today, so yesterday we went up to the Rock Garden on the mountain. We had lunch and walked around for a little bit so we could take some pictures on the rocks. Zoe had a great time watching the water and the monkeys play in the trees. Pictures below!

(This picture was taken before we left the house because Nate said she looked ridiculous in the headband...precious, no?!)

Let's see...what is Zoe up to at 7 months? Still not crawling, although she is quite mobile and can get anywhere she wants to by rolling. She is getting into everything and I'm dreading having to figure out a way to baby-proof the house, especially when she starts crawling. Luckily we don't have any stairs to worry about. She's eating lots of fruits and veggies...she still loves carrots and avacados best. Her face is usually stained orange from getting those everywhere. She says "baba" alot (that's Swahili for dad), "mama" when she is angry, and occasionally "dada," which is weird because that was her first word and she would say it all the time. She is still a daddy's girl and is really beginning to love Chester (our Ridgeback) a whole lot! He licks her in the face and she just giggles (nasty, I know).

She loves to play in her new toys which we got from some friends who have gone stateside for a while...they are letting us borrow a johnny jump-up and one of those walker-seat things. She loves them both and is really beginning to get the hang of them. Our baby girl is growing up!

a lesson in sin...

So Zoe has this facination with her cloth diapers. After I change the dirty one, she always wants to play with it. Needless to say, I don't let her...it's dirty. Well, today I had changed her diaper, put it off to the side, and put a new one on her. I turned for just a second to close up her wipes and diaper cream and when I turned back she had grabbed hold of the diaper and gotten a real handful. I'll let you see for yourself...

She looks so innocent, doesn't she? It was funny to her at first, then she realized..."hey wait, I don't like this anymore." And her attitude changed pretty quickly. She started crying and it was quite an effort to get her to the sink and get her hands cleaned off. It was a two-man job so Nathan was helping and then he started telling her that is what happens when you sin. And if she would have listened, she wouldn't have poop all over her hands. It was pretty funny, but true at the same time. Sin is always attractive at first, then you wind up crying with a mess on your hands.