j-bug hits 4 months!

She is so sweet, no?

This little girl has done some major traveling in the first few months of her life. After a super loooong trip from America to Africa, she had another loooong trip from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi, Kenya--by car--ick. The first leg, which got us over half way was 11 HOURS! The second leg was like 6 hours (much better roads, but a lot more traffic!) This little girl did so fantastic!! Much better than her big sister who got carsick about an hour into the trip. In the EXACT.SAME.SPOT. as last time we took this trip. Poor Zoe, the roads were so bumpy and apparently she has taken after me!

In an attempt to only stop a few times, I pumped in the back seat and gave Jillian bottles every 3-4 hours. She slept, she was happy, she watched Zoe, and she didn't cry once until about the last 30 minutes of the 11 hours. And by then, we all wanted to cry!! 

Our meeting was in the mountains outside of Nairobi and it was pretty cold (for Africa). Everyone makes a big deal about how cold it is...well, it's not cold. It's just been a while since some of those people have spent a winter in America. But we did get to wear some long sleeves and Nate got to wear his hat (not out of necessity, but for kicks). This is the 3rd time he has worn that stupid hat...once to climb Kilimanjaro (the reason for the purchase of the hat), once to scare the you-know-what out of Zoe (it worked!), and this time...

Back to jillibean...

-She weighs a whopping 13 lbs.

-She has graduated from her swaddle to a sleep sack. Unlike her big sister, she was ready to get out of that thing, she loooves to stretch out her arms while she sleeps (see pictures below!)

-She is still on prevacid for her acid refulx and it helps tremendously!

-She is on a 4-hour schedule. She usually wakes up and eats, plays and stays awake for about 1.5 hours, and then sleeps for another 2 hours, until its time to eat again!

-She is still loving to watch her big sister, and a lot of times Zoe is the one who can get her to calm down or stop crying...so sweet. Zoe always gets the biggest smiles from her.

-She is not a big fan of tummy time still, so she does a lot of rolling from her tummy to her back.

-She loves to be in on the action, and has to see what everyone is doing. If she is being held, she wants to be facing out so she can see.

-She is much fuller (thicker, chunkier!) than her sister was at this age. Maybe my milk is improving with age.

-She is smiling at us all the time and making the cutest little "coo"s.

-She is the sweetest little thing and we are so thankful for this precious gift!

let's just see...

This is just for fun to see how good our internet is...

Yay! It works...you have no idea the degree to which this would have been impossible with our previous internet "service." It's light-years better. Amazing.

This video was taken at our music-extravaganza. Nate also performed. If I get a little time later, I'll try to upload that video. It's pretty amazing, as well.

our big looooong trip!

So now that's it's been like a month, I've decided I better post on our trip before I forget! Although, probably nobody is interested anymore. Oh well. Our internet is still not up...(that's also over a month, but that is a sore subject). 

Packing was a nightmare...good thing we started early. We were allowed three bags per person on British Airways (thats TWELVE pieces of checked), each of the girls got to check a car seat and stroller for free, and we each took a carry on and personal item. Let's add that up...thats 24 pieces. Now that is just crazy! We kept saying, there is no way we will use our entire allowance--especially since we already packed a crate and sent it ahead! Oh dear...boy were we wrong... This picture shows only 8 of our checked pieces and a few of our carry-ons...If you look closely, you can see Nate just staring in disbelief at the amount of stuff!

All in all, I really cannot complain about our trip. Both girls did fabulous...definitely much better than expected. Zoe pretty much watched her movies the entire time. And J-bug sat on my lap the entire time. One of the best decisions I EVER made was bringing my boppy pillow on board with me. So she just chilled most of the time. She alternated eating and sleeping. She was super comfy and I was super happy. 

All three times we boarded the plane, however, she was screaming. I mean, you can only push a 2-month old so far. She was uncomfortable and hot in the carrier and (of course) it was time to eat whenever it was time to board....poor planning on my part, eh? We also made some other really poor decisions...for instance, we thought it would be a good idea to bring 3 rolling carry-on suitcases and 4 personal items along with my boppy pillow and 2 children. So we were THOSE people. The one with a screaming newborn boarding the plane, the tired 2 year-old running out of control. I was trying to balance the baby on my front with the rolling suitcase behind me  (which had a big duffel bag tied on top that continuously fell off), Nate trying to verbally guide Zoe as he toted 2 rolling suitcases, a backpack, and 2 duffel bags. We got those really mean looks as our bags bounced back and forth and hit people already seated, oh and as we rolled over their toes. You could see the stares and almost hear their thoughts "this baby better not cry the entire flight." I could pick out the sympathetic mothers who obviously had made the same poor decisions in the past. And there were, of course, the fake smiles of people thinking, "that poor girl..." Luckily, as soon as we got seated and JP got fed, she calmed down and was good for all 3 flights. 

The last leg was the worst. British Airways used to fly directly to Dar, but no longer! So we had a long layover in London and then another layover in Nairobi where we changed airlines. But oh wait! British Airways allows us 3 bags per person (including the girls) and oh, Precision Airlines only allows 2 per person (and 1 each for the girls...even though they both had seats). We weren't willing to give up SIX bags. So....instead of checking our bags all the way to Dar, we checked them only to Nairobi. When we arrived in Nairobi, Nate left me and the girls at the terminal...got ALL our bags off the luggage carousel, re-checked those we were allowed on the last flight, took the ones we weren't (6 of 'em plus 2 car seats and 2 strollers), got a visa to enter Kenya, met a taxi driver outside the airport who loaded up all our extra bags and took them to storage for us. Nate re-entered the airport, got our boarding passes for the flight to Dar, went through security and made it back with plenty of time to spare! Here is where I would like to brag on my strong, masculine, good-looking, flexible, ever-so-helpful wonderful husband! And he does it all without complaining (I guess he figures I complain enough for the both of us, bless his heart).  

Zoe had slept just a bit over the 2 day trip. On the 9 hour trip from Atlanta to London, she slept maybe an hour. We got a hotel room in Lodon (they have special day rates) so we all took like a 2-hour nap. Then on the leg from London to Nairobi, she slept on the floor of the plane for about 2 hours. When we boarded the last plane from Nairobi to Dar, she was SO DONE. She was grumpy and whiny and we just knew we were in for a loooong trip. As we were taking off, Nate looked back at me (Jillian and I were behind Nate and Zoe) and gestured for me to take a look at Zoe...

She was so out! We waited for everyone to get off the plane and it took forever to wake her up! She was a trooper and so was jilli. We were super thankful that they did so well and sooo happy to have the longest trip of our lives behind us!

3 months old...a wee bit late

We are still waiting on our stinking internet to be installed. Nate has internet on his phone though, so I'm using it (he might shoot me for blogging with his precious mega bites...especially since I'm about to upload a picture...haha). But there are grandparents out there who cannot wait any longer! Here is our little girl at 3 months old, just the cutest thing, right?!

Note: the object in the above picture is not as large as it appears. Big girl has the cloth diapers on which make her lower half exponentially larger. I wish I could post a few more pictures...but if I use up all of Nate's internet, I will lose blogging privileges. This little girl has been through LOTS of changes the past month. She went from sleeping 8-9 hours at night in America to sleeping between 2 and 3. After her one month check-up she was put on Zantac for her acid reflux. It was working beautifully until the day before we left to come to Tanzania. Funny how things work, eh? Anyway, even after upping her dosage, she was miserable. When I say miserable, I mean was eating, sleeping, or crying 24/7. Lots of times crying while she was eating and sleeping. Poor baby. She wasn't the only one in tears. In the absence of a good pediatrician, I became one. I researched online and decided to switch her to a different medicine. We started her on Prevacid 3 days ago and she is back to her happy self. Smiles and coos. Love it. If I was really bold, I would upload a video of the coos and sweet sounds. But I'm not that bold (you are welcome, Nathan).

What else is j-money up to these days?
-She loves her big sister Zoe and follows her around the room with her eyes.
-She is finally on a schedule. Baby Wise is the bomb! We did it with Zoe and now with Jillian...it makes for one happy and rested baby. A few days of a little crying is worth it all!
-After a looooong few weeks, she is extending her nighttime sleep. It's taking a while to get there, but I have confidence we will be back to sleeping through the night soon!
-She loves attention. I tend to think it's because of the extreme amount of spoiling that went on while we were in the States. She does not like to be alone. She's a social butterfly--that makes 2 (3 if you count Nate).
-She has a little bald spot on the back of her head where she lays.
-She is eating every 3.5-4 hours.
-She has a bit of a temper...I don't believe I have ever heard another baby that can scream at the pitch that she hits several times a day.\

Love her so much!
More posts to come as soon as we get internet (don't hold your breath...)