Entoto

 We went hiking on Friday.  More like walking or meandering since we went with another family with small children.  Three little girls and two babies ensures that no one is getting any serious hiking done.  We stopped twice for snacks (apricots and Cheerios) and more than twice for donkey crossings and photo ops.  It was a beautiful morning and it felt great to be above Addis Ababa on Entoto. 
We walked until the girls were hungry, then headed to Serenade for lunch.  Any good morning of light exercise should end with food! Am I right or am I right?

things I am loving right now

Just a few random thoughts on the things I can't live without right now.

1. Molasses.  I never gave molasses much thought before moving to Ethiopia.  Since being here, I've been substituting molasses in place of sugar in things like breads and cookies.  The flavor is rich and delicious without being too sweet.  Yesterday Bella and I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  The recipe called for 2 cups of sugar!  That's just overkill.  Instead we included 1 cup of brown sugar and half a cup of molasses.  The cookies are delicious and I don't feel guilty about giving one to the girls as a snack.

2. Kalamata olives.  Can not live without kalamata olives right now.  I used to use plain old black olives in things like pasta, pizzas, sandwiches, etc. I'm not sure why.  Kalamata olives are exponentially more flavorful.  The only thing I use black olives for now is Mexican food.  Kalamata is the way to go.  Once you switch you will never eat a pizza with black olives again.

3. My TOMS.  Justin bought my first pair of TOMS for Christmas last year. They aren't photo worthy anymore but my new pair he gave me for my birthday are.  I am in love with the red silhouettes of animals on the inside.  They are the perfect shoe for a stay-at-home mom.  They slip on and off easily and are good for   the little bit of cushion needed when cooking or standing a long time with the baby.  Plus they are casual and not fussy but cute.  I am a huge TOMS convert.

4. Klorane dry shampoo.  I made fun of dry shampoo being a more expensive baby powder in an older post before I actually tried it.  I can't live without it now.  It does a much better job of absorbing oil and making hair look clean than baby powder ever did for me.  I use it on the days I don't shampoo my hair and it works wonders.  It has no smell and immediately eliminates that dark oily sheen at my scalp.  

3, that's all folks

I'm struggling with the mixed emotions of having my last child.  Ashlynn is our third daughter and we've had three kids in mind since we started talking about having children.  So here we are.  The third one is almost 6 months old and it's hard to believe that 5 years ago it was just the two of us.  It's hard to digest that in such a short amount of time I've had three pregnancies, three births and three beautiful daughters.  I guess it's hard to digest that phase of motherhood being over for me.  It's easy to forget all the rough parts of pregnancy and birth when I'm snuggling Ashlynn in my arms and she's babbling at me with complete adoration in her eyes.  I don't want to be pregnant again and yet it's still difficult to let go of that idea.

Three kids is considered a large family these days.  We've had multiple people assume we have a large family for certain religious beliefs.  It makes Justin and I giggle because three kids isn't all that many.  For good reason we've decided that three is a good amount for our family.  Now that Ashlynn is with us I feel like our family is complete.

Mothering an infant with a toddler and little girl is hard work.  The hardest work I've ever done.  Maybe not as hard as it will be when they are all teenagers but for now I'm pretty wiped most days.  Justin and I love having three kids.  It feels right.  Work, but the good kind of work we get to do together.

Last week I pulled out all the baby clothes Ashlynn's outgrown.  All the newborn size as well as the 3months and 3-6 months size is too small for Ash now.  I've been thrilled at the idea that once she's outgrown something we can give it away.  Thrilled with the idea until I actually did it.  I put a huge box together of all the adorable tiny clothing and sent it two doors down to the American family that is having their first baby girl this summer.  It didn't hit me until the box had left my arms and I received a thank you text from the expectant mom that I was saying goodbye to the newborn stage.  Never again would I be filling the dresser with tiny little onesies and footie pajamas in expectation of a new baby arriving.  It was heartbreaking.  I'm shocked at the emotions I have about it.  Even as I write this my eyes are filling with tears thinking about being past the newborn stage of my third and last child.  Maybe I was thrilled with the theoretical idea of purging our storage of baby gear, toys and clothing.  In theory it was liberating.  In reality I'm sad.

Even more ridiculous is the fact that I'm still deep in the trenches of mothering my baby girl.  I am exhausted from lack of sleep, breastfeeding , battling night wakings and teething.  Even in the thick of it all I am having an emotional battle with it being the last time.  Lord help me when we get rid of the crib.  

flowers in Addis Ababa

I never thought my home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia would be full of fresh flowers every day.  I love all the local flowers I can buy inexpensively at the grocery stores here.  Orange is my new favorite color.  I went a little nutty over those orange roses.  The best part is that the roses all smell garden grown.  Wonderfully fragrant.  And the lilies fill the entire first floor with their fragrance when they open up.  Some open pink and some open white.  You never know until they slowly open.  

Easter Sunday

The girls were genuinely surprised that the Easter bunny had left them some treats and little presents.  It blew  their minds that the bunny had found the bowl of dyed eggs in our refrigerator and hid them outside. (no PJ hunting for Adelaide-she wants to get on something fancy immediately after waking up.  She's Hollywood with her glasses at 9AM)  

Justin found a Catholic church for us to attend so we all got dressed in our Easter best and went to our first church service in Ethiopia and since Ashlynn was born.  The church was a wonderful mix of old rustic with sparkling chandeliers and gorgeous paintings.  Right away we knew we wouldn't be able to understand the sermon since it was in Italian but it didn't really matter.  The other odd thing was that the church was following the Ethiopian Amharic calendar which is behind the international calendar by a week.  That meant that the church was celebrating Palm Sunday instead of Easter. Doh! Just a little glich.  We listened to the Passion of the Christ in Italian and discreetly learned that the English mass is at 10 AM.  I guess that means we'll be dressed in our Easter best next Sunday as well. 

I'm only partly Catholic (baptized, never confirmed, Lutheran college, married on the beach-going to Hell for certain). For me, being in a church and feeling God's presence is more moving than what's being said during the sermon.  Ashlynn was fussing and tired so I stood in the back of the church rocking her until she fell asleep in my arms.  She quickly became too heavy to hold while standing so I found a pew in the back of the church and asked the Ethiopian family sitting there if I could use the open corner to sit.  I sat there unable to see the action at the front of the church, I listened to the priest speaking in Italian and stared up at the beautiful wooden beams and concrete arches in the ceiling of the church.  The collection baskets started coming around and the Ethiopian woman next to me nudged her young daughter with her elbow.  The tiny girl ( who had been secretly stroking Ashlynn's hair while she slept in my arms before her mother noticed and hissed at her to stop), stood up and went to her little purse that was draped over the pew in front of her and unzipped it.  She pulled a few little pieces of paper and notes out by accident, sheepishly looking at her mother and grandmother.  She stuck her fingers back in and pulled out a one Birr note and put it in the collection basket.  Her mother patted her on her head.  I looked down at Ashlynn, so beautiful sleeping in my arms and thanked the Lord for being given the opportunity to be a mother.  To teach my daughters life lessons about giving to those less fortunate.  That was my favorite Easter moment.  

 The girls were antsy from sitting for so long so we raced home to get lunch and naps before we headed to a friends house for Easter dinner.  It was a wonderful meal with ham at center stage.  The girls got their egg hunt with their friends and I got some photos in their new matching Easter dresses.  Is that pink not the best color you've ever seen?  Happy Easter all!

the forgotten holiday

Easter sneaks up on me every year.  Its a darn sneaky holiday.  This year, just like the last, I realized Easter was coming up when my Mom said "Happy Easter, if I don't talk to you this weekend".  My response was a combination of "Easter is this weekend?" and "holy sh*t, how can it be Easter all ready?". It's my fault.  I never look at the calendar to see what day it is. I'm usually still enjoying the warm and fuzzies from Justin and my birthdays and thinking ahead to Arabella's birthday.  I always assume it's another few weeks away.  This is not a good thing when you live overseas and it takes at least a month to get things in the mail.  I have no idea where the Easter baskets are stored and I never have eggs to hide.  I fail at Easter every year.  I know this and yet it sneaks up on me every darn year.

Thank goodness my sweet mother never fails at any holiday, especially the ones that she gets to spoil her granddaughters with gifts and sweets.  Sure enough a little box for each girl showed up in the mail the week of Easter and I could breathe a sigh of relief.  Justin reminds me Easter is not about chocolates in a basket.  He's right and yet my memories of putting on my jacket over my pajamas to go hunt for eggs on Easter morning in my parent's backyard every year are special.  I want my girls to have similar memories.

Thankfully my girlfriend bailed me out of having to dye Easter eggs at home.  She hosted us for a dying party and even had a cute little bunny mask craft for the girls.  The embassy hosted an Easter party on Saturday for families with children; complete with moon bounce, pictures with the Easter bunny, too loud music blaring over a sound system, and an egg toss.

We went to this party because it's what you do when you live in a diplomatic community.  The party started at  11AM and like usual we couldn't get it together to arrive until closer to noon.  We immediately found out that we had missed the egg hunt which happened right at 11AM. Every other family with small children seemed to miss the egg hunt too and the assistant CLO ran around making amends by handing out goody bags to the kids whose parents couldn't get it together to arrive on time. Sometimes getting to these things takes all the joy out of being there once we finally arrive.  We're always racing and rushing and shouting and arguing.  We even forgot my ID and our party tickets causing us to turn around and go back home to retrieve them.  By the time I plopped the diaper bag and car seat down on one of the tables at the party I needed a drink.  My heels dug into the muddy grass and I needed a double shot when I realized most everyone else was in jeans.

In the end the girls had fun, which is really what it's all about and the reason why I string myself out over and over to attend events like this, right?  Bella got a huge rug burn going down the moon bounce slide over and over and Addie got a scoop of ice cream even though she was on a no sweet punishment for lying to her father the night before.  Success for them!

I attempted to get a cute picture of the girls since they both turned around and ran when we walked up to the photo taking area and the big Easter bunny scared them silly.  

spring break

This past week there was no school for spring break.  It was nice to have more relaxed mornings.  I wasn't shouting at anyone to "brush your teeth and put your shoes on already...we're late!"  I think everyone felt a little happier in the mornings.

We had lots of fun this week.  The girls played with friends. 
Blew bubbles, made mud pies in their new dresses from Grammy, had sand delivered for a little sand box via donkey, had their first bath all together, played in the sand, and got ready for Easter. 

Bella lost her balance twice on Wednesday evening.  One fall was against the edge of the night stand gashing her cheek right under her eye.  We tested out the medical clinic at the embassy and the nurse came to our house that night with her bag of gear to close up the wound.  It's nice to know they'll come to us in minor emergency situations.  I'm sure it won't be the last time Bella requires a nurse visit.  She's like a drunk bulldozer most of the time.

We decorated Easter eggs with our friends.  Brown eggs make quite different shades of colors!

 The two older girls enjoyed Addie's best friend's birthday party on Friday morning.  Nail painting and dancing in princess gowns.  I'll try to forget Bella choked on a piece of hot dog at the party.  Other than that it was wonderful. I am a mother of daughters so I'm partial to girly birthday parties.  Nothing is sweeter than all those little hands wiggling with colorful nails waiting to dry on their frilly dress covered laps.