16/12/2010



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Amy’s Christmas Story Recitation #1

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03/11/2010



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This was Amy’s and Ben’s first Hallowe’en-ing.  It was very fun - but after about 6 stops Amy was tired out and laying on the sidewalk saying ” this is a lot of work!”  

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07/9/2010



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Some more of Amy’s bash

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0:09



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A taste of Amy’s 3rd Birthday Bash

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19/2/2010



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We love the winter Olympics around here.  I even sprung for cable to watch them which before we hadn’t wanted/desired.  Jonny and I got our tv in Mongolia for the last winter Olympics too. So many good Olympic memories….

Jonny’s been away for the last 2 weeks with CLIB doing outreach in BC/Vancouver area.  It’s been a long 2 weeks here as a single mom and Amy misses her Dad like crazy.  She woke up at 2am a few nights ago just to let me know she misses her dad “so much.”  I’ve been telling her Daddy is at the Olympics and will be home really soon.  So, consequently, when the Olympics are on tv (which is pretty much all the time over here) I say “that’s where daddy is!” hoping to help her out with missing him.  So no whenever the Vancouver skyline comes on tv or the Olympic song plays Amy always says “that’s where Daddy lives!”  Close….. and so cute.

We even did some of our own bobsledding at the farm last week.

We HEART the Olympics!

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12:06



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jrenich:

** Warning, this video is a heart wrencher… **

The winter in Mongolia just got upgraded from “worst in 30 years” to “worst in anyone’s living memories.” (Hey, at least we’re not talking in terms of threat level color right?) I could go on and on about how bad it is but I’ll just let you read it (link, link) and watch.

Two points that are standing out to me most:

1) The fact that 1.7 million livestock have died and the Red Cross is predicting that up to 20 million could die. Just for perspectives sake that’s half of Mongolia’s livestock population. The last time a winter like this happened the capital city’s population doubled with all the immigrating herder families who lost their animals.

2) That there are isolated rural communities that the government hasn’t heard from since November. What that means in Mongolia is that small towns, connected to other towns and the capital only by dirt roads and telephone lines have lost these fragile connections due to the weather and not even the government knows if they are ok. I heard the military is sending out big helicopters on search and rescue missions to deliver supplies and evacuate people. Problem is that there’s a lot of families living out on their own with no one else for miles around. The fear is that some of these people will just not make it.

I can’t even really give you a way to do something, to help. Some big NGOs like the Red Cross and CAMDA are trying to deliver fodder for animals and food and nutritional items for people, but it’s not an easy job. Russia and China are sending emergency supplies by train. All we can do is pray it arrives soon and gets to the right people.

Personal note: It’s so cold here. But other than that we are in no danger except from possible skyrocketing meat prices due to no more animals. Don’t worry about us, it’s just cold.

This post was reblogged from jrenich.

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01/2/2010



Video

So, Amy had peed her pants so she was running around nakey and I was in the middle of changing Benjamin’s diaper. Amy spied his little blue sweat pants he had just been wearing and started putting them on.  And she got them all the way up!  And thought it was so funny that she was wearing Benjamin’s pants that she kept them on all evening - and laughed and laughed.  We couldn’t believe she got them on. Here’s a quick video….

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31/1/2010



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Darcy and Laura’s Flower Girls and Ring Boys - the cutest we’ve ever seen!

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30/1/2010



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Unbelievable!

Ben is a new little guy!!!!  It WAS the laundry detergent.  In the last two days he’s calm, he’s chilled out, his skin isn’t red, his cheeks aren’t bumpy, he lets others hold him, he sits and kicks around on the floor, in his chair, he doesn’t cry all the time and I’m not needing to walk him constantly.

He’s a new baby altogether.

Too bad we didn’t catch this 7 weeks ago…. I wonder what it was like to be so itchy and irritated.  We’re sure glad he’s feeling better now.

I’m still off milk and coffee too … but I’ll start adding them back and see if he stays the same.

It’s soooooooooooooooooooooooooo nice to have a happy baby.

Hello Ben!!

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27/1/2010



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Benjamin!  One month old, and 13 pounds.  We really like him.

He’s also turned out to be kind of high-maintainance.  He seems to not be a very content baby.  It’s not unmanageable, and I thought he was just being a normal baby until we hung out with his cuz Theo (who is SUPER chill) and at the church baby shower for 10 of us who have recently had babies, he was the one crying and needing to be bounced, rocked, with me the whole time. And that we’re more surprised when he’s just sitting calm and chilled out than if he’s fussy. (“wow, I can’t believe he’s just been sitting there and not crying!”  And Jonny said this weekend while holding him while he was calm that that was the first time he can think of holding him and he’s not been crying (I don’t think that’s totally accurate, but a warning signal anyway) And that one of  Amy’s favorite phrases is “Mom, Benjamins crying again.”

So, I’m starting to do a few experiments to see if they help.

Experiement #1 - change laundry soap - so far a great success!!  I wish I had thought of this 6 weeks ago.  Ben has always had kind of red, blotchy skin and red bumps on his cheeks.  We just thought he had a bit of sensitive skin (like his dad..!!  he hee hee)  But we noticed that without fail as soon as we took off his clothes to diaper, or bath or whatever, he would turn instantly happy and content.  Even laying on a towel in the bathroom waiting for his tub to fill, when most baby would be cold and cry, he loves life.  So, we finally put this together and think he’s clothes have been irritating him.  Poor guy!!  I washed all his clothes in some mild detergent we use for his cloth diapers, and today is day 2 and his face is bump free, his skin isn’t as red (except when he cries) and I can’t call him my little red boy anymore b/c he’s starting to look normal!!  yeah!  We are hoping this was a good solution and will continue.  I’ll let you all know…

Experiential #2 - I went off milk and coffee - Ben seems to get a sore tummy and is pretty gassy so I”m trying this to see if it helps.  It can’t be too bad b/c he nurses usually great (and is growing tons!!) but sometimes right after he nurses he’s full but cries and cries and then sometimes lets out a huge burp and settles a bit, but still seems often a bit uncomfortable.  Poor guy.  So we’re trying this.  So far, I haven’t noticed much, but we’re only on day 2.  I sure do miss coffee though…. :(

If anyone has any other ideas or have delt with this before let me know.  He’s not colicky, and sleeps great, and I know they usually grow out of being fussy, but any little advice would be welcomed.

We love our Ben, fussy-ness and all.

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