Baby Mulandi

Yesterday, we went for our first ultrasound of Baby Mulandi.  It was pretty fun to see this little person growing inside me! 

 There's the head! And, if you look close, you can see a hand or arm.

 A nice, strong leg!  

Even though the legs are strong, I haven't felt the baby moving around all that much. A few little blips every now and then. During the ultrasound yesterday, the baby was moving a LOT but I felt nothing!  I hope to feel something in the coming weeks. 

The best part of the experience was seeing the heart beating strong and sure, and learning that everything looks good, normal, healthy!  I thank God that things are going well. So far I have had an easy and smooth pregnancy - no morning sickness, no strange cravings (or, none I can't do anything about anyway!).  I hope that this continues...and maybe it means a nice, smooth (pain free?) delivery?

In case you haven't picked up on it, we're not finding out the sex of Baby.  We're up for the surprise! 

I think.

(Those of you paying close attention might have noticed that the picture has the name "Samuel Kaguongo" at the top. No, this is not the name of the baby. Just a little glitch in the system, and my info didn't get entered prior to the ultrasound).

The plan is to deliver here at Kijabe Hospital when the time comes (late March, early April).  At the moment, Kijabe doesn't offer Epidurals -- or any real kind of pain medicine -- for delivery. Should be an adventure!  Anyone have tips on how to survive it?

Because traveling while pregnant is not advised after a certain time (30ish weeks) we'll be heading to the US for Thanksgiving! I'm excited to see family and for Dexter to experience a real American holiday in America.  Plus, we'll be on the hunt for some snow. Probably in Maine.  It will be a quick trip - just two weeks - but we're really looking forward to it.

And for those of you wondering: we're still not in our house!

oreos

Yes, I know. Another food post.  I'll try to make this painless.

I like searching a lot of the different food blogs that are out there, and trying new things.  The other day I was going through one and found a recipe for Homemade Oreos!  I thought that sounded interesting enough to give a try, and was especially pleased when I realized I had all the ingredients on hand already. That's a win-win situation!

 leaning tower of Oreos!

I got the recipe from My First Kitchen, who adapted it from Smitten Kitchen.  I think Smitten Kitchen's version is probably more accurate.  I wish I could take photos like she does on SK.  I hope to some day get a good lens for food photography (ideas, anyone) since it seems I take mostly photos of food. Plus, I think that'd be a nice lens to have when baby comes!  Then, I'd like to actually learn how to use our camera and not totally guess at what I'm doing.  Tips welcome.  {Alisa, check out Smitten Kitchen's post - there's a link on her page for a celiac-friendly version. Who loves ya?}

They were pretty easy to make, so I'd recommend you make them, too. Just make the cookies smaller than you think is necessary. After all, Oreos are not that big, and when the cookie is big (like the first batch I made that went into the oven) it is just too much to deal with.  The size above was just about perfect.  As you can see I dug right in!

Enjoy.

bumps

I've kind of been avoiding doing this for some reason, but after much pleading from a friend, here are a couple of recent photos of the growing baby bump.  It is funny - when I look at these pictures I think, "Wow, I look HUGE!" but when I look in the mirror it doesn't seem that big.  I can still fit into my jeans and a lot of clothes (a very good thing!) so it doesn't always fully seem real.

 15 weeks

16 weeks (taken Oct 18)

I haven't felt the baby's kicks yet -- still too early, I think -- and will be going in for an ultrasound next week.  I've heard the heart beat, but am eager for Dexter to experience that, too.

October 15th

Today is October 15th. This was the day we'd been assured we'd be moving.  There are visitors coming on the 21st or 25th who are supposed to stay in the house we're currently living in, which is why we need to move ASAP.  I was foolish enough to have hope that this would actually happen.

It's not.

Things were progressing well, the carpentry and painting going smoothly and swiftly.  We really thought it would happen. And it could have, except for one thing:

The President of Kenya came to Kijabe.

Which meant that instead of repairing our bathroom and finishing our floors, it was a rush to get Kijabe Hospital in a presentable state for Mr. President.  Things that have been neglected, ignored, or forgotten were suddenly given new life.  Walls were sanded and painted. Roads repaired.  Patients were cleared out of the Casualty Department (closest thing we have to an ER) because, of course, the president wouldn't want to see patients.

He was coming for a grand opening ceremony for the hospital's four new operating theaters.  The cool thing about the day is that my friends Francis & Tobias got to perform a "dummy" surgery for the president, explaining the ins-and-outs of a typical orthopedic surgery.

So, here are some shots of what was being done around Kijabe instead of in our house:

 painting the curb; general gardening.

This is usually an empty field, where teams play soccer.  This was where the big ceremony was happening, and so needed to be spruced up a bit.  See those patches of green? That was a quick fix to a brown field.  However, it seems filling the whole field with grass was not necessary.

The white building there is the President's "throne room." Apparently, he needs a private toilet wherever he goes.  I think this ended up being moved closer to the dental clinic.

The roads in Kijabe are notoriously awful.  I think that's what people complain about more than anything.  They are dirt roads that get easily beat up with all the traffic that passes by. Plus, with all the construction going on, the big trucks have really done a number on them.  The general "fix it" for the roads is to fill the holes with more dirt...which washes away at the next rain.

So, it takes the President's visit to pull out the big guns!

They were really burning the midnight oil to get this done before his visit in the morning.  We're glad for the updates, but hope that our house finishes soon!

bagels!

A few weeks ago I had a vivid dream about a freshly toasted Dunkin Donuts bagel smeared thickly with cream cheese.  I have no idea why the dream was specific as to DD and not something better like a New York bagel, but you take what you get when it comes to dreams.  I woke up that morning, of course, wanting a bagel!  Prior to this I'd been wanting Belgian waffles with fresh butter and VT maple syrup.  I don't know if this would go in the pregnancy craving or the I-can't-get-it-here-which-makes-me-want-it-more! category.  I'll let you decide.

After searching in Nairobi for a decent bagel and not having any luck, I decided to try my hand at making some on Monday.  I had tried once before, when I was living in Kijabe the first time, but I don't remember having much luck and I DO remember them feeling like a lot of work.  I was hesitant to try, but also desperate enough to get over it.

I have to say that all those food bloggers who take step-by-step photos are amazing!  I skipped a few steps here, but thought to show off some of the major points of the process...

 letting the dough rest

after boiling - with an egg white bath & some salt

cooling

 a dozen!

just like my dream!

Overall, I was pleased with the results. I'll definitely want different toppings on hand, and I think I'll need to boil and possibly bake them a little bit longer.  Still, it feels good to know I can make these fairly easily.  

Yes, there will be a lot of food posts on this blog, why do you ask?

And Dexter? He could hardly handle the excitement:

friends from afar

Living in Kijabe, which is an hour outside of Nairobi, means we don't get too many people from afar visiting us. Yes, my dad visited for a weekend, but that was a very special case.

Last week, we were fortunate enough to have to friends from the UAE pop in for a quick visit. So they weren't here to visit us per se, but the hospital.  No matter, we enjoyed the time we had with them!  It was great to get caught up in all the happenings at Oasis, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in November, and finally working on building a grand new hospital, that should open sometime in 2012, I think.  The fact that our house was heartlessly torn down just moments after we moved out to make room for this new hospital is a bit of a sore spot, but we're working on getting over it.

So here they are!  And, this is the first self photo we have taken on our new camera. It did ok.

This is Brad, me, Luis, and Dexter. (Jana, please note the resurrection of the MN Tshirt!)

Brad oversees the Biomedical Engineer Department at Oasis, and Luis is the IT manager. They were at CURE for 3 days seeing how things work here, and trying to figure out what ways Oasis can help the other CURE hospitals.  From here, they went on down to Zambia.

We had them over for dinner, and for some reason, I couldn't think of anything "special" enough to make them for their visit.  So, I settled on Minestrone Soup, salad, homemade rolls, with a Raspberry Blondie for dessert.  It was all very tasty, and the soup was nice to have on a cool Kijabe night.  I feel a bit (ok, a lot) sheepish, though, that I didn't think to create something with pork/ham/bacon since they came from the UAE where those things are hard to come by!  The best would have been something with all of those.

Next time!

So, who's coming next??

...apata jiko...

A celebrity got married recently here in Kenya, and the headline on the Swahili news that evening was, essentially, "so and so finds a cooker."(That's a stove here in Kenya). Nice to know that the general view of marriage in Kenya is of a man getting a stove!

So, it was reassuring to be at a friend's wedding this past weekend, and to hear the pastor tell the groom that the bride is not a shoe-polisher, or house cleaner, or cooker, but a partner. Marriage, he said, is being on a journey together.

Indeed.

A few shots from the day:

the beautiful bride

marriage is best begun with prayer

the mother-of-the-bride wedding hat. or is it head wrap?

sunflowers make happy decorations!

Whew! I never managed to get a good picture of the couple together because the official camerawoman and the "paparazzi" (photographers that descend upon weddings to take photos of the ceremony and guests to sell at the reception) got in the way.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony.

And we have another wedding to attend next week!