Ambrose at eight months

Ambrose hit a few milestones this month. He started officially crawling (as apposed to using his belly to  polish the floors) a few days before he turned 8 months. I won't deny that I frequently got on the floor to show Ambrose how to crawl on his hands and knees. His shirts were suffering from the belly pull! I'm glad he finally got the hang of it just before we moved here to Mapudje. That lovely red floor you see behind Ambrose in the photo turns everything, you guessed it, red!

A couple of weeks ago he started pulling up and clapping on the same day! I'm not too surprised he started clapping earlier than both the girls - he is exposed to clapping each week when we worship with other believers. Clapping is the only means of instrumental music in the church in this area. It was after church, while we were sitting on the edge of a mud hut waiting for our fried fish lunch, that Ambrose just started clapping on his own initiative.

That same Sunday afternoon, when I went to get Ambrose from his pack'n'play, I found him standing up, holding onto the rim for dear life. He was very proud of himself when he saw me come in.

He is a sometimes chill, sometimes feisty character. We love you buddy. You are a great gift from God and a great source of joy in our life.

Good bye Tia

We are moving to northern Mozambique Tomorrow! We've been a bit delayed by car trouble and vomiting children... Please pray for smooth travel!

A First

I went to give Ambrose a kiss on the lips this afternoon, at the precise moment he spit up. I'm happy to say that that is the first time that has happened in my four years of parenting. May it be the last!

Thank you my darling boy. There's no son like you :)

Kitchen Helper

Why didn't I think of this sooner?

Two princesses

Grandma, the girls sure did LOVE wearing their matching dresses on Saturday! They stood looking in the mirror smiling at themselves for the first 5 minutes and then for the next half hour they twirled and swished their skirts around, proclaiming their status as princesses. I can't blame them. It's fun to be a girl :)

Best friends

Nate captured the girls colouring in together. Eliana was saying to Lilah "Great job, Lilah! You stayed in the lines!"

How sweet it is to have girls :)

Rub a dub dub...

Three in the tub, and who do you think they be?

Last week was the first time all three had a bath together.... what a milestone :)

No more naps

About 6 months ago I had the pleasure of sharing the bed with Eliana while Nate was on a trip. It was a pleasure until I discovered that Eliana was full of jellybeans until 11pm! We dropped Eliana's nap after that. She usually makes it to bed time happily enough, but some times she doesn't...

Thanks Mum

A sweet, sweet package from Grandpa and Grandma today. I'm especially touched that my children will get to play with Eric Carle's caterpillar and Humpty, Jemima & Big & Little Ted... My childhood favourites.

Ambrose at 7 months

This boy is a-movin'! He's not crawling yet but that doesn't stop him army crawling from room to room getting into everything he's not supposed to :) He's on 3 square meals a day while still nursing and everyone is amazed at how much he can eat in a sitting. He loves sweet potato, carrot, green beans cooked in home made chicken stock, mango and yoghurt. He does NOT like egg yolk or pumpkin!

New discoveries

Who would have thought that dish liquid would have made such great bubble bath!

Happy Fourth Birthday, Eliana

We had a little pool party in a friends blow up pool to celebrate Eliana's fourth birthday. Happy Birthday our cheesy little princess. We love you!

Eliana's Thunderstorm

Our artistic friend built these frames for our girls to paint a picture. Inspired by the weather at the time, Eliana painted a thunderstorm...

Ambrose 6 months

What happened to my little chill baby?? Ambrose has turned into a go-getter, cuddles are not cool, gimme gimme guy!

He is sitting up well enough but will quickly get on his belly to pull himself to the nearest electrical cord or book which he will then proceed to gnaw. If you are brave enough to take a prohibited object from his clutches he will be sure to let you know his LoUd  objections!

Ambrose loves to eat food but will insist in blowing raspberrys throughout which leaves me covered in the meal of the day. He refuses to drink a bottle and will scream and arch his back if we try:)

I don't know if it's the difference between boys and girls or if it's just personality difference but ever since Ambrose discovered how to move it seems he's out to take over the world! :)

You crack me up, my little Ambrose, and I say bring on the chaos. Your mama is up for the challenge and loves you so!

Eliana before four

Our little girl is in her last month as a three year old. I feel like Nate and I marvel each day at how she's growing. She dresses and undresses herself, puts on her own shoes and socks, is colouring in the lines, is learning to read, and has a normal conversation on the phone with Daddy when he's away.

She loves to read, draw, sing, dance, paint and play with her new leggos. She loves to climb and play in the dirt. She converses with us in Portuguese. And it seems that years of love and discipline is starting to pay off. Recently, when she doesn't get her own way, she's been saying "Yes Daddy/Mama, and I won't throw a fit!" I never would have believed it six months ago:)

The other night I asked her if she would always live with us. She responded "No mama, I'm going to marry some guy who loves Jesus and live in a house somewhere!"

You are a great delight to us sweetness! May the Lord grant you a life whole heartedly devoted to Him!

Transition Time

Ok, so we took our time... But we are finally transitioning Lilah to a big bed. She couldn't be happier :)

Like the handy dandy bed rail my hubby made?

What a sweetie

Ambrose during lessons

My boy is a great help during Portuguese lessons. He's often described as "sossegado". i.e. "chill".

Thanks for our paints Grandma!

Daddy's yard

We are very thankful for this backyard!

Ambrose at 5 months

Sweet, funny, alert, grabbing at everything, turning his head every which way to take everything in. This is our boy. He's still tall, being off the charts for length according to my measurements.

I started him on solid food on the weekend. I really wanted to wait until 6 months but as he started feeding 3 times each night decided i could no longer deny him the joy of food. Good thing too, he gobbles up what i give him (sweet potato or young coconut so far).

He's rolling, laughing, babbling, and just being a generally cool guy.

We love u Ambrose Schoen.

Eliana's Name

Nate taught Eliana how to write her name yesterday. Here is her first attempt!

Speaking of Eliana's name, it means "My God has answered me." Eliana is a beautiful reminder of how our God is near to those who call upon His Name.

Swing set progress

Nate has just about finished his playground extravagansa!

There were a few old tyres in our yard that Nate painted and made into climbing jumping equipment.

This was a weird rusty contraption that Eliana liked to climb. Nate moved it to the grass, sanded and painted it and Voila!

Eliana's family

Eliana is starting to draw her family with little details like eyes and smiles. I can't tell u how exciting this is for me! You can see that Lilah is small and Ambrose is "tiny" (as Eliana described him).

Reading Together

I came out of the kitchen today and found that the girls had put a book next to Ambrose for him to read. Love our sweethearts

Cuddles with Daddy

Ambrose at ten weeks

Our little fella is pure joy. He had a few gold medals in his first few weeks: coolest birth date, best eater, most amount of outfit changes in one day, biggest spitter upperer, best sleeper, least amount of hair (or best aerodynamics as daddy puts it) .

He started laughing at 8 weeks when he was tickled. Singing songs brings out the chuckle these days.

He's a LONG baby. He's not filling out his outfits but he's too tall for 6 month old closed toe suits!

We praise the Lord for our little buddy of joy!

Like Sister, Like Sister

"Anything you can do, I can do too!" Lilah loves to copy her big sis these days :)

Eliana's Haircut

I took the plunge and cut off Eliana's hair a couple of weeks ago.

Experimenting with wearing babies the Mozambican way.

Plastered with smiles

Guess what my latest wallpaper is on my phone :)