Our little monkeys - the first when the boys were just meeting Lily and the second when she is about 7 weeks.
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
Monday, 8 April 2013
small rains
While the UK averaged 2.5 degrees Celcius in March, here in Addis we have been enjoying plenty of sunshine, my thermometer usually reads around 22 degrees which is perfect!!
This time of year brings a few weeks of 'small' rains, just short periods of rain often later in the day, opposed to the proper rainy season when it can rain for hours.
Last night we had a spectacular storm, we had water all around our bedroom floor as there was so much on the balcony it came under the door, Tom was huddled on the sofa with me waiting for the power to go off, which it frequently does, but actually didn't this time.
This time of year brings a few weeks of 'small' rains, just short periods of rain often later in the day, opposed to the proper rainy season when it can rain for hours.
Last night we had a spectacular storm, we had water all around our bedroom floor as there was so much on the balcony it came under the door, Tom was huddled on the sofa with me waiting for the power to go off, which it frequently does, but actually didn't this time.
There were leaves everywhere this morning...
...and piles of HAIL!!! That the kids were throwing at each other...I guess the closest thing you'll get to a snowball fight in Africa!!
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Starring Chief Inspector Drain
Introducing Chief Inspector Drain AKA Tom and the 'girls in blue' - out to solve crime...
The Grade 3 class performed 'Porridge' last week and did a great job.
Tom had a fun part and did great as the Chief Inspector, he loved the Ethiopian police helmet he got to wear too! Well done Tom!
Friday, 22 March 2013
What is normal?
We're all together again, back in Addis, as of last Thursday. And are trying to work out our new kind of normal yet again. What will life look like as a family of five, living in a school in East Africa? Time will tell...
Tommy and the boys returned to Addis three weeks earlier to resume school life, while Sarah and Lily had a little longer in the UK for a few last health checks and waiting for Lily's documentation. We were very pleased that after further testing with the audiologists that Lily's hearing has been declared fine and she had no problems on her almost-six week check, besides the doctor saying she had a big head. But given she is on the 99th centile for her length and head size and the 95th for weight we're not too worried, she seems pretty in proportion, just a nice robust baby! It felt like a very long time to be apart - for all of us, so we are very happy to be together again.
I have been thinking about what our children will think of as normal - this morning I bathed Lily and we played with her ducks (I played, she looked on in amazement). I realised that she won't see a duck until she is at least 18 months old, yet might come across a mongoose wandering around the school and will certainly learn what fire ants are before too long. Tom lived his early years in a Cambridgeshire village with thatched cottages and a duck pond, nearby there were fields with sheep and cows etc. Josh doesn't remember living there when he was small, he remembers living on the ship - where sighting dolphins wasn't uncommon and seeing jellyfish in the water a daily occurrence in some ports. And now we are somewhere different again, where we're not even sure what all the normal things are.
It's good to be home and we look forward to Ethiopia feeling even more like home as we settle back here.
Tommy and the boys returned to Addis three weeks earlier to resume school life, while Sarah and Lily had a little longer in the UK for a few last health checks and waiting for Lily's documentation. We were very pleased that after further testing with the audiologists that Lily's hearing has been declared fine and she had no problems on her almost-six week check, besides the doctor saying she had a big head. But given she is on the 99th centile for her length and head size and the 95th for weight we're not too worried, she seems pretty in proportion, just a nice robust baby! It felt like a very long time to be apart - for all of us, so we are very happy to be together again.
I have been thinking about what our children will think of as normal - this morning I bathed Lily and we played with her ducks (I played, she looked on in amazement). I realised that she won't see a duck until she is at least 18 months old, yet might come across a mongoose wandering around the school and will certainly learn what fire ants are before too long. Tom lived his early years in a Cambridgeshire village with thatched cottages and a duck pond, nearby there were fields with sheep and cows etc. Josh doesn't remember living there when he was small, he remembers living on the ship - where sighting dolphins wasn't uncommon and seeing jellyfish in the water a daily occurrence in some ports. And now we are somewhere different again, where we're not even sure what all the normal things are.
It's good to be home and we look forward to Ethiopia feeling even more like home as we settle back here.
Thursday, 24 January 2013
back in Cambridge
Since the fun and chaos of Christmas with our families we have moved up to a rental house in Cottenham, near Cambridge for a few weeks. We are within a few minutes of where we used to live, many of our friends and our church which is great.
It has been snowy here, which has been fun for the boys, not so much fun for the 9 month pregnant one of us when the pavements all got icy. We seem to be pretty poor at taking pictures at the moment, but we did take some of the snow at least which we'll have to get off the camera. Our garden is fantastic for playing in, with plenty of space for snowball fights and snowmen building (and even the odd snow-dog, snow-yoda and whatever else the boys made!).
We are homeschooling the boys so that they stay roughly on track with their core classes at Bingham. We have all settled into some kind of routine with it and can really see their progress in things like maths and writing as we work with them each day. That said I think we can confirm that we would never do this long term, teaching different children of different ages, different subjects and aiming to do it well is an incredibly difficult task in our eyes and we are very happy they have great teachers at school to return them too in a few weeks!
So that's about all really, between school and catching up with people we are just waiting for Pip to arrive. (S)he doesn't seem to be taking the eviction threat very seriously. But today is the due date and the boys fly back to Ethiopia in less than a month, so really we would be happy for an arrival anytime....we'll keep you posted.
If you would like to see us while we are in Cambridge please get in touch - we don't have internet at home, but are managing to check our email fairly regularly or our mobile numbers are the same as before.
It has been snowy here, which has been fun for the boys, not so much fun for the 9 month pregnant one of us when the pavements all got icy. We seem to be pretty poor at taking pictures at the moment, but we did take some of the snow at least which we'll have to get off the camera. Our garden is fantastic for playing in, with plenty of space for snowball fights and snowmen building (and even the odd snow-dog, snow-yoda and whatever else the boys made!).
We are homeschooling the boys so that they stay roughly on track with their core classes at Bingham. We have all settled into some kind of routine with it and can really see their progress in things like maths and writing as we work with them each day. That said I think we can confirm that we would never do this long term, teaching different children of different ages, different subjects and aiming to do it well is an incredibly difficult task in our eyes and we are very happy they have great teachers at school to return them too in a few weeks!
So that's about all really, between school and catching up with people we are just waiting for Pip to arrive. (S)he doesn't seem to be taking the eviction threat very seriously. But today is the due date and the boys fly back to Ethiopia in less than a month, so really we would be happy for an arrival anytime....we'll keep you posted.
If you would like to see us while we are in Cambridge please get in touch - we don't have internet at home, but are managing to check our email fairly regularly or our mobile numbers are the same as before.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)