On our way!

This will be the last post for a while. Tomorrow night we will be on our way to America! Pronounced A-Mer-E-Ca! (similar to the song from West Side Story) We are so excited we just can't stand it. It is getting colder here, and the power is awful, but so much more then that we are going to see the grandparents. And if there is anything I love to do more then love on my boys, it is watch other people love on them. This shot was of Zaky helping Bill take down the suit cases. I will see/ or talk to you all soon.

His Buddy

Soon after we moved over here a couple just returning from furlough came to visit. She had just gotten married, lost her mother to cancer, and was diagnosed with endometriosis, all with in 6 months of each other. She is a lovely friend who trust in the goodness of our Lord, in spite of our circumstances, and challenges. Fastforward two and a half years. She comes to our new home for a visit. She and her husband have been trying for several months to have a child, she tells me this news with full disclosure of the large possibility of their not being able to have children. I struggled when writing her to tell her of our wonderful news that we were expecting. Praise the Lord, she wrote 2 months later telling us she was also pregnant! Soon after getting pregnant though she began bleeding. When we saw her in her 5th month she was regularly spotting, and sometimes irregularly frank bleeding. As soon as she was cleared to fly they returned to her husbands home country. I remember praying for her, and her child, almost everyday since hearing of her getting pregnant. Well not without much pain and a defective epidural she delivered an almost 10lb baby boy last April (the first infant we had seen with rolls! and non diabetic), 2 months and 1 week after our little Zaky. They have now moved 45min from us and become our even closer friends. This is Zaky and his buddy James. Praise our Lord for hearing our heart and answering our prayers.

10 Months

Our little big man is 10 months old! Weighing in at 10kg - 75cm. He is crawling, walking along the sofa, throwing things, and amazing his parents everyday with the sheer intelligence of our infant. I joke that he is already speaking Arabic, he says:
haba which means love you
bab: door
hey ya: that there
Alla: God
La: no
wa: and

And dada, baba. But still no Mama : (

We are so blessed with a healthy, happy, easily content little guy. Thank you Lord.

Update

These shots were taken as I typed the last note!

Fun Shots

The boy started crawling almost 3 weeks ago. And he has not sat still since. He is not so content crawling, he wants to stand. He is now able to move along the table and couch. He finds his new skill ever so helpful in tipping over the tables, chairs, and coffee cups. His little character is coming out and beginning to shine, and frustrate. Even as I am writing this he has crawled over to me, pulled up on my legs to standing, pulled out the plug for the computer, and is now tapping on the keys. Time to move the computer off my lap!

Another shot of his morning bed head, I get such a kick out of it.

The last shot is a vest and hat my teacher's parents bought him on their visit to Iraq. Our neighbors go to Iraq also, but for a different reason then most of your neighbors, and they bring back fun presents.

Day of Thanks

Thanksgiving has recently become this day of hectic cooking, cleaning, eating, and then moving on to the next thing. This year was not to different. We did have a nice day, beautiful weather, nice friends, and an even greater reason to be thankful this year then most. We praise our Lord for our many blessings of family, friends, and above all hope, purpose, and the privilege of worshiping such a good God.

Year of Lasts 1) this will be the last year I try to transport bean supreme 2) this will be the last year of fresh pumpkin 3) This will be the last year I don't taste the bread before putting it into the stuffing

Year of Firsts: Zaky enjoyed the mashed potatoes, the stuffing that and a strange hint of cinnamon, and other little kids his size. (He is becoming quite the social little man)

Bazaar-O..

Bazaar-O world. Look what I found at the fancy supermarket, selling at $4.75 for the pint, and $16 for the gallon.

And what kind of 9month old, almost 10, has this kind of bed head!

How much fun?

How much fun is a 9month old who is teething? Not much. But look at his shining new tooth!

Hey I want that!

Week of Firsts!

HE'S CRAWLING!!!! Yest our little man is all grown up, he can get from one end of the room to the other, when he wants of course. Let me give you the play by play,
Saturday he was up on all fours and would move each limb once then down he went, (this was enough to pull over a pot of cold oil I had left in a bad spot.
Sunday each limb twice then down he went
Monday/ Tuesday he was off, not so much a bolt of lightning or anything, but he was definitely mobile.
He is far less frustrated, and now can appease his own appetite for curiosity without my help.

HE HAS A TOOTH! Bottom tooth definitely showing.

HE IS NOW ABLE TO PULL HIMSELF, quite often, UP TO STANDING. So now this first time mother in one week has had to learn to reach radius of her son from both reaching, sitting, and now standing. Such the big boy!

BABY'S GOT HIS FIRST PAIR OF SHOES! Maybe not so mileston'ish but cute! A little less cute then girls baby shoes, but cute non the less. He didn't much care for them, but he was not able to pull them off.

Baby it's cold outside

The rain has started and the cooler weather has blown in. Now for the most part the weather here is great, but the winter is awful. It starts raining and without central heat and cement block buildings it just gets cold. Zaky also is surrounded by women who constantly tell his mother to put more clothes on him, not because of the cold, but because of the wind. Wind apparently carries all sorts of germs and diseases I was unaware of. But after living with them I have started to change my attitude, and begun to go out thinking " it is cold, better bundle him up". So, with the neighbors help, I have created my own little cotton ball.

McDonalds

McDonald's overseas tastes better then in America, and McDonald's ice cream cones are just as good. When Zaky was 5 months he would lick a little ice cream from our finger, 6-7 months he would touch his lips to it, 8 months old he would hold his mouth open and touch, now at 9 months he just goes for it!

Never to early

When my mom was here nothing was off limits for Zaky, he was free to explore and play with anything. He loved watching my mom brush her teeth. And she figured out if he wants something bad enough he will move for it, i.e. lean as far over as possible, almost crawl, fall onto his stomach, then reach with all his might. Unfortunately the objects that get him moving the quickest are things such as knives, cups of coffee, the computer. But fortunately not all things are off limits, we now brush our teeth together. He most often sucks the other side, but hay, like reading better to get him off to an early start.

The Next Generation

The reigns have been passed, the saddle readjusted. The next generation of horse has stepped in and the new generation of riders has grabbed on. Also update on his cold, no suction necessary since Sunday, whoo hoo.

Happy Halloween

His first Halloween, no cute costume, but festive none the less! Thank you Aunt Lisa...

Bobo Bowers

Well they make baby toys for a reason: plastic, no sharp edges. I am sure there are more reasons, but these are the two most important. A while back we discovered Zaky loves to make noise, loud noise, so we gave him the pot lids to play with. Fast forward to yesterday afternoon, the little man fell back with the pot lid in hand : ( He didn't bump his head thanks to the nice rug, but he did cut himself. I was shortly there after scolded by several neighbors. Apparently common since isn't so common, and the eyes in that back of my head have not fully matured yet. Poor Zaky, I tried to make it up to him with a few bytes of chocolate cake. I am really needing prayer on how to become a preemptive mother, and I have discovered my trying to protect him has only just begun.

Sicky

Our little man has his first cold. He has had congestion before but never that developed into an ear/ runny nose thing. I for one am not traumatized, but my son probably will be. Seeing the wet nose, and hearing the snorting I flip into nurse mode. Anything to fix him, he must be fixed! I'm not quick to give medicine, my torture of choice is salt water spray and suction. Suction devices here I have discovered that are not sold in America. Hopefully for him he will recover soon, and also thankfully he doesn't have a fever. All your prayers are welcome for Zaky and his paranoid mother.

Our little rocker

Our last visit to the beach for the year, probably. The weather here has turned cool, then really hot, to cool again, where it will hopefully stay. Last weekend we took my mom to the beach and met with some friends who have a boy 3 months younger then Zaky, but about 5 lbs heavier! Notice I called him younger not smaller! His favorite part was the salt water. He was licking it up, while his younger friend chilled in a floaty dipping and redipping his hand.

Oh where oh where have I been

Busy! But that's no excuse. My mom was here last week. We cleaned and cleaned and organized. The house is pretty much baby proofed and ready for the little man to start crawling. Although he has no interest in it. He has made much progress though in the week of her visit. Having someone at his disposal, beck and call Gramma, as we like to call her, really pushed him to try new things.

His latest accomplishment:
*He can now move from his stomach into a seated position (anything to get off his stomach)
*He can roll from his stomach to back to stomach (but really only when no one is looking, he just appears in another position, if we are around he cries until we take him off his stomach)
*He will lay on his stomach for longer then 10 minutes (only in the early morning before eating or between the hours of 4pm and 4:25 pm)
*He has learned to shut doors and turn off the light

And the list keeps growing! We have raised the crib gate and just in time. When he does not want to sleep we find him sitting up in bed playing with the mosquito net. Funny but I get the biggest kick out of it. He is getting so big!

8 Months Old

Oh how he has grown! He seems longer these days. His calf and feet hang off a pillow now just to give you an idea. I thought I would show some side by sides to see how much he has grown. But I don't know how to put pictures side by side, but you get the idea. This is one of our favorites.

Getting Closer

He is getting closer to crawling! He lifts his bumb up into the air, he is scooting backwards, and he can lye on his stomach for 10 minutes at a time without screaming (in the morning : ) I am guessing it won't be to long, but then I have started to think about how my days will change when he won't just sit a play nicely on the sponge, and then I ask myself "self? Why am I in such a hurry?" But it is exciting seeing him get bigger and learning to do new things! Yaa..

Beautiful Fall Day

We are enjoying our beautiful fall weather. We have little to few trees to watch change color, but not much different then Texas. We took a drive yesterday up into the mountains to see the cedars a take our first hike with the Zakameister. The hike was a bit shorter then Bill had planned, but no complaints on my end. It was a beautiful day, we followed it up with home made hot chicken wings and then fell asleep during a movie. Not a bad day off.