9 Months Old

I know people always say how fast kids grow.  And I know it's true... I've seen it 4 times already.  But it's INSANE how fast these 9 months have gone by!  And especially when I know for absolute sure that he's our last one, I want the time to go by slower so I can treasure all the precious baby moments.  But time continues to just fly by.

Here is what Elijah is up to these days:

In the past couple of weeks, Elijah has become a super fast crawler.  I put him down on one side of the house and hope to get a few things put away/washed/whatever, and before I know it, he's right with me again, hanging on my legs.  One of his new 'tricks' in the past couple of weeks is that whenever I stand still for more than 30 seconds, he pulls up and hangs on my legs.  It sure makes moving around the house/kitchen/wherever and getting anything done a challenge.  Worse, when I have on anything with an elastic waist, he grabs my clothes and then I'm trying to get stuff done while he's hanging on my legs AND use my elbows, or the kitchen counter or whatever is the most available to keep my skirt from being pulled down.  Sigh.  I know one day soon I'll look back and miss these moments, but for now, it's hard to keep from being frustrated!

Elijah has also started clapping.  A week ago Friday I was watching a movie with friends and there was a part when people were clapping.  And Elijah joined in.  It was very cute to watch.  He still doesn't clap on cue, but he's doing it more and more.

One of his favorite new tricks this week is spitting.  Oh that boy loves to spit.  He spits and spits until he has a trail of drool going down his chin.  Again, I wouldn't mind this being a short phase! =)

can you see the bubble in his mouth?  Happily spitting all over the clean, dry wash!

Elijah is starting to get into food.  Finally.  I think I would say that bananas are his current favorite.  Until about a week ago he didn't want anything to do with anything that had any texture at all.  Only smooshy, mushy sorts of things were acceptable to him.  This week though, he's been more interested in Cheerios and little bits of noodles and such.  And rather than take a tiny token taste and being done, he's starting to eat a bit more.  He's not interested in cutting back on the nursing though, and is still getting up every 3ish hours at night to feed.

Also, in the last week or so Elijah has gotten very talkative.  He used to be really quiet, but no more!  My favourite is when he does this sort of trilling of sounds.  Sometimes it seriously sounds like he's carrying on a conversation, although none of the words are intelligible.

Clip, clip, clip

Speaking of things I had no idea about (in Ukarumpa) when coming to PNG 9 years ago.....cutting hair is definitely one of those things!  I think I came thinking that unless I quickly learned to cut hair, we all would just grow hairy and shaggy and decidedly more "missionary-ish and out of fashion"!

So, early on, I did learn how to cut hair.  (Thanks, Matt for all your patience in those early, hour-long haircutting sessions!)  And as the years have gone by, and my family has grown, I'm thankful that I have at least a fairly basic knowledge of cutting hair.  It's saved us a bunch of money when we were home on furloughs.  But one thing I have not been able to learn is how to cut my own hair.  And Matt has no interest in attempting to cut mine.

So I'm very thankful when there are other people here in Ukarumpa who are willing to cut hair.  Way back, when Nathan was a baby, there was actually someone here who was a professional hairdresser.  Her husband even turned a building into a hair salon and for way cheaper than you could ever get in the US, I could get my hair cut and even highlighted.  But then they left.  Now, sometimes it's a bit hit-or-miss when it comes to getting hair cut.  I'm so thankful for the couple of people who are willing to cut hair.  But occassionally, they are all gone from Ukarumpa at the same time, and then we have to wait!

About 3 months ago, I was getting desperate and I actually attempted the "pony tail on the top of the head" cut.  I think if my hair wasn't so fine and straight I could have gotten away with it.  But even though I tried to make the cut straight, it wasn't, and Matt laughed a little when I went to him to check it.  But he didn't get to laugh too hard because I then handed him the scissors and said, "Fix it!"

So last weekend I was very thankful to get the chance to go to Donna for a haircut.  I don't actually know if she has any professional training, but she's had lots of experience and gives amazing haircuts.  I was feeling in a rut with my hair, and also in an adventurous mood, so I basically went and told her that I'd like to be able to get most of it back into a ponytail for when I work out or am in the village.  So she did just that. =)  It's way shorter than I can ever remember having it, but I love it! =)

The Pony Club

Ukarumpa is definitely a unique place.  There were so many things I had no idea about before I came here 9 years ago.  And some things it took me years to even figure out... like I had NO idea there was a weight room till just a couple of years ago!  Now I faithfully use it 2-3 times a week.

For those of you who don't know, Ukarumpa even has its own horse club!  There are maybe 15 (??) horses that have come from various places around PNG (I think most are left over from when the Australians were here).  I think too that most of the horses here are on the older side... teens and up.  But there is a fairly large group of people who own horses and spend hours weekly taking care of them and riding them.

Kaitlyn, our animal enthusiast, has wanted to join the Pony Club for some time now.  But we've always been gone from Ukarumpa when the orientation class has been offered.  Today, however she was able to take part in the orientation training that is necessary for her to begin riding lessons or to join the club.

Today was a quick overview of all the basics.  We learned how to feed the horses (they have lots of grass, but no hay available, most of them also eat ground copra,and they also need salt and calcium supplements).  Then Kaitlyn got to learn how to use and put on a rope halter, how to curry and brush the horse, clean out it's feet and put the saddle and bridle on.  She also learned about being safe around horses.  It was a lot of new information for her for one morning.  At first, she was a bit wary of getting too close to the horse.  Granted, the horse was big, especially when you're only 10.  But it was encouraging to see as the morning went on that she lost some of her fear.  When it was time for her to lead the horse back to the pasture, she went with much more confidence.

learning how to care for the horses

Now that she's had the orientation class, she'll be starting riding lessons next week.

And Kaitlyn, in true MK fashion, peeled off her tennis shoes the instant we were out of the horse paddock and gleefully walked home barefoot.

Party Time!

This past Saturday we held a party for Nathan's birthday.  His birthday was actually 2 weeks before, but because we had just arrived back from the village, and because some of his closest friends were still in their village, we held of on having his party for a couple of weeks.

I had asked Nathan if he had any ideas about what he wanted to do for his party, or any sort of theme he'd like to have.  He thought about it for a (short) while and then said, "You pick and surprise me!"  So, after much thought and tossing around some ideas with Matt, we decided to do a scavenger hunt, but with additional challenges thrown in.

Matt was great and spent a lot of time coming up with ideas and working out the logistics for them.  We tried to use only things we could find around our house, and I think we were pretty successful!

When the scavenger hunt started, Matt gave the kids a clue and they had to figure out where to go next.  The clue led them to the grassy area outside of the church/meeting house.  I was waiting there with their first challenge:  Transfer Reeses Pieces candies from a central bowl to three separate bowls, using only a straw.

Once that was completed, they received the next clue, which they quickly figured out.  Only they now had a "Traveling Challenge" so that they had to pair up and one half of the pair had to be blindfolded the entire way to the next point.

They reached the haus win (the next point on the scavenger hunt) and received another clue and another traveling challenge.  For this one, they had to line up and pass a ball between all their legs, from the front person to the last person.  Then the person at the end of the line had to run to the front and it kept going.

Once the reached the designated distance, they ran the rest of the way to the cement pad where a ball-throwing station was set up.  The challenge for this station was that 4 of the kids had to knock down the pyramid of containers with a tennis ball.  Once that was accomplished, they got the next clue.

This clue led them to our clothesline where a baby swing is hung.  Parked next to the swing was our stroller. The kids figured out the next clue by having to sort a bagful of alphabet letters that spelled out their next destination. 

Then they got a new traveling challenge.  The traveling challenge for this one was that as a group they had to push Nathan in the stroller to the next location.  He balked at the idea of sitting in the baby stroller, so his friends practically had to drag him over to it! 

Can you figure out where Elijah is in this picture?

 We realized at this point that we were going to run out of time, so we changed the location of where they had to go to a grassy area closer to our house.  Once there, they had to spin with their foreheads on a bat and attempt to run in a straight line to the group on the other side of the grass.  It was quite hilarious to watch the dizzy kids trying to run straight but really going off diagonally until they had recovered their sense of direction!

Once they completed that challenge, they had to walk backwards to the next stop.  We only lost one kiddo into a drainage ditch.  But he was a tough guy and climbed up out of it without a complaint!

Their final travelling challenge (once they got the next clue) was that they had to get to the next station WITHOUT touching the ground.  (Their clue was written in Morse Code and they had to figure it out) Matt had put a pile of boards there, and they had to use the boards to move, passing the end ones forward so that they could keep going ahead.

When they reached the final challenge they had to go on an egg hunt.  Matt had hidden Easter eggs, each with a word written on paper inside them.  Once they found all the eggs, they had to assemble the clue to find out where their final destination was.  The clue led them to a tree in our yard, where Matt had hung a bag filled with the party favor bags.  They had to climb the tree and get them down.

Then it was inside for cake, ice cream and presents!  All in all, I think all the boys had a fun time, and hopefully it was a great, memorable party for all of them!  Happy 8th birthday Nathan!

Nathan told me he wanted his cake to have something to do with his party, so this is what he got!

Coming Up........

This week has been busy with a lot going on.  And I'm looking forward to a fun weekend ahead.

Back to School:  I'm going to be mass baking with a friend to stock our freezers with easy lunch options for the hectic school mornings

Party Time:  Nathan's birthday party on Saturday is going to be fun, fun, fun!  More to come on that later!

Surprise Getaway:  Matt surprised me with a thoughtful time away with friends.  Look for a blog post to come!

The Birthday Season

I used to think it was pretty crazy, having two birthdays and a National holiday all in the same week.  But then we went and had Elijah just two days before Justin's birthday in October.  I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment!

But I digress. 

This week we got to celebrate Nathan's 8th birthday and Kaitlyn's 10th.  Nathan's birthday was the day after we got back from the village, and since two of his best friends are also currently in the village, we have decided to wait a couple weekends before we have his birthday party.  We had a small family party on Saturday afternoon and he got to open his presents that had arrived from the Grandparents.  Because we had just come back from the village, all our meals on Saturday were out at friend's houses.  So even though he didn't get a "party" on his actual birthday, he got to have a great evening with friends, and Wii Kid's Dance Party, and birthday treats and candles.

Kaitlyn's birthday was, of course, on the 4th of July.  Again, we had just a quiet day as a family and opening presents together.  She got her favorite breakfast casserole in the morning, and in the evening we headed out to the annual Community 4th of July BBQ and Potluck.

It was a fun evening of hanging around with friends and enjoying some BBQ and the smorgasboard of Potato Salads, other various side dishes and countless desserts.  I took the camera and meant to get some pictures of the picnic part, but obviously, trying to get 5 kids fed interfered with any picture taking.

After it got dark, we enjoyed watching the flares shot off, sparklers, glow sticks and of course, Steel Wool fireworks.  Personally, my favorite part was when the hedge caught on fire and burned furiously for a couple minutes.  Thankfully, this IS PNG, so an accidental fire like that is humorous, rather than a danger.  Everything is so wet that it doesn't burn for long/spread.

gotta love those double black eyes!

Sticker Shock

Every time I am away from Ukarumpa for any period of time, I always come away from my first shopping trip back (well, most every time actually) in a sticker-shock haze.

Please understand, I am so very, very grateful for our store here.  Without it, we would have a very tiny selection of foods to choose from.  People work hard to stock our store with food items from here in PNG, and from shipments from Australia and even the USA.  But the price of all our food (especially the imported stuff) is really high.  Combined with the dropping value of the US dollar, well, sometimes a weekly shopping trip can be downright painful.

A friend of mine did a price comparison in a blog post of hers, and she's given me permission to borrow some of her numbers.  I thought it would be interesting to show you how our grocery prices compare to what they are back home.  I know even there, food prices are on the rise, but here, we don't have the possibility of finding sales at different stores, or coupons or other ways to help lower the costs of grocery shopping.

Here are some price comparisons of what I pay for some of the foods we eat here:

Flour (2 lb bag) – $2.85
 
Apple juice (2 quarts) – $7.50

Canned vegetables – $2.50

Canned fruit – $3.20

Spagetti sauce (16 oz) – $4.00

Ketchup (24 oz) - $3.85

1 Liter boxed (not fresh) milk - $2.90  (so roughly 1 gallon would cost $11.60)

Peanut Butter (18 oz) – $6

Jam (18 oz) – $5.80

Canola Oil (2 liters) – $17

Butter (1 stick) – $1.75

Cheese (16 oz block) – $11.60

Chocolate chips (12 oz) – $6.10

Brown sugar (2 lbs) – $10

Powdered sugar (2 lbs) – $8.30

Chocolate syrup (24 oz) – $5.75

Spagetti noodles (16 oz) – $3.00

Salsa (24 oz) – $5.75

Refried Beans (16 oz) - $2

Condensed soup (10.5 oz) – $2.00

Diapers (pkg of 20) – $13.65

Baby wipes (pkg of 100) – $8.00

Cereal – $8.00 – $10.00 per box

Cocoa Powder (8 oz) - $11

Coke, $1.44 per can

Off-brand American soda, 1 can – $.75 (this is a good one!!)

1 loaf white bread - $2

Dozen eggs – $5.50

Bag of chicken nuggets – about 40 (not always available) – $20

Ground beef (1 lb) – $7- $9 (this varies weekly... last week, only the $9/lb stuff was available.  This week I was able to buy some at $7-something/lb)

Chicken:  a whole chicken sells for $15
               bone-in chicken breasts cost about $4.60/lb
               boneless chicken fillets run at $7/lb

Apples – $.80 each  (when we ocassionally are able to get them)

We are very blessed however to have an open-air market three mornings a week where can CAN get fresh, inexpensive produce.  Here in PNG, most foods grow year round, so we always get a good selection of veggies and fruits.  Now, if only I could convince my family to go vegetarian! =)

A hand of bananas – $1

Strawberries – $5 for about 1 quart

Carrots – $.50 for about 6-8 good sized ones

Cucumber – $.50 for a nice big one

Green Pepper – $.50 for one

Green Beans - $.50-$.75 for a large bunch

Cabbage – $1 for a big head

Spring Onions – $.10 for a bundle

Tomatoes – $.50 for a nice, red, juicy one

Lettuce – $.50 for a bunch

Avocado – $.50 each

Fresh Beans (red, white, black) -$2.50 for 2-3 cups worth

Pineapple – $2.50 each

Sometimes it can be a challenge to prepare inexpensive, healthy meals for my family.  I sure try my best though.