Growling match

Our entertainment comes in unusual forms these days. My mum always said that babies are little time wasters, and it's so true! How much of my day could I spend just watching our little girl just waiting to see if she will do something?! These days she is starting to do more than just lie there helplessly. She smiles and (sort of) laughs and talks all the time and I'm sure it won't be long until she rolls of something. I walked in on her having the following conversation with her Daddy:

Did I say conversation?!

Our 1st Krismasi

Our Krismasi was certainly a bit different this year. We find we are slowly but surely being taken over by all things baby and small child. We definitely missed being with our family back home, especially this year, but having Anna around certainly made the day extra special and eye opening when you think about what it is we celebrate on this day - God come to earth as a baby.

We got lots of exciting zawadi's (gifts) through the post (mostly for Anna who didn't have the foggiest what was going on and why mummy and daddy were acting so strangely and propping her up to take pictures of her 'opening' presents...), we read the Christmas story together, had an enormous roast chicken dinner with Christmas pud, went to the beach and then watched 'The A-Team' in bed with the A/C pumping in the evening. All in all a good day :)

Stocking ready and waiting!

Zawadi heaven!

Princess dress up now comes in baby size! Completely ridiculous but gorgeous all the same!! (It's Cinderella just in case you can't tell!)

We hope that you all had a Happy Christmas wherever you were, whether you were where you were supposed to be or not!

Following in Daddy's Footsteps.

Paula's Piki Piki Lesson

I always fancied having a Vespa and zooming around town on it but it never really seemed appropriate for our needs before. Here everyone gets around on 'piki piki's' (used generally for any kind of bike with an engine). Got a family of 5? No worries! Need to transport your new car windscreen? No problem! (Seriously, we have seen both these and lots more.)

Our school was recently given a couple of piki piki's from Germany and after bringing one home today, Rich decided I should have a lesson. Obviously since I was refused a license on account of my gender, I was limited to riding round and round our house. However, if I may say so myself, I got quite good at this particular route and as you can see from the smile, I rather enjoyed myself!

(Now all I have to do is convince Rich that I should have one :))

Making friends

Since arriving back, we have gradually been trying to visit all our old neighbours and friends. A good friend of Rich's and his wife had their sixth child in August while we were back in England so we went to visit them and meet their new baby. Although almost two months older than Anna, as you can see from the photo there really isn't much difference in size and everyone tells us what a big baby she is. (The women are all very impressed when I tell them I delivered a 4.5Kg baby!!)

It really seems that having a baby here in this culture is the key to getting to know people and making friends. They LOVE babies here and everywhere I go, after being asked 'mtoto hajambo?' (basically 'your baby's OK?') Anna is whisked away to been shown to someone else who may or may not be in the same room/house/street!! For the most part Anna does brilliantly and smiles at everyone, listens to them babble away at her in a new (to her) language and just watches what is going on.

Learner Drivers

We all love to hate them. They are overly cautious and drive exactly on or just below the speed limit, they are afraid of the edge of the road and still feed the steering wheel through their hands. But we've all been there and done it ourselves. I am referring of course to learner drivers.

It seems like it is possible for anyone here to start up a diving school, and that is exactly what people have been doing. All you need is a car and a big bit of wood to stick on top with your big red 'L' painted on it, and you're away. It seems that 'aerodynamic' was not part of the design brief when making up these signs and as we were driving behind this car the other day I just felt I had to capture the moment and share it with you all.

I don't know what happens when there are strong winds... maybe the lesson is cancelled??

Learning to Swim Part 2.

As it is yet again the weekend, we headed to a local hotel yesterday for Anna to have her next swimming lesson. (Contrary to what it may seem like from this blog at the moment, we don't spend all our time swimming in crystal clear seas and lounging under palm trees next to swimming pools!)

Anna making use of her new sun tent and having a snooze by the pool.

Smiling at Dad - 'maybe this swimming malarky's not so bad after all...'

Drying off in her new beach robe.

Posted at the risk of having two sets of grandparents arriving in order to take Anna away from her unfit parents!

Back to Shule

On Thursday Anna and I headed to Roxanne's house to visit the kids from Shule. Apparently before we arrived they were super excited to meet Anna but when we got there they came over all shy. They loved showing off all the English they have learnt and singing some new songs, including 'The Wheels on the Bus' and a song about the days of the week.

Anna enjoyed the whole experience so much she fell asleep (No mean feat when you hear how much noise these kids can make!!).

It was great to see and hear how much progress these children have made over the last four and a half months. Most importantly, they now know how to ask their teacher for candy in English!!

First swimming lesson.

I think I briefly mentioned Anna's first swimming lesson in my last post. Here's a few photo's to give you a better idea of how it went!!

Not off to a good start - she doesn't look too impressed!

This photo clearly shows the trauma the poor little thing went through. However, when we took her out of her float (which is a bit on the big size at the moment) she was a bit happier. No smiles as yet but no screaming either!

We also took her swimming to a swimming pool in a local hotel the following day and she had her first taste of being underwater!!! Although it was on purpose, it was a bit of a shock to all involved, but Anna didn't cry or scream (just coughed a bit). She will be a water baby yet :)

We're back!

After a drama filled evening and morning before our scheduled flight back to Tanzania (we found out when we tried to book in online that a ticket had never been issued for Anna and we would have to pay $411 at the airport for her - more than we paid for each of us and it didn't include a meal!), we eventually all made it on to the plane with all our luggage successfully weighed and checked in.

Anna was a superstar the whole way and even managed to stay in her routine and slept most of the journey back. Once back in Dar we took the easy option and rather than trek across town with all our luggage only to endure a long wait at the port and an even longer ferry ride back, we would buy an extra ticket for our luggage and get the plane back. A great decision which meant that we were back home by 10am rather than 2pm.

It was great to be welcomed back by our German team mates who all congregated at our house to say hi and to meet Anna. Our American speaking friends are currently on holiday and will be back in the next day or two.

Anna has been a hit here and everyone loves her. I am continually handing her over to our local friends (and sometimes people we have just met) and assuming I will get her back at some point! She is adapting really well and although sometimes the heat gets a bit much, she is still her usual smiley self.

Chillin' underneath the fans at a local hotel.

Enjoying a Stoney with Dad.

Having her first swimming lesson in the Indian ocean - not bad! The water was a bit on the cold side at first but she soon got used to it and enjoyed a bit of relief from the hot of the beach.

Where did the last 4 months go??

Somehow our time in England is at an end. We are in our last week at home in the UK and I am not entirely certain where the last 4 months have gone!

Our last week has been a great time of seeing family and here are one or two photo's of our family as it currently looks...

All dressed up for Aunty Abby and Uncle Rob's wedding.

The Mottram clan, bigger all the time ;)

The Osborn clan, also growing almost daily!

The snow came the day before we were due to leave and having missed all the snow over the last couple of years we were very happy to see it. Plus we got to leave before all the chaos of closed schools and icy roads. (We really need to learn to cope a bit better with 'adverse weather' don't we?!)

Anyway, we have had a fantastic time back in the UK catching up with friends and family but we are about ready to get back to life as we currently know it in a mildly warmer climate!! We will miss everyone lots so keep in touch and let us know how you are doing.

Bye for now x

Learning curve (and some cute pics :))

Over the last 4 1/2 weeks life as we knew it has been altered beyond anything we could have imagined with every decision affected by the arrival of our little one. We are on a steep learning curve as we are frequently reminded, from the big things to the smaller things like figuring out how to get tiny baby clothes over our dear one's head as demonstrated in the picture.

Bath time in the kitchen sink

Watching the Grand Prix with Dad

1 month on...

Our little girl passed her one month-iversary on Monday. She is piling on the weight, even though I have to strictly time her feeds to make sure she doesn't over do it and bring it all back, and seems to be growing very quickly. In our own (perhaps a little biased) opinion, she is getting more and more beautiful every day and we are loving every minute of being her parents :)

Here is our little beauty wearing a special vest all the way from Canada, just to show the world that she really is 1 month old!

Rich playing with the camera...

With a new subject at hand (who is unable to protest), Rich has been enjoying playing around with the camera (and our daughter!) to get some unusual photo's.

Anna and her cousin Zenia, apparently not so thrilled to be meeting each other!!

Anna Grace

Our beautiful little girl Anna Grace, arrived with us on 25th September just in time for lunch at 11.49 am. The delivery was quick (all things considered!) and uncomplicated. I was pretty chuffed that I managed to power through with just gas and air, which although it makes you completely high, actually doesn't do much about the pain!

Sadly, although the delivery was 'text book', complications after Anna was born meant that I ended up in theatre with a spinal block anyway having lost about 2 1/2 litres of blood. Praise the Lord for the skill of the midwives and doctors who were looking after us, and that Anna was unaffected by the after birth complications.

Here are some pictures of our precious little girl (spot the proud parents!!)

Anna at just a few hours old.

Daddy and his little girl. Surprisingly he didn't mind that she wasn't a boy and it didn't take long for him to be wrapped around her little finger :)

First family portrait the day we were released from hospital.

A long absence

Shocking, I know. Almost two months with no word from us. Flimsy excuses such as having no internet connection where we are staying and doing A LOT of travelling in the last eight or so weeks since we returned to the UK but I am sorry that I have not updated sooner. First of all I should probably let you all know that there's no baby O just yet. 39 weeks tomorrow so we are standing by! The cutie in the picture is our new niece who was born at the beginning of August, a very real reminder of what we are waiting for!!

So, a bit of a taster of what we have been up to since we got back. We have LOVED spending precious time with our families and being spoiled by them all, vegging out on their lovely sofa's, raiding their fridges and watching TV; Visiting and spending time with our church family and friends all over the UK in Eastbourne, Horsham, Winchester, London, Preston, Bristol, Hove, Selkirk...; Eating a lot of really great food - roast dinners, fish and chips, Nando's, good pub food, Trevaskis Farm (amazing place in Cornwall); trying to get our house in Winch ready to be re-let (lots of painting and cleaning); Rich playing in a mixed netball tournament; trying to get organised for the imminent arrival of baby O; squeezing in a last holiday without Tiny in Cornwall and Rich getting to do some surfing; about a million appointments with midwives, doctors, ultrasonographers and people who want to take my blood...

Here are a few pics from our recent get away to our favourite place in the whole world - Cornwall.

Rich's brother and his family were also in Cornwall visiting family so we met up for a day at the beach. Top of the list of things to do was burying Rich in the stones!

Noah also found himself up to his ears - literally!

James and Anna, our wonderful friends who don't seem to be able to get away from us! Love the sunnies Jim!!

Rich was loving the surf and it just got better as the week went on.

Our favourite surfing beach - Godrevy. Not least because of the cafe by the car park where I can get a decent cuppa while Rich surfs on!

Surely it isn't possible for Tiny to get much bigger?!?

While we continue to wait for Tiny to make an appearance we are looking forward to being mostly in one place (other than a trip to Winch next weekend for a wedding...) and getting ready for the exciting day we meet our baby!

Guard Dog!

Our dog, Simba (which means Lion in Kiswahili) died unexpectedly on Saturday. We are not sure why as he was only 2 years old or so. However, as we are due to leave our house here for several months this weekend, we needed to find a replacement guard dog fast. I sent an e-mail to all the women ex pats I know here and got several responses about dogs and puppies they were trying to find homes for. Amongst the replies was an e-mail for this lovely little lady.

Fierce she aint but she is VERY cute!! As yet she does not have a name... Suggestions welcome, just hit the comment button and we will let you know the winning suggestion!

Shule yetu

As well as there being many adults who are keen to improve their English, the children here are also keen to learn it. When walking around our neighbourhood's the common cry is 'Mzungu! Good Morning!' whatever the time of day. Many of the children that live around us have the opportunity to go to local shule's but there are still many that don't; try being a fisherman with two wives and 11 children to send to school. Even those who do have that privilege, the education they get can be somewhat sketchy and although from secondary onwards all schooling is done in English, only a few students at one or two of the better schools (often set up and run by non-nationals) really get to grips with the language in any way. One of our team mates was helping a friend with her 'English' homework and was confused when asked where she laid her body! Apparently this is how to ask someone where they live...

In response to the fisherman's 11 children, Roxanne set up a 'shule' outside her house to teach some of her neighbours children English. Sitting on a mat and with a few resources (mostly her own children's toys, some pencils and exercise books and a children's Bible). I have been going along to help out and perhaps even steal ideas for the future. Here are some pictures of 'shule yetu' (our school).

Learning the colours of the rainbow with the 'Rainbow song'. Need a bit of help, but LOVE jumping around and trying to sing along.

Every lesson finishes with a story. We started with creation and are telling them about Abraham at the moment.

Every lesson we do some handwriting. It has been a challenge to get some of the younger children to have a go themselves, as the culture here is that you really can't make mistakes so if you can't do it you get someone else to do it. But with dotted lines showing the shape of the letters, the children are all really keen to have a go themselves now and we are seeing them learning to write themselves! Plus it helps that stickers are real motivators here!

There are 16 children who come at the moment and we have decided that with time, space and resources this is about right. However, there is a waiting list for shule yetu! Almost every session we have new children who have been sent along by their parents and parents who bring along their children. We explain to them that there is no space at the moment and we are collecting their numbers and will prioritise those who live locally and have limited schooling in the event that some of the current students stop coming.

One child's mother recently explained to Roxanne that her child is learning more in two hours than they did full time at school, when the sum total of the days work consisted of writing their name and date and waiting for the teacher to make it round to check what they had written. Encouraging for us, yet depressing as we start to realise the size of the problem with children's education here.