On the eve of Ariella's 3rd birthday

Exactly three years ago I was heading to the hospital to birth Ariella. It was almost 2 weeks past my due date, and I was very relieved to be finally having contractions and about to meet my little girl.

Tonight I kissed my 2-year-old goodnight for the last time...tomorrow I will kiss my 3-year-old.

My Ariella gives the squeezy-est hugs, loves to be read to, enjoys swinging, jumping on a trampoline, playing with her big sister, snuggling, painting, playing in the dirt, chasing frogs, and catching worms. She is interested in all sorts of animals. 

Here is a little bit about her in her own words (I interviewed her this afternoon):

•What is your name? Ari-yell-a

•How old are you? 2

•When is your Birthday? My birthday is in 12, and I’m gonna get in 12 and have a number 12 because I’m gonna get 12.

•How old is Mommy? You’re uh 6.

•How old is Daddy? Daddy’s 2.

•What is your favorite color? My favorite color is is is is…pancakes. Uh I think it’s cake.

•What is your favorite food? Uh…honey sandwich and snack. Can I have a snack?

•What is your favorite book? Uh…A Snowy Day. (The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats)

•Who is your best friend? Uh, uh…Ellie Chin. (Ellie is one of her sister’s friends.)

•What is your favorite show? Super Why

•What is your favorite movie?  Super Why

•What is your favorite song? Uh, Mommy and Uncle Joy.

How does that song go? “uncle joy, mommy mommy, It goes like this.” (In a sing-song voice…first time I’ve heard this one.)

•What is your favorite animal? Shawn the Sheep

•What are you scared of? I’m scared of of of of of of of of of if there’s dark. Because you know that I wike dogs. Do you wike dogs?

•What makes you happy? Uh…Everest.

•Where is your favorite place to go? Uh, Indonesia.

•What do you want to be when you grow up? Uh, uh, use your computer.

•What is Mommy's favorite thing to do? Uh, use your computer (that’s what I’m doing now, writing her answers).

•What's Daddy's favorite thing to do? Take off the fire with Ariella. And then take off Mommy’s fire. (I’m confused about this, something about the fire place in our house.)

•What does love mean? Love means nighty-night.

last night as a 2-year-old!

Waiting with Zoe for our flight yesterday.

A little bit blurry, but such sweet smiles

 This year Ariella got to welcome a baby brother into our family and move (back) to Indonesia. Big transitions! It will be fun to see what the coming year has in store us, and how she will grow. We love her so much!

Our weekend getaway and Zach is 10 months old

Last weekend Daniel flew our family to the city of Timika to spend the weekend at the lovely Rimba hotel. This was our first real vacation since moving to Wamena 8 months ago, and it was fun to do something special together as a family. We chose to stay at the Rimba hotel because we heard that the pool was nice, and it didn't disappoint us. Zoe and Ariella loved playing in the water!

With 3 small kids, we kept our schedule very simple:

We woke up.
We enjoyed the breakfast buffet.
I went to the pool with Zoe and Ariella while Daniel stayed at the hotel room during Zach's morning nap.
Zach and Daniel joined us at the pool after naptime.
We went back to our hotel room to change out of swimsuits, and then ate lunch at the hotel restaurant.
Afternoons were filled with naptime and sometimes Zoe played outside at the playground or walked around with Daniel or with me.
After naps we went for a walk and then to dinner at the hotel.
Then we went back to our room, played games and read stories, and put the kids to bed.
Daniel and I hid in the bathroom for a while. I read while he worked on writing a novel.
And then we slept too.

Sisters "reading" together

The bathroom

I think that I would have liked to do other things (like sit by the pool in the afternoon, go for more extensive walks, etc) if I was there without my little ones, but this vacation was relaxing! And I really enjoyed the pretty flowers, butterflies, fountain and other lovely features at the hotel. Beauty is refreshing too!

"fishing" in the lily pond

pretty fountain!

I love these blue flowers (and this girl)!

Flying with Daniel to and from Timika (with stops at interior villages) was fun! Here is a photo of us at Qwijawigi.

Zach was their favorite person to meet.

Flying with my husband!

On Monday, the day we returned from our little getaway, Zach turned 10 months old. He is crawling quickly now, eating lots of food, and playing with everything. He is a champion hair-puller and loves to chase us around the house, sometimes trying to chew on our feet! Zechariah is continuing to grow, and weighs almost 25 pounds. I love how interactive he is, communicating with sounds, clicks, smiles, laughter, and hand motions. I am told that he pulled himself up a few days ago, but have yet to see it myself. He loves taking baths and playing with his sisters. I feel blessed to have had another fun month with my precious baby boy! (Though at the same time, I find parenting 3 kids to be very overwhelming!) You are special to us, Zach!

Fruit...yum!

So much exploring to do!

Let's take a photo all together....

Zach is 9 months old!

It's hard to believe that Zechariah is 9 months old already! He has now spent as much time out of the womb as he did growing inside of me. He is crawling now, playing with and getting into new things each day, and trying to eat everything he finds with his 6 teeth. He still loves his big sisters and everyone who looks at him and smiles at him. He adores the lady who cleans my house and babysits him when I go running. He claps his hands (and will do it when I sing "if you're happy and you know it!"), makes all kinds of noises, and yells when he wants more food (I guess that's how you get noticed when you have a distracted mom and 2 noisy big sisters), and grabs everything. We love this chubby, sweet baby so much!

8-Month-Old Zechariah

It has been a few days since Zach turned 8 months old. He is such a fun baby! Zechariah loves to play with people and with his toys. He's close to crawling, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. With his four sharp teeth he eats a lot of finger foods (pumpkin, bread, broccoli, puff cereal, carrots, banana). He still nurses a lot too, and usually gets up once a night to nurse (I feel lucky that he does well sleeping...though I'm usually up at least once with Ariella or Zoe each night too). He enjoys rides in the stroller, being held by lots of people, and grabbing everything including hair, eyes, nose, and ears.

Big toothy smile

He has just started clapping his hands and is very proud of himself.

Ariella helping Zach hold his sippy cup.

Zechariah is still quite big, weighing 21.3 pounds. I love you so much, darling little big baby! Thank you for your smiles and snuggles and the ways you "talk" to me!

First Day of School

We did it!

Today was Zoe's first day of (home) school Kindergarten! Ariella tagged along and did a lot of the activities with us...coloring, Bible time (Genesis 1:1-2), math, reading/writing (Zoe wasn't as interested in this part), history (learned about a timeline), literature, music/dance, science (cool beads that change color with ultraviolet light). Each subject took only a few minutes. Zach took a nice long nap during our school time.

It feels significant that Zoe is 5 and has started school and that I am her teacher. There is a lovely little American International school here...but it starts with first grade. So this year I get to teach Zoe! Once a week she will have class with her same-age friends--art, science, gym--with the moms taking turns teaching. I hope this will help them to be prepared to be in a classroom together next year. The things that I remember learning in Kindergarten are mostly social. What do you say when you need to use the bathroom? Who is popular? What do you do in class and at recess? I think it will be fun getting to experience Kindergarten all over again this year with Zoe (and then likely later with Ariella and Zach).

Of course we took some cute photos!

Zach is 7 months old!

This adorable guy is 7 months old! He loves to smile and interact with people, and to bite things with his two bottom teeth. Although he puts everything in his mouth, he does not enjoy solid food (yet).

Zach weighs 20 pounds and has just started wearing 18 month clothes.

Ewww, what are you feeding me?

Happy 6 month birthday, Zach!

In the midst of moving (just 2 houses away) and being sick, I didn't forget that this little darling turned half a year old last week! Zechariah is a delight! He currently really wants to be held while he's falling asleep, and enjoys falling asleep in the arms of my house helpers and neighbors. He likes watching us eat, but has not liked the bits of banana that I fed him. He really enjoys grabbing at everything and putting it in his mouth. His weight gain is slowing down a bit--he weighs in at 19.5 pounds. Happy half-a-year, Little Love!