Four Weeks

Charlotte turns one month old tomorrow and I know I'm posting one day early, but I think I'm going to CALM IT DOWN a bit this time around.  I'll still be taking monthly pictures for her first year, but I'll probably just post them to Instagram with a line or two.  This led me to think, "poor second baby".    There may not seem to be as much hype, attention, even -- dare I say -- joy the second time around.  But let me attest to the fact that this is not true!  Sure the first time around I didn't have much to do but just stare at Shirley all day.  My hubby didn't expect me to keep the apartment spic and span, I didn't have a toddler to take care of, and my brother-in-law wasn't visiting from Malawi.  (More on that later.)  But is this really all such a bad thing?  I think there is a reason why second children often have more laid back personalities.  The focus isn't just on them all the time and that's actually really good!  They don't grow up with the feeling that the world is centered around them.  I don't know, these are just some thoughts mulling around in my tired little brain.  

All that to say, I am just LOVING this four week old! 

 

I mean, how could I not, right?  (Wow!  I just realized this picture is from when she was two weeks old and now I see just how much faster these last two weeks went then the first two weeks!  Crazy!)

Charlotte is definitely giving us a "run for our money" as they say.  And really, that is just in comparison to Shirley.  (And that is just according to our memories.)  In actuality Charlotte is a really easy baby too.  She just was more of a cluster feeder in the beginning and she's got a pretty good set of lungs on her when she does cry.  

But she is just. so. sweet!  And yes, she mainly smiles after she eats so it could just be gas, but she really does smile a lot!  Big open gummy grins with these cute little dimples.  She melts me.  Poor girl has some pretty bad acne now, but I keep reading that it will go away soon enough.  Really, it's kinda worse than a teenager.  

Little Zizi has also had a very busy last two weeks.  As hinted at earlier, Kwacha's youngest sibling, Malumbo, is visiting us this month so we have been out and about trying to show him the best of Los Angeles!  Zizi has truly been a little trooper.  And Shirley has been absolutely loving her time with Uncle "Malo".  She always wants to know where he is and she loves holding his hand.  I think he has really helped with her transition to the role of big sister; a role that she has taken on with joy and gusto!  Too much sometimes.  Poor Charlotte has to stay on the alert!  Her big sister is constantly asking, "Can I hold it?"  She gives her little kisses on the forehead and helps me know when she needs her paci.  I have loved watching their (mostly one sided) little relationship so far.

Well, I had originally planned on giving you all a little "day in the life" sorta thing to show how different life is with two!  But I think I'll stop here for now.  Maybe another day.  

For now I'll end with one more picture.  :)

Malawi!

As promised, here is a recap, mainly in pictures (and although there are a lot, I had to leave so many out!) of our time in Malawi. Well actually Kwacha is STILL there.

I will try to let the pictures do most of the talking.

First up, a lousy picture of downtown Lilongwe. I took it while driving through. This is very close to his sister's house whom we stayed with.

I didn't get any pictures of when we first got off the plane. I wanted to BUT....I fainted. Yes, fainted, two minutes after getting off the plane. Never fainted before in my life! I guess I was overcome by the beauty of Malawi.  Or it could have been a combo of being sick and very tired. 

Oh well, thankfully I felt much better after a shower.

The next morning we took a little trip over to ABC (African Bible College) where the Biedebach's live.  Below is the fun tree house in front of their house.

Brian and Kwacha.  :)

Brian was excited to show us his "new" old tire cover.  He traded a brand new one he had for this one with just the right acronym.

"Game" is a store from South Africa that has made it's way to Malawi.  It looks just like a Target or Walmart inside and has pretty much the same kind of products!

Spar is another store that hails from South Africa.  Kwacha's best friend, Kondi, is the one with the shopping cart.  This is, unfortuantely, the best picture I got of him.

And an outdoor market.  Yummy organic vegetables.

 

The sky is always interesting in Africa!

Another supermarket, Shop Rite, that has all the food you could want.

The next day we drove six hours north to Mzuzu to visit Kwacha's parents.  We had a beautiful drive up with many sights to see!

Below is a large brick oven.  Most villages have one of these.  They make bricks within these structures.  Apparently they will spend all night stoking the fire, then they put in the bricks and close up the holes for a week or two. (From what I remember.)

Is this really Africa?

We often found lots of men piled up in trucks.

Finally in Mzuzu!

Below is one of my favorite pictures I saw at Kwacha's parents house.  So I took a picture of a picture.  :)  It's of Kwacha and all of his siblings.  The order in age, from oldest to youngest, starts in the bottom right and moves clockwise.  Chance, Granger, Jellita, Evelynn, Kwacha, and Malumbo.

I love Kwacha's face.

I was able to meet all of his siblings, except Chance, who died about four years ago.

We spent the night at his parent's house and the next morning we took a short trip to Nkhata Bay, on the shore of Lake Malawi.  It was a breathtaking drive!

Believe it or not, our first real picture together.

Look at the fish!

When we got back to Mzuzu, we saw cars lined up at the gas station.  That meant fuel was available!  This is actually a short line.  But by the time we got to the front, it was all gone.

Kwacha's family. 

From left to right: his aunt, mom, dad, Kwacha, Jellita, and niece, Ruth.  (Or Ite, as her family calls her.)

That night, when we got back to Lilongwe, we had dinner at the Floreen's!  It was fun to see them in their nice home and enjoy sweet fellowship.  :)

The next day we took a trip to Lake Malawi.

On the way, we stopped at the Parliament building.  The Simwaka's have a cousin that works there.  ( He's on the left.) We actually sat in for a bit on a session.

Close to Parliament is a five star hotel that the Chinese built.  It's almost ready to open.

We passed a village and saw that it was market day.

We had lunch at a Sunbird resort.  Here you can see Lizard Island which is populated with large monitor lizards.

The local fish, chambo, and their staple food, nsima, at the very top.



Kwacha was a little sleepy.  Still fighting jet lag.



Monkeys!

Beautiful sunset from a beautiful Creator on the way home.





The next morning, our last morning, we visited a local village.  Kwacha and Kondi have visited there many times. 

On the way I snapped one of many pictures of a bike carrying a huge load of firewood!  I don't know how they do it.

The chief of the village.

Kwacha brought him sugar and rice.

This man was so nice!  He gave us a little tour of one of their thatched roof homes.

And now for the pictures I'm sure most of you readers have been waiting for, cute village kids!

This girl in pink made her way into many of the pictures!



The lady below specifally asked Kwacha if I could take her picture.



Beautiful!



I was trying to get a picture of the building but somehow Pinky snuck in there.  :)



As we left, the kids followed our car.  We had quite a trail running after us. 

(These really are just a smattering of the pictures I took at the village.  Most of the pictures were crowded with kids trying to get in there.  :)

And here are some pictures of Jellita's house.

The room Em and I stayed in.

The living room.

Kitchen.





Kwacha's sweet cousin, Agnes, who insisted on washing our clothes!

From left to right, me, Evelynn, Kwacha, Jellita.



We stopped by Kondi's house to say goodbye to his wife, Patricia, before we left for the airport.  They had us over for dinner one of the first night's we were there.  I really enjoyed their family!

Here is Kwacha with their oldest daughter, Karen.  This is right after we got her to say cheese.  I wasn't quick enough with my camera to catch a smile.  ;)  But isn't she so cute??

And here we are with Patricia and Karen. 

The trip went by way too fast!

 

We had such a good time with Kwacha's family and all of the people we met there.  They are so kind.

Someday, you really ought to visit Malawi!  ;)