Nomad and Babies

I am feeling quite spry these days

Although I am still only getting on average 2-3 hours a night of sleep

We have found out that Kaliya has had a very bad case of reflux (thank you so much to my cousin Katy for the suggestion)...and I have had to fight fight fight for medicine for 2 months for her. 

Finally we got it and the past four days I have actually been able to enjoy my little girl. 

Johan and I keep looking at her as she relaxingly sits on our laps and laughs and saying, "who is this baby?"

Hopefully this continues to work, but I am so grateful for these past four days...I was hitting rock bottom with the constant day and night crying and the lack of sleep and dealing with a 1 1/2 year old. And then constantly battling with doctors. 

So I have been enjoying the past warm days and I have been taking many walks

I also got to spend Tuesday and Wednesday with one of my favourite persons and Ki's too: Rhode.

We spent Tuesday in Ede (where we live)

How sweet is that?

And we spent Wednesday in Nijmegen (where Rhode lives)

And wonderful Rhode spend an insanely long time doing my hair (which I can't say thank you enough for)

I've been wanting to dread it for a long time...

So I am insanely happy with the results! 

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Shakinah had forgotten what the sun was...so she has been enjoying it as much as me

Finally laying on her back...which she has never been able to do, because it caused her too much pain before!

Can we tell who is the oldest?? Stealing the attention is what she does best :)

Shakinah has learned to smile when I say cheese. This is her fake smile

And yes her face and hands are dirty 90% of the time

The next set of pictures are a bit excessive, but I had a lot of fun shooting them

Kaliya is not so impressed

inbetween shots lol

my little cowgirl

And I will end it with this picture:

She cracks me up! 

XX 

Bethany

And yes I am aware I have a very annoying high pitched voice when I talk to children. 

Even children don't like it. 

That's life. 

xx

Bethany

Welcome Spring! 

The first flowers have started coming up and the weather is a little warmer!

I LOVE spring.

The sun was shining today and unfortunately we weren't really able to enjoy it, because we are all hit by a nasty stomach flu. Thankfully I got mine a few days earlier than everyone so I am slowly coming on the up side and am able to take care of everyone else a little better now. 

This was Shakinah exactly a year ago

It's scary what a difference a year can make...who would have thought a year ago that I would have two little girls? Well, not me that is for sure! 

I am so blessed!

but it still scares me how quickly my little monkey is growing!

I just love Shakinah's age. I know I say that every post, but she is just a bundle of fun! 

And finally I have some hair I can do something with. 

Although if she keeps it in longer than 5 minutes I'm lucky. 

Shakinah was just holding Johan's face and squeezing her face into his

It was so cute! 

She watches Al jazeera every morning with Papa.

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Finally I was able to get some pictures of the two girls

This is Julia's daughter Sofie! She is 6 weeks older than Kaliya which is the same age difference between Jacob and Shakinah

"A blessing on your head Mazel Tov, Mazel Tov" 

Ki's new favourite thing is walking Farah

And hugging poles apparently

We love our walks. She's my little adventurer 

My little sweety

When she is not crying (which isn't too often) she is smiling! 

Such a cutie!

This was my little craft session one day when they both took a nap at the same time

(that doesn't happen often either)

This is how we do walks around here...definitely a good work out 3 baby's on one stroller

And I'll leave you with this...

The other night while I was cooking I turned around to see Shakinah like this watching television

yep balanced on the middle candle

She cracks me up

She was so content in her own little world 

xx

Bethany

I love being a mum and I love my girls but Kaliya is definitely a difficult baby. 

She cries all the time...if I leave her for a second she not only cries, but screams. 

And lately she has taken to grunting and crying all through the night. We thought we were past that stage a few weeks ago, but well we're back. 

So now because I breastfeed I am off all dairy products for the next 4 weeks to see if that's the cause of all this discomfort. It seemed to help the first days, but I'm not so sure now...

Trying to find food without some trace of dairy in Holland is like trying to find the sun here.

Both seem to not exist. 

Whining aside 

We DO have had a lot of fun in our days. I adore the age Shakinah is at now and Kaliya has just started cooing and smiling, which is so sweet!

Shakinah is such a little drama queen and these toddler mood swings are bizarre, but she is so much fun. And she is such a lover!

 

She loves to sit on Farah's back (I'm not sure how fond of it Farah is)

She likes to go into the fetal position when she doesn't get her way

And when she is really angry she doesn't want anyone looking at her

she loves to take pictures (supervised by mama of course)

And she loves to take care of Kaliya (she is such a great big sister)

"ma baabee" (my baby) she calls her

Sometimes she is naughty and she needs to be disciplined

And she always looks surprised when I catch her in the act

She loves sitting on her little mat

Most of all she loves spending time with her Jacoby

he's her best friend

Little Kaliya had bad baby acne the past weeks

But I'm happy to report it's almost completely gone!

my little sweety

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here are a few videos 

unfortunately they are dark, but I had a good laugh over the first two a

and who doesn't love hearing a baby coo?

I'm not sure a Mum could be much prouder than I am of my two little bugs

xx

Bethany

It's true the first snow of the winter happened 

And we are errrrr....loving it? 

Guess Ki takes after my view of cold weather.

Although Johan looks like a stud muffin in this picture. Rawr!

We took an evening walk in the snow

Love my family!

And now the family is complete again 

(Farah was away for 6 weeks, because of my Mum being here)

oh we're so happy to have our little dumbo back!

Uncle Sam came to stay with us Friday evening 

And Shakinah was so happy

She loves her Uncle Sam more than anyone I think (except Papa of course)

She never cuddles with anyone 

and then she was just sitting with Sam as happy as anything

It was so precious

Took my little monsters on a 2 hr walk with Farah through the woods. 

We are so fortunate to have the woods literally across the street from us. 

I love it!

Kaliya enjoyed her time in the moby!

I am passionate about trees. 

Trees are my favourite things in nature

I'm crazy about trees! 

So thankful for Johan that he works so that I can be home with my girls! 

Love being a Mother more than anything!

I missed her so much!

Kaliya turned a month last Saturday! 

Can you believe how time is flying?? 

xx

Bethany