Time to catch up with life

"So, last time I blogged little Julius was 5 months old. Fast forward to may 2013, and we are a family of four! Julius is almost three, while Max (old crazy little monster) is already 1,5 years old. Blogging stopped pretty much around the time I got pregnant again - the constant vomiting plus a 7 month old was a bit too much to handle. I thought it was a good idea to have babies with little age difference - and really NOW I think it's super, but doesn't leave much time for anything else. So, literally I feel like I blinked and here we are.

                             The guys taking a nap together    

                                                                                                              

On May 31 I packed the kids toys and clothes, and some of mine too and we took our first trip to Tanzania. Tonny was already here, starting his export business (more details later) so it was me, load of luggage and Julius 2,5, and Max 1,5. Since I haven't been blogging for a while some details about the boys are necessary.       

                                                                                                                                      

Julius is a kind, loving and a happy child. He is very rule oriented and loves music, dancing and currently Cars movie and anything related to it. We struggle a bit with his health, he is allergic to birch and now it seems detergents too (more about this too coming up), so traveling to a new country for the first time poses some challenges and involves a lot of preparation for the worst case scenario. But he is hands down the easiest child on this planet. He  has been eating by himself from six months (around 1 year with a fork, at two fork and a knife). He still takes 2 hour nap at noon every day and sleeps 12 hours a night. Little things like clean laundry put into the closet nicely and baba coming home at the end of the day make him smile like he is in heaven. That joy makes any day seem a lot better.

                 

Mr. Max on the other hand is very much full of life and love. Interested in everything and up for anything. Every person he meets is met with an open heart and complete trust. His curiosity gets him into trouble all the time, the poor guy is constantly bumping his head, or falling on his but. And he is not the kind to take failure as a clue that maybe this is something I can't or shouldn't do yet. He tries, and tries, and tries and tries a good hundred times at least, most of the time finally succeeding in the end. Resilience will get him far in life. On his quest I spend endless hours saving him just in time or telling no, you can't climb on the stove for the hundredth time. Watching little Max, I finally get the story of myself at 1,5 climbing on a construction ladder to the roof... I see me in him, that crazy I can do ANYTHING attitude.

                

So these two in my arms we made our way through Helsinki -Amsterdam - Nairobi - Dar es Salaam. I was prepared with toys, snacks, medicines, extra clothes, diapers. pretty much anything and everything I could think of. So in Helsinki we had some ice cream and boarded our first flight. Julius slept the whole way, while Max watched Lorax on the IPad. But surely this could not be this easy... Enter Amsterdam, six hours of waiting, so we crab our pram and head to the play area at schipol. The web site had described it as a wonderful forest in doors, and while it was a little more for bigger kids the guys enjoyed hours playing there. I really enjoyed watching them interact with other kids, without a common language. Kids have that special way in them, no need for small talk lets just get to the "business". Max couldn't climb the ladder so he decided to climb the slide. For someone this might have been the harder way, but it worked for Max. 

                

They really enjoyed their time and it didn't really feel like we were stuck in an airport. The only thing I wish they would add is a fence... Max tends to run off, and the routes to take at an airport are endless...

 

We had dinner and then some games again. I had deliberately chosen the flight that would make the departure for the long flight at bed time so by the time the flight we were boarding Max was already asleep and Julius watching a movie on the IPad. (Boy it's a useful thing to carry around...) 

                                                                                 Little Max about to fall asleep.                                

Max slept until the early morning breakfast an hour before landing and Julius, while still awake during boarding slept until we were in Nairobi. Quick plane change and one hour flight, during which both of them slept through the whole thing.. The disaster happened after landing. I had gotten us visas ahead of time so we could just walk to customs, but for som reason they didn't have the immigration forms in the plane so Somehow, I had to hold two tired kids one crying and one screaming, write down the details of our stay, on three separate forms no less while checking for the info from our passports and my phone. We survived and with some help of airport personnel got all the luggage and headed out. Tonny was there so after that, I could say I survived. Without the last disaster it would've been no trouble, but one meltdown during a 24 hour trip is not bad at all.

Next up, wonders of Africa...