Many "Firsts"...

Yea- I guess I'm THAT Mama.... you know the annoying one who posts and raves about how her baby rolled over. That Mama who takes photo's of ALL the babies first this and that. :) Yep- thats me and Im proud of it!

Ezra's first taste of avocado (juice)

Babu (CT's Dad) and Ez in church :) HE LOVES his Babu!

Ezra meets Maggie (actually he met her a long time ago only this is her first time holding him)

Ezzy on his first wart hog ride at Amani. I'm sure there will be many more of those to come!

There is a new lady in town- this is Faithful Hero Chancey. Ezra's first encounter with her- they both slept through their first meeting.

Poor kid- he doesn't seem so amused.

Camping in the Mara!

Our camping pics... as promised:

As most of you know by now our engine blew on the way there. Fortunately we were following friends. Who ended up towing us back to the closest town. From there we had it towed back to Nairobi. We are STILL waiting for the new engine to be installed. What a nightmare this was.

But our friends talked us into continuing on with them. So we repacked and went on our merry way. So glad we did.

On the way, I assured Chris that God would take care of us and he would provide either $ for a new engine or a new vehicle. As soon as we got to the camp site- there was a sweet reminder one one of God's awesome promises.

Some cute, sweet thing turned 3 months while we were there :)

Hippos in the backgroud- can you see them?
The hippos were SUPER close to our camp site. I realized that they aren't the most graceful creatures. As a matter of fact, they are just plain rude. They constantly sound like they are farting. But it's actually just a noise they make with their mouths. (And here is TMI for you: they get out of the water to "doo" their business. As they are "dooing" it- they swing their tail back and forth really fast so they sling it EVERY WHERE! Guys, this is no joke. I had no idea these creatures were such weirdos)

Super cool tree that is actually NOT on a hill. I just thought it needed to be upright for the photo.

The gang and the trusty Land Rover

Does this animal look snotty or what? No clue what it is honestly.
Left- Jonathan and Sandras tent. Right- our tent (which was supposed to be our car. Hey it worked! And Ezra slept right in between us :)

THis next sequence of pics is from operation spoon rescue. After washing the dishes one night I threw the dirty water over the edge of the cliff. Afterwards CT said "Did you make sure there wasn't anything in there." "Of course, honey". The next morning Sandra said "I see 2 spoons down there!"

"Don't worry. My man will get them!"

Though this looks hilarious- it did not work.

So Chris ended up jumping off the cliff to get down there... woah.

GOT IT!

Boy did we get muddy on our game drive.. but it was SO worth it. VERY FUN

Muddy Aunt Sandra

Even little sleeping Ezra got muddy

Quick fix on the roof.

Sleeping in his tent
PICNIC! The first tree we stopped under had a bees nest! They came out and here we were unloading and the top was off the Landy. Jonathan is allergic and Flippi said he'd had an allergic reaction before. I just kept yelling "GET IN THE CAR" and I was trying so hard to cover up Ez who was in my lap by this point. Flippi ended up getting stung on the face and I was looking everywhere for a Benedryl. NOTHING. He assured me he would be okay...and he was. See that wasn't that great of a story. I was just so glad (since he didn't have a reaction)- that Flippi got it instead of Ezra
Mrs. Lion in the tree. Um... COOL! It's not every day you get to see this

Ezra and Mrs. Lion
Vultures eating the leftovers. Aren't they MEAN looking?

Balloon rides- we saw this view every single morning.

Another muddy pic of the Landy

Our kitchen tent and Paula cooking

Here is the only video I have- Flippi gave it to me- sorry it's not in english ;)

"If I had a million dollars...

I'd be rich..."

if i got a nickel every time i "thought" about updating this blog. I really do have the best intentions. At this point I can't justify blogging if i haven't done my quiet time. It wins every time. But there is so much to talk about and share about motherhood and this flippin amazing child!

Found him sleeping like this at Sandras's house- He loves his wubbanub! And he loves burrying his nose in whatever he is laying up against.

(Check out that strawberry hair!)

Since I posted last Ezra has begun:

- sucking his left thumb

-"talking back" (see video)

-believe it or not he has said "Mama" clear as day 3 times. (Call it coincidence- I don't care. And I have witnesses!) I've been working with him on this work for at least a month now.

-spitting up like a mad man

-teething :( poor puppy

-sleeping through the night... and then not sleeping through the night again. (Those teeth!)

I must say, my sweet husband is THE BEST DADDY! I mean really, he's amazing. To both Ezra and I. He makes us feel so loved and taken care of. At the end of his days, he comes in and plays with Ezra, changes diapers etc. Then he goes and cooks dinner. He does it all with joy on his face and so much love in his heart. Ez and I are SO SO blessed.

Chris and I realized about a month ago that we, as a family, need to have just that- family time. More for Chris than any one. He has a stressful job some days. He's now managing a 5,000 chicken farm for a ministry out of Orlando Florida. He's doing a fantastic job and has completely turned the farm around. I'm so proud of him. For all his hard work he gets compensated a little bit. We decided that we need to get out of Nairobi once a month, even if just for a day trip. The conditions are: 1. it must be cheap and 2. it must be on a weekend.

For our August trip we went to a small bungalow near lake Nivasha. We went driving on Saturday and saw zebra, giraffe, warthogs, antelope, and flamingos. Ezra slept through it all. Maybe next time.

For our September trip we are going camping in the Masai Mara this weekend. Since we don't really have camping gear, my clever man has rigged up a sleeping apparatus for our vehicle. (I didn't really want to sleep where the lions (or bears as Joy would say) could get us anyway. We are joining up with our South African friends (who ARE sleeping in tents). I am so excited. We've been talking about this for weeks. Yep, I am excited about digging our own potty, not bathing, sleeping in our Pajero, and eating beans and weenies every meal. Call me crazy, but I am pumped! And we'll be there just in time for Ezra's 3 month birthday. I PROMISE to post pics ASAP when we get back.

For now these are a few pics from our last trip

Front porch

Little bungalow!

Sweet boy with his sweet Daddy

i love the pillows at this little cafe! They are all made of Khanga.

2 months...

This is our attempt at getting Ezras 2 month pics when he was sleepy AND hungry. Double Doosey!

Hmmm- maybe he's cold ??

2 month pictures... an epic fail. Better luck next month! :)

Taking a.... "bath"

So right now, while I'm thinking about it- I MUST tell you about our hilarious moment of the week.

I hadn't showered in like 3 days when I decided to confess that to Chris he said "Well, after home group tonight you can come home and have a nice relaxing bath." My son was rank as well. So when we got back I went straight for the tub. Nice warm water- FINALLY! So I get in the tub and ask Chris to bring Ezra to me so that I can go ahead and bathe him then relax. So Ez gets in the tub and is enjoying himself per usual. He hadn't been in but maybe 3-4 minutes when I heard a toot with bubbled. We laughed... UNTIL... yep- you guessed it. EZ POOED ALL in the water. We laughed hysterically of course. I immediately handed him to Chris so he didn't get any dirtier and I drained the tub so that i could stand up and shower off. Only problem was- I had used all the hot water. So all that nice warm water I hadn't had in 3 days went right down the drain... un-enjoyed! So neither Ezra nor I got a real bath until the next night.

Now- more video for my family (and anyone who cares) :)

Here is a before and after shot of me and my pals:

This is Ezra Lewis Thompson 6/17, Eden Hope-Ruth Clark 7/12, and Joshua Perry Crisp 7/26.

I think it's hilarious that both the boys are crying and Eden is just happy as a lark. What a good girl.