Don't Ever Change

One year ago today I met my babies! What a wonderful day that was for me!!! What a scary day that was for Katie Mumbi. We talk about it often and Kate tells me about how she was scared to leave her orphanage that morning, then fly on a big scary airplane, then drive a long time in a car, and then meet this strange woman with light skin, and then be left with that strange woman. She says she very was nervous but then I gave her food and gave her a bath and she started to feel better. 

So much has changed over the past year. But in most ways Katie Mumbi and Nat are exactly the same. They are who they are because of their beginning with their parents and their time in their orphanage. That is just such an integral part of who they are today. I never forget that. But reading what I wrote one year ago today definitely reinforces that: 

post #1 "Little Child" 

post #2 "Love of the Loved"

KATE - ONE YEAR LATER

Katie Mumbi is either on or off. When she is on she is on and she goes full force. When she is scared, nervous, tired, or out of sorts she will withdraw into herself. Fortunately, she still wants me to hold her when she is going into her shell. And fortunately, she almost never shuts down completely like she used to do. I chuckled when I read in that first post that the first English word we had taught her was "gentle". Yep! That's still a very commonly used word. Kate can be rough. She is a fighter. Thank goodness!!!

It was also funny to read in that first post, "I think she understands a little Swahili." Um...yeah...by day 2 or 3 I figured out that Katie Mumbi was completely fluent in Swahili and a total chatterbox. Sadly, she has lost most of her Swahili - but her English is AMAZING!!! The vocabulary this kid has rivals her big sister's at that age. And when a word escapes her she is so clever in figuring out how to communicate. The other day she wanted to ask for something from the fridge but couldn't remember the word. So she sat cross legged in the kitchen and pointed to her legs and said she would like "this." I completely understood that she was referring to criss-cross applesauce and she was asking for applesauce. This child is absolutely brilliant! I can't wait to teach her chess!!! Kate is also picking up some German from me and continuing with French at her weekly French class (i.e. hanging out with the French teacher while I teach chess at the French school). We try to keep up some Swahili but our resources are limited.  She will be attending preschool in the Fall in a wonderful program that welcomes many children of African refugee families. Maybe she will have a classmate that speaks Swahili. But whether it be English, German, French, or Swahili this kid talks NON-STOP.  And she asks "why" 50+ times a day.

Katie Mumbi is still a great eater - when a food is her favorite. When it is a not-so-favorite food item she can really be stubborn. We are working on that. She still loves baby dolls and books and spends most of her at home time reading or playing with her babies. The latest fascination has been to play "baby Moses" complete with baskets, the river Nile, and the Prince of Egypt soundtrack.  Kate is still a tiny little thing (for her age) and people are so surprised when she tells them she is 3 years old. She is finally growing into a 2T (sometimes even a 3T) and she now wears a size 8 shoe. Over the past year she has added about 8 pounds and grown almost 5 inches. Her ringworm is gone and her scalp is healing. She still has some sparse patches on her head but her hair is starting to fill in.  

Did I mention how beautiful she is? Katie Mumbi has a striking face. We have a wonderful relationship with the family who adopted her older sister, Numbi, and these girls are both crazy beautiful! As much as I want my kids to develop their intelligence and use their gifts to serve God, this kid might be destined for the stage. She is constantly singing and dancing and "fake crying" - at home and out in public. I get some looks. We may just have to help her channel her performing in a way that uses her God given talents to do His work.

Most importantly, this girl can LOVE!!! She adores her Daddy. She wants to be exactly like her big sister. And even though she fights with her brothers she does adore them both. The sun rises and sets on her Auntie Erin. She still holds a candle for her Congo boyfriend, Joseph, and insists she will marry him. She will tell you how much she loves our priest, Monsignor Carr, and Miss Joan at Whole Foods. Both Millies, her friend and our dog, are dear to her heart. But most of all she is a Mama's girl. She still wants Mama to be the one to hold her or carry her. She needs Mama when she has an aua (owie or boo-boo).  She can nap without Mama but to sleep through the night she still wants Mama.  She loves me!!!  And I love her!!!

Katie Mumbi - May 3, 2012

Katie Mumbi - May 3, 2013

NAT - ONE YEAR LATER
Oh (with a sigh!)...Our precious buggy boy! How he worries us. Nat is a tiny little peanut with feeding problems and health problems. Recently, he caught a stomach bug and threw up for days, didn't eat for several more days, and had strep at the same time! That was on top of his usual stuff. I try to limit Nat's therapy/doctors appointments to only two per week. But he is bowlegged. He STILL has ringworm. I was reminded after reading that second post...he did have scabies but that nasty ringworm was also at play. The poor guy had staph and strep infections all over his skin. And he STILL doesn't eat properly! We are shooting for normal food consumption by the age of 3.  No, really...that's the official goal.

On that first day with the babies I had to shove a bottle in Nat's mouth and force it. He was SO malnourished and SO hungry - but he had never had a bottle before. He had been cup fed a thin baby porridge. He would gladly put all kinds of food in his mouth but he wouldn't swallow. Well...it turns out that nursing from a breast or a bottle goes a long way in developing the swallow reflex...and he didn't get to do that. So now we have our weekly visits with Miss JoAnne and Miss Shelby and he is making huge progress. Nat will now (sometimes) happily eat and swallow a Tablespoon or more of food at a meal. On a rare occasion he will eat almost 1/4 cup of food!  That's when we do the happy dance.  But, for the most part, Natty gets his nourishment in the form of Pediasure from a bottle.  At least now (if he's in the mood and I lay him back on a pillow) I can hand him a bottle and he will put in his mouth and hold it on his own. That is a victory!!! And that mom who raised her eyebrows at my (then) 18 month old eating from a bottle needs to mind her own business.

Natty boy had grown 4 inches and gained 9 pounds in the past year.  Now his head doesn't look so odd/concerning, thank goodness!  His feet haven't grown more than a half size but that's got to accelerate at some point, right? He went from a toothless 8 month old to a toothless 11 month old, but now he is an almost 20 month old little boy with 12 teeth. Nat is still a tiny little guy.  He fills out a 6-12 month size nicely.  The next size up is 12-18 months and he kind of swims in that (except for his big belly.) But considering he will be 20 months old in three days he really is a tiny little guy. After we do his "modified barium swallow study" (yes, that is a thing) I think I may take him to an endocrinologist just to make sure we aren't missing something.

Thankfully, Nat is a happy boy!  And he is doing AWESOME in his development.  He went from not being able to roll over at 9 months to being a promising rock climber at 19 months.  This kid can high step and mantle!  He has no fear of going up.  It's just the coming down that causes problems.  I am just grateful that he is appropriately cautious and not a daredevil who will just hang and drop.  Buggy has some impressive dance moves!  He will dance to almost anything (including ballet - complete with ballet shoes and tutu) but his favorite thing is to dance Gangnam Style!

Talking is...ummm...developing.  But we aren't too worried about that.  Verbal expression is linked to oral-motor development and those are things we are working on.  Nat was becoming quite the fussy-mussy so we started baby signs at 12 months and that has made a world of difference. Fortunately, his receptive language is awesome!  Nat understands, EVERYTHING we say.  And he is completely capable of responding through action, nodding, grunting, or some form of verbal expression.  A lot of his verbal expression sounds like "da" or "ba" but his unmistakable words include, "Mama", "Dada", "ball", "ba ba" (interchangeable for basketball or baseball), "wawa" (water), "ee" (please), "ou i" (outside), and "eh mah" (yes Mam).  He signs/grunts at least 20 more words.  

The most adorable thing he has been doing lately is singing and saying prayers.  We have certain songs we sing and we same the same prayers at dinner and bedtime. Nat totally knows the songs and prayers.  I will catch him "singing" and I can tell what he is singing by the tune. He has very nice pitch!  And I can tell which rhyme it is by his rhythm and hand motions. Lately I've had to keep myself from laughing during prayers. He has them memorized and as we pray he will say the last word or syllable from each line in the verse.  Jeff jokes that Nat is just rapping. I say that my baby is called to the priesthood!  I do need to bring the iPad in at bedtime to record our, "holy Mary, Mother of" - then we can be totally silent as Nat yells, "God!"

Nat's two great joys in life are being outside and playing ball. All wrongs in the world are made right if I just open up the kitchen doors and let him play outside on the deck. He loves to dig in dirt, play with bugs, carry sticks and leaves, etc. And if he sees a ball he MUST hold and/or bounce and or/throw that ball. Nat loves anything that involves a ball!  His 6'2" brother is trying to groom him to be a basketball player. Nat definitely adores basketball, but considering he is (just now finally) on the growth chart at a whopping 3%, I think we might be better off encouraging baseball. At least he will have a challenging strike zone. I recently took Natty to his first baseball game and he was such a happy boy! He will also tell you all about his "beh bah baa" (baseball bat).

Our Cuddle Bug is definitely still a sweet and loving baby boy! He gives me great kisses and wonderful hugs. But as soon as his Daddy walks through the door he pushes off from me and can't get to Daddy fast enough. He often cries when Daddy leaves without him. Nat wants to sit in Daddy's lap and have Daddy help him eat his smoothie or read a book. Yes, Daddy is the hero (and Daddy likes that job very much!)  

Nat - May 3, 2012

Nat - May 3, 2013

One year ago today I woke up, ate breakfast, visited with my Dad and my new friends, and then waited for strangers to arrive and place two children in my arms so that I could be their mother. So much has happened since then and it seems like that was such a long time ago.  These children have become my children so deeply that it is hard to remember our family before they arrived.  But with every memory of that day and the six weeks that followed being so incredibly vivid is also feels like it was just yesterday.  

-B

A Day In The Life

The most commonly asked question now that the kids are home is "How are you doing?"  I haven't figured out how to answer that question accurately without delving into a full ten minute discussion so I usually just answer, "Good! Crazy...but good!"

And that pretty much sums it up.  We do have some really bad days (like Sunday when Kate decided to be defiant all day long) and we do have a few really lovely, happy, peaceful days.  But most days are crazy and chaotic and exhausting but at day's end we are all still happy.  Like yesterday.

Yesterday was a snow day so all four of our kids were home.  I decided that I would take advantage of having the big kids home and get some cleaning done. So I was cleaning my closet and organizing my shoes when I hit the back of my arm on the wire shelving in my closet.  That totally would not have been a big deal if the end cap had been on the cut edge of the thick jaggedy wire.  It was not.  So Liz put some steri-strips and a bandage on it (because I can't see it much less reach it) and bundled Katie Mumbi up and drove me to the doctor.  The girls got to watch me get three stitches while the boys stayed home for Nat's nap.  

(*note, stitches are not a part of a typical day but some form of doctor's appointment or therapy is very typical)

After I was all stitched up we realized that it was time for a late lunch.  We battled the snow-day traffic (because the roads were totally fine and there really should have only been a two hour school delay) and got take-out from Chick-Fil-A.  We brought our food home, ignored the piles of laundry and the cleaning supplies strewn about, and ignored the fact that none of us had showered or brushed our teeth, and we ate lunch.  And Liz's boyfriend, Grayson, joined us.  

As lunch was finishing up Tip asked me if I could drive him to the UPS store.  I think my response was something along the lines of, "Are you kidding?  I'm in the middle of cleaning.  I haven't showered.  I promised Katie she could play in the snow that is currently melting.  And I just got stitches.  So, no, I will not drive you to the UPS store."  He got the message and instead bundled up his sister and sent her out to play in the snow. 

Eventually I finished my cleaning task and showered myself and the babies.  Liz helped me put my hair in a ponytail and changed my bandage.  And then it was time to start dinner.  Liz and Grayson drove Tip to the UPS store, picked up the grated Parmesan that I had forgotten, and dropped Tip off at the YMCA.  Katie Mumbi and Nat played while I started cooking.  Katie wanted to put water in her Baby Alive's bottle (yes the one that really pees) but I told her no since that requires full supervision and I was making bolognese sauce.

Liz and Grayson returned home, made queso with the Velveeta and Rotel that they had also purchased when I sent them to the store, and played with the kiddos for a little while before finishing their episode of "The Americans".  Grayson left and Liz went off to study for her physics, trig, econ, and govt tests. I texted Tip to see what his plan was for getting home and did not get a response. Jeff walked in the door without Tip.  I sent Liz out to the Y to bring him home so that he could be showered before dinner.  Jeff played with the little ones.

Then I heard Jeff say something about there being no more water in the baby bottle.  And Nat was walking around trying to suck out the last few drops of water from the Baby Alive bottle.  So I, of course, asked Jeff if he put water in Katie Mumbi's bay doll bottle.  Nope.  He didn't.  He thought I did.  Nope.  I had specifically told Katie that she may not have water in the bottle. So we questioned our younger daughter:

Me: Did you put water in the bottle? 

KM (choosing to take the honest approach): Yes

Me: Where did you get the water?  From the sink?  

KM: No, from that. (pointing to Nat's sippy cup - the one with the lid that screws on tightly and is almost impossible to pour from)

Me: How did you get the water out?  Did you unscrew the lid?

KM: No. I spit it.

Me: Do you mean you sucked the water out of his cup and then spit it into the baby bottle?

KM: Yes!!!

Jeff and I both tried to keep straight faces.  He was terribly impressed with her brilliant ingenuity and thought that should probably excuse her from any consequences.  I agreed that she is quite accomplished (she definitely developed a LOT of MacGyvering skills while living in an orphanage) and I appreciated her honesty - but I still told her that she could not play with her Baby Alive or bottle for several days.  I asked her to bring the baby doll to me.  And she did - followed by a stream of "pee".  Tip and Liz walked in the door.  Jeff was so proud to tell Liz and Tip about their inventive and clever sister.  Kate cleaned her baby doll's pee.  Tip showered.  We put dinner on the table.  

Five of us ate dinner while watching Nat occasionally lick a food item (which is progress for our little guy in feeding therapy).  Katie Mumbi was finishing up her bread when we started clearing the table.  We left her at the table with her bread and the plate with olive oil for her to dip her bread in.  I went back into the dining room to excuse Katie from the table and noticed that the plate of olive oil was almost empty.  Did she pour it out?  I checked the floor and her chair.  Nope.  All clean.  Then I noticed her hands and mouth were covered in olive oil.  Yes, she ate/drank it all.  Again, we tried to keep a straight face. 

We finished dishes and then I started to get the little ones ready for bed.  Right after I took off Nat's diaper to put on the pull-up he decided to let out a nice stream of pee.  I shrieked.  Katie laughed and announced the Nat "peed over Mommy".  Tip ran upstairs to get a new pull-up and new pajamas for Nat as well as clothes for me.  I cleaned Natty up and he walked around naked while waiting for his new diaper.  And then he peed again.  And laughed again.  

I finally got a clean diaper and clean clothes on Nat.  And I put a pull-up and pajamas on Katie Mumbi who told me, "I not pee over Mommy".  Nat got a bottle while Kate read a story.  And then we tucked them into bed.  Thank goodness they go to sleep easily!

Then I had a glass of wine and watched "How I Met Your Mother" with Tip while Jeff did some work stuff on his computer.   After HIMYM and a bet with Tip that in retrospect I think I am likely to lose, Tip headed up to his man-cave.  Liz studied up in her room and received a video "Prom-posal" from Grayson (yes, that is an actual thing).  And finally Jeff and I had a some kid-free time to catch each other up on our day.

Yes, yesterday was a pretty typical day.  I still can't figure out how to explain it concisely so I'm just going to stick with, "Crazy but good!"

-B

Got To Get You Into My Life

Blogging has been an epic fail since the little ones have come home.  I think I'm going to give it one more go and set the goal of blogging at least once a week.  I do have all sorts of things to share - but time seems to get away from me each and every day.

I did take the time to make a video for Katie about her adoption.  She LOVES the video and watches it every single day.  She also likes it when I watch it with her and cry.  Kind of like how she gets me to read "Mommy's Heart Went Pop" or "A Mother for Choco" just so she can watch me cry.  

-B

I'm So Tired

Not to jinx it...but I just put both of the babies to bed awake (10 minutes apart) and they both went to sleep without a peep!!!  Seriously, not a single sound.  They were both very tired and very ready for bed.  But this is the first time there hasn't been a fuss or a whine or a "Mama" from either one of them.  This is great PROGRESS!!!!  Especially since Nat is sleeping through the night now.

But tonight will probably still be a restless night for me.  I've been tossing and turning the past few nights waiting for my friend Angela to arrive in home with her baby boy, Noah.  They made it home Thursday night and we are thrilled for their new family of five!

And then today we heard the sad news that a family with our agency lost their precious daughter.  They were so close to bringing her home!   Please join us in praying for the Cok family and their sweet Orellie, whom they never held in their arms but whom they will always hold in their hearts.  

-B

Now And Then

It has been four very busy weeks since I've posted an update on the kiddos.  Sorry for that.  I will try to update more frequently from now on.  I do expect that will be much easier once the big kids go back to school and we can actually settle in to a normal routine.  

Here is our photo montage of the last month:

We spent a LOT of time in the car driving Liz and Tip to their jobs at Passages.

Some days we even had nap time in the car.

We played at Cartwheels and Coffee in Carytown.

Nat worked on pulling up - he is an expert now.

Auntie Erin gave Katie more pretty outfits..and Katie discovered pockets.

We did a LOT of laundry.

Katie Mumbi met her new BFF, Leia.

We played outside.

We played inside.

We watched Tip use duct tape on his Passages blisters.

We met Grandmother and Granddad!!!

We played with Leia some more!

We "napped" with Tip.

We "napped" at Pottery Barn Kids.

We actually napped at Whole Foods.

Katie became a ballerina (in name and dress only - no actual dance lessons)

Katie Ballerina chased bunnies.

Nat learned that he can walk if he has something to push.

And we did LOTS more laundry!

-B 

There's A Place

This post is for my friend Angela who is leaving for the Congo in four days (Woo Hoo!!!) and for anyone else planning to stay at St. Anne's.  We'll call this post the "St. Anne's Survival Guide".
  
Hopefully your driver from the airport will already be familiar with the location of Procure St. Ann.  If not, you can tell your driver that Procure St. Ann is on Dumi right off of Avenue des Aviateurs and across from the United States Consulate.  As you approach the gate you will see...

The entrance gate to Procure St. Ann

The buildings on the left (north)

The buildings on the right (south)

The main building of the Procure (also on the left)

Your driver will park and help you bring your bags into the reception hall.  Walk up the main steps and through the double doors directly in front of you.

Procure St. Ann

The front steps of Procure St. Ann

If you speak French you should have no problem checking in.  If you don't speak French you will need your escort or translator to assist.  Sometime there is a young man working in reception who speaks English fairly fluently and sometimes you might get lucky and run into one of the residents who speaks both English and French - but I wouldn't count on it.  It is best to be prepared.  

When you check in you will notice that they do not use a computer for reservations.  Reservations are simply written down in a big book.  Even though you made a reservation in advance it may or may not be written in the book.  It is best to come with a print out of your email exchange with the St. Anne's staff person who took your reservation.  If your reservation is not in the book you will likely still be able to get a room.

The reception area is the only communal area at Procure St. Ann with air-conditioning.  It has a little seating area around a small table, a nice fish tank courtesy of Father James, several chairs along one wall, and a large flat screen television on the opposite wall.  This is not usually a hang out spot for residents but it is a nice place to wait when you are meeting up with friends to go out somewhere or are waiting for your driver.  For a number of adoptive families (us included) this is the place where they will first meet their children.  It's a little awkward to be sitting on the floor holding your new babies and trying not to scare them off by crying while having people walk past (because the reception area is the access point for all of the rooms at the Procure).  But at least it is air-conditioned!

The reception desk at Procure St. Ann

The kids love Father James' fish tank - but please don't tap on the glass

If Blandine (on the right) happens to be covering the front desk when you arrive give her a BIG hug from me!

Once you have checked in you will go through the double doors towards the back of the reception area. Welcome to the Procure!!!  You will turn right and walk down a corridor.  On the right are doors into the offices of the administrative staff at St. Anne's.  On the left is the bar as well as windows out to the courtyard.  You will notice buckets on the floor with water dripping into them.  These are collecting the condensation from the AC units. You will also notice places where the walls there are holes in the wall with wires hanging out.  I don't think these are dangerous but we didn't touch them just to be on the safe side. 

The double doors at the back of the reception area

The corridor that leads to the stairs

Katie always wanted to play in these buckets of water

We were grateful for the air-conditioning

Probably not dangerous

But probably best not to touch

For some reason I didn't take any photos of the stairwell or the upper floors where most of the rooms are located.  But our friends Adam and Jennifer made a great Gotcha Day video and you can see them leaving their room (which was right down the hall from our room) and going down the stairs, through the corridor, and into the reception area where they met their two adorable boys, Asher and Dacian.  

Our room was on the first floor (second floor for you Americans) and had a great view of the Congo river. I was so focused on getting settled in when we first arrived and I neglected to take any before photos. Each room is a little different but ours (room 105) was equipped with two twin beds, one desk, two chairs, and one bedside table.  I pushed the two beds together and put the chairs along the side of the lower bed so that Katie wouldn't roll out of bed.  We also had a little screened patio that we didn't use.  The patio had two chairs and a small table.  I moved that table into our room so that I had an extra place to pile our things.  I used the desk as our kitchen area and the little table for the kids' toys.  Because we were staying for so long and had so many supplies I also used my luggage for storage.  Some rooms were equipped with nice wardrobes but ours was not.  It would have been good for the clothes and diapers but probably not much else.  I'm sure I still would have been using luggage for storage.

Because I took these photos with the MacBook the images are all inverted

I used the desk for food storage, water filtering, "cooking", and doing dishes

Without much storage the luggage really came in handy

Procure St. Ann provides mosquito nets, one set of sheets per bed, lumpy pillows, and two (very small and not clean) bath towels.  I brought quilts for the beds as well as crib pads to use under the baby.  I was really glad I had the crib pads because when Nat had diaper leaks at night the sheets stayed clean.  I also brought two nice big bath towels from home.  We used the St. Anne's towels as bath mats.  Because it takes so long to get laundry back we ended up all using one towel while the other towel was out being laundered.

The bathroom is small and there is no hot water.  But the bathroom is also not air-conditioned (the room is) so it stays pretty warm.  It really wasn't to bad to come in from the heat and run through the tepid shower each evening.  The water is stored in a tank on the roof and the sun does warm it up a bit during the day.  But if you wait until later at night or until morning for a shower then it can be a bit chilly. Because I didn't bring a blow dryer and I definitely prefer to not go to bed with wet hair I settled on a routine of showering in the evening and washing my hair (head hanging upside down over the shower and just using the hand held sprayer) in the mornings.  I only washed my hair a few times a week and Katie thought it was pretty entertaining to watch.  

Bring your own soap - and bring something you really enjoy.  It makes you feel good to have something that smells like home.  Unfortunately, the longer you stay the more you just are going to stink.  You never get completely clean and your clothes never get completely clean.  And even when you are relatively clean it doesn't take long to start sweating again.  

Each bathroom had a big bucket.  I know some people have used that to give their kids baths.  I was too skeptical of the whereabouts of the bucket so I brought I flexi-tub instead.  I am so glad I did!!  Bath time was the favorite part of the day.  I heated water with a hot pot I purchased for $14 at Hassan Market and made I nice warm bath for my kids each evening.  I brought yummy smelling Shea Body Wash from home and afterwards gave them each a nice rub down with coconut oil.  It was a GREAT way to wind down before bed.  We did use the bucket for washing laundry when we got too desperate to wait for the St. Anne's laundry service.  There aren't a lot of places to hang laundry in the bathroom or room so we tried to only do hand-washing when we really needed it.

LOVED the flexi-tub

The infamous bucket

On the topic of laundry, St. Anne's does provide free laundry service twice a week.  Each room is supposed to have a laundry basket - but mine did not at first and I had to improvise.  Fortunately I had a massive red Target gift bag that I was using as a laundry bag and I just sent my laundry out in that.  Laundry is picked up in the morning on Monday and Thursday. I just set it outside my room before heading down to breakfast.  They do ask that you include a list of the items being laundered as well as your room number.  I did write the list each time but I'm not sure it was all that useful since it was in English.
  
I'm not sure if other people have had their laundry returned to their room (which is what the front desk said was supposed to happen) but the entire time I was at St. Anne's I had to retrieve my laundry from the laundry house.  I would usually fetch laundry the day before I was to send laundry out again (so...sent laundry on Monday and fetched it on Wednesday...sent laundry on Thursday and fetched it on Sunday).  To retrieve laundry I had to go down to the reception desk during normal daytime hours and ask for my laundry.  They would then send a staff person out to the laundry house with me and the key.  The person would unlock the door and I would go in and search through the various piles for my laundry.  
  
Usually my laundry was mostly together.  But occasionally I would have to hunt for my bath towel (usually in the back room) or the babies' socks.  Twice I helped myself to new sheets (and then sent my old sheets out in the following day's laundry) and bathmats.  That was quite the treat!  In the back room there are several industrial sized washing machines.  We had wondered if all of that laundry was hand washed but it clearly is not.  All laundry is hung out on the lines to dry.  And then I think it is usually ironed as well.  

The laundry house in the pouring rain...but you can see on the far side of the laundry house is the burn pile where you can take your trash.

Laundry out on the line

Because I was living at St. Anne's with a baby I also did a lot of dishes.  Nat ate 6-8 bottles each day and I washed and sterilized nipples every single day.  I brought a big bowl (wish I had brought two), a scrubby brush, dish detergent, 6 nipples, the Zadro portable nipple sterilizer, and various cups, bowls, plates, and utensils.  We used everything regularly and did LOTS of dishes.  I only used filtered water (we hand pumped all of our water using the First Need water filter) and was glad I could heat it in our hot pot.  I used the playtex bottles with drop-in liners so it was really nice to just be able to toss out the liners rather than washing the whole bottle.  I also brought a few kitchen towels but I never sent those out with the laundry.  

  

St. Anne's does not have regular housekeeping.  You can request to have your room cleaned or they might occasionally come knock on your door and offer to clean it - but in my five weeks there I cleaned my room myself.  Every other day or so I would grab a broom or floor squeegee from down the hall (or down in the bar behind the door) and sweep out my bathroom and room.  And every 1-2 weeks I would wipe down the bathroom and the floor with lots and lots of Clorox wipes.  I brought LOTS of plastic Target bags, kitchen trash bags, and gallon Ziploc bags and used them for diapers, bottle liners, food particles, and other trash. I was super paranoid about bugs and rodents so I took out our trash daily (to the burn pile north of the laundry house) and tried to keep our room very, very clean.

  

I made good friends with much of the staff at St. Anne's.  My favorite buddy was definitely Blandine.  She works in house keeping and would come by room each morning after breakfast to visit with Katya (Katie) and Etienne (Nat).  She and Victorine (a very elderly and very lovely woman) and another awesome gentleman who was great with my kids were the regulars for house keeping.  They laughed and laughed at me borrowing the brooms and cleaning my own room.  Blandine would say, "Britta you are very woman" and give me a big hug!  

I love Blandine!!!

One of the biggest benefits of staying at St. Anne's is that you have the option of eating all of your meals there.  Breakfast is included and usually consists of bread (which you can toast), butter, jam, raw honey, and then some sort of fruit and some sort of protein.  The fruit item was usually papaya, bananas, or mangoes.  The protein was usually laughing cow cheese, sliced cheese, hot dogs, or a shredded meat sludge that most kids liked but most parents did not.  Occasionally we were served yummy salami or hard boiled eggs and once we had omelettes!  That was a happy morning for me.  For beverages there is tea, coffee, chilled filtered water, and sometimes juice.
  
Breakfast is served at 7:15 am - but you have to wait for the bell.  If you come to a meal before the bell is rung you will get on Francoise's bad side.  You don't want to do that!  Francoise is a lovely woman who does most of the cooking at St. Anne's.  Make friends with her!!!  And definitely respect the dining room rules!  

Our friend Francoise

Everyone sits at communal tables and at breakfast the food is on each table.  The round table is for the administrative staff at St. Anne's.  The far rectangular table is usually for the St. Anne's regular residents (Leone, Jos, etc.).  The adoptive families usually sit together and it is a nice time to visit with each other. There are four or five high chairs - but be sure to make sure that the smallest kiddos get first priority.
  
Near the front door of the dining hall there is a book.  You have to sign your name in that book every morning and indicate if you will be eating lunch and dinner at St. Anne's.  The first column is for your name, the second column for your room number, the third column for lunch, and the fourth column for dinner.  Write "Abs" if you will be absent from a meal and write "Pres" if you will be present.  Lunch is $15 per person - including children.  Dinner is $10 per person and children are free.  Lunch is the main meal of the day and there is a larger spread and occasionally even a dessert.  Dinner is a smaller meal and often is leftovers from lunch.  Check the white board by the book and see if they have indicated what is being served for lunch and dinner that day.  It might help you plan.  Remember - you MUST sign the book or you will be charged for both meals.
  
When we first arrived the meals at St. Anne's were lackluster.  But a few weeks into our stay some Italian adoptive families raised quite a ruckus about the food being served (and   after eating caterpillars and possibly bush meat I was rather glad).  Then the meals got SO much better.  Some of our favorites included spaghetti and meatballs, fried fish, fried chicken, roasted beef with au jous and mashed potatoes, and grilled chicken.  We also enjoyed a great basil soup and loved crepes for dessert.  The only beverage at mealtime is water but you can get a beer in the bar for $1.

Jennifer, Adam, Dacian, me, and Jeremy at breakfast (before Jeremy and I had our kiddos)

The infamous caterpillars (sauteed with onions)

A much tastier lunch of fried chicken and crepes!

Lunch is served at 12:30 pm and dinner is served at 7:00 pm.  Again, wait for the bell to ring.  If your room is too far away to hear the bell then you might want to hang out downstairs at mealtime approaches. Lunch and dinner are also served communally and everyone is expected to come right when the bell rings. If you arrive late you might miss your meal.  At lunch and dinner the food is placed on the long table buffet style.  Sometimes a cart is left in the dining hall and everyone is expected to clear their dishes and place them on the cart.
  
For families traveling with young children the meal times might conflict with nap time and/or bed time. For us, our kids' schedules conflicted with both.  Dad and I developed a routine of eating breakfast together downstairs, taking turns eating lunch (the first person had to eat fast so the second person could go down and fill a plate before the food was cleared) while the other sat in the room with napping kiddos, and then for dinner Dad would go get take-out from Hassan Market or we would order pizza from O'Poeta. We usually alternated between the two except Saturdays were always pizza night since Hassan is closed on Saturdays (it is owned by a Jewish family).  We also had some days were we ate meals from our stores of food from home or from groceries we picked up at the market.
  
O'Poeta was the only food delivery we could find.  Thankfully it is quite tasty.  You can call +0819922909 anytime between 12:30 pm and 11:00 pm.  They will not deliver when it is raining because their delivery is by motorcycle.  Our favorite pizza (by far) was the Pizza Pepperoni.  It is actually salami rather than pepperoni but it is very tasty.  I ended up with a Pizza Americaine and a Quatre Saisons on accident and did not like either one.  When you call you can ask to speak with someone who speaks English.  You might get lucky.  Or you can try to recruit a French speaker to help you order. I usually was pretty lucky with my limited French and the other person's limited English.  The hardest part is explaining the address of Procure St. Ann.  You just have to say (over and over again) that Procure St. Ann is on Dumi right off of Avenue des Aviateurs.  The Pizza Pepperoni is $22.40 and we usually paid the driver $25 and the change was his tip. Pizza also comes with a free Coke or Fanta but they are not chilled.
  
One O'Poeta pizza fed me, my Dad, and Katie Mumbi quite well.  They do have other items on the menu (fish, chicken, other meats) but their menu didn't list prices.  We have a friend who ordered their fish a few times and it seemed to cost as much as the pizza but be less food overall.  Dad and I just stuck with the pizza.
  
On our non-pizza nights we ate take-out from Hassan Market.  Hassan Market is just down the street from Procure St. Ann.  If you walk south on Dumi you will pass the U.S. Consulate and walk straight into the side entrance of Hassan.  We only did this during daytime ours and we always felt very safe.  I heard that walking north on Dumi towards the river is actually quite dangerous and not recommended.  My Dad confirmed this when he witnessed a mugging along that road one morning (from the safety of the St. Anne's rooftop).  Later into our trip we also discovered that you can get to Hassan Market by going out the gate to the east of the Cathedral and walking west on Avenue des Aviateurs.  This puts you right at the front entrance.

Don't walk north on Dumi!

But walking south on Dumi is okay.  Hassan Market is at the end of this street.  The US Consulate is on the right.

This is the gate east of the Cathedral.  There is a school to the left.

Walk out to the street and turn right to get to Hassan Market.

More to come....

-B