A True African Baby

If you have ever been to Africa, you have most likely seen the black women walking around with babies tied to their backs.  We have all of these fancy contraptions to carry our babies in, but they just use towels or blankets.  Most of the maids will carry around the babies at the homes they work in, while they do their work.  And Kinley just got old enough to be carried!

Our maid, Magdeline stayed with us this weekend to babysit because we had a wedding on Friday and Saturday.  So she thought we would try out carrying Kinley and see how she liked it.  Luckily I was home to capture her first "ride."  I had previously voiced my concerns with Magdeline about how I worry that the babies are just going to fall right out of the bottom of the towel.  But she assured me, "No!  They dont fall out.  I dont know why, but they just dont!"  I guess I just have to trust!  AHHH!

Hold on!

Happy Halloween!

"Who put the bop in the bop shoo wop!" Here is our little rollerskating 50's girl!  The crocheted roller skates were mine when I was little.  I have been looking for an excuse for her to wear them, and Halloween seemed perfect.  So I made a little poodle skirt for her to finish off the costume. 

The Embassy had Trick-or-Treating on Friday, but Kinley was in the middle of a nap, so we missed it.  So I just had to dress her up for pictures.  She'll never know the difference!  Lee had dressed up as Venkman, from Ghostbusters, so we got some cute pics of them together.  I didnt get a chance to dress up this year :(  Probably the first year in my life. 

Rice Cereal

I took Kinley to the doctor on Wednesday and he gave her a big thumbs up!  Last time we checked with him, she was in the 2nd percentile of weight!  Now, she is in the 25th!  Woo Hoo!! She now weights
12 lbs, 14 oz.  And she is in the 75th percentile in head circumference and length.  So we are glad to see she is growing.

He also told me to start her on rice cereal.  I know in the US, you are told to wait until 6 months.  But when in Rome...

We are now heading off to Cape Town!  Lee has to go for work next week, and since our Anniversary is on Tuesday, we decided to make it a family affair.  Hope the weather is good.

Halloween: Hate it or Love it?

Anyone that knows us, knows that we LOVE Halloween.  We take pride in our costumes and love coming up with the ideas and making them. We are a bit sad about it this year because it isnt that big of a deal here and we dont have anywhere to go dressed in costume. :(  Very heartbreaking for the Carnells, especially since this will be Kinley's first year to participate. 

But we are now wondering if Kinley Hates or Loves the holiday?!  She was sitting in her Bumbo seat on the dining room table the other night and she found the Halloween decorations!

If she loves it, I would say: It was so cute, she was reaching for the pumpkins and patting the witch!

If she hates it, I would say: She threw the pumpkin over and attacked the witch!

4 months already?

Our little girl is already 4 months old!  One-third of a year gone, just like that.  It is so fun to watch her and wonder what her little mind is thinking all the time.  She is so observant and watches everything that is going on.  This morning I thought she was going to fall out of her Bumbo seat trying to lean over to watch Rugby!  And she is already picking up bad habits.  She LOVES TV!  She is absolutely mesmerized by it, especially if it is a dancing show.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that means she is going to be a dancer.  

Thanks to Sherry, we have the Jenny Jump Up and she likes going in that.  She still isnt "bouncing" in it, but she twirls around and sucks on it!  And it gives mommy a few minutes to get things done, so that is nice. 

Just like my daddy

There are moments that I get glimpses of Kinley and think she looks like me.  But most of the time she looks like Lee.  Everyone always says it, but I am not sure Lee really saw it until a few weeks ago.  We went to get her passport pictures taken, and as soon as Lee looked at them he said, "Oh my gosh!  She looks just like me!  There is a picture of me when I was a baby wearing a sailor outfit and she looks just like that."  Obviously he hadnt paid attention when his mom and I said the same thing about this sailor picture way before the passport picture was taken.  At least he sees it now.  Take a look for yourselves.  * I put my pic there too in case you wanted to see the slight resemblance!

                  

Cape Town

My mom is in town while Lee is back in DC.  Since she had already been on safari the first time she came, I thought it would be fun to go to Cape Town.  Lee was mad that we were going without him, but that’s what he gets for leaving us! 

Kinley’s first flight was great.  Her ears didn’t seem to bother her and she even took a pretty decent nap.  The lady in front of us even commented about how great she did.  I am sure she was dreading the flight as soon as she saw us get on with a baby!  I know I always used to hate seeing that!

We are staying at a great hotel in Bantry’s Bay, just a short walk to the ocean.  There isn’t really much “beach” around here but it is nice to watch the huge waves crash against the rocks.  The rocks, or boulders really, are beautiful and the surf hitting them is mesmerizing to watch.  

Protea Hotel President

We got here Monday afternoon and just drove around to the nearby beaches to check it out.  Tuesday I finally got to see Kinley roll over!! It rained in the morning, so we spent the day shopping.  Guess who was the only one that left the mall with new things?  KINLEY!  Nana couldn’t resist buying everything she saw.  We shopped at the Waterfront and it had an amazing view of Table Mountain, but of course I had left the camera in the car. 

Wednesday we went to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden and the flowers were beautiful.  It is just the beginning of Spring, so I am sure it will be even more amazing in the next few weeks.  Kinley was sick of being in her carseat, so we just put her in the stroller.  But then she was sick of that (I think she was just exhausted) so I carried her in the Baby Bjorn.  But we still had the stroller and it was difficult to push on the rock walkways, so we didn’t get to see everything.  Then we drove around the town of Constantia in the Winelands and saw some wonderful vineyards.  We planned to have lunch there, but my mom had an accident!!

OOPS

 

Yes, it looks EXACTLY like she peed in her pants.  And I sure wish that was the story cause it would make it even better.  But she just spilled Kinleys bottle all over her while she was trying to mix it in the car.  She didn’t hear me say I was pulling over, so the bump getting off the road just dumped all the water and the formula on her!  So we had to come back to the hotel.  And then decided to check out the pool.  It was a gorgeous day and the sun was hot, but the pool was so cold!  I put Kinley’s feet in and she pulled them right out!  But then she got used to it and kicked a little bit.  She only ever got up to her waist, but that was enough in the cold.  She didn’t fuss or cry, so hopefully she will be a water lover.  Also had a great sunset!

Today we decided to head down to Cape Point.  This is supposedly where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, but really, it is at a different place.  The little tram that takes you to the point was broken and it was a pretty steep hike up, so we just drove as far as we could and called it good!  It was a beautiful drive there though.  We saw some beautiful beaches and amazing mountain cliffs.  Pretoria doesn’t feel like Africa, but Cape Town REALLY doesn’t feel like it.  We stopped at Boulder Beach to see a penguin colony.  Supposedly there are thousands that live there, but we only saw about 20.  And we saw a huge boulder out in the ocean full of seals.  

Hout Bay

Noordhoek

False Bay

Seals

Boulders Beach

We stopped at Camps Bay on our way back and took Kinley to the beach.  She is so cute in her little bathing suit.  The sand is superfine and so soft.  We got an umbrella and laid her on some towels in the shade.  Then I let her kick her feet around in the sand and she seemed to like it.  I was going to go at least put her feet in the ocean, but I am glad I didn’t!  Everyone has always told us that the ocean here is freezing, but that doesn’t even come close to how cold it was.  A wave came up and just touched my feet and took my breath away.  Usually that doesn’t happen until it touches my stomach.   My feet were immediately frozen numb, so I didn’t think that would be good for Kinley.  So I just sat her down in the wet sand to play for a bit.  She got sand all over her hands and of course put them straight in her mouth.  She didn’t mind at all though.  

Just laying out on the beach by herself!

We finally had a nice seafood dinner tonight at a restaurant.  All other nights we have eaten here at the hotel (usually room service), so it was nice to get out.  And Kinley was so well behaved.  Just sat and talked and played with her feet the entire time, even though I know she was so exhausted.  She has been an angel the entire trip, which I was worried about.  I guess this was good practice for our big trip to the US at Christmas. We head back to Pretoria tomorrow and get ready for Lee to come home on Sunday!  Cant wait!