1 week home in pictures

the artist at work: thanks to his new easel!

future heart breaker: we call it "Blue Steel"

Image 1: a game we play at mealtime "here Mama, have a bite"

Image 2: "ha ha too slow!" he ate it right out from under me! then I act upset that I didn't get a bite. they both think it's hilarious and try to feed me pretty often during meals. It's even cuter when Garak does it bc he is SO slow at pulling the bite back to his own mouth and then he just throws his head back and giggles.

Mama's boy!

It's official, no one could be cuter than this!

how's life in America? pretty good.

beautiful baby at the beach

burying Uncle Brian

sand angel! oh when we got home we took a shower in Mommy's shower w/the detachable sprayer on full blast massage getting all the sand out of that hair!

turtles

future Polo model?

The Way Life Should Be!

There's new Art Space in the kitchen thanks to Auntie Sarah and Uncle Brian!

Daddy's glasses

Don't I look smart?

A new meaning for lap dancing. This was to the Wiggles' "Mashed Potato"

Calling Uganda

You may be wondering if it is expensive to call Uganda.  Well not the way my boys were doing it this morning.  Gramma Brimer came over to visit and have brunch and she had left her house phone in her pocket.  It wasn't getting any connection to the receiver since it was too far away but it was fully charged so it still made a noise when one pushed the buttons.  This was all the boys needed.  Hayden prompty began placing calls to Uganda.
--allo!
--wange!
--friends alliwah? [where are my friends]
--Friends? [note: at this point I asked him if he meant Matthew, Johhny, Marly and Natalie and he replied "Yesh!" then he continued to ask whomever he was talking to about everyone from the guest house]
--Tata Herb-u? Mama Ellen-y? an a motocarsh? [our hosts and their van. he LOVED that van!]
--mamma Junior? [the cook]
--Junior and Matthew's a school-u? [his bff's who left for boarding school while we were there]
--Tata Benji, Benji and Momma Benji [the groundskeeper and his family]
--baby doggie Roxie?
--okay bye bye seeyalater
--I love you!

it didn't cost a dime but he was satisfied having checked in on everyone that he cared about from our life at the guest house. LOVE IT!!

Elise & the boys

Norm's w/ some of our dearest friends today at the park

1st look at live Lobsters.  He looked at the menu and pointed at the picture of Lobsters and said "Johhny going eating lobshtah" so later in the meal I gave him a bite of mine and he chewed it curiously and then exclaimed "Lobshtah is yum yum!"  This kid was born to live in Maine!

2 little lobsters

several times I was asked if we could go out in those boats.  these boys need to go on a boat ride!

what a beautiful end to the evening. 10mins to home from here

Also, we are all still sick which may explain why I am still feeling very numb emotionally. I am really still just surviving day to day.  It was kinda bothering me that I wasn't more mushy and weepy and such.  After all this is pretty monumental to be home with the boys in my house!  I was encouraged by the events of this evening when we were putting the boys to bed after a lovely dinner at the Weathervane at Belfast harbor with our friends Josh, LeeAnn and Elise.  Norman was reading The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein [his favorite book which we noted with a lump in our throats tonight has a handwritten note from 1981 from Uncle Dave and Aunt Heather] with great passion to the boys as their bedtime story.  The tree had her own voice and the boy's voice got deeper as the pages went on.  It was one of the most precious things I have seen to date, quite frankly.  I wish it was on tape for me to watch again.  I do still have feelings.  They are just hiding under the sick and tiredness.  I could feel the tears starting to bubble up under the surface.  In my heart there was this sense of THIS is what I have been waiting for all these months.  Sweet stories at bedtime. The boys' first time hearing daddy read The Giving Tree.  Yes, I am really home and this is really my life.  

1st week in review

Everyday the boys have taken at least a 2hr nap and have slept for a minimum of 10hrs at night. There have been no tears at bedtime and they climb happily into their pack n plays after bath, story and hugs.  This is a continuation of their habits in Uganda and one I am thankful they have kept up!  They are actually sleeping better here than there!  Momma and Daddy have not quite gotten as much sleep as the boys [can you imagine!] but we have been heading to bed around 9-9:30pm and sometimes resting during boys' nap times.  Mommy is still very tired and not quite adjusted back to this USA reality yet but is enjoying the melding of 2 separate familiar lives around me.  One here at my house and the other from my month with the boys in Uganda. They are melding into a beautiful life.
Sunday -- arrived home exhausted but thankful. ate supper at the Weathervane in Portland. dressed the boys in PJ's there and put them straight to bed from their cars seats [already asleep] when we got home. The car seat received a review of "no thank you" from them and some tears on the first day but they have been fine ever since so that is great! 
Monday -- jetlagged and sick, Norm stayed home w/us. boys and Mommy went to the park w/Gramma Brimer
Tuesday -- jetlagged and sick, Norm stayed home w/us. boys and Mommy went to the park w/Daddy but it rained so we then all went to Perry's Nut house which was really fun!! they rode on the jungle jeep ride and saw so many interesting things! they learned a magic trick from the owner which they remembered how to do the next day...so smart!
Wednesday --  jetlagged and sick but we went to the DR and found out what we have is viral so just wait it out and also that we need to have the boys immunized once they are feeling better.  went to the park and beach w/Grampa Brimer. Ate dinner at our dear friends'/neighbors' [Mark, Luda & Julia] house.  Sarah and Brian arrived around 7:30pm.
Thursday -- it rained all day. we had to stay inside which was hard. the boys kept asking to go out and play.  Sarah and I played with them in their room while Uncle Brian cleaned the entire downstairs!  Then during nap Auntie Sarah and I sorted all their clothes by size etc. and set up their dresser neatly.  After nap, Hayden obliged us with a fashion show of sorts while we tried everything on him for size.  angel baby! he likes cleaning and doesn't mind trying on clothes!
Friday -- Norman worked. the rest of us headed to the Belfast "metro area" and hit up Goodwill and Bell the Cat [where we found Janey of course! so nice to see her!] followed by the Lincolnville beach. boys went for nap late at 2:45. the big guys played Mario cart.
Saturday -- Momma got a break when Norman, Brian and Sarah and the boys headed to town to run errands and I stayed home!!  It was SO nice. I took a very long nap and hope it will speed my recovery as I have a bad cold [so does gramma Brimer. the boys seem to be on the mend] and I slept very poorly last night.  Sarah and Brian said goodbye and headed back to NY via NH to see the birthday girl, Molly Proch, turning 11 today.  1 week ago today we were just getting to our cruising altitude out of Entebbe... hard to believe. Amazing.

auntie Shawa & uncle Blyan

My house is clean.  Like really clean.  As in washed floors and things packed up and taken to Goodwill clean. hooray!!!  My dear Sheesh (aka: Sarah Soules) came to visit me along with her DH [dear husband] Brian and they were such an encouragement!  They both made sense of piles of little boys' things and clothes and tidied up the place.  The boys & I really enjoyed their company as well!! (So did Norman btw but he was at work most of the time they were here.)

Uncle Brian 2 the rescue!

the boys, my dear Sheesh and I at Da BEEEEEch

plz note: Sarah occupying boys while Brian cleans the kitchen!!

happy family

da beeech!!

Every time we would look through our family book, the boys would shout repeatedly, "da beeech!!" until I flipped to the page with photos of the beach.  Well, my friends, today we discovered that it is a real place where you can play and throw rocks and splash and where it doesn't matter if you get "meh-chi" (see yesterday's blog for more on that one).  What a thrill!! Here's in the result more beautifully expressed in pictures than a thousand words could write you.

in case you were wondering what we need

http://www.myregistry.com/public/brimerpartyof4 
I tried to make this easy by having everything be an online store so you could just ship it right to us. We especially want a rug for their play area but anything on here would be great.  They are wearing 3T right now (2T is a bit short on them but they are so thin that the waist of a 2T is too big still) and size 9 shoes. They are both in pull-ups and don't have many accidents during the day. Thanks.