Baby Life

Over the next year and a half, several families with small children are scheduled to be joining our team here. Currently, we are the only one with little ones. Several recent conversations about kid stuff got me thinking about Levi and what his life looks like right now.

I’m a mom who likes routine and order. So, I leaned toward scheduled feedings and naps with both the girls. With Levi I have really adopted it into our lives. Works great for all involved! His day starts around 6am, follows a general pattern of one hour up-two hours sleeping, and he goes to bed around 8pm. Did I mention he is sleeping through the night!

Levi SLEEPS in a pack ‘n play with a mosquito net draped over it. The goal is one day to hang the net so we can stand under it with him if need be. We don’t have him on anti-malarial drugs so we do a lot of precautionary stuff. Examples: he always sleeps under a net, wears long pants and shirts if we go out at night, and we don’t generally take him outside after 5pm. Oh, it can get cool in the evenings so he usually sleeps in footy pajamas.

When we do GO OUT during the day I carry him in a sling. I used a snuggly with both girls and a Moby wrap. All have worked great. He usually has a sunhat on and sunscreen if need be. I almost always bring my diaper bag with us with a change of clothes, diapers, changing pad, wet bag or ziplock, blanket, and one toy.

Speaking of DIAPERS, we use cloth. Really basic ones. Squares of diaper flannel that I fold, secured with diaper pins with plastic pants to go over. They wash out great and dry fast. Even if I have to dry them inside due to rain. Major plus! Below is our “storage system”. Wet ones, poopy ones, and ones that have been rinsed and are soaking waiting to be washed. Joey, bless his bones, rinses the diapers out every night so I have empty buckets in the morning!

Levi is NURSING, but I brought bottles and stuff just in case we need to switch. You can get formula in Bunia, though I haven’t found it here. So I keep it on hand for emergencies.

PLAY time is simple these days. I keep a box in the living room with all his toys and a blanket in it. We have a bouncy swing we will set up soon. Joey built a mount for it when the girls were little since the door frames here don’t work with it naturally. Oh, we also have an outside swing but no swing set built yet. We have the parts though!  

MISC.

We bathe him in the sink or baby bath with filtered or boiled (and cooled) water.

I brought all the clothes we will need till he is two with us from the States.

He can roll from front to back now and loves to laugh with Daddy!