I Am That Woman

When hubby isn't around to walk the dog, Tembo, I get to do it.  It's more challenging now with Kaya, but I just strap her to me in a sling and take the dog by the leash.  This weekend that was even more challenging when half way through the walk Kaya decided she was hungry.

Instead of Kaya crying for another 15 minutes of the walk, I loosened the sling, slid her down and let her latch on.  I was on a quiet street with no one around so it wasn't a big deal.  I continued walking, Tembo sniffing here and there and peeing here and there.  We rounded the corner and another dog, Shadow, appeared.  He and Tembo have circled and sniffed each other quite intensely and they did the same thing this time.

So, I have Kaya half way in the sling with one arm supporting her as she nurses with a flap of the sling covering her head so no one can see anything, and I have Tembo's leash in the other hand hoping he and Shadow don't decide that this is the time they are going to get aggressive.

Thankfully, Shadow's owner called him back and I was able to get Tembo to walk.

We rounded the next corner, and whoops, there's a billy goat tethered on the side of the street hanging out for the Muslim holiday, Tabaski, later this week..  Tembo wants to play and the three men sitting on the opposite side of the street have questions and comments, "Will the dog attack the goat?" "Ah, that goat's angry.  You don't want to pester him!"  I respond that Tembo just wants to play and continued some small talk while still nursing hoping that Kaya doesn't decide to pull off flip off the cover anytime soon.

I made it home a few minutes later having successfully walked the dog and breastfed at the same time.

The next day hubby and I walked the dog together, and again, Kaya decides she's hungry half way through.  So, again I slid her down in the sling and let her nurse.  This time I didn't even have the dog to deal with, but it seemed so much harder to walk and nurse at the same time.  At any rate, I'm sure all the neighborhood guards think I'm the crazy white lady who walks around the neighborhood nursing!

Raising Baby in Benin

I wasn't looking forward to coming back to Benin after Kaya was born.  I had a lot of concerns about how everything would work in my new world of mothering in a foreign culture- nanny, malaria, and unsolicited advice from others.

Three weeks in, many of my fears are relieved.  Brigitte, our nanny during the day, is great with Kaya!  It's fun to watch her play and nice to be able to hand Kaya off in the morning and not worry about her while I'm at work.  The mosquitoes are much less of a worry. We've got mosquito nets, mosquito stroller covers and mosquito spray.  Remaining quite vigilant!

Thankfully, I haven't gotten much unsolicited advice, and I let go any that I do get.  However, since being back, I don't get just a "Bonjour" as a greeting from people I pass in the street or from my colleagues at work.  I get the greeting and "et le bébé?".  And, how's the baby?  "She's well", I always reply.  Sometimes they don't even say hello, they just ask, "et le bébé?" !

The weird part is that walking around our neighborhood, a few of the guards and even one of my colleagues have said that Kaya is "their girl" and someday they'll marry her!  I'm sure this, in their minds, is supposed to be some kind of compliment.  I try not to get creeped out and just reply that they'll have to get in line because three other guys already want to marry her.

Hopefully, things won't get weirder around here!

Really, This Time

I'm an excellent procrastinator, thinker and planner. But, when it comes to actually writing a blog and writing with some consistency, forget about it!

This is my newest attempt, especially now that I'll have little Kaya stories to tell along with stories of living abroad.