Day 6--The Highs and the Lows

I woke up this morning to the loveliest little high.  It was very early, probably about 4am.  Baby L was crawling around in circles, but I kept my eyes closed hoping she'd just lay down and go back to sleep.  After a minute she stopped moving so I opened my eyes to see if she had settled in and there she was staring back at me, her little nose almost touching mine. 

And then she said it.  "Mama".  Oh my heart.  This girl is gonna have me wrapped around her little finger.

The morning took a steep nosedive from there.  Brian started feeling bad and then worse and then "this is the sickest I can ever remember being"!  We think it might be food poisoning, but there are so many things that can make you sick while you're traveling that there is no telling.  We think the culprit might be a coconut creme cake.  He ate it, I did not.  Even if that's not to blame, I bet he never eats coconut again!

So in the midst of Brian throwing up, and everything else you can imagine that goes with food poisoning we get another high--our exit letter is ready. Which means we are done and we can leave the country and take our girls home as soon as we like. Except we can't leave because Brian is throwing up all over the country and it is obviously not a good idea to have him throwing up all over a plane. It is hard enough to travel with two infants, but if you are not feeling 100% ready for it, it will turn into one of those stories that you tell your drinking buddies about--"I remember the time I flew home from Kinshasa with food poisoning and two babies with diarrhea. Ha ha ha, those were the days!"

No thank you.

So for right now we are playing it by ear. If Brian wakes up miraculously cured of his symptoms, then we may try to get a late night flight out. But if he is still puny we will probably just fly out when we were scheduled to this weekend.

Either way I am pretty OK with it. I definitely want to get home to my kids and get this party of 8 started, but they are all doing well with Grandma and her team of cracker jack babysitters. On the other hand, just knowing that I can leave at anytime makes the stress of being her significantly less. And there have been some lovely people here helping me out. They helped me wrangle the girls while Brian took nap number 37 of the day. They walked with me to the market so I could fetch keep-Brian-alive supplies. They offered me extra toilet paper. Now in Kinshasa, that's real friendship that will last a lifetime. Thanks B :)

So whatever happens tomorrow, tonight we are a family according to all the people who had to sign off on it and make it official. And according to Baby L, I am Mama!

Oh my heart!

Below, as promised, some pictures of the backs of some very beautiful heads.  I know you're dying to see the fronts.  Oh yes you are, they are gorgeous!!