I think Gabriel is feeling better. By late afternoon yesterday he seemed himself again, smiling and red-cheeked. He slept ok the first part of the night, although from midnight til 5 a.m. he woke up every hour. I wonder though if that was because I was sleeping in his room? I wanted to keep an eye on him in case he threw up again, but perhaps my being there woke him up (I'm pretty sure I snore, and I know I talk in my sleep!). So I feel pretty tired right now.
This morning I gave him rice cereal and he nursed well, then had the most foul-smelling poop he's ever produced, all up his back too. He got a sink bath before his first nap!
It's been awhile since I've commented here about the kids' development. Valerie's been on a long plateau speech-wise, but recently made another leap. She's adding more words, plus pronouncing others more clearly - e.g. "Mmamma" --> "Bananana." And she's starting telling little stories, narratives of things that have impacted her.
Here's one she tells a lot, about our trip to Durres (post and pictures forthcoming):
Val-Val fun play sand. Val-Val play ocean just [like] seagulls, go walk, run agua Dada.
(She loved running away from the waves with Terry)
Here's another one:
Val-Val got stuck outside, can't open door, Val-Val crying. Pesh [Shpresa] find, hear crying, 'Where's Val-Val?" open door, Mama get Val-Val big hug.
So, a translation:
One day Shpresa and I were in the living room, where I was showing her how to carry Gabriel in the ring sling. Valerie was running around and we weren't paying too much attention to her. A minute or two later Shpresa said "I'll just go check on Valerie" and went down the hall towards the kids' bedrooms. The next thing I knew, Valerie was running towards me sobbing, with Shpresa behind her looking stunned. My first thought was that V had hurt herself because her hand was on her own forehead, so I gathered her into my arms to comfort her, but Shpresa said that she'd been outside the apartment. Val couldn't open the apartment door in our other place by herself, but here she can! She'd gone outside and the door had shut behind her and she couldn't open it to come back in. Shpresa had heard her crying and opened the door to find her there. So now we always put the deadbolt on when we're at home, so she can't open the door by herself.
(Some of the elements of her story are things I told her, like "Shpresa went looking for you, she said 'where's Val-Val?' and she heard you crying so she opened the door.")
That was like two weeks ago and she's still talking about it.
::
Gabriel is getting ready to crawl! He's been pushing up on his hands and knees. Up until this latest illness, his sleep was getting better too - waking twice at night to nurse, and taking much longer naps in the daytime - sometimes only two naps almost 2 hours each, instead of four half-hour naps or three 45-minute naps like before. It feels like three steps forward and two steps back sometimes, but I think overall we can see progress. He also loooooves to be supported in a standing position and will lock his knees so you can't get him to sit down!
::
Terry (not technically one of the kids, I know, but it's hard to tell sometimes) has been having terrible insomnia - waking up at 1 or 2 a.m. and not being able to fall back asleep. He joined a gym this week hoping more regular exercise will help him sleep better at night, and is cutting back on coffee in the afternoons.
Not sure why he was making this face - probably I tried to give him a bite of food he didn't want!
I was bored while we were waiting for Valerie to be done playing on the steps so we could go inside
He's getting the hang of shaking the little rattlers and tapping them with the hammer!
The boy loooooooves bread - he'd eat nothing but bread if I gave him that option. He grabs it and crams as much as he can into his mouth at once! (The booster seat is one we borrowed and since then have passed on to another friend, while we borrowed their high chair - musical kid stuff!)
I had this notion to take Easter pictures of the kids in this meadow of buttercups (a scant 10-15 minute walk from our house - it's near the big artificial lake), but I didn't have the energy to try to wrangle Valerie into a pretty dress. I don't think I'll ever be able to match the over-the-top adorableness of 
Here (above), she wanted me to sing "We Thank You God" (what we usually sing for Grace before meals), adding many more verses thanking God for pretty much everything I could think of - the flower and trees, birds and sunshine, etc. etc. That's why she's clapping, too (she always claps after we sing).
