Babies in Bolivia

I'm not going to talk too much about our Bolivia trip overall here, since you can read all about it here. But there are a couple baby/kid related thoughts and stories I had to share.

• DIY baby carriers. One other thing Naomi (official trip photog) really wanted a photo of was a woman carrying a baby in a bundle on her back. We saw lots of people carrying various things - including babies - in blankets they tied to their backs, but never could quite get that Kodak moment.
• Reusable disposables? Naomi is pretty sure she saw disposable diapers hanging out on a clothesline. We kept an eye out for them after that (would've loved to have a photo of that!) but never saw anything like it again. That would put a whole new twist on the diaper debate, wouldn't it? (Speaking of new twists, a certain new-father-to-be I know recommends skipping diapers altogether and just hosing the little one off as necessary. )
• No klutzy kids here! The kids at the orphanage we worked at were amazing. They knew how to do all kinds of cool stuff without hurting themselves. The ground was really hilly there, and you'd see a little girl standing right on the edge of a drop off, but she wouldn't fall. The Hubs saw kids under 10 cleaning up the grounds with machetes (they seem to prefer those over weed-whippers in Bolivia) and no one was missing fingers. Later, some boys talked the Hubs into helping them build a fort. When they showed him what they had done so far, they were placing large sticks into - not mud - concrete. (We're still not sure where they got that from.) The suburban kids I know tend to do things like cut themselves when opening a pocketknife or fall off the curb. What does it take to have kids that don't constantly injure themselves? Do you need to move to the jungle?
  

Ok, that's enough for now. I'll try to post a few more photos later.

Back again

Well, I've got one more country to add to my list, but so many more to go...



(Create your own visited country map or check World66's Venice travel guide.)

Hasta luego

Tomorrow we're off to Bolivia!

Things you can do while I'm gone:

• Answer this in the comments: Assuming your baby has diapers, clothing and a bottle, what three other items would you choose in order to care for him or her?
  
• Those of you who are interested in following our Bolivian adventures can visit our church's blog.
• Subscribe to this blog's feed (over there on the right), so you'll know once I'm posting again.

See you in a couple weeks!

Bringing baby

In an earlier post I mentioned roadblocks to traveling with children to Bolivia. Well, I just ran across this Lonely Planet Bluelist, which made backpacking with a one-year-old across Southeast Asia totally seem doable. (Several of their recommendations would come in handy for in-country camping or road tripping, as well.) That lead me to this Bluelist of things to keep in mind when flying with an infant.

So take your kids and hit the road!

P.S. If you're unfamiliar with Lonely Planet's Bluelists, you might want to start here.

Watch out for lurking blankets

While I was waiting at Public Health to get the last of my travel vaccines, the Hubs decided I needed some reading material. So he brought me baby brochures. One was called "Babies Sleep Safest on Their Backs," obviously about reducing the risk of SIDS. I already knew you were supposed to lay babies on their backs, but I didn't know they recommend not using a blanket when the baby is sleeping. Or if you insist on using a blanket, it says to "make sure your baby is 'feet to foot' in the crib." Which apparently means "the baby's feet are at the bottom of the crib, the blanket is no higher than the baby's chest, and the blanket is tucked in around the crib mattress." Basically (I had to look at the photo to figure this out), put the baby at the bottom of the crib with the blanket tucked in so it's only chest high. Did you know about that? Is that still current information? Based on the photo of the Surgeon General David Satcher, I believe the brochure was at least 5 years old. Do you put a blanket on your baby? Do you follow the "feet to foot" rule?

Arranging things

I've been busy. We leave for Bolivia in LESS THAN A WEEK! I've figured out some of the stuff I'll pack, gotten all my shots, bought most of the things I needed to and have been reading, speaking or listening to Spanish a little every day. I'm not totally ready, but I'm getting there.

At least I got this blog straightened out. So for those of you who are interested, here's what's going on in the sidebar:

• Nifty new links to boldavenue.com and the Fam Fare page of my shop.

• Site feed - now through Feed Burner. Sign up to receive our posts via your feed reader or email.
  

• del.icio.us - I recently started moving my bookmarks over. Check out what I've been checking out, add me to your network or save this page.
• Coming up - Topics for discussion that will be appearing as posts...eventually.
• Faves - Each item links to the post where I mentioned it, so you can find out why it made the list.
  
• Archive - I thought the monthly view was getting a little out of control. What do you think? Is weekly better?
• I also updated my reading list and (finally) my profile.

Now you've got some reading to do! ;)