Snake!

You can tell the rainy season is slowly approaching. The frequency of the rain is increasing with each week. I think the rainy season officially starts on 15 April, but the past two days have been very wet and windy. Last night the winds knocked over our fence at the house and knocked over a lot of trees in the area. Today marks the "1 month to go" at the team site. Ill be leaving for check out in Monrovia on 26 April. Woohoo! That time cannot come pass enough. We have all members of my team back at the side, so we are at full strength. We also are receiving a Ghanaian Captain next week. Our teammate from Jordan came down with Malaria yesterday so he is at the Bangladesh hospital recovering. But everything is still going smoothly in Liberia. Here are some pics:

Liberia is in full swing with the cashew and mango season. Above is a cashew tree located outside our office. I have not tried the fruit yet, but it supposedly very sweet and good. We have collected some of the nuts, dried them and ate some. They were tasty. You can also eat the leaves, which my Malaysian teammate makes a lot of in his dishes me makes.

This is the cashew fruit. You can see at the bottom where the cashew nut is.

I think we are in pineapple season too. You can find plenty of people selling pineapples on the side of the road. I bought these three for 150 LD (~$2). One day we returned to the office from a patrol and we see the security guards burning two large palm trees right outside our office door. They said they saw 2 snakes in the tree and were going to burn the trees to flush them out. So I ran to the office to collect my camera and waited with them to see these jumping snakes. We waited for 2 hours but no snakes ever came out. They thought they were burned and were dead. I told them that if they found it/killed it, to bring it by the office so I can see it. The next day one of them brought me this beauty. He said he saw it crawling on the palm and so he shot and killed it with his sling shot! They called this a yellow snake but I looked it up in a Liberia book that I have and it closely resembles a Jameson Mamba, which has neurotoxic venom. After the photo op I gave it back to him. He chopped the head and tail off with his machete and put it in his backpack to eat later for dinner. The other snake, which they said was the bigger one, is still unaccounted for.

I dont know what the deal is but these past few months have revealed a lot of snake activity in Liberia. This snake was about 6 feet long. No big deal.Today we visited with the Gbarnga Drug Enforcement Agency. This is the DEA chief's office (grey shirt). After we were done talking he took us back to the drug warehouse where they store all the drugs that they confiscate. He had mostly marijuana but showed us some cocaine as well. This is a jug that they hide drugs in to pass through checkpoints. Here are two large bags of marijuana they confiscated this past week. He said each bag weighs 60 kg, which is about 135 lbs.

Just another Day in Liberia

Im sitting her on duty and figured I would throw out another post for you all. I know everyday you wake up and the first thing you do is check this blog for my updates. So I hope I do not disappoint. Everything is still plugging along here. Force HQ is throwing around ideas of restructuring the team sites by dissolving the team in Kakata - which is near Monrovia, and standing it up a new team near the border of Ivory Coast. The UN and UNHCR has been really active in the border towns building shelters and providing food and water to the tens of thousands of refugees. There still no known refugees in Bong County, which is where our team site is located. I went into town (Monrovia) this past week to take care of some admin items and was able to swing by the store to purchase provisions that I hope will last me until the end of my mission. I picked up the bare necessities; tuna and oatmeal. This week was not too fun at the house... We didnt have electricity for 4 of the 7 days and we didnt have water for 3 of the 7 days. I was able to deal with the lack of water by taking a baby wipe shower but dealing with no power was difficult. It really has been extremely hot these past few days and sleeping at night has been difficult in the heat and humidity. The power was fixed on Friday night and the water was brought to the house on Thursday. So everything is back to being awesome. I guess that is about it for now. Here are some pics:

To continue the trend of African critters, while driving into work this week I noticed one of the security guys was holding a snake. I stopped to talk to him and take some pictures. He said he killed it with a stick when he saw it in the bushes chasing after a frog. I asked him what it was, and he said it was a BLACK COBRA! What! Holy crap! I got a little closer and was able to see the distinctive hood of the cobra. Oh, also notice this dude is wearing a down jacket! What?! It is like 80 degrees (~7am in the morning) out and he is cold. 

Here you can see it's hood... I asked him what he was going to do with it and he said he was taking it home to eat it for dinner. Yum!

This was me talking to some nice people in the town of Whreyou. We had difficulty talking to them because they didnt understand or speak English well. We have been working with the Force HW about getting a translator and I think we will receive one in April. It will help, but in my opinion, will be a crutch for my team mates and make them even more lazy.

This was a car we drove up on while returning to Gbarnga from Monrovia.

This is the National Elections Commission in Totota (Lower Bong County). We visited the two NEC's in our County yesterday to find out how preparations were going for the Presidential and general elections in October.... Their response was, "Elections, what elections?" haha. Well, they really didnt say that, but really I think that is what the reality is. They are so far behind schedule and need so much to make this elections go smoothly. It will be interesting to see how it all goes in Oct.

Here is Maj Abdullah (Jordan) with the Upper Bong County NEC Magistrate.

Visitor

Hello once again. My first week and a half of being back is in the books and I am on my way to closing out this deployment. I am all caught up with the current events and have an idea of what has been going on. There is still no changes in Ivory Coast and we are still receiving refugees by the thousands every day. Things at the team site are still pretty slow and uneventful. We received a new team member from Pakistan and he moved into the house Im living in. Our other housemate, the team leader from Paraguay, is still away on his leave and will be returning in a few weeks. Speaking of new housemates... I was watching a movie on my computer before I went to bed the other night and saw something moving in the corner of my eye... I look over and see a little black scorpion moving across the room. I grabbed the camera and snapped a few picks before going outside to ask one of the security to assassinate it. Johnson came back with a club and killed it. Creepy! I now make it a habit to shake out boots and clothes before putting them on in the morning. Who knows what crawls into them at night while I am sleeping. I had something funny happen to me today... I went into town to buy bananas and a boy that was there kept wanting to hold my hand. This is nothing new to me because a lot of the kids come up to us to talk and touch us. They all like to touch the white man. They play some sort of game of double dare or something... they run up and touch you and run away. Well, today this boy kept wanting to touch my hand and finally he looked over to his friends and said "he is really soft." Then the rest of the kids came up and had to touch my soft hands. Crazy kids. Oh, and the UN is hosting a "UN Idol" in Monrovia next week. Anyone wanting to participate can come into town for the competition. I have been practicing all my Justin Beiber songs so I can impress the judges. Here are some photos from this past few days:

This is the County court in Lofa county.

Hanging with the locals

Okay, so maybe it wasnt a little scorpion. This thing was enormous! (The tiles that you see in the picture are 12" long). Crazy. It took a pretty hefty whack to kill the thing too. After Johnson and I returned to the room, we couldnt find it. So we had to move some bags and things around and finally he reappeared.

This was minutes before his execution.

This is to give you a little perspective of the size of this thing I put my mobile phone next to it. I think the body of the beast was at least 5-6 inches.... and then the tail was another 5-6 inches. We had to circumnavigate this bridge that was in poor shape. When the rainy season arrives, this bridge is notorious for being washed out.

Hanging with some more locals.

Snot-nosed Kid

Thursday my little bear started up with a NASTY cough.  It was really really bad.  So I took her to the doctor on Friday.  She had a slight fever but tested negative for the flu, so the doctor said it was just a bad cold.  So she has been pitiful for several days and up half the night for several nights.  Today she is still coughing and has a runny nose, but it is getting better for sure.  Now Mommy is coughing, which is fine.  I felt guilty with her sick and me fine.  So now we can be miserable together :-)

We also had a huge change of plans for the next couple of months.  With Leyton being sick, I decided to nix our trip to Europe.  I decided I wasn't quite up to the challenge of Space A and touring Europe with a sick baby.  So we pushed that trip back for awhile and hopefully next time ALL the Campoamor's can go visit.  In the meantime, WE ARE MOVING TO CALIFORNIA!  I am packing up now and we will probably leave sometime next week.  I plan to only drive about 6 hours a day, so it will take me 6 days to get there.  All my Memphis peeps.. we will be making a stop there!  Stay tuned for dates.  We are of course very sad to leave all of our Virginia family behind, but very excited to sleep in our own beds.  And Leyton gets her own room!  We will have plenty of room for guesses too, so start planning your visit.

Leyton is growing like a weed still, but she is learning even faster.  Big this week is reaching and grabbing EVERYTHING with her hands.  She is obsessed with a necklace I have hanging next to her changing pad.  It is a VT Mardi Gras necklace, so she doesn't get to put it in her mouth (Lords knows where that thing has been!)  But everything else she gets her hands on goes directly to her mouth, so now Mommy has to change an eye out for what is in arms reach.  Mommy's hair is also a favorite.  She is also standing for longer and longer periods of time (with assistance), and she can tripod to sit up for about 5 seconds or so before she topples over -so sitting up unassisted shouldn't be too far in the future.

I'm watching you

Modeling my new Sophie and Razberry.  Thanks Nicole for the tip - She loves them!

Come here Mommy... you've got to taste this

She loves watching me eat and drink -so I gave her a sippy cup to play with... Almost got it right

MMM... razberry!  Much better than some stinkin' paci

Leyton playing Noah's Ark.... 

Told you she puts everything in her mouth.  But that's what baby's do I suppose.

Back in Africa

Back to the old grind. I thought I posted something yesterday, but it is not up. There was a little difficulty with the post so im not surprised it didnt remain. Oh well... ill try it again. I had an amazing time back in the USA. I cant believe how much Leyton has grown and changed. She is such a little character and has a wonderful personality. We had such a good time playing and enjoying each other. Shannon has done such a wonderful job with the little turkey. I cant wait to relieve her of her single parent ops duty. It wasnt as difficult to say goodbye this time..... I take that back, it wasnt hard to say goodbye to Shannon, but it stunk saying goodbye to LC. She really is an awesome kid and I enjoyed every minute we had together. I hope these next 2 months go by fast. So, I am back in Liberia. It is the same as what I left it. All my travels were fine. It is crazy how in 36 hours you can go from where I was at (USA) to where I am today (deep in the bush in Liberia). The team site is still the same. We got a new member, from Pakistan, who will arrive tomorrow. Our Team Leader is on leave and things are going well at the team site. The first few days were a little rough when I arrived. The first day I went back to the house for the evening and there was no power. I had to unpack and get settled in the dark... which isnt a big deal unless you like to sweat. It is still really hot and humid and without any fans, it is down right miserable. So I got all unpacked, showered, and proceeded to crawl into bed. As soon as the butt hit the bed, the bed frame came apart and I found myself on the ground. I had to use my handy dandy headlamp to put my bed back together and sweated a bit more. I finally got it together and went to bed except I could not sleep because I was sweating and it was so hot. In the morning I woke up to go to work and the car wouldnt start... gotta love it! The internet has been very unreliable also. Our net is routed through Ivory Coast, who happens to be knee deep in a civil war. So the net is really slow and painful.

The weather is still the same here. The rainy season is supposed to commence in mid-April so soon the heat will start to subside. We are starting to get into Mango and cashew season here. All the mango and cashew trees are bearing fruit. As of right now, I will be leaving Liberia on 4 May. Ill be back in DC for a few days and after a brief stop in VA and maybe TN, I will be headed west to reunite with Shannon and Leyton in Coronado. It cant come fast enough. I havent really taken many pics since my return, so I will share some of my time back home with the girls. Enjoy!

Hey, stop pushing me!

A little tummy time.

Leyton checking out her new cousin Chesney

Cuddling with dad is so much fun

My sad face

Mommy vs. Leyton Bout # 405

In the red corner... Weighing 14 pounds and 25 inches tall -Leyton "I won't take my nap" Campoamor.  In the blue corner... Weighing 130 something ;-) pounds and 65 inches tall - Mommy "Oh yes you will...please" Campoamor.

We have this battle pretty much 3 times every day (hence my math.. 4.5 months x 30 days x 3 naps per day = 405).  Morning nap is generally pretty easy.  Noon nap is generally in the carseat, so also easy.  I thought we were getting better at third nap as well.  She was getting fussy and sleepy, so I put her down.  Ryan called, so we chatted for about 10 minutes, and she was still fussing.  So I hopped in the shower, certain she would be fast asleep by the time I got out.  I took a nice long shower.. got out and she was SCREAMING.  Fed her, rocked her, changed her... pulled out all the stops... no nap.  There is only one thing left to do.. carseat!  As I am dressing, she is in her crib happily gloating that she is not asleep.  Once in the car, I had planned to do a quick 15 minute dash.. but 20 minutes in she was STILL not sleeping.  FINALLY, an hour and a half before her bedtime, she gives up.

Love it!

So though she did eventually get to sleep, I am going to give the victory to Leyton.  She hung in there like a true champion.  I'd say the overall score is about tied.

Our little Navy Brat

She probably didn't want to sleep because she wanted to keep playing in her new toy.

Thanks Grammy!  I love it!  This thing is AWESOME.

Hope you enjoyed the post.  Oh, and she is rolling over again now too.  Guess she didn't like being called lazy.  And, I bought her a Sophie and a Razberry to chew instead of her shoes.  I will let you know if they are a hit.  Time to go wake her up! :-)

Back to just Mommy and Me

Leyton and I loved having Daddy home for the last 20 days.  We kept him plenty busy and he dove right in to the poopy diapers, drool, laughs, and screams that come with a 4 month old.  Leyton is a little ham - she knows how to work an audience -especially when there are cameras involved.  We had a going away party for Ryan, and she entertained us all.  She 'talks' and dances, and when she is in a good mood, she is all smiles.  We have her on a good schedule now - one I can actually live with... and she follows it well, unless of course we are flying her across the country or something, or as the case will be next month, across the Atlantic Ocean.  It goes like this.  6am- eat and poop.  8am - nap.  9am - eat and poop. 12pm eat, poop, nap.  3pm eat. 4:30pm poop, nap.  6pm eat and poop.  8pm eat and sleep til 6am.  You may think I am exaggerating with the poops... she is breastfed afterall.  No, I am not.  She poops 3 to 6 times EVERY DAY.
She has also gotten lazy.  Since I posted about her rolling over, she hasn't done it since.  She just cries on tummy time again, even though she rolled 4 or 5 times that one day.  Oh well.
She is also teething and chewing on EVERYTHING.  She especially loves her big toe and her Robeez.
Her passport came yesterday, so we are all set for our visit to see Miss Susannah and Anna in France and Germany (and their parents).  We are going to try the military Space A flights and hopefully get there around the 20th and stay a couple of weeks.  When we get back, we will pack up everything and move to California, where we will get settled and wait for Daddy to get home in early May.  Only two more months of craziness and then maybe we will all settle down and be a normal family for a bit.  Can't wait!

Hello camera!

Robeez are worth buying- they stay on AND they taste fantastic!

Almost as good as my thumb

Daddy ate lunch while Leyton slept in BOB on Coronado.  We are SO excited to live here!

NEWS FLASH!  Chesney Jules Brown was born on 2-27-11!  

Another little cousin for me to play with!

Daddy dressed me while he was home: Sassy pants and Winnie the Pooh onesie

Bye Daddy!  See you in two months!  Love you and miss you!!!!!