Bumps, Bruises and Burgers

Since arriving in Cairo Rachel has gotten more bumps and bruises than I could possibly count. She's a little tipsy when she walks--I think it's because she's so tired. Or it could be that most of the floors here are marble or wood so I'm a little more aware of when she takes a tumble.

Last night she fell out of bed twice. We have padding on the floor around the bed, so the first time she just rolled off and landed nice and soft on her tummy. The second time around she hit her head on the bedframe, so it was a little more traumatic.

She couldn't even walk when she woke up this morning the second time (the first time she was up from 2 am until 7 am and was just fine--throwing balls around and making a racket). In fact, she could hardly stand up! She wasn't at all happy about getting ready for church and her face was all blotchy from crying when we arrived at the meeting house.

Rachel was happy to see the children there and decided that she could be happy. It was nice to meet everyone here, and Rachel started making friends quickly, sitting on a boy named Robby in order to solidify their friendship. (Hey, Emily, isn't that some Tongan thing? Just kidding!)

She kept falling over though, and every time she did it was as if the world was going to end! She'd trip and then scream before even falling over. And then she'd scream some more. That was her main method of communicating today, really. Oh, boy, was she ever a grump. I guess that's what we get for dragging her halfway around the world!

She started screaming during sacrament because she wanted the bread passed her way and now! So we had to go out into the hall, which is where she met (and sat on) Robby. The two started playing together a little bit, running from couch to chair and teasing Robby's little sister.

I didn't mind what Rachel was doing as long as she wasn't screaming, but her happiness didn't last long.

Soon Rachel tripped and faceplanted right into the leg of the chair I was sitting on.

From that she has a nice bruise on her forehead and a little one one her nose. She has a bruise on her ear and the side of her head from falling off the bed. She has a scrape on her knee and a few other minor injuries. Aside from those and the persistent grumpiness, she's doing alright.

This evening we were invited to dinner at Sara and Kevan's apartment. We had to wake Rachel up to go and she was not happy about that. She cried the whole way to their apartment--of course, it didn't help that we got completely lost and backtracked several times so it took us far longer to get to their place than it should have. When we got into their air conditioned lobby she stopped fussing. When she saw all their kids she got pretty excited but was still too nervous to play. When we left she was screaming again--she wanted to stay and play longer.

Rachel reading with Megan, Jacob, and Sam

We had some nicely grilled hamburgers with lettuce--that's a nice benefit of having friends in the military! I thought for sure our diets would be lettuce-free for the next two years. We were able to chat about life in Cairo, found out that Sara keeps a blog. It was nice that Rachel was able to go off and play on her own--she rarely does that so she must have felt rather comfortable there--so that we could visit without her squwaking at us.

Rachel was asleep by the time we walked home, which took us half as long as it did to get there since we went home the right way. It was fun to get to know their family and to wander around Maadi a bit more. We're starting our apartment search tomorrow--hopefully we'll have a home soon! Then we'll be able to get organized and really get exploring Cairo.

Why are we taking pictures? Just take me home!

Sorry our posts aren't as detailed or coherent as usual and there are fewer pictures. I feel like I left half my brain back in the States. Hopefully it will catch up with me soon! For now, here are a few pictures of Rachel.

Walking with Mommy

Sleepy girl