Friday List!

Jill's List:

These are on my list for "To Buy in the United States."  We have a serious Lego explosion problem. Thanks, Swissmiss.

Modern midwifery offered as a service for ALL mamas.  (Photo essay by Alice Proujansky.)

Midwife Jennie Jones from Commonsense Childbirth in Florida.  Photo from Alice Proujansky's series, here.

This is how Johan and I are acclimating ourselves to American culture and reducing stress all at the same time.  Highly recommended - though I was very resistant at first.  (Johan still won't admit in public that he likes the show.  So I thought I'd post about on my blog.)

Image from here.

The other day, Loulou was running around the house yelling, "America is going to buy me a t-shirt!"  I asked "What? Who told you that?", and she responded, "Elias."  Obviously, my children are already experiencing significant confusion as a result of our lifestyle.  One day, they will enjoy this Tumblr, I suppose.

From the entry: "When you meet someone who has never been to Europe."
Tried to contact the author - but couldn't find an address.  Any ideas?

African travels and gobsmackingly expressive photography on this blog.  More from him on The Getaway.

Incredible images.  You must see more of Anton Crone's work here.

Badouin Muoanda captures dreams from the Republic of Congo (across the river from us).  Check out images from his new work, "Le Rêve."

For this particular project, Baudouin asked women to wear a white wedding gown in a variety of locations to explore the idea of beauty in unlikely places. He would position the women in front of his camera in a whole host of colourful, contradictory surroundings and ask them, "Now that you are wearing this wedding gown, what's your dream?"

Image from here.

Sarah's List:

Another year is coming to a close. And it's another year made possible by the mamas. Makes me think of this great award acceptance speech when Amy Peohler thanked her nannies:

"...on behalf of every sister and mother and person who stands in your kitchen and helps you love your child, 

I say thank you and I celebrate you tonight."

1.2 years. That's how long Neanderthals breast-fed their babies. Fascinating. I wonder if they still judged each other. 

Field Museum, Chicago. Image from here.

Researchers have concluded, from the tooth of one Neanderthal child, that the infant was weaned off of its mother’s milk earlier than primates and a vast majority of modern humans.

Two things that made us laugh this week: The 39 Most Brooklyn Things Ever and 50 Things Only '80s Kids Can Understand. Seriously, after Baby Jessica, my childhood was spent staying at least 10 feet away from any well. 

One Man. Every Country. No Flights. Here's the only guy to do it. And here are his experiences in our part of the world. Bonus: An incredibly exhaustive review of all the world's flags. (Thanks Justin for the link!)

"Here’s another flag that changes every five minutes. The use of blue and yellow is never going to have me flinging out accolades like sweets from a parade, and there’s nothing particularly exciting going on here. I mean it’s not dreadful… it’s just not very good. Score: 3/10" Image from his website here.

  
I recently wrote about my pick for best bug repellant. But you might want to add a little DEET to that. In fact, when we arrived the handed-down rule was, "Wear nothing with less than 20% DEET." Here's a good run-down comparing DEET vs. the alternatives.

Or you can just not wear any bug lotion and drink lots of Gin and Tonics. Because the Tonic Water has quinine in it. Right? Right? That's always been my theory. Looks like that might not be so accurate. I'm pretending I never read this. 

Lining up for their quinine. (École des réugiés d'Asie mineure et de Macédoine où se fait une distribution de quinine août 1916.) Source found here.

Most important link of the week: 

Josh, Ashley and Leo are dear friends of everyone in the Mama Congo family. Go to their page, read about their sweet boy and think about how you can help.