Chchchchanges

We move out of our house tomorrow, and on to Norfolk in 10 days. I don't know what my internet access will be for the next 6 weeks as once we have a place we probably will hold off on paying for internet until I get back from my 4 month trip to Canada. I'll try to check in every once in a while so don't leave me! I will be back!

Oh, fyi, Nadia is doing much better. Had a mysterious fever on and off this weekend, me thinks it was her teething.... is the new recipient of a molar with probably many more to come. Our flights are going to be good.times. You know you're jealous.

A Birthday Revisited

Predictably, Nadia freaked when she saw the lit birthday cake on her tray, but finally ate some when I held her. (Her appetite is back with a vengeance, must be a growth spurt....she is finally eating more real people food.) Her birthday was much more successful this time around!

Note the Sesame Street wrapping paper. Nadia doesn't watch tv, per se, I think she's still too young, but occasionally when she wakes up from her nap cranky, I turn it on for a few minutes to transition her to awakedness. I call it the puppet show so now whenever she sees any of the characters she says, "puh...puh." Her favourite "puh" is cookie monster.

Oh, and in other N news, just in time for her party, her 7th and 8th teeth made their first appearances!

Stolen From ROF

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? A lady named in the credits of Jeopardy, or a contestant, someone to do with Jeopardy I guess is my answer.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Last week when J and I had the stomach flu and Nadia had pneumonia. Good. Times.

.3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Sometimes.

.4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Not a big lunchmeat eater. Love peanut butter.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yes, one. Sometimes two.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Of course, I'm awesome.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? Never.

.8.DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? As far as I know.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE? Bungee what, a viola case together? If I had to, yes.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Not a big cereal eater, but I guess instant oatmeal.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Sometimes.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Ben and Jerry's chocolate fudge something or other.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? That they're dumb.

15. RED OR PINK? Red.

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My thighs.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Too many people to narrow down, having friends in general I guess I miss the most.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST? Who's everyone?

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black workout pants, black Crocs.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The last stage of weaning, ie. fussing baby and silent, frustrated husband.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? I'd be a permanent marker.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Good cologne on a hot guy.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My husband.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I stole this from ROF. And yes, I think I would like her if I met her.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Don't watch sports.

.27. HAIR COLOR? Some might say blonde, I say light brown.

28. EYE COLOR? Green.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Only for about 2 hours a day. Thank you crappy Sicilian air.

30. FAVORITE FOOD? Wine.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Good movies, so neither.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Semi-Pro.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Black tshirt, blue hoodie.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Virginia summer, Vancouver winter.

35. HUGS OR KISSES? Both.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? (Silence.)

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? (4:33 seconds of Silence.).

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? I started Madame Bovary a couple of months ago but stupidly let it get packed out with our stuff. So I'll be reading "I Am America and So Can You" on the plane.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Laptop.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? House.

FAVORITE SOUND(S). Good music.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles all the way.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Vajdaszentivany, Romania.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I am really good at putting my foot in my mouth.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Alberta, Canada.

Nadia Version 1.0

Dear Nadia,
Before we get to you and your wonderfulness from the past month +, lemme just give you a run down of the past couple of weeks' events. If for no other reason than to excuse the tardiness of this letter.



Yup, this picture pretty much sums up how we have all been feeling for the past two weeks, or almost two weeks. Feels like longer. I'm sure much more for you. Let's see.... it all began with some crankiness we attributed to teething and/or gas. A few days later I took you to Sig. B's so I could go to my physio appointment. When I returned, you were sitting in her lap looking quite confused, and she told me you had just woken up from a 2 hour nap. 2. hour. nap. Immediately alarm bells started going off in my head. You haven't had a 2 hour nap since you were 4 months old. Sho' nuff, you had a fever. A fever that persisted, with a heavy cough, until Friday the 27th, at which point we took you to the ER. Doc said it was just an upper respiratory infection and said to come back if you weren't better by Monday. Well.... the next day, your birthday, was by far the worst day. You were in and out of sleep all day, wanted to be held constantly, had a fever, and were generally unrecognizeable as a moop. So Monday we took you back and a different doctor ordered a chest x-ray. What a brave little girl you were in the weird baby contraption they had set up. As you whimpered (you cried more when I set you down to put the cast-iron shield, or whatever it is in that vest, on), I sang the ABC song to you and you replied with a lilting, "daaaa...." This is how you sing. I nearly cried myself. You were quickly diagnosed with pneumonia. I almost cried again. I knew it wasn't just a cold. You've had colds before. They have never stopped you from being a moop, or from sleeping well. (Did I mention that when you got sick you started waking up at 5 and not going back to sleep... and um, you're still doing it? Ok, well, today was 6, but still, that's a far cry from 7:30/8:00 like before!!!! Oh well, baby steps back to sleep health I suppose.)

(This is one of your perkier moments on your birthday, note the feverish red cheeks, also note probably the last time you'll ever use a bottle, the last vestiges of frozen breastmilk I decided you needed on a tough day such as this.... needless to say complete weaning has taken a backseat during these trying times.)

Within 24 hours of starting antibiotics, your fever was gone. Phew. What a relief. But just as you started to get better (albeit a bit vomity and diarrhea-y because of the meds), I got the stomach flu for the second time this month. I have never had the stomach flu two times in a year, let alone a month. I blame the African winds that blew in the night before. And boy, what a flu it was/is. And then your father got it. So here you were, starting to want to play again, and there we were, nearly passed out on the couch. Sometimes life just sucks.

But now we're all starting to get better, so let's get back to your update, shall we?

I have to admit that the craziness of the past while has made a lot of things blurry, so just know as you're reading about this time that this letter is about things you did between 11 months and 12.5 months... somewhere in there.

Let's start with your stats: You weigh (or did at your 1 year checkup) 19 lbs, 8 oz. (25th percentile.) You are almost 29 inches. (Just above 50th percentile.) Your head is 90th percentile. You go girl! Welcome to the big head club!

Sometime before now you learned a lot of body parts. Examples include your hands, your head, your hair, your tummy, eyes, nose, ears, mouth and of course, your legs. For this last one you need to sit down and lift up your pant leg, because, after all, your legs are underneath your pants. You have also continued to imitate things like blowing out candles and inflection in voices, like when I count the number of lights in the bathroom and my voice goes up, you repeat "ahda...da...deh..." and your voice goes up as well. Now if we could just work out the syllables!

One syllable you are very good at is "dat." Like, as in, that there, I want it, or, hey you there, pick me up. Everything and everyone is "dat." And don't forget to point to it, just so we're clear.

You spent a long time sitting on that musical toy of yours watching us sing and dance and now you are doing it yourself. "I've been working on the railroad" seems to be your favourite. Your pretend remote control has the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" during which you say, "sssss" instead of your usual sing-song "daaaaa." Also in the "s" department, you've been known to say "shshshsh" when I'm trying to get you to say shoe.

Speaking of shoes, I broke down a couple of weeks before your birthday and bought you a pair of Nike runners. Ridiculous, I know. Why does an infant need Nikes? Well, an infant doesn't need Nikes, per se, just shoes with thick enough soles to protect walking feet from lava rocks and small enough for a seemingly perma-size 3. So there you have it. We are limited out here. Anyway, after trying them on in the store, I took them off to go pay for them and you did not like this, no you did not. Not one bit. You wanted your birthday shoes NOW! And you still love them and identify them as your birthday shoes.

Getting you to eat new foods has become our biggest challenge. There are the tried and true standards like toast and yogurt (to which you yell "um!" when you see the container), oh, and you like crappy foods like mac'n'cheese (albeit Amy's organic) and fish sticks, but most things you eye on the spoon, identify as foreign, and vehemently shake your head no. Ah, welcome to toddlerhood. But what toddler doesn't like juice?!?!

Perhaps one of the funniest things you have started doing is waving to pictures of babies and people, but not so much to actual human beings. Sometimes you'll be waving and I'll have no idea to whom since it's just you and I in the house and then I'll follow your gaze and see a drawing, yes, a drawing, of a baby on a book. Then you look up and me, squint, and give me your underbite smile, as if to say, "see mama? I did good." Strange child. You are strange.

But you are wonderfully strange and I have really enjoyed chronicling the newness, the oddities, and the hilarity of your first year. I made a promise to write every month for the first 12 and then at least every year after that and I hope I can continue to make good on that promise. In the meantime, a very happy birthday Nadia. We love you.

Love,

M.