The Blog

Crazy about some things

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:07:48 +0400

So, I wasn’t going to be one of those moms who rented out a ballroom and got a DJ for their kid’s first birthday. Seriously, I saw a blog posting and pictures of this party. Anyway, I wanted to keep it easy. As it turns out, Aidan was not having a good day and we were an hour behind so Mira had to help out with some stuff. It still went very smoothly and we had a lot of fun. And then I found out that Patrick's memory card in the camera was corrupted. And we lost ALL of the pictures we had taken. ALL OF THEM!

Omar had gotten a few pictures and I had taken video of the birthday cupcake and candle, but there were no pictures of it. I was crushed.

So we recreated the pictures this afternoon. I had saved one last cupcake, we still had the candle, I put Aidan back in the same outfit. I know that’s nuts, but I WAS GOING TO HAVE THESE PICTURES!

I like to think that I’m weirdly obsessive about the little things like Christmas pj’s and birthday pictures. In the long run, that’s not too bad, right?

They grow so fast!

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:17:50 +0400

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - “I can’t believe he’s gonna be 1 year old in, like, 3 weeks!”

Mira keeps telling me that he’ll develop quickly and start doing things over night, but it still surprises me when it happens.

He has suddenly shown an interest in feeding himself. He wants that spoon and you better give it to him or there will be tears! On the bright side, he’s back to eating anything again. We had to go on a strict no fruit diet until he started eating his vegetables without a fight. Messy (the nanny) is happy not to have to sing and dance to get him to eat.

Mobility - egad! It was so much easier when he was just a cute little lumpkin. He swims across the floor (the kids in the nursery love it) and now he’s standing and moving around tables, etc. I picked him up on Sunday and Messy excitedly told me that he stood by himself that morning. Yes, I was crushed that I missed it, but excited about the new milestone. That morning Patrick and I had seen him standing with only one hand on the gate. Later that night I saw him stand. It’s still in the experimental stages: let go of the rail, stand, start to wobble, grab the rail.

Bed time is not so easy now. At first it was rather shocking - what do you mean we can’t just lay you down and go? He likes to stand in his crib and he inevitably loses his pacifier and gets upset. We’ve learned that we’ll go in the two to three times. By the third time he’s done standing and just wants his pacifier back.

He is super snuggly! I hope this lasts. The picture above was taken during the weekend that he started to lay back and snuggle in. I LOVE it!

Fingers crossed that he still sleeps on flights. We’ve got a long flight to Shanghai on Thursday. It will be our first flight with a truly active baby.

Updates to his pictures and videos.

Lovely day at the beach

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:19:33 +0400

Check out the pictures here.

It’s interesting what you have to pack when you’re taking kids to the beach.

baby sunscreen for delicate skin, check!
swim diapers, check!
regular diapers, check!
baby food for meal, check!
baby food in case he gets extra hungry, check!
hat, check!
sunglasses (that he will chew on instead of wear), check!
coverup, check!
towel, check!
water, check!
formula, check!
bottles for the water and formula, check!
pacifiers (good thing we packed extra because he dropped his on the street as soon as we left the building), check!
little toys incase he gets bored at breakfast or at the beach, check!
spoons for food (almost forgot those), check!

Ok, we’re good. Wait, we forgot sunscreen and towels for us! Now we can leave.
As we were getting ready today (Patrick packed and I wrangled The Kid) I wondered how much extra stuff Mira and Omar would have to pack. Aidan is happy to be held while in the water but Kiira very mobile and very independent. It is very fun to watch Omar try to figure out the best way to get floaties on Kiira. Blow them up first and then squeeze them onto her arms while she fights him or put them on and then blow them up while she fights him. Or, do they go with the ghastly orange live vest that flips your forwards or backwards? They decided to forgo all flotation devices (made the bag much slimmer) and only brought her ball. However, she’s still kinda freaked out by the whole sand thing, so she was either being held in the water or sat on the beach chair. Aidan is still trying to eat the sand...
I will say that he had a much more fun this time. He walked and kicked and sat in the water. Well, he sat a little. He’s not a big fan of waves, or really cold water for that matter. Anyway, he moved around instead of being stuck in the fetal position the whole time. It was a good day.

I love dress up days when I don’t hate them

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:04:54 +0400

I am a total dork and participate in all spirit or dress up days at school. Sometimes you don’t want to work, you just want to wander around the school looking at kids’ outfits and have them admire yours. So if I’m having a hard time working, the kids have already given up.
Today was super hero or fairy princess day. Aidan came to school in his Superman pajamas, he was a hit. I had a crown, wings, and a wand. I knew there would be trouble today when I couldn’t stop bonking kids on the head with my wand. You put girls in tulle skirts and boys in capes... chaos. The girls are spinning around until they’re so dizzy they collapse. Boys are running and then tripping spectacularly.
I am so tired.
But I have a sparkly crown, wings, and wand, so it’s all good.

Some random (super short) videos added and some pictures of The Kid. The Random Pictures section has also been updated.

Stuff

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:44:55 +0400

The Master of Communication (the one who went to Turkey for a 1 week vacation) came in a day earlier than he told me. That was nice though.

Aidan has started teething again. I’ve been running on limited sleep for about 3 mights now. He had a fever the other night and neither of us slept. I was so tempted to call in sick.

The nanny thinks it might be the top front teeth coming in, but the gums on either side of the ones he’s currently growing out seem pretty swollen.

Some friends are in from Kuwait this weekend and we’ll see them for breakfast tomorrow, very excited about that.

New video found here.