Saturday, January 26, 2008

So Long!






So sorry it has been forever since the last time we got to post anything on Maya. Maya woke up with a cold on her 3 month birthday and it has been dragging out a little bit. I have started a blog a few times but then too much time went by before I had a chance to finish it. Maya is well into her third month - near her fourth month with us and so much has happened. It is hard to note exactly when the various changes take place, you know - the first time this and that - it is all part of a learning curve, and there are a lot of 'almost' and 'nearly's'. She has been rolling over from her front to her back for quite a while now. The thing is though, it only happens every now and then. One day she might roll over 5 times in a row, and then... nothing for days and days. We suspect it has something to do with what diaper she is wearing, as well as if she could be bothered to roll at the given floor time. We have a few different kinds of reusable diapers and even though they are all quite puffy, one kind might give her a little more of a momentum than another kind? Hmm that's a theory anyway. As it is we are not putting too much emphasis on 'the first time'! Maya has good head control. It is not always that she cares if one of our heads are in the way when she drastically turns to look at something. We have had many o crashes usually followed by either Keith or I going 'ouch'. Maya of course doesn't seem to care. She is a riot! She often wakes up with a huge smile, she seems to be smiling with her whole body. Chris Hatziz lent us his video camera, so maybe we will be able to catch that smile for you to enjoy one of these days. We get the other side of the spectrum too of course, and well - she can be LOUD! So to avoid some of those overtired loud periods, I have stayed at home for quite a few days now, trying to oppose a rigorous nap schedule on her. Rigorous in the sense that I watch for the tired signs and ship her off for a nap immediately, not rigorous in a time schedule kind of way. So yes, more nap time means more happy times too. We still have to get her to fall a sleep in the crib - full nights of crying doesn't sound that appealing right now, but I guess we will have to go though it sooner or later. My excuse is that I want to finish the 'sleep' book first. For now she sleeps with us, and for nap time I put her in the stroller out on the porch, where I can keep an eye on her. The fresh air makes her fall a sleep before I finish singing one song,- 'Bjerget i Skoven' - well, it is a very long song! We were at the pediatrician's the other day for Maya's first vaccination. She is growing like crazy. She is now 13 lb. and 15 oz (ca. 6 kg) and 25 3/4 inches long (ca. 46 cm). Maya took the vaccination with a frowning lip and she was running a bit of a fever the next day. Now all is well. I wonder If Maya will be an early teether. She is definitely doing her bit of drooling. Maya repeatedly tries to squeeze her entire fist into her mouth, which looks very comical. A few of the tiny fingers just doesn't seem to do the trick. She has recently opened her eyes for other things she can stuff in her mouth; toys, our fingers, you name it. There is a lot of grabbing and holding going on, and of course the 'throw it on the floor' technique doesn't require much of a learning curve. The photos are of Maya in her "Defend New Orleans" onsie, which I got when I visited Chris Deris in Louisianna in August. Maya is sleeping in the stroller. It's the only place so far that she at times will go to sleep unassisted. After 3 months of Maya not settling in with the bassinet, we changed it out with this stroller attachment, and so far it has been a great success. On the third picture, you see Maya stuffing her fingers in her mouth. Then Keith and Maya in Mormor's knitted overalls, and finally Keith and Maya in her funky polka dotted suit from Gitte, Kim, and August in Denmark. I'll try and figure out some videoing over the next few days (read 1-2 month).

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Welcome to the Owens-Maier Family!



We'd like to extend a belated welcome to Charleston to our good friends Katharine and Mike and their two boys James and Baby Will. They arrived a few days before the New Year so this comes a little late. Ever since we heard that the Owens-Maier's would be leaving Holland to come to Charleston, we'd felt it was about time to PARTY... well you know in an afternoon type of way. They will be here for about half a year, before re-locating to Hartford, CT, where Katharine got a full-time teaching position starting in the Fall. We have already had a few get togethers - and of course we hope for many more! The pictures are from the day after New Year's Eve mentioned on a previous blog. Note baby Will's amazing mohawk. Katharine has been the source of much (needed) information from pregnancy to birth to diapers and sleep. Keith and I knew early on that we wanted an un-medicated natural birth, we just didn't know how to go about it. We found the Bradley Method (the husband coached birth) to be the right for us - though a little 70's hooky with the worst birth videos known to man! When it came to diapers, we wanted to use reusable diapers but didn't really know where to start. If you are like us in the beginning with an image in mind of folded cloth diapers with safety pins etc, you should check out what has happened over the last 30 years or so http://www.storkwearhouse.com/
It's really quite amazing! Maya is about 3.5 month now and it is about time to figure out the 'Science of Sleep' (did you see that film? - I loved it) - I'm hoping to gain some insight by reading 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child' by Dr. Marc Weissbluth (so far so good). You can read about the Owens-Maier family adventures on their extensive blog at http://maierbaby.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

X-mas!






Before Christmas, Chris and Melanie came over with a 'Baby's First Christmas' hat - very cute. Maya was wearing it on Christmas day when we were at Grandma + Grandpa Lopez's. The hat is so soft and Maya didn't seem to mind it at all. We were eating turkey and opening a ton of presents all day. Not only do we have the before presents - presents, which are called 'stocking stuffers' and are sometime silly presents or maybe something you can eat (like lakris, uhmm), and yes, they are put in your X-mas stocking. And then of course there are the 'real deal' presents. It's all very overwhelming, but hey no one is complaining. We all got what we were hoping for - or that is, I don't know what Maya was hoping for, but she ended up with toys, music and some really cute outfits. Thanks for everything. Now, some of you know that I'm a true believer of eating duck at Christmas. Well, since my mum and Poul Arne turned to vegetarianism years ago, I had to selfishly fight for the choice of duck... Anyway duck once a year is just not enough... and well no duck at all is just disastrous, so Keith and I had a pretend Christmas Eve a few days before Christmas, where I cooked the usual menu of roast duck, potatoes, caramelized potatoes, red cabbage and of course delicious gravy. Lucky for me, Keith has developed a surprising love for duck too, so I'm not alone in my cravings. Christmas really snuck up on us this year. Before we knew of it it was the day before and we still hadn't put any decorations up. I wouldn't blame this on having a baby around, but lets face it, we are just last minute people. Most of it gets done sooner or later (usually later). What else for the holiday days?? - Well, Keith has had a cold since about a week before Christmas, and he now thinks he has gotten a cold upon a cold. Poor guy, he has not been feeling good at all and now his holiday from teaching is almost over. He will start teaching for the Spring semester on Monday (He has 3 classes again this semester). Me? Well, I changed my mind about teaching for the Spring semester - I have not had enough of Maya just yet. Instead, I will try and set up a portraiture business, something part time for now, but more about this later. Sandy and Larry (Keith's parents) came over the day after X-mas for æbleskiver and Gløgg (fluffy ball round pancake like things that you dip in powdered sugar and jam, and gløgg is warm spiced red wine with nuts and raisins). My mum and Poul Arne brought over a special æbleskive pan last year, so we figured we really ought to use it!

Happy New Year!



Well Happy New Year. We hope we will have a chance to catch up with you in person in 2008, because - really - it has already been too too long. It was a quiet one for us this year. Keith had to work the day of - and open the store the day after New Year's Eve, so that, already put a lot of limitations on what we would want to do. Katharine, Mike and their two gorgeous boys James and Will were meant to come over, but they only just moved to Charleston a few days earlier (from Holland) and needless to say, they were all very warn out - So we changed it to a 'left over dinner' the following day. More about that later. For now we just wanted to get this one out there before another month suddenly has passed.
Ohh right, and was anyone confused with the order of the previous bunch of blogs??? - I'm not sure what happened there, none of it is in the right order - but but no matter.