Okay, so Maria is under the weather with what Swedes call the Winter Vomit Sickness. Pretty accurate name. I, being an American, only vomited once before defeating it utterly. Inara only being 50% had a bit rougher go, but the good blood won out. Maria on the other hand has been completely leveled by this disease for going on three days now. She attempted to go to the hospital but sitting in the emergency room puking was worse than sitting at home puking. They also don't like committing people who are projectile vomiting around others with weakened immune systems. Go figure.
I have, valiantly, taken it upon myself to post some stuff. I know how you folks yearn to hear/see the goings on here. Also it has come to my attention that the U.S.A. is sending many fewer hits to this page than the Swedes. You can do better U.S.A. people. You know who you are.
So last Sunday it snowed a small amount here. We walked out in the snow and got some pictures of Inara's complete lack of interest in the snow.
Meh.
Inara has also taken great interest in standing and walking, with assistance. She is able to stand up with no lifting assistance, other than an object to steady and lift herself on. So better than Maria right now. Here are some pictures of her little feet.
And a short movie of her standing solo, sorta.
She is a bit of a narcissist so we frequently find her kissing reflections of herself such as here:
Big sloppy open mouth kisses. This one probably involved some tongue.
I just found this picture that Maria apparently took while I was at school. Gonna make an executive and post it. Maria will probably take it down when she recovers. Enjoy!
Like mother like daughter. Nice.
Inara's morning hair just keeps getting better and better.
Inara may be a dentist based on her interest in teeth. Probably not though, I think she was grabbing at my uvula. What occupation does that?
I'll close up with this movie of Inara watching one of her stuffed toys fall repeated on its face. She loves it. Good girl.
Please show your approval at this blogs marked improvement since I took the reins by commenting below.
...Inara is on the move! Earlier this evening, Andrew was doing dishes and I was on the computer while Inara was playing on the floor. All of the sudden Andrew asked me if I had moved Inara and when I looked back at her she had moved a couple of feet (few decimeters) forward. Turns out she started scooting around on her bottom. She's still pretty slow, but she managed to scoot about a meter (yard) in ten minutes. I guess we have to start locking things up!
Also, she started giving me "hugs" (or at least I like to think of them as hugs) where she wraps her arms around me and snuggles into my shoulder. Last night, I though she might top it off with a kiss as she gently put a little, chubby hand on either side of my face, pulled me close to her... and burped into my mouth. Tonight Andrew was trying to get her to burp, but was having a hard time, so he jokingly asked me to come open my mouth so she could burp into it. I laughed and walked up to kiss her and she burped right in my face, again. Oh, the joys of motherhood!
I tend to struggle to find a balance between documenting my experiences and experiencing my experiences. I've always been obsessed with taking pictures to be sure to remember everything and everyone. Now that I have Inara, it can get a little out of hand between this blog, her baby book, her message book, all her pictures, photo albums and everything else. I have to tell myself to stop and enjoy the moment rather than run and get the camera. On one of my trips my camera actually got stolen and although I was upset, it almost ended up being a nicer trip after that. While everybody else was struggling to get the best pictures, I just sat back and took everything in.
Our New Years Eve was pretty quiet. We lit a couple of Chinese paper lanterns that are becoming quite popular here as a quieter, more environmentally friendly alternative to fireworks. We lit ours early, but at midnight the sky was full of them (kinda like in "Tangled" for those of you who've seen it).
At midnight we woke Inara up to see the fireworks and she really seemed
to enjoy them although she was really sleepy at first. The video of her
watching didn't turn out though.
Inara got some glowing stars from grandpa B for Christmas, so we put them up above her crib. Andrew put up all of our individual signs and the big dipper, although it's hard to see in the picture.
Watching dad put the stars up
We also got a our Christmas gift from Rhett and Brittney: A chess set with some familiar faces:
Speaking of over documentation, we checked on Inara the other night while she was sleeping and she was so cute we wanted to take a picture. Because the camera wouldn't do it without a flash (which would wake her up) we decided to use the ipod and a flashlight instead. This was the result:
Probably not our best parenting moment. Poor Inara!
Inara playing with grandpa G.
Waiting to go outside.
Enjoying bubbles for the first time. Now she cries when we put them away.
Inara and Andrew at a nearby cafe.
My cousins visiting.
I leave you with this comic that I got a kick out of and hope you're having a good start on the new year!
Oh, and we managed to find a way to make the videos look better, so all the old ones have been updated.
