August 26, 2010 - Turning 18 (Months)!

Since Grace was very small, one of the nicknames Kristoffer and I use for her - mostly to each other - is "the baby babe".

What did the baby babe do today?

Is the baby babe asleep?

Have you seen the baby babe playing?

It's time for the baby babe's bath!

It occurred to me last week, as I watched her do so many little girl things, that our baby babe isn't really a baby babe anymore and we might need to start calling her "the girly girl", because she is really a little girl now. I'm sure I've said this many times in the last 18 months, but she is at the cutest age right now. Everyday she can say and do so many new things. It is a joy to: see the world through her eyes as her curiousity leads to new discovery upon new discovery, feel every emotion as she feels them newly or experiments with them, and explore language and meaning as she tries to say - often with great success! - new words in both English and Danish. She is eating well (yes! our Grace!), sleeping well and is just so much fun that, not for the first time, I would love to freeze time and hold on to her just like this for as long as possible. But I realize that before I know it my daughter will be writing her own blog about turning 30 and giving me a crisis of a whole new kind!

In the meantime, here are some of Grace's most recent moments that we have enjoyed so much.

Grace, you have given us the best 18 months full of

joy and pride and love.

Happy Half Birthday to you, baby babe!

(If you'll let us, I think we'll keep the nickname for just a little longer...)

LMW

August 23, 2010 - Grace's Sing-a-Long

One of Grace's new favorite things to do is to sit with Farmor and go through an old Danish songbook with Farmor singing all the songs to her. Yesterday morning she wanted to do this after she ate breakfast, but the rest of us were still eating. We encouraged her to sit down and go through the book by herself. This video is the last minute or so of what was a very long concert because she literally sang us the entire book, page by page.

For non-Danish speakers, when Grace gets to the end of the book she says, "Slut!" (pronounced "sloot" in English) which means "Finished!" It was the first time that I have heard her say it without being prompted.



Do you think she could be the next American...or Danish...or East African Idol!?

LMW

August 22, 2010 - R.I.P.

On Friday the 13th, I laid my 20s to rest...begrudgingly.

I have had a lot of people remind me that 30 is still young and to just get over it. But it is hard to get over when I vividly remember for so many years (those "teen" years, you know) legitimately thinking that 30 WAS, in fact, quite old! It never occurred to me that my mother was 36 when I was born and that I still don't consider her to be that old (you know what I mean, right Mom?).

But when I turned 20 and my brother turned 30 (we share a birthday separated by 10 years), because I have considered him to be my peer since I was about 2 years old, I thought, "Poor guy. He's 30!" And I'm sorry to say that it did make me feel a lot better this year to think, "Well at least I'm not 40!" (seriously, Mark, no offense...***)

The truth is that I am very happy with "where I am" in my life at this age and have nothing to complain about, but I also really, really, really loved my 20s. I had academic, professional and personal successes beyond what I ever imagined and, despite a few medical bumps along the road*, think that my 20s will be a hard decade to beat. But of course I have to beat it because I am way too young to have already lived the best decade of my life, right?!

*If you add up all of those medical bumps my body's actual age might be something closer to 82, which should give me a much bigger complex than the little old number 30!

Ok, ok, ok...enough of my 30-year-crisis. Despite my unwillingness to age, I was celebrated very well by family and friends in Denmark and ended up having a lovely birthday.

To start with my husband bought me a reminder that he doesn't think my life is over yet.

Then when we were on Als (the Danish island where Kristoffer was born), Johannes and Marianne got me my first "kage mand" (cake man) to celebrate my birthday with them.

Back in Varde, Kirsten and Hans also got me a second "kage mand" to celebrate my birthday!

Watch out fire department, there were even 30 lit candles on my cake!

The Danish flag was hanging in their garden (not really blowing that day) in my honor...

...and Grace led her own little parade to celebrate her Mama.

The table was laid in fine china...

...and many foods that I love were served...including my biggest pregnancy craving:

McDonald's chicken nuggets!

We may be the first people ever to eat McDonald's chicken nuggets on fine china.

It was an incredible meal and both Rocky and I were very satisfied!

Then Kristoffer and I were off to Bornholm for Morten and Elsebeth's wedding.

They kicked off their weekend by presenting with me with my third and fourth "kage kvinder" (cake women). I was so honored that they celebrated me during their big weekend and was reminded that Kristoffer's best friends, over the years, have become my friends too.

Kristoffer has assured me that no Dane has ever gotten FOUR "kage mand" (can you believe it?!) for his or her birthday and that I should feel very special to have accomplished a new record for my new decade.

So thank you to my Danish family who celebrated me and also to my family and friends at home who sent cards and gifts and emails...nobody seemed to get the message that I didn't want to turn 30 but, since I had to do it, thank you for making me feel so special!

LMW

***To be fair to my brother, Mark is a very young, very cool 40 and still manages a pretty good jump shot when playing ball with his soon-to-be-33-year-old-brother-in-law:

August 21, 2010 - Faces and Places (take 2)

Since I last blogged about our trip to Denmark, we had even more vistors and also ventured away from Varde (where Kirsten and Hans live) to visit family and friends in other places. Grace, as usual, did very well through all of the disruptions in her routine and we enjoyed seeing a lot of family and some good friends too.

Martin and Grace blew bubbles in the garden.

Kirsten and Hans hosted a lovely lunch with Oldemor, Gert, Kitte, Marianne and also Martin and Simone (not pictured).

Grace tried to get used to her cousin Mads (son of Kristoffer's cousin Aja), but when I was feeding him a bottle she made it very clear that she was not happy about it. Here she is giving him her most sinister look!

But later that day she realized he wasn't too much of a threat given that he seemed like to bubbles as much as she does.

We went Flemsburg, Germany to celebrate the wedding/we had a baby/we built a house/Tommy is 40! for Hans' son Tommy and his wife Mirja. Leander also just turned 1 this past week.

Marianne, Martin and Simone reminded everyone at the party that "All You Need is Love"!

And we got to see Tina, Thomas and baby Louis too!

The happy couple and their "first dance"!

After partying all night long we went to stay with Farfar and Marianne in Nordborg for a few days. Grace liked the view from up high!

She also really liked to feed the ducks by Farfar's house with Far, Farfar and Marianne.

Then we went to Tandslet for a few days with Rasmus, Jytte, Nikoline and Josefine. Grace and I taught the girls and their friend Emma how to play "wonderball"!

And the girls enjoyed a photoshoot with Kristoffer...

while Uncle Rasmus was chasing Grace around the garden!

She loved that game, but eventually took a rest to blow bubbles with Josefine.

Finally, Kristoffer and I dropped Grace back in Varde with Farmor and Hans headed off by ourselves to Bornholm, a Danish island on the other side of Sweden, to celebrate the wedding of our dear friends Morten & Elsebeth. It was the first time we spent a weekend away from Grace and it turns that we had a great time without her and she had a great time without us!

Here, Kristoffer is giving some marital advice to the groom.

They made a beautiful bride and handsome groom on the beach; we enjoyed celebrating with old and new friends and were so happy to be here for their special day.

Tillykke, Morten og Elsebeth!

Then, just like that, two weeks went by and Kristoffer headed back to Nairobi this past Monday without us. Grace and I are having a good time (good time = restful for me and playful for her!) with Farmor and Hans. We miss him and will be happy to see him in a couple more weeks when he comes back for us. In the meantime we are enjoying Danish life. I wonder what other faces and places we will explore while we are here?!

LMW

August 17, 2010 - It's Been a "Rocky" 4 months

I have so many stories and pictures to share from the past 11 days in Denmark - we have done and seen a lot! But while I'm getting my act together on those blogs, I'll just share that today I am 16 weeks pregnant with Rocky. I feel proud because it feels like my body has had to work a lot harder this time around; it turns out that my cough/bronchitis/lung infection was full-fledged pneumonia (who knows for how long!) and I've only just really recovered from battling that since the middle of June. We haven't had any more pregnancy complications and I am growing even faster than I did with Grace (or at least it feels that way!). I think we are close to realizing that in another 24 weeks (or, most likely a little sooner than that) we will be a family of four!

At 12 weeks pregnant I looked like this:

And today at 16 weeks I look like this...
...with my shadow appropriately close by :)

I had a dream one week ago that Rocky is a boy, but my very first dream about Grace was also that she was a boy...so I suppose that could mean we're having a girl (or that with Grace I was really dreaming about Rocky?)! We are planning to give this baby a Danish name so if you have any suggestions send them along.

Kristoffer went back to Kenya yesterday and Grace and I have begun our extra month of R&R with Farmor & Hans. I took a two hour nap today, so I would say we are off to a good start!

LMW

August 6, 2010 - Playdate

On June 9, 2009, I blogged about Grace meeting her friend Luna for the first time (along with Luna's parent, our good friends Lars and Barbara). Yesterday the girls had their second playdate. Needless to say, they were both much more mobile and entertaining this time around. Luna is six months older than Grace and it was a great preview for us to see what a big girl she will soon be. Much of their day was spent competing for Kristoffer's mom's attention; Luna was even calling Kirsten "Mormor" (mother's mother)!

We made sure to take the second father/daughter picture of these two military buddies with their little girls. I'm tracking how well all four of them age!

LMW

August 5, 2010 - Hongera*, Kenya!

Pick an article, any article, and read all about Kenya's FAIR and PEACEFUL election yesterday with the excellent result of a new constitution being approved by 67% of the country's voters:

The Daily Nation
BBC News
Jyllands-Posten
The NY Times
The Washington Post
The Boston Globe

I was so happy this afternoon that I actually cried! The new constitution will bring many things to the country, the least of which is HOPE for more equity and equality in their future.
LMW

*hongera = congratulations in Kiswahili

August 5, 2010 - "No more, Mama!"

Grace and Farmor were happily playing a game with some small animals on the kitchen counter this morning, and when I approached to see what they were doing my daughter pushed me away and told me, "No more, Mama!" I was definitely not needed for her private play with Farmor.Here's hoping she feels the same way when I'm the one playing with someone new in about six more months!

LMW

August 2, 2010 - Secret Garden

We made it safely and smoothly to Denmark on Friday and have had a very relaxing few days so far. Grace enjoyed a full weekend with her cousins and helped Farmor pick peas, raspberries, and dig up potatoes in her garden. Far also enjoyed picking cherries from the tree and playing in Grace's new sandbox. I am resting well and slowly getting over my bronchitis/lung infection...with a noticeable baby bump that is about 4 weeks bigger than I was with Grace at this time (14 weeks tomorrow). Our Danish vacation is off to a great start!

LMW