Fall has sprung!

I love when people misstate idiomatic expressions. I am lucky that I have a husband who does this well. One of my favorites, which he has often used, is a twist on the phrase "read em and weep." He (still) says this phrase as "readum en weep." (I think he once told me he thought it was a latin phrase). I think the meaning he assigns to this phrase is different than the intended one, but I can't remember what it is.

Completely unrelated, here are some fall pictures for you!

On our way to our church's fall festival




Halloween party at NATO - Eden was a monkey if you can't tell



Some pictures in a park near our house...we were excited to learn that leaves change color in Spain, too

Thirteen month update

Eden turned 13 months old this week! I've never actually done a monthly update before, but some of you have been asking what Eden has been up to lately, so here goes.

At 13 months, Eden is:

- Playing peek-a-boo with us using her bib or a blanket...she thinks it is hilarious

- Doing a few baby sign language signs (more, eat, all done, nurse)

- Giving hugs to her dolls, stuffed toys, and us if we ask for one! It's so sweet. Sometimes she does get confused about what to hug, and hugs her ball or her cup. :)

- Putting things together...lids on bottles, etc...she loves doing anything like this and is absolutely fascinated whenever Andrew is putting a piece of furniture or something together

- Still not walking...Andrew and I were both later walkers so we figure it's genetic(?). She is great at standing on her own and seems to enjoy walking with her walker, and even dances in place standing up, but just doesn't seem interested in taking those steps yet...

- As mentioned, dancing...she is especially prone to start dancing when classical music comes on our ipod player! If she's in her high chair she just bobs her head and upper body up and down, but if she's standing, she bends her knees and bounces up and down. It really cracks us up.

- Saying some words (albeit without the ending consonant sounds): "dog", "mama", "dada", "night-night" (sounds like "na-na"), "baby" (sounds like "bubba"), "more", "ball", and attempting to say "light" (she gets as far as the "L" sound but says it when she's pointing at a light so we know what she's talking about)

- Eating a LOT - much of our time with her is spent preparing food and cleaning up after her! She eats almost everything we eat.

- Starting to sleep well, about 12 hours a night for the last week and a half or so...naps are shorter than we would like though

- Wanting to rub/touch/eat my growing stomach all the time (my big belly has so entranced her that now she's even fascinated by Andrew's normal one and frequently lifts his shirt up to see it as well. She calls my stomach a "ball")

- Waving hello and goodbye when we ask her to

- Trying to put her socks and shoes on by herself (she doesn't get far)

That's all I can think of for now!

Eden through the year

I intended to write this post right after Eden turned one year old, but oh well. Here it is...a picture of Eden each month of her first year of life. I know this is a bit overboard on the baby stuff, but at least the grandparents and great-grandparents, and maybe the aunts, will enjoy it...

Brand new! (three days old)


One month


Two months


Three months


Four months


Five months


Six months


Seven months


Eight months


Nine months


Ten months


Eleven months


One year old!

In Spain, the washing machines are in the kitchen

Eden's first birthday

We celebrated Eden's first birthday with gifts, a little pink cake, and lots of conversations with family via Skype. Thank goodness for technology! I apologize for all the pictures - future kids have no hope for this much attention! Note that Andrew wore his pink shirt all weekend in honor of Eden's birthday. So sweet.

Eden getting ready to open presents (thank you, family!!)


Before leaving for church service




Trying to give us her Minnie Mouse balloon


Reading a birthday card


Opening her Steiff Dachsund


Eden's gift from Andrew and I - a rocking horse







Andrew ate the rest of Eden's cake shortly after this was taken

Eden's first trip to the zoo!

Since we didn't have any family coming into town for Eden's first birthday, we wanted to do something special with her. Now, I realize that she doesn't have any idea what a zoo is or that it was her birthday (or what a birthday is, for that matter). But most of us have pictures of our first birthday on which to look back! When I look at mine, I see pictures of a one-year-old me surrounded by family and friends. Since we live on a different continent than our family and friends (except you, Katherine!) Eden won't have those pictures - so we figured she should have some pictures of a zoo trip. Okay, it wasn't actually that complex...we just thought it would be fun to take her to the zoo for her birthday.

It was, indeed, so much fun. Even though I have grown ambivalent about the rightness/wrongness of zoos, I could not help myself from feeling the same giddiness I felt during my many zoo trips as a child when we walked through the entrance. When I was young, I would use up multiple rolls of film during zoo trips, and then fill entire photo albums with dark and distant photos of all the animals. I just loved getting to be so close to so many different creatures! My grandparents would buy me subscriptions to magazines like "Zoo News" for years, which fed my obsession.

I was excited to share this (former) obsession with my child, and it was a very neat experience. Eden is only one, so certainly had limited understanding of what was going on, but she was as fascinated by the animals as I had hoped. She pointed at each one we saw, calling all of them "dog." She only got scared once: when Andrew set her right outside the cage of some raccoon/monkey looking creature. We even got to feed a carrot to a giraffe, which I never recall getting to do in U.S. zoos. Anyway, it was a great birthday, and it wasn't even mine!

Before the dolphin show


Dolphins


Eden was very interested

Norway

Two weeks after moving into our new house in September, Eden and I joined Andrew for a two-week work trip he had to Stavanger, Norway. We left with mixed impressions. It was a beautiful place with delicious and healthy food and incredible sights. It was also astronomically expensive and very rainy and cold. Andrew liked the weather, but it was definitely not a place I'd elect given my choice of a vacation spot! It rained almost every day of our trip.

By far the best part of our time there was a cruise we took of the Lysefjord. We spent the first hour or so of the cruise taking pictures of the beautiful scenery like crazy, thinking we were seeing the fjords. After we finally got worn out and headed out of the rain and into the cabin, we heard an announcement come over the ship's loudspeaker, saying "you are now entering the Lysefjord." Great.

At one point the ship neared a cliff and three mountain goats saw it and came barreling down the mountain. When the ship got close enough, a drawbridge was extended and one of the cruise guides went out and fed the goats! It was so fun to watch. We also pulled up to a waterfall, where the crew collected some water and handed it out to us - it was the most amazing water we had ever tasted in our lives!

Gamle Stavanger (Old Stavanger) - "Europe's largest collection of wooden buildings" according to wikipedia...interesting


Eden in our hotel room


Before the fjords, but still neat!


For once, we thought something was funny at the SAME time..



Mountain goats



Going through the fjord


Andrew drinking the waterfall water


The view from our hotel room