Nap Time

It has recently been difficult getting Addie to go down for her naps. Again. Lately, the only time she will sleep is when I am holding her. While sweet, this doesn't enable nap time for her to be productive time for me, which I really need. Yesterday I was able to get her to sleep next to me on the couch, and then move. Since we don't want our child rolling off the couch we moved the cushion, unfolded it, and spread it on the floor, all while she was asleep on the cushion. It worked wonderfully!!!

Not Just A Blob

I remember reading an article about a celebrity (don't recall which) talking about motherhood in which she described her child as a "Blob." While she may have been referring to her baby as a newborn, I think she is still wrong. Babies, regardless of age, are not "Blobs." Before having my own child, I had the opportunity to be around my nieces and nephew. I have been able to see them grow and develop from brand new babies to the bouncing, active children they are today. While they may not have done much on their own as babies, they were still learning and developing, and much of that came from observing.

Once when Chris and I were in a tickle "fight" our little baby started crying. We stopped tickling each other and started ostentatiously hugging and playfully kissing one another, and she began to smile and then laugh. This has happened a few times since, with Addie becoming distressed each time. On the other hand, we definitely don't hide our affection for each other from her, and she never tires of watching it, and smiling and laughing at us.

Hopefully you can see where I am going with this... I think children, and especially babies, are much more perceptive than we give them credit for or realize. If tickling each other can upset our baby, how does our interaction with those around us affect these sensitive little ones? I am realizing that this has implications for many of my own behaviors that transcends more than just my basic physical and verbal communication.

White Fang

Shortly after Addie cut her first tooth a second and then third tooth appeared. We have recently begun calling the second tooth the "white fang." On the top, but not one of the two middle teeth, it's placement seems a little awkward and thus humorous to us.

It is barely visible in this first picture:
There it is...
Although blurry, I think this picture best shows why we call it the white fang.

We Have A Deal

Some time ago we worked out a deal regarding dishes: whoever makes the meal gets to take a break from cleaning up. I know everyone has their own policy, but this one has brought me a lot of happiness.

The picture below gives a good idea of how Chris feels about our deal:

Actually, Chris is a pretty willing participant, but you can't blame him for sometimes being a little less enthusiastic as I'm the one that prepares the really big meals for guests. Although I normally do pretty well at cleaning as I go, there are always plenty of dishes used for actually serving and eating the meal.

What, if any, chore "deals" or arrangements do you have with your spouse or roomie(s)??

Moby Rediscovered

We had great difficulty getting Baby on a nap schedule. Though it was definitely a turbulent and tiring month or so, we all survived and she is now taking naps with much less difficulty. On one of the more troublesome days we knew she was tired. I think even she knew she was tired, but she still refused to sleep. So, I pulled out the Moby, wore my Baby, and off to dreamland she went. Because I've had night/day-mares of falling on the ice while wearing her, the Moby went into semi-retirement during the winter. It was fun to put it and Baby on and oddly enough... I ended up feeling pregnant again (in all the good ways). Chris could tell I was loving the snuggliness of it, so he took these pictures. Yay for Moby! =)

HAYPbl3: Part 3

The Saturday after Nauryz our branch had a celebration for the holiday combined with a farewell party for our senior missionary couple, the Vincents.

This party was, hands down, the best one I've been to yet! It was so much fun!!!

There are a number of different ethnic groups in our congregation, and our party-planners had a great idea: have each "community" make a presentation and bring a food that represents them. I will list the group and their presentation, you can see pictures below. (I was able to take some video but I'm not even going to try and upload it to our blog because the videos are rather large.)

Kazakhs
Ira (in the white dress with red vest) sang a song, and
Zoya (in red with jeans) read a self-written poem about Nauryz in Kazakh (because Russian was the main spoken language during the Soviet-era, Kazakh isn't the main spoken language... yet)

Russians
The trio of Russian women sang chastushki, which is a type of Russian folk song wherein you sing couplets... it was a lot of fun and the women were really cute performers!!

Americans
I was in charge of this one (eik!!) and decided that we should perform some of our old folk songs which are now children songs... So we sang "Yankee Doodle," "Dem Bones," and "I've Been Working on the Railroad."

Canadians
One of our missionaries is Canadian, so after the Americans performed (he was in our group) he sang their national anthem "Oh, Canada!" It was really moving and gave me the same feeling I get when I hear our own anthem being performed.

Not to be outdone... After the Canadian anthem, one member insisted that the Kazakhstanis perform the Kazakh national anthem, so all the children and some of the adults gathered at the front and also sang their anthem for us.

Armenians
Our Armenian husband and wife spoke about their country (that's when I took the picture that appears below) and then he and their two daughters performed a folk song from their country, it was really neat!

Germans
Our dear sister Inna is married to a man of German heritage, their business often takes them to Germany, so she has become a little acquainted with the country. She and her daughter spoke a little about the country, but because Inna isn't German, her contribution to the night was to bear her testimony in her husband's native language. =)

Ta-tars & Uyghurs
Our branch president is Uyghur and his wife is Ta-tar, so she performed a traditional dance that represented both those communities. It was soooo cool!

After the performances the guests of honor were given traditional robes. I like the first picture because it shows how far Elder Vincent had to bend in order for Nurzia to put the hat on him. Lest you think she's just really small (which is partly the case), Elder Vincent is 6'7" tall.

Doesn't he look sharp in his Kazakh robe??

The Vincents with Ira, our traditionally-dressed trio.

The Vincents have been amazing here in Kazakhstan. They served a leadership mission here for 18 months and have touched a lot of lives (including ours). In fact, we began our association with them before we left the States (they helped us find an apartment) and enjoyed getting to know them these past months. Sometimes in life you have the opportunity to see how the Lord sends someone to an area because He has prepared them for those specific circumstances... such is the case with the Vincents. I have always had a deep appreciation and love for senior missionary couples, our association with the Vincents has only increased that testimony of the importance of senior missionaries. It makes me excited for retirement and we're only in the early stages of our life and marriage! =)

It was a sad farewell, but a fun party. There was a great spirit of love, friendship, and excitement. It was so much fun to be a part of it all.

HAYPbl3: Part 2

So, this should technically be part 1, because it happened before the earlier post, but it isn't as interesting...

This is what you will find the day before Nauryz.

These are the tents before they are full of tables stocked with all sorts of goods.
This is the setting up of the stage and banner.
Here's old Soviet-era truck, I always think of my brothers when I see these types of vehicles.
This gives an idea of what the inside of a yurt is like, but it was an area for news people to make reports and film things.
These are two pictures during the construction of a yurt. This one is unusually large, which is probably why it took a crane it help put it up.
If you look closely you can see that the crane and the men are standing around a circular component. This is the "framed" opening of the top of the yurt.
(The following picture was taken the day of Nauryz.) If you look at the "ceiling" area in this picture you see lots of rods, they go around the entire yurt and meet up around the edge of the circular component in the previous picture. Part of the reason for the light in the top part of this picture is because there is light coming into the yurt through the opening in the "ceiling."

I'm pretty sure the woman with the white head covering was on our same bus when we were going to church. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her, she had the most beautifully weathered and wrinkly face, and the white head covering looked amazing on her.
This isn't the same yurt, but it gives an idea of what one looks like (this picture was also taken the day of).
We went to the main square on Saturday in hopes that there would be festivities (and food) the day before the actual holiday as we were told it was being celebrated for five days. Apparently, the big celebrations are only the day of, government offices and buildings were closed for five days though. When we arrived at the mostly barren square, we decided to sit and enjoy the nice weather and I, of course, had to take a few pictures of Addie.

She has recently taken a liking to sucking on the string of her jacket and the relaxed manner in which she does it cracks me up... I just keep expecting her to look at me and say with a nod, "'Sup?"