update...

Our vacation with Gemma was so great. Babies are wonderfully portable. She came to my meetings on Friday, slept so well in the hotel in her little bed on the floor, and was an angel on the beach. We had a little fort set up of umbrellas to keep the sun off her, her little bed out there on the sand, bathing suit on and a little kimono shirt to help against the rays. We even dipped her toes in ocean, but it was hard to do because of the waves. At one point the umbrella flipped up and sand flew everywhere, including her face. I was near panicked –my baby was covered in sand, but she didn’t cry or anything. I just wet a cloth and wiped around her eyes and face, and she was fine. Didn’t even notice, in fact. Isn’t it funny how the things that freak you out don’t even bother them?

Other developmental things: so much smiling and cooing and gaaing. She wants to communicate and spends lots of time telling stories and talking with her mouth and eyes, too. She is grabbing stuff that’s right in front of her and trying to shove it in her mouth. She loves trying to put stuff fin her mouth. I think she is bored of her soother and looking for something new. She can kick off her blankets, and push herself a little bit with her feet. (Which is making me rethink the bumper pads…She has pushed herself up till her head hits the bars…) Everything she does is so cute.

A story from yesterday…The sitter said that when they were ‘talking’ everytime she mentioned the word ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daddy’ Gemma would smile. Melts a working mother's heart.

Gemma's First Vacation

I just wanted to get on here and let you know that there will be zero to minimal posting here over the next 5 days. We're headed to the beach for a little Chinese New Year getaway. This will be Gemma's first vacation so please pray that everything will go well and our little girl will be safe. We'll be back with some pics of Gemma modeling on the beach.

Special Day

Sunday at church we had a baby dedication service. It's a time where we as parents make a commitment to God and the church that we will raise our daughter according to the principles in the Bible and do our best to teach her about Jesus and his importance. Nevada and I aren't child baptism people, meaning we think that people need to make a decision to follow God in order to become Christians rather than others making that decision for them.

When we were planning Pastor Dan and I decided that a baby dedication would fit right into the February series on relationships, today was Parent/Child day. And we set it up so that it would be during my family's visit to Taiwan. It was a good thing to have my mom and grandma there and I know they were happy to share in the experience. It was also really to cool to get pictures taken of all 4 generations together: Gemma, Me, My mom and my grandma. (Andy took pics of the day with his fancy camera and they won't be on the blog for a few days until I get them from him.)

The soother situation...

This is Nevada here; too lazy to sign out and back in with my name!

I'm not sure what all the hype is about soothers. I've heard they are 'bad' but I am not really sure why, whereas I know some reasons why they are good. Number 1 is that they are reccomended to help prevent SIDS. I read that somewhere and it came printed on a special flyer in one of Gemma's new Christmas toys. The second reason why I like the soother is that Gemma will self-soothe. When she is almost asleep and fighting it I can usually pop in the paci and she sucks herself into dreamland. We can even put her in the crib with her eyes open now and she'll happily suck on the soother till she goes to sleep. So far she is not adicted to it; sometimes she wants it and other times she just goes to sleep on her own.

And on the whole sleep thing; we never did 'adopt' a method. When she cried I picked her up, when she fell asleep in my arms I'd put her in the crib. Now, just over 2 months old, I really think she understands that a) her crib is a safe place, b) her crib is where sleeping happens, and c) she can trust her mommy and daddy to be there for her if she needs it. I totally get how being attentive encourages confidence in kids, rather than the myth of 'not letting them be spoiled'. Now Gemma goes to sleep by herself most of the time. We still rock and cuddle her until she's dozy and then pop her in the crib. The eyes open and flutter, and then she drifts off to dreamland. Babies are soo great.

Busy Baba & Baby

I'm not sure if we've ever got around to explaining the whole Baba thing. It means Grandma in Ukranian so my mom has decided she wants to be known as Baba. Anyway, it's been a busy couple days for Baba and Great Grandma. We've been out and about shopping, sight seeing and eating at some fav restaurant. Of course Gemma is always with us so many of these things she's also doing for the first time. Gemma's also had a lot of fun hanging out at home with her new family members. I do think the overstimulation has messed with the routine we were starting to get into last week. Oh well...haveing family here is worth it.

They're here!

Mom (Grandma) and Grandma (Great Grandma) arrived safely and on time in Taipei. They came out of the airport gate dressed as Christmas Presents...it was worth the wait. We got home at around 1:30 am and mom went rigth after the baby. After a few moments Gemma started crying so daddy had to step in with his special soothing tricks. She went to bed and we chatted for a while and opened a few presents. They are both happy to be back on solid ground and looking forward to exploring Taiwan, but after a few hours of sleep. Two things on the agenda tomorrow: Costco and Church. Should be fun! Well, it's 3 am so time for bed...

So tired she can't keep her eyes open