Here’s Nia doing her new favorite thing – playing with her feet! I found these great Lamaze “Feet Finder” rattles to make her play twice as fun…
Nia
Tonight we had our first go at solid foods. Nia sampled both pureed Pears and a Mum Mum, which is a Rice Paper flatbread. Nia made a big ole mess and wasn’t too sure what she thought about it...
Greetings all – We’re less than 30 days out from Peru now and the reason you never hear from me is that every spare moment is going into our pack-out preparations. Any advantage...
We’ve got new tricks to show off. In video 1 – pushing up onto our hind legs. In video 2 – “fake chewing”.
So, my subject wasn’t into our 6 month photo shoot. She was too distracted by the sound of all that rushing water behind her. Mistake number two was shooting at 3 o’clock in the...
It was a wild weekend here on the home front. We are a mere one week from our international move now and for some reason (back in January) we thought it’d be a grand idea to schedule...
Hola from Peru! It’s been a chaotic 48 hours of transit and orientation to our new home. I had forgotten how humbling it is to struggle with communication and completing basic tasks. That being...
You know me, I’m not much for wasting time. Might as well just jump right in. I woke up Friday morning feeling energized and ready to see the town. Nia and I started our day with a walk to a...
As I’ve mentioned before, Nia is VERY popular here. Almost too popular, if I’m being honest (although who am I to shy away from attention). This outpouring of love for her shows up in a...
Can you believe it? Little Nia is 7 months old! Where did the time go… My little girl is getting big – and FEISTY! :) She refused to sit or lay on her back long enough for me to get more...
A little something new from Ms. Nia that we have termed “Lizard Tongue”…
My first month of Spanish came to an end today. The sad part is that most of these amazing people won’t be in my next class (they’re staying in the morning, I’m going to try...
These are about 10 days late – oops! She’s definitely starting to explore her world, as reflected in these photos.
This video is dedicated to Auntie Emily, who has been begging and begging to see footage of Nia on the move!
My daughter is a drama queen. Drama queen with a CAPITAL D. Her intensity is unparalleled. She can go from dawn to dusk and has recently decided that she isn’t interested in sleeping (LUCKY US)...
Sorry for the lack of blogging lately, I’ve been doing a ton of writing during the day for my upcoming business launch of CanceRevolution and I just don’t have the energy to do more...
Nia and I recently started going to a weekly music class in our Miraflores neighborhood. It’s a steal of a deal at $4 a session for an hour of music. Carlos, the musician, is quite versatile...
It’s hard to believe, but our little girl just crossed the one year mark. I’m not going to lie and say that the entire year flew by because there were days in those first three months...
Here are the best of Nia’s 1 Year Photo Shoot! We had them done by Vanessa of Luz + Letra here in Lima. It was a fantastic experience that yielded over 100 beautiful shots of Nia! If...
It’s been non-stop Halloween around here the last few days. Although not my favorite holiday, I have to admit that it’s a ton more fun with a kid. Cuteness just becomes magnified in silly...
Tis the season for holiday parties! Saturday was one of our first Embassy ones, a “Morning with Santa” for the kiddos. It was beautifully done – bouncy castles, face painting...
There’s never a dull day on the Malecon (our ocean-side park near our house) and since we go out there several times each day, we inevitably run into lots of fun adventures. Like yesterday, for...
I get a lot of comments about how much Nia looks like me because of the blue eyes/blond hair thing. What you can’t tell however, is how much Nia looks like Nick when he was a child. Check out...
It’s summer here and we’ve been capitalizing on the good weather by doing lots of fun outdoorsy stuff. One of our adventures this week was a trip to Granja Arriero (Arriero Farm), a small...
On President’s Day Weekend we ventured three hours south on the Pan-America Highway to Lunahuana, a country-esque area know for its adventure sports. It’s located in the middle of a...
Nia and I decided to take advantage of our relatively-close South American location and join the family for the annual trip to Puerto Vallarta. My parents have owned a time share there for three...
As I’ve mentioned before, Embassy Lima does a great job of putting on festive holiday celebrations. Holidays tend to bring up additional feelings of homesickness and events like this really do...
We’ve had helper drama lately. I haven’t written about it because I wasn’t sure how it was going to be resolved, but I’m ready to give you the full lowdown now. In early...
Today we took a family field trip into downtown Lima to see Parque de Las Reserva (or the “Fountain Park” as it’s called when you can’t remember the Spanish name). We’ve...
We’ve been out enjoying the final days of summer while we’ve still got sun. For those who don’t know, Lima loses it’s sunshine for roughly seven months a year thanks to the...
Well, we made it nearly 19 months before having to trim those beautiful blonde locks…. I delayed as long as I could, but her bangs were starting to cover her eyes and the stubborn kiddo refuses...
Nick decided to take up the guitar while we were gone for five weeks in Minnesota. Since arriving home, Nia’s been positively fascinated with it, constantly wanting to go in our room to touch...
Friends, can I tell you how fortunate I feel that my advanced little girl has decided that being two is not a prerequisite to displaying Terrible Twos behavior!? Every day I am blessed to practice...
Sorry for the lack of posts folks, we’ve been too busy having fun with my in-laws, Robert & Joyce who live in bea-uuuu-tiful Bend, OR (home of every athletic person who ever walked the...
If you’ve spent any time with Nia, you know that there are three people/things she talks about incessantly. The first is Elle, her BFF who is only one month older than Nia. These two run the...
It’s hard to believe, but we’ll have a two year old in our family as of the 22nd. In order to celebrate this momentous occasion, we decided to throw the most Elmolicious Party we could...
When winter starts to get long and we haven’t seen the sun in months, we hop in the car and drive to Cieneguilla. This city, while only one hour from our house, is technically considered the...
Wanna know something? I’ve never been too fond of Halloween. Sure, I enjoyed it as a kid, but by the time I got to my early teens I was pretty over it. It all seemed kinda silly. But then I...
“Mom, we’ve talked about this before. I’m too busy to have my picture taken. Please leave me alone.†“No, I’m really serious this time. Go away. This is your final warning. I...
Don’t get me wrong, Christmas to me will forever be synonymous with snow, fires, hot chocolate, sweaters and the like. There is, however, something delightful about ‘testing out’...
Nia has recently become obsessed with The Kitty Park (also known as Parque Kennedy). This beautiful urban park, for some bizarre reason, is home to a collection of wild, homeless cats. No lie, on...
One of the things I will miss most when I leave Peru is a group called Miramoms. This group grew organically from a desire to connect the Peruvian and Expat Moms of Miraflores. While originally...
Oh Minnesota, how I missed thee. I did NOT, however, miss your below freezing temps! Either you’ve gotten worse or I’ve gotten wimpier. I do appreciate the snow though, purely for my...
It’s hard to top the awesomeness of snow, but I think we may just have done it. Yes, today was Nia’s first day of preschool. As many of you know, my Mom started Lake Area Discovery Center, a...
We’re 12 days into our DC tour and slowly but surely finding our footing. We spent the bulk of the first week touring preschools and apartments (with mixed results, I might add). I am pleased...
We’ve noticed over the last few months that Nia has a very unique style of play that’s different from most other two year olds. Her play centers around ordering her various collections...