Monday, November 5, 2012

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

Randomly throughout a normal day in Kathmandu, I think about what I would do if there were suddenly an earthquake.  We are due for a big one any day now.  Would I stay put and cover my head, run for the door, hunker down next to a heavy dresser so debris would fall on it and not me?  What if Ryan was in another room, would I be able to get to her?  I come up with all sorts of plans for how to get down the fire escape with Ryan if one of our carriers weren't close by.  I think about what I would break a window with if I couldn't get it open.  I ponder different scenarios under which I would or would not grab the cats and the "go" bag.  Then I wonder, would I really DO anything that I planned?  Would I be able to think straight, would I be able to physically or mentally go anywhere?  Well tonight I got my answer.  I was nursing Ryan to sleep in her room around 7pm when the bed and everything else began to shake.  I immediately scooped her up and ran for the door.  Keith met me in under the door frame of Ryan's room, where we stayed for a few minutes to assess the situation.  Everything seemed to be ok.  It turned out that I did not think about any previous plans I had made and my instincts to grab my baby and run completely took over.  It ended up being a very short, small (4.6) earthquake centered just over the border in China.  No damage was done to our apartment that we could see.   As Keith says, nothing really moved, even a birthday card on a bookshelf in the living room stayed put.  Although, I think my heart rate did budge a bit.  It felt like a test.  A reminder that a big one could hit at anytime.  At least now I know what to do if that happens.  Trust my instincts, as if I have a choice.

Friday, November 2, 2012

8 Months Old?!?!

So, I've been a major slacker with these blog posts.  As the cliche goes, time is going by so fast.  It seems like as soon as I get ready to do a monthly update another month has gone by. Before that happens again, I'm determined to get something down on paper, err, screen.  Here we go...

In the last 4 months you've gone from an adorable little lump that sits in the corner of the couch to a little lump on the move!  You haven't crawled "properly" yet, but you're getting mighty fast at the army crawl.

You're getting more chatty in a babbling sort of wayHere's a video of you chatting and crawling at the same time! So far you've mastered the mamama, bababa, and dadada sounds, but I don't think you've attached any meaning to those sounds.  We're betting your first real word will actually be cat.  You love those cats (unfortunately, they don't love you as much back)!

You got your first 2 teeth in (finally!) around 7 months and we think the next 2 are on their way!  You started off slowly with eating solid foods, liking everything we've given you, but not getting all that excited about meal time.  Now you eat with more enthusiasm, opening wide for each bite.  You still don't have any favorites, but pears, apples, and raisins are all a bit hit.

You are a well traveled baby, that's for sure.  A trend that I'm sure will continue.  Right around the 1 year anniversary of our being in Nepal, we visited some sites that you had been to before as a wee little baby in my tummy.  Here we are at Bouda 1 yr ago and today. 





















We also took trips to Shivapuri....


  
Swayam Bhunath (the monkey temple)...


Pokhara...





And Haatiban...















You also were a big help with our first attempt at beer brewing.  You were so helpful, in fact, that we named the beer 'Baby's First Brew.'





Can't wait for more traveling, brewing, and to see what you come up with next!