Emily’s Musings

What an eventful week! We celebrated our Tenth Anniversary, David’s birthday, and Hannah’s first birthday, all in one week. We have most certainly had our fill of chocolate cake and good food.

This anniversary was very special. Not only did it signify our “married-ness” for 10 years, we actually celebrated as a family, making it our first “Famaversary”. It was fun to take our little one to dinner with us. We have had nine quiet anniversaries (sans little people), and this one was special to celebrate as a family. Don’t get me wrong, we will most certainly have quiet, um . . . cough . . . boring . . . getaways as a couple, but is was nice to include the little one. We ate at Swinging Doors on Saba. It is a BBQ Ribs place that is delicious!

David had a great birthday gift, and it wasn’t from me! It rained, ALL DAY. It rained BUCKETS of water ALL DAY. If I could have placed an order for weather for his special day, this is what he would have ordered. In fact, I was so sure the floods were coming, I was looking for Noah and the Arc. David’s secret passions are flying airplanes and meteorology. Please don’t ask why he is becoming a doctor. Maybe so he can talk about the weather with them and his travels. Anyhoo . . .

Saba has been in somewhat of a drought. This island needed water in a bad way. In fact, word among the locals is that God is punishing Saba for electing a gay man into political office. Yep. We live on a very religious Catholic island, and the latest election has certainly had some controversy. Every house collects its own water into a cistern. There is no city water. If you run out, you’re messed up. My husband is quite particular about the cistern and how much water we have left. One weekend, while he was supposed to be studying, he decided to figure out how big the cistern was, how many gallons of water it held, and how many gallons of water we had. This activity alone puts him the “Anal Retentive” category. Anyway, we were running low on water, the rains came pouring down, and we got 17 inches of rain in the cistern. What does this mean? I can now do ALL the laundry I want!

David stayed home from school on his birthday (because on your birthday you can do whatever you want!) and watched it rain all day. I obviously wasn’t able to take a cake to him at school because he was home with me. I took a cake to the school to share with some of his classmates the next day. It was beautiful. Not the event, the cake! I made it all from scratch. It was a chocolate cake that didn’t have any cocoa in it, just melted chocolate bars. Yum . . . I made the icing from scratch too, all melted chocolate bars in a double boiler.

I put 32 candles in the cake, which looked like 100 because lets face it, 32 burning candles is bright! We sang “Happy Birthday” and enjoyed the cake. Several members of his class said, “You made this?” “You are an excellent cook!” Me, an excellent cook? Maybe they don’t know how ironic that sounds. I may have tainted my reputation as a mess in the kitchen!

Hannah LOVED her cake. Mostly because it was chocolate cake. She loves chocolate cake, just like her dad. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with the cake, but in no time she had it all over her face, body, and hair. She was a mess!

Ah! The joy of Baby Einstein. Why did I wait so long to introduce this to Hannah? I have to admit, I am one of those moms who is a little paranoid about things. I had read a study that linked ADD and TV. This study showed that if your child was introduced to TV before the age of two, they were more likely to end up being diagnosed with ADD.

However, after careful consideration (my insanity of constantly entertaining my child is really what inspired the change of heart), I decided that 20 minutes of Baby Einstein everyday, was not going to be harmful. In fact, the DVD is teaching her how to count in five different languages! That is most certainly something I couldn’t teach her.

In the past week, Hannah has also discovered the joy of Sesame Street, and Teletubbies. I have discovered the joy of a few minutes to myself everyday, to do whatever!

Baby toys are for parents. Babies don’t care what they are playing with, as long as it is interesting. Hannah demands prefers to play with the real phone that is black, not her colorful cell phone that makes cute noises. Hannah’s FAVORITE thing to play with are the car keys. Notice how I wrote the car keys not my car keys? That is because there is only one set of car keys for our car. Yes, she is obsessed with playing with the only set we have (I have tried for MONTHS now to get another set of keys made. The ONLY place that can make a copy of my key is never open.) They are hers. She has a colorful set of keys in her toy box, but they are not the real keys.

It hasn’t been too bad yet (I say yet because I’m sure the fateful day will come when she looses the keys), the car keys are actually very entertaining, for hours! She smiles from ear to ear as she clumsily walks around the house squealing and shaking her bum to the clink, clink of the keys in her hand. The house stays uncluttered since she is not going to her toy box and taking everything out of it, and I can always tell where Hannah is by the jingle of the keys on which she has a death grip. She proudly walks around the house for hours as she shows off her keys. There is only one problem though . . . if you try to take away the keys and don’t offer her something else to play with that is equally exciting to her, she will cry and her skin will melt off her face. It is that traumatic. Unfortunately, the only thing that is equally as exciting to her is my computer mouse.

Hannah’s favorite “toys” are: the car keys, my computer mouse, my sunglasses, an empty lotion bottle, and the A/C remote control. What does this say about me?

I normally exaggerate. I know. However, this photo of my driveway is true. I am not exaggerating when I say my driveway is at a 45 degree angle. Those of you who have visited, can vouch for this photo.

It happened. David and I went on a date, WITHOUT Hannah. I had serious anxiety over this, but we finally decided that she would be fine in the care of someone else. It was so nice to go out as a couple, like we were regular people. I live my life like a kangaroo, Hannah is always on my person, so this was a HUGE leap for me.

We ate at the Gate House on Saba. This is the nicest restaurant on Saba. The chef makes amazing food. So amazing, his restaurant has been featured in Food and Wine Magazine. We met some good friend there, and had a fantastic time. We chatted the night away (not hard to do since I am a chatter and David can certainly hold his own), ate good food, and relaxed without our little people. The best part of all, it was free for us! Gift Cards come in handy.

I kind of felt guilty though. I didn’t think about Hannah. Well, maybe once. Maybe it was because I knew she was sleeping. Or maybe, just maybe, I realized there are other competent people out there that can care for her. It was so nice to go out as a couple, like we had for the previous ten years. Hannah is almost one. I guess our couple date was long overdue.

David and I will be celebrating our tenth anniversary this Tuesday, July 17, 2007. As we were discussing what we would buy for each other (in another life, like one where we had money to throw around. Not our current life where we live as poor medical students). He said, “I have the BEST gift in mind for you!” Anticipating what he might thinking, I thought he must be thinking about a HUGE three carat diamond. That most certainly would do the trick. What girl wouldn’t want one of those? Then came the answer, with MUCH enthusiasm I might add. “A PIMPED OUT LAPTOP!!!” To my surprise, I was VERY excited. The thought of getting a brand spankin new pimped out laptop was 10 times more appealing than a three carat rock. Something is definitely wrong with me.

David then goes on to say, “What do most people do for big anniversaries?”

“They go on vacation, like to the Caribbean.”

“Exactly! I totally came through for you! I didn’t take you on a measly two week vacation to the Caribbean, I MOVED you here for two whole years!”

Gotta hand it to David. He is always looking at the positive side.

The gas station is OUT of gas. The ONLY gas station, that has ONE pump. Things could get a little interesting around here. It’s a good thing I’m so neurotic about having gas in my car. I never let the gas get below half full. Some of the things that happen on this island are so crazy, you can’t make this stuff up!

Life is full of surprises when you have two curious dogs. Before David left for school the other day, he had to give Paris stitches. She slipped on the patio when she was running into the house from her morning bathroom break. Ah, the day in the life of a Medical Student.

Dear Hannah,

You are now eleven months old. You have certainly grown a lot in the past three months. You have discovered the benefits of having not one, but two pets. You are very excited to see Kyaha and Paris every morning. You squeal with delight as you speed crawl to them. They are usually relaxing on the couch from their very exhausting jobs as the lazy family pets when you reach them. You then take your tiny little hand and WHAP them on their head, mouth, back or leg. Which ever body part is closest to you. They then look to me as if I have control over the torture you are giving them, and then they peacefully stand up and move to the very inside of the couch where your little arm just can’t reach. You will then move on to the next victim in the house which is usually one of the kitchen chairs. You will smack the heck out the chair until you are completely exhausted.

You really like to move furniture all over the house. You moved the kitchen chairs around with such purpose and direction, it’s really quite cute. It’s as if I haphazardly placed our furniture in the most awkward places and you are doing me a BIG favor by rearranging the furniture to be “Feng Shui”. Why would your dad and I want the kitchen chairs at the table? The middle of the room is much more balanced. Maybe you will grow up to become a Professional Mover or an Interior Decorator.

You now have 4 teeth. They are so cute! I brush them for you every night as part of your bed time routine and you LOVE to get them brushed. You smile and giggle when I pull out your toothbrush and toothpaste. You four little teeth love to chomp down on the following foods: strawberries, bananas, grapes, kiwi, bread, and graham crackers. Your dad has introduced cookies and chocolate to you and you are a baby after his own heart, you love sugar! I guess this makes him your “sugar daddy” and you his “sugar baby”.

You feel compelled to clap your hands for everything. If I say, “Hi, Hannah!” you clap your hands. If I say, “How are you doing, Hannah?” You clap your hands. When I ask, “Did you poop your diaper?” or “Do you want to take a nap?” You also clap your hands. It is adorable. Quite frankly, I really appreciate your enthusiasm.

You were given a crib a few weeks ago. Now that we have a crib, all of us (including you) are wondering how we lived without it for so long. You have been in a Pack n’ Play for 10 months and now you have graduated to the “Rolls Royce” of sleeping comfort for babies . . . a crib. Your dad and I don’t complain about the aches and pains in our backs because we no longer have to reach ALL THE WAY down to the ground to pick up all 20 pounds of you. The mattress in your crib is much bouncier than the mattress in your Pack n’ Play. This is one of your favorite things about this bed. You can get much more “air” as your jump up and down on the mattress. This is your way of letting us know your are up and awake.

You LOVE books, mostly because they are made of paper, and paper is one of your favorite foods. You would consume an entire book for lunch if I let you. You get quite possessive of your books when you realize I am taking them away and you definitely let me know that the books are yours. The little paper you do eat, is something you cherish. I know by the smile on your face that paper tastes like chocolate. That is a disturbing thought. You are smart though,you clearly know that avocado is not chocolate cake. I mean, I know that, but I have been around a lot longer than you. A few days ago you were eating some avocado for lunch and I thought I would have a slice of chocolate cake. As soon as you saw the cake on my plate, that was the END of the avocado. You pursed your lips so tight when I tried to squeeze even the smallest bite of avocado into your mouth, but you loudly BEGGED for a bite of the chocolate cake and would not let up until your little mouth was busy savoring the chocolate. You can thank your dad for introducing chocolate cake to you. As Bill Cosby said once, “Dad is great, he gave us chocolate cake!” But remember who really gave you chocolate cake, ME!! YOUR MOM!!! Not your dad. Glad to have that cleared up.

This next topic kind of stinks, but I think it needs to be addressed. In the next few years when you are stinking up the bathroom, the memory of your “non smelly” poopie diapers will be a distant memory. That’s right, your poop doesn’t stink. We had heard rumors, and been warned, that when you started on real food, your diapers would stink so bad we would constantly light matches just to tolerate the stench. Well, your dad and I have come to the conclusion that a diet high in fruit doesn’t make your poop smell. This really isn’t a problem for us, only that we never know when you need to have your diaper changed! Now you have us checking your diaper every 20 minutes just to see if you need a diaper change. I sort of miss the days when your poopie diapers smelled like buttered popcorn. Those where in the days when you were only breastfeed. At the grocery store a few days ago, I found myself checking your diaper because I was sure you had pooped. As I turned around, I realized I was standing in the buttered popcorn aisle!

You just started walking! This is so exciting to us! You have taken a grand total of 12 steps at one time. We are careful not to blow on you so you won’t fall over. You love to stand out on the patio and walk around the perimeter holding on to the fence. You talk very directly and authoritatively as you stick your hand between the slats, addressing the driveway.

You will be a year old before we know it. My, how this time has flown! We can’t imagine living without you and can’t remember life before you joined our family. You are such a wonderful addition, we love you so much!

Love,

Mom