Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Minya's first "kids meal."
With auntie Roxanne at Katrina and Nabil's wedding. The put us trouble-makers at the same table, yea!
At Katrina and Nabil's wedding...just before Minya started to get rowdy, around the I-do's. It was a gorgeous wedding.
Holy cheeks!!!


Precious girl.

Enjoying the views from the Boardwalk.


Next time we'll go into the water, when it's warmer.

Bathing beauty


More in the pool


Minya is definitely comfortable in the water, which makes her parents very excited. Yes, we are looking to sign her up for swimming lessons in the future.




Minya's first case of "plumber's crack."
Teething is tough.


Strolling in Queens; looking good in orange.

Daddy's shoulder is the best place to fall asleep. This was after a long day in Jackson Heights, Queens, NY.

Fun times with a hat







Even while sleeping, Minya feels the deep need to call for revolution. Since mama can't fit in bed, she takes a photo of sleeping beauties.
Minya having a patriotic moment while her parents aren't looking.


Not sure what to make of uncle Dagan's beard.

Having lunch with auntie Mica. Pho sure!

a snarl







In the beginning, all I ate was carrots...then I learned about bananas and apples, and it's been all over since. (It was all over when it was carrots too.)


A family photo.
Chillin with my Baba by the pool.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009


hi everybody ~ i promise to bug my parents to update this blog more often. see how my hair is growing?

Just a quick note

So, we've become negligent when it comes to creating new posts on this here blog. You'll be pleased to know, however, that we have not neglected to dote on, worship, feed, clothe, sing (off-key) to, carry, bathe, wipe, burp, rock, throw into the air, and otherwise LOVE our little Minya. She is now just over eight months-old and growing bigger each day. First, let's talk about her mobility. She is not crawling yet like others in her cohort, but she has mastered the guerrilla crawl, which is mostly glorified rolling. But, she uses this preferred method of movement to reach objects of her desire, which right now seem to mostly be cell phones, dogs or cats, mama, and daddy. Her ample baby belly allows her to pivot in different directions in order to better aim her roll. She is getting quite good and can already out-roll her parents. Crawling is something that we have tried to interest her in, but for some reason (see above, "ample baby belly"?) she is not able to balance herself just yet, and does not get far. Standing seems to be the next best thing aside from rolling. She stands leaning on an ottoman, or sometimes the coffee table. We think that walking is next, but not for a little while, which we are thankful for.

Otherwise, Minya has been surprising us each week with something new. About a month ago she woke up one Saturday morning and began clapping, probably from spending time with her baba and aunts who all sing that old Serbian baby song, "tussi, tussi, ta, na, na...". Just a couple of weeks ago she learned to wave - so much fun! Of course, we're still perfecting the timing of the wave, but she's pretty much got the motion down pat. Then there's also the shaking of her head, which started out as dancing and has morphed into saying no to things...uh-oh! We are learning to try and think ahead before teaching her other things that initially look cute but may backfire on us later. Ah well. Most recently, just this past weekend, she started to growl. Yes, growl. This is mostly in response to animals, and now includes responding to humans with a growl. Cutest growl ever! We keep talking about how we are going to record all of these milestones and post them onto the blog, but can't promise you when that will be. Since we are still looking for a house to buy, we are less settled than we would like to be, but once we are we promise to provide everyone with a full update complete with photos, video, and a new play-by-play and commentary about Minya's little life so far. Stay tuned.

Oh, and we do have a few photos below, just to keep you coming back for more.

Ok, so mama looks a little crazed, but Minya knows what's going on as she patiently poses for the camera in her daddy's office.


For those of you who are not on Facebook...here is the best photo ever of Minya, taken by our friend Frederick when we were still in Vermont.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Goodbye Vermont! Hello New Jersey!

Yes, we know that it's been a while since we last updated the blog. We promise to try and stay on top of things this time. Since the last time we posted, a lot has happened in little baby Minya's life. She is now 5 Months 1 Week old today, weighs probably about 18 1/2 pounds, and is somewhere around 26-27 inches long. Until last week she had rolled over from her tummy to her back a total of nine times, all of which seemed to surprise her. In the last week, however, it's clear that she knows how to roll over on her own. She goes to put her arms in place when she wants to roll, and ta-da, she rolls! It's so amazing to watch her as she puts it all together. She also just started "solids" this past Saturday, although I wouldn't call the rice cereal that she ate too solid, but she was all about it and gobbled it right up. Now she's wanting more, so we think we might start other foods soon - very soon. We've got some cute video of it (well, we think it's cute) so we'll try to upload that soon. Also, she took her first dip in a pool this past weekend too. See photos of that cute adventure below.

As you might know, we've also recently left the community that we had in Brattleboro, Vermont in early June. We are still sad that we had to leave Vermont so soon, and would have loved to stay for the summer, but since Jonathan finished his on-campus phase of his graduate program, so we needed to get back to working and Philly. We really MISS all of our friends that we made, especially the babies who Minya got to know well. Please come and visit! Jonathan started his job last week and I'll begin my job in early July. Since we needed more room than ever we are staying with our cousin Zayan, her fiancee Beth, and their good friend Janessa, plus Amstel the dog, and Bean the cat who is still getting used to us living here. We plan to move back to Philly in August or September, so if anyone knows of a good place to rent or own in Philly, let us know ASAP! In the meantime, we're grateful to Beth and Zayan, and Minya is excited to be closer to some of her family. Since we'll both be working, we're venturing down the road to childcare. Luckily enough for us now we'll have a combination of family - auntie Letty and Baba Mary - able to watch Minya while we're away during the day. I'm still going to try and continue breast feeding, so it'll be a challenge.

Now we're trying to get through Minya's first cold - rats! She started sniffling and sneezing the other night and last night left us sleepless for a good portion of it. She is still not sleeping well during the day, with naptime being the least favorite activity - any suggestions? There's just so much to see and do that she doesn't want to miss a second. We keep trying to tell her that she'll have more time to investigate it all soon enough, but for some reason she doesn't want to listen. That's all for now.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

First dip in the pool.
On the road to Philly, er Jersey. This is one of the few moments when I tolerated the long drive.

Brattleboro babes

Connor, Justin, Abigail, Minya, and Birch
These are some of the babies, mamas, and papas who we got to know and love while living in Brattleboro.

Some of my friends who I will miss - Lotte, Justin, Abigail, and Birch.
Minya's first destruction of property, and she looked so cute while doing it!

Packing for the move

Here we are getting ready for the move. Can't forget the most important box!

Becoming interested in food...

"Hey, what's that?! Give me some!"
Sitting pretty at Nyain-nya Lauren's wedding on May 15.

Workers of the World Unite!


We spent May 1, International Workers Day, by meeting Uncle Sol and Cori in Brattleboro. Then we had a beer and danced with Bethany and Jora.
Chillin with my friend Birch. A blanket says a thousand words. Clearly, he is a boy since his blanket is blue and I am a girl since my blanket is pink.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter, visits, and giggles!

Minya's been very busy since our last blog post. She has started to get stronger and stronger, and is on her way to sitting up soon. When she's laying down, in her car seat or bouncy chair, she constantly tries to pick her head up and into a sitting position. When she first started doing it I was freaked out, but then realized that it's probably all part of the natural progression. She's also started to put most things in her mouth these days, drools like a mad dog, and otherwise sucks on her lips and fists, which makes us think that she's on her way to having teeth in the next couple of months. She's been smiling like crazy for us, at least 10 times a day, but never when we have the camera ready. BUT, we did catch the tail end of a little laughing fit - her FIRST LAUGH - on camera, so you can hear her cute giggle. Our hearts melt at the sound of what is in store. Since Jonathan was the one to make her laugh for the first time (by dropping one of her plush toys on her) we've decided that we're now in competition to make her laugh again. The pressure is on!

We've also had lots of visitors and made some visits ourselves. In mid-March our good friend Kymberlie and her son Elliot visited us all the way from Austin, Texas. They traded the warm sunshine for melting snow to meet Minya for the first time, which was special since Jonathan and I first met Elliot in Austin when he was about the same age. We miss them and can't wait to visit them on their home turf in the future. Next, we visited Boston for a conference on "New Strategies in the Obama Era" where Minya was by far the youngest participant. She was intrigued by much of what was said, and we're still awaiting some of the strategies that she cam up with. Then, just a week ago, we spent some days visiting my mom, Minya's Baba Mary, outside of Philly. We got to see Nyain Nya Sandy, cousin Lauren, and Ava. Since Jonathan's birthday fell while we were there, we got to celebrate with our good friends Brie, Kavi and Adam. We also visited our good friend Stephanie who was super duper excited to meet Minya, especially since that's when Minya gave us her first giggle (see below to hear it!).

Now we're back in Brattleboro where we just had Mark, Meredith, Emma, Phoebe, and Stella Tomlinson Hulbert visit us. Mark is Jonathan's godfather, and Emma is Jonathan's goddaughter, so it was exciting to have them meet Minya. Jonathan's sisters, auntie Nadia and Shawnee, and niece Amira were also visiting on the same day, so we had a week full of family time. Meeting and visiting with both of our families is very important to us, so we are grateful for all of the visitors, and can't wait to see more of other family and friends in the future - come on up for a visit! Finally, while no eggs were dyed this year, Minya was feeling in the Easter mood and decided to put on her bunny coat. She was, by far, the cutest bunny around! Hope you enjoy the photos and video. Keep coming back for more since Spring has sprung and Minya is getting bigger and bigger.
Happy Easter! And a happy birthday to Nana and auntie Allie from the cutest bunny around!