a little update.

After many weeks of travel and constant change, we are finally settling into our new home here in Germany. We finally have phone and internet, after a month of waiting for the German cable company to get their act together. All of our furniture and other belongings have arrived by boat, so we finally got rid of the military base rental furniture yesterday. Most of the boxes are unpacked at this point, as I spent the last week dedicating myself to the task. Iris is very happy with our new house, and now that the rental furniture from the military base is gone, a large area of the living room is clear for her own personal play space. We just ordered her this play rug yesterday to soften an area of the tile floor for her. It should be great for the playmobile toys she loves so much!

For your enjoyment, here is a little video I took of her this morning. I will hopefully be more active here now that our PCS is complete. I am excited to share a slice of our life here with all of my readers! 

puddle splashing.

Yesterday, I brought Iris outside to walk and play in the rain. We got to see her very first rainbow! I'm not sure that she really acknowledged it, but she did discover a large muddy puddle in the road at the base of a hill.

hunting dandelions.

dancing baby.

Here's a little snippet of what Iris' dancing looks like! This musical butterfly is one of only three battery operated toys that Iris has. I usually keep them hidden -  mostly because they drive me nuts and I just don't agree with them. She also enjoys them much more when I take them out for her occasionally!

slide.

Today, Iris started going down the slide all by herself!

her favorite christmas present.

Iris received so many wonderful gifts for Christmas. Thank you to all of our family and friends who were so thoughtful and generous! She gave attention to each and every present. But her most favorite present of all...?

Not the interactive, wooden play kitchen and food from her Granny. 

Not the beautifully illustrated books or outfit from her Pepe and Susan.

Not the sweet little dress or book from her Aunties.

Not the adorable Jasmine doll from our family friends.

Not the latch board or her pull along snail... 

she

loves

The Potty. 

All she would say was "pee pee!" and "pahhh pahh" - granted, I definitely encourage it under the pretense of making potty learning easier when that time comes around. I eventually had to put The Potty away because all this little girl wanted to do was stand in it, sit on it and carry it around with her. Nothing else existed once she pulled this magical device from its decorative bag. Hooray for The Potty - thank you Santa!

papa.

This video will steal your heart.

Today we were cuddling on the couch and I said, "Mama loves you!" 

Iris immediately got down, ran into the kitchen and pointed at this picture to say, "Papa!"

Yes, I totally burst out crying and had to get it on video... 

My Love, your daughter loves you so much!

two new videos.

I took these two videos in the last few days mostly for Marius' benefit, since he can't be here to see the different stages of Iris' learning. Babies pack a lot of learning in between 11 and 13 months!! In the first video I was finally able to catch her baa-ing and neighing. I know it's going to be hard, but please try to ignore how many times I ask her "what does a sheep say?! what does a horse say?!" I don't usually sound so crazy and repetitive... really, I promise... yup. 

And here she is, walking along again! I've posted a few similar ones in the past, but I wanted to be able to show Marius the progression of her steadiness and independence. Now, she doesn't usually want to hold my hand much and god forbid if I try to help her up when she falls!

Hope you enjoyed!

new dexterity.

new shoes.

Hello there, my little blog has gotten a makeover! Sort of a starting fresh thing. Now I will be able to post larger photos and everything should look less cluttered around the center of the page. I've been able to talk to Marius almost every day he's been away, so rather than posting updates about Iris here, I've been sharing with him in person (as in person as the internet gets, anyway). I must get this blog up and running again! I was inspired today by a member of Marius' family asking me about baby carriers, so I have all sorts of new posts in mind. I'd really like to bring more balance to what I write (or post pictures) about, in terms of my thoughts on parenting. Not just write what Iris has been up to, but more about my life and ideas as well. 

My sweet friend Kelly over at The Teeny Tiny Mommy, recently emailed me asking if I'd like to do a guest post for her! So that will be coming up this week, for one thing! I want to maybe do some tutorials on baby wearing and using baby carriers as well. Not long ago, I emailed Marius with excitement over the fact that I made myself say "no" to buying a woven wrap for myself and Iris. Well... that wrap sat there, mostly ignored, on the baby-wearing forums for a while before I decided the price was right and I was going to go for it! I've been wanting to try one for a long time and I'm so excited for it to arrive at the end of the week! I definitely want to document my learning experience with the wrap!

We went out for a walk this evening and Iris proved what a difference a week of practice can make! Wearing her new boots which I thought were too big but seem to be perfect, she really went for it today. Go baby!

our cool, sunny morning.

busy mama.

Lately, I've been feeling as though I have a lot on my plate in addition to the usual cleaning, cooking and child-rearing. It's also "that time of the month" for me, which after childbirth now comes with special new effects! Being too active or standing for too long makes the area around my pubic bone very sore, as though I just gave birth again yesterday. In fact, the whole front area of my pelvic bones get sore as though I've been beaten and it requires motrin and rest. From what I can tell, this is somewhat normal due to hormonal changes, but still really annoying. I blame it on my uterus for making its grand appearance after Iris, see: why we're only having one child.

I've been having trouble falling asleep (never mind staying asleep) and getting my mind to be still. Marius and I have been doing a lot of discussing and planning for his impending deployment and all the things we need to get settled before he goes. He leaves a month from now for six months. I have been planning Iris' early first birthday party and am doing all sorts of DIY projects for it which I haven't even really started yet! I should really get started on that today - lots of painting, designing, crafting and cooking to do!

Anyway, here's another new adorable video of Iris playing with the Kitty. He went to the vet for vaccinations last Sunday, so we bought him some new toys to make up for the experience. Enjoy! 

the love noise.

This is the sound Iris makes for the people and things that she loves.

I think she kind of sounds like a kitty meowing...

It melts my heart when she presses her little face against mine and coos like this!

a dancing baby!

Iris absolutely loves to dance...

...and here she is, rocking out to a song by the band Muse.

catch that cat!

Iris has slowly been discovering that the Kitty is not so out of reach after all...
When we are playing in her bedroom, he hides underneath the crib. She hasn't figured out how to crawl on her tummy or duck her head to get under there, so he can watch from a position of safety.
In the open, however...

Pooooor Kitty.

baby shows off her new skills!

introducing... videos!

I created a new YouTube account a few months ago and have finally gotten around to starting uploads. A lot of my videos of Iris were taken with my Rebel Canon before I adjusted the massive file size, so YouTube won't upload them until I resize them... so until then, here's a video of the Kitty. 

He was trying to get the bits of rice leftover in the bottom... he ended up completely soaking wet but I couldn't capture it because Iris was upset over something. More videos to come! 

Note: You can tell how old I am by my tendency to call digital media "videos"!!