Family Portraits with Amy

3 Months... and growing

Gross Motor - she can sit wobbly in a supported position (boppy pillow or against my torso with her hands on my thighs); hasn't been rolling much this month; pivots in a sort of armless Army crawl using her knees and feet to face a different direction when on her tummy; keeps her head up when on tummy with her hands to her sides elevated like Superman; just started bounce-squatting when her feet are flat on my legs and I'm holding her in a standing position.

Fine motor- finger sucking at the expert level, grasping her own hands in front of her, pulling her hair bow down from her forehead, grasping the mosquito net from above her head down over her torso when in the changing basin, grasping Mommy's hair.

Social/Emotional- knows there's a difference between her parents and all others, prefers parents to anyone else, calms when returned to parents, anxious at times with others.

Language- awesomely loud sucking sounds, conversational cooing primarily with parents and her own reflection, intense smiling at her own reflection, smiles and coos at grandparents on video chat, use of the consonant "m" ("MEH MEH"), can pronounce her own name, "E-MAH!" accidentally does this.

Off to the palace!

Today, we visited the Old City and went to the palace of the Nizams. It was 100F outside when we left, so Emma and I were dripping with sweat and our clothes were drenched in sweat. The royals lived in very lovely architecture, but very hot surroundings. I feel more like a princess at home under fans and A/C!

Afterward, we went to Pearl City Cafe and Emma had a dance party with Aunt Amy! Pictures/Video of this will come later, as they are on Matt's camera.

Out on the town

Some pictures from taking Emma's Aunt Amy around the malls and coffee shops in town today.

Oh! Emma got her first ever car seat yesterday, so there are some pictures of her in it, too.

Moms' afternoon out

Friday, I got together with another mom here and we went to the mall. Sounds simple, but this trip was without our babies. Our husbands stayed together with the four kiddos- her three and Emma.

This is the first time I've left Matt with Emma and I also missed her so much that it really distracted my time with my friend. Add to this the fact that I don't get out much and so I had a list of things to find at the mall. We are going to have to have a mom outing do-over so we can get some quality conversation in addition to shopping. Maybe next time I will also be less scatterbrained about how Emma is doing.

Matt's Daddy-daughter time went okay. Unfortunately she wouldn't take the bottles I had pumped for her and cried for 20 minutes or so before taking an hour nap. Matt said that at one point the two pre-K girls were laughing to make Emma smile and she was trying to laugh with them. Doesn't get much sweeter than that!

Trying to be homely

In South Asia, it is a good thing to have a homely wife. Here, you can be good-looking and homely at the same time because homely means "awesome homemaker" or "domestic bombshell". Think of Betty Crocker and the gal from Extreme Home Makeover put together and then you have a homely wife in the South Asian sense.

My homely task of the day was hanging pictures. I'm not the homeliest wife... Especially now that I'm in a new environment. So, eight months after moving into our apartment, I hung pictures. My New Years resolution should involve becoming homelier... Something inside me thinks it has been that for a few years and just hasn't stuck so much.

Anyway... Here are the arrangements:

Anyone up for chess?

Matt had an awkward moment in studying the language this week. His helper listened to Matt and guided him as he was telling a random story about a boy playing chess. After gathering some gaming vocabulary, Matt asked his helper if he played chess. The man said he would not because as a Shi'a Musl'm, they do not play it. This is because after Hussein, whose teachings they follow, was murdered, his murderers went home and played chess. How awkward! Matt then apologized for any awkwardness that this discourse about chess may have caused.

Weird, huh? You never know what faux paux you might stumble upon in South Asia!