900 days

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As a little addendum to the New Year’s post: While we had a nice NYE telethon with nibbles and bubbly (one glass over the evening for mummy), one member of the family didn’t like the famous abilities of champagne (seems it’s a german myth about the increase of milk production when drinking it) at all! Instead of a sleepy and well-fed Baby, we got a New Year’s Day surprise with a marathon of its own kind: Esmé had a dodgy tummy all day, and was awake and active from 7am all the way until 10pm. That would be a party and a half, if it was the other way round, and the dodgy tummy was a result of overindulgence, and she’d be partying with her friends, and they’d be in their late teens or so, I’d say, but as none of these applied, we were left with an unhappy bundle on a grey january day. Lesson learnt: Champagne does not work for everyone!

silent night, holy night

Yay, It’s 2009! Christmas came so quickly, we barely got around decorating, while our ever-vocal daughter took on the hard job of singing christmas carols. In a style and language I’ve never heard before. Maybe the Mieskuoro Huutajat will be able to help me translate.

We also received lots more presents, mainly for Baby, but some very nice things for us as well. I might take the opportunity to say thanks for all the amazing gifts and well-wishes she received since birth, for the off-chance that one of the kind souls bothers reading this. This stream of packages and letters so far lasted 8 weeks, but the calendar tells me it’ll probably come to an end very soon.

Amongst many other beautiful things was a fox that looks a bit like a kangaroo, but with the pouch on the back (it’s the tail!) and the baby missing, a parent-friendly wooden rattle which isn’t loud at all (imagine shaking a few light bulbs with broken filaments), and a clip-on peacock that seems to have more colors, in a very in-your-face manner, than my computer could ever deal with. Amazing!

Following the custom to review the year past between the holidays, I have an easy job, only 6 weeks to cover, yay:

• I am happy to confirm that the amount of limbs and other extremities has consistently stayed the same since birth.
• So has the color of her eyes.
• Not trying to get too soppy here, but despite the occasional hiccup in the beginning, we, obviously, love her to bits by now.
• After only losing a very small amount of weight after birth she’d gained about 600 grams on her birth weight by the end of the year. If she continues like this (I’m doing this in a linear fashion here, in case you’d ask), she’ll be 9.6 kg when she turns one year old, and 105 kg when she’s 18. Lovely. When she has managed her way through life’s obstacles as far as I have, she’ll be roughly around 180 kg. Although that’s fine for some, “Doctor” Gillian McKeith will no doubt intervene through the power of television.
• She’s looking less and less like Fatso when she’s angry (I so far failed to post pictures for this period, sorry!)
• Using fat-american-italian-man as a nickname didn’t stick, but Poopee did. She’ll give me heat for this creation at some point in the future, I’m sure.
• Luckily it’s got a great new contestant, due to her love and closeness to mummy: Barnacle.

On that note, we wish you all the best in 2009, and may you, too, gain the love and trust of 2 new people, about 10kg in bodyweight and at least one new nickname in the next 12 months.