Bloody Mess

Ada had her first real injury a few days ago. Bryan was showering with her and I was standing at the edge helping rinse her off. She was holding a rubber duck and we noticed blood on it. A couple of minutes prior, she had knocked a razor off it's hook and we had barely even noticed. After we saw blood, we realized she had actually grabbed onto it and cut her fingertip. I, of course, started panicking- there was so much blood! I don't think it hurt her until I got her out and started drying her off. That's when she started crying (and I felt like crying).

I sat with her for 1/2 hour and put pressure on the finger and it finally slowed down. I was much more scared than I needed to be, but luckily Bryan was there to trim skin and apply bandages in a reasonable manner. Ada kept trying to eat those bandages, so we put a sock on her hand and she thought nothing more of it. She was such a champ.


Who knew so much blood could come out of such a little wound?

A couple of days later, you can barely tell anything happened. The human body is amazing!

Vacation Blowout Special!

After three months of nearly non-stop travel for out-of-town work, traditional holidays, doctors and school stuff we finally had a vacation where we could relax by traveling non-stop for another three weeks.

Grandma and Grandpa Hansen planned a full-immersion vacation and invited us along. It included flying to Florida, a couple days at Disneyworld, a week long cruise, and then more Disney to quash any relaxation that may have occurred during the cruise.

We didn't know what to expect from Ada flying but she seemed intrigued with the experience and did pretty good. It wasn't exactly 13 hours flying to Japan, but a good start. Her cousins were even more excited. The photo shows them at one of their calm periods during the flight.

Stacy had been to Disneyworld before but it was a first for Ada and myself. The wackiness began right away with the hotel we stayed at - Pop Century. This place pays homage to the pop culture of the past century in the most appropriate of ways: enormous sculptures.

We had four days to explore the different parks and were able to make it to all of them. The weather was spectacular until our very last day. This collage shows some random highlights.

Animal Kingdom was pleasant to walk around and had many interesting things to do without sitting down for a show or waiting two hours to jump on a ride. Magic Kingdom was OK earlier in the day, but by mid afternoon was so crowded and annoying it was like a living nightmare. Same with Hollywood Studios - fun for a few hours, but not a whole lot we could all do together. We would usually retreat to the Epcot Center to wander around the world showcase or the interactive exhibits. Ada and mom are in "Japan" below.

One of the unexpected things we saw a lot of were the bizarre parades, and this was Ada's favorite thing about Disney. We thought it would freak her out and it did, in a good way. She would go crazy with the chaotic noise and action. Here her and grandma are comparing hats while waiting for the action to begin.

Resting up while waiting for a ferry ride between parks.

Usually she would just pass out randomly for a while. Luckily we were able to get her in the family photo at Canadaland.

Fortunately Ada won't remember what a great time she had so she won't bug us to go back soon. Stacy and I had fun, but it really isn't what we are into for traveling.

The cruise was a bit more exotic and relaxing It was a seven day Western Caribbean sailing on the Norwegian Sun. The three of us were tucked in an interior room that was pleasantly roomy and comfy. Ada loved the full wall mirror.

The hallways were great for long crawls.

There was a fun kiddie pool on the ship that her and the cousins loved.

And what is a cruise without near constant dining, from formal:

To more casual:

The food and service on the ship were great. We all ate well and had a good time. Ada loved all of the attention that the waitstaff gave her. Many of the staff had young kids back home that they hadn't seen for months, and Ada was a bittersweet reminder. Since the cruise, she expects the same attention whenever we are out to eat.

There were some fun ports along the cruise. The first was Cozumel where we all piled into a small glass-bottomed boat to go snorkeling. Unfortunately, we don't have the pictures available. Half the passengers had to get off half way through because the sea was so rough. I was able to get some nice snorkeling in and Ada got a well-rocked nap. It was a good tease for Ada since we will hopefully be bringing her to the Yucatan again.

The next stop was Santo Tomas, a small deepwater port in Guatemala. We didn't get off the boat since all of the shore excurions were a bit too ambitious for us and the port area was actually a commercial shipyard- which was interesting just to observe. It was a nice day to chill out on the ship and enjoy the view.

We were able to go ashore in Belize. We found a boat that would drop us off at an island for a few hours while they did a snorkel tour. The island was Caye Caulker, which is just inside the barrier reef about 45 minutes from Belize City. It was really pleasant. It had a mellow feel and a mellow crowd. While not very beachy there was a tiny spot where we could swim and give Ada her first ocean experience, au naturale. As with water in general, she loved it and it was a beautiful day out.

Our final pitstop was at Key West for a few hours. There was barely enough time to visit an aquarium and walk around town for a bit, which was disappointing because it was a unexpectedly interesting place. A Keys roadtrip may be in the future.

Overall, it was a great vacation and a nice way to close out winter. Thanks to our families for making it possible! It was also nice to come home from a tropicalish vacation and not be plunged right back into the dead of winter, although its looking to be a typical rollercoaster spring, with the weather being only part of the ride.

One Month Later

After being up north for the entire month of February, we were excited to make it home. Not that we didn't have a good time. We saw family, ate good food, went to the movies and did other "big city" kinds of things. Ada had fun with the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and she learned so many new tricks!


In addition to crawling, she is now sitting up from laying down, pulling herself to standing on anything she can get her hands on and being a lot more mobile than we were prepared for! It's been great seeing how fast she learns new things, but also a little scary.

Here are a few other random moments from the month:

Trying to decide on her favorite toy

Learning how to dance


And patiently waiting for us to start the car and drive home.

Going Out!

The weather has been great the past two weeks. All the snow melted and we haven't gotten another flake. A few afternoons have been in the 50's (unlike the past three winters - this time last year there was three feet of snow on the ground) so we finally dragged ourselves out of the house for a walk. The school application process is going well, but can really drag out on some of the paperwork and we've been shut-ins. First though, a few forgotten photos from New Years hangin with Katie and Mojito:

Yeah, the big-hat-on-little-baby thing hasn't gotten old yet. Lucky Mojito getting a belly rub.

OK, now the hike. Kid is finally big enough to go in her backpack carrier so we went out to the slickrock for a stroll. Its more like a little throne than a backpack, and she loved it.

Hanging out in a pothole with dad, contemplating the management complexities of maintaining a traditional multiple-use and free public access BLM landscape pretending to be a national monument, further burdened by incompetent managers, meat-head local politicians and agenda-driven special interest groups , not to mention the controverisial and possibly counter-productive nature of the monuments actual creation. We couldn't figure it out.

Going out in the winter usually involves some bulky dress-up. This snowsuit will probably fit over its entire 6-12 month size range. Ocassionally, Mom makes the mistake of letting Dad dress Ada for the day. Who wouldn't go out on the town in this spectacular combination of color and texture?
Or with this hair? The little punk's hair is filling out more, but this is still her best style.
And one for the Trowbridge Bunch. Ada, like Dad, prefers the blue Mountain Dew.

We've been somewhat busy for not currently being employed. Bryan has been considering going back to school, so we have traveled a bit visiting professors and going to the city to take the GRE. We'll update when we know more.
Ada's been doing well. We noticed yesterday that she now has her 5th tooth! I thought they would come a little more slowly, but as long as she's not biting me too much, I'm happy. As far as solid food goes, she's doing better.
It might not look like it from the picture, but she loves carrots and peas, and will even eat her cereal when it's mixed with those.
And she still loves bath time- although we have to try our hardest to distract her so she won't flood the kitchen with her splashing.


Overall, things are great here. We're just trying to hide from the cold weather, but are entertaining ourselves in the meantime.

Christmas

After a short stay at home, we headed back to Salt Lake on Christmas Eve. Ada was tired of being stuck in her carseat, so she took control*. She is a maniac behind the wheel. *The car is stopped. What kind of parents do you think we are?

We met up with the family and all went to the aquatic center for some pre-Christmas swimming. We figured that since cousin Ellie took swimming lessons at 6 months, she could teach Ada a few things. Ada had a blast.
And so did everyone else. This pool was amazing- it had a lazy river, a whirlpool, fountains and even a waterslide. We will definitely be taking Ada back on future visits to the grandparents!
That night, we had dinner Grandma and Kenand went to bed early, exhausted from all the excitement.

But the excitement wasn't over. Ada, of course, saw no difference in December 25 than any other day, but she liked it. Everything was so fun- especially the wrapping paper, boxes and this sweater she got from Obachan:


Ada really seemed to interact with her cousins this trip. She definitely brightened up when there were other little ones around.
And of course she loves her grandparents.
Ada's first Christmas was a hit!

Where to start...

We've had a somewhat chaotic month and are excited to be settling back into winter at home. First, we spent two weeks at Obachan and Ojichan's house re-finishing their family room. It went well, but most importantly, Ada had lots of room to roll around and practice sitting and crawling.
She also got to spend time with her cousins
and Uncle JamieIn between trips up north, Ada was introduced to her new mobile made by Bryan.During this time, Ada turned 6 months old!! I still can't believe she's been around that long. It's been amazing watching her grow. In the last month or two, she's started sitting, scooting around, "talking" and laughing more. On her 6 month birthday, we gave her brown rice cereal as her first taste of solid food. She didn't seem to mind it, but the look on her face after every bite made it look like we were feeding her rotten eggs.

She did ok, getting maybe a whole teaspoon into her mouth instead of on her bib. And she did great the first week, but since then, we've had a hard time getting her to eat it. If anyone has any advice...

Christmas was also exciting, but that will have to come in the next post.