It's official: Lil Genghis rolled over from tummy to back today. Guess she got tired of staring at the carpet.
Now we're working on back to tummy. More to come.
A few days ago, mom filmed the little lady hanging out in her baby gym. This is some of the last footage of Lil' Genghis before she learned to roll, which, as we all know, is a crucial step in taking over the world.
We firmly believe that good parenting means having high expectations, and that is part of the reason that dad is always competing to see who can be the most immature. It's not always clear whether Lil' Genghis is up to such a struggle, but we always hope for the best.
So, she's gotten interested in heights. One of her favorite things is being held horizontally, like she's flying. Even better is if she gets a chance to fly horizontally while being rubbed on the top of dad's head, preferably with lots of chances to pull his hair and rip his glasses off. She likes that, she does.
But all kids just like to go airborne, as Grandpa John will attest; he gave her some of her earliest bouncing, and she (and he) loved it. So now it's dad's turn for a while, and the rocket noises made a nice complement to the little lady's kicking off our bellies. She likes to fly.
Happy Birthday! Grandma Biziza and Uncle Eddie just celebrated birthdays, and Grandpa John has one coming up. You can look on this as a fresh start -- it's the first year of the rest of your lives. May you have peace, happiness and perhaps the occasional coating of Bellinha slobber to keep your skin moist.
Our family is trying to get a fresh-ish start, too. That last house we posted a picture of? Yeah, the landlord wanted us to pay for his renovations, presumably so he could continue losing $30,000 at gambling each year. (He actually bragged about that.) We passed on the place.
We did, however, find a newer home with a big grassy backyard and a nice room for Bellinha's nursery. We hope this is going to work out.
Speaking of fresh starts, not many people get to see Lil' Genghis wake up in the morning ... and no other guys will get to see this for at least 32 years, thank you very much. You can tell she likes mornings about as much as mom and dad.
We've got a bunch of good news -- and even a long video -- to share!
Yesterday, we applied for an apartment that would give Lil' Genghis her first nursery ever. It'd be almost door-to-door for mom, who is more than a little apprehensive about sleeping apart from her precious daughter. (dad's guess: Isabella will be with us for a few more months, with a dog-free play area set up in the nursery.
The place looks nice, is still undergoing some renovation, has everything we need, and is just a few miles away from where we were before. We didn't think to bring a camera, but the government gave us this exterior photo:
Lil' Genghis also measured in at the 90th percentile for weight and height, so the doctor said it was time to start her on some solid food. That made us a little nervous -- you wonder, is she going to be diabetic later in life, or just a great female basketball player? Also made us nervous for other reasons: logistics.
So, mom, who once made a living at logistics, thought about recording video of her daughter's first feeding with rice cereal. Moments like this, you just can't describe later. This is about a half-dozen clips strung together (the camera turns off after 30 seconds), but you get the full idea both of everyone's initial nervousness, the little lady's sheer delight with the food, and the complete and utter mess that the feeding involved.
Last, but not least, through a comment by Uncle Josh we found out that his new son with Aunt Rebecca has a blog. This is the first blog we know of by a baby cousin, and it's that of Jacob David.
A couple words of advice: People just want photos. They don't care about what you write. You can always cheat, take a bunch of photos one day, download 'em all, upload 'em all, create unposted messages with the URLs, and then just paste in all the random text you get out of your e-mail spam to go with the blog posts that you can send once or twice a week. They'll never know.
This is also a good time to try to ridicule any in-laws. If you don't have any that you care to disparage, feel free to borrow Uncle Rodrigo.
With proper filing of Form I-751 and confirmed receipt of several financial instruments, followed by biometrics reprocessing in camera before duly appointed representatives of the USCIS, mom began to meet the basic bureaucratic demands of Form I-751, such that the proper and duly filed application could be considered within the whole of her experience within the finest nation the world has ever known.
In other words, after a bunch of paperwork spread over three years, mom got her Green Card.
The new one is unconditional and would just need to be renewed sometime around Lil' Genghis 10th birthday. Or, as those damned Brazilians say it with their stupid metric system, the deca-anniversario.
Anyway, this is good news. It also can mean mom can think about obtaining American citizenship, which in turn would allow her to vote and officially Become Republican.
Now, some people, like Uncle Rodrigo, might disapprove of the idea that his sister could Become Republican. You know, that's fine. This, after all, is the guy who moved from the capitol of prostitution ... er ... capitol of Norway ... to Belgium, the only country recognized as a profanity by Google.
So let's all congratulate mom for her hard work in obtaining unconditional permanent residency, and encourage her to Become Republican.
In the coming months, we hope to get Lil' Genghis a U.S. passport, a Brazilian visa, a Brazilian birth certificate, a Brazilian passport, and more time away from Uncle Rodrigo.
P.S. Dear USCIS: Did you really have to double most of your fees before we filed for naturalization? Yeah. Thanks.
In mom's hands, Lil' Genghis' darkest days quickly become filled with light and fun.
That was even the case when our girl felt sore and grumpy after getting her immunizations this week. mom found a way, somehow, to make everything more than just good.
Lil' Genghis got a thumbs-up from the doctor, who was impressed by how talkative she has become. She's a big girl, a really big girl, now coming in at the 90th percentile for both height and weight, but it sounds like the doctor doesn't seem to be too worried there. Grandpa John is wondering about diabetes risk factors, while dad is thinking this would be one more good sign that, with her big feet, she's going to make a great basketball player.
The measurements: 15 pounds, 13 ounces; 26.25 inches. For you metric fans: 70.3 Newtons; 66.7 cm.
Anyway, a couple images from last night:
The movie from last night:
And a picture of three angels from the other weekend:
Uncle Josh succeeded in getting in a nice misogynistic comment even while celebrating the birth of his first son. That's the kind of multitasking dad can support. Yeah!
Anyway, we're steali ... grabbi... repurposing their photos for our blog. So, without further ado, here some early shots of Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Josh with little Jacob David.
Let's hear it for the latest Genghis!
... and then let's go exploring the wonders of outsourcing. The most-often cited source of information on outsourcing is Thomas Friedman's "The Earth Is Flat," winner of the prestigious Walken-Schandling Award For Most Painfully Stretched Metaphor That JUST WON'T FKING DIE! DIE! DIE!
We've heard about two wonderful new Genghii. Cousin Jacob David was born to Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Josh -- please don't call him J.D., thanks -- while Cousin Rafic was born to Aunt Sussen and Uncle Gary.
It's important to keep in mind that new mothers are physically and emotionally wrecked. Labor and delivery itself is an incredibly trying process, and one that doesn't come with a week worth of quality rest afterwards. It's also important to remember that with new moms and new babies, neither is quite sure what to do all the time; both, for example, have to learn how to nurse, and that can be frustrating for both and painful for one.
So let's all remember just how overwhelmed Aunt Rebecca and Aunt Sussen are. Ready? That means their defenses are down, so we can repost these pictures from Lil' Genghis'American baby shower.
... and a runny nose! Picture taken on Mount Auburn Cemetery, a gorgeous place in Watertown/Cambridge. It's really much more like a botanic garden and you can walk for miles and miles in there. The family enjoyed a nice stroll with Bellinha but this photo was taken a split second before she fell asleep just to wake up a couple of hours later while mom and dad enjoyed some food in a nice little Persian restaurant.
It was unseasonably chilly for a 4th of July but we had a great time nonetheless thanks to Uncle Eddie and Aunt Amandinha who prepared a nice picnic for us at Goddard Park.
