Mmm Mmm Mastering "M"

Anya has been entertaining us with her babbling. She participates in the dinner table conversations and after a long stretch of experimenting with vowels, a consonant is a welcome sound. The letter for the week is "M". "Mah mah" and the occasional "Oh bah mah" get a good laugh from her audience (i.e. mommy and daddy).

Along similar lines, we got a laugh from this video from the Phillies World Series Championship parade which shows that Philadelphia fans are not just insensitive louts who would even boo Santa Claus. There wasn't much excitement in Copenhagen when the Phillies won, and it was strange to be somewhere where nobody really cares. At first I compared it to being a soccer fan in the U.S., but after thinking it through it's more comparable to being a team handball fan, rooting for your home team from afar. At any rate, it's exciting to think that after 28 years they finally have another championship. Let everyone else say "Wait 'til next year." I'm still enjoying this one.

I dag er Anyas (halvt års) fødselsdag

Today is Anya's ½-birthday. She celebrated by turning over and pushing up today without getting her arm stuck. We celebrated by eating some birthday cake after she went to sleep for the night. Recently, after learning to turn over, she's been waking up to discover her arm is stuck underneath her. She calls for mommy and daddy to fix this situation and then begins the process again. She's always happy to see a friendly face at 4:00am.

We had a very nice visit with friends on Sunday and enjoyed a nice Danish lunch with gravad laks, shrimp, herring, chicken, Danish meatballs, leverpostej, and lots of accompanying goodies.

I came across a new (to me) Danish word in some of the reading material from the visiting nurse. We're preparing to feed Anya solid food and the nurse provided a 100+ page book published by the government. Granted there are lots of pictures, but it's very thorough nonetheless. It recommends cooking more for dinner and saving the "rester" for the childs lunch the next day. Rester=leftovers. I can remember that.

The sunset cannon just went off - 9:04pm, the days are quickly getting shorter, autumn is not far off. In four months it will be going off sometime between 3:30 and 4:00pm.

Not-So-Ugly Ducklings

There has not been too much to talk about here. We pretty much spend time taking care of Anya and being impressed by her cuteness and continued development. She's now into cause-and-effect where she does something to get daddy to act ridiculous and then repeats it ad infinitum to see how long daddy plays along. It might be kicking or shaking her legs or opening her mouth really wide. Daddy's so silly. She's also more vocal and experiments with making sounds. The happy sounds are after a nap or during a fun diaper change. The other sounds are when she's tired and can't fall asleep.

We've enjoyed the beautiful weather here. We are forecast to break the May record for sunlight hours. That doesn't guarantee a nice summer, but we can enjoy it while it lasts. We enjoy after-dinner walks in the sunshine and treat ourselves to meals at outdoor cafes. Light is lingering late into the evening now. Riding home from choir rehearsal in the 10:15pm twilight was fun. The choir concert is next week and we're singing mostly Scandinavian songs which we prepared for the trip to Holland in early May.

Part of spring is watching the arrival of a new generation of our web-footed friends at the lakes near our apartment and in the moat around Kastellet. Here's a picture of some recently hatched not-so-ugly "ducklings".

Womb-bear and The Box

Two things have made our life easier over the last two months. These two things are "Womb-bear" and "The Box".

Womb-bear was a gift to Anya from Alexa's mother. Besides being soft and cuddly he has special powers which make Anya and her parents fall quickly to sleep. Womb-bear can be activated to reproduce the sound of a mother's heartbeat and circulation which babies hear in the womb - a pulsating, swushing sound that will be familiar to anyone who has been involved in an ultrasound exam. Outside the womb it is meant to sooth a fussy baby. While Anya is far from fussy, she can occasionally be excited enough at bedtime that it's difficult to put her down. That's when we call in "Womb-bear". Unfortunately, we don't really know how long it takes for Womb-bear's powers to take effect on Anya because it seems to work equally well on adults as it does on babies.

"The Box" is something we learned about from a friend at work. It is provided by a company called Aarstiderne ("the seasons"). A box comes each Wednesday to our door and contains organic fruits, vegetables, a large bottle of juice, some interesting seasonings, and a treat. It's usually enough to make meals for a few days where we only have to buy meat to supplement the vegetables. We also get recipes (in Danish) which teach us some new words and give us some surprising good meals. Most of all, without leaving our apartment we get the basis for healthful meals with ingredients we would not normally have a reason to buy on our regular shopping trips.

I must mention that a third thing has made life easier for us over the last month. That was the visit by mom/Peggy who helped out with everything, especially while Andy was on a business trip to Qatar. It was a minor shock to resume all those things we had stopped doing when she graciously came to help. We're still eating some of the meals she prepared and froze for us. Anya (and her parents) greatly appreciated her love and attention over the two weeks.

Pictures

Thanks for your patience... Anya's been home for two weeks and we're getting used to the routine, just in time for daddy to go back to work a week from now. We're learning new skills like one-handed keyboard typing, finding our way around the apartment in the dark at 2AM, and reading the many Danish baby-care publications provided by the hospital. Regarding the care we've received, we can only be overwhelmingly positive. The nurses, doctors and midwives has been highly professional and compassionate - except for an strong reluctance to provide over-the-counter (in the U.S.) pain medication.

The cats are co-existing well with Anya, despite a drop-off in petting time, though Kevin's hair is definitely in need of some attention and Sammie is still disturbed that we shut her out of the bedroom. Fortunately(?) we're so sleep-deprived that her scratching at the door is not enough to keep us awake.

Anya Marie

Anya Marie was born the 6th of February at 2:00am at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. She was 6.03 lbs and 20.1 inches long. Both Alexa and Anya are doing well and we're getting excellent care from the hospital staff.

We're hoping to set up a "web album" with pictures as soon as we find the time... Stay tuned!

Melodi Gran Prix

First things first - no baby yet. We're only 3 days over the due date. Alexa may not agree, but the upside of an extended pregnancy is another "last restaurant meal" before the baby. Tonight we went to Chico's Cantina to make another stab at finding a good Mexican restaurant here in Copenhagen. This was better than the last place we went, offering free chips and salsa, a nice atmosphere and friendly service. This time we had the enchilada platter which was okay (cheese-good, chicken-okay, beef-not so good). We may go back and try the fajitas. The sparkler-adorned sorbet dessert was a nice touch.

On Saturday we settled in for the Melodi Gran Prix finals. This competition in Denmark determines which artist/group goes on to compete in the annual Eurovision Song Contest. People vote via text message and the results are compiled by region to determine the winner. At several dinners and parties we've heard our friends reminisce about Eurovision and Melodi Gran Prix competitions from years past, and we found ourselves getting a little caught up in the experience. Andy voted for "La' mig være" performed by The Dreams (lyrics). Alexa voted for "Den jeg er" performed by Charlie (lyrics). All of the other songs in the finals were sung in English. The winner was "All Night Long" by Simon Mathew.

Are They Happy in Allerød?

Thanks to Mom for letting us know about the segment on Denmark broadcast on 20/20 last week. It looks like word is getting out - this was a report based on a study released in April which confirmed the earlier study in 2006.

There are many Danish place names that end in ...rød. Hillerød, Birkerød, Asminderød, Lillerød, Solrød, Søllerød, Usserød, and Vipperød. It was explained to me that rød is an old way to spell clearing in Danish - rydning is the current spelling. Some of the town names I can translate using my little Danish-English dictionary: Lillerød (small clearing), Solrød (sun clearing), Søllerød (measly clearing). My favorite is Allerød, a town north of Copenhagen. The literal meaning of Allerød is clear from their town seal. Yes, those are three tree stumps.

As for the baby - due at the end of the month - I'm reminded of the drilling reports I read early on in my career as a geologist. The drilling reports are daily reports summarizing all the drilling activity for the engineering staff back in the office. They're full of abbreviations and I kept coming across "WOW" which at first glance would indicate something really exciting. As it turns out it is shorthand for Waiting on Weather. So, now I can say that we're WOB.

Godt Nyt År

Our Christmas holiday has been a bit of a wash with us both managing to catch colds. It remains to be seen whether it is the same cold or two different ones. We did manage to hold a dinner party for friends on the one day (Thursday) we were both healthy. We had a Latin-American themed dinner with Cuban black bean soup, tacos with corn tortillas, guacamole, and salsa (all from scratch), among other toppings, along with Mexican beer and Argentinian wine. It took almost the whole day to prepare, but it was worth it. We also had leftovers for the next two days.

On the Danish front, we've been reading a book I received/won in the gift exchange during our choir dinner. It is Kunsten at Græde i Kor which was the basis of the movie, The Art of Crying. We read a couple pages aloud and translate while taking in the rays of our "happy lamp" each morning. We're almost through chapter 1 and we're enjoying the quirky view of late 1960's rural Denmark.

Baby is growing and kicking and preparing for the world outside. We're still expecting her at the end of January. With that in mind, and aware that our expectations on timing may be optimistic, we bought a bunch of stuff this week and populated the baby room with what I blandly refer to as the "software". We've had the "hardware" - furniture - since October. Some of this stuff is impossibly small and the rest is just too cute. There are two days left in 2007, and I'm still mulling over Mom's suggestion that a 2007 baby will give us the tax deduction for the whole year. Alexa was not impressed with my fiscal responsibility after I proposed that option.

I'd like to end by saying "Tak" to all who have checked in on us. It's nice to know people care enough to click on our site and see what we've been up to. As always, you're welcome to email or call with your news (no pressure). If you need our contact information, just post a comment and I'll send you an email. Best wishes for a happy, healthy, peaceful, fulfilling New Year!

The Little Mermaid vs. Big Bob

The weird news story of the week: Big Robert! Apparently, a giant (60m / 200 ft) statue is being donated to Copenhagen. It will stand out in Copenhagen harbor ("København Havn" - I just like they way that sounds) and be visible from Sweden. No word on whether visitors will be able to walk up into its head for a good view of the city.

In baby news.... We went to the ultrasound on Monday. I've found that as life goes on there are milestones which appear mysterious or intimidating, but after they're past become another experience which never play out like I envisioned. It's not that things are better or worse, just different. I'm not sure whether it is because of my expectations or my lack of information. The ultrasound was one of those experiences (others might be: flying in an airplane, going to college, getting a job, getting married, buying a house, selling a house, moving). I didn't know what to expect at the ultrasound, and I didn't think of what I would do in the event something was found to be wrong. Fortunately, everything is in the normal range and all the parts were in the right place.

On Saturday I was lucky enough to get lots of unplanned extracise (i.e. exercise performed in the process of doing something you were going to do anyway). About half way to Danish class I got a flat tire on my bike. I locked it up and walked on to class arriving about 5 minutes late. Alexa went on ahead and told the teacher I would be late. It turned out that the teacher's bike chain had broken on the way to class and she ended up taking the train. During lunch I bought a tire tube and after class I walked home (45 minutes), picking up the bike on the way and repairing it when I got home. Fortunately the weather was especially nice - on a weekend, no less! Later I rode over to cat-sit and then we did another bike trip to go see SiCKO. On SiCKO, I highly recommend it. If it's propaganda, then it's only fair that we get the alternative to the normal propaganda we're exposed to. Also, I can vouch for the material about the European healthcare systems. There are differences between the British / French (described in the movie), and Danish systems, but many things they have in common.

My last observation of the week is that I looked around at our weekly breakfast meeting last tuesday and everyone (20+ men) but me was wearing black shoes. I havn't heard any rules against wearing brown shoes, and I wouldn't expect there to be any, but for some reason it's not common. I was happy to see someone later in the week in the cafeteria with brown shoes, so it's not just me.