Kleiner Eisbär

Most of you know Austin is completely fluent in German and occasionally he will speak it around the house and to Maisie, but we have thrown it into high gear. At first he didn't necessarily want to speak German to Maisie because when he imagined having kids he never imagined speaking any other language than English with them. Totally understandable. BUT if I found out that my parents (or just one of them) were FLUENT not just so-so but actually FLUENT in another language and didn't at least teach me basics, I would be upset with them. So we (and by we I mean Austin) now has daily German sessions with the Maisie Moo. We have a few books that he reads to her every night and also has a little play session where he only speaks German to her. Since she has been born he has been singing her to sleep by singing Edelweiss in German of course (not the Sound of Music version). So from day (or night) one, she has been semi-influenced to the German language. Our goal is not for her to be fluent, but at her age her brain is growing at a remarkable rate. She is soaking up everything we say and do so why not give her as much material as possible? Also it's proven that kids that have been influenced to a second language grow up to be fast learners. I just want to give her the best and all that we can and since speaking German to her only has benefits (and great ones at that) we will continue to do so. I think as she gets a little older (when it wouldn't be such a choking hazard) we are going to make labels for her toys and things in her room and then that way she will know the word in English and at least the German spelling of that word. I am hoping to take a German course at PCC in fall and I will do great because I have an amazing tutor (I won't tell my professor or other students of course).

We were going to order German board books online, but most had to be shipped over seas which wasn't a problem it just would have been more expensive and taken much longer to get to us, but we decided to pop into the Burnside Powell's and lo and behold they had a massive German and German/English kid and baby section. They had lots of different sections too like Italian, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Got to love Powell's. Anyway, since Austin and I have been married and some of his German has rubbed off on me I always thought the word for polar bear is very um... obvious? Eisbär (pronounced ice-bear) fitting right? Well since that was the only word I knew and could use in a sentence I would use it as a cute insult. I.E "du Eisbär!" or "Austin ist ein Eisbär" Anyway, when we were at Powell's guess what kind of German kids books we found? That's right... "Kleiner Eisbär" Little Polar bear. We HAD to get a couple of those and we also got a English/German baby picture dictionary. Maisie loves her new books. She is really starting to love when we read to her plus she likes opening the pages and looking at the pictures. I can only hope she finds joy in reading when she is older and has a passion for learning.

Little Polar Bear (his name is Lars by the way)

"Help Me Fly!"

Little Polar Bear

"And the scaredy hare"

Austin said that they use "scaredy hare" instead of "scaredy cat"

See that 18 letter word in the first sentence?!

A crazy long word to say "a girl snow hare"

Maisie loves this picture dictionary.

It's bright and full of fun objects to look at.

She loves when we point at certain ones and tell her what they are called.

7 & 9 Month Appointments

I have been promising that I am going to post Maisie's 7 month appointment numbers for awhile now, but todays the day! We had Maisie's 9 month appointment on Monday because she was showing signs of an ear infection and we wanted to get it checked out. Turns out her ears are just dandy and it was just a cold and crankiness from said cold. She's better now, but shes now going through her 9 month growth spurt and if I am already not getting enough sleep this is just the icing on the cake. I am one tired mommy. She woke up every hour from 9pm last night to 6:30 this morning. I'm praying that she takes a good nap, that way I can catch up on some much needed shut eye as well.

Here are the promised growth numbers:

Birth- weight: 7 pounds 0 oz height: 19.5 inches

1 week- weight: 7 pounds 3 oz (gained the 4% body weight she lost in the hospital plus 3 oz)

2 weeks- weight: 7 pounds 15 oz height: 21.25 inches

2 months- weight 11 pounds 1 oz height: 23 inches

5 month- weight 15 pounds 5 oz height: 26 inches

7 month- weight: 16 pounds 14oz height: 27 inches

9 month- weight: 17 pounds 15 oz height:28 inches

She is growing like crazy and I know I say this too much, but it is so bittersweet. I know that she is healthy and thriving, but day by day she loses some of her baby-ness. In 3 months she will be a year old and not only is that a day to celebrate Maisie, but that is a huge milestone for me- 1 year since giving birth; an amazing expirence that now defines me as a person. Shesh, as excited as I am to celebrate my little baby's birth, I can be patient and I will just savor the little (and big) moments.

We're Back!

Ok. I know I have been slacking a little bit. This is definitely the longest I have gone without updates. I don't think it's all that shabby though because it hasn't been THAT long. Give me a break. I am a sleep deprived, busy momma and blogging had to take the back burner for a bit, but I am glad to say that I am back on for the long haul (that is until I choose sleep over blogging which is always an enticing battle). I have been kicking myself over my lack of posts because not only is it something I enjoy and get a little "me time" (what is that again?!) but it's my Ode al la Maisie. Every post is something I want to remember for always.

I have post ideas lined up. Inspiration hits at random times, but thanks to my trusty "notepad" on my phone I am able to jot down something to add. I have a little list and I am going to try my very best to get all caught up in the next couple days.

Also, my very first blog post I had a mission statement of what this blog was intended for (you can read that post here). Well, that totally fell through. Instead of my personal goal to broaden my mommy skills, this blog has totally followed Miss Maisie's haps. Which I am so happy happened! BUT I don't want to forget about my goal. So I am going to have a side blog of my journey of honing in my skills via cooking, projects and crafts. This blog is still the main priority and will always take precedence over the next, but I would like to hold myself accountable to that mission statement. Therefore, I am hoping within the next week to start up a new blog and start getting creative. Stay tuned!