Sleepy baby

Since the very first day that we got her Sofia has displayed her adaptability.  It's a good quality in a person but an even better quality in a toddler!  We are trying pretty hard despite with our very scheduled Canadian life to keep her guessing and adapting!  

The week we spent with her in Ethiopia had her sleeping in some pretty interesting places, on our laps in moving vehicles, museums, & Madelyns crib.  The trip home added some new adventures, an airplane seat, the airport floor (we put blankets down first), a crib in the airport (it took us a while to find it), the airplane floor (again with the blankets), and the backpack carrier.

I thought that I'd show you how our girl is coping in Canada.  It seems to be her sleeping situation is improving! 

All tuckered out after a morning of playing at the ocean.  

She feel asleep on our afternoon walk so I decided to let her keep snoozing.  

Sleeping in her stroller with Grandpops keeping watch.

Papa rocked her to sleep in the hammock. When he was done his nap moved her to her crib.

Catching some early morning zzz's with Mumma.  This was one of our first and hardest nights.

I'm a little scared to jinx us but our Sofia is a good little sleeper.  2 naps during the day and 12 hours at night.  When we met her in Ethiopia she was sleeping for a solid 12 hours at night, we had about a week of interruption when we came home but now it seems that we are back on track.  She has her naps in her crib in her room and sleeps at night in a playpen in our room.  I realized yesterday that her sleeping in our room at night is purely for my benefit, it makes no difference to her where she sleeps.  I may start thinking about putting her in her room permanently soon but for right now things are working just fine ... 

The only Sofia does better than sleep is eat but those pictures will have to wait until another day.

Quiet baby = Trouble!

How can you be cross with a baby that is so proud of herself?  Look what I did Mum! all by my self!! YEAH!!!!   Dad kept saying "No babies in the bathroom" I guess he was right!  (the toilet paper is temporarily living on the counter) 

** A tip from my friend Diane, Crush the toilet paper roll. It does not come off as one big long stream if you flatten the roll when you put it on the holder. ** Thanks Diane, you can bet we'll be trying this in our house!

Safety first!

Sofia is becoming more of a Dybdal every day.  Today we went shopping for a life jacket and a bike helmet.  The weather is finally starting to turn to summer here.  It seems everyday is warmer than the last.  This weekend was our first summer-ish weekend, so we are itching to start doing fun stuff!
The life jacket was a hit and she crawled around the living room in it for a while.  The bike helmet ... not so much.  Too bad for her cause she'll spend more time in the bike trailer than she will in the canoe!  I'm hoping to do most of my shopping by bike this summer, it would be great to be able to park my car and just do everything walking or biking.  There are some stores that we go to that we will have to drive to but I think for the normal day to day stuff we can make do with Mummas two legs!

Today was a big day for Sofia, she had a couple lessons in gravity.  This morning she took a tumble off our bed and then had a incident with a couple of stairs.  She's no worse for wear, in fact she didn't even really cry.  Hopefully she's learned a lesson about how cruel gravity can be and she'll be more cautious next time... However I did say that she is becoming more of a Dybdal everyday and I'm pretty sure cautious is a bad word. :) 

I got 2 extra hours of sleep this morning, thanks to my wonderful husband!  I was getting up during the week to give Sofia her 'mid-night snack' since Grant had to get up for work.  Becuase it's the weekend he offered to get up with her and wouldn't you know it she slept through the night both nights!! Lucky Papa!  So as a treat for me, Grant gave her breakfast and then took her and the dog out for a morning jog.  Yes that's right, Grant went for a jog at 7am!  (He's still in shock too.)  Ahh, the life of a parent!  I was very excited to get to sleep in till 8am, imagine that!  Teenage Alicia didn't get out of bed until 2pm on a weekend ...my my my how I've grown up.

When Sofia wakes up from her afternoon nap we will take her for her first bike ride.  I imagine the first canoe trip will come later this week.  Now, if we can just teach her to swing a golf club!

DONE!

Proof that someone looked at my books!

The exam is done.  There were some questions I knew that answers to, some I made educated guesses on, and some I totally bullshitted.  I answered all the questions even though some of my answers were garbage.  I feel good, well I feel alright and there's a slim chance that I got 60% (which is a pass, although I need 75% to get the certificate I'm going for)  The re-write is in November so I've got lots of time between now and then... Now I get to focus on being a Mum.  

Todays blog is just going to be random.  I put Sofia down for a nap when I got home and Grant has the dog with him at work so it's just me... Just me and MacBook, just like old times.  I forgot for a second that there is a little one sleeping upstairs.  I was reading Tracy & Robs blog about meeting their kids and I thought to myself "oh, yeah no electricity in Addis I remember what that's like"  Then I froze.  Remember what that's like, WHAT!  Holy, I've come and gone already. WOW!  We only returned to Canada last Friday and already it feels like we've always been here.  Sofia fits in perfectly.  I will NEVER forget Addis Ababa and all that the trip was.  It just feels like it was a few years ago not last week!  I can't wait to go back though.  The only other city I've fallen in love with was Victoria and that's why I live here now.  I know that my journey with Addis Ababa and Ethiopia is far from over ... I have fallen in love with a new city and a new country. 

That's my girl, celebrating our first trip to Tim Horton's.

I know that everyone wants to hear about our trip.  Truth is Grant and I are not much for journaling.  We used to be but we just aren't anymore.  We are more memory people.  I will in the next week do I best to summarize the trip (with pictures of course!) from memory but it won't be as good as some others have done.  It will be an Alicia-ized version.

Now on to the bragging... Our little girl is an angel.  We are so in love with her and she (from what we can tell) is pretty darn in love with us too.  She has attached to Grant and I very well.  She has from time to time gone to other family members but it's very obvious that she knows Grant and I are "THE" people.  

Sofia has the most amazing attention span.  She played with just her socks for 15 minutes this morning and managed to crack herself up repeatedly doing so!  She has great eye sight.  I know that's not a big deal for some of you but I've worn glasses since I was 3 (thankfully my parents caught my bad eyes early) but it makes me grateful that my daughter has good eye sight.  Also she has really developed fine motor skills (or at least I think she does).  It amazed me that she is able to pick up a tiny pebble from the carpet on the first try.  

We are having a few growing pains just like any new family but they are minor and no big deal.  I'm getting used to carting around a one year old and all the paraphernalia that goes along with it.  My arms barely hurt any more!  Yeah Mum-Arms!!  The dogs nose is still out of joint a bit, he's fine with Sofia.  We are just waiting for Sofia to be fine with him.  He wants so badly for her to like him and he's been so good around her.  She squeals when he comes near her but then she laughs as soon as he's gone.  Every few hours she becomes a bit more tolerant of him, before long they'll be lickin' each others faces!  They both shared the back seat of the car today so we're on our way!  

MWAH! 

Sofia blowing kisses and wearing my dress that my Mom has saved for the last 30 years.  It was made by my Grandmother, it brought tears to my eyes to be able to dress my daughter in it.

Have a great weekend!

Park Outting

Sofias first stroller ride.  Qimik knew what it was all about though.  This was about 720am we figured that we were up so we might as well enjoy the sun while it lasted!

Hmm, a swing hey? Do I like swings? 

HaHa Yeah I do!!

All of us teeter-tottering.  Who knew see-saws were a family affair?

What do you think?  I think Sofia had fun at the park!!  

A quick one

MWAH!!  

I couldn't help but share this cute pic.  We had a wonderful birthday party thanks to Jen & Scott for inviting us to their pad and to Sarah & Todd for bringing the party animals!  I miss you all! More birthday party pics to come later.

If you can parent here, you can parent anywhere!

Grant and I said this a lot as we travel around Addis and the surrounding area last week.  The picture above is Sofia getting her mid-morning bottle in a 900 year old stone church (sorry the name escapes me right now)  It was amazing.  The church is underground and hand carved, 200 people still attend services there every Sunday!

Melka Kunture was the site of Sofias afternoon nap.  It was a very neat museum housed in 4 soil/grass houses.  We learned a lot on our trip about Ethiopia and parenting.  If we can change a diaper, feed her noodles, and put her down for a nap all in a moving minibus that's dodging potholes, donkeys, goats, people, and cows while hurtling down the highway at 80km/hour .... we'll be good! 

To all my blogstalkers,

Thank you!  I feel so loved even though I know that you are just wanting to see pictures of baby girl! haha

Our trip was wonderful.  Sofia is giggly, smiley, and charming.  She is a total chatter-box (just like her Mum) and laid back (just like her Dad).  She was a real trooper on the trip and traveled the best of all of us.  Although if I had someone carry me, feed me, and wipe my butt I might have traveled a bit better too!  She has adjusted to our house so far perfectly, although she is still a bit unsure of our rather large dog.  We arrived at our house at 945 last night and so I'm sure by the end of the weekend they'll be buds.  She loves to give kisses and snuggles (also like her Mum and Dad).  And today when we had the "family meet and greet" she did AMAZING!  Her face light up when she saw the other little people and you can tell already that she loves her cousins.

Okay enough talking, I'll give you what you really want.  Here is the first Dybdal familly photo.

 And here's a picture of Sofia laughing away at our hotel!  She's a blast and we are so unbelievably happy!!!

I have an exam on Friday and so I'll be studying all week (or at least I should be).  If you all can just bear with me a week more I'll post lots of good stuff next weekend!

Walk at the beach

Grant, Qimik, and I had a long walk at the beach yesterday.  The video above was Grant's response to me saying, "We are going pick meet our daughter. We are going to be parents.  Do we have to be grown-ups now?"  My husband makes me laugh!  I guess that answer is NO!

I packed Sofias suitcase last night.  I like packing suitcases, it's such a challenge.  It's like a big puzzle, trying to use ever iota of space.  I am the Tetris-queen and love that sort of thing.  Packing makes a a trip more real and it's all feeling very exciting right now!

Get 'er done!

Our house has been a hive of activity this week.  I've been working hard to keep it looking neat and tidy (the way my Mom left it) while trying to pack and organize!  Sofias room is packing HQ and is a disaster zone!  My packing list is done, now it's just a matter of running around the house and collecting all the things.  I think that I've did my last trip to the store today!  YEAH!!  That means everything we need to take with us is already in our house which makes packing a breeze!

Thanks to Danielle for her packing list, it was a huge help.  I will be transferring my packing list to the computer so if you'd like a copy of ours let me know.

Also a heads up to any of you who will be apply with EI for parental leave, you can't do it until after you get custody.  I spent an hour on the computer yesterday filling out the online application, when I got to the "date of placement" field it wouldn't let me go any further.  Luckily I got someone on the phone within 5 mins and she was able to tell me, No I can't apply until after she is placed with us, and No the information I'd input already couldn't be saved and I would have to start again.  When I told her that I'd be overseas when Sofia was placed with us she told me that I could fill out the online application from any where in the world.  Isn't that nice to know!!  However since Ethiopia isn't known for it's high speed Internet or it's consistent power I think I'll wait until I come home to apply again!!

I will try to post pictures before we go.