Our First Christmas Together

Today was actually our ‘Christmas’ visit, our first Christmas together and Z’s first Christmas ever. Yeah! And since I had already brought out all of her toys, I had to improvise on the present. I had some pink tissue paper, duct tape and a cute little pink outfit that I wrapped up for her…….yes, I did tape the present with duct tape. Hahaha A girl has to do what a girl has to do, but she didn’t care a bit. I think that Z liked the tissue paper the better than the new little outfit, go figure!

**Thank you future cousin Cheyenne for the awesome jumping Zeebra, John helped us open it today and sent us a photo here in Kazakhstan!!

This morning Zahri had her doctor’s appointment so we didn’t get to visit in the morning, but we had a great afternoon visit! Today I was able to bring her a bottle for the first time, and instead of feeding her boring porridge with a big man spoon, I got to bottle feed her diluted carrot / apple juice, and she absolutely devoured it! It was so awesome! The entire time she looked at me and held on to my finger tight. I used one of the Dr. Brown’s bottles and the Y shaped nipples, which seemed to work perfect! I remember reading that because babies are used to being fed fast & their sucking skills aren’t top notch, it is important to use a nipple with a larger hole or one that is Y shaped. I could tell that she was so thankful for that bottle. We also did a lot of singing today, we sang Rudolph, Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Itsy Bitsy Spider and a couple more, boy has it been a long time since I sang baby songs. If you have any recommendations please post and refresh my aging memory. I am finding that she loves to be sung to, sometimes she dances & sometimes she cuddles in and calms down, but she loves music! I wish that I had burned a couple cds with kid songs before I left, we did burn lullabies, but the caregivers might kick my butt if I put Zahri to sleep before I bring her back for her supper.

So far, I have learned that Zahri loves to be sung to, she loves being tossed in the air and she loves when I make noises with my mouth (ie. Clicking my tongue, puffing my cheeks and using her feet to push the air out of my cheeks, etc.)

I found out yesterday that Z is just over 15.1 lbs now and she is 28.4” tall, not too shabby.

Top 10 Toys to Bring:

#10 Stacking Rings
#9 Stacking Cups
#8 Tissue Paper
#7 Plastic Bags
#6 Jingle Bell Booties
#5 Spinwheel
#4 Keys
#3 Simple Teething Rings
#2 Blow up Beach Ball
#1 BUBBLES (they all love bubbles!)

**I am including a photo of Laurie from Illinois and her son Kyson, isn’t he a darn cutie too!