Young Diplomat, Nicholas Q.

We had a special visitor to the Embassy today and, yes, Peter was quite busy with this visit.  I think you can probably guess who it was, but if not, the photo below gives a little more insight. 

Nicky Quinn was dressed to the nines in a new outfit for the occasion and was on his best behavior.  He even rated a special mention by name from the Ambassador as the youngest member of the Embassy community.  We were all quite honored and he showed his appreciation by with his usual calm demeanor, as displayed below.  

World’s Strongest Baby

Nick is really into tummy time after watching some of Iceland's Strongest Man competition at Smaralind last weekend.  Like most things here, we just happened upon it.  Very interesting to watch.  I had my camera and thought about taking a picture, but it seemed like a closed event.  And I certainly don't want the competitors mad at me for throwing off their balance just to get a good shot.

Like all other babies, Nick has been working on his neck muscles to strengthen them for his upcoming crawl-a-thon.  So, no pics of Iceland's strongest man, but how about strongest neck muscles in a baby?

You blinked, didn’t you?

And now you can't find the picture of Kelsey on the farm (on the home page) on the school website?  Yes, that is the one problem: they are too darn good at keeping the site updated! 

So, instead you probably clicked through to a picture of the older kids at Glacier Bay.  They took a field trip there last week after working for almost a month to earn the 130,000 ISK (that's $1780 to those of you in the States).  They washed cars, babysat, walked dogs, held a yard sale (for which our movers are supremely grateful), hosted a restaurant night at the school and taught basketball.

The kids worked tirelessly around their regular classes to raise the money for their trip.  They met their goal and hired a bus to take them to the Glacial Lagoon for a one day trip.  It may not seem academic to some, but I was very impressed with both the efforts of the kids and the organizational skills of their teacher (Cait's second grade teacher).

Lest you think poor Cait was the only one not going on a field trip, that is not at all true.  Grades 3-5 had a surprise trip to the farm this past Monday.  I have attached a photo of Cait and a new friend.  As you can guess, this is pretty much all we heard about Monday night.  I

Kelsey on the farm

Check out the photo here and another one here (scroll down the page a bit).  The Kindergarten and First Grade class had a great time at the farm on Monday.  Kelsey's only issue was that the cow's milk was "too cold to drink."  Huh?  As opposed to the stuff from the fridge?  Well, anyway, they had a good time and, yes, they are still wearing winter coats in late May!

C’s Nightstand

We spent the night at Glacier Bay Saturday night.  More later on the details (see album at left – Jokulsarlon), but suffice it to say a great way to spend our 11th anniversary.

Now about the picture.  We spent one night…ONE NIGHT and this was her book minimum for travel.  I can see her hoarding books for the move already…wrapping up in clothes in her suitcase to hide from us (as though we would deny her!)…confusing the heck out of the TSA people.

I keep reading articles about children who don’t read (don’t enjoy it) and thank my lucky stars our biggest issue is getting her nose out of the book to do other things once in a while.  Really, though, 8 books for one night….

Happy Mother’s Day!

I woke up to breakfast in bed today, courtesy of Peter, C and Kelsey.  Nicholas helped by taking a break from his breakfast so I could eat without eating over him.  It was a lovely meal of French toast, Pete’s famous potatoes, reallly crispy bacon & coffee.

The girls insisted I open my presents right away.  Both girls had made cards at school and C made me a napkin holder shaped like a flower.  Kelsey joined Pete in giving me my own seltzer maker!  I gave up soda (Coke, etc.) two years ago for Lent and with a few exceptions during my pregnancy, haven’t had any since.  I found that seltzer with lemon or lime is just as refreshing and has the added benefits of no caffeine or sugar.

Oddly enough, I saw one on a blog on Thursday and thought about asking for one for my birthday.  We can get bottled seltzer here, but I hate the wasting so much plastic on something that doesn’t last very long. Now if I could just get one that makes Coke Zero for Pete!  In other thoughts…

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Conflicted?

I had a little trouble thinking of a good topic today, as I am just a little bit weary from the day spa. My friend, B., treated me to an afternoon at the Nordica spa.  We enjoyed a brief workout, relaxing in the hot pots, the awesome head and shoulders massage in the hot pots, the saunas (steamy & dry) and, finally, a pedicure for me and a facial for B.  It was lovely to lounge and not have a care in the world other than waiting for my fotsnyrting. 

I even forgot, momentarily, how conflicted I am these days.

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Thanks & thoughts

The thanks is to my friend, Diana.  I met her when she enrolled her son in my Mother Tongue class soon after she moved to Iceland.  She has been here not quite a year, but introduced me to a group I had not known about, a mom’s group run by the Red Cross in Kopavogur.   

Since it hasn’t hit me that we really are leaving in 4 weeks and 3 days, it doesn’t seem to me to be too late to meet new folks.  Of course, this being Iceland, I already knew another group member, as she is the au pair for two of C’s friends (and their baby brother).  It was a fun morning, great to get out early and, yes, Nick was the charmer as usual.  It is their end of the year meeting next week, hopefully held at the Reykjavik Farm Park & Zoo (weather dependent) and we will be there with bells on. 

In other news, I have thought long and hard about how to blog daily.  I often intend to, but other commitments end up coming first.  I also would like to think that somehow this blog could help someone, somewhere, given all of the upheaval in the world today.  I could mention a whole string of events, just from the past few weeks.   However, given that many of these events are publicized, I thought it would be a nice touch to make known those issues/people/events that may need positive thought but may not be out there just yet…thus begins my Blogthought of the Day.

I won’t always come up with one and would like to keep this interesting.  Therefore, I ask for audience participation.  If you would like to share something that needs some positive thought, send it my way, by email or a comment.  It may seem silly to some, but a few good vibes sent in someone’s direction can go a long way.

Obviously, please send in something that is truly an issue.  It be concern for a family member, good luck wishes for a tough exam or thoughts for a tragedy-stricken part of the world that may not be well-known.  Also, not everyone wants their information out there in cyberspace. Let me know whether the person(s) in the thought should be anonymous or don’t mind a little publicity.  Let’s try the first one…   

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An angel straight from heaven

and one might never guess from this picture that the lack of blogging would have anything to do with said angel, right?  Despite my best efforts and intentions, I simply have not had the wherewithal (read: two hands) with which to take photos, upload photos and blog about photos.

Really, it is the blogging part.  With all of the feeding that is going on, it is often hard to find time or energy to put hands to keyboard and type.  I forgot how tiring it can be.  Rewarding, of course, but definitely tiring.  It is so hard to not compare oneself to the uber-bloggers out there  who just had  babies (there seem to be a ton). Who knows, perhaps they have family around, a household staff, no other kids or obligations? 

So, I will focus on the positive, that Nicholas is growing by leaps and bounds, all naturally!  He is gaining an average of 155 grams per week and now weighs a respectable 5025 grams (~11 lbs 1 oz).   His cheeks are chubby, his eyes bright and clear and he is so very alert and happy when awake.

He has even started to sleep through the night to some extent. Sunday night he slept from 11:30 until about 5 a.m. and Monday night from 10:34 p.m. until 4:11 a.m.  He broke out of the mold last night, but has barely slept today, so I am really hoping perhaps he will have a long stretch tonight and I can finally go through the cr*p, craft room?  Back to the joys of the PCS!

Storytime

Are they cute or what?