Morning Routine

Every morning is blissfully alike, and I LOVE it.  Even a tiny bit of routine comforts me because living in a foreign culture is so unpredictable.

So, every morning at about 6 AM, Joelle wakes up in her crib and babbles to herself for about ten minutes.  Scott and I sometimes wake up and just have to chuckle.

Then she goes back to sleep until 8 or 8:30.

I walk to the kitchen and prepare her formula, and once it's ready I go get the baby.

She's so happy to see me.

Then she realizes it's been eleven or twelve hours since she last ate, and she gets a little upset.

But not for long.  Mmmm milk.

Now she's all full from her 6 or 8 ounces of milk, and it's time to play.  We start with blowing some zorberts. Ppbth. 

.. and then some exercise

and the daily stare-off.

"Come here, doggy!!!"

"No... you're going to pull my whiskers again!"

And of course, lots of smiling.  She's such a happy baby!

Here she's just giggling at the dog.  She loves her Adrian!

Next is her linguistics class.  Her most recent noise is a high-pitched squeal followed by "ee! ee! eejuh".  Occasionally we get some "hey, hey, eh."  My favorite new thing is her fake cough, or laugh.  a huh, huh, huh. ha ha ha ha

Oh, man all that play time was exhausting.  Nap time is from 9:30- 11. (those cloth diapers make her booty look ginormous.)

While she naps, I usually do laundry, then dishes, the sweep mom and vacuum.  On occasion, I give the housework a rest and blog or skype, or go to the supermarket with Joelle snoozing in the sling.

3 or 4 days a week my tutor comes and I learn all sorts of new words and sentences and grammar rules.

She has another bottle at 11 or 11:30, and at this play time she plays mostly by herself while Mommy continues on the chores.

Finally, around noon Daddy comes home from work for lunch. We plop the baby in the stroller and race to our favorite hole-in-the-wall stir-fry places before the high-school down the street lets out. 

What a busy morning!  I'll have an afternoon nap, thank you very much!