BACK TO THE US OF A

We made a bittersweet trip back to the States in mid-April. We don’t necessarily miss the States in general, but we miss you friends and family. The purpose of this trip was for family visits and to get Dan to another one of his training sessions for work. We decided to fly to Germany and stay the night there so that we could do the 11-hour flight from Frankfurt direct to Portland. This may surprise you, but Amelia was rather easy. She either slept or played, and of course made eyes at all the men on the plane (she seems to like staring and laughing at grown up men, especially Grandpa Kevin).

The end of the long journey brought us to Grandpa Steve and Grandma Pam’s house. There Amelia got to meet and play with her grandparents and lots of new cousins. Unfortunately, we weren’t in Portland only for a family visit. We attended Alec’s memorial service in Portland and while it was a beautiful event full of tears and memories, it was also quite emotionally painful. Nonetheless, it was important for us to be able to participate, and also to have Amelia there to say good-bye to the uncle she never got to meet.

We parted ways at that point with Katrin doing more visiting in Oregon with Amelia meeting and spending time with her great-grandparents, grandparents, great-aunts and uncles, cousins, and lots of friends. Then they flew across the country for further visits in Washington DC where fellow passengers described Amelia as “the best flying baby ever,” since she either slept or smiled and laughed the whole way from Portland to New York.

I (Dan) was supposed to uneventfully go to Detroit for a training session but decided to pass out on the plane from Salt Lake. Taking the cautious route, the airline decided to make a pit-stop in Denver and get me to a hospital. Talk about a plane full of unhappy campers! Anyway, after many tests and then a few more, the doctors pronounced me free to go which got me to Detroit only one day late. Apparently the stomach virus I had that day caused me to have low blood pressure and standing up on the plane caused me to pass out, but I suspect the stress of work and a memorial service and dehydration from lots of traveling all had something to do with it too. I’ll try not to do that again! Many of you found it funny that we travelled so far with a seven month old, but it was her dad that fellow passengers wished wasn’t on their plane.

Then we all met up in New York. It was quite a sight on the platform at Penn Station seeing Katrin pile out with a baby, car seat, stroller, suitcase, diaper bag, backpack and more. We decided taking a cab up to Peter and Jane’s apartment would be better than the subway. In New York we got to have a delightful dinner with my aunt and uncle, my cousins and Amelia’s cousins who are 20 months and 16 months.

The trip back to Portugal wasn’t quite as smooth as the way over, but considering all the smiles Amelia gave us throughout the travel, time zones, family events, erratic eating and sleeping schedule, etc., she sort of deserved to let off a little steam (sorry to fellow passengers, though the girls next to us swore they hardly heard her at all).

Surprise!

Amelia turned 7 months old today, and she surprised us this past weekend by crawling over to the coffee table and pulling herself up to standing. She is also crawling all over the house now, and we have to watch her closely, since now it takes mere seconds for her to get into trouble.

We are off to the US on Friday, so wish us luck on our long flight from Frankfurt to Portland, and we are looking forward to seeing some of you in Oregon, DC, and NY, and we'll be in touch with the rest of you when we get back.

In the meantime, here is a little Amelia video to tide you over:

Click here for a video of her crawling

Next steps

As the rivers keep moving towards the sea, and the spring flowers are once again brightening the land around me, each day brings additional healing and peace into my heart.

Amelia has been keeping us quite busy as this was a month of leaps for her, and now it takes an ever watchful eye to keep her out of mischief. She stared the month of March with the arrival of her second tooth, and shortly thereafter was introduced to the joy of the new tastes and textures that solid food can bring. So far she loves banana, and anything mixed with banana goes down with gusto. She even decided to put her head down on her highchair tray to lick up the leftovers when it was banana, we decided she must have learned her manners from her four legged siblings, Blaze and Tazzy, who view licking things off the floor as a normal part of everyday life.

In addition, she is now able to sit on her own, and just last week she made her first attempts at actual crawling rather then just scooting or pivoting in place. She still looks a little uncoordinated, with exagerated movements of her arms and not always sure what order to move her legs in (and sometimes they both go together), but she is starting to become confident that she can see something she wants to get to, and just go there. She also is trying to pull herself up and stand on her own, she doesn't have the muscles for it yet, but this is one determined little girl, so I don't think it will be long before she can do that too.

Click here for a few more photos of her milestones this month.

Loss

Alec John Peterson

May 16, 1986 - March 14, 2009

My dear little brother, I love you to tears.

I read once that there is a reason that grief comes in waves, because our bodies and minds don't have the capacity to absorb it all at once. I find my days and nights now intermixed with periods of utter sadness, and periods where life returns to normal as I continue feed and care for Amelia. I am so thankful for her being here with me now, with her innocence and her continued smiles and laughter. But I am deeply sorrowful that she will never get a chance to meet her uncle, who already loved her so much. Each night in the dim nite-lite lit glow of our bedroom, I see Alec's face reflected in Amelia's, and I know he is watching over her, and I hold her even tighter to be closer to him.

The messages of love and support that have been arriving from friends here in Portugal and working their way accross the world via e-mail or phone from those of you in the US have really meant a lot to me. Knowing I have your thoughts with me makes each day a little easier. I will carry the memories of Alec's smile, laughter, and love with me forever.

Amelia in Action

For her biggest fans...Amelia can now be seen on video by clicking these links:

1) Amelia laughing

2) Amelia sticking out tongue

Watch for more from our little star!

Lisbon and Fado

Another weekend in Lisbon this February, this year it was gloriously sunny and we had Amelia in tow and Karen (my mom) and Kevin joined us. We also went to a Fado show for the first time. Fado is the traditional Portuguese music, literally translated Fado means destiny or fate, and the music is generally connected to saudade, which roughly translated means nostalgia or longing. The music itself is powerful and has a melancholy longing in it, usually for the past days when Portugal was one of the major world players. Dan and I have decided that the basic sentiment is that the future will never be as magnificent as the past. We choose to see fado at Sr. Vinho, a great restaurant, with several fadistas taking turns performing between courses.

For an example of a song from one of the most famous fado singers, Amalia Rodrigues, on YouTube click here.

Here is a photo of Amelia with one of the singers. For more photos of Amelia and Lisbon, click here.

Tooth!

So all that whining and that bright red drool rash has finally resulted in a singular tooth and a much happier baby. Thank goodness for that. The tooth made it's appearance last Wednesday February 18th. It is currently a little camera shy, but keep your eyes open in future photos!