Beat the heat

Until the day before yesterday, when we got some rain, it has been super hot here -- as hot as Georgia (only we had just 1/3 of the humidity). As I may have mentioned to some of you, I am a weather wuss. Yep, you read that correctly. I cannot handle extremes in temperatures -- particularly when it's really hot. So, if you are without an air-conditioner as we are, here are a few tips on how to cool off.

1. Convert your bathtub into a mini-swimming pool. For a couple of days, it was just too hot for any fun...or so we thought, until I had the "scathingly brilliant idea" (for you Trouble with Angels fans) to run cool water in our tub so Magdalena and I could "swim." Buddy, let me tell you, we stayed in that lukewarm water til we both resembled super white prunes!

2. Go grocery shopping. The stores must keep those fruits and veggies cool so that they won't spoil. Even if no other place in the Czech Republic is air-conditioned, the grocery stores (not the corner markets) are! Magdalena and I have taken many a grocery store journey the past 2 weeks.

3. Eat loads of ice cream! While this tastey tip works well for me and Petr, it doesn't do Magdalena much good -- unless, somehow, it magically cools off the milk I produce. ;)

4. Go to a real pool party! Yay! The Verbrugges had a pool party at their place yesterday. See the next blog entry for pictures of Magdalena's first real pool experience.

Cluster map

Several weeks ago, I noticed the cluster map on our friends' blog. I thought that it was sooo cool! The just the other day, I saw that the Verbrugges got it. Then Sunny did too. That made me think, "If Sunny can figure out how to have that nifty map on her blog, then so can I." HAH! I couldn't figure it out. Fortunately, Petr knew what to do. So, now, Dear Readers, when you view our family blog, you're being tracked! : ) The more people in an area that log onto our site, the bigger the red dot over that location. Cool, huh?

Blankie

This picture is for Aunt Ellen. She gave Magdalena the yellow duckie blankie that she sleeps with now, as of Wednesday night. At first I wasn't sure how she really felt about it since I'd been putting it under her arm. But tonight, I put her in bed already asleep and didn't want to disturb her by placing the blanket under her arm so I just laid it nearby. A few minutes later Petr and I heard her stirring around and whimpering faintly. Within a couple of minutes she was sound asleep -- after moving over to the blankie and resting her head right by the little duck's head!

Water

Magdalena loves drinking water in a big girl cup. Here you can see her drinking some this afternoon.

Hair

If you've not noticed in the last few posts, our daughter has some crazy fly-away wispies. In attempt to tame them, I wanted to make some velcro bows. But, alas, I've only been able to find ribbon here in either 10 or 40meter lengths! I don't need to make a million bows in the same color!

Last night, as I was grocery shopping, I came across the hair accessories and saw a set of cute yellow hearts. Today was Magdlalena's first time wearing hair clips. : )

Blooming photographer

Yesterday Magdalena and I went to Daystar Cafe for brunch with our dear friends Ann-marie, Lydia, and Aunt Sunny! Lydia (who is 2 1/2 years old) loves Sunny's camera and took this picture of me and Magdalena. We tried to have a lot of interaction between our girls because Lydia will be a big sister soon! I think she's going to do great with her baby brother.

See Sunny's blog for two group photos.

Bathtime toys

Here is our adorable baby with two of the bath toys from our neighbor Zaneta.

Goldfish

Most children, at least American children, eat little goldfish crackers. Not this little girl! She prefers her new bath toy goldfish that our neighbor gave her on Tuesday. My local Avon Lady lives one floor up from us in our building. On the cover of the order booklet that she put in my mailbox, she invited me up for coffee. So, I took her up on this offer when I was feeling particularly bold in speaking Czech.

During our 1 1/2 hour long visit, we spoke completely in Czech! That is by far my longest stretch of speaking the language of my adopted country. :) While we were there, Magdalena got bored with the toys I had taken for her to play with. Zaneta (Janet) went and pulled out a package of squeaking bath toys for Magdalena to play with and when we were packing up to go home, she sent them with us! How kind!

Now, Magdalena is the proud owner of a goldfish, whale, tugboat, duckie, swan, and turtle. See the next post for her first bathtime with toys!

Too hot...

...for clothes! Today's high was 91 and we were outside quite a bit visiting with friends. By the time we got home at 5, Magdalena was one tired baby. She was a bit jealous of Daddy being shirtless, so he took off her little sundress so they could "match." She was much cooler and more content afterward.

Posing

Magdalena can now go from sitting up to this position you see her in and then proceeds to scooch around the couch, floor, bed, or any other given location. When she did this on Monday, I knew it was a perfect picture moment -- I didn't even have to do anything to get her to smile. She just posed adorably awaiting a photo shoot. : )

Sitting with Daddy

Gift certificate

I have a confession to make...today, five months after receiving it, we spent the gift certificate from the Verbrugges! They gave us one for Magdalena to buy her clothes at H&M (which happens to be my favorite store and made it quite difficult to spend the money on the baby instead of myself!) just after she was born. Today we finally bought her an adorable red and white striped sailor outfit, 3 pairs of socks, and a pair of shoes (for when she gets bigger). Above, you see us walking to the store (picture of me with the stroller as promised!) and below you can see us napping after the long morning out shopping. : )

Great date

Last night Petr and I had a lovely night out at a local Chinese restaurant. When we were planning our date, I realized that I'd not had Chinese food since sometime while I was pregnant! So, Petr went online in search of a place nearby and found this nice little restaurant. They served us tasty food and were so friendly. When it came time to pay, the waitress brought us each a serving of Chinese rice wine which, much to my delight, had a lichi fruit in it! I love those little fruits! The fan you see me with was a gift from the restaurant to all of their patrons.

Just 'cause I'm so cute

New stroller

It's cute, petite, and lightweight; more important: Magdalena likes it! Yay! We've been out everyday since we bought this thing and she's really enjoying playing with her toys that Mommy put on the handlebar while she cruises the sidewalks of Prague. I'll have to post a picture later with me in it too so you can get a feel for it's true size. In the meantime, just know it's half the size of the other stroller we've got.
And yes, that is Magdalena's tongue sticking out! Almost a month after discovering the joys of sticking it out and blowing spit bubbles, she still finds great pleasure in showing off her lil pink tongue. :)

Lost

No, we didn't get lost driving as you may infer from this photo. The socks that Magdalena is wearing in the photo are what got lost. Yesterday we went grocery shopping and when we left the house Magdalena had on these adorable yellow socks with butterflies on them that Gigi bought for her a couple of weeks ago. After we'd returned home and she'd had a nap time, I realized that the socks were no longer on her feet. So, I searched the crib, the bedroom, and around the apartment to no avail. The next logical thing to do was to follow our morning route in search of the lost ponozicky (czech for little socks); and that is what we did. Up and down the streets we looked; in the grocery store we looked; I even asked one of the store clerks if she'd seen them. Nowhere! They were gone...and sadly, they remain that way. What a shame! Magdalena got to wear them only 3 times. She's just so active that she kicked off those little guys without me even noticing!

Moravia

Traveling to Moravia, we had to take quite a few stops for Magdalena to rest from the carseat. During one of the breaks Petr held her while I took a break of my own. ;) She was amazed by the steering wheel and enjoyed the Daddy time since I was pretty much all she could see during the trip.







On Friday we visited Petr's grandparents and I remembered to take pictures this time! Even though she's been going through a "Mommy only" phase, Magdalena was still as calm as can be in Prababicka's arms...it must be since she's had so much baby-holding experience and has a wonderfully gentle spirit.








We've been debating whether or not to buy Magdalena a toy like this one. So, to try it out, she borrowed her cousin Adelka's for a little bit. She was entertained for several minutes, but then decided she'd rather do something else...like roll or be carried around.









This is documented proof of the first time Dedecek (grandfather) held Magdalena! On previous visits he's let Babicka (grandmother) do all of the holding. Isn't Milan (Petr's dad) too cute with her?!

London Baby!

Magdalena is becoming a world traveler. First stop: UK! Since Momma had a connecting flight out of London back to Atlanta, we decided to go a day early so we could see the sights together. Here is a famous double decker bus -- way too cool!




Riding the double decker was a bit boring for Magdalena, so we hopped off and walked the rest of the way to Harrod's. The department store is on the right with all of the flags hanging from the building front. Notice: I'm pushing Magdalena in the "push chair" as the airline called the umbrella stroller we were borrowing from the Verbrugges. Thanks Ann-marie!




Here we are in Harrod's! That store is amazing! Everything is out the wazoo expensive, but super nice too. This is the escalator area by the Egyptian Salon. See, even the names of the sections in the store are hoity-toity!




Before going to the evensong service at Westminster Abbey (where the choir sounded wonderously angelic!), we drove around town with Joane and Johan, our South African friends that we met in Prague. Johan was on the Project Antioch CORE team with me. It was so nice to visit with them as they drove us by several London sites including Buckingham Palace, Trafalger Square, Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey.

Summer Palace

One afternoon we went to Belvedere (or Summer Palace as it's called in Czech) for a walk through the gardens. Gigi and Magdalena had too much fun in the grass and playing. Who would think that hanging up-side-down could be so fun!

















All that playing made for one tuckered out little girl! She fell asleep on my shoulder during our bus ride home and stayed that way as we walked to the building!

Doctor's appointment

Thursday 29 June, Magdalena had a check-up and received 2 shots (ouch!). Gigi went with us, of course, and was just as suprised as I was to find out how much Magdalena had grown. She now weighs 7.9kg/17.5lb and is 25in/63.5cm! All of her clothes are 6-9months with a couple of them being a bit small. Oh, goodness. I guess we're going to have a tall girl.

Fame

Since so many of our Project Antioch members are out of town (or the country) for the summer, we who remain have been taking turns speaking at the Sunday morning services. 25 June was my week, so here we are on the metro traveling to service. Gigi said that Magdalena is just too cute in her kerchief. I, of course, whole-heartedly agree. : )










Not to be outdone by Mommy's 10 minutes of "fame," Magdalena was on TV on Sunday afternoon! We all tuned in at Aunt Sunny's flat to see her. ;)

Gigi's here!

Gigi arrived 22 June about 9:30pm, so Aunt Sunny stayed with Magdalena while Petr and I picked her up from the airport. By the time we all got home, it was so late that Sunny spent the night sharing the couch with my mom. : ) Here are the happy trio the next morning. Magdalena was so happy to see her grandmother!

Tuckered out

The past couple of weeks have been such an adventure that today Magdalena and I took a long nap -- over 2 hours! The following posts will update you all on what we've been up to. Sorry it's been so long since we last wrote you.