oooops....
a couple of days late this time... the excuse is that we are on the stormy island again (just a week after a terrible flash flood on the 20th of Feb that will go down in the history books) to celebrate your Vôvô's birthday, which was the day before yesterday! And you are having such fun with him taking you for walks in the garden in the rare moments when it is not raining! And you love your new trolley he got you so much that you even sleep in it...considering in Belém you hardly ever let M put you down to sleep during the day she is considering it a magic chair!!!
And what have you done this month? Hmmm... let's see: you have got a big baby chair in the car and no longer lie in the egg in front with M; you chew happily on bits of cooked carrot, sweet potatoe and your favourite, BROCOLLI!!!! hihihihihi; you are beginning to use your hands to communicate: bye bye, more and no more; you say papapapapapa looking at the bedroom door to wake your daddy up; you dressed up as a flower for your first Carnival; you get frustrated because you crawl backwards so you really want to skip that bit and walk instead; you now wear shoes when you go out and that is so cute; you love to came along with M to Canto de Colo and sing along with the other babies; you now recognize people and give the ones you like reeeeeally bigger smiles than the polite ones you give everyone; you love sitting in the shopping trolley and calling every single person you see in the supermarket; you can spot a baby from miles away and call very loudly until you are taken close; and you are basically the most adorable little girl i have ever known and i am so so blessed to have you as a daughter!!!


Your first visit to Maya!! Next time we will take a broom!!!!


The reclining balerina!!!


Girls and pearls and frogs!


A Princesa (Erica), Capuchinho Vermelho (Mariana) e a espectadora fascinada (Mam Djara)!


A flower in a field with a little lamb!

Balls, balls, balls, balls,....




Your first shoes!!!


Recording lullabies with Mummy!


Friends and family: underneath this text is a place where you can leave comments which i am sure future reader Mam Djara will love to read... anything you would like to tell me, any story you want to tell, we would love to have them recorded here!

Oh well...if i could stick to writing a new post at least once a month that would already be a good thing!
And so many things happened in this, the first month of 2010: you learnt to blow raspberries, you went for your first stroll in Belém gardens in your pushchair, you had your first meeting with all three Bodé girls: your Mormor, Sissi and Lolo (whom i had not seen for a veeeeery long time!), your first two bottom teeth came out on the day after you were 6 months old, you stood on your own with the help of a cork mushroom in the playground, you went to your first kiddie birthday party (Parabéns pelos 3 anos, Maria!), you used the elephant watering can that Tia Babesy gave me to water our new window garden, you accompanied Mummy for a whole day at a storytelling workshop with Pep Duran (and got your first round of applause!!!!) and so many other wonderful firsts!!!!

this year...

you began by dancing with who is from now on your favourite dance partner: TiBernie!

last year...

you learned to sit on your own at just five months and to charm everyone in site with your gaze and your smile!
this is the first post of 2010, so happy new year my little big love! may you be well and content and strong and glad! and that wish extends to all our loved ones!
here are some pictures from the last month:

your first xmas with the family

concentration

glee

with Vovô

sitting on your own at the biblioteca

first friends

and because we are on the subject of firsts (we will be for some time now!!!) here are some photos of your first little friends:

Zé Maria



Martim, Maria, Leonor and Sofia

hmmmm....

i thought it would be easier to write often...i'll get the hang of it i suppose!!!
we are now in Madeira to spend Mam Djara's first Xmas with the family...at long last we have children to add gurgling noises and giggles to the occasion!!!!
I'll go and get my baby book (i told you it was a habit!) and try to fill in the data as it appears there!
Here goes:


"I was born at 23h43 on Monday the 20th July 2009 at the Hospital São Francisco Xavier in Lisboa.
My Daddy Baye Selle Mbaye
My Mummy Sofia Luísa Bodé Maul

Daddy's Daddy Ali Mbousse Mbaye
My Daddy's Mummy Nganga Faye
Mummy's Daddy Timothy Robert Rushworth Maul
Mummy's Mummy Harriet Irene Bodé

My name is Mam Djara Maul Mbaye

My weight at birth: 4,250 kg
After 1 week: 3,410kg
After 2 week: 3,900kg
After 3 week: 4,180kg
After 4 week: 4,280kg
After 8 week: 5,230kg
After 3rd month:6,000kg
After 4th month:6,430kg
After 5th month:6,960kg
After 6th month:
After 7th month:
After 8th month:
After 9th month:
After 10th month:
After 11th month:
After 12th month:


My height at birth: 52,2cm
at 3 months: 62,0cm
at 6 months:
at 1 year:
at 2 years:
at 3 years:
at 4 years:
at 5 years:
at 6 years:
at 7 years:
at 8 years:
at 9 years:
at 10 years:

My hair colour is black and my eyes are black too

My navel fell off on the 25th July

My first visitors at birth were Mormor and Pai Baye and Ângela and the next day were: Rita and Pere and João and Helena.

My first tooth came out at

My first smile was for Mummy (of course!) at 4 weeks

I start trying to grab things at 3 months
When i don't put it immediately in my mouth(very rare)I can pass things from one hand to the other at 4 months but still have a little difficulty letting go!
Now is also when i start rolling from tummy to back but i still need help the other way.
I can sit quite straight just with some pillows round my bottom at 5 months.

I am a delightfully smiley baby...i just don't really want to go to sleep...i'd miss all the excitement!!!
My chucha is only necessary to help me sleep!"

Ok...
I think that's enough for now...
i'll keep filling in as we go along!
Till next time here are some of the earliest photos:

first post

this is my first ever blog post!
as i am a storyteller i must begin with a story, a true one:
every time i go home to the house i grew up in, i look at the shelves packed with books foreign lands, amazing animal life and the lives of people real and imaginary, and invariably i pull out the same short and squat volume: my baby book! i have read it many many times but i can't tell you how it makes me feel each time...warm and fuzzy and real and...
oh you better get used to it: i am a great fan of exclamations and ... !!!
on with the story...
when i watched my belly grow and grow and grow with my daughter swimming inside i promised myself and herself that i would make and write her a lovely baby book...and i did buy her a gorgeous blue notebook...but only wrote in it once....
you might have guessed this story doesn't end anytime soon, for this blog is her story and the story of our little family which we are hoping will grow and grow told for her especially but also for you, our family and friends!!! Tomorrow i will transcribe some of that first scribbling that is in the blue notebook and i hope you will bear with us as there is a lot to tell because our little princess is today 4 months and 19 days and a lot has been going on!!!