Happy Birthday Munch

Well, one year has now passed since that scary night at Martha Jefferson. Having Amina has forced Krista and I to come to terms with out faith. Not so much as, I am Jewish, or she wants to go to church, but our faith in terms of, we are not alone and we no longer are in control of this situation.

We struggled with high blood pressure, (both of us, but mainly Krista) to the point they forced us to have her early. We've struggled financially, who doesn't? We've struggled with out living situation (Shout out to B.R. who has donated the top floor to the create the Seiden Suite) We've struggled with out relationship (see finances and living situation), but we never once struggled with Amina. She truly has been a blessing. You don't argue with blessings, they don't come all the time and when they do, you keep your mouth shut and enjoy the ride.

She has been an amazing baby. She smiles all the time, she quickly slept through the night, her colicky phase, if she had one, was a few weeks at the most. She truly lights up a room when she enters it.

Yesterday, we went to NTC's picnic. Amina stole the show again.

She is also becoming a world class peek-a-boo player. Were thinking of entering her in the 12-18 month age group competition.

Likewise, she has developed in her fast year awesome high five skills as well as the I'm-blowing you-a-kiss-but-I'm-really-talking-while-hitting-my-face-indian-war-cry.

Please observe the awesomeness that is Krista's face. It's like a bizarre mixture of playful incredulity, some astonishment and terror. I'm dying to know what she was looking at.

My Kid can kick your kid's BUTT!

You can never start them too young, I suppose. In light of Gentle East Martial Arts recent completions of the very successful Va State Games, we decided to see if Amina wanted to learn sparring. She already seems well adapted to fighting, having scarred both her mother and I with her violent outbursts.

Our routine

We have a routine. I assume everyone with a small toddler type baby either has one, or desperately wished they had one. Morning routine starts with Amina waking up sometime around 6:30 to 7am. This is my favorite time of the day, because it is my job to go get her from her crib, change her, and bring her to Krista. I get the morning smile.

Amina spots her bottle and realizes shes hungry, cries, and eats. I get ready for the day, make the coffee, drink the juice, eat the Wheaties. (oatmeal actually)

I then go back upstairs and play with A for a bit. Shes really playful in the mornings. i take her to maggs and that's my morning routine.

Fortunately, this summer Krista and i have had more free time on the weekends to visit friends. This past weekend we went to a wedding. being that our own wedding is a mere month or so away, we couldn't help but watch in awe and terror as we contemplated what was going on and how much we have left to do. Don't worry, Krista, it will happen, I'll be there.

Amina performed wonderfully as a precocious wedding guest.

She had a great time, even though we tortured her with shoes. She made friends. She laughed, she cried, she did terrible things to a banana.

I am inspired

Indeed. I recently touched base with a long lost friend. Although neither one of us considered the other lost. What was lost was our communications. And in that spirit, I give upon the vast cyberworld one more blog to not read. However, to our friends and distant relatives, I give you an open door to my growing family; and a way for Krista and I to communicate our musings as Amina teaches us what it truly means to be humbled. In her first lightning fast year, she entered our lives like tornado. Predicated with a calm fury of a pregnancy, culminating with the delivery and all of its complications. Now, we are left, eyes open, jaws dropped, staring into the face of absolute innocence. Now what?

We blog.

Almost one year has passed since I felt I had any real control over my life. The only difference now is that I have learned to accept the many changes and learned to have a lot more faith. I haven't accepted all nor do I trust entirely that I will figure this fatherhood thing out before Amina gets married. But I have enough faith in Krista and Amina that they will at least do thier best to cover my butt.

I was teaching her how to dance this past Memorial Day. Shes a fast learner, but she got pooped out.