Well I made it through my first year!  And everybody still tells me that I'm cute so I guess I'm doing something right.  In my first year I went to California, New York, Boston, Washington and even Sweden, which is really far away.  Everywhere I went, I met all kinds of people who know Mamma and Pappa.  Some of them have kids like me and I always like to hang out with them.

Here's a quick shot from my FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!  Mamma and Pappa invited lots of people over.  I got to see all of my cousins, and Mateo came over too.  I thought I might see Ethan and some of my other friends too, but unfortunately everybody was pooping like crazy just like I was last weekend.  The good news is that I got a bunch of books and stuffed animals to put in my room.  Grammy even gave me a PONY (mamma always calls it 'Hast').  Let's just say that I was somewhat ambivalent about it at first.  But now we get along great!

As it turns out, a couple days after my birthday party, everybody gave everybody presents AGAIN.  I'm not sure what that's all about but I'm not complaining.  Because now I have MORE books, and some blocks, and some little things that beep and make noises.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do in my second year, but I'll keep trying to top the first one.  One thing I will definitely be doing is riding on my new car that Aunt DiDi got me for my birthday.  Pappa put a string on the front of it and now either him or Mamma pulls me around our house, sometimes for HOURS.  I'm sure that they enjoy it just as much as I do.

Talk to you soon..

nina

Thanksgiving

Grammy and Pabah's place was packed with people, food and fun but this is the only picture I have to post on my blog. Oh well, at least you can see how fast I'm growing up.

In a way it was kind of an exhausting day for me and my parents. Exhausting for me because I had to keep telling people not to pick me up and exhausting for my parents because they had to calm me down once I was in a full mode of crying. I can only hope people will catch on and eventually stop the constant need of holding me. Clearly I'm much happier on my own. Actually the one person I love is Pabah. He can hold me anytime he wants. Oh and once Grammy gives me that pony that she talks about all the time, I might let her hold me too.

I'll be updating my blog in a few weeks so check back soon.

Halloween Night

I know I look silly but mommy and daddy forced me to wear this frog costume tonight.  I tried to tell them, by screaming, that I didn't like it but they didn't seem to care.  Then we stepped outside and it turns out everyone looked kind of silly.   

We walked around in the neighborhood begging for candy.  And everyone we ran into willingly gave us tons of it. People were actually handing us candy before we even asked for it. That seemed kind of strange to me.  But then again, the entire event was kind of weird so I didn't think much of it. 

We have so much candy at home now but don't think I got to taste any of it.  They say we have to do it again next year and I'm hoping that I won't be in this nonsense costume because I didn't like it one bit. And I'm hoping mommy and daddy will at least give me some of that candy next year.

I went to Washington

So right down the road from my home is the most powerful city in the world, Washington DC.  I went there when I was really little but it was nice to go back and see it again now that I'm all grown up.

Mommy and daddy took me to a cool hotel called The Liason that was near "The Capitol." (daddy told me not to say "Capitol Building" and he told me to use an "o" and not an "a" because he's a dork)

But the first thing we went to was "The Newseum" which had lots of exhibits about my dad's job, which seems pretty silly because if he does the job anyway then why does he have to go and see exhibits about it.  But we had fun and daddy wore his Sweden jacket.  I was a little upset that the people who work there didn't let me crawl around on the floor.

Then apparently we went to visit "The White House" and we walked around in the gardens.  But I didn't see any of that because I was taking a nap, so I guess I'll just have to take mommy and daddy's word for it.  We hung out with this guy named Boni who seemed to know mom and dad.  I do remember going to a big museum after the garden-tour.. they had lots of exhibits about fish and animals there, and a big old diamond too.

We stayed in Washington until Sunday, and Sunday morning we went and met some other people that I had not met before.  Their names were Leonardo and Melitta and they had a little boy named Tancredi, which seems like an unusual name to me, but then again my name is actually Sakineh so who am I to talk.  Also I couldn't understand what in the world he was saying.. it wasn't like how my dad talks and it definitely wasn't like my mom talks.  I hope his parents can understand him.  I was feeling really shy around him because he was really cute..

I hate baths

So like I said, I hate taking baths.  Every time my mom tries to put me in the water I start SCREAMING, and so my mom responded by not giving me baths anymore.  Then dad started to say I smelled funny, even though I thought I smelled fine.

So my mom came up with a new solution.  Now she brings me into the shower WITH her, when she takes a shower!  It's CRAZY because there's water coming down all over the place and mom has to wash my hair without dropping me even when I'm all slippery.

But so far it seems to be working out fine.  I'm not sure if mom thought this picture was going to be included in my blog!  But dad said it's fine because you can't see any nipple. I don't know why that would be a big deal.. the nipple is my favorite part!

-- Nina

I Know How to Get Around

So I've decided that I'm tired of watching everyone else move all over the place, while I'm stuck just sitting on my behind.  Over the past few weeks I've started rolling from my sitting position onto "all my fours" as mom says.  And then last week I figured out that I can put my hands and legs in front of each other, and suddenly I get where I'm going!  There's some video of me crawling too -- but my daddy can't figure out how to get it on my blog.  Hopefully he'll figure out what the heck he's doing. soon.

-- Nina

Hangin' out with the boy next door

This is my buddy Ethan.  I have known him since I was three weeks old but it's recently that I'm actually having fun with him.  He likes to share his toys with me and feed me "puffs," my favorite snack.  Mommy gets really excited when I pick the "puffs" up from the floor; she claps her hands and gets all loud and crazy.  I smile, of course, but she needs to get a grip.  Sometimes I just want to eat without mommy watching me. Anyway, I hope Ethan will live next to me for a while because he's so much fun to hang out with.. Hopefully Sven won't check this blog for a while..

My First Photo Shoot

Everybody always says I'm super-cute, and so my mommy and daddy brought me to this place with a big white wall and some fake flowers for me to hold.  Then this lady started taking my picture while mommy jumped up and down all over the place.. it was so funny!   So I kept smiling and laughing and meanwhile the lady kept taking my picture.  I feel that this is not an accurate representation of my attitude for most of the day.  As mommy and daddy will tell you, from time to time I can be kind of moody.  But it wasn't fair because mommy kept jumping around so I couldn't stop laughing!  Anyway, these are a couple of pictures that mommy took OF the pictures that the lady took.  What can I say -- I'm super cute!

I went to a REALLY big city

SO..

I thought Baltimore was big but New York City is REALLY big.  In the picture here with Mommy and Daddy, there's about 1000 big tall buildings and the Brooklyn Bridge behind us.  And I'm looking over to my left at about 10,000 MORE big tall buildings.  

The first thing we did when we got there was just walk around for what seemed like all day.  Plus it was really hot.  I can't believe how many people there were.. it seems like everyone was 

almost bumping into us. 

We took the train from Baltimore to New York, which was no big deal for me because I already rode a train to the airport when we flew to Sweden, and then when we were in Sweden I rode a train to visit Mommy's parents.  But on this train ride something strange did happen.  The lights on the train went out, and it started to get warmer.  Then the train stopped for a while, then it started again, then it stopped.  Then all of a sudden another train came up next to us and we had to get off of our train and get on the other one!  The train people kept saying, 

"Don't touch both trains at the same time or you'll be electrocuted," but that can't possibly mean what I think it means.  But then we got going again and went to New York.

We stayed with Mommy and Daddy's friends Jay and Carrie, and I also got to meet Phil and Amy.  Once we got to Jay and Carrie's apartment we didn't go far.  Mommy and Daddy kept taking me to different parks and restaurants and we spent most of the weekend trying to stay cool.

I would love to go back to New York because I'm not sure if I've seen it all yet.

-- Nina

I Still Like the Stuff in Mom's Boobs...

...But whatever dad gave me today was pretty good too.

Last week he started feeding me the stuff from my mom's boobs in a little bowl with a spoon.  And I think there was some other stuff in that stuff because it was thicker and lumpier than before.  But it tasted the same, so I didn't care.. and besides my mom came home later and she brought her boobs with her.

But then this week my dad put me in the little chair in the kitchen and he started giving me this weird orange stuff.  

  

He kept saying, "Carrots" but I'm not familiar with that term.  Anyway, I liked the taste and I already know how to swallow stuff so I just went ahead and ate it.  My dad kept laughing but I wasn't sure why.  Now that I've seen these pictures, it was probably because I had orange stuff all over my face.

But that's not my fault -- carrots are SO soft and runny!  And I like to grab the spoon when dad is putting it in my mouth because then I get carrots on my hands, and then I can spread the carrots all over my seat and anything else that's close by.

So I'll definitely keep doing that.

It does make me wonder if there are any other things to eat out there, and what color they are.

-- Nina

A trip to the doctor

So I made it to the big six months, and my dad celebrated (one week late) by taking me to the doctor's office.

It turns out that I weigh 16 pounds, I'm 27 inches long and my head is 17 inches around.  The doctor says that's all "right down the middle" but I have no idea what that means.

I also had something stuck up my butt, a light shined in my eyes, something stuck in my ears, and then at the end they stuck a huge needle into both of my legs!  All I can say is, it better be worth it.  As you can see, all the crying left me with nothing to do but take a nap.

The doctor also said I can start eating things that aren't breast milk, so I'm excited to find out what those are.

And finally he said at six months I'm probably beginning to be less trusting of strangers, so from now on I'll need to see two pieces of identification before you can read my blog.

-- Nina

My Boyfriend Sven

I already posted some stuff from my visit to my mom's parents, but for most of our trip to Sweden we were in a different town called Tullinge.  That's where Stina and Peder, live with their two kids.  Sonya is a little more than a year old, and Sven is four.  I mentioned that he's a hottie -- and now I'm SO happy to be able to post my favorite picture of me and him because he's my boyfriend.  It's a long-distance thing, but we can make it work.

Well I'll try to post some more stuff from the trip soon!

OK.. I'm all over the place here..

But give me a break, I'm only six months old.

SO -- Here I've posted pictures of my first meeting with my mom's mother (mormor, in Swedish) and my mom's father (morfar, in Swedish).  It's very strange that I had not met them before now, because they seem to be very friendly people and they thought I was cute.  Maybe someday my mom will tell me all about it.

We had dinner with them and one of their sons, and then we went over to another house and met my mom's sister.  And they gave my mom a couple photo albums with pictures of her when she was little, although they don't have any pictures of her when she was as little as me.

Will I ever see them again?  I think so.. my mom and dad tell me that I'll be going to Sweden a lot, and I think they said it's because I'm a cool citizen.  We'll see...

-- Nina

Back Home in Baltimore!

Well it's been a long day, but it feels great to be back home!

We started very early at Stina and Peder's place in Tullinge.  Peder was nice enough to drive me to the airport with my mom and dad.  Then we got on airplane, and I was on there for like nine hours!  And for some reason my dad didn't sit with us.  He carried me around a few times, but I was with my mom most of the time.  I had a seat to myself to lay down in when I needed to go to sleep.  I did my best to be nice and quiet the whole time, and all the passengers said I was the cutest baby they've ever seen.

When we got off the plane, we waited for a long time and finally got onto a train (all the people on the train loved me too)  And when that was over all of a sudden we were back home!

Sorry I haven't been posting updates from Sweden -- but we've been EXTREMELY busy.  Mom and dad took me all over the place.  I'll be loading up pictures and I'll write about what we did real soon.

-- Nina

I´m in Sweden!

Well it doesn´t seem much different from anyplace else I´ve been, but my parents tell me that I am now in "Sweden"

The one thing that is different is that everybody here talks just like my mom. Before I thought that me and her had our own little communication system, but now it looks like there are a lot of people who can understand her. My dad seems pretty clueless most of the time, like he can´t understand anybody.

We´re staying with Stina, who came to visit me when I was very little. Her husband Peder is very nice, and they have two kids. There's a little girl Sonja who I met when she came to Baltimore with Stina, and then her brother Sven, who is a hottie. It´s a big house with lots of trees and bushes outside, and a nice big deck.

It´s also much colder here than Baltimore, and it´s only dark for a few hours each night.. don´t know what up with that.

I´ll try to post pictures if I can -- more to come!

-- Nina

Trip Abroad

There's this big box in our living room that I'm very entertained by. I'm starring at it in this picture. I'm not sure what it is but it keeps me amused while I'm searching for the next object to put in my mouth.

Mommy and daddy has been shopping like crazy the last few days. I overheard her talking to daddy about a trip we're taking tomorrow. I guess my naps and bedtime will be all messed up. Oh well, as long as one of them holds me I can pretty much sleep anywhere.

Strange Week

Here's a picture from a couple weeks ago. It has nothing to do with this post, but I like it anyway and I was just trying to see if I knew how to do it.

I'm not sure what's going on this week!

Here's how it usually works: I wake up, my mom feeds me and then she hands me over to my dad, and then she just up and leaves. I usually get pretty upset but I know she's coming back eventually.

Then I hang out with my dad all day. We go for walks, play, talk, it's cool. And then this other girl named "Vivian" comes over. She brings this other little kid, Dylan, with her. And then we all hang out, and then my mom comes home.

But yesterday things were all different.. I woke up, and my mom dropped me off over at Amy's place. So all of a sudden I'm like -- "Where's my dad?" But I just hung out with Amy and this other kid Ethan. Later, my mom came over to feed me and then all of a sudden my dad came in. And then we hung out for the rest of the day.

So -- I think my mom is coming and going at the same times.. but I think my dad's changed around his schedule for now.

Plus it's like SO HOT OUTSIDE!!!

-- nina

My Interesting Background

It's pretty confusing, but here's what I've been able to piece together.

I was born in Baltimore, Maryland at Mercy Hospital. I remember that it was a really short drive from my parent's condo. The entire time, the cord that was attached to my belly button was wrapped around my neck and nobody could figure out what to do. I didn't think it was that big of a deal -- and besides I was all hopped up on the good drugs. Then all of a sudden there was this big knife blade and a few buckets of blood and I was out of there.

From what I've been able to piece together, my dad is also from Maryland and I see his parents a lot. I LOVE to cry when my dad's mom (Grammy?) picks me up.. everybody thinks it's a riot.

Everybody says my mom is from someplace called "Sweden" and I have no idea where that is. If what I'm hearing is correct, I'm actually going there soon. But if everyone in "Sweden" talks like my mom we're going to have some problems. She's all like, "Jag alskar dei" and "Pratar Nina med Papa?" and "Vi ska gor ute" I have no idea what she's talking about. Plus my skin is pretty dark for a half-Swede. Somebody mentioned "Iran" at one point but I'm not sure what that's all about. I'll do some digging and get back to you.

-- Nina

About those bear photos

I'm going to make this brief. I don't like the bear photos.

My parents (the guy and the girl) both seem to think that by making me lay down next to a teddy bear, that they can somehow monitor my development.

Seriously -- what is the point? For the past few months they've had to hold my legs down just so they can get a good measurement. I'm CLEARLY bigger than the bear, so I say this little exercise should be over.

But don't be surprised if you see another one next month.

-- nina

Welcome to my blog!

Hello, this is Sakineh Carol Schaffer, better known as Nina.

I was just born in December of 2007, so for the next several years there will be a lot of ghost-writers on this project. But believe me -- my writers know what they're talking about.

You may think you know me from my photos on Snapfish, Facebook and my parents' living room. Maybe you've even met me in person. But there's way more going on here than perfect baby skin and a winning smile. On babysakineh.com I'll take you behind the scenes, poops and all.

I hope you find my life entertaining -- stop back anytime!