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!