Little Footprints Abroad

At the beginning of March, Freyja and I went on our first international adventure together. We flew to Budapest, Hungary on the 2nd, just in time to celebrate an important Father/Grandpa birthday on the 4th.

It was all very exciting, for so many reasons. It had been a long time since I've visited...my last trip to Budapest (and abroad in general) was in 2004. I'd never met my youngest sibling, Timothy, who was born in 2006, Freyja had never met her other Grandpa and Grandma, and it had been so long since the rest of us had seen each other...a lot of people and things had grown and changed. But, the biggest source of excitement was that the whole thing was a huge secret! Grandma Szilvi and I had been planning the trip for over a year, sneaking around and giggling, hoping he wouldn't find out. We were both hoping that when Grandpa Theo came home from work and saw us nonchalantly sitting in the living room, he would display such an earth-moving combination of laughing, crying, screaming, and general festive dancing around, that the reaction alone would be worth all the planning. Well, at least that's what I was thinking. I don't know about Szilvi! Although he was excited and happy, it wasn't all the above, but that's okay. I think my expectations might have been a little unreasonable. Ha!

Anyway, even though I had some initial concern about travelling alone with a small toddler for such a long length of time, things went pretty well! I made what I consider to be some super smart choices regarding what I packed in my carry-on bag. As a result, I really was prepared for all the little situations that came my way, and was even able to keep Freyja entertained for almost the whole trip...and back! (More on that in a future post) Also, the KLM flight attendants I met on the trips between the US and Amsterdam were so amazing and sweet, and that made things even easier.

She loves playing with my sunglasses!

Once we arrived in Budapest, our trip involved a lot of time spent at home, visiting with family...and taking in all the meals, play times, talks, baths, bedtime stories and songs...the usual stuff...that make up a household's daily rhythm. Freyja banged on the piano, spied on the turtle, climbed in the indoor hammock, played with trains and blocks and baby dolls galore, ate new foods, road a bus for the first time, went swinging at the park, and we made spaetzle with Great Grandma's spaetzle press...all kinds of good things.

Freyja and Timo spying on the turtle

Sitting in Grandpa's rocking chair

Playing with the wool mobile in Timo's room

An early morning snack

Grandpa and Timo

Sitting on Uncle Ollie's Lap

Hanging out with Uncle Alex

Grinning in the hammock

Sitting on the stairs with Aunt Abby

Ollie with the spaetzle press. See Abby and Timo in the background?

We went to the children's school one day, the Obudai Waldorf School, which is so beautiful and unique. It has a certain magic about it that you can just "feel" when you're inside.

The Seasonal Table

The beautiful chalkboard...it opens in the center to display another lesson inside

The watercolor area

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Teacups for all the students in the classroom. There's Abby's cup, top right.

In the foyer of the school...watching as all the kids leave class at the end of the day.

Ollie brought his kobza home from school one day and played it for Freyja and I. She loved the music...and running her fingers across the strings.

It was fun to see Freyja hanging out with other children, and watching how they interacted with each other. It's rare that I see this, because she doesn't have siblings, go to daycare, or attend a playgroup. On occasion she goes to work with me, but the little girl I take care of and Freyja usually play alongside each other and not "with" each other, which is very normal for their age, so the dynamic is much different. Also, I would suggest that because my siblings are related to Freyja, something in her subconscious is aware of this connection, and it made her time with them more special and natural.

Reading with Aunt Abby...look at her grabbing those toes!

Freyja seemed to have a special affection for Abby...she followed her around everywhere!

Playing with Uncle Timo's wooden boat and animals.

Some lucky little girl just might have one of those on it's way for Yule!

More reading with Abby and Timo.

This Curious George lift the flap book was a huge hit with these three. Ha!

Even more reading with Uncle Ollie

Playing ball with Grandpa and Timo

Freyja and Timo building something with blocks. Check out that cool baby carriage!

Grandpa and Freyja playing with a top

In the hammock with Abby

Hmmm. What else did we do? Ah, yes. We went to a giant indoor market and the regular grocery store a few times, which I always love doing. (Insert Szilvi rolling her eyes here. Ha!) Call me weird, but it's interesting to me to see what kinds of foods people grow, buy, and use in other countries...and what they don't! The market and the grocery are also awesome places to see people interacting with each other and hear their language. While I was there, I bought a big bag of paprika that I plan on using for a pot of Chicken Paprikash someday really soon. I haven't made that in a long time. Yum!

We also took all the kids to the Tropicarium Oceanarium, which was a hit with everyone. I think Freyja screamed the word "fish" over 1000 times, and I was able to con both Ollie and Alex, after some serious big-sister peer pressure, into jamming their arms down into the sting ray pool so they could feel their soft satiny skin when they swam by. For two kids who initially acted like they didn't want to do it, they sure were hard to pry away from the pool when it was time to leave. Ha!

Fish! Fish!

Checking out the alligator!

We went to a couple of toy stores during our visit, and I bought Freyja some cute wooden toys for her birthday and Yule, which I promptly hid away when we got home. These are hard to find in the US without buying them in a huge city at a specialty toy store or purchasing them online, and paying shipping costs is one of my pet peeves. I do have some good wooden toys, but not as many as I'd like. I'll post photos of the toys I bought in Budpest as I give them to her. They're too cute!

Waiting outside the bookstore

Freyja and Grandpa checking each other out

A regular part of my trip to Budapest usually includes a visit to Hosok Tere and The Museum of Fine Arts, which my father and I still did this time around, with Freyja in tow. She enjoyed running around the square, pointing out the horses, and splashing in puddles. Freyja was also so well-mannered in the museum...content to ride around in the sling, pointing at different things in the artwork, and eventually snoozing off against my shoulder while we enjoyed the amazing temporary exhibit on Gustave Moreau. I'm so glad the stars aligned themselves so perfectly in such a way that I was in Budapest to see that awesome body of work. Spectacular!

She just happened to jump in the only puddle...

Okay, Grandpa can hold me...but only for a second!

There were some shenanigans, as all trips have. Freyja hurled on the airplane from Amsterdam to Budapest (Yay!), but thanks to my handy dandy carry-on bag, everything was cleaned up rather quickly and we were back on track. She had some insane jet-lag for a couple of days once we arrived, but that eventually subsided. She also developed a random and rather gross eye infection while we were in Hungary, and she had to endure being pinned down several times to have eye-bright dripped into her eyeballs, but overall she took it pretty well. It actually, to my surprise, didn't end up going away until about one week and a full treatment of antibiotics later. Poor kid...but she didn't let it keep her from having fun!

Is this really the only photo we have of Freyja with Grandma Szilvi?

Both of these kids look silly here! What are they doing?!

Freyja...passed out with Mommy during a mid-morning nap

A happy moment with Grandpa...

So, we had a fantastic trip...and even though we were able to stay for nine whole days this time around, it just didn't seem long enough. But I suppose it never really does! I hope we won't have to wait so long to take a trip back...

15 Month Check-Up

Last month I took Freyja in to see the doctor for her 15 month check-up. Due to some random insanity with our appointment, we had to see a different doctor instead of the pediatrician she's had since birth, so we had to wait a bit longer so he could squeeze us into his schedule. She was all over the place, trying to play with all the interesting instruments on the wall behind the examining table, walking back and forth and listening to her feet crackle the paper on top, and yelling so she could hear her little voice echo in the room. It was pretty hilarious. I was laughing to myself, thinking that all I needed was for this guy who has never met us to walk into the room while Freyja is tangled up his blood pressure cuff. Oh well, I guess he's probably used to this kind of thing!

The result of our trip was finding out that Freyja is super healthy and quite the little smarty pants. Both nice things, but what I'm most pleased with is that she's happy, which from the massive amounts of giggling she's been doing lately, I'd say mission accomplished!

During the course of the appointment, he asked whether Freyja had allergies to medications, or had seemed to show allergies towards any specific foods so far. I said that it didn't appear so at this point.

He then asked me about myself, and I mentioned that I had a severe allergy to the drug Phenergan, and as all physicians do when I say this, he asked me what happens to me when I take it. I told him about the hallucinations I was reported to have had has a child from taking it (I don't remember this, but I've been told), and then about the hallucinations, paranoia, and manic behavior I had when taking it as a teenager, despite telling the nursing staff at the hospital that I couldn't take it (nice, huh?).

I said that this allergy has been a real bummer for me during pregnancy because I suffer from Hyperemesis Gravidarum during my first trimester and beyond. Two of the most common medications for the treatment of this are Compazine and Phenergan, and I can take neither, since Compazine contains the same active ingredient which I have an allergy to. This left the medication Zofran, which is often given to cancer patients to relieve the nausea and vomiting experienced during chemotherapy. It was absolutely unaffordable, and out of the question, even with insurance. So, I turned to other options. I tried changing my diet, and using certain foods to combat the problem. I tried herbal remedies. I even tried a doxylamine and vitamin B6 therapy, which has been reported to give some women relief. Nothing I tried worked, and thus I had to spend the first half of my pregnancy feeling pretty horrible. So horrible, in fact, that despite the fact that I really, really want to have more children, the thought of going through that kind of spine-wrenching pain and discomfort all over again had me wondering if I could actually do it.

I mean, the nausea, fatigue, and constant vomiting was far worse than having Freyja. Can you imagine?

So, when the doctor non-chalantly told me that the pharmaceutical company had lowered the cost of Zofran, and specifically mentioned how much, I wanted to jump up, run over to him, and give him a kiss.

If it's in the cards someday to have another child, I'm definitely going to spend some time researching other ways to deal with the very real possibility that I'll have Hyperemesis again, without having to turn to Zofran. I don't certainly don't want to take a prescription medication every day during my pregnancy! But the fact that I can take it if I can find no other relief takes some serious fear and doubt away, which feels so good.

Twenty-Nine...

Is almost 30! I'm not sure if I like that.

When I was a kid, birthdays were a huge deal. Presents, cake, a special meal of my choice made at home or dinner out, and the super-awesome party for all my friends, which took many forms. One year it was a roller-skating party, another year we went bowling, once I was allowed to bring a couple of close friends to an amusement park, and there were numerous sleepovers, miniature golf, and visits to the pool thrown in there, just to name a few. I would be mentally transfixed on my birthday, counting down the days and reminding everyone how long we had until that magical moment. It was super exciting, and I'm sure I was just a tad irritating. Ha!

Now it's a bit different. Since I'm not in college and not into the whole random, out of control, insane partying thing on my birthday anymore, it's literally just become a nice day with family.

This year I was just so happy to be able to have a nice lunch with my mom and Freyja and do a bit of shopping together. After all, neither of us would have existed without our parents, so birthdays are just as much about appreciation.

I have some things in the works to make 30 pretty spectacular, too.

A Picture From the Past

I love this photo.

It was taken about a month after I moved to Minneapolis, in the Fall of 2003. I had just finished up my graduate coursework in Chicago and had decided to take a leap of faith and move up north because I was in love. I had only been to Minneapolis (and the state of Minnesota, for that matter) twice, and had no way of knowing if things would truly work out. What I did know was that if I didn't find out, I was sure I would regret it.

Well, things didn't work out exactly the way I had hoped. The person I planned to be with didn't turn out to be the right one for me, and after a few months I ended up on my own with a broken heart in a place that was pretty foreign, and quite lonely for me. But, after I learned to embrace my life as a single woman, I really enjoyed where I was. I began to see the city I lived in as my home, and not just a place I temporarily lived in as a student. I fell in love with Minneapolis and all the things I discovered about it. There were so many places to go and things to do. I made a point of exploring and setting up comfortable routines in this place I'd found myself living. I made it "mine." During my time there, I worked some interesting jobs, met some unforgettable people, and turned this city, which began as just a random place to begin a dream, into my personal paradise. But, most of all, I learned a lot about myself.

This photo reminds me that it's important to take chances. We might not know exactly what lies ahead, but if we always take the safe route, we might just be missing out on some beautiful and unexptected things.

I think I found it at just the right time. As I embrace my life as a single mother and figure out what lies ahead for the two of us, I need to remember to take take a slow, steady breath and take a leap or two sometimes. All I can hope is that I've learned enough along the way to make it with a bit more wisdom.