Almost There!

How are you all doing? I have been using all of my time either interviewing or deliberating on job offers or spending time with baby or writing love letters to hubby.  I had to catch up on all the blogs I follow to see what's been up and it is like everything happened while I was gone.  Hope you are all doing well.
About my job search, I had waited on interviewing for jobs because I wanted to see if my mother-in-law would be allowed to come back to the States.  She had exceeded her allowable time outside the US and so we took a chance.  But God had bigger plans and they accepted her explanations.  I have interviewed in a few places and I almost have a job and will sign a contract very soon.
About grandma; It is nice to have her around and she has been very helpful but there is still yet a lot of adjusting to do and we are almost there. One of our small struggles is baby girl feels that she ought to be carried all the time since grandma is always doing that, so I've had the talk with grandma that we need to work together and I would hate for baby girl to turn up lazy.  I never thought that baby girl could get anymore spoiled but grandparents always has something up their sleeves and baby girl learned quickly how to work her grandma.  Grandma also doesn't understand the whole development thing and will not let her pick up the sippy cup on her own, in fact she wants to help her do everything.  So Grandma is learning a lot from me about some of the things we do differently here.  She will also be accompanying me to her next doctor's appointment so that she can here and see what we check for and how we do things here.
Despite all of that, baby girl is trying very hard to take her first steps (tear drop) and she is almost there; she started standing for seconds at 7 months old and now she is so confident that she is starting to move her feet but so far she only succeeds at one step...I ask her everyday that if she's going to do it, she can only do it when mummy is home.  Being a working mom is rough.

Rocking one of her Nigerian fashions :)

Baby is also teething like crazy and it is coming from everywhere at once (poor child) so she and I have had a couple of rough nights.  She has also lost interest in puree foods and wants to eat everything that we eat (imitating the chewing process).  She finds her food boring but maintains excitement for breastfeeding; she still loves her breast milk and I plan to go for as long as she will let me.  Unlike my friends who stopped nursing and their children may take more to grandma when they go back to work, mine meets me at the door with smiles and then she cries because she is overwhelmed that she had to wait so long for her mama.  That feeling is great and I am not ready to give that up because I must confess that I am secretly jealous of MIL while I'm at work.
Papa is doing very well on the ship though he misses his girls very much but we are looking on the bright side - almost 3 months down and 3 months to go.  Baby and I sent him a recent care package with some home made jerk meats, chin-chin, chocolate chip cookies, candy bar and pictures of us.  He was so happy- that should keep him going for another 1 month. This deployment has been the most challenging for him since he feels like he is missing a lot with baby girl.  It has however been the least challenging for me because Baby keeps me busy.  He feels like each day is a new milestone with her; for him she is really developing fast so I can't complain to him about that.
Baby is almost 9 months old and that means her one year birthday is stirring me right in the face- what to do? what to do? It really went by fast and I plan to stretch the next few months as long as I possibly can. Oh wait ... I don't have the power to do that.

Planning Baby's Trip To Nigeria

Planning my trip to Nigeria was not the easiest thing ever especially since I was going to be traveling alone with an infant.  I bought my ticket first without thinking it through and then got so stressed out I thought my head was going to fall out of my neck.

I had to get her a US passport OMG!!! (In this process I learned the importance of having 2 birth certificates). Then we had to  drive 5 hours to Atlanta (Nigeria Consulate) to obtain her Nigerian passport (that alone is another blog title).  Both of these had to be done with papa present so we waited for papa to return from his short detachment with barely 3 weeks left and mummy in panic mode we got both passports just in time for the trip :) It also meant to me that God had blessed us to go on the trip.  Except no one else could see that so I had our priest bless us and we were ready for the trip.

First, medically she was as squared away as she could be, she was caught up with all of her immunizations but neither I nor her could have malaria prophylaxis.  She was too young and I am still lactating.  In order to reduce all water contamination I decided to only nurse her (Baby had started eating solids).  I also packed lots of hand sanitizers and everything I needed for Baby- clothes, diapers, wipes, wash cloths, first aid kit, holy water, blessed oil, you name it I packed it, my stethoscope, tylenol, teething gel ... I didn't even have enough room to pack my own things.  I packed all long sleeves for her to prevent mosquito bites.  I ended up not doing the long sleeve it was so hot my kid started developing heat rash; I got lucky she wasn't biting by any mosqitoes since we were on the topmost floor especially since we were indoors by night time.

Anyways after I was done packing, I ended up with 2 bags weighing 50 pounds each and one 20-pound-bag, a bag pack as a carry on and a hand bag.  By the way, I was not charged for extra luggage since it was an international flight.  Anyways, then I realized how crazy it was that I didn't pay for a sit for baby (what was I thinking? 12 hours of active baby on my lap? how was I going to eat, sleep, what if I wanted to use the bathroom?).  So I did the normal thing; i.e. to switch to panic mode and called the airline and they told me that the plane is not full and I just need to bring a FAA approved car seat.  I asked them if they had a list of car seats- of course not! so I went on google search and found nothing.  I came across this site hough http://www.flyingwithkids.com/ and then came across this Car seat n stroller combo

(I am not paid to advertise this) but anyways I bought it from amazon and it came just in time. A bit pricey but well worth it especially since it came from baby's electronic piggy bank (she will thank me later).

So here's what I did- I used it as a car seat to get to the airport; packed in a close by packing lot and carried baby girl in a baby carrier and dragged the first two bags (by the wheel of course) and checked in.  Then I begged the lady explaining my situation and telling her I had one more bag.  She felt sorry for me and told me she would wait since I was very early to check in.  So I got the last bag and so was down to carry-ons. I then strapped Mmeso back to the car seat and drove to the further-away-daily packing lot, turned the car seat into a stroller with baby in it, carried my bag pack and my hand bag and got on the shuttle that goes from the lot to the airport.  At this point I was really feeling like super mom- I was so excited that everything worked out.  I got to the airport and got through the security check point with my child in one piece.

Two of my siblings met with me in my connection flight and it was so nice especially when I had to run to the bathroom.  Delta was so good to me, they sectioned a window corner for me and baby girl.  However, when I was coming back the people in Nigeria refused to give me a sit for baby saying that I should carry her and use a bassinet.  I gave up arguing but as soon as I got on the flight baby started jumping all over the place and one of the flight attendants asked me what I was doing in the bassinet section when I explained what happened she told me that baby girl was too big for the bassinet and she will get me a sit since the flight was not full.  She ran out to grab the car seat and we had a safe return home.

It was a very stressful experience especially with little things like to bath baby girl without the water going into her mouth.  She hated bath time throughout our trip while it is something she looked forward to here in the states; she also wanted to eat everything and so I gave in the last 2 days and she came down with some diarrhea  but we were coming home and it didn't seem to bother her so I did my job by keeping her hydrated with lots and lots of breast milk.

It was well worth all the stress but we wished we didn't listen to people because I almost didn't go and my husband changed his mind at first about emotionally supporting the trip. But I switched from wife and mummy mode to doctor mode and gave him all the true facts and he was back on.  Those negative people got to hubby and they still have things to say telling me "I'm so lucky that nothing happened to her and if they had known they would have told me not to go, it is unsafe for the baby..."  It didn't matter that I was a doctor they really felt like they were given me the facts.  They were telling me all kinds of diseases she could have had some they couldn't even pronounce correctly lol

Why did I insist on taking her? I wanted her to meet her daddy's side, I wanted her to go home, I wanted to attend my sister's wedding and I couldn't leave my kid behind plus she was still nursing; I also wondered about those people who are overseas on mission with their children, or those who are born here and go back home. Or what about baby girls parents (us) who were born and raised in Nigeria or even the same people who were talking- some of them just left Nigeria.  I did think about her safety and sat with her doctor to make sure I was not missing anything (the only thing he reiterated was wear long sleeves as planned, limit exposure to her, and avoid water contamination if possible boil the bottled water).  But just like my husband and I think about our safety before going home, we thought about her safety except with her we had to be extra cautious but extra cautious does not mean you have to wait till they are teenagers.  It was definitely worth it all.

So Much Has Happened

Hubby left for deployment :(

This Picture Was Taken The Day He Left

He left in January and we've missed him so much.  He will be gone for 6 months and so since we knocked out our anniversary in December, I put something together us to celebrate all of our birthdays.

Our Attempt to get papa a cake picture- her face made me give up

Then my sister Chioma and I threw my sister a surprise bridal shower- which by the way was a lot of work to surprise her.  She loved it.

The Lady Makes Such yummy cakes

this was the winning toilet paper dress :)

very competitive and fun group- caught cheating lol

The shower was fun and my sisters spent the night, helped with the cleaning and disappeared while baby girl and I were at church.  Then I planned for Baby and I to go to Nigeria.  I debated it for so long and then hubby and I discussed it and purchased the ticket.  But after all the expenses and learning more I almost changed my mind.  It was very stressful and I packed for mostly her.  I am still lactating and hence couldn't take malaria prophylaxis and she couldn't either and so I packed long sleeves to avoid mosquitoes.  But when we got there it was so hot and sticky that I couldn't torture her.  Luckily my MIL lives on the top floor so they were easier to avoid.

Mmeso did so well on the plane ride, people hardly knew she was there, she was so happy like she knew she was going home to meet her family.
I didn't take her with me for my sister's traditional wedding.  There were too many people there and they would all want to hold her.

the sisters

the parents

Mr. & Mrs.

Mmeso met everyone in her papa's side and was so happy during the whole trip.

Mmeso dancing- she's good too lol

Grandpa blessing her and given her a proper welcome to the villa

The Cute Couple

Me & My in-laws

The Siblings

Siblings from both sides

We really had a short 10 day trip and then came home with M.I.L and I am now looking for full time employment and while I'm gone she helps watch Mmeso

Mmeso in the flight on her way back

We really thanked God almighty for journey mercies and such a joyous month for all of us.  Congrats to all the new bloggers who had a baby and who got married.  Hope your month has been awesome.

'Onye-Ala'

I hope you are all doing well.  Onye-ala in my language means one who is insane. No I am not calling any of you that and thankfully neither I or anyone in my family have gone insane.  Well not that we know of anyways.  In fact we are doing quite well and I will soon post an update.
Back to Onye-ala, this is one of the stage names my brother acquired from back in the day when our dance group "Nwanne na Nwanne" were still performing. Basically he danced like a mad person during his free style.
I'm devoting this blog post to this particular brother of mine because he has decided to embrace entertainment with a much warmer embrace.  I can't elaborate any further, you just have to watch his hilarious skits.  I have posted some for you and you can follow him at www.onye-ala.com
Please show your support by sharing your thoughts and liking him on youtube.

Day Buy Day Intro

Day Buy Day Episode 1

Day Buy Day Episode 2

Onye-Ala Battles Conphidance to D-Banj

Four Years!!!

I wish all of you a prosperous new year from my family to yours!
I met my wonderful hubby 8 years ago and he won me over with his charming ways; on December 29, we marked four years of our marriage. After everything we have been through together I can boldly say I am more in love with him than I was back then (though it feels like yesterday).  And If I were to do it again I would choose him (em with a teeny weeny dusting here and there lol). 
The truth about marriage is that it is sweet when a couple goes into it with a certain level of maturity, trust, respect, honesty and love.  And the goal is to try to keep the same energy level that you had in the beginning of your courtship throughout the marriage (this is easier said than done). For my husband and I, we choose to love each other everyday despite our imperfections.  Communication has been key for me, but since hubby thinks it was perfect, he had to get used to it and now loves it. I consider myself smart but If I were to compare marriage to a class it is the hardest one yet that I have ever taking and I still don't have an A level grade in it but there is hope because I strive each and every day for that A level grade. 
Our anniversary was a good day and we thanked God that we have each other including our little munchkin.  Though we enjoyed dinner there was one time we wished someone would take her from us for just 2 minutes 20 minutes.  During our dinner, Hubby and I started to reflect on previous dates and thanked God for this new and exciting journey but decided that on special occasions we would give each other a break and find baby girl a sitter.
In my family, we celebrate both our traditional and wedding anniversary especially since they are three months apart and fell on different years however the traditional is usually the low scale one of the two.  Well since hubby will be deploying hence we will not be together for birthdays or our wedding anniversary, we had to catch up on the year's celebrations and so we decided to go all out and up it a little (gifts and dinner was all we had time for :)).  I didn't bother to look for a sitter for the baby (since she is usually a good baby) and so at the end of the evening we had no choice but to take our baby girl with us to dinner.

Hubby and I (way before baby girl)

It started out with a 30 minute wait at the restaurant and baby girl did not understand why we were standing amongst a crowd of people with people looking at her and making funny faces to get her to smile. 

camera light startled her a little

Baby girl has been crawling and using every table in the house to walk so being carried in public for a longtime is not acceptable to her.  When it got time to sit us, we were all so relieved including baby girl.  As we got to our sit, immediately baby girl started to reach for the plates and immediately wanted to get down to start crawling; next she started to fight to stand on the table and every time one of us said no to her, she wanted to switch parents ... she finally calmed down a little and as we were starting to finish up our appetizer I checked her diaper and she had pooped.  Hubby was starting to finally enjoy some quiet time and as I tried to get up he said but do we have to change her right now since she is finally quiet.  I couldn't do it and so got up to take her to the restroom.  here are no changing tables in the men's room?
And upon my return, I was so excited to see my food and as I sat down, baby girl started fussing again but this time she was hungry, and so I nursed her while hubby enjoyed his chicken Marsala and as sweet as he is, he fed me with every other feeding while I was nursing her.

Us

She started to fuss again and I realized that was now her bedtime and hubby looked at me and said wow! so much for dinner!  Hubby had almost finished his plate and I gave up trying to eat and I decided it was time to request a togo box and our bill. We headed home and baby fell asleep before we got to our car.  Hubby and I sat in the car and I thought it wasn't so bad since I felt full from the appetizer.  Learning point- always get a sitter on dates with just you and your spouse; always order an appetizer in case you couldn't find a sitter and you decide to take a child with you, since they may not tolerate the whole dinner.  If you end up having a dinner like mine, find humor in it because they truly are a blessing.

Mi Familia

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

As a child, I used to look forward to being Mary in the school play or the narrator that gets to recite (from memory) the story of the birth of Christ.  I think the excitement of Christmas turns me into a Christmaszilla (like Bridezilla) lol.  I can't help it, there is just no excuse that works for me to not be with your family on Christmas day.  I usually start weeks before Christmas getting hipped up about how beautiful everything is and complaining of the crowds in the shopping centers.  On Christmas Eve, I either attend mass, or recall the awesome memories of past Christmas or we pray and also wrapping presents and cooking in case people stop by on Christmas day.

Apple Cider, Abacha, Jollof rice, baked hen

sweet potato, plantain, moi-moi, garlic potato

cinnabon, beans plantain, porridge yam, ukwa

I cooked a lot since my husband always has a Christmas menu (it was something he started during the 3 years I lived out of state for residency).  Hubby felt like since he didn't get to enjoy his wife's cooking daily then I get to make up for it during the holidays.  The good thing about it is that we work together and really most of the time we gist and hence cooking goes very fast.  Well I actually didn't expect the menu this year since we now live together but...  The menu showed up :) it was presented so sweet that umm well I will be gone for 6 months and I will be eating  the crappy ship food and so on I felt he deserved it especially since I stressed him out on how he didn't put up enough lights for baby girl (who loves lights).

Though it was not as stressful as baby girl's baptism, I Hope there will be no Christmas menu for next year.
On Christmas night I secretly placed some threats and some small items in hubby and baby girl's stockings, and on Christmas morning I made them some home made cinnamon bun and we opened presents.

Baby girl just ate the wrappers she didn't really care for the gifts; hubby got some men jewelry that he loved (yes hubby loves jewelry) and I got the kindle fire (I love to read).

After Church

A couple of people stopped by since they know I always have food in my house and we enjoyed the company.  Then we spent the rest of the evening watching movies with my husband and we reflected on the gift of Christ and how it changed the lives of Christians all over the world forever.  We said a long prayer and gave each other a warm kiss goodnight.
Christmas is a wonderful time and it is not just one day for me.  I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas.  Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Baby Girl's Christianing

It was a great weekend for our family.  Let me take you guys back a few weeks ago; I was so excited to get her to join the other kids at church to pose with Santa.  She didn't obviously see what I was so hiped up about lol.

Refusing to Smile

Now back to my reason for the post- She got baptized this past weekend.  I had so much stress fun planning it, I put in so much work and then that day she had a fight with me because she didn't want to wear the dress that her diva aunty bought her.  And then just decided to cry through half of the day.  At some point I wondered what happened to my cheerful child.  She screamed and screamed but I had no other dress and I was not about to go late to church.  So I finally (dancing to her, making a fool of myself) got the dress on her and then learned that the dress was too fluffy for her car seat.  lol at me Urghhhh!  after contemplating everything I ended up strapping her as tight as I could and prepared myself to deal with the wrinkles at church.

This is baby girl's why me look?

This was a few days prior to the baptism

I also had to fight family from turning her baptism into a party and I was glad they listened because we just had the main people show up.  We had just the Godpapa and his wife; Godmama and her family; my siblings; and my cousin and her family.

Parents and Godparents (minus their separate families)

cousin ChiChi and family

God papa and wife (minus their five kids)

Godmama and family

There was plenty of food; I cooked a dish every night starting from 5 days leading to the Christianing.  I had fried coconut rice and dodo, ogbono soup, egusi soup, oha soup with pounded yam, chin-chin, meat pie, rice, beans and stew, baked chicken, pepper soup, ukwa/breadfruit.  For a woman with pikin,  I was quite proud of myself.  I was so thankful to see my dear cousin- ChiChi again (it had been since 2007) and to meet her husband and baby.

My siblings (minus one) in their funny pose

My siblings represented well even one brother had his high end camera with stick or pole and took some fancy pictures, the other had a video camera- I was very happy.  Every one of my siblings were present except for my older sister who was in Nigeria (planning her wedding) and my cousin whom I last saw almost 21 years ago was in attendance.

21 years later we meet again

We were so glad that Hubby could make it, he met us at the church and loved my hair.  It was the second time he saw it, he was not sure about it at first but thought he could get used to it.  During the day of the baptism, I'm not sure if it was the excitement of the day or what it was, he whispered how great (his exact word was sexy) I looked.

close up hair picture

Though at the beginning of the day, baby was so overwhelmed by all the new faces, she later warmed up to pretty much everyone.  She did great during the actual baptism because she loves water and thought she was getting a bath lol. Overall, it was a very fulfilling day, for it was our daughter's official initiation and the beginning of her journey through Christ.  My parents did not attend but it was ok because everyone felt at home and we didn't even notice those who were absent because of how blessed we felt.
I also found out that I passed my boards. Thankfully I am now board certified in Family Medicine. So many blessings and I thank you all for your prayers and support...I wish you all many many blessings as we approach this Christmas season.