Accessorize correctly

Lately A.J. has been into fashion:)

O.K. not exactly and his dad hopes that he never will, but he loves my jewelry and to wrap around his neck scarfs or anything. And don't forget the sunglasses at least two pairs at a time.

with cape:

yellow is in (and food around the mouth:):

stripes are cool:

Hat for the Summer:

And all time classic - newspaper hat and a pacifier (pants are not necessary;):

Catching up

I have been slacking a lot lately. I want to blame my iron deficiency for making me so tired, but mostly it's the lack of organization skills and the limbo we are in right know not knowing if we are moving or not.

Hmm, where to start?

1. I miss already my family and friends from Bulgaria. This is probably one of the things that I miss is to have them live close by, so we can see each other often.
I'll post some more pictures from Bulgaria soon, I promise:)

2. Here it is so hot and humid for the last week or so. We had a few big storms and a few fires in the area right before that.

3. We went to the Museum of Science and it was fun.

4. Fourth of July we stayed at home. It felt good just to be lazy and play Wii with our friend Matt. I'm getting better at bowling and pretty soon I'll have more points than Hans (I wish).

5. A.J. is eating only normal food and drinks real milk. He is addicted to oatmeal and blueberries. So happy about it! He loves our community pool.

6. A.J. is getting to a stage that he wants to eat by himself. These leave me with a lot of messes to clean after every feeding and piles of laundry.

7. I spent a lot of time looking for a new home on the East Coast. I try to be positive and do not compare our house with the houses out there.

I need a vacation:)

Bulgarian Friends

Last night I wrote a very long post and I published it but today I change my mind and I just delete it.
Anyway, while we were in Bulgaria A.J. made so much new friends. It was great to see my friends and A.J. to had a chance to become friend with them and their kids.
Irena
Irena and Petya are actually my sister's friends from school, but over the years they became very good friends if mine too. Irena still lives in Pleven and Petya lives in Belfast, IR. She has a little boy-Shei and he is so cute.


Shei, Petya and A.J.
Tsveti is married to Hans' good friend Tyson and this is the first time I saw her since she got married.

Tsveti
I know Natalia probably for almost 10 years. She came back from the Czech Republic and it was great to be able to see her and her little boy Joe. She also has two older kids Dani and Koki...what can I say, her kids really love me:)

Koki, Joe, Natalia and A.J.

Kisses:)
Lucy used to be married to my cousin. Things didn't work out between the two of them but we still keep in touch. She is an amazing person and A.J was in love with her and his cousins- Tedi and Stasy.

Lusi and A.J.

Tedi, Stasy and A.J.
Natalia was my sister's roommate from college and I really love her. She is one of the coolest people I know. She was expecting her second boy (he was born on June 25). Her older son Alex and A.J. played so well together.

Nati, Alex and A.J.


I had a great time with all of my friends and I already miss them a lot.

Airplanes, airports...

The first time I got on the plane in 1996, it was one crazy flight from Sofia to Johannesburg. Since that time I never complained about different airlines and airports, most important for me is to get to my destination safe.

Things changed when I had a child. A.J.'s first flight was when he was only 3 weeks old. He has been flying domestic a lot and he did pretty well.

After this trip these are my personal thoughts on airlines and airports:
1. United Airlines - try to avoid them with infants and toddlers - they didn't have any special seat belts for little kids. We bought A.J. a separate seat, but he was so insecure, I had to hold him for most of the flight (I didn't take a car seat with me). He will just come out from the seat belt. There was not any special baby food, you have to call in advance for it. Baby bassinets are so tiny, up to 6 months I believe.

2. Frankfurt Airport - big airport, you need more layover time. If you are flying to Bulgaria:) do not buy any liquids (water, coke etc) after the security check. There is a second one before I got on my plane and I had to throw away a very expensive water bottle (close to $10).
If you flying along with a infant be prepared - the bathrooms are a nightmare - had to go through 2 doors to get to the actual toilets and they are so tiny, that I had to leave A.J. in the stroller outside.

3. Austirian Airlines- very helpful. This time we had a car seat, they made sure that it is approved one and safe for a child to fly and they had baby food, no need to call in advance. Very impressed with the crew.

4. Vienna Airport - pretty close and fast to get to the next gate at least this time:)

5. Washington DC airport - on the way over the gate was right across the one I arrived.

On the way back was a diffrent story. I guess I was the "lucky" one to get there when it is so busy. There were about 300 people waiting for their luggage and to go through security and did I mention that there was not enough luggage carts. It was a nightmare for us and on top of that one of my suitcases zipper broke. I had to find someone to help me and to secure the bag so it can make the next flight, while I had A.J. in the stroller, carseat, 3 bags and a backpack. It took me 2 hours from the time the plane landed until I got to my gate (not a close one either).

Flying with a one year old - packing less is better. A.J. was still on baby food, so I had a small can of formula, a few bottles, a few toys and books for him, lot's of binkies and a blanket. I packed in 3 separate ziplog bags jars with food, spoon and a disposable bib, was much easier. I think that is enough.

Someone recomended to take an extra shirt for myself, well I did on my way to Bulgaria, I changed in Frankfurt and 10 minutes later A.J. managed to get food on my clean shirt. Maybe an extra onesie for the kid is o.k.

A.J. did pretty well on the planes. On our way over he did great from PHX to DC, DC to Frankfurt he slept most of the time (it was night time for us). A.J. wanted to walk a lot on the flight from Vienna to DC, but he slept the whole time from DC to PHX and took nice nap from Sofia to Vienna.

While writing all about this it feels like a big dream. A.J. and I need a long break before we would like to get on a plane again.

Home again!

Hi everyone!
A.J. and I are finally home after 25 hours of flying and layovers. We actually came home on Tuesday night but we were so tired. Today is the firt day I feel better and we are almost back to normal and almost out of the jetlag.

I still need to unpack (yeserday I washed 3 loads of laundry and have probably three more for today) and sort out my pictures. It's so good to be at home and to be with Hans!

Check back soon for some Bulgarian adventures and pictures:)

Totaalvoetbal

Totallvoetbal - "total football" in English - is the Dutch term for advance soccer tactics. In short, total football means that any player on the field can play any position. If a forward is injured, a defender should easily be able to take his place.

The height of total football was the 1970's, when the Dutch national team reached two consecutive World Cup Finals, losing both to West Germany and Argentina. During this same time, Ajax Amsterdam, the leading club team in the Dutch Eredivesie, utilized total football to win three consecutive Europen Championships. The best player using total football, and probably the best player in the world during his time, was Johan Cruyff. Cruyff epitomized total football by roaming the field without regard to position. One could easily see him in the defense and then in the offense in a matter of seconds. When all players move so flexibly, other teams, stuck to such movement based on position only, could not keep up with the Dutch.



The reason that I bring this up is because of the Netherlands vs. Italy game today in the EURO 2008 tournament. Italy is the reigning world champ and therefore the Dutch did not have much of a chance to win. The Dutch however, showed their class with renewed total football. Note that the second and third goals were scored by defenders on plays that were both counter attacks begun on their own goal line. In other words, the Dutch defenders are playing at a level that even the Italian forwards could not sustain. Below are the highlights.

Wii Baseball Record

Because Iva is out of town, I decided to buy a Wii to help pass the time. After some training sessions, I achieved the gold medal for baseball hitting/homerun distance.

I hit all 10 balls for homeruns with a total of 5474 feet total. Can any of you Wii owners out there claim that many feet?