Daddy Daughter Dates

I have a feeling that Nate's going to take Mayumi on a lot of those daddy-daughter dates. I know I enjoyed the ones I had with my own dad. Mayumi is already showing a large attachment to her cute father. She is also learning to roll over. Yes, that picture below IS blurred...because she is in motion.

Mayumi on Safari

On Labor Day, Nate and I took yummy yumi to the National Zoo. Not being a zoo person, I was surprised at how enthusiastic Mayumi's presense made me. I found myself running around, delightedly taking photos of all kinds of animals (see the lion and the capyberra (c.f. Spelling Bee) below). Mayumi, in spite of being disguised as a boy in a blue baseball cap, drew lots of attention and admirers.

Camping Queen

Mayumi, it turns out, is an excellent camper. I discovered this on her first camping trip this weekend to Jane's Island on the Maryland Eastern Shore. As you can see, she was much beloved by the other campers--friends from New York and DC gathered to celebrate Amber Henrie's 30th birthday (Amber is pictured on the far right of the last picture). In spite of Tango Tim Tanner's repeated attempts to throw her in the fire and, thus, regain the spotlight, Mayumi survived the trip (even if her mother barely survived her 1.5 hrs of crying on the way home).

I'm cute, not crabby

...which was the slogan printed on a t-shirt I saw this last weekend at the Jane's Island/Crisfield crab festival, featuring a crab derby and, far more fascinating, the "Crab Picking" competition. These ladies, most of whom have been picking the meat out of commercially gathered crabs for decades, compete each year for the reigning title of fastest picker. The ladies are given a huge pile of crabs and ten minutes to pick, urged on by the cheers of the crowd. You would never believe how fast they pick, and yet how little meat each crab yields! If only I'd had a little extra cash I

would have picked up that t-shirt for the darling little yumikins, who, in spite of being sinfully cute, can also

be quite crabby when she has a

mind to it.

Hogging the Blog

Sigh. I can tell that if/when I get around to posting things on this blog, it is going to be mostly about Mayumi. I mean, forget the fact that we bought our first home (closing on 22 September, our anniversary of two years...and it ISN'T the house about which I posted some months ago). Forget THAT important milestone in someone's life. No no, Mayumi is the star and I think this blog is going to focus a great deal on her and her development. Speaking of which, as I type, she is lying under her playarch on her SIDE--a position to which she got to herself from her back. In other words, she is starting to work towards rolling over. One of these pictures features Baby Yumi grabing dangling toys--something she has been good at for

quite some time. We think she has

above-avera

ge hand/eye coordination. :-) Another of these photos features Mayumi in the Karma Baby sling (thank you Marliss!). I could write a whole post on my various experiences with baby carrying devices. In fact, I suppose I should--and will.

Mayumi the Super Model

Do you think it would be wrong if we got Mayumi an agent and started her working now to save up for college? Honestly, I think that she could win some baby pageants. Or at least be the first runner-up...

NYC Waterfalls!

New York City is featuring a fabulous exhibit--man-made waterfalls, four in all, along NYC's waterways. Nate, Mayumi, and I took the Chinatown bus up to New York last weekend to see them and spend time with our friends up there. Old roommates Sally and Amber were excellent hostesses, along with their spouses, roommates, and other friends. Naturally we went to El Malecon for some chicken, rice, and beans and caught a show. So much fun!

Daddy's Little Girl

Nate claims he's never been much of a 'baby person.' This I believe-I've seen him be tender with my darling niece Allie, but it was clear to me he wasn't the baby whisperer. And yet, and yet; nothing (but a seriously dirty diaper or angry tears) can seperate him from his darling little daughter. I've actually heard him coo to her--baby talk!! It is true what one of his best friends told me prior to marrying him--he DOES have a gushy heart.

Mayumi's here!

The cutest girl in the world was born at 3:01pm on the 24th of May, 2008. She weighed in at 6.95oz and measured at 20 3/4th inches. She arrived after an ardous hour of and a half of llaborious pushing but, as you can see, she is worth it. You will notice that I haven't quite gotten the hang of formatting here in blogspot, so the pictures aren't arranged artistically. Forgive! And enjoy...Mayumi Aziza Ayer. The cutest little girl that ever lived (in Washington, D.C.).

We may be buying a house! Part 1

While Nate was at work, my mother and I went out with our realtor to look at a few homes in the Herndon and Sterling VA area. After looking through a couple of dumps, we found this PRIZE place, on Penny Lane. What you see on the left is the outside--garage on the left, an open (yet covered) walkway from garage to house in the middle, and then the main part of the house on the left.

The picture on right is of the main "front" room, or living room.

As you can see below, if you walk past this front room, you reach a wall. Turn left, you and reach this hallway (far right). After the closet, the first door on the left is a bathroom. The room across from the bathroom is pictured here (near right)--perfect for an office or a guest bedroom! Huge, don't you think? It gets better!

At the end of the hallway (far right) you'll see a room--the family room (left). Can you see the hearth? The window overlooks the backyard. To the left of this family/dining room is the kitchen (right).

Let's go back to the front of the house. Remember the front room, on the right? Well, to the left is the stairs to the second floor. Upstairs are three bedrooms and two bathrooms. All three of the upstairs bedrooms are HUGE, especially the master bedroom. This is a picture of the master bath (right).

Finally, the backyard! The following are several views of the spacious backyards, which is fully enclosed by a tall wooden fence and lined with HUGE trees. What I don't have a picture of is the two cement patio spaces--plenty of space for entertaining!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

For my birthday, Nate secretly made me a kite. Yes, a kite. From scratch. Without any instruction manual. For those of you unfamiliar with Nate, he is a GENIOUS when it comes to putting these together and taking them apart. He is a brilliant engineer.

Knowing that the DC Kite Festival fell on my birthday (as a part of the Cherry Blossom Festival), Nate designed and created a kite for me. It was beautiful! It did not, however, fly.

Nate took the kite home, dismantled it, and reconstructed it--and as you can see from this photo--it flew beautifully!

We had a blast--my mother was with us as well, just to the right of Nate, out of the picture.

Supermodels in the Making

My best friend Marliss came to visit with her two darling little girls. This picture was taken in front of our friend Katie's Falls Church home.

House Hunting

We are house hunting! This is one house in which we are interested...way out in Herndon, VA!

At the races

Once again, Nate scored us tickets to the Virginia Gold Cup Steeplechase Horse Races. This event is steeped in tradition, complete with suits, cigars, sundresses, and HATS. Yes, I am pregnant--due in just a few days!

Chocolate Tasting

Our friends Rob and Nancy Ricks have the finest
tastes...this was at a fabulous chocolate tasting engineered by Nancy.

DC Cherry Blossom Festival

You really should see Nate's photographs of the Cherry Blossoms--MUST better than mine. Go to www.nathaniel-ayer.blogspot.com to see FAR better photos of this beautiful event.

Like a voice from the dead

For those of you that have been checking my blog daily since I last posted, today's message will hopefully be extremely validating. Most of my "normal" friends, however, have never even viewed my blog, let alone once in the last two years.

It isn't fair to say that I "scorn" blogs; what I dislike, to be honest, is sitting in front of a computer. I avoid it all costs. Even for someone who loves to be in touch with others via email, I tend to keep them VERY short. That is, except for my (in)famous travel logs.

I have many friends and family members with blogs. Do I ever check them? Only when sent a link with an express request to view some photos or read some particularly brilliant post about a recent happening. How, then, could I ever expect my friends and family to read mine? When I have rarely or never viewed their own? Such disheartening questions have quelled any interest I might have ever had in reviving this old, dusty blog.

Yet, a lengthy visit to my computer-saavy sister in Utah has given me confidence. She helped me with the first step--determining that this little storage space of Jamila's thoughts still actually existed. Another factor contributing to the revival is the gift of a digital camera from my husband. Both my parents and sister have given me similar cameras in the past, but they have all broken, died, run away, etc. My husband promises to help me learn how to actually make these "fake" (as I tend to view digital images) pictures accessible to friends and family on the internet. The final straw breaking this camel's back is the thought that some people might want to know what is going on with me in my latest and most unique adventure. What might that be you are asking? Wait until next week's post to learn more.

So, welcome! If you are a friend of mine and, unlike me, actually enjoy spending time on the internet, then I hope you'll visit my site from time to time. I don't promise to update it daily; weekly, if I am lucky. But we'll see what happens. Feel free to look back on my previous ramblings from two years ago in Egypt.