Knocked Up Abroad

17/05/2016

After almost five years and 19 countries, we are about to retire Vera's first passport. I will miss the chuckles from immigration officials over her baby (then two weeks old!) photo, the many memories of leaving and returning to Istanbul, and the excitement of new stamps.

11/05/2016

Already on our way home from BA, Vera is catching up on her sleep after a too-short overnight flight. Waiting for the train home from Charlotte, she's been asleep since Miami.

02/05/2016

Leaving tomorrow for a week in Buenos Aires and Montevideo (!), and the superlight stroller we ordered just for the trip will be delivered right after we leave. :/ Looks like I'm in for a lot of "carry me!"

Buy Urbini Humming Bird Stroller, World's Lightest Stroller at Walmart.com

12/04/2016

Wise words from the late great Nora Ephron: “Try flying any plane with a baby if you want a sense of what it must have been like to be a l***r in the 14th century." Otherwise, this is a lot of (obvious) words to say, "We're doing our best, let's all go a little easier on each other."

Babies cry on planes because their ears hurt and they’re being made to stay in a certain position when they don’t want to or the air smells strange or they’re just plain cranky. As are we all.

07/04/2016

Just back from a whirlwind trip to New England, planning a vacation to Argentina next month, and thinking of how travel with a preschooler is better than with a baby, and so much worse...More to come on the blog soon.

18/01/2016

One of the little things we miss about NZ: most every café will make a child a "fluffy" drink (usually free if the parents are having something), like a cappuccino minus the coffee. A little dusting of chocolate doesn't hurt either.

“Fun fact: most cafés in NZ will make a "fluffy" for kids: a tiny steamed milk coffee-less drink. Vera loves this place and its play table she calls it her…”

13/01/2016

Last year in windy Welly.

08/01/2016

We are back home from Mexico City and having a belated Christmas. I found this Barbie airplane/cruise ship playset and then tracked down a few pilot Barbies on eBay. Vera thinks they should have sensible flats for the plane.

02/01/2016

Riding the metro is probably Vera's favorite part of Mexico City (maybe she forgets her first two years on the subways of Istanbul and NYC), especially identifying the symbols. More subway systems should use maps like this!

Picturing place: Lance Wyman’s pictorial system for Mexico City’s metro created visual links between familiar surface spaces and the more abstract subterranean space

30/12/2015

We visited the Frida Kahlo museum (buy tickets online or be prepared to wait hours in line!) and Vera was immediately inspired to draw many versions of Frida, sometimes with Diego. I think she nailed the eyebrows.

26/12/2015

Hola from Mexico City! We arrived last night after a few days in Miami. Headed out to the markets today, Vera hopes to see some calavera skeletons like the handsome couple she drew here.