Hello again dear friends and family. It has been awhile since our last blog, which was in January. Funny, we initially thought we would write this blog on a monthly basis, but time sure does fly when you're having fun ; )

Here are some highlights of what we've been up to in the past 3 months:

• 1 year anniversary in Berlin
• The Sleeping Battle - Kaleia vs Parents (….Kaleia's leading)
• German lessons continue
• Long Weekend in Paris
• Easter Weeken in Barcelona
• What's up with Special K?
• How much food coloring is too much? - Kaleia's 1st B-Day party planning

February 9th marked our 1 year anniversary in Berlin. To celebrate the occasion, we popped open a bottle of Champagne & reminisced about the last year. It still seems somewhat surreal that we are living here and had a baby here! But, so far, no regrets. Although we continue to miss many things from home, namely friends, family, and the facility of living in Montreal, what we have gained through this experience has been so enriching that we would recommend to anyone who has the chance of living abroad, to do so.

When we came back from Montreal in January, we decided it was time for Kaleia to move into her own room. Don't get us wrong, we loved having her in our bed, falling asleep to her sweet smell & waking up to her adorable smile, but she was getting bigger & moving a lot in her sleep & I received one too many kicks in the teeth at 3 am. It was time to make THE BIG MOVE (getting K to sleep in her room). We've read the book "No Cry Sleep Solution" and decided to follow the recommended program. After a few months of this program, we wanted to write to the author to suggest a new title for her book; "No Sleep for Anyone Solution". It was VERY rough at first, and we had many battles, but after awhile, Kaleia got with the program. The good news is that she now sleeps in her own room like a big girl, but rather than waking up at 7:00am, she wakes up at 5:00am......I guess we have to choose our battles.

Dom & I are still trying to learn German. In the process, I think we've created our own dialect. It's a nice blend of German, English, French, Italian, and yes, even Spanish! Hey....it works for us (but drives our German teachers crazy!) After having been here for a year, we have come to the realisation that we will not be fluent in German by the end of our stay, so we have changed our attitudes & are taking our lessons lightly & trying to keep them fun.

Dom had to go to Bombardier's Paris office for a few days & suggested Kaleia & I come along. Who can say no to Paris!! We extended our weekend and we were there for 5 days. Paris was.....Paris! What can we say, it's beautiful, lots to see & do. We kept our expectations low as to how much we could see, but still managed to see l'Arc de Triomphe, Les Champs Elysées, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Place de la Concorde, Opéra National de Paris, and the church dedicated to Mary Magdalene. Kaleia had her first real French croissant & has been addicted ever since. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit any of the museums....I guess we'll have to go back!

We spent the long Easter weekend in Barcelona. For some reason, Barcelona exceeded both of our expectations. It was gorgeous! We rented an apartment a few steps away from the Sagrada Familia, which is the most spectacular unfinished Gaudi masterpiece we've ever seen. This was a theme for Gaudi. He must have been the architect in Barcelona with the biggest to-do list before he got run over by a tram (not a Bombardier tram). We saw many of his works (including Batlo House & Guell Park), went to the Picasso museum, wandered through the narrow cobbled streets, and spent a day at the beach.Kaleia put her feet in the sand and saw the Mediterranean for the first time! She didn't like the feel of the sand between her toes & was afraid of the waves, so the day at the beach wasn't as invigorating for her as for her mommy, but I'm sure this was purely due to the novelty of it all (I hope so!) Other highlights included Montjuic park (Olympic village), La Ramblas, Parc de la Ciutadella, to mention a few.

Although we haven't counted how many air miles Kaleia has accumulated in her first year, the return trip from Barcelona was her 18th flight. Needless to say, she's had a pretty busy first year.Can't wait to see what's in store for year 2.

Kaleia now weighs 20 lbs & is 76 cm long, so basically she is long & slim. She is cruising & will let go of one hand, throws & kicks a ball nicely, tries to brush her hair & teeth herself, feeds herself finger foods, & gives very nice kisses. The pediatrician was very impressed with her language skills. Kaleia now says 6 words: "encore", "mama", "papa", "wow", "uh-oh", and her favourite these days, "non". She signs an amazing 23 words!!!! These include: encore,fini, non, ciao-ciao, chien, chat, poisson, giraffe, chapeau, manger, ballon, livre, le pot (potty), bébé, de l'eau, bo-bo, grenouille, lumiere, canard, fleur, couche, laver les mains, chat. Thank God she's a healthy & happy little munchkin who is developing well for her age!

Some of you (Barbara McGrath) may think I'm crazy for having started planning Kaleia's B-Day party a month in advance, but I don't get very much done in a day, so I figured that if I start way ahead of time & do a little every day, it will all get done. So the theme is ladybugs & it will be a small party in our neighbourhood park with three of her friends (all boys!) I tried making the ladybug cupcakes twice already & the problem is the icing! I needed 8 bottles of red food coloring to get a nice red - not pink. But all that food coloring makes the icing runny & alters its taste....not to mention what it will do to the little tummies at the party! So now I'm wondering....how much food coloring is too much?.....maybe I'll make a plain white icing & put decorative ladybugs on top. Stay tuned for the next blog......