Martynka's first birthday!

I can't believe it's already been a year. 365 days since our little baby girl joined us in our journey through life. Little did we know how our lives would change with her arrival. With arrival of a third child in our family. It is often said that a first child is a revolution. Two adults taking care only of themselves now have to take care of this little, defenceless being, who trusts their parents completely and unconditionally.

 Frankly speaking, the arrival of every single child causes changes to a family. You might think that once you have a child, the second one wouldn't be that much of a surpise. Not to mention the third one. But actually, each child is different. With their own needs, their own pace, their own rhythm. We made it through the first year together. I love all of them so much (and so much more with every passing day).

What can I write about her first year?

Well. Martynka has already been to seven countries on two continents. When she was three months old, we went to Hurghada, Egypt.

Then, over the summer, we visited bits and pieces of the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and Germany. Phew. Quite a number for such a small kiddo. And we were camping then. And roadtripping. Yes, we spent three weeks on a road, sleeping in a tent, with three kids, one of them being 10 months old. Yup, that's us.

She made her first steps yesterday. Trust me, that was a long wait, since she can stand for quite some time now and she walks holding on to furniture (or whatever she can hold on to) quite easily, too.

We had a lot of birthday celebrations over the weekend. I don't know about your traditions concerning first birthday, but we give a child a bunch of things to choose from and try to predict their future based on what the child grabs first. Martynka took a book. Then a glass. We think she might love reading books while sipping wine. Which I like, too.

She loves trying new foods.

She shares some of my passions ;)

She likes playing with books. Touching them, opening and closing them, not so much chewing on them (which kind of surprises me a little). Well, the kid has some respect for books.

She adores her big sister and big brother. She follows them around and when they're not home, she gets into their rooms, sits in the middle looking around, trying to find them. She misses them easily.

She has been to two weddings.

She takes part in our decision making processes.

She loves helping with housework.

She'd put on whatever mummy made, whether for her or not for her.

She loves going out for a walk, observing the world.

She can fall asleep even while eating...

Taking pics of three kids at once is a huge challenge. Not to mention taking pics of the whole family...

She is a very positive kid, smiling and laughing a lot!

Happy birthday, little girl!

Not really lost... but found...?

Have you ever experienced a situation when you take out of a closet something you haven't worn for a while and you find long forgotten money in the pocket? That feeling of happiness, excitement, astonishment... I think you get what I mean.

Well, maybe not exactly.

Now imagine this.

Long time ago, as compared to his age of 7, my son got a camera. A simple digital camera for him to take pictures during his trips. Or during family events. Or in every situation he might like to take pictures. Anyhow, he got a camera. He has not been using it much. But there were occassions when he was taking pictures. Most of them are either blurred or shaken. You know, a kid too impatient to wait for the flash starts moving his hands before the picture is taken. Or something.

We were celebrating our daughter's  birthday on the weekend. And Artur wanted to take pictures of everyone and everything. He brought his camera that he hasn't used for a while. And started taking pictures.

On Sunday evening I decided to download the pictures from his camera. Much to my astonishment, I found pictures from our trip to Paris two years ago! And then from Rome (where he went with my parents almost two years ago) and Pisa (where he went with us right after Rome). Oh my, such a surprise! I know have pictures with my husband from Italy ;) Ok, we had a few from Cinque Terre, but none from Pisa (I think...).

Oh, and among many pictures, I also found a picture of me in Berlin. The ONLY picture of me in Berlin. When we got back from Germany and I browsed through my pictures, I even told my husband that he could have taken at least one picture of me in Berlin. And now I have one. A horrible (!) one, so I won't publish it, but still.

Unfortunately, most of the pictures are either blurred or shaken in any other way. But there were a few that I'm definitely saving.

And seeing our big girl (as she now calls herself) all tiny again... And not as reminding myself of pictures I took long ago. I saw her as a baby and these images were totally new to me. That was... refreshing ;)

Seeing those places from Artur's perspective was like seeing them all over again. The picture of Paris bridges is the best one we have. Cause you can see five (?) bridges in the picture if you look really closely. He was taking pictures of things he found interesting. From the perspective that suited him best. Perspective that I don't have. His Paris is different than mine. The focus is shifted to things that got him interested (at least at times when he had his camera ready for shooting, which wasn't too often anyway).

Many moons ago ;) when digital cameras weren't here yet (or when they weren't that popular), we were waiting for pictures from our trips as if it was gold. Walking around impatiently while that big machine that was printing them, was moving waay too slowly for us. And if there was a line, it was even worse. When we finally got the pictures all printed out, we were reliving the events pictured. Sharing our thoughts with others, laughing, commenting. Now, we see the pictures right away, so we have little to wait for.

The discovery of these pictures reminded me of that waiting. Of that reliving. Of the comments and laughters, cause that's exactly what we did when we were browsing through these pictures. We sat all together in front of the screen and we were commenting, laughing... We were reliving the trips.

The same trips. But like a new one. 

Paris, April 2014

 Rome, September 2014

 Pisa, October 2014

 Berlin, June 2015

And, as a bonus, that's us with the Birthday Girl on her actual birthday.