Story of My Life: Maja

Hi guys!

I wanted to share a fun fact about my life. A little over three months ago I became an auntie!!!!

My niece’s name is Maja and she is the cutest little baby girl I have ever laid my eyes on.

The first time I held her I felt so moved that I started crying. I think she could feel my emotions and she started crying too. I needed to quickly calm myself down to make sure we would not turn into two big crybabies :D

I love Maja’s gummy smile – she has no teeth yet, but I am sure her parents are in no rush for her to start teething ;)

Her favourite activity is being carried around, with her face over your shoulder so that she can observe her surroundings. If you try to lower her or, worse, put her down, she might start crying.

At first she was quite boring (just kidding), because she was not able to see things and people properly, but now it is just amazing how interested she gets in things she sees and touches and how firm her grip is on toys or pieces of fabric. I am lucky my hair is short :D

I love watching her interacting with her parents, my sister-in-law and my brother. Her mum sings to her, which she adores and which always sends her into a fit of giggles. My brother is her protector and the one who gives her baths, which, by the way, looks like a really difficult task to me, a non-parent.

I am not sure if you know that about me, but I am a bit of a sucker for all things American so when Maja was born I could not stop myself from getting helium balloons and bringing them to the hospital. Thanks to me, her mummy, my sister-in-law, was known by all the hospital staff as “the one with the balloons”.

At her birth I started my own personal tradition by writing her cards as if I was talking to her = as if she could read them so that when she is older and can read these cards herself, she can have a laugh. In my last one I may or may not have used a line from the Lion King. I just hope that I make a better aunt to Maja than Scar made an uncle to Simba.

AN AUNTIE/ AUNT – ciocia (your mum’s or dad’s sister)

a NIECE – bratanica, siostrzenica (your brother’s or sister’s daughter)

a NEPHEW – bratanek, siostrzeniec (your brother’s or sister’s son)

TO LAY YOUR EYES ON – spojrzeć (to look at, LAY-LAID-LAID)

FEEL MOVED – być poruszonym/ wzruszonym (to feel emotional, file like you are about to cry)

A CRYBABY – beksa (a person who cries a lot)

GUMS – dziąsła (areas of firm pink flesh inside the mouth that cover the bones into which the teeth are fixed)

GUMMY – pokazujący dziąsła (showing gums)

BE IN NO RUSH – nie spieszyć się (not to want something to happen soon)

TO TEETHE – ząbkować (to grow teeth)

FIRM – mocny, pewny (strong)

GRIP – chwyt (the act of holding something in your hand)

A SISTER-IN-LAW – bratowa (your brother’s wife)

A FIT OF GIGGLES – napad śmiechu/ chichotania (a sudden attack of laughing quietly)

TO GIVE SOMEONE A BATH – kąpać kogoś (to bathe someone, to wash someone’s body)

TO BE A SUCKER FOR – lubić coś bardzo (to like someone or something very much, especially so that you cannot refuse them)

TO HAVE A LAUGH – pośmiać się z czegoś (to laugh at something funny or silly)

MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE USED –  możliwe, że użyłam/ skorzystałam (probably used)

LOOK OUT FOR – troszczyć się, interesować się (to take care of someone and make sure that they are treated well)

WELL-BEING – samopoczucie, dobrobyt (the state of being comfortable, healthy or happy)