Music to my ears

Sometimes Dom and I wake each other up by bringing the baby into the room, its sort of the only way to wake up the other person where you can guarantee they won't be cranky. Who can be mad when there is a bundle of cuteness in the room? This morning, Dom brought Niamh in and plopped her on the bed, and what was the first thing I heard??? 'Mama'! It is the first time she has coherently called me Mama, after two weeks of calling everything and everyone baba (daddy in Chinese) you can imagine how this is music to my ears!

At least I think that was the first thing said, who knows, waking up for me means removing the blindfold that I have to put on at exactly 4 am every morning now that it is officially 'summertime' in the city, and Beijing mornings are nothing short of obscene as far as beauty sleep is concerned. Next I have to remove my ear plugs, as in order to actually sleep, I must block out snoring and teeth grinding occurring next to me, and potential random night cries by Niamh. Waking up for me was once described by my college roommate as a flower blooming, I slowly come to, bit by bit each petal opens until I'm finally able to sit up. Now its more like returning to the real world after sensory deprivation. But hearing mama for the first time made me snap out of my dazed state. I mean, who wouldn't love waking up to this?
Our little ray of sunshine