Adjustment

Once again, I’ve had loads of things to comment on but have been having a harder time putting them into words… and saying things I wouldn’t mind others reading about and potentially taking the wrong way. I can only guess I’ve already done that. I’m also passing into a phase where I just don’t want to discuss bilingual baby’s behavior, development, etc, without being able to have a conversation in person. I do go back and forth on this because I have found some blogs to be so candid that I’ve felt supported by their content.

What’s happening is that bilingual baby is entering a new stage- where she’s much more aware of what we talk about when we’re around her. I was at a LLL meeting and they were talking about weaning. Everyone turned to me assuming that I had completely weaned my daughter. I shared a bit about our nursing journey and in the middle of me talking my almost 3 year old asked if I was talking about her. The rest of the day she kept asking me to repeat what I had said about her.

It’s like an acting exercise. What you say about a person, what you say to a person, and what you do, all say something about your character. I can only assume that bilingual baby is taking her first steps into understanding the characters in her life.

In light of this discomfort I’m having at broadcasting her life, I’m making a couple of cosmetic changes (I only mean that they are changes from the outside in, not that I’ll be making upgrades and making the blog look nicer). I’ve changed the photo- my mouth- that’s where you heard it. Also, even though the url won’t change, I’m changing the blog title to:

bilingual baby’s mami

(mami is pronounced similar to “mommy” and “mammy”)

Why these little changes? I need to remind myself that I’m writing about me. This is ultimately my experience and I want to see that every time I enter to blog.

I’ve got a number of unfinished blog entries that I may just scrap as I make this turn. Y’know, I started this to remember what was happening when I had a little kid. Then I had two little kids and now one of them remembers a lot more than I do.

I feel the need to be sensitive to that.

So, here to stay, but with less of the this-is-what-baby-can do, I bring you “bilingual baby’s mami”.

It’s always about me.

Rotating Blogroll

I got this idea from other blogs. I’m going to start a rotating blogroll. It’s not that I don’t love the blogs I’ve linked to. I just want to do something more active with my blog right now, it being Spring and all.

So, check in to see the rotating blogroll.

Dear downtown Montpelier businesses,

I have to say, “Well done!” I couldn’t believe how many of you opened your doors and gave candy to the kids of this area on Halloween. You’ll probably agree that there were a lot of kids… which meant a lot of candy. Thank you! Really. Thank you in particular to Onion River Kids who didn’t mind bilingual baby coming in, taking her coat off and sitting down at the kids table to draw while other kids came in saying, “trick or treat”, grabbing their candy and heading for the door. Thank you also to Splash. My daughter really enjoyed playing with the soap you gave her. What a clever idea! Zutano, we didn’t make it to your store for the sock and candy inside… but thanks for what you did give us.

I’m sure your efforts will bring you more business. As a parent, it matters to me that a business has an area with kid toys, or a table for coloring, like Capitol Copy or One more time.

Next year we’ll be back. I wonder what bilingual baby will be dressed up as then… this year she was a Cubs fan, for those of you who didn’t ask.

By the way, “buddy”? She’s a girl. And yes I have a baby in the coat. Not a dog.

thanks again,

Leila

Tomorrow it starts!

Nablopomo starts tomorrow. Will I get a post in? Yikes. Seeing that it’s a Saturday I’d say it looks promising. Bilingual papi will be home! Yay. So, to reiterate what I’m doing for this blog every day for a month thing:

I’m writing open letters to various people, random people you may think, but there will always be a connection that will be made evident within the post. When possible, I will also email the person I’m writing to so I can be sure they get to read what I wrote. If I get any replies, I will update the post and attach their comments. Basically, every post will be in letter form.

I think that clears things up. Oh. I’ve added a link at the top of my blog (in case you’re a feed reader) where I’ll compile all the posts for the month.

Wish me luck!

NaBloPoMo

It’s coming! National Blog Posting Month! I’ve decided to do it again this year: Blog everyday for one month- the month of November. Even though you don’t have to have a theme, I came up with one while nursing, which is when I do some of my best thinking.

My theme will be: Letters.

Letters to old friends, my babies, politicians, Tony Shalhoub, etc. There’s still time to join in the fun. Click here and sign up!

A day in the life of…

Half Pint Pixie is hosting a Blog Carnival today and I’ve joined in the fun! She’s listing all the participants on her blog. Check it out. Here’s my day:

2am (or so): Bilingual baby woke up. I don’t remember what happened. I do remember that it was early. She wanted water, the potty (ended up going 3 times before falling back asleep) and to nurse. I needed to cut her nails so the nursing was going to have to be postponed. We postponed by remembering books- rather than reading them. Bilingual papi is especially good at this, since he’s been doing bedtime lately. She kept wanting to nurse and I kept telling her I’d nurse her in the morning- which sometimes works. Not this morning, it didn’t. So, after she kept asking, I nursed her. I figure it’s nice to see that adults can be flexible, too. She got up for her last trip to the potty and I asked if she wanted to sit in the rocker with me, so we nursed there until she fell asleep.

4am: Felt a wiggly child next to me that could mean… wet diaper. So, I had bilingual papi (he’s the best!) change it. It was pretty wet! Even after the 3 trips earlier in the morning. She nursed back to sleep but wasn’t out until almost 5am.

7:50: Bilingual baby woke us up with a smile. She was happy to see that her papi wasn’t up already, getting himself ready for work. Bilingual papi went downstairs to get breakfast ready for us.

Just before 9am: Got in the car to go to our prenatal. Our midwife asked if I wanted her to check me to see how much I had progressed over the last couple of days. See, a couple of weeks ago, I had her check me and I was 75% effaced and 2 cms dilated. Since I’ve been tuning up a lot lately, I think she wanted to show me that nothing is for naught. So now I’m 80% effaced and 3 cms. The next topic of conversation was a little more directed at bilingual papi. What to do if he ends up catching baby 2.0. There’s not much to it. Mostly, breathe and communicate. Just let the placenta slink itself out and hang out until she gets there. Should be fun, I think. An unassisted birth. It’s been done. And on purpose, too. Talked about other stuff but really… I will hold back (for now).

10ish: Left prenatal for the coffee shop in celebration of bilingual papi being on paternity leave! It was nice not to have to rush back home and have him rush to work. Walked over to hardware store to get carpet cleaner. We borrowed a carpet cleaner and are gearing up to wash those carpets and put rugs over them. Not all of the carpet, just under the table so that fewer stains end up on the cream colored carpets of our rented apartment. At the hardware store, we spotted a couple of tricycles which bilingual baby played on for a while. Hey, where were we going? Nowhere. I loved every minute of it! After a while, we said goodbye to the tricycles.

11ish: Got home and had some platanitos and arepas con queso. Then, geared up for lunch. I did some knitting and headed upstairs to read my feeds.

Almost 1pm: Started trying to get bilingual baby down for a nap. She wanted books and is probably feeding off of the energy in our house with the pending labor, so she couldn’t nap. After an hour or so, needed the potty, went and then seemed really tired.

3pm: Still trying to get bilingual baby down for a nap. Bilingual papi went out to run some errands and I put her on my back and walked around the neighborhood. A couple blocks into the walk she was asleep. Kept walking just to make sure.. and to enjoy the beautiful day.

Got back home and IM’d with a friend for a while with baby on my back. The sweat dripping down my back was too much, so I transfered her to the bed. She stayed asleep so I went back to staring at the computer.

Had a much needed popsicle.

Nursed bb back to sleep and trimmed her nails. Finally!

5pm: She’s still napping. I’m still googling stuff online.

5:30: Heard her stir and cry. Nursed her and she fell back asleep. Still napping!

5:50: Bear is awake after a long nap.

6ish: Ate some dinner. Bilingual papi made this yummy eggplant dip that we put on our pasta. Bilingual baby found the fish sticks and cooked those up and had a couple.

Just before 7pm: Bilingual baby requested a bath, books and signed “bedtime”. Bilingual papi kept asking if she wanted to sleep. We just couldn’t believe she wanted to go to bed so soon after waking up from her long nap. Goes to show ya.

7ish: The two of them went upstairs and took a bath after which bilingual baby came downstairs to hang out with me for a little bit. (It’s part of her routine.) We read a couple of books and then she asked to go back upstairs with papi to read books and go to sleep.

While they were settling down, I read Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth; in particular the part about prenatal testing. I’ll write more about this later but I just have to push her book again. She really knows how to write for pregnant women. In one particular paragraph, I noticed that she spends more time focusing on the positive outcomes than on the negative ones. She doesn’t lead you on to be cocky but rather informed; not worried, concerned or panicky but calm and levelheaded to process the needed information to make an informed decision.

9:30pm: Bedtime.

Thanks HPP. This was fun. Sorry if it’s boring to the rest of ya. Stay tuned for pictures and details on the Mei Tai I just made and more sewing/knitting projects I’m due to finish.

300 posts

I was hoping to hit 300 entries on this blog before baby 2.0 made her descent and it turns out that I just hit 300 today! (With the last post. This entry counts at 301.) I also was looking around here and realized that I’ve been on this blog for a year and a month now. How quickly time goes by.

Well, it’s been fun. We’ll see what transformation the blog takes as I enter mothering two precious souls.

Now, back to the sewing machine. I really want to finish this recon blanket.

Surprise unveiled

Sorry, didn’t mean to get your hopes up. But I bet you can appreciate a little jolt of adrenaline in your day, especially if you’re trying to avoid caffeine. Bilingual papi has opened shop. In other words, he’s started a blog. He has called it Laundry in the Kingdom of Letters. I needed an explanation, so don’t be shy about asking (I will leave it up to him to explain). Hopefully, he’ll answer all of our questions in the order received.

Enjoy his style of writing and his take on work/life/babies/bedtime/etc. He’ll also be the one to get the news out about Baby 2.0. I will be blogging until I go into labor but will probably take a hiatus once baby arrives.

So, click on Laundry in the Kingdom of Letters and stay tuned. I’m off to finish a sewing project (a recon t-shirt blanket) while bilingual baby takes an early nap.

It’s Spring!

And time for a new header. Bilingual baby’s beady little eyes will only haunt you in your dreams from now on. It’s on to some fun in the sun! Hope you enjoy the new header.

If you haven’t already, enter to win in my giveaway!

…I was going to say something

Another “perk” of being pregnant is that I can’t remember much of what I mean to say. Time is no factor. I could be mid-sentence and completely forget what I was saying or it could happen that I keep meaning to say/do something and plum forget.

Blogging has become an outlet for very little these days. I keep meaning to write something but once I get to the computer I’ve totally forgotten what it was I was so excited to write about. I can keep to “nice day” and “yeah, she’s active” and be safe but all in all I’d like to go a little further in this blog than that.

Until I can remember to keep a pen and paper nearby for when I think of the things I want to blog about, here’s a list of things we did today, in no order, at all:

We walked.

Bilingual baby and papi ran around together.

I talked to an old college friend.

We ate out.

It was fun. (That reminds me of my days working in elementary schools.)