Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Sweetest Email Ever
Please tell Lia I wish her Happy Birthday and lots of fun and happiness, a really good coming year, and a great relationship with her sister and parents. Today we remembered the day she was born. The weather was great and the sun was shining. In the morning Jan called us and said Lia Grace was born, he sounded serious and important. Until then neither of us knew if you were going to have a boy or a girl, so she was a surprise. Later that day we visited you in the hospital. She was so small that neither of us was confident enough to take her into the arms. You were really tired and happy. I assume this was the day that absolutely changed your and Jan’s life forever, so it is your celebration, too. And now she is three, speaks two languages, has a little sister and some days from now on will remain in her later memories when she is an adult. So our best wishes to all of you in this beautiful day!
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Funny
Lia puts one foot on the table and looks at me. Wagging her finger she says "No, no, no"
Me: Why not Lia?
Lia: It is bad manners
Lia puts her foot down and puts the other foot on the table
Lia: No, no, no
Me: Right, because it's...
Lia: Funny!
Me: Why not Lia?
Lia: It is bad manners
Lia puts her foot down and puts the other foot on the table
Lia: No, no, no
Me: Right, because it's...
Lia: Funny!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Sleepless Nights
Lia was awake from 1-2:30. Kira woke up at 5. I don't always get a lot of sleep! At least Kira is cute and adorable and can entertain herself in the morning.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Belated Birth Story - Kira Rose
Dear Kira,
I have been meaning to write down your birth story ever since you were born. During my maternity leave, I was unfortunately too busy watching Gossip Girl and cuddling with you to do much at all. Now that you and Lia are peacefully sleeping and I am not also asleep (this is a rare event) I will see how accurate my memory is.
First your due date. According my calculations, your due date was April 23rd (at the earliest.) The doctor measure you for April 20th - 3 days early. As the 20th came and went it caused a bit of anxiety on my part. I did not want you to come on your sister's birthday (the 23rd). After that, we were ready for you, but you needed a bit more time. I told the doctor's that I did not want to be induced, only to learn that instead of a 10 day late before induction policy, it was now a 7 day late before induction policy.
On the morning of the 27th I went into a check up and there was evidence of some activity. The doctor wanted to increase the chance of you come, so removed the mucous plug (I know, gross) and stripped the membranes. Had I been asked if I was ok with this, I would have said no, but they really wanted you to come out, and did not ask my opinion (so not ok).
Over the course of the day I had worse and worse stomach cramps. You daddy really wanted to check out the new pool (Westbad) and I figured it would not hurt anything, so we went. There the cramping got even worse. Then we went home, and Aunt Jane made delicious pasta. (Her secret ingredient - add cream to the tomato sauce.) We went to bed, but I had a feeling something would happen.
And sure enough, the cramps woke me up around 2 and they were INTENSE. I sat around and tried to document the frequency on the Internet. But they rapidly became to painful for even that to work. I moaned to Aunt Jane for a while and then woke up your dad. At that point it was hard to even get dressed. The contractions were coming intensely and quickly. We called the taxi, which came quickly, and I sat on a towel.
When we got to the hospital, we were pretty quickly given a room - a big nice one with that elusive birthing pool.
I lay down, and said Ahhhh every time a contraction came. The only problem was that at that point they were fast with out any significant break in between (at the longest 20 seconds.) They checked and would not tell me how much I was dilated. (I guess it wasn't much.) Then they asked if I wanted anything for the pain. I said no. When they came back 5 minutes later and I was basically delirious with pain and having no pause at all between contractions, I said ok. So they drugged me (an opiate that they said would not affect the baby at all - which I don't really believe) and I became high and . I remember pretending I was floating down a river and tried visualizing the contractions bring you to me. Then it wasn't so bad but the contractions certainly did not slow down. After a little longer, they insisted on giving me something to slow down the contractions - which did not seem to have any effect. BECAUSE after 1.5 hours in the hospital, I was completely dialated. Apparently the amniotic sack was bulging and they popped it. (Also without asking.) Then they told me maybe I should stop moaning and focus the energy into pushing. So I did! And you came out. It was incredibly fast.
You were very sweet. You cried a bit and snuggled a lot and were absolutely perfect. I was amazed that you were so skinny with no fat on your legs and bottom. I think you could have used another few days inside of me, but you were completely healthy and perfect.
I fell deeply in love with you the second I saw you and have been enjoying you ever since.
Love,
Mommy
I have been meaning to write down your birth story ever since you were born. During my maternity leave, I was unfortunately too busy watching Gossip Girl and cuddling with you to do much at all. Now that you and Lia are peacefully sleeping and I am not also asleep (this is a rare event) I will see how accurate my memory is.
First your due date. According my calculations, your due date was April 23rd (at the earliest.) The doctor measure you for April 20th - 3 days early. As the 20th came and went it caused a bit of anxiety on my part. I did not want you to come on your sister's birthday (the 23rd). After that, we were ready for you, but you needed a bit more time. I told the doctor's that I did not want to be induced, only to learn that instead of a 10 day late before induction policy, it was now a 7 day late before induction policy.
On the morning of the 27th I went into a check up and there was evidence of some activity. The doctor wanted to increase the chance of you come, so removed the mucous plug (I know, gross) and stripped the membranes. Had I been asked if I was ok with this, I would have said no, but they really wanted you to come out, and did not ask my opinion (so not ok).
Over the course of the day I had worse and worse stomach cramps. You daddy really wanted to check out the new pool (Westbad) and I figured it would not hurt anything, so we went. There the cramping got even worse. Then we went home, and Aunt Jane made delicious pasta. (Her secret ingredient - add cream to the tomato sauce.) We went to bed, but I had a feeling something would happen.
And sure enough, the cramps woke me up around 2 and they were INTENSE. I sat around and tried to document the frequency on the Internet. But they rapidly became to painful for even that to work. I moaned to Aunt Jane for a while and then woke up your dad. At that point it was hard to even get dressed. The contractions were coming intensely and quickly. We called the taxi, which came quickly, and I sat on a towel.
When we got to the hospital, we were pretty quickly given a room - a big nice one with that elusive birthing pool.
I lay down, and said Ahhhh every time a contraction came. The only problem was that at that point they were fast with out any significant break in between (at the longest 20 seconds.) They checked and would not tell me how much I was dilated. (I guess it wasn't much.) Then they asked if I wanted anything for the pain. I said no. When they came back 5 minutes later and I was basically delirious with pain and having no pause at all between contractions, I said ok. So they drugged me (an opiate that they said would not affect the baby at all - which I don't really believe) and I became high and . I remember pretending I was floating down a river and tried visualizing the contractions bring you to me. Then it wasn't so bad but the contractions certainly did not slow down. After a little longer, they insisted on giving me something to slow down the contractions - which did not seem to have any effect. BECAUSE after 1.5 hours in the hospital, I was completely dialated. Apparently the amniotic sack was bulging and they popped it. (Also without asking.) Then they told me maybe I should stop moaning and focus the energy into pushing. So I did! And you came out. It was incredibly fast.
You were very sweet. You cried a bit and snuggled a lot and were absolutely perfect. I was amazed that you were so skinny with no fat on your legs and bottom. I think you could have used another few days inside of me, but you were completely healthy and perfect.
I fell deeply in love with you the second I saw you and have been enjoying you ever since.
Love,
Mommy
Back Again
Recently I have been reflecting a lot on my up coming 30th birthday, which seems quite significant. I want to put my thoughts to paper and document the transition. Maybe even include a bit of video and some pictures. In general I am not a fan of birthdays (at least my birthday) and I like to mark the day with not much fuss and a bit of self indulgence. But blogging as a way to more actively and thoughtfully reflect sounds good. Let's see if I can do it (two small children do not leave me with much time or energy for much)!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Summer is Here
After a month of mostly gray, rainy, cold weather - it is HOT. Time to break out the skirts and dresses. This is wonderful, because now, instead of just dressing myself - I have an adorable little child to dress in adorable little dresses and rompers. I didn´t think it could happen - but buying children´s clothes is even more exciting than buying clothes for myself. In fact, I think I have an AHEM - little clothes buying problem. But we all have our guilty pleasures.
With the nice weather comes eating on the balcony - great until Lia decides to eat the stones - going to the swimming pool/playground/park to relax (actually to chase Lia around, but it is still fun), eating real Italian ice cream, more trips to the city, and light until 9:30!
I only have 2 more weeks of school - 1 in the classroom - 1 week of movement week - where I will be playing wilderness games and hiking - and then 6 weeks off. I am soooooooooo ready. I just have the last hurdle of grading
2 classes worth of English tests
3 classes worth of writing assignments (blogs and book report writing activities)
3 classes of history test
In fact, this is what I should be doing during nap time, instead of surfing the Internet and writing here! Looks like I need to finish grading 3 sets of things per day.
With the nice weather comes eating on the balcony - great until Lia decides to eat the stones - going to the swimming pool/playground/park to relax (actually to chase Lia around, but it is still fun), eating real Italian ice cream, more trips to the city, and light until 9:30!
I only have 2 more weeks of school - 1 in the classroom - 1 week of movement week - where I will be playing wilderness games and hiking - and then 6 weeks off. I am soooooooooo ready. I just have the last hurdle of grading
2 classes worth of English tests
3 classes worth of writing assignments (blogs and book report writing activities)
3 classes of history test
In fact, this is what I should be doing during nap time, instead of surfing the Internet and writing here! Looks like I need to finish grading 3 sets of things per day.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Last Names
An update on this - being a teacher is a great way to find out what your name rhymes with - or even loosely rhymes with. Mine happens to rhyme with the French word for cat and with shat. Luckily, very few students make this connection. However, when 17 year old boys decide to call you Mrs. Cat - that can quickly move from innocent fun and word play to pretty blatant disrespect. Add in hissing sounds - well - I nipped that in the bud VERY quickly. The only problem is after that I got declarations of love from said chastised student. I also had a discussion with him about how that was not OK or appropriate... The things I have to deal with. Which reminds me - one of my fellow teachers - who has been struggling - said to me the other day, "What have I done in my life to deserve this treatment." Sometimes that summarizes my feelings exactly.
Now and then I think it would be very helpful to have smaller boobs and a tougher exterior image. I may have to go back to buns and glasses next year.
Now and then I think it would be very helpful to have smaller boobs and a tougher exterior image. I may have to go back to buns and glasses next year.
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