Climber in Training

Angelina is a budding rock climber it seems. She just loves the climbing wall at Friendly Spot Ice House. Maybe her cousin Justin will have to teach her some tricks.








As for Lenaïc, his favourite thing to do is lay on Mommy's chest and sleep.

My Parenting Library

Usually I tell friends to throw away the baby books. They seem aimed at making new parents neurotic. The one I really liked (Happiest Baby on the Block), I liked because it just validated my instincts. I'm a big believer in the "Go With Your Gut" style of parenting.

And then came Angelina....and now I have a whole library of parenting books. A year ago, I wrote about our Spirited Child. The book, Raising Your Spirited Child, gave us some valuable insight into understanding her character. And let's face it, a child of Frédéric and me is not going to be calm and easy going, not with two intense, passionate parents. It's what I love about Frédéric and about Angelina, but it can be a challenge!

So here we are a year later. Our Happy Hurricane is adjusting (or rather, not adjusting) to leaving her old daycare where she'd been 2.5 years, being a big sister with a new baby in the house demanding ALL Mommy's time, and starting a new pre-school. For awhile there, it was bad. BAD. And then it started to get better, or so it seemed. Then, Papa went away. Sure, Nanny came and that helped distract her a bit the first week, but having returned for two days and leave again for another 4, was more than even Nanny could distract...All her "worst" behaviours came out in full force. Now he's back, and she's coming around again, but we've accepted that "going with your gut" isn't working.

So we've succumbed to the books. See, our "guts" too often lead us to be intimidators rather than emotion coaches. Ten points to whomever knows where that reference comes from ;). My latest book is another by the same author, and reading it is like bells going off. "Of course! That's what I need to do!" as she describes some child doing the same thing Angelina does.

AH, but one actually has to remember all the techniques and actually DO them, which is not so easy in the heat of the moment when your gut is telling you to strike out.

We're learning. Most importantly, we're learning more about ourselves. Frédéric said the other day "she's making us better people." That's because we're learning patience, we're learning to think about what we do, how we react, how we deal with stress. Not that the lessons are easy. I'd say we're earning about a C+ at the moment. But we're trying. Maybe by the time Lenaïc enters this phase, we'll have mastered the lessons and earned an A+.


The book: Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles

Another just finished Siblings Without Rivalry, which, though one sibling is not even 8 weeks old, is already relevant. I highly recommend both.

Smiling for Papa

Looking for more pictures of the monsters? Try HERE.

The Pleasure of Childbirth

If only I could bottle it up.

When women talk about birth and labor, the conversation usually centers around one thing: pain. Ok, two things: length of labor. I don't know why this is, but the stories always seem so horrible, terrifying, and long. Often, it seems a competition to say who had the worst labor.

Is labor really that bad? Are the horror stories real? Probably. So how about some not-so-scary labor stories?

Yes, childbirth is painful. It's also pleasurable. Generally, if I tell people that, they say that's because I had an "easy" labor. Or, I was just lucky not to have pain. No, I felt pain. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say it was in the 8 range. But I also felt joy, and with that joy, pleasure.

Part of it is control. Or rather, letting go of control. It's true one can really work with the pain, make the pain work for you. That's not to say I was the picture of calm during labor, though I was for most of it til the last hour. I had my fair share of "Holy Cow this hurts!" comments. Yet that powerful, intense, overwhelming contraction is telling you something. It's telling your body the next step for birthing that baby. Giving in to it is to ride the wave of that contraction like a body surfer in the Pacific Ocean. You come to the crest, then ride it out. You can't stop the pain, so you let it work for you rather than against you.

And then, when finally, FINALLY, that baby makes its way out, the relief and pure joy. That's what I really want to bottle up. There's a feeling, immediately after the baby is born, and for me at least, lasting the few hours after until I finally gave in to sleep, that is so overwhelming: peace, joy, love, pleasure, ecstasy. Ok, and some exhaustion too, but the other elements are far more powerful.

Sure, with Angelina I was puking for hours and couldn't move. With Lenaïc it wasn't much different: contractions on top of one another, begging Frédéric or my midwife to aim that shower head at my lower back NOW. But that's not what I remember most. I remember the anticipation, the excitement that each contraction brought. And yes,even the pleasure of pushing. Sure, I do remember the PAIN of pushing, but when your body has the urge to push the baby out, it's an incredibly positive feeling.

Even with Angelina, whose final hours of labor were traumatic thanks to a hospital transfer, and she was immediately intubated and whisked off to NICU, so we didn't get that physical bond, those feelings were there. And now, with Lenaïc, whose birth at home was intense and beautiful, I can definitely say this feeling is overwhelming, all-powerful. And the most beautiful thing on earth.

I feel truly so so fortunate to have been able to experience it.

And so now my one piece of advice to all my pregnant friends is this: enjoy it. Enjoy the anticipation of birth in the final weeks of pregnancy, and most importantly, enjoy labor. If I could bottle up those few hours after the baby is born, I would. Instead, I just remember them every time I'm up at 3am nursing....


(I do actually have one photo that shows this - Frederic smiling, Angelina in awe, me in a sense of utter calm and baby nursing. Alas, it also shows a bit too much of me, so I'll leave this one, taken the following morning)

Awwwww

A Day at the Park

After multiple freezes and lots and lots of rain, a sunny day meant a trip to Nature. So we headed to Guadalupe State Park. It was a bit chilly when the wind blew, but that didn't stop Angelina....


She had a blast skipping stones with Papa while Lenaïc slept happily against Mommy's chest in the ergo carrier. That's another problem...he sleeps so wonderfully in the carrier, that if we're out and about all day, he sleeps ALL DAY. Which means nighttime is party time.

Anyway, back to the park. It was a gorgeous day but as we were getting ready to leave, Angelina made some new friends. A father and his two young daughters eager for a new playmate. So we stayed another hour, "hiking." The older sister and Angelina were our guides, leading us through mud puddles. They had fun though.

Enchanted Rock

Maybe not my best idea ever.

Angelina does best when I get her out of the house for a bit in the morning. Then, my previous non-sleeper (she hadn't napped for us in 2 years), is generally ready for a nap of say 2-3 hours (only since Lenaïc was born). Nanny is here visiting, and she always likes hikes. So I figure, why not go to Enchanted Rock? It's only about 1.5 hours from here, and we don't have to hike to the top, can just wander around the bottom. Angelina loves hiking/nature. And we can go to Fredericksburg for lunch and maybe wander a bit there. Then head home at nap time, providing a car ride nap for both kids.

Great idea!

Except, best laid plans and all that....we started the morning opening a gift from a dear friend in CA. Legos. VERY SMALL PIECES and tons of them. Wonderful gift, but Angelina would not budge until we had built at least two of the trucks (dump truck and bulldozer). That, getting kids ready, nursing, getting me ready, nursing some more....we didn't get out of the house til almost 11. So much for the morning hike.

So we started off with lunch in Fredericksburg with a hungry and tired Angelina (i.e. cranky). Survived that. I almost gave up and drove home, given the nap and all, but decided no, we said Enchanted Rock and MUST do it. And it was a gorgeous day.




So off we go. 75 yr old Nanny with a sore foot, 3 yr old wild child, and 6 week old baby in my ergo carrier.






Despite all my efforts, Angelina would NOT be deterred from summiting the Rock. It's not the easiest climb - sheer rock face at some points. Totally walkable, but for a 3 yr old? And a mom with a baby? She kept running up ahead of me, as I was trying to stay slow to make sure Nanny was doing ok. Finally, Nanny called it quits and took a break mid-way. And off goes Angelina, just as it gets steeper. And windier. Did I say she's only 32lbs? The wind was very strong. She was doing fine, I was starting to get scared. I could hike fine, even with baby, but I couldn't chase Angelina and if she fell and slipped down.....





Well, she didn't fall and slip down. She forged on to the top, all the while going on about Enchanted Rock and "I MUST go to the top. I HAVE TO!" We make it, spend five minutes, the wind kicks up so high she has to grab my leg to hold on.





And she says "Mommy! I don't like Enchanted Rock! I want to go down!" Finally. Is it bad I'm glad she finally got scared?

This time, she's willing to hold my hand the whole way, as I gently lead her down a very steep slope...at least it's steep when you have a baby on your chest and a 3 yr old at your side, ready to blow over in the next gust of wind.

We meet back with Nanny, make our way back down to the very bottom. Angelina turns around. "I want to go UP Enchanted Rock."

um, kid, you already did!!! She has a short memory.

As for Lenaïc, he slept in his carrier the whole time. Gotta love the ergo! He woke just as we got to the bottom and nursed. And nursed. ANd nursed some more.

By now it's almost 5pm. We head off. He starts screaming....he's hungry again. We make it to F'burg. Stop, nurse some more while Angelina and Nanny go exploring. Head off. More hunger screams. Make it to the highway (now 6pm). Stop at a gas station/McD's, nurse some more...finally head off at 7pm. more screaming. This time I don't stop and we push on home. Arrive at 8pm, more nursing. Little guy was hungry after all that hiking I guess. So much for making it home by 3pm and heading to Friendly Spot (my original plan), which has it's own little climbing wall....

(I try my best, but taking pictures in the blowing wind, with a baby on your chest and trying to stand still...not so easy)

Ah, the Magic of Birth

Birth is such an amazing, powerful, intense, wonderful experience. Yes, it's painful, but it's a positive pain. I was scared before having Angelina, but not about the birth, more about what I was going to do being the sole person responsible for a newborn! (ok, not the ONLY one responsible, Fredo was here too). But labor didn't scare me. In fact, I was excited for it. And second time around, I was even more excited for it.

I'd been thinking about how to put me thoughts into words, when it seems my friend did it for me. Well, not for *me,* exactly...My friend Monica is a doula in training. As she's in Switzerland and I'm, well, not, she couldn't attend my birth. But she did recently attend her first birth there, and wrote about it here. She wrote very eloquently what I'd been feeling about birth, so I just refer you to her page :)

Boobs and Poops...feeding challenges, part Deux

So I considered myself an experienced breastfeeder. I nursed Angelina for 25 months. I just remember it being easy as pie. Latch her on and go.

So, of course I could breastfeed Lenaïc, no problem.

But I had forgotten about the Beginning.

It wasn't so easy, at least not to start. And 2nd time around turned out to be challenging too. He latched on immediately after birth (literally, came up from the water and latched on to my breast. Angelina said "Mommy, the baby likes your boobie!" We didn't even know "he" was a "he" at that point). So I was sure all would be great. Not so.

Once my milk came in, about 48 hours later, I was too engorged and he couldn't latch. I was also being lazy, he was sleeping long stretches and though I would wake him to feed him, was not doing it enough. So by the morning of day 3, when my midwife came for the newborn screen, she noticed he was jaundiced and had lost a lot of weight. She checked my breastfeeding, sure enough, he wasn't latching. So, orders were to use a nipple shield and wake him every 2 hours to feed, feed for 30 minutes (15 minutes each side). That leaves about 1 hour or less to do anything - like shower, go to the bathroom, eat, play with Angelina. Not easy! With Angelina, all that was easier because she was the only one. I could just sit there and nurse nurse nurse. It was harder this time. But that's what I had to do.

Worry about jaundice, worry about his weight, worry about the breastfeeding, worry about Angelina, throw in post-partum hormones. Not a good combo.

Fortunately, the jaundice was gone in about 24 hours, and diapers were good and poopy/wet. But not enough.

So off to the lactation center. I am so glad this place exists! The consultant worked with me on the latch (still recommended the nipple shield), and agreed with the schedule my midwife had set. We also discussed my goals for breastfeeding, and all sorts of little tricks to get him to eat better. I *knew* my supply was fine, fortunately (many are not so lucky). They have weighing rooms, so you can go in anytime they're open, weigh, nurse, weigh again to see how much the baby has taken. So, that's what I did. Every day at first, then 2x per week, and now once per week.

He was improving, so I was feeling better. Then the pediatrician noticed his weight drop: from 30th percentile at birth down to 3% at 4 weeks. Now I'm worried all over again.


Until yesterday. The goal is for them to gain 5-7 oz per week. As of yesterday's weighing, he gained 10 oz in the past week!

We're still using the nipple shields about 75% of the time. I keep trying to wean him off of them, and he does ok, then other times no luck. But at least he's gaining! Yeah for Mommy's Milk!

First Day of School! First Day of School!

If you've seen Finding Nemo, picture Nemo's first lines....(ok, so we've seen it about 5 billion times in the last few weeks).

Angelina started preschool last week. It's really a daycare that's a "learning center," since the Circle School, where we really want to send her, doesn't have space. That's ok, we like this other place too, and they'll also take the baby when I go back to work.

We had been disappointed to lose our daycare and not have dear Nana anymore, but Angelina is not at all bothered it seems (she does say she wants to take the baby to see Nana, but that's all). She is soooooooo excited about school! She could not wait to go to school. She has had her backpack on and ready to go for weeks! So we finally started her last week, just 2 days per week. Both mornings she practically ran out the door and she comes home all bouncing and happy. I hope she always loves school so much!

The next trick is finding a school bus. She has had this fascination with school buses for awhile (she says it in French - bus d'ecole...then said "bus school", now she says "school bussy"). Every time we see one she screams with delight, and constantly talks about going on one. Alas, she doesn't ride one to school. So now we're on the hunt for some school bus excursion. I think a plane ride was actually easier ;)

A Day at the Beach

Or not....

It's been COLD here in Texas. Really cold. Ok, so not as cold as it is in the frigid north, but it FEELS colder. We've dipped down below freezing quite a bit and even into the teens F the other night. For Texas, even in January, that's REALLY COLD. We tolerate the 80+ days over 100F in summer because we have 80F days in January. Not so this winter. After the hottest driest summer, we're aiming for the coldest winter. Have I said I don't like the cold? It's especially bad in our old drafty house. Oh, it's warm in the top 2 feet of the room, thanks to our wonderful high ceilings, but down below.....

Angelina doesn't appear to know that though. The other day Frédéric showed Angelina some pictures from our Mexico trip. Before I knew it she'd pulled ALL of her swim gear out, was running around the house naked carrying her (many) swimsuits yelling "We're going to the beach! We're going to the beach!"

I explained the beach was far away and it was cold....to no avail. I finally convinced her we'd go to the pool (indoor pool at the YMCA), except they didn't open for a few more hours. It was not easy to contain her that long, but we did and managed to go to the pool and swim for awhile. However, the water was very cold that day (normally it's almost too warm). Felt like the Pacific Ocean in California in winter. That didn't deter her though. She wouldn't leave. It wasn't til her lips were turning blue and she was shivering so hard she could barely move I finally convinced her to get out of the pool....

More Sibling Love and return of the Happy Hurricane

Angelina can't bear to be apart from her brother. She gets as close to him as possible....

On a positive note, we think the Happy Hurricane has mostly returned. Sure, we still have tantrums and other issues, but she's happier now overall. I guess she finally came to terms with being a big sister. More pictures to come.


And Lenaïc meets Desmond Peebles for the first time.
Desmond is our good friends Kyle and Marisa's son, born in September. He's a cute little guy. He and Lenaïc are sure to be best buddies!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day is our friend Lucien's birthday. Yesterday he turned 3! (I work with Lucien's mom, and he's a regular playmate of Angelina's when we meet at Bubblehead)

His party was at a great place called Fiesta Farms, basically a petting farm where the kids can feed and play with cows, goats, pigs, horses, ponies, donkeys, rabbits, and more.

The highlight (or one of the many highlights), was the pony ride. Thanks to Trudi for the photos.







And where is Lenaïc? Asleep in Papa's arms the entire time.

So Babies Actually SLEEP?

I was convinced babies didn't really sleep, at least not alone, unattached to mommy... See, Angelina never slept during the day unless she was ON me, attached in some way (to the boob, in the sling, laying on my chest). At night I could put her down, but only because I lay(lie?) right next to her, with her attached to me most of the night.

People talked about babies who Sleep Through The Night (STTN), or about how babies "sleep all the time." I just assumed that was a myth.

And then Lenaïc was born. Now, he doesn't STTN, and his days and nights are a bit mixed up still. But he does actually sleep when NOT attached to me. I can put him down, and he sleeps! Wow! I am in shock!

Of course, that doesn't mean any extra time for me, as a certain 3.5 yr old Hurricane is still running about the house, requiring mommy's attention....

What Happened to My Happy Hurricane?

Turns out, being a big sister is Not So Easy

So it seems Angelina's having some challenges after all. She is definitely a "spirited" child, requiring a lot of attention. However, her default is Happy. She has had her moments, but generally, her spiritedness makes us laugh more than cry. That is, until lately. My Happy Hurricane has become the fury of Katrina/Rita/Dolly/Gustav/Ike all rolled into one.

I didn't think this was related to the baby as it started a few weeks before he was born, but it seems now that's a big part of it. A month ago or so she just started being weepy a lot. No reason, she'd just cry - note, she rarely cried before, unless she was really hurt. She wasn't a whiner. But suddenly, everything made her weep. Then that advanced to tantrums. She's had them before, but not like this. Multiple times per day, lasting hours, with no obvious trigger.

And then the baby came. Now, keep in mind the weekend before he was born, she was helping Papa put together the bassinet and said "This is going to be the best baby ever!" and the next morning came running into the room, asking where the baby was. The day he was born she was part of the process, excited and mostly loving it all.
She was patient and calm and thrilled. No tantrums, no real difficult moments during labor, and it went late: it was after midnight when she finally went to sleep.

Then the real challenges started. Part of it was lack of sleep, but she's back to her usual sleep pattern now (except naps - she hasn't napped for us in over a year, but she did nap at daycare). She loves him, she dotes on him, but when it comes time for mommy to nurse - yikes! But it's not only then, the littlest things set her off. And then it's a vicious cycle. Our patience wears thin. We snap at her. She snaps back, and it escalates... We're working on our response, but how to change hers?

What's most frustrating, is she went from Happy Girl to Miserable Girl. It's so sad for me to see it, and not be able to fix it. I'm spending as much time with her as possible, one on one when possible, but with a nursing newborn, that's not so easy.






I'm just hoping it is only due to the baby's arrival, and will pass in time,and my Happy Hurricane will return.

More sisterly love

Big Sister

If you're wondering how Angelina has adjusted to being a big sister, just look....

She loves her baby brother.

I finally contributed some genes

After the little clone of her Papa, it's nice to see I can contribute some genes too!







Me at my baptism, almost 1 month old














Me at birth

Definitely my child! So far at least.....

How he came into the world

(copied from Facebook note)

It was Tuesday Dec 8 at 3PM that I posted the following on Facebook:
"Dear Baby: Please stay inside me until 1)we finish the sheetrock and primer, 2)your Papa finishes the massive amounts of work he has scheduled this week, 3) your mommy finishes the massive amounts of work scheduled this week, and 4) we buy a new washing machine and have it delivered and installed. Then you are free to come any time. Thank you."

Apparently I either knew something might be up, or this kid doesn't listen to me... About 2 hours later, signs of pre-labor appeared. Such signs could mean labor was hours, days or weeks away. I stayed home the next day, not feeling up to driving. By 10am, Dec 9, as the workmen of #1 were sheetrocking, labor signs became a bit more obvious. By 11AM, there was no doubt....I was trying to be discreet so as not to alarm the workers. As it turned out, I was about to tell them they needed to leave for the day when they said they were finishing up. Not done, just done for the day because everything was wet. So we didn't even make it through #1. They'll come back next week :).

Over the next 11 hours, we brought him into the world. :) And when I say "we", I mean Frédéric, Angelina, and I. They were both very helpful. And my midwives too. He was born in the water at 10:10pm, and I wouldn't change a thing! For anyone interested in more details of the birth, let me know and I'll email all the gory details.

As for Angelina, she was great! She had her moments, but for the most part, she loved being involved and wasn't at all scared. And being in the birthing tub with us was a blast for her. She helped massage my back and kept holding me when it hurt. She did leave the room towards the end saying "Mommy's upset" because apparently I was making some significant noises ("Holy cow that hurts!");). She came back in within seconds of the baby coming out and immediately went to him to touch him, covered in mucus and all....The look on her face of fascination and wonder as we welcomed him into the world was priceless.





So, I jinxed myself by asking the baby to wait. I also planned a Girls Night In at our house for Wednesday night. The other way to assure labor without inducing - give up your birth tub....I didn't have the tub yet because another client, already 8 days overdue, still had it. The midwife picked it up on her way to my house saying to her "I have a sure way to get you into labor, I'm taking the tub for another mom." Sure enough, about the time Lenaïc was born, the midwife received a call from the other mom saying her labor had started. Who needs pitocin, when Murphy's Law is at work?!

Announcing...

Or as Big Sister Angelina would say "Ta da!"

Lenaïc Martin Allegrini
born Dec 9, 09. 10:10PM (at 38 weeks exactly). 8lbs. 20" long. Healthy, happy, already nursing like a champ!












And Angelina playing in the birth tub while mommy was walking around trying to get my water to break

"Mommy, you have to share the baby!"

So, first question is, "How is Angelina adapting?"

She loves her baby sister/brother....first sign of confusion. She keeps calling him her "baby sister" and gets really upset when we correct her, so we just leave it at that. She says that SHE is the brother and he is the sister.

And, she loves him so much she wants to be with him ALL THE TIME. That means constantly touching, holding...you get the idea. It's sweet, but she doesn't get that he can't quite play with her yet. However,I did see her sit quietly next to him for about 10 minutes this morning. This from the child who a few days ago said when we left a book reading about 2 minutes after it started "Mommy, I can't sit still and be quiet."

And then, there's the sharing.....she doesn't seem to be jealous of him yet. No, it's mommy she wants to go away so she can have him all to herself.

Overall, she's very excited. And she did great during the delivery (more on that later). More pictures to come, so check back!

Princess of the Dirt

Angelina has this thing for pretty dresses. She loves them. She loves wearing them. Every Day. It doesn't need to be a special occasion. Saturday is an occasion...


On this day, she had actually slept in the dress the night before, and wouldn't take it off in the morning.

I love that she is just as happy to play in the dirt.
I

Ready for MUD PUDDLES

What can be better than new rubber boots and a warm vest on a December day?!

Thanks to Skylar (and her mom and dad, Trudi and Matt) for the early Christmas gift. They're perfect!

We were just saying Angelina needed rubber boots since she likes to go play in puddles in her good shoes, but we hadn't found any yet. Trudi must have read out minds.





Angelina immediately put them on and went in search of Mud Puddles. Alas, it was dry that day. No puddles, but they'll come surely.

Daycare woes

Or maybe opportunities?


We've loved our daycare. It's an in-home licensed daycare. A wonderful "older" woman who'd been doing this 20+ years. Her breadth and depth of experience has been wonderful in how she deals with Angelina and what she's taught us about child rearing. We like the in-home environment, though it does have its drawbacks, because it feels like a "family" situation - she gets to interact with kids of all ages.

Though we hoped to send her to pre-K this year, the one we want was full. I had this plan that when the baby arrived, she would still go 2x/week to keep some consistency, some attention from "Nana," some play time for her with her friends, and give me some time with the new baby. And then back to full time and add in the new baby in March. It was so hard to find a good babysitter, esp. with a baby, that I was glad we already had someone we trusted.

Well, it seems she's finally worn out "Nana". Alas, "Nana" told us Tuesday she's retiring at Christmas. Oops. Can't say as I blame her - especially after seeing Angelina and her friend Miranda playing together. Talk about 2 hyper kids. I don't know that I could handle them!

Timing isn't too bad since I will be home on maternity leave then anyway, so we're not desperate. And thanks to all our friends here we've already got lots of recommendations and unlike last time we looked, most have plenty of space available.

The hard part will be the transition for Angelina. We're looking at places a bit more "school" oriented, and she's excited to go to school, so I think if we focus on that aspect it'll help. Still, she's going to have a very hard time not seeing "Nana" and Miranda (her favourite friend) every day, at the same time as having to share Mommy and Papa with a new baby.

Hopefully she'll prove to be adaptable (jury is still out on whether or not she inherited my "always try something new" tendency....) and the new situation will work out. And hopefully we'll find as good of a place for the new baby. At the very least, we won't be driving to the other side of town anymore, which is a silver lining.

California and Airplanes

First Stop: Martina, Hannah and Matthew's house (aka, Uncle Chris and Aunt Debbie's house). Matthew and Uncle Chris were out at the UCLA football game, but that was ok. More time for the girls to play. From trampoline to dress up to dance....how much more fun can you have?




Then it was off to Aunt Loretta and Uncle Bruce's house for all the rest of the family. Despite being dead tired, she was raring to go. She just HAD to wear her new "pretty dress" that we'd bought that day. And seeing Opa? That was the highlight. She wouldn't get too close, and she wouldn't sit on his lap, but she kept walking around telling everyone "There's Opa!"

Next Day was the Annual Tamale Making Party. Nanny starts bright and early, which was no problem since we were on Texas time. Fortunately, cousin Hannah spent the night so Angelina was happily occupied while we helped Mom set up. While we made tamales, all Angelina cared about was her cousins.



You've never seen a kid so happy! (see videos below) 3 girls and 3 boys to entertain her and abide her every wish.....there are advantages to being 5 years younger than the youngest cousin. She was the STAR!






She's now a football player. Particularly funny as she had no clue that she was significantly smaller than the other kids, she jumped in to tackle (more like a rugby scrum) with the biggest of them.





And tease? Yes, she can beat Matthew at his own game. He teased her by holding the ball just out of reach. So when she got the ball, she did the same to him.




All day playing with cousins, what could be better?







Having a new grandma! She has Nanny, but she doesn't realize that Nanny = Grandma, while her friends have two grandmas. She calls them Grandma, but Felice often reminds her "that's MY Grandma." So, apparently Angelina decided to adopt her own - Cousin Gloria. Gloria walked in and immediately Angelina said "There's Grandma." I said "No, that's Gloria." No. Grandma. We went back and forth and I gave up. So all day she called Gloria Grandma. As Gloria has no grandkids, she was quite happy to adopt one. But it wasn't just that day. She's been talking about "grandma Gloria" since we got back. I even her heard telling Wiley and Felice all about HER Grandma Gloria.

Alas, the time came to say goodbye. Angelina does not do well with goodbyes. While we'd see some of them the next day, Hannah, Martina, and Matthew all had school/practice so this was our last time with them. She didn't want to say goodbye, got rather grouchy and stomped away. Same when Gloria left :(


On Monday she saw a picture from her baptism with a bunch of cousins and said with wonder and excitement "Look mommy! All my cousins!" She is sooooooo excited to have cousins!!! She wouldn't let go of that picture all morning.




Since everyone was in school Monday, and since Angelina had been asking to go to the beach, we headed off to Little Corona Del Mar for the tide pools with Nanny. There wasn't much sea life in them this time, but it was a gorgeous (tho not super warm) day and playing in the sand and sea was more than worth it.





Then off to Aunt Denise and Uncle Kurt's for another dinner. This time a little more subdued (I think she knew more goodbyes were inevitable). Still, she had fun playing with Kyle and Camille while we checked out the old toys Denise had saved from our collective childhood....many were passed down from Tim, so at least 50 years old!




We had a final breakfast with Opa, just Frédéric, Angelina, and I, which was wonderful. The whole point of the trip, afterall, was to see and spend time with Dad. All the parties are fun, but it's also nice to have some one-on-one time too. She enjoyed entertaining Opa who clearly enjoyed entertaining her. Of course, Angelina went into her now familiar grouchy not talking mode when it was time to say goodbye. Though frustrating, in a way it's sweet. It's her way of coping with being sad to leave.

Then it was another airplane trip and back home! Followed the next morning with "Mommy, I want to go to California." And daily since with "Mommy, I want to see Hannah/Martina/Matthew/Kyle/Camille/Nanny/Opa" Even Uncle Chris got a mention (sorry Ryan and Justin, you have to play football with her to get a notice).

For the whole collection of photos, including a few from Halloween, see California Nov 2009

Halloween Fun

Last year we were in CA and Angelina loved it, but I don't think she fully remembered it. This year, on the other hand, she knows all about CANDY. I had hoped she'd wear her Astronaut costume from last year, but she was not interested. She wanted to be a princess. Note that she doesn't really know who the princesses are or their stories, but she likes the pretty dresses. Thanks to the neighbors who have a box of costumes, we had this Snow White dress on hand. Our first outing was to Bubblehead, where they had a costume contest. She loved playing with little eggplant Melody and Gladiator Lucian, her two favourite friends these days.

Next day we went to Circle Fest at the Circle School - she actually didn't get into the Halloween part of it as much as just had fun playing on all the playground equipment.

Since the Snow White costume is a bit big, I decided to try to find her another princess outfit and settled on this pink concoction. I'm not sure whom it's supposed to be, but she loved it. On Halloween, we joined her two other favourite friends, Wiley and Felice, for the King William/Lavaca party at the Villareal's. Ok, so it wasn't really the KW/Lavaca party but pretty much all the kids from these neighborhoods were there. It was overwhelming to say the least! But lots of fun.

She loved going house to house asking for candy. But later was confused. See, at the party, she seemed overwhelmed by all the kids so had made her way to a back room with toys and only a few kids. Meanwhile, most of the kids left to do more trick-or-treating. Eventually she wanted to go to but then we were on our own. The neighborhood was packed with truck loads of kids being dropped off, but none of whom she knew. So she'd wander up with a pack to a house, they'd get their candy and turn around and she'd follow, missing the candy! It was pretty funny....

Eventually she got too tired to carry on, so when we went back to the party we didn't stay long and made it an early night. However, since she had candy on the dress, she just HAD to wash it that night. I learned why: She wore it the next day. And the day after. And.....

Lucky for us, she's rather snobbish about her candy. She likes the idea, she opens it, but ends up throwing it away because she doesn't like it. She prefers her Swiss chocolate. I'm not complaining. The Villareals told us about the Halloween Fairy who visits the house Halloween night, takes away the candy and replaces it with a toy. And we added, "Gives the candy to the poor kids who didn't get any." (hey, a bit of social justice never hurts) Since she doesn't REALLY eat it, we may not have to go that far. For now, out of sight out of mind works.

Fun with Cousins

More pictures and stories to come....

A weekend in California with the cousins, Angelina had a BLAST. The crash video was taken first. She was a bit shocked initially, but that lasted all of a few seconds, as you can see from the next video.

Namaste

Angelina has taken up a fondness for Oga, otherwise known as Yoga but no matter how many times we correct her, she insists it's OGA. It all started with Mommy's prenatal yoga, which she liked but then got bored. It's a little slow for this high-impact aerobics type kid.

I happened across a kids' yoga and thought it'd be fun to try out. She loves it! Only problem is it's hard for me to do it with her as a lot of the poses are on your belly. Not so good at 7 months pregnant....


Instead, she does it with Papa.





updated with some more photos

Airplanes! Airplanes! Airplanes!

Nearly every day for the past 6 weeks (kind of since our Mexico trip), the first thing Angelina says when she wakes up is "I want to go on the airplane!"

She's fixated on it. I think part of it is that when we went to Mexico it was early morning and dark...and by the time we came back the sun started rising later, meaning it was more often dark when she woke up. So I think she associates that with flying on the airplane.

Or, she just wants to travel.

So, this has been constant. Until Sunday. On Saturday we had a party for our friends Dawn and Rich visiting from Phoenix. Angelina was a little convinced the party was for her...and of course Miss Party Girl had a blast. So, first thing she said when she woke up Sunday was "Mommy, where are all the people? I want a party!" Well, at least we were past the airplane craze.

Or so I thought.

Later that day it was the beach. "I want to go to beach!" (it's 2+ hours away so not something we do often).

All day Monday "I want to go to the beach!"

Monday night, she puts 2 and 2 together "Mommy, I want to take the airplane to the beach!"

oops.

This morning she wakes up, throws the blanket off her head and asks "Is it time to go on the airplane now?"


I wish we had a trip planned soon, but we have nothing planned for quite some time!

We're going to China!

Not really. We're not actually going to China, but Angelina begs to go daily (along with the beach).

See, we've discovered Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. My friend Trudi's almost one year old loves it, so she lent us a DVD. I now have a love/hate relationship with Kai-Lan myself. That's because Angelina loves it so much, she asks to watch it over and over and over and over and over.....We don't have network/cable TV, so it's not like she's a TV hound. But all I hear these days is "I want to go to China!" which really means the episode where Kai-Lan, her grandfather Ye Ye, and all her friends fly to China. She could easily watch it 5 times in a row if we let her. of course, though, she also loves all the other episodes.

It's a cute show - not unlike Dora. Kai-Lan speaks Mandarin and English, teaching her friends lots of Mandarin words and Chinese culture. Each episode teaches them about behaviour - they sing "When you feel bad, what do you do? Calm, calm, down." Or when one friend is grumpy because he doesn't like his role, they talk it out, learn to fix the problem, make everyone happy. Or in another, one doesn't want to try the Chinese noodles because they're different, but they convince him it's good to try something new.

All in all, not bad lessons. But if I have to hear about going to China one more time, I may scream!

And on that note, it's all about the airplanes.....

A belly shot

Here I am at almost 31 weeks pregnant with my good friend Dawn, almost 29 weeks pregnant.


Unfortunately Dawn lives in Phoenix now so our kids won't be playing together as often as we'd like. We were lucky to have this visit!



On the plus side, Baby Desmond (Kyle and Marisa's new baby) will only be a few months older than Allegrini #2, so there will be another playmate around. (angelina took this photo...)


Angelina is so looking forward to being the Big Sister. She's still convinced she's having a brother. Maybe she has some sixth sense about it?

Finally in her own bed

Ok, so this isn't really her bed and she DOES sleep in her own bed now. But for some reason she loves to lay in this blanket box.

Kind of like Chakapu I guess, who always seems curled up in a basket....

Princess or ?????

(sorry for the fuzzy pic, another camera pic)

She has discovered the treasure trove of costumes at our neighbor's house. So I walk in and she's looking beautiful and sweet as ever in a Snow White (Neige blanche?) costume. Then I take out my camera phone and as I try to take a picture she shoots me an evil look....

A Day at Sea World

One of the perks of Frédéric’s work is that every year they have a "Family Picnic." It takes place either at Six Flags Fiesta Texas or Sea World. For $7 each, we get free parking, admission to the park, lunch and at Sea World, a special show. Not a bad deal! So we happily take advantage of the opportunity.

We otherwise probably wouldn't go, too expensive and too exhausting. But Angelina loves it!
I forgot my camera so these are just from the phone. They have a kids playground with lots of cool stuff.


The kids' water area was tons of fun, but nothing compared to the rides! I was skeptical, but when she saw the sky tube> she was hooked. As soon as we came down, she said "I want to do it again!" Alas, we didn't want to wait in line, so we checked out the wave pool, river tubes, more slides.....

needless to say, it was a long and exhausting and totally fun day!

Making Pizza

We've finally discovered the trick to getting her to eat. It's not that she's picky, as at some point or other she'll eat just about anything (except meat), she just doesn't *want* to. Well, that is unless she helps cook.

So now, she cooks with us. This is a challenge, a big mess, and sometimes a risk (hot stoves and all), but with care and caution and lots of patience, it works.

Especially fun was rolling out pizza dough with Papa.


And apparently peanut butter sandwiches at the volleyball tournament were a big hit too.

Be Careful What You Wish For

There was a time when everyone seemed to be worried about Angelina's lack of development. Given her problems at birth, and though she showed no sign of having lost oxygen, the heavy sedation did have its side effects. So when at nearly 18 months she still wasn't walking and talking, it seemed everyone under the sun was concerned.

Well, except 3 people: Papa, Nana (her babysitter), and her doctor. Though the latter did suggest an evaluation by Early Childhood Intervention just for reassurance. Everyone else though, were convinced something was wrong. Random people would wonder at her age "She's not walking YET? She's not talking YET" Nooooo.

And then, at just about 18 months, it all began.

And now? Well, let's just say NOT talking is certainly not a problem. No, this child talks NON-STOP. As I picked her up today and she, as usual, rattled on constantly about something, I asked Nana "Is she like this all day?" "Oh! Gosh!" she said "Angelina NEVER STOPS!" Talking? Oh yeah. She has that down no problem. The question is now, how do we get her to stop, at least once in awhile?

As for walking, she has two speeds: snail and cheetah. She's either moving inch by inch, taking in all the world around her, or she's racing down at lightening speed as we all try to keep up, out of breath.

I can't believe I ever worried about either. One thing is clear, she's Mistress of Her Own Destiny. She will decide what she'll do and when she'll do it - a challenge for us now (which is why she's still not 100% potty-trained), but should serve her well as an adult, provided she learns proper personal controls and all that.....

I shouldn't be surprised. It was pretty clear from birth that she had the stubbornness of a mule (or an Allegrini or a Rohr.....).

For now, she's Hurricane Angelina and we'll figure out how to, um, appreciate our little whirlwind. In the meantime, she makes us laugh and laugh and laugh.

The Princess

We don't have TV. Or rather, we don't have cable. We do have DVDs, so the only shows she watches at homes are ones we've chosen to buy. I know at daycare she does watch TV so she's seen the whole range on Nickelodeon.

I read recently that the process for little girl fascination goes as follows:
2 years old - Dora
3 years old - Disney Princesses
4 years old - Hannah Montana (or is it Bratz?)

And sure enough, at her 3rd birthday, she was overwhelmed with Disney Princess stuff. I thought she wouldn't know what it was, but she did. She didn't know all the names, she just knew they were princesses. I'm not so thrilled with this trend.

See, as annoying as some find Dora the Explorer, I love her. Her mission is usually to save someone/clean the sea kingdom/rescue some animals/save Friendship Day/explore the world. And, she does it in multiple languages! Can you see why I like her even though she tends to yell a bit?

As much as I like all things Disney, the princesses, on the other hand, are all about finding Prince Charming who will save them from a life of drudgery. Now, I'm not opposed to my own Prince Charming, but I happen to prefer the idea of a little girl who goes out to save the world, relying upon her wits and her friends over the beauty who sleeps until the prince kisses her....(though I wouldn't complain if Angelina took to sleeping a wee bit more).

And Hannah Montana and Bratz/Barbie? Well, I honestly don't know much about them, except from photos of little girls dressed far too grown up.

I'm not really a prude, but I'd like my Princess to have her own power, intelligence, and inner strength to take on the world.

As for Angelina, well, turns out she's not so into the princesses afterall. She DOES however, like to call herself a princess. She loves to dress up in frilly dresses and twirl around. She also likes to explore, and play in the mud, and use tools, and definitely does not wait for someone else to guide her. No, she's ready to tackle the world on her own.




Lately, however, she's decided just being a princess isn't all it's cracked up to be. She's taken to saying "I'm the QUEEN!"

The fish

This child can spend her entire life in the water. She's a fish. Nothing makes her happier than playing in water.

She spent the better part of the weekend looking like a prune from so much water.

The upside for us? She actually sleeps!!! As you'll have noted before, watching her sleep is not something we can do often. Quite the contrary - she almost never stops until after we're worn out and sleeping ourselves. But the trick we have discovered is water. Swim swim swim. And lo and behold, she sleeps!

Scaring the waves.....and our trip to Mexico

Angelina did her best impersonation of "Sully" from Monsters, Inc: she said she was "Scaring the waves!" I'm not sure it worked, but she had fun trying.

After our "vacation" that wasn't a vacation in Switzerland in June, we decided we needed a mini-break. Our criteria: someplace close enough that we don't waste all day travelling, so can do in a weekend, someplace "easy" - no trekking through jungles or cities, someplace Angelina would enjoy that was all about "play" and not "seeing important sights," and someplace American Airlines flew to so we could use frequent flier miles.


We chose Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, despite it being hurricane season. Hurricane season is a two-pronged problem: (1) If a hurricane hits our destination site, well, it wouldn't be a fun trip and (2) If a hurricane hits anywhere on the Gulf Coast, I have to work and can't travel.

Fortunately, we were spared on both accounts, and though it was the rainy season, we had plenty of sunshine, beach time, and ocean time.


Neither of us are really "resort" people. I normally prefer a good jungle trek/stay in small locally-owned cabina/discover a little out of the way local restaurant. However, given we had such a short time and a toddler, we decided on an all-inclusive resort.



We probably would not have enjoyed it for more than the 2.5 days we were there, but for that time, it was perfect: play in the pool, play in the waves, play in the sand, eat, sleep, play some more, never having to wander very far afoot.

And she even made friends - everywhere she went.....

Check back later for more pictures....

For Nanny - a place to play

When Nanny was here she complained that Angelina didn't have a table to sit at/play on. I had planned to get one, but couldn't find one I liked except this Ikea one. However Ikea is 1.5 hours away..... I convinced Nanny to wait, that I really would get one. So here it is! I was working near Ikea this week so made a rather large shopping trip. It's amazing what you can fit in a little civic if you try. For now, Angelina is happy with her new table and chairs. Especially as she directed Papa how to play.

As you can tell, we like to mix and match colors.

A climber

Why am I showing boring video of our attic ladder in a messy dirty closet? SO you can see what Angelina climbed, all the way to the top, by herself. NOT WITH PERMISSION.

Yes, we have a climber in our midst.

Normally there's a gate across the doorway and we climb over it (and all the stuff) to get to the attic ladder. But in my 24 week-pregnant state, that was too hard, so I moved everything out so I could get to the ladder, not realizing the 3 yr old I left happily watching Dora would follow me....

I was in the attic when she started to call to me. I kept telling her to wait, I'd be down in a minute, etc. After much yelling back and forth and finally "mommy, come help me!" and I realize that voice is not nearly as far away as it should be, I look down to see her at the next to the top step. Did I say this ladder is 12 ft high?

Instead of doing the smart thing and reaching down to her, I yelled for Frederic to come help (he had been watching a movie with headphones, so missed all this). She started to climb back down, but when she saw him climbed back up. Finally I realized the safest thing to do was to reach down and help her into the attic. Thankfully, my panicked scream didn't scare her into letting go. In fact, she wasn't scared at all (except maybe when she saw Frederic and realized she did something bad). So she checked out the very messy, very hot attic, and climbed down (with Fredo close by). Hopefully she'll be uninterested in the attic from now on.


I should have known better, she tries climbing ladders all the time, but this ladder is not easy to climb. She clearly has no fear!

More HeadScarves and Clones

I don't get this fascination with headscarves....today it was a blanket trailing behind her like Princess Diana's wedding veil.

And it's very clear whose child this is!




Nanny's visit
Despite being here a little more than 2 weeks, I neglected to take pictures. I don't know why, perhaps because Nanny was happy to pass Angelina off to me when I got home so didn't have a chance. At least that's my excuse.

So on her final day, I tried to take some pictures. Angelina very happily chose to wear her pretty white dress. Alas, she refused to smile for the camera. We tried to take some at home, no luck. FInally, at the airport we tried again. You can see the result here. She was rather cranky and not so happy Nanny was leaving, so smiling for a picture was not high on her list. Picking her nose, on the other hand....