School Fiesta Parade

Not to be outdone by the Battle of Flowers, Flambeau or King William Parades, Angelina and Lenaïc's school also had a Fiesta Parade.

Each class dressed in different themes. The infants were the "T-birds and Pink Ladies." Angelina's class weren't meant to be hippies, but that's how she looked ;) The classes then walked the parade route and ended up with a big picnic. It was our first school event. Lots of fun for all!







Lenaïc, however, was more interested in a nap...


More Fiesta photos are HERE

Fiesta Fun

And so ends the 10 day extravaganza that is Fiesta San Antonio. I confess we do comparatively little for Fiesta, but we're still worn out...




For the first time I took Angelina and her "sister" Felice to the Charreada, or Mexican rodeo. We didn't see much of the actual rodeo, but we did see the ladies in pretty dresses with horses "dancing."


And there was the King William Fair. This is an event in which all of Southtown participates. The parade is the best, in my opinion - it's everything goes, from kids in flower costumes to men in drag to everything in between.

This year's Southtown Kids in the Hood float was "Green Gets Down with Southtown" and was all about recycling.

The best part was probably the Float Decorating party at Friendly Spot








Because the next morning all the kids were exhausted.... Still, the parade was fabulous!

More Fiesta pictures HERE

Big Sister

Occasionally Angelina wants to be like Mommy too. And what does Mommy do with her baby brother 90% of the time? Nurse him.

So what does Angelina want to do? Nurse her brother.

I didn't manage to get pictures of her attempt, as he was a bit too frustrated ;), but I did get lots of snaps just before of her trying to play peak-a-boo.

Papa's Little Girl

Angelina is SUCH a daddy's girl. Anything Papa does, she has to do too. His normal attire is jeans and a t-shirt. Nice jeans. Nice shirt. But still, jeans and t-shirt. Twice this week he wore a suit (he looks great in a suit, by the way, just weird since it's so not his style).

Angelina, seeing him put on a tie, insists she must have one too.

Alas, she wouldn't pose for me, but she did wear her tie to school all day.

Is this the same baby?

That's what the pediatrician said when she saw his weight at his 4 month appointment. Yes, he's already 4 months old!

At 48 hours old he was jaundiced and still losing weight.







At 3 weeks old he'd only just regained his birth weight (hope is to regain by 2 weeks). The pediatrician was concerned and we had to go in for multiple weight checks in the first few weeks, and continue breastfeeding on demand. He seemed to catch up, despite some food sensitivity issues: he can't tolerate dairy proteins (even hidden dairy. Do you know how many foods contain dairy in some form? just about ALL!), soy, and it looks like eggs. If I have any of those, it goes into the breastmilk and he gets green mucousy poops, stuffy nose with trouble breathing well, and painful gas as well as a small rash. It takes a couple of weeks to clear it all from his system, but once it does, all is well and normal. Obviously, it's not hurting his weight gain.




As of 9 April 2010:
15.6lbs (7.1kg) 75th%
24 inches (61 cm) 10th%

We call him the "Happy Buddha."

(which also means he appears to have my body so far - short and stocky)

Hooray for Passports!

He's officially a US Citizen! Lenaïc that is. No, as I described before, the US government wasn't convinced of his citizenship just by his birth certificate. We had to submit further proof.

In the end I submitted:

*my birth certificate
*immunization records (which prove nothing as they do not indicate place of birth but they asked...)
*newborn screen record issued by state of Texas
*medical records created 2 weeks after he was born (also proving nothing as the only indication was a hand written note "born at home.")
*My passport, Frédéric’s passport, and Angelina's passport

I guess the last set of items clinched it.

So now we can travel!

Even Asleep He Smiles

Birthday Party Fun

Birthday parties are interesting events for Angelina. She's at that stage where she wants every party to be about her, and she wants us to always sing "Happy Birthday" to her. As you can imagine,that makes it difficult when we go to other kids' birthdays.

She seems to be improving though. On Saturday we went to our friend Juanito's 3rd birthday. She doesn't know they share a special bond - when she was about 9 months old and he was about 1 month old, they came over for a visit. He had a cold. His mom, Nicole, used a bulb to suction out his nose. She laid it down. Angelina picked it up and sucked out its contents into her mouth.....you can't get closer than that! (And of course 3 days later, her cold started)

Anyway, after saying Juanito's gift was "mine" all morning, when we got to the party, she immediately said "This is for you!" And then at present opening time, she happily handed it to him to open. Of course, then she wanted him to play with that present and ONLY that present, but we're working on it....

As for singing, she very happily sang "Happy Birthday Dear Juanito" with no complaints. So, we're getting there.

The Little Guy

Or not so little...

I have no idea how much he weighs at the moment, but it's probably around 15lbs (6.8 kg).


He certainly likes his Mommy's Milk.

I can spend all day just looking at him.


Sometimes known as Buddha Baby

On parenthood

"Your children are not your children
They are the sons and the daughters of life's longing for itself
They come through you but they are not from you
And though they are with you they belong not to you
You can give them your love but not your thoughts
They have their own thoughts
You can house their bodies but not their souls
For their souls live in a place of tomorrow which you cannot visit
Not even in your dreams
You can strive to be like them but you cannot make them just like you..."
-- Kahlil Gibran

Passports and how to be a US Citizen

The "Medical Facility"


Ah, the logic of the US government.

When Angelina was born, we ordered her passport when she was about 6 weeks old and did a rush order because we were travelling in 3 weeks. Fortunately, no problems, it arrived and off to Switzerland we went.

It’s a good thing we had no such trip planned after Lenaïc was born.

When he was 11 weeks old we dutifully went to the passport office with his official, certified birth certificate from the State of Texas. Signed appropriate documents indicating we were his parents, paid our fee and sent it off.

Yesterday he received a letter. “The evidence you submitted is not acceptable for passport purposes for the reason below:
Your birth certificate does not indicate the medical facility where you were born, so you will need to submit a combination of additional documents to support your claim to United States citizenship.”

Huh? A birth certificate is not sufficient evidence???? What does physical building where the infant was born matter? For the record - the place of birth is listed as "Home" with our physical address, which is in, you know, the US.

And what amazes me, is what is accepted as additional documentation:

*Mother’s birth certificate (ok, this makes sense, although the mother need not be born in the US for the baby to be a citizen). But that’s not enough, I must ALSO send other documents:

• Church records – um, because church records are somehow considered legally valid proof of citizenship? Last I checked, you didn’t have to be a US citizen to be baptized in a US church

• Medical records created within the first year of birth showing your name, date, and place of birth – um, because you have to be a US citizen to receive medical care in the US? Last I checked, all you had to do was be able to pay to receive medical care. Not to mention such records rarely indicate place of birth.

• Immunization record that shows your name, date and place of birth – um, because you have to be a US citizen to receive immunizations? No. You just have to show up at the public health clinic and pay. We don’t ask your citizenship before giving you a shot.

But somehow, all these are all more acceptable than a BIRTH CERTIFICATE?!

Fortunately, we’re in no rush.

Fortunately I happen to have a certified copy of my birth certificate (done a few years ago, but they don’t indicate it has to be recent) because I wisely ordered a couple of extra when I needed it for our marriage. Otherwise, it can take months to receive by mail.

And fortunately we’re doing this now. Most Americans don’t apply for a passport until they’re an adult. I can’t imagine Lenaïc having to track down all that info in 20 years, when he’s lived in multiple places, has no idea whom his doctor was in his first year of life, and they don’t keep immunization records past 18.

Hopefully I can gather sufficient evidence, and I’ll throw in copies of both Frédéric’s and my passport (he’s a naturalized US citizen now) for good measure. But really, this is ridiculous. Homebirths may not be the norm in the US (as they are in The Netherlands), but they’re not that rare. And why should the building matter? He could have been born in a field, but as long as it’s US soil, esp. if he’s born to American parents (my place of birth is also listed on his birth certificate so my citizenship should be clear), he’s a citizen!


[Friends suggested I send a photo of me giving birth, with a picture of our house and a google earth map. Here we are about 12 hours after birth, in my bed, at home. In the US.]


In the interest of full disclosure, I did some searching as I vaguely remembered some story about birth certificate fraud. Sure enough there was. However, we're not in a border community, and my midwife is licensed by the state board and has not been involved in any fraud accusations.....

The Cow Parade

Cattle Drive, San Antonio Style

Every year San Antonio has a rodeo in February. It's part traditional rodeo (bucking broncos, roping steers, etc), part 4-H (lots of kids showing their animals and winning big bucks, and part concert venue. We're not really into the rodeo itself, but the kick off is pretty fun.

Houston St becomes the Old West. Cowboys "drive" cattle down from Market Square to the Alamo. Along the way are assorted Old West type events, including some act with guys shooting guns which were all too realistic for me. But the most fun as the cow parade.
As you can see from Nanny, it was cold that day. But then Nanny is cold if it's less than 65F out.

The longhorns were sure fun to see though!

Mini-me

It's still so weird to me to have a kid who looks like me. I got used to Angelina as a clone of Frederic. People have actually said to me "Is she yours?" I guess they assume I'm the Nanny....


Then comes Lenaïc. Frederic did contribute the Y chromosome, but I'm not sure much else. He really looks just like me.



And for more photos go HERE

Is It Possible to be Painfully Social?

We've heard of "painfully shy." Well, Angelina is the opposite: Painfully Social. As in, so social it can be painful at times. Of course as her mother, I want to protect her from the pain part, and know that's not possible.

Here's the Up and the Down of being too social.

Up: We walk to Friendly Spot one Saturday. It's an ice house (i.e. they sell beer outside) with a kids' playground (man I love my neighborhood!). Tons of kids playing, no one I recognize initially. Her first words are "Mommy! Look! All my friends!!!" Note that *she* knew none of them, but they were her friends. That's a good thing. I hope that she can always walk into a group of new people and see first, only friends. Later we did see another kid she knew well, and she spent most of her time with her and her friends.

Down: Not everyone wants to be your friend. I've seen this happen before at other gatherings, and she's at a total loss as to how to react. Today, fortunately she was oblivious.

We went to the zoo. Spectacular day, actually pretty full for a weekday in February. As we arrive, Lenaïc wants to nurse so I sat there while she played on a statue which was full of kids. Then the kids left. "Mommy, where'd the kids go? We need to find the kids!" I reminded her we were here to see animals, but no worries. There were lots of school kids there on field trips. Then, as usually happens in such places, you see the same people at each exhibit because you're going the same pace. Early on, we see a family from NY with 3 young girls (8, 6, and 5). She didn't interact too much initially, but then we got to the aviary where I couldn't go with the stroller, and she trudged on ahead. I could see her, so let her go...then the family with 3 girls caught up, and she just became the 4th child.

The parents were great and took it in stride. The girls were a little confused though. They'd get ahead, Angelina would say "Where are the girls? Come on Mommy, let's go." and race up to them. The oldest one was pretty tolerant, but the younger ones kept saying "Why is she following us?!"

I said she didn't have any sisters so she liked being around other girls. And the mom said something along the same lines. This went on for about an hour. She kept trying to engage the girls, share in whatever they were doing. The parents were sweet and encouraged her (I sort of let it flow naturally, pulled her back if need be, tried not to interfere too much otherwise). Eventually she got distracted and I pushed her up ahead as they hung back (I suspected she'd be upset to say goodbye, so wanted to avoid it) so they could finally ditch us.

All in all it was fun, and she was in very good spirits (no tantrums, no difficulties!), and she didn't seem to notice the girls weren't that into her. So, I guess ignorance is bliss. For now.

A Visit From Nanny

Nanny of course wanted to meet Lenaïc, and Frédéric had back to back business trips in January, so we figured that'd be a good time for her to come. As it was, I was having a hard time managing both kids by myself during the day. I couldn't imagine it around the clock. So Nanny to the rescue! At least for the first week...

Angelina was THRILLED to have Nanny here, she barely noticed Papa gone. Until week 2. Poor Nanny couldn't do much to help then, all Angelina wanted was Papa. But she helped ME a ton! I've never had so many clean clothes or dishes washed so quickly!

And Lenaïc got to meet Nanny for the first time.


And a few more pictures loaded here

Gymnastics!

One thing about having Angelina home while I'm on maternity leave, I need to find ways to keep her busy! The Little Gym has a free trial class for gymnastics, so we decided to give it a go one Tuesday. She LOVED it.



Listening to the teacher was of course a challenge, but she had so much fun playing on the bars, balance beam, floors...



However, I think we're going to hold off signing her up. It's a 5 month commitment and a lot of money. We've decided to sign her up for dance class instead this spring, and save gymnastics for fall. She just needs MOVEMENT!


(pictures taken with my phone, so not the best, but you get the idea...)

Worry No More: 2 Month Stats

Or at least now I can worry about something else.

Initially we were concerned about Lenaïc's weight gain since he'd dropped so much at birth and at 3 weeks or so was in the 3rd percentile (down from the 30th). I knew it was improving as he's growing out of all his clothes, but we finally had the official weigh in yesterday:

11lbs 12 oz (5.04kg)
23 inches (58.4cm)

That puts him in the 50th%. All on Mommy's Milk.

Also meant we had our two month shots. Four shots + one oral:
DTaP: Diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine
Hib: Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine
IPV: Inactivated poliovirus vaccine
PCV: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine
Rota: Rotavirus vaccine

Ouch. He calmed down pretty quickly though, and slept almost 6 hours last night. Unfortunately, I woke after 3 hours, as my internal (i.e. boob) clock has been set to his every 2-3 hour waking....

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.