The Land of the Big People

Andy and an unhappy Belén

A couple of evenings ago, Belén was asleep in the swing and Andy was laying on the couch and I decided to go lay next to him.  In doing so, my face was directly in front of mine and it immediately struck me as strange how large his face was.  I couldn’t figure out why my husband’s face suddenly seemed so ginormously large when I realized that it is because I am used to staring at a baby face all day rather than a full grown male adult face.  It really tripped me out.  I guess that just goes to show how much your perspective can change (and probably how much I need to start hanging out with adults more).

We did another Belén photo shoot last week.  Some of the photos are listed under Belén Rose – Two Months Old.  Time is flying so fast, I cannot believe she is almost three months old!

Last week, we went over to one of Andy’s friends from high school who lives in Oslo, Norway.  It was really nice to get to know his friend and his wife and also meet their 18-month old daughter.  We were amazed to learn about Norway’s policies on maternity and paternity leave.  Between the two combined, they get nearly a PAID year off of work.  They have recently increased the amount of paternity leave so employers will be less inclined to favor hiring a man, since women have the potential of needing to take maternity leave.  I believe they said with each child the woman gets nearly seven months maternity leave followed by nearly four months of paternity leave for the man.  Then, after that is over, they have laws about how to reintroduce the child to daycare.  The first day, they just take the baby there for an hour and then leave with the baby, just to get the child used to the new environment.  Then, the next couple of days, they leave them for two hours and then pick them up.  This easing in process lasts two to three weeks and the time the woman is away from work during this time is again, paid.  Wouldn’t that be nice?  I have talked with so many moms, especially of my mom’s generation who could only take six weeks off of work.  I absolutely think that is too short.  I would never recommend taking less than 12 weeks after my experiences.

A couple of random thoughts.  Why is everything peach-flavored but never nectarine-flavored.  I think white nectarines are the best of all, why are they so ignored?  Also, why did we Americans cease use of such a cool word in “rubbish”?  Really doesn’t rubbish sound so much better than “trash”?  I think I am going to start a strike on trash and start adopting rubbish.  Can you tell I just finished a novel by a British author?