She crawled over and wanted to sit right on my lap, as I was pumping. The entire bed, heck the entire basement was her playground and she wants to sit right on me. I asked her if something scared her. She replied, “Yes, a ghost.”
This is where things get a little fuzzy. I asked her where the ghost was and what he looked like. The answers were a big inconsistent. First it was the window (which would totally make sense with a reflection) but then it was near the bedroom door. The ghost apparently was white but again, it is not clear. She still associates ghosts with Halloween and says that that is the time of year when they come out and yet now there has been two ghost spottings in our basement…both times in the basement…never upstairs.
“Leesh you better get up if you want to make it to work by 8.”
I look up to see the digital clock projecting 6:40am on ceiling. I roll over, lay in bed for 2 more minutes before getting up and taking a shower.
Meanwhile Andy makes Belén’s lunch, gets her sheet and other stuff ready for school, feeds the pets and solves world hunger.
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter.
Belén must be up.
“MOMMY…MOOOOMMMMY…Where are you?”
“In the closet sweetie.”
“Mommy!”
“Back here.”
“Hi Mommy.”
“Hi Belén.”
“Mommy, what is this?”
“I don’t know sweetie, some sort of plastic thing.’’
“Mommy, what is this?”
“I don’t know, maybe daddy knows.”
Not a lot has changed in our nursery since it was Belén’s but I don’t believe I ever posted photos of the room. We have added a few things like a mobile we picked up from a beach vendor during our trip to Puerto Vallarta last May as well as the addition of a new quilt from Nana. Of course there are new clothes, shoes and books from the baby shower and a few “I cannot resist how cute this is” purchases.
My daily walks through Boise’s historic North End are inspiring me to become a better photographer. There are countless unique and beautiful buildings and flowers to admire like this detached garage. One day I hope to make a photography experiment out of it and even bring the big camera along…
I always wonder what the heck people do on maternity leave. Even now I wonder this because I myself cannot even account for my time. Andy and Belén get home at the end of the day and after I have given and received ample hugs and kisses from my first born, Andy inevitably asks me how my day went. My response is pretty typically, “It was good. We (insert a couple of the following activities: slept in, went for a walk, ate breakfast, ate lunch, barfed, had a blow out, took a bath [Eloise], took a shower [Mommy], took a nap, walked to the coffee shop, did tummy time, wrote a blog, watched a show on television, unsuccessfully attempted to keep myself hydrated, did dishes, did laundry, cleaned up, unloaded the dishwasher, edited some photos, read blogs, made dinner, made dessert), but honestly I cannot account for my time and I really don’t know where the day went.” Andy usually says something like, “Oh ya. You spent a lot of time feeding her too.” and then we carry on with our evening.
Could I seriously resist though? They are so gorgeous!
As Andy knew it would, it all worked out well and I soon found myself in a wheelchair holding Eloise in her carseat being wheeled to the hospital exit. Even though I was thrilled to be leaving the confines of a hospital room and bed, I am sure as any new parent can relate, I felt a lot of anxiety about leaving the hospital responsible for the welfare of such a tiny baby. I remember feeling almost exactly the same with Belén.
The safety net of everything is going to be okay is removed as soon as the glass doors swing open and the wheels of the chair roll over the threshold to the hospital bump…bump. A wave of panic came over me like, “I cannot believe they trust me to take this little human home and take care of her.” She is still not pooping and peeing. She spits up all of the time. What if I don’t know the right thing to do? What if she chokes on her spit up? And then there is this other adorable two-year-old to take care of. Not to mention the wacky post-delivery pregnancy hormones an actor in the scene as well.
It all added up to a major wave of self doubt and anxiety that nearly brought me to tears.
I have been talking about Belén’s Big Girl Room for some time. It has been a very fun project for me because I have never in my entire life been able to design and decorate a room from a blank slate. There have always been certain pieces of furniture I needed to make do with or other items I could not change, so the blank slate made this especially fun.
The wall color was the existing color when we bought the house and used this room for our bedroom. It is very versatile and I really love it and thought it might make a good little girl’s room if matched with hot pink because the darkness of the walls helps make sleeping easier. I find out later, after the entire room was finished and Andy had repainted a fresh coat of paint using something very similar to the old color that not only does he not think the wall color is light enough but he thinks the room is strange. Might have been nice to know earlier, but I guess he thought better than criticizing the decor choices of a pregnant lady…
That said, let me introduce you to Belén’s new Big Girl Room.
Spring is here!!
Even when I am not pregnant, I am not what you would describe as a good gardner. You see, I love the idea of being a gardener, but I never put the time in to really figure out what it takes to grow great crops. That said, I don’t let this stop me from trying and that trying allows me to learn a little something every year (and produce a few edible vegetables.)
This year with constant spring rain and being 37 weeks pregnant before getting the plan for the square foot gardens together has made the gardening situation even more bleak. Luckily I was able to recruit some helpers to plant the crops growable before the last frost because my belly was not very amenable to me working the land.
