Why Me? A post about gratitude

It's human nature to always be worrying about what's coming next and to focus on life's stressors; it's a survival tactic. But sometimes things click so perfectly in your life that you can't help but stop and notice how freaking lucky you are. I am at that place in my life right now, to the point where I keep asking myself, "Why me?" Why am I so lucky? Why does everything I hope for come so easily to me? I am not a particularly spiritual person. I know that I am a kind and empathetic person, but I consider myself agnostic if not atheist. But days like this make me consider whether I had a past life in which I earned some serious karma brownie points.

And so, friends and family, this is a post about gratitude. I don't know who I'm grateful to exactly, but I DO know what I am grateful for.

1. My husband: I am, by nature, an anxious person. He "gets" me and this chills me the heck out.
2. A totally sweet living space: I do dream of someday having a larger, single family house with a big back yard, but our condo is simple, cute, and easy. And you know what they say... "location, location location"; I can't think of a better place to be with a dog and a baby than JP! Plus, let's be honest, I can't even keep 500 square feet of floor clean... I don't even want to know how dirty a whole house could get!
3. My daughter: I have wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember. Case in point, I read the Dr. Sears Baby Book cover to cover (nearly 800 pages!) several years before we even started seriously talking about having kids. Now I have a sweet, generally easy, and yet spunky little girl who is the light of my life.
4. My MPH: Despite becoming a mom while in grad school, I managed to finish. Phew! Otherwise I would have wasted a LOT of loans!!
5. My new job: When I posted on Facebook that I was looking for a job that allowed me to be with my daughter and yet still help moms and babies, it was almost a joke. I didn't think such a job really existed. By some stroke of luck I happen to be friends with the owner of Mama & Me, who also happened to be looking for someone to help with promotions among other things, and I just happened to have the qualifications and personality to fill that gap. I only started a few weeks ago and I'm already planning, developing, promoting, and running events with two of my professional idols. Seriously, if I could have dreamed up the perfect post-graduation job, this would be it. And I can't help shamelessly promoting said events, so please check out http://www.mymamaandme.com/world-breastfeeding-week/ and https://www.facebook.com/mamaandmestudio/events!!!

I'm still working on the work/life balance (I'm not sure anyone ever stops working on that? Certainly not parents!), but I am just so excited to be me right now. So if I see you on the street and you ask how I'm doing and I answer a tad maniacally, just know that it's a combination of sleep deprivation and true enthusiasm.

You're One! The Things You Can Do...

I know every parent thinks his/her own baby is a genius. It's because we watch them grow so quickly, going from not being able to do much to being able to do SO many things in such a short span of time. So I can't help being excited about all the new things my daughter can do because I think she is incredible!

Without further ado, here are some of the AMAZING things you can do, Baby!

1) STTN: Such an important part of parenting life that it has its own acronym. You started sleeping through the night randomly a few weeks ago and we are soooo grateful! 8-10 hour stretches of sleep without needing to nurse you back down feels amazing. It also makes me proud because we never sleep trained you and we still bed share, which just goes to show that the "experts" are full of crap when they say babies need to be "taught" or "trained" to sleep well.

(I wish I had a cuter photo of us both in the bed, but this is the best I can do-- little baby in a King bed!)


2) Walking: Look at you go!

3) Talking... sorta: You know what a squirrel says (insert tongue clicking sound here), you know the monkey says "ah ah!" and you can say "hi" (and Mama and Dada of course). Also, I have been trying to teach you the sign for "all done" for months and was really trying to reinforce it this morning when you were done with breakfast. You weren't quite getting it and you were clearly getting frustrated, so I went to get a towel to wipe your hands. As I was getting the towel, I kept saying "all done" and then I turned to you and you went "ahhhhh DUUUUUUUH!!!!" in a very growly voice!

4) Bringing me books to read: you love to sit and look at books by yourself, but today you brought "Is Your Mama a Llama?" over to me to read to you, which I thought was very sweet.

5) Giving kisses without me asking for them: you did that today for the first time-- a nice slobbery lick right on my cheek!

6) Pet Leigan nicely... some of the time! You still like to pull out fistfuls of fur, but you have also figured out that petting is just like waving with your hand on his back.

7) Pointing when I ask where Dada/Leigan/Mama is.

8) Apparently you know that hats go on your head! When our friend Lisa came to visit, she asked if you wanted the hat you were pointing at, and you patted the top of your head.

9) Recognizing names of your toys: We asked you where Berkeley Bear was, and you picked him out from the bookcase and brought him over to us.

10) You lay down your head when I say "goodnight"... if only it also magically made you fall asleep, too!

You are learning so much so fast... keep up the good work, Baby! <3

Just Call Me Mama, MPH!

Hello everyone, it has been a while! That's because I was busy finishing up my last projects and assignments EVER! I am very relieved, proud, and excited to report that I have FINISHED all of the requirements for my Masters degree in Public Health with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health. This weekend I graduated and received my diploma, so I am officially an MPH Mama! Here are some photos of this weekend's festivities

Checking out the program

Cutie pie!

Can you spot me?

Waving to my fan club

Ahhhh!

So much cuteness.

Jumbotronned!

Out of focus, but too cute not to share

I can't decide who is cuter!

Penalty boxed!

She doesn't seem to mind

Baby's first bike ride! It was such a beautiful day and she loved it (except the process of getting in)

Here we go! (Notice I didn't actually bike in the gown... pretty sure that would be hazardous)

Babies in helmets... need I say more?

Post-graduation, Grandma and GradRaj babysat while we had a much needed date night! I don't have any pictures from that, but I will say that the cheesecake at Tres Gatos was kiiiind of amazing.

The next day, they babysat AGAIN so we could clean the basement. Since cleaning is not at all exciting, you get to see all the fun they had without us:

Waving to GrandRaj at the Tot Lot

Put 'em up!

Obsessed with stairs!

Looks like someone was eating the sand again

Checking out the lilacs at the Arboretum

As our student speaker, Christina, said yesterday, the first question people ask when they find out you graduated is "what's next?" First, I intend to enjoy a relaxed summer with my cute little peanut, as well as do some blogging for the Massachusetts Friends of Midwives (MFOM). Second, I am seriously considering several certifications (not at once of course): postpartum doula, lactation counselor, and childbirth educator. After that, I may try to freelance a bit, as well as partner with local organizations such as community health centers. I am also looking for part-time, flexible jobs... basically it is still quite open ended, but I kind of like it that way right now. Many possibilities! There, now you don't have to ask me about it ;-) All right, I have been far too productive today... time to watch some Parks and Rec and then get ready for a bike ride (with baby on board) to the Esplanade! Congratulations to all my graduate friends!

It's not easy being curious!

My little butterball has been getting herself into some tricky situations lately. I feel a little bad for taking photos first and helping her out second, but I just can't help myself ;-)

Well let's see here... I came in here to get my leg warmer, but now it's out there...

Maybe if I just...

Oh bother!

Well, I thought I wanted this green block, but this didn't turn out how I'd hoped...

This one was surprisingly difficult to get her out of. We managed in the end! :-)

Happy spring!

Hi friends and family,

Between the worst bout of teething we've ever dealt with and end-of-semester projects, this week has been pretty rough. That's why today's two hour nap (for both me and Baby) and fun in the sun felt even awesomer than awesome! It finally feels like spring is here to stay and we are both thrilled. Grandma came out to meet us at the playground, where Baby crawled around, looked at all the "big kids" with admiration, went on the swings, and had a shoulder ride with lots of belly-laughing involved. Love this little butterball turkey!

Very excited to have her hands out of the wrap so she can pull my hair!

It's bright out here! Time to swap winter hats for sun hats!

I'm really hoping that the two good naps she's taken today are a sign that the worst of the teething is over... it is so hard to see her so uncomfortable!

Busy Baby: Adventures in Mobility

The past couple of weeks have been somewhat incredible in terms of baby's development. She learned to roll back-to-front (and if you follow my facebook posts, this resulted in some significant night-time sleep disruption!), pull up to standing, dance (both seated and standing), and even stand only holding on with one hand. Now she is into EV...ERY...THING!! Here are some of said things:

 Helping with laundry... all the shiny things!

Hmmm... I don't think we're quite there yet, baby!

Behind bars

We're both growing our hair out, so we decided to try some new do's! Hers is significantly cuter than mine. Also, it was significantly harder to take the hair tie out than to put it in :-/

Okay, baby says we better go do something or she's going to get into some more "bad" things! Ciao!

Favorites

Hi everyone,

Sorry it has been so long. The MPH part of MPH-Mama has been really intense this semester! I feel like I literally spend every spare moment (between nursing, playing with, pottying, etc. etc. my baby) working on projects. Two more months until graduation, woohoo!


Anyway, since it has been so long, I decided to do a list of Baby's favorites as a way to update the things she's up to lately. Enjoy!

Favorite foods (besides Mama milk, of course):

Berry pancakes

Orange slices 

Favorite activities:

Trying to stand 

(and looking very brutish in the process)

Crawling, of course

(and causing as much mayhem as possible in the process)

Shaking and chewing on this bottle, for whatever reason

Clapping (still need to get a video of that)

Favorite Sounds to Make:

Abwabwabwa

Mamamama (my favorite, of course!)

She also just started a little "Dadadada," but I haven't captured it on film yet!

Favorite words to hear:

ICE CREEEEEAM!

Favorite book:

Five Little Chicks

Favorite songs:

Wheels on the Bus, Baby Beluga, Bad Blue Jay, Shake your Sillies Out, and No More Monkeys