The shadow

One day my husband and I were assigning colors to people we knew (OK, it's a weird sentence but bear with me). A common friend was red, because he was full of passion, another orange, because he was full of life...And I started thinking what my color was...I knew I was red at some point, and then gray maybe....but after my son's birth, I felt like I didn't have a color... Everyday I was just doing things I had to do and there was no room for me to express myself...I said to my husband "I don't have a color, I'm just a shadow now".

When Mai-Ni emailed me the website of the glow this thought came back to my mind...Look at all these stylish mothers and their gorgeous houses! I'm not even sure what the website is for but there I was, sitting with my gray hair, my pants full of baby food stain, the top of my sweater full of snot, dark circles under my eyes and exhausted from the previous night...I was "a shadow" once again, far away from this:

but more like this:

or this:

from colourbox.com

And what's worse is that it was not an exceptional day for me. I sometimes don't remember the last time I took a shower, yes, I put on a sweater that had a pee stain on more often than I want to admit, my style includes whatever is stain-free from my closet, if possible, and I combine all with a pink backpack.

But maybe all I need is the perfect summer tote from Coach in order to turn from shadow into glow, maybe one day that perfect tote will magically appear in my living room, do the dishes and the laundry, clean my apartment, prepare food for everybody, bath, change and put my baby to sleep, dye my hair, massage me, and go ahead and do my nails....And then I will glow!!!

Yes, maybe one day...

Trends for Trendy Mamas

Everyday you hear about a new trend in child care and you think, damn it, how did I miss that? I wanted to share with you, adventurous new mothers and mother-to-be's, a couple of things you may not heard of but may want to consider...

1. Teaching your baby sign language
Babies cry, whine and get frustrated and as parents most of the time you really don't know what's going on. Is he hungry? Does he have pain? Does he need to be changed? The idea behind sign language is that you teach your baby the sign for simple and useful words and and they start communicating with you in sign language before they start talking....


Here's a very well-done website. They even have a dictionary and a video clip that goes with every word.
http://www.babysignlanguage.com/

Photo from www.guardian.co.uk

Did I do it? I felt like he was already telling me what he wanted with his own gestures and sounds it was up to me to decipher them. But yeah, did I decipher? No...but I'm working on it. I know of some friends who have successfully done the sign language. If you don't believe, here's a cute video of a 6 month-old using the sign language.

2. Potty training your baby
The idea behind potty training your baby is that instinctually no baby wants to pee or poop on himself, just like other animals. And unfortunately we kind of force them to do that by using diapers. So you train your babies from very early on to pee and poop in the potty.

Here are two interesting links for brave mamas:

http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/

http://www.bornpottytrained.com/

And also for Turkish speakers only, a wonderful blog, and the entry of a mother who uses this technique:
http://yavrusu.blogspot.be/2012/12/tuvalet-iletisimi.html

Photo from http://www.infobarrel.com

As the mother of a social pooper (i.e., won't poop unless you talk him into it), I believe this is true...What did people do before Pampers, right?? I would have liked to try this if he was not going to daycare.

3. Baby led weaning
The idea behind baby led weaning is that children can feed themselves proper food if you just hand them the food. So you don't do mashed anything...Here's the link: http://www.babyledweaning.com/

Photo from http://jesshilton.blogspot.be/2012/04/baby-led-weaning.html

I believe it's important for babies to know what they are eating looks like and smells like. But since I have a strong chocking anxiety, I was not very motivated to hand him things.  Plus he doesn't naturally put things in his mouth (I know, weird!). What I did though was to hand him whatever he was going to eat. For instance, I handed him a whole carrot to play with, before he was eating carrots. But again, I have friends who love this. I don't blame them, this would have saved so much of my time.

4. Baby classes
There are classes out there for both babies and mothers like mom and baby yoga or fitness classes, and also only for babies like bébé nageur (swimmer babies) or Pekip (thanks Mai-Ni), naked babies in a hot room, playing around. It's a good way to get out of the house, do a fun activity together and socialize with other mothers.

Did I do any? I really wanted but no! Should you do it? Yes and let me know how it goes....

Blueberry is 9 months!

He is a funny little character...

On one hand, he is very Middle Eastern...He cries (literally tears) to get more houmous (Can you blame him?) He cannot get enough spicy food made with a lot of onion, garlic, cumin and tomato paste. He shakes his booty whenever he hears any kind of music and is attracted by anything that makes a sound....Here's a little video....

On the other hand he is very French...he likes everything better with cream. He has a sweet tooth and likes finishing his food with a small dessert. He has a very developed palate...The first spoon of every meal he takes just a little bit to see if he likes it. If he does,  he opens his mouth, if he doesn't, no matter what you do, he won't eat. I was joking the other day to my husband that he will soon ask for wine to go with his food.

He sometimes acts like a small man. Someone who met him told me that he looks like he will put on a tie and go to work the following morning, which made me laugh. But that's the impression he gives. Now he systematically refuses to take his baby bottle. A huge problem! No more pacifiers....And he won't drink water unless it's from a glass.

Last month, he started saying things like maaaa, pa-pa-pa, da-da-da, blah, blah, blah...We are all wondering in which language his first word will be...

He still does not crawl and seems in no rush whatsoever to do so.

OH GOSH, HOW I ADORE THIS SWEET LITTLE FACE!!!

We are expecting his first teeth to appear anytime now since we noticed a big bump on his lower jaw...But knowing him, he will probably take his time.

He did his first hike at Sonian Forest last Sunday.... In his Manduca and his father's coat, feeling all warm and cozy, he was talking to the trees until he fell asleep.

And finally, 9-month-mama introspection, which may sound a little too dramatic but here it goes...

Being a mother and caring so much for another human being makes you realize how fragile and delicate life is. Life is not by default, life is not given. Anything can happen at any moment. That's why, everyday I spend with him is a gift. For every single breath he takes, I am grateful.

New Year/New Resolutions

The beginning of every year, husband and I have the tradition to create a resolutions list. I like doing this because it forces me to think of the changes I want in my life.

So the tradition has not changed this year...We sat down and wrote our lists.

3 new items appeared on my list this year.

1. Move your body: Ever since the birth of my blueberry, I haven't been doing any exercises. I tried to run a couple of times  but I have an injury on my left knee that forced me to stop. And no running meant no moving. And I feel terrible about it...It's not about to get thin, it's about being fit and in shape. So this year,  I resolve to move my body.

What did I do to accomplish it? I went to a zumba class last night. What? Zumba. Yes, I didn't know what it was either. It's kind of a dance work-out. The idea sounded interesting but there I was doing Jennifer Lopez moves (oh so ridiculously) and completely unable to follow the choreography. I found myself thinking, what the hell am I doing here...  Zumba made me realize how much I miss running. I'm no JLo, so I'm gonna give my left knee a second chance. 

2. Couple time: Husband and I have been very bad at this. We had a date night without bébé only twice in 8 months. That's pretty pathetic. Plus everytime we are together, we are so exhausted that we just wanna go to bed. I resolve to have a date night at least once a month and create at least 5 minutes everyday where we talk about us, not baby-related stuff, not things that need to be done the following day, just us.

What will I do to accomplish it? Will study the babysitter market, will find out how you find them, how much you pay them, how it works etc. 

3. Friends:

I have been a bad friend. Yes, I was the woman in the cartoon. No time to talk, no time to listen, I was absent from my friends' lives. New relationships started, old relationships ended, some of my friends have been sick and I found out months later. I'm sorry you guys, I love you. I resolve to be a better friend this year.

What will I do to accomplish it?  I will call, email, skype. I won't wait for the perfect time to call you. Cause I learned, it doesn't exist.


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What are your resolutions??

Happy New Year!

Oh my! This lazy blogger of yours did not do one single entry in over a month!!! Tell me about holidays....

My dear friends....

I wish you all a healthy, prosperous, peaceful new year full of snuggles...

And here's the sweet face of my little Santa