Archive for May, 2007
The Pink Elephant
Changing Natalie’s diapers has become quite a challenge since she’s gotten to be a rollin’-over, toe-grabbing gal. Luckily, Great-Aunt Bonnie got Natalie this cute pink elephant that plays “twinkle twinkle little star” when you squeeze the tummy. You can also sing “the alphabet” to the same tune. Since the pink elephant is the perfect distraction and allows us to change her more easily, we’ve been singing a lot of “the alphabet” and “twinkle, twinkle little star.”
Bored with these two songs, we made up this little ditty:
Elephant, oh elephant,
How I wonder where you went
Are you scared of mice so small?
Nat’lie loves you most of all
Elephant oh elephant,
How I wonder where you went
Here she is with her favorite little pink elephant-friend. We love her messy morning hair!
Adventures in NIPing
NIP = Nursing in Public
Since Natalie was born, I’ve never had a big problem nursing in front of people. I started breastfeeding in front of family and close friends right away, and before long, I was nursing in restaurants and on airplanes. My friend Jodi helped me get comfortable pretty early on while we were shopping with Natalie in tow (Natalie was about 2 weeks at the time). We were in a maternity boutique in PA and I anticipated Natalie being hungry soon. Rather than get in the car and have to stop half-way home, I said I was going to ask the store clerk if she minded me feeding the baby before we left. Hearing this, Jodi pointed out that I had the right to nurse my child and that I didn’t need “permission.” Right on.
Frankly, when Natalie is crying from hunger, my concern is getting her fed—in those moments I couldn’t care less about accidentally flashing someone, although I try to be discrete. I hope I’m successful at least most of the time.
Natalie and I have been going for walks in Veteran’s Park with some other Moms and babies from our breastfeeding group. Natalie has yet to make through an entire walk without needing to stop and nurse—even if I’ve just fed her before-hand. So I’ve gotten used to nursing her on park benches. All the benches in Veteran’s Park are in groups of three. The last time we were there, I was just about to lift up my shirt when an elderly gentleman sat down on the bench next to mine. Since Natalie was quite hysterical there wasn’t much I could do besides feed her. Luckily, either the guy was trying to be respectful or he was just very sleepy but he just sat there with his eyes closed the whole time. I was in the clear until Natalie started making very loud and obvious slurping and sucking noises as she nursed! Oy vey…
My hope is that as breastfeeding is encouraged more and more, people will start nursing in public more often, nursing will become more mainstream overall and Natalie will not understand what the big deal is when she has children.
Happy Mother’s Day
My first Mother’s Day! It’s still hard for me to believe I’m a mother, but at the same time I can’t remember (nor do I wish to go back to) life before Natalie. The feminist scholar in me wants to read all my Women’s Studies books and examine concepts of identity, motherhood, and family. But what little zen I have in me wins out, so instead I’m trying to have fun and enjoy each moment with my daughter.
Anyway, we had a great first Mother’s Day. Chris got up early that Sunday morning, took care of Natalie while I slept in, and made delicious blueberry pancakes for breakfast. I got a card from Natalie, with her first crayon drawing—I think she has her Dad’s artistic sensibilities! Chris gave me a beautiful locket with Natalie’s picture in it.
While Natalie napped, we planted our first square foot garden! Many thanks to Aunt Elaine for putting us on the path to vegetable gardening. Last time we visited CT, we asked for some advice about starting our garden, and within days of our returning home, a package arrived from Barnes & Noble—two books from Aunt Elaine: Square Foot Gardening & Four-Season Harvest. Woo Hoo! We planted peppers, eggplant, lettuce, zucchini, and cucumbers. We also have pots of basil, thyme, oregano, and dill. The next square foot box will definitely include tomatoes, and some other veggies we’ve yet to decide on.
Then we went to Sayen Gardens in Hamilton. Neither of us had been there before, but I’d heard from folks at work that the Sayen Garden Azalea Festival is the place to be on Mother’s Day. It was beautiful!
