Finally Spring

Alain captured how I feel about it finally being spring with this face:

I'm so excited for non-bundled walks, picnics, farmers markets, gardening and exposed baby rolls. Speaking of rolling, Alain has finally learned to roll over (tummy to back) while clothed. He learned to roll naked weeks ago, but the bulky cloth diaper adds an extra challenge.

We haven't introduced any solid foods yet. We're planning to wait until he's closer to six months old, but may start a little earlier because he's getting very interested in what we're eating and drinking. He's still refusing to drink milk from anywhere except me, so we're giving up on bottles and are going to try sippy cups. Should be entertaining.

We're going to VA again next month to visit family, get our first family photos taken at Meadowlark where we got married (five years ago!) and to have a little welcome/half birthday celebration for Alain. A lot of friends and family in the MD/DC/VA area still haven't met him, so we decided to do a casual open house at my parents. I also liked the idea of celebrating his half birthday, for two reasons. One, we haven't really celebrated him yet. I didn't have a shower when I was pregnant with him (he's a second child, after all), and we didn't do a baptism/christening/naming ceremony/100 days ceremony. Also, I anticipate that most of his full birthday celebrations will be small, since his birthday is so close to Thanksgiving.

I'm thinking about ways to incorporate Julian into our family photos next month. Oddly enough, Taison and I feel like Alain looks more like Julian now than he did at birth. Some of Alain's facial expressions remind us of Julian's sweet peaceful face. It's been hard to find time to remember Julian lately, so it's nice that Alain is helping with that now. We actually just ordered something special for Julian-more on that later because his baby brother is waking up now!

Back!

I've neglected my poor blog for a month! Here are my excuses:
1. Vacation
2. Baby only sleeping 2hrs at a time
3. Baby refusing to take naps
4. Computer not working very well

We're long back from vacation, Alain slept more like a normal baby last night and took regular naps today, and I just restarted the computer. Bonus: Taison just took Alain on a walk. Time to write!

Vacation was wonderful. The yoga retreat at Anamaya was everything I wanted and needed. Beautiful setting, really friendly people, excellent food, restorative yoga. Even without all of these things, spending two weeks with both of my boys (Taison was off for two weeks-we spent one in Costa Rica) was enough of a treat. This was all a bonus...AND we saw the Scott grandparents before and after.

There were about 20 guests at the resort along with us that week. The staff opened the week with a welcome circle, where we shared our passion and intention for the week. We introduced Alain and explained that his passion is breastmilk ; ). I also told the group about Alain's older brother, and explained how important yoga has been to my journey since Julian's birth. As I mentioned above, the yoga that week was restorative. Not too challenging or intense, with a focus on reconnecting and meeting yourself where you are. It was perfect for me-I even tried some cool new poses that I didn't think I could do. We had classes at 7:30am and 5:30pm, each preceded by a snack of perfectly ripe tropical fruit and followed by a delicious meal.

There were some emotionally intense moments for me at points during the week. As the week progressed, I realized how much fear and anxiety I had been storing in my body since we lost Julian: fear of being pregnant again, fear of not being able to get pregnant again, worry about getting Alain here safely. The retreat gave me the time and space to acknowledge and let go of some of that. At the closing circle, we were asked to name what we were taking home with us and what we were leaving behind. I said I was taking courage, and leaving guilt.

And now for pictures of Alain's first international trip:

Alain on the first of eight planes that we were on during the course of the trip. He did great and made friends on all of the flights.

First time in a pool

One of the chefs plating lunch-so many fresh fruits and veggies prepared so many different ways-even Taison was satisfied with the food.

Daddy and baby in the nearby town of Montezuma.

We had to wake him up so he wouldn't miss out on putting his feet in the ocean.

Hanging out on mommy's mat before class

Checking out the water in Playa Hermosa

Sleeping through one of many cab rides. The louder and bumpier the ride, the better the nap.

Cool vacation daddy

Sleepy boys

Hanging out near a waterfall that was an easy hike away from the resort.

Looks easy, right?

The view from our room. The jungle noises at sunset were so loud! Lots of wildlife around-geckos, iguanas, howler monkeys, hummingbirds...

Family beach photo

Still Here! (Kind of)

We're in the midst of baby's first trip out of the Northeast. It's a big one: VA then Costa Rica! Alain did great on his first flight (Boston to VA). We leave for part 2 of the trip tomorrow morning. Sorry no pics this time-I'm posting from my phone and need to go bathe the baby and finish packing!

100 Days

When we went to the dry cleaners yesterday, the owner explained to me that in "his country" (Korea), there's a big celebration when babies turn 100 days old. We figured out that Alain is 100 days old today!

These last 100 days have been so special. I was just thinking about the day that we brought him home from the hospital. I was so excited that I almost skipped up to our back door. My parents welcomed us to a house that was warm, sunny, full of Thanksgiving smells and love. I cried pretty hard when we entered-tears of happiness, relief, and sadness that this homecoming was so different than our homecoming after Julian was born.

I could not have imagined what these first 100 days would be like. Alain is starting to become such a little person. He smiles and laughs and "talks" and gets excited when daddy comes home from work. I'm excited to see what the next 100 days have in store.

Here are a few of our 100 day-old's favorite things:

Hanging out with friends (kind of)

Chomping on his fists

Admiring wall art: the calendar is his current favorite-wonder how he'll feel when we have to flip the page to March tomorrow.

SMILING and talking: "a-goo" is his favorite phrase right now

Tummy time! (except for when he hates it)

My New Job

After a probationary period of about 3 months, I have formally moved into my new position as a "stay at home" mom. I resigned from my job a couple of weeks ago. Taison and I had been planning for me to take care of Alain full-time, but I didn't want to pull the plug until he got here safely and I tried out the mommy thing for a while. As I thought, I love it, despite the long hours, uncertainty, and exhaustion : ).

Resigning was bittersweet but not as emotional as I thought it might be. I will miss my students a lot, but I had started to burn out the last few months I was there due to various issues with administration and my caseload. I already felt pretty disconnected after over two months of maternity leave. My boss and coworkers have been understanding, and I think I'll be able to maintain the relationships I've created with them over the last four years.

Kitchen Adventures?

As I'm sure you can imagine, I haven't been doing much in the kitchen lately. I choose meals to cook based on ease of preparation and ability to eat with one hand. I plan way ahead for meals that require even the simplest prep, taking advantage of times when Alain is napping or entertaining himself to measure out and chop ingredients. He can be good company in the kitchen when he's in a good mood. I show him the ingredients and narrate what I'm doing as he sits and watches from his Rock 'n Play. I've also gotten pretty good at maneuvering around the kitchen while wearing him in a wrap carrier, but I miss having long interrupted chunks of time to play around in the kitchen. So, I was excited to take advantage of Taison getting home early one day last week to do some real cooking. On the menu: lobster risotto.

Yum. I end up eating lots of meals on the couch, because it's easier to breastfeed and eat at the same time there : ) 

And now some pics of Alain from the weekend:

Helping Daddy fold laundry

Yoga with Mommy

Getting ready to go on a walk

Hanging out with Grandma : D

Shots and Yoga

Alain had his 2 month appointment today, which meant shots. It was hard to see those needles go into his precious chunky thighs, and even harder to hear him cry in pain for the first time. It's worth it, though. I would much rather deal with shots than illness.

He's 13lbs now, and quickly growing out of most 3 month sized clothes. It's strange to me to be packing away the tiny newborn stuff already.

Bath time in the kitchen sink-he outgrew the bathroom sink!

Story time with mommy

I went to a yoga class for the first time on Sunday. It felt so good! I struggled at first to focus on me and the poses, but I settled in once I convinced myself that baby and daddy were fine and enjoying some "boys only" time at home (which they were).

 Just being cute