I was a new mama today

Nine years ago today I became a mother for the first time. We named our daughter Amelia Beatrice. I liked the name Amelia, Chris liked Beatrice. When the midwife asked what we wanted to name our baby, Chris chimed in first. He said later that he used my choice because, as he put it, I had worked so hard to birth her. Still, Amelia is very much a "Bea". It's rare that we actually call her by her first name. Here are some more funny tidbits about Bea's early days.

We couldn't agree on a boy's name, so if Bea had been a boy (we didn't find out until she was born) she might have been Joshua, Jacob, Jesse, Jedediah, or Primo. I preferred the J names. If Ingrid had been a boy (we found out before she was born) I was really pushing for Jedediah again. I liked Josiah, too. I really like Clint Eastwood westerns, and old fashioned names.

Bea was born with a very distinct "WTF???" look on her face. The whole eviction from the womb apparently threw her for a loop. To this day, she still has trouble with sudden transitions.

She was 7 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long. She was the exact same weight as I was. Her little sister was nearly a pound more. She had blue eyes until she was about 5 months old, then they turned gray, and then they turned green/hazel. She had a head full of black hair.

One of Bea's first words was "no". Others were "mama", "papa" and "bear". She was an early talker and walker.

She and our late dog Kaya the rottwieler got along famously. When Bea grows up she wants to be a vet.

For about two years (age 2-4) her favorite article of clothing was a pink shorts and tank top set with batiked shells on it. She called it her pink outfit, and she would wear it for days on end. She was way too big for it by the time I hid it in my drawers. Ingrid's worn it a couple of times, but she's not obsessed with it.

Bea nursed until she was almost 5. She hadn't nursed for about 3 months when I got pregnant with Ingrid. She called nursing "nip".

Bea's imaginary friend was named Annie and she lived in a castle.

Bea's favorite book as a baby was Big Little Lion.

Bea has an aversion to buttons, and hasn't worn anything with buttons (even just for decoration) since she was 3. She's not fond of snaps and zippers, either, and try as she might, she really doesn't like jeans. Her aversion was so strong at one point that if someone else was wearing buttons she wouldn't touch that person, and she wouldn't sit in a chair with a buttoned shirt or jacket hanging on the back. She once told me she was afraid of them.

Bea loves reading and math. She's an amazing artist.

Bea and I bicker because we are so much alike. I think she's much cooler than I am or ever was, though. Her persistence and tenacity will serve her well as she gets older. She has a dark sense of humor. She is a loyal friend with a sensitive soul.

Happy Birthday Blooter!

New Mama!

I'm organizing our stuff in the attic for a tag sale. I've been going through boxes and boxes of photos, children's clothes, baby stuff, books, toys, files, journals. My head is swimming in memories (and dust).

Today I am sorting things we no longer want or need, setting boxes aside that we still want or need, throwing away things no one would probably want or need. Making way for more stuff. It painsme to part with some of the baby stuff, but hopefully my sister in law will find a use for them because....

I'm an Aunt! Moya Ezekiela Sofia... was just born around 1 pm today.

Bad Friend Foods

When Ingrid was an infant she was allergic to dairy products. They gave her weepy, oozy, itchy, eczema patches all over her face, the back of her legs and her elbows. The best way to prevent them was to avoid all dairy. That meant I had to avoid all dairy. Goat, cow, sheep, water buffalo. No dairy. No cheese, yogurt, no fun for me, pirate dairy queen that I am.

She grew out of it, and now dairy doesn't bother her, and now I can eat it, too.

Actually, no I can't. I've been battling another health issue since Ingrid was born, too. It comes and goes, and when it comes, it does so with a vengeance. At times I've been miserable and uncomfortable. I've tried everything, except a change in diet, because I know it would require a radical chance in my eating habits for at least 6 months, and this radical change in diet will mean no more of favorites. No more comfort food.

I can't stand it any more. I'm back to being physically uncomfortable, and I don't want to go the pharmaceutical route again, because it's only a temporary fix. So starting tomorrow, I'm getting on the restricted diet train. In a word, I'm bummed. Here's what I won't be eating for the next six months:

Sugar in all forms, including honey, except occasional whole fresh fruit.
Fungus, molds, and yeast in all forms, including vitamins and minerals.
Most B vitamins (unless label states otherwise).
Most breads and commercial baked goods.
All alcoholic beverages. (At least I can still make wine!)
Mushrooms
Starchy vegetables like corn and potatoes.
Dry roasted nuts.
Barbecued potato chips.
Most commercial soups.
Apple cider and natural root beer.
White flour.
Bacon and other pork, which often contain molds.
Wheat, oats, rye and barley, (gluten).
Fruit and diluted fruit juices, high in fructose (fruit sugar)

Then there are the things I will have to limit:

Whole grains
Nuts and seeds (small amounts).
Beans and other legumes (small amounts).

I can have kombucha, meats, fish, poultry, vegetables. No bread or pasta.

Bummer.

UPDATE! Fermented foods and vinegar are back on the list! Hello Kim chee! (And no way was I going to give up kombucha!) Still no dairy or alcohol.

Vertamae

I picked up my bike on Wednesday. It's big and green. You know how some bikes are sleek and sexy? If they were human they'd be tall and svelte, they'd have deep voices and wear slinky clothes. Even my Giant hybrid has some sex appeal in this way, but she's more like Greta Garbo.

Not my new bike. Vertamae, as I've named her, is the kind of sexy where if she were human she'd look like Lena Horne with hairy armpits and cat eye glasses. She has a big wicker basket on the front, and fenders, and a bell. I rode her to town on Saturday and had a little accident where I broke the bracket that holds the derailleur to the bike. As luck would have it, this happened in front of the co-op, and a couple of friends whom I haven't seen in a really long time happened to run out the store and offer me a ride. They took me to the bike shop, I dropped Vertamae off, and picked her up today. It was actually a good thing. I got to spend time with my friends, who are moving to Costa Rica in August, and the damage was minimal.

Vertamae and I are going to have a good summer. There will be biking for the whole family. I'm going to ride to work as often as possible (except when I work in Amherst). Ingrid is big enough for our tandem bike attachement this year, and she still fits into the bike trailer. Bea looks so cool on her Electra Cruiser (if it were human it would look like, well, Bea). And Chris isn't taking any classes this summer so he'll have a chance to get on his road bike. His bike is sexy in that sexy husband way. So I guess if our bikes had babies they'd look like our kids as bikes.