Only one short week from today we have to decide if we want to know the gender of baby #2. I am still torn. My heart says “You don’t need to know” and my mind says “Yes, why wouldn’t you!”. All this back and forth in my mind and heart got me thinking about past generations. Our parents and grandparents didn’t have any way to tell what they were having. They did it the old fashioned way and waited it out…AND (this is a big AND) they came up with their own theories on how to tell the gender of the baby.

So this past weekend I began my own research, just like they did in the good-ole-days. Below are some of my favorite “Old Wives Tales” on how to tell the gender of your baby, and the results of my studies. Drum roll please….

If your face looks rounder, the baby will be a girl.  If you gain weight on your rear end, the baby will be a boy. Result: I am having 2 girls AND a boy! I estimate my face has more than doubled in size and my rear end (mainly hip area that now spills over into the rear end area) has expanded. Therefore, I have concluded that based on the actual size and spillage area I am having not 1, but 3 babies.

Tie a red string to the mother’s wedding band and suspend it above her belly. If the ring goes around in circles, the baby will be a girl. If it sways from side to side, the baby will be a boy. Results: It’s a he-she! First the ring swayed from side to side. Then it abruptly stopped swaying from side to side and started going in a circle. Eek!

If your linea nigra is straight, the baby will be a boy. If the linea nigra is curvy, the baby will be a girl. Results: Inconclusive. I don’t have a linea nigra yet so I have to wait this one out a little. If you are pregnant or know someone who is, PLEASE ask them about their linea nigra for me and don’t forget to post the results. This is one “Old Wives Tale” that I am itching to know more about.

-Victoria

I am stuck and don’t know what to do. Ilan used to be a great eater. He would eat everything, literally. And he loved what he was eating too! We used to joke that he was going to be a food critic when he grew up because of all the food he ate. Actually, we said he would be a very BAD food critic because he thought EVERYTHING was good! Needless to say, it made things easy for me. Over the last two months he has turned into not such a great eater. He is picky and refuses almost everything we give him. I always said I was never going to be “that” mother that made different meals each night to appease the different palates of her children. “You eat what is put in front of you” was my motto.

To avoid making a liar of myself (I can sometimes be a teensy bit stubborn) I realized that he WILL eat what I put in front of him just as long as what I put in front of his is what he likes. Easy, right? That would be true if he were the only one in the house. But he’s not. Jorge and I are kind of getting tired of eating Macaroni, Peas, and Chicken Nuggets for dinner.  Anyway, I found these Food Faces plates made by Fred.

My first reaction when I saw them was, “oh, give me a break!” and I continued surfing the web. Now, two days later I still think about these plates. Although I know using these plates would be sending a message to Ilan that meal time is play time, I can’t help but wonder if they would keep him entertained long enough for him to actually TRY the food we are offering him. Should I buy one and try it out?

-Victoria

I love Salma Hayek! Salma (we are secretly friends and she has demanded that I refer to her by her first name) recently visited Sierra Leone on a humanitarian effort with UNICEF and Pampers. If you didn’t see her on Oprah about a year ago, let me fill you in. Salma is the spokeswoman for the Pampers “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign which supports UNICEF’s efforts to eliminate tetanus. For each pack of specially marked Pampers diapers sold, parent company Proctor and Gamble donates the cost of one tetanus vaccine to UNICEF.

To be honest, up until seeing this video I didn’t pay much attention to the diapers I was buying. I buy Pampers brand regularly but never made an effort to grab the package with the special UNICEF sticker on it. I watched the Oprah episode with Salma but at the time I unconsciously, and perhaps selfishly, decided that this effort wasn’t “close to home”. I have now changed my ways…Sorry Big O, but Cynthia McFadden beat you on this one!

Click on the link below titled, “Salma in Sierra Leone” to watch this video and you will see why. The video is both heartbreaking and inspiring all at the same time. I hope you get as much out of it as I did. Keep the Kleenex handy and when you are done crying let me know what you think…

Salma In Sierra Leone

-Victoria

I can’t believe it is already Friday! When our first son, Ilan, was born I remember wishing the days would pass faster. I would look at the clock and what seemed like 5 hours later would look at it again and wonder why, oh why, had only ONE hour passed? I had a rough time adjusting after his birth. Partly because this whole motherhood thing was so foreign to me (I am not a born natural, shucks!) and partly because he has a milk protein allergy that wasn’t diagnosed until month 4 of his life. I spent my days and nights walking around like a zombie while trying to figure out what to do next with a screaming baby.  Every time we would sit down with him he would scream…and to top it all off, he didn’t sleep. His naps were 10 - 20 minutes long, 30 - 45 if we held and rocked him while he slept. I was averaging a shower a week and brushed my teeth each afternoon, if I was lucky. The days and nights passed so terribly slowly.

But now, now things are so different! Ilan is 17 months old and is SO easy (comparatively speaking) most of the time. He likes to play, watch Baby Signing Time, loves “Mo” aka Elmo, and dances with a very serious look on his face. He is hilarious! Now I look at the clock and what seems like 1 hour later look at it again and wonder why, oh why, have FIVE hours already passed?

Where did our week go? Better yet, where did the last 17 months go?! We just bought a mini digital camera so that we can capture a “snapshot” or two everyday…time flies too fast. We have to capture the moments some how.

Here is a picture of Ilan from this morning, eating popcorn and doing a puzzle. I know, I know. You wonder, “popcorn for breakfast!?”. Refer to my posts, “Salsa, Rice, and Beans, Oh My!” and “I’m No Martha”. Oh, and did I mention I am not a natural at this?

-Victoria

That is the question. I am 15 weeks pregnant with our 2nd child and have just made it through the morning-noon-night sickness. Whew! Now the pregnancy milestone I most look forward to is my 19-week sonogram, which I’ll have in just 4 short weeks. The first time I saw this baby was at 6 weeks and honestly, it was literally just a blob. No head or tail. No arms or legs. Just a blob. So, needless to say, to me this is the first “real” and only time that we will see the baby until the birth in July.

When we were pregnant with our now 17-month old son, Ilan, there was no question as to whether we would find out the gender or not. It was a simple, no. We wanted to be surprised.  The best reward for waiting for my husband was that he was able to share in the joy of the pregnancy by being the first to notify all of our friends and family in the waiting room of the gender. It surely was a proud moment and one that he will never forget. For me, not knowing made the pains of labor seem less intense. I was more focused on getting that baby out so that I could find out what it was rather than focused on the contractions and pushing. In the end it was a great experience for us both.

This being our 2nd child, I know what the first question will be from the sonographer. “Do you want to know what you are having?!”. But do I know what my answer will be? I need to be prepared to answer that question come March 2. Do I want to know? Or do I want to keep a surprise like we did the first time around?

4 weeks to decide and counting…

-Victoria

Homemade, that is. I love being Mexican American for so many reasons, but perhaps the #1 reason is because of the food. Good homemade Mexican food makes me proud! I have tried hard to single out my favorite dish but can’t seem to do so. I love it all: arroz con pollo, carne guisada, enchiladas…the list goes on! Unfortunately, the art of cooking homemade traditional Mexican meals is a dying art. For so many reasons this makes me sad.

Not only are the flavors of Mexican and Latin foods my absolute favorite, but the tradition and preparation process of these foods are what make me crave it. Meal time in my family growing up was family time. Over a spread of rice, beans, tortillas, carne guisada, and salsa we would discuss our days, politics, religion, etc. We would sit together as one family and talk. Now that I have moved away from home and started a family of my own, meal time isn’t the same. Actually, it doesn’t even compare. IF I cook dinner it is a fast meal that requires just one or two steps and sometimes just one pot. I don’t use comino or cilantro in my foods. I don’t own a molcajete. I don’t even have a bag of beans in my pantry. For so many reasons this makes me sad AND nostalgic.

Whether it be lack of time or lack of technical skill, my generation of 30 somethings doesn’t seem to know how to cook like our mothers and grandmothers do. I’ve seen and lived the trend. So I ask myself this “Do I deserve to be proud of homemade Mexican food if I can’t cook any of it?”.

The answer to that question will temporarily remain unanswered. For now,  I am on a search for true, authentic, Mexican food recipes. Do you have a recipe from your mama, abuelita, or tia you would like to share with me? With your recipe, I promise I will make a serious effort to learn to turn “meal time” into “family time” in my house…and I invite you to do the same.

-Victoria

Have you ever wondered just how clean those public changing tables are?! I think about it everytime I am out in public with my son and have to change his diaper. I always struggle…should I actually lay him on that disgusting and germ-ridden table or should I just let him sit with a dirty diaper? Up until recently, what I started doing was either change his diaper while he laid in the stroller or, if I was really desperate, I would change him while he was standing up. Neither way is easy at all!

It wasn’t until just recently that I discovered the most amazing changing pad out on the market!! It is called the Plush Pad and is true to its name. We started carrying them at our online store but honestly, the Internet doesn’t do the Plush Pad any justice. This changing pad is worlds better than any pad you get free in your diaper bag. It is SO soft and actually has memory foam that your baby lays on while you change him/her. (I only wish my bed were this soft and comfortable!) But perhaps the best part of this all, is that the changing pad is compact and fits in your diaper bag AND is machine washable!

Since purchasing this changing pad I have never had to struggle again with public changing tables!  This is my new favorite gift to give at baby showers, too. You have to take me word on this….It is worth EVERY PENNY! This changing pad and wipees are my diaper bag “must haves” and should be yours too!!

Click on the following link to see the styles offered by Baby Besos: http://www.babybesos.com/index.php/catalogsearch/result/?q=plush+pad

-Victoria

Last week was my 31st birthday (gulp!) and thanks to my husband, family, and friends, I was showered and pampered for a whole entire week! One of the gifts I received was a book titled “It’s a Mom Thing. Real-World Insight for Proudly Imperfect Mothers.”. I didn’t know what to expect when I first opened the gift. Was the gift-giver trying to tell me something? Did I have some self reflecting to do? I opened the book…

And couldn’t stop laughing from the moment I read page 1 to the moment I hit the end. I saw myself in every single one of the pages. You see, it’s not a story book, it’s a book of 1-2 line phrases/sentences that the author, Tina Neidlein, has to say about motherhood. If you ask me, I would say she has secretly been living in my house since we first brought my son home from the hospital 17 months ago! Some of my favorites are “When you’re in public and you’re singing to yourself about a spider or a teapot or finding a peanut, then yes…You are such a mom.”, “Relax! Nowhere on your gravestone is it gonna say, ‘She gave her kids too much soda’.”, and “They call it a baby “shower” because it may be the last shower you ever get to enjoy again.”.

I must say it was rather comforting reading this book because there is so much pressure out there, especially for stay-at-home-moms, like myself, to be perfect at motherhood and staying home. Well, I am far from perfect. Goodness, my son didn’t even have a Christmas tree or stocking up this year. That’s bad, I know. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love him. I did, afterall, give up my career to care for him…And I have 25 extra pounds of “stuff” on my body because of him and for once in my life I don’t mind it. Ok, maybe I mind a little, but I wouldn’t trade it for him if I was given the opportunity. And there is no one else in this world (sorry, husband) that I would do this for!

So, in the end, I am content knowing that although I wish I was hard-wired to be like Martha Stewart, I am not and never will be Martha Stewart. For the 2% out there who ARE Martha’s…you are doing a great job! And to the 98% of you out there who are NOT Martha’s…you are doing a great job! Now go ahead and repeat after me…”I am proud to say that I am NOT a perfect mom!” See, doesn’t it feel good to let it out?

-Victoria

I ask this as I just finished rocking my 15-month old son to sleep for his nap. There are so many theories and books out there on sleep and how to put your child to sIeep. From the Ferber Method to Baby Wise to The Baby Whisperer, I have read them all. If I could afford $10,000 for the Baby Whisperer to come to my house to train my son to sleep I would have. Trust me. But, I had to figure this one out on my own…and in the end, I went the “rock him to sleep” route. Not the most popular method out there.

Somewhere around 12 months my son decided that he didn’t want to be rocked. It was great! I could finally just lay him in his crib and after about 5 minutes of fussing, he was asleep! Viol-ah! I was SO happy and for selfish reasons felt so “free”. It no longer took 30 minutes to an hour of me rocking, singing, or dancing around his room with him to have him fall asleep. Yeah!

Fast forward to today. Without knowing what I am doing, I find myself rocking him to sleep even though I know he doesn’t need it. I think I rock him partly because I know that the more he grows the less he will want to “cuddle” so I am taking advantage of the time I have now. But by me doing this, and not being consistent with his sleep method, am I creating for him a mess of psychological problems that will surface years from now? I like to think I am just sending him a message that his mamá loves him and wants to hold and cuddle him…I will never stop wanting this.

-Victoria