All I really want in these final days of pregnancy...

...is a cup of coffee, a huge chocolate croissant, and a cigarette. Nice, right? Thereby proving that the theory that pregnant cravings are grounded in bio-chemical need is total bullshit! Did I mention that I have gestational diabetes? So even the chocolate croissant is totally verboten. FML, as the kids say.

The Rosie Strut

Lucero's last day of Brownies was Tuesday. Rosie and I generally do one of three things during the troupe meetings: chill on the playground, dash over to Fresh Plus for groceries, or hang with the troupe. Yesterday we hung out as the girls ceremoniously received pins and patches and took group pictures. Of course, in general Rosie wants to do whatever Lucero does. So I let her join the group photo, and join the group photo she did.

P.S. Went to the OB this morning, and the nurse predicted baby girl would arrive early. That's great by me! I just need to make it through Saturday. We're celebrating Rosie's birthday early by going to Sea World, since La Tercera is due around Rosie's birthday.

You have my word...

...that this is not going to turn into a crafting blog (Hi Gayatri!). Not that there's anything wrong with crafting blogs (I've quite enjoyed a few), but people would wonder what the hell had happened to me. That said, I must show off my first foray into sewing. It's a nursing cover.

Nursing cover with tarry-cloth pocket on inner corner.

I found this pattern online, which replicates the bebe-au-lait style of nursing cover. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to sew a square of fabric with a neck strap. Ha! How wrong I was. Thank God for my friend Cynthia, who loaned me her sewing machine and walked me through it.

She convinced me to go all out, and include the corset boning in the neck (it bows out, and allows you to see baby and allows air to flow). Cynthia is a quilter and had told me about a quilting trend to incorporate selvage into quilt designs ("selvage" = the raw edge of fabric with the manufacturer's name/logo on it). So I made the neck strap with the selvage to impress the cool kids.

Strap and neck boning

I always imagined I'd be totally happy to whip my breasts out in public to breastfeed. But I quickly realized with Rosalía that I wasn't so into that.  I always ending up covering us with a blanket or burp rag. I figured La Tercera and I would do our thing thing in style this time.

P.S. I found this awesome Japanese fabric at The Common Thread, and it's one of many amazing Echino designs.

4 more weeks as a family of 4

This will likely be one of the last pictures of us as a family of four. It's the end of an era!

I took these photos with the Korean camera app, Pudding, which I learned about from my favorite blogger, Nat the Fat Rat. Props to my sister for identifying the orthography as Korean!

I love the above pic for a variety reasons. Certainly because my girls are edible in their cuteness. I also like that Rosie is thoughtfully masking my pregnancy jowls. But more than anything, this rendering of Agapito makes my heart swell. You hang out with a person for several years, getting accustomed to their mien and manner, and then out of the blue, it hits you anew, what a face! 

I like the pic below because I look more like myself when I'm not pregnant. Ahh, the joys of pregnancy face, with all its attendant puffy swollen glory! My sister-in-law once complained that her nose would get puffy when she was pregnant, and I was like "What?! That's nuts!" But lately I feel like a drunken leprechaun. 

For the record, I'm wearing a strapless maternity dress, not lounging in hippie nakedness!

Well, I started this post to reflect on how strange the prospect of being a mother to 3 is. But there's not much more to say than, well, it's strange... and wonderful...and I totally dig it.

Guilty Mother's Day!

Today I got the Mother's Day Card that Rosalía made for me at daycare last week. 

There's a fairly regular formula the daycare follows when making holiday cards. It goes like this: The child crafts something, often using hand prints, foot prints,  or some other measure of growth that highlights the fleeting nature of our children's tender youth. Then the child will dictate a message, which the teacher transcribes. 

So, I got my card, written in Spanish. "Happy Mother's Day" it says--

So far so good. Then I opened it to find this very darling image--

Love! Then I look over at her message, which read--

"I love you mommy." ...... "I miss you mommy." ?!?!

Really?!?! Cue the sounds of a plunger plunging my heart *guilt, guilt, guilt*. Sigh... It's very rare that I buy into working-mom guilt. But come on!

Oh, life.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, Lydia Elliott Hopkins...

Mom, Amanda, and me at Sequoia National Park, c. 1984

Mom (sitting) and neighborhood kids in Chicago, c. 1954

Grandma Dorothy and Grandpa Charles, c. 1945

Mom graduates from UT Austin, 1984

Mom, c. 1954

Mom, c. 1972

Mom, me, Amanda, and Grandma, c. 1983

 And happy Mother's Day to me. I'm feeling pretty lucky today--

April 2011

April 2011

April 2011

Agapito and the girls got me this awesome gift (not that I explicitly told them I wanted it or anything...). Can't wait until it fits! Just 4 weeks til bebé comes.

Group Hug: Osama, MLK, & Obama

I don't get it. In response to news that there are people celebrating Osama's defeat and death, literally dozens of my friends are posting this made-up quote ascribed to MLK Jr. :

I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Okay, so besides the fact that MLK never wrote this (the actual quotation is: "Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.")...besides this fact, how is this the logical response to the fact that people are celebrating American military victory in a shoot-out with Osama? A shoot-out between American military and Osama's armed guards, in which Osama's men used at least one woman as a shield, and in which...well...they lost. Whether one chooses to believe it, the Navy SEALS had prepared for a scenario in which Osama surrendered, but he didn't. And he lost. And I'm glad.

The quote just doesn't map to the situation with Osama. What, should we have captured Osama and tackled him with bear hugs, waited for the love to soak in, and then invited him to NYC for a reconciliation ceremony?  WTF?!?! We weren't going to love him out of his murderous awfulness.

I think it's appropriate to celebrate the fact that he was finally snuffed out. Our grandparents would never have stood around wringing their hands about how they should feel over Hitler's death.  And I don't see why Osama's defeat should serve as the basis for reflection on the power of love. The (actual) quote is far better placed in the context of the crappy wars in which millions of innocents have died.

Far more appropriate is the following by Mark Twain, posted by Cara: 

I've never wish a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.

Rejoicing in Osama's defeat is not tantamount to being anti-Islam. Osama has the blood of Middle Eastern/African Muslims on his hands as well as that of Americans. 

Good job, Obama.

Edit: Drat! Apparently the quote ascribed to Twain is also a misquote! The actual quote is: I have never killed a man, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure. - Clarence Darrow.