The World's Youngest Teenagers!

Although I know in my brain that Orion is 3 years old and Gigi is 5, I still feel like I'm raising the world's youngest teenagers.

(Yaaaaay....)

Here's the latest from the peanut gallery.

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Orion: When I turn 4, I'm going to do whatever I want to do.

***

During a moment of intense frustration at Marcos and me...

Gigi: You... FOOLS!!!!

***

Gigi: (mumbles something inaudible)
Me: What was that?
Gigi: Nevermind.  What I said wasn't true.  I'm glad you didn't hear me.
Me: ...Okay...

***

At bath time when we reminded him not to do something dangerous...

Orion: It's my choice!  You can't control me!

***

Having a mommy daughter heart to heart about priorities and decisions that adults have to make...

Gigi: I want a nice house when I grow up and I want to keep it really clean and I want to make nice food and never eat...  What are those things we had on the airplane?  (This is half a year after our trip)
Metta: Uhhh... lunchables?
Gigi: Yes, lunchables!

***

Orion: Mom!  I'm going to be the new John Lennon in the Beatles!

Cookie Stand

Back in September, Gigi and our neighbor Michael finally had their big opportunity to live out their dream of running a joint venture.  Tutu was helping to organize a yard sale, and although there was already another kid lined up to do a lemonade stand, we decided to jump on board with a cookie stand so that the kids could experience a little piece of running a business together.

First up was cleaning the stand.  Michael's dad James had painted a cute stand yellow and blue but it was filthy so we put the kids to work.  

And then after baking and cleaning up the stand, the big day rolled around.  Michael and Gigi wrote the name of their bakery on the chalkboard on the front of the stand, and opened shop.  Unfortunately, business was slow and they found that running a joint venture was more complicated than they thought it would be.  Within the first hour, the partners were split and mad at each other, and Michael wanted to go home.  It was awesome teaching Gigi about welcoming customers and how to do sales though!

Oh well, first time for everything!

Flying Children

Marcos made a group of really wonderful friends as a student at UNC, and we've been having regular, if infrequent, potluck meals with them over the past year or so.  We had his friends over this past week for dinner and in the warm summer evening we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood.  Keith is a budding photographer and took some great photos of Marcos and the kids silhouetted against the darkening sky.

And then Shane got ahold of a few of the photos and decided to use his photoshop skills to make some tweaks.

But this one is by far the best.  Thanks for a laugh, Shane!

Write that down!

I know that reading about Giovanna all the time is probably getting dull, and I promise that I have some differently-themed posts coming up (photos of our home as it comes together, a trip to the beach, and some of the things I have my hands in right now - stay tuned!), but by golly, it seems that Gigi is just a lot of my life.  At this young age of 2 I really enjoy capturing what she says and writing it down, and since this is my journal as much as anything, I am going to record some little snippets from the last few weeks.  (Where does she get this stuff?)

While playing on her Papai's computer chair one night (and clearly, trying out a new phrase that she hears often from me)...

Gigi: This chair has lines on it.  Okay?  Does that make sense?

and a minute later...

Gigi: I'm standing on this chair, so no using it.  Does that make sense?

***

While discussing the Prieto family whistle in the car...

Me: Papai's good at whistling.  I'm not very good at whistling.
Gigi: You're good at talking!

***

While playing with her toy foods (a favorite pastime)...

Gigi: I cooked this chicken in the oven.  I put seasonings on it.
Me: Mmmm....  what seasonings did you put on it?
Gigi: Basil and Oregano.  You want to try it?

August 5th, 2012

Gigi shared her testimony for the first time, during our first Fast and Testimony meeting in the new Chapel Hill 2nd Ward.  She let me prompt her through sentences, but Her Royal Independence was disappointed that I had to hold her up to the microphone, because even from the children's step stool she could not see over the podium.

***

At Subway, eating a tuna sandwich and chips...

Gigi: I love my life...

***

Gigi has a little rhyming obsession.  A lot of what she says is made up words, but I am happy enough that she loves rhyming and seems to get it, that the made up words don't really bother me.  Most of the time she comes up with things like "Net and debt!" (not realizing, of course, that debt is actually a word), but my favorite rhyme so far came after our talk about the benefits of water: "Minerals and binerals!".

***

After I very firmly told her to stop climbing on her crib...

Gigi: I NEED to climb!  My JOB is to climb!

***

In her high-chair, talking to herself in a sing-song voice as she justifies crunching up her tortilla chips into a million pieces...

Gigi: I can make a mess if I want to.  I'm just a girl.  That's okay...

One day we watched a video on facebook of Gigi's friend Boston singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  Later in the day, she started to sing the same song and I had an idea that it might be nice to record her singing...

Me: Gigi, we should make a video for your friend Boston.
Gigi: Did you post it?
Me: Pause, confused look as I try to figure out if she really just said what I thought she did.
Gigi: Did you post it online?

***

While talking about me cleaning the kitchen, so that we don't get any bugs...

Me: Papai bought poison for the ants.
Gigi: It's under the chair.
Me: Yeah, we don't touch that.  It's poisonous for people
Gigi: Like mushrooms.  They're poisonous too.

***

One thing I've learned about Gigi is that unless she is very obviously making up silly words and being a goof ball, all of her seemingly random questions and comments are not random, but are in fact linked to something she has experienced or learned in the past.  Sometimes it just takes me a minute to figure out where she is coming from and what she is referring to.  One day she must have been thinking back on the "kitchen" page in her Richard Scarry book ("This is the Scarry Richard book.  But he's not scary.  No, his last name is Scarry"), and we had the following conversation.

Gigi: Mommy, do we have a pitcher at home?
Me: Trying to figure out what she is referring to and what word exactly she is using.  Hmmm...  well, what do you do with a pitcher?
Gigi: You put milk or juice inside.
Me: Oh!  Yes, we do have two pitchers at home.
Gigi: Are they glass or ceramic?

***

And finally, I want to record her very cute little habit of saying, "Shall we talk about....?" and then suggesting a random object, for example, coats, placemats, elephants, etc.  Every once in a while we get something more interesting like, "Shall we talk about the Holy Ghost?" but usually we have little conversations where I tell her everything I know about an object until the subject is exhausted (which is very quickly for something like a placemat), and it's fun to be able to tell her about things in her world.

I so wish that my brain were as much of a sponge as hers.   What a great age!

Super Mom Points

What has this Mama been doing? Indulging Gigi in a new kiddie pool for our back patio...


...and staying calm and poised during some recent messes (first the currant box, and then a bag of lentils, in one day's work), all so that I can earn myself a few Super Mom Points.


I'm trying to stock up in preparation for the deficit I will run when she becomes a teenager.

Lap Sitter

Next week we take off to Utah for my sister Amanda's wedding (hooray!), and I have been thinking about how to keep Giovanna occupied and happy during our flights. Finally I had this brilliant idea: Before we board the plane I can recruit women in the waiting area to sign up for a rotation. One after another each woman will take Gigi for fifteen minutes or so and let her rummage through their bags. Gigi would be totally content investigating the contents of these many purses, the other passengers will be relieved because she won't be crying, and the airplane will be full of mutual happiness and satisfaction.


But for some reason I just can't see it happening. So I thought of Plan B: Mary Poppin's magical bag. What do you think? I could bring along a lot of toys and snacks, and if I run out of energy to keep pulling things out, I can just drop Gigi in and call it good. Bonus feature? The bag is dark inside, and might even lull her into taking a nap.

No?

Okay... Plan C: I bring 1 (one) bag and try to bring the very best of novel toys, and the very tastiest of snacks, and pray really, really hard that she will behave. Or, at least that she will not cry (too much). And this is where you come along: do any of you have some winning entertainment ideas? I have starting putting some toys aside, and we will have Marcos' smart phone with some sesame street songs for when we have really had it, but I could use some help with brainstorming. If you have ever traveled with a 1-ish year old who needed to sit for longer periods of time than usual, and something worked, please share (maybe ideas from Sacrament meetings?)! Gigi is a good, usually happy girl, but she likes roaming, and she is little and can't sustain attention for an extremely long amount of time. Thanks for considering!

Plan D: In an emergency situation adopt the mantra "These people hate me but I will never see them again in my life. These people hate me but I will never see them again in my life..."

Boot Camp

My friend Becca called me yesterday to ask if I wanted to sign up for boot camp at a local fitness center. She and our friend Jamie had seen the coupon online and wanted to know if I was up for one month of torture. I was.


It starts tomorrow, and I am slightly nervous. What if I am the weakest one there? What if it's like running, and I have to coach myself through not hating it?

But Heaven knows I need it. I'm on a quest to regain my body, even though I'm still breastfeeding and Gigi is requiring her fair share. For Pete's sake, I have a wedding coming up in June, and there is a really pretty emerald dress I have to fit into as a Bridesmaid. I can zip it up (hallelujah), but I still haven't passed the stuffed sausage-esque phase.

Bring it on.

Pots and Pans

What does your baby do at midnight? What, your baby sleeps?! Well, we're such good parents that our baby stays up to rearrange the pots and pans. We should write a book.


Gigi was having a rough night last night and after a prolonged crying session and a midnight family run to the grocery store for orajel, we figured that if she was happy being awake, we were happy too. She must have decided that while she was up, she might as well give our cupboard a rearrange. She takes this baby job very seriously.



Here is a video of her doing her job, and exploring her voice.

4.5 Inches

Gigi and her friends had a bathing party over the weekend. Gigi decided to go undressed as a unicorn.


Out of curiosity I measured Gigi's hair the other day, and it is 4.5 inches on top. Can you imagine? That is just about half of what it takes to donate to Locks of Love.

Maybe someday.

Addicted!

The other day, Marcos had a song going through his head for hours on end.

He looked up the song on youtube to try to figure out who sings it and what those darned lyrics were.

It was Feist, and the song was "1, 2, 3, 4". Our favorite version was the one she recorded on Sesame Street.

Gigi heard the song, and we could not peel her eyes from the computer screen! It was the first time she had ever focused so intently on the boob tube. Since then, we've had to pause movies we're watching if it is time for her to eat, because I feed her on the couch and the couch is across from the computer monitor. She lays on the boppy with her body turned towards me, but with her neck craning to see whatever we are watching!

But I'll be darned if this song ain't catchy.

Happy Girl

As anyone who has spent time with her knows, Gigi isn't always happy, but when she is happy, it is hard not to catch the bug.

Preventive Care

This morning I woke up to Marcos coming home from an early morning run to Trader Joe's. He was carrying a bouquet of gorgeous summer flowers, and announced that he had brought home chocolate yogurt parfaits, a loaf of ciabatta bread and brie cheese for breakfast. Apparently, when he made it to the register at TJ's, the cashier asked him if he was in the dog house this week. Marcos replied, "Nope! This is preventive care!"

The cashier was still laughing as Marcos left the store.

Preventive care? I like that.

The Order is in...

Staying at home makes time stretch and wrinkle in funny ways. I freaked and scrambled to get my Father's Day things together last Thursday, only to realize two days later that I was a week early. Whew! I didn't miss The Day.

Which is fabulous, because Marcos just put in his order for a First Father's Day gift: a chocolate covered iPad, inspired by this blog post.


Unfortunately for him, my gift will be more along the lines of iDon'tThinkSo.

Natural Induction Method #74

Natural Induction Method #74: Jumping on the trampoline.


Result: I wet my underpants. Just a little bit.

A trip to the pool!

Today Marcos and I needed a break from the hot apartment, so we went to the pool. I've heard a number of friends talk about the magic of being weightless in the water during the heavy months of pregnancy, so we had to check out the hype. Frankly, even after days of nearly 90 degree temperatures, the pool water was frigid, so I only jumped in up to my waist, but it was very nice to rest my back and let the water take care of my belly weight. I did jumping jacks in the pool, which felt like a good low-pressure way to jiggle Giovanna downward.


The only other people at the pool deck were a few Chinese ladies with their kiddos. Their completely unabashed staring and smiling at me made me remember what it was like to live in China. I intellectually remembered what it was like to be around people who don't have the same feelings about staring and personal space, but I didn't remember what it felt like until today. It was something like being Moby Dick, the big, white whale.

If I had seen Moby Dick doing jumping jacks in a pool, I probably would have stared too.

Bonding Time

Today felt so unsatisfying. Marcos and I were together nearly the entire day - at home, running errands, eating food - but I felt like we didn't have the connection moments that I thrive on. Each of us went about in our parallel worlds, one being busy while the other waited, and then switching so that our timing was never quite "on". I frankly spent most of the day being annoyed, and I was never quite sure why.

So tonight we sat down to play canasta and listen to This American Life together. Looking like he'd hatched a plan to try to make me happy, Marcos asked, "What is your favorite memory of us together?". I asked him for more specifics, because after nearly three years of a happy marriage, that's a hard question to answer. "Okay..." he started, "What is your favorite memory of us together that involves a round object?".

?!

I don't think I ever answered the question, but he made me laugh, and it lifted the day's funk off of my shoulders. I'm grateful for the moments when I can see clearly enough to appreciate how incredible, and generous, and loving Marcos is. My mind is sometimes very simple, but I know that there is no richer feeling than being in a very happy relationship.

"Continued Absentmindedness"

I think Marcos was starting to worry that I was losing my mind, so I felt quite validated when I read that "continued absentmindedness" was right on track for the symptomology of pregnancy at 30 weeks.

For him, it explains all of the stamps I placed on the wrong corner of the envelopes when we sent out cards at Christmas time. It explains the episode last week when I put frozen chicken out to thaw on the counter, and promptly forgot it existed, neatly cleaning around it for three days until Marcos asked how long the chicken had been sitting out. And it explains why, at our super duper 3-D IMAX double date to Avatar on Friday night with Aline and Dwight, I thought a photo of us in the theater with no flash would be a great idea.

With photography skills like mine, watch out local photographers...

The results are in!

Today Marcos and I went in for the baby's 18-week ultrasound appointment, and we found out that we are (most likely) having a girl! We are sooooo excited! For the past few months I have been saying that I want a girl, and Marcos has been saying that he wants a boy, so when the technician said that it looked like a girl, I felt really bad for Marcos. I told him that he could have time to feel sad if he wants to, and that it was normal to experience some sense of loss and disappointment, to which he replied, "What? I'm excited! I really wanted a girl". Apparently, after I had declared that I would like to have a little girl, he just chose the opposite so that at the ultrasound it wouldn't be a family-wide blow if it were a boy.

But really? We didn't much care either way. Half of me was just relieved that there is a baby in there, because sometimes I think I am dreaming. I think that for my sanity's sake, being able to feel the movements of the baby in a few weeks and having a confirmation that there's something moving in there will be really rewarding and amazing.


Ultrasounds have largely been associated with finding out the gender of a baby, because that is such a special moment for parents, but you would be surprised at how little time is spent finding out that information compared to the (really) more essential purposes of the machine. Our technician spent most of the time measuring organs, looking at black and white spaces and the colored areas of blood flow, making sure there are four chambers of the heart, looking for the right spacing in the brain, etc., and everything looked perfect and measures out to keep her due date at April 1st! Our bugaboo was tightly balled up and sleeping, so the technician also spent some time wiggling my belly to get her to change position. Her feet were tucked up and crossed, so finding the gender cues were pretty difficult. Above, our little girl is upside down and curled into a ball. What a good-looking spine, eh?


Unfortunately, we didn't get any really classic profile shots of her face this time around. She was sleepy and not completely compliant (Marcos says she's is stubborn already, like her mother), but I loved this shot of her hand. Isn't it a miracle that we can already count her fingers?

And below is the moment you have all been waiting for. Just like a modest mouse, she had her legs tucked and crossed, so this shot was a long time in coming, but this view from her underside indicated to the technician that we have a girl. Apparently, those suspiciously ball-looking white circles are not balls (I double and triple and quadruple checked this with the technician), but are really female privates. Before she even said anything, Marcos looked at the screen and said, "It looks like a girl, doesn't it?", and she confirmed that she had been thinking so for ten minutes, but wanted to find a better angle so that we could see it too. Marcos had a knack at ultrasounds; the entire time, I was just blown away by the technician's ability to make any sense out of the grayscale blobs we were staring at...


And so when I came home from our appointment I finally did something I have never been able to do.

As a child I collected things like foreign coins, stamps, and erasers, but after I grew up and got married I sallied into greener pastures. On a shopping trip with my pregnant best friend Lindsay some years ago, we visited a consignment shop for kiddo clothes and I thought that a $.50 pink baby shirt with a shave-ice cone on it was pretty cute, and I bought it. That was the beginning of my new collection. When I took everything out today and finally got to separate the boys clothes from the girls clothes, I was really impressed with how far things had gotten out of control, even though I stopped buying baby clothes a long time ago. 78 outfits in sizes from newborn to 2-years! But in my defense, I have not spent more than a dollar on most of these items. To view my downfall (the pink shirt with the shave-ice cone), just click on the photo to make it larger...


And that is our exciting news! Just to end on a funny note, which is the story of my life living with Marcos Prieto, I overheard him telling his boss on the phone tonight, "We went to our ultrasound appointment today, and it's a girl! I'm going to be a mother!"

Hey, maybe things just work differently in Brazil.

While the paint dries...

I have a few moments while the paint dries from my recent project, and I thought I'd sit down and write a little update. I have been more MIA than usual these past few weeks, and it has caused me to think about my relationship with this blog, and have a little DTR (define the relationship) session. I think that when I was overly busy, I needed an outlet for my thoughts, creativity and life in a way that I don't require as much now. I'm okay with that though. After experiencing some writer's crisis at the time when I first started blogging, I had to come to terms with the fact that if I pressured myself to keep up with the blog even when I didn't feel inspired to write, it would lose its capacity to serve me and my friends and family in a informal, informational, fun, therapeutic way.

Hence, my absence.


So, what is going on? Fun, and friends, projects and I'm keeping up the job search despite the fact that it is becoming increasingly discouraging. Sometimes I have to remind myself how blessed I am that I have a spouse with an income and that I graduated with a (relatively) small amount of debt. Some days I have no energy whatsover to browse the limited number of jobs in the area, and some days I'm determined. And then comes the realization that despite how many jobs I apply for, the entire thing is somewhat out of my control. I mean, what can I do? Apply for the same job multiple times with increasingly better cover letters?

I already tried that. It doesn't work.

A common mistake...

"Hello, meet my husband Carlos Marcos..."

People mix up Marcos' name quite often. He says that in seventh grade as a newcomer to the United States, his teachers at school would consistently call him Carlos, even if he had corrected them two minutes earlier. And he still gets it all the time.

Once we stumbled upon a Carlos Prieto online... as we were minding our own business, looking through the police reports for Utah County. Now, Marcos' really doesn't want to be mistaken.

After our fishing outing a week or two ago, Drew told us the following story. Since we had been fishing at his classmate's parent's place, his classmate approached him at school the next day and told him about a phone call she had received from her mother. Apparently, after talking briefly with Marcos during our fishing expedition, the mother had called her daughter and said, "You missed Carlos! He was here". Not knowing that Drew had taken any friends along to fish, the girl replied, "Mom, his name is Drew, not Carlos". To which her mother answered, "No! Drew's friend, Carlos! You missed him. He was here, and he is a HUNK".

We'll let it slip this time, Ma'am, because your description of him was so accurate.