Still pushing for bilingual babies!! July 21, 2009

As I mentioned in previous posts I want my little Leo to be bilingual, and I have been diligent about speaking to him mostly in Spanish. It’s amazing now that he is a bit older he is understanding and responding to things Joe and I say. This morning I tested out his comprehension of both languages.

Leo has this awesome fish mobile above his changing table and he and I have a ritual every morning of saying good morning to the sleeping fish. I always say it Spanish, “Leo, dile buenos dias a los pecesitos!” and Joe says it in English. Lately, when we say it he’s really grasping what we are telling him and he looks right at the fish and gets a huge smile.  This morning, I said it in both languages and his eyes went straight to the fish both times. It’s working!!!!

A friend of mine (thanks Danny B) found this great article today and it just reiterated everything I believe in and the reason why Nat and I started Professor Pocket. The business is going through a tough transition, and this article reinforces why we should be super successful one day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_med_healthbeat_bilingual_tots

So, so long and so many milestones July 16, 2009

I guess I’ve been busy because it has been ages since I’ve written. Between work, Leo, Hubby, house etc. the time just seems to fly!

Leo is now 7months 3 weeks old and is just getting cuter, funnier and sweeter every day. He’s had so many milestones since I last wrote, rolling over, teeth, eating baby food, getting in crawling position, and now standing!

He’s so funny, he really doesn’t like being on his belly, he’d much rather stand. We’ve been working on it for a while and today he stood by himself with Joe! It seems like every day he is doing something new, or making a new sound. He’s so curious and interested in everything. He’s got three teeth, two bottom one on top that looks a bit dracula b/c it’s off to the side. He’s getting in the other three top teeth, and then my little baby will be more toddler than baby!

We’ve spent lots of time at the beach with him this summer. He loves playing in the sand and LOVES getting into the freezing California ocean.

Here are some pix of my little bird….

A great first Mother’s Day… May 10, 2009

Joe G isn’t the type of husband to go out and buy a card for anything, Bday’s, Christmas or Mother’s Day. Since we met he’s always made me cards, hand drawn, hand written and usually funny and touching. I’ve kept all of them through the years. Today he helped Leo make his first card, it made me cry. It’s been a great Mother’s Day and I wish all of you hard working mommies out there a wonderful day!!!

Been a while… April 17, 2009

My cool little man...

It has been quite a while since I’ve blogged. I’m sure it’s mostly due to the fact that I am enamored with my 4 month old and spending every second I can playing, reading, talking, walking with him. In addition I think I go through phases where I wonder if anyone reads this, or cares to hear about my day, my thoughts and opinions.

Anyway, Leo is sleeping and I’m actually not tired enough to take a nap with him, so here I am, back in the blog world.

My maternity leave officially ends tomorrow. I can’t believe it, time goes by way to quickly and you can’t do anything to stop it. I was looking back at pictures of myself the night I went into labor and the first time I saw Leo and it seems like a different person or time of my life for some reason. Things change so quickly, you barely have time to take it all in.

Leo is changing way too quickly. Every single day he surprises me with something new, a new sound, a new look. Lately, it’s rolling over and now sucking his thumb! It’s so amazing to me how curious he is already at only 4 months old. He wants to examine and touch everything he sees, and I can look in his face and see his expression; he’s trying to figure out the world around him. It’s overwhelming for me sometimes to think that I have to be the one to prepare him to enter the world and survive it! I am dedicated to do so, to making sure he is armed with the confidence, intelligence and sense of humor you need to move ahead and be happy in this crazy world.

And I am trying to remember all those characteristics in myself as I face next week, my first week back at work after 4 1/2 months! Logically I know it will be fine. I know Leo will survive the days without me and I’ll survive the days away from him, but I still can’t get that sick feeling out of my belly. I figure I’ll have to get through the first couple of weeks and then it will get easier and easier as time passes. I’ll keep you posted, will let you know how it all goes.

I GOOPed and Liked it! March 17, 2009

Gwyneth Paltrow has been getting lots of slack about her self-involved, self-promoting website GOOP. I live in LA and you can’t avoid hearing celebrity gossip. LA loves to love celebrities, but they love to criticize them even more. Anyway I finally checked out the site yesterday and I enjoyed reading it. It is a bit self-promoting and self-absorbed but it had some interesting information about travel, food, exercise etc. Since I am on a mission to get my pre-baby body back (haha), I have been searching out the best exercise videos. Gwyneth posted one from her personal trainer that will literally kick your butt. It’s great and I wanted to share it with you too! You can download the Quicktime version to your desktop or ipod. Go get GOOPed…

Grandma came to visit! February 26, 2009

Joe’s mom came to visit us last weekend. It was our birthday present to her, a ticket to come see Leo, her first grandchild. Leo had so much fun, and it was wonderful having the extra help! Here are some funny pictures.

It’s never to early to learn a second language February 20, 2009

Now that I have a baby I am living up to the expectation I set for myself even before I had children, which is to raise my little ones bilingually. As a business owner of a bilingual childrens’ company there is no excuse for me, my child must be bilingual! Joe and I made a pact when we found out I was pregnant, I speak Spanish and he speaks in English to the baby. So far so good. I am enjoying singing, reading and talking to Leo in Spanish so much, plus it really is great practice for me and my rusty Spanish. He loves all of the Spanish nursery rhymes that I remember from my childhood, and I have found some classic books in Spanish to share with him as well. Not only that, he is already at 2 1/2 months a huge Professor Pocket fan! He loves the songs and music, and as soon as I can get it on film I will post him listening to his favorite song. Buenas Noches Luna…

Having it all… February 16, 2009

I remember being 19 in college, taking multiple women studies courses and feeling empowered by the notion that women can have it all. My generation has enjoyed the freedoms of women before us who fought for rights at work, the right to vote, for the right to be anything. I think though, that we women have done a bit of a disservice to ourselves. I think we’ve set our standards way too high and set ourselves up for disappointment. Not to say that a woman can’t do absolutely anything she wants, of course she can. However, I don’t believe in the notion that you can have it all, something always slips. These days it’s not enough to be a working woman and a mom and a business owner. You have to be all of those things and give 100% of your time to each one, (anyone who knows anything about math knows that’s not possible). Yes you can have it all, but it doesn’t mean you won’t have to have serious compromises along the way.

The strangest thing is, that the pressure to be the perfect mom, the perfect employee, the perfect entrepreneur usually comes from women themselves, from our peers from other successful women. You would think since we are all in this crazy ride together there would be a bit more compassion, understanding and a little less competition and expectation.

I have been caught up in the having it all expectation. I just had my first child and I want to be the best mom I can, this is my priority right now, as it should be. Of course in these economic times, there are very few women who can stay home with their children, so I also have a full time job that I will be going back to in April. As the icing on the cake, I am also a business owner. I guess you could say I have it all except for I can’t keep up with it all. I am doing my best, and I think that is what all women are doing. I hope that we all give ourselves a break, show each other some compassion and understanding and lighten up a bit on ourselves. Life is too short to kill yourself trying to have it all.

UPDATE: In response to the comment below I wanted to add a couple of things, I don’t think I was clear. I am TRYING to have it all, but am realizing that it really isn’t totally possible because ultimately you do have to sacrifice something, there just isn’t enough time in the day. Right now, my priority is Leo and I am ok compromising on other things in my life. Anyone who says they have it all without compromise isn’t being honest. Your career takes you away from your family, and your family limits the time you can spend on your career.  Let’s just all do our best to balance everything out, while not pressuring ourselves too much!

Wow, what a SUPER Bowl…. February 3, 2009

I am not a football fan in the traditional sense. I don’t understand the game, however I do enjoy watching it as the background to my lazy Sunday naps. I was excited about this Super Bowl however, because early on in the season I arbitrarily chose the Steelers as my team. We spent the evening watching the game with our neighborhood gang of friends, and given that I have an 8 week old I didn’t actually watch much of the game or the commercials. That is until my friend Jen yelled, “That’s your house!” Yes, they played our Taco Bell commercial during the Super Bowl!!! We were all in shock and so excited. Bummer we don’t get residuals….

I just can’t help myself…. January 30, 2009

All I want to do these days is be with Leo. Hug him, kiss him, feed him even change his diaper, I don’t care. Along with that comes this need to put him in all the cute outfits he inherited from his cousins and take pictures. These are some from this week and OMG, he’s just adorable.