Only six weeks of Maternity Leave...not Fair!

Our Priorities

I'm mad at the world or at least our society. With the birth of the baby approaching, I am now dealing with the logistics of maternity leave. The fact that it lasts only 6 weeks upsets me. It took my daughter longer than six weeks before she started sleeping through the night and the stress of pumping at work drove me nuts. Clearly, the lack of time to recuperate and time to properly nurse my daughter was the cause of my stress. Even my students noticed and periodically reminded me to take it easy!

Why are we not conscious of the needs and struggles of new parents? How can we expect new parents to be productive at work when they don't even get a good night sleep. Really, where are our priorities? Again, this all upsets me!

Below is a map of the world and the allocated amount of maternity leave for each county. Note that the U.S. is one of the few first-world countries that provides less than three months of maternity leave and the only industrialized nation that does not mandate paid leave for new parents.

Click on the link below for a better view of the map:

NPR World Map Report

Personalized Story Book

Personalized Story Book

I strongly believe that by exposing Camila to a variety of texts she will grow to be an avid reader, good student, and successful individual. Well, to maintain my goal and add a little extra oomph to the reading materials we read, I composed a story book for my little girl. I combined my love for reading with a project--can't get better than that!Using Kodak Projects, I composed a fairy tale that blends text and photos. In the story, relatives and friends are transformed into magical characters who help Princess Camila along her journey. The end result is fabulous and we are having fun reading it.The photo book cost less than $30 and we love reading it :)

Men in Speedos

Speedos

Brazilian Lifeguards

As I sit at home and watch the rain, I'm reminded of how much I miss the beach, small bikinis, and speedos. Yes, I am one of those weird Americanized women who find speedos attractive. It's something about the confidence a man must project to be able to pull one off. Plus, the fact that I have managed to block out all unsightly viewings does help. In fact, the only unpleasant sight I can currently recall is the Terminator at the beach. The other images I have of men in speedos are connected to my romanticized view of foreign beaches, Brazilian lifeguards, Elle magazine ads, and my hubby, who looks damn good in a speedo!

The Terminator at the beach. You gotta give it to him. With a little tan, he may look once again like Mr. Universe.

Note that the Brazilian speedo looks more like shorts than a bikini. In fact, in Brazil the small speedos are, for the most part, outdated. My hubby says that based on the size of the speedo, you can tell when a man is a foreigner or not from the cost. The smaller the size, the less likely he is to be from a beach town. Outdated speedo:

Baby Shower

Festival Du Bebe

Countdown begins! I now have less than one weeks before maternity leave begins--can you tell I'm excited? I'm looking forward to the relaxing and alone time I will have until the birth of the baby and then all hell breaks loose and I will have numerous sleepless night :)

To kick off the last few weeks of pregnancy and to celebrate the baby to come, my friends hosted a great baby shower in my honor. Since the shower had a French circus theme, we had face paint, clown performances, and a beautiful cake. The party was great and I'm happy to have such wonderful friends!

A quick video of the event.

Here are some of the pictures:

Face Paint by Tammy Artis--she did a great job!
Clown Show. I asked for strippers but got samba dancers. I can live with that :)Games: This was so beyond embarrassing but I did get the pen inside the bottle :)

Must everything be pink or blue?

Camila's Bedroom

As the delivery date approaches, hubby and I have started shopping for baby things. The problem, however, is that most things are pink or blue, girl or boy. This poses a problem at time since hubby and I chose to keep the gender of the baby a surprise (We are not the only crazy ones. Click on the article for other crazy parents). I'm under the belief that learning the gender of the baby is going to be one of the few pleasurable experiences on the day of delivery. Consequently, we are having a difficult time shopping and redecorating the kids' room.Camila and the baby will share a room. While we have tried to make it into a gender neutral room, we have failed miserably. The room is full of pink storage containers, flowers on the walls, and girly bedding. We have failed because the baby to come may be a boy (for some odd reason I have a strong gut feeling that the baby will be a mini version of my hubby--a little boy with a big butt).

Though we are not sure of the colors and style , we are set on a few decorating ideas that will help make it gender neutral:

Reading nook for Camila and the baby:
I love the idea of letting kids have a space designated for reading. I hope that by fostering positive reading habits, I'm going to set my kids up for a successful future.

Bunk beds for the kids:

Our space is limited so a bunk bed just sounds like the logical solution. Plus, it just seems so fun.

A faux polar bear rug:

I don't really have a reason for this. I just really like it.

Art Projects for a 2-Year Old

Art Projects

With the birth of the baby fast approaching, hubby and I are trying to get Camila ready for the new addition to the family. As the only child, she now gets ALL the attention and we worry that she may have a difficult time accepting the baby. To combat this, we try to include the baby in our conversations and, when possible, activities.

We recently completed a few tasks that I must share :)

Belly Art:

Materials needed:
* Paint: We like Crayola but I'm sure any washable paint works.
* A pregnant belly: You can probably find one on eBay. They have everything!


Camila's bedroom wreath:
The purpose for this project was to keep Camila away from the television on a rainy day. It was such an easy and fun project.

Materials:

• Cardboard 12" round wreath
• Cupcake baking cups
• Elmer's glue
• Heart ornament
• 2 flower pins
• Ribbon
  

Together, Camila and I glued cupcake baking cups to a cardboard wreath. Later, I secured the heart and ribbon with flower pins. We had a great time and Camila was very proud of her work :)