Baby patterns

This is mostly for my mom and her friend Tyna. And I suppose if you're interested in a few fabrics we saw at Hancock and loved.

Noah's ark:

 Bumble Bees:

Giraffes! Such a fresh print:

 Cute turtles:

Jungle animals: (I like neutrals for babies, too.)

I love all things lion for baby, and these polka dots are cute:

Animals in a boat, I guess an ark type design:

Anyway, those were my favorites. I've been crazy about lions, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, whales, frogs, ducks and chicks. For colors, light yellows and greens and my favorite, but I like lots of colors, and don't care too much about being perfectly matching.

Baby Stuff

Hello friends and family,

On March 2 I'm updating this with the results of some research. Changes are in bold.

So we're trying to do our research and see what we'll really need for baby Mejia. I'm still not sure WHERE I should register. I've heard mixed reviews of Babies R Us and Target, and some are all online. Amazon has one. So this is a list of ideas and questions, and hopefully my friends and family will give me feedback on what works, where to register, what's too bulky, what's not really necessary, etc. I've been using Lucie's List for recommendations, but I need to try some of this stuff out.

First, what I already have been given:
musical ball toy
first Spanish words book
Chime and chew ducky and lion toys
monkey toy/blankie
winter hat
light crochet sweater and bootie set, probably for 6-9 months
2 newborn hats
1 hooded towel, ducky
6 0-3 month onesies
3 0-3 month footie pajamas
1 9 month long-sleeve onesie
Graco fast action fold jogger stroller w/ click connect car seat
Diaper bag

What I've found or been given 2nd hand:
more 0-3 month onesies
3-6 month PJs
1 sleep sack
some receiving blankets
some bottles
Crib
Bathtub
And we'll see what else. :)


And here's what I think we'll need to get for baby:

Sleeping/lazing:
Play-yard with bassinette (Graco Pack n Play with removable rocking cradle)
Play-yard sheets x2
Sleep sacks 2 0-3, 2 3-6, 2 6-9 2 9-12 mo
Swaddle Mes
Swing that plugs in. Batteries would drive me crazy. My sweet snugglebunny I think.
pacifiers
receiving blankets

Eating:
Baby Bjorn Bibs
Soft terry bibs
Bottles
Bottle sterilizer? Do I really need special equipment?
Insulated bottle bag
Convertible high chair- Fisher Price Space Saver makes sense to me. We registered for a different one because it allows more weight, but same idea.
Burp cloths
I'm planning on minimal bottle feeding, so hopefully I don't need a lot of bottle/pump equipment. I also want to do a method of homemade baby food I saw which is puree and pour into ice cubes, freeze, and toss them in Ziplocs. I don't think I need any special equipment for that.

Pooping:
Cloth diapers (Going to try Bum Genius AIOs, some cloth, newborn prefolds and covers, and see what works and purchase more down the line.)
Cloth diaper fasteners (Snappi?)
Disposal diapers for whenever it gets crazy (Pampers Swaddlers)
Diaper pail? (Decided to just do a trash with foot pedal and diaper liner)
Hypoallergenic wipes

Bath time:
baby shampoo- maybe Aveeno, definitely something mild
bath toys and caddy- I love playing in the tub!
2 ultra soft towels
Baby nail clippers
washcloths? I saw Aden and Anais brand recommended on Cricket's Circle

On the move:
Backpack carrier

Misc:
teether (I like the giraffe one)
baby gates?

Clothes:
short sleeve onesies 6-9 months, 9 months-1 yr

We have already been given some clothes, and I don't want to overdo it. But I think the cutest baby clothes are gender neutral animal stuff. I particularly love giraffes, elephants, lions, ducks, frogs, whales, and chicks.

Anyway, friends. Thoughts on the list? Product recommendations? Second hand things you don't use anymore? Please comment!

We're registered at Babies R Us and on Amazon. 
XOXO, Emily

Gender Reveal

Well as luck would have it my birthday fell a few weeks after we found out baby Mejia's gender, so we decided to plan a gender reveal themed birthday party. The suspense makes for a better turn out!

We're new where we're living. Only been here about 8 months, so the only old friends that made it came from far away and spent the whole weekend. Also more than half of our guests were native Spanish speakers, and the other ones knew little to no Spanish, so I was nervous people wouldn't really talk to each other, but in the end it went off without a hitch, and I started to feel at home in South Carolina. I thought I'd share what we did, since it was such a success, and gender reveal parties are kind of a new thing still, maybe others will want ideas.

The menu was simple. Lots of fruit out, a marshmallow creme/cream cheese fruit dip, and then make your own tostadas. So pulled chicken in the crock pot, refried beans, cheese, lettuce, salsa, guac, etc. We had a pink and a blue drink. I hate all fake blue products, and if someone could figure out something better, go for it. I did blue Hawaiian Punch with sprite, and raspberry ginger ale for the pink, but there's a million things that are naturally and deliciously pink, so plenty of options.

People mingled and chatted for the first hour or so. I wrote up random old wives tales on a white board and people started to guess team boy or team girl. I also had a list of foods I've craved. Just sort of as conversation starters. Then people did my "Bet on Baby" game. I mentioned in the invite that they shouldn't bring gifts, but that everyone bring a dollar for this game. So there were two gift bags, one pink, one blue, and guests decided if they were team boy or team girl, wrote their initials on the dollar, put it in the bag of choice, and then took a pink or blue sticker to show what team they were on. Rules and explanation were on a white board so people didn't have to find me and ask questions. After the reveal, the winning bag would be drawn from and one person would keep the money, while we kept it all from the losing bag, for baby expense. In our case it was extremely lopsided and we ended up with most of the money. mwahaha.

Then once people were settled in I had them take a true false quiz for fun. It had 15 statements about my birth, Roberto's birth, the pregnancy, etc. For example, Roberto weighed 4.5 kgs (9 lbs 14 oz) when he was born. (TRUE! Please baby, don't take after your dad in that regard!!!) Emily's only food aversion has been pork. (FALSE, definitely chicken!) Anyway, we went over the answers together, and then saw who got 15/15 (no-one) and went down. When I got to 12/15, 3 had that score. 2 were team girl, and 1 was team boy, and I gave their team points.

Awhile later I had team girl in one room, team boy in the other (with a double wide doorway so they could see each other, so the space worked out well.) and we had a baby themed sing-off. I don't know what the actual name of this game is, but you're given a word, and have to think of a song with that word in the lyrics and sing that line. One team starts and it goes back and forth until a team is stumped. I had made index cards with baby words. We ended up just playing four rounds and it took an hour. With a word like "baby" you can go for awhile! We did baby, cry, doctor, and born. We allowed the Spanish words, so everyone could contribute. It was a LOT of fun, and I didn't have a particularly musical crowd. They don't have to be great singers, just sing enough of the song so it's recognizable. I say mom or dad is judge since you can't pick teams without giving it away. In our case I judged and kept score, and my husband played with the team with less people.

The cake was fun. We didn't cut it open til the end since that was how we did the reveal. The invite told guests when the cake would be cut so everyone would be there for the big event. Other than that open house can work. I made two round cakes from cake mix, evened out the bottom one and made my first layer cake, which really wasn't bad. I dyed the cake batter blue, and frosted it white. The cool part was I made a little nest with pretzels and Cadbury mini eggs, and made up a little rhyme that worked in our case: Bebita o Bebe'? Who's hatching in May?

Since it was about 30 to 8 in favor of girl most people were surprised! We drew the winner from the gift bag for team boy. It took a little convincing for him to accept it, but I really wanted it to be a GAME and not just donate to the new parents! Some incentive to play and get it right!

Anyway, it was a great time. I recommend asking the guests you feel comfortable with to bring a little something- tostadas, 1/2 gallon ice cream, etc. to cut costs, and don't make it a baby shower. It's not about gifts (though some will bring stuff because baby stuff is too cute to resist!). We had about 35 people- men women, little kids and teens, and it worked well. Also I think some structured activities and a team competition helped build camaraderie in a group where plenty of them didn't know too many others.

It's a boy! So excited!

Statement of Purpose for MAT

I’ve been an avid student of Spanish for over a decade. Becoming fluent first became an obsession when I traveled to Spain on a high school trip. I had thought I was quite the Spanish scholar until I was actually put to the test on the streets of Spain. The ante was upped. It wasn’t about grades anymore: it was survival. That stuff we’d learned was actually useful and important! It was like a light bulb went off. Actually a light bulb had broken, in my hotel room in Seville, and I successfully told the concierge about it. That was my first difficult exchange with a native speaker and I was elated when he understood me. That April of 2001 I fell in love with Spain, with travel, and with the Spanish language.

My passion for teaching, however, came along later. I was a well-rounded student, which is really a liability when it comes to making career decisions. I had no career orientation until graduation neared, suffering from the common misconception that summa cum laude meant “hire her ASAP.” The summer after my junior year in Madrid, I was waitressing and I worked with a man that was practically illiterate. He had dropped out when he was 16. I had never met anyone like that. It blew my mind, and made me realize how much I took education for granted. That September at BU I signed up to volunteer at an adult education program. I ended up getting assigned to an ESL classroom. Before that I knew nothing about ESL. Somehow it never occurred to me how many people in our country speak English as a second language, or don’t speak it at all. Chalk it up to being from a small town, but it opened my eyes. I got to be back in a multicultural environment, which was thrilling for me, and since I’d been working hard to learn a second language, I could really appreciate my students’ efforts.

I decided to keep teaching ESL after college. It was minimal training, and the perfect excuse to travel more. I loved the work, and even more, I loved being immersed in the language I had worked so hard to become fluent in. I spent a year in Barcelona and a year and a half in Queretaro, Mexico. I arrived back home thinking I knew every nuance of Spanish, and considering myself a seasoned teacher. An opportunity to cover a maternity leave in the Spanish department at my old high school fell into my lap, and I thought it would just the opportunity to see if I’d like teaching Spanish.

I didn’t, but I was in over my head too much to even realize how miserable I was. Going from working with motivated adults to eye-rolling, combative high schoolers was like being thrown to the wolves. I worked long hours, staying long after the custodians had come and gone, and still couldn’t cut it. Looking back, I don’t know why I kept going. My students were obnoxious, my classroom management was atrocious, and I was exhausted, but something in me wouldn’t quit. My parents and colleagues encouraged me that I was up to the challenge. I had already gone through all the work to get certified, and I thought I’d give it one more shot.

I was hired to teach Spanish I to 7^th graders in Hopedale, MA. Hopedale! It sounded utopian. Maybe my luck would change. Thankfully, it did. To my surprise, middle school turned out to be my element. It all clicked, and I could genuinely look forward to work. I have a natural compassion for that age group, remembering how awkward and self-conscious I was at that age. Soon I realized my students looked up to me and cared about me. I cared about them, too, and liked having the responsibility of being a role model. The job was still long hours, and lots of work, and there were trials and disappointments, but you get stronger, more confident, and keep fighting the good fight. You laugh really hard as a middle school teacher. There is never a dull moment. You also get to bond with your students. I was the teacher that the marginalized students liked. I’m not sure why, but the socially awkward and troubled kids were the ones that tended to pop in after school and tell me about their day. I guess they knew they were accepted and welcomed.

I think I’m a strong candidate for the MAT program for several reasons. First, I take academics seriously, and eagerly delve into the material. Second, I have about six years experience teaching. I’ve had breakthroughs and flops, but in any case, I’ve learned a lot. Third, my Spanish is strong. Spanish was never my easiest subject, and I don’t consider myself gifted in languages. What I know in Spanish is due to years of diligence, and I’m proud of that accomplishment. Teaching a subject I struggled in is rewarding. Additionally, I use Spanish authentically every day. My husband is from Mexico and we speak Spanish at home. When and if we have children, they will learn Spanish as their first language. I am confident and capable in Spanish whether it’s analyzing literature, or Skyping with my compadres. I still make mistakes, but I’m not giving up.

I’ve been out of the classroom for about a year and I can’t tell you how much I miss hearing “Hola Senorita.” Teaching Spanish is something I love, and I do well. It combines my passions of Spanish, culture, and children. It takes skill, planning, responsibility, creativity, authority, gentleness, flexibility, and perseverance. You have to be an academic, a counselor, a policeman, and a cheerleader. It’s not an easy job, and I’m not perfect at it, but I hope to perfect the craft as I continue to learn and grow. 

Sweet green salsa

Delicious and no fat.

1 20 oz can crushed pineapple
a good handful (2-3 ozs) cilantro-leaves and stems
1 jalapeno- cut into chunks
1 onion- cut into chunks
3 garlic cloves
juice of 1 lime

Food process it and serve with scoops. So yummy!