Country Rican

I am very tired.  I know, I should be, but every once in a while I just marvel at how exhausted my body truly is. I am 25 weeks pregnant, so I am almost done with the second trimester - which was supposed to be the honeymoon. Well it was when I was pregnant with Sofia, because I didn't have to run after Sofia.  Sofia is 18 months old now.  She runs, she climbs, she gets into EVERYTHING.  She talks a lot, but we cannot make out most of it.  She is bilingual which mean she asks for "agua" and then tells you it is "cold".  She wears me out, as she is too much like her daddy and does not stop.  She is, however, a joy to be around.  She is very affectionate, and will hug and kiss me out of nowhere. She is daddy's girl, and will constantly leave me for him.  I know, I might as well get used to it.  She is also Grand daddy's girl, and will cry inconsolably whenever he leaves her. She is not doing too well with her consonants, a...

When I was an immigration advisor at UGA I once had to tell a young woman that she was here illegally.  She was an 18 freshman who had gotten herself a job at the dorm when her would be employer told her she could not work and that she would need to go see me.  When I asked her about her legal status she said she had been here for years and was not sure.  I knew immediately what she was.  One of the millions brought here before she could remember anything else, but she was completely unaware. I told her to go home, talk to her parents, and come back with her passport and visa documentation - whatever that may be. When she came back it was as I suspected.  She had been here since the age of 7 on a tourist visa that expired when she was 8.  She was from South America but had no memory of being there.  She was crushed.  She was paying for school with a church scholarship.  A good student and a regular church-goer, she had eno...

Yes, the Rican Goddez is producing her second little goddez.  I wanted a boy, because I wanted to experience one of each.  But, alas, the universe decided I should have another girl. I am truly blessed to be pregnant for the second time.  I am grateful that my old eggs are still working, and that Michael's old boys can still swim.  The most important thing is that the doctor has said she looks very healthy, and that so far at fifteen weeks she seems fine from everything he can tell from an ultrasound. There are mixed feelings because Michael and I had discussed only having two, so there is a sense of loss of what we will not get to have. Michael told the doctor that Sofia was so perfect he was worried about the second one having to live up to her.  I worry about it too.  The sibling rivalry between two kids less than 2 years apart of the same sex can be intense. Then again, I say I want a boy because I grew up with brothers and I am not t...

Yes, I am pregnant again.  Apparently the people I know are not reading my blog, since every time I mention something about pregnancy on facebook I inform some other friend who was unaware.  This is odd to me, because I announced the pregnancy weeks ago on this blog, and according to my stats it was read by over 100 people.  I must have more friends than I know... Maybe I have strangers who are reading my blog?  If so, "Hi there stranger!" Indeed this pregnancy is kicking my ass.  My OB says the second is harder for most women, but damn.  I am TIRED! Exhausted really, ALL-THE-TIME!  It is indeed fatigue.  Not to mention I feel sick to my stomach most of the day, have a general feeling of being unwell, and now the headaches have started.  To compare, with Sofia I was not that tired, I was sick to my stomach some, but mostly mid day, and the headaches didn't start until the nausea was gone.  In hindsight it would seem my Sofia belly was ...

Ahhhh, the 70s. I love my brothers.  I do.  When I look back at my life it is hard to imagine my life without them.  Of course, I am the youngest and so they have always been there.   Kano was an only child for seven whole years! Lucho was the baby for a year and a half!  I was born with two brothers and would not have any other way. It was not always that way.  There were many times when I wondered why I couldn’t have a little sister.  Someone younger than me to torture as Lucho tortured me.  Or maybe we could trade him for girl?  J   I say this now because I am sure there were many times as kids when he was stuck with his wimpy nerdy sister that he wished to trade me in for a little brother; and because after years of wishing for a sister I feel blessed to have brothers instead.  I’m a guy’s girl.  I have always been better in a circle of guys and I know it’s because I had them with me all through my life. It...

I was put on birth control at the age of 16 for medical reasons.  It was a 3 month treatment for what was basically out of control hormones.  I was in high school, and much to my horror my period would show up every other week, or not at all, or come and stay for a month.  My mom took me to a female OB/GYN, and this was her prescription.  I am sure my mother was a little nervous when her gorgeous teen age daughter was given birth control.  But, it was a medical treatment, I needed it, and it worked.  After a three month treatment and for at least a year after my period was "normal".  I was a virgin when the treatment started, and I was still a virgin after it.  Fear of getting pregnant is not the only deterrent to having sex, no matter what the religious right tells you. That was over 20 years ago, and at the time only my close friends knew I was on the pill because back then people would label me a slut if they knew I was on...

Being a mom has been a unique experience.   Although at times I am amazed that we managed to keep Sofia Carolina alive for a year, most of the time what I feel for her is an immense feeling of pride.   I look at her and I am grateful she is so smart, curious, beautiful, healthy…I wonder how we can be so blessed.   I worry about her all the time. Michael says it is my job to worry, but like every mom I guess I feel I worry too much.   That first night in the hospital when we were all so tired and my mom and Michael were both finally napping, I held a tiny Sofia in the darkness of my hospital room and wondered, hoped, even prayed that I could do this.  I had waited so long to be a parent.  I felt so blessed that we had been able to conceive in our late thirties so quickly, and felt lucky to have a perfect baby in my arms.  Ten toes and ten fingers. She was the picture of good health.  I had waited for the right partner with whom to ...