statistics

Just for the record...

when I took mary for her 4 month checkup. she was 15 lbs, 1oz and 25 inches long. She was 75th percentile in heaight and weight. (I want to keep some kind of record, because I never wrote it down with Sammy and that makes me sad now.)

feet

today when I went to get pachita up she was already up and playing with her feet. This is the first time she got her feet! weeeeeeeeee I have been waiting for this moment and she was so happy :)

banshee fun

my little girl has taken to random screaming. not crying. she just sort of screams all day. like she knows that you can't talk quietly if you want to be heard.

you go girl!

a rose by any other name....part 2

Mary’s trinity name is pacha mama. Bob and I wanted to give this baby girl a native Mexican name, because two thirds of the trinity is Mexican. So we researched some Teotihuacan names for months and months, but we could never decide on one we both liked. For some reason we were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Then Moo chimed in and asked why we were picking Teotihuacan names? And bob said, “because we want a native mexican name.” Moo suggested we look at a different, native Mexican language, because he didn’t really like the sound of Teotihuacan. So we said okay. And then some how “Pacha mama” the song came into our discussion, and we all sort of said “I like how that sounds” at the same time (over email, very funny). And it means Mother Earth in Mayan and is a beautiful Manu Chao song. And thus it was decided, as if by fate, that Mary is Pacha mama, or pachita, or mamita, depending on the mood. Thank you moo for coming up with this beautiful name.

Here are the words to the song….(in case you ever learn Spanish)

Por el suelo hay una compadrita
Que ya nadie se para a mirar
Por el suelo hay una mamacita
Que se muere de no respetar
Pachamama te veo tan triste
Pachamama me pongo a llorar

Esperando la ultima ola
Cuidate no te vaya a mojar
Esperando la última rola
Mamacita te invito a bailar

Por el suelo camina mi pueblo
Por el suelo hay un agujero
Por el suelo camina la raza
Mamacita te vamo-a matar

Esperando la última ola
Pachamama me muero de pena
Escuchando la última rola
Mamacita te invito a bailar

Por el suelo camina mi pueblo

Por el suelo moliendo condena
Por el suelo el infierno quema
Por el suelo la raza va ciega

Esperando la última ola
Pachamama me muero de pena
Escuchando la última rola
Mamacita te invito a bailar

a rose by any other name....

I get a lot of questions about why ‘Mary’? why ‘Augustine’. If you hate your name, Mary, feel lucky, because you were almost Heidi, which I liked, but your father didn’t. You could have also been Mary Ruth after both our mothers, but I decided that sounded old and nun-ny. So Mary it was.

Mary has two layers of meaning for me. Mary is your paternal grandmother. Your grandmother is a beautiful soul. I didn’t know her at all until I moved up here right before Sammy was born, but I have come to know her and love her like my own mother. She is very giving. She cares deeply about the world. She puts up with a lot of shit in silence. If I could give her anything, I would give her self-love. I gave you her name, and hope you will have even half of her grace. And I will make sure you always know you are worthy of love.

On the other hand, is there any female name more burdened with meaning in the Western world?!? Mary, you will find as you grow up that this world is not necessarily kind and safe for females. That is a blog for another day, however. Just know that part of that is because of the Christian dichotomy of the whore and the virgin. Both, serendipitously, named Mary. This was forefront in my mind, because of Tori’s song, Marys of the Sea. I was loving that song when you were in my belly. Marys of the Sea is about transcending the division of the whore and the virgin and claiming your whole person. Like I said, I brought you into a beautiful, tragic world that will try to define you. My hope is that you can transcend the socialization that would make you less than you are. Never try to fit into their boxes.

Augustine is not, contrary to the claims of some people, named after St. Augustine, the place in FL that has beautiful beaches that your father and I walked obsessively. Augustine is after August (another name I liked but your father didn’t). August means wise. It also, to me at least, means warm and full like the height of summer when life is plentiful. Augustine also refers back to the Christian theme, from St. Augustine, the person, who was horribly anti-female, although very beautifully religious from what I have read. Can you tell I am obsessed with the Christian beliefs about women? I haven’t resolved this for myself yet so I guess you get to share in my burden, as my daughter.

swimming in a pool of warm milk

two nights ago I was taking a bath with Mary. It never fails that both of my children want to/wanted to breastfeed in the bath tub. There must be something about being surrounded with warm liquid that triggers the need to suckle. I always imagined with Sam that he must think he is swimming in a bathtub full of warm milk, beause he always wanted to drink the water. And Mary does the same thing. She pokes her little tongue out hoping she will dip low enough in the water to get a little taste of the warmth.

so this night I wanted to relax in the tub so i let her breastfeed while i poured warm water continuously over her exposed body so that she wouldn't get cold. It was such a serene bonding moment with my daughter. I don't get too many of those with this active noisy baby.

my baby girl

This is a blog about my baby girl, Mary, otherwise known as Pacha mama.

Yesterday I took pachita to the doctor because she has had a cough for two weeks, and I discovered something about my daughter. She is going to be a total flirt/extrovert that thrives off of the attention of others. As the doctors and nurses in turn talked with her, she got this huge smile on her face. And as the doctor was examining her, he said "Oh what a good baby. Even my adult patients are not this good." as he poked and prodded, and she just smiled and smiled.

We haved already surmised that Mary gets easily bored and needs lots of attention. This new piece of her puzzle fits in perfectly.

Watch out, bob. You are going to have a goddaughter just like you.

PS: everytime I take my children to the doctor, they tell me that it is just a virus and there is nothing to do but let them get over it. and everytime I say I will never take my child to the doctor again.