Se Hace Camino Al Andar

I won’t lie to you. Travelling anywhere with a baby is exhausting, travelling to Europe even more so. That said, I’m glad we did this trip and I’d do it again, in a heartbeat. The first couple of days were rough, starting with the travel delays (two hour delay at Newark, causing us to miss our connection in Frankfurt, which led to a 5 hour wait for the next flight to Krakow). Throw some nasty teething into the mix and you’ve got a recipe for good times. Oh yeah.

But we adjusted, Alice adjusted. She’s been napping like crazy, and we’ve taken advantage of the fact that we are staying at a very nice, comfortable hotel. We really don’t mind hanging out here to give Alice a break from all the hubbub and the heaps of adoration that are put on her by party guests. (Being adorable makes a baby cranky and tired, did you know?)

We’ve spent most of our time here going to different wedding events and walking around the Stare Miasto (Old Town). Today is our last full day here, so we hope to visit the Castle that looms over our hotel, and the Sukiennice, or Cloth Hall, in the square for some amber shopping. It’s been a great trip because we’ve not felt the pressure to go out and do everything and see everything, since we are here for a wedding. We haven’t done any tours, or museum-hopping. I love feeling like I’m on vacation… my previous trips to Europe have been jam-packed with tiring activity (I’ve also resisted the urge to chain-smoke– an old Europe habit and I haven’t been drinking my face off. I think I’ve grown up, or something.)  I’ve been lax in taking photos but hopefully, I’ll catch up today. In the meantime, you can see some here: Henry’s pictures, more from Henry, and my Facebook album.  Enjoy!

The List, originally uploaded by NCavillones.

We’re off to Krakow this afternoon for a 6 day wedding trip. My good friend, who is an American-born Pole, spent her childhood summers in Poland and has a large family in Krakow. I’m incredibly excited to be returning to that part of the world. I lived in Prague for 4 months but never managed a trip to Poland. We’re staying at the super fancy Hotel Copernicus, and the wedding is at Korzkiew Castle. The bride and groom, and their respective families have lots planned for the guests, including bachelor/bachelorette parties, walking tours, a visit to the Salt Mine (a UNESCO site) and a second day party on a boat docked on the Wisla River, beneath Wawel Castle, which is supposed to be an amazing sight at night, all lit up.
Before the fun begins, there’s laundry to be done, packing to be completed, some light housekeeping and hair to be done! See you on the other side.

Okay, today was sort of a magical day in mommyland. The bear took a long, long nap this morning during which I was able to do the dishes, vacuum the living room rug, pay the bills and get my Facebook on. Yeah! Then, the bear woke up in an excellent mood. We had a little snack, then took a trip to Ikea. I conquered my fear of driving in New Jersey, and arrived at Ikea unscathed. We did our shopping, had the usual swedish meatball lunch and with the exception of a post-lunch, really-need-a-nap-meltdown at the tail end of our shopping trip, the bear continued to be in excellent mood. As expected, Alice fell asleep in the car on the way home. I found rock star parking in front of my building, and was able to take Alice out of the car and upstairs to finish her nap, even though she woke up in transition. She continued to sleep for another hour or so. Score!

While she was napping, I made a pillowcase! Witness:

This is an envelope pillowcase, an incredibly easy project since it requires no sewing of buttons or zippers or velcro! I used instructions found on Curbly. The instructions are super simple, so I’m going to throw in my two cents.

1. You can see in the photo that the slipcover is a little loose. I like my covers to be snug, so the next time around, I might only add an extra half inch to the width and an inch to the length. (In fact, I might just go ahead and cut off the bottom of the case and re-sew it.)
2. Press, press, press. Iron your fabric before you pin it. Press those seams open before you flip it inside out. It’ll make everything nice and sharp.
3. You can’t see it but the inside of the flaps are raw edges. Even though it’s hidden, I don’t like knowing it’s there. Next time, I will clean up those unseen raw edges.
4. Definitely use a turner to poke those corners out. I happen to have a bone folder, so I use that but you can use chopsticks or anything long and pointy.

So that’s my two cents (or 4) on this pillowcase tutorial. I figure I can have the rest of my pillows done in about three nap sessions!

Paradise Lost by John Milton

I am reading this book for Books on The Nighstand’s summer reading challenge, Beowulf on the Beach. I have more than a passing familiarity with the Bible, so I hope that will be enough to appreciate the biblical allusions central to the work. According to the introduction, it also helps to be familiar with The Illiad and The Aeneid, neither of which I’ve read, so they must be added to my list, I suppose.

Technorati Tags: "books on the nightstand", Goodreads

The teef monster reared its ugly head this afternoon, after going into hiding for the better part of a week. It was a nice break from the miserable sleep. There was little to no napping today, and a few bedtime wake-ups. The last one was at around 2 am. The Bear is asleep now, and I was almost asleep until Henry jerked suddenly in his sleep, kicking me, which startled me enough to shake me out of sleep. And that’s why it’s 3 am and I’m writing a damn blog post. In case you were wondering, this post will probably be about nothing.  Here’s an onslaught of randomosity.

1. On Facebook recently,  my status was that I missed being pregnant. And it’s true. Even though we are so not ready for Baby #2 (it didn’t take long for me to change my mind about having them close together), I do miss being pregnant. I know there are women out there who had miserable pregnancies but I was not one of them. I had a great pregnancy, right up until the end (you know, that part where my last few weeks were fraught by anxiety over going under the knife because SOMEONE decided she liked it better when her head was rammed into my ribcage, instead of settling nicely into the space that was freaking custom-designed for her precious little head, and now that SOMEONE has a permanent line on her crown from being mashed into said ribcage.) I had no morning sickness, I wasn’t working, and I just felt really fantastic most of the time. I always like having something to look forward to.

2. I seem to have hit the Identity Crisis stage of early motherhood. Who am I? What am I doing here? Do I have anything to talk about besides poop, baby food, sleep habits? I think about things like going back to work part-time, and leaving Alice for a week to go to Barcelona (I think I could’ve done it but (un)fortunately, finances, or lack thereof, ruled that decision). I think about when I’m going to wean because I’d like my boobs back, please and I’d like to wear a proper bra again, please. I wonder why I can’t summon the time or energy to tame my wily eyebrows, or why Alice dresses better than I do.

3. My favorite pair of jeans are falling apart and I am having the damndest time finding a replacement. I almost found them at Macy’s the other day but alas, my size was not to be had. I thought I found them online but they turned out to almost-but-not-quite-the same, so back in the mail they went. I did try on a pair of Calvin Klein jeans that I actually liked but couldn’t swallow the 50 dollar price tag. Also, I think subconsciously, I’m avoiding the purchase of new jeans because really, I’d like to be able to buy them in a smaller size.

4. A friend’s personal trainer sent me a message via Facebook, offering his services after I joked that I needed “one of those,” someone who would tell me to drop that bagel, as he told my friend, who is on a “wedding diet.” I’ve had no problem losing weight, and in fact, I’ve lost all my baby weight and then some. The problem is the midsection. It needs serious toning. Pregnancy stretches out your belly plenty but when you have a c-section, it just becomes a plain old mess. MUST. DO. CORE. EXERCISES. I have a plan now to do Plank everyday. Also, this.

5. Speaking of core exercises, no more mommy’n'me yoga. Besides the fact that the yoga teacher raised her prices (not by much, but enough to make her class not worth the drive to Yonkers since it now costs the same as any other class within walking distance from me), I felt like I was wasting my money. I was getting no yoga done, because I was too busy chasing after Alice, or nursing her, or she was just plain in my way. I’m looking for a local class to do on my own.

6. This post by Jenifer is so spot-on. The feelings she describes is what led me to decide to seek out yoga just for me, and to be more vigilant about taking care of myself.

7. Also, didn’t I say I would report back here about the Beowulf on the Beach challenge? After comparing the list of 50 books to what I already had on my bookshelf, I decided on Paradise Lost, by John Milton. I’ve had it on my t0-read list for quite awhile, so now is good a time as any! I just hope my brain doesn’t break from the stress of trying to make my attention span last longer than ten seconds.

8. We’re going to Poland in three weeks. I’m ready but I am not ready. Mostly, I’ve been compiling a mental packing list. When I go to Europe, I like to look like I belong there. Unfortunately, the dresses that I plan to wear are not really nursing-friendly, so I’m inventory-ing my skirt collection and will probably have to buy at least two more skirts and a mess of tops. These are things that women think about apparently, when planning a trip abroad. ‘Tis true.

9. This will be the summer of Cape Cod. We’re spending a few days at the cottage right before my birthday, then I’m going for a week with my younger sister and staying until the middle of August. It’s tempting to stay for the entire month of August but I think I’d start to go a little crazy. Also, my very good friend is having a baby on August 11th and I need to be there in order to nom the little munchkin and feed the mommy mac’n'cheese. Also, I think I would miss my husband a lot. That’s a biggie right there!

10. This will be the Brooklyn Weekend. Saturday, we’re headed to McCarren Park for the Renegade Craft Fair and the farmer’s market, and some mamafriend time. Sunday, we’re in Prospect Park for a reuinon picnic of teachers, one of whom is visiting from Kansas, which apparently is the holy land of teaching compared to New York City.

Hey, it’s 4:03 am. Maybe I’ll try the sleep thing again.