Ballet Drama

About a month ago, after much begging on Maia's part, I finally enrolled her in a ballet class at our community center. Of course, she adores it, and I get to spend time socializing with other moms and having them coo over Tai. Our neighbor also takes her son there, so sometimes she brings Maia and I get to stay home in my pajamas a little longer. Pictured below are Maia and her little friend, my neighbors son, John. The following story unfolded on one of the days that I had Maia carpool with John's mom.

It appears that there is some discrimination going on in ballet. Specifically, the girls are mean to the two boys who are in class with them. I wouldn't think this would be an issue in a class of 3 year olds, but it is! On this particular day, the second boy was absent, leaving our neighbor, John, as the only boy in the class. When the teacher was not paying attention, some of the girls started telling John that he shouldn't stand with them because he was on a different team. When he refused to budge, one of the girls reached out her hands and scratched his face! When it seemed that she would do it again, Maia put her little hands over his face in a protective way and then turned them toward the offending girl and said, "Don't hurt John!" And nobody did.

No adult saw this. It was John who told his mom what happened. We were all so proud of Maia. This was only her second time in ballet class, so she was definitely the new girl. She is by far the smallest one in the class, though I'm not sure she realizes this. And finally, she had no parent on the premises to run to for support. And she's not even four years old yet!

We live in a rather small community where it seems like everyone knows each other. Maia will be going to school with those girls and will likely know them for the rest of her life. I'm glad that she made a strong first imression!

Let's Play a Game

How well do you know your babies? Is this Tai or Maia? I have adjusted comments so anyone can now feel free to comment on any post. You no longer need a blogger id.

Even more birth pictures

Tai still gets this expression from time to time:)

One big baby boy!

He looks so red and healthy here. When he came out, his whole body was the color that his hands and feet are in this picture. It's amazing the difference a couple of minutes can make.

Tai's Birth Revisited

Last week, I went in for my 6 weeks check-up and everything looks good. I've already lost 35 pounds of the weight I gained during pregnancy. If I could just lose 10-15 more, I would be thinner than ever! I know, though, that this may not last. I've been expending a lot of calories with my marathon breastfeeding sessions, and the weight has flown off as a result. As things get even more relaxed, I'm sure the weight loss will slow down or reverse as well. I'm just enjoying the fast metabolism while it lasts. It's not something I've experienced often in life.


During the check up, I told my doctor I almost regretted my decision to have Tai without an epidural because it was so hard. Half jokingly, I said, "Why didn't you talk me into a c-section?" To which he replied, "Are you kidding? How could you go from wanting a natural childbirth to a c-section? That's not like you!" I agreed that he had a point. A c-section would have have come with a difficult recovery and many more problems. In the end, I think I'm at peace with how everything happened, though if I have another baby someday, I'm checking how big they are before signing myself up for a natural birth again! But it's funny how nature makes you forget, and I'm already starting to forget some of the anguish I experienced.


On that note, here are some pictures:

My medical team. The second one from the left is Betsy. She's the one that made me squat. The super-tall woman who looks like a model is April. She was my doula and I would not have made it through the experience without her!


I was so glad to finally get Tai in my arms. I felt like I waited forever.


Maia's first visit to the hospital. She was so excited.

April helping me deal with the pain. She had magic hands.

In case there was any doubt about how I felt, the look on my face should confirm it. Ouch!