I’m the third-born
Hey, um, excuse me? I’ve been crying here for quite some time. Can you even hear me above the ruckus? Can someone just get me already? I know, I know, […]
baby
Freefall to Fly
A few months back, I wrote a review of the novel Americanah because of its rich layers and interwoven themes: Immigration, The Third Culture, Cross-cultural living. Books must really be of […]
“They’re gonna hate you for it”
I have been grateful for so many encouraging comments and emails about traveling with small kids, multilingualism, and cross-cultural living on social media. Then, almost out of nowhere, this one […]
Adventures in China with small kids
Not so many Western families travel to China with young kids for a vacation. That was the first thing that struck us as we flew to Shanghai a few weeks […]
Bilingual Avenue Podcast
I am really honored to feature on this week’s episode of Bilingual Avenue, a weekly podcast with insightful tips and advice from language experts and normal parents like us, raising […]
“H” is for…Humility
“I’m going to China, where are you going, Grammie?” Ayo asked last week as if nothing were. I didn’t think much of it at the time but it really marked […]
Sibling dynamics in multilingualism
Choosing and implementing a language strategy with your first child is often more straightforward than when the next child comes along. We generally speak more to our first-borns, we spend […]
Expecting a multilingual baby!
What a life-altering experience it is to welcome a first baby into your home. Like many first time mamas who find themselves in this age of information overload, I felt […]
Lullabies of the World
Looking for peaceful lullabies that you will like / won’t drive you totally bonkers when played over and over in the car? Check! On the hunt for lullabies from all […]
Chatty blog “reduction”
Struggling to find the time to do the many things that I love. One of those many things is to journal. A few days ago, I started using the voice […]
You ate your what?!
I ate my placenta. And based on the squeamish reactions I have received since sharing that nifty piece of information, I thought I should write a little more about the […]
Nine days postpartum…
Toddler naptime stream of consciousness, nine days into it… Trying this without using the “delete” key. Getting too old for these nighttime feedings. I love stroking Délice’s cheeks. Oh my […]
Tia Camp
Well, girls, I am pretty sure I am the luckiest pregnant mama out there. My sister-in-law, a.k.a. “Tia”, recently declared she would be taking Ayo one day a fortnight in […]
Birthday weekend
Wow, this past week has been hectic. Tall Mountain was busy conference-hopping last weekend and shooting the next film until late at night most nights this past week. Back on […]
Pregnancy 2.0
In case you haven’t gathered from various social media sites or missed the subtle change from “child” to “children” in the blog description, I am 21 weeks pregnant with bébé numéro […]
Sleeping baby bubbly
Last night was jetlag night number 5 and Ayo slept through! Hooray! I am not sure if it had something to do with this being the fifth night or based […]
Flying me crazy!
It is hard to believe that this is Ayo’s fourth trip to France in less than a year. He is such a fortunate toddler and he doesn’t even know it! […]
Mexico at 14 months
Three loads of laundry are piled up next to me and bright colored toys are strewn all over the first floor. I had to step over a sippy cup and […]
For the birth geeks!
Here is an interview between Future Midwives of America and Aubre Tompkins (CNM, MSN), who is the clinical director of Mountain Midwifery Center. Aubre explains some of the joys of […]
The World Until Yesterday
I first heard about best-selling author Jared Diamond and his newly released The World Until Yesterday – What we can Learn from Traditional Societies in an in-flight magazine. In the […]
Rwandan colored spectacles
Have you ever thought about how strange your life looks behind a different cultural shade of our world’s glasses? Today, my Rwandan mama friend came over for a spontaneous playdate, […]
No longer an infant!
It’s Ayo’s very first birthday today and all sorts of thoughts are running through my mind. My first year of mamahood was mundane and humbling. At the same time, it […]
Slovenian-French 1st birthday!
Joyeux Anniversaire a little in advance and a slightly belated Vse najboljše to these darling little ones, born within nine days of one another. xxx
Babies and language
For all of you interested in infant language assimilation, here are some fascinating TED talks I just have to share! Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies (On critical periods […]
Maisons & Maternage
You’d think there would be birth centers all over France. Natural birth advocate Michel Odent, is, after all French! This report on last night’s 8pm TF1 news shows that maisons […]
The early years…
My first two were spent aboard the floating hospital in this 12 minute clip, which aired on 60 Minutes this past weekend. True story! That’s me pictured with my brother […]
Baby Catcher
Last night, I finished reading Peggy Vincent’s memoir as a home-birth midwife: Baby Catcher, Chronicles of a Modern Midwife. I think I could have read all 322 pages in one […]
Operation: Got Milk?
I thought we’d be breastfeeding exclusively for a year, but Ayo seems to be thinking otherwise. In all honesty, I’m not too sad about it. As someone recently said, we’ll […]
Visiting Mrs. L
Mamie has forever suggested taking Ayo to a nursing home to provide some cackling cheer to sweet grannies. We finally got a chance to do so yesterday. Tata Mimi, our […]
International travel with baby
It’s hard to believe that Ayo has been on 16 flights in the last six months. I’d say that flying with him is definitely getting easier as we learn how […]
Seizing the weekday
While I’d much rather have spent today visiting friends, we really needed to use our final weekday to meet with real-estate agents instead. Tall Mountain back from Austria (after India […]
8 month favs
Rocking out to music and noticing that my buddy is humming along to it too, but in soprano. The enthusiastic shake of a small plastic bottle filled with dry beans, […]
A walk in the park
Outside: Golden leaves glistening in the late afternoon sunlight on a warm autumn day. Inside: One baby-on-the-mend who had been quiet in his PJs all day. One papa that could […]