Little Céline is almost 6 weeks old! And it’s time to get back to blogging. I have missed the weekly postings and the communication and feedback from those of you who read my blog. Hopefully, I haven’t lost too many of you by taking so much time off.  The title of the blog is Motivation For Your Life – Your Daily Dose of Motivation, Inspiration and Good News.  Now that I’m a mom, it’s true that the material from my blog may come from that angle more often. I promise to stay true to the heart of the blog – just from a new perspective.

Speaking of being a mom – even though I was told it was going to be hard – it is harder than I ever thought. From the labour and natural birth, to breastfeed, lack of sleep among other things, there have been so many challenges since she was born.  It is a bit more challenging since she’s a preemie, but we are adjusting well now.

Let’s talk about some of the more positive and wonderful things that have happened in my life since she arrived. First, Céline has brought out the best in my husband, Dan. He is an amazing dad.  The first thing he does when he gets home from work, is hold her or change her or cuddle her – whatever she needs. Then, if I’m feeding her, he’ll make dinner (yes, I was mistaken when I believed I’d have dinner ready for him every night).  After the 9 o’clock feeding, I am usually off to bed.  I have been leaving him a little list of chores to take care of (yes, I was mistaken when I thought I’d be able to take care of the house and the baby) and he does them – without any complaint.  He also enjoys this time with Céline, as she is often fussy and needs to be held for hours. I am so grateful to have the Best Husband in the World (at least in my books).

Another wonderful thing is that I have had the opportunity to spend more time with my parents. As some of you know, my parents live near Guadalajara, Mexico and only spend a few weeks a year in Canada. My dad had an inkling that Céline would arrive early – they left Mexico the day she was born (not knowing I had gone into labour) to drive to Canada.  They have been here for almost 5 weeks.  This is the first time since I was a child that I have really needed my parents. They help around the house, take care of Céline (Mamie likes to hold her all afternoon), allow me to nap, take care of errands, cook for us – you name it, they do it.  This is a whole different relationship with them and I am really thrilled to see this side of their personalities. Of course they need to get their fill of Céline because they are leaving tomorrow and won’t see her again until next summer.

Other family members and friends have really stepped up. My sister flew in from Vancouver two days after she was born – a total Godsend.  We ended up having to go back to the hospital with Céline for jaundice, for two days. Thank goodness my sister was here for that time – it was very challenging and a bit scary.  We made it through though, and Céline is a stronger baby for it! Dan’s family has been visiting regularly as well, and we’ve had a stream of visitors bearing food and gifts that are much appreciated.

All in all, even though these first 6 weeks have been a real challenge, there are so many wonderful things that have come of it.  Most of all, I love my baby girl more than I ever imagined and seeing her little smile and hearing her little baby noises (not so much the crying) are some of the best parts of my day.  And I have no doubt that it gets easier from here.

Time to go – she’s getting ready to eat! Let me know what some of your biggest parenting challenges have been in the comments below!

Didn’t think there was going to be a part III to this story, but sadly, there is. Yesterday, Sunday Jan 3rd, we were set to depart from Guadalajara (GDL) airport, back to Toronto.  Security in Mexico is more advance than in Toronto – believe it or not.  Before check-in, our luggage was opened and hand-searched.  Then, after checking in, we passed through security.  The usual rules for liquids & gels and laptops applied, although we did get to keep our shoes on. Then, before boarding the plane, we had yet another check point, where our carry-on bags were now hand-searched (they had already been x-rayed) and a pat-down (although not as invasive as in Toronto).

Our very full plane left from GDL a half-hour late, at 8:30 am.  We had booked through American Airlines, but were flying on Mexicana for this flight.  Nothing really interesting to report here except that we weren’t able to get emergency exit seating and Dan is 6’2″ tall.  Do the math. On arrival to the US, even though we were only in transit, we still had to go through customs, pick up our luggage and through security once again.  When we arrived in Chicago, we quickly went through customs and then waited for our bags.  Happily, mine did show up.  Unhappily for Dan, his did not. We waited and waited, and then realized we had to get going to make our connecting flight. As Chicago was not our final destination, there was nothing we could do about Dan’s luggage at this point.

We rushed to the next terminal for our flight from Chicago to Toronto and again waited in a fairly long security line-up. I had really had enough at this point and when my bag was pulled aside for a search (I had left a sip of water in my re-usable water bottle) – I broke down.  I was exhausted and so tired of being searched and patted-down and just treated like a threat to society.  Now, I do realize that everyone is treated this way, but that still doesn’t make it ok.

Our flight to Toronto was delayed.  At this point, we could only laugh! We enjoyed a sit-down lunch (a luxury we had not anticipated) and headed to the gate.  Dan and I did get emergency row seating this time, which was excellent. There was one more challenge though – due to the weather on the east coast, the plane did not have enough fuel to carry a full load of passengers and their bags (luckily Dan’s was not on the flight!!).  So, 8 people had to be removed from the flight, since there were no volunteers (next flight was Monday morning).  We were SO HAPPY to be on the flight, and felt pretty awful for those who had to stay behind.  We heard so many horror stories from many other passengers, one couple we met didn’t leave until Tuesday (they were scheduled to leave with us on Sunday with American Airlines).

It’s Monday afternoon here in Burlington, and I am very grateful to be home.  Dan’s luggage is still missing – they have yet to locate it.  The house is a mess, the cat needs some love and a shave, and we are both exhausted from our trip.  We learned a few great lessons though:

• Traveling over the holidays is a very bad idea
• Traveling through the US when you are not actually going to the US is a bad idea
• When flying to the US, fly from Buffalo so that your flight is domestic
• Unfortunately, this time, the terrorist did cause total chaos during the busiest travel period of the year – and even though it is out of our control – it is disturbing that one crazed person can cause so much havoc
• It’s a good idea to become rich as soon as possible, in order to travel first class or by private plane!

Next time I’ll share a few travel tips that might be of use for future trips.  For now, we are staying put.  Of course, until we go to San Francisco in February.

Julie

We ended up having a few amazing days in Mexico after all.  There were many challenges along the way but the most important thing was that we were able to spend almost 5 days together, as a new extended family, with much milder weather than anything we have currently in Canada.

Mexico – New Years

This album highlights a few of the wonderful moments we spent.  Our favorite lunch was in Jocotepec, the village where my parents live (30 min outside of Ajijic for those who know that area – it’s popular with ex-pats). We enjoyed pescado and camarones (fish and shrimp) dishes that were quite hot and very tasty.  La comida (lunch) is the largest meal of the day and can take several hours. We enjoyed this tradition, although it was challenging to really slow down and enjoy eating for over an hour. We are definitely not used to that here in Canada.

Roca Azul is the enclosed park where my parents live. It includes vacation homes, a trailer/RV park and a vast recreation area.  We had a chance to enjoy the many different facilities while we were there. It has the feel of a 1950s or 60s great resort – with tennis, volleyball, basketball, a soccer pitch, jungle gyms for the kids, a large manor house and 2 swimming pools.  We spent quite a bit of time in the smaller, warmer pool which had a lagoon-like feel to it.  We also tried beach volleyball and tennis. I am still not very good at tennis, and luckily, neither is Dan.

New Year’s Eve was a family evening for us, including traditional soupe à l’oignon and champagne. We added a Mexican twist this year and hung a pinata for us to whack! Imagine our surprise when after all of that whacking the pinata turned out to be EMPTY! Oh well, we still enjoyed the cocktails and celebrated the end of 2009 outside in the garden.

Our last full day together was New Year’s Day and we spent most of the day relaxing in the garden, reading, watching some of the movies we had received as gifts and taking it easy.  Wonderful! We awoke to a thunder storm early on Saturday morning and saw Nick and Sophie off to the airport in pouring rain.  Even though it was raining, we did have the chance to visit Chapala, a small little town near the water.  We walked along the malecon and hopped between rain drops.  The balance of our last day was spend inside.

It was a very special time for us as a family, and one that may not be easy to repeat in the near future. It is always difficult to be so far away from each other, but we all grew up as world travellers, so it was inevitable that we would go our separate ways as we grew older. Jérôme and Louise seem to have really adjusted to life in Mexico and are very happy. And that’s what is most important of all.

Julie

Mexico – Day 1

We woke up on our first full day in Jocotepec to a sun, cloud mix and 20°C weather. Beautiful compared to the weather back home. We decided to take a trip up the mountains into Mazmitlan, at 2500 m. Being the middle of Mexico, the weather is much different from the coastline, as well as the vegetation and scenery. Rolling volcanic mountains, and the higher up we went, the most vegetation we saw. It was really quite beautiful.  A few photos from the visit are included. The local church was decorated for the holidays and the nativity scene was displayed out front.  It was very elaborate, including an elephant.  Very interesting. Mexicans really love old style Volkswagon Beetles and they are everywhere. We even found a replica of Herbie, the love bug.  I’ve really enjoyed being in the culture and with the local people, and have been taking every opportunity to speak Spanish. I have been studying Spanish with a Meet-Up group in Mississauga a few times a month and it has really helped. Tomorrow we have a quite day planning, exploring Roca Azul, the community where my parents live.  A bit of volleyball, swimming, reading and relaxing sounds about right. And tonight, tequila tasting party! Julie