Christine Koh lives in the Boston area with her spouse and 6-year-old daughter and is expecting a second daughter in March 2011. She is a recovering academic, designer, relay runner as well as a good friend. She tweets about it all at @bostonmamas.
I asked her a few questions about her experiences and expectations as a born-again rookie mom. We define a born-again rookie as a parent whose youngest child is school-age.
Tell us what are 3 things you’re ecstatic about trying that weren’t around when Laurel was born.
Well, the three top things I’m ecstatic about trying were, in fact, around when Laurel was born but I didn’t take advantage of them. Hands down, the first is (successful) bottle feeding — not only to give me a little freedom but so Jon and Laurel can take pleasure in feeding the baby. I was woefully lazy about introducing the bottle to Laurel — we didn’t get around to it until she was 3 months old and by that time she was like, “Um, no, Mom, that’s so not happening.” I’m still not wild about pumping but hopefully this time around my liquid gold will actually get used, not just tossed down the sink after refused attempts! It’s so funny…Laurel has been saying, “Mom, don’t be lazy about the bottle this time around because I want to feed my baby sister!”
The second thing I’m ecstatic to try is mom/baby yoga classes. I’ve become very dedicated to yoga in the last few years and I want to keep it up after the baby is born — it just feels so good to stretch everything out and I’m curious to see how it would opt for a baby. I thought about trying classes with Laurel but never got around to it.
And the third thing I want to try is running with a jogging stroller. As Heather well knows, I started running about a year and a half ago and one of my a lot of extraordinary experiences of 2010 was participating in a 200-mile relay with the Eat. Blog. Correr. equipe. The team plans on regrouping in 2011 and I’m hoping I can get myself ready in time with the help of a jogging stroller. one of my girlfriends is throwing me a baby shower and I requested a recycled/secondhand shower (though I’m also welcoming fresh diapers considering that we’ll undoubtedly need lots of those!) — I’m keeping my fingers crossed that someone has a jogging stroller they no longer want!
Do you have any new fears or concerns?
I’ve actually found myself remarkably Zen about this pregnancy and upcoming delivery. I mean, yes, of course our lives will change a lot and there are some logistical worries (for example, I really must look into some child care help sometime soon”¦), but otherwise, I’m feeling incredibly laid back and delighted about it all — both in my upcoming role as a mother of two and professionally. I think it helps that my professional life fits so much better with my role as a mommy than it did when I was working on my postdoctoral fellowship while pregnant with Laurel. Back then I was surrounded by men at Harvard and MIT and there was a very clear sense that the (professional) clock was ticking and that I was screwing myself by making the choice to become a mom. It was really depressing.
What will your first outing be? Do you want to join us on our RM challenge?
OK, this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but when I think “outing” I think trip, and when I think trip, I think about Mom 2.0 in April! part of me feels as if it wouldn’t be such a big deal to travel with a 4-week-old, and of course everyone else tells me I’m absolutely crazy. I guess I just loved the conference and people so much last year that it pains my heart to think about missing the action this year. I mean I must keep reminding myself that it would not be the same experience with gigantic leaky boobs and a newborn in tow!
On a a lot more local scope, I think your Rookie mommies challenge is wonderful; I completely agree that it helps to have outings — when Laurel was a baby I felt that I needed to get out at least once a day, even if it was a walk around the neighborhood or a check out to my parent’s house. I always felt a little deflated on the days where I hadn’t gone out and I literally could not recall a single thing I had done all day!
More specifically, given that I love cafe culture and all things crafty, your Week 1 (pretend you’re in Europe) and Week 4 (visit the fabric store) challenges absolutely speak to me! I was very lucky when Laurel was born in that a lot of my local girlfriends were having kids at the same time and there was no shortage of play dates. and admittedly, I also never went to mom’s groups because the concept felt too hard and a little exhausting — as in, “Ugh, what if it’s clique-y? What if I don’t connect with anyone?” However, a couple of things have happened considering that then… first, I’ve learned that no matter how different, a mommy is a mommy — we won’t all agree on how to parent but we all have a common language. and second, I’ve heard terrific things about momOs grupos em lugares como a parentalidade de Isis. (Divulgação: Eu sabia sobre eles quando Laurel era um bebê, mas só comprou lá … Agora eu faço algum trabalho consultivo para eles e genuinamente ter profunda admiração pelos recursos educacionais e sociais que eles fornecem para os pais.) Há um ISIS a menos de uma milha. Da minha casa – só pense, eu poderia correr com o bebê em um carrinho de corrida e conhecer algumas novas mamães em uma aula de ioga de mãe / bebê!
Você tem alguma dúvida para nossos leitores?
Eu realmente adoraria ouvir seus leitores sobre suas fraldas de pano favoritas. Jon e eu pano fraldai laurel por cerca de 6 meses (usamos pano quando em casa e descartável quando saindo “| provavelmente tentaremos fazer algo semelhante desta vez) Mas nós estávamos usando fraldas antiquadas (uma capa, forro e fralda tri-dobra retangular) e um serviço (obrigado sogro!) E provavelmente teríamos ficado muito mais tempo se tivéssemos fraldas de pano modernas que foram melhor construídas e poderiam ser lavadas em casa. Os antiquados ficaram tão bagunçados e tornou-se impossível de se alinhar enquanto Laurel ficou contorcido. A tecnologia progrediu tanto e eu adoraria ouvir sobre marcas e estilos favoritos.
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Christine Koh completou seu Ph.D. e comunhão pós-doutorado na música e na ciência do cérebro antes de pendurar suas esporas acadêmicas para se tornar um escritor, editor, designer e consultor criativo. Ela é o fundador e editora de Boston Mamas, o designer por trás do pavão chique, escreve um blog pessoal no Discurso Pop, canetas a coluna minimalista mamãe, e hospeda o Talk Video Show Life.Style com Christine Koh.