I love being in a relationship with such variety. I love being exposed to Aya’s Japanese culture, and she loves being exposed to my American culture with my family’s Polish heritage. We try to raise Ellie, and now Chloe, with a nice mix of both. Blending holiday traditions between two different families is difficult enough, but it can be even more challenging when you’re blending traditions from two different countries with very different cultures.
For awhile, Ellie actually went to sleep pretty easily. But after our trip to Japan to visit Aya’s parents last year, our system fell apart. I tried re-aligning her sleep methods shortly after our return, but in the end, I had failed miserably. Since then, we’ve just accepted the situation. Between Ellie’s ups and downs during the day, and Aya’s pregnant hormonal ups and downs during the night, sitting quietly in Ellie’s room for an hour until she fell asleep seemed much easier than fighting the battle.
It appears Aya and I aren’tthe only ones that are having pre-baby jitters. For the longest time, Ellie has seemed un-phased and uninterested in mama’s belly. Sometimes she’d say she had a baby in her belly too, or that I did. But other than that, she wanted nothing to do with Aya’s belly or any talk about a new baby or a sister. But recently, she’s been acknowledging the baby by calling her “sister bear.” And she’s definitely having some strong feelings about it now.
As the baby’s due date gets closer and closer, I’ve really started to feel it. My outwardly lax attitude that I’ve had for the majority of this pregnancy is quickly fading. We are having a baby, and we are having one really soon.
It was time I started the “nesting” process. You know, everything you have to do to prepare for the arrival of a baby. So while Aya’s personality had changed into a hormonal naggy wife, I’ve turned into a Type A organizational control freak.
I feel fortunate to be able to say that Aya is pretty easy to live with. She does have her quirks, and I know I have mine, but we can be pretty easy going. And since I manage so much around the house between cooking, cleaning, yard maintenance, and home repairs, she’s always saying “thank you” and telling me how much she appreciates it. She’s never harping on me and shoving a “honey do” list in my face. I can even leave the garage a mess or the basement trashed for months and she won’t say a word. And other than being restricted from using the coupon book, I can usually do whatever I want without question.
However, there is something about pregnancy that is extracting the naggy wife deep within her and bringing it to the surface not only making her a back seat driver in the car, but in life. My life.
