Thursday 11 October 2012

Dear Bean #6: Dietary Concerns and Family Ties

27 July 2012


Dear Bean,

We had another bad food day. The good news is that we slept very well.

More than before, I've learned to listen when my body tells me to eat, sleep, even take bathroom breaks. I'm allowing myself to eat whatever I crave; I just tell myself that's probably what you need.

But I'll be honest--it's not easy, especially when it pushes me to be up at odd hours like right now, 3am, to grab a bite.

Meat and tofu have been out of the question for two months now. I thought then that it was just the heat but apparently, it was you. That takes out two major sources for protein. I don't like soy sauce in food but I like it as a dipping sauce, and I dislike too much vinegar as well.

I've been drinking a lot of milk for both of us. I put it in everything! I've not had much coffee since I found out about you but when I really, really crave coffee then I have some. And oatmeal.

Daddy reminds me to take my vitamins. I'm terrible at remembering.

I've also been avoiding all types of seafood because I'm allergic. I had a bit of a scare when you were eleven weeks old and I had some crab. Halfway through my meal I just started itching all over and felt really hot. I stayed calm on the outside but inside, I was so afraid for you. But we're both okay and now I know to avoid anything that I'm allergic to.

I can really feel you moving now but Daddy still can't. I have to keep telling him "Bean moved!" Maybe in the following weeks...

Everyone's hoping you'll turn out to be a girl. Your cousins on your father's side are mostly boys. If you're a girl, then you will be the second female of your generation and eighth grandchild. I told your dad we ought to "present" you to your ancestors at some point after your birth. It just feels right to do so.

You have three living grandparents and one great grandparent. The rest are your great aunts and uncles but because we are Filipino, you will grow up calling all of them some "Lolo" or "Lola" or some variant of it. There are proper Chinese terms for those relations but your father's family isn't very traditional so we'll have to see what you end up calling all of them!

You'll eventually notice that we see more of your father's side of the family than mine. This is because my side of the family is quite small and spread out. Luckily, since you'll be growing up regularly exposed to your father's side of the family, you won't find it as overwhelming as I did when I first met them. My side of the family...well, we'll deal with how that goes somehow since it requires going abroad or at least chatting online. Thank you, age of the Interweb.

I do feel very blessed to have married into such a large but tight-knit family. It's a very welcome change from being part of such a small family unit! Hopefully Papa and I can manage to maintain the same bonds for you (and your future siblings) the same way.


Love,
Mama

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...