Greek Mom Moments

I’d like to say that Little Miss was screaming Happy Friday from the rooftops, or that she adores mommy, but it was in fact a mini meltdown.  Boy does my kid have some lungs on her!

Happy Friday everyone!  Have a good weekend!

 

I can’t believe that my baby is one month old today.  Seriously where did a month go?!?  When people first found out I was pregnant they would say make sure to tell me to cherish those first few months.  I am now looking back and thinking of all of the firsts.

Her first smile, gripping of our fingers, the first carriage ride around the block, doctor’s visit and all those noises in the middle of the night that give comfort to a mom that her baby is still alive–I know you guys did this too.  Then there are the other firsts.  I’ve been spit on, puked on, peed on and pooped on.  We had our first poopy explosion when we went to grandma’s house and the ever prepared mom that I thought I was failed!  Who knew a kid could blow through a travel pack of wipes with one poop?  After being in sleepers for most of her life, this mom forgot to pack socks for the cute two piece back up outfit she had packed.  Good thing grandma lives close and mom went back to get socks, another back up outfit and more wipes.  From each first we learned and grew.  I say we because I think hubby and I did just as much as the little one.

So this morning we sang Happy Birthday to our one month old.  Mommy and Daddy love you to the moon and back!  We can’t wait to see what the next month holds for us.

xo

 

 

One of the things I didn’t realize was a tradition until I had a child was the way that Greeks choose to ‘asimoso to paidi’, which means ‘to silver the child’. People began to visit my child and along with the very generous gifts they brought they showered the child with money. Always a coin (either silver or gold) along with whatever denomination the visitor chose to give. I asked my husband about this as I recalled he got a rare coin for my Godson during our first visit and as well, my nephew. I thought it might have just been his part of Greece until my dad did it when he met my daughter for the first time. So then I did some research and found that this is customary for Greeks and Greeks of the diaspora. Along with silver or gold coins, many people give gifts to ward off the evil eye. These come in the form of a mati or a filaxto.

Being a mother who believes in the evil eye, I can only say I am very grateful for these individuals for giving my child these keepsakes that no doubt she will have her whole life.

My little one is very lucky to be surrounded by such generous people. And her mommy is happy that she learned one of what will certainly be many lessons. Have you visited a child and ‘to asimoses’? Do you have a gift of choice you go to? Share with us!

So baby had her second visit to the doctor today.  The first visit was 2 days post discharge from the hospital and the second a week from that.  I have to say I’m proud of my little girl for not only putting on her birth weight but then some.  For a new mom, who I hate to admit questions lots of things, it is comforting that we’re doing this right.

So my question of the day is how much peeing and pooing is enough?  My little one hasn’t pooed in over 24 hours.  I asked the doctor, after having Googled this for hours, and he said that not all kids have to go everyday.  As long as they are peeing and eating and their stomach isn’t hard then you’re okay.  Who knew?!?  When we left the hospital we were given a chart that the baby should follow.  What happens when your child does not fall on the chart?  Where can a parent turn? Hopefully this will serve as a place for you to turn.  Hey I admit I don’t have all the answers but I promise to share what I find out as I go along.

Sorry for being out of touch the last two weeks I was a little busy giving birth to our little bundle of joy 8 days ago.  I know everyone says what an amazing experience it is, how from the moment they set eyes on their little one, blah, blah.  I’ll tell you a little bit of what I remember.  I remember entering my hospital room at 11:11pm.  My husband and I always have this thing where at 11:11 you make a wish, so I did and knew at that point it would be okay.  After some difficulties with the IV insertion–3 nurses and 5 pokes later we were finally in business.  My time at the hospital was good just short.  We were discharged 29 hours after she arrived.  To my American friends I know this is crazy talk but it is what happened.  Just tank of the look on my face when they told me that women who delivered with midwives could go home after just four hours.

The real adjustment I think came a couple of days later when the drugs had worn off, the euphoria of your first sleepless night wore off and the “oh sh@&” reality of you are responsible for this little creature hits you.  This beautiful being that can’t speak and tell you what is wrong but certainly has the lung capacity to wake up a whole house.  This little  being that can go through an amazing number of diapers and can pee on you not once but twice and all you can do is laugh.  When people talk about functioning on no sleep it is amazing what you really can do.  I’m learning how to change diapers in record speed–okay it is day 8 so my record speed today can only get better!  I’m learning what the feeding cues mean and trying to catch then before baby ends up in melt down mode.  Essentially I’m doing the best I can.  I wouldn’t be any good if it wasn’t for my amazing hubby.  He is my rock and baby and I are so lucky!!

Hand in hand with what we talked about last week, your baby’s name, is who you select for your child’s Godparents.  These individuals are the ones who present your child at baptism and promise to take charge of their religious upbringing.  They are also the ones who announce the child’s name when the priest says those five little words “βαπτίζεται ο/h δούλος/ δούλh  του Θεού”  which translates to, “I baptize the servant of God .“  This is where the Godparent (nouna and nouno) announce the child’s name.  I have heard stories in Greece where the nouno announced a totally different name than what had been discussed with the parents but I think (and hope) that is a thing of the past.

For most couples, the koumbaroi you choose at your wedding are given the honour of baptizing your first born and I found this to be the case with our blog collaborators. 

“ My first born was baptized from our koumbaro, he made it clear from day one that the child was his and there was no discussion about it. When the child was born we confirmed everything about him being the nouno, and when it was time for the ceremony we discussed dates and options with him.”

“Our kombaroi baptized our first, and it was understood from the start.”

“Yes for the oldest our koumbaro from the wedding baptized him. “

“Our koumbara was actually my husband’s godmother which I thought would make things tricky but it did not. We both agreed that she had already played a large role in our lives, and that it would be good to extend the family by asking someone else to baptize our son. “

“ Our koumbaroi could not baptize our daughter because my husband had baptized their first born son prior to us ever meeting.   I imagine had my husband not baptized their child, we would have had our koumbaroi as the Godparents.   Instead, my best friend from 5 years old and matron-of-honor and her husband baptized her.  They asked us to be her Godparents one day when they came to visit us and the baby.  We gratefully accepted their request as we had considered them as Godparents for our daughter from the very beginning.”

Did you have difficulty in choosing you child’s Godparents or was it just an understood?   Did you have others approach you to baptize your child?  Share your story with us.

 

 

It is amazing when you think about how much you impact this little person’s life.  Of course from what mom is eating while pregnant, to what activities she partakes in.  These are all important decisions and could have a lifelong effect.  For me the one thing that comes into play that has impacted my life very much is my name.  I like many Greeks have a ‘long Greek name’ that I actually didn’t use growing up.  I went by the shortened ‘English’ version.  Even some of my closest Greek friends didn’t know what my full name was until my 20’s.  Why was I running away from it?  I can’t really answer that question.  I just knew that people had a hard enough time saying Roula (pronounced rou–la) never mind throwing in an almost 30 letter first and last name combination.

Saying all that, the older I got the more I thought my name fit me.  My parents followed traditions and named both my brother and myself after our paternal grandparents.  In the Greek tradition the first boy and first girl are named after their paternal grandparents and the second boy and second girl are named after their maternal grandparents.  If you are fortunate enough to have a fifth child or a third child of one sex then you’re free to name the child whatever you like.  Now you’re probably reading this you’re saying but it is 2014, seriously?!? You’re going to follow these traditions that were instituted God only knows when?  For me it is a form of respect.  I can’t imagine not including my in-laws names in my child’s name.  It might be a variation of the name and not the exact name but traditions are what have kept us going for thousands of years.  It is important to be part of something like that, both for me and my hubby.

I reached out to my blog collaborators to ask their insight into baby names.  Here is what some of them had to say.  When asked if they followed the unwritten bylaws of naming their children that I mentioned above they responded:

“I did, both boys are named after their respective paternal grandfathers.”

“Yes, we followed the “unwritten law” and it is very fitting since my son is a carbon copy of his grandfather.  Liking the name helps too! I like giving a name that has roots.”

“Yes and no.  I fought that “tradition” because it’s one that was created with our parents’ generation,  so I didn’t believe in it too much.  But, it was important for my husband to have a son named after his father,  so I agreed because of that reason only.  His middle name is after my father.  My husband didn’t ask for a daughter to be named after his mother, so we decided together what to name her. Her first name is not Greek, so we decided to baptize her after my mother. For our third, we both agreed on a family name, and named him after my paternal grandfather. “

“ My daughter is names after my husband’s mom.  We tend to be traditional with nearly all the cultural/religious aspects of our family. However, I also love the name and with my mother-in-law being the only living grandparent for our children and my daughter being the first girl born in my husband’s family, it just seemed fitting and “meant-to-be” that my daughter be named after her. In addition for the short time that I got to know my mother-in-law, I learned she was a very lovely, strong and special woman. Both my husband and I wanted to honor her.   We also followed the tradition with our second child, our son. Lucky for us, both paternal and maternal grandfather had the same name, so it was a no-brainer for us especially since both our dads are deceased. Had our first born been a boy, we would have done the same thing with naming him.”

I then asked the ladies if they added their own ‘flair’ to their children’s middle names?  Here is what they had to say:

“With both boys first name was for grandfather and middle name was for father.”

“For my first born,  my daughter,  we added a flair for her middle name.  It is a Greek word, but not a Greek name and chose it because we liked it.  My second, a son, is the named after my father in law so we chose my father’s name as his middle name.  The reason for this is because I didn’t want it as a first name if we had another son, also, we didn’t know if we would have another boy.  Our third child is named after my father’s father. His middle name is after a saint to whom I prayed to throughout my pregnancy.”

“We followed the tradition with the middle name and gave our son his father’s name for his middle name.”

Hubby and I still haven’t 100% decided on a name.  I think once our little one is here and in our arms we’ll have all of the inspiration that we need.