Go Wander, Bee Happy

Stories of an expat mama

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Damned if they sleep, damned if they don’t

Mom worries never end. Even when things are going our way, we worry. We worry when they don’t sleep. We worry when they do. I accidentally left my phone in the bedroom where Booboo is napping. Husband called me and I heard it ring over the monitor so I ran in there to get it as quickly as possible. I pick up quietly and tiptoe out of the room. I say “phew, baby stayed asleep!” and husband said “wow impressive. Is she still alive? haha”. I know he was kidding but now instead of enjoying an extra long (and much needed) nap I’m worried about SIDS and want to go check on her to make sure she’s breathing. At the same time I don’t want to wake her up. What’s a mom to do…

UPDATE: She’s alive!

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Phone Anxiety and PPD

For a few weeks now things have been building up and I had no choice but to consider that PPD might be to blame for at least some of that. Part of the reason I’m having a hard time with that possibility is because on the good days I think “I’m fine, I was just tired”. On bad days I feel like a faker, “you were fine yesterday. Just because you are having one off day doesn’t mean you need to start feeling sorry for yourself”. Lack of sleep is definitely a contributor because the bad days tend to come hand in hand with the bad nights. The other part of it is I don’t necessarily feel down or like I can’t enjoy things. I mostly just get angry and have a short fuse and I feel like everything in the world is out to get me. Sort of like the sneaky hate spiral over and over. After a couple weeks of snapping at the world, Husband cautiously approached me and said he thinks I should talk to someone. He even went ahead and found out all the information about the Employee Assistance Program that has some coverage to get things started.

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Five Things That Are More fun with kids!

We went to a park for a picnic with a couple of friends and our 2 kids. It was a really fun day out. Living in Silicon Valley, flying home-built drones and bahn mi sandwiches were on the agenda.

As the afternoon and the conversation went on I found myself sounding like a downer. We were talking about all the fun things we like to do but don’t get to do anymore. Play rock band, play settlers of catan, break out of an escape room, build a drone, go rock climbing… and the list goes on. My friend said “aww you sound so sad” and, defensively, I immediately replied “we still do fun things”. She said “like what?” and this time I had no reply for her.

I’ve been thinking about it since then. I am hopeful that someday we will get to do all those things once again. In the meantime I came up with this list of five things that are MORE fun with kids:

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Welcome

Welcome to Go Wander, Beehappy! I’m glad you’re here. First an introduction.

Let me step back a little. My name is Diana and I am a life-long immigrant and an expat mombie. I am a Belorussian-Jewish-Israeli-Canadian resident of California. If that sounds like a mouthful that’s because it is. I moved to Silicon Valley in California with my husband and first child in the summer of 2015 from Toronto, Canada. [Read more…]