transposable element

when mia was born and the doc said “it’s a girl!”, my thought bubble read “uh, a girl?!? i’m supposed to take care of a… girl?!?”

how do i take care of a girl?!? me, who doesn’t really appreciate frills, ribbons and laces? me, who suspects make-up is called such to ‘make-up’ for lack of intellect or personality? me, who thinks being pretty is not an achievement, and therefore is not something to be proud of?

oh don’t worry mia. you’ll have enough of pretty things. pink dresses and ribbons on your hair. diaries with locks and stilletos for your prom. but i promise, you’ll also climb trees, you’ll get grubby and muddy after a game of football, and perhaps even learn to throw a punch or two, hah!

photo: michelin mia. no need for bodybuilding supplements, haha!

i think i was 24 when i got a passport and only because i needed to travel abroad for work. during that time, there were no budget airlines, and airfares are prohibitively expensive such that to travel abroad for holidays was something only rich people did. never in my wildest dreams did i imagine that i would be traveling this much in my lifetime.

my children, though, by virtue of having relatives on opposite sides of the world, are destined to be voyagers from the start. jan was about 8 or 9 months when he got his passport and in the last five years, has probably clocked in more air miles than the average adult. and mia? she now has a passport, too, at the age of 3 weeks! no, no plans of traveling this early, but it’s a requirement for her residence permit here in singapore.

although both jan and mia are also pinoys by descent (jan was registered at the philippine embassy, then in bonn, and mia will be registered here in singapore as soon as i figure out how to prepare her footprint), they only have german passports. well, it’s the pragmatic choice, for travel convenience reasons, but recently, we were told that by law, they should be using a philippine passport when they enter the philippines. strange, as jan has always used his german one to enter the philippines and we never encountered problems at the immigration. and i am sure we aren’t the only ones. i can’t imagine american-born and thus american-passport holding pinoy kids use philippine passports to enter pinas, if they even have one at all!

how old were you when you got your passport? if you have a pinoy passport, what’s the color of your passport– brown, green, or black?

what every mother wishes for her child.

it’s been a week since mia was born and i can’t tell whether coping with a new member of the family is easier this time around or not. so far, things have been gong pretty smoothly, too smooth and easy-going than i expected for me to believe this status quo will last. in under a week, i’m physically more or less recovered from the delivery (though my ab muscles are still nowhere to be found and my tummy’s all wriggly and wobbly) and i’ve even overcome breastfeeding obstacles (when else will you have rock-hard, move-over-pamela-anderson sized mammary glands?) in less time than it took me with jan. mia’s sleeping a lot, even at nighttime, so i’m not as sleepless as i dreaded i would be (though i am more sleepy than usual these days). so far, she’s been a darling, not fussy at all (knock on wood).

i intentionally asked my folks not to come immediately after i give birth, as i thought we would need the time and space to fall into our new roles and establish a routine that works for the family before we have folks stay with us for a visit. but as things are, i suppose i should tell them it’s time to scout for flight deals!

mia amelie
born 28 april 2008, 11:10 am (GMT+8)
national university hospital, singapore
3200g, 50 cm.
almost 11 hours of labor, 4 pushes.