Yesterday, I tried to stop and look around at life. Luckily, it was a brilliantly sunny day and Isabella was in a great mood. She laughed out loud more then she’d ever laughed before in her life! We were all sitting on the couch and Mia kept licking me and Isabella and Izzy just kept giggling and giggling while Nick held her – it was the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.
The colic is gone! One night about a month ago Stephanie and Ashley came over to cook dinner for us and to see Isabella. For the first time ever she didn’t scream that evening. It was so pleasantly quiet and strange. Then the next night she was calm again and the night after that too. She’s suddenly become a very happy baby who hardly screams at all now! It’s amazing! The clouds have broken and the sun is shining through!!
The Iz and I go to Mommy and Me Yoga classes once a week. The babies "lay" on a mat in the middle of the room and we all sit around them and do yoga. It’s great! Most of the women are Czech, although the class is in English. Isabella loves to see all the other babies and mommies. She’s so good during class. She’s the youngest baby in class and everyone loves her. Last week the teacher said to me in front of all the other Moms that her daughters told her that Isabella is the most beautiful baby in the whole class and that they are completely taken with her!! I couldn’t believe it! I mean, I believe what they said – she’s the cutest baby ever, but I couldn’t believe she said it in front of the other mothers! To my surprise all the other mothers agreed! I didn’t know what to say. Of course, I think my baby is the most beautiful baby, but that’s because I’m her mother.
Whenever we go out people always stop in awe of Isabella. She smiles a lot these days and strangers just can’t get over how much hair she has. As Katie put it, Izzy is very expressive. You can tell what she’s thinking all the time. She has so many facial expressions. I think she might grow up to be an actress. She really is such a darling! I don’t know what I did to create such a beautiful child, but I already feel sorry for her future siblings, because I’m not sure how they are going to be able to compete with a face like that☺
We went for our first trip away from home a few weeks ago for Stepan and Irena’s daughter’s 1st birthday. Isabella was constipated the whole trip, but as soon as we got home she pooped like a cow. One night while we were there some people started talking in Czech about mixed marriages. I’m not sure if they thought I didn’t understand or if they just forgot that Nick and I are in a mixed marriage, but I understood everything. They were talking about someone’s relative who is Czech and who married an Estonian and how this marriage is clearly doomed because Estonian culture is so different from Czech culture. (Are you kidding me?!) They talked about other European cultures and how most just can’t mix. I was too shocked and too tired to say anything. Plus, I know my Czech isn’t very good and I didn’t want to embarrass myself, but now I really wish I had said something.
I’m so sick of people’s cultural bias’ in so many ways. This is definitely not the first time I’ve heard people talk about how different cultures shouldn’t marry each other – that they are just TOO DIFFERENT. One person even said to my face that my marriage is basically doomed because Americans are too different from Czechs and that they can never understand each other. This same person also told me on a different occasion that Americans can’t feel things deeply because they are too happy.
I’ve lived here for 5 years now and I’m so tired of people assuming things about me just because I’m an American. It’s so naïve and narrow minded. Yet, I’m constantly bombarded with comments here and there about Americans and American things – even by close friends. Recently, our pediatrician asked me why I decided to marry a Czech? He even asked if I would have chosen an American if I had stayed in America! It was so funny and such a stupid question coming from a very educated man who had practiced in both Boston and London!
Most of the time I’m sure people don’t mean any harm by these kinds of questions and comments - they are just pointing out general differences, but sometimes they aren’t. These generalizations about cultures are the very poison that leads to injustice and wars. It astounds me that people, especially educated people who have traveled, still make these generalizations in the 21st century. When are people going to realize that every single person is different and that their gender, culture, astrological sign, etc. does not and cannot define them!
Anyhow, that’s life right now. I started “jogging” again – when I have the chance. Few things in life are better then the release I feel and the endorphins I get when I run. I’m planning on going to stay with my parents for 3-4 weeks in the fall with Isabella so I can hopefully finish my thesis. I’m already nervous about flying all by myself with her across the Atlantic! And I’m sad about being away from Nick for that long, but we’ll survive. After all, not only do I love my husband very much and have a great marriage, despite the fact that I’m married to a man from such a completely different culture from my own, but this mixed marriage somehow produced a bella-bundle of joy!;)
