Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Sss....

It'ssss a SSSSSSS...

Suprise, Suprise, Surpise (as Rosanne Rosanna Danna would say....:-)

SALVATORE!!!!

Yes, we're having a BOY!!! :-)

Mimmo and I got to see him yesterday on the big screen and couldn't stop smiling and laughing when the DR. told us the news!!!

Yes, new pic to post soon and much more to tell....

-La mamma & the growing *Salvatore* (formerly know as the growing jelly bean and then growing sweet potato)

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Mamma said there'd be days like this...

After a difficult Tues. Dr.'s appt. (will post on later), I found myself blessed on Wed. with cancelled lessons and a free day to spend with Mimmo. We immediately took advantage of the situation and headed to our small port, Aquamorta.

We took the boat out to the other side of San Martino, one of Mimmo's favorite spots since he was a boy, to fish for cozze (mussels).

While Mimmo went down to the rocks,



I climbed upwards to find myself a spot in the sun next to beautiful, clear waterways.


There I rested and pat my belly


and tried desperately to tan my very white (only at present, mind you) self.


Mimmo popped up at one point to proudly show me his catch so far



as I continued to relax and take in the sun. I opened my eyes and noticed a change in the sea.



The tide seemed to be coming in strong, crashing against the rocks.



So I called to Mimmo to come back. He climbed up the rock and showed me a baby octopus.



And his catch of the day - not a cozze to be found, but lots and lots of scongigli (sea snails)!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Pasquetta & the Catch-Up...

It's been a long time for me with no internet and no phone line, but I think I may have just found my temporary sanctuary in Tullio's (my brother-in-law's) "office".. Tullio has a club called "Vivi l'estate" that happens to have a clubhouse with 2 computers and adsl...and guess who now has the keys?! YES, YES, YES!!!

I have been right smack in the middle of change and movement - inside & all around me. We moved and have been adjusting the house and yet we're leaving in 2 months to go to California. It's hard to feel settled obviously when I know we're going. Mimmo and I are both excited and have no idea about what we're up for in the move out west. There are a lot of unknowns, but our vision is that we will open a business out there and come back to Monte di Procida for the summers (just like all the other Montesi-Americani here). I am trying to trust a lot as I am not a grrl who is a planner. It usually starts with an instinct, a vision, a need which I follow, but it feels a bit different now with a husband and a child to think of as well in my journey. Mimmo's looking into getting a leave from work, we're trying to figure out visas, and I'm also trying to organize our California wedding celebration which is happening in 2 months.

For all the mixed emotions I have about living here, it's strange to think about NOT living here for me right now. On Friday, I went to Procida with Gilda (my mother-in-law) and Manuela (my niece) to watch the Good Friday Procession (the camera was not working at the time) and I felt so emotional at the thought of not being on this beautiful bay this summer. I am trying to remind myself that we will spend our summers here and also about how hard it is for me to be here the rest of the year. I have deeply missed my friends (who are my family), my art, my family, and being in a more open community. I'm also trying to focus on all the possibilties. And, the gratitude that I feel for having both this place to call home and California as well.

But, most of all, I am trying to just really enjoy this moment. With all the movement and change and unknowns, I have these 2 months here to soak in.

Monday for Pasquetta, Mimmo, Manuela, & I took our first sailboat ride of the season to Procida. It was a beautiful, sunny day on the bay and when we returned, we were blessed to get enough wind to get a real viaggio a vela. I was happy that the baby also got his/her first ride in....with many more to come...





Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Si vede, si vede!!!


Ok, this is a damn near miracle that a)I got my digital camera to work, b)I'm able to post here & c)my tummy is finally showing!!! I have no time here on this machine, but I just had to post for now the first photo of my growing belly from the baby's first sailboat ride yesterday (details to follow!)

This is what 16+ weeks looks like....

Monday, March 26, 2007

7 more min...

Ok, so for those of you that don't know, Mimmo and I have just moved into our 7th (and hopefully final in ITALY) home. Now, we just have to move into our California one come fall time :-) OY!

And, I am currently without a telephone line nor internet, so I'm back to my old days at the Bacoli library (there is no internet point over here) where one has to wait in line for one of the 2 computers. There's so much to say and no time - Ok, now I've got 4 more min...

Brief updates: I'm just starting to show! Oh, I will have to have Teresa take a picture of my growing belly. Our new home is lovely, but it's taking a bit for me to get adjusted. Oh, and I'm sooo emotional, mammamia. The pregnancy hormones are in full force. It doesn't help being without internet and a phone line in that department. Yes, I feel isolated and yes, I miss you all teribly.

Ok, my final minute is up, so on I go to post...

More to come...

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Ode to Leanor Indira Rivoalan

I am in the midst of packing and you know how you find those random scraps of paper along the way? Well, with me it's more like a paper trail...I found this lil' ditty I wrote to dear, Leanor Indira Rivoalan who is the daughter of my long-time European friend/partner in crime, Sandra. At the time, Sandra was very pregnant and Leanor was late in coming. I had a dream that she was named "Carina Rosa" and so, the name inspired the words following....

"Carina Rosa" sounds like a song.
"Cute Rose" in English sounds very wrong.
But, "Carina Rosa" in Italiano has a nice poetic ring.
Perhaps only to this foreign girl who invented it in her dreams.
Carina Rosa, you are inside my dear friend, Sandra's tummy.
She told me you're not quite ready to face your head down.
She told me she's doing accupuncture to perhaps help move you along.
But, I know you will, dear Carina Rosa, come in your own sweet time.
I know you will be strong, sweet, and beautiful too!
Carina Rosa, born to a Portugese mamma and French papa in Geneva, Switzerland.
What a life you're coming into!
I see you, red, bursting, drawing all in with your sweet scent.
I see me, holding, rocking you as you take my pinkie with full hand.
Soon, I hope, so soon our meeting will be held.
But, for now, sweet Carina Rosa, I know you're swimming.
And when you're ready to come to shore, you will. :-)

Monday, March 12, 2007

Time...time...time...

Ok, time has flown just a bit too fast from my last post. Mammamia, I can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks! The pressure builds for the next post and I can tell you that I don't have much to say right now, but I might as well get the boring post out of the way so I can move on to bigger and better...

So, where have I been, you ask? Well, with fever and flu and then in the midst of moving - way too many Ikea trips. I had plans to post the pics from carnevale, but they all got erased. I'm officially in my 2nd trimester as of yesterday and am looking forward to less fraglie times. I have been California dreamin' a lot lately. I've forgotten temporarily how to blog...I trust that my blog brain will come back soon. That's the update for now, my friends,

Thursday, February 22, 2007

No suprise

You Belong in Brooklyn

Down to earth and hard working, you're a true New Yorker.
And although you may be turning into a yuppie, you never forget your roots.

And, I've never even been to Amsterdam.....

Your Inner European is Dutch!

Open minded and tolerant.
You're up for just about anything.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Bed Rest, Part 2

Yep, you heard that right. I have once again been sentenced to bed rest. The good news is that bambino is good. The bad news is that la mamma took a la fall-a (no that's not an italian word, but I couldn't help myself :-). I slipped on a wet step yesterday at Mimmo's mom's house and fell backwards, hitting my back against the step. Ouch. So, I'm immobile at present, back to the couch, feet elevated and icing the back. I tried my best not to go stir crazy today and instead tried to find as much humor in the situation as possible. It helped that Leila called and I got a good long conversation in with her and then my mamma called shortly after. That's the thing about bedrest...it could perhaps be a bit more endurable if I was nearby friends or family members that could come visit me or have some decent t.v. or dvds to watch. Mimmo did go out and get me "Io, Tu, & Dupree" which I'm saving for tomorrow. Anybody have a good story to tell me?!

So, yesterday, before the fall, we had prenatal appt. #2 with Dr. Cicala and when we did the ultrasound, baby decided to wave! Ha! I'm glad he/she is doing good in there and moving around as la mamma is clumsily trying to get up and down :-)

Monday, February 19, 2007

My very first meme

Ok, so I'm new to this whole blogging business, but supposedly ready for my first meme. Care of the lovely LVGurl. Thanks for breaking me in, LVGurl & showing me the ropes...

I need to write 6 things that are weird about me. Oh, I just wrote 3 below on my other post, do those count? Ok, I know, I know, I've got a lot more weird stuff where that came from. So, here we go:

1) At a young age, I was quite interested in dead things and trying to perform "operations" on them. What were these dead things, you ask...well, a roly-poly or a bee or much to my mother's complete and utter horror, she found me once with a dead mouse. She said she almost had a heart attack and then looked at me - I was so sad this mouse had died and was so lovingly (with my super powers) trying to revive it at age 5. Needless to say, I did not go on to become a surgeon and my mom bought me the game "operation" to play with instead.

2) When I'm in bad dream mode, I am often giving a speech where I must defend my position with whomever the bad guy is. To top this off, I can't get the words out because I'm having a hard time breathing. I usually wake up from these dreams to hear the end of my huffing and puffing, muffled speech outloud as Mimmo tries to soothe my forehead with "bad dream, huh?!,"

3) 1/4 of my right iris is a different color than the rest. Really, a perfect 1/4. My mom told me that they called it a "freckle" when I was born, but god knows where they got that from. It looks nothing like a freckle. Just a 1/4 lighter.

4) I come from a line of immigrants on both sides who came to America to seek opportunity and fortune. They left from the Philipines & Greece, worked hard so that their children could go on to get an education (both my mother and father got their Masters and worked as professionals in their fields of journalism and psychotherapy). Thus, I was born into opportunity and on the fruits of my grandparents' labors. And, what did I do? Decide to become an artist, never financially-secure, travel the world, and go back to live in a very similar place where they fought so hard to leave from.

5) I've been known to predict earthquakes and know what someone was going to say exactly right before they've said it.

6) I am the country mouse/city mouse all-in-one. I went to N.Y.U. in the middle of manhattan to U.C. Santa Cruz in the middle of the redwood forest for god's sake. I am equally comfortable in both places, yet can't take one for too long over the other (oy, N.Y. summers had me screaming to see trees, lakes, and mountains. Monte di Procida winters have me screaming to be in a lower east side bar, drinking a glass of wine, watching a band, and keeping warm in the crowded ballroom).

Now, the rules are, I must "tag" 6 other bloggers. I'm with LVGurl on this one...I don't know too many bloggers yet, but here we go...I tag Kristina K, Christine Arnesen, Tracie B., brynne, and...and...dang LVgurl, I can't tag you back and leanor rivoalan is only 3 months old here...so, I guess we will be 4 instead of 6.

Oh, and will someone please tell me how to link from your posts! y'all make it look so easy!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Manic Mom's Contest

I came across Manic Mom's blog & saw she's having a contest. The deal is, she's looking for interesting stories and will not blog until she gets 100 comment-entries. So, if you go pay a visit, you are to write about what makes you interesting/ unique/different from all the rest. And, you may even just win a prize...

Go to:

http://manicmommy.blogspot.com/

(oh, and will someone please help me out and tell me how to link?! I've tried several times the blogger way with control/shift/a with no luck. uh, i'm a neo-blogger!)

This was my entry:

"I'm a Greek-Filipina Californian now married to an Italian - living on the bay of Napoli.

My birth was announced on television on KABC in Los Angeles on September 17, 1974, saying "we'd like to announce a new member of the KABC news team..."

And, at 5, I was on Romper Room...

hmm...how many strange and interesting personal facts are we allowed here?

Last one...on how I ended up in Italy...

I came to Italy to do a month-long theatre workshop and ended up going to Rome on a visit and realized that I was supposed to move there...no, not in a year, not in a few months, but right then and there which at that time meant NOW. I did just that and never went home with the rest of the group of american actors."

Tides 'a turnin'...or my personal apology to Ms. Italia

So, after an incredibly shitty Friday, things have shifted on the up and up...can I get an A-MEN?!

Sometimes, I do believe one needs to rant/exorcise/break-down if you will, to get to the other side...

I awoke Saturday to a sunny, veramente bella giornata. It seemed that whatever Italia was givin' me the week before, well, she had plans to make it up to me today. I felt bad, Ms. Italia, as I had scorned you so on my Friday post. But, I'm glad that we kissed and made up because I did remember some of the reasons why I loved you & still do...

I will count the ways...

1) Sunny, warm February days with the sea sparkling below
2) The perfect cappucino by my excellent local barista - Enrico from Bar Pina
3) Mimmo catching word in the piazza that Pasquale (the best fisherman in Monte di Procida) was coming back from sea this afternoon & jetting down to the pier at Aquamorta to await his little boat and find his catch with the rest of the locals gathered who also got word
4) Taking a walk along the path where I can look out onto our boat, Procida, & Ischia in the background
5) Seeing Dr. Leonardo Coppola in the piazza (who seriously is my own personal savior right now...I need to devote an entire post to Leonardo soon to explain why) and getting my blood work tests back from him, right there in his car, to hear "Tutto o.k.!," with much relief
6) Having a long leisurely lunch with Mimmo in our home on a Saturday with fresh fish, spaghetti with seafood - none of which I even lifted a finger to cook

I also got a couple helpful emails from people on the Expats in Italy site, giving me suggestions for speeding up my permesso problem along with an email from the woman who originally posted - my fellow pregnant Americana in Napoli - that was not only helpful, but made me laugh at some of our similarities...she also gave me good tip on where to get El paso taco chips, guacamole, & salsa here :-). I talked to my own mamma and Tsilli and am just starting to find new community on the blog thing, here...included with the new, a reconnection with the old...Tracie B.! Who, if you haven't already discovered, you must go to her blog 'cuz it's dang good!:

http://mylifeitalian.blogspot.com

But, the topper of it all my friends, is that guess who came by and gave an early visit this morning?! The polizia at 9:00 am! How, you're asking is this a good thing?! Well, it's not just a good thing, it's a near miracle! I have been waiting for my permesso di soggiorno to be processed (my paperwork for making me totally legit and able to get free healthcare here in Italy) for much too long. The process had been stalled because we've been waiting for the police to come by our home to check & make sure that Mimmo and I are indeed co-habitating together. This is whole 'nother story, but in short, the process has been frustrating and also anxiety-provoking. This is an important step because as soon as that's done, my permesso can be processed, I can then apply for residency, & then get my card that allows me to get health care free! Mimmo & I were sleeping when we heard the doorbell ring & Mimmo said "Don't answer it," assuming that it was Clotilda, our 70-something-old neighbor who, although seems like a sweet little old lady, can be, well, pessante. After several rings & our alarm going off, I was already awake & thought, I'll just have a look out the peephole. I saw a police man start to make his way from our door down the stairs, and immediately opened the door. I have never been so happy to see a policeman in my life! So...yes...it seems the tides are turnin....Grazie dio!

Today is carnevale in Monte di Procida and although the weather's not looking so good, I hope to get some good pics in to share with y'all.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Friday, February 16, 2007

Ok, taking a breath here...

I don't even know if I should start this post, but here we go...I need to vent...emote...be pregnant, I guess...or more, perhaps, just be apalled and angry by the conditions that people live in here sometimes in the south. Ok, I'll go back to chalking it up to being pregnant and hormonal....whatever, here we go....

Napoli and its' surrounding areas are breathtakingly beautiful. This is, afterall, the bay that made Goethe famously say "see Naples and die". And, although he probably meant, after seeing the magnificance of Naples, there's nothing more one needs to see, I have a more contemporary take on his famous quote. Yes, Naples is beautiful. I was smitten at first sight. Yes, the people can be incredible & generous. I have many stories and experiences of perfect stranger's kindness & adoption of me. Yes, the food is amazing. I am lucky to be eating homegrown vegetables, fruit, chicken & eggs straight from Mimmo's parents' land along with fish straight from the sea, homemade wine that could give the best-known Napa Valley wineries a run for their money, and the most amazing gluten-free pasta dishes that a celiac would not even know what they were missing if they lived here . But, living here...lets get back to that...I mean, truly living here...not as a single American permanent tourist/writer/actor/student of life...but now as a wife, mother-to-be, & dare I say it "local" is TIRING. I mean, a kind of tiring in that everyday gotta survive kinda way. There is a reason my grandfather used to say "What's new from the OLD COUNTRY?". And, Papou, if you can hear me, I understand this more than ever because I am LIVING in the OLD COUNTRY! See Naples & die? I hope I have a lot more to see in my lifetime and that Naples is not going to kill me!

What's gotten me all riled up today started with returning to work. My school has sent me to a school in Posillipo (which for those who don't know, if the most rich and exclusive area of Naples) and placed me in a classroom of 10 7-year old boys who are to study English for 2 hours after school. Where to even start with this situation? Well, first of all it's ludicrous to have 7-year olds study english for 2 hours...what 7 year-old do you know that can study any subject matter for 2 hours straight? "Oh, well, they will be eating for the first 1/2 hour, anyway," my boss assured me. Which means, with 10 7-year old BOYS eating in the classroom - food fights/messes/constant reminding that they are to place their trash in the garbage, not on the floor/desk/or their neighbors' faces. Yep, fun stuff. Then, there's the fact that they have a class of all boys. At first, I thought that it just happened as only these boys had all enrolled for this course. But, no...after meeting the other English teacher last week (who's from Maine) and seeing all her students - mild-mannered 7-year-old girls and one boy - she explained to me that the class was originally one and she was teaching them all alone. Mammamia. Then the school decided to split it - BRILLIANTLY, I must say - into one class with all ill-mannered monsters (aka ten 7-year-old BOYS) and give them all to me - the new, unsuspecting teacher. Nice. My first day, which incidentally was 3 weeks ago, went something like this...My boss told me I was to meet a woman named "Annamaria Aquamarino" or something like that. She would be my contact, show me where I could make photocopies, my classroom, answer any questions, etc. I came early, asked one of the custodians where I could find Annamaria and was abruptly given the answer "su" with a pointing finger which means "above". Oh, great, thanks. I went upstairs into the vast hallways of screaming children and even more screaming teachers, trying to find Annamaria. Another custodian, finally offered to help me as I had now been searching/standing/asking/looking lost for 10 min. "Annamaria!" she called into an office. A women exited, looked me up & down & said curtly "Si?". I smiled, told her I was the English teacher and before I could pull out my book to ask about photocopies she yelled "You're late! You're suppossed to go downstairs and wait with your co-teacher Penny for your boys!". She walked past me in a huff. Late?! I came a half an hour early! Downstairs, where?! Co-teacher, Penny?! I don't have a co-teacher and where the hell, btw is the copymachine & my classroom?! But, of course I couldn't ask any of that as she just left. And, that is just a small example of some fundamental things in Italy that work my last nerve -

1) RUDENESS
2) COMPLETE CHAOS
3) LACK OF COMMON SENSE

Things could be made so much simpler here, but they always seem to want to make things all the more difficult. It gets TIRING. The following week, I returned to my classroom only to have the custodian come in and scream at me that I wasn't suppossed to be there because she just cleaned the classroom. Um, this is where I was placed last week. Annamaria Aquamarino walked by and screamed at the custodian. They continued to fight as my boys & I watched and then Annamaria led us into another room, while they continued their argument and in the end, what I understood Annamaria's last words to be were that for TODAY, we would be there, and she went off in another huff. I was placed in the worst possible, structurally-speaking, situation as this other classroom was set up in a u-shape with tables, allowing my monsters to all be together, instead of at seperate desks and I got to go from watching Italian adults fighting and name-calling to Italian 7-year old boys fighting and name-calling. Which gets me to my next pet peeve in living here...

4) THE FIGHTING

Mammamia. Everything. I mean, everything is a fight.

So, today, I return to teaching. After a week's break and a Dr. ordered bedrest, I returned to work. I was determined to take it easy. I prepared a lesson that would keep the boys working on an activity - coloring, drawing, working on their own. I returned to my classroom and was greeted by a new screaming custodian who entered my room and asked me "WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD BE HERE?". Great, here we go again. I will not go into the details of what followed. It's too...yep, you guessed it...TIRING. I got through my day, came back and received in my inbox this message from Expats in Italy Forum:

http://groups.msn.com/expatsinItaly/employment.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=24260&ID_CLast=24270&CDir=1

This woman's story infuriated me because I have been experiencing the same thing. I have seen many of her posts - she's from N.Y., came to Naples recently with her Italian fiance, is pregnant & has been trying to find her way in the system here. I saw one of her early posts, right after, I myself found out I was pregnant asking if anyone had given birth here in Italy as she had read this horror story coming out of Naples:

http://www.expatsinitaly.com/itow/birth_nicki.html

I, in turn, read the horror story and a thread that followed on another expat site with more horror birth stories, the majority of which came out of Naples and well, to make a long story short, this bambino will be birthed in California!

The question is, can I make it 'til June?! Italy, I love you, but our relationship is becoming tiring and a think we need a long break until...let's say next summer...

Ok, taking another breath here. One thing at a time.

Tutto Bene!

This will be just a quick post to update y'all that all is good with baby & me. We went to the Dr.'s today & he did an ultrasound & found that the baby is growing along healthily (2.22 cm or just under an inch - the little pea!) & we heard the heartbeat - beating strong. I'm off the bedrest and have just been told to rest/relax/take it easy as much as possible in the next few weeks until we get through the first trimester. I'll be 9 weeks this Sun., so it's just about 3 more weeks to go until we reach the second trimester. So, off to sleep now! I've got a growing baby, after all.

Thanks for all your good thoughts/advice/e-mails you guys!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Bed Rest = Stir-Crazy

I've been on 3 days bedrest. Dr.'s orders. And, yessuh, I've been going STIR-CRAAAZY!

What have I been doing, you're asking? Well, I've:

1) Watched all the Sex in the City episodes (season 6) which I've already seen.
2) Re-read "the first trimester" of "What to Expect When You're Expecting"
3) Called my bosses to tell them I have "la febbre" ("the fever" in italiano, which in italia is serious business. But, that could be an entire blog entry in itself for another time - I digress...)
4) Made several lists for Mimmo of things to get/buy/do.
5) Followed up on as much of the pre-wedding #3 planning I can do from afar - researching hotels/motels in Berkeley, compiling the list of names and addresses of our guests, checking in with Hornblower's re:our wedding coordinator, looking at what could pass as a wedding-type dress for a 6-month pregnant woman (motherhood.com I believe is the winner at $39.98 on this one, with maternitybride.com a close, but much more expensive second) Who knew that amongst all the other crazy wedding selections, there's a big maternity wedding dress market, as well?! God bless America.
6) Caught up on all the American gossip I've been missing on dlisted.com
7) Finally read all my e-mails. Even the junk and the spam.
8) Replied to astrology.com's offer of a free 1 card online tarot reading.
9) Ran up our dial-up phone bill with all my internet time (see #5, 6, 7, & 8) which we must hide from Mimmo for the time being. You know, I will pull the pregnant bed-rest card on that one when the bill comes.
10) Watched dvds from our local "keep o' movie" which has near the worst selection in the world, so the pickins' are slim. I forget even everything I watched - oh yes, it's all coming back now like a bad dream... "The Hoax", "The 40-year-old Virgin" (ok, that one at least was good!), "The Sentinel", "Marie & Bruce" (which despite my bedrest, even I couldn't get through. I opted to twiddle my thumbs instead), "Closer" & "Casanova".

Ok, we'll just make it a top 10, there. Insomma, I am not good at bedrest. Not very good at doing nothing, It just doesn't exist in my DNA. But, I did stay glued to the couch - extended and feet elevated through all of this for 3 days. Tomorrow it seems I will see the light of day as we've got a Dr.'s appt. at 2pm. I hope my legs haven't turned to jello and I can make it down the stairs. I'll keep y'all posted.

Oh, and HAPPY SAN VALENTINO'S DAY everyone! XOXO

Preggers Wedding Dress Option #1

Preggers Wedding Dress Option #2

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Dieta Modella per Donna Gravida

Translation for all you non-italian speakers: "The Model Diet for Pregnant Women".

Or, as I like to think of it: "The Diet for Models that are Pregnant". I mean, c'mon...

In Italy, at your first ob/gyn appt. you can expect to give a rundown of your family medical history as well as your husband's family medical history, get sent a list of prenatal tests that you need to take, have your first ultrasound, be prescribed the appropriate prenatal vitamins & folic acid, AND the topper, be given a 2-page sheet of your diet. Teresa, my sister-in-law, warned me about the diet. She said, "Lisa, the first thing they're gonna do is put you on a diet. They are crazy about weight here during pregnancy,". My first visit confirmed this as this was, in fact, the first thing that the doctor told me.

"First thing, you need to go on a diet," and he looked at Mimmo and said "And, you need to follow it with her,". Mimmo immediateley pulled out the diabetic card "Oh, but, Dr. I'm diabetic,". "Oh!," he said. "And, I have an intollerance to gluten," I added. He appeared flustered "Well..oh...I guess...hmmm...you can't do my diet because I have many items with gluten,". "Yes," I triumphantly high-fived myself inside. "BUT, actually, " he said after carefully looking at the diet "You could follow this with gluten-free products or alterations, so here you go," and he handed me the Italian version of Weight Watchers for pregnant women. He also told me that I was to weigh myself once a week and take my blood pressure once a week and keep a record until our next visit. Mammamia.

Needless to say, like a good 'ole American woman, I am NOT following the Italian pregnancy diet. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I got myself on amazon.com and ordered all the books/dvds in English that I knew would help me get through my pregnancy. "What to Expect When You're Expecting" has a great section for pregnancy foods. They break down how many portions you need of vegetables, protein, calcium, etc. And include a list of all the different food options that fufill your daily requirement. Gurmurkh's book "Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful" which I love as a more natural, spritual-based book on pregnancy, also discusses nutrition and the recommendation to eat small meals more frequently while pregnant. This totally gels with me, as I've found that I get really full quite easily being pregnant. It's hard for me to do the whole Italian lunch for example which includes a 1st course (pasta) and a 2nd course (meat/fish) with bread, wine, and vegetables, salad, and fruit for dessert, all in one sitting. So, I'm following my own (albeit it carefully researched) diet. But, I thought, just for kicks, it would be funny to let you all in on the Italian Pregnancy Diet. So, here it is translated. Note the very specific cultural differences to eating (especially while pregnant):

Model Diet for Pregnant Women

8:00 am

1 glass of low-fat milk

2 pieces of mini-toasts

1 espresso with a teaspoon of sugar

10:00 am

1 piece of seasonal fruit

1:00 pm

1st Course: Pasta or Rice (70 grams, about a fist's size) with 1 teaspoon of parmigiano cheese + tomatoes + 1 teaspoon of olive oil

2nd Course: Lean Meat: beef, veal, chicken, rabbit, horse (yes, you read that right - horse), liver (150 grams) + 1 teaspoon of olive oil

Vegetables: Cooked vegetables; salad and fennel as much as you like
Bread: 50 grams
Fresh fruit: cleaned & well-selected
Wine: 1 glass

5:00 pm

1 glass of low-fat milk

8:00 pm

1st Course: Minestrone of vegetables (without potatoes and beans) + pasta, rice, or semolina (30 grams) + 1 teaspoon of olive oil + 1 teaspoon of parmigiano cheese

2nd Course: Fish (200 grams) + 1 teaspoon of oil

Vegetables, bread, fruit, & wine: like lunch

"We advise you to drink at least a liter of mineral water, preferabily natural, during the day. You're free to eat as much cooked and raw vegetables as you'd like. Bread, Pasta, Rice: preferably whole-wheat. We advise you to eat fruit after 2 hours of eating your principal meal or 1 hour before. If the pregnant woman doesn't have antibodies to toxoplasmosis, you need to avoid sausages (and that specified in this diet)."

Friday, February 9, 2007

From La Sposa to La Mamma

Yes, I know what you're thinking. I thought the same thing. From la sposa to la mamma so quickly! Well, it seemed that Mimmo and I finally got our honeymoon over Christmas & New Year's when we took a trip out west to my home- the great state of California. And, right towards the end...after the trip up highway one from Los Angeles through Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Monterey, & Santa Cruz. After Yia Yia's annual Christmas party where Mimmo was initiated into my big fat Greek family. After we cooked an authentic Neapolitan Christmas Eve meal with all the seafood trimmings. After the speed-through touring of all the bay offerings - the wine country, the s.f. ferry building, north beach, & the golden gate bridge. After all that...

We rang in the New Year and Mimmo's last night in California with a truly special night at Jill & Mike's home. It seemed the perfect ending to a perfect trip and a really beautiful & peaceful way to enter into the new year with good friends, good wine, and the most amazing seafood risotto that any of us had ever tasted (yep, Mimmo cooked it!). And, as Jill said "It must've been that risotto..." for we returned back to Italy a week and a half later to find that we were left with a little memento of our California trip. I found out that I was pregnant! And, according to the calculations, this bambino was conceived on that very night - New Year's eve! What a gift to start the new year! So, from la sposa to la mamma...here we go!