I am nearing the end of my four-month course to become a pediatric sleep consultant and I'm so excited! I'm studying with the Family Sleep Institute and it's no small project to get certified. But it's so exciting to be learning something new, complementary but different than what I used to do, after thirteen years in my old job as a school based pediatric nurse practitioner.
It also feels very strange to be a newbie again.
I have to do three case studies, helping families with children of varying ages. But I ended up accepting four families so that I could get as much experience as I could. I created a Google form -- I never knew such a thing existed -- and got eight responses from families interested in a pro-bono sleep consultation. I completed my first intake nine days ago, my only in-person one (required by the program to do at least one in person). I can see now that I did so many things wrong. I got way too bogged down in the nitty gritty and didn't do enough motivational interviewing, getting the family psyched up.
Yet to my amazement, this 2y11m old child is night-weaned and on her way to sleeping in her own bed all night long! I feel like I got very lucky with this first case but it has built my confidence tremendously and now I've intentionally picked a particularly challenging case to work on while I still have lots of support from classmates and instructors.
I'm hoping to finish my case studies before we leave Mexico for the States in late June though it's not due until mid July. But I feel like it will be too hard to be consistently productive while we are on the road.
Realistically, I doubt I'll do much with it over the summer unless folks initiate contact with me, but as soon as the girls go back to school at the end of August, I plan to throw myself into learning all the aspects of running my own business. Including marketing myself. Gulp. I hope to especially target sleep deprived SMCs because I know what it's like to be doing this alone, without family help, and how frustrating it is to be advised to "hand the baby to Dad and go to bed early!"
In an ideal world, I would love to combine this work with a couple of days, or even half days, of clinical work, keeping my hand in the water with pediatrics too, just in case. But working in Mexico is tricky, where nurse practitioner licenses aren't recognized. I have a lead on a job but I'm just not sure I want to pursue it. Or if I should prioritize this business.
But it's exciting to feel busier and more focused!
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
April 2019 Recap
April was great!
The girls had two weeks of spring break. On Thursday of the first week, we took the fancy first class bus ($20 for me, $10 for each of the girls) to Mexico City, about a four-hour ride. The first class buses here are so much nicer than the Greyhounds back home -- the seats are huge and lean way back and the leg area lifts up. Super comfy!
Our dear friends from Brooklyn, Emily and Annabelle, who lived a floor below us for as long as my girls can remember, met us in Mexico City the next day. We had such a great time! I love Mexico City. It has more history than any other city in North America, founded in 1324. There are Aztec ruins right in the city center. There's also great public transportation, but better than in NYC, clean and quiet.
We went to the children's museum, the city park Chapultapec (larger than Central Park!), the zoo, the museum of popular art, a great Asian fusion restaurant (good sushi at last, ahhhh), a local playground (awesome), the city square (largest in the world) and lots of Mexican restaurants, of course.
Then our friends traveled back to San Miguel with us for a few days. It was wonderful to have them here. They were great guests and Annabelle and Calliope, despite their age difference of 3.5 years, love to recharge in exactly the same way, drawing, playing with American Girl dolls, and listening to Whatever After books. It was a little harder with Amelie but we were mostly able to keep her entertained.
They only had three days here so I decided not to try to pack in too much as that backfired on me the last time we had visitors -- Calliope got exhausted and cranky. So we went to the hot springs, bounced point balloons in Centro, went out for tacos, went swimming in a hotel pool, visited an artisan market, and went out to eat only once, I think.
We also had a very Mexican Passover Seder, complete with tacos and matzah!
In other news, I am chugging along in a four month sleep consultant training program. I am hoping to start a pediatric sleep consultant business in the fall, mostly targeting Brooklyn customers but open to Mexican clientele as well.
I was volunteering at a women's clinic called CASA here with some OB nurses and midwives which was great. I got to see a few beautiful births. And last weekend I met with the founder and suggested they consider offering pediatric care -- offered by me and supported by a family medicine doctor since Mexico doesn't recgonize NPs -- at the clinic and she is open to the idea. So we shall see what happens with that.
I also had an interview last month with a medical concierge service last month and they said they are interested in having me start working with them in June. I'm not convinced they want me because they are geriatric-focused and I have no geriatric experience beyond my own parents, but it's a possibility.
But it's good to have options! I'm most excited about starting a business on my own but I'd love to keep my hand in clinical care as well, in case I ever want to return to it in the States but also because I find it so rewarding. Whatever I choose -- and I'm hoping for a mix -- I want to keep my hours manageable so that I have time for myself and am also mostly able to meet the girls when they get off the school van.
No further communication from J and I am okay with that. She had expressed interest in coming for Dia De Los Muertos so I am curious to see if she does... but I am fine either way. I have no expectations, which feels good.
And I'm still doing keto, not perfectly, and some fasting. Mostly 20:4 fasting (fast for 20 hours, feast for 4 hours) but I am still recovering from spring break indulgences. The intermittent fasting helped minimize the damage, though, which was great. I got down to within 2 pounds of my goal, very briefly, but now I'm up to 9 pounds above goal again. If I can just stay consistent it'll happen!
The cool thing is that I didn't have any PMS last month and my skin has improved a ton from keto. I also have lost some cellulite from the underside of my thigh that I never thought would budge. Once I get to my goal weight I would love to try some black coffee (or green tea) and water only fasts to try for autophagy -- cell repair -- to lower my risk of health risks like cancer. But I feel like I can only focus on one goal at a time.
We head back to Brooklyn in just two short months! We'll be there (and in Vermont and Massachusetts) for five weeks before we return to Mexico to renew our visas. So many great things to look forward to!
The girls had two weeks of spring break. On Thursday of the first week, we took the fancy first class bus ($20 for me, $10 for each of the girls) to Mexico City, about a four-hour ride. The first class buses here are so much nicer than the Greyhounds back home -- the seats are huge and lean way back and the leg area lifts up. Super comfy!
Our dear friends from Brooklyn, Emily and Annabelle, who lived a floor below us for as long as my girls can remember, met us in Mexico City the next day. We had such a great time! I love Mexico City. It has more history than any other city in North America, founded in 1324. There are Aztec ruins right in the city center. There's also great public transportation, but better than in NYC, clean and quiet.
We went to the children's museum, the city park Chapultapec (larger than Central Park!), the zoo, the museum of popular art, a great Asian fusion restaurant (good sushi at last, ahhhh), a local playground (awesome), the city square (largest in the world) and lots of Mexican restaurants, of course.
Then our friends traveled back to San Miguel with us for a few days. It was wonderful to have them here. They were great guests and Annabelle and Calliope, despite their age difference of 3.5 years, love to recharge in exactly the same way, drawing, playing with American Girl dolls, and listening to Whatever After books. It was a little harder with Amelie but we were mostly able to keep her entertained.
They only had three days here so I decided not to try to pack in too much as that backfired on me the last time we had visitors -- Calliope got exhausted and cranky. So we went to the hot springs, bounced point balloons in Centro, went out for tacos, went swimming in a hotel pool, visited an artisan market, and went out to eat only once, I think.
We also had a very Mexican Passover Seder, complete with tacos and matzah!
In other news, I am chugging along in a four month sleep consultant training program. I am hoping to start a pediatric sleep consultant business in the fall, mostly targeting Brooklyn customers but open to Mexican clientele as well.
I was volunteering at a women's clinic called CASA here with some OB nurses and midwives which was great. I got to see a few beautiful births. And last weekend I met with the founder and suggested they consider offering pediatric care -- offered by me and supported by a family medicine doctor since Mexico doesn't recgonize NPs -- at the clinic and she is open to the idea. So we shall see what happens with that.
I also had an interview last month with a medical concierge service last month and they said they are interested in having me start working with them in June. I'm not convinced they want me because they are geriatric-focused and I have no geriatric experience beyond my own parents, but it's a possibility.
But it's good to have options! I'm most excited about starting a business on my own but I'd love to keep my hand in clinical care as well, in case I ever want to return to it in the States but also because I find it so rewarding. Whatever I choose -- and I'm hoping for a mix -- I want to keep my hours manageable so that I have time for myself and am also mostly able to meet the girls when they get off the school van.
No further communication from J and I am okay with that. She had expressed interest in coming for Dia De Los Muertos so I am curious to see if she does... but I am fine either way. I have no expectations, which feels good.
And I'm still doing keto, not perfectly, and some fasting. Mostly 20:4 fasting (fast for 20 hours, feast for 4 hours) but I am still recovering from spring break indulgences. The intermittent fasting helped minimize the damage, though, which was great. I got down to within 2 pounds of my goal, very briefly, but now I'm up to 9 pounds above goal again. If I can just stay consistent it'll happen!
The cool thing is that I didn't have any PMS last month and my skin has improved a ton from keto. I also have lost some cellulite from the underside of my thigh that I never thought would budge. Once I get to my goal weight I would love to try some black coffee (or green tea) and water only fasts to try for autophagy -- cell repair -- to lower my risk of health risks like cancer. But I feel like I can only focus on one goal at a time.
We head back to Brooklyn in just two short months! We'll be there (and in Vermont and Massachusetts) for five weeks before we return to Mexico to renew our visas. So many great things to look forward to!
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| My friend Tereza organized a Women's Hike for her birthday. Such a treat to be out during the day without kids -- walking at an adult pace -- in daylight! |
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| Gorgeous vistas |
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| Calliope's class after their performance of "Los Ninos Del Bosque" (The Children of the Forest) |
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| Cute short haircut |
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| Feeling sexy and strong |
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| Mamas' Night Out (every Sat night!) |
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| Making matzaballs with my best kitchen helper (conveniently keeping her out of the way of the big girls) |
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| Our beloved Annabelle, chopping parsley for the Seder and looking like Frida Kahlo |
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| With her two best pals at school |
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| Running with a pointy balloon, wearing her new shirt from Emily and Annabelle |
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| Some of our other new, great pals: Brody and twins, Emily and Allison. |
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| Amelie and Brody have a special connection |
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| Mamas' night out at Bovine -- three out of four of us are SMCs. |
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| Dinosaur hatchlings at Papalote, the Children's Museum of Mexico City |
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| Eating authentic churros and chocolate in Mexico City |
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| Girls' first time at a sushi bar. I was SO happy. |
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| Amelie likes sushi, hooray! |
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| The girls in the zocalo in Mexico City, the largest city center in the world |
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| Cushy first class bus seats have room for two girls in them. If you're wondering why only Amelie is wearing headphones... they aren't plugged in! |
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| A Very Mexican Passover Seder, complete with corn tortillas, refried beans, matzah and charoset |
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| Swimming at the hot springs |
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| Swimming at a local hotel pool -- hot spring weather means lots of time swimming |
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| My big kid likes to sit by herself on city buses |
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