Nayeli the Blue Eyed Latina

I want to use this blog to keep my family and friends up to date and to document raising a bi-racial (Mexican/Caucasian), bi-lingual baby girl. Yes, oddly enough my Mexican boyfriend and I (both brown eyed) produced a beautiful blue eyed Latina. I want to talk about what it's like mixing our cultures and languages in a present day America that has a large and rapidly growing Hispanic population. Will Nayeli find it easy to discover her Mexican heritage, or will it be tainted with a new kind of Mex Amer culture? What will she think of being half Mexican? How can I prepare myself to teach her about who she is and where her paternal family is from? This is going to be a long and interesting journey for our family. I hope you readers out there will find our story worth taking a glance at.



Right now Nayeli is only 4 months old and way more interested in watching people eat and talk than she is with answering these questions. I think our first adventure will be learning both English and Spanish at the same time. A nurse in Harrisonburg told me that her son always speaks to his father in Spanish and to her in English. It seems natural that Nayeli will follow this same tendency seeing as I always speak to her dad in Spanish, but everyone else speaks to me in English. I try to speak both English and Spanish to her, but I'm sure I lean more towards my native language, naturally. I am very curious to see how she will handle it. I just don't want to see her get frustrated when she tries to ask for something from my parents or family members in Spanish when they don't understand her.



The first thing I have realized since moving back to Southwest Virginia is that no one down here can pronounce Nayeli's name. And that's just the first name... no one ever gets past it to inquire of her full name, Nayeli Denise Castaneda Holston. When we lived in Harrisonburg, it was never an issue, because a large part of the population there is Hispanic and her name wasn't too unfamiliar. Down south it's a different ball park. I don't really know anyone personally that speaks Spanish. Not even in the doctor's offices or social services office. I worry a lot about my boyfriend, because is English is definitely not up to par. Maybe people will eventually get used to it, or at least all the important people. If my dad can say it, I would venture to say that any one can.



I have never known how to start one of these blogs so hopefully this hasn't been too awfully boring. I promise I will get better :)