Holiday

First off, I would like to say, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I woke up early to go do a 5K Turkey Trot, then headed off to work. I stayed at the office for a couple of hours, then made a beeline for home. During my morning adventures my husband and our friends were getting the goodies prepared for lunch. I made Bread Pudding and Broccoli Casserole the night before. We did a fried turkey and it was surprisingly tasty. The little munchkin had his first Thanksgiving feast! His favorite part was the pistachio pudding with pineapples and marshmallows (don't worry I didn't let him indulge too much). I am not surprised though, if that boy is anything like his momma he will have a mouth full of sweet-tooth's :) I cannot wait for his first birthday on December 16th. It is going to be so much fun.

My Review of Prince Lionheart pottyPOD Anti-Microbial Potty Chair - Green

Originally submitted at Hayneedle.com

Potty training has never been easier with the Prince Lionheart pottyPod. Designed to look just like a toilet this hassle-free pottyPod will help your child transition to the real thing in no time. Its soft cushiony green seat is comfortable waterproof and includes an EPA-approved anti-microbial add...

Prince Lionheart pottyPOD Anti-Microbial Potty Chair - Green

Pleased so far

By Dakota Lind from Central Coast, CA on 11/20/2011

 

4out of 5

Pros: Bright Colors, Fun, Made by a Family Company, Grows with Baby, Easy To Clean, Nice to look at

Cons: Large-ish

Best Uses: Toddlers

Describe Yourself: Budget Shopper

Was this a gift?: No

It's early, but my 1.5 year old is interested in interacting with it. He got a little wierded out about sitting on it after he sat funny on the splash guard, which made me glad we got this one and not one with a hard plastic splash guard. I think as he becomes more ready to potty train this will be an excellent choice of potty.

(legalese)

Sherlock Who?

Let's just start out with the fact that detective work takes too much brain power for me. My poor son broke out in hives a couple of weekends ago, and I am stumped as to what could be the cause. I took him to the Dr. on Wednesday and had to sit through the grueling process of him getting blood drawn. *Tears* I think he is still mad at me. I didn't hear anything before the weekend hit and come Monday, I find out that the tests all came back negative for allergies. What?!? I thought it might be blueberries, but he's had those before with no reaction. That is the only thing that changed. I don't want to give him another rash/reaction so I am not sure if I want to really test my blueberry theory (even though the tests show he shouldn't react). My husband and I also think he could have found a nasty creature on the floor (i.e. a dead bug) and eaten that. He is getting around pretty good by now, and puts any and everything in his mouth. Usually bugs die in the house because of poison, right? I guess it makes sense if he ate a dead bug, he could have been reacting the insecticide or whatever else gross the creature was harboring. Please universe, give me an answer.... and tell me my son isn't eating bugs, Yuck.

Cuteness to Share and a Goodbye to Montana

1. In the last week my son has started to refer to us as Mommy and Daddy instead of Mama and Dada
2. When he wants to be held he says, "Mama hold you."
3. Yesterday we went  on a hike which required crawling through our neighbors fence. As usual, MLO had a stick in his hand (a rather long one) and I asked him if he wanted me to hold it while he went through the fence. He answered, "No, MLO do." Obviously he didn't say MLO, he said his name but lets not nit pick. It was so darned cute that he made it clear that he wanted to do it himself. I thought that was rather groundbreaking.
4. He has taken to spinning in circles and has succeeded in leaving the ground when he jumps.


All of these milestones, large and small have occurred while we have spent a heavenly three months in one of the most breathtaking places in this country. Today we say goodbye to the Swan Range, its river and its lake. We say goodbye to all of the remarkably kind and welcoming people of the valley. We have made friends and fallen in love with the rugged, raw beauty of the place. It will break our hearts to leave both. But winter is coming and the sheet of ice on the pond serves to warn us of the long, cold, dark that creeps ever closer. We leave for milder weather, the sharp smell of the wind blowing off of the ocean, we leave for ag land by the sea. We return to our families, who have missed us and who we have missed. We return to babies being born, a new chapter in our lives and the holidays with all the joyous family fun they bring. We are sad to leave, and hold the promise in our hearts of escaping back next year to our Montana paradise. We happily return, eager to have our families close and to celebrate the lovely coast that is our home.

Steinbeck, a man of my home town and a figurehead from my youth said it best, “I’m in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it.”
Travels with Charley: In Search of America 

A Shameless, and Unsolicited, Plug for Skype

Parents, if you have loved ones far away you know how difficult it is to make time for them to bond with your little one. Let's face it, a phone call doesn't convey all of the love a person wants to express to a baby or toddler. Babies have only so much patience for something like a phone, with its tempting buttons. Besides, linking a face to a voice helps a little one put all that love into context.

When we moved to Montana we knew that we weren't going to see either set of grandparents for a couple of months. That's when Hubby and I decided to download Skype. I will never go back to simple phone conversations with my parents. Heck, Skype's more fun for me to engage in, let alone for MLO. Even if the novelty of sitting in front of the computer and seeing/playing with Nana and Papa has expired, I can still train the camera on the little mister while he runs around and plays. This allows me to get a chance to talk with family while they get a chance to see MLO in action.

I strongly recommend downloading Skype. It's free, it's easy and it's a lifesaver when it comes to keeping your little ones connected to family far away!

19 Months and a Bucket Full of Toys

Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin by saying that I had no idea what to pack for MLO's adventure in the wilds of Montana. I brought every bit of clothing that fit and would seem to fit three months from our move out there and of course all of his toiletries and medical supplies. When it came to toys and books, I was lost. The problem was that he just has too many. Hubby and I have purchased maybe two toys for the kid, but aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends have utterly showered MLO. We had limited space, so I had to chose the toys and books wisely.


First, I concentrated on the books. MLO had just started to develop his obsession with heavy machinery, so I scoured used book stores, Ross and Marshall's for inexpensive books that would feed his love of trucks and the outdoors. He spent the months subsequent to his birthday pouring over his new birthday books, so he had somewhat lost interest in the books we had. I kept the newly purchased, "Montana" books hidden to maintain the novelty and ended up bringing about five each of new and old books. While he's been here he's received four more new books.

With regard to the toys, I made efforts to bring things that had versatility and appealed to his more recent phases. For instance, he just started to take a fancy to pulling things behind him as he walked, so I packed my old toy rotary phone with the eyes that move. I grabbed all the legos we had inherited from my folks, which included some with wheels which are his faves. I brought his 'Learn to-Dress Jake' and his much beloved stuffed horsey. For the car I packed a few small toys that zipped, clinked and contained other toys, my favorite being his Wolfy. He loves zipping the pocket and playing with all the characters. It's a life saver for the car. Overall we had about an 18 gallon bin full of toys.

Now that we've had a couple of months here, I more clearly see what his favorites are. He plays with all of his toys, but his newly acquired Tonka dump truck is his favorite outdoor toy. In the house he loves to play with his soft-ball and with a wind up dump truck we scored for $3 at WalMart. The Wheely Cow has saved us... see the review on the Stuff N' Clutter page. The books were also critical. He spends minutes straight (hey, for a toddler that's a long time!) going through the pages of all of his books.

Of course, nothing beats a stick, some pine-cones, rocks and the great-outdoors, but when it's time to go inside it's nice to have a few things other than the furniture to play with.

Inappropriate, Hillarious, Adorable: Things my Toddler Says

MLO pronounces truck, "Cock." That's right, ladies and gentlemen, my son exclaimed in an intimate restaurant during the lunchtime rush, "Cock! Big big Cock!" as he pointed out the window. It was awesome.

He pronounces "Silly" without the 'l' sound and everything is silly: Mama, Dada, the dogs Snoopy (who he calls "Sissy") and Ricky (who he calls "Wicky"), Grandma and Grandpa and the rain ("Wainy").

He loves to throw rocks in the water.  Suddenly during a meal he will exclaim, "Rocks! Water! Throw!" and make a huge splashing sound while throwing his hands into the air, all while making the most serious of faces.

He loves hiking and will pick up a stick, start to use it as a hiking stick then point down our dirt road and ask, "Hike?"

He refers to toast as "Pope." This makes breakfast a particularly holy experience for all of us.

He has started to refer to things in the plural, and when he does so he puts a long pause between the word and the 's' sound, for example, "Gape-eh-sss" for grapes.

He sings along to songs. We have our own version of "The Wheels on the Bus" and he acts out all the parts and sometimes finish lines when I sing certain songs. He can actually carry a tune incredibly well. He must get that from his grandma....

He will go to the stereo system in the dining room (even though he isn't allowed anywhere near it) and ask "Dance?" That's my queue to turn on Pandora so that we can rock out to Simon and Garfunkle or MGMT.

My son recently received a Melissa & Doug animal puzzle that he adores, although doesn't quite know what to do with. Whenever he sees it, he gleefully and affectionately exclaims, "Aminews!"

Though he hasn't purposefully achieved airborne status, he loves to "jump". Usually this means squatting down really low, then lifting one foot really high off the ground while shouting, "Gee-ump!"

When he falls down he announces his sudden contact with the earth in the following ways:

1. "Oh boom."
2.  An emphatic, "Oh no!" (complete with upturned hands in the air)
3.  "Bonk." (accompanied by a hand to whatever part of his body is "injured")

...and counting

MLO has begun to count to three. He will even count his fingers, "One two three, one two three...." over and over. I can't get over that he knows the cue, "Can you count them?" and appropriately follows up with numbers. We started to play a game when he was 18 months old called, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, no fingers, boom!" where I would show him my hand full of fingers, count down, and when we got to no fingers I would shout , "No fingers... Boom!" and give him a gentle punch. He loves it, and it's an easy way to entertain him in a restaurant while we wait for food. Ever since that became a favorite game, he got interested in counting the trees or houses in books. Of course, we clap and encourage his efforts, so he thinks this counting business is the bee's knees. I've lost touch with any books that indicate when certain milestones ought to be achieved, and we've been gone through his 18 month check-up, so I really have no idea what he's supposed to be doing developmentally. I don't worry too much about it, and it lets me think that he's the bee's knees for counting, so I think I'll go with it!

Wildlife Adventures in Montana

Described herein are two of the most dramatic wildlife experiences we have had as a family, so far.

I mentioned in my come-back post, "Oh, What?" that there had been an incident with a bat in the washing machine. To give some background, we moved to a relatively remote part of Montana in August. About two weeks after we arrived, I was doing some laundry. We had experienced our first real trial of back woods living when our septic system backed up and proceeded to leak black water from the bottom of our toilet. My husband soaked up the water with some towels and once we had the problem fixed I ran a load of wash that included said nasty towels and a rug that had previously sat directly around the toilet. The rug had been thrown over a bucket in the laundry room once we figured out what it had been soaking up, to be washed with the rest of the poo-water-soaked towels when the time came. As one might expect, I washed those suckers on hot for the longest time the washer allowed. Even though the days and nights were plenty hot to hang the washing out to dry, I wanted the added security of a hot dry cycle to kill any possible remaining poo-bugs. As I loaded the drier, I noticed a rather large and soggy piece of lint at the bottom of the washer. I thought to myself, "That's odd, I didn't wash anything that was that dark." As I picked up the lint I noticed that it was particularly felty feeling, not at all like the old rough towels and synthetic rug I had washed. Suddenly the shape and the texture came together in my mind: bat- wet, soggy, bat. I threw the drowned, ragged, lifeless body of the creature on the ground and shuddered heartily. I walked out into the kitchen and said to my husband, "I need you to go in there and tell me whether that's a bat on the ground."

Shocked and utterly confused, he walked in and confirmed what I already knew: I had inadvertently killed a poor bat in really a horrific way, then desecrated its body by throwing it with gusto to the ground. As close as we can figure it, the little fella climbed in the open washer sometime in the night and had gone to sleep. In the morning chill he was not able to register that I was throwing things into the washer and so didn't fly out. The other possibility was that it had gotten into the rug-covered bucket and was hanging from the rug when I picked it up and threw it into the washer. Either way, the poor little guy met a terrible end, for which I will feel
eternally sorry. As my sister said, "Peace be to that poor bat...." In homage, I briefly considered the following Halloween costume for MLO. Props to Pottery Barn for the adorable costume, but man, that kid sells it!


It's Fall, and here in our lovely valley the Birch and Cottonwood leaves are changing, the weather has cooled way down, and the fish have all left our pond for deeper waters. All the wildlife of our region are doing their best to put on some pounds before they bed down for winter. The berry crop was abysmal this year, and the glut of rain in the spring left the grass more tough than nutritious, so the entire food chain is feeling the effects of limited food. With that comes the inevitable attempt by our bigger and bolder predators to take advantage of the easy food supply that accompanies human settlement. Just a few weeks ago we had a 600 lb, 20 year old grizzly bear break into our closest neighbor's garage. Suffice it to say, Hubby and I are a bit on edge. Taking on a hungry animal 5 times your size, and likely willing to settle for eating you, is no small charge.

Tracks from the huge-mongous bear that broke into our neighbor's garage

With the scene set let me explain our latest big adventure with Montana wildlife. Hubby and I were enjoying the last warm fall day forecasted for as far as anyone could tell. I sat, unarmed, in our expansive yard while Hubby unsuccessfully fished our empty pond, which we share with our nearest neighbor. Yes folks, this is the same neighbor whose garage had been ripped into by a gi-normous grizzly bear. As he was fishing he noticed some movement near the neighbor's house and looked up to find a very brown bear standing on its hind legs, both front paws on the window. The hubster began to yell and the bear looked over, then proceeded to ignore him completely. Hubby yelled for me to take the dogs in and get his firearms ready.

My brave, madman of a husband went over to the neighbor and did his darndist to scare off this bear. No charging car, honking horn, or gun-shots seemed to drive the animal away. Only when Hubby fired buck-shot at the ground near its feet did the animal flee. Hubby came back and immediately called the grizzly guy, with whom we had come to be on a first name basis. As he hung up the phone, the hubster looked out the window and exclaimed, "Holy sh*t, the effing bear is in our yard!!" He had crossed the pond and now stood somewhat bemused in our front yard area. Now within 20 feet or so we could see that it was a little black bear, that couldn't have weighed more than 120 lbs. Hubby tried to scare him off with bear spray (the can of which we had not used before and found out in this instance that it was frighteningly sub-par), pots and pans and yelling. To no avail! The beast merely ran up a nearby pine tree bordering the pond. Finally we waited for the bear to move in a direction that would allow us to chase him off, and move he did. He ambled casually to within 10 feet of our window, near which MLO was enjoying a mid-afternoon snack. As I picked up my son he pointed out the window and said happily, "Doggie! Nice, nice doggie. Give pets." That was not the reaction I was looking for, regardless of how adorable this little bear was.  

Hubby was finally able to get close enough (yes, close enough) to spray the bear in the face, which should impart on the bear a healthy fear for people. We found out that this little fella had been orphaned as a cub, raised in captivity, and recently released in our area. The bear was only about a year and a half, and his upbringing explained the alarming disregard he had for people-threats. We learned that a bear does sh*t in the woods (I have footage of it), that black bears can look very, very brown, and that MLO is an unreliable detector of potentially threatening animals in the wild, not to be relied upon when hiking. 

Our little black bear friend in our front yard

The baby who wouldn't kiss

Ever since MLO began to express his personality he has had a way of attracting an entire room's attention and sending the mood of the place into joyful wonder. He's always been beautiful, funny, easy to love and shamelessly flirtatious. However, while other babies his age would hug and kiss and express love in myriad other ways, MLO generally kept his affection to himself. For instance, after he learned to walk he would now and again run over to me, wrap his arms around my legs and say "Hiiiiii Mama." Then, as quickly as he appeared, he would scamper off to wreak havoc on some toy or clean corner of the house. That was it. No kisses, few hugs. As adoring and utterly devoted parents, Hubby and I would shower hugs and kisses and "I love you"s on the child with abandon, so we didn't really understand why MLO didn't seem to reciprocate. To clarify, neither of us doubted that he loved us and that he knew he was loved, we just didn't understand why he didn't express it in ways other kids his age did.   

My favorite example of this is as follows: One morning, when MLO was around 15 months old and had just awakened from his nap, I walked into his room. The picture of happiness, he smiled broadly from above the rails of his crib and exclaimed, "Hiiiii Mama!"  I went over and gave him a big kiss and a squeeze, and as our routine dictated, proceeded to play a game of hide and seek while he remained in bed. We both laughed and smiled and when I went to lift him from the crib I asked for a kiss. "Kiss for mommy?", I said, and leaned my cheek in toward his face. He took his little hands, one on each side of my face, and turned my face around to look him in the eyes. He then turned his cheek to face me, and pulled my face toward his cheek, so that I may kiss him. Yes, my son in effect said, "You may have the profound privilege of kissing me. That's as much affection as your gonna get, lady."

It was some months later that MLO finally started to give hugs and kisses. At first his kisses were fully opened mouth affairs, with plenty of drool. He finally got that he should purse his lips a bit. He still only very rarely volunteers a kiss, though he generously doles out hugs. His favorite times to hug are when he is sitting in his highchair or laying on the changing table. I'm fairly certain he uses the imploring request "Hug!" on the changing table as a distraction mechanism, since he seems to hate having his diaper changed. He has also picked up the habit of saying lovingly, "Ooooh, Mama!" and "Ooooh Dada!" when he finds us particularly funny or sweet. He has even started saying "Silly Dada!" (or Mama) and pronounces "Silly" without the 'l' sound. So yeah, my baby that wouldn't kiss is now the toddler that loves to hug. I'll take it!

The joy of cooking... for baby

Ah the food issue. Mommies have all had it: my kid won't eat this, my kid will only eat that, my kid ate this religiously and now won't touch it.... I can safely say that, in short, food is a struggle for all of us at one point or another.

When MLO started on solid food there was little he didn't like. Those few things were easily avoidable and nutritional equivalents were readily available and appreciated by him. Somewhere around 12 months he started to get weird on me. He would turn his nose up at our tried and true routine of scrambled eggs with cheese, broccoli, and  a touch of garlic powder for breakfast. WTF pal? All of a sudden I had to get creative. How do I pack the same amount of nutritional bang into an MLO sized meal? I started to branch out: french toast made with maple syrup instead of sugar, no syrup on the toast with a banana or oatmeal with honey and whole milk and a serving of veggies and hummus at lunch or dinner. I cut scrambled eggs out all together and started to offer more meats and cheeses. I discovered he loved goat cheese and that aside from 'outside' the only other discernible word he uttered was 'hummus'.

As I was struggling with the need to explore food choices for MLO I kept asking myself, "What changed?" One day it dawned on me, the kid was bored. Can you imagine eating the same things at the same time of day for 3 or more months straight? In hind-site, I would have been concerned if he hadn't started to turn his nose up at our "tried and true" routine. As time went on, I started to mix things up as a matter of course. I tried hard to move those staples around so they didn't happen in the same way at the same time. I began to bake bread and muffins that I knew could pack a punch for the whole grains they contained. As our trip to Montana grew closer I began to fret over how I would meet his needs over 8 days and 7 nights of road trip and camping. The cooler and the fridge in our tiny trailer weren't long term storage situations that I trusted, and I knew that at least one meal of the day would happen in the car. Fortunately, I stumbled on Go Go Applesauce, an individually wrapped packet of organic applesauce. I packed string cheese and a plethora of crackers, my favorite for MLO being the Trader Joe's Multigrain crackers for their relatively low sodium, delicious flavor, practically choke-safe texture and Peanut-free-ness. What I didn't plan for was the emotional and temporal need for fast food; on that trip MLO was introduced to his first McDonald's hamburger and fries, and Jack in the Box breakfast bowl, and I don't feel a bit guilty about it. MLO ate Daddy's grilled burgers for dinner and enjoyed many a breakfast of cheerios and banana as we rolled out of the campsite. 

Since arriving in our destination MLO has discovered fresh trout (shish- for fish), raw spinach slathered in ranch dressing, raw green beans and plain raisins. He loves wheat toast with butter at breakfast and snacks of yogurt with cinnamon, cheerios and applesauce. Oatmeal with whole milk, a touch of honey and raisins or fresh fruit is a welcome way to beat the morning chill. Much to my shame, he has a derth of experience when it comes to feeding himself with utensils. He has such a propensity for making a mess that I shy away from giving him the spoon when he has yogurt and I never thought to hand over the fork except with food already on it. I have resolved to overcome my fear of mess and give him cheerios in a bowl with a spoon (I'm starting slow... don't judge me!) and green beans on his high chair tray with a fork at his disposal. The dogs are going to love it.

So So Funny

This has nothing to do with parenting. It is a representation of several pop-culture and cult classic favorites of mine slathered in pure silliness: Doctor Who? check LOTR? check X-Men? check Sexy Lumberjacks? check.

http://gingerhaze.tumblr.com/tagged/art

Oh, What?

We're back! Well, actually, we are very very far away. But with all the new adventures afoot I knew I needed to update the site, so here we go:

MLO turned 18 months old on September 2nd. In the last few weeks he has begun to say 'no' and nod his head 'yes' in response to questions. He has started to string words together such as, "River... cold water... fish!" You may wonder where he got those particular words, seeing as we live on the central coast of California. It just so happens that Hubby has the type of job that lets him shove off and work from a home office for, say, three months every seven years. That being the case, we moved to Montana at the end of July. That's right, Montana. Big sky country, lakes, rivers, streams, mountains, grizzly bears, cougars, wolves, black bears, beavers in our pond, bats in the washing machine and moose in the road. Us being us, we did it in style. We are living fifteen minutes out a dirt road off of the only paved road in this particular valley. We are about an hour and a half from a hospital, and half an hour from the nearest physician. Most days we are literally miles from any other human and the eighty year old rough hewn log cabin we are living in has been broken into by bears twice in its lifetime. Roughin it? You bet your ass!

So MLO has a whole new vocabulary to match his new world: "Boom! Thunder" (that applies to thunder and gunfire....), "Doe! Buck!", "Dada rod" (don't be gross, daddy fly fishes!), "Lake, river, creek" and "Pond" all have "Cold water" and "Fish" and we explore them on the "Boat" together. "Rock, stick, pine cone" and "Log" are his new favorite toys which he throws with relish into his new Tonka dump truck or in the case of the log, balances on and practices his jumping. The Tonka is a mild manifestation of MLO's newest and most potent love. MLO can now identify excavators, skid steers, loaders, dump trucks, bull dozers and backhoes... he's obsessed. To fuel this love of big machinery we watch the "Twenty Trucks" videos on You Tube. CHECK IT OUT.

We all love them, but for such different reasons. I have never heard a man sing so passionately about excavators. It brings tears (from fits of laughter) to my eyes. MLO sits transfixed on my lap, absorbing every word. I think those videos have taught him more about trucks than the myriad truck board books he reads every day.  

Speaking of videos, MLO has also started to watch the "Baby's First Word Stories" video series by So Smart. I relented on the whole TV thing when I realized that he had the patience to sit and watch a few minutes at a time. When you think about it, TV is an incredibly potent teaching tool. It combines images with corresponding sounds and allows for repetition so that the kiddo can start to integrate words with objects in context. He has really picked up on the vocabulary introduced in the videos. I do limit his TV time to 30 minutes a day, as I don't want TV to overshadow play. He has gone from watching 5 minutes at a time to demanding more when I turn it off after 30. The videos have engaging but gentle music, cute relate-able characters and simple story lines. Each episode finishes with a review of the words learned. We have the "Pets", "Get Dressed", "House" and "We Go" DVDs and there are several stories on each. MLO loves them all, and now asks for Edward, Dee Dee, Larry and Iggy when he gets up in the morning.

MLO is now awake and demanding that we go outside, so I will leave you with those wild images and movie recommendations with more descriptions of outdoor toddler living to follow.

Cheers from MT!

A view from our yard

 

Happy Father's Day

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Father's Day. Ours was a little mellow. We all felt a little cruddy so daddy stayed home while mommy and baby went to have lunch with the grandparents.

Whirlwind

Sorry all for the time away. My life got super busy unexpectedly. I had to go back to work full time about 6 weeks ago. My boss passed away and I am now doing her job. Although in that time we took our first plane ride, and it really wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. He was laughing at take-off and slept most of the time. One thing, have you ever seen the changing tables in the airplane bathrooms?!?!?! Insane. They are very tiny and don't have any straps. Turbulence? I guess it's not a safety issue. I was grateful that my son was so small during that interesting process.
Oh, he also discovered we have a dog, and that said dog is soft and has a wet tongue. He is fascinated. He was laying on the floor yesterday and he was petting the dog. Those two will be fast friends for sure.
Let's see, plane ride, dog petting, I told you about starting veggies, and I think that's all the major stuff. Less than two weeks and the chunk will be 6 months. Un-freaking-believable. Already.

My Second Mother's Day

This Mother's Day weekend was a real treat for me. I had the immense pleasure of sharing it with my grandma, mom and dad and Sunday itself with my mother- and father-in-law as well. On Mother's Day we hosted a brunch at our house with MLO entertaining his most adoring fans. We ate fresh cinnamon rolls with coffee and tea then feasted on salad of locally grown fruits and Hubby's patented camping trip scramble; a cornucopia of meat, cheese, eggs and veggies. Frank Sinatra played in the background but MLO stole the show.

MLO has learned a few new tricks that really tickle the funny bone. He claps, not in response to anything, but to initiate a glowing round of applause from his devotees. Other children did that months ago, but MLO has been holding out on us. He also shakes his finger and says "No, no, no." He learned this adorable, albeit potentially problematic, trick from watching my folks scold their lovable but forever naughty dog. The looks on his face while executing both of these new moves send me into stitches. He looks so amused and gleeful when clapping and the mild scowl he adopts while shaking that little finger cracks us all up.  I can't get past how truly wonderful it is to watch this baby become a little boy.

Knowing how much I adore my son, and how fleeting his babyhood is, I can only imagine how much it means to his grand- and great-grandparents to spend this time with him and see him happy with his parents, their babies. I feel so fortunate to have the kind of relationship with my parents and in-laws that allows us all to get together and enjoy each other and this very special time in MLO's life.

Fun Mother's and Father's Day Gift Ideas

Being a mildly creative person I wanted to do something fun for my mom, grandma and mother-in-law for mother's day last year. I wanted it to be personalized and unique to MLO. Several companies in our area do hand and foot prints of your baby in clay that they glaze and fire and they look beautiful but cost a bit more than I was interested in paying. Additionally, I wanted to make something so that both MLO and I had our stamps on it, so to speak. Another mom suggested going to our local 'paint-your-own-pottery' shop to stamp MLO's foot prints on something (hand prints are next to impossible, even for a 1 year old- they just clench). All of the adults in our extended families drink coffee, so I went down, picked out mugs and painted away.

There are a few keys to success:

1. Bring someone else to handle baby. I brought my mother-in-law which allowed her to pick out the colors she wanted on her mug.
2. Don't try to reprint baby's footprint if the first one didn't quite make it. If you have to, paint in the toes.
3. The imprint is a three person job- Grandma held MLO, while an employee held baby's foot still and I rolled the mug across MLOs foot.
4. The older the baby, the harder it is. I took MLO just after his birthday to finally make a mug for myself and he was far more difficult to entertain at 12 months than he was at 2 and 3. He also was more engaged during the imprint, which proved more challenging as he tried to pull away.
5. Use a lighter color as the base color and use a very dark color for the footprint. You don't get the advantage of multiple layers of paint for the imprint so it's important that the print be much darker in color than the base color.

I ended up with some really cute mugs that were totally DIY. They were not professional quality, but hey, they're going to your parents. I love the idea of making something for your folks that includes an aspect of your child so that they benefit from a double dose of personalized gift giving!

A less DIY but totally personalized gift option is the photo mug or calendar. I use Snapfish to create mine. Photo mugs are actually a bit cheaper than the paint your own options, and they are totally cheesy, but grandparents love them. Calendars are great around Christmas time since the new year is about to start. I used pictures from each month of MLO's first year and it was so cute. Already we have compared MLO this year to MLO last year  using the calendars and it's fun to see.

A slightly more personalized option is the brag book. You can find classy looking ones at CR Gibson or Etsy or you can make one yourself. Giving the book already filled with pictures personalizes it and makes it more meaningful. This gift is more of a grandma gift, since they usually have purses with ample enough room to carry such an object. For a similar idea you can get a relatively inexpensive digital photo frame with a memory card already filled with pictures of your little one and/or your family through the years. This works great for dads as it's something they can have at work.

Those are my ideas, what are yours?

Adventures in Baby-Feeding

So we have had some changes in the little one's diet. My milk supply was drying up (only enough for about 2 feedings a day) so I started supplementing with formula. I was pumping every 2 to 3 hours to try to increase my supply, but it wasn't working. I decided it was a losing battle so I switched to formula only, no more mommy milk. I was a little sad about the situation, but what could I do? My son then had his 4 month check-up at the doctor, and while there the doctor was asking me if I started solids yet. No. Well, he wanted me to try introducing some veggies for the next few weeks. Off to the store to get baby food. I don't have a baby food maker yet so I just bought the jars of baby food for now. I am open to suggestions on a good baby food maker. We started with carrots. Now I was expecting a little gagging or funny faces or something. What I got was "mmmmmmmm" and a lot of excited licking of the spoon. He loved the veggies! I then tried sweet potatoes and got much of the same again, pleasure. You don't know how excited I am that he likes his veggies. I am just hoping he gets the hang of eating off the spoon real soon because this licking stunt is very messy.

New Things, New Progressions

At 9 months of age, my little J has grown and developed so much, as do all babies of course. He continues to light up my life each and every day. I have learned to take notice to his needs as they have changed - his desire to play with his toys, our dog, and with me. He likes to mix things up, but is also really good at individual play, which is so nice when I need to get things done. J is so easy when it comes to eating solids, too. At six months, I began to puree his foods and haven't stopped. I make and freeze a bunch of different items - pears, apples, butternut squash, peas, sweet potatoes, and carrots. Before him, I don't think I had ever shelled an English Pea! He loves prunes, which are so easy to puree - I buy organic prunes, put them in a bowl covered with boiling water, let them sit until plump, drain, and puree. He loves them with his oatmeal. For his oatmeal, I just grind up the dry oats and cook as you normally would cook rolled oats. I also buy, and sometimes mix, organic short brown rice and pearled barley; cook it in boiling water until very soft and then puree it. I haven't spent a dime on his foods since I would buy all of these items anyways. I can't justify the theory that having kids is so expensive? Now, I know that will change when the day comes for him to say, "Mama, I want this." And I am sure I will cave in at times!

J also has six teeth now - always got two at a time. He never fails to show them through his constant smiles. With his last two he did great and was not fussy at all. We also had our 9-month check-up recently and the doctor put my mind at ease with his one-time-a-night wakings to nurse as she enlightened me with the notion that he is less than a year old and a growing boy who still needs his fillings. Most babies can go all night at this point with no extra feedings, but since he really wants/needs it, I don't question it.

He has and continues to pronounce the three first consonants - m's, d's, and b's. "Mama" came first in December, then "Dada" came in January and continues, followed by "baba." He also spent the last few months rolling everywhere and made sure that was the best way for him to get around. Following his constant rolls, he has since turned to the "army crawl," using great upper body strength. While he often likes to get up on all fours and crawl now, he still seems to like the feeling of moving forward on his belly and mainly using his arms. His targets are wires, shoes, fireplace tools, and our dog - who is so wonderful with him as she lets him pull and bite her ears, and slap at her face and feet. J also has become a pro at the "down dog" yoga pose, and even "plank." And he recently learned how to give people "high-five," which is so sweet to receive.

It's each new day that brings on these little sweet things, reinforcing the joy that I never knew a year ago.

A Weaning

MLO and I struggled with nursing these last few months. I screwed up my milk supply and had barely enough to get us through the day. The nursing first thing was the only really good feeding we had. The others, generally occurring at 3 hour intervals thereafter, were low volume, and he tended to fuss for much of the time. By March we had, for the most part, dropped the latest feeding (occurring between 3 and 4 PM), sort of accidentally. Neither of us remembered, and with all that exciting solid food he didn't seem to mind. So, on March 1st I stopped the other feedings all together. For the first two weeks of March we nestled close in the mornings and shared our beloved morning routine. It wasn't the quiet, focused feedings we shared months prior. He pulled off and looked around, poked my belly button and would seem to lose interest entirely, only to cry when I buttoned myself up, so to speak.

One morning in mid-March he woke up, and instead of expressing interest in my chest he seemed to want to get down and play. So I let him. And then it struck me, "He isn't asking to nurse. You wanted to nurse for a year, but no longer. Let's just stop." With a twinge of loss and nostalgia I fed my son a meal of eggs and cheerios and he hasn't looked back. I both miss nursing and relish not having to do it. The quiet moments spent holding each other that led to long gazes into each other's eyes are no longer. These days I can hardly get MLO to sit still long enough to hug and kiss him before he pushes my face away and slips from my lap. I have to admit, though, that I don't miss the pressing feeling of obligation that came like clockwork to find a quiet place to nurse. I don't miss sitting alone in a room to avoid the constant distractions that led to MLO's patented nurse and pull-off, nurse and pull-off method of nursing; a completely maddening way to feed a child. I don't miss fretting about what I've eaten and how much water I've consumed. I don't miss worrying about how much milk he's getting and how to increase my supply.

Overall, the weaning was easy and has been a good experience for both of us. MLO loves to drink his milk and snack every few hours. In addition to his milk cup, he has a water bottle that is always accessible to him. He doesn't seem to miss snuggling with me, and he certainly relishes feeding himself. As with everything so far, I register a deep significance, feel strongly these senses of loss and gain. MLO just keeps on keepin' on, living fully in each moment but always ready for the next. I have discovered there is no greater teacher than my 1-year old son. 

New Review

Be sure to check out the Stuff N' Clutter page for our newest review: baby shoes!

Have shoes, will travel.

Milestone alert: MLO is walking. Not just a few steps here and there, but exclusive use of the soles of his feet to move from point A to point B. This happened on March 29th. All of a sudden he decided that he preferred walking over crawling. I realized he had made this decision with one tiny action. I went to open the front door and from across the room he began to crawl toward me, then got up and essentially ran over to me. It wasn't coordinated or fluid, and he fell, but he got back up and walked over. That was it. He didn't really go back to crawling after that. So the next day MLO and I went to downtown San Luis Obispo, and holding my hand, we walked around. Not down the street, but the equivalent of about 2 blocks over a few hours. We moved at his pace, and ended up in a couple of places I hadn't intended to go. We saw goldfish in the pond at Growing Grounds and hippies in the square at the Mission. He made friends with young and old alike. He showed me things I hadn't bothered to notice before, like the bright new fire hose hook-ups on the sides of buildings and tiny hidden walkways behind locked iron gates. It was lovely: making friends with strangers, not feeling rushed, watching my son learn the ropes of sitting on a park bench or walking down a slope. I kept hearing "It goes by so fast. Savor it", and that day I did. I moved with my son, savoring his experience of life and being thankful for a slow day in SLO.

A Litany of Adorable Things

I often feel that my accounting of MLO's cuteness becomes weary to those upon which I inflict the descriptions. For those that care to know, here is a list of his most precious actions occurring in the weeks since he turned 1:

•  He has really begun to interact with the bath. After transitioning him to the "big kid's bathtub" he has taken to splashing emphatically while giggling hysterical, spontaneously dunking his face and waving goodbye to the bathwater as it slips down the drain. Freaking cute.
• MLO waves to everyone. I catch him waving at the dogs, complete strangers, the garbage truck and even to the sound of someone starting up their car and driving away.
• MLO produces animal sounds on command. Dog, cat, lion, elephant, monkey, gorilla, and owl.
• He walks.
• He shows affection. When our dog, Snoopy, allows MLO to get close enough to pet, the kid gently pats the dog's back. He also gently shoves his head into the dog while making a noise akin to a dog whine.When I ask for kisses I make the kissing sound MLO first learned as the "come" command for Snoopy, and my son lowers his head and gently butts it into my face making the whining sound. It's pretty damn sweet.
• He babbles and points incessantly. When I go get him after a nap he will slip out of my reach, sit squarely on his mattress and point at the pictures printed on his sheets. I go through each picture with him, saying the word and sometimes the color until he seems satisfied that he has it down. Then he allows me to pick him up.  

That's all that comes to mind at present. I hope it was as enjoyable to read as it was to recount.

Squeaky toy

My son has started trying to communicate and he sounds like a squeaky toy. I have no idea where he learned this or what it is supposed to mean. I had just gotten used to the goo's and gah's now I have to try and learn what all the squeals, shrieks, squeaks, and screams mean. This is so much fun! I am surprised at how quickly he's learning and growing. He can support his head for longer periods of time, and he rolled over for the first time last week. I haven't witnessed this yet, but my husband has. I am excited for my son and all the things he's learning now. I will hold him sitting in my lap and talk to him and ask him questions. he responds with giant smiles and squeals that only dogs can hear! I just recently bought a jogging stroller and cannot wait to take him running with me. I wonder if he will sleep or squeal at all the new things he sees. I wish the wind would die down so we could go.....

Bloggity Blog Blog: New Stuff

I wanted to let you all know that we have a new page: The Wish List. I started it when I realized there were things I wish I'd had, and I figured some soon-to-be's or current mommies might like my take. Please feel free to leave comments regarding your experiences or fantasized experiences with any products I mention or ones I didn't!

I would also like to start a page dedicated to mommy care. Too often mom's focus doesn't rest on herself during the day, and she forgets that there are things she should do for herself. If you have any input please leave me some comments!

Steppin' Out

As I remarked at the end of my last post, I can't seem to get over how quickly MLO has gone from a starfish to a person. Everyday brings new surprises and drives home the reality that he is leaving babyhood and entering his life as a toddler. The most obvious example of this came today. For the first time he walked with controlled steps, stopped when he felt himself losing control, squatted to give himself a break, then stood back up again (unaided) and walked a few steps more until he reached what I suppose was his intended target. He hasn't abandoned the wild feet-flinging gait, but seems to grasp that there is a less risky way to get from one place to another on two feet. He still doesn't use walking as his main mode of transportation, but he seems to prefer it now over crawling. It looks to me that he knows walking is slower for him, but that he is determined to become proficient.

In addition to his development of our species's most trademark motor skill, he has discovered how to groove. I realize that parrots with a particular love of a certain song will dance when it's played, but to see my son rocking out to Beck or MGMT was down right kick ass. I keep Pandora on fairly often during the day so MLO gets exposure to everything from Ray Charles to The Clash. He hasn't expressed a dislike of anything as far as I can tell, but certain songs get him bobbing and swaying like crazy. It absolutely kills me. 

Speaking of things that blow me away, there have been a couple of instances in which I prompted MLO to show me the ________. Colors, food items and animals of interest make up the items that fill in the blank. His initial attempt is always right, though if I prompt him later he rarely identifies it correctly. I can't tell you how thrilled I was when he flipped through his book and showed me the banana on command, or correctly identified three different colors in a row when prompted.

Yeah, that little sucker's just full of surprises. 

Catching Up

I have taken far too long to check in with you guys so I apologize.

MLO has begun to explore speech. At 11 or so months old he started to refer specifically to Mama and Dada and he knew certain words like Numma (food), Dog, and his name. It seemed that in the weeks following his first birthday he has really grasped the concept of spoken language. He points at things and says Adada and Dana emphatically. He has started pointing at things he wants and then pointing at himself. He is exploring all sorts of sounds, some of them derived from the alphabet, and some of them clicks, slurps and raspberry sounds. He enjoys participating in adult conversation, making eye contact and noise while grown-ups are speaking to each other.

He has also begun the transition to walking. He has worked himself up to four feet of travel on his two feet, sometimes ending in a thump to the ground and less often ending in a deliberate stop and sit. He uses all manner of props to help him stand, though every day he gets better at moving from a squatting to standing position sans help. Watching him try to walk is incredibly amusing. He giggles with a huge grin on his face while teetering along. His steps are a repetition of barely controlled mayhem: his nerves firing and muscles moving in ways he hasn't experienced before. I can see when he has decided to walk from point 'A' to point 'B', as a look of determination and excitement comes across his face and he pauses to take stalk of the situation. Then he launches himself with a squeal and giggles until he either falls or reaches his destination. Seriously, watching the little monkey try to walk is great entertainment.

He does well with solid foods. There are a couple of things he still prefers in a puree and the evening remains the worst time to introduce anything new. We have cut down on nursing to only once a day, so he gets whole cows milk to drink and to moisten his oat meal. He essentially feeds himself lunch. I made some whole wheat low sugar muffins for him that I crumble and he enjoys that with some shredded apple, cheerios and cheese sticks. That has opened up much welcomed time for me to get some work done in the kitchen.

The thing that strikes me the most lately is how incredibly different things are now compared to a year ago. So short a time has passed for so much growth and development to occur.  

The Last Twelve Months

MLO-
At 8:55 this morning I sang Happy Birthday to you for the first time. A year ago I delivered you into this world, tiny and lively.  I listened to your distinctive cries and I held you to me and felt your still warmth after you fell asleep. Today we went to the doctor. You held my hands and walked around the exam room. You played peek-a-boo with your physician and flirted with the nurse. I can hardly believe how far we've come in so short a time.

The last twelve months hold for me the most challenging, rewarding, beautiful, disgusting, hilarious, frustrating and joyful moments of my life. Without question, this has been the most exciting year your dad and I have on record. When you made me a mother, you made me a better person. I didn't realize that something was missing before, but now that you're here, I see that the world is a better place for it. Thank you. Thank you for your infectious smile. Thank you for being cute, even when throwing a fit. Thank you for smiling at strangers and helping them to smile, too. Thank you for teaching me what it feels like to love unconditionally. Thank you for teaching us patience. Thank you for coming to us and making us a family. Thank you for bringing to me a joy beyond description or measure. Thank you for helping me find my strength. Thank you for being you.

I love you, MLO, more than I ever knew a person could love. Happy birthday, little boy; thanks for the best year yet.
-Mom

Pacifier Holder?

My son had his 2 month checkup today which included shots. I was very surprised at how well he handled this experience. He received 3 shots and only screamed once. The nurse gave him his first shot and he took a big breath to scream. I thought "Oh boy, here it comes". She gave him his second shot and his face was bright red, his mouth wide open, looking like he was going to scream, for real this time! On his third shot his lips were turning blue-he has been holding that initial breath he took. Finally he let loose one loud scream and was all better once he was in my arms.

I am surprised he didn't let loose a giant blood-curdling scream that started a 10 minute crying session. The reason is because of a prior experience I have had with a crying fit of his. My husband and I were trying to relax with our son on the couch and unwind. The babe had just eaten, had a clean diaper, was wearing his sleeper, mittens, and a hat. Through all the comforts he was still screaming at us. We went down the "checklist" of possible reasons for his obvious discomfort, eliminated them all, and he still wouldn't relax. As a last resort I look at my husband and say "maybe we should take his hat off, he might be too hot." Off comes the hat and out tumble 3 pacifiers. Imagine that! Apparently my husband was the one who put the pacifiers in the hat because he was cleaning out the crib. He forgot they were in there and that is the hat that unfortunately ended up on his head that day.

Moral of the story: If nothing else works to calm a fussy baby, check his hat for pacifiers. Those can get quite uncomfortable in there. ;)

Two Months!?

I can't believe it has been two months already. My little "Grunter" is developing a personality. He is no longer a newborn but has blossomed into a baby, my son. It is quite amazing actually to see how much they change-and how quickly! He is smiling and giggling although he's quite the tough crowd. He won't give away his appreciation for antics cheap. It needs to be truly amazing for this guy. I however, am quite cheap! I laugh at every-I mean EVERY-little thing he does. He pukes on me, I laugh. He farts like a man, hilarious. He talks/grunts all night in his sleep, strangely enough, I love the sound. He is a loud sleeper but I can't complain too much. For the past two weeks he has been sleeping from 9:30 pm until 5:30 am. We are on a schedule. Hallelujah!

He goes to the Dr. tomorrow for shots. I hear it's harder for the parents than for the baby. I hope he doesn't cry too much.

Tasty Finger Food for your Little Dude (or Dudette)

MLO has become increasingly picky. In bygone days he would eat nearly anything you put in his mouth with only a brief analyzation trial period (as in seconds) for new foods. Since beginning table foods (the non-pureed version of what we've been feeding him) his tastes have become much more discerning. Whole peas? Blegh. Chopped broccoli? Blegh. Chopped carrot? Blegh. Dude! You ate these no problem when they were pureed. WTF?

I've noticed that the pickiness seems to reach it's height at dinner time. At lunch he will gladly munch more than a few cubes of steamed diced carrot but when dinner rolls around, forget about it. It seems that the progression to tolerating the new textures and demands of table foods requires a well rested, and thus patient, baby. It also seems that this process is a long one (at least in our case).

So against my better judgement, but due to my insatiable curiosity and penchant for culinary optimism, I'm going to introduce a new table food tonight. The baked then pureed or even just scooped version of sweet potatoes is a go-to, sure fire, baby pleasing staple in this house. Lets see what he thinks of SWEET POTATO FRIES.

The Recipe

• Approximately (~) 1 pound of medium sweet potatoes halved, then sliced into ~1/4 inch strips. Turn the strips on their sides and slice again to the same dimension.
•  2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
•  A generous sprinkling of Italian Seasoning
•  A similarly generous sprinkling of garlic powder
•  One more generous sprinkling of fresh ground pepper

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place sweet potatoes in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Add seasonings and mix the sweet potatoes until coated. It's best to use your hands here to ensure the fries are covered with oil. Place the fries in one layer on a lined or lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the sheet and flip the fries over (a spatula works great). Bake them for 15 minutes or so; you want them to brown. It's ok if some of the ends get black, but they just aren't very nummy when the whole batch is that way: trust me.


I like this idea because the fries are salt free, oiled with nutritious and tasty olive oil, and baked instead of fried. They are a good size for little hands, and at the very least, a novelty. They are tasty as-is for grown-ups, too, which make them a wonderful side dish for the whole family to share.

I'll let you guys know how it turns out tonight. If he doesn't like them, I'm sure I'll find someone who'll eat them....

The Darkside: When you can't defeat it, eat it!

Yeah, that's right. I made Star Wars themed teething biscuits. Recipe courtesy of Courtney Russell, Wonder Time, Feb 2009 and cookie cutters courtesy of Williams Sonoma. If you don't like my nerdiness, you can suck it. No, seriously, they are made for people without teeth. Enjoy.

Breastfeeding is not easy

Do you realize how freaked out I was to be bringing my baby home from the hospital? Honestly, VERY freaked out. I had no idea what to do with him. My stay in the hospital was more confusing than helpful. We were there 3 days and nights and received conflicting advice on breastfeeding from all the nurses and doctors. It was like no one knew the "right" answer and they all told me different things.

You may be wondering why we were in the hospital so long. Long story. I will try to give you the shorter version. When baby was born both of us had fevers 100.4 him and 100.7 me. The staff wanted to keep us 48 hours just to be sure we didn't have infections. Neither of us did. We were fine. During the extended stay I was having some difficulties breastfeeding. Now to all of you out there, please don't go in with the preconceived notion that breastfeeding is easy and will "just happen". It isn't and it won't. It is an art that has to be learned by both mommy and baby. Had I known that, it would have saved me some frustrations. I saw 5 different lactation consultants during my stay, and all gave me great advice on positioning, but none were any help in the latching on department. My baby will not latch on, and maybe there is no advice to be given that will help with that. I had one nurse who was wonderful in every way except for helping with breastfeeding. When he would show hunger cues she would always try to help me. He would get frustrated and angry and she was forcefully shoving his face into my boob. I think that actually traumatized him a little. I asked what my options were (supplementing with formula, getting a nipple shield, etc.) and got no help from anyone. My baby was not getting any nutrition at all. He wasn't peeing or pooping because nothing was going in. We were stuck at the hospital until he went poop. He pooped 4 times the first day and nothing on the second or third. On the third day I finally got through to one of the doctors that he needed some form of food. FINALLY, I got a few bottles of formula for him. One nurse told me to only give him 10mL and the doctor told me 20mL. Not even one ounce!!! My mom was visiting us and wanted to feed him. She gave him the whole 2 ounces. Way more than was recommended. I was a little worried, but hey, he ate it and didn't seem to be in any pain. That night he finally pooped and we got to leave, at midnight. Once I got home, every time I would expose my breast to try and feed him, he would scream bloody murder. Lucky for me I went ahead and bought a breast pump before he was due. I got the Ameda Purely Yours, and I love it. Pumping was going fine, but I decided I wanted to try breastfeeding again for the convenience of not having to tote bottles around everywhere I go. My mom suggested a nipple shield. For those who may not know, a nipple shield is a piece of silicone shaped like a bottle nipple that sits on top of your nipple and the baby sucks on that. It works wonders for me. I am now breastfeeding with the help of the nipple shield. Maybe one day I will be able to do it "bareback" or bare-nipple if you will. Until then.............

Party

Today marks 1 month until MLO turns 1. As this milestone approaches I've been toying with the idea of throwing a birthday party. I recall that several months ago I listened to two mothers discussing plans for their little ones' first birthday parties. At the time it seemed strange: sending out invitations, baking a cake, finding a place to have the party. I felt like some big party in honor of a 1 year old was somehow over indulgent and was really more a chance for the parents to show off than for their child. I mean, the kid is turning 1. He isn't even talking yet. He isn't going to get it. The fancy invitations and elaborate themed decorations only serve to show how much money you can blow.

As our own baby has grown, my view of the 1st birthday party has softened. As a friend of mine pointed out, this milestone is about the parents, too. Having a party in honor of our first year as parents is legitimate. We've worked really hard, harder than we've ever worked before. I sacrificed my body's autonomy, we've sacrificed sleep, sanity, togetherness as a couple, patience, evenings out, weekends away. We've depended on (and sometimes barely tolerated) the support and advice of our friends and families. Our lives have changed in innumerable ways, and we've come out stronger because of it. Hubby and I had never before known such joy. So I think a party is in order. Maybe not with fancy invitations and decorations. I can't afford that. No, I think a potluck lunch in the backyard with all those people that have helped us out is the way to go. I want to bring the people together that love our little family. I want to celebrate our first year as parents, our son's first year of life, and all the people that have supported us through this monumental change.

The Decision

Growing up, I never had a desire to have children. I never babysat, I never changed a diaper, I never was around children. I am the youngest of three. I played with Barbie dolls and not baby dolls. I never felt very "motherly" and didn't have any sort of deep down reactions when I would see babies. When I was 18 I discovered I had ovarian cysts. One of the doctors I saw for this told me if I didn't have surgery to remove them, I may never have children. I didn't want to do the surgery and that was a risk I was willing to take.

When my husband and I started to get serious, I decided to tell him my feelings on the subject and was hoping he understood-I didn't care either way if we ever had children. Him and I both decided that if we were ever to have children it would have to be an accident. I took the birth control pill and never missed it, so it looked like we weren't going to be parents.

We had 2 dogs and that was fine for us. A Chihuahua and a French Bulldog. When the French Bulldog turned 3 he suddenly became paralyzed from the waist down. My husband took him to the vet and decided to do surgery on his spine. We were told he would have a 90% chance to walk again after 2-3 months. 3 months rolled around and no progress. We were even taking him to physical therapy sessions 2x a week. Now just to put this into perspective: The dog couldn't walk, he couldn't control his bladder or his bowels, and could no longer use his doggy door. He was wearing diapers which resulted in a severe rash. My husband and I both worked full time, so the dogs were alone while we were working. I couldn't stand making the poor thing get such a nasty rash, so we stopped with the diapers. Needless to say, we were mopping the floors at least three times a day. After 6 months of this we decided to surrender him to the French Bulldog Rescue Network, and have him fostered. He has since been adopted by a nice couple who lets him run in his wheelchair on a farm all day. I am sure he is much happier.

This leads to "The Decision". After we surrendered our dog, there was an emptiness in our lives. We no longer had something to "take care of" as my husband put it. We still had the Chihuahua but he was pretty self sufficient. My husband asked me if I would be willing to try to have a baby now, because we knew we could handle whatever the child would throw at us. At this point in my life I was willing to try. I had a man I loved, trusted, and respected, and I knew if he was willing to have a baby with me, he would help me out and support me through the whole process. I was nervous about the whole idea (what if I turn out to be a terrible mom, what if I find I don't love my child like a mother should, what if I get my hopes up about becoming pregnant to find I am not able to have children) but decided to jump in and go for it. We tried for only 3 months and I was pregnant! I took the pregnancy test and was a ball of nerves waiting for the results. Once the test was finished and I saw that ominous word "PREGNANT" on the stick.........well, I can't put all my emotions into words. The most important and prominent one though---Pure JOY and EXCITEMENT. I was actually thrilled to become a mom. Me- the woman who never wanted kids. The one who could barely take care of a dog was now going to be responsible for a human life. Hot Dang!

Socially Awkward, Socially Aware

I don't get people. I'm really not very good at seeing what motivates them and to what they relate. I've always had this disconnect, where it takes some embarrassing event for me to see that I've hurt someone's feelings or missed some important social cue. Therefore, I'm shy and often awkward. I say inappropriate or down right stupid things. At times I talk about myself or my views an inordinate amount in an attempt to excuse or explain myself.  I turn people off, sometimes right away and other times after a while. I'm also a disorganized, flakey, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants person. Some people love me because I'm a wacko, others love me despite it, and most people that figure it out steer clear, or I steer clear of people, I'm not sure which.

The trouble is, I'm socially aware enough to know that I'm not a good friend, good acquaintance and an overall socially adept person. I've tried to remedy these things, particularly my propensity for flakeyness and disorganization (which oddly enough are qualities specific to my social life, not my work life), as I want to be a better friend. However, I always find myself back where I was, and now that I'm a parent I don't much have the motivation to pump energy into self improvement.

Aye, there's the rub. I'm a parent; an example. How do I raise a socially adept, timely thank-you card writing, empathetic person when I am not that way?

Introduction

Hi, let me start by introducing myself. wow, I'm nervous.... :) I have never been good at speaking in front of groups, and the funny thing is, to me this is one and the same. I feel as if I am standing in front of each and every one of you, sweating and choking. You may be wondering what is up with the name "SunShoe" It is not my real birth given name. It came to me in a dream.--
I was living in a big house on a hill. Looking down the hill was a red barn attached to the house by a Zip Line -my favorite mode of transportation. I took the Zip Line down to the barn where there was a gnarly tree with a cubby hole hidden among the knots in the wood. I opened the cubby and grabbed a set of keys for my car. Since the barn was down hill from the house, I had to walk back up. On my trip back, I encountered a large group of Japanese men walking across my yard. I had intended on squeezing through their procession, but they stopped me. Come to find out this was the Yakuzaa (Japanese Mob). They kept calling me SunShoe and saying they were kidnapping me.--
Sadly I woke up and never discovered the fate of SunShoe. I would like to think she kicked butt and ran them over with her giant Hummer Alpha (I pictured the car belonging to those keys as a massive tank/spaceship of a car.)

Dakota has asked me to contribute what I am able to this blog, seeing as I just recently had my first baby in December. He is now 6 weeks old and I can share the perspective from the newborn stage. I better start soon for I fear I have already forgotten the beginning of my story. He is slowly becoming more and more alert. Every day he does something to make me fall deeper in love with him. He is quirky and gassy (the soundtrack of my life is now grunts and toots) and has the cutest voice I have ever heard (even if it is only crying at this stage). When he cries he actually says "Waaaahh!" I am not kidding you, there is a definite "W" on the beginning of "Waaaahh!" His lip pokes out and everything. He prefers to have his socks off when he nurses, and he is the master at flipping me the bird. Though I am pretty positive he doesn't get the meaning of this yet. I hope.

There is the introduction to me and my story. I will visit again soon.

Big Food

MLO has begun to eat chunky foods. I started by scooping the butternut squash and sweet potato out and just mashing it a little and processing his green beans to a relish consistency instead of a puree. I also chopped his banana into matchstick width cubes. Our pediatrician suggested we start meats at 9 months and told me not to bother pureeing them. His words were, "Would you want to eat that stuff? Ick. Just chop it up fine, and feed him what you're eating that night."

MLO has always been a robust eater, so the change in consistency didn't phase him. I try to mix things into his cereal to expose him to different texture experiences, but I've heard many people say that method works well for getting a picky eater to progress out of purees. MLO has since tried chunked up green beans (which he ate with his hands and to which he seemed to have a topical allergy), chopped and steamed baby carrots and broccoli. I get a kick our of letting him feed himself; it allows me to do some dishes while he enjoys his meal. He enjoys playing with the food and carefully chooses different veggies from his options. He seemed to prefer the carrots to the green beans.

Today we will try pork. He has eaten chicken plenty and had some ground beef before the crazy allergy scare, but I haven't reintroduced it. A few days ago I introduced mandarin. I've heard conflicting things about when to introduce citrus, but I had it, and some sources say 10 months is fine, so we tried it. I have these nifty feeders that allow baby to suck and chew on food in a little mesh holder. I stuck a few wedges of mandarin in the bag and let him go at it. At first he made a face, but he persevered. Yesterday he looked blissful, chomping and sucking on that thing. I also tried a new recipe with him yesterday that he seemed to love:

Pear Yogurt
1. a few good sized globs of pasteurized plain whole milk yogurt (no sugar added)
2. half a semi-ripe pear, shredded
3. a pinch of cinnamon

I had some and it tasted delicious. I want to raise a child with a broad and experimental pallet. MLO's love of food should make that a simple task; it's really up to me to introduce unique textures and flavors. Speaking of which, I made chicken for him the other afternoon that was pretty damn spicy. I used my father-in-law's patented Spicy Southern Seasoning and thought I had significantly dulled it with flour. Not so! MLO ate it no problem mixed with his cereal or beans while I was gone. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to bother him coming out the other end, either. When I returned I tried the chicken and found myself nearly breaking a sweat. That's my boy! 

The Break

I just returned from my first baby free weekend. The inspiration came from Hubby. MLO is now well over the 10.5 month mark and I've been feeling really isolated, overwhelmed and generally sad, so Hubby suggested that I get away for the weekend. My sister lives in San Francisco, so I packed up on Friday and headed up.

I spent the preceding days doing laundry and prepping food so that MLO would be clothed and more easily fed. I didn't have any breast milk stored up, so Hubby fed MLO a bottle of formula in the mornings and late afternoon in addition to the baby's usual meals of solid food. I wanted the experience to be as easy for Hubby as I could make it.

As I got into my car on Friday I had a substantial knot in my stomach. What if I hadn't made enough food? What if MLO threw a fit about the formula? What have I forgotten? What am I going to do without him? Though I wanted to have a weekend to myself, complete with the luxuries of sleeping past 6am and allowing myself to get a good buzz on before 6pm, I really hated the thought of being away from my baby. I've been kind of a wreck lately, though, and knew that making some space for myself and what I wanted to do, giving very little thought to catering to someone else, would help me refresh and regenerate.

So off I went. I arrived in the city mid-afternoon and proceeded to have a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. We ate good food, went climbing, had a fabulous yin yoga class, ate more good food, shopped and ate still more good food. Hubby and I talked a couple of times a day on speaker phone so that MLO and I could hear each other. He sent me multiple pictures a day, so I didn't feel completely out of touch. I ached for my baby, but not nearly so badly as I thought I would. My sister and her husband made me feel like I was on a luxury vacation so that helped me relax and just enjoy the moment.

 MLO was a good boy for his daddy, and they had fun watching tractors and hanging with grandma, grandpa, aunty and uncle over the weekend. While I was away, MLO started to take some independent steps. This morning I got to witness his fledgling attempts at walking. The weekend went so well, in fact, that Hubby suggested I do this more often. I think I'll take him up on it. A nice monthly (or every other month)trip out of town to visit friends would be a grounding experience, while allowing me to reconnect with the friends I miss so much. It's hard for me to stay connected to people when I live far away (I loath the phone and online social networking) and I find it even more challenging now that I'm a mom. I remembered this weekend that I'm more than wife and mom and I would like to give that other part of me some attention, too.

Baby Love

First of all, I have to say "thank you" to Dakota for inviting me to post on her blog. It's been great fun getting insight from her on daily baby life, whether through talk or reading her blog. It truly helps to confer when you become a parent, especially to help keep your sanity - with not just your husband, but family and friends, too.


My baby, J, is 6 months old now, and since his birth I have just been in utter baby love. I never knew such a love. He was a surprise in every way - unplanned pregnancy and we didn't know that we were having a boy either. I like surprises as my hubs would say. My pregnancy was bliss, but my labor not so much. It was long, but I got through most of it without pain medication, which is what I wanted. After about 17 hours of hard labor with no change and just an hour and a half of sleep in 34 hours, we decided that I would get an epidural. Once I received the light epidural, my hubs and I got 2 hours of what felt like really deep sleep! Even better, once I woke up I was ready to go!! Then came our reason for living. We brought J home a day later and I just wanted to kiss him all over. Seriously, I wanted to kiss him non-stop. Perhaps, the overwhelming amount of hormones rising and falling in my body pursued me to want to make out with my son? This never-ending experience has made me feel so fortunate and I will continue to each and every day for our sweet boy.


J has been a pretty happy and mellow baby for us - easy to nurse and smiling early on - but when it comes to sleep he let us know early on what he wanted and that was to be walked and held to sleep. At about 3 months he soothed himself to sleep a few times in his crib, and had also been sleeping up to 9 hours at night, which was fabulous of course. Then that bubble burst and he was waking up 2-4 times a night screaming out of hunger. It wasn't until his 4 month well visit that we found out he grew 3 inches in length in 7 weeks. That was a vaild enough reason for me!


As parents, my hubs and I knew that we wanted to keep doing the things that we loved pre-baby, so we did and are continuing to do so. When J was 3 months old we started to do some small travels, like overnights not too many hours a way. We even took him to his first concert when he was just under 4 months, which was fortunately an accoustic show, and he wore sound-out headphones. He was amazing throughout and just slept as I carried and swayed him in the Ergo - all amidst windy and rainy whether. He was such a sport for his mom and dad. And right after that we did our first camping trip as a family - pretty much where it all began as it was the place where hubs and I got engaged. It was extra special because the campground had just reopened after a big fire 2 years prior.


The second bubble burst a little while after his first big growth spurt. He was indulging in longer night sleeps, until the week of Thanksgiving. I drove J, my dog, and I (poor hubs had to work) to Southern CA to my parents for the night before driving to Arizona to see J's great grandmother for the week. Driving what normally is 3 1/2 hours ended up being 7 hours for nursing stops and J was just plain lonely in the back seat when our dog wasn't standing up to look at him. That night was the first of many more disrupted sleeps, and driving to Arizona the next day was an even longer haul. So, for the past 2 months J has been waking up several times a night to nurse and be held. I thought it was all from travel and that this was the forefront to getting stuck in a rut that could possibly last 10 years (believe me, I am kidding!), but at his last well visit he did have another growth spurt - his head! Yaaa, for his growing brain! I am not worried about his constant night waking, though, and just keep telling myself that I will one day get a full night's sleep. So what if I am half awake when we are having productive bonding and nurturing time! I will miss it someday because they really do grow fast. And I now understand why my dad always told me, "Don't grow up. Stay how you are now," when I was little. I truly want J to stay a baby and in my arms forever. Then again, I miss having more than a glass of wine, and getting up and go for selfish reasons. So perhaps he can stay a baby 6 days a week and then give me one day to not have any responsibilities. If only we could pick and choose in our lives. But he is forever my little boy and I don't want to miss one second of him either.

New Year, New Faces, New Insanity

Exciting news! I've invited a friend of mine to contribute some of her experiences to the site. I will let J's Mama introduce herself, but suffice it to say she's a wonderful mom and a great friend. I would probably have gone crazy if it weren't for her friendship and understanding! Stay tuned for her first post!! (No pressure JM ;)

Speaking of new faces, MLO has moved into and possibly out of the stage of making this hilarious Klingon face. It is in response to everything from happiness to frustration. If not for the myriad weirdos on the internet, I would share it with you. Much like the fearsome Klingons, MLO has begun to yell and scream. He mostly shares this over-vocalization when things simply aren't going his way. Remove him from the dog bowl? Ear-splitting shriek. Take the time to cut up his banana? Repeated angry yelling. Change his diaper? Both. It's really lovely to be yelled at for meeting his needs... all day long... every day.

He finally mastered coming down the stairs, though I would never allow him to do this unsupervised. He moves down feet first, backward. We decided early on that we didn't want to tempt him with gates. Gates present a challenge, and MLO loves nothing more than to do exactly what he knows we don't want him to do. Since I recently noticed him getting a foot up on the middle of a panel of Alcatraz, I decided that our decision was a good one. The last thing we need is a baby taking a header from over a gate at the top of 13 steps. I sometimes wish we had a gate at the bottom so that he were relatively penned in downstairs, but oh well. It keeps me on my toes. He actually took a spill from a few steps up the other day. I was standing a couple of feet from the bottom of the stairs, going over his list of tried solid foods when I glanced up and caught him tumbling down head first into our wood floor. We both freaked out. He was fine, scared but uninjured. I felt like a terrible mother. Of course I know better than to let my 10 month old play around the stairs; he's a fast little bugger and it doesn't take long for him to get much higher up the stairs than one might expect.

He has also begun to wave. This motion is somewhat rudimentary as it mostly consists of a fist in the air with perhaps the addition of a single finger or splayed hand in the direction of whomever's attention he is trying to get. His friend (2-weeks younger than he is) already has waving, clapping and head shaking down, and she has for months.

I've also made what, for me, is a big move. I have officially stopped the regular pumping I've been doing 2-3 times a day for the last 2 months. I hated it. It was restrictive, isolating, and increased the difficulty of caring for MLO when it was just me and him, because I had to pump when I had to pump regardless of whether he was asleep or not. This made tending to his needs and keeping him out of trouble especially challenging. The problem with this decision is that I don't have milk with which to make his cereal, which means that he isn't getting the high calorie, and ultimately nutritionally complete meal he was getting in the past. With his low weight and height I worry that I'm selfishly keeping him from breaking that 5% mark on the growth curve, though he isn't a hungry baby and he is already eating yogurts and cheeses.

Ah, the trials and triumphs of motherhood.

Well, that's the news from Lake Wobegon...