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Sunday, June 28, 2009

Church

Background:
I grew up attending a small Christian church, conservative, strict dress code - long dresses/skirts for women, women don't cut their hair or wear jewelry. Most of the girls I grew up with stay at home and have 3+ kids. I couldn't be more different with my short curly hair, world traveling, career in FL, short sleeve shirt (at least it has sleeves) and one wild baby who has never sat through a church service.

Yet I was optimistic. During the song service she jumped on my lap and entertained the ladies behind me, during the offering she sang along with organ. She crowd surfed over to my mom, aunt and back to me. I worried how loud she would be during the preaching but just as he started her diaper fell off - that's right, she jumped so hard her diaper fell off! Fortunately her dress was long enough that she didn't moon the pastor.

I don't know how those other mom's keep their children so quiet and settled but at least mine had the cutest dress!

Friday, June 26, 2009

Trip home to see family

Yesterday morning I forgot I had flight plans that day. Somehow I thought my trip was scheduled for Friday! Fortunately my very organized mother called to reconfirm airport pick up and dinner plans. Thank God for moms!!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

1 year check up

weight 17.75 lbs
length 30"
not quite walking but took 3 steps yesterday
no teeth

The discussion centered on food, as that is our most challenging issue these days. We've tried for 6 months to introduce foods and work out 3 solid meals a day but she strongly prefers 5 six ounce bottles.

My attempts at feeding solids usually result in about 5-6 bites followed by this:


Or this:

Friday, June 19, 2009

1 year old

She turned one year old today!


Naturally we went to the beach.






And gave her presents.




And fed her a chocolate cupcake, which she ate one curl at a time


but a baby can only be delicate for so long!


Then after her bath it was 7pm and we took her outside for some final photos in her 2nd birthday outfit.


My husband and I have had a wonderful year with Charlotte. Personally I've enjoyed sharing my life on this blog and I've deeply appreciated the feedback received from blogger friends Grit's Day, CeCe Says, Interstitial Life, Crazy Wild Berry and occasionally Potty Mummy and Suburban Turmoil. Comments on bad days cheer me up considerably and comments on good days cheer me on with a nice pat on the back. Your support has been unmeasurable appreciated and well needed.

When I first got pregnant, I wasn't sure what kind of mom I would be, I didn't particularly like kids, didn't get excited about babies, wasn't sure how I would feel about my own child - sorry if that sounds astonishingly off-putting - but I really didn't know! I'm glad to say I've loved every minute of it and now I love to read and hear about other peoples stories about their children. It's true, children open your heart in ways unknown.

Lovely first year, can't wait to see what happens in Charlotte 1.0

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Almost 1

Can you believe it??? Charlotte turns 1 on Friday. My in-laws arrived today so when I got home from work the baby was entranced with them, she didn't even come to me for a hug. Sob! Such betrayal.

My MIL gave her the night bottle, got her dressed for bed, rocked her to sleep and now they are off to the hotel. I want to wake Charlotte back up and cuddle her but I won't. Miss my baby!!!

Here's a fun photo from last night. I put her in the high chair while I made dinner and she was really good for an entire 1/2 hour shredding a corn muffin. It left quite a mess but was well worth it for the entertainment value!!!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Ebay

My experience with Ebay didn't go so well. I began with a promising start by selling my crock pot for $31.00!!! Then I shipped it, didn't pack it well enough and the handles broke off. I guess USPS kicked it all the way to New York. Huge bummer. I'm going to reimburse the girls money because that's the right thing to do but I lose $15.00 on the shipping cost. Who goes onto Ebay to lose money???

I sold a baby sterilizer and the girl never paid. Not sure what to do here except to not ship it. Need to invest more time into Ebay to find out what happens next. It's been two weeks.

I'm sticking with donations to the Goodwill - like I said before the tax write off is nice.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

I had a bit of a panic attack this morning

This does not happen to me often so when it does I get quite bewildered. It all seemed to start around a pile of dirty dishes and bottles - no one could eat until dishes were done - at least that's what I told myself. So while baby tries to make the best of being stuck in a high chair with toys and cereal puffs I plow through the dishes like a women possessed. The water pitcher's empty, ack, gotta fill it up after every use and remind husband to do the same. I find that I left out 3/4 of an avocado (sob! I love these) and it's moldy and I left out the applesauce from yesterday's disastrous attempt to feed a stubborn baby solids. I finally manage to pack husband's lunch, eat my breakfast, all while keeping baby in the high chair which ends with me giving her bubble wrap to pop and crinkle!

Yesterday she managed to fall out/climb out (not sure which) of her walker, she wasn't hurt but we are convinced she will land on her head the next time so I can't put her in there unless I'm watching her. So that definitely contributed to morning stress because we usually put her in there and she scuttles around the house chasing cats and dogs and pulling stuff off shelves.

Before my husband leaves he notices my rattled nerves and asks if I want to talk about it. Nothing to talk about, I'm rattled, want to cry, despair, etc.

I pack baby up for church at 9:30, yeah we are early. Then I suddenly realize I've forgotten to give her the 9:00 bottle - egads! Pull her back out of the car seat, feed bottle and she promptly falls asleep. Carefully transfer her back to car seat and she sleeps till we get to church.

She cries as I hand her to the nursery staff, she's been doing this lately. Not sure why. I go to the bathroom to put on make up and take a xanax (not standard church activity but still rattled) so with a pretty face and calmer self I go to church. A nice older woman pats me on the back as I enter the pew, the songs are lovely, then mid-way through the service Charlotte's number comes up. Calm relaxed mom goes off to get rescue her baby.

Red faced and desolate she is. At this point there are 2 options: A - finish listening to the sermon in the cafeteria where it's very noisy and I have to hold her the entire time or B - find an available TV monitor which seems to be spread through the building broadcasting the sermon. I choose B, an empty hallway with a bench and a TV. At first she's content to be comforted and play with my shirt. That quickly gets old and she makes a bid for the floor. Why not? No one's around, why not let my child crawl all over the carpet in and out of doors in her hot pink Adidus track suit pants. She gives me a wicked gleeful look as if to say, I'm getting away with something and that's how we spent the remainder of church. Oh and quite a few people stopped by to say hi which just made her day even better, she loves saying hi.






C

Saturday, June 13, 2009

I'm feeling rather smug

I wore baby out and she's taking a long nap!!! 2 hours and counting

Packed baby up by 9am for the beach. We made it to quarter parking by 9:30 with Starbucks in hand (I'm a proper preppy mom - you can snicker hard at that one) and got the last parking spot.

We inadvertently set up shop right next to a sea turtle nest - that explains the circle of caution tape. As baby played, I was treated to a speech from the very angry sea turtle conservator to his gang of volunteers. Apparently he was quite upset with Broward county's careless attention to the sea turtles, such as putting up such a low flimsy boarder that people would walk right through the middle "look at the foot steps" he screamed, "people are walking over turtle eggs!" After they all left, I did notice a very little sign at the back of the circle announcing the turtles along with a warning of a fine if disturbed. Hmmmm, perhaps this would be more appropriately placed at the FRONT!




On with fun baby beach photos - I know this is featured frequently but I just can't seem to stop! I love taking photos of baby on the beach.

One of my favorite photos is the profile shot.


I take a hundred photos (I'm not kidding) just to get a few cute happy faces, she spends much of her time looking so serious at all the things in the sand so I work hard for these shots.


She always find a cool shell to inspect.


And I can usually get a really silly face as she makes a grab for the camera.


After our little photo shoot, I took Charlotte for a swim in the ocean - for the first time! It's finally warm enough, no sea lice, no jelly fish, no man-o-war, etc. It was awesome.

Also, for the first time in our year of beach visits, Charlotte did not fall face first into the sand. Hurray!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Technology update

Bloggers - be warned! Back up your data, you never know when Vista will turn on you!

Our two year old laptop has returned, striped of files saved carelessly on desktops and in public folders. Our lovely tech has advised the saving of files onto thumb drives and CD's thus settling a month long argument between husband and I over what method was best. Apparently saving files on an external hard drive is not recommend because if it corrupts, all data will be ruined. Husband won that round. I concede by way of blog post.

Also, don't buy software online - you won't have a backup to reinstall (duh!) and the software maker just may decide to stop making it - like Microsoft Money.

Monday, June 08, 2009

Technology crisis

I'm having a problem with many important pieces of tech equipment in my home. This concerns me because it's all happening at once and that's aggravating to say the least.

1. Awhile back we spilled tea on our camera and Kodak replaced it with a refurbished one that barely works. So I brought a very old camera home from work (that we no longer used) and it does not take action shots - bottom line I need to buck up and get a new camera. But the choices - so many choices. I'm polarized with indecision.

2. I dropped my phone in the ocean on Memorial Day - but that's been solved with the purchase of a new iPhone on Friday. I couldn't wait until June 19th for the new one to come out. I'm keeping the refurbished model. Please God let it be good to me.

3. I've canceled direct TV because our condo ass-ociation made a new rule banning them, installed cable lines and requires everyone to remove satellite dishes by July 1st. The tricky part is, Direct TV will not come back to remove their dish - that they installed on the ROOF! Now we have to either (A) hire a handy man (which I can't stop myself from saying "we need to hire a Handy Manny" - comes with the job) or (B) buy a 20' ladder and remove it ourselves. Then where do we put the ladder? Eggads.

4. I've saved the worst for last. Last week, while checking my eBay account, I liked on an option to sell something for a 2nd chance when my entire laptop froze. Having little patience I waited a few mintues and tried Ctrl/Alt/Delete to exit out of the program. Nothing happened. This is really weird so I turned off the computer by pressing the power button until the computer turned off. A few minutes later I turned it back on and SOB!!! it would not boot up, a strange screen came up saying it could not find the starter system, operating system, or whatever. We took it to the shop and are patiently waiting to find out if I killed the computer with one wrong button press. Did I mention it's less then 2 years old??? This is not supposed to happen. Where am I posting this from? My work laptop that I drag home every night.

I believe that's all for now. Please God don't let anything else break or need changing. I can only handle so many tech crisis at one time!

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Sunday

I consider reading blogs the modern equivalent to watching soaps while the baby plays. Things baby does while mom drinks coffee and faces the computer:

1. Remove mom's sandal
2. Play with the printer buttons until two pieces of paper shoot out - very cool! Entertainment value high.
3. Tug on cats until mom rolls backwards to say in an ominous tone "ChaaaaarLOTTE! Be nice to the kitties".
4. Chase the dog.
5. Tug on mom's skirt
6. Push all buttons on DVD and TV
7. Collect stray objects mom has put in strategic places around the house.
8. When the above is accomplished, throw self backwards in walker, arms in the air while shouting in agony.

The last one usually works. By then I've had my coffee and maybe 10 minutes of internet time.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Today I treated myself and baby Mondu

I took Charlotte to Cracker Barrel for lunch - just the two of us. It's been awhile since we've done this. I think she was only a few months old the last time we did lunch out. I remember getting her to nap while I read a book and thought myself so clever. Now I've got a happy 11 month who is thrilled to be around people and spends her time waving wildly to anyone who will wave back and make goo goo faces at her. She seemed to really enjoy herself.


I bought myself flowers at Whole Foods and a favorite habanero cheese.

Why all the treats?

It's the middle of the year - we've made it this far in this crazy economy - I figured it was time to celebrate a bit!

At home we went swimming and then got a bath. Charlotte adores both.


I have to say she's been in a lovely mood all day. The last few weeks she's had colds and been various shades of cranky/angry/face slapping/temper tantrums/ect. I was starting to wonder if she would ever smile again and laugh all day. We did today and it was wonderful.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

I didn't cave

I made it through Thursday without eating carbs. I didn't cave in on Tuesday like I had planned. I figured if I was tired again that night I'd eat bread but baby girl was in a better mood and sat politely in her high chair as I fed her kiwi while preparing my dinner salad.

I've stopped craving junk food. Seriously! I bought cookies for co-workers and didn't even have one.

I'm too tired to write anything remotely clever or interesting. Just wanted to send a heads up saying I'm okay.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Tomorrow I will eat bread

I took a ride on the strict diet train today. I've done it before. No carbs for an indefinite amount of time. The first week I'm a bit of a horror to be around. No energy, cranky, desperate for a noodle/chip/chocolate/ etc.

I woke up today at a chipper 6:30am and did a 2 mile walk by 7am. Thought, oooh I'll take a short break, wake baby, feed her and take her for part 2 of the walk. She was pretty groggy and wouldn't drink her bottle due to stuffy nose but gamely went for a 1 mile stroller ride.

Ate breakfast of green tea, 8oz plain yogurt and 1 scrambled egg with a tiny amount of cheese (not approved).

Lunch 4oz of tuna. Really boring!

Snack 1 cup edamame and 8oz plain yogurt

Dinner 2 cups salad greens, 8 paprika shrimp, a tiny amount of bacon bits (not approved) and blue cheese dressing (not approved).

Before bed - glass of milk

I got home from work promptly at 6pm to relieve husband to depart for work and spent the next two hours with a very cranky stuffy baby. She's usually so happy to see me. I was exausted, desperate for dinner (normally I just wait until 8pm for her to sleep). My dinner only took 10 minutes to make but she was inconsolable, every toy tossed on the floor. I know she needs to learn patience but I figure I could also come home in a brighter mood and play for a bit, zombie mom is not fun. So tomorrow I'm adding bread to the boring 4oz of tuna!

Carbs, what a difference they make.