Busy busy

Finally. A weekend with no plans. With my dad’s 60th birthday party, Ella’s 1st birthday party and my monthly Saturday night shifts, we’ve had some busy weekends lately. Despite the “free” weekend I had in mind though, it’s turned out to be pretty busy.

There was the usual on our plate- playtime with Ella, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning and laundry. Throw in a lunch with my sister and mom, a stop at our city’s home and garden show, Babies R Us, Pier 1 and Borders and I worked a 6:30 p.m. to 12:3 a.m. Saturday night shift.

Friday night I even went out for drinks. Now those of you who knew me in college, in California, OK, in highschool too, this sentence doesn’t sound out of the ordinary. But I’ve only made it out for drinks maybe twice since Ella’s been born. More than a year ago. My husband and I have had movie/dinner dates, but to actually go to a bar and have drinks, I just haven’t.

Anyway, my sister and I met my sister-in-law, brother and some other friends at a local bar/restaurant. I drank two beers, ate. It was nice. Although it was kinda loud. And by 10 I was dreaming of my bed. Luckily my sister is admittingly lame like me, so we left. I was so happy. Do I sound old or what? I don’t care. I like sleep.

I could go out more if I wanted. My husband could watch Ella or I’m sure my mom would jump at the chance. Ella even goes to bed about 7:3o. I wouldn’t even miss out on time with her. I just don’t WANT to go out. Sleep is too valuable. I don’t want to be a grumpy old hag in the morning either. I love my mornings with Ella. She eats her breakfast while I get the kitchen straightened up and make myself some coffee. Then the next hour or so we just play, maybe turn on cartoons. I don’t know why I love this time, maybe because I’m a super dork and I’m planning out my whole day. And just as I get ready to be productive Ella’s ready for her morning nap. It works out perfectly.

So, Saturday has passed and I still needed to: A. go grocery shopping and B. return some items at Kohl’s I bought about a month ago and haven’t had a chance to return. A whole month. Crazy that it takes me a month to have the chance to get back there. Pre-kid I would have gone back the next weekend. Now though if I have one errand to run, that’s enough for the day. Between meals, naps and putting us both through getting in and out of the car, no thanks to multiple errands.

Anway, I decided what I needed to do was go by myself. I’d leave after I put Ella down for her nap and when she wakes up Daddy can play with her for a while. I don’t do this a lot. First of all, I like having Ella with me. Secondly, it kinda feels like I’m cheating for some reason. I always think of those single moms or moms who have husbands who aren’t home much and I think ‘if they can do it, I can do it.’ But again … multiple errands with a toddler – eew.

So off I went. I fill up my car with gas. Returned some items at Kohl’s and even tried on some more. I realized I also had an item to return to Old Navy. I may have a obsession with returning things, but that’s another story. Next I went to the grocery store. I whizzed threw the aisles. Getting in and out of the car seemed so easy. There was no dispersing of cheerios throughout the visit. No getting her out of her cart and having to push the cart while holding a 20-pound baby. Nice and easy.

Ahhh… so now it’s Sunday afternoon. All that’s done and I still have some of my “free” weekend left! Of course there’s still the laundry and I need an oil change. I guess there’s always next weekend.

Hello, Internet

After some thought, I’ve decided a blog is the perfect spot for me to get some therapeutic writing time in, possibly connect with other moms or at least amuse my sisters, who may be the only ones who read this. And besides, my only hobby these days, after my one-year-old goes to bed, is bad reality TV. This is better, right?
Anyway, stay tuned for more.

One-year appointment, someone give that girl a sucker

It’s funny how little things can become so important in your life when you have a child. Like suckers. Ella had her first one at the doctor’s office yesterday, and for 5 minutes it was a lifesaver.
Our 10:30 appointment got off to a bad start with a 40 minute wait in the waiting room. The six-year-old who became obsessed with Ella and followed us around the room talking and asking questions didn’t help either. Luckily my sweet angel was really patient. She was happy sitting in my lap with spurts of walking around and looking at the fish in the aquarium. This will be easy, I thought. If I can just hold out on breaking out the goldfish for the doctor’s office wait (i.e. waiting room #2) we should be good to go.
As always, just as I’m thinking they must have called my name and I didn’t hear it, our name gets called. I excitedly grabbed our bag, coat and Ella and head for waiting room #2.
We were quickly greeted by a nurse who does the preliminary work – a weigh-in and some quick questions. I’m crossing my fingers for Ella to weigh 22 pounds. We recently bought her a forward-facing toddler seat that starts at 22 pounds. I can’t wait to have her facing me the car! Besides, her legs are getting way too long for her little bucket seat.
20 pounds and 6 ounces. Shoot! The doctor informs me later her weight won’t be changing so rapidly anymore. Maybe only 3-4 pounds the entire next year. D’oh!
The nurse also informs me it’s time for her followup Hepatitis A and B shots and her MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) shots. Oh boy. Shots are the worst. It’s terrible to see pain inflicted purposely on your little innocent child you try so hard to protect. The nurse leaves me the usual Age/development sheet, which informs me the terrible twos are coming and I may witness tantrums, backarching, etc. Yikes.
I keep Ella happy with the goldfish and a cup of water while waiting for the doctor. The wait wasn’t bad at all.
The doctor arrives and gives me a lot of advice on food and behavior choices. Like give Ella the food we eat, rather than making her special kid meals each night. And also, ignoring a behavior can work better at stopping it than reacting with a no. Afterall, she may not even understand that word yet. To her it may just be a fun reaction. Hmmm. Seems we’re getting in to a whole new world here. It used to be all about the basics. Keeping her fed and safe. The toddler years seem a little more complicated! I think it’s going to get interesting.
Anyway, I appreciate the advice and am relieved it’s almost over. Then the doctor informs me she has ear infections. I’m so dissapointed because A. This is poor Ella’s third set this winter. and B. I brought her in last Monday because I thought she had them and she didn’t. So, those sneaky infections devloped in the last week.
Next, the nurse returns for the shots. Ugh. Until now, Ella has been a smiling, playful sweetheart enduring an hour and a half at the doctor’s office. Once she gets the FOUR shots, in both arms and two in the legs though, she’s bawling. She cries so hard she’s nearly hyperventalating. After the nurse leaves, I spend five minutes trying everything just to calm her down. Once she’s finally together, we go to the checkout counter. They inform me I was supposed to go to the lab for her finger prick. Crap!!
We head to the lab waiting room (waiting room #3). A mom sitting there with her little happy boy tells me he just had his shots too. But he’s sitting there happily enjoying a sucker. She tells me “she just discovered suckers six weeks ago at the bank.” They saved her life that day. I head to the nurse’s station to pick one up.
Finally, Ella is happy once again, enjoying her sucker like she’s forgotten everything that’s just happen. Hallelujah.

But once again our name gets called. They prick her finger and try to gather enough blood in a vial for tests. Ella is screaming bloody murder. And it’s taking forever. She tells me Ella receives the loud baby of the day award. Great! She was nice though. And I really feel for her that part of her job is to poke little sweet babies. Finally, the lab tech decides to prick another finger to get more blood. Poor Ella.
Finally we’re done. I know Ella must be starving by now. We now have a prescription for antibiotics (for the ear infections) to drop off and my baby’s a blubbering mess. I rock her in my arms with her blanket and we head out. And we set up our next two appointments — in three weeks and three months. I’m starting to wonder, are measles really that bad?

Ella’s journey to walking

People warned me that once babies become mobile — it’s a whole new world. Well, I see what they mean. The crawling, standing, stepping milestones have been a little scary with new dangers lurking everywhere, but it is also immensely fun to see my little person explore on her own.
One week Ella was this easy little baby that would be completely entertained with a basket of toys while I cooked or got myself ready. I would keep an eye on her and stand nearby, but she would just sit and happily dig through the basket.
After a while though, Ella started getting frustrated. Fun toys were sometimes just out of her reach, and she knew there had to be a way to get them.
Finally her arm muscles were just strong enough to drag the rest of her body across the floor, like some sort of snake or salamander. Soon, her legs got in on the action, and she was crawling!
Then in the blink of an eye later she was pulling herself to a stand. And with the frequent standing sessions, came frequent falls. Suddenly our beautiful ceramic tile floor and iron dining table chairs might as well have been a swampful of crocodiles. And of course, this was the most alluring place to her.
She would race on all fours over to the dining table and clumsily pull herself up the chair, then poof — let go and see what happens. Of course what would happen was very nervous Mommy with the sore back from hunching over would catch her. Until one day I thought to myself — “What if nervous Mommy isn’t here to catch her and she thinks she can do this trick?” And so I learned to let her fall on her own. On the carpet that is. And she was OK. She developed a genius strategic fall that involved leaning forward a bit and sticking her bottom out to cushion the blow. Of course her strategy didn’t work if she fell forward. Which is why I thought I’d have to sell my coffee table when she got her first head bruise on Thanksgiving Day.
The clumsy days didn’t seem to last too long though. Soon she even mastered the art of “cruising” — a parenting term I’ve come to learn that means pulling oneself along furniture to travel around the room. Ella most frequently uses this technique to get to my dinner plate, and remind me that it is rude not to share.
This new freedom also allowed her to communicate what she wants a little more. There is nothing better than when she crawls over to me and puts her arms up, telling me she wants to be picked up and held.
And just a few days ago (she’s early 11 months old) she took a few steps by herself. She looked a bit like a little Frankenstein, lifting one stiff leg after another, but she did it.

I’m sure soon I’ll look back at the crawling stage and again think “Boy, I had it easy then!”