Taking back bedtime

For some strange reason Olivia has been all over the clock when it comes to bedtime. I remember when I would brag about her being a great sleeper. Just place her into the crib, put num-num’s next to her, say “night time for little girls”, and push the seahorse on. Four steps was all it took. Oh, how we miss those days.

One night she started standing up in bed right after you closed the door. We tried to stay in our room watching the monitor, hoping she would lay down, but no luck. Once the bunny (num-nums) was tossed overboard we had to step in.

The hot evening heat must be getting to her because forget 7:30 bedtime. It became 10:45, 10:00 or 9:00 if we’re lucky. Four nights, of 3 hour rocking sessions on the porch swing, while singing lullabies, did the trick. Once she fell into exhaustion you could sneak her up to bed. This lasted until she realized what fun sitting outside at night could be. Why go to sleep ever?

After our second weekend spent trying to get her to stay in bed, Dada decided to take charge.

He said, “we can’t let her win anymore”.

“Oh, my hero”.

So, the first night he spent 45 minutes in her room humming to her and keeping her lying down. I must say he did a very good job. I would’ve lost my patience after 15 minutes and just picked her up.

It’s amazing how manipulative a child can be at this age. They can already figure out how to get their way. Olivia would place her foot in between the bars and whine as if it was stuck so daddy could help her. She continued to do this multiple times to keep him right by her. Smart little cookie.

The second night took 25 minutes. Finally the third night took 10 minutes. Happy to say she is now understanding who the bosses are.

“She is not the boss of me”. We have to remember that.

Thank you Dada we now have evenings to ourselves again...for now.

Almost Walking

I’ve scanned through several baby books and they all say the same thing about developments. You should never compare your child to others because they all develop differently. I agree, but I need Olivia to start walking on her own, like yesterday.

We always knew Olivia would be a little behind. It’s important for us to remember she did not have free use of her arms till 5 months old. Crawling began a week after she turned one so obviously walking would take sometime.

We’ve been given some assistance from Baltimore county school district. After having Olivia evaluated she did qualify for home assistance. Since January a therapist comes to our house every two weeks. Giving us guidance on how to help her gain strength. I sometimes wonder what their job really is. They come over and tell me, “Oh, she’s getting there”.

I should say, “of course she’s getting there, what else is she going to do”. I love my child so much but spending my day bending over and holding her hand to walk is not easy.

She just hasn’t gained the confidence to take off on her own. Not bending her knees doesn’t help either. Then there is the game of throwing herself backwards without any fear. Falling on her butt would be progress. Falling back and hitting her head would just be dangerous.

There is also the problem with her feet rolling inward. Finally, our therapist is going to order foot insoles to help. This could mean better support when standing. Hopefully, we are able to see the results. I did ask two different pediatricians about her feet and both said, “don’t worry she’ll grow out of it”.

“Really, because my daughter is 18 months now and I don’t see that happening anytime soon, smart people”.

I’m normally pretty patient when it comes to Olivia. Anytime you spend all day with a child, being patient is a must. The stressful part for me is, I’m now 30 weeks pregnant. If our new baby girl arrives in 7 or 8 weeks I need O to get moving. Two children in diapers I can deal with...two children not walking is a deal breaker. They’re not twins.

Like I say everyday, “it’s a good thing she’s adorable”. Love her. I really wish, I could hold her in my arms forever.

Time for mama to make friends

It’s been almost a year that we’ve lived in MD and I’m failing at making friends. I lived in San Diego my entire life and always had friends. When I worked it was easy to meet one or two new people to connect with. I must admit, I wasn’t always a very good friend. I was terrible at calling and staying in touch. I would flake out on more plans than I followed through.

Lucky for me, I had/have true friends in CA. True friends are there for you no matter what. When you haven’t talked in awhile, no problem, you just pick up where you left off. Thinking about not having friends near me never crossed my mind.

Well here I’am a full-time stay at home mom trying to make sure my kid gets out of the house to see other kids. What about mommy getting out and seeing potential friends.

I did join a couple of mom groups through Meet-up.com. In an old posting I wrote about that experience. Not always so great. Honestly, I did meet one host who I connected with. So, now I just need to step up and put in some effort.

Making new girlfriends can be compared to dating. There is a list in your head of what your looking for in a potential relationship. When you click with that person you’ll know. Just because some woman gave birth to a child, or two, does not make her a new BESTIE.

Maybe my problem is, I REALLY miss my CA friends! Being able to follow them on Facebook doesn’t always help. I love seeing new photos and keeping up on their life. Following online can’t take the place of sharing a bottle of wine, looking cute when we go out, complaining about silly things, laughing out loud, and hearing their voices in person. Love you ladies.

Hemangioma update- Laser time

Our sweetie pie had her first pulse dye laser treatment two weeks ago. The procedure didn’t even phase her but made us a complete wreck. Isn’t that how it will always be? Parents are the ones who will stress about all the what if’s, while the child won’t even know what’s going on. I started stressing and crying about it three weeks before the appointment.

Having this treatment was a huge deal for us. It’s been something we’ve been waiting to do since she was diagnosed with the hemangioma. Her Propranonol was stopped in November and we had to wait six months before we could begin the laser treatment. The dermatologist told us he could take care of the whole area in 90 seconds.

Our thought was, “Really? Then do it now”. Over the past six months the hemangioma did start to regress on it’s own, but without laser, it would be years before it would significantly lighten.

When the appointment was scheduled, we asked a lot of questions. We wanted to know if this was the right procedure for her. We were hoping they would anesthetize her, thinking that it would keep her from being traumatized. But the associated risk was not worth it, considering the length of the procedure.

The doctor told us to order a special numbing cream, lidocaine, from Florida. It has a 12% strength vs 2% we’ve used in the past on her lip ulceration. We were instructed, by the doctor, to apply it 2hrs before the appointment. However, it came with a scary list of warnings and directions. Enough to make us think we shouldn’t be applying it ourselves.

Since Olivia was born we have faced a lot of frightening times. Perhaps the toughest part is not having people around you that are familiar with hemangiomas. Most people have never heard of it, can’t spell it or even pronounce it. Our only option is to completely trust our dermatologist, pray and have faith everything will be fine. I have to say, knowing we’ve made it through the toughest part, when she was younger, makes things bearable.

Very happy to say the procedure took less than two minutes. The anticipation, and expectation, of it being terrible, was far worse than the event. Our sweetie was wrapped up with arms at her side. Her favorite word to say is, “hi”, to everyone. Without fail she said it the entire time, only stopping when the nurse covered her eyes with gauze. Luckily, not being able to see was the only part that made her cry. The numbing cream worked so well she never felt a thing.

The moment the laser ended, the doctor handed her to us and with her bunny blanket, “num-num’s” in hand everything was fine. I was thinking the recovery could be rough, but I was wrong. Her face did have some bruising that lasted a week. There wasn’t any blistering or pain. I can see some lightening to the whole area and hopefully over time it will lighten up even more.

We are now scheduled to have our consultation with a plastic surgeon in August to discuss the scarring above her lip. Our next laser treatment will be in October. Hopefully two or three laser procedures should be enough.

Annoying mom comment

I have to say I really love when mom’s offer their opinion without being asked.

There was a new mom at our morning activity group who I thought could’ve been a possible friendly aquatiance until she made a comment to me while I was feeding Olivia her Gerber yogurt (Gerber’s doesn’t need to be refrigerated). Sure it’s not the best choice in a snack, but it keeps her full till we get home.

So, this sweet mom decides to chime in with her two cents. “Oh, you feed her Gerber yogurt?”

“Yes, I do when we are out, I have Yo Toddler yogurt at home.”

Her nice response, “I don’t buy Gerber because it has so much sugar”.

All I could say was, “OK”.

Really, who feels they need to say something as your child is eating it? I wanted to be rude and say, “great and I care because?” But I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. All I could do was place her name on my annoying mom list.

Unfortunately, my annoying mom list is getting longer all the time.

We are having a...

So today was the day I’ve been waiting for since the double pink line showed up on the pregnancy test. The special ultrasound you can have after 18 weeks to say it’s a girl or a boy. Of course there are the strange people (in my opinion) who prefer to wait till birth to find out the sex. They want to be surprised. I’m not one of them. I was surprised when I found out we were expecting again so soon. I will be surprised when I push the baby out and we meet for the first time to say hello. It is sort of like being given a pretty blue box from Tiffany’s (a favorite of mine) in March then told you can’t open till Christmas. So, you are just suppose to stare at the box till December wondering what’s inside. No, thank you.

We wanted to make the announcement special, and not find out in the exam room. This time around, instead of having tiny boy, or girl shoes, placed into a box, we bought two cute onesies. Finally the time came to find a location to sit and reveal the answer.

With Olivia, we waited till dinner. Alex and I went to a small Italian restaurant, with soft music, and intimate lighting. It really was a sweet experience. However, this time around, not so lucky. Living in MD means no longer having a selection of restaurants or cafes to choose from (at least none I’ve found or know of at 10:30AM). I started crying after we drove around for 30 minutes, “I can’t believe there is nowhere nice to eat”. The alternative idea, of taking Olivia into her playroom, and having the three of us open the box, was sounding pretty good. But 15 miles away from wherever we were, was a Panera Bread. Yup, thats right, our only cafe/bakery/decent restaurant option is a chain.

We quickly walked in, found a seat and turned the camera on. I had a quick second to fix my hair and ask if I looked ok. Finally I placed the white box next to me, reached inside and pulled out a...pink onesie. “It’s a GIRL”, so exciting! I could not believe it. We are going to have another little lady in our house.

I know it doesn’t matter if it was a boy, or a girl, but secretly we were smiling with relief . Maybe we’ve become comfortable with already having a girl so it’s familiar to us. Plus, the idea of spending weekends watching baseball or football games scared me.

Wow, a new baby girl. We have been so blessed with Olivia and her happy demeanor. It will be interesting to see how alike, or how different, the sisters will become. As for picking out a name...I still have four and a half months to go.

My Guilty Time Waster

Over the past few nights I’ve realized I have a silly useless guilty pleasure, making online shopping baskets. No, not online shopping but adding items to a basket pretending I’m going to click purchase.

This sounds innocent enough no one gets hurt and no real money is used. It’s a “win win” situation. After I buy the latest People Style watch, I circle all the items that I should own, then find them online for a closer look. I get to browse Piperlime and view all of Rachel Zoe’s must haves. When I receive online sale notices from Gap, Loft, Nordstrom and J Crew I know I am really saving money. The shopping basket I’m creating is a bargain. Another good part is, I can close the laptop and leave my items setting in the basket for days. Taking my time to think about my needs. Stores only let you hold items for 24 hours. More time means the chance to search more sites and compare shop. I am really becoming the savvy shopper if I do say so myself.

Being a mom really cuts into time spent browsing at the mall. Some people get a nice 25 minutes before the kid starts squirming in their stroller and items start flying out. Unless a diaper needs to be changed you can forget about dressing rooms. Make sure the store has a good return policy. When a “free shipping” notice pops up on my email it’s like holding a cup of juice in front of my daughter, I’m on it. Free shipping takes away any guilt I might be feeling. I didn’t have to waste gas driving to the store and now I don’t have to pay extra for delivery.

There are some sites I purchase from on a regular basis, Diapers.com, Soap.com and Amazon. However, these are go-to sites for Olivia, when I don’t see visiting Target in my near future. Not to be a complete weirdo, I do occasionally buy for myself online, shoes, a handbag, or any other item that keeps calling my name. I just try to be cautious. You can take the shopper out of the store, but you can’t take the shopping away from the shopper.

Baby #2 On Board

My husband and I had been discussing the idea of having a second child. He was all for sooner than later. I was thinking what does sooner mean? Once again whenever you start to think “WE” actually make our own plans, the Lord reminds us his plan is better.

Sometime around Olivia’s first birthday in November a baby was conceived. So my body was ready but my mind was far from it. I have had some time to think about the reasons I didn’t feel pure excitement once I found out we were expecting (alcohol may be one or two of them).

I was really starting to enjoy my daily happy hour with me, myself & I. The three people I can always count on to partake in a little wine time. HH usually started around O’s bedtime between 7 & 7:30. Unfortunately, wine was my writing motivator. After one glass the ideas would start to flow on to my laptop. Is that bad? I guess that’s why I have been slacking off in the writing department. On the up side, we are not spending money on bottles of wine anymore.

The second reason is Sushi. I love Sushi. For my birthday in November, we went to this yummy sushi restaurant. I was so excited to finally find a good place here in MD and was looking forward to many returns. Yes, I know pregnant woman can eat cooked sushi but it’s so not the same, and what about the sake? So sad.

The weather was definitely becoming cooler and I was loving my new Nike running gear. Cute cold weather outfit, perfect for running when it is 40 degrees outside and not to mention it fit so nicely. I was looking good on the run. It will now be awhile before I can squeeze myself into those pants again.

Olivia has a pretty good sleep schedule. She takes at least two naps a day and goes to bed at night without any problems. Say goodnight by 7:30 and hello at 6:30AM. Good sleep means good days for mama. Newborns have to eat every 3-4 hours..seriously. Bye bye sleepy time.

When I finally decided to use the pregnancy test my sweet husband bought me. I really did not want to look at the results. When you know, you know, and I knew. My period was six days late so I knew what that meant. Time to end all holiday drinking and the holidays were just starting. Not fair. Crazy that makes TWO holiday seasons in a row with no ‘medicine’. I miss my wine.

Of course my other thought was, “What about my little lady Olivia”. We are now at the fun personality stage and it’s getting easier to hang out together. Strolling around the mall and sitting down for lunch is somewhat enjoyable. All my attention and energy goes to her. Will the new baby receive less from me? I have always thought of myself as a little grinch. When Olivia was born my heart grew “3 sizes that day”. So I wonder can it really grow more?

Yes, there are bound to be a ton of silly selfish thoughts when you find out your life’s going to drastically change, again. I’m sure just like the first time, the results are priceless. To be blessed with another amazing child is worth missing drinking time any day.

I am not a "Super Mom"

It’s true but I’m starting to realize that becoming “Super Mom” is not in the cards for me. Before I had Olivia I sometimes wondered if I could make the “Super Mom” team. How awesome I would be. Other woman would think, “wow, how does she do it all.”

Maybe there is a “Super Mom” handbook with a list of guidelines to follow. The book chapters may be something like this...

1. Wake up in a positive mood everyday
2. Stay organized without any help
3. Get showered & dressed everyday (before noon)
4. Give 110% to your children.
5. Schedule the week full of activities
6. Make sure your child’s daily menu includes all the food groups
7. Keep television off limits until age two
8. Always fit in personal “Me Time” (hobbies, reading, exercise or home business

The list above is why I will never make the “Super Mom” team and I’m ok with that.

1. I get up at 6:15 everyday because my kid does and I’m not happy about it
2. I’m halfway organized. Items may not be in their place but I know where to find them.
3. Does taking a shower by 6pm count? Does staying in exercise gear count as getting dressed? At least I’m out of my pj’s.
4. My daughter gets 100% and the other 10% is used playing on my phone
5. We go to Stroller Strides, Gymboree, and the mall every week
6. If veggie sticks, blueberry Eggos, and pasta can be eaten everyday then we are good.
7. I try to limit television watching but sometimes Elmo & Barney appear when I need an immediate sitter for 20 minutes.
8. “Me time”...what’s that? Hobbies- does flipping through US magazine count? Reading- Is great if I can stay awake for more than three pages. Exercise- that’s what SS is for and the step machine collecting dust in my room. Home business- I run my own day care for one child.

So, maybe I am a little jealous of those “do it all moms”. Good thing I will now be a mom forever so I can keep trying out for the “Super Mom” team. There is always going to be next season.