Gut Rot

Turns out there are a few less adorable sides of parenting, but some that still should be documented. Annie came down with her first stomach bug today. I got the call from Jen that Annie wasn't eating well and asking if I had any ideas for other things for her to eat beyond her normal lunch. When Jen said she wouldn't eat pineapple, I feared something was amiss but didn't want to say it lest it become true. The only times Annie really doesn't eat well is when she is sick. Needless to say, Jen called back about 45 minutes later saying that she had thrown up 4 times.

Lockdown time.

I left work to pick her up and she seemed to be in good spirits. I wouldn't have known she was sick were it not for her vomit soaked clothes Jen handed over. Annie allowed me to snuggle with her, which was another indicator that she was not feeling well. She normally has more important things to do, like dump out trash cans. When she put her head on my lap, my heart melted. Then I felt the warmth running down my leg....

Barf. And more barf.

We went a few rounds, Dad came home and got in on the snuggling.

But then just as soon as it arrived, it seemed to be gone and our snappy little girl was back in action.

While I would never want my baby to be ill, I did love all the sweetness. And the cuddling makes two pairs of vomit soaked pants and couch stains much easier to handle.

11 Months

Dear Annie,
How in the world are you 11 months old? 11 months and one week???? It is truly very hard for me to grasp. You are so big (and can even do the "Soooooo BIG!" arm movement stunt) and appear to be able to speak english. I was worried for so long that we would have one of those pesky ESL (english as a second language, Mom) babies, and that would be difficult. You understand when I ask you to go pick up your shoes or roll me the ball. You are close to being able to blow kisses (still working on the release) and do the "shhhh" motion. Very high level stuff here.

You had a follow up hearing test on 4/26, which had been stressing me out. Not because I was worried you couldn't hear, but I was worried you would get distracted and not care about turning your head to the whirring noises to either side of you (as you did during your first test) and I would have to argue that you didn't need to be sedated to further test your hearing. But, you passed with flying colors and all is well. Thanks to that pesky "ear tag", we will still have to get you tested every year, but as long as you keep waking up each time we go up and down our rickety stairs, I won't worry too much.

You are still in size 3 diapers. You were about to bust out of your 12-18 month clothes, but then you really starting moving around and now they fit again. Your body is taking on a decidedly "toddler-esque" shape, which is making me a bit sad. Your "muscles" in your bicep general area are disappearing, but you still have the fat pads on the tops of hands and feet, the invisible band is still around the wrists, and your face is still wonderfully chubby.

You are still taking 2 naps a day. Most days you take a shorter nap in the morning (around an hour) and then a longer nap in the afternoon (around 2 hours). You remain a wonderful sleeper and go from around 7-7 on most days. You have 3 bottles of formula a day and are very fickle when it comes to certain foods. Something you love one day (cheese), you will scowl at the next. You love pineapple and grapes (or just about any fruit). Dad fixes you eggs on the weekends, but you will only eat them if we add salsa. I wonder where you inherited that? You have started turning food away based on sight alone, which is troublesome, but we can usually get one bite down and then you are good to go.

You are close to being able to walk. There's lots of cruising going on and you have been observed standing for seconds at a time. You play demolition derby in your walker and are a menace to anyone not wearing shoes in your path. You love your reflection in just about any surface, though I can't say I blame you. It's a very cute baby that lives in our dishwasher door. You still have only two teeth, with no indication that there are any more on the way.

Here are some pics from your 11 month photo shoot. I have given up on the wooden blocks as they are more trouble than they are worth. As you can tell from the photos below, you are still the baby of 100 faces.

You might be working on something in the diaper in this one.

Listening to the train

"I will smash you, iPHONE!"

Tolerating the camera, but not for long.

Grumpy old man face

And my sweet baby face.

In twenty years, I want to remember the "mmmM...mmmM" noise you make when you are starting to get tired. When you really get going, you sound like the music from Jaws. I want to remember how you are so proud that you can feed yourself, but how I will still try to take the bottle from you because Mom is not quite ready for that yet. I want to remember your fascination with EVERYTHING in the bathroom (tub, toilet, trash cans, toilet paper). I want to remember how you love to dance and how you love your sweet bunny lovey. I want to remember how big you seem when I hold you at night on the rare evenings you cry out for us. Instead of holding a baby in my arms, I have a little person draped across my entire torso.   

Most of all, for this period, I want to remember this face...



You are so proud of those two teeth and LOVE to show them to anyone that will look your direction.

I love you sweet girl.
Love,
Mom

Memories

I have been going through Annie's photos in anticipation of her first birthday and have been more than a little emotional about how much she's grown. Then I saw this.

Nothing sweeter than a newborn's yawn. How did it go so fast?

Talk Me Down

This parenting thing is hard stuff. Turns out all those people that were whining about being busy and stressed and blahblahblah (that's what I heard pre-Annie) weren't just being wimps. While I contend that there are still some people that dramaticize how busy/difficult the whole thing is, it is by no means easy. And we have an "easy" baby. I can actually handle the day to day scheduling and actual baby-tending, it is the act of parenting that can get me in a tizzy.

Enter last night's freak out session, starring yours truly, regarding Annie's first birthday. I am feeling very torn between wanting something small, sweet, and simple for her birthday and then also seeing all this nonsense on Pinterest where babies have tables of tulle, ribbons, sky-high cakes, and themes for their first birthday. I want Annie to have the best, but I also don't want her to be some demanding nightmare of a kid where each birthday has to top the next. And I keep telling myself that parties like the ones in Pinterest are more for the adults than they are for the kids, but still...there's this pressure.

And then there's the reality that I am not a Pinterest Party person. Annie is lucky that I take the time to chop her lunch of pineapples and chicken into safe-sized chunks when she goes to Jen's. Heck, the fact that I have even prepared ahead to have pineapples and chicken is a testament to how much I love this sweet little baby of ours. And the fact that she has it almost every day shows that I am not the world's most creative person. So making a multi-layered cake with fondant and party favors that match the theme of the party....I just broke out in a cold sweat thinking about it. But I hate that Annie won't have all that stuff because of her mother's stupid creative limitations. It's quite possible that I am setting Annie up for an Angela's Ashes-esque existence because her deadbeat Mom can't even tie a proper bow.

But then I remind myself that Annie doesn't need any of that stuff. Heck, she doesn't even know it exists. And I feel very strongly that she can have a very happy, fulfilled life even if she doesn't have a ton of stuff. So maybe my limitations are a good thing? Heck, she doesn't even play with the toys she has, so that's self-regulating simplicity right there. And it's been my experience that if you raise the bar for kids, there's no real going back. I have yet to hear a kid say "Thanks Mom and Dad for that awesome motorized car for my fifth birthday. You can just give me tape and pencils for the next ten years. That will be just as cool." I think quite the opposite tends to be true. The more they get, the more the expect. And as I said before, I am just not down with that. But I also don't want her to feel deprived.

Can you tell I am going crazy?

And poor, poor Ricker. He had to listen to me cry (actual tears) last night about how I feel like I suck as a Mom because I can't find Annie the perfect birthday outfit. Then, about 20 minutes later, I cried again (more actual real tears) because what kind of person cries about a perfect birthday outfit when there are people out there with legit problems and I am clearly a selfish, materialistic twit.

So, yeah, parenting is hard. And so is tying a bow. I pray for the wisdom to be able to focus on the one that is more important.

Yesterday was just one of those days...Annie woke up in a great mood after sleeping in until 7:30. The kind of mood where she would play games with me and make sweet faces and touch the side of my face and look me in the eye and it seemed like she would really see me. We played in the basement, went on a walk, hit the swings in the park, and it was all just great. She took two long naps and each time she woke up the sweetness continued. I felt like my heart was going to explode. I also felt bad that Rick was missing out on all of this, so towards the end of the day, I packed up my bundle of awesome and we headed down to surprise Rick at the City Museum.

This was the first time Annie had been there since she was around 4 months old, and it was a LOT to take in. She made her "thinking face" for most of the trip.

The best thing about being the director of the Museum is getting to waive the 48-inch rule on train riding.

Annie, I hope your Dad stays with this job long enough for you to realize how incredibly cool it/he is (this is also a shot of the "thinking face").

And as it goes, today was started off with major snot-rocket sneezing, spit-ups when I thought we were past spitting up, freezing weather, a constipated poop, and a shockingly NOT constipated poop (within 15 minutes of each other), all before 7:30. And then I had to go to work. I guess not every day can be a perfect Wednesday, but I feel very blessed that average days are still pretty great.

We're Back!

Apologies for not warning of our departure, but I have become paranoid that if I announce a nice, long vacation on the blog, someone will surely come rob me of all my worldly posessions. Of course, I was blabbing about it on Facebook, but at least then the suspect pool would be much smaller. Nothing ruins a good vacation like breaking and entering.





It was a fantastic week in Miami with the family. All of us. All twelve of us. Twelve doesn't really even seem like that many, but to any of you that have met us, 12 goes a long way. No real small personalities in this group.





We celebrated 30 years of wedded bliss for GB and Bigs, there was a BIG Opening Day, there was plenty of pool time, beers, frozen drinks, sushi, Annie eating everything she can get her sticky mits on, long walks in the perfect Miami breeze, sunburned backs and crispy noses, a 15 passenger van that means ONLY 15 passengers, with no carry-ons (lesson learned), Annie's first dips in the ocean, Annie's first attempts to swallow the ocean, Annie's first sand-induced diaper rash from sitting in the ocean, confirmation that Annie is quite possibly the easiest baby on the planet, endless jokes at each other's expense, loads of sunblock thanks to an overzealous first time Mom, big wonderful meals provided by the best hostess ever, and wonderful time with the family. More pics will follow but here's a sampling of my best gal:

The swimming lessons really paid off and she is a true water baby!

Binkie kisses with Dids.

She developed a true love for fresh fruit and would go through strawberries like a wood-chipper.

Miami hair was in full effect!

She even tolerated sunglasses for brief periods of time, mostly after naps.

Thank you, GB and Bigs! It was one for the record books!