Charm City Baby

Merry Excess

2011-12-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

Santa overdid it. I'm going to have a long talk with that fat old man because it will be impossible for us to continue what we started this year--nor do we want to.

The problem is we never, ever buy toys. Nearly all of our children's toys have been gifted to them. However, this Christmas, it became obvious to me that Olivia and Lucas could use a few nice toys when I:

A. Realized it will peacefully distract them and allow them to learn, discover, and imagine--independently.

B. Observed Olivia listening to her brother's hearbeat just like their doctor does--but with a leftover silver ribbon from an old gift box. ( I'm actually proud of her for this one.)

C. Caught Olivia and Lucas fighting over (and nearly decapitating) this...

What is this you ask? Flat Stanley? No. This is a fake baby doll that came with a shopping cart that a friend gave Olivia for her birthday in August. It was merely a placeholder in the packaging to demonstrate where you put your baby doll in the shopping cart. Just a mere piece of cardboard to us, but to Olivia and Lucas---a dear, dear friend. If you could only see how excited Lucas gets when he sees this little girl. Olivia has a real baby doll, by the way.

So, a generous Kmart gift card spending spree, and two over-the-top grandmas later...this was our Christmas set up (BEFORE the grandma's added even more presents vtech stuff, pillowpets, tents, play tunnels, art supplies and play food, etc. ).

That damn (beautiful) doll house was my ~~bright~~ idea and nearly ended my marriage. It took us 5 hours to put that bee-otch together. We had planned to drink wine and enjoy our rite of passage as parents on Christmas Eve.

Olivia's Dora Tricyle? Easy (I did it).
Lucas' Baby Car? No Problem (Charm City Daddy did it).
Personalize and Set up Olivia's InnoTab? (Fun! me again)

About 30 minutes into assembly of the doll house...how do I say this...shit got serious. It was only in hour 3 that I finally burst into hysterics laughing myself to tears when I realized we hadn't even touched our glasses of wine.

We made it but many lessons learned for next year.

Santa Pic 2011

2011-12-28T21:27:00.000-05:00

Now featuring a much happier Santa AND toddler, Olivia, and the nervous infant, Lucas, in his first-ever Santa picture....

I think the only thing that gave Lucas comfort was that his sister was arm's length away. See him nudging her? He's like "hey sis, should I be worried?" Olivia's first reaction when she saw the picture was "Lucas was nervous."

Olivia's Christmas Program

2011-12-28T21:14:00.000-05:00

We were gifted yet another school performance for the holidays. He are the kids in the kitchen just before we headed out. Note: Lucas wearing his breakfast bib as a cape. The little man has full command of his walker maneuvering it through narrow areas forward, backward, diagonal and sideways with awesome precision.

This time I tried to outsmart my performer by getting a sneak preview of the song that she would perform, but she was on to me. She instead kept performing her Thanksgiving routine. To my surprise--as it should be I guess--her actual performance included two songs, "Merry Christmas to You," "Jingle Bells," and the class recited a nursery rhyme, "Little Jack Horner." I've been trying to get a solo performance of the nursery rhyme on video with no success, but take my word for it! It's so CUTE!

Also during the Christmas break, we got a mysterious piece of mail. It was a thank you note from Olivia's teacher thanking Olivia for her Christmas gift (a Starbucks mug and hot cocoa) and that she looked forward to seeing Olivia after the winter break. Um, am I the only person that thinks this was AMAZING and NEVER, EVER, EVER got a stinking thank you note from any of my teachers (and I was a big kiss up--let me tell you)?! I was so impressed and excited for Olivia. She, of course, thinks this is normal. But give me some time and I will overdramatize this (as I do many important lessons) and it will set in for her.

Lucas 8 months old

2011-12-19T22:49:00.000-05:00

One afternoon, amidst a hectic and busy work day, I received this picture in a text...

...and I nearly lost it. My little baby is becoming a little boy before my eyes!

Somehow, Charm City Daddy got the little man to balance long enough to take this picture. Very cool, but also very scary.

Olivia's Musical Debut -Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-19T22:30:00.001-05:00

Olivia made her musical debut in her school's Thanksgiving Program. It was 30 seconds of pure delight, joy, pride, excitement.

Olivia smiling and clucking her arms in the middle.

I wish I had video to share with you but it was only her clucking her arms like a chicken saying "Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Yuuuummmy! Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Yuuuummmy!" The end.

Olivia's cute LBD and Cheetah ballet flats.

They close and open the curtains between classes/performanes and her expression and beaming smile when she realized there was a live audience was priceless. We didn't run to the front or wave so she didn't see us and seemed okay with that. She waved back at other waving, smiling parents, however. Afterward she couldn't wait to tell us she was "on the stage!"

Lucas is an excellent spectator. He really gets into the performances, sometimes trying to sing along.

Lucky for us and her grandparents, Olivia does excellent private performances, on demand. I had her going non-stop all Thanksgiving weekend. Hello stage mom.

Growing and Bonding

2011-11-20T00:11:00.001-05:00

Lucas' big head and big personality is emerging and I could just eat him up.

He has a little temper. Likes to mimic screams and is not the shy guy we thought he would be. He's all smiles and tilts his whole body to the side (like a little teapot) when he really wants to be cute. He loves to cuddle unlike his big sister. He lights up when Olivia walks into the room or when we walk into her empty bedroom simply because it is associated with her.

He LOVES her and the feeling is mutual. She introduces Lucas to everyone strangers, waitresses, and the teachers of other classes in her school tell me about her daily reports about her little brother Lucas. She's a protective and doting big sis.

She's only wanted equal opportunity lap time in the last week. She's rough with him, wrestling, tickling, and pinning him down every chance she gets and he just takes the abuse like a champ--laughing all the way. He's so strong I find myself warning Olivia less about being gentle with him because he can almost hold his own with her.

Olivia's is in an interesting phase. She's giving lots of compliments (she likes my eyebrows! lucky me) She is also asking "why? what is that? where does that come from?" OFTEN. We answer lots of random questions on a daily basis. Today, among other things, she asked me why our backyard was fenced; why I chose a certain route to her Spanish class; and why I was putting our patio furniture in storage. Sometimes I impress myself with the explanations I come up with. Without prompting she also told me at breakfast today, "I'm thankful for you, mommy." Needless to say, we are pleased with her school which claims to only be teaching Civilization 101 at her age, but we couldn't be more impressed. She never wants to leave the place when I pick her up after a full 8 hour day--a good sign.

I enjoy watching their bond mature and strengthen as they learn more about themselves and each other. They are "beeest friends" as Olivia often says---and I hope they always will be.

The rest of October

2011-11-19T23:24:00.002-05:00

Let's not waste any time with long apologies or explanations----I'm swamped!

Without further ado, here's what we've been up to...

We went fishing at one of our favorite city parks, Robert E. Lee, which was recently taken over by Baltimore County and got a $6.1 million makeover. The park looks great. Olivia has been asking to go back to fish since we left.

Charm City Daddy ran the Baltimore marathon, aka Under Armor Running Festival and we cheered him on at Mile Six with our noisemakers.

He did well with very little preparation. This was his 5th marathon, I think--and the second time he's done the Baltimore event. I remember the first time he did the Baltimore, because we were still dating. We partied and danced the whole night before and he got up the next morning and ran the thing in no time and met me for lunch. That's not normal. He never does extensive training or preparation and does well. It makes you sick. I'll never forget the first time he ran the Baltimore marathon because it was the day I had my weave removed after 2 years of investing time and money every 6 weeks. It was my farewell to my pageant image and transition to natural, professional me . My hair was sooo thin, and he made me feel good about it, because after all it was all mine!

This time around---his cross at the finish was so symbolic for our family is so many ways. He was in tears--and I was in tears when he recounted the story to me in our kitchen--telling me how much pain he was in and all of the things going through his head about our lives, our beautiful children and all that God has given us. What a difference 6 years makes...

My niece (my oldest brother's baby girl) made Olivia's day when she came over for a playdate on race day, too.

Then before we knew it, it was Halloween!

And I decided Lucas wasn't just any ordinary skeleton (that I got on sale and figured would be most comfortable for him and usable as pajamas aftward), he's a Karate Kid Cobra Kai! Love my 80's movies.

O was a pirate at home and then a ballerina fairy (Thanks Uncle Kevin!) for school since she was already a pirate at school this year for annual pirate day.

My sister and nieces came to visit. We made s'mores by the fireplace and carved pumpkins in the basement while it snowed outside.

We all crashed the kiddie Halloween Parade in my parent's neighborhood--while they were out of town! My neighborhood has a parade--but we never go. Too stiff. And we gave them a chance with the 30-second Easter egg hunt, but HUGE disappointment. By disappointment I mean, we missed the event entirely because they didn't even hide the eggs! They just sat them down in a small roped off grassy area to keep the children from trampling over (or anywhere near) the precious tulip beds. Give me a break. LIVE a little.

Anyway--just look at this REAL family fun. No exorbitant property taxes required. Imagine that. (clearly it's time for us to move. I'm becoming a tad bitter).

And that...for the most part...was October!

Hand, Foot, Mouth, and Everything Else!

2011-10-08T22:27:00.000-04:00

Lord have mercy. The last few days in this house have been....exhausting.

Last weekend Olivia came down with a crazy fever in church. I mean she was HOT. She took a nap, was clingy (which she never is) and was totally sluggish. It scared me to death. So we got some fever reducer in her and lots of liquids and she managed to get some food down, but the temp just spiked again a few hours later. Overnight was rough--clingy, constant waking, crying, fever. We kept her home from school Monday. She did well during the day, but the fever went up again at night. By Tuesday morning she was acting more normal and eating fine but I noticed a rash developing on her hands, calves, and toes. AHA! Chicken Pox!

I made an appointment with her doctor to confirm my sharp diagnosis. The doctor took a look--nope not Chicken Pox. Then he took one look inside Olivia's mouth and then look at me and smiled, " It's Coxsackie." My response "damnit." I had heard about "Hand, Foot and Mouth disease" from my sister's experience with my neice and another friend of mine and her kids, now Olivia had it. In fact she was pretty much done with it--and handled it pretty well considering. Apparently the rash shows up when the fever breaks. After the fever she's no longer contagious but then we were freaking out about how she got it and if Lucas had been exposed. The doctor said she was safe to return to school once she had no fever for 24hours. So Wednesday she returned to school with non-contagious rash just in time for her first SCHOOL PICTURES! HIP HIP HOORAY! I covered her arms in long sleeves and legs in tights and it was a beautiful 75 degree day. Come to find out three other kids in her school had been out with coxsackie as well. Aha! And turns out sandboxes can be breeding grounds for this thing. Olivia comes home with gobs of sand in her shoes and pockets everyday.

I'm glad that it is behind us and she is now immune--and also thankful that Lucas dodged the bullet, but I am not looking forward to dealing with this thing again with him anytime soon.

Charm City Daddy and I crash every night, only to be constantly awakened at least twice a night by Lucas! Lucas was just beginning to improve in the sleep department but had a total relapse this week--with daytime naps, bedtime all of it. It is driving us both to near tears.We thought we had a fool-proof system all figuredwith Olivia--no frills, no fuss. It turns out we may have just had a fool-proof little girl. He JUST gave up swaddling at 6 months. If it were up to him--he would still be swaddled.

Lucas' separation anxiety is off the charts too--and to top it all off he seems to be a shy guy. He balls his eyes out when he sees an unrecognizable face. The well-meaning church ladies who crowd around him every Sunday are the worst for his nerves. Poor baby.

Also--Olivia is officially done with the paci at bedtime. She has never needed it at naptime at school and it was time to let it go to avoid her mama's overbite. It wasn't easy, but I told her I simply threw it out of the window of the car--just like she did to her paper elefante from Spanish class on the ride home. She certainly understood the permanence of that action and it ended our discussion. Awesome.

Oh! And CCD celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary this week. We decided to celebrate the way we've celebrated all of our anniversaries--with a family dinner out--but at a nice restaurant to give the kids the experience. They were well-behaved, and the restaurant was wonderful to us--food also incredible. Olivia loved the live jazz trio and I taught her how to skat. It cracks her up--but she is pretty good at imitating me.

CCD and I have been researching vacations (to keep our sanity and hope alilve) but we both agreed today that we would feel bad asking anyone to take care of our kids (ha!)---at least until Lucas gets this sleep patterns under control. So then we started looking at family vacations--then we looked at family airfare---then we stopped looking at vacations and went back to work. HA!

More to come---I didn't even tell you about my car accident. We just got our car, "The Milk Truck" back this week.

Let's Talk about Lucas

2011-09-27T00:46:00.000-04:00

Lucas is changing before our eyes everyday and knocking down milestones like they stole something!

He is also teething ferociously and it makes for a sad, miserable baby some days and some nights.
He still needs a bottle most nights around 2-3 am--lucky me. Sleep training is going okay. About 4 out of 7 nights a week I can put him down totally awake and without fussing he knows what to do. Other nights he won't settle for anything less than holding him until we fall asleep together. He is so different than Olivia in that department. Then and now she doesn't want to be bothered when she is tired or sleepy--just let her go and do her thing.

He says mama, bah bah, and dada--and it seems to be in context too! He loves screaming matches with his sister and finds her incredibly entertaining. Olivia can snap him out of any bad mood. She likes to rough play with him and I think his first words to her will soon be "stop" or "no!"

He's trying to sit up on his own. Splashing and kicking like crazy in the tub. Grabbing and using his hands to put things in his mouth. He's eating solids--but still won't open his mouth all the way for the spoon unless I play airplane with the spoon to get him to smile. He's also survived his sister shoving random food in his mouth at the dinner table (while we're looking away) that she doesn't like.

He is such a sweet sweet boy. Smiling and laughing all the time. Love him so much and feel so lucky to be able to experience parenthood a different way with another little one with a different personality.

Olivia 2 Yr Stats

2011-09-27T00:26:00.000-04:00

O dressed as a pirate for her school's International Talk Like a Pirate Day celebration

Olivia had her well baby 2 year doctor's appointment last week.

It is amazing to think about the difference in her behavior since the last time I had her in the doctor's office just a few months ago at 19 months. She was so well behaved and easy to reason with--and bribery works like magic these days.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 30 lbs..89 percentile
Height: 36 inches... 95th percentile
Head: ? I forgot to record this...but the doc said in the 69th percentile.

She took her two shots like a champ too--only wincing. I gave her fair warning that the nurse was going to give her medicine but she would also give her band-aid too. Yay! She, like all kids, loves the band-aids. Then they had to up the ante and take her down to get two vials of blood drawn. Yikes.

In anticipation of the bloodwork, we stopped by the pharmacy on the walk to the lab and I let her pick out candy--gummi bears--for opening only after the blood. Hey get this, she actually complied with that request and sat like an angel in the waiting area with the gummies in her lap. Since she never gets candy--she knew I was expecting big things from her--kind of like potty training.

For the bloodwork she only jumped a little until the nurse told her the needle was a butterfly with a magic straw. She was amazed that she was making blood/red juice with zero effort!

I was SO proud of her. We opened her gummies when she got back to the car and she ate the entire package in about 15 seconds flat before we could exit the hospital campus.

Her budding personality is the best thing to witness. She sings the Barney song "I love you, you love me..." to Lucas all the time giving him the "great big hug" and kiss. It is so sweet.

She loves school--every minute of it. I was worried that she'd be tired of it after being there for 8 hours a day--5 hours more than most kids her age. But nope--and in fact she is thriving her Spanish classes on Saturday too. The child is a learning machine--a little sponge.

She also loves the grocery store---I mean she gets really excited about it which makes me get excited too and I HATE the grocery store. Now that she's potty trained and her bladder is stronger the short trips are actually enjoyable.

She's such a little girl now--a tough little girl but a little girl nonetheless.

First Day of School

2011-09-10T23:17:00.001-04:00

Olivia had her first (half) day of nursery school last Friday!

She only went in for 3 hours mind you. From 9am to 12noon--- just long enough to drop her off, complete one errand, feed Lucas, and turn around and pick her up again. We celebrated with family lunch out and she passed out in her carseat on the way home. Awesome.

I was a nervous wreck--had butterflies the night before--and kept obsessing over the list of things she had to bring in: box of tissues, art smock, change of clothes, everything labeled, rain boots, etc.

Olivia, on the other hand, was perfectly fine. Having gone to her school for her "admissions observation" and then again for the new student play date--she loves the place! It also helped that both of those earlier encounters with the school ended on the playground, so in her mind it is a wonderfully fantastic place. I wish I would have videotaped her excitement as we turned the corner walking up to the building.

She was jumping up and down and showing off her backpack "Look at my backpack! Look at Dora!" to the school staff. It was hilarious.

Here's all of us--in front of the building on the rainy day.

I felt like I was the only one with a camera, and we were those parents. I was embarrassed to ask someone to take the picture--but really wanted it--so I got over it really fast.

I am so excited for her to get this exposure and specialized structured experience from age 2 through 6. She is going to thrive! It's become clear that she needs to learn to balance the social aspect of group settings with learning. Being with a nanny since birth means "playdates" and storytimes are the only times she gets to socialize with other children regularly--which makes focusing on tasks in group settings that much more difficult for her.You take for granted the basic rules like sitting in place and listening quietly without touching other children.

For example, today at storytime (which she's being going to since birth) she walked up to each of the other children there and individually "roared" (loudly and obnoxiously) in their faces after the storyteller asked the audience what sound a lion makes. At first I laughed (with pride--the other kids were mute!), but when her third victim flinched a bit and when O started going to adults I quickly snapped out of my fog and jumped up and snatched this little rude (hilarious) child of mine.

So---school will be good for her.

Oh..and here's what she should have worn---I ordered all of her school uniforms way too big. Mom FAIL.

Makes Me Laugh

2011-09-04T17:53:00.000-04:00

Olivia loves loves her undies---6 times over.

I woke up to this sight one morning when Olivia got into her underwear drawer. I preferred this morning over the one where she found the lotion dispenser in the bathroom.

Potty Training Boot Camp: Wrap Up

2011-09-02T11:14:00.007-04:00

I think this potty training saga could go on and on for the next year, so I think I'll just wrap it up here.

Olivia understands the concept--and even went a couple days without an accident, but we are still trying to master the dreaded number two. Dun. Dun. Dun.

She's just too impatient when it comes to number two. We read books. Sing songs in the bathroom and she still gets gun shy.

The potty training manual says--"stay positive don't scold" but when Olivia told us she had to go "caca" and Charm City Daddy sat her down on the potty and she commenced to prancing and pooping all over the bathroom (diarrhea cha cha cha)--we lost it.

I was amidst the post-bath routine with Lucas in another room when I heard a big SPLAT! "That can't be good," I thought. I slowly peeked in--afraid of what I might see. It looked like a crime scene, people. There she was sitting on the potty at moment in time, of course with a very fitting "oh, shit" look on her face. I gagged--then we lost it.

And that was on Charm City Daddy's Birthday! Happy Birthday daddy!

Anyway..I'll wrap up this experience with a few lessons learned as well as gear that helped us out.

Stock up on undies. I started with just 5 pair, but later went to town in Walmart and bought at least 30 more. I bought ten Dora, Disney Princess ones(added incentives--"don't pee on Dora!")--and the rest were Hanes, FOTL generic. I haven't used them all yet--we do laundry quite often--especially when bodily fluids are involved. I have extras everywhere--diaper bag, car, grandma's house.
Portable Potty. At the suggestion of a friend, I got the Pottete Portable on the go potty. It has great reviews and I love it's versatility and it's small enough to fit in the diaper bag or keep in the car. (and get additional liners!)
Seat Liners. For the public potties--these liners are adhesive and worth and peace of mind. I keep these in the diaper bag.
Carseat Saver- Piddle Pad. Yes! Many swear by carseat covers for this reason alone.. We haven't had any accidents yet but better safe than sorry.

Other thoughts:

Constant reminding and nagging--not asking worked well for us.
Positive reinforcement DOES work. Olivia loves saying "I so pwoud of you" all the time now.
O's reward was a single gummi bear or sing fruit snack for every successful droplet in the pot. It's quick, tasty--and unlike the popsicles her daddy wanted to give her, don't get messy--take forever to eat or contain water.
Have old rags--in our case gym towels--mop, and cleaning supplies on standby.
Consider rolling up your rugs if you can--or staying in rooms that have no floor coverings during the training period.
I sat Olivia down with my laptop on Day 2 and we went through all the YouTube videos I could find about potty training for kids--singing her songs--watching cartoons talk about it--seeing other kids do it. And I think it helped.

Finally---COMMIT and DON'T GIVE UP! Your partner must be on board too! Good Luck!

What worked for you Mamas?

*I was not and have never been compensated (in any way) for my baby gear suggestions on this blog.*

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day Five

2011-08-24T21:57:00.000-04:00

I am still logging Potty Training days--and will continue to do so until Olivia goes at least one entire day without a single accident.

And guess what? She had ONE accident today with the nanny. Again, I don't think the nanny is reminding/nagging Olivia enough to tell when she has to go potty. So--what do you get? A nice little puddle of piss to cleanup. Your bad.

It only took Charm City Daddy one accident clean up to catch on to the nagging method. Before you know it he was looking for all of the signs. haha.

We went on a picnic today in nearby Sherwood Gardens for dinner and then grabbed ice cream at Taharka Bros. and Olivia was perfectly fine and told us when she had to go. We had about 5 fibs (aka false alarms) but hey---that's okay. She a little voyeur that's all. LOL. But I am happy to go through all the motions even if she can only squeeze a droplet.

On to day six!

Ready to Learn

2011-08-23T23:56:00.001-04:00

It feels like Olivia and Lucas both made significant developmental strides this week.

Lucas transitioned to the bouncer and the bumbo seat this week. I've been attempting solids with him for 2 weeks, but it seems like today was the day he decided to take the reigns and embrace the concept. I was away when Charm City Daddy sent me this picture with the caption "Code Red: He just grabbed the spoon from me."

Hilarious!

As added incentive and reward for her great strides in potty training, we gave Olivia a few items on her school supply list: her first backpack, her new rain boots, and a water bottle. SHE LOVED THEM and we were nearly brought to tears at how fast our little girl is growing up.

I am still getting used to the arrival of O's attitude. She has an opinion and preferences already?! Yesterday I sang along with her Disney Princess piano that plays various songs including "Be Our Guest" and she got really frustrated with me and ordered me (with her little finger over my mouth) "No, don't sing mommy! Don't sing!" She wanted to dance to the music without me cluttering up her experience with lyrics, I guess. Geez.

The little mama orders poor Lucas around too. Yesterday she told him she was going to "spank yah butt!" He just smiles at her and she melts into a puddle--just like us.

That little boy has this amazing power that no one can resist. It's his kind eyes.

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day Four

2011-08-23T23:55:00.000-04:00

To sum it all up.......It hit the fan today. Ha!

First, the nanny reported that Olivia had two accidents. Olivia had self-reported and nearly made it to the potty. I suspect the nanny wasn't able to move quickly enough with her hands full of a 5 month old Lucas and another 19 month old. Tomorrow/time will tell. The power of suggestion is really the key here. Asking does not work--Olivia gets defensive.

Then, Charm City Daddy was on duty while I had to work late and really felt the brunt of it when as he was preparing dinner and feeding Lucas, Olivia had two more accidents---one of which was the dreaded appearance of #2.

Hopefully these are minor setbacks and we can celebrate a comeback tomorrow!

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day Three

2011-08-22T22:59:00.000-04:00

Day three was a huge success! Olivia didn't have one accident AND didn't wet the bed at naptime either.

We rewarded our progress with a trip to the park after three days of potty lockdown.

We brought the small potty with us along with a change of pants, panties and a towel.

I kept a close eye on O and reminded her to tell me if she had to go potty repeatedly upon arrival to make sure she understood that the same potty rules apply---even in a different setting. It took only 5 minutes for her to tell me she had to go potty and the next thing I knew I was running her across the playground waving my arms like a crazy person and motioning for Charm City Daddy to get the potty ready. He knew just what to do--and had been watching for the signal from me. In hindsight we probably looked like a melodramatic parents--but we don't care because guess what---she made it! Success again! I have never thanked and praised God over bodily function so much in my left. I am SO proud of her.

There we were off to the side of a park bench with O sitting on her little white pot and Charm City Daddy is shielding and protecting his little girl when another dad walks right up and says "Aww, congratulations!" to us. CCD rolls his eyes at the guy like move along pervert--nothing to see here. It was so funny. Get a clue dude.

The only thing that was missing about Day 3? Poo poo opportunities. That is the last hurdle we haven't experienced with her--as so far she has done #2 just after waking up on Day 1 and during a nap on Day 2. So I technically can't claim potty training until we have conquered #2.

Tomorrow reality sets in when O returns to her usual childcare routine with less one-on-one attention in the nanny share. Here's hoping that the nanny isn't too busy and preoccupied with taking care of the whole crew (Lucas, O, and her nanny share buddy) that she neglects to remind O enough!

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day Two

2011-08-21T21:08:00.000-04:00

SIGNIFICANT progress to report today!

Only two accidents (wee wee in the floor--and the rest in the pot)--ALL DAY LONG.

This morning we had to watch Olivia like a hawk to catch "the look" a combination of blank stare and panic. We told her to tell us if she had to go pee over and over again (as the book says), but she just wouldn't tell us. If we, on occasion, would ask her if she had to go potty? (which the book tells you NOT to do) She would answer dramatically, "No mommy/daddy I'm not going to go potty, EVER!" I would reply "don't say that you're a big girl" and then look at Charm City Daddy as we both fought back laughs. CCD said "maybe she means she won't potty on herself again EVER?" Nice try daddy. She is sassy and there are no excuses. She also refused to let me follow her into the bathroom a few times this morning--pushing me away b/c she wanted to do it herself.

The two times she had accidents she just gave us the look, we'd ask her as we dove to scoop and run her to the potty. But something must have clicked after her nap today. Zero accidents and she told US she had to go. I was in the middle of reading an interactive book to her on the iPad and she stopped me and said "mommy, I have to go potty." I jumped up and she made it there without a losing a drop.

I want to claim that we are done but we will go hard one more day tomorrow to seal the deal. The real test will be if Olivia adapts and reports her bodily functions to the nanny this week AND the nanny stays on top of it and doesn't take shortcuts.

Please God let this be it. We're just three weeks away from her first day of school.

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day One

2011-08-20T22:55:00.000-04:00

We're in the countdown until Olivia starts nursery school and one of the big requirements that's been hanging over our heads all summer??!!----potty training! Dun. Dun. Dun.

For some reason I feel like I'm in high school again and I waited until the last month of summer vacation to start my summer assignment for A.P. Modern European History. Why I do I torture myself like this?

It's not that we haven't been having the potty conversation for the past year. She's had a potty since before she could walk after all. She's even warned us and made poo and pee in the pot this summer, but now it's time to get serious and commit. Do or die.

School starts September 9th, but new student orientation day is August 31 and we want to make a good first impression!

So, I'm taking a three-day weekend to do a three-day potty training boot camp a friend of mine shared with me via e-book. I didn't exactly stock up on all the supplies suggested like have 30 plus pairs of undies ( I have 5 pair ---that were each washed 3 times today) and I don't have all of the on-the-go liners, and portable pots it recommendeds once your kid is trained but we're making do with what we've got. I've got plenty of gummy bears and fruit snacks which seems to be doing the trick just fine.

The method seems to be exuberant positive reinforcement (no scolding whatsoever), complete stalking and focus on the toddler to look for the "signs", constant, nagging reminding (not asking) to "tell mommy when you have to pee, ok?", lots of water to give her plenty of chances to do her thing, and for us, a single gummi bear for even an droplet of success.

The results after Day One?

No less than 15 accidents---pee puddles everywhere (even one in the grass in the backyard). I rolled up the living room rug too--SO glad I did.
She made it to the pot at least 5 times--one of which I had left the room (bad mommy) and she peed on the floor a little and ran and made it the pot all by herself for the rest! Another time she told me she had to go, and wanted to go by herself and pushed me away and wouldn't let me follow her to the bathroom. She made it to the pot and exclaimed, "I'm a big girl now!" It was pretty awesome. THEN she peed on the floor at least 2 more times after that. LOL
Naptime was successful--she stayed dry.
No poop at all today--not normal for her.
I have cabin fever. I am on complete lockdown--can't even watch TV--must watch her at all times. But I have caught her signals, she stiffens and spreads her legs with knees locked and goes up on her toes, all with a worried/blank look on her face--usually looking me dead in the face. LOL.

I felt like giving up about 20 times today--which was everytime I had to clean up the pee and balance Lucas' needs, cries, bottle, naps, tummy time, entertainment while still keeping O from making a mess of her own--mess. Yuck. No way Charm City Daddy could stomach this job. No way.

It will all be over soon. She looks so adorable in her Princess and the Frog undies too.

Wish us luck for Day 2!

Olivia's Second Birthday!

2011-08-17T23:47:00.000-04:00

As promised here's a recap of Olivia's Second Birthday Party!

When I informed parents to bring their kids' swimsuits for a "water fun" little did I know that we would be dealing with much more water than the slip n' slide and baby pools I had in mind. The sky opened up and it rained like a monsoon but guess what--we still had a GREAT time. We have the BEST friends who still showed up for our little girl's day--with their kids in tow. Love them.

Besides rain turned out to be the small glitch--and an empty gas tank (whoopsi) for the grill left Charm City Daddy cooking up turkey burgers and hot dogs in the kitchen instead. CCD and I agreed that of all of the parties we've had in our home it probably ranked as the second most fun of all time---with our first New Year's Eve party taking top honors. Both were simple, small and unpretentious with just the right mix of people.

Olivia is such a great little hostess too. She returned the "Happy Birthday" wishes to each and everyone that wished her a happy birthday--lol--it was everyone's birthday! At one point, during the rain storm, she invited all of the children ranging in age from 8 years to 19 months up to the third floor of our house which gets awesome acoustics for a full out screaming match and game of "tagyou'reit!" I shut that down after 5 minutes. Everyone complied but the birthday girl who was removed kicking and screaming.

It is nice to have experienced parents around as well--helping me relax about the rain issue and transition the children from activity to activity. A new friend of mine brought her 4 kids (ages 2-8) and it was awesome--like a built in party. I was so thankful and happy to see all of them--and they are such great, well-behaved--adorable kids. At one point, her two year-old son was actually talking to Olivia's cake, "Caillou, I love you! I love you Caillou!"

I could go on forever...here's the party in pictures!

Miss Personality Times TWO!

2011-08-17T22:40:00.000-04:00

Olivia is two ~~going on twenty-two~~!

Whoa-nelly! I am not ready. There are a lot of emotions being expressed at this stage with semi-grown-up vocabulary and a lot of silliness---and Charm City Daddy and I find ourselves suppressing and hiding laughter ALL the time. The girl is just full of personality.

Just this morning after Olivia burst into our room and realized that although we would let her climb between us in bed at 6:30 a.m. we weren't about to wake up and start the party with TV and teeth brushing. Nope she would have to sit there quietly or fall asleep for at least 30 minutes. After about 3 minutes of silence she started swaying back and forth between us..

"What do I do? What do I do now? What do I do? What do I do now?" she said.

After suppressing another laugh I responded, "You lay your little self down and fall asleep. That's what you do!"

This parenting thing is getting harder and harder, I tell you because at times I am thoroughly entertained and it is so hard not to show how amused, impressed, surprised, scared, proud, angry I am.

Like in Olivia's less-than-redeeming moments when her excitement gets the best of her and she kicks her little brother repeatedly in the head while they lay on the bed to get lotion applied after a bath. It takes every ounce of control in my being not to snatch her up and scream at the top of my lungs, "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!?" and instead sternly talk to her in a disapproving voice while quickly catching her swinging feet and slightly squeezing them while widening my eyes to let her know that I. mean. business. Oooph! Parenting is tough.

She is little carbon copy of everything we do and say right now, so Charm City Daddy and I really have to be on our best behavior, speak in code, and spell lots of w-o-r-d-s to communicate.

Some of Olivia's recent favorites:

"No I don't want to...!" fill-in: go inside, get my hair done, put my pajamas on, get in the high chair, drink milk.
"Mommy, I love it." or "Mommy, I happy"
Charm City Daddy is also known as "my daddy" as in "I love you my daddy."
"No, that's MY lamb and my teta (paci)!" *Holding it closer to her and farther from you while and looking at you like you're crazy*
"Mommy can you play 'I gotta feel it'?" *music request for Black-Eyed Peas' I Got a Feeling*
"Mommy Lucas is cryin'/happy/smilin'/sleepin'.

And the list goes on and on and on.

Love her so much.

T-minus Two Weeks Til Two

2011-08-02T11:59:00.000-04:00

My, my, my how times have changed. My only daughter and first born is turning 2 in two weeks and you haven't heard a peep from me, nor have I planned ANYTHING!

I don't know if I'm being neglectful and procrastinating, or if I was just going overboard last year for the first birthday party--but clearly there is a center--and I'm not operating in it.

We're going low-key this year. I always say that and then my husband's crazy ideas blow the budget--let's cater in some lobster mac or get a petting zoo!! But THIS YEAR I really mean it. We're only inviting close family and friends. No petting zoo---just the usual zoo of 2 year-olds (and over/under) will be crazy enough.

With a tighter timeline, we had no choice but do e-invitations this year. BUT being the paper lover that I am, I just couldn't bring myself to use evites and went with Paperless Post. You get the look and presentation of a paper invitation without the cost, press time, and postage. Love that. Plus you get 25 free stamps and 10 points to when you sign up--making O's birthday invitation FREE to send.

Here's the simple invite.

One thing is for sure. I am NOT making cupcakes again this year. I was up all night last year trying to perfect icing and baking them. NO thank you. The cake will be purchased and daddy says he has it all taken care of--uh oh.

Another lesson I learned is that I will create a theme around my shopping trip---at the Dollar Store. Can I get an Amen? It's SO hard to determine a theme and look for things ON SALE that fit your theme--although I was fortunate last year. I mean let's face it I will have to buy most everything b/c I am last minute and there is zero time for crafts for a working mom of two.

With that out of the way, I can focus on something fun like a nice gift for O. What does your toddler love? Any good gift ideas for a 2-year-old?

Of course--I'll keep you posted on results.

4-month Check Up & Sleep Training

2011-08-02T11:12:00.001-04:00

Lucas is 4-months old and what a happy baby he is. He recognizes his family members and loves to exchange funny facial expressions now. He is very ticklish on his legs so diaper changing is total belly laughing session. He's really growing up and showing all signs of being a second child--1) he's resilient to his sister's abuse (meant as affection) 2) he likes constant noise and wants to be in the mix.

At the Doc's Office

During bath time, I used to wash Lucas in the sink and supervise Olivia in the tub, but now he's big enough for the bath chair and sits right beside his sister to enjoy the show and she LOVES the company.
Last week Olivia leaned over and gave Lucas a hug in the tub and said "My best friend Lucas, best friend. Aww. God is great. God is good. Amen. Luh you much." Needless to say I got a little teary. I told Charm City Daddy about it later and his response was, "Wow, we must be doing our jobs babe." What a great feeling. I know they will bicker when they get older, so I'm really enjoying these moments where Lucas is completely entertained by his big sis and she adores him.

Here are Lucas' stats from his 4-month check-up:
Height: 26 in. (82 percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs 6 oz. (49 percentile)
Head Circumference : 42.3 cm (72 percentile)

Now that we are concluding our last week of nursing and starting rice cereal, we are in full sleep training mode. It was a ROUGH start--like he was up 2-3 times a night---but now he is doing MUCH better. Last night he only woke up once and went right back down.

Sleep Training in Progress - screaming baby.

I try not to let him get too upset and escalate his cries so he doesn't associate his crib with solitary confinement. But he does sleep well after a good cry. :) I'm also finding that without nursing he's a much more independent and self-reliant sleeper. I stopped nursing Olivia at 10 weeks so sleep training was a cinch--particularly because she loves sleep and still tells us when she's ready for her nap. Lucas is already very different, but we will press on and make him love sleep too!

We start Stage 1 food next week! YEAH--one step closer to real food!

I've been styled...

2011-07-18T11:04:00.000-04:00

Look ya'll !!!

The Glamorous Newlywed styled me for the office with special consideration for my ball and chain, aka the breast pump.

As I've said before, the girl is gifted. Check out her blog for any number of occasions that you need stylish, yet affordable threads.

My favorite ensemble is the gray and coral--snazzy

c/o Glamorous Newlywed @ Polyvore

...and she has no idea how well she hit the nail on the head with the black and gold.

Oh, and I especially appreciated the hands-free bra suggestion--MUCH better than mine.

Good stuff! I hope it helps you or a nursing mom you know too!

Los Dentes

2011-07-17T14:20:00.002-04:00

Olivia loves to brush her teeth ~~and eat the baby toothpaste~~. The fascination with her "dentes" hit new heights when her favorite fictional friend Caillou went to the dentist. So since it was time for our semi-annual cleaning, I decided to add in an appointment for O.

First we watched the Caillou episode again and then about two days in advance, I told her she was going to see the dentist, too. I told her the dentist was going to ask her to say, "ahh" and "cheese", so she would be ready--and she was! She could hardly wait her turn--telling the dental assistant that was setting up "excuse me, excuse me please." It was hilarious.

And look how tall she is, by the way! She nearly takes up my whole body on my lap.

The dentist looked around, counted her teeth and gave her cherry flavored flouride. It took all of 3 minutes, and I think she was actually waiting for him to do more. I know I was. She was thrilled to get the toothbrush at the end and carried it around all day until it was good and germy and I had to forbid her to put it in her mouth.

She's been talking about and talking up Dr. Rubin ever since. Telling anyone who will listen. She would have you believe he could fix her itchy ankles (mosquito bites) and boo boos. Now I have to get her equally as excited about her pediatrician for her big 2-year check-up next month.

Just as I began writing this post...my little man, Lucas, reached up and pulled his musical mobile in his bouncy seat and made it play music.

I looked at him and said, "you pulled it!" He looked at me and started laughing! The eye-hand coordination is surfacing and my little baby is growing up before my eyes. He talks non-stop just like his sister. He loves tummy time too. It won't be long before he's chasing her around and enjoying her antics.

Ridiculously Cute...

2011-07-11T22:38:00.001-04:00

When I first saw the commercials for those Huggie's Little Movers Denim Diapers--I admit that I thought they were a a bit pretentious and silly. But as we near potty training and hopefully say goodbye to diapers for Olivia soon (by the end of summer to be exact)---I decided to give them a shot last week. It helped that they were on sale for 40% off with a coupon. I got to see them on Olivia in person...

Holy cutenesss! They are so adorable! I had to try to them out on Lucas too. So I squeezed his little size 2 butt in Olivia's size 5's and guess what...

The cuteness factor skyrocketed off the charts!! This is a good shot of his cute little birthmark too.

I just had to share them---go get them and gush over your babies (as if you needed a reason)!! I could just eat mine up.

The Tattler's Tales

2011-07-11T22:07:00.001-04:00

One of the perks of having an almost 2-year old that speaks in complete sentences is the full report you get about her day--or a recount of a major event. For example Olivia loves telling us about Grandad's surprise birthday party taking us through each step--from hiding, being quiet, to the noise makers to yelling "Happy Birthday Grandad." Fun and cute.

Another perk of our talkative toddler is getting a ~~repeat~~ report on what the nanny says...

"Oh sugar!'

"What did I say?" (in a scornful tone)

And finally tonight's report came at bathtime when Olivia was playing with a bar of soap holding it horizontally and wiggling her thumbs on top. I asked her what she was doing....she responded dryly...

"Playing a game on my phone."

Ha Ha. Oh reeeee-ally?? Tell me more. Tell me more.

Catchin' Up

2011-07-09T18:13:00.002-04:00

There is so much to catch up on...too much. Let's see if I can do a quick wrap up in pictures...

"The cousins" came to town all at once from far and wide and Olivia was in H-E-A-V-E-N. It was also grandad's birthday so we surprised him when he returned home from a golf trip--which was fun for the kids--and the adults enjoyed the excitement of the children. Here's all the grans (all girls and my little boy)--minus 7-month old Camille.

Great grandma came to visit too.

Olivia picked up new words, drinking out of a cup (eating cereal with milk), and tons of personality from her cousins--and a love of play-doh (keeps her occupied for HOURS). For example this week, as I left for work she told me "Have a good day!" and when I asked her if she wanted to wash her face this morning she said, "um, no." When her daddy gives her a choice in breakfast waffles or french toast, she inhales with dramatic excitement.

Lucas finds his energetic sister very amusing. Especially in the bathtub since I have officially put them in the tub together which makes my bedtime routine SO much easier. She most likely saying "Look at daddy's little man!" in this picture.

Lucas gave us some of his first belly laughs and proved that he is all boy. What amuses him? Shadow boxing. Fake blows to his face and chest--tickles him to pieces.

His neck control continues to be stellar--we don't really do tummy time with him, b/c he alway keeps his back and neck straight as a board. We joke that he needs to relax and bend at the waist. He's too proper. He lost some hair on the sides, and while I was worried about how it would look at first--now I think it's cute and looks kinda like a marine haircut, "high and tight."

We are weaning the nursing now--as pumping at work is not getting any more convenient and the milk supply is going strong. I have to be careful, however. Sometimes I find myself rushing Lucas' milestones along (like his sleep schedule) for my own convenience. Like when I cleaned the basement last week...I needed a free hand...so into the walker he went...

Lots going on this summer, but with Olivia's developmental strides--its getting a little more manageable. Nonetheless we are thankful for midday naptime when the house is completely quiet and again in the evening at bedtime.

Now if I can just get Lucas to eliminate his middle of the night feeding--which I hope comes with the switch to formula---we may get even more rest!

Olivia's Toddler Room: After

2011-06-21T23:17:00.001-04:00

You've seen the before pictures of Olivia's toddler room...and I have promised these after a million times over! I kept trying to wait until the room was finished, accessorized, or at least cleaned up. BUT I'm finding the more time that goes by the more lived in, stained, wrinkly, and imperfect the room becomes because Olivia LOVES her room. For that I am grateful.

So I kept it real. So I didn't fix the monkey prints that are sliding down the frame mats. I didn't stage or even vacuum the rugs (and they really really needed it). I didnt even adjust the settings on my expensive camera. Did I mention I have two kids under two? What you see is what you get. This is what O's room looks like just before bedtime on any given Tuesday because that's exactly when I snapped these.

Enjoy!

If you've followed the blog you know most of these sources but here goes:

Headboard- Target.com (DIY upholstered by me and mom)
Bedskirt- Target.com
Pink Lattice Sheets- Land of Nod
Quilted Bedding - HomeGoods
End of Bed Storage - Walmart.com
Retractable/Hideaway Extra Long Bed Rail- One Step Ahead
Bedside Lamp - a wedding gift
Rug - HomeDecorators.com
Toile Wall - All fabric - starched on by mom
Nightstand/Dresser - Repainted Existing Set (Inspired by Emily Clark)
Dresser Mirror - HomeGoods
Dresser Lamps - Marshalls (2007)
Pink Chairs - HomeGoods
Three Monkeys Art - Etsy Shop The Pink Pagoda
Custom Roman Shades- JCPenney.com
Window Cornice Boxes - DIY by me and mom
Window Curtain Panels Pink Lattice - Land of Nod
TO BE ADDED - Ikea Expedit Bookcase, white.

I'll take more pictures with better camera settings once the room is complete!

No Brainer

2011-06-09T00:18:00.000-04:00

I happened upon a fantastic fashion blog this week and feel compelled to share all of its splendor with you.

Glamorous Newlywed

Love it. LOVE it. ALL of it. I like both her interactive Q&A concept and most of all the end result. She takes reader inquiries and helps them dress for random life events (pool party at the in-laws? she's gotcha covered!) and occasions and even pack for trips so that you are prepared, comfortable, and appropriate. The end result is an affordable, stylish ensemble right down to the bag. When I say affordable, I mean $12 shoes people.

Best of all she has great taste and is quite gifted with Polyvore. I'm banking on never having to think about an outfit ever again--as styling IS not my strong suit. I never see the possibilities in clothing and accessories that true fashionistas do.

She also recently launched Glambina for her newborn baby. I am looking forward to her posts on motherhood and hopefully baby styling as we certainly have issues in that department too.

Check her out. You'll be glad you did.

All Endings Are Also Beginnings...

2011-06-08T16:16:00.000-04:00

I always think of my favorite Mitch Albom quotes this time of year..."All endings are also beginnings" during commencement season as I have used it in many commencement speeches I made as Miss Maryland.

Today I think of the quote because my maternity leave for little Lucas is coming to an end as I return to work next week.

Don't worry this won't be a sappy "I don't want to leave my baby!" post. Nope. I'm ready to go back to work. I love being a working mama. Love my job. Love the folks I work with and since my office leadership happens to be in transition at the moment--it is very important that I get back to work.

It is also important that Lucas let some other than his mama take care of him. With a total of 10 weeks off, I've actually taken 2 extra weeks off with Lucas than I took with Olivia. According to my husband "he needed it." He is a bit needier than Olivia. We've bonded more with the nursing (since he feeds like EVERY 1.5 hours--INSANE). I just hope he behaves for our nanny. He will.

For my second maternity leave instead of planning a Baby Clambake, a trip to Vegas with CCD, a trip to New Orleans, and killing myself at the gym---I slept more, and soaked in the newborn goodness. We made more family ice cream trips--mm honey graham and salty caramel are my new addictions thanks to the genius of Taharka Brothers. I did more housekeeping items that fall behind in our fast paced lives and long term planning for our family. I even took up semi-extreme couponing and saved $100!

What I did NOT do is finish Olivia's toddler room! Just one more item to buy-the IKEA expedit bookcase but, I'm calling it "done enough." Pictures of the toddler room coming soon!

Lucas: 8-week Appointment

2011-05-30T11:12:00.026-04:00

Lucas' social skills are really blossoming at week 8. He's smiling, laughing, yelling, and cooing all the time. He's tracking our movements with his eyes--especially his sister. His eyes always get a little bigger when he sees Olivia come close, partially in fear and partially in delight. He holds his head up well and prefers to be held and carried facing out. The pediatrician said he has phenomenal neck strength and is well ahead of his milestone. Lucas is very attached to his mommy and fusses when he can't see me or doesn't hear my voice in the room. I'm flattered, but Charm City Daddy is annoyed. tee he he. He's also wearing 3 month clothing and still has the most explosive bowels I have ever seen or heard in a baby. Even at 8 weeks to audibles still make us giggle.

Here are Lucas' 8-week stats:

Height- 23 inches (50th percentile)
Weight-12lbs 4 oz. (50th percentile)
Head Circumference: 39.5 cm (50th percentile)

Tiring Toddler

2011-05-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

Some days I feel like I'm being volleyed back and forth between Lucas and Olivia.

Sometimes I'm successful with it. Sometimes I'm not. On those unsuccessful days the toddler usually gets into something while I'm tending to her brother....something like this...

Now had she USED the potty before doing this, I may have jumped for joy. But no...she's still potty-shy. And instead (pan out) I was confronted with this face...

Clearly she is concerned with the consequences of her actions. Not really.

We're Still Here!

2011-05-28T13:49:00.001-04:00

Baby Lucas is growing like a weed (8 weeks old).

Olivia's vocabulary and development (21 months) is off the charts (the new thing is to tell us "I scurd.") Just last week she went on her first interview or "observation"-for nursery school (Age 2-6).

And Somehow Charm City Daddy and I are functioning on just a few hours of sleep a night--not because of Lucas, but because Olivia keeps getting out of bed to crash the party she thinks she's missing in our room. No such party--Real Housewives viewing, maybe, but no party.

Here are some other pics I've been meaning to post...

We're enjoying the warm weather and Grandma and Grandad's sprinkler system today!

Sleep Thieves

2011-05-14T02:42:00.000-04:00

I have not had a good night's rest in 6 weeks. BOTH of my children are sleep thieves.

It's 2 a.m. and I am awake--and they are both asleep...only because I am holding the infant and Charm City Daddy is literally sleeping in bed with the toddler who has a death grip on his neck to keep him from leaving her side. Poor man--he's still in his work clothes. TANGENT: The other day, we were at a work event and he had a Gerber Graduates cereal bar in his pocket. I asked, "Aww, Daddy is that for Olivia?" He answered "No it's for me!"

Olivia has decided that hourly visits to mommy and daddy's room are FUN. There is a party going on in there with a TV and hey--Lucas is in there too! Last night the visits began at 11p.m. and continued until 3 a.m. MAKE.IT.STOP. We are considering utilizing the lock on her bedroom door. Look how far we've come as parents in a matter of days. First we had a hard time parting with the video surveillance and now we've totally gone "Flowers in the Attic" lock her little ass in there until morning. It's just the sleep deprivation talking, right? Please give me some assurance experienced parents.

Desperate for some rest, I even attempted some early "sleep training" with Lucas two nights this week, too. That means I forced him awake during the day every 2 hours. I gave him a bath, nursed and put him in his crib by 9 p.m. He did well both nights for the first stretch of 4-5 hours and failed miserably between 2am-4am his new witching hour where he grunts, yells, moans, clears his throat, pants--basically makes every sound without ever crying but still conveying his discomfort and dissatisfaction with us as his caretakers.

As a baby--Olivia started sleeping in her longest overnight stretches by ten weeks, and while I know all babies are different--I am holding out hope that Lucas follows suit in 4 weeks or SOONER. With Olivia, however, I'm pretty sure I pumper her guts full of heavy formula at night--as a secret weapon. I nurse Lucas exclusively--so I may have to reserve at least one bottle of formula for him each night--just to get some sleep.

Until then little 2 to 4 hour stretches of sleep is all we get--if not interrupted by an Olivia visits.

Officially Offline

2011-05-02T22:22:00.001-04:00

Dear Olivia:

Tonight you officially went offline and are no longer under baby monitor surveillance. This was not an easy decision for your mommy and daddy. We had hoped to keep you under video surveillance until you turned 18 and moved out for college. And chances are, when you came home from college on breaks, we'd probably tempted to hook up the monitor again--for old time's sake, of course. But nope...we're letting go and setting you free. No monitor and a closed door (We will probably regret that closed door in about 15 years).

Your mommy will especially miss stalking you during naps and at bedtime. She will never forget watching your little body slowly grow and fill up more and more of the screen. In fact for months your mommy contemplated having two monitors--one for you and one for your baby brother, Lucas, but she came to her senses when she realized that the frequencies and interference would probably render them both annoying and useless.

It is time for Lucas to take over with the video monitor now. After all Olivia, you are big enough to climb out of your big girl bed and walk to mommy and daddy's room--and last night you did so--about 5 times between midnight and 3:30 a.m. It KILLS us. Actually it kills daddy because he's closest to the door and in charge of ushering you back to your room. Last night, we were so tired--by your third visit--we didn't hear you come in and close the door behind yourself. You even shook daddy's arm with no success and then tried mommy's arm. She ushered you to bed and fell asleep in your bed with you only to be awakened minutes later by daddy to nurse your little brother--mommy's work is never done.

You may be going offline--but it doesn't mean we won't be popping into your room and stealing kisses at night and just peeking in to check on you. And we will continue to do so---until you are 18! So live with it.

Love you baby girl!

Love,

Your Mommy and Daddy

Two Under Two

2011-04-29T12:43:00.000-04:00

Parenting has fuzzy math. For some reason I thought having one kid and adding another to the mix, just might be double the work. WRONG! Adding a newborn to the mix with an energetic toddler already on board is more like 2.5 to 3 times the work. No wonder parents stop at two kids. And the whole "man-to-man defense thing" describing how two parents balance two kids is big an understatement. You still need help.

Based on our preliminary experiences of the last 4 weeks, here's what I have come to believe:

Parents with one kid --a balanced decision of both the head and heart (50/50).
Parents with two kids --a slightly unbalanced decision of heart over head (60/40).
Parents with three kids --the result of losing one's head or a birth control malfunction(75/25).
Parents with 4 or more kids --total surrender and submission.


"I make midnight visits to my parents' room."

Keep in mind Charm City Daddy and I have always said we wanted 4 kids, but I must say we are reconsidering this theory everytime we:

buy diapers or change a diaper
try to leave the house on time.
consider going to church service.
consider going out to eat.
are awakened by one or both children and kept up all night trying to keep them asleep and or in their beds.
see a preview for a new movie we know we'll never see in theatres.

And many more---and we're only 4 weeks in!

Sure the positives far outweigh the negative and in reality we want to have as many children as God will bless us with--and we can afford (let's not kid ourselves). Right now the magic number is two. We are blessed and at times--just a tad stressed, but it's alllll good.

I just needed to speak the truth for a moment.

Less Like a Newborn

2011-04-29T12:09:00.000-04:00

At four weeks old, Lucas is looking less like a newborn and more like a little baby--and a mini version of his father...so much for my hope that he would take after his mama. :)

Hi-Five!

2011-04-29T11:53:00.002-04:00

After patiently requesting "hi-fives?" from her little brother for the last 4 weeks (even in the hospital), yesterday Lucas finally obliged big sis Olivia.

It was a great moment.

Next on her list..."Pick Up?" But that too, my dear, will have to wait.

Easter Fun

2011-04-29T11:40:00.000-04:00

With all of the various festivals and egg hunts going on in our area, we celebrated Easter over a 2-week period.

Knowing we'd have a new baby and toddler in tow and walking quite a bit, the "Easter Bunny" brought Olivia a new bike and she loves it. We don't leave home without it. She hasn't mastered pedaling yet but luckily daddy can steer and push it from the handle.

Daddy pushing Olivia to the egg hunt.

She's also caught on that the little yellow compartment in the back holds juiceboxes, apples and goldfish and won't go on a walk without them.

Lucas: 2-week Appointment

2011-04-23T20:51:00.000-04:00

An Ode to Risky Business

Lucas' two week stats:

Height: 21.5 inches
Weight: 7 lbs 15 oz (1 solid pound of weight gain--nursing is going well this time around!)
Head Circumference 35.3 cm

The First Bath

2011-04-23T20:30:00.000-04:00

It's funny the shortcuts you take as parents the second time around.

With Olivia we used her brand new baby bathtub and cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom first, filled up the tub and everything. Lucas, on the other hand had his first bath in the sink with nothing but a face towel placed on the bottom to keep his little butt from sliding around--(I learned that trick from my mom).

No sense in wasting all of that bath water for just a few minutes of baby torture anyway.

The Birth Story

2011-04-22T23:27:00.000-04:00

Although Lucas' birth didn't begin as the same production of Olivia's birth since his delivery was induced, it certainly ended with a little taste of drama that has my husband appreciating my worth (even more) as the mother of his kids.

Our induction was scheduled for 5:15 a.m. Wednesday, March 30, 2011--Lucas' due date and the only day of the week that my OB was on duty for delivery as she rotates with 3 other doctors in the practice. Since she didn't get to deliver Olivia, we gave it another try with Lucas. The only catch was I had to deliver within a narrow window before she went off duty.

We arrived to the hospital about 15 minutes late, because once again CCD couldn't decide what to wear. You heard me. AND you'd think after all of the pondering he would come up with something thoughtful or polished. Nope. He wore his favorite madras shorts, business school fleece, a faded, tattered marathon souvenir t-shirt, and top siders.

By 6:30 a.m. I was settled in my birthing room watching the morning news. Upon arrival to the hospital I was still 2+cm. There was no way Lucas was making an appearance anytime soon despite my best attempts to get things going by being super active the day before.

By 6:45 a.m. the doctor-on duty (not my OB yet) broke my water, and increased the pitocin drip. I asked for a the stadol almost immediately and took a nice little nap. Mmm. It was wonderful. Contractions increased and remained regular and dilation progressed consistently and all the while Lucas' heart rate remained unchanged and completely unphased by all of the medical practice occurring to evict him.

By 10:45 a.m. I was 4 cm and ready for epidural, so I took it! CCD commenced to chatting up real estate with my OB (which they always do during my usual doctor visits) and then chatted up investments with the anesthesiologist. CCD even gave the man a business card---just after he inserted a rather large tube into my spine! Hello!? Focus on me and this baby, people.

We love our doc!

By 12:39 p.m. I was at 6 cm, zero station (pitocin increased again) and CCD left to grab lunch and some Tums. After all of the nonchalant chatting, his nerves suddenly hit him. Go figure.

By 1:30 p.m. my doctor's shift was OVER but no baby yet. Once again, my OB wouldn't be delivering my child--but instead another doctor--the lead doctor of the practice--would. With this shift change I have now met and been treated by all doctors in the practice. And I like them all!

By 2:15 p.m. I'm feeling the head pressure in position to push. I'm also watching the contractions go off the charts and quicken in frequency--but luckily feel nothing thanks to that epi. I call the nurse in and knowing my history of quick pushing with Olivia she tells me to wait for the doctor.

By 2:20 p.m. the doctor arrives and we're ready to start pushing. The first contraction comes and we push. We wait for a second contraction we push again and Lucas Truman Cooper arrives at 2:28 p.m.

See my birthmark? Left thigh. Mommy loves it.

CCD cutting the cord with his tattered shirt.

And just like Olivia's birth, I had to force CCD to pick up the "nice camera" and "real camcorder" and use them instead of his freaking blackberry camera for which he hoards pictures that he never downloads or backups anywhere. Burns me up just thinking about how many memories bite the dust when he upgrades his phone every 12-18 months.

Lucas' heart rate was steady and calm during all of the induction and labor, but just after delivery his heart rate shot up and the nurse gave him to me right away for skin-to-skin to regulate his heart rate down. I took the opportunity to try to latch him on to nurse. He latched and his little heart went right to normal rate.

Soon after Olivia arrived with Charm City Grandma, and Charm City Great-Grandma and we were able to take our first family picture--although Lucas is hidden and nursing.

Notice that Olivia donated her "Big Sister' sticker to Daddy as soon as she saw him.

I am not sure what my hair is doing or why I have that facial expression, but hey it captured the moment.

About an hour and a half after delivery the nurse gave me my choice of emptying my bladder. I chose to try to get up and walk to the bathroom since the epidural was wearing off. She helped me stand up, we practiced walking in place and then we started toward the bathroom when about halfway there, I told CCD we needed his extra help--and apparently in the next second my eyes rolled back, my face went limp, my color faded, and I fainted right then and there. CCD was already up to help me and caught me just in time to get me back to the bed. I woke up to him telling me to wake up and then rushing to get Olivia out of the room as all of the L&D nurses rushed into my room. I was OUT of it. I thought I was asleep at home in my own bed and he was trying to wake me up and I was pissed. I love my sleep. The first thing I said when I regained consciousness was "man, that was a good sleep" which the nurses found hilarious.

You see, this is what happens when your distended bladder presses on your recently emptied uterus. Yep. It scares your husband A LOT. I will never forget how CCD looked at me, petrified that I had fainted and for an instant had possibly left him with two kids. We laugh about it now, but he was visibly shaken on both fronts. He was also upset that I had opted to walk to the bathroom with dignity instead of taking the bedpan option. But now with this fainting episode I had no choice but to take the dreaded catheter. Ugh.
And in that moment CCD and I realized that having 2 kids is truly a blessing with which we can be completely satisfied. With two healthy pregnancies and deliveries--neither of us will ever take any part of the miracle of the entire childbirth experience AND recovery for granted ever again.

More than Twice the Work...

2011-04-20T14:05:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed, that I haven't been around here much. I log onto my Google Reader everyday but am still way behind on reading my favorite blogs too...about 535 posts behind to be exact, but I am slowly making a dent each day. Today I got the count down to 365 posts! Whoo hoo!

I am definitely taking my time and enjoying little baby Lucas this second time around in motherhood and maternity leave. Also balancing two kids is crazy and exhausting! Instead of feeling like twice the work it actually feels like 3-4 times the work. Olivia is talking more and more (now in sentences) and her energy level and entertainment needs are through the roof. She also has realized that she has the freedom to climb out of her twin bed--and travel to our room to wish us a "GOOD mornin'!" This morning we got our wake up visit at 5 a.m. Luckily, Daddy is in charge of cutting her off at the pass (if I hear the door squeak or catch her headed our way in the video monitor) and escorting her back to the bed. Olivia's been better lately, but during our first few nights with Lucas, I think she thought she was missing out on a party in our room with the new baby and bassinet. She loves him and accepted him as part of the family immediately. Now if we could just convince her that he can't fulfill her constant requests for "hi-fives?" just yet. haha.

Olivia is a wonderful big sister-- helpful and full of kisses.

Olivia has earned the new nickname "Tazmanian Devil" as she is a one-man, smiling, giggling, wrecking crew. Our first night in the hospital was a nice little preview of the MAYHEM that is our mornings (before the nanny arrives), evenings (after the nanny departs), and our weekends (when the nanny is off). We tried to have a nice family dinner with our new addition--just the four of us. Lucas was easy--he was asleep. I just relaxed in my deluxe, comfy hospital bed eating and Daddy had to do all of the chasing, scolding, and "sit still" and "wait" and feeding, and cleaning up. By the end of the meal he was exhausted, frustrated, and proclaimed it the "worst meal ever!" All I could do was laugh. Charm City Daddy then decided to bail early b/c he had to get Olivia home and in bed because he "couldn't take much more of this." He stayed home with her and I spent both of my nights in the hospital with just little Lucas in perfect silence, with room service, awesome nurses and techs, and premium cable television. PURE. BLISS.

But alas it all came to an end when Lucas and I arrived home from the hospital--on a Friday afternoon, which meant CCD and I would have to balance both kids over the weekend. Needless to say, after our first weekend with two kids we couldn't be more excited to see a Monday morning! We now find ourselves living from "nanny time" to "nanny time."

Lucas on the other hand--is quite easy at this stage. Eat, sleep, poop in that order. He is staying more alert in his 3rd week and putting on weight like a champion boxer. I am enjoying dressing him up. Oh and despite what everyone says--I am here to say that BOYS ARE FUN TO DRESS UP TOO! We've been getting in some good laughs at his little outfits...particularly the white button up shirt.

Check him out in mommy's impromptu photo shoot on her bed. haha.

Stay tuned for more Lucas pics, updates and the birth story.

Lucas Is In Da Buildin'

2011-04-06T16:55:00.000-04:00

He's Here!

Lucas Truman Cooper
Born March 30, 2011 , 2:28 p.m.
6lbs. 15 oz. 21.5 inches long

And we could not be happier.

We're Going In...

2011-03-30T00:16:00.001-04:00

We're going in and the little one is coming O-U-T.

After my Monday appointment with my OB revealed I am "favorable" for an induction, I've decided that we're going to evict little Lucas on Wednesday, March 30--his due date. Hallelujah.

Without getting too personal I feel like I am SO close to going naturally--water breaking on its own and all--just like the first time with Olivia. I am sore, stiff, and very uncomfortable and looking forward to the way all of these aches magically disappear with the delivery of a child. Bring it on. My quick recovery last time really amazed me. I was literally in the gym and feeling normal within 2 weeks--baby steps of course.

Today, I stayed home from work to grocery shop, vacuum, bleach, sterilize, mop, dust, and wipe my three-story home down within an inch of its life. I don't know where I got the burst of energy but I feel much better knowing it is taken care of. Charm City Daddy is of course angry at me and wanted me to relax, but how could I with all of those tasks on my mind? Plus if he really cared--he would have had it done or done it himself, OR allow my mom to do it while I'm in the hospital, but will he? Nope.

Olivia has been a delightful riot the past couple of days reminding us how much she has grown. A new baby is really going to change the dynamic of our home and family. I can't wait!

Overdramatizing the camera flash, as usual.

We're getting lots of mileage out of the "big sister" book at bedtime.

Stay tuned for the birth announcement and birth story (which I will not be blogging from the hospital). Wish us well.

Bedtime w/ Daddy

2011-03-27T21:27:00.000-04:00

Although Olivia's bedtime routine is pretty consistent whether it is Charm City Daddy presiding or me, I always enjoy seeing the way CCD adds his own little special touches.

He reads books in his own way. He puts on the extra big pajamas. He leaves hair bows in her hair. He forgets to use overnight diapers, occasionally. And now that Olivia is in the big girl bed, he spends an extra 60 seconds with her as she closes her eyes to sleep.

Olivia loves it and puts her arm on daddy--keeping him from easily sliding away. Being the video monitor stalker I am--of course I watch it all go down. Observe...

See him in motion trying to slide away? haha. Never easy. Such a good daddy.

39 week Bump Update

2011-03-27T21:11:00.000-04:00

...A pic of me last week. Ready to pop. Any minute.

False Start...

2011-03-27T20:54:00.000-04:00

False start. On the fetus. Repeat first down.

I have been timing contractions here and there as they come--waiting for the magic "5 minutes apart, 1 minute duration, 1 hour long" goal. Although I wasn't keeping perfect time, I thought last night was building up to something---until we got to the 45 minute mark.

Here's the contraction log from my iPhone's Labor Mate app.

Mar 26, 2011 10:34 PM    Duration: 01:08 Frequency: ---

Mar 26, 2011 10:45 PM    Duration: 00:44 Frequency: 11:13 * missed one in there.

Mar 26, 2011 10:49 PM    Duration: 00:42 Frequency: 03:19

Mar 26, 2011 10:54 PM    Duration: 01:00 Frequency: 05:06

Mar 26, 2011 11:03 PM    Duration: 01:06 Frequency: 09:45

Mar 26, 2011 11:12 PM    Duration: 01:17 Frequency: 08:26

Mar 26, 2011 11:26 PM    Duration: 00:38 Frequency: 14:36

This little run completely exhausted me and I fell asleep after and was not awakened by any more pain.

Stilllllllllll waiting on you Little Lucas. Now my fear is that he will be so big that he'll quickly outgrow all of the cute newborn clothes we have for him. It's silly, I know. Plus I just force him into the clothes anyway and he'll be a little baby "Hulk." hehe.

Get O-U-T.

2011-03-21T23:30:00.000-04:00

I'm exhausted, in constant back and pelvic pain, and ready to have this B-A-B-Y. It's all I can do to try to make it to my 39 week, 1 day appointment on Wednesday. That is the earliest she promised to get things going, if you know what I mean. Although--honestly--I hope it doesn't come to that. It frightens me.

When I was pregnant with Olivia--I actually went into labor on that day--and thus missed my afternoon appointment. I would settle for Wednesday, but soon would be SO much better.

While I appreciate the compliments of how I'm carrying a perfect little basketball (although I'm only 5 lbs behind my all-over weight gain with O), my back hurts and I can't walk properly or even more than a snail's pace.

It's sad really. I had the day off and Charm City Daddy tried to entice me to the mall today (probably to secretly get me to walk the baby out) to buy me an iPad2 and I reluctantly agreed (love my gadgets) thinking all the while about all of the walking involved. That damn thing was sold out--of course it was--DUH! If I weren't in so much pain I would have realized this and come to my senses before agreeing to do all of that walking which required two rest stops on benches and a random makeup counter stool.

Time to bring out the old hip hop song...."Come baby. Come baby. Baby come, come!"

He Got Me.

2011-03-21T23:08:00.000-04:00

My sweet, thoughtful husband managed to pull together a surprise baby shower for me and baby Lucas on Saturday.

I was shocked, touched---and incredibly grateful. I even cried.

With the help of my parents and younger brother (otherwise known as "Marcus" Stewart or "Benny" Crocker for his culinary and presentation skills) an intimate group of our very best friends were gathered together at my parent's house.

How did Charm City Daddy do it? How did he get me! I am so thankful that he did. It was nice not to have to think about anything--the nursery redo and toddler room have been enough.

We were headed to my parents' house on the premise that he'd watch the NCAA tourney games with my dad--and I'd likely pay Homegoods a visit with my mom and O in tow. Right before we left, he asked what I was going to wear--hinting that I looked cute at a friend's shower the weekend before and I should wear my brown riding boots again. To that I said a big-fat "HA! I'd rather be comfortable" and I remained in my gray sweatpants and driving moccasins-a decision I later regret as CCD had a friend photographing the shower. Nice.

I admit I am a hard person to surprise and plan around---but he did it. Pics to come as soon as we get them.

Sharing is Caring

2011-03-21T22:43:00.000-04:00

On top of all of the new changes our growing family will soon face with the addition of little Lucas (come OUT boy!)---Olivia started a nanny share this week.

Now, if you've been reading this blog from the get-go you know Charm City Daddy and I are well-versed in the at-home child care department. As you may recall we've had an au pair (let go), a live-out (moved), a live-in (fired!), and now our latest live-out nanny has evolved into a nanny share.

That's right, our nanny is SO wonderful another family has also recognized it and they proposed a nanny share with their 16-month old son--who by the way is super sweet, smiley, and A-DORABLE. Olivia thinks he is the little baby brother we told her was coming soon. Imagine her surprise when her real brother arrives, much smaller--and oh, yeah BROWN. haha. I love kids. When Olivia doesn't call her new friend "boy" or "brother" we try to get her to call him by his name or at least "buddy." It's really cute.

Our nanny is such a great match for our family and lifestyle, I was a bit hesitant (at first) to share her. But understanding Olivia's need and desire for socialization, and seeing the nanny's enthusiasm about the idea of a share (not to mention additional income for her) how could I refuse? I am happy for her and think it will work out well for everyone--especially the kids. And that's all that matters.

Big Night in Big Girl Bed!

2011-03-17T23:51:00.000-04:00

Wednesday evening was Olivia's first night in her big girl bed!!

Although her room is not completely done, we felt it was done enough. We are still waiting on many things to arrive. Stay tuned for the reveal--hopefully soon.

A friend who has 4 very young children warned me that Olivia's transition was going to be the most uneventful transition and all of my anxiety was for nothing. Boy was she right.

For weeks we had been getting O excited about her new digs, telling her she would "go night, night" and "bedtime" in her new bed, so when the time came she thought it was another dress rehearsal and visit. It wasn't until I handed her the bedtime "trinity" (pacifier, lamb blanket buddy, glow/musical seahorse) and then climbed into bed with her to read her one of her favorite stories, If You Give a Pig a Party, that she realized she would actually be sleeping in the big bed.

When the story was over, I climbed out of the bed--which required scooting all the way to the foot of the bed to the storage bench thanks to the extra long bedrail I securely installed. This was--NOT easy (in fact it was painful) for a 9-month preggo--and I while I enjoyed lying in bed with my little girl--I will not do this again until after I have the baby.

Daddy came in, kissed her, and we closed the door shut (yes, all the way--that's how we roll)--and I began the video monitor stalking. She fell right to sleep.

For now I have the video monitor on her, but I'll have to move it back to the nursery when the time comes for Lucas to use his crib. I haven't decided whether I will continue to use a monitor for Olivia as I like to keep the bedroom doors closed since our house carries so much sound because of the hardwood floors/steps throughout.

At about the 4-hour mark at 11pm, Charm City Daddy and I peeked in on her to give her a kiss. She woke up but went right back to sleep. We closed the door again and then squealed with pride and sorrow that our little baby has grown up!

For a while, I stared at the empty nursery--what a weird feeling it was to see that room empty and another bedroom door closed and occupied. Nonetheless--now that the space is free, it's time to prepare and refresh it for little Lucas.

The following morning, Olivia woke up at her usual 7:30 a.m. and not realizing she was in a bed, she actually stayed in it (standing up) and threw her the trinity on the floor, just like she did when she was in the crib--just to look puzzled and say "uh oh, what happened?" pointing to it when we enter her room. She thinks she is so clever.

Here she is the next morning. Being her usual silly, dramatic self about the camera flash.

We are so proud of her. So far night #2 is going well. I'm glad we did this well ahead of little Lucas using the nursery, so Olivia doesn't feel kicked to the curb.

I Caved...

2011-03-16T01:24:00.000-04:00

I made my rug selection for Olivia's room.

I caved and went with the WHITE flokati and boy is it W-H-I-T-E. It arrived today and as soon as it went down in the room, I took a look around and thought "how did this room get sooo white?"

How did I go from a nice balance (in my head) of pink, white, and navy to this?

Are you wondering how I rationalized a white rug for a kid's room? Here's how--its synthetic--machine washable (although at 8 x11 it ain't gonna fit in my washer/dryer), and the reviews were very positive for use in kids' rooms--so I'm not the only idiot out there.

I ended up going with this one... from Home Decorator's for $270 delivered (free shipping and on sale).

I decided against pink wool shag--b/c I thought it would be too much pink. Then I decided against white wool shag b/c I couldn't find one that was truly white--not beige or ivory. It turns out for me different shades of white AND pink in the same room is apparently is asking too much.

So--Olivia will be doing little snow angels on her new rug instead of on our kitchen floor now.

And no I can't show you pics of the room b/c it is STILL not done. I still haven't found a mirror I like, haven't made it to IKEA for the bookshelf, and still waiting on roman shades to arrive---and so much more. I'm about to give up though and move Olivia in this week.

Afterall the most important thing is ready to go--the big girl bed!

Todder Room Update: Rug Dilemma

2011-03-10T20:12:00.000-05:00

I am still working on Olivia's toddler room and like having this baby--ready to get it over with.

My latest dilemma is picking a rug that 1) fits my budget ($200 or less) 2) suits the room's size (6x9 or pref 8x10) and 3) the design motif--AND 4) is also kid-friendly.

If had my way...I'd go with a chic, white wool shag/flokati. Like this look from decorpad...

Growing up my mom had white flokati rugs she adored and kept ~~perhaps too far~~ beyond their decade of origin--the 70's. They are lovely indeed but also impractical.

A toddler's room needs a rug with color/pattern to hide dirt, but I've ruled out the blues, so that leaves more pink! So far, I'm thinking about these selections which are on sale with free shipping at Target.com

Pink Stripes--$129 and on the small side at 5x7--realistically, I could fit two of these in the room with plenty of floor space on the perimeter for radiator, bed, dresser, bookshelf, etc. Hmm.

And this one is actually camouflage (also 5x7 and $129), but the pattern is interesting and could work since it combines many shades of pink which satifies my neurotic anxiety about the different shades of pink in the room. I asked Charm City Daddy what the pattern looked like to him..he said "dancing pigs or something." What do you think?

Finally at $11.99 I'm tempted to also buy this bear rug in addition to whatever choice I make for a main rug b/c it's fun and pink and animal shaped. I'd put it at the foot of O's bed as you walk into the room.

I still may choose a synthetic, short fiber, pink shag rug....I'm just a little leery of what kind of crap, dirt, toys could get caught in its fibers.

I'm giving myself a deadline of this weekend to make a choice. Feel free to chime in with your opinion in the comments.

Milk Truck Down

2011-03-08T16:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday while parked, our white suburban, aka "the milk truck, " was hit by a woman not paying attention and making an incredibly wide turn. Her car hit the driver's side door of our vehicle and the quarter panel above the wheel. Nice.

After the accident, the door would only open 8-10 inches--just enough for Charm City Daddy to squeeze out (a definite no-go for my preggo booty) and it wouldn't close all the way with a solid 3 inch gap leaving him to drive while holding the door closed. Nice.

So the milk truck is in the shop for the next 2-3 weeks, and we are pimping a blue Chevy HHR. The HHR should stand for you look "hella hella, ridiculous" in this clown car. So if I go into labor while our car is in the shop we get to pack not one, but TWO enormous car seats into the back of this blue pimp wagon rental. Nice.

36 weeks

2011-03-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

We had an OB appointment today and we learned a lot.

1. Baby Lucas is still due March 30--but could come early on his own.
2. Baby Lucas is still a boy (No April Fool's jokes or surprises on that one).
3. Baby Lucas is head down and to quote the doctor today "Whooah his head is right there! Very low! You must feel like you're carrying a bowling ball, huh?" Umm YES!
4. At 35 weeks, 6 days Baby Lucas is 5 pounds 13 oz and will be between 7 and 8 lbs by the time he arrives.
5. Baby Lucas is likely to come early but the doctor will not induce me a day earlier than 39 weeks--no matter what---and I'm okay with that.

Although, my back hurts and I feel beat up from the inside out from all of the movement AND I would love to see the little man--who seems to look just like Olivia from the 3D pics (btw)--after reading this article about babies born before 39 weeks from the Wall Street Journal today--I am in no hurry to speed up my comfort at the expense of his health. No thanks, I'll gladly suffer.

It's a mental game from here on out. I gotta be strong.

18 Month Stats

2011-03-01T22:08:00.001-05:00

Dear Olivia,

Even with poison ivy you are the happiest toddler I know! Your vocabulary is off the charts and you communicate so well with us that we have to remind you to use your words when you get excited or upset.

Sometimes we are surprised at what we hear from you:
- "Uh, oh what happened?"(usually after you have intentionally dismantled or dropped something)
- "It's okay. It's okay" (often comforting a toy)
- "Are you hong-wee?" (which means I am hungry, mom or dad and ready to eat)

We have had to reteach you how to answer yes or no questions as you confuse the meaning of shaking your head and saying "no." It usually goes something like:

Olivia: Nana, pease dah-dee?
Daddy: You want a banana?
Olivia (shaking her head looking daddy dead in the eye) No.
Daddy: (puzzled) okaaay. (starts to put banana away)
Olivia: Nana, pease dah-dee? pease?! pease?!
Daddy: Oooh you meant (nodding) "yes!"
Olivia: yes! (now nodding)

We also call you "Mo the mover" because, for no reason at all, you love picking up your little pint size stools and chairs while complaining to us with a disgruntled face that they are "heavy" and moving them around the room. Yet another thing I need to capture on video.

Finally, your little brother is just days away from arriving and despite all of the library and purchased books about siblings, big sisterhood, new babies and more, I'm still not sure you get it. I have no doubt however, that you will be a great big sister and a lot of fun as you tend to prefer to play with fun-loving boys than possessive and bossy girls. I don't blame you.

Here are your 18-month stats:

Height: 33.75 inches (95 percentile)
Weight: 25 lbs 14 oz. (50-75 percentile)
Head Circumference: 47.3 cm (50-75 percentile)

Love you so much and soaking up as much time as we can with just you before your baby brother arrives!

Love,

Mama

A Peek & Poison Ivy

2011-03-01T21:25:00.000-05:00

I think there has been some confusion...I keep getting compliments on Olivia's new room--but I haven't posted any pictures of her room yet, because it's not done! In my last post about the room, I included an inspiration pic that gave me an idea about using grosgrain ribbon as crown moulding trim. That was inspiration--not the room.

As of Sunday the room was looking like this....

How is that for a reality check? Nowhere close to finished, but look at my awesome mom--painting up a storm. We had a nice little system. I prepped and taped and she painted. As you can see we are also painting furniture. I decided to use the dresser and nightstand from a set we already have after seeing another blogger/designer pull off an impressive makeover with a very similar set. We're painting just two pieces a soft pink and changing out the hardware to clear/glass pulls. I think the french provincial style will ultimately work well in the room.

We've done a lot-- painted walls, covered cornices, upholstered headboard, hung curtains, assembled bed, assembled toy chest, painted nightstand and dresser drawers

I still have plenty left to do--which includes more painting and purchasing a rug, mirror, and a bookcase.

It's safe to say Olivia is getting impatient too. She visits "my wooom" everytime she passes by it and sits in one of her pink chairs. Here she is during this morning's visit...

What's that on her face you ask? POISON IVY discovered in the park down the street. City living can have its threats of the wilderness too. Thank you Baltimore. Luckily it has not bothered her terribly with itchiness and she enjoys mommy putting on the Caladryl lotion aka "pinky, pinky."

On a side note, can you count the different shades of pink you see in the picture of above? I'm trying earnestly to embrace it and not make Olivia's toddler room so matchy-matchy, boring-boring--but it IS an exercise in self-control. Its the shade of pink grosgrain ribbons that bothers me most and I may utlimately change to white or navy ribbon. Maybe I'll take a poll at the end of the project and let YOU decide what I should do?

Making Progress...

2011-02-24T22:00:00.001-05:00

We're making progress on Olivia's toddler room. Although I have the plan set with a few deviations here and there---I am still running across inspiration pics that I love--like this one...

I have quite a bit of grosgrain ribbon I got in bulk to do some other things in the room, but wouldn't it be neat to trim the crown molding with it--the way this designer has used paint?

Hopefully I will have some progress on the room to show you after this weekend. With what little my mom (thanks mama!) and I have done so far, Charm City Daddy walked in last weekend and said, "Whoah it's starting to feel different in here already. And it's really girly this time." I beamed with pride.

I think after a gender neutral nursery, O deserves a girly room. As soon as her room is all set, I can focus on refreshing the nursery for baby Lucas, removing O's photos and girly stuff, and moving his things in.

8-month Belly Pic

2011-02-24T21:00:00.000-05:00

I haven't taken nearly as many pictures with baby number two---or even put in the effort into getting decent ones. It's too bad because I'm definitely carrying little Lucas differently than Olivia. Most of the weight gain has stayed in my belly area and I've even been able to wear my pre-pregnancy jeans with the help of a belly band which was an impossibility at even 5 months pregnant with Olivia.

Here's a pic of me over the weekend in my basic, comfy go-to H&M Mama maternity gear, white tee with puffy sleeves and black stretch pants.

I try to correct my posture and not waddle but can you see how my back hurts constantly? C'mon March 30th--4 weeks, 6 days!

Olivia's Latest Obsession: "Monkey Dooo!"

2011-02-14T16:09:00.000-05:00

If she isn't chanting the theme song Caillou ~~*in near perfect pitch*~~ (that's a proud mama speaking), Olivia is constantly lobbying for the TV channel to be changed to her favorite programming. It is quite easy to fulfill these requests when the programming can be found On Demand (under the Kids menu for Sprout-PBS)--and even easier to live-with when they are only 5 minutes long--like her latest obsession, Monkey See, Monkey Do aka "Monkey Dooo!" This mini-show combines two things Olivia loves---animals and dancing around. I highly recommend it.

Currently Craving: Ice

2011-02-11T16:38:00.000-05:00

How is that for an inexplicable, flavorless craving?

I actually bring glasses of ice cubes to bed at night and crunch away. I can even be found eating directly from an IKEA ice tray we have that makes perfect drink stir sticks while watching American Idol.

Charm City Daddy counts it my strangest craving of all. I tend to agree.

The Big 3-0!

2011-02-04T14:01:00.000-05:00

Lil' ole' me is turning the big 3-0 on Superbowl Sunday.

Not with much fanfare though, I am pregnant after all.

Yep, those hopes of whipping out those liquid leather croc-embossed leggings that I sported during my last trip to Vegas will not be part of celebration as planned. Not that the thought didn't cross my mind--hey, they ARE stretchy, but that would just be wrong.

To be honest, I've been approaching this milestone with much anxiety. I've really enjoyed being in my 20's. My older sister assures me, however, that the 30's are a great decade because you still can pass for your 20's but have the wisdom of the decade past.

That DID make me feel better.....and so did the thought of me buying myself something really grown-up to commemorate the milestone. You know, a big girl purchase... like crazy designer pumps ~~that I will hardly wear or freak out if the soles gets scratched up~~ or a designer purse ~~that will give me buyer's remorse within 24 hours~~.

I still can't rationalize the pumps...but the purse?? *evil laugh*

Enter... the Louis Vuitton Sofia Coppola Collection. My mouth has been watering over these for some time as Miss Sofia perfectly combined the classic barrel with the convenience of a shoulder strap. Problem is price..a minimum $2k+ investment. Ouch! But oh, so lovely, yes?

Enter...the new Tory Burch Robinson Collection. For an easier-to-live-with $500, I get the same look, function and even a fun color like green!

And maybe--just maybe if I love, love, love it and use it constantly--I will have less remorse investing in the Sofia Coppola bag later in a more neutral color, when I've saved up a enough pennies in my guilt-free bag fund. Maybe.

It's fun to dream.

Proud Mama

2011-02-01T00:07:00.000-05:00

I did that. And I am one proud mama.
I cornrowed Olivia's hair! I'm not good yet, but as a french braid native, I am finally getting the hang of it.

This is the second week she has sported this particular style, and I snapped a few shots after I refreshed all of the braids on Saturday. It's increasingly hard to get good pictures of my little spunky subject. She hates the flash.

Here are some tips, if you are thinking about committing to this hair style for your little one:

Don't expect your toddler to sit still. You have to incrementally train your little one to sit still with less-involved hair styles as they grow up. Olivia's hair has been fussed over whether it was just hair bows or plats since she was 7 weeks old.
Prepare a snack, juice, or bottle.
TV can be a good distraction. Olivia gets to watch her favorite show(s).
Playtime is a good time. We typically embark on the one-hour commitment between 10-11 a.m. as it is one solid hour away from 12 noon nap time. She will be READY for that nap too. Btw, it doesn't always take an hour, sometimes less.
Give her a break. At the halfway point, if possible, stop and kiss the baby, let them run around for about 2-3 minutes (but not too long) and then refocus and get it done.
When you're done, let 'em run. I remember as a young girl getting my hair braided (usually during the summer months) after sitting still all of that time, I couldn't wait to break free and run.

You should also try to avoid interruptions and distractions yourself so you can concentrate on getting the task at hand done as soon as possible. So that means no taking phone calls, watching TV, etc.

Two Helpful Tools: the Bebe Pod and metal clips (keeps hair you're not braiding out of the way)

Above all take it easy and don't stress yourself or your child out (or the rest of your family) over getting this done. Every part won't be perfectly straight and symmetrical and every braid won't be perfect. Oh well. There's always next time.

You Know You're Parents When...

2011-01-26T14:41:00.002-05:00

You Know You are Parents When...

1. You quote and sing cartoon phrases or Disney movies several times a day.
2. You suggest Disney movies to non-parents as "really worth watching!"
3. You look forward to watching animated movies as much as your children do.
4. You both get swept away and cry at animated movies like "Up" ("really worth watching!!!") and find yourself watching it long after your daughter has departed the room and found another activity to do.
5. You find yourself looking for more animated movies to love instead of real, grown-up ones.

We Shall Call Him...

2011-01-22T22:02:00.000-05:00

...Lucas!

I've always loved that name. It was a favorite 80's movie of mine too. Classic.

We've settled on the first name for our baby boy, but the middle name is the kicker. I am stumped.

I want it to start with a "T" to match Charm City Daddy's initials, but nothing seems to feel or sound just right. It needs to have some meaning. Olivia's middle name is Grace for God's grace, and the whole effortless charm, beauty, charisma thing I hope she has.

My favorite middle name so far has been Tobias--but CCD hates it. My younger brother burst into laughter when I told him that middle name and said, "You really like old slave names don't you?"

Not quite what I had imagined for my son.

Ahhh that was a good one! We laughed good and hard about that one for a while. My brother is right. I like old, biblical names with meaning and this one also happens to be the name Kunta Kinte was given as his slave name. I can't help it!

So anyway...I'm taking suggestions...what you got?

Growing Up Too Fast

2011-01-22T21:40:00.000-05:00

I am in complete denial that my child is growing up. Olivia is basically a teenager.

Okay, so she's 17 months--not quite a teenager and from what I hear about girls from age 13-18, I should be very thankful right now---but STILL!

It blows my mind how smart and independent she can be. Since she could walk, she's performed small tasks for us like tossing things (like her own diapers) in "la basura," cleaning up her own toys, spilled drinks... (this photo was taken before her first birthday)

That's why I wanted to get her cleaning supplies for Christmas. She loves to help mama. It also helps that Tiana the princess cleaned up that old sugar mill with a broom while singing "Almost There" Olivia's favorite song. Everytime O gets the broom in her hand she raises her other arm and sings the BIG final note of the the song "THHHEEEEEERE". At first it took me a while to make the connection. Hilarious I tell you.

She has all of the animal sounds and names nailed and it makes for good car trip or diaper changing conversation. She loves Baby Can Read. We don't follow it to a tee, but see the benefits of her recognizing and naming objects, body parts, and some words. Now we're working on colors and letters. So far, all letters are "E" to her.

She has an excellent sense of where things belong and is really good about replacing objects to their original home. This makes her a puzzle lover and puzzle whiz. You have to watch her though, because sometime she misplaces the puzzle pieces just to say "Oh No!" frown and then make a funny, puzzled face at you. It is so hard not to laugh in those instances.

She is a real bookworm since most of her social activity and interaction with other children comes from the library and bookstore storytimes during the week. She also LOVES these little books, and carries them from room to room in the house. They were an excellent birthday gift from a neighbor.

Occasionally I hear her reciting the stories to herself (in half baby speak, half english) while she is playing. Have you ever noticed how terribly sad those nursery rhymes can be? Olivia's sad reaction to "Old Mother Hubbard" is my absolute favorite. I must capture it on video.

With all of this development, I am not sure that she understands that there is a baby brother in mommy's belly no matter how often we tell her. Instead she is more entertained by squeezing my now outie belly button and giving me belly zerberts often disturbing her baby brother who immediately kicks back.

We are really enjoying this time with her alone--knowing that it all will change in a matter of two and a half months.

2011 is here

2011-01-03T20:35:00.000-05:00

Now that 2011 has clearly arrived, so has the realization that in less than 90 days my second child will also make his arrival.

Um. Yikes.

Particularly when I think about the non-progress of Olivia's toddler room and the fact that she will be sleeping in it come May...I get a tad anxious.

Also we are getting pressure from friends to have an informal baby shower because of the gender change of baby number two. I don't know if you could call it a shower. More like a party where folks 'just bring diapers and boy clothes' since we have all the gear we need--except perhaps a double stroller? I am very reluctant and it's not a priority, so we will see what happens.

Charm City Daddy and are starting to get a little giddy about our little family too. While doing some of our holiday shopping we picked up a few little dude clothes, and I must say the H&M baby clothes win the style award. Good stuff there my friends.

Also over the holidays I got to hold, kiss, and smell the sweet baby breath of my new niece, Camille! Loved it.

She is not asleep but kept grimacing and closing her eyes to my camera flash.

One thing is for sure--we are taking a serious break on the baby-making for a good long while after this little man pops out March 30th--ish. And if either of us gets the inkling for more babies in the next 3-4 years---someone please tell us to get a puppy.

The Money Shot

2010-12-27T12:15:00.000-05:00

Ahh...this brings me joy as a parent. Olivia's first Santa encounter...

We arrived during the morning hours, but Santa appears to know it's gonna be a long day. We were his second crier in a row. LOL.

Even funnier...she said "Cheeese" to the cameras through the tears and even told Santa "Chay Choo" for the free coloring book he handed her as she departed.

I ended up sitting next to Santa to calm her down a bit--but her expression of fear remained the same.

Ahh gotta love it. We have done our job as parents.

The Christmas Photo: Outakes

2010-12-08T22:31:00.000-05:00

Getting a good Christmas card photo this year was even more difficult than last year.

Perhaps we should have hired a professional photographer rather than Charm City Grandma who cannot operate my SLR, and squeezing it all in 5 minutes before dashing to a Christmas Party and a Ravens game.

At any rate---I just HAVE to share an outake that cracked me up when I saw it.

"Mommy, does this mean I'm on the naughty list?"

Pictured above: A tired, fed up papa, a threatening mama (mid-threat), and a child in headlights being scolded for not sitting perfectly still and smiling on cue. Good times.

Maybe we'll try again with another photo shoot later....maybe not. Maybe I'll just use this one. Either way, you have to stop and laugh sometimes.

Olivia's Night Out

2010-12-08T21:30:00.000-05:00

Last night, our little family (along with Charm City Grandma and my little bro) attended a benefit for the Carson Scholars Fund.

Quick side note: CSF is one of our favorite charitable organizations that we support whenever we can, and Dr. Carson and his wife Candy (and their whole family for that matter) are the kindest, smartest, most inspirational people you will ever meet.

The event was a consignment sale and fashion show for which Olivia made her modeling debut and I made my maternity modeling debut. Olivia loved being the center of attention and stressing me out.

I wish I could say Olivia clearing her throat on stage for attention while other models were being featured was the highlight of the night, but it wasn't.What was the highlight? My mom's reaction to winning this coat for a $20 raffle ticket.

I wish we could have videotaped it. She was in disbelief that she actually won and made Dr. Carson repeat the raffle ticket numbers over and over again.

Priceless.

Character Building

2010-12-08T20:44:00.002-05:00

There is no doubt in my mind that the following picture will be used to humiliate and humble Olivia in the future---most likely at her wedding slide show as was the case for me.

Olivia is just getting a good hair brushing by Charm City Grandma here, but my historic humility photo was my mama hot combing my hair at age 8--probably with this same expression on her face.

Also observe the face. When and where do children learn to use this sad face?

Cracks me up every time and I just mimic her and make it back. With the hat and all, my younger brother says O looks like Fat Albert's Mushmouth character in that photo.

Hilarious and I tend to agree. "Hey, hey, hey!"

Currently Craving: Sweet Tea

2010-12-08T17:35:00.001-05:00

Although caffeine-intake is forbidden and/or limited for the most part in pregnancy, I could never make it an entire 9 months without my sweet tea.

Whole Foods sells a delicious decaf sweet tea, but sometimes, some days there is no suitable substitute. Today is one of those days.

I also recommend these sweet teas too, Turkey Hill and Gold Peak which are found in your refrigerated grocery aisles. Mmm.

I Jinxed It.

2010-12-08T17:15:00.014-05:00

Just a week ago, I blogged about our new nanny who had been with us for about 4 weeks at that point. Just 5 days later we fired her.

I think my blogging jinxed it.

I waited to blog about our her until that point to see how things would transition, but Olivia never warmed up to her--her bad attitude with us only got increasingly worse (i.e. teeth sucking, laughter, eye rolling to weekly feedback about her techniques). French-attitude? Perhaps.

We tried to find middle ground to her very structured technique and our parenting style but it got to the point where (even with short-goodbyes or distractions) Olivia was terrified to stay with her (and see us leave) which has never been the case before and the nanny would get upset when we actually tried to console and comfort our own child. I kept thinking, who is the parent/employer here?

Our feeling was that Olivia should have warmed up to a presumably good nanny (that lived with us) by 5 weeks. This was not the case, so we had to listen to our instincts and our child.

It's too bad, but her reaction to our news that we were giving her 2-weeks notice only reaffirms that we made the right decision. She packed up and moved out of the house at that very moment, bumping her belongings down the stairs from our third floor where she stayed and making noise right up until her 12 midnight departure. We told her she was welcome to stay with us until she found another family--as we will not be seeking another live-in, but nope. She wanted to go out with a bang--yet another indication of her stubborn ways.

Luckily we're close to the holidays, and I will have an extended break to take care of Olivia thanks to my job. We hope to start the New Year with a new live-out nanny. But until then--it's part-time help from Charm City Grandma (thanks mom!) and good ole trusty Charm City Daddy!

Currently Craving: Buffalo Wings

2010-12-01T17:38:00.007-05:00

Oooh, I love me some buffalo wings and particularly during pregnancy. It mostly hits me in the first trimester--but I feel a comeback binge coming on. I have been known to order them for carryout at lunchtime at work. Yep, that's bad...but hey at least I go boneless in my business attire--although I prefer bone-in.

I like them very saucy, slightly spicy, with ranch dressing and celery, and I prefer the more tender, meaty wingette part of the wing not the mini drumstick.

Guess who else shares my love for buffalo wings? Olivia! I gave her one after she kept begging thinking after she tastes how spicy it is that she wouldn't want it. Well, she cleaned the bone and asked for another.

Mini Scarf & Hat Set

2010-11-30T01:02:00.000-05:00

After combing through stores for a toddler-sized hat and scarf set for Olivia, I went to back to good ole trusty Etsy for an excellent selection of affordable handknit crafts.

In less than 3 days this little set arrived at my door.

And of course, I made Olivia model.

Oh and see the naked Christmas tree? Charm City Daddy surprised me by putting it up before I got home from work. Made my day.

Currently Craving: Pumpkin Spice Cake Doughnuts

2010-11-30T00:49:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day that these amazing, crackish doughnuts will be available.

Krispy Kreme only makes them for a limited time each year for the month of October and November.

I am not even a sweets person but I have eaten more of these over the course of the last 2 months than I care to share with you lovely readers. Take my word for it. I like them a LOT. For example, it's hard for me to drive past a Royal Farms knowing that they sell these bad boys in there. For their big season finale, I got two half dozen boxes from Sam's Club this weekend. Yep, $6 well spent.

Oooh and if you really want a treat....eat them with a cup of decaf coffee with vanilla latte creamer.
Mmmm!

The New Nanny

2010-11-30T00:41:00.000-05:00

She's from Paris, France but she's lived in the U.S. for 3 years on a student visa and is fluent in English. We were lucky to scoop her up from a DC family with three young girls (age 6, 3, 1) that she had been with for the last 3 years but the family is moving to the Midwest.

In contrast to Olivia's last nanny who was really Olivia's 3rd grandma, she is very strict and structured and it is all paying off. Olivia is thriving from the challenge and finally learning Baby Can Read! She's more polite and oh so happy to see me come home and tell the nanny "bye bye."

The only thing is, I don't think Olivia has caught on that the nanny actually lives with us---on the third floor. We went with a live-in nanny, yet again for the pending arrival of baby #2. It is was just so nice and so convenient to have someone around in the first few weeks, and it helped me sneak away to the gym quite often too. Speaking of gym postpartum, my silly sister told me she went to the gym 4 days postpartum but didn't really do anything. OMG. Good thing our mom is there to talk to sense into her. I think she realized that those narcotics (for contracting uterus pain- OUCH!) and postpartum girdles give you a false sense of security.

Back to the nanny--since this is now our 3rd nanny in a little over a year, here's what we've learned about what works for us:

1. Older, experienced nanny for the early stages (newborn - 9 months)
2. Younger, energetic, structured nanny for 10 months/walking and older
3. Live-In works if you set guidelines on work hours, food (mini-fridge), cleanliness, curfews, car access, can give them a private area of the house.
4. Live-Out works if they have reliable transportation and have some schedule flexibility.
5. Agencies: are helpful for screening, but can add costly overhead and excessive fees/wages--use referrals from friends, or nannies looking to exit their existing au pair/nanny agency.
6. Schedules, contracts, and detailed directions are a good thing. They give you both something to consult to be consistent.
7. You can never be clear enough about expectations and it will require some tweaking on a weekly basis at first, so plan to recap at week's end good or bad.
8. Finally even the best laid plans will change with your baby's needs so be flexible.

Chirren and Chittlins

2010-11-29T17:15:00.009-05:00

First of all Thanksgiving was fantastic. However, I took ZERO pictures. Sorry. I'm disappointed too.
But hey, here's a random recent pic of Olivia asking for "more muck peeease!" aka more milk, please.

Back to Thanksgiving--I am pooped just thinking about it. At this time I would like to "shout out" to all of the folks who spent lots of time on their feet preparing their Thanksgiving dinner for their families. I have done it only once before, but this was the first time as a preggo, and I had to stop a couple of times and pull up a stool and eat a snack just to make it through. I spent three hours alone at the kitchen sink cleaning Chitterlings on Wednesday night. Yes, you read that correctly. Chittlins people! My dad, bro and I are BIG fans. I season them with so much vinegar, lemon juice and hot sauce, and onion, you can barely taste them--but that's how I like 'em. When all of those spices combine enough to make your eyes weak (and mouth water) over the bowl. Ahh--the family delicacy comes but once (sometimes twice) a year--Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Charm City Daddy, O and I celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad, younger brother, and my mother-in-law came down with a little 5 year-old cousin to play with Olivia. With the exception of my dad's fried turkey, my little brother and I split the cooking responsibilities (WHOAH) and we ate at my parents' house while mom was in the Windy City tending to my sister and her new arrival, Camille Arielle! The "peanut" finally arrived on Tuesday, November 23rd at 6 lbs 3 oz.!

All in all, it was a wonderful 5-day weekend filled with some light holiday shopping and lots of family time with Olivia including a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

15 Month Stats

2010-11-22T22:15:00.000-05:00

Taking a "bubbies!" aka bubbles aka bath.

Here's Olivia's 15-month stats:

Height: 32.5 inches (90-95th percentile)
Weight: 24 lbs 7 ounces (50-75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 47.1 cm (75-90th percentile)

We're hot off a doctor's visit and feeling mighty good! Why? Our pediatrician was very impressed with Olivia's verbal skills! Olivia was her usual talkative self in the doctor's office too, carrying on a full conversation with her doctor and even asking her a few jibberish/real word questions of her own.

She uses some two word sentences and finds it hilarious when I actually respond the way she wants me to b/c I understand her. My favorite phrases so far...

"I gottit" if she drops something that she doesn't want anyone else to pick up--like trying to help me sweep with the dust pan. Sometimes she interchanges it with "I diddit" or "I do it."

"I ruv vue." We all know what that means. Melts you down to a puddle.

Last night, Charm City Daddy told her to run back from the front door and give Granddad a kiss before we left. She ran into the kitchen where my dad was and said "Mmmwah" in the air and ran out back of the room. Hilarious.

And there's nothing better than a baby that tells you it's bedtime or naptime when she is tired. She chants it like I always have as I carry her up the stairs to her bedroom (daddy chants too). To address my anxiety about messing up our perfect bedtime routine, the doctor suggested that we not change her to a toddler bed until after the new baby is ready to come out of the bassinett and into the crib at about 8 weeks old. This way she said i don't lose any unnecessary sleep in case there are issues with the transition. By then Olivia will be 21-22 months old. I hope that works.

Speaking of new baby..this boy is doing somersaults in my tummy!

AND...we are STILL waiting for my niece to arrive! Sorry sis! We just hope she doesn't arrive on Thanksgiving Day.

Lawd!

2010-11-17T23:49:00.001-05:00

That's all I could think of to describe this post.

Good lawd, I'm tired and a lot is going on, but as you can see above--we're all doing our best to hold it together. I could only imagine if I were amidst grad school right now as I had planned.

Last weekend I co-hosted a baby shower for a dear friend. I must admit it was a lot to take on while pregnant and balancing a busy time at work and the needs of a 15- month old (and husband), but it was FUN nonetheless--AND Charm City Daddy was a big help--and scored BIG husband points.

Olivia's development and transition into toddlerhood continues to amaze me. What happened to my baby? She's so grown up. She has full conversations with us now, although we usually can only understand the first and/or last word in the phrase she says. Example...

Me: Olivia, are you ready for some breakfast?

Olivia: Eat? Eat? ah nah doli sheh sheh Nana? (*Translation: Yes, can I eat a banana?)

Questions are answered with questions. Commands such as "No Olivia, don't touch!" are repeated back to us "Nonononononono" while she backs away or most times (keeps doing the forbidden thing).

And most recently this week scolding gets a dramatic facial reaction with her head tossed back and her hands to cover her face while fake crying. This did not go over well at dinner out last night. We looked like those parents.

We still have a hard time holding back laughter at some of her antics. Like last night, Olivia was in the middle of begging for a sip of my water, when the waitress stopped by just to drop off appetizer plates and Olivia stopped mid-whine, turned around and said perfectly and politely, "Thank You!" to the waitress and then turned around to continue begging to me. THAT was funny.

Overall her behavior is much improved over the direction it was heading for a while. We changed nannies recently for a number of reasons but mostly for O's need for structure and intentional teaching. More on the new nanny and that transition over the past 3 weeks later.

Meanwhile...I will tell you that the new nanny is Parisian and has a great sense of style and can braid O's hair (jackpot!). So now I come home to a mini-catwalk cutie.

I love the boots (a gift from mother-in-law), but they are already too small at size 5. We can't event zip them all the way up O's fat little calves. Last weekend we took O to Stride Rite kids shoe outlet where she attempted to pull every single box of shoes within her reach off of the shelves and I spent as much time chasing her and putting boxes back as I did searching for her size, and Charm City Daddy was yelling at me, "Babe, hurry up and let's get her OUT of here!" we found out she is a size 6 shoe! Is that not HUGE for a 15-month old?! I just find it baffling.

She takes after her mama, I guess. Big teeth. Big feet.

Speaking of big. I'm feeling big at just 21 weeks. My baby belly is officially "beyond the boobs" and I'm find myself more stiff and uncomfortable than the first go-round of pregnancy with Olivia. This pic was taken Oct. 24 (nearly 4 weeks ago) but you get the idea of my size--especially with those hypnotic stripes. Nice.

More to come on the new nanny, my new niece (coming soon this week, I HOPE), Thanksgiving, and my toddler bed transition anxiety.

And CONGRATS to my Miss America pageant "pow" Madonna on the arrival of her new son Jack Ryan! Yeah!

On Motherhood...

2010-11-03T16:39:00.001-04:00

I don't know if it's pregnancy or the experience of already being a mom, but these days I can hardly stand to hear people sentimentally talk about their mothers without crying my eyes out.

And boy, did Alphamom Chris Jordan get it right on her "16 Things I Have Learned About Being a Mother" post on Oct. 20th. I haven't even experienced some of the instances on the list--but the entire thing really resonates with me. Among my favorites on the post:

5: The healing power of a hug. Hugs rank right up there with baked goods.

7: You have an infinite reserve of patience. Yes, you will be tested. Yes, there will be times when you think you are right at that edge of your sanity. But then your kids will push right over to the other side and you realize, with surprised joy, that you have not strangled them nor has your head popped right off. And at that moment, you should feel proud.

12: Don’t wait for your house to be perfect to entertain. As long as you have children it never will be.

14: Cheerios. When your children are small you are required to carry around a container of them. Always. I am not sure if any kids actually eat the Cheerios. BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT!

15: Smile.

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-02T16:59:00.001-04:00

It was weekend chocked full of excitement to ~~exhaust~~ entertain our little energetic toddler!

We kicked off Halloween weekend early on Friday by letting Olivia wear part of her BumbleBee costume out and about--since it's essentially a fleece jacket. Since the nanny often takes here to the library or local bookstore for story hours (explaining Olivia's favorite thing to do BOOKS! BOOKS!MOMMY!), Charm City Daddy and I were sent this picture message in the middle of our workday.

I was just impressed she stood still--as was the nanny.

Then on Saturday morning we took Olivia to her first live show, Disney on Ice--Toy Story 3. While I went to Disney on Ice-The Little Mermaid as a kid, Charm City Daddy had never seen one of these particular children's ice shows before and was impressed with the performers' "athleticism." Remembering in my previous experience (age 9 ?) that I always wanted a lighted wand during the show but had to settle for the souvenir cup, I insisted that Olivia get a wand. Mistake! She commenced to beating us and those around us in the head with it until we finally had to distract her to confiscate it. When we left at intermission she was returned her beloved magical wand.

Turn your head: pic won't save rotated...weird.

Saturday afternoon we drove to Charm City Grandma and Grandad's house to participate in their neighborhood's annual parade. We rounded out the rear of parade so Olivia could chase the dogs also participating. :) Here we are looking tired already. Post parade we all took a nap.

Olivia's cousin was also a bee for Halloween so she gladly strong-armed Olivia for a photo op.

After the parade, my dad got the Big Loser (least amount of votes) award in his neighborhood Chili Cookoff for his chicken chili. Haha! I think he knew it wasn't his best batch as he kept trying to force Fritos on those of us who ate it. It's tradition to sign your name to a recipe book that is passed around to each year's losers and leave a comment. His comical response was "Free loaders! See what you get next year!"

Sunday, was church (one day we'll get to enjoy the sermon in peace again), then serious grocery shopping, then while Charm City Daddy entertained his friends, I attended the Miss Maryland USA pageant with a friend--no glam this time--just mom jeans and my boots. Yes mom, I was the only former Miss Maryland not in cocktail attire-- but I was also the only preggo one.

Here's to a low-key, relaxing week and weekend ahead.

Currently Craving

2010-10-22T15:57:00.002-04:00

Gummy woooooooooooorms!

I find they can be quite uplifting in the middle or at end of the day.

It's a Boy!

2010-10-21T22:01:00.000-04:00

Olivia's getting a little brother. It's a boy!

I tell yah---there is something to that Lunar Calendar for predicting gender. We are two-for-two.

How blessed are we? This takes off considerable pressure for baby number three---as I know would have been the case for Charm City Daddy. Ahem--let's be real.

Now, if we could just agree on a name. All in good time.

A healthy pregnancy is our number one priority right now. The name will come.

I felt pretty.

2010-10-21T21:20:00.002-04:00

For a moment in time, last weekend, I stepped out of my mom uniform (sweats/leggings/jeans), and I felt pretty.

I was invited to sing the national anthem for a pageant in DC on Saturday and Charm City Grandma agreed to babysit Olivia since Charm City Daddy was out of town. In order to get to DC on time Saturday I had to escape the city on Friday night before the big Baltimore marathon (aka Under Armour Running Festival) which runs all day Saturday and holds every city resident hostage for the day because of the street closures. It's great fun to watch though and Charm City Daddy ran it a couple of times when we were dating. Anyway...

The pageant was FABULOUS but more important--it was for a great cause, breast cancer.

I hardly ever agree to do pageant stuff much any more so it was also the first time in years that I've been all dolled up by make-up, hair, and wardrobe pros. It was a complete transformation too. I mean I showed up in mom jeans, a flannel shirt soiled with nasty little finger prints, stains, snot and whatever else that gets wiped on me during the course of the day.

When the hair and make-up artists asked me what kind of look I wanted, I replied "Dramatic! Over the top! I never get to do this kind of stuff anymore." And you know what? I'm so glad I did! It was FUN to play dress up for a few hours and I felt good....pregnant but goooood. This is the iphone pic I sent to Charm City Daddy after the makeover.

The fabulous Robin Fleming of La Casa Hermosa (she's in the background there) loaned me a beautiful, flowing, classic gown that accommodated my baby bump.

Current queen: requisite hand on hip. Former queen: requisite hand on baby gut.

Charm City Daddy flew in that night and met me back at grandma's house where Olivia was already sleeping, so we decided to stay at grandma's another night. As soon as he saw me, he begged me to "take that makeup off!" Apparently he loved the picture, but not the up close and personal. Typical. Fantasy over.

Why One Is FUN!

2010-10-15T17:15:00.005-04:00

I can't get over how much F-U-N Olivia is right now. The language, the facial expressions, the inflections in her voice, the overall development is just so entertaining.

-The false satisfaction of teaching her that any pretty brown supermodel in the fashion magazines is "mommy" (although it backfires when she points to Michelle Obama on TV and says "mommy, mommy!"
-Grunting to lift her leg (and making a strained face) to climb onto the couch or up the ladder to the slide
-Singing her heart out and dancing when she hears music.
-Captivated and frozen for a full one-hour stretch of Princess and the Frog
-She understands what we are saying and can verbalize back (and we understand it most of the time)
-Animals are identified by the sound they make, woof-woof =dog, caw!caw!= bird, etc.
-Babbling then sighing and clearly saying "Ohhhh shit" while looking out the window in the car ride.

....and so much more.

Well-Heeled Desire

2010-10-15T12:05:00.002-04:00

Dear Tory Burch Booties,

I. love. you. Not more than God and my family--but yeah, for a petty material thing---you're up there, friend. And to your creator---TB, why must you always come up with your BEST stuff when I'm preggo and I'm forced to find ways to cram myself into your wonderful fashions? (sigh) These booties are no exception! Just stop it, would you? Get OUT of my head ~~and into my closet~~!

I know you are well-meaning, bootie. Just look at you. You should be illegal, because I always get in trouble with your kind. First, I buy you, and then I get grand illusions that I can wear you running through airports and grocery stores because I love and want to wear you so much--but let's face--we have nowhere to go together, bootie. This mama needs to get more of a social life, so we can spend more time together. I'm going to work on that--and you sit tight---maybe even go on sale in the meantime. Hey Bootie! If you go on sale soon, I promise to wear you around the house cleaning and maybe even to the hospital to deliver my second child---okay, okay maybe that's a stretch. But hey--at least we had this little moment.

With Admiration,

Charm City Mama

How the Second Pregnancy is Different than the First

2010-10-14T17:30:00.026-04:00

This topic is at the forefront of every new mom's mind and by far, the most asked question of second-time moms. I even googled the topic myself, when I found out I was expecting number two.

Obviously the answer is different for every woman considering her age, previous pregnancy, occupation, age of first child, genetics, health & diet, fitness, worldview, fate, luck, GOD! You get my point.

Here's my experience in the order of what's most notably different this time around:

GROUCHIER. I've been called "cranky" and snappy--and that's just at the office. My husband has also fallen victim. Last time I was accused of smiling all the time. I must work on this.
Mind-blowing migraines. Holy cow, a few sent me to bed early in the first trimester.
Chronic Fatigue. Not just first trimester fatigue this time--its week 16 and I'm still tired. I love sleep. I get evil about at bedtime too.
Ferocious, bottomless pit first trimester appetite, but back to normal second trimester.
At 16 weeks, zero weight gain to date. Before, I was up 5 lbs at least by now and I started off a tad slimmer this time.
Tummy popped out faster--at 14 weeks--BAM there it was--and yes my navel is once again an "outtie."
Less diligent about the tummy butter and belly lubrication--a tad risky considering #5. Last time I exfoliated every other day and lathered on the oils and butters twice a day. This time, I skip a day or sometimes just use regular lotion.
Less diligent with prenatal vitamins. I've skipped at least a day or two every now and then.
Less concerned with preparing nursery and baby gear--but that could change when we find out gender. Also I have not picked up a single pregnancy book. I'm most interested in balancing two kids under age two, so I've read some parenting articles. Most offer common sense.
Cravings: still love pickles, vinegar, fresh cucumbers, etc--not addicted to smoked turkey sausage and mustard in a roll every morning for breakfast like the first pregnancy although I did eat spaghetti one recent morning.
Last but not least, I now and offered and take SIPS of Charm City Daddy's wine with less guilt thanks to this recent study---which published just in time for a nice sip of Cabernet to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary last week. Too bad I'll be knocked up for my 30th birthday in February too!

Most noticeably different is how poorly I am keeping track of my weeks and how quickly time is flying. My older sister is pregnant with number two as well (as you may remember from our beach pic). She is due in 3-4 weeks and she said things are flying by for her too!

In fact my doctor chuckled on Tuesday when I asked her how far along am I, again?

Halloween Costume Update

2010-10-14T17:15:00.001-04:00

After much internet searching (and let's face it my search stops there, I am not one to go shopping all over town), we have settled upon a Halloween costume for Olivia. She's is going to be what she calls a "Bzzzzzz" Bumble bee!

Thanks to Old Navy, this warm, cozy, and well-made outfit has arrived and only costs $10! See how easy that decision was to abandon the cheap banana and the lion costume? TEN BUCKS! We're all lined up for the neighborhood kiddie costume parade too. Should be fun.

First Halloween costume? Check! Now how do I deal with candy?

New Obsession: Baby Gap

2010-10-04T21:25:00.003-04:00

Mamas of the world,when it comes to dressing your little one--do you feel styling-impaired? I do. I always feel like I'm dressing poor Olivia so basic and sometimes a tad boyish.

I was so relieved when I heard Katherine Heigl mention in a TV interview last week that she struggled with styling her daughter in cute outfits and how she heavily relies on babyGap.com which puts the looks together for you. And THAT, my friends, is how I landed at babyGap on Saturday.

babyGap: Bleecker Collection "SoHo Style"

babyGap: Sun Valley "Warm & Fuzzy"

Who knew baby Gap was so cute? I didn't. LOVE that Bleecker Collection.

I set foot in there exactly once when Olivia was 2 months old with a gift card and nearly died from sticker shock. I couldn't see past $30 for a hooded romper! As Chris Rock used to say "Good Lawd!"

Armed with another babyGap gift card, this time the entire family Daddy, baby, and I went to babyGap this weekend to grab a few much needed cool weather essentials for Olivia. Whoah, it was a zoo in there! There was a big sale going on--everything was on sale--and with coupons too.

I couldn't even benefit from having the baby with me to size things on her b/c Daddy had to keep her happy and busy moving around the store, while I shopped in hurried frenzy. Can we talk about that for a second? I'm so terrible at shopping with others, because I always feel like I'm holding them up and I can't concentrate on what I am supposed to be focused on. That was the case on Saturday too. I was mess. I had picked out some cute stuff online but couldn't find it and was second guessing my selections and the sizing and couldn't picture the outfits the way they were perfectly styled online. UGH, the pressure! But we survived. And I managed some cute outfits for Olivia. She still needs shoes! Maybe these homegrown shoes which come highly recommended by our pediatrician.

Btw, I hardly ever go to the mall. Ever. I hate the crowds and it's a full time job to keep up with all of the coupons. I realized this little factoid about babyGap though----things were on sale in the store that weren't marked down or on sale online. Gasp! They almost GOT me.

Pumpkin Pickin'

2010-10-03T22:32:00.000-04:00

We had a gorgeous weekend after hurricane force wind and rain last week. Olivia and I met up with a friend at a nearby farm for pumpkin pickin', hay mazes, corn husk tee pees, hay rides, and farm animals!

Turns out those pumpkin vines are tricky and trip up little walking toddlers quite often. When Olivia finally found one she could pick up (dramatically grunting of course--where does she get this?), I asked her, "what is that? what you got there?" Her response...."Nana!" Of course. EVERYTHING consumable is a banana and there is no convincing her otherwise.

Trouble deciding which "nana" to keep.

I'm Pregnant with Baby #2!

2010-09-28T00:25:00.000-04:00

Come April there will be a yet another baby in Charm City. We're pregnant!

Olivia is going to be a big sister, a 19 month-old- big sister. I'm measuring about 12 weeks along now and the scan above is from the first trimester screening where it appears that baby #2 has the same nose as Olivia. Cute!

During the appt Charm City Daddy begged the sonographer to please show him between the baby's legs. After she informed him that the male/female parts had not yet formed to determine gender, she showed him what appeared to be a "larger than girly nub." CCD kept his promise not to buy any boy gear but he's not hesitated to tell anyone who will listen--"there's a nub! we saw a nub!" Poor baby #2.

The First Halloween Costume?

2010-09-20T20:49:00.000-04:00

Although Charm City Daddy isn't big on celebrating Halloween, he is the first to run to the door to pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Go figure. I don't know what this will mean for Miss Olivia when she catches on, but I suspect he will give in and be the one that escorts her around the neighborhood.

This is the first year I can really dress Olivia up in a fun costume that she may get a tad excited about if we can keep it comfortable. Last year I dressed up my little butterball and she just helped me distribute candy to the other kiddies until she got too fussy about being up past her bedtime and I finally put her to bed.

Here's an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at keeping your 10-week old up too late.

Note: kicked off pumpkin slipper. Poor sleepy baby.

This year, I want dress up Olivia as either her favorite thing in the world, BANANA! or favorite thing to do ROOAAR! like a Lion. Lion costumes are adorable and look relatively comfortable--even for a little walker like Olivia.

But the bananas costumes are so very very sad, cheap, and uncomfortable looking. Don't you feel sorry for this child? I do.

First of all, I hope that is indeed a girl wearing those gold ballet flats. Second, "her" arms are out at her sides like "what mom? what do you want from me?" (*Sing it Adam Lambert!*) I couldn't agree more with you more kid. This just seems cruel.

What do you think? What will your little ones be for Halloween?

Miss Personality

2010-09-06T21:55:00.000-04:00

Although it has been 12 months in the making, it's safe to say that Olivia's personality is clearly established. The conclusion: Charm City Daddy and I have created a monster.

With that said, we have officially entered one of my favorite ages/phases of development.

At this point the little girl has clear favorites and preferences. I would say her two favorite things in this world (other than her mama, of course) are bananas "Nanna!" and her toothbrush.

The love affair with bananas started as a breakfast routine and now is an all day, everyday request. She gets supplemented with banana puffs, and gerber banana cookies, otherwise we would easily need a banana tree in our backyard to fulfill her 2 bunch a week habit. In fact, daddy ran to the store this morning to get more bananas b/c that damn warehouse mouse on Disney had a banana and that was all it took. "Nanna, nanna, nanna!"

Daddy also made the mistake of giving her ice cream today--and she threw a FIT when I had to physically remove her from the room (kicking and screaming) to keep her from begging for more (although I can't blame her it was sooo good). We gave her some "Nanna" yogurt instead.

Other things she LOVES: sleep (a champion napper. a 3-hour and a 2-hour nap today, for example) the Eric Carle board books, specifically Brown Bear and Head to Toe. I must admit I was one of those skeptics about those books but I was all wrong. Many thanks to our friends who knew better than us.

You can find her cheering herself on around the house, whether she is successfully putting her purse over her shoulder, closing doors, stacking rings, or sorting shape. You just hear a random "Yaaay" from a distant room and you know she figured something out. Here she is organizing daddy's shoes with her purse in tow.

Funny but true story, along with the delight of closing doors comes the danger of closing little fingers in doors. Last week Olivia closed her little fingers in her bedroom door as she was closing it, but managed to wedge her fingers out while ~~crying~~ wailing and still motioning a clap saying "yaaaaay" in full fledged tears. Funniest moment of the week by far. And in this phase it's only getting better.

Just Like That.

2010-08-30T22:52:00.000-04:00

And just like that...I started my grad school program last Thursday and by the end of my first class I decided this wasn't the program for me. Just like that.

What does this have to do with being Charm City Mama, you ask? Well you become a new parent, balance career and home and then decide to throw grad school in the mix within the first year of your balancing act and see how confident you feel. I've told myself that any time invested in school (away from my family) has to be totally worth it to me (financially and personally). I've decided it's the right thing to do for my career. It's a good example for my family, although Charm City Daddy has enough degrees for both of us.I want it and there is no time like the present.

If you didn't know, I work at a university. I love it, btw. One thing working at a university and in academia does, it either gives you or further exacerbates a thirst for knowledge. That combined with a free tuition perk is a fantastic combination. AND in most cases your studies aren't limited to your home institution. You have a choice of any program offered in a system of universities.

Because I was willing to take a few calculated risks, I have been given some incredible, early career opportunities in the poltical arena that have accelerated my career path. Now with my position in higher education, I consider myself in the development phase of my career where I need to hone my skills.

Like most working professionals, my graduate program needs and expectations are pretty specific and practical. "Show me how to do/think x, y, z, thanks bye." Unfortunately after further inspection of the graduate program in which I was recently admitted I realized it would be too broad and too theoretical to be beneficial to my immediate career needs. It really hit home when each of the students in my class began to do their introductions in my first class. Many had not yet started their career or were making a career shift. Neither apply to me.

Luckily there are several top-notch options for my area of interest in the DC area---political, strategic, crisis communications. Even better, I've found two that are fully online and/or can be combined with an MBA track.

So, just like that, all hope is not lost. Now back to the application process!

The First Birthday Party

2010-08-29T22:41:00.001-04:00

It has actually taken me one week to fully rest and recover to even be able to do this recap. Yowzah.

Although my wonderful mama (Charm City Grandma) is a champ and started helping me get ready for the party several weeks in advance, we were both overwhelmed and exhausted the day before and the day of the party. The next thing we knew people started showing up and we hadn't set up the food, tables, and we were still in our work clothes. In about 30 minutes, with the help of a few of my good friends that arrived early (I have the BEST friends), the place set up and we did our quick changes into decent attire. Here's the main spread in the dining room...

Pictured: My homemade cupcakes, pig-in-the blankets, DIY tissue poms (leopard), and a hot dog/hamburger spread.

I was still running around most of the time making sure the essentials were out, so the pictures are lacking with hardly any close ups--sorry about that. I was the crazy first-time, first birthday mom trying to do it all and telling myself you have to put in the hard work for at least one of your kid's parties with all of the homemade mom touches. It is your rightful baptism as a mom. I told myself this, so that I won't feel guilty about taking the easy road next time. You know like taking the kids to the zoo or Chuck E. Cheese and you let the staff do all the work---yeah---like that. But my fondest childhood birthday memories were the ones at home that my mom organized and I can't help wanting to do the same for my family.

I also found a very reasonable petting zoo for a steal! I am so proud. The animals were a hit and the operators were professional and very permissive with the children. I highly recommend if you live in the area. We had goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, and bunnies.

I am also proud of the adorable felt animal party hats my mom and I found at Michael's craft store on clearance for $2.99! The hats were appreciated by adults and kids alike.

Are you looking for what I promised to reveal that I actually sewed myself? Well, I ended up just assisting (cut, pinned and partially sewed) my mom in the construction of a table runner which cannot be seen in any photo. Except for the one close up I took of my imperfectly perfect cupcakes. Look for the green jungle looking runnner!

Also here's another DIY tissue pom I made..zebra!

Also the tablecloths for the the outdoor tables were made by good old Charm City Grandma. We hope to use them for years to come as my mom made a a similar set of tablecloths with cloth napkins for my older sister when we were kids and they appeared at all of our birthday parties.

We sang happy birthday twice b/c daddy was lingering around the house and I realized this and had to stop everyone mid-song and wait for daddy to come into the room to witness the magic/confusion of Olivia enjoying hearing everyone in the room sing her name.

And finally, what the first birthday is all about...eating the cake! Olivia wasted no time at all and devoured half of a giant cupcake I made before daddy confiscated it.

So we started here...

Then daddy tried to keep it from getting too out of hand...

But it didn't take long before it got to here (complete with icing in hair).

Olivia actually had to take a nap that extended through the first hour of the party b/c of all of the excitement of visiting cousins and people setting up before the party.

For me it was a power-packed three hours. One thing I've learned about myself as a hostess, I'm terrible at delegating tasks b/c I want to retain all control until the last-minute when I give up caring or finally realize there are many things that others can and want to help with. I never get to socialize as much as I would like when I host parties and I am going to make a better effort to do less during my parties so I can enjoy myself more. Charm City Daddy always enjoys himself. Other than that--I wouldn't change a thing. Yay! So glad we survived! Happy Birthday Olivia!

Yet Another Nanny Creation...

2010-08-18T23:22:00.001-04:00

It's been awhile since we've had one of these worthy of a pic and post.

This one put a smile on my face and I had to share.

Blue sundress, pink striped legwarmers, and pink sandals! I would totally look into the closet and pair these items together.

For My Fellow Paper Lovers

2010-08-18T18:06:00.003-04:00

I love stationery. Moreover, I appreciate the time people put into selecting thank you notes, invitations, birthday cards, announcements, and holiday cards. In this day of email, spam, junk email, and text messages, a postage stamped piece of stationery is among my favorite things to receive. It's like a little unexpected surprise gift in your mailbox.

One thing using real paper requires that e-vites, e-cards, and email do not is lots of planning ahead to allow for production and mailing time as well as a considerable investment in a large quantity of stamps. I suppose that could be the reason many people give up and go the cheaper, faster electronic route these days.

So when I heard about Paperless Post, a eco-friendly, cost-effective way to still send a fabulous stationery statement electronically I immediately signed myself up. The site is still in its beta phase but what a wonderful idea! In my opinion certain events and messages should remain on paper but what a lovely alternative!