A week at the Beach

So, we just got back from a week in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. We went with Sue, George, John and Mary Tyler. It was a fantastic week. A bit of a long drive though... we broke it up into two days each way. Olive does fine for awhile, but after about four hours has pretty much had it with the car seat entirely and focuses her energies on screaming. After awhile you are ready to swerve into oncoming traffic, but then, thank god, you remember that there are graham crackers.

Olive loved the beach. She played in teh sand and went swimming; I dug her a hole near the water line so it would fill with water and make her own little pool to kick around in. When she wasn't eating the sand herself, she decided to share the love and add a handful or two to my tea. We went to the North Carolina Aquarium, which she also enjoyed tremedously. I was trying to get her to say "Echinoderm" the whole time.

The kid is getting so smart so fast it's really scary. Maybe it's just because I spent so much time with her last week that I'm more aware of it. So, now she can say "FEESH" and she knows what it is. She can blow kisses, and, as of today, figured out that if you blow on the pinwheel, it will spin. Kristen said she figured out the toy car today, pulling it back and then letting it go, all by herself. They were also playing Ker Plunk today (that game where you put sticks through the holes in a clear cylinder and try to keep marbles from falling through) and she picked up a stick and fed it through the tiny holes in the side. Now, that impressed me, because those are tiny. And, while we were on vacation, she crawled over to the bedroom door, climbed up against the wall, reached for the doorknob and tried to turn it. That freaked me out.

She is still not officially walking yet... she will walk if we hold her hands; Even if you hold just one, she does pretty well. I think she could probably stand up on her own, but hasn't really figured out that she can yet. She's really into rocking out now; she loves the rocking horse, the rocking chair, etc. etc. It's pretty amazing.

Things with me have been pretty good; I took some time this week to reassess my priorities. I have been so caught up with my work stuff that I have kind of distanced myself from my parenting responsibilities. Marc brought this to my attention. Um, yeah. Anyway, after feeling like the shittiest parent ever for a day or so, I decided to just go with it and try to do better rather than beating myself up about things. It's really hard though; you feel so insecure about being a "good" parent, and then when you get criticized or something stupid happens, you just beat yourself up even more for being a shitty parent. It's just hard to shake off. Insecurity breeds more insecurity, not progress. After a few days, I just decided to clean slate the whole thing. When I'm home, I am trying to focus more on her and less on trying to get a million things done in the 45 free minutes I have. But, that also means that if I don't get dinner made, someone else is going to have to do it. It's not even stuff around the house as it is work stuff. With my own little side business, there's always something to do, something to write up, something to file or organize. Marc's suggestion was that I do something for me instead; go to Yoga one night a week, something, so that my work isn't my home hobby. Otherwise, it just never ends. I am looking into taking a class at Clayworks this September; I think it will get me motivated. I want to make some ceramic forms for mosaics. I thin it will be good for me; Maybe he's right. It will give me another focus and I think it will be fun.

So, there we are. I will post a picture of Olive in the hermit crab photo op at the aquarium. More later, M

4th of July Weekend

We went to Ithaca for the 4th of July weekend. Olive was in a horrible mood and the car ride up there was less than pleasant. I figured she was just teething, so we kept her pumped with Tylenol and it kept her fever down. Once we got back to Baltimore, she went back to Daycare wednesday and Kristen pointed out to me that she thought she might have an ear infection; Yep. I completely missed any symptoms, I just thought she was teething and cranky. So, now she's been to Patient First and gotten antibiotics and seems to be feeling much better. Marc, however, came down with something awful on Friday; he said he knew he was running a fever when he went to get into his black car that had been sitting in the sun all day and he said it felt good inside because he'd been so cold all day. He had a 103 fever and barely made it out of the house all weekend. So, now I am starting to suspect that that may have in fact been what Bean had, in addition to the ear infection. Let me tell you, it was a rough couple of nights. It made me think, "Oh, so this is how people end up getting divorced."

(Relax, everything is fine. No divorce court proceedings here unless I:
a. Bring home a random stray dog
b. Leave the mop bucket on the landing at the top of the basement stairs
c. Decide that that 200 year old farmhouse fixer-upper is just too good to pass up. )

So, everyone seems to be doing better. It was nice to see the family in Ithaca too; We made the (Great) Grandmother Circuit on sunday and saw everyone. My HIgh School 15 year reunion was also that weekend. Very, very weird. Everyone has babies around the same age. Creepy. There are actually some people I knew from high school whom I found out live right down the street with their two year old. Smaltimore.

Anyway, that's what we're up to. Hopefully everyone will stay healthy for awhile. Ciao!

Cranky

Tonight was rather un-fun. Bean was exhausted after daycare. She must not have napped very well. REALLY cranky & fussy. Nothing seemed to make her happy, and she was driving us nuts, so she went to bed early and screamed for 45 minutes. She finally wore herself out and fell asleep. I gave her some Tylenol, which seemed to help her a bit. Maybe she's getting more teeth. Speaking of going to bed early, I have been up since 5:30 and sleep is starting to sound like a really good idea.

Stairs!

This week I discovered that Olive knows how to climb stairs. I had no idea; then, I had her in the front yard with me while I was watering flowers, and I looked over and she was climbing up the stairs to the porch. It startled me, but it was pretty cool; she was very proud of herself when she was done. We practiced the stairs inside too; Marc was a little mad at me I think. But really, I'd rather just show her how to do it and help her than completely shoo her away from them. She's going to have to learn them sometime. I think it will be fun when she gets a little older and can count as she climbs. (I painted numbers on our stair risers going up)

We went blueberry picking on Sunday with her which was fun; I enjoy the "family outings" now. She was very cute. She helped me pick raspberries; They weren't always red ones, but she was picking them and putting them in the basket. It was kind of cool to see her say, "OK, I get it. I know what we're doing." She also ate a fair amount of dirt while we were picking blueberries, but I think that babies have been eating dirt since the dawn of time; there are certainly worse things she could be eating. I made 11 pints of sour cherry jam, 6 pints of blueberry, and 7 of raspberry. I also made a blueberry pie, and I still have about 3 pounds of blueberries left over. I went a little crazy.

We seem to have regressed a little bit with the sleep issues lately. She is sleeping through the night, which i s great, but we've been having a lot more trouble putting her to sleep. We used to be able to rock her for a few minutes to settle her down and then put her in bed. No more. Now, she will just thrash around and punch you in the face. We end up just putting her down and letting her cry it out. She's usually so exhausted she just passes out after 10 or 15 minutes.

I have been working in DC a lot lately which has me pretty frazzled. I hate the commute. We carpool, but it's still awful. There's just no easy way to go. We're going to Ithaca for a few days for the 4th, it is actually my 15th High School reunion. It should be interesting. It will be nice to get out of here for a few days. I am finding work so stressful as of late.

Let's see... What else? Oh, Olive has three new teeth! The top ones are in, and she has one on the upper left side. I'm not sure how that one snuck in there undetected, but there it is.
There's a piece of blueberry pie dwonstairs with my name on it....

Raisin Rage!

We have entered the clingy temper tantrum phase of our wee development it seems. Marc had to work on Satrurday, and I spent the entire day doing everything with one arm. ( I even attempted to paint a wall with one arm belive it or not) Granted, the "I love Mommy" thing is initially cute, but after awhile it can be maddening. Saturday I was not able to put her down. At all. All day. The second I put her down, she'd start screaming. It made for a very long day. She is doing much better with the crawling though... she's gotten pretty good at it and is pretty fast. She is pulling herself up on things now, (mostly my legs) but is still pretty wobbly on her feet. She's getting there though. Marc says when he drops her off in the mornigns now its an instant cryfest. He says all the other kids come over and comfort her and try to distract her while Marc sneaks out. Very cute.

Father's Day we went to Gunpowder State Park and put Bean in the water. It was pretty crowded, but nice. Bean had a great time; she was smiling and giggling at everyone. I always forget about my tattoo; then I go to someplace like that and I feel like I'm on display at the Midway or something. It comes with the territory, I am used to that. It's just weird trying to explain a tattoo to little kids. I just tell them its a drawing of my favorite things.

We also experienced what Marc and I have dubbed the Raisin Rage... for some reason, when she sees the canister of Raisins she goes totally nuts and starts screaming and crying until she can have it. She doesn't even want the raisins really; she just wants the container. And even when she gets it, she just freaks out even more. Raisin Rage. apparently, it's the new hip thing. ("Mom, you are soooo lame.")

We also have "Oooo" sounds now... and I think we're catching on to "No" pretty quickly too. Oy. Tonight Marc is out and it was just us girls. We made quesadillas and had a tickle fight; she went down like butter tonight, so she must have been tired. It was pretty fun actually. So, that's that.

one year and counting...

She has been growing so fast it's amazing; I am looking back at the pictures from earlier posts and I can't believe how different she is. She is officially 1 now; we had a small birthday party for her on the 27th; her actual birthday (the 21st) was pretty quiet, just sharing a cupcake with Mom and Dad at home. The 27th was a much bigger party, and she had a great time. I made her my favorite tropical carrot cake with pineapple, coconut, macadamia and ginger. It takes several days to make, but it's fabulous. She got lots of new clothes, some new books and toys and some crayons. She is actually drawing a bit now; I have saved her first drawings. She knows how to hold a crayon and make marks on the paper. It's really pretty cool to watch. As if on cue, she started really crawling at her birthday party; not just doing the military crawl thing. We did get the gates installed finally; she isn't super fast, but she is very determined. She has been pulling herself up to standing a lot lately too; I'm sure she'll be walking in a few weeks.

On a side note, I had a cold briefly, but now I have a nagging terrible cough that won't go away that is really starting to annoy me. I feel like it itches every time I breathe in. I think it might be allergy related, but either way, it's getting on my nerves. I don't know why I felt a need to post that, but there it is.

Her birthday was a bit emotional for me; I can't believe how much I've learned in a year. I remember being so sad and depressed, and having everyone telling me that I should enjoy all these precious little moments. When everyone is telling you that it gets better but you feel like it never will. I remember crying one night after being so frustrated by breastfeeding problems and saying to Marc that she deserved someone better than me for a mom; someone who was more patient and loving and understanding; someone who didn't get frustrated and angry and insecure. While I still have my moments, I'd like to think now that I have grown into that person a bit more; that I have in some way become the parent she deserves. I try to be every day. It really has gone quickly; I find that she is so much more fun to be around now; we really play and laugh together and I really enjoy our time together, rather than me focusing all the time on immediate needs like hunger and sleep. But it's always changing; just when you think you've figured it out, something new comes up. Its an ongoing process. I am truly thankful for the GBMC mom's group; It has made a huge difference for me; I have met so many great people and gotten so much support and advice; I don't know what I would have done without it. I tell every pregnant woman I see to go and find a Mom's group and talk to people. We have an online group so everyone can stay in touch and post events and questions, it keeps me connected even when I'm working. It's great; I am very thankful to have it.

This weekend is John and Mary tyler's wedding reception at Sue and George's, so Olive will get to see the whole Raley family again. She loves a crowd. She's just a charmer like that. Its supposed to be nearly 100 degrees. Yikes.

So, that's what's been going on here! More later....

I am such a slacker!!! I haven't updated this in so long it's pathetic. However, in my self defense, things have been very busy here lately. By the time I get home, get dinner ready, get her fed bathed and happy, get her to bed, make something for us to eat, do some laundry, clean litter boxes, etc etc, it is 10:30 pm and updating the blog seems pretty far down on the priority list. However, it has been bugging me and I wanted to get back into it. After all, she will be ONE YEAR OLD next Wednesday. I can't believe it. So, for those of you who haven't seen her in awhile, which is most of you, here's the rundown of what she's been up to.
No! She is not walking yet. She is still in the army crawling phase, not really up on her knees just yet. However, this doesn't slow her down one iota. We have been reassessing everything in the house and need to start baby proofing NOW. What she lacks in bipedal mobility she is making up for in language skills. She has a whole vocabulary of sounds and noises she makes now; she is begining to figure out who Da Da and Ma Ma are, but they are still used somewhat interchangeably. She does have one word, which is "KEE-EEEE" for "Kitty" and she says it whenever she sees a cat. Which is quite often.

She still only has two teeth... No new ones yet. They'll be in eventually. That doesn't stop her from eating just about anything though. She is a freak for popcorn ("What?! Popcorn? She'll choke!") which we break into small pieces for her. I put up a series of photos on Photobucket that Marc took... we have been encouraging her to crawl by leaving Hansel and Gretel trails of popcorn around the house... Its hysterical to watch her crawl to one, eat it, look around for the next one, crawl to it, eat it, repeat. Her other new favorite food, of all things, is chickpeas. Loves 'em. Give her gas, but at least she's eating them. She's been somewhat resistant to being fed lately, so finger foods seem to be the new deal. You can feed her peas or carrots or whatever, but she has decided that its really fun to make razzberries as soon as she gets them in her mouth and spray you with food. Nice. I am trying not to encourage this behavior. It doesn't seem to be working because she thinks its hilarious.

With all this crawling around, it also becomes apparent that my house is filthy and disgusting, but she doesn't seem to mind. In fact, there's nothing she loves more than finding a stale cheerio covered in lint under the stove for a delicious snack. We keep the vacuum in the kitchen, and she crawls up to it and looks into the canister of cathair filth like it a gumball machine. ("If only I could figure out a way to get IN there!!!") Good times.

Well, that's not everything, but at least its a start. I'm putting up a photo of her at the park a few weeks ago when my parents and aunt and uncle came down to visit. She was delightfully charming. She loves an audience.

I will update more soon, I PROMISE!!!