PERSONAL: New TV Show Up All Night

Am about to watch the new baby show Up All Night with Christina Applegate (whom I LOVE), will give a full review tomorrow. I think it's gonna pretty much hit the nail on the head though from what I've seen in previews. :)

PERSONAL: Taking a Leave of Absence

With our move and dealing with little one, I'm taking a two week hiatus from blogging. I need the time to gather sanity, sort through paperwork and keep the little one as entertained as usual. Be back soon!

PERSONAL: Icky Momma

When baby licks airport windows, baby gets sick. When baby gets sick, momma gets sick. When momma is sick, no one is happy. :(

PERSONAL: Baby Talk

This is my kid trying to break it down as to why she refuses to eat her whole wheat, ham and cheese sandwich.

She also reviewed the video with me a few hours later and decided that she had something to say...it was pretty much the same thing, repeated, to herself on camera, finger-wagging and all. :)

PERSONAL: Help The Helpless

In light of the Casey Anthony trial and reading too many disturbing articles this week, please join me in supporting any organization helping to end child abuse. There is a good list here at the Network for Good website.

Some other ways to help is to become a foster parent, adopt a child, donate to an organization helping with children, become a Big Brother or Big Sister, or even the simple act of speaking up when you think a child is being abused--even if that means in a grocery store.

For the motivation to help--if you dare (I literally felt sick to my stomach and cried after reading this), read this article.

PERSONAL: Idiocy Strikes Bedtime

Ok, we all make mistakes, sadly as a Full-Time Mom if you mess up, you run the risk of harming your kid. Thank GOD it turns out the little one wasn't poisoned by her idiot mother!

Last night my husband finally noticed something was up and asked, "Umm, honey, where is the toothpaste up here? Are you using this teething gel on her teeth every night instead of toothpaste?"

I scoffed at him from downstairs as I prepared dinner and told him that it indeedwas toothpaste, it was just made by Orajel.

Um, no I was incorrect, it wasthe teething gel I had been putting on her teeth instead of the baby toothpaste. Whoops! I think I must have switched them when I cleaned out her bathroom and put all her toiletries away, about a month ago! Nice work mom!

A quick call to the pediatrician office and Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) confirmed it was not lethal and could only be really harmful if symptoms like difficulty breathing occured or her nails started turning blue or if she exhibited other signs of a rare disease called methemoglobinemia.

Don't be dumb like me, though, double-check everything before giving it to your kid please! It, at the very least, will save you from feeling horribly guilty and scared!

PERSONAL: Sippy Cup Woes and Tips

I started trying to give juice and water, sporadically, to my daughter in a sippy cup when she was around eight to 10 months old. I was not successful and, sadly, my woes continue. I now am trying milk and still am not successful. Usually the sippy cup becomes a ball which she tosses around. Sometimes she loves to just squeeze the nipple and watch the liquid come out, which for some reason always makes me shudder (probably cause I remember how much she loved to torture my nipples too).

Yesterday I went to a sing-along at the Pottery Barns Kids store in Burlington Mall and then to lunch with three other great mommas and their babies. All their babies, younger or older, were drinking from a sippy cup and I felt like the biggest loser mom for feeding my near-13-month old a bottle. Why can't I get this kid on a sippy cup? I'm not sure, but drastic changes are coming for this little one now.

I have been Googling and here are some tips as to getting your kid on a sippy cup (like I said I've failed in this aspect so far so maybe these work, maybe they don't):

1) start super young, about 6 months by introducing a soft-tipped sippy cup
2) Try lots of styles (we have four different types here and so far the straw is winning as it actually did a couple sips taken out of it the other day).
3) Buy an extra sippy cup for yourself and whenever your baby is set to drink from the cup, you do it too to show her.
4) Try juice or water if milk isn't working. Sometimes the association of milk with the bottle or breast won't compute over to the cup.
5) Remove the lid and put a little bit of water in the cup. Show your baby how to drink from it without any lid and skip the whole sippy process all together (that one from our pediatrician).

There are lots more tips at BabyCenter.com and WebMD.com.

Today is the start, for us, of not offering her a bottle anymore except at bedtime. We'll see if this does the trick. Good luck to us and all the other parents out there trying this!

PERSONAL: How Come I Feel Fatter Than Five Months Ago?

I have to say to all those moms considering breastfeeding, do it. Even if it sucks big time (it did for me anyway), it's not only the best thing for your baby's health, but it's also the best thing that could happen to your waistline. I judge no one for not doing it, because like I said before, it totally sucked for me and was a SUPER inconvenience, BUT if you need another reason to do it, here is one--big time weight loss.

Many women hear that breastfeeding burns 500 calories a day, but many won't see the actual results of this until a few months after having their baby; so many may not believe it. It's freaggin' true my dears.

Seven months after having Angie I was needing a belt to fit my pre-pregnancy pants up above my super tiny bootie. I had the biggest ta-tas I'd ever had in my life and maybe not the tiniest waistline but it didn't matter because my tatas were so big my shirts never touched any part of my belly. My thighs, however, were smaller than they've been since I was about 23. Nice!

Now my daughter is a year old, I'm swimming at the YMCA at least twice a week, working out in my home-gym at least once a week and taking walks etc...like crazy and yet I think I'm fatter somehow. Let's just say there is definitely no need for a belt anymore. Why? Because I stopped breastfeeding when Angie was about seven/eight months old, that's why.

To my own fairness, like I said a million times, it was terrible for me, so lasting that long is like a medal of honor really (and the only reason I really stopped was because I couldn't get her to stop biting my nipples once she got teeth). But I would love another plan that involves burning 500 calories without breaking a sweat! :) I wonder if anyone has just continued pumping after their kid stopped feeding to keep losing weight? Would be extreme but I could see it happening!

PERSONAL: Jealomy Is The Name

With my hubby applying for jobs in the Foreign Service, we might wind up living abroad (again) one day in the nearish future, maybe in two years or so. I wouldn't mind living abroad again. My only worry is having the planned three very young kids at once and being all alone in a foreign country. He said we could get an au pair if that would help, but I seriously can't imagine it.

I have no issue with other people having an au pair and even envy many of them, but the simple fact is I'm too jealous of a person to be able to handle that idea. It's true, I'm too insecure I guess or too needy or whatever. But as a mom it literally made my skin crawl to work from home and listen to my nanny playing with my newborn daughter downstairs. My daughter loved her and she loved my daughter, but I could hardly stand the pangs to my insides.

I figure there has to be a name for this motherly heart-wrench feeling, but I can't find one, so I propose the name Jealomy--jealous + mommy.

PERSONAL: Lord Help Me I'm Bored

After about a decade of working, with about seven to eight of those being in my career of choice--journalism, I gave it up to be a full-time momma. And let me tell you, I'm bored. I love my baby girl, who has just turned one, but being a FT momma can be incredibly, overwhelmingly, boring.

I think it depends on your personality and what you have done in life, what you hope to accomplish and how much stimulation you need in general. Overall I would say I am a very active, very personable and extroverted person who needs a lot of stimulation to stay interested...I could very well be ADD. I know I'm not the only one out there feeling this way either. And being bored and the FT entertainer/educator to an infant/toddler can be....exhausting.

So now we have exhaustion and boredom mixed together and what do you get? That's right, probably a b*tch. Yes, I do very well think I'm becoming a bit of a b*tch to my husband. Why him? Because other than the baby there is really no one else to take it out on. Being a military family most of my friends and all of my family live out of state, so that means he is the lucky winner of this attitude.

I am trying to stay as busy as I can with playgroups, playgrounds, swim lessons and anything and everything else I can imagine to do with her...but I am still pretty freaggin' bored I gotta tell ya. I just wish she'd sleep for three hours a day like most normal one-year-olds so I could get some writing and stuff done around here. Seeing as that doesn't look like her (or my) destiny, I'm open to any and all suggestions on how to survive this stage of motherhood--the boredom stage that is. Thanks!

PERSONAL: Tick Check Months Are Here

You know when you find a tick in a belly-button, it's tick season. Massachusetts is one of those places too where ticks are super prevalent.

According to the CDC, on the East Coast, we got the

American dog tick
Blacklegged tick
Brown dog tick
Lone Star tick.

And according to the CDC you should avoid trying to detach the tick like many people think. Don't suffocate, burn or wait for the tick to detach, get it off you as soon as possible by using tweezers. Don't twist it and break off the head, though. Here are the full tips: http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html

Good luck out there and don't forget to check yourself and your babies/kids every time you come home from outdoors if you can.

PERSONAL: Baby Go Boom

All kids who walk try to run. And at some point all kids who try to run, or walk, fall. And all kids who fall eventually bang their heads. Sometimes they fall into corners and that looks like it really hurts.

Baby girl hit her head some kinds of awful last night after refusing to go to sleep (see? I told ya you should have just gone to bed!). She was running around, all amped up that dadda was home and while I was busy squirting ketchup on a leftover cheeseburger from her birthday bbq, bam! She slammed her forehead into the corner of a wall in our dining room.

The wailing was nothing too unusual, the bump on her head was extra large but nothing too scary either. Overall it is huge and I felt bad for her but I know these things are going to happen regularly. What my husband did after that I lost a lot of sleep over--he googled "baby" and "concussion." Thanks honey!

Since it was her bedtime anyway, yes she was lethargic and a bit confused. No I didn't really think she had a concussion, but thanks to my husband's reading everything he found out loud I woke up half the night double-checking the monitor to make sure she was moving around in her crib as normal.

She's fine, but if you ever have your kid pass out after hitting his/her head, definitely visit the doctor. Other bad signs are vomiting the day after a bad spill, disorientation and eye trouble.

See Dr. Sears site for more information on all head injuries.

PERSONAL: Miscarriages Are No Fun

So yesterday I had a miscarriage and I wasn't TOO upset because I wasn't too psyched on the idea of having a new baby (especially in the dead of winter) so soon after my first one. BUT as the time had gone on, mind you I'm talking a week, I had started to come around to the idea and was starting to look forward to the little rascal. Guess there was something wrong with the baby-to-be or my body wasn't ready after all cause resident numero due was kicked out.

I can understand how this could take a huge emotional toll on someone who had their heart set on a baby. Even though I wasn't super down with the idea it still stung a little bit. But what people fail to really tell you is how physically unhappy the whole process is. We're not talking about period cramps, we're talking major major cramps and I was only 6 weeks or so. For someone even further along it would even worse I can imagine.

And let's not forget that it does not end in one day. No my friends this process can take weeks, about two for most people. First the miscarriage, then your missed period soon follows, the nurse explained to me. So much fun I think I'll ask God to come back as a boy next time around!

PERSONAL: Your Baby Is Not My Baby

One things mothers love to do is talk about their kids, and what they did to raise them, feed them, get them to sleep through the night, play with them, get them to walk etc...but what many mothers don't get is your kid is not my kid and my kid is not your kid. I love my kid just the way she is and I don't want yours, sorry.

Every kid sleeps differently, every kid eats differently, every kid is not the "average kid." There are dream babies out there who sleep through the night at 3 weeks old (though I have to say I almost don't believe the exist) and there are kids wake up every three hours until they're 2 years old. It's possible, because there are all types of people out there and kids are after people too.

Some babies will eat up all the home-made baby food in the world, some will only eat processed baby food and some will shun the food for months and months before finally succumbing to the spoon. You can't force a baby to be "average" just because the books tell you your kid should be one way, nor would you want them to be because average really sucks.

I really can't complain about my child, she's been ahead of the curve on nearly everything. At 11 months she's eating almost anything we give her, she can walk, she babbles and says momma and dadda and even cat sometimes. She loves books, the pool, other kids and people, smiles constantly and laughs uncontrollably at my tickles. The only thing we have some of a time with is her sleeping. We did all the wrong things and all the right things and on a good day she naps for about a combined 1.5 to 2 hours and a good night she sleeps for 12 hours. There are some nights that for no apparent reason, however, she will scream her guts out at different intervals and it's a toss up between going in and picking her up (which sometimes calms her down and she passes right back out and doesn't wake up again) or not going in at all and sometimes she passes out quickly on her own.

Sometimes though, she does not go back to sleep without screaming for a good 30 minutes up to an hour no matter what we do. Why? Who the hell knows, she's a baby. She can't tell me and I'm not a psychic. I know what has worked for other people hasn't worked for us and I know what does works for us might not work for others out there.

I'm ok with the fact that sometimes my sleep is just gonna get totally messed up, because guess what? That doesn't change. I know that kids mess with your sleep from zygote onward if they are the type to do so. I am 6 weeks pregnant and this morning I essentially woke up at 2am. (I can tell this next one will be a fun one too.) If the kid is a sleeper, those babies are giving their mothers hell in some other way, trust me. No one is getting out of this without some scars (even if some of them are pretty well hidden).

So the next time a mom gives you unsolicited advice that makes you want to rip her hair out, you can tell her bugger (or whatever) off or you can tell her that you're pretty sure your kids aren't twins so what worked for her might not be the answer for you.

PERSONAL: Not Look Forward To/Looking Forward To

Here are the things I remember I hated the most about being pregnant and then the things I loved. And assuredly what I will love and hate again this time around!

Hated

• Not being able to poop
  
• Charlie Horses waking me up in the morning
  
• Heartburn, mostly after lunch
  
• Nausea in the mornings
  
• Insomnia (only mildly though)
  
• Having to pee every hour
  
• Not having a steady flow of pee from month four - end (trickled)
  
• Not being able to drink coffee without guilty complex kicking in
  
• Not being able to take ibuprofen for arthritic knees
  
• Did I mention the no-poop thing?
  
• Not looking pregnant for five months and instead looking like a bloated doughnut-hoarder
  
• Not being able to reach my feet
  
• No seeing my ho-ha for two months
  
• Unsolicited advice came from every angle
  

Liked

• People were way friendly to me
  
• Everyone opened doors, let me cut lines
  
• I could use the bathroom anywhere I went
  
• People would strike up conversations with me everywhere
  
• I got free cookies at sandwich shops
  
• Feeling the baby move in the third trimester
  
• Pushing on one side of the belly and having the baby push back
  
• Sudden bursts of energy and love for everyone and everything
  
• That I can eat whatever I feel like eating (meaning sweets and stuff) without feeling guilty about getting fat
  
• BIG BOOBS
  
• Wearing bikini bottoms that cover my fat and blaming it on the baby bump
  
• Being crabby and having an excuse you can't argue with
  
• My husband cleans more and gets me water
  
• BIG BOOBS!!!!
  

PERSONAL: Holy Crap I Did It Again

I am pretty stupid I must admit it. I was fairly sure we would not get pregnant this quickly after my little daughter was born, but I was super wrong.

I lamely tried the rhythm method, but my white girl genes must have really gotten in the way this time cause I was definitely off-beat. Now I have to hit up the blood lab at my OBGYN tomorrow to determine if I'm 5 or closer to 8 weeks preggo. The story is that my last period was super short and light so we're not 100 percent sure. I did only just stop breastfeeding a few months ago so anything is possible really.

I want to feel excited and happy but it hasn't hit me yet. Right now I just feel incredibly guilty that my little girl will not be the one and only center of my attention in just about eight months. I also feel like I'm not ready to relive the horror that was the first four or so months and the sleeplessness and bleeding nipples that go along with it all. I was JUST starting to feel like a normal person with a bit of a routine going on and now this is totally going to mess it up. Ay yah yai!

I know it's a blessing and whatever but sorry if I don't get overjoyed at the idea of nausea, exhaustion, food aversions, and pissiness all while trying to care for, be patient with, and give my full attention to an infant. Doesn't anybody out there get that? Yes, I will totally be in love with the baby and I will channel all my good will towards it in a few days but for now I am mad at myself, sad for my little daughter and mad at my husband's swimmers.

PERSONAL: Ode to My Boobies

Oh full and perky tatas that once looked toward the sky
As if smiling back at the sunshine beating down on them
Perfect and small, you were well-loved.
How large you both grew when my womb swelled
Outstretching my shirts and sending me to the lingerie store monthly.
For months you ached and leaked as you did your job
And fed my newborn baby.
Strangers saluted you as I walked down the street,
Or just gave a knowing smile in your direction.
Now you are both sullen,
Tiny, shriveled and desperate for the attention you once had
You sit staring straight ahead,
As if beckoning those who pass by to just take a glance
Just one quick glance.

I want to warn all those mothers out there breastfeeding or whom plan to, your boobies may take a hit, big time. My raisins otherwise known as my breasts salute you for your self-sacrifice and stand (barely) as a warning to what can happen after your done--total annihilation.