Baby C Does Bevis

As I mentioned in my last memo, Baby C's latest skill is taking his shirt off. The other night he got it stuck mid-way, and I had to get a picture of him doing his Cornholio impression.

Yes, I'm that immature.

The Peanut Grows!

Baby C has always been on the small side. He's been dropping his weight percentile since pretty much day one, and fell off the charts completely a while back after hovering at the 5-10%ile mark.

I always dreaded the weigh-in at his appointments. My pediatricians are generally fantastic, but I always wondered if they were judging me or blaming me when the numbers stayed so low. I never understood it, either, because he eats all the freaking time. It seems like every time I check in on the daycare webcam he's eating a snack.

He had his 15-month appointment yesterday and I'm pleased to announce that he's FINALLY on the weight chart! He weighed in at a whopping 21 pounds, 1.5 ounces, for the 7th %ile. Yay Charlie!

I don't think he looks that small, either.

A Different Kind of Compliment

We met another couple for dinner on Saturday night. The wife (K) was one of my BFFs in high school - we lost touch for most of our college years and then managed to reconnect through the magic of the interwebs. They don't have kids, yet, but hope to soon.

Anyway, K and I belong to a book club with four other women. None of them have kids, either, but another one of them also hopes to have them soon. The topic of discussion often turns to babies/kids/motherhood, and I guess I've become the resident discussion leader for all things mommy. K works with three of these women, and she said that one of them marveled over the fact that I'm a mom, but I'm still a person, too, and how great it was that I'm able to do that.

I had to stop and think about what she said for a minute. I'm a mom and a person at the same time. Is that really so unusual? She said that most of her friends who have had kids pretty much dropped off the face of the earth - they stopped hanging out with their kid-free friends and stopped making personal time for themselves.

I'll admit, it is more difficult now to spend time with our kid-free friends. We can't do things spur of the moment like we used to, unless it's an impromptu get-together at our house, which still occurs pretty often. It's easier for us to stay home and play host, since that doesn't require the added complication and cost of a babysitter. I wonder if they get annoyed with almost always coming to our house. We still manage to have a good time, even if my wine intake is now limited to one glass - I guess that was one of the lasting side-effects of pregnancy for me. Zero tolerance for alcohol. I think it's still important to maintain some kind of adult life, and I think it's important to maintain friendships with our kid-free peeps.

I'm Charlie's mom, and I love being Charlie's mom. It's the best thing ever. But I'm still me. Having a child changed my life forever, and changed certain aspects of my viewpoint, but I'm still the same person. I'm probably even a better person, as I've learned to be more patient and to appreciate the simple things in life. Maybe someday soon I'll also learn not to drop so many F-bombs.

Wish List Wednesday

Once again brought to you by The Foster Family blog :)



What are the top four books waiting for you to pick up?

I finally managed to pick up and finish two books that have topped my list for the last few months - The Time Traveler's Wife and The Handmaid's Tale. Both were excellent reads and completely lived up to my expectations!

That said, the list of books that I want to read is pretty much never-ending. Right now some of them are more practical than fun fiction, but it is what it is.

1. Understanding Exposure



I recently became the proud owner of a refurbished DSLR and I'm dying to jump in and learn every little thing about it. This particular book has come very highly recommended by a few photographer friends of mine. (side note - if you're looking at buying a DSLR, check out the factory refurbished section on adorama.com!)


2. Packaging Boyhood: Saving Our Sons from Superheroes, Slackers, and Other Media Stereotypes



It's true, I sold my soul to the corporate world a few years back. I stay true to my sociological roots, though, and gender socialization has always been an area that captured my interest. A message board mom mentioned this book and I've been dying to read it ever since.


3. The Yankee Years



I fully intended to buy this book the day it came out, but life got in the way. Joe Torre wrote this book about his time at the helm of the Great Yankee Dynasty. I'm dying to get a look at the inside happenings of those awesome years. I love the game of baseball, but it's the inner workings of the sport that really interests me - the scouting, the statistics, and the politics. We still miss you, Joe!

4. Harry Potter and Philosophy: What if Aristotle Ran Hogwarts?



I'm absolutely a Harry Potter junkie. I'm sad that there will never be another HP book to read, but I think this one looks like it could hold my attention for a bit. It features essays from 17 philosophers, and each one takes a look at different aspects of the HP story. The one that initially caught my attention is "Feminism and Equal Opportunity: Hermione and the Women of Hogwarts." Sounds like fun to me!


Hopefully at some point I'll be able to make it through all four of these books!

Before I Offend Anyone

I wrote a post complaining about the overboard holiday-related consumerism that I've been seeing lately. I posted it, and then a dear friend mentioned it and I realized with horror that she thought I might be talking about her.

I decided to delete it, rather than take the risk of unintentionally offending anyone.

Ear Infection, Round 2

Poor Baby C was diagnosed with a double ear infection two weeks ago. I didn't know he had an ear infection - there was absolutely no indication until it his eyes started to water and get all gunky. I was shocked to find out it was an ear issue. We got a prescription for antibiotics - 10 days worth. The 10 days were up last Wednesday. By Friday afternoon his eyes were watering and Saturday morning he woke up completely congested. Back to the pedi we went, to discover that his ears were still infected. Now we're on antibiotics, round 2.

The first one must have tasted better because he would actually sip it out of the spoon. I don't know what the difference is this time around, but we're back to holding him down and using the syringe, even after we paid $3 to have grape flavoring added to it. Poor kid spent the whole weekend looking completely miserable. Luckily, he acted fine for all of Saturday so we were able to get out and enjoy the freakishly nice weather. It all fell apart Saturday night, and Sunday was a very long day. Miserable baby makes for a miserable mom, and while it's not a good excuse, I didn't keep up with the shred this weekend. I feel the guilt, and I'm definitely back to it tonight.

Memo Monday

Let's Go UC!

Thanks to my dear friend Stephanie, I'm going to the UC game tonight! She won two tickets and invited me to share in the fun. It will be nice to return to our old stomping ground together :)





It's definitely nice to have a winning football team to cheer for these days.

Shred Discovery

I found out last night that there's an option to turn off Jillian! That totally made my day.



I'm not nearly as sore today as I was on Tuesday. I've also decided to pick up an old Weight Watchers habit and track my food. I realized yesterday that my willpower has pretty much disappeared. I think I need as much accountability as I can get, especially with the holiday season right around the corner. I'm not interested in denying myself holiday treats, so the focus will be more on moderation. I don't think I have to worry about alcoholic beverages this year, I certainly can't drink like I used to. No peppermint schnapps in hot chocolate for me!

(And no, I'm not pregnant. Why is it that when women talk about not drinking the only assumption is that she's pregnant?)

Day One

In the interest of having somewhere to be held accountable, I'm jumping back on the Shred bandwagon. I started it again last night and I'm paying for my weeks of couch-dwelling in today's aftermath. Ouch!

Jillian is so annoying. While the shred is certainly better than nothing, it's definitely not "replacing hours of phoning it in at the gym." I'm going to pull out some old Rage CDs for tomorrow's round.

I Feel Blobby

I know I don't really have any right to complain, seeing as how I'm actually below my pre-pregnancy weight by a few pounds, but I've been feeling rather "blobby" lately. While the number on the scale isn't anything shocking, it seems that the distribution of fat on my body has been radically altered. I'm having serious butt issues.

I know that I need to do something about it. I had been running 3-4x / week for a few months, but then when it started getting dark earlier I stopped because running alone when it's dark creeps me out. I live in a stereotypical suburban subdivision, but I just feel so exposed running through the streets after sunset. Maybe I need to get over that.

I don't want to get up and exercise in the mornings, because I get up at 5:30 as it is. I don't want to exercise in the early evening, because I want to play with Baby C. After he goes to bed at 7:30, my motivation to change, get all sweaty, and then shower again before bed is pretty much non-existent, and it's just too easy to sit on the couch and spend some quality time with my husband. We don't get to do that often enough as it is.

I really need to get going, maybe tonight will be the night.

I'll never learn

I just can't stay away from arguing on the interwebs! This was the latest debate I got caught up in. Names have been changed to protect the "innocent." Luckily, I have some very good buddies who held me back when I wanted to go back for more. Care to weigh in?

Question: "Do you think women should be forced to cover up when breastfeeding in public?"

OP
I'm not sure I'd say FORCED. I think it's probably something most people don't care to witness, and if you wouldn't normally whip out your boob for everyone to see, not sure having a baby would change that. I know if I am fortunate enough to be able to breastfeed, I intend to keep covered up in public. You're all welcome. :)


moron
i'm totally gonna let my boobs hang out when Henry arrives.... especially when we're in public! ;)..... lol j/k.... i didn't know that we had an option to not cover up.... but I absolutely plan to cover up..... them things are home grown..... and don't need any more eyes on them that the mouth the needs the nutrients from them :)

OP
haha yeah no way would I personally be comfortable doing that. Even with such a big background in dance and skating, where there is absolutely NO modesty, lol. I have occasionally spotted someone BFing where, wow, there's their boob and I immediately look away all awkward and embarrassed feeling like I violated their privacy. Which is ridiculous, but still. Blanket over the girls all the way!

moron
totally agree, i registered for this wrap thingy for BFing :)

OP
Atta girl! I'll probably be wanting the same thing.

Jene
The problem is, when they talk about "covering up" in public places, they're usually talking about something along the lines of throwing a blanket over the baby's head where it meets the breast. Can you imagine how uncomfortable and hot that would be? There's a big difference between being discreet and letting your breasts hang out for the world to see.

sensiblechick
It does not bother me one way or another. OP, as to the violation of their privacy, if they really felt that way they would either cover up, or go to a bathroom, or something along those lines. It is a natural part of the human experience and I think that people have forgotten that.

twit
I think the best thing a mother can do is go somewhere discreetly. I've had it all...I was at Burger King with my family and a lady caddy-corner from us whipped out her boob, no cover, nothing, saw way more then I needed to see...I was quite disturbed for sometime...I've seen it done at church, of all places, right there in the pew, during the service, right next to me on a couch, while I was having a conversation with that person...I think the most discreet I've ever seen someone do it, was where a lady was in the bathroom sitting on a chair with a blanket over the baby's head...

I agree with you 100%, whenever I see someone do that, I feel like I'm invading their space, its a very uncomfortable feeling and I will take that into consideration whenever I have a child.

Jene
No freaking way will I be feeding any child of mine in a bathroom. Would YOU eat in a bathroom? How unsanitary is that? It's a natural part of life in almost every other country. It's only deemed offensive because breasts have been almost completely sexualized by our society. I'm disturbed that anyone was disturbed by one of the most natural acts possible.

twit
Believe it or not, there has been a study done that Ice Cubes have more germs than a bathroom..and sanitary? How sanitary is it to eat from a boob that has been sitting in a sweaty bra all day long? And I was disturbed because I was 10 at the time :0)

Jene
Ok, that has got to be the most ignorant thing I've ever heard in my life. Breastmilk is the best thing you can give a child, straight from the freaking tap. You have GOT to be kidding me.

How Sweet it Is!

The World Series Championship is right back where it belongs - in The Bronx!







I love baseball, but I'm glad that I'll finally get to go to bed at a reasonable time. No more midnight 9th innings!

Today more than any other day I wish I had Buster Olney's job.

Bearcat Charlie

Baby Charlie went as the UC Bearcat for Halloween, sporting a super cute costume made by his grandma.

Bearcats are Number One!






Apparently Bearcats eat cheddar goldfish




He didn't really "get" trick-or-treating, so we only went to one house.



They gave him a Tootsie Pop, and he was more interested in taking it out of his bucket than having people put other things in. We had fun running around in front of the house and passing out candy. He got a lot of compliments on his ears and tail :)

The Joys of Adulthood

Last Wednesday I started the dishwasher during the 7th inning of Game 1 to drown out the sound of the Yankees losing. While we were making dinner on Friday, I opened the dishwasher to stick a bowl in, assuming C had already unloaded it, and it was still full. C said that he hadn't unloaded it because it hadn't been run it the night before. I was pretty positive that I had clicked the start knob, because I remember the relief of Joe Buck's obnoxious voice being muffled by the jet engine-like roar of our machine. I started to question my sanity when I noticed that the detergent cup was still full of detergent. Ok, we'll run it again. We turned it on, went about our business, and opened it up again a few hours later to put the dishes away. Still not clean, still full of detergent. WTF?

We did some investigating, and discovered that there was no water being pumped into the tub. A little bit of googling and C's poking around and taking apart of the machine showed that the solenoid was busted. Still more googling and some asking around later, we faced the fact that we'd have to buy a new dishwasher. So that's how we spent our Saturday. I got up early to scour Consumer Reports and do some price hunting. The interwebs have made tasks like this much simpler. I narrowed our options down to three potential models, hit up the six major appliance retailers in our area, and started tracking prices. Much to my dismay, Best Buy had the best price on all three models.

We packed Baby C in the car and trucked over there, only to be completely ignored for 30 minutes while the "associate" was helping someone else. The customer service desk shrugged me off, so I called HHGregg and asked if they would match the price. I swiped the price sticker off the BB model and we headed across the street, where we purchased our shiny new black dishwasher with no hassle.

It's supposed to be delivered and installed today, and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't kind of excited.

Oh, and hand-washing dishes really blows. I had forgotten just how bad. We *may* have a sink full of dishes from the last day or two waiting to be part of the inaugural load.

Reminder to Myself

You don't need to do it all.

Our office halloween party is tomorrow and I signed up to bring a kitty little cake. I've been DYING to make one of these ever since I came across it on a blog a few years ago. I also want to make sugar cookies to give to Baby C's little cul-de-sac buddies for trick-or-treating. I made the dough on Saturday and figured I would cut the cookies and bake them Wednesday night (which I did), make the kitty litter cake for work tonight, and then frost the sugar cookies tomorrow. I went to kroger at lunch to buy the ingredients for the kitty litter cake, and as I was standing in the aisle I began to wonder how much I really cared. Do I really want to spend the evening baking cakes? Not really. So I put the butter back on the shelf and picked up a gallon of pumpkin ice cream, instead.

Sugar cookies will be plenty for this halloween.

Wish List Wednesday

I've decided to get more involved with the ladies on the national mom community I belong to, so I'm going to participate in my first ever Wish List Wednesday!

This activity is hosted by The Foster Family Blog



If you could meet anyone, who would you like to meet?

Right now, my mind is on all things baseball-related. No surprise there, since the World Series starts in just 8 hours! My Yankees are back again, looking to win their 27th World Championship. In honor of that, my list is definitely pinstripe-heavy :)

Of course, I'd love to meet all of the 2009 Yankees, but in the interest of narrowing the list here are my top three.

1. Derek Jeter



Of course he would top the list! While he might not be the most interesting Yankee, I love his appreciation for the history of the game and the approach he takes to playing every day.

2. Joe Torre



Torre will certainly go down in history as one of the greatest managers ever. I would love to hear his stories about managing the greatest sports franchise ever.

3. Billy Beane



So he's not a Yankee, but I would love to sit down with him and pick his brain about all things Sabermetric. Maybe he could even get me a job as an assistant GM :)

4. Mike and Mike



My two favorite entertainment personalities! I would love love love to be a statistician for ESPN and come up with all of the random facts they share over the airwaves. Mike & Mike have provided me with morning entertainment for years, including serving as a fantastic distraction when I was in labor.

5. Barack Obama



This one is very much a cliche, but I would be honored to meet our current president. It takes a certain kind of charisma to inspire that much hope in so many people.

Kids are Weird

I posted a few weeks ago about how bathtime had become such a horrific event in our house - the minute Baby C heard the water running he would throw a complete tantrum and scream and flail and stiffen his arms and legs so we couldn't easily get him into the tub, and refuse to sit down once he was actually in the tub, and scream throughout the entire ordeal.

Last night he ran over to the side of the tub when he heard the water running, tried to climb in on his own, splashed and played the whole time he was in there, and whined when it was time to get out.

How weird is that?

Memo Monday

Another H1N1 Thought

I keep hearing and seeing people complaining "If you're sick, you should stay home from work." While yes, that's true, you shouldn't be out and about spreading germs to the rest of the healthy people in your world, it's really just not that simple.

I'm incredibly lucky in that I have a good full-time job that offers paid vacation and personal days to use when I'm sick. I think those of us who are lucky enough to have that security tend to forget that there are millions of others who don't have that same luxury. The latest figures from the U.S. Labor Department show that, on a national level, 40% of private-sector full-time employees do not get paid for sick days. More than 77% of all part-time workers don't have paid sick days. So, while it seems intuitive enough to say "if you're sick, stay home," it's really not that easy for a large portion of our workforce.

I'm sure a lot of us have been in that position. Hell, it wasn't even that long ago for me, when I was in college (both undergrad and grad school!), having to make the decision between going to work sick and staying home in bed when I wasn't feeling well but forfeiting an entire day's paycheck. Not everyone has a savings account that they can fall back on, especially with today's economy, when so many are living paycheck-to-paycheck to support their households.

Unfortunately, there's no easy solution to this problem. Companies need to make changes to their policies. Paid time off for illness needs to be made available to the entire population, and sadly, that's not likely to happen any time soon. While not perfect, the Healthy Families Act is a step in the right direction. It's been sitting around since 2005, but has been resurrected. Let's hope that our lawmakers can come together and work something out that will benefit everyone.


For more information on this issue and similar issues affecting women and families, you can also visit the National Partnership for Women and Families.

Speaking of Hysteria

What's that in my Pocket?

A handful of broken Annie's Graham bunnies and a snot-covered tissue. How the hell did those get there?

How I Spent My Saturday Night

Are you jealous? God, I love October Baseball!

My Dilemma

This is not a life-or-death situation, but it's a mini-crisis of conscience nonetheless. I'm a big advocate of "voting with your wallet." If you don't like a product, don't buy it. If you don't like a company's business practices or social agenda, don't buy from them. Even though as individuals we have small voices, as consumers we can make those voices heard. I hear people complaining day after day about the evils of wal*mart, how they mistreat their employees, how they sell inferior products, how they circumvent the system and import goods from countries who don't have the same EPA standards. These people do a fair amount of bitching, yet they still continue to shop there. Why? Because they "don't have a choice." That's BS, there's ALWAYS a choice.

Anyway, I'm usually pretty good about where I choose to put my money, but now I'm up against a difficult situation. It took a lot of searching for us to find a daycare that we were completely happy with. 99% of the time I'm very happy with our center. I know Baby C is treated well and is in a caring and stimulating environment. I believe he's happy there, at least he's always smiley and engrossed in some activity when I go to pick him up. This is all well and good, but over the last few months I've begun to question their business practices. First I learned that they don't provide health insurance to their employees. I thought maybe this was the norm for care centers, but when I started asking around I realized that it's one of the only ones that doesn't. Care work (and, by default, care workers) has been de-valued in our society. I'm sad that these girls who care for my son every day don't have access to affordable health care. In addition to the health care issue, I've started to notice rumblings among the teachers about internal drama. I'm sure things like this are pretty much unavoidable when you have a building full of women, and I hope it's nothing serious, but I hate to think that infighting like this could spill over and affect the care that our kids receive. The third issue is pay-related. Again, I know that we don't place a high value on care work, but it's really sad that so many of these women (some of whom have children of their own, most of whom have college degrees) have to work two jobs because their primary job doesn't pay the bills.

So I have two choices:

1. Leave Baby C where he is and pretend I don't have a problem with these business practices

2. Find another center that aligns better with my belief system (unfortunately the organic/environmentally conscious/cloth-diapering center is too far away!)

On one hand I'd like to be able to say that I stand by my values, but on the other hand what good is pulling him out going to do? He would quickly be replaced by someone else, probably at a higher tuition rate once yearly increases are added.

The Handmaid's Tale

It's been a long time since I've picked up a book to read and not been able to put it down. I borrowed this one from a friend a few weeks ago but didn't have time to start it until Thursday morning at the dentist. I was hooked after the first two pages. I stayed up well into the night so that I could keep reading and made it just over halfway through. I used it as a distraction while the Twins batted in their half of the inning, and finished it around 1:30 this morning. Oh. My. God. Why didn't I read this sooner?



It was after the catastrophe, when they shot the president and machine-gunned the Congress and blamed it on the Islamic fanatics, at the time.
Keep calm, they said on television. Everything is under control.
I was stunned. Everyone was, I know that. It was hard to believe. The entire government, gone like that. How did they get in, how did it happen?
That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.
Look out, said Moira to me, over the phone. Here it comes.
Here what comes? I said.
You wait, she said. They've been building up to this. It's you and me up against the wall, baby. She was quoting an expression of my mother's, but she wasn't intending to be funny.

The last time I devoured a book like this was when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out, so that should tell you something.

Maybe it's because I just read two other dystopian novels for book club last month, but it definitely made me consider what track we're really on, and where our society will be 100 years from now. I kept wondering if this is what they felt like back when 1984 came out - knowing that it's a fictional work, knowing that the author went for the extremes, but still wondering in the back of their heads if it could, in fact, be possible. In fact, the most chilling part about this particular vision is that it's really almost a reversion to the past, when women were seen as property.

Parts of it were particularly heart-wrenching, especially having a child, myself, and knowing what the experience of labor and delivery is like. The thought of having to then hand my child over to someone else gives me an awful pit in my stomach. I want to go read everything else she's ever written! If you're looking for an excellent read (and if you're female, I suppose), then you should definitely check this one out.

O-S-WHO?!?!

This is a few days overdue, but I didn't had time to get Charlie's awesome UC picture off the camera until now.

The impossible has happened!



Your eyes do not deceive you, UC is ranked AHEAD OF ohio state!

Baby C celebrated by wearing his new Bearcats jersey to daycare on Monday.



I'm just trying to enjoy it while it lasts :)

Cheese Muffins

I'm not a loyal follower of the Pioneer Woman, but every so often I'll re-stumble across her page and find something I really like. A few weeks ago I happened to come across her recipe for cheese muffins. I love cheese, and I love muffins, so I figured I would love cheese muffins. I printed out her recipe, dubbed "Fig's Cheese Muffins," after the blogger DIZZLEFIG, who originally submitted it.


Fig’s Cheese Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (plus 1/8 tsp if using unsalted butter)
3 cups shredded colby-jack cheese (I used cheddar for
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter (original recipe calls for salted, I used unsalted and added 1/8 tsp of salt to the dry ingredients)

Whisk together dry ingredients, then stir in cheese.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg, milk, and butter together.

Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a spoon to combine.

Bake in greased muffin tins at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. (Instead of using muffin tins I made them like drop biscuits. They spread a bit on the pan, but it actually made them easier to dip in my soup.)

Makes 12.




Another immediate hit with Baby C! He really enjoys these muffins, as do the rest of us. They went over really well with Husband C, too, who would happily eat half the pan for dinner if I'd let him. It's hard to restrain yourself around these!

Memo Monday

It's October!

You know what that means! Halloween decorations, costume-making, pumpkin picking, and apple cider. I love fall! It's always been my favorite season, even more so now that I'm past school-age and no longer have to balance my love of fall with my love of summer vacation.

All of the traditional fall treats are great and all, but the best part about fall is October baseball!

I'm so glad to see my New York Yankees back atop the American League East where they belong. Now we just have to sit back and wait for the Division Series to start next week. I know a good buddy of mine is still rooting on those Tigers to win the AL Central. She's pregnant, so for her blood pressure's sake it would be a good thing if they managed to clinch, but for my stress level's sake I'd much rather face the Twins in the ALDS.

If everything goes as expected it very well could be another Yankees / red sux ALCS this year. I don't know if I could handle the stress. Of course, games are played on the field, not on paper, so we'll just have to wait and see :)

Where is Fall?

One of the worst things about living in Cincinnati (aside from the fact that it's an NL market, which means the Yankees pretty much never come here) is that we don't really get all four seasons. Two weeks ago it was pushing 80 degrees and we were wondering when fall was going to arrive. I daydreamed about pumpkin spice lattes, caramel apples, and wagon rides through the pumpkin patch. Last week the unseasonably warm weather was replace with torrential downpours. This week, it's freaking freezing. It looks like winter outside, all gray and gloomy, and I don't think we'll hit 60 degrees today. Even worse, it's going to drop into the 30s overnight. We're under a frost advisory!

I wanted fall weather, but this is just ridiculous. Get with the program, Ohio!

That said, I feel like the month of September just flew by. The whole year, actually. It's hard to believe that in three months we'll be staring 2010 right in the face. Everyone always tells you how fast time goes when you have a child, but no one ever listens. We got out Baby C's long pants the other day and all of a sudden he looks so grown up! I don't know if it's because he's in jeans, or because he's gotten taller, but he's certainly not a baby anymore.



(Baby C celebrating the AL East Championship)

Memo Monday

Cloth Diaper Victory!

Two weeks ago I submitted a proposal for a cloth diaper trial period to our daycare director. I initially asked for a two-day trial, and she came back offering an entire week to try them out. Last week was our trial run, and I was really nervous about it - kind of that feeling you used to get before the first day of school. I had all of my BG3.0s packed and ready to go the night before, along with a wetbag and diaper pail. I went in early on Monday to give the teachers a quick demonstration. They were all shocked to see how easy they were to use - most of them were expecting the pins and prefolds. On Friday I heard back from the director and we're now allowed to cloth diaper Charlie full-time! This is fantastic news for us, and I feel like I've really succeeded at teaching someone something new and changing someone's mind about cloth diapers.

I'm still not going to be a "CD pusher," but I'm very excited that people are becoming more open-minded about the topic. I can't even begin to tell you how many negative comments I got before Baby C was born, and how many people didn't think I'd really follow through with my plan. I love them, and I'm so happy we decided to go against convention.

Mom Goggles

The other night C and I were looking through old pictures and came across the ones that were taken at the hospital when Baby C was first born. I remember thinking that he was such a cute baby, definitely way cuter than any other baby, and certainly not alien-like, as I had so often heard newborns described.

I guess it must have been the mom goggles.

Don't get me wrong, he's super cute these days, but oh my god, looking back at those pictures? Not so much. He was rather yellow and scrunchy.



And the conehead, my good god the conehead. How did I miss that?





He started to improve within a few days



(hey, everyone looks better in a Yankee hat)

A year and change later, he's definitely back to being one of the cutest babies ever.



I guess parent goggles just replace beer goggles once the college days are in the past :)

Books About Babies

A few weeks ago I reviewed the books that I read while I was pregnant, which were mostly about pregnancy and breastfeeding. I think it's only appropriate that I also review the books I read (or tried to read) about the first year.


The Happiest Baby on the Block (this one was also in my original post, but I found myself referring to it often in the first months) - this one helped a lot for us. GREAT suggestions for calming pissy babies! The 5 S's work like a charm on Baby Charlie. Baby C loved being swaddled. We had a few of the SwaddleMe wraps, 2 lightweight ones and a fleece one for when it got colder. Once he was done with the swaddle I was still too paranoid to put a blanket in his crib, so we bought Halo Sleepsacks - they're wearable blankets (he does have a blanket in his crib, now!).

Your Baby Week by Week - Same idea as Your Pregnancy Week by Week, a developmental account of where the average baby is at each week. I really like this one, too. My BA is in child psych and this book is basically an Idiot's Guide to the First Year from every perspective (social, cognitive, motor, etc). We started off reading it every week, but started to slack off as Baby C become more mobile and active. It was much more fun to play with him than to read about him. I probably should have kept up with it, but what are you going to do.

Girlfriend's Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood - I didn't pick this book up until we were on our first outing post-baby and I wish I would have read it before I had him. It's by the same woman who wrote "Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy," and it's written in the same informal but informative style. She's definitely into giving you all the good, bad, and ugly details about childbirth, breastfeeding, and those first few postpartum weeks. I recommend this book to all of my pregnant friends! It's a quick read.

What the Other Mothers Know - lots of good and practical info for the first weeks and early childhood, but probably not a "must read" before the baby comes. It talks about play groups, parenting, potty training, preschools, daycare, birthdays, pretty much everything that you don't think about until you're in the moment. I'm hoping it will be helpful down the road.

I wish that I had read some books on work/life balance, aside from the research materials I read in graduate school. I have a list of books I intend to check out on that subject, so once I get my hands on them I'll certainly put them up for review.

Memo Monday

Word of Warning to BFing Mamas

When I stopped EPing I was actually 8 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. I know that when you're in "cow mode" you burn a ton of extra calories per day, so I knew that I would have to make some adjustments to my eating habits to avoid gaining back some weight. I must not have adjusted them enough, because I've gained 5 of those pounds back.

Moral of the story: Don't get overexcited and buy pants in your new, slimmer size. All you will get is heartache when you can't get back into them.

I'm not really complaining, because I'm still slightly under my pre-pregnancy weight, but damn were those pants cute.

Recipe Wednesday - Banana Pancakes

Baby Charlie LOVES his fruit. He also loves his pancakes. When I was little we had a DC Super Heroes Super Healthy Cookbook.



One of my favorite recipes of all time was Invisible Banana French Toast. I decided to try to combine bananas and pancakes, but not in the traditional sense of blending the fruit into the batter. Instead of mixing it all together and ending up with banana-flavored pancakes, I sliced the banana and dipped each slice into the pancake batter.

Banana Pancakes

Made using King Arthur's Simply Perfect Pancake Recipe

1 or 2 bananas, sliced into "wheels"

For the pancake batter:

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups milk

3 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup malted milk powder (or 2 tablespoons sugar)

1. Beat the eggs and milk until light and frothy, about 3 minutes at high speed, using a stand mixer or hand mixer. Stir in the butter.

2. Whisk the dry ingredients together to evenly distribute the salt, baking powder and malt. Gently and quickly mix the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Let the batter rest for at least 15 minutes to thicken.

3. Heat an electric griddle to 350 degrees or heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat. Lightly grease the griddle or pan; it is ready if a drop of water skitters across the surface and evaporates immediately. Drop batter by the 1/3 cupful onto the griddle or skillet per pancake. Cook on one side until bubbles begin to form and break, then turn the pancakes and cook the other side until brown. Turn only once. Serve immediately.

This is where I deviate from the recipe. Instead of dropping batter into pancakes I slice up a banana or two, dip them in the batter, and then stick them on the pan. They usually take no more than 30 seconds on each side. I use the rest of the batter to make regular pancakes once I've made enough banana pancakes to satisfy the Minion.

The best thing about this particular pancake recipe is that it's very simple to make. You can do it start to finish in about 10 minutes on a Saturday morning. I imagine that the banana pancakes would freeze well, but there are never enough left to find out!

Memo Monday

The freezer is empty!

This morning I used my last bag of frozen milk. It was a little bittersweet, but I have to pat myself on the back for actually exceeding my goal. If you had told me 13 months ago that I would temporarily become a cow and be able to provide the best nourishment possible for my baby despite all of our breastfeeding issues, I would have thought you were crazy. I'm so proud to be able to say that we persevered and made it all the way through. Husband Charlie is just glad to have his freezer back :)

Memo Monday

Happy Birthday to Me

Birthdays aren't as exciting anymore once you pass the 21st. I remember how excited I used to get around birthdays - they were almost as good as christmas. You'd start getting antsy about it the week before, gleefully anticipating your big birthday bash, complete with your bestest buddies and (hopefully!) ice cream cake from DQ with the chocolate crunchies in the middle. You'd get no sleep the night before, as you imagined how cool it would be the next day when you got to serve birthday cupcakes to your classmates and maybe, just maybe, get a shiny iridescent pencil emblazoned with "Happy Birthday" to use for the rest of the month. Just that pencil itself could be good enough, with the unscuffed eraser and the unsharpened point. So much potential for great things out of that perfect pencil! The birthday kid always got special treatment, even if it just meant clapping erasers after lunch or being line leader or kickball captain.

I think companies should include your birthday on the list of paid holidays. That would add some excitement back into the day. I've gone from home birthday parties to roller rink parties to giant sleepover bashes to keg parties, and now I've arrived at the ultimate in adult celebration - a family-friendly trip to the ice cream shop, complete with my other mom buddies and their toddlers. Who needs a birthday tiara when you've got little chocolate-covered hands waiting to give you a birthday hug? I always hated being the center of attention, anyway.

Just when you think you know someone

Have you ever started reading a blog written by someone you know in real life? Sometimes it's weird, especially when it's someone who you thought you knew pretty well, until their blog provides you with a hefty dose of cognitive dissonance. I thought I knew a particular person pretty well, they've been in my life since my undergrad days and I see/talk to them on a regular basis. They went and started a blog a little while ago, and my perception of them has completely changed. Every time a new post appears I discover a little piece about them that I didn't know existed.

It's interesting, but kind of sad at the same time - hard evidence that we don't always know people as well as we think they do, and that maybe we all feel as though we have to hide behind masks at times. I guess that's one benefit of the interwebs - it gives us a place where we feel anonymous. Everyone can find an online niche.

I had a conversation with some individuals a generation ahead of me - they were lamenting the fact that no one communicates through hand-written notes anymore and it's all about IMing, emailing, and texting. Not only that, but OMG! People are making FRIENDS on the interwebs! People are becoming friends with people they've NEVER. EVEN. MET. What is this world coming to? Dogs and cats, living together?

It got me thinking - I'm not big on letter writing or phone conversations. I always feel awkward on the phone, especially when you start running out of things to talk about and then end up with those long pauses. I much prefer email and IM. I belong to a few online communities, too. In fact, when I really stop and think about it, a large percentage of the people I count as "friends" are people I've met through these communities. I've been lucky enough to find a wonderful group of local ladies, and we get together for playdates and gossip. I think the interwebs are a wonderful place for social introverts like myself, who don't do well in crowds and have difficulty making friends. A text-based screen gives us the chance to let our guard down without most of the social awkwardness. When you finally get together in person you already know each other, so there's none of that "will they like me" stress. I think that the interwebs help people make friends, and help people to communicate, regardless of what the older generation says about the "degradation of today's youth."

Of course, that's not to say that I want Charlie v2.0 to spend hours playing WOW a few years down the road. There are happy mediums everywhere.