Friday Five

Easy topic this week:
Things that are annoying me.

1. My hair
I recently went in for a trim and for some ungodly reason the hair dresser mistook my comment about taking an inch or so off to mean CHOP it ALL off!! I've never had hair this short and it's growing on me! (Ha! I'm so puny!) The worst part of the hair thought goes back to November. I went to my usual salon, got trim by my usual stylist and when I went home and attempted to style my own hair the next day, the right hairs near my hairline would not stay down. I'm talking sticking straight up like Alfalfa. I spent the next two months wearing headbands, and using gel/hairspray/whatever to keep the hairs in place. I have since been back and have prohibited both the typical stylist and then chopperella to touch this section of my hair- but alas, it still sticks up!
2. My husband and his snoring
I can't handle it anymore!!! He snores like there's no tomorrow. That is when he is wearing the breathe right. If I make to sleep before he comes up and don't wake up when he comes to bed, I'm fine. Lately, though, I've been waking up when he comes up and he's out by the time his head hits the pillow, leaving me to toss and turn and plug my ears.
3. The whole Jon & Kate debacle
Unless you live under a rock, all the Jon & Kate crap has been all over the tabloids, talk shows, and even on my local evening news. (I kid you not!) My two cents: cancel the show, let the kids live their lives camera free, and invite the other two the summer hit: Big Brother so they can iron out their issues without the children but with the option of the public viewing it all two to three times per week.
4. The weather
We had a beautiful weekend. Warm, summer like, and it was perfect to play outside. Since Monday, it's been BLAH! My aforementioned hair looks even more craptastic as the humidity is now causing it too be a frizzy mess and the ground is so wet today that I can't even let Mo run in the small piece of grassy land that separates our townhouse from the other unit.
5. The Real Housewives of New Jersey
I hate those women with a passion. It's bad enough The Sopranos gave the illusion that most NJ housewives were like Carmella- driving around in her Cayenne Porsche SUV with her big hair, gold jewelry and fake nails. I feel like they basically just picked a family that best resembles the Sopranos and tossed the idea of a show to them. I know no one like them and I'm a NJ housewife!!! Fake boobs, hair, nails, tans, and class - I think they may push NJ back to the '80's. At least the RHoCalifornia and the RHoNY the ladies had careers beside mooching of their husbands. It's so freaking fake it kills me.
Plus, they're called BOOBS or BOOBIES- LONG O. Bubbies are more then one Polish grandmothers.

Ahh, I feel relived mow that I got that out. Enjoy your weekend!

Swim

Moira has loved her rubber duckies since she was really small. She has four- two typical yellow ducks, one smaller size one which she loves to chew the beak and walk around with in her mouth (classy, I know), and a cow duck. (A duck that looks like a cow.) Cute idea, but I can see that this may be problematic in the future trying to explain, it's body is in the shape of a duck but it is painted to look like a cow.
AS usual, I digress.
Like most moms of toddlers out there, I usually have to use the bathroom with the door open. God only knows what SOS (Spawn of Satan) would get into in the event she had the freedom of no adult supervision. So, I'm doing my business in the bathroom upstairs where Mo's rubber ducky collection lies next to the tub. Mo comes sauntering in and goes for the ducks. In the meantime, I finish, wipe, and go to stand up. In that two seconds, Mo throws her rubber duck into the toilet.
I'm guessing she wanted to see it swim.
We're heading to Babies R Us this afternoon to buy toilet locks and I think from now on her duckies are going out of reach, at least when I'm in the bathroom!

Friday Five

There are numerous bloggers out there that have day related themes. Tracey, of Cheese and Whine has been known to do Thankful Thursdays, while I remember others doing the Way back Wednesday where they add pics from the past (be it their child or self) and my personal favorite from Jaci on Ravings of a Mad Housewife and her Blog Fart Fridays!
I took my inspiration from facebook's social application. I figured also, that I couldn't be the first person to think of this so I googled "Friday five" and the responses I got were weak. (Basically five questions like name your favorite boy's name? Or what quality do want to share with a friend?) Seriously, that's the best they could do?
So instead of five questions, I'm going to pose one question and give my FIVE answers (a la Facebook).


Today's first question:
What do you look forward to this summer?
1. The Beach
Not the bathing suit that needs to be worn on the beach, but the ocean, the sand, that relaxing sea breeze! I love it. I'm also excited to see how Mo does in the ocean w/Bry. Last year she was too little to really get it, but I think come the end of August, we may have a little fish on our hands.
2. Pedicures
Summer is the ultimate excuse for bi-monthly pedicures. I don't understand how people who never had one say they don't like them. It's heaven and your feet look a whole helluva lot better then when you came into the salon.
3. Flip Flops
It kind of goes with Pedicures, but I love summer (and spring and fall) because I get to wear my flip flops. I love that my toes breather and I even kind of like the flip flop sound.
4. Getting a tan
I know this is bad for me. I know I can get skin cancer. I know the sun causes wrinkles, BUT I look a lot better (and thinner) when I'm tan. Also I get the most compliments about "how healthy I look" when I'm tan. Go figure?
5. Weddings
My cousin Taryn is getting married on June 6 and my good friend Aly is tying the know on July 17. I have heard other people complain about summer weddings- it's hot, it's sticky, you get sweaty! I look forward to weddings anytime of year. Taryn's wedding will be special because she is having a more laid back wedding and reception and actually invited Mo! We already have her dress and sandals picked out and thankfully Taryn told me her actual ceremony will be 10-15 minutes. NICE! Aly is having a more formal affair and since her wedding to Rob will be in Northern NJ, it will be the first sleepover Mo will have with Grandpops and Gram. Besides the wedding,and reception, I'm stoked that I will actually be able to sleep in for a morning!

If you read this, feel free to respond with your own five. I'd love to see what everyone else thinks. If this turns out okay, maybe I'll do it every week.
Have a happy Memorial day and enjoy the unofficial start of summertime!

Troublemaker!!

I was tempted to label this entry "One Hot Mess" but I figured that might be stretching it a bit, plus who knows what my kid will be like come puberty. (I shiver as I write that sentence!!)
So, apparently sometime between last week and this, my kid has turned into S.O.S.- Spawn of Satan! It's like a switch has been turned. No longer just curious, now S.O.S. is getting all Diva on us. (Think Whitney Houston a la the Bobby Brown years minus the coke habit of course!)
Two nights ago we had gnocchi and meat sauce for dinner. She's always been relatively good eating with her hands. She's our kid, so when she sees food, she eats. That is until Tuesday.
This is how she looked half-way through the meal. I know it's not too bad, however you didn't see the matted pieces of tomatoes from the sauce stuck in her hair.

With every reminder to put her food in her mouth, S.O.S. decided to touch her hair or forehead.
Wednesday wasn't any better. She learned a new trick. When you take a sip from your straw cup it's fun to let your mouth fill with water (or later milk) and then let it spill out the sides of your mouth, down your shirt. Keep doing it, especially when your mom is in the bathroom.

She's signing "more" because after coming back from the bathroom I discovered her shirt saturated with water and swiped the cup from her hands

Full on DIVA MODE when I said no more to the cup.

This new act was also displayed at dinner too with her glass of milk. From what Bry told me, he was scared upstairs when he heard me scream "That is NOT HOW WE DRINK OUR MILK!" in the kitchen. Now she is not allowed a cup without a monitor present.

I attempted to put her into the stroller yesterday to go for a walk around our development and then a swing at the playground. She kept arching her back, kicking her feet and screeching. My GOD I thought someone would call DYFS. You thought I was beating her. As I was attempting to put the straps around her she slid through the bottom of the stroller. Then, she did it- she laughed! S.O.S.!
This was not the only incident this week that has me thinking The Body Snatchers but the laugh nearly put me over the edge.
Yes, that proverbial edge I heard my mother talk about, most of the time in relation to my sister and her attitude growing up. That edge where my mother was known to say something to the effect of "I know why Mother's leave their children", "I know why some animals eat their young" or "I think I just might go for a drive and never come home". Of course we were in middle school when she would say this and we knew she would never really leave us, except for that time she went out for a long drive (like an hour) after a fight and did scare us.
I get it now Mom.
I'm Sorry!

A Perfect Little Person

The first 8 months or so of her life, Mo was more an appendage to me then an actual person. She had a personality but for the most part she depended on me (and Bry) for everything. She didn't have any real preferences for things and just kind of went along with whatever we were doing.
Things started to change once she started walking. With those steps, she developed a sense of freedom and adventure. She enjoyed exploring around going under and through things. Sometime between then and now she became a little person.
She has her favorite toys - Bitty Baby, Blocks, and ball, her favorite books- Chicka Chicka ABCS and Pat the Bunny and television shows - Blue's Clues and Yo Gabba Gabba. She loves dogs and will start screeching with excitement whenever she sees one. She is starting to follow directions, well at least for me. She still won't listen to Bry when he tells her to pick up the cup and put it on the table! She's begun to use sign language, and will ask for more, milk, and cookie. She also knows what NO! means and has taken to using it herself especially when we're trying to get her to eat more. She watches intently as we do things like talk on the phone or give hugs, and then tries to mimic them herself. She seems to understand more and more everyday!
I don't know when it happened, but my baby became a toddler. She no longer relies on Bry and I for things. She is curious and interested. She is Moira, the little girl who laughs and smiles and makes everyone around her laugh and smile.
We experimented with coloring for the first time on Friday. Notice the smock and how she kept the coloring on the box for the most part at least.
She's a budding Picasso!

Black Eyes and Pig Tails

Even though it's only Wednesday, Mo already had an eventful week. On Monday night, we made the trek to my hometown to pay our respects to my Aunt's sister Trina who passed away suddenly at the age of 47. God bless you Trina.
Instead of me driving to Bry's work and then switching cars, allowing him to drive Mo in her car seat back home and me driving to the service by myself, I had the great idea to just pick up Bry at work on the way and all go together. In my head, it seemed like a good idea. We'd go in together to the funeral home, pay our respects, and then head out. Unfortunately reality had a different plan for us.
First off- I forgot the local town Dogwood Festival (yes, a fair in honor of a tree. Don't get me started. There's a queen and everything. Don't believe me? Check out Tracey's blog She was the Dogwood queen of 1995 and it's item number 97 on her list.) So back to the festival, the funeral home is located about one block from the park. Needless to say, parking at 6 O'clock wasn't too easy. Then we get to the funeral home and a long line had already formed. As we walked to the front of the home, I saw my brother and then my sister and parents and Great Aunt Mary all come together. We go in together as Bry decides to hang out in the back of the funeral home to wait.
Like I said, the line was long and there were beautiful pictures of Trina and her family throughout her life. There were pictures I remember seeing at my Aunt Celine's house. Pictures of Trina with her son Jesse, and lots of pictures of Trina with my cousins. It took us some time to get to her family members. After giving hugs and condolences I noticed Bryan frantically waving to me in the back of the funeral home.
Apparently he had taken Mo outside since it was getting filled inside. Obviously there isn't a park or playground nearby and after holding her flailing body for 10 minutes, he decided the blacktop driveway was the safest place to put her.
She fell flat on her face.
It took her a good ten minutes to stop crying. Immediately a bruise formed right under her cheek and she had a little brush burn too.
My poor baby got her first shiner!




These pictures were taken two days after the fall.

Last night after Bryan apologized for the hundredth time, Mo was playing on the floor in our living room. He mentioned how nicely her hair is coming in. As I sat down next to her, I started playing with her hair a bit and realized it WAS getting long.
Long enough for


PIGTAILS!




I think since they are still in the small stage, I'll call them piglet tails. This is an important milestone in having a little girl.
Don't believe me, check out these posts:
Twice the Love
Multiple Baby Pile Up
My baby is growing up!

A Memorable Week-end

First off, Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas out there!
This year mother's day was a whole helluva different ballgame. Besides the fact that I feel like I know what I'm doing now, as a mama, plus the level of sleep deprivation is far less severe then it was this time last year at 6 weeks post-partum. Mo did decide to wake at 6:25 instead of her usual 7:15 but that was more as a need for survival. Apparently my kid does not sleep quietly nor in one place. Sometime in the early morning hours she managed to end up in such a position that her foot, (inside her sleep sack) made it above the bumpers and through the banister- STUCK! She started a whiny cry and I went it to find her like that. Bry, of course, was oblivious to the sound as always when he sleeps- dead to the world. At 8:45 I brought Mo upstairs to wake Bry and my mother's day officially began, as I took a nap for two hours. AHHHH!
During my nap Bry went out and got me lunch as well as my Mother's day gift.
Yup, a tea kettle! Exactly what I wanted.
Besides Mother's Day, we got another surprise on Friday night. My baby brother Joey proposed to his lovely girlfriend, now fiance Colleen! He kept it a secret from everyone in my family but my father and Mo. We went to visit my parents on Thursday and at one point, Joey swept Mo away to play, or so I thought. Instead, he was showing Moira the ring. Apparently she's just like her mama and tried to grab the pretty shiny thing.

Congrats Joe & Colleen!

After 396 days...

we finished breastfeeding.
Yes, that's 13 months straight of Mo on the boob!
Way back in April 2008 when she was born,
I figured I would try breastfeeding (bfing) out. Don't you just love my swollen face! .
Since Moira was born via emergency c-section at night, the recovery room was empty when they wheeled me in. I asked one of the recovery nurse when I should try BFing. I figured that since she was sucking on Bryan's shirt for dear life, I should at least offer her the real thing.
She latched on like a champ and for the past 13 months, we have had no problems. Early on, there were a few moments where she got squirted in the face, but beyond that, no problems.
So last Friday, May 1, Moira's 13 month birthday my mom volunteered to stay over so Bry and I could go out for dinner. I was figuring eventually we would eliminate the last nursing session someday. Someday was that day. She took her cup of milk from my mom with no problems and that was that.
It has been my job for the first 13 months of her life to feed her and put her to bed, but now I've passed the torch. Bry is now in charge of bedtime. While I'm happy he gets to have that time with Mo, I'll admit I kind of miss it a little already. I am happy to have my boobs back to myself.

She's obviously adjusting fine!

Road Trip!

We had a wonderful play date yesterday with my good friend Ashley, her husband Chris, and their little boy Aiden. We went to Giggleberry Fair in Peddler's Village, New Hope PA. For $12 per adult, and nothing, since our kids were under 2, we played and threw foam balls in a indoor climbing area, went fishing in a duck pool, danced on a huge lit up dance floor, climbed aboard a truck and picked some vegetables in the pretend area, and went around and around on a carousel Not any carousel but "new fully restored 1922 Philadelphia Toboggan Company (P.T.C.) carousel installed in July 1998. The new carousel is grander and much more colorful than its all-white predecessor." Our first time on, Moira didn't quite know what to make of the horse. I thought she was vibrating from the music, but alas, I figured out she actually was shaking because she a little bit nervous. By the third trip around, she was old pro! Laughing and waving to Ashley who was sitting on the bench. It was great time and I think besides being able to share this trip with Aiden, Ash, & Chris, it was also fun because it was basically empty there.
I must confess two things:
1. I had to eat my words from a previous post. I mentioned that we are usually late because of Bryan. We ended up getting to Peddler's Village at 10:55, instead of 10:30. It was kind of my fault- there was a detour and I didn't allow for that.
2. I got lost coming home.
If you know me in real life, then that shouldn't surprise you. I have very poor directional skills. Bryan likes to say that I could get lost in a closet. I am getting better. I have learned to relax now when I get lost, especially the further away I am from a city. For example if I got lost coming home from the NJ Aquarium, you can believe the radio would be off, both hands would be on the wheel and I would have Bry on speakerphone as fast as I could.
No one should be driving alone lost in Camden NJ.
Now if I get lost like I did on Tuesday in the greater New Hope area, it's really not too big of a deal. The radio actually stayed on and I kept two hands on the wheel, more so because I was afraid of cows walking across the road. After about 20 minutes of circling, I found a road I knew and made it home.
I called Bry when I did get home because I was so proud of myself. I got lost and didn't freak out and call him in tears. (Yes, that has happened!)
I made it home from our little road trip in one piece with my kid asleep in the back with no idea that anything out of the ordinary happened.
Nice!
When we do go to the Philadelphia Zoo or the Aquarium, you bet I will have solid directions in hand!!