Open house!

I went to Open House at Angelica's daycare last night. It was fantastic!

Right after her birthday, we switched daycares to move her to one that was closer to my work, and in with a friend of hers, since my niece and nephew were no longer attending the daycare she'd been going to. She's only been there for a couple of months, so it was really great tonight to be able to go in and meet the teacher, and have Angelica show me her classroom and introduce me to her friends!

Angelica is always talking about the "dollhouse center", because that's apparently her favorite thing about school. So, she showed me the dollhouse center and told me all about how it works. And then we got to play in dollhouse center together! It was so great to share in something that brings her so much joy every day, but that I don't normally get to experience.

She also showed me housekeeping center, and showed me how they do arts and crafts time (and how well she cleans up after herself at all of the centers!)

The whole time we were there, Angelica kept asking, "Can you stay, Mommy? Please, can you stay with me?" and of course I could say YES! I could tell from how excited she was for me to be there and stay with her that she loved being able to show me this part of her world.

I also got to really talk to her teacher about how she's doing in "school", and I'm really pleased to hear that: 1) She's super polite, 2) she plays really well with her friends, 3) she (mostly) listens when she's asked to do something and 4) she doesn't give the teacher any back-talk. Seriously, with the way she has been acting at home lately, I was pretty sure she was going deaf and in need of anger management courses. She's apparently the complete opposite and a total joy to have in the class.

The whole evening was a great opportunity to bond with each other, and it was reflected well in the way the rest of the evening went. Other than when Angelica spilled some ice water in her lap, which made her very upset and cranky for a short period of time, she was really well behaved the rest of the night. Even bedtime was a breeze. She got herself dressed (including buttoning her own pajama shirt -- I didn't even know she could do that!) and when we were done reading, she put her own books away.

I really need to find a way to take more time out of the busy hustle and bustle of the day to spend time letting her lead the way.  This night was full of joy.

Tales of the Toddler Bed

About ten days ago, Angelica woke up from an afternoon nap and I went in her room to get her, and watched as she danced back and forth across her crib, laughing. Suddenly, she lunged for the crib rail and hoisted herself up on her arms, and almost toppled over the side. Fortunately she caught herself before she fell.

And with that, we decided...time to make the transition to the toddler bed.





I have to admit, I was probably taking the transition harder than she was. I worried that she wouldn't stay put. I worried that she'd be scared. I worried that she would fall out of bed in the middle of the night and get hurt. I worried that I'd wake up in the morning and find her standing naked in the middle of her bedroom, flinging around a dirty diaper and laughing.

Thankfully, none of the above (especially the last one) has happened. Yet. (And, as you'll note in the second picture, she was rewarded for her good behavior with brand new Dora the Explorer sheets, which has made her the happiest child on Earth!)

Instead, she gets in bed when I tell her to at night. We read her stories, sing songs, rub her back, and eventually kiss her goodnight and leave the room. She usually cries for 20-30 seconds and then falls asleep, in bed, without getting up.

My biggest concern of all was her safety if she were to wake up before us in the morning, but even that hasn't been an issue. She wakes up and sits in her bed, reading, playing with her stuffed animals, or just stays laying down, calmly, waiting for mommy and daddy to come get her.

My girl makes me proud.

Oh, and just because I think this photo of her is HILARIOUS...here's my cutie patootie almost 22 month old, making one of her classic funny faces. (I swear she gets this look from her father!)

And as if that wasn't enough proof...

Yesterday's meltdown over shoes was pretty humorous, but what was even funnier was this exchange we had after we got home.

It was raining, my feet and cuffs of my pants were soaked, and we walked in the front door. She made a bee line for the kitchen and started yelling, "Dora pop-kle! Dora pop-kle!" (Yes, we have Dora the Explorer popsicles...I think this cartoon has pretty much taken over our lives.) I jumped into some sweatpants and went in the kitchen after her.

"You want a Dora popsicle?"
"Yesh! Dora pop-kle! DORA POP-KLE!"
"Okay, I'll get you one." ::opening freezer to get her a popsicle::
"Here you go!"
"Mommy pop-kle?"
"No honey, Mommy doesn't want a popsicle."
"MOMMY POP-KLE! MOMMY POP-KLE!!"
"But Mommy doesn't want one sweetie..."
::Angelica begins screaming and wailing::
"Okay, Mommy will have a popsicle too."
(Grinning) "Mommy POP-kle! Yay!"

Oh yeah, and we absolutely did have popsicles BEFORE dinner. Happens once in a blue moon. Go ahead, judge me. :)

Further proof that I am no longer in control

This morning, it was a chilly 51 degrees outside when I left the house. (Okay, we're in Florida. It may not be that chilly to some of you but to us, it is!) Both Angelica and I are bundled up and ready to go. I put her shoes on, and as I'm putting mine on, she runs over and grabs my flip flops.

"Mommy shoes!" She says.
"Thank you honey, but I'm going to wear these instead." I reply.
"Nooooooooooooooo!!!! Mommy shoes!" She says again, with more force.
(Pretending to put flip flops on)
"Okay, Mommy's wearing flip flops! Go get your lovey!"
(I proceed to switch back to my normal shoes, but she gets back in the room before I'm done.)
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" She screams, grabs my shoes, and runs off.

Yep. I wore flip flops to work today. Thanks kiddo.

That was a strange sensation...

This was the scene in our household this evening. These two really do make quite a pair, don't they? Nobody makes Angelica laugh like Daddy can (even though I've been known to have her belt out a belly laugh every now and again)!

Take note of the outfit she's wearing before I continue with the following story.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Scott, Angelica and I were all laying on our stomachs on the floor coloring in her Dora coloring book, when she suddenly gets up, and runs into the kitchen...which was directly behind me and out of my line of view.

We hear her rustling around with the pictures we have in magnetic frames on the fridge, which include a couple of our engagement photos, a wedding photo, and multiple photos of her as an infant. We continue coloring (yes, we both just love coloring that much) while listening to her say "Mommy! Daddy! A-ca-ca!" as she rotates through the pictures.

Suddenly, I feel something literally leap onto my back. Wild laughter ensues as she delights in the fact that she has totally startled me and has tackled me in such a way that I can not only not see her, but I can't grab her and can't get up. All of a sudden, Scott laughs and says "Oh my goodness!" over and over again. I panic, thinking something's wrong, and reach back and...

I grab a naked leg.

If you'll notice in the picture above, she's wearing full overalls and a t-shirt! Somehow while in the kitchen she was able to completely remove her overalls all by herself, all without making a peep about it. She's been doing that with pants for a long time, but not with more complicated clothes (like overalls).

We laughed. Our little girl is growing up! (She is officially 20 months old now, after all!)

This is the song, la la la la, Elmo's song...

Tonight we decided to get out of the house and brave a restaurant with our (almost) 20 month old. This is something we don't do frequently. I think I've figured out the trick to getting through dinner without Angelica screaming, asking to get up, running around the restaurant, or otherwise making a scene:



I pull out my BlackBerry, and as soon as Angelica sees it, she starts yelling "Elmo SHONG, Elmo SHONG!" So I have that video bookmarked and pull it up in the browser (and cross my fingers that we're not in a black hole for cell phone reception).

So that held her over for about twenty minutes, and then she started asking for Cookie Monster (which sounds more like "Kooky mon-sher!"), which means that she wants to watch C is for Cookie:



Funny thing about this...I was visiting my sister and her kids yesterday, and she had asked for "kooky mon-sher" and I didn't have enough cell phone reception to get the video to play. Well, my sister started singing it a little while later (while giving the kids cookies...go ahead, judge me!) and Angelica shot her a death stare, as if to say "How did you know that song! That's MY song!"

Anyway, if it keeps her looking as happy as she does in this picture (taken on a completely different place and time), I don't mind her borrowing my phone to call her favorite Sesame Street characters...

Long Time No See!

So, my last post was in November. We've been through an entire holiday season in that time! Suffice it to say, it was a very busy few months in our household, and sadly this blog was neglected as a result.

In the interest of catching up, here's some of the excitement that's gone on since my last post!

• I finished my master's program!: I spent the months of November and December working extremely hard on my final capstone project, and on December 18, I graduated, having earned a Master's degree in Internet Marketing. And, to add a cherry on top, I was the salutatorian of my graduating class. I accomplished this while being a full time work-outside-the-home mom, and I think I can safely say that if I can do it, anyone can do it!
• I had surgery on my wrist!: On December 21, I had outpatient surgery on my wrist to correct the Dequervain's tenosynovitis that has been bothering me for oh...two years. I was first treated for it with a steroid shot when I was five months pregnant with Angelica. Since then, I had two more shots. And then it came back again, and the doctor said that having another shot of the cortisone would not fix the problem, so it was time to operate. It was a quick surgery. I was done in about 15 minutes, not even fully put under (they numbed my arm and used a drug to relax me instead). I then had my forearm in a half-cast for a week, used a splint for a week, and now my hand is free. It's still a little sore...the doctor said it could take about a month to be fully pain-free, so I'm optimistic. Since I know there are other moms out there who have Dequervains, if you have any questions about the surgery, let me know!
• We had the holidays!: This was Angelica's second Christmas, and it was great. Unfortunately due to my surgery, we had to cancel our travel plans, but we still had a great Christmas! Angelica got tons of Dora the Explorer items, including a Dora the Explorer kitchen that I got at a kids resale store for $30!
• We replaced a transmission: On Jan. 3rd, around 5:30 p.m., Scott's car finally gave up. The transmission died. We finally got the car back last night, so I'm thankful to have two working cars again (even if it resulted in a much smaller bank balance).
• Angelica turned a year and a half old!: My baby girl is growing up so fast! She'll actually be 20 months old in a few days. She continues to amaze us on a regular basis. She talks nonstop now, and not just baby talk either. There's a lot of "Thank you, Mommy and Daddy" and "I want please!" and "I love you Mommy and Daddy" and "Please read Dora Kingdom book!" She's a chatterbox and I love it.

In 2010, expect to see a lot more updates, a lot more photos, and a lot more fun stuff on this blog!

Our First Trick or Treat!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

This year was the first year Angelica was "eligible" to go trick or treating. Last year on Halloween, she was only five months old, so we dressed her up in a cute outfit and took a couple of pictures, but we didn't go trick or treating.

[caption id="attachment_304" align="aligncenter" width="214" caption="Angelica on Halloween 2008"][/caption]

So, this year was a lot different! Halloween is probably my favorite holiday each year (though Christmas is a close second...I go back and forth on this every year), and both Scott and I were very excited to get Angelica dressed up and take her trick or treating. We had decided months ago that she would be a pirate...we were originally going to do a whole "pirate family" theme, but then decided to just focus on her.

We got her dressed up in her costume after her afternoon nap, and then let her run around and play in it. She really enjoyed it! We didn't really have any trouble getting her to wear it, and after she had it on, she really tried to act out the part.

In the days leading up to Halloween, we practiced saying "Trick or Treat" with her, and she picked it up pretty quickly! In fact, at one house she walked up to the door, pounded on it saying "knock knock knock!" and then when the man at the house answered, she said "cheetochee!" (which is how it came out when she tried to say "trick or treat"). I need to invest in a camcorder to capture moments like these.

Here's a couple of pre-Trick or Treat shots I took of her.
[caption id="attachment_309" align="aligncenter" width="214" caption="Angelica Halloween 2009"][/caption]




To make the day even more fun, we went trick or treating with my sister's family. Her son/my nephew is almost three, and her daughter/my niece is two months younger than Angelica. My nephew was the cutest firefighter you've ever seen, and my niece was the prettiest little princess. What a great bunch of kids they were (except, in the picture below, Angelica did not want to sit still...she had to be pulled away from the candy bowl in order to snap this very candid shot!)


Minutes after this shot was taken, five adults (my parents joined us) and three children, all under the age of three, began what was a very short journey around the neighborhood. We didn't get much candy (thank goodness) but had an abundance of fun.

(By the way, if you like these pictures and live in the Central Florida area, be sure to check out my photography site!)

Nick Jr. Scares My Child

For Halloween, Nick Jr. (formerly Noggin) has been playing their Halloween-themed "I Don't Like Candy Corn" video. While most things on Nick Jr. are entertaining and fun for Angelica (particularly Dora the Explorer and Nihao Kai-Lan), this particular video is not entertaining to her. At all.

It is so not entertaining that we have to be very careful during the breaks between shows to have the remote control handy to either change the channel or fast-forward (if the show is on our DVR). This video scares the living daylights out of her. If she even thinks the video might be coming on, she runs screaming and crying into my arms.

I have to admit, I was surprised by this at first. Nick Jr. is geared toward kids who are Angelica's age, so what in the world could possibly be so scary about this video? Having never gotten all the way through it (thanks to the screaming/crying that follows its appearance on our TV), I remained curious until I looked the video up on YouTube.



Yep, if I were a year and a half old, this might scare the pants off of me.

Not to say that Nick Jr. should change their programming or remove the video. Quite the contrary -- it's a cute video and for kids who are a little older than mine, it's probably enjoyable. This is just one of those opportunities for mommy take the initiative to change the channel.

Dora has landed...

As I've mentioned before, I'm one of those awful moms who lets their toddler watch television. (Emphasis added for sarcasm.) For the longest time, it was all about Jack's Big Music show on Noggin (now Nick Jr.), but sometime in the past three months, Dora the Explorer became the television show of choice.

I don't know if it was the fact that we'd seen every episode of Jack's Big Music show ten thousand times and had them committed to memory, or if Angelica just woke up one day and said, "You know what, Mom, that funny looking blue guy and his equally funny looking musical dog are for babies, I'm sophisticated now and prefer my cartoons to go on expeditions, speak two languages and be accompanied by a talking monkey"...either way, Dora has landed big-time in our household, and the fanaticism is quite the force to be reckoned with.

Take, for example, this past weekend. The three of us went grocery shopping as a family, and as we're paused to ponder which type of trail mix to pick up, and which bananas look the nicest, we hear a shriek come from the shopping cart. "DOOOORAAAA!!!!!!!!!" she screams over and over again. Scott and I look at each other...where in the world does she see Dora?

We look up and see a Dora mermaid balloon tied to the banana stand.

She is going so absolutely ballistic over the sight of this Dora the Explorer balloon, that the employee setting up the fruit in the produce section stops, comes over, and admires the fact that she is so fascinated by the balloon, commenting on how she wishes it had been Dora and not Barney for her kids. (Fortunately, Barney has not landed in our house and hopefully will not in the future!) At this point, Angelica turns on shy mode and seems to forget about Dora, thus ending the ear-piercing shrieks previously emanating from her tiny little mouth.

I should add, as a frame of reference, that my daughter has a shriek so loud and so sharp that it could break glass.

Oh, but then came the end of our shopping trip. Those who know us in person know that Angelica being confined to anything, particularly a shopping cart, is a fate worse than death, at least in her mind. We can usually get cooperation for a short shopping trip, but by the end of it she is done, angry, crying, kicking, taking her shoes off, and so on. So she's in the middle of one of her tirades, when we pull into the checkout lane and she goes silent, and looks up.

There was another Dora the Explorer mermaid balloon tied up to the checkout lane.

What followed, if translated into English, would probably have been something like the following:
"Oh mama! Look! Dora! It's Dora! Did you hear me, Mom? It's Dora! Up there! Dora! I can see Dora! Mom, mom, mom, mom looooooook it's Dora! I see Dora! I love Dora! Dora is amazing! Please mama, look! Look! It's DORA!"

In reality, it sounded like:
"SSSSQQQQWWEEEEE MAAAMA! DORA DORA! OH DORA! MAMA DORA! ASDFKJAHFA DORA! DORA OH DORA DORA DORA DOOT DOOT DORA!"

I have to admit, it's pretty cute, though I'm sure the day will come where she'll actually start to ask us to buy the balloons.

Angelica's First Plane Ride

Earlier in the month, we took our precious toddler on her very first plane ride! We went to visit her Grandparents and Great Grandparents in New England, and it was an experience.

Let me preface everything by saying that nothing about the trip was nearly as a bad as I had anticipated. The only real problem I had with the whole trip (and SuperScott, I love you, but I'm going to pound on you just a little bit here) is that Scott was fairly adamant that he did not want to bring the stroller. His mom had a spare for us to use when we got there (as well as a spare carseat, crib, changing table, etc...his second cousins (twins) live very near by and are only about 18 months older than Angelica so we borrowed some of their stuff), so he decided we would just carry Angelica through the airport.

Let's just say...sleepy toddler + crowds + strange place = one unhappy child. And that was just the trip up there!

I was also worried that Angelica would not tolerate the plane ride well. Two days before our trip, she was sent home from daycare with a 102 degree fever and a really, really bad cold. I was sure her ears would bother her, but much to my surprise, she did incredibly well on the plane. She sat in my lap during takeoff, and by the time we were in the air, she was sound asleep and slept for over half of the plane ride.

Flying with a tired toddler = bliss. She slept! On the plane! For over an hour!

For nine days she had a blast at her Grandma and Grandpa's house. She encountered big dogs (they have two Great Danes), other kids (SS's three second cousins, ages 5 and 2), a new shopping mall, new shopping mall playground, lots of new friends, and stairs!

Site Note:
Angelica now loves stairs! She sees a flight of stairs and it's like...Oh Mommy! Mommy look! Stairs! I want to climb the stairs! I want to run up the stairs! I want to give you a heart attack by climbing up stairs too fast for you to keep up!

So the flight home...that was the fun part. We flew back in the afternoon, after she had taken a nap, so she was wide awake. Sleep was out of the question here. She did NOT want to sit still in the airport (again, no stroller!), so we entertained her by giving her pink lemonade. Give her a sugary substance and she's your best friend.

Then on the plane, we felt horrible for the people in front of us. Angelica's favorite airplane passtime? Kicking the back of people's seats and reaching through and poking them in the arm. I like to think we both did a good job of restraining her but she somehow grew extra limbs and kicked and poked anyway. She also played a lot of musical parents. If SS was holding her, she wanted me. If I was holding her, she wanted him.

And then came the fun part. That 20 ounces of pink lemonade she drank at the airport? Yeah, that diaper was no match for the amount of pee she had stored up. She was sitting on SuperScott's lap and just let it go....and out of the diaper it went. All over her. All over him.

Karma for him not wanting to bring he stroller, maybe?

So of course, we had packed all of her spare clothes in the suitcase that got checked. Fortunately, we did have diapers in the diaper bag, so she got changed, and took the rest of the flight wearing a t-shirt and a diper. (We dressed her when we landed.)

The moral(s) of the story:
1. Bring a stroller to the airport. It will make managing the in-and-out of security check and waiting to board MUCH easier.
2. Travel early so your toddler will sleep on the plane.
3. Do not give them copious amounts of liquid prior to boarding a 2 1/2 hour flight.

The post where I talk about breasts...a lot.

I'm late posting this, but I found out yesterday about a group of local nursing mothers who are holding a nurse-in at a local Chick-Fil-A at 12 p.m. today (so it's pretty much going on right now). The reason for this? One of these women was asked to cover up while breastfeeding her baby in the restaurant, and given a dish towel to cover up. (Read this story on the Orlando Sentinel's Moms at Work blog for full details.)

For those who live in other states, or who are otherwise unaware of the legislation regarding breastfeeding in public in Florida:

Fla. Stat. § 383.015: Section 1. The breastfeeding of a baby is an important and basic act of nurture which must be encouraged in the interests of maternal and child health and family values. A mother may breastfeed her baby in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether or not the nipple of the mother’s breast is covered during or incidental to the breastfeeding.

The full verbiage of the Florida statutes on breastfeeding are found here.

This mother was well within her rights to be breastfeeding at the restaurant, regardless of whether other patrons voiced concerns or complaints.

I think what concerns me more, now that the restaurant is making amends for their actions by placing a sign with the international breastfeeding symbol outside their restaurant, is the comments that are being made on the Moms at Work. Likening breastfeeding to the human body's excretory process and being asked to take it in the bathroom? Ridiculous. Breasfeeding is feeding a baby. And you know what? A baby does not understand the concept of waiting to eat. When a baby is hungry, it is hungry now and wants to be fed now. Sometimes that happens when you're out in public. Offended by a breast being exposed (momentarily) while getting a baby to latch on? Turn your head away! It is appalling to me that in this country we welcome violent television shows without blinking an eye, but a mother performing the natural act of breastfeeding is offensive? Give me a break!

I appreciate the concept of modesty - I am not the type of mom who would have chosen to breastfeed in public unless it was absolutely necessary, and I imagine that I am not too far from the norm. (If you remember from a previous post, my baby refused to nurse in the first place anyway, but I am a very strong advocate for breastfeeding for as long as possible.) I think moms should make an effort to cover up. But sometimes you forget your cover at home. And babies lips aren't like a magnet to the breast. It takes work to get them latched on, keep them latched on, and get comfortable. Sometimes, for a brief moment, a breast gets exposed.

[Edit] And in good news, the conflict was peacefully resolved. The Chick Fil A manager apologized, and the nurse-in continued - with the intent of promoting awareness of breastfeeding moms rights. For the full story, read the Orlando Sentinel's story on the nurse-in.

Friday Five: Five Fun Things To Do In 15 Minutes

Imagine: The baby's napping, and you've finally got a chance to do something, anything for yourself! I know this is a rare occurrence (at least in my household) but it does happen from time to time. If you're like me, you probably spend that time getting caught up on chores, working on homework, or something else necessary but not entertaining.

But sometimes, just sometimes, the homework is done, the housework is done, and you've got fifteen minutes or so to yourself to do anything you want! When this happens, here's what I usually choose to do:

1. Pick up a book and read a chapter...or two, if they're short! This is how I managed to get through all four books of the Twilight series earlier this year.
2. Get involved in your favorite hobby or hobbies! For me, it's photography. The past few evenings and weekends have been spent learning the ins and outs of my camera, learning the tricks of the trade for Camera Raw, Bridge and Photoshop, and watching photography tutorials on the web. It allows me to indulge my creative side when most of the rest of the week is spent embracing the logical side.
3. Watch some trash TV! There are certain shows that are serious "guilty pleasures" that I can't get SuperScott to watch -- not that I blame him. During 15 minutes of free time, I can get through 1/4 of an episode of Intervention or 16 and Pregnant, though...long enough to decide if the show grabs my attention enough to really watch it later on.
4. Take a power nap. Fifteen minutes isn't long enough for truly restorative sleep, but this harkens back to the early days of parenthood when people always told me, "Sleep when the baby sleeps!" You might not wake up feeling fully rested and ready to go after 15 minutes, but at least you'll have had a little bit of time to decompress and relax.
5. Snuggle time with your hubby! Last, but definitely not least, don't forget that it's important to take time to reconnect with your hubby.

What's your favorite fun things to do in 15 minutes? Feel free to comment and share!

The Last Post Surgery Update

Back in May, I wrote about Angelica's experience having a dermoid cyst removed from her eye at 11 months old. I've noticed that a few people have landed on Minute for Mom looking for information about this subject, so I thought I'd post another update to let everyone know how things went in the days and months that have followed. Let me preface this by saying -- it has all been good news!

We first noticed the cyst when she was about four months old and it continued to grow with her as she got bigger. She saw a pediatric neurosurgeon to have it evaluated...we kept an eye on it from 4 months until 10 months when it was reevaluated and determined that it would not go away on its own. The neurosurgeon then had us have a CT scan (to determine if it really was a cyst, as well as figure out it's the exact position and if it was infringing on any important nerves or bone structures) and then we scheduled the surgery, which was performed at 11 months.

[caption id="attachment_251" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="At 4 months old"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_250" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="Photo taken the day of her first appt. to have the cyst evaluated."][/caption]

This was Angelica the day before we went into surgery, at 11 months old:


If you ignore the messy yogurt face and notice above her right eye (on your left) there is a lump...that was what the cyst looked like. The surgery itself only took about an hour.

Here is what followed in the days after surgery (from this you can see what a truly happy kid I have...I've never been this happy so soon after surgery!):

[caption id="attachment_236" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="Eight hours after surgery."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_237" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="Two days after surgery."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_238" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="3 days after surgery."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_239" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="2 1/2 weeks after surgery."][/caption]

In the days that followed, her eye, which was initially very swollen and bruised, started to heal. I was actually really surprised at how swollen and black and blue it was at first, but it healed pretty quickly and she didn't seem that bothered by it! They gave her a dose of pain medication before we left the hospital on the day of the surgery, and from there she had Tylenol for the next few days.

About two and a half weeks later, she turned one! By this point, the bruising and swelling was completely gone, the incision was healed except for a scar that's about 1/2 an inch long.

Fast forward to today...this was how it looked about two weeks ago:


Barely noticeable, right? It doesn't show up well in photographs at all anymore. Scott and I still notice it, and occasionally we'll get a comment from a stranger, like "Oh she must be walking now, look at that little scratch on her eyebrow! Does she trip and fall a lot?" For the most part it's barely noticeable and as she gets older, the neurosurgeon says it should disappear completely.

During the surgery, they were able to remove all of the cyst and did testing to confirm that it was a dermoid. They are also confident that it won't recur.

If you have questions, feel free to post them in the comments section or email me at andrea@minuteformom.com. Keep in mind that I'm not a medical professional, so I can't give medical advice, so none of what I say should be mistaken for a doctor's opinion - I can just relay what our experience was and if you're truly concerned, ask your pediatrician because they'll know best. That's what we did!

Redheaded Moms, Redheaded Babies

When I was pregnant with Angelica, I got comments from just about everyone I knew about my red hair, and questioned on whether or not I thought our baby would have red hair. Knowing that it is a recessive trait, I always answered, "I sincerely doubt it!" After all, SuperScott has dark brown hair and I thought the odds of him also carrying the redhead gene were slim.

Fast forward to Angelica's birth...entering the world is this adorable little girl with red hair and brown eyes! Imagine my surprise! Everyone said, "I told you so!" I was absolutely thrilled, but then reflected over my days growing up as a redhead, getting called "Carrot top" and "Little Orphan Annie", among other, less...ahem...appropriate things. I was relentlessly teased by my classmates and hated being a redhead growing up. It wasn't until I was older that I realized how unique and fun it is!

So today, I came across this site -- Little Redheads Across America -- and I absolutely love it. The site is definitely a promotional tool for a book by the same name, but has some really cute features on it...games, fun facts about redheads, and a photo gallery full of cute pictures of redheaded kids. The book itself is $29.99. I may need to pick up a copy of it for my little redhead so that she can see pictures of other little ones just like her.

I love having my little redheaded partner in crime. I love it when people comment on how our hair matches. It absolutely makes my day.

A few fun facts about redheads posted on the Little Redheads Across America site:

• Only 2% of Americans are redheads


• 20 US Presidents have been redheads (including the first one - George Washington!) 


• Only 18% of redheads have brown eyes (both Angelica and myself fall into this category! Cool!)


• The most common eye color for redheads is blue (45%)


• 40% of Scottish people carry the redhead gene, and 14% of Scots have red hair (only 10% of Irish people do!)

Check out the Little Redheads Across America site to read more fun redhead facts!

The above site review is the author's opinion. The author was not compensated by the Little Redheads Around America site in any way, shape or form. 

Wish List Wednesday

Jennifer over at nbjenni.blogspot.com came up with this idea...every Wednesday, list five things that are on your wish list. Because money doesn't grow on trees!

On my wish list this week:

1. To lose ten pounds! Over the past few months I have continued to hover between 5 and 7 pounds lost. I wish I could hit that ten pound mark!

2. A cleaning service. SuperScott and I are pretty good at keeping the place neat and clean, but we'd both have more free time if we could afford to hire someone to do it for us! 

3. A house! Preferably a four bedroom, three bathroom one. We're apartment dwellers at the moment and while I love where we live, I'd love the freedom to invite people to stay over from out of town, and have a big, fenced in yard for Angelica to run around in. 

4. A Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR camera. Every time I look at this camera, I feel like cheating on my Olympus E510. Don't get me wrong, the E510 is great, I love it, but the Canon would be a dream, especially as I plan to progress from being a hobbyist to a professional at some point. 

5. An iPhone. Yes, I'm the last person in America to jump on the iPhone bandwagon.

Interested in playing along? Head on over to Jennifer's blog, get the image code, write your post and then add your name to the wish list!

Oops, I caught the mom guilt

This weekend at church, the main topic of discussion was about regrets, and the "what ifs" and "so whats" of our lives, and one thing that the speaker said really hit home. She said, "Parenthood is a crash course in guilt." When she said this, I chuckled, because for all of the good intentions, all of the research and debating and positive thinking, as a parent you always worry, "Was it the right decision?" or "Did I do the best I could?"

Today is a great example. I am home today. All day, the house was silent. Why? Both SuperScott and Angelica were not home. He went to work, and I dropped her off at day care this morning. I took today to get caught up on some other responsibilities in my life, mainly homework, but to be honest, I spent a bigger part of the day just taking a breather. I can't remember the last time I was home alone for an extended period of time. It may have been before she was born. It was nice. I decompressed, decluttered my brain and in that sense, I feel amazing.

So why do I feel so guilty about it? When I left her at day care this morning I felt overwhelmingly guilty, like I should be keeping her at home with me since I'm home and all. But on the other hand, I really needed a day alone to take care of some other things and just breathe, separated from the daily comings and goings, work, daycare, grocery shopping, errands, and so on. 

Then, when I talked with SuperScott about how I felt, he said to me, "So should I feel guilty that I would take the baby to daycare so that I can have a day to myself?" And of course the answer is no. 

I think we as parents tend to forget about ourselves. Our natural inclination is to put our children first, and of course that's how it should be. We forget, though, that part of putting our children first is making sure that we take care of ourselves. Happy parents have happy children. 

Angelica was no worse for wear today because I took her to daycare. She had been out for a week already and was so thrilled to be back with her friends...and then so thrilled to be reunited with me at the end of the day. So, while I still feel a little guilty about it, all in all, I know I did a good thing for both of us.

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Unrelated to the above post, but I know of a family who is in need of good thoughts, good wishes, and prayers - whichever you happen to do. Fellow mommy blogger MckMama's youngest son, Stellan, has a heart defect and is in really bad shape right now. If you could spare a moment for them to do whatever it is that you do, please do so!  Her blog is at mycharmingkids.net and she tweets @mckmama.

The End of Maternity Leave

One year ago today, I returned to work after a seven week maternity leave. Angelica went to daycare for the first time four weeks later, when SuperScott's paternity leave ended. (No, his leave didn't last longer...he just saved his for when I returned to work so Angelica could stay home longer.) It's a strange thing to reflect on.

A year ago today I was still in the process of learning how to be a mom. On top of that, I had to learn how to be a working mom. My own mother was a stay at home mom, so I had no frame of reference to reflect on. It was a challenging thing, returning to work and having family members and friends who stayed home with their children saying, "I don't know how you can stand to work/have someone else raise your child/be away from home/miss out on all the milestones/be so selfish/etc!" (This is the flip side to the idea that stay at home moms watch TV and eat bon-bons and play all day - definitely not true.) The truth is, in my younger years I had always envisioned myself staying at home with my children, and words like that made me feel extremely guilty about working.

Fast forward to today, I know in my heart I could never be a stay at home mom. I love being a working parent for many reasons. Today I don't carry that same guilt that I did a year ago. I know what I'm doing is best for my family - not just for me, but for all three of us. I've also since added the task of completing my masters degree on top of all of it. It is a juggling act, balancing the responsibilities of deadlines, doctors appointments, assignments, readings, tests, chores (we don't have a cleaning lady) and more but my life is full, and all three members of this family are happy with the situation. (This is not to say that stay at home moms don't juggle responsibilities - we know you do too!)

So today, I dropped Angelica off at daycare and kissed her on the head, like I always do. She looked up, smiled and waved to me and said "byeee!". I got into my car and went to work. And I didn't feel bad about a thing.

Reflecting On the Early Days

My sweet Angelica is now a walking, running, talking, screaming, squealing, chock-full-of-personality 13 month old, but as I've been getting some files organized on my computer, I've been looking over pictures from the early days. It's true what they say about the memory of a mother -- you always remember the good and forget the bad, and it the past is always tinted rose.

I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. This was the hardest part of the early days for me. I am and have always been the kind of person who needs 8-10 hours of sleep each night in order to function. While friends and family bragged about their babies who slept through the night at six weeks, I was blessed with a baby who was still getting up at least once, if not twice a night at nine months old. Both SuperScott and I were perpetually exhausted and I was  frazzled beyond belief for months.

Today, though, we were feeding Angelica dinner and watching YouTube videos of kids cartoons with her, and I came across one that she and I watched together one of those early mornings when she had woken up at 4:45 in the morning and was ready to go for hours, and it felt like it was just yesterday that we were sitting there on the couch and I was singing the cartoon songs to her and tickling her little baby belly. Remembering that, a feeling washed over me...how much I miss those days! (And yes, I am one of those moms who lets her baby watch TV! Oh no!)

The Fourth of July was also one of these moments. Last year on the Fourth of July, I had a five week old baby Angelica, and we decided to brave a party at one of SuperScott's co-workers homes...when they did fireworks, I sat and cuddled with my little sleeping angel, covering her ears so that the fireworks wouldn't scare her (or hurt her eardrums). That day was also the first time she smiled a genuine smile at us, and I was lucky enough to be just snapping the shutter on my camera when she did it.

 

[caption id="attachment_214" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Fourth of July 2008"][/caption]

This year...cuddling? Forget it! This child wanted to run down and pick up still smoldering fireworks (or eat them) so it was spent chasing, holding, and  restraining her. I was so frazzled last year, worried that we were keeping the newborn up too late or breaking a schedule (HA! A schedule at 5 weeks? What was I thinking?).  This year we've got the schedule down to a science. But hey, despite all the screaming, chasing, struggling, and sticking to a rigid schedule (set by her, not us!) we still had a good time. By comparison, that 6 week old was a lot easier than our 13 month old. And oh, what a difference a year makes.

[caption id="attachment_215" align="aligncenter" width="214" caption="Fourth of July 2009"][/caption]

 

Now that we're in the land of sleeping through the night, from 8 p.m. - 8 a.m. (she might wake up earlier than that, but she sits in her crib and plays and hardly makes a peep) I find that we spend less time together. I miss the quality snuggle time we had those sleepy mornings at 4:00 or 5:00. It's very strange to me that I feel this way, considering how much I wished she would just sleep back then. It's so bittersweet, especially when you consider that there isn't the luxury of one-on-one time whenever you want it when you have the second baby, so you can never really go back.

Knowing this just makes me want to cherish each moment even more than I already do, because in a year I will probably be saying the same thing about this time in our lives as well.

The Mommy Wars

I'm so happy that the post I wrote on banishing working mom guilt was so well received!

Several months ago, Momversation.com ran a video called The Mommy Wars, which discussed whether or not these wars are real, and thoughts about them. Mommy Wars are really just the ways in which we judge each other as parents.

Why do we do this? I ask that out of exasperation, but I think the answer is that we all love our children so much that to think that there are other ways of parenting means that we're not doing something right. This was a hard lesson for me, because I felt so strongly about so many things when I was pregnant, and when my daughter was born, I was surprised how different I did things and how there was no "by the book" (my mantra became "close the book and read the baby" after so many parenting books failed me).

Breastfeed or formula feed (or both)? Doesn't matter, as long as you're feeding your child. (I am an advocate for breastfeeding though we tried it didn't work out for us.) Co-sleep or crib sleep? As long as you're getting some sleep! (we did both). Work or stay home? As long as everyone's happy and your family's needs are met (obviously, I work). Pacifier or thumb? Whatever keeps the kid happy (we tried the paci but she only took the thumb).

I say we cut out the judgment. As long as our children are all fed, clothed, happy, and not being abused, and we're not breaking any laws, I think we should be free to parent without judgment.