Creative Play

Will it screw my kid up if I let her play with tampons?

Seriously.

She opens cabinet doors and then goes spelunking, looking for viable toy options such as these enticing feminine products. Apparently, they are very interesting to the 18-month-old set. I know this because two of these gems kept Natalie occupied for at least 10 minutes and when the guilt took over and I took them away, I had to deal with a full-scale meltdown.

Aside from the fact that their textbook use is kind of gross, they aren't choking hazards, they're not sharp, and mine are made with natural materials. Additionally, tampons are sterile and that is more than I can say for her other toys, which are far more expensive.

So tampons--you get an A+ in my book.

A Message to New Parents

I have several friends who have just become new parents and it drives me to write a few thoughts about those first three months that I wish I knew when we had that tiny little bean.

My thoughts on the first three months:

1. They are magical. Enjoy every moment, breath, gurgle, stretch, and eventually, smile.

2. They are the HARDEST in your life. I wanted to strangle anyone who said, "Enjoy these easy days, honey. It just gets harder as you go." They can bite me. Add the hormones and sleep deprivation together and I was delirious, emotional, and confused all the time.

3. Give yourself a break. I found that I was so hard on myself, reading all of the research about child rearing and berating myself when I couldn't figure out what was going on with my baby girl. Why wasn't she napping regularly? Sleeping regularly? Nursing easily like other babies? I realize now that they eventually figure things out. Just go with the flow.

So, for better or for worse, that's my list of things I'd want to know upon the birth of my first child. You are welcome to take it or leave it as you wish. ; )

Congratulations, friends, from the bottom of my heart. Parenthood is one of the most miraculous occurrences in life.

My Ultimate To Do List (if time was not an issue)

1. Write a novel.
2. Have my novel go to number 1 on several lists, including Oprah's.
3. Become financially independent on wealth from said book.
4. Take a dance class.
5. Become such an avid and athletic dancer that I gain a rockin' dancer's body.
6. Audition for a play.
7. Star in the play.
8. After the play is attended by a major Hollywood producer, have her become so inspired that she immediately seeks me out for a "special project", the likes of which Hollywood--nay, the WORLD--has never seen.
9. Learn all of the rules for football (well, I had to include something realistic, right?)

Slice of Life

The babysitter is due in three minutes and hubby is passed out cold on the couch. Wild Saturday!

Family and Travels and Family Travels

We just returned from five days of San Diegan adventures. Well, Natalie just returned from five days away; Keith and I took her down on Friday to attend Joel McHale's (of E Network's "The Soup") fantastic comedy show, left her at Auntie Ali and Uncle Jack's house on Saturday so that we could drive back up to go to a wedding (which was wonderful!), and then headed back down to SD to hang out with my dad and stepmom for three days. Enter a boat trip around the harbor, complete with wave runners and inner-tubes, a trip to the Wild Animal Park, and one fussy child thanks to a head cold and canine teething...

Have I mentioned how tired we are? And now we're screaming toward "Steen-O-Rama"--a family reunion for Judi's (my mom-in-law) side. Fortunately, it's in Yorba Linda.

Tonight has been a perfect answer to our frenetic pace. We've been catching up on our reality shows via DVR and are now dual-internet-surfing. Ahhh...

Please baby Bean. Sleep tight.

New Look!

Like the woman I am, I am always finding (small) ways to reinvent myself. My blog is no exception. So when I saw that Blogger had new ways to customize, I began dickering and came up with this scheme. It's uber-easy to read, which will hopefully make me more likely to blog more often. You see, there is so much tosay, but it's just that I'm so incredibly tired at the end of the day, I usually don't have enough energy to do anything but a status update on Facebook. Pathetic, I know.

Here are some milestones we've passed lately:

Natalie...

1. Says TONS of words, most notably: mama, dada, bubba (our cat Tony's nickname), nana, banana, doggy, kitty, boat, ball, cup, car, hat, pool, milk, diaper...the list goes on! She's going to Harvard, we're convinced.
2. Can sign a handful of those, including book, boat, more, and milk.
3. Has begun standing/dancing on her own two feet sans help via objects or other people. It's only a matter of minutes before that girl is doing kick-ball-changes around the dining room table. She certainly has the energy for it!
4. Reads CONSTANTLY. She is a sponge for new information and loves to point out favorite items in her books and name them. Loudly. "DUCK!" ... "DOG!" ... "BALL!" ... "KITTY!" She's even started identifying women in books and calling them "mama". Too cute for words.
5. Is altogether too freaking amazing. It's difficult to live in a house with this much fun, but we do our best.

Ponytails, pretty suit, and pool--could it get any better than this?

Keith...

1. Has refined his cardio-god skills and is now able to run TEN miles at a time. Who is this insane man I married?
2. Took me to Vegas for our first weekend away as a married couple rather than Mommy and Daddy. What a wonderful trip! Rejuvenating and refreshing.

Natalie, Ali, Keith, Me, and Lizzie at the All-Star Game Charity 5K Race.

Keith gets cozy with a golden croc at the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef.

I...

1. Downloaded an app called "Couch to 10K" (but have not gotten around to using it yet).
2. Won our Via Azul Golf League's British Open golf draft. Sweet! I made around $160 and immediately spent it on doorknobs (that all matched! at one time!) for our house. They look mighty purty.
3. Am still considering writing a (great American?!) novel, but am settling for an occasional blog post and a really great part-time job working with new teachers in our district. It's a change for the better and I'm looking forward to the new school year.
4. Actually got to go on vacation TWICE in the past few months. The first one was a girls-only trip to Ft. Lauderdale with Jen, Leen, and Ali. I'm still pinching myself that I have a husband cool enough to shove me out the door while he stayed home to babysit the Scush and friends cool enough to want to spend three days with me. Not a bad deal.

We verified that there is a large population of plastic women in Florida.

Tony and Cleo...

1. Are still cats who eat a little too much (well, Tony does) and cough up furballs.
2. Cuddle with the best of 'em.

And that's life for now. More to come...

Spring Cleaning

I just cleaned up my garage and have come to the conclusion that if I could just sell our gently-used gift bags for a buck a piece, I'd probably be at least $200 richer.

My 21st Century Mom

My mom is awesome for a number of reasons, but one of them is her ability to join us in the technological age. Yeah, we've had our ups and downs. I do remember when she first started using the computer and would fret over which password to use on which site, how to copy and paste things, etc., but she's so much more proficient with all things techie now. Sure, she doesn't know what WEP stands for in WEP key, but at least she knows she has one. That's more than your average Joe for sure.

But the computer is not why I'm writing this. It's my mom's embrace of a little piece of technology which she resisted for so long: the iPhone. The iPhone has long been a lauded invention in the Carmona household. Keith and I have used ours to do everything beyond the usual tasks: scheduling, grocery lists, gaming, logging feedings and diaper changes in the early Natalie days, placating our daughter in more recent Natalie days...you name it, I think the iPhone does it. If it gave good back or foot rubs, I might have left my husband and run off with my iPhone.

In those early days, I was kind of a zealot trying to get others to come over to my side. I'd show it off to people like it was my firstborn (well, before I had a firstborn), pointing out every application, bell, whistle, and feature. My sister was already a fan, so it wasn't too difficult to get her husband on board. We persuaded Keith's entire family to get them, too.

But try as we might to convince her, my mom was kind of dead-set against learning yet another phone. And I understood her frustration. It seemed there was a decade from about 1996-2006 when I'd get a new phone every two years and, without fail, it would have a totally different set of operating instructions than the last. Add to that the fact that you had to manually copy over all of your contacts and it became an understandably defeating process. Still, she finally relented this year and I don't think she regrets her decision.

Case in point:

We just had a ten-minute conversation about 12-year-old boys with mustaches via text message. Now that's something for the memory book.

Skinny Scush

After her one-year appointment, we learned several things about our dear daughter. She has an ear infection, so the cold has progressed into her poor ears causing all of the fussiness as of late. Her first dose of antibiotics will be administered as soon as she awakens from her nap. We were also told that Natalie is steadily climbing in the 25th percentile, as she has since birth, in both height and head circumference. Unfortunately, her pediatrician noted that she is in the 5th percentile of weight. The universe is so unfair. Keith and I are madly trying to lose weight, while we have to add calories and fat to everything she eats. Why can't I have that problem?

Oh, and a few more things I learned today:

1. With the amount of Kix we go through on a weekly basis, we need to buy stock in General Mills.
2. I'm so lazy right now that I Googled the maker of Kix, rather than go to the cupboard to see for myself on the box.
3. Natalie hates needles. I mean HATES them. Oh, and she doesn't respond well to the phrase, "Man up!"
4. It would be really neat if all of our furniture was about knee-height so that Scush could cruise everywhere. She gets colossally bummed when she comes to the end of the furniture trail and has nowhere else to go.

Sickness, Suffering, and Shoes

I'm sorry I haven't posted in FOREVER. Things got a bit busy. I got a new job, Natalie turned one, she got me sick, it's the end of the school year. Things are hectic to say the least. What suffers? This project that only three people are reading (and I'm one of them). Still, that's no excuse for not writing.

So what's up right now? Well, I'm realizing how incredibly difficult it is to be a mom. In fact, I have the utmost respect for stay-at-home moms and single moms. Today, I should have stayed home from work because I sound like a Canadian goose when I cough. But when my husband queried me about possibly not going in, I weighed the alternative.

Let me backtrack. Saturday was awful. Keith had Saturday Work (kids who have previously gotten in trouble come to work on campus...not sure if they have to wear the orange jumpsuits, but it's fun to imagine), and so he had to leave me with Natalie all morning. That would not ordinarily be a bad or even unusual thing, given that I only work about 4-5 hours a day. However, Saturday was different because I woke up feeling like I had just been run over by one of those ACME steamrollers from the cartoons. So did Natalie. We were a fine pair. I coughed. She coughed. She cried. I wanted to cry. It was tough.

Fortunately, we got through it and Keith came home and took me to see Glee! live. That was amazing, both because Grandma and Grandpa were entertaining the scush and because the show was hugely entertaining. Spending time with my hubby is also a rare occurrence lately, so that was pretty awesome, too.

Anyway, back to my original point. I woke up feeling like that same steamroller had done its thing and realized that if I were to stay home, it would be harder work than going to work. Ergo, I went to work and got tons done. Great. So I returned home, hoping to feed my baby some lunch, play a bit, and put her down for a nap so I could flop onto the couch and do a bit of napping myself. No such luck. No folks--my house seems to be run by none other than Murphy himself. His law is always in effect here.

I got home to discover my nanny, Katie, holding the monitor with a look of utter astonishment on her face. "THREE HOURS!" she whispered to me with an incredulous glint in her eyes. "I wasn't sure if I should wake her up," she confided. I hastily hung up the phone (sorry Ma) as the wheels in my head started turning.

At that moment, I knew I needed to pinch hit. The Bean has been fussy lately with this cold. Really fussy. Like, I-hope-the-neighbors-don't-think-I'm-systematically-removing-her-toes-one-at-a-time fussy. So I knew that there was no freaking way I was going to stay home with her, all cooped up, both of us hacking like Canadian geese or braying donkeys after she had had a three hour nap. No way.

Natalie learned how to shoe shop today. Sorry honey. Trust me, it was worth the money for the calm smile on your wife's (and baby's) face. Plus our feet (all toes included) are gonna look great.

So tired

I want time:

• for a back rub
• for a foot rub (for both feet)
• for a vacation
• to watch 1000 shows I've recorded (uninterrupted)
• to finish my book
• to visit my chiropractor/masseuse
• for a car wash (because really? It's just gross.)
• did I mention the back rub?
• (and money) to hire a personal chef

Okay. That should do it.

HELP!

Natalie is tired. VERY tired. And as soon as I saw that first swipe of the hand across her delicate brow, I brought her upstairs for her afternoon nap. Usually, it's that simple: change the diaper, read a story, sing a song, put down sleepy but awake. Our darling girl usually falls asleep within mere moments. Who knows why today is different?

One thing is for sure: Natalie is quite competent with her rolling over skills and now she's not afraid to use them in her crib. She just spent the better part of 20 minutes testing my quads on the stairs by wailing like a banshee and flipping over into crawling position to really send her point home: "I'm NOT happy so what are you gonna do about it?!"

Fortunately, on my last visit I realized that she just had a new tooth (that makes seven so far!!) pop out on her bottom left side. I'm thinking its right sibling might be a tenacious one and that could be painful. Out came the teething drops and down went baby. Oh, she let me hear a little more about it, but she did finally stay on her back. Let's hope this one lasts enough to allow ME to come down from the craziness.

Army of WHAT?

So Keith and I took Natalie to Disneyland yesterday. She slept well during her morning nap, allowing us to indulge during the afternoon. Unfortunately, it kind of backfired. She feel asleep on the car ride home and didn't awaken until about 6:30. That's usually the time of evening after dinner when we're drying her off after her bath and getting her ready for bed. Change of plans! We think she may have thought it was bedtime when we put her in the car. As a result, we put her to bed at about 8:20 and she woke up (for the day) at 4. Fun. Anyway, that's not the reason I'm posting, although it does speak to our need for the rituals and schedule Natalie has set for us.

This post is related to the large group of teens and adults we saw at Disneyland upon entering the line for the carousel. They were all dressed in various goth-looking outfits: black shirts/pants with dark purple and red accents; chains on their necks and wrists; tall, laced black boots; some wearing long trench coats--you get the idea. Keith surmised that they might have been a group of white supremacists, what with their shaved heads (there were also others with spiky do's).

Something they all had in common, though, was a pair of patches on their clothing. One was yellow and black and featured a toy soldier. The other was a picture of a mad scientist-looking guy on a red and black background. I was dubious that these were "skinheads", given that some appeared to be wearing goggles like the ones on the scientist patch. This goofy wardrobe addition just didn't jive with white power. (The pictures below are representative of what we saw--not actual pictures from the House of Mouse.)

It wasn't until later when I Googled the description of the patches that I found this site. Apparently, according to the FAQ page, these "Toy Soldier" enthusiasts are not only NOT white supremacists, but they are committed and united in their zest for life and fun. How totally interesting.

This just goes to show that the people-watching at Disneyland is indeed the best in the world. (Or at least in Orange County.)

Disturbing Dreams

I had a horrible dream last night. I think it was induced by the one Benadryl (yes, breastfeeding makes it impossible to take much of anything!) I took before bed.

How crazy is this:

From what I remember, Keith and I were climbing a mountain, but it was in a building. And then from over the summit, we saw a huge wave coming towards us--presumably a tsunami. We crouched into the mountain, hoping that the water would break against the rock and avoid us. (Yes, we're still inside a building.) We hunkered there, taking deep gulps, terrified, as the wave crashed and enveloped our bodies which still clung to the mountain. When the tide began to lower, we swam into another room and found a group of people that we had to save. Then I woke up.

With these kinds of dreams, I feel like I wake up exhausted rather than rested. No Benadryl tonight.

It's been awhile

Sigh. A massive deluge, oodles of side-yard flooding, new windows being installed, and a humongous diaper rash later, and it's been nearly a month since I've blogged. Let's face it: I've been so busy, I haven't even synced my phone or cameras with my computer. This means that I have few pictures to share, but I'll get my act together one of these days.

Some random musings, as promised by my blog title:

• I have a past student who comes to visit me every day before break. She's been talking to me about her novel--she's on chapter 17 now--in which I star as a woman who is equal parts witch, vampire, and human. So let's recap: I have inspired a student to write a novel, but can't even eke out one chapter on my own.
• All of a sudden, my computer trackpad will decide to ignore my fingers completely, rendering me useless as I pounce upon its surface with a dirty look. Also, my keyboard has gone totally wonky and will repeat a letter, space, or symbol until I stop the madness with my backspace key.
• We just had a three-day weekend, and yet I sit here wishing for another day off. How greedy, huh?

More later. As it is, it's taken me several days to get this posted.

The Rain

OMG.

More from the Scush Files

The Bean goes pop art.

Natalie's first swing ride! (Of course, she spent most of the time staring at the other kids, babies, and dogs, but she did seem to enjoy the gentle swinging motion.)

She's a messy eater.

Keith shows Natalie the benefits of good oral hygiene.

New Firsts!

In addition to a new lateral incisor (I know the name 'cuz I looked it up--it's the tooth to the side of your two front teeth), Natalie has embarked upon a few more "firsts":

• She rode in the cart for the first time today! Thanks to those stabilizing core muscles, she is very steady when sitting. This prompted me to use the totally adorable cart cover that Leen sent to me months ago. It was awesome! Natalie and I took Costco by storm and she was amazed at all the sights, sounds, and smells (samples!)

• The Bean ate an apple slice with the help of her "baby Kong" (that's what Ali calls the mesh bag for its dog toy ability to store food inside). We have been giving her ice in this ingenious invention for teething with great results, but today, she got to experience some solid food! She loved it, chewing and sucking with all her might. Sure, she probably only got 2 or 3 calories out of it, but the enjoyment it provided to us both was priceless!
• Scush now falls asleep on her own with little help from us. With the help of many experts' suggestions, we go through a short ritual before naps and at bedtime and that baby doesn't even cry anymore! She can also be soothed fairly quickly with just a short visit to her room. This is our favorite first, as it allows us to have more sleep and we are comforted by the knowledge that Natalie has the tools necessary to put herself down when she awakens in the night.
• The nanny has arrived! Katie, our new nanny, started this week. Since Toni will be giving birth in about a month, it was time to move on and we couldn't be luckier to find Katie. She has loads of experience and visits us most days with a 15-month-old named Ellie, who captivates Natalie every time she sees her.