The Mama Drama Has Moved

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Ignore this post. I'm trying to change over my email for the blog.

New Obsession:)

 For those of you who haven't been paying attention on facebook, I have a new obsession. Walking marathons! I did the Avon 2 day walk a few years ago and it was an incredible, life changing experience. But it also left me with hip problems for a better part of a year and a half. So I didn't want to do a marathon and a half again. But I wanted to do something physical. This year, I told myself, was the year to get strong and accomplish physical feats. Part of it was having Callie because the birth process was so difficult and very physical. Another piece of it was losing a good friend a few months ago, completely out of the blue. So no more putting stuff off! Life is too short for "someday." I had been thinking to myself, "I'd like to do something like Avon again, but I don't want to do something that long or deal with the fundraising aspect." A madre sent out an email about the Nike Women's Marathon in October. I signed up for the lottery with some friends, but sadly we didn't make it. But that wasn't going to stop me! Over the course of the next couple of weeks I was signed up for a 5k in Big Sur (the next week!), a half marathon in June in Alameda, a 10K in Santa Cruz, a half marathon in August in Santa Rosa, a half in July in Los Gatos, a half in October in wine country and a half at disneyland in January. It feels soo good to have a concrete goal to work towards in regards to my fitness. I am definitely trimming down and getting stronger. It has become easier to get my butt outside and on the track or on the trails.

Big Sur 5K
I did the Big Sur 5K on Sunday. It was awesome!! What a beautiful day! It was craaaaazy cold when we started the race. I told myself that I might just run afterall just to get warm! But luckily it warmed up enough while we walked. I feel incredibly blessed to have shared the walk with my good friend Fran and our families. My mom, hubby and daughter were there to cheer me on as were Fran's hubby and daughter.

Grandma and Callie braving the cold to cheer me on!

It was a nice walk, right along the beach. Our time ended up being a 17 minute mile pace.

My bib and times

I definitely am shooting for a 15 minute mile because some of the half marathons have a time limit of 3 1/2 -4 hours for 13.1 miles. I can tell my hip is still going to be an issue, given that I could feel some tightness by the end of the 3 miles, so I will have to do some research on that. But anyway, it was an awesome day. Since it was still so early we got to spend a nice day in Monterey as well.

daddy time at the beach!

 

 

We took Callie to the beach and to Ghiradelli. It felt strange to be so exhausted so early in the day!

Such a goofy girl!

I find myself already getting excited for the next one on May 22nd in Santa Cruz! Bring it on!

Pork Stew with Potatoes, Apples and Hard Cider

I doctored this recipe from Epicurious with DELICIOUS results!!
I skipped the pearl onions completely because 1) I don't really like them and 2) I think they are more trouble than they are worth. So proceed straight to the bacon! Because anything cooked in bacon is extra awesome...

Ingredients
5 slices of bacon chopped into 1/4- 1/2 inch pieces
Boneless Pork Shoulder, fat trimmed, cut into 2 inch pieces
Fresh sage
3 cups chicken broth
bottle of hard cider ( I used Hornsby's Crisp Apple)
4 yukon gold potatoes unpeeled, chopped
2 peeled, chopped fuji apples
Red wine
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter, room temp
1 tablespoon dijon mustard

Cook  bacon  in a pot and set aside on paper towels to drain while you cook the pork. In the same pot you cooked the bacon, cook the  pork shoulder (sprinkled with salt and pepper)  until browned.  Remove pork with slotted spoon and set aside. In same pot, brown shallots with fresh sage and pepper. Add chicken broth, hard cider, reserved bacon and pork. Add potatoes and apples.  (Note: at this point I gave the stew a whiff and it smelled crazy sweet from the cider so I added a healthy pour of red wine, because to me,  stew = red wine.)  Cook for 30-40 minutes (or longer if you want!).  Meanwhile, make a paste of the butter and flour in a small bowl. Add to the stew and stir well. Then add  the mustard. Cook for an additional 7-10 minutes. And voila! Amazing, hearty, thick pork stew.  It is a little time consuming but it is realllly worth it!
* I would have taken a picture of it, but we ate it all before I thought to snap a picture:)

Experimenting with Weaning

I have been slowly experimenting with weaning Callie. I'm in no hurry, since we are down to 2 feedings a day which is very manageable! Not like a couple months ago when she was still nursing so much! I bought some cow's milk for her and gave it to her a couple of times, mostly with a meal, not in replacement of a nursing session. So the other night I tried offering her the sippy cup instead of nursing before bed, just to see what she would do.
She took a couple of sips and placed the cup on the ground. Then she calmly walked over to my nursing pillow, looked up at me with the sweetest, most gorgeous smile ever and patted the Boppy a few times, as if to say, "no, mama, I want your milk." well, what could I say to that? What a cutie.

Single Mama Weekend Day 1

So this is the weekend I've been dreading for months. Bill is at a(nother) bachelor party. This time it is a whole weekend in Tahoe. He left Friday morning so I did my best to cram my day full of things to do, thanks to the fabulous madres! Coffee date in the morning with Fran and Dori ( and Paige and Raena). Then it was lunch with Melissa at aqui. And yes, I did have a margarita:) By then, Callie was pretty tired so she napped in the car. I thought about making the drive to gilroy and outlets to get her some more shoes. She is growing out of her first pair already! But I was feeling pretty sluggish and didn't want to take the chance of a meltdown on the drive back, especially since it would be rush hour. So I drove to the scrapbook store instead to pick up some Christmas themed paper. She stayed asleep in the ergo and even when I put her back in the carseat. By then it was getting to be dinnertime. I texted a couple of people looking for some sushi takeout company but they couldn't make it. I told myself it would be nice to be on our own and it was. Callie had her vegetable croquettes that she shared with Milo and I had her miso and my sushi. She played for a bit until she started getting fussy so we did bath time. After her bath we read Where the Wild Things Are. She liked the picture of "the rumpus". I fed her and she went down pretty easily. I should've known it was a bad sign! She woke up 3 times during the night. So of course this morning I haven't felt my best. She was super fussy so we went to Hobees, where Callie made lots of friends and enjoyed some kids French toast and I got to have some hash browns and tea. It has been a struggle to not be consumed with anger and resentment at being left alone but I am trying. I know being so tired doesn't help. The sad thought to me is that this is just like a normal weekday for the most part. Bill gets home on the late side so usually the only break I have is a half hour or so when I eat dinner and sometimes Bill will take care of the bath. I know that he works really hard so that Callie and I are taken care of so I am glad he gets to have fun but I wouldn't mind some fun either. Might be time to start planning that girls trip to New Orleans.

Stroller HIke

I was focusing this week on getting out and getting moving, which is getting easier since the little miss is practically sprinting! I just wasn't sure how she would do with the stroller since we don't use it that often except for our trips down to the Shark Tank. I also wasn't too sure about the weather! But luckily it held out for us.
Before I went down to the trail, I stopped to get some food. I am always unsure about what Callie will like so I gave myself lots of time in case we had to make two stops. I stopped at a subway that was near the trail and got myself a sandwich and got her some apples and avocado. Nope on both accounts. Oh well, I got to enjoy some nice apples anyway. Luckily there was a coffee shop in the same center. I figured they might have a little something for her. I got a chai and a scone for me and a banana for her. That appropriation of food would change later:)

Banana, huh. What's in the bag? We will just see about that.

Hmm...

Definitely going to have this one. Mom, you can have the banana. I will help you with this cranberry scone.
Then it was on to our stroller hike at the Stevens Creek Trail. I hadn't been to a stroller hike event in a while and it felt great to be back in the outdoors with other moms and dads. I went pretty frequently when Callie was itty bitty and I needed to get out of the house. It provided so much help and support! I had a really bad day in particular and one of the organizers really got me through it. Mamas and papas, definitely check it out. It is a great, non profit group!

Once we got to our usual stopping place we let the kids out to play. Callie was pretty darn adorable.

Taking a breather

A parking lot, you say? I will investigate.

Then it was back to the car. Callie was still pretty wired so I let her play around the playground for a while.



She wasn't too sure about the sand, but she LOVED it when I took her down the slide. She would just laugh hysterically!
There is another stroller hike scheduled for thursday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Nursery Playdate Cuteness

Each week we go to a baptist church nursery playdate. It is great! There are a ton of toys and lots of room for the kids to play.





Pucker up! Here she comes!

Sharks Game March 12

We took Callie to another Sharks game over the weekend against the Stars. As we approached the ticket taker, she was a little apprehensive.

And that's because it was....

SHARKIE!!

Yet again, she passed out from all of the excitement!

Blake's Birthday Party

On Sunday, Callie's friend Blake had a birthday party. Sadly, I did not get any pictures of the birthday boy. He was moving too fast!
Callie discovered her favorite new toy, a balloon. It is still in our living room:)

And we also discovered that guava cake does not agree with the little one! Pink spit up!
It was great to go to a 1st birthday to get some ideas rolling for Callie's big day. One of the smartest things I saw were strategically placed packages of baby wipes. Smart! Especially with so many little ones running around. There was also a phenomenal punch that we will have to try. Here is the recipe if you are interested:

1 pkg frozen strawberries

1 tin (19 oz) Dole crushed/tidbit pineapple with juice

1 sml tin Minute Maid frozen pink lemonade concentrate

1 fresh lemon (pre-slice whole lemon thinly as garnish)

2 litre btl. Canada Dry Gingerale

1 bag grocer's ice chunks or 2 large freezer size bags of home-made refrigerator ice

Blend frozen strawberries, crushed pineapple with juice and pink lemonade concentrate. Puree until well blended. Pour solution in a large jug and refrigerate until ready to use for punch. Just before guests arrive, pour punch solution into large punch bowl and add 1/4 bag of ice and gingerale. Stir gently. Punch will become frothy. Garnish with thin slices of fresh lemons just before guest arrive. One batch will serve about 25 people. The puree can be frozen for future use.

Callie and her flower

Callie was fussing the other night, so Bill went outside and got her a flower. Cuteness ensued.

Driving, Doctors, and Dudes on our lawn

Today was a weird day, to put it mildly. Last night Callie did not sleep well at all. She went to sleep at her normal time and woke up 2 hours later. I fed her again. She woke up 3 hours later. Bill changed her. Slept for an hour.
Finally I gave up and we went to the coffee shop and then to music class. Her St. Paddy's dress was a huge hit!
Then it was off to meet Melissa and Baby A to see a movie, Rango where I spent most of the movie chasing Callie around the movie theater. Up the stairs, across the top row, down the stairs. Repeat.

Although, while we were in the top row I got some pretty funny pictures of her.

God, what is it with this woman and shoes?


You want me to what? Sit down and watch a movie? Pashaw!

Melissa and I had planned to grab lunch after the movie before my chiropractor appt. But when I went to change Miss C in the bathroom I noticed a gnarly rash. I wasn't huge (yet) but definitely something was wrong. So lunch was out. I wanted Callie to sleep if she was fighting something off. And you know what that means! Driving time! Since that is pretty much the only way she will sleep during the day. In the time it took for me to buckle her into the carseat and start the car she was dead asleep. So she got about an hour of sleep before my appointment. By that time her rash had basically exploded. It was now all over her stomach, her back, her neck and parts of her face. In the 15 minutes my appointment took, the bumps were now raised and there were bumps all over her head and around her eyes and nose. I was officially nervous.
So when I got in the car I called our pediatrician's office. I was about 30 minutes until they closed, but maybe I could at least talk to the advice nurse. I was concerned it was a food allergy but she hadn't eaten anything new. There were mangoes in the soup last night, which can be a common allergen, but she had eaten mangoes plenty of times, which is not to be confused with her actually liking them. In the morning we had shared a breakfast burrito that had scrambled eggs in it. But again, she had that plenty of times before as well. Of course, when I was on the phone they gave me the whole "Well, we don't recommend they eat eggs until they are one." Oh you mean in 4 weeks? But I knew eggs can be a very dangerous allergen so I opted to bring her in. Especially since they kept asking if she was having respitory problems or if she was wheezing or coughing. By this point she was very uncomfortable and trying to scratch her belly. They said if I could get there in half an hour we could see a doctor. Not a problem! Away we went. And proceeded to wait for 20 minutes in the exam room. Mmmhmm. When the doctor saw her she was expecting to see welts or hives, which you would find with common food allergies but what she saw resembled something more like roseola which can be icky in its own way. But she didn't have any other symptoms. Usually you see fevers and swollen lymph nodes and that sort of thing, which she didn't have. Roseola usually resolves itself in a couple of days but it can result in seizures and meningitus, which would obviously be incredibly dangerous in an infant. Since Callie didn't have any other symptoms, we figure we are pretty much in the clear. The doctor said we can use liquid zyrtec to manage the itching since it is an antihistimine that won't sedate her.
So off to Walgreens we went. Of course she fell asleep again from being so upset in the doctor's office, although she was pretty stoked to play with the tongue depressor. I let her nap a bit more in the car before going in the store. We got home and I finally got her settled down when I heard voices from the front yard. I thought it might be our next door neighbor with their new baby girl. So I opened the blinds and was quite surprised when I saw 6 dudes on my lawn! There was a black guy that was clearly being forced to sit down and 5 hispanic men hanging out smoking cigarettes. It definitely seemed odd. I wanted to walk outside and ask what the hell they were doing, but it was just me and Callie and it didn't seem safe or particularly smart. I thought about calling the police, but I wasn't totally sure of what was happening, plus Bill was due to be home in a few minutes. A few minutes later 2 police cars showed up and put the black guy in handcuffs on our lawn. He didn't resist at all, clearly he knew he was screwed. I overheard the cops ask the other guys "Do you want to press charges?" They replied with a big YES. They then said they would meet them back at the shop to talk about it, so I assumed this guy had stolen something from a shop on San Carlos and they had chased him down.
Now you would think if you arrested someone on someone else's property you might knock on the door and tell the homeowners what had just happened. But no. Oh well. I'm just thankful I didn't have to have an altercation with them and be worried about my baby inside. So that was our wacky day. I have never been so happy for it to be date night. Definitely needed a break tonight!

The Magical One Year Mark: Saying Thank You

I absolutely cannot believe, as I look at the date, that in a few short weeks we will be celebrating Callie's first birthday. Thinking back to the early days (of what I remember) that day seemed an impossible destination. Those early days were so incredibly hard. Even just the physical nature of it. Healing from childbirth isn't easy, plus with an episiotemy on top of it, I was a mess.
I want to take a moment to call out the people that made it so that we will be celebrating Callie's year mark on April 23rd.
Bill and my Mom are at the very tip top of that list. I lost count of how many times I collapsed into tears and they always knew what to say to pick me back up and to make me feel like I didn't, well, suck at this whole mom thing.
My darkest time was when Bill was going back to work. I felt so alone and deserted. A great deal of it was self imposed. I was so jealous that he got to have another life outside of Callie. I was terrified of what my new life was about to become. I have always been afraid of failing. I associated asking for help with "I can't do this. What were we thinking having this baby? I can't do it."
I would count the hours until Mom was done at school and could send a pleading email or text message. That way she couldn't hear my tears and feelings of failure. I truly don't know how to thank her for everything she did for us. Thank you mom for the simple gift of warm food. It made such a difference in my body and mind set. Thank you for holding her and looking at her with such love. I made me think that I could too. Thank you for giving advice, gently. Thank you for taking care of Callie so Bill and I could reconnect in a small way, even if it was just to see Iron Man 2 and eat sushi. Thank you for watching her for a few hours each week so I can focus on my health and my marriage.
Thank you Bill for taking care of Callie when I couldn't. Thank you for putting Callie in the onesie that said "Mommy loves me" even when I wasn't sure if it was true. Thank you for not letting go of me. Thank you for loving her so much and for trying to figure out who we are as a family. Our world has changed and I feel so blessed to have you on this journey with me.
Thank you Bill for saying the words "I am worried about you." They were the words that sent me looking for Harmony.
My adjustment to motherhood group at Harmony was another life saver, literally. Specifically, Sharon, Courtney and Lauren. Courtney, your little nuggets of no-bullshit-truth kept me afloat and I still recite some of them to my friends that have little ones and we all nod and say, 'Ya!! So true!" It was so nice to have a place where I could cry and feel like I sucked and someone would tell me I was doing ok, that I wasn't totally screwing this kid up. They gave me a place to say "PPD" and not feel as bad about it. I knew I wasn't alone and that meant a great deal.
To Valerie, thank you for all of your advice and reminding me that "this too shall pass." Thank you for all the food and clothes and for time with your girls. It helped tremendously to see that they don't stay screaming, useless balls for too long. Thank you for dinner when Bill couldn't come home. It meant more to me than you can know that I had a place to be.
To Michelle, Kat and Viv for being my connection to the "real" world. For lunches and cocktails and a reminder that I wasn't lost for good.
Thank you Debbie and Stroller Hikes for getting me into the sunshine and the fresh air.
Thank you Megan for setting up Foodtidings. Thank you for giving us the gift of infant massage. It made dealing with Callie's colic a little easier.
To Tara and Bethany for giving us a beautiful, healthy little girl.
Tara, you were my rock and I can't imagine Callie's big day without you. Thank you for seeing my weakest moment and not judging me for it. Thank you for believing in me so much that I couldn't help but believe in my strength too. Thank you for some of my favorite pictures of all time. You captured the beauty and exhilaration of Callie's first moments. Thank you for coming over after she was home to help me with breastfeeding and reminding me to enjoy those newborn smells and snuggles.
Thank you Marti, Tiffany and Fran for making my body stronger and feeling like "me" again.
To the Las Madres mamas, especially Lorraine, Fran, Melissa, Krissy and Erica. Thank you for giving me reasons to get out of the house everyday. Thank you for making me feel like I'm not crazy, or at least we are all crazy together.
To the baristas at Barefoot, thanks for being our second home.
Thank you Callie for sticking around until I could get, at least some of this mom stuff figured out. Thank you for being you. In the end, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sweet Potato Soup Experiment

I did a little experimenting tonight, well, this afternoon actually. Last night's crock pot dinner was delicious, but was a little too acidic for the babe. So tonight I decided to do something with sweet potatoes, since she goes gaga for them and I'd been craving soup, so soup it was.
So here it is:
3 peeled, cut up sweet potatoes
3 small mangoes peeled, cut up (they don't have to be tiny, you're going to blend them anyway)
chicken broth
limeade (I was out of lime juice)
curry powder
cinnamon
minced ginger
allspice

If I hadn't intended on giving it to Callie, I probably would have made it spicier by adding some crushed red pepper and a ton more ginger or maybe even my favorite new ingredient, green curry paste.

Put on high for 4 hours. You could probably put it on low, but I pretty much forgot about making dinner until about 2pm, so high it was!

After the time was up, I put the delicious smelling chunks in the blender. It was good, but it was missing something. I thought some broiled toasts with melted gruyere or something like that would be good on top, but alas, neither ingredient was in my house. So I topped the soup with some crumbled goat cheese and some black pepper and voila! Bowl of awesome. That came off more Charlie Sheen than I anticipated...but there it is. Bill said it "smelled like fall."
It was a nice meal to enjoy while watching the Sharks beat the tar out of the Stars. A nice change from the previous night's meltdown against the 'Hawks. There, now this post is not just about food. Done.

I feel pretty good about my experiment. I always feel a little uneasy experimenting with the crock pot, because, well, if it doesn't work you've been cooking something for 4-8 hours for nothin'! Luckily it turned out.

Oh and if you're interested in what last night's dinner was, here it is.
Chicken breasts
can of fire roasted tomatoes
peppercinis
green olives
jar of grilled marinated artichokes
dry white wine

Crockpot on low for 7 hours. Amazing.

Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Since Callie is walking so much now, I thought it was high time she got some proper footwear. I had heard that Stride Rite was still the place to go, so a friend from Las Madres and I set out for our adventure! We met at the store in the afternoon. They measured her feet while she was still in the ergo and said she was a 3 1/2 wide. So I picked out a couple of pairs to try. Thankfully most of the shoes are velcro. I certainly don't want to deal with laces yet! I was totally shocked when I looked at the prices! I thought to myself, "They won't be that expensive, they're little, right?" Wrong. $40!! That's as much as I spend on shoes for me, most of the time. Oh well. At least they were doing a buy one get one half off deal. I put one shoe on her and then she sort of hobbled/crawled away. It was hysterical!

Her crawling/walking movements got VERY exaggerated, like she was wearing shoes that were 2 feet high! I should have taken video. She kept crawling to Fran as if to say "Help me! Make her stop!"

"Yo! Where my toes at?!"

Oh well, at least I look good.

She is definitely still trying to get used to them, but its getting better. Growing up is so hard, isn't it?

Trip To Florida Day 3

Today was definitely a more mellow day, which was wonderful! Callie slept much better last night. We were actually able to put Callie in the peapod to sleep, after much feeding and rocking of course! She slept there for about 5 hours. Then she woke up crying. I'm sure she was like "What the hell am I doing in this tent? Get me out of here woman!" So I calmed her down and she slept a few more hours with us in the bed again. We woke up and got ready and met Dave and Britt at the Waffle House before heading over to Grandma and Grandpa Allen's house for my great grandfather's birthday celebration.
It was a really nice day. We took some family photos and just visited with family and friends celebrating Grandpa Allen.

From left to right: Dave, Grandpa Allen, Great Grandpa Allen, Me and Callie, Bill, Mom (Grandma Tere)

Playing with Great Aunt Patty

And with Grandma Tere

Our little musician
103. Can you imagine?? I am planning on doing another separate post on him, as it is too much to delve into here.
Callie did really well, she of course resisted napping like crazy but eventually she crashed on me.


Bill's new friend

Walking!

Hanging out with Britt

Why, yes, she is a great girl!

Dave and Britt

Order please.

To go.

Hangin out with Great Grandpa Allen

The balloon! Please get me the balloon!
After she woke up she was rarin to go and got serious about working on her walking skills!


After getting back to the hotel room we just hung out and let Callie burn off some energy.

Too cool for words