Saturday, March 26, 2011
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.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
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!
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.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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!
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!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
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.
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.
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?
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?
Sunday, March 6, 2011
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
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
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Trip To Florida Day 2
After our rough night. I went for a walk to clear my head and to not feel so pissed and tired. Well not much I can do about the tired bit. I had no idea what was around our hotel, except for an oyster house.
View from near our hotel. I didnt see any gators though...
As I was walking through the parking lot I witnessed what I"m pretty sure was a prostitute fighting with her boyfriend/pimp. She was slapping him and then a random pickup truck pulled up and they both got in. Classy! I kept walking and what did I spy? A Waffle house.
A waffle sounded like it would hit the spot! So I got to have a break and have some breakfast. It was hangover and screaming kid central, but it made for some good people watching. I got a text from Bill that he had just woken up. So I brought him back a waffle and some coffee. When they rang me up I thought it was a mistake. For 2 waffles and 2 coffees it was $5.75. I gave them a nice big tip:) Very nice place and very nice people. I think I got called "honey" and "sugar" at least 3 times.
I walked back to Bill and Callie. I retold my adventure, Bill was sad he missed the pimp n' ho fight. Then we started doing the whole "So..what do you want to do today? I don't know what do you want to do today?" Which of course always makes me think of this:
Finally I said that I wanted to go to universal. So we did! Even though we had said last night that we would only go if we could get an early start, since it was 2 hours away. Clearly that didn't happen! But it was either that or World of Beer and outlet shops. Even just driving there we kept saying "I'm so glad we're going!"
We got there and parked. From the second we got out of the car, some kind of bug started swarming. I thought it was mosquitoes so I put my repellent on earlier than I had planned and rubbed a little on callie too. We decided to try to find some more in the stores. We asked in the shop, since they had sunscreen, which we also bought (for a whopping $17 !!). The lady replied "Oh you mean the flies?" They certainly didn't look like any flies we had ever seen! But, Florida has some pretty impressive bugs, so we relaxed.
We decided to start in the Dr. Seuss themed land since we had read it was good for kids. It was pretty cool!
It really was like stepping into one of his books.
They had a carousel, so we took Callie on it.
It started off well...
Umm...I'm not so sure about this anymore.
What are we riding anyway??
She did well at first, but we noticed it was a little bit faster than the carousel she had been on previously, so she freaked a little bit and turned to hold on to me. But I didn't mind a bit, it was an awfully nice hug!
Then it was on to the main attraction!
Hogwarts and Hogsmeade! The Potter portion of the park was small but the amount of detail universal was able to cram into a small space was absolutely staggering.
It really was like falling into the pages of JK Rowling's books. When you walked past the dress/robe shop you could see Hermione's dress that moved occassionally. The quill shop you could hear the scribbling of quills on paper. In the women's bathroom you can hear moaning myrtle and of course there is the screeching mandrake root!
Our first stop was for butterbeer. Which is so freaking delicious!!! We had ordered our butterbeer when Bill overhead the woman behind us order a frozen butterbeer, which of course we had to try. Bill very politely told the guy working there that we also would like a frozen one. Bill was about to hand him the money, when the guy whispered "Just go ahead." We decided it was because Callie was being all cute and waving at him:)
I think she totally wants to steal my butterbeer....Reminescent of the paris wine thief
Hanging in Hogsmeade
We had been texting with my brother and Britt, since they were there too. Britt had told us that the food at the 3 Broomsticks was pretty decent so we stopped there for some food.
It was quite good! We got sheperds pie (which I didn't really care for) and cornish pastys (which were fantastic!) and some mac and cheese and applesauce for Callie, who of course demolished the entire plate in mere minutes.
And then she had mac n cheese face, which was totally adorable.
Next door is The Hog's Head, a nice little pub where they had one of my favorite beers on tap, Strongbow. And there in the middle is the talking er, grunting, hog head. Callie was totally amazed!
Hangin with dad at the bar
The hat game!
We had drinks with Dave and Britt and then went to go on the Hogwarts ride.
Mom, I'm ready! I'm totally big enough for this ride!! Let's go!
Welcome to Hogwarts!
There were two women at the 3 Broomsticks that had recommended this ride. I'm glad they did, otherwise we would've bypassed it altogether and it was SO worth it!! Again, the amount of detail was insane. While you wait in line you meet/watch Dumbledore, Hermione, Ron, Harry, the sorting hat, you name it! Hermione even makes it snow!
Talking Portrait Gallery
But Callie missed it all!
But that worked out perfectly, since it was the only time all day when we had to stand in line. The line took about 30 minutes.
Universal (and disney parks) have a deal called Child Swap where if there are two people in your party you can go on rides! One person stays with the bags and the baby while the other goes on the ride and then you switch without having to get out of line. We got so excited to be on a "real" ride that wasn't a carousel! And the ride was AWESOME!! Totally worth the trip. It is a pretty immersive ride that is mostly a motion simulator, a bit like the star tours ride at disney but way more intense. Got to be face to face with dementors! So cool. After the ride, Dave and Britt went to explore the Marvel part of the park and we kept exploring Potterland. We went into Honeydukes and Zonkos. I couldn't resist buying a chocolate frog, chocolate peppermint toads, a cauldron cake and a pumpkin tart. Bill found a cool, retro robot at zonkos.
We also did another potter ride, Dragon's Challenge which is pretty much exactly like Top Gun at Great America.
Aftewards we did a quick walk thru of Marvel. I was pretty impressed that they actually had a comic book shop. I would've liked to check out the spiderman ride but we were pretty much done. So we called it a day and met up with Dave and Britt at Steak n Shake. Callie definitely got a taste for bill's orange creamsicle milkshake! Once in the car I gave her some fruit and some puffs and off to dreamland she went, so the 2 hour ride back to the hotel was a quiet one.
We decided to take it easy with her at night. It just wasn't worth trying to get her on this time zone for a few days. So we let her crawl, walk and play to her heart's content. Especially since she had been so so good at the park all day being carried in the ergo and not being able to really be mobile.
Playing in the peapod.
So when it was all said and done, it was a great day!!
View from near our hotel. I didnt see any gators though...
As I was walking through the parking lot I witnessed what I"m pretty sure was a prostitute fighting with her boyfriend/pimp. She was slapping him and then a random pickup truck pulled up and they both got in. Classy! I kept walking and what did I spy? A Waffle house.
A waffle sounded like it would hit the spot! So I got to have a break and have some breakfast. It was hangover and screaming kid central, but it made for some good people watching. I got a text from Bill that he had just woken up. So I brought him back a waffle and some coffee. When they rang me up I thought it was a mistake. For 2 waffles and 2 coffees it was $5.75. I gave them a nice big tip:) Very nice place and very nice people. I think I got called "honey" and "sugar" at least 3 times.
I walked back to Bill and Callie. I retold my adventure, Bill was sad he missed the pimp n' ho fight. Then we started doing the whole "So..what do you want to do today? I don't know what do you want to do today?" Which of course always makes me think of this:
Finally I said that I wanted to go to universal. So we did! Even though we had said last night that we would only go if we could get an early start, since it was 2 hours away. Clearly that didn't happen! But it was either that or World of Beer and outlet shops. Even just driving there we kept saying "I'm so glad we're going!"
We got there and parked. From the second we got out of the car, some kind of bug started swarming. I thought it was mosquitoes so I put my repellent on earlier than I had planned and rubbed a little on callie too. We decided to try to find some more in the stores. We asked in the shop, since they had sunscreen, which we also bought (for a whopping $17 !!). The lady replied "Oh you mean the flies?" They certainly didn't look like any flies we had ever seen! But, Florida has some pretty impressive bugs, so we relaxed.
We decided to start in the Dr. Seuss themed land since we had read it was good for kids. It was pretty cool!
It really was like stepping into one of his books.
They had a carousel, so we took Callie on it.
It started off well...
Umm...I'm not so sure about this anymore.
What are we riding anyway??
She did well at first, but we noticed it was a little bit faster than the carousel she had been on previously, so she freaked a little bit and turned to hold on to me. But I didn't mind a bit, it was an awfully nice hug!
Then it was on to the main attraction!
Hogwarts and Hogsmeade! The Potter portion of the park was small but the amount of detail universal was able to cram into a small space was absolutely staggering.
It really was like falling into the pages of JK Rowling's books. When you walked past the dress/robe shop you could see Hermione's dress that moved occassionally. The quill shop you could hear the scribbling of quills on paper. In the women's bathroom you can hear moaning myrtle and of course there is the screeching mandrake root!
Our first stop was for butterbeer. Which is so freaking delicious!!! We had ordered our butterbeer when Bill overhead the woman behind us order a frozen butterbeer, which of course we had to try. Bill very politely told the guy working there that we also would like a frozen one. Bill was about to hand him the money, when the guy whispered "Just go ahead." We decided it was because Callie was being all cute and waving at him:)
I think she totally wants to steal my butterbeer....Reminescent of the paris wine thief
Hanging in Hogsmeade
We had been texting with my brother and Britt, since they were there too. Britt had told us that the food at the 3 Broomsticks was pretty decent so we stopped there for some food.
It was quite good! We got sheperds pie (which I didn't really care for) and cornish pastys (which were fantastic!) and some mac and cheese and applesauce for Callie, who of course demolished the entire plate in mere minutes.
And then she had mac n cheese face, which was totally adorable.
Next door is The Hog's Head, a nice little pub where they had one of my favorite beers on tap, Strongbow. And there in the middle is the talking er, grunting, hog head. Callie was totally amazed!
Hangin with dad at the bar
The hat game!
We had drinks with Dave and Britt and then went to go on the Hogwarts ride.
Mom, I'm ready! I'm totally big enough for this ride!! Let's go!
Welcome to Hogwarts!
There were two women at the 3 Broomsticks that had recommended this ride. I'm glad they did, otherwise we would've bypassed it altogether and it was SO worth it!! Again, the amount of detail was insane. While you wait in line you meet/watch Dumbledore, Hermione, Ron, Harry, the sorting hat, you name it! Hermione even makes it snow!
Talking Portrait Gallery
But Callie missed it all!
But that worked out perfectly, since it was the only time all day when we had to stand in line. The line took about 30 minutes.
Universal (and disney parks) have a deal called Child Swap where if there are two people in your party you can go on rides! One person stays with the bags and the baby while the other goes on the ride and then you switch without having to get out of line. We got so excited to be on a "real" ride that wasn't a carousel! And the ride was AWESOME!! Totally worth the trip. It is a pretty immersive ride that is mostly a motion simulator, a bit like the star tours ride at disney but way more intense. Got to be face to face with dementors! So cool. After the ride, Dave and Britt went to explore the Marvel part of the park and we kept exploring Potterland. We went into Honeydukes and Zonkos. I couldn't resist buying a chocolate frog, chocolate peppermint toads, a cauldron cake and a pumpkin tart. Bill found a cool, retro robot at zonkos.
We also did another potter ride, Dragon's Challenge which is pretty much exactly like Top Gun at Great America.
Aftewards we did a quick walk thru of Marvel. I was pretty impressed that they actually had a comic book shop. I would've liked to check out the spiderman ride but we were pretty much done. So we called it a day and met up with Dave and Britt at Steak n Shake. Callie definitely got a taste for bill's orange creamsicle milkshake! Once in the car I gave her some fruit and some puffs and off to dreamland she went, so the 2 hour ride back to the hotel was a quiet one.
We decided to take it easy with her at night. It just wasn't worth trying to get her on this time zone for a few days. So we let her crawl, walk and play to her heart's content. Especially since she had been so so good at the park all day being carried in the ergo and not being able to really be mobile.
Playing in the peapod.
So when it was all said and done, it was a great day!!
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