eating "solids"

A while back I bought Britton some Gerber Puffs, which resemble cereal, and "melt" in the baby's mouth. By "melt," I think Gerber means "gets soft quickly when in contact with even a microscopic drop of saliva." Britton wasn't too into them, so they stayed on the counter, next to the sippy cups that didn't interest her, and the fruit bowl that doesn't interest me. Zing!

But on Monday, when the hub picked Britton up from daycare, she had a fistful of those puffs in her hand and Mrs. H told him that Britton likes them and eats them. So I went out to Wal-Mart, which I am loathe to do but I needed craft supplies and Hobby Lobby was closed, and bought some puffs. On Tuesday, after dinner, we treated Britton to some puffs. And because I didn't see any previous eating of the puffs and we're designating the puffs as technically a "solid" food, Tuesday, April 27th is the first time Britton ate solid food. Love those loopholes.

leaving on a jet plane

Thursday morning, Britton and I left Oklahoma to fly to Virginia to visit my family. I have had knots in my stomach for weeks about how she would handle the flight. It's not like I can just get up and leave if she gets fussy. So I took some precautions - bought her a ticket so we'd have enough room, booked direct flights, packed everything under the sun in the diaper bag, and copious amounts of motrin. Since we did "family boarding," by the time we got on the flight, there weren't any window seats left. Now, Southwest requires a car seat to go in the window seat so that in case of an emergency, people aren't tripping over a car seat in the middle of the row. Makes sense to me. But no one was willing to make eye contact with me, let alone give me their window seat. I even started telling no one in particular, "It's not my policy. It's the airline's. Where's a freaking flight attendant?!?!" So a nice lady offered me her seat, sent her husband across the aisle, and she helped me with Britton the entire flight.





And then we arrived in Baltimore, and Jessica picked us up and carted us off to King George. We picked up Garrett and Caroline from school and introduced them to Britton for the first time. It was love at first sight for all involved.








Jessica fed Britton in a unique style we learned on TLC's "Parenting Without Arms" special. Then, being rural, she introduced us to her goats. Now, these goats are almost as domesticated as dogs, but they still like to nibble on your jeans. So they freaked me out, but Britton loved them.






And Cammy surprised us with Sugar Plum cake! Sugar Plum bakery in Virginia Beach made my wedding cake, and their cakes are so incredibly delicious. We contemplated packing some up for me to take back to Oklahoma, then I decided that the path of least resistance was just to eat the entire thing.




We went out for seafood Friday night at a new place called Buster's. I know, the name is busted (pun intended), but the food was great. And it was so nice to get seafood that hadn't been frozen, and to get to eat with my whole family.


On Saturday, Jessica invited my aunt Jill, my cousin Stephanie, her kids Alexandria and Gavin, and my friends Jen and Rusty, their son Adam, and Traci and her daughter Olivia over for a get-together. To make sure that Jill didn't miss the house, Cammy thought it was a good idea to hang out near the street with an American flag to literally wave down Jill. It was funny for the first five minutes, then just got kind of weird. Especially when people started honking their horns, and we began marching around the driveway singing "You're a grand old flag, you're a high-flying flag..." Britton took the opportunity to bond with Sable.













And Jessica made a ton of food, including burgers and hot dogs, beans, pasta salad, peach cobbler, and Stephanie brought fruit and whipped dip, and then Jen showed up with cookies and cupcakes. Needless to say, we were wiped out when the party was over, and full. So we lounged around, and later, after the kids went to bed, had a rousing game of Scattergories. Poor Tim was introduced to the overly-competitive people Jessica and I become when board game glory is on the line.




This morning, we got up bright and early and had our good-byes. Jessica loaded me and Britton into the car to take us back to BWI to catch our flight home. Britton made goo-goo eyes at the security check-point people, which is the only explanation I can find as to why we weren't subjected to the ridiculously long security screening we endured at Will Rogers airport.




We had a great time! Thank you so much, first and foremost, to Jessica for orchestrating a fantastic visit, and to Tim, Garrett, Caroline, and Sable for opening your home, and Cammy for being you, and Jill, Stephanie, and Jen, for coming to visit and meeting my girl.

sitting like a big girl

Last Saturday the hub went to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to help his parents move across town. Since they've helped us move 500 times, sometimes half way across the country, the hub was more than willing to help. But I stayed home since taking care of a baby in a sea of moving boxes isn't much fun for anyone involved. And Britton and I ventured out to the grocery store, just the two of us. Normally the hub will push her in the stroller while I push the grocery cart, and we'll tag team on getting items. But with just me, the stroller and cart was out of the question, and I don't trust balancing the car seat on top of the cart. So, for the first time ever, Britton rode in the grocery cart seat!



And this weekend the hub's parents made it up for a day visit, so we all went out to dinner (after the hub and I had our escape trip to Kohl's and Hobby Lobby sans teething bad-mood baby). We tried out a new place - Othello's, classic Italian, and had Britton in her car seat propped next to the table. But she didn't want to lean so far back and tried to unsuccessfully join our conversation. So I took her out of the car seat and put her in the high chair. First time we've done this in the restaurant! She and Grandma then spent the meal playing Britton's new favorite game called "I-throw-my-toy-on-the-floor-and-you-pick-it-up-for-me."



Needless to say, we are in desperate need of picking up a seat cover. I'm not a germ-phobe, but temporary seating for children tends to be, how do you say, crusty. And not well-cleaned. And I fear that the kid who sat in it before her was one of those kids that picks his nose and smears the jackpot on everything around him. All while drooling sticky Kool-Aid and Little Debbie snacks.

And because cute pictures of my offspring never get old, enjoy...

the awesomest most incredible good

Despite my day at work (see the post below), I received a great gift when I got home. The hub was playing with Britton this afternoon and after weeks of trying to get one hand and one knee in front of the other in a coordinated way, our little girl crawled for the first time! And the hub managed to get it on video. I of course cried because I missed it. But watching the video, I feel lucky that the hub was able to capture this incredible milestone. And because he did, I can share it with you.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In the video, he is enticing Britton to crawl by waving our mortgage statement at her. The girl has developed a thing for paper - she wants to rip it, crumble it, and eat it.

the bad and ugly

I guess for some people raising their children in a way that coincides with character and morals and the "right thing" is an option. For me, it is not. But I am getting ahead of myself. And to tell the story correctly, I need to go back to my group meeting this morning. As I do not want to get fired, there will be no names, no identifying details to come back and haunt me, nothing to google and get dragged into someone's office about my online antics. In the meeting, my boss told us about a program at work that began as a counseling program and has recently expanded to offer additional services. She gave examples such as these people finding you a plumber or tracking down a medical specialist, all so you don't have to "take up valuable work time with errands and chores." And, without missing a beat, she said that in the case when your child is too sick to go to daycare, they can find a licensed nanny to stay at home "so you don't have to stay home with important work to be done in the office. You only need to wait for the nanny to show up and lose an hour of work instead of the whole day."

I knew who she was talking about. Hell, everyone knew who she was talking about. She was talking about the one whose child has had a string of ear infections and stomach viruses and runny cruddy noses and random fevers and teething pain. She was talking about the one who took hours off of work to take her to the doctor, to rock her to sleep, to comfort her pain with a tight hug and snuggle; the one who stayed up nights to make sure her child wasn't too clogged up to breathe, who left work at a moment's notice to pick her up. The one who came into work at 5:00 in the morning, at night, on the weekends, to make that time up. She was talking about me and we all knew it.

I've never shown such composure. Every fiber of my being wanted to jump up from that conference table and scream, "I didn't have a baby to pawn her off on a stranger when she's at her weakest, her neediest, her most vulnerable. She is not your child. YOU do not get to think she's fine with a nanny. YOU do not get to judge my parenting. YOU were not the one losing your mind because your child couldn't tell you your breastmilk was making her sick. YOU are not the one who was so overwhelmed with her baby's cries for hours and weeks and months on end that you thought not having her at all was a better option. YOU don't know how it feels to to cure colic, only to be sideswiped with ear infection after ear infection. YOU ARE INCORRECT IN YOUR ASSUMPTION THAT THERE IS A CHOICE BETWEEN MY BABY AND THIS JOB."

But I didn't because I need my paycheck and frankly, I wasn't believing what I was hearing.

I went back to my cubicle and told my friend, "She can go to hell." And I mean that with all my heart. I won't apologize for taking care of my daughter, for throwing work out the window when it comes to her health, and for gladly putting my 50-hour work week second, third, even fourth when it comes to my family. At the end of the day, I know how much of myself I have given in exchange for a paycheck, how much of my baby's life I am missing to be at work, how little I get in return for what I give up.

So I walked away today, from the issue not the job. But it will never look as shiny and as new and as pretty as it once did. Tarnish is hard, if not impossible, to simply scrub away.

friday night in the big town

For the last 248 nights, I have put Britton to bed. I may not have put her to bed last, but I always put her to bed first. We have tried others doing it before, only to be met with a child that refuses anyone but her mommy to say goodnight and wish her sweet baby dreams. Tomorrow night is a night of my firsts - the first time I am not home to put my girl to bed, and my first attendance at an NBA game. The hub got Thunder tickets from work, and we are taking ourselves out for a well-deserved night on the town. Which includes a luxury drive to the game courtesy of the hub's truck, a fabulous dinner of concession stand goodies, and the lingering chance we might get broadcast on television while doing something like picking a wedgie. But we so need this night out, so despite my fears that I will stare at my cell phone the entire game, scared I won't hear it ring in case of an emergency, we are going. And, like moms did when I babysat, we have cleaned the house and bought our sitter snacks and goodies. Because we can't let Ms. H think we're anything less than spotless or that we subsist off of half-and-half, condiments, and take-out.

So at least I will have this montage of my girl to sneak peeks at during the game, courtesy of my awesome, it-doesn't-get-easier-to-use iPhone...

happy easter!

We celebrated Easter early with Grandma making her traditional bunny cake. Even though Britton couldn't have any, I helped myself to more than my fair share. We don't celebrate Easter in the traditional sense, per se, as we don't go to church or hit up sunrise services. But we celebrate it as a renewal of sorts, the transformation from the death and bleakness of winter to the green and growing and blossoming of spring. And to that end, we totally spruced up the front yard.

surgery day

Grandma came up form Dallas/Ft. Worth to watch Britton for the last couple of days, as she got a nasty stomach virus and wasn't allowed back at daycare. Luckily the vomiting and diarrhea subsided in time for the surgery! And Britton enjoyed the attention and cuddling Grandma is famous for around here.

We got up super early this morning to go to Mercy Hospital for Britton's tube surgery. Because she wasn't allowed any food or formula after midnight, I woke her up last night at 10:00 p.m. for a bottle. Luckily she wasn't hungry this morning, but she was mad about being woken up at 5:10 a.m.

We got the hospital and everything ran on time, for the first time I can ever remember when it comes to surgery. We were taken to a room to get a gown on Britton and to go over the surgery and after-care procedures. We said our good-byes at 6:30 a.m. as the nurse took Britton to the OR. After the tubes were inserted, she was taken to recovery. She only had gas for anesthesia, no IVs or anything like that, but the doctor wanted to make sure she reacted well. The nurses kept warning us that babies are usually very fussy after getting tubes, not because of pain, but because they are unfamiliar surroundings and mom and dad are gone. Well, Britton returned to us in a good mood, and the nurses said she was the best baby they could remember having. It made my heart melt. I bundled her up in my lap, gave her a much-waited-for bottle, and we changed her and got on our way. We got in the car at 7:09 a.m. It was a very quick procedure!

She has to get antibiotic ear drops for the next 5 days, but overall she is doing much better. I know having that pressure off her ears is helping her, and she seems startled by noises now because she can finally hear well! We are back to the doctor in three weeks for a follow-up and hearing test.