Closing in on one year

Jilly-bean is just 6 days away from turning ONE! I can honestly say this has been one of the longest years of my life.
I love how people always say, "Wow! A year already??" I laugh and play along but truthfully I am thinking, "Thank GOD! Now it should start getting easier.....right???"

Here are some of the things that I have come to love (and love to loathe) about our little girl over the last 12 months:

**She loves to bump up and down to music. That is how she dances! If being held, she looks like a marionnete puppet with legs kicking wildly.
**She cries herself to sleep many days. No amount of rocking, stroking or singing will help with that. Period.
**I have finally found a calming spot for her: behind her ear! When I stroke her there she will stop, at least temporarily.
**She prefers to stand nowadays.
**When she smiles a truly happy smile, her nose crinkles and it is melt your heart adorable!!!
**When she cries a truly angry attention getting cry, it pierces your eardrum and gets all the dogs in the hood barking. (well, maybe that is an exaggeration)
**Her style leans away from the girly fru-fru and more toward a boho hippie. Think long, flowy dresses and tye dye. Groovy, man.
**She uses her new teeth for protection. She bites her brother and my shoulder and also will poke you in the eye if you annoy her.
**She has fallen in love with baby dolls and likes to poke them in the eye, too.
**She saves her best smiles for her bruh-bruh.
**She likes to wave at the birds out of our kitchen window.
**When she is excited her legs and arms kick and splay like she has lost all muscle control!
**Her favorite game (and his, I suspect) is "Catch the brother".
**She dislikes any solid food thicker than the consistency of applesauce and will reject anything you try to give her after that.
**She still wakes at least once during the night to nurse.
**Her favorite word thus far is "Ma-ma-ma-ma".
**She has the most beautiful eyes. Like a little deer.
**She absolutely LOVES to look at photos of herself. They crack her up. I was a little afraid that she had a vain streak until I tested her with a baby faces book and got the same reaction. Apparantly she just likes baby faces!!

This year for her birthday party we are doing a Neopolitan Bakery theme. I'll post pics, of course, but I'm really hoping all the fuss will turn into a fun party. Afterall, it is just for a one year old who will have NO recollection of any of it!

A lazy day for reflection

Today is a chilly 33* here. Little man is down with a low-grade fever and little lady is napping all bundled up in a cozy warm blanket. It's a lazy day all around. A perfect opportunity to reflect on the upcoming holiday season.

I realized that I've been pretty introverted the last couple of weeks. Not really sure why, but I think it has to do with the fact that we had 30+ guests here for Thanksgiving and I was in full on hostess mode.

I really need to get back in the friendship saddle. Christmas is the perfect excuse to get back in the swing of things. Here's some things I have planned to help me re-focus:

**Attend any and all holiday parties that we are invited to.

**Make and deliver gifts for all of our friends and/or neighbors. Any ideas???

**Offer to help friends with wrapping gifts. Perhaps have a mom's night out where we have a wrapping party?

**Like last year I plan to have some of Dominic's closest friends over for a pre-Christmas party. Last year we exchanged favorite Christmas stories. This year I'm thinking we'll get the outdoors heater out, strike up the chimenea and roast marshmallows while we huddle together under blankets watching Elf on the garage door. (We have a projector that has yet to be used.)

That's all I've thought of so far. Any traditions that you guys do with friends that you'd like to share? Leave me a comment!

On another note, we made salt dough ornaments yesterday and painted them this morning. It was a super fun activity! We made ornaments for each of the kids, one for each of his cousins and one for his bestie, Andrew.

Here's the recipe for the salt dough:
1/2 cup salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup water
Mix all ingredients together until it forms a dough. Roll out on floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Bake in oven for 2 hours at 250*F.

Parental observations from a former teacher...

As a former teacher with 10 years under my belt I have the unique opportunity to see my child through two sets of glasses: the rose-tinted mommy glasses and the eagle-eyed teacher glasses. While this can be great, it can also lead to stress that other moms are spared.

This month we branched out and enrolled D in a 4-day parent optional summer camp. Actually, we enrolled him back in April knowing that he'd probably want to get out of the house and have some "D-time" away from his sister. Since we've never left him under any else's care, except for the Grands, I stayed Tuesday with him just to see how he'd do (FANTASTIC!) and to see what activities they'd do. I am happy to say that I was very pleased with both.

The following day I let him go on his own, but Jillian and I stayed in the commons area. There, I was able to see and hear many observations I otherwise would have missed. Here's what was rambling inside my head:

1. I can teach my child to follow instructions but not all parents do. The result? My child ends up waiting for his turn while other kids take multiple turns.

2. I am my child's greatest advocate. This means I will be present for all his activities. In his group of 7 at camp I was the only parent who stayed and sadly, I ended up feeling like the crazy "that mom". (So what if I happened to be snapping pictures of my son eating a snack?)

3. Parents are VERY particular about their children. As a teacher I know that parents can certainly be a thorn in the side. Being a parent in that common area I overheard a mother planning a birthday party on the premises and was amazed at the extravagance of the event. Face painter? Multiple cakes? Extra staff on site? Personalized favors? All of these cost extra money and the mommy was more than happy to oblige. Then she said a key sentence and it all suddenly made sense: "All the other parties we go to have face painters."
We had D's party here at home and I assure you it was just as appreciated at much less cost. (My hubby may beg to differ about the cost.)

I also came to the realization that I will be the mom who is in the front row at concerts, recitals and awards assemblies with camera in hand, hollering out my child's name so that I can get a shot of him/her in the moment. And you know what?? I'm okay with that!
I mean, look at these faces:

Can you blame me??

Aaaaaa-Men!

This past week we've had a silent visitor in our home. He has watched over us as we slept, played, eaten and conversed. Silently overseeing our daily routine and blessing us at every turn, he stood stoically on our mantle.

Since my husband was out of town on a church retreat I was happy to have him here. I was comforted knowing that a visual symbol of him was present in my home. Dominic and I prayed the prayer of vocations daily while David was away and once he returned home the boys continued the ritual before bedtime each night. I love that I was able to capture them in prayer before the chalice.

I love to see Dominic join his hands in prayer. There's just something about seeing such an innocent soul paying homage to our Lord that makes me smile. His joyful proclamation "Aaaaaa-Men!" at the conclusion to any prayer makes my heart burst with pride. How will I ever survive his first holy communion?

In separate, but strangely connected news, I have a lunch date with one of my meetup pals tomorrow. She has been the subject of one of my previous posts: the one about Laura Ingalls?? Anyway, she is Jewish and we are, obviously, Catholic. The interesting thing about her is that she is a practicing Jew, not just Jewish by title. As a practicing Catholic I know all too well the distinction between title and action.

I'd love to talk religion with her but I'm not quite sure how it would go over. I am actually fascinated with Judaism. Afterall, Jesus was a Jew himself. I am intrigued by the traditions held by the Jewish people. It's certainly not easy to be Jewish, just as being Catholic is not exactly the easiest religion to "adhere to".

Oh well, this is really just a rambling post about religion that somehow worked it's way into my brain and wanted to come out and play. I'll let you know how the "lunch date" goes!

The rising cost of friendship (aka: birthday parties)

This month we had 3 birthday party invitations, 3 weekends in a row. One was the Sunday before we left for vacay and it was out of town, so we missed that one. The next one was the Saturday we returned from vacay so we missed that one due to being on the road and the next one is this coming Saturday. We have another invite the 7th of May as well.

So yesterday Dominic and I set out to the Toy Store to pick up all the gifts that we needed. Man, when I started this friendship odyssey the last thing on my mind was how much money these friendships would cost me, but let me tell you....it ain't cheap!

Scattered throughout the year it wouldn't be too bad, but we had 4 birthdays in January and now another little clump of birthdays. I always try to put great thought into the gifts I buy. I think of each child and their interest and/or something their mom has mentioned that they would like. It's fun, but can be exhausting.

So...$125 later we left the Toy Store with 4 birthday party gifts, cards for each and a roll of paper. And don't forget the 2 board games I had to get D, as well.

I am already thinking about having a little welcome party for Miss Jillian in June. My out of town family has been talking about having a shower for me but there's not many weekends left between now and D-day and I'm not really up for traveling. I am researching Sip and See ideas and will hopefully get an idea that inspires me. Any suggestions??

Oh, and tomorrow is my shower for ladybug! So exciting!!!

Lessons from Laura

This afternoon I was able to watch one of my favorite shows growing up...Little House. That probably dates me, but who cares?? It was, and still is, a great family oriented show that I would look forward to every day after school (following Brady Bunch, of course).

This particular episode featured a pre-teen Laura who has a crush on a boy at school and she is trying to attract his attention in a different way. Since she is such a tomboy she lets out her horrendous braids for a loose mane of hair. Her crush calls it a mop. She "borrows" some of her mother's expensive perfume and the boy asks if she can smell the dead skunk that is certainly around. Poor Laura.

I can remember all too well the unrequited love of a childhood crush. That, coupled with the awkwardness of puberty, is forever etched in my memory bank.

What does that have to do with this post??? Well, seeing this episode made me recall my day at the aquarium with D. We had about 12 moms and kids meet at the Children's Aquarium for a fun morning of fish, food and fun! I checked the list of RSVP's before I left just to see who I would know and one name popped out at me. I met R at a previous event and we hit it off pretty well. We've since been to a couple of events together and have talked a bit here and there.

I was excited to see her and C again. She and I just click as mom's, although we couldn't be more different- she is sorority sister-esque and I'm the jeans and tee kind of gal, she is intelligent and classy and I'm just plain old me. I feel like she's too good to be my friend. Weird, isn't it?

This motherhood connection may very well be the only thing we have in common. Yet I still enjoyed talking with her and even got a bit excited when she chose to sit by D and I at lunch. SO JUNIOR HIGH, no??? Ha!

I don't really know how this "friendship" will go. There's not much to tie us together other than we both have little boys whom we cherish and our parenting style seems to be in synch. Our kids are 2 years apart, we are of different religious beliefs, we live in different cities...nothing else in common. It seems such a waste to not pursue what could be a friendship but for now I'll table the occasion and think on it. If it happens, it happens.

Why couldn't I have been such a logical thinker when I was "in love" with my schoolgirl crush??

My rambling post is now over.

Photos coming soon, I promise.

Know when to hold em!

While D is napping I usually hop onto FB and catch up with my "friends". Today I came across a link that one of the meetup gals wrote about our group. It was very complimentary and funny in parts. The end is what stopped me and made me think...

She mentioned one of the ladies in our group is her best friend. Now, I have hung out with R many, many times and she's never alluded to the closeness between the two of them, so this leaves me wondering...is this the total truth and I've just been oblivious to it and if so, have I said anything bad about her BFF?

There have been numerous playgroups that we have gone to where this BFF was present and I never got the feeling that they were overly friendly. I know they have hung out without the kids and done things together but it didn't seem like BFF chemistry. There have been plenty of times that I have bitten my tongue around said BFF b/c she irks me in one way or another. We just don't click!

Does this mean that my perception of R is skewed? If she can be BFF's with someone that rubs me the wrong way perhaps I don't really know her. This is a conundrum, folks. Maybe I am overthinking this "situation"?

So, what do you think, dear readers? Anyone have any words of advice for me??

Catch Up Post 1.3: A-ha moments

So I have slacked the last few nights in keeping this blog updated. We have been super busy and you'll soon realize why the lag in blogging.

Tuesday we had a toddler playgroup scheduled with the neighborhood group. I met L and A there. As usual, I was the first to show up. We chatted politely with the host and then "the others" showed up. The full-fledged toddlers, now close to 3 years old. Such a jump from my little 19 month old.

I was impressed, though, he held his own! He went immediately for the slide and after two slides holding my hand he was ready to do it on his own. What a big boy he is becoming.



I knew some of the ladies there from our first few playdates last year. I actually had one of Oprah's "a-ha!" moments while watching D play in the sand table: I am one of the helicopter parents I always dreaded as a teacher! Don't get me wrong, I don't meddle in other children's affairs or try to tell the other mom's how things should be done, but I am most definitely right there next to my son helping him with things and teaching him to get along with others. Most of the other moms were sitting to the side, talking amongst each other while their spawn ran around and threw sand out of the table. I patiently waited for one mother to come redirect her daughter after she threw sand at D. Thank goodness he was wearing a hat or it would have gone in his eyes.

So, my revelation is that there are two kinds of toddler moms: the ones who sit back and let things just happen and those who sit attentively nearby to make sure things DON'T just happen. I fall in the latter category and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Maybe the helicopter parents are on to something? I vow that I will never be the one to try and tell my son's teacher how to teach, though. That is just taking it too far!!

Other than that, we had an okay time. Not really a group of ladies that I feel comfortable with, but they've been together all year getting to know one another. I suppose a newcomer to our baby group would feel the same way. Something to chew on the next time a newbie visits the group, eh??

The same afternoon we were invited to check out O's new jungle gym. We walked over and had a sit outside on their patio. It was a perfect day to be outside. D wasn't all that impressed with the huge metal structure so we went inside to play after a few rounds of blowing bubbles. M made a chocolate cake and I had brought some ice cream over so we inhaled the treats and then the boys got down to business, playtime. D fell in love with this tractor.



We talked about Thursday. M and O attend a mommy and me group every Thursday. I had planned on joining her a few Thursdays ago and for whatever reason we have had to cancel. This week I have a doctor's appt so it's another no-go. Maybe next week? D started to show signs of wearing out so we left about an hour and a half later. Good playtime for the boys!!