MEETING JOHN MCCAIN

Hello. We are back home. Back from the desert where the WalMart cashier asked if we were going someplace sunny when we purchased sun hats. People in the desert have a different sense of sun. Or maybe we were hallucinating the cloudless skies and temperatures in the low 80s.

Anyway, the biggest excitement of our trip; a double rainbow (pictures forthcoming) and meeting John McCain at the airport. He went through security with us (well, bumped up and put through just before us, but he walked right past us).

And then he was in the same gate area as we were waiting for his flight to DC.

No security except a rather meek looking TSA agent.

We left him alone, deciding to respect his privacy, but then everyone started lining up for pictures, so I decided to try for one with the baby. The TSA agent tried to wave us off saying McCain was done, but I pushed for a picture for the babeola and McCain acquiesced.

Anyway, he's not as tall as I thought (maybe 5'8") and is much thinner. Also, he is very stiff in posture, probably from his injuries. He seemed tense, anxious, and strained, a bit on autopilot in his interaction with the crowd as if he was distracted. I wasn't up on the news and didn't know that Bush cut his Tday vacation short. I imagine McCain was responding to current events, although, who knows, really?


Either way, it makes for a good story for the babeola's babybook.

AN AWARD ALREADY?

Thanks to Jenners of Life With A Little One And More for the award. Sorry I can't do it justice and give a proper speech, let alone perpetuate the award, but we are about to leave for the airport. The babeola is cranky seeming to sense that we are about to royally screw up her circadian rhythm with a time change, the luggage is too heavy, and my husband is in the midst of his usual packing freakout; trying to control every little detail while I just clench my jaw and try to survive it all.

I'm tired and sweaty and stressed. Hopefully this will pass and we will have a delightful week in the desert southwest. However, I'm anxious as the response to baby proofing suggestions has been 'we'll just keep an eye on babeola' which I think translates to momma is going to be chasing the babeola every second and saying 'no,no,no,no,no.'  Although, I'm tempted to go with the alternate translation, which is, 'look at how your precious knick knacks, that you would not put up, don't bounce on the floor, but rather shatter into a thousand pieces. The babeola has some throwing arm, doesn't she?'

Gotta go, the babeola is melting with crank. See you on the other side of the turkey coma.

THE BABEOLA GIVES ME THE FINGER AND OTHER CUTE STORIES

Because of my weekend in Mathland, I am behind on the things I meant to tell you all.

1. The babeola has discovered that there is this really cool squishy stuff in her diaper. She can squish it in her fingers, eat it, and read her books while it's all over her hands. And when mommy sees what she's doing, mommy screams and freaks, which is sooooo funny.

2.She also thinks it's funny when mommy flosses. Dental floss cracks her up.

3.I missed the babeola's NICU* reunion on Sunday. I am bummed about it, but I was stuck in Mathland stabbing my calculator with my index finger thinking 'die numbers, die.' So my husband took the babeola where she promptly ran, face first, into the edge of the registration table. She has red marks from the encounter, but she wasn't feeling any pain because there was just too much to do. Walk. Pet the dog. Shriek at the Blues Clues dog and Elmo. A fun time was had by all...except me and the aforementioned calculator.

*Babeola and I had a long labor and had fevers so Babeola ended up in NICU for a few days. Nothing serious.

4.The babeola has learned to give me the finger. No, not that finger (although I have some pictures of her nursing and flipping me off), her index finger. She has learned from momma how to admonish with a wag of a finger. So now when momma says 'no, no, no we don't throw food on the floor' she smiles and wags her finger at me, which makes me laugh and not care that ants are slowly taking over my kitchen, getting fat on the floor buffet.

Quick! What is 543,356 plus 999,999 minus 1,235,634,3434?

Well, that was a fun weekend. I spent two days learning about math. Remember math? Yeah, I did that all weekend.

Surprisingly, this is one thing that has improved with age. I can do math now. Go me. I might have a brain! (However,I should note that I think I would much rather have my cellulite improve at this stage in my life.)

More importantly, I will be able to help the babeola develop basic math skills as well as at risk kids (which is how I get paid for all this math). When time permits, I shall try to put together a comprehensive math skill post for kids.

Also,I have been tagged with a meme! Here we go!

A. Attached or single? Attached
B. Best friend? My husband, my best friend, my dogs
C. Cake or pie? Both!
D. Day of choice? Christmas Day
E. Essential item? Socks and hard candy
F. Favorite color? Purple.
G. Gummy bears or worms? Both! What is with having to choose one or the other?
H. Hometown? Born in Toledo, Ohio but never lived there.
I. Favorite indulgence? Books, clothes, chocolate, and fruit.
J. January or July? January because it's the quiet aftermath of the Christmas storm and the world feels new again. Oh, and everything is on sale in January.
K. Kids? One currently, hopefully two someday, but, please God, not twins (I am a potential multiple momma and fret how I would do two newborns when just one threw me under the bus).
L. Life isn’t complete without? Family, Christmas decorations, chocolate, a good book, and a great action/adventure movie.
M. Marriage date? March 20th civil ceremony and November 3rd the wedding.
N. Number of magazine subscriptions: 1 Wondertime
O. Oranges or apples? Both!
P. Phobias? Bugs.
Q. Quotes? Suck it up--me.
R. Reasons to smile? The way my daughter says 'hi', my husband's humor, sunshine and flowers.
S. Season of choice? Fall and Spring
T. Tag 5 people. I don't know five people in blogland!
U. Unknown fact about me? I secretly want to rule the world.
V. Vegetable? Beans.
W. Worst habit? Nail biting and easily frustrated.
X. X-ray or ultrasound? Both!
Y. Your favorite foods? CAKE! With gobs of ICING!
Z. Zodiac sign? Cancer

PLEASED TO MEET YOU, NOW PASS THE CAFFEINE

I am so pleased to see that other mommas are finding this little blog. When I get a moment to breathe, I'll be sure to visit you and do the 'follow' thing. (I think I am next allowed a deep breath sometime after Thanksgiving, just so you know.)

Today I am undergoing the pain of caffeine withdrawal. I think I hate myself because every few weeks, I give up the Coke Zero only to fail miserably the first time I get shorted on sleep because the babeola has a night terror. I just sent an email to my husband dealer demanding a 12 pack. I'm such a junkie.

But my head hurts. One of those headaches where you think any second now a vicious alien is going to claw its way out of your brain and eat your children. Four Advil and two cups of supposedly caffeinated tea have not touched the throbbing. So I have caved once again.

I just need to get through the next two weeks. Then I'll quit, I swear.

Really. I will.

Oh, shush, you naysayers. I can too quit. I've done it dozens of times now. I'm quite the expert.

Anyway, no motherly advice today except this piece of dubious wisdom: Motherhood is not the time to give up bad habits (such as caffeine), it is the time to cultivate them so that when you have nothing left to keep you going,they can prop you up. Isn't that what caffeine is for?

P.S. If you get a minute and have a dollar to spare, think about donating some baby food or formula to a local food bank. Typically, baby food and formula are not common donations, and, with more and more people losing their jobs in a faltering economy, there are more and more families that need help. Or simply send in a monetary donation to your local food bank. I fear this holiday season, the biggest wish on many people's gift lists will simply be a full pantry.

TOO BUSY TO BE A MOM

No one quite expresses exactly how busy you are as a mother/parent. Especially if you are also trying to do anything other than be a parent. I worked full-time for a while when the babeola was an itty bitty thing and it was so difficult, I quit. For the last several months, I've been a full-time mom, but now I am embarking into the world of part-time work (and looking at going back to school).

Last weekend and this coming weekend, I was/will be in all-day seminars on Saturday and Sunday in relation to my new part-time gig. This means all laundry, cooking, cleaning, shopping must be done by Friday night (and make no mistake, my husband helps out 100% so I'm not alone in this, but even so, it's a lot of freaking work to juggle it all). The imposition of time constraints other than nap time on my life has definitely increased my stress factor.

I don't like this facet of motherhood. The time crunch. The backed into a corner and trying to perform spectacularly on competing interests. I find it to be the most difficult part of motherhood.

But I can't avoid it. The whirlwind is coming for me whether I like it or not.

Below are the few time management tricks I have mastered. Leave a comment and tell me how you manage it all too.

1.Slow cooker. Slow cooker. Slow cooker. One of the easiest slow cooker recipes is plain pork loin which can then be shredded and made into BBQ pork.

2. Freezer. Stock the freezer with meat loaf, meatballs, hamburgers ready to be grilled, and leftovers. Also, keep chicken soup on hand for when the whole family simultaneously comes down with a cold.

3. High quality convenience foods. No Chef Boyardee or other low quality foods, but we do use Amy's frozen entrees that utilize organic, whole ingredients. The pesto cheese tortellini is a huge hit in our house. We also prioritize our fresh fruit so it lasts a week. Bananas and berries are eaten first. Pineapple, pears, and melons are stored in the fridge for later in the week, this eliminates extra trips to the store.

4.Live by the Law of Concurrent Work. Look for tasks you can run simultaneously. I no longer eat meals with the babeola. Instead I feed her and do the dishes. I can eat while she plays, but it's difficult to do kitchen chores when she's in the other room. The other big time saver is to clean the bathroom during bath time, however, my husband does bath time in our family and hasn't quite mastered that concept.

5.Keep a really good calendar to avoid overbooking or double-booking.

6.Super-duper baby proofing or a play pen so you can safely turn your back on baby without worrying. (But always double check as you leave that there are no hazards within baby's reach--you would be surprised at the oddball choking hazards that have wormed their way into our safe space.)

DR. SEUS ON SCREWED UP TIME CHANGES

There were no mothers of young children involved in establishing daylight savings time. If mothers had been involved...

Sorry, I got caught up in a daydream of what the world would be like if mothers were in charge. It was a nice daydream.

Moving on.

Number one rule of motherhood: Never mess with the schedule.

And yet,the world conspires against nap time.

The usual advice is to prepare your child for daylight savings time by gradually shifting their bedtime later and later (or earlier and earlier, depending on whether it's Spring or Fall).

Hahahaha. What a joke.

The babeola's internal clock is hardcore. There is no earlier or later, there is simply the time the babeola wants to sleep. So sleep has been scarce in these parts of late. Lots of early mornings and early nights as well as late nights. Lots of fussiness and screaming too. No naps. Short naps. One nap. Two naps.

(Hey look! I'm channeling Dr. Seus.)

The schedule has been messed with. God help us all.

Advice to New Moms:

Tip#1 When determining a bed time for your child (and it seems you do have some influence on this in the first year), consider the impact of seasonal time changes. Try to select a time that will work regardless of what the clock does so you don't have to push your baby to sleep earlier or later.

For example, the ideal for our family, would be a Fall bed time of 7-7:30pm so in the Spring, it would change to 8-8:30pm. This would allow us to enjoy the longer days without any trauma of having to make any changes to the actual bed time. Then in the Fall we would revert with the clock to the 7-7:30 pm bed time. No fuss, no muss.

Tip#2 For the love of God do not, I repeat, DO NOT schedule any vaccinations for Daylight Savings Time week. This only makes things worse. How do I know? Guess who had her MMR and Flu vaccines this week? Oi.

Feel free to add your time change tips in the comments.

TALK TO OBAMA ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE A MOMMA

We voted and the babeola came with us. If you look closely you can see her vote sticker on her jacked.

Obama has a website where you can share your thoughts and vision for the US. Please take a moment to add your voice to the mix even if you didn't vote for Obama or don't agree with his policies; your voice still counts. www.change.gov

P.S. The super adorable, super cute hat in the picture is from Etsy seller Liza.

Motherhood for the Weak

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