The Money Shot

Ahh...this brings me joy as a parent. Olivia's first Santa encounter...

We arrived during the morning hours, but Santa appears to know it's gonna be a long day. We were his second crier in a row. LOL.

Even funnier...she said "Cheeese" to the cameras through the tears and even told Santa "Chay Choo" for the free coloring book he handed her as she departed.

I ended up sitting next to Santa to calm her down a bit--but her expression of fear remained the same.

Ahh gotta love it. We have done our job as parents.

The Christmas Photo: Outakes

Getting a good Christmas card photo this year was even more difficult than last year.

Perhaps we should have hired a professional photographer rather than Charm City Grandma who cannot operate my SLR, and squeezing it all in 5 minutes before dashing to a Christmas Party and a Ravens game.

At any rate---I just HAVE to share an outake that cracked me up when I saw it.

"Mommy, does this mean I'm on the naughty list?"

Pictured above: A tired, fed up papa, a threatening mama (mid-threat), and a child in headlights being scolded for not sitting perfectly still and smiling on cue. Good times.

Maybe we'll try again with another photo shoot later....maybe not. Maybe I'll just use this one. Either way, you have to stop and laugh sometimes.

Olivia's Night Out

Last night, our little family (along with Charm City Grandma and my little bro) attended a benefit for the  Carson Scholars Fund. 

Quick side note: CSF is one of our favorite charitable organizations that we support whenever we can, and Dr. Carson and his wife Candy (and their whole family for that matter) are the kindest, smartest, most inspirational people you will ever meet.

The event was a consignment sale  and fashion show for which Olivia made her modeling debut and I  made my maternity modeling debut. Olivia loved being the center of attention and stressing me out.

I wish I could say Olivia clearing her throat on stage for attention while other models were being featured was the highlight of the night, but it wasn't.What was the highlight? My mom's reaction to winning this coat for a $20 raffle ticket.

I wish we could have videotaped it. She was in disbelief that she actually won and made Dr. Carson repeat the raffle ticket numbers over and over again.

Priceless.

Character Building

There is no doubt in my mind that the following picture will be used to humiliate and humble Olivia in the future---most likely at her wedding slide show as was the case for me. 

 

Olivia is just getting a good hair brushing by Charm City Grandma here, but my historic humility photo was my mama hot combing my hair at age 8--probably with this same expression on her face.

Also observe the face. When and where do children learn to use this sad face?

Cracks me up every time and I just mimic her and make it back. With the hat and all, my younger brother says O looks like Fat Albert's Mushmouth character in that photo.

Hilarious and I tend to agree. "Hey, hey, hey!"

Currently Craving: Sweet Tea

Although caffeine-intake is forbidden and/or limited for the most part in pregnancy, I could never make it an entire 9 months without my sweet tea.

Whole Foods sells a delicious decaf sweet tea, but sometimes, some days there is no suitable substitute. Today is one of those days.

I also recommend these sweet teas too, Turkey Hill and Gold Peak which are found in your refrigerated grocery aisles. Mmm.

I Jinxed It.

Just a week ago, I blogged about our new nanny who had been with us for about 4 weeks at that point. Just 5 days later we fired her.

I think my blogging jinxed it.

I waited to blog about our her until that point to see how things would transition, but Olivia never warmed up to her--her bad attitude with us only got increasingly worse (i.e. teeth sucking, laughter, eye rolling to weekly feedback about her techniques). French-attitude? Perhaps.

We tried to find middle ground to her very structured technique and our parenting style but it got to the point where (even with short-goodbyes or distractions) Olivia was terrified to stay with her (and see us leave) which has never been the case before and the nanny would get upset when we actually tried to console and comfort our own child. I kept thinking, who is the parent/employer here?

Our feeling  was that Olivia should have warmed up to a presumably good nanny (that lived with us) by 5 weeks. This was not the case, so we had to listen to our instincts and our child.

It's too bad, but her reaction to our news that we were giving her 2-weeks notice only reaffirms that we made the right decision. She packed up and moved out of the house at that very moment, bumping her belongings down the stairs from our third floor where she stayed and making noise right up until her 12 midnight departure. We told her she was welcome to stay with us until she found another family--as we will not be seeking another live-in, but nope. She wanted to go out with a bang--yet another indication of her stubborn ways.

Luckily we're close to the holidays, and I will have an extended break to take care of Olivia thanks to my job. We hope to start the New Year with a new live-out nanny. But until then--it's part-time help from Charm City Grandma (thanks mom!) and good ole trusty Charm City Daddy!

Currently Craving: Buffalo Wings

Oooh, I love me some buffalo wings and particularly during pregnancy. It mostly hits me in the first trimester--but I feel a comeback binge coming on. I have been known to order them for carryout at lunchtime at work. Yep, that's bad...but hey at least I go boneless in my business attire--although I prefer bone-in.


I like them very saucy, slightly spicy, with ranch dressing and celery, and I prefer the more tender, meaty wingette part of the wing not the mini drumstick.

Guess who else shares my love for buffalo wings? Olivia! I gave her one after she kept begging thinking after she tastes how spicy it is that she wouldn't want it. Well, she cleaned the bone and asked for another.