Hand, Foot, Mouth, and Everything Else!

Lord have mercy. The last few days in this house have been....exhausting.

Last weekend Olivia came down with a crazy fever in church. I mean she was HOT. She took a nap, was clingy (which she never is) and was totally sluggish. It scared me to death. So we got some fever reducer in her and lots of liquids and she managed to get some food down, but the temp just spiked again a few hours later. Overnight was rough--clingy, constant waking, crying, fever. We kept her home from school Monday. She did well during the day, but the fever went up again at night. By Tuesday morning she was acting more normal and eating fine but I noticed a rash developing on her hands, calves, and toes. AHA! Chicken Pox!

I made an appointment with her doctor to confirm my sharp diagnosis. The doctor took a look--nope not Chicken Pox. Then he took one look inside Olivia's mouth and then look at me and smiled, " It's Coxsackie." My response "damnit." I had heard about "Hand, Foot and Mouth disease" from my sister's experience with my neice and another friend of mine and her kids, now Olivia had it. In fact she was pretty much done with it--and handled it pretty well considering. Apparently the rash shows up when the fever breaks. After the fever she's no longer contagious but then we were freaking out about how she got it and if Lucas had been exposed. The doctor said she was safe to return to school once she had no fever for 24hours. So Wednesday she returned to school with non-contagious rash just in time for her first SCHOOL PICTURES! HIP HIP HOORAY! I covered her arms in long sleeves and legs in tights and it was a beautiful 75 degree day. Come to find out three other kids in her school had been out with coxsackie as well. Aha! And turns out sandboxes can be breeding grounds for this thing. Olivia comes home with gobs of sand in her shoes and pockets everyday.

I'm glad that it is behind us and she is now immune--and also thankful that Lucas dodged the bullet, but I am not looking forward to dealing with this thing again with him anytime soon.

Charm City Daddy and I crash every night, only to be constantly awakened at least twice a night by Lucas! Lucas was just beginning to improve in the sleep department but had a total relapse this week--with daytime naps, bedtime all of it.  It is driving us both to near tears.We thought we had a fool-proof system all figuredwith Olivia--no frills, no fuss. It turns out we may have just had a fool-proof little girl. He JUST gave up swaddling at 6 months. If it were up to him--he would still be swaddled.


Lucas' separation anxiety is off the charts too--and to top it all off he seems to be a shy guy. He balls his eyes out when he sees an unrecognizable face. The well-meaning church ladies who crowd around him every Sunday are the worst for his nerves. Poor baby.

Also--Olivia is officially done with the paci at bedtime. She has never needed it at naptime at school and it was time to let it go to avoid her mama's overbite. It wasn't easy, but I told her I simply threw it out of the window of the car--just like she did to her paper elefante from Spanish class on the ride home. She certainly understood the permanence of that action and it ended our discussion. Awesome.

Oh! And CCD celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary this week. We decided to celebrate the way we've celebrated all of our anniversaries--with a family dinner out--but at a nice restaurant to give the kids the experience. They were well-behaved, and the restaurant was wonderful to us--food also incredible. Olivia loved the live jazz trio and I taught her how to skat. It cracks her up--but she is pretty good at imitating me.

CCD and I have been researching vacations (to keep our sanity and hope alilve) but we both agreed today that we would feel bad asking anyone to take care of our kids (ha!)---at least until Lucas gets this sleep patterns under control. So then we started looking at family vacations--then we looked at family airfare---then we stopped looking at vacations and went back to work. HA!

More to come---I didn't even tell you about my car accident. We just got our car, "The Milk Truck" back this week.

Makes Me Laugh

Olivia loves loves her undies---6 times over.

I woke up to this sight one morning when Olivia got into her underwear drawer. I preferred this morning over the one where she found the lotion dispenser in the bathroom.

Two Under Two

Parenting has fuzzy math. For some reason I thought having one kid and adding another to the mix, just might be double the work. WRONG! Adding a newborn to the mix with an energetic toddler already on board is more like 2.5 to 3 times the work.  No wonder parents stop at two kids. And the whole "man-to-man defense thing" describing how two parents balance two kids is big an understatement. You still need help.

Based on our preliminary experiences of the last 4 weeks, here's what I have come to believe:

1.  Parents with one kid --a balanced decision of both the head and heart (50/50).
2.  Parents with two kids --a slightly unbalanced decision of heart over head (60/40).
3.  Parents with three kids --the result of losing one's head or a birth control malfunction(75/25).
4.  Parents with 4 or more kids --total surrender and submission. 

"I make midnight visits to my parents' room."

Keep in mind Charm City Daddy and I have always said we wanted 4 kids, but I must say we are reconsidering this theory everytime we:

• buy diapers or change a diaper
• try to leave the house on time.
• consider going to church service.
• consider going out to eat.
• are awakened by one or both children and kept up all night trying to keep them asleep and or in their beds.
• see a preview for a new movie we know we'll never see in theatres.

And many more---and we're only 4 weeks in!

Sure the positives far outweigh the negative and in reality we want to have as many children as God will bless us with--and we can afford (let's not kid ourselves). Right now the magic number is two. We are blessed and at times--just a tad stressed, but it's alllll good.

I just needed to speak the truth for a moment.

Bedtime w/ Daddy

Although Olivia's bedtime routine is pretty consistent whether it is Charm City Daddy presiding or me,  I always enjoy seeing the way CCD adds his own little special touches.

He reads books in his own way. He puts on the extra big pajamas. He leaves hair bows in her hair. He forgets to use overnight diapers, occasionally. And now that Olivia is in the big girl bed, he spends an extra 60 seconds with her as she closes her eyes to sleep.

Olivia loves it and puts her arm on daddy--keeping him from easily sliding away. Being the video monitor stalker I am--of course I watch it all go down. Observe...

See him in motion trying to slide away? haha. Never easy. Such a good daddy.

Milk Truck Down

Yesterday while parked, our white suburban, aka "the milk truck, " was hit by a woman not paying attention and making an incredibly wide turn. Her car hit the driver's side door of our vehicle and the quarter panel above the wheel. Nice.

After the accident, the door would only open 8-10 inches--just enough for Charm City Daddy to squeeze out (a definite no-go for my preggo booty) and it wouldn't close all the way with a solid 3 inch gap leaving him to drive while holding the door closed. Nice.

So the milk truck is in the shop for the next 2-3 weeks, and we are pimping a blue Chevy HHR. The HHR should stand for you look "hella hella, ridiculous" in this clown car. So if I go into labor while our car is in the shop we get to pack not one, but TWO enormous car seats into the back of this blue pimp wagon rental. Nice.

You Know You're Parents When...

 You Know You are Parents When...

1. You quote and sing cartoon phrases or Disney movies several times a day.
2. You suggest Disney movies to non-parents as "really worth watching!"
3. You look forward to watching animated movies as much as your children do.
4. You both get swept away and cry at animated movies like "Up" ("really worth watching!!!") and find yourself watching it long after your daughter has departed the room and found another activity to do.
5. You find yourself looking for more animated movies to love instead of real, grown-up ones.

On Motherhood...

I don't know if it's pregnancy or the experience of already being a mom, but these days I can hardly stand to hear people sentimentally talk about their mothers without  crying my eyes out.

And boy, did Alphamom Chris Jordan get it right on her "16 Things I Have Learned About Being a Mother" post on Oct. 20th. I haven't even experienced some of the instances on the list--but the entire thing really resonates with me. Among my favorites on the post:

5: The healing power of a hug. Hugs rank right up there with baked goods.

7: You have an infinite reserve of patience. Yes, you will be tested. Yes, there will be times when you think you are right at that edge of your sanity. But then your kids will push right over to the other side and you realize, with surprised joy, that you have not strangled them nor has your head popped right off. And at that moment, you should feel proud.

12: Don’t wait for your house to be perfect to entertain. As long as you have children it never will be.

14: Cheerios. When your children are small you are required to carry around a container of them. Always. I am not sure if any kids actually eat the Cheerios. BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT!

15: Smile.

Just Like That.

And just like that...I started my grad school program last Thursday and by the end of my first class I decided this wasn't the program for me. Just like that.

What does this have to do with being Charm City Mama, you ask? Well you become a new parent, balance career and home and then decide to throw grad school in the mix within the first year of your balancing act and see how confident you feel. I've told myself that any time invested in school (away from my family) has to be totally worth it to me (financially and personally). I've decided it's the right thing to do for my career. It's a good example for my family, although Charm City Daddy has enough degrees for both of us.I want it and there is no time like the present.

If you didn't know, I work at a university. I love it, btw. One thing working at a university and in academia does, it either gives you or further exacerbates a thirst for knowledge. That combined with a free tuition perk is a fantastic combination. AND in most cases your studies aren't limited to your home institution. You have a choice of any program offered in a system of universities.

Because I was willing to take a few calculated risks, I have been given some incredible, early career opportunities in the poltical arena that have accelerated my career path. Now with my position in higher education,  I consider myself in the development phase of my career where I need to hone my skills.

Like most working professionals, my graduate program needs and expectations are pretty specific and practical. "Show me how to do/think x, y, z, thanks bye." Unfortunately after further inspection of the graduate program in which I was recently admitted I realized it would be too broad and too theoretical to be beneficial to my immediate career needs. It really hit home when each of the students in my class began to do their introductions in my first class. Many had not yet started their career or were making a career shift. Neither apply to me.

Luckily there are several top-notch options for my area of interest in the DC area---political, strategic, crisis communications. Even better, I've found two that are fully online and/or can be combined with an MBA track.

So, just like that, all hope is not lost. Now back to the application process!

Happy Birthday to Zooooo!

In Celebration of O's big UNO...

...we went to The Maryland Zoo today. One day she'll catch on that the zoo is less than 5 minutes from home and we always pass it on the way to church---and I'm sure I will dread that day.
But today--everything was new and "Oh wow, baybeeee" and F-U-N.

From her stroller she seem uninterested and unimpressed at first, but when we pulled her out and let her walk about,  the whole zoo came alive to and suddenly she got it.  She started to do the motions she learned from one of her favorite bedtime books associated with the various animals.
Olivia enjoyed some ice cream, and had an all around good time with Cousin T and Charm City Grandma, Daddy, Mama, and the nanny too!

We didn't leave without a family picture. I can't explain why I am smiling so hard other than I may be subconsciously trying to overcompensate in order to make Olivia smile too?! I'm pretty sure I was yelling "cheeeeeese!"

Oh, well. Other than me--I love this picture. And I just realized that we're all wearing navy.

Funny Story

So my  maternal grandma and one of my elder cousins from my dad's side came into town this weekend for Olivia's Baby Clambake. Just to paint the proper picture, Grandma is 85 and Barbara Ann is probably in her early 70's. They are both the sweetest two people you will ever meet, in fact Grandma made all of the deserts for the party including a moist strawberry cake , lemon meringue pies and chocolate pies!

During the party, they saw some of the baby gear we had around the house including the three strollers we've purchased to date (jogger, bugaboo, and the most recent umbrella). Like most older people, they laughed at us for all of the stuff us youngin's need these days that older folks never had. Of course I explained my rationale behind each of these purchases, but had to laugh along with them.

During our usual Sunday dinner visit at my parents house, as we're packing up the car to leave, Charm City Daddy complains to the ladies about how small the X3 is and how we need to get something bigger already. Well of course grandma, mom and Barbara Ann laughed at us again. We smiled, finished packing up the car and went on our merry way back home. As we are driving down the road (at least 5 minutes away) just chatting away we suddenly get a call from my mom who is laughing so hard she can't even speak. She said we left the dog (Buckley, our Black Lab) behind. Ooops!

It gets better. Did CCD even slow the car down and begin to turn around? No! Instead he chuckled a little, and asked "Do you want us to come back and get him?" HAAAAAAAAA! How terrible is that? Now I'm laughing my tail off. Laughing harder my mom said, "No, I'll just bring him to your place when I come on Wednesday!" And we drove on down the road back to Baltimore with the baby and no dog.

Yes, we are your typical new parents. The kind that people feel sorry for in airports and grandparents and great grandparents are amused by.

Glad we could give you folks a chuckle.

Stay tuned for the long-awaited photos from New Orleans and Saturday's clambake.

The Misadventures of Charm City Parents...

Oh man! What a funny couple of days I've had with Charm City Daddy. We are really enjoying our time before Charm City Baby arrives.

Earlier this week I took a day off to catch up with him and joy ride like Ferris Bueller in his new toy.

Keep in mind that it has not rained here for D-A-Y-S. See where this is going? I actually pray for rain every couple of days because it saves me from having to waddle outside before or after work to water the flowers.

Speaking of flowers..check out my fresh cut hydrangeas!

I digress.

So anyway, it seems like everytime we set out to take a little ride in the car, storm clouds come out of nowhere defying all forecasts and local meteorologists. First we did some quick shopping. A-okay. Then we stopped for a patio lunch at Cosi. It was absolutely beautiful out with zero humidity. Suddenly, after the meal I saw a storm black storm cloud in the distance. We hopped in the car, but instead of taking the highway home for a quick 3 exits, I convinced CCD to take the backroads. That was mistake #1.

We knew the roads we were on--but didn't know which direction to turn on them. Discovery: there are no navigation systems in 1965 cars. Then it started sprinkling. Crap. We had hats on, but I had white t-shirt on. Enough said. CCD convinced me he knew what he was doing and where he was going, but after we passed the same grocery store three times, I pulled out my blackberry and resorted to Google Maps. Now it was full on pouring and we are looking for cover--in someone's random garage.

Luckily we found a vacant home for sale with a nice car porch, which we sat under until the summer rain died down. We were only 6 miles and 15 minutes from home, but had somehow turned the trip into a 45-minute debacle--just long enough to get soaked.

Here's CCD driving in the rain--smiling between yelling apologies to my tummy to Olivia.

*Note the race car/roller coaster seat belts, pictured above. Yeah, not exactly conducive to pregnant bellies.

When we finally got on our way and made it back into the Baltimore City limits
(which had not experienced a single drop of rain) we were nearly soaked and laughing histerically about how were already such bad parents.

We completely exhausted ourselves so CCD took a nap and I headed to the hair salon.

Assuming (mistake #2) it would not rain again since it had already rained, we set out again for dinner about 5 hours later. This time, thinking we were safe in the dry city we chose a place downtown and even waited 45 minutes for table outside (mistake #3).

Before we got our appetizers it began to sprinkle. CCD dashed to take the car to a public garage about 6 blocks away and got back in time to slurp down his appetizer--raw oysters--(I was so jealous!) and then the sky opened up.

We were relocated inside to finish our meal and just stared out of the window of the restaurant praying for the rain to finish so we could walk to the car and make it home safely. We ate...slowly...and we waited...and waited and finally settled for a light drizzle.

I left my dignity at the door and walked out of the restaurant with a plastic takeout bag on my head as my makeshift rain bonnet! HEY! I had just paid $50 getting my hair done! I made sure the side of the bag that said "Thank You, Thank You, Thank You" was pointed outward to my onlookers in gratitute for their stares.

We of course made it through the 6 blocks in the dark streets and alleys of Baltimore (cue theme song from The Wire), in the rain, to the car that was never meant to be wet and by the grace of God made it home after our 5-hour adventure--and lived to tell the story. Amen.

This is the kind of stuff you can get away with when you have no kids. I think we learned our lesson and I would like to take this moment to apologize to my unborn child. Your parents mean well but aren't perfect and will be better planners in the future. I think we'll start by checking the forecast.