mommica.com

Photo Friday: Downtown

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:02:11 -0500

I had jury duty early this week. The notice came in the mail weeks ago - just a couple of weeks after Matt also received a notice. He was chosen as a juror and convicted of terroristic threatening a guy who had called in two bomb threats to his probation office in order to avoid a urine analysis.

The second day I called in, my number came up. So in the morning, I rushed the kids to daycare and made my way to the courthouse. I'd been called in once before, so I knew what to expect, at least at first. The first time I went in I sat in the jury assembly chambers (waiting room) for three hours (and I didn't even have an iPhone then!). Then a couple of attorneys came in and told us the defendents who had been scheduled for trial that day had decided to plead out. Those of us still sitting in that room were sent home.

This time I sat for three hours, was let out for a 40-minute break, then brought back in only to be told - by a judge this time - that a big case we had been called in for had been continued. Thank you very much goodbye. So I still haven't got to put everything I've learned from Law & Order to the test.

But I did get to walk around downtown for the first time this spring on that 40-minute break. Had a hot dog at M.A.'s, sat in the sun, and looked at my favorite building in the state. I love this building. I would like to buy it and keep it for my very own.

4th Avenue Theatre, Anchorage, AK

How I Am

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:47:00 -0500

Lillia: Mommy, I like...how you are.

Me: I like how you are too, baby.

Lillia: How am I?

Me: You're super smart and reading so good. And you always say funny things.

Lillia: Like what?

Me: Like when you told Grandpa you were going to show him how to use the baby. That was funny. How am I?

Lillia: You always take good care of me. And I know how you feel.

Me: How do I feel?

Lillia: You just love me so much.

Me: You're right.

Fresh Garlic, Bitches!

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:30:26 -0500

Today, Lillia had an appointment at the allergy clinic. She was retested on all of the foods to which she reacted two years ago when I brought her in on suspicion of a peanut allergy: Barley, turkey, peanuts, peas, green beans, almonds, cashews, sesame seed, and garlic.

I really, REALLY hoped that I would come out of that appointment and be able to post something on Facebook to the effect of "Going to Costco to buy a five-gallon bucket of peanut butter, bitches!!!"

Alas, that is not the case. However, I am pleased to say that peanuts are one of the only things that caused a reaction this time. She is free to try turkey (and has requested it for dinner next week). She can eat beans and barley, no problem. The garlic reaction was miniscule, and she had absolutely zero reaction to sesame. That one especially gives me hope, because sesame tends to go hand-in-hand with peanut and tree nut allergies (she also still reacted to almonds and cashews). If she got over her sesame allergy, she can get over her peanut allergy, is what I have convinced myself.

Meanwhile, our veggie choices have expanded, I can buy bread other than whole wheat (Matt hates it) and I can add fresh garlic to my cooking again. I'll take it. And continue gorging on Reese's peanut butter cups and cashew clusters at work only.

Read the Instructions First

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:10:18 -0500

Lillia, to Grandpa Stan when he came over to babysit last weekend: Don't worry Grandpa, I'm going to show you how to use the baby.

Eleven Months

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:26:02 -0500

Oaklynn is 22.4 pounds now and there is only one more month to plan the event of the season.

This little happy is so sweet the party will have to balance that out somehow...

Renewing My Vow

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:52:39 -0500

I was out of town for work all of last week. Away from my kids for five whole days. Away from Oaklynn for the first time. When I went to Guam in 2009, leaving Lillia with Matt for several nights while I worked in a distant land, I had to try my best not to think of her throughout the day because I thought my knees might buckle beneath me.

This time was different. I thought of my kids all day long. I missed kissing Oaklynn's chubby cheeks and smelling Lillia's long, silky hair. But it felt good to miss them. It felt good to spend time with adults. It even felt good to go back to an empty hotel room at the end of the work day. A quiet hotel room.

"I'm a horrible mother," I thought.

Of course, I was working in Washington where I have a lot of family. They kept me entertained when I wasn't busy at work. A quick three-and-a-half hour flight is all it would take to get home if I needed to, as opposed to the 24 hours of travel each way that I experience on my Guam trip. I was only gone for five days this time; I went to Guam for nine.

These are all things I used to convince myself that I'm not a terrible person. But I have since come to terms wtith the truth: I just really needed a break.

Watching TV shows in their entirety. Reading. Having adult conversations. Not wiping anyone's ass. It was kind of great. And I think it just reiterates the fact that my Me Day idea is a good one.

In February, I watched Super Bowl with a couple of my sisters, my brother, my niece, and my mom. It was the first of what was supposed to be a monthly Me Day. It was also my last. Sick kids and other events got in the way of my March Me Day. I promised I would make up for that lost day this month, taking two days in April. But now it's mid-month and I haven't made any plans. (No, I don't count my five days at work as Me Days. Even if they were fabulous.)

Coming home from five days out of state made me a more patient, more interested, more eager parent. That's good for everyone in my house. And I hereby renew my commitment to Me Days in hopes of getting even a fraction of the renewed committment to my family. And also in hopes of seeing Oaklynn smile as big as she did that day again. <3

Continue reading "Renewing My Vow"

Ten Months

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:10:00 -0500

Oaklynn turned 10 months old this weekend. She weighs 21.2 pounds, which means the weight I had for her last month (22.6) was either wrong or she has been secretly dieting. Or maybe it was just that she had just finished a heaping serving of pureed veggies right before I weighed her. Either way, her physical growth has obviously slowed. Meanwhile, the list of things she can do is getting longer. In addition to all the new goings on I mentioned in the last Oaklynn Right Now, she waved 'Hi' for the first time today when Grandpa came to visit.

Lillia Right Now: At Work

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:58:00 -0500

I started a chore chart for Lillia a few months back. It lists simple things we would like her to do each day - things like go potty in the morning, go potty when we get home, hang up her coat, and go potty before bed. Notice a pattern here? In truth, the potty situation has finally reached a point where I think we might make it out alive. Maybe.

Lillia earns stickers for completing each chore. There are also blank boxes where she can earn stickers for anything extra she might do. When I started the chart, that's all it was: a sticker chart. She loves stickers, I thought. She'll want to have them. But after a couple of weeks apparently, she got bored. She began negotiating greater reward:

"What do I get if I get all my stickers, Mommy?"

"Uuuh..."

Eventually we settled on and worked up a contract: She gets a piece of candy if she earns 25-29 stickers in a week, a little toy or book if she earns 30-34 stickers, and if she gets 35 or more stickers, she gets a special day with Mommy. So far, she has earned a piece of candy, three toys, and a date. (B student.) For her date, she picked McDonalds, which is her favorite place ever ever. Whenever we pass by our local one, she yells without pausing "Mommy there's the McDonald's what has the little play place I can play in with the treehouse to climb!" and then "Pllllllluuuu-eeeeeeease can we go there Mommy?"

She thinks that if she says please, she will get whatever it is she has asked for. If I say no, I get a 4-going-on-14 scowl and "But I said 'Please'!" Her attitude - there since the day she was born - is more prominent than ever. In addition to the teenager-like facial expressions, she occasionally makes teenager-like arguments. You know, the kind that make a little bit of sense and therefore increase parental frustration exponentially. For example:

Me: Lillia, go brush your teeth.

Lillia, as she runs in the opposite direction of the bathroom: Hee hee hee!

Me, taking her arm: Go in the bathroom and brush your teeth NOW.

Lillia, with aforementioned teenager look on her face: I can't go anywhere if you're holding my arm!

Matt and I had a conversation last week about what life will be like when she really is a teenager.

"Maybe she's just getting it all out of her system now," he said.

"Yes," I said. "You're probably right."

Please. We prefer to live in our ignorance.

Her sweet side, which has always also existed, still regularly takes my breath away. When we get to cuddle up together, she says things like "I wish we could snuggle forever."

She was feeling sleepy, pouting, and begging to get back in bed one morning this week and I told her no, we have to go to Nay-Nay's (daycare). "No I don't want to!" she shouted. "I don't like it there."

I can assure you that she most certainly does too like it there, as evidenced by the multiple occasions in which I've had to very nearly DRAG her out when I pick her up. But I amused her.

"Why don't you like it there?"

"Because."

"That's not a reason."

She paused. Stuttered a little bit, trying to find the words.

"That's a long time to be away from you when I'm there and I don't like to be away from you for a long time."

Breath. Gone.

And of course, there are her interactions with her baby sister. There is nothing quite as dreamy as the moments I catch them looking into eachother's eyes, smiling, or when Lillia stops what she's doing just to go make Oaklynn laugh, or to get down on the floor with her and play toys, and then just watches her sister for a minute before saying, with heartwarming sincerity, "Mommy, I love Oaklynn."

She earns extra stickers on those days.

A Lesson in Nature

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:10:00 -0500

Lillia: Pretend you're a rabbit and I'm a carrot and you're gonna eat me.

Me: OK. Nom nom nom nom.

Lillia: Now pretend you're a dinosaur. An herbivore dinosaur. And I'm an eggplant.

Me: OK. Nom nom nom nom.

Lillia: Now pretend you're a carnivore dinosaur and I'm meat.

Me: What kind of meat are you?

Lillia: A bologna sandwich kind.

Oaklynn Right Now: Smiley

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:43:00 -0500

Oaklynn is doing so many things now that I'm posting so much less. Someday she'll read this blog and wonder "Why the hell did my mother record Lillia's every move here and as soon as I came along - nothing?" And I'll say, in my most gentle motherly voice "Because you were a time suck, sweetheart."

When I go to get her out of bed in the morning, she is usually already sitting up in her crib. She hears me coming and I hear her excited gasps before I can even see her. I click on the lamp and she squeezes her eyes shut, flaps her arms, and sits there smiling, waiting for me to pick her up. I hand her one of her thousands of stuffed owls to play with while I change her diaper - it helps to keep her from trying to escape. "What does the owl say?" I ask, and then answer "Whoo, Whoo." She smiles and responds with "Heee, Heee." Good try.

I lie her down on a blanket in the living room with her bottle, then wake Lillia up and put her on the toilet while I finish getting dressed. By the time I come out of my bathroom, Oaklynn has army-crawled all the way down the hallway and into Lillia's bathroom to smile at her and say good morning.

She likes to point out my poor housekeeping skills by picking up pieces of who knows what off the floor. We are at that stage where we have to do a sweep of the room before we can set the baby down to play. Tiny anything off the floor? Check. Computer cord out of reach? Check. Door to downstairs closed? Check. Guns and other weaponry secured? Check. This weekend she even started opening cabinets and eating dog food. They grow up so fast...

She can point to our noses, and sometimes eyes and mouths. She is pretty much always clapping her hands. All we have to do is say "Yay!" and she'll stop what she's doing to smile and provide the corresponding gesture.

She loves to eat Gerber puffs - and pretty much anything else. Except formula. She would really like to just be done with formula. Big sister doesn't have to drink formula. No fairsies.

In the car, she has figured out that she can see me if she turns her head. If I look back at her, she smiles and giggles. I have a hard time not playing peek-a-boo while driving the Glenn Highway.

Yes, Oaklynn has learned to do a lot of things in the past few months, but the thing that defines her more than anything is something she's been doing for a long time and something she's still doing more than anything else: Smiling. Her happy little face is the thing about her that stands out the most. My little bundle of joy is growing into a big bundle of joy, and every day she brings more and more of that joy to her adoring little family.

Nine Months

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:31:34 -0600

Nine months, suckas!

Oaklynn is...still growing. After dinner tonight she weighed 22.6 pounds. She is scooting around non-stop now, however, so I'm thinking she'll start lengthening and stop thickening. Maybe.

I Will Blog

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:38:00 -0600

Today is the third anniversary of my very first blog post.

I started this thing with dreams of becoming rich and famous off it someday. Like, the third day, I estimated. And here we are beginning year four and the only person who has ever regularly commented on my actual blog site is my mom - and she has been without internet for several months so, yeah. A lot of "0" out there.

I have no intention of letting this go - in fact, I just renewed my contract for another year. I love writing about my life, and especially my kids. But there are two of them now and I'm just...so...busy. There are enough reasons for me to lose sleep these days. I'm not going to lose more so that I can post regularly. The people who read my blog (Hi Facebook friends!) will read it whether I post every day or once a month. So when the mood strikes - and sometimes it does every day for a week - I will blog. And when it doesn't? Well, there are three full years of archives to feed your Mommica cravings.

Chomp!

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:37:00 -0600

Oaklynn has sprouted two teeth in the past two weeks. I didn't even realize until yesterday, after a weekend where I actually got eight straight hours of sleep in one night, looked in the mirror and wasn't frightened by what I saw, that teething may have taken a slight toll on me.

It's not that she was horribly grumpy or up all night. She'd had a little cold, so we assumed it was her stuffy nose waking her up at approximately WTF o'clock. It typically happened only once a night. Matt or I would drag ass out of bed, down the hall to her room, and into her line of vision, whereupon she would flash a big gummy smile. But the moment we tried to get back to bed, she was all tears. We couldn't figure it out and, with the interrupted sleep, didn't have the brain power to really try.

And then suddenly, there it was: The tiny tip of a central incisor, biting me. (In related news, I'm now completely done nursing.) A week later, with less of a fuss, a second one has popped up, too.

Now that those little pearlies have broken through, she is mostly back to her sleeping-through-the-night self THANK GOD. But one thing has changed for good:

Gummy smile is gone!

Almost Enough to Consider It. Almost.

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:55:00 -0600

Lillia: I want a little brother.

Me: Why?

Lillia: I want to make TWO babies smile.

And He's Willing to Sacrifice my Pride For It

nospam@example.com (Monica Bradbury) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:57:00 -0600

Me: Are you going to make me a "Feel Better About Your Car Accident" Breakfast?

Matt: No.

Me: That sucks.

Matt: Are you still feeling bad about your accident?

Me: Yes! It was stupid, and now you get to make "Crash Bandacoot" comments to me like you did today.

Matt: I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it, babe. I just wanted to say "Crash Bandacoot."