It's picture day at Anna's school

I swear she left the house with a bow in her hair. Halfway through the ride, I heard "uh-oh?!" and she was handing me her bow. Since she has a cute new haircut, I tossed the bow back to the seat. No need. She's darling without it. But she did have a new shirt and nifty new pink Converse tennis. I hope she cooperated for her photos. There's way too much pressure on picture day! Last year it was easy since she was a slobbery, cute little rolly baby, and babies just look cute no matter what. I didn't even really have to dress her special. But now I think I'm the only mom this year who didn't put that bow in her hair!

At least she looked especially cute while her face was red through her screams while I left her this morning. Good times.

Happy Birthday, Valeo PT!

Paul's Physical Therapy Clinic has been in operation for one year now. He has kept it afloat with no extra debt, gratefully. He is breaking even. To survive the first year has been great. And in my opinion, fast. Most small businesses fail within the first 1-3 years so I take this as an achievement.

Still, our little girl needs more to eat than mac n' cheese and nilla wafers, so please send us your clients and your sore body parts. He is an EXCELLENT healer. Seriously. I am not just saying that. Call him up right now. 281-488-5877.

More screaming at drop-off today

All I could say to her teachers was, "sorry, sorry" as the other empathetic toddlers joined in unison. Even in her new pink shirt and pink matching cool converse shoes, it wasn't pretty. After a kiss, I fled quickly.

Thank you, DVR

In the chaos of yesterday I missed the season premier of Desparate Housewives. And I still haven't watched The Office or Ed yet. What did I do in the world pre-DVR?

That being said, I am still ignorant on this whole bank bailout issue. Again: no time for TV. And this is not something I want to DVR and enjoy later.

Skinny Bitch

With all of my degrees and Paul's combined, and all of the fad diets we've read about (and even tried), we think we know a thing or two about weightloss. But I had to read this book, called Skinny Bitch, since it was a top-seller and written by two airheads with no experience other than the fact that they are skinny bitches. I knew what I was in for when I bought the book but I thought at least it was good for a laugh.

And I laughed outloud as I read it last night. Mostly because it's humorous the names they call your fat, lazy butt as you read along. Those words are just funny to see in actual print, I think. TV has no more shock value to me, but to read it in a book, it cracks me up.

"Soda is Liquid Satan", and that includes diet soda. They go on to rant about the link between aspartame and formaldehyde, and how sugar and grain processing strips the nutrients right out of our food at the expense of saving a dollar and mass production. I am in the middle of reading why dairy is evil, but I fell asleep in the middle of it. I know dairy is evil, I have seen and heard all about it. Processing animals to eat is a horrible, scary thing to actually see, and definitely not cool for the poor animal going through the nightmare. If you saw it yourselves, too, you'd probably consider becoming a vegitarian, or a vegan.

But I need my meat, though not alot, and I'm not a personal hunter/gatherer. This is how our society has approved the processing of meat, whether we like it or not. I guess I could buy free-range, and all that. Maybe I'll make a more conscious effort to at least look into it?

As for dairy, yes, we are the only species to drink other species' milk. But that's what we do. In our household, we drink organic, no antibiotics, no pesticides, no hormones. If we are giong to consume such mass quantities of the crap, at least we should try to cut down on ingesting the amount of bad stuff that goes into it. It actually tastes better too.

I do try to make good choices in snacks for Anna that keeps her little digestive system in shape and her blood sugar levels even. Therefore, I'm a bit picky on juices and punch and stuff (translates: we don't give it to her), but I don't outlaw it in social situations. I think it's a matter of everything in moderation (except for mac N cheese, which seems to be a staple in her menu. Even for that we've switched to protein-enriched whole grain noodles).

But even before reading this book, we decided we'll be sending her to day care with better afternoon snacks, since their menu is centered around goldfish and cheerios and nilla wafers. I just feel like that stuff is ingested then burned within an hour so that she's left hungry and just out of sorts. At least that's what it feels like when I ingest that stuff.

When Paul doesn't work the hospital

Too tired to write yesterday! To sum it up, cool morning air, good Sunday morning family breakfast, 2 mile run as a family (with a happy toddler in the stroller), playing with new safari animals (toys), a local T-ball game, ice cream with a little friend, a delayed nap (we pushed her), a cranky wakening (she pushed back), a garage cleaning and toddler clothes shopping, dinner, bath, bedtime (8PM!), groceries, I got a bath, and a book.

This kind of hard play comes when Paul is home and not working at the hospital on weekends. Nonstop. My feet hurt.

We are tired parents

Did all of this really happen in one day?

The girls' naps only lasted a little over an hour each, when we were counting on the usual solid 2 hours at LEAST. But we think they set their little secret alarm clocks to get just the minimal rest they need before they could get up and play again.

So on to the truck washing in the beautiful weather. Not my truck. Paul's. I don't see the point in washing the outside of a truck. They were meant to get dirty so I'll never be washing mine. I wash the INSIDE since that's where I spend most of my time...right?








To sum it up, more playing (including a slide in the front yard), more snacks, diaper changes, and then AJS went home. Then we went to drop off the recycling, ate dinner at Cafe Express, and topped it off with a Toys R Us visit before Anna started rubbing her eyes at around 7:30. Singing They Might Be Giants all the way home, bath, and night night.

Paul and I are happy to be chilling out right now. Whew.

First Haircut

Today Anna had her first real haircut. We weren't looking for anything short, just out of her face. We took her to the local Cool Cuts. After a wait of about 20 minutes, she was up! They put her sitting in the haircut chair, which was actually a car. Ofcourse she loves to "Wide?Wide" so that was a win, right there. She got to watch Sesame Street while eating fruit snacks while Daddy and I encouraged her to stay sitting. She did great! The cut came out beautifully!!


AJS is visiting us today so she got to witness Anna's first haircut. She is one day younger than Anna. She and Anna had a busy morning. After sleeping in later, playtime at the Little Gym, the haircut, and then lots of play around the house, they are both napping now. They are fun to watch together!



BTW the football game last night was fun! She enjoyed the stroller ride, and once there danced to the band, and watched the cheerleaders and the mascott, which was a "Bird!Bird!Bird!" We had a nice walk home in the dark where she watched an airplane do touch-and-go's at Ellington Field. She also looked at the stars. The weather was great and the mosquitos were absent!

Bailing Out...

Another I found from SprogBlog: (click on italics below)

"This satiric E-mail currently making the rounds is genius. I wish I knew who originated it (I cannot take credit)...."

Flexible Age

The coolest thing so far at 18 months has been our most recent surprise at the fact that Anna is more flexible with our schedules, including the ability to stay up later, which means we can start to have somewhat of a social life again that also includes her. Plus she can be kinda fun. Last night Paul wanted to cut the grass at around 6pm. Usually, we'd wait till Anna goes to bed so we can spend time with her, and she'd go to bed by 7 or so and there'd be plenty of light left to cut the grass. The fun thing about last night's grass cutting (fun? What have I become?) is that Paul went ahead with the cutting at around 6:30 and we hung outside to watch/help till almost 7:30. Imagine that, getting stuff done AND hanging out with Anna. BONUS! In the last 12 months leading up to this event, this would have never worked: Anna would have been an eye-rubbing sleepy-head mess by 6:30 and I'd have had to stick with her bedtime schedule/routine. But last night, the weather was nice and cool and dry, the mosquitos were mostly dead or repelled, and Anna was wide awake, fed, and happy. So we just hung out with Paul while cutting the grass. She even wanted to ride in the stroller she saw in the garage so we rode around our yard and she loved it. Simple and fun. It may not mean much to the non-parents who read this, but it represents alot to me.

She used to HATE the stroller, with the exception of her first few months of life when a bumpy, grassy ride at near Shaken-baby-syndrome levels was one of the only 2 tricks that would work to quiet her.

So tonight I am going to try something new, if I can get over my anxiety about it. I am going to attempt to take her out in her stroller to watch the local high school football game in our neighborhood that Paul is covering tonight for as long as she'll care to be there.

Remember my momentum theory? I think it's the root of my anxiety about taking Anna out for stuff like this. Momentum being that for the past year of my life and hers, I have had so many restrictions placed on what we do and where we go and the timing of it all centered around Anna's need for an early bedtime, that now anything off-schedual is a little nerve-wracking for me.

It's so much easier to stay home to watch TV but it would be more fun to enjoy the awesome weather at a high school football game where spacedaddy is working.

Rational thought: Get a grip, you're the mom.

All NASA elevators should look like this

I mean, it's really fun working at NASA but Building 17 has this really cool elevator.







I mean, shouldn't all NASA elevators look like this?

OK, who left the cow on my keyboard?

Anna? How'd you get away from school and onsite?
I was only gone a second.

Day Care drop-offs

I know Anna likes her day care/school. She gets nothing but good reports and I can tell she's learning stuff. I've dropped in several times over the past 15 months and she's happily playing with others or involved in something like a book. I see no suspicious behavior at home that I could correlate with something fishy at her school. But as I figured, this week the drop-offs have been especially hard.

Paul used to do the drop-offs and I would get the pick-ups. Since she was always a clinger/crier from month 12 on, I figured he got the raw end of that deal (although there was a period of about 2 weeks where she would just chew me out the second I showed up to pick her up...HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME ALL DAY?!). Anyway, this week has been the worst we've ever seen of her screaming just as we walk into the door.

She happily trots down the hallways leading up to her classroom, pointing at stuff and telling strangers HI! Then as we get to the door of her classroom, the hesitation sets in. I try to coax her in with fun stuff instead of hauling her screaming on my own. But no, the coaxing isn't working. Today I led her in by her hand and when we crossed the door threshold, I looked down and her little scalp was actually red. In looking closer at her face, she is already in the middle of one of those big, quiet inhales that signals that an ear-piercing scream is forthcoming on the exhale. Yep, there it went. Just enough to show me that there's no sign of the canine teeth erupting anytime soon.

Anyway, I picked her up and we all tried to distract her. All three teachers, and even her toddler buddies tried, but she wasn't interested. I had no choice but to pass her off to Miss P as about two of the other toddlers started their sympathy crying. "I am so sorry" was all I could say, over and over. One screaming toddler = two more screaming toddlers.

When I dress her in the morning, and decide whether I'm going to do her hair all cute, I wonder what would look best and obtain more sympathy from her teachers while she screams as I leave in the morning.

As I passed her off to Miss P, she said something about the fact that it's obvious she's an only child. She didn't say it in any derogatory way or anything, and I didn't take offense. I actually agreed. Does this mean that non-first borns don't pull this crap because their parents don't have time to dode on them and give in to every demand? I think this is true anyway from what I've heard of parents with more than one kid. Anna's not usually so clingy, but I don't know...there are other first-borns in Anna's class. Do they cry too? Or is it only MY child? I am jealous that the other parents can just walk their toddlers in, tell them bye-bye, and leave without the drama. Honestly, I don't think she does this because she is spoiled, really. I have seen spoiled, and from what I've seen, this ain't it. I think she does this because she is smart and she is very much a part of our little family at home. Anna has brains behind her eyes and she knows "what's going on" and has always preferred consistency. That has been lacking for her since she was moved into the Toddler rooms at age 12 months. It has just never been the same. So now here we are, post-Ike, new teachers, new friends, new classroom. So yeah, she's taking it a little harder.

There is plenty of stuff out there telling me all about what separation anxiety is, and how some are worse than others. Fortunately, I think Anna's on the middle of the spectrum since her cries stop shortly after I leave and she is fine the rest of the day. But, like the car seat screaming phase, I am surprised at the fact that this has lasted 6 months! Before Ike, some days she'd cry, and others she would be fine. Now, she SCREAMS. I guess it'll take about another week or 2 till she gets it under some level of control again.

Skeeter Killings

Apparently our homeowner's association agrees with my plan to destroy them all. We heard the big mosquito sprayer circling our neighborhood last night. Ah, the fresh inhalation of mass quantities of toxic bug killer.

Be gone!

Thanks, TJ

I am certain that TJ is responsible for getting our power back up. If I hadn't have moved whatever sparse cold groceries I had left over to her house, and if she hadn't gone through the trouble to set up MM's room for us to move in, and her neighbor hadn't set up the painfully cumbersome Pack N Play for Anna, I am sure we'd not have gotten power back tonight. On the other hand, it was fun hanging out with them again this evening. Sort of like family. It made me wonder why we don't do it more often, since they're just down the street! Life just takes over.

Back to my smug, comfy, powerful home now. Where I wish Paul would change the channel so I don't have to hear Bush blame "some" others for the current economic crisis. "The Market is not functioning properly..."

I must stop watching. Now. Let's watch Ghost Hunters instead, please?

Powerless

Paul called me to tell me TJ called and said our neighborhood is without power.

My God, not the ice cream birthday cake.

Using JSC's liberal leave policy this week, I rushed home to a reminder that my garage door opener cannot possibly function without power, and Z still has my house key. All windows locked, well that's a good thing. I went two blocks down to TJ's house to get my key from her (I have keys all over Houston, except on my own key ring), and by the time I got two blocks back to my own house, she'd had power but I did not.

I got halfway through eating the good stuff off the cake when I realized I could have brought it to work or shared it with TJ and the kids. Eh. The rest of the cake went down the drain. Thank goodness it wasn't a Ben & Jerry's cake. That would have been a tragic loss.

Why TJ now has power and we don't is beyond my comprehension. TJ said she thought naturally to call the power company to see what the situation was. Hahaha, what could the situation possibly be, Houston?

Damn you, Ike.

Darned skeeters!

Sorry, baby, despite my best efforts, you were silently attacked yesterday by mosquitos who were probably hiding out in the piles of debris all along the roads during our walk yesterday. You just wanted to go "outside, outside" so badly, I couldn't say no. Bug repellent was everywhere but on your face and hands (for the sake of rubbing it into your eyes) and this morning when you woke I up could see that's exactly where they got you. You didn't even tell me about it DURING the attacks. You just were so apparently happy to watch the trees blowing in the breeze while holding my hand going down the street, exclaiming happily over and over, "ousie, ousie", that you didn't even notice they bit you. And if you did notice it, you didn't tell me. Despite my careful watch for them during our walk, you have about 5 bites on your beautiful little face, and a huge whelp on the back of your hand. Plus 2 on your wrist. You were just getting over the bites on your arms from austin.

I hate them. They must all DIE. I must develop a plan.

Mommy's birthday song

Well, it's only parts of the birthday song. She never seems to perform her best in front of the camera ;)

Happy Birthday!

My 30th birthday in 2005 is reflected below. It was a Rita evacuation hurricane birthday party. It was actually fun.







I appreciate the fact that ER thought it's my 31st birthday today ;) Obviously she didn't evacuate with us for Rita in 2005 or she'd have remembered the birthday cake/hurricane daquoris. I am 33.


Not bad, I don't mind. In fact, I love it. I am happy mom gave birth to me...I am happy to be here! I don't understand birthday protests. It's a waste of energy. Embrace it and be happy you got another year. You never know if you'll get another.

Anna sang me happy birthday this morning, which she has trained for since she told the man in the seat next to us on the airplane a few weeks ago, HAPPY BIRTHDAY (actually, Happy Bappy)! Since then she has learned the birthday song, because she loves to sing. It's sweet. I captured part of it on video this morning and I'll post it later.

CSU Homecoming

One day I hope to be rich enough to take Anna yearly to the CSU homecoming events. Paul and I never actually even attended these things as students but I think it would be fun to go back as alumni. Especially in the fall...ahhh....

Day 2 of normalcy

It isn't obvious to me that Ike even really touched JSC. The clean up crew that was out here last week did an outstanding job cleaning things up and making things safe for the NASA workers like me to return this week. Just a few trees with Caution Tape around them. I love this place.

I am so lucky to have the job I've worked for my whole life with NASA. Especially in times like this, when NASA puts family first, we don't have to worry about pay loss when running for our lives, and if anyone should need anything, the NASA family is ready to go to help you. Dont' get me wrong, NASA is still part of the Executive Branch of the US government, and so by nature, has had its blunders and drama. But I think Hurricane Rita was a great dry-run for us (and for all of Houston) and so I feel like Ike went as smooth as possible for my NASA friends and my family.

Even our neighborhood has done its part to show its pride in cleaning up the area starting the day after the storm. Below is a pic I took this morning on my run. It's not the worst house, nor a house with less damage. Just a house with some roof damage and debris. But a snapshot of our neighborhood anyway.

Anna-Marie was not too happy to go back to school today. Surprise! Even before Ike, she was hit or miss with clinging at drop-off, even though her teachers tell me she is happy all day. Her separation anxiety set in when she hit 1 year old and was moved up to the Toddler I room, away from her friends and familiar teachers. Well, change is hard, and then summer hit, when her now newly familiar Toddler I teachers took vacations and staff was shuffled around. Separation anxiety level raised. Now with the start of the new school year, she has moved up to Toddler II with yet new friends and teachers. She was just starting to adjust when Ike threw her for a loop. And apparently the other Toddlers too after their extended absence from routine at school.

Otherwise, Anna was very cheerful and sweet this morning. She's still sleeping in till a little after 8, even with a 7:30-8:00pm bedtime. I am not sure what to think of this yet. On one hand, it gives me more time to get dressed in the morning while she's sleeping. On the other, we're rushed to get out the door in time for me to be to work at a decent hour! I would love it on the weekends. But I guess we'll see how long it lasts and how it all goes.

Kudos to parents of colicky babies

My friend JK has a 7 week old beauty. Her second child, and her first girl. She witnessed my struggle with Anna's acid reflux, heard my cries, and read my detailed chronologies via emails. But at that time, JK had her own newborn issues to deal with, her son having been born one month after Anna. Eighteen months later, she has found herself at the mercy of a colicky, acid refluxer who seems to hate life and screams at her loving mommy and anyone who dares come too close to soothe her.

I checked JK's venthood at her stove and it appeared to not be functioning loudly enough. There goes my bag of tricks. Besides, I only have to BELIEVE what she tells me because when I visited before Ike, her darling newborn was sleeping peacefully. Don't all colicky babies put on a wonderfully peaceful show for friends and family?

I have to feel for JK because she actually EVACUATED with said screaming bundle of misery. She texted me regularly that her neighbors in her hotel room probably hated her. This was following the 5 hour drive to SA with said screaming newborn in tow (with her mom, who witnessed the entire thing, and JK's now toddler son). Her newborn is on the right meds for the painful reflux, and still not much improvement. JK's doc told JK that this was colic, acid reflux, and "just her personality". JK called me this morning, and after putting her on soy formula for the last 48 hours, her daughter actually seems content and is eating and sleeping. Pretty much the same path we followed for Anna.

Today is JK's first day back at work following maternity leave.

I remember the day I dropped Anna off for the first time at Day Care, after 3 months of maternity leave. Did I cry like I was supposed to? NO. I was honestly relieved. She was past the worst of the reflux but I was at my witt's end. When I left her she was happily playing with floor toys and didn't seem to be bothered by my absence, which was a bonus. I was liberated in just running a few errands and working in the yard that day.

JK told me on the phone this morning that she has heard that the loudest, crankiest babies turn out to be the calm toddlers and awesome adults. Judging from Anna's current personality, I'd agree with that. Additionally, I was apparently a cranky, colicky baby and I think I turned out just fine.

So parents of colicky acid refluxers, it may not mean much while you're in it, but reflux basically makes everything else that comes with babies and toddlers look easy (teething, colds, etc).

Back to work

Going back today. I miss JSC!

By The Way...

Anna was in bed by 7:15pm last night, finally. She was asleep by 7:30 and we got her up a little after 9am this morning. Talk about catching up! She had one incident of crying in her sleep around 9pm, which lasted maybe 10 seconds, and she found her paci and was out blissfully for the night. Her attitude today is still button-pushing sweetheart.
But Amen for good sleep. It will be tough on her and us to get her to wake up at her old 7am schedule. I guess we'll try it tomorrow morning.

Thanks, Ommom...

For the outstanding coverage of our clinic damage and the post-Ike occurrences from our shared point of view. Click here to read about it.

DeeSeeWah!

In Target (where there is plenty of groveries, I might add, including milk) Paul took Anna down the toy aisles while I looked for some new shoes for her. Aisle 1: choo-choo trains and dinosaurs.

Anna: DeeSeeWah! DeeSeeWah!

Paul picks up a moveable dino that also roars and presses the button while Anna tells us something about it being cool but we can't understand. We were debating buying one for her but Paul just got her one at home just like it and she runs from it.

We heard something LARGER with MUSIC right around the corner. We found a massive $129 Super Dino Dragon thing on display! Press the orange button and what a show!

Anna: One more, one more, one more.
Spacedaddy: You like the dinosaur?
Anna: DeeSeeWah! DeeSeeWah!
Spacemama: Just hit the button again, will you?

After like 10 rounds of roar and music, we needed to leave. We were getting hungry. We apparently aren't in the stage of "out of sight out of mind" anymore. As we walked down the remaining aisles, Anna shouted DeeSeeWah! OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER, as we acknowledged and repeated back to her. Finally it occurred to me to tell her that the dinosaur went bye-bye. That seemed to calm her a bit. But she never forgot that thing.
Guaranteed if we paid for that $129 creature, I could place it with me in the kitchen and make dinner without our toddler pulling on my shorts. She would be on the other side of the house.

Wow, open for separation anxiety!

We got a call that Anna's glorious day care is open for business, starting tomorrow. That is amazing, since they just got power back this weekend! But it is a relief for us, providing another path to normalcy. But I can't help but wonder how many of Anna's little peers are going to give their parents and teachers grief with separation anxiety, which peaks at 18 months, because of the "new normal" these toddlers have had over the past week. No doubt they love their classes, with all the outdoor play and music and art and toys beyond what we have here at home. But I can't help but think it will be especially hard for Anna to let go of us at the door when we arrive at her classroom.
I think this because I think it will be tough for most of us. Although we are looking for normalcy here again, momentum is powerful when you have fogotten the stress and routine of everyday, predictable life that was pre-hurrication. I am looking forward to jumping back into my work, but I will miss my friends, my toddler, and my husband. It's week-long get-togethers like this that make you realize how mundane-and yes, routine- your pre-Ike life was. Granted the predictability has its bonuses (like a more cooperative toddler who also sleeps more peacefully at night), but after veering off into a week of unpredictablility and no schedules, normalcy can seem a little boring. But then, once we jump back into it, momentum will set in and I will once again be comfortable with the feeling of control over my life on some level.

So I think Anna won't be the only one having a hard time saying good-bye at the door to her classroom. We are keeping her with us till Tues. Separation anxiety on both sides here, I guess.

I love this

http://damomma.com/2008/09/19/life-is-hard

Noted: ABC's (almost) perfected

She now knows her ABC's all by herself. It's her very favorite song. It's adorable and wonderful and clear, with the exception of "LMNO", as is common with the toddler species.

Today I told her not to touch her CD. She followed up with, you guessed it: EFGHIJK...

Magnificent Tantrum

Spacedaddy thought it would be cute and fun if Anna helped him make eggs this morning. He pulled up a step stool to the counter and asked her if she wanted to help.

Sucker.

Spacedaddy: Here, baby, you hold one end of the egg, I'll hold the other. Now crack it just like that. Wait, we don't want shells in there!
Anna: Ooooohhh, more? More?
Spacedaddy: OK, let's do anoth...wait, baby, you don't put your whole hand in the...
Anna: AAAAHHYYYYEEEE!!!!MMMIIINNNEEE!!!!
Spacedaddy: Wait, baby, see?
Anna: Oooohhh..
Spacedaddy: OK now we have to wash your hands.
Anna: No?! No!
Spacemama (dare I intervene): Anna, let's wash your hands.
Anna: Nooooo....AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

I did get her hands washed, but what a wonderful display of cranky-off-schedule-18-month-old tantrum behavior that followed. She followed me all around the kitchen and living room, grabbing onto my shorts and trying to tell me how she hadn't wanted her hands washed. Spacedaddy was trying to do a fun thing. That is his nature. He can't wait till she is old enough to actually crack an egg without wanting to eat it right then and there. But credit to him, she did have fun until mommy made her wash the salmonella threat off of her hands.

After it was all over, we enjoyed eggs and biscuits (with jelly!). And a little milk.

They're just paper towels

I want to clean my house. I have one roll of paper towels here. I want to clean my windows with it. Should I use them on such a silly thing, or save them, not knowing when the grocery stores that are open will stock them again? And whoe cares, it's not like you can live off paper towels if it were the last thing on Earth. They're just paper towels.

This is all silly, and way too dramatic. Ofcourse, use the paper towels. I have a feeling things aren't as doom and gloom around Clear Lake City as the media makes it out to be. I haven't had time yet to venture out to the grocery stores to see what's available but it looks like our neighborhood Kroger is up again so maybe tonight after we put Anna to bed according to her usual routine and time, I'll mosey on over to see what they're selling.

I am sure they'll have paper towels....and even if they didn't, Paul said Lowes's has pallets and pallets of them.

Still, with the little vacuum we've lived in that has been hurricane IKE for the last week, I find myself pouring just the amount of milk I think Anna may drink so as not to waste any that we may regret when we can't find a grocer with cold milk nearby. Who cares, I bought plenty from Austin plus some milk that doesn't even need refrigeration and has an expiration date past next year's hurricane season. Still, it's a little voice that tells me to use things sparingly. Whether it's too dramatic and unrealistic, I'll determine when I arrive at Kroger tonight. I am sure it's just me being way too dramatic. It's really not the end of the world here, seriously folks.

Am I wrong? I don't know, I haven't really been out much. In the short trips I have gone out, I have noticed some power still not on (the clinic got power back today!) and some fallen trees and blue tarps over some roofs. But nothing like dead cows in trees or overturned cars. It so far looks just like a really bad storm.

But the people in the other end of our cul de sac has so much damage, they can't live in the house.

On the other hand, lots of businesses are open and functioning as usual. So I guess it's situational. Paul and CM are cleaning up the clinic right now so he can open doors on Monday.

Anna is napping. And my baseboards are clean.

There's no place like home

We made it safely back to Houston last night, to find the guys had cleaned up the yards and not too much seemed out of place for us. TJ pointed out the fact that Houston looked weird at night without lights. The groceries we brought from Austin survived the trip. We just didn't know when we'd get cold grocery supplies here in Houston (and still don't) so we stocked up and brought it back with us.

OM will now never, ever forget his ABC's and Anna now knows them all by heart.

Anna mercifully slept until 8:45AM this morning, and thus did we. She's become quite the night owl with this trip, which is very opposite her usual schedule, which finds her sleeping in bed by 7:30-8:00pm (apparently out of boredome). There has been too much fun every evening for such early nonsense. Last night she even made it till 10PM. She has been crying in her sleep during the trip, and last night, even in her own bed, same story. She cried out for her "PACI, PACI" at 1:32am and I went up to help her find it. It dawned on me at that point what a real security object her paci is. I think there's been so much lack of routine and structure lately, although she doesn't get the paci during the day, she knows that at night she can count on it. Anyway, I am looking forward to getting some kind of routine back, at least for her sake. It won't start tonight, though, since it's Z's 30th birthday and dinner starts at 8pm!

For MY 30th birthday, our same evacuee crew evacuated to Louisiana for Rita, which ultimately turned and hit Louisiana (incuding us). But it was still a pretty fun 30th birthday because I was with friends and family. HAPPY HURRICANE RECOVERY BIRTHDAY, Z!

I am going nowhere near the scale based on the personal knowledge of sheer junk I ate during the hurrication.

Anna's bacterial cesspool that is her sinuses is improving. In fact, after over 2 weeks, no runny nose today. I know the use of antibiotics is controversial, but it was overcome by the necrotic-smelling mess that was our daughter. It was obvious the infection was just stewing in her sinuses and it was more than she or I could stand. In trying to at least be responsible antibiotic users on some level, we will run the full course of antibiotics (if you haven't heard, antibiotic resistance is the hot topic). We are greatful that she thinks taking medicine is yummy, which means no fight. Whew.

But she hasn't really been herself in the past few days. Again, not sure if it's due to the lack of structure, or if it's because the terrible month 18 is upon us. We are expecting with this milestone that all of the bull-headed independence is coming, so we are bracing for it. We have seen it more in the last few days than ever. We are trying to lay boundaries while still letting her "learn". By nature, she is cautious and even seems to have an inherent understanding of right and wrong. Mostly, she is obedient without a fight. But lately we have noticed that our baby is now actually a little person, who likes to talk to us, push our buttons, do her own stunts, and let us know what she is thinking. She plays with the older kids like she's one of them. She has run through the house happily screeching at something hilarious to her. At what? Is this a glimpse of what's coming, or is this a result of the past week of vacation? It's not a bad thing, per se. Just another level I need to get ready for!

No, you can't stay up past 8.
No, you can't run around the house with your food. Eat at the table.
No, you can't stay in your poopy diaper. Come here. Now.
No, you must hold my hand while walking on the sidewalk.
NO!
NO!
NO!

I have to figure out ways to ease up.

No drama in my yard

Paul, CM, and LW made it home. LW had no damage and no power. CM had some yard damage, and a fence down, and our only damage was to some of the trees in our yard. CM and our house got power this morning at 2am. Not sure about LW yet, or Z and C for that matter! TJ and I will be headed back to Houston tomorrow afternoon with the kids after a full week's stay here with my mom. It was a very nice and comfortable stay, and felt quick! But I will be looking forward to getting back into a familiar routine...of some sort. JSC doesn't open again till Monday. We haven't heard when Anna's day care will open. Paul's clinic is still without power. There was some damage, strangely, to an inside wall that looked like something banged up against it somehow. Also strangely, some inside ceiling tiles came down, but no water inside. All equipment is good, and no flood damage, so WHEW! We will have to figure out what route to go to fix that wall, though. At least it won't stop the clinic from re-opening when power is back. People are already calling Paul for appointments! In the meantime, we wonder if we have any insurance that might help recover the week of lost income? Hmmm...

Southwest actually called to cancel my flight to DC, as if to validate the decision I made to not go.

Above are some pics Paul sent us from home. Fortunately they're not dramatic. If you want dramatic, try:

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1088&tstamp=200809

More details here: http://www.ommom.blogspot.com/

In the meantime, our little snot-maker has a sinus infection. I thought I'd better get it checked out here in Austin before we go back to Houston, when who knows when she could see her doc. The doc here was super nice. It was a walk-in clinic, where the only other patients were all evacuees like us. Except they all lost some significant property in the flood, as well as pets. It wasn't as fun as the children's museum would have been.

Thanks Sprogblog

Taken from my friend's Blog: Sprogblog, this is a neat little essay:

http://blogs.chron.com/hurricanes/2008/09/essay_houston_after_dark.html

ABC's

I woke up to Anna's singing of the ABC's. The girl knows them up until the letter "P" all by herself! She is so cool. On the other hand she didn't sleep well last night for some reason...she kept wakinging briefly, disoriented. Could be all the snot that's been unforgivingly assaulting her nostrils for the past 2 weeks. I hope it's not a sinus infection. She was a clingy, little cranky bag of sunshine till her nap this afternoon...whew. She's still sleeping: GO BABY!

My Aunt J, my mom, my niece K, and I all worked to teach her to say her name when we ask her, "What's YOUR name?" She will gleefully shout out: ANNA! She's been able to say her name for awhile now but this answering thing is pretty darned cool.

She doesn't know we're stinky refugees (OK we're not stinky) because she has been having fun with Nana and her friends and family, and the dogs and cats. Her paradise!

Paul, LW, and CM just left to head back to Houston. CK lives in my neighborhood and the guy across the street from her has power but she doesn't. At least it looks like it's getting close!

TJ, the kids, and I are going to hang out here for another day or two to let the guys get settled back in over in Houston. We'll also let the potential Houston traffic influx die down a bit.

We are considering the Children's Museum today. These kinds of outings with Anna without Paul admittedly gives me anxiety. But I think she will have fun, especially with OM and MM.

Wish you were here...

Another day in Austin. Z and C checked on our houses and all is well! They also cleaned out our freezers, thanks Z and C!! No power back yet, and a loss of all of the goodies in the freezers but the houses are good. Yay! Paul, C, and LW are going back to Houston tomorrow to check things out, along with TJ's cats. TJ is staying with me and all our kids here in Austin till the guys tell us it's more civilized to come home. Don't know when that will be. I had to cancel my trip to the Council for the Opportunity in Education conference in DC. My flight is scheduled for Wed. We were going to also meet up with ER and her family while there, but it looks like it won't happen. Bummer. LW has to work at Mission Control on Thurs. She's also still without power.

At least Anna and I are getting some fun family and friends time. TJ and I took the kids to the Austin zoo today for a few hours. The weather was nice and cool and it was a good trip!

Again, it sucks it takes a hurricane evacuation to pull us all together again.

This year's evacuation has been about Mac vs PC, hurricanes in people's bellies, Guitar Hero, and just catching up overall with friends and family. We'll miss the crew that will leave tomorrow but Tami and I will continue to enjoy our time here at my mom's.

Hurrication:Thanks Mom!

Not sure yet when we're going home but so far everyone seems to be in good spirits still. We're still in Austin and will likely go home in the next few days, or as soon as the power comes back on. Still not sure when people are returning to work/school. Z and C stayed behind in their boarded up house and Z called us last night. She said it was pretty horrible to go through: SCARY and she'd never be doing THAT again. She and C checked on our house and omom's house and we had little visible damage. In fact all we had was a few limbs down, luckily. Paul is calling the house daily to see if the answering machine picks up, which would mean we have power :) In the meantime we are keeping up with the Centerpoint Energy restoration website.

We may check out some locall stuff to do in Austin while we're here. We may as well make it a vacation with our friends, who once we're in Houston, we're all too busy to match up schedules with!

Better than Soap Operas

Don't use my tax dollars

If you didn't leave when they told you to, and you could have, you should be charged for your own evacuation drama. Don't charge my tax dollars or risk someone else's life trying to save yours.

Already 160 rescue calls and the storm isn't even ashore yet.

Fox News: "Galveston residents MAY Face Certain Death" Maybe certainly.

She just couldn't sleep in the car...

We decided to go to Austin, mostly because we were thinking about the potential downed roadways on the return back to Houston from Lafayette, which could see more damage than the route coming home from Austin. So here we are at my mom's! We have the same crew of evacuees from Rita: TJ/CM and their kids and LW. Good crew! :) It took us almost 8 hours to get to Austin, when it otherwise takes us about 3. There was lots of traffic from Katy to Columbus. We saw that coming, even though Houston Transtar said it was pretty much all "green" (we knew better). We stopped at a Whataburger to eat at around 11pm, and they were handling the evacuee in-rush really well. We left Houston at around 6:45pm and arrived at my mom's at almost 2am. THANKS MOM!

Anna didn't sleep much in the car because she just couldn't get comfy in the car seat. Once here she had a tough time sleeping because she was so spun up. She got overall about 6hrs of sleep as opposed to her usual 12, and Paul and I are on about 4 hours of sleep. Whew!

We are very comfy here. Though I am regretful I forgot to remove the yogart and biscuits and stuff I left in my frigde. That won't be fun to come home to! Maybe that's all the damage we'll get :)

We are evacuating (mandatory) but not sure where to yet...

Our family and friends will meet up at 2pm this afternoon to discuss plans and make a group decision.

OK, so maybe it's not so rediculous

http://www.stormpulse.com/ is also an excellent site.

Not loving the 18th month check-up

Three shots this time. Not happy about it, ofcourse. It began with basically letting Dr. P know she didn't want to be touched to begin with, followed by a painful display of "...well, if you thought the ear exam was bad, you'll live these shots!" To top it off, an additional BLOOD DRAW to check on anemia results that came back a little fishy from her 1-year check up. Iron counts look fine, but some slight anemia. She sat on daddy's lap for that one and she handled it pretty well. Stats: 26lbs 13oz and 31.5" tall. Just in time for ice cream with lunch.

Really, Houston? All boarded up.

A house in our neighborhood.

A truck fell on her face

Toddlerhood is tough. Especially when you just want to play with a big plastic firetruck while laying on your back. I had to sign an incident report at school and feel compelled to explain to everyone, including her doc at tomorrow's 18 month check-up, that her messed up face is an accident. It doesn't seem to bother her, though.

Hurricane tracking

Hurricane updates are great at this site. THANKS, Zo!
http://www.tropicwx.com/

I get to work late today

We've cut back on Anna's day care attendance from full time to MWF full time and on Tues Paul gets her half days and on Thurs I get her half days. We are lucky to have jobs that allow this kind of flexible arrangement. Anna's growing by leaps and bounds and it's starting to really register with us how much we influence her actions as her parents. Such as allowing her to stain her beautiful face and fingers with mommy-made red jello.

But actually it also means that I get to make-up my work time by adding extra hours in during the week. Today is Daddy's day so I'm staying a little later than usual at work, which is the first time I've gotten to do this since she was born. Kinda like the old days...I think will be fun, actually. I like my job.

Our Mat Sleeper

OK, so she is half-on and half-off the mat, but sleeping on one nonetheless. She's growing up I guess. She is serious about her sleep.

A Paci Revolution

Here we are today: A Paci revolution. We are trying to undo what we begged her to do at 2 months. We are asking her to give up her beloved paci. We are fortunate that she only uses it to sleep. OK, and since she hated the car seat for so long, I spoiled her with it in the car as well. But that's ALL. Now AB has given up the paci (she is one day younger than Anna, and my officemate/friend's second daughter) and H's mom went cold turkey this past weekend. Bless her heart. It was rough, she tells me, but the deed is done. Feeling like we can do it if they can do it, we got bold last night and gave it a try. Peer pressure in the face of parenthood. Did I mention I am new at this?


Spacemama: Hey Anna, did you have a GREAT day at school? Let's get UP in the truck and go home to see Daddy!
Anna: BABI?BABI?
Spacemama: No paci, Anna. Paci is TRASH. Paci is YUCK!
Anna: BABI! BABI!
Spacemama: Fine. I am a sucker.

Out of the day care parking lot:
Spacemama: Yuck, Anna! The paci is TRASH. YUCKY!
Anna: Yuck!

She threw her paci out of her mouth on to the floor, and asked for my water bottle, which I never refuse her. Must stay hydrated, right?

Thanks to several repeated rounds of "Wheels on the bus", we made it home paci-less. She didn't ask for it again. Then came bedtime.

Feeling bold, we took all 3 paci's out of her crib (yes, 3 pacis: don't judge). She asked Daddy for one during her nightly story and he explained that they were YUCKY, TRASH! After her story, and daddy's round of "Ants go marching", it was time for bed. He left her. We watched on her video monitor.
We saw she realized something wasn't right. We saw her feel all around her bed for her beloved paci. We saw her stand up, lean against the crib rail, and proceed to scream, "MMMOOOMMMYYY!!!!"...followed by pretty pathetic sobbing.

Spacedaddy: Did she just scream MOMMY?

After only 10 minutes, we caved. We gave her the beloved paci and she passed right out. We couldn't even endure the 45 min scream fest H's mom made it through last weekend. Chumps.

But mostly I realized I was caving in to my own peer pressure at this time in trying to get her to give it up right now. Believe me, when we feel strongly about her giving up the paci, we will go through with it all the way (we know about teeth issues, addiction, and God forbid whatever psychological damage this paci addiction might inflict on her future). For now, we are sticking to use only during sleep.

This morning at Day Care (DC):
Spacemama: (to Miss Karen)...we had a rough attempt at giving up the P-A-C-I last night. We gave in after only 10 min of screaming. We are trying to break the habit but it will be tough with sleeping.
Miss Karen: She took her nap yesterday on the mat without it.

Background: Our daughter has finally taken to napping on the mat like a big girl just this week. She is in a new class this year with her toddler buddies. In her previous class, she was the youngest, and the only one not sleeping on a mat. It was just symbollic of playtime for her. Thus, the only remaining erected Pack N Play in her other room was just for my silly little girl's naps.

Spacemama: WHAT? Can you elaborate? The whole 1.5 hour nap with no P-A-C-I?
Miss Karen: She put herself down on the mat, we covered her up, and by the time we got around to giving out the paci's, she was already asleep!

We are paci chumps.

OK I did it: Day one of Blog.

I'm welcoming myself to that which is BLOGGING. A few years ago, Paul asked me what the heck a blog was. I didn't know either. Now I feel like I had to create this because ever since our daughter was born, I must have more to say. To more people who might care. Or maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I am going to get it out right here, especially since I am awful at the real-life baby scrap-booking thing. So for those of you who are wondering what our little space family is up to these days, you can check in here.

I am really not sure yet how to sum up the last 18 months. This is meant to be a blog mainly about my experience as a new mom to Anna-Marie Melaine, who was born on March 08, 2007. Every day I would think that I should write some of this crazy stuff down. Then a day goes by and then a month. Then I think, "you should start a blog." Then, "Nah, it's too late. All of the crazy baby stuff has passed. That is the cool stuff to write about." So let me sum it up below.

Paul and I have been together since high school and just last year (me, 31; Paul, 34) we welcomed our first daughter Anna-Marie. Yes, we were told things would change. Blah blah blah. We'd been through alot together, so spare me, people! We knew what sleeplessness was, and have pretty well-educated heads on our shoulders so we can pretty much handle a newborn, thank you very much.

But Anna was a cranky baby. Really, she was a bundle of misery for the first 3 months of her life. She was diagnosed at 4 weeks old with painful Acid Reflux, and thankfully treated such that by about month 3 she began to enjoy life. We begged her to take a pacifier, which she finally did at month 2. We lived under the white noise that is the venthood over our stove for 3 months. She hated the swing, all 4 that we tried and returned (thanks to Babies R Us' wonderful return policy) until month 3. Her only likes were near-Shaken-Baby-Syndrome-like stroller rides (on bumpy grass, not smooth pavement) and very active bouncy seats. She hated the carseat...actually until month 16 :) Thanks to a wonderful Day Care center right across the street from my job at NASA, I regained some sense of sanity as I returned to work after 3 months of maternity leave.

Fast-forward through her first sleeping-through-the night at around 5 weeks, her first cold at 3 months old, her first GI bug at 4 months old, her first tooth at 6 months old, her first plane ride at 6 months old, the fact that she hated to crawl (10.5 months old), and so started trying to walk at 9 months old (mastered it finally by herself on March 28), her first birthday at the Ice Hotel in Canada, giving up bottles on her own at exactly 1 year and 2 weeks old, her first word: book (or Duck. Airplane was her second), her first tinkle on the potty, and here we are at month 18 (as of yesterday) and I have finally come around to trying to summarize it all. For you sentimental mommies out there shaming me, yes I have documented it all in an actual baby book. So it's all there too.