Superstorm Sandy

Before I start in on the storm itself, just a note about generators:  if you are using one, please, please, make sure that it is OUTSIDE and that the exhaust is pointed away from your home.  Outside does not include in a garage or basement.  Please also make sure that you have battery operated carbon monoxide detectors and that you heed them if/when they sound an alert.  We are starting to see deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning and houses burning down as a result of improper generator use.

Things here in New Jersey were already pretty crazy, then Sandy hit.  We were very fortunate as were our families and most of our friends.  We were all fortunate in that we are dealing with things like property damage and gas shortages rather than loss of life.

During the storm itself, my parents stayed with us after being evacuated from the shore town they live in.  My in laws live in the next town over, they were evacuated as well, they headed up to my brother-in-law's house about 45 minutes north of us.  They were all able to return to their homes on Wednesday, and there was little to no property damage for either.  Sandy shifted north before making landfall, putting their homes on the southern and less severe side of the storm.  We actually got hit harder here in Central NJ than their towns did.  

Just a quick note about evacuation, and then I promise, I am done on my soapbox.  If you live somewhere that is under a mandatory evacuation for a storm, please heed it and head to a family member, friend or emergency shelter.  Staying can put our first responders in serious danger and for the most part these are volunteers who are away from their families to help others in need.  Taking unnecessary risks endangers everyone involved and at the end of the day, property can be repaired or replaced.  Our loved ones can't.

I found the anticipation leading to the storm to be a challenge.  Probably in part because of the anxiety it brought out in my almost 3 year old.  She kept asking if the big storm was here yet.  For that reason, we did our best to keep the tv news and storm reports off.  The first thing she asked each morning was, "Is the storm coming?" Closely followed by the statement, "I don't want the storm to come."  Strangely, last Tuesday she kept telling me she wanted to go to the beach.  When I told her we couldn't go to the beach, she told me we needed to go to the beach right then and build sandcastles.  This was out of the ordinary for her, though she does love the beach.  After all of the anticipation of the storm, she ended up falling asleep a few hours before the worst of it hit us, about two hours earlier than she normally goes to bed.  

Our power went out about two hours before the brunt of the storm hit us, so it was nice to have my parents for company in the dark.  I'm usually on my own with my daughter during severe storms of any kind because my husband is always either working at the hospital or out and about with our volunteer fire company and ems.  The number of calls during events like these tends to be quite high, due to live wires being knocked down, transformers catching fire, people becoming stranded in their homes or on the road, and other issues too numerous to list here.  For us, the wind was the biggest issue.  We live near a river that floods and across the street from a lake, but we are high enough to avoid flooding.

We had six trees come down in the storm, and they did take out our fence.  The fence is less than three months old, and we saved for quite a while to put it up, but it's just a fence, it can be fixed.  The big old trees that fell somehow avoided seriously damaging anything other than the fence and our little lawnmower shed.  My dad and I watch that literally disintegrate as the roots of a tree came out of the ground hoisted it out of the ground. One did fall toward a neighbors house, but it landed on his roof without going through at all.  It's just resting on his roof.  I've never seen anything like it.  

The aftermath of this storm continues to wreak havoc in our area.  We were among the lucky ones to have power restored the day after the storm.  I am thankful for this, but almost feel guilty about it as well.  We have a wood stove insert in our fireplace and a gas stove with two burners that can be used even when the power is out, and we have camping lanterns and a solar hot water heater (though that is only available if it has been sunny).  We filled both cars up with gas before the storm hit, so we haven't had a need to sit in any of the hours long lines hoping to be able to get gas.  

I am saddened to see the devastation this storm wreaked on the Jersey shore.  I have spent many summer days on beaches and boardwalks that are now gone, swept into the ocean.  I can't even wrap my head around it.  The photos and footage don't seem real to me, even though I know they are.  I love living in New Jersey - I don't know of anywhere else where you can live within one hour of major cities, the ocean, forest, and mountains.  I don't always like the way New Jersey is portrayed on reality tv, as that is not my NJ.  The real New Jersey is what I have described above, plus much more.  Those truly from New Jersey are resilient, hard working, knowledgeable people with high expectations of themselves and those around them.  There are also those who are tough talking, but most have an internal toughness and a willingness to reach out to help others that is valuable in times like this.  There are those that say that the shore should not be rebuilt, especially the barrier islands.  I disagree.  The shore will be rebuilt, and improved.  The boardwalks a beaches will be reopened.  I look forward to being part of it and spending time on them with my daughter like my parents and grandparents did with me.  

Until then, I will help in any way I can.  Right now, that means having friends over who still don't have power and staying out of the way until the roads and wires are cleared. It also mean sharing my husband with those in need while he goes on fire and ems calls and works at the state shelters that are open nearby.  It doesn't seem like much right now, especially when there are people who have lost everything.  

Surviving Christmas

Whew.  I am exhausted.  Christmas this year was a 3-4 day event, with our various family gatherings not spaced out at all.  The exhaustion was absolutely worth it though, as our two year old had a wonderful time!  Before I had a child, Christmas being on a weekend didn't make things any tougher, but now it is a hard deadline! 

My little one loves Christmas lights, and so she was thrilled when we finally got our tree up...three days before Christmas.  Oh well.  That's okay.  It'll likely stay up until Valentine's Day, so she will still have plenty of time to enjoy it! 

Thursday we went to see Santa.  We weren't planning to take her this year, figuring that she would be afraid of him still, but after a week of hearing, "A go see Santa?" over and over, we decided to head to the mall.  I'm glad that we did, as she was all smiles as soon as she saw him and we got a really nice photo out of the deal.

Our holiday travel marathon began on Friday night, when we drove down to my parent's house.  If there is absolutely no traffic and no stops along the way, the drive can be done in a little over 2 hours.  Our drive was not quite so easy.  Three hours, a dinner stop and three potty breaks later, we arrived.  We spent Christmas Eve with my husband's family, having brunch, opening presents, eating cake and coffee, then dinner.  It was like the day that wouldn't end, topped off with another three hour, three potty stop drive home.  Upon arriving home, little one fortunately went right off to bed, which left me to wrap and play Santa in preparation for Christmas morning.  I dropped into bed exhausted, but excited to see her face the next morning. 

Christmas morning was just the three of us.  I went downstairs a minute or two ahead and turned the tree lights on and got the video camera ready.  I am really a bad videographer, but I wanted to see if I could capture the look on her face when she saw the tricycle under the tree.  She saw the tree and the trike and her smile lit up her whole face!  I was as excited as she was for her to climb aboard.  She started pushing on the floor with her toes, and within about 5 minutes had put her feet up on the pedals and started pedaling.  Craziness.  I really didn't expect her to get the hang of pedaling so quickly!  We had so much fun on Christmas morning, it's a memory I will treasure forever.  Our little one didn't get a lot of presents from Santa, but what she got, she loved, so her mama is happy.

My parents came up for Christmas dinner and to exchange gifts, and we all had a lot of fun together.  Then on Monday, my extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, first cousins once removed, etc) all got together and enjoyed each other's company.  Despite the two hour drive each way, we had a good time.  I always think of my grandmother at this particular family gathering, and how happy she would be that we all still get together to celebrate the holiday.  From the time I was young until her death in 2002, I gave her an angel for her Christmas tree.  I still buy one in her memory every year and hang it on our tree.  Merry Christmas, Mom-Mom!

I survived the Christmas marathon, but I need to re-think my strategy for next year.  I should probably try to figure it out now, while the memory of this year is still fresh.  I think Christmas is on a Tuesday next year...

Forget it.  I'm too tired to even think about it! 

My Mother-In-Law Joined Facebook

This is the kind of thing that could REALLY test my patience.

Let's just say that I don't have the best relationship with my husband's parents.  This is an issue that spans many years and myriad circumstances, but they don't like me and I don't like them.  Our reasons are different - they don't like that I didn't ditch my family and become the daughter they never had when I married their son.  I don't like that they are manipulative, self-centered, intrusive people who treat my husband and his brother like they are still children rather than grown men with families of their own.  Their parents do not recognize them as the intelligent, remarkable, independent adults that they are.  My mother-in-law and father-in-law have different priorities than I do.  My family and friends are at the top of my list.  I love them and time spent with them is cherished.  My in-laws prioritize money and what others think above genuine affection and time spent with loved ones.  Any information, no matter how private, is broadcast immediately to their network of friends.  This includes personal information relating to health issues.  You get the idea.  Many of their friends are people that neither I nor my husband have ever met, so most of the people getting this private info are not close family friends of forever and a day. 

I know that you may be thinking...why not sit them down and have it out?  I wish that this were an option, as open and honest communication is my preferred form of communication.  (To a fault, I think there are times when I am upset and should really count to ten and think about whether certain things should actually come out of my mouth.)  I am not a slow burn sulker. 

Both of my husband's parents can hold a grudge like no two people I've ever seen!  They are so averse to confrontation that they will not discuss any issues face to face. We call it the twilight zone.  It's the perfect way to describe how it feels.  The closest we've ever come to having it out was when they once ambushed me with a telephone call to detail all of the things that I do wrong as a daughter-in-law and bemoan what they've done to deserve the way I treated them.  All attempts I made to contribute to that conversation were wasted breath, because they really didn't listen to a word I said.  

They jumped my sister-in-law via email.  It had a similar flavor and the same outcome.  They don't like her any more than they like me.  This has been a bonding experience for us.  So thank you, in-laws, for giving me additional common ground with my sister-in-law.  We have joined together to become our own support group and have become good friends in the process. 

My goal here is not to catalog all of their faults, but rather to give you an idea of why I was horrified when I received the text from my sister-in-law telling me that she got a friend request from our MIL.  Wise woman that my sis-in-law is, she promptly hit the ignore button.  Interestingly, my brother-in-law (yep, her son) didn't get a friend request, but my husband got an invitation to join Facebook and be her friend.  He was entertained but has no intention of joining.  His parents are so technophobic that he joked that his mother's email must have been hacked.  No way she could really be on Facebook.  I tend to think that his parents are technophobic when it's convenient.  They like to say to their sons, "Oh, we don't know how to do that.  Can you do it for us?"

I haven't gotten a friend request yet, but it's only a matter of time.  She has been eyeing this for a while as a way to cyber stalk us.  I know this because she has been dropping hints for a month or so now.  I must take the time that I have to think about whether I hit ignore or accept the friend request and then block her from seeing everything so that I can keep an eye on her.

Keeping my enemies closer, so to speak.

I'm not a very active Facebook user.  I go on maybe twice a week, pretty much never post statuses and basically am on to keep in touch and share photos with friends who live in distant places.

I checked out MILs page.  She has no security set on her page.  Of course not.  I'm happy with this at the moment, because it means I can keep an eye on her without having to be her FB friend.  But we will have an issue the minute I see a photo of my child posted without my permission and with no security to limit who can view it.  It may sound paranoid, but I don't trust my in-laws.  Even if MIL sets security, I don't know her friends.  I'm fine with her having photos, but I don't really want her posting photos of my daughter online.

Am I being nutty about this, or am I right to be concerned?

Maybe it's time to ditch my FB account and move over to Google+.  Hmm.  If only the solution to this dilemma were that simple.

What would you do?

December Traditions

Now that December is here, I've realized that many of our traditions start around Thanksgiving and keep us busy through the New Year.  Now that we have a child, we have added even more.  It's hard not to add things, as she is in that toddler stage, so innocent and fascinated by everything.  Working full time complicates this even further, because most of our activities end up squeezed into the weekends.  Having hockey season tickets gives me even less free time, though I do love it.  Thank goodness my team only has three home games this month! 

I am starting to realize that all of these things are why our house gets decorated for Christmas around December 23rd each year. 

Hmm.

But what do we cut out?  It's hard to trim anything, since most of these are A) fun and B) time spent with family or close friends. 

This Saturday we have two events planned.  The first one is new, a holiday party for the kids in daycare at my company, complete with Santa.  This should be a lot of fun, as my daughter's little friends will all be there and they all gaze in wonder at Christmas lights and Santa.

Then in the evening, we go to a Dickens festival in a town about an hour from home.  One of my closest friends lives right on the main street and a group of three of us attend this quaint little street fair no matter the weather.  We're like the postal service when it comes to this festival.  And we have seen all kinds of weather at this one.  We people watch, browse the booths, avoid the stilt-walkers and listen to carolers, and check out the live nativity scene while we wait for Santa to roll into town.  We don't always make it that long, sometimes a hot dinner in a warm place is too appealing to hold out on.  Then we adjourn to my friend's apartment to eat Harry and David Moose Munch and watch Harry Potter movies on ABC Family.  The evening comes to an end when one of us succumbs to our allergy to the cat.  One of the things I love about this outing is that my daughter fits into it seamlessly, and hopefully she will continue to love going to the festival with the girls as she gets older.

Sunday will be spent recovering from running all over the state on Saturday.  Hopefully this will also be an opportunity to identify where the Christmas tree will go this year and get that spot cleared out.  We always seem to have home improvement projects going on that impact exactly where we had planned to put the tree, requiring a last minute change of plans and hoping that the tree will fit somewhere else.

Upcoming events include:  adopting a family for Christmas and shopping/wrapping, photo with Santa, a cookie swap with friends, children's Christmas party at the firehouse, adult Christmas party at the firehouse,  our town's Christmas tree lighting, Santa ride on the firetruck to visit neighborhood children on Christmas Eve, and other things I am certainly forgetting. 

These events are on top of: decorating our home; shopping for family, friends, co-workers, teachers; planning, potentially hosting and traveling to various family celebrations of the holiday (we have at least three each year, sometimes four); off-site meetings for work; my husband's crazy work schedule and recertification courses; completing my mandatory continuing education by December 31; and of course, continuing to feed my family a healthy dinner each night and make sure everyone has clean clothes each day.

I'm going to take things one day at a time and shoot for accomplishing one thing each day...or couple of days.  On the upside, my daughter is still young enough that I can get away with being a little bit of a disorganized mess...she won't remember it.  Yet.  Now is the time to work out the kinks and get the hang of making Christmas events at home as much or more of a priority as the ones out. 

I can do this. 

My Crazy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Hope that you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!  I have a great deal to be thankful for, and gave that quite a bit of thought over the long holiday weekend.  And I do mean long. 

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays, and I look forward to it every year.  We alternate spending Thanksgiving with my family and my husband's family.  My brother-in-law and his wife host DH's extended family every other year (they have the same rotation that we do), and my sister-in-law is super organized and a great cook.  Everyone brings something - most are assigned a dessert, or appetizer, or beverages.  Our assignment?  We bring the turkey.  I thought this would be really tough the first year we did it, but we've got it down now, and it gets rave reviews every time.  Never did I dream I would cook a bird that I then had to transport 45 minutes, keeping him hot along the way.  But I digress.  This year it was my family's turn, so no turkey transport this year. 

My DH works seven on, seven off nights, which means that he is off every other week.  There are no holidays off due to the nature of his work.  This year, unfortunately, he was on for Thanksgiving, which meant that he wasn't able to join us to celebrate Thanksgiving at my aunt's house, an hour and a half from our home. Usually Thanksgiving weekend is a simple thing.  We go to the home of the family member hosting, hang out, each too much, watch football or maybe It's a Wonderful Life and drive home and spend the rest of the weekend recovering and getting stuff done around our house and yard.  This year was much more involved than that. 

DD turned two last week, and my in-laws insisted on coming up for her birthday, despite the fact that we didn't want to have a party this year because of crazy schedules and the holiday. Not one to give them their way without being a little bit of a brat, I declared that fair is fair and invited my parents up as well.  My BIL and niece joined us as well.  My mom made a cake (thank you!  It was a big help, and very tasty!), and she also made my kitchen smell delicious by baking pies for the next day while I cleaned up my house before the rest of our visitors arrived.  We are not capable of having only one thing go on at a time, so of course we were also awaiting the delivery of a new freezer for the garage.  Which arrived damaged.  Which reminds me that I need to make sure we follow up with the place we bought it from.  (Adding to my to-do list.  Okay, done.)  Visitors arrived, freezer arrived, we went out to dinner, I didn't kill anyone, it was a successful visit.  We all went to bed tired. 

Thursday, I had our two year old solo for the trip to my aunt's house, which is usually no big deal.  This year, however, as soon as we got there, she looked at me and said, "Tummy huwts" and tossed her cookies.  Poor baby. She then proceeded to get sick a couple more times and was just generally under the weather.  Fortunately, we had extra clothes because we were spending the night at my parents house.  My overpacking tendency definitely came in handy.  DD perked up after almost everyone had left and started eating almost everything she could get her hands on. 

We were able to sleep in on Friday (thank goodness!) and then we headed to the city for the nhl game that we had tickets for.  After the game we got dinner at the diner and then headed home to collapse relax.  Then Sunday it was back down for my niece's christening.  It was a very nice day, though very long. 

I thought I was in the clear, but Sunday night I was stricken with the bug that hit DD on Thanksgiving day.  I haven't been that sick in a very long time.  I would have had this post up earlier, but I slept through Monday and couldn't look at the computer on Tuesday.  Much better today.

Even with the marathon that was this holiday weekend, Thanksgiving is still one of my favorite holidays.  It isn't like it used to be, when I was younger and didn't have a kid.  I don't always get to talk to everyone that I want to, but they understand.  I know that. 

I am thankful that I have my family.  I'm thankful that we are, for the most part, healthy. I'm thankful that I get to see my family on holidays.  While it's no fun when my husband has to work on holidays, I'm thankful that he has a job.  I could go on, but I think you get the idea.  I have a lot to be thankful for.  I hope that you do too, and that you had a Happy Thanksgiving spent with those near and dear to you. 

Now the holiday season has begun, it doesn't slow down until after the new year.  Let the craziness begin!

Sweet Toddler of Mine

I love the developmental and emotional stage my daughter is currently in.  I will preface this with a disclaimer:  Yes, I think my kid is really cute and I know I am biased.  I am her mother after all.  In the interests of full disclosure, I do not think everything she does is cute.  I know that she is not perfect.  She does things I do NOT like and that I am trying like crazy to nip in the bud so that they don't become habit.  This post is not about those things, but rest assured, they exist.  I'm sure I will be posting about them later.  That said, this post is about cute and sweet things she does that I love and that I know I will miss when she is a teenager.  If that is not your cup of tea, I suggest you stop reading now.  Disclaimer over.  On to the fun!

She is super cute with the fractured sentences she has started to put together.  Though many of them are focused on bossing me around, I can't help but smile.  This sometimes makes it hard to discipline her because I can't keep a straight face.  She is getting more verbal by the day and she has a mostly sunny disposition.  The terrible twos have not yet hit with full force.  She has tantrums, don't get me wrong. And boy is she stubborn. (I am sticking by my story that she gets that from her father.  100%.  My mother tells me it won't hold up in court.  Hmm.)  But her tantrums are more like a passing summer shower than a massive hurricane.

She will sit still long enough for me to read at least a couple pages of her books to her.  I was a little worried early on because everyone says to read to your baby from day one.  Which worked until my baby girl became mobile.  Reading to her required chasing her around the house and/or trying to read two words before she flipped through 5 pages in 1.5 seconds.  Now she will sit and participate, pointing to characters or objects she knows, identifying colors, and otherwise enjoying the story.  She still flips multiple pages and gets impatient if the story is too long, but on the whole, reading with her is a lot of fun.

Monkeys are her favorite.  "Monkeeee!"  She loves the 5 Little Monkeys song and will shake her finger and sing along, "No more monkey jump bed!" when we come to the line, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"  If we happen to be in bed at the time, she will also jump on the bed, sit down, and pat her head while saying, "bump".  Smart girl!

 She sat still for pigtails for the first time yesterday...and actually left them in!  Woo hoo, progress!  This is good, because she won't keep barrettes in.  I was beginning to think about keeping her hair cut short until she's old enough to take care of it herself.

She will take her little people and put them in their beds or arrange them around a table.  She likes to pour tea for Mommy and Daddy and herself and "drink" it.  By the way, love this little tea set, one of the cutest toys ever!  She will talk to her little people, which is also really cute.  She sounds just like Boo from Monsters, Inc.  Love that!

She runs everywhere.  She climbs the steps very well.  Despite her mother having a heart attack from time to time watching her do so.  She loves to play with sidewalk chalk and blow bubbles.  She will finally wear the swimming bubble that lets her be as independent as she would like to be in the pool.  (Of course, just in time for cold weather.  Guess we'll be joining our local YMCA this winter.) She seems to think that she can swim already.  This one is cute and stressful at the same time.

If she thinks I am not paying close enough attention to her, she will very gently put her palms on my cheeks and turn my head, looking earnestly into my eyes while trying to get me to understand what she wants.  This is one of the things I know I will miss when she truly becomes a big kid.  It's right up there with how she holds my hand as we walk along and putting her arms around my neck and her head on my shoulder when I carry her.  She's getting too heavy for me, but I know I will carry her like that as long as I can because the day will soon arrive when she doesn't want that anymore.

She is in that stage where she refers to herself in the third person.  She has been able to say her own name for quite a while now, and says it clearly and with glee.  There is a happy exclamation point at the end of it, I can almost see it when she says it.  We found naming her to be a challenge, we wanted to make sure we got it right since it will be with her forever.  Hearing her proclaim it so clearly and with such verve, it is another affirmation that we got it right.  I can't imagine her with any other name now.

Of all the things my sweet girl is doing now, my favorite is this:  when I arrive to pick her up or come home from being out and about without her, her little face lights up with a big smile, she says, "Mommmeeee" and comes running for a big hug.  It doesn't get any better than that!!

Making New Friends

I must admit that I get a little worried sometimes that my daughter is going to wildly misbehave when she meets a new little friend.  Am I the only one?  It's not based in reality, as I know that there are going to be times when she just does not get along with another kid.  There will be personality conflicts, there will be tantrums for any reason or no reason.  All part of life and growing up.  But I can't help noticing that my parenting is being judged on her behavior.  Again, I dismiss it pretty much immediately, because it doesn't matter what other people think - pretty much every parenting decision I've ever made makes me a bad parent in someone's eyes.  But it flits through my mind.  I'm never going to let it get in the way of my daughter meeting new kids, that would be wrong.  Especially because she is such a social little girl.  She loves other kids, especially those who are smaller than she is.  "Bay-beee!!" 

In reality, we get a lot of compliments on our daughter's behavior.  Which makes me feel a little funny too.  I've always had to work at taking compliments graciously, especially if I don't feel like I did anything to earn them. We spent Saturday with a couple of dear friends and the one year old niece of one of those friends.  The one year old is a sweet baby, very mobile and with her own mischievous twinkle.  She has the sweetest dimpled smile!  The two had a great time together - my daughter noticed how much the baby liked french fries and started feeding her my fries at dinner.  My daughter also made quite an impression on the adults that she met for the first time that evening, and we've been invited to come back.  Such a nice feeling!!

On Sunday, we started doing the legwork on yet another possible home improvement project.  We are looking for a wood stove insert for our fireplace.  (Hooray!  The beauty of a wood fire without sucking all the heat out of the house and up the chimney!)  My daughter does pretty well out and about in stores, but there are so many variables that go into it.  Has she had her nap?  Is she hungry?  How restrictive do I have to be with wandering?  How kid-friendly is the store/staff?  I was actually surprised at how well this went, because I thought I would have to have her on lock down in a woodstove/fireplace showroom.  Fortunately, there was only one unit that was lit in the area that we were in, and it was easy to keep her clear of it.  They also had toys in store (though we had brought a few of our own just in case).  Several members of the staff commented on how happy and patient she was.  She was very good, though I hate that phrase, because I feel like it's used in inappropriate contexts, i.e. that people expect young children to be "good" even when their main form of communication is crying and body language. But I digress.

She had a great weekend, several fun outings despite rainy weather.  I love fall, but at the same time am sad that summer is over.  I am already getting nostalgic for warm days spent entirely outside!

Bouncing Pumpkins

Today we drove about half an hour to a farmstand to buy pumpkins.  Unfortunately, the pumplin crop this year has been severely impacted by Hurricane Irene, so they only had about half as many pumpkins out as they usually do.  I'm actually hoping that it is also because it's still a little early and they'll be picking more in October.  The place that we go to every year is a nice little place, with mums and other trees and shrubs for sale.  It's a beautiful rural area, a good place to let a toddler run around. She loved it!  She's in that stage where she really thinks that she can carry things that are the same size she is.  "I do it!"  is the quote of the moment.  She had a blast picking out little tiny pumpkins, after we established that the proper way to return the non-chosen ones to the pile is not chucking them back on top.  They also had a little bounce house.  She had never been in one before, but is learning to jump and loves to show this new skill off.  She has progressed to the point where both feet actually leave the ground, but not by much.  Fortunately, the bounce house was empty and she and I could go in alone.  She's a daredevil, but something like this would have overwhelmed and upset her had it been full of big kids.  Her delighted giggles attracted the attention of several passers by, and we got many smiles and kind words from strangers today.  I'm really glad she liked jumping around, because a great friend just gave us a home version bounce around that we will definitely put to good use.  I am a big fan of things that are great exercise, outside and lead to easier nap/bed times due to sheer exhaustion. 

After the pumpkin selecting and bouncing, we went to a Stewart's roadside stand and had rootbeer floats and chili cheese fries.  Being outside works up an appetite.  Yum!

All around, we had a great fall day!!

Come on, Irene!

Hurricane Irene passed by almost a week ago, but she is still wreaking havoc on my daily routine!  I mentioned in an earlier post that we were very fortunate and did not experience any major damage or flooding at our home.  However, we do live near a large river that refuses to stay inside its banks in large thunderstorms, so we knew that the hurricane would be a problem in that respect.  Usually it just makes it hard to get to the next town for a few days, but this time we were personally impacted.  I got a call last Monday night that our daycare was flooded.  It never occurred to me that it might be, because although it is right by the river, it's elevated.  I work for a large company, and the daycare is an on-campus facility run by a national chain.  So the upside is that they were able to shift all staff and operations to another facility until repairs are completed.  The downside is the location of that facility.  It's one of those deals where it is less than 10 miles away, but in rush hour it takes an hour and a half or two hours to get there and back.  I am having a lot of trouble adjusting to that.

We are not morning people.  Not one of us.  So having to move up the morning routine an hour has been really fun.  Or not.  I will also never understand why it is that no matter what time I leave the house, something happens along the way, and I always get there at the same time.  Does time expand to fill the extra half hour I left myself to get there?  Why?  What is that about?  Did time know that I was on jury duty and so did not have ANY flexibility in my schedule last week?

On the upside, I was able to obtain work space closer to the alternate care location, so the commute should be cut in half.  It's still the wrong direction to travel in rush hour.  More happy news is that if our great state provides a passing grade on a site visit later this week, the facility may reopen next Monday.  Hooray!  Add this to the list of things I never thought I would get excited about!

Here's hoping this week goes more smoothly!

A Work In Progress

"Having a baby changes everything."  Yeah, no kidding.  Whoever came up with this slogan for Johnson & Johnson is a genius, as there are few statements in life more accurate.  He or she also has a talent for understatement.  My daughter is almost two and I'm still recovering!  I wish I could say that I have it all figured out, but that would be such a huge white lie.

Yep.  It's another mommy blog.  But why??  Mainly because I like to talk.  Okay, by talk, I really mean vent.  And I've been told that it's very entertaining.  So being a generous type, I figured I'd share with the class.  Who am I? Check out my profile in the sidebar, it'll give you my deets, as a teen-aged baby sitter recently phrased it.  In addition to being the proud parents of a mischievous little girl, we are the owners of a 60-something year old house that is always in need of TLC.  We are in the process of putting an addition on the house, a project we started in April 2007.  We had no kitchen for 2+ years.  Did I mention that I am a very patient person?  At least in my own mind, that is.  I'm also a glutton for punishment, because just as the end of the renovation came into view, I got pregnant.  With the birth of our daughter, we unwittingly extended the duration of this now never ending project.  See quote above.  Our focus completely shifted.  I don't anticipate it being done anytime soon.  I've made peace with it.  My husband hasn't.  Our toddler thinks the work in progress areas look like fun and tries to find ways to escape into the forbidden zone whenever possible.

I am a full time working mom.  If you are looking for one of those working moms who is super organized and has it all figured out, this is not the blog for you.  I am struggling to find that perfect work/life balance (more on that later).  I refuse to believe that it is mythical!  Babyhood goes by too fast to not enjoy every minute of it, so I definitely tend to skew more to the life side of the scale right now.  There are certainly days when I would love to be a full time stay at home mom, but financially that isn't going to happen anytime soon.  Plus, I do have a selfish bone in my body.  I love being able to go to the bathroom by myself and getting to eat lunch without having to get up sixteen times or having little fingers manhandle my food.  I like talking to adults who speak in full sentences.  Would a more flexible work arrangement, like part-time, be better?  Sure!!  But I haven't been able to find one that meets my needs.  I did find a great one in Singapore recently.  My husband doesn't think I would enjoy the commute from the East Coast.  (A side note - I know I mentioned in my profile that I have a part time job already.  It is VERY part time.  And the pay reflects that.)  I have to admit that he's probably right.  My current commute is 5 miles, 10 if it is my turn for daycare drop off or pick up.

My daughter does go to daycare, and she LOVES it.  She started at 4 1/2 months and early on developed a friendship with two other babies in her room.  I've heard all about parallel play and how that's all young children are capable of.  I'm not buying it, I've seen this trio in action.  They've been interacting for ages.  When the first learned to crawl, she would crawl over to one of the others, lay her head on her friend and they would both smile like crazy.  Fast forward to today, they are still together in toddlers:  there is the little mama of the group; the coy diva; and the laid back surfer dude.  They chase each other around, squabble over toys, and give each other hugs and kisses.  We are blessed with incredible caregivers who love my daughter like she is their own.  They are also far better equipped to tackle the mess fun learning projects that I couldn't (okay, still can't) face.  An example:  they started her finger painting at 5 months old!!  I was still struggling to get dinner on the table every other night (or so) at that point, let alone getting laundry and other chores done.  Re-reading this, it maybe sounds a little like I am trying to rationalize having my daughter in daycare.  I'm not.  I felt guilty at the beginning, no question.  But now I'm very secure in the knowledge that she is very well taken care of and loved while I am at work, and she is developing social skills that would be hard to come by as an only child in this day and age.  And did I mention that she loves it?

RCCKMYK4DWUJ