Three!

On August 28th, 2008, at 8:48 in the morning, my little girl S was born. Her birth was the happiest, most exhilarating moment of my life.

S literally at birth. My doctor pulled her out, gave her a quick wipe, 

lifted her up so J could take this picture, and then placed her on my chest.

Today, she turns three! It's been amazing to watch her grow and change from minute to minute, day to day, year to year. She came out with her own little personality, and continues to show it to us every day!

Smiling

Silly

Happy

Shy

Motherhood has been amazing and tiring and happy and challenging and lovely and bittersweet and easy and hard. But even in challenging moments, I remember how lucky I am to have her.

S at three is funny and sweet, stubborn and strong. She speaks in complete sentences. She's my little backseat driver, telling me when to stop on the red, go on the green, or turn right on the red. She reminds me to put her seatbelt on ("Mommy, I need my seatbelt!"). She can spell her name, the word "Stop" on signs, and other words randomly. She loves stuffed animals, animal-shaped balloons, and animals on TV. She hugs on them (even if that means pressing against our TV screen LOL) and says they are nice and they are soft. She will hug real people, but without quite the same level of enthusiasm! She has no interest in dolls yet: princess, baby, or other. She loves cars and balls and books and various little kid video games on her eReader. She has recently developed an interest in wearing bracelets (her first glam-yay!). She knows how to slide things on the touchscreen of my smartphone. She will pee on the potty, but refuses to poop on it. She used to love The Backyardigans, now she loves Busytown Mysteries and Super Why. Her favorite sayings are "You can't catch me!" and "Don't DO that!" She likes to sing, but doesn't like you to sing with her. She sings a couple of little songs in French almost perfectly. She loves to swim and play in water. She is three, but is the size of most five-year-olds and already wears size 4 and 5 clothing, with or without the T. She loves tortillas and cheese and rice and beans and bananas and corn and oranges and applesauce and watermelon and cantaloupe and mac and cheese and pizza and milk and cookie stix and ice cream and cake and will pretty much eat anything she is given. She is not a picky eater at all.

In short, she is awesome and I love her very much. :)

S in the fancy outfit the Nana bought her to wear at her birthday party. Note the bracelets!

Happy birthday, S, my little pumpkin. I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for you and me!

Love,

Mommy

P.S. Her party was yesterday, and I am still so exhausted I will have to do a post about it at another time. Note to self: New rule--no more outdoor birthday parties in August. TOO HOT.

It's a Party and I'll Obsess If I Want to

For the last few weeks, I've been obsessing...no, make that OBSESSING! over S's 3rd birthday party. Her birthday is August 28th, so it's not like I am running short on time to plan. However, unlike the last two years when I had a clear idea early on what I wanted to do for the party and had things booked and confirmed in June, this year I've been indecisive and wishy-washy.

Pool party? Carnival party? Zoo party? Bouncy party? Children's museum party?

It didn't help that we've attended a few of her classmates' parties recently and so, in the spirit of not repeating what everyone else is doing, I had to cross the carnival party idea, which I considered for the local Kiddie Park that S loves, off the list, as well as the zoo and the bouncy house (we actually did a bouncy house party last year). I crossed the pool party idea off the list because S has been having some issues with her ears since her last tube surgery, so we haven't been swimming as much this summer as we did last summer. And I nixed the children's museum party idea because a friend of mine had taken her son to one recently and the museum is so big, they didn't see much of the people at the party except for the 20 minutes they served cake in the party room. I want to see and hang out with our guests, thanks.

My criteria for S's party are as follows:

• Not at my house
• An activity or location S likes
• Something different than what we've done in years past
• Something that has built-in activities for the duration of the party

Then, I came across a local farm/petting zoo that hosts parties. The Nana and I took S out Friday to check it out and make sure she would like it. Given that she loves animals, I wasn't too worried, but just wanted to be sure. I also wanted to see how the party setup worked.

S and the Nana arrive at the farm. The Nana realized pretty quickly
she's going to need to wear different shoes at the party.

The only downsides to the farm party I could see were (1) the farm theme is dangerously similar to the cowgirl theme we had at last year's party and (2) it would be an outdoor party. In August. Which is hot as hell! (The main argument for the pool party-coolness!)

Luckily, the farm has several covered pavillion areas with electricity and fans to keep party guests cool. Each party gets its own pavillion. The kids will be able to feed and pet goats, llamas, pigs, bunnies, and guinea pigs and be able to see a real longhorn cow, donkeys, and a huge peacock that roams the grounds.

S feeds the goats--so cute!

S pets the goats. Of course, we smelled like goat the rest of the day.

The kids can also play in a huge sandbox and water table and playground. Every kid will also get a pony ride during the party-S will get two rides as birthday girl! And then they will take everyone on a hayride around the property!

Big sandbox--everyone will need a bath after the party for sure!

S riding Butterscotch the sweet pony. S got right up in the saddle. The kid has no fear!
No idea where she gets her fearlessness from. She seemed like a natural.

It took us about an hour and a half to do all of these activities on Friday...add in time for pizza and cake and I think that will fill up the two to three hours of the party perfectly. So, location-check! I put down a deposit and booked the party at 10 a.m. so as to beat as much of the heat as possible.

The Nana, my co-party planner, and I decided we would focus the decor around the animals, so as to differentiate it from last year's western theme. I've found two printable party designs on Etsy I like and am trying to decide between them:

Option 1 is probably my favorite. The seller has a version
where everything shown here in red is pink, which I really like.

Option 2 is also cute in pink and green...didn't have a picture of all the pieces together.

Both options have matching invitations and the pieces can be customized with S's name. I'm probably leaning toward option 1--what do you think?

I've also decided to make the party and invite planning easier on me by outsourcing all the photography. Last year, I was chasing S around in our backyard, trying desperately to snap cute shots of her in a cowgirl hat for the invite. Then, at the party, I got all stressed out trying to be the host, make sure everyone was okay and had what they needed, and take pictures. (In my family, I'm the designated photographer.)

A friend of mine introduced me to her friend who is a young, stay-at-home mom of four, who takes beautiful pictures, and is looking to expand into photography as more of a business instead of just a hobby. This week, I'm going to have her take some casual shots of S for the party invite and if I like what I see, I'm just going to hire her to take candids during the party, so I can actually enjoy the party (and maybe even end up in a picture or two LOL). Since she is just getting started, she's not charging very much for the pictures, but if she does a good job, she'll certainly get more business from me!

So, now I'm just obsessing over the details (cake! favors! food! what to wear!), but feel better that the location has been secured and the theme selected. And that I've solved the photography problem of years past. And yes, I'm sure I'm a little crazy, but I have great memories of the awesome theme parties the Nana threw for me when I was growing up, and I just want S to have the same. :)

What was your favorite birthday party like--either one you had as a kid or one you threw for your kid? I can always use more ideas to obsess over!

Potty Progress?

I think potty training is a special circle of hell for parents. It feels like we've been working on potty training with S FOREVER.

In reality, we started working on potty training S last June. Yes, A YEAR AGO. She expressed interest in the potty at that time, so like the eager-beaver parents we are, we got S moved up a class at day school two months early to a class where they worked on potty training. She was not quite two at the time.

She took to it pretty well for a few weeks, at one point going pee pee on the potty three times in a single day. Based on that, I thought FOR SURE she would be fully potty trained by the time we went to Jamaica in September.

If you are a mother with older children reading this, I know what you are thinking: "HAHAHAHAHA! Like that was going to happen! Silly, first-time Mommy!"

Unfortunately, in July, my husband had to have emergency abdominal surgery and ended up being in the hospital for three days and then recovering and unable to lift, carry, or care for S for about six weeks after. Confused by her unexpected stay with the Grandparentals while J was in the hospital and then her Daddy's sudden inability to do anything with/for her, S completely regressed. No potty for her. Accident after accident in her panties at school. My dreams of diaper freedom by Jamaica ended. J and I tried to stay with it and get her back on track for awhile, then completely backed off potty training for months in defeat.

In November, J thought we should kick start it again with a potty weekend, where we cover the house in plastic, put out the potties, put S in panties, and let her realize that it feels like, well, crap, to pee or poop in your panties and you should run to the potty instead. A friend had told me about this and said you had to do it for three days straight, then you never put them in a diaper again. Riiiight.

Now, my husband does not have the patience or attention span to do anything for three days straight unless it's play World of Warcraft or rebuild a computer, so I did not hold out high hopes for us making it through a three-day weekend only focused on going potty.

J lasted until about 2 p.m. on the first day and then he was ready for it to be over. LOL. S, upon feeling any sensation of poop or pee would run off the plastic we laid down to cover our carpet, stop on our kitchen tile, and cry and go in her panties there, no matter how much we tried to get her on the potty. So epic fail all the way around.

At this point, I was willing to back off potty training until the summer before Kindergarten. I figured by then she might get the hang of it. However, in February, her teachers started pressuring us to send panties to school and they would work on it with her there. No way, I said, remembering last summer's parade of poop-filled laundry when S regressed during potty training. I told them, of course, I wanted them to keep working on getting her on the potty to go, but they could just keep her in pullups because she would never TELL US she needed to go and making a mess in her panties did not seem to deter her. All it did was make my life a stinky poopy hell trying to get stains out of the laundry each night!

So S would faithfully sit on the potty at school as directed by her teachers, but she wouldn't go. At all. At home, we brought out the Sesame Street potty poster that came with her Elmo potty and put it on the wall, all ready for stickers. For weeks it hung, stickerless.

Then, sometime in late March, the tide turned, thanks to my mother, the Nana. S stayed with the Grandparentals overnight on a weekend and the Nana got her to go pee pee on the potty by saying if she went pee pee, she would get to call Mommy and tell her. Amazingly, this worked. Turns out S likes to get to call someone and have them praise her for her potty-going accomplishments! I got several phone calls that day from S saying, "I went pee pee on the potty, Mommy!"

I need positive affirmation of my potty progress people-hand me the phone!

But back at school and at home, S's potty standoff continued. She would only go for Nana. A few weeks later, I took S to school-a rare occurrence as J usually takes her-and I told her if she went on the potty for me, we would call Nana and tell her. AND IT WORKED. After that, she started going potty for J as well as Nana and me. She likes to call someone and tell them afterwards...Nana, me, or Daddy depending on who gets her to go. She also started getting to put stickers on her poster, which she likes a lot.

A few weeks ago, I relented and started sending panties to school. She has had some poopy accidents, but it has not been a few times a day every day like last summer. The last few weeks she has come home from school in panties without having an accident in my car. Last Thursday, she got a big sticker, because she wore panties all day without an accident!
The next day, although I have been totally chickensh*t to take her out of the house in just panties, I took her shopping sans pullup or diaper. She went pee pee on the potty for me after we'd been out for over an hour and had eaten lunch. Sadly, 20 minutes after that success, she pooped in her pants. However, I had brought an extra outfit and plastic bag and wipes, so I cleaned her up and changed her and she was good to go. It was not as scary as I thought it would be.

She's definitely making progress. She completely understands to hold the pee until she's on the potty when wearing her panties, but she does not grasp the idea of doing the same with her poop. She DOES NOT want to go poop on the potty! The last time I tried to get her to do so, by the time I got her to the potty and pulled her pants down, she had already pooped, and half of it got all over her pants and the potty seat and the other half fell on my foot. That's right. ON MY FOOT. Not. Glam.

So, we're still working on it. She turns three in August. I think she will be completely in panties by then, but still having poop accidents. My new goal is for her to be peeing and pooping in the potty by the time we go to Walt Disney World in November, but we'll see. This time around, I'm not so naive as to think it will be that easy! (I also have a mom friend with a four-year-old son who REFUSES to poop in the potty. Still. She is beside herself.)

Potty training...not glamorous and not for the faint of heart. Just like the rest of motherhood. :)

What worked for you when you were potty training your kids? Especially to get them to poop on the potty? This will end someday, right? Talk to me!

Queens for a Day

Every year, May to June is a crazy time. My birthday always falls a week after Mother's Day and my mother, the Nana's, birthday is a few weeks later and always falls near Father's Day. Every year, Mom and I rack our brains over what to get each other for these occasions. (Father's Day, sadly, does not usually warrant too much fanfare...maybe a barbecue dinner or picnic!)

This year, I decided to take two days of vacation, a Monday and Tuesday, for my birthday. S had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, my actual birthday. On Monday, I thought I would send S to school and then either get a massage or go to an afternoon movie or something. When I mentioned this plan to Mom, she suggested we do a spa day together and count it as Mother's Day and my birthday. "Why not your birthday too?" I suggested. And then Mom said, "And let's go to a really nice spa, not just a day spa."

Now, I should explain at this point that my Mom and I are not fancy people. I've had the good fortune to go to several spas, day and otherwise, in different cities. My Mom has only done day spa stuff with me, maybe twice before, and never a full massage, only facials and pedicures and such. So I was a little surprised at her request, but all for it. I researched and found out that the Mokara Hotel on the San Antonio Riverwalk has the only five-star spa in town. They have a package where you and a friend can get a massage and a deluxe pedicure and enjoy lunch on the rooftop deck overlooking the skyline of the city. It's a little expensive, but sounded great.

When I proposed the idea to my Mom, not only was she raring to go, she upped the ante. "Why don't we check in the day before and spend the night at the hotel and have dinner on the Riverwalk? I mean, it is for both our birthdays and Mother's Day, so we should go all out!" she said. So we did!

Getting ready to head downtown for our Mother-Daughter Retreat

And it was wonderful! The staff at the Mokara Hotel treated us like queens. When they discovered we were from San Antonio, it seemed like they went out of their way to make our stay special. Would you like complimentary champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, and a cheese plate sent to your room? Yes, please! We can put you in a better room if you don't mind waiting a little bit, is that okay? Yes, thanks! How about a tour of the spa while you wait? OK, great! And now enjoy drinks on the river and we'll call you when your room is ready!

Isn't my Mom cute?

Cheers!

And they didn't actually call--the Manager came and PERSONALLY ESCORTED US UP TO OUR ROOM. I thought my mother's eyes were going to bug out of her head--she couldn't believe it! Didn't he know we were just regular people?! LOL

And then our bags, which had magically disappeared when a gentleman took our car off to valet parking, leaving my mother fretting slightly over their whereabouts, were delivered, followed shortly afterwards by the champagne, strawberries, and cheese. We kicked back and snacked on all our goodies, plus a few nuts and snacks in the minibar and just talked and talked. It was really lovely.

Later in the evening, we wandered down the Riverwalk and stopped in at the Republic of Texas restaurant for dinner. We sat on the patio, watching the world stroll by on the Riverwalk and noshing on fantastic Tex Mex appetizers and drinking frosty margaritas! So good!

After dinner, we went back to our room and watched a bit of the Survivor finale. Then, we put on our suits and headed upstairs to check out the rooftop's heated pool and hot tub.

Looking at the stars and the skyline from the heated pool, we decided "This is the life! If only we could do this all the time!"

The next day, we enjoyed our spa experience to the hilt. We relaxed, we got massaged, we lunched on the rooftop in our spa robes, neck warmers, slippers, and shades, we drank more champagne, we got our toes done, we steamed, and we whirlpooled. It. Was. Amazing.

Post-massage lunch on the rooftop deck.
Mom and I wore our robes, slippers, and neck warmers, plus shades, of course!

All too soon, it was time to leave. Mom and I were super-relaxed after our day of pampering and wanted nothing more than to go upstairs to our room, crawl into our plush beds, and nap until dinner time. Unfortunately, we had to go pick S up from day school, which was sure to bring us back to reality with a thud.

"When we do this next year, we should stay TWO nights," my Mom said. And just like that, a tradition was born.

Happy birthday, Mom! I love you! Thanks for being a wonderful mother, an amazing Nana, and an even better friend. I am already looking to next year's Mother-Daughter Retreat!

Note: I was not paid in any way for my experience at the Mokara Hotel and Spa or the Riverwalk. All opinions expressed are my own, achieved on my own dime. :)

Every Day Is Mother's Day to Me

Last night, my baby girl, S, was having trouble going to sleep. When I went in to check on her, I picked her up, wrapped her in a blanket, snuggled with her in the glider in the corner of her room, and rocked her.

As we rocked, I stroked and kissed her hair and talked to her. I told her how very happy I am to be her mommy and how lucky I am to have her. How she is my best little girl and I love her so, so much. I breathed in her sweet baby smell and felt tears coming to my eyes.

As we continued to rock, I thought about the fact that at this time, four years ago, I didn't think I would ever get to be a mother. My world seemed extremely bleak, and I was sad and angry most of the time.

Then, I thought about the fact that at this time, three years ago, I was happily pregnant, and enjoying a pretty easy pregnancy (sciatica and swelling aside), which would be followed by a fast and easy delivery.

May 2008: Happily celebrating my birthday and Mother's Day

Still in the "cute" pregnant stage. The "HUGE" pregnant stage was still to come!

Then, I thought, how I wish I could go back in time and tell the sad woman I was four years ago to have faith--that the hard part was almost over, that she was going to be a mother and soon, and that her daughter would be the most beautiful, sweet baby who is growing into a strong, smart, independent, funny little girl who makes her proud everyday.

Since she was riding a horse, she HAD to wear a cowgirl hat!

My little girl's growing up so fast. But she's still my baby!

S with her pal Zoe at Sea World of Texas

Four-years-ago-me would have a really hard time believing it. Some days, I can't believe it myself.

I'm so blessed. So lucky. Every day is Mother's Day to me.

Thank You, Prince William, or With These Cufflinks, I Thee Wed

Prince William has decided not to wear a wedding ring. Much has been made of this fact in the media. I'm still not sure why he decided not to wear one, but all I can say is "Thank you!" Now I can finally get over the fact that my husband, J, does not wear one!

J has a wedding ring, sure. And he vowed to wear it as a symbol of our love or something to that effect in our wedding. And that vow lasted...about 13 days. Thirteen days in which he actually lost his ring TWICE!

J has never worn any jewelry, not even a watch. The only jewelry he had when we met was an iron pinkie ring which he never wore, because he got his degree in engineering, and in Canada, all engineers get a pinkie ring made out of iron to remind them of how if they make a mistake in their job, bridges and mines can collapse and people can die, so they should always remember not to make a mistake. (I'm sure I don't have all the particulars of this tradition right, but this was the gist of what he told me. He actually became an IT guy after he graduated and so has never needed to wear that ring to remind him.)

J told me in advance he didn't want to wear a wedding ring because he doesn't like wearing jewelry, but I thought surely he would get used to wearing one. We picked out a lovely white gold band, I had our wedding date inscribed inside it, and we forged ahead to our wedding day.

J's ring is JUST out of sight in this picture, taken during our cocktail hour.

We exchanged the vows, I put the ring on him, and all was going very swimmingly until about an hour into our reception. Suddenly, our videographer came over and tapped J on the shoulder.

"Are you missing something?" he said, and held up J's wedding ring, which he had seen slip off his hand. J, not used to the ring, hadn't even noticed! One hour into our marriage and the ring was already a problem.

The next morning we flew off to France and Switzerland for a 10-day honeymoon. We started off in Lyon. J put his ring on everyday, but he kept turning it around and around on his finger and it was obviously driving him nuts. And him fiddling with it all the time was DRIVING ME NUTS!

Our third day in Lyon, we took a boat ride along the Saone River. J kept fiddling with his ring. And then all of a sudden, I heard, "plink, plink" and then nothing. I looked at J. "Did you just drop your ring?" J looked down at his hand and then up at me: "Yeah, I guess so." We looked at the metal bottom of the boat...I figured after the second "plink," the ring probably went over the side, into the water, and that was that!

As we looked around behind us, a voice from two rows back said, "I"ve got it!" and handed forward J's ring. I put the ring on my finger for the rest of the ride. I was like, "Seriously, J? You've lost the ring twice in four days?!"

"I just can't get used to it...I'm not a jewelry guy," J said. "It doesn't mean I don't love you or we're not married if I don't wear it."

I took this picture about 30 minutes before we went on the boat ride
where he almost lost the ring. It is LITERALLY the only picture I have
that shows him wearing it!

J toughed it out with the ring until the end of our honeymoon and a few days at home. The first time he drove the car, he felt like he had to take it off to drive! And the day we returned to work was the last straw for him.

"I can't type with the ring on," he complained. "How do you do it? I'm sorry, but I just can't get used to wearing it."

And that was the end of the ring. I really had a hard time with it the first few years of our marriage and wanted him to give it another try, but he steadfastly refused.

Over time, however, I started to get over the ring issue. Especially after I began to realize that I actually HAD given J a piece of jewelry on our wedding day that he wore, maybe not every day, but at least weekly.

Cufflinks.

Before our wedding, J had a dress shirt with French cuffs, but he didn't have any cufflinks. He just wore the fake ones that came with the shirt. (My husband needed a little help in the style department when we met, obviously LOL. OK, he still needs some help.) Since I knew he loved that shirt and would need cufflinks with his tuxedo, I got him a pair of silver cufflinks engraved with his monogram and gave them to him as a wedding gift.

He wore them at the wedding. He wore them on our honeymoon with the shirt. He continued to wear them when we got home and bought other French cuff shirts because he LIKED wearing his cufflinks. They perform a FUNCTION with his outfit and do not GET IN HIS WAY. As an IT guy with an engineering background, this is something he appreciates.

Apparently, I should've simply held his wrists during the wedding and said, "With these cufflinks, I thee wed" or "Wear these as a symbol of my love" or whatever. :)

Some of my girlfriends have commented on J's lack of wedding ring over the years, and I've told them about his wedding cufflinks. But now that Prince William has decided NOT to wear a ring from the get-go, I think I can finally let the issue go and get over it, once and for all.

After all, if Prince William doesn't feel the need to wear a ring, J, my prince, certainly doesn't have to! :)

Note: J still has his ring. It sits in a lovely music box we purchased in Geneva, Switzerland at the end of our honeymoon, along with his cufflinks. J actually picked the music box out because it has a red rose on the lid and we did a variation on the Unity Ceremony with roses in our wedding. He liked the symbolism. So he's romantic in his own way. :) I'm lucky to have him.

Ten on Tuesday

I thought I would try "Ten on Tuesday" after I saw this on a few other blogs I follow. It's hosted by Chelsea at Roots and Rings. 

1. When someone asks you for a book recommendation, what is your go-to book?

Lately, it's The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister or Two Kisses for Maddy by Matt Logelin.

2. Do you buy your books, or are you a library patron?

Both. I love putting things on hold and picking them up at the library, but sometimes I go crazy at Barnes and Noble and buy five books at once! I tend to alternate...check some out, buy some.

3. E-readers, yay or nay?

Nay for now. I don't have one and I can't really imagine giving up physical books, which I love, love, love. But I do not go anywhere without my Blackberry, my iPod, and my digital camera, so I'm a total gadget person and it's weird that I'm NOT into them yet!

4. What was your favorite book as a child?

As a child, I loved a book called The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr. I still have the copy that my parents bought me when we lived in England in the late 70s and I read it to my daughter now!

The first long book I read was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I was in the fourth grade and I finished it in five days, which seemed epic at the time because it was so thick. It's still a favorite, just a lovely book.

5. If you could be any character in a book, who would you be?

Probably Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice...I'll take Colin Firth or Matthew MacFayden as Mr. Darcy any day. Or Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter books. :)

6. What book would you love to see turned into a movie?

It's often hard to find a movie that lives up to a book I really love, Pride and Prejudice notwithstanding.

7. What is your all-time favorite book?

Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Sun Also Rises, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Little Women, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, 84 Charing Cross Road. If you haven't gathered from this list that I was an English major and have an affinity for epistolary novels, I don't know what to say. :)

8. How many books do you read at once?

I'm lucky to get through one at a time. I cannot focus on more than one any way due to lack of time and Mommy brain-I just start getting confused and forgetting what is going on in the book.

9. What is your favorite book genre?

I actually really love mysteries (obsessed with Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series) and chick lit!

10. Which Harry Potter book is the best? Or haven’t you read them at all?

I love the Harry Potter books. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite book of the series and happens to be my favorite of the movies too. Love the time travel elements and Hermione's leadership role. I can't wait until S is old enough for us to read these together!