A Walk in the Park

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin, Photography, Work and Professional Life by teamtradermom

I didn’t have much time in my schedule today to get out for lunch. However, I had to get out of the office. The sun was shining and I had a 2 hour call looming ahead of me. The only way to get through it was with a Diet Coke and some vitamin D. So I ran out for a quick sandwich (roast beef and cheddar on an asiago bagel with veggie cream cheese. YUMMERS!) and decided to eat it in the park. I ate in my car because it was a bit windy and I didn’t want my napkins and stuff blowing everywhere.

This was the view from my car.

There was a group of ladies there wearing matching blue shirts that said VOLUNTEER on them. They were walking around picking up the trash. I wanted to tell them thank you but I didn’t. I thought it though.

As soon as I finished my sandwich, I headed out for a quick walk. It’s a small park so the walk took me only about 15 min (with many stops to take pictures).

There’s something very haunting to me about empty playground equipment. I actually did a whole series in college on it. One of my favorites.

I came upon a lot of fallen limbs. We’ve had many days of rain and storms and the poor trees can’t take it anymore!

The walk was nice and peaceful. The only people I ran in to were the volunteer litter ladies (hey they should get shirts that say THAT!). The sun was bright and it was warm but I enjoyed the fresh air.

There’s a nice little creek that runs through this park. It was much more full than I’ve ever seen it, thanks in part to all those storms.

There was also a lovely little bridge. It looked like it had recently been rebuilt because it was all bright and pristine. Almost too clean!

Overall the park was great, though there were some signs of wear and tear.

I was hot and sweaty by the end of my walk so the A/C felt amazing! I cranked it up baby! Then it was back to the office for meeting after meeting. I was ready to chill when I got home but Isabella wanted to go to the park so we loaded up the stroller and headed out!

She was looking sharp in her shades!

She had a lot of fun on the teeter totter. When we got home, she asked me for some juice so that she could “stay hydrated.” That’s my Little Genius!

Now I’m off to paint my toenails with the new nail polish I bought today (OPI’s “It’s Totally Fort Worth It”) while watching Sex and the City 2. I know, I know. I’ve heard bad things too but hey, they’re my girls so I have to watch it. So what if I’m a couple years behind….I also plan to polish off a banana split made with Bunny Tracks ice cream. Huzzah!

Have a great weekend!

If you liked this, you might also like:

Mable

$#*! My Coworkers Say

Girl’s Night

31May2011

And Then Time Stood Still

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Isabella fell down the steps tonight.

I knew this day would come some time. You don’t want it to. You pray that it never does. But every parent out there tells you it will happen and then they tell you what it was like when it happened to their child. In your mind you think, nah, I’m more careful than that. We take every precaution. No way will my kid tumble down the stairs.

And then she does.

It happened just before dinner. Munchkin and I were playing with her sand box out on the deck. She was having a great time grabbing a fist full of sand and dumping it out. CJ was inside getting dinner ready and Samson was in with him. CJ had set up the baby gate to block the stairs. We don’t always do this now as she’s getting older and better at going up and down. She also knows to stop at the top and wait for mommy or daddy to help her.

Isabella asked to go down the stairs because she wanted to see the bird bath. I told her no, that she had to wait until after dinner. Then Samson came to the back door wanting out, so I opened it for him. He ran to the steps and I had to remove the baby gate. As I was setting it aside, Isabella ran over there. I told her to be careful and she stopped. I was just turning around to go back over when out of the corner of my eye I saw it.

She reached forward with her right foot to take a step down. She was holding on to the railing like always but somehow lost her balance and tumbled forward. I lurched forward in an attempt to grab her but there was no way.

And time slowed waaaaay down. I stood there at the top, helpless, watching her tumble sideways down one step and then the next. I could see each part of her body moving and where it landed. I could tell that when she got to the bottom, she would land on her feet and then roll on to her side. She was like a ragdoll as she rolled down – almost inhuman and limp. There was no sound. No noise from nature. No screams from her. No nothing.

Just slowness and silence.

It scared the crap out of me.

As soon as she got to the bottom, time righted itself and she started screaming. I sprinted down and scooped her up in my arms having already determined nothing was broken. As I comforted her I checked every part of her body and all seemed to be in tact. She was more scared than anything. I got her to calm down and asked her how each part of her felt, starting with her head. Does your head hurt? I asked. No. Do your arms hurt? No. And so on until I knew she was fine.

Then the guilt came over me. How could I have let this happen? What if she had broken her neck? What if she had died? I should have been more careful. I shouldn’t have looked away. I shouldn’t have moved the gate. I was “shoulding” all over myself. But I just had to stop and remember that it happens. It’s happened to many parents and in the end, my little girl was just fine. It was a tough lesson to learn but I guess she’s not as grown up as she seems. CJ and I talk about this – how she seems so much older than she is because she carries on normal conversations and knows hundreds of words and can count to 20 and recite the alphabet. But she’s still just 20 months.

She’s in bed now and has forgotten about the whole thing. I will never forget. In fact I’ll replay it in my mind a hundred times.

She is such a precious gift to us. Thank God nothing serious happened. I’ve always said that Isabella’s big brother/sister (Angel – the one we miscarried) is up in heaven looking out for her. Thanks Angel for taking care of your little sister tonight.

If you liked this, you might also like:

All done

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

I am going on about 40 hours of wake time on only 2 hours of sleep. Ya’ll are lucky I’m able to type complete sentences at this point. As soon as I click “Publish” on this post I am diving in to my bed and (hopefully) not coming out until tomorrow morning.

Why did I not get any sleep last night? Three words – Isabella is sick.

Her nose started running mid afternoon but otherwise she was acting fine and being her normal self. CJ and I had sand volleyball so my parents came over to baby-sit and we headed out. When we got home, my mom said that Isabella had a hard time going to sleep and was waking up crying quite a bit. Sometimes she does that so I didn’t think too much of it. I sat down to watch my DVRed American Idol from Wednesday and eat a yummy juicy cheeseburger.

About an hour later, it started. The first cry. A sense of dread came over me but I pushed it away.

Munchkin had dropped an oobie so I gave it to her and left the room. But she did not stop crying. She carried on and on. I went back in and picked her up. Usually a little love and time in the rocker will do the trick. Not this time.

The crying escalated. I offered her juice but she refused. I sang/snuggled/rocked/hugged but it did nothing. I had to pin her down to get her to take some Ibuprofen and even then she spit most of it back out.

Then she started writhing. I tell you, it was like she was possessed. She arched her back and tried to throw herself out of my arms. Then she wriggled around until her back was pressed up against me, reached her arms back and tried to claw my face off. I’m not even kidding. She left a good scratch on the left side too. I don’t think she seriously was trying to hurt me. The only thing I could figure is that she was so miserable all she could do was writhe and squirm. Poor little thing didn’t know what else to do.

I started to talk to her then, calmly and softly, and basically just have a conversation. I asked her what was hurting her. If her ears ached, if her nose was sore, if her tummy was upset. She actually stopped crying to listen to me. It calmed her down enough to where she snuggled in and nodded back to sleep. I rocked her for a good 5 minutes, to make sure she was out, and then gently put her back to bed.

20 minutes later she was up screaming again. This cycle went on all night.

See, she would fall asleep and then wake up at some point because her nose was stuffy. When she awoke, she’d discover that she’d dropped an oobie and start crying. Then she’d realize she was feeling poopie and the crying would get worse.

I went to bed around 10:30 p.m. and CJ took over. At 11:30 p.m. I woke up to her screaming again and CJ was having trouble calming her down. So I got up to help. We used the bulb syringe to suck some goobers out of her nose, which she was none too happy about, and finally got her back to sleep.

She was awake 30 minutes later.

This time when I picked her up she said, “All done…” like just by saying it, the cold and misery would be over. I wish it was that easy too.

I finally decided that the only way to keep her asleep, and us from getting up and out of bed all night, was to just have her lay down with me. If I brought her in to our bed, she’d keep us both up, so I took her out to the living room and we laid on the couch. She immediately passed out, snuggled up to me. I however, could not sleep. I was not in the most comfortable position. True to form, every time she dropped an oobie, she woke up. For the most part, she was finally able to get some sleep this way. I think it really helped her to be in someone’s arms. She felt safe.

I however was watching the time tick by and counting how many hours of sleep I WASN’T getting!

Finally at 4:30 a.m. I decided enough was enough and I needed to try for SOME sleep. I took her back to her room. She seemed out of it enough that she could be on her own. I slept for an hour and then she woke up. I made CJ get up with her this time, though I struggled to fall back asleep. Then my alarm went off and that was that.

As tired as I am and as much as I wanted to sleep, taking care of Isabella was #1. Knowing she was able to sleep in my arms, and having her snuggle up to me, did feel good. I want her to always know that she is safe with mommy and daddy. Someday soon she will not want to snuggle with us so I might as well enjoy it now!

Time to jet to bed. Well, maybe some ice cream and Grey’s Anatomy first. Pray that I’m able to get some sleep tonight!

If you liked this, you might also like:

Smarty Pants

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

I think I’m in for some trouble.

My 18 month old is officially smarter than me.

Well, almost. She will be before too long and then I’ll be at a disadvantage. I feel like I need to go back to college just to stay 2 steps ahead of her!

Below are the things she did tonight that made me realize my fate.

1. She knows what money is.

Isabella has had a piggy bank ever since she was born and every once in a while I’ll stick some change in it. When she got old enough to be more dexterous, she began to do it herself. Tonight, I had 2 quarters fall out of my pocket so I told her we could put some money in her piggy bank (though I didn’t tell her what it was). She ran to her room and yelled “Piggy bank!” When I handed the money to her she said, “Quarters!” Surprised smile I had no idea she knew what a quarter was! Then I thought maybe she called all change the same thing so I got a nickel, dime and penny. She was able to point out the penny right away. The nickel and dime I had to help her with. I hope this trend continues so that one day soon she will become the worlds youngest millionaire. Then she can buy me the island.

2. She ate with a spoon

We have been working and working with her on how to use utensils. She pretty much just waves them around or beats them on the table. But tonight, she actually dipped her spoon in the yogurt cup and used it the right way! And she ate the whole entire cup of yogurt like that!

She still managed to make quite a mess but boy did she have fun!

3. She carried on a real conversation

For dessert tonight, I gave Munchkin some Spiderman fruit snacks. This is what happened:

Isabella: Hello Spiderman!
Me (pretending to be Spiderman): Hello Isabella!
Isabella: How are you?
Me: Good, how are you?
Isabella: Fine. Thank you amazing Spiderman.
Me: Uh, you’re welcome

I just sort of stared at her for a minute after that. She stared back at me, and then said, “All done Mama. Get down now.”

Oh yeah, right.

I tell ya, this girl continues to amaze me every day. And it scares me a little too. I clearly remember the day that I surpassed my dad in mathematics knowledge, which is not easy because my dad taught Jr. High math for 35 years. I came home from high school, I think I was a freshman, and asked him to help me with my calculus assignment. He looked at the book, sighed and then said, “I’m afraid you’re beyond me now.” I saw a glimmer of sadness in his eyes because at that moment he knew I was growing up and would someday not need him anymore.

I know it will be a long time before that day comes for Isabella. But tonight was a reminder of just how quickly she is growing and learning. Some times I want to just stop time and stay here forever.

Then she has a massive poopie diaper or temper tantrum and that takes care of that.

If you liked this, you might also like:

Girl’s Day

Posted in Family, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Last Friday I wrote about how I cherish my “girl’s nights” with Isabella. Well this week, we practically got a whole day!

See, for Father’s Day last year, I got CJ a coupon entitling him to one “day off” whenever he wanted to redeem it. Meaning, I would take time off work so that he could have the day to himself. Well he decided to split it in to 2 half days, so I took Wednesday morning off (the day after his birthday) and this afternoon.

Instead of describing it all to you, I will show you our day in pictures.

We went to the park! This was a different one then we went to last week. Isabella enjoyed running around in the sand and climbing on the jungle gym.

While we were there, another family came and Isabella played with the little girl, Alison, who showed her how to build a sand castle.

After taking a micro-nap (during which time I did my workout), Isabella decided to wear her heart basket as a hat! Very stylish…

She also had fun pulling everything out of one of her drawers and throwing them on the floor (which obviously needs to be swept – good thing her room is next on the docket for cleaning!). She had to stand on her tip-toes to get to the items in the back.

After dinner, she and Samson were looking longingly out the back door in to the yard. I got the hint that she wanted to go out and play when she grabbed her coat off the couch and started running around yelling, “Outside! Outside!”