Mommy Moments # 1

I'm participating in a new MeMe this week - it's called Mommy Moments, and so really, I think it's a perfect fit with this blog! Why don't you play along?

Our theme this week is Yummy! You can post about your kids and their favorite food or your experience with them if they are picky eaters.

It's been such an adventure to watch Spoiled Baby really come into her own in terms of eating. Catherine started off as a breastfed baby, but she also adapted to the bottle early on, with expressed milk, because I knew that I'd be returning to work when she was about 3.5 months old. She adapted fairly easily - the child just liked to eat!

When it was time to start solid foods, she adjusted like a champ. True, sometimes we had to shove food in her mouth mid-cry if she decided she want Mama instead of rice, but overall, she did fabulously.

Crunchies came next...and she still has an obsession with them. She especially loves cheese flavored crunchies...although I've gone back to buying only Gerber brand, because although the adult crunchies have the same nutritional value, I got tired of scrubbing ORANGE out of everything!

Little Miss Thing still only has 1 tooth (with 1 more starting to emerge) at 13 months old, but that hasn't stopped her a bit from transitioning to table foods. In fact, she first started eating primarily the same thing her dad and I eat for meals around 10 months old. Since her dad and I like to eat out a few times a month, having her eat table food has made that a much easier prospect than trotting around an extra bag just for her food.


And, naturally, she can do it herself! Unless she doesn't want to! For the most part, she wants her own bowl/dish and her own fork/spoon, and she gets through most of her food quite handily. Sometimes, however...it's messy city, and her mama really wants to help! Others, she decides she wants to be a baby, and so she'll beg food from my plate...even though it's the same as what's on her own!

All in all, it's been a joy to watch Catherine develop as an eater!!

How about your kiddo?

Friday Fill-In # 7

My goodness...it's been over a year since I've participated in Friday Fill-Ins....and probably nearly a year since I've participated in any meme at all! But here goes...

And...here we go!



1. We need a little Christmas...but not until after Thanksgiving!
2. I just heard my baby coo and it made me smile.
3. If you want something, the only way to get it is through hard work.
4. I am only awake right now because perversely, I'm sick and can't sleep.
5. Massachusetts has a proposed 5% sales tax on elective cosmetic surgery; I think that the government often seems more willing to find more opportunities to tax, instead of more opportunities to save money.
6. A well-planned schedule makes for a happy holiday.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to resting, tomorrow my plans include finishing work on our dining room remodel and Sunday, I want to clean house before our Thanksgiving guests arrive from out of town!

Being a Mom isn't an Excuse

It's been awhile since I've done an edition of "Tiffany Takes On..." and I'll bet this one garners me some hate mail, but so be it!

Yahoo News posted a story yesterday about a woman who didn't show up for her deployment flight to Afghanistan because she had no one to care for her 10-month-old son while she was gone.

Cue the violins.

"Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she had to care for her 10-month-old son — her mother — was overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other relatives with health problems."

My goodness!

The story goes on to say...

"The Army requires all single-parent soldiers to submit a care plan for dependent children before they can deploy to a combat zone.

Hutchinson had such a plan — her mother, Angelique Hughes, had agreed to care for the boy. Hughes said Monday she kept the boy for about two weeks in October before deciding she couldn't keep him for a full year.

Hughes said she's already having to care for her ailing mother and sister, as well as a daughter with special needs. She also runs a daycare center at her home, keeping about 14 children during the day.

"This is an infant, and they require 24-hour care," Hughes said. "It was very, very stressful, just too much for me to deal with."

Hughes said she returned Kamani to his mother in Georgia a few days before her scheduled deployment Nov. 5.

She said they told her daughter's commanders they needed more time to find another family member or close friend to help Hughes care for the boy, but Hutchinson was ordered to deploy on schedule."

Here's my hope: I want the Army to prosecute Specialist Hutchinson to the absolute fullest extent possible for going AWOL from her flight and refusing her deployment.

There are THOUSANDS of single parents in the military. They get deployed each and every day. I am horrified at the example it will send if the Army does NOT punish this woman severely for thinking that her situation was unique or special or gave her rights that are afforded to no one else.

Know what? The military routinely grants compassionate assignments. They also routinely work with families to find successful alternatives to tough situations. I've seem 'em do it. But that can't be done until people work through the appropriate channels.

Specialist Hutchinson most definitely did not.

It is not the Army's problem that she's a single parent. It is not the Army's fault that her plans for her mother to care for her child fell through. (And it's not the Army's fault that Specialist Hutchinson's mother runs an illegal daycare center, because 1 adult versus 14 kids is most definitely not within legal realms.)

And let's be real here, folks. I have a kid that's only a couple months older than this twit's. A 10-month-old is not an infant who requires 24-hour care, until it's a special needs baby, and I'm sure that would have been noted if that were the case. If grandma really wanted to add this child on top of her other duties, it's doable.

I smell a scam. So here's my bet. I bet this woman joined the Army not out of any concept of service to her nation, but because she had nothing else to do with her life. And I bet that she thought that using the baby as an excuse would get her out of her deployment. And I bet that she now thinks that her story will drum up public compassion and that will result in a "get out of jail free" card.

I hope the Army proves her wrong.

Read more here.

Give Ya a Buck!

Kidlet and I went garage saling today...it's amazing how much you can get for how little - and even more amazing how much of what I bought today was brand new - still had tags on!

We were out for 7 hours, visited 16 garage sales, drove 95 miles round trip, and spent $35.25. Here's what we got for that:

• Potty - $3 (from a grandma's house...looks like it was never used!)
• 6 books - $1.50 total
• 2 tops - $1.50
• 7 pair pants - $4.75
• 2 dresses - $1.50
• 1 sweater - $.50
• 1 Christmas outfit - $3
• 7 matched outfits - $4.50
  
• 1 Paddington Bear ornament - $.50
• 1 Disney Princesses "purse" - $.50
• 1 stuffed dog = $1 (Spoiled Baby hadn't put it down since she found it...)
• 1 "musical instrument" puzzle - $2 (the pieces have magnets and a sound plays when they are fitted into the right slot - WAY fun!)
  
• 1 Cookie Monster "happy birthday" tin - $1 (guess what her party theme will be next year?)
• 3-piece suit + blouse for her mama - $10

Not bad, eh?

Veteran's Day

To all who serve...



Thank you.

Speaking Up

Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is to speak up.

Putting up information on the internet, sending emails, commenting on articles...all of those mediums can get information out, but don't rise nearly to the level of making a public statement in front of the very body you are seeking to influence.

Many of you have watched in horror over the past few months as hysterical activists have taken over the city of Fort Worth and actively set out to hijack an otherwise ordinary occurrence to use as a political agenda. Along the way, ruining a few lives or reputations wasn't even an afterthought for these individuals.

We've been so lucky to have such a supportive family and circle of friends during this time. I've heard from you with phone calls, emails, Facebook notes and more about how ridiculous this entire situation is.

But I still needed to publicly speak up.

With Kristen in tow, I visited the Fort Worth City Council meeting last night and finally got my say. It wasn't when I wanted to - I got slotted in to speak during the response time for a resolution, instead of during the citizen presentation time - and I had less time than I wanted - I used precious seconds to explain that I wasn't speaking either for or against the resolution - but I got out my thoughts.

The Council all maintained eye contact with me, my own Councilman nodded along, and Kristen wasn't the only one clapping after the bell ring to signify the end of my time. I even received kind words afterwards from several folks, including one area journalist.

All in all, I felt exhilarated to have spoken up. It might not change a damn thing...but at least I said my piece.

And yes...I'll be posting a link to the prepared speech soon...check back!

We have a new project...

Chris and I have been hemming and hawing over when to re-do the dining room.

Not that big a project, really.

Just stripping the wallpaper, repairing the walls, painting, crown moulding, chair rails, and baseboards.

Just.

So...I meandered into the dining room this morning, experimentally pulled back a piece of wallpaper, and, well, 8 hours later, the walls were bare.

Guess that means we're redoing the dining room!

Bouncing Baby!

Spoiled Baby got to experience BOUNCING for the first time yesterday, and boy was that fun! We went to my Goddaughter's 6th birthday party, which was at a neat little place called BounceU.

At first, Spoiled Baby wasn't too sure about this whole bouncing thing...and she DEFINITELY didn't want to bounce unless Mama or Daddy was holding her.

But then she started to have fun. And so did we! About an hour of bouncing was just the trick to get smiles on her face.



After that, we moved onto the mini basketball hoop - great fun with Daddy!



And then...she found the MINI SLIDE! A little baby slide that she could go down that wasn't so big as to frighten her, like most other slides. And so we went again, and again, and again. FUN!

All in all, a fun time.

How was your weekend?

A Good Check Up

I was diagnosed with Grave's Disease in 2001. It was a diagnosis a long-time in the making, as I'd suffered the various symptoms of the thyroid ailment for years prior.

Grave's Disease (and a note here to say that it's actually "Graves Disease" or "Graves' Disease" but somehow, I can't stop myself from typing it the other way) is a disease of relapse and remission. You can have it flair up and be treated for months or years, only to have it remain manageable without medication for months or years. There is a "permanent" solution for the illness as well, but it's not a good fix for me.

In any case, I've had iffy bloodwork, even on medication, for the past two years. A lot of that is related to being pregnant and then breastfeeding - my med levels had to be juggled a bit so as not to affect the baby. But the bloodwork that just came back today looks GREAT, I've gained 5 pounds, and my doctor is really pleased.

YAY!

Darn Phillies...

Congratulations to the Yankees.

And so, the Phillies break my heart again.

Boo!

Mama, Dada

Spoiled Baby is doing great with picking up new syllables and is even doing well at associating those sounds with people and objects.

Dada is uttered a lot...baby girl just loves her daddy to pieces.

And the good news is that she's now saying "mama" a lot, as well. The bad news end of that? She says "dada" when she's happy, "mama" when she's whiny.

How the heck did that association happen?