Lunch lady
I went home for lunch yesterday. Greta decided she wanted cereal for lunch, so we fixed her up with some Toasted Os (’cause we’re too cheap to buy name brands!) and I heated up the leftover spaghetti for myself. I sat down next to her on the couch and started eating…..and then she noticed what I had. The rest of my lunch was consumed with Greta so plastered up against me that I could barely move. “Bite! Bite!” As soon as she swallowed one stolen bite she’d immediately start in again, leaning in hard and repeating “Bite!” until I’d give her another. I swear a couple of times she even started chewing on the side of the bowl when I would take too long serving up her next bite.
Certainly not a shining example of good manners, but it was a pretty entertaining meal. Hmm…reading over this again, it doesn’t really come across as funny. It really was though, I promise. I guess you had to be there. Or I need to be a better writer to convey what was so funny about it. Oh well, at least I have it recorded here so I can look back on it and laugh, even if nobody else does. That’s what this is really for anyway. 
Add comment February 4, 2010
heather333
Two months after the fact…
Greta’s a big sister! Darcy arrived on November 30 and I think Greta may be the proudest and most excited of anyone. Darcy is now the only person in our house that is special enough to get kisses from Greta on a regular basis. The rest of us are just chopped liver. I’m very surprised and pleased with how well Greta seems to have adjusted to having a new little one around. I was so afraid it would be all bad with lots of jealousy. So far it’s been great, though. I’m crossing my fingers that it holds!
Add comment February 3, 2010
heather333
Bad Mama
I’m a terrible blog mama. I start a blog for my baby girl and then totally abandon it. Oh well, I guess that’s better than totally abandoning the baby! Really she’s not so much a baby anymore. She runs everywhere. We took the side off of her crib and turned it into a toddler bed. She has lots of words that she uses regularly. She doesn’t string them together yet, but she can definitely let us know what she wants or what she sees. I guess the biggest sign that she’s not so much a baby anymore is that in just a month or so, she’s going to be the big sister. There will be a new baby girl in our house and I wonder how it’s all going to play out. Nothing to do but wait and see. We’ll deal with the challenges as they arise, just like we have so far.
Add comment November 4, 2009
heather333
Tags: babies, sibling, talking, toddler
Small victories
So, we have a bit of success on the sleep front. Ira can now lay her down in her crib and she’ll go to sleep on her own! Yes, there are times were he has to go back in, lay her back down, give her back the binkie, and cover her back up several times, but it’s still amazing that it’s happening. I still can’t get her to sleep, though. If I try to just lay her in her crib and leave…watch out. A screaming fest will surely follow.
She’s really trying hard to be mobile in the upright fashion. Crawling is for the weak, apparently. Oh, she’ll do it, because it gets her where she wants to go, but there are times you can tell it makes her mad. I just love watching her determination in action. She’s so strong and focused. I hope she keeps those traits and learns to use them well.
Add comment September 15, 2008
heather333
Tags: babies, developement, milestones, spirited
Terrible Knucklehead!
Good grief, my child has such a temper! She’s a little over 8 months old and when something doesn’t go her way, she throws the most awful red-faced, screaming, crying fit you’ve ever seen. Is it normal for a baby under a year to have temper tantrums? I didn’t think those started until they were closer to the “terrible twos.” Holy crap….I’m scared to see what the twos will be like.
I feel bad for my husband, who is the stay-at-home-parent for Greta. He just doesn’t have that soothing, comforting mama touch that has a shot at calming her down. I feel sorry for Greta, because she already has to learn that you can’t always get what you want. I feel a little self-pity, too, just because I can.
I wish there was some way for us to both be home with her. She’s much easier to handle when we can tag-team her. I suppose there’s some way… I wonder if I could really make a living selling something like Mary Kay? I think I’ll have to start pondering that more. I don’t know if I could ever be brave enough to actually do it, though. I think I’d be terrified to not have a steady, reliable paycheck.
Speaking of paychecks, I should get back to work.
Add comment September 4, 2008
heather333
Tags: babies, parenting, spirited child, temper, temper tantrums, wahm, work at home
Odds and ends
I don’t really have much in mind to write about today, but I’m trying to remember to write something at least every few days. Otherwise I’ll forget all about this blog and writing in general. But hark, the girl child awakens from her nap and interrupts the writing process… False alarm, still napping, but I’m having a hard time coming back to the idea of writing. The gladitorial match between the dog and the cat that’s taking place behind me isn’t helping me concentrate.
Ok, here’s something: We took Greta to the World’s Fair in Mokane, MO on Saturday so she could see the cloggers. She seemed duely impressed. 
Of course, as you can see, they do have big, floofy, yellow dresses to admire, so who wouldn’t be impressed?
Also, on Saturday, I remembered to try the dress on Greta that my parents got in Sicily when they lived there in 1973 while Dad was in the Navy. It’s a little big still, but I think it resulted in a pretty good picture.
Ok, I’ve done a tiny bit of writing now, and experimented with the picture adding function, so I guess I can call my work here done today. Plus, Ira just got back from grocery shopping, so I should let him have the computer for a while. I may be back later.
Add comment September 1, 2008
heather333
Tags: babies, cloggers, fair, mokane, sicily
Poem seed
I have a little bit running in my head for a poem about Greta. Something to do with eyes of blue fire/flashing eyes…something like that. It’s been a year or two or six since I wrote poetry. Top that with I’ve never been great at writing about happier things. That probably adds up to a poem that will never get written. At least I put the seed down here, though. Maybe I’ll be able to come back to it and give it a little water now and again. Something decent might bloom.
Eyes of flashing blue fire
storing everything they see.
Now and then a look so
foreign enters them
my breath leaves me.
Add comment August 28, 2008
heather333
Tags: babies, parenting, poetry
Slumber interrupted
Being a parent is causing me to constantly question myself.
Sleep issues seem to be my biggest concern. In part, it’s because how well your baby sleeps seems to be the standard by which people judge your parenting skill. So, the fact that my girly girl isn’t the best sleeper in the world makes me feel inferior. It’s the first thing people ask you… “Gettin’ any sleep?” “Is she sleeping through the night yet?” Yes, maybe they’re just trying to make conversation and don’t really know what else to ask, but it sure feels judgmental when you’re the one being asked that at least once a day.
For the first four or five months, I was able to happily reply, “Yes, we sleep pretty well, thanks.” Unfortunately, I’m not able to say that as often any more. She has nights where she cries out several times a night. I don’t think she’s actually awakening most of the time, but it sure as heck wakes me up. The bad nights are probably not really as frequent as they seem, but when you’re in the thick of things, it sure seems awful.
I know these bad nights are usually attributable to something as simple as getting ready to reach a new milestone like crawling or walking. I also know that none of this will last forever. It’s hard to always keep that in mind, though. As a mom, I feel the need to DO something to help my baby when she’s unhappy. I also can’t help but constant wonder if it’s my fault somehow when she has a few bad nights.
Should I be putting her to bed earlier? Should I have her sleeping in her own bed instead of sharing ours? That’s a pretty controversial question, I know, which makes me question my decision on it all the more. Then there are all the questions I have about getting her to sleep in the first place. Maybe she’s just not that tired, but I know she is. Maybe her diaper’s wet, but I just changed her not that long ago. Maybe she’s hungry, but I just tried that, too.
Maybe it just boils down to the fact that she doesn’t want to sleep. She’s always so alert and ready for an adventure. I think she views sleep and a terrible interruption of the fascinating explorations she’s always undertaking. She’s just so intense in her feelings, that it amazes me. How can such a little thing who’s only been here such a short time have such strong feelings about her likes and dislikes?
One thing is for sure, life with Greta will never be boring!
Add comment August 28, 2008
heather333
Tags: babies, parenting, sleep, spirited
Ready, Set, Grow!
So, all the cool moms have a blog dedicated to their baby, right? Of couse I want to jump right on that bandwagon. Anyway, I like to write and blogging is a great way to get some writing in. I guess my organizational side needs this to be a different journal than the other one I have. Greta the Great needs her own space. When your personality is as big as hers, you can’t just be a random entry stuck in here and there on mommy’s other blog. So, here we go…she may already be 8-months-old, but it’s never too late to start, right?
Add comment August 25, 2008
heather333
Tags: baby, blogging
