Standing Up

Tree Faerie just stood for at least 3 seconds unsupported! That is, she was standing when I looked up at her, and I counted 3 seconds before she plopped down. My baby is growing up!

Speaking of growing up, we figured out why Tree Faerie is refusing to eat the baby food - she wants to feed herself! She doesn't want someone else shoveling food in for her. So, I'm off to research easy finger foods for babies who do not have teeth yet.

Hopefully I can help mold this headstrong personality into something good. :)

Another Week from Hell

Maybe it's just my mood this week, but after thrush, a stomach virus, not eating, and now a stuffy nose that makes her crabby, this week has been rough! I'm ready for it to just be over with already so we can start anew! I've got a call in to the doctor's office again because she's still not eating solid foods, and they told me on Tuesday that if she's not eating them by today, call again.

I guess I need to be more specific. As of last night, she won't take baby food or yogurt or anything from a spoon, but she ate a bunch of sweet corn puffs just fine. I let her eat a bunch of them because that was the first time she's taken them in a week. She'll take a bite or two from a spoon, then reject the rest. And I don't know why! That's the hard part. I don't know what's wrong or what to do about it. And if I hear one more time, "It's just a phase she's going through," I'm going to scream. Last week when she started refusing the food, I thought it was just a phase, but Thursday came and we discovered it wasn't just a phase. Tree Faerie had thrush. Or should I say HAS thrush. And now I have it, too. ON MY NIPPLES! Not comfortable at all! Of course, had I followed instructions before yesterday and used Tree Faerie's medicine like I was told to, I wouldn't be having this problem. But because I'm forgetful/lazy/wasn't-showing-any-symptoms, I didn't do that. Hindsight is 20/20, right?

Tuesday evening I also discovered I had send my mother-in-law on a wild goose chase. Thus far I've been lucky enough to be given clothes for Tree Faerie. Well, she's growing out of her 6-9 month clothing, and I have a bunch of 12 month clothing, but I only had a handful of clothing that said 9 month. My mother-in-law loves buying clothes for Tree Faerie, so I told her we needed 9-12 month clothing. When I saw her this past weekend, she told me she couldn't find any 9-12 month clothing, only 12 month clothing.

While I was at Wal-Mart on Tuesday, I figured I'd check on getting fall outfits for Tree Faerie in 9-12 month size. I looked at every rack, and you know what I didn't find? 9-12 month clothing! They had 0-3 month, 3-6 month, 6-9 month, then the next size up I could find was 12 month clothing. I thought I was just confused, so I called up Random Faerie, because if anyone would know, she would. I had to leave her a voicemail, so I immediately called my best friend from Upward Bound, BJS. The conversation went something like this:

BJS: Hello?

Me: I know this is going to sound like a really silly question, but I have to ask someone.

BJS: What?

Me: Do they make 9-12 month clothing? Because I'm standing here in Wal-Mart, and I see 6-9 month clothing and 12 month clothing, but no 9-12 month clothing.

BJS: (laughter)

Me: Seriously! What am I supposed to put her in if she grows out of the 6-9 month clothing but is still too small for 12 month clothing?

BJS: (still laughing) The 12 month clothing should fit once she grows out of the 9 month clothing.
Me: And her clothes won't be falling off of her?

BJS: (still laughing) No, they won't fall off of her. They may be a little loose, but they're designed to cover a range of sizes.

My friend then goes on to explain the sizing and that at some stores they still make 9 -12 month clothing. After I hung up with her, I called my mother-in-law and apologized for sending her on a wild goose chase. Later, Random Faerie called me back and explained the sizing further. Because I needed to re-evaluate what we actually needed in terms of clothing for Tree Faerie, I went upstairs and grabbed the box of 12 month clothing and sorted it. Guess what I discovered... Some of the tags have measurements on them, like 19-22 pounds or something like that, plus the length measurements.

Sometimes I can be a complete and total dingbat. And it's good to know my friends still know how to laugh at me when I need it.

She's Sick Again

Apparently Tree Faerie has a stomach bug, so she can't go to daycare today. I won't go into details, but lets just say she had to have a bath and I had to have a shower. This is on top of having Thrush, so I still get to give her the medicine. I did call and talk to the nurse this morning to make sure it wasn't just a reaction to the medicine. It wasn't. So, here I sit at home, trying to get actual work done when I get the chance and trying to make the most of the day. Tree Faerie is currently napping, which I used to my advantage and got one report for work finished.

We had a good weekend. DTTF competed in a taekwando tournament on Saturday and placed 3rd in his division. Sadly, there were only 3 people in his division. He keeps saying that it's the first time he's ever won a medal for losing. I'm still proud of him for getting out there and doing it.

Sunday we held the Harvest Home celebration for our Outer Court here, and it went really well. We made an awesome grape cider that is now my new favorite drink. DTTF says I can only have it once a year though. Otherwise it wouldn't be special for Harvest Home. I can respect that, but man, it was delicious! I doubled the recipe this year, but next year I think I'll double what I made this time. It was gone entirely too quickly!

Wonder Women

Ack! The other day Carrie awarded me with a Wonder Woman Award, and I almost forgot! Thank you so much, Carrie!

There are so many women out there that I think deserve a Wonder Woman Award, so I decided I'd limit myself to 5. So, in no particular order:

Random Faerie - She is my best female friend and has always been an inspiration to me. She's a wonderful mother and a fabulous wife and friend. She was one of the inspirations for starting this blog, since I've been reading hers for years.

Manic Mommy - Another inspiration for this blog, Manic has made me laugh and cry for over a year with her anecdotes about her children and her life.

Carrie - of course! With 6 kids (7 if you count her husband!) it amazes me how she manages to keep their lives running together while her sanity stays intact (or at least mostly)! Now that she's started investigating noises (or lack there-of) with the camera ready, her once-funny posts are now hilarious!

Monnik - A great mom with wonderful stories and great causes! And she manages to find the time and energy to RUN! Intentionally, no less!

Writer Girl - Her strength and compassion make me want to be a better person. She has taken the trials and tribulations given to her and has made it work.

My list could go on and on. In fact, if you'll just take a peek at the women listed under my blogroll (titled: Women Who Rock!), all of those women deserve a Wonder Woman Award! That's why I read them every chance I get!

It's Only Thursday!

All week long I have been trying to make it a day later than it actually is and was very disappointed this morning when I took my little pink pill and saw that it was only Thursday. I’m swamped at work because I’m trying to get a report done before deadline, but I didn’t get the information I needed 2 weeks ago until Tuesday. Thus the quietness. Thank you all so much for the compliments. If this thing does take off, then I already have a plan for where I want it to go. Turns out DTTF has always wanted to have a t-shirt-making business and has lots of great ideas. For those of you who have said you may be interested, just contact me at any time. I can also do custom t-shirts. I’ve been looking at the capped-sleeve t-shirts for ladies, and I really like them. I have a couple of designs in my head that I may go ahead and put on one of those shirts.

Anyway, I’m rambling. I don’t have long, so I better get to my points.

Tree Faerie has started climbing stairs. We have 15 stairs from the first floor to the second floor, and the last time I let her try scaling them, she made it up to the 7^th stair before her legs just wouldn’t push her up to another step. It was so cute! Of course, I was crawling up the stairs right behind her so that she couldn’t fall.

I bought Tree Faerie a pair of shoes. I did some research to find out what size she needed and found a lovely scale online that can be printed out, so I printed it, verified the measurements, then measured her feet with it. She’s a size 2! I had 2 pairs of size 2 that were given to me, but both were sandals (I have like 10 pair of size 3s!). I put one pair on her, but she didn’t seem too crazy about them, and I really wanted a pair of sneakers for her. When we went to Target the other day, I found the baby shoes and tried putting on a couple of different pairs of really cute shoes, but Tree Faerie wouldn’t uncurl her toes so I could put the shoes I really, really liked on her feet. Of course, they weren’t sneakers, but they were a soft leather Mary Jane type with silicone grips on the bottom that I thought would help her transition from crawling to walking. She wasn’t having any of it. She didn’t complain, but she finally started pulling her foot away from me and simply refused to uncurl her fat little toes. I ended up finding a really cute pair of white sneakers for pretty cheap that I actually managed to stick her feet into and had her wear them around the store until I was done shopping. She didn’t complain, so I bought them. She wore them to daycare yesterday and seemed to have no problems with the shoes, though she didn’t pull up on anything. That could be seen as a pro or a con.

I am going to send a sippy cup to daycare so that she can start getting used to drinking from one, because when she switches to the toddler room in 3.5 months, she won’t be ‘allowed’ to drink from a bottle and ‘must’ have a sippy cup. (The quotations are used because that’s what one of the teachers said, but I don’t know what the actual policies are.) Now, she drinks water just fine from my cup, and she can kind-of drink from a straw, but she just doesn’t drink from the sippy cup. Instead, she plays with it. So, I’m going to send a cup with her so they can start giving her water in it, and hopefully in the next 3 months she’ll adjust to it.

Oh, and after sending her in shoes yesterday, I was told that the kids ‘have’ to wear shoes in the toddler room, so it was good that I was trying to get her used to them now. This was told to me by a different teacher. Now, I’m naturally rebellious, and so when I’m told I have to do something, I automatically want to do the opposite. So, instead of bucking up against it, I had a conversation with myself which pointed out that I had put the plan into motion before I found out it was ‘required’, so it’s still my idea.

Okay, that about sums it up. Cross your fingers that I get this report done (and done correctly).

When Creative Juices Flow

Since designing the onesies for DTTF's first Father's Day, I have opened myself to the opportunity to make custom onesies. A friend requested that I make a set of 5 (because I can get a pack of 5 onesies) for a friend of his who is due in October. He made this request several months ago, but he didn't let me know what he wanted on them until recently because he was letting the mother decide what she wanted them to say.

When he forwarded me the email from her, it only listed the words she wanted on there, which I accepted as permission to take artistic license and run with the ideas. Now, to give you a bit of background, the father is the lead singer for the industrial Goth band Razed In Black, so I took a lot of inspiration from that.

I was really proud of how well they turned out. My husband acted as my muse while I was designing these, and the final product exceeded my own expectations. As a Virgo, that's quite and accomplishment. Since I don't have the Faerychild Creations site up yet, I decided I'd go ahead and post the pictures here. So, without further ado...

Tori Amos

I couldn't find a logo of hers that I liked, so I made my own from a picture I found on her website. I've already had requests for t-shirt production, but I need to check on the legalities before mass-producing them. This one is my favorite.

Romell's Mini-Me

Romell is the father's name. If you check out the Razed In Black site, you can see the original of the picture that inspired this. I just inverted it and cleaned it up a bit. This one is my second favorite from the onesies I just completed.

My Dad is the Guy from Razed In Black

That says it all, no?

Mommy's Little Miracle

Baby Ears with Feet

There was a background story for why she wanted these last two, but I don't remember it right now.

So, if you'd like custom onesies, please either leave a comment below or email me at andrea at faerychildcreations dot com so that we can discuss the options. I would prefer to do 5 at a time, but I can make individual ones as well. My current pricing is one for $8 or 5 for $30. Designs will be approved before completion. At the moment, shipping will be done through the US Postal Service.

Overheard

In the office today:

"Someday I'm going to have to crawl under my desk and pick up my husband..."

And what would YOU have said in response?

I just tried to contain my laughter. :)

8 Months

Dear Tree Faerie,

I'm almost a week late with typing your 8 month letter because I wasn't sure how I wanted to sum everything up. You are such a joy to have around, and you are definitely active. There is never a dull moment when you're awake.

This past month has been a very mobile one. I rarely put you in the playpen when I need to get something done. Instead, I let you crawl around on the floor, though I did put the cat bowls up on the table because you wanted to empty all the cat food onto the floor (or into your mouth) and play in the water. You never actually ATE the cat food, thanks to our quick reflexes, but Storm was not pleased with you playing in her food and water. Since picking the bowls up, you've had a lot more free reign of the house. I still practice "active parenting" and can tell where you are and what you're doing by the noises I hear or don't hear.



You've begun to express your opinion more and more. Any time you're playing with something your not allowed, or when you want to play with something you're not allowed, you throw a fit. Sometimes you throw a down-right Tantrum. It's very obvious that you are M A D and that you want us to know it! I let you throw your tantrums, because there are just some things that I refuse to give ground on. Sometimes I even laugh at you.

I do not laugh at you when you bump your head, though. Your poor forehead has been covered in bruises since you've been pulling up more. Uh-oh is the phrase we use now when you fall, because if you're not really hurting, you laugh. If you are hurting, you'll crawl over to me for snuggles. Now that you're better at pulling up and sitting back down, you don't fall as often, but you seem to fall harder, and sadly, you bruise just like Grams, who's red hair you inherited. Instant, angry bruises appear on your noggin and fade through various rainbows before disappearing completely. The bruise on your right temple seems to be nearly permanent, though, because as soon as the old one starts to fade, you get a new on in the exact same spot. Note bruise on right temple below.

We've moved on to stage 2 foods now. You've tried all the meats and veggies, and you've tried all the fruits that don't have added sugar. We'll work on those slowly, but I'd like to avoid having them as part of your regular diet. You usually eat whatever we offer you, unless it's tart or you're constipated. When we offer you tart things, you make the cutest face, and you'll take about 2 more bites of it, then refuse after the third time your face has contorted. I'm not moving you up to stage 3 foods for a little while, partially because you have no teeth yet. I did feed you rice from my plate at El Mezcal the other night, though, and you loved it.

Sleeping has been an interesting adventure, especially since you came down with another ear infection this month. We actually managed to give you the antibiotics for 8 of the 10 days, but on the 8th day, I somehow managed to throw the rest of your medicine in the floor. Since the infection has cleared up, other issues have arisen. You seem to suffer from night terrors. It's not every night, but on some nights, you will be fast asleep and suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream. You're inconsolable at that point and have to be completely woken up to stop. You really scared Nana when you did it while she was babysitting. She had come over to play with you while your daddy and I went to see Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween. Your daddy had warned her that you sometimes had night terrors, but being told is much different than experiencing it for the first time. You scared her! She managed to get you awake and calmed down, after which you were fine and went back to sleep.

You've developed your own sleep schedule, too, and there's rarely a night when you sleep for more than 4 hours straight. You go to bed between 9 and 10, then you wake up once before midnight, once between 2 and 3, once between 5 and 6, then you get up for good around 7. I'm actually getting used to this schedule, sadly, though I've got to figure out how to change this pattern. We've also learned over the past month not to let you have a 7PM nap, otherwise you don't want to go to bed. You don't mind nursing, but you don't want to go to sleep. So, I end up rocking you until you just can't keep those beautiful baby blues open anymore.

You clap, blow kisses, and play peek-a-boo with a blanket. Granted, I'm the one covering you or myself, and you're the one uncovering. You love to play, though.

You and your daddy have come up with some interesting games to play. He's such a wonderful daddy!

You also still love to hear him play guitar and have even started trying to play the guitar, too!

I'm certain you'll be walking before the end of the next month, because you've already started cruising the coffee table and even practicing only holding on with one hand. You'll take steps if you're holding on to someones hands.

You're a ham for the camera and have even tried taking the camera from me. I'm not sure what you're planning to do with it once you get it, but I'm pretty sure it involves slobber, therefore you don't get to play with the camera. You're terribly cute, though.

Every month seems to be more fun and interesting than the last. I can hardly wait to see what will happen next. I have one favor to ask, though...

Please don't be in such a hurry to grow up. I like you being my baby, but pretty soon, you're going to be my toddler. Please let me snuggle you and tickle you and smoogle you just a little longer before you start pushing away.

I love you, Tree Faerie!

XOXOXO,

Mommy

Forever Remembered

The girl of yesteryear seems so far away from the woman I am now.

I awoke before my boyfriend left for work. After kissing him bye and seeing him off, I went back to bed. The TV was on, but I wasn't paying any attention - at least not when the broadcast first started. I wasn't a big fan of the news programs. The phone rang, and it was the temp service asking me to go to an interview the next day. I took down the information, excited at the possibility that this job may last longer than the last assignment they gave me. Money was money, though, and I had my fingers crossed.

Something about the news broadcast caught my attention. It could have been the broadcaster's tone of voice, or maybe it was the image of the burning building. I turned up the TV.

And watched as the other tower was hit.

For a few minutes I pondered the possibility that I was asleep and dreaming. The phone rang again.

"Are you watching this?" he said to me.

All I could think of to say was, "Is this for real?"

I don't remember the rest of the conversation, only I made sure to tell him I loved him just in case. I still do a lot of "just in case" things. At the time, though, I was 21, unemployed, and had just moved in with my boyfriend of 3 months in Memphis, TN. I was totally in love with him but very insecure and wounded from my last relationship. I was unsure about a lot of things in life, and the images on the TV only roused my insecurities even more.

I stayed glued to the TV the rest of the morning. It still seemed unreal. I followed the stories, investigations, rescues, and clean-up for a long time. I checked on the few friends I had in NYC. I mourned for those who lost loved ones. I prayed for them to have the means to find peace through their grief.

I went on the interview the next day and got the job. That job eventually let me to where I am now. I married the boyfriend, and now we have a beautiful baby girl who's growing faster than I can blink. The world moved on, and certain events were set into motion. And today I emailed a Marine to let him/her know that I appreciate they job they are doing.

If you'd like to email them, all it takes is 2 seconds. I literally typed two sentences and hit send. Here's the email that inspired me:

Send a Marine an E-Mail

"US Marine Colonel Simcock, the commander of USMC Regimental Combat Team 6 in Iraq, is asking for 6,000 positive emails to his Marines.

That's one email for each Marine in his RCT command. COL Simcock is concerned about the effect of the negative barrage that those Marines are getting through the electronic media. I've attached an excerpt from an interview with him. So far, they've only mustered 2,000 emails. That's a crying shame compared to the amount of crap I get daily in email.

"This is a legitimate request. It's not one of the "little Johnny wants to break the world's record in Christmas cards" situations. It takes only 30 seconds of your time. Here's the address:

RCT-6lettersfromh@gcemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil

"If you're reading this email, then you can probably click on the address, type a few words, and then hit "send" to be all done.It doesn't have to be the Gettysburg Address. Something as simple as "Hello, Marine. We thank you for what you're doing. You are in a noble task. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Best wishes & get home soon" is more than sufficient.

Great Weekend

Just a quick note to say ZZ Top ROCKED, and I had a great weekend with my parents and Tree Faerie. I'm also feeling better emotionally/mentally and will post about it soon. I also have to post Tree Faerie's 8 month letter, but I'm so swamped today that it's not going to happen. So, more to come...

Don't Look Too Deep

I don't want to post today. I don't want to open up my head and start pouring things out, because today I think we'd have a flood, both of words and of tears. It's not just one thing but a conglomerate of things that have all built up and need to come out, but I just don't want to open the door.

So I'm not going to.

I doubt I'll be around during the next couple of days because my parents are coming to visit either tonight or tomorrow morning. Mom is going to the ZZ Top concert with me tomorrow night. They'll be leaving Saturday morning to be back in time for Pop to go to work, but we'll have all day Friday together, too. I'm glad they're coming to visit. I'm glad they get to see Tree Faerie. I'm also glad they're leaving on Saturday so I can have Sunday to recoup.

That's all. I'm done. If I type anymore, that door will open. Peace out, bloggerland!

New Issues

Friday night, DTTF and I went to see the Rob Zombie version of the movie Halloween that just came out in theaters. We both love horror flicks and used to see a lot of them in the theater in order to get the full experience. We've seen considerably fewer movies in the theater in the past 2 years.

The movie was pretty good overall. It was classic Rob Zombie - verbally foul, over-the-top family dysfunction, and some scenes were too drawn out. He did a really good job re-telling the story in a way that made the viewer sympathize with Michael Myers, or at least this viewer did.

While watching the first 30 minutes or so of the movie, I discovered I have new issues. I want the world to be happy and sparkly for my child, and my heart breaks with the knowledge that it's not. It caused such anxiety in me that apparently I whimpered. DTTF actually thought we'd have to leave because of the way I reacted to the beginning of the movie.

I won't give away any spoilers, just in case any of you out there in bloggerland like horror movies, but I feel the need to elaborate on certain points. I feel like I really need to work this out so that I don't completely box ourselves into a happy, sparkly world of my creation and end up not preparing my daughter for the real world.

Verbal abuse - I cannot stand verbal and emotional abuse. To me it can be worse than physical abuse, though I know that physical abuse is most often coupled with verbal and emotional abuse. Physical wounds heal a lot better and a lot quicker than emotional wounds. Emotional wounds can fester without being seen and become so infected that there's no turning back. I've never been what I consider physically abused, but I have been emotionally abused. An ex of mine saw that vulnerability and the old emotional scars and used that to his advantage. More than 6 years later, I'm still discovering wounds that haven't completely healed. I don't want this for my daughter. I don't want my daughter to ever be subjected to that kind of pain. I want her to be headstrong and secure within herself. She's already proving to be headstrong in a lot of ways. I'm just hoping I can help her become secure within herself, an ability I STILL have not mastered.

Neglect - Neglect can come in many different forms - not commending a child on a job well done, not listening to or even asking about a child's day, even not teaching a child discipline. While yes, my daughter is only 8 months old (almost), I have theories and views based on my own upbringing and based on the experiences of those around me. I plan to raise my child on the basis of these theories and views. If not enough attention and guidance is shown during the early years, how can one expect to be any guidance during the teen years, one of the most crucial times in a person's life. I've heard so many parents say about their teen, "I don't know what happened! They just won't listen to me no matter what I do!" I'm hoping to avoid that as much as possible. I know some of that is simply part of having a teen, but I also have high hopes that it doesn't have to be a disastrously stressful situation.

I know I'm just a baby-mom when it comes to raising a child because I haven't had to experience the fullness yet, but I have a game-plan. I had part of the game-plan before we planned to have Tree Faerie. Since she was born, however, much more of the game-plan has been formed because of the emotional changes I've been through. It's a flexible game-plan because I had to leave room for Tree Faerie to develop her own personality, her own strengths and weaknesses. Some of the plays have already been executed, some I have to wait and see if they're going to work for us. Tree Faerie makes me want to be a better person, especially since I'm responsible for guiding her into adulthood.

I also accept that she is going to be herself no matter what I do, and because she has free will and must make her own choices, I also have to accept that she may not turn out the way I want her to. I'll still love her, though.