Happy Birthday, Mimi!

My mom's birthday was last week and we had ice cream cake at my house after work.

Then this past weekend, we went to the beach with my sister's family and my mom and dad met us down there on Saturday for lunch, some hanging out, and dinner to continue on the birthday celebration. We were blessed with awesome weather - very high 60's in January. Most pictures below are from my mom - thanks for letting me steal them, mom!

 Quality of pictures below are not excellent but they cracked me up. This is the look Charlie gives me when he acts like a "drama queen" and needs me to hold him. I <3 him!

Hospital Underwear.

I heard about the hospital "mesh underwear" on a mommy board. It seemed women either hated them or loved them.



As you can see, I loved them so much that I brought six pairs home with me and wore them for weeks. They are like boy shorts but they're not cute and the waist band goes about 1 inch below your boobs. I think I liked them because they were comfy and didn't rub against my c-section scar like normal undies would.

So all you moms out there, were you a lover or a hater?

Sippy Cup Success

I've tried to have Charlie drink from a sippy up and he is FINALLY doing it. What did it take? A $15 sippy cup, that's all. (eye roll) This kid is going to be expensive something tells me. We got it at Buy Buy Baby and since he actually drinks from it, we went back and got two more using a coupon from Babies R Us (buy a sippy cup get one half off, score!).

Presenting the Thermos Foogo Sippy Cup (lippy part is very soft and squishy)

 Sippy in action

So Behind!

I feel like I haven't blogged in awhile and feel very behind on things. I know I'm probably the only one who cares but it still bugs me. I like to document whats going on so our family (and Charlie some day) can look back at the memories we created or just look at some random post that has absolutely no deep relevance to anything but mama blogged about it anyway!

I'll kick off the posting extravaganza with a couple pictures from the beach house about 3 weeks ago. We were supposed to come down for the weekend Rob's sister Kathy and Michael and Charlie's cousin Carla but that was around the time Charlie was going through the allergic reaction aftermath. So instead of coming for the weekend, we took a day trip for lunch and for a play date. I realized when I got home that I barely took any pictures (I hate when I do that - or don't do that, you know what I mean?!). So....here are a couple that I did capture of the cousins...

I'll kick off the posting extravaganza with a couple pictures from the beach house about 3 weeks ago. We were supposed to come down for the weekend Rob's sister Kathy and Michael and Charlie's cousin Carla but that was around the time Charlie was going through the allergic reaction aftermath. So instead of coming for the weekend, we took a day trip for lunch and for a play date. I realized when I got home that I barely took any pictures (I hate when I do that - or don't do that, you know what I mean?!). So....here are a couple that I did capture of the cousins...

Peekaboo! Charlie's New Game.

Charlie's new thing is hiding behind the curtains. He does this over and over again so I posted the shortest video of him doing this because its pretty much the same thing over and over again. :)

I Don't Like Change.

I've heard on multiple radio stations this morning and read on facebook about how the horoscope signs are a changing. Its due to stuff moving in the sky or something. If you want to get technical, read this.

In a nutshell, I am a Taurus now and I don't even know what it means. I'm too annoyed to read about what it means to be a Taurus. Don't get me wrong, I'm not all into astrology but when you go from happy to moody in 3.2 seconds, its awesome to have something to blame it on that is COMPLETELY outside my control. See, I used to be a Gemini and all you need to know is they have multiple personalities and something can set them off like you wouldn't believe. They also like to shop A LOT. And eat yummy food. They can't help it you see, because thats how they were born. It's really sad actually.

So...I'm not sure how to blame my behavior act now that I'm a Taurus.

Help me.

Did your sign change? Do you care? What has the world come to?!?!

I'm Back on the Market.

I joined my local "Las Madres" mom group to meet other moms with kids that were born in 2009. I joined a few months ago and only went to 1 very brief playdate and the Holiday Party at the Little Gym. I didn't really meet anyone at either event because Charlie was running around and I was chasing him to make sure he didn't get into any trouble or be too agressive with kissies to the other kids.

Last night my sister and I (who also has a kid who was born in 2009 and is part of the same mama's group) went to our first MNO, also known as "Mom's Night Out". We met at a mexican restaurant a couple towns over for dinner/drinks. I was looking forward to meeting some other moms sans kids since the kids make it a bit harder to actually have an interrupted conversation. I'm a bit of an introvert until I'm "comfortable" so I wasn't sure how the event was going to go. Ashley and I had a good time and it was nice to meet the other moms. There were only 9 of us so it was easier to have conversations than when there is a big group of people. Funny enough, one of the ladies used to work with my good friend, Jen.

I realized when I was there that meeting other mamas is very similar to dating. I hoped they liked me, thought I was smart/funny and had a decent fashion sense. I hope they also didn't notice the roll hanging over the top of my jeans. I wore a new necklace and new top and blew dry my hair. I thought "do we have anything in common?" and "I think we'd have a good time together." I didn't go to the MNO to find my new BFF (or life partner, ha!) but I was hoping to meet some ladies that not only had kids similar to Charlie's age but someone whose company I'd enjoy.

I think I'd like to go out and see them again. Hope they liked me. :)

Home is Where the Nerds Are.

I was driving home from work and peed my pants almost peed my pants. No, I'm not pregnant, I just had some tea before leaving on my 1 hour and 15 minute drive home and forgot to go to el bano beforehand. It rained about a millimeter so traffic was really bad. Horrible. As we were stopping and going, I tried to find a place to go potty off the freeway. I ended up stopping at a Mickey D's but as I was trying to find a place on my GPS, I found this.

I've never been to Nerdy Avenue but I think they'd like me there.

I'm Blaming Pottery Barn Kids.

In 2009, Charlie was ranked 274 in popularity on the Social Security Name Database. Babycenter.com is reporting Charlie is in the 64th spot for 2010. Sometime after Charlie was born, Pottery Barn Kids started having the name Charlie in their catalog. I just knew after that it would become more popular after that. They tend to have popular names broadcasted in their catalog. I didn't think Charlie was a popular name but I think its on the rise!

Another bummer (to me) is a few months ago they started using our second choice for a boy name in their catalog. I do not know anyone with the name but I'm thinking things are going to start to change! We probably do not need to think about baby names for awhile but that won't stop me from thinking about it anyway. I've had a "list" of names since high school. Its changed (a lot) over the years.

12 Month Dr.'s Appointment

We've been to the dr.'s too much lately bur thats ok. Today was Charlie's 12 month checkup. We finally got to see our regular pediatrician. She's hoping his skin will clear up in a week or so. With each day that passes, Charlie's skin is looking better and his personality is shining through. He's almost back to himself again.

Here are his stats:

Weight: 22 lbs 10 oz (50th percentile)
Height: 29.5 inches (55-60th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.25 inches (50th percentile)

Charlie's dr. is pretty sure he's going to be one of "those kids" with lots of allergies. She gave us a prescription for an epi pen to keep in the diaper bag in case he is exposed to peanuts. She told us to not give him any kind of nut. We're going to re-test his allergies when he is two. She said most kids who develop a peanut allergy early on in life, typically don't outgrow it. Bummer.

We received the green light to drop the formula and bring in the whole milk. She also wants us to start weaning him from the bottle. Sure, like thats gonna happen! Well, I guess we'll need to work on that but its not going to be fun. Maybe we can introduce a pacifier while we get rid of the bottle? Yeah, probably not a good idea at this point.

I realized the other day that the day he was supposed to have his birthday party was a year to the day that we took him home from the hospital. Freaky, eh?

Love.

Possibly the Saddest Birthday Ever.

Charlie turned 1 on Wednesday - I am still in shock. Deep breaths...

So around 3:45 am on his birthday, he wakes up (normal) but he wouldn't go back down to sleep (abnormal). I realized his diaper leaked and as I was changing his diaper, I noticed some red splotches on his body. Weird. I later realized he was wearing his new pjs from our friend Jen and thought maybe they were to blame (they were warm and 100% polyester). I figured it was a heat rash or a polyester allergy (don't laugh, I googled it and it exists). After Charlie woke up for good, I called the advice line and they told me to give him some baby benadryl. We did that and it wasn't getting better. I called our Dr. and they said to come in at 3:00 pm. Did I mention this is Charlie's birthday? Poor little guy.

Dr. tells me its probably an allergic reaction to Amoxicillan (not sure how to spell, will call it Amox going forward), the medication he was taking for his ear infection. She said to stop taking the Amox and call if it gets worse.

That night we still had my family, and my sister and her family over to celebrate and I use that term loosely. Charlie was not himself - he was not happy and he was tired.

I don't feel well, mama.

Rob made homemade spaghetti and meatballs and halfway through dinner, Charlie went to bed. We sang him happy birthday while he was upstairs sleeping. We ate his birthday cake and didn't save him any.

He hung out with us via monitor.

Mama, pretending to be happy.

He still hasn't opened up gifts other than the (awesome) unwrapped radio flyer wagon Mimi and Poppy brought over.

The next morning, Thursday, the rash/hives appeared a little worse and the Dr.'s office told me to come in at 11:00. We saw a different Dr. this time because Charlie's Dr. was off. She looked at Charlie, checked his heartrate, temp (102 degrees) and said we need a plan of attack, and  take him to the Emergency Room now. No one, especially no mama, wants to hear that.

So off I went with a sense of urgency and waited an hour before we were seen by anyone. Rob met me at the ER and we were finally released 5 hours after getting there. They pumped Charlie with a bunch of drugs, gave us a prescription for a steroid and told us to go home because they've done all they can. They too think its probably the Amox.

So here we are three days later, keeping our little monkey at home so he can rest up. He's slowly acting more like himself but he gets moody pretty quickly and tired. He still has hives all over his body. Some areas are clearing up but he's still very red and welt-y. We were supposed to have a birthday party today at Rob's parents house with his side of the family but we cancelled it, and we cancelled his "friends" birthday party tomorrow. We're hoping to have birthday celebration do-overs within the next month.

Please think of Charlie and send over some Get Well Soon Vibes if you have any to spare. :)

Charlie in his hospital gown.