Family Day

Claire, her daddy, and I do a lot of family days, even if it's just for part of a day. We're big on the park...Northwest Regional most often.

Claire's daddy likes for he and I to walk into daycare together so we can watch Claire's expression when she sees both of us. We also like to peek in on her and watch her before she sees us. Today she was dramatically putting a lei around her neck. Yes, my heart bursts frequently at these little moments.

I changed Claire into shorts while we were at daycare and we all headed to the park. As usual, I need Jess to accompany me because my camera was nowhere in sight...blah. But we had fun w/Claire's new push car.



Of course she's not satisfied w/just a simple ride. Daddy has to "pop wheelies" and push her around at a high rate of speed. She is such a daredevil! (Clairedevil)

I also made a cheap but great purchase...BUBBLE GUN!!!!



I think...um...maybe, um, Mommy might like this just as much (um, more) than Claire. We sent bubbles all over the immediate vicinity and Claire popped them as she rode in her car.

Over to the playground...yeah, use your imagination. She loves it, and her daddy and I get a great workout...one of us posted up in the apparatus and one on the ground on constant Claire duty.

Off to Starbucks for refreshments and then to Giant to shop for dinner food. Her daddy spotted the donut peaches among the produce.



He hands it to Claire and says, look claire, a donut peach! Before I can get "Don't let her hold that!!!" out of my mouth, my munchkin has already taken a healthy bite out of the unwashed, unbought peach. Sigh. Needless to say we bought it and took it home. That child ate it down to the pit. She's a fruit addict. I wish I could get her to eat veggies like that.

So then the little dirtball was deposited into the bathtub and then off to her room for story time. Daddy read her some books while Claire performed her usual method w/the "Touch and Feel" books. She must touch all the surfaces w/her foot. Yes, she has some obsession w/her foot.

Then sleep baby went to bed.

These are the days that I love more than anything. This is what I want more than anything. I just have to trust that God has the plan on how things are to be. I do love and cherish my "family," no matter how unconventional we may be.

Clairedevil

Clairedevil. That's the newly adopted word for daredevil. She's going to kill me. She's also going to end up in the emergency room before she's 2.

My childhood friend, Jodi, and I took our girls to Centennial Park today for a play date. After buttering Claire up in sunscreen and plopping her in her stroller, we headed toward one of the awesome playgrounds on the south side of the park. It was a great space...lots of slides, a rock climbing wall, stepping stones, the works. I watched as my daughter's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I knew I was in for it.

She immediately wants to climb up the steps and walk across a path made of horizontal rails. Of course there was about a foot of space between each one, but girlfriend didn't care. I held on to her and she hopped across. God bless Jodi...she ran after her through the equipment while I stood watch on the ground ready to catch her if (ha, when) she fell.

Jodi and Ava (who will turn 2 on my birthday :-), June 7) were sitting nicely on a blanket under a tree blowing bubbles. I tried repeatedly to lure Claire back to the blanket with promises of saltines (her new obsession). She simply grabbed the cracker and headed back to the field of dreams.

Then there was the last straw. She climbed up the steps and walked over to a slide she'd been down before. I quickly ran to the bottom of that slide and ordered her, as always, to SIT ON THE BUM! Then she pulled a fast one on me...she ran PAST that side and over to the OTHER slide. I didn't take pics today (I'm so not good at that...I need Jessica along so she can be my personal photographer). But I did an image search and found a comparable slide. This is pretty much the slide my 23 pound, 32 inch, 18-month-old slid down on completely by herself as I watched in horror.




As she ran back over to me, I grabbed her and immediately strapped her into her stroller and told Jodi we had to get the heck away from the playground NOW. We headed over to the pavilion so the girls could play in shade. My daughter, of course, immediately starts jumping off of all the ledges of the pavilion. Jodi looks at me and laughs. Sigh.

After we got back home, we were about an hour late for our nap, and Claire outright refused to go down for me. Grrrrrr. By 7:30, she was a fuss pot. I took her out on our balcony so she could play w/her toys as I sat and enjoyed the weather. I have to leave the screen door open enough so she can wander in and out as she pleases (otherwise, she has a hissy fit...I can see you shaking your head, mom, I know). Well, Miss Ma'am goes into the apartment and re-emerges five minutes later wearing a sweater, a bib, and my clean underwear slung over her neck. And that, my friends, is The Claire.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!!!

Silly Girl

I spend a lot of time correcting Claire while having to turn my head away so she doesn't see me laugh. The child is such a character. Now when she climbs up on something she shouldn't (like every other minute), she looks at me, smiles and says, "Hi!" Yeah, hi yourself, wild child.

You know those letters you buy for the bathtub that stick on the wall? Well, tonight *someone* got the letter "I" stuck up the faucet. Mommy had to perform faucet surgery and after five minutes and many sighs, retrieved the poor "I" with her eyebrow tweezers.

And we are definite Elmo's World addicts here at Willow Bend Drive. We were watching the Elmo's World about water for the second time, and for the second time when small children were demonstrating how they swim in water, Claire laughed like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. Not sure what about little kids in a pool strikes her as funny, but it is hilarious watching her just laugh and laugh at that.

She's an absolute trip, and I'm just along for the ride :-)

babyness

1. congratulations, laura, greg, and victoria on the arrival of baby boy ramsey!!! and congrats to i believe jess, who called the date right!!!

2. i post a LOT about Claire's food, I know. But i gotta tell ya, i had been buying the "health is wealth" brand organic chicken nuggets because they carry them at my Giant. however, in venturing to safeway (i usually steer clear because they're often pricey), i found Ian's brand, and their organic chicken nuggets are SO GOOD. Yes, I eat her leftovers. I justify the price because Claire eats about 1 1/2 nuggets at one sitting (I make two and mommy eats what she doesn't), so the box lasts us quite a long time. LOVE THEM! They're breaded w/panko..mmmmmmmmmmm



3. bought the car seat sun cover i had e-mailed a few friends about....researched for the best price and found it at bed bath & beyond (online though...couldn't find it in store). will let you know if it's worth it!



4. we survived a respiratory virus this week, and probably against doctor's wishes, i cut the breathing treatments short. i'm usually very pro-modern medicine, but the albuterol made claire hyper to the point of almost being violent, and because this was a virus and not asthma, i felt confident the mucus would break up on its own (i also run the humidifier in her room to help that along). so no more breathing treatments. she is hardly coughing, no fever since monday, and is sleeping and eating well.

5. one more product accolade...finally found a shampoo that works wonders on claire's hair (btw, she currently resembles little orphan annie).



Aveeno Nourish + Moisturize Shampoo



her hair dries so much softer and the curls are much more defined and silky. plus, her hair smells so good :-)

6. Like Elmo? We sure do. But to my amusement (and only someone who watches elmo's world will know who this is), Claire LOOOOOOOVES Mr. Noodle (especially Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle..may the great Michael Jeter rest in peace). Too funny. She gets so excited when she knows he's coming on.



And that's all for this edition of Baby Stuff!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all of the wonderful moms I know.

This is motherhood...




Love my goofy gal!

One-Minute Update

I'm dropping in while my proofreading project is printing out...

Very quickly...I've been officially unemployed for a little over two weeks (it seems like yesterday). In that time, I have picked up a LOT of proofreading from my freelance contact. It is all coming from one large medical book about infectious diseases (not great to be proofing while the whole swine flu thing is going on...i think i've been through five bottles of Purell since the start of this project).

In between reading a bazillion chapters of this, I have been on two interviews. The first interview I don't think was great, and I don't think I was in love with the job. I am absolutely living the "beggars can't be choosers" life; however, I can't see accepting a position on Rockville only for it to be miserable. The woman even said they work after hours often, something I can no longer do because of my little Fuzz.

The second interview was yesterday, and I'm really, REALLY hoping I get this job. It is in Catonsville, so I wouldn't have to move, and I have a lot of experience in what the position is all about. More details to come, but keep your fingers crossed!

I also got two calls about jobs. One job, again in Rockville (Rockville is where it's at, that is for sure), I would definitely be interested in, and I'm still in the process of submitting editing samples, etc. to the hiring manager. The other call was for a job in DC (is there ANYTHING in Baltimore?), and that ended up being a very entry level position that did not have a high enough salary for me to consider.

So I'm glad there's a bit of hope here. I can't say I still don't mourn the loss of my old job and all that came with it. I frankly wish I could just drop all of this crap and go back. But things are going OK for the current situation I'm in. Claire still goes to daycare while I proofread all day. I did not want to interrupt her routine, plus I can't even pee by myself when she's home let alone proofread. I also didn't want to lose her spot at the daycare because I certainly am hoping to be back to work soon.

And that is my one-minute update!

May be M.I.A. for a while...

The layoff has really hit me hard, so I might not be blogging as often as usual. I keep hearing, "You'll find something in no time!" from people, and while I appreciate their support and encouragement, I have to wonder if they're living under a rock. This is the highest unemployment rate and worst economy in 60 years, hence my layoff. And devoting four years of my life to a company I loved wholeheartedly is not something I will get over in a week or even a month. The whole realization hits me in bits, so this will be a long grieving process.

I filed for unemployment, cleaned up my resume, and had it sent out the day after I got laid off. I was operating on auto pilot. By the grace of God, when I contacted my freelance company, they had a small proofreading project they needed completed. And a resume I sent to a company downtown in Baltimore called and wanted me to take an edit test for a short, five-week copyediting assignment. I drove down the same day they called and am hoping they'll call w/good news in the next few days. It's certainly not ideal, but it would buy me some time.

My dumb computer is on its last leg, and it's making life more difficult. I am trying to apply online for an assitant copyeditor position and the page won't load correctly. There are definitely those moments I feel like I can't win.

I am taking myself out of the blogging arena because if I don't, my blogs will all resemble this one for a long time, and I'm sure people won't understand why I continue to mourn and not move on. I realize that I am by far luckier than so many people in this world, but a few turns my life has taken have been hard on me, and putting on my Polly Positive face right now isn't the easiest thing. So I'm just going day to day. Hope to be back soon with a new game plan. Until then, take care.