The Boots

Today I put on the new pair of boots I bought her at Old Navy yesterday. They're very light pink suede with butterflies on the outside. They have fuzzy material inside and are nice & warm. I love them, and I brought them out to the living room and started to put them on.
*gasp*"MOMMY! BOOTS!!"
"Yes, baby. What's on them?"
"Butterflies!!" she sang...
"Yes, do you like them?"
"YES!! My Daddy brought them for me." She told me that several times, so I'm letting her think Daddy bought them, and told her how much Daddy loves her.
She had a sweet little pout, and said, "Yeah. He misses you very much."

Update

First of all, Bo Sox just tied up the series.. that's CRAZY! What a bunch of great games I've been watching. Playoffs are always better than the series. Anyway...

Mia is 38" tall which puts her at the 75th percentile, and THEY said she's 38 lbs (I think she's around 36. She fidgeted and was totally clothed on the scale) which puts her at the 95th percentile. Despite her picky eating habits, she was always a big girl. I think it's mostly her big melon and strong muscles! She was a real angel at the doctor today, who was running quite late due to a walk-in for immunizations... hello!! THAT person should've had to wait. So Mia got 2 shots; the flu shot (I asked... and since Craig is gone, the last thing I need is for both of us to be seriously ill) and the PCV shot:

The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) protects against pneumococcal infections. The bacterium is the leading cause of serious infections including pneumonia, blood infections, and bacterial meningitis.

Point being she cried for 10 seconds, and then was totally fine. Thank goodness. She's amazing. She'll freaking potty train when she's ready, it's so not something I can force her to do.

So funny little story, then I'm off to bed to listen to the rain hitting the roof (ah, wonderful)... Mia has a Fisher Price Little People Noah's Ark- it's adorable, Craig's mom got it for her with the extra sets of animals, so she has ALL the animals. It's been in her room sitting next to her toy chest for months. Just the other day, she picked it up and brought it to the living room and started to play with it.

The next morning, the rain started. It has not stopped since that morning, and isn't due to stop until FRIDAY! How strange is that? So this morning, I told Craig about my observation, and he said, "Well, you know how Jesus was the son of God? Maybe Mia is the DAUGHTER of God..."

I replied, "Well... SHE certainly thinks so."

It's Raining

I guess I lied again. It's been too long since I posted... I had to look back and see where I left off! It's been pouring pretty much since yesterday morning, and I am LOVING it! It has been over 180 days since it rained here, and even then it wasn't much. I'm thrilled! It's such a fantastic sound, and I know my husband misses it too.

Jeez, so much has happened since her birthday. Halloween is approaching, and I took her to Bates Nut Farm (aka the "punkin' patch") with my coworker Taryn, her son, Gavyn, and we met our other coworker Jen there with her husband, Mike and son, James. Anyone who has read this has seen the pictures I'm sure. That kid was in heaven... I was dying when she picked up the chicken. Like it was her own personal puppy dog or something. She walked around with a CHICKEN for goodness sakes! The poor animal didn't move... like a kitten picked up by the scruff of its neck. Mia pet every animal in there; ducks, goats, sheep, bunnies, guinea pigs and a pot-bellied pig. So we finally got out of there, washed up, ate some ice cream, took the hayride around the corn field, and then she saw the big bouncy room. You know, that giant inflatable room that kids jump up and down in; I was convinced she'd get stepped on and cry to get out, but nope. She jumped happily, sat smiling at me and pointing out the kids that were dressed up as Woody & Buzz from Toy Story. Then we went over to the actual pumpkin patch area, and she ran around like it was Legoland all over again! Anyway, look at the pictures. I got a fantastic shot of her that will definitely hang on our wall for a good long time.

What else... I got to see my wonderful friend, Monica, at the Michael Moore engagement at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. She works with him these days, and was the line producer for Fahrenheit 9/11. I wondered what a line producer was, and found out! The line producer supervises the movie's budget. This includes unique expenses like a star's salary as well as daily costs like equipment rentals. The production manager reports his or her expenses and needs to the line producer. So there you have it. She looks wonderful, and I was SO happy to hug her tight, I haven't seen her since our wedding! I'll see her when I go to Jersey next month, so that'll be fantastic, and she'll get to meet my crazy kid too. Michael Moore was great, I went with two coworkers and Monica hooked us up with VIP seating at the last moment. Fantastic.

Mia had pajama day at school (email me if you haven't seen the pictures), and she was so excited about her Wiggles slippers that she wouldn't take them off to wear sneakers. That was fun. My mother sent a cute little cat costume with ears & all, so I'm sure she'll wear that for Halloween. I don't think she gets the dressing up thing or really digs it, but as soon as she hears the word "CANDY" she'll be into it. That kid comes by it very honestly. She does like spooky ghosts, skeletons and pumpkins too. She's been asking to go to a pumpkin patch again ever since we went!

I'm starting to get really excited about the wedding and our trip home. I can't wait for Mia to see her family again, she's at such a fantastic age. I only wish she were potty trained, that would make this trip even more enjoyable.. but what can I do. Tomorrow is her 3-year checkup, if we're lucky she'll get a flu shot.. at this point, I'm not even sure I care with all this tainted crap & hype. I am looking forward to talking to the doctor about getting her off this mineral oil regimen and potty training, but she has NO interest at all. I guess I take some comfort in the fact that my boss, Anne, has a 3-year-old daughter, Ellie. She turned 3 on July 16th and has just pottty trained in the last 2 weeks. This kid is a genius, and she's 3 months past turning 3 before SHE decides that the potty is an ok venture. I'm not feeling as horrible about Mia now.. AND her dad isn't here and it's yet another transition to independence I expect her to make, so maybe it's too much to ask. I'll talk to the doctor and let you know what she says.

I dropped Mia off this past Friday at my fabulous friend Cacie's house. She has 2 kids of her own, and watched Mia for me so I could attend my friends Robert & Bernadette's wedding in Pasadena. (pictures here) It was so nice to enjoy the wedding and sleep well in the hotel knowing she was fine. She had a ball over there, and the greeting when I picked her up was stellar. It's nice to go out, but it's truly sweet to return! I missed her.. probably because there were other kids there, and now I'm very excited for Ridge's wedding so I can show her off and dance with her too! That was Friday... Saturday we drove back, and I played with Mia in the evening. We broke out the Play-Doh. What fun that stuff is! Mia loved it, I'm sure she'd do it every day if I'd let her. The Miramar Air Show was this weekend, but Sunday started with pouring rain, so we skipped that idea. We just got to listen to the planes instead, and on a trip to the park later, we watched the Blue Angels. We went to the park with Wendi & Jake, hit Starbucks on the way back, and then they left. Mia & I hit Vons for a few necessities for the week, and then we played at home. Her new favorite birthday present is a book of kids' songs that came with a cd. She can listen over and over, and as each song ends, she stops whatever she's doing to say with much enthusiasm, "Ok, I have to turn the page!" She's such a little performer, I know that kid will be in dance school soon.

Ok, it's 9:15. I'm going to finish a few thank-you notes for late gifts, email my hubby, and climb into bed. I could do a bit more cleaning, but I'll procrastinate until tomorrow. Have a great day, everyone!

Party time

Wow, coming in this room to sit and type here is rather daunting when so much happens every day and I haven't written it down. First of all, after another brief bout with fever (on her birthday, no less) Mia is doing fine. Her appetite has returned, and she's back to her stubborn self. I'm sure I spoiled her with 2 days of any DVD she wanted because she was sick.

Ok, so I left off on party day. People started arriving, and the whole thing was a total whirlwind. It was such a chaotic day! Definitely a few too many for our smallish place, but I think I handled it as well as possible. I had some toddler tables outside where the kids sat to eat goldfish crackers & later cake. And they did my crafts! They made little foam bags with fish & seahorses. I think the glue was the best part for most of them. And they painted fish & dolphin sun catchers (kind of a cheap person's stained glass), it looked like they had fun. I did.. but I realized I was so busy getting things and making sure all the guests & kids had what they wanted, that I wasn't spending enough time with Mia.

(Ok, quick background-Lee is a Navy Doctor, his wife Kelly is one too, and they have a 2-year-old, Aurelia, aka "Lia". Kelly is stationed in Iceland for a YEAR at the moment, and Lia is with her. Lee is stationed at Miramar, and was a flight surgeon for Craig's sister-squadron during the war.. I wince at that.. we're still at war.) Anyway, Lee was kind enough to come, and brought an amazing globe as a gift for MIa that she LOVES.. it's Leap Frog and talks about the music & animals from all the countries you touch with the pen. Super cool. So Lee said he had to leave, and since it was about 3:20, I told him to stay because I'd serve the cake. So we sang, Mia was very excited to see her Nemo cake, and then full of cake & candy, she was having a ball with Uncle Steve (Ashton) who arrived as well. Things were going well, eventually people started to take off, and as a whole I think the party was a huge success.

She loves all her presents, as do I. Fun things and lots of clothes.. nice balance of great gifts from a Play-Doh toolbox to card games & books. Only thing I have left to get her myself would be some dress-up clothes. I always loved that.

So since Mia's birthday wasn't actually until 10/4 (her party was 9/26) I let her open presents each night so as not to overwhelm her. I realize now how warped it must seem to her.. she's going to think her birthday is like freaking Hannukah. But oh well, it is such fun to make her smile and laugh with delight.

The following week was kind of back to normal at work & such. I remember she was a little difficult during the week, and her appetite wasn't the best, but I thought it was a phase. This past Saturday, 10/2, we went out with Stuart to Melisa & Jon's neighborhood's Oktoberfest. FREE beer (not crap either... Karl Strauss!) and free food! Mia sat on the ground enjoying the music and a chocolate-iced brownie, and I was truly enjoying my beers since Stuart drove. She wore a great new shirt I bought her with the phrase "my daddy's my hero 'cause he's a Marine". I was so proud.. and it was a bright red shirt, so it was easy to spot her when she was wandering in what became quite a crowd. So everyone around us was commenting on how beautiful she is, particularly her hair (I can't argue.. it's spun golden honey), and she was sitting eating the brownie when she started crying.
"What's wrong? What's the matter, baby?" She was crying hard, and couldn't answer.
The woman next to me in the beer garden crowd leaned over. "There's a bug on her brownie."
AWW!! I saw the thing.. not just an ant or a gnat, it was some silver beetle lookin' thing, just fugly. I threw away the brownie, cleaned her up, and wiped her face. She was fine. I gave her some water and asked if she was ok. She nodded. The girls next to me said, "If that thing was on my brownie, I'd freak out too!" Haha... she's such a little girl. It's kind of funny.

One other thing I noticed; there was a nice area of fresh green grass by where we stood the whole time. Mia was playing around on it, and after a while, these two other girls were hanging around. A little blonde girl, probably about 3 to 4 years old, and an older brunette, maybe 6 or so. They were running back and forth playing together, kind of like tag morphed with a relay race. Mia has been in a social setting with other kids, and as I happened to see her out of the corner of my eye, she just joined in and it became three girls running in a line. All of a sudden, younger blonde girl stopped dead, turned around to face Mia, and held up her hand in a "halt" gesture.
"STOP! You can't play."
My heart broke. How MEAN! Her first taste of a catty bitch. She was just standing there, looking at the mean girl. Her back was to me, but I could see by her posture that her face was tilted down, and as I ran over, I saw her face in a full pout. I scooped her up and hugged her.
"That girl was being mean, baby. Mommy will play with you." I was teary-eyed... I want to always be there when someone is mean to her. To tell her that she's wonderful, that anyone would be LUCKY to have her as their friend. But I know these things are going to happen when I'm not there. And she's going to go through all those things that I did on her way to teenager land. I can only arm her with the right words to say and the proper self confidence. So I felt better when later there were two boys chasing each other, and when she joined in they were totally fine with it. Of course, that presents a whole NEW problem, but for now, it's innocuous. We got home from the Oktoberfest and I let Mia eat her sandwich outside on the deck and she blew bubbles. What a lovely day.

So Sunday when she woke up from her nap she had 103 fever and i had to give her Tylenol AND Motrin to get it down. Poor baby. We were home together thru Monday, her birthday, and it was a disappointment after I had made her birthday cake on Sunday night in hopes of her eating it at daycare. But it kept until Tuesday, and the pictures are priceless. Mia with her classmates, her teachers, her cake. Then a trip to Farrell's with her where the drums they played while singing "Happy Birthday" freaked her out, but that scoop of ice cream fixed her up just fine. She's incredible.

Ok, it's 10:20 now, I'm going to bed. Craig's doing well, but misses Mia. I sent off a DVD of her today, and sent my folks and Craig's mom a copy too. I wish I could let him hug her, smell her hair, tickle her perfect belly and hear her giggle with total delight. Those are the kinds of things we can't send our troops out there. Our troops.. that despite what ANY of these Republicans say... who will be there for many years to come. What a mess.

Happy belated birthday, Ayelet. 33 is just fine, I'm surviving it; and 3 is my LUCKY number, so with Mia at age 3 and me at age 33, I figure we're in for a good year! And happy PRE-birthday to Yael too. Hopefully you read this. Apparently more people read it than I realize, as I do get emails about it, and friends who tell me they read it. So I'm SORRY! I'll make a conscious effort to be here more & type away. Good night.

I know I know...

It has been forever... more like 2 weeks, but seemingly forever. More people read this thing than I gave them credit for! Let's see... we'll start after the weekend I last posted on.
Mia was totally healthy and did not contract a virus or hand foot & mouth disease. Big relief since her party was coming up.

However, the Wednesday before her party, I contracted my first migraine. I woke up with the worst headache of my life... I thought my pounding brain was going to explode out of my head. I was horribly sensitive to light, and I popped a big motrin, hoping that would do the trick. It didn't, and by the time Mia woke up, I couldn't stand it. She whined a bit, and I said, "shhhhh"... it was making my head pound. I started to remember that my mother used to get them, and between the golf tourney, Craig being gone, not enough sleep, not enough water, and the Santa Anas blowing in, I should've seen it coming. But I didn't, and it was scaring the hell out of me. I thought I felt a little better, so I brought her to school and went in to work. I wore my sunglasses for the entire day. I was nearly in tears, I made everyone speak quietly.. and I still have no IDEA what possessed me to work that day. So stupid. As the day went on, and of course everyone said, "What's with the glasses?" our lending manager, Julie, offered me Excedrin Migraine. It's apparently the only thing that works for people who get them. At 11 when I figured the morning Motrin was wearing off, I took one. The ingredients are caffiene, aspirin and acetaminophen, nothing that was going to kill me. Well, it pretty muched helped enough to get me through the day, but I was dizzy, nauseous, it was a horrid experience.

I came home to lie down at 4, stopped to get some more Excedrin just in case, and went into my room to lie down. I got too nauseous so I came to the living room to get my water glass, and then I noticed. Termites... AGAIN, and worse than ever. That did it. I broke down crying, and grabbed the vacuum. Now I have a pounding migraine and am vacuuming up icky bugs. I called my mother and cried some more. Then I cleaned up my act because it was 5:00 and I had to get Mia. I stopped at the 7-11 around the corner to get some Propel water. There was a bit of a line, and I got so dizzy while standing there that I thought I might fall down. I put down the water, and on the way home I called Michelle, who thank the Lord, works around the corner from my house. She had just returned from a 7-country European honeymoon... and I hadn't seen her yet. This would be a great welcome home.

"Meesh, can you come drive me to pick up Mia? I have a migraine and I should not be driving right now." She gets them too, so it helped to know she'd been through this, and knew how I felt. She said she would just clean off her desk and be right over. It helped so much to have her with me, I was now pretty scared and hated what was happening. She really talked me down, and calmly told me that she knew what I was going through, and would stay as long as I needed her to. I called Lee (Navy doctor & friend) and he told me to go buy some Gatorade and drink it, and if I wasn't feeling better to go to urgent care and they'd probably put an IV in me. I didn't really want to go to urgent care, but was so thankful for Meesh's help. I did as the doctor ordered, and by the time we got home, I was improving. Mia, thankfully, sat quietly and ate her dinner in front of the Wiggles while I talked to Meesh and looked at some pictures from her trip. By 6:30, I told her to go home. I was ok... after one of the longest days of my life.

So onward with the party. Now I was excited! For the evenings of the 2 weeks prior I was making the goodie buckets and putting together the crafts & such. I had Friday off, and cleaned house. I got a pedicure at the end of the afternoon and then went to get Mia. Our routine on Fridays is to go to McDonalds for dinner. Now they have apple slices in place of fries in the Happy Meal. I know, it still isn't a bowl of spinach, but it's an improvement! And it's fun for her, she gets a toy. We had lots of fun together on Friday night & Saturday. I took her to Mission Valley mall to walk around, then Wendi met us for lunch... well, me. It was Yom Kippur, and after the migraine I was ordered by my mother NOT to fast. Frankly, I wasn't going to anyway; I'm alone in having to chase a 3-year-old. I can't imagine not being able to even drink water in the course of a day of taking care of Mia alone. The migraine definitely sealed that deal. So Wendi met us, and Jake had his lunch with us, and was a little challenging... he's at a rough age for being out to eat anymore, and I could see Wendi feeling it. But we had a nice time together, and I exchanged a couple of things I had bought previously. We parted ways, Mia and I went home so she could nap. Saturday evening was pretty chill as I remember, I knew Sunday would be a big day!

Sunday, we woke up and went to Starbucks. She mentioned her party in the morning, so I knew she remembered! My friend Jenn from work came over to watch her for a while so I could pick up the beer (5 gallon keg of Sam Adams... nice), the cake, and the last-minute munchies. Bless her heart for doing that, it made it SO much easier to dash around without her! It only took me a little over an hour, and as I got back she was very excited. It was really hard to give her lunch & a nap that day, but it happened. Jenn told me that a little while after I was gone, she said, "Ok, I'll go get my flip-flops, let's go to the park!"
Poor Jenn had to think on her feet. "Umm.. you know, your MOM would want to go to the park too, I don't think we should go without her."
"No. Mommy doesn't want to go." HA! Smart little manipulator... interesting.... I guess she finally talked her out of it, they were still here when I got back!

Small side story that I have to write before I forget. Then I'm taking a break to go eat something and watch the movie I just bought, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". I promise not to let 2 weeks pass.

Mia stays in the tub for quite a while. She gets wrinkles on her fingers and toes, and it's a very funny thing to her. But she always asks what they are... So the other night, she was lying on her changing table as I put on her PJs, and she said, "Mommy.. what's that??"
"What's on your fingers, Mia?"
"..... sprinkles. Yeah. Sprinkles."
I laughed so hard, I couldn't correct her. So damn cute. Ok, off to eat... more sooner, the party update and then the post-party haps. We're doing ok, we miss Daddy, and he's in the literal dark due to power problems.