First Mother's Day

While I did get a present for Mother’s Day last year when I was pregnant, I guess this year was my first official Mother’s Day. As a mother, might I say I personally think it’s the stupidest holiday ever? (Well, stupidest after Valentine’s Day.) It’s so stupid that the woman who created it even tried to get it abolished. Ahh, that’s a rant best left unwritten.

Dave and Ella gave me new dishes for Mother’s Day. Black, square ones. I’m very excited. Until this weekend, we had been eating off of the dishes I got when I was in college. It really was time for an upgrade. Food looks really pretty on black dishes. We celebrated Saturday night with steak, asparagus, zucchini, and salad. One of the highlights of my weekend was the discovery of bottled ginger salad dressing (the kind they serve at Japanese steak houses) in the Publix produce section. The occasion called for foods that could be dipped in it. Mmmm, I love that stuff.

In addition to dishes, Ella gave me a gift of her own. A new tooth. Number five finally erupted Sunday morning on the top left, next to the front two teeth. I wish I could say we might have some relief for a few days, but I know it won’t happen because she’s working hard on number six on the bottom left. She’s so pitiful when her mouth hurts.

We had a couple of new Ella related experiences this weekend. On the way home from lunch yesterday, she pooped and fell asleep just a few minutes from the house. Because she was in desperate need of a nap, I was really dreading waking her up to change that diaper. That child slept through the diaper change – cold wipes included. I couldn’t believe it. When I put her in her bed, she popped up on her knees ready to play. Changing her diaper didn’t wake her, but laying her in the bed did? Okay then. It took some convincing, but I did get her to fall back asleep with me and we took a nice long nap (that we both needed).

After the nap, we found Dave in the basement so we played down there for a little while. She went for the garbage can (A new interest of hers that also started Sunday morning, when I got out of the shower to find her munching on Kleenex from the bathroom garbage can. I know how gross this is. Had I known that she wanted to and could get to the garbage can, it would have been out of her reach, but this was the first time she paid any attention to it at all.). Anyway, she went for the garbage can and Dave told her no. She first tried her charming smile to convince him that would be okay for her to play in the garbage (a method she’s been perfecting for about a week). When that didn’t work and he told her no again, she folded her face up, poked out her lip, squeezed out a few crocodile tears, and cried as if her heart was broken. Then she reached for me as if she had been completely traumatized. This trick didn’t work on Daddy, even though she persistently tried it twice. However, she tried it out on Grandma later in the evening and found success when Grandma gave her the jelly beans she didn’t really want in the first place. When I explained that she had just started testing this new tactic to get what she wants, and that we’ll have to be strong, Grandma promptly informed me: “I’m Grandma.” Translated, I think that means, “I can give her what she wants because I’m not the mom or dad.” This should be an interesting phase of our lives.

She’s really talking a lot - about everything. Most of it is still babble, but she will randomly throw in a real word here or there. It makes conversing with her so much fun because I’m always waiting for actual words. Sometimes she’ll mimic us when we tell her a word, and sometimes she stores it up to use later, completely out of the blue.

I almost forgot another major highlight of my weekend. I weighed again for the first time in several weeks and I’ve lost 6 more pounds. This puts me at about 18 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight. I tried on my swimsuits in preparation for vacation (which is 28 days away!), and my bikini fits! My stretch marks have faded to barely noticeable, and my pooch is shrinking by the day, so I think I’m actually going to wear that bikini this year. Before my daughter is a year old. I cannot believe it. Oh, and my husband thinks I’m hot. ;)

Have I mentioned lately that I love nursing? Babywearing helps a lot, too. Nothing tones the legs and buttocks like grocery shopping with 20 lbs. of baby hanging on you. Seriously.