Santa Claus...Hell no!

Today's trip to the mall was hectic and nasty as far as I'm concerned. I was going to get Avah to sit on Santa's lap for a picture and we ended up giving up our space in what was just way too long a line. Besides that, Avah was not in the mood. She kept looking at me as if to say " no mommy, I got the creeps about this guy" so fine call me Scrooge mom, I don't care.

It's funny having my first Christmas as a mom, I have always LOATHED Christmas music and listening to it in a department store makes me feel like breaking something. But I guess I'd better be willing to suck it up and get tough for the next 18 years. When I was working in the decorative plumbing industry I used to hate having to listen to it all day in the showroom, so I used to make up dirty words to all the songs....

Christmas plans

Ok, so my little Squirrel and I are headed to Michigan for Christmas, and I can tell you that having not been in winter cold or snow for 12 years, this should be a riot. 

On the 11th, the day I booked the flight, the high for the day in Detroit was 27 fahrenheit. By any standards that's just too friggin cold! Avah will get to see snow for the first time,  I hope she's going to enjoy it. 

This time I plan on remembering to take my camera. When I went up in October I did not have it and lost a ton of wonderful photo opportunities, like the house I grew up in surrounded by beautiful fall color. Now it will be surrounded by white and grey and probably look depressing!

www.avahisdrivingmenutstoday.com

Ok, let's see if I can make a buck here, and learn a new set of skills. In addition to articles for Ehow, Clickbank, and Shop To Earn, I am learning/stumbling my way into website maintenance and design. 

My first customer is dear old Dad. Thank heavens there is not a serious deadline to contend with or I'd be up a creek. And Avah, my darling baby is not giving me much time to myself. 

She seems to be going through another of her "I hate naps" stages. Well, that doesn't work! And for that matter, neither do I if she's up all day. 

Talkin' turkey

Well, Thanksgiving plans changed and we ended up at the Gordon's house here in Stuart with deep fried turkey. I have to admit that while I was pretty skeptical about the whole deep fry thing, it was delicious! Not the greasy mess that I feared, our friend Richard really did a fine job.

I still did NO cooking. Hah!

Perhaps I spoke too soon?

Ok ladies, what is scary, sounds awful, and rhymes with poop? CROUP! I woke up friday night at 2 am and had to briefly remind myself that I don't own a dog. Poor Avah, she really sounded (and felt) awful. So I got her into the bathroom and ran the shower and within 15 minutes most of the sound was gone and she had stopped crying. That makes for a pretty vicious circle....Crying exacerbates the Croup sound, and the sound scares her and makes her cry more. Her Ped. told me that if the steam works and as long as she was not having trouble inhaling that there was not much reason to bring her in.  So it was off to Walmart (man I hate that place but the prices are good) for a vaporizer. She's doing better now. 

I am going to love this Turkey day. Why? NO cooking! Rupert will take time off (unheard of for him) and off we go to Miami to see some friends of ours who moved to Honduras 2 years ago. This is going to be a wonderful little break for me and I hope Avah is on her usual good behavior. 

Benefits of breastfeeding...amazing

Ok, we all know that this time honored practice is a great way to bond with your baby and offers superior nutrition. And of course we all have read about the benefits to the babies immune system. Well, this past week has been a true testament to what breast feeding can do to prevent a baby from getting sick.

Cold and flu season is just about here and it seems everyone I know is ill, I mean dropping like flies. Myself included! I had a nasty head cold all week, my sister Kristine had the Flu when Avah and I were up north, you name it. Is she sick? Hell no! Not even a sniffle after being exposed to a dozen or so sick people. AND air travel. Now that's all the proof I need to convince me to keep whipping out the old boob until her first birthday. 

Avah is 5 months old

Good heavens, where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday that I was bringing her home from the hospital and trying to take care of her while recovering from a c-section. Thank God for supportive friends like Mary, Hidy, the Gordon's and Vicki.

She is trying to crawl and it will be only a matter of time until she does. So I've started to "baby proof" the condo already. It's amazing how dangerous my home really is for a soon-to-be toddler. Infact, just the other day she scooted herself along the floor and grabbed the strap on my camera and nearly pulled it down on her head (it was sitting on the coffee table).. OK NOW I KNOW!

Rice cereal and the inevitable

OMG, who knew that such a seemingly innocuous product could bring such a messy disaster? I have been supplementing Avah's breast feeding with a bit of rice cereal here and there, and she really likes it. It's a great tool for when you need  your child to have a stomach that stays fuller for a longer period of time, like when you are traveling. 

However, the poopy diapers may come to a screeching halt! So for 4 days, nothing. Being concerned, I took a friend's advice and fed her another baby food...apples. Little did I know what storm was brewing in my little angel's belly. Once she got going, oh man, what a mess. Poop was flowing out of her diaper like lava, we're talking Mt. St. Helens here. In my haste to get her into the bath I failed to make sure she was "done" and the baby bath got poop bombed as well. So, we went to the other bathroom and used the "big people's tub" because by then we were both a friggin mess. 

In light of this hilarious event, I've decided to breast feed Avah until grade school.....just kidding.

First Halloween

Equipped with a nice pumpkin costume from my step sister's 6 year old daughter (thanks Parker!) I took Avah to my friend Lisa's house, where her two boys were dressed up in cute outfits that had spiders all over them. Trying to get Avah to keep the pumpkin hat on was hard at first, but once she realized that every time she yanked it off of her head that I was just going to put it back on, she gave up and just fixed me with the hairy eyeball.

The festivities where short lived and for kids under 5--that's probably for the best. It was about 7 pm when I heard that familiar cry for "dinner" and once again the hat came off and was tossed to the ground, this time with major attitude. So after nursing for a bit we left, and Avah and I were treated to dinner on the grill, compliments of Rupert, who couldn't wait to see his little pumpkin.

Now it's Saturday morning and just us girls having a lazy time in our bath robes...yippie!

Traveling with baby, better than I expected

Yeah, I know, no blogs for over a week. Slacker alert. BUT, I went up north to Michigan to see family and I had a blast. Avah was surprisingly good on the flight up and the family was in love with her. That being said, whipping out the old boob and nursing her on the plane was not so great for me, but I had a small blanket to cover with and the natural jaw motion kept her ears from popping on the take off and landing. And of course, what first time flight with a baby would be complete without poop? I mean POOP. Major quantity, and oh so smelly. Of course I had the window seat and had to order two huge men sitting next to us to move or they'd be real sorry. 

Do I miss Michigan? Not really, but it had been 12 years since I got to see Autumn color change and the weather was wonderful...sunny and cool, not cold. I wish we still had our "Florida winters" to enjoy. Since moving down here I ( and many others) have noticed that the winters just keep getting warmer, that really sucks. Talk to you tomorrow! I've got articles in mind for Ehow, check out my profile and articles here: http://www.ehow.com/members/kiratrever.html

Teething at 4 months? Say it ain't so!

Just when I get to a point in my breastfeeding where it is comfortable, as opposed to sitting in a rocking chair and digging my fingers in so hard that I removed varnish from the armrest due to pain, Avah is teething! Now, I have to ask, will this start to hurt again? Please God, I tolerated agony that rivaled pain from the c-section. Maybe give a girl a break?

Day one, and wow am I loving this!

This is going to be about all of the things that I like to have in my life, probably you too. As a new mom who is health conscious and always looking to find a new and more effective way to beat back the clock, have a better looking butt and still raise a kid to become a decent and productive human being, I think I will have a lot of company in my quest! Stay tuned.