MOPS

wow.  can i just say—– WOW.  yesterday was SUCH a good day for jovie!  it amazes me sometimes.

i was chatting with my bff becky & i said “brb.  it’s naptime.  give me 5min” & that statement alone set me back!  a year ago— i would’ve had to say  “brb. it’s naptime.  give me 2 hours”  and i wouldn’t have been joking.

so as much as i hatehatehate that she is growing up so much, there are definite advantages.  & The Mr. likes to point out all the time what a happy baby jovie is.  and how we cannot freakin’ believe that we would ever have uttered that statement about our child.

jovie has always been somewhat of a surprise to us.  we truly had no idea that babies could behave that way.  she came out of the womb unhappy.  and stayed in that place for much longer than was necessary.  so we learned early on to ease her into things.  and test the waters to get her used to things (ie: car rides to the neighborhood salary-drainer Publix*).

i’ve mentioned a few times before that she has surprised us.  she handled the Callaway trip well.  Her first pool experience was really great.  & she did fantastic for Gramma & Grampa when they watched her while we went to the Hawks game.

that was one of very few times that anyone has even babysat jovie while she was awake.  each and every time she’s been awake and left alone, g’ma & g’pa were the ones she was with.  and i think it’s mostly been a quick trip to the grocery store once or twice.

i have been apart from her very little in her 13almost14ohnoway months.  twice for 4.5 hours, a coupla times for 2-3 hours.  that’s it.

so imagine my trepidation when i decided to try & join a program called MOPS.  The Mr. is hoping that its a program that will help me learn how to want to use a mop.  unfortunately for him, MOPS is an acronym for “mothers of pre-schoolers”.  if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a playdate- for mommies.  for 2+ hours while i’m upstairs enjoying a brunch and chatting w/ other ladies, listening to guest-speakers, or doing crafts, the kids are downstairs in a daycare like setting having their own version of playtime & fun.

sounds great! right??

yesterday, they had a registration/open house.  i’ve been a little nervous about it since i found out about it.  b/c i learned that at this open house,  jovie would be dropped off in a classroom.  without me.  with other kids her age.  without dad.  in the hands/eyes of a stranger. who’s not gramma or grampa.  during what should be naptime.  without her crib. 

and before you start tsking me… i’d like to clarify that my nervousness was not about my leaving her.  nor was it really about her leaving me.  i’m not your typical mom.  my boobs don’t ache when i leave her/ hear her cry.  the fact that we haven’t been separated much has more to do with the fact that The Mr. & i aren’t comfortable making someone else deal with her when she starts nutting up.  (thanks to our friends kenny & amy for that fun term)

so my nervousness was about making the workers in the room have to deal with her.  when she’s REALLY upset, it’s hard for us even to settle her down.  nevermind being in a room w/ other babies- who, let’s face it, all glom onto other kids’ emotions.  i did NOT want a volcanic eruption of screams to boil out of that classroom.

right before i was going to leave (did i say it was during naptime, by the way….  oh, and she decided to wake up AN HOUR EARLIER THAN NORMAL yesterday!  so that just meant that naptime should’ve been much earlier) i called The Mr. who was out of town and i seriously considered the fact that it’s not fair to the other kids!   i didn’t want her to be the cause of what could be a crappy day for everyone.

but, still- i knew it was the best situation for her.  unfortunately, in spite of her nap schdule.  but she obviously needs to get away from me.  and be with kids her own age.  and learn to be w/ strangers.

it’s a really cool setup at MOPS. a real big production.  & they have beepers and badges for the mom/kids.  i knew i’d get paged if there was a need.  in any case, i went & decided that if she got to be too bad, we’d just leave.  and try again the next time. 

but (please don’t jinx it please don’t jinx it) she did FANTASTIC.  i put her down to play.  i walked over to her cubby, and she saw me and crawled towards me.  not crying, just loving.  so i grabbed her and kissed her.  and walked her back to the toys.  and i left.  and she didn’t care!

as far as i know, she only cried when someone took a toy away from her.  i went to get her and she just finished eating snack AT A TABLE.  a table!  my baby’s eating at a table!!

and, just WOW.

so we now have something scheduled the 1st & 3rd thursdays of the month.  i hope they all go well.    you know, i’m starting to wonder- if DAD brought her, would she’ve cared then??

*about Publix, The Mr. no longer gripes when he sees all the receipts for that place while we do our budget.  in fact, he is considering getting his paycheck direct-deposited there.  State Taxes, Federal Taxes, 401k, Publix….   there is a category for that, isn’t there?

title: picture that mommy posted so she doesn't get yelled at for not posting a picture even though this isn't at all about MOPS.

actual conversation

sunday, may 10th- mother’s day:

• Me: thank you for the sweet cards & gift.  that was thoughtful.
• Mr: you’re welcome.
• Me: ……can i tell you something funny?
• Mr:  sure.
• Me: i’m NOT saying that you should’ve, or that i wanted you to get Clemson for me, but i was surprised that you didn’t, is all.
• Mr: ??? ok?
• Me: I thought you were going to…
• Mr: why?
• Me: well, it’s just that a few days ago, you mentioned needing to call your dad instead of emailing. on the same night i was going out to dinner.
• Mr: oh, ok.
• Me: and then, when you didn’t call & yesterday you said you had to call your mom right around the time they’d be leaving, but not right then because you were feeding jovie and you needed 2 hands (???)…
• Mr: i was feeding her.
• Me: no, i know. but i thought you were making an excuse b/c i was around. you ended up calling them when i was upstairs getting dressed.
• Mr: yeah. hmmm.
• Me: so since you never call them, i assumed it was b/c you had to get Clemson sent to them b/c obviously you couldn’t send him here if you were surprising me, since i’m home all day. and also because you knew i didn’t buy him & there was only one left.
• Mr: right. funny.

monday, may 11th- after The Mr. left for a business trip:

so it was already on the way…

The Mr. is fantastic at gift-giving & surprises.   i think i’ll keep him.

bit of nostalgia

i’m a sucker for nostalgia.  maybe you’ve picked up on that?  and now that jovie’s getting older, and around the age that THEYsay she’ll be choosing a “lovey”, i’ve been thinking of my own.  growing up i had 3 that i remember. 

i grew up in columbia, SC- home of the gamecocks.  my whole family (like a zillion) were fans of the gamecocks.  except my brother, kenny  (him again).  he was a fan of the big rival- clemson tigers.  of course being the youngest, and a girl…  i never cared about football.  i always “rooted” for the gamecocks as much as saying “yay” can be called “rooting”.  still, growing up i always wanted USC to win.  it didn’t make sense not to, since i lived in columbia.

one year, i had gotten a tiger-shaped stuffed animal pillow.  of course i had no idea what to name him, so i used all of my brain power and named him Clemson.  i slept with him nightly.  although admittedly, i don’t think i had him for very long.  i’m not sure what happened to him, but i don’t have very many memories of him when i was older.

interestingly enough, i grew up and graduated from clemson.  my family & friends were confused and would ask why i’d ever go there since i “hated” them so much.  but i knew i wasn’t a great big fan, and i wasn’t going to let football determine what school i went to.  i was the only freshman on “the hill” who would pull for the gamecocks instead of the tigers.

besides, why would i go to USC and live at home when i could go 2 hours away w/ my BFF?  turned out to be a fantastic decision.  i love the school.  gorgeous campus, great education school, and- oh yeah- that’s where i met The Mr.

my freshman year, i became friends w/ a girl who lived on the 3rd floor, right below me.  (what a fantastic view of the stadium i had—- didn’t care about football, but was very exciting to be a part of it all!)  and how completely random that this girl from maryland had the exact same pillow!

i digress.  recently this has been on my mind because i’m remembering some of my loveys from when i was little.  recently, i took what memory i had of Clemson in my head & searched on google something like:  “stuffed tiger pillow vintage”  and the FIRST entry i came to was the exact one i was looking for!  i was pretty amazed.  (i’m not that great at googling). 

after all this, i had to hunt for the one and only picture i thought i had of Clemson.  so, here…. travel back to 1978 and see a very sleepy mpotter:

4 years old

oh, and look!  there’s coco!  that’ll be another story…..

eatin’ time

as i mentioned before, so far jovie is a good eater.  but i can’t help my own hang-ups with it.  for instance, we’re trying to not give her rice very often because it seems to hurt her belly.  (what i didn’t mention in our last post is that on top of the teething was the holy hell of bellyache all day long!}

well, not feeding her rice cereal doesn’t sound like a very difficult thing to do, but i can’t seem to get it out of my mind that if i want to feed her a veggie, that doesn’t go very well with oatmeal.  it took a while for me to break out of the thinking that if i fed her at “dinner time”, it should be rice & veggie.  “lunch time” could be oatmeal & fruit.

i still don’t have a clue of how much she should be eating because she doesn’t seem to care one way or another if i feed her or stop feeding her.  she gives me hardly any cues.

the only thing i think i’ve learned is that she only likes fruit if it’s “fresh” or warm.  if it’s too cold, i get the sour/gag face.  i think it has to do with the vitamin c they add to it.  i’ve tasted some of the fruit, and it is quite tangy.

this week, though, i wanted to finish up the half-eaten jars i had.  one veggie & one fruit.  so, i let go of my hang-ups (because, yes. i do logically understand that she doesn’t know or care what she’s eating and what it pairs with) and i fed her apples/plums combo with green beans.

i didn’t mix it all together, but still:  eeeewwwww!

to interchangeably eat string beans and then fruit and then beans… and have it all on the same spoon.  i shudder.

funny thing is, she didn’t seem to mind.  in fact that was prob’ly the best she’s eaten the apples/plums when it wasn’t the first day!

all i thought of the whole time was of her uncle kenny.   i can vividly recall more than one argument discussion at the dinner table where my dad would go nuts express displeasure at watching my brother pile all the food together and eat it all at once.  his response was always that it goes to the same place.  jovie seemed to agree.  (by the way-he is now considered a very talented cook in the family)

clearly unlike me. i was definitely a “don’t let any food touch each other” kinda gal.  i hope the picky gene has stayed away from jovie!

heaven & hell

unbelievable!  not only did the Hawks win their game, but Jovie was an angel!

gramma & grampa said that she barely even cried.  i think it totally helped that we were able to put her down for a nap before we left.  we (of course)left detailed instructions about feeding & entertaining this kid.  & i even mentioned about how to watch for sleepy signs if she needs another nap- they could try it.  (totally not expecting it)  and she napped again!

what??

we sooooo couldn’t have done this 6months ago. 

they let us know all the fun things they did and how well she played.  we were so relieved.  we had a good time ourselves.  and everyone said that the 4 1/2 hours didn’t seem that long at all.

so, thanks gramma & grampa!

so that’s the heaven.

the hell?  oh, that was yesterday. 

for about 6 months now (no kidding), people have told us/asked us if jovie’s teething.  what with the lakes of drool & hand always in her mouth.  even when we mention that she started waking in the night at 4mo.  we don’t consider that to be true, since it’s been almost her whole life! 

in december, we went to the dr. and she pointed out the little tooth pockets for these teeth that are bound to come…..

last week when i stuck my finger in her mouth, i could finally (sadly) feel the top little ridge come through.  so all week we’ve been checking and watching.  the tooth next door is also starting to come through.  but it was the weirdest thing that it poked it’s little head out w/o much ado.  she didn’t fuss particularly worse than any normal fussing time.  night wakings were the same.  we thought we had ourselves a brave little girl.

well, remember- i’m the one who thought how lucky i was that i began labor without the singlest smallest clue whatsoever.  HA.  i shoulda known….

yesterday was absolutely miserable.  i honestly thought i had my 3 week old baby back.  except she is much heavier. she demanded to be held all day long.   it was horrible to watch her.  tylenol didn’t seem to have much of an effect on her (but for 2 nights seemed to help her go back to sleep).

today she seemed much like herself again!

so, there’s only, what??  30 left to go?  not to mention these aren’t finished yet.   yikes!

march FIRST

last saturday, we spent some time enjoying outside.  it was a nice warm day.  jovie was in a short-sleeved onesie.

sunday?  yeah. pretty different:

um, welcome to georgia.

i (of course) doubted the snow they were calling for…  but it was gorgeous to look at.   since it never stopped snowing the whole day, we didn’t get a chance to take a walk. 

next time it snows, she will be able to have so much fun in it!  let’s hope that won’t be 5 years down the road…

unlike me

The Mr. regularly points out how like me Jovie is. hopefully he’s not intending to mean her fussy times.

 i’m one of those people who has a hard time deciding who someone looks like.  unless it’s quite obvious.  and it’s even harder with babies.

from birth, we have both seen sides of jovie that looks like each one of us in various baby pictures.  moreso, she’s looked like her daddy’s pictures.  but as she’s getting older, i’m hearing more and more how she looks a lot like me.  and these are people who aren’t looking at baby pics, but me the adult.

me? i don’t see it, but i believe it, cuz i’m told it a lot.

and The Mr. has been saying it for awhile.  i think because she has brown hair like me.  and her eyes are not brown.  they’re still grey.  mine are hazel; so we assume hers will change over one day.

i do see she has the shape of my eyes.

and if i could find that baby picture of me crying and one of her- well, save for the 1970s look of it, you wouldn’t know us apart!

yes. she does have a few more of my characteristics.  like the unfortunate bushy eyebrows.  and the potter feet;  where the 2nd toe is longer than the “big” toe.  (do you know how confused i was growing up b/c of this?).

not to mention the potter hiney.  we’ve been amazed for 33weeks now how this baby who could be so fat and roll-y does not have a hiney at all!  thanks, poppa!

you know, you’d think after writing this post so far, i’d say “aha! she DOES look just like me”.  but still, when i look at her, i see that picture of The Mr. when he’s pushing up on his belly.  the expression there is a lot like i picture jovie. 

well,  really, i don’t want to talk about this next part.  remember, i am a little stitious.  but i just can’t help it.  i’m excited!

this girl can eat!  seriously!  she has eaten every single thing i’ve ever given her.  which is completely unlike me.  luckily, so far, she’s inherited her daddy’s taste buds.

at first she wasn’t sure about pears.  god i wish i had that on film!  it was her first taste of fruit after eating lotsa veggies.  & i am pretty sure the ascorbic acid made it pretty sour for her.  i remember the best faces she made!  but the next 2 days she ate them just fine.

there was one time i didn’t have any milk thawed, and i had some ready-made formula.  so i added it to her rice cereal and she was going to have none of that!  besides that, though, she’s eaten            (& seems to like):    peas, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, pears, apples, rice cereal, oatmeal, prunes, & plums.

i’m scared of the day when it may change.  but for now?  my baby is eating lots of vegetables.  she doesn’t get it from me!  i want to know if popcorn can be considered a veggie.

no TV appearances just yet…

yesterday, we went to the doctor to finish up another round of vaccines.  when jovie was weighed, i was a little surprised.  officially, she weighs exactly 18lbs. fully clothed.  according to our scale, you can add a few extra ounces.

in any case, officially, she only gained 4oz in the last month.

which i’m extremely glad about.  especially because i thought that once she started to eat food, she might’ve gained more rapidly.  yay. i’m so very glad to know she’s evening out.

when she was born at 9lbs, 3oz i began to be scared of her adorable porkiness.

when she had gained 5oz in just the first 3 days home from the hospital, i thought “no way!”

when she gained 3 lbs from 1mo checkup to 2mo checkup, i was resigning myself that we will indeed have a “maury povich” baby. 

(if you don’t know what i’m talking about, maury exploits these unbelievably fat babies on his show.  The Mr. maintains that maury hides cheeseburgers on his stage so the 1year olds can find them.) 

the dr. has never been concerned about her weight, but as i’ve said before— SHE didn’t have to hold her.  (all. day. long.)

and even now that she isn’t gaining as speedily, dr. is still not concerned.  which is fantastic news.   (she still has her rolls, though!)

my guess is that if we weigh the drool that soaks her clothes/blanket/carpet, well- then you may just find where the other 5lbs should be!

so, here’s to 18lbs of complete adorable: