Número Dos

It’s been 15 weeks since “Dos,” as Numero Two will be called on this blog, rushed into this world, and I thought it was time to post a little bit about her. Posts on this blog have been excessively rare for many reasons but mostly from lack of time and worries about privacy. But, I wanted Dos to be introduced.

Here is a cheat sheet on the wonderful, glorious, lovable Dos:

  • She’s giant. At 15 weeks she’s 16 pounds. She currently fits in 12 month clothing but won’t for long. She is in size 3 diapers.
  • She has acid reflux which means she spits up ALOT and has to take Zantac so she’s not miserable. Bibs are like tissues to her. She also hates sleeping without touching a living being so she spends most of her sleeping hours on me in some way, shape or form.
  • She is excessively smiley and happy. Her good mood is so ever-present that when she does cry, you know something is very wrong. She posed in her Christmas dress for our holiday card picture right after Thanksgiving. On Christmas, I put the dress back on her and she screamed bloody murder … like someone was sticking her bum with a tack. I couldn’t figure it out and guessed maybe she didn’t like the dress, so I took it off. She immediately started smiling in relief once I took it over her head. The neck was too tight and she just outgrew it.
  • She’s cutting two teeth. She will vomit if you give her berry flavored Tylenol but can tolerate grape.
  • The doctor had her start eating rice cereal at 3 months to help alleviate the reflux at night. She didn’t blink and takes cereal in a bottle like a champ once a day.
  • I wish they made full sized cribs in the shape of bouncy seats. Not for the bounce or vibrate but for the ability to make her feel like she’s in a cocoon. It’s the only thing she will sleep in that doesn’t involve me.
  • She cannot get enough of watching Lolo. She thrives on following her every leap, scream and skip around the house.
  • She’s in love with Nuk brand binkies and her raccoon lovies.
  • She talks up a storm and is prone to doing so in the middle of the night both in her sleep and wide awake.
  • She hates reclining except when she’s sleeping in the bouncer. She does little ab crunches to raise her head as if she can just sit on up and join the action. She would much rather be in the thick of the muck with Lolo.
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Dos in the bumbo seat for the first time.

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It took close to 100 shots to get the money Christmas card winner.

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Typical smiley Dos.

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Brunch with the family.

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The girls.

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She started small.

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Oh Atlanta!

I’ve been playing my “relaxation” playlist that Mr. Banks created for me quite a bit around the house lately. It’s supposed to calm me through the birth of our second child which is any day now. On that playlist is my all time favorite Alison Krauss song, “Oh, Atlanta”. Well, Lolo just flat out took a liking to it and started randomly singing it ALL THE TIME, so I thought I would capture one of her concert sessions on video.

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This Will Make You Weep

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Snow

Yes, this is obscenely late, and all the other blogs have already posted how they were plastered with snow last week. But, I still have news to report even if it’s late and outdated. It’s still my news.

We officially got 24-inches of snow the day after Christmas and had an interesting time shoveling ourselves out when not going stir crazy inside. Again, this year Lolo enjoyed about 7 minutes with the snow before wanting retreat to the comfort of her viewing chair with a nice cheese stick and “warm chawk-waht” which is hot chocolate on the luke warm side if you didn’t know. It’s how all the cool kids take their cocoa.

Uncle Charlie and Mr. Banks even shoveled the elderly lady’s driveway across the street.

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Merry Christmas!

Sometimes Christmas makes you cranky. Lolo’s friends “Kaferine and Ewizabef” weren’t as thrilled with Santa at the mall.

Merry Christmas to everyone and may the New Year bring good health and happiness!

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Hi Cheese, Hi Tiger

We took Lolo into the city last Saturday to see the tree and ice skaters in Rockefeller Center. Of course, it was crazy and packed and nutty and mind blowingly busy. But nothing can really prepare you, even if you went last year. Nothing pulls you into the reality of the mayhem you signed up for like swimming in the hoards of tourists looking up at a giant tree as you cut off their ankles with your stroller. She knew she was going to see the tree and see the ice skaters, but beyond that, I think she pictured something a little more like Bush Gardens than just decorated city streets. She kept asking where the rides were. And, while we will wait over two hours for Santa, we will not wait six to get on the ice at Rock Center. We had to tell her that if we waited in line to skate, we would never be able to go to THE PRINCESS TOY STORE! With that crafty diversion, we pushed ourselves on down to the Disney store where her eyes lit up at the princess castle. She was immediately inspired to dance and then asked if she could be Belle, which in toddler language means, “Can we buy this Belle costume?” She is now the proud owner of a glittery Belle costume with light up plastic shoes even though she knows nothing of this “Belle” other than that she’s the “yellow princess” that adorns her undies and toothbrush. I would have taken pictures in the Disney store but I was too busy telling myself not to have a panic attack at the sheer volume of people clamoring to buy anything and everything.

Note on post title: There are gangs of people trying to make a holiday buck who dress up in these amateur character costumes outside Rock Center. The idea is that they provide you with an easy photo-op and you get a picture with a SpongeBob-like character and they get a nice tip. They are everywhere and Lolo saw SpongeBob and decided that it must be a cheese character. We didn’t bother to correct her because it was hilarious to here her call out, “Hi Cheese!”

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So excited to sit on her very own NJ Transit seat especially when across from a group of eight 16 year-old teenagers that are soooooo cool. "They even wear lipstick like me." Belle costume is sitting safely in that Disney bag right next to her.

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3 Hours and 2 Dogs

Our babysitter took her two dogs to the same mall we took Lolo to because they offered to take pictures of your dog with Santa at 7pm last Sunday. She was stoked because she had seen how real the Santa they had was. Imagine her surprise three magical hours later when she reached the front of the line to find out that they had a volunteer from a local dog shelter dressed up as Santa for the pet photos. This picture slays me and I couldn’t resist getting permission to post her two lovely pups with the most menacing Santa I have ever seen. Catch that holiday death stare!

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2 Hours, 15 Minutes

It’s a rite of passage for any family, waiting in line at the mall for Santa. We have a limited number of weekends left before Christmas due to travel, so we took the plunge on Sunday morning and got in line outside Talbots. Unfortunately everyone else seemed to have the “get it out of the way” idea, too. I know there is supposed to be a line. Of course. But this was more than a line. It felt like an inefficient and drawn out pilgrimage to lazytown. But, we came prepared, of course. We had a cooler of snacks and drinks and a bag of books. What I really needed was an airplane-sized bottle of wine, though. We took turns walking around the mall while one of us held our place in line.

We walked to the front of the line a couple times so she could see the process take place as Santa talked to each of the kids on his lap. She loved it and could barely stand the anticipation of her own conference with him, but it was a nightmare for Mr. Banks and I to watch. It took all of my restraint to not walk into that amateur production and show people what a tightly run ship is all about. But, I held myself back because the Santa they have is the real Santa. He has real white hair down to his shoulders, no wig. He has the rosiest cheeks and only had an attention span for the kids. You could tell it was all about the kids for him and he gave it his all. To that I can raise my glass and pull myself back from breaking bad on the 17 year-old elf assistants manning the cameras.

(At one point as we entered the snow globe just before you emerge to see Santa’s throne, Mr. Banks was idly chatting with one of the “line elves” and she actually said, “You know, the wait, it’s not our fault. It’s all the parents. They want the perfect picture and won’t let it go.” We neglected to ask her who was running the show anyway? And, why would you let a parent dictate how many pictures they could retake with a wait of over two hours in line. And, while I am ranting. Who’s brilliant idea was it to have fake snow falling in a giant snow globe that you were dragging your kids through on their way to get professional pictures? Every mother was patting down their child trying to shake the chemical flakes off their Christmas clothes.)

We made it through, and of course, it was all worth it to see the utter joy in her eyes as she told Santa what she wanted for Christmas. She had no fear and talked to him as if they go way back.

Lolo: “HI SANTA! (loudly) Merry Cwismas”
Santa: “Hi, how are you? Have you been a good girl this year?”
Lolo: “YEAH!”
Santa: “And, what would you like for Christmas this year?”
Lolo: “A FARM!”
Santa: “Ohhh …” (He looks at me as if to see if we are buying her a couple acres this year.)
Me: “A farm set, Santa.”
Santa: “Ah, a farm set. Well, I think we can take care of that for you since you’ve been such a good girl.”
Lolo: “THANK YOU SANTA!!! MERRY CWISMAS!”
Santa: “I think you have a future in public relations.
Lolo to me: “Mama, Santa is so nice!”

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Mr. Banks snuck in and took an illegal picture of her with Santa as well!
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Jinx

My sweet, precious do-gooder of a child. My perfectly empathetic and sensitive child. The one other moms comment on by saying “how she is so well-behaved.”

The class mom of the two year-old class at her preschool organized a coffee klatch for us to get together after this morning’s school drop off. One of my close friends was there with her very active 1 year old-old, which prompted me to gush on and on about how Lolo has always just been “good”. My best example of this has always been that she has never attempted to climb out of her crib. She has asked before if she could either climb in or out of her crib. But, I told her that only mama or papa can get her in and out. And, that was it.

Since abandoning her nap a few weeks ago which really feels like years ago, I have instituted a one hour session of quiet time. She has to be in her crib and mostly quiet. She can read books, sing and play out her elaborate, lifetime channel for toddlers, mini-dramas. But, she has to be there while I eat my lunch in utterly, blissful silence.

Today, I put her in her crib with three books and went about eating and folding mounds of laundry. I was on the phone when I heard an enormous sound. It sounded like a metal dumpster fell from the sky outside our house. And, then she started wailing. I raced upstairs to find her in the middle of her room with tears streaming down her face. I asked what happened and she said, “I twied to climb outta my cwib.” I checked her over and didn’t see any visible wounds or bumps. I asked what she fell on and she appropriately said, “Da gwound.” Then I more specifically asked what part of her body she fell on and she pointed to her face. So I peered into her mouth to find two chipped teeth. It wasn’t horrible but they were now sharp enough to cut her tongue. I raced to the phone and the dentist said to come straight over. The good news is that it was all pretty minor. He grinded the edges and said it was the best possible scenerio and only time with tell if they darken. The teeth won’t be dead he said but they could discolor. Wha?

So, we went home to wind down from the crisis and I started to make broccoli and sausage pizza for her dinner. I kept verbally checking in with her while I was in the kitchen and she would call out a confirmation that all was okay. Once the pizza was done, I asked her to come to the dining room to eat and she didn’t answer. I walked to the playroom and she wasn’t there. I walked to the living room … nothing. I asked where she was and I heard a very guilty, “Over heah.” I found her wedged between the wall and the hutch with my very thick and juicy lip gloss opened and clutched in her hand. Her face was covered in glossy mauve as she both applied and ate the lip color. Her hands were drenched as well.

This doesn’t happen to me. I am never tested like this. She had to sit in time out and then lost her TV privilege for the evening. But she didn’t care because she just wanted to have one, singular bite of pizza and then play doll house with me. I was completely at a loss. Who told her that it’s fun to test the limits? Damn school.

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There Are Witches In The Air

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Overheard On NJ Transit

We have taken a few trips into the city for concerts, parties and such and have been blessed with a couple good quotes overheard on our very own NJ Transit trains.

[A gaggle of very Northern college girls gets on the train, and it’s quickly apparent to the entire train that their adventure will involve a big Italian feast and then a ree-donkulous amount of drinking. The loudest of the loudest girls gave us this gem.]

“Yo, yo. I am soo hungry man. Yo, Christina, I am gonna eat some pasta tonight. I’m gonna order the big plate of pasta and then I’m gonna order a big fat calzone ‘to-go’ so I can eat it at 4 o’clock in the morning, yo. Ohhh, it’s gonna be so good eatin’ that thing when we get home tonight.”

[A disheveled young male, drunk and sweaty got on the train with us back to Jersey at 1 o’clock in the morning and chose his seat due to its proximity to an electrical outlet. Clearly he was in the mood to chat, he plugged his phone in and didn’t stop talking until we changed our seats. In general, he blabbed on and on about the wicked time he had that night out at the party with some chic. After minutes upon minutes of chattering about the drinking, the drama, the cops showing up, he finally let the person on the other end of the phone get in a word.]

His response to whatever this person said was, “Yo, you’re like a tiger. You like to roar but you don’t bite.” What got me then and what still makes me want to vomit now when I think about it is that he proceeded to pick at a scab on his ankle while talking  and eat the bits of scab material. Yes, he sat there at ate his bloody scab.

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Aging Right Alongside Rockstars

Friday Mr. Banks and I traveled to Central Park for the last of Pavement’s NYC shows on their reunion tour. The show was awesome. It was a beautiful September night in the city with an insanely good set list. It was one of those experiences that lifts your spirits and makes you want to raise a glass to the good life of family, fun and memories. They even had a wine truck selling tall glasses of pinot noir if you’re not one that can stomach Coors Light in the can.

Better yet, they started at 8 and we were out of there by 10 pm which makes a mid-thirties mama happy. I can only sustain that good-feelin’ vibe for so long before I’m tired, and my feet hurt, and I want to put on my lounge pants.

We couldn’t help but notice that the other concert goers were the typical Pavement fans from way back when. They were just 10 years older, like us. Let me tell you, we weren’t the only ones checking our phones just in case we missed an emergency text from the babysitter.

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Somehow DIY

We have this mulch pit that the previous owners of our house gifted us with in the backyard (along with so many other things like the faux wood and faux wrought iron decorative shelf in the half bath downstairs.) Presumably they used this spot for a small swingset, but over the years, the mulch has been washed away and we’ve never replaced it. (Who knows what they used that ghastly decorative shelf for.) Now this dirt pit is just the lowest spot in our yard and becomes a mud puddle where rain can conveniently settle next to our “bilco door”.

So we have cooked up a scheme to solve the problem with our own bare hands. And, when I say “our”, I mean mostly Mr. Banks’ hands. Now I have done my small part to help with the process including ripping our bushes, cutting down two small trees and picking up several wheel barrow’s worth of rocks. But, this is Mr. Banks project. When you’re calculating a 1/4-inch drop if land grade per linear foot, you own the project.

Our solution to this problem is to regrade the area next to the bilco door down toward our fence line so water washes away from the house and doesn’t gather for a meeting in our basement. We are also adding a paved walkway of roman cobble so the dirt under the fence gate is no longer a mud path.

So far, we are moving slow but steady never wanting to sacrifice entire weekends to trips to stone yards and digging. The pallet of stone and dump truck of sand arrive this Friday.

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Quote Of The Week

After our early evening, Saturday dinner out together as a family, I requested that we stop by the “drink store” before heading home. We parked the car, and I decided to go into the wine store by myself while Mr. Banks took Lolo to Walgreens to check out their cool Halloween display. Inside the wine store, I met another customer’s dog named Catfish. This is the conversation that ensued.

Me: “Hey Lolo, guess what?”
Lolo: “What?”
Me: “I met a doggie in the drink store named Catfish.”
Lolo: “Someone brought their doggie?”
Me: “Yeah, this lady brought her dog in and I got to pet her while I was waiting in line.”
Lolo: “Was the dog getting a drink in the drink store?”
Me: “No, they only have drinks for grownups there, not dogs.”
Lolo: “Well, if the doggie was in the drink store, I think she was getting some wine.”

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It’s Been A Whole Month

I’m cooked. My dear daughter is consistently skipping naps, just talking and singing for hours in her crib. Yesterday, I listened to her singing through the monitor … “Rock-a-bye baby on the tree top. When the sunshine comes out, the baby will wake up.” Who taught her that? When I casually asked the doctor about it at her half-yearly checkup trying not to show the beads of sweat on my forhead, she said, “You know, you’re lucky. My son wouldn’t nap after 18 months. She’s going to skip naps more frequently and will soon give it up all together.” What?

I napped till I was five. I have a little report card from nursery school somewhere in a box in the basement that says, “She’s such a wonderful child and such a great sleeper.”

Lolo has been skipping about once or twice a week, but now I am lucky if I get one or two naps from her a week. Eek. I can’t check my email, I can’t fold laundry because she always wants “to help”, I can’t put away the madness she creates in the living room. And, how am I ever going to shop on the Internet again? No one wants to hunt down their new winter coat at 8pm after she’s gone to bed. That’s when you pour yourself on the couch with a glass of wine and a new episode of Flipping Out.

Now instead of eating, cleaning and reading in peace, this is the reality of my weekdays at 2pm … her first manicure.

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White on White

This was my first cup of coffee since having to give up all dairy and sugar. It was beyond delicious. I sacrificed and used fat free half-n-half (how do they do that?) rather than my beloved Fat Free French Vanilla creamer by Coffee-mate. I tried a Stevia packet to sweeten it but just couldn’t stomach it (too mealy), so I threw up my hands and added a Splenda to my brew. I now have at least four cups a day of decaf. Two in the morning, one at lunch and one after dinner. Clearly I have learned very little about moderation during this sugar experiment.

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A Glimpse

Things you will learn from an afternoon with Lolo:

1. You can make a game out of anything.
2. It’s all about where “the baby’s” mama is and if he/she is sad that the mama is at the store. But, we have all learned that mamas always come back. This exercise is played out everyday in our household as she still wraps her head around me dropping her off at the kid care center at the JCC and the fact that she is going to school in the fall.
3. Notice that she has added in “that mama has a surprise” for the baby which stems from the time we escaped to Montreal and came back bearing gifts.
4. The “red store” = Target. (The “green store” = Whole Foods, “The Store With The Little Carts” is Trader Joes, and for some reason CVS just equals CVS.)
5. Yes, I am using a Big Bird puppet to talk to her and help take care of the babies while the mama picks up “baby things” from the red store. She asked me to.
6. This went on for a lot longer than the 5 minute video.
7. Yes, I got caught on tape saying “blowed bubbles”. You can’t be around a toddler this much and not be affected by their hilarious sense of grammar.

(Sorry about the picture quality. With a video that long, I had to lower the file size significantly.)

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Fractions

We were playing with her mini kitchen and came upon some wooden vegetables. Matter of factly, she turned to me and said, “Mama, this is just half a carrot.” Clearly, we need to let her borrow Mr. Banks’ graphing calculator.

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Great Grandparents

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Crisp Crunch

My body has actually regulated itself as I strangle all the ever-loving sugar, dairy and carbohydrates out of my diet. There was a period of withdrawal where my body revolted against the lack of calories. It’s been pretty brutal and frankly, exhausting. For all that I cannot eat, I still spend a reeeedeeeculous amount of time thinking about what I could possibly eat. Last week I couldn’t sleep enough but now I am in a more pleasant groove.

I’ve become accustomed to celery stalks slathered with hummus at 4 o’clock  and almost had a panic attack when Trader Joe’s seemed to be out of celery packs. It’s quite a pleasing snack with the cool protein and the crisp crunch. Who knew celery had Vitamin K and potassium? Bonus.

Last week, I never felt full. I couldn’t eat enough and wanted to open a bag of spinach at midnight just to feel like I was eating something. Now, I can feel full and satiated but it’s not really what I want to eat. It’s what I am allowed to eat. I don’t want to eat any more ham or turkey or eggs or walnuts. I’m good with vegetables. I love vegetables but I want sweet.

It’s been an eye opening experience and I will probably modify my diet for good after this experience. I’ll only eat one serving of yogurt a day and look at the sugar content in the food I buy, but really, all  I need to survive at this point is my coffee creamer and splenda packets. I’ll even switch to stevia if I have to. I just need my sweet, milky coffee in the morning.

When I am running low on calories and start to fade late in the day, my eyes glaze over as I stare at the wall. If someone were here to ask me what I am thinking, I would tell them, “I am imagining myself curled in a corner surrounded by Stonyfield Chocolate Underground yogurt packs and an infinite number of clean spoons binging blissfully. I think I just came up with a modern day theme for the After School Special series.

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