The Drive.

I think I have finally recovered from the whirlwind road trip to Minnesota Isla and I took last week. I had predicted the drive there would take 7 1/2 hours and I was overestimating...hoping to beat that time! HAHAHA. I wish. It took me 9 1/2 hours. That included breaks. By hour 7 I was starting to hallucinate. By hour 8 I was starting to question my sanity. By hour 9 I was ready to burst into tears at any given moment. Let's recap...

Isla and I got on the road at exactly 9am. Isla whined a little in the backseat, but eventually fell asleep for about 45-50 minutes. Not nearly what I was expecting! When she woke up, she continued to be fussy, so I pulled over in Edgerton, WI (the BURG! where Abb and I stayed back in January) and fed Isla in the backseat. Hilariously, I got myself locked back there since the child locks were turned on. I debated hurling my body over the front seat, but there was very little wiggle room. I also considering crawling over all of our luggage in an attempt to escape through the back door. After a minute or so of slight panic, I realized I could reach the ignition, so I put the keys in and rolled down my window (duh!) to open the door. We were on the road within 20 mins and Isla seemed pretty content.

At 12:00 we hit Wisconsin Dells where I decided to stop and have lunch. We went to a McDonalds with a lovely outside eating area. Isla and I spent almost an hour here. Isla is a slow eater, plus factor in the bottle, bathroom break for me, and diaper change...it was taking a while! Isla was enjoying the fresh air so I didn't feel like rushing us. After all, road tripping with a baby is no longer about how fast I can get anywhere...it's about enjoying the ride!

We were back on the road a little after 1 and proceeded to hit TONS of construction and lane closures. Isla fell asleep for another 45 minutes and for the most part did pretty well this part of the trip. She was a little fussy, but tolerated being strapped in.

Eventually Isla started crying and getting hungry again. I let her cry for a while, hoping she'd fall asleep...no such luck. I kept wanting to make it to Eau Claire to feed her, but it wasn't happening. My head was POUNDING so I pulled off at some random town to feed Isla a bottle, change her diaper, and get myself some Aleve.

Isla was not happy about returning to her carseat and proceeded to scream from this town (outside of Eau Claire) to Hudson. That is A LOT of screaming! At least an hours worth. I decided to stop in Woodbury (my old home...best city ever!) to give Isla a snack and some fresh air. Plus, I needed to pick up a gift at Babies R Us! Right as we pulled in the parking lot, she fell asleep!! I should have just continued on my journey, but I was seeing a former coworker the following day and I had to finish her baby gift! So I woke up Isla and gave her some Cheerios as we shopped.

Now it is a little after 5pm and I realize I will have to drive through St. Paul and Minneapolis during rush hour to get to my final destination. By this time we've been traveling for 8 hours and I'm really not sure I can make it much longer. I prayed that traffic wasn't horrible and we continued on. Isla pretty much cried the entire hour it took to get to my friend Alicia's house. We arrived at 6:20pm...delirious, hungry, and exhausted.

Traveling alone with an infant is definitely a challenge. It's exhausting and it requires a lot of planning and patience. Seeing my friends and family definitely made the drive worth it though. I am just not sure I'll drive alone again with Isla for a while. Having a little help on the way up would have been nice! But I'm proud of myself for being able to do the trip alone...it is something I wasn't sure I would be able to do! It definitely made me realize I'm capable of doing much more than I give myself credit for!

Randoms:

1. Both of Isla's top front teeth have finally made an appearance. After her extreme moodiness lately, I knew it was only a matter of time!

2. My brother, sister, and I signed up for a boot camp fitness class MWFs from 5:45am-6:35am. It starts next week and I couldn't be more terrified. It was $110 so there is no skipping or backing out. I will most certainly be taping my eyelids open and praying bugs don't fly into my eyeballs. I'm sort of regretting this decision already, but I do need a good ass kicking to get myself into shape.

3. We had our new car for less than a week when suddenly, none of the gauges were working. I couldn't tell how much gas I had, or how fast I was going. It was a quick fix at Chevy, but very annoying to already be bringing the car in.

4. We hired a college student to come to our house on Mondays from 11-2 so I could get some stuff done without Isla. She started this week and it was lovely. Not that I don't love my munchkin, but running errands without her is a bit easier :) Plus, it's impossible to bring her to the dentist, hair appointments, and various doctor appointments. We used sittercity.com and have been pleased with it.

5. Isla and I have our first mommy daughter roadtrip today. Send good thoughts our way that all goes well. It will be roughly a 7 1/2 hour drive to Minnesota with the stops factored in. Yes, I'm probably crazy for doing this on my own.

I have a yellow bike.

There are always certain cashiers I remember at stores for various reason. I have a small portion of my brain reserved exclusively for remembering really random/ridiculous things. I think this falls into that area quite nicely. Usually these cashiers they are too chatty, too crabby, or too slow. I tend to avoid these people, even if they have the shortest line. There has recently been a new addition to my "Cashiers to Avoid" list. Crazy grocery store cashier.

2 weeks ago I was unloading my grocery cart when all the sudden this lady exclaims, "YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!" I kind of looked around awkwardly to see if I missed something, and to be sure she was talking to me.

Cashier: "A LADY JUST ABOUT GAVE BIRTH IN MY LINE AN HOUR AGO. YOU JUST MISSED IT!"
Me: "Oh wow. That's crazy."
Cashier: "Yeah. Her water broke all over the place. I looked over at her and she didn't look good. I saw her the week before and I told her she'd be giving birth in this store AND THEN SHE ALMOST DID!"
Me: "Going into labor at the grocery store doesn't sound fun..."
Cashier: "Last week when I told her she'd be having a baby here at the store, she was like, 'No I won't be having a baby at this store', and then today she was like, 'How did you know I'd be having a baby at this store?' I told her I just knew."
Me: ...ahhh...

The conversation continued with something about her sister knowing someone who had a baby in the car. It was an amazingly long conversation to have with someone while waiting to pay for my groceries.

Yesterday, I had the luck of getting this same cashier. I almost escaped without conversation when...

Cashier: You ever had puppy chow before!?
Me: What? (Having no idea how this even came up??)
Cashier: Puppy chow? You know. It's delicious.
Me: Ohhh yeah. I don't think I have...
Cashier: YOU HAVEN'T?! You are missing out. Here's what you need to do...

She then proceeded to tell me how to make puppy chow (none of the ingredients I purchased) and gave me specific examples of places to bring my puppy chow (BBQs, parties, holidays...). As I was walking away I mumbled something about trying it soon and she said, "YOU BETTER TRY IT SOON, IT'S DELICIOUS."

I may have to give her one more try...just because I love randomness so much.

Getting pooped on by a bird does not bring good luck.

On Thursday I got pooped on by a bird. Well, I'm actually convinced it was a terradactyl because the amount of poop on both my car and my left butt cheek was astonishing. Isla and I had just left the apartment and I stopped to get gas before heading out to run various errands. As I was pumping gas I felt something hit my butt. I assumed it was a bug or something, so when I brushed my hand over my ass I didn't expect to get it coated in bird poop. I was seriously beyond disgusted. Thank goodness I had Isla and the diaper bag with me. I had an arsenal of diaper wipes, hand sanitizer, and hand cleaning wipes to wash the poo off with. I couldn't for the life of me, figure out how I got pooped on though. The gas pumps were covered and there were no birds flying by. I swear a bird plopped it's ass over the roof and intentionally aimed for me...hate crime style. I debated going home and changing, but decided against it. I mean, getting pooped on by a bird had to be good luck, right?! So I just went with it...hoping to find $100 on the ground at Target or something.

It's been 5 days and I've had no good luck. Actually, there was a glimmer of good luck when my sister and I scored Lee DeWyze tickets for Friday's mini concert, but that good luck was short lived as Andy forgot he had a meeting at 6:00 that evening and we had no babysitter.

Events also qualifying as NOT lucky: Isla continuously banging rattles against her head until she cries (giving me a massive headache), Isla shoving her head under the ottoman and getting it stuck multiple times (screaming ensues and headache resumes), eczema returning on my right eyelid...which looks more like a warty growth than dry skin, and me dying my hair light brown and having it turn out black.

So yeah. Getting pooped on by a bird is really nothing more than a crappy situation. No good luck follows. But at least it's a good story to tell :)

It's my kid in a box.

Tuesday was another one of those days I needed to pray for strength to get through the day. The temper tantrums and overall fussiness really tested my sanity. Plus, the sleep deprivation from all of the times Isla woke up the night before was really getting to me. Oh yeah, and she decided to only nap for 40 minutes, instead of the normal 2 hours. I had little time to recharge, much less shower or even nap.

This gave me 15 minutes of glorious silence. It was lovely.







Thank you pink toy bin and Yo Gabba Gabba for giving me a tiny moment of calm in a day full of madness. It was much needed.

Ignorance is Bliss.

In college I rarely watched the news, and hardly read news websites. I was in love with Drudge Report (I still am!), but I didn't let the news consume me. Fast forward to present day. I check several news sites regularly, and I know this just feeds my anxiety. I know I need to take the "ignorance is bliss" approach, and avoid the news whenever possible at least until I can get my anxiety under control. Aside from all of the world troubles making me anxious, some of the news just makes me plain sad. I was reading an article from a Minnesota new site about a man who raped his 9 month old niece, and I was heartbroken. I couldn't shake the sadness all day. I wish the news would focus more on positive, uplifting stories. How great would it be to sit down in the morning and read about all of the good in the world?! I think the world would be a much better place if we could focus on the good, and not get caught up in all of the bad.

Wooo!

Andy and I are now the proud owners of this lovely 2008 Chevy Equinox! I'm in LOVE! First of all, we have never had 2 cars that we can both drive. I absolutely refused to drive his school bus, I mean Ford Excursion. It was an enormous beast of a "truck" that I did not feel comfortable driving around. It was near impossible for me to get Isla in her carseat because it was so high off of the ground. It will be lovely having 2 cars we can interchangeably drive. I will mostly drive this car because it is ultimately safer than my car, and I drive much less than Andy so we'll save money on gas if this is my primary car.

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I love everything about this SUV, aside from the dirty floor mats which I will be replacing. My favorite features are OnStar (a must!), side curtain airbags, a sliding back seat that allows Isla to be much closer to us (and slides back to give adults riding in the back TONS of leg room), XM radio and all wheel drive. Plus I now have room for the stroller and groceries in the trunk. Something I did not have with my car. I think Andy misses his "truck" already, but I'm hoping he'll love our new family friendly car as much as I do :)

Monday Movie!

Ignore the very shakey hand filming this, and the overall bad quality. I had to act fast to capture this funny moment :) Isla was trying so hard to get Torii to play with her! After I took the bone away she quickly became enthralled with Yo Gabba Gabba and forgot I existed.

Happy Mother's Day!

Last Mother's Day Isla was in my tummy!

It's amazing what can happen in a year!

I love this little one sooooo much!

Things.

1. Mother's Day is the best! Let me recap the awesomeness:

• I got to sleep in.
• I was served breakfast in bed.
• I had a 90 minute, amazing massage!
• Andy sent me 24 roses in various colors (my favorite)!
• I got a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.
• I got to choose the movie we watched in the evening...The Lovely Bones.

And that was just Saturday! Today, I got up early with Isla and let Andy sleep in. When he got up I got to go back to sleep until 11:30. (Well actually I woke up at 11:11 which is my least favorite time ever). This afternoon we are going over to my dad's for our usual "Sunday Funday" Mother's Day style. Seriously, this weekend has been better than my birthday weekend. I LOVE IT.

2. My dad and Donna got Isla a funny little walker that she LOVES pushing around the apartment. She is great at walking with it. My dad said she looks like a little Grandma Bunny, as my grandma used a walker for several years :) I will have to post a video of her walking with it soon, it is adorable!

3. I have not washed my hair in 5 days. Yes. 5 days. GROSS. I don't even know who I am anymore! My head is seriously itching. Hair washing is on my to-do list today though, no worries.

4. Tomorrow Andy and I are looking at the car we (I?) reallllllllllllly want...The Chevy Equinox! Fingers crossed we are able to buy it. The trunk of my car is so tiny. Between the stroller and the emergency kit the trunk is 94% full. I can sneak a bag of groceries or 2 in there, but that's about it. It get VERY annoying anytime I go shopping. I need the stroller 24/7 because that is how I get Isla to and from the apartment. Carrying her all that way is too difficult. I can't wait to have a more functional car.

Ugghhhh. Axiety.

Every now and then my anxiety gets the best of me. Yesterday was one of those days. A commercial for survivalseedbank.com caught my attention and inevitably got me panicked. I started googling "food shortage 2010" and "food crisis 2010". Apparently, there are many people who believe there will be a massive food shortage sometime this year due the lack of good crops in 2009 and the USDA's food projections? Something like that. I'm not an expert, but if you google those topics, you'll have plenty of scary reading material. Andy is convinced this won't happen, but has no evidence to back up his claim. He also refused to read any articles about the topic. So I'm wondering now if I need to stock up on food? Is anyone else worried? I'd love to grow a garden but living in an apartment makes that difficult. Plus, I'm lazy. These articles make me really anxious and very nervous for the future. I wish my brain didn't always jump to worse case scenario, but I can't seem to help it. Prices at grocery stores have already increased this year, and I'm wondering if that is just the beginning of what is to come? I'd love to hear other thoughts on this.

Friday night was supposed to be my relaxing night with Isla being at her sleepover and Andy hanging out with my brother. I was going to clean, watch a girly movie, lounge in bed, and fall asleep covered in cookie crumbs from the yummy Jewel cookies I bought myself. Instead, I googled information about a possible food crisis THE ENTIRE NIGHT. I am awesome. The sad thing is, I have the "tools" to deal with this kind of anxiety, but I have an overwhelming need to find as much information as I can about a topic, as a way of feeling more prepared. I felt like if I were to stop "researching" that I wouldn't be prepared for this potential disaster and I'd be letting my family down. It really sucks feeling that way.

Oh, the really scary things I found came from religious websites quoting pages from the bible regarding world famine, earthquakes, and wars being the start of the end. I hate stumbling upon those. I already have enough to worry about, I don't have time to worry about the official end of the world right now!

Anyway, so in closure let's discuss some things: 1. Has anyone else heard of this or been worrying about this? 2. Should we be worrying about this? 3. Are you going to stock up on food, or just hope this doesn't happen? I truly value what you have to say, mainly because my family thinks I'm completely crazy and I can't listen to what they tell me anymore.

Testing my patience...

It is not very often I pray for the strength to get through a day, but yesterday was one of those days. Isla was completely out of sorts the ENTIRE day. She slept through the night (yay!) but woke up around 6:30 and only took a 45 minute nap. She would be happy one minute, and screaming the next. Typically, she usually loves shopping. We went to Archivers and within minutes she was in full bloody murder scream. We had a playdate right after Archivers, so I was bracing myself for disaster. I fed her a bottle in the parking lot before heading to the lake, but that didn't help. Normally she likes playing with her little buddies (all 3 girls were there today!) but she screamed almost the entire 2 mile walk around the lake. After our play date I was thoroughly exhausted. I expected that Isla would fall asleep in the car...WRONG. She screamed the whole 25 minute drive home. We got home around 4:00pm and I called Andy and begged for him to come home ASAP. I was mentally and physically drained. Despite Isla's enormous yawns and eye rubs, she refused to nap (which I guess is a good thing, late naps can be risky). Andy got home around 5pm and took over all Isla duties. I got to take a bath and a nap. I seriously have the best husband, and he's an amazing daddy. When I got up from my nap around 7pm, Isla had been fed, bathed, and she was sound asleep. And all of the toys were picked up from the living room. BONUS!

I hope today is better. If not, at least I'm recharged and ready to tackle the day. Thankfully, Isla has a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house this evening. I love, LOVE sleepover Fridays. I'm pretty positive this round of fussiness is due to teething, so my fingers are crossed these teeth make their appearance soon!

A few more of these days and I may have to reconsider having baby #2 so quickly...

The many faces of Isla

What you talkin bout Willis?


Happy!


Sad.


Crazy happy!


Crazy eyes.


Cheese!

Mouth Breather

For the past 28.5 years, I have been a mouth breather. I have never been able to breathe out of my nose! Yes, this is super annoying, but I pretty much just got used to it. When I started teaching 3rd grade, multiple students would ask me why I would breathe so loud. Embarrassing!! It wasn't until then that I started noticing just how annoying mouth breathing really is. The final straw came during yoga when I realized I wasn't able to breathe properly. I immediately proceeded to make myself an appointment with an ENT to get my nose checked out. I knew I had a deviated septum, what I didn't know what how severe it really is! The doctor said she was amazed that I had waited so long to come in! Along with the deviated septum, I also have nasal polyps the size of grapes that restrict my airway as well! I have to call and make an appointment for a CT scan, then I meet with my ENT doc to decide a plan of action.

The thought of actually being able to breathe through my nose is exciting! Mouth breathing sucks. I never feel like I'm getting enough air, and I have very little sense of smell anymore. Plus, I look like a weirdo with my mouth ALWAYS being open! I wonder why I waited so long to do this?? I also wonder why my parents never followed through with getting it fixed. I saw an ENT when I was 7ish. That is when I was informed of my deviated septum, but apparently my parents didn't think it was a big deal. I gave my dad a major guilt trip about it the other day :)

Once my nose is fixed, I will not only be able to breath better, but I'll have fewer sinus infections, which is extra exciting considering I have like 3-5 sinus infections a year.

So clearly, this is the year of fixing myself. I'm seeing a therapist, chiropractor, the dr about my stomach issues (we've ruled out lactose intolerance and celiacs disease...still haven't figured it out yet!), and now the ENT! Up next...dermatologist. I figure I better get my skin looked at. My years of hardcore tanning plus a family history of skin cancer means I should start paying more attention to my skin. I'm thinking within a few months I will totally have VIP parking at my clinic.

Random Isla-ness.

Last week Isla slept through the night 4 times! Granted, she's getting up earlier then, but I'll take that any day! It's amazing how refreshed I feel when I get to sleep through the night. The first time she did it, I panicked, thinking I slept so soundly I never heard her. I also had to run in and make sure she was still breathing :) I swear she knows what time I fall asleep, because on the days I've gone to bed past midnight, she gets up around 3. It's brutal. I'm hoping within the next few weeks she'll start sleeping all night, but round 2 of teething is right around the corner (her top gums are pretty swollen) so that could cause a bit of a set back.

Isla has started refusing almost all baby food. Even her favorite, squash, is a no go. She shakes her head back and forth so frantically, like I was trying to feed her poison. She has still been eating some of the weird combos...like chicken, rice, and carrots. Eeewwies. Those really gross me out. This baby food boycott is making meal time a bit harder. This morning she had green beans, cheese, and cheerios because I have nothing else she can eat in this house! My diet is pretty limited, therefore, hers also is. Mainly because I try to buy things that we can both eat. Here is what she has been eating: watermelon, grapes (cut ridiculously tiny!), green beans, carrots, shredded cheese, Cheerios, baby puffs, noodles, broccoli, and bananas. Very little variety! I'm worried she'll get bored pretty quickly. Any suggestions on good, non chokable food for a 9 month old (aside from beets)??

Isla's still in the 91st percentile for weight (22lbs) and 96th for height (29inches) so despite her limited diet she is still gaining weight and remaining huge. Her big melon is only in the 88th percentile, which I find rather shocking. It's probably due to her flat spot :) Isla's pediatrician commented on how ahead of the curve she seems to be for development as well. It's a blessing, and a curse. I love watching her become more independent each day, but I wish she could stay a little baby for longer. She took her first 3 steps at baby music class on Friday. Watching all of the other kids walking has really motivated her. I'm pretty positive she'll be walking within a few weeks...but I'd love it if she'd hold off until she's 1!!! I know that won't happen though. Ughhh where did my little baby go?!

I'm seriously a 60 year old woman.

I don't go out all that often anymore. This weekend though, I was out both Friday and Saturday night, and I totally paid for it.

On Friday, Andy and I had a triple date with 2 of my lovely high school friends, Jeannie, and Erin, and their husbands. We spent a good 3 hours eating yummy mexican food and indulging in delicious drinks. I rarely splurge on high priced margs, but the patron perfect margs were totally calling my name. I only had 2 (huge) margs, but the next day I had a major headache. My stomach muscles hurt from all of the laughing we did though, so I guess it was all worth it :) Jeannie brought up a hilarious memory that I had completely forgotten about. In high school I was terrified of going through the drive-thru to order food, so right before we ordered, Jeannie and I would get out of the car and switch places so Jeannie could order for us and drive thru and pay. We'd then change places again in the parking lot and I'd continue driving us around. Typical Betsy behavior. Also, at my Christmas party in high school, I put a put a bowl near my front door with a sign that said, "Donate pubes here". Yes. I really did. And my parents let it stay! What were they thinking?! To make this pube bowl more realistic, I took old hair stuck in hair brushes, cut it up into small pieces, and added it to the bowl before people arrived. Needless to say, we were belly laughing most of the night reminiscing about all of our ridiculousness!

Saturday night Abb and I met my lovely friend Anna and her friend Corinne out at Docs for round 2. I only had 3 captain and cokes the entire night, but still felt crappy the next day! I obviously can't party like I used to :) Thankfully, Andy took Isla duty Sunday morning, so I could sleep in and attempt to recover from both crazy nights. Sunday I was pretty much a hot mess. I had no energy, no motivation, and no desire to even shower the grossness from the bar off of me.

I've realized I'm not really into drinking that much anymore. I just don't enjoy it like I used to! I will never pass up a yummy marg, but I think I'll limit my bar visits. Definitely no more back to back late night drinking events though, that is for sure! It's funny what having a husband and kid can do to a person :) Ohhh priorities...

So yeah. I'm pretty much a 60 year old woman. Pretty soon I'll have millions of cats.

Monday Movie!

I admit it...I take millions of random videos! I just want to be sure I capture all of the little moments. I love when she wakes up from her naps :) Notice she sleeps with her butt in the air. She has been a tummy sleeper since the minute she was able to roll over.