She's bringing scurvy back.

Anna's become quite the picky eater.

One day, she'll eat melon. The next day? She friggin' hates it. Yesterday, she gobbled up her chicken. But veggies? Disgusting. Don't even come near her with them.

The hubster and I had a couscous salad the other day - but Anna was having none of it. Then, just because I was snacking on the leftovers yesterday, she suddenly had to have some.

The child is odd.

I, on the other hand, will never say no to a good meal. Or a snack. Or an appetizer. Or a dessert. Or an amuse bouche... So I have a little trouble understanding my somewhat picky eater right now. (Mind you, my Mom tells me I was an INTENSELY picky eater when I was little. This must be my karma/payback).

So anyway. On with the point of the post.

Who out there has tips on getting your picky eater to eat healthy stuff? There are tons of things Anna will snack on, but I feel like she's living on cheese, yogurt and crackers and hummus. She should be eating other stuff, shouldn't she? How do I get her to love veggies again?

On a side note - how horrid would it be if Anna single-handedly brought back scurvy? (I'm Mom-of-the-year just for thinking that, aren't I?)

Help me out Mamas. What do your kids eat?

Big, scary word of the day: Discipline

Anna's been going through this phase lately.

She gets seriously pissed if something doesn't go her way. If I don't pick her up fast enough, she screams. If we don't get her down from her high chair as soon as she's done eating, she screams. If she falls, she screams. If we try to change her diaper, she screams.

For a little while, I was afraid that my darling little buttertart had turned into a butterbrat.

Then I got my regularly scheduled email from babycenter.com and the folks there told me that if my child was being "spirited" lately, it was completely normal. Phew.

On the same note, the email also discussed the importance of discipline.

Ah, discipline. Another interesting/difficult/strange/necessary thing for parents to do with their children.

To discipline or to not discipline. If you don't do it, you run the risk of being "that family". You know, the one that nobody really wants around because your kids are annoying as hell.

If you do it, you run the risk of looking like - and becoming - a cold, strict, angry, stressed out parent. (I'm really supposed to ignore my kid while she's screaming and crying, big fat tears rolling down her face?? Just wait until she throws a "Mommy" in there, too. I'll be done.) But really - you know the types of parents you see at Walmart who just yell at their kids all the time. Who seem so angry that they touched something they weren't supposed to. Ugh.

I'm all for the right kind of discipline. But is Anna going to really understand at this age? She's almost 14 months old, but she's not at the age yet where she shows that she completely understands everything you say.

So when she's screaming and I say "Okay, Mommy has to change your diaper, Anna. That's all." she really doesn't seem to get it and still looks at me like I'm some cruel, horrid Mama who is inflicting evil torture upon her by making her NOT sit in shit for 2 hours.

So when do you start the discipline? What types of things work for you and your family? How early should you start it before your child becomes The Problem Child?

And, more importantly, how do you tell this face no?

Oh hello, sleep. I remember you!

I know I'm most certainly jinxing myself here... but, what the hell.

Anna has slept through the night for - get this - 10 nights in a row.

Holy Mother of God, do you know how amazing I feel?? I'm like a brand-spankin' new shiny woman.

I'm strangely still exhausted once night time rolls around, but hey - at least I can make it through the day without feeling like I'm so tired I might vomit. Hurrah!

So now I almost don't know what to do with this blog. As many of you know, I liked to go on and on about Anna's lack of sleeping. Suddenly, she transfers from the car to her crib for a nap and sleeps all night. She has become Magic Baby.

My Mom says that means we'll be thinking about Baby #2 soon. I think I'd like to enjoy this for a little while longer, thanks very much Grandma.

Anyway. So now I suppose I should focus on things like losing the baby weight, getting Anna to eat her veggies and figuring out how to find a pair of shoes that will actually fit her feet. All very important things for a Mama.

Oh - and by the way... I just wanted to give a quick shout out to the lovely Mamas I know who say they religiously read my blog but never comment.

Hey ladies! Hope River, Olivia, Seth, Aliya, Olivia, Gabriele, Olivia, Nathan and Jenny are all doing well.

Have an awesome day and sleep-filled night everyone.

Guess what? I lied.

I've felt nothing but a gnawing guilt since I posted my last blog.

So we turned Anna's seat around to be rear-facing again.

I really do stand by the things I said in my last post. But this time... I couldn't get over the Mommy Gut Feeling telling me to turn the seat back around. So we did.

In other news - Anna's waving at the mailman right now. I know I go on and on about this... but... come on, now. Cute much?

Other funny/cute things Anna's been doing lately include:

• Draping scarves around her neck and walking around the house with purpose.
• Running up and down the living room/dining room while yelling "Da DAAAAAAAAAAAA"
• Petting our cat and then squealing with delight that she finally got to touch her.
• Putting her little Italian "Ciao Bella" purse over her arm like a grown up.
• Just being her, basically.

Yes, yes. I'm a proud Mama. What can I say? I find her adorable.

Can you blame me?

Another thing to feel guilty about

So I've heard that there's new research out there recommending that babies/toddlers remain in a rear-facing car seat until they're 2 years-old at the very least.

I found this out on Facebook. I saw a few links and conversations about it. Some parents (people I don't know, by the way... this isn't directed at anyone...) proudly boast that their child is still in a rear-facing seat, while those who have babies that have been turned around have a "guilty" tone to their comments.

While I'm not denying WHATSOEVER that it's great that we have so much new information available to us as parents regarding the health and safety of our children... at the same time, my first thought was:

"Oh great. Yet another thing I've done wrong."

We turned Anna's car seat around after she turned a year old. Now I feel guilty because my child is more likely to get seriously injured if we were ever in a car crash (god forbid).

And if I'm being completely honest - this new information will most likely not make me turn the car seat back to rear-facing.

Not because I'm lazy. Not because I don't believe the research. Not because I'm a bad Mom. But mostly because I've heard this all before.

Do you remember the new research suggesting that if you had an away-facing stroller your child wouldn't develop as close of a bond with you because they can't see your face and will feel separated from you?

Or how about all the information that told us that wearing your baby in a sling was THE BEST way to take care of your child when they're little? After all, most cultures around the world had been doing this for ages and ages. Yet - even newer research later suggested that this was actually BAD for babies because it can lead to suffocation and death.

So, there I was... carrying Anna around in a sling, thinking proudly "she's going to be so self-confident and develop into a perfect little human being because I'm showing her how attached I am to her and how much I love her"... only to feel embarrassed and ashamed later on when I realized that I could have suffocated my newborn.

Parents have a million choices to make as their children grow up. And just when you think you've made the right one, new research shows that you are, in fact, wrong.

Is there any right way of doing things?

Again, I think it's extremely important for us to have new research and facts and information that help us grow and progress as a society. I strongly believe this. I'm not saying we shouldn't pay attention to this.

But, at the same time, can there be too much information? Can new research really make me love my child less? Should it make us feel guilty, when we're just trying to do our best?

This post really isn't about the car seat debate.

It's about parents (Mom, mostly...). Sometimes I see this "This is the way to do things, and there's no other way" mentality that just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive. Maybe I'm just tired this morning. Or maybe I'd just like us to support each other.

We all love our kids. We're all doing our best.

Isn't that enough?

Again with the links...

I really do need to start writing my own, original material for this blog again.

And I will.

Just not today. (I'm very busy and important today.)

So anyway. As I was reading around on the world wide interweb this morning, I came across an interesting article title: Why Twilight is Bad.

For those of you who aren't familiar with my love/hate relationship with Twilight - here's the quick synopsis: I read the first book in the series and thought it was decent (for fluff). Read the next one and HATED it. My friend convinced me to give the third one a try, so I read it and HATED it. But I had got so far, and hate to quit, so I read the last book and HATED it. However, I've seen the movies and consider them to be pretty good time-wasters.

Anywho. In my personal blog, I wrote about how awful a role model Bella and Edward were for tweens. So when I came across the title of this article today, it interested me.

Then I discovered it was written by a 17 year-old girl.

A smart, articulate, self-aware 17 year-old girl. In other words - everything I hope Anna will one day grow up to be.

Without further hesitation - here's her article. Abusive is the new sexy.

Moms of girls... we have our work cut out for us.

Do you love one kid more than the other?

It honestly just took me about an hour and a half to get Anna to go for her afternoon nap. This is despite the fact that she was clearly showing signs of being tired.

And that is why I have no fun blog today. Instead, I'm going to make me a coffee and sit on the couch for a minute.

Mama needs a moment to herself.

In the meantime - have you heard about this?? It's a Mom blog post that's been going viral the last few days because the author openly admits to loving her son more than her daughter. I just went back to read it today and found it's been changed since she first wrote it. She edited out the part where she says that there are times, in her darkest moments, where she doesn't think it would be that awful if she lost her daughter, as long as she could keep her son.

There are a whole LOT of notes and explanations attached to it now... but you still might get the point.

What do you think? I don't know if I can comment... I think that'd be another LONG blog for another day.

And, as I said, that couch is calling my name.

What to do...

Anna's at that in between age right now.

The age where I really don't know what to do with her to keep her happy and engaged and learning. The age where I feel like I might go a bit stir crazy by the end of the day.

She doesn't just sit around anymore. She's not at the stage where you can just put her on the floor with a few toys and it's all so new and exciting, so she'll entertain herself for hours.

But she's also not old enough to do crafts or paint or play at the park. So I'm kind of at a loss as to what I can do with her these days.

We go to Kindermusik once a week (but it is EXPENSIVE! Like, almost prohibitively expensive). She's going to start swimming lessons with Daddy soon. I try to get out to playgroups or the early years centres so she'll be around other babies. But most of the time, she walks around the house, playing with toys, getting into cupboards... that sort of thing.

I'm starting to think she needs more engaging things to do. She needs to learn things, doesn't she?

At the same time, I don't want to do things by myself all the time. (Like, go for walks with her). I find it gets boring. I need a little interaction so I don't start outwardly expressing my inner monologue wherever I go.

Mind you, right now - I'd just settle for something other than hanging around the house.

So. What do you/did you do with your kids when they were this age? How did you keep them - and yourself - happy?

Help!

Kids are gross

Anna is fast, yo.

She's also one of those "into everything" babies. She's definitely not a laid-back child who just kind of watches the world go by. This girl is ALWAYS getting into something.

As a result, she's gotten into some nasty situations and done a few gross things. For example:

• Anna has licked a toilet bowl. Thank GOD it was our toilet... so I *sort of* know how dirty it was. But still. LICKED. A. TOILET BOWL.
• She's discovered her fingers. And her nose. And her finger IN her nose.
• Anna has a penchant for the bottom of dirty shoes. Likes to suck on them. Only if they're dirty though.
• She's also learned that her tiny, skinny little finger fits quite well inside Mommy's big nostril.
• She's a big fan of putting her hands all over her bum area as SOON as I get her poopy diaper off, but before I've had time to wipe. The poo... it's... it's just... EVERYWHERE. *Shudder*.

I'm sure there's more. I'm just (urp) a little grossed out by the thought of all the germs. THE GERMS... OH DEAR GOD, THE GERMS!!

At least she's going to have a pretty damn good immune system though, eh?

How about your little ankle-biters? Have they licked any toilet bowls recently?

Sing with me, won't you?

So Anna didn't sleep well again last night. As a result - I'm currently in a sleep-deprived stupor that even my second large coffee of the morning can't get me out of.

Therefore - I'm going to be lazy and just attach a link that you can look at today. Let's all pretend that I actually wrote something exciting and unique and clever, won't we?

Oh - and just in case you think I was only a teensy bit lazy by attaching a link, I must inform you that I stole this from the Pregnant Chicken website. (PS: If you don't know of Pregnant Chicken, you've got to check it out. It's a MUST READ for pregnant women everywhere).

So, anyway. Have a happy Friday, folks!

Now, let's all sing ourselves into the weekend...

Reader discretion advised: The topic of this post is va-jay-jays.

Anna's newest pair of skinny jeans don't fit. They're too big on her.

If she weren't my daughter (and if she weren't A BABY) I'd have some choice words for her. (Yes. It's incredibly sad that I'm jealous of a 13 month-old's figure. I know it.)

On a side note - I'm sort of running out of "Every Mom Should Know This" ideas for the blog. Except...

For one.

That I'm not sure the general public wants to hear about.

(I also think there must be some sort of conspiracy to cover this topic up, because WHY AREN'T WE SHARING THIS WITH EACH OTHER LADIES??)

And that topic is...

Post-baby coochie care.

Oh, alright. I'll just say the word: vagina.

My good Mommy friends told me a few things right before Anna was born and I was UBER grateful they did. Which is why I feel I must share the following:

Hez's List of Things She's Glad She Knew About Down There. Or: How to Take Care of Your Lady Parts After Spitting Out a Child.

1. If the hospital doesn't provide you with a little spray bottle, demand one. They give you this simple little bottle to use for cleaning purposes after you pee... and it works wonders. It's really the only way to keep yourself clean. Trust me. When you're all swollen and delicate and sore as hell, the softest ply in the world will feel like shards of glass if you try to wipe up after a pee. My friend told me to ask for one, but luckily the nurse just gave it to me. Otherwise I would have been all, "I need the bottle for the pee!!!" and that could have been confusing.

2. Frozen maxi-pads. Enough said? Well, I'll elaborate anyway. Right after birthing a child, you're a tad swollen, but are still asked to walk around and, oh... maybe even take care of a brand new life and all!! So, not having to worry about your vagina feeling like it's closing over would be pleasant, right? A friend told me that the hospital will give you a couple of frozen pads if you ask. But you may want to freeze a few for when you get home. Best. Advice. Ever.

3. You may think Dexter was in your room. After having Anna, once she was cleaned up and the hubster and I were done staring at her with our happy little family glow, the midwives wanted to help me get up and move over to the bathroom so they could change my "diaper" (for lack of a better word) and get me to my new room. That's when I saw it. All the freakin' blood. There was so much of it everywhere - and if my friend hadn't warned me about this, I may have thought I was dying. So... just so you know - lots and lots of gross blood everywhere is apparently perfectly normal.

4. You don't have to fear the poo. I was terrified of pooping post-birth. I knew that spray bottle wasn't going to work the same way on my behind, and... what about the stitches?? I worked myself up into a little frenzy until I remembered the advice I was given: Just try and relax, and wipe with those little medicated hemorrhoids pads. Then stick some of them on your frozen pad, too. Oh my god, giving birth is glamorous, no?

So, experienced Moms... have I missed anything?

Or, is the better question... do I actually still have readers left at this point??

Officially weaned

So this is it.

My daughter is officially weaned at 13 months old.

I've got mixed emotions about it - which surprises me a little. I breastfed because I really wanted to do that for my baby... but I don't think I ever had the overwhelming feeling of bonding while nursing Anna. Yet now that she's weaned, I'm a teensy bit sad that she's not my little wee baby anymore.

Anyway - some updated stats for you all. And some more questions. Mama still needs much help from other Mamas out there.

Stats:

Age: 13 months.

Milestone: No longer getting the booby milk.

Sleep: Still a horrible sleeper. This is where I need help. She's only waking once or twice at night... but she's still REALLY upset unless we stay in her room until she drifts off to sleep at night and during naps. (This is actually new-ish. She used to go to sleep on her own).

I've heard that you should try pushing baby's bed time to a little bit later to help them sleep well - but it doesn't seem to matter what time Anna goes to bed, she wakes between 6 and 7am on the dot. (It's even been earlier lately). So I don't think that really accomplishes anything for us.

I've also heard it's about time to drop a nap. But Anna's SO tired in the mornings. She loves her morning nap. How do you get them to drop a nap that they seem to so desperately need (especially when they're not sleeping well at night?) I don't have the schedule of daycare to help me do this. What do I do?

Teeth: Only 2 little chompers still. I was sure she was teething last week and we were going to see another one pop through by the end of the week... but nothing. I hate teething! Your poor baby (and you!) get put through hell for nothing. It's not like her teeth came in and now we're through with it. She was miserable and showing all the signs for... nothing! Sigh.

So... onward and upward for my little non-nursing baby. *Sob*.

Next thing I know she'll be going to university. (Hopefully she's done with teething by then.)

The things people say, part 2

Proof that all (great) Mom minds think alike. This is funny.

Bad parenting advice from The Mother Board blog.

Enjoy. And have a great weekend!

XX vs. XY

I’ve always wanted a bunch of best girlfriends.

I’m envious of the characters on Sex and the City. Women who have known each other since grade school and still consider each other besties into adulthood make me kind of jealous.

And while I’ve had girlfriends growing up – even ones I considered BFFs at the time – it always seemed to be a passing trend with me. For some reason, the girlfriend relationship was beyond my realm of complete and total understanding.

Guys were just… easier. They understood my sense of humour. They didn’t get mad at me or hold grudges. They didn’t expect much.

So after 32 years of taking the easy route I found myself as a new Mom, surrounded by fun, easy-going guys. Which is great, right? Right.

Except.

Guys, as well-intentioned as they are, just don’t get the girl thing.

They tend to think I’m silly when I cry at commercials. They don’t share my love affair with So You Think You Can Dance. They certainly don’t want to have a glass of wine and chat about our list of Celebrity Top 10 Guys We Would Get With.

You need girlfriends for those things.

Women need other women. And it took becoming a Mom for me to realize this.

I’m lucky enough to have an incredibly wonderful husband. A soul mate. A best friend. All of the things you want in a partner. But, there came a point in time that he had to go back to work (we decided paying the mortgage and putting food on the table was just as essential as staring at our gorgeous baby all day long. Go figure.)

And without a bunch of close Mom girlfriends to spend each day with, I found myself lonely on maternity leave.

My baby was 3 months old, and I wanted to get out and about with her. But you can only go for so many walks by yourself before you start to get bored. So I joined a Mom’s group. Something I thought I would never do.

And that’s when it happened.

That’s when I became a part of an incredible community of women.

I met women who were going through the same things I was. Women who I could relate to and who seemed to relate to me.

These women, who I had literally just met, were supporting me when I was exhausted. They talked to me when I had questions about breastfeeding or reaching milestones or teething. We met up and laughed over coffee. We shared stories about our husbands, our jobs, our interests.

I found myself thinking, “Holy crap – I’m not the only one!”

We became a circle of Mommy friends. They understood the enormity of this intense, wonderful, huge learning-curve-of-an experience that having a baby is. And they got it completely from a woman’s perspective. In a way that my wonderful husband just couldn’t. (Bless his heart).

And, suddenly, I realized I had found one of the most rewarding relationships a woman can have.

I had found some girlfriends.

H-E-Double bendy straws.

I have been to the nexus of hell.

You may have been there, too? It's also known as teething.

Holy, eff. Teething sucks balls.

I can't believe how awful it is. My little buttertart can't sleep at night. Like - wakes up SO often, is so out of sorts that she won't let me cuddle her or rock her, can't nap during the day much. Ugh. My only saving grace is that she's a ridiculously happy baby lately, so her mood has been great during the day.

And, of course, I've got the Mom Guilt going on because the only thing that seems to work at night is baby tylenol or baby advil... so she's had a dose of it every night for the past week. (She needed 2 doses last night).

I feel guilty about pumping her full of meds. But the homeopathic hippy stuff just isn't working. It's doing nothing. Actually, that's not true - it's doing something. It's laughing in my face and dancing a jig as I give it to my child and cross my fingers that it will actually help her sleep.

No such luck.

Last night I tried giving her some cold water. Then I tried rocking her. Then I tried letting her sleep in our bed (she could NOT settle. She flopped all over the place for about 10 minutes before she just sat up and looked at me as if to say "This is very nice of you, but this isn't my bed. And you're making me hot. So get me out of here.") Then I tried wearing her in the ergo carrier. (She liked it - but she also liked looking around and pointing to stuff while in there. In other words - it was Fun Awake Time, in her opinion.) Then I tried letting her settle herself for about 5 minutes.

Nothing worked. Finally - we gave her a second dose of tylenol and I rocked her until her eyes started closing. She slept for 5 hours. (Thank you, tylenol. THANK YOU.)

All I can think now is that I'm doing everything you're not supposed to. I'm rocking my baby to sleep. I'm giving her lots of medicine. I'm not letting her self-soothe. I'm running to her whenever she lets out a little cry.

At the same time, I think I must be doing something sort of okay because she doesn't hate me when she wakes up the next morning.

Seriously though. Is there anything worse than teething? Really? And Anna's only got 2 teeth right now. TWO. We've got a whole mouth full of these nights to go through.

Sigh. Pass me that bottle of wine, would you?