365 Days of Everything Georgia

February 18, 2012 - Watching Kites & Climbing Trees

Cold and rain and sleet and possible flakes are forecasted for tomorrow. But today, oh sweet today, you should not bear the name February. Today, you are nothing like the dreaded chills and dampness and bitterness of that month. Today, glorious today, you should bear a name with a more delicious ring to it, like a song on my lips. Perhaps... "May." Today, underneath your warmth and sunshine and white puffy clouds, little beauties rose up from the ground and lifted their angelic faces to your heavens.

Georgia and I could not stay inside today. Birds chirping, temperatures approaching 70, the slightest breeze playing with the trees, the sun shining - after a picnic lunch in our backyard, we headed to the park.

And guess what? Georgia climbed her first tree!!! (with assistance, of course) She was pretty proud sitting in the tree's crook.

And then... oh, let's keep it humble, enough of the pride...

We also watched kites flying high, Georgia particularly fond of the Mickey Mouse one.

We just spent the afternoon enjoying nature's gift of a beautiful day. We'll take all we can like this in Winter. It even feels wrong saying that word, Winter.

(I think Puppy was sunbathing)

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you." - Walt Whitman

February 17, 2012 - "Toady" Time

>> February 17, 2012 – books/library, fun

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." — Dr. Seuss

Georgia and I spent the morning with "Toady." He's a little fellow full of fluff that makes an appearance every Friday morning at our local library. He is a BIG hit with the kids Georgia's age, including Georgia, and there's guaranteed to be a lot of reading, smiles, songs and dancing. Oh, and did I mention he is green?

(forgive the smartphone picture, I can't pull out the real camera during "Toady" time.)
After all the fun, we get a hug from our frog friend and head to the tot-section of the library. A visit with "Toady" includes getting new library books.

I can't explain how thrilled I am my daughter has a love of books. It will enrich her life.

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." — Jacqueline Kennedy

February 16, 2012 - Let's Talk Stress

>> February 16, 2012 – life, mommy lessons, stress, Toddler Mahem

A friend of mine posted a question the other day to her Facebook page.

It read, "how does everyone deal with stress?" She and her husband have a daughter a little younger than mine, and I can only guess her daughter is starting down that path of independence. You know, the one my daughter is currently sprinting down at full speed than running back up it to kick me in the gut before sprinting back down it again.

Stress. STRESS. StReSs. s.t.r.e.s.s. !!!S-T-R-E-S-S!!!

No matter how you say it, we all hate it. These days it is my constant companion - not always in my face or kicking me when I'm down, but always around... somewhere... waiting. How to deal with it has been on my mind a lot lately. I never really thought the terrible twos could really be so terrible at times. Duh! That's why they're are called the TERRIBLE twos!

It goes without saying that I love my daughter, but there, I said it. She is worth every single ounce of stress life can pummel me with... and then some. But there's no doubt she is the one pummeling me many of the times. Almost everything with her these days is a constant battle. I know it will pass, she will grow out of the twos and threes, and I will one day actually miss these moments. But right now I feel like Georgia is an elephant sitting on my head, my husband is a rhino sitting on one shoulder and my job is a hippo sitting on the other. They're all squishing me, and I need to climb out from under the weight to breathe.

But how do we do that? That is my question these days, as I'm sure it is for many parents. My friend's question on Facebook received some interesting comments...

The very, very last thing I want to do is let the weight almost squash me until I explode out to get rid of it. That is not a moment I ever intend to let my daughter see. I saw it as a child, and it still weighs on my mind to this day. Not happening with MY girl! She IS my treasure.

We all must deal with stress in our life, whether it's new stress, old stress or just a lot of little stresses heaped up together on top of you. I know my path is no different from any of yours, I just have to find my own way to smooth out my path or at least dodge the potholes. Or maybe I can just make those animals sitting on top of me go on a diet. Time to quit bitching and figure it out, right?

February 14, 2012 - Hearts and Love Day!!

>> February 14, 2012 – daycare, food, fun, Holidays

Wait... isn't this supposed to be a day for lovers? When did it become a kids' holiday? My Valentine's Day started off with a party at Georgia's daycare. OK, scratch that, it was a sugar fest. Holy sweets, Batman!

OK, OK, Valentine's Day with the kids is pretty darn cute.

Did I mention this was her first "school party?" We even had her valentines for her class in her cubby and all ready to be handed out, and Godiva candy bars for the teachers as well.

After all that sugar at the 9:30 a.m. school party (yes, you heard right, 9:30 IN THE MORNING!), Georgia and I headed home to... more sugar.

It was time to make some treats for daddy.

I've never made chocolate-dipped strawberries and pretzels before, but it was fun - except the steam from the double-boiler. Beware of the double-boiler. But hey, it wouldn't be considered cooking if I didn't burn myself at least once. I do have a reputation to uphold!

Then I placed some valentines I made around the house for the hubby in places I knew he would find them.

Hopefully he liked it all, who knows? I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day.

February 13, 2012 - There are Starving Kids... Somewhere!

>> February 13, 2012 – food

Do you ever find yourself biting your tongue, on the verge of saying that sentence you heard your parents say a hundred times but swore you'd never repeat to your own kids? "Eat you food, there are starving kids in Ethiopia!"

Let me tell you, my toddler could feed the whole country of Ethiopia with what she leaves on her plate. How do toddlers expect to grow? They never eat!

Georgia's plates look like this more often than not:

... and that's AFTER she's done eating.

I've tried making her food cute, fun, cut into shapes - no really big hits there. Maybe my parents were onto something...

My toddler battles continue.

February 12, 2012 - Insane and Tired

>> – food, mommy lessons

It's funny to see all the little ways having a child changes you, the little ways you never saw coming. Half the time I'm just too insane from the constant battles that come with a toddler that I just don't care about A, B or C. The other half of the time, I'm just too tired to care.

Today, as I was making lunch for Georgia and me, we had plenty of plastic plates for her food, but no adult ones for me. So... I ate my lunch on the cutting board. Yep, too tired to wash a plate, just give me the cutting board.

I guess, in hindsight, I could've just used one of her plastic plates. But alas, that would take a sane, well-rested brain to think of that. And you know what? The sandwich tasted just as good off the cutting board. :)

February 11, 2012 - Take Care of the Chompers

>> – growing, teeth

I must say, the hubby and I have been pretty good about Georgia's teeth since she was born. We started brushing them early, took her to the pediatric dentist twice since she was one and she is now well on the way to learning how to brush her teeth. Uhhh... that is... when she wants to.

Where tooth brushing used to be fairly easy, these days it's a battle nine times out of ten. Darn these toddlers and their independent streaks! Georgia's option almost every night is, "the corner or brush your teeth, which one do you want?" Thankfully, she picks the teeth every time, but I know she's going to throw us for a loop one of these days by choosing the corner.

Tonight though, on my dinner break from work, she chose the teeth.

We even have our own brush song, sung to the tune of "Merry Old Land of Oz" from the Wizard of Oz - "brush, brush, brush... brush, brush, brush... it's time to brush your teeth... it's time to brush them up and down and get them white and clean."

Georgia's Birth Story

The timing of Georgia's birth, in a way, came out of a journey to death. I'd like to think with every death comes new life, and for me, Georgia is that life. She is my saving grace and has kept me breathing when my lungs were screaming to stop, screaming to drown in my own self-pity.

My husband and I decided to try for Georgia just a few months after our walk down the aisle. You see, my mom had been diagnosed with incurable Ovarian Cancer, so I wanted a baby soon. I wanted a baby while there was still time to have my mother there as I brought a new being into the world, to see my mother hold her granddaughter, to ask my mom which of my baby features my daughter bore, to lean on my mother when I had those "new mom" questions and for so many other moments I had played out in my thoughts over and over again through the years.

My husband and I were thrilled to soon find out our little Georgia was growing inside of me, rounding out my belly day by day, pushing tiny feet into my sides, entertaining us with a neverending chorus of hiccups. We went to the doctor's appointments, the baby classes, took the hospital tour and had everything ready for the day we brought our darling home in Omaha, Nebraska.

It's funny though, life seems to fight our planning and always chooses its own course - and so it did. When my belly was just shy of 38 weeks round, the day came. After a 52-year-long life, which was as bright as they come, my mother faded away. She died on Sunday, October 11, 2009.

Early Monday morning, with my doctor's permission, my husband and I got on a plane to fly home to Georgia for my mom's funeral. We got off the plane in Atlanta around 3 p.m. Twelve hours later, at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, I was sleeping at my parents' house. As I lay in the home where my mom had been just days before, that journey toward life took a leap. My water broke and the contractions started coming within minutes. We were more than a thousand miles away from our doctor, our hospital and our house.

So off to the local hospital we went in the dark of night, my husband driving my mom's SUV and not having a clue where he was going. I had to give him directions between contractions. We arrived at the hospital and didn't even know what entrance to go to. We found locked doors twice before finding the right entrance, and yeah, I floundered up to both locked doors!

We checked in and by the time we got to a room, I turned around and there were my sister, brother and cousin in the room with my husband and I and my other sister and father were on the way. We had thought we'd be delivering in Omaha with just my husband and I and the calming classical CD's I'd burned. I guess my mom had other ideas.

So there we were, in the hospital where two years earlier they had cut cancer from my mother, in the hospital where my two nieces were born, in the hospital where my delivery nurse had also been my sister's bridesmaid - there surrounded by those who love me most and the memory of one who just couldn't stay long enough to make it. I delivered Georgia Katherine at 10:46 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs. and 8 ounces.

We left the hospital on Wednesday with a borrowed car seat, a bag full of borrowed baby clothes, a lot of flowers and hearts bursting with every emotion you can possibly imagine. We arrived at my parents' house to a borrowed crib, borrowed baby supplies and relatives arriving in town with funeral clothes and baby gifts packed in their suitcases. On Friday, my daughter and I looked down on my mother in her casket, and on Saturday we buried her. It's the only time my daughter every saw her grandmother.

My mother fought hard to live long enough to meet her granddaughter and in the end, she missed the date by two days. But life doesn't stop, and it's the beauty of my daughter's life that keeps me smiling. And oh how her life makes me smile. I like to believe whenever I'm holding my daughter and she's starring off into the distance, over my shoulder, that she's seeing my mom - a guardian angel for both of us - and that they are already the best of friends.

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