Mommy/Daughter Day in the Gardens

If you read my last post, maybe you realized before I did that Georgia and I were in some serious need of mommy/daughter time - no daddy allowed. So when my husband needed to get some work done Sunday, I decided Georgia and I would head out alone. There would be no daddy to block her blows or tantrums!

Despite that fact that it's August and we're now on the Carolina Coast, I thought we'd take advantage of the once-a-month, free day at the Tryon Palace gardens. The palace is a historic site, the first state capitol of NC. So with a car thermometer reading 100 degrees and plenty of sunblock and water in the diaper bag, Georgia and I headed out on our own.

We stop for some deep fried sustenance on the way:


And then we stop for a sailboat to pass by:

(I can't tell you how happy I am to live once again in a place where drawbridges are a necessity!)

We parked on the street just a few hundred feet from the palace entrance, and as soon as I opened the car door, the sounds of a band filled the air. It wasn't just any normal-sounding band - it had the sound of colonial times - the raspy drums, the high pitched flute, the patriotic tunes. Georgia was delighted.

This was our first trip to Tryon Palace:


Georgia loved the twisty-turny paths through the flowers, but she wasn't so fond of those white sculptures in the background.


And every water fountain or pond sent her into a squealing fit, running straight for it as soon as she spotted it.


At almost 22 months, Georgia has her first encounter with a cannon. Is this significant? I have no earthly idea, but she thought it was cool.

The cannonballs, however, were another matter. They frustrated the hell out of her that she could not pick them up. All I kept hearing was "ball, ball, mommy, ball." Then the grunts of a frustrated toddler trying to pick up a heavy metal ball welded to 10 other heavy metal balls.


Oh, and try taking a toddler to a public garden where they're not allowed to pick the flowers. I promise you, the only thing they'll want to do is... yep, pick those flowers.



But hey, who's going to miss a blossom or two?

Amid the flowers and trees and paths and water fountains and buckets of sweat on this day, Georgia and I discovered some things.

We discovered it's really hot in New Bern in August. We discovered all the doors on the palace grounds are, indeed, locked.


We discovered cannonballs are heavy (especially when welded to others). We discovered hidden corners.


We also discovered that we still can get along with each other. There was not one tantrum, not one swing at mommy's head, nor one evil look in my direction.


We discovered a beautiful day.

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My Daughter HATES Me!

Yes, that's how I put it. My husband tells me hate is too strong a word and that Georgia is only 21 months old - she doesn't know how to hate and that she would never hate her mommy. Well, he hasn't been on the other end of her attitude for the past several months - attitude (hate) that has only gotten worse since we moved to North Carolina and my husband starting staying home with Georgia every day. Trust me, the girl can't stand me.

My sweet, little, innocent girl who once wanted only me and my milk-filled breasts is gone. I wish I knew where she has gone. Maybe there's just lingering anger over the whole milk-going-away thing. Who knows? Who would have thought I'd be worrying about my daughter's anger issues so early on?

Since I work nights, I'm the last to wake up in the mornings. But when I do and I walk into the room, and as soon as Georgia sees me, she yells at me and makes a not-so-nice face. If I sit too close to her or her daddy, she hits me. If I try to pick her up, she yells and hits me. If I get anywhere near my husband, she yells and cries and hits me. I could go on and on with one situation after another, but I won't. I'll just say almost every one has a similar outcome to the ones I just described. Georgia has sat in the corner so many times for hitting me in the face and head that at this point, she thinks time-out is some kind of game and she doesn't mind playing it if it means she can pummel me. I'm getting my butt kicked by a 21-month old - how's that for embarrassing.

I will say, as my husband is quick to point out in her defense, that this all smacks strongly of jealousy issues. My daughter seems to be jealous if I have a relationship with her daddy or if I intrude on daddy/daughter time. She seems to want my husband all to herself. SHE'S 21-MONTHS OLD!!! REALLY??

I'll admit, it hurts. It hurts a lot. But I try not to be the "oh woe is me" type. It's not about me, it's about her. But it is hard not to let my pained heart have its way sometimes and just feel deflated. All those months of not drinking while pregnant and breastfeeding, no caffeine, no raw foods, very little processed foods, being the only one to get up at all hours of the night to feed and comfort her, the efforts I went through to breastfeed - no dairy for me, the painful Mastitis, the surgery, pumping at work (near impossible in my field) - all of it I did for her without a thought of myself in my mind. So yes, maybe it's a little childish that I know cry "this is how she repays me?" because I did all those things early in her life, not to be "repaid" some day, but just so she was taken care of in the best way possible and had the best start in life.

I just want to figure out how to calm the waters. I don't want her angry, and I don't want her mad at me. I hope this is not an indicator of the relationship she and I will always have. What does that say about me? Have I already failed as a mother in just the first 21 months? Did I ever act this way as a toddler? I wish to hell my mother was still alive for me to ask her that. Have other mothers gone through similar situations with their daughters?

Let me tell you, forget the toddler hits, it's my mind that's truly getting pummeled as I wonder about all these questions and concerns. Who ever thinks their daughter will act this way toward them before she hits those crazy teen years? I would be prepared for it then - an over-hormonal young woman trying to figure it all out and lashing out at me - OK. But at 21 months? That wasn't in the "Kids for Dummies" manual.

Moms, am I alone in this?

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The Day of B's

With all the moving and juggling and unpacking and juggling and address change paperwork and juggling and new job and juggling and... OK, you get the picture... with all of the things that come with moving half way across the country, after three weeks in our new hometown, we needed to get out (again). Georgia was climbing the walls! So I'll bribe you to forgive the world's longest sentence with some pictures of our sightseeing day in Eastern Carolina.

We made it the day of B's (unintentional, but it made for an easy title). We first headed to Beaufort, NC. Yes, there is a better known Beaufort, SC, but there is a big difference between the two - pronunciation. Southerners obviously can not agree on how to pronounce "Beau," but I'm going to side with North Carolina here. Most of us know Beau is a traditional southern name, and it's pronounced "Bo." And in NC, Beaufort is pronounced "bo-furt." In SC, it's "bew-fort." So we headed to the seaside port of Beaufort.

We took a walk along the docks and enjoyed the scenery - boats, birds and beauty. (see, more B's!)



So almost three weeks of living only 30 minutes from the beach and no stop yet at the beach?!?! So guess what the other "B" of the day was?? BEACH!!!!


Georgia was giddy as we walked along the shore, our bare toes digging into the sand.

She even came up with her own little "happy beach dance" as we walked along, and she'd give my husband and I a laugh every few minutes with her rendition of it. She would try to chase the waves when they wouldn't come to her quickly enough, and then she'd giggle and giggle when they finally did.




Her happiness was truly infectious.

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Everything's A Changing...

"They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom." ~Confucius

Well, if Confucius had it right, my life should be fireworks and puppy dogs and giggles and pure sunshine mixed together with a Master's degree from Harvard.

My life has been full of constant changes, many of them in the last five years, and I just capped it off with a big move halfway across the country for my family and I. We are now on day seven of being gone from our old home town and on day five in our new town. We're still living in a hotel, our dogs are still at the kennel and we hope (hope) to have a place to rent squared away in the next two days. It has been a longgggggg seven days.

We left our Omaha home on Monday...

... drove through Iowa and Illinois...

... Indiana and Kentucky...

... West Virginia and then Virginia...

... and we reached North Carolina at night (so no pic). Georgia and I were in my car...

... my husband and the dogs were following us in his car.

Georgia has virtually lived in her car seat and has grown to hate it so much more, but with everything she's gone through in the last week, she has been amazing. Yes, we've had more than our fair share of toddler tantrums, but she is taking all of this change in stride. She is my little trooper. And my husband and I have survived more than our fair share of stress so far. I've decided that if a marriage can handle a major move like this, then I don't think there's anything that can crack it. Although we will all be living in a small, two bedroom rental for at least the next six months, so I might change my theory sometime in the near future to "surviving six months in a super small rental."

So in one week, we have gone from this:

Omaha, Nebraska


... to this:

New Bern, North Carolina

Today is my last day before I start my new job. Remember, I haven't worked since the beginning of February, so this will be interesting. I will miss so much I feel I have gained in the last five months - time with my family, dinners at home, days with my daughter - but I will also be happy to regain some of the things I miss about working. I go into this with very mixed emotions.

But that said, today was (as much as it could be) Georgia's day. After another breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the aquarium.

Georgia loves aquariums! We had a great one at the Omaha zoo, and I'm glad we have one now about 35 minutes away.

So that's where we spent some time today, and Georgia just ran circles around the place.

It's the happiest I've seen here in a week, and you can't imagine how much that warmed my heart. Of course, she ran and ran and ran until we made it to the gift shop where she promptly parked herself amongst the stuffed animals.

Aw, my darling hasn't been changed too much by the move.

I'm sure while much in our lives has changed, it won't be long before we find our rhythm and return to some new "normal." After all, the only thing that never changes in life is change, right? I just hope that calm returns and hangs around for a while - I could use it... and I think my husband could too.

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MIA!!

Hello! ::knock, knock:: Is anybody home?!?!?

This might be what you're asking if you've stopped by here lately. Where the heck is that woman? Did she fall off a cliff? Well, kind of, if that cliff is called normalcy and sanity. Let's just call my cliff I-got-a-job-and-I-have-to-move-my-family-halfway-across-the-country-in-two-and-a-half-weeks. Yeah, now you know why sanity is GONE! Oh, and time to write any new blog posts.

So the bad news is I could probably temporary qualify for the looney bin. Hmmm... that sounds relaxing actually.

The good news though, I'm moving here: (insert big, cheesy smile)


OK, so not right here, but this is the view from downtown New Bern, North Carolina. It's quite the leap from the cornfields of Nebraska (sorry for the stereo-typing - NE is much, much more than just cornfields). I am the new main anchor of FOX Eastern Carolina and will also work for the ABC affiliate, WCTI. I start July 11th (I know, really freaking soon!). So I will try to pump some life back into this blog in the next week or two, but don't hunt me down if I don't. But after that, I hope a new normalcy starts to creep into my life and you will find me back here much more often again.

Thanks for sticking with me and Georgia in the meantime.

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Family Vacation... Yipee!!

I don't know why they say you can never go home again. I just did, and it was fabulous!! I took my own family to the place where I grew up - The Florida Keys.

It's the place where I earned the title of "Conch," where I learned to swim at nine months old and learned to deep sea fish with my grandfather and catch dolphin. (if you've been there, you know I'm not talking about Flipper) It's the place where I combed the beach for hermit crabs, let my toes get nibbled on by minnows and wore an almost constant crust of salt from the dried sea water on my skin. Oddly enough it's also the place where I developed my passion for horses and rode mine on the beach whenever the chance presented itself.

At the time, I hated the place. But in retrospect, I had a magical childhood. How many people can say they watched the 4th of July fireworks from their boat EVERY year, rode a school bus over at least a dozen bridges every day just to get to school, caught lobster and snapper (with hot dogs) under their dock for dinner and woke up every morning in a place most people long to go for vacation? Well, I can. And I was so happy to finally take my daughter and husband there.

Travel along with us, and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

This vacation was a family affair. I still have aunts, uncles, cousin and grandparents all still living in Marathon, and my sisters were also both joining me for this trip! But before they arrived, Ben, Georgia and I took a trip down to Key West.



Ernest Hemingway's former home:

And the descendants of his six-toed cats:

Yes, she kissed one. She's into kisses right now.

Coloring and daddy kisses while we wait for a yummy lunch of conch cerviche and grouper sandwiches! (OK, so Georgia had chicken fingers)

Picture overload yet? Oh just wait, this is just the beginning!!

We spent great time with family and added great new memories to the vault.

Georgia even got some "sharing" lessons from her cousins. (the girl does NOT like to share her crayons!)

And Georgia LOVES airplanes right now and guess where the flight path is for the local airport... right over my grandparents' home. Heaven for Georgia! She watched them land and then flew just like them.

Florida is all about its beaches, right? We hit three different ones while we were there. Here ya go:

Sombrero Beach:

Aunt Jodi took Georgia into the water. She loved the water but hated kids wearing snorkel masks. Go figure.

Jodi's dog Tom joined us too.


Bahia Honda State Park:


Here's Georgia's cousin Emily in one of those dreaded masks!

And there's an awesome, old bridge right next to the beach.


Coco Plum Beach:

This beach is a little on the natural and wild side, which is why I love it.


More flying:


So much exploring to do!

Home sweet home, we loved you.

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I've Been Slacking...

... because it has been quite a while since I have put a new post up here. Yes, I have several excuses - don't we always?

1.) The job hunt has been keeping me busy.
2.) My family and I just got back from a week-long trip to visit family in the Florida Keys.
3.) I've been very busy getting another blog up and running (and doing the two family shoots you'll see profiled so far):

Jaime Otero Photography

If you're wondering, no, I'm not going professional right now. I just want to take my hobby to the next level and get experience shooting people other than my husband and daughter (not that I won't keep doing that until they're sick of me!).

So check it out and I promise to have vacation pictures up here real soon!

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