Clearly from this photo I’m big on recycling.  I did do my 4th grade science project on recycling.  It was the early ’90’s back when putting one can in a bin constituted saving the earth.   The picture on the left is a shot from our maternity photo shoot in fall 2010.  The shot on the right was yesterday.  Still rockin’ this dress from 2010!  Yes, it’s a maternity dress.  I’ve learned I can re-wear lots of preggo clothes.

Can a get a “Belt It!”?!  That’s what I did to this maternity dress here…

I’m not the only one recycling.  Last summer I put Charlotte in a 12 month dress at 9 months old because I was terrified she would grow out of it.  Ha!  I’m an idiot.  My teeny senorita is 20 months and can still fit into 12 month outfits.  See…

August 2011

July 2012

Did you catch the outfit Charlotte was wearing at the top of this post?  Yep!  Recycled!  It’s a 9 month outfit she’s wearing now as a 20 month old.  It was a dress last summer, and a top with shorts this summer.

August 2011

Kid sizes are kind of a crock.  So are most maternity clothes.  Take that manufacturers!

When the doctor broke my water to start labor, (Yea!  That’s right!  I was induced, okay!  I’ve heard the criticism.)  little did I know that would just be the start of the wave of fluids to leave my body for not just the next six hours, but the next six weeks.

The worst was in the hospital when I couldn’t go.  I kept apologizing to the nurses who had to catheterize me.  I filled a two liter container.  No, I’m not exaggerating.

As if meconium laced newborn diapers weren’t gross enough, no one  tells you about all the postpartum leaking, seeping, and general weeping.  I’m here today to share more about post-baby bodily fluids.  You’re welcome!

• Sweat– The first two weeks after Charlotte was born I would wake up in drenched sheets with wet strands of hair.  I would apologize to Greyson for all the saline in the bed.
• Urine– I had to go all the time.  It was always an ordeal, you know, with the stitches and such.
• Colostrum–  The very first bit of breast milk you have.  The first time I fed Charlotte in the Delivery Room I was shocked to find it there!  I remember saying, “Oh my God!  There’s milk in there!”
• Breast milk–  The next few days after Charlotte was born my mom kept asking me, “Has your milk come in yet?”  I would reply, “I dunno.”  She would say, “Oh!  You’ll know.”  Boom!  Little did I know, when the dairy opened, I would be in business for a full year.  My cups runneth over. I swear sometimes I thought I had enough milk for two babies.  I never had to buy formula.  That was awesome.  I have to say, I really miss calorie burn of lactating.  Now, I have to run instead of sit on the couch with the breast pump.  Boo!
• Lochia–  That’s a fancypants Latin word for “six weeks of heavy period”.  Oh, and no tampons.  Only pads.  I had horrific flashbacks to 7th grade.
• Tears–  I’m not a cryer by nature.  I mean, I’m not cold hearted.  I shed a few reading The Notebook and watching Mr. Holland’s Opus.  But, it was nothing compared to other women (::ahem:: my sister) who sobbed during Titanic.  (“I’ll never let go, Jack!”) Something happened when the hormones started dropping.  I came home and saw flowers from friends and coworkers and could stop crying about it.  This Chevy commercial  came out the week we brought her home.  It killed me!  I would just look at Greyson and say, “What has happened to me?!”

Even with all that dampness I look back on those first days affectionately.  There was nothing like it.  You just have to wade through.

November 4, 2010. The day we brought her home. I was nervous, puffy, swollen, but happy.

Every child gets a bad haircut.  You remember your perm, rat tail, mohawk, or bowl cut, right?  I had “The Dorothy Hamill” 10-years too late in the mid-80’s.  (Thanks Mom!)  She swears it’s because I had “hair you just couldn’t do anything with!”  Sadly, in the early 90’s when I had more control of my own ‘do, I rocked a piggyback perm with giant bangs.  I have no pictures of this embarrassment since a bunch of our stuff is in storage while we’re selling the house.  (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)  In high school it was all about “The Rachel”.  That was actually cute.  Thanks Jen!

Greyson admits to having a “hockey mullet”.  This is the only picture I could find that got even close.  (Note to either of his sisters: Please send me a better mullet pic if you can find it.  Thanks!)  

I’m hoping Charlotte got her bad haircut out of the way as a 1 1/2 year-old.  I feel terrible!  I took her to the kiddie haircut place we went for her first haircut.  She was very good this time.  The lack of panicked screaming was wonderful.  I had her sit on my lap and we read a book.  I asked the stylist to TRIM her bangs.    She hacked my poor baby’s hair INTO A MULLET!  A straight-up white trash mullet!

Mom asked me why I didn’t get the back cut also, to even it out.  (Are you seeing how the Hamill haircut may have come to pass?) I can’t bring myself to cut those beautiful toddler curls.  I think I can make my little hillbilly look better with some pigtails and bows until it grows out a little.

Scenes and quotes from our life lately:  

We went through hell with our tight-ass HOA to insure that our potential buyer could park her conversion van in our town home neighborhood since it won’t fit in the garage.  We made sure she wasn’t violating our neighborhood’s umpteeth Nazi covanents.  It was a challenge to explain these rules without letting on that the Suburban Third Reich might hunt her down for a yard flag violation.  It was all for nothing.  She made an offer on a house two doors down.  I look forward to keying that stupid van.  (I’m not really.  Just kidding.  Calm down.)

www.gmc.com

I was getting ready to leave and I tell Greyson, “It’s so hot.  I can’t wear pants as often.  I hate shaving my legs.  I hope no one notices.” I pointed down to my skirt.  He says, “Wow, you are kind of a sasquatch!”  “Sasquatch.  I love that word.”

www.jacklinks.com

I went to a baby shower recently.  There was a table with desserts and drinks.  There was a glass jar with candy.  Charlotte saw it and wanted a piece so I gave her some.  A friend pointed out that the party hosts then moved the candy into a jar with a lid.  Turns out that candy was for a shower game.  The game was one of those “Guess the Number in the Jar” games.  Whoops!  I felt I couldn’t participate.  I think someone from my table won because they knew it was 250 minus 1.  This is proof my life is a constant faux pas.

 I had a phone date with one of my dearest old friends.  I was getting the update on baby #2 as her second pregnancy wraps up.  I wanted to know all the details of their move to a new city and getting new jobs.  I missed her.  I told her something we had done recently.  She said, “Yea Amy.  I know everything.  I read the blog.”  Touche.  At least I know she won’t miss me.

Like any new mother I was hesitant and frankly dreading Charlotte’s move from infancy to toddlerhood.  If I’m being honest it was a “Waa! Waa! My baby is growing up” thing.  Seven months into officially having a toddler and I realized.  I love it.  Toddlers are not only adorable, they’re crazy fun!

It has been the greatest adventure watching my baby become this giggling, talking, playing, fighting, eating, drinking, dancing, singing little person.  She has become a child with likes and dislikes, good days and bad.  She is a human who gets sick, gets hurt, gets well, and heals up.

I feel silly even writing it.  It’s an obvious and ordinary thing to learn and discover your world.  But, not when it’s your child.  When it’s your child it becomes magical.

We were coming home the other day and I said in the car, “Charlotte, are you ready to go home and see Daddy and Ginger?”  She was quiet for a second, then responded, “Mama too?”  I said, “Yes Baby.  Mama too.  Always.”