The Journey to the Potty

No more diapers here! When I was planning our potty training time, I thought we'd go for a three-day-at-home bootcamp (diaper-free, stay home) over the Fourth of July weekend. Then I realized that July 4 was in the middle of the week and I wouldn't have daddy back-up so that Caroline could just be at home in panties for three days straight. I thought about putting the process off until Labor Day weekend, but then all of a sudden, Caroline seemed ready and I decided to just go for it! I've always heard it takes 21 days to form a new habit, so I wanted to have 21 days in panties before I declared it a new way of life.

Day One:
used potty all morning, wore diaper for nap, then back in panties
pee'd on Mother's Helper and went back in diaper for rest of day

Day Two:
wearing diaper out of house; peeing in potty in house
pee'd and pooped on potty of her own initiation!

Day Three:
Brought potty into master bathroom on her own while I was in the shower, went back and got a book, came back and sat down and pooped
First outing out of house in training pants -- pee'd in public toilet at Heartsong Music Together

Days Four through Seven:
sometimes in diapers, sometimes in panties, some accidents
moved from waterproof training pants to padded panties for outings

Day Eight:
going out of house in panties, using public toilets
accident at home -- pee'd on floor about five minutes after pooping on potty (told John "It happens.")

Day Nine:
waking up dry from naps

Day Ten:
in panties all time now -- pee'd on floor at friend's house (and still talks about it)

Day Eleven:
asked to pee in middle of night -- dry besides that
no accidents!
used public toilets a couple of times during day

Day Twelve:
no accidents, used public toilet
dry all night without a potty break

Day Thirteen:
no accidents!

Day Fourteen:
refused to take off overnight diaper when she woke up -- peed in it and then let me put her in panties
used public toilet while out shopping
insisted on napping in diaper

Day Fifteen:
No accidents!

Day Sixteen:
Uh oh...playing outside...gotta poop. Didn't make it inside in time.

Day Seventeen through Twenty-One:
Still having occasional poop misses (but only one pee pee accident in two weeks!)
Wearing a diaper overnight
I'm comfortable enough going out with her in panties as she will use public bathrooms (with a potty ring)

Today: Woke up dry!

Some things I found helpful through this process:
Potty Training Info at Drsears.com
Baby Bjorn Potty Chair
Baby Bjorn Potty Ring
Once Upon a Potty
Potty for Me
Trickle Free Trainers
Gerber panties

My singing

I love to sing! I love a good night of karaoke fun and change the radio station if I don't know the song since I can't sing along then. Problem is, some say, I'm not a good singer. Of course,I disagree. Singing is not all about tone, you know. There is something to be said for rhythm and personality, which I have. I am delighted that my darling daughter loves my singing. I sometimes sing to her as we nurse. When I finish a song, she pulls her arms around to clap for me and then signs for more while flashing me a smile.

Just one more reason to love this girl!

Being Santa

Twas the afternoon of Christmas and warm in the house, the toddler is napping, quiet as a mouse.

Now I can reflect on the fun of being Santa. I really enjoyed planning the gifts for Caroline, making decisions on how to give them (to wrap or not), and setting out her gifts last night. I have quite a list of toys I want for Caroline, but I put several items on hold until her second birthday when she can more enjoy them. I decided to wait on the play kitchen and basketball goal until she is bigger, and I'm happy with the choices I made for her. She was truly excited about each gift!

I decided to forego wrapping to save the preparation time and clean-up time. Caroline is too little to enjoy unwrapping anyway. Christmas Eve, after Caroline was asleep, I enjoyed a glass of wine and the sugar cookie we left out for Santa as I put out Caroline's gifts, stuffed her stocking, and set up her train set.

When she awoke this morning, I had John get ready with the camera to catch her expression as she walked into the living room. She went directly to her train set and played with it for a moment until she spotted her vacuum cleaner. She turned it on (she's played with one before) and vacuumed a bit, and then she went back to the train set. I showed her the aquadoodle, but since it was not opened, she didn't care much about it. She did play with it later in the morning, though. Then I pulled out her stocking and coaxed her to see what was inside. She pulled out a book, Once Upon a Potty and read it, then played with her Jack in the Box and cars and ball a bit before returning, again, to the train set which, at this point, looked as if it had been hit by Hurricane Caroline.

Next, we moved on to wrapped gifts. Caroline had a necklace from a friend of her grandparents and a stuffed dog and The Lady and the Tramp video from Aunt Carlye and Uncle Marc. She opened her gift from mommy and daddy (wrapped since it was not from Santa, you see) -- a Tupperware shape-sorter ball. She dumped out the shapes and arranged them on the aquadoodle box.

The wrapping and packaging are put away now, and we'll spend the rest of the day playing with our new toys and spending time with GramPatty, Tom, Grandma B, Ann, and Chris.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Hair Twisting

Those of you who have known me for a while (oh, who am I kidding...those of you who have ever known me with longish hair) will be disgusted to learn that I twisted my first knot in my baby girl's hair this week. She wasn't feeling well and wasn't sleeping well, so I laid down with her for her nap. As we lay there, I was absentmindedly twisting her locks. I didn't realize what I'd done until she had a little rat's nest in her hair. I got it out without any tears from her. It didn't seem to bother her a bit. Maybe I can keep my hair short and just let hers grow and keep up my twisted little habit (hee hee! great pun, huh!?)

Just Pickin'

Here's some irony for you.

I have a weak stomach, always have, especially when it comes to...um...let me just say...noses. I have, at least twice, thrown up at the mention of someone picking her nose. I have to look away when someone sneezes, and I can barely contain my gags when someone blows his nose around me. John handles the baby-nose-sucking duties in our family because it's just too much for me.

So, of course, wouldn't you know it, my daughter is a nose-picker! Ugh, that finger is constantly up her nose. I remove her finger, and she puts it back. I don't want to focus on it too much lest the whole finger/nose thing become a game for her, so I deal with it. Kleenex in hand, I wipe her finger with a serious face. And I remind myself that she is part of me, her boogers are my boogers. Now that's love.

Mommy Showers (or baths)

I don't remember reading about methods for mommy showers when I was pregnant or starting out with a newborn, but I did pretty quickly figure out that night-time showers were the way to go. I'd get Caroline down for the night and then sneak off to have my shower. That worked well until Caroline hit a light-sleeping stage, and since the master bathroom shares a wall with her bedroom, the wall her crib is against, I often woke her while taking my shower.

Our newest routine is working really well, and I'm very happy with it. After dinner, I head off for my shower or bath, and John gives Caroline her bath. I enjoy the time to take care of personal hygiene beyond a quick shower...You know, shaved legs, plucked eyebrows, and even a microdermasioned face every now and then...And John and Caroline get some bonding time. I also enjoy it because now the time between baby bedtime and adult bedtime is not spent showering and such. John and I can watch a movie or visit together, or I can read or play on the internet a bit.

Now, there are days when I don't get that evening bath or shower, or, for whatever reason, I decide to clean up during the morning. Those are the days to forego the shower and take a bath. Yes, I can take a bath even without John home to tend to the toddler! Caroline hangs out beside the tub "bathing" me! So now I have no excuse to run around town stinky!

Happy Birthday, Caroline!

I've been a mother for one year now! The cliche is true. As hard as it is to imagine what being a parent is like and how you will fit a child into your life, once that child is here, you can't imagine life without her. I am surprised at how easily I've slipped into this new world. Sure, there have been rough patches, but looking back, the bad parts weren't bad at all. We survived the marathon nursing of the first months, the isolating loneliness of adjusting to being a full-time mom, teething, crawling, first steps. (yes, those happened this weekend!) I credit my sanity to the amazing village of mothers I have affiliated myself with. I can not imagine happily mothering without the amount of contact I have with other moms and Caroline has with other kids. Thanks for playgroups and internet groups, the isolating lonlieness of the earlier months has been replaced by an overbooked schedule! I have a sweet baby who gives me joy every day. I'm going to savor every minute of it.

My Job = Caroline's Mom

The past month has been a roller-coaster of decisions, but I've decided once and for all. I am not going to take on any work outside of mothering Caroline for at least another couple of years. First, an old recruiting co-worker called to see if I'd be interested in working part-time sourcing candidates for her recruiting agency. I met with her and her partners twice, and they agreed that I could work from home. We were just about to put in the phone line when I changed my mind. Caroline got sick with a cough, she started crawling, and I realized that I didn't want to take any of my time or energy away from her.

Another friend called this week with an idea of starting her own business. She wanted me to partner with her on the venture. We tossed ideas back and forth for two days before I decided again: That's not what I want. I want to focus on Caroline.

Just a few minutes ago my friend and Mary Kay consultant called to invite me to their national meeting. She's been trying to get me to become a MK consultant since I had the baby, but I've been putting her off. Today I told her that I had decided that I didn't want to take on any work-related ventures for another two years.

So, there you have it. My mind is made up, and I've put it in writing. Now I just have to reread this the next time someone calls with an exciting idea to run by me.

Caroline's Birth Story

Caroline Joyce Bindel made her dramatic premiere Tuesday, May 31. Before going to bed Monday night, I gently reminded Caroline that the May birthstone is emerald, and emeralds are mighty pretty. I told her if she'd prefer that birthstone over pearl, she had to make her move right away. Well, she listened!

At 1:30 a.m. I felt some pressure, heard a pop, and realized my water broke. I got up and called the hospital to tell them my water had broken but I hadn't been timing contractions. I decided to time contractions for an hour and call them back. I put in a load of laundry, finished packing my bag, and woke John up. He had to pack himself and put the car seat in the car. I showered, and by the time we were ready to go, my contractions were painful and about four to five minutes apart. I'd say we got to the hospital just as they were becoming unbearable. Since first-time moms often mistake when they are in labor or when their water has broken (?!) the nurses told us that they would be doing a "rule out" exam, to rule out that I was in labor or my water had broken. They put us in a labor and delivery room and told us someone would be with us in fifteen minutes. Nobody came for a long time, so John went and told them that I was really in pain and someone needed to check on me. When they tried to hook up the fetal monitor and contraction monitor, though, they discovered the computer in the room we were in was broken, so they moved me to another room. At this point, I was in a hospital gown. Since my water had broken, I had to ask for a towel to wear like a diaper so I could walk down the hall. How dignified! I'm not sure if the "rule out" exam ever happened or not. I remember running to the bathroom gagging but not throwing anything up. The nurse comforted me and told me it was normal. I was halfway crying, I think. I asked for some pain meds, so they hooked up the IV and gave me Stadol until the anesthesiologist could get there. When they told me later that he'd be another fifteen minutes or so, I asked for more Stadol. It didn't take away the pain, which was still quite awful, but it helped. I didn't see any way I could have been still for the epidural without it.

The epidural was amazing. I had planned all along to get one, but I didn't really know how well it would work. My sister doesn't think hers worked because she was still in a lot of pain. Mine worked wonderfully. John and I dozed for a while, waking up to talk occasionally. At one point, he got up to look at the information on the monitors and noticed the baby's heartrate was lower than earlier. He told me, and I told him not to worry because the nurses were watching from the nurses' station and if something were wrong, they'd let us know. I finished my sentence as the nurses came storming in and put oxygen on me and attached an internal fetal monitor to the baby's head. (They told me then my baby had a headful of hair!) They explained that we didn't need to worry because the baby's heartbeat was variable, meaning that it dipped when I had a contraction but it came back up after the contraction. They just wanted me to keep the oxygen on. They came in a few minutes later, told me to lie on my left side and stay there, as they called my doctor. I heard the phrase "decel" and realized they were talking about me. They said Dr. McNelis would be down in a few minutes to check on me, but we needed to be prepared for a C-section. The baby wasn't handling my contractions very well, and my contractions were becoming irregular and the baby wasn't dropping. They gave John some scrubs, just in case. Dr. McNelis told me they'd try everything they could with me to avoid a c-section, so they started pitocin hoping it would intensify the contractions and bring the baby down. It didn't work -- the baby was still struggling. The transition from L&D to the OR was fast and furious. They gave me more medication in my epidural and wheeled me in. John changed into scrubs and was sent to wait. He said that was hard because he didn't really know what was going on. Once they had me sufficiently numbed and were ready to cut, they brought John in. He had to stay out of the sterile area, so he stood by my head. The anesthesiologist chatted with John and me to keep us occupied during the cutting phase. He mentioned that very often in these cases, where the baby’s heartrate drops, the cord is wrapped around the neck. Sure enough, when they pulled her out, the cord was around her neck. Before she started the surgery, I reminded Dr. McNelis to be loud when she announced "It’s a Boy" or "It’s a Girl" since we didn’t know the baby’s sex. She said that would be John’s job. He did say "It’s a girl," but he can’t remember doing it at all. He keeps asking me if I’m sure he said it. John went with Caroline and the nurses to get Caroline cleaned up while the doctor finished with me. It was then that she found the reason for the distress during labor and Caroline’s not descending – her cord was tied in a knot! Recovery is going well.

We’re home and doing pretty well at figuring out sleeping and nursing and such. She’s a true joy!