Once Upon a Dime

Celebrating Grandpa

Tonight we celebrated Grandpa's 71st birthday. I was feeling especially blessed that we were all there together to honor him. We missed you Liz! It puts it into perspective for me. Without his birth 71 years ago none of these beautiful children that call him Grandpa would be here. All 6 of the grand kids were there running around. It's a lot of fun to see them all interact and play together. They love their baby cousin, Elena, and she adores them. I am so excited for the relationships that they will forge over the years. I have dreamed of this moment at birthday celebrations past; that we would have a little love of our own in the mix. She is finally here and longing has been replaced with gratitude. It was loud and chaotic, but the good kind. The kind that means we love each other, we're having fun. And I'm not just talking about the kids.

Grandpa has always loved to remind us all to let dust be his destiny. He's come farther than he thought he would, always saying he'd never imagined he'd surpass his 65th birthday...which I believe is how old his father was when he died. It has always upset me to hear him reference not being in this physical life with us. I've already lost two parents and frankly, I don't want to lose anymore for a while. Naturally, a birthday brings thoughts of mortality as people age. I know in Grandpa's eyes he was wondering if this would be his last. The last time he'd hear Happy Birthday and blow out candles. The last time he'd read a birthday card from his sons. I think part of us all wondered that a bit this year.

Grandpa is facing surgery in two weeks to remove a tumor from his colon that they suspect is cancer. Just typing that sentence pisses me off. Seriously. I've had it with cancer, thankyouverymuch. So yeah, I think that's why Grandpa's mortality has been on all of our minds lately.

I wish I could capture and save the love affair that he and Elena have. It is so crisp and clear and it fills my heart to the brim. The thought of him not being here with her doesn't fly with me. They need more time together. Lots more time. There are so many things they've shared already in her short 7 months. Grandpa laughs at me because I take so many pictures. I try to capture them on camera as much as I can so that one day Paul and I can tell her how much her Grandpa loved and adored her.

Grandpa loves to sing to Elena. Half the songs I don't even know. Songs like, "How glad the many millions of Annabelles and Lillians..." and silly songs like "See Saw knock at the door, who's there? Grandpa. What does he want? A bottle of beer..." and "Elena Josephinaaaa don'ta leana ona the bella". He also says "Elena....do you want Grandpa to hit you?" He says it all the time and uses the back of his hand to ever-so-gently tap her chubby little cheek. It is a lot more endearing than it sounds.

He has lots of nicknames for her....Murphy, or "Hey Murph" but it really sounds like "Moiph" with his accent. Flanagan Face is another one. The kid is half Italian but she sure doesn't look it. Speaking of Italian, he loves to say "A face doya vadein" which is totally spelled wrong but means something along the lines of "That face." He calls her a beautiful creature, which I love because my mom always called me that and I know she'd say the same about Lainey. We can't forget, "What a prize package you got." And Grandpa isn't always right, but he sure is about that one.

We love his daily, impromptu visits and will miss them when we move to Ohio. Lola bounds to the door to get a treat. She gets more excited to see him that she does when Paul or I come home. She's no dope. And when we sit at the table to eat a meal together, you can find Lola scratching at Grandpa's leg. Like I said, she's no dope. We save him leftover pizza in the toaster because he doesn't like it refrigerated. We always have pretzel sticks because that's what he likes. He says he has to go for half the time he's there, but we never mind that he stays longer than he intends. He remembers jokes and stories from the old days like his mind is a steel trap. Sometimes he tells a story we've heard a hundred times but we listen and laugh like it was the first time we'd heard it. He's got some great stories from his Brooklyn days.

He's gotten sentimental over the years. He'd tell you so himself. If he knew I was writing about him he'd say verbatim, "I don't care what they say about you, Katie. You're all right." And then he'd tell me I was his meat with a hearty laugh. So tonight my wish is that next year I'll be writing a similar post about celebrating Grandpa on his 72nd birthday. Happy Birthday...We love you G'pa!

DOC Band Baby

My sweet little love is getting a DOC Band.

Back story....

Elena was born with Torticollis. I probably noticed it when she was only a month old but if you look at pics of her -even in the hospital-her preference to look right and tilt left was clear even then. I didn't know what Torticollis was at the time but I Googled something along the lines of "my baby doesn't look left" and was able to diagnose her right off the bat. It is basically wry neck from the way she was positioned in my belly. Imagine looking over your right shoulder while simultaneously cocking your head so that your left ear touches your left shoulder. That was baby girl's sweet spot.

We started going to physical therapy in August when she was 2 1/2 months old and have been going weekly ever since. Ms. Eleanor is amazing and Elena has made such incredible progress. They have the sweetest little relationship and I am such a proud Mama as I sit and stare in awe at my girl and how far she's come. I pretty much cry every week. I don't really know why. It's more of a my-heart-is-so-full-of-love-it-could-burst sort of cry. Like I am just so overwhelmed when I watch her from the sidelines, interacting with someone else. Usually I am in the moments with her, loving her up. So to observe her from afar, well, it just totally fills me up.

Anyway, I knew that the helmet was a possibility, as Torticollis can cause Plagiocephaly, which is when the head begins to develop a flat spot from the constant pressure on the skull. Plagio also has become more prevalent since the launch of the Back to Sleep Campaign. Knowing this, Paul and I were fairly vigilant about repositioning her whenever she was sleeping, in the car seat, in her swing etc. We tried to do tummy time as much as she would tolerate, which, in the early months was not very often. She hated it and would face plant into her activity mat and scream. Now I can't keep her on her back if I wanted to and tummy time=all the time.

(stupid effing blogger just deleted the end of this post...grrr)

Soooo, where was I ...Her flat spot seemed to get better so I wasn't really thinking a helmet was in her future. Her PT and Pediatrician didn't seem too concerned at first either. It wasn't until she was 6 months that I really started noticing the asymmetry in her face. So, at her 6 month well visit, I brought to the doctor's attention the bulges I noticed above her ears and the slope in her forehead. I also noticed her head was coming up to a point sort of on one side. He met my concerns by telling me that her head wasn't perfect but it wasn't as severe as some cases he'd seen. Deciding to listen to our gut, Paul and I agreed to get an evaluation.

We went for the evaluation the following week. The entire situation was overwhelming but the people at Cranial Technologies couldn't have been nicer. Considering there are only 13 locations for the DOC Band, we felt truly blessed that one was so close to us. We met with an OT, had some ~~pictures~~ mugshots taken of Elena and ultimately left with the recommendation for treatment. She has a moderate case of Brachycephaly. If we don't treat with the helmet her head will continue to grow the way it is growing and could lead to jaw issues and difficulty with glasses due to the squamoid bulges she has developed over her ears. Her facial asymmetry also has the potential to get worse. As someone who has my own facial asymmetry due to Bell's Palsy, I live with it every.single.day and would not want to subject my child to a lifetime of living with it. If it can be corrected in 3 months with the band at an age when she will never remember, it's a no-brainer. Done and done.

Can we discuss for a moment how well-behaved and cooperative our girl was? I mean, seriously...this girl knows how to step it up during times of stress. If she could talk she'd surely have assuaged our fears and told us, "Mom, Dad....Chill. I got this." Any tears shed were mine. And really only a few of guilt over not listening to my gut sooner.


Wanted: Baby girl. Chubby cheeks. Chubbier thighs. Rosebud lips. Button nose. Comb over.

You can see in the pic her left shoulder hikes up. That is a result of the Torticollis. We still need to gently remind her shoulder that it shouldn't creep up to meet her ear. That will continue to improve with PT and the stretches we do at home.

We went back for a follow up visit to have the digital images of Elena's noggin taken so that they could custom make her band. Again, she was such a trooper and just let the girls position her as they needed to in order to get the right photos. To get the most accurate images they needed to put a stocking over her head. Between the mugshots and the stocking, my child officially looks like a career criminal.

So, there you have it. We're on our way to becoming a DOC Band family. Lainey will get fitted on the 21st so stay tuned for pics!

Christmas Card Pics

Tada....My first real attempt at shooting in manual. This is the main pic I'm using for our Christmas cards.

I may have bit off more than I could chew trying to do the whole twinkle light thing. All in all, I am happy with it, though. Those twinkle lights were a bitch. Lucky for me I had the cutest, most cooperative subject. I'm embarrassed to say how many pics I took over the span of the two days to get it right. Paul was a good sport helping me move the set up all over the friggin place trying to get the lighting right. Adorable baby smile is thanks to him for doing something silly with Piggy Pie over my shoulder. Piggy Pie would be the stand in for Elena, as I attempted to get the shot right.

I'm anxious to get the cards and hope they came out nice. Husband was right...no one will notice my first attempt at bokeh anyway.....they'll be too captivated by that smiley sunshine girl in the cute hat!

Starting solids

Ok, so if you'd asked me a few months ago, even a few weeks ago, about starting Elena on solids, I would've assured you we were skipping over purees, foregoing cereals, and would not be partaking in the shelling of peas or pureeing of meat. Oh hell no. I was all about Baby Led Weaning. Bought the book, did my homework, preached to the naysayers. Ha. No. Silly me. I forgot I was a first time mom and that, as such, any proclamation or declaration of definitively doing something or not do something is pretty much ridiculous. I have quickly learned that you can't simply decide what you want to do and do it. Oh no. An open mind and experimentation are necessities.

The fact is, I chickened out. I was really excited to start solids. Until the day came to start. But, I stuck to the plan, hid my apprehension, and offered girlfriend some avocado. Not only was it was too slimy for her to grasp, but she really wasn't all that interested. That in itself deflated what little hope and confidence I still had left. Then came the gagging. I thought I'd prepared myself for it, after reading about it and knowing the difference between gagging and choking. But what the hell could prepare me to see my little sunshine girl wretching with tears streaming down her face as she tried to get what little of the avocado she got in her mouth to the back of her throat and down the pipe?! Scared. Me. To. Death. I maintained my composure though, so as not to freak her out, and quickly realized she was all smiles, and indeed the gagging was a natural reflex, helping her get the food to where it needed to be. Duh. I know all of this but it still freaked me out.

I did offer her some banana a few days later--also too slimy to grasp, and also caused her to gag. It was then that I realized maybe this whole BLW thing wasn't for us. Or for me, at least. Maybe down the road when she seems more interested I'll experiment with table foods, but for now, I think we'll do just what I hadn't intended---Purees. I don't feel defeated as I thought I might. Instead, I feel excited. Elena still isn't what I'd call interested in food. She doesn't try to grab what I am eating and doesn't necessarily mimic our actions when we are chewing. And though I'd be happy to continue exclusively breast feeding, I know it's time to start expanding her palette.

So today, during a rare 2 1/2 hour nap I decided to attack the 3 lb bag of organic sweet potatoes I had from Trader Joe's. I freaking love that store!!!! Thank goodness there is one right near where we are moving in Ohio! Behold, sweet potato puree...

Bake for 1 hour in 350 degree oven

Once cooled, peel skin off

Put in blender


Adding water (can use breast milk or formula) to get desired thickness, puree in blender

I forgot to snap a pic of the last step---I used a spatula to spread the puree evenly into 2 ice cube trays and covered them with plastic wrap. Tomorrow morning I'll transfer the cubes to a dated Ziploc bag. I believe they last 6 months in the freezer. I'm looking forward to making all sorts of pureed veggies and fruit and coming up with tasty combinations for Elena to enjoy. I'm thinking pears and squash are next!

Change

Holy crap. So much is going on and time needs to seriously slow the eff down. Is my baby really turning 6 months old this weekend? Did we really just put the house that we haven't even lived in a year on the market? Did it really SELL already? Are we seriously up and moving to Ohio in less than 60 days without a confirmed place to live? I am up to my ears in life changing events and I'm afraid to blink for fear of what I may miss. Did I mention we bought a new (used) car on Saturday and that I am about to give my resignation from my teaching job that I've been at for 10 years. Yeah, that too.

I can't even make sense of it at the moment to coherently express how I'm feeling. Hopefully in the coming days I'll be able to wrap my brain around it all and recognize it for the blessing that it is. I know all this change is affording me the ability to stay home and raise my baby girl. For that I am truly grateful. I get to spend my days playing with this doll baby? Are you kidding me? I'd move to the end of the Earth for that!

It's in the Bag

Ok I have to share. I got a fabulous new diaper bag that I am in love with. It was expensive, but my justification is that it doubles as my purse and I know it will get a ton of use. I've always spent a decent amount on handbags because I use the heck out of them and well, I'll admit to being somewhat of a label whore when it comes to bags.

I had originally gotten this great Marc Jacobs bag, which I loved....I had the matching purse and was certain the diaper bag was going to be equally as great. I was wrong. Elena wasn't even 3 months old before the shoulder strap was fraying and the stitching was coming undone. Returned that bad boy and have been on the hunt for something big, black, and full of pockets. I stumbled upon my new one in Nordstrom and so far I couldn't be happier. I love money well spent! I can fit several cloth diapers, extra clothes, toys, a burp cloth, my wallet, and all the other stuff a new mom needs.

hello loverrrrr

Baby's First Halloween...and snow?

Yes, you read that right. Elena's first Halloween was a white one. We got hit with a crazy snow storm that dropped about 4 inches of snow, remnants of which were still on the ground come time for trick-or-treating. Several nearby towns postponed Halloween and several schools were closed for the entire week! It was a heavy, wet snow that caked on the leaves of the trees, causing limbs to snap like twigs, and entire trees to uproot. Paul, Elena, and I hunkered down in the basement for most of the evening, even sleeping downstairs, because of the storm. At one point, I'd gone upstairs to grab something and it sounded like I was court side at a Knicks game. Branches were pelting the roof top. We were lucky to maintain power, while most friends and family lost theirs. G'ma and G'pa's neighborhood looked like a war zone the next morning...trees everywhere, wires down, yellow police tape. I'll upload storm pics at a later date, but in meantime, how about some uber-cute pics of Elena's First Halloween...