Tales from the Mommy Trenches

Wren’s cardiologist appointment

I went to the pediatric cardiologist with Wren today hoping for some good news. We found out three months ago that she has pulmonary stenosis, but possibly it was going to be mild enough to not require surgery.

Well, the outcome was not what we expected. Apparently the narrowing in her pulmonary valve has gotten worse, not better. And the doctor said that it would get worse as she gets older, and eventually the right side of her heart is going to be working too hard to compensate. (To all my readers with MDs, I hope I’m explaining this correctly). Eventually, she will need surgery to correct this. Probably using a patch instead of a catheter. read more

How to not get your baby to take a bottle

I considered myself an authority on most things mommy (when it comes to babies) when my oldest became a toddler. However, the more children I have, the more I feel like I have no idea what the heck I am doing. Take, for example, my youngest child, Wren. Wren is six months old. She has taken a bottle once in those six months. It was a wonderful evening in May. Daddy took her from me so that I could cook dinner. She was hungry, and I handed him a bottle. She drank the whole thing after screaming for only about five minutes. The thing is, she hasn’t done that since, and Scott does not remember what special magic, if any, he worked on her. read more

Abuela’s Picadillo Cubano and our first grocery outing!

So I took all three girls to the grocery store today for the first time. I loaded Wren in my Ergo and walked in with the two toddlers. Traffic stopped all ways as I crossed the street with my little ducklings. We are hard to miss.

When we got inside, of course all of the race car carts with space for two to be buckled in were gone. Murphy’s law of parenting strikes again! Not to be discouraged, I rallied and put Rose up front and Ruth in the part where you put the groceries.

We were serenaded by the usual chorus of “She’s got her hands full!”, but other than that, our trip was mercifully uneventful. The girls were very good and enjoyed themselves on our little outing. read more

How to have the perfect mommy blog

I have always loved mommy blogs. They are the only blogs I read, really. I have studied the art of the popular mommy blog intently, trying to unlock their secrets because I wanted to someday have a mommy blog of my own. I eventually compiled a list of trends I saw in all of the popular mommy blogs and melodramatically decided that I could never have a blog, because I met none of these standards. The list I have compiled is as follows:

1) Forget your camera phone. You need a professional grade camera to haul around taking photos of your kids. And your children must be able to pose in the middle of whatever adorable thing they are doing. And they must be immaculately clean and sporting the latest fashions. They also tend to nap in picturesque places (like outdoors or in your chic bed) or cuddle with adorable animals while napping. Bonus points for taking professional grade photos with your iPhone. read more

Wren: six months?!!

Dear Wren,

Today you are six months old. I know this is the common refrain among parents, but where does the time go?! You’ve grown from a newborn to a full-fledged baby!

Milestones: You are rolling around like a champ. Much sooner than your sisters did. You are ready to catch up and start playing with them! You babble and gurgle up a storm when someone is talking to you. You love grabbing your Sofie the Giraffe and shoving it in your mouth to gnaw on it. You also love splashing the water with your little hands in the bath and getting all startled when the water hits you in the face. You are not sitting up yet, but you are close! You also just started eating solids a little bit. You are undecided about whether you like them or not.
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Reading List for my little girls

I remember being really disappointed in my reading lists when I was in middle school. My teachers avoided the classics like the plague and stuck to some really bleak stuff. They seemed to labor under the delusion that all you need is a lot of depressing with a healthy helping of hopelessness, add a dash of licentiousness and congratulations! You just made the middle school reading list! No wonder teenagers these days tend to be so jaded and sullen. All of the books they have read merely communicated to them that life sucks and then you die an untimely death. read more

A letter to my childless self

Hey you! Yes, you over there with your tiny full term belly, wondering how your life is going to change once this baby comes. Let me tell you, this baby and the ones that come after her are going to rock your world, but in the most amazing way possible. However, there are a few things you should know and appreciate before they arrive.

1) Stop obsessing over getting the best parking spot possible. There will come a time when you will have actual physical obstacles to overcome when you park somewhere. Try searching for a parking spot when you have two babies and an enormous pregnant belly, or three babies in tow. Toddlers are as slow as molasses, and you are constantly terrified that their little hands will slip out of yours and they will immediately be hit by a car. (Side note, stop speeding through the parking lot! Toddlers escape easily and are hard to see!) Also, car seats with babies in them weigh about two tons and are about as easy to lift into a shopping cart as a baby grand piano. So, relish your physical freedom, park in the back, and enjoy a leisurely stroll to the store. We moms will be forever grateful. read more

Instagram cracks down on . . . Moms?

I breastfeed, but I would not consider myself a “lactivist.” I usually can’t wait to wean, and am surprised at myself every time I feel sad about weaning when it is time. With my first baby I would go into another room by myself to nurse, as I remember all my aunts and parents’ friends doing when I was young. By the time my second came along, I was tired of hanging out by myself while all my friends and family members enjoyed each other’s company, so I started using my nursing cover. Missing out on all the fun because my baby is hungry? Forget it. Now with my third, I have been starting out a nursing session using a nursing cover, but poor Wren just gets so hot and sweaty and uncomfortable, I usually discreetly remove it once I feel her getting drenched in sweat. I never in a million years thought I would be that mother who was unabashedly whipping out her boob in public when her babe was hungry, but I think by the fourth I will be at that point. I’ve got three under three. Go find somewhere to hide so I can breastfeed? Ain’t nobody got time for that! I still haven’t yet reached the point where I am putting photos of myself nursing on Instagram, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the beautiful photos of breastfeeding when I come across them. Photography can be an art, and as a mother, I love the Cassatt depictions of breastfeeding too!

Young Mother Nursing Her Child Mary Cassatt read more

Our little flower girls

My brother’s wedding was this weekend, and it was a destination wedding in the college town of Athens, Georgia.

My (now!) sister in law very sweetly asked if my two older girls would be flower girls, and of course I agreed. Ruth will be three in September and Rose will be two in October, so I was a tad bit anxious about how they would perform come the day of the wedding.

We traveled up to Athens on the 4th of July for the Rehearsal Dinner. When we had settled into our cute cottage on the grounds of the wedding venue and attended the Rehearsal Dinner, Ruthie promptly sat on a lit match and burned a hole in her dress. We like to start things off right. The rest of the Rehearsal Dinner was uneventful, other than the fact it was outdoors and the mosquitos ate poor little Ruth alive! read more

Baby Sleep Woes

When Ruth was a baby, my husband and I would wonder what all the fuss about sleep deprivation and babies was about. She was already sleeping five hours a night when we brought her home from the hospital. She was sleeping eight hours by two months, and twelve by four months. “We are the best parents ever!”, we congratulated ourselves. “All of those parents that don’t sleep at night must be doing something wrong,” we smugly opined.

Then, Rose was born. She wouldn’t sleep for more than three hours at a time until she was four months old. Our faith in our parenting abilities was shaken. That was the longest four months of my life. Until Wren was born. read more