Modern Mother

Adventures in teething

CherMoynihan — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:57:40 -0600

Little Bunny has quickly developed a mouth full of chomping razor edged teeth. We have had non-stop teething for at least 2 months now. She is a lot calmer now so either we are reaching a lull or she has just gotten so accustomed to the pain that she doesn't notice anymore. I really hate the thought that she could be in constant discomfort.
We have been dealing with the issue of biting. If we pick her up she bites our neck. Perhaps she is practicing for next year's vampire Halloween costume? While nursing, which I had hoped to do for a year, the girls are subjected to teeth scraping, gnawing and the clampdown power of a pitbull. As a result Little Bunny is learning a new word...weaning. At least during the day so the girls get a chance to heal a little bit.
It has not been easy. She is a determined little boob addict, using them for everything from nourishment to simple comfort and play. It has been a nightmare. My husband has tried to be helpful but Bunny knows just how to melt Daddy's heart so he finds it hard to be around when she decides she needs a "fix". I know it is for the best for both of us, but it is hard to stay strong when she looks up with teary eyes moaning, "mama mama". Hopefully, I can stay strong and she will slowly realize I am not doing this to be cruel.
Well, all we can do is ride it out.

Do you want your little one to be a star?

CherMoynihan — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:05:08 -0500

Gap is currently holding a casting call. Your little bean could be featured in Gap ads. The best part is they get a gift card for a new wardrobe. Enter online at Gap.com by uploading a recent photo. Simple and quick. Good luck.

Enter at Gap

Sick of waiting for the hubby?

CherMoynihan — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:48:45 -0500

Our hubbies are great. I know mine is. But they get very busy and guess what, stuff has to be fixed around the house. We are all modern moms and as such there is certain knowledge that could be helpful when things need to get done. I have never before had to fix things around the house. In the past, all my homes have been rented and therefore came with wonderful handymen.
Now though we are in a house and this house needs some repairs. My wonderful hubby has tried to get to everything but he works full-time and simply runs out of time. So I decided to jump in there and fix some things myself.
First it was the broken toilet seat. So here is the step by step on how to replace a broken toilet seat.
First put on gloves. You think your toilet is clean...ha ha it isn't. There are nooks and crannies that hide the nastiest mess. Especially if you just moved in.

Grab some pliers and look under the rim where the bolts are. Lock the pliers around the nut and hold on tight. While you do that, unscrew the bolt from the top with a screwdriver. Once it is loose the whole lid and seat will come off.

This is where I took the opportunity to clean all the icky nooks and crannies. Hey my face is close to that thing at this point. GROSS!!!!

Next get the new seat out of the box. Screw the bolts into the seat first so they stick out. Place the washers around the holes on the top of the toilet. Next thread the bolts through the holes and washers on the toilet.

Get under the toilet again and screw on the nuts. Get them as tight as you can, make sure the seat is flush to the toilet. Do the final nut tightening with your pliers.
Finally sit down and wiggle. If the seat moves, keep tightening those nuts. If not hooray. Now go sterilize your hands.

Post-pregnancy belly woes

CherMoynihan — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:32:36 -0500

At six months post-partum, I seem to have hit a plateau in my weight loss. I have tried working out with Gilad, Namaste Yoga, and basically everything FitTV has to offer. Recently I decided that the best way to loose the last bit of weight would be to buy a workout video I can do whenever I want. So following this whim I picked up Leisa Hart's fit mama postnatal workout.
So far I find most of it fairly easy, almost too easy, even for my out of shape body. Leisa Hart chatters constantly and the music is a little dated. Both facts irritate me. This is partly fixed by a wonderful feature that allows you to workout with the narration turned off.
The one really great feature is the bonus mama and baby workout. My daughter had a blast being lifted and twirled, dipped and dived. She would not be still for the baby massage but was very happy to be cuddled while I did crunches.
I think for the most part, I will stick with the short 10 minute workout I get for free on Exercise on Demand. They have the Buff Mom workout that is just hard enough and is actually fun. Maybe I will be able to fit into my old clothes some day.

Growing so fast

CherMoynihan — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 07:48:19 -0500

This weekend we finally had to drop the crib a couple levels. Unexpectedly, at 7 months (Sept 8th) Macy is pulling herself up. Although she has yet to officially crawl, she has learned how to pull up to her knees and sometimes gets up on her feet. She is still very unstable on her feet though.
Was it really that long ago I was yelling out the car window at traffic on the highway while my husband nervously maneuvered morning rush hour traffic after very little sleep. Hey, if he would have believed me we would have left before traffic but he chose to believe the doctor who told me the day before that I would not go into labor for ages. Ha, we showed her! Oh and no, I didn't really yell out the window, my husband wouldn't let me roll down the window. Darn power windows.
Back to the topic. It is so hard to believe she has grown so quickly. Babies seem to be the only thing in the world who defy time. Every first, every moment and milestone come so fast, they must be hitting the fast forward button.

Cute little tease

CherMoynihan — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:06:47 -0500

After 6 months of a fairly consistent schedule that consists of my dear little daughter waking up every 2-3 hours it finally happened. She slept the whole night through! Of course the first night mys husband and I both woke up at different times trying to figure out if we had heard her and since we had not heard a peep we of course worried and ran to check on her. Miracle of all miracles she was just asleep. The second night we all slept the whole night through.
Then after that wonderful reminder of what sleep really could be like we dove head first into the worst two nights of sleep. Not only did she wake up multiple times, she refused to go to sleep.
Oh why taunt me with the promise of sleep, I know she can do it but why won't she? Naps have also gotten all out of whack.
At least I have an idea as to why she isn't even sleeping in the same predictable way she used to. Right now she is gearing up to crawl. During the day she gets up on all fours and rocks, then drags one leg (alternating which leg won't follow orders) and at night her body works against her still trying to perfect the crawl. What a rough life to be a baby. You know there are things you can do you just have to learn how so you spend all day working only to subconsciously continue when all you really want is sleep.
Who am I to complain, at least my body works with me instead of against me.