The Wakhaneza Project

I first heard of The Wakhaneza Project through my work as a social worker. Wakhaneza is the Dakota word for "child" and is translated to English as "sacred being." The Wakhaneza Project and their trainings are designed to equip people and communities to create positive, welcoming environments for parents and their children, but to also give guidance and tips should a challenging situation arise. You can learn more at: http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/ph/hb/wakanheza.htm.

It was while I was at the post office yesterday with Landon that I wished someone, anyone in line had taken that training and offered me a hand. I arrived at the post office with several bags of stuff to ship and letters to be mailed off. I put Landon is his stroller and headed inside. I hemmed and hawed about bringing his Nuk in but decided against it since it wasn't nap time and he's at the point where he only gets it at bed (mistake #1). We seemed to get there in the nick of time because a line of people started forming just as we were getting to the counter. I bought my stamps, but still had to tape up the box and load it up. Here, I debated just bringing the box home, but then that would have required a second trip to the post office to ship it off (mistake #2). Upon looking at the line of people that had formed, then at Landon, the woman behind the desk said I could load up the box and then just bring it right back up to her without getting in line again. Landon was fine at that point, so I pushed the stroller off to the side while juggling two bags of stuff, a box, my wallet, and the tape dispenser.

I got the box taped and was attempting to solve the puzzle of fitting all the stuff into the box, when Landon started to melt down. I turned to him and took of his mittens to play with. He promptly threw them. I turned back to the box and was feverishly trying to get stuff inside. I dropped a sock in the process (I was mailing some of Landon's outgrown clothes to my sister). The next woman in line let me know that I had dropped the sock. Landon continued to cry and kicked off his shoe in the process. I tried to console him, let him know that I'll be done soon, and I gave him my cell phone to play with. He threw that too. I worked for a few more seconds on the box and turned to him and smiled, rubbed his cheek and gave him a kiss. One of the other people at the counter made a comment to the worker behind the counter about, "the poor, little guy." It certainly seemed that the faster I tried to get my stuff done, the slower the process seemed to go. Although I was smiling on the outside, trying to convince myself that everything was okay and telling Landon that everything was okay and was talking Landon through everything I was doing, on the inside I was seething with frustration. "C'mon," I thought to myself, "there isn't anyone in line who can come and ask me if I need help? There isn't anyone who's been in a position like I'm in who can offer to pack the box, or hold Landon, or.....?"

I finally made it to the car and just wanted to cry. Although, I wasn't frustrated at Landon and wouldn't have lashed out at him, I wondered what it would have taken for someone to acknowledge that I could have used a hand. This experience was a good reminder to me that if I ever saw anyone in a similar situation, I should do what I could to help him/her out.

It was also a reminder, that no matter how quick my errands might be or how fine Landon might seem at the get-go, I should carry in his Nuk/cup/snack.

Mommy Brain Strikes Again

This is what happens to chocolate chip cookies when you don't add enough flour.

I thought I had been doing really well in keeping my "mommy brain" under control (for a definition in the form of a poem, see http://myteacher.net/uplifting/mommybrain.txt). But, last night, out of a desire to bake chocolate chip cookies, I seemed to have neglected 1 1/4 cups of flour. Aside from attributing it to "mommy brain," I believe what happened is that the ingredient right below the flour was 1 teaspoon of baking soda and I must have seen the 1 and registered it as the quantity of flour required. I should have known considering the dough tasted much more buttery than normal.

Now, I know that I can't be the only one to have had "mommy brain" moments. Please feel free to share yours in the comments section!

This is How I Spent my Saturday Night...

Comfy pajamas.
In bed at 7 pm.
Bowl of ice cream.
Candles lit.
And a really good book.
And I wouldn't have had it any other way! I highly recommend it!

On This Day in History - Part 4

The final installment...January 11, 2008 - A Friday. Landon entered the world at 12:49 am and our life has not been the same. What a beautiful, amazing, wonderful world it is. Happy Birthday, Landon!

Landon's First Haircut

Well, we took Landon in for his very first haircut today. Someone from church owns this old-school barber shop and he has a special chair for little ones to sit in, saves some of the cut locks, and even gives out a certificate. I was very excited and was already thinking about how the scrapbook page was going to look.

Landon did wonderfully. He didn't squirm at all. I on the other hand - not so much. Dave kept cutting and cutting and cutting. And as I'm taking pictures I'm smiling on the outside, but screaming on the inside, "Stop! Stop! Stop!" I'm watching all of Landon's hair land on the jungle print apron and am having a minor panic attack. I looked at Landon when he was done and thought "Where did my beautiful baby go, with his beautiful hair?"




Now, my baby looks as if he should be going off to the Marines.


After we styled it a little, I was feeling slightly better about the haircut.

On This Day in History - Part 3

January 10, 2008 - Thursday
Today was the day - our baby was to be born! We didn't waste anytime starting the Pitocin up again. I ate a quick breakfast and it was started at 7:15. It worked, as I was actually starting to feel my contractions. Alan, my mom and I walked. We played cards. I labored in the bathtub. I sat on the birthing ball. I tried to stay moving as much as possible per the suggestion of our birthing instructor.
1:55 pm - 3 centimeters. Okay, it's going a little slower than I thought. Apparently the nurses thought that too, because we ended up stopping the Pitocin again . I was at the highest level they could give me without doctor's orders and she explained that my body was like a sponge and soaking up all the Pitocin that we needed to "ring it out" and start from the beginning. Trust me, she said it a lot clearer than that!
7:30 pm - 4.5 centimeters. Prior to this I got some Fentenol so I could sleep some.
8:50 pm - I broke down at got the epidural and I WAS SO GLAD I DID! Talk about a miracle drug. God bless the person who created the epidural, the doctor who gave me the epidural, and the medical company who produces the epidural, and so on and so forth. I actually slept (Alan said I was knocked out I was drooling). By 10 pm I was 5 centimeters and didn't feel a thing. It was at this time that my nurse informed me that the baby might be sunny-side up (face up instead of down).
Well all of my euphoria came to a complete halt at 11:30 pm when a new nurse came in and checked me. She said she "wouldn't call me a 5." And she said I needed to have a c-section. At that point, I didn't care. I was so.... tired and so ready to finally meet the baby. I remember feeling very cold as they got me ready for surgery and I couldn't stop shaking. That made me really nervous, but I was also very excited. To be continued...

On This Day in History - Part 2

January 9, 2008 - Wednesday
I was very excited because the doctor that I really liked from my clinic was on because the other on-call doctor was sick. I remember thinking to myself, "I really want her to deliver Landon," so I was pretty confident I was going to have a baby on January 9th.
When I was checked that morning, I was only 1 1/2 cm. and 90% effaced. We decided not to pursue Pitocin at this point, because we wanted things to happen as naturally as possible and I was assured that there was no risk to the baby because my body kept producing amniotic fluid and I was being monitored. The nurse would ask me how my pain was doing on a scale of 1-10. I kept saying 1 because I wasn't in any pain - I wasn't having any contractions. This should have been a clue to me that I wasn't going to have a baby on January 9th, but I was hopeful or else not thinking clearly or both!
So at 1:15 pm we decided to move things along with Pitocin. It kind of worked in that by 9:30 pm I was 2 centimeters (still only 90% effaced). The doctor came in and recommended that I be taken off Pitocin and we resume in the morning. This way I could eat and get enough rest because tomorrow was going to be a long day. That was very hard news to hear and there were many tears. I thought about others who were told that once your water breaks, you have the baby within 24 hours and voiced this to the doctor. She had a great bedside manner and consoled me and encouraged me and I thought "No wonder, she was rated one of the Top Docs by Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine." I went to bed after eating my mediocre turkey sandwich (I didn't get a dinner menu because I could eat while on Pitocin and they had some of those on hand) and dreamt of what tomorrow would bring. To be continued....

On This Day in History - Part 1

January 8, 2008 - A Tuesday. I worked a half-day and came home about 3:15 pm. In going to the bathroom, I thought my water broke but it was really just a trickle (sorry, if it's too much information, but I figure most people who read this are fellow moms). I called the OB/GYN's office to speak to a triage nurse, but was told that I should just go to Labor Assessment at the hospital. I decided to wait it out because I really didn't want to go to the hospital only to be sent home. I laid down on the couch and when I got up I noticed more of a trickle. I packed up the rest of our stuff while waiting for Alan to get home. When he did get home about 45 minutes later, I told Alan that I thought my water broke. His reaction was priceless - "What? How do you know? Really?" We decided to make our way to the hospital but didn't bring any of our bags because I still wasn't convinced that "this was it" even though I still kept experiencing trickles. We arrived at the hospital about 5 pm and the nurse in Labor Assessment asked me what happened. As I started to tell her, I felt another trickle and said "Oh, I feel it again." As she lifted the sheet to check, the floodgates opened and she confirmed that my water broke and that we'd be staying! We got settled into our room and the doctor came in and basically told us to hang out and relax that evening because I wasn't having too many contractions and at my earlier doctor's appointment (on the Friday previous), I was only measuring 1 cm. She said I'll get checked in the morning to determine where things stand. To be continued....

Public Service Announcement

For parents - Don't let your kids grow up to be "bullies." Also, if your kid is the one getting "bullied," don't sit back and video them for your own enjoyment (or for the enjoyment of their blog audience).

Let Him Eat Cake

Landon's first birthday party was this past weekend and I'm sure like most first birthday parties, the highlight was how Landon responded to his birthday cake. He surpassed my expectations. Byerly's provided the birthday cake (PSA: Byerly's does a free 7 inch birthday cake for a child's first birthday. Just bring a copy of the birth certificate in within two weeks of child's birthday) with polka dots and Landon initially started just taking the blue and turquoise frosting of the polka dots. Once he figured he liked it and once he figured that it took too long to take finger to cake and then to mouth, he literally dug right in!

Does this Violate any Child Labor Laws?

Landon absolutely loves the vacuum. He loves making vacuum sounds. He loves helping me push the vacuum around. Today, he loved watching me as I cleaned out/fixed our Shark sweeper. I turned it on to see if my tinkering worked and Landon was right there. I took it to his room to sweep his rug and Landon actually threw a fit (it's actually quite cute - he'll sit down, throw his head forward dramatically, let out a wail or two, and then look to see if you're paying attention) because he wanted to help. I picked him up and let it at. The Shark is quite handy for an almost one-year old. It's lightweight enough for him to pull/push it around the house. I think I'm going to take advantage of this before it's a struggle to get him to do some chores!