Picky picky

First a vent: I have no time to blog. No time to reply to emails. Too busy. I don't like being quite this busy.

Okay, now that I have gotten that vent out of my system, I am planning a super frustrated whiny post. But I do so with the hope that my bloggyfriends will shed some of their infinite wisdom b/c I know I am not the only one.

Lacey's eating habits are making me crazy. Not only is she a picky eater, but she doesn't really drink that much either. She has been pulling the fake-out where I will give her a new food and she will eat it up like its the best thing ever. No sooner do I breathe a sigh of relief that she is actually eating something, that she will then reject said food and scream in her chair, pushing the tray away like I am feeding her poison. I know this is well-covered territory for moms of toddlers, but Lana was and is a great eater, so I haven't been paying attention to the discussion. I have however said to myself, "Self, you are lucky that Lana is such a great eater b/c if she wasn't, it would drive YOU crazy." Well, it is.

This is an exhaustive list of what Lacey will eat (most, but not all times offered):
cheerios or puffs
bread
pasta--plain, no sauce, no butter
fruit
tofu
chinese rice porridge

Here is a list of SOMETIMES food:
sweet potatoes
carrot
peas
white, oily fish, like sea bass or cod

Everything else is a NEVER food. You will notice that there is no meat and no dairy. She dislikes meat, even pureed or hidden in other food and she is allergic to dairy. Beans are also a no-go.

I am really struggling to put food in front of her 3 times a day only for her to push it out of her mouth or throw it on the floor. We thought, okay, maybe she is just not hungry, her caloric needs not high right now. But if she rejects a whole meal of even food she normally eats and then we bring out some fruit, she will eat like she is starving to death. I know people say, she will eat when she is hungry and if she doesn't eat dinner, she will eat breakfast. Okay, but what about the night waking when she didn't eat dinner--she is probably hungry, so I have been obliging her with the boob. Sigh. Her poor eating habits are one of the reasons I am still breastfeeding b/c I am hoping she is getting from me a little protein and calcium to supplement her diet of simple carbs and fruit.

So I spoke to my pediatrician about it and get this--she referred me to a feeding specialist in case she has a sensory disorder. I just love it how every little pediatric weirdness gets a "diagnosis" these days.

So any advice or just, hey, I have been there would be helpful. I really thought that she was going to pull this crap at 2 years old, not at 1 year, so I think we are probably in for the long haul with the picky eater.

Calling all nerds...

I rarely get excited about a new toy or kid product that I get suckered into buying. Lana is the type of kid who doesn't really play with toys much. She needs people. She wants to do imaginative play, a board game, roll a ball down the hall or just talk my ear off. The only solitary, quiet thing she does is crafts and when she is in the zone, she is very creative and I am always amazed at how her brain works.

Because Lana is not great at playing by herself, she watches a lot more TV than I would like to admit. Luckily now that school is in session and she is in it all day, her TV time is limited, but we have a DVD in the car (something I never thought I would do) which helps keep her occupied during our 30 min commute twice a day to school. You are probably thinking--what a great opportunity to talk and interact! Turn off the TV! Let me tell you, for my own sanity and the safety of the other people on the road, it is best for her to be occupied. This way I am not turning around every 2 seconds for "mom, what's this, mom, look at what I am doing, mom, mom, mom, mom." She never asks good questions, just redundant ones like, "mom, do you love me? mom, why is the fruit stand still open?" Also, forget about it if you would like to have a conversation with another passenger in the car! Judge me if you will with the DVD in the car or you could just spend an hour in the car with Miss Talky Talk and you will see what I mean.

I have been getting sick of listening to the dialogue of the same Disney movies over and over. I could do Mulan, complete with the songs verbatim, start to finish in my sleep. Princess and the Frog too, Sleeping Beauty, Wubbzy videos, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and don't even get me started on Elmo in Grouchland--its been about 2 yrs since she has watched it, but I know the whole thing by heart. Since Lana has been so inquisitive lately, I bought this to mix it up a little:I am not pushing science on her, by any means, but this They Might Be Giants CD/DVD got great reviews and she plays doctor often and asks me about my former job, she loves her science kit and we do fun little kitchen experiments, so science is kind of a common topic in our house.

I LOVE THIS DVD!!! She has been watching it in the car and it is so creative. It covers many different science topics, from the solar system to paleontology, evolution, photosynthesis, velocity, computer science, environmental science. It sounds heavy, but its done SO well--fun, creative, extremely energetic. Lana asks so many questions, questions I don't mind answering like:

"Mom, why is Ceres not a planet, but still in the asteroid belt?"
"Mom, what is the temperature of a rainbow?"
"Mom, do we live inside the earth or on top? Then why can't we see the other planets?"

She sings along to the songs and she is really into it. It was the letter H week in her Pre-K classroom and she told the teacher her "H words" were "hybrogen (hydrogen) and helium". Not only does she totally dig this, but I love it too--I am such a nerd. But I do enjoy answering these questions more so than explaining why it is impossible to fall in love with a handsome prince after only meeting him once and dancing one dance together. Come on, Disney, give me a break!

The only downside? The songs are so damn catchy, I can't get them out of my head.

My weekend adventure

I just went on a girls weekend getaway, nervously leaving the kids overnight for the very first time. But this wasn't just any girls weekend, this was like the Mother of All Girls Weekends--with girls I have never met in real life. Ah, this internet is a strange thing indeed and what was even more bizarre was when I told people where I was going for the weekend, I heard myself say, "I am meeting up with a bunch of women I met on the internet." And then I sounded like a weirdo.

The thing is, it wasn't weird at all. I began chatting with these women when I was pregnant with Lana via Babycenter, which I frequented often with my millions of questions and concerns about pregnancy. When Lana was only 6 weeks old, we moved across the country and I found myself a stay at home mom to a very colicky baby, with no friends, no support and I was in bad shape. My babycenter friends were my outlet, my support system. I know it sounds weird. The internet? Bad things happen on the internet. In actuality, good things also happen on the internet. I was lucky to meet Beth online and then in real life at during this time (since we were living in the same area) and we became friends, we had some fun get togethers and then a few months later we moved away, back to the west coast. Beth had a blog that I loved reading, so I decided to start one of my own.

But I digress, back to the weekend not being weird at all. Meeting my babycenter/blogfriends was so interesting! I really feel like everyone represents themselves on their blog just as they are. That authenticity made the meetup feel very comfortable. When blogging, most of us focus on stories about our kids. I so enjoyed hearing everyone's stories about themselves, their careers, their husbands, their journey to motherhood and their journey in life.

So we met in Vegas, although that seems pretty irrelevant b/c all we did was sit on our asses and talk, drink, eat and talk some more. Sounds boring for Vegas, but I assure you it was luxurious! A couple of days where I didn't have to cook anything, clean anything or fetch snacks, drinks, Hello Kitty and the like--now THAT is a vacation. I will say that these women actually did manage to get me into a club, yes a club with dancing and even though I didn't stay long, this is fairly miraculous in itself--I didn't even have dancing at my wedding, that is how strongly I dislike shaking my booty.

Laura has some great photos on her blog of all of our smiling faces plus her take on the weekend, so check them out, if you haven't already. Speaking of Laura, it was so great to finally meet her. She is just as I expected her to be. I really enjoyed talking with her--she is very open and warm, not to mention hilarious. I felt like she was an old friend, someone I haven't seen for a while but one where you just pick up where you left off. I love that she talks fast but is a great listener, that she is smart-funny, that she is thoughtful and driven and inspiring. Her boys are lucky.

Desi and I have been commiserating about our exactly-the-same-age baby who seems to be pulling exactly-the-same-crap at exactly-the same-time, over email and facebook, so we clearly have a lot in common. I loved meeting her husband and kids--they are all so adorably cute. I loved hanging out at her house and talking about our moms and childhood and career paths. Desi has a great sense of humor--it was like a laugh a minute with her! She is so smart and strong and friendly. It was just easy to hang with Desi.

It was so so so fun to see Beth again! Beth is just one of those people who is a good person. She is so kind, genuine, giving and open. She is opinionated, but not in a headstrong or judgemental way. I have seen Beth a couple of times now, after I moved back to the west coast, once when I visited my dad when he was sick and I always feel so lucky to know Beth because she is so real, there are no pretenses at all and she has a good heart. I know I will be friends with Beth for a long time, even if we don't see each other often.

Jenn organized the trip--she had an itinerary which she revised multiple times! This was like going to a conference. She also drove everyone around and made multiple trips to the airport. Thanks for all your work Jenn. I was interested in getting to know her better b/c prior to this trip I felt like I didn't know too much about her. Jenn is a very devoted mom, always looks so put together and has great stories. I loved hearing about Jenn's adventure when she lived in Japan for a year and managed the whole bank! She had never even been on a plane before that! That is brave and so totally cool.

Joanna is so funny. I love her sense of humor, which I was already aware of from reading her blog. I was very excited to meet Joanna in person. She is smart and witty and a great storyteller. There is nothing wishy-washy about her, she is sure of herself. I also love her accent. Now when I read her blog, it will have a "voice".

Lindsay is also someone I didn't know well prior to this trip, but I am so grateful to have met her. She is so very sweet and kind. I enjoyed hearing about how Lindsay met her husband and I loved that she watched college football in the cabana, actually rooting for her team! Lindsay is easy to talk to and makes you feel so comfortable. I would love to see Lindsay again and chat some more.

Rita and her friend Tenaya were so fun! They were both ready to party in Vegas! Rita is so confident, a free spirit, super extroverted. She describes everything with such passion. She makes beautiful jewelry. She has killer heels and party clothes. I am so different from Rita, but I can really appreciate all of her attributes. Plus she can stay out longer and have more fun than I ever did, even when I was in my 20s. When people tell me to relax, chill out and have more fun, I will channel Rita.

Bridget has the best clothes, so girly with flowers and bows. She is from the South and has that southern belle quality. I loved hearing her stories about her girls, especially how they interact with each other. I hope my girls can love each other like hers do. Bridget is a great storyteller too, so animated and funny.

Heidi is definitely my girl crush on this trip. She is one of those people that totally has it all together, makes it look easy, looks great, is super smart and confident. She has 3 kids and is in graduate school. Instead of complaining about how busy or crazy her life is, she says she makes it work and knows she is showing her kids that sometimes things are tough, but if I can do it, you can do it. Her kids will be awesome b/c she is such a great role model. She has a zen quality about her. I love that!

It totally amazed me that this group of diverse girls could just seamlessly spend a weekend together with no disagreements, and absolutely no judgement. I think it is so hard to find girlfriends, other mothers, that truly support each other without judgement, who embrace and accept you for your flaws as well as what you bring to the table. I loved this trip. It was fun, relaxing, interesting and just what I needed. When I came home, I felt so refreshed and invigorated, so maybe it was like a mommy conference after all.

Thanks all for a great weekend :)