Toast 2 Mom

Sweeter Than Candy

It was a beautiful Halloween - day and night. Surprisingly Sydney asked if she could go to bed tonight right on time....despite her overdose on sugar today.

Here are the candy girls....

Wings on Parade

Today was Sydney's Halloween parade at school. A preview for Friday...

Beauty Shop Payback

I am not a real girly girl. My preferred attire is jeans, a polo style shirt and some Sketchers. I also like loafers, a button up shirt, maybe a blazer. I do like jewelry, though and lipstick. I don't do fake nails or get regular manicures or wear a push up bra. I do enjoy the occasional party or event to get gussied up, I guess. But mainly my style is simple. My most simple feature is my hair. It's straight (except for that now post babies wave) and dull; but I don't have the desire to do anything different to it. I never cared much for having my hair messed with...and unfortunately my daughter is the same way!

Since becoming a mom I've had several "mom revelations" - as I call them. These mom revelations are situations that now happen to me as a mom that I realize ...ahhhh, this is what my mom went through. I imagine as the years go by I'm going to have lots and lots of these "mom revelations".

My current revelation - I remember how much my mom wanted to play with my hair when I was little...curlers, braids, ponytails, etc....and I never wanted her to.  Flash forward thirty years, "Sydney, can I put a bow in your hair today?" "No!"  "Syd, oh your hair would looked so pretty with a ribbon...can I put one in?" "No!" "Syd, I've got an idea...how about I put some ponies on your hair today?" "No! No! No!"  

"Hmmm. Hey Syd would you like a Tootsie Pop?" "Sure!!" "Great, sit down here and I'll give you a Tootsie Pop and you can watch a show too. Oh, and while you're here, I'll put your hair in some ponies, OK?" "OK Mommy!"

Worked on me...

Posing with Friends

Here's Sydney with her Halloween sweater and her friends. We're gearing up for next week. While the costume has been decided and bought, I'm not sure Syd has made up her mind what she wants her costume to be yet. Here'sthe list of her costume suggestions: Tinkerbell, Ariel, a ballerina, a princess, a fairy, a tiger, a mermaid, a cat and a pirate. Rrrr!

Why Do I Open the Door?

My baby still doesn't sleep through the night...yet. In a week she'll be nine months. While our schedule can vary, roughly she goes to sleep at seven o'clock at night. She wakes up first around one o'clock then usually again at five-thirty. To make things more complicated, she's a very light sleeper and we have an old creaky floors and creaky doors house. So when I put her to bed at night, I shut the door and usually don't open it again until she is crying because I don't want to wake her up. This bums me because I would love to watch her sleeping peacefully but she'd hear me and we'd have to start the "go to sleep" process again.

Last night, the evening went as it normally does. I put her down at seven. At one, the crying began. I try to stay asleep and let her "cry it out," but then I think - did she eat enough dinner, what if she pottied out of her diaper, what if her leg is stuck in the crib, could she be cold???? I was hanging tough last night, though, but now she's standing up in her crib. I heard a "bonk" followed by a loud "waahhh". When I went into the room, she immediately calmed (and what parent isn't a sucker for their baby to become calm in their presence?)

I rocked her for awhile, hoping to soothe her back to sleep. Nope she just snuggled in - but with eyes wide open. Well this was a habit I didn't really want either - especially at one in the morning. So I decided to put her back in her crib. That was not her preference. I had to be tough, though. She cried for a good ten minutes but finally went to sleep...and to sleep I went too.

At six o'clock the alarm went off. Huh?! I'm usually way up before my alarm. Was Cheekers still asleep...was she OK? Wow I might actually have time to shave my legs in the shower this morning. I might actually be on time because I'll get dressed without juggling a baby hanging onto my ankles. But... maybe I should just look in on her - see if she's OK. No, no she's fine... she's just tired. Maybe she's growing? I need to shave....but what if something is wrong. I'll just take a quick peek, very quietly.... Creeaaakkk. Oh look she's OK..... Wahhhhhhh.

Sigh..... Guess I'll shave tomorrow.

Have You Seen My Duck?

Quack, quack! :)

Moo Juice Throwdown

"OK, Sydney, good job eating your carrots and apple slices. Now I'd like you to take a big drink of your milk before you can get down."
"OK, Mama."
Sydney takes the glass of milk up to her lips, tilts it back enough to get a milk mustache, makes sure no milk goes in her mouth, brings the cup down, looks at Mommy and says, "Ahhhhh."
"No, no, Syd, you didn't drink it. You just pretended to drink. No milk went in your mouth."
"Mama! Do I have a milk mustache?" Syd tries to distract with playful questions and a cute tone to her voice.
"Sydney, Mommy really wants you to drink some milk. You need milk to grow strong."
"Yes, Mama."
Sydney repeats the previous milk performance and says, "yummeee."
"Sydney, you're not drinking your milk!"
"Yes, I am Mama!"
"Sydney, not only are you not drinking your milk but now you're fibbing to Mommy about drinking your milk. I know you're not drinking your milk. You're just putting the cup to your lips but I can't hear you swallowing any milk. Now you need to drink some milk before you can go play."
"OK, Mama!"
Sydney brings the cup up to her mouth.
"Take a big drink, Sydney."
The cup gets tilted back.
"Mommy can tell Sydney."
Sydney holds the cup up for a few seconds.
"Are you drinking?"
Pause. Pause.
The cup comes down and following the cup coming down is an exaggerated "GULP, GULP, GULP" sound from Sydney's mouth.
"There Mama, I took a drink!"
"Hmmm, Sydney for such a big drink I'm surprised the milk line in your cup is still at the same level."
"That's silly Mama! Can I get down now?"
"Uhh, yeah, sure."
With a smirk on her face, Mommy lowers Syd to the ground. Sydney joyfully thumps into the next room.
Mommy wipes off the counter, blows upward to get the hair wisps out of her eyes, smiles at her daughter's scary three year old creativity and wonders if someday she'll find peas buried in the plants or half chewed meat shoved into the toaster over.