Resolutions

I've become a pretty big fan of Ju-Ju-Be recently. I got my first diaper bag from them around the time Ava was born (thanks, Mom!), but it wasn't until June or July of this year that I started spending time online in JJB's Pink Room, an online discussion forum for JJB enthusiasts, who are known as Pink Ladies. I've been more of a lurker there than I have in other online forums, but I've gotten sucked in to both the forums and the bags in subsequent months, much to Matt's chagrin.

Ju-Ju-Be is an amazing company. Their bags are phenomenal - highly organized diapers bags, but with lots of style. Their customer service has been nothing short of spectacular (and sadly, I've had lots of experience with customer service lately, so I can tell the difference!). And the community of women in the Pink Room is unbelievably supportive. The drama that I've seen in other similar communities...just doesn't seem to be there.

One of the things that JJB has done is to give away a bag every couple of weeks. Amazing, I know. They call it the "Real Mom Giveaway," and there is a new topic every two weeks. Real moms post their answers, and a couple of winners are selected based on their entries.

The contest posted for the end of 2010 read as follows:

"NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS!!!! This contest will be a few days longer than normal due to the holidays...so it will end 3 days after NY's Eve. I thought it would be fitting to share any or all resolutions we might have. They can be serious or light-hearted. I'm horrible at resolutions but i still like to set new goals each year. I guess it is a tradition (i guess it is also a tradition to break my New Year's Resolutions!! HAHAHAHA!!)"

This was also going to be the last of the Real Mom Giveaways. I had to come up with something good. Hee hee! Really, though, I searched my soul for what I needed to do in 2011, and this is what I came up with:

Honor my mother(s)

I have had stormy relationships

with both my mom and my mother-in-law, but I want to change that in the new year.

My mom and I mostly get along, but sometimes I totally lose my patience with her and lash out. She is retiring next month and will be spending 3.5 months living at my aunt's while my aunt is in FL for the winter. She'll be 45 minutes away instead of 7-8 hours! It's a great opportunity for my kids to have more Nana time, and for DH and I to have some backup. My mom is totally awesome with the kids, and loves to spend time with them (including doing early morning wakeup duty with DS, who gets up at 6 AM most days!), and I am truly lucky to have her.

My MIL and I got along fairly well until I had kids, and we continued to do okay until my second was born. We had a pretty major falling out when DD was 2 months old, and while we've managed to mend things a bit, visits with her can be pretty tense. She and I butt heads a lot - I'm not a huge believer in astrology, but we are both pretty stereotypical Aries! She hasn't been willing to take the time to learn how to do things my way, and I haven't been willing to roll with it during her visits.

My dad died 8 years ago, and DH's dad died 5 years ago, so these are the only grandparents my kids have. I need to nurture my relationships with them, because otherwise I will damage the kids' relationships with them.

So...I hereby resolve to work on my patience, to let things slide and laugh them off, and if necessary, to be the bigger person. They won't be around forever, and I'll regret it every day if I don't cherish them now!

And believe it or not...I won. My entry was one of the three entries selected to win this last of the Real Mom Giveaways. But better yet...thanks to this great and supportive community, I was able to open up about something that has been really hard for me over the past several years.

So now I'm opening up to all of you, many of whom are my "real life" friends and family. I wanted you all to know what I said online, so I can be held accountable for this resolution in my real life. Because that is where it matters the most.

And now, if you'll excuse me...I have a new bag to pick out.

Socks and shoes and uh-oh!

Overheard one morning:

Jonah: What I really want to do is go up on the roof.

Matt (who was, at the time, naked): Well, we need to put some clothes on if we're going to do that.

Jonah: All we need is socks and shoes!

Ava's first word was uh-oh. (Is that a word?) She has now progressed to hi, cheese, and blackberry. Or maybe it's blueberry. We're not totally sure. She can also tell you what a duck says.

Jonah has taken to calling himself John. He claims he is John from They Might Be Giants, but he won't tell me which one. When I ask who the other John is, he says, "John is singing, and I'm the other John."

I'm knee-deep in my first class. I'm doing well (2 As so far!), but it's definitely been an adjustment. I love being in school, but I hate the papers/ presentations/ other assignments--which, I have discovered, in business schools are called "deliverables." I used to say I wanted to be a professional student, but I think that really, I'd prefer to get paid to audit classes, so I can avoid the "deliverables." Anyone know of a career like that?

A little girl named Cora

I'm a little late to this, as Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Week (February 7-14) is long past. (I'll use the excuse of being caught up in writing my first academic paper in nearly ten years….) However, I didn't want to let that stop me from writing this post.

I've recently come to learn about congenital heart defects. CHDs are the most common birth defect. Nearly 40,000 babies each year are born with a CHD, or nearly 1 in 100 newborns, and nearly 1,800 newborns die from a CHD each year. Congenital means "present at birth." While a CHD may be genetic, more often there is no obvious cause or way the defect could have been prevented.

However, there is a test that can catch some CHDs. While there are no tests that are 100% effective in screening for CHDs, pulse oximetry, a quick, painless, and inexpensive test, can catch those that are associated with low blood oxygen levels. I won't go into the details of the test here, but more information can be found at the website of 1in100, an organization that works to raise awareness of CHDs.

I'm sure you're wondering why this post came about. Back in early December, someone I follow on Twitter mentioned something about wearing pink for someone named Cora. At first I ignored it, but after seeing it from a few more people, I followed some links, and I read Cora’s Story. The long version can be found here, but the short version is that Cora was five days old when she died in her mother's arms while breastfeeding. Cora had an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. I immediately started to follow Cora's mother, Kristine, on Twitter. It was the day before Cora’s memorial service, and Kristine and her family were asking people to wear pink (and post pictures) the next day, in Cora's memory. I read Kristine's tweets backwards. I found the tweet from the day Cora died, the tears streaming down my face. The next day, Ava and I both wore pink (I know, I know, I should have made Jonah and Matt wear pink, too!).

Over the nearly three months since I learned about Cora, I've been amazed by Kristine's strength and passion. She is working hard to make sure that no family has to go through what she went through. She has good days and bad, but she is channeling her grief into building a movement. She has also inspired and motivated me. And on the days when the kids are driving me nuts (and lately, there have been a lot of them), all I have to do is think of her and her sweet Cora, and at least for a moment, the craziness melts away.

I'm writing this blog post because I pledged to Kristine that I would share information about congenital heart defects, as well as Cora's story, with the pregnant women I know, and their families. I want to encourage anyone who is reading this post to pass it along. If you are pregnant, ask for a pulse ox test to be performed on your newborn before you leave the hospital. You can even add it to your birth plan!

For more information:

Cora's Story

1in100

March of Dimes

In Which Elmo and Amy Sedaris Step in for a Sleeping Sitter

Jonah had a fever of over 103 on Tuesday evening, so he couldn't go to school on Wednesday. It was my turn to stay home and play nurse, although he seemed more or less fine and we had a lot of fun together. Thursday wasn't so bad, either, so we were fairly confident that he would be heading to school as usual today.

Wrong. I took his temperature this morning just to be sure--we've been having some difficulty getting a good reading--and it was 101.6. Not an emergency, but too high to go to school. Unfortunately for Matt, he had stayed up til almost 4 AM working, so he was a little concerned about it being his turn to do sick boy duty. Fortunately for Matt, Jonah is one of the best patients I know. Especially if he's allowed to watch as much TV as he wants. Which, when he is sick, he is. Also, I work from home on Fridays, so he had some backup.

Jonah fell asleep on the couch (never happens) and then he and Matt went to Shaw's. When they got home, they ate lunch and then it was naptime. Since he had taken the earlier snooze on the couch, Jonah was not terribly interested in a nap, so Matt laid down on the floor in Jonah's room.

About an hour later, Jonah came walking into the living room and asked to watch a DVD.

I obliged, and seconds later, he was enthralled.

I, on the other hand, found it incredibly amusing that Amy Sedaris was guest-starring on Sesame Street.

Then I went into Jonah's room to check on the real babysitter.

Nice, huh?

One

Poor Miss A had a fever at her birthday party, so she wasn't terribly interested in the cake. We didn't realize it til later, which is kind of weak, considering how feverish she looks in these photos. Oops.

Fortunately, she had several willing helpers when it came time to blow out the candle!

Happy (belated) first birthday, my little monkey!