51 Birch Street

www.51birchstreet.com

Last night Dave and I had the fortune of having a fun filled evening with Jenn and Keith. I can't quite remember the last time that we were all out together, sans the kiddo's, but it was great to just sit and chat uninterrupted. We ate some yummy food at Veneto, sipped Avery Lane Reisling, and then headed off to the Little to see 51 Birch Street. This was a great documentary that shows the human condition, and a rare look into a 50 plus year marriage, and what happens when people aren't true to themselves. It was a powerful movie that left me feeling peaceful and sad at the same time. I would love to talk more about the movie, but don't want to give anything away. I reccommend that everyone and your parents, grandparents, and loved ones see this documentary.

Grandma Visits

I wish that I had a pic to upload, but blogger isn't cooperating with uploads tonite, so pics to follow. My mom is visiting us for a few days, and tonite Dave and I stepped out for a bit to meet with a friend. So Olivia and my mom got to have a "Grandma nite" together and when we returned home the house just felt alittle different. Grandma's are so special, and I can tell that when my mom is here Olivia knows that things are different. The nite before she arrived we told Olivia that Grandma would be visiting, and she ran to the guest room, pounded on the bed and yelled "GEEMA GEEMA GEEMA." She knows that the guest room is where "Geema" sleeps, and that Geema = Fun!

Tonite when we returned home I asked my mom how the bedtime routine went, and my mom says that Olivia and her ran around the house and laughed for over an hour. My mom would ask Olivia if she wanted to go up and have her bottle and Olivia answered "Nope." She never does this to Dave or I, and usually happily obliges to begin the bedtime routine. But not when Grandma's here, becuase Grandma means fun!:) Grandma reported that Olivia replied "Nope" each and everytime my mom asked her if she was ready for bed! hahah.

I too had a very special relationship with my Grandma. My brain and heart are chock full of beautiful childhood memories with Grandma Z, and I hope that Olivia has that with both of her grandparents. Watching her "Get the sillies" with my mom reminded me of days when Grandma Z would stay with us for a few days. Niki and I were off the hook silly when she was around, and the possibilities were endless. She played with us, and made us feel like we were the most special people in the world to her. She was always right on our level in any game that we were playing, and would participate in anything that we were doing. One time I was playing teacher and decided that I would take my class on a field trip to outer space. Grandma Z helped me write a letter home to the parents, and then we planned the whole trip. She made me feel as though it was really possible to take a large class of my pretend students to Outer Space. Most grown ups wouldn't play along, but she always played along and encouraged our dreams. Her voice is always inside my head, and encouraging me to go forth.

My mom always worries that Olivia won't know her as well as my in-laws. . I think that she is starting to see how special she is to Olivia. I believe when someone has pure Love for a child that it is always felt by the child, no matter how far away they live from each other. But I understand how hard it must be to live in a different city as a grandchild. I'm dreading the goodbye tomorrow afternoon as my mom usually cries at least halfway down the thruway. Olivia and her have a bond and I'm thankful for the bond. Its a beautiful thing to witness.

Dean and Candie save the day!

We had a fun Saturday nite get together with Dean and Candie, who have 2 children under the age of 3. The kids had a blast playing together, and my daughter was occupied for 3 hours straight by 2.5 yr old Zachary. She was copying his every move, and thanks to Mr. Zach, Olivia learned how to climb on the sofa, and jump like a mexican jumping bean. She screams "Boing Boing Boing" in delight of her latest accomplishment. This new accomplishment looks like an accident waiting to happen, but for today I'm letting her jump to her hearts content. I hate to be a spoiler.

Anyway, i have been pretty concerned about Olivia's diaper rash from this antibiotic. Its bright red and painful. I showed the veteran parents her rash and they practically laughed at me., "Thats hardly a rash" laughed Candie. I felt better to hear that becuase to me this rash looks horrible. Candie then introduced me to Triple Paste
www.triplepaste.com

This stuff is amazing. In 3 hours her little toosh was returned to normal. Its a medicated diaper creme only for diaper rashes. I was so grateful to learn about this wonder paste that I wanted to pass it along to all my mama friends, and thank my blog reading friend Candie for giving me her huge tube of it! :) She later admitted that the rash was pretty bad, but she did what any awesome friend would do, she downplayed it to calm a nervous first time mom down. Thanks Candie!

We also did some vacation planning, as in a few short weeks we'll be leaving with Dean, Candie, and 4 other families on a week long Outer Banks vacation. We rented our very own beach house, complete with 2 heated pools and a kiddie pool. Mind you, there will be alot of people staying at this beach house, 12 adults and 7 kids. Yikes. I'm nervous but very excited about getting away for a week. We are dividing the trip up and leaving one day early to stay with my aunt and uncle in Maryland. Dean and Candie are doing the same as her brother lives in Maryland. It's a 7 hour drive to Maryland, so we're hoping for some really patient kids on Friday April 13th! Ack..Friday the 13th...the odds already seem against us! haha

All dressed and ready for "Cheech"

Livy can't quite say church yet, so instead she improvises and calls it "Cheech." Here are some recent pics from this passed Sunday, taken before "Cheech."
During "Cheech" Olivia proceeded to shout "Amen" at very quiet times during the mass, and she also pointed at each stain glass window and shouted "ANGEL" with glee. Yes bringing Miss Olivia places gets interesting. A few Sunday's ago she was telling everyone around us to "SHHHHHH" like Dave and I were telling her to do. She had her finger on her nose and she was looking directly at people telling them to "Shhhhhh." I need to remember all of the funny things because they will make good stories later on. She also looks for "Coco" at church, and most anywhere that we go. Coco is always on her mind. For some reason she seems to think that Coco is everywhere.

On a sad note, Olivia has another ear infection so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. The doctors think that its the same ear infection from January...this is her 3rd infection since that time. However we were at the Dr.'s last Wednesday and her ears were clean. On friday I felt her gums and noticed that some teeth had just started to break the surface, and Friday is when I believe that her ear infection started again. I sense that its related to teething. So we're on an even stronger course of antibiotics. Ack. We are also doing Craniosacral therapy (chiropractic) which Dr. Khaneja feels will help over the long haul. There are a few other natural things that we'll be discussing during a visit on Wednesday. She has also reccommended an ENT. The ENT can take awhile to get into, so in the meantime we're probably going with homeopathy and chiropractic. I guess that the biggest thing we'll be doing is cutting out all dairy. Olivia will be on goats milk and soy cheese for awhile until her ears are under control. She had her 1st goats milk bottle tonite and did fine with it. I know that many children get ear infections and I've been trying to gather some information on how to properly treat this. I have to say that Dr. Greene's website is hands down the most comprehensive and informative website that I've found so far. I love his approach to healing, and he really gives parents in depth information. Sometimes we don't need in depth information, but when things become Chronic then parents need more information.

Dr. Greene's website suggested a possible dust mite allergy so we're going to get her a special mattress pad. Olivia has both Eczema and ear infections, so an allergy to dust may be likely. The info about the link between eczema and ear infections wasn't on Dr. Sears website, and neither was the link to pacifier use and ear infections. Dr. Greene's site gave me some great things to think about, and as soon as we heal from this infection, then "Froganzo" the paci is going bye-bye. I hope. :) Wish me luck.

Running a red light, or two.... and officer friendly

I thought that my recent adventure was blogworthy, and it contains tips that might be helpful to you in the future, should you ever get pulled over after running two red lights, and you've left home without your liscense.

On friday evening I attended a nice spiritual talk with my mom at The Natural Oasis market on Monroe Ave. We left Natural Oasis and started driving home when my mom remembers that she needs a tooth brush. So I keep driving down Monroe instead of turning into my neighborhood. Next thing I know I proceed to look up and I'm running a red light, and a few feet in front of me is another red light that I'm also running. This was all by accident, as these two lights are very close together on Monroe. Now enter Mr. Policeman who is flashing police lights in my rear view mirror. Oh boy. My mom and I had just come from this fun "Evening with God" and now I've commited a crime by accidentally running two redlights. The second after I saw the flashing lights in my rear view mirror I calmly told myself that I would not be receiving a ticket this evening. I have a goal in my life of never receiving a ticket for a traffic violation, and I had no intention of accepting one from this officer, but I had the intention of apologizing for what I did because I was trully sorry for it. Of course I would have had to accept it the ticket should he decide to give me one, but I was hoping that the power of positive thinking would help me out here. ;)

I learned from my hubby, who used to work for the Sheriffs dept that when getting pulled over you must do the following things, and it will greatly decrease your chances of getting a ticket.

1. Turn off your car and put your keys on your dashboard.
2. Roll down your window and keep your hands at 10 and 2 on your steering wheel.
3. Ask the officers permission before obtaining anything that they ask from you, such as "May I open my glovebox to provide you with my registration.
4. Always admit what you've done and apologize.

I felt like I might be in some hot water because I had left my licsense at home, but I was hopeful that my friendly personality might make this whole thing all better, and the nice officer would allow me to go on with my evening. The conversation went like this

officer "Good evening maam, may I see your licsense and registration."

Me "Gulp. Hello. I'm sorry sir but I live around the corner and I left home without my liscense, but I can provide you with my registration."

Officer, who now looks annoyed "You mean you don't have a liscense or you forgot it."

Me "Yes sir I have a liscense, and I apologize for leaving home without it this evening. Would you like me to get my registration for you, its in my glovebox."

Officer" Do you know why I pulled you over."

Me " Yes I believe that it had something to do with the lights."

So, to keep a short story short, Officer Friendly listened to my confession and apology about running red lights, and he said that he thought I made it through the first one, but definetly not the second one, and he would just give me a warning this time. He took my registration and went back to his car for five minutes, and while it was a bit nerve racking, I just kept calmly telling myself that I wouldn't be receiving a ticket this evening. I had some doubts becuase he stayed in his car for so long punching numbers or whatever into his computer, but when he came back he was all smiles, and told me to have a very nice evening, stay safe, and "Good nite." Wait...where was my warning?? What a nice Mr. Police officer. I think that he was being nice because I was nice to him, and I followed all of Daves instructions about what to do when getting pulled over! So take note folks, and don't run red lights!!