A little of this and a little of that....

Life has been going by so fast and I have so much going. I am going to change it up a bit and privilege you to some of the mish mash going on in my head.

• When I was growing up with my other three siblings the line I heard my mom say the most was "Oh ok who did it then? A ghost?!". What she was referring to is how we all would unanimously deny the stain on the carpet or leaving the lights on in a room when we left. Well....at almost two years of age my daughter has learned the art of denial or more so deflection. On one occasion I walk into the room and there are Cheerios ALL over the floor, here is how the conversation goes. Me: Ela who did this. Ela: I dont know. Me: Ela, you know who did this, please tell Mommy Ela: Elmo did. Bad Boy. <include finger scolding> Blaming Poor Innocent Elmo; Her best friend. Now this is not the only time. She has perfected the art of deflection great; last time "Baby Liv" broke her paci and chewed on her crib. What is so great on her part is that I am usually laughing too hard to be upset. KARMIC.RETRIBUTION

•  Moving to NY and not really knowing many people with the exception of family, the first few months were very quiet and boring. All of a sudden if feels like we have no free time now. We met several friends and now have a packed schedule. Now I look forward to a quiet weekend. Irony right?I have two thoughts on this: #1.Meeting friends when you have children is easier than when you were in college. Automatic conversations starters. A bigger plus is you don't have to make excuses or feel bad for interrupting a conversation when your kid poops. At get together, the parents have wine while kids play! No judgement about drinking wine either...Anyone that has kids knows alchol is a must have! #2. At my age(early thirties), meeting new friends is similar to dating. You awkwardly ask for a phone number or email hoping they don't think your crazy, then hang out, and then the great debate of how soon is too soon to call.  We  met a couple, hung out and halfway through knew there was not going to be a life long friendship. How do you tell someone that you don't want to hang out again. It has happened on both ends of the spectrum. On the other hand we hang out with some new people and instantly click. JUST.LIKE.DATING

•  Mommys are busy people whether you work or are a stay at home mom. Sometimes our little ones know just how to push us over the edge of sanity. Whether it be pulling every toy out of the toy box, throwing a whole bowl of oatmeal on the floor or just being a toddler, sometimes Ela can just plain exhausts me. These are the days that I look forward to a little free time. 340 days out of the year I let her go to bed when she is tired(usually around 7:45/8)...but those other 16 or so days(give or take) I just need to put her to bed and have an immediate glass of wine.(and Ice Cream). Why is it when I finally get free time after an eventful day, I am peeking in Ela's room 20 minutes later just staring at her and thinking how sweet she looks? I know other Mom's can relate...My sister in law put it perfectly...Us women/moms just don't know what we want!! SO SO true. We get a moment of free time and all we can think of is our babies. TRUE.LOVE.

• Potty Training a toddler sucks!. Ela goes on the potty 4-5 times a day now....the only problem is the part of wearing no diapers. She understands when she sees the potty she goes poo poo or pee pee but not the concept of not going her diaper. If she has an accident it does not bother her in the least. She has also confused her bodily movements....She tells me she has poo poo when she pees and vice versa. So the other day when I was on the phone with Tomasz and Ela was diaper free I should have known better when she said "Ela make pee pee". I thought the day that I re-housed my dog would be the last time I cleaned poop off the floor.  I never in my wildest ideas imagined I when I was younger and dreaming about being a mom how much dirty work was involved. ENOUGH.SAID

So that's really all that's been on my mind or going on lately.

The inseperable three....

Let me start out by saying I am not sure if this blog is intended to be informative, a "your not alone" blog for other moms with children suffering from allergies,asthma and ezcema or even a vent.  I apologize if this is a wordy post, but if you have ever had a sick child I am sure you can empathize.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you know that Ela is a overall happy go lucky baby girl that loves to be outdoors. In just a few short months she will be two. For only two years of life she sure has gone through alot. Let me start at the beginning....

Around three months Ela developed Eczema. For those that don't know it is basically excessively dry skin caused by irritations such as allergies or pets. This was back in the Ozzy days...little did we know that we would find out he was the cause less than a year later.After a few trips to the dermatologist and a suspicion <who was I kidding looking back all of the signs were there> of allergies, we figured out how to control it and now lotion Ela regularly. The eczema went away when we moved to our new apartment but so did Ozzy.

Eczema- Happiest Baby on 54th Street

 

Ela turns 1! Shortly after her first birthday she started daycare and immediately began to enjoy it! She made alot of friends and enjoyed playing. About a month into daycare, I was feeding Ela and she had a severe allergic reaction to Sesame! I gave her Tahini sauce and after the worst scare of my life, we ran straight to the allergist. After a skin test it was confirmed that Ela was allergic to Sesame, Peanuts, TreeNuts and dogs. She was a little too young for skin test, but any knowledge was better than none.

 

Food Allergies- My Sweet Tomato

 

Allergy Update

 

As if I had a magic ball, my progressive "googling" predicted the future.<I now have my Google Doctorate> Each time I would research either the eczema or the food allergies the website would say that most children with exema or food allergies usually have asthma. .

 

UGH! Asthma runs in my family and I suffered in my late teens. Sure enough after months of a recurrent night cough Ela was diagnosed with Asthma. At the beginning we thought it was just being constantly sick from daycare. That was the majority of it, but in kids with asthma, colds are the trigger for attacks. After a rough allergy season,we figured out Ela did have asthma. She was started on an inhaler which instantly did wonders. As the fall allergy season progressed we started seeing the coughing again. Flash forward to last night and we were in the ER for an asthma attack. Poor girl was still giggling and playing but could not breathe.

 



 

So that leaves me sitting here typing this post. I am full of emotions; the biggest one is amazement.With all this little girl has been through how is she honestly is the happiest smiley girl. She loves life and most days although she is not 100% ,you would never know. Then I feel sad. I wish I could take on all of her allergies and asthma so she would never have to feel this discomfort. Then I feel grateful. So many other mothers deal with a their child having a life threatening disease or disability. I feel grateful this is so manageable and controllable. Then comes hope. Will she grow out of the asthma? Will she grow out of the food allergies? Back to sad. How am I going to feel when she is at a birthday party and cant eat the cake for fear the bakery accidentally let a peanut sneak into the cake? The last emotion bothers me the most. Did I cause this? I ate apples and peanut butter everyday while pregnant. If it was not apples and peanut butter was it the Sesame bagel with strawberry cream cheese <yes I was pregnant> that I frequented? My family history has both allergies and eczema. I know I will never know what caused the inseparable three but I sure am going to try to conquer them.

 

On the hopeful side....

*60% of children grow out of asthma especially if diagnosed before 2 years of age. Those that don't outgrow asthma show reduced symptoms with the onset of puberty.

*6-8% of children have food allergies. High chance of growing out of it by age 4. Although most kids with peanut allergies do not grow out of it.

*Asthma is the most common illness that sends children to the ER. This seems silly to be hopeful but it is one of the most understood and treatable illnesses.  There is alot of information and hopefully a full cure in the future.

 

So where does that leave us now?

 

*We purchased a air purifier today. I hope to get ahead of the triggers to reduce the medicines. And alot of dusting! (No more Ozzy either)

*Back to the allergist. Now that she is older we can have her tested more accurately and again...get ahead of the triggers.

*Continue to teach our family, friends and daycare about the signs of asthma and food allergies in addition on how to use the rescue inhaler and epi pens.

*And on a personal note for me; stay positive it could be worse- Much worse

 

I do not know anyone personally that has a child effected by the Inseparable Three. I am going to start looking online for "Toddler with Asthma" support groups similar to a Mom group I currently belong to online. It is a great resource and area to get advice on prevention and treatment.  <"Does this medicine make your child hyper too" >

Does anyone out there have any advice for a Mom trying to manage the Inseperable Three and a toddler not letting her illness get in her way?

 

 

 



One....errr TWO!

So yes....Ela is going to be two. This is new news to me.

 I was leaving the park the other day and Ela started crying "slide Ela do slide" and joking around I said " oh Ela it must be hard to be one". Another Mom said wow she talks alot for one. I was like well... really she is 20 months, and she replied well then she is almost two. HOLLY CRAP! She is almost two! I have been so used to saying she is "x" amount of months for her whole life. Not anymore, soon to be just plain old two. Little Ela and all of her sassy ways are almost two!

So what does the life of an "Almost 2 year old" entail....ELMO! This pretty much her world these days! (Literaly Elmo's World...Lalalala)

New PJ's of course with Elmo

 

Baby Lily got the boot! Elmo gets pushed around
 with some water to drink.

 

Watching Elmo on the IPad.

 

The only person that can even come close to Elmo is Ela's best friend Mackensie. Mac will be two in just a few days and Ela is obsessed. They are best friends and Ela even voluntaraily shares Elmo with him and Mac shares his trains with her.(Early love) She even calls for him at night when she can't sleep. They go to the same school and get to play everyday. Thats not enough...they also play most weekends and go to the park after school too.

Taking a stroll in the park

The carousel is a weekly staple.

Mac showing Ela how to swing.

When Ela is not dreaming of Elmo and playing with Mac, she is growing up to be quite the little girl each day. We have been potty training very well(2 times a day), self feeding without much of a mess, putting on her own shoes, playing "Mommy" to her baby,singing ABC's and the Elmo song , immitating animal sounds, and just plain talking our ears off. One of her favorite things to do recently is  "Where's Ela"

 

Check out her video at the beach with her Grandparents!

 

Where's Ela?!

 A few more pictures of energetic Ela:

She is a very good Mommy

 

 

Eating dinner with Elmo...of course.

Sleepy time with Baby Liv

Doing what she does best! EAT

Drinking out of big girl cup at Uncle Bryans wedding.

 

SuperWoman vs. SuperMom

The Great Debate....

Some days trying to be super mom is harder than others! Like so many other Mommy's out there working full time, taking care of the baby(s), being a wife, cooking and housework, etc gets the best of me. I truly never understood and appreciated what my own mothers and grandmothers went through. Some days I start the day and wonder how I am ever going to be able to make it to dinner. On the flip side each day I always find something rewarding about being a mom. It could be the little smile, Ela learning a new word, hearing she had a good day at school, or even her saying "thank you" without being asked...the best being when she just walks up and plants a wet gooey kiss on my cheek.

I never thought being a mom would be so hard at times( Parenting Fail #1 and Parenting Fail #2 ), and yet I never imagined it to be so rewarding. Just when I think that I cant handle anymore, I can. In the evening I look forward to a few minutes to myself when Ela goes to bed...and then 15 minutes later I sneak into her room to watch her sleep. I have always been amazed how being pregnant my body took over, and even as a Mom I can figure out exactly what to do(most times).  I love being a mom and it has challenged me in so many ways;It has also rewarded and enriched my life so many more.

 I have begun to learn that it is OK to have days where I cant do it all. I CAN have days when the baby goes to bed and I pour a glass of wine, skip dinner and eat ice cream, and even days where the toys stay all of the floor until the next day.You might be thinking what is prompting this post...

Today is Operation Take Away Paci --Day# 1. This got me thinking: When Ela was a few weeks/months she would only sleep in the swing and I thought we would never get her in the crib, and then came the days when she would only sleep swaddled, and then the days she would only sleep with us....Get the point? We made it through all of them and it was all in the development necessary to make her sweet little self. All this reminiscing made me realize it is harder for ME to get rid of the Paci then for Ela; My little girl is not a baby if she does not use a paci anymore and in reality it makes life so much easier FOR ME! I guess its time for ME to get over it! Low and behold as I sit here and type this blog, I put on my SUPERMOM "cape". Ela is sleeping. We talked about it during dinner, as we bathed and then before bed. She cried for 10 minutes. I went into her room, she said "Melmo"(Elmo) and I let her watch Sesame Street.(She already learned how to bargain with me) I go back into her room 10 minutes later and she is fast asleep! This is just day #1 and I will probably have to wear my "cape" all week, but Mommy's sometimes have more super powers than we think ;)

So if you were in the grips of danger...Who would you want on your side?

 SuperWoman or SuperMom

VS.

Off the Charts....

Ela is 18 months! Holy Cow... At night before bed she likes too read a story or look at pictures. A few nights ago I was showing her videos of herself on Itunes from when she was little. We were watching the video of her crawling and she goes "Mommy...Baby". Yes, Ela that is my BABY and now your a big GIRL!

The Stats:

Big Girl at her 18 month apt

Weight: 23.7 pds 41%
Height: 32 inches 44%
Head: 41%

A few of my favorite moments:

• The constant kisses. She is so affectionate and over dramatizes the noise kisses make! Love it!
• Her being able to communicate. She can for the most part express what she wants and it has made for alot less tantrums and fits.She repeats everything...Good and Bad!
• When she is playing Mommy to "Baby Lily". I heard her say "Tata say no" to the baby with her finger out. She rocks her and pushes her in the mini stroller.
• Biting has gotten much better. She only bit once in the past month...AND when she did, she told the kid "sowry". Knowing Ela I am sure it meant I am sorry you took my toy not that I bit you. The teachers at school were laughing that she knew to say sorry...Im not surprised for a while she was saying it enough every time she chomped!
• Sleeping in...(Of course I am going to jinx myself now) but she is sleeping later each morning because she is up later with us.
• When Tomasz is away I ask Ela where Tata is; she points up and says "sky" :) So sweet.
• She now tells me"Lets Go" every morning!
 

Its been a busy summer. We are hardly at home and constantly running around with friends or being tourist in our own city! I swear there is something to do in NYC every weekend for 2 years! We have to jam pack it all before we move to the suburbs. Here is a few highlights of the summer so far:

Our favorite park in Brooklyn-Full on with a lazy river

Mini Playground every day after school

Taking a Break on Governor's Island

Tour of the City..Mom and Dad Powered

Carousel on the water under the Brooklyn Bridge

Pizza with the best buddys- McKensie and Levi

Chelsea Highline

4th of July Snack Break on the Rooftop

So now that Ela is 1 1/2 years and growing quick one thing is for sure...She might be perfectly average on the charts but her little personality is quickly flying off the charts.

JB

As Time Flies...

It has been quite some time since my last blog. Life has been going by fast and the days have passed quicker than I can count. We have had a few visitors over the past two months and most recently Tomasz and I took our yearly anniversary trip. After we went on our Honeymoon, we decided that each year instead of gifts we would take a trip together. Just like with children, time flies and life is too fast that as spouses we forget how we started our family...With each other. So we decided Paris! 4 days in Paris all to ourselves...Great once I got there. Last year we took our anniversary trip in September instead of May because Ela was still little. We just left for two days and Ela did great. We were very encouraged this year as Ela was a little older. I was a NERVOUS wreck! She would be staying with both of our families who raised us and whom she loves. The only difference this year is that Ela now has food allergies as well as pet allergies(we are a very pet friendly family). In case you forgot check out My Sweet Tomato. Both of our families were great with my instruction manual and menu. :) --I openly admit I might be a paranoid crazy mom. After grocery shopping, the purchase of benadryl and Epi Pen training for all we were on our way.... an 8 hour flight to do nothing. What was I going to do with myself?

The trip was great! We had alot of fun. ALL we did was eat, sleep and drink. It was so nice to be able to talk to each other, relax and sleep. Really sleep. We got to Skype Ela each day and she was excited to see us. Check out a few pictures.

It looks like Ela had a great time too while we were gone...

Flash forward to end of our trip. Ela did great! She had a great time and other than a few tanturms was an angel! We flew down to Atlanta, picked up Ela and headed home with our sweet family. Boy did we miss Ela! I intentionally took off two extra days to recover from Jet Lag. What I did not expect is that Ela had a Mommy/Tata lag that she was recovering from. On the flight home, we would kiss Ela. She would pull our faces together to have us kiss and then giggle. She loved having us together again. We got home late, put Ela to bed(I wont even describe the horrendous flight home) and Tomasz went to work early the next morning. I made Ela lunch and got ready to take her to school. As soon as we walked up to the door of school Ela said "No mama No". I was shocked Ela loves school and her friends. She cried(screamed like a drama queen) when we walked in and the teachers made me leave as it was worse with me there. She has NEVER cried when I dropped her off...only sometimes when she does not want to go home. I called 1 hr later and she was not crying but had a hard time. I eventually went to get Ela at 1:00pm, when her teacher called and said she would not eat or play; they thought she was sick. I picked her up that day and she would not leave my side. She was all giggles at home. She kept kissing me and I even cheated and let her sleep with me that night.

What I realized is that Ela truly loves me and Tomek. Time has flown by so quickly that it is hard to believe my baby is a toddler that now has feelings and emotions.  All the hard work of being parents, is all forgotten when you realize how important and needed you are. I always knew Ela loves me, but coming home from our trip for the first time I realized she understands what love is. It is an amazing feeling to be loved like that from the little girl we made together. I thought the first day that I heard "mama" was the best...Hearing "I love" is even better. (She can not say "you" yet)

Countdown until Ela's 18 month birthday = 8 days!

16 months....

Us again! One of the things that I love about being a mother, is living through Ela's eyes. Today at the park reminded me. Ela went to go down the slide and she said "hot". Its a sunny hot day, and I remember when I was a little girl how I did not understand why the swing and slides were always hot. Every time I would go down the slide I would always think it would be different. Guess not!

Ela is still growing and quickly. At her 15 month appointment, she was 22 pounds(24%), and 31 inches tall(61%). She is going to be tall and skinny! Here are the recent happens in Ela's life:

• She hangs out with the "boys" at daycare.
• She is very vocal and talking up a storm. Her favorites are "utoh" and "on no" so much so that she pushes things off the table or chair just to say "oh no". The new words this month are "sit", "dog", "hot", "tub"
• She went pee pee on the potty once. I am sure it was purely by accident but we are going to start potty training at home and at daycare. Even better when she sits on it she squeezes and goes "psshhhhh".
• She remembers everything! You cant take something away and expect her to forget anymore....Darn!
• She understands simple commands. "Ela, where are your shoes", "Ela, lets go to bed", "Ela, eat" and even "Ela, stop!"
• She cleans up her toys at the end of each night.
• The best one...She is SO affectionate. FINALLY! She comes up to sit on my lap to play, gives wet kisses and lots of hugs!!

She is a good little girl and learning quickly. I feel like no time will go by until I am typing her 2 year birthday post!

Here are some pics:

Happy Mothers Day!

She has the family sweet tooth from both sides!

Picnic in the park

The grass feels funny on my toes!

An attempt of a family photo on Mothers Day!

Don't Bite your Friends!

Can you believe Ela is a toddler? I can't...especially since she will always be my little baby :) It feels like she has been growing faster than ever lately. I can not believe the things that she knows now, especially her expression of love, happiness and even getting mad. It still amazes me that a little 22 pound 15 month old can get mad but she is learning like the rest of us.

Here are some of her recent developments:

* She is 22 pounds in the 26% percentile. Still in some 12 month clothes and smaller 18 month ones.
* She says her name thanks to the older boys at daycare calling out her name all day.
*Her current vocabulary includes: no no, more, hi, bye, all done, good, Ela,utoh, and huggie. She even says a few words in Polish. I was feeding her and I asked if it was good and she said "tak" which means yes. I am so excited for her to be bilingual.
* When I tell her to get her jacket or shoes, she understands and brings them to me.
*When she wants something she points and says "more". This is probably said 20+ times a day.`
* Every time she likes something she eats, she goes mmmmm.....
* She feeds herself with a spoon.(the easier items)
* The other day she pulled on my dress and said "hug mamma". I melted
*She knows how to blow her nose.This is a great help with colds.
*She pushes the wall by the elevator button to go downstairs.
* When she goes to the bathroom she goes over and lays on the floor by her changing area and says poop. (Not so proud of this  one) ;)

The most recent learning opportunity was to teach her not to bite. Hence the name of the blog post. Over the past month this has been a big problem. I am sure she learned it from daycare because we don't bite in the house ;) It turned into just at home once or twice but then I started getting reports from daycare. This is very embarrassing. The first day she bit a little guy her age, two days later she bit a 3 year old and on Wednesday she bit a 3 month old and left a bruise. This is when I got really upset. If I was that 3 month old's mother I would certainly be understanding of the nature of the situation, but clearly upset. The teachers at daycare are great and we decided to attack it together. I had tried everything at home. Touching her mouth/teeth when she bit, putting her in the highchair for a 5 minute time out and even gently hitting her little mouth. For those of you that are shocked by that last one, don't worry she laughed at me when I did it and thought it was hilarious and bit me again. How do we get this to stop? I noticed she only did it when she did not get her way which was an even bigger problem. While I was googling advice, Ela came up and bit my toe and I had enough. I put my finger in her mouth and let her bite me. :/ I told her firmly no and put my hand on her mouth. We repeated this 10 times and she finally understood...I hope.  My fingers are a little sore, but in the end it is worth it if it works! So far so good. Check out a video of the progress.

Ela -Don't Bite your friends!

Ela- Dont bite your friends 2!

We also watch Yo Gabba Gabba "Don't bite your friends" what seems like a million times a day. Kind of crazy entertainment but Ela loves them!

Yo Gabba Gabba Video- "Don't Bite your Friends"

Cross your fingers her bitting stops...especially for the sake of the little fingers at daycare!
Here are a few pictures of the past month including Easter.

Blessing the Easter Basket at Mass

Getting ready to go to Easter Dinner

Easter Dinner...Ice Cream is the best part!

Just hanging out enjoying the warm weather.

Ela and her boyfriends! Levi and Mckenzie

A city gal all ready to go with her MTA card.

A daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart.
-- Author Unknown

Allergy Update

This past Tuesday we took Ela to an allergist after her allergic episode last week. I was pretty sure that it was the Sesame, but I was so nervous to feed her all weekend. Its crazy how I went from letting her try tons of new things to literally staring at her while she ate EVERYTHING! Tomasz flew home for the day to come with me because the testing involved a series of 20 small "pinches/pricks". I knew Ela was not going to like it.



They tested her for all types of nuts, pets, shellfish, and outdoor allergens such as pollen, ragweed etc. They do the pinches and she can not move or scratch them for 15 minutes while they react. She HATED life! Within 1 minute we saw one arm get a bunch of the little reaction bumps so we knew she was allergic to something. Anyone want to take a guess.....

The unlucky winners are....

*Sesame

*All Nuts with the exception

of hazelnut,cashews and pistachios.

*DOGS!! - Where did this one come from?

Not sure if you remember but last year around this time Ela had eczema all over her body that would not go away. When we moved from our apartment in Manhattan to Brooklyn, the eczema went away. The only catch was is Ozzy dog did too! :( We were not sure if it was the water in the apartment or the dog. I guess we have our answer now. I at least feel good knowing Ozzy has a good home.

Happiest Baby on 54th Street

In an effort to be positive, at least we know what she is allergic to and can manage it. I try to put myself in other mothers shoe's and I know Ela could be alot worse off  with other diseases or illnesses. A few small life changes and she wont even know the difference. The doctor encouraged us to feed her the nuts that she is not allergic to, not only to help her allergy but to prevent allergies to those in particular. She offered to let us give them to her in her office over the summer.(Yes, I want supervision) Every year we will test Ela and hopefully she will out grow her allergies. (25% of children do outgrow the allergy- yes i googled it)

On a lighter note, here are two random pictures. On the way home Ela was out of it,dazed in the car seat. We always look at her baby pictures(not that she is that big now), and say how it does not even look like her. This is a priceless  face that she made at 1 month and then again at 14 months. Even the hands were the same!

Maybe I should change my blog to say something than "Our little PEANUT is here" ....Just kidding!