Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day is usually a somber day for me. I try to avoid thinking about the type of job I have, and all that die trying to do it. However, today I make a point to not hide from the truth and I reflect on all those lost. Today is a little different. Instead of just thinking about my sisters and brothers that are no longer her, I also concentrated on remembering why I do what I do. Which in turn made me hug the girl. I am so lucky to have her in my life. She makes it worth it.
She is quite mobile now -which is quite scary. In the pic to the right, she was busted trying to get something she obviously wasn't sure if she was supposed to have. Too funny. And yes, that is slobber all down the front of her very stylish dress. (I believe we have Great Aunt Lisa to thank for that one.)
Last night was really rough. The girl picked up a runny nose from the sitter's house. Babies have trouble breathing through their noses. Every twenty minutes she was up either sneezing, choking or gagging on snot. We had to use the aspirator several times. Anyone that has had to use one of them in the middle of the night knows exactly why my kid now wears a patch. Just kidding, but I did come pretty close to getting her in the eye. She truly hates the snot sucker. After a long night of Vic's vapor rub, the steam machine and midget wrestling matches, I admitted defeat. Today, we went to find an upgrade for the snot sucker. Momma isn't broke, and there's no reason to have to hold a girl down for anything unnecessary. I call it unnecessary because there are electric and/or battery powered aspirators (snot suckers).  So, after a night of pure hell, we went to get one. And, the girl thinks it is a cool toy. As opposed to screaming at the sight of the manual one.

The girl went to bed at 8 pm tonight and has already been up twice. I hope and pray she isn't up again all night. We are so close to a decent routine, I would hate to have to start from scratch. Speaking of routines, it seems I have entered the friend changing era. I am finding that every day I have less and less in common with my single friends. It's not that they aren't good people, they just don't 'get it'. I can't just go and do things like I used to. Today, I received my first pity invitation. You know the kind, the last minute, "I know you won't be able to go but I am going to ask anyway because I feel guilty about not calling you all freakin' weekend" type of invite.  It's OK, I got over it by spending a couple hundred at the mall...all in baby gear/stuff/clothes/accessories...i.e. fun stuff -lots a' beach stuff and some more bath toys! I really like being a Mommy. I am going to have a heck of a time deploying again.

I found a cool Mommy n' Me class I may start as soon as I finish my RCIA classes. Sunday's at 1pm, not far from here, and not that expensive.

While the girl hasn't quite gotten the word "mama" down pat, she does make the 'm' sound. Which is so much better than the other word she could be learning..."no". And, yes, that word is in section 2 of phonics. I guess she has to learn it eventually. I am still tooling around with calling her Annie. It's shorter and easier for her to say. But, she recognizes her name already and I don't want to confuse her. Something tells me that she will tell me what she wants to be called.