Christina, Author at A Mommy Story

Nov 7, 2007

Whatever Happened To…

November 7, 2007 By Christina

I’ve had a few questions lately from some of you, asking for updates on past posts. I feel like I needed to do a recap post – sort of like those “Where are they now?” shows that Maury Povich does every now and then, seeing how past guests are doing since the show.

So without further ado, let me bring back some of the past guests of this blog to see what they’re up to now.

The sentient trash can – Several people want to know what our trash can has been up to. I took the advice many of you offered and set up a Trashcam in the upstairs window for the last two weeks. However, I am sad to report that the trash can has lost its will to move. No movement at all in the past two weeks. Maybe it knew it was being watched, and like a ghost only performs when no one is looking? If it moves again, I may be calling in TAPS.

The surprise kittens – Our guest room is still overrun with a family of cats. Only they’re not so small now, and they’re getting into everything. It’s adoption week here, and I hope that by the end of the week, most of them will be gone. The good news is that four of five kittens have found homes, and the fifth may have a home. They’re all good matches, and I think they will all live spoiled lives. Which is better than how they started, out in Cordy’s play barn with an undernourished mama. Mama cat really doesn’t like being inside, and so next week she will be spayed and introduced to her new home on my mother’s farm.

A couple of recent photos:

Mira’s teeth – You’re all brilliant, you know that? Thanks to your advice and links and stories, I have survived two days with only a few minor bites. I now know I have to be vigilant to watch for signs she’s preparing to bite. No more commenting on posts while she nurses, I guess. Switching positions helped take the pressure off of the gashes, too. And I’ve been praising her when she lets go without biting. She likes the positive attention, although it isn’t as funny as mommy screaming. Dark days may be on the horizon, though – tonight she was inconsolable and rubbing her upper gums. I think her top teeth are starting their descent. My nipple may soon be surrounded by sharp spears.

Aunt Dot – She may be gone, but her crazy gifts live on. Cleaning out her apartment has been a monumental task for my family. The woman had a lot of junk. A lot. My mom says she found something so perfectly Aunt Dot that she plans to hide it away and bring it out at Christmas. I’m excited to see what it is, which is wrong on so many levels.

A huge number of you – To all of you participating in NaBloToGoSoBananaFanaFoMo or whatever it is, good luck! I will not be joining you, because I can’t even find time to shower daily. And if I have to choose between posting and showering, well… I know you’d appreciate my choice if you had to be near me. And please, for the love of those of us who have trouble keeping up with our reading this month, write at least a few short posts, OK?

I think that covers most of the updates. If there’s still something you must know more about, leave me a comment and I’ll give you the latest update. If there’s anything to update, of course. On the next show, we’ll have lie detector test results, guests’ best secrets revealed, and a few of the “I was a geek, but look at me now!” guests.

Filed Under: random

Nov 5, 2007

And Then She Bit My Nipple Off

November 5, 2007 By Christina

We have a slight situation here at Casa de Mommy Story. You already know Mira has teeth. Two sharp bottom ones, to be specific. She’s chewing on anything she can with those two new teeth. Including me.

I’ve been trying to use the advice people have given me. When she bites me while nursing, I yelp, hoping to startle her and make sure she doesn’t do it again. It’s a good theory, and it worked the first time, but now my screams of pain are countered with laughter. She thinks it’s funny. Not sure who she got that sense of humor from.

I also tried putting her down and stopping the feeding session when she bites. She gets mad and screams her head off, as expected, but it doesn’t seem to do much to discourage her from biting.

Another bit of advice was to push her head into my breast when she bites, making her unable to breathe and then she’ll let go and associate biting with an unpleasant experience. However, Mira is a bite-and-release girl, so it’s hard to catch her in the act. By the time I feel the bite, the damage is already done and she’s pulled off, smiling at me. (I told you she had a sick sense of humor.)

I even tried buying a nipple shield to give me a thin layer of silicone between us, but she refuses to nurse with it. Re-fus-es. Completely. Like it’s some kind of abomination of the natural order and using it would be akin to admitting there is no God.

We’ve come to a breaking point, though. Yesterday Fang (my new nickname for her) bit me hard enough to draw blood. I have three small gashes on my right nipple and one on my left. I tried to nurse her again overnight, and she bit me hard enough that I worried she bit through my nipple. (I checked, and she didn’t – but at 2am when you’re half-asleep, you jump to those conclusions from the pain.) I’m too sore to nurse on one side, and also too sore to pump.

To all of my hardcore lactation readers out there – I want to know how you survived biting? What did you do to discourage it? If we can’t stop this, I think weaning is in the near future. I don’t want to wean – bottles and formula are such a pain, plus formula is expensive. And when she’s not biting, I like having the ability to breastfeed her. But I can’t let her turn my nipples into hamburger.

Any advice is appreciated.

(And it’s not like Fang has a lack of teething toys. Anything is a teething toy to her.)

That’s one way to hold a spoon.

Filed Under: breastfeeding, Mira

Nov 2, 2007

Haiku Friday: Visions of Fun Size Bars Pound In My Head

November 2, 2007 By Christina

My stomach in knots,
I feel sick, no energy –
Sugar hangover

The one problem with having a child who doesn’t know what to do with candy is that I then eat way too much of it.

Cordy loved trick or treat, had a lot of fun looking at her candy, but has yet to figure out that you eat it. Meaning it’s just sitting in the bowl, taunting me. I’ve been snacking on it for over 24 hours now, giving me the worst candy hangover since I was eight and devoured all of the Reese’s Cups in my stash in one sitting. Bleh.

To play along for Haiku Friday, follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. What’s a haiku, you ask? Click here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your generic blog URL). We will delete your link if it doesn’t go to a haiku. If you need help with this, contact Jennifer or myself.

3. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button above.

So flex those mental muscles and join Jennifer and I for Haiku Fridays!

Filed Under: Haiku Fridays

Nov 1, 2007

Halloween House of Horrors

November 1, 2007 By Christina

Halloween was a lot of fun – Cordy made a cute pirate/goth vampire (she still wouldn’t wear the hat), and lots of candy filled her bucket. I went with her for trick or treat, and we were done in under an hour.

But the real fun of the night was at our house, where Aaron scared the bejeebus out of kids with his costume and our child-eating pumpkin was a big hit.

Here was Aaron’s costume:

Pretty simple, but the faceless mask really creeped out many kids coming up for trick or treat. At one point, I was outside when three children approached the house. Aaron was inside the darkened house. As I reached out to give the first girl candy, the three of them suddenly screamed and ran away as fast as they could.

I turned around to see what spooked them and saw Aaron coming out the door. They saw him approaching the glass door, and in the darkness, they only saw a featureless white face coming at them. These weren’t little kids, either – I’d guess they were six, eight and nine years old. I couldn’t help but laugh – Aaron wasn’t even trying to scare them!

The youngest of the three kids ran so fast to get away he lost a shoe in our yard. And he refused to come back for the shoe, or for any candy. The two girls came back, although they armed themselves with plastic swords to make sure they’d be OK. Finally, Aaron had to take the mask off and return the shoe to the scared boy’s mom in their car.

Of course, their fear level started out high when they had to walk past our Jack O’ Lantern:

I tried to tell them they had nothing to worry about, since he had clearly eaten. Ah well.

Filed Under: Aaron, Cordy, family time

Oct 30, 2007

The Future Songwriter

October 30, 2007 By Christina

We were watching Backyardigans last night while eating dinner. (Yes, we’re lazy and have dinner in front of the TV on occasion.) As usual, I’m never allowed to eat my own meal – Cordy will gobble every last bite of her food, then rush over to demand half of whatever I’m eating. There’s something about mommy’s food that makes it sooooo delicious.

On this occasion, it was my Lean Cuisine Margherita pizza, and I really didn’t feel like sharing. I only get 300 or so calories from this meal, and I’d like to enjoy every last one, thank you very much.

Cordy started with her normal begging for food. “Pizza for Cordy?” she asked. “No, you had your dinner. This is mommy’s dinner,” I countered with my standard response.

This exchange continued for a few minutes, and then she was quiet. The Backyardigans episode we were watching was the Secret of the Nile, and the song “Please and Thank You” was being sung at this moment. (For those who watch, it’s the song that Tasha and Uniqua sing at the end.) Suddenly, out of nowhere, Cordy comes up to my chair and starts singing along with the song, only with different lyrics:

Peeeez an fank you are da seeee-cwets of da pizza!
Iiii waaaan some of da red pizzaaaa, it’s weally yummy!

She continued on from there, but Aaron and I were laughing too hard, tears in our eyes, to hear the rest of her original song.

I had no idea she was a songwriting talent.

And yes, she got some of my pizza.

Filed Under: Cordy, daily life, family time