BigSeefut

Someone forwarded me this mommy code.  From my mommy experiences, I agree with all of these points.

THE MOMMY CODE

• Do everything you can to open doors for a mom trying to navigate a stroller on her own.  It is tough to open a big glass door and try to get your baby and yourself in before said door closes on a random body part.
• Do not offer your unsolicited advice on anything.  Anything!  Shut up already!
• When your advice is solicited, be kind, gentle, and compassionate.  This is no time for tough love.
• Unless it’s the most obvious lie in the world, when you encounter a mom with a newborn in public, tell her how great she looks.  It probably took her two hours to get out of the house and another hour to manage to blow dry her hair in between screams - encourage her to do it again.  If it is an obvious lie, find something else to compliment her on.  Not her baby, her.
• Don’t give dirty looks to anyone trying to wrangle a screaming child in public.  This is not helping, and karma will come back to bite you when you’re in public and need your child to behave.  Big time.
• Be generous with new moms you know.  They’ll be appreciative of diapers your baby has outgrown, coupons you can’t use, books you’ve read and enjoyed, or outfits that your kids never got to wear. 
• Don’t ask a new mom if she’s breastfeeding.  This is probably not your business, and if it is, the mom will tell you about it on her own.  If you do ask, keep in mind that you might be making the mom feel very guilty if she’s wrestling with the decision to continue or decided to formula-feed from the get go.
• Don’t give a baby gift without a gift receipt.  Even if she loves the darling outfit you picked out, it might not fit in the right season…or she might have more than enough clothes.  Returning the item will allow her to get something else that she needs, and isn’t that what you want?
• Offer to babysit, even if the mom just needs to go grocery shopping.  Those 30 minutes out of the house could be just the respite she needs to feel human again.
• Don’t go on and on about how each mom needs to make her own choices, and then subtly question even her smallest decisions (”When my daughter was young, I only let her play with my keys if I really had to.”).  Again, not helping.
• If you see a mom struggling to unload a packed grocery cart with a (or several) kids, go over there and offer your help.  You know how hard it is to manage the shopping with all of the kids in tow - use this opportunity to pay it forward.
• Kidnap your mom friends every once in awhile and go out.  Have a glass of wine, see a chick flick, eat some delicious food, and ask her questions about herself.  Remind her who she is - a fabulous woman who happens to also be a fabulous mom.
• When you encounter a new mom, give her the best gift she could ask for: ask her how she is, and be interested in the answer.

To prep Katie for Auntie Ishya’s visit this weekend, I printed out picture of Ishya and showed it to Katie during the week.   She would take the picture and sit with it in her chair.  I think it worked because when she saw Ishya in person, she was smiling and didn’t need any warm up time at all!  Katie had lots of fun with her all weekend.  On Saturday (after a yummy dinner club lunch @ The Chen’s) we headed over to the OC Fair.  There was so much to see and eat.  We had huge fried zucchinis, fried ravioli, fried spam, a corn dog, a huge lemonade and our favorite was the corn on the cob.  Katie was still too small for most of the rides but it was still fun to walk around. 

Then on Sunday, Katie had her first haircut!  We just wanted to get some shape (the lady said my home trimming job needed some work since one side was longer than the other).  Surprisingly, Katie was very cooperative.  She sat still the whole time.  The front is shorter than I would have liked but at least the rest looks even now. 

Before:  Getting used to the plane

Getting wrapped up

Being bribed with toys

Her first cut!

The finished product

Thanks to my mom for watching Katie last night!  I’m not sure if it is because I had Katie all weekend by myself or because I have a birthday coming up but I really wanted a night out.  So on Friday morning we decided to do it.  yay!  I was giddy all day.  After Ishya arrived at John Wayne airport, we swooped her up and drove to Venice.  The plan was to see my friends and get “a” drink.  Well…things don’t always go as planned.  There was A LOT of drinking!  We had a great time!  Thanks to everyone for coming out such short notice.  It was really fun!   Click HERE to see all the pics.

I think breakfast is a pretty important meal of the day so I usually try to eat a healthy one (usually eggs, yogurt, and fruit).  But for Katie, breakfasts aren’t as easy as she’s getting older.  She used to just swallow whatever we put in her mouth but not anymore. 

I want her to continue eating the baby rice cereal or oatmeal because it’s packed with so many vitamins and nutrients.  But now she just keeps it in her mouth and doesn’t swallow.  So I know I probably shouldn’t have done this, but the oatmeal does taste like cardboard….I added a little brown sugar to give it some flavor (less than a teaspoon). It worked the first day but really hasn’t worked since.  The only way I can get her to eat is if I put a piece of fruit or a puff on the spoon with the oatmeal.  Not sure how long that trick will work.

Later I tried giving her the Quaker Oats flavored oatmeal and she ate that!  I checked the box and one packet of this instant oatmeal had 13g of sugar. Is that a lot?  Well, I happened to read an article in Parents magazine and it said 4 grams of sugar equals one teaspoon.  So that means Katie just ate 3.25 teaspoons of sugar???  I guess I wasn’t putting enough in my own mix…  Next I’m going to try giving her giving her whole grain waffles with fruit.  She seems to do a lot better if she can feed herself (maybe she’s going through an independent stage). 

When I left the house this morning, Pish and Katie were sharing a can of soup for breakfast.  At least it was Healthy Choice brand.  :)  If anyone has any suggestions on healthy breakfast foods a 14 month old will eat, I’d love to hear it.

I found a place that does tan parties (5 or more people)!  The best part is that they come to your house.  Also, they come with gift bags, everyone gets a discounted price, and the host is free!  Anyone interested???  I’ll provide the drinks and we can make it a real party!  hehe

I’ve got a couple inquiries about my proposed tan party.  The regular price is $45 but our group discount will be $35/person and it’s the personalized airbrush method.

Has anyone done the Mystic Tan??  I’ve been wanting to try it but I’m too scared.  Back in college an old roomate tried some tanning lotions and her legs turned orange!  The thought of that scares me.  But since our last hawaii trip, I’ve been considering a fake tan to fix my retarded tan on my legs.  On day in hawaii, I was so worried about Katie getting sunburned, I lathered her up but didn’t put any sunblock on myself.  So the outside of my legs were burnt and the insides were still white.  It’s still that way now. 

So before the next wedding (next weekend), I want to even out my tan.  I’ve tried going to a friend’s pool but with Katie around, there’s no time to really lay out anymore.  I’ve heard only good things about these spray tans and someone has told me to go for the airbrush option but that’s a bit more expensive.

“The new “School Finder” website (www.SchoolFinder.ca.gov), unveiled by the Governor last week, provides Academic Performance Index (API) scores, student-per-teacher ratios, and graduation rates. Data comes directly from the school districts to the state so the information is reliable and accurate. “School Finder” provides data on schools in every region of California , from elementary to high school. This includes traditional schools, alternative and adult education schools, as well as charter schools. Schools can literally be compared side-by-side. The information of up to three schools can be viewed one next to another for an easy comparison of the merits of each.”

Looks like the Irvine schools are pretty good.  Now I just need to convince Pish to move there soon!