Working Mother - is there any other kind?

Monday was hard. I was up at the ass crack of dawn and in an attempt to not wake Eilish; I dried my hair in the basement, put my make-up on in the hallway and straightened my hair in the living room. Owen was up to see me off at 7:10 when Lee Ann picked me up and E got up around 7:30. I didn’t cry until after work when Owen and Eilish picked me up at the Go Station. I ran to the car crying and hopped in the back seat with E but all she was interested in was my purse. Owen spent the day with our girl and she had a great time with him.

Tuesday was more of the same although I didn’t cry after work. Tuesday evening was very rushed because I want to hang out with Eilish until she goes to bed so after that I was doing dishes (Owen did offer to do them) and cleaning bottles. Owen spent the day with our girl and had a great - but exhausting – day. Tuesday evening I had an attack of conscience, wondering if I was doing the right thing being back at work.

Wednesday is Eilish’s first day with Liz and Owen said the hand-off went well. Liz brought Eilish a CD of nursery rhymes to listen to (guess she’s not a big Carly Simon fan?!) and filled out the form that I left so Anal Mama Jen could know when Eilish ate, slept and pooped. When I got home Wednesday Eilish climbed up on me and gave me an unsolicited smooch so Wednesday was a good day.

Thursday is when things get a little hairy at our house. I can’t leave until Owen gets home in the morning so I have to be up, showered and ready for when E wakes up but it’s nice to have breakfast with her and be the first face she sees in the morning. Liz arrives at 9:30 so Owen can go to sleep. I didn’t see Liz yesterday as Owen let her go when he woke up so it was nice to come home to my little family.

This morning I didn’t get up in time to shower when Eilish woke up so I’m sporting a pony tail and my eyebrows have bed head. My pants are too tight and I have a meeting over lunch which is pretty cruel for your first week back. Can’t wait to ‘sleep in’ tomorrow until Eilish gets up at 7:30. I remember when sleeping in meant noon!

All in all a very busy week. Eilish seems very happy and Liz has been good about filling out my forms and telling me how wonderful Eilish is. Owen seems very tired and it’s weird not seeing him as much as I did when I was off. I am slowly adjusting to being back at work but am enjoying using the bathroom without having to bring Eilish with me!

Things to Do Before Work on Monday - UPDATED

- Get pants hemmed (done March 29)

- Buy GO train ticket (found the old one - woo hoo!)

- Wrap head around the fact that I am going back to work after 13 months off (still working on it)

- Remind Nanny that Eilish is the most precious, smartest, funniest, perfect baby in the world and must be told so 40 times a day (put off until Wednesday)

- Figure out if the kids are still wearing make-up to work (yep, they sure are)

- Remember how to apply make-up (I'll get back to you)

- Stop crying about the fact that I'll be getting up even earlier now that E sleeps until 8 (this one still burns!)

- Stop worrying that Owen is going to take Eilish out in public wearing striped shirt and plaid pants (dude, I've got bigger fish to fry)

- Make chart for Nanny so that I can know what Eilish did every minute of everyday including bowel movements (done March 30)

- Sync iPod (as we speak)

- Make and freeze a lasagna (done and done)

- Remember pass key PIN (I got nothin')

- Figure out who will have the pleasure of buying me lunch on my first day back (still up for debate)

- Try not to cry (already did, tonight after dinner)

Funny Things Eilish Has Done This Week

1. Danced to 'You're So Vain' by Carly Simon
I was on a Carly Simon kick this week after reading an article about her in Vanity Fair so I popped in her Greatest Hits and went directly to #5 - You're So Vain. Eilish was standing up at the coffee table and her left leg just started moving. She does this kind of bendy thing with it to the beat of the music and ducks her body towards the table like it's a bar and she just finished an ill-advised shot of sour apple - like she's her Mama's child. I thought it was a fluke until I put it on today before Owen left work and the dancing started again. Owen plays music all the time but it's mostly very deep music so E usually just sits in his lap as they contemplate world hunger or whatever Bono is bitching about these days. But not Carly, oh no, Carly moves her.

2. Played 'Where is Eilish' with Mama & Daddy
After her bath this week, in an attempt to keep her laying on the change table as opposed to trying to catapult herself off, I put part of the towel over her face and asked 'Where's Eilish?' to which she pulled the towel off and laughed one of her laughs. She then put the towel back and as I was getting ready to ask 'Where's Eilish?' she started what could only be described as mutter to herself, like 'she's never gonna find me here', so I called Owen in and we dragged the question out to see if the muttering was a fluke, 'Where is Eilish Daddy? I swear she was just here a minute ago...is she under the bed, is she in the closet?' And she muttered the whole time. It might not be reading as funny as it was because I swear y'all, I almost peed my pants.

12 days until I go back to work...mutter, mutter.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby

From this:

To this:

And it only took a year! Thanks for the laughs, the tears and the love. Mommy & Daddy don't know what they would do without you. You are the funniest, coolest, sweetest kid we know and we are so glad that you're ours.

How about a cookie for dessert tonight?

OK, OK some ice cream instead, now stop giving me your Baby Clint Eastwood look.

Love Mama

This is the place where Eilish:

- gets dropped off while her Mama gallivants off to the States for a little (A LOT) of shopping with 2 J's and an A

- is carried around like the Queen she is for 24 hours

- shares her toast and chicken nuggets with her Poppy

- gets all dolled up to go shopping with her Nanny & Poppy to buy a new chair

- gets put in the corner in said chair after 'jawwing' at her Poppy

- climbs the stairs

- rocks her MUN shirt

- charms the pants off her Uncle Joel - literally

- plays in the empty bathtub

- has her own crib

- tires her Nanny & Poppy out so much that they are in bed shortly after she hits the sheets

- needs a few different jammies because sometimes Nanny & Poppy can't figure out the zippers

- changes clothes a few times a day if the grandparents think she's uncomfortable in her cords

- learned that whatever happens at Nanny & Poppy's stays at Nanny & Poppy's

- has to have a little rest because charming these Kennedy's is hard work

Eilish and Peas - A Love Story

Owen and I don't have very good eating habits. A lot has to do with the fact that we are on 2 completely different schedules so the nights that he's off we find ourselves eating dinner late. Add having a baby to that and there were times where we were eating dinner around 9pm, after E had been bathed/bottled/bedded. The days that he is off I try to make a nice dinner for us, more often than not a pasta concoction or a stir fry or other foods that I know Owen will like. It's not that he's overly picky, he just tends to like more homey foods such as chili or stew whereas I could eat a chicken stir fry everyday. I like stinky cheeses and he doesn't, so any dishes with goat or asiago cheese are consumed when Daddy is at work. The moral of the story is that we tend not to get our 3 balanced meals in everyday.

So Eilish comes along and I want her to be a better eater than we are so for now that means no junk for the little belly. Any crap we eat is done after she's gone to bed. It won't always be like this but I feel like she's starting off with a clean slate so why mess her up with fries and cookies and cakes (yes, she will have cake at her party, I don't want any relatives calling children's services on me!) especially when lately it's getting hard to get her to eat anything while she's teething. Side note: we have front teeth! I'll try to get a picture of them soon!

I know a lot of this is New Mommy stuff and if (giant if, oh my god I can't even think about it) we ever had another child, things might be different but for now I'm the Mom and I control what Eilish is going to eat. I figure if I'm going to be the one to clean it up (if you know what I mean) I better make sure it's somewhat healthy!

We've started introducing her to the foods we eat and she has taken a liking to pasta and chicken etc. (I made meatballs with extra lean beef and I swear she ate 2 on her own). The big thing for her is being able to feed herself and trying to get some pureed vegetables in her gullet is starting to get difficult. So while grocery shopping I came across some frozen peas and since she loves pureed peas by way of baby food, I thought I'd give them a try. Dude, she loved them and I loved watching her eat them. As an adult who only recently started enjoying cooked veggies herself, I get so much joy out of watching Eilish feed herself veggies.

And now you can too:

I Just Don't Know What to do With Myself

For the 4th day in a row, Eilish has napped for over 2 hours. This is a kid who would nap for a wopping 20 minutes and then be ready to party all night. For 3 of the 4 past nights though she has woken up crying which we are attributing to her 2 front teeth that have finally broken through. I can't think of anything worse than her being in pain with her teeth but am curious as to why it bothers her the most at 3am as opposed to 3pm.

My boss called today to remind me that I am due to return to work, like I needed reminding. He seemed to have forgotten that I had some vacation time accrued and was returning March 31 as opposed to his magical date of March 10 which immediately sent me into a panic. I have so much to do before I go back to work and needed the 21 days to procrastinate! The worry was well worth it when he called me back to let me know that when I do return I'll have 4 weeks vacation remaining for 2008 as opposed to the 3 weeks I thought I had - so that is awesome news. We are expecting some visitors over the summer, cousin Jamie and sister Carmel so hopefully I'll be able to take some days to visit with them.

Duty calls - the babes has awoken. If anyone is awake at 3am give me a call - I'll be up!

I'm Back

See this face?

This is the face of an 11 month old who:

- loves to start the clapping and if you don't clap along will look at you like, hey, why aren't you clapping? Everyone else is clapping, why aren't you clapping?

- loves her Daddy. I mean looooves her Daddy. Owen is the sun, the moon and the stars to Eilish, while I am....the maid.

- is a Lady and a lady crosses her ankles when she sits

- will throw food on the floor when she's done eating

- will throw her cup on the floor when she's done drinking

- will throw her Strawberry Shortcake, bunny, bottle and soothers 1, 2, & 3 out of her crib when she doesn't want to sleep or has frankly slept enough

- will close her eyes and shake her head when you present her with something to eat that she finds unsatisfactory

- loves blueberries

- poops whole blueberries

- says da da da all day long but ma ma ma when she's crying

- does not like getting her face washed or her bum changed

- found her belly button and loves to look at it and then yours and then kiss your belly

- kisses with her mouth open

- sleeps with one soother in her mouth and one in each hand tucked under her

- is the reason I get up in the morning and the reason Owen works so hard

- is gonna miss her Great Nanny Lane when she goes home tomorrow

We Call This One 'Twisting the Nap Away'

As I type this Eilish is upstairs napping. I'll be sure to bring the camera up when I check on her!

Christmas Card Outtakes

Why oh why did I think that a 'homemade picture' would be better than a professional one?

Owen's hand has never looked better!

The shoot was a real nail-biter.

Oooooh...stop taking my picture!

You'll have to wait and see which one we finally went with. In the meantime here's a picture to melt your heart this cold November day.

More Adventures in Sleeping Starring Eilish Connell

Replace the baby bottle with a beer bottle, and the soother with a vendor dog and you pretty much have me after a night at Sammy's back in the day.

The Late Show With Eilish Connell

Sometimes when we put Eilish down for a nap or a night's sleep, she will sit up at the end of her crib and giggle and 'talk' for a few minutes before she falls asleep. I like to think of it as her own little talk show where the guests are her mobile friends and her 2 soothers, (one for sucking and one for tapping against the one in her mouth - where did we get this kid?) and at the end of the show she bids them good night and settles in for a little snoozy.

Today when Owen put her down for her afternoon nap he heard the usual talky/giggly sounds over the monitor and when he finally heard silence he went upstairs to check on her. This is what he found:

Must of been one hell of a show!

Tuesday November 6, 2007 - 7:45pm

Jen - You know what would be good for dessert? Those 2 Bite Brownies warmed up with ice cream on top.

Owen - Why? Did we just break up with our boyfriend?

I swear, one of these days my eyes are going to roll right out of my head.

Clothes Horse

Eilish now wears size 12-18 month pants which boggles the mind seeing as she's 2 weeks short of 8 months old. Girlfriend has long legs no doubt inherited from some long lost Connell relative who worked in fields of Galway in her Tall Girl britches.

Every month or so I go through her clothing to pack away what no longer fits and truth be told I find it a little sad to pack away all her threads because they are proof our little baby is growing up.

There's her 'Spring Chicken' shirt given to her by Owen's co-workers, her 'I Won't Remember Any of This' shirt which was Owen's favorite, her Rolling Stones & Ramones shirts because that's the way she rolls and my personal favorite, her Roots track suit. I bought it at the Roots Outlet on Orfus Road for her to wear in Buchans for Come Home Year. Turns out she had to wear it a couple weeks earlier in Newfoundland and I remember her rolling around Nanny Lane's living room floor. There wasn't a lot of joy in that July visit but Eilish, in that track suit in her grandparents hometown made me smile.

Clothes may not make the girl and Lord knows Eilish would be content to roll around the floor naked as a jay bird but damn do I love dressing her! Speaking of birds, here's some pics of our little chicken on her first Halloween.

Her Boyfriend's Back and There's Gonna Be Trouble

Judes asked why I don't blog anymore and I guess I just don't have much to say these days other than: Eilish, Eilish, Eilish, Owen, Eilish, Eilish, Eilish.


At her doctor's appointment last week E weighed 19 pounds and measured in at an astonishing 28 1/2 inches.


Here are some shots of her and her BF Michael who was trying to get fresh.

Time to Baby Proof

Pictures

I've added a password to my flickr pictures. To see them:

- click on Photos
- select 'Sign In'
- User Name: eilish.connell@yahoo.com Password: roselane
- Select 'Photos from your Contacts'

Scenes from a Mall

To Lori - sorry I sounded so crazed when I called you, but it was a really good sale. Almost makes a girl forget she's on the pogey! Almost.

To Emma - sorry that I bought your birthday present (see above) instead of taking you shopping as promised but man are you going to love what I bought you.

To the Coach store - Would it kill you to put the prices on things? I know I can't afford it, you know I can't afford it, but how about showing me how much I can't afford it?

To the lady getting on the elevator - I know our stroller is blue and Eilish doesn't have a lot of hair but do you really think I'd dress a boy in a pink and grey striped shirt? And the stripes were thick! And her socks were pink! And she looks like a girl!

To the woman getting off the elevator - sorry I stared and continued to stare as you walked away with your stroller with one, two...TRIPLET boys. Holy shit lady. My heart, mind and uterus go out to you.

To the Asian man Eilish smiled at - she loves Asians. She's your biggest fan!

To Patty the Platypus - sorry we lost you. I didn't notice until we got to the car that you were no longer in Eilish's lap. Enjoy your new life.

To Eilish - don't throw things out of your stroller without telling Mommy first. Also? Kisses!

To Barley Cereal, Carrots & Apple sauce- sorry that Eilish hates you with a passion that burns like the sun.

To Rice Cereal & Pears - thank you for being a food Eilish likes.

Dear Eilish

I had fully intended to write you a letter celebrating every month of your life so far but someday when you have a 6 month old baby you'll understand how time can get away from you. I've been thinking a lot about what the past 6 months have been like for your Dad and I fear that I can't adequately describe what a difference you've made in our life but I'll try:

Eating - Last week we introduced cereal into your diet. First week rice cereal (tasted like paste to me), this week barley cereal (again - paste) and you love, love, love it. At first you just kinda chewed on the spoon but this week you make little 'mmm' noises when you eat. You now have 5 bottles of formula and two meals of cereal a day. Next week you start on veggies, and we'll be sure to document it although I don't know how I'm going to hide my dislike for peas on Monday!

Sleeping - You've been sleeping through the night for the past few months and believe me when I tell you that I fully appreciate how lucky we are that you are such a good sleeper. A typical day (sleep-wise) goes like this:
- 8am - awake and hungry
- 9am - 11am - snoozin' on the couch with Mama.
- Between 1pm & 3pm you usually nap for about 20-40 minutes
- Bath and bedtime between 7pm & 8pm
You've taken to sleeping on your stomach these days and I've stopped fighting you on that....until we walk in your room and find you face down in the mattress. I apologize for waking you up sometimes when I move your head but holy cow, you are freaking Mommy & Daddy out!!

Playing - You can sit up on your own basically unassisted and with that you've started playing with your toys in a whole other way. While everything you pick up still goes straight into your mouth, there are a few toys that you actually play with. You love your office and have lost interest in your gym. Anytime on the floor is spent rolling over trying to eat the floor of your gym. Time to baby proof!

Clothing - When you look back over your baby pictures I want you to know why I dress you like I do. I've decided that if it would look silly on me than it would look silly on you that's why you cruise around town in camouflage pants and pink Cons. See also the chicken costume Nanny bought you - I would totally wear that!

Personality - You are the funniest person your Daddy and I have ever met. You are not quick to laugh but when you do it comes out like laugh bullets: 'ha, hahahaha'. You save your biggest and brightest smiles for us. There are times when your Daddy walks into the room and I think you are going to explode with happiness. You will not smile at strangers unless they are Asian and I hope one day you can explain that to me.

I do not remember life without you Eilish. As a wise woman once said, 'you are the tomatoes on my rice'.

Love The Mama

Eilish Eats Cereal!

Check out the photographic evidence.