My first heart attack, of what I assume to be many

This morning, as I was making blueberry pancakes for breakfast and Rick was getting ready for work, Ada gave me a mini-heart attack(if there is such a thing as a heart attack being "mini"). I seriously think my heart stopped beating for a moment or two.

Here I am, la la la, just woke up. Still in my pajamas I'm measuring out the milk and cracking an egg when Ada comes around the corner from the bedroom where Rick is getting dressed. All is well with the world. Then she drops something small and it tumbles across the kitchen floor and her tiny little fingers are going after it, trying to stop it and grab it.

Then my world goes into slow motion...

"What's that she's got?" I think to myself.

"Looks like a carrot chunk."

"NO! It's one of the generic Advil pills I spilled all over the floor three days ago. Grab it now!"

I quickly and loudly scare the living daylights out of Ada and Rick as I yell probably one of the sharpest "NO!"s I've ever said to Ada as I swooped down to grab the pill.

Then I stand still and brace myself on the counter for a few breaths to calm myself down as Rick is staring at me and Ada is screaming wildly as if she's just murdered the neighbor's cat or something.

I look at Rick. "It's one of the pills I spilled the other day."

"Good catch." He says as he goes to get a stuffed animal to cheer Ada up since she's still screaming for fear that whatever she has done is quite possibly the worst thing in the world.

I wish there was a way to tell if you've picked up every last tiny little part of something when you spill it. Like a shattered glass, or an economy size bottle of medicine. I swear I checked the area really well after spilling them but obviously, I missed one. Lucky for me, I caught it before she got to eat it. And damn the makers of these bottles for not inventing a spill proof bottle already for klutzes like myself, and for making the outsides candy coated so they taste good going down. Can't they have some sort of bottle that only shakes out one pill at a time? Then you wouldn't have to touch five pills everytime you needed one or two. Can somebody invent that please?

I count my lucky stars that I caught her before she ate it. Hopefully one Advil wouldn't do too much damage but I'm of the belief that I'd rather not have to find out.

Moral of the story: Always be vigilant around your children and be thankful and praise them profusely when they listen and do as they are told. Amen for that.

Naps, oh naps...

I've been pretty annoyed over the past few weeks with our most recent nanny. Not that she's doing a bad job or anything like that, no. It's because Ada keeps taking three or four hour naps on days that the nanny is here and only one or two-hour naps when I'm here.That could mean a few things...

1. I'm way cooler than the nanny and Ada wants to spend more time with me so she uses Nanny days to catch up on her sleep. (doubtful)

2. The nanny has been drugging her or denying her any sugar or caffeine. (no chance)

3. The nanny stays in the back of the house and doesn't walk near Ada's door, thereby preventing the floor from creaking and waking her up. (maybe, getting warmer)

4. The nanny is more entertaining than I am and Ada needs more sleep to recuperate from all the fun they have together. (likely.

No matter what it means, it really ticks me off because I'm paying someone to hang out in my house for three or four hours (out of nine) and my child isn't even awake. And it's not like she's scrubbing my bathroom. She might fold Ada's laundry or empty out the dishwasher but that's all I'm getting for my $12/hour. Doesn't really seem like the best deal to me. At least if I'm home, I can get in a few hours of work and catch up on my blogging or do something crafty and feel productive.

Thankfully, the nanny is done and Ada has taken two LONG naps while I've been here this week which makes me uber happy and even more productive. LOVE IT. (It helps that I asked the nanny her secret and she said she just tires Ada out in the morning by going to the park and playing until she can't play anymore. Works like a charm.)

Moral of the story: Give them all you've got in the morning and they'll give you a break in the afternoon (hopefully).

Nanny update #623

Believe it or not, we've eaten up yet another nanny. Courtney has gone back to grad school full time and now Ada's off to spend her three days a week with a friend of ours who lives just around the corner and down the street.

I will say that I learn a lot from each nanny we have. Be it that I am more or less picky than I think, that I really do want them to try to keep the place neat, that I am more of a neat freak than I think and can't stand having sand on the floor, that I hate it when they leave all the lights on, that I abhor it when they use a million paper towels a day, etc. etc. etc.

I'm not really looking forward to having to take Ada somewhere else, but I am hoping that she gets along with our friend's son who is about 3 months older, and that she learns to talk more since she's around him. We'll see. I'm also excited about having less diapers to do, less food to buy, and less messes to clean up since our friend will be handling all of that at her house instead of mine. Yahooey!

We'll see how it goes. Wish us all luck with the transition.

Makes Gma Nervous

Remember when your dad used to swing you around or throw you in the air or rough house with you and it always made your mom nervous? Well, Rick's always messing with Ada and rarely does it bother me...

...but Grandma Ba can't stand it... and Ada LOVES it. Go figure.

More Ada Photos

If you haven't had enough photos of my kid, here are a gazillion more...okay, just 34 but still...

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1127498016/a=4817987_4817987/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

For all of you moms out there who haven't heard of Dooce.com - Heather B. Armstrong is a mom blogger. Her most recent post goes into her labor story and if you have a moment and want to really be moved, check it out. It's so beautifully writen, honest, and brings back all the good and bad parts of labor and specifically, natural childbirth. WOW.

This is part 3 of the series... you can go back to start from the beginning or just read this one and you'll get the gist. She's been ranked #26 most influential woman in media because of this blog. AMAZING.

http://www.dooce.com/2009/08/04/labor-story-part-three/#comments-start

Then if you aren't already touch to the point of tears, click on the comments and read a few... but grab a tissue first.

Enjoy and pass on,

Amanda

Don't worry, they're all natural

This past weekend, my beautiful friend Lisa invited my family to dinner for some of her fabulous home cooking. As Lisa was sprinkling her magic fairy dust in the kitchen, Ada was having fun tormenting Lisa's bulldog, Monty, since he gets so excited to see her he just wants to plow her over. She's big, but he's bigger--by about 20 lbs and I think she's 6 or 8 months older. Funny how dogs and kids grow so fast, until you compare them and then the dogs win.

We let them play together through the baby gate and then moved Monty to his crate for some quiet time. All was going just great and it was time for Monty to get a treat, and of course, what could be more fun than for Ada to give it to him?

Unfortunately, Ada doesn't really get the whole idea of giving treats to a dog since we don't have one and she isn't around my parents dogs all that often. As soon as Lisa said "Here Ada, give Monty a treat." I knew the treat wasn't going to make it to Monty. I just knew it.

Sure enough, Lisa broke it in two. Gave half to Monty and half to Ada to give to Monty...except Ada didn't want to give it to Monty. It was dinnertime and she was hungry and wanted to know what kind of treats Monty gets.

In it went. Chomp chomp. Wrinkled funny face. Chomp chomp. More funny faces and gulp. Down the hatch. She ate the other half of Monty's treat while he watched in horror.

Rick was laughing so hard his face was turning all shades of red. I was just shocked that I saw the whole thing coming in slow motion.

Then Lisa pipes up, "Don't worry, they're all natural."

Luckily, Lisa's a five star mom to Monty and gets him only the best--all natural dog treats with oatmeal, cranberry and turkey--no additives, no msg, no transfats, no preservatives. Not necessarily a combo I've tried with Ada yet but she didn't seem to mind. Maybe I should add that to the menu...

Moral of the story: I guess this gives us something to work on before we go back over to Lisa's next. It's good to have goals in life. Getting Ada not to eat Monty's treats can surely be added to our list.