13

Today is our 13th anniversary. Except to Erik it's the 14th since we don't count the number 13 in this house. Although how ironic is it that as superstitious as he is that he married someone born on the 13th? And about that superstition...a great philosopher, Mitch Hedberg, once said "my hotel doesn't have a 13th floor because of superstition, but people on the 14th floor, you know what floor you're really on" so we know what anniversary we're really on.

So here's a rundown of how our anniversary went. I wake up, ready to jump in the shower when in my contact-less haze I happen to see something out of the ordinary. A card...with the sweetest thing ever written in it. This is going to be a good day I think to myself.

I get out of the shower to hear Erik and Maggie playing. She's babbling like crazy and I think to myself...it doesn't get any better than this. Hearing my husband and daughter playing early in the morning, everyone's happy, everyone's in a good mood.

I peek outside the bathroom to say good morning to Maggie and it starts...

WHAAAA!!!!! WHAAAAA!!!!!
(translation: PICK ME UP!!! WHY HAVEN'T YOU PICKED ME UP YET WOMAN??)


I'll be right there baby, I have to finish doing my hair...and I close the door to muffle the cries.

Now my morning is in full speedbake mode. Hurry up, do your hair, get half dressed so you can pick her up to stop the crying...please GOD stop crying!! And this is how my morning continues. I cannot put her down for more than a second before the MAAOOOOMMM starts up again.

We get through the morning and I go to work in a good mood still. We'll have a better evening I think to myself.

I get home around 5:30 and I hear Maggie babbling again as I walk up the stairs. Again I think, it doesn't get any better than this hearing my husband cooking dinner while Maggie is playing along side. I do my usual peek around the corner to surprise her and she just gives me this look. Not the usual excitement and squeal but that's ok and immediately...

WHAAAA!!!!! WHAAAAA!!!!!
(translation: see above)


So I hurry to heat up her dinner put her in her high chair and feed her. Ahhhh...Happy Girl...I even get a few uh-oh's throughout dinner (her new favorite word...she'll drop something and if it doesn't fall on the floor like it's supposed to she kicks it so it does and then goes "UH OH" as if that was an accident. I think she's overinterpreting uh oh just a bit).

I clean her up after dinner and full tantrum mode begins...isn't she a little young for this?

PPPBBBBTTT!!!
(translation: raspberry sound...LEAVE ME ALONE!!!)

And since she hasn't had a bath in 3 days it is definitely bath night (do I have a death wish?) so all I hear for the next hour is: PPPPBBTTTT...WAAAHHHH...WAAAHHHH...PPPPBBBTTTT...da?.....PPPBBBTTTT...da da?WAAAHHHH...uh oh!...PPPBBBTTTT....

Needless to say, Erik puts her right to bed after her bath. Apparently SOMEBODY only had one nap today.

So we recap the night...
Erik: Maggie was a kissing machine today, I can't count how many I got today
Me: I haven't gotten a kiss in a week
Erik: her vocabulary is really expanding...she's babbling like crazy
Me: All I heard was PPPBBBTTT

It looks like she already has a love/hate relationship with Mom. I knew this would happen at say...13 YEARS OLD...but 1?? But hearing her heavy breathing in the monitor makes me just want to wake her up and give her a big kiss but the motto in this house is "never poke the bear".

Happy 13th Anniversary to me! Maybe there is something to this superstition thing?

Get ready!

It's the eve of my favorite time of year. I have been on the edge of my seat in anticipation all day today because, yes, Herndon Live starts tomorrow. Not only for me does this mean the kick off of FESTIVAL SEASON which translates to FUNNEL CAKE SEASON which translates to finding all of the weight I recently lost just in time for bathing suit season, but it means we are finally done with winter, we can finally be outside for longer than the time it takes us to run from the door to the car, we can get some sun (yes, I know, I'll still have the same fair skin in July but it will be one shade darker...just enough for me to notice), we can get OUT OF THIS HOUSE!

So Maggie...get ready...because you are in for quite a summer. Do you think you can stay up past 7:00? Trust me, you will want to. You are going to be in kid heaven tomorrow.

I hope that someday you look back on summer nights like this and feel like a kid again no matter how old you are. I know I do...it didn't matter that your Gramma and Pap took me to see Dionne Warwick and Mac Davis at Wolftrap...I have great memories of being outside with music in the background, picnics on a blanket on a warm summer night. Sorry Mom and Dad...but it is slightly embarrassing to admit my first concert was Dionne Warwick.

So sleep well tonight my dear because we have some funnel cake to eat tomorrow!

Happy Birthday

Little Miss Maggie,

It is the eve of your first birthday. Last year at this time we knew that in exactly 12 hours I would be induced and approximately 5 hours after that you would be ours. There was no chance of falling asleep that night and you don't even know that tonight you are supposed to be so excited that you cannot fall asleep either.

You have no idea what that extra squeeze in your goodnight hug meant tonight. In that blink of a moment I was reliving the 8 heart-wrenching years of trying to have you and then the moment when we found out that we could...we would. And the moment you were born and (cliche moment here) we stared at each other for the first time, finally.

You have no idea what a miracle you are to us. That when you are playing all by yourself with some obvious purpose that I just stare at you in awe. That when I go in to check on you at night I almost cry at the sweetness of your little body, little butt sticking up in the air and the little sounds of your peaceful breathing.

And I'll apologize now for all of my imperfections because I certainly don't pretend to know everything (you'll hear a lot of "Google it" from me when you ask difficult questions I promise) and I certainly don't pretend to be a perfect mother (maybe I shouldn't have shared my Slurpee with you this afternoon and then my ice cream sandwich an hour later) but just know you are always going to be my perfect little one.

Happy Birthday Maggie Moo.

Love,
Mom

Reflections

Just 2 short days and Maggie will officially be 1. Pretty soon she can hold up one little finger when people ask her how old she is (or would that make her a genius if she could do that at this age?).

I was feeling a little sentimental today and decided to go through my old e-mails pre and post-Maggie. They made me smile and I thought I'd share...

Erik's e-mail to the family when we were told we would be induced:

EVICTION NOTICE

TO: Maggie Rose Crawford

WHO IS OCCUPYING THE SPACE LOCATED AT : Amy's Womb

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that your tenancy of the premises will be terminated as early as April 27, 2007 but no later than April 30, 2007, and on that day you will be required to surrender possession of the womb to your Mother.

Induction proceedings may be instituted for your eviction if you do not surrender possession of the womb on or before the date set forth above . While we have enjoyed having you as a tenant, it is time for you to move into your new space as soon as possible.

It is illegal for you to unreasonably withhold consent for the OB to enter into the womb in order to: · inspect the premises · make necessary alterations or · supply necessary services, or · exhibit the womb to doctors and nurses.

Signed: Frederick and Amy Crawford

The e-mail that went out to friends and family after she was born:

We are finally home from the hospital, so I have internet access for the first time in 3 days.

Here are her stats, link to a photo album and our contact info. Everyone is doing well and we are settling in at home.

Sorry for the boring e-mail, but my creative juices have been zapped by a lack of sleep

Maggie Rose Crawford
4/27/07 7 lbs
14 oz 19.75 inches long

Womb With a View Album http://community.webshots.com/user/crawdaddye - These are my Dad's shots, I will add more when I get some free time from the parade of visitors, so check back later in the week for more.

enjoy!
Amy, Erik and Maggie

The e-mail that went out to my company on the day she was born:

Please join me in congratulating Amy Crawford and her husband Erik on the birth of their daughter Maggie Rose.

Two hours after the 2:14 pm birth Amy called us to spread the news (how’s that for work/life balance??).

Maggie Rose Crawford is 7lb. 14 oz and 19 ¾ inches long.

What a difference a year makes...

Little Miss Mobile

Maggie decided at 11 months, 3 weeks it might be time for her to crawl. Forget the fact that she is practically walking, I think she feels like she must go through the crawling stage in order to be a complete 1 year old. Sort of like the executive who worked his or her way up from the mailroom vs. the one who's never been anything but. When Maggie is a high-falutin' walker she can look back on her crawling days and say "I remember when..."

Check out her duathlon video on our picture site: http://www.dropshots.com/Crawdaddye#date/2008-04-21/19:23:38
Notice her seamless movement from walking to crawling WHILE talking. And notice how she's saying dada when it's mama who's operating the camera. Genius in motion...

There are also hints of language that might actually mean something. Even though Erik would like to think she says dada constantly we're pretty sure just da means "what's that" or "give me that" or something to THAT effect. And na na seems to mean more...when she was up at 1 AM last night (adorable, I know) and I was giving her some water to drink, in her sweetest voice she said na na in between sips so I would not take it away. And when she ate all of my butternut squash tonight, as soon as she was finished with what was in front of her all I heard was NA NA. The sacrifices I make.

Back to the 1 AM wake up...me being the lover of sleep that I am put her in our bed hoping and praying that she would fall asleep and I could sneak her back into her crib once she did. What actually happened was she flipped and flopped around for 30 minutes while saying "eh" and "da da"...which of course MEANT da da but he'll tell you she was just saying "what's that".

Selective interpretation I guess.

Ode to Aunt Jen

Maggie has a woman crush and it is Aunt Jen. She loses her mind when she sees her and when Aunt Jen holds her she just stares at her with a lovingly gaze (we swear she's thinking "you're so beautiful Aunt Jen...take me home with you..."). Last weekend when I hadn't seen Maggie for a whole day she would not come to me since Aunt Jen was holding her. I'm not jealous...do I sound jealous?

It's adorable and as she grows up I hope she knows she can always talk to Aunt Jen about anything she thinks she can't talk to Mom and Dad about. I think kids need that person they feel safe talking to and parents need that person to know that if anything were going on of concern they would tell them but otherwise their child has someone to confide in. So be ready Aunt Jen because she's going to be a handful, I can already tell. She is already strong willed so I can imagine it only gets worse from here.

Examples...

Maggie is definitely following the classic baby stages. "They" say 1 years olds typically have trouble going to sleep because they realize how exciting their world is and don't want to miss any of it. Just recently Maggie has been learning how to work the system and when we sit down to read books before bed, she never wants them to end. Before you get to the end of one, you have to read a different one, then after a few pages of the different one, she wants you to go back to the first one, and, oh wait, I see a book on the floor, can you start that one? But then I want you to read a page of the first one, no the second one, no...AAAHHH!!! It's exhausting! Then when you put her into bed, the sweet little girl that would just lay her head on her hand, slip her binky into her mouth and just drift off to sleep now screams blood curdling screams even though she's exhausted. So we've had to let her cry it out again...it's only for 10 minutes and then she's fast asleep but heart wrenching nonetheless.

If she can't have something she belts out this scream like you just stabbed her. We clearly have not truly baby-proofed our house because we hear this scream quite a bit these days. Why is the Bose ipod docking station so fascinating to her? I can't even play music with her in the room because she inevitably gravitates to the Bose which leads to me pointing her in a different direction which leads to aforementioned scream. Fun stuff. Believe me Maggie, if I could give you everything you wanted I would, but you are not Veruca Salt and you never will be.

She is ADD when it comes to eating these days and if she sees a Cheerio within 20 feet of her forget it...that is all she wants. Unfortunately for me, we eat breakfast together in the morning and since I have to have my Cheerio's we have a constant battle of wills. So I have to pretend like I'm giving her what is in my bowl when I'm really sneaking her oatmeal on the spoon when she's not looking.

The good news is she is more and more fun each day. We take the good with the bad and enjoy the fact that we have a little girl who knows what she wants and will tell you just that.

A couple of cute updates...

I dropped her off at daycare the other day and she was shaking her hips and dancing to the music they were playing. I've never seen her dance and it could not have been cuter.

She says Mom...but she sounds like Cartman from South Park when she does because the little time I see her during the week it's all about maintenance...clean your ears, clean your nose, cut your nails, take a bath...all I hear is MAAAOOOM!!

That's ok, at least she knows who Mom is.

She's no Aunt Jen.

Once Bitten

Erik picks Maggie up at daycare today and can hear her screaming from down the hall. He enters the crime scene and sees a very guilty looking Alexander with Maggie next to him crying staring at her hand. Yes, Alexander, the kid who I can't stand because every morning when I drop Maggie off he is screaming his head off until someone picks him up and Maggie stares at like "you are such a baby", has bitten my little girl. She has the marks to prove it. An incident report is pending... I expect a full chalk outline and yellow tape when I get there in the morning.

I know there will be many bumps and bruises along the way, but when it's because of another evil child my full defense mechanism comes into play and I want to call Alexander's mother, pretend I'm the daycare director and tell her Alexander is no longer welcome there. A little passive-aggressive huh? Now, the call would go differently if I had a few mojitos in me (if you read Erik's blog the other day you would get this). Anyway, Maggie is fine and will probably kick Alexander's ass tomorrow. She's a tough cookie.

Maybe it was the stairs incident she and I had the other day that toughened her up. For some reason I decide to wear my highest heels to work AND put them on upstairs which would require me to walk down two flights of stairs with Maggie in my arms. Not my brightest moment. My heel gets caught on the 5th step from the bottom and before I know it she and I are on a magic carpet ride to the bottom. Except somehow I am sliding down on my knees and not dropping her. We get to the bottom and I am shaking from the shock of it all, Maggie stays quiet for about 3 seconds, then starts laughing. Thank God she can't say "do again" yet is all I could think. I guess this is one of those unexplained phenomenons where a mother will do whatever she can to avoid hurting her child. If I had anything else in my arms it would have gone flying...except of course maybe a bowl of ice cream.

No more doom and gloom...I have been amazed over the past week how she is becoming more and more of a kid each day and am having so much fun with her. Yesterday as we were (safely) walking down the stairs I asked her "how big?" and forgot that she actually knows how to respond now so she has her arms spread wide smiling and when I didn't pay full attention she backs up as far as she can in my arms, stares at me with a big smile and opens them even bigger. SO BIG!