Adventures in Tess-land

Hi guys! Tess here again – lots of people have been telling Mom they like my blog posts better than hers so I’m taking over!  At least for today. Sorry Mom!

This week has been a major adventure!!!  Last Friday Mom and I flew on an airplane again, but this time we were all by ourselves!  We left Dad at home and we went up to Massachusetts to visit Gramma again.  For Mother’s Day, I got us plane tickets to Massachusetts so the three of us could be together.  Aren’t I such a nice baby?! 

I was very sad to say Goodbye to Dad at the airport, I have never been away from him for that long!  I was a little antsy on the airplane this time because I didn’t understand what was going on.  But I was pretty good because Mom fed me a lot!  That was sweet. I wanted to play a lot so Mom had to work pretty hard to keep me entertained. She did a decent job and I didn’t fuss TOO much.

This is how I started the flight, 

lulling Mom into a false sense of security! HA!

Didn't last long...

When we landed, my “Auntie Jonny” (or Auntie Steph) picked us up at the airport!  It was so fun to see her!!!  She is so smiley and funny so I love spending time with her.  It was so, so nice of her to come get us too. 

Auntie Jonny had to pick us up because Gramma had to work.  I was so jealous – why does she like those bratty kids at her school better than me?!?!  But Grandpa was there and Mom made me take a nap when we got to Gramma’s house anyway.  As soon as I woke up, Gramma was home and she was so excited when she walked in the house and saw us sitting on the couch.  She came right over and scooped me up in her arms and snuggled me and said “Ohhhh this is so nice to come home to after the day I’ve had!”  She looked VERY happy so I knew then I got the right Mother’s Day present for her and my mom.

I love when Gramma reads to me.

That night Gramma took me to an ice cream place to hang out with the Pussycat Mafia – her best buds.  Except I was mad because Mom wouldn’t let me have any ice cream!!! I couldn’t believe it. It was such crap.  She says I’m not old enough yet. Pffttt… whatever, Mom.  She thinks I was fussy because we stayed out past my bedtime, but I was just mad about the ice cream.  To get her back, I refused to go to sleep that night.  I also insisted on sleeping on my tummy, because I only just learned to do that a couple of weeks ago and I know it makes her nervous! I decided that night was the perfect night to start sleeping that way.  I hope she thinks twice before refusing to give me ice cream next time, or else it’ll be another sleepless night! HA!

See how tired I look!? Still smiley though...

The next day we had a really fun cook-out at my Auntie Wendy and Uncle Steve’s house! I also got to see my  Auntie Steph and cousin Alex again, and got to meet my cousin Chris for the first time.  Except Chris is old like my mom, he seems more like an uncle! I also got to meet my new cousins Ben and Adam for the first time too – they are my new Uncle Steve’s boys.  I think Ben and me are gonna be good friends because he’s only a little bit older than me. I think we will all have a lot of fun playing together, just as soon as I can figure out how to get my legs to work!  I also got to meet the rest of Steve’s family too – they are all soooo nice and so fun!  I’m so excited that I get this whole big family of people who think I’m so cute and snuggly.  I just wish I got to see them more!

I made sure to wear my Red Sox bib 

because my Uncle Steve is a Yankee fan! 

Mom tried to get me to sleep over Auntie Wendy’s but I wasn’t feelin’ it.  It was just too exciting and there were too many people I wanted to hang with.  I refused to go to sleep again, so she packed us up and we went back to Gramma’s house. 

This is Gramma, Auntie Wendy and Auntie Jonny 

setting up my pack n play for the sleepover.

They finally figured out how to set it up then 

had to take it back down an hour later since I refused to sleep.  

I'm just glad they are learning who is really in charge around here.

The next day we went to this great place called Yankee Candle where it’s Christmas ALL THE TIME!!!  Can you believe that?!  They have a huge Christmas village and Christmas trees and ornaments and decorations and Santa – it was pretty awesome. Mom loves that place.  So does Gramma.  And so do I now! 

Me & Mom in the Christmas Village room at Yankee Candle.

I look confused because I was thinking,

"If this is a candle shop...

where are all the candles?!"

Mom, me, Gramma.

Mom forgot to pack socks for me, so she bought me these super fun socks that look like monster feet!  Aren’t they cool?! 

Monster feet!

Even monsters gotta nap.

The next day we had to leave and ohhhh boy was I unhappy about it!  I cried and cried on the airplane.  Mom was super stressed out about it but I didn’t care. I was just sad to leave Gramma.  This was also the first flight we’ve had where we didn’t have a free seat next to us. We were super cramped so Mom didn’t have the space to feed me, which made me EXTRA angry.  Mom says she’s never flying alone with me again.  Which is a good thing, really, because I missed my Dad too much.

Me saying "No! Don't take me away from my Gramma!"

As sad as I was to leave Gramma and the rest of my family, I was also happy to get home.  Yesterday, I had another awesome adventure at home – I went into the big bathtub in the backyard for the first time!!!  I have been wondering what that big thing is back there for a whiel now – its big and blue and wet looking and since I have been born no one has been in it.  But Mom took me in yesterday – that’s right, this bathtub is so big even Mom can fit in it!  It’s different from my bathtub because it's a little cold, my baths are warm and soapy.  But this was cool because Mom held me the whole time and we got to move around a lot.  I was a little skeptical at first but after I got used to it I had so much fun. Mom was very proud of me for being so brave – I didn’t cry once!  I’m looking forward to a whole summer of outside baths.

Ladies of leisure? I wish.

A few weeks ago I was outside planting some flowers in my front yard, and my neighbor (let’s call her Sarah since I haven’t asked her permission to write about her on here) was leaving to go walking with another woman. I chatted with them for a minute then off they went, pushing their little boys in jogging strollers.  When Sarah returned from her walk she told me that she and her friend, let’s call her Samantha, go walking once or twice a week and invited me to join them.  Samantha lives around the corner and has 2 small kids just like Sarah, and while their older ones are at preschool they walk with the younger ones. 

Tess likes being outside in the garden with Mom.

I’ll be honest, I felt a little bit like I got invited to sit at the cool kids’ lunch table at school when they invited me to go along with them.  I know, I’m such a geek, but I don’t have many friends in my neighborhood nor do I hang out with many people with kids – I also haven’t made new friends in longer than I care to admit, so this was super exciting for me all around. 

She REALLY loves being outdoors.

A couple of days later Sarah texted me saying they would be meeting at 9am the next day if I wanted to join them.  I said I’d be there, and planned my morning to make it happen.  Tess had been taking her first nap of the day right around 9, but since I really wanted to join them I thought I’d just shift her nap to start earlier.

HA! Rookie mistake.  First rule of Parent Club is when you make plans, nothing goes to plan.  I put Tess down for a nap at 8am thinking she would sleep til 8:30 at the latest since it is always a battle to get her to nap for more than 30 minutes.   This would have given me a whole 30 minutes to do one last feed and diaper change before heading out to meet the girls.  I even picked out a cute little outfit for her to wear. 

Just because we are exercising, doesn't mean we can't be fashionable.

Well, of course this one morning Tess decided she needed a good long nap.  I was basically sitting there watching her sleep, waiting for the slightest indication she was waking up, but she was completely comatose. 

8:45 came and went.

“OK, we will skip the feeding and just change her diaper, we won’t be gone long,” I thought.

8:50. 

8:55. 

“Well, hopefully she hasn’t pooped because she’s not getting a diaper change now either.” 

8:59. 

I was in a serious moral dilemma at this point!  Do I wake a sleeping baby?  Hell no!  An hour-long nap is like my dream – I will never be blessed with an hour-long nap again if I wake her!  She probably also wouldn’t stop crying the entire walk if I woke her. 

Andy did happen to be home still so he said he’d stay with her and I should go alone.  But this was a “Moms-Who-Walk-With-Babies” group! I can’t go Sans Baby!  They probably only wanted a cute little 4 month old cute baby girl to join them anyway, they didn’t care about me being there!  I was only a vessel for the baby! 

The cute one in front is clearly the draw here.

I briefly considered bringing my dog Twickers in the stroller, covering her with a blanket and telling them she was asleep. That plan would have worked too, had Twickers had a bath more recently than a month previously.  They instantly would have smelled a rat. Or a hound, as it were.

Fenway says 

"Why does the little bald puppy get to go for walks 

and not me when she can't even WALK!?"

 Finally, it was 9:05, I saw Sarah and Samantha out in the street loitering and knew it was do-or-die time.  I needed to go or else I would get kicked out of the moms walking group on my first day for tardiness.  The second I decided to just go alone, I saw Tess stir in the baby monitor video.  YES!!!  She is awake!!!  It may have been the first time I was actually excited to see her wake up. 

Tess and I walked a 5K for the 

Susan G Komen Race for the Cure

I quickly poked my head out my front door and shouted that Tess was just waking up from a nap and I’d be out in a second.  I ran back in, grabbed Tess, threw her into the baby carrier – no food, no fresh diaper, no cutie little outfit.  (Yes, yes, terrible mother that I am but I didn’t have that kind of time! I was desperate).  In her PJs, eyes still half closed with sleep marks on her face, looking like a deer in the headlights, I paraded her out into the street so I could make friends. 

Tess likes making new friends too.

I was very glad I exploited my poor hungry, soggy-diapered baby girl for my own benefit though, because I had a great time on the walk. And let’s face it, so did she!  She likes the stimulation she gets from being outdoors. 

Clearly looking very stimulated.

I did feel a bit overwhelmed from all the baby-raisin’ info I was inundated with though.  Gymboree, music class, reading groups at the library, choosing a pre-school, baby proofing, playground groups, vaccinations, learning to talk.  I have convinced myself my baby is going to be delayed because she does not go to Gymboree, will never get into a good pre-school since she isn’t already on a waitlist and I can't afford it anyway, and I not only need to cover my entire property in bubble wrap but need to get rid of my pool as well.  In fact, when Andy came home the first thing I said was: “We have to move.” 

OK maybe we won't get rid of the pool quite yet. 

She seems to be enjoying it so far...

I do feel grateful that I’m learning this stuff now and not when she’s 5.  At least now I can try to maybe undo all the harm I’ve already caused by my naïveté.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m putting the pressure entirely on myself – Sarah and Samantha are totally chill and not at all like those crazy Moms who are all, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN’T STARTED GIVING HER PIANO AND CHESS LESSONS AT 5 MONTHS?!” They were just chatting about this stuff, which then made me start to panic that I didn’t know about it all.  I’m a type A personality, and always will be.  I want to be an expert in everything before I start.

We do our own version of Gymboree anyway.

She can already roll over in both directions!

and is ALMOST sitting up on her own, at least while sitting in the boppy!

Not bad for 5 months!

We have continued to walk once maybe twice a week, and I really do love it.  Both Sarah and Samantha are at home with their kids too, so it’s nice to talk to them about life as a “SAHM.” I also get plenty of reinforcement that I’ve made the right decision to do that. 

The bad thing is they don’t just walk… They also often run.  I have thus far avoided the running since I bring Tess in the baby carrier.  They told me I need to invest in a jogging stroller so I can run with them.

Ug. Running.

Tess' reaction when I suggested we start running.

"Say what???"

Running and I have a sordid history.  It is most certainly a love-hate relationship.  After I had my first ACL replacement surgery at 18 and had to give up playing contact sports, I started running for rehab and to keep in shape.  Throughout college I would run up to 6 miles or so for fitness on a pretty regular basis.  One summer I lived with my brother Ron and we would run together.  I would run off and on when I started grad school, mostly off during our insanely hot summers. 

When my brother died I did something crazy and convinced Andy to train for a marathon with me for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The Team in Training group will provide coaches and training opportunities for marathons, triathlons, century rides etc if you raise a certain amount of money for them.  It was my therapy in grieving Ron’s death, Andy and I would go out and run and I would think about Ron, his illness, his life, our relationship. It was a very special time in my life and gave me a sense of clarity that I was desperate for at the time.  I also raised a ton of money for the LLS due to the extreme generosity of my family and friends, I was the #3 top fundraiser in the state of Georgia!  It was the best decision I’ve ever made, to run that race.  It was the proudest moment of my life. 

This was a video my friend Devon put together to commemorate our marathon.

But that was 3 years, 20 pounds, a second ACL surgery and 1 C-section ago.  I tore my ACL a second time last winter and had surgery just before getting pregnant.  I haven’t gone for a run in 18 months. 

I’ll be honest, when Sarah told me I needed a jogging stroller, my blood ran cold. I started plotting how I could avoid her from that moment forward so I wouldn’t have to face the fact that I probably couldn’t jog 1 mile.  How could I possibly admit this to her?  I have a 26.2 sticker on my car for Christs’ sake!  AND a 26.2 tattoo. I feel like a fraud.

Maybe I should show her my jersey and medal so she believes 

I was actually capable of running at one point.

This morning I was too sore from spreading 800 pounds of mulch in my yard the previous day to bring Tess in the baby carrier, so I walked with her in my regular non-jogging stroller.  Sarah asked if I wanted to try to run with the stroller I had.  Oh, no! I wouldn’t dream of it! Of course, I didn’t admit it wasn’t that I feared the stroller wouldn’t hold up for a run, it was the person pushing the stroller I was concerned about.  I didn’t want them to have to take Tess out and put me in it to get me back home. 

I think Tess wants to go out to lunch with Dad instead of go running.

As much as a part of me can’t help but think “Goddamnit, why did I have to befriend active moms who run? Why couldn’t I have met ladies who lunch and drink wine?!” I do kind of hope this inspires me to start running again. After my last knee surgery I did my PT, did a lot of walking, circuit training type of stuff.  I try to keep in shape in other ways.  But running is so good for the body and mind in a different way from all other kinds of exercise.    It’s just impossibly hard to start. 

Tess also thinks we need to spend more time going to lunch 

with Auntie Megan rather than exercise with the new friends.

Alas, I suppose the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step.  So, in that vein… anyone out there have a cheap jogging stroller they are looking to get rid of?

Nanny London visits!

Hello!  Bringing you another guest blog post from me, Tess!  I made Mom let me tackle another post so I could tell you about meeting my Nanny London!

Nanny London is my other Grandma I hadn’t met yet – she lives faaaaaaar far away in England.  She came from so far away just to visit me!  Isn’t that so nice??? 

We had so much fun when Nanny London was visiting.  We snuggled and sang songs.  She also brought me a lot of fun toys and books, like some of Dad’s old books from when he was little. We have been having fun reading them together. Here is one of the toys she brought:

Here is a fun game she played with me:

We also went to my first festival with Nanny!  There were people and fried foods (which mom wouldn’t let me eat, boo!) and music and a parade, and we even got to go look through lots of strangers houses and gardens!  How funny. 

Mom, Dad & me in someone's backyard!

Dad & Nanny London.

Same backyard.

Me & Dad.

This was taken before I found out I wasn't allowed 

to eat polish sausage and a funnel cake.

We also looked at a preschool that I want to go to – it has an outdoor classroom and chickens and a vegetable garden and all the kids bring their own wellie boots and keep them at the school to go outside to do the gardening.  It looked so fun! But mom said hopefully we won’t be living here still when I’m ready to go preschool.  Oh well, maybe we can find another place like it in Massachusetts?

Three Generations!

It was very sad when Nanny London had to leave.  She left our house and went on a trip to Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans. That’s where Mom and Dad met! I hope we get to go visit her in England someday soon, they have real castles and princesses there! It’s like a fairy tale land!  I also want to meet my Auntie Paula, Uncle Paul and my cousins Katie, Harry and Charlie.  They all live over in England too.  I wish that all my family wasn’t so far away!  Jeez.  Get it together, Mom & Dad!!!

Saying Goodbye :-(