Looking in a mirror... a mini mirror

It's always really interesting seeing yourself in your child. There are always the obvious things... I can see my smile in her smile; she has my long torso (good luck getting shirts that fit, my dear... and don't even DREAM that this is going to be an excuse to start baring that midriff before you're 30!) But it's the subtler things that really crack me up.

I have to preface this by saying that I was once one of the pickiest eaters on the face of the earth. My parents and brother rejoiced at my exodus to college because they no longer had to take my gastronomical proclivities into account. They could order a supreme pizza without having to hear someone whine about how they'd have to spend 15 minutes per slice picking off all the nasty vegetables. They could go to a Chinese restaurant without having to worry about whether they had an American menu. (and not a kids' menu at that!)

Over the years, I've mellowed out and broadened my horizons. I now eat more ethnic foods, and I'm more open to trying different foods. Now, don't take this to mean that I'm not a pain in the ass to eat out with. Ordering my meal inevitably takes a couple of minutes as I substitute this for that and have them leave off most any and all condiments (still an area where I will NOT budge).

Elena seems to be much more open to various foods than I am. As long as those foods do not contain meat. Seriously... who picks MEAT to be picky about?? Anyway, I was feeding her dinner the other night (a gourmet meal of... frozen pizza!), a meal at which she is notorious for eating like a bird, and was pleasantly surprised that she finished most of the slice of pizza that I'd cut up for her. She even asked for more! Wow! I brought another piece out to her, and instead of cutting it up, I just handed it to her. At which time, she proceeded to pick off every tiny speck of pepperoni that was on the slice. I had a flashback to the days where I had no say in the pizza that was ordered, digging around in the cheese for the errant onion.

Part of me feels that I should get cheese pizzas from here forward, out of respect for her tastes. But the other part... the larger part... says, "Nope! It's MY turn!! Pick it off, my dear!!"

It's been sooo long!!

So it's been forever since I wrote anything... the idea of this being an anonymous blog is kind of dumb since this is hooked onto my gmail account and comments that I post on other blogs lead HERE, but whatev. I don't have anything to hide!

I've decided that I really need to do something to keep a record of all my daughter's milestones. I have been a suck ass mom and haven't been writing things down in her baby book. Heck, half the time I can't even FIND the baby book! I have a general idea of when things happened, but as time progresses, I know I'm going to forget that, so I though doing so here might be a good idea. At least this way if my hard drive crashes, I'll still have a record of it somewhere!!

So this gives you fair warning... if you don't want to read about my AMAAAAZING kid ;), then I wouldn't bother reading any further! More tomorrow!

Carole

First post!

How exciting!! The first post of a brand new blog!

There are a lot of things going on in my life right now, and I just felt like I needed an outlet for some of the things in my head. I wanted to be able to write things down without worrying that I was monopolizing a conversation or that I might be offending someone or making them worry. I'm not sure why it feels better doing it this way than creating a private word document, but I guess I feel as if I'm telling someone else... just not anyone specific, at least right now. So for the nameless, faceless masses (suuuure) that are reading this right now, thanks for 'listening.'

Alright, introductions. I'm 28 years old, and I live in Northeast Indiana. I was born and raised here, though we moved around for a bit, and I did take a break from the area to go to school at IU, Bloomington. But there's something about the area that draws you back. Probably my family. Speaking of family, I am married to a great guy and have a BEAUTIFUL 16-month-old daughter. Don't get me wrong, that 'great guy' can make me insane at times (::sigh:: now is one of those times), and my beautiful daughter can try my patience with the best of them, but I love them with all of my being. Almost all of my extended family lives here as well, so I've grown up being very close to all of my aunts, uncles and cousins. I adore our family get-togethers, and the holidays are really special to me!

Up until June, I taught 6th grade language arts in a middle school. (I haven't yet decided how much information I'm going to give out yet. I'll probably end up telling you everyone's names soon, but for now, I'll hold my cards close to my chest.) I had taken 5 months off work (well, about 11 weeks, but then summer hit, so it was perfect timing) when I had my daughter, but then I went back for another school year. That was the most difficult thing I've ever done. My daughter wasn't in daycare, which made me feel better (I'm a firm believer that kids should be cared for by family if at all possible), but that meant that my husband and I never saw each other. Unless you can't stand each other to begin with, THAT isn't good for a relationship!! Anyway, we decided around January that I would take a leave of absence from my job. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to stay home full time and JUST focus on my family and home, but I do need to work in some capacity. So I do have the option of going back to my job next year, but I'd rather not. I'll get to the why's and wherefore's in another post.

Anyway, that's a lot of the basics... there's more, but I've got a lot to get done tonight, and I can't spend all night blogging!

~C~