Rachel Callahan

The End of a (Very OCD) Era

April 29, 2009 Rachel Callahan Anal Retentivity to a Fault, I embarrass myself just for your amusement.

For the record, if you didn’t know how very, very anal-retentive I am BEFORE you read this post, you will most definitely by the end.

Meet my friend Notebook:

Notebook has sat on Ali’s bookshelf for the entire 2.25 years of her life. It has been my constant companion of note taking, recordkeeping, and memory-helping.

But it is time to retire Notebook.

I didn’t just decide to do it all of a sudden and all at once, of course. It has been a process. Slowly but surely, I have weaned myself off of his friendly help. And it’s just about the right time, too, as Notebook was about to run out of nice, clean pages to write on.

What have I kept in Notebook?

Well, it started when we brought Ali home from the hospital. I started in Section 1 tracking all of her feedings, including times, lengths, and notes.

The notes ranged from her moods, where we were, what was going on, and if the feeding was interrupted by a blowout poo (you remember how those newborn poos sound, don’t you? They are so bombastically explosive that you jump up, knowing that you and the wall behind you have just been completely coated with splatter-poo, only to discover that there were no pyrotechnics, but that it just sounded like there were).

Here was that first week of motherhood, when I TOTALLY knew NOTHING about what I was doing, but knew that if I tracked it, when things went wrong, at least I would have some kind of record to go back and figure out where I messed up:

I even tracked her feeding habits once she started eating baby food and “human” food:

But I didn’t just track feedings.

No, that would have been too simple.

I used Section 2 to track diapers:

That’s right. w = wet, d = dirty, and wd = wet n’ dirty.

Convinced of my craziness yet?

Then Section 3 was reserved for sleeping times and nap times. It started out with a LOT of notes as I was trying to figure out how to help my baby sleep the best:

Then became more of a number crunchin’ chart as she got a bit older,

And then the last full page ever written in Notebook tracked just numbers, with sparing notes.

I TOTALLY would have preferred to track all of this on a fun fancy Excel spreadsheet, but Ali didn’t have that sort of technological capabilities in her bedroom. And what new Mom can remember that kind of information until she gets downstairs to the computer?

To be honest, my family was much more shocked that I wasn’t tracking it in Excel than they were that I was tracking all of that crazy information to begin with.

Did I use this information?

Absolutely. During

those first challenging months of parenting, I looked and relooked at the information, trying to figure out how to make my very unhappy baby happy. I suspected long before the doctors that she wasn’t getting enough to eat. They were still trying all of the acid reflux medicines, thinking that was her problem.

So how have I weaned myself off of my friend Notebook?

I quit tracking the diapers first, which I’m sure you’re relieved to know. I got tired of writing down her voluminous numbers of diapers and their product right before her first birthday.

I kept tracking her meals until she was about 15 months old, then I decided that I didn’t need that info anymore either.

But her sleep, I’ve held onto that one. It wasn’t too hard to track (just writing down numbers twice a day doesn’t constitute “crazy person” like it does when you’re writing down every dirty diaper with the dirty details), and it was nice to be able to see patterns and routines in her naps. What worked and what didn’t.

But over the past couple of weeks, I’ve lost my passion for my recordkeeping.

So I quit.

That’s right, cold turkey. No Notebook patch or gum required. Not even a ten step program.

But I will keep my dear friend Notebook. I’m sure he will be handy when I have another baby. I can look back and see ALL of my mistakes with Ali.

And all of her poos.

What more could you ask for?

Plus, who knows when a Home Economics PhD Student will happen along my path and ask me if I have any large amounts of data that they could use in their thesis on the relation between infant feedings, poos, and sleeping habits?

To Be a Gosling. . .

April 29, 2009 Rachel Callahan Thoughts about Faith, Wordless Wednesday - as IF I could be wordless.

My camera was not on zoom.

He knew I was right there, sitting next to him and watching him,

but yet he laid down and went to sleep. Because his mother was standing close to him, protecting him, as evidenced by her shadow.

He knew he was perfectly safe. He rested in complete trust, despite the confusing things going on around him.

I want to be more like that gosling.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
– Psalm 91:1

To see my other Wordless Wednesday post at B-Sides, click here.

Blushingly Crazy Odds.

April 28, 2009 Rachel Callahan A Day in the Life, Just My Luck, Weird Strange and True

I’ve got one of my favorite posts up at 5 Minutes for Parentin g today. Be sure to visit and check it out!

In a metropolitan area of 1.1 million people, what are the chances of seeing the same complete stranger twice in the period of two weeks? And at two different places?

Well, it happened…

Remember the blush lady?

Ashley, Ali, AJ and I were all eating at Zoe’s for lunch today. I saw her walk down the sidewalk. I excitedly told Ashley that I had blogged about her. Ashley was also quite impressed with the ~~spackle~~ makeup job.

THEN she walks into Zoe’s. . . orders. . . and then comes and sits two tables down from us!!!

To illustrate our closeness:
I kind of felt guilty about blogging about her because she was very sweet and smiley to the girls. . .but it was all just TOO WEIRDLY ODD TO PASS UP!!

Of course, I was pretending to take pictures of the girls. So here are some collateral pictures:

Their cell phones color coordinated with their outfits, naturally.

And AJ was also weirded out by the blush lady:
After lunch, we took the girls to Aldridge Gardens to feed our scraps to the Geese and Turtles.

The girls walked hand in hand while wearing their matching glasses. . .

And were thrilled to throw food to the Mommy Goose, Daddy Goose, and Baby Goose. . .

Just in case you missed the cute little Gosling:

This made for some very, very happy Geese. And very, very happy girls.

And of course, I was very, very happy for having had a blog post walk in the door of Zoe’s and sit down next to me.

Now let’s just hope my crazy odds don’t play against me one day and she finds my blog.

Early Monday Mornings: Week Three

April 27, 2009 Rachel Callahan Early Monday Mornings

If you need to get caught up, please by all means start with the first segment of this miniseries here. Then read segment number two here. Otherwise, you just might be lost, because I’m going to jump right in.

Mister Early seemed to have a knack for moving things around that could not be explained any other way.

My Granddad was a truck driver for many years. Of course, there were no fancy electronic ways to keep up with stuff back then (Seriously. How. Did. They. Live.), so he kept up with all of his driving in a log book.

The log book was an absolute DO NOT TOUCH item in their house, and all of their kids followed that rule to a T, because they knew and understood that if the log book was lost, then their Dad didn’t get paid.

Well, one time it went missing. Of course, every nook and cranny was searched and every kid was interrogated. No one had taken it and no one could find it.

Several weeks later, Granddad bought an old Model A car for he and my Dad (his only son) to work on together as a project. They were going to completely dismantle and restore it. When Granddad pulled the front seat out of the car, and his log book was sitting underneath that seat.

Another item that Mister Early famously moved was the Christmas tree.

Grandmother and Granddad had a very high ceiling in their living room, and they were always insistent that they needed a tree tall enough to touch the ceiling. I remember as a kid thinking how unbelievably massive their Christmas tree was every year.

They all went out one night before Christmas to Granddad’s brother George’s Bar-Be-Que restaurant. The entire family was there and had a grand time. When they returned home, however, their ever-so-tall Christmas tree was no longer touching that ceiling.

It had been moved all the way across the living room and was lying across the sofa in the complete opposite direction that it would have been if it had simply fallen down.

My parents also had things go missing. They moved in with Grandmother and Granddad temporarily after returning from Dad’s tour of (Air Force) duty in England.

While they were living there, my Dad’s wedding ring went missing for six weeks. Grandmother was a cleaning fanatic. She vacuumed and dusted constantly, and had not found it. Then one day, Dad was walking through Grandmother and Granddad’s bedroom and stepped on it on that VERY thoroughly and continuously vacuumed carpet.

My mother also had some undergarments go missing. She added a new go-to joke to our family repertoire when she told me this story, because she kept saying that her leopard SKIN panties and (plain) bra went missing. I kept correcting her and saying that they were most likely just leopard PRINT panties.

She would agree every time, then the next time she referred to them, she would once again call them leopard SKIN panties.

I would imagine that leopard SKIN panties would be QUITE uncomfortable.

And most likely illegal.

At any rate, the bra showed up randomly one day, but Mister Early must have been a PETA activist, because those leopard SKIN panties were never found.

Disclaimer: I DID have permission from my Mother to share the last story. She agreed, then bemoaned that people would look at her funny. I reassured her that due to her contributions for the second Mom Jeans post, people are ALREADY looking at her butt anyway.

Teaching Joy, Not Happiness

April 26, 2009 Rachel Callahan On a more serious note. . ., Thoughts about Faith

I’ve had something on my mind and in my prayers the last few weeks, and I would love to get all of your input on it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how self-happiness-centered Ali’s life is. Which is wonderful – I love seeing her happy – but I want to make sure that her life isn’t just filled with happiness, but with the true joy of knowing and living for God.

I know, she’s only two, but the thing is that so far, most of her life has revolved around her. How can I start teaching, at her age, that our life doesn’t revolve around her, but it revolves around God? How can I model this for her and teach her how to live it?

We read the bible and pray every night, we talk about God all the time, we pray at meals, we go to Church and Bible Study, we talk about how God wants us to share, obey, be honest, be sweet, etc, but how can I show her that it goes so, so much farther than that?

I have been praying about this and trying to think of creative ways to do this that a two year old can grasp, but have so far come up blank. However, God DID give me a good passage as a starting point for what I’m trying to accomplish:

1 Timothy 6:17-19
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Now let me clarify that we are by no means and in no way “rich”, and I certainly don’t mean to imply this by quoting this passage. However, in Ali’s little world, she has everything she wants. We have annual passes to McWane Center and the Zoo. She has tons of toys, books, and dolls. Her world is filled with “stuff” and “fun”.

But I want her to understand that those things aren’t the be all and end all of life. Because making her happy at all times shouldn’t be my goal. My goal should be to show her how to have true joy by her relationship with Jesus and by serving other people in Jesus’ name.

So this passage has a few awesome pointers to framework what I’m trying to accomplish:

Do not put your hope in stuff, but in God, who gave us the stuff for our enjoyment.
Do good.
Be rich in good deeds.
Be generous and willing to share.
These things will lay up treasures in heaven and allow you to lay hold of life that is truly life.

So how do you apply these things in real life for a two year old? I am going to be studying and praying about this for the next few weeks, and I will report back to you my results. However, I would LOVE to hear your input about how to start making Christianity real on a practical level at this young age.

What have you done?

What good creative ideas do you have?

I would cherish any and all of your thoughts and direction on this issue.

The Conversations Went Like This. . .

April 25, 2009 Rachel Callahan Toddlers: The Experience

For the record, I have never seen the above show. I just love the logo for Ali (Grace). So if the show is horrid and rancid and crass and I should be shot for associating it with my child, please let me know. Thank you.

Monday we had lots of discussions about when to say “no thank you” versus “no ma’am”. This was predicated because I was asking her often if her ear was hurting, and she would answer “no, thank you”.

It’s a hard concept to explain for some reason. “If I’m asking you if you want something, you say ‘no thank you’. If I’m asking a yes or no question, you say ‘no ma’am’.”

It was an all day explanation adventure.

When it was time to get ready for bed, she argued with me, and kept telling me she wanted to do something else. I told her that she needed to say “okay, Mommy” and obey when I told her to do something.

She very confusedly scrunched up her nose, looked quizzically at me, and said, “So I don’t say no thank you???”

This communication piece is hard work.

Speaking of communication, I know that it amazes people who DON’T have toddlers how their parents understand them. A lot of it has to do with context. You understand what they are saying based on the context of when they say it, how they say it, and what they are doing when they say it.

For instance. If Ali points to the car radio and says “Play King Cole Ornament!!”, I know that she wants to hear Nicole Nordeman. It’s that simple.

Which means that when they come up with something completely out of the blue, you will be COMPLETELY thrown for a loop. I blogged about this quite a while ago (never did figure out what she was saying then). However, Monday night was one of those times when she was completely not having to do with anything, but I was victorious!!!

We were on our way to dinner (because I had been completely unable to get myself organized enough to prepare dinner after making a last minute doctor trip, and felt horribly guilty about it, but we only spent $6 for dinner so then I felt better), and Ali started urgently telling us something from the back seat, over and over.

“Dottoross (something completely unintelligible) Mommy’s tummy!!!”

“Dottoross blah blah blah Mommy’s Tummy!!!”

We both listened intently, trying to figure it out. She’d say it again, we’d look at each other, confused.

Then I had a eureka moment.

“YOU’RE RIGHT!! Doctor Ross DID take you out of Mommy’s Tummy!!”

And she beamed with delight.

Can we say RANDOM.

Another great thing about toddlers is the assumptions that they form about the world from the evidence they collect.

Tuesday, for example:

We were playing with stickers, and she tore an “M” sticker.

“Mommy to fix the M?”

“I can’t fix it, Honey, it’s broken.”

She looked at me very knowingly, with her chin on her chest a bit sternly and said, “Mommy to get some batteries and fix the M.”

At least it’s just batteries. Soon she’ll think that money fixes everything. Not looking forward to that.

And Now We Celebrate. . . Her First Lie!

April 24, 2009 Rachel Callahan Parent of the Year, Toddlers: The Experience

Ali told her first lie Tuesday.

Well, the first one I know of.

I had been asking her all morning if her ears hurt, and she had been consistently telling me that they were not. She then found her ear drops, and was very much wanting some medicine in her ears. I personally hate the ear drops – they are an oily, greasy mess.

Yes, oily AND greasy.

So I told her that we only used them if her ears hurt. After a minute of deep thought, she said, “my ears are hurting.” (YES, she’s actually starting to say “my” instead of “your” – sometimes!!!)

I looked at her and told her seriously, “Ali, it is wise to be honest. Tell Mommy the truth. Are your ears really hurting?”

With the shake of her head, she replied back very quietly and meekly, “uh uh.”

“I didn’t think so.”

Which launched us into a very good conversation about honesty, and how Jesus tells us to be honest, etc etc etc.

The interesting thing is, I had just been wondering that morning if she was old enough to understand the concept of honesty, and how to start teaching her. Then she gave me the perfect opportunity, and proof that she really did indeed understand the difference between the truth and a lie.

She talked throughout the day about being honest and telling the truth, so our conversation definitely made an impact.

I told Chris later in the day about her first lie, and he was ecstatic. Although I certainly hadn’t been upset by her lie, I hadn’t quite thought of with his level of excitement, but I quickly realized that I definitely agreed with him.

Here’s why lying is a good developmental milestone, in our very unprofessional opinions:

All kids are selfish and want their way. We all have a sin nature – it’s going to come out. Ali figuring out that she can lie to attempt to get what she wants shows creative thinking and out of the box solutions. It shows that she has made a developmental leap, and somewhere in that head of hers, some brain synapses have connected for the first time.
She had no way of knowing that it was wrong to lie when she did it – we have never talked about it because I didn’t think she would understand the concept.
Now that she HAS lied, she definitely understands the concept of what she did, and we have the opportunity to talk through it, to use it as a learning example, and to learn a whole new virtue – integrity.

So, sure – no parent wants a liar for a kid.

But their first lie?

I believe that it’s a positive milestone, if responded to as a teaching moment.

Conquer The Caption: Week Six

April 24, 2009 Rachel Callahan Conquer The Caption

Anyone up for conquering??

You guys are going to kill me, but for last week’s conquer, I just HAVE to give the prize to Jennifer again.

I promise, she’s not the blogger’s pet!!

But she was the only person who was “out of the box” enough to connect the two pictures to create a story. AND she referenced a term I have blogged about before – Ali Qaeda. Her captions were perfectly perfect in every way. She just might be the Mary Poppins of captioning.

But not to worry. I promise – no matter how good Jennifer’s caption is this week, she won’t win.

(laughing evilly, but a bit scared that Jennifer is going to come up with the most unbelievably witty caption EVER. I wonder if she’s secretly a professional captioneer. . . )

So, here were Jennifer’s captions:

“Ali-Qaeda knew she was being watched. Not only by the man in the red shirt, but also by the man disguised as a snowman behind her. She was on to them both. She was going to have to plan her next move VERY carefully.”

“Ha ha ha! With these sunglasses and this big burly man carrying me around, Red Shirt and Snowy will never find me – especially once I hop this train and leave town!

I MEAN – she obviously spent at least eight hours (and three comments-worth of space on the post) coming up with that story line! Congrats, Jennifer!

Okay – Here’s this week’s Photo:

So, Caption away!!!!

Here’s how to play:

Write a caption for the above picture(s) and post it in the comments of THIS POST.
AND/OR:
Put up your OWN photo (not mine) on your own blog and link it here (using a permalink – let me know if you don’t know how) with the mister linky below. Then other people (like me) can come to your blog and write captions for YOUR photo, too!

What in the World is from Wyoming??

April 23, 2009 Rachel Callahan Toddlers: The Experience

My latest learning project for Ali has been learning states, thanks to a $15 Amazon Gift Certificate I won at Mozi Esme’s blog. I really didn’t think she’d be able to comprehend the idea that the little green shape on the map was actually a very large area in which we lived. However, she really surprised me and seems to understand that concept perfectly well.

Teaching her the actual states has been both easier and harder that I thought it would be. It definitely helps that she is ~~going to be a total geek like her Mommy and Daddy~~ a very studious child:

Some states stuck immediately like glue – like the fact that we live in Alabama, and that Mississippi is next to Alabama.

Kentucky was super easy because it looks like a cloud.

She also quickly learned South Carolina, because it is where Barkley, Jeremy and Woods live. It helped that there was a little black girl on the map swimming right off the coast of South Carolina:That is now Barkley. (With an unbelievably good tan.)

However some states have been much harder – I guess because there are just so many. Texas took a few tries (even though it’s huge): and for some reason Tennessee is really hard. I tried selling that it was like a hat that sat on top of Alabama, but she can’t ever seem to remember it.

In an effort to differentiate the states, I have started making vast generalizations that I will most assuredly have to recant one day. That’s right, I’m already working on creating tons of misconceptions of childhood for Ali.

For instance, cheese comes from Wisconsin.

Corn comes from Iowa.

Potatoes come from Idaho:
and Starbucks comes from Washington.

I’ve also tried other things to help her remember them.

Nevada is kinda like a triangle.

Veggie Tales live in Illinois:
Curious George lives in New York.

Barack Obama lives in the White House (of which there is a picture on the map) in Washington DC.

Those seem to be more successful.

So successful, in fact, that she now feels qualified to tell me where things come from.

For instance, I have now been informed that Jesus came from North Dakota.

I always suspected that was the case . . .

A Rooty Tooty Itchy Chin.

April 22, 2009 Rachel Callahan A Day in the Life, Just My Luck

I am sitting here typing with an extraordinarily itchy chin, but with no way to stop the itching. Why? Because I had the pleasure of getting a root canal this morning, and I suppose the numbness is starting to wear off.

OH it itches.

My dentist referred to my procedure as a “Rooty Tooty”, making it sound like some old fashioned candy that could be bought for a penny at the Soda Fountain in the 1950’s.

As if he was trying to make it this pleasant, vintage experience.

And although I found the nickname a bit annoying, there WAS one thing that made this root canal better than any other I’ve had (yes, I’ve had them before. I have the worst teeth on the planet. If I could, I would have them all pulled and get teeth transplants). And that was the amazing tooth tarp.

Actually, the official name is a “rubber dam”. I have never seen one of these before, and it was AWESOME. It was this tarp-like thing that they put on a metal brace and put over your mouth and only pull the tooth through that they’re working on.

So it kept me from experiencing that nasty feeling of tooth shards flying all over my mouth and down my throat. It kept my mouth open with less effort from me. It kept the suction and spray out of my mouth. And it kept me from getting any gum or mouth cuts, and therefore getting the bane of my existence, mouth ulcers.

I am a BIG fan of the tooth tarp. Whoever invented it has my undying appreciation.

I would have loved to have taken a picture to show you the amazing tooth tarp, but I don’t know that my rooty tooty dentist would have appreciated me asking him to take a break so I could take blog pictures. However, if you search Google Images, you’ll see what it looks like.

I was actually going to use a random Google image picture to illustrate this post, but there was something very unsanitarily disgusting about showing someone else getting dental work done on my blog.

After my dentist appointment, I had to go get my antibiotic prescription filled. The pharmacist is getting a bit tired of seeing me – my THIRD visit in a week, between Ali and I.

While I was waiting, a Starbucks craving hit. I told myself it would be ridiculous to get a Starbucks while my mouth was 80% numb, but I just couldn’t help it. I had twenty minutes to kill and nothing could take up that time but sipping a Starbucks. And hey – I can’t very well eat, so I might as well enjoy a nice hot drink.

But I did only allow myself to the smallest size – no falling for their “it’s just a few cents more” like I usually do! And although I managed to drink it without dribbling it all over myself, I really only tasted about 36% of it. But hey – it was a good 36%.

Okay – I’m off to search for a brillo pad to scratch my chin with.