Serving My Civic Duty

While I could be posting about our fabulous Toddlers & Tiaras party, plans for Halloween, and our upcoming birthdays, or just more of Johanna's recent accomplishments etc. I feel compelled to share about my recent service to our country.
It was definitely an experience! Everyone goes to jury duty hoping to not be picked, and I was no different.
I received my first summons when Johanna was about a month old. I called them and was forced to mail in a letter along with a copy of her birth certificate to prove that I was unable to serve. I then received another summons in the mail in August. I called again to say that I was still breastfeeding my child and could not serve, but apparently you are only expected to breastfeed your kids for 6 months bc the nightmare on the other end of the line at the 1800-go-to-hell Cook County office indifferently rebutted that I had already been given a 6 month extension and that's all I get. So even though it was a particularly busy week at work, I accepted my fate.
As it got closer, I thought, this actually won't be so bad. I'll just go sit there all day. I can take my new iPad (it's for "work", at least paid for by them anyway) and stream Netflix or finally start the oh-so-terribly written 50 Shades of Grey books.
That was until I walked into the jury holding room that morning. As soon as I walked into the room and was asked what my profession was and was given a number, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm going to get picked. I tried to ignore it. I told myself I was just being silly, there are hundreds of people in this room. But you always know when you're right about these things. Sure enough, within 30 minutes, my number was called and I was brought to a courtroom with 30 other weary souls.
The prosecution went first going around the room and asking us all the same questions, where we worked, where our family worked, if we'd been in a car accident before, and if we understood that this case had a lesser burden of proof than a criminal case so we had to "weigh the evidence and decide what more than likely happened." I will never be able to erase that phrase from my memory since he repeated it to all 30 of us with the exact same emphasis on "Ev-i-DENCE" doing an imitation of a scale with his arms raised on either side of his face, wrists turned up, wobbling.
I got the same feeling again in the pit of my stomach as they went around the room. I knew they were going to pick me! Sure enough, I was one of twelve names read some time after by the judge.
Luckily, the case was a short one and only required two more days of missed work. And I also found myself extremely interested in not only the case but on the goings on in the courtroom. During breaks I was fantasizing my career as a stenographer. Working 9-4 with an hour lunch break downtown to do some shopping and eat at trendy restaurants and going from court room to court room hearing interesting cases. These daydreams took place while I was in the jury room with the rest of my 11 peers as I, yes, pumped breast milk with only a nursing cover for privacy. Luckily these 11 peers all turned out to be some of nicest, most considerate, and unbelievably like-minded people that I could've possibly been lumped with when you consider all of the people that live in Cook County! I was lucky in that aspect.
We were able to deliberate and come back with a verdict and a monetary amount within an hour.
What was the case you ask? Little old lady turning left on a green light (not arrow), driver coming through the intersection the other way also has a green light and hits little old lady. Unfortunately for little old lady, the other driver turns out to be a psycho who has panic attacks onset by spiders, confined places, and the fear of there not being enough water bottles. YES! YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY!!! And apparently due to this accident, she still has panic attacks on a daily basis, was committed to a partial hospitalization program for 6 weeks for post traumatic stress 2 years after the accident, did 7 months of additional physically therapy after having met her "goals" within 3 visits, can't drive at night, and still sees a therapist once a week. All of this due to an accident that took place 4 years ago while going approx 30mph!!!!
Her slimy ambulance chasing lawyer actually had the nerve to ask for $288,000 for this crazy broad because of loss of normal life (past and future) and pain & suffering. I almost PFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTT in the courtroom when that amount was read. In the end, justice was served and though we did have to side with the crazies because granny was at fault for the accident, damages awarded were less than the defense offered, so I'm sure granny's insurance covered everything. The only thing we couldn't help her with was the lawyer fees which were probably extensive after 4 years of refusing to settle out of court. Crazy should've taken her money and run!

Roll Call

I'm so behind - I'll just list the highlights of the last couple of months!

8/10 Huey Lewis & The News at Ravinia. Great time Nacho, Marisa, Cain, & Carmen!

8/12 White Sox Game/Morton Fundraiser. We ate at "The Patio" and enjoyed overpriced ballpark beers. I don't think we ever made it to our seats. 2 "adult" outings in one weekend? Things are getting kind of crazy in this household!

8/25 Celebrated Johanna's cousin, Martin III's, baptism.

9/2 3rd Annual Jaquez Labor Day Theme Party - Toddlers & Tiaras! More pics to come.

9/3 We visit Brookfield Zoo with the Fueger Family and catch the dolphin show for the first time.

9/8 Our first overnight trip away from Johanna. Berto's sister, Carol, offers to watch her so we can go to our friend Scott's wedding in Indiana. We saw many long lost Millikin friends and had a great time!

9/21 My parents visit from California and we go to Jonamac Orchard in Malta, IL. As it's close to the Rochelle area, it turned into a walk down memory lane complete with a trip to Yen Ching in DeKalb.

9/22 My parents and I go to Berto's freshman game and get VIP seats inside the nice warm coaches box instead of on the bleachers thanks to Johanna! That night my parents offer to babysit and we have a nice night out to Buffalo Wild Wings with Nacho & Marisa.

9/23 We have a nice brunch for my cousin Anna's birthday downtown at Hub51 and then visit her current workplace, Obama for America's National Campaign Headquarters. We get a full tour and Johanna is of course a big hit. This pic from our visit helped Anna win a visit with Michelle Obama!

9/29 Family get together at Michael Anthony's to celebrate Martin II's college graduation!

9/30 Brunch at Louisa's to celebrate a "milestone" with her company!

10/7 I run the Chicago Marathon. No training. Still breastfeeding. Every bit as miserable as it sounds. A couple years ago, a 6 hour marathon finish would have been such an embarrassment to me! Seriously, I would've agonized over it. Today, I'm just happy that I finished. Yesterday afternoon and this morning have been a struggle to get around. Luckily Berto was very helpful with Johanna all day yesterday and is off work today for Columbus Day to be with her as I can barely pick her up let alone chase after her. It feels like I will hopefully only lose one toenail.

Johanna seems like she will be walking soon enough even though she's not even 9 months until next week! I swear she started pulling herself up to standing and started cruising on furniture like 2 days after she started crawling. She has a little lawnmower type walker and she practically runs with it. She really just needs work on her balance. Once she has that - LOOK OUT!
She is also eating and sleeping up a storm! For the last month or so, she's pretty much slept 10 hours, every night, no interruptions. She will eat anything she can get her hands on, but she really enjoys adult food more than the baby foods. She'll eat puffs or the Gerber snacks, but she would much rather have bites of whatever mommy and daddy are eating. She likes, rice, beans, all soups but especially tomato, bananas, and all pastas and breads. Even with no teeth yet, she is mashing it up and swallowing it all down. I wish I could upload videos on here, because I have some great ones of her reactions to eating limes and oranges. And of her laughing. She is now extremely ticklish and LOVES when we tickle her. I can watch the videos of her giggling and squealing ALL DAY!!

In her Bears game day gear!

Helping with the laundry

Playing with Daddy's sunglasses

Happy girl!

In Memoran"D"um

On this Sunday night I find myself with all my "to-do's" checked off in my planner, watching Olympic gymnastics on TV while at the same time watching Johanna asleep on the baby monitor. In this peace and quiet that is so unusual in this house nowadays, for some reason I started thinking about D. I wonder how my poor kitty is doing? Was she adopted to a nice family? Is she still living in a cage? Does she remember me?

I wish Johanna and D could've gotten along. I wish D could always be the sweet and loving cat that she was to me. And, of course I wish that D's instincts would not have led her to leave my 4 1/2 month old's forehead scratched and bleeding.

D's had her ups and downs. She spent the first 9 weeks of her life on the mean streets of Chicago's south side. Surely one of the ups, being adopted by me in August 2006. I still remember that it was a Thursday afternoon when I went to the Cook County Animal Control shelter and picked her out of the lineup. She was so tiny! Because of my then obsession with P.Diddy's Making Da' Band, I named her Danity Kane.

Danity went through many changes in housing and roommates over the years, moving from Lincoln Square to Wicker Park with Meg (who gave her the name D), to Berwyn with Berto, and finally to 4148 Maple. She took each new home in stride easily adjusting to new apartments and houses. Meg was an easy roommate for her to get a long with, likely because she had nice smelling shampoo! Berto proved more difficult for her to live with, likely because she had to learn to share snuggle time with me in bed, but she did finally adjust to life with us.

D's also never exactly been friendly. Strangers or children especially got her hissing. But to me, she was very sweet, even if it was on her terms. She would sleep snuggled in a ball at my chest, purring up a storm. She was especially fond of "head butting" me which I looked up one time is how cat's "kiss". Maybe it was bs, but I liked the idea. It was more like rubbing her forehead to mine over and over. When I came home at night, she would be waiting by the door to greet me, sometimes up on 2 feet peaking out the window. She may have been a "mean" cat to others, but she loved me. And I loved her.

Poor D's whole life turned upside down on January 16th when we left for 3 days and came home with a crying bundle of craziness. For the first month, she was scared and kept her distance from Johanna. I slept on the couch the first couple of weeks bc it was just easier to live out of one room. Night time was our snuggle time, and D was not pleased with my absence. She proceeded to poop on our bed multiple times in protest.

During months 2-3, D got used to the idea that this was life now. She still kept her distance from Johanna, but had stopped pooping the bed. She also returned to sleeping with me, but not as much bc she didn't appreciate all the interruptions with me getting up at night.

By month 4, I thought maybe this would all workout. D had adjusted quite well, even sniffing Johanna up close a few times and showing a bit of interest and absolutely no hostility. I was hopeful. And then Johanna learned to roll over.

Once she was mobile, D eyed her more warily, but still kept her calm around her. Until one Saturday afternoon when Johanna learned how to roll over 2 times in the same direction. D was looking out the back patio door, and Johanna was rolling around on a blanket on the floor. I was observing a couple feet away. Johanna suddenly rolled twice towards the cat, and her hand landed on D's tail. Not seeing what was hitting her, D's natural reaction was to turn around and bat. Before I could even react, her paw clipped Johanna's forehead. My heart stopped. It could've been her eye. Her head could've been ripped open. Luckily it was just a tiny scratch at her hairline that healed within 3 days. But it was enough. To see your tiny 10lb girl with a head wound that I could've prevented. I wasn't going to let it happen again.

The following week I made an appointment and dropped Danity Kane off at the Hinsdale Humane Society, a local no-kill shelter. They took a modest donation and that was that. But it wasn't. I think of D often when I have a quiet moment to myself.

Some of my favorite memories of D:

I'd only had her for a week or 2. Berto and I were watching TV in my tiny Lincoln Square studio and suddenly realized she was sleeping behind us. I'd never seen a cat sleep in such a position before! As soon as the flash went off, she instantly woke up with an annoyed look.

Labor Day 2009, D goes missing for 3 days. I am in full on panic mode. I make flyers with her picture and post them around the neighborhood. I go up, down, and all around the block calling her name. Finally, around midnight of the third day, Berto hears some weird sounds on the roof, heads outside, and sees her sitting on the ridgepole of our vaulted family room. We were in the midst of remodeling our house and apparently she had snuck out a ventilation hole the plumber was putting in our laundry area and didn't return back in before he sealed it back up! Berto gave me a lift and I climbed up onto the roof and carried her down in my arms like a baby.

For Christmas 2011 she is very festive!

Here's to you D - Thank you for 6 great years! I hope that you are happy in your new life, wherever that may be.

Cloth Diaper Dropout

We used disposable diapers during our recent trips to Nashville and Florida, and it was oh so convenient! While cloth diapering hasn't been THAT difficult, I have to say that my value of life greatly improved when I wasn't worried about doing the laundry every day. When we got back from Florida, we used the remainder of the disposables and then went back to cloth diapers for a week. And then it hit me, hard. Why am I doing this to myself? If it makes my life that much easier, why not just make the switch to disposables? What is so wrong with my wiring that changing to disposable diapers is like such a failure to me?
Sure we tried it, sure we probably saved some money in the beginning when there were more diaper changes, but if I can enjoy more time with my daughter in the 2 hours (maybe) that I have with her when I get home from work and less time doing the laundry, then shouldn't it just be an easy, non-agonizing decision? I could argue my resistance was because we already invested money in the cloth diapers, but really we didn't invest that much and she would be due for the next size up soon anyway. And inside I know it's just my own stubbornness that I don't like to admit when I can't do something.
I would do cloth diapers again in the beginning without a doubt. When someone is home to do the laundry all the time, it really is simple and cost efficient. But, with both parents working, it wasn't working for us. And. there's. nothing. wrong. with. that.
Plus, I am a coupon and discount queen. We are Sam's Club members. In the last 3-4 weeks, disposables have really only cost us about $30, and we still have at least another 2 weeks left in supply. We've spent money on worse things, like last Sunday night's pizza delivery, which was more than $30 just for the 2 of us. And we ate it all. That should be what's hard to admit!
On another thought - I apologize that this blog has become all about Johanna. Normally, I enjoy looking back at my entries and reading what I was thinking at the time. While reminiscing through some posts as of late, I thought, really, Liz? You posted in that much detail about trying to breastfeed? Who cares? Did you think anyone wanted to read that? I apologize for whoever does read this blog and blame my postpartum zombie-like state. Shit happens when you don't sleep for 2 months. Also in my defense, I blog about my life and what's going on in it, and being a new parent is all consuming. My life IS Johanna, and that was never more true than those first few weeks at home.

Definite Motation!

Johanna is officially crawling as of this weekend! She thinks she is soooooooo cool when she climbs up under the coffee table!

She is also enjoying other solid foods besides marinara sauce now, especially peaches!

Motation and Digestion

Johanna turned 6 months last week! I can hardly believe it is moving so fast. It seems like just yesterday yet also a lifetime ago that she was born. At 6 months Johanna weighs in at 12lbs 14 oz and 24 inches long. Still tiny but a very healthy little girl!
Around mid June/5 months, she began pushing herself up into a push up position and really getting her knees off the ground. By June 30th when we left for vacation, she had figured out that many series of pushing up and down and slight pulling or rolling would get her where she wanted to go. By the time we returned back from Florida she was "motating" as her great uncle Buddy said. She was piking, downward dogging, scooting, sitting in the crawl position, even attempting a bear walk. Everything but crawling. But she can certainly still get where she wants to go. She can now move 5-6 feet in any direction using her different methods of motation.
We've been trying to introduce solid foods, but Johanna apparently already has a "refined" palate. She refused the carrots and sweet potatoes. She endured the rice cereal and peas. She seemed to enjoy the apples and pears, but her first real, solid food and truest of true loves is... marinara sauce!
After unsuccessfully offering her the vegetables, we had decided to take a break from introducing solids while in Florida since she still wasn't showing much interest. Until we had spaghetti for dinner. She was sitting on Berto's lap while we ate, staring as the food when from plate to mouth while making this face:

He gave her a finger full of sauce which she attacked like a wild animal! She was insatiable! Berto couldn't dip his fingers in sauce fast enough for her appetite. After eating close to a tablespoon of marinara sauce, I finally had to dip her pacifier in sauce to "calm her fat gene" as Berto put it. Since then she has eaten peas, apples, and pears with some interest, the pears maybe even some enjoyment. But nothing tops red sauce! She loves pizza and pasta nights! Mamma mia!
Starting last Friday, she is also holding her own bottle. It may be time to try a sippy cup soon. Miss Independent!

Jetsetter

Johanna is quite the traveler now! She was AMAZING during the 8-9 hour car ride to/from Nashville. I was so nervous, but she happily played, slept, and ate in her car seat the entire way. We made a couple stops, but never because of her! She also slept through most of the reception. We had a couple dances with her and then she was passed out in her car seat the rest of the party, through the loud dance music and all!

Johanna with Daddy at the ceremony

Me and the girls at the reception

The week of the 4th of July we packed up all things baby and flew MDW to RSW (Fort Myers, FL) to my aunt's house on the beach at Little Gasparilla Island. The island feels completely cut off from the world with no paved roads and access only by boat. My aunt and uncle built the beach house in '79 or '80, and I spent many vacations there growing up. They've begun renting it in later years as supplemental retirement income. Here's the home's rental website with great pics of the house and island. I have great memories of walking down the dune path burning my feet on the scorching hot sand, reading on the porch in one of the many hammocks, diving for sand dollars, falling asleep on inflatable rafts while worshiping the sun, and talking about finding "the end of the island" which seemed so unfathomable at the time, but now know is only a 5 mile or so walk. I can only hope we can take more vacations here over the years and Johanna can grow up with similar memories.

The static was just NOT working with her hair!

"Rich Girl" is her Nana's new nickname for her after viewing this picture.

In her strawberrykini

Celebrating the 4th!