i was beginning to forget what it felt like to sleep in my own bed.  but let me tell you, there is no better feeling.  especially on clean sheets.  we had a great time on the east coast and crossed a number of important “1st times” off the list (including pink eye – don’t need to revisit that anytime soon).  over the next few days i’ll share some highlights but for now, a quick run down:

• when ABN and i first arrived in CT after a weekend in florida, both my mom and dad chastised me for not packing enough clothes for EBN.  now, anyone who knows me would find this SHOCKING.  sure, i might forget socks for myself (true story) but i was pretty sure i had made sure that the little one had plenty of options – the girl has a style all her own.  but they were steadfast.  only one sweater, only one shirt, only a pair of leggings or two.  i made my way upstairs and went through her drawer.  seemed to me like there were a fair number of options.  sure not as many as i would have liked, but enough.  then i opened her suitcase, and then her diaper bag.  they were both full.  of clothes.  glad to know i wasn’t losing my mind.
• the WESTPORT LIBRARY is out of this world.  i’m a girl who loves a good library and let me tell you, i’ve never encountered anything better.  ABN and i spent a couple of hours there on tuesday catching up on work and it was hard to not explore every nook and cranny.  it’s light and bright and there were tons of places to spread out and get work done.  the kids’ wing (yep) is it’s own library with an entire room devoted to toddlers.  there’s even a cafe.  basically, library heaven.
• i finished my book.  it was good.  did it make me want to pack up a massive backpack and head toward the trail?  not so much.  but the story was inspiring and the journey sounded incredible.  but the blisters?  eek.
• i’m so behind on tv.  i find this incredibly stressful.
• we did a pretty good job of sticking with paleo during our time away – i mean other then thanksgiving.  that was a disaster.  a planned for disaster but still.  i think i ate half a loaf of rye bread, 3/4 of a sourdough bread stuffed with warm and melty brie cheese and a slice of pecan pie.  oh and then a slice of pumpkin cake.  after i fell off the wagon, hard, there was no going back and the rest of the trip and then our dinner at home on saturday night (sushi) led to a pair of unhappy and bloated tummies.  but  now that we’re home, we’re ready to get back to the basics.  we took a family trip to whole foods on sunday night and i’m back to cooking three meals a day.
• i’m in love with the way EBN cuddles.  it’s my favorite thing that seems to have come along with her turning 2.

• we made blue toes a reality.  at least 30 times a day EBN mentions her blue toes.  and that she would now like pink toes.
• for EBN’s birthday, my mom gifted ME with a book of all of EBN’s milestones from the first two years.  it’s awesome – full of all the things that i meant to write down but never got around too.  we’re so lucky.  and i’ve already told her i’m counting on her for next year.
• i spent a large part of one morning going through my dad’s old record collection.  it was dusty but full of fabulous finds.  i packed a box full of as many LPs as i could squeeze in – fleetwood mac, harry chapin and sesame street does disco – just to name a few.  i’m pretty sure our holiday season is going to be full of a lot of living room sing alongs.

mostly i just sat and watched my parents be all googly-eyed over EBN (truth: ABN and i were pretty googly as well).  we love where we live – so much – but it is hard to be so far away.  there’s no question that we were away from home for too long but it’s hard to leave nani and p’pa without a date on the calendar for when they will hang with EBN again (my dad is lobbying hard for the first week in feb as yo gaba gaba live is apparently coming to CT).

at this point, almost 23 months in, there are a lot of questions.  will EBN really inherit her father’s cross-bite?  will she take after her mama and continue to rock accessories?  will THE COUNT remain her #1 true love?  will she choose to tint her brows and lashes?  will she continue to build towers and become an engineer?  learn to count past 40 (that’s where we’re currently at) and study math? or possibly, follow in her grandma karen’s footsteps and continue to enjoy putting color to paper.  a lot of questions.  but one thing we know for sure – girl’s got a head of curls on her shoulders.

while i had curls pre-puberty (then it went to frizz, post-pregnancy it’s back to curls, i had nothing worth mentioning in comparison to THE BUG.  ABN on the other hand (and his dad, and sister and mom and aunt) had some major coils.  they disappeared at some point in middle school when he started blow dry his hair (yep, that happened.  apparently, the chicago winter was too cold to walk across the street from his house to school with a wet mop on his head – excuses, excuses) and now he keeps his hair short so it’s difficult to tell.

but EBN – there’s no question.  girls got some major ringlets.  when i pull – they bounce.  when she runs – they bounce.  when she nods your head yes, or shakes her head no – they bounce.  they are gorgeous and soft and wild.  and they are a bitch to comb.

at almost 23 months we’ve tried basically every product other there.  we’ve gone with natural ingredients, we’ve gone with expensive salon brands and we’ve gone the adult route as well.  all along the knots persist, or her hair looks greasy or we’re left with an itchy scalp.  i tried not combing her hair at all – which left us with our first true baby dread.  yes, i went through my “boys with dreadlocks are cute” phase.  but i (thankfully) got over that one and don’t care to repeat it with my little one.

and then i remembered – the cure-all for knotted curls.  that unmistakable just-out-of-the-bath smell.  there was only one answer to my problem – NO MORE TANGLES.

and while the packaging looks completely different (remember how it used to be a white bottle with a yellow label and a picture of a girl with STICK STRAIGHT HAIR!?!?! brushing out her tresses?) it still gets the job done like nothing else i’ve been able to find.  i’ve even started using it on my own hair as well.  like mother like daughter – but in reverse.

and nothing smells sweeter.

no matter what you are imagining, what i witnessed was worse – way worse.

we can leave it at that.

in an effort to erase what is now permanently branded upon my memory, i’ve been watching this video on loop for the last several hours:

ps. let’s just hope she doesn’t say it tomorrow, during our first day at the toddler program.

we left pacifica at 8am, stopped for lunch in paso robles at 11 and were in santa barbara by 2:30 on friday afternoon.  we spent the next hours in the pool and in the sun.  after a failed toddler slumber party, we kissed our sleeping kiddos goodnight and headed out on a double date (i have no idea the last time that happened).  after late night hot tubbing we were awoken by babbling babies before heading to brunch with great-family.  so many smiles in so few hours – we squeezed back into the car and headed north.

get ready for photo overload…

for the past 3 nights EBN has been doing this thing where she screams when we put her down for bed at night.  i find this to be equal parts really upsetting and really annoying.  upsetting because i hate that she is crying before bed.  we’ve been having really great days and the idea that she is going to be so upset breaks my heart.  annoying because this girl is being super manipulative.  there is NOTHING wrong.  she just doesn’t want to go to sleep.  one minute she is happily reading a bed time story and rubbing her sleepy eyes and the next minute she’s standing in her crib screaming, then pausing, forgetting that she’s pissed, babbling to herself, remembering that she doesn’t want to be there and then screaming again.  for the last two nights i’ve gone in periodically but honestly, as soon as she realizes that she’s not getting out of the crib, she gets pissed again, so tonight i’m trying my hardest to just wait it out.  i just ordered pizza.

our weekend was lovely – so nice to be home and together….here’s a peek:

ingredients for chicken soup en mass – apples ready to be turned into sauce

banana, applesauce, oatmeal and cranberry cookies out of the oven – and being enjoyed

date night sushi – daffodils

a morning of crochet – new socks

mama shopping – baby shopping

waiting in line is tough – wearing a hat is fun

piles of little laundry – one little sock without its mate

a skype date – getting clean

getting away is really wonderful but being home with my sweet family is even better

i’ve read enough new-mama blogs to know that at some point, we would be making the inevitable trip to urgent care.  i just didn’t know it would be this past weekend.  to get it out-of-the-way – little miss EBN is absolutely fine.

now…for the details.

on saturday night, after my long run (long for me!) and our family trip to the zoo, i decided the perfect end to a pretty rocking day would be a mama/baby bath.  i filled the tub with BUBBLES, dumped all the bath toys in and stripped my little girl down.  i noticed she was a little red and raw behind her ears but, no biggie; we’d been out in the wind my little one is sensitive (aren’t we all).

we had the music pumping and the bubbles a-blowing and ABN even joined us in the bathroom to snap a few photos

yes, she put the soap on her head herself

and then i noticed that her back was covered in tiny, red bumps. and her tummy too.  and her legs and her arms…they were everywhere.  in a moment, we were out of the bath and into the shower and waiting to see the bumps fade.  but they didn’t really fade.  they weren’t getting worse – but i wouldn’t say they were any better.

my first thought was that the bumps were a reaction to the soap.  sure it’s that super-expensive-super-hypo-allgerginc stuff but you never know.  she didn’t seem bothered by the bumps and didn’t have a fever so she had her bottle and a couple of books and went peacefully to sleep.

at 5:30 on sunday morning she was up and not too happy about it (we’ve all gotten comfortable with her 7am wakeup).  i brought her into our bed for her bottle because it was just so.early and then when she was REALLY ready to be up we went into her room to change her diaper.  the red dots were everywhere – EVERYWHERE.  on her cheeks, her ears, her fingers, they covered every inch of her back.  still, they didn’t seem to really be bothering her and she had no fever.  deep breath – to google i went.

10 days before, when we had taken her in for her 15-month check up, the doctor had warned me that some babies get a rash, up to two weeks after their MMR vaccination.  i was prepared for a reaction but i never imagined it would look at awful as it did (if you are interested go ahead google MMR rash and look at the images – see the redest baby?  EBN was worse).  never one to ONLY trust google i called the on-call nurse to verify.  she suggested that because EBN had been on antibiotics earlier in the week for a sinus infection, it might be an allergic reaction and, to be safe, we should bring her in.

i had a picture in my head of what urgent care would look like, and it was not at all what i found.  i had assumed crying babies, crying mamas, sickness, germs.  while i’m sure the germs were…everywhere, everyone seemed so healthy.  i’m still confused.  of course EBN entered the scene and waved and clapped and blew tons of kisses.  typical.

the doctor thought the rash was probably a virus (rather than make its debut in the form of a cold, it announced it’s arrival in the form of spots)…for the record, i completely disagree.  i’m sticking the reaction to her vaccination.  we gave her benadryl on sunday night because she had gotten rather itchy and today she woke up on the med.  i’d still rather her have fewer spots but, it doesn’t hurt to look at her like it did before.

so, one more right-of-passage to cross off the list.  after the last couple of weeks, i’d be okay if things slowed down just a bit.