champuru.net

I’m possessed

Donna — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:33:07 +0000

As Baby Champuru (17mo) improves her communication skills, life gets more interesting. I discovered recently that Baby Champuru considers me her possession.

If Hubby is tenderly holding my hand, massaging my shoulders, or even touching me in the most platonic way, Baby Champuru screams, “MINE!” and waves him off. If he doesn’t heed her warning, she will attempt to forcibly separate us by pushing Hubby away from me. We may be sitting on the couch and if I’m leaning my head on Hubby’s shoulder, Baby Champuru will run from across the room and set Hubby straight. “Mommy belongs to ME. Don’t touch my stuff!”

Is this normal — or do I need to be concerned?

Sick of being sick

Donna — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:41:12 +0000

I am so sick of being sick.

Baby Champuru developed a fever on February 22, nearly two weeks ago, which turned into croup, and now she just has a persistent mucousy cough and a runny nose. Not long after, I got sick — then, Hubby. Now my parents are sick. Be warned: those baby germies are potent and latch on to anyone who has contact with them!

Being mostly sequestered indoors for two weeks is not good for my mental health. Yesterday, we hit the mall for a few hours, which was therapeutic for me, but perhaps resulted in us overexerting ourselves. Today, we’re all lazing around the house recuperating.

I called the pediatrician’s office this morning and talked to the nurse about Baby Champuru’s progress. Since she’s still coughing, the nurse prescribed Albuterol and advised to keep her on it for another week. If the cough doesn’t improve within a week, we will need to bring her in for a follow-up visit.

In this milieu of sickness, it feels like a long, dark tunnel and I still can’t see the light at the end.

Alltop – Information overload and I love it

Donna — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:00:45 +0000

Thanks to @lavagal, I recently rediscovered the wonders of Alltop. They were kind enough to feature my blog in the Moms topic; it’s a great honor to be included in the illustrious Alltop directory.

I’ve created a custom MyAlltop page which features the feeds to the news/blogs on topics that matter most to me. My topics run the gamut: world/national news sites, parenting blogs, tech buzz, Mac stories, blogging/writing tips, social media tidbits, and Photoshop information. You can create one for yourself, too. They have feeds for practically every topic under the sun to feed your need for information.

Super Simple Banana Bread

Donna — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:13:27 +0000

Recently, mom had a hankering for banana bread. She gave me her tried and tested recipe on an old discolored newspaper clipping that was probably as old as me. I tried it and it was much better than the modern, newfangled recipe that I had been using — and this one had less ingredients. It even worked well with apple bananas. Giving it away is the hardest part. (I just want to eat all myself!)

1 cup butter or margarine (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
6 or 7 ripe bananas, mashed
4 eggs, well beaten
2-1/2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

Cream margarine and sugar thoroughly. Add bananas and eggs. Sift dry ingredients; blend into creamed mixture. Do not over mix. Pour into loaf pans. Bake at 350º F for 45-50 minutes. Do a toothpick test: it’s done when the toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Croup

Donna — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:13:11 +0000

On Monday, February 22, I wrote that Baby Champuru had developed a fever. Her fever peaked during the wee hours of Thursday morning at 103.5º F and did not break until Friday. This is our first experience with such high fevers and I was constantly worried about the chance of febrile seizures. During this past week, I was on the phone with the pediatrician’s office about half a dozen times and brought her in-office twice. At both visits, the doctor checked for signs of infection or wheezing, and assured us that it was just a cold and we just needed to ride it out.

Although her fever had gone by Friday, she started coughing — or more like “barking,” which started during the wee hours of this morning. It was frightening to hear her barking like a seal, laboring to breathe and obviously upset by it. The more she cried, the worse the coughing became. Thankfully, I’m still nursing her and was able to calm her with the Great Mommy Pacifier and she fell asleep. She woke several times throughout the night and each time I nursed her back to sleep.

All of this in between the excitement of news flooding my Twitterstream of an imminent tsunami to hit Hawaii in the morning. Needless to say, it was an anxious night for me and I got little sleep.

After the tsunami warning was canceled today, Hubby went out to buy a room humidifier. I never thought I would be buying a humidifier in Hawaii. After all, this isn’t Nevada. Isn’t Hawaii humid enough already? But advice from numerous sources and experienced parents poured in, all of them suggesting bringing Baby Champuru into the bathroom while running a hot shower — or using a humidifier. We did both and she seems to be doing better so far.

I’m hoping for a markedly less exciting night. I could use the rest — especially since now I’m the one that’s sick, too.

The tsunami is upon us

Donna — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:40:57 +0000

The massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Chile on February 26, 2010 generated a tsunami, impacting the Hawaiian islands and other locations in the Pacific. Roads and businesses are closed and communities in inundation zones have been evacuated. I am watching the local news on television, all eyes on the rise and recession of coastal waters around the island chain.

Last night, as I was tending to my sick baby (more on that in a separate entry), I checked Twitter to find it buzzing with news of the tsunami watch, which was subsequently upgraded to a tsunami warning just past midnight. People tweeted about wee morning runs to 24-hour grocery stores for emergency supplies and gassing up vehicles in preparation for the emergency. Hubby woke up at 2am and I informed him of the devastating earthquake in Chile and the tsunami threat to Hawaii. He went to Safeway for emergency supplies: cases of bottled water, canned goods, and instant ramen. Our generator is standing by in case of a lengthy power outage.

As a testimony to the talent in the Twitterlulu, John Garcia leapt into action as soon as the news broke about the tsunami warning and established a website to consolidate information at http://www.hitsunami.info. Kaeo Kepani established a live video stream of local news coverage of the event for those who don’t have access to a television. The hashtag #hitsunami is trending on Twitter in case you’re interested in chatter about the tsunami in Hawaii on Twitter.

Prayers for the victims affected by the powerful earthquake and interceding for the safety of our Hawaiian islands.

Parental overshare

Donna — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:00:37 +0000

I will be the first to admit that I am the Queen of Overshare. In fact, I am well-known for my propensity for describing in great detail things that some people might not even discuss with their mother-in-law. I blogged about everything from my failure to conceive naturally, to every doctor’s appointment, surgery, and procedure I endured as I was undergoing fertility treatments. As expected, I took you along for the two-year long ride on my emotional rollercoaster, too. And, the big news: I was pregnant and then the fun really began! Pregnant women have a never-ending laundry list of bodily weirdness and emotional turmoil going on that’s amusing to share and fun to discuss with other moms who have walked that path. Then, the culmination of years of hopes, dreams, and prayers: the day I gave birth to Baby Champuru. As crazy as it sounds, I am infamous for tweeting through most of my labor.

Up until October 2008, it was all about me. Not saying that it was a good (or bad) thing, but ever since Baby Champuru was born, it’s been about 95% about her. Champuru.net officially became a Mom Blog.

Thanks to my blog, I have received a ton of valuable insight from other moms about a variety of challenges. As new parents, we can use all the help we can get. But on the other hand, I also share a lot of information about Baby Champuru. Dozens (hundreds?) of photos of her are posted on my site. It makes me wonder if I should change the way I blog — for her sake?

Fast-forward 15 years: Would Not-So-Baby Champuru want a record of her every move and milestone on the Internet for the world to read? While I think it’s definitely a good idea to keep a journal of some sort of these precious moments, should it be kept under lock and key — to share only with family and close friends?

Personally, I enjoy reading a handful of Mom Blogs. I love the connection that goes on there. Shared experiences, encouragement, and insight. Admittedly, photos make any blog much more enjoyable than one that text-only. Being able to see the kiddies of fellow Mom Bloggers growing up right before my eyes is just precious. On the other hand, are we doing our children an injustice by creating a public presence for them before they are even capable of giving their consent to do so?

As you can see, I’m torn about the whole issue. What’s your opinion?

As an aside: I didn’t realize it, but apparently us Mommy Bloggers can be annoying to some people, too. There’s a blog entitled STFU, Parents dedicated to exposing the Internet’s worst oversharing offenders. I guess not everyone enjoys hearing about my baby’s gargantuan poop in the car seat?

Toddler Flossing

Donna — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:25:37 +0000

Toddler flossing using floss stick

Flossing is one of those things that we know is good for us, but most of us loathe to do. I have zero childhood memories of my parents flossing my teeth. And I’m sure they didn’t floss my teeth at 16 months old. So, the thought never occurred to me that we should floss Baby Champuru’s teeth. That is, until we saw the pedodontic dentist this month.

Thankfully, there are things that make the task of flossing easier. Floss picks for children are available in the dental care aisle at your local drugstore and they come in bright colors, fruit flavors, and sometimes even have characters or animals on them. We purchased three different types of children’s flossers from Longs Drugs, including this one: Fun Flossers by DenTek. They’re designed in an angled c-shape which is supposed to make it easy to reach the teeth in the back.

Right now, Baby Champuru’s teeth are only touching in the front of her mouth (top and bottom), so it wasn’t that difficult to floss. And despite the “help me” look in the photo above, she didn’t seem to mind it that much.

After I was done, she wanted to floss all of her dolls’ teeth, including her rocking horse. Good dental hygiene is a good idea for all species, I suppose.

Friending Facebook friends who aren’t?

Donna — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:00:35 +0000

Recently on Twitter @problogger tweeted this:

“thinking of de friending everyone on facebook that I don’t know in real life and making it a personal page (http://bit.ly/9SdY1z) thoughts?”

To which I retweeted and responded, “I have been considering doing the same.”

Of course, Darren Rowse is wildly popular (for good reason), already having maxed out his friend limit on Facebook at 5000, while I have a mere 292 friends. He is completely out of my league, but I could relate to his desire to separate one’s online/blogging presence from his personal one.

For one thing, you will be hard-pressed to find a photo of Hubby’s face on this site, as per his request. But, I frequently post photos of him on my Facebook page. After all, we have family and friends who use Facebook to keep in touch with us and they appreciate seeing current photos of the family.

While I don’t have very many people on my Facebook friends list that I haven’t met face-to-face, there are a few that I talk to regularly on Twitter that I consider “friends.” I waver back and forth sometimes wondering what criteria I should use for the accepting of friends on Facebook. I have friends that fit into these categories:

Family
Close friends
Twitter/Blog friends that I have met in person
Twitter/Blog friends that I regularly talk to but have not met in person
People I have met somewhere along the way but don’t see anymore (former co-workers, old classmates, people I attended church with in the past, etc.)

I am thinking of de-friending some of the folks that probably do not care much about me personally, but merely requested my “friendship” to add another notch on their friend count. Of course, I am concerned that purging my friends list will offend people — but I am reevaluating my entire philosophy on sharing details of my life on the Internet. That was prompted by yet another tweet, subsequent to my comment about Facebook. This one, by @kimonostereo who asked, “will you stop blogging?”

That question needs its very own blog entry entirely. To be continued…

Toddler Milestone – Drinking from a cup unassisted

Donna — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:00:47 +0000

After we returned from church on Saturday night, I was rushing around getting ready for bed. Hubby and Baby Champuru were playing in the bedroom. I had a glass of water sitting on the desk. Baby Champuru signed and said the word water, indicating that she wanted a drink of water. Hubby took the glass and held it to her mouth. She said “no” and patted the floor in front of her, indicating that she wanted him to put the glass down. Which he did. To his surprise, she took the glass in both hands, lifted it to her lips, and began to drink. Unassisted.

We had never taught her to drink from the cup on her own. We had always held the cup to her lips, tilting it ever so carefully so as not to pour too much water in her mouth. This was the first time she drank from an open cup without help.

She enjoys using the open cup, but is still prone to spilling if she gets too excited or distracted. Nevertheless, she is making great strides toward independent eating and drinking this month!