Christmas Memories Part 3

I was about nine I think when I asked for and received a My Child for Christmas. I named her Cindy Lou, yes, like in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, though I had forgotten about that when I named her. She had blond hair, blue eyes, a button nose, and a blue sailor dress. I remember this doll that Christmas because I specifically asked for a Graco stroller to go with it. How's that for effective advertising?! I also remember it because it's the Christmas that we went to IHOP for breakfast (I took my doll with us). Somehow we had forgotten to buy a ham which we always have for Christmas breakfast. I don't know why we didn't just have pancakes or something at home but we went to IHOP on Christmas morning.

Christmas Memories Part 2

When I was about 14 I had saved up my babysitting money to buy myself a Nintendo GameBoy. It cost $89. I purchased it not long before Christmas. Now don't ask me why I didn't save my money and just ask for it for Christmas. I had bought it and asked for a game for it for Christmas. To my surprise on Christmas morning my parents gave me the game I requested AND a CD player. I hadn't asked for one and had been content with my GameBoy. I was blown away by such a generous gift. My brother and sister claimed I was spoiled. They were right but it was completely unexpected.

Photo dump from our trip to L.A.

Claudia and Simon

Piper is making Papa Allen all "cozy"

Grandma Vicki making faces at Simon

Piper and Harper watching cartoons on my iPhone

Family get-together. Brittiany is holding Simon with Alisha and Ryan on the right. Rick is wearing some yellow, yellow pants.

Brittiany and Simon. Brittiany is pregnant with her second, a girl this time.

Dancing to the "ghost" player piano

Working in Papa's shop

"I'm working."

Playing at the park

Christmas Memories

Christmas 2000: our first Christmas

Rick and I had been married three weeks and we were staying in New York for the holidays. We lived in a dinky little studio apartment. The bed took up almost all of the apartment. Somehow I managed to make a full pot roast dinner and cinnamon rolls, all without a kitchen table or counters.

I can't remember what I got for Rick but he got me three gifts. He got me some fancy chocolate and good cheeses. His big present for me was a large purse. Now, let me just say, it was large, so large and very expensive. However it just wasn't my taste and I felt bad. It was my first present from Rick as a married couple and the first gift that I ever returned. Memorable.

Check it out

I've started posting five things a day I'm grateful for on the sidebar of our blog. Check it out to stay current on my attitude of gratitude.

Full-circle perspective

I can see now that Piper has carried on my legacy:

Two days ago she visited with Santa on the neighborhood float that I used to visit Santa on.

Today she put a button in her nose. When I was ten I swallowed a button the size of a quarter.

The other day Piper was being really chatty at the table while I was getting her dinner ready. She was being quite talkative and driving me a little batty. My mom was in the kitchen with me and I asked her if I was this chatty as a kid, knowing full-well that I was (and still am) a talker. I needed some perspective. My mom got this look on her face and started chuckling and stifling a laugh. I started giggling too. All the while Piper is talking away. My mom started walking away trying not to bust a gut. I was laughing too but I told her to stop and that I had something to say. She and I both at the same time said, "I'm sorry." She read my mind when I said "sorry" because she knew that I was apologizing for being so talkative as a kid and probably making them crazy. We were both laughing the whole time. Oh, the irony.

Things have definitely come full-circle. The messer becomes the messee (you have to watch Friends to understand that quote.) I am my mother's daughter and evidently so is Piper.

Button noses

Warning: this post contains some squeamish material that you may want to avoid. You've been warned.

This morning Piper gave us a new definition of having a button nose. I was in changing Simon and about to get in the shower. Piper was watching cartoons in the living room. I came in to check on her and get her dressed. She then calmly informed me that she had a button in her nose. Now I know what button it was because a few days earlier she'd been playing with one. It was a little smaller then a dime. I looked in her nose and there it was but a bit too far for me to just grab. She then promptly stuck her finger in her nose and pushed it all the way up and out of sight.

Simon was crying so I fed him while I quickly got my dad on the phone. My dad was a fireman so I was sure he'd have some sage advice. He told me have her blow her nose and if that didn't work to take her to their GP. The nose blowing was unsuccessful since she keeps blowing out her mouth. I called my mom and upon hearing my dilemma she told me that she was on her way home right away and that we would go to Urgent Care. Rick called during all of this so I couldn't talk except to tell him what had happened. Meanwhile Piper was a relaxed as could be and I really wouldn't have known anything was wrong had she not told me. So I get her dressed, finish feeding Simon, and when my mom arrives, I throw on some jeans and brush my teeth.

At Urgent Care the doctor was so nice. I was aware of what they were going to do procedure-wise before we consulted with him. Piper, of course, was as calm as could be until they inserted the nasal speculum (which holds the nostril open) and inserted these alligator forceps in her nose. (The ones they used weren't this long.)


It doesn't hurt, it's just uncomfortable and nerve-racking, especially for a three year-old. We ended up having five people hold her down while the doctor tried to get the button out. She was crying and thrashing by this time. They were unsuccessful at retrieving the button. Piper wanted to leave immediately but we moved onto plan B.

The doctor was ingenious and thought of a MacGyver maneuver. They had me hold her head down and plug her left nostril with my thumb. The doctor then put this air mask over her mouth. Two quick squeezes and the button was right there at the opening. We still held her down and the doctor grabbed the button with the alligator forceps. In the end there was a lot of snot, some blood, and a traumatized child. We had a good cuddle and within an hour everything was back to normal.

Let's just say that I think the extraction process taught Piper not to put anything else up her nose again. I'm grateful for the doctor's innovative thinking, for my mom coming with me to watch Simon and keep me calm, and for a wiser daughter. Good thing she didn't put it up Simon's nose.

December 1st

1. Whole Foods

2. Soft sheets

3. Breast pumps

4. Big grins from my boy

5. Piper ate a great fish dinner. She helped Papa make it.