Odegaard Baby Turns 1

At 3:45 this afternoon, amid applause from friends and family, Kalina Odegaard turned one year old.

"It was actually my second birthday. I think this is my favorite so far," the girl commented.

"Mine too," her mommy chimed in.

The pair noted that in some ways, the day was much like last year, in that Mommy had a lot of work to do, many phone calls were made, many pictures were taken and many presents were received.

"A lot has changed since then," Kalina remembered. "Back then, all I knew how to do was cry. Now, I can eat lima beans and carry blocks all over the house, and once I caught a lightning bug.

The birthday began, as all days do for the Odegaard family, at 5:30 a.m. Kalina bounced out of bed while her mommy and daddy groggily wished her a happy birthday.

"I actually didn't even know it was my birthday until Mommy told me!" Kalina bubbled.

The girl wasn't allowed to open a present until after her first nap, and then only one.

"I thought that was a little mean-spirited," mentioned Kalina. "But at least there was a dog."

The dog in reference was Poky, Kalina's rental dog for her birthday week courtesy of Aunt Nancy, who also supplied the aforementioned first present.

A visit to church, lunch, playtime, pictures and another nap later, and the time came for Kalina's party.

"I'm glad I was asleep for the final preparations," said the little girl. "I'm told they had to change the location last minute, and Mommy was still icing my cake 10 minutes before we had to leave for the park. I just think that would've been stressful for me."

The festivities were punctuated by an overenthusiastic musical balloon, and adorned with cupcakes. The guests were offered decorate-your-own cupcakes, while Kalina's was a giant cupcake creation she could grab at, complete with pink candle and cherry on top.

Kalina, who wore a special pink cupcake shirt and denim twirly skirt for the occasion, admitted that she liked playing with the cake more than she liked eating it.

"I could squish and smear the frosting, both of which are very appealing options for me," she said. "Also, I could tear off pieces of the cake and stack them. But the best part was being able to cover Daddy with frosting. The cherry was especially cool--I gave it to Mommy because she's good at holding things for me."

Several other babies and even more adults had gathered to celebrate the baby's big day in a local park. The group burst into applause at 3:45 p.m., prompted by Mommy and Daddy. Kalina, who loves applause of any kind, grinned back at everyone, and then frowned as she became overwhelmed by the attention.

And finally, the time came for presents, which Mommy opened as fast as possible while the baby ran around completely overstimulated.

"Let's do this every day!' said Kalina.

When asked what her plans are for year two of her life, Kalina said that she'd like to increase her vocabulary and eat more cupcakes.

"Other than that, I think I'd like to do some more playing."

Happy first birthday, Kalina!!! Mommy loves you and thanks you for being such rich blog material, not to mention a good sport. I'm looking forward to another year of writing about our (mis)adventures!

A birthday party for a cupcake

How do you celebrate when your little cupcake turns 1? You throw a cupcake party. Kalina's is scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

First, I should apologize that we didn't invite all of you. I really wanted to, but I'm feeling the need to start small. My reasons are: 1.) Kalina's a small baby 2.) If I have too many guests I won't have any time to spend with her on her special day 3.) I imagine her parties will only get bigger, so if we're not careful we'll be hosting the Queen for sweet sixteen. Not that that wouldn't be fun for our little princess.

Sunday will be all about Kalina, and for the first time in my life a little voice in the back of my brain is telling me that there's something a bit backwards about that. Can I please have a party too? Would someone please make me a cupcake and put a cherry on top? After all, my day a year ago was...um...pretty special, too.

At least I get to pick what Kalina wears. And frankly, I'll settle for not being in labor.

Sunday's weather forecast, which I'm checking every four hours, is 95 degrees and sunny, and we're planning to hold the party at a park. If the humidity creeps up I may be hosting everyone inside our small house instead. I remember that when Kalina was born, we had unseasonably temperate weather in the neighborhood of the low 70s, which would've made a picnic at a park the perfect thing, except we had a needy newborn to take care of.

There will be lots of cupcakes, and the biggest one will belong to Kalina. I'm ashamedly excited for her to get her hands on massive amounts of sugar, because I know how happy sugar makes me. And then at her next birthday, she'll get to try it again.

I've been planning this party, as loyal blog-followers may remember, ever since Kalina turned 6 months old. When Kalina was 8 months, after weeks of intense deliberation, I finally decided on a cupcake theme. When she was 9 months I bought the plates and napkins--because who knew if I'd get back to the store before her birthday, and if I did, whether they'd still be in stock? When she was 10 months I researched local parks to hold it at and when she was 11 months I baked a practice birthday cake (the cake has to be perfect). Last week I stocked up on sprinkles.

I have presents hiding in plain site all over the house and I'm limiting the cooking I'm willing to do this week so I'll have plenty of energy left over to make 3 batches of cake batter, 3 batches of icing and assorted snack/appetizer foods this weekend. I have decorations lined up, family coming into town, laundry done, freelance work postponed and an outfit picked out for the baby.

In short, I'm ready for my little girl to turn 1.

Kalina's first ear infection

Last night, Matt and I splurged and went out on a date. We both needed a break after our week filled with a sick, clingy baby (now on the mend) and an overload of freelance work for me. We had a lovely time, and brought back lots of leftovers for lunches. Yum.

At 5:00 a.m. we were rocketed back to reality by our too-warm child and the realization that we'd left the leftovers in the car overnight, and they probably weren't fit for consumption. Dang.

Kalina had a fever of 101.4, the thermometer told us, and our go-to baby resource suggested we call the doctor. I managed to convince the weird receptionist to book us an appointment and I put the baby down for a nap so she would have a fighting chance at healing.

Then I worried, but not for long because Kalina took the shortest nap possible.

No matter, I would've had to wake her up prematurely anyway so I could whisk her to the doctor within the receptionist's "Please show up 15 minutes early" rule. Which really, I can't blame her for because heaven knows how hard it is to be on time for anything. Matt helped get us out the door, and as I was feeling a bit under the weather myself, promised to be on standby.

I had to kill a big, nasty spider who was on the inside of the windshield on the way. When it rains it pours.

At the office, the receptionist tried desperately to get Kalina to smile, but couldn't. She then informed me my insurance information had magically changed to "expired" on April 19. After she changed it back I hid in the corner with Kalina and we watched the fish in the tank. We really do have valid insurance by the way.

Within 5 minutes Kalina was trying to play peekaboo behind a play table with another patient's mother and I felt a little better, although the fact that she was touching things in a pediatrician waiting room made me nervous. What worse germs could she pick up?

We were called back, and the crying began as we weighed her. At 17 lbs., 14 ounces and 11 1/2 months old, Kalina has almost tripled her birth weight--which is perfect from everything I've heard. The slightly evil nurse (actually, she's very nice, but she doesn't seem to have any problem sticking things into babies, which I suppose makes her a good fit for her job but not someone I particularly trust) took her temperature (101.8) and listened to her heartbeat while Kalina protested with every ounce of her strength. Poor girl.

And then we waited for the doctor as I tried to reduce the sobs to whimpers and then to quiet and then to smiles (we never got to laughs).

The doctor in the office today happened to be my second favorite of the group, so I was happy to see him. I knew he'd give me clear answers that were in keeping with the latest scientific knowledge. I appreciate it when pediatricians know more about babies' health than I can readily find on the Internet. He also clearly understood the concept of stranger anxiety in young children and thankfully was able to examine Kalina quickly and kindly, in my arms the whole time. As she cried her little eyes out.

Much to my relief, the baby just has an ear infection, for which the doctor prescribed antibiotics. After one more visit with the crazy receptionist, we were on our way.

Back at home, Matt volunteered to pick up the prescription while I held down the fort with the baby. I let Kalina have all the Cheerios she wanted, and then I did something we've never tried before. I put some cartoons on the TV and sat with the baby on the couch.

The girl was so absorbed for the first 5 minutes that she dropped everything she was holding (she's always holding something) and stared, mouth slightly ajar. I decided I really could watch the Backyardigans for the rest of the day if it would make Kalina happy and settled in. I also applauded myself for only pulling out TV from my bag of tricks when we really needed it.

Minute number 6, Kalina was mildly entertained. Minute number 7, she was playing on the floor with her back to the TV. Minute number 8 I turned the show off because I didn't want to desensitize her, and also because I read once that babies don't learn well amid television, even if they're not actively watching it. Too bad--I was really getting into the plot.

Minute number 9, I fixed myself a piece of cake, because even though it was only 10:30 a.m. I'd been up for 5 1/2 hours and felt like I deserved it.

The baby hated her antibiotics, by the way, as well as the Motrin I gave her in case she was in pain.

So that's the story of Kalina's first ear infection. And with any luck, we've come to the end of it.

Work-at-home mommying

A few weeks ago I was at the grocery store trying to choose produce that was the correct degree of ripeness, unblemished, on my list and at a price I was willing to pay while interacting brightly with my child and keeping her from standing up in the seat of the cart.

The phone rang. I recognized the number: a freelance call. Do I take the call, and risk a long intellectual conversation while wheeling my acrobatic baby through the grocery store, probably much to the annoyance of fellow customers and employees alike? Or do I ignore it, and risk the potential client moving on to another freelancer.

I can't resist: I answer. And all of a sudden, I'm doing three things at once, getting paid for one of them if I choose to bill for it, no less. This particular client never asks if now is a good time to pick my brain about current trends in marketing writing, and is rather long-winded, so we talk all the way through my grocery list and the baby gets to eat all the Cheerios she wants as long as she'll just keep quiet and let Mommy earn enough money to buy another box of them.

(As a side note, I never billed for the conversation--I just didn't think it was fair to the client that he was competing with store-brand dried beans for headspace, despite the fact that he never knew he was.)

Later I realized how bizarre my life has become, thanks to the fact that mundane house chores and peekaboo fortunately occupy completely different brain real estate than my writing does, allowing me to take on freelance work without hiring a babysitter (yet).

And so, ever since Kalina was just a couple weeks old, I've been a work-at-home mom. It's the best of both worlds, I tell everyone. I get to change diapers full-time, and also enjoy the benefits of answering to clients and meeting inane deadlines for weird requests.

I spend far too much time doing three things at once, however, I will say I consider myself extraordinarily fortunate to have a career that allows me to work from home, clients who don't care if there's a baby crying...er...laughing in the background and a pursuit other than pattycake to keep my mind challenged.

That doesn't mean this whole career-child balance doesn't have its moments. I consider it sheer luck, in fact, that it works out at all. Between Kalina's somewhat precarious sleep patterns and the fact that you never call a freelancer if you have a project that's easy to handle on your own with plenty of time to do it, every project is a potential disaster.

At first, I would write while Kalina was sleeping in my arms (the only place she seemed to be able to get a good nap). I became an expert at typing one-handed. The next stage had Kalina taking 4-5 45-minute naps a day. This meant that every single conversation was just about guaranteed to be interrupted by some sort of baby maintenance, all too much of which the client was in on (a very rushed: "just a sec I have to go put the pacifier back into the baby's mouth because then maybe she'll sleep a little longer so I'm going to put the phone down now I'll be right back," for instance. Fortunately, most of them would patiently stay on the line.).

Then Kalina was napping better but not sleeping at all at night (remember those days?). The fact that people would pay for my brain, which was about as useful as a snow fort against Genghis Kahn at this point, was pretty much the only thing that could make me laugh. To add insult to injury, I never, ever, wanted to admit to clients that I was sleeping about 5 hours a night, broken into 1-hour chunks--so I was forced to respond with a bright "we're doing great!" whenever they kindly asked how mommyhood was going. Nevertheless, I built my business and created plenty of satisfied clients during this time.

Nowadays, my job(s) is easier, as Kalina is more predictable and more distractible. That's right, freelancing is easier with a toddler than with a 4-month-old.

The biggest challenge through all this is maintaining any degree of professionalism. Let's face it, most of the phone calls I get are when Kalina is awake and bouncing around. I normally love showing off my adorable child, but when my poor clients are on the line, I want to downplay her antics as much as possible. "Oh that?" I respond when they comment on the gurgling they hear in the background as Kalina tries to dump the cat water on her head, throw several breakable objects onto the floor and then crawl up my leg. "The baby is just happily playing in the other room!" I assure them.

Because the last thing I want clients to think is that I can't handle taking care of a toddler, the house and their enormously important marketing letter at the same time when, in fact, I can.

[Please burn this after reading lest my clients ever get wind of it.]

Photo: Kalina in a dress I received at a baby shower and never thought she'd grow into. She was the belle of the nursery at church.

A cute video

One of Kalina's favorite toys is her music, which she dances to completely untaught. Also, she's toddling really well lately, and has even started to run (usually in pursuit of the cats, neither of which is thrilled with this little development). We're investing in several more baby gates, as her second favorite toy is the stairs. Finally, she now knows how to get Daddy's credit card out of his wallet. Without further adieu:

At the pool

Ever since the first brave pansies shivered colorfully under snowdrifts, beckoning springtime with their utmost, the neighborhood stay-at-home moms have been scrambling to secure swimming pool use for the summer without actually paying very much money.

I decided not to scramble, not being much of a swimmer myself. I instead bought a $10, 3-ring pool from Wal-Mart and invited them all over for pool parties on my deck.

They all laughed at my joke and continued scrambling.

Lucky me, though--it ended up that without any effort whatsoever on my part, I now have access to at least 3 pools that I can use with friends for little or no cost.

One friend broke down and bought a membership at a local community pool. I can come along for just $2 per visit. Another begged a key card off of a friend of a friend for a neighboring housing development's pool, and is working to establish regular playdates there. A third actually lives in a community with a pool that she can access for free. I'm set.

After completing a successful trial run in our Wal-Mart pool (pictured), Kalina and I headed out to friend #2's first playdate today. Where to begin?

We spent an entire hour getting out the door, despite some pre-packing and pre-planning I'd done. Several clients needed my attention at the last minute, and I narrowly avoided screaming at them: "BUT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND I'M FINALLY ON THE WAY OUT TO THE POOL WITH MY BABY AND IT WILL ONLY BE MINUTES UNTIL SHE SOILS HER SWIM DIAPER AND I'LL HAVE TO TAKE OFF HER ENTIRE SUIT TO CHANGE IT?!?" Logic was not my strong suit, possibly partly because Kalina would only nap if I was holding her this morning.

We brought: 2 towels, one very large floaty, 1 thing of sunscreen, 2 hats for the baby (none for me), shoes for the baby, a diaper, a shirt for the baby, food and water for the baby, a pump for my friend's floaty, a changing pad, wipes, a couple plastic baggies and probably a cat or two by mistake. I got to carry all this, plus the baby, from the car to the pool. We still needed (but didn't go back for): Pool toys for the baby, food for me, water for me, probably another diaper because I was entrusting the first two to luck, and a hat for me if I'd been smart.

I applied sunscreen on Kalina in the parking lot.

When we arrived at the pool, shedding towels and the floaty along the way, we listened as all the other moms chatted happily about how much fun this was. Kalina, for her part, stood nicely as I tried to organize all our stuff on a shaded table without appearing as harried as I was feeling.

I applied some more sunscreen to Kalina.

And then we made a beeline to the pool as I tried desperately to accomplish the goal of the day: get the baby into the swimming pool so she'll have fun.

"I'd settle for digging through he recycle bin, or chewing on Daddy's shoe," I pretended not to hear Kalina say.

The baby did fine in the water. She may have even liked it a little.

We then headed over to the baby pool, where she could stand up in the shallow end, which she liked until she did a header into the water. I won't describe for you the sensation of seeing your little one almost suspended in water, helpless to remedy her situation on her own. I was able to snatch her back up immediately, but neither of us were quite the same after that.

I again applied sunscreen to Kalina, and a little to myself.

I tried putting Kalina in her floaty, but she screamed. We tried again later, and she screamed then, too. At that point we offered it to another mom, whose baby also screamed. Then we settled for letting it dry out in the sun so it wouldn't get my car all wet when we brought it home.

Back in the big pool, Kalina clung to me as I bounced around. I finally peeled her off and bounced her separately in the water, which she surprisingly enjoyed.

By this time, Kalina was tired of her hat and we'd both had enough fun for one day so we bounced our way out of the pool and up to the table for a brief lunch. She tried her first watermelon, after which we headed out to assurances that "she'll nap great this afternoon!"

On the way to the car, the baby managed to put and conceal a wood chip in her mouth, which I only noticed out of sheer luck as I was buckling her into her carseat. ("The baby looks odd. It looks like something could be wrong with her mouth. Has she bitten her tongue in half? No, there's a foreign object in it that I need to fish out with my finger.") I'd had this happen once before, so I guess now I'm a pro at removing wood chips from my child's mouth. Can I put that on my resume?

Since the baby was thoroughly awake and almost hyper when we got home, I plunked her into the bathtub to get all the sunscreen and chlorine off. Not too long afterward, it was naptime, almost for both of us.

And an hour later, Kalina woke up--settling for a mediocre nap that Mommy kind of needed to last a lot longer.

Our trip to the pool was fun, in theory. We might still be recovering next week, but will we go back the week after? You bet