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11
Jan, 2010
Post Holiday 2009 Roundup
Now that “the holidays” are officially over, I’d like to recap some of the awesome holiday events I attended. Then next several posts will be dedicated to the holiday treats and surprises Aubrey and I were so fortunate to receive and experience. Happy 2010 everyone!
1) Help A Mother Out Playdate at the Treehouse Social Club
It was INSANE and awesome! The Help A Mother Out playdate charity event at the Treehouse Social Club in Beverly Hills. This super cool organization does diaper drives to support homeless and poverty stricken mothers and their children. Could you imagine not being able to provide clean diapers for your baby? Unfortunately, many mothers face this reality in the US and the babies suffer and often become ill from being in a soiled diaper for hours, sometimes days at a time.
Super awesome mom blogger, Kim Tracy Prince organized this diaper drive (and then got so sick she couldn’t even attend her own event – boo!) and it was a great success. The kids were treated to live music, awesome kid snacks (Goldfish, mini cupcakes, gluten free cookies, juice boxes and more!) and there were grown up appetizers and wine for the parents. Aubrey played, snacked and danced like a maniac and she was excited to donate our diapers too. It was Aubrey’s introduction to formal philanthropy and I think she really understood why we were giving the diapers. Thanks for this wonderful opportunity to help our community of moms and children and have fun at the same time! Please support this amazing organization… oh and on a side note…
I read an ignorant comment on a post about this organization on LAist.com. As you can see, this idiot, “claw” said, “People should just NOT HAVE BABIES if they can not provide for them!!!” It really infuriated me. This charity is not about judging people, women, mothers or parents. It is about helping members of our communities who are in need. Period. People who think homeless women are all slackers, drug addicts, people of color, uneducated, etc – you are wrong. Especially in this economy we are ALL only steps away from homelessness ourselves. Be grateful for what you have right now and do what you can to support others. It’s so easy to do. If you have nothing to say but ignorant and hateful comments, just shut the fuck up.
Aubrey Gets Her Dance Groove on to Help Mothers & Children
Tags: Amy Anderson • Aubrey • Beverly Hills • diapers • Help A Mother Out • homeless mothers • homelessness • Kim Tracy Prince • Los Angeles • Treehouse Social Club
28
Dec, 2009
No Christmas For The Weary
Many of my friends and family have been following my crappy Christmas saga via my Facebook updates. This truly was a rotten Christmas for Aubrey and me, but it’s never to late to celebrate…
Christmas 2009 officially goes down in the books as the WORST Christmas ever. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, Christmas hasn’t even happened yet.
Aubrey’s father, my ex-partner, and I live about 26 miles apart from one another. It was her turn at his house but this year we co-purchased her “big” Christmas gift and both wanted to be with her when she opened it. Our plan was for me to drive to the ex’s house Friday morning and do Christmas morning gifts together. Our nanny is on vacation until Monday, so it would be just the three of us.
Well, Thursday during the night, Aubrey woke up with a fever. By the time I arrived on Christmas morning, she had a high temp, sore throat, cough and was listless. When we decided she needed to see a physician, our pediatrician’s office was just closing shop. It was nice of them to have Christmas morning hours available, but there was no way we were making it from Westlake Village to Santa Monica in fifteen minutes. Stupid far away Ventura County.
So we spent Christmas day in the emergency room doling out a small fortune to be told something along the helpful lines of, “it’s probably viral but could be bacterial”. Thanks Dr. Holmes. The doctor didn’t say a thing about her ears and just that her throat was a little red, but not bad. He wrote a prescription for amoxicillin and never ran a strep test. When you’re in the heat of the moment with your one and only, never been sick like this before, screaming, feverish child, you don’t necessarily think to ask questions, like, “Should we run a strep test?” Or “Are you sure you didn’t see any inflammation in her ears?” Or “Tsk tsk,” the doctor for writing a prescription for an antibiotic when he’s guessing whether or not your child has a viral or bacterial infection. You kind of hope the doctor would think of these things on their own in a professional, doctory way.
The night got progressively worse as Aubrey went into her first ever barf-fest, vomiting five times during the night and her sore throat getting worse. The next morning, Dec 26th, we made the 40 mile trek (Did I mention that I HATE Ventura county?) to our pediatrician’s office and finally discovered that Aubrey had an ear infection. The first one she’s ever had and the first one I’ve experienced as a mom. It’s late afternoon now and she finally ate some chicken broth and water without yerping it all back up and has been napping her little life away. I think the worst is behind us and she’ll start her antibiotics as soon as she wakes up.
So is this piece about the incompetence of some physicians? The heartache and helplessness of seeing your child suffer from illness? Or the TOTAL funky weirdness of having to hang out at your ex’s house all day and spend the night because you live so frickin’ far apart from each other but you want to make sure your child is well taken care of without having to cart her all the way back to your house in Sherman Oaks and risk her barfing all over your leased Honda? No. Well, actually, yes. It’s about the latter, but let me restate that in a kinder, gentler, not completely jaded way…
This piece is about setting differences aside and doing the right thing. I can’t say that my ex and I have had the best of times since our split and even recently had a bit of a flare up over some personal issues. And while we have fairly different parenting styles and immensely different personalities, we do both love our daughter and want the best for her. That is why I am sitting in my ex’s house in Ventura county, co-watching over our sick child. Making sure she doesn’t choke if she vomits in her sleep, helping to keep her hydrated, making Tylenol and Pedialyte runs. We are not best friends and we don’t spend time together in any other way, but tonight I’ll eat leftovers from his fridge and sleep in his guest room in case she has another episode during the night. For now, we are working as a team because our third member needs us. And, as much as I hate to admit it, he and I need each other right now too. It is too much to do alone and as I sit here typing in a dimly lit living room while my baby sleeps on the floor next to the Christmas tree, my heart goes out to every parent out there who has had no choice but to do it alone. You deserve a purple heart.
The saddest part of this entire holiday fiasco is that poor Aubrey has been so sick, she still hasn’t opened her Christmas gifts. We have asked her if she wants to open them several times and the answer is always a feeble little, “no”. It is almost December 27th and maybe tomorrow will be the morning my little one wakes up feeling well enough to smile and dance and sing again. Maybe tomorrow, it will be Christmas.
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Tags: Amy Anderson • Aubrey • Christmas • ear infection • emergency room • happy holidays • single parenting
19
Nov, 2009
My Daughter's New Squeeze: Mickey Mouse
Ignore the look of fear! She was REALLY excited!
Last month my daughter – 2 year old Aubrey – and I had the privilege of being invited to a really fun Disney event: Mickey’s Virtual Train Tour. This special event was the final stop in Mickey’s virtual train tour from Kansas City to Los Angeles. It was held at the Griffith Park Travel Town Museum and I have to say, anything I have ever attended that was put on by Disney has been such a blast!
THE Mouse, himself, was there to greet the toddlers and their parents. We were treated to a private screening of the new primetime special Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Choo Choo Express which aired on the Disney Channel on Oct 25 and will be released on DVD on Amazon on December 1, 2009. The kids got also got to play with the new Fisher Price Mickey’s Magic Choo Choo train toy. I was pleasantly surprised that this train toy was a big hit with my daughter as she has never expressed much interest in playing with trains. She’d rather ride them… and we got to do that too!
The Travel Town Museum has a really cool kiddie sized train that loops around the museum and it’s big enough for adults to ride along. It’s a nice long ride and my daughter loved every minute. Little ones were also treated to a a Hot Dog Dance lesson, coloring pages station, photos and hugs with Mickey Mouse, balloons and hunky Marines handing out take home surprises (a kiddie train conductor’s hat, a book, some temporary tatoos)! This was mommy’s favorite part.
I’ll be honest here – I wasn’t sure if my daughter even knew who Mickey Mouse was. We mostly watch Nick Jr in our house and she had only been to Disneyland once when she was 18 months old. But when I told her we were going to meet Mickey Mouse she got VERY excited. Something about the sound of his name, I guess. For about a year, she use to confuse him with Chuck E Cheese (sorry Disney) but after this event, there is no mistaking the #1 mouse in her life. She was totally smitten and we had a great time. Thank you Disney for some fantastic, happy memories from a special day together!
Here is a little video of Aubrey, waiting patiently, for her turn with a personal hang with Mickey Mouse. They played a little pat-a-cake:
Tags: Amy Anderson • Aubrey • Disney • Griffith Park Travel Museum • Mickey Mouse • Mickey’s Magic Choo Choo • Mickey’s Virtual Train Tour • trains
