Pink is the New Orange

As a new mom you can't wait for your baby to achieve certain milestones - rolling over, sitting up, crawling, saying a word or two.  This is generally the order of these things but nature is really quite cruel.  If I were God there would be two things I would do.  First make wine and cheese have no calories.  And second give a child the ability to communicate before they start moving.  (okay I guess I'd end world hunger too).

Lil bug is a baby on the go.  Before she could crawl she would roll to get somewhere.  Even though it was adorable, rolling doesn't provide much maneuverability and she would end up in some odd spots.  She quickly advanced to the army crawl and now she can move so fast you may see her crawling next to Usain Bolt in the next Olympics.

So at 8 months we broke out the baby jail.  At first an area full of toys was like a wonderland.  But I do not have a dumb child and after a month our living room went through a renovation and we expanded to a fully operating baby prison.

We might as well slap some strips on her as I suit up in my finest guard attire each time we enter into baby prison.  She has the freedom to crawl and play but this warden can't get lazy.  I'm a sucker for baby kisses and she often distracts me with cuteness, thinking I can trust my well-behaved baby and then she rushes for a break-out attempt.  And you won't believe the melt down that ensues after I snatch contraband (a piece of dried macaroni) that has been smuggled in.  Silly me, I thought tantrums were for toddlers.

So after lights out at eight there is only one wine that is really appropriate - The Prisoner.  It is a red wine blend from Napa with a deep red hue and tasting notes of cherries, plum and coffee beans.  It has a smooth finish but it's a big wine so it's best to be enjoyed after my shift is over with some yummy meat as I gear up for another day as warden of baby prison.

Babies and Bubbles

Generally I'm going to be writing about pretty affordable wines but since this is my first post we're going to start big -- and at the beginning!

Now my lil bug was due on January 14th and since it was my first I figured I'd be late.  So imagine my surprise when on Christmas Eve my contractions were about 8 minutes apart.  Since no one wants a Christmas birthday I pretty much laid around in agony till my doctor appointment on the 28th.  By 7pm that night we were all checked into the hospital ready for a baby.  Long story short, labor lasted till about 3pm the next day and after 3 hours of pushing our lil bug was still turned the wrong way so I had to have a C-section.  Our baby girl was born on December 29th at 8:10pm.  Just in time for this new mama to enjoy some New Years Champagne!

Or so I thought.  Still we spared no expense and broke out my favorite - Krug Champagne.  This deliciously well balanced bubbly is like drinking apple pie mixed with smokey almonds and is a true party in your mouth.  One that costs $200 a bottle.  Still, I had just been pregnant for nine months and just went through 25 hours of labor, I deserved it.  But I also hadn't slept for more than two hours at a time and did just have my stomach cut open so my crazy indulgence was about a half a glass (Don't worry, Daddy and the grandparents made up for my wussiness).

As we continued our New Years festivities in the hospital (Yes, it was a rager) I noticed my poor little girl was starting to look the same color as our beautiful golden Krug bottle and by 8am the next day she was sunning herself under the lights to get rid of the jaundice and I was a complete and total reck.  Hormones are really a cruel thing especially those postpartum ones.  So much for enjoying my first glass of the good stuff.

When I finally did feel those crisp bubbles hit my lips it wasn't on champagne's biggest day of the year.  It was a few weeks later on a Sunday and lil bug decided it was a good day to torture her mommy so she started crying.  And crying.  And crying.  By the afternoon I thought I was going to loose it.  Most parents might throw their baby in the car and drive around the block or spend hours in a rocking chair.  My hubby's solution was breaking out another bottle of Krug (and the breast pump).  Once we relaxed, lil bug relaxed.  And I finally got to sit quietly sipping my sweet bubbles with my sweet girl asleep on my lap.

And that was one of my first big lessons of motherhood.  Sometimes the best moments are the unexpected ones.  And any moment can easily be worth a two hundred dollar bottle of Champagne.