As many of you know, just less than a year ago I decided to go back to school. I have a Bachelors degree, and some work towards two Masters degrees that I never finished, but now I’m starting over again for an Associates degree in Nursing.

Nursing has absolutely nothing to do with my previous schoolwork. In fact, up until I had Cordy, I had never really thought about going into nursing. When I was younger I had considered med school, but decided against it due to the length of time I’d be in school, and the crazy costs involved. But after spending four days in the postpartum unit at the hospital, I came to have a real affection for nurses and all they do. It’s always the nurses who make your stay pleasant or hellish, depending on your nurse. I had, for the most part, wonderful nurses who helped me adjust to motherhood as much as they could in those four short days.

Going back to school for this required starting nearly from the beginning again. I had most of my general ed classes taken care of thanks to my first degree, but there were a lot of prerequisite classes that I was required to take before even applying to the nursing program.

After four quarters of part-time classes, this week I completed the last two prerequisite classes, and my application for admission to the program has been submitted. One class, Patient Care Skills, was very easy for me. We covered some of the less “fun” tasks of nurses and aides, like wound care, venipuncture, and inserting catheters, but I found it all fascinating.

The other class, Organic Chemistry, was a class that I look forward to never, ever seeing again. I graduated from high school and my first university with honors, and have always been good with science classes, too, but never in my life have I encountered a class like Organic Chemistry. To make it even more difficult, I was taking the class online, without the regular help of an instructor to explain it all to me. It is because of this class that I have now shattered my perfect 4.0 GPA – I could only squeak out a mid-range B for the class. Still, at least I passed, which I had to do in order to apply for the nursing program.

Now with those classes behind me, I sit and wait for my answer. The program at this college fills up amazingly fast, so many people are often turned away during each application period. But I have confidence I’ll make it in. For those who have met all requirements, decisions about admission are made based on GPA, and on Nurse Entrance Test scores. Seeing as I have nearly a 4.0, and my NET scores were in the 90% range (50% is the minimum needed for consideration), I probably will be offered admission.

In the meantime, I’ll prepare for my winter quarter classes as if I am continuing on with the program. If I’m admitted, clinical classes wouldn’t begin until the fall quarter, so I can use the time between now and then to finish up other non-clinical required classes.

I recently had someone find their way to my blog with the Google search, “What does a mommy want for Christmas?”

It made me stop and think, because honestly, what do we want for Christmas? Of course, different moms certainly have different wish lists, so I don’t think you can group all moms into one category of Christmas gifts. And then there’s the problem of mommy self-denial. We have this habit of putting ourselves last when it comes to gifts. Go ask your own mom what she wants for Christmas, and she’ll probably say, “Oh, I can’t think of anything I’d like for myself.” She’ll give you a list of things for the house, for your father, and for the family pet before she’ll think of anything just for her.

However, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Here’s what many moms of young kids (including myself) would probably ask for, if they were being totally honest. Even if they didn’t ask for these things, they probably wouldn’t say no to them, either.

Time off – Kids, work, and a house tend to eat up all of the time a mom has. If you want her to have a special treat, give her an afternoon where she is ordered to do nothing except read, relax in a bath, or whatever it is she likes to do to unwind. Take the kids elsewhere. On those rare times when I’m alone in the house (and I mean totally alone – no child up in bed), I almost don’t know what to do with myself. I can turn the music up loud! I can eat without anyone else begging for my food! I can take a bath without a toddler knocking on the door and saying, “Come in pweeze?” And I can just relax.

Pampering – I barely have time to shower 3 days a week, much less do my hair, exfoliate, or apply a moisturizing mask to my face. A gift certificate for a spa service would be a welcome gift for many moms. Not only does it give us the first gift of time off, but we are doing something to look better and feel better about ourselves also. That’s a bonus for our guys, right? One of the best gifts I ever received from Aaron was last year on our anniversary, when he gave me three gift cards: one to get my hair cut and colored, one for a massage or facial, and one more to buy something hip from Hot Topic. A day off was included in all of that, of course. It was a very welcome, and well-planned, gift.

Assistance – I never like to ask for help, even when I know I need it. But I have a dream of someday having a maid service come to the house once a month to help with the deep cleaning. It’s a frivolous expense for us, and one we can’t afford, so we continue to split our chores and do them regularly (well, maybe not as regularly as we should). However, even the gift of one maid service visit would be an amazing gift, especially now that I’m pregnant and even less inclined to do my chores.

Food – Is the mom in your life a wine connoisseur? Find a local wine tasting and take her to it. Does she like chocolates? Get her some of the best chocolates out there, then. As a side note, if you have thieving little hands in the house, buy a box to lock the chocolates in, too, so mom can be the only one to enjoy them. There’s nothing worse than sitting down to enjoy a special treat in the evening, only to find your special treat has been devoured by some bottomless pit.

Date nights – Truthfully, this gift is a benefit to both a mom and her husband/partner. But if mom is the one who gets to pick the restaurant, the movie (no complaints about a romantic comedy, guys), and isn’t the one required to find the babysitter, it’s a real treat. If this is a gift from another member of the family, it makes a great gift for the couple, if presented with the offer of babysitting, of course. Personally, I want to go out with my husband more, spending time together as an adult couple, instead of just parents. When we don’t get to spend time together over a long period, I feel like I’m less a wife and more a mom than anything else. And lets be honest – it was the wonderful time we had together as a couple that led to parenthood, so I’d like to keep as much of that couple-time as possible.

So there’s my list for what to get a mom for Christmas. Moms, did I miss anything?

It’s time for the monthly blog exchange. Please welcome my fabulous partner this month, and be sure to go check out her blog, Binkytown!

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December up north is a warming from the outside in. We sink inward. Cheeks are rosy, blood vessels rush to the surface when wrapped beneath soft woolly scarves. Chapped hands tucked deep in pockets as we walk, faces down, the chin drawing closer to the chest, our bodies retract to keep out the cold. Taillights in front of you, the only thing you can see on a car covered in snow. Boots, size 7, too big for little feet sit patiently outside the door.

Inside the red light of the electric blanket blinks next to bedsides as couples sleep closer. Fires warm sitting rooms and backsides. The coils of the oven turn from black to orange to red in preparation for loaves of holiday bread. A tall glass of Pinot Noir swirls by it’s stem, warm and comfortable in it’s owners hands. It’s smooth and warm as it goes down.

Red stockings overflow on the mantle with trinkets and treats. Shiny bows and ribbons lay in a heap, waiting for their chance to make memories. Big red bows adorn the porch lights. Berries on the mistletoe and candy canes adorn entranceways. Sparkling lights adorn branches of trees, now bare, but admired for their stark beauty as they sway in the winter wind. Resiliency.

Lips kiss. Hearts beat, closer now than any other time of the year to the ones they love.

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Last week I was forced to venture out to the mall in search of moisturizer. My previous moisturizer was nearly gone, and, thanks to pregnancy, had lost its effectiveness anyway. My skin is normally sensitive and dry, so I sought out the help of my reliable Origins counter in Macy’s.

The young sales woman (maybe 18 or 19?) approached me as I was looking over the available choices. “Can I help you with something today?”

“Yes, I’m looking for a new moisturizer. My old one isn’t working well anymore.”

“OK, no problem! What’s your skin type? Oily? Dry?”

“Pregnant.”

The confused look on her face made it clear she had never been in my condition before. “Uh, pregnant?”

“Yes, pregnant. My skin is currently highly sensitive, oily at times, dry at other times, and generally unpredictable.”

She took a deep breath. “Wow, really?” I could see she still didn’t quite understand.

“Yep, it’s like condensing an entire adolescence into 9 months.”

“Ooooohh, OK.” There we go – I managed to find something she could relate it to.

I had clearly stumped the poor girl, so we decided to just look at the ingredients list on each moisturizer together to find the one least likely to make me break out in red patches. Knowing that any choice was a risk, she thought it best to send me home with some free samples to try out first before committing to any single product.

I’m encountering the same problem with shampoo, also. They don’t make shampoo for pregnant hair. I see shampoo for dry or damaged hair, oily hair, colored hair, etc., but nothing that is for “hair that is lifeless, oily at the roots but dry near the ends, and prone to change without warning”.

I’m still wondering when I’m supposed to get that “glow” of pregnancy. Right now my hair is flat and dull (but growing rapidly, just to make sure any cut loses its style in a week or less), my skin alternates between a snowstorm of dry flakes and erupting mountain-sized zits, and my waist has officially given notice and called it quits. I only hope my waist will once again forgive me and come back again after this baby is born.

A lot of this is very similar to my pregnancy with Cordy, only about a month ahead of schedule. Just like last time, I have yet to gain a pound with this pregnancy (still down a few from my starting weight, in fact), yet somehow my butt is twice as big. It’s clear the laws of physics don’t apply to pregnancy, for how can a body part expand to double its size without a single pound gained, and with no visible loss anywhere else? Are my fat cells filling with air? Surely there is no biological need for this, right?

Luckily, stretch pants are available, and for that I am thankful. Hell, Old Navy even shrinks their sizes so I can feel good wearing a L or an XL. I’ve never been into high fashion, so I feel no shame at all in wearing stretch pants every single day. And I now have stretch pants to fit nearly every occasion: shiny, smooth, and silky stretch pants for work, cotton stretch pants for everyday wear, and one old pair with a big hole in the thigh for wearing around the house. Pair them with a long tunic top for work, or a sweatshirt for home, and voila! Easy, comfortable maternity clothing.

Of course, with all of these changes to my body, people wonder why I don’t have any pictures of myself pregnant. I have two pictures total from being pregnant with Cordy, and they were taken at the same time, two weeks before my c-section. But this time, I’ve decided I’m going to take more pictures, at least to show off the pregnant belly growth. Just don’t hold it against me if I leave my face out of the picture, at least until I find a moisturizer that works.

(No, there’s no belly picture yet. Maybe in a week or two, once the belly starts to protrude more so I don’t look like I just have a beer gut.)

Cordelia is at that age now where we are never quite sure what to expect from day to day. Some days, or even only for a few moments, she acts as if she is still a baby. But then other times she surprises us with a new phrase, or a new action, that makes us realize just how quickly she’s growing into a little girl and no longer just a baby.

I used to think that language was a slow, gradual development, something that is slowly acquired and practiced, with small steps forward each day. Cordy would learn a new word here or there, or learn a new way to apply a word, but each step forward sometimes had a step back, or a period of rest before moving on to the next lesson to master.

In the past week, however, it’s as if she has grown months all at once. Her language abilities have exploded, and she’s now asking us questions in full sentences, and showing a new grasp for vocabulary that we have never seen before. I don’t know if she was simply gathering her knowledge over weeks, processing that information, and then all at once figured out the secrets to communication, but in just one week we have reached a point where we can expect her to understand us, and even expect her to respond as well.

This morning, I went into her room to free her from her crib (she’s always awake before me), and she looked up at me and said “Hi, mommy! Itza beeeuuwwtiful day!” I was a bit stunned by this articulate greeting.

As we walked past Aaron, with a towel wrapped around him, she looked at him and said, “Daddy, baff?” Aaron laughed and replied, “Yes, daddy had a bath.” He then told me that when he brought her home last night, he had noticed that she was talking a lot more in comprehendible sentences. When they got home last night, she immediately asked him for a drink, letting him know she was thirsty.

And then, as I changed her diaper this morning, she reached over and played with her pirate ship, then looked right at me and said, “Hey mommy, are you a piwate?”

I know these little progressions certainly aren’t astounding for a child this age, but having it all come at once amazes me. It’s like she’s been holding out on us for a long time, or perhaps the laws of language and communication suddenly made sense to her.

Toddlerhood really is a long bridge between infancy and childhood, and we’re now at the point on the bridge where the land of childhood is coming into view, and the world of infancy is fading into the mist. She’s doing more for herself now, and expressing her wishes and dislikes with more than whining and crying.

Just this morning she pulled her pants up on her own while getting dressed, something she’s never been interested in trying before. In fact, she now is forming opinions about clothing, too. Where before she let us put anything on her, she now wants a hand in choosing what she wears, starting with which jacket she wears. Each morning she will only put on the jacket she wants for the day. If we try to convince her to put the green one on, she will push it away and walk to the coat stand, saying, “No, purple! Purple!” if she wants to wear the purple jacket. No amount of reasoning will work at this point.

Of course, reasoning will have to come later, as she nears the end of toddlerhood and steps off that bridge into childhood (and even then, reasoning is still a process). Until that time, we will simply have to pick our battles, and she will continue to toss off her hat in sunny weather, and then wear nothing but her hat while in the house.