Thanksgiving was quite busy for us. On the day itself, we drove an hour south to visit with my mom’s family, and then we drove 30 min. north of home (an hour and 30 min. total) to visit my father’s side of the family. We had a full meal at the first stop, and then just dessert at the second stop.

While at my father’s, we found out my cousin and his wife were in town with their daughter, so we stopped by my aunt’s to visit with them, too. We started the day at 9:30am and didn’t get back home until roughly 7pm.

Cordy was a trooper most of the day. She napped in the car between families, and even ate a little food for everyone. When visiting with my cousin, she didn’t even mind that the much smaller 16 month old was trying to bully her. It’s a good thing Cordy isn’t a bully – she’s big enough that she could do some damage to another kid.

As usual, after mingling with relatives, all of whom came from different areas and brought not only good food to eat, but also the exotic viruses from their particular region, at least one of us was destined to become sick. It seems to happen every year. And yet people wonder why I can’t stand kissing relatives and dislike them kissing my child.

Cordy started us out on Friday night, by having 4 messy diapers within a 12 hour period. She’s normally an every-other-day kind of girl, so we knew something was up. And worse, these messy diapers seemed to be full of flesh-eating acid, because each one caused more and more redness on her bottom until she had a massive, raw diaper rash.

At first we worried it might be a reaction to something she ate at Thanksgiving. We’ve been suspecting lately that she might be allergic to cinnamon. I know, weird allergy, right? But every time she eats anything with cinnamon, she usually has a bad diaper rash a day or two later. And at Thanksgiving she had her fill of pumpkin pie and cookies, all laced with cinnamon.

But then Saturday night, at the height of her diaper pain (the rash was so bad we had to give her Motrin to help her deal with the pain – the poor kid couldn’t sit down), I started to feel ill. Dinner was tough to stomach, and I was feeling really tired and worn out. Then Sunday the stomach bug hit me full on. I think I’m mostly back to normal today.

Today Cordy seems better. Her rash is starting to scab and hopefully heal, and she’s smiling again. I must remember to call this week and get us both in for our flu shots before the next family gathering. Who knows what nasty bugs a relative will bring with them to Christmas?

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Be sure to check out Mommy’s Must Haves today for information on Land’s End’s baby photo contest. You could win a $250 gift certificate to Land’s End!

I’m convinced that to work a kiosk in the mall on Black Friday, you need only have a pulse and the ability to speak. Speaking well, with forethought, is not required.

The scene today as I walked by a kiosk, pushing Cordy in her stroller:

Saleswoman: Ma’am, do you straighten your hair? Could we give you a demonstration of our new hair straightener?

Me: No, I don’t straighten my hair. It’s naturally straight. (trying to walk past)

Salewoman: (looking down at Cordy) Oh. Uh, what about your daughter? Could we show you how it can straighten her hair?

Me: Are you effin’ kidding me?!?! She’s two! (walking off immediately)

Yeah, right, I want to straighten my toddler’s hair. Just as much as I want to perm it, as some people think I do. The kid won’t even let me comb her hair without thrashing around and screaming. I can just imagine her sitting still to have a hot styling appliance applied to her hair. We won’t even go into the issue that she’s too young to deal with beauty issues like that.

Idiots.

Today marks the one year anniversary of when I first got up the guts to sign up for Blogger, pick the first blog name that came to mind (well, fourth actually – the others were already taken), and take the plunge into blogging.

Before that, I had been reading a few blogs for a little over a month, thanks to stumbling upon Blogging Baby earlier in the fall and clicking over to read the personal blogs of the writers there. I had a LiveJournal at the time, but it was for friends-only, and there was little more than a bunch of personality tests and a few random updates on my life here and there.

It’s hard to believe it has only been a year – I feel like I’ve been doing this for such a long time. In that year, I’ve written 315 posts, and who knows how many words. I’ve met some amazing people (both virtually and in person), and I am so thankful to have them in my life. Yes, I’ve met some trolls, too, but I’ve learned there really are nice people on the internet, and many people who have been through or are going through many of the issues I have had to deal with. It’s nice to not feel alone in battling those issues.

Looking back over the year, I can now safely say that I think I’m an OK writer. Not someone who can regularly bring people to tears or belly laughs, but I can get a story across decently without boring many readers. I see plenty of room for improvement, but hey, I have my own space to write here, so I have an endless supply of time and computer memory to work on my writing.

What a year it’s been. It all started just before Thanksgiving last year, when Cordy was 14 months old and still not walking yet. She had far less hair back then, and drove me insane with her refusal to take naps. When she did fall asleep, she did so with stealth, or just an inattentive parent. She got to play in the snow for the first time, and as Christmas drew near, we decided she was buying for all of us this year. We made it through the Christmas marathon, and I introduced you all to my crazy great Aunt Dot and her bad gifts. Just before the new year, Cordy made some big developmental leaps that made my life a hell of a lot easier.

The new year had a bite to it – well, actually, the new year started off with Cordy biting, and I shared with you how not to travel with a toddler. I also made a big decision around that same time that my life clearly wasn’t busy enough, so I went back to school. My blog became my confessional as I told you about my toddler who wouldn’t hold her own sippy cup, my struggle with depression, and the fact that Cordy is a TV junkie.

I’ve given my thoughts on mommyblogging, as well as on the stupid debate between stay-at-home and working moms, and wondered why there isn’t more part-time work. I’ve ranted about Babycenter, ranted about women peeing on the seat in the bathroom, pondered how we lived without cell phones, and shown you that when compared to kids 300 years ago, we’re easy on our kids. You also read of the disappointment I felt regarding having a c-section with Cordy, and why I don’t understand how women could willingly choose to go this route.

In the spring, you got front-row seats for the wrestling match of the century, and held my hand through a breast lump scare. You shared my fears of being stalked by the Avon lady, and gave me advice on what it was like to be a sibling or have more than one child. You learned I am a natural worrier, especially as a mother, and that I have a secret obsession with Maury Povich. I’ve also proven that I am now starting to look old.

I’ve dealt with parents treating my daughter like a freak because she’s big, store employees telling me my child is a pain, and dealing with the fallout of my daughter frightening other children. At the same time, I’ve also felt helpless to step in when someone else is treating a child badly. I also risked the ire of some bloggers to confess I gave Cordy scotch to help her teething pain.

July was a month of ups and down. You witnessed my first ever offline blogging post, written during a boring Chemistry class. I got a mid-month BlogHer test run by meeting a group of local bloggers, which has now turned into a monthly event I always look forward to. Then, two days before getting on that plane for BlogHer, I had the shock of coming home to find our house had been broken into and robbed in the middle of the day. I considered canceling the trip to BlogHer at that point because I was so upset, but in the end I decided I needed to get away. And thank goodness I did! BlogHer was so much fun!

In September, we experienced two happy events. First, I found out I was pregnant (and later reminded myself to never do this again), and then later in the month we celebrated Cordy’s second birthday. I also gave my tips on Halloween costumes and toddler clothing to avoid, and asked all of you to reflect on if you’re really happy.

It’s been a busy year here. Cordy has gone from crawling to walking, and from wisps of hair to a full head of curls. I started as a lonely mom, working part-time to make ends meet, blogging to get thoughts out of my head and hopefully find other moms to commiserate with, and now I’m back in school for a new career, expecting a second child with my loving husband (who graciously puts up with all I do), and I’ve found a wonderful, supportive community of moms, dads, and friends thanks to blogging.

Thank you for reading what I have to say, and thanks for those times when you leave a comment. Without people reading this and responding to my thoughts, I probably would have shut this personal project down long ago.

Here’s hoping for an even better second year.

We have entered a new phase in Cordy’s development: the “no” phase.

She has known of the word no for quite some time now. Surprisingly, it wasn’t one of the first words she picked up, but the meaning was always clear to her. When she was just a year old, a stern “no” from me when she was getting into something she shouldn’t would lead to a moment of surprise, then the puckered up face, and then tears and disheartening cries. It was as if that simple word had caused grave injury to her soul, and for the next five minutes, nothing was right with the world.

Once she learned to say no, she was so gentle in saying it that I thought she clearly didn’t understand its power. If offered something she did not want, she would give a polite “nooooo”, the tone of which carried the message (in a proper British accent, of course): “Oh mother, tisk, tisk…were you unaware that I am currently not interested in that piece of food? How silly, mother!”

During the past few weeks, however, she seems to have learned the true force behind the word. Now, offering her something she doesn’t want is met with a loud, rude “NO!” as if she is completely insulted and disgusted that we would think to offer that thing to her.

However, the power of the word has now gone to her head, and it has become the knee-jerk response to anything asked or offered to her. She says no without thinking it through, when often she means yes. It’s almost funny to ask her, “Cordy, would you like some milk?” and have her answer “No!” as she takes the sippy cup from your hands and guzzles the contents.

She may soon regret always saying no, when someone who doesn’t understand her “no means yes” philosophy denies her a toy or treat due to her insistence that she didn’t want it. Of course, that would require her to actually look at someone other than Aaron or I.

Yes, Cordy has picked up another new toddler habit: she now closes her eyes when strangers, or sometimes even people she knows, try to talk to her. If she doesn’t want to interact, she pinches those eyelids shut and holds them tightly closed, still facing the person attempting to make contact. The message is clear: I don’t want to deal with you. If I close my eyes, then you don’t exist.

Most people are generally good-natured about this, thank goodness. And I have to laugh every time she does it, because if you were to look back through my childhood photo album, there are several pictures of me with my eyes closed. No, it wasn’t an accident – if I didn’t want to have my picture taken, I simply shut my eyes and smiled. That was when I was 5, however; Cordy seems to be a fast learner with her genetic personality traits.

Cordy has also learned to use this trick when being punished. If we tell her no, she’ll often close her eyes to us, shutting us out of her little world. After we’re quiet for a moment, she’ll open her eyes and go right back to what she was doing.

It’s fun to see her growing and learning new ways to deal with the world around her, although sometimes her methods of coping are getting a little frustrating for us. I can only hope these are short-lived stages, and soon Cordy will progress on to bigger and better ways to ignore and dismiss us.

It was a close game, but OSU proved they’re still #1. (And Michigan showed that they deserved their high #2 ranking as well.)

Cordy was dressed for the day, and enjoyed staying with my aunt to watch the game.

My aunt told me that she even cheered with everyone when OSU scored. It was certainly a lot of excitement for her, because she fell asleep in the car on the way home.

I’m glad Ohio State got the win. After all, if there’s going to be rioting anyway, I’d far rather have happy drunks than bitter drunks taking over campus.