525,600 minutes

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred moments so dear

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure, measure a year?

This song has been sticking with me lately. I'm admittedly a major Rent fanatic. But this song...it has always been one of my favorites.

This week, I've really been thinking about this song. One year ago today was my due date. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.

One week from today, my little boy will be 1 year old. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred moments so dear.

I look back at the pictures and I'm floored. How can he be so big already? How can his first year of life have passed so fast? But I know that ahead of us is many many more daylights and sunsets and midnights and cups of coffee and I am relieved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6yPSeDlcrI

Teething continues!

My own little mister has a set of 6 teeth now and all signs point to more teeth coming thru.

One thing to note, when attempting to come out of motherhood unscathed is to pay attention to your childs' trends. If I didn't notice the trends, there'd be no way to tell that O is teething.

When teething, O gets an incredibly runny nose and his sleeping habits are thrown way off. About a week ago, O started sleeping thru the night (known thru the mothering world as STTN). It was delightful! Then, about 4 days ago, no dice. He was waking up at least once if not twice during the night. Which is troublesome for any parent, let alone one who works full-time. Then two days ago, I notice his nose is just gushing. (Gushing is, of course, subjective. What is gushing for me may not be gushing for you.) So I look and sure enough, 2 little silver slivers are starting their progress thru his bottom gums. They haven't broken the surface yet so who knows how long this trend will last. The good news? He's already napping longer today than he has the rest of the week!

Top 10 Free Apps for Moms

1. Postino (pad/phone/pod/droid) - FREE Yes, you can always e-mail a cute phone snapshot of the kids to the grandparents. But withPostino, you can send an actual snail-mail postcard of a photo on your phone. Pick your shot, add a border if you like, type an address and a message, sign it with your finger (or have your kid sign it), and press Send. The company prints your custom postcard and mails it. All you have to do is pay the postage.
Tip: For a fun, easy thank-you note that's a cut above e-mail, send a snap of your happy kid with a new toy or a pic of the giver's child having fun at your kid's birthday party.

2. Mom Maps (pad/pod/phone) - If you're getting tired of the same old, same old playdate spots, take a look at Mom Maps to mix up your get-togethers. There are 27 metro areas in the app, with more being added all the time. The app uses your phone's GPS to pinpoint nearby playgrounds, restaurants, and museums, and it vets your choices with parent reviews. Then use Meetup to call a group together.

3. Lucy Phone (pad/pod/phone/droid) - FREE It's always annoying to wait on hold for a customer service rep, but when you're trying to feed a baby or have a toddler who's about to wake up, it's the worst. Good news: LucyPhone can do the waiting for you. Hang up, and LucyPhone will call you back when a real person is on the line. Score one for moms.

4. Fake a Call Free (pad/pod/phone/droid) - FREE If you're heading to a playgroup and you knowthat mom will be there – you know, the one who can't stop bragging about how advanced little Oliver is – you can program Fake-A-Call to ring you. The app can either call you whenever you ask it to or after a designated period of time. Your phone rings as it normally does, handing you a graceful exit.

5. ColorSmart by Behr Mobile (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) - FREE When you look around your living room and see only toys strewn all over the floor, ColorSmart lets you envision a time when your rooms won't look like mini cyclones have hit them. With the app, you can play decorator, previewing a huge gallery of rooms and altering the colors of the walls and moldings. You can even take a picture of a wall in your house and dress it up in a different color to see how it'd look.

6. Rest Area Finder (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) - FREE Pregnant women and mothers of the newly potty-trained, rejoice: Next time you're on the highway, Rest Area Finder will locate the stops closest to you. It also tells you if they have dog walking areas, vending machines, and gas stations.

7. Trip Case (iphones/pad/touch/blackberry, droid) - FREE TripCase keeps track of every piece of information you need for a family trip – from itineraries and confirmation numbers to the locations of restaurants that friends have assured you are worth a stop. Plus, your flight status is updated in real time, so you'll be prepared to occupy restless kids if there's a delay.

8. Dragon Diction (iphones/pad/touch/blackberry) - FREE When Erin Kane, a.k.a. one of the Manic Mommies and a blogger for Real Simple, goes through her mental checklist of to-dos and wants to make sure she doesn't forget anything, she usesDragon Dictation. This genius app uses voice recognition software to transcribe what you say, great for those all-too-common moments when you really can't spare a hand. "When I commute by car, I use Dragon Dictation to draft e-mails, reports, even blog posts," says Erin. "It's super helpful for getting those thoughts down before you forget them."

9. Yap Voicemail (iphone, droid) - FREE Yap transcribes voicemails to text messages (or e-mails), so you can quickly skim the message from your mother-in-law about bringing a dish to Sunday dinner without having to listen to the long, drawn-out message. It's easy to set up and lets you quickly go through your messages at a glance without the hassle of accessing your voicemail.

10. Moms with Apps (iphone/pad/pod) - FREE Yap transcribes voicemails to text messages (or e-mails), so you can quickly skim the message from your mother-in-law about bringing a dish to Sunday dinner without having to listen to the long, drawn-out message. It's easy to set up and lets you quickly go through your messages at a glance without the hassle of accessing your voicemail.

Betcha thought that I was....wait, that's morbid!

Blogging has certainly fallen to the way side with me, as with most everything else. Priority number 1? My little family of course! Orion shared his 1/2 birthday with my own dear mom AND with Valentine's Day! We played all day and then Papa Bear and I went out for a sushi dinner!

My own dear father has been in town for almost 2 weeks. He'll be leaving on Tuesday, but it's been an amazing trip! It's his first visit since Orion was born AND his first trip to California AND his first time visiting me in almost 3 years! It's been spectacular! He flew into LA and got to spend the day there and then has spent the last couple of weeks in San Diego county. And he's gotten to experience a myriad of weather....last night it rained incredibly hard and was VERY windy!

So, here's hoping I can get back to blogging....it's been an intense couple of months, so I'll be posting a few short and sweet blogs to get back on track! Orion is finally entertaining himself for longer stretches of time, so hopefully that means I'll have some time to get some of my own stuff done!